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THE LIFE
OF TTIK

BLESSED YIRGII MARY,

WITH THB

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO HER:

COMPLETED BY THE TRADITIOXS OF THE EAST, THE WRITINGS OF THE HOLY FATHERS,
BY
ETC.. ETC.

THE ABBE OBSINI;

TOOETHEB WITH

i^istariral

Calmhr

nf /easts nf

tijt

llesseir

Virgin

FOUNDATIONS AND DEDICATIONS OF CHURCHES IN HONOR OF OUR BLESSED LADY; AND THE LITANY OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN, ACCOMPANIED WITH MEDITATIONS.

BY THE ABBE EDWARD BARTHE.

TRANSLATED BY THE VERY
REV.
F. C.

HUSENBETH, D.D.
,

ALSO,

DEYOTION TO THE BLESSED YIRGIN IN NORTH AMERICA.

BY THE REV. XAVIER DONALD MACLEOD,
ST.

mart's COLLIGE, CINCINNATI.

^cantifallj lllustratcir

foit|

Bittl (^ngratrings.

NEW YORK:

VIETUE, YORSTON &

12

CO.,

DEY STREET.

Entered aooordtne' to Act of Congresg, in the year 1861.

By VIKTDE, YORSTON &

CO.,

lo the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of

New

York.

THE LIFE
OP

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,

Mai\)n
of

A
ETC., ETC.

WITH THE

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO HER:

COMPLETED BY THE TRADITIONS OF THE EAST, THE WHITINGS OF THE HOLI FATHEUS,

BT

THE ABBE ORSINl.

TBAXSLATKD FBOM THE PEENCH,

BT THE REV.

F.

C.

HUSENBETH,

D. D.

CONTENTS.
THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN, MOTHEE OF GOD.
Chaptoe
I.

Paob

CnAPTxs

Faoi
.
.

Universal Expectation of the Blessed Virgin

X. Virginal Pregnancy of Mary

1

.92
98 106 115

and the Messias

II.

XI. Birth of the Messias

XII. Adoration of the Magi
XIII.

The Immaculate Conception

Birth of

,23
33
36

....
.
.

III.

Mary

The

Purification

IV. The Presentation

XIV. The

Flight into

Egypt

.120
128

V. Mary

in the

Temple

46 67

XV. Return from Egypt

XVI. Mary
at tlie Preaching of Jesna
. .

VI. Mary an Orphan

VII. Marriage of the Virgin
VIII. The Annunciation

135

.....
. .
.

.64
78 85

XVII. Mary on Calvary

XVIII. Death of Mary

148
163

IX. The Visitation

THE HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION" TO THE BLESSED YIEOm MAEY.

I.

Origin and Antiquity of the Religious Veneration of

VIII. The

Men

of the North
. . . .
.

236

Mary
:

177

IX. Chivalry

249

FiBST Epoch

Religious Veneration of

Mabt
183

X. The Military and Religious Orders

207

BEFOBB CONSTANTINB.
II.

The East Idols The West The Catacombs

Second Epoch
:

Fourth Epoch: fbom the Middle Ages down to

III.

.191
XI. The Revival

Onu Dats.
279 2S0
.

rnoM Constantiue to the Middle Ages.

.

XII. The Latter Heresies

XIII.

IV. The East The Iconoclasts

.199
204 214

Modern Times

.808

V. The East The Holy Wars

XIV.

Influence of Devotion to

Mary on

the Fine

VL

The West-Tlie Madonnas

Arts
'

822
.

Thibd Epoch: the Middle Ages.

XV.
224

Pilgrimages

839

yn. Times

of the Barbarians

HISTOEICAL CALENDAE OF FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN.

January
February
879
381
Jnly

893
.

August
September
October

895

March
April

883 386

.399
401

May
Jane

888

November
December

....890

........

404 406

MEDITATIONS
LITANY OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.
Introdaction

.......
I

PAOa

Paoi

413

XXXI. Cansa
XXXII. Vas

nostrse

loetitisB,

ora pro nobis

I

479
481

L
n.

Kyrie, eleison

417
t

spiritnale,

ora pro nobis

Christe, eleison

410
421
I

XXXIII. Vas

honorabile, ora pro nobis

483 486

III. Kyrie, eleison

XXXIV. Vas

insigne devotionis, ora pro nobis

1

IV. Christe, audi nos

V.

Christe, exaudi nos

.....
.

424
426

XXXV.
XXXVI.

Rosa Mystica, ora pro nobis

488 490
492

Turris Davidica, ora pro nobis Turris eburnea, ora pro nobis
aurea, ora pro nobis
1
1

VL
VIL

Pater de Coelis Dens, miserere nobis 1

Fili

428

XXXVII.

Eedemptor, Mandi Deus, miserere nobis 1 430

I

XXXVIII. Domus

494
496

Vlil. Spiritns Sancte, Dens, miserere nobis

432

XXXIX.

Foederis area, ora pro nobis

Coeli,

IX. SoDcta Trinitas, nnns Dens, miserere nobis

434
436

XL. Janua
XLI.

ora pro nobis

.499
.

X. Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis

Stella Matutina, ora pro nobis

601

XI. Sancta Dei Genitriz, ora pro nobis I

XII. Sancta Virgo Virginum, ora pro nobis
XIII. Mater Christ!, ora pro nobis
!

438 440 442

445

XLII. Salus infirmorum, ora pro nobis

603 505

XLIII. Kefugium peccatorum, ora pro nobis

XLIV.

Consolatrix afflictorum, ora pro nobis

507 509
511

XIV. Mater

divinse gratiiB, ora pro nobis

I

XLV. Auxilium

Christianorum, ora pro nobis

1

XV. Mater

pnrissima, ora pro nobis

447
449
451

XLVI. XLVIL

Eegina angeloruin, ora pro nobis

XVI. Mater

castissima, ora pro nobis

inviolata, ora

Regina patriarcharum, ora pro nobis

514
516 518
520

XVII. Mater

pro nobis

XLVIII. Regina prophetarum, ora pro nobis!

XVIII. Mater intemerata, ora pro nobis I

463

XLIX. Eegina
L.

apostolorum, ora pro nobis

I

XIX. Mater amabil is, ora pro

nobis

.455
.

Regina martyrum, ora pro nobis

XX. Mater

admirabilis, ora pro nobis

Creatoris, ora pro nobis
1

467
459 461 463 465

LI. Regina confessorum, ora pro nobis

622

XXI. Mater

LII. Eegina virginum, ora pro nobis

LIII.

624
527

XXn.
'

Mater Salvatoris, ora pro nobis 1

Virgo pmdentissima, ora pro nobis
veneranda, ora pro nobis I
!

Eegina sanctorum omnium, ora pro nobis

XXUL
XXV.

LIV. Eegina
nobis
1

sine labe originali concepta, ora pro

XXIV. Virgo

529
Dei, qui toUis peccata mnndi, pares
I

Virgo praidicanda, ora pro nobis I

potens, ora pro nobis 1
.

467

LV. Agnus
nobis,

XXVI. Virgo
XXVII. Virgo

.469
.

Domine

631

Clemens, ora pro nobis

fidelis,

471 473 475

LVI. Agnus
nos,

Dei, qui toUis peocata mundi, exaudi

!

XXVIII. Virgo

ora pro nobis 1

ora pro nobis
I

Domine

633

XXIX. Speculom jnstitias,

LVII. Agnus Dei, qui toUis peccata mundi, miserere nobis

I

XXX.

Sedes sapientiaa, ora pro nobis 1

477

535

LITANY
or

THE MOST BLESSED

CALLED

VIRGIN,

THE LITANY OF LORETTO.

Ktrie

eleison.

VI

^TTANT OP THE MOST BLESSED VIHGIN

\
anffelornm, patriarcbaN

Bepna
Bgina

Qneen of angels, Qneen of patriarchs,

Qneen Qneen Queen Quejn Qneen Queen
of prophets, of apostles, of martyrs, of confessors,
of virgins, of all saints.

Cbriste audi nos. Christe exaudi nos.

Christ, hear ns. Christ, graciouslyhear as.

nim.
Retrina prophetamm,

V. Ora pro

nobis, sanc-

Eegina ajxistolorum, Regina martyrum, Regina confessormn,

Rejrina virginum,

ta Dei Genitrix,

V. Pray for us, Mother of God,

holy

R. Ut digni efficiamnr
promissionibus Christi.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

sanctornm Regina omninm, Regina sine labe original! coQcepta,

Queen conceived with

out original
sin,
:

Oremus.
Gratiam tuam, qusesu-

Let us pray.

Pour forth, we beseech

thee, Lord, thy grace into our hearts, that we,
to whom the incarnation of Christ, thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by

AgnoB
peccata
ndbit,

Dei, qui

tollis

mnndi, Domine.

Parce

of God, who takest away the sins of

Lamb

mns Domiue, mentibus

nostris infunde,

ut qui,

the world. Spare vs,

Lord.

Angelonuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem

Agnus
not,

Dei, qui

tollis

Lamb
takest

of God,

who

peccata mnndi,

Exavdi

away the
Lord.

sins of

cognovimus, per paasionem ejus et crucem ad

resurrectionis

Domine.

the

world,
nt,

Graciouslj/

gloriam

his passion

and cross be

hear

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mnndi, Miserere

noli*.

Lamb
world,

of God,

who

takest away the sins of the

perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

broughttothe glory of his resurrection. Tlirough the same Christ our Lord.

Have

mercj/ on vs.

Amen.

have recourse

SiXTCS v., anxious to propagate more and more the veneration of Mary, and engage the faithful to to her patronage with God, granted by the Bull Reddiluri, of the 11th of July, 1587, an Indulgence of 200 days to those who should recite, with a contrite heart, the Litany of tlie Blessed Benedict XIII. Virgin, with the versicle Ora pro nobis, &c., and the prayer Gratiam tuam, &c. confirmed this grant, by approving of a decree of the Congregation of Indulgences, of the 12th of January, 1728. Pius VII., by his decree, Urbii et Orhis, of the 30th of September, 1817, extended it to 800 days, made it applicable to the dead, and added a plenary Indulgence, to be gained on the Feasts of the Conception, Nativity, Annunciation, Purification, and Assumption, by those who recite this Litany daily, provided that, being truly contrite, they confess and communicate, visit some public church or chapel, and pray there for the intention of the sovereign Pontiff.

CONTENTS.
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY IN NORTH AMERICA.
General

Natural Growtli of the Devotion First CatholicsSouthern States and Canada Our Lady's Discovery of America Ohnrches
View
of her

OnAPTEB

I.

Pioi!

Chapteh IX.
The Devotion

,io.

Mohawks

Saint Mary among the Iroquois

in

New York Tlie

Saint of the

681

Name

Ministers

of the

European and American Devotion

to

Mary ^Emigrants Patroness

Chaptee

Honor

Devotion

due
541

Chapter X. Our Lady of Loretto of the Hurons

641

of the United

States
II.

Chapter XI. Our Lady's Assumption, a.d., 1700, and what came of it A Missionary Prince 648

Zeal of Pioneers

Cliamplain

and the Recollets

656

Mother Mary of the Incarnation and the Ursulines Marquette and the Immaculate Concep-

Chapter XII. Our Lady of the Lake

657

tion

Our Lady's

Sisters

Les Soeurs de Notre Dame

Chapter

XIII.

664

Chapter

Advance of the Devotion First Seventy-five Years Our Lady of Angels Jesuits in Canada Oiler and St. SulpiceTlie City of MaryMademoiselle Manse and the Hospital Sisters 670

III.

Chapter XIV. Our Lady of Mercy and Charity Our Lady's loving Friends at the Cross Our Lady of Christ's
Precious Blood

669

Chapter XV.

CnAPTEK IV.
Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Congregation of our Lady 581

Our Lady of

St.

Ursula and

St.

Angela

680

Chapter
Various Orders of Our Lady

Pilgrimages to Our
to

XVL

Extermination of the Hurons

Mary the Back Montreal Our Lady's Mississippi Guard The Congregation again The Recluse of VUle-Marie Our Lady of Angels 592
Conception
in Illinois

New

Chapter V. Our Lady of Foie Loretto^Tho Northwest Immacalato

AkoDown

Lady of Peace, of Mercy, of Grace, and back Our Lady of Good Help, at Montreal
*
Gillie-Mairi

693

Chapter XVI L
nan Gael

to

Malie

teba Wanbanakki

Alnambak

704

Chapter XVIIL
Oblati MarisB ImmacuIatiB

Chapter VI. Devotion of the Holy Family Our Lady of Victory Our Lady of Good Help Our Lady of

Offered for Mary Im713

maculate

Chapter XIX.
Mary's Oblates on the Atlantic and in the Land of the Dacotah 730

the VisitationLodge of the Immaculate Conception

Our Lady of Snows Cathedral of the

Chapter VII.

Immaculate Conception and Churches of Our 604 Lady in Quebec

Devotion

Chapter XX.

The new Mount Carmel Atlantic Spanish Missionaries Maryland

Our Lady of Guadahipe
.

in Texas, California,

and

New

Mexico

612

Company of Jesus again Immaculate Conception in Boreal Latitudes Devotion in Minnesota

Our Lady of the Rocky Mountains

740

Chapter XXI.

Chapter VIII. The Devotion

in

The Black robe

Chaudiere

Maine

Sillery and

dies

Rocky

in Oregon How the Black-robe Mountains again The March of

Wampum
the

Belt for N. D. de Chartres Vow of

the Blackfeet toward the

Sliritie

of

Our Lady

Owenagunga Mission of the Kennebec Murder of Father Rasles The Catholic Rod-

Abenaki and Flathead touch hands

753

skin and the Puritan Council

621

Broken Threads

Conclnsion

Chapter XXII.
^

760

INDEX.
Abenaki Indians,
Acadia, 545-552
Abasistari,
;

557, 622-630, 652, 708-713, 716. destruction of 682.

cbief, 632.

Blin-Bourdon, Vicomtesse, 664.

St., diocese, 717. Secours, Notre Dame de, 586, 699, 602, 606. 608. Boston diocese, 652.

Boniface,

Huron
Relic

Bon

Aidan,

St.,

of,

705.

Alabama

Missions, 613.

Algonquin Indians, 557, 561, 613, 622, 716, AUouez, Jesuit Father, 545, 594.
Alvarado, 543. Angela, the Indian
Angels,
girl,
of,

Bourgeoys, Marguerite, 579 Bourget, Bishop, 699.

life

o^ 591-597, 601, 704.

Brandy

traders, 562.

723.

Brebeuf, Jesuit Father, martyr, 561, 574, 592. Bressani, Jesuit Father, 573.

Our Lady

571, 603.
to, 708.

Brothers of

St.

Joseph, 657

of the Hospital, 602.

Angelus, The, 617. Anue, St., 563; chapel of, 602; devotion Apparition of Our Lady, 750.
Areskoui, Worship of, renounced, 636. Arichat diocese, 705.

Bruce, King liobert, 705. Brulart de Sillery, 571, 621.

Brunet, Oblate Father, 723. Brunner, Father, 677.

Brunner, Madame, 677.

Brut6, Bishop, 673.
Bufalo,

Arkansas, Marquette

Asendasi, Mohawk Assiniboin Indians, 754.

566, 567, 596. chief, 641.

at,

Canon

di,

677.

Assumption Mission, 754. Athabasca Lake Mission, 719, 753.

Augustine,

California Missions, 552, 616; Indians, 620. Cancel, Father, 543, 547.

Awlheart

St., Florida, founded, 544. Indians, 749, 754.

Badin, Rev. Stephen, 648, 659. Baltimore settled, 617-621.

Bancroft, Tributes from, 548, 553. Bannak Indians, 749.

Carmel, Mount, monks of, 596, 616 Carroll, Archbishop, 648, 652. Catechism, Indian, 562. Catherine Tegahkouita, 637-639.

nuns

ol^

651, 680.

'

Cat Island once called

Cauvin, Father, 697.

St. Saviour's, 542.

Chabanel, Jesuit Father, death

of,

678.

Banner of Our Lady,

Bannockburn, Baptism of Indians, 615, 754. Bardstown diocese, 652. Barre, Father de la, 602.

606, 617, 668. Battle of, 705.

Champlain, 556.
Cliarbonnel, Bishop, 705.
Charity, Sisters
of, (vide Sisters). Charles, St., Mission, 571. Charlevoix, Father de, 596.

Beads, The, 563, 570, 626, 761.

Chartres, Notre

Dame

de, 623, 647, 702.

Belmont

Jesuit Father, 579, 602, 606. Benedict Xllf., Pope, 606.

Benedict XIV., Pope, 615. Bigot, Father James, 623. Bigot, Father Vincent, 622, 626.
Billiart, Julie, 664.

Chaumeday, Paul de, 578 {vide Maisonneuve). Chaumonot, Jesuit Father, 575, 593, 635, 641-647, 713 Cherokee Indian Mission, 544, 613.
Chesapeake Bay,
St. Mary's, 594, 618.

Cheverus, Cardinal, 648, 652, 708. Children taught by nuns, 669, 675, 677.

Biron, Marie, 609.

Chinook Indians, 669.

Bkckfeet Sioux, 749, 754.

Blanchet, Archbishop, 666, 749.

Chippewa

Indians, 594.

Chirouse, Oblate Father, 719

INDEX.

ir

Cholenec, Jesuit, 640.

INDEX.
Mace, Reverend Mother, 004. Macdonald, Itev. Angus, 706. Macdonnell, Bishop, 706. Mackinac, Marquette at, 565. Mackinnon, Bishop, 705.
Macleod, 706. Macleod, Mary, 707. Maine, Missions in, 571, 621, 626. Maisonnenve, Lord of, 578, 580, 582-584, 586, 696.

Indiau Missioas

among Abeuakis, 557, 622-C30, 652, 708-713, 710; Algonquins, 557, 561, 613, 622, 716; Assiniboins, 764; Awlbearts, 749, 754; IJaniiaks, 749; Blacklect,749, 754; (Jaliforuians, 620 Cliero;

kees, 544, 513;

Kries, 593, 635

Chinooks, 069; Chippewas, 594;

; ;

Crows, 759; Dacotahs (rjW t^ioux) Ear-rings, 754 Flatbows, 753 ; Flatlieads (ride De
;

Smet and Oblate);

Ilurons, 507-561, 592, 593;

Jlli-

nois, 556; Iroquois, 557, 559, 561, 574, 578, 593, 620, 631-641, 754; Kalispels, 749; Kansas, 745, 747 ; Kaskaskias, 567, 594 ; Kootenays, 749 Louis;

Mance, Mademoiselle, goes to Montreal, 579, 604.

Marechal, Bishop, 648. Mareuil, Father, 636.

iana, 596;

Mexicans, 55?, 612; Miamis, 567; Mis616; Micmacs, 6o7; Mohawks, 593, 626; souria, Natchez, 544; Kew Mexicans, 543, 615 New York, 631-641 New Caledonians, 755 Nez-perces, 748
; ;
;

Marguerite Bourgeoys, 579, 581-591, 597, 601, 704. Maria Hilf, Maria Stein, 554.
Maria, Santa, ship of Columbus, 642. Marians, 575.

Oregons, 652, 665, 718, 738, 745, 760; Peorias, 569, 695; Seminoles, 544, 613; Siupoils, 749; Sioux, 718, 725, 733, 738; Snakes, 749; Texans, 543, 552, 612; Wyandots, 571 Yellow-knives, 728.
;

Mark, Dominican Father, 543.

Marquette, Jesuit Father, 546, 553 bors, 584; death, 568, 594.
Martin,
St.,
;

sketch of his

la-

Irish emigrants, 553. Iroquois Indians, 557, 559, 561, 574, 678, 593, 620; their Mission, 631-641, 754.

Convent, 687.
594.

Mary Ako,

Mary, Indian

women

so called, 559, 689, 694, 618, 624,

636, 643, 669.

Jackson, General Andrew, 685. Jesuits, the Fathers, 545, 647, 556, 661, 671-675, 593,
627, 738, et passim.

Jogues, Jesuit Father, martyr, 547, 561, 664, 673, 622, 633-635.
Joliet, Sieur, 665.

Joseph, Saint, Vision

Kalispel Indians, 749.

of^

557; Mission

of,

571, 621.

Maryland, 617-621. Mary, Mother of God, her greatness, 542 ; her maternity, 646; channel of prayer and grace, 649; patroness in America, 556 lady sovereign of Montreal, 578; titles of, in America, 615; Indian dcvo-% tion to, 621, 625, 744, 748, 750, 755; Oblates of, 713 her history the history of the Church, 761 ;
; ;

month
Kansas Indians, 747
;

of,

761; Lady of North America, 702, 704;

Missions, 745.

conquests in America, 552. Mary of the Incarnation, 557-504

death, 564, 592. Mary, religions so named, 095.
,

her vision, 557 ; her

Kaskaskias Indians and Mission, 567, 668, 694.

Kentucky Missions, 675. Koetenay Indians, 749. Kryn, Mohawk chief, 636.
Lake,

de, 713-715. Medal, Blessed Virgin Jfary, 552, 696, 626, 668, 708. Meiaskwat, Algonquin chief, 622.

Mazenod, Bishop

Our Lady of the,

667.

Lalomant, Father, martyr, 575. Lalor, Miss Alice, 651.

Lamberville, Father, 637.

Memorare, The, in Indian, 713. Menard, Father, 630.

Mercy, Sisters
of,

070.
of,

La

Prairie Mission, 609, 612, 638. uimy. Bishop, 547.

Laval,

Messiah, Abenaki tradition Mestre, Oblate Father, 733.

503.

Mexico Missions, 652| 012.

640
Mission, 567. Mictriac Indians, 707. Ministers, I)ivine, their characteristics, 645, 646.
Missionaries,

Montmorency

de. Bishop, 685, 612,

Miami

Laverlochere, pblate Father, 717.

Ber, Mademoiselle Jeanne, 599-603, 606. Maitre, Father, his death, 578. Pretre, Seigneur de, 587. Litany of IJlessed Virgin, 618, 667, 679.
I.e

Le Le

English (mde Maryland), 618, French, 545, 571, 594 (uide Oblate, Jesuit,
cities.

619;
etc.)
;

Longouil, Baron de, 606.

Spanish. 543, 61 2^ Franciscan, 647; in Missouri Missions, 610.

548.

Longfellow quoted, 553, 670.

Loretto in North America, 593, 600, 643-646, 675, 682,
695.

Mohawk

Indians, 593, 020.

its

Montmorency, Bishop Laval

Montreal,
{vide Villo Marie).

de, 585, 612, 640. founder, 575; consecrated to Mary, 604

Loniai'ana Missions

and Indians, 596.

Lulworth

Castle, 049.

Morning

Star,

Voyage of the,

664r-669, 758.

Lynch, Bishop, 695.

Moulin, Oblate Father, 736.

INDEX.
Mouth of Mary,

XI

761_.

xu
Soto, Fernando
di, 543, 596 ; his will, 614. Souart, Father, 579, 605, 607. Spanish labor for Mary, 552.

INDEX.
Vetromile, Father Eugene, 712, 760. Vestments, Rare, 601. Verot, Bishop, 547.

Statues of Mary, 544. 587, 593, 607, 624, 640, 648, 662,
671, 685. Hl, 700, 732, 751. Stella Matutina, 663.

Sulpice, St., founded, 576. Sulpician Fathers, 571-578, 604, 607.

Our Laily of, 599. 605, 702, 721. Vignal, Jesuit Father, death, 578. Ville-Marie, 556, 577, 578, 607, 701. Virginia, First Missions of, 544.
Victory,
Visitation of Mary, 590, 697 of, 651.
;

Church

of,

609

Sisters

Tache, Oblate bishop, 717, 720. Tegahkouita, Catherine, the Saint of the Mohawks, 637-639.

Texan

Missions, 543, 572, 612.

Thebais of Ohio, The, 680. Theux, De, Jesuit Father, 758. Tsawent^, Mary, 636.
Ursnlines, their

Wallamette Mission, 669, 753. Wampum for our Lady, 623, 648. AVanbanaki Indians, 709. White Father in Maryland, 619.
Wisconsin, The, Marquette there, 566. Wreck of English fleet, 606.

Wyandots, or Wendat Indians, 571.

Kew

H.nsos hero, 657-560, 663 at Orleans, 596, 6ti2 in Cincinnati, 687 in Galfirst
; ;
;

Xavier,

St. Francis,

669, 743.

veston, 685.

Yellow Fever, 688.

Ventadoor, Duke
of,

656, 671.

Yellow-knife Indians, 728.

TO

HIS IIOLmESS PIUS

THIS WOEK,
NOT FKOM ANY MERIT OF
ITS

IX., p, p.,

OWN, BUT BECAUSE ALL BOOKS ABOUT THE BLESSED VIEGIN

NATURALLY SEEK THE PEOTKCTION OF HIM WHO DOGMATICALLY

DEFINED HEE IMMACULATB CONCEPTION,
IS,

WITH PROFOUND LOVE AND REVERENCE,

INSCEIBED,

BY

HIS

UNKNOWN AND UNWORTHY SON AND 8EEVANT,

THE WRITER,

^
RXuiensmg* S'

)(lWddL

jIIoA4^-

NM.W

TUHK.VlR'l-tll',

IfcTORSTOV

THE LIFE
OP

THE BLESSED YIKGIN,

MOTHER OF
CHAPTER
I.

GOD.

UNIVERSAL EXPECTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN AND THE MESSIAS. In those ancient times which go back to tlie verj' infancy of the world, when our
first

rate for ever a guilty race

tliat

woman

was Mary.

parents,

terrified

and

trembling,

From
that a
evil

that time

it

was a

tradition,

heard beneath the majestic shades of

among the

Eden* the thundering voice of Jehovah, who condemned them to exile, to labour, and to death, in punishment of their mad
disobedience, a mysterious prophecy,
in

woman would come which the woman had

generations before the deluge, to repair the

done.

This

consoling tradition, which revived the hopes of a fallen race, was not effaced

which the goodness of the Creator was visible, even amid the vengeance of an irritated God, came to revive the dejected minds of those two frail creatures, who

from the memory of

men
in

at the time of

their great dispersion

the plains of

Sennaar; they carried with them, beyond the mountains and seas, this sweet and
distant hope, with the worship established by Noe, and the wreck of sciences and
arts saved

had sinned through

pride, like Lucifer.

daughter of Eve, a woman with masculine courage, was to crush the head of
the serpent beneath her
(1) Tlie

from the deluge.^

Later on,
to

feet,

and regeneas well as

when the

primitive rehgion came

be

word Eden, with the Arabs

(2) It is certain that the race of primitive

men,

among the Hebrews, is the name of the terrestrial In Paradise, and of the Paradise of the elect.
Hebrew
it

which was
quainted
pleasures.
little

wild, but not savage, were early acwith the arts analogous to their wants and
.

signifies a place of delights

in Arabic,

a place suitable for feeding flocks.

Scarcely do the childr. groups of men, but we see

of

Adam

form

them

establish

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

weakened, and the ancient traditions were enveloped in clouds, that one of the
Blessed Virgin and the Messias resisted, almost alone, the action of time, and
rose above the ruins of the old creeds,

In China, the Emperor Hoang-Ti is reckoned among the Sons of Heaven.; whose mother conceived by the liglit of a

they were, in the fables of polylike that evergreen shrub which on the ruins of what was once grows Babylon the Great.'
theism,
lost, as

Another emperor, with the deluge, had Yao, contemporary for his mother a virgin, rendered fruitful
flash

of lightning.

by a ray of light from a star. Yu, the head of the first Chinese dynasty, owed
his
life

Indeed,

if

we

traverse
if

the

dij0ferent

light all

a pearl,* that emblem of which fell from oyer the East,

to

regions of the globe,

we search from

heaven

to

the chaste

womb

of a

young

north to south, from west to east, the rehgious annals of nations, we shall find
the promised Virgin, and her divine parturition, to be the foundation of almost
every theogony. In Thibet, in Japan, and in one part of the eastern peninsula of India, it is

Heou-Tsi, the head of the dyvirgin. nasty of the Tcheous, was born without
prejudice to the virginity of his mother, who conceived him by divine operation

one day when she was

brought him
forth

at prayer;
effort

without

and and

god Fo, who, to save mankind, becomes incarnate in the womb of a young
iiie

without defilement, in a deserted cave, where oxen and lambs warmed him with
their breath.'

woman

betrothed to a king, the nymph Lhamoghiuprul, the most beautiful and

The most popular goddess of the celestial empire, Schingmou, conceived by simple contact of a water:

most holy of women.

public worship, manufacture tents, build cities, forge iron, cast bronze, invent musical instruments, and follow the course of the stars. The history of

flower

her son, brought up beneath the

and was miraculously pre-

isted in the ancient city,

served, on purpose that their prophet, Ali, son-inlaw of Mahomet, might tie his horse to it after the
It is an evergreen shrub, and so sacred in those countries that only one more is found of the same kind at Bassora. (Rich's Memoirs.) " The pearl," says Cliardin, "has everywhere (2) a distinctive name; in the East, the Turks and
battle of Hilla.

astronomy must be referred, according to Bailly,

to a people before the deluge, of

whom

all

memory

has perished, and from whom some remains of astronomical science have escaped the general revolutiou. Lalande, who is afraid that tliis assertion should prove too much in favour of the sacred
books, attributes the origin of this science to the Egyptians ; but the Hebrews, who as neighbours, contemporaries, and ancient dwellers among the

Tartars

call it mardjaun, a globe of light; the Persians, niarvid, produce of light." find in the Chi-King two beautiful odea (3)

We

Egyptians, have a claim

to

arbitrate

upon

this

question, decide for Bailly against his opponent, by informing us that the Egyptians owed their first

knowledge of astronomy
the deluge.

(See Josephus, Antiq.

;

to traditions

saved from

marvellous birtli of Heou-Tsi ; and the and paraplirases of the learned on these glozes verses agree in explaining them in a way which makes the resemblance to the divine parturition of " Mary still more striking Every one at his

on

tliis

(1) There the ruin's of Bai)ylon the Persians give it the name of Athele : according to them this tree ex-

of the Jews.) is but one solitary tree found amidst

birth," says Ho-8on, destroys the integrity of liis mother, and causes her the most cruel sufferings. Kiang-Yuen brought forth her son without suf-

"

fering

injury or

pain.

This was because

Tien

Rid^wiy.

THE

BI.3ESSJEB

VIRGIN MAH.T.

MOTHER OP
poor roof of a fisherman, became a great

GOD.

gernath,
world,'

tlie

mutilated saviour of

tlie

man, and worked miracles.

The Lamas
of the virgin

Buddha was born Maha-Mahai. Sommonosay that

and Chrichna, born in a grotto, where angels and sheijherds come to

adore

him

in his

cradle,

Lave each a

khodom, the prince, legislator, and god of Slam, in like manner owes his birth to
a virgin, rendered fruitful by the rays of

virgin for their mother.

The Babylonian woman, Dogdo,

in

sees

the sun.
in the

Lao-Tseu becomes incarnate

and

of a virgin, black, marvellous, The zodiacal beautiful as jasper.

womb

bright messenger Oromazes, who lays magnificent garments at her feet ; a heavenly light falls

a dream

from

Isis of the

Egyptians

is is

a virgin mother.
to bring forth the

upon the countenance of the sleeping female, who becomes beautiful as the DayStar.

That of the Druids

future Saviour.'

Zerdhucht, Zoroaster, or rather Ebrahim-Zer-Ateucht,* the famous prois

The Brahmins teach

takes flesh,

that

when a god

phet of the Magi,

nocturnal vision.

the fruit of this

tyrant Nemroud,*

he

is

born in the
operation;

womb

of a

The

virgin by divine

thus Jug-

informed by his astrologers that an infant,

of the second dynasty of Persia, called the Caiantdes. The Persian historians give him a reign of nearly two centuries, which is certainly rather long. Some

(Heaven) would display ita power, and show how much the Holy One differs from men." " Having been conceived by the operation of Tien," says " who gave another commentator, Tsou-Tsong-Po, him his life by nliracle, he was to be born without

make him a wicked man, who bad the strange

fancy to ascend to heaven in a chest drawn by four of those monstrous birds called kerket, of wliom the

prejudice to his mother's virginity." " Hinc Druidse statuam in intimis penetra(1) libus erexerunt, Isidi sen virgini dedicantes, ex

ancient Oriental

authors

make mention

in

their

qua filius
cap, 13.)
(2)

ille

Redemptor)."

proditurus erat (nempe generis huraani (Elias Sohedius, de Diit Germanis,

After wandering about in the air some time, he fell down again upon a mountain so vioromances.
lently, say the ancient legends of Persia, that it

shaken by
the

it

even to

its

foundation.

was According to

J\iggernath,
is

seventh

incarnation

of

the Persians, this

represented in the shape of a pyramid, " He lost without feet and without hands. them," " because he wanted to carry say the Brahmins, the world, in order to save it." (See Kircher.) " washed with silver :'' (3) Zer-Ateucht signifies

Brahma,

Nemroud had Zerdhucht, whom they confound with Abraham, thrown into a burnaccording to others,
a

ing furnace;

Nemroud was
first

by

religion

Sabean,

and

it

established the worship of

fire.

(D'Herbelot,
of

was he that

Bi-

surname was given to Zoroaster, because, say the Ghebers, he proved his mission to a Sabean
this

bliotheque Orientale, t. iii. p. 32.) The Jews claim for Abraham, the father and stock of their people,
this persecution of

Nemroud, the honour

which

persecuted a bath of melted silver.

prince,
p. 92.)

who

plunging (Seeby Tavernier,

Tavernier
calls

him,

into
t.
ii.

the Persians give to Zerdhucht, their lawgiver. St. Jerom relates an ancient tradition of the Jews,

which declared that Abraham had been

This Nemroud,
is,

cast into

(4)

whom

Neu;

the

fire

by order

of

brout,

as

some

say,

Nimrod,
first

the famous himter

according to others, the

Persians, king of the

tyrant

Zhohac, of the

would not adore it. (Hieron., Qusest. in Genes.) Certain Jewish rabbins, much more modern, confirm this tradition
:

the Chaldeans, because

he

dynasty of the princes

R. Chain ben

Adda
it

relates that
girl

reigned immediately after the deluge. According to the anthoT ol Me/athi aluloum, Nemroud

who

Abraham, having met with a young

carried an idol about her, broke

who
;

to pieces

would be the same

as Caicaous, the second king

complaint was immediately

laid before

Nemroud,

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

not yet born, threatens his gods and his throne, causes all the pregnant women in his dominions to be put to death
:

pain, in a poor stable, like the firstborn of the noble and pious Kiang-Yuen, our

divine Saviour lives in the midst of the

saved by the Zerdhucht, nevertheless, ingenuity and prudence of his mother.' The Macenicans, who dwell in Paraguay,
is

poor classes, like the son of the Chinese

on

tlie

borders

of the

Lake

Zarayas,

and shepherds come to pay him homage, as was done to Chrichna, on the very night of his birth
goddess;
angels
;

that at a very remote period a woman of rare beauty became a mother,

relate

then, after stilling the tempests, walking on the waters, casting out devils, and
raising the dead to
life,

and remained
after

still

a virgin

her son,

he achieves his
five

extraordinary miracles, raised himself in the air one day, in

working

triumphant ascension in presence of

hundred

disciples,

whose

eyes, all daz-

presence of his disciples,

himself into a sun.*

and transformed

zled, lose sight of

cisely as related

him

in a cloud, pre-

by the savage hordes of

the scattered fragments of these mutilated creeds be collected together,

all

Let

Paraguay.
It is surely very strange that these marvellous legends, which have not been taken from the gospel facts, since they

and we
its

shall reconstruct, in almost all

details,

the

history of the Blessed

Virgin and of
gin,

Christ!.

The Blessed
the
royal

Vir-

are incontestably

more

ancient,

should

notwithstanding

blood

which circulates in her veins, is of an obscure condition, like the mother of

Zoroaster
visit of
;

form, when connected together, the actual Can truth then hfe of the Son of God. What are we to spring from error?

like

her

also,

she receives the

think

of

these

curious

resemblances

an angel bearing a message from heaven. Tiie tyrant Nemroud, who was
the worst of a
princes,

Must we

say, with the sneering philoso-

number

of very wicked

phers of the school of Voltaire, and a few German visionaries of rather more

pass for the type of Herod, and as resolutely seeks the death of the

may

modern
Asia
?

date, that the apostles

borrowed

these fables from the various creeds of

young Magian of Mariamne eeks the destruction

infant Jesus
:

as the sanguinary spouse of the

both

let their

Born
forth

of a virgin

who

prey escape. conceives him

brings him

But, not to speak of the jealous care with which the books reputed divine were in those times concealed in the impenetrable not speak
to

during fervent prayer, and

without
defilement

obscurity of the sanctuaries, of the profound horror

and without

which the Jews professed of idolatrous

perfect than the wind.

who

The patrirequired Abraham to adore fire. arch answered very sensibly, that it would be more natural to adore water, which extinguishes fire, the clouds which produced the water, the wind which
collects the clouds,

Nemroud, enraged

at this

bold answer, ordered Abraham to be cast into the fire, which spared him.
(1)

See Tavernier,

loc. cit.

and man, who

is

a being more

(2) See Muratori.

MOTUEtt OF GOD.
legends, and their disdainful contempt the learning of foreigners, how
that Gaul, with

for

impenetrable forests, which concealed, at the western extre-

its

should poor men of the lower class, whose whole knowledge was limited to steering a bark over the waters of the Lake
of

mity of Europe, its mysterious doctrines under the shade of oaks; of the Great
Indies, so imperfectly known under Tiberius ; of that Serica, with its towers of
porcelain,

Gennesareth, and whose nets were

dripping with
its

still

fresh waters

when

to

they were promoted to the apostleship, how should laborious artizans, obliged

provinces did not tempt even the greedy Romans,' how could the apostles have communicated with far distant America, separated from the old continent by its green girdle
of waves,

whose

far-distant

work

for their daily

bread in the midst

of their preaching, have turned over the

sacred books of the Hindoos, Chinese,

Bactrians,

and

lost like

a pearl amidst the

Phoenicians,

and Persians
or

waters.

What
Peter,

likelihood was there that

Simon
that
said

But
had

the

sons

of

Zebedee,

no

I will suppose that the apostles

matter how

knowledge of

austere disciple

of Gamaliel,

who

boldly at Corinth, the rich and learned "

judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and him crucified !" should have
city,

Greek

these ancient myths scattered over every I go further: I admit, part of the globe, aside the native simplicity, the setting
blood-sealed testimony, the exalted sancI admit that, tity of these divine men

snatched from idolatry, which they were sent to destroy, some few of its old shreds,
to join

carried away, as

Rousseau

says,

them on fraudulently

to the life of

ardent glory of their Master, it to their thoughts, for a moment,

by the did occur

to

and so grand. Again, if the question were only of borrowing from the mythic legends of nations borChrist, so simple

embroider the texture of the gospel with certain fabulous circumstances ; even so,
the thing would have been beyond their

such, for example, dering on Palestine, as the Egyptians and Phoenicians, how-

With what face, for example, power. could they have attributed to that Herod

ever unjust the accusation, it would have had at least some colour of probability ;
these briUiant points which go forth from the womb of the darkness of

whom

all

glorious

and

Jerusalem had known, whose tragical reign every one

but no

knew by
witliout

heart, an atrocious deed revived,

idolatry to form, like so

many

little stars,

the glory of the Son of the Virgin, come from places the most remote and least

the least probability, of some unknown king of Persia, who, perhaps, never had any existence but in the imagination of the reveries of the Magi ? If the massacre of the innocents had been
sndors declared that they had been three years op
their journey-

known
(1) It

of the earth.

To

say nothing of

was in the reign of Augustus tliat the people received the first embassy from tlie Seres, whom we now call the Chinese : the ambas-

Roman

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIKQIN,

a story fabricated or copied by the apostles, can any one believe that the Bethlehemites, having such means of knowing what passed in the holy city, the lofty towers of which they saw in the horizon, would not have strongly protested against this audacious falsehood; that

heard the cries of death

it

was because,

at the first attempt to charge the Chris-

tians with falsehood, a whole population would have started up to exclaim, " But we ourselves were there !"*
It is the rition of

same with the divine partuMary with the visit of the shep;

those subtile Pharisees,

who had sought

to ensnare Jesus himself in his speech,

herds sent by the angels; the glorious resurrection and, in fine, with all the
;

would have
refutation
;

let it pass current without or that the Herodians would

have endured with patience

to

have so

prodigies which signalized the coming of Christ. The apostles wrote even in the lifetime of those who had figured in the

black a stain falsely imprinted upon the renown of a prince of whom they had almost made a god,* and who had loaded them with riches and honours ?
If all were silent,
it

scenes which they related they consigned

of the Messias, they

and, before

to w^riting those prodigies

had boldly preached

was because the

fore that

them in the very temple of Jehovah, beimmense multitude of Hebrews

thing was too well proved, too public, too recent as yet to leave the field open to
contradictions
;

from every province, who repaired thither

to sacrifice, or to bring in the first-fruits;

it

was because,

at

two

which would have composed the most

dangerous
audience
in

hours' journey from Jerusalem, were the mothers of those martyrs who had paid

the

world for

them
So

if

they had spoken

falsely.

with their young lives for the honour of having been born at the same time with
Christ;
it

far

from

fearing

contradictions,

which would not have been wanting in

case of imposture, St. Peter speaks to this numerous assemblage like a man
in his writings, speaks positively of
is
it,

was because whole

villages

had seen the murderous

(1)

steel glitter,

and

The

flatterers of

Herod

I.,

dazzled with the

and

this fact

grandeur and magnificence of that prince, mainThis it was that tained that he was the Mestia*.
gave
rise to the sect of tiie
is

in the

Tahnud.

See

how Bossuet answers

those

who deny
more
"

Herodians, of

whom

so

the gospel fact, and never was answer " decisive : Where now are they," says he,
to secure their faith,

much

knew, even in the time of Nero, the birthday of King Herod was celebrated by his followers with the same solemnity as the Sabbath.
(2)

said in the gospel, and whom the pagans since Persius and his scholiast tell us, that

who,

would have

it

that the

profane historians of the time ought to have

made

mention of this cruelty of Herod as well as of others? As if our faith ought to depend on what
the affected negligence or policy of the historians of the world made them say, or leave unsaid, in their histories Let us leave all such feeble ideas ,
!

the " Macrobius,

only

" Neither Josephus nor the rabbins speak of massacre of the innocents," says btrauss.

who lived in the fourth century, is tlie one who says a word about the massacre
Herod."
Strauss
is

human views
the

alone would have suflSced to prevent

ordered by

mistaken

the

Toldos, whence Celsus derived some of the facts isjuriouB to Christianity which he has interspersed

Evangelist from bringing di8cre<lit upon his holy gospel, by recording therein a fact so public, if it Lad not been so certain."

MOTHER OP GOD.
sure of the adhesion of

them

all

he

is

not afraid to appeal to the still recent recollections of those who hear him ; he
affirms those miracles which

the mystery of the Incarnation of a God in the chaste womb of a Virgin is one of
the fundamental points of belief in Asia ; it is not merely accidental that the privi-

marked the

mission of the Son of Mary with tlie seal of the divinity, even before the great
council of the nation, which contributed
its

leged women who bear in their wombs this emanatioii of the divinity are always pure, beautiful, holy; that tliey have

utmost to the crucifixion of Jesus.

the senators of Israel, terrified and
St.

names

And
to

glorious and /uU of mystery, which signify in all the ancient tongues, beauty

furious, ordered

Peter and St. John

expected, virgin immaculate, faithful virgin,

felicity

be scourged, to compel them to keep silence but they do not deny the Tal;

mud owns it

those

of the human race, polar star ; and that they are so like each other, that one

prodigies,

which they

stupidly attribute to magic.

they do not say

Accordingly, the apostles, when dragged before them by the keepers of the temple, " You are dreamers or liai's."
to

would say that they were moulded after some remote pattern, concealed from us
by the night of time. In fine, it is not by mere chance that a ray of light unites tlie divine nature with the human.

They which

say

to

them, with an
proves
1

agitation

sufficiently

their

secret

Hold your peace would you fears, have the people stone us?" To which
.

"

These opinions, where we recognise the stamp of the primitive times, evidently go back to the infancy of the world. The.
antediluvian
patriarchs,

that

chain of

these two men, simple in heart, but great in soul, resolutely answer, " will not

We

aged seeking
blessed

men who
to

lived as long as the cedars, form an idea of that woman,

all

hold our peace

speak, and
it is

God commands
better to obey
is

us to

among

others,

whose mira-

him than
fearless.

men."

Imposture

not thus

culous maternity was to save the human race, figured her to themselves under the
features of
to
; they gave her a majestic and sacred beauty, which could create no other sentiment in the

After examining the acts, the character, and position of the apostles, every impartial man will be forced to admit that

Eve

before her

fall

they were neither deceivers nor deceived,

souls of the children of

religious veneration
lovely star,
;

men

than that of

and that they are no way concerned in those coincidences which are remarked

they

made her a
was

with a

soft,

mysterious, chaste,

between the gospel

facts

and the

tradi-

and

tions of ancient nations,

more or less mixed up with fables. But then, how are these analogies to
be explained ? Is it a game of chance, an accidental concurrence ?
It

veiled light, the rising of which to precede that of the Sun of Justice.

The means by which God causes

dity to

fecun-

descend into her virginal womb,

agree in a striking manner among the Take a different nations of the world.

has not happened by chance that

view of

all tlie

ancient rehgions, you will

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

fire.

see in tliem a sacred

Now
sun

fire

was,

With

this graceful tradition of a

pure

among

the Persians, the terrestrial em;

virgin admitted to celestial nuptials, sur-

blem of the sun

and

tlie

but the dwelling of the Most

glorious tent of the

High the

itself

was

rounded by mystery impenetrable, wag

connected the tradition of a

God

Saviour,

God of heaven} The Hebrews, who shared this

tlie

born of her womb, who was

belief,

to suffer

and

die for the salvation of the world.'

tradition

This

presence, or Schekina, in the lurainoub cloud which

acknowledged

divine

hovered between the cherubim of the

propitiatory;

was not perpetuated, like the other, by means of brilliant and poetical images, but by terror, which resists in a
different
efface
it.

and believed that God was

light as with

way from poetry

all

attempts to

clothed with

a garment,
to

The bloody

sacrifice,

which we

when he manifested himself

solemn occasions.
It

men on

find established

from the most distant

all

was the opinion of

times

among almost

nations,

had no

the synagogue, and the tradition of the temple said, that in the midst of the bush
of wild roses, which burnt without being

other object than to preserve among men the remembrance of the promise of the im-

consumed ou Mount Horeb, where Moses, that gi-eat shepherd of men, was feeding
at the

molation of Calvary it is easy to prove it. Worship, that manifestation of love,

:

that

homage

of gratitude, which
to

Adam
God

time the Arabian flocks of his

a very beautiful face

and Eve were bound

pay

to

father-in-law,

was

immediately after the benefit of their

creation, consisted,

we

distinguished, resembling nothing that see here below and that this celestial
;

no doubt, in Eden, and

offerings of fruits

of innocent prayers

which was brighter than a flame and. more brilliant than lightning, was
figure,

and flowers

alone.*
!

But when, ungrateful

as they were

they had broken the pre-

undoubtedly the image of the eternal After this, it is not difficult to God.*
understand the grounds of the opinion, generally spread, that a luminous ray was
to bring fecundity to the

cept of easy observance, which the Lord had imposed on them as a sweet yoke;

and

solely

womb

of the

Virgin reparatrix,
of nations.

who was

the expectation

lost, they had a with the immortalizing fruits of the tree of life,* their talisman against death,* and

make them sensible Master, when they had

to

tliat

they descended from the charming slopes

(5) God could attach to plants certain natural virtues with reference to our bodies, and it is easy to believe that the fruit of the tree of life had tlie

is

(1) The Persians suppose that the throne of God in the sun, says Hanway, and hence their vene-

ration for that luminary. (2) Philo, Life of Moses.

(3) This tradition
Ciiina.

(See

is

found
of

in

the sacred books of

entitled,

the

work

F. Premare,

power of renewing the body by an aliment so well proportioned and so efficacious, that by making use of it, men would not have died. (Bossuet, Elev. sur

Selecta qusedam vestigia prsecipuorum Christianas

religionis

les

Myst.,

t. i.

p. 231.)

dogmatum ex

antiquis libris eruta.)

lib. ii.

(6) !Man

was never immortal

in this

world

in the

(4) Porphyr., de Abst.,

same way as the pure

spirits, for

a body formed

MOTHER OP GOD.
of

Eden

to a land bristling with

brambles

not the smallest connexion with the vows

of which they were obliged to the virgin soil for their support, open they added to the wild fruits and flowers,

and thorns,

and prayers of man, and which the exclusively vegetable diet of the primitive

patriarchs left without any other object but

produced by the land of exile, the firstThis deserves atlings of their flocks.
tention.

murder, must have stirred up in the head of the human race a thousand feelings of
natural repugnance. For a long time these poor creatures, deprived of reason, but

Adam, who

to

perfection

of

form added a soul intelligent and exalted, in which the Lord had planted the germ

and every science, could not be without humanity. His fatal comof every virtue

capable of attachment, had composed in Eden the court of the solitary monarch ;

he

placency towards

Eve

exhibits

him

to us

them at the same table, slept on the moss of the same bank, quenched
sat with

as loving even to weakness,

and thereby

his thirst at the

same fountain, and

his

susceptible in the highest degree of soft

and benevolent

afiections.

How came

it

prayer ascended to heaven at sunrise and sunset together with the warbling of the
birds,

then into his mind that the Creator could be pleased with the violent death of his creature, and that an act of destruction
could be an act of piety ? The immolation of animals, which has
tliist must naturally return to dust he was so by a favour unexampled, and granted conditionally, which exalted him and maintained him in a position

who seemed

also to be singing their

morning or evening hymn. These companions of his happy life, involved in his
misfortune, shared in his banishment:*

some, yielding
a

to savage instinct,

which

from

frail and perishable creature, subject to the laws which govern created bodies when the antidote fails, it is plain that poison kills. Again become
:

very superior to his ])roper sphere. Immortality here below was never acquired by man by right of
birth
;

every terrestrial body must perish by the

:

Adam begot children like himself: the children must follow the condition to which their father had fallen. In this God did the human race no
mortal,

dissolution of its parts, unless a special will of the Creator opposes this such divine will was manifested in favour of our first parents.
in the delightful

wrong

we

are mortal by our nature

he has

left

us

such as we were.

God

planted,

garden where he had placed mortal

man, the tree of life plant of heavenlj* which had the property of repelling death,
laurel,

when own hands

(1)

a gratuitous favour, the subject of such favour tears up with his

To withdraw

the deed which confers

it is

it

upon him,

is

origin,

not cruelty,

justice.

as the

We

know

not exactly the time which

;

Adam

according to the ancients, repels lightning.

To

this

tality of the tree,

mysterious tree was attached the immorhuman race afar from this protecting
;

and Eve remained in the earthly Paradise yet this abode must have been of some duration, and thug Milton understood it, whom we do not quote here
in his character of a poet, but as a profound orienIf we recollect, moreover, that it was ia talist.

death recovered his prey, and man fell back from the height of heaven into his miserable coating

of clay. that

(Aug.,
No

Quaest. Vet. et

Nov. Test.

q. 19,

Eden
their

that

Adam
all

p. 450.)

God

Adam

one, I imagine, will call in question acted upon his just right in banishing from the earthly Paradise after his dis-

names

learned to distinguish ami call by the birds of the air, all the beasts of

the earth,

all

the fishes which

swim

in the

waters

obedience; but banishment involved the sentence of death upon man and his posterity ; without the tree of life, he was no longer anything better than

that there he learned the virtues of plants, and what to teach him ot the course of God

the stars,

thought proper we shall conclude that

of one day.

this

was not the

work

The

Persians and Chinese

make

10

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIKGIN,

itself in

had not declared

Paradise, fled

from him

it

was not an act of choice,

into the depths of deserts

and the hidden

but of painful obedience.

it?

Who
it

imposed

caves of mountains, whence they soon

declared war unto death against their old

He

alone to
life

whom

dispose of

and death

God.

belongs to

master

'others,

inoffensive

and gentle
by

Adam committed
its

a fault so

enormous

creatures, settled

round about the grotto

they offered their
fleeces,
satisfy
tlieir

aggravating

circumstances

and

of their lord, to

whom

milk,
tlieir

their

labour,

and
his

disastrous consequences, that to express its full enormity, the Hebrew tradition
relates that the
horror.'

melodious concerts, to

sun was darkened with

attacked

wants and charm away his sufferings. Well, it was among the ranks, not over

Satan
at

strength,

the

him in his time when he knew

;

numerous, of these humble friends, who had remained faithful to him in his
distress,

nothing, as yet, but good recent impression of the

in the

most

beautiful abode of the earth, under the

that

Adam
;

chose and marked

immense
if

benefit

out his victims

it

was in the throat of

its

of his creation, free, happy, tranquil, im-

the heifer, which exhausted

feed
in

him of the dove, which took shelter his bosom when the vulture hovered

udder

to

mortal, and capable of resisting

he had

in the air

of

only pleased. was that he

From
fell

this high position it

into the frightful abyss

the lamb, which

left its

of disobedience
justice of

and ingratitude.
the offence
:

The

flowery pasture to come and lick his hand, that he had the heart to plunge

God demanded

a punishment

proportioned to

man was
;

the knife.
yet
in

Ah

when man,
at

unskilled as
his
feet a

condemned

to die a double death

and

killing, stretched

poor creature, gentle and timid, which struggled in a tide of blood amidst the

there was no hope for the human race, if a divine Being, predestined before the
birth of time to the
tion,

work of our redempto

satisfy for

chokings of agony,

he must have stood

had not undertaken

pale and dismayed, like the assassin after This thought came not his first murder
1

us

all.

From

that time he was called

the Messias, and revealed as a Saviour at

the

first

man dwell

in Paradise for several centuries.

According to the opinion of the he remained there only half a

;

Arabs and rabbins, day but this half

;

his

animals subject to his sceptre, and to attach him to humble subjects by the bonds of habit.
(1) It is in

memory
light,

day of Paradise is equivalent, according to them, to five himdred.year8 for one day of Paradise answers to a thousand years. This space -of time is too
long, according to
lieved that Cain,

sight of which,

of the sin of Eve, at the according to the Jews, the sun that the Jewish

withdrew
specially

his

women

are
in

commanded

to light lamps, whicli

burn

oar ideas.

It is
is

commonly

be-

closely connected, in Genesis, with the expulsion of his parents, was born in the year 13 of the creation, which would fix

whose birth

" It every house during tlie night of the Sabbath. " that the women is just," say the Hebrew doctors, should rekindle the torch wliich they have extin-

guished, and that they should be burtliened with

this

the abode in Paradise at about twelve years. This term, though rather short, would have suflSced for

punishment
liv. vii. c.

in expiation of their sin."

(Baa-

nage,

13.)

the

first

man

to establish his authority over the

MOTHER OF
that very moment when the voice of God, " that voice which breaketh down the

GOD.

11

his

remembrance the great victim of

Calvary.

pronounced the sentence of the " three guilty ones. Because thou hast
cedars,"

Thus, then, the institution of the bloody sacrifice, which was no human
invention,

done

this," said

God

ducer,

who proudly

the serpent selifted up his liead

to

reposed

in

reality

upon a
it

thought of the divine mercy; since

from our ruin, " the seed of the woman, that is, a fruit produced from her, shall
bruise thy head."

perpetuated among all nations that tradition of the Messias, without which the

work

of redemption

would have been a

The Hebrew tradition adds that God, moved by the repentance of our first parents, revealed to them by an angel
that a just man should be born of them, who 'should destroy the pernicious effects of the fruit of the tree of knowledge,' by

benefit lost,

God matures
as
for
;

his counsels in the course

of ages, for a thousand years are with

him

one day but man is eager to obtain, man endures but a short time. It

means

of a voluntary oblation,

and that

appears that Eve liad concluded, from the words of the angel, that she should be
the mother of this Redeemer promised to her, and that in this thought she showed
transports of extraordinary joy in bringing
forth

he should be the salvation of those who

should place their hope in him.* On the other hand, the Arabian traditions inform
us that God, who
ciful,
is

indignant and mer-

Cain,'

whom

slie

took

for

her

was pleased

to

make known

to

man
This

Saviour.

Undeceived

by the

perverse

the

mode

of imploring his pardon.

worship, revealed by God, was certainly

sacrifice

inclinations which he showed, she transferred her hopes to Abel, that so much

a ceremony at once

commemo-

beloved son, whose the mourning and

name

recalls to

mind

rative, expiatory, and symbolical; by which man confessed that he had deserved

tears of his mother;*

death, and by substituting innocent victims in his stead, recalled perpetually to

then to Seth;" but in vain, for the gates which angels guarded with fiery swords

opened
his

to

her no more.

The just

of the

(1) It is generally supposed among Christians, that the tree of knowledge was an apple-tree the Persians, on the contrary, maintain that this fatal
;

proper name.

signifies traitor,

wards.

(Savary,

The surname of may have been given

in a note to c.

Cain, which
to

him

after-

5 of the Koran.)

In our days, the German Eich" a species of manchineel. Making due deduction from the marvellous which surrounds " the the fall of man," says the rationalist writer, fact remains that the constitution of the human
tree

was a

fig-tree.
it

horn makes

ac(4) Abel, which the Arabs write Hahel, is, cording to them, only the surname of that youthful shepherd who was the first type of Jesus Christ

In

fact, it

puts us in

mind

of that sorrowful event

body was,
fruit."

by (Eichhorn's Argeschichte.)
liv. vi. c.
is

at first, vitiated

the use of a poisonous

which threw the family of Adam into mourning, and properly signifies, says Savary {loco citato), " He has left by his death a mother in tears."

(2) Basnage, (3) Cain

25, p. 417.

thors

Cahel by all the Arabic authis name, which means the Jint, is perhaps
called

Abel

the name of Josephus, in like manner, says that (Antiq. Jud., p. 4.) signifies mourning. liv. vi. c. 25. (5) See Basnage,

13
race of Seth, those
plative

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN,

pure and contemcalls

men, whom the Scripture

which revived under favourable promises, were eager to re-establish the worship
practised by Enos.

the sons of God, and

the Assyrian legends call genii, flattered themselves a for the long time with the same hope
;

whom

Noe added

to it

the

seven

precepts which

bear his

name,

without forgetting those historical and

religious traditions

Jewish tradition represents them to us as wandering about the heights bordering

istence before the flood

to collect.

which his long exhad enabled him

on the garden of Eden,' the gigantic cedars" of which they admired with sighs,

He

told of

man

being formed
fall,

of the earth, of his rebellion, his

his

and where they flattered themselves that one of their just ones would enable them again to enter. But it was not the name
of a virgin of the primitive times which was written in the immutable decrees of

future restoration, for which

the world

would be indebted
turition of a

to the miraculous par-

new Eve.

At the

sight of

the bloody sacrifices offered for the unexpiated fault of their first fathers, he

the Eternal

and the

earth, yet trembling

under the divine malediction, stood in need of being washed as by the ablutions
of a baptism, before the feet of Him who was to bring good tidings on the mountains should leave

taught his descendants to lift up their eyes to a more august victim, seated at
the right

hand

of

heights the oblation of heifers and lambs was

of heaven,

Jehovah in the starry a victim of which

upon them

their sacred

but the

figure.^

impression. "When the

had absorbed the waters of the deluge, and the winds had dried it up, the new family of mankind,
earth
(1)

first faithfully preserved these primitive notions, which are constantly met with as the foundation of all

The

nations at

creeds.*

They

built altars

at the

con-

The Arabic

traditions

place the terrestrial

(2)

The

great cedars of

Paradise in that beautiful valley of Damascus, which

the oriental poets designate by the name of the Emerald of tlie Desert. Its admirable situation, its

traditionally in the

Eden have remained Hebrews, who memory

of the

have made the terrestrial Paradise t';eir paradise. In most of their epitaplis we read these words
"

beauty,

its fertility, justify this

idea

and a learned

commeTitator on Genesis has not hesitated to consider this beautiful site as that of the garden of Eden, although the names of the Euphrates and the

has gone down into the garden of Eden, to those who are among the cedars" (Basnage, t. v.

He

liv. vii.)

Tigris indicate

a rather different situation.

In

support of this Arabic tradition there is shown, at half-a-day's journey from Damascus, a high mountain of white marble, overshadowed by beautiful
trees,

old law bears throughout the character and death, as a figure of the new law established and confirmed by the blood of Jesus Christ."
(3)

"

The

of blood

(Bossuet,
The
the earth.

Elev. sur les Myst.,

t.

i.

p.

428.)

where there

is

a cavern, which

is

looked upon

Indians, Chinese, Peruvians, and Hurons (4) acknowledge that the first man was formed from

as the dwelling of Adam, Abel, and Cain ; there is also seen the sepulchre of Abel, which is much

The Brahmins, who make enchanting

respected by the Turks

cide

was committed

is

the place where the fratrimarked by four columns.

pictures of their choream (paradise), place in it a tree the fruit of which would confer immortality, if
it

were allowed

to eat of

it.

Tlie Persians relate

first

(D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, pp. 772, 780; F. Pacifique, in his Commeutaires sur la Bible.)

that the evil genius

Ahriman seduced our

parents under the form of a make.

The

history of

MOTHER OP GOD.
fluence of rivers, in the shade of forests,

13

on the summits of mountains, on the shores of the green ocean, and on the sandy downs where the wormwood expands
desert.
its

rainbow display in the cloud as if to remove all fear from the children of men

and benign colours, where the green of the emerald united with the blue
its

soft

leaves
soft

to

the

winds of the

of the sapphire
this

this

happy prognostic,

The

moonhght from the

beginning hghted those rustic temples, which had no other boundaries than the
horizon, no other ceiling than the sky with all its stars. At that far distant
period,

appeased, diminished, but could not banish, a terror

beautiful sign of a

God
:

which had taken deep root the tower of Babel is the proof. This gigantic monu-

ment
its

God was

worthily adored, and

of human pride concealed beneath insolent defiance an immense amount

It

with ideas so exact, so sublime, so uniform and so simple, that they evidently
could be traced up to himself.
Nevertheless, an element of superstifounded upon the terrible tious terror,

of fear.

was as a

fortress of refuge

against the occurrence of a

new

deluge,

which that race, which began already to be corrupt, felt that it again deserved.

And when
the

the confusion of tongues forced

to

and recent remembrance of the drowning of the globe, a remembrance visible, traces
of which are found in

descendants of Noe

disperse,

when they saw

as
it

their precaution, offensive

most of the

gious festivals of antiquity,'

reli-

was

to the

like a prin-

Lord, turn
only the
afresh.
It

to their confusion,

sworn clemency of the they were

ciple of destruction, crept into the post-

more disposed
as

to

be alarmed

diluvian worship. Herded together on the elevated plains of Caucasus, and the mountains of Armenia, the descendants
of

must be owned,

some excuse

for

Noe had long

refused, with an obsti-

nacy which the authority of Noe himself had been unable to conquer, to go down
so much did they again into the plain In vain did the dread a second deluge
;
!

them, that the earth presented at that time a spectacle but little encouraging the whole economy of creation was in
;

confusion.

The

rivers,

formed and putrid marshes^ water

their courses,

straying out of immense fens of

in the vast

the

woman

deceived at the foot of a tree, of the

first

anger of God, and of the

dition

fratricide,

was a

tra-

us proofs of this dis(2) History has preserved read in after the deluge. placement of rivers

We

among

our

fall

vellous

The the Iroquois. to a plant as sweet as honey, and of marbeauty ; the Thibetans, to the fault of
Tartars attribute
:

Strabo, b.

ii.,

that the Araxes, which waters

Ar-

having tasted the dangerous plant schimce, sweet and white as sugar the knowledge of their state of nudity was revealed by this fruit. The tradition of the woman and the serpent was equally known in Mexico, &c. (See Le Christ devant le Siecle,

without any outlet, and inundated the country, when Jason, the chief of the Argonauts, which the Araxeaopened a subterranean channel, by flowed into the Caspian Sea. In the celebrated
menia, was
still

by M. Roselly de Lorgnes,

c. 9.)

devoilee. (1) See Boulanger, Antiq.

Yao says Chou-King of Confucius, the Emperor that the waters, which formerly rose up to heaven, and still bathed the feet of the highest mountains, made the plains which they overflowed incapable of cultivation. (Freret, Chron.des Chinois, l^re partie.)

14

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED VmGTN,

the hour of need that sacred, but terrible wrath. Noe had spoken of a Being

plains which before the deluge were rendered full of animation by the graceful
tents of the shepherds.

The

cedars lay

powerful and divine, whose tender love

for

extended along the sea-shores, whilst the spoils of the ocean were found on the

men was

infinite,

who was

to plead

their cause before the Eternal,

and take
this

summits of high
covered with snow.

mountains

eternally

their crimes
this

upon himself; but who was

-

Nothing was seen

anxiously

desired

Mediator,

on

all sides

but towers levelled with the

silent

powerful

friend ?

He

was

no

longer

turf/

and towns

and in

ruins.

The

ploughshare everywhere struck against bones and rubbish. The vengeance of provoked heaven had weighed heavily upon
the

known. The descendants of Sem thought they liad found him in the stars which charmed their solitary vigils, and which
they supposed to be animated by celestial intelhgences;* they entreated those intelli-

human

race,

in a

manner

so overstill

whelming

that

man, whose heart was

beating with fear at the remembrance of the perils which he had encountered,

gences to protect them, and lighted fires on the heights of mountains in their honour.*

This was the origin of Sabeanism, which

degenerated into idolatry, when the reprobate race of Cham, attaching themselves to the material object, adored
fire,

dread his sovereign Master with great fear, than to love him with confiding affection he was afraid of
felt

more disposed

to

God
his

He
is

distrusted his

promises and

water, earth, agitated air; and, insolently

goodness.
for

Jjike

the

shipwrecked

deriding the worship practised by Noe,

man who

drowning, he sought eagerly

who knew nothing

of gold to the sun.*

of images, consecrated

around him

something to help him, which might interpose and conjure in

The tower
of Babel, bo near to the great give some idea of antediluvian archithey had employed in it brick and bitu-

statues of silver to the

moon, and statues

(1)

de Somniis
c. i, p.

Maimonides, More nevocliim,

pt.

ii.

dehige, tecture

may
;

194, et de

Fundam.
still

legis, c. 3,

11.)

The

men. If, as everything leads us to believe, this immense tower resembled the ancient and famous tower of Bel, at Babylon, it was surrounded by a staircase outside, of gentle ascent, which rose spirally
to the platform, and gave this edifice the appearance of seven towers heaped up one upon another. (2) It is a very ancient belief in the East that

modern Persians moon.

(3)

sacrifice to the

angel of the

According
;

adore the sun

to

them

thank God in the heavens

R. Bechai, the Sabeans did not they only lighted fires on the earth for the torch which he lighted up for
to
;

stars,

and when they looked at the they besought the angels whom God has

the stars are living creatures

the Jewish doctors

had

fallen into this error,

which was of much older

Philo said that the stars

placed there to move them to be favourable to them. (R. Bechai, Gonim. in Genes., c. 1.) The fires still lighted in almost every country in Europe,

origin tlian their people.

were

intelligent creatures,

who had never done any

and which in France are remnants of Sal'eanism.

called fires of St. John, are

barm, and were incapable of any. According to Maimonides, the stars knew God who made them,

knew
and

themselves, and their actions are always good

holy.

(4) The ancient Arabs, descended from Cham, despised Noe because he did not serve images ; they consecrated statues of silver to the moon, and

(Philo.,

de Mundi Opificio, de Gigant.,

statues of gold to the sun

they divided the metals

MOTHEE OF
As time went
ened
rites
;

GOD.

16

on, the darkness thick-

the Incarnation of the

primitive revelations of
tragical destiny.

rehgious systems were loaded with the worship of the true God was gradually mixed up with that of the stars
;

Word, and the his exalted and

and the elements

the invention of hiero;

Thus, we maintain, those analogies are explained which at first appear iucomprehensible. All the nations of polytheism, however, did not take the mystery of the Messias
for

and glyphics completed the confusion the few truths which escaped the subverhidden
sion of religious belief were mysteriously in the recesses of idolatrous sanctuaries, like sepulchral lamps,

an accomplished

fact.

The Druids,

which burn

only for the dead.

assiduously
lavished

They were withdrawn

the
multitude,'

from

who
on

immediately before the Christian era, still erected, in the dark forests of Gaul, an " altar to the Virgin who was to bring

their

senseless

adorations

and animore degrading worship, and which ended by placing their vices and Then it was that passions in heaven.
stones, trees, rivers, mountains,

mals

still

The Chinese, taught by Confucius, who had himself found this oracle in ancient traditions, expected the " Holy
forth."

One, born of a virgin and Son of God, who was to die for the salvation of the
^

impostors, speculating dulity, confounded or

so

upon human
purposely

cre-

world,"

in the western regions of Asia,

after

broke

and sent
less

him, by a solemn embassy,

the thread of patriarchal traditions which

loosely together, and already hung audaciously substituting remembrance for

than half a century after the death of

the

Man-God.

The Magi, on

the faith

of Zerdhucbt, studied the constellations

to find there the star of Jacob,

hope, assembled around the cradles of their fabulous kings, their false pryphets

which was

to guide

and powerless

divinities, the

wonders of

them to the cradle of Christ.' The Brahmins sighed after the avatar* of
man, will renew the world, change the manners, expiate the sins of the world, die overwhelmed with grief and opprobrium, and open tlie
culous
gates of heaven.

and climates among the stars they believed that they have great influence over things which are devoted to them, and to the images consecrated to them.
;

(Maimonides, More nevochim,

known
to the people.

pt. iii. c. 2, p. 423.) of the God who formed the (1) Plato, speaking universe, says that he is forbidden to make him

(See Kedempt. du genre humain.) Abulfarage (Ilistoria Dynastiarum) says tiiat (3) Zerdhucht foretold to the Magi the birth of tlie
jMessias,

Tiie books of

Numa,

written
in his

born of a virgin

he added

that, at tlie

upon tlie tomb many ages

bark of the birch-tree, and found

after his death,

were secretly burnt

time of his birth an unknown star would appear, which would conduct tliem to his cradle, and he
to carry him presents. Sharistani, a Mussulman author, relates in like manner a pro-

as dangerous to polytheism. if certain travellers are to

The Brahmins, who,

be believed, have a

commanded them

sublime idea of the Divinity, make the Hindoos nevertheless adore the most hideous idols that ever
existed.

to a great propliet who should reform the world, as well in the matter of

phecy of Zerdhucht, relating

The

true religion alone has treated

men

as immortal and rational creatures.

religion as in that of justice, and to whom the princes and kings of the earth should be subject.
.

According to the ancient sages of China, the learned Schmitt, the Holy One, the mirasays
(2)

incarnation of (4) Avatar, the fabulous

divinity.

a Hindoo

16

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGDr,

purify the world from prayed for him to Wichnou, as
to

him who was

sin,"

"

Messias.

We

have also

said,
it,

and the
that this

and

Jewish traditions confirm

oracle was

upon his altar, sparkling with precious stones, odoriferous tufts of basil, the favourite plant of the Indian god.
they laid

more

particularly explained,

in the sequel, to the exiles of

Eden, when

they were reconciled to heaven by repentance.^

The proud sons

ters

of

Romulus, those idola-

Noe, who was constituted by

God

by pre-eminence, wlio had created whole legions of gods, read in those

heir of the faith,* transmitted these revelations to

hooks of the

Cumean

Sibyl,

contemporary

with Achilles and

Hector, so jealously and politically guarded, " the virgin, the divine child, the adoration of the shep-

long life those of his ancestors, nearly equalled might have repeated them to the father
;

Sem and Sem, whose

of the faithful.

Then

terious benediction,

was that a myswhich comprised the

it

herds, the serpent vanquished, and the golden age restored to the earth." In

promise of the Messias, announced that the blessed germ promised to Eve should
be also the germ and
ofiset of

towards the time of the Messias, all the nations of the East were in expectafine,

Abraham.

The

primitive

traditions

are soon suc-

and Boulanger, who thought better of it on his deathtion of a future Saviour;

ceeded by the grand prophecy of Jacob. The dying patriarch, who has beheld in
spirit the condition of the twelve tribes

general this expectation was, illogically calls it an universal chimera.'

bed, after showing

how

when they
announces

ihall
to

have been in Palestine, his sons, assembled round

But what were these pale glimmerings, too weak to dissipate the darkness of
compared with the stream of which illuminated the elect people light
idolatry,

his death-bed, that

Juda has been chosen,

among

all

his brethren, to be the stoclc of

the kipgs of Israel, and the father of that Shiloh so often promised, who is to be the

of

God?

We

are struck with astonish-

ment

at the sight of this chain of profirst

phecy, the
is

link of which

hangs on

King of kings, and the Lord of lords. The coming of Christ is designated in a precise manner he shall spring up from
:

to the infancy of the world, while the last

fastened to the

tomb

of Christ.*

The

the midst of the ruins of his country, when the schebet (the sceptre, the legislative authority) shall

threat of Jehovah
includes, as

to the infernal serpent

be in the hands of

we have

already observed,

the stranger."

the
(1)

first

of the oracles relating to the

unaiiiniouB testimony
is

The prophet saved from the

for the

waters,

"An

of the gre.atest

time of thb Messias.

ii.

(St.

Cypr. de Vanit.

" for there weight," says Bernardine de St. Pierre, cannot be npon the earth an universal error."
(t^tiides

Idol.)

(3) Basnage,
(4)

t.

iv. liv. vii.

de

la

Nature, etude

viii. p.

398.)

Epist. St.

P. ad Hebr.

(2) It is a tradition taught in the synagogue, and admitted as true by the Church, that all tlie

prophets, without one exception, prophesied solely

apply this revelation of Jacob to the Messias, and prove from it to the Jews that he must have come long ago, since for eighteen cen(5) Christians

MOTHER OP GOD.
who was
divinely called to
collect

17

and

him

of

whom Moses

in the law

and the
son of

consign to writing the history of the first

ages and ancient
race,

traditions of the

human

prophets did write, Jesus Joseph of Nazareth."

the

traditions,

the

memory

of which

was
not

still

fresh

among

the nations,

does

Towards the end of the mission of Moses, and whilst Israel were still enBalaam, whose curses a Moabite prince had bargained

lend the support of his imposing " testimony to the prophecy of Jacob: The Lord thy God," said he, speaking to the
fail to

camped

in

the

desert,

for in the Valley of Willows,^

came

in his

people of God, "will raise up to thee a prophet of thy nation, and of thy brethren,
like unto thee:

turn to confirm the expectation of the Messias, and to designate in a clear and
precise

him thou

shalt hear.

And

he that
shall

will

not hear his words whicii he

speak in
*

my name,

I will be the

great epoch of liis coming. Standing upon the rocky summit of Phogor, surrounded by victims slain for
sacrifice

manner the

revenger." Now the synagogue always understood this very clear text as referring to the

of

hatred,

in

sight

of

the

accursed lake and the barren mountains

of Arabia, the soothsayer from the banks
of the Euphrates,

Philip applies it, to our divine Redeemer when hesitation, " We have found
;

Messias

St.

without

moved by the
;

spirit of

God, perceives, as with the eye of a

dream,' a wonderful vision
his expres-

he says

to Nathanael,

turies their tribes

have been intermixed,

their sacri-

fices abolislied, their political existence extinct; that

Paraphrase of Jerusalem also adopts this opinion. Thus the most ancient, most authentic, and most
respectable commentaries among them supply victorious arms wherewith to combat them.
(1)
tlie

they no longer possess a territory, nor princes of tlieir nation, and that in all the places where they are dispersed they submit to the laws of foreign
nations.

Jews

eluJe the force of this argnnient, the maintain now a days, that the word schebet,

To

Hence comes that hope of a new law which Jews expect with the Messias, a law which

which we translate by sceptre, equally signifies the and they set out rod which chastises the slave from this to maintain that, even if this oracle did
;

(Medrasch-Uabba,

" The law they place far above that of Moses. which man studies in this world is but vanity," say " in comparison with that of Moses." their doctors,
in Eccl. xi. 8.)

refer to the Messias, all that could be concluded

from

it

would be that
till

their chastisement

endure

his

coming,

who was

to deliver

would them

(2) Tlie plain of Babylon, intersected by rivers and canals, and on that account very marshy,

from it. In fine, they deny that the word Shiloh can be translated Messias. But their ancient books this prophecy is understood of contradict them the Messias in the' Talmud; and this is how the
;

abounded in willows. Hence it is called in Scripture the " Valley of Willows." (3) If we did not know that the prophecy of

Balaam
it is

is

very ancient, the very manner

sufficiently indicate
it.

in

which

made would

Balaam,

Paraphrase of Onkelos explains this passage : " Juda shall not be without some one invested with

the Chaldean astrologer, does not prophesy like the seers of Juda he requires a vast horizon, whence he
;

supreme authority, nor without

of her children,
till

scribes of the sons

the Messias shall come."

Jonaplace

the sky; he perceives at once the earth, the sea, and expresses himself like a man who relates to himself

than,

to

whom

the

Jews assign the

first

among the disciples of Hillel, and whom they reverence almost as Moses, translates scliehet in the same

the things that he sees at the moment when he speaks, and which make the strongest impression upon him.

way by

principality,

and Shiloh by Messias

the

This kind of prophecy somewhat resembles what the Scotch highlanders call second sight.

18

THE LH^ OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Messias are confided to tradition, which
retains

by solemn pauses, are thrown out without order and without art
sions, inteiTupted

them
contest,

faithfully, or

upon

tlie

winds of the mountains, hke

of

the sacred law.

scure

deposited in Israel maintains an obincessant

fragments sation held in a low tone with powers " invisible: I shall see him, but not now.
I shall behold him, but not near.
shall
rise

some mysterious conver-

but one

and

furious, against those idolatrous nations

star

which surround and press upon his tribes at times he gives way to that strange
;

out of Jacob, and a sceptre

shall spring

strike the chiefs of

up from Israel, and shall Moab." Incoherent

propensity which draws him into idolatry, and then the fatal sword of the Amorrhite

words are followed by a magnificent, but

unconsciously drawn in the Lord's cause, and avenges unin-

and the Moabite

is

gloomy picture of the conquests of the

kingly people. that the prophetic vision exhibits
at the highest point of its colossal
It is

tentionally the injury done to the

God
for-

not without purpose

of Jacob.

But during these varied

Rome
power;

then

it is

that Christ

is to visit

the earth,

people do not forget the coming of Christ they live in the faith of the Messias ; in default of new revetunes,

the

and immolate himself

disgraceful tree.

for

us upon the

lations, their very life

The prophet

epoch of blood in

paints this colours one strong

;

Institutions, political

becomes prophetic. and religious, local

would say that cities and empires yet unborn present themselves to him on the
mirage of the desert.
fleet of

customs and private manners, all tend to the same object, all flow from the same
source, all are connected with the generation of the Saviour, born of a virgin
of Juda.

He

beholds the

the Caesars leaving the ports of Italy, and directing its prows, favoured by victory, towards the flat shoi-es of the Syrians
;

was the coming of the Messias, which the prophet Samuel came to pray for on his knees, in the holy of
It

he sees the ruin of that Judea

not to be in existence
till

holies,

before the
;

Schehina,

his

bright

which
after,

is

long

and divine emblem

priests,

as did also the high

after another,

and where the people of God as yet

who succeeded one

possess nothing but a few sepulchres which they can call their own ; in fine, he
follows with his eye the
fall

later on, in the

is

temple of Solomon. It with the expectation of the Messias

of the Roijian

that that law of

eagle, seven hundred years before the birth of the sons of Ilia, and when the

Deuteronomy is conwhich provides that the brother nected,

shall raise

up a heir

to his brother

wild goats of Latium are browsing peacefully upon the shrubby declivities of the

has died without children, that his may be preserved in Israel. It is that
lost

who name

seven

hills.

hope of being related one day, more

roll on, and other ages after without any other promises from them, Jehovah ; but the oracles relating to the

Ages

or less remotely, to that heavenly envoy,

which causes that young and meek virgin of.Galaad to lament on the mountains

MOTHER OP GOD.
of Judea, regret
to

19

who
the

carries with her

no other
sepulchre

had preferred

blood-stained

where her
tinct.'

father's race

has become exso

to the race of Saul, sees the virginity of Mary, and the extraordinary birth of the Son of God. Thy birth,

among woman

general the Hebrews, that the Thecuite

alludes,

It is to

this

belief,

says he, not defiled, like that of the children of men, shall be pure as the
dew.

morning

when denouncing
secret plot

to

Then,

lifting up his eyes

on high,

King David the

which was

he beholds

Him whom God

has given

contriving against her sole surviving son ; she poetizes her fears as a mother, and
at the

him

for his sou according to the flesh,

same time a Jewish matron, by

"

seated on the right hand of Jehovah, on a throne more durable than the heavens

thai touching sentence,

My

lord,

they
is

and the

stars.

seek
leftl"

to

quench

my

spark

which

In the

earlier prophecies, the Blessed

Nothing but the present incredulity of

the Jews could equal in depth the faith of their ancestors. The great concern of
those

Virgin, though always pointed out, was nevertheless a little in the shade, and, so
to speak, in the

background of the

pic-

men

of

ancient
;

times was
those

the
died

ture; but from the days of David, the radiant form of Mary no longer presents
features so irregular,

coming of the Messias

at a period still

who
to

and she who was

to

so remote from that in

which the divine promises were

be ac-

cause the blood of Abraham, of Jacob, and of Jesse the Just to flow in the
veins of the

complished, died in the firm persuasion that they would be one day fulfilled on
;

the threshold of eternity they hailed that hope from afar off, as Moses, the great " land prophet, hailed, with a sigh, that of milk and honey" which the Lord
closed against him. From the time of David, and under

God-Man, is delineated more David had spoken of her virexactly. Solomon delighted in ginal parturition.
tracing her imag.e with sweet strokes of the pencil, which leave far behind the

graceful descriptions of the peris of the East, those smiling and airy divinities

which cross the dreams of the shepherd

sees her rising up in the midst of the daughters of Juda, " as a
of Arabia.
lily

the kings his

children, the

thread of

He

joined again, and the mystery of the Virgin and the Messias is more than ever declared by predictions

prophecy

is

among thorns;" her

"
soft,

eyes are sweet

"

and
lips,

like those of doves;

from her
proceeds like the

magnificent and clearer than the sun. The holy king, whom the God of Israel
Some
rabbins maintain that the daughter of

red

"

as a

scarlet

lace,"

a voice pure and melodious,

(1)

together,

and lament the daughter of Jephte, the

Jephte was not sacrificed, but merely condemned This assertion is contrato perpetual celibacy.
Tliat dicted by that text of Scripture which says from year to year the daughters of Israel assemble
:

"

Galaadite, for four days." (Judges xi. 40.) People Flavins Josephus for a person living. also aflSrms the immolation of the daughter of

do not mourn

Jephte.

(Ant. Jud.,

t.

il 'ib. v.

20

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Elias, in prayer

sound of harps exciting Israel to the combat her step is hght " as the smoke
;

on Mount Carmel,

to

obtain

the

end of that long

drou<-fht

of perfumes," and her beauty rivals in " the rising moon." Her splendour
tastes are simple

and

full of

poetry

she

loves to stray in the fresh valleys, "

where
figs

parches the earth the springs, discovers the up promised Virgin, under the form of a transparent cloud, which rises from the

which

for three years

and

dries

the vines are in blossom," and the

bosom

of the waters to

announce the
of the

appear in knots, like emeralds, on the leafless branches; her eyes perceive the
red buds of the pomegranate, the tree of Paradise,* and she delights in listening to the plaintive strain of the turtle. Silent and retired, she withdraws from
the sight of
all,

return of "rain.

The

blessings

people hail this favourable

augury,^ and the prophet, who penetrates into divine things, builds an oratoiy to the futiire

Queen

of Heaven.*

Isaias declares to

and hides herself in her

the house of David, whose chief, Achab, trembles under the threats of the stranger,
"

" which makes its dwelling, like the dove nest in the clefts of the rock." She is

chosen for a mystical hymen, in preference to the virgins and queens of all
nations; a crown Him " whom

beaten down by a temthat God will give an encouraging pest," a sign of th^ future condition of Judea
like a forest

"

future to be yet long

shall conceive

and

glorious.

her by promised her soul loveth," and the happy band which unites her to her royal " is stronger than death."'' spouse
is

to

; she shall bring virgin forth a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, that is, God with us. This

child, miraculously given

to

the earth,

The orientals give the pomegranate the name " frnit of Paradise." " Can(2) All the holy fathers notice that the ticle of Canticles" is only a continued allegory of
(1)
of

text since Jesus Christ, anxious change the nature of the proofs which condemn them, and obscure the words of the prophet, have contended that the word halma, which is found in
to

commented on the

the Mother of God,

(3)

When

rain

falls in

joy

the people ; they sing, they are full of agitation, and cry out as loud as they can, God! blessed I"

among

Palestine, there is general they assemble in the streets,

Hebrew text, signifies merely a young woman, although the Septuagint has translated it hy virgin. The fathers have triumphantly refuted this objection.
the

"0

(Volney, Voyage en Syrie.)

(4) Tiie oratory which Elias erected on Mount Carmel was dedicated by him to the Virgin who was to bring forth, Virgini pariturce. Tliis chapel was called Semnceum, which means a place consecrated to an empress, who can be no other than Mary, the Empress of heaven and earth. (Hist. du Mont Carmel, succession du Saint Prophete,

The seventy interpreters," says St. John Chrysostom, "are they who most deserve credit; they made their version more than a century before Jesns
Christ; they were

"

many

together; their time, their

far

number, and

their

union render them

more

worthy of credit than the

have maliciously corrupted
Scriptures."
St.
all

Jews

Serm. 4, c. i.) Jerom, the most profound Hebrew scholar of the interpreters and all the commentators of
(St.

many

of our days, who places of the holy

Joan.

Chrys.,

c.

31.)

(6) This great oracle of Isaias has been the subject of a long and perplexing dispute between the

Scripture, pronounces, as ho says, without fear of contradiction from the Jews, that halma, wherever

the

word occurs

in the divine Scriptures, signifies

all

Jews and

the Christians.

The

rabbins,

who have

exclusively a virgin in

her innocence, and no-

MOTHER OF
from the stock of Jesse, a flower sprung from his root.* He shall be called God, the Mighty, the Father of
shall be

GOD.

SI

an

offset

where the subject begun upon the earth

continued beyond the clouds. The ]\Ian of Sorrow, the humble Messias,
is

the world to come, the Prince of peace. He shall stand for an ensign of people,

whom

his

own

relations

have treated

him

the Gentiles shall beseech, and his

with scorn, whom his own people have not known, looks down from the highest

sepulchre shall be glorious." The mystery of the Messias was entirely unveiled to the prophets some of them
;

heavens upon his prostrate enemies

all

the nations of the earth remember their

birth

see Bethlehem rendered illustrious by his others foretell his triumphant

;

The ages nations rally at the standard of the cross, and the empire of Christ shall have no
God, forgotten
for so

many

entry into Jerusalem, and even describe the peaceful and slo\y-paced animal on

bounds but those of the world.

is

Nothing

which he

rides.

They

see

him enter the

wanting to the completion of the prophecies Jacob has determined the com:

temple, that sacred priest according to the order of Melchisedech ; they know the number of pieces of silver which the

ing of the Shiloh at that precise moment when the Jews shall cease to be governed by their own laws, which implies the ruin

butchers of the synagogue will drop into the hand of the base wretch who sells his

master

to

them;^ they see the punish-

Balaam adds that this ruin will be the work of a people come from Italy, and the satrap Daniel reckons up
of a state;
precisely the
to that time.

of slaves, the draught of gall offered to the agony of a God, and the robe,

ment

weeks which are

to elapse

woven by the hands

for

of a Mother, cast lots

"

All that

happens in the world has

it,"

its

; they hear the nails which tear the bleeding flesh, and are

by rude spldiers

sign before
said,

as a

man

of genius has

who now remains

is

driven with a harsh, rough sound into the accursed wood. And then the scene

formidable beneath his tent. the sun

so solitary and so "

When

about

to rise, the

horizon

is

changes, like those pictures of Raphael,

where a married woman.
Is., lib. iii.)

tinted with a thousand colours, and the

words of her Lord and
Surate 66.)
(1) Jesse, called also Isai, his Scriptures."

of "

reallj'

Luther, great learning, cries

for

(Comm. who made so

is

St.

Hieron. in

(Koran,

deplorable use out with the fury

so well

was the son of Obed

and vehemence
If any

which he
Hebraist

known

show me that woman of any hind, any place-a and not a virgin, he shall have from me one hundred florins, if please God I can find them." Mahomet (ffiuvres de Luther, t. viii. p. 129.)

Jew

or

can

His memory is in high veneration among the Hebrews, who regard him as an
accomplished just one. (2) This passage, in which
the exact

and father of David.

halma

signifies in

God

himself states
in-

number
"

famous compact,
terrible irony.
it

of pieces of silver of this bears the impress of bitter

and
Cast

himself has borne

testimony

to

the Mother of God.

"And

the virginity of Mary, daughter of

;

And

the

Lord

said to

me

to the statuary,

Imram, who has kept her virginity and we have sent of our spirit into her, and she has believed the

at

by them.

a goodly price that I was prised And I took the thirty pieces of
xi. 13.)

silver,"

&c. (Zach.

S3
east appears
all

TEE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

on

fire.

When

the tem-

Like

tliat

enchanting figure which an

pest comes, a dull murmur is heard on the shore, and the waves are agitated as
if

antique painter formerly

composed, by

by themselves."

The

figures of the

Old

borrowing a thousand scattered traits from the most beautiful women of Greece, the
in her single person

Testament, as the fathers of the Church acknowledge, are the signs which an-

chaste spouse of the Holy Ghost repeated all that the most

nouuce the

rising of the

and of the Star of the the Son of God, belongs power to Mary, She is the grace and merciful goodness.
;

Sun of Justice To Christ, Sea.

celebrated
ofiered

women

of the

old law

had
and

to the admiration of

their con-

temporaries.

Beautiful

as Rachel

tree of life replanted in the abodes of

Sarah, she knew how to unite the prudence of Abigail with the courageous
resolution of Esther.
as

men

by the hands of

God

himself,

and

Susanna, chaste

the earnest of a happiness preferable to that which our first parents enjoyed in-

the

flower

of

which she bore the

Eden

the olive branch to the earth

tain sealed up, the waters of

the dove of the ark which brings the foun;

name;'' Judith, whose crown of lilies was stained with the blood of Holophernes;*

Axa, whose hand was the prize for a con-

which have

not been defiled by anything impure; the fleece which receives the dew from

quered city and that mother, so great and so unfortunate, who saw all her sons were but faint images die for the law,
;

heaven

in fine, the frail

and odoriferous

of her

who was

to unite

in herself all

bush of wild roses through which Moses the bush, which so perceived the Deity

the perfections of woman and angel. After an expectation of four thousand

years, the time

from being consumed by fire, which destroys all things, was in some measure
far

marked out by

so

many

preserved by
flower from
flame.'

it,

and

lost neither leaf

nor

prophecies arrived at last; the shadows of the old law disappear, and Mary arises
in the horizon of Judea, like the star

contact with

the heavenly

which

is

the harbinger of day.

(1) Philo, who has made this remark, and who discovers in tins burning bush a mysterious alle-

striking

image of Mary, that mystical Rose of the

of Susanna signifies
lili/.

gory, applies it erroneously to the Jewish nation by forced resemblances. Josephus, who sought in
like

new law. (2) The name

ii.

(Favyn,
power of

2.)

manner

ceeded no

to understand this mystery, has sucbetter. Those wild roses, emblematical

(3)

The

ancients attributed to lilies the

of chaste virgins
in solitude,

modest i)erfnme the contact of the Divinity causes to shine without prejudice to the holy puritv
diffuse their

who

and

whom

neutralizing enchantments and averting dangers. " Judith bound her forehead," say the rabbins, " with a wreath of make her that she
lilies,

might

of their white

and

delicate blossom, are the

most

way

into the tent of Holophernes without fear." (Comm. RR. in Judith.)

THE

ILKMtA'Sl/I.ATE

HClSSPTTXtDiH.

MOTHER OP GOD

2d

CHAPTER

II.

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

A WOMAN

destined from

all

eternity to be

the means of saving the world by deifying our nature, and to contain in her chaste womb Him whose " tabernacle is the sun,

any child of but the piety of the faithful could Adam; not bear the idea that the Mother of
should be subject to the disgraceful condemnation which marks us with the
seal of hell in the

no exception

in favour of

God

and who bows the heavens beneath

feet
"

a woman expected from the

his

crea-

wombs

of our motliers

tion of the globe, revealed by God himself in Paradise, and the avowed end of

the holy generations who have succeeded one after the other from the days of the patriarchs,' can be no ordinary
all

they have been persuaded that the Sovereign Judge must have suspended the general effect of his severe law in favour
of her

who came

into the world for

no

creature,

and

must have prerogatives

other purpose than to contribute to the accomplishment of the most secret, most

The pious belief superior to humanity. in the immaculate conception of Mary

flows from this feeling of reverence.

the

incomprehensible of the counsels of

incarnation of the Messias.

God
Not-

scendants

of

an unfortunate

head,

De-

withstanding the silence of the gospel, it has been generally believed that the
Virgin, with a view to her divine maternity, was held back, as it were, on the

degraded by our rebellious father, disgraced by the sentence which condemns him, instead of receiving from him the life of grace, we have received from him
the death of sin, and, by a fearful destiny, we are condemned before we are born.

brink of the abyss which the fatal disobedience of our first parents opened under our feet, and that her conception was

immaculate as her
This
belief,

life.

This misery, inherent in the human race, cursed as one man in its origin, is com-

which the Greeks borrowed

mon

to

all,

and the Scripture has made

from Palestine, and adopted with enthusiasm,' led to the institution of the Feast
but by the virtue of the Most High."
5, contr. Jul. 9.)

the progeny to (1) According to St. Augustin, which all the patriarchs aspire is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ in Mary, to whom alone their

fathers,
(St.

Augustin,

" And in fact," says he, fecundity could extend. "if "nature in all her efforts tends to Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of ages, it is not that she flatters

Son of God by the extent of her power her own power alone stops at the humble Mary, who is to bring forth the blessed germ, uot by the power of her foreherself that she shall attain to the
;

read in the Menologies, so ancient in the (2) the Greeks, these words, which clearly set use of forth their belief in the mystery of tlie immaculate " By a prticular providence, the conception Lord was pleased that the Blessed Virgin should from the first moment of her life, as it be as
:

We

pure,

became her who was to become worthy to conceive and bring forth Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh."

24
of the Immaculate

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Conception, which
at

caused strong light to

point of the
Christ.

fall

on

this obscure

was celebrated with great pomp

In
tlie

Con-

history of the

Mother of
to the

stantinople as early as the sixth century^'

West, on the other hand, this doctrine met with opponents, and powerful ones; for St. Anselm, St. Bernard,
Bonaventure, St. Thomas of Aquin, Albert the Great, and many other learned
St.

And, in
apostles,

fact,

when we go back

we already see the title of most holy and immaculate applied to Mary.' The apostle St. Andrew, quoted by the
Babylonian Abdias, expresses himself in " As the first Adam was these terms
:

and wise personages, all great theologians, and what is more, very devout
to Mary, maintained that she

made

had been
to

was cursed, so the second. Adam was formed of virgin

of the earth before
it

conceived in

sin,

and

subject
shortly

the

earth which was never cursed."

general law," although

after
it

she

The

saints

and martyrs who lived in

had been

entirely purified

from

by

a special and surpassing favour, which begun her glorious state of Mother of

the third century, St. Hippolytus,* Origen,' St. Dionysius of Alexandria,* give to the

God.

holy Virgin the qualification of "pure" and ' immaculate." St. Cyprian' is more

But the

belief in the

immaculate con-

ception of the holy Virgin prevailed in the end over tlie opinion of the great
doctors of the

and says plainly that " there is a very great difierence between the rest of mortals and the Virgin, and that all she
precise,

middle ages; what the eagles of the schools had not seen was
discovered to the unlearned.
of the

has in

common

with them

is

their nature,

and not their

fault."

The

writ-

In the fourth century

St.

Ambrose,

ings apostles and doctors were turned over afresh; what they have be-

who compares the Virgin

queathed to us from age to age concerning the grandeurs of Mary was more
scrupulously examined, and
(1) St.
tiiis

" a straight and shining stem, where there was never found the knot of original, or the bark of
to

research

actual sin ;"* St. John Chrysostom,' who " most holy, immaculate, proclaims her
not decided on this point, or else that they had
strange distractions. in their (3) St. James the Great atid St. Mark,
Liturgies.
(4) St. Hipp, in an oration tion of the World."

Andrew
tlie

of Crete

makes mention of

this

Immaculate Conception, the office of which had been composed by St. Sabbas, to which St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, added an antiphon. (2) The adversaries of the immaculate concepFeast of
tion glory in reckoning in their ranks St.
St.

"

On

the

Consumma-

Bernard,

St.

the Great, &c. not allow ourselves to be dazzled by them comparing these doctors with themselves,

Anselm, Thomas, Albert Bonaventure, Great as ilieso names are, we must

St.
;

(6) Grig. Horn, in St. Matt. (6) St. Dion, in Biblioth. des PP.
(7) (8)
St. Cypr.,

an

epistle

mentioned

in -the

for

by

de Nat. Virg.

we

find

"

\'^irgo in

that they positively maintained opinions both for and agaiuit, which shows that their opinion was

actualis culpoe

qua nee nodus originalis, nee cortex fuit." (St. Ambr., de Inst.Virg.,c. v.)

(9)

St. J.

Chrysostom, in his Liturgy.

MOTHER OP GOD.
blessed above
all

25

who

poetically

creatures;" St. Jerom/ makes her " the cloud

tres; towards the

middle of the eleventh,

of the day which never

St. Basil,''

knew darkness;"

Yvo,' one of the most shining lights of that time, and, a little later, St. Bruno,*

whose footsteps the defenders of the immaculate conception have always

have never varied gloried in following, as to that purity of the lily which applies so well to the queen of angels.
Augustin' cannot bear that even the name of Mary
fifth

founder

the Carthusians, are evidontly in favour of the immaculate conceptioa

f

of the Blessed Virgin.

Islamism
culate
tators

In the

century, St.

immaconception, and the Arab commenon the Koran have adopted, iu

itself declares for the

their way, the opinion of those Catholic

should be mentioned when there

question of sin
logus* affirms
in the Virgin." "
;

is

any

and

St.

that all

Peter Chrysohave been saved

declared themselves for " Every descendant of " Adam," says Cottada, from the moment of his coming into the world, is touched
divines

who have

that

doctrine.

Fulgentius, who lived at the beginning of the sixth century, says that the " holy Virgin was entirely excepted from " It is wrong," the primeval sentence."'
St.

in the side by Satan: Jesus

howevei:,

and Mary,
for

must be

e.xcepted;

God

placed a veil between

contact."

them and Satan, them from his fatal which preserved

These testimonies in favour of the immaculate conception of Mary become

says St. Ildefonsus,* Archbishop of Toledo, who flourished in the same century, " to seek to subject the mother of God to it is manifest that the laws of nature
;

more

feeble

and

less

abundant in the
few

she was free from original sin, and that she removed the malediction of Eve. St.

twelfth

and thirteenth centuries;

authors of note wrote then in this sense,

John Damascen,' speaking

her conception, says that she was pure In the ninth century immaculate." and

expressly of "

and many men eminent for their learning and sanctity maintained the contrary

Theophanes, Abbot of Grandchamp

in

To make up for this, the Feast opinion. of the Conception^ of the Virgin was
established in several kingdoms.
(7) St. J.

the tenth, St. Fulbert, Bishop of CharIxxvii. (1) Commentaries of St. Jerom on Pb. Deduxit eos in niibe diei nubes est beata Virgo, qam pulchre dicitur nubes diei, quia non fuit in

Damascen, De Nativ.

Marise., Or. 1.

"

tenebris, sed

semper

in luce."

Fulbert holy bishops of Chartres, (8) and Yvo, declared themselves in favour of the Yvo maintained it in the immaculate

The two

conception.

(2) St. Basil, in his Liturgy. (3) It must be observed that St.

pulpit,

and Fulbert says in

filias,

Augustin was

Angelical Salutation of
electa et insignis inter
extitisti

tlie

tben defending tbe doctrine of original sin against

tlie

Paraphrase on the " Ave, Maria, Immaculata semper quse

his

Virgin,

Pelagians.

ab exordio

tuse creationis, quia

paritura

Clirysol., de Annunciat., Serm. 140. (4) St. St Fulg., Serra., de laudibus Mari. Serm. (5)

Peter

eras Creatorem totius sanctitatis."

de duab.

nat.

Jesu Christi.

(6) St. Ildefonsus, in bis book

De Virginit. Marias.

Dominus ci., which he applies to the Blessed Virgin.

of Ps.

his explanation of these (9) St. Bruno, in " de coelo in terram

words

aspexit,"

S6

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VmGIlT,

in the
servile

William the Conqueror established this feast in Normandy as early as 1074 and
;

number
work.

of holidays kept without

from the reign of Henry

of England, and was celebrated at

I.,

his son,

King

In France, in the year 1288, a bishop of Paris, Renoul de Homby his

will a considerable

Duke of Normandy, it Rouen with extraordi"

biere, left
to

sum

found the

office of this

Feast of the

It was instituted," nary solemnity. the ancient chroniclers, " on account say

Holy Virgin, which was introduced at the same time in the Lyonnais. In fine, a
manuscript martyrology of the thirteenth century, found in the library of the

of the holy apparition made to an abbot worthy of credit, who had encountered

the perils of the sea during a tempest." An old history of the antiquities of Rouen " from the very time of the adds, that
institution

Dominicans of Dijon, marks the Feast of the Conception of our Lady on the 8th of December; "which shows plainly
enough," says the learned Benedictines who have read this ancient MS., " that
this feast

of

the feast, an

association

was founded of the most respectable personages of the town,

year

one of their

who still number

elect every
to be the

was already celebrated almost everywhere in the church in the time of

St.

prince of the confraternity, who, holding the puy, or platform for all speakers, in
all

Dominic."
doctrine of the immaculate con-

The
ception

languages, gives excellent and valuable prizes to those who most elegantly,

faitlifully,

and appropriately

shall

have

celebrated the praise of the Virgin Mary on the subject of her holy conception,

had been banished from the pulpits and schools for a long space of time, when certain divines, who had been convinced that this belief came down
from the highest and purest sources o The^ Christianity, undertook to revive it.
Franciscans,

by hymns, odes, sonnets,

ballads, royal

songs," &c.* Thus the Virgin, full of grace, presided over the revival of poetry, and her imma-

who

first

began

to

make

public profession of it, by writing^ and word of mouth, supported it by reasons

so strong

conception furnished pious subjects for the country of the minstrels. From Normandy the Feast of the Conculate

the mass of the

and convincing that not only faithful, but the most

in

learned bodies

Europe adhere

to it

ception of the Virgin

came amongst the

with enthusiasm.

The Sorbonne, which

The first council of Oxford, English, held by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of

Canterbury, in the year 1222, places
Singularit^s de
it

" was then called the firmament of science,

the support of truth and piety in the Church of God," ordained that all who

(1) Antiquities

et

la ville

de

Rouen, by N. Taillepied, D.D.

(2) Montfaucon, who travelled through Italy about the year 1G98, having paid a visit at Pavia to the library of the Chevalier Beleridus, renowned

for his piety, was much surprised to see tliat this immense collection of books was entirely composed

of treatises written

by the Franciscans in deieuca

of the immaculate conception.

MOTHER OF
should be promoted to the degree of doctor should engage upon oath to maintain
this

GOD.

27

multitude of others,

whom

it

would

religious

belief.*

This was

be tedious to enumerate here, adhered with enlightened ardent zeal, and

piety,

done successively by the universities of Mentz, Cologne, Valentia,Alcala,Coimbra, Salamanca, and Naples.

profound conviction to the doctrine of the immaculate conception.

Councils have been favourable to this

Among
honour
to

those religious orders

who

did

France

for so

many

centuries,

the Dominicans alone, or nearly alone, showed themselves hostile to the pious doctrine of the immaculate conception
;

That of Basle, in its session of of September, 1429, says that, " the 27th doctrine which teaches that the glorious
belief.

Virgin

Mary was conceived without

sin is

a pious doctrine, conformable to the worship of the Church, to Catholic faith, to

right

but the learned Benedictines, who are held in veneration by the Protestants
themselves for their immense scientific
labours

reason,

and
of

The Council

Holy Scripture."* Avignon confirmed, in

to

the Carthusians, the Carmelites, the order of St. Augustin, of Cluny, of

;

1457, the decree of the Council of Basle; and in their session of 1564^ the fathers
of the Council of Trent declared that, in

Citeaux, of the Premonstratensians, and

(1)

The

decree of the Sorbonne

is

as follows
shall be

over given attention to

"We

decree and declare that no one

ad-

same subject

many

other things on the

mitted iu future into our faculty witiiout promising on oath to defend all his life this doctrine of the
" Statuentes ut nemo conception." deinoeps huic nostro collegio adscribatur, nisi se hujus doctrinse assertorem semper pro viribus futu-

immaculate

rum,
(2)

simili

juramento, profiteatur."
in this holy council (that

that the glorious Virgin Mary, God, by a special favour, and by a prevenient and operative grace, was never subject to original sin, but that she was always holy, immaculate, and exempt from all sin, original and actual

considered, we which teaches

being weighed and maturely decide and declare that the doctrine
all

Mother

of

"

There has arisen

we
is

declare that the doctrine which teaches

all this

of Basle) a difficult question on the conception of the glorious Virgin Mary, Motlier of God, and on the commencement of her sanctification ; some say-

a pious doctrine, conformable to- the worship of the Church, to the Catholic faith, to right reason, and to the Holy Scripture ; and that as such it
to be approved, held, and followed by all Catholics, so that it may not be lawful for any one Rehenceforth to preach or teach the contrary.

ing that her soul was for some time, or at least for

ought

some moments, actually subject to original sin others maintaining, on the contrary, that the love which God had for her extended to the first moment of her creation that the Moat High, who himself established her, and the Son, who formed lier to be his mother upon earth, loaded her with that Jesus singular and extraordinary graces Christ redeemed her in a superior and quite pecu;
;

newing, moreover, the institution of the Feast of the Holy Conception, which, by an ancient and laubable custom, is celebrated on the eighth day of

manner, by preserving her from the original tain, and sanctifying her in the first moment of
liar

December, both at Rome and in other churches, wo will and ordain that this feast be celebrated on the same day, under the name of the Conception of the Virgin, in all churches, monasteries, and communities of the Catholic religion, and that the faithful
and joy."
" (3)
of praise express themselves upon it in canticles The council attaches even indulgences

her conception.

Having

therefore

examined

dis-

creetly the reasons and authorities which, for several years, have been alleged on one side and the other,
iu the public acts of this holy council

having more-

to this solemnity.

Declarat hasc sancta syuodus non esse inten-

28

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Franciscans to celebrate the Office of the

the decree which they had made in 1546, on original sin, tliey had never intended
to

include
of

the

hlessed and immaculate

Immaculate Conception, attaching to it the same indulgences as to the Feast of

Paul V., by a bull in the year 1616, forbid any one to
the Blessed Sacrament.

Mother

God.

Notwithstanding the prudent reserve which the Holy See prescribed to itself in

an

affair

where famous doctors and

on both

illus-

maintain, in public lectures, the contrary opinion to that of the immaculate conception
;

trious divines appeared

sides, it

and- Gregory XV., in 1622, exto private

could not help making

it

appear to which

tended this prohibition even

It only

side its sympathies leaned.

From

the

year 1483, Pope Sixtus IV. had expressly forbidden any disputation in pulpits and
schools

discourses and particular conversations. remained for the popes to cele-

brate this feast in

Rome

itself,

and

this

upon the

conception of

Our

Lady.' This might be taken for a simple act of neutrality if this pontiff had not

was done by Alexander VII., in 1661. It results from this conduct of tlie Holy
sympathies are on the side of the doctrine of the immaculate
See, that
all its

approved of the Office of the Conception,

composed by a religious of Verona, and granted an indulgence of a hundred days

to all

who should

assist at

it.*

The

suc-

Nevertheless, it would not conception. condemn the contrary opinion, doubtless out of regard for high and holy names.
great voice of Bossuet, has been heard in this

cessors of this great pope uniformly trod in the path which he had struck out and
followed.

One

voice of

immense weight, the

In 1506, Cardinal Ximenes

established in Spain, with the consent of Pope Julius II., a confraternity of the

the huclder of religion has been held up before the Blessed Virgin. nobly " The opinion of the immaculate concep;

cause

The same pope confirmed Conception. a brief dated 17th of September, 1511, by
an Order of religious women founded under the same title by Innocent VIII.*
In the hymns which Zachary, Bishop of Gordia, composed by order of Leo X. and

tion,"

says
to

he,

"has an

indescribable

persuade pious souls. Next to the articles of faith, I see hardly anything more certain. Hence I am not surprised

power

that this school of divines of Paris should

oblige
trine.
all

her children to defend this doc-

Clement VII., it is said that Our Lady was created in a state of grace. In 1569,

For

my own

part, I

am

delighted

in these days to follow

up her intentions.

Pope Pius V. granted permission

tionis suae

to the

After having been fed with her milk, I

(3)

comprehendere

in

hoc decreto, ubi de

In this Order of the Immaculate Conception,

sister

peccato originali agitur, beatam et

Dei gejiitricem." (Concil. Trid. Sess. v. 1546.) (1) See the Constitution of Sixtas IV,, which
begins by "Grave
nimia."
(2) See the Constitution of Sixtus IV., beginning with " Cum prseexcelsa . Extrav. commun."
, . ,

Immaculatam

each

consecrated herself expressly to

this

mystery by these words, which are by no means " for the love and I, Sister N ambiguous service of Jesus Christ our Lord, and of the immaculate conception of his Blessed Mother,
:

promise," &c.

MOTHER OF
willingly submit to her decrees,

GOD.

29

and the

certain

and since then

:

it it

has made imsaid,

more

so ap they are, as

it
:

the will ot the Church

me, she has a most

appears to

mense progress
nations so

but be

offence to France

and

Italy

those

without

two

honourable opinion of the conception of Mary; she does not oblige us to believe

eminently Spain has shown the

devout to the Virgin

greatest zeal

and

been immaculate, but she gives us to understand that such belief is There are things which pleasing to her.
it

to have

ardour in the propagation of this doctrine.

she commands, in which we our obedience; she insinuates, where we

aflfection.

make known
testify our

The church of Spain, protesting against the pretensions of the church of Normandy, which claims the institution of
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady in the West, professes to

there are others which

may

It

becomes our

piety, if

we

are

have celebrated
tury;''

true children of the Church, not only to

what
I.

it

in

the seventh cenis,

is

certain

that in 1394,
instituted

obey the commandments, but to bend to the smallest signs of the will of a

Don John
it,

of Arragon,

who

mother

so good and so sacred."' Devotion to the immaculate conception

by his royal authority, in the several provinces of Spain which had shaken off
the yoke of Islamism, affirms that many of his predecessors had celebrated this
feast before him.^

of the Virgin was popular in Western Europe from the middle ages that is

We

shall not decide

(1) Bossnet, On the Conception. ' La Iglesia Eapnfiola fue la primera que (2) celebrd la Inmaculaila Concepcion de la santisima

Virgen

cuya

Bcptimo."

(El
:

festa tuvo liigar en ella

desde
el

el siglo

us to believe grandeurs and wonders which we canIs it not a much greater not sufficiently admire ? of admiration for all Christians to see that a subject creature has given birth to her Creator, and that she

maestro Villados, en
part 2.) is the decree of

cap. de los

became a mother without ceasing

to be a virgin ?
suffice to praise

Festiv. Ecles.,
(3)

t. i.

How
Don Juan
I.,

then shall the

human mind

The

following

of

Arragon
"

this glorious Virgin,

whom

tiie

Almighty predes-

Juan, by the grace of God King of and Valentia, &e. Why are some jjersons Arragon astonished that the Blessed Mary, Motlier of God, should have been conceived without original sin, while we doubt not that St. John Baptist was sanctified in his mother's womb by tliat same God, who, coming from the highest heaven, and from the throne of tlie most Holy Trinity, was made flesh in the blessed womb of a virgin? What graces do wo think the Lord could refuse to the woman who gave

We, Don

tined to possess, without the least corruption, the advantages of tlie divine maternity, conjointly with tlie glory of the purest virginity; and to be exalted

above

all

the prophets,

all

choirs of angels, as their

queen

the saints, and all the ? Could there then

have been wanting any purity and any grace to that excellent Virgin in tlie first moment of her conception, so that tlie stain of original sin might have been imputed to her; her to whom tlie angel of the Lord sent from heaven spoke these words,
Hail, Mary, full of grace the Lord is with tliee ; Let then those blessed art thou among women!'
' !

him by the splendid prodigy of her fruitful Loving his mother as he loves her, he virginity? must have surrounded her conception, her nativity, and the other phases of her life, with the most
birth to

tliose

who speak thus improperly hold their peace let who have nothing but vain and frivolous
:

arguments

to

propose against the immaculate con-

glorious privileges. " call in question the conception of a virgin BO privileged, and of whom the Catholic faith obliges

ception, so privileged

and so pure, of the Blessed

Why

because it was Virgin, be ashamed to publish them, with so great fitting that she should be endowed

30

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

but
if

between the two churches

church of Spain
lias

the

only doubtful claims to the institution of this feast of Mary,

Conception. As early as the year 1525, the Spaniards of Mexico place1 the splendid cathedral of Puebla de lus Angelos

which was called in France and England the Feast of the Normans, she cannot be
denied the honour of having been the first to erect churches and altars under the
title

under the invocation of the immaculate

Virgin,

whose holy image glittered with precious stones upon an altar of massive
silver,

of the Mystery of the Immaculate

surrounded by a forest of elegant columns, with plinths and capitals of

purity, that next to that of

God, none

like it could

hold our holy and salutary opinion in their heart

shall publish
it

indeed fitting that she who had for her Son the Creator and Father of all tilings should have been, and should be ever, most pure and most perfect, having fronv the beginning and

be imagined.

It is

in their discourses,

and eagerly

tes-

by celebrating, by the praises of the Most High, the glory and honour of his holy Mother, who is the Queen of heaven, the gate of
tify their devotion

before

all

ages,

by an eternal decree

of

God, been

Paradise

she who has care

salvation,

of our souls, the secure

all

chosen among

all

creatures to contain in her

womb

haven of
sinners

and the anchor of hope of

Him whom
aity of the

the whole world and the whole

immen-

who have

confidence in her.

By

the tenor

heavens cannot contain. " But we, who among all Catholic kings have received from this Mother of Mercies so many graces and benefits without having deserved them, we
firmly believe that the Conception of this Blessed Virgin, in whose womb the Son of God vouchsafed
to be

of these presents we expressly establish, in perpein future that any preacher, tuity, that if it happens

or any other person among our subjects, of what state or condition soever he may be, dues not observe
this ordinance,

decree from
or house
;

us, let

without any necessity fur any otlier him be banished from his convent

"

made man, was entirely holy and immaculate. Thus we honour with a pure heart the mystery

of this immaculate and blessed conception of the

of God : and we, and all those of the royal family, celebrate the festival of it every year with solemnity, in the same manner as

most holy Virgin, Mother

our most illustrious predecessors of glorious

memory
for it a

have celebrated

it,

having had established

we ordain that perpetual confraternity. Wherefore this Feast of the Immaculate Conception shall be
celebrated annually for ever, with great solemnity and respect, in all the kingdoms of our obedience, by all the Catholic faithful, whether religious or
secular, priests or others, of whatever state or condition they may be; and that henceforth it shall not

and while he remains in this contrary him depart as our enemy from the whole extent of our kingdoms. Willing also and ordering, of our knowledge and mature deliberation, under pain of incurring our anger and indignation, all and each of our officers, who are on this side and beyorA the sea, those who are there now, and who shall be there hereafter, to keep and cause to be kept with great diligence and respect our present edict, as soon as they shall have cognisance thereof; and that
opinion, let

each, in his district, shall cause

correctly, solemnly,
all

it

to be published

rance of

the usual places, it; and that the devotion of the immaculate

and with sound of trumpet in so that no one may plead igno-

be lawful, and we even forbid all preachers, and all those who publicly lecture on the gospel, to say

conception of the most blessed Virgin, which Christians have long cherished in their hearts, may more

and more increase

anything, to publish and advance anything, which in any way whatever might prejudice or bo injurious to the purity and sanctity of this blessed conception; but, on the contrary, we ordain that preachers and
other persons who have had opposite oj)inion8 shall keep strict silence, since tiie Catholic faith does not place us in any necessity of maintaining and professing the contrary opinion ; and that others who

and that those people of an opposite opinion may no more in future be heard In testimony of which we to open their mouths.
;

command
by our

seal,

these presents to be expedited, authorized which is attached to them. Given at

Valentia, on the 2nd of February, the day on which we celebrate the Feast of the Pnrification of tiiis

most holy Virgin, in the year of O'lr Lord and the eighth of our reign."

13S)4,

MOTHER OP GOD.
burnished gold. The faithful of Mexico erected an altar and a statue to her in
their metropolitan church with true Pelittle later, the ruvian magnificence. Mexican cathedrals of Merida, Maracaibo,'

81

even into the familiar forms of speech

pronounced when people

meet.*'''

Finally, in 1771, while the destnictive

blast of philosophy violently belief of Christians in France

shook the

and several

and Nabana, were founded under the invocation of the immaculate Virgin, and
Peru did not remain behind.
This
strik-

other countries of Europe, the King of Spain, Charles IIL, instituted an order in

ing adherence to the doctrine of the conception without sin was yet not sufficient
for the zeal of the people subject to the

honour of the Virgin conceived without, sin, and solemnly declared her, with the
concurrence of the Cortes, and a brief from the Holy See, " Universal Patrona
de Espana e Indias."' In France, in spite of the licentiousness

dominion of Spain; in 1618 the Viceroy of Naples, his court and army, made a
vow, in the

Church of Our Lady the Great, to believe and defend the immaA meculate conception of the Virgin.

and

infidelity

which
it

tli^ flood

of revolu-

tions left behind

as

it

subsided, this

belief gains ground,

to the

and penetrates even

morial column, surmounted by a magnificent statue of Our Lady, with the symbolical signs of her victory over original sin, was erected in testimony of this public

most secluded hamlets. The diocess

is

of Paris
zeal in

especially distinguished for its

embracing this pious belief, which flourishes beneath the protecting shade
of its archbishops,* and

engagement thus chivalrously contracted. The Spanish nation, which has always
particularly signalized itself in this devo-

which

is

confirmed

by the supernatural things related of the miraculous medal struck in honour of the
mystery of the immaculate conception.
If the
tradition of the apostles, the

thoroughly adopted it, that not a single preacher mounts the pulpit without prefacing his sermon with a protion,

has

'so

fession of faith in the conception without

stain,'

favourable disposition of the Church, tho authority of councils, the adherence of

universities

and that

it

has been introduced

and

religious

orders,

the

(1)

"Alabado sea

el

santisimo Sacramento del

Nueva Orden, y mandamos que

"
ella

inmaculadaconcepcion de laVirgen Maria, concebida sin pecado original en el primer instante

altar, y la

por patrona Noviss. Reo.)

(Leg.

sea reconoeida en
12,
t. iii.

lib. vi.,

de su ser natural."

words (2) In going into a Spanish house, the first which visitors pronounce, before they wish " Good
day," are these, "Ave Maria purisiraa;" the masters " of the hous3 immediately answer, Sin pecado concebida, santisima." " Por la devocion que desde nuestra infancia (3) hemos tenido & Maria santisima en su misterio do
la

(4) "C'est nn fait que constater, et nous desirons

nous sommes jaloux do que la connaissance en

parvienne jusqu'aux lieux les plus recules du monde Catholique : dans notre diocese cette devotion a jete avec le temps des racines de plus en plus proI'accroitre, et

fondes, et leu iialheurs sont encore venus I'affermir, Tetendre avec un nierveilleux pro-

inmaculada concepcion, deseamos poner bajo los divinos auspicios de esta celestial protectora la. . .

the Mandement of the Archbishop of on occasion of the consecration of the Church Paris, of Notre Dame de Lorette.)
grea."

(See

89

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGIIT,

tion of remples

assent of kings and nations, the dedicaand altars, the foundation

Addition by the Translator.

of offices, the institution of confraternities

[The foregoing chapter was written by

the author before the ever memorable

and of royal

orders,

may be taken

into

account in a controversy which has astonished the very pagans,' the cause of the

8th of December, 1854,

when

it

was

so-

immaculate conception of Mary, so long

before the tribunal of Catholic opinion,

lemnly defined by the infallible authority of the Catholic Church, that " it is a

DOGMA OF FAITH

that the

most Blessed

appears to
tliat

us to be won
it

and we do not
to

Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her

conception, by a singular privilege and grace of God, in virtue of the merits of

believe that

would be rash

suppose

God, from the original stain, may have said to " her, as Assuerus said to Esther, This law
is

preserving his divine

Mother

Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain
of original sin."]

not made for

tljee,

but for

all

others."

CHAPTER

III.

BIBTH OF MART.
Towards the
affairs of

decline of the religion

and

the Hebrews, at the time marked out by the prophets, and when the regal sceptre was in the hands of a stranger,

lower Galilee, not far distant from Mount Carmel, a just man, named Joachim,^ of
the tribe of Juda, and
of the race

David* through Nathan;

his wife

who,

of

grand prediction Jacob, there was at Nazareth, a town of

according

to

the

of

according to the opinion of St. Augustin, was of the priestly tribe* was called

(1)

"What then!"

addressing

liiinself to

exclaimed Julian the Pelagian, a bishop who maintained the

!

another

Moses.

(D'Herbelot,

Amram,

father

of

Mary, the

sister
t.

of
ii.)

Bibliotheque Orientale,

" what then do you universality of original sin, suliject the birth of Mary to the empire of the

devil?"
(2)

Aug., lib. iv. Op. imperf.) of Mary's historians, Christopher de after the Rabbins, St. Hilary, Castro, has found and other fathers of the Church that the father
(St.

of St. James (3) According to the Proto-gospel and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, Joachim was of the race of David. Justin, who flourished only
fifty

One

years after the death of St. John the apostle,

in Palestine,

who was born

to collect

and who had been able

Mary had two names, Ilcli and Joachim. The Arabs and Mussulmans know him by that of Amram, son of Matheus, and distinguish him from
of

the traditions yet recent, says, ia like manner, that Mary descended in a right line from

King David.
(4) St. August.,

De

consensu Evangel.

MOTHER OF GOD.
Ann, a name which
gracious}
signifies in

88
it

Hebrew

Ann

conceived, as

were by miracle, and

brought forth that blessed creature

who

They were both just before Jehovah, in his commandments with p, * but the Lord seemed to perfect heart have turned away from them the hght of
and walked
;

perfect, more holy, and more in the eyes of the Lord than all pleasing the elect put together.
It

was more

his countenance, for one great blessing was wanting to their life they were with;

month
civil

was about the beginning of the of Tisri* which is the first of the

out children, which

made them

sad, be-

year of the Jews, while the smoke of holocausts ascended to heaven for the
expiation of the sins of the people, that the predestined Virgin was born who

cause in Israel

sterility w^as a reproach.

Joachim, who loved his wife for her wonderful meekness and eminent virtues,

was

to repair the

primeval transgression.*

would not add

her a
bill

her misfortune by giving of divorce, which the law at that

to

Her

birth was silent

and unknown,
;

like

that of her divine Son

time granted so easily;^ he kept her in

his house,

her parents were of the people, although descended from a long succession of kings, and led, to all appearances, an obscure life this mystical
:

and

this pious couple,

humbly

resigned
deeds.

to

the divine

decrees, passed

their days in labour, prayer,

and alms-

Rose, which St. John saw later on clothed with the sun as with radiant garments, was
to

So many virtues could not fail of their reward after twenty years of barrenness,
:

expand

sity,

burning wind of adverupon a stem poor and despoiled.*

to the

(1)

traditioris,

The Mahometans, inheritors knew the blessed mother

of the of the

Arab

her master of the household, or merely for not being

Virgin under her proper name, which is ; she was, according to them, the daughter of Nakhor, and the wife of Amram. (D'Uerbelot, BibliothSque

Holy Hannah

handsome enough. This was the opinion and Akiba. (Baan., liv. vii. c. 22.)

of Uillel

Orientale,
(2)
St.

t.

ii.)

Ann and
in the

St.

Joachim were publicly

(4) The 8th of September, according to the Laroniiis makes Slary teaching of the Church. born in the year of Rome 733, twenty-one years before the common era, on the 8th of September, on

honoured

in the early ages. St. John Damascen highly eulogises their virtues. The peror Justinian I. had a church built at Constanti-

Church

a Saturday, at daybreak.
is

Le Nain de Tillemont

Em-

says that the Virgin was born in the year 734: this

opinion

most followed.

nople under the invocation of St. Ann, about the year 550. The body of the saint was brought, it is
said,

from Palestine to Constantinople in 710. (See Godescard, t. v. p. 319.) Luther was very devout

(5) This is what the Turks relate of the birth of The wife of Amram (Joachim) the Blessed Virgin " said to God, Lord, I have consecrated to thee
:

by^ow
ness,

the fruit of

to St.

Ann

before his heresy

it

was

to that saint

thou

my womb; receive it with goodwho knowest and understandest all

she had brought forth, she added,

that he promised to embrace the monastic state, before the corpse of one of his comrades, who was
just killed by lightning before his eyes. (3) It was the Pharisees who had introduced
this

things." "
;

When

Lord, I have brought a daughter into the world I have named her Miriam (Mary), I place

abuse of divorce, so strongly condemned by our Lord (St. Matt. xix. 8) they taught that a wife might be put away for the most trifling causes ;
;

her under thy protection, her and her posterity, that thou mayest preserve them from the artifices of

Satan." (The Koran, ch. (G) Isaias had foretold

3.)
it
:

saying,

" There shall

for example, for

having over-dressed the meat

for

come

forth a rod out of the trunk of Jesse ;" for this

34

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGIIT,

The cradle of the Queen of angels was neither ornamented with gold, nor covered with Egyptian counterpanes richly embroidered, nor perfumed with spikenard, myrrh, and aloes, hke those of the Hebrew

that beautiful

and

brilliant star

which

shines upon the vast and stormy sea of the world."

This divine name conceals within

itself

princes

was composed of flexible twigs, and swatliing bands of coarse linen com;

it

a powerful charm, and one of such marvellous sweetness, that we have but to

pronounce

it,

and the heart

is

moved

pfessed the
the world.
still

little

arms which were one

day so tenderly to nurse the Saviour of

only to write it, " The name of

and the style

is

adorned.

The

children of kings, while

Padua,

"

is

Mary," says St. Anthony of sweeter to the lips than a

flattering
to

wrapped up

in their swaddling clothes

honeycomb, more

the ear

of purple, see the great men of the state bow their heads before them, and say to

than a sweet song, more delicious to the heart than the purest joy."'

them,

My

lord

The woman who was

the

Spouse and the Mother of God gave her first smile to some poor women among
the people,
to each

Eighty days after the birth of a daughter, the Jewish woman was solemnly purified
temple, where she brought her In conformity with the first-born child.
at the

who perhaps

said sorrowfully

other, as they thought of the

unfortunate and despised

condition

to

law of Moses, she then off'ered to the Lord a lamb, or two turtle-doves the two turtle;

which
is

men had condemned

!

them, Here

one slave more

In
Israel, they

doves were the sacred offering of the poor : they were that of the spouse of Joachim.

gave the child on the ninth day after its birth, in the midst of the assembled family, the name which it

But the gratitude of the pious mother went beyond the customary sacrifice the
:

was

the daughter of Joachim received from her father the

:

to bear

among men

worthy she ofi"ered to the Lord a victim more

pure, a dove

rival of

Anna, the wife of Elcaria,

more innocent than those

name

of

Miriam (Mary), which

Syriac by
ladxj,

is

trans-

lated from the

mistress,

sovereign

which had just fallen gasping and bleeding under the knife of the sacrificing
priest
:

and which

signifies in

Hebrew
"

she had no votive crown of most

star of the sea.

And, surely," says St. Bernard, the Mother of God could not have a name

"

pure gold to hang up. on the partition ' she laid at the feet wall of the temple
:

of the

more appropriate, nor one more expressrve of her high dignity. Mary is, in fact.
in the Hebrew expression, as St. Jerom observes (on Is. c. ii.), signifies a tr|ink without branches and witliout leaves, to denote, continues this holy doctor, that the august Mary was to be

the age

Most High the crown of her old infant with which He had
life
:

blessed her

and she solemnly enand should have

fallen

word trunk,

have from

lost its splendour,

it. entirely.

away

bora of the race

ol'

David,

when

that family should

' Nomen Virginis Marisa, mel in ore, melos in (1) aure, jubiluui in corde," says poetically St. Anthony of Padua. (2) Match, lib. iv.

MOTHEB OP
gaged to bring her daughter again temple, and consecrate her there
to the

GOD.

85

the custom of the

women

of her nation,

to the

Ann would
breast.'

feed her daughter at her

own

service of the holy place, as soon as her

young reason should be able to distinguish good and evil. The father of Mary ratified this vow, which then became of
obligation.*

Mary's reason, like the daylight of tho favoured regions of the sun, had scarcely

any twilight, and shone forth from the most tender age. Her precocious fervour,
the wisdom of her discourse, at a period of life when other children enjoy as yet but a mere physical existence, led her

the ceremony was finished, the returned to their native province, couple :that province barren of great men, from
Israel

When

which

and prophet,^
stranger.

was

far from expecting a re-entered their humble

parents to judge that the hour of separation

was come
to

and when Joachim had

first-

dwelling, ever open to the needy and the

ofifered

the Lord, for the third time

There

it

was that the child of

from the birth of his daughter, the

fruits of the harvest,

benediction became, from her early years, the delight of her family, and rose up
like

and produce of the

one of those

lilies

of which Jesus

small inheritance of his fathers, the pair, grateful and resigned, took the road to

proclaims the beauty, and which, as St. Bernard poetically says, have the odour of

Jerusalem, to deposit, in the sacred enthe

closure of the temple, the treasure which Holy One of Israel had given them.

hope habens
(1)

odorem

spei.

According to

vows among the was a simple vow, after which wliat had been vowed to the Lord might be redeemed (such was that of Ann, the mother of Mary); the second, chcrcm, was a vow of indispensable obligation, by which all right to the thing promised was given up absolutely and irrevocably. Every Israelite might thus vow what belonged to
sorts of

There were two

the
-first,

Jews

neder,

(2) "Can any good come out of Nazareth?" asked Nathanael of those who spoke to him of Christ.

" Because this place was small and contemptible," " Bays St. John Chrysostom, and not only this place,

but the whole of Galilee."

(3)

(Serm.

ix. in St.

Matt.)

In Judea,

him,

houses,

lands, beasts, children, slaves, &c.,

suckling in the whole

.women did not often give up their children; we reckon but three nurses
Scripture

the

nurses of Rebecca,

and the things devoted could neither be sold nor redeemed, at any price whatever.

Miphiboseth, and Joas; it must be observed, moreover, that llebecca was a stranger, and that the
others were princes.

86

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VmQIN,

CHAPTER

IV.

THE PRESENTATION.
The
Cison proudly rolled its red waters, swelled by the equinoctial storms/ and
the great mountains of Galilee began to be covered with snow, when the parents
of

holy city by the wild and rocky road which winds across the arid flats, the
tlie

foaming torrents, and the deep ravines of the mountains of Samaria: there winter
ruled with
all

Mary began

their journey to Jerusalem.

his frosts.

They descended,

We

are ignorant of the motive

which

in-

to leave their native province the rainy season. Perhaps it was during the desire to assist at the great solemnities of the Dedication ; perhaps they merely

duced them

by the shrubby slopes of Carmel, into the charming and fertile plains which stretch
out between the mountains of Palestine

regulated their departure by the epoch of the service of Zachary, whose priestly
functions called
at regular times.*

happy and forward, the temperature of which is so mild that the orange-trees blossom
there in
flowers of

and the coasts of

Syria, a land

the heart of winter, and the

him

to the

temple only

May expand

in the

December.*
the
rich

After leaving behind

month of them

Obliged to make a journey of several days, during the inclement season, with a
child quite young, the prudent and pious travellers did not make their way towards
(1) The Cison is a small river, which runs bptween Nazareth and Mount Carmel insignificani and impoverished during the summer, like all the streams of water of Palestine, it becomes consi;

pastures where formerly rose the tents of Issachar, a tribe of shepherd

astronomers,*

whom the burning

breath of

the Lord's anger had dispersed, like a

has divided the seasons by months
are
there, one

may
we

say that they are separated only by hours.

If

derable during the rainy season. The troops of Sisara, the general of the army of Jabin, were

annoyed at Tripoli by tlie heats of July, six hours' march transports us upon the neighbouring mountains to the temperature of March. On the
other hand, are we incommoded with the frost of December, in the midst of the mountams, one day's

drowned
(2)

in this

overflowed river in the attempt to

to the order established

force a passage.

According

by David,

march brings us back to the flowers of May."

(4) St.

shore,

among

the

the priests were divided into twenty-four classes, or Each class turns, each of which served its week.

Jerom

assures us that the children of

Issachar were the learned

was subdivided into seven parts, which had each each part of this their week in turn to officiate subdivision had that portion of the service which was assigned to him by lot. (1 Paralip. c. 24.) Zachary was of the turn or service of Abia. (Prid.,
;

and
is

set

down

the feasts.

(Hieron., Qnsest. in

men who

calculated times,
1

Pa-

ralip. cxii. p.

1390, et in Genes. 49.) This tradition conformable to that of the rabbins, who affirm

that those of the tribe of Issachar applied themselves assiduously to this knowledge of astronomy.

Hist, of the Jews.)

(Maimon.,
Juchasin.)
tradition,

in

Volney saw orange-trees bearing fruit and flowers in the open air in the month of January, on
(3)

Kiddosch. hachodesh, et Zachuth, in In fine, the Scripture authorizes this

it

since

relates

that

the

children of

the coasts of Syria.

"

With

us,"

he says, " nature

Issachar were expert in the science of the times,

MOTHER OP
handful of light straw, even to the wild

GOD.

87

and mountainous regions of Media

after
hills

having admired, as they passed, the

covered with

palm, banana, and pomegranate-trees, which once formed the smiling inheritance of the sons of

mixed with national pride. The object which he thus pointed out to the notice of his companions was worth remarking, for nothing more magnificent or more
thusiasra

Joseph

extraordinary existed at that time in Asia. It was a city of thirty-three stadia in cir-

fine

and warlike

race,

famous

the

for their skill in shooting with the

travellers

bow

cumference, enclosed in stone, like a ruby of Beloutchistan; a town of marble, cedar,

from Galilee went along by the side of the narrow stream of the Gaas, the willows of which love the bank
;

and
in

gold, its splendour having

sad, wild,

something

it

and suspicious, which

denoted an uneasy authority, permanent

fears of

passed through the gi'oves of Ramatha, a beautiful town, like a cameo fallen into a
basket of roses, and readied at length the borders of the ancient territory of the
Jebusites.

some foreign power, and a state of things full of contrasts. There were
enormous towers, magnificent as palaces, and palaces fortified like
seen in
it

There the aspect of everything was changed no more flowers, no more

:

citadels.

Its temple, glittei'ing with gold,

brilliantly

verdure, no more odoriferous breeze wafting afar the sweet scent of the lemontree
;

the wind forced

barren rocks, deep ravines where its way with lugubrious

upon the narrow flat surface of the highest of its mountains, like the orb of the full moon when it skirts the snowy summits of Libanus,^
was a
fortress almost impregnable,

which shone

which

meanings, abrupt and bare mountains,

resounding with tlie hoarsj? cries of the eagle in a word, the grandest, most melancholy, most desolate, and most sterile
:

kept the holy people of the Lord in awe ; while the tower Antonia, from the top of
its

four elegant turrets of polished marble, kept an overshadowing and continual

land that could be seen.

watch over the court of the temple.

triple

The

little

caravan had followed, for

enclosure of walls of

enormous

sotae time, a stony path tracked along the flat of an arid mountain, when Joa-

stones,' in
forts,

which were encrusted ninety bound the sides of this city, which

chim, stopping on a sudden at an abrupt turn, stretched out his arms towards the
south with a

was surrounded by dark valleys of dizzying depths and rocks inaccessible. This proud

movement

of religious en-

and warlike

city,

which seemed

to

have

Bo as to order
xii.

what

Israel should do.

(1

Paralip.

this

32.)

like a

superb mass of building looked at a distance mountain covered with snow. (Josephus, de

(1) The exterior front of the temple was entirely covered with plates of gold, so thick that as soon as
dayligiit

Bello, lib. V. c. 13.)

"
(2)

Extrema rupis abrupta;

attollebantur

et tnrres, nbi

mons

appeared

it

was

as dazzling as the rays of

inter devexa, in centenos juvisset, in sexaginta pedes,

the rising sun. As for the other sides, where there was no gold, the stones of them were bo white, that

vicenosque

intuentibus pares,"

mira specie, ao procul

lib. v.)

(Tacit. Hist.

38

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

been transported by magic from the fabulous regions of Ginnistan,' beneath the
cloudless sky of Palestine of the
;

The

travellers

next followed certain

streets, lined

winding and gloomy

with

this paradise

Jews

{Ghangh-dix-houclit), so poet-

heavy square houses, without windows, Avith terrace roofs, which stood in melancholy lines, like citadels and they stopped in the eastern part of the city before a
;

ically regretted

on

tlie

banks of the Eu-

phrates

tlie
;

city of David and of the

Macchabees
its

this Jerusalem, which, in

all tlie

house of modest appearance, which

dition
St.

tra-

abject slavery,

East

still

salutes

points

out

as

the

dwelling of

with the antique of Mary then gave

capital of

name which
it

Cods I (the Holy.) The parents of the Virgin entered the

el

the father

Ann.

After a purification of seven days, according to the custom of those who came

Judea by the gate of Rama, upon which fell the shadow of a tower," so high that from its flat top were seen

Mount Carmel, the Great Sea, and the mountains of Arabia. The green standard
of Judas

with

its

Macchabeus was still flying there religious device ; but the soldiers
it

Joachim provided himself with the lamb which he was to ofi"er to the Lord, clothed himself in white,* collected together some of the relations and friends whom he had in Jerusalem, and ascended at the head of them to the temple with as much ardour as
to sacrifice in the temple,* he would have gone

who surrounded
it;

no longer understood
fair

up

to the assault

of a

for they

were Thracians, Galatians,

children of Gaul,

place in battle."

Germans, and the

whom

Herod, who feared the Jews and

This temple of the God of hosts, where the Virgin then presented herself, like the
dove of the "ark with the olive branch,

depended upon foreigners, took into his pay, and who were detested at Jerusalem
almost as

had

undergone

numerous

vicissitudes.

much

as himself.

One

of the ancestors of Mary, the wise

(1) Ginnistan, which the marvellous traditions of the Assyrians and Arabs place at the foot of Mount Caucasus, and on the borders of the Caspian Sea,

in the

was the abode of the Peris a beautiful and fabulous race, which much resembles that of our fairies. These powerful beings, born before the deluge, disposed of the elements, and created everything that could afford them pleasure. Their capital city, which they had carefully fortified, to defend it from the attacks of the Dives, who were wicked and formidable genii, was of marble, gold, rubies, and diamonds.
(2) (3)

to be presented with the victim : the law required tliat temple the person should remain outside for seven full

(4) It

was not merely necessary

and be solemnly purified on the third and seventh day with ashes and hyssop ; that done, (Philo, Tract, de Sacrific, they might sacrifice.
days,

c. 3.)

(5) of

According to the rabbins, the sacrifice was no avail wiien he who offered it was not clothed

The tower Psephina.

in white garments. (Basn., liv. ix. c. 4.) This was of obligation the Hebrews were (6) to go up to the tepiple with as much ardour as a
;

house of St.

monastery has been erected over this Ann; this monastery has been turned into a mosque. Under the Christian kings it was inhabited by religious women. (See Itin. de Paris

an assault; they found this pretext in the 55th Psalm, where David said that he went to the house of God as to a strong city. (See Basn., Hist,
soldier to

des Juifs,

liv. vii. c.

17.)

i Jerusalem,

t. ii.

p. 211.)

MOTHER OP GOD.
son of King David, had made
it

89

the

wonder of the East.

about
it

He had

lavished

could supply for the absence of the ark, with which had disappeared the
all this

the gold of Ophir, the perfumes of Saba, the cedar of Libanus, the brass

tables of the law

that

is to say,

the will

which the

fleets of

Tyre

of

God

written by himself by the glare of

that

queen

of

the seas, whose merchants were princes had gone in quest of to barbarous
silver, so

the lightning on Mount Sinai ; the rod of the almond-tree which had miraculously blossomed

the

most ancient

title

regions, and

common

at that

of the sons of
;

Aaron

to the office of high-

time that

it

had become of

little

value;

but this splendour had passed away like a vision of the night, thanks to the burning avarice of the people of Egypt and Chaldea. Despoiled twenty times over, but always re-established with magnifi-

priesthood and the manna of the desert, which by the miracle of its long preservation confirmed so

many

wrought for the These precious things were

as the sacred
fire,

ancient prodigies deliverance of Israel.

lost, as well

which the breezes of

had risen again from its ruins cence, under Zorobabel, who had rebuilt it,
it

the holy mountain alone could enkindle on the brazen grate of the altar of holocausts;

sword in hand, in spite of the eiforts of a multitude of jealous nations. Nevertheless, the second temple, notwithstand-

and the

oil of

unction, composed
priests

by Moses, whence the

derived their noble
of the Lord.

and kings

title

of the anointed
still

ing

its

unheard-of richness, was every

What was
that

more

to

be

way

inferior to the other in

It

grandeur as

regretted was

well as in holiness.

was in vain that

the Schekina, that white cloud which attested the divine

presence, had never

the Jews poured out there with a liberal

shown

itself in

the

hand

of the corn and the Mood of the vine; that streams of gold arriving from all points of the horizon came to
the strength

second temple
oracle of the

of the rational,

and that even the stones that last and brilliant

of hosts,

God

sacred treasury ; that pagan kings, confessing the awful sanctity of the God of Israel, sent thither the
feed incessantly
its

filled the prophetic lustre.'' This is heart of the sons of Aaron with bitterness,

had what

lost their

when they compared the house

babel with the temple
of

of Zoro-

most magnificent
(1) In Josephus

offerings.*

Nothing of

the

son of

may

be seen the detailed de-

(2)

God employed
for,

the precious stones which the

to foretell vicfield,

scription of tlie magnificent table of

incrusted with

massive gold precious stones, and the no less

high-priest wore upon the rational

tory
;

before the

splendid vessels which Ptolemy Pliiladelphus gave to tlie temple ; almost all the princes of Asia had enriched it with their gifts, and abont the time of
the Presentation of the Virgin, the Empress Livia sent thither, in her own name and in the name of

shone forth
people

army took from them so bright

to assist

the

there

a light, that the

knew thereby

present, and ready

light for

that his sovereign Majesty was them ; but when I began

to write this, the rational

had ceased

Angustus, magnificent vessels of gold.

de Bello,
lib. ii. c.

(Josephus,

two hundred years.

to give this

(Fl. Joseph.,

Ant.

Jud.,

lib. iii. c. 8.)

17; Philo, ad Cajuui.)

40
David
this

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGIN",

made

the doctors of the law

say that the fulfilment of the celebrated prophecy of Aggeus was hopeless, unless

haughty reserve, considerably mingled with contempt. Joachim, who was equal
to the princes of his nation in nobility of

the Messias himself should appear bodily in the second temple.

After passing that magnificent gate of Corinthian brass, which twenty Levites

race, although

he had not

their wealth,

directed his steps that way, sure of being well received; for those Jews, so disdainful

towards

the

Gentiles,*

loved

each

could hardly close at night, and which opened of itself four years before the destruction of Jerusalem, to the great
consternation of the deicidal people whom this gloomy presage filled with terror,'

other as brethren, especially when they belonged to the same lineage. Scarcely

had they perceived them, when a number of illustrious ladies, warriors, and great
lords of the family of

David advanced

to

Mary and her parents found themselves in a vast enclosure paved with black and white stones, and surrounded by tall porwhich in time of war served as A crowd of strangers and ramparts.* people of the nation, whose brilliant costumes of opposite colours reminded one
ticoes,

meet them, and

tations,

after the

they joined

customary saluthe family from

Galilee, as if to form

an honourable train

of attendants for Mary."

The

fathers,

who

relate this circumstance,

have piously

beheved that these great personages, the flower of the Jewish nobility, were not
found there by mere chance, but that

of an

immense

walking and Jerusalem, which was not reputed sacred, and which was called the Court of the
Gentiles,

parterre of tulips, were conversing in this forum of

God, who would

entry
into

his

triumphal temple for the future

provide

because

idolaters

could
^

not

Mother of the Messias, had divinely inspired them with the resolution to come
thither.

advance farther under pain of death. At some distance from the crowd,

under the porch of Solomon, the haughty

aristocracy of Israel, clothed
in

purple

two other enclosures which composed the temple. both sacred

Gentiles
arose

From

the midst of the Court of the

wearing those long Babylonian robes embroidered with flowers of

scarlet, or

and

Seen from below,

did edifice

and splenpresented a quadrangular mass

this majestic

gold, were waiting for the hour of prayer, keeping aloof from the foreigners with a

of building the walls of which, white as

alabaster,

were pierced with ten superb

(1) Joseph., de Bello, lib vi.

(2) Tacit., Historiarum, lib. v. (3) Joseph., de Bello, liv. v. et vi. (4) Basnage remarks that at the time of Jesus Christ the Jews, regarded the Gentiles as dogs, and

the only pulled out of the water, nor succoured favour that can be done them is not to plunge tliem
;

deeper into the water, down the precipice, or in the well, if they have fallen in." (Basn., liv. v. o. 25.)

" hated them mortally. If the idolaters drown the doctors taught, they must not be themselves,

Primarios quoque Hierosolyraitas vires et (5) mulieres interfuisse huic deductioni, succinentibus
universis angelis,"

"

(Isid.

de Thess.)

MOTHER OF
gates, covered with thick plates of silver

GOD.

41
This done,

of guarding the sanctuary.*

and

gold.

called,

appropriate for the habitation of the God of the hills, the ground

Moria,

As the temple, properly so crowned the summit of Mount

site

they entered the temple by the oriental tliat one gate, the most beautiful of all,

which poured streams

the

of liquid gold
it

when

Romans, unable
it

to force

by the aid

was a continued ascent, and the walls were completely surrounded by marble steps,
which somewhat diminished
their height.

of iron, 'opened

In our

cold

by means of fire.* northern regions, vast

edifices are requisite to protect us

from

After ascending the steps of the temple, the group already purified, in the midst of whom was that blessed child who was
to be consecrated to

the injuries of the weather; thus we have

immense

cathedrals, capable of containing

moment on
lim^ and

God, stopped for a the small platform of Chel.' There the Pharisees displayed their tephi-

whole populations; but in ancient Asia the temples were almost exclusively for
the use of the priests
pray outside. sacred assembly, was usually held in the court of the women; the second division
the people used to In Israel, the engdah, or
;

wound round

their foreheads,

bowed

down,' a lappet of their taled of

white and fine wool,* ornamented with

purple pomegranates and little cords of The brave the colour of the hyac.inth.
captains of Herod half concealed their shining cuirasses beneath their long mantles, and the daughters of Sion enve-

was so called because the Jewish women,

whom

the severity of the old law made like to slaves, could not advance farther.

Separated from their children and their husbands, who remained in the area of
the court, or under the arcades of the peristyle, during the ceremonies of religion, they prayed separately in upper galleries, with their heads humbly bent towards the

loped themselves more closely in the folds

of their veils of purple, sky-blue, or Syrian

gauze, with flowers of gold, oufof respect for the holy angels who had the charge

house of Jehovah, of which

tliey

could

(1) The Chel was a space of ten cubits between the Court of the Gentiles and that of the women.
(2) tephilim were small pieces of parchment on which were written, with ink made on purpose, four sentences of Scripture the Jews wore them at the bend of the left arm, and in the middle of the These tejihilim, or phylacteries, were forehead.
;

in passing through the streets ran their heads against the walls. (Basn., they

often

happened that

The

liv. iii. c. 3.)

which the Jews (4) Taled, a sort of square cloak wore in the temple to make their prayer some wound it round their necks, others covered their heads with it: this latter custom was the most general. (Basn.,
;

much in use at the made of them marks

them
c.

time of Jesus Christ, for they

t.

V. liv. vii.

c.

17.)

his reproaches.

(Basnage, Hist.

of distinction

which drew upon

Juifs, liv, vii.

Ideo debet mulier potestatem habere supra (1 Ep. S. Pauli ad Corinth, caput propter angelos.
(5)

17.)

ch. xi. v. 10.)

(S) lieads

The Pharisees walked always with their down, to affect a more humble countenance and sometimes even with their eyes shut, to avoid
;

fire to

when Titus ordered (6) Josephus relates, that be set to the gates of the second enclosure of
water from a fountain.

the temple, the gold and silver ran

like

seeing what might prove a temptation thus

:

it

very

(De

down from them

Bello, c. 23.)

42
see at

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIEGDT,

some distance the magnificent roof

all

to blow, they

of cedar, bristling of gold.'

over with pinnacles

real

flowers,

might have been taken for such was their exquisite

The

ceremony

of

the Presentation

workmanship, and perfect imitation. At different distances were seen banners shot
through with arrows, and stained with
idolatrous

certainly took pjace in the court of the women, and not in the actual interior of

blood, which

the

Asmonean

he sanctuary, where some authors have

located
it.

princes, heroes of imperishable memor}',

It

begpn by a
let

sacrifice.

The
on
its

had won from the Greeks

of Syria in the

gate

of Nicanor, silently rolling

brazen hinges to

the victim pass in, showed a perspective view of the farthest space, quite like a marvellous vision of

glorious wars of independence, and consecrated with their priestly and warrior

hands

that

Eden

so

much

regretted,

whose
lofty

God of hosts. Herod, a cruel but a valiant captain, had added prince, to them the standards lately taken in his
to the

golden

palaces,

overshadowed

by

cedars, were the habitations of the Just,

fortunate expeditions against the Arabs and the sight of these trophies of arms
;

as the Pharisees taught.*

Through the

filled

marble columns of a superb portico, from the top of which hung down the gigantic
branches and pendent clusters of a golden vine, was discovered an edifice which

with patriotic pride and warlike ardour those Hebrew hearts who cared so
little for

death,

what was dearer

when they had to fight for to them than gold, their

families, or their life

the temple

seemed at first sight to be of massive gold, so strong was the glare which was cast
by so many dazzling plates covering its facade of a hundred cubits, beneath the
pure and
powerful light of the sun of Asia.
of votive oflFerings,

The

priests

and Levites assembled in

the last compartment received from the hands of Joachim, the victim of 'prosperity.^

These ministers of the

their foreheads

living

God had not

bound with

An incredible number
where ears of wheat,

laurel or green smallage, like the priests

lilies,

pomegranates,

of the idols; a kind of mitre of a round

vine-leaves formed of emeralds, topazes,

shape, of very thick linen cloth, a linen

tunic,

carbuncles, and rubies, according to their colours, were intermingled, were fastened

long white, and without folds, fastened with a broad girdle, embroidered
priestly costume,

temple by golden cords and when the rushing wind of the mountains began
to the
;

with hyacinth and purple, composed the

which was worn only in

(1) This precaution had been taken in order to prevent the pigeons and doves, which were very numerous at Jerusalem, from resting in their flight

where they place palaces built of precious stones, and rivers of perfumed waters. In hell, on the contrary, a river of fire falls
suffer the

upon the damned, who

on the roof of the temple and defiling

it.

extremes of heat and cold.

(Maimonides,
of God, or he was called " a

(2) Tlie Jews believed that the souls of the saints go into the garden of Eden, the entrance of which is

Menasses, &c.)
(3)

Whether a favour was asked

for

forbidden to the living by the angel of death. They are magnificent in the description of this locality.

was thanked

one obtained,

it

sacrifice of prosperity."

MOTHER OF GOD.
t'

48
last

e temple.

lamb, and

of the priests took the after a short invocation of the

it,
;

One

The

sounds of the trumpets of

God

of Jacob, slew

towards

the

north

turning its head the blood, which

the priests were dying away along the porticoes, and the sacrifice was still burn-

flowed into a brazen vessel, was poured out here and there around the altar.

ing on the brazen altar, when a priest came down into the court of tlie women to

conclude the ceremonial.

Ann, followed

When

these

first

rites

were terminated,

the priests laid out upon a golden plate a portion of the flesh of the victim, still

by Joachim, and carrying Mary in her arms, came forward with a veil over her
head, towards the minister of the Most

and part of the entrails, which the Levites had carefully washed in the fountain-court; he wrapped up the oblaquivering,
tion in a double covering of fat, covered it with incense, threw upon it the salt of the covenant, then, ascending barefooted the

tradition

High, and if we may believe an Arab which Mahomet himself has

recorded in the Koran, she presented to him the young handmaid of the Lord, " I saying with a voice full of emotion,

gentle rise which led up to the platform of the brazen alter, he there deposited

the ofieiing upon the billets of wood, perfectly

come to ofTer you the present which God has made me."* The priest accepted, in the name of God, who makes the womb of mothers
fruitful,

sound and stripped of

fire.

their bark,

which fed the sacred

The

rest of

titude

the precious deposit which graconfided blessed to him, and

'
;

the victim, except the breast and the right shoulder, which belonged to the priests,

Joachim, as well as his pious company then stretching out his hands over the

was returned
his friends

to the

husband of

St.

Ann,
it

that he might

make

a feast with

or

and

relatives,

according to the
*

he,

assembly, which bowed down over the * " Israel," said pontifical benediction " towards the Lord direct his
:

custom.*
reputed sacreil, might be kept for two days together but the law expressly forbad anything to be reserved from it for the third day,
(1)

thee
words

may may he make

in

light

thee to prosper in
:

This

feast,

" Kih es an his Persian paraphrase which means, " For it is a present which Khodii," God has made me," or, still more literally, '" For it

and

it

poor, as the victim belonged to God who is in his nature liberal, it was his will that the needy should partake of it the second to hinder avarice, lohich is a vice of
: ;

must be given even to tiie last morsel to the fur two reasons, says Philo the firsf, because,

is

present that God is to come." (D'Herbelot. Bibl. Orient, t. ii. p. 620.) (3) Heli blessed Elcana and his wife, and he said

from

this

to Elcana,

"The Lord

give thee seed of this woman,

for the loan

thou hast lent to the Lord.

slaves,

from creeping

practice.

(Philo, Tract, de
to a

in,

and dishonouring a holy

Sacrif.
c.

went
t.

to

their

own home."
this

And
ii.

they

2.)

F. Croiset

upon

ceremony.

(Exercises de Pietd,

(1

Kings

20.) See

(2)
St.

According

Mahometan

tradition,

when

xxiii. p. 48.)

given birth to the Blessed Virgin, she her to the priests, saying these words, presented which are also found in the Koran " Dhouncou
:

Ann had

(4)

While the

pontiff

gave the blessing, the

people were obliged to place their hands over their it was not lawful eyes and hide their faces, because
to behold the

hadih alnedhirat,'' that is, " Behold the offering which I make you." Hossein Vaez adds to these

that

God was behind the

hands of the priest: the Jews imagined pontiff, and looked upon

44

THE

LITjE

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

"
!

A everything, and grant thee peace canticle of thanksgiving, harmoniously accompanied by the harps of the priests,
terminated the Presentation of the Virgin. Such was the ceremony which took
in place, in the latter days of November, tlie holy temple of Sion. Men, who usually

queens of so many nations? This is a secret between herself and God but we
;

may reasonably believe that never oblation more favourably received ;

St.

was

and

Evodius of Antioch,

St.

of Salamis, St.

Andrew

of Crete,

Epiphanius and a

a stop at the surface, beheld nothing but and wonderyoung child, very beautiful
fully fervent, consecrated

multitude of Latin fathers, agree in considering the consecration of the Virgin as

the most pleasing act of religion in the sight of God, which man h ad hitherto

to that

God
and

by her mother who had granted her to her

tears;

performed.

prayers

but the angels

of

The name

of the priest

who

received

heaven,

who hovered

over the sanctuary,

crea-

discovered in that

weak and gentle

the Blessed Virgin among the of daughters of the Lord is not

St.

number known

ture, the Virgin of Isaias, the spouse, of

whom

Solomon had sung the mystical

to espousals, the celestial Eve who came impart to a fallen race the hope of a

Germanus, and George of Nicomedia, incline to the belief that it was the father of St. John
the Baptist: the ties of relationship which connected Zachary with the family of

patriarch of Constantinople,

Penetrated with glorious immortality. joy to see at length the aurora shine forth " " of the day of the Messias, they united, " with this say certain ancient authors,'
feast of earth,

Joachim, the high rank which he then occupied in the priesthood," and the
tender affection which Mary
for

cherished

and covering the young descendant of David with their white wings, they scattered under their feet the
odoriferous flowers of Paradise, and cele-

him and

for Elizabeth,

impart to this

supposition a high degree of probability. Be this as it may, the blessed daughter

of

Joachim was solemnly admitted into

brated her entry into the temple with

melodious concerts."
passed then in the soul of Mary, in that soul sweetly expanded to the breath
of the sanctifying Spirit, where
all

number of the almas, or young virgins, who were brought up under the sacred
the

What

shadow of the

altar.

That.Mary spent her best years

in the

was

peace, pure love, and light? By what sacred ties did she unite herself to Him,

temple, is proved by apostolic tradition, by the writings of the fathers, and the

who had

preferred her to the virgins

and

opinion of the church, who is not used to sanction doubtful facts;* nevertheless,
(2) The Jews believed that St. John Baptist was much greater than Jesus Christ, because he vas the son of a hicfh jpriesf. (St. J. Chrysost.,

them through his outstretched hands; they did not " For no one can dare to lift np their eyes to him, Bee God and live." (Basn., liv. vii. c. 15.) (1) St. Andrew of Crete, and St. George of

Serm.

12, in

Matt.

Nicomedia.

(3) In 1373, Philip

de Maziere, a French noble-

MOTHEE OF GOD.
certain heretics have allowed themselves
to treat this circumstance as fabulous,

At
faithful

formed

followed, witli profound

and

veneration, the traces of the Son of

God

some Catholic authors themselves have

considered
it

and his divine Mother,

all its glory.

still

subsisted in

beneath

the veil of

an obscure point, concealed olden times, which it

This tradition, which came

from the church of Jerusalem,

a church
of Jesus

was very

difficult to clear up.

The denials
little,

composed of the
Christ, of
relatives

first disciples

of the former surprise us but

but the

among whom were found

number

circumspection of the others is strange indeed; for if ever a Christian tradition

it is possessed a character of authenticity who was the first to St. Evodius, this.

Joseph,

the Virgin, and of St. was consecrated very early by a

of
;

religious

memorial

a demonstrative proof

relate

in the eyes of Protestants themselves.'

fine,

In

Nicephorus of glorious circumstance of the infancy the Virgin, flourished at the very time of
the apostles and of the Mother of God. He was Bishop of Antioch, a town of and Christians Syria, to which both Jews
resorted
;

in an epistle entitledLwmen, which has preserved for us this

the greater

number

of the fathers,'

and

especially St. Jerom,

sites of

who

lived in the

midst of the

our redemption, and where the traditions were yet recent, have
recorded
it

and held

it

to

be

true.

This

traditionary belief
in

may

therefore be ranked

the nimiber of the best established

and the temple, where the newly

of the

facts of history.

man, chancellor

King

of Cyprns,

came

to the

(1)

Gibbon himself could not help acknowledgreligious

court of Charlea V., and related to him that in the the feast of the East, where he liad lived a long time,

ing the authenticity of the

Palestine.
"

traditions in
fi.xed,

They

(the Christians)

Presentation of the Jilessed Virgin was annually celebrated, in memory of her having been presented
the temple at the age of three years. " I reflected that this great feaat added,
in

of each questionahle tradition, the scene

by vnmemorable

event"
in the

(c. xxiii.):

an avowal of considerable weight

Philip was not

mouth of a writer eo v/ell inlormed as the English historian, and a man at the same time so

known

in the

Western church, and when I was

little

ambassador from the King of Cyprus to the pope, I Bpoke to him about this festival, and presented him the office of it; he had it carefully examined by the cardinals, prelates, and doctors of theology, and permitted the feast to be celebrated." The Greeks kept
it

M. de Chateaubriand,
proved upon earth,

disposed in favour of religion. According to if there is anything well

it is

the authenticity of the

Christian traditions at Jerusalem.

of Nyssa, St. (2) St. Epiphanius, St. Gregory Gregory of Nazianzum, St. Germanus, patriarcii of Constantinople, George of Nicomedia, St. Joha Damascen, &o.

" Eptrance of the early under the title of the " mention is made of Blessed Virgin into the temple it in their most ancient martyrologiea.
:

46

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIKGIN,

CHAPTER

V.

MAEY IN THE TEMPLE.

In the fortified enclosure of the temple, ou that site where tlie Christians erected

an oratory, of which the companions in arms of Godfrey made a church with a

gilded cupola, under the invocation of the

chosen to bring about the" redemption of the human race. Thus, when the seers of Juda unfolded to the elect, but oft chastised people, the prophetic picture of their

miseries,

or their victories, they always

it

Blessed Mary,* which the brave Knights Templars often took delight in orna-

introduced in
or in
cities.

a virgin, either smiling

tears, to

menting with

spoils of the Saracens, arose

personify provinces and In the wars of extermination, in

that part of the religious edifice which

had

which the broadsword of the Hebrews cut

been consecrated
dedicated
tliat

to the virgins
it

who were

to

the Lord:

was thither
relative.^

Zachary led his young

down the women, children, and old men of Moab, the virgins were spared; and the high priest, who was forbidden by a severe
law to pay funeral honours to a friend whom he loved as his own soul, and even to
the prince of his people, might assist without being defiled at the funeral of his sister if she had died a virgin.^

Although

virginity in Israel

was only a

temporary virtue, and had soon to give place to conjugal virtues, it was not
without privileges and without honour.

Jehovah

loved

the

prayers

of
it

chaste

children, of pure virgins;

virgin,

and

was a

The

virgins, or almas, took part in the

and not a queen,

whom

he had

ceremonies of the Hebrew worship before

Omar (elAkta) represents to ancient temple of Solomon ; el Hakhra (the rock) is bnilt on the place where Mary lived from the age of three years till her espousals
(1)

The mosqne
tiie

of

(2) St.

Germanus

affirms that

it

was Zachary who

the Christians

undertook

to place the

Virgin

in the temple.

Arab

traditions relate, in liUe

manner, that

The God

with Joseph. This place was at that time an appen-

dage

to the

to the temple of Solomon, as el Sakhra is now mosque of Omar. Before the crusades, el

gave the Virgin in charge to Zachary, ouaca/alha The Koran, in the Surate whioh treats Zacharia. of the family of Amram, adds to this facta marvellous legend picked up among the Christian tribes in the desert. It says that Zachary, who went from

Hakhra was only a chapel;

the Franks added to

it

a church, which they surmounted with a gilt cupola. When tiie conquerors threw down the great cross which glittered on tiie cupola of the Sakhra, the
cries of joy of the

time to time to

visit his

young

relative,

never did so

without finding near her a quantity of the finest fruits of the Holy Land, and always out of season,

of the Christians,

that

it

(Correspondence d'Orient, t. v.) According to Schonah, there arose a great tumult in the city, which Saladin was obliged to suppress in
stroyed.

Mussulmans, and the cries of grief were so great, says an Arab author.seemed at if the world was going to be de-

which obliged him at length to inquire of Mary whence all these fme fruits came. Mary answered, "IIou men and Allah iarzoe man iascha hega'ir hissa," (All that you see comes from God, who provides what he pleases, without count or number.)
(D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orientale, (3) Levit. xxi. 3.
t. ii.

art.

Miriam.)

person.

MOTHER OF
that worship

GOD.

47

had a temple.

We see them,

altar,

under

guidance of Mary, the sister of Moses, celebrate with dances and cantitlie

with greater fervour and perseverance. While the ark of God was still

encamped
offered to

in tents, the

women who watched

tabernacle,

cles the passage of the

Red

Sea.^

These
trans-

and prayed

at the door of the

dancing choirs of

young women,

God

the brazen mirrors which

planted from Egypt into the desert, continued a long time among the Hebrews.

they had brought from Egypt. They were doubtless pious widows, who had refused
to

The

virgins of Silo,

who seem

to

have

form new engagements in order to

been, in the time of the Judges, more especially consecrated to the service of

attend more uninterruptedly to heavenly things and almas, devoted by their parents
;

Adonai than the other daughters of Israel, were dancing to the song of canticles and
the sound of harps, at a short distance from the holy place, during a feast of the Lord, when the Benjaminites carried them

to the service of the sanctuary,

who had

been placed under the protection of these

virtuous

women.

St.

Jerom thus under-

This serious event did not put an end to this custom, which ceased only at
off.

stands this passage of Exodus. As the vow of parents could generally be redeemed, and as the redemption, fixed
at a
at

the disastrous epoch when the ark was lost and the first temple destroyed.^
All the almas were probably admissible
to these sacred choirs,

moderate sum,^ was always effected the end of a few years,* these temporary
to the Lord.'

vows were called a loan made

" I have lent

him

to the Loi'd," said

little

Anna,

when

their reputa;

when she took her

Samuel

to Silo.*

tion was not tarnished with any stain but among them a chosen portion are

After the return from the captivity, the influence of the Persians, who banished

distinguished,

who

are grouped about the

women from

their religious solemnities,'

(1) Mary and her young companions (les almas) canticles at tlie passage of the Red Sea, accompanying themselves with timbrels. (R. sal. Yarhhi.

side of silver weighed four Attic drachma, and was

sung

worth about

fifteen

pence of English money.

Kxod. XV.) (2) These sacred dances, which brought to mind the ))assage of the Red Sea, and which were accompanied with hymns of praise, were considered among

this sort of bondage, retained (4) their rights to the paternal inheritance, and could

The children, in
if

ransom themselves,
them.

Jews as a practice of bo great piety, that we find them even among the severe therapeuts. " The
the
sacred dance of the devout therapeuts," says Pliilo, " was composed of two choirs, one of men, the other

Josephus (Ant. lib. iv.) remarks that men and women who, after consecrating themselves voluntarily to the ministry, wished
to

(L'Abhe Guenee.)

their parents did not

redeem

break their vows, paid to the priests a certain sum, and that those who were unable to pay placed

was very harmonious and re^ music, because nothing was heard but very fine words, and the grave and decorous dancers had no other object than the honour and service of the
of

women,

the union

of both

themselves at the discretion of the priest. Piete. (5) F. Croiset, Exerc. de

commodavi eum Domino. (6) Id circo et ego the descendants of the Persians (7) At Bombay, have a temple consecrated to fire. They come in
crowds upon the platform, with their brilliant white cos; '.mcs and coloureJI turbans, to salute the ri.sing
of the sun, or to offer their

God

(3)

of Israel." (Philo, de Vita cont.) Moses had fixed the ransom of this ro'v,
fifty

by

an express law, at a sum of

sides at mobt.

The

homage

to his last rays.

4d
told

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

upon the
institution of the almas;

Mary among the daughters

to this fact.

of the Lord,

they ceased to form, in some degree, a body in the state, and to take an ostensible
part in the ceremonies of worship.
tlie

confine their indications almost entirely

Under

up this vacant space of a history which God seems to have been

fill

To

pontiff kings, they lived in seclusion;

tlieir

days passed in so profound a retreat, that when they ran in dismay to

and

pleased to envelop in clouds, we have nothing more than a few uncertain lines,

tlie high priest Onias, at the time when the sacrilegious attempt of Heliodorous

some mutilated pages of the fathers, of which it is difficult, even by ])utting them
carefully together in order,
satisfactory outline.
to

make

threw

all

Jerusalem into commotion, the

fact so

Jewish historians considered the

in their annals/

unusual and wonderful that they recorded

it

matter; hke the Indian artisan, who joins together a broken piece of cloth, thread by thread, and who
patiently endeavours to join the ends again

No

There were then, whatever some may have said, certain virgins attached to the
service of the second temple at the time

by unravelling, tying together, and letting his shuttle glide with infinite precautions

along this
broken,

woof, worn out

and

easily

of the presentation of Mary; the institutions of the primitive Christians attest it,*

we

shall apply laboriously to the

Jerom, and before Ambrose, them the proto-gospel of St. James, have Bat what passed during the affirmed it.

and

St.

St.

work, and collect together the scattered shreds of the precious web of the life of
the Virgin, to reunite the tissue,
practicable.
if it

be

abode of the Virgin in the temple ? What M?ere, at this interesting time of her life,
her
tastes,
?

of Banian,

With the persevering patience we shall endeavour, not to

make up

devotion

her habits, her practices of On this subject, there remain

a conjectural affair, which our profound respect for our subject would forbid ; but to give, by the help of the best

but few authentic documents.

tionary life of the

tradi-St.

Mother of God, which

Epiphanius, who lived in 390, considered then as very ancient, no doubt entered into
those details, but
it is lost.

and a long study of the manners of the Hebrews, the most precise idea, and that approaching as near as possible
authorities
to the truth, of the

almost cloistered

life

The

gospel of

of

Mary

in the temple.

the infancy of the Virgin, and St. Jerom, though both inform us of the admission of

Some

old legendary writers have

de-

lighted in surrounding the early childhood

by humbly prostrating before him.

Their wives do

not appear at that time ; it is the hour when they go to fetch water from the wells. (Buckingham, Pic-

origin, preserved some institutions of the old law: of tliia number was that of virgins and widows, who are found attached to tlie primitive churches

brew

ture of Inilia.) (1) JIacch. i. 2.

(2) It
is

to exercise various

good works in use by the sex. Mceurs des Israelites et des Chretiens, (See Fleury,

known

that the

primitive Christians,

p. 113.)

particularly those of Jerusalem,

who were

of

He-

MOTHER OP GOD.
of the Virgin with a

49

number

of prodigies

we pass over
events,

in silence these marvellous

sufficiently proved;

After this, let any one judge if it be possible that Mary was brought up in tho

which are not

but what we ought to call attention to, is an inaccurate assertion, or rather an inadmissible one, which has been adopted con-

Holy of Holies The local traditions

!

of Jerusalem pro-

and without examination by some holy personages and religious writers/ From the Virgin's having always been sanctity itself, which no one disputes, it
fidently

loudly than common sense against this opinion, thrown out at hazard theSafcfera, which was originally a Christian
test

no

less

church, built on the

of the Virgin,
is

site of the

apartments

a distinct appendage of

has been inferred that she must have been

placed in the
temple, that

most
is,

sanctified part of the

the mosque of Omar, and is not enclosed within that edifice yet the mosque of Omar is built on the very place where the
;

in the

which

is

materially untrue.

Holy of Holies, The Holy of

temple stood.
F. Oroiset, in his Exercises de Piete,

Holies, that impenetrable sanctuary of the God of hosts, was closed against the whole

has not adopted this opinion; but, unwilling to reject it altogether, he has

Hebrew priesthood, except the high priest, who went into it only once a year, after a number of fasts, vigils, and purifiof the

attempted a sort of compromise.

Accord-

ing to him, the Mother of God was not brought up in the Holy of Holies, but the priests, struck with her admirable
virtues, permitted

did not present himself there without being enveloped in a thick cloud
cations.

He

her to go and pray

to

of perfumes,

which interposed between him and the Divinity, " whom no mortal

there

from time

time.

The

Jesuit

Father has forgotten several things in

adopting this mezzo-termine : first, that woman, among the Hebrewsj was a being

could see without dying," says the scripture; in fine, he remained there only a

few minutes, during which the people, prostrate with their faces, to the ground, uttered loud sighs, for fear that he should
himself afterwards gave a great feast to his friends, to rejoice with them for having escaped a danger so
pressing and formidable.^
(1) St.

reputed unclean, likened to a slave, and

hardly

bound

to pray at all ;*

one who was

banished to an enclosure which she could

not pass beyond, and that the interior of the temple was a forbidden place to her, she were a prophetess, or the daughter of a king. Secondly, that the

there die.

He

even

if

Andrew of Crete, George

of Nicomedia,&c.
liv. v.

(2) Prideaux. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs,

c.

16.
(3)

fine greater part of the positive commandments ; in " the Jews still say, in their morning prayer, Blessed of the universe, for not be thou, Lord,

King

The impurity

rabbins,

woman, according to the dates from the seduction of Eve by the

of the

having made me be born a woman." The woman in her humiliation says, on her part, with sorrowful
resignation,

serpent, and cannot be expiated but at the coming of their Messias. Prayer is not so obligatory upon

" Blessed be thou,

made me
des Juifs,

vi'hat

thou hast pleased.''

10, p. 169.)

(Basnage, Hist,
H

Lord,

who

hast

her as upon

man

she

is

nut even bound to the

liv. vii. c.

60
priests could not grant to

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIBGIN,

Mary a

privilege

and conforming

to the

customs of her

which they did not enjoy themselves, and tliat, moreover, it would have been exposing her to certain
fears to
deatli.'

nation, Mary rose at the song of the bird, at the hour "when the bad angels are

Lastly, even

supposing none of these prejudices and

and when prayers are heard most favourably."* She dressed herself with
silent,

have existed among the priests of Jehovah, they would not have suffered any
one, on any account, to go into the Holy of Holies, considering that it was im-

extreme decency, out of respect for the glory of God, who penetrates everywhere, and beholds the actions of man, even in
the darkest night; then she thanked the

portant to withhold from the people the knowledge of the disappearance of the ark,

which had been

some obscure cavern of the mountains of Judea ever

lost

in

having added another day to her and having preserved her during days, her sleep from the snares of the evil
for
spirit.'

Lord

Her

toilet

since the daysof Jeremias.*

was no refinement about

is

was not long, and there it; she wore

nor gold chains nor purple tunics,

This second version, therefore, more admissible than the first.

no

neither pearl bracelets "

inlaid with silver,"
like the

The education which Mary received in the temple was as carefully provided as
was compatible with the knowledge of the time and the manners of the Hebrews it
;

race.

daughters of the princes of her robe of hyacinth blue, of soft and

a white tunic confined by a plain

velvet-like appearance, like tliat flower of

the

field,

turned principally on domestic work, from which the wife and daughter of Augustus
Caesar did not think themselves exempt in their imperial palace, and in the midst
of
tlie

girdle, with the

veil

ends hanging

free,

a long

with

its folds inartificially

but grace-

luxuries of Rome.'

Brought up in

fully arranged, and so formed as quickly and completely to cover the face, and lastly, shoes to match the robe, composed

the strict observance of the laws of Moses,

sanctuary is a place so holy," says is no one among us but the high priest alone, who is allowed to enter it, and that only once in the year, after, a solemn fast, to burn per(1)

the oriental costume of Mary.'

will have it that Jeremias hid it in a cavern in the mountains, the entrance of which it had never been

"The

Philo,

" that there

possible to find again

Josias,

others say that the holy

King

fumes there

in

honour of God, and humbly

him

that this year

may

be happy to

all

to beg of mankind.

If any one, not only of the common people of our nation, but even one of the chief priests, dared to go
in thither, or if the high priest himself went in twice a year, or more than once on the day when he is

admonished by liolda, the prophetess, that the temple would be destroyed soon after his death, had this precious deposit placed in a subterraneous vault which Solomon had had constructed. (3) Augustus never wore any other garments but those woven by his wife or his daughter and Alexander the Great, by his mother and his sisters.
;

allowed to do

his life, without him, bo strictly has Moses, our legislator, commanded us to reverence this place, and render it inaccessible." (Philo,adCajuiii,c. 16.)
so, it

would cost him

any

possibility of saving

(4) Basnage, liv. vii. c. 17, p. 309. (5) Basnage, loco citato.
(tj)

The Annunciades

of

Genoa wore

in the six-

(2) The Jews are not agreed as to the fate of the ark after the ruin of their first people: some

teenth century the costume of tlie Blessed Virgin, that is to say, white below and sky-blue above, tliat $uch a habit might cause a contimial remembrance of

MOTHER OP GOD.
After the customary ablutions, the Virgin, her companions, and the pious women

1
flourish,

demption

and may the Messias

come
"

speedily."^

who were

responsible to the priests

and

to

And

the people answered in chorus,

"
!
!

proceeded to the tribune surrounded with balconies,'

God

for this sacred deposit,

Amen amen

Then

they sung the

where the almas, seated themselves, in the place of honour.' The sun was beginning
to

attributed to
:

concluding verses of that beautiful psalm the prophets Aggeus and Zacharias
"

gild with his

early rays the distant

The Lord
:

looseth

them that

are fet-

mountains of Arabia, the eagle was soaring in the cloud, the sacrifice burned upon
the brazen altar to the sound of the morn-

tered "

the Lord enlighteneth the blind.

are cast

The Lord lifteth up them that down the Lord loveth the just.
;

ing trumpets, and Mary, with her head bowed down under her veil, after repeating
the eighteen prayers of Esdras, besought of God, with all Israel, the Christ so long

"The Lord
will

keepeth the strangers; he

;

support the fatherless and the widow and the ways of sinners he will destroy. " The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God,

promised to the earth, and so slow to come. " O God may thy name be glori!

Sion, unto generation and generation."* The reading of the schema^ and the
of

fied

and

sanctified in this world,

which

blessing

the priest

concluded

this

thou hast created according to thy good pleasure ; let thy kingdom come : may reJier.

public prayer, which was

made

at night

and morning.'
(3) This prayer, which is called Kaddisch, is the most ancient of all those which the Jews have preserved, and as it is read in the Chaldaic tongue, it is believed to be one of the prayers which had been made after the return from Babylon. (Basn., liv. vii. c. 17, p. 314.) Prideaux affirms that it was used long before our Lord's time, and that the apostles

The slippers of the choir nuns in Anhunciades

like

S,re

covered with leather of sky-blue colour.

tlie

(Rule
"

manner

inanine

M. de Laof Genoa, c. 2.) found in those Eastern regions, where everything seems unchangeable, the costume of
of

" wear," says the traveller poet, a long tunic of skya white girdle, the ends of which blue, fastened by hang down to the ground ; the full folds of a white tunic gracefully
traces back this
fall

Mary

in that of tlie

women

of Nazareth.

They

often offered
It

it

with

the

people in

the

syna-

over the blue."

M. de Lamartine

was recited often in the service, and gogues. the assembly were obliged to answer Amen several
times.
(4)

costume
is

to the times of

Abraham

and Isaac, and there

nothing improbable in this

see but a very slight difference supposition. between the costumes adopted in the sixteenth cen-

We

(6)

Leo of Modena. Maimonides. Leo of Modena, c. 11, p. 29. By the Schema is

tury from the traditions of Italy, and that which the French traveller found in the very places themselves.

understood three different sections of Deuteronomy and Numbers. It is a kind of profession of faith

which

is

recited night
is

and morning, by which

fliey

confess that there

but one God,

who

delivered his

(1)

In the

men were

feast of the drawing of the waters, the placed above the galleries, which went all

people out of Egypt.

(6) It is certain that the Blessed Virgin must have assisted very often at the public prayers of morning and evening: these prayers were considered more efficacious than otliers, and there are

round the peristyle of the women. (2) Origen, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Cyril have preserved to us the tradition which assigns to the virgins of the temple an honourable and separate place in the peristyle of the women.

even Hebrew doctors who maintain that none but these.

God

hears

63

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

tionary opinion of her unrivalled skill in spinning the flax of Pelusium," by giving

After fulfilling this first religious duty witli indescribable fervour, Mary and her

young companions resumed their accustomed occupations. Some turned swiftly

with their active fingers spindles of cedar
orithel,'othersworked in purple, hyacinth, and gold upon the veil of the temple, or the
rich girdles of the priests; while groups,

the

name

of the Virgin's thread to those

webs of dazzling whiteness, and texture almost vaporous, which hover over the
deep valleys in the

damp mornings

of

autumn.
the

bending forward over a Sidonian loom, were employed in executing the varied
designs of that magnificent tapestry for which the valiant women deserved the
praises
of all Israel,

and pure wives of remembrance of these domestic occupations, which the Queen
serious
first faithful, in

The

of angels did not disdain, never failed

to consecrate to

her a distaff surrounded

with

little

bands of purple, and supplied

and which Homer

himself has extolled.*

The Virgin

sur-

passed all the daughters of her people in these beautiful works, sohighly appreciated

with spotless wool." But the talents and knowledge of the St. Virgin were not confined to this.

Ambrose
St.

attributes to her a perfect un-

by the ancients. St. Epiphanius informs us that she excelled in embroidery and in
the art of working in wool, fine linen, and ' gold ; the Proto-gospel of St. James exhibits her to us seated before a spindle of

derstanding

of the

sacred

books,

and

Anselm maintains that she knew

Hebrew, the lanof

perfectly that ancient

Paradise,' in guage which God traced with his potent finger,"

terrestrial

the

wool dyed purple, which turned round under her light hands like the quivering
leaf of the aspen-tree,^

on

very

thick

precious

stones'

the

ten

precepts

and the Christians

of the East have perpetuated the tradi-

Decalogue. Mary, by studying the idiom of Anna and Debora, had been initiated, during
(5)

of

the

Whether

(1)
in
it is

The

ithel
it is

Arabia;

is a species of acacia, which grows of a fine black, and resembles ebony :

The vestments which

the high priests wore in

thought to be the setim wood of Moses.

the morning were, says the Misnah, of fine linen of Pelusium, a town of Egypt where the flax was
exquisite.

(2) See the Iliad, lib. vi.

(3) In the middle ages, in

in linen, the

memory

of the Virgin

(6)

This custom

still

exists in

some

villages of

weavers had placed themworking selves under tlie banner of the Annunciation. The manufacturers of gold brocade and silk stuffs had
for Uieir patroness

the north and west of France.

(7) According to the rabbins and commentators on the Bible, the language of the terrestrial Paradise

image on
embroidery.

their

Rich, and bore her banner, heavy with magnificent (Alex. Monteil, Hist, des Fran9ai8 des
the

Uur Lady

was the ancient Hebrew.

(8)

Hebrew

tradition.

(Basn.,

liv.

vi.

c.

16.)

divers etats.)
(1) The church of Jerusalem had early consecrated this memorial by numbering among its treasures the spindles of Mary. These spindles were

According to some oriental authors, the tables of the law were of red rubies, or carbuncles; but the most common opinion among the Arabs and Mussulmans, is that they were emeralds, in the inside of which the characters were so cut as to be legible on

sent afterwards to the Empress Fulcheria, who placed them in the church of Hodegos, at CouBtantinopIe.

every
t.

side.

(D'Herbelot,

Bibliotheque

Orientale,

ii.)

MOTHER OP
her solitary
the sublime conceptions of the seers of Israel, or whether
vigils, in

GOD.

68

she received from that sanctifying spirit, who had so richly endowed her, a breath
of poetical inspiration similar to

all the industry of nature had been put in request to produce him. What was an hyperbole carried to an

the creation,

those

harmonious breezes which

lightly

touched

absurd length, in speaking of the sanguinary nephew of Caesar, becomes a truth demonstrated when applied to the

the Eolian harp of King David,* still we cannot deny that the young prophetess, who gave to the new law its most
beautiful canticle,

Mary is the masterpiece of nature, the flower of the old generations, and the wonder of ages. Never had the earth seen,
Virgin.

must have known the

sweetest and most sublime inspirations of genius. Certainly, the woman who com-

never will the earth see, so many perfections combined in a simple daughter of

posed the Magnificat was no young the ignorant common people, as

to say,

girl of

men. All was grace, holiness, grandeur in this blessed creature : conceived in the
friendship of God, sanctified before her

some

Protestant authors have not been afraid

and she combined with unequalled

talents
this

sanctity,

of the

Nevertheless,

brilliant

highest order. side of her

knew not those passions which disorder the soul, and sin which corrupts the heart. Attracted towards good by a
birth, she

intelligence was hardly perceived, so adroit

sweet and natui-al inclination, by favour of her immaculate conception, her pure and

was she in concealing

gelical modesty.

it

beneath her evanthe delicate

innocent actions were like those coats of

Knowing

snow which are

lofty

silently

heaped upon the

duties

and true

interests of her sex, she

avoided display with extreme care, and passed along without noise, like a silent
star,

summits of the mountains, adding purity to purity, and whiteness to whiteness,

till

dazzling cone
to turn

is raised,

on

clouds.

that pursues its course through the The rich treasures of her mind
rarely

which the
forces

light darts playfully,

and which

man
It

and heart have been but

the roses of

and imwere

sun.

away his, eyes, like the has not been given to any second
to

perfectly revealed to the earth ; they

creature

present such
of

life

to

the

Arab

girl

Yemen, which the young conceals beneath her veil, and

the softened perfume of which is hardly

perceived.

men; Jesus Christ sovereign Judge but Jesus Christ is alone surpassed her, of God. the Son

Mary entered the temple

of God, like

ancient poet said with servility of Augustus, that he was himself the woi-k of
several ages,

An

one of those spotless victims which the Spirit of the Lord had shown to Malachy.
Beautiful, young, nobly born,

and

that, since the days of

and

qualified

(1) According; to an ancient Jewish tradition, David had a harp which played at night when a particular breeze blew. Basnage ridiculed these strings which sound of themselves at the night breeze, and

openly treats this assertion as ah absurdili/.

The

invention, or rather the re-discovery, of the Eolian harps, the magic sounds of which enchant the parka
of the English, has justified the rabbins.

54
to aspire to every position

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRQIir,

among

a people

who
altar

often placed beauty

upon the throne/

she attached herself to the corners of the

the rich tint of ripe ears of corn ; her hair was light, her eyes lively, the pupil being rather of an olive colour, her eye-

by a vow of virginity.

By

this vow,

unheard of before, Mary broke down the fence which separated the old law from the
new, and plunged so deeply
the evangelical virtues, that it

brows perfectly arched, and of the finest black her nose, remarkably perfect, was
;

into

tlie

sea of

aquiline ; her lips rosy, the shape of her face a fine oval ; her hands and fingers
long. All the fathers eagerly attest, with one

might be said that she had already sounded almost all its
depths, when her divine Son it to the children of men.

came

to reveal

accord, the admirable beauty of the Virgin

St.

God

does not change his ways abruptly

Denis the Areopagite, who had seen the divine Mary, assures us that she was a
dazzling beauty,

he announces, he prepares long before, the great events which are to change the face of the earth a precursor was needed
:

and

that he should

have

adored her as a goddess, if he had not known that there is but ons God.

for the Messias,

and he found him

in the

But
power
it

it

was not

to this

assemblage of

person of

St.

John the Baptist;

a pre-

natural perfections that

of her beauty
St.
;

liminary was requisite to the new law, and the virtues of Mary were to the gospel what

it

Mary owed the emanated from a

higher source.
well,

Ambrose, understood

a cool and cheerful

St.

dawn

is to

a fine day.

when he

said that this attractive

has

left

Epiphanius, quoted by Nicephorus, us a charming portrait of the

covering was but a transparent veil which let all the virtues be seen through it, and
that her soul, the most noble and purest that ever was, next to the soul of Jesus
Christ,

Virgin ; this portrait, sketched in the fourth century, from traditions now effaced,

and manuscripts which we no longer possess, is the only one which has come down
to us.

was

entirely revealed in her look.

natural beauty of Mary was but the remote reflection of her intellectual and

The

Virgin, according to this bishop, was not tall of stature, though her height

The

imperishable beauties; she was the most beautiful of women, because she was the

was a

little

above the middle size

her

most chaste and most holy of the daughters

of Eve."

colour, slightly darkened, like that of the

Sulamite, by the sun of her country, had

(1) "It is neither climate, nor diet, nor bodilyexercise which forms the beauty of the human form it is the moral sentiment of virtue, which cannot
;

God has made a palace of pearl- coloured

_

women of obscure condition

of

the celebrated Sulamite

Solomon was,
little

it

is

said, a

young country

girl of

the

village of Sulam, situated at a short dis-

subsist without religion. Beauty of countenance is the true physiognomy of the soul." (Bernardin de

Saint Pierre, Etudes de la Nature, ^tude 10.) know that David, Solomon, and the other (2)

In the time of Mary, Herod espoused Marianne, the daughter of a plain sacrificiug priest, on account of her
tance from Jerusalem.
the Great had

We

beauty.

Kings of Juda, often placed upon

their royal

couch

MOTHER OP GOD.
shell for the pearl of the
it is

85

Green Sea;' but

the pearl, and not

is

its brilliant shell,

pomp, simple in her attire, simple in her manners, and never had a thouglit of
displaying her beauty, her ancient nobility, or the rich treasures of her mind and
heart.
all

which

set in gold,

and with which the

diadems of

kings are incrusted.

;

The
ac-

fathers were not here mistaken

and

Her presence seemed

it,

to sanctify

cordingly, in

what they have

left

us about

around

and the sight of her banished

the person of Mary, they have devoted a considerable part to moral beauties, the

the thought of the things of earth. Her was no vain formality, made up politeness

only ones which are not the food of worms. We are about to collect the little precious

they have scattered over their writings, to compose with them a mosaic which may exhibit a second portrait of

stones which

was an expansion of universal benevolence which came from the soul. In fine, her look already
:

of words of falsehood

it

discovered

the

Mother

"

Sophronius, the garden of pleasure of the Lord."* The greatest propriety reigned in all the
of the Virgin
;

her who was, says

St.

Virgin of whom it " She would ask of

for Lucifer, if

mercy the has since been said

:

of

forgiveness even Lucifer himself asked for

God

forgiveness."

actions
affable,

she was

good,

compassionate, and never tired of hearing the long complaints of the

Though very riches, Mary was

scantily provided
liberal to the poor,

with

and

her young maiden alms often dropped

unperceived into tliat chest which was fixed to one of the columns of the peristyle, into

She spoke little, always to the purpose, and never did an untruth defile her lips. Her voice was sweet, penetrating, and her words had something unctuous and consoling, which shed calm over the soul. She was the first in watchings, the most exact in fulfilling the divine law, the most profound in humility, the most perfect in every virtue. She was never seen
afflicted.

which Jesus at a
fall.

later
St.

period

saw the widow's mite

Ambrose

makes known

to

source from which

us the pure and sacred Mary derived her alms ;

she deprived herself of everything, granting only to nature what she could not with-

hold from
to live,

in anger; she never offended, afflicted, or

railed at

without dying, and seemed like the grasshoppers upon air and
it

any one.

She was an enemy

to

dew.^

Her

fasts,

which were frequent

(1)

Bahr-al-Akhdhar,a.T\ame of the Persian Gulf.

"

Vera Virgo erat hortus deliciarum in quo (2) consita sunt universa florum genera et odoramenta
virtutuin."
(3) air

send forth a sweet sound, after sipping a little dew." " Grasshoppers feed only on dew." (Theocritus,

(Sophron., Serm. de Ass.)

(Philo,
de Vita

Does he ""pwicac oiritiTaip oairi b rfrrij ) Idyl 4 And not feed on dew, like the grasshopper?"
: ;

"

The

ancients believed that grasshoppers lived

cont., p.
:

on

and dew.

831.)

Virgil " Dum

:

Homer,

in the third

book of the

Iliad

thymo pascentur apes, dum rare cicadae." " While bees are fed on thyme, while grasshoppers
on dew."

. , TerW-yefffft koiKuriQ otrs KaO* vXijv AevSpkuj lipi^ofievoi oira Xiipidttraav itlffu

, , ,

On

this

account
tlSaf,

" Like grasshoppers, which, perched upon the trees,

"
vpiiiov

nrnyoc

Callimachus has called dew, the food of the grasshopper."

56

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

take refuge in the subterranean vaults of his palace,' did not reach the ear of

ficial

and rigorous, were in like manner beneBut the fasts of the to the poor.

Blessed Virgin were not like our fasts in the north, which last only for a morning, and are confined to the privation of certain
they were an abstinence from everything, which began in the even-

the young girl; completely absorbed in her religious duties, her soul was at the feet of the great Author of the universe,

kinds of food

beyond the limits of the world and the

region of storms. " was
brose,

ing at sunset, and ended the next day at the rising of the stars/ All this time Mary

sublime

gift

Never," says St. Amany one gifted with a more of contemplation ; her mind,

"

denied herself
taste

all
:

and her heart

that could gratify her she imposed upon her-

self the hardest work, the

most disagree-

agreement with her heart, never lost sight of Him, whom she loved more ardently than all the seraphim together
always in
;

able works of mercy, put on her poorest garments, slept on the ground, and did

her whole

life

was but one continual exer-

not allow herself, during these days of mortification and tears, which were often
prolonged for weeks together, anything but a slender repast, composed of bread

her God, and when the sun came to weigh down her eyecise of the purest love of
lids,

watched and prayed."* Such were the virtues, such were the
her heart
still
;

baked in the embers, bitter herbs, and a cup of water from the fountain of Siloe.^

occupations of Mary in the temple she shone there among her youthful companions like a rich diamond, which, set

Her meditations were

prayers
so

frequent, and her recollected, so attentive, so

among
them

other

precious

stones,

eclipses
it

all

by

its

brilliancy.

Thus

hap-

profound, that her soul seemed to dissolve in adoration before the Eternal. The
roaring of the tempest and the noise of the thunder, which used to make Caesar

pened that old men who had grown grey in the priesthood never passed by her without blessing her, and considered her as the richest ornament of the holy house.
scarcely excusable in a

(1)

The Jews
Basnage,

did not consider that day as a

set.
liv. vii.

fast,

on whicli the sun did not

(2)
Israelites, p. 104.

woman. At the least appearance of a storm, he went and hid himself under deep
where the noise of the thunder and the
Ambr.,
flashes

c.

18

Fleury, Moeurs des

vaults,

of lightning could not penetrate.

(4) St.

(3) Augustus, if we may believe Suetonius, was afraid of tbuud^r and lightning with a weakness

De

Virg.,

lib.

iL

MOTHER OF QOD.

sr

CHAPTER

VI.

MARY AN ORPHAN.
It must be owned, though it be a strange thing, that the history of the Virgin is barren of facts and full .of interruptions
:

her arms to the Lord,' and deposited her with tears in his sanctuary, appears
in

one might compare it to the majestic ruins of some ancient city of the desert. Here,
gigantic pillars, moveable as those of the mountains

again and upon then

the scene but for a moment,

it is

to die.

Still it is

not to

whose bases are as im;

be supposed that t?ie spouse of Joachim remained nine years without seeing Mary
buildings of the temple, where children consecrated to the God of Israel were brought up, could not
again.

there,

The

exterior

porticoes which the Arab, fond of marvellous tales, proclaims as the work of the
genii; farther

on temples buried in sand,

have been forbidden to mothers a mother

;

which the imagination can still build up and then at intervals, a plain of again
;

has also sacred and religious rights;

nations
declare

all

sand, bare and barren, which has not a

single blade of grass for the camel of the

Bedouin.
it

Instead of the apostles, who, would seem, were too much taken up

inviolable, and, moreover, the Scripture informs us that Anna, the wife of Elcana, freely visited

them

her son at

on solemn days, and that she never failed to bring a tunic woven
Silo,

with the grand person of Christ, to think the fathers have of his earthly family,

with her

own hands

to the

young prophet

whom

she had

lent to

the Lord.

Anna
several

introduced us to the virtues of St.

Ann

had had
children,

after the birth of

Samuel

we have entered

after

them beneath her

whom

she beheld growing up

humble roof; we have been witnesses of

her vows, of her fervent prayers, of the joys of her late maternity, of the effusion
of her gratitude
tradition
;

under her eyes

like

young

oliye-trees,

and
St.

who shared with

tlie little

servant of the
:

tabernacle her maternal solicitude

but here the thread of

it

Ann had none

but Mary f the

sum

of her

becomes so loose that

breaks
life is

continually,

and the

rest of St.

Ann's

happiness, the hope of her old age, the source.of her joy on earth, were all centred

almost entirely matter of conjecture. This mother, who had obtained her blessed

daughter after so many fasts and prayers, who had surrounded her childhood with
so

not then to be doubted that, in company with her spouse, she came to see her every time that her piety led her
in her.
It is to the temple,

and that she

at

also sat up,

much

love,

who had brought her

Le
Glorie di Maria, Disc.
3,

by the light of her lamp

named Mnry, born twenty

home, or by

(1) St. Alphonsus,

p. 59.

(2)

Some have given Ann another daughter,

years before the Blessed Virgin ; this tradition has not been received by the Church,

58

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

city
!

the white hght of the moon,' to weave the virginal rohes of her child.
It is believed that St.

How

long did those tracks which

chim returned

to

Ann and St. Joatheir home after the

she saw winding across the mountains and She reached plains appear to travel over
1

presentation of Mary, and dwelt there some years before they settled finally in Jerusalem.

by sight, she gained twenty times over in thought, before she arrived at them in
reality,

Joachim, who was not an

artizan,

the bushes of nopals, the tufts of rose-bay, the masses of green oaks or

like Joseph, apparently cultivated the small

property inherited from his forefathers, and enjoyed that happy mediocrity which

sycamores which arose at intervals upon her journey ; for when each of these points

has always been the ambition of sages, great men, and poets, in their moments of

were gained, she was the nearer to her daughter, her daughter, the gift of the

Lord, the child of miracle, she

whom

an
!

grumbhng

at fortune." at

been erected

Churches have Sephoris, Nazareth, and

angel had proclaimed the glory of With what emotion must she have

Israel

hailed,

Jerusalem, on

sites

which

formed part of

from the bottom of the

of Antonia

valley, that

tower

his patrimony; but the vineyard or field of his fathers must have been in the

which
its

arose,

splendid

and

menacing, on
to

base of polished marble,'

environs of Sephoris
his returning to

was the cau^e of lower Galilee. Joachim

:

this

protect

how much must

which
soul

was a true

Israelite,

much

attached to

of prayer and the sight of the temple, contained her child and her

the

house

the law of Moses; he

temple
his wife

at all

went up to the the solemn festivals with

relations, after
it

God, have affected that tender and holy

!

and some of his

the custom of the Hebrews, and

is

to

be supposed that the desire of seeing his

daughter, increased his attraction fqr the

the evening was come, and the trumpets of the priests called the people to the ceremony,* Ann hastened to adore

When

ceremonies of divine worship.

With what

God, and cast her eyes upon her daughter, whom she had not seen for whole months.

joy did his good and pious partner take her travelling veil to journey to the holy
(1) The Jewish women spun together drying the Bnminer by moonlight, since the Jewish doctors

The
sky,

court,

which had no ceiling but the

its

mingled the dazzling light of

the temple and the other to the distressed.

(Life of

authorised a husband to repudiate his wife

when the

women who spun hy

moonlight spoke ill of her. c. 6, p. 250.) This custom of spinning by (Sotah, moonlight still continues in many southern countries.

Jesus Christ, t. i. p. 46.) (3) The tower of Antonia might be considered as the citadel of the temple it had been anciently the
;

palace of the Asmonean princes. The rock on which it was seated was inaccessible on every side, and

(2) According to St. Gregory of Nyssa, ^he father " an honourable citizen," of the Blessed Virgin was of signal piety, and much fearing God. F. de Val-

high. Herod had had it cased with marble from the foot to the summit, so that no one might be able to go up or down it. (Joseph., Ant.
fifty cubits

verde assures us, on the testimony of some fathers of the Church, that enjoying easy circumstances, Ann and Joacbim gave one part ol their savings to

Jud.,
(4)

lib.

XV.

c.

14,

and de

Bello, lib.

ii.

c.

16.)

The

religious festivals of the

Jews always

began

in the evening.

MOTHER OF
chandeliers' witli the flickering hght of the stars; thousands of hghts intersected

GOD.

69
age and labour had worn out the

When

strength of Joachim,
able to cultivate his
self,

each other beneath the portions adorned with fresh garlands;^ and the princes of
priests passed through the

and he was no longer paternal land by himto live

he thought of coming

near

crowd with

to his daughter;

the holy couple finally

their splendid ornaments, brought from

the borders of India by the caravans of

Palmyra.'

From time to time the insulated

quitted lower Galilee, and came to live at Jerusalem, in a quarter near the temple. Ann had then arrived at the summit of

harmonies of harps seemed to accompany the low shrill sound, like the confused
noise of the waves,* which a multitude of

her wishes

she could serve the Lord in

his holy house,

and see Mary

often.

How

Hebrews made at their come from the banks

prayers,

who had

of the Nile, the

many times, during the fine summer evenings, while turning her spindle on the terrace ro^f of her house, must she have
out of her motionless fingers, while her maternal looks were thoughtlet it slip

Euphrates, and the Tiber, to bend their knees before the only altar of the God- of
their fathers."

Amidst

this

immense

con-

course of believers, national and foreign, Ann, who prayed fervently, raised her

on the gold and cedar roof of the temple ? " Where a man's treasure is,"
fully fixed

says the Scripture,

St.

"

there

is

his heart."

was when Mary and her young companions were passing along, white and veil'ed, with lamps in their

head but

for a

moment

it

Ann

could have shortened the term

of this painful absence, as the law of

Moses

hands, like the wise virgins of the gospel. When the feast was over, Ann, after

would have accepted her compensation. She did not desire it: her gratitude towards

having blessed and embraced Mary, took the road of the mountains again with

God spoke more powerfully than her maternal tenderness and when the
;

voice of rehgion

was heard, the cry of

lived nearly nine years

Joachim; she departed from Jerusalem

with slow steps, without daring to look back, and carried with her happiness and
recollections to last her all the time
till

nature was appeased.

The Virgin had

secluded in the temple,* when the first dark cloud came to sadden the sweet and
serene sky of her young
life
:

the next festival.

(1) These chandeliers were of gold, and fifty The light which they diffused was cubits high. seen, say the rabbins, who were born to exaggerate, to an incredible distance from Jerusalem, and even
in the

her beloved

evening of solemn feasts came from India, and were

very expensive.
(i)

We

know

(Basn., liv. viii. that the Jews

c.

15.)

and Arabs pray

aloud.

towns the houses were so well lighted

that,

(Taimud.
(3)

witliout the help of their lamps, the cooks could pick out the different kinds of grain for their soups.
tract. Succa., fol. 3.)

the Jews made it a (5) While the temple existed, thither. More particular point of devotion to repair

than eleven hundred thousand persons perished at the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, because

(2) These green garlands were put on during the Feast of Tabernacles. (Basn., liv. vii. c. 16.)

they were assembled

for the

when

it

was besieged.

(Joseph.,

Feast of the Passover,

lib. vii. c.
t.

17.)

The

dresses which the priests wore in the

de Piet^, (6) F. Croiset, Exercises

xviii. p. 69.

60
father,
ill,

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Joachim the just man, fell
seriously

been heard
to

the jealous

God was pleased

the
terrestrial

and soon the symptoms of approaching dissolution were apparent. Alarmed at

his
situation, his relatives

dissolve

by degrees

attachments of the spouse

whom he had
might no

and friends
testi-

chosen

for himself,

that she

hastened to afford him a thousand

longer have any support upon earth but

his.

monies of

affection

and sympathy:

for

there reigned a great and laudable union among the families of Juda. The dying

Pious authors have been of opinion that at the moment when Joachim stretched
out his hands in the attitude of blessing over his child, a revelation from above
allowed

man
and

benignantly smiled upon his friends

relations; like Jacob,

he had long been a sojourner upon the earth, and it mattered but little to him that the wind

him

to see all at

once the glorious

called his

destiny to which
ter
:

Heaven

daugh-

came and overturned

beyond
going
spirit the

his tabetnacle, for

this planet of earth,

he beheld in

the joy of the elect was diffused over his venerable face; he dropped his arms,

to repose in the

happy regions where he was bosom of Abraham.

bowed down
and

his head,

and

died.

The house then resounded with

shrill cries;

When
strength

the gradual exhaustion of his had given the aged man to

life

the

women

wailings struck their

bosoms and
their

understand that

was departing from

all,

tore their hair;^ the men covered their heads with ashes, and rent

him, he made aloud, in presence of

confession of his sins, after the
of the Hebrews,*
to the sovereign

the

manner

and

offered
in

up his death
expiation of

garments; while certain Jewish matrons, moved by a principle of devotion and charity, extended a thick veil over
the pale but serene countenance of the
just

Judge

the faults inherent in our nature, from which the most just are not exempt.

man whom

to see in this

was no longer permitted world, and bent his thumb

it

This duty

fulfilled,

Joachim asked

for his

in

his hand,

her his blessing. Mary ' came her ardent prayers for the preservation of the author of her days had not
daughter, to give
;

sign of being
things.

which they left open, as a abandoned by all earthly

body with water

After washing the

(1) Confession

among

the

Hebrews

is

of the

highest antiquity ; the Jews made it, at the hour of death, not only alovd, but before ten persons and a rabbin. Aaron Ben-Beracliia, in liis book entitled Llaavar Jobbok, where he treats of the art of dying

(2) It was a custom which came from the patriarchs, that children should receive the blessing of their dying father Mary must have conformed to
:

this

custom

her retirement in the temple was not a

St.

and of the manner of assisting the dying, relates the manner of confessing sins^, and tlie i)rayers of the
well,

time
the

monastic enclosure, and in Jerusalem.

(3)

Joachim

lived at that

agony. Abraham Ben-Isaac Laniailo has also made a book entitled The Buckler of Abraham, a work esteemed by the Jews, in which he treats of the
confession of sing.

St. Jerom remarks, that in his time, most of Jews mangled their skin at the death of their near relations, and made themselves bald by tearing

(See

off their hair,

which they

sacrificed to death.

also Basn., liv. vii.

c.

24.)

MOTHER OP
mixed with myrrh and the leaves of dry roses, these pious women wrapped it up in a Unen winding-sheet, which they bound round with bandages after the manner of Egypt. Then, having opened all the doors and windows of the house,*
they lighted a brazen lamp with several lights near the corpse, the lamp of the
dead, which cast
its

GOD.

61
at the

Mary were present

funeral,

and

walked with their heads down, among the matrons of their family, who shed streams
of tears.*

The

procession passed

tlie

sheep-gate,

which afterwards, among the Christians, bore the name of the Gate of the Virgin.

When
ticles,

mournful reflexion

they had arrived at the place of interment, the sound of the flutes, the can-

over the funeral couch.

and lamentations ceased

this

for a short

The next day a numerous train, in which

were
seen

time, and he who conducted the mourn-

some

flute-players,*

stopped
rela-

ing

made

address

to

the

corpse:

before the house of the dead.

tions

The

made their way to the upper chamber,

laid forth,-

"Blessed be God who formed thee, fed O ye thee, and has taken away thy life.
dead, he knows your number, and he will one day raise you up again. Blessed be he

where Joachim had been

and

deposited the corpse upon a litter,^ which they took up upon their shoulders. They

who

passed

along the streets of Jerusalem,

takes away life, and restores it I"* small bag of earth was laid upon the

chanting funeral canticles, accompanied by the soft and plaintive sound of flutes,

head of the dead man, then the sepulchre was opened, a dark cave, which was

and above which were heard the loud

lamentations of the mourners.

called the house of the living,'

where the

Ann and

patriarch was going

to sleep his last sleep,

(1) Dead bodies, among the Jews, defile and render unclean those who touch them. (Misnah, Ordo piiritatum.) " When the doors are shut, the

of their husbands

and

fathers.

The widow

of Nairn

followed the corpse of her son ; Joseph conducted the obsequies of his father; this custom still continues
in

house of the dead

consequently
monides.) (2) Jesus
it is

is

regarded as a sepulchre, and

;

Judea.

The

children of the

Hebrews

defiled

when

the doors are open,

departs."-

on the contrary, the uncleanness

^(Mai-

received the blessing of their parents, closed their eyelids, and accompanied them to the field of repose
to gather

them

to the bones of their forefathers

Christ found minstrels

who made

(Salvador, Hist,

des Institutions
t. ii.

de Mo'ise et du
Juifs.

he had raised to

great rout at the door of a ruler, whose daughter life. Maimonides says that the

peuple Hebreu,
(5)

p.

398.)
Buxtorf,

Leo

of
p.

Modena, Cont. des

602.

poorest Jew is obliged to hire two flute-players and a female mourner for the funeral of his wife,

Syn. Hebr.,

and that the

rich

portion to their of the Israelites, p. 106.) (3) Tiiese funeral litters were used long before coffins, which are still unknown to the Ar.ibs, who

must increase the number in prowealth. (See also Fleury, Manners

(6) The sepulchre should have been called the house of the dead; but they gave it, on the contrary, the title of house of the living, to indicate that the immortal soul still lives after the separation from

bury their dead

the jackals,

in

who prowl about the

a linen cloth only, which gives cemeteries by night,

Tlie rabbins (Basn., liv. vii. c. 24.) an exact description of these sepulchres. Tboy give make the entrance to them very narrow, for usually

the body: Pharisees.

this

denomination

is

attributed to the

the facility of disinterring corpses to devour them. (4) Women and children assisted at the funerals

them.

a stone rolled up to the entrance sufficed to close They left a great space empty, where the

62
waiting for
family.
to

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

the

VIRGES",

other

members
from

of

his

Then

cries arose

all sides,

but she drained the bitter cup, saying to " God " O Jehovah, thy will be done
: !

enough
herself

wring the heart. Ann threw upon the mortal remains of her
pay him
the last adieu, and
off in

The mother and daughter put on mourning after the manner of the Hebrews they
;

spouse, to

soon she was carried

sensibility.

a state of in-

were clothed in a coarse camlet, tight, and without folds, which was called a hair
shirt;

After consigning to the earth the sacred remains of the just man, they
rolled

the head and feet bare, the face

up

to the entrance of the sepulchral

hidden in a fold of their robes, keeping fast and abstinence,* they remained sitting

cave an enormous stone, which no one

on the ground
to tears

for seven days, giving

must remove under pain of excommunication. The funeral cries began again, and the
spectators, pulling

way
the

with their relations, and pray-

ing for the soul of the deceased.'

When

up three several times

seven

days were passed,

Ann had

a tuft of grass, and throwing it each time behind them, said in a mournful tone: " of the shall flourish as the

lamps lighted in the synagogue, where she requested prayers for her husband and
added alms in proportion to her fortune. Mary, on her part, fasted eveiy week, on the day on which she had become an
orphan, and prayed every night and morning for the* repose of her father's soul.

They

field!"

These

grass rites terminated the obse-

quies of the descendant of the kings of

Juda, the father of Mary, the grandfather of Jesus Christ according to the flesh.'

The Blessed Virgin's heart was wounded

which was the prelude to so many others it was her apprenticeA.dversity reached her on ship to sorrow.
by this
first grief,
:

These
"

fasts

and prayers

for the

dead con-

tinued for the space of eleven months.*

the threshold of adolescence

the noble

Welcome, O misfortune, if thou comest alone," say the Greeks. This first afiliction was followed by one still more
poignant,

child did not shrink back on

she wept,

her soul, like that of her divine Son, was never dry or insensible,
for

her way;

and another

mourning soon

be mingled with the mourning for Joachim. Scarcely was the mortuary
to
(1) Salom. Ben-Virgse, Hist. Jud., p.

came

set

bearers went in and deposited the coffin, before they it in its place. They hollowed out a certain

193 Leo of
;

number
wiiich

of niches in the sides

and
of

at the end, in

Modena, Cont. relig. des Juifs; Basn., liv. vii. c. 25. (2) Fasting was very severe among the Jews

they placed

the

bodies
;

each

family.

Tombs were
liigh-road

to pass over

it was not allowed them by making au aqueduct or a through them, nor to go thither to cut

greatly respected

they were obliged to be contented with certain kinds of pulse, beans for example, or lentils, which were

mourning

diet.

Eggs were

allowed, for

tlie

form

wood, nor to lead flocks there to feed. They were placed on the high-roads, in order to excite the remembrance of those who passed by, and preserve
the
c.

of an egg, being round, and in the shape of a globe, Wine was no is the image of a man in afBiction.
(Basn., liv. vii. c. 28.) the days of mourning they recited the (3) During forty-ninth psalm. (L. de Mod., Cont. des Juifs,
less

forbidden than meat.

memory of the dead.

(Lightfoot,Cent. Chorogr.,

100.)

In the gospel, we see that the tomb of

p.

182.

Lazarus was a cave closed by a large stone.

(4) Basnage, liv.

Lightfoot, In John, p. 1072.) vii, c. 11, p. 182.

MOTHER OF GOD.
lamp extinguished in the sorrowful abode of St. Ann, when it became necessary to
light hardly were the tears dried up which the Virgin had shed for one of
it

68

with her tears; but the breath of God alone can reanimate the dead After the
!

afresh

burst of this sorrow, which was so justifiable, she closed with her hands the
first

the authors of her days, when she had to One evendeplore the loss of the other.^
ing, Mary,
relatives,

and gave her one long and sorrowful embrace, the last adieu of
eyelids of the saint,

accompanied by some of her went down from the temple to

her

her people.*

The
silent,

giief of

the narrow and dark street where

the young orphan was profound, and nobly endured.

mother

dwelt.

The

red and feeble ray of

a lamp gleamed across one of the narrow trellised windows of the humble dwelling.

Having no longer any otlier reliance upon earth but Providence, she took refuge in the bosom of God; thence, as from the
recess of a tranquil bay, she heard the distant roaring of the storms of the world,

Before the threshold were grouped together in silence those women, who even
to this day

throughout the East, bewail the

and understood
of life;

like birds of evil

dead as a means of earning their support; omen which forebode

things the vanity of rank, of grandeur,

all

the vanity of the

of fortune, of beauty

things which

glitter

funerals, these

unlucky creatures were on

and pass away,

like the bubble

upon the

the look out for some family in tears, to come and hire their venal lamentations.'
St.

course of the wintry torrent, which itself disappears at the end of a season.
It is to this period of
tion,

Ann

exerted her failing strength to

mourning, insula-

bless

her daughter, recommended her pathetically to her kinsfolk, but above all

and

solitary meditations, that a cer-

tain historian has judiciously attached the

is the Father of the orphan, the sleep of the just.^ Mary slept bent down in tears over the cold visage of her mother; her light hair mixed with the

to

Him who

vow
it

of perpetual virginity

made by Mary ;*

and

no where appears that this vow was known to Ann and Joachim, and without
their

consent

it

would not have been

after their death, then,

grey hairs of the departed

it

seemed
life

as if

valid in the eyes of the law, either civil or

religious.*

she would have brought her to

(1)

again

It

was
is

and

St.

According to the best authorities, St. Ann Joachim died at a short interval one from

(4)

This custom

very ancient; for Philo, re-

the other.

cording the lamentations of Jacob for the premature death of his son, makes him say that he shall not
liave the consolation

Levant women are hired to bewail the dead, who have no other means of earning their living. Tliey are paid so much per hour, and they
(2) In the

" to close his

la Sainte

e3-es,

and give

him the parting

kiss."

(5) Descoutures,

Vie de

Vierge, p. 27.

exert themselves to earn their salary by uttering the most piercing cries. (Burckhardt, Voyage en

Arabic,
(3)

t.

ii.

p. 139.)

(6) young girl might make vows among the Jews, and she could even make a vow oi virginity but this vow was annulled by the authority of the
;

Grave

historians affirm that the Virgin

was
quite

present at tlie death of her mother,

which

is

conformable to the manners of the Hebrews

under the father's power, she power which nature gives. All vows made by a young girl or a married woman,
father, because, being

could not violate the

64
that

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Mary chose the Lord

for her portion,

and consecrated herself by vow

to

his

" one day passed in the Virgin found that the tabernacles of the God of Israel was
better than a thousand other days,"

service, without any limitation of time, says Bernardin de Busto, and with the

and

intention oi never

departing from the

she too would have preferred to be the last in the holy place, rather than the
first

temple. Like the august head of her race,

in the tents of Cedar.

CHAPTER

VII.

MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN.

Whether Joachim on

his death-bed

had

placed the Virgin under the special prowhether the tection of the priesthood
;

probable, and the Arab traditions affirm it, that the cares of this guardianship

were especially confided

spouse of
Elizabeth,
to

to

the

pious

magistrates

who took

care of the orphans

for

Zachary,

who

had themselves chosen guardians

in the powerful family of Aaron, to she belonged on her mother's side

her

which
;

seemed designated by his high reputation for virtue, and his title of near relative,'
for these duties of

whe-

guardianship."

The
all

ther the guardianship of children devoted to the service of the temple belonged of
right to the Levites,
it is

eagerness which led the Blessed Virgin,

two or three years

through Judea, to
congratulations to the
Baptist,

later,

to

travel

certain that after

ofi"er

her services and

St.

the death of the authors of her days, had guardians of the priestly race.

Mary
It is

mother of

John

and her prolonged stay in the

unknown to or contrary to the will of a father or a husband, were null. (Num. c. xxx.) Some rabbins, however, maintain that it was necessary that the father, or husband should annul them twenty-four

had no father among men. When it is asked, how it can be that Mary, being of the tribe of Juda, should be cousin to St. Elizabeth, who was of the
tribe of Levi, St.

Augnstin answers

tliat

there

is

liours after they

came

to

which they held good. (Basnage, liv. vii. c. 19.) (I) The Jews, together with Celsus, Porphyrins, and Faustus, have taken this relationship as their

know

of them, in default of

nothing impossible in a man of the tribe of Juda taking a wife of the tribe of Levi, and that the
Blessed Virgin, sprung from this marriage, should be the relation of Elizabeth on her mother's side.
It is proved,

ground

for

maintaining that the Blessed Virgin was

of the tribe of Levi.

Catholic doctors oppose this opinion : they maintain that Mary was of the tribe of Juda, and of the family of David. In fact, St. Matthew teaches us that Jesus Christ is called

The

tract

moreover, tliat the prohibition to conan alliance with another tribe regarded none

but orphans
their fathers.

who were

heiresses of the property of

the Son of David, according to the fleh ; but he can be the Sou ot David only through Mary, since he

(2) The Koran, where many Arab traditions are found relating to Mary, says formally that Zachary took her under his protection. (Koran, c. 3.)

MOTlJER OF GOD.
inountiiins of

65
'

Hebron, seem, in fact, to indicate a more intimate connexion than

;

Moses
tion

heiress,'

it

was the celibacy of an only

is to say,

that

the total extinc-

that of mei'e relationship the roof which sheltered Mary during so long a visit

of her

father's

name,

thought

considered

could not have been, according to the etiquette so rigorously observed among
the Hebrews, any other than a roof as sacred as her paternal dwelling.

Jews, who

impious among the looked upon it as a signal misalmost

fortune for their

tuated in Israel.
ginity,

name not to be As to the vow

life,

perpeof vir-

with which

she had desired to she would not have

Whoever the priests may have been who were honoured with the guardianship
of the blessed

bind herself for

daughter of the

saintly

dared to ground any claim upon that, because it might be annulled by a decision
It is well known advised by her family. " that the woman was, everywhere, and at all times," treated as a minor, before the

Ann, they scrupulously acquitted themselves of the obligations

imposed by their and when the Virgin had attained charge,

her fifteenth year, they thought of giving her a spouse worthy of her. This proposal of marriage threw Mary into extreme affliction that soul so elevated, so
;

promulgation of that immortal code which gloriously raised her from the malediction
of servitude.

The

entreaties
little
;

of

the Virgin

found

pure, so contemplative, had foreseen the gospel, and virginity appeared to her the

therefore but
priests of
to

Jehovah
:

sympathy among the they had not attained

to these

most
St.

perfect, holy,

and desirable of

all

such virtues

and

men

of

conditions.

An

ancient

author, quoted

penetration

and

science,

the

angelical

by excused herself a long time, with great modesty, from consenting to the determination announced
to her,

Gregory of Nyssa, relates that she

and

all

holy soul of

Mary was a book

closed with

seven seals of brass.

Her

and that she

to

thought, which was in advance of the age in which she lived, and opposed to
the

humbly entreated her family

cent, hidden, and
free

CQUsent

ancient

prejudices

of

her nation,
all

to her leading a life in the temple, inno-

remained not understood, and

that

from

all ties,

except

those of the Lord.

great surprise in

Her request caused those who disposed of

she could allege, to save herself from embracing a state contrary to her dearest
vows, availed her nothing. could she have convinced,

How

indeed

her

lot.

What

was

sterility,

she implored as a favour

that is to say, reproach,

since

God

a state solemnly accursed by the law of

himself was against her ? Her marriage with a just man, who would bear witness
the Messias was to spring, should end by a sole of the eternal heiress, who, becoming the mother
heir of the throne of David, should thereby

(1) Origen remarks that the law attached a curse " to sterility for it is written, Let him who shall not leave o( his race in Israel be accnrsed."
;

crown

(2) Mary was an heiress, because it appears congruous that the descendance from David, whence

and

terminate his

race. (Oldhause.)

66

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGI^f,

to the purity of her life, free her from the importunities of the young Hebrews,

Jesse, a daughter of David, was not at liberty to decline the yoke of hymen she
;

who might have asked her hand even in

the temple, as St. Augustin remarks,^ and in the protect her and her divine Son,

owed a son
family,

to the ambitious piety of

her

who would not have renounced,

King,

for all the treasures of the Gi-eat

hour of danger, entered into the secret It was the only views of Providence.

the hope of one day reckoning in the number of their members the liberator

means

of concealing the mystery of the

Incarnation from the malevolent investi-

who would gations of a perverse world, have taken advantage of the prodigy to
indulge in

This hope which had supthe Jews when the Chaldeans, ported mounted on horses swifter than eagles, had
of Israel.
violently

abominable conjectures, and

encircled

broken down the ramparts which Sion, and transplanted her

would perhaps have carried their false zeal so far as to stone the mother of our
they wanted afterwards to ^ stone the sinful woman in the gospel ;
Saviour,
as

people to the borders of the Euphrates had been newly tempered into a fierce

desire of vengeance,

since the
in Asia.

had held dominion

Hebrews never reckoned mercy in the number of the virtues of their choice, and God himself reproaches them, by the mouth of his prophets, with having a
for the
heart as hard as adamant.

brews hoped soon to see the the eagles would fly before the emeraldcoloured standard,^ and
of the

Romans The Heday when

when

the motto

Mpcchabees* would wave victorious

above that of the senate of Rome.

Never
oracles

To
in

these reasons, powerful, but hidden the impenetrable obscurity of the

of

had the accomplishment of the

relating to the Messias appeared so near,

counsels

God, was

added

another

reason derived from the source of antediluvian

traditions
itself,

and the moment was not auspicious for obtaining the favour which the chaste

and national
left

pride,
little

young daughter implored.

According to the Gospel of the Nativity and the Proto-Gospel of St. James, the guardians of the Blessed
of Mary,

which, of

would have

but

chance of success
tion of the Virgin.

to the timid

opposi-

Perpetual chastity,

which Christians have made the queen of virtues, was little better than nonsense

Virgin, without regard to her repugnance

and representations, assembled together

her nearest
race of David
relatives,
all

among the disciples of Moses, who lived for so many ages in the anxious expectation of the King-Messias (Melech
chiak).

being of the

and the

tribe of

Juda

like

Hamas-

herself/ in order to proceed to the choice

of the spouse
these words

young
De

flower of the stem of

whom
is

they forced upon her.

like to

(1) St. Aug.,

(2) St. (3)
(4)

John

Sancta Virg., c. 4. Chrysost., Serm. 3, in Matt.

the

" Who
baehin,
as

thee,

Eternal ?

The banner of Juda was green.

This motto of

(DonCalmet.)

Mi camocha
(5) in general,

Jehovah?"

Every heiress

Macchabees contained

to a property, and not daughters the Vulgate says, was bound to

MOTHER OF
those who might aspire to her hand were found a number of young IsraeUtes, some handsome and brave,

GOD.

87

Among

fortune,

and the glory of arms, the

of
tlie

priests

who were guardians

choice upon a

Blessed Virgin,
fixed their

and the ancients of her house,

others owners of fertile fields, vineyards, The flocks, and groves of olive-trees.

man advanced

in age,' a

captains of
portion of

Juda would have added

to the

decayed patrician, whose fortune had been absorbed by the political revolutions and
religious wars of Judea, as a drop of rain
is

Mary

part of the spoils and

;

slaves taken in their battles

the Nabals

swallowed up in the sea, leaving him

of her tribe would have covered her with

stuffs

only his tools and his arms for labour;

this

from India wrought with gold and

purple of

Tyre twice

dyed

while

the
the

low condition, though of great family, who was a widower,* accordof

man

sons of commerce,

who

trafficked in

emeralds of Egypt, the turquoises of Iran, and pearls of the Persian Gulf, would have
laid at

ing to the Proto-Gospel of St. James, and a bachelor according to St. Jerom,

whose

opinion

has

prevailed

in

the

her feet chains of precious stones,

Church, was Joseph, the carpenter of

Nazareth.

valuable bracelets, ear-rings of value equal in fine, all the to the ransom of a prince

When we
of Mary, the

reflect

magnificent and
illustrious

brilliant

insignia of the

on the rare beauty education which she had

servitude of the weaker sex.

.But these

parties were weiglied in the balance and found light. Disdaining the

received in the temple, the great alliances of her family, her position as a heiress,

which made

her,

among

the Jews,

who

advantages of youth, beauty, high rank.

marry a man
of her

portioned their wives, and received hardly

remains that of F. Pezron, which most probable. (2) Several fathers have thought that St. Joseph was a widower when he was espoused to the Blessed The Proto-Gospel of St. James, and the Virgin.
fathers
;

own

family and tribe, and not

there

her nearest relation, as Montesquieu has said, in order that inheritances might not be transferred

ap])ears the

from one

tribe to another.

of St. James, c. 2, and the (1) Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, c. 8, books of which the contents have been ajiproved, for the most part,

The Proto-Gospel

even by the fathers of the Chnrch, merely say that he was already old. St. Epiphanius gives Joseph eighty years at the time of his marriage F. Pezron,
;

Gospel of the Nativity of the Virgin, assure us that he was a widower; St. Epiphanius says that he had had four sons and two daughters St. Hippolytus of Thebes calls his first wife Salome Origen, Euse;

fifty,

and the Histoire divine de

tliirty-three.

la

Vierge, of
it is,

Mary
of
St.

d'A.grada,

The

supposition

Epiphanius does not bear examination;

more-

Ambrose, and many other fathers, have adopted the same opinion. Nevertheless, this opinion is the least followed, and it is commonly believed that St. Joseph had lived in virginity. Tiiis
bius, St.

over, solemnly refuted by the law of the Hebrews, which forbids the alliance of a young woman with an old man. and classes it with things the most disgraceful.

(Easn.,

the opinion of St. Jerom, who expressly says, " do not anywhere writing against Helvidius, read that he had any otlier wife than Mary: aliam
is

We

liv. vii. c. 21.

Hist, des Inst, de

eum uxorern

habuisse non icribitur."

St.

Angustin

Neither the high priests nor Joseph would have been willing to do a thing condemned by the
Moise.)
lavf.

leaves the question undecided ; but St. Peter Damian affirms tliat the whole Chnrch believes that
St.

The age

attributed

by Mary d'Agrada

to

Joseph,
a

who passed

for the father of

oar Saviour,

St,

Joseph does not agree with the opinion of the

was

virgin like

Mary.

68
thing from theni,^ even brilliant match,
ail)

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

desirable,

and

we might

well be

to elegant occupations, brought up in the midst of the perfumes, melodious strains,

fathers

astonished at this family decision, if the bad not assured us that Josei)h was chosen by lot, and by the express
manifestation of

and

magnificence of the holy housed did not hesitate to devote herself to a life
fairy

of obscurity, to low

and common employ-

the

divine

will.'*

An

ancient tradition, recorded in the Proto-

ments, and painful cares, with the humble artisan presented to her by her relations.

Gospel of
St.

St.

James, and mentioned by

Jerom, relates that the candidates, after having prayed to Him who presides
over the
lots, deposited over-night in the temple, each one his rod of almond-tree ;

divine inspiration, it is said, had made known to her that this just man would be

to

her no more than a protector, a father,

a guardian of her chastity;* what more did she desire ? The Lord had heard her
prayer; by leaving her faithful to the

and that the next day the dry and dead

branch of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Mathan, was found green and in
blossom, like that which had before confirmed the priesthood to the sons of Aaron.

vow

which she had made, he gave her, over and above, the merit of obedience.

The

history of

Mount Carmel testifies that

The marriage proposed between Joseph and Mary must have caused some surprise at Nazareth and at Jerusalem for there
;

at the sight of this prodigy, which destroyed

was but
fortune,
It

little

correspondence in the age,

pair.

his hopes, a young patrician, belonging to one of the most powerful families of Judea,

and condition of the future

and the possessor of a great fortune, broke his rod with every sign of despair, and ran to shut himself up in one of the caves of

would be a mistake, however, to suppose that this union, which appears so strangely
incompatible, was considered in Jewish a society of simple and primitive society

Carmel with the

disciples of Elias.*

as any habits

flagrant, ill-sorted alliance.

When

the choice of the guardians was

Without holding any distinguished rank

in the state, the profession of an arj.isan

determined, it was announced to Mary, and this admirable young woman, accustomed
(1) At the time of contracting marriage, the wife received from her relations only things necessary for her attire. It was the husband who furnished the

was neither abject nor degrading

(6) Artisans are

in Israel.*

dowry.
c.

(Salvador,
;

Institutions de Moise,
;

t. ii. c.

1.)

still held in distinguished esti" In Palestine and in Syria," " the companies of artisans are says Burckhardt, almost as much respected as they were in the

mation in Judea.

Prutev. Jac, (2) Evangel, de Nativ. Mar., c. 7 Hier. in Dam. lib. iv. c. 6; Greg. Naz., hom. 8;
Niceph.,
lib.
ii.

middle ages in France and Germany. master artisan is quite on a level there, in rank and consideration, with a

de 8. Nat.

c. 7.

merchant of the second

class

he

(3) Tiiis young pretender to the Virgin, who is said to have been named Agabus, became afterwards

celebrated for his sanctity, and a Christian. Hist, dn Carmel, c. 12.)

(4) p. 4:9;

(See

maj' take a wife of the respectable families of the city, and has generally more influence in hi i locality

than a merchant whose fortune great as his own."

t.
ii.

(Burckh., Voyage

is

three times as

en Arabia,

Vie de la Sainte Vierge, by Descoutures, Vie de Jesus Christ, by F, Valverde, t, i. p. 71.

p. 139.)

MOTHER OF

GOD.

69

We

see in the genealogy of the tribe of Juda one family of workers in fine linen,

from the patriarchs. " To be descended from Abraham according to the flesh,"
" was a distincsays the eagle of Meaux, tion which naturally raised them above
all others."

whose memory is in honour, and the Scripture has handed

potters,

and another of

down

to posterity the

and Hiram; we

names of Beseleel know that St. Paul,

In

fact,

the lowest of the

in

Hebrews considered himself a prince

brought up to the study of the law, the famous Pharisee doctor Hillel, and after

comparison with strangers.* Still there were among the Jews, as

them a

great

number

of doctors, who, in

among
trious,

the Arabs, some tribes more

illus-

the emphatic language of the rabbins, " sowed light amidst the holy nation," applied themselves to mechanic arts of a

and certain houses more noble

than others; the tribe of Juda, which bore the national standard at the head of
the thousands of Israel in the day of battle, and from which the sceptre was not to the coming of the Messias, had and the always had the pre-eminence family of David was the first and most

kind the

least

brilliant,
:

and were not

was
a family,

ashamed.

Nay, more
;

every Israelite

an artisan

for every father of

depart

till

whatever might have been his social position, was bound tp make his son learn a
trade, unless, said

the

law, he wished to

make a robber of him} The Jews, whose patrimony was locked

honoured among the families of Juda. Now Joseph, though poor, was of the race
of David

up

in the

hands of foreigners, had no

for the

the blood of twenty kings flowed in his veins, and it was Zorobabel, one of
;

alternative, while waiting

grand

his

ancestors,

who brought back

the

epoch which was to re-establish their fortunes, but to expatriate themselves, or to

poor way, by the labour of their hands, in the bosom of their native mounlive in a

people of

God from

the land of exile.

From

that time the glory of his house had

tains.

Those who were led by the

love of

their country to adopt this latter expedient did not act in any way contrary to their
dignity,
sort of
like

become obscured; his family had become confounded with the people, like those of Moses and Samuel, but his in our days, illustrious origin was known
gradually
:

the lowest of the Abassides,

who

vegetate

and remained well

fitted for

any

in the heart of the Hedsjaz, are

no

less

employment. Israel had no castes, Egj'pt and India; all its pride arose
its

respected as the descendants of Aaron-el-

from

religious belief

and

its

descent

Easchid, and no Arab family would disdain to contract an alliance with them.

(1)

Every man who does not give

his children a

profession, says the school of the Pharisees, prepares them for an evil life. " Be not a burthen to any

another Johanan made sandals ; and Eabbi Juda knew the trade of a baker."
copyist of books

(Talmud,
Soto.)

Tract.

Kidoaschim.

Pessarh, Abotii

of a quality, this one .... never Rabbi Joiianaii is not suitable for me. employment
say, I

am

man

had

learnt the trade of a skinner;

Nahum,

that of a

tlie Jews did not (2) In losing their nationality, lose this opinion, which they still maintain.

70

TIIE LIFE

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

nation, and because he was placed much higher than Csesar in the book of life,

holy daughter of Joachim did not then lower herself as much as might be

The

supposed by marrying the carpenter. But if we take a higher view of this union,

those heraldic annals of eternity. Virgin was not confided to the

:

The
most

which

at first

seems so

ill-assorted,

we

shall discover that it was in reality a noble God did not give as a spouse to alliance.

powerful, but to the most worthy thus the ark, which the princes and valiant

men

of Israel did not dare to approach,

the Virgin after his own heart, a man whose whole merit consisted in his fields,
his vineyards, his sides of gold,

things
:

for fear of being struck dead, drew down the benedictions of heaven upon the house

of a simple Levite, under

it

whose poor roof

which often change masters, and are no more inherent in the rich man than the he garments which he puts off at night most perfect of gave her a just man, the

was sheltered.

espousals of Mary were celebrated with all the simplicity of ancient times.

The

his works.

The Lord

is

not taken with

;

Joseph, in presence of the guardians and a few witnesses, presented her with a
piece of silver, the value of which
"
is

the vain baubles which dazzle the vulgar

in his eyes all ranks are equal

not

among

poor creatures, who creep about the dust for a moment, to become in a short time
the food of worms.

If thou conknown,* saying to her, to be my bride, accept this pledge." sentest Mary, by accepting this gift, was solemnly

judges by those things that appear," says the Scrip" but the Lord regardeth the heart." ture,
If

"

Man

engaged, and a sentence of divorce alone could from that day restore her liberty.

The
was
to

scribes
short,

the humble Joseph for the spouse of the Queen of angels, for the it was adoptive father of the Messias,

God chose

drew up the contract; it and but little interlarded with

technical terms.^

The husband promised

to

honour his

wife,

provide

for

her

because he possessed treasures of grace

and

sanctity,

enough

to excite the
;

envy of
of his

support, her food, her clothing, according to the custom of Hebrew husbands, and
settled

the celestial intelligences

his virtues

it

was because
first

upon her

dowry of two hundred

had made him the

zuses

(fifty

crowns), a portion alike for the

(1) Hillel and Scharamay disputed warmly about the value of this piece of money at espousals, mentioned in the Talmud, without being able to come
to

an agreement.

(Basn.,
is

thy clothing, according to the custom of Hebrew husbands, who honour their wives, and support them as it is befitting. I give thee at once ....
(the sum adjudged by the law), and promise thee, besides nourishment, clotlies, and wliatever shall

(2) Tlie following

liv. vii. c. 21.) the literal form of

Hebrew

marriage-contracts, which has

nio.ft

come down from the remote times, and which Joseph and Mary " In the year .... the .... day must have used said to of the month .... Benjamin, son of ... Become my wife, under Bachel, daughter of
:

be necessary

common

for thee, conjugal friendship, a thing to all the nations of the world.' Rachel
tlie

consented to become
his full consent, to

wife of Benjamin, who, of

in

form a dowry

proportion to his

'

the

I promise to law of Moses and of Israel. honour thee, to provide for thy 8ui)j)ort, thy food,

own Bum

fortune, adds to the portion above-named the of . . . ." (Institut. de Moise.)

MOTHER OF
daughter of a prince as for tlie daughter of the people, but to which they were free
to

GOD.

71
in its religious

customs as

practices, as

was said
the

in all truth by the

it

Jew

Philo to

add anything in proportion

all

to

their

Emperor Caius;

would have been

fortune.

upon

After having secured this dowry that he possessed, and even upon

wanting, moreover, in all the proprieties of Hebrew society, and the of

presence

his mantle, which the law nevertheless

did not allow

him

to recover

till

after

her
to

marriage of Cana proves, on the contrary, that she conformed to them.

Mary

at the

death,' Joseph signed the contract, which Mary also added her signature.

One fine day in winter,' at the time when the new moon rose slowly behind the
mountains,* a long procession of women richly adorned was seen proceeding to-

short benediction to the praise of

God

ter-

minated

ceremony, which must precede that of marriage by several months.

this

nuptials of the Blessed Virgin were celebrated at Jerusalem, and the persons

The

wards the habitation of Marj'; the torches of resinous fir, borne by a number of
slaves,
tlieir pearl

of the highest quality of her family made it a duty to appear at it with that splendour

briUiant their golden girdles, network, the diadems of precious stones which they wore on their
foreheads,

made

which

is

peculiar to the East,

and which

and

the

diamonds of

their

travellers

from

without

admiration

Europe and astonishment,

never mention

These daughters of Sion had kept up the use of paint, which was
Persian
tiaras.'

people displaying on these occasions a degree of luxury abso-

even the

common
of.^

known
black,

as early as the time of Jezabel

their eyebrows

and eyelashes were dyed

tips of their fingers

lutely

unheard

Not

to invite all their

and the
into

were
In-

relations^ on so solemn an occasion, would have been refusing to follow the ancient

red, like the berry of the eglantine.'

customs of their forefathers,

possible to

a thing im-

troduced

the

interior

apartment,

suppose in that traditionary nation which was as immutable, in its

where the young and holy betrothed one was in company with certain pious matrons

who were her

relations, they blessed

(1)

Basn.,

liv. vii. c.

21.

it is

" In (2) Europe

we have no

idea of the hixurious

celebrated.

said that the marriage of Mary and Joseph was The city of Arras keeps this feast on

display made on similar occasions in the East," says F. de Geramb, in hia Pelerinage a Jerusalem
"tiie nuptial dresses of almost velvet embroidered with gold
all
;

the 23rd of January, and some churches in Flanders on the 24th of the same month.
(4) All days were not chosen alike for celebrating the marriages of the Israelites; the time of the new moon was usually fixed upon, and a Wednesday in

wives

is

of red

decorations' of diamonds, fine Lamartine was equally astonished at the splendid costumes, and the profusion of precious stones dis-

they add to it M. de pearls, &c."

preference to the other days of the week.

liv. vii. c.

(Basn.,

21.)
c. iii.

played by the

women

of Syria at the v?eddinga of

(5) Isaias,

their fellow-countr)'won)en. (3) In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Church permitted this feast to be kept; it is cele-

stain tUe (G) lausonia inermit tips of their fingers with alkanna, This plant is very plentiful in the Isluurt (Linn.)

Throughout the East, the women

brated on the 22nd of January, the day on which

of Cyprus.

72

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRQIN,

would inform
the same
us,

God, who gave her a protector in the person of a spouse, and complimented her

even

if all

the East, both

ancient and modern, did not concur in

upon her marriage, in the joy of which

they came to participate.

Belonging

to

Jewish

society,

where

all

young descendant of the kings of Juda was obliged to wear, on this occasion, rich and suitable costume, and
authentic relics prove in fact that so
was.*
it

the

the details of the dress of young hriiles was a biblical reminiscence with which it

was not lawful

dispense, Mary was to submit for a short time to the obliged requirements of oriental luxury, though
to

which was preserved as a precious treasure in Palestirie, whence it was sent to Constantinople about the year
robe,

Her

this luxury

had no charms

for her.

Gold,

pearls, rich tissue, are not in themselves

461, as Nicephorus informs us, was of a texture precious from its design and orna-

things to be condemned; itis the thoughts

ments.

The ground was

:

of the colour of

and vanity to which they give rise, weak heads and light minds, which are Beneath garments heavy with embad.
of pride in

nankeen, with flowers blue, white, violet, and gold it is now the sacred relic of
Chartres.''

broidery and adorned with precious stones, Queen Bathildes was' more humble than

In

memory

of the ancient times

and

patriarchal

manners

of her fathers, she

the

women
;

clad in coarse cloth with

whom

she lived in seclusion after her glorious regency the chroniclers of the time have

wore, like Rebecca, ear-rings and bracelets of gold, the modest and indispensable

informed us of
simplicity.

this with

candour and

present which Joseph was to send a few days before the ceremony,* and to which
the wealthy
pearls,

Hebrews added necklaces

sets of

of

Therefore, avoiding any show of negligence in her dress, wluch would have

and magnificent

diamonds.

been taken very ill, since custom required of the married couple, as well as of their
guests, a dress suitable to as the gospel of the wedding
There are
in existence

Instead of an indented crown of gold,* which was worn by the brides of the

the occasion

opulent classes, there was placed upon

the light hair and tresses" of Mary a simple garland of myrtle; in the spring time
the bridegroom sends to his bride a pair of bracelets of gold, or set with diamonds, according to the
fortune of the future spouse, a piece of stuff embroidered with gold, and 160 piastres for the expenses of the bath and the nuptial feast. (Corresp.

garment

(1)

two tunics of the

is

very \neChardin saw one in Mingrelia covered with flowers embroidered with the needle on a nankeen ground. This tnnic is eight Roman palms long by fonr wide; the neck is narrow, the sleeves a palm
ciuuB.

riessed Virgin, the material of which

d'Orient, lettre 147.)

kept in the Clinrch of Copis. This tunic was given by Charles the Bald to the Church of Chartres, in 877 numerous miracles
long
;

it is

(2)

are attributed to

it.

of the bride was usually of gold, the shape of a tower, like that of Cybele; this custom was abolished during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, but they kept up the crowns
(4)

The crown
in

and made

(3) The Christians of Damascus have kept up this custom. Some days before tlie nuptial festival,

of myrtle
(5)

and

roses.

Among

(Basn., liv. vi. c. 21.) the Hebrews, not even the dress of

MOTHER OF GOD.
roses

78

would have been added to it;* her nuptial veil covered her from head to foot,

with a singular crown, transparent as

crystal,

and peculiar

to his people,' ad-

and

floated

around her

like a cloud.^

canopy of precious materials awaited the future spouse outside; four young
Israelites

vanced in the midst of a crowd of friends, who sung an epithalamium in imitation

of the Canticle of Canticles of Solomon, that magnificent and mysterious nuptial song, the sublime metaphors of which

bore

it.^

Mary had

to place

herself under

it

between two matrons,

one of whom, who stood on her right, the other was represented her mother
;

have a hidden and divine

signification.

perhaps that Mary of Cleophas whom some others have made the elder daughter of
St.

They celebrated the beauty of the new " looks were like young bride, whose
palm-branches, and stature graceful and upright like the branches of the erac, teeth white as a flock of sheep which come

Anne, but who was only

sister-in-

law of the Blessed Virgin.*

walked, to the

After

them

sound of timbrels, flutes, and harps, playing in unison* airs of which, pergrave and simple melody,

up from the washing, eyes mild, like the eyes of doves which sit beside the plentiful

streams

they said that the sweet

haps, were the same as those of the the enchoirs of music of King David,

nuptial procession, waving, in token of joy, branches of myrtle and palm. The bridegroom, with his brow adorned
tire

odour of her good name was like the perfumes which exhaled from her garments; that she was the lily of young

and the object of the praise of women." Then, passing on to the eulogy
virgins,

the

dition.

women was independent of the empire of tra" The female hair -dressers were called in
young married women, because,
Jehovah himself curled the hair of

procession takes place in the night; some slaves

carry torches.
(4)

(Niebuhr, Voyage en Arable,

to

t.

i.)

to dress the hair of eaid the rabbins,

According

M. Pignot, a

conscientious

Eve, when he united her to

(Basn.,
(1)
liv. vii. c.

Adam

in Paradise."

historian,

subject, this holy

who made numerous researches on this woman was the wife of Cleophas,

21, p. 393.)

Crowns

the

young

of myrtle and roses were worn by betrothed v.'omen of the common people.
vii. c.

the brother of St. Joseph, and consequently sisterin-law to the Blessed Virgin. (See Recherches

Historiques sur la Personne de Jesus Christ et cello

(Basn., liv.

21

Misnah. Tit. Sotah,

c.

9,

de

]\Iarie, p.

249.)
of the Orientals
;

sect.

U.) (2) These nuptial

silver, are still in

veils,

embroidered with gold

nuptial pomp, which
times, is
still

and

use in Syria.

The regulation of this comes down from the earliest

(3)
:

is of a very difgrave and simple, without any studied modulation all the instruments play in unison, unless one or other should take a

(5)

The music

ferent kind

from ours

it is

found in

fancy to perform a continued bass, by repeating

incessantly the same note.
(T))

Egypt. Niebuhr thus describes an Egyptian mar" The bride, covered from head to foot, riage walks between two women, who conduct her beneath a canopy borne by four men. Several slaves go before, some of whom play on the tambourine,

(Niebuhr, t. i. p. 136.) See Fleury, Mojurs des Israelites. (7) This crown, which contained, say the Jewish

others carry fly-flappera, others sprinkle her with She is followed by a number of scented water.

doctors, a mysterious lesson, was composed of salt and sulphur; the salt was transparent, like crystal, and they traced various figures upwi it with sul-

phur.

(Codex,

MS. apud Wagenseil

de uxore suspect.,

in

Mismara,
14.)

women, and by musicians riding upon

asses.

The

Tit. Sotah, adult,

c. 9, sect.

74,

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

loud cries which the vinedressers of the

of the bridegroom, they extolled his form, " majestic and imposing as Libanus, the sweetness of his voice, the urbanity of his

south of France utter from

hill

to

hill

manners;" and they added," that he was distinguished from the crowd of men,
even as the cedar
all trees."
is

during the vintage. scattered among the poor, who loaded them with blessings, a quantity of small
pieces of silver^ bearing a figure, either of a vine-leaf, or of three ears of wheat,

All in the procession

distinguished
to

among

Then, coming and elevated considerations, they

tlie

more general
said that as "

which were the emblem of Judea.*

The
way

the spouse should be to his wife of myrrh which she wears over nosegay

women

of Israel, in groups along the

that the wedding couple passed, strewed

her heart;" that she should pass through life leaning upon him, with no more care
she was passing through the desert; because "jealousy is as inflexible as death, and the lamps
for other

palm branches under

their feet,

and from

men

than

if

time to time they stopped the bride to sprinkle essence of roses upon her attire.*

Mary was

tliereof are

lamps of

fire

and flames."

have also her own day of triumph in Jerusalem. When they arrived at the house where
to

They added that tender affection was a thing so precious between married persons, that
world,
if
still

the wedding was to be celebrated, the friends of the bridegroom and the com-

" the wealthiest

man

in the
it,

he gave

all

his riches for

ought

to consider that

he had given

panions of the bride cried out in chorus, " Blessed is he that cometh " Joseph, covered with his taled, and Mary with her
I

nothing."

veil,

From time

to time, the

young men who

closed the procession formed dances of the same kind as the sacred dance which

were seated under the canopy side by side; Mary took the right, because " the psalmist has said, Thy wife is on
thy right hand,"
south.'
*

was

originally associated with religious festivals,* or they uttered, in token of re-

The spouse

and turned towards the placed a ring on the

"

finger of his partner,*

joicing, those shrill

and prolonged

cries

which are

still

in use

and which a modern

among the Arabs,' traveller, who lately

Behold, thou art my wife, according to the rite of Moses and of Israel." He took off his taled and
covered his wife with
it,

in imitation of

went

all

over Syria, compares to those

what passed

at the

marriage of Ruth,

(1) Dancing, which at first was intended to imitate the movements of the stars, was mixed up

with

all

the religious festivals of antiquity

origin,

it

was,

do not bear the effigy of any prince, but only of ears of wheat and vine leaves. (5) This custom was borrowed from Egypt, liko

no doubt, of antediluvian

and must even have

many

others.

preceded the invention of musical instruments. (2) See Niebuhr, loco' citato.
(3) Basn.,
(4)
liv. vii. c.

(6) Ps. xlv. 10.

(7) Basn., liv. vii. c. 21. is at Perosa, (8) It is said that this ring
it is

21.

Some

of these Jewish coins have been found

carefully preserved.

(Basn.,

where

liv. vii. c. 2.)

of the time of the Macchabees

and of Herod

they

MOTHER OP GOD,
Spread thy coverlet over thy servant."' A near relative poured wine into a cup, tasted it, and then presaid to Booz,

76
but,

who

"

and Mary rose

also;

before

they
ex-

followed their company, there were

sented

it

to the
for

bridegroom and bride,

having created

changed between them some secret words in presence of heaven and the stars, which
declare the glory of the most high.* " Thou shalt be as my mother," said the patriarch to the Blessed Virgin, " and I will respect thee even as the altar of Jehovah." From

blessing

God

man and
While

woman, and

instituted marriage.

the married couple put the sacred nuptial cup to their lips, they sung to the God of
Israel a canticle containing six benedic-

that

moment

they were no longer, in tho

After this, Joseph poured out the wine as a sign of bounty, and handfuls of wheat as a symbol of abuntions.

rest of the

eye of the religious law, any more than brother and sister in marriage, although
their union

might be

fully maintained.*

dance: then a young child broke the cup

in pieces.*

The

festivities,

among which

figured

The whole assembly surrounding the new married couple with torches, blessed
the Lord, and went forward into the dining-room, where they proceeded,

the rehgious ceremony of sacrifice, lasted seven days, as in the time of the patriarchs;

according to a very ancient Bishop of

Brescia,'

who

derives this

Hebrew

tradi-

tion from the time of Jesus Christ,

week of the nuptials being expired, Joseph and Mary, under the escort of a number of their relations, who formed around them a brilliant cavalcade, went again on their way to Galilee. The little
the

to

caravan

went forward

to the

sound of

nominate a king of the feast, taken from the priestly race, who was to preside over
the viands and the wine, and to oblige the guests to behave with all that decorum
required by religion
(1) See Buxtorf.

cymbals, and was not interrupted till near the fountain of Anathoth,' where those of

Jerusalem took leave of the bride and

bridegroom, with tears in their eyes, blessings in their mouths, and their hands
as such in marriage, and still more when he had introduced into his vow the altar of Jehovah, the

and

propriety.

Joseph

(2) Basn.,
liv. vii. c.
i.

liv.

vii.

c.

21

Institut.

de Moise,

p. 336.

(3) Gaudent., Serm. 9, B. P., t. ii. p. 38. (4) St. Thomas is of opinion that it was

imme-

The wives sometimes did temple, or the sacrifice. the same thing ; and although these vows were not mucli approved, because they hardly ever came but
at the

celebration of their marriage that St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin made a vow of virginity, by mutual consent.
diately after
tlie

end of

fits

of

less obliged

(5)

This vow of continency

in marriage,

which

were made. (Basn., liv. vii. c. Modena, Ceremon. et cont. des back

religiously to

anger and curses, they were not fulfil them, when they
19, p.

352

Leo of

Juifs, c. 4.)

has given occasion to so many impious sarcasms to the philosophes of the school of Voltaire, was not a
thing unheard of among the Hebrews; only it was a vow dictated by passion and anger, while that of
the two holy spouses was suggested by piety. " art as
If a

horse(6) All the relations escorted the bride on to the house of her husband, when he did not

live at too great a distance

;

from the place of their

husband said to his wife, Thou it was no longer lawful for him

my mother,"
but

custom still continues among the feasting Arabs. We have made the nuptial caravan separate at Anathoth, a small town five leagues from Jeruthis

to consider her

salem, because

it is

the

first

halting -place.

76
laid

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

solemnly upon their hearts.
;

The

Nazareans continued their journey they crossed the mountains of Samaria, where
the eagle from the height of his nest beheld them pass, indifferent to their presence. Sichem next presented itself to

which was displayed like an immense basket of flowers, between hills covered
with green oaks, myrtles, plots of vineyards,
trees.

and magnificent woods of

olive-

Fields of barley, wheat, clover, and doura in full verdure, gently waving with

the travellers, with its evergreen groves, its streams of limpid water, and its majestic edifices rising above the foliage.

the breeze,

warmed by the approach

of a

spring more speedy and genial than that of our western regions. A pure and

They

left

behind them Garizim, with

its

red-tinted sides, where the ruins of the

golden light favoured this fertile land, where a vigorous vegetation was unfolding
itself,

schismatical temple were observable, the disgraceful rival of the house of holiness,

and blue waters, which the summer

which John Hircanus delivered avenging flames, and which was

to the to

in

would soon dry up, ran in silvery ribands this new Eden. Here and there
opulent villages appeared beneath high colonnades of palm-trees, and then, at
difierent distances,

be

replaced later on by a church dedicated to Mary herself; then the high summits of

on the rugged

crest of

Mount Hebal then Sebaste, which reared its new palaces under the protec;

a rock, a solitary fortress of 'soldiers, still national, and entrusted with a mission
entirely protective, measured their Damascus sabres only with nocturnal depreThis dators, or the Arabs of the desert.
valley,

tion of Augustus,
altar where

and which Herod desacrifice to the

lighted servilely to embellish, as the only

he could

genius

of

Rome.
Towards the middle of the second
day's

with

its

charming freshness, and en-

journey they distinguished whose verdant head was traced upon the

Mount Thabor,

closed within a dark border of high mountains, was the valley of Esdrelon, at the

and beyond it, the high tops of Libanus, which hid their
pale silvery sky of Galilee
;

extremity of which appeared a little city, seated, with picturesque efiiect, on the back of a hill, and which shone like a
flower amidst the neighbouring hamlets:
this smiling

pointed tops of stone, covered with eternal From the woody snows, in the clouds.
slopes of Hermon, where the goats browsed

and beautiful town was Na-

zareth, the native town of the Virgin, the

upon the tender shoots

of the shrubs,

cradle of Christ!'

they descended into the delightful plain,

Doubtless,

Mary could not behold again

(1) The phUosophes of the last century studiouslylaboured to depreciate Palestine : the impression

the eyes of superficial readers. Yet it is certain that, with the exception of the environs of Jerusalem, the sterility of which has never been denied, the promised land of Moses is still found in that

which they have given of it still remains, and the Btate of poverty and depopulation of that country, which hardly breathes, beneath the sabre of the
Museulmans, has often made them appear right in

country, and especially in the part which formerly will give two belonged to the Canaanites.

We

MOTHER OF
without emotion that city where she had first opened her eyes to the hght. Slie had
quite a child for the splendid walls of the temple she returned to it
left it
;

GOD.

77

holy than the temple of Jerusalem, the

when

The women very house of Jehovah. of Nazareth greeted with blessings tho arrival of the young bride, who advanced
modestly, and veiled like the Rebecca of Isaac and Mary, in the midst of the
;

beautiful, young,accomplished, and avirgin

on her return even

The
St.

travellers

on her departure. stopped at the house of

as

Ann, an ancient and mysterious

dwell-

congratulations of those who had witnessed her birth, entered this peaceful
paternal habitation, which seemed still perfumed with the sweet odour of the
virtues of

out of the rock, like ing, partly hollowed the prophetic grottoes of ancient times,'

and which was

shortly to

become more

Ann and

Joachim.

descriptions of Galilee, written at the distance of eighteen centuries between them, in proof of this " " is assertion. Galilee," says Flavins Josephus, divided into upper and lower, both very fertile
;

the

soil is at

once rich and light, abounding

Nature is there sublime, like the gospel. an abridged picture of the Holy Land, and when it has been seen under its day and night aspects, we understand what it was in the time of Jesus Christ. For an artist, Galilee is an Eden ;
of the
soil.
is

Galilee

in pasturages, fitted for all sorts of produce, and covered with trees of all kinds : there are to be seen

nothing

is

wanting

neither the accidental advan-

particularly large plantations of vines and olivetrees. It is watered by torrents, which fall from

tages of the land of Judea, nor the bright solitudes of Palestine, nor the green fecundity of Samaria.

the mountains, by a great number of springs and rivulets, which afford a constant supply of water,

Garizim and the Mount of Olives are not more sublime than Ilermon and Thabor, nor are the blue shores of Ascalon more solemn than the odoriferous
borders of the Lake of Tiberias, where the air vanishes beneath the light. The soil of Galilee
presents
to us

and make up
heats of

the
are

when the The goodness of land is such, that it invites men to labour who Thus every part is the least disposed to it.
for

that of the torrents,

summer dry them

up.

traces of heroes

everywhere history and miracles, and the footsteps of a God; and we

cultivated,

and no tract of land is seen unproductive. inhabitants are robust and warlike, the towns numerous, and so populous, that the smallest can

The

feel, as we contemplate Galilee from the heights of Thabor, that it was the country which the God-

reckon

as

many

as

fifteen

(Joseph., de Bello, lib. ii. c. 2.) a give an idea of the aspect of Galilee," says
traveller in his turn,
it

thousand souls." " If one desired to

man

inhabited, so much are religious recollections, the wonders of earth and heaven, commingled there

modern

interminably." "
(1)

(Corresp. d'Orient,
still

t.

v.)

" France would not serve to

F.

de

found at Nazareth," says " some houses like that of St. Gefamb,

There are

with, but V Agro Romano; round about compare Nazareth, as in the environs of Eome, there is everywhere the same brightness, the same formation

Joseph, that is to say small, low, and communicating with a cave hollowed out of the eide of a

mountain."

78

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

CHAPTER

VIII.

THE ANNUNCIATION.
It
is easy to imagine the tranquil and blessed life which the married couple led

small,

and

this little

he shared with the

poor.

during the first months of their chaste union ; the peace of God reigned in their humble dwelling, and work divided their

His gentle and holy companion was not idle on her side gifted with a mind
;

time with prayer, which made

it

less

enlightened, judicious, and wise, without regret for the past, without illusions for

After an anlaborious by sanctifying it. cient custom, which still subsists among

the future, viewing the world such as it is, and her own position in its true light,

the Arabs, and in a great part of the East, Joseph exercised his trade in a
difierent
lived.'

she piously conformed herself to it, and desired to fulfil its sacred obligations

from that where Mary His workshop, where Jesus himplace

:

with religious exactitude. From the moment that she took possession of the

self

worked, was a low room, of ten or

twelve feet square a stone seat outside offered rest to the passer-by or the traveller, which was protected from the burn-

house of her mother, she put on poverty as a garment of honour sent her from

God, and became what it behoved her to be in the obscure condition to which
Providence had reduced her

ing rays of the sun by a kind of awning

palm-leaves.* that the laborious workman formed his

of twisted

There

it

was

young and simple daughter of the people. All the brilliant and fancy works belonging to
the elegancies of
life

ploughs,

his

yokes,
built

and

rustic

carts.

were at once laid

Sometimes he

under his own

in-

spection the huts of the valley; sometimes his arm, yet strong, cut down the
tall

aside, and replaced by the fatiguing cares and monotonous occupations of a poor

household, where

the mistress of

the

sycamores and black turpentine-trees of Mount Carmel.^ The pay which he

for

house

has neither slaves

nor servants.

The
to

delicate

hands of Mary, accustomed

tissues,

received

so

much

fatigue

was but

handle silken

platted

with

(1) This house of St. Joseph is a hundred and thirty or a hundred and forty paces from that of
St.

(2)

These shops are

Levant.
t..i.)

(See

still

the same

all

over the
Arabic,

Burckhardt,

Voyage

en

Ann.

The

place

is still

pointed out under the

name

of the workshop of Joseph. This shop had been transformed into a large church the Turks have destroyed one part of it; but there remains a chapel, where the holy sacrifice of the mass is daily offered. (Pelerinage a Jerusalem, par le P. de
;

(3) St. Justin, martyr (Dialog, cum Tryphone), records that Jesus Christ helped his adopted father

in

making yokes and ploughs.

lib. iii.

St.

Luc.

2) assures us that St. Joseph

Ambrose (in worked

Geramb.)

at felling and cutting out and other such work.

trees, at building houses,

MOTHER OP GOD.
leaves of the date-palm, or rushes pulled from the banks of the Jordan, the matting

79

sea-weed in amber.
industrious

We

see, in fact, the

woman

putting leaven into

which covered the rough dwelling her spindle was covered with
;

floor of

her

three measures of meal,* carefully sweeping her floor to recover something lost,*

coarse flax

she had to grind the grains

and economically mending an old garJesus seeks a comparison to recommend purity of heart, he draws
ment.*
it

of wheat, barley, and doura,' the coarse

When

and yellow flour of which she kneaded into round and thin cakes. Covered with her white veil, with an antique urn upon
her head,' she went to draw water at a
fountain at a
little

from the remembrance of her who

cleans
"

carefully

both the inside and

distance,^

like

the

wives of the patriarchs, or to wash her blue robes in the running water of the
brooks, like the princesses of Homer. Jesus Christ, witness of the laborious
habits of this valiant
alludes
to

outside of the cup;"' and we suspect that his thought is of Mary when he " who praises the off'ering of the widow gives not of her abundance, but of her

woman, sometimes
his
;

poet of Chios represents to us Justice under the features of his mother, a poor woman of the
indigence."

Thus

the

them

these

simple

and parables occupations of Mary are

in

people, weighing exactly the wool which she is going to spin for the support of
herself

preserved in the gospel narrative, like a

(I)

and

her

son,

and

remaining

The

first

mills

that

were

invented

were

In Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and even There is in Greece, they were turned by women. fine house, which is Btill shown at Mecca, in a
hand-mills.

and quickly turn a wheel which rapidly moves by The Romans did not itself the heavy millstones." bring water-mills to perfection till Constantine had
abolished slavery. (2) These urns are enormons earthen vessels, of a height out of all proportion. The women of

believed to have been that of Khadidje, a hollow " the place where it is said that Fatima, surnamed
Brilliant," daughter of Mahomet and wife of Ali, turned her own hand-mill when she was grown The up. (See Burckhardt, Voyage en Arabie.)

Nazareth carry them on their heads, and beneath BO great a weight, sometimes even with an infant in their arms, they walk with an activity quite astonishing.
(3)

wives of the Arab sheiks have still this painful occupation allotted to them. Under the reign of
the
sons
of
Clovis,
St.

(F. de Geramb,
is

t. ii.

p. 239.)

This fountain

Radegundes, Queen of

France, ground herself, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, all the corn that she consumed during Lent. (Le Grand d'Aussy, Hist, privee des Fran-

fountain of Mary. Mother of Jesus went habitually to draw the water which she required, and to be convinced that it

called in the country the Tradition relates that the divine

must have been

water
is

so, it

would

suffice to consider that

(ais.)

The

invention of water-mills
It
is

is

attributed

to Mithridates.

certain

existence in his time.

Among

that they were in other proofs, is cited

which

extremely rare at Nazareth. The road leads to this fountain, where the pious mother

of Constantine

had had

fine basins

and reservoirs

that fine epigram of Antipater of Thessaloiiica, of " You which the following is a translation women
:

constructed,
St.

(F. de Geramb,
(4)

is

bordered with nopals and fruit-trees.

loco citato.)
xiii.

who have been

hitherto

employed

in grinding our

Luke

21, and St, Matt. xui. 34.

corn, let your arms rest henceforth, and sleep without care ; the birds will no longer proclaim with
their songs the break of commanded the naiads to

(5) Ibid., V. 36. (6) Ibid., XV. 8.

day for you. Ceres has do your work they obey,

:

(7) St.

Luke

xi. 39,

and

St.

Matt. xxv. 25.

80

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

That grave and simple man, the repast. with his fine patriarchal countenance,
where every passion was
silent; that angelical young female all eager to serve him with the solicitude of a dear daughter,

upright and just towards the rich, in the

midst of deep misery.

At the approach

of night,'

when

the

birds seek a shelter beneath the foliage,

Mary placed upon a neat polislied table, the work of Joseph's hands, little loaves of barley and doura, savoury dates, butter, and cheese, drj' fruits and herbs, which
frugal banquet of the descendant of the princes of Israel. These dishes, simply prepared, were the chief

formed a group worthy of the golden age.* Meantime, the hour marked out by the
Eternal in his divine counsels for the
Incarnation of his Cheist had arrived.

composed the

The angel

Gabriel, one of the four"

who

food of the ancient

race,

Hebrews, a
to

are always before the face of the Lord,

sober

who knew how

water
it.'

be contented
necessity

received a mysterious mission, which removed him, for a short time, from the

with bread and

required

when

kingdom of heaven.
those beautiful

Clothed in one of

on so

little,

As to the Virgin, she lived that ancient authors, fond of

the marvellous, believed that she was fed

coverings of dense air, with which the pure spirits are surrounded when they would be perceptible to the
gross senses of the children of men,' the

by angels.

When Joseph, fatigued

with the labours

of the day, returned at sunset to his little low apartment, he found his young com-

angel left behind him the golden palaces and the emerald walls of the heavenly

panion hastening to offer him, by turns, warm water which she had heated to

Jerusalem, the gates of which are twelve pearls,' and spread his- vast white wings,*
radiant with benignant joy; for the holy angels are as glad at the happiness of men as the bad angels
all

with his brow

wash

his feet,

and cold

clear water from

the fountain, in a vessel pure from all unclean contact,* for the ablutions before
(1) In eat after
Israel, those

are at their ruin

and

suflferings.

their

who kept work, and pretty The

regular hours
late.

(Fleury,

McEurs des

Israelites.)

Joseph and Mary was about

evening.

principal meal of six o'clock in the

necessaria Joseph ;" and this is in perfect conformity with the customs still existing. " There are four angels who are hardly ever (5) " because they seen upon earth," say the rabbins, are always round about the throne of God : these

(2) Fleury, Mocurs des Israel., p. Gl.

(3) in

angels are

Michael, who
left
;

is

on the right
is

There was among the Jews a multitude of

in

who

is

on the
St.

Uriel,

who

Gabriel, before God, and

;

precautions to be taken for the purity of the vesaels

Eaphael,
(6)
Spirit.,

which they drew water, and

;

which they pre-

who is behind him." Thomas of Aquin, Qusest. Univ. de

c.

creat.

not only did thoy take care that they had not belonged to strangers, but they carried their scruples much farther, for a thousand circum-

pared their food

Art. 6.
xxi. v. 21.

(7) Apocal.,

stances

rendered them unclean.

ancient author

(Misnah,

Ordo

Puritatum.)
(4)

represent the angels with wings, (8) The Koran gives a hundred as do the Christians. and forty pairs of wings to the angel Gabriel, and
says that he took but one hour to come from heaven npon earth. (Legend of Mahomet.)

The Jews

An

makes the

"Virgin say,

"

Non

dedignabar

parare et ministrare quae erant

MOTHER OF GOD.
After traversing the immeasurable deserts of the sky, of which the stars are
look,

81

as a benediction,

down upon the

and descend-

beautiful town of Nazareth,

the oasis, the angel who had foretold to Daniel the coming of the Messias, and

ing softly from the clouds like the falling stars, he came down gracefully, like a
fine swan,

who came

accomplishment of that grand promise of God, directed

to act for the

on his

flight folding his wings,

,

his course, with the rapidity of thought, towai'ds our little planet, which his pierc-

upon the holy and poor house of Joseph that carpenter of Galilee, who had kings
for his ancestors.

ing eye discovered at an immense distance, in the state of a nebulous star,

The sun was

declining towards

the

lofty promontory of Carmel,

and would

which next shone with a feeble milky light; nd which finally took the rotundity

soon set in the horizon of the sea of

Syria,

when
As

the angel presented himself

a
faithful obseiTer of

and tranquil
it

light of the

moon, whose

in

the

modest oratory of the Blessed

the

phases

has.
this little globe,

As he approached
which man

Virgin.'

has proudly divided zones and hemispheres, and in which he bestirs himself, with insane ardour, to

into

religious customs of her people, Mary, with her head turned in the direction of

the temple,* was then making her evening " Hail, full prayer to the God of Jacob.^
of grace," said the celestial envoy, bowing his radiant head; " the Lord is with thee;

pick up a few bits of gold, which he makes his god, the angel began to distinguish expanses of blue and shining

blessed art thou

among women."
;

water, surmounted with dark points like these were our small submarine rocks
:

Mary

felt

an involuntary trembling at

this marvellous apparition

oceans and our high mountains. towns were not yet visible, nor
they
earth,

The

perhaps, like Moses, she feared that she should see

men

God and

die

perhaps, as St. Ambrose

are

so

small

But

at

last,

the

which had

at first presented itself

gradii0,lly

thought, her virginal purity was alarmed at the sight of this son of heaven, who
entered, like the rays of light, into that
solitary cell
it

under a microscopic form, was

enlarged into vast countries covered with kingdoms, divided by deserts and planted

where no

man

penetrated

with

forests.

Arrived directly over Pales-

tine, the angel

from on high directed his

perhaps, and the magnificent eulogy of the angel which disconcerted her humility. What-

was the respectful attitude

(1)

It is

commonly thought

to the Blesseci

(2)

The

the visit of the angel Virgin took place towards the evening. people of the East turn to a certain

(3)

The Jews prayed

;

the morning, at sunrise

o'clock,

three times in the day in in the afternoon, at three

:

when they
at

offered

sacrifice,

and
the

in

the

point in the

heavens when they pray

Kehla.

it

is

what

they

call tlie

The Jews

turn towards the

temple of Jerusalem, the Mahometans towards Mecca, the Sabeans towards the south, and the Ghebers towards the rising sun.

rabbins, According evening, Abraham established morning prayer; Isaac, that of the afternoon, and Jacob, that of the evening.

sunset.

to

(Basn.,

liv. vii. c.

17.)

82
ever

THE LIFE OF THE BLESPED

VIRGHiT,

may have been

the cause, the Evan-

thing so sacred in the sight of angels,

that Gabriel, to remove all apprehension from Mary on that head, was not afraid
to unveil a part of

gehst relates that she was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what

manner

of salutation this should be, seek-

ing, but in vain, to understand the object

Incarnation.
shall

"

The

the mystery of the power of the Most

of this astonishing

visit,

and the hidden

meaning

of this mysterious salutation.

overshadow thee," said he, High " and the Holy that shall be born of thee

The
said to

angel,

who

perceived her trouble,

her mildly, " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold

thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and and thou shalt shalt bring forth a son
;

Son of God."'' Then, custom of the messengers of Jehovah, he would give her a sign which should confirm his words " And
shall be called the

according to the

call his

name

Jesus.

He

shall be great,

" behold," continued the angel, tli^ cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in

and

shall

be called the Son of the Most

her old age

and
that

this
is

is

the sixth
;

him
he

High, and the the throne of David his father

shall reign in the

Lord God

shall give
:

unto

month with her

called barren

and
for

house of Jacob

because no word shall be impossible with God."

ever,

and

of his

no end."

kingdom there shall be At these words, which would

any other but Mary joy, the chaste and

Sarah had laughed, with incredulous laughter, when an angel, in the guise of
a traveller, seated in the shade of great oaks which covered her tent,

have transported with immoderate

the

had

prudent young woman thought of nothing

but her pure white crown of
virginity,

announced a son
as

to her,
to

she was.

Mary,

aged and barren whom was anIsaias declares,

which she desired

to preserve at

any

cost,

nounced anew prodigy, as

and asked how

she could reconcile this

magnificent prediction with the vow of was linked.* virginity with which her life

a thii)g without example imder the sun, in fine, a virginal maternity, believed at

The modesty
(1) Calvin, that
vetiis

of a

young woman

is

once the divine promise, and, annihilating, herself before Him who exalted her
Koran relates the interview of the Blessed Virgin " and the angel The angel said to Mary, God
:

proud heresiarch, vho had Ser-

burned, while he himself preached up tolerahas dared to calumniate the Virgin, taking his tion, text from this answer, to accuse her of unbelief.

announces his

Word

to thee,

he shall be called

The Augustin had answered him long before. " Virgin doubts not," said he, non quasi incredula
St.

"

Jesus, the Messias, the Son of Mary, great in this world and in the other, and the Confidant of the

Most High

he shall make his word heard by

men
how
be

de oraculoj she only desires to be informed as to the manner in which the miracle is to be accomplished."
St.

from the cradle to old age, and shall be of the

number
shall I

John Chrysostom adds, "

of the just.

My

lord, replied

tiiat this

have a son

? I

know not man.

Mary,

It shall

question is the effect of respectful admiration, and not of vain curiosity."

(2) This gospel narrative has been received

thus, replied the angel : God forms creatures at his pleasure; ia it his will that a thing should exist?

by
the

he says. Be thou made, and

c.
iii.)

it is

made."

(Koran,

the

Mussulmans themselves.

This

is

how

MOTHER OF GOD.
above
all

88
at the

women, she
"
it

replied, in a sub-

St.

Joseph

missive voice,

Behold the handmaid of

done
to

appeared to her.
it

time when the angel " For," says this illus-

the Lord, be thy word."

according At these words the angel

me

to

trious sacred orator, "

among
;

the ancients
to

disappeared, and the Wokd was made Thus did the flesh to dwell among us.'

was the custom generally betrothed in the house and

seen even

have the

this

may be

now

and the sons-in-law of

*

angel of light treat of our salvation with the new Eve, and the fault of the sinful

Lot

lived with him."

Notwithstanding the
ration inspired by St.

profound vene-

Eve, who had

conspired for

our destruction
gloriously

John Chrj'sostom,

with the infernal

angel, was

repaired, thus was a simple mortal exalted to the unequalled dignity of Mother of

the Church has not adopted his opinion. Moreover, the reference to the sons-in-law
of Lot, with

which he would strengthen

God, and being both virgin and mother,

she confounded, by a new miracle, the two most opposite and sublime states of her sex. " Proceed no farther," says St.

his opinion, is badly chosen : the Scripture nowhere says that they lived with

John Chrysostom,
what
is

"

said, nor say.

effect this

seek nothing beyond How did the Holy

. .

Lot, and everything leads us to think the contrary, since the patriarch was obliged to go out of his house in a moment of

trouble

and

affright,

while

the

most

Ghost

in the Virgin ?

hideous commotion was fomenting in the

city, to speak to his sons-in-law that were to have his daughters, to arise and get out of the place, because the Lord would destroy the
city.

is

Enquire not, therefore, but receive what revealed, and search not curiously into
is

what

hidden."'

We

doctors

have adopted the opinion of those and theologians who maintain

Supposing even that the young

that Joseph was legally the husband of Mary at the time of the Incarnation ; yet
this opinion is disputed,

betrothed to Lot's daughters had formed a part of the family of this patriarch,

men

whose

flocks covered the hills

authorities

who

assert

and among the that Mary was

valleys of a whole province,

to the

according

and

not yet the wife, but only the betrothed of Joseph, we find in the first rank
the
self.^

manners of the times, these young men would have been nothing more on the banks of the Jordan than what Jacob
was
later

great

St.

John Chrysostom him-

same

according to the dwelt in the house of father, Mary

Nevertheless,

vigilant

on in Mesopotamia, active and servants, day and night parched

with heat and with frosts

We

nowhere

(1)

The mystery

of the Incarnation

was accom-

plished on the 25th of March, on a Friday, in the evening, according to F. Drexelius. (2) St. J. Chrys., Serm. i, in St. Matt.
(3) Descoutures is wrong in placing St. John Chrysostom in the ranks of those who maintain

that Joseph was legally the husband of Mary at this writer, who the moment of the Incarnation
;

is

in general judicious, probably (4) St. J. Chrys.,

quoted him on
Matt.

trust.

Serm.

4, in St.

(6) Gen. zxxi. 40.

84
see that they in their tents

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN,

had
;

their betrothed spouses

with child,

an expression which indicates

all.

they hvcd under the protection of the patriarch, being only his
:

a situation visible to

At

this rate,

principal shepherds
all this at

there

is

nothing in
alone, and

variance witli the manners of

Mary would not have been celebrated till her maternity had become evident, proved, undeniable
the

marriage of

ancient Asia.
living

An

orphan,

left

What would both

of
it ?

families have thought

all

under the roof of her betrothed, the Blessed Virgin, on the contrary, would

have been said by Nazareth, who would have hastened

witness the ceremony
?

What would

to

have been in a position quite exceptional. A generally received custom among the

To what

outra-

Hebrews could

alone

have authorised

geous reproaches would the pure Virgin have been exposed, among a people where
female honour was a thing so sacred as to be' infallibly avenged by murder! Would not the birth of the Messias that

such a supposition, and all that we find in their code is a law expressly opposed
to
it.'

St.

respect

Chrysostom, agreeing in this with the ancient theologians,

tliat

birth

which was

to

be pure as

the

morning

himself informs us

God
veil

for a long

deiD, according to the poetical expression

time covered with a thick

the mira-

of

David have been

thereby tainted and

culous maternity of Mary, to save her

defiled ?

Tlie Jews, particularly the

Jews

from a revolting suspicion, which would have been as dangerous to the divinity of
the Son, as to that respect which the whole world owed to the Mother., But

who showed such hostility to Jesus Christ, and called him the son of
of Nazareth,
the carpenter,

would they not have

bitterly

reproached him with

marriage alone could cover with its honourable mantle the mystery of the

the irregularity of If they did not do so, it was his birth ? because they had apparently no hold on
that side.

mere espousals could hot suffice for that purpose and then, if and Mary had been only affianced Joseph
Incarnation,
for
;

These, no doubt, are the reasons which have induced a number of illustrious
divines to

at

the time of the Incarnation of the

pronounce in favour of the

Word, they would have been no more four months later, since the Evangelist
informs us that Mary, after the Annunciation, went with haste to visit St. Elizabeth, and that
it

notwithstanding the countenance which the opposite party found in

marriage,
the words of St. Matthev?, words which

seem

to favour the other interpretation,

was not
to

till

her return

from her journey

Hebron, which had

but which nevertheless do not convey a meaning precise enough to remove the
difficulty.^

lasted three months, that she was found

After

all,

the dispute never

(1) Misnah, Hebraica. (2)

t. iii.

de Sponsalibus.

Selden,

Uxor
is

this:

autem generatio sic erat: cum esset mater ejus Maria Joseph, antequam desponsata
Chiisti

"

The

verse which has divided the doctors

convenirent inventa, est in utero habeus de Spiritu

MOTHER OF
bore upon the principal point;
betrothed, no one,
wife or

GOD.

85

among

Christians, has

the purest and most holy of virgins ; even the Mussulmans admit that she was the
spring

ever doubted that the Mother of

God was

and mine of

purity.^

CHAPTER

IX.

THE VISITATION.
Meanwhile Mary, informed by
to go

the angel of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, resolved

that nothing is impossible to God, and, moreover, could not suppose that a mes-

and

offer

her affectionate congratuIt

lations to her venerable relative.

was

senger of heaven would bring her from the Most High words of deception and
falsehood.

not, as heretics have dared to say, that

She went, not

to
;

be made
she went

the Virgin wanted ocular demonstration of the reality of this event, which was out
of the ordinary laws of nature
;

sure, but because she

was sure

she knew

with haste, because charity, says St. Ambrose, admits neither delays nor hin-

Those who dwell on the force of the that the Virgin was only betrothed, because "the Greek verb, which is a translation of the Hebrew expression of St. Matthew, means and because there is desponderi, to be promised,
Sancto."
vpords, say

first

ejus,

chapter of St. Matthew, St. Joseph is called vir her husband, and not her espoused. If St.

calls the Blessed Virgin sponsa, spouse, she was wife, it is not to say that she had although not yet contracted marriage ; it is merely to show,

Matthew

another term to signify to be married, as we find among the Latins desponderi and nuhere, so that
his

as one of the fathers remarks, that she

had no more

intimacy with her husband than only his betrothed.

ii

she Lad been

Joseph had not yet taken the Virgin home to house, which they prove by those words of^ verse 20: "Noli timere accipere Mariam conjngem tuam: quod enim in ea natmn est, de Spiritu Sancto
St.
est,"

by

Take Mary for thy which they explain thus wife without fear, for what is born in her, is born But to be the operation of the Holy Giiost."
:

"

is so fully recognised by (1) The purity of Mary the Mussulmans, that Abou-Ishac, ambassador of the .aliph at the court of the Emperor of the

Greeks, holding a conference with the

tlie

patriarch
reli-

and cerain Greek bishops, on the subject of

gion,

translated thus,

tuam.

The
all

by
its

fathers,

almost

must have been, in conjugem opposite opinion, which is maintained interpreters of considerable weight, and theologians, finds wherewith to combat
it

many

bishops reproached the Mussulmans with things which had been formerly said by the

antagonists in the second chapter of St. Luke ; for, notwithstanding that the Virgin was already

Mussulmans themselves against Aischah, the widow of their prophet, which had stirred up divisions among them. Abou-Ishac answered them that at these dissensions, since tliey need not wonder Christians opinions had been so divided on among
the subject of the glorious Mary, mother of Jesus, " " who may be called," said he, the mine and fountain of all purity,

married to Joseph, the gospel uses the Greek term virwx^hadai, which signifies to be promised, and says,

"Ut
wife,

projiteretur
to

pragnante,

cum Maria desponsata sibi uxore be enrolled with Mary his espoused
child;" and in verse 19 of the

genab ismet mealo kon

t. ii.

offet."

(D'lierbelot, Bibl. Orientale,

p. 620.)

who was with

86
drances

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGIN",

and besides, good and kind as she was during her whole life, she longed
;

which- the Romans repaired at a later

period, full of holes

made by the heavy

and covered with

to carry to relations

whose protection had

footsteps

of camels,

surrounded her' childhood, and who had long looked upon her as their daughter,

loose stones, threatened the traveller at

every step with a fatal

fall.

When

the

some

little

of

that

sanctification,

and

those heavenly graces which flowed in her soul as inexhaustible springs of living
water, from the time
tliat

evening came on, one must sleep in some caravansary, where nothing was to be

she bore in her

found but a small place without provisions, and furnished with a plain rush

chaste

womb

the Creator of the world.

of St. Joseph,

mat;'
ferent

for the
its

With the consent

whose

marked by

primitive hospitality had gradual decrease the dif-

simple, but elevated soul was in unison with her own, and who had but one heart

Mary left Nazareth in the season of roses, and went towards the mountains of Judea, where Zachary dwelt. The Scripture, which neglects details,
will with her,

and

phases of advanced civilization among the Hebrews. In such a state of things is it to be presumed that a man
full of

days and experience, like Joseph,

would willingly have exposed a young

wifebeautiful,
tired

delicate,

brought up

re-

and takes up the leading points of events, does not say whether the Virgin had any
companions in this journey; some authors have thence inferred that she performed In it alone, which is not at all likely.
fact,

from the world, and confiding as innocence itself to dangers of all sorts, to every kind of inconvenience which a

Such an presented ? assertion contradicts the history of the

solitary

journey

the distance from Nazareth to the

of

town

march; part of Galilee, the hostile Samaria, and almost all the territory of Juda had to be passed
is five

Ain*

days'

people of God, and the manners of Asia;* a Jewish woman would never have

trusted

herself,

without

respectable

escort, such a distance from her house.

through.

Now the

country

is

rugged with

If St. Joseph, as F. Croiset thinks, could

mountains, intersected by torrents, and The roads, interspersed with deserts.^

(1) Zachary lived at Ain, or Aen, two leagues to the Bouth of Jerusalem. St. Helen had a church

not accompany Mary, it is probable that the Mother of God joined some of her
vellers.

These

receptacles, always placed outside

built on the site of his house.

the walls of towns, are composed of four arcades, which enclose a square court which serves as a

(2) Although Judea was much more populous then than now, there still remained districts so barren as to be incapable of cultivation. The gospel makes mention of deserts but a short distance from

there are in these place for. the beasts neither provisions nor furniture."
:

places

(4)

No

only go
till

in troops

one travels alone in Syria the people and caravans they have to wait
; ;

towns where Jesus Christ went to pray. " There is no inn in any part of Syria and (3) "' but the towns and Palestine," says M. de Volney, most of the villages have a large building called
Kervau-seral, which serves as a shelter for
all

several travellers

place.

want to proceed These precautions are necessary

to the

same

in countries

exposed to the Arabs, like Syria and Palestine. (Volney, Voyage en Syrie.)

tra-

L^^^^'

MOTHER OF GOD.
relations who were led by their piety to
tion.

87

All at once, the spirit of prophecy

the holy

city,

with their husbands, or their

servants, and that thence she pursued her journey under some safe protection.

descended upon Elizabeth, and she cried " Blessed art thou among women, out,

and blessed

is is

the

We

always find her travelling thus in the midst of her own relatives, whether she

And whence
" that the
to

thy womb. this to me," she added,

fruit of

goes to Jerusalem for the great solemnities, or follows the preachings of Jesus

come

Mother of my Lord should me ? For behold, as soon as the

in

voice of thy salutation sounded

ears, the infant in
joy.

my

with the holy

women

at a

much more
"

advanced period of her life. Though she could have had no better guardian than herself," says St. Ambrose, " she never appeared abroad without being
faithfully escorted."
'

And

leaped for blessed art thou that hast

my womb

believed, because those things shall be

accomplished that were spoken to thee

by the Lord." The answer of Mary was the sublime,

she arrived at the priestly city where the Levite and his happy wife
dwelt,

When

unpremeditated efi"usion of the MagniFioAT, the first canticle of the New Testament, and
:

Mary was directed to their wellknown house without allowing herself

Scriptures
"

the

finest

in

the

sacred

any time to rest. Elizabeth, informed by one of her slaves of the unexpected visit
of her cousin,

and

My my

soul
spirit

doth

magnify the Lord

hath rejoiced in

God my

came

to

meet her with

great signs of joy.

Saviour. "
lity

Seeing her approach, the young Virgin bowed, and laying her hand on her heart, " Peace be with thee," hastening to said, be the
first to ofi'er

Because he hath regarded the humiof his handmaid for behold from
:

henceforth
blessed. "

all

generations shall call

me

a salutation.'
:

Eliza-

For he that

is

mighty hath done

beth stepped back a little the animated and friendly expression of her counte-

great things to me, and holy is his name. " And his mercy is from generation to

nance had given place to profound respect her features gradually brightened
; ;

generations, to "

them

that fear him.

:

He

hath showed might in his arm

it

was evident that something unusual and prodigious was passing within her.

he hath scattered the proud in the conceit

of their heart. " He hath
their seat, "

The simple formulary

of politeness which

the Virgin had pronounced in her low

put down the mighty from and hath exalted the humble.
filled

and mild voice had overpowered her

(1) St.

rela-

He

hath

the hungry with good

Amb., de Virginihus,
all

liv. ii.

(2) This salutation, which Jesus Christ often used,

is
Btili

the

with you (salem alaicom)," they lay their hand on Thia salutation was in use in the heart.
time of

that of
after

the East.

When

meet,

the

ordinary salutation,

the Orientals " Peace

Abraham. (Savary, Note

sur le

c.

ii.

du

be

Koran.)

88

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED

:

"VTEGIN,

things

and the rich he hath sent empty

creation.
to

All the works of nature spoke

away. " He hath received Israel his servant,

her of their great Author, and came gently to warm her soul after charming

being mindful of his mercy. " As he spoke to our fathers, to Abra-

ham and
Thus

to his seed for ever."

The plain which vanished her eyes. from her sight beyond the mountains of Arabia, the blue vaulted sky which is
spread like a tent above the habitations of men, gave her some idea of the im-

did the Virgin discern at once,

by a supernatural light, those ancient prophecies and their perfect accomplishment, herself being a thousand times more enlightened and more privileged
" In the prophets put together. than this celebrated interview, and in this adall

mensity of God the Creator; the golden harvests, the savoury fruits, the cool

mountain spring, proclaimed

providence
his
;

to

her his

power

the voice of the tempests, the regular order of the

;

mirable conversation," says St. Ambrose, " Mary and Elizabeth both prophesied by the Holy Ghost, with whom they were
filled,

heavens, his wisdom

and the care which

He

takes of the birds of heaven and the

and by the merits of their infants." The Virgin sojourned three months in

insects of the earth, his goodness. In these excursions in the country, she

the country of the heathens, and spent this long visit at a short distance from the
city of Ain, in the hollow of a shady and fertile valley, where Zachary had his

sometimes rested by the side of a gushing fountain, the foam and noise of which
she loved
:

this spring, called

Nephtoa in

the time of Josue, bears to this day the

name

of

"

Mary."''

country house.^ It was then that the daughter of David, herself also a prophetess, and endowed with genius equal to that of the illustrious head of her race,

At the back of the elegant villa of the Hebrew priest, extended one of those
gardens called a paradise by the Persians, the mode of laying out which had been

could contemplate at leisure the starry heavens, the sonorous forests, and the
vast sea, which, at the horizon, rolled
its

borrowed by the captives of Israel from the nation of Cyrus and Semiramis: there
were seen the finest trees of Palestine;

waves, whether loud or peaceful, on the blue resounding shores of Syria. The

and the groups of flowers scattered

irre-

Blessed Virgin did not look with indifference upon these magnificent scenes of

gularly about the open spaces, the sweet perfume of the orange-trees, the streams
of water

which ran beneath the low bend-

(1) Thia country house was at a short distance from Ain, in a pleasant and fertile valley, which serves now as a garden to the village of Saint John. There had been built in this place, in honour of the Visitation, a chnrch, which, in our days, is no more than a heap of ruins.

(2) This fountain has so great an

water, that
it

it

irrigates the

productive. times Clime thither

abundance of whole valley and renders Tradition relates that Mary some;

it

bore the

name

of

Nephtoa

in

the time of Josue;

it

now

bears that of the Fountain

of the Virgin.

MOTHER OF GOD.
ing branches of the willows, made its shades very charming. There the sweet
converse of
figs,

89

grapes from Galilee, with dates from

Jericho,"

Mary made Elizabeth

forget

her fears for an event, the hope of which overpowered her with joy, but which her

which even figured on the table of Ceesar; there were also seen apricots from Armenia, plums from Damascus,

advanced age might render fatal, flow religious must have been the conversation
of these two
artless,

pistachio nuts from Aleppo, water-melons from the banks of the Nile, and that

sweet cane from the marshes of Egypt,

women

and ignorant of came forth from the hands she Lord the other full of days, and
;

The one young, evil as Eve when

of the
rich in

which Herodotus speaks of as an exquisite eatable; lastly, the golden wine

of Libanus,

and the perfumed wine of Cyprus, which the steward kept in stone
Mary, tem-

long experience of the things of lifej both deeply pious, and objects of the complathe one bearing in her womb, so long barren, a son who was to be " a prophet and more than a prophet;"
;

jars,' circulated in rich cups.

perate as ever in the midst of this abun-

cency of Jehovah

dance, was content with a

little fruit

and

a cup of pure water. Frugality with her was no forced virtue, or an abstinence

the other, the blessed germ of the Most High, the chief and liberator of Israel.

merely of circumstance
by choice.*

it

was a virtue

In the fine summer evenings, when the white light of the moon shone on the

Some

writers, to extol the humility of

was brought out beneath a large fig-tree, or under the green leafy branches of a thick vine,' the repast of
foliage, there

the Blessed Virgin, which needs no extraneous commendation, have insisted

that she rendered to Elizabeth the offices
of a servant,

the opulent family the lamb fed in the deep valleys in the neighbourhood of
:

This

is

and almost of a slave. an evident inconsistency

Eli-

zabeth would never have allowed a

woman

Bethlehem, the kid of the aromatic mountains of Bethar, clean birds netted
by the
Israelite fowler, shell-fish

whom

she herself had proclaimed the Mother of her Lord, and whom she had

caught

by the fisherman of Sidon, milk, butter, and then, in and cheese, honeycombs
;

highly extolled above all the daughters of Sion, to lower herself in such manner
Tlie holy spouse of Zachary* could not have wanted servants or slaves.

before her.

baskets of palm -leaves,

pomegranates,

(1) The Hebrews were fond of taking their meals in gardens, under trees, and in arbours ; for it is natural, in hot countries, to seek air and coolness.

(4)
fast
;

Her
it

abstinence did

not
as

was rather a custom,

make
t. i.

use of food.

(F. Valverde, Vie de J. Christ,

appear to be a it were, not to

xvii.) dates of Syria and Judea are yellow and black, round, like apples, and very sweet. Pliny reckons forty-nine kinds of dates.
(2)

(Fleury, Moeurs des

Israel.,

p. 6.)

The

(3)

The Jews

use of these jars.

(See Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabic.)

established in the

Yemen still make

Zachary was descended from Abia, father of These ancient families the eighth priestly family. were rare, several of them having settled in Persia Elizabeth was descended from after the captivity.
(5)

Aaron and from David.

The Jews reckoned John

90

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

the consent of Christians and Jews,
so far as to

By

this family

was distinguished, and the

jealous, for

the holy King David having had the ark of the

make

illustrious birth of St.

something like Jesus Christ, born of parents much less distinguished, and leading in poverty the

cast

John Baptist even discredit upon that of

covenant in his house for three months, what graces must have been drawn down
belonging to him by the three months' abode of Her, of whom the ark of the covenant was but

upon Zachary and

all

common
The

life

of the people.
therefore,

attentions,

which the

amiable and gentle Virgin profusely paid to Elizabeth had nothing in them painful
they were those delicate and forecasting attentions with which she would have waited upon her own mother,
or servile
;

the figure, though so holy and awful " The purity in which St. John always'
!

" Ambrose, was an effect of that unction and that grace infused
lived," says St.

into

his

soul

by the presence of the

not precisely whether the assisted at the lying-in

Virgin."

if

heaven had spared her to her; and no doubt she often imagined that she beheld

We know
Mother
of

God

again the authors of her days in that affectionate, devout, and venerable pair,

who loved her with parental affection, and who showed towards her from the first interview, when her greatness was so
marvellously revealed, a sentiment of ad-

Origen, St. Ambrose, and other grave authors, ancient as well as modern, declare for the affirmative, and
of Elizabeth.
this opinion is very probable
;

for it

would

have been at least very extraordinary, after having spent so long a time with
her relation, if Mary had abruptly left her in the hour of danger, and without

mingled with respect, which Mary humbly endeavoured to prevent, but which she did not succeed in demiration
sti"oying.

any reasonable motive

for so

unseasonable

It is easy to understand, say the fathers,

precipitate a departure. required that all the matrons

and

Custom
of

the

how many blessings were drawn down

by the
visit

of

Mary upon the

priestly

family should assemble round the new mother, to rejoice with her in her happi-

family a reception.

who had
all

given her so affectionate If the Lord blessed Obede-

ness; the gospel informs us that they, were not wanting to Elizabeth on this

dom and

that belonged to him, even

solemn occasion, and that the birth of

venerated in the mosque of Damascus he said some prayers there, and records those of a king of the " The Arabs, who came thither on a pilgrimage.
;

the Baptist far above Jesns, because he had passed bis life in the desert, and was the son of a chief

Jesus Christ, on the other hand, born of a poor woman, appeared to them as one of the common people. (S. Joan. Chrysost. in Matt., Serm. 12.) The Mussulmans have retained a high idea of St.
priest.

Baptist, whom they call Jahia hen Zacliaria (John, the son of Zachary). Saadi, in his Guli.stan, makes mention of the sepulchre of St. John Baptist,

John

Caliph Abdalmalek wanted to purchase this church out of the hands of the Ciiristians," says D'Herbelot " and it was only after their refusal of four thousand dinars, or gold pistoles, which he had offered them,
tliat

he took possession of
t.

it

by

force,"

(Biblio-

tlieque Orientale,

ii.).

MOTHER OP
St.

GOD.

91

of

John Baptist drew a large concourse kinsfolk and friends to the house of his
It is alleged that virgins

exquisite sense of propriety attributed to

father.

were not

her by the fathers, and her tender solicitude for her mother's niece she must
:

generally found at these sort of gatherings, and this we can conceive but Mary was
;

have remained beneath the roof of the

priest until Elizabeth

married, which required of her those duties which became her, and which she

was out of danger and then, escaping from that admiration which she never failed to excite, she left
;

could not omit without violating usages

received from the time of the patriarchs. Some argue with as little reason, from the
retired habits of the Virgin, to the con-

the mountains of Judea, after embracing and blessing the new Elias.'

religious author observes that the

blessed daughter of Joachim

had hasher cousin,

clusion that even the noise of the festivities

tened with

all

diligence to visit

which celebrated the birth of the

precursor of Jesus Christ put her to flight like a young dove suddenly alarmed.

but that she departed slowly, and as if with regret, from those cool valleys, the
oaks of which had afforded shelter to
angels;'' perchance, like the sea-bird,

Mary was quite able

to

reconcile

her

she

small inclination for the world with that

Those theologians who have embraced the contrary opinion to that of Origan and St. Ambrose, dwell upon that passage of St. Luke, which does
(1)

had a presentiment of storms.

on the marvellous accounts which they gave of their journey to the cave of Bethlehem, and of the after astonishment which these recitals caused which, taking us back without any transition to the interrupted scene of the adoration, he speaks of This is what their departure from the stable.
;

not speak of the accouchement of Elizabeth till after having brought the Blessed Virgin back into Galilee.
It

seemed

to

us that this deserved consideration

we

therefore attentively examined the gospel of this

evangelist ; this minute examination convinced us that this reason is not conclusive ; for it is the

makes us adopt the doctrine of St. Ambrose, the P. probability of which strikes us at first sight.

custom of St. Luke to make transpositions of this kind, and we can quote tv/o others of the same
nature.

who studied the holy fathers deeply, is of opinion that the Blessed Virgin did not equally leave her relations till she liad embraced and blessed
Valverde,
the precursor of the Messias. (2) In the vale of Mambre, which
is

preaching of

For example, after having followed up the St. John Baptist, and announced his
St.

only six

the following imprisonment, speaks, verse, of the baptism of Jesus Christ, of the priority of which to the prison of the precursor and his train

Luke

furlongs from Hebron, there was still shown, in the time of St. Jerom, a tree of enormous growth, beneath which it was said that Abraham liad re-

gical death, there can be no doubt. the adoration of the shepherds, St.

When
Luke

relating

expatiates

ceived the visit of the three angels to him the birth of Isaac.

who announced

93

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

CHAPTER

X.

VIEGINAL PEEGNANCY OP MART.

her return to Nazareth, Mary returned with ease to the life of the people, and

On

transports of his grief, he prostrated himself before God with his face on the
first

resumed the humble occupations which she must have suspended in the more elevated sphere which she had just

ground, and
out,

all

bathed in

tears, crying

"

Who

has betrayed
into

me ? who

has

brought

evil

my

house?"

Then,

She became again the young housewife, active and diligent, who found
quitted.

yielding to his tender affection for the

time for work, time for prayer, time for reading the sacred books, whose whole
conversation was in

young orphan whom he had ever regarded as the pearl and honour of her sex, he
accused himself of not having guarded her with sufficient care. "Alasl"
bitterly

heaven, and who

have applied to herself those beautiful and sage words of the Psalmist " All the glory of the king's daughter is But meanwhile she advanced within."
to
:

seemed

he said

to himself,

"

my

history is that of

Adam when he

; reposed with the greatest confidence in his glory and happiness,

behold on a sudden Satan deceived Eve

with lying words,

her virginal pregnancy, and Joseph began to be full of anxious thought.

in

and

seduced

her."'

When

poignant uncertainty, a painful perplexity, tortured the great and upright soul of the patriarch. At first he did not
believe his eyes,

Joseph was sufficiently calm in mind to reflect, he found himself in great

perplexity.

and he found

it

more

reasonable to doubt the testimony of his senses than the purity of a woman who

According to the Jewish law, adultery was punished by death. When there were no witnesses, a single one would suffice,

and the woman denied

to her charge, she

the crime laid

had always appeared

him a prodigy of candour and sanctity. But the condition of Mary became more and more visible
to
;

by order of the sanhedrim, to the eastern gate of the

led,

was

temple, and there, in presence of

all,

after

she was found with child, says the gospel, which means that all Nazareth was in-

snatching

off

her

veil,

placing about her

formed of

it,

and that Joseph's

relations,

neck a cord brought from Egypt, to put her in mind of the miracles which God

in the innocence of their hearts, offered

had wrought in that land, and covering

her shoulders with her dishevelled hair
because
it

him

painful congratulations, which he was obhged to receive without changing

was a disgrace

for a

Jewish

countenance, and which struck once like a flash of lightning. According

at
to

him

the Proto-Gospel of St. James, in the

t. i.

(1) Protevang. p. 97.

Jac, in the apocryph. of Fabric,

MOTHER OF

GOD.

93
to die,

woman

to

be seen with her hair in that

would condemn her

the
first

and

me

to cast

state, a priest,

pronouncing a terrible for-

stone at her;' I will save her

mulary of malediction, to which she had to answer Amen, presented her with the famous cup of the waters of jealousy, which were also called
hitter waters,

from the reproaches of her family and the contempt of the world: but how can I
get clear of this
labyrinth,

where

dis-

had the

taste of

wormwood.'

because they This cup

of malediction infallibly caused the guilty wife to die, unless the husband himself

honour and death present themselves at And the son of David every outlet?" remained plunged in extreme depression
of mind.

had been

guilty of infidelity; for then the miracle did not take place, " because," " it would not say the doctors of Israel,

to

The gloomy sadness of whom God himself had

the just man, entrusted her,

have been just that one of the guilty should be absolved, while God punished
the other."
^

could not escape Mary, and no doubt it cost her a great deal to conceal from

husband of a violent
failed to drag

Joseph the glorious embassy of the angel but how could she unveil an event so
;

temper would not have

unheard
divine

of,

so miraculous, as that of her

Mary before the priests of the Lord, to subject her to the formidable trial of the
bitter waters

maternity,

with

no other proof
Persuaded with

than her own word?

but Joseph, the most moderate, as well as the most just of men, did not so much as think of taking this
;

reason that, to be believed, the mystery of the Incarnation must be revealed by

supernatural means, and leaving to

Him,

extreme course. Not being able to retain Mary under his roof, since both the law
of
to

who had wrought

the
care

so great things in her,

honour and the law of Moses conspired prevent him from so doing, he wished

of convincing Joseph of her " innocence, the daughter of David," says " at the risk the great Bishop of Meaux,
of seeing herself not only suspected

at least to take all possible precautions to

and

prevent this painful separation from casting any shade upon her virtue, for he

forsaken, but even lost and dishonoured,

left all to

was a just man, and not

expose her.
"
I will

willing publicly to

God, and remained in peace." The Eternal, from the height of his

put her away," said " Joseph mournfully to himself, but before God, and not before the judges, who
(1) Basn., Hv.
vii. c.

down with complathe just man, whom he had cency upon subjected to this severe trial,* before he
starry throne, looked

22.

(2) Wagenseil, in Sotali, p. 244. (3) The Jewish law required that the accuser

should cast the

first

stone at

caused to be condemned.
t. ii.

(Voy.

him whom he had

lustitut.

de Moise,
sur
les

p. 65.)

by revealing to him earlier the mystery of the pregnancy of Mary ; but his virtue would not have been put to the trial which was prepared for him we should not have witnessed the victory of Joseph over the most untameable of all passions, and the most righteous jealousy that was ever conceived
pain,
;

"
(4)

Doubtless,"
"

says

Bosauet

(Elev.

would not have been

virtue."

laid prostrate at the feet of

Myst.),

God

could have spared Joseph

all this

94
raised

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

being his

him to the supreme honour of own representative upon earth,

Mary, and resolved to tear off with his own hand the crown of his
tives of

and
the

angels, with their eyes fixed on holy house of Nazareth, anxiously

tlie
tlie

good
of
rious

name

to

cast

it

before the feet

that

young

woman,

whose mystefilled his

life

awaited
in

result of this close contest,

which humanity, duty, and the noblest sentiments of the soul were engaged.
last,

heart with
bitterness.

and inexplicable position sadness, and his

with

At
so

the patriarch ended with an idea generous and heroic, that it places
level with the

him almost on a

Queen

of

angels: he resolved to sacrifice his honour, the esteem which he had acquired by a
spotless
life,

John Chrysostom is never tired of admiring the fine and noble conduct of " It was St. Joseph. necessary," says this " that when grace was apgreat saint,
St.

proaching, there should be

this sublime

many

the

means

of existence which

dispensation.

signs of For as the

gave him his daily bread, and the air of his native land, so good to breathe ^hen

one

is

drawing near to the tomb, in order

sun, though not yet showing its rays, still at a distance enlightens the greatest part so also Christ, when about of the earth
;

to save the reputation of a wife,

who

did

to issue

from that womb, enlightened the

birth.

not even attempt

to justify herself,

and

whole world before his

Therefore,

who was
ances.

so cruelly accused by appear-

There was but one way of parting

even before his birth, prophets exulted, women prophesied, and John, not yet
Here, also, born, leaped in the womb. exhibited great wisdom." Joseph

with Mary without ruining her, for her family would have been urgent for explanations
fatally
:

which

would have

terminated

We
St.

have here adopted the opinion of

and

this

was
ofi"

to banish himself,

to go

and

die afar

in a land of exile,

John Chrysostom in preference to that of St. Bernard, who supposes that

Joseph himself discovered the mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ, and that seeing

and

to take

upon
as

his

own head
as

all

the

odium of such a
resignations

desertion.

There are
triumphs,

glorious

Mary pregnant, he

did not doubt, from

and sufferings patiently supported, which heaven rewards as munificently as martyrdom

:

the

unknown

sacrifice

of the

spouse of the Virgin was i this number. To reconcile together his duty and his

the profound veneration which he had for her, that she -must be the miraculous " He believed it," says Virgin of Isaias. " and it was the apostle of the crusades,

with no

other sentiment than

humanity, he accepted by anticipation the

sad reproaches of being a husband without a heart, a father without feeling, a

humility and respect, made St. Peter afterwards say,

like

one of
'

that which

Depart
Lord,'

man
faith;

without

conscience

and without
of his

that

from me, for I

St.

am

a sinful

man,

he accepted the contempt

less Joseph, who was humble than St. Peter, also thought of

no

relations, the mortal hatred of the rela-

departing from the Virgin, not doubting

MOTHEK OF GOD.
that she bore in her sacred

95

womb

the

Saviour of mankind."

Does he lay before tlie angel his scruples, whicli must be now more urgent tlian
Does he ask that this humble cup, which the celestial envoy presents him, may pass from him to some more
ever?

This interpretation, doubtless one of great piety, and worthy of him who has

been honoured with the

title

of the devout

chaplain of Mary, is more in accordance with the ascetic notions of the middle
ages, than agreeable
to

worthy mortal ? He does nothing of all this the storms of the soul are appeased,
;

the manners of

and he

falls into

the profound calm which

that the

the ancient Hebrews, and must fall to the ground before a careful examination
of the text.

follows great moral tempests.

It is objected

great oracles

In

fact,

the words of

tlie

relating to the Messias were familiar to

gospel are so clear, that

no small inge-

nuity would be required to obscure them. It is not that instinctive movement of

religious awe which makes us keep at a distance from a sacred object, which suggests to Joseph the idea of forsaking Mary; it is a thought of conscience and

Joseph as they were to all the Hebrews, that he must have known that the time
of the Messias

he

ou<j;ht to
first,

was near at hand, and that have understood from the

very

considering the holiness of Mary, that she bore in lier womb the Saviour of the world. To understand the

He was a just man," says Bossuet, " and his justice did not allow him to remain in company with a wife whom he
duty.

"

prophecies which treated of the mystery of redemption was not so easily attained
as
is

here supposed.

Whether the

alle-

could not believe innocent; for merely to suspect what had happened by the operation of the

gorical descriptions of the glorious reign of the Emmanuel of Isaias had led the

Holy Ghost, that was a miracle of which God had hitherto given no example, and which could not come into any human mind."^

doctors of the synagogue into error, or whether the avaricious thoughts of the

Jews could not

rise

above the earth, and

reduced everything to temporal possessions, "

it is

The words
sense,

of the angel

would have no

certain that the

Hebrew

people,

and would lead

to a false conclu-

that people of a hard head,"

track,

had got

sion, in the supposition of St. Bernard.

upon a wrong
viate from
it.

and would not de-

" Fear not," says the ambassador of the Most High, " to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is
of the

God the Desired

He who was
of nations

was

sent from
to be

Holy Ghost."

Does Joseph object

a lawgiver, a leader of war, a magnificent and formidable monarch, like Solomon.

apostles themselves were long a mistake as to the humble and peaceful " the poor Kjng who passed mission of

his unworthincss at the

moment when he

The

under

becomes certain that Mary bears in her womb the Author of nature himself?

noiselessly along
(1) Bossuet, Elev. sur les Myst.,
t.
ii.

p.

135.

to

we see them clinging in prosgolden dreams and kingdoms

;

"

96
pect, even in

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

sight of the deicide city,
to die.

hour so
of

much

greatness, and the silence

which
It

their

Master was entering

was not without some

our Lord brought them

difficulty that back to a spiritual

al-

Mary left him nothing to conjecture. As to. the project of sending back the

sense,^-that he rectified their ideas,

" out of pure reVirgin to her family spect," as some learned theologians would

ways ready

to fall into the

of material
tliey

narrow compass and palpable goods, where

have

it

who adhere
it

to the opinion of St.

were tossed about by the ambitious

reveries of traditionary doctors

risees.

and pha-

Bernard, in a nation so apt to take umbrage at everything that affected the honour of

would have been impracticable

women.

If then the apostles, those divine

who founded

Christianity, had so in divesting themselves of the difficulty

men much

Mary was an orphan, and so far dependant upon her kinsfolk, who were not all of a peaceful temper, and some of
not approved of the union of young relative with the obscure
It
is

whom had
their

prejudices of their childhood, they who lived in the midst of the miracles of the

Nazarean.

not likely that they

Messias, and in familiar intercourse with

him, how could Joseph do this of himself, and without succour from above ? The
coarse garment of the artisan but
little

would have accepted the reasons of Joseph, and admitted, without more ample
information, that the Virgin bore in her womb the King Messias. It is much more
to

accorded with the purple of the kings of Juda, and the thing of all least expected was to have a Messias born from the ranks
of the
Galilee, morepeople. over, was the last place which would have been thought of. " Doth the Christ come

be presumed that they would have de-

nounced the husband before the tribunal

of the ancients, to force

him

to give the

common

reasons which influenced his conduct; for there was no longer any question of a

simple divorce, but of the condition of the

child of Mary,

out of Gahlee?" said the doctors of the

a young woman

of noble

law to the disciples of Christ. In fact, the prophets had pointed out Bethlehem
of

blood and badly married, according to those eleven who had entered themselves

Juda by name, Bethlehem,

"

the house

of bread," as the birthplace of the Messias: and the rabbinical commentators, improv-

espouse the young and heiress of Joachim.

lists to

on the

fair

Thence would have

facts
:

resulted two grave

ing upon the prophets, distinguished even the quarter of the town where he was to

be born.'

Joseph was too humble to suppose that his modest roof could har-

would have kept and then he would have been silence, condemned to take back his wife, with
either Joseph

the prohibition ever to separate from her,'

(1)

Wlience comes he (the Messias)?

From

In

tlie

quarter Biral Harba of Bethlehem Juda.of Jerusalem.)

t. ii.

the royal city of Bethlehem, of Juda. Where are his parents to be found of the Messias)? (those

(See

Talmud

(2) Inst, de Mo'ise,

liv. vii.

MOTHER OP GOD.
or

97

the child which

he would have declared upon oath that Mary bore was not his;
child, disowned,

and

and then the

became
;

it happened, as it always does, that the more generous course was also the better. He resolved then to leave his

his incapacitated for any employment defiled in its source, shut him out birth,

city,

chaste

from the assemblies of the nation, the public schools, entering the temple, and
the synagogues
;

and the woman who since their hymen had made his life so sweet and happy. As he was preparing for this
sad separation, and sleeping with troubled

his posterity, paying for

his disgrace, would

not have been ad-

upon his solitary couch, The angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep,
sleep
saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to

"

mitted to the privileges' of the Hebrews till the tenth generation he became a
Paria

without an asylum, without

;

take unto thee

rights,

which
Ghost.

is

Mary thy wife, for that conceived in her is of the Holy

without country, and the decree which would have condemned his mother to be
stoned, would have branded in the fore-

she shall bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for

And

he

shall save his people

from their

sins."

head both him and his descendants with

Cain's

After this dream, and the word of the

angel,

mark

of reprobation.

But things
' :

Joseph found himself changed.

would not have come

than submit

to this pass

rather

to this stain

upon

their royal

The honour which God had done him, in transferring to him his own rights over
his only Son,

genealogy, the proud descendants of David would have killed the Virgin with their

had not
;

in the least affected

fatlier,

his humility

but he had become

own hands.

Such examples
in

are not rare,

he had become spouse, in heart, and his

only thought

and appear again even

our days in

now

was, to take care of

Judea, as well as in Arabia.' Joseph was too wise and too

to

Maw
humane
;

and her divine Infant.

St.

John Chrysostom asked himself

of the Lord appeared in a
dragged, with her hair

place

himself in either alternative

why the angel

and the young

(1)

Niebuhr

relates,

that

"in a coffee-house of

woman

all

Yemen, an Arab having asked one of his fellowcountrymen if he was not the father of a young

dishevelled, into the public market-place, amidst the shouts of the populace and the suppliant voices of

woman

lately

married in his

tribe, the

father,

who

the religious,
cified

who

implored, in the

name

of a cru-

auspected some intention to ridicule in this question,

God, forgiveness and mercy

for this

unhappy

and thought the honour of

coolly rose up,

ran

his family compromised, to his daughter's house, and

creature,

who

innocent.

protested with tears that she was She appealed in despair to her father

without uttering a word plunged his cangiar in her lieart." F. de Geramb mentions an anecdote of the

same kind
hem," says
cion
;

manner

and her brothers, adjured them in the most moving to save her from a cruel death they came
:

''

The widow

of a Catholic of Bethle-

" was the objett of a painful suspinot knowing how to escape the vengeance of
he,

the poor each held a dagger forward sullenly creature shuddered and a moment after, the three
; ;
;

her relations, she took refuge in the convent of the Fathers of the Holy Land, and placed herself under
the sacred protection of the altar. Her asylum was discovered, the gates of the monastery were forced,

murdaggers were buried in her breast, and the their hands in the blood of their derers, washing themrespective daughter and sister, congratulated
selves on having

washed away the disgrace of

their

family."

98

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

Joseph, and not manifestly, as to the shepherds, to Zachary, and
to

VIEGIIT,

dream he did

tion,

being beset with an

evil

suspicion

to the Virgin.

"

He
"

was," said he, an-

a man of wonderful swering himself, faith, nor did he need such a vision.

mind, and yet ready to be brought back easily to good hope, if any one should appear to guide him in this
of

matter, receives the revelation

See
;

For the Virgin, to whom so great a thing was announced, and much greater than
to Zachary, required a

then what great things are done

the

wonderful kind of

vision even before the thing itself took

philosophy of the man is exhibited, and what the angel declares so opportunely serves to confirm his faith, and the word

place; and the shepherds, as being less refined, had need of a more manifest
vision.

remains without suspicion, which shows that he suflered what every man
itself

But

this

man

after the concep-

might justly endure."

'

CHAPTER

XI.

BIKTH OF THE MESSIAS.

Meantime, the wicked empire' had planted
eagles even to the extremities of the globe; the Romans had taken the oriental
its

were about to be accomplished; the power of Rome was on the decline, as Balaam

had

foretold,

and according
for the

to the

grand
of

world as in a net; the Sarmatian trembled

before

prophecy of Jacob, the sceptre

parted from Juda
;

had de-

them in the depth of and the most remote nation

his deserts,

phantom

of Asia, the

peaceful Chinese, sent a solemn embassy to Csesar to seek his powerful friendship.

royalty which still hovered over the holy It was then city was not even national.

Egypt and Syria were already no more than Roman provinces; Judefi'itself was
tributary,

an edict of Augustus Csesar was pubHshed in Judea, for an enrolment to

that

and the King of the Jews, pur-

be made of the people subject to his This enrolment, much more sceptre.
complete than that which had taken place
in the sixth consulship of the

chasing with gold a capricious protection, was but a crowned slave. The time was

nephew of

come

the oracles relating to the Messias

Julius Csesar,* comprised not only per-

in S. Matt. (1) 8. Joan. Chrysost., Serni. 4,

(2) The Jews designated the Roman empire by the name of " the wicked empire." (3) Augustus had three general enrolments in every province of the empire the first, during his
:

sixth consulship with Agrippa, in the year 28 before the Christian era the second, under the consulate
;

Marius Censorinus and C. Asinius Galhis, in the year 8 before the same era; and the third and last, under the consulate of Sextus Pompeius Nepoi
of C.

^.

5.^

MOTHER OF GOD.
sons, but property and the several kinds of land it was the basis on which it was
:

09
other designs, which they exe-

God had
cuted

unconsciously
views.

by

their
to

intended to ground the tax on servitude.* The Roman governors were ordered to
see the imperial edict executed, each in
his

human
at

His Son was

of Juda, the
:

merely be born

Bethlehem

humble country
it

of

King David

he had caused

to

be

department.'

Sextius

Saturninus,

foretold by his prophet,

;

more than seven

governor of Syria, began first with Phoenicia and Coelo-Syria, rich and populous
labour
cantons, whiclk required long and patient that which, in our Europe,
;

hundred years before and now behold the whole world in commotion to accomplish this prophecy.

William the Conqueror, a thousand years later, caused to be done, in order to draw

appears that faithful to ancient usage, the Jews still had themselves inIt

up that famous register, so well known to the English, under the name of " Domesday Book," can alone give an idea of it. After having executed the orders of Cflesar in the Roman province, as well as in the

David scribed by families and tribes. was born at Bethlehem, his descendants
regarded that little city as their natal town, and the nursery of their house ; there it was, then, that they assembled to
give in their names,

and the

state of their

kingdoms and tetrarchies dependant upon it, at the end of three years from the
date of the decree,^ they found themselves
arrived at length at Bethlehem, precisely

fortunes, in compliance with the edict of

Caesar.

The autumn was coming

to

an end,

the torrents rolled with a loud noise in

memorable epoch of the birth of our Saviour. Csesar and his agents had
at the

the depths of the valleys, the north wind blew through the lofty turpentine-trees,

no other thought than of doing an administrative work, by ascertaining the

lation

and resources of the empire

in the

popubut
;

and a sky laden with grey clouds announced the approach of snows. One
dull

and gloomy morning, in the year

The
three years which were taken executed by the Roman

of

and Sextus Apuleius Nepos,

Christian era.
St.
;

year 14 of the
it

(3)

up with
prefect,

It is of the second enrolment that

this enrolment,

Luke speaks the decree which ordered made in the eightli year before the Christian
(Sueton., in Octav., 27.) (1) Augustus at that time

was

era.

cannot raise any difficulty, for certainly it required no less time to draw up the register of Syria, CoeloSyria, Phoenicia,

and Judea.

Joab had consumed

had a work prepared

contained the description of the Roman empire, and of those countries dependant upon it. Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion Cassius make mention
wliich
of this book, and of all the separate descriptions which were drawn up in the provinces. By the way in which they speak of it, it must have been

men nearly ten months in making the simple list of and the capable of bearing arms in the ten tribes;
census of Augustus, at the birth of Jesus Christ, embraced many other details, as it extended not
only to every individual, but to
of their landed possessions.
all

the particulars

William the Conqueror,

who had
among
it,

a work something similarly compiled

something very complicated.

(2) Tertullian assures us that it was Sextius who had to do it for Syria, he being president thereof.

the English, employed six whole years about neither Scotalthough Domesday Book contains

Saturninus

land,

nor Ireland, nor Wales, nor the Channel

Islands.

100

THj: LIFE

OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN,

by order of a pagan and a stranger, to enrol their obscure names by the side
of

Rome

748,* a

Nazarene was seen busily

at hberty to

occupied with preparations for a journey,

which no doubt he was not

putoflF; for tlie time and the young wife

the

most

illustrious

names

of the

seemed

ill-chosen,

who accompanied

him, and whom he seated carefully on the quiet and gentle animal, which is still
preferred by the women of the East, was far advanced in pre^ancy. At the saddle
of the fine animal

kingdom. This journey, undertaken during the rigorous season, and across a country
like Palestine,

must have been extremely

Blessed Virgin, in
the

painful

to

the

woman

ridden by the young of Galilee, was fastened a basket,

"

which she found herself; yet she made no complaint; this feeble and
situation in
delicate

made of palm-leaves, containing provisions

for the journey
:

and courageous, a great

young woman had

mind

firm

soul,

which was
to

dates, figs,

and

raisins,

not elevated with greatness,

knew how

some

thin cakes of barley meal,

and an

earthen vessel from Ramla, to hold water from the spring or the cistern. A goatskin bottle, of Egyptian make, was hung on the opposite side. The traveller threw
over his shoulder a wallet containing a

possess itself in joy, and in silence accepted misfortune. Joseph, who moved

along pensive at her side, meditated on the ancient oracles, which promised, four

bundle

of

clothes,

wrapped himself up hair, and holding in one hand his hooked

stick,

girded his loins, in his cloak of goats'

thousand years ago, a deliverer to his people; as he travelled on to Bethlehem, whither he was led by the supreme will
of a

Roman, he thought
"
:

of the words of

held with the other the bridle of

the prophet Micheas lehem Ephrata, art a

And

thou, Beth-

little

the ass which carried the young

woman.

Thus

they quitted their

poor dwelling,

thousands of Juda; out, come forth unto me that

in Israel."^

one among the of thee shall he

is

to

be the ruler

which was left to itself, and passed down the narrow streets of Nazareth, amidst wishes of a good journey, and safe return
to their kindred

Then, looking at his poor equipage and his humble \Companion, whose simple outfit was suitable to her
condition, he thought over in his
:

and neighbours, who

"
sides,

ex"
!

mind

claimed, on

all

Go

in

peace

These travellers, who

set out

on a journey

the great oracles of Isaias "And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him,

in a cloudy morning, were the humble descendants of the great kings of Juda

Joseph

and Mary

who
We

were going,

ground and the most abject of men." * despised, And the patriarch began to understand
thirsty
: . .

and as a root out of a

(1) Never was any date more disputed than that of the birth of Jesus Christ. adopt that of the
to us the best founded,

year of Rome 748. According to Baronius, the day of our Saviour's birth was a Friday.
(2)
tiful,

authors of L'Art de Verifier les Dates, which appears and which places the birth

The

asses in Palestine are remarkably beau-

of our Saviour on the 25th of December, in the

(3)

Mich,

V.

ii.

(4) Is.

liii.

2,

MOTHER OF GOD.
the designs of
Christ.

101
but
the

God

with regard to his

one

*
;

caravansary

overflowed

with merchants and travellers; there was

After a painful journey of five days, the travellers distinguished Bethlehem at

not a place

left

at a price of gold

one

a distance, the city of kings, seated on an eminence, amid smiling hills planted with
vines, olive groves,

might perhaps have been found, for the hotel-keeper was a Jew, and a Jew of Bethlehem, but Joseph had no gold.

and woods of green

The
nation,

patriarch

returned sorrowful

to

oaks.
in

Camels carrying women wrapped purple cloaks, and with their heads
with white
full gallop
veils,

Mary, who smiled upon him with resig-

covered

Arab

nalcas,

ridden at

by young horsemen

and again seizing the bridle of the poor animal, who was ready to drop with fatigue, he began to wander about
the places and streets of the little city, hoping, but in vain, that some charitable

splendidly clad, groups of old men upon beautiful white she-asses, discoursing gravely, like the ancient judges of Israel,'

David, which was already occupied by a multitude of Hebrews who had arrived during the

were going up

to the city of

them a lodging No one offered them for the love of God. The night wind fell cold and anything.' piercing upon the young Virgin, who
Bethlehemite would
offer

Outside, but at a little preceding days. distance from the city, a building arose of quadrangular form, the white walls of

never uttered a complaint, but who became more and more pale she could
:

which stood out from the pale green of the olive-trees which covered the hill:
one would have said
it

hardly keep life within her. Joseph continued his fruitless efforts in despair and alas more tlian once he saw the door
;
!

was a Persian

Within its open gate, a caravansary. number of slaves and servants were seen
going and coming in its ample court it was the inn. Joseph, urging on the
:

which had been unfeelingly shut against him opened to some more wealthy stranger.
Self-interest, that ruling passion of the

Jews, must have petrified the soul of

every one, for the situation of
excite

beast on which the Virgin was mounted, made irp to it, in the hope of arriving in

no compassion.

Maiy to The night came

on

the two, seeing themselves rejected

time

to secure

one of those small apart-

by every one, and despairing of obtaining

a shelter in the city of their forefathers, went out from Bethlehem without knowing

ments which belong by right to the first comer, and which were refused to no

(1)

The

Jews, by the warrior;

horse was used, especially among the it was also taken as the

(2)

Nothing

is

found in the

cells of the

caravan-

The judges, on the contrar}', rode upon asses of a species perfectly beautiful. Hence those words of the Bible, " Speak you that
symbol of combats.
:

sary, or p-vlace of caravans, but the four walls, dust, and sometimes scorpions. The keeper's business is

upon (Judges

ride

fair asses,

and you that

sit

in

judgment."

merely to give the key and a mat the traveller ouglit to have jirovided himself with the rest; thus ho should take his bed, his cooking apparatus, and even
:

V. 10.)

his provisions with him.

(Volney, Voyage en Syrie.)

102

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

alina^ of the

whither to direct their steps, and moved forward at hazard into the country, hghted

by the expiring ghmmer of the twihght, and echoing with the cry of the jackals

grand prophecy of the Messias, in the midst of a solemn pause of nature, concealed by a luminous cloud,*
brought into the world Him to whom God himself had given birth " before the hills,"*

who prowled about

prey.

in search of their

and " whose generation was from

the south, and at a short distance
nity."

eter-

On

He

appeared

all at

once, like thecloud, to the

from the inhospitable city, a dark cave appeared, which was hollowed out of the
rock
'

sunbeam parting from the

this

cave,

tlie

mouth

of

which

eyes of his astonished young mother, and came to take possession of the throne of
his poverty, while all the angels of God, bending the knee before him, adored him

looked towards the north, and which became narrower towards the end, sei-ved
the Bethlehemites as a

common

stable,

under his human form.'

This virginal

and sometimes as a refuge

herds
in

for the shep-

They both blessed heaven, who had guided them to this rude shelter; and Mary, leaning on the arm of Joseph, went and sat down
stormy
nights.

parturition was free from cries and pains; and not a single groan disturbed the

sacred silence of that night, full of prodigies and mysteries. Miraculously conceived, Jesus culously.
is

born

still

more mira-

upon a bare piece of stone, which formed a kind of narrow and inconvenient seat
in a hollow part of the rock. " It was there, in the fortification of

God

prepared for the world a grand

the rock," as the prophet Isaias had foretold,' at the moment when the rising of the mysterious constellation of the Virgin marked the hour of midnight,^ that the

and novel spectacle when he caused a The palace which poor king to be born. he destined for him was a deserted stable
.

fit

shelter for

him who,
"

as

he ad-

vanced in years was to say, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests;

(1) Justin appeals to the prophecy of Isaias for " He shall dwell on the birth of Jesus in the cave :

already said, in note 5, p. 20, of the first chapter, that tliis word has given occasion to very great
controversies between
(4)

high

ness." (2)

the fortifications of rocks shall be his high-

Jews and
c.

Christians.

(Ch. xxxiii. 16.)

Bays

is a fact independent of all hypotheses," " independent of all consequences Diipuis, which I desire to draw from it, that precisely at the

" It

Protevang.

S.

Jac,

17.

(5) According to the opinion of the rabbins, the Jlessias was in the terrestrial Paradise by the side

hour of midnight, on the 25th

of

December,

in

of our first parents. (Sohar Chadasch, f. 82, 4.) He existed even before the world. (Nezach Israel,

those ages when Christianity made its appearance, the heavenly sign which rose in the horizon, and the ascendant of which ])re8ided at the opening
of
tlie

c.

35.)

And

before he

became man, he was

Thus, im(Phil. ii. 6.) mediately before the time of Jesus Clirist, the idea
of a pre -existence of the Messias existed in the superior theology of the Jews.
(6)

state of glory with

God.

in the

new

solar revolution was, the Virgin

of the

C'ontlellaliont."

(3)
in

The word alma, which Isaias used, signifies Hebrew a Virgin in all her innocence. We have

Heb.

i.

Psalm

xlvi. 7.

MOTHER OP GOD.
but the Son of
his head."
birth,

103

man hath
least

not where to lay

I call thee?

.... a mortal? .... but

.

Moses, proscribed from his

at

had

a cradle of rushes,

conceived thee by divine operation. .... but thou hast a human A God ?
.
.

when

his sister, the youthful Mary, ex-

body.

Ought

I to

come before thee with

posed him in the midst of the bulrushes and sacred lotus plants which dip their
leaves in the Nile at the close of day
' ;

incense, or to offer thee

I to lavish

my breast? Ought
all

upon thee

the cares of a

tender mother, or to serve thee with

forehead bowed

but

Jesus,

the

divine

forsaken

one,

down
!

to the

dust?

my O
!

who came among us to suffer and die, had not even so much magnificence as
this
:

wonderful contrast

the heavens are thy

abode, and I nurse thee on

my

knees

he was

laid in a

manger, upon a
for-

Thou

art

upon

eartli,

and yet thou

art

handful of damp straw providentially

gotten by some camel-driver of Egypt or Syria, in haste to set out before daybreak.

not separated from the inhabitants of the the heavens are with celestial regions
:

thee."

provided for the couch of his only Son, even as he provides for the nests of the birds of heaven.

God had

Thus were accomplished the grand

oracles of "

Micheas and Isaias

And

there were in the

same country
keeping
the
be-

was necessary to cover this new Adam, whose members would have been starved by the cold air, and whom modesty
It

shepherds watching night watches over their

and

flock.

And

and necessity

alike required to be clothed.

hold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round

of her veil swaddling with which she wrapped him up bands, with her chaste hands then was the
:

Mary made him out

about them, and they feared with a great

the angel said to them Fear behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the
fear.
:

And

not, for

God newly born

adored by her and her

holy spouse, as Joseph of old, the finest type of Jesus Christ, had been before by his father and mother.
St. Basil,

people

for

this day
is

is

born

to

you a

Saviour,

who
:

Christ the Lord, in the

city of David.

And

this shall

be a sign
infant
laid

entering into the mysteries

unto

you

you

shall

find

the

of fervour

and rapture which passed in

wrapped

in swaddling-clothes,

and

the soul of the Virgin, exhibits her to us as if divided between the love of the

suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly

in a manger.

And

mother and the adoration of the

saint.

"What

thee?" says she, addressing her Infant-God; "what should

I call

should

army, praising God, and saying: Glory TO God in the highest; and on eaeth

PEACE TO MEN OF GOOD WHL." *

They used
to say to those

is

The lotui, which v.'as consecrated to the sun, a water-plant, the leaves of which dip into the Nile wlien the sun sets, and emerge from it when
(1)
rises.

who made

long journeys
is, tliat

that they had eaten of the lotus, that

had forgotten
(2)

their country.^

(Basn.,

they

liv. ix. c. 15.)

he

This plant has the virtue of lulling

to sleep.

In a very pleasant plain, situated a quarter

104

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

said one to another, " Perhaps this is the

disappeared, the heavenly songs had ceased, and the shepherds, leaning forward upon their

The marvellous vision had

place 1" for they knew that the divine Infant who was born unto them had not

knotty staves, were

still

listening.

the night breezes moaned alone in the valley, and there was only left in

When

seen the light beneath a rich roof, and that he was not laid in a sumptuous cradle for a throne ; the angel had made no

which might seem

the sky a single white and shining spot, to be an angel, the consulted togetlier, and " said shepherds one to another, Let us go over to Bethlet

such announcement.
then with
faith,

They approached with hope, with love,

towards the place where they well deserved to meet the promised Saviour, since
they came to seek him there with upright intentions and pure souls.

lehem, and

us see this word that

is

come

to pass,

which the Lord hath showed

in

to us."

Then taking

baskets

such

humble presents as their huts could supply, they made their way, by the
bright light of the stars, to the little city At the sight of the stable, of David. they felt, like the disciples at Eramaus,
that their hearts were burning,

Looking into the farthest recess of the cave, to ascertain whether they had really

come

to the

end of

their nocturnal pil-

grimage, these men of good will discovered Him who came to preach the gospel
to the poor,
tion

and

to abolish the maledic-

and they

of slavery, under the humble form

"

of a league to the north of the town of Bethlehem, is found the village of the shepherds, and in the

tlie resounding shore, voice of weeping heard and loud lament :

The And

lonely mountains o'er,

depth of the valley the celebrated field where these shepherds were tending their flocks during the night of the nativity. According to grave authors, both sacred and profane, the appearance of the
angels to the shepherds is not the only prodigy which signalised the birth of the Infant-God. It
that during that sacred night the vines of Engaddi blossomed, and that at Como the temple
is related,

From haunted
Edged with

spring and dale.

po|)lar pale.

The

parting Genius is with sighing sent; Witli flower-inwoven tiesses torn,

in twilight sliade of tangled thickets " In consecrated earth, And on the holy hearth,

The nymphs

monm.

The

of Peace
the

fell

down on

a sudden, and the oracles of

demons were silent for ever. The very birth of our Lord was a sentence of banishment for those pagan divinities who had been till then permitted
Milton, in an admirable poetic vein, thus describes, in one of his earliest pieces of verse, the departure of those pretended divinities
to give oracles.

Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint; In urns and altais round, A drear and dying sound Affrights the flamens at tlieir service quaint; And tlie cliill marble seems to sweat.

While

eacli peculiar

With

power foregoes his wonted seat " I'eor and Baalim Forsake tlieir temples dim, that twice battered god of IMestine ;

And mooned

Ashtaroth,

on the eve of the nativity

"

Now

sits

Heaven's queen and mother both. not girt with tapei's lioly shine;
Lyliic

The

Hammon

shrinks his born.

In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Tliammuz mourn,

The

oracles are

dumb,

" And sullen Moloch

fled.

No

voice or hideous

hum

Hath
His burning

left in

sliadows dread

Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo flora liis shrine Can no more divine, With hollow sliriek the steep of Delphos leaving.
.

idol all of blackest

hue ;

In vain witli cymkils' ring,

No nightly trance, or breathed spell, Inspires the pale-eyed prieet from the prophetic celL

Tliey call the grisly king, In dismal daiiee about the fuinace blue; The brutish gods of Nile as fast,
litis

and Orus, and the dog Anubis iuute."

MOTHER OF QOD.
of a
little

105

infant quietly asleep in his

manger.

The Virgin, bending

over her new-born

Those who heard them, struck with a long fit of amazement, said one to another, "Is it really possible? Are we
night.

son, contemplated him with affecting huabove mility and profound tenderness tliem, Joseph bent down his aged head
;

then in the time of Abraham, that angels " should visit shepherds ?

Perhaps

it

was these

recitals,

made

in

before this adopted son, who was God; a mild ray of the moon shone upon this
divine group, enclosed in the red recesses of the rock without, everything reposed under a fine starlight night.' " Here must be the place," said the
:

the evenings on the borders of the woods, or in the depths of the ravines, while the

camels

drank together

at

the solitary

spring, which led a tribe of Arabs to consider Mary and the Infant as divinities.

shepherds with respect before the manger of the King of kings, they offered to the poor

to

each other, and, prostrating

The sweet image of the Virgin holding her Son on her knees, was painted on one
of the pillars of the Caaba, and solemnly placed in the number of the three hundred

and new-born God the mite and the

and

sixty divinities of the three Arabias.

it

homage of the poor. Then they proceeded

In the time of Mahomet

to

was

still

to

be

relate

the

seen, as the

Arab historians

attest.''

After

apparition of the angels, their ravishing concerts, their words of hope, peace, and
love.

the massacre of the Holy Innocents, this brave tribe rose up to a man, uttered a

this divine manifestation,

Joseph admired and wondered at and Mary, who

long cry of vengeance, and without being overawed by numbers, attacked Herod's
son, though he was a vassal of the Romans.'

heard in silence this simple narrative, laid up every word of it in her heart.

and

protege

When

this duty

was performed, and their

the

This authentic anecdote, so curious

shepherds retired, God, and spread abroad in the glorifying mountains the wonders of that sacred
(1) "The Persians call Christmas night scheh jaldai, night bright and luminous, by reason of the descent of the angels." (D'Herbelot, Bibl.

mission ended,

and generally unknown, comes

to

the

support of the supernatural fact recorded by St. Luke, a fact which the deriding
the account of the
in the Toldos, a

Arab historian, is found recorded Jewish book, very ancient, and

Orientale, t. ii. p. 294.) " El Azraki adduces

(2)

tianity.

written in a tone of furious animosity against Chrissee there that Herod the Great and

We

the ocular testimony of

Bcveral respectable persons," says Burckhardt, ' to prove a remarkable fact, of which, I believe, no

mention has hitherto been made

it

is

that the

had to sustain a war against a tribe of the desert, who adored the image of Jam and Mary his mother. This tribe attempted to form alliances with several cities of Palestine, and particularly
his son

figure of -the Virgin Mary, v/ith the

young Aisa

with that of Hai.

Now,

as the

Jews themselves

(Burckhardt, Voyage en Arabie,

(3)

(Jesus) on her knees, was sculptured as a divinity upon one of the pillars nearest to the gate of Caaba."
t. i.

place this event in the lifetime of Herod, it must have been prompted by the massacre of the Innocents, as the

p.

221.)

aged king survived only one year the

This particular circumstance, which confirms

birth of our Saviour.

106

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

philosophers of the school of Voltaire and the adepts of pantheism, if possible,

still

more pagan,

have

under the auspices of

failed, said the
it

Elias,

who never
at it

Hebrews,

to assist

not

failed

to

banish to the rank of fables.

The capricious devotion of these Arabs, who blended God idolatry with the worship of the true
before the preaching of the gospel, can be accounted for only in connexion with
tlie knowledge of the miracles sacred night of the Nativity.

took place, according to St. invisibly,' Epiphanius, in the very cave in which Jesus was born, and St. Bernard pre-

sumes, with sufficient probability, that St. Joseph was the minister on the occasion.

Men
the

of the

common
God

people, docile to

of the

summons

of the angels,

had come to

adore the infant

On
Son
of

the eighth day after his birth, the

manger, and share with him their black bread

of their goats.

in his poor

God was

circumcised, and

named

and the milk

miracle
greater

Jesus, in conformity with the order of his heavenly Father. He must have had a
godfather, like all the Israelites, but we are completely ignorant upon whom that

of a higher character, and of

much

renown, conducted

shortly after to the

same cradle the

first fruits

of converted

honour

to the ceremony of the which always took place circumcision,

fell.

As

Gentiles: the shepherds of Juda had led the way; it was now the turn of sages

and kings.

CHAPTER

XII.

AD0R4TI0N OF THE MAGT.

In the course of the autumn which preceded the birth of Jesus Christ, certain Chaldean Magi, learned in the study of
the courses of the
of the
first

According to the ancient traditions of

Iran, collected by Abulfarage, Zoroaster, the restorer of the science of the Magi, a

stars,

discovered a star

learned

man, a great astronomer, and

magnitude, which they recognised by its extraordinary motion and other no less certain signs, as that star of
Jacob, long before predicted by Balaam, which was to arise in their horizon at the time of the parturition of the Virgin.

well versed, moreover, in the theology of the Hebrews,* announced, under the first

successor of Cyrus, and a short time after the rebuilding of the temple, that a divine infant, called to change the face of the
world, would be born of a virgin, pure

(1) See Bagn.,

(2)

liv. vii. c.

10.

Jeremias
a
disciple

Some have made Zoroaster

of

more probable

but their times do not correspond ; that he was a disciple of Dauiel.

it is

iswmi

MOTHER OF GOD.
and immaculate,
region of Asia.
in

107

the

most western

those unchangeable laws which rule the

starry

He

added that a star

spheres,

unknown
this

to their

heavens would signalize

proper to itself;
at the

had no regular motion sometimes it advanced

remarkable event, and that on its appearance the Magi would- themselves
ful

head of the caravan, always follow-

bring presents to this young king. Faithand religious executors of the wishes

ing a straight line in the direction of the west sometimes it remained stationary
;

of Zoroaster, three of the most illustrious

* of Babylon had no sooner remarked the star, than they sounded the eymbals of departure. Leaving behind

above the tents pitched for the night, and seemed gently poised on the bosom of the
clouds, like an albatross asleep in fields of air at daybreak it gave the signal for
:

wise

men

departure,
halt.^

as

it

had given the one

lofty

to

them the

city of Seleucidae,

with

its ele-

palm-tree wood," and gant Babylon, where the wind of the desert, moaning over immense ruins, seemed to
edifices

of

At length, the

towers of Jerusalem

appeared in the distance, in the midst of the bare and wild summits of her mountains
;

tell

to

these silent wrecks the sinister

the camels and the mares were

thirst at a cistern

oracles of the son of

country of road of Palestine.

Amos, they left the date palms, and took the sandy

quenching their
way-side,

by the

when

the Magi uttered a cry of

;

Before them, like the pillar of light which guided the fugitive cohorts of Israel to the desert shores of

surprise and

afii-ight

tlie star

had just

hidden

the heights of the sky, like an intelligent creature aware of some

itself in

moved forward the star of This new star, free from the Messias.
the

Red

Sea,

impending danger.*

As much disconcerted

as the navigators

(1)

Men
;

Magi

some make them come from

are not agreed as to the country of the tlie interior of

(2) Strabo, liv. xvii.

(3) S. Joan. Chrysost.,

Serm.

6, in

S. Matt.

Arabia Felix, others from India, which is not at all The best authorities give them Persia probable. for their country, and this opinion has seemed to us
founded in truth. The names Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, which are attributed to the Magi, are Babylonian. In fact, Babylon, and after its destruction Seleucia, situated at a short distance,

Chalcidius, a

end of and of the sages of the East

the cradle of Jesus

pagan philosopher, who lived at the the third century, makes mention of this star,

whom
St.

it

conducted to

Christ.

Augustin, the

were

doctor of doctors, speaks thus on this subject : " At his birth, he declared a new star, who when put to death darkened the old sun. What was that star,

the abode of the most celebrated astronomers of

antiquity.
Finally, these cities are to the east of

which never appeared before among the stars, nor remained to be pointed out afterwards ? What was
it,

Jerusalem, and in twenty days' march one may travel from the borders of the Euphrates to Beth-

but a magnificent tongue of the heavens

to

lehem.
lius

Origen,

who was

learned and well-informed,

astrology.

declare the glory of God,. to proclaim with unusual brightness the unheard-of parturition of the Virgin."

assures us that the

ridicules

Magi studied

Drexe;

(Serm.
(4)

cci.,

in

Epiph.

iii.)

Origen for this very unreasonably which proves that he was little versed in the history of the East in olden times, where every astronomer was also an astrologer.

This

cistern, or well, situated

still

on the road to

Jerusalem,
three

bears the

name
Star,

of the Cistern
in

of the

Kings, or o/ the

memory

of this

event,

108
of ancient times

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIKGIST,

when a

barrier of black

their long white robes, fastened by

mag-

clouds
Btar,

concealed from them the polar the Magi consulted together for a

nificent oriental girdles,

and

their bazu-

bends^ enriched with precious stones, and,

moment.

What was

the meaning of the

sudden disappearance of their brilliant guide? Were they then at the end of
their long journey,

by the manly beauty of their features, as- satraps of the great king. As they went along, the oriental cavaliers,

above

all,

up the tent

of

and should they set abode ? That the infant

king whom they came to adore from the banks of the Tigris should be found at

down upon the necks of their dromedaries, asked some of the numerous spectators, who crowded the way, where
leaning

Jerusalem was a
"

tiling

both possible and

was the new-born King of the Jews, whose The star they had seen in Babylon,
people of Jerusalem, looking at one another in amazement, knew not. what to

probable.

The God of heaven," they " does not prolong his miracles thought, in vain ; they cease when human agency
:

answer

to this inquiry

suffices
if

this is all in right order.

left

What

the Jews! ....

What king?

King of They knew

the star has

witliout its aid,

in the capital of cover the cradle of the

sias,

we can very well, find him whom we seek To dishis dominions.

us
?

none but Herod,

whom

they abhorred

from the bottom of their souls, and who

young King Mesperfumed

we have

only to enter the first street

had no infant son. The Magi, astonished on their part that all whom they interrogated should protest their ignorance, and
seeing moreover around them no signs of the festivity, moved in consternation up

strewed with

green boughs,

with essence of roses, and carpeted with drapery of rich colours embroidered with
gold
;

crowded street which led

to the ancient

the sound of the harps of the He-

brews, their dances, and their songs of joy will sufficiently indicate to us in what
direction to proceed."

palace of David, and pitched their tents in its ruinous and shaded courts.

Nevertheless, the appearance of these

Then urging on

their animals, they passed the gate of the

grandees of Persia, who travelled very mountains of rarely at that time in the
Judea, their startling questions, which astonished and intimidated at the same
the vast system of in espionage organised by Herod,* held fear, soon put into commotion the most

enclosure,

and entered the ancient Sion

files

between two

of barbarian soldiers.
:

The

aspect of Jerusalem was sad

silent,

its

time a people

whom

population, weakened and

had no

appearance of joy or festivity; groups only formed here and there, to see the travellers pass by,

seditious

and
of

restless city of the

East.

whom

they recognised by

The name

King Messias, pronounced

BazubendB, antique bracelets of diamonds, turquoises, and pearls, which the satraps wore
(1)

still

wear the bazubends.

et

(See Morier, Voyage en

lib.

Perse

en Arraenie.)
xv.
c.

a\>ove the

elbow

the

King

of Persia

and

his sous

(2) See Josephus, Ant. Jud.,

13.

MOTHER OP GOD
by the Pharisees, ever on the alert to make the aged monarch uneasy about the
future fortunes of his house and the duration of his
full of flowers,

109
stocked with rare birds,

lost

and intersected with clear streams, which themselves beneath the branches of
an actual
little forest,*

own power,

fell

among

the

could not avert his

recollections

curious groups like a spark upon thatch. The King Messias ? It was emancipation
It
!

mind from the gloomy

and

It was It was glory was conquest the banner of Juda waving like a ruler
!

sinister anticipations which rendered life an annoyance to him. Informed by the

The Persian over the vanquished world satraps passed for the first astrologers in the world they had, no doubt, read in
I

chief of his spies of the arrival of the Magi, and of their strange discourses, his

broad forehead, wrinkled with

anxiotis

'

the stars the birth of the

Hebrew

Goel.^

thoughts, darkened like a stormy sky, and his uneasiness was visible to every one.

heir of the kings of Juda was about to reascend the great throne of his ancestors,

The

and

drive from

it

the race of the

King of the Jews is easily understood, and explained by his position. Herod was neither the anointed
trouble of the
of the Lord, nor the choice of the people;

The

Herods, those half-Jews, who were the A low murmur, like slaves of Rome
!

that which precedes the tempests of the ocean, soon circulated in the houses, in

a branch of laurel, gathered in the idolatrous precincts of the Capitol, formed his

the streets, on the public places ; never had the Jews of Jerusalem felt less dis-

crown of vassalage, entwined with thorns, every leaf of which

tributary crown,

had been paid

for

with heaps of gold ab-

posed

to

conform
to

to the royal edict,

which

stracted from the savings of the rich

and

forbade them
their own.^

meddle with any affairs but

fierce soldiers

In vain did the

line the
;

the indigence of the poor. Hated by the rich, whose heads he cut off at the first
suspicion, feared by his relatives,

of

Herod

of the towers

ramparts and platforms the people were sti-ong

;

whose

tombs he

tragically filled up, the horror

they had no more

spired in the street.

fear,

"

All Jerusalem

troubled," says the gospel,

and they conwas and it was soon

of the priests,

whose
foot,

privileges

he had
by the

trampled under

detested

the tyrant's turn to be troubled also. Herod at that time was living in his
palace at Jerusalem the gardens of which
,

people for his doubtful religion and his foreign extraction, he could only oppose
his courtiers,
his
assassins, his artists,

and the opulent but small sect of Hetogether in

family parties to make great feasts, His spies, scattered about custom.

(1) The whole of the East at that time believed in astrology and Philo informs us that the satraps of Persia passed for the first astrologers in the
;

according to

Jerusalem, and even over the high roads, immediately arrested those who disobeyed the king's edict they were placed secretly, and sometimes in
;

world.
(2)

Goel (Saviour), one of the names by which

the

Hebrews designated the Messias. (3) Herod had strictly forbidden the Jews to talk of affairs of state they could not even meet
;

open day, in strongholds, wliere they were severely punished. (Joseplms, Antiq. Jud., lib. xv. c. 13.) (4) Josephus, de Bello, lib. v. c. 13.

110
rodians,

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN,

who were

fascinated

with his

of the

Hebrews

in gymnastic exercises

magnificence, to the active, ardent, and openly declared hatred of the rest of the
nation.

Often was the friend of Caesar

Herod the bold rider, the expert hunter, the handsome and .disdainful monarch, who had despised the love of that celebrated

insulted to his face by his obstinate subjects the Pharisees, an artful and power:

Queen

of

Egypt

for

whom Anthony
But,

had
alas
!

lost the

empire of the world.

ful sect,

had refused with

insult

and de-

rision to take the oath of fidelity to

him

the silvery network which began to mix with the black hair of his sons, their

the Essenians, whose courage in battle rendered them formidable, had followed the example of the Pharisees ; and the young and ebullient disciples of the doctors of the law

impatience to reign, the

spirit of revolt

and mutiny which crept in among the people, and the insolence of the banditti

had recently thrown down,

who re-commenced their depredations in Galilee, made him understand but too
well that his reign drew near
its

in open day, with their vengeful axes, the

end.

golden eagle which he had placed above

the gate
of the

Tormented with
ful

temple

to

please

the

suspicions, and distrusteven of his spies, he wandered about,

at night, alone

Romans.

sometimes
in the
capital
:

and

in disguise,

On

every side plots, secretly favoured

streets
^

by his nearest and dearest relatives, were contrived in the dark against his life, and

and public places of his there he heard with his own

fell

ears the muttered imprecations, the cruel

he was very near

theatre,

falling, in the

crowded

reproaches, the bitter railleries which

beneath the poniards of certain

upon "the man without

"

young high-minded men, who thought to do a deed of virtue and patriotism, by

ridding the earth of a prince who reigned like a madman.* Attributing this unusual

ancestors," the " wild beast," who had Ascalonite," the a pearl of killed his innocent wife, a model of honour, and who beauty,

had afterwards had

his two sons by her

daring to the
art to appear

contempt inspired by his

strangled, those two princes so sad, so

old age, he exhausted all the secrets of

handsome, so brave,
loved
for

whom
of

the

people

young
that

again.^

He

would

the sake

the

Asmonean
their unfor-

fain have persuaded himself

and others,
brilliant

heroes, their ancestors,

and

that he was

still

young and

tunate mother.

The day

after these noc-

Herod who surpassed the

greater part

turnal wanderings was a day of

mourn-

(1)

The

people were so far from applauding the

he was, and had his hair and beard dyed black.

(Ibid., lib. xvi. c. 11.)

discovery of this conspiracy, and rejoicing at the safety of the king, that they seized the informer

who had disclosed

XV.
c.

it,

tore

him eaten up by dogs.

11.)

(Josephos, Ant. Jud.,

him

in pieces,

and had
lib.

(3) He often mixed, at night, in disguise, with the populace, says Josephus, to know what opinion the people had of him, and he punished without

mercy those who did not approve

in order to look

of

what he

did.

(2)

Herod painted

younger than

(Ibid., lib. XV. c. 13.)

MOTHER OP GOD.
ing and punishments

Ill

none were spared.

cutting upon the lowest
off

is

not the

God who makes

it is

the aged king

The

executioner,

after
fell

the

heads of the highest,

of the rabble.

Thus on

every side vows

;

the prince. The more he thinks upon it, the more this mysterious event seems to him connected
so full of thought,

were made against the life of the prince and each time that the report of his death was circulated, whether by chance
or design, in the distant provinces, the people greedily seizing the treacherous
bait
to

with one vast conspiracy tending to raise up a secret and rival power upon the
ruins of his own.

What then

did he

pour out like water the illustrious blood of the Macchabees, without any concern
for the beating hearts of his wife

which

flattered their hatred,

hastened

and

light up which Herod extinguished with blood. Amidst these elements of civil discord,

bonfires in every direction,

children

did he crush beneath the iron

all

wheels of his despotism

that offered

any resistance; lose his soul, his honour,

the rest of his nights, in which his bleeding victims troubled his dreams' .... and
all

a fever of insurrection was sullenly working its way in the army, and revolt,
like a ripe
fruit,

when

seemed

hand

of the seditious,

strangers of high

to

invite

the

this to

what purpose?
.

to

smoothen

bearing arrive at Jerusalem, who inquire without any mystery or circumlocution for a new-born King of the Jews, whose
star they

the way to the throne for the family of David * ... This sceptre so dearly purthis sceptre, still wet with the chased,
I

blood of his own relatives, will be then no

have seen.
calls

Herod

is

astonished ;
;

he anxiously

up his recollections

more than a reed, sterile and accursed, which the blast of death shall break over tomb He will have passed, like the meteor of a stormy night, over this land, whose ancient glory will brilliantly revive after him And this people,
his
I .

the predictions fatal to his dynasty which the Pharisees cause to be circulated the
oracles of the ancient seers

to

which he

has hitherto lent but a distracted and

secondary attention, come to his rememThis warrior Messias, this probrance.

a hatred so strong, so deadly, so furious, that even his favours

who hated him with

phet sprung from David, who is to carry his victorious ensigns from west to east,
begins to give

could do nothing towards assuaging it, how will they surround with their love

him vague disquietude

lib. v. c.

it

and sympathy the

continued.
Finally,

offspring of their an-

(1) Josephus,

Ant. Jud.,

13.

Domitian had two descendants

wonder at the alarm caused to (2) an offshoot of the family of David ; yet

We

Herod by it was not

only Herod that persecuted that noble family, out of hatred for its ancient rights and glorious expectations.

race brought to Rome, whose The emgrandfather was the apostle St. Jude. after interrogating them, learning that they peror of that
illustrious

Eusebius, after Hegesippus, relates that, after the conquest of Jerusalem, Vespasian com-

possessed no more than thirty-nine acres of land, which they cultivated with their own hands, sent

them back

to their

own
by

country, being

made easy

manded
and

the posterity of David to be sought out destroyed. Under Trajan, the persecution still

as to their ambition

their poverty.

113
cient kings

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

as bitter

And this last thought fell as wormwood upon the dark and
I

was unanimous

"
:

In Bethlehem of Juda."

desolate heart of the aged monarch ; for in the midst of his acts of violence, he
felt

And the ancients of Israel, delighted to make the friend of the Romans uiieasy,
did not
fail to

add that, as the

last of the

the want of being loved, a strange

certainly,

weeks of Daniel was near

its

end, the

want

but perfectly real in this

time for the Messias was drawing near.

exceptional being, who seemed made up of contrasts, and who had employed very

These indications,

little

calculated to give

noble qualities in the service of the most

absorbing and most cruel passion which could lay waste tlie human soul am-

security, were not sufficient for Herod, who wanted to know where to strike the

blow

bition.

interrogate the know, possible, the precise time of the birth of the child, calcu;

he

resolved

to

Magi, and

to

if

"

Be

this child prince of the land or

lated by that of the appearance of the

star.

prophet of

God,"

said

Herod,

after

Too

clever a politician to grant a

" he must die and die he ; pause, shall, even though I were sure to extin-

audience to the sages of Iran, which would have given consistency to a

public

guish with this feeble spark, all the glories which our seers dream of for future times.
Athalia, that clever

rumour which
the

it

was his interest

for

to stifle,

king sent

them

privately,

and

woman, who knew

one infant in

how

to reign, forgot only

pressed them with questions as to the time of the star's appearing to them.
"

his cradle in the massacre of the royal

That child deprived her family of Juda. I Avill take of her throne and her life.

He inquires," says St. John Chi-ysostom, " not the time of the child, but of the
star, lying in

But where is this new-bom king of the Jews concealed, who is proclaimed by the stars, and whom these insolent satraps come to seek at the very gates of my palace ? Can he be
care to
forget nothing.

diligence."
to

wait for his prey with great Informed of what he wished

know, the
in

man
an

of blood dismissed the

affable

strangers

and

manner.

"

Go," said

" to he,

gracious Bethle-

in reality the Shiloh foretold by Jacob

These are perhaps mere reveries of the No matter, we must make astrologers?
sure."

hem, and search diligently after the cliild and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may
;

come and adore him."

few hours

after, the doctors of

Now
like

the law and the chief priests assembled in council under the presidency of Herod,

the Magi, like all superior men, all the sons of meditation and

science, were good, sincere,

and

little in-

heard this question, which appeared to them strange in the mouth of such a
" Do you know in what place the prince : Messias should be born ?"

clined to suspect

evil.

They understood
;

arbitrary conduct and cruelty in a prince, for they did not understand falsehood

the

first

The

answer, which was not expected,

taught

their

thing that the kings of Persia children was to tell the

s^.

s>.

MOTHER OP GOD.
truth.

118
"

Accordingly they believed the false words of the Idurnean, and passing

like a falling star.

The

star

our star

"
!

cried

out the
"

slaves,

transported

with

again beneath the elegant porticoes of this palace, which vied in magnificence with those of the great king, but which

joy.

The

star!" repeated their masters,

;

with the same rapture and being certain this time that they had entered on the
right way,

had not

in the midst of its bronzes

and

they resumed

tlieir

journey

arcades the golden bell of the suppliants^ they left the Betzetha,* struck their tents,

with fresh ardour.

They were about

David,

to enter the city of

itself to-

and traversed a second time the holy city, to go to the presumed birthplace of the Messias. As they passed by the walls
of the

when

the star, lowering

new amphitheatre, enriched with

trophies,

the extraordinary decoration of

to

wards the south, stopped all at once over a cave, which had the appearance of being a rustic stable, and descending as low as
possible in the air, rested, as it were, over The sight the head of the infant God.

which was an inexhaustible subject of

sarcasms
the
Pharisees,

they

met

of this motionless star,

of

the

softest rays

King Herod, surrounded by a forest of Thracian and German lances, who was
.

which

fell

in a luminous sheaf

going in the direction of Jericho.* The Persians left Jerusalem by the gate of Damascus then taking the left,
;

hollowed out of the rock, filled the Magi with great faith, and their faith
this cave

upon

indeed needed to be great to acknowledge the King Messias in an infant destitute

they entered upon valleys, intersected with hills, which they were obliged to climb. They were about an hour's jour-

of everything, lodged

in

poor

place, laid in a

ney from the capital of Judea, and were watering their camels at a cistern, when
a brilliant light appeared directly over them, and descended rapidly to tliem,

manger, and whose mother, though beautiful and full of every grace, was evidently of a very obscure condition. God, who would make the Jews ashamed
of the hardness of their hearts, by setthig

before tliem the religious eagerness and

(1) Tlie kings of Persia administered justice in a manner quite patriarchal. They had above their heads a goklen bell, and to this bell was attached a chain, the end of which hung outside of the palace.

(3)

We
to

that

Herod departed

have followed the authors who maintain for Jericho, where he was for
sick, at the
:

some time
neyed

Bethlehem

this agrees
;

time when the Magi jourevery way with

Every time

that the bell rung, the ofiScers of the

prince left his apartments, and introduced before the great king the petitioners, who demanded justice

the account of the gospel for if Herod had been at Jerusalem at the time when the Persians returned,

of the prince himself, and the king rendered it to them on the spot with equity. (Antar, translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton.)

they would probably have seen him before the admonition of the angel, who did not inform

them

which Herod had joined

(2) Tlie quarter called Befzeiha, or the new town, to Jerusalem, was situated

of the designs of the king till the first night. sickness of Herod, taking off his attention from the Magi and the infant, left the former at

The

to the north of the temple ; it included the lower pool, the probatical pool, and the palace of Herod.

their country, and liberty to return peaceably into the Holy Family time to return by the road to

Nazareth.

114

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

then, touching the earth with their foreheads before Mary, whom they and humble as found fair " as the
a

the docile faith of infidels, permitted that the extraordinary humiliation of the Holy

God;'

Family should not shake the firm belief

of the Magi.

moon,

The worshippers
tiles,

of the sun, the

Gen-

the flower of nenuphar," they invoked upon her the benedictions of God, and wished
that
"

whom

the cross

came

to save, as

the

hand

of

woe might never reach

well as the children of promise, made their way into the sorry abode of Christ
witli

her."

as

much
built

veneration

as

in

their
fires,

scene of splendour in which the Blessed Virgin bore a part.

This was the

last

temples

over subterranean

The

first

period of her hfe, hke a sweet

where

starry spheres revolved.*

Accord-

dream

of Ginnistan,

had passed beneath

ing to the custom of their people, they put some of the dust of that poor thres-

roofs of cedar

and

of gold, in the midst

hold on their foreheads, and after taking oflf their rich sandals, they adored the

sacred perfumes, melodious chants, the the second, sound of lyres and harps
;

full of

wonders and mysteries, had placed

new-born Infant, as every son of the East at that time adored his gods and his

her in correspondence with the inhabitants of heaven and the princes of Asia ;
the third was about to open under other auspices it was the turn of persecutions,
:

Then, opening caskets of odoriferous wood, which contained the presents

masters.

intended for the Messias, they took out of them most pure gold, found in the environs of Ninive the Great, and perfumes

troubles,

and indescribable sorrows.

the Magi,

which were exchanged for fruits and pearls with the Arabs of the Yemen. These mysterious gifts had nothing carnal about them, like the offerings of the Jews. The cradle of Him who came to

nothing retained in Judea, prepared to leave Bethlehem. They proposed, according to their
promise, to go and find the king in his palace of Jericho, to tell him where the

And now

whom

but the angel of the Lord admonished them, in a dream, of the dark
Messias was
;

abohsh the
to

sacrifices of

the synagogue

was not be sprinkled with blood; therefore the Magi did not sacrifice to him
lambs without
spot,

designs of that perfidious prince, and intimated to them the order to change
their route.

The

children

nor white heifers

returned their thanks to the

of Ormuzd " Master of

they presented him

gold, as to a prince of

the earth, myrrh, and frankincense, as to

the sun and of the morning star," gave the honour of this nocturnal revelation to

(1)

These spheres, composed of

circles of gold,

of Christian poets
us,

whose works have come down to

cut out like those of our armillary spheres, revolve They are still brilliantly at the rising of the sun. seen at Oulam, where the Ghebers have a temple.

on the presents of the kingly Magi, have been

justly praised : " Aurum, thus,

myrrham, regique, Deoque, ho"

(Rabbi Benjamin.)
(2)

Those verses of Juvencus, the most ancient

niinique Dona ferunt

MOTHER OP GOD.
and meriting by their the gift of faith which perfect docility they received later on,^ instead of going
their good genius,'

115

heads of their camels towards the Great

Sea,

and

imagined themselves in the

plains

along the sterile and dangerous borders of the accursed lake which reflects in its

planted with date-ti'ees' and covered with roses, bathed by the Eu-

heavy and stagnant waters the shadows of the reprobate cities, they turned the

phrates and the Bend-Emyr, while they were traversing the fine regions of
Syria.

CHAPTER

XIII.

THE PURIFICATION.
Forty days
to after the birth of
it

our Saviour,

her duty to repair the precept of Leobey which prescribed the purification viticus,
Jerusalem, to
of mothers,

the Virgin considered

had been a mother for our Redeemer, she had remained a virgin for herself, and her conception without

Mary

for if she

stain

had been followed by a

"
;

parturition

and the ransom of the

first-

without defilement
voluntarily, for

but she submitted

born.

Doubtless this law did not oblige

an example to the world,

(1)

Of Ormuzd,

very learned

Zend, ahurd-mazdao (the and of Aliriman, in Zend, king),

in

not of the same form in

all.

Some
circle,

palm-trees

ahi/ro-maingus (the intelligent merchant), according to the Persian mythology, were born the good

and

evil

genii

to

whom

are attributed different

and the fruit of some projects in bunches from the bark, which is open about midway others bear their branches on one side only, and their weight bending them down
spread out their branches in a
;

functions in the universe, whether for the diffusion

of good or the propagation of

evil.

One

of these

towards the ground, gives them the figure of a lamp suspended others, in fine, divide their branches
;

good

Serosch, went round the earth every night to watch for the security of the servants of Ormuzd. (See the Amschaspand-Named, and
genii,

named

into

two

portions,

and

let

them

fall

to the left in perfect

symmetry."

right (Diodorus,

to the

and

b. ii.)

The Book
(2)

of

Kings of Firdousi.)
ancient authors affirm that the

is the description of the banks of the " a poet anterior to Mahomet : They Euphrates, by

The

following

Very

Magi

saw populous towns,

received baptism from St. Thomas ; it is thought that they suffered martyrdom in India, where they preached the gospel.
"
(3)

plains abounding in flowing streams, date -trees, and warbling birds, and sweetsmelling flowers ; and the country appeared like a

blessing to enliven the sorrowing heart

and the
;

The

palm-trees of Babylonia," says Dio-

camels were grazing and straying about the land

dorus Siculus, "bear exquisite dates; they are half a foot long, some yellow, others red, and others of

a j>urple colour, so that they are no less agreeable The trunk of the to the sight than to the taste.
tree is of

and they were of various colonrs, like the flowers of a garden." (Antar, translated from the Arabic by For the fields and gardens of Terrick Hamilton.)

roses so

common

in ancient Persia, see Firdouei,

an astonishing height, and everywhere

The Book

of Kings.

alike straight

and smooth

but the head, or

tuft, is

116
to a penal law to

TEE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

which she was only so
"
as her vh-ginal

VIRGBST,

far subject," says Bossuet,

composed of twelve great stones eaten by moss, upon each of which was read the

maternity was unknown."

Poorly equipped, and
lost in

the crowd
tlie

dusty road of Ephrata, Joseph and Mary, who had not attracted any notice, had not
either left behind
lections

on their

first

appearance upon

name of a tribe of Israel, had no epitaph but a white rose of Syria ; sweet and frail emblem of the beauty of that young
woman, who faded at the moment when she had just blossomed, like the flower spoken of by Job. As they stopped to
say the prayer for the dead over the revered dust of one of the saints of their

them those long recolwhich pass into tradition among

It

nations.

was
;

different

on their return
to the

to Jerusalem

tlianks,

no doubt,

miraculous recitals of the shepherds, and At some tlie brilliant visit of the Magi.
distance from

the Virgin and Joseph little thought that the plaintive cries of the dove, which the scripture attributes to
nation,
this fair Assyrian,

Bethlehem, Mary rested

beneath a turpentine-tree to give the breast to her divine Infant, and this tree,
according to the

plicable,

would so soon be apand that the mother of Joseph

common

belief,

had from

that time a hidden virtue which effected,

and Benjamin was the desolate type of mothers who would bewail, some days afterwards, upon the mountains of Judea,
their children massacred instead of Jesus
Christ.

during sixteen centuries, a multitude of wonderful cures. This, at least, is related

hy the Christians of Asia and the Turks, to whom this tree was still, two centuries
ago, an object of veneration pilgrimage.' After this halt, the

and a term
of which

of

leaving the valley of Rephaim, whose old oaks overshadowed the grassy tombs of the giants of the race of Enac,
the Virgin perceived a tree of a forbidding aspect, the sight of which afflicted her
heart.
It

On

memory

is

preserved, the holy spouses arrived at the tomb of Rachel,* where every Hebrew was

was a barren

olive-tree,

which

bound mulus

to pray as

he passed.
times,

This

tu-

spread its pale foliage to the breezes of the night, and the mournful noise of

of

primitive

which

was

which resembled the moaning of some

(1) This tree, nnder which Mary rested to give Jesus the breast, was destroyed during the century before the last, but the memory of the place where
it

The Protestants have declaimed strongly against the Tahnudists on account of this passage, which favours the intercession of the Virgin and of the
saints.

preserved. (2) According to the Jewish doctors, Jacob buried his beloved wife on the road to Bethlehem,

was

is still

This tomb of Bachel was in such venera-

only because his prophetic knowledge led him to discover that a portion of, his descendants would follow this road as captives of the Assyrians, and

all the Jews who passed by it made it a duty to engrave their names on one of religious the stones these enormous stones were twelve in

tion, that

number.

(Talni.
;

tears of Rachel,

know that the Jer.) of by Jereniias, were only a spoken

de

We

because he wished that Rachel might intercede for

then) to Jehovah, as they passed before her tomb.

figure uf the tears slied

by the Jewish

the massacre of the Innocents.

women

after

(St. Matt. xi. 17, 18.)

MOTHEE OF GOD.
liuman being.

117
before

As she passed under

its

hast

prepared
:

the

face

of

all

melancholy branches, which no bird of heaven enlivened with its song, Mary felt
that sensation of poisonous cold diffused by the fatal shade of the manchineel-tree.

people

a light to the revelation of the

Gentiles,
Israel."

As

and the glory of thy people he finished these words,

This

tree, if the local tradition

was not

Simeon solemnly blessed the holy pair; and then addressing himself to Mary,
after

mistaken, was the "infamous" wood on which Christ was nailed.*

a mournful and
this child,

added that

born

grave silence, he for the ruin

in Israel,

At the very moment when Joseph and

and resurrection of many

would

Mary made

way into the second enclosure, with the sides of silver for the
their

be a sign of contradiction to men, and that sorrow should pierce the soul of his

ransom and the doves

for sacrifice, a holy

mother

like the sharp point of a sword.

old man, named Simeon,^ to whom it had been divinely revealed that he should not die
till

By this unexpected light, which shed a sombre gleam over the great destiny of
ignominies, the sufierings, and agonies of the cross, were disclosed at once to the Blessed Virgin. The inChrist,

he had seen Christ the Lord,

the

came

into the portico by inspiration of At the sight of the the Spirit of God. Holy Family, the eye of the just man became inspired; discovering the King-

auspicious words of Simeon, like a stormy

Messias beneath

the

poor

swaddling-

clothes of the people,

he took him from

made her bend down her head, and her heart was painfully oppressed.^ But Mary knew how to accept, without comwind,
plaint
to

the arms of his mother, lifted

him up

to

and without murmur,

all

that
lips

came
were

his face, and began to contemplate him with emotion, while tears of joy rolled

her from

God

her pale

down

his

venerable

cheeks.

*'

Now,"

placed upon this chalice of wormwood and gall ; she drained it even to the
dregs, and then said, sweetly, as she " dried up her tears, Lord, thy will be

cried out the pious old man, raising up " now thou his streaming eyes to heaven, dost dismiss thy servant, Lord, accord-

done

"
!

At

ing to thy word, in peace ; because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou

Abraham

the daughter of was exalted above the head and

that
;

moment

father of- her people

she too sacrificed

the distance of half a league from Jerufound the monastery of the Holy Cross. In the church of this monastery is shown the place where stood the barren olive-tree, which the men of
(1)

At
ia

salem

(he who verifies), because he bore witness to the coming of the true Messias, in the person of Jesus, the son of Mary, whom all JIussulmans are obliged
to receive as such.
t. iii.

(D'Herb., Biblioth. Orientale,

Jerusalem used to make the cross of our Lord. The place where the trunk of the olive-tree was is now occupied by a marble stone, which is at the bottom of a small niche beneath the high altar,

p. 266.)

sovereign," says St. Anselm on cannot believe that you could have lived a moment with such sorrow, had not God
(3)

"

Mary,
"

my

this subject,

where a lamp burns perpetually. (2) The Arabs give Simeon the

streugtliened you,
title

who

gives

life."

of

Siddik

118

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

her son upon the altar of the Lord ; but she had the sad assurance that the sacrifice

him

into the court of the first-horn, asking

would be accepted,
still

and

himself at the same

time whether the

slie

was a

mother!

scenes which had taken place at the entrance of Jesus into the holy house would

She was

pondering in her mind

be renewed in the compartment of the

these deep thoughts,

when a prophetess
the daughter of

Hebrew

priests.

But nothing discovered

in this privileged part of

came

in,

named Anna,

the infant

God

Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, who was far advanced in years. This holy widow departed not from the temple, by fastings

the temple ; everything there remained sad and frozen beneath the rising ray of A priest unthe young Sun of justice.

and prayers serving God night and day. At the sight of the divine Infant, she began to praise the Lord aloud, and to
speak of him to those

known to Joseph received in a desultory manner from the rough hands of the man
of the people, whom he regarded as the * " the timid offscouring of the world," birds ordained by the law, and did not

who looked

for the

redemption of " Not

Israel.

only," says St. Ambrose on this " does the generation of the Lord subject, receive testimony from angels, and pro-

even deign to honour Christ with a single look. The love of gold that shameful

idolatry,

which hides

its

unacknowledged
it

from the phets, and shepherds, but also aged and the just. Every age, and both sexes, and the miracles of events attest A Virgin brings forth, one that was it.
barren

worship in the shade, as long as

retains

enough shame

to blush,

had changed
egotistical,

into

hard stone the narrow,

and

becomes

mother, the

dumb

malignant heart* of the princes of the synagogue. Leaving the monopoly of

labour and privations to the simple Le-

speaks, Elizabeth prophecies, the Magian adores, he who is shut up in the womb
leaps for joy, the

widow proclaims, the

they reduced to live upon herbs and dried figs,^ they passed by the
vites,

whom

just expects." As the farthest court of the temple was forbidden to Mary, and as the infant,

poor

stretched upon their marble and the traveller wounded in threshold, the mountain pathway, turning their

man

on account

of his sex,

was to be offered

there to the Lord, Joseph himself carried

heads away with indifference in reality And they loved neither God nor men.
:

(1) Prideaux, History of the Jews. (2) The Jewish doctors had then, and still have, a maxim which fills us with horror : they hold that

granaries, and appropriate them to themselves, wliich left the inferior priests to die of hunger. At the least remonstrance, the miserable Levites

he

does not nourish his hatred, and avenge himself, is unworthy of the name of rabbin.
(Basn.,
(3) of
liy. vi. c.

who

were accused of revolt and insubordination, and

delivered

up

to the

Romans

the governor Felix

17.)

The luxury and

Jerusalem were incredible.

avarice of the chief priests The pontifl's sent

alone cast forty of them into prison, out of complaisance to the doctors and princes of the syna-

gogue.

(Josephus, Vita.)

people into the country to take the tithes in the

MOTHER OF
with this docs our Lord,

GOD.

119

who himself

instituted a priesthood exclusively of charity,

the approach of rain by the clouds which gathered in the west ; they knew well

reproach them, with holy and piercing irony, in the parable of the Samaritan.
Therefore, as Malachy had announced, " God cursed their benedictions," and

how

to foresee heat,

when the south wind

blew; but these men, so skilful in drawing presages from the different aspects of
the sky, did not see " that the fig-tree of

turned away his face from their temple, which he was soon to deliver up to the

Solomon was about to put forth its figs," and the child of the people did not lead

'

sword and

fire

of the

Romans.

them

The presence

of the Messias,

who

in-

how

flamed the heart of the disciples at Emmaus, even before they had recognised
their Master in the breaking of bread,

poverty, excellent a disguise art thou, even for the divine nature The true Christ
I

to

presage the God.

was in the midst of his own

but he was

beamed upon the

snows
of Ararat.

soul of the Aaronites,

poor, and his own received him not : therefore have they remained without a

as the ray of spring glistens

on the eternal

Saviour;

for

no Melcch-Hamaschiak has
their

That solemn moment,

come

to

justify

incredulous con-

which

suspended the sacred concerts round the throne of God, and fixed the eyes of the heavenly host on a single
point of the universe, that
the
first,

tempt for the divine Son of the Virgin, and they are on this account reduced
to

moment anwhen the glory of nounced by Aggeus,

second temple effaced that of the
passed unperceived before the darkened eyes of the priests and doctors.
of

"

with cold and despairing rage, Perish those who calculate the time of
say,
" *
!

the Messias

Meanwhile the infant God, who had recognised, as he passed through the
streets

of Jerusalem,

the

sites

of our

None
had

them recognised
"

"

the pure and

never sullied oblation

predicted.

which Malachy

redemption, counted his executioners in silence in this grave and glittering assem-

The

desired of nations,

He

whose way had been prepared by

among the choirs who sung to the harp hymns of praise to the Eternal,
blage
;

angels, the great

Redeemer

so long pro-

mised and expected, was

present, in his holy house,

there

bodily

Christ distinguished the arrogant and malevolent voices which could cry out
later on,

and no one
cry-

"

Crucify
of Aaron,

him

crucify
art

thought

to

welcome him with palms,

Race

where

him !" thou now?

ing out upon the battlements of the " Hotemple and the roofs of Jerusalem,

The avenging

breath of the Crucified has

sanna

to the

Son

of

David

"
1

they

knew

scattered thee like chaff in every part of the globe ; absorbed in those masses

well, says the gospel,

how to
65

prognosticate

which thou despisedst, the companions of

(I) St. Ltic,

V.

c.

12, V.

et

66, et

c.

xxii.

(2) Basn.,

liv. vi. c.

26.

Talmud., 349.

29, 30.

120

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGUr,

1

But at thy exile no longer know thee that time, little troubled about that future
which

mounted the

gentle ascent of the altar of

holocausts, and offered to the

Lord

this

was lowering over their heads, the

priests offered to the

poor and simple

"

sacrifice.

Hebrew

God who

rejected tliem the chosen Tictims of the One great and of the common people.

they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord,'" " says St. Luke, they returned into Gaafter
lilee, to

And

of

them took the doves from Joseph,

their

own

city,

Nazareth."

'

CHAPTER

XIV.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

Scarcely had they returned into Lower Galilee, when Joseph and Mary had to
depart again for a long and perilous journey, the end of which was the land of One night, " an angel of the Lord exile.

her son

full

of anguish

hastily gets to-

gether some provisions, some swaddling clothes, some garments which they need

appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying, Arise, and take the Child and his Mother, and fly into Egypt ; and be there until I shall
tell thee.

and then, preceded by and carrying Jesus in her arms, Joseph, she departs from her native city, where
in
their flight
;

all

reposes in the brightness of the stars

of night.

For

it

will

come

to pass that

The
been

prophecies of Simeon had soon

Herod will seek the Child to destroy him." At these words, Joseph, affrighted, rises up, adores the Lord, and runs to awaken
Mary, who was sleeping the sweet and gentle sleep of angels by the cradle of her
infant.

Scarcely was he born, when the persecution of a tyrant came to seek Jesus in the cradle, and his mother,
verified.

so pure, so young, so holy,

fly

was forced

to

during the night, like a criminal, in

a

Tlie

young mother has quickly

company with

man

with grey hairs,

who

understood the necessity of this prompt

and stealthy departure.

She looks upon

St.

could oppose only patience and prayer to the spear of the Arab lying in ambush in
then shall we say?" says
St.

(1)
St.

We

have followed the opinion of

Luke,

St.

John Chrysostom, "that

in

John Chrysostom, and some other authorities, making the Holy Family leave for Nazareth
Purification.
St.

with

is the only way to says nothing of the marvellous events of the Presentation in the temple

after the

reconcile

Matthew

who

This

the time, describing that which preceded the descent into Egypt. For hedid not lead them thither before the Piiriiication, lest the

Luke

calls this

law should be
till

in any way infringed; but he waited the Purification should be accomplished, and they

St.

Luke, who

is silent

on the massacre of
"

should have returned to Nazareth, and then they were

to

the Innocenta and the flight into Egypt.

What

go down

into Egypt."

(Horn.

ix. in St.

Matt.)

MOTHER OP GOD.
the defiles of the mountains, or to the

121

thoughts brought up some horrid measure, the

murderous pursuit of the soldiers of Herod and one would have said that God
:

the blood in his veins.

part, pale

vague terror of which stagnated Mary, for her

himself abandoned this Holy Family to its fate; for, on intimating to Joseph the
order to depart, his messenger had not promised, as the angel Raphael formex'ly did to the young traveller to Rages, to
g'lard

and

silent as death, cast

about

her timid looks into the hollows of the

valleys, the

depths of the

forests, or the

long extent of the solitai^ windings of the rocky and difficult path, which Joseph

ney.

them from all evil during the jourThe spouse of the Virgin underChrist not being come, it was to preserve him from the
resulting from

had chosen

as the surest

and most and

se-

cluded from the habitations of men.

The
velvet
_,

stood that, the solemn time for the manifestation of

moon
beams
"
It

lighted

with

its

soft

this silent

march, enveloped by a
'

the will of
snares of

God

fine oriental night in its azure veil.

Herod by means

mere human prudence. On Joseph then devolved all the care and honour of this
difficult

undertaking,
the

on

the cold season," says " St. Bonaventure, and, in traversing Palestine, the Holy Family had to choose
still

was

him, a

man

of

the

common

devolved

people, poor and obscure, care of overturning the

the most rugged and desert tracks. Where shall they lodge during the nights ?

What

plans, escaping the plots,

and surprising

place shall they be able to choose during the day, to rest a little from the

the suspicious vigilance of a distrustful tyrant, artful, and served by his emissaries
as a despot in the East.

fatigue of tlie journey?

Where shall they take the frugal repast, to recruit their

strength?"* Tradition
is silent

What would

become of them, and what should they do if they had any fatal encoimter on the
road to Jerusalem ?
of the
of

as to a great part of

this afiecting

and perilous journey.

No

The abrupt

departure

Magi had alarmed the suspicions Herod, and these suspicions were

doubt, the holy travellers made long and painful marches across the mountains, taking advantage of the earliest hours of daylight, and often waiting, too, for the rising of the moon to proceed on their

strengthened by the words of

Anna and

Simeon
tell

secret inquiries, silent investi-

gations, already began,

and no one could where the sanguinary prince would

gold in profusion into the red hands of the murderer. The more
stop,

who dropped

they were passing through Galilee, the deep caverns which are sunk in it, caverns of unknown windway.

As

long

as

ings,

deeply Joseph pondered, the more his

(1)
still

easy to hide from all observation, afibrded them a place to stop

where

it

is

Towards

the middle of February,

a season

contrary, were already as hot as in

p. 58, note
1.)

summer.

(See

cold in the mountains of the interior, where the

temperature, according to M. de Volney, is nearly the same as our uwu. The plains of Syria, on the

(2) S. Bonav.,

De

Vito Christi.

122

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

:

and repose but these dens with hollow sides had their dangers too for numerous and predatory bands, who had long defied
;

hours of the night, when they saw some armed men issue forth from a dark ravine,

who stopped
to

their passage.

He who

ap-

the forces of the kingdom, and who were emboldened to reapnear by the sickall

be the chief of this troop of peared banditti came forward from the hostile

ness of Herod,' chose them by preference

for their places of security.

The

fear of

group to inspect the travellers. Joseph and Mary had stopped, and looked at each
Jesus was asleep. The robber, who had come to take blood and gold, looked with astonishment at this
other with alarm
:

penetrating unconsciously into one of these resorts of assassins must have made

Joseph hesitate more than once

sheltering caverns.

at the

openings
after a

of

these

isolated

old

man, unarmed, just

;

like a patriarch

of olden times

At length,

thousand inconve-

covered with a
to

niences of every kind, the Holy Family had reached the environs of Jerusalem.

so

young woman, who seemed anxious veil, hide her child from him in her heart, closely did she press him painfully to
"

at this

Here precautions and uneasiness were multiplied by reason of the imminence of danger; the fugitives no longer dared to come near towns, nor even populous villages, where numbers of spies and informers had their eye upon strangers;* they followed the bed of torrents, dived
into deserted roads, or the

her breast.

They
"
"

are poor," said the

robber to himself,
like fugitives
I

and

travel

by night,

He
;

too, perhaps,

had a
surthis

son in the cradle

perhaps the atmos-

meekness and mercy which rounded Jesus and Mary acted upon
phere of
ferocious soul his lance,
to
:

he lowered the point of

damp shade

of

woods, not daring to go far out of the way to renew their exhausted provisions, and
suffering
at

and holding out a friendly hand Joseph, he offered him a lodging for

once from

fear,

cold,

and

the night in his fortress, suspended upon the corner of a rock, like the nests of
birds of prey. This offer, honestly made, was accepted with holy confidence, and

hunger. They had passed by Anathoth, and were moving in the direction of

Ramla, to descend into the plains of Syria. Anxious to get out of a dangerous neighbourhood, they had borrowed some
These large armies, often two or three thou-

the roof of the robber afforded hospitality, on this occasion, as well as the tent of

the Arab.^

The next

day, towards noon,

(1)

Band strong, were commanded by experienced cliiefs, who gave Herod and the Romans full occupation.
a political aim, and made party war; others were only a mere collection of assassins, who

the East, covered the great roads with spies in every (Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. xv. c. 13.) part of Judea.

(3)

The

site

where the
still

local tradition has placed

fortress of

Some had

this scene,

and where the ruins of the

visible,

the banditti are

ill-famed.

Ciirried

those

whom

long daggers nnder their cloaks, and killed they wished to get rid of, even in the

During

continues to be very the crusades, the Franks, to

streets of Jerusalem.

(De

whom

this tradition

was

Bello, lib.

ii.

c. 5.)

banditti chief to a feudal lord.

(2) Ilerod,

who brought espionage to

perfection in

ever," says F.

It is rare, how" Nau, with amusing gravity, that a

familiar, "

had exalted the

MOTHER OP
the Holy Family stopped at the extremity
of a vast forest of palm-trees, nopals,

GOD.

123

If

we

rely

on the learned calculations

and

wild fig-trees, which extends at a short a carpet of everdistance from Ramla

'

of chronologists, who allow of no interval in this long journey, the holy pair must

lasting flowers, narcissuses, and anemonies received the Sovereign of heaven and

have found a caravan on the point of This is starting, on the coasts of Syria.
the more probable, as the vernal equinox

earth
plain,

the heats of

summer

ruled in the

was

at

hand, and every one would be

and the warbling of

birds, the per-

anxious to anticipate the season

the Simoom exercises
desert,
its

when

fume of plants, the tufted shade of figtrees, and the distant bubbling of a spring, acted as a charm on the sleep of
Christ.

and makes

its

empire over tho sea of sand as trea-

cherous as the waves themselves.*

Ex-

After a short rest, the

,

moments

of

which were counted the

travellers pro-

cepting the mortal apprehension of the enraged pursuit of Herod, the second part
of the journey of the

Their motive ceeded on their journey. for moving towards Bethlehem is un-

Holy Family did not

yield to the first in fatigue or sufiering,

known; mory of

tradition has preserved the

their

me-

passing by it, and the Christians have erected an altar in the

cave where

or even in danger. On quitting Gaza, the ruined towers of which resounded

Mary concealed her infant,' while Joseph went up to the town, either
to inquire for the departure of a caravan,

with the dying sound of the waves, the travellers beheld nothing before them but

immense

solitudes of sand, of a dreary

or to exchange the slow travelling beast, which had carried the Blessed Virgin, for

aspect and frightful barrenness, ploughed up by the hot wind of the desert, and

a camel. Whatever was the motive which

oppressed by a fiery sky. No vegetation, except a few thin patches of heath grow,

and Mary to the crater of the volcano, there is no doubt that they stayed
led Joseph

there but a few hours, and that they made haste to reach a maritime town of the
Philisthines,
to

ing here and there on the lonely plain; no water, except the brackish spring where the Virgin and Joseph, who were
weary, who were poor, and whom no one cared for, could not quench their thirst
till

join

the

first

caravan

going to Egypt.

after the rich

merchants, their slaves,

lord of note becomes

a highway robber."

The

(2) This cave

is

called the Grotto

of

the Virgin't

crusaders were better versed in history than F. Nau. To this history, which seems authentic, has been

milk, because it is supposed that some drops of milk of the Mother of God fell upon the rocic, while she

added an embellishment,
swer, asserting
tliat

for

which we cannot an-

suckled the infant Jesus.

"
(3)

the hospitable robber was the

The Arabs
:

call

the hot v/ind of the desert

good

thief in person.

simoom, or poison

spot fixed bj' tradition as one of the resting-places of tlie Holy Family is very charm(1) Tlie

ing

the ruins of a monastery are

still
t.

seen there.

the impression it makes may be compared to that received from the mouth of a large oven when the bread is drawn. Tliese winds prevail

most frequently during the

the equinoxes."

(Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem,

ii.)

comprise (Volney, Voyge en Syrie.)

fifty

days which

124

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

it,

and camels had exhausted

remained of
this poor
tlie

and there

muddy water harely

repeated in this dry and burning region, made travellers at a distance assume gi-

enough

to

fill

hollow of one's hand.

The

farther they

of Syria,

went from the frontiers the more did they feel thirst, and

Arab horsemen, cogantic proportions. vered with their flowing cloaks, striped

brown and white, and armed with the

djombie, a dagger with

the springs were more scarce. At times, at a distance, in the tliey discerned

which

all

a curved blade, the dwellers of the desert wear

ofi"

middle of a boundless plain, a large blue clear lake, like the lake of Genesareth;
the sky was reflected in its limpid waters, in which a solitary date-palm beheld its own image. A cry of joy hailed this discovery
;

in their girdles, appeared afar as towers, and seemed to be

as tall

the

air.

The

Jesus more

Virgin started, closely to her heart;

moving in and pressed

but

they urged on the speed of the

the placid countenance of Joseph calmed her fears, although she could not under-

camels, and

Mary

raised

her drooping

stand the

phenomenon which gave

rise to

head, like a rose of Jericho

tells rain.*

which

fore-

them.'

They were
;

close

upon

this

At the approach of evening, the song

of the camel-drivers ceased,* the leader of

blessed lake, and already slaking their

thirst in
fate
I

imagination

but, oh wretched

a mocking
in
its

demon
place

trarsported the

the caravan unfurled the flag which gives notice of the halt, and all the travellers

lake

some leagues
!

farther on,

and

left

assembled round

this signal of order.

An

nothing sand '

but

parched-up
is

animated scene soon followed

time.

this halting-

They unloaded the camels, who

Another

optical illusion,

which

often

were kneeling at the feet of their masters,

a phenomenon which struck me as very singular ; but which, in time, became familiar to me. An Arab mounted on a camel, whom I saw coming

(1) This rose, the cnp of which opens and shuts according to the variations of the atmosphere, is consulted as a barometer by the Arabs. (The Viscount Marcellus, in his Voyage en Orient, t.

ii.)

(2) This

is

the

phenomenon known by

the

name

of

Mirage. During the expedition which the French made in Egypt iu 1798, the soldiers, traversing the arid deserts of that burning country, parched with thirst, were often deceived by this
illusion. Every i)rominent object which offered itself to their eyes in the midst of these Beas of sand, appeared to them surrounded with

from a distance, appeared to me as tall as a tower, and seemed to move in the air; yet he was marching on the sand like ourselves. This optical ilhision proceeds from a stronger refraction of the atmosphere, in these arid regions loaded with vapours of a different nature from those which fill the air of tem-

cruel

(Voyage en Arable, t. i. p. 208.) perate countries." (4) It is an almost universal custom in the East
to enliven

water: thus a hillock, which they perceived at a distance, seemed to them to rise out of the midst of a lake. Dying with want, they ran towards it but,
;

by singing.

one another on the march, or at work, Mussulman pilgrim has given a

when they

their mistake

arrived at the place itself, they discovered the lake had fled, and a])peared yet :

very picturesque description of the nocturnal march of a caravan of Mecca, b^ the light of lanterns fixed upon the camels, and to the measured singing
of the camel-drivers.

farther off to their eager eyes.

(See de Fellens, du

The

camel-drivers
in
t.

Mirage, Art. C.) " I Aad occasion," says Niebuhr, " to remark (3)

selves

Syria
vi.)

(Voyage d'Abdoul Kerim.) themsing songs peculiar and Egypt. (Correspoudance

still

to

d'Orient,

i^^mH"

MOTHER OP GOD.
burdens were piled up pyramidally; they set up a row of round stakes, to which the beasts of burden were to be
tlieir

125
the

When
desert,

moon

diflfused

her white
noiseless

light over that shadowless

and

where the breezes of the solitude

tethered; the rich travellers pitched their tents, and the leader of the caravan

found not a blade of grass to raise a sigh, they struck their tents, and the painful

placed sentinels to give notice of the approach of the Bedouins, those pirates of
the desert,

march began

again, with

all

the incon-

who

were, and are

still,

robbers

veniences, sufferings, rienced tlie day before.

and

terrors

expe-

like Ismael,

and hospitable

like

Abraham.

At length, they arrived

at the extremity

Every merchant, of dates and milk, composed himself to sleep in his tent of mohair till the rising
of the moon.
travellers, in

after taking his repast

of this region of illusions

and

silence.

Egypt, that ancient nursery of every light

and every species of

itself to

idolatry,
its

presented
obelisks of
tops

and the poor which number were the Son

slaves

The

the travellers, with

its its

rose

granite,

temples with

of

of
sat

God, his divine Mother, and Joseph,

a rush

polished steel,'
villages

colossal pyramids, its

mat, spread upon the upon ground, without any roof but the sky, and felt the icy breeze of the night* upon
their limbs, languid with heat

resembling islands, and its providential river, bordered with reeds, and
covered with vessels.

This country ap-

and worn

out with fatigue.

cry of alarm
:

it

At times was heard a was the Arabs of the

peared richer, more populous, and more commercial than Judea; but it was the land of exile on the other side of the
!

desert, prowling about the slumbering caravan disconcerted by the vigilance of

;

desert

was

their

own country

The

hearts
there.

of the exiles of Israel

had remained

the guards of the camp, they announced their departure by a volley, of arrows, ac-

After a journey of a hundred and forty leagues,^ the fugitives reached Heliopolis,

companied by the groans of the wounded. Then the Virgin, who had made a rampart
with her body for her adored Son, raised up to heaven her eyes moist with tears,

where their nation had founded a colony. In that city arose the temple of Jehovah,
which Onias had built upon the plan of The ornaments of this the holy house.
Egyptian temple were almost equal
those of the other;
as
to

and her forehead pale with

well as

fear; she

knew

but too well that her Jesus was mortal as

the least of the children of

men

a sign of only, inferiority, a massive lamp of gold, sus-

(1) Although the daj's are scorching in the desert at this season, the nights are very cold. Vohi. ; Sav.) (

images of ships were reflected in

appeared
t.

it

in the horizon.

(Correspondance d'Orient,
c.

long before they

(2)
cipal

On the dome of the sanctuary of the printemple of Heliopolis was observed an immense

V.

Lettres de Savary.)

{?>)

See

Barad.,

t.

i.

8. The

author of the

mirror, of polished steel, which reflected the rays of the luminary of heaven. Tliere was a similar one

Voyages de Jesus Christ reckons only a hundred leagues, but perhaps he takes no' account of the
windings of the roads.

on the top of the lighthouse of Alexandria, and the

126

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIEGIIT,

pended from the ceiling, supplied the place of the tamous candlestick with seven

This cruel prince,

for the

after waiting in vain

Magi

in his palace at Jericho, his

At the gate of the population of which was in great measure composed of Egyptians and idolatrous Arabs, was a majestic tree, of
branches at Jerusalem.
tliis city,

favourite

residence,

learned

at

length

had repassed the frontiers of his kingdom, and that, without giving him an
that they

the mimosa species, to which the Arabs of the Yemen, established on the banks
of the Nile, paid a kind of worship.' At the approach of the Holy Family, the fetiche tree slowly bent down its shady

back

account of their mission, they were gone to the country of the Persians. Pale
already from

the slow fever which conthe King of the Jews became He was deceived

sumed him,
still

paler with wrath. at the very moment

when he was

de-

branches, as

if

to

oflfer

the salam to the

young Master of nature, whom Mary car" ried in her arms and, if we may believe
;

lighted at the thought of his unequalled cleverness in deceiving others deceived

the historian Palladius, at the moment when the divine travellers passed under the granite arches of the gate of Heliopolis,
all
fell

by these uncircumcised men, who, contrary to all expectation, had found out his
tortuous and wily policy If the Magi had not discovered the child to whom the
I

the idols of a neighbouring

star

temple

on their faces

to the ground.^

told

had conducted them, they would have him so on their return. They had

Joseph and Mary only passed through the City of the Sun, and repaired to Matarieh, a beautiful village shaded by sycamores, where tlie only fountain of sweet water in Egypt is found. There in a
dwelling like a bee-hive,

then discovered his secret retirement, and

in Bethlehem or its had not carried their environs, since they search any farther. How was this danthis

was somewhere

where the doves

gerous child now to be distinguished from common children ? There was but one

built their nests, the fugitive family re-

last

expedient

left,
:

one extreme measure

posed in peace, far away from Herod.

The Arabs, who had
of

to destroy

him

this

was

to include

him

in

(1)

gradually forgotten the

God
idols,

Abraham, adored at that time a number of each more monstrous than the other. " Tlie

which bends down its branches at the approach of man. Niebuhr, who is not suspected of credulity, found this tree in the Yemen, and the Arabs, who
give it the name of tree of hospitality, hold it in such veneration that it is not lawful to pluck a leaf

" was adored by the tribe date-tree," says Azraki, of Khozua, and the Beni-Thekif worshipped a

rock

a large tree named zat arouat was adored The Persians ecornfully by the Koreisch, &c." " the Arabs by the title of adorers of designated
;

from

it.

If this mimosa,
its

by a natural phenomenon,

bends down

much
at the

branches at the approach of man, more must it have had cause to lower them

stones."

(2)

We are
it

indebted to Sozomen for this event,

(3) Palladius

approach of the Son of God. is not the only one

;

who

relates this

which
age of

some courage to reproduce in this and which, after all, is hardly a mockery,
requires
It is certain that there exists in

the martyr Dorotheus, St. Anselm, St. Bonaventure, Lira, Dionysius the Carthusian, Tes-

miracle

miracle.

tree of the species of the sensitives

Arabia a and mimosas.

tatus, Ludol2)hus, Barradius, (&c., attest it in like

manner.

MOTHER OF GOD.
one general massacre. But the people At this thought the aged king mused for a moment; then a wild and scornful

127

spring where
infant's

Mary used to wash the hnen;^ the hill covered with

it

bushes, where she dried

in the sun

smile passed over his lips. dare nothing, said Herod

The people
to

himself,
!

the sycamore, in the shade of which she loved to sit with her Son upon her knees,*
there after the lapse of eighteen centuries. The pilgrims of Europe and
still

dare everything against " And sending, he killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in
all

kings who

are

Asia

the borders thereof, from two years old

to the time

knew the way to them, and the descendants of the nation of Pharaoh treat

and under, according

he had

which

them with honour.

tached, like the

To

every spot

some
is

diligently inquired

of the wise

original legend of the olden time

at-

men.
According to a number of grave authors,^ who have tradition and probability

moss on the dampw^all of

a religious ruin."

on

their side, the

in

seven years

Holy Family remained Egypt. There are still

:

At Nazareth, Mary had led an humble and laborious life, but at Heliopolis she
beheld misery in
necessary to find
in the

all its

aspects.

It

was

found traces of their dwelling there

the

means

of support,

(1) This gospel fact, which the school of Voltaire has called in question, is proved, not only by our sacred books, but also by the testimony of Jews and

Pagans. (Macrobius, Orig., Contra Celsum,

pp. 12, 14, 20.)

lib.

xi. c. 4,

De

Saturnal.

lib. xi. c.

58

Toldos Huldr.,

garden only a stump, whence, no doubt, came we saw. General Kleber, after the victory of Heliopolis, would visit as a pilgrim the tree of the Holy Family he had written his name on the bark of one of the branches this name
the tree which
;
:

(2) See Trombel, in Vit. Deip. ; Zachariam, in Diss, ad Hist. Eccl. ; Anselm Cantual ; Euseb. ;
;

has since disappeared, effaced either by time or by some envious hand." (Corresp. d'Or., t. vi.,

Iettre"l4l.)
(5) The following is one of those legends brought from the lands beyond the sea by one of our good old French barons, the Seigneur d'Englure; we give
it

St.

Thorn.
is

(3) Tin's fountain

still

called the

Fountain of
In the ear-

Mary ;
liest

an ancient tradition records that the Blessed

it.

Virgin bathed the Infant Jesus in

times of Ciiristianity, the faithful built a church in this place later on, the Mussulmans constructed
;

original good " Wiicn our Lady, thegrace of God, had passed Mother

with

all

the

of the

old time:

over the deserts, and

when she came

to this said

a mosque there, and the disciples of both creeds came to pray at tlie Fountain of Mary for the cure
of
tlieir maladies; the fountain is still there; the pilgrimages continue, but no vestiges remain either

place, she laid our Lord down upon the ground, and went about in search of water, but could find none ; so she returned full of sorrow to her dear infant,

of church or mosque.
d'Or.,
(4)
t.

(Savary,

t. i.

p.

122; Corresp.

vi. p. 3.)

far from the fountain, I was taken into an enclosure planted with trees a Mussulman who was our guide stopped us before a sycamore, and said to us. This is the tree of Jesus and Mary.
;

"

who lay stretched upon the sand, who had dug into the ground with his heels, so that there sprung up a fountain of very good and sweet water. So our
Lady
for
it,

Not

\\&a

very glad of

this,

and thanked our Lord

her dear infant
clothes of our

Vansleb, rector of Fontaineblean, informs us that the old sycamore fell down from old age in 1058. The Cordeliers of Cairo pionsly preserved in their
eacristy the last remains of this tree
;

Lord in the water of this fountain, and then spread them out on the ground to dry and from the water which ran off these little clothes, as it dried up, there grew from each drop a shrub, which ebrubs
little
;

and our Lady again, and washed the

laid

down

there remained

yield balsam,

fcc."

128
difficult

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

nobility shot to death with arrows,

thing out of one's own country, and among a people parcelled out in national

whom

he had imprisoned with

that people might

this intention, at his funeral

and hereditary corporations, who

weep

were hy no means fond of strangers. they were poor, observes St. Basil,

As
it

is

whether they would or not.* He was carried to his castle at Herodion in a golden
litter,

evident that they must have submitted to painful labour to procure the necessaries of
life.

Alas

stones.

covered with scarlet and precious His sons and his army followed

had they always even these ?

his bier with downcast looks, while the

"

Oftentimes," says Ludolph of Saxony, " did the child Jesus ask his mother for
bread,

people, having the happiness of deliverance before their eyes, cast upon him as

when she could

"
1

give

him nothing

many

maledictions as a cloud

showers

but her tears

Meanwhile, Herod had died of a horrible and nameless disease, after seeing himself devoured alive by the worms of
the tomb.

down drops of rain. Admonished in a dream, by the angel

of the Lord, of the death of the tyrant,

Joseph returned with Mary and the child

but hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the
into the

Dwelling

to his last breath

land of Israel

"

upon the joy that the people would feel at the news of his decease, he had with
tears requested his sister Salome, a wicked woman, to have the flower of the Jewish

room

of Herod, his father,

:

he was

afraid to

go thither

and being warned

in sleep,

he

turned aside into the quarters of Galilee."

CHAPTER

XV.

EETUBN FEOM EGYPT.

How
sorrowful
is exile
!

and how sweet

of his
his

birds

has no melodious notes

to breathe the

air

of our native land!

scenes are destitute of that sweet

the stranger, like that of the wicked, leaves grit in the mouth and bitterness in the heart ; his streams tell not
of the sports of our childhood
;

The bread of

and charming attraction possessed by the

scenes of our

own

countr}'

What must have been

the joy of the

the song

two holy spouses when they beheld again

" There is a feast on the 7th of Chisleu," " the Jewish calendar, on account of the death aays of Herod for he had hated the wise, and we rejoice
dead.
;

(1) Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. xvii. memory of Herod remained in such

c.

8.

The

execration

tlie princes of the people and the priests, that they instituted a feast, wliich was celebrated on the 25th of September, out of joy that he was

among

befure

tlie

world."

Lord when the wicked depart out of

t. i.

this

(Basu.,

liv. ii. c. 8.)

rOTlS sill.

ilalrpi^.

\*

ASS-iU)

TTJICIS

(D]eCK3UD)

]RlJfi-^"

NKW yORK

Vin TUK'ft. CO

MOTHEK OF GOD.
that land of Chanaan, whose grand boundaries, soft outhnes, universal harmony,

129
cold,

apartment was
wild

damp, and green

and variety of aspects contrasted so happily and so strikingly with the monotonous

pigeons made their nests in the mysterious and hallowed cell where the

Word was made

their

flesh

brambles shot up
in the small
fine, in

Here a population splendours of Egypt rustic and hardy, with a warlike turn, an
I

brown thorny garlands

;

court

everything,

in

that old

open address, a worship grave and pure there, slaves herded by castes, given to
;

plunder, mingling with their worship in-

dwelling, already gilded by ages, had assumed that ruinous and desolate appearance which fastens upon deserted edifices
as the seal of the master's absence.
It

famous

practices,

resources to

and exhausting their erect temples to the ox Apis,

1

the crocodile, and the sea-onion

One

was necessary to set about these urgent repairs; it was necessary to replace tools

must be profoundly religious, as Joseph and Mary were one must love one's country as the Hebrews loved theirs, to

and furniture either unfit

gether vanished
repay a
;

for use or alto-

perhaps they had to

enable
doubt,

understand the pious and sweet impressions which the two Galilean spouses felt
at the sight of the land of

sum borrowed in Egypt to them to return. Then it was, no

Jehovah and

that they sold the paternal fields till the Of all that Joseph and year of jubilee.

their beautiful city of Nazareth.

After so

long an absence, the Holy

Mary possessed before their long journey, they had nothing left but the ruined
house of Nazareth, the workshop of Joseph, and their own arms but Jesus was
;

Family

retui-ned to their

humble

li

earth,

amidst the congratulations, the astonish-

ment, the eager inquiries of their relations, who all vied with each other in
but desolation and entertaining them bitter reverses soon succeeded to all this
;

there.

Young

as

he was, Jesus took up

the axe, and followed his aged father into the villages, whei'e work was found for

deserted dwelling of the poor joy. the roof, family was scarcely habitable
:

The

them ;^ his work, proportioned to his age and strength, was never wanting to aid his mother. Easy circumstances had long
disappeared
;

decayed and fallen-in in places, was ornamented here and there with long grass, and had afforded free entrance into the
interior to the wintry blast

but by dint of privations,

working
sus,

late

and

early,

and good courage,

Je-

they provided for absolute necessity.

and the beat-

ing rains of the equinoxes;^ the lower

Mary, and Joseph gave themselves up to hard labour, and He who could

(1) Tlie time of rains, in Judea, is that of the equinoxes, anil especially of the autumnal equinox : it is also the season for storms, which are ncoompanied with violent showers, or hail. (Volney,

relates that Jesus Christ helped his father to make And Godescard, t. xiv. p. 436, and

yokes Vie de

ploughs. ' Sainte Vierge, says, very ancient author assures us, that in his time yokes were
la

Voyage en

Syrie.";

shown which our Saviour had made with

hands."

his

own

(2) St. Justin,

martyr (Dialog, cum Trypbone),

130

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

brated rabbin initiated Jesus in the mysteries of science and magic but setting
;

legions of angels never asked of God, for himself or those belonging to

command

him, anything hut daily hread.

aside the second part of the assertion,

The -interior life of this happy family, who have been surnamed the terrestrial Trinitij, has not come to the knowledge of

which

absurd, and taking the matter only from a mere human point of view, as the rationalists do, this is evidently false,
is

men

it is

the course of water lost

among

for

two reasons.

First,

Jesus was neither

to traditions
;

the grass; it is. the holy of holies, with its cloud of perfumes and its double veil.
Nevertheless, by studying minutely and examining one by one, and in all their
aspects, the facts of the gospel,

a zealot, nor a

man wedded

and we

see, all

through the gospel, that

of the narrowdistinctions,

he strongly disapproved minded views, captious

and

what we
and the

know
public

leads us to surmise to a certain

low subtilties of the doctors of the synagogue. Secondly, the rabbi Josue Perachia,

extent what
life

we do not know
upon

whom

of Jesus Christ casts certain

his hidden
life,

had

still

they assign him as preceptor, to be born, since he flourished a

brilliant lights

and

century

later.

will enthat of the Blessed Virgin. deavour to fill up this void with all that

We

place Jesus in the midst of the rabbins as a scholar, would be as illogical

as to attempt to support an oak by sur-

To

reserve,
cation,

and

all

which

that conscientious appliso grave a subject demands.

rounding
like
it is

it

with reeds.

He

did not teach

Jesus, in
treasures. of

whom

were hidden

all

the

them, says the evangelist,^ and this

easy to conceive, for he derived his
his teaching, from a natural point of view,

wisdom and knowledge,' had

;

no need of being taught by men

there-

wisdom from himself; and

still

fore every supposition to the contrary is

St. positively rejected by the Church. John also, in his gospel, informs us that

taking

it

the Jews in the time of Jesus Christ considered

learning,*

from a soul most elevated, most pure, and upright, and from a mind so vast and so uniformly sound, that

seems

to flow

him
to

as a

young man without

assuredly

it

had not been warped-

in the

and the astonishment of the

see

Nazareans
versed in

him

so

profoundly
sufl&ciently

disputes of the schools. Strauss admits that all the

wisdom and

sacred literature,

science of the time would not have been

able to form a man like Jesus Christ. " If," says he, "Jesus Christ had exhausted all the tuition of his time, it is no less

testifies that

they had no knowledge of

his having been, like St. Paul, educated " at the feet of a master." The Talmudists

and the Jewish authors of the Toldos

maintain, on the contrary, that a cele-

true that

none

of those elements sufficed,

even by a great deal, to cause a revolution

(1) S. Paul., Ep. ad Coloss. (2) S. Joan., c. vii. v. 15.

c.

ii.

v. 9.

(3) Matt.

vii.

29.

MOTHER OF GOD.

131
the

the world; and the leaven indispen-

be seen

mountains and extensive

sable for so great a work, could have been derived only from the depths of his own
soul.

woods of the land of Chanaan, he poured forth his soul before the Author of nature,
he was the envoy, the Son, and the equal. These communings, all alone
of

whom

His eloquence, like his morality, was It was not the emphatic exaghis own.
the majestic, gerations of the rabbins, nor contrasted diction striking, and violently
of the ancient prophets
;

with God, in the silence of the night, and the desert, and in silent thought, were

one of the habits of Jesus Christ; we find

it

was, as

he

himself said, a fountain of living water, reflecting in its course the birds of heaven,
the harvests and the flowers of the
fields.

many examples of them in the gospel. The model of men, the Woed incarnate,
would, no doubt, teach his followers to
separate the pure gold of prayer from the monstrous alloy of ostentation and hypocrisy

.... This
was
allied,

penetrated to

eloquence, perfectly simjile, the bottom of things, and

which the Pharisees of his time were

to

Each word was

without efi'ort, to great thoughts. a precious seed of virtue

accustomed

mix up with

it.

every instruction cast into the mysterious spaces of the future a long train of light,

Virgin, who was never importunate or exacting, made no sort of opposition to this retirement; she knew

The Blessed

which was
the world.

to

grow insensibly, and extend

that Jesus then

to the perfect

day of the regeneration of Even those who have auda-

sounded the depths of the immeasurable abyss which opened

beneath the feet of the

be the

human

race,

and

ciously denied his miracles, have not been ible to help acknowledging that his words
A'ere

that the redemption of the world

would

fruit of these silent meditations.

those of a God.'

Jesus was endowed with a soul proiound and meditative, which needed an

Respecting the labours of that mighty mind which redoubled upon itself, and
looking to the future glory which every moment brought nearer and nearer, Mary
already saw the heavens opened, death vanquished, and the Messias rallying all

manual labour, which absorbed all his time, he made up at night for his obscure fatigue, and became again lawgiver and prophet in preto

ample space in which Confined during the day

to

extend

itself.

nations beneath his standard

But
dark

on a sudden the prophecy of the aged

sence of the starry heaven.

Standing

man

in the

temple presented

itself,

upon an elevated platform, whence could

" I own to you that the majesty of the Scrip(1) tures astonishea me," says Rousseau " the sanctity
;

as a funeral bier, at the

relates could be himself but a

end of
man
?

this en-

Is that the
?

tone of an enthusiast, or of an ambitious sectarian

of the gospel speaks to my heart. Look at the books of the philosophers, with all their pomp, how

What meekness what

!

affecting

purity in his manners gracefulness in his instractions

small they are by the side of this Can it be that a book at once so sublime and simple could be the
!

sublimity in his
his discourses
.

maxims
. .

."

(Emile,

what what what profound wisdom in

I

t. iii.

p.

3G5.)

work

of

men ?

Can

it

be that he whose history

it

183
chanted
a

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

jDerspective

cold

ciiill

ran

Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover.

througli the veins of the poor mother, and her heart, in which the love of Jesus

This journey, which they had performed

stealthily,

and

lost in the crowd, as

long

had

so large a share, melted in infinite

as the son of the

enemy

of

God had

(jccu-

agony. " There

secret voice cried out to her,

!

must be an expiation of blood " Then, humbly laying down the work to which she was conChrist must die
!

pied the throne of the Macchabees, had become easier since the exile of Archelaus, and the occupation of the country by the

Romans.
twelfth

When
year,

Christ had reached his

parents,
freed

demned by her indigence,' the daughter of David came to look after her Son she wanted to see him, to make sure, in a
;

his

from

him with them

apprehension on account of Herod, took to Jerusalem. They departed in a body from Nazareth; and then, as they travelled along, the Hebrew
pilgrims divided
into small

that he was
When
the stars
;

maternal embrace, that he was

still

still

there,

alive

he saw her, Jesus cast down his pensive eye, which had been fixed upon
his youthful

companies,
relation-

according to age, sex,

and family

forehead,

con-

tracted by a thought as vast as the world,

ship or intimacy. Around the Virgin were

Mary
;

of Cleo-

became again the smooth and shining

forehead of the child.

phas,

sister-in-law of Josepli

another

Then Mary,

shut-

Mary, designated in the gospel by the

ting up advised repose after the long watch. It was necessary to recruit his strength for the walk would be the following day
;

in her heart her sinister fears,

name

Salome, the wife of Zebedee, who came from Bethsaida with her sons and her husband ; Joanna,
of altera
;

Maria

the wife of Chus, and a

number

of

Naza-

fatiguing

and the labour painful

of

The Son
mother
was

God

followed

his

mortal

renes of her family connexions and neighbourhood. Joseph followed them at some
distance, conversing gravely with

in silence, for

he loved her, and

Zebedee

subject to her.

the fisherman, and the ancients of his

An

exti'aordinary incident,

which over-

tribe.

Jesus walked amidst some young

powered the soul of the Blessed Virgin,

marked the entrance

state of adolescence.

of Jesus into the

Joseph and Mary,

of the law of their
to

the gospel, according to the genius of the Hebrew tongue, has called his brethren, and who were his
Galileans,

whom

religious
fathers,

observers

near

relatives.'

went up regularly every year

Among

this

group of young men,

who

(1) Tertullian says, in the third century, that Mary earned her livelihood by working; and Celsus, in the second century, said tliat

separate from the women, and that St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin were in different companies,
at first at the disappearance of Jesus,

Mary was

woman

who had

by the work of her hands. (2) St. Epiphanius and St. Bernard inform us that in these journeys, the men went in companies
lived

which was the reason why they did not feel uneasy and did not
perceive
it till

the evening,

assembled together.

(See

when

all

the travellers

also Aelred, abbot

of

MOTHER OF GOD.
went before the
rest,
:

183

were distinguished

the sons of Zebedee

James, impetuous as the lake of Tiberias on a stormy day

;

son of the humble Mary as their inferior in every way a thing whicli they had a

difficulty in

shaking

oflf

afterwards, as

we

John, younger even than Jesus, whose

sweei countenance, by the side of that of
his brother,

see in the gospel.'

And what

of Jesus ?

seemed

to personify the

lamb

Jesus pretended to nothing, neither to devotion, nor austerity, nor wisdom, nor

Jordan.
saida,

of Isaias, living in peace with the lion of Next to the fishermen of Beth-

knowledge,
usually affect

because

plenitude of all these things,

he possessed the and people

not.

whom

Jesus named later on Boa-

what they have

nerges (sons of thunder),

were the four sons

of

To have seen him, simply

attired as

an

of Alpheus; James,

who was Bishop

Essenian, his long hair, of the colour of

antique bronze,^ parted over his dark forehead, and gracefully flowing over his
shoulders, one wojakl have taken

Jerusalem, an austere and grave youth, with long flowing hair, a pale face, and a

Proud of cold and mortified appearance. being devoted as a Nazarene, he gave

himself airs of offensive superiority over him whom he then considered the son of
the carpenter. The virtues and imperfections inherent in the soil were seen in
his character; an

him

for

David, at the
in

moment when

the prophet
timid,

Samuel saw him come,

the dress
receive the

little,

and

of a simple shepherd, to

however,

clinations upright

unshaken firmness, inand religious but at

;

eye of Christ,^ something more than in the eye

soft
it

holy unction. the brown, in

There was,

of his great ancestor, full as

;

was of

the same time a strong contempt for all that hafl not sprung from Abraham, and

poetry and inspiration something penetrating and divine was discovered in it,

an excellent opinion of himself. Jude, Simon, and Jose, the other sons of Alpheus, were youths of rough, simple, and
warlike
arrived
at

thought and sounded the depths of the heart but Jesus veiled at that time the brilliancy of his look, as

which

laid bare the

appearance,

already

Moses did
forth

his radiant

brow when he came

adolescence, and

who looked upon

the

from the tabernacle.

He
is

walked

Rieval, Serm. seu Tractatus Je Jesu duodeni,

intra oct. Epiph.)
(1) (2)
S.

Dom.

trait of

our Lord, traced after tradition,

the most

authentic which has

come down

to us.

The Rev.

The

Joan. Chrysost., Serm. 44. rabbins liave taken occasion from the

colour of the hair of Jesus, to give way to malicious declamations against him; but what is extraordinary is, that they utter against him precisely the same
" He was reproaches as they do against David. Esan ; he had his blood upon his head ; the red like

Mr. Walsh, the author of quite a recent book, devoted to rare or unpublished monuments of the first age of Christianity, has just called our attention to
a very curious medal,

known

as early as the fifth

century. Lord, seen in profile the hair is parted after tiie manner of the Nazarites, smooth as far as the ears,
;

The

obverse represents the head of our

Bonl of Esau

had passed

into him."

They have

forgotten nothing but the evil eye with which they favoured the prophet king.
(3) Niceph., Hist. Eccl.,
t. i.

and flowing over the shoulders ; the beard thick, not long, but forked the countenance handsome, as well as the bust, over which the tunic falls in
;

p. 125.

His per-

graceful folds.

134

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

never preached but from their own
inti-

along, conversing sensibly, but suiting his conversation to his age, with his

mate conviction.
all

These

upright
credible

and and

young

relatives according to

the

flesh,

guileless hearts gave to their testimony

whom he

intended to

make
their

his apostles;

that

could

render
;

it

he discerned beneath
the weight

rude exterior,

sacred

among men

they

abandoned

and value of these rough diamonds, who were one day to shine with so great brilliancy, and he loved
in their future career.

everything,

suffered everything, forgave

everything, and sealed with their blood the gospel of their divine Master.'

His expectations were not disappointed; these men, who, like the rest of their nation, had

them

But
ing,

which we are speakthese heroic virtues were not even

at the time of

yet expanded, and these youthful Gali-

had

their

dreams of gold and power

in

leans

little

thought that they should one

in

connexion with the Messias, at his voice cast oflf all their prejudices, both national

day give
divinity

their lives

support of the

of their

travelling

companion.

and

religious, to

niated,

adopt a doctrine calumthe principles and promises of

At the end

of four days' journey, the pil-

which, like the maledictions of the old law, spoke of nothing but sufferings to be

grims reached the Holy City, whither an immense concourse of foreign Jews
flocked together.'*

endured, and persecutions to be underThey bound themselves to him gone.

family of Joseph and Mary assembled to eat the paschal lamb, which the priests had the charge of

The

by chains so strong, that neither the princes of the earth, nor cold, nor nakedness, nor famine, nor the sword,
;

immolating between the two vesper hours,'

in the court of the temple
;

to this they

could

separate them from his love in his footsteps, trampling courageously on the thorns which the world strevyisd in

they walked

added unleavened bread, wild lettuces, and whatever appertained to this ancient
ceremony.

The days

of the feast being

over, the relations of Christ

assembled to

their path,

and suffering themselves

to

be

treated like the refuse of the

human

race.

return to their province. As they returned in the same order in which they had come,
the holy couple did not at
first

They were not ashamed, either of the Son of man, or of his gospel, or of the foolishness of the cross
is for
!

perceive

Why

should they

It

that Jesus was missing. Mary thought he was with Joseph, or with the two

impostors to blush, and the apostles

named James;

Joseph, for

his

part.

(1) Pascal has said,

histories,

whose

" I willingly believe these witnesses expose themselves to

nation was not so contemptible as he believed it to At the be, liad the people numbered by priests.

death."
(2) at Jerusalem as

The

feast of the,

many

thousand

persons.

(De

Passover collected together as two million five hundred

Bello,
lib. vii.
c.

17.)

Cestus, wauting to persuade

Nero that the Jewish

Pasch, there were slain two hundred and fifty-six thousand six hundred lambs there was a lamb for each family. till sunset. (3) That is, from noon or one o'clock
feast of the
;

(Basn.,

t.

v. liv. vii. c. 2.)

MOTHER OF
thought he was with his young relaIn the evening, the tions, or with Mary.
several companies assembled together, and the Blessed Virgin sought, but in vain,
for Jesus in the

GOD.

135

they gathered round him, and every one was in admiration at his precocious and

miraculous wisdom.

"

It is either

Daniel

crowd of

travellers

who
;

arrived in succession at the caravansary

or an angel," they said, at a little distance " from the afflicted Virgin. " It is Jesus said the young mother, pressing forward
!

no one knew what had become

Saviour.

of our

towai'ds the place

where the doctors were.

to

The

grief

of

the two
"

holy

Then, coming up
in a

theMessias with the

The deposit spouses was inexpressible. of heaven, the Son of Godl" muttered
said My son Joseph, sorrowfully. the poor young mother, with a voice
!

expression of extreme tenderness,

which

manner extinguished the

"
:

last reflex

"

"

of sorrow "

why

son," she said, sweetly, hast thou done so to us ? Behold,

My

drowned with
all

night,

They sought him they sought him all day, calling

tears.

thy father and I have sought thee sor-

rowing!"

after

him along the

in

road, calling out his

The

child was effaced before the

God

name

the woods, looking

anxiously

precipices, sometimes fearing for his life, sometimes for his liberty, and

down the

the answer " How is

it

was

dry

and

mysterious.

that you sought

"
?

me ?

Did

you not know that I must be about

Father's business

my

not knowing what they should do

if

he

The

holy couple

was

lost.

They

re-entered Jerusalem, ran

kept silence
Messias.

to all their friends,

and weary with going

city,

they did not at first understand the meaning of the answer of the
;

about the quarters of that great

at last

they

made

their

way

into the temple.

Underneath the

portico,

where the doctors

Jesus rose up and followed them to Nazareth; his perfect submission to their will
speedily effaced this slight cloud.
his

of the law were, was a child,

who

"

delighted

And

the ancients of Israel by the depth of his understanding, and the clearness of his

mother kept

all

these words in her

heart.

And Jesus

increased in wisdom

answers to the most

difficult

questions

and age, and grace with

God and man."

CHAPTER
"

XVI.

MAEY AT THE PEEACHING OF JESUS.

Theue

are two worlds in our history,"

"

fallen into decrepitude at the

time of the

as one of the

has

finest geniuses of our age the one beyond the cross, the said, other before it." The primitive world,

regenerating mission of Jesus Christ, presented a strange spectacle, for the burlesque lent a

hand there

to the horrible.

136

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED VIKGIN,

the Gaul,
after

The Arab and

having

more than other

countries,
;

retained for ages the primitive idea of the unity of God, adored the acacia and the

with frightful rapidity

oak

made a divinity of the Ganges, and sacrificed human victims to

;

'

the Hindoo

longer rested on but on an innumerable

grew depraved her religion no fundamental dogmas,

multitude of

parasitical superf(Eta1ions,and the reveries

Sactis, the

goddess of death
all

"^

the Egyp-

of her rabbins were enthroned on the chair of Moses.*

tian, that wisest of

people, paid devout

worship every bulbous-rooted

to garlic, to the lotus,

and almost
the

In the midst of these deplorable aberrations,

plant
of

;^

un-

what became of proud reason,

known

populations
tiger,

young America
vulture,

that queen of intelligences,

who

takes her

adored the

the
;

storms,

own narrow horizon

for the boundaries of

and roaring cataracts * in fine, the Greeks and Romans, by their own acknowledgment,
filled their

the universe, and places the gods upon the bed of Procrustes ? Where did she hold

temples with demons,"

and these nations, so refined, so polished, who abounded in men of superior genius,

her empire ? Where had she planted her standard, while on every side breaches

were made in her bulwarks

If

she

had

deified vice in its

most hideous shades,

and peopled their Olympus with robbers, Morals coradulterers, and murderers.
responded with creeds; corruption, rushing down like a vast torrent from the
heights of the seven imperial hills, inundated all the provinces. Judea, which had not escaped the contagion of vice any

could without foreign aid reconquer the territory which she had lost, why did she
not do so
torrent

But she felt that the would overflow her weak embank?
.

...

ments, and unable to restrain

content to observe
its

it,

she was

ravages.

Supported

by philosophy, she groaned over the inanimate remains of the social body whose

(1) The Pagan Gauls of the sixth and seventh centuries made goJs of oak-trees they burned
;

torches before these trees, and invoked them as if they could hear ; the enormous stones which were

by men the}' must be appeased, lest they should do us mischief. Some, who are lively and joyous, allow themselves to be propitiated by shows
selves adored
:

and games
(6) It
is

the
fat,

near these trees participated in the honour which was paid to them. (Hist ec61esiastiqiie de Bretagne,

the odour of

gloomy temper of others requires and feeds on bloody sacrifices."

the

maxim among

Jews

tliat

the

t. iv., tic.

seventh century; Capitul. Caroli Magni,

lib.

i.

64.) (2) See Picture of India, by (3) The sarcasm of Juvenal

covenant was made with them on Mount Sinai, not on the footing of the written law, but on that of the
oral law.

Buckingham.
is

well

known

"
:

They annul
all

the former to enthrone th

religion finally to tradition.

latter,

and reduce

mina."

sanctas gentes, quibus hiec nascuntur in bortis (Sat. xv. v. 10.)

Nu-

This corruption had risen to such a height among the Jews, even in the time of our Lord, that he
reproaches them, in
the
St.

(4) Garcilasso,

1. i.

c.

2 et 12.

(5) Prophyrins, who so well knew the foundaftons of polytheism, acknowledges that the demons
v.ere the objects of worship among the Gentiles. " There are," says he, " spirits impure, deceitful, malevolent, who would pass for gods, and get them-

word

of

God by

their traditions.
;

Mark, with having destroyed But it is much

to water,

worse in these days they compare tlie sacred text and the Misnah, or Talmud, to the best
;

wine

Talmud

moreover, the written law is pepper, cinnamon, &c.

is

salt,

but the

MOTHER OP GOD.
fall

137

she had been unable to prevent: Christianity supervened, who said to the
"

moves on in commotion, like a wintry torrent, that it is the most happy it is

;

corpse,

Arise and walk

to

And
of

it

when

it

resembles the course of that

was done according

her word.
all

From
its evils,

that day a

new race, healed

all its

washed from

defilements

water which meanders in a silvery thread among the grass of the meadows. Mary, deprived indeed of all the enjoyments of
luxury, and
all

in the sacred piscina, assembled round the cross which the Son of Mary had

the sweets of ease, but

living with her

Son, working for him,

planted on the regenerated earth, as the trophy of God over hell.

studying his inclinations, seeing him at all times, offering herself to him as the
first fruits

This glorious revolution, which set charity on the throne, and placed all the
virtues in her train, this ever-memorable

of his sacred harvest

first,

making

herself the

the most humble, the

event, which changed the face of the world, and the echo of which will make itself

had

heard even

to the

consummation
for
its

of ages,

Nazareth

starting-point;
"

from the hollow of that nameless rock

flowed

humble

Christianity,

an obscure

disciples, and bowing down her matured reason before the superior reason and divinity of her Son, Mary must then have been a happy Mother If, at those times when Jesus revealed to her the most profound sense of the prophecies, he met with some passage which
I

most docile of his

spring, a drop of water unnoticed, where

two sparrows could not have slaked their thirst, which one ray of the sun might
have dried up, and which at this day, as the great ocean of minds, has filled up
every abyss of

spoke of sufierings to be undergone, a dark cloud spread over the chaste brow
of the Virgin
;

but soon her sweet and

gracious countenance recovered a little The storm murmured as yet at serenity.

human wisdom, and bathed

'

a distance, and their bark was moored in

a tranquil bay. Her son was there she hung upon his looks, his words, and his
I

with

its

never-failing waters the past, the

present, and the future." know nothing of the

We

means which

smallest actions.
serve
sit

prepared this great fact,

which holds so

him

her Son

How
I

how

eager was she to happily did she

high dominion over the history of modern From the time of his manifestatimes.
tion in the temple, the
life

up whole nights

to spin

and

to

weave

his tunics

Son

of

God

led a

hidden and contemplative, between his adoptive father and his mother. This
period, lost to

for labour, his holiday garthat seamless coat, a masterpiece ments, of ingenuity and patience, which later on but at this time the " Lord had
1

the world, was doubtless

anointed his Christ with an

oil

of glad-

that in which the Virgin passed her most

tranquil days.
It is

not

when human

life

(1)

M. de

Laniartine,

Voy. en Orient.

ness only." A companion of the spouse, " left the wise Virgin of the gospel, " and the morrow to provide for itself," the peace of God, which surpasseth all

138

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED VIKGIN,

of her age, so

understanding, kept her heart and her mind.

and
in

sacrifices.

many privations, labours, He, who will talie account

Jesus was perfection

itself,

the omnis-

cient, tlirice holy, surpassing all in

and wisdom

as

power he could be inGod,

his

heaven of a cup of cold water given in name, must have affectionately pre-

served the

memory
;

of the obligations

ho

debted for nothing to creatures, but as

was under

man he owed something to Mary.

was who
initiated

She

it

him, from his

earliest

to Mary and if we perceive in the gospel, that he sometimes spoke to his divine Mother less like her son than her
it

infancy, in the

humbln

virtues inherent

Lord,

was because

at those times that

in humanity, and in her own simple and That patient and unalpoetic tastes. terable meekness which he knew how to

he divested himself of his earthly appendages, the

more

to

glorify

his Father,

whose

interests always held the foremost

unite with the

firmness of a legislator and a prophet; that merciful compassion which tempered the indignation of an

place in his view.

The Virgin knew

too

well the sacred mission of her Son, to be

irritated God, and rendered him. Himself, the model man, the accomplished just one, the support of sinful man; that tenderness which was all good, all unaffected towards children, whom he loved to caress and bless during his divine mis-

uneasy at his words, which were sometimes severe; she waited for the legislator
to give place to the

young Galilean she had fed with her milk, and the
nature

whom
trans-

formation was never slow in coming; the

human

soon granted what the

refused.

divine nature

had

sion; a thousand imperceptible shades, a thousand reflexes, half-absorbed in the

large masses of light, which

At the time when Jesus had attained

his twenty-ninth year, the angel of death

composed the

mortal

life

of Jesus Christ, bear the im-

press of Mary.*

Thus does heaven readily

of
flowers,

Holy Family. Joseph, that patriarch of ancient manners, whose submissive faith and simplicity

came

to

'decimate

the

accept

the

aroma

though

of heart recalled the

remembrance

flowers are the daughters of earth. It cannot be doubted that Jesus re-

of

Abraham and the

era of his tent,

turned the Virgin tenderness

ness,

for tender-

Joseph, whom the Holy Ghost himself has adorned with the beautiful name of
"just," sweetly fell asleep in the bosom of the Lord, between his adopted Son

and

solicitude

for

solicitude;

woman
certain

so noble in blood

claims

upon

all,

and heart had and above all

upon

a Son, for the love of

whom

she had

and his chaste spouse. Jesus and Mary wept over him, and made a mournful
vigil of

imposed upon

herself, in the spring-time

the dead over his cold remains

(1)

Nel

vestire

il

Verbo d'umana came non

gli

solo

non possedesse

diede ella (la Vergine) punto, o di potenza, o di

santit^ o di giustizia che egli (Gesu) gia da se

misericordia.

(P. Paolo

ma

gli

die molto

bensi di

Segneri, Magnificat e^ie-

gato.)

sa

MOTHER OF GOD.
the mitlnigbt breeze mingled with the the lamentations of the poor family
:

139
sanguinary caprice of she knew also the oracles

synagogue, the

Herod Antipas
suflfering

Nabals of Galilee died more sumptuously, though, as they lowered their heads to
pass under the sunken gate of the tomb, they had not the magnificent hopes of the carpenter of Nazareth.

relating to the Mcssias,

which spoke of

and ignominy!

daughter of the kings of Juda, not of the race of the feeble,

The who was and who

knew
tion,

The

funeral of the son of David was

;

soul the less

humble, like his fortune but Mary shed abundant tears over his funeral couch,

Son was God, had not her wounded by this first separawhich seemed to her the prelude
that her
a separation cruel in a very

and image of
different way.

and the Son of God conducted

this simple

She

let

Jesus depart with

mourning. What emperor ever obtained the hke obsequies ?

her heart bursting with agony ; and when

in the distance,

At length, the time for preaching tlie gospel approached, and He, whom God
destined from
priest
all eternity to

the sound of his footsteps grew fainter when she found herself

alone

entirely alone

in

that

house

be

its

high

and

apostle, left Nazareth, to repair

spent so many sweet hours, between her Son and her spouse,

where she had

to the banks of the Jordan, where

John

baptized. There

must have been an

affect-

her hands, and remained silent and thoughtful, like the

statue of grief

she hid her head in

ing and solemn scene of adieu between The public life the Virgin and her Son. of Jesus was about to commence. Alone,
poor, sprung from the people, without any resource but his couvage, his patience,

upon the stone of a mauof

soleum.

The absence

Christ was prolonged;

the Virgin learned with profound admiration, but without surprise, the wonders of
his baptism, during which the Trinity had, in a manner, become palpable and revealed
to

and that
used
for

gift of-

miracles which he never

own personal benefit, he confront an order of things, went forth to " not strong enough to resist him, but The strong enough to cause his death."'
his

men. They

told her of the white dove,

extending his divine wings over the Saviour,

and

that, at the

same time, a voice

Virgin could not help a feeling of alarm at seeing Jesus embark upon this stormy
sea of the Jewish world, where so

many

from heaven proclaimed the Son of the Most High. This joy, however, gave place to an extreme anxiety, when she knew
that Jesus,

prophets, and so illustrious, had been wrecked. She knew the insurmountable

when

the waters of
into the deep

come forth from the Jordan, had penetrated

scarcely

pride of the Pharisees, the narrow and malignant fanaticism of the princes of the
de Lamartine, Uv. citi. desert where Jesus Christ fasted during (2) forty days, which procured it the name of the Qua(1) jM.

and perilous defiles of the mountain of the Quarav.taine^ to high

rantaine,
is situated in the mountains of Jericho, at about a mile from this town, and towards the east bank of the Jordan. The muuntoia of the Quaraa-

The

uo

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

senco was to Mary like the breath of spring after the cold of winter.

prepare himself for the work of the salvation of the world, hy fasting, meditation,

and

piayor.

How much

she must have

Then

it

was that the marriage took

suffered, when she thought how Jesus was wandering in a labyrinth of bare rocks, where the bird finds not a blade of moss for its n^st, or a wild berry to support its
little life,

The married place at Cana, in Galilee. who were related to the Blessed couple,
Virgin,*
disciples.

invited
All of

Mary, Jesus, and his

where

all is

stones and heat!

feel
!

dial invitation,

them accepted this corand the Virgin, ever good

anguish tempest howled out of doors

What

did

she

when the Where was

and obliging, took the lead in forwarding the preparations for this feast, where the
national customs required a certain degree
of splendour.

Jesus?

doing, alone and unsheltered, on those high mountains of

rolling stones, wind among frightful preNo means of saving himself if cipices?*

What was he

The assembled company

Jericho, where the steep paths, full of

was numerous, and the family were poor; the bridegroom had not calculated well,

and the

bottles

of

wine were almost

Lord,

his foot slipped on the edge of an abyss No help if during this fast, so complete, so long, so little proportioned to the
!

exhausted,

when our

who was
by his holy

pleased to elevate marriage to the rank

of holy things,

by purifying

it

strength of nature, he fell through weakness on the way. These forty days were
to

^laiy

forty

ages,

maternal

presence, entered the banqueting-room, followed by Peter, Andrew, Philip, and

anxiety

making

of every minute thus passed an

Nathanael, four young fishermen, whom he had impressed witli confidence in his
character.

eternity; but Jesus returned to Nazareth, with his disciples, and his beloved pre-

The wine

failed

entirely in

the middle of the repast, and Mary, having

taine is one of the highest

on the north side, presenting a deep abyss, hollowed out of the base as if to prevent access to it ; from the west to the north it exhibits a succession of steep rocks, which
open
only
in several
places,

(1)

The

sacred retreat where the

God-man

spent

and contain caves.

The

forty days is a natural cave, which is reached only A recess after climbing up a path cut in the rock. made in one side of it, as if to set up an has been Some frescoes are to be seen there, almost altar.

way

to reach the fourth part of the height of the

mountain from the foot, is by a slope extremely steep, covered with pebbles, which roll about under one's feet. When you have reached this fourth part, you find a small path, very narrow, which ends in a small flight of steps, surrounded by horrible precipices, to the top of which you must climb, with the greatest danger, by means of a few stones which project a little in certain places, to which you are obliged to cling with feet and hands, and if these supports should fail, you would fall from the height

which represent angels. A thick wall ensort of chapel, which ia lighted by a from which you cannot look down without window,
effaced,

closes

this

terror.

(Ibid.)
The

(2)

oriental tradition,

which the IMahometans

have received from the

Ciiristians, is that St.

John

the Evangelist was the bridegroom of the marriage feast of Cana, and that, after witnessing the miracle

which Jesus Christ performed there, he immediately

left his sjjouse to

follow him.

(D'ilerbclot,
t. i.

Biblioth.
(in

down a frightful precipice. ds Jesus Christ, lime voyage.)

of
tlie

rock

(Voyages

Oiientale,

t.

ii.)

Baronius,

p.

106.

Maid,

Joan.) also adopts this opinion, which

we do not

guarantee.

MOTHER OP
perceive it upon a sign of distress given by the new married couple,
first to

GOD.

141

been the

caused even the will of

God

to

bend

in

her favour.
Tlie miracle of

turned her head towards Jesus, who was seated near her, and said to him significantly, They have no wine." Jesus answered in a low and emphatic

Canawas soon

followed

"

many others, which marked the high and providential mission of our Saviour with the seal of the Divinity. At his
by
voice the

"
voice,

Woman, what

is

it

to

me and

to

thee

My

hour

is

not yet come."'

storms were hushed, human infirmities disappeared, the devils sunk

-'The Virgin, wishing to spare her relatives a humiliation which would have
filled

gloomy kingdom, dead bodies came forth from the tomb, and,
back
to

their

them with confusion, did not conif

upon that corner

healing of
all

of the earth

where his
a great

judged that, the hour of manifestation was not come,

Christ,

sider this a refusal; she

blessed feet trod, there was

made

sufferings of soul
to

and body.*

notwithstanding

his

austere
;

They came

him from Sidon, Tyre,

words, would anticipate it for her sake and with that faith which would remove

Idumea, and Arabia; and crowds of people, gathering together on his way, kissed the

mountains, she said softly to the waiters, Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." Now there were set there six water-pots
"
of stone,

hem
of

of his garments,

him health and

and humbly begged life, things which

according

to

the

manner

of

purifying of the Jews; and by the command of Jesus, they were filled to the

alone can give. Mary, whom our Lord had not yet thought fit to associate with him in his
painful and wandering
life,

God

heard these

brim from a neighbouring spring; and this water was changed into delicious wine.
was that the Blessed Virgin had the first fruits of the miracles of her
it

Thus

extraordinary accounts with a joy mingled with trouble and an uneasy admiration. Her alarm was well founded; for, if the

divine

Son, and

that her

intercession

people followed the Messias, loading him with benedictions, the Pharisees, the

(1)

The answer

of our
as

Mother must have been,

we should

Saviour to his Holy say, aside;

translation

belot

from the French version of D'ller-

the gospel narrative gives us so to understand. It was imposaiijle in the outset that Jesus Christ should

"

The

heart of the afflicted draws

all its

consola-

have made
motlier
;

tliia

tlie

guests,

enigmatical answer aloud to his who were not in the secret,

it

tion from thy words.

" 'J'he soul recovers its

life

and vigour from only

rise to the

would have considered

to

as

something very harsh

Mary. It is evident that tlie waiters, by their listening to what tlie Blessed Virgin said to them, were ignorant of the apparent refusal of our
Saviour.

hearing thy name pronounced. " If the mind of man can ever

contem-

of the Divinity, plation of the mysteries " It is from thee that he derives his light to

know

Mussulman poet has depicted in graceful (2) verses, this command which Jesus Clirist^exercised
over the maladies of the soul
;

them, and it is thou who givest him the attraction with which he is penetrated."

A
more

Christian

the following

is

not have explained himself observes the learned orieutaiist. energetically,

could

143
Scribes,

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

and the princes of the synagogue
at
tlie

began
souls!

to be

greatly scandahsed,' worthy

conduct of the Son of
;

girded themselves with the intention of injuring him, and pressed forward against

him

to destroy

him.

Every word was a

God.

He

forgave sins

blasphemy

He

snare, every smile was a treason.

Some

consoled and converted sinners; degradation He healed the sick on the SabbathI

treated

him unsparingly
;

as an impostor

and a Samaritan
that

day; crying and notorious impiety

doctrine
fell

His

he was a madman

others gently hinted the dense mass ;

from his

lips like a

beneficent

of the envious, tired of the praises

which

was not

dew, and not like stormy rain; then he at all like the ancient prophets
I

the people gave to this new prophet, and unable to deny his miracles, disj)uted his

preached humility, the forgiveness of injuries, voluntary poverty, alms given

for God's sake, universal charity.

He

claim to them, to

What

them
of

to Satan. said they, " it is by Beelzebub, the prince devils

:

give the honour of " If he casts out devils,"

novel doctrine was

all this

multitude

in

of enemies arose up against him evei'y time that he preached, whether in the
desert or in the cities.

niorum,

ejicit

Beelzebub, principe deemo^ dcemonia." These vague

rumours

alarmed

Mary, and

the

bad
little

He

could not

spirit of her

own neighbourhood was

Of

attack hypocrisy without coming into collision with the Pharisees, or declaim

calculated to encourage her.

cities of Galilee,

all

the

Nazareth was the most

against avarice without alienating from himself the doctors of the law; the dis-

unbelieving and sacred Word of

;

hardened against the all the families of Naza-

contented, ever ready to contrive dark plots which broke out -into mad and

sanguinary revolts, were scandalised at him for not preaching sedition against
Caesar; the Herodians accused him of aspiring to the throne and the Sadducees
;

Jesus Christ was appathe least disposed to accept hira rently for the kingly Messias. As the divine
reth, the family of

parturition of the Virgin

had never been

revealed to her relations, and as the miracles

could not endure that he should proThese men, divided claim eternal life.
in views, creeds,

which had been displayed during the infancy of the Lord had taken place
in distant countries, they

saw nothing in
brought up

and
for

political

interests,

the supposed son of Joseph but a young

Israelite

made

a truce with their absurd antipathies

without learning,

out of

hatred

the Galilean

they

among

themselves, fed like themselves,

(1)

The Methnevi- Manevi, epealdng

of the im-

potent and envious hatred of the Jews against Jesus Christ, expresses its opinion in these terras against those attacks which are so common against
that meet with snccess, attacks which are, in the end, hurtful to those only who make them.
all

dog does not hinder the moon from shining. Sweepings are cast into the current of a river, and these ordures swim on tlie surface of the water
without stopping or disturbing it. The Messias, on the one hand, raises the dead to life, and you see, on the other, the Jews, gnawed with envy,
biting
their nails
^''aez.

"

The moon sheds her

light

and the dog barks,"

and plucking

their

beards."

says the Persian author,

"

but the barking of the

(Hussein-

D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient.)

MOTHER OF GOD.
more poorly lodged, more simply clad, and living from day to day by very hard labour, which connected him only with
the lower classes.
Christ,
it

143

were outside inquiring for him; but Jesus

reading the secret thoughts of his relations according to the flesh, and laying

ennoble poverty by taking

who would for his own

hold of this circumstance to extend the

limits of the old law

by adopting solemnly

portion, suffered the consequences of the " His position which he had chosen. " did not believe brethren," says St. John,
in him."^

and without respect of persons the whole family of mankind, made this admirable answer to the indiscreet message of his
"
relatives,

The fame

of the

miracles

Who

is

my

mother, and

who

which accompanied the preaching of the gospel astonished these obstinate Nazareans, without the power to convince them. Knowing that Jesus was saluted

are

my

brethren?"

Then

eyes over his numerous disciples,

casting his "

My

mother and
"

my

brethren,"

he

e.xclaimed,

are they
it."

who hear

the word of God, and

throughout Galilee by the dangerous title of son of David, and that crowds of two
or three thousand persons ran to hear

do
.

After this severe reprimand, which

the sons of Alpheus

the Son of
says St.

may have understood, God went out immediately,

him, tliey were afraid that these numerous assemblies would give umbrage to Herod

John Chrysostom, " to pay his mother all the honour which propriety
required of him."

and that they themselves might be molested on account of the young

A'ntipas,

prophet. With this idea they said publicly that Jesus was insane, and swore that

greeted Mary, and remained some time with her on the seashore, our Saviour

When he had

went up into a
to teach

ship,

they would
well

4;ake

him back

to

Nazareth

whence he began

Concealing this family from Mary, they induced her conspiracy

guarded.

The

Virgin,

hidden among

the people. the crowd,

reli-

but profoundly attentive, heard in

to

come with them

to

Capharnaum,

that

gious silence the parable of the sower.

they might

approach him under the of her name.* authority The Messias was teaching in the synagogue, in the midst of a crowd of attentive

The Nazareans,
sistible

petrified

by the

irre-

eloquence and superhuman

if

dig-

nity of Jesus

in surprise,

Christ, asked themselves, he really was the son of

and

silent hearers,

when

the Naza-

Mary

reans arrived.

Displaying ostentatiously
to

cination which

they experienced that sort of fascharms the serpent of the

an authority which they were not sorry

St.

magnify in the sight of the multitude, as

American savannahs, when he hears in the depths of the woods soft music which
attracts

John Chrysostom remarks, they

de-

him.

They had come with the

with the

liberately caused

our Saviour to be in-

celerity of

fear,

eloquence of

formed that his brethren and his mother

egotism, with the arrogance of superiority,

(1) St. John,

c. vii. v. 5.

(2) St.

Mark,

c. iii. v.

21, 31, 32, 33, 34, aud 35.

144
to turn Christ

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED VIKGIN,

from his compromising and perilous mission, and they were so far disabled by his very look as to be afraid
to

One
to the

of the ancients, however,

handed

Saviour of

men

the book of the

open This is clearly indicated by the text of St. Mark, who, after initiating us into their hostile intentions, does not give us
understand that they even anywhere dared to speak to our Lord.
to

their

mouths in

his presence.

prophet Isaias; and Jesus, unrolling the parchment, read this passage, with simple
gracefulness " The

and marvellous

dignity,

Spirit of the

Lord

is

upon
to

me

wherefore he hath anointed

me

preach

the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the contrite heart; to preach
deliverance to the captives, and sight to
X

Some time
to Nazareth.

after this,

Jesus returned

Great was the joy of the Blessed Virgin. To see her Son seated

on the same mat on which he sat in his

childhood, eating tlie bi-ead which he had broken as he blessed it; to take him
stealthily to the bedside of

the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward." Having
closed the book, he sat down,

and speak-

some poor

sick

ing with that animated and natural eloquence which made so strong an impression

person,

whom he
him

restored to health, en;

upon his hearers, he applied the

joining

secresy

to see

him powerful
;

and works, he who had so long been the man of silence and labour this
in words

oracle relating to the Messias to himself, and taught, not like a disciple of the

was too much happiness in the cup of her existence Accordingly God, who aflQicts those whom he loves, soon mixed
I

synagogue, but as the actual master of A low murmur ran the synagogue. Some were in through the assembly.
admiration at the power and gracefulness
of his words
;

with

it

a drop of gall.

On

the Sabbathtoge-

others, faithful

to

their

day, the

Son and the Mother went

had assembled there
;

ther to the synagogue.

of people

A great concourse
to see

sysfem of contemptuous defamation, said " Is not this the carpenter's son ?" aloud,

and

And Jesus, penetrating into their thoughts,

and reading as in an open book those false and envious hearts, hurled at them
those words, so true, which have become " A prophet is not without proverbial,

hear Jesus

but the eagerness of the Nazareans had not that character of confidence and
respectful

attention

which

Cheist had so often met with elsewhere.

There they were, scandalised already at what the Son of Mary was to say and do,
and admirably disposed
to stone

honour, save in his own country, and in As he knew that they his own house."

him

if

had a mind

to ask

him

for prodigies, like

opportunity offered. There are countries decidedly hostile to all that does them honour, even till

Capharnaum had been the theatre, he told them plainly that their unbelief had made them unworthy of
those of which

the grass grows upon the tomb of what

they envy.

them, and that to obtain miracles, these must he solicited with faith. Thence, in

MOTHER OP GOD.
allusion to the propagation of his gospel,

145
sinister projects of the

Heading the

Na-

and

to

that wild olive engrafted on the

old trunk of the synagogue, which sym" In bolised the vocation of the Gentiles
:

zareans in their haggafd eyes and furious gestures, she did not hesitate to brave

truth I say to you, there were in the days of Elias in Israel,

many widows
:

danger to force a passage to her Son but her strength deceived her courage. Those
;

was shut up three years when there was a great famine throughout all the land and to none of them was
:

when heaven and six months

Jews
to

ran,

they who had always

to

light feet
like

shed blood; and Mary, trembling

a leaf, scarcely able

support herself,

Elias sent, but to a widow at Sarepta of Sidon. And there were many lepers in
Israel in the time of Elias the prophet
:

walked at a distance after them, as if in a dream. She sees Jesus on the top of the
steep rock which
precipice;

she

overhangs a frightful hears afar off cries for

and

none of them was cleansed

the Syrian."

but

Naaman

her knees give way under her; a mist spreads over her sight; her voice
;

death

These last words were the drop of water which makes the vessel run over.

expires in a sorrowful

broken down

like

moaning; she falls, blossomed bough

Wounded

in their national pride, in their

hereditary antipathies, in their traditional expectations, all those of the synagogue

which the tempest has torn off in its course, and remains stretched out with
her face on the ground upon the hill.' Meanwhile the wolves, furious in pursuit of the lamb, had been deceived in
the hour of sacrifice had not yet struck for the Son of Man, and no one could take his life unless he
their expectation;

were
blood.

filled

with anger which called for

"

And

they rose up and thrust

:

him out of their city and they brought him to the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong."
Seated
in

among
.

the

women
the

of the people

Virgin had observed, with anxiety mingled with fear, the increased progress of the storm.
tribune,

a latticed

gave it. Striking this murderous crew with blindness,'' Jesus passed through the midst of his enemies without being known

by them, and took again the road to Capharnaum, where his mother, Mary of

(1) Between the steep mountain from which the Jews had formed the design to cast down Josus " You Christ, and the town of Nazaretli, -perceive
" halfway," says F. de Geramb, the ruins of a monastery formerly inhabited by religious, and those of a very fine church, built by St. Helen, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, under tlie name of Our

to others, at the

these

news of the murderous project of madmen, she had run thither in great haste,
late; seized

but had arrived too

with terror, 'she

could proceed no farther.' "

(2)

The

oldest

heretics,

modern
old

rationalism,

opening the door to which decks itself out in their

that

rags,

without acknowledgment, insisted

Lady del Tremore (of Mary was already in

terror).
this

According

to some,

place

when

the

Jews

our Lord had passed through, by means of an illu" sion produced by a fog, illudere per caliginem."
Tertullian

were dragging her son towards the top of the mountaiu to throw him down from it. According

strongly
4, 8.)

opposes

this

supposition.

(Adv. Marcion.,

U6

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGIN',

Cleopbas, and the sons of Alpheus came to rejoin him.

After having preached the gospel in the environs of the beautiful lake of Tiberias,

sparkled upon the green branches of the willows, like a shower of pale diamonds and the rushes of the Jordan, which
;

sometimes

conceal

tigers,

bent

softly

the waves of which shine like light, and wrought t'lie great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves in the desert of Bethsaida, Jesus reascended the Jordan with

beneath the light breeze, which moved the tops of the palm-trees, from which

hung

fine

bunches of dates of the colour

his disciples to go to Csesarea Philippi, the ancient Dan of Nephtali, the name of which Philip, the son of Herod, had lately

In the distance, on the opposite bank, troops of gazelles were seen bounding on the declivities of high mountains,
of coral.

grey and streaked with fire; and in the

changed
way.
It

and he

visited

the towns and villages

he passed situated on his

as

sandy plain where flying along, on their coursers fleet as the wind, some wild sons

was probably

at this

time

for

Eu-

thymius,' who relates this traditionary that the fact, leaves the date ul:^decided

armed with those long lances of cane from the banks of the Euphrates, which they used from the times near to the
of the desert,

deluge,

if

we believe the legends of Persia.*

tint,

waters of the Jordan, already sanctified,

Jesus, ceremony. and the apostles, directed Virgin, their steps, one day at sunrise, towards
aflfecting

Clouds of violet of the richest

or of

beheld an
the

dehcate rose-colour paler at the edges,

floated like flowers in the deep blue of

this

deeply-enclosed

river,

which runs
Tacitus,

the sky, and the nightingale was .singing in the tall sycamores which over-

through rushes into the

tation

two lakes,
third.*
its

says

and

shadow the sacred

river

of

Palestine

Magnificent vege-

nature held a festival for the baptism of

banks; islets rising here and there from its humid bosom,
displayed themselves in the midst of its gilded waves, like graceful baskets of
verdure, fruits, and flowers
;

adorned

Mary.

The Virgin was

ing to the
tliey individually

dressed in white, accord-

custom of the Hebrews when

blue herons

hovered over these flowery isles, where ringdoves and white turtledoves still hung
their nests of

took part in any rehgious ceremony, and she stood grave and profoundly recollected by the side of her Son

the wild pomegranate-trees.

moss upon the branches of The dew

and Saviour: they both went down into the river. Then, lifting up with his divine hand the Oriental veil of his fair and holy
atque alterum lacum integer perfluit; tertio retinetnr."
(Taciti, Historiarum, lib. v.) (3) lieeds grow on the banks of the

(1) According to St. Eutliymiiis, our Lord baptized only tlie Blessed Virgin and St. Peter, who

afterwards baptized the other apostles. " Some," says this abbot, who flourished in Palestine in the fourth " have written that Jesus Christ himself century,
baptized the Virgin and Peter." "
(2)

Euphrates

which
Indies.

are

almost equal to the bamboos of the

the earliest times, the Arabs and

From

Assyrians have made-laiicea of them.

;

(Firdousi,

Nee Jurdaues pelago

accipitur

sed uniim

the

Book

of Kings.)

r-4

N^\.

,1

C^^

\.;">

V^.

MOTHER OF GOD.
Mother, Christ looked upon her with his sweet and penetrating look of infinite tenderness; then he poured upon the Virgin's forehead the sacred water of regeneration,
to the daughters of
follow,
It

147

Eve an example
to imitate.

to

and a model

would not have been proper for the Mother of God to follow Jesus and his
thereapostles alone throughout Judea fore Mary of Cleophas, the mother of
;

He who was himself one

Divine Persons.
It

and baptized herin the nameof the Trinity, of the Three

was then that the Blessed Virgin broke through her solitary habits to follow

James, Simon, Joseph, and Jude, commonly called the brothers of the Lord
;

Salome, mother of the sons of Zebedee,

the Lord especially loved Joanna, wife of the steward of the tetrarch, and
;

her Son in his journeys.

him
for

for thirty years,

on a
;

in the land of her fathers

She had served foreign soil and she had worked

whom

several rich

women

of Galilee,

who had

him, wept over him, suffered for him, and adored him without ever failing, night

made themselves poor

for Jesus Christ,

and morning in his cradle while he still slept there, as Albert the Great informs us.
It was natural that following his persecuted

formed the companions of Mary. One among them, a Jewess, young, rich, of noble birth and remarkable beauty, was

fortunes, she should leave the peaceful

most affectionately attentive to the divine Mother of her Lord. This woman, whose
heart, strong but assaulted by storms, like

roof which had witnessed her birth to walk

in his blessed footsteps, while he preached

the waves of the

Egean

Sea,

had burned

the gospel to the Hebrews. Amid the agitations of this life of trouble and alarm,
the Virgin was admirable as ever. Loving Jesus more than any mother ever loved

with a thousand impure flames in the sight of the world, and defied public opinion with mockery and disdain, had

her

and alone able to carry this love without sin to the farthest extreme
cliild,

come, submissive and penitent, to lay down her proud head at the feet of Christ, and to beg of him whom she confessed to

limits of adoration, she

never intruded

her presence upon him to divert the short and precious moments of his mission of
regeneration in favour of her
ternal tenderness
to
;

be her God, the cure of the maladies of her soul. And the chaste love of the

Lord had absorbed

all

all

her insane amours,

own ma-

the worldly attachments of the young

never did she speak

lady of

Magdalum.
feet

She had trampled

him

of her fatigues, fears, sinister fore-

under her

her collars of pearls, her

bodings, or personal wants.

Mary was

not only a holy dove hiding in the clefts a pure virgin called to feed of a rock with her milk, and cradle in her arms, a

chains of gold and precious stones; sold her country house, situated among tlie
rose-laurels

which

fringe

the

beautiful

heavenly guest; she was a valiant woman,

Sea of Galilee, and now, with no other ornament than a dress of coarse cloth,

whom

the Lord delighted to place in turn in every situation of life, in order to leave

and her

fine black hair, with

feet,

which she
the young

had wiped the Lord's

148

THE LITE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

adorned
formerly did, and receiving with benignity the simple honours which this
race

patrician, rich in her alms-deeds,

with new virtues, shed her penitent tears

on

tlie

Mary.

pure and compassionate hosom of The immaculate Virgin had re-

multitude, eager to behold their prophet,

for Jesus spontaneously offered him Christ never rejected the humble testimonies of gratitude and love which were
;

ceived in her arms and pressed to her heart the grievous sinner, and culti-

vated in this

soil,

fertile

hut long

left

offered to

him by

his creatures.

waste, those flowers

which expand

for

heaven.
After

small were these pledges of gratitude, they were received with a divine

However affection and

many

sufferings,

many

terrors too

long

to relate, the Virgin entered Jerusa(fity,

goodness the moment that they proceeded from the heart.

lem, the fatal

Christ,
to

in

company with Jesus

the
last

Magdalen, examining by turns her Lord

celebrate

Passover

and that multitude of people who made

the air resound with their hosannas, wept

which the Lord kept with his disciples. She saw the inhabitants of the city of
kings come in crowds to meet the son of
David, who came
to

them

full of

meekhis

Mary, too, had her eyes moist with tears but her look was turned to the north-west, in the direcsilently

beneath her

veil.

ness, riding as the

young piinces of

tion of Calvary.

CHAPTER

XVII.

MARY ON CALVARY.
The palms which
Hebrews had
Christ
still

the children of the

The

princes of the priests, the senators,

to get possession,

cast

beneath the feet of

and Pharisees sought

strewed with their green tufts the rugged road of Bethania ; the echo of the valley of cedars* still muttered the

even at the price of gold, and without shrinking from domestic treason, of a great
criminal,

who, as they

said, placed

both

dying sounds of those cries of triumph and joy, with which the daughters of Sion

This religion and the state in danger. man must indeed have been very dangerous, since these honourable personages

had saluted the King who came to them pdr)r, when Jerusalem was deeply moved by a new event of great and sad importance.
name

had bound themselves

fast to lay

an extraordinary hold of him," and had indeed

to

(1) Valley of Cedars, the ancient valley of Josaphat.

of

tlie

(2) This anecdote

is

found in the Toldoa, pub-

lished

by

Iluldric, p.

66 and GO.

{SMMgw's

A(0)snro

HKWT0R2,

VIHTTrB.

YORSTOW

S=

Cn

MOTHER OF GOD,
distributed

149

on

this

occasion some alms

throughout the city with sound of trumpet. The Pharisees, those conscientious Jews,

nance, whose girdle was swelled out with gold robbed from the poor,* to which ho
already added in imagination the thirty pieces of silver which he was to earn, by
delivering

who plundered none but the uncircumcised, and who would have left their neighbour at the bottom of a
pit

on the sabbath-

gogue

up to the princes of the synatoo Jewish to pay for his treason

day, though they would have speedily drawn out their ox or their ass, had under-

taken to spread among the people

it is

whom
and

beforehand his master, his friend, his God For it was the son of David, the
I

triumpher but a few days before, Jesus of

Nazareth, the great prophet of Galilee, at whose voice greedy death gave up his prey, and whose commands the winds and
tlie

so easy to
to

and

deceive

make impression upon,

frightful

reports

vague rumours, which had thrown them into a kind of feverish anxiety, from which
they could not free themselves but by a fit of ferocity. Things being thus prepared, a well-armed troop were seen, one

waves respected,
cliiei priests

whom

the ruffians of

the

and the Pharisees were

going in search of
Olives, whither

upon the Mount

at night

of

he retired
temple,

after

evening, coming down from Mount Moria, in which were some senators, and which

teaching
relates.

in

the

as

St.

Luke

They had not dared

to arrest

was commanded by the captain of the

guards of the temple;* the troop of servants of tlie princes of the priests came after, and at the head of this battalion,

him in open daylight, because they feared some resistance on the part of that multitude of disciples who came to hear him
early in the of

morning beneath the porch

which marched on with a measured step by the light of those large lanterns which

Solomon.

The armed troop, headed by the Iscariot,

crossed the ravine where flows the Cedrou,
that torrent of dark waters,' which wit-

upon them up high, and

the Asiatics

fix

long poles, to raise

of

some resinous

torches, was a man with a low forehead,' an irresolute look, and an abject counte-

nessed the passage of King David, when he tied with a handful of faithful servants

(1) This office is known by the gospel, which often speaks of these captains of the temple, who must he distinguished from the Roman commandant,

with his cohort round this great crowds, and those disorderly acts to which the multitude might give occasion. These
edifice to i)revent

who kept guard

(2) "Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said, Why was not thia ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief,

captains of the temple necessarily were Jews, and were taken from the priestly families to them
;

were confided the care and the keys of the temple, to provide for the safety of the treasury and the sacred vessels by right of his birth this officer had
:

and having the purse, carried what was put therein." (St. John xii. v. 4, 5, 6.) (3) The Cedron is a torrent which runs down the valley of Josaphat, between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. It was called Cedron, because it has its course in deep and dark places; its Hebrew

the liberty to enter into

priests.

all

the counsels of the

name

signifies ienebrosus fait.

(Basn.,

liv.

i.

c. 4.)

150

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

the dark mountains stood out from the

from the rebels in the pay of his son Absalom. "While the soldiers of the temple
followed,
silent

limpid blue of heaven.

Jerusalem, half-

banks of the torrent

were
of

and savage, along the in which their torches

drowned

up

in shade, and splendidly lighted in places, sent forth afar the aromatic

reflected, in order to reach the heights

Gethsemane, and while the night wind shook the dishevelled tops of the willows,

perfume of the rare plants of her gardens, and waved in the breath of the breeze her
clusters of palm-trees, out of

which arose
silence

which were soon

upon

see Judas hanging one of their branches, a punishto

white towers of marble.

The

was

ment
which

too light
is

for

such a

traitor,

but

profound on the side of the mountains, but a slight murmur arose from the bottom
of the valley
:

continually increased by the undying contempt of successive generaa sad and solemn tions upon the globe,

Jesus

suddenly started.

There they
left

he thought, and he slowly, moved towards the place where he had

are,

scene was passing in that garden of olives where the worthless apostle went in search
of his master

three of his apostles, whom he had chosen from all the rest to share is solitary night-watch.

on purpose

to desti-oy him.

After praying a long time, on his face on the ground, and undergoing that frightful

Alas! fatigue, or the lulling breath of the wind which made the grey foliage of the olive-trees rustle, had
gradually
fall

agony which covered his divine forehead with a sweat of blood, Cheist had risen up
with submissive resignation
will of his Father,
to the awful
to

made

these negligent sentinels

asleep.

Jesus beheld them asleep for

and quite prepared

with a holy feeling of grief; he had announced to them that his death
a

moment

drink the chalice of bitterness to the

dregs.

He

raised

up

his large, soft,

and

piercing eyes to the starry heavens, the

was near, that the hour of peril was come, and they were asleep, they, his kinsmen, his friends, his chosen disciples, to all
appearance indifferent about his danger 'or his death O the vanity of
!

was midnight, and high in which shone the moon, that fair lamp of the firmament, whose useful
stars of

which

told that

it

benefits of ties of blood

light is blessed

ham
the
light

by the children of Abrain' their prayers;* she was then at

Thabor
trial

at

and friendship They were awake enough on the hour of the glorious trans1

full,

and

cast a sheet of resplendent

figuration, but they slept in the

hour of

upon

that austere passage, where

of the
;

and

distress

(1)

The day

for the

Hebrews

the

new moon is a festival day women abstain from work,

and the devout fast the preceding day. After reciting a number of prayers in the synagogue, ihey take a repast, at which they are very merry. Three days after, the Jews assemble on a platform, where they look steadfastly at the moon, and bless God by a long prayer for having created it, and

renewing it, to teach the Israelites that they " moon blessed ought to become new creatures : be thy Creator, blessed be He who made thee!" and then they jump three times, as high as they
for
!

and say to the moon, "As we leap towards thee, witliout being able to touch thee, may our enemies
can,
rise

up against us without reaching us

liv. vii. c.

."

(Basu.,

16.)

MOTHER OP GOD.

151

confused noise was heard in

the

hollow path which led up to the little village of Gethsemane ; and soon tlie
glare of torches shone

Jesus, restraining that arm which was the only one raised in his defence, com-

manded
turned to

that
its

the

sword should be
"

re-

upon the trees. Then Jesus, leaning over his apostles, who were still asleep, said to them in a low but deep voice, " Arise, let us go " Behold, he that betrayeth me is at hand!
!

scabbard.

How then shall

that so
it

the scriptures be be done?" The

fulfilled,

must

Lamb

of

God

desired to

be immolated

for the sins of the world.

Then was heard

in this enclosed spot

He had
up

hardly pronounced these words,

when Judas and his band arrived. Coming

to Jesus, with boldness in his eyes,

mingled sounds of hurried footsteps, broken boughs, and cries of alarm and
;

and

number

of

men were

seen leaping over

the smile of hypocrisy on his lips, he pointed him out to the hostile troop who

were in search of him, by giving him that sacrilegious kiss which has taken his

the low wall, scarcely three feet high,' which surrounded the garden they were the disciples flying away .
:
I

The

hostile troop, after binding Jesus

was the signal agreed upon. Jesus Christ received the traitor with
It

name.

like a criminal,

kindness, and said to

him with meek-

returned by the road to the Holy City, and went in the direction of the stone bridge which the Asmonean

ness which pierced to the quick, " Friend, " whereto art thou come ?

princes had thrown over the Cedron ; but the people of Jerusalem, who had come

Whereto was he come ? He was come to earn the thirty sides of silver of the synagogue. Avarice, which is a cold and calculating passion, commits ten
. .

out in crowds, already occupied it, and tradition relates that Jesus was dragged

through this channel of water;

which

times more crimes

than violence, and

this

accomplished to the letter the prophecy, " He shall drink of the torrent in the
way." The sacred footsteps of our Saviour, and the impression of one of his knees

much

blacker crimes.

Judas had not time to answer

barrassing question, for
all

em-

the rest adlaid

vancing,

fell

upon Jesus and

hold on

marked in the bed and on the stone margin of Cedron at least this is asserted
are
;

him.

Then anger

arose in the heart of

Ben-Cephas,* the prince of the apostles; he drew his sword, and struck with it one
of the servants of the high priest; but

by the Christians of Jerusalem, who still show them. After ascending the hill of
Sion, they entered Jerusalem by the Sterquilinian Gate, and repaired to Caiphas,

(1) Peter
is

by
(2)

this

Ben-Cephai (Peter, son of Peter) name that the prince of the apostles
of

it

paces,

by a hundred and
it,

forty broad.

There

is

ia

rock in
it is

forming a reddish-coloured cave, where

fell

known

in the East.

said the three apostles

asleep.

(Voyages

The garden

the foot of

Gethsemane or of Olives, at the mountain of that name, is surrounded

;

Its name of Gethsedo Jesus Christ, 4:4 voyage.) mane is derived from the goodness of the soil; iu

by a

wall three feet high

its

length

is

two hundred

Hebrew Gethsemane

"
signifies

fertile valley."

159

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

scribes

the high priest, where the ancients were assembled.

priests

and
chief

his

standards,

and even

his

tribunal,

The

he was the

scribes then asked Jesus if " If I sliuU tell you," our Saviour meekly ans'vered, " you will not believe me." " Art thou the Son of God?" asked Caiphas. " I am," replied Christ.

and

which would have rendered them impure for the whole day. After doing everything, therefore, to avoid so serious an

inconvenience, these scrupulous men accused Jesus of having perverted the people

by his doctrine, of having opposed their

paying tribute to Caesar, and, finally, of having taken the seditious title of the

Jesus.

"

He

hath blasphemed

"
!

cried

the high priest, rending his garments. " " He is said the scribes guilty of death
!

King

of the Jews.

As

many

falsehoods

and Pharisees.
did they spit in his face," and they struck him with their fists, and gave him blows, while they cried out to him, " in derision, Prophecy, Christ, who is it "

as words.

Then

Jesus met these false accusations only with silence. Pilate, convinced of the

profound wickedness of the accusers, and the perfect innocence of the accused,

that struck thee

this

" ?

would have saved Jesus

ceed.

he did not suc-

time Peter, who liad sworn During to die rather than abandon him, denied

him thrice in the court of the high priest The next day, the chief priests and
!

Pharisees, skilful in raising popular tumults, worked up the people, who seditiously demanded the death of the

The

descendant of their ancient kings, and the

governor, who knew well how to appease the clamours of the Jews, in a way perfectly oriental,

Pharisees dragged Jesus before Pontius Pilate, who was supremely odious to them
since the affair of the imperial standards,

when he chose

to

do

so,

which he had introduced by night into Jerusalem ' but as they hated the Son
;

was content tamely to defend against the madmen who wanted to force from him

of

God much

more, and as the

to at the

Romans

alone could

condemn him
appear

to death,* they

whom he
firmness.

an unjust judgment, the innocent man, ought to have protected with

were resigned

pretorium of

Wearied with

their clamours,

this idolater, after taking the

most minute

precautions to avoid exposing themselves to any unclean contact with his garments,

overcome by their persistence, the Roman washed his hands of the sentence which

he pronounced.^ After which,

Romans were

no doubt
The Tal-

(1) Josephus, Ant. Jud., liv. xviii.

(2) Before

c. 4.

absohitely masters of temporal juris-

Judea had become subject

to

the

diction,

and the authority of the Jewish senate was

it,

BomanB, the sanhedrim possessed the

and death

riglit of life

limited to affairs purely ecclesiastical.

but those conqnerors deprived them of ; that privilege. It was the custom of the Romans
to leave the conquered nations their temples

mudists recognised

for

they ackuowledged that

and

the power of judging was taken away from the senate forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, that
is,

their gods ; but in civil matters, they were obliged At to follow the laws and orders of the republic. the time when Jesus Christ was condemned, the

Jesus Christ.
(3)

(Basn.,

three

years

before

the

death

of

liv. vii. c. 4.)

The

decree pronounced by Pilate against our

MOTHER OP GOD.
with a view to excuse himself for his show
of clemency towards Jesus Christ, and to win back the hearts of the populace of
sibility of his death.

163-

U'his done,

he de-

livered

him up, at the same time admiring and lamenting over him,^to the insults of
a soldiery

Jerusalem, whom he had recently had beaten by his lictors in a commotion,' on

occasion of the sacred treasure, which he

whom

gogue^

who

the princes of the synahad a positive horror of them,

to corrupt, that their

had condescended

wanted

grasp largely, under pretence of building au aqueduct which they did not want, he had the Son of David and
to

own hatred might be the for they knew how to hate

zealots for

better served

strongly, these

the law of Moses,

who would

kill

Solomon scourged with

to take

rods, while the

deicidal people applauded,

who had dared

respon-

and divide Cjhrist " for the love of God 1" When Jesus had arrived at the court of
the pretorium, they made him sit down on a broken column,* and the whole cohort

upon

their

own
the

heads, and those

terrible

of

their

children,

Lord

is preserved at Jerusalem. give it here, not as an autlientic document, but as a local tra-

Wo

were

silent as to those

'

Nazarenum, subversorem gentis, contemptorem Cajsaris, et falsum Messiam, ut majorum suae gentis testimonio probatum est, ducite ad communis supplicii locum, et cum ludibrio regise I, magistatis in medio duorum latronum aflfigite. "Jesus of Nazareth, the sublictor, expedi cruccs. verter of the people, the despiser of Caesar, and the
dition
:

Jesum

poor people,

who made a noise. These who were unarmed, were thus inadds Josephus,
with
' ;

humanly treated, sionate sympathy

were
killed,

compasfor the Jewish outbreak some others wounded, and by this means

was the tumult appeased.

lib. xviii. c. 4.)

(Joseph.

Ant. Jud.,

(2)

Tiberias,
to

in

consequence of the accounts

Pilate,

which came

him from Pontius

proposed to

false Messias, as it

of

tlie

has been proved by the testimony ancients of his nation, take ye to the common

the senate to grant divine honours to Jesus Christ; Tertullian relates it as a well-known fact in his

place of jiunishment, and crucify

his royal majesty

him

in derision of

between two thieves.

prepare the crosses." (Adricom., In descript. Jesu.) (1) Pilate undertook to build an aqueduct with the money of the sacred treasure, to bring water to

Go,

lictor,

name

Apology, which he presented to the senate. in the of the Church, and he would not have been

Jerusalem from a distance of two hundred furlongs.

wilhng to weaken a cause so good as his by things where it would have been so easy to confound him. (Tertull. Apolog. 5; Euseb., Hist.Eccl. ii. 2.) (3) M. Salvador would fain exculpate his co-

The

people, violently irritated against the llonian

governor, whose intentions tliey discovered, assembled in large bodies of several thousand men ill the

by imputing to the Roman soldiers the unheard-of outrages which Jesus received in the pretorium but it is clear that tlie Romans acted
religionists,
;

and the public squares of Jerusalem, which they made ring with vociferations against Pilate, and there were some even, says Josephus, who exstreets

only by the instigation of the enemies of Jesus The following is the opinion of St. John Christ.

Chrysostom on
themselves

this

subject

" It

is

the

Jews

asperated the governor by gross insults

happens with

j)eople in

always commotion.' Pilate, who was

;

as

it

who condemn Jesus

to death,

although

not alarmed at a

little,

made

his

own people

take

they shelter themselves under the name of Pilate. 'They desire tliat his blood should fall upon themselves

great bludgeons under their garments, and surround the ])opulaco; when the seditious, after taking
breath,

and upon
all

their children.'

It

is

who
him,

direct

these insults against him,

they alone who bind

recommenced

their clamours

and

insults,

who
to be

lead him

away

to Pilate,

and who cause

Pilate gave the signal to his men to lay on them, and they began to strike more than they were

him

Pilate

dragged along so cruelly by the soldiers. had not ordered any of these things."
JNIatt.)

ordered to do, and without any distinction gave great blows with their cudgels as well to those who

(Serm. 77, in
(4)

This

pillar,

of grey marble, being only

two

154

THE

3.1FE

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

the Pharisees thought that the idolatrous soldiers had degraded Jesus in
the eyes of the people enough to destroy the idea of his divinity, the approach of

did their utmost to disport themsfclves with him in the most atrocious and inIt was the season when rhamnus which long the dangerous hefore had entangled in its thorny thickets the symbolical lamb for the sacrifice of Abraham ^ was in full flower; one of the

When

solent manner.

'

the Sabbath obliging them to hurry, they took their victim, whom the Roman go-

vernor gave up to them with reluctance,

and, after loading his bleeding and mangled shoulders with the enormous weight
of the cross, they urged on, with the staves of their lances, his painful

and made a mock crown, the flowers of which were soon tinged with his blood, and every thorn gave him a deep and insupsoldiers ran to gather a

branch of

it,

and slow march

After stripping him like a slave, they threw over his shoulders a purple rag, they put a reed in his hand
portable wound.
for a sceptre,

toward Calvary, where they were going to crucify him.

and they saluted, with

bitter

sarcasms and derisive genuflexions, that mockery of royalty. His whole body was

Crowds of spectators lined the streets and stopped up the ways: some openly showed a savage joy, and cried anathema

upon the son

of

David

others pitied the

but one wound,

for

the

scourges with

fate of that youthful prophet,

who had

sharp points had made red pieces of his flesh fly off a long way in the hall of
executions;

done nothing but good to men, and men had forsaken and betrayed.
these
signs
of

whom
But-

where

disfigured his clots of dark blood settled

spittle

face,

down

here and there from his wounded forehead, which his fettered hands could not reach
!

symi^athy made hardly any impression; the good wept in silence; all those whom he had fed with

barren

five loaves

in the desert, those

whom he

The

chief priests, the doctors,

and Pha-

had healed, those

were there,

whom

he had loved

risees,

looked upon this scene with secret

;

lost in the crowd,

and no voice

satisfaction

iheselionourable

men regarded

protested against his

punishment;* that

compassion as baseness of soul!^

at in

one among the apostles who loved him

of

feet

high,

is

Rome,

the

church

St.

Praxedes.
separate thorns of this crown, in the of individuals, are now recognised as the possession rhamnus spina Christi of Linna3us.
(1)
(2) St.

Some

" that the Maimonides, king may not have more than eighteen wives; if he marries one above that number, let him be whipped. If he has more horses

than he has need of

let

for the service of his chariot,

him be whipped.
he wants

If he amasses
for the

more gold and

ministers,

Jerom

(in

Philem.) says that

in the tliorn-bush

tlie

ram

silver than
let

wiiich

Ahraliam saw
c.

was the

him be whipped."
c. 3.)

(Maimonid.,

payment of his

Halach.,

Ma-

figure of Jesus Christ

(3) Basn., liv. vi.

crowned with
17.

thorns.

lach.,

Tiie punishment of the whip was of very ancient usage among the Jews, and was not onsideied disgraceful. According to

(4)

We
the
a

when when

the Talmud, kings themselves were subjected to it on certain occasions. " Tradition informs us," says

place of

read in the Misnah that, in the time Jews were governed by their own laws, condemned person was conducted to the punishment, a herald of arms went before
this

him, on horseback, making

proclamation,

MOTHER OP GOD.
most had cowardly denied him with only one exception, had
! !

Ui

the rest,
fled

that the soldiers, overcome, slowly lowered

tlieir

away

arms before the heroic and

saintly

and left him As he painfully passed down the long street which leads to the Judiciary Gate,
a

woman. Savage as the life of the camp had made them, they reraembored their

own mothers.
Mary turned her trembling
steps to-

woman made
:

her way through

the

crowd

this

woman, remarkably

beau-

tiful, and bearing in her mild and sweet countenance the image of virtue, seemed

wards our Saviour; she fixed eyes full of anguish on that humiliated form, dragging
himself along, bleeding and half clothed, beneath a heavy burthen on that im;

wholly absorbed in unutterable grief; she she was so pale her suffered so much
;
;

eyes,

which had shed

a look so dead

all

their tears, cast

look of sorrow so holy

upon
that,

the frightful

wounds of our Saviour

posing, merciful, and mild countenance, which she would have feared to ruflle by the slight contact of her chaste lips, and

which,
filth

now

swollen, blue, covered with

when they beheld

her, the daughters

and blood, scarcely retained

any

of Jerusalem muttered with compassion, " Poor jMother !" She glided througli the

She longer the image of the Creator. her hand in sorrow across his passed
forehead, as
if

people, who made room for her by an instinctive feeling of pity and sympathy.

to

make

sure that she was

Some

of

the Pharisees

with

hardened

not the sport of some horrible hallucinaNot a groan relieved her oppressed tion.
heart,

hearts called Jesus, bathed as he was in

perspiration,

no gesture of despair

initiated the

and ready

to die with fatigue

beneath the

cross, by insulting names; she did not hear them the foreign sol:

spectators in the mysteries of her agony; they only thought she was going to die:

diers

who surrounded her

;
:

Son made

and indeed she would have died a thousand times during that solemn and heartrending pause, if He who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb had not divinely
supported her. Jesus soon perceived that motionless and mute figure, a few paces

threatening signs to her

she did not see

of lances, with

them but when

number

their points directed to her breast, were

thrust between her and Jesus, there

came

from her fixed and piercing eyes a lightning flash which revealed the blood of
David, and her fine arid inspired head assumed such an expression of sorrowful
grandeur, and cool contempt of death.
"

bending down before her, his forehead bowed beneath the burden of from him
;

the cross, he pronounced the name of " Mother " At that word, which sounded like a funeral knell in the ears of the
1

Such a one is condemned for such a crime if any one can bring forward anytliing in liis defence let him speali." If any one came forward, the criminal
;

reasons which

was attempted to substantiate ; the be led back in this manner as far prisoner might as five times. (Misnah, Tract, de Syned., c. vi.
it

was taken back, and two judges, who walked one on each side of him, examined the validity of the

the Rop. 233.) Jesus Christ being condemned by mans, could not avail himself of this national custom.

156

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED

VIRGIHT,

holy Virgin, a sharp pain pierced through her heart ; she was seen to stagger and

other victims and loading himself .with all our miseries. There it was tliat the
great sacrifice was about to be offered,
tlie

turn pale;
lull

sinking down, she fell at on those rough and reddened length stones where Jesus had left^ traces of
tlien,
.

efficacy of

which goes back on the

in the

one hand

to the original transgression,

hlood as he passed P . . . A young Galilean with a dark and dejected countenance, drowned in tears,
to

and reaches on the other

night of

and a young woman

future things, even to the consummation of ages. This small rocky dechvity was

made themselves
.

Mary; thanks to their attenpassage the Virgin of sorrows recovered the tions, use of her senses and the consciousness
of that physical

whence the bloodof Christ was to flow in streams to wash away the sins of the world, and annul for ever the compact of perdition, which delivered us
the
altar,

new

and moral martyrdom

to the Fathers,

which no martyr, according

over at our birth to the angels of the But what had become of the abyss. sacred victim?
tioners

ever equalled. Doubtless John and Magdalen did everything to remove her from

Where conceal him from

Mary

did

his

execu-

the desolate eyes

the scene of blood and death which was

of his

mother?
all

cast her anxious

:

preparing on Golgotha
treaties

but their enrising

looks

over the bare mountain

the

were useless

and

with

difficulty,

Mary began

to climb,

beneath

people she saw in expectation; the crosses laid down upon the ground, and work-

a burning sun, the steepest side of Calvary: it was the shortest way, and that

men

digging with perfect indifference the deep holes which were to receive the
three instruments of punishment

which they had made Jesus follow.* They had reached the fatal and

hal-

And

Jesus, where was he then

?
1

lowed place where the Lamb of God was about to satisfy' the justice of incensed

stripped

Heaven, by substituting himself

for all

appeared, but in what a condition of the last of his garments, a shred to cover his discoloured without

He

(1) Tradition, fortified by the authority of St. Boniface and St. Aneelm, relates that Jesus Clirist

saluted

his

mother with

these

words,

"

a church which was consecrated under the name of Our Lady of Spasm. " It was there," says F. de
Geranib, that Mary, repulsed by the soldiers, met her Son painfully dragging along the ignominious wood on which he was about to die."
(2) This way, which formerly led to Calvary, and by which our Saviour passed, no longer exists it is covered with houses, in the midst of which is found a large pillar which marks the ninth station. The fanaticism of the Turks has delighted in making
:

Salve,

"

find the Blessed Virgin again at the foot of the cross, this tradition of the Fathers " Faith is not opposed to these is very probable. M. de Chateaubriand ; " they show traditions," says

Mater I"

As we

how deeply

the marvellous and sublime history of the passion is graven in the memory of men. Eighteen centuries have rolled away persecutions
;

without end, revolutions without number, have been unable to efface or conceal the trace of a mother coming to weep over her son." There was built,
in

the approach to it disagreeable by heaps of filth, in order to keep the Christians away. (F. de Geramb,

t. i.

p. 363.)

memory

of the Blessed Virgin's

swooning away,

MOTHICR OP GOD.

157

flesh

and bleeding wounds, he who was so chaste and pure His executioners,
!

followed by two or three others, falling at

regular intervals, and then all was told. " See, they are nailing him to the cross," John coolly observed a Roman soldier.

dragging him ignominiously along, exposed him -thus some time to the derision of the people then the Just One laid himself down upon the cross, that bed of honour offered to him by the gratitude of men as the price of his immense love
;

and Magdalen exchanged looks of desolation they were under a sentiment like
;

that which turnal

is felt

in the midst of a noc-

tempest,

when
it

the cries of the

is

It

was a spectacle too

frightful to behold

shipwrecked,

whom

impossible to

for those

who

Mary some

loved him:- they dragged paces off, into a sort of

succour, are borne

on the waves, and are

natural grotto, where she remained standThere ing, white and cold as marble/

extinguished, one after another, at the bottom of the waters. But Mary . .
!

came from without a confused

that of the bees of Engaddi,
Israelite

noise, like

a cold perspiration spread over her frame, a convulsive trembling shook her limbs ;

shepherd drives

when the them out of the

she too, poor feeble woman, had just been crucified; for never did confessor,
stretched

hollow of their oak-trees.

From time

to

upon

the

rack,

there arose

time, in the midst of this gloomy recitative all at once a tempest. of shouts,
cries of derision
:

martyr in the midst of flames,

in soul

never did undergo

dreadful.

and body tortures so

laughter ever had ferocious instincts, but that of the

frightful bursts of the populace of all nations has

and

They soon distinguished the sharp friction of the cords on the puUies ; the cross
was slowly raised up in the air, and the Son of man, with his face turned towards those western lands, which had so long
waited for the light, was planted like a standard in the sight of unbelieving
nations
:

Hebrews

surpassed

itself

on

this

occasion.

profound silence, no doubt, in some new baremployed, barity which captivated the attention of
the multitude, a stroke of the

In an interval of

so

it

was

written.

Then the

was heard, a dull stroke, the wood and the bruised

hammer
upon

falling
flesh.

reprobate people gave a hoarse and pro" Hail, King of the longed roar of joy
:

Mag-

Jews

If

God

loves him, let

him

deliver

dalen, shuddering, pressed close to Mary,

him

If thou art the

Son

of God,

and the beloved

disciple leaned instinc-

Nazarean, come down!"

crucified
also,

And

the thief

tively agaiTist the side of the grotto.

on his

left

hand cursed him

of his agony; the
to

second blow, duller, more stifled, and more ill-omened, was again heard; it was

amid the chokings

wretch did his utmost

be a Jew

to the

(I)

Near the place where our Saviour was

fas-

tened to the cross by the hands of the executioners, is seen a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Dolours.

was into this place that the Blessed Virgin retired during the cruel preparations for the death of her Son. (F. de Geramb, t. i. p. 151.)
It

158
end.

TITE LIFE

OF THE RLESSF.D

VIKGIlf,

Jesus, maintaining with calm and sublime dignity his great character as
.

nothing but the love of Jesus, but free from immediate cares, she used to work in
the evenings at the texture of this holiday tunic, and this thought gave her a desolating

prophet

and

God
law.

Saviour,

sealed

in

silence with his blood the exalted doctrines of the

new

reproach escaped him

complaint, no amid the infamous

No

sorrow,

for

the

lightning

flash

punishment which he underwent in the he looked down sight of a whole city

:

which showed her in the past the sight of her days of happiness did but deepen
the darkness of her misery. She lifted her eyes to heaven, to seek thence, as up she ever did, strength to sufi"er, and her look

with mercy upon this people so far gone astray and, wishing to appease the divine
;

justice in favour of those who crucified him, "Father," he said with his dying
voice,

met

that of the crucified God.

At

that dreadful spectacle her languid feet

"

Father, forgive them, for they know

were

fast fixed to the

ground, and she

not what they do."

remained

petrified with so great horror,

"

And

yet for eighteen centuries the

Fatlier has not forgiven them,

and they

with so frightful a shock, that what she had felt up to that time appeared to her

drag their punishment with them all over the earth, and all over the earth the slave
obliged to stoop the face." *
is

no more than a sorrowful dream

ful,

a
;

fright-

but almost

eff'aced

vision

all

was

down

to look

them

in

absorbed in the

cross.*

Jesus, casting on the Blessed Virgin a

left the temporary where she had taken refuge, and asylum walked with her head cast down towards

The Virgin had

to her, as

sweet and mysterious look, seemed to say on the previous evening to his
" apostles,

Mother, the hour

is

come

t"

the place of execution. At a little distance from the tree of infamy, rough soldiers were casting lots for the seamless

But what hour? The hour most memorable and

in extraordinary events, of

fruitful

which the sun's

robe which she had wrought with her hands," and were making a noisy partition
of

shadow had marked the passage since man had parcelled out the duration of
time to keep account of its passage the hour when the Son of God was about to
;

those

sacred
so

garments which
miracles.^

had

wrought many slight shudder passed over the features of Mary; she thought of the time when, rich in
(1)

triumph over the world, over death and hell, and even the divine justice itself;
(4)

M. I'Abbe de

(2) It is

la Mennaia. an ancient tradition that the Blessed

The

fathers

and the doctors of the church

Virgin had herself woven the tunic of her Son. (3) The cathedral of Treves possesses one of these sacred garments, and on its being exhibited
in the year 1845, the returns of the police certified the presence in the city of twenty-five thousand

place the sufferings (if the Blessed Virgin on Calvary above those of all the martyrs. " Virgo universos

martyres tantum excedit quantum sol ad reliqua " Quidnstra," says St. Basil and St. Anselm adds,
;

quid crudelitatis inflictum est corporibus martyrum, leve fiiit aut potius nihil comparatiune tu* passionis."

pilgrims.

(De Ex. Virg.,

c. 6.)

^^

<5

"

tCmoumma^tt

'

twiiiiiiff'rt[iiiwrf-niBii*iwiri-i["

"I

^'

MOTHER OP GOD.
the hour of the accomplishment of the oracles, the abolition of the sacrifices, the
a thousand

159

barbarous idioms, " Christ " has overcome, blessed be his name!
forgot short time the poignant sufferings which tortured her, and united herself
for a

reinstatement of woman, the freedom of

the slave, and our eternal redemption. And the Virgin thought she saw passing before her eyes the patriarchs, the righteous kings, the prophets inspired of God, who bowed down before Christ, like the

The noble and generous woman

sympathy with the triumph of the law of grace, and the great social regeneration but the vision of glory was not long
in
;

sheaves of the sons of Jacob before the

before

it

vanished, and sorrow re-entered

;

And she mysterious sheaf of Joseph. thought she saw Moses and Aaron laying
at the foot of the

at every pore

like Rachel,

over her firstborn,

Mary wept and would not be

new

tree of life the ark

comforted

of the covenant, the ephod, the rational,

the plate of gold, and the almond rod, the symbol of the Hebrew priesthood, the

nature seemed to participate in the suffering of her God; the

Meanwhile,

all

mission of which was about

to

terminate;

daylight gradually became obscured, and the decreasing light gave a mournful tint
to that vast

then David, placing there his prophetic harp by the side of the sword of Phinees,

and

sterile

region, so well
it

suited for the crime of which

theatre.

was the

Abraham, and the brazen serpent. The priests and the victims, the rites and ordinances, the types
the sacred
knife of

Every moment the darkness thickened the dew fell by the sudden
;

and symbols, gathered about the there awaited their consummation

was
laid
at

cross,
;

and

interruption of the heat; the eagles shrieked as they resumed their nocturnal shelter the jackals howled on the banks
;

the book with the seven seals of brass

of the Cedron,

and Calvary, in
the

itself so

open

the feet of the Great

according to the Order of Melchisedech, who took place of the

High

Priest

appearance of a huge catafalque of black marble. The people, strongly impressed by tliis unusual
event, began to keep the silence of fear;

melancholy, took

Aaronites.

The

old world, receding like

the

waves,

which

slowly

recoil

upon

and some few

voices, insulated

and

dis-

themselves, gave place to other images. Mary then thought she saw all the nations of the earth waiting at the foot of the cross,
there to receive the gospel. Ethiopia and islands stretched out their hands tothe

dainful, the voices of the Pharisees

and

chiefs of the synagogue, alone continued

to utter maledictions against Christ.

The

stars

soon appeared through the

dark crape which veiled the face of the

wards theMessias; the desert, which began

to reioice, flourished like the rose
filled
; tlie

firmament, like funeral torches burning

know-

round a
light

cofiin,

and

cast a fearful greenish

the earth, as the great ledge of God waters cover the sandy bed of the oceans;

upon the theatre

of the

deicide,

and a thousand

voices

seemed

to repeat in

w hicli gave the masses of spectators standing in groups on the sides of Gihon the

160
air of

THE LTPE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

Amidst the general consternation, Jesus
was occupied with his faithful friends, who had rallied round his cross in the hour of
his ignominy.

an assembly of demons and spectres. They looked at each other and turned In vain did the scribes and Pharipale.
sees
too fqr plunged in the waters of crime to attempt to regain the bank

Touched with the courage

of John,
this

strive to attribute this prodigy to natural

and the profound sorrow which young and ardent disciple did not

causes; the

more the absence

of light

was prolonged, the

appear conclusive.

less did their reasons

attempt to conceal, he would leave him a He could pledge of his divine affection.
not bequeath to him a part of his earthly goods, he who had not a stone whereon to
lay his head,

The old men, shaking

had
the
eclipse;

their grey heads, declared that they

never seen such an

learned

and

and who was about

to

owe

men

versed in the science of the

to the charity of a disciple

even the loan

Chaldeans maintained, on the other hand, that no eclipse was either foreseen or possible in the actual position of the

he had nothing left in the world but his mother! his mother, who
of a
;

tomb

moon.^

had never
his death.
to his

left

This

eclipse, of three hours' duration,

him, and who was dying at He solemnly bequeathed her

was one of the prodigies connected with the Messias, which were intended to mark

when Christ should be put to death. The prophet Amo had " And it shall come to said, pass in that
the anger of Heaven
day, saith the
shall

favourite disciple, as a pledge of those heavenly goods which he reserved for him in the kingdom of his Father.

Knowing how much he was loved by these

two holy souls, he foresaw, with his adorable goodness, the dreadful isolation in

Lord God, that the sun go down at mid-day, and I will make

which his death was about

to leave

them,

the earth dark in the day of light." This darkness extended to Egypt, where at that

and would strengthen these two

plants,

lime was

St.

Dionysius

tine

Areopagite,

devoid of support, by intertwining their separated branches.

who was
polis.

stu(Jying philosophy at

Hermoyoung

Struck with
cried out,

terror,

the

Greek
world

addressing himself to

his preceptor Apollophanes, " Either the

is

By this arrangement, which added a new and cherished interest to her life, the Virgin must have understood that it was not granted her to follow her Son to the
tomb, and that she had not arrived at the termination of her pilgrimage on earth.
the Areopagite " that the polis

coming

to

an

end, or

the

God of

nature suffers."^
relates that in the 202in]

(1)

Phlegon

Olympiad,

corresponding with the year 3o of our era, there was the greatest eclipse of the sun ever seen, and
that at the hour of noon the stars appeared in the lieavens; but astronomy demonstrating that there

who

was

at that time at Ilelioto in-

moon came unexpectedly

terpose between the snn and the earth, although it was not the time for such a conjunction in the
natural order of those laws to which the heavenly * bodies are subject, ifec." (Seventh EpirtU Poly-

acknowthat the cause of that darkness was wholly ledge

eclipse in that year, oLliges us to "

was no

carp.)

supernatural.

We

observed," says St. Dionysius

(2) Ibid.

MOTHER OP
She resigned herself to the divine decrees out of love for us, whom she adopted in

GOD.

101

Moses, which had shone from only one point of the globe, and was to shine only
for a time,

The holy apostle. Sficrifice of Mary almost equalled then, humanly speaking, that of Jesus Christ. He willingly consented to die and she to
the

person of

the

descended to the horizon of

the valleys, and the sun of the gospel, destined to give light to the world from one pole to the other, and to endure as

.... They were two mighty hearts, inflamed with love for men, and which
live!

long as the world, arose brilliantly from the side of the aurora. But God owed
prodigies to the despised dignity of his

each other; for their thoughts were not our thoughts, and the gold of their virtues was without alloy.
alone fully understood

Son, and they were not delayed.

supernatural
darkness, which

To
began

the
to

The manner in which Jesus hequeathed Mary to the young fisherman of Bethsaida
was dignified and simple,
of his mortal
life

clear away, succeeded the horrible con-

like every act

vulsions of an earthquake, which overthrew twenty cities in Asia.' At the same

time, the veil of the temple was rent, the

"
:

thy " son," and to the beloved disciple, Behold thy mother."
If

Woman, behold

rocks were

split,

and many bodies of the

saints, wliich

he did not use a more tender name

arose and

came

were in the sleep of death, into Jerusalem, where

when speaking to his mother, it was bocause he knew the power of the name which he thought proper to omit, and because he would not reopen wounds already
so painful

they caused fresh alarm among the people, already filled with consternation.

Then

it

was that a wonderful reaction

:

was effected in favour of Jesus

turion and his soldiers,
at the execution, cried out with

the cenpresided

and profound.
that
all

who had

"Afterwards, Jesus, knowing

things were

one voice

now accomplished,

that the

scriptures might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. " Now there was a vessel set there full

that the prophet of Nazareth was certainly more than man and that immense mul;

titude of people,

who had overwhelmed

of vinegar.

And

they put a sponge

it

full

of vinegar about hyssop, and put

to his

Christ in his agonies with insults, shouts, and mockery, returned down the mountain
striking their breasts, "

mouth."

and repeating with

Infamous wretches
"
It is

to the very

end

terror,

Indeed this was the Son of

Jesus having taken the vinegar,

consummated."

said,

God!"
In the midst of the cries of distress of
the i^eople, who fled without knowing wliich way to direct their steps, and while

prove. to the power of death, but by a formal act of his will, he uttered a loud cry, bowed

Then, willing to the world that he died, not by

Golgotha was rending her rocky

"
it

sides,

down

his head,

and expired

At that moment the

idols of

paganism
star of

(1) Pliny and Strabo speak of this earthquake. It was 80 violent," say both these autliors, "that

shook upon their pedestals; the

was

I'elt

even as

far as Italy."

169

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN,

distance, two

there was seen, by the pale light which gleamed on this scene of horror, a woman

women

covered with

veils.

one of

standing and completely unmoved in^the midst of the convulsions and ruins of
nature.
to
tlie

leaned upon the other in an attitude which betrayed the most heartgrief,

whom

rending

timidly beheld

the

pro-

This

woman seemed
;

inaccessible

ceedings of the

Eoman

soldiers: they

were

general alarm

with her hands

joined in the attitude of prayer, she was absorbed in tlie sorrowful contemplation
of the crucified prophet.

was there

Mary and Magdalen, for Magdalen too and in the distance were per;

ceived the other women from Galilee, .who

had
of

left all to

devote themselves to Jesus,

in the "

And the daughters of Jerusalem began again to shed tears, saying with com" passion,

and who had not forsaken him

hour

Poor mother!"

Towards evening, the Pharisees, unwilling that the bodies should remain on
the cross, lest the sanctity of the Sabbath, which would begin at nightfall, should

Honour punishment and ignominy. " " to them for when the says Abeilard, and apostles fled like cowards to disciples,
!

the mountains, these weak but courageous creatures accompanied Christ even to the
foot of the cross,
till

and did not leave him

"
1
'

be violated, went to request of Pilate This permission to take them away.

he was

laid in the sepulchre

permission being obtained, they set up ladders against the gibbets, where the two
crucified thieves were
after
still

Then Joseph of Arimathea came up, a rich senator, who had obtained of Pontius
Pilate the

body of Jesus, of

whom he was

in agonies,

and

rudely unfastening their feet and hands, they finished them by breaking
their

a disciple in secret, to pay him the hoHe took him down nours of sepulture.

arms and

legs.

As

to Jesus, as

he

from the cross, and prepared to wrap him up in a winding- sheet of fine linen from
Egypt, which he had purchased at Jerusalem-, when he beheld at his feet a woman
pale as death, who stretched out her arms with the most affecting and sublime

was quite dead,* a

soldier contented

him-

self with piercing his side with a lance, and the divine blood which was to wash

away the crimes of the world ran down in At some great drops upon the earth.

sorrow,

to

receive

the

crucified

God.

(1)
is iiit

According to the Mussulmans, Jesus Christ

dead.

" Tlie Jews did not

pi'.t

Jesus Christ

their graves, both shall arise together, and ascend into heaven. Burckhardt, who visited the great

to death," sa^s Maliomet;

"a phantom body de-

ceived

God

they did not crucify him; barbarity assumed him to himself." (Koran, c. 4.) The
tlieir
;

mosque of Medina, where are the tombs of Mahomet, Aboubekir, and Omar, three tombs of black stone, covered with precious stuffs and surrounded
with magnificent ex voto'g, says that a vacant place has lieen left by the side of Maliomet's tomb for the
receptidu of Jesus after his death. place and the tomb of Mahomet, was
nificent

tradition says, that when the judgment shall sound, Aisa (Jesus Christ) will detrum|)et scend from heaven to the earth, and will announce

Mussulman

Above

this

to. all its

ment

inhabitants the great day of tlie last judgthen he will die, and be buried at the side of
:

hung a mag-

brocade
stolen

Mahomet

when

the dead shall

come

forth from

which was

enriched with diamonds, Sioud when he took Medina. by

cloth

THIE

KA CHRIST.

MOTHER OP GOD.
This woman, whose whole body trembled and was convulsed with shudderings of agony, had no voice left to articulate the
request which seemed to move upon her her face lips, but there was not, upon bathed in tears, a muscle which did not
petition.

163

figured body of her Son, and of applying her colourless lips to the wounds which

had been made by the nails of the cross. Magdalen, on her knees, bathed with her

warm tears the bleeding feet of her Lord, and moaned like a wounded dove. In
the background of this picture of desolation were the women of Galilee, weeping.^

The senator, who recognised made a sign of sympathetic comMary,

passion, and laid upon her trembling knees the divine burden with which he

During

this time,

some

of Joseph's ser-

had
self

respectfully

laden

his

shoulders.
give her-

vants prepared the perfumes on the stone of unction^ and others opened the se-

Then the Blessed Virgin could

up
suflferiug

pulchre
of

hewn out

of the rock,

which was

to the bitter joy of pressing to

her
dis-

to receive the

mortal remains of the Son

and bleeding heart the

God.

CHAPTER

XVIII.

DEATH OF MARY.
Tranquillity began to return, and the signs of the wrath of heaven had ceased
to alarm the Jews,

disappeared with their terrors, and they gradually returned to their spiteful and
malicious nature, as they saw the heavens

who had just shed

Like
all

the
wild

blood of

our

Saviour.

animals, the executioners of Christ had

for a

moment

lost their savage instincts

in the hour of peril.

Terrified at first at

what they had done, they had feared that the tottering rocks of Calvary would crush them in their fall, and that the earth would make them go down alive into the
dark depths of scheol
;

become again serene. Unable to deny the prodigies which an immense number of people had seen with their eyes, and which were attested by the rent sides of the mountains, the tombs scarcely covered over again, and the veil
of the temple in tatters, they attributed

them

to magic,

and maintained that

this

but this remorse

Jesus, so powerful in

word and work, was

(1)

holy

women

There are some authors who hold that these picked up some of the earth quite

saturated with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and that it was by tliis means that some of it has

and the Sainte-Chapelle, of Paris. stone of the anointing is at present in the cliapel of Calvary ; it has been necessary, for its preservation, to cover it with white marble and
as
St. Denis,

(2)

The

been in the possession of certain churches in France,

surround

it

with au iron balustrade.

164

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

only a son of Belial, who had fascinated the people, and commanded the elements

The

deicidal city

was slumbering, enve-

by means

of the ineffable

name

of the

loped in the transparent vapours of the morning; the flowers had half opened
their cups laden with dew, the birds were

God

of Israel, which he

surprise from the

Holy

stolen by of IloUes." And

had

the people suffered themselves to be led away by this ridiculous falsehood which
is

singing in the humid branches of the wild fig-trees, and one would have said
that the sun

scattered

rubies over the

;

them for there no calumnious absurdity which does not find credulous ears to welcome it, and nimble tongues to spread it abroad.
their leaders cast before
;

blue vault of

the

firmament

nature

have put on 'again, with unusual joy, her brilliant robe of light, and that scenery so grand, and yet so dark
to

seemed

Meantime a
tlie satellites

vigilant guard, chosen from

of the high priest, watched

which surrounded Jerusalem, assumed a sweet and cheerful expression

sad,

and

arms around the tomb; for Jesus had announced that he would rise again on the third day, and the princes of the
in

which

it

had never had

to
it

till

then, and

which seemed
mystery which

announce a glorious
secret.

would keep
the

synagogue pretended to fear that his disciples would take him away during the
night.

On

a sudden, in

midst of this
the stone
over as

smiHng scene, a shock

if

is felt;

which closes the sepulchre

third day began to appear,

rolls
;

The
east
several

and the

was scarcely tinged with colour, when women from Gahlee, bringing perfumes and aromatic plants, to embalm
Jesus after the manner of the kings of
Juda,* appeared

moved by some mighty arm the guards fall down half dead on their faces on the and the women, who did not ground
;

desert Jesus

upon thq mountain

of

punishment, pensively making their way towards the garden where the tomb of
Christ was.

upon the cross, turn pale themselves, and fall back, fearful of seeing those frightful prodigies renewed, which accompanied the death of the Son of Man.

According

to tradition,

was with these holy women.*

laid prostrate

Mary Her de-

But an

angel,

in whiteness

whose garments equalled the mountain snow, and

like

jected countenance resembled a marble

whose gracious countenance shone

lightning, seats himself

by the stormy wind of adversity ; but her look did not express merely sorrow it depicted expectation.

upon the stone of

the sepulchre, and encourages the servants " Fear not of Jesus Christ. you," says a

(1) See Basn., liv. vi. pp. 27 and 28. (2) It is clear that tliey were going to embalm Jesus in a new way ; for Nicodemus had already wrapped it up in bandages of myrrh. * This is the of the author on

a note. It is contrary to all probability, as well as to the general opinion of spiritual writers, to suppose that the Blessed Mother, who so well knew the

only passage

which the Tkanslatob

feels called

upon

to insert

approaching resurrection of her divine Son, would have accompanied, and so far encouraged, those who came to embalm him, without hope.

CAnnytsi^

)aco)]L,y

-W)Xi:iej^.

MOTHER OP
sweet voice, Jesus of
is

GOD.

165

know that you seek who was crucified he Nazareth,

for I
;

"

piness of the elect.

The

bitter waters of

her

not here, for he is risen as he said. Come and see the place where the Lord

were changed into fountains " of grace, and our Saviour fed her with the hidden manna which he reserves for
affliction

was

laid."

While

the

pious

Galilean

those

who keep

patience according to his

women

entered with fear into the tomb,

word."

and were astonished at the sight of the winding-sheet and bands perfumed with
myrrh, which were left at the entrance, the virgin, whose face shone with accumulated joy, was leaning against an aged olive-tree at some distance. young

At length the hour arrived when the

divine decrees ffecalled Christ to heaven
;

his mission of redemption was fulfilled, and

the apostles,
fully

whom

his resurrection

had
for

convinced of his divinity, had received

from him the necessary instructions

man, dressed in the ordinary costume of the people, was conversing with her in a " low voice. This young man was the first
born from among the dead," the glorious conqueror of hell, Jesus Christ.* No one
ever

converting the nations to his admirablo

gospel.

In the middle of the

fortieth day,

he

went out of Jerusalem with them, and

proceeded towards the heights of BeThis direction was not taken thania.
accidentally
:

interview

knew what passed but we inay believe

at
;

this

solemn

that Mary,

there was
olive-trees,

that

mountain

whose valiant soul had undergone the

greatest possible paroxysm of grief, experienced at that time a degree of joy

crowned with
viour,

where our Sa-

withdrawing from the crowd, had

which we could not

feel

without dying.
forty days

often prayed to his Father at the hour when the silent moon shone with its opal
light

Our Lord, during the

which

upon the leaden waters

of the

Dead

followed his resurrection, frequently appeared to the apostles, and conversed with

Sea, the green valley of the Jordan, and the giant palm-trees of the plain of Jericho,

them

of the things concerning the kingof

distant

sites,

which seemed
feet.

to display

dom

God, and the regeneration which

themselves at her

There

also

was

would be wrought in men by baptism. Pious authors have supposed that the
Virgin was the most favoured in these consoling apparitions, and that in them

that celebrated garden where Jesus

had

painfully experienced the first attacks of It was just that his glory should agony.

she experienced a foretaste of the hap-

same places where his generous sufferings had begun, and that

commence

in the

(1) St. Ambrose, wlio lived in the fourth century, Bays that the Virgin was the first who had the happiness to see Jesus risen ; and the poet Sodulius,

The Arab

historians

have preserved

this tradition

Ismael, the son of Ali, relates that Jesus descended from heaven to console Mary his mother, who wept
for him.

who

flourished shortly after St.

Ambrose, records
both speak of
it

An

altar

has been erected on the spot

this tradition in his verses.

as of generally received belief

They among

where

this affecting interview took place.

Christians.

166
tliose

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIK,

fields,

those woods, those

shady

soUtudes, which

had

so often been wit-

Elias had been carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot ; but the Saviour of the world

nesses of his meditations and his prayers, should receive the impress of the last
steps

was gently borne upon a light cloud, with that serene and calm majesty which be-

he took before he reascended

to

comes the genius of the gospel and the

touching character of its Author. The angels, those benevolent
spirits

heaven.
Arrived at the

summit

of that high

mountain, whence he cduld discern a great part of Judea, and salute with a
sign spots which he had made celebrated by his miracles and his
farewell

who

rejoice

in

the

happiness of

men,

figured

also in

that scene which unra-

the

velled the grand

drama of the Redemption. Their divine canticles had announced to

the shepherds the
birth of

death, our Saviour stopped in an open space, at a short distance from a wood of
olive-trees,

the

kingly

which spread out their pale

the

had proclaimed his resurrection from the dead it was fitting

Messias; their voice
;

foliage

to

burning

noonday

sun.
still

that their words should

his glorious ascension.

come

to confirm

There, after

lifting

up his hands,
if to

pierced by the nails of the cross, to his

heavenly Father, as

recommend

to

were steadfastly looking at Jesus ascending into heaven, two men,

disciples

As the

him
upon

his infant Church,

he lowered them
disciples, as
'of

his

mother and his

to the

clothed in white, suddenly appeared, and " Ye men of said to

them,

Galilee,

why

Jacob had done

Joseph; then he arose by his own power, and ascended slowly to heaven. This last act
of our Saviour put a worthy seal divine

sons

stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you into

upon
"

his

heaven, shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven."

mission.

During
"
;

his

life,

he

The
angels hers ?
divine

apostles

and

disciples cast

down
of the

went about doing good upon Calvary he prayed for his executioners, and he ascended into heaven blessing the humble friends whom he was leaving behind him

their eyes, dazzled at the voice

;

but did the Virgin cast down Was it denied to her to see her

upon
still

earth.

While he had his hands

Son majestically take his place at the right hand of Jehovah in the inaccessible light of the saints ? less

stretched out over his prostrate disciples, they saw him enter a white clouct,
their sight.

Was

she really

which took him out of

favoured than St. Stephen and the beloved disciple? That is hardly to be

The Ascension

of our

Lord had not that

presumed.
crucified

She who had been morally

dark and terrifying character which chilled the people with fear in the days of old.

The law

Moses had been proclaimed with the sound of trumpets, the noise of
of

with Jesus upon Calvary deserved to be glorified with him ; it was her right: she had dearly paid for it! Yes, Mary was entitled to look with her

thunder, and ominous flashes of lightning;

mortal eyes into that peaceful and blessed

V-

>$

MOTHER OF GOD.
region, the entrance of which Jesus

167

had

just opened for us by his blood, and where he himself wipes away the tears of the
just;* then the pearl gates of the heavenly

with the apostles. Her adopted son then took her to Ephesus, whither Magdalen

would follow her.

Jerusalem^ slowly closed upon the victorious God, and the Virgin, separated for
she loved, found herself alone upon the earth, like a

Nothing has come down to us of the abode of Mary at Ei)liesns but this void
;

is

easily explained by the incessant oc-

a short time from

Him whom

After the recupations of that period. surrection of our Saviour, the apostles,

climbing plant uprooted.

days afterwards, in prayer in the upper room, where she received the Holy Ghost with the apostles.

Ten

we

find her again

occupied exclusively with the propagation of the faith, considered as secondary matter all that was not directly and pro-

Mary was the

pillar

of light

which

guided the first steps of the infant Church. To her the apostles attributed the nu-

minently connected with that absorbing Full of their high mission, subject. entirely devoted to the salvation of souls,
they so completely forgot themselves as to have hardly left us a small number of
incomj^lete documents on the evangelical labours which changed the face of the

merous ears of corn which they plucked from the rebellious field of the synagogue,
.

them up in the granaries of the She accepted this tribute in the name of her Son with graceful humility, and she was seen constantly surrounded by the poor, the afflicted, and
to lay

Householder.

globe so that their history is more like some epitaph, sublime, but almost efi"aced, which has neither, beginning nor end. That the Mother of Jesus shared the lot
;

sinners

for she always loved with a love

of the apostles
latter years of

is

readily conceived
life

the

of predilection those to

whom

she could
to

do good.

The

evangelists

came

her to

seek light; the apostles, unction, courage, constancy; and the afflicted spiritual consolations
the
;

away from Jerusalem, in a foreign country, where her abode was not marked by any
striking fact, offering only a blank surface,

her

were spent

far

all

left

her with benedictions

which has

left

no lasting impression on

Sun of

Justice

had

set

on the blood;

stained horizon of Golgotha

but

the

Star

the fugitive memory of men. Nevertheless, the flourishing state of the Church
of Ephesus, its tender devotion to Mary,

of the Sea still reflected its softest rays on the renovated world, and poured benign
influence

and the praises which

its piety, sufficiently

St.

Paul gives

to

upon the

cradle of Christianity.

indicate the fruitful

The Virgin remained at Jerusalem till the terrible persecution, which broke out against the Christians in the year 44 of
our Lord, obliged her to depart from
it

care of the Virgin,

dictions

and the divine bene-

was.
of its

The Rose

which followed her wherevef she of Jesse left some little

air,

perfume in the

and

this vestige,

(1) Apocal., cap. xxi. v. 4.

(2) Ibid. V. 21.

168
slight as
its
it

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

was,
is

a precious revelation of

to the land of

Jehovah what the

the harp of David.
at

lyre of

The
tion,

passage. coasts of Asia Minor, studded with

Anacreon
It

is to

was during her abode

Ephesus,

opulent cities, rich in wonderful vegeta-

that

the Virgin lost the faithful com-

and bathed by a sea ploughed

in

every sense

by a multitude of vessels, would have appeared to ordinary exiles a

splendid compensation barren mountains of Palestine.
for-

panion who, in imitation of Ruth, had left her country and her people to follow her beyond the seas Magdalen died,
:

the lofty and

It is

and Mary wept

for Lazarus.'

for her, as

Jesus had wept

doubtful if the Virgin of Nazareth judged thus: the footsteps of the Man-God had

Of

all

her

ties of

affection

and

rela-

tionship, there

not sanctified this enchanted ground, and the tombs of her forefathers were not
there
I .

none but
disciple

to the Virgin the good and amiable John, to whom her dying Son had
St.
it

remained

How often, seated beneath a

bequeathed her; she followed him, as

is

plane-tree, on the shore of that beautiful Icarian Sea, the waves of which expire at

believed, in his journeys;

and

it

was,

no doubt,

in his conversations with the

St.

the feet of myrtles upon a narrow belt of sand, did Mary and Magdalen call up
recollections of their native country, as

Queen of prophets that

John completed

the wonderful knowledge which he displays in his gospel. Assisted by the lights
of
to

they followed with their eyes some Greek galley whose prow ^-as turned towards
Syria the blue tops of Carmel, the waters of the Lake of Tiberias, then revived in their
1

Her whom
the

the Fathers have compared golden candlestick with seven

The

spotless snows of Libanus,

branches, the young fisherman of Bethsaida penetrated farther than any one
into the incomprehensible mystery of the increated essence of the Word, and his

conversations

the sites

of the

absent

country, embellished by distance, passed by turns before them, and seemed to them

thought soared up with a

flight so bold
.

into the mystic heights of heaven, that in

a thousand times preferable to that soft

and smiling Ionia, which was in

(1)

fact

comparison with him the other evangelists seem only to graze the earth.^
posited them in the Church of St. Lazarus, about Another tradition, fiuj)ported by the year 890.

We

read,

in

some Greek authors of the

Bcventh and following centuries, that after the ascension of Jesus Christ, St. Mary Magdalen accom-

panied the Virgin and St. John to E|)liesus ttiat she died in that city, and was buried there. This
;

also is the opinion of Modestus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who flourislied in 920 ; of St. Gregory of

esteemed men of learning, would have it that St. Mary Magdalen ended her days in Provence we have adopted the contrary opinion, because it appeared to us the more probable, without, however,
;

deciding the (jucstion.

(2) The Abbot Rupert (in Cant.) assures us that the Blessed Virgin supjjlied, by the light she possessed, what the Holy Spirit, who was given by measure to the disciples, had not been pleased to

This last, in the Tours, and St. Guillebaud. account of his journey to Jerusalem, says that he
St. Jlagdalen. The the philosopher, had the saint's relics translated from Ephesus to (Joustautinoiile, and de-

saw

at

Ephesus the tomb of

Emperor Leo,

reveal to

them and the holy Fathers

;

all

agree that

MOTHER OF GOD.
Meanwhile the sowers of Christ had scattered the good seed of the sacred word
points of the Roman world; the gospel harvest was green, and the workmen of the Householder laboured earnestly

169
travellers

over

all

probably embarked at Miletus, the famous port of which was the resort of the galleys of

The Hebrew

Europe and Asia, which navigated those seas. During their voyage on the Grecian
seas, the Virgin

in the holy field.

Mary judged

that her

and the Evangelist

re-

mission upon earth was accomplished, and that the Church could henceforth
support itself by its own strength. Then, like a wearied labourer in the harvest,

cognised, as

they passed, the island of

people of which, who long possessed the empire of the sea, were the first to introduce the odious custom of
Chios, the

who

seeks shade and repose in the middle of the day, she began to sigh for the fair

purchasing slaves, a custom which the gospel was gradually to abolish; then
Lesbos, the country of the lyric poets,

shade of the tree of life, which grows near the throne of the Lord, and for the living and sanctifying streams which water it.'

where the hymn to the Virgin most pure was to succeed the burning odes of Sappho,

He who
met

sounds the depths of the soul

Mother,

and the more manly songs of Alceus.

On

this desire in the heart of his

and the angel who stands at his right hand came to announce to the future

seeing the top of the temple of Esculapius. rounding in the clouds, which attracted

an immense concourse of strangers

island of Cos, the
of

to the

Queen

of

heaven

that

her

Son had

graciously heard her.'' At this divine revelation, which was

Mother of the Saviour men was reminded of her divine Son,

who, during his sojourning upon earth,

accompanied, according Nicephorus, with that of the day and hour of her
decease, the, daughter of

to

had employed his divine power in curing the sick on the spot, and raising the
Delos, the cradle of Apollo, the birthplace of Jupiter, arose Rhodes, in turn from the midst of the waters, with
to life.*

Abraham

felt

dead

the love of her absent country powerfully revive in her heart ; she wished to behold

again the lofty mountains of Judea, where the recollections of redemption

their verdant

mountains and their antique

were

still

lively,

and

to die in sight of

temples, quite peopled with gods, soon to be banished to the infernal regions by

Calvary, where Jesus

to

whom

had died. St. John, her slightest desires had ever

the

God

crucified

on Golgotha.

At some

been commands, immediately prepared to depart and return to Palestine.

it

distance from Cyprus, a black peak was distinguishable in the clouds, traced upon

the velvet blue of heaven;

it

was the

was from the Blessed Virgin that

St.

Luke

re-

received the

ceived divers marvellous and particular circumstances of the infancy of Jesus Christ.
(1) Apocal.,
c.

announcement of her approaching death by the ministry of an angel, who informed her of the day and hour. (Descout., p. 235; F.

xxii. v. 1, 2.

Croiset,

t.

xviii. p. 158.)

(2) Tradition

relates

that the Blessed Virgin

(3)

The

followers of

Mahomet have preserved

170

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGm,

on a small bed of poor appearance, suitable to her costume as a
disciples, seated

mountain where the prophet Elias had erected, in ancient days, an altar to the future Mother of our Saviour, and where
his disciples were on the point of placing

woman

of the

common

sort of people,

which she had never discontinued. There

themselves under her helping protection. The next day, the galley entered with
oars a port of Syria, perhaps Sidon, which

was something so solemn and affecting in her air, full of dignity and grandeur,
that
tears.

the whole

had frequent commercial intercourse with

Palestine, as the sacred books inform us.

assembly melted into Mary alone remained calm in that

lofty

They returned

into

Israel,

after

an

absence of several years.

Mary

retired to

chamber, where a crowd of old disciples and new Christians flocked in, alike eager to hear her and contemplate her.

ample and

Mount

Sion, at a short distance

from the

ruined and deserted palace of the ancient princes of her race, and into, the house

The night had come on, and lamps with many branches seemed to cast, with
their white light,

which had been

of the

sanctified
St.
St.

Holy Ghost. went in search of

by the descent John on his part

and solemn upon

something mysterious this sad and silent

James, who was

related to the Blessed Virgin, and Bishop of Jerusalem, to inform him, as well as

The apostles, deeply moved, assembly. stood round about the funeral couch.
St. Peter,

who had

so loved the

Son

of

who composed his already numerous Church, that the Mother of Jesus was come among them to die. The day and the hour were come the
the faithful
:

during his life, contemplated the Virgin with a feeling of sorrow, and his
speaking look seemed to say to the Bishop " of Jerusalem, How much she is like
Jesus Christ
striking;'^

God

saints

of

Jerusalem beheld
still

again the

daughter of David,
still

humble, poor, beautiful; for one would have said

still

Indeed the likeness was and the stooping posture of

!

"

Mary, wliich brought

to

mind

that of our

that this

admirable and holy creature the destructive agency of time, escaped

Saviour during the Last Supper, comSt. James, who had received pleted it.

and
a

that, predestined

from her birth

to

from the Jews themselves the surname

of "
Just,"

complete

and

glorious

immortality,

and who knew how

to control

nothing in her was to decay.^ Serious, but not ill, she received the apostles and

his emotions, suppressed his tears ; the prince of the apostles, a man of openness

memory of the miracles of Jesus Christ. They maintain that the breath of our Lord, which tliey
the
call

Blessed Virgin, affirms that at that advanced period of her life she was still wonderfully beautiful.
(2) Jesus Christ stooped a little, and this made him appear something shorter his countenance was very much like that of his mother, particularly
;

"bad Messih"

(the

breath of the Messias),

not only raised the dead, but could even give life to inanimate things. (D'Herb., Bibl. Or., t. i.

p. 366.)

in the lower part of

it.

(Nic,

Hist.

Eccl.,

t.

i.

(1) St. Denis,

an eye-witness

of the death of the

p. 125.)

MOTHER OP GOD.
impulse, was deeply affected, and showed it ; St. John had hid his head in

in
Mary stretched out her
pro-

and

first

drew near.

one of the folds of his Grecian mantle, but his sobs betrayed him. There was
not in the whole assembly a heart which was not broken, or an eye which was not moist.

tecting hands over the poor orphans whom she was about to leave, and raising

up her fine countenance to the stars which shone outside with serene majesty, she beheld the heavens opened, and the
stretching out his arms to her from the bosom of a bright cloud.* At this prospect, a rosy tint diffused itself
of

Mary, sharing in the general

Son

Man

emotion, and forgetting the splendours which awaited her on high, in order to

wipe away the tears which were shed on earth, began to speak, with a view to
strengthen the faith of her children, to revive their sacred hopes and inflame
their charity; she spoke to

over her countenance, her eyes expressed all that maternal love mingled with divine

joy carried to

completion, and adoration arrived at the state of ecstacy can

its

them, with

express,

and her
her

soul, leaving without the

fair

unrivalled

eloquence, those strong and sublime things which we listen to breath-

least effort

and

virginal mortal

envelope, softly sunk

into the

bosom

of

less,

above himself, and enable him to undertake everything. Her

speech, so sweet that the Scripture has
it

which exalt

man

God.^

Mary was no more, but her which had taken the expression of a
quil sleep,

face,

tran-

compared honeycomb, became gradually powerful the daughter of David and Solomon, the inspired prophetess who had pronounced, without
poetically
;

to a

was so sweet

to behold, that

one would have said that death hesitated

to plant his

he was

to

banner on that trophy, which hold but for one day.

of the dead was lighted
;

premeditation, the triumphant hymn of the " Magnificat," rose to considerations

so sublime, that

The lamp

all

mery one
was

forgot, in his

the windows were opened, and the summer breezes made their way into the

delight, that death

at the

end of
fatal

this

song of the swan.

(1) St.
(2)

But the

hour

apartment with the pale rays of the stars. It is said that a miraculous light filled the
Mary would have
lived

and among others St. Epiphanius, seem to doubt whether the Mother of God really died, or whether she has
fathers,

John Damascen. Some of the ancient

sixty-eight years

but

Nicephorus (lib. xi. c. 21), formally says that she ended her days in the year 5 of the reign of Claudius, that is, in the year 798 of Rome, or 45 of the
era. Then, supposing that the Blessed Virgin was sixteen years old when our Saviour came into the world, she would have lived sixty-

remained immortal, having been taken up body and soul into heaven ; but the sentiment of the

common

Church

that she really died according to the body, and the Church plainly declares this in the prayer of the mass on the day
is

condition

of the

one years.

Hippolytus of Thebes assures us

in his

of the Assumption.'

The

Blessed Virgin died in

chronicle that the Blessed Virgin gave birth to our Saviour at the age of sixteen, and died eleven years
after Jesus Christ.

the night before the 16th of August. The year of her death is very uncertain. Eusebius fixes it in

According

to the authors of

the year

4.8

of our era; thus, according to him.

the Art de verifier les Dates, tVo Virgin died at the age of sixty -six.

172

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN,

mortuary chamber at the Mary had just drawn her

moment when
last

tuous

breath

it

upon

veil, and the apostles bore her their shoulders into the valley of

was perhaps the glory of God surrounding

the spotless soul of the predestined Virgin. When the death of Mary was no longer
doubtful, nothing was heard at
first

Josaphat*
carrying

The
lighted

Christians of Jerusalem,
torches,

and .singing

but

hymns and psalms, followed the funeral of Mary with sad and downcast looks.
.

real canticles arose

weeping and deep groaning; then, funeamid the silence of

night; the angels accompanied them on their golden harps,' and the echoes of the

mournful procession stopped.

care of the holy

Arrived at the place of sepulture, the By the

women

of Jerusalem, the
its

tomb was

deprived of

unpleasant

mouldering palace of David sorrowfully repeated them to the tombs of the kings
of Juda.

aspect, and the sepulchral cave appeared There the only like a cradle of flowers.*

The next day the faithful brought, with holy profusion, the most precious perfumes and the
of the
finest stuffs for the burial

apostles gently laid Mary, and as they laid her down, they wept. Of all the pane-

pronounced on this circumstance, that of Hierothus was the most regyrics

Queen

of Virgins.

She was em-

balmed, according to the custom of her people, but her blessed remains exhaled

Dionysius the Areopagite, who describes this scene as an eyemarkable.

St.

witness,

relates

that

in

praising

tlie

an odour

sweeter than the

bandages in

perfumed which they enveloped her.

Virgin, the
himself."

orator

was

almost

out of

funeral preparations being finished, they placed the Mother of God upon a portable litter full of aromatic ingre-

The

For three days the apostles and the faithful watched and prayed near the
tomb, where sacred concerts of angels seemed to enchant the last sleep of Mary.'

dients

'
:

they covered her with a sump-

(1) "All the heavenly host," says St. Jerom, came to meet the Mother of God with praises and canticles, and surrounded her with a light of intense brilliancy, and conducted her to the throne.
*'
'

the Virgin to the

(3) Metaphrastes affirms that the apostles bore tomb on their shoulders. (4) Greg. Tur., lib. i. de Gl., c. 4. (5) Books of the Divine Names,

c.

iii.

These

agminibus, festive obviam venisse Genitrici Dei cum laudibus et canticis, eamqne ingenti Inmine circumfulsisse et usque
coelorum,

Militiam

cum

suis

Dionysius, the Areopagite, have been rejected by Protestants ; but they are no less authorised by an infinity of testimonies of the most

books of

St.

ad tronura

"

perduxisse.'
coffins

ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church, by the

third ecumenical council of Constantino^ile, by others.

the Jews, in the time of (2) Mary, were a sort of litter, made so that the body

The

among
;

and

also

could be easily carried

aromatical herbs.

this litter

was

filled

with

ment

of

Herod

Josephus, describing the interthe Great, says that his litter was

(6) Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who lived in the fifth century, writing to the Emperor Marcian and the Empress Pulclieria, says that the apostles,

ornamented with precious stones, that his body reposed upon purple, that he had the diadem on his head, and that all his household followed his
litter.

relieving one another, spent the day and night with the faithful at the tomb, mingling their canticles with

those of the angels, who, for three days, ceased not to make the most heavenly harmony heard by them.

v^

.V

v.

i-

1
CI;

MOTHER OF GOD.

173
but they

An
at the

apostle, returned from a far distant

the entrance of the sepulchre

country, an(i

present death of the Virgin, arrived in the

:

who had not been

meantime it was Thomas, he who had put his hand to the wounds of his Master
risen from the dead.

found nothing but the flowers, scarcely faded, upon which the corpse of Mary had rested, and her white winding-sheet
of fine linen from Egypt, which diffused a celestial odour. The most pure body
of the

He hastened to

take

a last look, and to water with his tears

the cold remains of the privileged woman who had borne in her chaste womb the
sovereign Master of nature. Overcome by his entreaties and his tears, the apostles

immaculate Virgin was not the des-

tined prey of the

worms

of the coffin

during her

life,

earth

and heaven equally

removed that piece of stone which closed

(1) very judicious remark of Godescard comes " neither in support of the Assumption : it is that the Latins, nor even the Greeks, so greedy after

had part in that admirable creature; after her death, heaven had taken all, and glorified all.*
the mortal remains of the Blessed Virgin, nor any Thus, without prescribing portion of her body. tlie belief of the corporal assumption of Mary into

novelties,

relics, histories,

and so easily persuaded in the matter of and legends no people, in a word,

heaven, the church sufficiently gives ua to understand the opinion to which she inclines." (Godes-

no

city,

no church has ever boasted of possessing

card,

t.

xiv. p. 449.)

THB

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION

THE BLESSED VIEGIN MAEY,

ot^er

of

6ob.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OP THE

BT TBM

ABBfi ORSINi;

VERY REV.

F. C.

HUSENBETH,

D.D., V.G.,

FSOTOSI 07 NOSTHAUfTOM.

THE

HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION

THE BLESSED YIRGIN MARY,

MOTHER OF GOD.

CHAPTER

I.

OEIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE EELIGIOUS VENERATION OP MAEY.

The
evil

religious veneration of saints,

which
us as

disposed heretics

idolatry,

impute and which a Protestant minister

call the

to

evil

slowly out of the earth with a majesty of import the enchantress utters a cry
;

has not been afraid to

the Christians

malady of

fourth century, is so far from having begun at that period, that it is of apostolical tradition and of Jewish

of

the

the sight of this departed great one, whom she takes for a God. Saul, bowing down before the ghost of
of terror at

him who was

of the

so long the

supreme judge
as to the issue
is

of Israel, interrogates
battle in

him

origin.

The Hebrews implored

of the

which he

about to

dead counsel and miraculous cures, when those dead had been prophets acknowledged by
their

engage with the Philistines; and the prophet answers him iu a voice unaccompanied by any breath of
is

God.
in

saints,

The prophets were and saints who read the

an open book, from the where they

future

as

body Ramatha, where all Israel has mourned for him: " To-morrow thou and
life,

for his

at

depths of the sepulchral cave,

at

slept by the side of their fathers.

Look

thy sons shall be with me and the Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into
:

Saul with the witch of Endor; the ghost of Samuel, though evoked by incantations

the hands of the Philistines."

The Jews,
saints

then, did believe that their

which the law of Moses condemns,

the

appeared by permission of the Lord, to

terrify

The

rejected by Heaven. prophet, wrapped iu his mantle, rises

monarch

had a knowledge of the future. In the fourth Book of Kings we see that a dead man comes to life again by
contact with the bones of Eliseus.

AA

178

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

saints of Israel, then, did

The

work

miracles.

the dead prophet had not worked a miracle to save his people, by dividing the waters
of the Chobar.*

We

read in the second

Book

of

Mac-

chabees, that the high priest Onias and the prophet Jeremias were seen, after
their death, praying for the people ; we find in the Gemare that Caleb

of Israel, which

and

superb edifice, lamp burnt day and

leading
to

This sepulchre of a saint was surrounded by a and before which a golden

was

men

night, which the of the captivity were bourid

saved from the hands of those

after

who sought
to inter-

him, because he went to the tomb

of his ancestors to beg of

them

keep up,* has become again a mere cavern but this cavern is visited by all the Jews (ff Asia, who never pass by to
;

cede for him, that he might escape.' The Jews, therefore, did believe that
the intercession of departed saints was
of

Bagdad, without going out of their way to

pray there. At the foot of the Orontes, the beautiful shades of which waved above a thousand
silvery streams, which reflect the brightness of the Asiatic sun, is a city once

some

utility.

From

the time of their settlement in

Palestine, the Israelites visited the

tomb

of Rachel, a primitive

monument com-

posed of twelve enormous stones, upon which every pilgrim inscribed his name
;

once admired, which lies extended in the midst of ruined towers, temples
royal,

the tomb of Joseph, the saviour of Egypt, whose bones prophesied,^ was in like manner

overthrown, and sarcophagi of red granite,covered with inscriptions written in a dead

and

lost

language

it is

a place of prayer. At ihe time of the dispersion of the tribes, such crowds visited the sepulchral
cave of Ezechiel,

cient capital of the Medes,

Ecbatana, the annow the obscure

of the decayed

Hamadan.
city rises a

At one end
brick

monument, the

door-

who was buried on

the

banks of the river Chobar, where he had had

those divine visions, that the Chaldeans,

way of which, after the ancient sepulchral style of the country, is. very small, and

made

of very thick stone

it is

the

tomb

of

numerous assemblages might conceal, under the cloak of religion, some plot for political revolt, resolved to
fearing that these

a beautiful, young, and pious queen, who faced death to save her people, of the

upon these pilgrims, and disperse them at the point of the sword. A massacre would inevitably have followed, if
fall

noble Esther, who was there deposited on an ivory couch, inlaid with gold, embalmed with musk and amber, and wrapped
in a winding-sheet of silk

from China,' by

(1) Wagenseil, Excerpta ex (2) Ecclea., ch. xlix. v. 18. (3)

Gem,

of the vast

Benjamin de Tolede, Itineraire, pp. 70 80. (4) Epiphan., de Vitis Prophetorum, t. ii. p. 241. " He built her a mausoleum after the manner (5)
of the Iranians' (Iran was, before Cyrus, the real

skull with

kingdom now called Persia), filled her musk and amber, wrapped up her body in

Chinese silk, placed her on a throne of ivory, as kings are seated, and suspended her crown over her head afterwards the door of the tomb was painted red
;

name

and

blue."

(Firdousi, Book of Kings, Kei Khosrou.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

the side of the great
dochai.'

179
conceived in
us,

Hebrew
to

patriot

Maris

souls),

we read a
terms
"
:

prayer

This illustrious

which

these

Graciously hear

regarded by the Jews of Persia as a place of particular sanctity, and whither they
resort in crowds at the time of the feast

Jehovali, for the sake of those

thee,

who loved

and are no more; graciously hear us for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Sara, Rachel, &c."

the term of a pilgrimage of two thousand years' duration.

of Purim,^
is

Therefore, the Invocation of Saints

is

In the middle ages, when

the Saracens

were in power, the Arabs having threatened the Jews with a general massacre,
during a great drought which made Syria and Palestine barren, if rain should not
fall

not a thing imagined hij Catholics. Besides the saints, the Jews prayed to the angels, who were invoked by the
ancient Arabs, and to

whom the Assyrians,

of
sacrifices.*

who

attributed to

them the functions

by a certain day, they assembled in crowds around the tomb of Zacharias,

still

enchanters upon earth, ofiered

which

remains in the environs of

Jacob acknowledges that he is indebted to an angel for his deliverance from the
evils

Jerusalem, and they fasted and prayed there in sackcloth and ashes for many

which threatened him, and he prays

to bless his children
:

to

him

Angelus qui

God, by the intercession of that prophet, that he would save them

days, to obtain of

eripuit
istis:*'

me de
this

cunctis malis benedicat pueris

prayer
is,

is

addressed to an

from certain
.

death, by causing rain to

of applying the merits of
is

angel.

There

indeed,

some reason

to

fall

upon the earth.

of

believe that the

Jews carried the venera-

The custom
we

the dead to the living

find proof of
it

Hebrew

origin;

in a liturgy of the

they were suspected of adoring them." This veneration did not cease among the modern
tion of angels too far, since

synagogue of Venice. In the office entitled Mazir Mehamot {remembrance of

(1) Travels of Sir Eobert Ker Porter in Armenia and Persia. The present tomb of Esther and Mordecai occupies the same place as the old one, which was destroyed by Tamerlane. (2) This feast, which was instituted at Susan by Mordecai and Esther, was celebrated very solemnly on the 14th or 16th day of the mouth of Ader, which is our moon of .February. The Jews had the custom of making a cross of wood, formerly upon which they painted Aman, whom they dragged

Jews

till

the

period

of

the

so-called
it

Reformation, when they abandoned

to

to the angels was the protection of an angel entrusted the care of seas, rivers, springs, pastures, flocks, trees, herbs, fruits, flowers, and seeds ; they
;

also directed the stars

they offered up prayers

to the angels to obtain protection in

any calamity.
angel of
Chardin,
;

The modern
the moon.

(Firdousi,
Perse.)
xlviii. v.

Persians

still

sacrifice to the

Book

of

Kings

Voyage en
(i)

Gen.

16.

about
river.

tiie

city, that

afterwards burnt

every one might see him. They it, and threw the ashes into the
forbad

The Emperor Theodosius

it

them

to

of the Preaching of St. Peter, very ancient, quoted by St. Clement of Alexandria, makes that apostle say that we must
(5)

The author
is

which

act this comedy, lest

should be any allusion to the

not adore

death of Jesus Christ.

(3)

Among the

Persians, every

month was under

God with the Jews, because, although they profess to acknowledge only one God, they adore the angels. (Clem. Alex., 1. v.)

180

THE mSTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

meleck took possession of this church by force, and at the present day the venerated

please the innovators of Germany. There the Vatican hbrary, a Hebrew is, in

manuscript containing litanies composed by R. Eleazer Hakalir, in which the angel

Actariel
is

tomb

of the

man, who was a

is

prophet,

and

more than a prophet,

enclosed within a

thus addressed: " Deliver Israel

his redemplike favours are asked

from

all afl3iction,and solicit

Turkish mosque. But it is neither solitary nor unhonoured there the Mussulmans
;

tion speedily." The of Barachiel, of Wathiel,

and of other
"
:

angelic

princes.

The

litany concludes

with this address to Michael

for Israel, that

Prince of

rule mercy, pray with exalted power." The tombs of the martyrs were very early venerated by the Christians of Asia;

he may

come thither in pilgrimage from all parts, and the celebrated Saadi himself relates, in his Gulistan, that when he went to pray there, he met there princes of the Arabs. At the close of the first century, the faithful of Asia Minor repaired in crowds to the tomb of St. John the
Evangelist, the dust .of which, carefully gathered up, was said to efi"ect wonderful
cures.^
St.

the

first to

which pilgrimages were made

was probably that of St. John Baptist, which is the most respected by the Orientals, without distinction of creed, after

Stephen, the

first

relics

the Holy Sepulchre and the tomb of the Blessed Virgin. The body of the precursor
of the
St.

worked so many by St. Augustin, and who died before the Blessed Virgin, was in like manner early
invoked by the primitive Christians,
of St. Ignatius

martyr, whose miracles attested

God-Man was
it

at Samaria,

where

who
St.

Paula visited

in the fourth century;

also paid veneration to the blessed relics

and his head, disciples, was

translated to

carefully embalmed by his at Hems, whence it was

and

St.

Polycarp.^

Theodosius.

It

Damascus, in the reign of was there deposited in a

preserved, in a sermon on the martyrs, this prayer addressed by a Christian woman of the early

Asterius of

Amasea has

superb church, which bore the title of St. Zachary, but which from that time

times to a saint whose tomb she visited

"

You invoked

the martyrs before you

was

called St. John's.

The Caliph Abdel-

were yourself a martyr; you found when

than gold, deposited them in a decent place. In which place also assembled, as we hope to bo, in exultation and joy, our Lord will grant us to cele-

(1) St. Augustin speaks of miraculous cures wrought by the dust from the tomb of St. John the Evangelist. There is still to be seen, at this day,

among

of which the

the ruins of Ephesus, the church of St. John, Turks had made a mosque.

memory
tions."

brate the natal day of his martyrdom, as well in of those who have endured conflicts, as for
St.

(2) The history of the martjT-dom of St. Polycarp, written in the form of an epistle, in the name of the church of Smyrna, by those who had been

the exercise and encouragement of future generain the year 166,

Polycarp consummated his on the 23rd of January

the day

sacrifice

themselves witnesses of
afterwards taking

addressed to the it, and church of Philadelphia, contains these words: "We

away

his bones,

more exquisite

on which the church of Smyrna celebrated the feast of it in the middle of the third century, as we see by the Acts of St. Peter.

than the most precious gems,^ and more valuable

BLESSED VIEGIN MAET.

181

you sought ;-Jbe then liberal of those good things which you have received."
Eusebius of Csesarea, who flourished towards the end of the third century,
defending .our holy doctrines against the sophisms of idolaters, dwells upon the

Cyprian, who was martyred at Carthage, in the year 261, exhibits to us the
St.

to

Christians of Africa hastening in crowds the glorious tombs of the martyrs,

celebrating funereal feasts on the day of their anniversary, and s6 eager to invoke

honours which they paid

to their ancient

them, that not even waiting for their

death, they

heroes, to justify the -veneration of saints, and continues in these terms "
:

went

to implore the prayers of

We

honour, as the friends of

to their

God, those

have combated for the true go

who religion; we
our vows to

the confessors imprisoned by the pagans, whom the torture had left alive.* St. John

tombs; we

offer

them, professing to believe that we are

powerfully assisted by
intercession."*

Chrysostom, on his part, informs us that in his time the tombs of the martyrs formed the brightest ornament of royal
the days dedicated to them were days of joy; that the great men of the empire, and the emperor himself, put
cities; that

God through

their

These words of Eusebius, who in his

twofold character, as bishop and historian, must have been well informed, plainly

ancient usage, a custom the church, and generally approved by On the other hand, Vigilantius received.
point out an

insignia of their power before they ventured to pass over the threshold of the holy places, where those
off

the

pompous

glorious

sepulchres were found of

illustrious

the

servants of a crucified God.

..." How

and AErius, enemies to the veneration of the saints, were openly treated as innovators
St.

much more

than the tombs of

and heretics by St. Epiphanius, Jerome, and St. Augustin. But is it

kings," exclaims the great Christian orator, " are those monuments erected to those

ancient

be supposed that these great doctors would have dared to call men heretics
to

men who were humble and poor men Around the tombs of kings among
!

and
in

innovators,

who laboured

only to reinnovators

reign silence and solitude; here a great concourse of people crowd together."^

establish the ancient doctrine of the church

its

Such was the

religious veneration (of

native purity?

That word
;

the saints) called dulia, which Protestants

stigmatise as idolatrous and detestable, in those ages vvhich they themselves call, by

settles the

whole question

and we must

not lose sight of the fact, that Vigilantius lived at a time so near to the age of the
apostles,

them and him the

that there were only between lives of three old men

1

pre-eminence, the pure ages.* As regards the veneration of hyperdulia (of the Blesse'd Virgin), which, without

(1) Praepar. Evang., lib. (2) S. Cypr., Epist. 28. (3) S. Chrysoet., Horn.

xiii. c. 7.

lib. iv. c.

(4) Daille, in his 16,

book of Traditions des Latins,

66 ad pop. AntiocL.

182

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

being adoration, which

superior to that of the
to all appearance,

God

forbid, is far

saints, it began,

with great solemnity. St. John the the beautiful church of apostle placed
it

The Jewish

from her very tomb. doctors have preserved, in the

Lydda under the invocation mother the first church

;

of his adopted
at

Milan was

Talmud, an historical fact long unknown, which establishes the high antiquity of
this pious

.dedicated to

Mary by the apostle St. Bar-

homage, against which tbey

Our Lady del Pilar, in Spain, and Our Lady of Carmel, in Syria, dispute
nabas.

expend themselves in blasphemies.

Toldos,

tradition of the temple, preserved in their

that
is

book where the Blessed

insultingly
treated,

the priority with these churches, and set up a bolder, but more disputable claim. According to the Spanish tradition,^ the

Virgin

so

and

which they very early circulated in Persia, Greece, and wherever they could injure relates that the Nainfant Christianity,

Blessed Virgin appeared, before her death, to St. James, on the banks of the Ebro,

and commanded him

in the place

*to

build a church

where he then was.

Accord-

zareans,

who came

to pray at the

tomb

of

the Mother of Jesus, underwent a violent persecution on the part of the princes of the Synagogue,, and that it coct a hundred Christians, related to Jesus Christ, their

ing to the Syrian tradition, the prophet Agabus, the same who foretold the famine

which happened under Claudius, erected in like manner, during the lifetime of the Blessed Virgin, that church which is
visible so far oif at sea,

having erected an oratory over her tomb.* This act of barbarous fan alives, for

and where
all

pil-

grims and
all

travellers, of

religions

and

ticism, of

which they make a boast, being

St. Paul,

quite on a par with their conduct towards

St.

nations of the globe, receive hospitality, so moving, in the name of Mary.

Stephen, St. James, and

and

the oratory erected over a tomb held in veneration, having nothing about it to
clash with their traditions or manners, this
fact, it

Without disputing the antiquity of these two sanctuaries, certainly very venerable,

and

justly reverenced by the people,

we

appears to us, may be considered authentic, without incurring the imputa-

may be allowed to say that there is little probability that the Blessed Virgin, the
most humble of the daughters
of Eve,

tion of excessive credulity.

by religious monuments, assures us that the religious

Tradition,
attested

would have required altars of the apostles in her lifetime. That the gratitude of
the people, and the piety of the apostles, may have erected them to her after her natural enough but that she gave orders for them during her life, is
death,
is
;

homage
tution.
tioch,
is

paid to

St. Peter,

Mary when he went

is

of apostolic instito

An-

said to have erected in one of

the cities of ancient Phoenicia, an oratory to the Blessed Virgin, and inaugurated
(1) Toldos Huldr., p. 116.

doubtful.

As

for the oratory of

Carmel, f^lavius
aCo 35 de Cristo.

(2) Cronologia sacra

al

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

183

Josephus,
sian, to

who speaks

directly of the dis-

Vespaone of them promised the empire, does not any where say that they

ciples of Elias, with reference to

were converted to Christianity, and the contrary would be inferred from his account.

whom

This negative authority carries

great weight.

FIRST EPOCH: RELIGIOUS VENERATION OF

MARY BEFORE CONSTANTINE.

CHAPTER
THE
As
EAST.

11.

IDOLS.
They would not have that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had unjustly condemned
to a disgraceful

already mentioned, the religious veneration of the Mother of God had for its
cradle her very
;

tomb and the first lamp lighted up in honour of Mary was a sepulchral lamp, around which the Christians of Jerusalem came to pray. This, appathe synagogue, rently, did not last long like every power beset with the violent,
:

punishment, exalted with

his followers after the

ignominy of Golto

gotha.
that the

It

was annoying

them

to

hear

Galilean, they called a son of Belial, and whose miracles they accounted empty impostures, was God,

whom

dread of expiring, and suspicious like all who have a bad conscience, was

and his Mother a great saint; and then

they were afraid that this new kind of veneration, which was akin to the religion
of the tombs, supported as
it

alarmed at the innocent homage paid to the mother of the young prophet, whom they had not only refused, notwithstanding
his miracles, to
sias,

was by the

incontestable miracles which the apostles

acknowledge as the Mesthey had audaciously seditious man and an

but

whom
as
a

crucified,

might have an evil upon the volatile minds of the multitude, and provoke a dangerous rewrought
at Jerusalem,

influence

impostor,

between
the
to

two

thieves.

They

extinguished

hymns, and put

is

lamps, silenced the death without mercy

action in favour of the crucified prophet. And as they had openly avowed to John

and Peter, they had no wish

to

to

be called

the earliest servants of

Mary

at least it

account by the people for the blood of

they- themselves who assure us of the fact, and they were very capable of so

Jesus.

On

all

these
priests

accounts, the

senators

doing!

They

did this out of fanaticism,

and chief

went a step farther in

partly from self-love

and

partly from fear.

the slippery descent of crime, to maintain

184

THE HISTOET OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

Paganism, repudiated by serious minds, despised by
philosophers, ridiculed
in

the rectitude of the abominable sentence

common

people of towns.

which they had extorted from the Romans, and they took great credit to themselves
for having stifled the veneration of the

the

theatres

where

the testament

of the defunct Jupiter

was

Blessed Virgin in

its

infancy.

Their

publicly read, and railed at with malice

Voltairian by the young epicureans of the court of the Csesars,* still possessed notwithstanding an incredible
perfectly

impious

The most

expectation was disappointed. furious and best obeyed tyrants,

fantasies

in the dark

of

their

cannot destroy remembrance that flower of the soul which expands, mysterious

cruelty,

number

of partisans

allied to

interests,

defended

by

numerous prejudice and

and consolatory, in the inaccessible region of our ideas, and which the power of the
storm of persecution only causes to take deeper root. That of the Blessed Virgin
resisted
this

ancient superstitions,

attractive

splendour of its festivals, with all glorious memories, though in

decline,
its
it

by the and intermixed

its

Jewish hurricane; hymns

were no more sung in her cave, but people always came thither to weep, and the tears

to

shone in splendour. Proud of advantages, at first it would not deign fear the carpenter's son and the young
of Nazareth.^ How should it fear It did not see them. The re-

spinster

which devotion causes us

to

shed are as

them?

valuable as the frankincense of Saba, which

ligion of the

God who was

made

poor,

and of

comes

forth too from the

wounded

bark,

his holy mother,

noiseless progress

in the form of tears.

Violently uprooted by the sacrilegious

along the rough and painful pathway of the common people ; it addressed itself

hands of the princes of that people rejected by God, the religious veneration of Mary was transplanted by the apostles to
a foreign
to
soil still idolatrous.

by preference

to the artisan, to the wife,

to the slave, to all

who were

little,

feeble,

They

lived

society of paganism, that society profoundly egotistical, avaricious,

and oppressed by the

effeminate,

see

it

dawn

in Syria,

Mesopotamia,

and corrupted, which

its

Asia Minor, Egypt, and Spain. It is true that this veneration, so tender and so
poetical,

was
It

brilliant

and cold as

own marble

divinities.

which was

to take place of the

worship of the divinities of Olympus, shone at first only hke a small star in the zenith of certain

impure

and

seductive

was soon perceived that the moral world, that aged Titan bordering on decrepitude, became young again under the
potent and secret influence of some regenerating charm. What sorceress had
restored to this

cities;

for Christianity

was

at first only

the religion of towns, and even of the

new

iiEson the active

and

(1) The witticism of that courtier of Nero is well known, who, when abused and threatened by an old prie^eas, one of whose sacred geese he had killed,

called out in a tone of derision, as he threw her two " pieces of gold, Here, this is to buy gods and geese."

(2) SeeCelsuB.

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

ardent blood of his youthful years?
to bring

What

Prometheus had mounted up to heaven, down thence to man, frozen to

Charity held out the other to the infirm old man, abandoned on the steps of
his
toil.

the temples.
travelling deities

death by egotism, a spark of sacred fire ? For it was impossible to mistake the fact
;

who were

ye gods of Greece, ye hospitably en-

tertained beneath the thatch of

society was in labour with something strange and grand, which was to restore
to
it
it its

Philemon and Baucis, did you again perambulate

the
earth
to

re-establish

therein

the

potent and juvenile attractions

was

visibly

becoming again what

it

was

beautiful reign of virtue ? No ; for you were, as the Scripture says, deaf gods,

in the beautiful times so

by Horace, when it noured the gods, and proudly gloried in its poverty. Already, invisible, but persevering hands seemed to have raised up again, from their ruins beneath the grass,

regretted despised pomp, ho-

much

helpless gods, blind gods

better,

speak were nothing. you Behold amid that soft, smiling society, crowned with roses, and drinking out of
;
!

or, to

golden cups to the gods of Olympus, there appear, from time to time, groups with
noble countenances, and severe comportment, who turn away their eyes from these

the ancient altar of modesty, and the austere temples of faith, honour, and
virtue.

beheld

Beneficence, which no longer the smoke of sacrifices, since

pagan orgies with indignation mixed with

irony

Can they be
?

Stoic philo-

material enjoyments were pursued with

sophers

No

for they

shed a tear of

was apparently beginning again to be mysteriously honoured. The ancient equality of the age of Saturn showed itself
frenzy,

compassion over the poor

man who

begs

of them, before they slip into his hand, as

anew here and there upon

fine,

the earth.

In

humanity

carried in its arms those

they hurry away, the rich alms which fills him with astonishment. Is it that young female then, a vestal virgin, who walks,

the elegant matrons of pagan society on the banks of rivers, in the deep recesses of forests, on

infants

who were exposed by

with her hands joined and her eyes cast down, by the side of her mother, who is
veiled like herself?

No;
fillets,

for she

has

the

brink of precipices, where eagles,

neither embroidered

nor her dress

wandering dogs, and wild beasts tore to pieces their little warm and bleeding
Supporting with one manly hand the labourer panting under the weight of
limbs.^

bordered with the purple of the .^mafcE,* and her only ornament is modesty. Those

widows

at twenty,

who no more

rekindle

the torch of hymen,^ while

the

grand

liair

gives details enougli to make one's stand on end, on that abominable custom of The -Jews alone at exposing children forsaken.
(1) Philo

consecrated

herself to
lib.
i.

the
12.)

worship of Vesta.

(Aulus Gellius,
(3)

c.

condemned that barbarous practice. vestals bore the name of Aniatm in memory of Amata, the first Iloman virgin who
that time
(2)

The

continency of the Cliristian women extorted cries of admiration from the pagans themselves. St. John Chrysostora has related
austere that the famous sophist Libauius, whose lectures

The

B B

186
ladies of

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

paganism reckon
their divorces

upon the

altar of their

former household

by the consulships,' whence come they ? And those young men, who reverently

gods, the lamp of which, fixed in marble, is always burning,' is seen the benignant

bow

before the aged, blush like young women, and are not the less brave like
lions

image of a young female of Asia,

her arms a divine Infant.

half-

veiled in light blue drapery,* holding in

in

war,

who

are

they
;

They

they do not frequent the circus ; they do not figure in the pagan mysteries with garlands of
flowers or baskets of sacred fruits
their heads
;

are not seen in the theatre

This woman, with a countenance calm and clear as the

waves of the Egean sea when Zephyr gently moves them with the tip of his airy

upon

and they passed before the pompus temples of Greece and Rome
without entering them.
sacrifice

is the inspirer of modesty, of chasof devotion, and of mercy; the guartity, dian of honour, the protectress of the

wing,

The

sight of a

domestic hearth

in a word, she

is

that

makes them

fly

away, and they

shake their dark mantles well when a few

drops of the lustral water chance to fall upon them. In a word, they would rather
die than touch
offered to

sweet Virgin Mary, to whom the Greeks have given the name of Panagia (Ilavayta), which means, all holy. Asia claims the honour of having been
the
first to

any meats which had been Can these be wicked the gods.

set

up

oratories

and chapels
;

men, these men whose hands heal up with gold the frightful wounds of misery, and
whose manners breathe purity ?

under the invocation of Mary the oldest of these sanctuaries was Our Lady of
Tortosa, which St. Peter himself founded,

No;

for

according to the Oriental traditions, on the

coast of Phoenicia.

they assemble together three times in the day, and sometimes in the night," to pray
in

common, with

their

hands

lifted
;

towards heaven, to a

God unknown

up and

These earliest Syrian churches were only at first very simple edifices, with roofs of cedar and latticed

windows.

Th6

altar

was turned towards

on oratory he attended, learning from him that his mother had been a widow from .the age of twenty, and would never take a second hnsband, exclaimed,
turning
to

his

idolatrous

"

auditory,

gods of
these

Greece, what Christians!"

(Sancti Ohrysostomi

women

are to be found

among

vita.)

had their worship. Incense and wine were offered to them they were crowned with flowers, and a was lighted before their little statues. There lamp was found under the earth at Lyons, in 1505, a copper lamp with two beaks, the chain of which was fixed into a piece of marble which bore this
;

(1) Seneca, Treatise on Acts of Kindness, lib. iii. (2) The first Christians assembled for prayer at

inscription

the hours of Tierce, Sext, and None, as it is noted ia the Acta of the Apostles ; they spent the night iu i)rayer on the eves of great feasts, and sung

" Laribus sacrum. P. F. Eomum."

"

Which means,
Romans."

To

the

public

felicity

of

the

hymns
(3)

in

honour of Jesus Christ, as

St. Basil

and

Socrates testify.

The gods who were

or Fenatet were the tutelary

called indifferently Lares' of houses. They

(4) In the oldest pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which are painted on wood, the great antiquity of which is undisputed, she almost always wears a

^ds

blue

veil.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

the west, like that of Jerusalem, and the
choir was enclosed with a screen of open woodwork, in memory of the celebrated
veil of the
its

187
celebrated sanctuary of Our But in no place in the
religious

Augusta,

Lady

del Pilar.

world was

the

veneration

of

crosses in these churches

Holy of Holies. and very soon

;

There were

Mary welcomed with more enthusiasm than in Asia Minor. Ephesus, where the
of the Blessed Virgin still lived, soon built in honour of Mary the Miriam,

images of Mary, since tradition records that she was painted

there were also

memory

upon one
'

of the pillars of the beautiful

a superb cathedral, in which, in the fifth

church of Lydda, which her adopted son

century, was

held

the

famous council
title

had dedicated

to her,

and that

St.

Luke

which

secured

her

beautiful

of

presented to the cathedral of

himself.

Antioch a

Mother of God.
This example was followed from one

portrait of the Blessed Virgin, painted by

This picture,
her

to

which

it

was

end
of

to the other of the

confidently said that the

Mother

of

God
so

Rome.

immense territory Phrygia, having become Chris-

had attached
it

favours,

became

famous, that the Empress Pulcheria had brought to Constantinople, where she
a magnificent church for
its

her Trojan deities sung by Homer; Oappadocia let the sacred fires go out for want of fuel, which the Persians
tian, forgot

built

re-

ception.

had kindled there by the side of the elegant temples of Greece; and the caverns, which
but a short time before had lent their

Edessa, the capital city of that king, Abgarus, who was on the point of making

gloomy recesses

to the bloody mysteries of

war upon the Jews to avenge the death of our Lord, and who was withheld solely
by the fear of incurring
the anger of

Mithra,' became during the persecutions for religion which broke out nowhere

the Romans, their masters, according to 'Eusebius, had also, in the first century,

with greater fury than among the Greek colonies a place of refuge for the Chris-

tians

and

their proscribed

God.

At

last,

Our Lady, adorned with a miraculous image. Egypt boasts of about the same time, its having had, Church of Our Lady of Alexandria, and
his church of

Greece, those indigenous gods deities sprung from the bright foam of
the

the

of

Egean
of

sea,

trees

the

born beneath the palmCyclades, which are still

the Spanish Saragossa, then called Csesar-

standing, or cradled in the shade of woods

(1) The worship of Mithra, before it reached Greece and Rome, had previously passed from Persia into Oappadocia, where Strabo, who had travelled there, says that he had seen a great

lated, as appears his ecclesiastical

by

'ii

fact related

by Socrates

in

history,

that

the Christians

of

number

of

priests of

Mithra.

The

mysteries of

Alexandria having discovered a cave which had been long closed up, in which it was handed dowa by tradition that the Mithriac rites had been for-

Mitlira, which were celebrated in the depths of caverns, were something horrible, according to the Human victims were there immoholy fathers.

merly celebrated, they found there human bones and skulls, which they took out to exhibit to the
people of that great
city.

188

THE HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

lofty

which crown the

were abandoned

mountains of Crete,

for the

God who

died
;

which, rising above the verdant ocean of the trees, were traced upon the sky of
Greece, the blue of which
protecting
is

on Calvary, and the Virgin of Nazareth and so perfectly forsaken, that Pliny the
Younger, on his arrival in Bithynia, of which he had just been appointed governor, wrote to Trajan that Christianity had taken possession, not only of the
cities

so soft.

The

goddess

of

the Corinthians

had been dethroned by that holy female

who

restored in their effeminate country

modesty, which was disowned, and maternity,

which was despised.

Thanks

to

but of the country, so that he had

'

her, pure family pleasures, the exquisite

found the temples of the gods of the empire deserted.' Asia Minor possessed, from the
earliest

enjoyments of the domestic hearth, were, without difficulty, substituted for the
shameful disorders, the monstrous orgies,

times, miraculous images of our Blessed The two most celebrated were Lady.

and the depraved manners of that little republic, which had always been seen to
shine in the foremost rank

that of Dydinia, where St. Basil went to pray for the afflicted church in the reign

among

corrupt

commonwealths.

Corinth, transformed,

and that of Sosopoli, a picture on wood, from which exuded a painted wonderful kind of oil which effected
of Julian
;

became a Christian Sparta, and the eulogium which "St. Clement pronounces upon its church, towards the end of the first
century, gives us a marvellous idea of
fervour.
its

astonishing cures, which were the subject of discussion at the second council of
Nice.

Arcadia, the

forests

letters

Greece, that distinguished country of and arts, was not backward either

in honouring Mary.

In the time of

St.

peopled with rustic each wild cavern and every murmuring stream had its altar, abjured also, but less
the worship of Pan and the nymphs,- for the veneration of the humble
speedily,

which were deities, and where

of

Paul, Corinth, where Grecian

like a

freedom,
its

rays before

lamp expiring, it was extinguished, became

had

cast

last

almost entirely converted to Christianity. The faithful assembled at first in the

of private houses, where the Blessed Virgin was solemnly invoked.

had been Virgin, whose divine Infant pleased to receive for his earhest homage
the artless adoration of the shepherds. But as old superstitions are more difficult to eradicate in the country than else-

spacious halls

the temples of paganism were and a century later only travellers thinned, and curious persons climbed up the steep sides of the Acro-Ceraunium to visit the

By degrees,

where,

was for a long time believed Arcadian hamlets, that Diana in those
it

hunted in the deep recesses of the great forests of Msenalus and LycJEUs. Young
shepherdesses, divided between Christian dogmas and the super-

temple of Venus, the

lofty porticoes

of

and

credulous

(1) Plin.,

lib. X. epiet.

97.

stitions of their forefathers,

imagined that

BLESSED VIEQIN MAEY.

they saw sometimes by the uncertain light of the moon beautiful white Dryads among
the trees, Naiads pensively hanging down their heads on the margins of fountains,
or frolicsome NapsesB dancing

189
strengthening waters of She was received with enthu-

the bitter but

poverty.

siasm, and

they hastened to build the most beautiful church in Greece to the

upon the

young foreign Virgin, who came

the young

to teach

golden buds and daisies of the meadows.

women

of Sparta to keep their

But towards the time

of Constantine, the

eyes cast down.

Blessed Virgin had decidedly prevailed over deified nature ; and the numberless

with absolute power;

violets

Since then, Mary has reigned in Sparta for her the first

churches in her name, which

still

adorn

expand, which the Eurotas sees

its

the rural sites of the ancient Pelasgi, attest

blossoming on

banks

before

the

the profound attachment of the Arcadians' to her veneration.

Elis, in like

picture of her, rudely painted in red and blue upon the walls of their dwellings,

church in

manner, very early built a honour of the Blessed Virgin,

its river
;

the young maidens of Lacedsemonia light up every evening a lamp of clay or bronze,
a pious action which the
trices,

on the banks of
to

Alpheus, sacred

Greek

improvisa-

romantic adventures

and as

it

was
it

who
fail

the

surrounded with noble vineyards, gave name of our Lady of Gi'apes.

do not

sing the praises of the dead, to celebrate on days of funeral

Lastly,

obsequies.

the

inhabitants

of

Macedonia took the lead of Greece,

properly so called, in the veneration paid to Mary Thessalonica had a bishop's see
:

Laconia sulfstituted the names of Christ

and of the Blessed Virgin, wherever their

forefathers used the

name
this

of Jupiter in

in the time of the apostles;

still

and there
basilica,

is

their affirmations;

and

form of oath
the

to

be seen a superb
of

with

grew so much into use that the Turks of

Misistra

jasper, which the people of pillars Alexandria had dedicated to the Blessed

themselves,

before

Greek

revolution, instead of swearing by Allah

Virgin, and which the Turks have converted into a mosque.^

and Mahomet, like the otlier OSmanlis, used to swear, like the Greeks of Sparta,
by the Blessed Virgin.^ The elegant and learned Athens, celebrated for
its

Nero, travelling in Peloponnesus, had not dared to pass the frontiers of Laconia;
the austere shade of Sparta had afTrighted him. The meek and timid Virgin of Galilee was braver than Caesar; she passed
over the Eurotas, which hides
its

monuments, the

finest in the

schools frequented by the flower of the studious youth of Europe

world, and
its

low

waters beneath rose-bays, and presented herself to the people of Leonidas, whose
ancient virtue had been again steeped in
Wheeler's Travels.

and Asia, was slower in its conversion to Christianity than the other countries of
the early times, however, it had had a bishop, and a church dedicated

Greece.

From

(1)

(2) Pouqueville,

Voyage en Moree,

t. i.

190
to

THE HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

coolness wliich accompanies the night in their burning sands,' the tellers of talcs

Mary, Our Lady Spiliotissa (of the grotto); but polytheism kept its ground under the brilliant eegis of Minerva, and
at

same tin*e full of Athens was It was in Christian churches and idols. one of these churches that Julian the Apostate, by order of the Emperor Conthe
stantius, filled the office of lector; but it

among the Christian tribes, by the light of those eternal lamps of God, which they believe to be fastened with golden chains to
the ceiling of the firmament,^ related the principal facts of the life of the Blessed
Virgin, colouring

them with

that tinge of

was in

tlie

Parthenon that he went

to

plan the re-establishment of idolatry, as he read Homer.

the marvellous which.is so agreeable to the children of Ismael. They told, according
to the

Arab gospel of the infancy of Christ

traditions of the desert,

That the veneration of the Blessed Virgin had a powerful influence on the propagation of the gospel in Greece and Asia, is a fact which the manners and
tastes of the Levantines

and the

how

the

holy angels

came

to bring to the Blessed

Virgin, in the temple

where her tutor

fine dates, aro-

Zachary had placed her,

matic grapes,
odoriferous
celestial
figs

would have ren-

dered probable, even

St. Cyril, at

if it

had not been

sweeter than honey, and flowers, gathered in those

attested, before all the Oriental bishops,

gardens which abound in limpid

:

by

the

first

council of Ephesus,

in a discourse which has remained to our " Hail to times. thee, holy Mother of

springs and green trees for Paradise in hot climates has always been composed of cool waters and delightful' shades. And
still in their own way, the prodigies of the birth of Jesus, which they still call, though since become

"

God," said this holy and learned bishop, by whom churches have been founded

then they related,

throughout the world."'

On
to

the other side of the

Great Sea,

Mussulmans, Al milad (the birth by excellence).

several tribes of Arabs had been converted

Christianity,

They placed the scene

in a

and

greatly honoured

Mary, the Sultana of Heaven, as they still Seated beneath the shade of call her.

desert, on the margin of a spring, and at the foot of a withered palm-tree, without

the date palms, or the tamarisk with its green fruits, which loves the margin of
salt springs, and inhaling with delight the
(1) S. Cyr. Alex. Oper.,
(2)
t.

branches and without foliage, which was suddenly covered with leaves and fruit, at
the voice of the angel Gabriel, whom God had sent to Mary, to dry up her tears.
but those words, " Leili
!

v. p. 2.

leili!"

"0

night

While the sun

is

above the horizon, as the

heat

is

excessive in their climate, the Arabs usually

night I" are repeated in all their note on the c. 7 of the Koran.)

songs.

(Sav.,

keep within their tents. They come out when the 8un is near setting, and then enjoy the charms of
the most beautiful sky and the cool air. The night Thus is partly to them what the day is to us.
their poets never celebrate the praises of a fiue day,

(3) The first heaven is of pure silver ; on its beautiful ceiling are suspended the stars with strong

chains of gold.

(Koran, the Legend of

Mahomet,

by Savary,

p. 15.)

BLESSED VIEGIN MAKY.

191

These marvellous

narratives

increased
;

their veneration for the Blessed Virgin

leaves

molated to her, decorated with green and flowers they offered to her
;

they believed that in course, of time they should be able to adore her in heaven

the earliest ears of corn of the harvest,

as well as the first dates of the palm-trees,

whom
cakes

the angels had served upon earth, and indeed they offered her oblations of

and, in golden vases, the foaming milk of the sacred camels.^ The figure of the

made

of flour

and honey
(a cake).

hence

Blessed Virgin, holding the divine Infant

in her arms, remained in the temple of

they got the

the word

name

of coUyridians, from
St.

xoTJKopils

Epi-

phanius strongly condemned them for this worship, which exceeded legitimate limits;

and taught them that oblation and sacrifice must be offered to God alone. On
the other hand, the idolatrous Arabs had placed the image of Mary in the Caaba, among the angels, whom they represented under the form of young women, and

Mecca till the time of Mahomet, who had it removed with the genii and angels. The holy name of Mary began to be invoked among the people who dwell be
tween the Caspian Sea and the Euxine; the sanctuaries of Judea were but, alas
!

profaned by the Greek and Syriao idols, which were not overthrown till the time
of Constantine.
statue of Jupiter was sacrilegiously erected on the spot where Mary in tears had seen Christ crucified,

The

whom
Mary,

they called

the daughters

of God}

they had made the sister of those pure spirits,- received equally with them divine honours. Victims were im-

whom

and

tjiey offered sacrifice to

Adonis

in the cave of Bethlehem.

CHAPTER
THE WEST.

III.

THE CATACOMBS.
drunk with the blood of martyrs, which she had made to flow like water, defended polytheism with all her power, and her
power extended over the world. In the East, a mysterious sign, which made
Mexico
to

sacred vine of Christianity already flourished in Asia so as to extend its holy branches over a multitude of people;^ but
it

The

took root more slowly in the West.

Eome,

thoroughly

idolatrous

Rome,

(1) Geladeddin, note on the IG c. of the Koran. (2) The Arab idolaters had several female camels

God, and another

c.

offered a portion of their fruits and flocks to their idols. (Geladeddin,

consecrated to the gods of Caaba; the cream of their milk served to make libations. (Savary, in a note

note on the 6
(3)

of the Koran.)

We

learn from Arnobius

and Ens'ebius that

on the 5

c.

of the

Koran.)

The

inhabitants of

the Gospel, in the firstthree centuries, had extended

193
Satan
start

THE UISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

from the depths of his
fiery

brass.*

Those primitive churches of Rome,

realms, announced that the

God was

at

hand; but in

kingdom Italy, and

of
in

which already existed before the arrival of St. Paul, were chiefly composed of
Greeks
tianity ;

those regions situated beyond the Alps, Christianity was as yet only in the condition of a secret society
it
;

and Jews converted

but the

to

Chris-

Roman people soon heard

which declared
that" all

people joined

of this

new

law,

with
;

all

teries

kinds of precautions and mysthe members recognised each

men
and

are brethren, that they are equal, bound to love one another. They

other by certain conventional signs ; and, no doubt, the sign of the cross, the origin

found this holy law beautiful; they wished to follow it, and came in crowds to receive
It the regenerating waters of Baptism. was then found, to the great surprise of

unknown, was one of those mysterious signs which made known a

of which
is

Christian stranger to his brethren scatNot that the tered among the crowd.
Christians of the Western regions were few in number they could already have

every one, says Tacitus, that there was in Rome an immense number of Christians.^

The
tion;

priests of the idols

were in commo-

formed armies

but, persecuted by idola-

Nero, the emperor and supreme pontiff", took the alarm, and persecutions
began.*

trous rulers, tracked like wild beasts, and

finding no support from the Roman laws, which took cognisance of them only to
as a punish them, they lived isolated and as drops upon dew from the Lord, the grass, which waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the children of

They assembled
prefect of

at

first

where they
to

could, as St. Justin martyr replied to the

"

Rome, who wanted

know

where these assemblies were held, an4

who

men."

The

earliest

Latin churches were do-

mestic chapels, and the first altars portable chests of wood, like the ark, in the form
of which they were m^ftie, with rings of
domination of

know; but the halls, and upper chambers of private houses becoming too confined, and the searches made by the senate more rigorous every
did not get to

became necessary to look out for a temple vast enough to contain a great
day,
it
Its shape is that of a chest. eight palms wide. The altar was carried by means of several rings.

far beyonif the

the

Romans, among and many others whom' they do not mention. (Arnob., Adv.
tlie

Persians,

Partliians,

Scythians,

Gentes,
lib,
iii.

lib.

ii.

c.

12; Euseb., Demonstr. Evang.,

c. 5.)

(3) Tacit., Annal., lib. xv. c. 44. (4) The pretence for this first p'ersecution was the burning of Rome, which Nero had set fire to

(1) Mich. V. 7. (2) One of these altars, on which it is believed that St. Peter celebrated the divine mysteries, and

himself,

was extremely

and then accused the Christians of it. It Cruel the Christians were wrapped
:

in cloths dipped

in

pitch,

or

other

combustible

which Pope Sylvester enclosed beneath the high altar of St. John Lateran, was examined on the
29th of Marcli, 1G68, under Alexander VII., by the Chevalier Baromini, accompanied by the sacristan major of the basilica
;

matter; then they set fire to them, so that they served for torches to give light in the night. Nero made a spectacle of it in his gardens, where he
himself drove chariots by the light of these very dreadful torches. (See Hist. Eccles., t. i. p. 98.)

it is

four palms long

by

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

multitude of people, and yet so concealed as to elude the investigations of that swarm
of informers

193

Instead of rich spoils, the rible trophies of the angel of death

torches
1 !

ter-

On

who

were, at that time, to

the empire a scourge, which might be compared to the plagues of Egypt. Some courageous Christians proposed the cata-

each side, in front, before, and behind the place where the assembly of the faithful crowded together, were long subterraneous avenues, where torches gleamed

combs.

There were
halls,

to

be found immense

gloomy

interminable avenues, where

the darkness was so great, says St. Jerom, that it seemed like descending alive into

the distance, and where veiled figures were seen moving like Beneath their feet was the spectres!
at intervals in

the grave, and the walls of which were covered with buried bodies. This labyrinth of coffins, with ways out impossible
to find,

dust of a republic, which had borne off its virtues in the folds of its great windingsheet
:

terror within

and without,

in

where to go without a guide was the sure way to perish; those vaults which turned the head giddy, and beneath which

case of discovery, the amphitheatre, the arena of which was red like a wound, to

such degree had Christian blood been shed there in torrents.

reigned perpetual silence, fear, and death, had no terrors for the first faithful of

When we
trepid heroes

reflect

on these things, we
to brave these terrors?

ask ourselves in astonishment what in-

Rome.

they assembled in this frightful metropolitan church, to read the wi'itings of the apostles or prophets;

On Sunday

came

.... Those

heroes wlio confronted fear

then

upon a shapeless altar, the sacrifice of bread and wine, which was preceded by a sermon, and followed by a
tliey offered,

and death were poor ignorant men, who had grown up in the midst of the auguries,
the presages, and
stitious

the thousand
;

super-

fears

collection for the poor.'

few rude

fres-

coes, representing our Saviour, or

Mary, which may yet be seen, half gone, in the catacombs of Naples and Rome, were the
only decoration of this place of prayer, where the assembly consisted of ten

timid virgins, from the world, like solitary roses;* opulent and fair patrician ladies, served by legions
of
slaves,

paganism they were accustomed to flourish apart

of

upon couches of massive gold, eat upon tables of citron

slept

who
in

wood, lived
ivory,

generations of the departed, and one of What a temple the living. Instead of
1

apartments inlaid with and walked upon marble slabs

in rich mantles of scarlet,

sprinkled with gold or silver dust; young

vessels of gold, set with precious stones,

men wrapped up
who were

they had chalices of wood!

Instead of

called Anicius, Olibrius, Prohus,

Roman lamps

of massive silver,

mournful

or Gracchus;^ in fine, the flower of the

(1) Apolog. S. Just.

(2)
S. Aiiibr.,

de Virg.,

lib.

i.

c. 6.

Symmacluis. According to this author, the family of Anicius was the first patrician family who embraced Christianity at Rome.

(b) Ste I'iudcndus, in

hia

two books against

C C

194

THE inSTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE known by

their eques-

patricians; knights
ti'ian

the rivulets.

rings, grand

officers of the palace,

holy

-old

Oftentimes the bishop, a man, leaning on a poor actunl

tribunes of the people, favourites, rektives of CfEsar, whose sons were designed to

shepherd's crook, reproved those who had deserted the cftmp of riches, and who

succeed him in the empire.

'
.

What

came

to adore the poor

King, for a
luxury.
listened to
it

lin-

more?

Imperial princesses, who crossed by night the courts of their golden palace on Slount Palatine, escorted by a few

gering attachment to told the grand ladies,

in

Roman
who

He
him
not

and glided like ghosts outside of the city of Romulus, to go and

faithful

slaves,

pensive become Christian

attitude, that

did

and

women to wear in rings " the subsistence of a thoubracelets,

adore in the depths of the catacombs the Galilean, as the haughty idolatrous aristocracy expressed themselves with disdainful contempt, and to invoke that sweet

sand poor people." Some days after that, people asked one another what one of the
daughters of the Anicii had done with lier jewels. The poof, both pagan and Christian,

Virgin Mary, for whom the noble descendants of the Gracchi and the Scipios

round about her could have an!

swered, by showing bread and even gold

abandoned
Lucina.*

their favourite temple of

Juno

Or

he declaimed against slavery; and the next day it was everywhere repeated
else

If the Tiber

did not

fall,

had overflowed, or rain or an earthquake had hap-

with profound surprise, that a certain prefect of the palace had just given free-

pened, and the Roman people, to avert their disasters, had cried out as usual,
"

dom
that,

to five

hundred
all,

slaves.

There

it

was

above

charity was inculcated;

and

The

Christians to the lions

" ^
1

coffins

were brought before the altar, full of bones collected in the amphitheatre. Then a shout of triumph, sweetly adapted
psalmody, arising from the bowels of the earth, mingled with the continued
to

what kind of charity ? " Almsgiving is a mystery," said the priest of Jesus Christ,
"

when you exercise it, shut the doors And when they came out from those
!

"

assemblies where fervour was rekindled,

the people went to collect on the banks of the Tiber the
the poor

women among

noise of the waters which the aqueducts carried above the walls of Rome, and the

and gentle waving of the tall Italian poplars, which resembles the murmur of
soft

children which were exposed there by tho grand idolatrous ladies; patrician dames
set apart a portion of their palaces for

(1) Flavius Clement, cousin german of Domitian, nnd whose two sons had been intended by the

emperor liiniself for his successors in the emjiirL', was put to death for being a Cliristian, having hardly ended liis consulaliip. Tlie princess Domitilla, hJB wife, a Christian lil(c liiniself, was banished to au island. (Hist. Eccles., t. i. p. 106.)

(2) The temple of Juno Lucina was frequented by preference by the grandest ladies of Home; it was forbidden to courtesans to enter it; it wiis there that mothers made vows for rich matches for their

daughters.
(3) Apolog. TertulL

BLESSED VIEQIN MARY.

and young Christian noblemen
to a distance to

195

hospitals,

Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the

apostles.

undertook journeys

succour

These

little

statues, the disco-

their brethren of Africa or Asia.

These

acts of charity, self-denial, and devotedness struck the pagans with surprise, who

very of which would have dragged a whole family to the amphitheatre, were generally

small enough to be concealed at the

signal,

first

were unable even to understand them, so far were they from being able to perform
them.'

and even

to

be hidden about their

persons.*

A
of

little

later, private

chapels received

The noble matrons

that time figures of

Rome wore

at

Mary engraved upon

the bodies of the martyrs, which they clothed in white, and very precious robes,

emeralds, cornelians, or

bequeathed them

sapphires, and at their death to their

and interred with magnificence

in marble

daughters as symbols of their faith. Galla, the widow of Symmachus, caused a superb

sarcophagi. During the last persecutions, Aglae, a rich and beautiful Roman matron,

sent for one even to the interior

church

be built long after, to deposit therein one of those precious stones, as a

to
:

Bithynia, where nors, absolute men,

of

the

who

Roman govertraded in everyihem very

a persecuted faith the workmanship of it was so fine that it was tliought to have proceeded from a superhuman
relic of

thing, even dead bodies, sold

dear.*

hand, and it was venerated as a present from heaven.*

Besides
these
religious

In the interval between one persecution and another, the Christians collected their
dead in cemeteries situated outside the
walls of
pray.

ornaments,
to-

which served the Christian women as

Rome, and often went there to The walls of these cemeteries,

kens of recognition, they exposed among flowers, upon the domestic altar where
the household
little

painted in fresco, represented Jesus Christ upon his tribunal, in the severe and im-

gods had long reigned,

silver or gold, representing

images of

posing attitude which befits the sovereign Judge of mankind; and, near him, Maiy,

(1) Lnciainis. de Jlorte Peregrini. (2) Astolfi, Delli Iniagini niiracolose. (3) M. Raoul Rocliette attributes the invention

representing Harpocrates, the god of silence, was recovered in Brittany it was of gold, two inches
;

long,
Bret.,

and weighed two

t. iii.

louia.

(See

Hist. Eccles. de

of tliese

but the Gnostics themselves maile them much older than

little

statues

to

tlic

Gnostics

p.

358.)

It is

known, moreover, that

the ancients

hung round

their necks, or fastened to

their sect.

According

to all appearance, this cus-

tom was
cians

established

among

the first

Uumau

patri-

Tlience their garments, small images of Fortune. came the custom of wearing Madonnas, doves representing the Holy Ghost, and crosses of gold or Unable to do away with that precious stones.
auL-ient

who were

co'nverted

to Chris'tianit.y.

The

images of Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, and the apostles, were substituted for those of Fortune

custom, the church,

its

who

is

perfectly wiae,

and several other divinities, wliich were placed, crowned with flowers, on the altar of the Lares, and which were small enough to be carried about
the person,
if

merely changed

object.

of Cilieia, sold to the (4) Simplician, governor servants of the martyr Boniface the body of their

needed.

One

of these

little

statues,

master

for five

hundred golden crowns.

196
in a

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

Roman

veil,

was ready

to implore his

who

tracked

them

like wild beasts,^ before

mercy

for sinners.*

their task

was much advanced.

Tlieir in-

During the halcyon days of the reign

of Alexander Severus, the Christians of

complete labours, however, were not lost ; their generous blood fertilised the furrows

Rome, knowing
in

that this prince honoured

which they had opened, and,

other labourers
sickle.

later on,

Jesus Christ, whose image he had set up

his lararium,

came there

to

put in the

among

the holy souls,'

and reckoning upon the support of his mother, the Empress Mamea, who was a
Cln-istianj requested

The
sion
to

island of the

Britons boasts ol
its

having been before Gaul in

Christianity,

conver-

and obtained,

in spite

and

if

the

most
it

of the clamours of the idolatrous priests, permission to build a church on the site
of a decayed

ancient chroniclers are to be believed,

was the

first

and deserted dwelling. It that dared to raise its cross

Christian king in the world. Venerable Bede relates that in the time
first

had the
of the

emperors Marcus Aurelius

a prince,

and
re-

alongside of the marble temples of the gods of the empire ; it was dedicated to

Commodus,

named Lucius,

Mary, and took the name of Our Lady

beyond the Tiber.

Christianity,
Italy,

quested of Pope Eleutherius two mission aries from Italy to preach the gospel to the little kindom which he governed under

violently

oppressed
in

in

was
it

cruelly

persecuted
little

Gaul,

where

made

very

perceptible pro-

His the good pleasure of the Romans. request was well received, and two apostolical men, to whom the Welsh later on
preach the Gospel to the people of Great Britain, divided
erected altars,*
to

gress according to Sulpicius Severus, who wrote in the fourth century. There were,

came

nevertheless, in the third century, a few

between Druidism,
the

still

flourishing,

and

bishoprics

among
St.

others, that of Paris,

founded by

Denis,

who

suffered mar-

gave a gods of the Augustuses. blessing to their efforts the Britons, still
:

God

tyrdom in 272, during the persecution of Valerian; and that of Lyons, where St. Pothinus bad established the religious
veneration of Mary. Missionaries, among whom we see figuring even Roman
knights, went all over Gaul; but these sowers of the gospel often fell beneath the

semi-barbarians, issued forth in crowds

from their huts, which were

hives, to listen to

like bee-

them

and sometimes,

in the midst of desert heaths strewn with

enormous

stones, where they

went

to seek

after the followers of

Esus, assembled by

impious sword

of idolatrous governors,

the pale moonlight' for some secret sacrifice, a young priestess of the Celts, who
"

very ancient painting of the cemetery of (1) St. Calixtns, at Rome, also represents the Blessed
* Virgin in this costnme. in Alex. Sev., c. 2931. (2) Lamprid., " Yon Lave escaped us then, if you are a (3)

Christian," said Heraclius to St. Sympliorian, there are very few of you left."

for

(4) Harpstield, Hist. lib. i. c. 3. (5) The Ga\ils and island Britons assemliled in their temples only in the night, and when the moon

BLESSED VIRGIN MABY.

107

had been listening

with
pensive
air,

to the holy doctrine

leaning against
its

the

menhir, which threw

great distance, let slip

giant shadow to a out of her hands

had not penetrated, was still the land of the torrent, the mist, and the rock, and had no other religion than a Druidism almost
effaced,
stitions.

the *golden sickle, beneath which the mistletoe was to have fallen, that sacred
plant which grew in the furrowed bark of the oaks, and bowing before the minister
of Jesus Christ, with her flaxen head
still

mixed up with cognate superAll was vague and undefined,

like a landscape obscured by a fog, in the

The Druids, at with the great chiefs, had been variance driven out as early as the fourth century,*
belief of these people.

bound with the

priestly

wreath which

and their notions of one God were almost

forgotten

confined her dishevelled hair, she cried " I am out, with a voice full of emotion
:

a Christian!"

And

the

priest,

taking
still

people believed in the spirit of the waters, the spirit of the mountains, and in an aerial palace were the
;

but

water from the spring which

was

worshipped, poured the sacred water of Baptism on the forehead of the young
neophyte, who dropped her name of Uheldeda (sublimity), to adopt the sweet foreign

shades of their forefathers, who wandered about here and there in the night on their
chariots of clouds, displaying their white

drapery, gilded by the by way of sword, in

moon, and holding,

their

name

of Mary.'

During the persecution of Dioclesian,

according to the best authorities, Christianity passed over the double wall which
separated the Britons
their restless

transparent hands, a half-extinguished meteor.' The Christian apostles of those regions, then

whom

almost unknown, which a cold sun illumines seemingly with regret through rainy
clouds, took possession of the caves

querors had politically

north.

enervated from

their con-

which
fixed

the Druids had

abandoned,* and

The

civilization

and wild neighbours of the where Roman Britain expanded, like a pale and preisle of

themselves on the borders of torrents, in

the recesses of woods, or on the declivities
of mountains.

mature

flower, in the midst of

barbarism

Sometimes

it

happened

had

cities

ornamented with baths, palaces

its

that a hunter in the Highlands,* instead of pursuing tln'ough the mist the red

of marble, temples glittering with gold,

deer and the roebucks, would come and

sit

adjoining

heaths sprinkled with men;

dense virgin forests but hirs, Caledonia, where the eagle of the Caesars

and

its

down upon the grey stone eaten away with moss, which marked the burial-place

of a warrior, to converse with the old

man

was

in the first quarter, or at the full

this tradi-

(2)

Poems

of Ossian

a Dissertation concerning

tional usage came down from the highest antiquity. (Hist. Eccles. de Bret., t. iv. p. 610.)

the Era of Ossian.

(3) (4)

See Ossian.
Ibid.

(1) Venerable
tical History,

Bede assures

us, in his Ecc^lesias-

great number

that even at this remote period a of Uruids became Christians.

(5) lliglilands,

mountains of Scotland.

198

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE who

Four ages had passed over
the East.
Christianity,
to

of the cave, the Christian Culdee,^

to hira of Christ

and his holy Mother. spoke With one arm thrown over his unstrung
bow, and one hand placed on the head of
his favourite greyhound lying at his feet, the Scottish chief listened in a respectful and attentive attitude to the grave words of

which already extended from the W^est

"We

are

but of yesterday,"

said Tertullian to the idolatrous senate of " and we fill your palaces, your Home,

the solitary and then, when the sanctity of the Gospel had at length spoken to his heart, when, with clasped hands
:

your fortresses, your armies on land and sea; we leave you nothing but your " This was true but what temples
cities,
1

showers of blood had reddened, during this period, the great standard of the
persecution failed to root up Christianity, like that plant of which Job speaks, to whom the earth,
ci'oss
!

and a look sparkling with enthusiasm, he " all his clan rehad said, " I believe
I

The

last

" peated, like a faithful echo,

We

believe

tool"

which had produced

"
it,

said,

never
the

Not content with having spread their doctrine in the mountainous districts, and in the plains, the priests of Christ
were anxious to dislodge idolatry from the most ancient and most remote of its
sanctuaries.

knew thee

"
I

Dioclesian

had

all

churches either pulled down or shut up,

impi-isoned the priests, put the Christian cities to the edge of the sword,** and jjro-

mised the highest rewards

to
all,

The
of

island of lona, one of

which hardly flourished

at

apostacy, notwith-

those

isles

the

archipelago

of

the

Hebrides wliich are surrounded by a green and stormy sea, was held sacred by the
lords of the isles

standing the imperial encouragement, the Christians of that time generally preferrIt was thought to be ing martyrdom. the idolaters all over with Christianity
:

and the mountain

chiefs,

who

repaired thither to swear peace upon an ancient dolmen, which they called the The dolvien soon disStone of Power.

clapped their hands in anticipation of

its

speedy fall, howls of triumph heard

and

hell already
;

made

long but the holy

its

appeared, and there was seen to arise in the midst of the picturesque rocks, which are beautified by the belladonnas, the

" angels, smiling at each other, said: Christ is very near to his victory ; blessed be his

bugloss, and the

sea

hoUj, the

name

"
I

The
Caesar
for

fact was, that a

most

young woman

of Bithynia,

named Helen,
Chlorus

ancient and venerated of the abbeys of Scotland the wind now moans through
:

whom

the

Constantius

had married

its

venerable ruins, beneath which nionrej)Ose.

archs

her virtue and singular beauty, had just brought him a son, who had been named Constantine.
(2) Euseb., Uist. Eccles., Sulpicius Severua.

(1) Guldee, in Gaelic Culdich,

a bcraiit, a, solitary.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

199

SECOND EPOCH: FR03I CONSTANTINE TO THE JIIDDLE AGES.

CHAPTER
THE
EAST.

IV.

THE ICONOCLASTS.
weaves
its

the enchanting banks of the Bosphorus of Thrace, in sight of the distant

On

web; the wild vine displays

its

mountains of Asia Minor, whose lofty summits are tinged every evening with a
liue

upon polished marble, and the

broad, green leaves

their walls of
traveller irre-

of gold
is

Europe

and carmine, the coast of hollowed into a wide bay of

verently cuts himself a walking-stick in those sacred woods, from which a branch

incomparable beauty, and above the blue mantle of its shining waters, which seems
to roll
all

could not formerly be taken away under The ceremonies of pagan pain of death.

waves of sapphire, rises a vast city, white and all Christian,* Constan-

worship have ceased in Greece the most venerated idols serve no longer but to ornament the public places of Constan;

tinople,

which the son of Helen and

tinople; but

no one
for

is

compelled to enter
is

Constantius Chlorus has just solemnly dedicated to Mary ; for the master of the
world,

the church

although polytheism

worship radically bad and

foolish, Caesar

who

is still

held as a god in

Rome

which has remained idolatrous, belongs to Jesus Christ, and the cross by which

respects liberty of conscience, which the pagans so ill understood when they abused the terrible right of the strongest; and

he conquered adorns his banners, shines upon his coins, and crowns the sumptuous basilicas which he has placed under
the invocation of Sancta Sophia, of the Blessed Virgin, and the twelve apostles.
Idolatry still remains a withered palm-tree,
erect,

Lactantius, one of the brightest lights of

Christendom, lays

it

down

as a

maxim,

in

a celebrated contemporary work, that nihil est tain vobintarium quam religio."^

With

moderation like this a sacred

but

it

is

whose highest

cause must triumph. Constantino did not confine himself

to

branches are already dead. Nothing is seen but deserted altar'', with reptiles

testifying his respect for Mary, by dedi-

cating to

her the new

Rome;

at

his

crawhng over their plinths; birds begin to make their nests in the porticoes uf the abandoned temples, where the spider
(1) Constantine was desirous that there should uot be a single idolater at Constantinople; he left

request, the

Empress Helen, converted

a journey to Palestine, and with sacred monuments, of

by him, made
covered
it

the idols in profane places only, to serve as ornaments. (Hist. Eccles., t. i. j). 623.) (2) Lactantius, Institut., v. 20.

200
-.vhich tlie

"'HE HISTORY

OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

share.

Blessed Virgin had her good The cave of th*^ Nativity, encased

had three churches

built for herself alone,

under the invocation of Panagia, even

within the walls of Constantinople. Not able to enrich them with relics of being
the
is

with marble, and lighted with lamps of gold, was surrounded by a superb church, which bore the name of St. Mary's of

Bethlehem.
in

Saint Mary's of Nazareth,

in heaven, she endeavoured

Mother of God,

as the

body of Mary
to supply

erected ou the site of

which

tlie

humble dwelling Holy Family had lived, long

tlie

the deficiency by some of her garments, which the faithful of Jerusalem sent her.

passed for one of the finest churches of Asia. The sepulchral cave of the valley

was considerably enlarged, and ornamented with a superb staircase silver lamps were hung round of marble
of Josaphat
;

church of Blaguerna had her robe, and tha,t of Chalcopratuni her girdle; but that of Hodegus obtained the best
fine

The

There was placed upon an altar, resplendent with gold, and embellished
portion.

In fine, the tomb of the Blessed Virgin. two sumptuous churches commemorated
of Mary, and her swooning away near the rock from which the Nazarenes sought to cast Jesus down headlong.
tlie visitation

with columns of jasper, a portrait of Mary sent from Antioch, whicli was said to have

been painted by St. Luke in the lifetime of the Blessed Virgin, and to which the

Mother of our
favours.'
Tliis

Saviour

had attached

The

successors of the

first

Caesar of

Byzantium showed

in general great devo-

portrait

was considered as the

it

tion to the Blessed Virgin.

Theodosius

palladium of the empire;

vixoTTsa-uov

was called

the Younger, having learned that a great concourse of Christians of Europe and

Asia was seen at the tomb of the Blessed

Virgin, had a superb Byzantine basilica erected there, which the Arabs called the

(causing victories), and the emperors, among others John Ziniisces and the Comneni, removed it to the army,

whence it was brought back on a triumphal car, drawn by magnificent white horses.

giasmaniah (church of the body). KosrouPaviz (Chosroes II.) pulled it down at the
instigation of the Jews,

On

great

solemnities,

this

miraculous

picture

on his invasion of

was taken out of the church of Hodogus, where it was kept with jealous
care,

Syria and Palestine; but repenting afterwards of this act of violence, with which
his

and

infinite precautions.
its

The people
The
it

always hailed
joy,

presence with shouts of

praise.
fate

Christian wife

Sira with

tears

re-

and canticles of

proached him, the follower of Zoroaster himself built a church to the Blessed

of this celebrated picture has remained

doubtful.

Some maintain
to

that

was the

The Virgin in his city of Miafarkin.' the daughter of TheoEmpress Pulcheria,

dosius,

same that the doge Henry Dandolo had

removed
Venice, after the taking ol Constantinople by the Latins in 1204;
(2) Nicepli., Hist. Eccles., lib. xiv. ct xv.

and wife of the Emperor Marcian,

(1) D'lleibelot, Bibliothutiue Orieiitale.

BLESSED VIIIGIN MAEY.

others will have
it

201

that

it

was the one

Lady

which the Turks

found in the plunder of

the city of Constantine, and which they

of Chalcopratum, which had been thrown down by an earthquake. Two built in honour of the Blessed churches,

ignominiously trampled under foot, after

gold and diamonds which formed the rich border round it.
tearing off the

Virgin

Leo
built,
tlie

I.,

in 460,

had a superb
to

basilica

which he dedicated

Our Lady

of

at Jerusalem, St. Mary the New, and another on Mount Olivet, a monastery built on one of the level places of Mount Sinai, and in Africa, a sumptuous basilica, named Our Lady of Carthage,

Fountain, in gratitude for the Blessed

attest the piety of the

Virgin having appeared to

him on

the

towards the content with

Emperor Justinian Mother of our Lord. Not

building
Caesars

margin of a solitary spring, to which

he

temples
in their to

in

her

was leading an old blind man, when he was as y.et only a young Thracian soldier,

honour, the

of Constantinople

piously venerated
;

Mary

domestic

and

promised him the empire.

liad

The

diadem of the Caesars

no sooner

touched his brow, than he undertook to

perpetuate, by this monument, the remembrance of the protection of Mary.*

her splendid chapels they crowns of gold,^ and carried about them small images of her in massive gold.' The
offered

celebrated image of the Blessed Virgin

hodegetria (conductress)

was brought from

The Emperor
Leo
I.,

was no

less

Zeno, devout

son-in-law

of

to the Blessed

rial

the monastery of Hodegium to the impepalace of Constantinople in the last

Virgin than his father-in-law ; he had a church built to her on Mount Garizim, the holy mountain of the Samaritans, and
as that restless people, wlio were then in

days of Lent, and it remained there till Easter Monday it was to this holy Virgin
:

that Michael Paleologus, after having expelled from Constantinople the race of the

had mutilated some images of Mary, he surrounded the mountain with a wall, which he furnished with a
open
revolt,

Lords of Courtenay, attributed the honour

of the good success of his affairs.* The Greek nation joyfully followed the

cordon of soldiers, to prevent a renewal

of these sacrileges.

example of

emperors: the Panagia almost everywhere took the place of the

its

Tlie

Emperor Justin caused

to

be mag-

nificently rebuilt at Constantinople,

Our

household gods and Olympic idols. It was seen beneath the shade of the woods, upon
attributed
to

This church, which (1) Niceph., lib. xv. c. 25. was built with great magnificence, had glass painted,
fifth

that

sacrilege.

(Blond.,

lib.

x.\i.

decad.
(3)

2.)

but not with historical subjects. At the end of the on glass was still new. century, painting
(2) Leo IV., son of Constantine Copronynms, having carried off from the temple of St. Sophia one of those crowns of gold, which the Emperor Maurice had consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, his

The Emperor Andronicus

little
;

on his neck one of these

Virgin
it

II. usually wore statues of the Bles.sed

into his

month,

was of gold, and so small that he put it for want of any other viaticum, at
la

the hour of his death.

(4) Antiquites de France.

Chapelle, &c., du Roi de

death,

wiiich

happened very shortly

after,

was

202

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

the heresy of Nestorius within
its walls,

the purified altar of the Oreades and the Napseae on the hanks of the waters, where
;

which denied
of

to

Mary her

title

of

Mother

the pensive Naiad lowered her urn

on the
sacri-

God and
;

that of the Iconoclasts, which

summit

of promontories, where

men

nymphs. The Bacchus had been thrown down with their green garlands of ivy, and Our
ficed before to the ocean
altars of

dragged her images in the mire, and burnt them in the public squares. Under

Leo the Isaurian, who is said to have imbibed among the Jews a furious hatred
against painting and statuary, as applied to objects of religious veneration, Catholics

Lady

of Grapes received the

homage

of

the vintagers in the midst of the vineyards. Ceres herself began to be forgotten
in the ruins of her mysterious sanctuary of Eleusis, destroyed by the Goths in the
third century, with the temples of Delphos,

who were

faithful to the traditions of the

church were seen, thrown in heaps, into the Bosphorus of Thrace, or beaten to death with rods, for having lighted lamps
before

Corinth, and Ephesus. Finally, Mount the mountain of Jupiter, had beAthos, come, from the time of Constantine, a

domestic Madonna, prayed at

the foot of the cross of our Lord, or bent

the knee

when passing by the image

of

small colony of hermits and solitaries, of

a saint.'

which Mary had been proclaimed the Queen. The Gospel facts of her life were reproduced, in fresco on a golden ground,

Constantine Copronymus, the successor of that wicked prince, surpassed

him

in cruelty,

and Leo, his son, walked

to

in the footsteps of botli

on the walls of an

infinite

number

of

cerely attached

but Irene, sinCatholicism, was the

;

chapels, built in her honour, in the midst of the vines and olives which clothe the
sides of that lofty mountain, the

means

of convoking the second council

shadow

of Nice, where the veneration of images was Solemnly restored ; ^ and the Empress

of which extends over the sea to the dis-

Theodora, assisted by the patriarcli Methodius, consolidated the ])iou3 Irene.

If the insult

tant

isle of

Who
among

Lemnos. would have believed

work

of

it?

It

was

those very Greeks, so devoted to the Blessed Virgin, that ideas were developed the most opposed to her personal dignity, and the perpetuity of the veneration paid to her.
(1) Hist. Eccles. cruel. Not having

had been
;

grievous, the

the Greeks reparation complete from that time sought to honour Mary by every means which they could devise.

was

Constantinople beheld
Leo the Isaurian was very been able to make certain

Crowns
(2)

of gold were decreed to her; she

Protestants
havje

The

violently

declaimed

learned men wlio had the care of the public library share in his rage against images, he ordered them to be shut up iu that library, surrounded by wood

against this council, which so clearly explains itself on the veneration of images. In the sixteenth century, they had a horror of the Enii)re83 Irene,

whom

and combustibles, and set fire to it. Medals, pictures innumerable, and more than three thousand

established

they called insane, insisting that she had the adoration of images. (Lettre a

I'eveque d'Angers snr les miracles de Notre Danae

MSS., perished

in that fire.

des Ardilliers, en 1694.}

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

203
of

was no longer represented otherwise than

with a robe of purple, fillets of pearls, and the diadem of the empresses;^ her eflSgy was stamped upon the coins; medals

platforms were erected in the public squares, to enable people to see the pompous procession pass by, which
a

number

had

attracted

an

infinity of

spectators

were struck

her honour, and battles " Romans," fought under her auspices. said Narses, on the point of giving battle
in

from every })rovince of the empire. "The trumpets wreathed with laurels

went
cities

at the

head of the procession

then

to the

at Taginas, Romans, fight the Blessed Virgin is for us do bravely not fail to invoke her during the fight;
;

Goths

"

appeared representations of

conquered
in paint-

and vanquished enemies,

ing, in sculpture, in marble, in ivory of

for she looks

down upon our phalanxes,

up
to

the the

most delicate workmanship;' then

spoils

and

will

deliver

us these wicked
title

of

men who
God."^

refuse her the

of Mother of

robes,

vessels

enemies, arms, precious of gold enriched with

The rumour was immediately

Narses was very devout, had provictory,

precious
spectators
tives,

stones,
;

which

enchanted the

spread in the ranks that the Panagia, to

after

which .came the captall

whom

who were

barbarian princes of
aspect,

mised him
the attack.

and

fixed the

hour

for
fa-

stature,

of fierce

and

terrible

Persuaded that heaven

majesty,
to

who walked

voured their cause, the Greeks displayed an energy which was no longer habitual to

custom, with
sorrowful,

in chains, according dejected looks, their

eyes

their

heads sometimes

them.
flight,

Totila was killed

his

leaving

the

plain

army took covered with

hung down with shame, and sometimes lifted up by a movement of rage and
despair.

dead; and

Italy, delivered in the

name

of

Our Lady

of Victory, loudly blessed the

"
car,

After

them advanced the triumphal

;

holy Virgin and Narses. Nicetas has preserved to us an historical fact

drawn by four white horses

to see the emperor

people

expected

upon

this car,

which proves

to

what extent
after

the emperors of the Lower Empire ho-

noured Mary

a robe of purple or scarlet, ornamented with the richest embroidery,

clothed in

"

John Comnenus,

and with a crown of

laurel

upon

his

gaining a battle," says this historian, " would enter Constantinople in triumph,
as

head; but they saw only the image of the Blessed Virgin, who triumphed as
the cause of the victory, in place of the

he was entitled

to

do;

accordingly, was prepared monial of the triumph ; the streets were

tapestried with silk and gold brocade,
(1) It
is
is

everything, for the cere-

conqueror. followed by
this

The emperor on horseback,

his
brilliant

court,

closed
to

and

Christian

procession,

happier

in this

represented in the

costume that the Blessed Virgin medals of Zimiaces and Theo-

(3)

the

Josephus gives a magnificent description of representations of cities which adorned the

phania.
(2) Hist, de I'Aiian., par Ic P.

triumphs.

MaimLourg,

t. ii.

204

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

beautiful

have made Mary triumph than to have

and expressive features so well

the various impressions of the

triumphed himself."

express
soul. to the

To

knovsr

how

far the Blessed Virgin

was revered
summarily
sus,

in Asia Minor, it will suffice

to relate
tlie

when

what passed at Ephecouncil was held which

A bishop appears; he announces mute and deeply affected multitude, that the anathema of the council has been
fulminated against the innovator, and that the Virgin, all holy, is gloriously maintained in her august prerogative. Then, transports of joy burst forth on every side.

anathematised the heresy of Nestorius,

in 431.

On

Hie day

when

the council was to

pronounce on the divine maternity of Mary, the people, uneasy and agitated, inundated the
streets

the strangers who had flocked thither from all the cities of
Asia, surrounding the fathers of the countheir vestcil, kissed their hands and

The Ephesians, and

and thronged around

the magnificent temple, which the piety of the inhabitants of the shores of the
Icarian sea

had

built

under the invocation

ments, and burnt, in the streets through which they were to pass, odoriferous pas-

of the Blessed Virgin.

There

it

was that

two hundred bishops examined the propositions of Nestorius, who dared not come
defend them, so little confidence had he in the justice of his cause and the validity
to

was found spontaneously illuminated, and never was joy more uniIt is believed that it was in that versal.
tilles.

The

city

council that St. Cyril, in concert with the holy assembly over which he presided,

of his arguments.

The masses

of peopb,

composed

tliat

beautiful

and

affecting

who

stood in crowded ranks on the precincts of the basilica and in the neigh-

bouring

streets, kept profound silence, and anxiety was depicted on tlie changeflil countenances of those Greeks, whose

Mother of God, which has '* Sancta been adopted by the Church Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccaMaria,
prayer to the
:

toribus

nunc
*

et in

hora mortis

nostrsB.

Amen

CHAPTER
THE
EAST.

V.

THE HOLY WARS,

like a

The
no

less eager

Christians of the greater Asia were than the Greeks beyond the

pharos on the lofty promontory of Mount Carmel, the base of which is worn
by the waves, and beneath which hovers the sea-swallow. Tyre, the dethroned, but still powerful queen of the Levant

sea to manifest their devotion to Mary. Earlier than Constantino, a church bear-

ing the

name

of the Blessed Virgin arose

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

205

seas,

Our Lady,

was distinguished for her church of of cedar and marble, which

purple, of sapphires, and gold, from the heights of the Gothic rose windows of

echpsed the Byzantine basihcas of the Caesars. Damascus, the emerald of the desert, expended without regret two hundred thousand dinars of gold in building
its

our cathedrals, sculptured those little statues of the Blessed Virgin, called Black

which the pilgrims of the East, who visited the Holy Land from the
Virgins, earliest ages of Christianity,

splendid church of 3Iart Miriam (Holy Mary), which was burnt down by the
of

brought back

into

Europe

to deposit in the chapels of

Mahometans, under the caliphate

tader,

Moc-

the nobility, or in churches which they

in the year of the Hegira 312.' Antioch had also a superb basilica of Our Lady, and hung up golden lamps before

have rendered famous by their miracles. Mary had sanctuaries also in the stony
solitudes of

Mount

Sinai.

At the bottom

her picture, which

it

was obliged

to give

of a ravine carpeted with verdure, so completely shut in between

and

up

to the pious covetousness of the

Em-

enormous

press Pulcheria, and in place of which it substituted a small cedar statue of the

sharp-pointed rocks, that the tops of the highest palm-trees remain always motion-

Mother of God, miraculously discovered in the trunk of an enormous cypress,

hollowed out by time, the branches of

being never shaken by the slightest breath of air, there arose, in the midst of a small wood of olive-trees,
less, their leaves

which dipped into the Orontes.* Libanus, tliat beautiful mountain which, beneath a
fiery sky, as Tacitus says, is shady,

poplars,

and date-palms, a convent placed

under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin.

and keeps
with his

faithful to

the snows,'Liba-

Nothing disturbed the melancholy silence the of this oasis imbedded in stone
;

nus, the cedars of which the Lord planted own hand, concealed within its

frightful noise of those storms

which often

rocky caverns a crowd of solitaries, who had devoted their labours to Mary. Seated

burst forth in those elevated regions, was that peaceful tomb, hardly heard there

for the use of a

few living men, was never

on the banks of the

their vicinity,

river,

which, from
of Holy,

took the
bears,

name

animated but when there arose from it canticles of praise for Him who was before
the mountains,

which

it

still

and which flows

and

for

Her

in

whom

he has

between two mossy banks picturesquely overshadowed, these men of labour, contemplation, and prayer, beneath the majestic shades of cedars,

done great things.

In Persia, where the ruins of numerous churches and monasteries of the name of

them through their like that which descends

which shed upon rich branches a light

in streams of

Mary

are

still

to

be seen, the Christians

Eliseus Ver-

also manifested the greatest zeal in erect-

ing these places of prayer.

(1) D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. (2) Aetolfi, delle Imagini miracolose.

(3) Taciti Historiarum,

lib. v.

206
tabed, a

THE HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

much esteemed Armenian

author,

who

feudally governed small principalities

their
families,

who

flourished in the fifth century, has

hereditary in

under the

preserved to us, in his religious history of the wars of Armenia, a discourse of the

authority of a marzban, or viceroy, named by Persia, he lavished upon them praises,

soft words,

king of kings Jesgird,

Isdigerdes,

in the

West

called
it.

and dazzling promises,

to gain

who

bears testimony to

"

from them the

sacrifice of their religion.

have learned from

my

fathers," said this

prince in a great council composed of satraps and magi, where they discussed

Those who yielded obtained governments, honourable titles, fair and fertile lands,
or Arabian horses superbly caparisoned. Never had there come forth from the
royal treasures so

the question of a speedy persecution of " that in the time of the the Christians,

many emerald bracelets,

so

King Chabouh

II.

(in

319),

when

the

so

many

girdles of beaten gold, set with

pearls,

religion of Christ began to be spread in Persia, and beyond in the countries of

rubies

and

many

pieces

of

Roum

brocade on gold and red ground,

the East, our principal moheds (doctors) counselled the king to abolish Christianity
in his dominions; in vain
;

he

tried to do so,
efforts
its

but
to

with flowers of precious stones. To gain the end contemplated, all was given without reckoning and without number. After
all,

for the

more

he made

the deserters from the true faith went

obstruct this religion in

course, the

over in so small a

number

to the

camp

of

more progress
every city

it

made.

The

Christians

the magi, and the king of kings was so

of Persia were so bold, that they built in

urged on

to

put an end to Christianity,

churches surpassing the royal

that violently throwing off the

mask

of

palaces in magnificence ; they also raised oratories over the tombs of their martyrs,

moderation which he had assumed, he in fulminated an edict really curious

;

and there was no place, either inhabited or desert, which they did not cover with
their convents."'

which, after praising, after

the ancient

forms of the court of Persia, the holy " Master of the stars and of the God,
"

The
resolved

extinction

of

Christianity

was

upon

in this council,
;

where the

moon," from whose power nothing escapes, from the sun to the dark night, from

magi were powerful

but the king determined to employ corruption before he came to violence, and he tried first, as the
Persians express it, "to pour mortal poison into the cup of milk." Calling to his
Porte the ndkarars or grandees of Armenia,
(1) Histoire du Soulevement de par Elisee Vartabed, c. iii. " Do not trust (2) your cliiefs,

the spring of water to the blue waves of tlie sea," he proceeded to set forth the

fundamental points of his own false creed, and asperse the Christians in such manner
as in
reality to

inspire the highest re-

verence for their virtues.* This royal edict

edict which Elisee Vartabed has preserved to ns, " because they are great liars and deceivers. What

rArmenie Chre-

tieiine,

whom

yon

call

Nazareans," eald he to the Armenians, in that royal

they teach you by their worde, they contradict by their works. To eat meat, they say, is no sia

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

207

was quickly followed by another, which enjoined the Armenians to embrace without delay the worship of fire marriages with their nearest
;

miseries, did not remain the less verdant,

like

to conti'act
relatives,

over

a fair cypress with tlie full moon shining its head. The Christians of Armenia
all
;

had endured

but their patience was

contrary to the law of Jesus Christ, who declares that such marriages are crimes,

exhausted when the king of kings madly undertook to demolish the monasteries
placed under the invocation of the saints, and to turn the churches into temples for

and which
to sacrifice

edict

ended by ordering them white goats and bulls to the

8un.

The

apostle has said,

:

Obey the powers

They rose up from one extremity of the kingdom to the other,

fire.

the worship of

that rule over you but God has commanded us to prefer death to idolatry.

Thus, the Armenians, instead of conformimpious edict of the court of continued to celebrate divine serPersia,
ing
to the

and enthusiasm supplying for want of numbers, all the Persian fortresses were taken, and all the temples of fire delivered

up to the flames. A great battle, where the Persians were ten to one, took place
on the frontiers of Georgia, on the banks of a small river which bears the slender
tribute of its waters to the

vice in the

encampments

of their cavalry,

and

to hear the preaching of the priests,

who, in imitation of the ancient Levites

of Israel, accompanied them to the army. In vain did Isdigerdes, separating them
into small corps, disperse

Gour (Cijrus).

The

them among

army presented the most and imposing spectacle ; its war splendid elephants, laden with towers, from which
Persian
able archers discharged their arrows of

the most distant and dangerous of the frontiers; in vain did he give them for

winter quarters the gorges of the most

frightful

poplar-wood, extended along the wings, and in the centre stood the formidable
soldiers

mountains, or the most unhealthy districts; in vain did he endeavour to

termed the phalanx of immortals.

all

These numerous squadrons,

glittering

reduce their numbers by making them endure hunger and thirst; whilst on the
other hand, poor Armenia, crushed like the grape beneath the wine-press, gave to the Persian tax-gatherer her last drops of
gold.

with gold, engaged in battle at the sound

of cornets, trumpets, cymbals, of Hindostan
;

and

bells

the red, yellow, and violet banners waved like tulips, at the tops of
the lances
;

the warrior chiefs and the

The

tree of faith,

among

all

these' satraps drew from their golden scabbards

To take a wife is a tliey do not eat it! proper thing, and yet tiiey will not even look at It is not committing a persons of tlie other sex sin to amass riches honourably, saj' tliese men, and they cease not to preach and extol poverty. They
snd yet
I

themselves in coarse garments like miserable men,

preferring

mean

things tD those that are precious!

life
;

they praise death, and contemn

in fine, tliey

have gone so
so that
if

far as to erect chastity into a virtue,

their disciples

praise misery and decry prosjierity ; tliey hold all kinds of glory in contempt ; they love to clothe

of the world

harkened to them, the end would come." (Soulevement de I'A'

ninie Chretienne,

c.

ii.)

208
their Indian swords,
their rapid

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

and urged forward
bits

dary, to carry to the court of Persia the

Arab horses, with golden

caparisons.

tidings of this disaster.

and

glittering

Clothed in
as

But
it

this victory, great

and unhoped
;

for,

dark colours, and bearing the cross also, on their sombre standards, the Armenians, a handful of brave men, after lifting up
their hands and hearts
to

the was, could not prove decisive Christians of Armenia had neither money
allies.

nor

heaven, marched

whom

Marcian, the Greek emperor, they had implored with joined

against the enemy, to the chant of a can" ticle taken from the psalms Judge be:

hands, in the

name

of Christ

and his

tween us and our enemies,

Lord," sung

mother, had basely sent an envoy to the court of Persia, to protest to the king of
kings that he was a stranger to the insurrection of Christian Armenia, and that he

" take up thy the Christian insurgents ; bow and thy shield for our cause, which
is

thy

own

strike terror into the innu-

would have nothing

to

do with

it.

Isdi;

merable squadrons of these wicked ones. Dissipate and disperse them before the
august sign of the holy Cross.

gerdes understood that Caesar was afraid

We

are

and, trusting to his cowardice, he determined to follow up the extermination ot

Christianity in

ready to die for thy truth, and if we deal death to these infidels, we shall be martyrs of the truth."
'

Armenia; but he did not

Christians, overpowered by where the
slain

succeed.

The

numbers,
hero
the

lost a great battle,

Excited by this prayer, the Armenians rushed with fury upon the Persians, and

who commanded was

Vartan,

Mamigonian, a prince of Chinese

broke their right wing at the

first

shock.

origin,

who

fell

after prodigies of valour.

to distress,
;

The

fight

was

terrible

the

air,

bristling

Armenia, reduced
declare

would not
cities

with arrows, was like a vultures wing, and the blue swords glittered like the light-

the herself vanquished were deserted for the forests and

of the

defiles

ning which rends the air on a day of storms. Enthusiasm, exalted by faith,
carried the day
;

mountains

the divine

oflSce
;

was
the

celebrated in the depths of caves

the rout of the Persians

was complete; and the bodies of nine grand satraps, known to the king, had no
other shrouds than the wild flowers of the
plain,

Armenian bishops suffered martyrdom the princes, with unshaken constancy accustomed to the sharp and fresh air of
;

their high mountains, were transported,

and no other tomb than the throats

loaded with
fiery

irons, to Korassan,
its

where the

of wild beasts.

The

waters of the Lo;

sky has for

meki were changed into blood and one horseman alone escaped upon his drome(1) Elisee Vartabed,
c. iii.

kills like lightning,''

is

wind the simoom, which and where the ground

Tliere
tliey

a sea of burning sand.

on the simoom

details

may

be found in pp.
edition of

6, 7,

(2) The simoom \a a deadly blast, which suffocates travellers and animals, if they do not make

of the description

haste to bury their

faces

in

the sand.

Curio40

hagen. and the 15th of August

CopenThis wind blows between the 15th of June

;

by Niebuhr,
it

whistles with a loud

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

209

would have died of misery, had not two

confessors, mutilated by the sabres of the

still

unknown.

The

first

stone church of

the Armenians, built near the sources of

Persians,

undertaken

to

collect

alms

the Tigris, was placed under the invocation of Mary.

It possessed, like

the Christians of the neighbouring provinces, which they remitted to the

among
great

many

lords

in

captivity.

This

lasted

sanctuaries of Syria and Asia Minor, a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin,

about seven years.

One

of these angels

which had been confided

of holy women.'

to the custody

of charity died of fatigue, in the

burning

deserts of Kohistan, the heat of which has

The Cathedral
cient

of Mtzkhfetha, the an-

been compared, by a modern

traveller, to
;

that of a red-hot plate of iron the other continued alone the same work of mercy. Isdigerdes, disarmed by so much constancy, put an end at length to this hard captivity; but it was not till after fifty

capital of Georgia, was the first the Christian church of that country Georgians dedicated it to the Blessed
:

Virgin.

The famous

khiton,

one of the

garments torn off Jesus Christ, was formerly kept there. Often pulled down, but always rebuilt with elegance in the
highest style
Georgia, marble and green jasper are still seen shining there. An inscription, written in letters of gold
of

years

of negotiations, truces, that Vahan the Mamigonian, nephew bats, of the great Vartan, the hero of Armenia,

and com-

terminated this holy war, which began

in 450.'
If the Christian

churches of Persia

deserved to be compared to the palaces of its kings, of the magnificence of which

the Arab
poets descriptions,^ those

upon one of the pillars, implies that this divine and venerable temple of Mary, Queen of the Georgians, Mother of God,
and ever Virgin, was rebuilt at the expense and by the care of a princess of Georgia,
the Mingrelians was, dedicated to the Blessed manner, Virgin; one of her robes was venerated
in like
there,

have
of

left

us fabulous

the people

who

dwell between the Black Sea

and the

named Pebanpato. The metropolis of

Caspian were very poor in comparison. They were at first buildings of wood, where the faithful were summoned to the divine
office

which was kept

in a case of

by striking two flat tlien pieces of wood together, for bells were

on

festival days,

inlaid with silver flowers.

ebony This robe, of

precious material, the ground of nankeen

of the palace (2) The description given by Antar " Mille et una of Cosroes resembles those of the

noise, appears red and fiery, and kills people Its most surprising it meets by n sort of stifling.

whom

of those

causes death, but that the bodies it are in a manner dissolved, without losing their form or colour, so that one yet would say that they were asleep. If you touch these
effect
is,

not that

it

who

die from

Nuits;" he gives them halls of marble and red coral, fountains of rose-water, basins from which spring columns of emeralds, surmounted by birds of bur-

in your hand. corpses, the part touched remains Lazare (1) Continuation of Elisee Vartabed, by

nished gold, with eyes of topazes, &c. de liVrmenie, Venise, (3) Geographic ancienne

1822.

Parbc,

c. iii.

E E

SIO

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

in the first ages of Christianity, a in

colour and embroidered in bright flowers

with the needle, was shown to Chardin

when he passed through Mingrelia

into Persia.

to

go

monashonour of the Blessed Virgin. tery The declivities of this steep rock, where
there

In the regions of the Caucasus, which abound in convents dedicated to Mary, it was always on lofty peaks, difficult of
access, that the finest monasteries were

hyacinths and odoriferous tufts of maijoram,

still

flourish

beautiful blue

are covered with rich

tombs and antique but the living, where stones sepulchral are they? .... One day it took the fancy of

seen: often, indeed, they were defended

That of Miriam by strong Nischin, in Georgia, was built upon a

castles.

an Asiatic despot 'to erase Djoulfa, a city of forty thousand souls, from the number

rock of Caucasus, in the midst of a beautiful mountain lake, which rendered it

inaccessible by land
;

marked on the globe, and he sent thither Thamas-Kouli Bey, with

of cities

orders to have
of three days.

it

a fortress, which

evacuated in the space He was obeyed the in:

was considered impregnable, protected it. The castle and the monastery were besieged by Melik-Shah, in the reign of Alp-Arslan, his father, the second sultan

habitants hastily buried their riches in that vain hope secret places, hoping

Shah Abbas, when the hurricane

of his

passion should have passed over, would

At the of the race of the Seljoneides. moment when the army of the Mussul-

permit them to come and repeople their

city.

At the end

of the third day,

to depart,

when
last

man prince were preparing to enter the boats to begin the assault, and when the
garrison, decimated by famine, saw the approach of this assault with dejection

they were obliged

and the

moment

of respite had expired, each one, taking the keys of his house, followed the priests, who took those of the churches.

mingled with dread, a horrible earthquake was felt, and the monastery of St. Mary This singular fell down into the lake.*
termination was regarded as miraculous. " The Blessed Virgin," said the Georgians,
" would rather see her sanctuary thrown

When

they reached the foot of the rock, where the sanctuary of Mary still overlooks the ancient tombs of their ancestors,
their despair broke out in heart-rending

Obhged to continue their journey, the unhappy exiles cast a last look upon
sobs.

down than

defiled."

Before the principal gate of Djoulfa, an

ancient and commercial city of Armenia, situated near one of the most commodious
fords of the Araxes, arises a peak,

poor depopulated city, and after placing their churches and their huuses
their

under the special care of the Blessed Virgin, they threw the keys of them into
the river.

on the
built,

narrow platform of which had been

The Egyptians, who had never bent

the

(1) D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient.

(2) Shall Abbas totally depopulated the city of Djoul, in 1605.

BLESSED VIRGIN BIARY.

211

knee before strange divinities, and who seemed wedged into their beastly religion,
Josephus called it while it still flonrished, so as to be unable to extricate
as Flavins

salem with perfumes and precious stones, and who had a son by king Solomon. A young merchant of Tyre, who traded in
jewels, having

themselves from

gods who eat reeds of the Nile the hideous crocodiles,

to

it, had abandoned their grass, and given back to the

African shores of the

been shipwrecked on the Red Sea, was fiist

plundered, then taken to Axoum, the ancient capital of the queen of Saba, and

which their devotees served

for food,*

in order to adore the

God

of Calvary.

The

presented as a captive of distinction to the neguz (emperor), that prince, at whose

descendants of the ancient people of the Pharaos had built very early a fine church
in the little Egyptian village, whither the

name

the lions bote

down ; he succeeded

so

well that the neguz

made him

his treasurer.

holy family had taken refuge to escape the impious search of Herod, and had given it the name of the Fountain of Mary and
;

After the death of the sable prince, the education of his son, a minor, Abreha, was

confided to the young Tyrian, instructed his pupil in his

who secretly own creed,

this fountain, as well as a gigantic syca-

more, which had often shaded the mother and child, was the object of numberless

and conceived the magnificent hope of becoming the apostle of these half-savage For this end, he went to Alexregions.
andria,

The metropolis of Egypt pilgrimages. was dedicated to our Lady. The church
of Alexandria,

where

St.

Athanasius consecrated

which shone

Axoum. On his return, Frumentius, who was surnamed Abhahim Bishop

of

among

all

the churches of the Christian

Salama (the father of

salvation), baptized

world, like a lighthouse, casting its light to a distance, had attached to its patri-

Abreha, with the principal personages of

his court; a large portion of the people

archal sec, in the fourth century, a kingdom almost unknown to the Romans,

were not slow to follow the example of their chiefs. This religious revolution

about which

Pliny has put forth the strangest things in the world,^ Abyssinia, the people of which, Jews, Sabeans, or

was

effected, as every religious revolution

is,

Fetichists at pleasure, were governed by

kings sprung from Makeda, the beautiful black queen who filled the city of Jeru(1) Josephus against Appion, (2)
lib. ii.

without shedding a Abreha, and his brother, drop of blood. who reigned together with ediAtzbeha, fying, good harmony, themselves preached
Christianity to their subjects,^

should be, that

and

built

According

to Pliny,

and some other ancient

haust the subject, but modestly stops short, for as he says, of not being believed.
"

fear,

geograjihers, Abyssinia was peopled with men wlio had neither noses nor nioutiis in their faces, and wliose

eyes were placed in the cavity of the stomach were met with wlio had no heads, or who had

men
asses'

Abreiia and Atzbeha, who reigned Hail, simultaneously with the greatest concord, who preached with your mouths the religion of Christ
(3)

things,

heads, &c.

Pliny,
c.

who

relates
b. v.

these

b. vi.

30, and

c. 8,

prodigious does not ex-

who practised the faith of Moses, and erected temples in his honour." (Abyosiiiian Liturgy, Commemoration of the Uead.)
to those

who

813

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

taking with
of,

a great number of churches in honour of the true God, under the invocation of

and a

him only a cup to drink out mat to lie upon. The African
sent to the relief of

Mariam

(Mary).

One

of these

ancient

troops,

whom he had

churches, from the shady trees round about it, took the name of Mariam Chaouitou (Our Lady the Green). Christianity next extended

the

Christians of Asia, enticed by the beauty and richness of this hajipy land,
resolved

over the

opposite coast of the Red Sea, in Yemen, the inhabitants of which adored the stars

and the

trees.

Among them

were a good

They were commanded by the governor of Yemen, who made that war upon the Arabs of Mecca which is known by the name of the elephant war.
to

remain there.

these

black Christians,

number of Jews. A prince of that nation, who had usurped the supreme power in
Arabia, persecuted the Christians, and in

Arabia Felix, however, did not long remain in their power; the Persians con-

Gregentius, an Arab by birth, and archbishop of Taphar, the me-

520 banished

St.

quered it about the year 590; and they were driven out of it in their turn by the
lieutenants of

tropohs of this countiy.

St. Aritas, go-

Mahomet. At the time of the conversion

of tlio

vernor of Nagran, the ancient capital of Yemen, would not apostatise from his
faith:

Abyssinians, the doctrine of Nestorius It is well known agitated the church.

he was apprehended and conducted secretly out of the city, where he was put

opinions of that bishop, who refused to Mary the title of Mother of

that

the

to death

on the banks of a stream.

His

God, were condemned by the council of

Abyssinians, in their exaggerated enthusiasm for the Blessed Virgin, were not satisfied with rejecting

wife and daughter perished also in the midst of torments, with three hundred

Ephesus.

The

and

forty Christians.^

And
suflfer

as

Dunaan

continued to

make

those

martyrdom

the heresy of Nestorius

to the

title

of

who

refused to deny their faith, Caleb,

king of Abyssinia, in 530, made an expedition against him and conquered him.
After which the neguz, disgusted with the throne, sent his diadem to Jerusalem,^

Mother of God they added that of Mundi Creatnx, to testify the exalted idea which
Nothing, in fact, can they had of Mary. the love and respect of which she exceed is the object on the borders of the blue
Nile,

abdicated the sovereignty in favour of his son, and shut himself up in a monastery,

and even to the Mountains of the The errors of Dioscorus and Moon.

(1) Here is a prayer addressed to the martyrs of " Salute pulNagran, by the church of Abyssinia chritndinem vestram amoennm, O sidera Nagrani gemmse qiije ilhiminatis niundnm. Conciliatrix sit mihi ilia pulchritudo, et pacificatrix. Coram Deo
: !

sanguinem quem
ejus."

(Abyssinian
"

effudistis

propter pulchritudincm

Liturgy.)
!

judice

si

Bteterit

pcccatum meum, ostendite

ei

Caleb who abandoned the sign of Hail, your power, when you sent your crown as an ofi'ering to the temple of Jerusalem you did not abuse your victory when you destroyed the army of the
(2)
:

Sabeans."

(Abyssinian Liturgy.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

Eutyches, which
happily
followed,

313
dew ; but, alas
a hurricane

the

Abyssinians unhave undergone no

expect

more
more
the

the

furious,

more

destructive,

and
in

change in those regions. The ancient East seemed renovated by

its

irresistible

than the burning wind

of the desert,

and produced,

devotion to

tion of her,

Mary and pompously solemnised

;

it

loved the venera-

her

the greater part of which were of apostolic foundation. The feast

festivals,

to sandy overthrow Christianity with a power which, no doubt, Satan had imparted
to
it.

plains of Arabia

came

like

it,

Annunciation was considered, in the time of St. Athanasius, as he himself

of the

At

first,

a vague

rumour of arms was

heard along the course of the Sea of

informs us, as one of the greatest festivals in the year; and they prepared for that
of the Assumption,
in a splendid

Reeds; Arab was fighting furiously against Arab, and the Fetiche trees fell at the

which was celebrated

manner, from the Nile to Caucasus, under the name of Our Lady's

same time with the Christian temples; then all was silence on that side, and
legions of cavalry, with abbas, with black

Easter, by a fast of fifteen days.*

and white swarms

scimitars

stripes,

fell

upon Syria

like

Everything gave reason to expect that the gospel was about to spread from

of locusts, demolishing with their

one extremity of Asia

to the other,

and

they already began to announce to the idolatrous people of the Celestial Empire that Holy One, born of a Virgin, whom the earth expected, as the
disciples

hundred Christian Thence they fell upon Persia, which gave way and abandoned to them the famous standard of Kawed, on which
fourteen

churches

depended
of the
library

the

destinies

of the empire

of

Confucius said, as the -parched up plants

Magi;' the flames of the superb of Alexandria lighted them on

(1) The first day of the called in the Syiiac calendar

month of August was saum Miriam, the fast

as a sign of

good fortune by Feridoun, one of the

of our Lady, because the Oriental Christians fasted from that day till the 16th, which they called fithr

greatest kings of Iran (the ancient Persia), was covered with brocade of Rouni, and ornamented with a magnificent figure of the sun in precious stones ;

Miriam,
t. i.

that

is,

the cessation of the

pasch of our Lady.

p. 2.)

(D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient.,

Eomans had bound up

fast,

or the

a golden globe, which represented the orb of the

moon, surmounted

(2)

The

ancient

the des-

and around it waved broad and violet coloured. Tiiis fringes, red, yellow, standard was called kaweiani dire/sh (the standard
it,

tinies of their

empire with those of their temple of Jupiter Oapitoliiius, which was burnt exactly on the appearance of Christianity the Persians had ancient
;

of

traditions,

which announced the

fall

of the

empire of

the Magi, when tlieir celebrated standard should fall The empire in fact into the hands of the enemy.
standard, at the This banner, originally a' blackbattle of Kadesia. Bmith's apron which was set up in a war of indefall

Kawed). From the time of Feridoun, the kings had made it a duty to ornament it with stones, and to make room for them, they precious had been obliged to enlarge this famous banner exceedingly, which had reached the dimensions of
of Persia

did

at the

same time with

its

twenty-two feet by fifteen, when it fell into the hands of the Arabs, who tore it in pieces, and distributed it with the mass of spoils. (Price, Muhamm. History, t. i p. IIG; and Huft Kolkoum, t. iv

pendence against the tyrant Zohak, and accepted

p. 12o.)

214
tlieir

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

brandished the blue blades of their swords
above
the waves,
"

stormy passage through Egypt ; soon bounded upon the African they

God
is

of

Mahomet!
left

where Carthage had ruled in former days, and conquered it in a very short time. Arrived at he place where
shore,
antiquity had planted the pillars of Hercules, the fierce conquerors plunged their

thou seest that there

no more land

the true believers to conquer."' Africa and

Asia were compelled to bow their heads in tears beneath the brutal and savage yoke of Islamism, and the darkness of

thoroughbred coursers into the Straits of

Gibraltar,

ignorance -soon took possession of the

splendid and glorious East.

and cried

out, as they proudly

CHAPTER
THE WEST.

VI.

THE MADONNAS.
Catos, plunged in shameful error, still beseech the gods of Troy, and in the secret sanctuary of their domestic hearths

Rome that goddess

had placed
heavens'

CoNSTANTiNE, after erecting in the

city

city of

which paganism

superb Lateran basilica, had shut up the pagan temples; but he had not had a hand strong enough to
eradicate the deep roots of idolatry. It that the greater number of the is certain
patricians of Rome remained obstinately faithful to the idols of the empire; the

the

in the middle of the starry

they venerate the exiled household gods of Phrygia; the senate, I blush to say the senate honours Janus with it,

two faces, and celebrates the feasts of

Saturn."

senate

itself

the tions,
Christian,
it

was divided into two

fac-

immense multitude of poor, the greater number had freely given themselves up to Christ, and despising
to the

As

one pagan, and the other which made St. Ambrose say
having two senates.
It

the altars of Jupiter, they crowded round the tomb of the apostles.*

that

was

like

The
its

Italian peninsula

was divided,
of

like

was of the idolatrous senators that Prudentius said

"
:

capital,

between Jupiter and Jesus,

The

successors

of the

Juno and

Mary;

the

night

error

(1) Florian, Precis Historique sur les Maures. " Hear me, O magnificent Queen of thy uni(2) verse Rome admitted into the starry heavens,"
I 1

(3)
to

stories of houses,

" All this populace, who climb up to the high and feed on the bread dispensed
rich thresholds, visit at the foot of the tomb where reposes that pre-

them from

says Rutilius, a celebrated

Roman
"

poet of the last

to thy temples, was, in fact,
its

the Vatican

hill

age of
I

Roman

literature.

Thanks
priests

cious hostage, the ashes of our Father St. Peter."

am

not fa/ from the heavens."

its

Rome

(Prudentius against Symniachus

")

a city deified, which Lad

and

temples.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

struggled with all its might against the Aurora of truth. The priests of the idols
attributed to the desertion of their gods the calamities which poured down upon

SlJ

the prefect of
diviners,

Rome
the

called in the
last

Tuscan

and

of

her consuls

the empire.
extraordinary
tians

If

famine was

felt

in

an

degree in Latium, it was because Caesar, ill advised by the Chris-

revived by another parody the augurial ceremonies on the day of his installation. " This was too much," says Bossuet; " God at length remembered the many cruel

who composed

his court,

had sup;

decrees of the senate against the faithful, and at the same time the furious cries

pressed the privileges of the Vestals if the frontiers were harassed with impunity by the barbarians, if the

with which the people of Rome, thirsting after Christian blood, had so often made
the amphitheatre resound he delivered up to the barbarians that city, drunk with
:

Goths peneit

trated even to the heart of the empire,

was because the

overthrown.
"

altar of Victory

had been
state

We demand back the

of religion which so long served as a support to the republic," said Symmachus,

blood of martyrs That new who imitated the old, like her, Babylon, inflated with her victories, triumphing in
the

her riches, defiled with her

idolatries,

prefect of
tinian

Emperor ValenTL; "we demand peace for the

Rome,

to the

gods of our country, for the indigenous Our worship has ranged the whole gods.
universe under
its

the persecutor of the people of God, falls, too, like her with a great fall; the glory of her conquests, which she attributed

and

laws

it

repulsed

Han-

her gods, is snatched away from her ; she is a prey to barbarians taken three
to
;

nibal from our walls, and the Gauls from

the Capitol.
in its old age
its

What!

shall

Rome

reform

or four times, pillaged, sacked, destroyed; the sword of the barbarians pardons

what has so recently proved

none but the Christians. Another Rome,

entirely Christian, arises

salvation ?

The reform

of old age

is

from the ashes

tardy and insulting." ....

of the first;

and

it is

only after the inunda-

Paganism was overcome in this struggle by St. Ambrose; but it continued no less
to

tion of the barbarians that the victory of

set

itself

in
it

religion,

which

opposition to the new loaded with sarcasms,

It

Jesus Christ over the gods of Rome, which are not only destroyed but forgotten, is
fully achieved."

bitter scoffs,

and calumnies.

was with

mad

joy that Rome, under Juhan, set up again the altar of Victory, which did not

being completely dead, her marble temples were reopened they were
Idolatry
;

purified,

and the

finest

were dedicated

to

hinder

the
for

barbarians

from

extorting
times.

money

her

ransom

several

the Blessed Virgin, before whom all Italy bent the knee with a fervour and faith

Demoralised by seeing the enemy at her

gates, she

became again half pagan ; ceremonies forbidden by the laws of Gratian and Theodosius publicly reappeared;

God, endure still. The patricians vied with each other in building churches or chapels, and adorned
which, thanks be to
tliem with a profusion which proved their

216
the altars of

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

;

piety

Mary were

inlaid with

and precious stones;' lamps equally rich lighted them nothing was to make the splendour and respared
silver, gold,
;

on the heights of the mountains, and which appears like a beacon in the midst
of the woods.

The

corner of the earth

holy land
;

which surrounds
place, the

it is

in that

ligious

decoration

correspond with the

gold at their

fiercest

brigand of Calabria

dignity of the holy Personage.

would not dare

to

draw his poniard, and

The

people,

who had no
a

disposal, rendered her

affecting,

homage more

he prays there, when the distant bells slowly sound the Ave Maria; it is the last
link which binds

more intimate, and picturesque.

him

to

humanity,

artd

the smiling hills of Baise, in the fertile fields of Campania, in the deep gorges of

On

rarelv is that link broken.'

These

little solitary

chapels, lost in the

the Apennines,
Alps,

and among Abruzzi, were seen

there,

glaciers of the the sterile, heaths of the

to arise,

in the

midst of rocks, or among woods, revive in the soul of the traveller who has the least
sense of religion, a thousand delicious sensations, like the long-forgotten scent

here and

humble
little

altars

to

the Madonna.

primitive chapels, covered with a network of ivy, or a green lace of

Tliose

vine-leaves,

humbly hid themselves

be-

some flower of our native country, which comes unexpectedly upon us in a foreign land. A modern author, who does
of

neath the old green boughs of forests, and their shadows at noon-day extended over
the courses of streamlets.

not pride himself on Catholicism, but the contrary, describes in a charming way the

This devotion,

emotions which he

felt

at the sight of

so fresh, so original, so well harmonising with the gentle mind and simple habits of

one of

Madonnas, concealed in the mountains of the Tyrol. " At a turn of

tliose

Her who
in

our

the object of it, still subsists days with its religious poetry.
is

" the mountain," says he, I found a small niche hollowed out in the rock with its

Victorious over time and political commotions, the Madonna still shelters her

Madonna and lamp, which

of the mountaineers keeps

the devotion

mysterious lamp beneath a canopy of foliage or jessamine. Every evening the mountain shepherd, the labourer of
little

kindles every evening in

solitudes.

up and rethe most retired

There was

at the foot of the

the valley,

shall I say it? rekindle the flickering bandit, devoutly flame which shines like a })rotecting star

and even

the

nosegay of garden flowers, This lamp still burning, fresh gathered.

rustic altar a

these flowers of the

valle-y still

quite fresh,

several miles within the barren

and un-

(1)

The

frontals of

some of the

altars of

Venice

Italian banditti is well

known one
;

of

them allowed

gold ; the frontal of the altar of the Blessed Virgin, of Sancta Sophia, of Constantinojjlo,
solid

were of

himself to be taken withcut

was a composition of precious stones and of gold, which had hcen cast into the crneihlo together.
(2) Tlie

making any resistance, because the shirri attacked him on a Saturday, on which day he had vowed before the altar of the
Blessed Virgin never to employ arms, even defence of his life. (See P. de Barry.)

respect paid to the

Jladonna by the

in

BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY.

inhabited mountain, were the offerings of a rehgious homage more original and
affecting tlian anything that I

217

destroy the worship of the trees, stones, and fountains of materialised Druidism.*

had seen

In vain did the active virtues, the bland

sweetness, the angelic abstinence of tht anchorets captivate the admiration of the
in vain did the ingenious the spotless integrity, the mild charity, and compassionate religion of the bishops,
Gallic tribes
;

of this kind.

Two

paces from the Ma-

donna was a precipice, by the side of which one must walk to get out of the defile tlte lamp of the Virgin must have
;

been very useful

During the French came

to travellers by night." revolution of 1793, when the to

attract their souls to the crucified

:

God by

take possession of the kingdom of Naples, the rumour was spread that they were going to shut up the

a holy and powerful magic the sight of the gigantic menhirs, which arose like dark

phantoms

in the midst of barren wastes,

churches, and abolish the religious veneration oj the Blessed Virgin. When they heard this,

the aspect of an oak covered with moss, or of a deified fountain, destroyed in a few

the peasants of Calabria took up their long guns all the steeples of this mountainous
;

moments the slow work

pastors.

of the Christian

region sounded the tocsin, and the banditti themselves, wearing the image of the

In

this state of things, so well able to

Madonna hung by a red riband, enrolled themselves among the regular troops, and
fought like lions. These Calabrian baiids were the last to lay down their arms.'

discourage the most tried patience, the Gallic clergy showed themselves worthy
of the
religious

and

civilized

mission

which they had received from their divine Master. They were naturally charitable

From

Italy the veneration of the

Mother

of our Saviour passed beneath the rougher The gods of and bluer sky of Gaul.

and humble of heart necessity rendered them ingenious. Unable to break through
;

Olympus had penetrated

there in the train

superstitious habits, which were closely bound to the deep roots of the old Celtic

of the victorious cohorts of Cajsar, and the

temples of Augustus and Jupiter arose by the side of the dolmens, the menhirs, and
the less ancient altars of Belenus.

trunk, they sanctified what they could not abolish, and made even the practices
of idolatry turn to the glory of God. The menhirs of the desert heaths, where the

The

idols of the emperoi-s, servilely accepted

by the Gallo-Roman population of the great cities, were not long in disappearing
stantine;
after

children of Teutates often went to pray by the silvery light of the beautiful star

the
it

conversion

of

Conto

which they called the fair silent one,^ were surmounted by a cross of granite which
cast a Christian thought over the rites of

but

required

centuries

(1) Italy, by Lady Morgan, vol. iii. c. 24; Travels in Italy, by M. K. C. (2) See Hist. Eccles. de Bret., Introduction.

(3) Bensozia, hen, bel, tog, silent.

(Uist. Eccles.

de Bret.,

t.

iv. p.

490.)

F F

218
idoktry.
old,

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

The

oaks, eight

hundred years

where the Druids had cut down with

golden sickles the
bough of the received in their hollow trunks

were forgotten, but because the sword of the Goths, the Huns, and the Vandals,

their

mowed down

spectres,^

the people like the mower cuts down the grass of the meadows ; and
because, in the most fertile and populous countries of the Roman world, the tra-

the sweet image of Mary; and it was again Mary and tlie saints whom the barharians

found on the margin of their fountains of

the fairies.'^

then made a journey of Mlany days without seeing the smoke of a cottage.*
veller

This substitution, Avhich proclaims in

those

Long

afterwards,

some

of these

Ma

who made

it

so perfect a

knowledge
place,

of the

human

heart,

took

not

donnas of the fountains and groves rbappeared with distinction; and according
to the old

only

in

Gaul, but

among

the Belgians,

Belgian and French chroniclet-s,

Spaniards, and Britons. Everywhere it was crowned with success. In course of time the mysterious traditions of Druidism

miracles

accompanied their discovery. Sometimes a bright light attracted a

descended from the hymns of the bards

Spanish hunter in the night, or a shepherd in the Pyrenees, towards a bush,

become popular tales ; the daisies of the meadows, the lily of the valley in the shoots of the forests, the odoriferous
to

where the birds sung melodiously all day long there was an image of Mary hidden
:

honeysuckle, were no longer plucked over the waters in honour of the deified fountain,

among the flowers of a thorny shrub, and embalmed by the sweet breeze of the
woods.
their

they were deposited

Mary
;

on the
little

rustic

Sometimes the shepherds, seeing sheep bend their knees before a and thick

altar of

and

the

lamp

of

hillock covered with short grass,

her chapel took place of the torches of resinous wood, which the Gauls used to
light

sown with white violets, dug into the earth, where they found, to their unspeakable surprise, a small statue of wood, rudely carved, but in perfect preservation, repre-

around those old oaks, which they

the oaks of the Lord. the invasion of the barbarians, the

then called

On

senting

the Blessed Virgin.

stars,

Another
the night

Christians, anxious to secure the revered

time, falling

streaking

objects of their veneration from the profanation of these furious people, carefully

with a long track of brightness, and all descending to the same place, like fireflies

concealed the

little

statues of the Blessed

Virgin in places the most retired and

inaccessible of their forests.

on the wing, pointed out to the Spanish troops encamped under the towers

These holy

of

some Moorish

city the place

where, in

images remained there

not that they

the time of Eoderick, holy religious

the invasion of the barbarians exceeds
all

men
belief".

(1) Legni, Hist. Eccl. de Bret., t. iv. p. 564. (2) Hist. Eccles. de Bret., t. iv. p. 6C>1, et
p. 293.

t. i.

relates, that in the eighth and ninth centuries, Italy was so bare of inhabitants that it was

Muratori

(3)

The

general

depopulation which followed

infested with wolves.

(Murat., Antiq.,

t. ii.

p. 163.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

219

had

stealthily hidden,

on some night

of
to

flight

and alarm, a miraculous image,

it

cated the site of the monastery, and was not a little surprised to see that one of

from the profanations of Mussulprotect manism. And then there w^re dauntless
knights and illustrious princesses, who riding on horseback with the falcon on
their hand, through the green forests of France or Portugal, discovered in the

the bushes had already put on

of spring.
like

its

clothing

calm and pure brightness, that which comes from the break of

day,

showed her the thorns

this
little

in blossom,

and beneath

canopy of verdure, em-

broidered with

hollow of some old oak white with lichen, or in the crevice of a rock which the

white stars with pink rays, was a statue of the Blessed Virgin, carved very plainly of coarse wood, set off
with colours to the
pencil,
life

brambles prevented their approaching, a small refugee Madonna.' At the sight

of
it,

by an
It

inartistic

and

clothed with
little

robes

which

made the

the haughty baron, the noble dame, sign of the cross with an humble
air,

showed but
this that the

finery.

was from

miraculous brightness pro-

and devout
before the

hastily

dismounted from

ceeded which lighted up the place.

great
castle

The

their palfreys, knelt

Madonna,

the grass and vowed to build

down on

holy image was piously transferred with

pomp
;

to the chapel of the strong

it

a chapel for her.

but the next day

was not

to

be

Our Lady of the Blossomed Thorns was found upon a bushy rock, in marvellous This is how it is related circumstances.
by a simple legend of past times " Not far from the highest point of Mount
:

found.

The Queen
modest

ferred the

of Angels had preshade of her favourite

its

thicket to

the richness of the baronial

chapel ; she had returned to the midst of the coolness of the woods to enjoy the

Jura, but a

little

on the descent on
still

western side, was

observable, half a

peace of solitude, and the sweet odours of the flowers. All the inmates of the castle
repaired thither in the evening, and found

century ago, a mass of ruins, which had belonged to the monastery of Our Lady
of the

Blossomed Thorns,

built

by the

her there, shining more brightly than on the evening before. They fell on their

widow

of a knight, the last of his race,

knees in respectful silence.

'

'

Powerful

who

died at the conquest of the tomb of our Lord. The noble lady, walking one

winter's evening in the long

avenue of

Lady,' said the baroness, blessed, holy Mary, this is the dwelling that you prefer ; your will shall be done.' And shortly

her ancient

castle,

with her mind occu-

pied with pious meditations, came up to a thorny thicket, which afterwards indi-

the

afterwards a fine Gothic abbey arose on same spot where the miraculous

Madonna had been

found.

The

nobles of

(1) Malfada, Queen of Portugal, when hunting with a falcon, found a small Bladonna, which re-

(See Vasconcellius, In descriptione regni Lusit.,

c. vii. 1, 5.)

tained the

name

of

Our Lady

of the Forest.

220

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

the Gauls held sacred,
bird of the chase

the kingdom enriched it with their gifts, and kings endowed it with a tabernacle of

upon which the had perched, as if on

pure gold." Britanny abounded

to tlie veneration of in oaks consecrated
;

purpose to entice his master to it. The oak, which diffused its soft shade over the
graceful
little

Mary

the most cele-

figure of

Mary, around which

brated displayed its branches on the shore of the ocean, on an isolated hill, which

the ivy entwined itself like a gothic frame, crowned a small island of short, close

some distance from Lesneven. There was venerated Our Lady of the Gates, whose statue of massive silver was from time immemorial an object of prorises

at

surrounded by the beautiful sheet of clear water of a small lake, which had
grass,

found veneration
cans.

to the
is

devout Armori-

been named, I know not why, the Red Sea. This oak became the object of so many pilgrimages, that after an embankment

The

sanctuary

now widowed
incorruptible

had been made

for a road to

it,

it

was

of

its

Madonna, which the

agents of the i-epublic stole away ; but it is not the less frequented by a crowd of
pilgrims, with long hair, wide trowsers, and garments of goats' skin, who come to

surrounded by a religious edifice. The image, adorned no doubt over richly by

the piety of the inhabitants of Berry, was stolen during the civil wars by the Protestants;

but the Count de Maur had oak

ask of the Mother of

God
them

fine weather,

another made of the wood of the

abundant harvests, or the health of some

sick relative.
tive

which had so long sheltered

it,

and which

To

see

in this primi-

costume, of earlier date than the

might have said, like the perfumed earth of the Persian poet, " I am not the rose,
but I have lived near
it."
'

Eoman

conquest, devoutly kneeling in the shade of the woods, in sight of the

ocean, which
rocks with
dolmens
of

strikes against their granite

In Picardy a small Madonna was deposited in the hollow of an old oak, on

the

its

green waves, and of the the ancient heroes, who

road which

led from Abbeville

to

Hcsdin.

This miraculous image, over

let fall its sweet-

maiched to the conquest of the Capitol, you would imagine yourself transported
to

which the honeysuckle

the Gallia comata of Pliny, and the

scented festoons, like a veil of flowers, overlooked an oasis of verdure, which

illusion

would be

irresistible if they in-

toned a hymn to the Blessed Virgin in the antique and sonorous idiom of the
Celts their own peculiar language.
Berrj-

bordered upon the ban-enness of the road exposed to the sun, and offered a delicious
resting-place to the traveller on foot, and the pilgrim of high birth who went barefoot, like

of the Oak,
chet,

had also its celebrated Madonna which a certain lord of Bou-

the

King

St.

Louis and the Sire

when looking for his hawk in the midst of the woods, had found in the hollow of one of those aged tiees which

de Joinville, to some holy place, in consequence of a vow made for himself or

(1) Saadi, Gnlistan.

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEl.

221

some person dear

taking
off his

to

him.

The

bandit of

"

Good

traveller,

may Our Lady

preserve

the feudal times himself muttered an Ave,

hood of coarse
;

cloth, before

you from all accidents !" And he turned his head back at the bend of the road, to

Our Lady

of Faith

and the baroness,

after praying at the feet of the

Madonna,

opened her alms-box, ornamented with her arms inlaid in gold, and dropped from her delicate white hand a little shower of
silver

Our Lady's Oak. where pilgrimages to Mary are Anjou, of so ancient date, had near the town of
take a last look at

into the

where the

trunk of the aged oak, evangelical modesty of the

contemporary with the adorned with its Madonna, Plantagenets, no less ancient.
its

Sable

oak,

middle ages secretly deposited for the poor the alms which they took thence without shame, and which no
faithful of the

on the frontiers of Lorraine, an enormous Gallic oak, which the peasants still call by old custom
foot of the Vosges,

At the

one would

take away but themselves.*

The

traveller,

when he had

said

his

of the fairies, held in its bosom, softly carpeted with moss, a mysterious white image of the Blessed Virgin, before
the tree

prayers, sat down, with his feet stretched out upon the soft, fresh grass, which re-

long journey; he inhaled the perfume of the flowers, listened to the bubbling of the neighbouring
vived
after

him

his

holy maiden, devoutly went to pray, and that with all her heart, against the English, whom she
d'Arc,

which Jane

the

was soon

to see flying before

its

her standard.

Hainault had also

ancient oaks with

and deeply enjoyed the contrast between his past fatigue and present
spring,

miraculous images; neither were Spain and Portugal without them England, in
;

But he must depart: how unrepose. fortunate the shade was so grateful, the
I

the reign of Charles I., still beheld her children invoking on their knees the

turf so soft, the

tain,

murmuring of the founwhich seemed to suppress its voice

not
to

absent Madonna, and Evelyn informs us that they gave these trees the name of
procession oaks.''

so

as

overpower the low sound

of the prayer
to

which was

softly
!

put up

But
table

of all the

monuments
is

He made Mary, was so charming the sign of the cross, he whispered a parting prayer to the Blessed Virgin, he
slipped an infirm old

kingdom, which

of the vegehave been con-

secrated to Mary, there

none which

for

alms into the hand of the

beauty can contend with the oak of AllonThe cirville, in the district of Caux.

man

kneeling on the bank,

his

cumference of this ancient child of eartt

is

whose blessing followed him on

(1 )

way

thirty-four

feet

above

its

roots,

and

their alms,

Those trees in which travellers deposited which the poor might come and take in the evening, unobserved, were bo reverenced, says M. de Marchangy, that none but a poor person would have dared to take a farthing from them.

(2) In the reign of Charles II. there were still found in several counties in England ancient oaks,

which were commonly called procession oalcs.

(Mem. d'Evelyn.)

222

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

These good people love their Madonna, and have given good proof of their love. At that disastrous period when everything
connected with religious worship waspro-scribed, and when the least manifestation
of Catholicism

twenty-six at a man's height. It imitates the broad and spreading top of the cedar,

which spring from the trunk at eight feet from the base,

and

its

vast branches,

spread out horizontally, so as to cover a The interior of great extent of ground.

the tree
is

hollow throughout, the middle

for several cenis

having been destroyed

turies;
it

was punished with death, a troop of revolutionary men from Rouen marched in order of battle towards Allonwith the intention of burning down
the centenary oak, with the Virgin

only by

its

bark and by the

it
still

ville,

interior layers of sap, that

keeps it is covered every year with alive; yet acorns, and clothed with thick foliage.

whom

it

sheltered.

The

peasants of Normandy,

There has been formed, in the hollow of which is at least nine hundred this oak,

though far less susceptible of enthusiasm than the Bretons, assembled in ai'ms beneath the oak, and so bravely repulsed
the republicans, that they were thoroughly ashamed of the failure of their attempt.

years old, and which has seen the fall of the druidical forests, a charming little chapel, cased with marble, the altar of

which is adorned with the image of Mary. A grating encloses this sanctuary, without
concealing the holy image from the sight Above of the pilgrim and tlie traveller.
the chapel
is

At the height of the Eeign of Terror, when pious canticles had ceased in every
part of the territory of France, when a people, led astray, adoring Marat upon " There are the altar of Christ,' cried out,

cell, a fit

habitation for

no more saints, no God, no immortal soull"

there was seen set

some new Stylite, to which a staircase leads which winds round the trunk. This aerial
dwelling, covered with

up amidst

tlie

knotty

branches of the oak of AUonville the iron

cross of the hermitage, and there was still to be read in front of her chapel the

a pointed

roof,

forms a steeple surmounted by an iron cross, which rises in a picturesque manner

above the branches of the oak.^

calm and affecting inscription Lady of Peace."

"
:

To OuK

On

certain feasts in the year,

and espe-

Under the
the
losing

successors of Constantine

patron feast, the chapel serves for the ceremonies of the service, and the
cially the

Great, Gaul, where paganism

was

ground every day, had become

inhabitants of the neighbouring villages repair in crowds to the feet of the Gallic
Virgin, who seems maternally to enfold them in her cool mantle of verdure.
(1) See the Antiquites Normandes of Ducatel. " It was in the feasts of Reason," says La(2) " that the bust of Marat was

almost entirely Christian. In the time of Theodosius it contained seventeen metropolitan sees, dedicated
for

the most

part
that

to

Mar}',

and

hundred

and

in God, were compelled to bend is, of believing the knee before Marat." (See Du Fanatisme dans
la

harpe, the altar, and those

who were

placed upon suspected of fanaticism,

langue revolutionnaire,

p. 51.)

BLESSED VIUGIN MAEY.

governed by bishops of great learning, rare piety, charity unbounded, and illustrious birth, which
fifteen bishoprics,

223

circuses demolished, the marble temples of the ancient deities of the empire thrown

added

to

their

influence.
to

Christianity
to holy

down, the Christian churches profaned, announce the irresistible approach of

those savage warriors of the north, whoso gods bore the significant titles of depopulators

was then labouring

win

and

austere morals those Gallic people, passionately fond of the games of the circus,

and the seductive pleasures of the theatre enervating and pernicious enjoyments which pagan and corrupt
chariot races,

and fathers of carnage they pour down upon Gaul like the avalanche which
;

breaks away from the side of the mountains. The warrior has no time to grasp
liis

Rome
people,
to

cast,

as a stroke

of policy, like

arms; dismay takes away the very

flight;

chains of flowers, over those

primitive
it

thought of

whom
The

she had found

order
to

difficult

conquer,

in

weaken

their

misery and opulence experience the like fortune. ... A thick and dark veil like to that which the

courage.

accused of

who are too lightly having made a compromise

bishops,

tempest spreads along the horizon

at

with paganism, because they were unable to eradicate those evil pagan roots, used
every means, on the contrary, to extirpate them, and flattered themselves that they

sea, when the waves, foaming and filled with sea-weeds, furiously break against the reefs covers the fair Roman pro-

vince,

and leaves nothing

to

be seen but

the

should succeed, when all at once, in the midst of profound peace, and while Gaul
lived

colour of blood and the glitter of arms ; from the Rhine to the Pyrenees,

from the Mediterranean

to

the ocean,

from hand

forecast for

mouth, without any the morrow, confiding in her

to

Gaul, hitherto so flourishing, is no longer anything but one vast theatre of desolation

legions

encamped

in

her great
the

cities,

and the
her

sixty fortresses

which protected
barbarians,

frontiers

against

and carnage. This disastrous period, which saw the Roman colossus fall, and changed the form of Western Europe,

behold the trumpets of war are heard on the banks of the river which separates her from

was the gulf in which ancient civilization was entirely swallowed up ; and Robertson, the great English historian, does not hesitate to say, that if he was called upon

Germany.

Thick

hostile

battalions at once rush

down

precipitately

upon the plains, the echoes of which yet feebly repeated the last burdens of the
Gallic songs ; sword and fire devour the face of the country; the rivers dyed with

determine the most deplorable period in the history of the world, he should unhesitatingly name that which extended from
to

the death of Theodosius the Great to the

blood, the cities given up to pillage, the

establishment of the Lombards in Italy.

224

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

THIRD EPOCH:

THE MIDDLE AGES.

CHAPTER

VII.

TIMES OF THE BARBARIANS.

The
lived

invasion of the barbarians was to

customs

one thing alone had resisted

religion, as well as to those nations

who

softened
eagles,

Roman
and

and civilized under the an epoch of mourning,

the general transformation Christianity, which was to console the vanquished and

humanise the conquerors.

terror,

end weeping, a night of blood,

lighted by the distant glare of incendiary fires, resounding with the clashing of

armour, and traversed by warrior chiefs, who assumed the fearful title of the

weakened for a time by Arianism, which fatally prevailed after the invasion of the Goths and Vandals, flourished again under the
of Mary,
victorious banners of the Franks.
Clovis,

The veneration

Scourges of God.
this

great

transit of

When the noise of men had ceased,

who was the

and something might be distinguished through the smoke of conflagrations, and

the dust of battle-fields, it was seen that The the face of Europe was changed.

only Catholic king of his conceived the design of building, time, under the invocation of Our Lady, at the
eastern extremity of the city, a metropolitan church, of which he laid the first

Saxons

occupied fertile England, Franks had taken possession of Gaul, the Goths of Spain, and tlie Lombards of

the

and which his son Childebert comThis church, built on the site pleted.'
stone,

of a temple of the Druids, was ornamented with pillars of marble, with frescoes on

There remained no longer the smallest vestige of the sciences, arts, and institutions, civil and political, of the
Italy.

powerful people of Romulus,

barbarism

golden ground, and with a mosaic pavement. The poet bishop Fortunatus boasts above all of the stained-glass windows,

which gave
stained-glass

great

light

inside

these

had

carried
her.

before

away all, and swept off all Everywhere new forms of

windows were a luxury im-

government were observed, new laws, new

(1) Falibian, Hist, de Paris, t. i. (2) The oldest author who speaks of painted glass is St. Jerom, in his commentary on Ezechiel,

ported from Greece and Rome, which was only just introduced into Gaul."

tunatus, to whom we owe a -very detailed description of the Church of Sancta Sophia, aa it then

quoted by Ducange, verho Yitrce. After St. Jerom, It is Gregory of Tours, and next Fortunatus. Paul the Silent, a contemporary writer with For-

was, has also given a description of the beautiful windows of coloured glass which adorned the

dome

of the Byzantine basilic.

(See the Hist, de

Byzance, by Ducange.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

Clovis
I.

225

teuil built,

had also Our Lady of Argenwhere the Princess Theodrade,

"

daughter of the Emperor Charlemagne, took the veil, after accompanying her father
into Italy; this abbey, which was then in the midst of woods, was ruined by the

Radegundes, with this inscription Pkay fob us." Another wife of Clotaire I., Queen Waltrade, and a daughter of the same
St.
:

king, the Princess Engeltrude, founded at Tours, about the year 600, a fine abbey

Normans, and magnificently

the pious

rebuilt

by

with the

title

of

Our Lady

of the Escrignol

Queen Capet, who took

Adelaide, wife of

Hugh

altars with

delight in adorning its beautiful works of her own

(jewel-box), probably because those princesses employed their jewels about it.'

hands.
other Merovingian princes, not excepting Chilperic, the cruel husband of

daughters of high birth shut themselves up with them in this monastery,

Several

The

which was destroyed by the Normans. St. Gregory of Tours informs us that
there was in the capital of Touraine a church of Our Lady, the sanctity of which

Fredegondes, dedicated
Virgin a

to

the Blessed

and abbeys. of Berthaire, King Radegundes, daughter of yiiuringia, the holy and deserted wife
of chapels

number

was awful.
used
to

solemn occasions, they swear with one hand laid upon

On

King Clotaire, begged with tears, on her death-bed, to be interred in the

of

the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and those who perjured themselves were considered
sure to die in the course of the year.* The royal consort of Clovis II., Bathildes, that fair

unfinished Church

Mary, which she was then building at Poictiers. This

of
St.

same

pious

princess,

who refused

to

and

saintly princess

who

resume the queenly crown, which her fierce and fickle husband offered her again,
founded in Neustria, near a Druidical spring which the Gauls in her time persisted in secretly worshipping, the

was the pearl of those barbarous times, founded the superb Abbey of Chelles,
whither she retired regency was
at

when her
end.

glorious

of

Our Lady
it

of Caillouville, so

Church which was

This abbey, situated in the middle of the dense forest

an

decorated with
that

many

holy pictures

where Chilperic had met his death, was placed under the invocation of the Blessed
Virgin.

was actually compared to paradise. Of the Merovingian church nothing now

still

great lady of the Merovingian court, Lutrudes, the wife of Ebroin, that

remains; but the fountain

its

pours forth

from a great distance

health there.

beneficent waters, and people come to recover their

celebrated mayor of the palace, who has been surnamed the Marius of the Franks,

because he put on the mask of popular

politics

When
may

the water

is

calm

in

order to

attain to absolute

and

still,

there

still

be seen on the
figure of

power, founded, after the

death of her

pavement of the fountain the

(1) Gallia Christiana,
t.

dread spouse, the splendid Abbey of Our

Gregory of Tours, de Gl. M.
c.

iv.

(2)

19.

G G

226
Lftdy of Soissons,

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

which was inaugurated
Six Carlovingian prin-

honour

of the Blessed Virgin, which are of

is

by

St.

Dronsin.

these remote times, there

recalls a

no one that

this uninterruptedly governed abbey for a hundred and forty-five years. At that time Our Lady of Soissons was

cesses

more dramatic fact than that of Our Lady of Treves, in the ancient country

considered the flower of the nunneries

in

of Tongres, the country of the Franks, which then formed part of the duchy of

the empire of the Franks, and the daughters of the highest famihes took the

Austrasia.

Who

does not remember the

popular legend of Genevieve of Brabant?

that legend which was told by so many troubadours and minstrels in the guard-

veil there.
tliat it

The

resort to

it

became such,
it

was
;

necessary to confine

within

bounds

Imma,

the petition of* the Abbess Charles the Bald fixed the numat

rooms of the great barons of the feudal times, and which the cottagers have held
fast in their

ber of the religious at two hundred and This prince also ordered that sixteen.
there should be established, in front of

black chimney corners for a thousand years and more, ever singing in
their long

the gate of the abbey, an inn for traan almonry. vellers, and Everything

which

evenings the Gothic plaint charmed the court of Charle-

magne

The

fact is, that this history of

breathed piety in this opulent house ; office was never interrupted, and they watched whole nights before the blessed
the

the barbarous ages, attested by a monument, recalls the memory of an affair

which

was

really

Sacrament. When the king was with the army, or his life was in any danger, the
of nuns who spent the night in before the altar of Our Lady was prayer According to the custom of the greater.

Count Palatine
violently

tragical. Siegfried, of Treves, tears himself

away

from

the

arms of his

number

beloved wife, to go and fight against the Moors under the glorious standard of Golo, the first servant of the prince's palace, that is, one of his

Charles Martel.

feudid times, this monastery was bound to send to the army its contingent of
soldiers.
tliat

principal

lords,

to

whose care he had

irnportance declined with of the empire of the Franks ; but

Its

two

relics of

Our Lady

attracted thither

a great concourse of pilgrims from all countries throughout the middle ages.

confided his young spouse, a mirror of virtue and a pearl of beauty, conceived an audacious passion for the holy and charming princess, which he declared to

Now, the only remains

of this Merovin-

her in a very insolent manner. Repulsed with that contempt which his treachery
deserved,

gian cloister are a few ruined arches. An Austrasian princess, Plectrudes,

wife of Pepin of Heristal, built also, under the first race, the Church of Our Lady of

the

worthless
to

favourite,

who

had

coolly intendea

dishonour a

man

who

loved him, did not scruple basely to calumniate the woman whom he could

Cologne, which still remains. But of all the pious foundations in

not corrupt; for all base acts are closely connected together. Siegfried believed

BLESSED VIllGIN MARY.

227
it

him; he was

he ardently In the loved his wife; he was jealous. first impulse of indignation which he
at a distance;

paid to the Blessed Virgin,

would be

historically false to represent the venera-

lawful, he condemned Genevieve to die with her infant; but the servants

deemed

tion of her as having attained its highest point under the first race of our kings ;
this veneration

was then only as

great

it

were

who had been charged with

the execution

in its aurora.

Local devotions absorbed

of this afflicting sentence, in the depth of

the attention of the

and of the

a dark forest, had not the heart to do it, and the Belgian princess hid herself in

people:
St.

Martin of Tours, St. Denis, Germanus, St. Hilary, were objects of

St.

wood, full of wild beasts, with her new-born infant, which was suckled by a
this

veneration so exclusive,

that

excepting

our Blessed Lord,

shade.

all

fawn.

years the innocent and calumniated wife lived upon roots and
six
fruit,

For

The

altars

was cast into the of these saints were

wild

incessantly

beseeching God

plated with gold; their tombs were covered with plates of .silver; beneath the vaulted

with tears that her innocence might come The merciful Virgin, moved at to light.
so

Romanesque churches were suspended, as votive offerings, manceilings

of their

many

tears

peared to
spring,

and so much misery, apher one day by the side of a

gold tissue and embroidered with The white image of Mary, the pearls.''
tles of

and promised her that her prayer should be granted. Shortly after, Siegfried,

large figures of the apostles, the army of martyrs, were eflfaced before the primitive

who

still

loved his wife, and

whom

bishops of Gaul.

nothing could console for the loss of her, when hunting, found her again at the

named

Didier,

Thus an impostor who aimed at forming a

bottom of a cave, covered with poor rags, and having no other veil than her long
hair.

sect in the sixth century, gave himself out, with quite original eflfrontery, as

Golo confessed his infamous con-

duct,

and was torn in pieces by four wild

than the apostles, and almost as This mode of viewgreat as St. Martin.* ing things, which to us is somewhat
greater

oxen of the Black Forest.

When

this

had a church

act of severe justice was over, Genevieve built in honour of Mary in

surprising, proceeded from the gradual extinction of light; it was because le-

the midst of the woods, where she had wandered so long, and on the very spot where the Mother of God had appeared

gendary histories had gained upon the Gospel, and ignorance, which has always

been an

evil,

did not always stop at the

;

threshold of the Christian temple

it

was

Hydolph, Archbishop of Treves, conseci'ated this church in the year 746.'

to her.

because the successors of the Basils, the Ambroses, the Chrysostoms, deserved what
Alfred the Great
said with melancholy

Notwithstanding these marks of respect

Add. nd Molan. de Belgie. See Vie de Dagobert,by the Monk of St. Denis. {2)
(1)

(3)

Gregory

of Tours.

228

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

discouragement:

"From

the

Thames

to

the Humber, they no longer understand the Pater noster, and in the rest of the
island
it is still

the faithful, after having been first admonished and solemnly warned." At the end of the sixth, century, the council of

worse."

Gaul was not entirely converted to the Gospel under the Merovingian kings; the
Franks
savage

Auxerre forbids performing vows to thickIn a council of ets, trees, or fountains.*

Nantes, the date of which is fixed by Flodoard at the year 658, bishops are recommended to have the trees rooted
up, to which the people of Britanny persist in paying a superstitious worship, and for

had

German
the

completely abjured their divinities, but there still

of the cities,

remained some vestiges of polytheism

among

Romans

who

continued to draw auguries from the flight or the chant of birds to keep Thursday a
;

which they have so much veneration that they dare not cut off a branch from

feast in

honour of Jupiter;

to swear
;

by

Neptune, Pluto, Diana, or the genii in fine, who dared to light up lamps in the temples abandoned by the idols, and hang

The priest Paulinus represents these same Gauls as again become Fetithem.
chists, serving

up meats upon the sacred

stones which were found at the foot of

these trees, and beseeching an aged oak which served perhaps for a burial-place for some old Druid chief hidden under
its

up

offerings in

them, as

St. Eligius re-

proaches them in his Homilies.

feeble
idolatry
soil

These

offshoots of

Greek and Roman soon withered of themselves on a

bark, with the

humble funereal

which would no longer nourish them; but the worship of the Celts, as we have
already said, resisted

of a handful of beech-nuts^
its

oblation

to take

under

the

priestly axe
to die

protection their wives, their children, their servants, and houses.* The Capitularia of

with

all its

might, and took ages

Charlemagne again decree severe

against

out entirely. In the fourth century we still see the image of the cultivated earth carried in procession in the fields; in the
fifth,

penalties

these

superstitions,

which had survived the dynasty of Meroveus,' which proves that they deserved
first

a canon of the second council

declares
shall
that,

of Aries

"

if

a proprietor before trees, fountains, or stones, lighted

allow

any noble torch to be

of

the trouble of being considered in the It was years of the ninth century.

two Armoricas, the Eastern and Western, where the gospel,

especially

in

the

he

shall be cut off from the

communion

late

sown, grew but slowly, that the in-

(1 ) Robertson's History of the Emperor Charles V.,

vol.
i.

p. 186.
is

of green wood, over wliich they replaced the bark. The tree, thus become a tomb, still continued alive.

(2) Tliis canon

licet inter sentes,

" expressed in these terms: Non aut ad arbores sarcivos, vel ad

These

almost reduced

fontes vota exsolvere."

(3) After removing the bark of the oak, they cut a square opening in it, where they inserted the corpse of the Drnid : they closed it up -vith a piece

have been found, where the bones, to dust, were accompanied with walnuts, or beech-nuts in good preservation.
trees
(4)
(fi)

Paul., lib.

i.

Paschalis Operis,

c.

2.

Capitul., Caroli

Magni,

lib.

i.

tit.

64.

BLESSED VIRGIN MAHT.

digenous worship, favoured by forests as old as the world, maintained its ground
in defiance of councils
nevertheless, used every
pation.

229
garment of coarse

roots were their food; a

wool, white and plain, such as the

Roman

and bishops, who,

effort for its extir-

desert of Scycy, in the of Cotentin, was still peopled, peninsula in the seventh century, with idolatrous

The

plebeians wore, clothing.' themselves a passage through the Making tall ferns of these virgin forests, the secret

was

their

paths of which were unknown to them, these good pastors went everywhere in
the wandering sheep, whom they wished to induce to enter into the

Gauls,

who

lived there, as the

canons of

search

of

certain councils of the time say, positively

like

wild beasts.

But
in

if

idolatry,

sup-

fold of Jesus

ported by prophets, bards, and

certain

wandering

Druids

the woods,

was
of

Christ. When the good odour of the sanctity of one of these solitaries came to be diffused, like the sweet

obstinate. Christian zeal

had the necessary

and penetrating scent of the

lily

of the

ardour to defeat

it,

and gave proof

In the depths of these solitudes

I'eputed the

it.

lost,

valley, through the aged Neustrian forests, other anchorets made haste to place

asylum of devils, where strange were seen, when the resinous things
torches of the Gauls,

themselves under

its

discipline.

Then

repaired by night to some forbidden ceremony, gave a red glare beneath the foliage of the

who

they broke up the dry and hard earth, which had been for ages obstructed by the heather and the bramble ; then the ears of
corn began to whiten on the sides of the uncultivated hills ; then in the evening, at the hour when the birds warble in the
trees, the

huge oaks, or formed sheets

around
black
dolmens erected

of flame

on the

heath in the

silveiy light of the

moon'

hymns

of Sedulius in

honour of

hermits, very often

men

came

to

settle

in poor

of high birth, hovels of turf

the Blessed Virgin the victim

Mary
to die

arose in slow

and grave melody, in the very places where

covered

with

reeds,
ivy

which were

soon

doomed

by the stony

surrounded with

mixed with moss.

Dry leaves, sometimes even the bark of trees, was their bed fruits, berries, wild
;

knife of the ovate, to appease the gods of Gaul, had uttered his death-song.*

The women,

that sex, at the

same time

(1) The most angust assemblies of the Druids were those of the new and full moons that of tho
;

the toga, began to wear a mantle and girdle. He shows them that it is only the love of chastity that
is

new moon began when

light the country
;

this planet shone enough to round about, that is, on the sixth day but the moonlight did not prevent them from carrying torches. (See Hist. Eccles. de Bret.,

Introduct., p. 184.) (2) Down to the sixth century, the clergy wore the white and close toga of the Roman people.
Celestin, in the year 428, blamed the ecclesiastics of Vienue and Narbocne, who, instead of

to us by what the gospel says of the loins that they must not corrupt by girding superstition the discipline which so many holy bishops have authorised ; and that the clergy ought not to be distinguished from the faithful by their
;

commanded

dress, but

by learning and purity

of

life.

(Fleury,

Pope

Jlceurs dcs Chretiens, ch. 41; ibid., t. ii. p. 185.) (3) M. Pitre-Chevalier, in his interesting and a very patriotic work on Britanny, has inserted

230
timid and intrepid,
fear

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

who experience

every
of

and face every danger, were anxious

fall

century, and was established there, thanks to the wise measures of St. Gregory the

to contribute their share to the

paganism, and came like flights of white turtle-doves to humble themselves in the
shades of woods
still

but this disputed triumph was as Edwin, one of the most yet only partial.
;

Great

powerful princes of the Saxon heptarchy,

idolatrous, under the

St. protection of Mary. lord, tired of the world,

whom the
Ham, when

Fremond, a great
epis-

had the glory of firmly establishing it. Having, like Clovis, made a vow to embrace Christianity, if he should gain a
victory over the perfidious kings of
sex,

copal mitre went in search of beneath the straw thatch of an anchoret's cell, and

Wes-

who regretted his

cell at

palace of the bishops of Cotentin, built, in his solitude so much regretted, a

in the

have him assassinated, and having gained it, he convoked the

to

who wanted

Wittena-gemote, that of the sages, lords,

is,

the great council and warriors of his

monastery of nuns, which is one of the first of which the memory has been preto

small kingdom, and after laying before them his motives for abjuring his old
deities,

served in Neustrian Armorica; he joined it a very fine church, which he dedi-

he requested their opinion.

cated to the Mother of God.

nastery, built about the year

This mo674, was

This Anglo-Saxon senate, deliberating on the change of religion which was proposed to them, was both a strange and

destroyed by the
tlie

Norman

idolaters,

and

imposing spectacle.

The

king,

young,

splendidly rebuilt by their

descendants

Norman Christians. The vicinity of the

handsome, and brave, presided over the assembly, with the crown on his head, a

Isle

of Britain,

naked sword

in his hand, according to the

which the Anglo-Saxons, conquerors of the native people, had replunged into
Neustrian pasidolatry, tors ; for the idolaters of Great Britain,

custom of the time, and clad in a long

mantle, fastened with a clasp upon his shoulder on each side of him were the
;

was

fatal to the

making common
Gaul,
fortified

cause
in

with

those

of

old men unarmed, and mantles, wearing a with long robes

wise

men of thernation,

them

their resistance.

gospel, favoured by a Merovingian princess, had penetrated afresh into the

The

cap of Phrygian form ; then the warrior chiefs, with short and tight clothing,

British Isle, towards the end of the sixth

curious bardic

whose round helmets without visors were ornamented with a falling feather on
;

hymn
this

attributed to the victim

upon

h3'mn lias been preserved by M. de la Viilemarqu^: '* Hu thou whose wings rend the air ; thou whose sou was the protector of

the

dolmen;

It ia Hu, whose forehead is radiant, support me the feast around the tw^o lakes; one lake surrounds me and surrounds the circle; the circle surrounds
!

great privileges, the bardic herald, the minister.

fair retreat is in another circle of deep posts. front ; great rocks cover it the serpent conies forth
;

Father of the abysal My tongue shall sing my death-song iu the midst of the circle of stones

gliding on to'wards the vessels of tlie saerificator with golden horns. The golden horns in his hand,
bis

which

incloses the world.

Support of Britanny

hand upon the

knife, the knife

upon

my

head

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

their to a

231

arms slione heavy bracelets of gold narrow belt, which passed over the
;

had declared that this strange fashion, which had procured for the Scotch and
North Britons
the

shoulder, liung their battle-axe and their sword with one hand they held a lance, and with the other a round buckler,
;

name

of

Picts,

or

painted warriors, was an invention of the

devil.*

King Edgar

forbade, by a decree

studded with golden nails ; at the farther end were the Christian priests, and the

dated in 967, the superstitious assemblies called Frithgear, held round druidical
stones, which were

high priest of the

idols.

The

result of this conference exceeded

the expectation of the bishops. The high priest of the pagan divinities was the first

worshipped in Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Devonshire, and especially on Salisbury Plain,' the Carnac field of the English,
still

were powerless. A warrior proprietor, a thane, compared the life of man to the flight of a little bird
to declare that they

chorea giganteum of the ancients).

where was the celebrated Stonehenge (the This

that crosses a saloon with a single movement of his wings. " You see the door

decree seems not to have been scrupulously obeyed, since Canute or Cnut the
Great, a celebrated sea-king, was obliged to forbid, as late as the eleventh century,
the

by which he enters," said the Saxon chief,

"

the

out;

window through which he passes but whence does he come? and

worship of

stones,

fountains,

and

whither does he go ? This is the emblem of our existence. If the new faith clears

the Anglo-Saxons, they became entirely converted, without any

trees.

As

to

trace remaining of their former worship;

up

this uncertainty,

we ought

to

adopt

it."'

and no sooner had they substituted the cross of our Lord upon their banners for
the white horse of Heigist, than they vied with each other, in all parts of England,
in

the king declared himself a Christian the whole assembly solemnly renounced the worship of idols, and the

Upon

this,
;

erecting

convents,

cathedrals,

people imitated the senate and the prince. This religious revolution took place in
620.

churches, hermitages, chapels in honour of Blessed Mary, sometimes alone,

and

sometimes associated with one of the

divinities

were vanquished in Great Britain, but Druidism was not;

it

The German

apostles or

Saxon

saints,

when they

pos-

survived in the old insular forests, where the Enghsh still tattooed themselves,
of the eighth century, though councils

Nothing was more plain and simple than most of these primitive
sessed them.

like the savages of America, in the heart

Anglo-Saxon chapels. Enormous trunks of trees, taken from the neighbouring

forests,

and cemented with moss or

turf

(1) Hist. d'Anglet.,

by M. de Roxijoux,

t. i.

(2) This tattooing was

condemned

diabolical rite.
in

787 by a

council of Northurabria, as a pagan impiety and a (See Cuncil. Labbo, t. vi.)

(3) See Camden's Britannia.

232

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

clay,

mixed with

formed

the

outward

ungraceful style which prevailed at this

period of
little

walls; the walls of the interior, which was entered by a low porch, decorated

progress.

Wlien William of Normandy had conquered

some lozenge-shaped mouldings, were plastered with a clayey kind of earth, which admitted of a sort of polish,
with

England,

the

Anglo-Norman
spires,

churches, with

their

bold

their

and upon which were traced coloured

figures

up

splendid belfries, to the clouds, were introduced in

and

their towers carried

all

of

barbarous

design.*

At the

extremity of the

little edifice,

where the

the pride of their fairy architecture, by the side of the heavy churches and poor

wind, rain, and light came in together through the lattice of osier work which
served for windows,' was raised upon an altar in the shape of a tomb, and covered

rude chapels of the Saxons.

latter,

But these
want
of

notwithstanding
retained
a

their

with a red cloth with long fringe,* an image of the Blessed Vii'gin in the cos-

powerful charm which operated strongly upon the conquered multitude it was in tliem that
elegance,
:

ths vanquished

came

to pray

and

to

weep.

tume of a Saxon
where hung a
all

lady.

An open

belfry,

turned green, surmounted the thatched roof of the chapel,

bell

Virgin, whom they had venerated there in better days, the Virgin, who, according to the custom of the time,

The Blessed

bedecked with

tufts of gi'owing grass.

wore their national costume, seemed to

In front of this primitive monument was seen a cross, formed of two trees fastened
together with branches of willow, and crowned with a garland of box or ivy ; this was the sign of the change of
worship, and the trophy of Christ over

them more attentive, more indulgent, more disposed to succour them in those
enclosures, where she reigned over the tombs of their forefathers and
religious

the saints of old England.

Christianity,

which was carried into

Zernebock and Hertha.

little

later,

the Anglo-Saxon bishops procured from

Spain by St. James, four years after the death of our Lord, according to the ancient

and builders;* but the cathedrals and abbeys which they built under the invocation of Mary and
painters, glaziers,

Eome

Spanish tradition, and which made rapid

progress there, flourished in that country, mingled with the tares of Arianism, from

the saints partook of the massive and

(1) Hiat. d'Anglet., by M. de Roujoux, (2) Sir James Hall Douglas, in his

the time of the invasion of the Goths and

t. i.

Essay on

the draperies, often very rich, which covered the old altars were red, to imitate the colour of blood ; people

Gothic architecture, traces the stone

niullions, so

light and elegant, of the great ogee windows, to the imitation of those lattices of wicker work mentioned
iu the earliest Christian

went sometimes to Home for veils from the tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul. (Hist. Eccles. de Bret.)
(4) "Misitlegatarios in Galliam, qui vitri factores,
artifices videlicet Britanniis ea tenus incognitos,

legends of England.

(See

ad

the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions.) (3) It must be remembered that the ancient
altars of Christianity

cancellandos ecclesiaj portions et coeiiaeulorura ejus fenestras, abducerent." (Bede, lib. de Wiremu-

were the tombs of the martyrs;

thensi monasterio,

c. 5.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

Vandals.

233

The veneration
the
great

of Mary, someSt.

what echpsed, however, by that of

Vincent,
tius has

the Spanish forests, where it maintained its ground a long time,' the banner of

martyr

of

Csesar-

Augusta, now

Saragossa, celebrated in his hymns, truly antique in their form and grandeur, was Our already popular in that country.

whom

Pruden-

independence, the sacred banner of the cross, had taken refuge as in its last

asylum after the battle of Xeres, M^hich

delivered

up

Spain

to

the
forest,

Caliphs.

Abandoning

forest

after

moun-

Lady

del Pilar,

which was

at first only a

tain after mountain,

poor chapel of loose stones

already

and sods, had

heroic slowness to
is

and retreating with Mount Antiba, where

become a Romanesque church, the object of pious pilgrimages, where the statue of the Blessed Virgin seemed to smile upon the Spanish people on their knees, from the summit of its rich column of marble. Our Lady of Toledo, the metropolitan church of all Spain, the foundation of which is carried back by some

descried the sea of the Cantabri, the

farthest limit of Spain, Pelayo, the sole

hope of his country, took refuge

short time, with a handful of brave
in
this

for

men,
the

inaccessible

cavern, which

piety of the Asturian mountaineers

had

consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and which was adorned by her sweet image,
placed upon a rock, which served for an
altar.

Spanish historians to the first ages of tlie Church, had been authentically consecrated in the year 630, by the Gothic King Reccared, the first king of Spain who merited the title of Catholic, because

When

he made his way into

his

this

rude temple, the Spanish hero conceived

some hope, and kneeling with

com-

he drove the Arians out of his kingdom, after having procured the condemnation
of their errors by a council held at Toledo.

panions at the foot of the revered image, he solemnly placed himself and the desperate aflfairs of Spain under the protection of Nuestra Senora de Covadonga, adopted the name of the Virgin for his

But the sanctuary

of Mary,

most

visited

by the people of Spain, in those remote times of which we are attempting to

sketch the history, was that of our Lady It was of Covadonga, in the Asturias.
because, beneath the natural vaulted roof of this Asturian grotto, consecrated to

war cry, and

tain

fortified

himself in the moun-

which she protected.

The Mother

of

God

graciously accepted the vows of

the Gothic prince, and was pleased to manifest her protection by procuring for
the Spaniards a great victory over the Moors, commanded by the Mussulman governor, Alcama.*

Mary by the ancient

anchoi'ets,

when

they combated Druidism in the depths of

(1) The twelfth and sixteenth councils of Toledo, one of which was held in the year 681, and the other in 693, show, by their eleventh and twelfth canons,

(2) According to F. Mariana, this army consisted of sixty thousand men ; Sebastian, Bishop of

Salamanca, and Ambrosio de ^Morales, make

greater.

it still

that those

a religious worship to stonea or sacrifice to batan. trees,

who pay

Hn

iiU

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

Attributing to the Blessed Virgin this

dom
them
to

of the
to

unhoped

for victory, Pelavo, to testify his

seemed good to introduce Islamism there, and

West;

it

gratitude, caused to

natural cavern

which extended

be

built,

near the
far into

change the churches into mosques. This project was no sooner conceived

which the Auseba flowed

the
title

the Side of a steep rock, at the foot of a church, under

of

than executed.

The

rich plains of the

south wore soon covered with a numerous

Our Lady
all

of Covadonga (the
to pray.'

cavern),

where

Spain caine

army, who plundered the sanctuaries on its way, and threw down the statues of
the Blessed Virgin and the saints from their ancient pedestals, contemptuously
treating

The descendants

of Clovis the Fair, the

Long-haired, as he is called in the prologue of the Salic law, had greatly dege-

them

as idols.

From

the Pyre-

the bravery and abilities of this prince. The lamp of the Merovingians, almost extinct, was going out

nerated from

nees to the Rhine, all France trembled ; the churches were too small to contain
the people

without showing the smallest spark ; the indolent kings, who were no better than
vain idols, hardly ever showed themselveo to the people more than once a year, and

God and
;

his holy

on their knees begging of Mother aid and succour

;

against the infidels the bishops took up arms the mitred abbots marched to battle

then on a chariot adorned with green

beneath the banners of their abbeys the abbot of St. Denis had the oriflamme
;

boughs and flowers, drawn by four oxen, who drew to the Champ de Mai those

borne on high, which was as yet only the banner of his own convent; Aquitaine
displayed the figure of St. Martial, and Charles Martel the mantle of St. Martin
of Tours,

phantoms

of princes

whom

the breath of

Charles Martel could have dispersed, and did not condescend to do it. Still they

were pious, and built monasteries; but piety alone is not suflicient to support a
sceptre; that of France, which is heavy, requires a firm arm, a fearless heart, a

which was then the royal standard of France. It was in truth a holy

war; and accordingly we see that those who fell in this warfare were ranked

The strong head, and a wise mind. mayors of the palace had all these, happily for

among The

the martyrs.
battle

where the Moorish scimitar

Christian

Europe, which soon

of Spain, from the

and the battle-axe of the Franks were to decide the destiny of the world, and secure
the triumph of the Gospel or of the Koran, took place in the plain of Poictiers. The

saw

itself

embroiled with Islamism.*

The Moors, masters

heights of the Pyrenees, had cast a covetous eye upon France, the fairest king(1)

two armies viewed each other at

equal surprise; the

first

with

French could not

The chnrch
till

of

Our Lady

of

Covadonga

1775, when it fell a prey to the flames; the pious King Charles III. wished to rebuild it

remained

is

purpose, which are not yet finished. This sanctuary situated in the province of Oviedo.
(2)

The word islamism

signifies consecration to

maguificeutly, and had works coiumcuced

for that

God,

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

that
brilliant

S35

help

admiring
tlie

Oriental

cavalry, proud of so

laden with

many triumphs, and spoils of Africa and Asia.

which had given over Spain to the Moors, had lasted eight whole days; the battle of Tours, which
battle of Xeres,

The

The

earth trembled under the hot tramp of those Arab coursers wlio pawed up the " Come on "

delivered France from them, lasted only the length of a day's sun. The Arabs

ground, and seemed to say,

description of

charged the army of Charles several times,

like their type immortalised in the

sublime

the eye was dazzled with the splendour of the flowing garments of the Saracens, the fabulous

Job

throwing their battalions into the medley like waves on the sea; but their disorderly
fury fell in vain upon the formidable masses of the Franks, who are compared

richness of their tvirbans, and the flashes

by a Portuguese, the Bishop Isidore, a

" to a wall of ice, contemporary author, against which the clouds of the Arabs

from their cuirasses and

scimitars.

The army
drawn up
in

of the Franks, which

was

form of a wedge for the battle, presented to the children of Ismael a spectacle no less new and imposing.

came

to

break and

dissolve,"

without

leaving any trace behind them.

At length,

Those

swift warriors, clad in short clothes,

the ferocious Abderrahman, lieutenant of the caliph of Bagdad, whose authority

who

surpassed the fleetest horses in celerity ; that formidable infantry, which

extended even

to Spain, fell

beneath the

ponderous axe of Charles.

The shades

combined in
tactics

its

manoeuvres the ancient

legions with the
tri-

of the

Roman

of night separated the combatants, and the next day, when the Christian troops

ferocity of the

Germans, and whose

angular mass, bristling with battle-axes and swords, was advancing with impetuosity,

rushed upon the African camp to complete the ruin of their enemies, they found it empty the Moors had fled and each

but with
to

a steady,

uniform

victorious battalion

was received in

its

break through the Moorish movement, squadrons, struck the Arabs with surprise, who soon perceived, say the ancient
chroniclers, that they had not to engage with degenerate Goths, and that Charles

own

city,

now

secure, with

the joyful

sound of

bells

and the chanting of psalms,

and on

all sides were heard repeated those words of the Salic law, " Hail to Christ,

who

cherishes

tlie

Franks, protects their

was more
Roderick.

difl&cult to

conquer than

Don

armies, and holds their

his protection."

kingdom under

336

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

CHAPTER

VIII.

THE MEN OF THE NORTH.

the Merovingians had exchanged the white and blue dalmatic, the golden diadem set with precious
last of

The

beloved sister of Charlemagne, took the veil. It was this prince who gave to the

Merovingian monastery of Our Lady of

Argenteuil part of the

stones,

and the golden

curved
like

staff six feet in

immense

forest

length,

crosier,

which

formed the sceptre of the long-haired kings, for the brown habit of the monaswas one phantom the less. For a long time the mayors of the palace were the real kings, and the disappearteries
;

which was contiguous to it. Pepin the Short also founded in the ancient German forest, which afterwards became so celebrated and dreaded under the

it

name

of

the Black Forest, a charming chapel in a thicket in honour of Mary. It was on

ance of the

last

descendant of Clovis

made

so little noise in the world, that the

the following occasion. One day, when he was hunting the stag in these vast woods

chronicles of the time are content to say, with a conciseness where contempt seems
to

with his lords, he became separated from his train without perceiving it ; having
lost his

peep out beneath indifference, that the Franks assembled at Soissons, deposed
Childeric,

tion to follow,

way, and not knowing what direche was hesitating to take

and gave the crown

to Pepin.

This prince of Austrasia, who had just boldly set upon his brow the crown of
France, violating in concert with the lords every law of the monarchy, had a

a certain path, when the faint sound of the bell of a hermitage reached him, borne on the autumnal breeze. The

sword able to defend

enough

to bear

it.

and a head strong His valour could not

it,

Frank prince turned his horse's head in the direction whence the religious summons had come, and soon perceived in a wild, but charming situation, where a
spring of fresh water bubbled up, a small forest chapel, built, or rather roughly put
together, by a poor Scottish

be called in question, his prudence was

proverbial,

and he showed more

piety

than his father Charles Martel, of glorious

monk.

This

memory, who had

extensively
it.

pillaged

modest

Pepin, who was distinguished for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, was crowned by Boniface,
the church after saving

edifice, constructed without the compass of the architect and the trowel

of the mason,

had not the

cence in

its

own way;

less magnifithe bramble had

Archbishop of Mentz, in the celebrated abbey church of Our Lady of Soissons,

interwoven in the narrow openings its brown ringlets ornamented with broad

where Gisella, one of his daughters, the

dark green leaves, while the gold and

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

purple foliage of the wild vine seemed to fix upon the loose enclosure the rich tints
of the setting sun.

237
visits

one of his pious

to

Our Lady du

Marillais, in Anjou, has

been preserved, a

that time, naturally proud enough, divested themselves, however, of their haughty habits before any Christian

The kings of

pilgrimage which dates, as it is affirmed, from the fourth century, and which was then one of the most frequented in the
Christian world.*
Italy, his rich

During
to
St.

his abode in

emblem.

When

he discovered the black

gifts

cross of the hermitage, the descendant of

quite dazzled the people of

their eyes

the conqueror of the Moors bent his head, and bowed down as the humblest shepherd

were used

to

Mary Major Rome, though splendour and

kingdom might have done; then, tying his horse to a tree, he made his way into the poor sanctuary placed under the
of his

magnificence. Germany was enriched by him with three churches with the title of

Our Lady: yet this was not all. After exhuming the city of Granus,
remains of which he had accidentally discovered extended beneath the moss and brambles of the
for its baths, the

invocation of Mary. ness of the sacred

roof of which, that

The complete naked-

through place

famous

the

had

fallen in, the pines

were seen waving and the clouds moving

did not in any

beautiful valley bordered by the

way

cool the genuine

Rhine and the Meuse, diaries, who would make

choice of
it

After having brave king. respectfully prayed before a Madonna badly carved, which in these days would
piety of the

for the seat of the

empire of

the Franks, had built there, adjoining his vast palace, under the invocation of the

the rage,

make

a child cry,

and put an

artist in a

prince, taken unawares,

and

Blessed Virgin, a chapel or oratory, of an octagonal form, the marbles of which he

unwilling to depart from the holy place without leaving there some token of his
visit, laid at

brought from

Italy,

and which he lighted

the foot of the altar his cap, embroidered with gold and ornamented

with stained-glass windows cased in gold, and enclosed with gates of brass. This
chapel, which was equal in extent to the basilicas, and which later on afibrded a

with precious stones.

When

he returned

to his hereditary palace of Heristal, Pepin did not forget, amidst the cares and festivities of royalty, the little hermitage of

magnificent asylum to the mortal remains of the great emperor, soon became so
celebrated, that the

German
to
its
it,

city,

which

Mary, which he rebuilt magnificently, and

suitably endowed.'

Charlemagne, or Charles

the

Great, as

the chronicles of the Franks inform us, did not repudiate the religious inheritance
of his father's piety
;

name. From the time of the Emperor Louis I. to the year 1556, thirty-six kings and ten queens
were crowned in the sanctuary of Our This sanctuary was so frequented, Lady.
(2) Grandet, Hist. Eccles d'Anjon.

chiefly owed its glory itself honoured to bear

accounted

the remembrance of

(1) Astolfi, Delle Imagiui miracolose.

238

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

decorated with frescoes representing a combat, and during ten centuries none

that in 1496 there were reckoned, in one

single day, a

hundred and forty-two thou-

sand pilgrims.

but Frenchmen were interred there.

last

The

The court of Charlemagne imitated him in his tender and profound piety
towards the Blessed Virgin.
clared war against the

When he
all

de-

thought of the knight-errant Roland, on the field of battle, where he expired under the arrows of treachery, was an act
of respect towards the Blessed Virgin ; he would have his sword carried to Our Lady of

Mussulman King
the counts

of Cordova, and

summoned

of the south of France under the glorious banner which bore the figure of the arch-

Roc Amadour, and

it

was done accord-

ing to his orders.

angel Michael, the hero of the French of this time, the celebrated knight-errant

Louis the Pious, or the Meek, the son of Charlemagne, always carried about him
the image of his journeys.

Roland, his nephew, before he crossed the Pyrenees, which were to be so fatal to

Mary

in the chase
it

and on

When

happened, that

him, made, with a number

of high

and

mighty lords, a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Boc Amadour. The Carlovingian prince,
after piously

separated awhile from his court, he found himself alone in the woods, he quickly took off his gauntlets, studded with gold,

invoking Mary, offered her a

donative of silver of the weight of his bracmar (sword), and consecrated to her
that sword which had

and taking from his bosom the venerated image, he would place it at the foot of an
oak,

and there make

it

his

prayer.

He

gained so great renown. As he was returning to France, covered with glory, the rear-guard of the

deposited

afterwards -in

the

superb

Abbey
to

of Hildesheim,

which he caused

be built in honour of the Blessed

French army, which he commanded, was surrounded and attacked on every side in
the valley of Roncevaux.

Virgin,*

and where he planted with his own hand a rose-tree, which remained
almost as long as his beautiful monastery. Under Charles the Big, a lazy and
deceitful

In vain did the

French meet an inevitable danger with undaunted courage they were cut to pieces: none would surrender; all perished, commanders and soldiers. To perpetuate the
;

monarch, whose sad and

dis-

turbed reign prepared the way for the fall of the race of Charlemagne, the Normans,

memory of

this disastrous event, there

was

these warriors

erected in this place, over the bones of of fabulous bravery, a

under the command of Sigefried, came and laid siege to Paris. This ancient
capital of the Parisii,

where Juiian the

chapel, dedicated to Mary, in which was placed an inscription bearing the names

Apostate was fond of residing, was not then of greater extent than in the time
of Caesar
built
:

du Mas, Guy de Bourgogne, Ogier the Dane, This chapel, situOliver, and Roland. ated near the Abbey of Roncevaux, was
of Thierry, D'Ardennes, Rioles

the Cathedral of Notre

Dame,
two

by King Childebert on the

(1) Triple Cour., n. 76.

east,

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

great towers on the south and north, and the palace of the king or the nobles on

239

they cast at each other fire and burning darts. The Norman towers were opposed

the west, formed the four extremities of its enclosure. The Seine surrounded it

with

its

blue waters.

The bank

of the

and the enemy approached the walls under covered galleries, which the Paiisians often succeeded
to the besieged ramparts,

river, on the north, was covered with a forest, and the octagonal tower which was

at

the corner of the

cemetery of

the

or demolishing beneath the weight of beams and stones. From the beginning of this heroic and
in setting
fire,

on

Innocents, served as a watch-tower in this

forest of sufficiently evil repute, against

hopeless contest, Paris had been placed under the special protection of the Blessed
Virgin.

the site of the quarter des Halles, and in the environs of St. Opporrobbers.

On

The

clergy carried her statue in

tuna, was an hermitage which was called the Hermitage of Our Lady of the Woods,

procession round the ramparts during the battle, and the Normans often aimed

because
forest.

it

was

at

the entrance of the

of St. Genevieve

without effect; the archers invoked Mary aloud, while they discharged clouds
at
it

The mount

was
bor-

ef arrows

and stones from the tops of the

covered with vineyards; and the faubourg

St.

towers; in her honour, as often as they

Germain, famed

for its

meadows

dered with willows, was a small abbey

village.

had repulsed the pirates of the north, the city was magnificently illuminated with
flambeaux of white wax.
" "
it

It is
is

she who she who

Sigcfried

had

at

first

requested perinto Burto

saves us," said

Abbo;
;

mission for the troops to pass through

Paris which

deigns to support us

it is

by her aid that

he was
for

to

march
refused

we

gundy
their

the

Parisians

open

gates

him, and the Norman

swore by the bracelets of Tlior that his sword should force them open.

enjoy our Saviour, brilliant Queen of heaven, it is you who have been pleased to snatch the people of Lutetia .from the

still

life.

Amiable Mother of

Eudes, son of Robert the Strong, shut

liimself

up

in

Paris,

and resolved

to

threatening sword of the Danes!" Some years later, the Blessed Virgin miraculously aided the recovery of the
city of

defend it against these barbarians, who, not satisfied with pillaging houses and churches, even stole away the venerated

their expulsion from Brittany,

Nantes from the Normans, and which they

Alain,

The siege was long and murderous; seven hundred Norman barks blocked up the Seine on both sides were employed, in the attack and defence, battering-rams, halistoe, and catapultce;
bodies of the saints.*
;

had seized upon. wards surnamed

who was

after-

Barbe-Torte

(twisted-

beard), having taken refuge in England, with the flower of the young nobility ot

Britanny,

undertook

to

reconquer

his

He was twenty years old, he country. was in exile, and possessed httle else than
his sword

(1) See Antitj.

de Rouen,

p. 102.

and the protection of Mary;

240
but a sword
is

TITE HISTORY OF

THE DEVOTION TO THE

looked out in the miserable city where

something in the hand of a brave man, and the protection of the

Blessed Virgin

He

many squadrons. equal landed with a few Bretons at Cancale,

is

to

nothing was left but fragments of walls blackened by the flames for the majestic

basilica of St. Felix, the roof of which,

and inarch

after

march, leaving behind

covered with fine tin from Cornouailles,

him a long

corpses, the Breton hero arrived at length under the

train of

Norman

was so bright, says a contemporary monk,

that in the rays of the sun, or in the

had taken refuge

Repulsed with

walls of Nantes, where the northern pirates as in their last asylum.

loss

moonlight, it looked like polished silver. Alas this roof had disappeared, and the
!

by the Normans, who had collected a number of troops round

the
city,

sky served for a dome to the church, where the altars were

antique

Alain, pursued

even

to

the

and the tombs

laid open.

To reach

broken, the

extremity of the

mountain with his

troops,

stretched himself out upon the ground, quite exhausted, says an old Breton chronicler,

place where the altar had been, Alain was obliged to make himself a way by

and

suffering

wonderful

thirsty

beating sword.

down the brambles with his The Te Deum for the victory, and
of praise to the Blessed Virgin,

began then to weej) bitterly, and by humble prayers to beseech the aid of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord, begging of her to open for him a spring
of water, with

"

He

hymns

were sung, nevertheless, amidst the ruins of this temple, with religious fervour;

and before he rose up, the young Breton

duke, grateful for the guardian aid of the Blessed Virgin, promised to dedicate this
cathedral to her, which took the

which himself and his

thirst,

horsemen, having quenched their

might

recover

their

strength.

Which

name

of

prayers being heard by the Virgin Mary, she caused a fountain to spring up for him,

Our Lady
It

of Nantes.

which

is gtill

called St. Mary's Fountain,

with which he and his men, being sufficiently refreshed and revived, recovered
their strength,
battle.

was under the reign of Charles the Simple that was effected, at the expense of the finest gem in the crown .of the

and returned
assaulted

valiantly to

They
fled,

the
off,

Normans,
excepting

Frank kings, the conversion of a whole army of those fierce and audacious pirates of the north, who had so long desolated
the coasts of the west of Europe.-

killed

them, and cut them

Neus-

those

who

carrying with them their

booty on board their vessels." Alain found the city of Nantes sacked

tria, which they had been devastating for almost a century, and which they had

and burnt.
blood, the

All covered with

dust and

even turned to the rude worship of their gods, with the Danish sword at their
throats,'

youthful liberator had long

was ceded

to

them with the

(1) For seventy-four years, gays Ronanlt, tlie Cotcutine had the misery to be profaned by (he

ceremonies which were used to the idols of the

North, and the

sacrifices,

which were offered

to

1^

1=

pi

e2

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

rights of lords paramount o.ver Britanny, on condition that RoUo, their chief, who
liad

241
the spot an ample grant

And he made on
of land to
city of

marked his way through terrified France with torrents of flames and blood,
should become a Christian.
tion

Our Lady of Bayeux. The Rouen had dedicated to I^Iary its

and repaired very insome time after; the duke was

metropolitan church, burnt by the Nor-

The was accepted; the Norman

a

condipirate

mans

of Hastings,

differently

Carlovingian princess espoused lived but a short time, and he was converted

who
The

baptized there with the greater part of

his
for

without any falling back.

Danish captains, and began works its enlargement and embellishment,

religious element, strangely

enough, pre-

vailed

who

these pirates of the north, had more than once sent presents

among

which his successors continued with magnificence.'* Our Lady of Evreux, one of
the oldest churches of
believe the chronicles
St.

Normandy

if

we

and wax tapers to abbeys which they had come expressly to plunder, when a tempest at sea, which had arisen in sight of the coast where they wanted to land, had led them to believe that the Christian
sanctuary was

which record that

Taurinus, the
it it

founded
secrated

bishop of Evreux, about the year 250, and confirst

the worship of the true God, under the invocation of the Blessed
to

defended by a heavenly

Virgin Mary

and powerful protector.' The first question addressed by the new duke of Nor-

immediately rich presents from Rollo, who, up to the hour

of his death, gave

received

mandy to Franco, Archbishop of Rouen, who instructed him in the mysteries of Christianity, was who were the most
renowned
saints of

proofs of the most sincere piety towards Madam Saint Mary, as the princes and great ones of that

time

were

accustomed

respectfully

to

France and Neustria.

style her.

The
"

prelate at

once named Our Blessed

Lady,
after a

and

expatiated

on
"

her

power.
prince,

Those Norman dukes, naturally generous and valiant, were in general very
devout to the Blessed Virgin it was at her altar that they received the investi;

AVell then," said the northern

moment's

reflection,

we must do

something

for her, as

she

is

so powerful."

ture of that fine duchy, which they proudly

them

in the

town

of Contances.

Abrege de

la

Vie

des Eveques de Contances, p. 151.)

Godfrey, their commander, and having carried off something from the abbey, were punished v/ith
death the same day.
S. Bened., sect. iv.

Danish army, which had landed on the (1) coasts of Ciitanny, to pillage the rich and celebrated Abbey of Rhedon, was so terrified at a storm which
burst over their camp, that instead of plundering and burning the abbey, the pirates, judging it to be defended by a God worthy of their respect,

(Mabillon, in Actis SS. Ordinis

brought presents thither, liglited it up witli tapers, and placed sentinels all round it to prevent pillage. Bixteea soldiers, Laving iul'riuged the onlers of

2nd part.) This prince was interred in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which he was then rebuilding, "lie ended his days like a good Catholic," says Taille" and was buried with great pomp and pied, fnneral solemnity in the great church of Notre
(2)

Dame, on the south

de Rouen,
p.

side."

(Autiquites de
II

la ville

107.)

242
called
tlieir

THE HISTOET OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

kingdom of Normandy. It was grey pavement of her chapel,
Jine tapestnj of silk

long Danish swords, with golden

hilts,

beneath

tlie

hung with

and

gold,

which they had by their side, and their pointed helmets, from beneath which appeared their light hair, they asked one another who were these princes of the
north,

representing the principal facts of the history of the Mother of God, and worked

by the duchesses of Normandy,' that they came to sleep their last sleep. Robert
tlie

Magnificent built, by himself, three churches of the name of Mary Our Lady
:

poor pilgrims, The pope gave the city of the apostles. them a distinguished reception, gave them his blessing, and with his own

who came

to visit, as

of the

Deliverer, to

fulfil

a vow

made

hands

laid

the

pilgrim's

staff

on the

during a tempest, which assailed his vessel in the dangerous waters of the
islands of the

shoulder of their leader and lord.

Thence

Norman

archipelago;

Our

Lady Our Lady

of Grace, nearHonfleur; and, finally, of Mercy, below the ducal castle

they proceeded on their way to Constantinople, the city of Mary, which they dazzled with their magnificence. They
scattered pearls along ; Robert's

which defended Harfleur.

This prince, so devoted to Mary, would go and visit her tomb, and that of Cheist

and gold as they passed mule was shod with gold,

fell off,

and when a shoe

Norman would

on horseback, accompanied by the richest and most

at

Jerusalem

he

set out

not condescend to stoop to pick it up ; it was for the Greeks to stoop down and
pick up out of the dust the golden nails which the Norman's horse had lost.*

stately lords of his court, all covered with

gold, glittering with precious stones,

and

surrounded by a crowd of attendants, squires, and pages, as if they were going to a tournament. On the roads the people

they drew near to places, the Christian spirit was

When

the
felt
;

holy these
or

same

travellers,

who had
erect,

traversed,

braved, with

heads

and without

crowded

to

see

them

their entry into

Rome was
ment

quite an event.

The Romans
and
astonish-

beheld with admiration

acknowledging any one's right to levy toll upon them, so many rivers well defended, and so many walls with battlements, these
bold companions, who always let the end of a sword be seen beneath the pilgrim's
garb, hitherto proud even
to insolence,

these northern barbarians,

caused terror even as far as

who had Italy, and who

reminded them of the features and stature

of the heroes of antiquity. Seeing their good looks, their bright coats of mail, the

could not have been recognised, so humble,4nodest, and devout had they become

(1)

"The

Duchess Gonnor,

second

wife

of

tapestry of

all

kinds

of

silks,

and embroideries

Sans-Peur, Duke of Normandy, gave great " and possessions to the churches," says Taillepied,
Piicliard

worked with

beautiful histories and figures of tlie Elessed Virgin Mary and the saints, to ornament

of Rouen, where she gave which she made, togetlier with the embroiderers and workmen; she also made
esiiecially to

Our Lady

the Church of

Our Lady
p.

of Rouen."

(Antiqiiites

beautiful Vestments

de

la ville

de Ronen,

112.)
c.

(2)

See La Nurmandie, by M. Jules Jauin,

2.

BLESSED VIKGIN MAEY.

at the

243

near approach to that holy land,

which

the rocky and burning soil of which they trod barefoot. Robert, so justly named

possesses the old church without a steeple, all covered with moss and
still

grass,

where these Norman

lions received

the Magnificent, visited, with the most edifying piety, the two holy sepulchres of

Baptism, sent from the extremity of La Pouille where they forced sixty thousand

Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Christians and Mussulmans received from

Saracens to retreat before

Norman

lances

the

five

hundred
de

half of a treasure
to GeofTroy

him alms

so royal, that the emir of Jeru-

which they had just found

salem, as a point of honour, refused in his turn to accept the tribute due to him from these splendid pilgrims. Robert must

Moubray, Bishop of Contances, to build, under the invocation of St. Mary, that fine and fairy cathedral which extorted even
from Vauban that exclamation of admiration

have
holy

left

a considerable present at the

sepulchre;

Richard

11.,

Duke

of
it

and astonishment, "Whatsublime fool

Normandy, had already made a gift to of a hundred pounds' weight of gold.

has raised this noble edifice to the sky!"

Precisely at the same epoch, a brother of Robert Guiscard, the Count Roger of

When the pilgrimage was accomplished,

the duke returned by land on the way to his fine duchy, which he was never

Hauteville, founded in conquered Sicily the celebrated cathedral of Messina, which

more

to

behold

He

died at Nice, in

he did not

fail to

dedicate to the Blessed

Bithynia, joking at the approach of death,

like his ancestors, the sea-kings^

and

re-

Virgin, according to the custom of his house. This sumptuous edifice, which

commending himself to Madam Saint Mary,

as his Christian predecessors

was consecrated in the year 1097, partook somewhat of

all

had done.

the

known

styles of

dream

who began to beneath the bright kingdoms sun of Italy, were no less devoted to the
nobility,

The Norman
of

architecture; the Byzantine mosaic was

brought into union with the arabesque of the Saracens, and with the graceful

Blessed Virgin than their valiant princes. Neither distance nor the din of arms prevented them from founding churches in her honour. The famous Tancred, and

Gothic
saints

turrets,

adorned with statues of

lavishly
gilded.

and angels,

In

the
is

sumptuous

treasury of this cathedral

preserved a letter of the Blessed Virgin,

Robert Guiscard, lords of the small maritime village of Hauteville, which has not
preserved a stone of their castle,

on which the devotion of the inhabitants

of Messina prides
several
Sicilian
itself,^

and on which
have
written

but

bishops

pilgrim having met the duke, who was carried by the Arabs in a litter, approached sorrowfully to the dying prince, and said to him, " What tidings shall I carry back of you to the
(1)
"

A Norman

"

that

you saw me carried

to

Paradise

by

four

devils."

country, Monseignenr ? RuLort, with a smile,

(2) This letter, which was at first translated into Greek by Laseari, who is reproached witli having

"

You

will say,"

answered
bearers,

invented
old

it,

pointing

to

his

MSS.

w;is lound later on in Syriac, among of the Bisliop of Mardiu, in Syria,

tlie

and

244

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

its

volumes, to demonstrate

authenticity,

which

is

rather disputed
is

In the same

paganism, and Olaus, King of Norway, who had joined his standard to the banner
of

celebrated every year the feast cathedral of Vaira, destined to perpetuate the re-

Normandy
II.

in a small war which

Duke

Richard
of Blois,

membrance
cens by the
Virgin,

of the defeat of the Sara-

waged against Eudes, Count was converted by Robert, Arch-

Norman

heroes; the Blessed

represented by a young girl, figures in the festival, borne on a magnificent triumphal car, while hideous
colossal

bishop of Rouen,^ to Christianity, of which he became the apostle in his own states.

This holy king ventured

with his

to

overthrow

own hands

the statue of Thor,

figures

represent

the

Mussul-

mans conquered by Count Roger. It was from Normandy that the religious light came which dissipated the
pagan darkness of the North, and
it

the tutelary divinity of Norway, in the old temple of Drontheim, which the Nor-

wegian pirates had encircled with a chain of gold, and where they came to swear

was

the Blessed Virgin who received, in her beautiful cathedral of Rouen, the first
fruits of that holy hai-vest.

upon the bracelets of that god whose club was so formidable

giants of frost.

of war,
to

the

Olaus sent into Sweden

Harold

II.,

Christian

missionaries,

who were

well

of Denmark, who had come at the head of a hundred galleys to the succour

King

received there, and the gilded walls of the temple of Upsal, freed from their idols,
purified
"
alia

of Richard the Dauntless, there abjured

from

their

human

sacrifices,''

was

translated into Latin

by D, Joseph Asaemani,

La

a noble Maronite, interpreter of the Oriental lanhave not to guatces at the Vatican library.

chiesa metropolitana de Messina fu dedicata beatissima V. M. della Sacra Lettera, e vi si

We

examine the value of

placed

this piece,

which has been

among the apocryphal writings, in spite of numberless protests we merely give it as a curious and ancient document. " Maria Virgo, Joachim et Annse filia, humilis
:

L'antica e celebra tutti gli anni una graude festa. tradizione della sacra lettera della gran 3Iadre pia di Dio sempre Virgine Maria, scritta alia nobile ed

exemplare cita di Messina, illustrata con nuovi documenti, ragioni e verisimili congetture, dal P. Maeetro D. Pietro Menniti, abbate generale di 8
BaBilio

Domini, Mater Jesu Christi, qui est ex tribu Juda, et de stirpe David, Messanensibus omnibus Balutem, et a Deo Patre omnipotente benedicancilla

Magno."
Odin
pri-

(1) Antiquites de la ville de Eouen. (2) The Scandinavians sacrificed to

tionem." "

Per publicum documentum constat vos mississe ad nos nuncios, fide magna ; vos scilicet credere Filium nostrum a nobis genitum esse Deum et hominem, et post resurrectionera suam ad coelum
ascendisse
;

soners in time of war, and criminals in time of peace ; but they did not always confine themselves
in great calamities they appease the gods. It was thus that the first king of Vermelande was burnt in honour of Odin, to procure the cessation of a
to

persons so

vile,

and
to

sacrificed

even kings

viam

veritatis agnovisse.

vosque, mediante Paulo, apostolo electo, Propterea vos vestranique

great dearth

and, as

we

learn in the history of

civitatem benedicimus et protegimus, et defendimus eam in sa>cula sseculorum. " Data fuit base epistola die quinto, in urbe
Hicrusalera, a Maria Virgine, cujus

Norway, kings did not spare their own children, Hacco, King of Norway, offered his in sacrifice to obtain a victory a king of Sweden consecrated his
;

nomen

supra,

anno xxxxii a
luua XXVII.

Filio ejus, Ba^culo primo, die 3 Juuii,

sons to Odin, that the god might prolong his life. (See Wormius, Monument Danic et Sax. grammat.,
lib. X.)

BLESSED VIEGIN MAET.

received the consecrated images of Christ

245
shut up the temples of false

sacrifices,

and
It

his Mother.

tian

was no fault of the princes of ChrisEurope, if the sun of the gospel had
of the North; from the middle of

gods, built Christian churches, and favoured with all his power the propagation

arisen so late in the horizon of the king-

His son, Sweno, a savage prince and pirate at heart, who had set
of the Gospel.

doms

the seventh century, the Saxon Willibrord had made fruitless attempts to convert
Jutland, which the missionaries sent by Witikind, the convert of Charlemagne,

himself up as the champion of idolatry, slew him treacherously with the shot of

an arrow, reopened the temples of Odin

and Thor, and

levelled

the Christian
After his death,

churches to the ground.

renewed without success in the course of

the eighth favourable
states,
;

the ninth opened under more

auspices.

which occurred in the year 1014, Christianity again raised its head, and began
again to be spread abroad.

Driven

from his

The

transition

Harold Klack, king of a part of

Jutland,

came

to

seek refuge at the court

from one worship to another, however, was not precipitate, as it was with the

of Louis the

Meek, where he embraced

Christianity. contemporary chronicler, Erraold the Black, abbot of a monastery of the empire of the Franks, describes in

young and ardent conquerors of Gaul and England the Christian chui'ches of
;

Denmark
his

arose for a century by the side

If

of the stone of sacrifice^

Christ and

a picturesque manner the arrival of the " What do sea-king and his Danish fleet.
I see shining in the rays of the aurora,

Mother were venerated^ neither were

the gods of the Walhalla without power; Thor still kept his club in his hands

and covering

afar the waters of the river?

sail

armed with iron

was chanted
to

gauntlets,

and

if

hymn

What

ships

up

the

proud Rhine
these
sails, of

with warlike

pomp ?

How

silvery whiteness, glitter in the sunshine

Mary beneath the vaulted ceiling of her chapel, it was the hymn of Odin which they intoned in their battles,
it

on the mirror of the waters and the " This conversion dancing of the waves
!

was Odin

whom they thanked

for victory,

of the Jutland prince was almost a solitary

by offering him a sacrifice of birds of prey. It seemed hard to the Northern warriors

one,

notwithstanding

the

exertions

of

Anschar, the apostle of the North; and those ships with gilded prows, the object
of the natural admiration of the warrior

abandon altogether those warlike divinities whose tombs they possessed, and
to

who had made

their

fathers so brave.

Franks, did but too well remember their course to Western Europe.
conversion of King Harold II. was more beneficial to the Christian religion

They acknowledged that Christ was God, and consented to adore him as such ; but

why

drive from their thrones the ancient

The

gods of the country, to

a strange

make room

for

than that of the Jutland prince. On his return to his country, he forbade the

together ?

God? Could they not reign The Walhalla was full of chaste
might receive the Virgin Mary.

women;

it

U6
Under

THE mSTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

shelter of this last intrenchment,

the North,

who were

said to

come

into

paganism was more formidable than ever, and the first Christian neophytes made a
monstrous mixture of the two religions with a view to conciliation.' This state
of things continued

the cottage of the labourer and the fortress of the jarl (earl) invisibly, and with

whom
and
have
to

good fortune entered

also.

These

superstitions, equally dear to the

the Great, who

the reign of Canute secured the preponderance

till

great the people,' would perhaps never

totally

been

effaced

without the

to Christianity.

The

religious veneration of the Blessed

Virgin contributed greatly to the establishment of the Gospel among the Scandinavians.

Blessed Virgin, who became the protectress of the cottage and the palace. The influence of the Queen of heaven
in the conversion of the Scandinavians
is

From time immemorial

virginity in heaven,

they

proved by a fact which no one

had placed

under the

in question,

that

calls
its

Christianity owed

whose flaxen hair was bound with a golden fillet, and of Gesione,
features of Falla,

progress

mothers,
warriors.*

among people who afterwards gained

first

these

to

the

over the

who admitted
virgins, seated

in her celestial train chaste

after their death.

young women,

Three

The

kings

of

Denmark

were

disposed of the destiny of mortals; those white ladies also were virgins,

under the sacred ash-tree, and

fervent servants of Mary. St. Canute, of Schleswig, dedicated to her three Duke

who

superb churches; Valdemar

II.

had her

walked upon the lakes like a column of mist, seated themselves at midnight beneath the frozen shadow of the pines,
soft and slow voices sung Runic which the Scalds had cut with hymns, the points of their swords on the rocks

image placed upon his

shield,

which was

covered with plates of gold, and having learned that the Russians, leagued with the Esthonians, threatened the infant

and with

church of Riga, he solemnly bound himself to enter Esthonia the next year, as
well for the honour of the Blessed Virgin, It was as for the remission of his sins.*
in this war,

which hung over the mound which was

the burial-place of those heroes
ravens of the sky bewailed.^
It cost

whom the them

much

to abjure those

handsome

fairies of

begun under the auspices of Mary, that the Danes, surprised in their

(1) Muntev., Hist, de Danemark; Mallet, Hiet. de Danemark. " \M)en Rogvald was killed," says the famotiB (2)

which had emanated from him seemed no longer to depend upon him, and by a consequence of that almost invincible tendency which has always led

northern Scald, liegnierLodbrog.in his Epicediiim, " Hymn, all the ravens of the sky bewailed him." Apparently because he gave them
or Funeral

men

sumptuous
(3)

feasts of carcases.

to multiply the objects of their adoration, they had acquired an equal right to the government of The worship of fairies and genii, authe world. guries and divinations, had, by degrees, become

come

religion of the Scandinavians had beentirely corrupt ; it no longer insisted on the

The

essential to the religion of the north.

(Malet, Hist,

de Danemark.)
(4) Ibid. (5)

Worship of one supreme God;

the intelligences

Chronique Livonienne,

p. 122.

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

lost their national flag.

247

camp,

As they

under

its

civilizing influence,

no people
Vir-

began to give way before the pagansj the Blessed Virgin, whom they had devoutly
invoked before they entered Esthonia,
gave them, it is said, a sensible mark of her powerful protection ; a red banner with a white cross upon it fell from heaven,
according
to

more devoutly honoured the Blessed

gin than the Hungarians. About the beginning of the eleventh

century, St. Stephen, the first Christian king of the Huns or Hungarians, founded,

and with

this

contemporary chroniclers, banner victory returned.*

of

thanksgiving for a victory over the Prince of Transylvania, Our Lady of Albein

Mary flourished long in the three kingdoms of the North, the great number of cathedrals, hermitages, and monasteries which were dedicated to
her prove it. When the burning wind of the Reformation had blasted this heavenly flower of Catholicism, this devotion was
still

The veneration

This fine Sclavonic basilica did Royale. not yield in magnificence to the most

sumptuous churches of the East.

Its

walls adorned with superb sculptures, its

pavements of marble, its altars covered with plates of gold, and inlaid with valuable stones
;

its

vessels of silver,
it

gold,

and onyx, made

marvellous

to behold.

kept up secretly, and

fifty

after Luther, people still

came

years to vene-

On
old

the altar of the Blessed Virgin were

silver

certain

dishes, in

on

which

two

rate

Mary

in the subterranean chapel of

men, who

their

childhood had

Upsal.'
to

This consoling devotion came

at

an end in these hyperborean regions

it

as

had begun

Kome,

among

been familiar with the exploits of Attila, burned the rarest perfumes of Asia.
Processions
to

the

tombs.
It

came several times honour the Mother of God

a
in

day her

was under the influence of Mary that

sanctuary.

Prussia, with the entire coast of the Baltic Sea, received the light of the Gospel. The

These splendours did not appear

cient to the piety of the
this

suffi-

Hungarian prince;
,

Friars Hospitallers of the Blessed Virgin, better known under the name of Teutonic

descendant of the Scourge of God, would hold his royal sceptre from the
declared the sovereign of Thus, every time that the

Knights, civilized
tries,

these barbarous coun-

Virgin, whom he
his dominions.

of

which hell {Poklus) and the god

of thunder {Perkonnas) were the principal

divinities.

name

of

Mary was pronounced through-

out the extent of this vast kingdom, there

the nations of Sclavonic origin,

Among
who
guinary

substituted Christianity for their sanrites,

was no Hungarian nobleman, however high his lineage, who did not bend his

and polished

their

manners

knee

to the

ground, like a vassal before

(1) !Malet,
leilgea,

who

criticises

this

legend, acknowexiilaius,

however, that no Danish historian

manner, the origin of this banner from the prodigy, apart

in a satisfactory

(2)

M. Marmier,

Lettre a

M. Salvandy.

248
his lady,

THE HISTOHY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

and bow his head
In the
in token of

the

Sclavonian forests

but when

the

profound respect*

fortified pre-

priest of Jesus

Christ, as

he celebrated

cincts of every castle,

smuU chapels were

lamps of brass

mass, read the Gospel to these northern

heroes, kneeling before an altiir as poor as the willow-wood manger of our Saviour,

found, lighted by several

or massive silver, which burned night and day before the image of Mary. The palatinate princes

even carried that image

you would have seen all their swords halfdrawn out of their sheaths in token of
protection

with them into battle, and set up oratories to

it

and defence.'
demonstration.

Nor was

this

in their tents.

any vain

Poland was
;

Mary was no less warmly accepted on the banks of the Vistula. Dating from the day when
veneration of

The

long the bulwark of Christendom but for John Sobieski, perhaps the crescent

would have surmounted

all

the towers of

Dumbrowka,

the

fair

Bohemian

princess,

converted King Micislas, and induced him to destroy the idols which his fathers

the cities beyond the Rhine. Poland was early consecrated to the

had
wist

set

up

to

{cloudy

Pagoda and sky),

{calm air), to
to

Poch-

Blessed Virgin; Mary was solemnly invoked under the title of Queen of Poland

the

sombre

divinities of the deep, the Poles,

become

long before John Casimir renewed the consecration. Every time that the Polish

thoroughly Catholics, vied with each other in building chapels of larch to the Mother

army was
Tartars,

in

motion

to

march against the

it

was the banner of Mary that

Pagan banners, brought away from twenty battle-fields, were the sole embelhshments of these primitive churches, concealed beneath the evergreen pines of
(1) Bopifacius, Hist. Virg., lib. ii. c. 2. (2) Tliis custom goes back to Micislas,

of God.

guided its warlike phalanxes;* the cry of Jesus twice repeated was the war-cry ;
a canticle to the Blessed Virgin was the

hymn

of battle.*

who was
by

the

first

king of Poland.
t. i.

(Hist, de Pologne,

M.

L.

S.,

p. 43.)

(4) In the tenth century, we see St. Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, composing sacred canticles for the Polish troo])s who fought against the Pomeranians and pagan Prussians. One hymn of St. Adalbert's,

Mary was Queen of whenever they took up arms accordingly, against the Tartars, her image adorned the national standard. (La Pologne Historique et Litteraire,
(3)

The
;

Blessed Virgin

Poland

battle
d'oeil

Boffa- Rodziga (Mother of God), has long been the hymn of the Poles. (Alb. Sowiiiski, Coup
historique sur la

musique religieuse

et

popu-

lalre

en Pologne.)

t. i.

p. 396.)

BLESSED VIEGIN MAET.

249

CHAPTER
CHIVALEY.

IX.

had gigantic empire of Charlemagne disappeared HkeJ a brilliant phantom ; the

The
last

monasteries at Poissy, Melun, Etampes, and Orleans, as we learn from Helgaud.

of the Carlovingians had been despoiled of his kingdom, reduced to nothing

by the imprudent liberality of his fathers; and the dukes of France, who maintained that they likewise were descended from

The church of Orleans was called Our Lady of Good Tidings, and built on the veiy spot where Robert, who was only at
that time heir presumptive to the throne, had learnt that his father, Hugh Capet,

Charlemagne, after twice attempting the royal mantle, ended by taking possession
of

had just escaped death.

How

worthy a

Before they combined the impoverished crown with their own great
it.

son of a king! Under the reign of Philip I., grandson of Robert, a prince who showed himself

fief,

with w^hich they endowed it, the counts of Paris had given striking proofs
of their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

more disposed
to

to

enrich

it,

plunder the church than a great event happened,

When

that unknown and terrible malady, which was called feu des ardcnts, after ravaging the south of the kingdom,

kings of France the kings of England for their vassals. William the Bastard, son of that duke Robert

which gave

to the

reached the Isle of France,

Hugh

the

the Magnificent, who died in the course of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, con-

own expense, the poor sick pilgrims who came to pray for their cure, which they obtained, at Our
Great supported,
at his

quered England in a single

established there the

battle,
rule.

and
Wil-

Norman

liam, like his father Robert, held

Mary

Lady

of Paris.'

Capet, the founder of the third dynasty, had a sincere devotion to the Blessed Virgin and Queen Adelaide of

Hugh

in wonderful reverence; that conqueror, so brave, so able a politician, who, with a

single frown of his

brow

msfcle

England
than he
to re-

tremble from one end to the other, was

Acquitaine, his pious spouse, loaded with her gifts the fine Abbey of Our Lady of
Argenteuil, which from that time possessed the holy relic which is still to this

no sooner attacked by

fever,

humbly joined

his warlike

hands

commend
Mary.

himself to the Blessed Virgin Falling sick in the castle of Chier-

day exposed
ful.

to the veneration of the faith-

hourg, a small

town defended

at that time

Kobert,

who proclaimed Mary

the

Star

of his fine kingdom, built, in her honour,

by good ditches and certain round towers, which the ocean lashed with its green
billows,

he made a vow

to build a chapel

(1) Felibien, Hist, de PariB,

to the

Blessed Virgin

if,

by her powerful E K

250
intercession,

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

he should speedily recover he got well, and religiously
the Saxon wife of her son,

Henry

I.

of

his health

performed his vow.

He

rebuilt, at his

England, had to change her pleasing name of Editha for that of Matilda, " to
please the Norman knights," has left other proofs of her devotion to the Blessed

own expense, the superb Abbey

of Ju-

mieges, where the cleric found learning and the poor man bread, on condition
that
its

Virgin

besides

the

memonal
to -her.

tapestiy

church, which Queen Bathildes

to
St.

which she consecrated

had dedicated

Peter, should

be

placed under the invocation of the Mother He assisted in person with the of God.

She was walking, about the end of the month of October, in one of those beautiful
is

Duchess Matilda, and all his great Norman barons, on the 1st of July, in the year of
grace

1068,
;

at

the

dedication
later

of this

carpet of velvet, painted with flowers, with her two young two future heroes, the elder of sons,

Norman meadows, like an immense

the grass of which

church

and some years

he crossed

whom

was

to immortalise himself

by his

the sea to be present at that of Our Lady of Bayeux, with his two sons, William

chivalrous exploits at the taking of Jeruand certain ladies of her court, salem,

and

Robert;

Lanfranc, Archbishop

of

when

a courier from

Duke

William,

who

Canterbury, and Thomas, Archbishop of York, by invitation of the bishop, Philip

d'Harcourt,
it

was galloping

who had

rebuilt

it.

No

doubt

Rouen, stopped his powerful horse, and rushed with one bound into the meadow when
he perceived her. " What news of my " asked Malord and the Norman army ?
tilda,

at full speed towards

was then that the Duchess Matilda paid

to St.

homage

Mary

of

Bayeux, by pre-

senting that celebrated historical tapestry in which her patient needle has worked

pale
"

with

"
agitation

the

battle ?

the great epoch of the conquest of Eng" this drapery, embroidered with land;
figures

replies

"Is gained, noble lady," the courier, as he bends his knee

whole

inscriptions," was hung the " length of the nave of the church

and

and presents to the youthful duchess, whose trembling hand was reached out
him, the despatch, with the seal hanging to it, which confirmed the truth of his
to

on the day and during the octave

of the

relics," says an inventory of the treasure of Our Lady of Bayeux, drawn up in

words; "the perjured Harold has been conquered his body, which ought not to
;

1476.^

This

fair

and pious

princess,

whose

have had any other burial-place than the sands of that shore which he unjustly
kept from us, rests in the choir of the
It

memory was

in so great veneration that

(1) This precious tapestry, contemporary with the conquest of England, remained in a manner un-

was
it

F.

tliat

was

Montfancon who succeeded in discovering i'rom Bayeux, and who eniielicd his
de
la

known

for six centuries.

Exposed on

ceitain days

Monumcns
known.

of the year only, in the nave of the cathedral, tradition had Buruamed it Duke William's tapestry.

from this tapestry, >vhich

Monarcliie Fi-an9aise with di;sii,'iiB so little till then was

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

251

Saxon abbey of Waltham;

"

England

is

Normandy made the sign princess a vow to joy, and made

the vassal of

The Norman

" Mary's church ringing for prime My St. Mary," said the Norman hero, Lady,
:

of the cross for

raise on the very

lifting

" up his hands,

:

recommend my

soul to you

may

you reconcile
"
1

me

to

spot where she heard of the brilliant success of the expedition of William and
his knights, a memorial church, under the name of Our Lady of the Meadow,

your Son, my these words, he expired.

Lord Jesus

As he

said

Henry

I.,

his

son,

who had usurped

the crown from Robert, his elder brother,

which was afterwards changed into that

of

Our Lady
began

of

ally

it

Good Tidings. She actusome years later, and her

it,

whose eyes he had put out, and whose devotion was problematical, though he professed to have a great deal, made

Henry I., after completing nificently endowed it.*

son,

mag-

some magnificent foundations land, where he introduced the

ture of the

in

Eng-

architec-

In his last war against France, William the Conqueror gave up Mantes to the flames but those flames which consumed
;

Normans, which did not in

any way hinder him from setting fire to many a church in Normandy. He burnt,
for

the church of Notre

Dame,

cast a glare so

fearful, that the horse of the

King

of

Eng-

markable, the cathedral of Lisieux, with

the
city
itself;

example, in 1120,

the

date

is

re-

land backed, reared up, and threw his rider, who received a mortal injury. Attributing the fatal accident which deprived him of
the burning of the beautiful church of the Blessed Virgin, he left in his will a
life to

that ancient cathedral,

to the first
to the

which could be traced back

ages of Christianity,
cathedrals.

was dedicated
all

Blessed Virgin, like almost

the

Norman
for

The punishment
;

this

considerable

sum

to restore

it.

moved

to a

neighbouring abbey of

Being Rouen,

re-

sacrilegious act of incendiarism followed

him

closely

at the

end of the same

year,

the conqueror of England was awakened, at daybreak of the 9th of September, 1087, by the sound of a matin bell: " What is that?" he asked, painfully lift-

the ship which had on board the only son of King Henry, the prince William of England, and two other royal children
less legitimate,

went down, in a

fine

calm

ing up his head, emaciated indeed, but still full of that proud and masculine
beauty, which the Saxon chroniclers themselves,

sea and in broad moonlight, in the cur-

rent of Gatteville, near Barfleur.

that time, no one ever saw
smile.

From

King Henry

who

held him

much more

in fear

than in

love, could not

it

was answered that

"
(1)

deny him. As he was the bells of St.

Matilda, daughter of this prince, had a signal proof of the protechis deceased mother, Matilda,

The Empress

In the time of Arclibishop Godfrey, King the first of the name, king of England, Henry, ordered the Priory of du Pre to be built, called Nostre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle lez E'juen, which

had begun with the

ville

bridge of
p. 136.)

Eouen."
*

(Ant. de la '

de Ilouen,

^53

THE mSTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

and her power to embark for
which

tion of the Blessed Virgin

over

tlie

elements.

Forced

wind abated, and the ship flew over tlie wave like a water-fowl. A dark spot was
soon seen against a blue corner of the sky left by the flying clouds; it grew larger

Normandy

in uncertain weather,

soon turned to a storm, during the war

which she waged against Stephen of Blois, she was assailed, in the dangerous sea
where her brother William had perished
with half the English court a few years

and larger still; it was a mountain of moderate size, the bare top of which was
crowned with a hermitage a vast forest was seen in an opening in the background
;

one of those violent tempests vvhich are seen only on the angry ocean.
before, by

of the picture.
shrill voice of
fall

Then

the hoarse

and

the

man on

the watch let

"
:

The
tain

liorizon spread out a vast black cur-

from the top of the mainmast these

Cante,

which reached from sea

to sky, like

the hangings at a funeral; huge waves, like mountains, and loaded with sea-

words, so impatiently expected reyne! .... vechi terre"(Sing,

there
is

Queen!

weeds of a bluish green, swelled up darkly and slowly, and then came and broke
with a loud crash against the sides of the
royal vessel,

Henry

the land); and the daughter of I. began to sing with a sweet and

grave voice a hymn to the Blessed Virgin, which the English barons joyfully repeated,

which they

lifted

up upon
where
sailors

with hands

joined and

heads

their watery backs to precipitate the next

uncovered.

moment
it

in the hollow of the waves,

disappeared altogether.

The

shook their heads as they did their work,

while the English lords, making the sign of the cross through fear, recommended

Very soon the vessel, saved miraculously from shipwreck, cast anchor in the little bay of Equeurdreville, in Lower Nor-

mandy.
the site

The

first

care of the princess

to

when she disembarked, was

mark out
she

themselves to God, to the Blessed Virgin, and St. George, the patron of cj.'ivalry. Matilda stood upon the deck, and her
firm though pale countenance did not belie the brave race of her forefathers. "

of her monastery, which

named
she
first

the

Abbey

of the

Vow, and before

left

the place, she herself laid the

stone.
live

Have good hope, my

is

turning to her faithful noblemen,

lords," she said, "

;

Our
will

long enough to see the church and abbey of the vow finished; it was her son, Henry II., King of EngMatilda did not

Lady

good and powerful

Our Lady

save us ; I will sing a canticle of -thanksgiving to her as soon as the coast appears, and I make a vow to build her an abbey

who inaugurated them. In the " On necrology of that abbey we read

land,
:

the 4th of the ides of September died the Empress Matilda, foundress of this

on that part of the shore where we shall land." Scarcely had the Anglo-Norman
princess pronounced hr vow, than the waves were seen to become smooth ; the

monastery a Libera is to be said for her, the same as for a canon."

;

Let not our age, which is so cold as to ^\}lat regards God and the saints, make

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

too light of those vows made to our Lady in a tempest ; the greatest infidel believes in soviething on board a vessel in danger

253

rality.

In 1178, it was consecrated afresh

;

by Kotrou, Bishop of Rouen

assisted at this pious

Henry

11.

ceremony with his

a proof of of peri'shing this. As he was on a voyage with some friends along the coast of Baltimore, the wind suddenly arose, and the little Ame:

M. de Volney

is

son, Henry Shortmantle. Richard Coeur de Lion, son and suc-

cessor of

Henry IL,
the

built, before his de-

parture

for

crusade.

Our Lady

of

rican bark, which

of

had on board the flower

seemed

Good Haven,

in the diocese of Evreux,

brilliant chivalry at

the infidels

of both worlds,

and assisted with his

twenty times over in danger of perishing. Every one had already betaken himself to
prayer,

the dedication of that monastery, which took place in the year 1190.' When his
eventful
life

and the author of the Ruines

like

was near

its

end, and

when

the

rest, when the storm gradually abated. Some one who had seen M. de Volney make use of a rosary, and recite a number

mortally

wounded with an arrow

siege of a

at the

inglorious

dictated his last will,

strong castle, he he directed by his

"
for

of Hail

Marys with edifying

fervour, as

testament that his heart should be taken

to

long as the danger continued,

him

at the return of the

" My calm,
"We
dis-

came up

to

Rouen, devotion which he had

Our Lady

of

the fervent
"
;

for that place

dear Sir," said he to him, with provoking " good nature, to whom were you address-

and that heart, the bravest perhaps that

ever beat beneath the breastplate of a " was honourably deposited on knight, the side of the choir, towards the sacristy,
in a case of silver, which was taken for the

while ago?" are freethinkers in our cabinets," replied

ing yourself a

little

his travelling companion,

somewhat
"

concerted at the occurrence,

but we are

ransom

of St. Louis,

King of France, who

no longer so

in a tempest."

The

Empress

Matilda

wished

her

was made prisoner among the Saracens, and in its place one was made of stone." *
This valiant champion of the Cross, whose name the Saracens never pro-

mortal remains to be interred in the

most celebrated of the Norman abbeys in honour of the Blessed Virgin, at St. Mary

du Bee
only

her son Henry, who was as yet

of

nounced without the pious addition of Cursed he he I and who took their strong
cities,

of

Duke

Anjou and Normandy, had

he, the seventh, would be interred

at

a tomb erected for her, which he covered

witli plates of silver.

by the side of his father,

Fontevrault.
wife,

Our Lady

When

he became

King of England, he continued to protect and honour this abbey, out of reverence to
the Blessed Virgin and to his mother,

Berengaria of Navarre, his reposes there, by his side; their

painted and
gilt,

effigies,

recumbent upon

their stone tombs,

were placed and

which was

partly rebuilt by his royal libe-

among her queenly ornaments, Berengaria

(2) Antiijuites de la ville de

(1) Gallia Christiana,

iv.

Eouen,

p.

137

254

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

the Hghtness of
its airy

bears over her heart a large square medallion, on which is seen the Blessed Virgin,

architecture, fuU

surrounded with many wax tapers. The celebrated Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of

of grandeur, has led to its being compared to a vessel under sail; Our Lady of Salis-

bury, another
style,

diamond cut
to

in the noblest

King Richard, came to seclude herself in abbey some years afterwards, and added her tomb to those royal tombs
this

which used

be covered with

placed beneath the Gothic roof of the fine

abbey church of Our Lady.

Flemish hangings, and filled with Hghts and flowers on the solemn feasts of Mary; Our Lady of Westminster, where, says Froissard, there was an image of the
Blessed Virgin, in which the English kings

At

who

request, John Lackland, died of indigestion in a Saxon abbey,*

his

own

had
of

great faith,

and which wrought mariy

Gothic Abbey

was interred in great pomp in the beautiful

great miracles; the superb

Anglo-Norman Cathedral of Our Lady at Worcester; but if we may believe the

ancient chroniclers, the body of this base

Walsingham, the favourite pilgrimage of Edward I. and his chivalrous court;

the beautiful cathedral of Wells, of which the Lady Chapel is, by the admission of
connoisseurs, the pearl

and cruel prince, who had imbrued his hands in the innocent blood of Arthur
of Britanny, his

who was ready

to

cure an alliance

lawful sovereign, and become a Turk to prowith the Moors of Spain,

monuments
to

of Great

are Britain,

of

the

Gothic
still

bear witness to the piety of standing those princes towards the Holy Mother of

did not long defile the sacred abode of Maiy. They relate, that in this dis-

Our Lord. The Anglo-Saxons, who formed the

poorer classes, the merchants, and the burgesses of England, were no less devout
the Blessed Virgin Mary than the continental princes who ruled them by Divided in opinion right of conquest.
to

honoured tomb there were heard strange noises in the night; they were blasphemies, frightful bursts of laughter, orwhich caused the gies, terrible things
. . .

monks
it

of Worcester secretly to disinter the body of the reprobate prince, and cast

out of the consecrated ground.

from their conquerors on almost every point, they agreed, which is of immense
importance, on the subject of religion and the two races united went frater:

The Plantagenets were

distinguished

for their devotion to the Blessed Virgin,

and covered England with those fine Gothic churches dedicated to Mary, which
remain in every county, and which are the brightest gems of her archaeostill

nally

together, with

the

staff"

in

their

hands, in pilgrimage to
cliff",

St.

Mary's Redof of

fine
;

old

church
to

full

Saxon

monuments
cester,

and

Our Lady

Wor-

logical

crown

Our Lady

of York, which

where Lady Warwick, the wife of

John died

(1) According to the Saxon chronicleB, King of iudigeEtion of peaches and ale, which

he had had in a convent of Eernardina at Swiueahead.

BLESSED VIEGIN MABY.

the Tiing-maker, offered sumptuous vestments for the service of the Blessed
Vh'gin, after having prayed one time for the red rose, and another for the white
rose, according to the party protected, at

255

henceforth, I

make a vow
;

to fast also."
part, the

He

kept his

word

and on her

Blessed Virgin Mary did not disappoint him at the hour of his death fatally
:

the time of the pious pilgrimage, by her brave husband.'

dangerous expedition, she procured his life to be miraculously prolonged, to afford him time to be reconciled

wounded,

in a

The

fast

of Saturday in

honour of

with God.
St.

the Blessed Virgin was observed by the English, from the time of William Rufus.

Anselm further informs

us, that the

celebrated robber

a Saxon, no doubt,

bold and haughty

Norman

knights de-

for St.

Anselm, the Norman prelate, who

contemporary anecdote,
calls

voutly honoured Mary, though all the while oppressing to their utmost those

relates this

who were conquered

varlets

at Hastings.

One

him

a robber, without further qualification makes his way one fine morning

of them, a very great lord,

had

for his

into the cottage of a poor

widow

to rob it

and pages a troop of profligates always ready for evil, and for a steward
devil,

finding nothing

to suit

him

in this poor

an incarnate

who

continually per-

dwelling, the famous bandit seats himself upon the only stool of the dark room, on the floor of smooth clay, where the

suaded him, poor baron ! sometimes to assault this one, sometimes to plunder
that one,

sometimes, in

fine,

to

kill that

widow

is

spinning, and says

air,

to her, with

other, so that not a day passed

which was

man, Well, my good gossip, have you " " " had your breakfast ? I, Sir ? replies
the poor woman, interrupting the twisting of her ashen spindle, " God forbid is not
I

a gracious "

afiecting the

Norman noble-

not marked by some detestable evil deed. In the midst of this fine life, he devoutly

prayed

to the

morning,

Blessed Virgin, night and saluting her with seven Hail

Marys, accompanied with seven profound

genuflexions,

to-day Saturday " " in the year." Every Saturday repeats the astonished robber; " but, why?" " Why, in honour of the Blessed Virgin. Don't you know that tliat is the way for
I

I fast every Saturday

which prevented his infernal steward from strangling him as he desired

to do,

and which, in the end, obtained

outlaws,

for

him

the grace of a sincere conversion.'

The Saxon

who had taken

her

to obtain for

you the grace not

"

to die

without confession
robber,
"
I

"

Ah

"
1

says the
this
;

am

very glad to

know

and,

refuge in the depths of forests, where they had become the most expert archers of England, in order to escape the capital

(1)

The custom
Virgin,

of dressing
still

up statnes
in

of the

cester

and we

see, in

Leland's Ilistcry of Ireland,

of great value.

Blessed

wliich

subsists

France,

that these statues

(2) St.

wore rings

The Spain, and Italy, existed also in England. Countess of Warwick oftentimes made an offering
of her richest robes and veils to

Anselm, in his book of the Miracles of

Our Lady

of

Wor-

Our Lady.

256

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

at-

punishment, which the Norman law

tached to crimes of the chase, regretted

only one thing, which was that they could not go and pray at the altar of

Spain, which was no less devoted to Mary than the British Isle, had by that

time
her,

erected

numerous sanctuaries

to

Mary, when some old Saxon abbey sent

forth in their hearing the

and fought under her standard.

In

sound of

its

1212, Alphonsus IX., having gained, under the standard of the Blessed Virgin
of the Seven Dolours, his great victory of

religious bells id the green woods,

where

the lark was singing merrily, and where the king's roebucks were coursing. These
old English ballads in black letter, which

Las Navas, where the Moors experienced

one of their most bloody
defeats, built

Our Lady

of Victory at Toledo, to deposit

we think we buy cheaply now-a-days,

for

says

an antiquary of Great Britain, by paying

them their weight in gold, display to us Robin Hood, the forest Uing, risking
his head, after

there that banner of Mary. The King St. Ferdinand, that excellent prince, who could not bring himself to increase the

burthens of his people, and who feared

more, as he said, the maledictions of a poor woman than all the armies of the

recommending himself

to

the Blessed Virgin, to go and pay his devotions at the monastery, where the
distant bells

seemed

to call him.'

Moors, attributed to the protection of the Blessed Virgin his conquests of Cordova,
"
'

in

(1) Robyn Hode and the Munke, from a MS. the Public Library, Cambridge, Ff. v. 48 ii.,

The on thyng
'

greves me,' sayd Robyn,

hert

And
I

does

my

much woo,
goo.'

quoted
et teq.
:

in Jamieaon's

'

Popular Ballads, pp. 64, 65,

"
'

That
'

may To mas ne matyns

not no solemn dav

" In gomer,

when
mery

the shawes be sheyn,

And
Hit

leves be large

and long,
.

is full

in fayre forest,
;

To
"

here the fouly's song

is a fonrtnet and more,' sayd Robyn, Syu 1 my Savyor see. 'To day wil I to Notyngham,' sayd Robyn, With the myght of mylde Mary.'
' '

Hit

To Be the dere draw to the le, And leve their hillis hee, And shadow hem in the levis grene,
Under
the grene

"

wode

tre.

Then Robyn goes to Notyngham, Hymselfe mornyng allone, And Littil John to mery Bchecewode, The path he knew alkone.

" Hit befel on Whitsontyde,

Erly in a May mornyng, The Bun up feyre can spring (that day), And the birddis mery can syng.
"
'

"

When Robyn came

to

Notyngham,

This
'

is

By

a mery mornyng,' said Littil John, hym that dyed on tre,

I

"

'

And more mery man than Was not in Cristant^.'

'

am

one,

may To bryng hym out save agayn. He goes into Seynt Mary's chyrche, And kneyld down before the rode: AUe that ever were the chyrche within Behold wel Robyn Hode.
Be
side
I

Sertinly with owten layn, He prayed to God, and Mary

"

'

Pluk up thi hert, my dere mayster,* Littil John can say,

"

hym

stode a gret hedit

munke,

'

And thynk
'

hit is a full feyre

tyme,

pray to God woo he be. Ful some he knew gode Robyn,

In a mornyng of May.'

As

Bone as he

hym

se."

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,

Jaen, and Murcia;
in

257

Alphonsus the Wise composed hymns in honour of the Mother of God, and founded
fine,

Bishop of Gnesna,* had composed in the

tenth century.

The kuigs

of France

took care not

in

her

honour

an

order

of

knight-

to yield to foreign

hood.^

kings in devotion to the Queen of Angels. Louis the Young,

Portugal trod in the same path with an ardour no less great. In 1142, after

and Philip Augustus, of glorious memory,

contributed liberally to the rebuilding of

having defeated, by the protection of Mary, to whom he had commended

himself before the battle,
princes,
five five

Notre
Sully,

Dame

at Paris,

which Maurice de
bishop,

a very

eminent

sprung

Moorish

from the people, caused to be

rebuilt, in

from

whom he

captured their

standards in the plains of Alentejo, Alphonsus I. founded in her honour the

place of the old Merovingian cathedral of King Childebert.

Attributing to the Blessed Virgin his

superb monastery of Aleobaya; but not

confining his gratitude to that, he did homage for his kingdom to Our Lady of Clairvaux, and decreed that every year, on
the feast of the Annunciation, a tiibute
fifty maravedis of gold should be paid, in token of vassalage, to the feudal Lady,

Bouvines, Philip Augustus founded, on the borders of the forest of Chantilly, on the banks of the
brilliant victory of

Oise, with its deep water

fish,

abounding in

of

Guerin, royal abbey. minister and companion Bishop of Senlis, in arms of the king, who had ably filled
superb
the office of marshal of the

in the persons of the abbots of Clairvaux.'

One
John
Lady

of the successors of this prince,

I.,

Don
Our

after a victory,

offered to

camp during the battle; Matthew of Montmorency, who had immortalised himself there by
capturing sixteen of the enemy's banners; Enguerrand de Coucy and William des
Barres,

of the Olive-tree, as

much

silver as

his body weighed in complete armour, and hung upon the walls of the chapel of

who had formed

for

the
life

king

Mary, as an ex voto, his lance

briUiant suit of armour.'

and his

during this battle,

where his

was in

Denmark undertook, about

The kings of the same time,

crusades against the pagans of the north, in honour of the Blessed Virgin ; and the Poles defeated the pagans of Prussia and

imminent danger, a rampart, which the whole Anglo-German army were unable would associate themto break through,

selves with this

tion,

commemorative foundareverence to
the

made

in

Holy

Pomerania, singing the celebrated BogaBodziga (Mother of God), a war hymn addressed to Mary, which St. Adalbert,
(1) El rey don Alonso el Sabio dedico varios libros de presias a la Jladre de Dios ; y con respecto k algunas oi'deno en bu testaniento que se cantasen

Virgin Mary, as the Cartularies express

themselves.

Blanche of
(2)

Castile, the celebrated re-

Angelus Manri(xue, Annal. Cisterc,

c. 5,

ad

ann. 1142.
(3) F.

en sua EsUdos.

(See Poetica Espauola,

Paul de Barry, Paradis Ouvert, &c.

4, p.

p. 162,.)

(4) See note

248.
I.

258

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

and water on the
vigils of the feasts of

gent of France, founded two fine abbeys bearing the title of the Blessed Virgin
:

Our Lady, and gave

to

the abbey of Maubuisson, which she called Our Lady the Royal, and Our Lady of

great alms on Satur" When he designed days in her honour.

These two royal monasteries the Lily. shared between them, according to her directions, her mortal remains.

undertake the crusade, he came to Notre Dame of Paris, accompanied by his

his

barons, quite barefoot, with a hood on neck and the staff in his hands, and

France, the best kings and model was distinguished tender knights,
of
for his

The King Louis IX., the most holy andjust prince who has worn the crown of
of

heard mass there with great devotion."

his arrival in Egypt, the king found, where he wished to land, a Mussulman

On

army drawn up
air

in order of battle.

The

piety towards the Blessed Virgin. He contributed to the completion of Notre Dame

was darkened by the clouds of arrows discharged at the French boats by the
Saracens, whose lances glittered througli the dust which their horses stirred up,
like
fire

having had built that gem in stone, so ably executed, which is called La Sainte Chapelle, by Peter de
of Paris,

and

after

behind a dark curtain

"

their

Montereau, the most celebrated architect

of his time, in order to dej)0sit there the

commander wore
"

armour of
in

fine gold so

bright," says Joinville,

his

peculiar

holv crown

of thorns of our Lord, he

it

language,

that
it,

solemnly dedicated the lower portion of

to

shone upon body

itself."

seemed when the sun that it was that heavenly

it

Our Lady, whose

statue, placed under

Their standards were sur-

the porch, one day wrought a charming miracle in favour of a very sensible little girl,
if

mounted with that antique crescent of gold which was the emblem of the Turkish
kings long before the days of Cyrus;' and their warlike weapons made a " noise
frightful to hear,

we may

believe the tradition.

As the

pious and quite young child, having got upon a stone seat for the use of the poor,
stood on tiptoe with her little feet, and stretched up her arms as high as she
could, to place on the head of the Madonna a crown of white roses, the good
Virgin

and very strange

terrified.

to the

French."

But Louis IX. and

not so easily

his brave

men were

As they

were but a short distance from the shore, the holy king, after commending himself
to

graciously

bent down

her

fair

God and

the

marble forehead
earth; which
is

to the little angel of the

himself the

first

Blessed Virgin, casts into the sea the foaming

; ;

the reason, says a

reli-

waves cover him to the shoulders

of arrows
falls

a cloud

gious of the time of Louis XIIL,

that

she

still

has her head quite bent down.

round about him; but neither waves nor arrows can stop him
:

St. Louis recited every day, with his almoner, the office of the Blessed Virgin,

with his shield over his neck, his helmet

on his head, and his sword in his hand,

(1) See Firdousi, Mcears des Roi.

even on his journeys, and forbade any one to interrupt him he fasted on bread
;

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

259

upon the Saracens with a true whole army fly after furia Francese; the hira, and the Africans are completely routed to the loud cries of Mont Joie, Saint Denis! When the Egyptian horsemen had disappeared, driven by the wind of
he
falls

of which

had been the bravest of the

brave, Tancred, of

whom

Tasso has so

nobly sung
St.

in his Jerusalem Delivered.

Louis had the walls of the Galilean

fortress rebuilt,

and being there on the day of the Assumption, he had the office

the gates of Damietta, the key of the Delta, were forced to open to the crufear,

sung with the accompaniment of organs and string instruments in the Church of
St.

saders,

whose

first

care was to

triumphant chant of the Te

in the

make the Deum resound

Mary, where he communicated with

great solemnity.

mosque

of the

Mussulmans, which

was consecrated by the Roman legate under the title of Our Lady of Damietta. The fame of this glorious day soon reached Syria, where they attributed the

As King Louis IX. was leaving the Holy Land with his Queen Margaret, a squall of wind drove the vessel which

them beneath a high promontory, which cast its shadow a long way over
carried

honour of
of

the protection of Our Tortosa, a celebrated Syrian Lady Madonna, to which the Mahometans
it

to

the waters.

When the tempest was

abated,

they cast anchor before this Syrian

tain,

moun-

themselves came to pray, and which was said to have left its sanctuary to protect
the landing of the French crusaders.' The disastrous termination of this crusade in Egypt, so brilliantly
is

which was crowned by a monastery, and in the silence of the night, which
was scarcely broken by the low murmur of the subdued waves, was heard the
religious

sound of distant

bells,

which

commenced,

After paying an enormous ransom, St. Louis turned the

but too well known.

came with the odoriferous scent of mar" What is that?" joram and wild thyme.

prow of his vessels towards Syria; Christians, who had become masters of
Palestine
in

the

who was still awake. The Phoenician sailors who maneagerly asked St. Louis,

ned the ship answered, that

it

was the

1099,

possessed

nothing

there then but a few strong places,

among

convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The holy king landed at the first dawn of
day, to go

which was Nazareth, the birthplace of Mary, which had been transformed into a
feudal fortress, and the
first

and hear mass

at tlie

monastery

Frank

lord

of Mary, the religious of which, clad in the striped dress of brown and white of

(1) The Sire de Joinville, who, during his residence in Asia, went to Our Lady of Tortosa, relates
tliat in

man had
here
;

she

" within him, answered, is in Egypt, to help the

his time, tliat celebrated Syrian wrought a miracle in favour of a poor

Madonna man pos-

and the
in the

Christians,

who at
foot,

tliis

Our Lady is not King of France moment are arriving

Holy Land on

sessed

by the

devil,

before the altar of

who was brought one day Our Lady of Tortosa, and so,

are mounted."

The

against the pagans, who seneschal adds that, on the

continues the Sire de Joinville, as they prayed to Our Lady for his cure, the devil, whom the poor

very day that the devil spoke these words, the French army disembarked in Egypt.

ft

260

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOtlON TO THE

Mons-en-Puelle, where he had displayed the bravery of a knight-errant, made

the Arabs, lived on fruits and vegetables, fasted half the year, kept rigorous silence,

all

and worked with

and cenobitic
taries

their hands; the fervent

great foundations at
after his

Our Lady

of Paris
for

spirit of

the ancient

soli-

brilliant victory,

and gave

of the desert

still

reigned there.

ever to

Our Lady

of Chartres the land

Penetrated with respect for this austere piety, St. Louis took away with him six of
these religious, who were called Friars of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel,

and lordship of Barres," with a revenue of a hundred livres.

After the taking of Cassel, Philip of Valois," say the Grandes Chroniques of St. " came to this abbey to restore the Denis,
oriflamme which "

and established them at Paris, on the banks of the Seine. They removed later
on
Maubert, and their new church, consecrated under the title of Our
to the place

he had taken

for

his

expedition against the Flemish, and then

Lady of the Carmelites, was built principally by the liberality of Jane of Evreux,
third wife

Notre Dame, at Paris, and when there, he put on the armour which he had worn at the battle of Cassel, got

he went

to

and widow of Charles

II., called

into

his

stirrups,

and in

this

manner

This princess offered to the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel her crown
the Fair.
of diamonds, emeralds,

entered the church of Notre

Dame, and

and rubies; she

most devoutly returned her thanks, and presented to her the horse on which he
rode,

added

to it

her rich girdle embroidered

with pearls, and the nosegay of golden lilies set with precious stones, which the

and all his accoutrements."^ The ransomed his horse and his arms of king
the Chapter, for the

sum

of a thousand

king had given

coronation.

to

her on the day of her

livres,

and had his statue on horseback

It
victories

Fifteen hundred gold florins

this royal present.*

erected in front of the altar of Mary.

accompanied

was remarked that these two

of Mons-en-Puelle

of France, who bravely exthemselves in battle, habitually posed placed themselves under the protection of

The kings

and Cassel had been

gained between the feast and the octave After having beaten of the Assumption.
the Flemish
at

the Blessed Virgin when danger became pressing. Philip the Fair, having recom-

Rosbecq, Charles VI.,

fourteen years old, little hing, sent
to

who was then only

and

mended himself

to

Mary

in a

moment

of

whom

they called the

extreme danger, at the bloody battle of

likewise, as

an offering

Our Lady

of

(1) Felibien, Hist, de Paris. (2) Sebastien RouillarJ, c. 6. read in the old Paris breviaries {lectio (3) " : Quod intelligens gloriosse memorise rex quinta)

1328,acturu8

phans

Deo et sanctas Virgini gratias, triumet equitans ecclesiam Beataa Marise Parisiis

We

cum opitulaute Deo, per merita Virginia Matrie, insignem victoriam de rebellibus Flandris obtinui&set, quae contigit anno
Philippus Valesius,
Bcatse

sed Deo est, non vana ostentatione elatus, de ancipiti bello evaserat, profunda humiper quem litate subjectus." (Breviarii Eccles Parisiensis,
ingressus

festa AuguBti,

anno 1584.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

Chartres, his
richly

201

armour, which was

very

damaskeened, and his royal sword,

deluge of blood, was evoked by a chivalrous appeal made in the name of the sweet
Virgin Mary,
later on, that
traitor,

covered with dolphins in gold.*

On

their

who

proved, nevertheless,
it.

first part, the queens of France, at their entry into the capital of the kingdom, did

she disavowed

false

homage

to

Our Lady, by presenting the

Robert of Artois, whom the King of France had offended, says an English
historian, took his revenge by rekindling

magnificent crown which they received from the city of Paris. That offered by
Isabella of Bavaria was 0/ gold

the flame of resentment which was almost

extinct in the

and pre-

young king
and

of the English,

cious stones.^
It

who thought
sents

of nothing at that time but

festivities.

was under Philip of Valois that the

of tournaments

He

pre-

wars against the English began. King Edward III. asserted his claim as legitimate heir to the throne, by right of his mother Isabella, sister of Philip the Fair,

himself one day with a heron, which his Norwegian falcon had taken

on the banks of the Thames, then much overshadowed with willows, in the hall

who had

died without heirs, and whose

Philip of Valois

nephew he was, while

where Edward was giving a royal banquet to his groat barons and the noble dames

was only his cousin german. The French peers and barons declared in favour of
Philip of Valois against the princess Isabella, not in virtue of the Salic law, which

Walking up to the upper end of the hall, where the king was enof his court.

throned beneath a canopy of cloth of "I bring," Bi'itanny, fringed with silver,
" says he, the most cowardly of birds, and I will give it to him among you who is

does not speak of the exclusion of females, but by the authority of customs existing
use. Edward replied by an argument singular enough, which is found in a letter which he wrote to the

and passed into

the greatest coward

thou, Edward,
to

in

my

opinion

it is

who

hast suffered thyself

"

pope,

If the son," said he,

"

is

excluded

be disinlierited of the noble country of France, of which thou wert the lawful

from the throne because his mother cannot occupy it, then Jesus Christ had no
right to the inheritance of David, since

heir."

The

fire

of anger flashed in the

eyes of the English monarch.

his bravery
1

Suspect

He became

he descended from that king only through Madam Saint Mary, his mother."

with sharne, and

as red as scarlet " God of swore, by the

That unfortunate fancy of reigning over France, which in an evil hour crossed the

paradise and his sweet Mother," that before six months he would go and defy
that count's son,

who would

mind

of the English monarchs, and which

called king of France.

When

unjustly be the king

covered the kingdom of the liUes with a

had sworn, the Count

d'Artois presented

(1) Essais

Hist.

Bur Paris, par

M. de

Sainte

(2) Froissard,

t. ii.

Foix,

t.

iv. p.

162.

S63
the

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

heron
to

the English

lords,

who

himself;

the other,

who had

perished,

swore, each for himself, war against the

French, taking to -witness for this fatal oath " the honoured Virgin who bore the

arms in hand, found a grave beneath the In the midst of this scene of waves.
tumult and blood, some fine English
ladies,

God who
The
tlie

died on

cross,

whom

the

who had come

in the royal galley,

knight Longinus struck with his lance."'

first

with the desire of high excitement,

it

for

exploit of the English

was

seems that women in

Seanaval engagement of L'Ecluse. fights at that time no way resembled those of our modern fleets
close to each other;

in that respect,

applauded the triumph

but not one implored
I

all

ages are alike

of their knights;

they fought the crews endea;

and twenty mercy for the vanquished thousand French corpses reddened the
blue waves of the

voured to tear the

sails of

the

enemy with

long scythes and broad arrows, while divers under water cut holes in the vessels,

king of the

German Ocean. The English, who had not for-

to

make them
able

sink.

ultra

of

manoeuvres

ne plus consisted in

The

gotten to call upon Mary during the fight, had no sooner landed in Flanders than

he went, on
great

foot, says Froissard, with a

stranding the enemy's ships, or running them upon the rocks. Edward, who com-

knights, to return her thanks, This in her sanctuary of Ardenbourg.

many

manded

his fleet in person,

was wounded
of the

was the commencement of that war of a

century's duration during which the l*^nglish carried their flag

by an arrow at the commencement action, and continued nevertheless to

fight

from the Garonne

to

prefacing each stroke of his lance with one of his favourite invocaon,
"

to the

tions

Rhine, and from the Ocean Mediterranean.

the

ah, St.
ner,

Ah, St .Edward! ah, St. George Mary!" and around his red banI

on which flamed a golden dragon,* the English nobility uttered their mighty " Our Lady Arundel Our cries of war

During this prolonged contest, interrupted by a few armistices, when they rested with their feet in blood and their
hands on their poniards, the Blessed Virgin, whose abbeys the English often
pillaged without scruple, was not the less an object of their veneration. After de-

Lady Arleton

"

St.

George

for in that

chivalrous time each warrior of note had

a saint for his protector, whom he invoked with a loud voice in the engagement.

stroying a whole city, from which they

Edward 'dishonoured

his victory by having

departed loaded with booty, they sometimes left there one of her statues un-

one of the French admirals hanged from a yard-arm, who had bravely defended
(1)

touched upon

its

pedestal

and when the

inhabitants, having got rid of them,

came

" JIas par

cheli

Dieu qui eu

la croix fu mis,

Et

ferus de la lanclie

da chevalier Longis.
[Car

Car je voue et promets a laVierge honoree, Qui porta cheli Dieu qui fist chiel et rousee," etc. (Le Voeu du Heron.)

(2) Stowe'e Chronicle.

BLESSED VIRGIN MAET.

sorrowfully to visit the ruins of the stronghold, they devoutly made the sign of the " " A miracle * That
cross,

263

An whom

English captain, named Norwick, Prince John, Duke of Normandy,

to the throne,

and exclaimed,

and presumptive heir

besieged

had

act of respect, amidst a frightful scene of

devastation, was indeed a miracle.

Angouleme, where he was destitute of provisions,

unexpectedly
ingeniously took advantage of this devotion to the Blessed Virgin, which was

in

The
the

sanctuaries where
of heaven
to

it

had pleased

Queen

manifest her

power were held neuter and holy ground: they were like oases of peace, to which
radiated from
soldiers
all

common

to both nations, to escape

from

points of the horizon

all

the unpleasantness of having to surrender at discretion. On the eve of the Purifica-

and knights of

lands,

who
little

were nothing but pious pilgrims from the

one of the greatest festivals of Our Lady which was kept in France in the
tion,

moment

that they had fastened a

to their

image of the Madonna

helmet of

time of Pepin the Short, he comes forth from the walls, and asks to parley with

polished steel, or to their hood of serge. We read in the MS. chronicles of Quercy,
that certain English soldiers having been taken prisoners by those of Cahors, were
set at liberty with mild

The latter comes up to him, Are you come to surrender?" " " but No," replies the Englishman i we are both of us alike devoted to the
the prince.

and says:

"

and kind words,

themselves

veneration of the Blessed Virgin

I re-

as

soon

as

they

declared

quire, therefore, of your courtesy a sus-

pilgrims of

Our Lady.
were
observed

The

feasts of the Blessed Virgin

pension of arms; and that, during the whole day consecrated to this feast, it
shall be forbidden for

by the English troops, who even halted on their march to celebrate them. In 1380, Buckingscrupulously

our

men on

either

side to fight on any pretence whatever." " I readily agree," replied the prince.

ham, who was making himself a passage

through the heart of France, sweeping all before him, stopped with his army in the
forest of Marchenoir, to celebrate the feast
all

The next

day, early in

the morning,

Norwick comes out with the garrison and

his equipage
;

the commanders of the

of

Our Lady

of September.

The English

French outposts stop him. and inquire what is the objedt of this turn out. " I want
to take advantage of the truce,"

knights devoutly heard mass in an abbey, whi(;h they found in the midst of the

he

"
replies,

to exercise

my

soldiers."

woods

and the long swords of Bordeaux were unstained with French blood that
;

day.*

The fact was reported to Prince John, who said," It is a clever trick, blessed be God Let them go where they will, and
1

(1) Our Lady of Vassiviere was thus respected in the midst of the ruins of that strong city, which

the English had destroyed and pillaged. - -(See

Du

Chesne, ch. 9, 10, n. 6.) (2) See Froissard, t. ii.

p.

112,

564
let

THE mSTORT OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

US be <!ontent that

we have

got the
re-

side of the Gothic nave,

and points out

is

city."^

the place where the mine

to

be sprung.

Notwithstanding the testimonies of spect which she received from tlie

The

city,

warned in time, was saved.

in-

Many

other examples might be cited of

vaders, the Blessed Virgin turned from them to protect the invaded. As a nation

the protection which Mary threw around France at this disastrous period we shall
;

oppressed, France had found favour before lier, and more than one miracle proved it.

confine ourselves to the relation of the

At

Poictiers, the

who
liad

servant of the mayor, had sold the city to the English, and

most striking of these numerous miracles, on the faith of judicious and coutemporary writers.
It
for

promised to

let

them

in,

on a dark
in the

was

after those

two lamentable days,

night,

when

the

moon was invisible

sky, could never find the keys,

which the

which the cypress will wave for ever green on the noble brow of France, after

people were astounded to see the next morning in the hands of an ancient statue
of the Blessed Virgin, in her of Notre

Cressy, that battle where the flower of

after PoicFrench chivalry perished, tiers, where King John was made prisoner, with eight hundred barons, by the Black

own cathedral

Dame.

Duke

of Lancaster

At Rennes, which the had besieged a long

time without success, the English, despairing of taking by assault this brave

were ruined, the young regent was without troops the most fertile fields were covered with
Prince.
nobility
;

The

and well-defended
blow
it

city,

make

mine

to

briers

the cities, threatened with

the

up.

The Breton

city sleeps over

a volcano, without having any knowledge When the of the danger which it runs.

horrors of assault by foreign troops encamped at their gates, were toin in pieces

by factions within.

When man

has no

mine has reached the fcathedral of St. Mary, and the enemy is on the point of
setting fire to
niglit,
it,

longer anything to trust to upon earth, he kneels down, and stretches out his suppliant

in the middle of a dark

hands

to

heaven

this

was what

all

the candles of the chapel of Our Lady of the Holy Saviour are seen lighted of themselves, the bells, pulled by invisible

good people did in the hamlets and towns;

they confidently begged of God some proof Mary, to digy, through the intercession
see an end of these calamities.

hands, ring a
habitants,

full peal,

and when the

in-

awakened out

of their sleep,

the progreat and sorrow inexpressible

;

Faith was

and attracted by the strange light which shines in the church at midnight, run in
crowds, and ask one another,
the matter?"
stretches

Abusing his own podigy was granted. sition, and that of France, Edward III.,
with
the young regent, who was afterwards Charles the Wise, was nego-

"

What

is

whom

the Blessed Virgin slowly out her stony arm from the

(1) See Froissard,

ii.

p. 112.

proposed conditions so hard, so humiliating, and intolerable, that France, all expiring as she was, raised up her head
tiating,

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

with generous indignation, and said

265

expose the holy things of the Cathedral

of

unexpected refusal, Edward crosses the sea, and lays siege to

No

At

this

Mary

to sacrilege

and plunder.
to

Tlie city,

summoned

surrender to

Chartres.

the

King

of England, simply replied that

The English army

at

pitched their tents

little

distance

from that splendid

would not; and the messengers of Edward saw nothing more of it but
it

cathedral so magnificently rebuilt by Fulbert, with the offerings of the faithful

the massive and

above

which,

well-barred iron gate, in a charming Gothic

both great and small. which commands the

Situated on a
city,

hill

niche, decorated with open work of trefoils,

the beautiful

was a white Madonna with

cut
!

this

Gothic church, with its lofty steeples, which are seen at a distance of thirty
miles,

inscription

upon

stone

Tutela

had the appearance of a sacred citadel, and the city was extended beneath
shade.

Carnutum The siege

of the ancient capital of the

its

In this sanctuary, universally

Carnutes was prolonged, and the fertile fields of La Beauce bristled with English
swords instead of ears of corn
;

revered, was a reliquary of precious wood, covered with thick plates of gold, and set

the Dau-

with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, where was kept one of the precious garments of

phin attempted a negotiation to save his favourite city of Our Lady ; but Edward

was deaf

to his offers

and representations.

Mary, her

festal robe of

Babylonian cloth,

with blue, violet, white, and gold flowers. One day the Normans had come to besiege
Chartres, and the inhabitants, quite de-

negotiators, roughly refused, dared no longer to indulge a hope, and the city seemed on the brink of capture,

The French

when
"

there

happened, says Froissard,

termined

to

defend their temple, had

relic for their

taken this holy

the
fled.

standard;

a miracle which greatly humbled and broke down the courage of the English
prince.

Normans had seen the

It

relic,

and had
to

was customary at that time

great and

thunderstorm, a tempest so horrible, came down upon the

touch the reliquary with the fine linen of Britanny, which the great lords wore on
the day
this

they were dubbed knights Richard Coeur de Lion, to whom some of

;

when

army of the King of England, that it seemed as if the world was coming to an end for there fell from the sky stones so
;

had been brought even

offered in return to our

had

England, Lady of Char-

to

they killed both men and horses, and the boldest were quite dislarge

that

and precious stones, containing relics of St. Edward. The Madonna of Chartres was therefore
tres a beautiful jewel of gold

mayed." " If thou sowest in the garden of life the seed of anger," say the ancient sages
of Iran,* "

thy star shall have to weep."

in

great veneration

among

the English
(1) Iran

kniglits,

and more than one, no doubt,

was tke uame of Persia before the time

secretly

blamed the king

for

coming

to

of Cyrus.

MM

266

THE mSTOBY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

of the

The king made some

show him

reflections of this kind,

EngUsh must have when

took her

name

for

his war-cry.

The
straw

armies which the red banner of Albion

led to battle were scattered
carried "
like

the sun arose, hke

a golden lamp, to the disasters of the preceding

before

the wind, to the cry of

"
!

; evening. the tents in shreds, let their drapery hang about as if they had been tossed in the

His whole camp was laid waste

Our Lady

of Guesclin

the insanity of the unfortunate Charles VI. that prince, so brave, so

When

and on that immense plain, where the green wheat had been trodden down
air,

beloved by his people, and so devoted to Mary had revived the fallen hopes of the

by the English cavalry, seven thousand horses were stretched lifeless by the side
of their riders.

kings of Englnnd,

and Henry of Monthe

mouth, yielding

to

temptation

to

No

fact

in

history

is

unite the noble crown of France to his

better attested than

event

Edward

extraordinary was so struck by it, that

this

own

ill-gotten crown, crossed the sea to

he long remained impressed with this miracle, as he himself acknowledged to

the continuator of Nangis. Some time after, in conformity with the

do a hundred times worse than King Edward and his son had done, the Virgin

brought against him only a young maiden with a pure soul, who let her humble
shepherdess's crook
fall

from her indignant

promise which he had made in his fright

to the powerful Protectress of Chartres,

hands
It

to lay

hold of the sword of battle.

was while lighting up mystic candles

he signed the peace concluded at Bretigny, a small town of the Chartraint, and
his great lords,

before the revered image of

Our Lady

of

who
in

carried their heads

Bermont, and decorating with flowers the hermitage of St. Mary,' that Joan Dare,*
obedient to the interior voice that excited
her, conceived the bold design of ridding
people, and procurthe coronation of the young dau])hin, ing It was done moreover as the Charles.

so high, laying aside their arrogance for

a moment,

came

the peaceful

and

of pilgrims to bend their the Blessed Virgin. knees before But the intervention of Mary, in the

humble equipage

France of the English

almost desperate affairs of France, was not confined to tliis ; she raised up one
of those powerful

Blessed Virgin

had

willed,

and

as
;

the

men, whose iron arm

inspired shepherdess had announced St. Mary's of liheims, where the kings of

suffices of itself to support a falling king-

France

at that time

went

to watch their

dom she planted a hatred of the English in the heart of a young Breton, who made
:

armour, with
court,"

his first

campaign unHcr her auspices, and

spurs,

of their young before they put on the knight's joyfully and proudly threw open

the

lords

(1) Deposition of the witnesses on the enquiry of Vaucoiileurs concerning the liabits of Joan Dare. * 'L'Lb gpelliug ia advLseUly adopted, au it has

now been

satisfactorily

liuinble peasant

shown that tlie name of the was simply Dare. Trakslaxor.

(2) Froissard.

BLESSED VIEGIN MAEY.

her wide doors
to let the true

287

could justly be the anointed of the Lord. A flight of

little

France enter

he

King of

alone

who

" the daughter of God, the daughter of the great heart," the chaste heroine
tism,

birds' went to tell the angels this news of happy augury and close to the
;

sent by the Blessed Virgin, unfurled, with a countenance where modesty was blended

with the most

lively joy,

her banner of

prince on his knees, at the foot of the

altar,

where Clovis had bowed his haughty Sicambrian head under the water of bap-

white mohair, where those two moving and saving names, JesOs and Maky, were

seen in letters of gold.

CHAPTER

X.

THE MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS ORDERS.

The
since

star of

chivalry,

which had shone

in

the

Crusades

the

zenith

of

heavenly protector sometimes St. James, sometimes St. George, or St. Michael, or
St.

Europe, now declined towards the horizon; but it descended like the setting
sun, and
brilliant
its

Martin,

whom,

in their simple respect

for the inhabitants of

the

kingdom

of

enlarged disc
;

still

shed a

which there seemed blended the brightness of the sword and Those times, the sacred light of tapers.
light

in

heaven, the feudal lords had enveloped in titles of nobility, the honoured Virgin,

who combined

meekness, and angelic

object of
a,

every condition of beauty, purity, which beall,

brighter and better than ours,

when

reli-

came a lady high above

that which was

was

tlie

gion v/as respected, and her holy laws obeyed from the palace to the cottage,

veneration very superior to paid to the Baron St.

were the epoch wlien the veneration of

the Mother of

James, and to

God

attained

its

highest

St. George, the good knight. were proclaimed, enterprises Tournaments

degree
her,

for everything

was then done by

" It
is

were accomplished, in honour of

St.
their

Madam

and

for

her sake.

quite

Mary

natural for every one to implore her aid," said the warlike troubadours of Germany " in their songs, for in heaven everything is done that she desires." This they did
;

kings and knights watched aimour in her chapels her name,

; ;

translated into all the tongues of Europe,

was the war-cry of the Flemish, Danish, and English barons, as it was of Duguesclin.

and though every knight took

for

his

At

the battle of Trent, the field of

(1) "At the coronation of our kings, from time immemorial, two or three hundred dozens of birds

are set at liberty." (Essais Historiques sur Paris, M. de Sainte Foix, t. v. p. 26.) by

S68
which
is still

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

fidence,

marked by a broken column in the midst of the brocm of Lower Britanny, Beaumanoir commends himself to God, to Our Lady, and St. Yvo. Seeing
that his companions-in-arms redden the turf with their blood, and that the

and dedicates himself and his

Having
his horse,

kftights to the Blessed Virgin.

finished his prayers,

at the

he mounts

head of four hundred lances, to go and fight an army of forty thousand men.

English have the advantage, he arms as

a knight, in the

At the sight of the enemy, the counsellors of the Flemish prince, alarmed at the inequality of the numbers, try again to dis-

name

of

Our Lady, John

Boche, an esquire of noble descent, who was only a spectator of the combat, and Fortune, changing her banner, dede
la

suade him from

duke, laying his "
said,

the

combat; but the

his heart,

hand upon
tells

Something

me

that the day is

clares for the Bretons.'

mine. themselves
to

After

recommending

and

let

Quickly then unfurl my banner, him who will be a knight come

;

Mary, they fought one against ten, with that confidence in the aid of heaven

forward

I will
St.

do this in honour of

God

and Madam
leave

which increases the strength of

threefold
science,

man

a good cause, a pure con; and the help of the Blessed

when I wholly commend my undertaking.

!

Mary, of whom I took set out; to her I trust and

P'or"
!

ward

forward

Virgin, sufficed to do wonders in arms, and to gain the most brilliant victories.

And
enemy

the brave young duke charged the " Our at full gallop, crying out,
"
!

In 1388, an army of

men

of Brabant
all

Lady, Gueldres
" "

The Brabanters, com-

entered the duchy of Gueldres, where

pletely defeated, lost seventeen standards,

was put to fire and sword. had neither men nor money
invaders
;

The duke
to repel the

his counsellors were of opinion

them," says Froissard, before the image of Our Lady of Nimwegen, that they may serve for a perpetual
memorial."
After the engagement, the Gueldres men held counsel on the field

and you

will find

that he had better shut himself up in one of his strongholds; but he rejected this

timid counsel with indignation mixed with anger. " I will neither shut myself

of battle.

Some proposed

to go into a

neighbouring
said

city to dispose of their pri-

up in any town, nor in any castle that I " and will not leave possess," cried he, ray country to be burnt I would rather
;

soners and dress their wounds.

the

"

No,"

duke

"
;

gave

and devoted

myself

to the

die in the fields."

After this chivalrous

and

I gave

Nimwegen, and devoted myself this day,

battle,
to

department of

answer, the young duke arms himself for

battle; but before

at the

beginning of the
;

Our
and

he leaves Nimwegen,
image
had great con-

he goes
of

to pray devoutly before the

Lady of Nimwegen that we return thither, and go

thank
the

I will

and command
to visit to gain

Our Lady,

in

whom he
t.

Lady who has helped us

the victory."
(1) FroissarJ,
xiii.

And he

set off full gallop, with

his

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

knights, to offer to

209

Our Lady

his thanks,

of Hainaut, Philip of Artois,

and

to

hang up his armour, hacked and

the Sire

of la

Count d'Eu, Tremouille, and Messire

All these warriors, before

broken, as an ex voto in her chapel.'

Philip de Bar.

In 1363, King Louis I., of Hungary, finding himself with twenty thousand men, before eighty thousand infidels,
dedicated himself, with his whole army, to the Queen of angels, whose image he

they set sail, solemnly devoted themselves

the Blessed Virgin, and took for the admiral's flag the banner of the Duke of
to

Bourbon,

"

which

at that

time was
lys,

all

covered with French fleurs de

with a

always kept about him.

To thank Our
which he

Lady

for the

brilliant victory

gained, he caused to be built, enclosing the chapel of AfHuez in Carinthia, a very fine

white figure of Our Lady, the Mother of Jesus Christ, seated and represented in the middle ; the escutcheon of Bourbon

was beneath the

feet of the said figure."'

church,
to

where

he deposited the holy

The Duke
fleet of

of

Bourbon

set sail with a

image, victoiy, and the sword with which he had fought.* In the fourteenth century, Louis, Duke
of Bourbon,
to leave

which he attributed his

eighty vessels,

which went

to

" sea

in fine order,

surnamed the Great, resolved France for a time, which was

under the care of God, of Our Lady, and St. George." They disembarked in the middle of summer before
a city which Froissard and Christina of Pisan call Africa, and which is believed to

desolated by the troubles of the minority

of Charles VI., to repress the audacious piracies of the Saracens of Africa, whicli

have been Tunis.

The

crusaders of the

threatened

to

annihilate

the

maritime

Blessed Virgin undertook the siege of this place, which they attempted four times to
take by assault without success, the Turks offering a vigorous resistance. The arrival
of the Christians a holy

Genoa, and the ports on the French coast, implored an expedition against these pirates ; Louis of
of Europe.

commerce

had been the signal

for

Bourbon
tion in

listened

resolved to

make

appeal, and a crusade in that directo

this

war

to the

honour of the Blessed Virgin,

whom he held in supreme veneration. He assembled his vassals, and the king's
who were joined by the Dauphin d'Auvergne, John of Beaufort, son of the Duke of Lancaster, the Count d'Harcourt, Gautier de Chatillon, WiUiam
noble knights,
(1) Froissard, t. i. p. 113. This Carintliian church, of

the kings of sent their troops to succour the besieged city, and the Christians had to* defend

Mussulmans of Africa; Bugia, Tripoli, and Morocco

themselves from ambuscades and

sur-

prises in the night from the barbarians.

But these stratagems were

frustrated,

without the aid of sentinels or watchmen, in a manner for which the whole army of
a victory gained over the Turks in 1601 Ferdinand III. finished the church as we see it at pre;

(2)

now known by
Germany.

the

name

Maria

Zell,

is

still

one of the most cele-

sent,

and Maria Teresa made her

t.

first

communion

brateJ

pilgrimages

of Catholic

The

there, in the year 1728.

Emperor Mathiaa came there

to return thanks for

(3) Froissard,

xi. p.

266.

270

THE mSTOKY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

did

Marv

homage to its divine Protectress. mastiff who had no known master, kept

Christian army, who were thinking of raising the siege of Tunis after nine

so good guard every night around the Christian camp, that it was impossible for

weeks of

fruitless attempts;

but before

they retired, they twice gave battle to the

Saracens,

the Turks to elude his wonderful vigilance.

and

these, in
;

spite

of their

The

soldiers, seeing

something extraor-

dinary in the infallible instinct of this

the banner of number, were defeated Mary was gloriously borne by the chivalry

animal, had called him Our Lady's Dog.

This expedition to Africa, undertaken under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin,

and the Christians performed such prodigies of valour under this standard, that the King of Tunis was terrified,
of France,

was accompanied with prodigies, according

to Froissard
;

he

relates that

"

the Sara-

cens, seeking to surprise the French by an attack in the night, were approaching
ver)' silently to

and thought himself too happy to conclude a treaty, by which he engaged to give up the Christian slaves, no more to
disturb the navigation of the Mediterra-

the

camp

of the Chris-

when they perceived before them a company of ladies all in white, and particularly one at their head, who was much more beautiful than all the others, and
tians

nean, and, finally, to pay ten thousand gold besants for the expenses of the war.

The good
times
of

cities

of the kingdom,

in

calamity,
special

placed

themselves
of

under

the

protection

the

carried before her a white banner with

Blessed Virgin, as well as the sovereigns.

a red cross.

At

this sight the Saracens

for

were so frightened, that

the

time

In 1357, after that fatal battle of Poio^ tiers, which mowed down the flower of
the French nobility, and where the king was taken by the English, the provost of

they had neither power nor courage to advance."*

Whether Mary was pleased to protect the chivalry of France, who marched
under her banner,
by placing with her celestial attendants between the
herself

the merchants

made

a vow, in the

name

of the city of Paris, to present every year

to

the Mother of God, in the cathedral

cir-

Christians and the Mussulmans, or whether an hallucination caused by the

indistinct light of the stars

church, a wax-taper as long as the cumference of the walls of the city.

The

and the

float-

offering actually took place till the time of the League, when it was interrupted
for twenty-five or thirty years.

ing banners of the knights was the sole cause of the prodigy, the camp was equally
preserved from a nocturnal surprise. The excessive heat of the climate and
a pestilential

In 1605,

there was substituted

for this long, rolled

up bougie a silver lamp with a thick waxcandle, which burnt continually before the
altar of

epidemic decimated

the

Notre

Dame

till

1789.'

(1) FroiflSard, (2) Sauval,

t.

xi. p.

266.

Mem. MS.

There

is

still

to

be

found among the accounts of receipts and expenses of the domain of Parb, iu the year 1488, an item

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

271

Rouen

where the image of Mary

all

for-

the squares, all the places where streets met, all the fountains, and all the public monuments

merly adorned

some centuries ago, were inscribed these four lines of Dante

:

"

L'amor che mosse gia I'eterno padre Per figlia aver di sua Delta triua,
Costei che fa del Figlio buo poi

by a solemn vow, under her protection in 1348, on the appearance of that black pestilence which had ravaged
placed
itself,

Madre

Deir universo qui

la fa

regina."

the globe, and which struck its victims so violently that people died, say the contemporary chronicles, as they looked at

of Venice were obliged to leave to the lords 9 picture in which they

The doges

were painted kneeling before the Blessed

Virgin, that they might remember that she was their sovereign and that of the
republic."

each other.

When

the

intercession of

the Blessed Virgin had put a stop to this frightful scourge, there was founded in the

This devotion of Genoa and Venice to

eclipsed by the ardent devotion rendered to her by the

Norman
to

cathedral one of the most mag-

the

Mother

of

God was

nificent chapels in the world, dedicated

Our Lady

of the

Vow.

The

statue

little

of Mary, in white marble, crowned with

republic of Parma, which had also dedicated itself to JIary. The Parmesans

white roses, stood on the altar erected to her by the gratitude of the public, and
the magistrates of Rouen hung above this holy image a massive lamp of gold, which

had no more solemn day than the 15th

of August, the feast of the

Assumption of
tlieir

the

Blessed Virgin, patroness of their

republic.

cathedral and sovereign of

was kept burning, night and day,

sixteenth century,

till

the

when

the Protestants

extinguished

it.'

The

cities of France were not the only

them was on a par with Easter Sunday, and was so highly reverenced, that the Holy See, when laying Parma under an interdict, always excepted
This feast
^yith

ones which consecrated themselves to the

Blessed Virgin
written
:

the day of the Assumption of the Blessed

Virgin.

Genoa

the Superb, had

upon its gates, Citta di Maria; and Venice the Fair had adorned the
hall of her great council, in 1385, witli a

On

lowed by

that day the heads of families, folall the members of their houses,

magnificent piece of tapestry by Guariotto, a disciple of Giotto, representing Christ

repaired to the superb cathedral of ilary (the ceiling of which was painted a little
later by Correggio), with

crowning the Blessed Virgin Queen of VeBelow this picture, which perished nice.
" A la vefve Gerbelot la concerning this taper sonnne tie 27 livrea 19 solz 8 deniers, a elle pareille:

banners unfurled, and singing hymns, and laid flowers and presents upon her altar; any inhabitant
12 febvrier, au prix de 4 solz 8 deniers la livre somnie de la chandelle de Nostie Dame, 63 livres

uient

(lus" j)ar laditte ville,

de

cire

pour 117 livres et deniie ouvree en une grande chandelle assise Bur
bois,

solz 8 deniurs."

uug tour de

par

elle

baillee

et

livree

le

(1) Aniiot., Hist, de la ville de Rouen, (2) Delicea de I'ltalie, t. i. p. GO.

t. ii.

273
of

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

to

Parma who should have neglected

in the cathedral

made

battle-fields

of their

streets

and

appear
his

vould have

lost

character, says Turchi, and been At this solemn pointed at with scorn.

their public places, nothing better could have been imagined than to create an

feast,

when all ranks were mixed together, there existed no longer any distinction or pre-eminence ; they might have been
one family uniting joyfully to celebrate the feast of their mother.
called

order of knighthood of a character entirely pacific, the Frati Gaudenti, or knights

of the Blessed Virgin,

who, without

re-

nouncing the world, employed themselves in restoring, in the name and to the

honour of the Mother of God, peace and

concord in the Italian peninsula. This devotion to Mary, which brought back peace to cities, and inspired warriors
with courage, was the soul of the military orders, those great armies of the middle ages, ever triumphant, who relied for the

Assuredly, that

is

an ardent and sincere

stifle

devotion which can

the hatred of

That of the Parmesans party feelings! went even so far as that. In the year
1323, on the day of the Assumption, the Guelphs, who were banished from Parma,
putting away their old enmities, presented themselves under the walls of the city,
with their hands joined, and begged to be allowed to enter for the sake of the

and performed their prodigies upon the faith of the Mother of God. In this religious and austere division of
most
part,

chivalry, the

absence of lady love was

Blessed Virgin.
city, at

this

The population of name of Mary, humbly

the
in-

represented by a particular devotion to the Blessed Virgin ; thus the Knights of

St.

voked on the day of her solemn festival, felt moved with compassion, and by a
spontaneous movement each one ran to open the gates; Guelphs and Ghibelines

John

of Jerusalem invoked

an invocation receiving their swords, which the Knights of Malta, the latest

Mary on

embraced each other, shedding tears of joy, and they conducted the exiles, amid
shouts of evviva
I

form of this celebrated order, still perform. The Teutonic knights took the name of
Knights of the Virgin
' ;

the lands which

from the citizens,

to

the

celebrated cathedral of

Our Lady, where

they conquered from the pagans of the north of Europe they called lands of

they swore peace, on the altar of the This peace lasted fifty Blessed Virgin.
years.^

Mary

the

Blessed
;

Virgin

was

their

To appease

these violent factions of

and, in truth, she was heavenly Lady the Lady of the lohole world, as it is then expressed in the simple legends of the

the Guelphs and Ghibelines, who divided the cities of Italy into two camps, and

middle ages.

These

orders, subject to a

of powerful organization, which partook

(1) Clironic.

Farm,

in

med. ann. 1323

Chronic.

of these hnicchts, under the

tullers of tlie

title

of Brothers Ilospitiieui

Parm.

apiul Murator.,'10, Rcr. (2) In ll'Jl the pope approved of the institution

Ulessed Virgin, and placed

under

the rule of St. Augustin.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

the discipline of a camp, and the severity of a monastic rule, conquered provinces in the name of Maiy, which they united

273

Charles VI., that poor prince, whose precocious valour had gained, when he

The together to form into kingdoms. order of the Teutonic knights hecame, as
is

was fourteen years old, that famous victory of Rosbecq, " which greatly incensed the
English,
if

who would

raise

up envy, even

well known, the monarchy of Prussia; and under the name of Knights of Rhodes, the Hospitallers reigned over one of the

it were dead," at least according to Messire John Froissard,* instituted likewise, during the first years of his reign,

finest islands of the Levant.

To

these
ex-

an order of knighthood in honour of the

Blessed Virgin, in consequence of a vow

religious and chivalrous

orders, which

tended the veneration of Mary by miracles of bravery, came to be added the royal
orders, of

which he had made

in

his abode at Toulouse,

Languedoc. During he often hunted

the patroness.

which Mary was also in general It was in her honour that

with Oliver de Clisson, Peter of Navarre, and a number of lords of his court, in the
ancient forest of Bouconne.

King John founded the order of knights of Our Lady of the Noble House, better

One day

when he had

known under
Star.

the

name

of

Knights of the

These knights fasted every Saturday, when they could, and when they could not, they were to give to the poor
fifteen Parisian pence, in
fifteen

separated from his retinue, a wild beast with too much eagerpursuing ness, the night overtook him in the midst
of wild
great woods

heaths, pathless solitudes, and full of bears and wild boars

memory

of the

of the old druidical forest; to

add

to

the

joys of Our Lady. They were allowed to hoist a standard ornamented

stars,

dangers of his situation, the darkness grew thicker and thicker, and a clouded
Terrified at his isolasky hid the stars. tion, not knowing what direction to follow,

with a figure of the Blessed Virgin, either to make war upon the enemies of the faith, or for the service of with

the prince

They swore rather than surrender, and not

their
liege
lord.

to to

die
fly

Lady

of

makes a solemn vow to Our Hope, and humbly places himself

farther than the distance of four

French

under her protection. A light breeze at once disperses the clouds, and a bright

when the superiority should force them to retreat.

acres,

of

numbers

upon a beaten out path, which leads the young monarch

star casts its grey pearly rays
en Angleterre les chevaliers quand ils Ha Sainte Marie que parloient ensemble, ces Franjois font maintenant de fumee pour un Pluat a Dieu mont de vilains qu'ils ont rues jus
et disoient

(1)

"On

(vrai) est,

proverbe, et voir envie ne mourut. Je le que oncques

dit

en un

commun

en

'

'.

ranieiitoy

(rappelle)

nature,

Anglois

pourtaut (attendu) que, par sont trop envieux sur le bien

Sacliez que le roi

d'autruie et ont toujours este.

terro, estoieiit

quece Philippe d'Arteville eust eu des nostres deux

mille

d'Angleterre, et ses oncles, et les nobles d'Angledurement courrouces du bien et de

rhciiiueur qui estoient

homme

et six mille archers

il

n'eu fust ja

pied echappe de ces Fran^oia que tous ne fussent

advenua au
la bataiile

roi

de France et
;

ou mort ou

"

pris.'

aux nobles de France a

de Ilosebecque

N N

274
of the forest.

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE The next

comes
day. Charles,
in

honour of Mary. Alphonsus, or rather

the Wise, founded an order

followed by his lords coripletely armed

Don Alonso

except their heads,

to fulfil his

vow

at the chapel of Mary.

To perpetuate

which he placed under the protection of the Blessed Virgin, and

of knighthood,

the

memory

of his perilous adventure,

Don James
reward
of

IL,

King

of Arragon,

to

he founded, a short time after, the Order of Our Lady of Hope, and would have a
star for its symbol.'

the bravery of the

castle,

inhabitants
built

Montesa, whose

upon

the

summit

of a

high mountain, had

In the year 1370, Louis IL, Duke of Bourbon, instituted the Order of Knights
of the Thistle, of

Our Lady.

This order

heroically resisted the Moors, founded in 1319 an order of knighthood under the title of Sancta Maria de Mon-

many times

was composed of twenty-six knights, who wore a blue velvet girdle embroidered with
gold,

with the word

Hope

in

similar

to which he generously gave, with the consejit of the pope, the possessions of the suppressed order of the Templars
tesa,

embroidery ; the buckle of fine gold bore

in green enamel, the

in the

kingdom

of Valencia.

head of a

thistle.

On

little later,

about the middle of the

Christian
I.,

the day of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, which was the grand festival
of the order, tbe knights of the Thistle

fifteenth century.

wore a sumptuous robe of pink damask, and a mantle of sky blue, embroidered
with
gold,

Denmark, founded, in honour of Trinity and the Blessed Virgin, the royal Order of the Elephant, the members of
which undertook various pious engagements, particularly that of defending the Catholic faith at the peril of their lives ;
the elephant was the symbol of the virtues of the order.

King of the Holy

over which

they wore the

grand collar of the order, composed of lozenges and fleurs-de-lis of gold, with
the word

Hope upon each lozenge.

From

the end of the collar

hung an oval medallion with the figure of Mury, below

thistle, in

The

royal

and military orders were not

which was seen the head of a

green enamel,

relieved with white}

the only ones to take Mary for their pathe religious soldiery, who gain troness battles by prayer under the shield of faith,
:

Devout and chivalrous Spain had also, in the middle ages, royal orders founded
(1)
is

march under the banner of the Blessed Virgin, and distinguished themwould
also

The

institution of

Our Lady

of

Good Hope

j)roved by an ancient painting which is seen on t]ie wall of tlie cloister of tlie Carmelites of Tou-

Duke of Tonraine, the Duke of Bourbon, of Peter de Navarre, of Henry de Bar, and Oliver de Clissou. All these personages are
read those of the

louse, near the chapel of

tlie

Our Lady

ol

Hope, where

king of France is represented on horseback, bow ing before an image of the Blessed Virgin ;

some

lords are also painted there in fidl ariuuur,

The bacliground of tliis life. with wolves, wild boars, &c. At painting tiie top, on a sort of frieze, are angels bearing scrolls, on which is written tiirice the word Hope,
j)ainted of the nize of
is

filled

except on their heads. Their names, written underneath, are almost efaced ; but there may still be

(Dom.

Vaissette, Hist,

du Languedoc,

t.

iv. p. 3'Jli.">

(2) Faviu. Hist, de Navarre,

liv. viii.

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

heroism of a different kiud.
first

275

selves by

In

ceeded Alberic, the successor of Robfert,

in

the West, the

cially

religious order espe-

]109.

The monastery

suffered

so

founded in honour of Mary was that of Citeaux, which acknowledges for its
founder
Robert, destined by his family to the nobleman,
St.

great want in the year following, that the

abbot was obliged to go and beg alms,

young Norman

who preferred profession of arms, but heaven before the gaining the kingdom of
kingdoms of the earth. In the year 1098 he foimded, in a desert place, covered with brambles and thorns, which the Duke

mounted on an ass, accompanied by a The rigours which they pracbrother. no tised caused Citeaux to be deserted one offered to replace the religious who
;

died,

and the abbot began

seriously to

fear that this

new

institute

would perish
protected
it
it,

in its cradle; but

Mary, who
this,

Burgundy had given him, the famous Abbey of Citeaux, and gave the twenty reof
ligious

would not permit

magnificent
St.

and made
the
thither

present in

who had accompanied him

of,

thither,

Bernard,

who

retired

person of with

the white habit, in honour

and, accord-

several of his relations in 1113.

;

He

was

ing to the annalists of Citeaux, in consequence of a revelation from, the Blessed

Virgin.

hardly seventeen years old at nineteen he was sent to Clairvaux as abbot, and
set about cultivating

To
and

merit the protection of Mary,

his
religious

this place,

which
St.

Robert

condemned
disinterested,

was covered with thickets.

While

themselves

to a life the

most

most

laborious, poor, and austere that

Bernard was laying the foundations of Clairvaux, La Ferte, Pontigny, and Mori-

could possibly be imap;ined; they banished from their cloister all that had the least

mond, which are the three other

filiations

appearance church had

of

luxury.

Their
cross,

abbey

from Citeaux, were filling by the favour of the Blessed Virgin. The wild place

but one
;

and that

was of wood
sticks

the thuribles and candle-

where arose the Abbey of Morimond, the most austere of all the Cistercian abbeys,
was a pious donation of Olderic of Grammont and Adeline his wife, nobles of
Choiseul.*
first

were of iron, and the chalices of copper gilt the vestments were of coarse
;

stuff;

the abbot's crosier was merely the crutched staff used at that time by old
avoid whatever might hinder from retreat and recollection of

These four abbeys were the

men.

To

and the mothers of several others, into the details of which we shall not
enter, all equally austere

them

and regular,

all

spirit, they agreed not to allow any prince or nobleman from that time to hold his

worthy of the heavenly protection of their

Patroness.
in

The

religious

went

to labour

court in their church or monastery, as they were accustomed to do on great

festivals.

the woods

and

fields,

sowed seed,

reaped wheat,

mowed

the meadows, cut

These regulations were made

(1)

The greater part are only by degrees. from the abbot Stephen, who had suc-

Annales Cistercienses, by R. P. Manrique,

c. 1.

aun. 1115,

276

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

trees,

down
hacks.
vent,

and carried them on their

they returned to the conreceived with thankfulness

When
they

primate of that island, exchanged his pontifical vestments for the poor ornaments of serge and fustian of the religious
of the Blessed Virgin; Wallen, one of the
first

what was given them to eat, that is, a pound of coarse brown bread mixed with
tares, with pottage

lords of the court of Scotland, dear

made

of beech leaves.

to the king, his relative,

to all

who

invited

him

Their bed was of straw, their bolster, a sack of oat-hulls and after some hours
;

his hunting parties,

its

abandoned the

world and

pomps, which smiled upon

often per-

of rest, they rose again at midnight, to

him,

to

shut himself up in a monastery

Such was sing the praises of the Lord. the pious life of these monks of the
Blessed
Virgin,

of Citeaux.

The king having

tlie

ceived that the

of hunting

young nobleman, instead

black

whom

their

conduct

game

of the heath

honoured, according to the expression which God himself employs in the sacred and accordingly she condeScriptures
;

and the roebucks, retired apart among the tall fern or under the whitethorns in the

scended

to give

them

sensible testimonies

of her favour.

record that

The annals of Citeaux when these good religious,

must make him a bishop," said the pious monarch one day, looking thoughtfully. Wallen anticithickets to read

and pray,

"

pated him, and became a

monk at Warden.

whose
was
so

lives

were so austere, whose heart pure, and hands so occupied,

In 1129, Everard, Count of Mans, abdicated his crown as sovereign prince for He went and prethe cowl of Citeaux.

sweated under the burthen of the day, during the harvest, without daring to indulge their extreme thirst with the water of the neighbouring spring, and their

sented himself in disguise at one of the abbeys of the order, and he was entrusted with the care of the flocks of the monas-

hmbs, languid with the burning heat of summer, with the delicious coolness of the secular woods which bordered on
their cultivated lands, the Blessed Virgin
off

he would have remained always unknown there, if certain lords had not
tery;

recognised him feeding sheep on the border of a heath. Another young lord
of very high birth, having taken the habit of Citeaux,

wiped

with her white veil the sweat of

labour from the pale and furrowed brow of the brethren.'

was ordered

to take a troop of

swine every day under the oaks of a

forest, who enjoyed their One acorns and beech-nuts. upon in day, when the novice was not engaged prayer, he heard the voice of Satan, the

Men of high birth flocked to Citeaux Prince Henry, brother of Louis the Young, became a monk at Clairvaux in the year
:

neighbouring
feed

1149; St. Malachy, who was descended from the kings of Ireland, and who was

father of pride, who whispered to him in a low voice that he was following a very

(1)

Annales Cistercienges, ad ann. 1199,

c.

c. 5,

ct

1228,

6; ann. 1121,

c. 6.

occupation for the son of a This young nobleman. powerful baron.

strange

BLESSED VIEGIN MAEY.

SO pious up to that time, bit his hps, and his fervour disappeared ; when evening

277
to seize the limbs

An

icy shivering

began
;

of the

young monk

his fair

and calm

was come, he went back to the monastery, and retired to the chapel. Whoever might have seen him on his knees before

conductress stretched out her hand, and behold the turfy coverings of the tombs slowly opened, and the dead arose, cold

Our Lady, plunged in deep " Here is a meditation, would have said,
the altar of

and pale
fear,

in their shrouds.

The

novice

was on the point of fainting away with

whose thoughts are in heaven." Yet his thoughts had not taken so loftv a his father's flight, for he was thinking of
saint,
castle,

when

the

unknown

lady, looking at

and cherishing thoughts of

is

flight.

him with an eye of tender compassion, said to him with a sweet and penetrating " Yet a little while, and you will voice,
be even as these dead
!

"

The night

very dark," said the novice

Whither then

to himself, as

porch of the chapel

a tempest:
it

he looked out beyond the " the wind is blowing

;

would you wish to go, and what are you thinking of ? Here ends the glory of the
world
"
!

is

my
let

escape us be ofi" then

the very time to make To keep swine indeed

1

As she

said these words, the

the son of one of the

first

lords of the court;

I

but

it

is

dis-

Blessed Virgin, for it was she herself, disappeared ; the graves closed up again, and the young novice, who no longer

He arose, and walked graceful "... the nave with a resolute step ; but down
.

dreamed of leaving the convent, a model of virtue and humility.'

became

as

he was going
!

to step over the threshold,

The Order of

Citeaux, which was spread

he perceived a woman standing before him At first he thought he was dreaming; but no, there was before him, at the bottom of the chapel, a woman beautiful
as

over every country of Christendom, was suppressed in France at the beginning of

the Revolution.

The Order

of Fontevrault, founded in

an angel, and majestic as a queen

1100, by Robert of Arbricelle, in honour

of the holy obedience of Jesus Christ to

with a gracious movement of her hand, and a smile of compassionate pity, she

made him

a sign to follow her,

and was

the orders of Mary, and the sonship of John with regard to Mary, could have
arisen only in an age of chivalry.
order,

mechanically obeyed. went towards the cemetery,

The unknown

lady which the

In this

which had

for

nuns

high and

moon, half concealed by thick clouds,

lighted with a strange kind of light; the large yew-trees, darkly agitated by the

mighty dames, and

for abbesses princesses

of the blood royal, the women commanded the men, and the abbots would not have

wind, seemed to moan over the dead, and the night-birds mingled their mournful cries with the tumult of the tempest.
Ann. 1207,

dared to consider the abbess as

sister,

whom
call

in all humility they were

bound

to

their

mother,* and

who was

the

(1)

c.

4.

(2)

decree of

the

parliament ordered

the

^78

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

If the Other religious orders of chival-

absolute sovereign of the order. The foundation of this order stirred up some

storms at

its

of Rennes,

beginning: Marbode, Bishop and Godfrey, Bishop of Ven-

rous times were less directly placed under the immediate patronage of the Blessed

Virgin

than
all

those of which

we have

dome, alarmed at the strangeness of this obedience, in an inverse manner declared

Fontevrault; but it subsisted, It notwithstanding, till the Revolution.
against

spoken,

vied with each other in ho-

nouring her, and were grounded on her influence. The ancient Carthusians dedicated to
still

Mary

their first chapel,

which

was

abbey that the princesses of the blood royal were educated.

in this

subsists in the midst of the rocks

it

Seven

merchants of

Florence

also

was originally built, and bears the memorial name of Our Lady of the
where
Cottages.'

founded, in the second part of the middle

ages, the Order of Servites, or serfs of Mary, which gave to the church of St.

The

cradle of the Order of the Fran-

Philip Beniti, the author of the moving devotion of the Seven Dolours of the

ciscans was a small chapel, very old and very much out of repair, built originally

by four solitaries of Palestine, who had

given
it

of

Blessed Virgin. In fine, the sweet name Mary was attached to the Order of Our
of Mercy, destined to

the

name of

St.

Mary

of Josaphat,
it

because there were venerated in

relics

some

Lady
tians

ransom Chris-

from the sepulchre of the Blessed

its rise

who had
This

fallen into slavery

among

Virgin.

infidels.

order,

founded on the
at

10th of August, 1218, is one of those holy works which do honour to hu-

The Order of Dominicans took Our Lady of Prouille.

St.

manity; its rules were extremely severe, and it held a middle position between
the military orders and monastic.
orders

Premontr6 by order of the Mother of God; and he

Norbert reformed
obliged his religious to say daily the oflSce of the Blessed Virgin, under pain of mortal sin.

purely

monks

of the

Abbey

of Fontevrault to call
sister.

abbess their mother, and not their Ann. de Fontevr.)

(See the
This

the

chapel,

which the Carthusians have respectfully

subsists.

(1) Sacellum beatca Mariaa de Casalibus.

first cradle of their order, still Tastefully decorated, and hidden in the depth of forests, it has a very pleasing effect.

preserved as the

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

279

FOURTH EPOCH: FROM THE MIDDLE AGES DOWN TO ODR DAYS.

CHAPTER XL
THE EEVIVAL.
the beginning of the fifteenth century, Catholic Europe was always kneeling before Mar}', whose cathedrals, which

At

uncle of Charles VI., whose life was far from being edifying, had nevertheless, at
the Hotel of St. Paul, an oratory enriched

were now in the hands of the secular

clergj',

were completed with

admirable
of con-

with Gothic sculptures of L'ish wood, on the door of which were to be read these

perseverance.
fraternities

great

number

words

"

Retreat where Monsieur Louis

were then founded in honour

of France recites his Hours."*

of

Blessed Virgin. The German on her scapular, and the princes put kings of England of the red rose were
the

At Naples, the feast of Our Lady of Carmel had somethini:; chival^us which
was wanting in the festivals of France, and denoted an origin contemporary with
the Crusades.
this gran fiesta

anointed at their coronation with a miraculous

oil shining brighter

than fine gold,

The
was

which the Blessed Virgin Mary had given expressly for them to St. Thomas a Becket

principal spectacle of a sort of petty warfare

sustained by the young

men

of the city.

during his exile.*

Turkish fortress was erected in the

The
where

students of those great colleges, so many free foundations were

centre of the Mercato del Carmine; the

made

in the

name

of

Our Lady,

rose at

daybreak, to say together the office of the Blessed Virgin ; even the princes, not

upon its ramparts, and was defended by three or four hundred young men, who, under the name of Alarhs, represented a sort of Turkish
crescent glittered
it

excepting the reigning prince, recited it also, at fixed hours, with certain other
offices of

soldiery.

The

besiegers of this fort, re-

the church.
their

small place set

presenting the Neapolitan nation, never failed to conquer the infidels, nor did the

apartments, and much the domestic chapels of the resembling Romans, was specially dedicated to these
apart
in

people

fail

to rejoice at a victory,

which

was

tlie

image of the triumph of the cross

over the crescent.

morning

devotions.

The Duke

of Orleans,

The

rosary'

and the chaplet, which the

(1) Boucher, (2)

(3)
Felil)., t.

i.

Annales de I'Aqnitaine, t. iv. p. G54; Sauval, iMem. MS.

p. 3.

had thought of making beads of wood, upon which

the soldiers of the Crusades, who for the most part could not read, recited a certain number of Out
Fatiiers
to the solemnity of the feasts.

by

rosary was instituted in the year 1208, St. Dominic; but he was not exactly the init.

The

ventor of

Aa

early as 1094, Peter the

Heimit

and Hail Marys, whicli varied according Before him, ancient

280
Italians
call

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

corona, were

worn by the

said his beads as his troops.

he rode

at the

head of
a Pater

great and tho

trates

common

"

and

warriors.

people, by magisA valuable chaplet

;

Sometimes, leaving

unsaid,

he commanded
or

some
signal

military
for

was put into tlie rich wedding-baskets and the grand ladies of the age of the
revival, as

expedition,

gave

the

an

well as those of the middle

ages, were often represented on their stone monuments with beads in their

then he conscientiously told his Aves," says an historian of the time, " such was his devotion."
attack
;

The

chaplet,

which derives

its

name

hands.

This method of prayer,

first in-

from the crowns of flowers which in the middle ages were called chapels, or chapeaux, was the spiritual crown of Mary;
it

vented for the poor, had become

prayer of every one.

the

burgesses and gentlemen said their beads as they went

The

out into the country, or as they returned into the city, the clients at the palace,
while
waited for their lawyers, and the Christians of all classes, as they went
tliey

was said in those days, and it was a graceful and poetical belief, that by every
Christian

who

recited

it

with attention

and fervour an angel placed himself, sometimes visible, who strung on a golden
thread a rose for each Ave, and a golden lily for each Pater, and who, after setting
this garland

to gain the pardons at distant churches.

Kings themselves set the Blanche of Castile said her rosary every
day; Edward
III. of

example,

on the head of the devout

England

gave his

beads, enriched with pearls, to Eustace de Ilibeaumont, chevalier of France, who

servant of the Blessed Virgin, disappeared, leaving a sweet odour of roses."

The kings
vassals

of Scotland

and

their great

had twice overthrown him.

ventory

In the

in-

wore beads of gold

evil ;

to preserve them

made after the death of Charles V., says Le Sage, we find ten strings of beads The Swiss, at Grandson, found of gold.
under the ducal tent of Charles of Bur-

from

all

the bold cavaliers of the

border

made

themselves

plainer

ones

with nuts gilded by the autumn sun, and never recited them with more fervour,

gundy
gold.'

his Pater (beads),

on which the
in

apostles

were
It
is

represented

massive

constable

known that the famous Anne of Montmorency always

than in their expeditions The golden beads against the English. disappeared with the last Catholic sovesays
Leslie,

reign, poor

Queen Mary; but those which

making up, every day, a

historians record that devout persons already recited a series of Our Fathers and Hail Marys " Per cordiilam nodis disupon knotted cords

man had

the custom of

tinctam."

la coxfr. dii Rosaire; Astolfi Gabriel Peiinotus, in Hist, tripart.) (1) Hist, de Louis XL, by M. Lisken, p. 91. (2) The chaplet owed its origin to a young reli;

(Regl. de
of the

garland of flowers, with which he crowned the image of Our Lady. Not being able to continue

devout practice in his convent, he going to leave off the custom, but, as he was thinking of
this

was

so doing, Our Lady appeared to him, and ordered him to substitute for the crown of flowers the spiritual

gious

man

Order of

St. Francis.

Previously

to taking the habit of the Friars Minors, this

young

Salo,

crown of the chaplet of beads. (F. Alex. Meth. ad. pour hon. la V. M., p. 672.)

BLESSED VmaiN MARY.

the inhabitants of the border gathered in the woods held out for a very long time
against the shock of the
It

281

distinguished the Alpine mint, the rosemary, and persicaria, by the name of St.

Reformation.

was the
;

last Catholic practice in Caleit fell

Mary's herb; the oriental Mussulmans call thesweet smelling cy c\Amen,boTcour Miriam
(Mary's perfume), and the same plant bears
in Persian the

donia

with

the ancient religion of

Bruce, Wallace, and David I., that religion to which Scotland and England were
indebted, as the radical Cobbett owns, for
that they have had that was great, either in men or things. The Georgians and the people of Italy
all

name

of Tchenk

Miriam

(Mary's hand) ; a spring flower of Europe received the name of Our Lady's mantle ; the bilberry, with its dark and sweet

was her signet; the wild service berries of the Alps were her pears, and
berries,

made

coronas with as

little

expense as the

they employed for them the stones of the azedarah, which the Italians

Scotch;

the carpets of wild thyme, where the tired bee reposes, had also her name.

In some countries of the north, on the

the
contrary, they scrupulously avoided giving name of the Virgin, not only to things,

still call I'albero

dei paternostri.

The tender and

forefathers

sincere piety of our

towards the

assumed most

at

Blessed Virgin that time the sweetest and

forms.

but to persons, lest that name should come to be treated with irreverence, or be

affecting

Bay

leaves

bor-

borne unworthily.

Among

the Poles no
this prohi-

rowed from the shrubs, fruits plucked from the bushes, composed for her a
religious garland
;

woman was

called Mary,

and

bition extended so far, that Ladislas IV.,

flowers, heaths, plants

when he married Mary Louisa

of Nevers,

Europe and Asia were honoured with her name, and brought up the remembrance of her amidst the fields and woods.
of

would have inserted in the clauses of the

contract, that the new queen should drop her name of Mary, which hurt the feelings of the Poles with their respect for the

The

narcissus, with its flower edged with

;

name of Mary's lily the rose of Jericho, and Solomon's seal,

purple, received the

Mother of God, and that she should bear

only the name of Louisa.' In the first years of the fourteenth century,
at

became her rose and her

wort, spotted with white,

seal

the lung-

was Our Lady's

milk; the Scot took for his

emblem her

Pope Innocent XXII., justly alarmed the conquests of the Mussulmans, in-

blessed thistle; the Christian Arab called

stituted a prayer -to the Blessed Virgin

a sort of wormwood, with a white flower, which grows upon his sandy downs, St. Mary's smoke; the mountain shepherd

Mary, under the name of the Ave Maria ; this prayer, for which the most mysterious

and calmest hour of the day had been

(1)
la

Dovendo Ladislao IV. prendere per moglie

del duca di

Nevers, cliianiata Maria Aloisa, messe (juesta special coudizione che la reina,
figliuola

par riverenza della Vergine, si chiamaese nell 'avenire solamente Aloisa. (II P. Paolo Segueri, t vii.

p. 571.)

o.

282
chosen, that hour
parts,*

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

when the

daylight de-

and

travellers rose

up again, and went

was said in France and England

All

on their way.*
processions, so long in extent that the head of them was at St. Denis,

nt the first toll of the curfew bell.

At those

Catholics then said three Hail Marys for

the success of the arms of the Christians,

while the last ranks

old of Notre

still

trod the thresh-

and begged of the Blessed Virgin that there might be peace, union, and prosperity in the several

Dame,^ the mohair banner

worked with
the sacred
after the
aloft

of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

gold,

kingdoms subject

to

was borne

above

all

the faith.

Louis XI., in 1475, instituted

banners, and went immediately

cross.

the Angelus, the same as now in use, in honour of the mystery of the Incarnation
;

Kings, queens, bishops, honourable men of the higher ranks of citizens

and

it

was his wish that

was made

to the

evening

were associates in

the

confraternity of

prayer, which

for the general

peace of Christendom, there should be added one, at noon, for the particular peace of his own kingdom. His decree " is in these words It is commanded that
:

Notre Dame,* and there were seen in these pious gatherings, the hoods of princes

embroidered with gold, mingled with the parti-coloured hoods of red and blue of
the burgesses of Paris. At every corner of the streets, a
statue
of
little

Frenchmen, knights, soldiers, and countrymen shall hneel down, on both knees, at the sound of the bell at noon,
all

shall devoutly

make

and make a prayer

good peace."

to

the sign of the cross, Our Lady to obtain

rudely carved of oak, blackened by time, and covered with a veil of antique lace, raised its head above

Mary,

a bunch of flowers, which

some pious

souls of the neighbourhood renewed every

The
of

decree was obeyed with a degree

exactitude,

which
to

proves

to

what

morning, at the hour when the trumpets sounded the morning call from the top
of the towers of Chatelet.^

extent

popular. During the fifteenth century, at the first sound of the Angelus, in houses, in the
streets,

devotion

Mary was

Oftentimes
before

those

flowers,

secretly deposited

daylight, were taken

for the gifts of angels,

in the fields

and on the roads,

there was

not a Frenchman

who

did

who came, it was said, to teach Christians how to honour their Queen. During the
in these night, lamps burned continually
little

not

fall

prostrate to pray to the Blessed

Virgin.

This duty

fulfilled,

passers-by

gray

niches, which on Saturdays

Confrerie de Nostre

(1) Polidore Virgil attributes the institntion of

,tlie

was

called

La Grande

Dame

Ave Maria
in

and that

evening to Pope John XXII., the morning to Theodoric, Archbishop

in the
t. i.

of Cologne.
(2) Alexis ifonteil, Vie priv^e des Frangais, (3) Capef., Hist, de la Ref.
(4)

bourgeois de Paris. The and bishop of Paris belonged to it, king, queen, and in the three orders of this confraternity they
aiix seignenra, prestres et

received

only the
ii.

beat
;

qualified

persons.
la

(Le
t.

Maire,
p. 372.)

t.

p.

79

Traite

do

Police,

i.

This confrutornity, the most ancient of those of Our Lady of Paris, was ebtablishcd in 1168. It

(6) Alex, Monteil,

t.

i.

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

were completely illuminated.* This was
divisions of Paris.

283

Some persons,

little

the first beginning of lighting the streets. This lighting, less brilliant, no doubt, than what is in use now, had nevertheless

more zealous than became them, wanted

to carry off the miraculous

decorate their
this

own
at

parish.

Madonna The news

to

of

a great advantage over ours: there was as.sociated with it a pious thought, calculated to make a believing people reflect
;

came

to the ears of the burgesses of

the district,

who

once took up arms,

the

mystic

lamps

of

the

'

shining in succession like a light

Madonnas, row of

mounted guard, night and day, before the tutelary Virgin, and were near fixing
chains across the
streets.
till

Tranquillity

stars, through the odoriferous heads of flowers, seemed to say to the vagabond

was not restored

translation

after the

pompous

who went about by night

poses:

for evil pur-

holy image into the church itself of the convent.^

of the

There
city

bering

an eye over this slumwhich never closes, and

is

Heaven, who inspired the armies of the middle ages with the

The Queen

of

which watches over these deserted and

silent streets

the eye

These
corners,

little

of God.^ Madonnas of the street

less

confident hope of victory, reigned over the fleets and merchant-vessels of this
fifteenth century,

which was

rightly called

though

ornamental

than

the age of discoveries.

Christopher Co-

those which figured in massive silver on

altars of

marble and gold, were no

in procession to

less

cherished by the inhabitants.

people came
all

Young

lumbus undertook the discovery of the new world under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin, whose Hours he used to
recite

them from

on board his

vessel, in a precious

quarters, barefooted

and crowned with

flowers, singing the Litany of the Blessed

manuscript which Pope Alexander VI. had given him at his departure, and which he

Virgin; every one followed them, whatever weather it was, and the crowd was

bequeathed at his death to the republic of Genoa. Don Henry of Portugal, who
presided and concurred in the discovery of the Indies, erected at Belem a church

sometimes so

great,

that people could

hardly pass in the street.

A small image

of cedar, a foot high, which had belonged to the house of Joyeuse, and which figured between two pointed turrets, over the gate of the reverend Father Capuchins of the

Our Lady, accompanied by an hospital for the seamen of his own country. John
of

Gonsalves Zares, his first and ablest navigator, had a church built in honour of

Rue

St.

Honore, was near being the

Our Lady, at Madeira.

guese, under the

When

the Portu-

occasion of a small civil war between two

command of Vasquez de

(1) Hist, de Notre

Dame

de

la Pa'x,

par

le

P.

Medard, Gapucin. (2) This is still the only mode of lighting many towns in Italy. The following is what wat written
of
it

per cui ve ne sono in ogni angoUo delle strade con Essi tengono illuminate le fanali accesi di notte.
Btrade, e cosi la divozione supplisce alia polizia."

in

1803

"

11

popolo k devoto

alle

Mtdonne,

(Descrizione di Napoli, p. 2t>9.) de la Paix. (3) See Hist, de Notre Dame

284

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

for the first time

Gama, landed
on the
faith of

on the
of

coast of Coromandel,

where they beheved,

Spaniards, who were no less devout than the Portuguese to the

their guns.'

The

some ancient accounts

divine

Mother

of our Saviour,

had upon

voyages, that they should find Christians of St. Thomas, they allowed themselves
to be taken

their galleons, laden with ingots of gold, her statue of massive silver, before which

by the inhabitants into the temple of a goddess of the Indies, which

they had the simplicity, in spite of its four arms and long golden ears, to take
for the Blessed Virgin

prayed, night and morning, the adventurous Castilian sailors of Isabella, the
Catholic.

At a period a

little

nearer to

our own times, the filibusters of the island

of Tortosa, having taken one of these images in a sea-fight, the Spaniards, despoiled of all that they possessed, thought

Mary, and before

which they prayed accordingly. One of them, however, had some doubts, and called out aloud, as he looked at the
idol,

whose hideous features reminded

only of recovering their revered Madonna. The governor-general entered into a negotiation with the pirates, solely to save

of anything but the fair and sweet " If the devil Virgin of the Christians
:

him

is
it

adored here, which is very possible, is well understood that our prayers
addressed
"
1

the Santa Senora from the profanations to which she was exposed among those
pirates,

who

affected to live without faith,

are

only

to

the

Mother of

or law; but they refused to give

statue.

up the

God

After they were established in India, the Portuguese, faithful to their devotion to

Virgin, who gave animation to the arts, ever watched over the

The Blessed

Mary, dedicated to her, at Goa, a superb

church,
gilt all

conservation of empires, and the sweet

over in the inside,

Our

Queen

of

Heaven had

also for her vassals

Lady

d'Asara, or of

Mercy

several other

churches, such as Our Lady of Cranganor, and of Meliapoor were built, by their care,
in divers places of India,

the kings of Catholic Europe in general, and those of France in particular. In

and as

far as the

mouth

of the Ganges, the sacred river of

It

1478, King Louis XI. separated from Artois the county of Boulogne, and transferred it to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom

Hindostan.

was

at that

time a pious

he declared Countess of the Boulonnais.

custom among them to come and make an offering to Mary of the tithe of the
booty taken from the idolaters, and this custom occasioned a number of private

As the
altar a

feudal charge, he laid

upon her

golden heart, weighing thirteen

marks, and engaged that his successors on the throne should be bound to renew

chapels to be built in her honour.

Even

in our days, their vessels never pass within sight of the chapels of the Blessed Virgin, situated on the coasts of their superb

homage and offering to the Virgin, as Lady paramount. It is well known that
the
this cruel

but clever prince, disdaining

Propagation de
la Poi.

Macao, without saluting them by

firing all

(1)

Annales de

la

BLESSED VIRGIN MAET.

ostentation, so far as to give in to the

285

all

opposite extreme, wore no other ornament in his solemn audiences than a small

nothing then but a little moisture, and the remains of the scapular, which the
pious princess had worn in honour of

leaden image
royal hat.

of the Blessed Virgin in his

that

little

used to say that he valued piece of lead more than all the
interred, according to his

He

Mary. Francis

having heard that a Huguenot had had the audacity to strike off, even
I.

gold in his kingdom.

in the middle of Paris, tlie head of an image

He was

own

of

Our Lady, made a solemn

act of repa-

directions, at Notre

Dame

de Clery.
that

He
Pope

ration, bare-footed

and bare-headed, and

was so determined on

this,

Sixtus IV., at his request, forbade, under pain of excommunication, the removal of
his body to any other place of burial.

holding a wax taper in his hand. The lords of the court, and the members of
the parliament, followed the monarch in procession, who replaced with his own

twice queen of France, built chapels in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and directed that her scapular should be deposited in the gold
of Britanny,

Ann

who was

hands, upon the altar where the mutilation had taken place, a magnificent statue
of the Blessed Virgin.'

box which was

which she

her heart, sent back to the Bretons.

to

enclose

In Spain, the work begun by Pelayo, under the auspices of Mary, to deliver
the peninsular from the Moors, had been completed by the capture of Grenada;

The mausoleum

of Francis II., the last

duke of Britanny, having been opened in the year 1727, there was found in the
vault,

the

first

cry

of

the

war of
!

Spanish
"

" independence had been Mary

in the

between the

cofl&n of that prince,

that of Margaret de Foix, a small leaden case, in which was a gold box in

and

the shape of a heart, surmounted by a royal crown, and encircled with the order
of the Cordeliers, of elaborate
ship.

Covadonga; victory was gained under her banner by Ferdinand the Catholic, who had engraved in gold, upon his good Toledo blade, the
protecting figure of Our Lady, and inscribed upon his colours, Ave Maria.

cavern of

this

last

workman-

This box, which

had contained
(1) F. de Barry, Paradis, Seo.

the heart of the queen Ann, containing

286

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

CHAPTER

XII.

THE LATTER HEBESIES.

In the desert land of Caramania, near the Persian Gulf, there exists a shrub, which
the Persians
call gul

Enemies

to

learning and

art,

as

well

bad samour (flower

disguising a furious radicalism beneath the mask of religion,

as to Catholicism,

which poisons the wind). Heresy had broken out in frigid Germany, like that
poisonous flower, which imparts to the hot breezes of the Persian summer a quality
so deadly, that they kill those

attacking by incendiary pamphlets, sometimes the pope, and sometimes the prince, this small minority, which used violent
efforts to force its belief

and dogmas upon

who

inhale

the

immense majority
to

of the French,

who

them only the

;

fatal breath,

which came

from the German lands, began by killing

souls,

them, covered France with " ruins and funerals. These good reformers,"
says

were averse

and
it

Then

them by thousands. was that the bright and charmit

killed

Count

of Lyons,

an

ing light of the beautiful star which so softly reflected over the Christian world
the ardent rays of the
increated

eye-witness of their violent proceedings, " began by reforming the public rspose and
trariquillity."

At Tours, Blois, Poictiers,

Sun,

became darkened amid the thick mists

which the night of error extended over the nortlieru heaven, and underwent a
sensible diminution even in those countries of

Bourges, and Rouen, they completely pillaged the churches, mutilated the figures

and dragged the images of the Blessed Virgin and of Christ in the
of the saints,

mire, singing the Litanies

in

derision.'

the faithful which

it

continued

In Gascony they shut up the Catholics

cut the children in two, cut open Even priests, and tore out their bowels.
alive,

to enlighten.

The
were

sectarians of the sixteenth century

with violence against the representations of Mary and the saints ;

let loose

the dead were not respected in the dust of their tombs the Huguenots dragged
:

the patrician sect of Luther,

it is

injustice

due to

it

to say,

showed some moderation

Louis XI. out of his sepulchre, burned what the worms had respected, and dared

in this respect;* but the fury of the Calvinists exceeds all that could be imagined.

wind the ashes of a king of France, whose race filled the throne.
to scatter to the

(1)

Those of the confession

of

Augsburg honour

who

the saints with hymns, images, and festivals ; but they do not consider that we ought to invoke them.
fine

Stnyter, a minister of Eibergen, has written a very poem on the privileges and virtues of tlie lioly

despise the Blessed Virgin, or consider her (Du culte des Saints et only as like other women. de la Sainte Vierge, by the Bishop of Castoria, pp. 2 and 3.)

Mother of God.

It

is

not so with other sectaries,

(2) Archiv. curieus, figue; Astolii.

I'llist.

de France

Cape-

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

287
rest plated with silver;

and ancestors of the kings of and the princes of Cond6 were Navarre, the no better treated than Louis XI.
fathers
;

The

silver,

and the
it

and

when

was on the ground, Ruffi rushed

furiously

upon
;

it,

setting both

his feet

tombs of the house of Angouleme (the reigning house) shared the same fate.

The

lords of Longueville, snatched halftheir

consumed from
thrown

sepulchres,

were

upon the head and seeing some of his soldiers and ministers coming nearer to the silver than he liked, lest they should be defied, drew his great sword, and brandished
it five

to the dogs.'

or six times,

'

What,' said
?
Sliall

The Madonnas,

before which so

many

'

successive generations had prayed, the crucifixes, which place before our eyes the
sufferings of our

any one destroy this great idol before me?' Saying this, he cut off the head of the
he,

shall I not

be respected

Redeemer, the pictures,

souls,

said representation of Jesus crucified,

and

which elevate our

reminding us of
the

held
is
it

the self-denial of the cenobites, or

Here it up, and exhibited it, saying, the head of the idol Nevertheless, as
'
' I

courage of the martyrs, were mutilated with sabre cuts, lacerated or dragged in the mud, with a cord round their necks.

was
"

silver,

The

part with it. small thieves would also share

he took care not
to

the booty; they scraped

the

images of

But

it

was not enough and

for these

new

bar-

barians to break the statues, mosaics, and

bas-reliefs,

to destroy, in a few hours,

gold or silver to get off some fragments before they handed them to the great thieves. They carried off the wing of an
angel, the

the slow work of centuries;

they even

arm

of a saint, the

head of the

them

pulled down the churches, after despoiling of all that could bring to the minds of the faithful religious recollections.

Blessed Virgin, &c. They melted down a crucifix of massive silver, which was in
the church
of St.

Stephen, saying in

The Count Canon Saconay, who

within a
little

lived

derision, that the poor crucifix

had been

of the Huguenots, of

whom
to be

at that time there

told,

was

little

good

long cold from being naked, but that they would warm it so well, as to keep
off the cold for the

left us an account of their grand " in the churches of Lyons One doings of their principal preachers," says he,

has

future.

They

also

melted down

the copes, and other vest-

ments

of the altars

which were embossed

"

Ruffi, with a

two-edged sword, which he

with gold, and could

make no

great profit

held, when he preached, like St. Paul in a picture, came with his satellites into the great church of St. John, where he made them strike and knock off the image of a
crucifix of great height,

by what was worth more than ten thousand crowns. Here then is a Gospel
very hot

and very ardent

."

which was

in the

At Coutances, the Huguenots put the inhabitants to the sword, and set fire to
" The rage of every quarter of the city. the historian these infernal vermin," says

middle of the said church, partly made of

&c.
Capef., Hist, de la Ref.

(1) Arcliiv. curieus,

Renault,

"

still

more increased

in

tho

288

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

After being
treated
witli

cathedral; they broke the images, burned the reHcs, trampled under foot the Blessed

the

greatest

insolence by the people of Navarre, the

Sacrament, and

it

was by a kind of miracle,

and

visible protection of the Blessed Vir-

poor religious, all men of courage and merit, were cast into the sea with a small
statue of

gin, that the church, of

which she

is

the

Our Lady, which was hung,

of
irony,

in

patroness, was not entirely pulled down."* The hermitages, whose small secular
bells

spirit

round the neck of

their

principal.

They

died

like

old

used

to

invite

the traveller

who

Castilians,

without

receding

single

was

late

on the road, by promising him,

in the

name

of the Blessed Virgin, a

step, without changing countenance, without uttering complaints or reproaches.

lodging for the night, a frugal repast

and

a hospitable welcome, were demolished by the Calvinists, who had the barbarity
to shoe the pious old

Their black gowns, inflated for a moment upon the waters, slowly went down, one
after the other,

beneath the waves, and

men who

dwelt in

the ocean closed over the bodies of thirty

martyrs.*

them,

like their cavalry horses.^

The
fixes

priests fled with the relics, cruciat the

At

Paris,

under the very eyes of the

and statues of Our Lady, as

the
invasion

time of
pirates;

by the
to

Norman
hide the

court, which at that time protected them, they massacred at St. Medard, during the

one of them went

sermon, a great number of unarmed Catholics.

image

of

Our Lady

shepherds
still

Beth-Aram, which had formerly found in the

of
it

parishes, terrified at the insolence of these factious men, who went

to to

The

woods, in the heart of Galicia, where

remains.^

sermons armed
have
artillery

to the teeth,' petitioned

planted at the entrance

Certain Spanish Jesuits, destined for the infant missions of Peru and Paraguay, that is, for a work for cient Greece would have erected statues
of

of the churches to protect themselves;

which an-

and the time was seen when the ceremonies of Catholic worship could no longer
be celebrated in a most Christian kingdom, but under the protection of a range
of cannon.* " It was
at Paris," says

them
in<

as benefactors to

human

nature,

fell

with the Protestant

of Navarre,
ofi"

fleet of

the

Queen
which

the Canary Isles,

peaceful
vessel.

began

M.

that they " Capefigue, a war

then

captured

their

of popular pamphlets, destined to annihi-

(1) Histoire des eveques de Coutances,

ault, p. 310.

by Rou-

twelve on horseback, accompanied by twenty

wliich

Onr Lady of Beth-Aram, had been demolished by the Hugueiioti<, was rebuilt in 1615, by John de Salette, Bishop of Lecar but the miraculous image is not there.
;

(2) Archiv. curieus. The chapel of {''>)

on foot marching as to battle. (Archiv. curieus.) This evangelical people, who came out from the sermons "with wild eyes and threatening looks," according to the testimony of Erasmus, were always
ready to take up arms, and as prompt at fighting
as at disputing.
etc. (6) See Archiv. cnrieuH,

men

(4)

Astolfi.
'

(6)

They have been

met, going in hostile array.

BLESSED VIRGIN JIARY.

late all the ancient belief ; placards

389

were

posted up against the Eucliarist; particularly against the mass, even in the palace
of the Louvre.

that ferocious Baron des Adrets, who was more dreaded by all the provinces of the

south of France

than the tempest which

The walls

of the churches,

passes over the great fields of wheat.

They

and the posts of public places, bore witness every morning to this ardour for
proselytism, which chai'acterised the Reformation."*

forget along with the massacre of Orthez, the sack of Rome, the horrors of which

were in great measure their work, and the

the waters of certain springs, they grow

softer in time

It is with the opinions of sects as

with

The

by flowing in the open air. Protestants of our day have greatly

their

Germany, and the fagots of England, and the proscriptions of Ireland, and the civil wars of Scotland, and our provinces dismembered in expectation,
troubles of

changed from
their ancient

old
;

surliness

and

and basely sold to the English they forget These all that, and many things more.
;

Vandalism

they leave the

tactics date

from a long way

oflf;

from

dead in their tombs, and the Blessed Virgin and the saints on their pedestals,

the time of our religious wars, they published, in all haste, after every misdeed,

and no longer go

to the

sermon, in time

of peace, with the dagger in their hand and the musket on the shoulder; in fine,
as Pere Sicard jocosely said of the Copts,

an incredible number of precious apologies, in which they represented themselves as timid lambs,

and the Catholics

fail to

as ogres

which did not

make an

one may meet with very good

men among

impression.

them

heresy excepted.

But the Protestants

of our time, as well as the Protestants of

old, are wanting in loyalty,

briand,

"Protestantism," says M. de Chateau" accused Rome of

intolerance,

when they rank

themselves as martyrs before the Catholics of the sixteenth century, whom, on the
contrary, they provoked to extremities, by

while slaughtering the Catholics in England and France, throwing to the wind
the ashes of the dead, lighting fagots at Geneva, defiling itself with the violent

unheard of impieties and unjustifiable

cruelties.

They remember well enough the most

deplorable episode in the history of France,
for they constantly reproach us with
it;

deeds of Munster, and dictating the atrocious laws which have oppressed the Irish, hardly set free even at this day, after three
centuries of oppression."

but

they forget the long provocations which preceded it. They forget the Cijtholic garrisons thrown from the tops of fortresses into the waters of the Rhone, in violation

Kings were not more tranquil than the people, and the throne was not less
threatened than the
altar.

Luther was

not afraid to teach openly that all who defended the Pope and the Catholic
religion,

of sworn faith

they forget the ravages of

ought

to

be treated like the

(1) Capefigue.

(2)

M. de Chateaubr., Esaai eur

la

litt.

Angl.,

t. i.

P P

d90

THE HISTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

"

soldiers of a chief of banditti,

were they

theories,

even kings and Caesars." And Calvin " The added, powers of the earth give in
resignation they oppose the progress of our doctrine .... it is
better
to spit

accompanied by frequent revolts, drew down at length upon the contrivers

of our intestine disorders, sad

and san-

their

own

when

in their faces than to obey^

this principle that the

guinary reprisals. The policy of a prince, mortally irritated by an attempt of the Protestants against
his
person,* threw
;

them."

It

was on

the

court into

ex-

Calvinist preacher, Des Rosiers, laid down in his pamphlets that maxim which he ap-

tremes
that
it
it

they thought, what was the fact, was a question for royalty, whether
exist, or not,

plied to Catherine de Medicis,

ful to kill a

" It

is

law-

should

and placed upon

king or a queen who opposes the reformation of the Church'"*

our history a page of blood. The St. Bartholomew saved the Valois from the
fate

This insolence, and these subversive

The (1) This was also the opinion of Calvin. Huguenots had so well understood their apostles,
Catherine de Medicis found, even in her chamber, a paper in which she was warned that she would be assassinated, if she did not dismiss
that
all

of

the

Stuarts,^

and Catholicism

the Catholics about her.

(Capef.,

Bartholomew a vile massacre, and that he nowhere assigns religion as the motive for it. (3) See how Swift, a great writer, politician, and distinguished member of the Church of England, judged the Calvinists, in the year 1732: "The
St.

Hist, de la

]iuritan8,

who

Ref.)

Queen Elizabeth's
"

had, almost from the beginning of reign, been a perpetual thorn in

(2)

Some said
tlie
;

too cruel to

great reason

our King Charles had been Huguenots, it was not witiiout very the day of Meaux above all provoked
that
if

the Cliurch's side, joining with the Scotch entliusiasts in the time of Cliarles I., were the principal

cause of the Irish rebellion and massacre, by distressing

others might find some excuse in some honourable cloak of religion ; but that day might be

him;

for

that prince, and

satisfied his

making

it

impossible for

him

to

send over timely succours.

And

after that

properly called an attempt on the king's person, on his brother and the queen, which they would have

prince had

parliament in every single

The king, willingly executed, had they been able. moreover, often said that he would never pardon
them
for that
;

point to be complained of, the same sectaries, by poisoning the minds and affections of the people,

with the most

their king,

false

and

it

stood

him

in

good

stead, said

were

able, in the

and wicked representations of compass of a few years,

lives
;

he, that he put himself in a good attitude of defence among his Swiss, with whom, as he marched to

to embroil tlie three nations in a bloody rebellion, at the

expense of

many thousand

to turn the

other good and spirited things that he eaid to tliera, was this, that he preferred dying a The taking king, to living a slave and a captive.
battle,

among

kingly power into anarchy ; to murder their prince in the face of the world ; and (in their own style) to destroy the Church root and branch." (Swift's

arms on Shrove Tuesday, affected him also np very much, and he was still more incensed against the Huguenots for having corrupted Monsieur, his brother, and the King of Navarre, and having induced and urged them on to make war against At him, in a very wretched state of his malady. least,' said he, they ought to have waited for my death it was too great haired against me.'" (Vie
of
'
' ;

work?. Queries relating to the Sacramental Test.) In Scotland, at the battle of Philiphaugh, gained by Leslie, the chief of tlie Calviifist covenanters,

over the Marquis of Montrose, the Presbyterians

massacred, in cold blood,
otiiors,

many

of the prisoners

according to Wishart, were "cast from a bridge into the Tweed," while a Presbyterian

minister,
ruliliing

who
his

de Charles IX., par

that the autlior

Br., p. Ifi.)

It

is

to be

observed

was contemporary with Charles IX.,

Minstrelsy.)

presided at the execution, called out, " hands, Braoclij done!" (Border Under Cromwell, the Church of Eng-

hat he lived at his court, that he boldly calls the

land was declared malignant, and the puritans,

who

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

from

291

imminent ruin but it was an inhuman measure, which the religion of

;

testantism displayed all its fury there in the sack of Rome; the Constable de

Christ condemns, and the stain of wliich she shakes off from her mantle. Catherine

and Charles had

spared tlie heretics,

Bourbon had pointed out to his who were in great measure

rich prey quite

soldiers,

heretics,

the capital of the Christian world as a

defenceless,

they destroyed the factious.

lic

The Catho-

which they

bishops protested against this act of violence, by saving the Calvinists in their
palaces.*

blow.

might despoil almost without striking a The spirit which animated the
of these
disorderly hordes, will guess that of the soldiers.

The

followers of heresy,

who

chiefs

have so diligently exaggerated and published their losses on this occasion, have
hut this fact. forgotten nothing

enable one to

The Lutheran
marched
to

Frunsberg, who the siege of Rome with the

colonel

Ferdinand the Catholic, who would not have this noxious creeping plant of
heresy

Constable, had had

made

a fine

and

solid

invade

the

beautiful

vegas

of

chain of gold, which had cost him no more than the trouble of stealing it in
the

Spain, and sterilize that truly Christian soil, had opposed this great evil from the

churches,

on purpose,

he

said,

to

strangle the

beginning, by the great remedy of the Inquisition, which stopped its audacious

pope with his own hand.'' without allies, and attacked unRome, awares, defended herself at the time very

march

at the foot of the Pyrenees.

bravely,

and

at the first assault, the

Con-

Italy, torn to pieces at the time with civil wars, was not so fortunate, and Pro-

stable de Bourbon was mortally wounded by a musket-shot. He had scarcely time

had

so loudly

clamoured
all

for liberty of conscience for

the Anglican churches when up had come into power. Evelyn records that they they made their way, armed with guns, in the
themselves, shut

princes of the House of Hanover they began again to cry out very loudly against the

Under the
Anglicans
thus
:

first

for

"If the

persacuting, who ironically replied dissenters will be satisfied with such

English cathedrals, and that they ridiculed the Anglicans, who were preparing to celebrate the
Lord's Supper on Christmas -day.
to them,

a toleration by law, as hath been granted them in England, I believe the majority of both houses will
fall

Swift also said

"

readily in with

it

farther

it

will be

hard

Whether

these same Protestants,

when

to persuade this

House

of

they have by their dexterity made themsoWes the national religion, and disposed the church revenues

among their pastors or themselves, will be so kind to allow us dissenters, I do not say a share in employments, but a bare toleration by law ? The reason of my doubt is, because I have been so very idle as to read above fifty pamphlets, written by as many
Presbyterian divines, loudly disclaiming this idol toleration, some of them calling it (I know not how
properly), a rag of popery, and to establish iniquity by a law.
all

much harder the next. make a mighty difference here between^uffering thistles to grow among us, and wearing them for
posies."

Commons, and perhaps For to say the truth, we

(Ibid.)

(1) The Bishop of Lisieux, John Hennuyer, boldly prevented the execution of the decree of Charles IX., by opening the gates of his palace to those Calvinists who had been ill treated by the

agreeing
I

it

was

Several other bishops, and bishops of Normandy. those of Bayoniie, Valence, Vienne, Oleron, especially

Now

glad to
'

know when and where

this doctrine,

their successors

would be have

and Uzes, incurred the displeasure of the court by

extending their pi-otection to the reformed.
(2) Bran<;6me, Capitaines etrangers,
t. ii.

renounced

and before what witnesses."

292
to order

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

them
to cover

him with

his cloak,

When

to conceal his death from hi3 troops. This

sacked

everything was giving way in Rome and pillaged and the princes

precaution was fruitless;

the report of sinister augury circulated, and the heretical soldiers, says a contemporary historian,

of the church spurred

on their horses

to

the citadel, pursued by the foot-soldiers, three Orsinis Juannin, Antonio, and

who had

collected his

documents

Valerius

"

brave and valiant lords," says

spot demoniacally to avenge "

itself,

on

the

only fought more

him, crying out

!

Brantome, and Jerom Mattei, rallied with " two hundred good men," at the head of
the
Sixtine
bridge,
to

furiously,

Bourbon

"
!

Bourbon, Sangre, sangre could resist these Nothing

fight the

impe-

rialists

imperial bands, intoxicated with rage and the ramparts were thirsting for blood
!

and keep the passage free. The Prince of Orange, at the head of his here-

tical battalions,

came up

to attack

them,

scaled

the

Romans

fatal victory

gave way, and the of impiety was followed up,

hell

and,

"

on both

sides, the combat was sus-

from

street to street, with

one would have said that

such fury that was let loose,

tained very bravely. Nevertheless, at the end, the prince charged them so furiously,
that they
bridge,

were forced to abandon the

and fighting under the banners of the Prince of Orange, who had the melanbringing this criminal " The discharges enterprise to an end. of musketry," says Brantome, -n his Life of
choly
glory

which they had so heroically defended ;" but it was not till they had seen
the iron portcullis of the citadel let down to protect the illustrious fugitives. Rome

of

the Constable de Bourbon, " the- shouts of the combatants, the cries of the wounded,

conquered, continues the same historian, the foot-soldiers, " who

being

thus

the clash .of arms, the thrilling sound of trumpets, the continued roll of the

were recently imbued with the new religion," began to plunder and kill, without
sparing the holy relics of the temples, or the convents, or persons of dignity, or " their the ornaments of the Madonnas ;
cruelty extended even to the marbles

drums, which animated the soldiers to the fight, and the thrusts of the lances, made
such a noise, that the thunder of heaven could not have been heard." The conquerors pursued the vanquished so closely that tlwy hardly had time to let down the
portcullis of the Castle of St. Angelo, the
fortress of

and

ancient statues."

According

to the cus-

tom f the Huguenots of that time, they mixed up sacrilegious buffooneries with
these scenes of blood, revolting debau" Dressed like carchery, and pillage.
dinals, they

modern Rome, where the pope

had

accompanied by some cardinals. Nor would they even have

hastily taken refuge,

made burlesque
city,

about the

saying in

processions derision the

After de-

done
three
rare

it

but for the chivalrous devotion of

Litany of the Blessed Virgin."

filing

young noble Romans, of one of those patrician families which are authentraced

themselves with infamous things, which it would be shameful to speak of,

or listen to, these miscreants, as Bran-'

tically

up

to the age of Augustus.

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

293

tome remarks, went almost

all

to

die,

short time after, at the siege of Naples, after losing in one way or other the gold
sacrilegiously plundered from the altars

of Somerset house, and abolished the ancient liturgy, caused the images of Mary and the saints to be removed from
their ancient sanctuaries.

and temples; which made the Spaniards

say that el diablo los avia dado, y los avia llevado}
el

diablo

This impious measure was the drop of water which makes the vase run over; disturbances broke out all over the king-

The

veneration of

Mary was not

abol-

ished in England without disturbances. This devotion was considered there by

dom, gatherings of ten or twenty thousand malcontents, some commanded by

lords, others

bulwark of Catholicism, and Catholicism, which had polished the

all

as the

first

cated their right to serve

hymen from the people, vindiGod and honour

manners, corrected the laws, and fertilised the fields of Great Britain, had struck so
deep root in the English soil, that the sinister triumph of the Reformation, in
that kingdom, would be an enigma incapable of solution, if the savage and capricious tyranny of

the Blessed Virgin, in the same manner Historians as their ancestors had done.
very partial in favour of Protestantism, cannot help acknowledging that the dis-

content was almost universal, and that

the English people testified energetically their antipathy to the new doctrine

Henry

VIII., the servile

absurdity of his parliament, and the cupidity of the great lords, did not give the

which was imposed upon them. They were compelled to yield to force; bands
of adventurers, brought from Italy, Spain, and Germany, stifled the last cry of

key

to

it.

Under Henry

VIII.,

who made war

against the saints only to get possession of the diamonds and gold of their
shrines,

Catholicism, and the people, oppressed by laws which would have disgraced Tiberius the people, from whom were

the

invocation of the

Blessed

taken along
their sick, the

with

their

churches, the

Virgin was maintained, although in one of his bad tempers, the husband of Ann

services for their dead, the hospitals for

Boleyn

had

ordered

the

confessor of

lands which they held of the monasteries gratuitously the

common

Catherine of Arragon to be burnt with pieces of wood taken from statues of

people, without resource, without any place of refuge, without bread, went by

Our Lady. It was not till the reign of Edward VI., that the fratricide Somerset, who pulled down the finest churches in London to build his Venetian palace
Brantome, Capitaines etrangers, t. ii. " Go into any county," says the radical Cob(2) bett, "and survey, even at this day, tlie ruins of its
(1)

night to weep over the demolished altars of those fine alms-giving abbeys, the new

owners of which had begun by banishing alms-deeds and hospitality."

yourself, "What Go to the site of
at the cloister,
'

have

we

in

exchange

for those ?'

some once opulent convent.

in the

Look

now become,

perhaps twenty abbeys and priories; and then ask

renter, the receptacle for

hands of a rackdung, fodder, and fagot-

294

THE mSTOET OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

peasants, those Armoricans

The Welsh
of England,

who had embraced

Chris-

oaks and druidical springs.* Not able, watched and harassed as being
old

tianity before the arrival of the Saxons,

could not endure the

saints, with

absence of the

they were by the last of the Tudors, and later on by Cromwell, to profess Catholicity

whom

they had adorned their

having

rio

longer either altars or

wood

see the hall, where, for ages, the widow, the ; orphan, the aged, and the stranger found a table

came no longer
late

to cheer the soul of the traveller

ready spread

see a bit of its walls

now

helping to

a cattle-shed, the rest having been hauled away to build a worJchouse ; recognise, in the side of a barn, a part of the once magnificent chapel :

make

on his journey, he was obliged to be resigned to lie down in the open air, with no other shelter against the inclemency of the weather than branches blown down by the winds, or wet with rain, from tlie tree by the wayside. The Norman laws, which
still

and,

if

chained to the spot by your melanclioly

musings, you be admonished of the approach of night by the voice of the screech owl, issuing from those arches which once, at the same hour, re-

to

govern the English, grant the entire patrimony the eldest son of the nobleman's family ; his
his

brothers, the slaves of his

parasites, or

servants.

good pleasure, are his But, at tliat remote

sounded with the vespers of the monk, and which have, for seven hundred years, been assailed by storms and tempests in vain if thus admonished
;

period, commerce, wliich has since procured them honourable means of existence, was not even in its

of the necessity of seeking food, shelter, and a bed, lift your eyes and look at tlie white -washed and

Catholicism, which could not remould infancy. the feudal laws, but which constantly laboured to

dry-rotten shell on the

hill,

called the

'

gentleman's

house;' and apprized of the 'board-wages' and the spring-guns, suddenly turn your head jog ' away from the scene of devastation : with old
;

English hospitality' in your mind, reach the nearest

them down, gathered into its bosom the members of the English aristocracy, and secured to them that sweet and peaceful existence for which the laws of the land had not provided. Not content with having fertilised, by numberless clearings, the wildest and most uncultivated lands
soften

deserted

and there, in room half- warmed and half-lighted, and with reception precisely proportioned to the presumed length of your purse, sit down and listen
inn,

of Great Britain, the abbeys

made

it

a duty to

to an account of the hypocritical pretences, the base

By encourage agriculture. dential, their charity gave up to indigent families who lived under the shadow of their lofty steeples
wide commons undivided and unenclosed, belonging The harpies of the to all like the air and sea.
the minority of the son of VIII., did not fail to unite the commons to Henry the church lands all were enclosed and bristling
court,
;

a care wholly provi-

motives, the tyrannical and bloody meaps, under which, from which, and bj' which that devastation

was

effected,

and that hospitality banished

from the land."

(Cobbett, Hist, of the Protestant

for

ever

who devoured

Reformation, Letter V., 155.)

It is certain that the suppression of the abbeys was not, by any means, a popular measure, and that
it

left

without any resource, not only a great number

whose families had endowed these pious asylums, but a population of labourers, of poor and
of priests,
of

Neglecting agriculture for which did not employ manual labour, pasturages the new possessors changed the arable lands into meadows, and after paralysing the arms of the
with quickset fences.
labourers they starved the country, and so effectually dei)opulated it, that amid the deserted dwell-

aged

soldiers.

The wide and generous

of the Catholic clergy was not within a narrow and limited circle; it partook in
tality

hospiexercised

ings of an opulent village, there

sometimes re-

mained only

some measure of the

infinite, that basis of its belief.

The

great baron, with his train of knights, knocked

solitary cottage of a shepherd. Lingard, Hist, of England.) (See in Wales, there (1) In the county of Brecknock,
tlie

at the door of the monastery, as well as the beggar who wandered about the country, staff in hand,

is still

bears the

found a menhir of gigantic height, which name of Mai/en i/ Mari/nnion, or stone of

singing pious canticles. Tliere were then no inns, and when the harmonious ringing of the abbey bells

the Virgin Mary.

(Camden's Britannia.)

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

almost returned to paganism ; not yet many years ago since it
tain chieftain

295

priests, they

had not taken

off his

blue

and

it is

bonnet, decorated with an eagle's feather,

before the Virgin of Melrose, the most celebrated and frequented of the four

was proposed, among the Anglicans, to go and convert those gross idolaters, who had
gone back, for want of sympathy for dry and multiform Protestantism, to worship
trees

dom

chief places of pilgrimage of the king? The pavement of the immense

that Scotland

and fountains, as did the ancient

inhabitants of the southern fron-

Basilica covered all

had

Britons in the time of Ceesar.^

The
tiers of

possessed of noble birth and illustrious courage there men trod over the dust
;

Scotland had no less repugnance than the Welsh to embrace the new
doctrine.

of heroes,

whose

effigies,

recumbent on
if

marble, devoutly joined their hands, as

to invoke

Jesus and Mary, two names

always
join
together. there over
day,

The Border was more than any

part of the
:

other

which Catholics

kingdom under the immediate protection of Mary her name had been
given
to the clearest lake,' to the bluest

The Blessed Virgin reigned

both living and dead.
all

During the

resounded around her with sacred

fountains,

mitages.

and the most picturesque herThere it was that Melrose and

built
to

Jedburgh were
dedicated

the

two majestic abbeys Blessed Virgin two

border trooper

hymns, and in the night, when the tempest roared, and the changeful light of the

moon made
glitter,

the pieces of stained glass

set like emeralds in

which were

prodigious edifices erected by that faith which- works miracles, in a country poor and continually disturbed by foreign and
intestine wars.

light stone window frames, you would have said that all the garlands worked in stone,

and

all

the chivalrous banners which deco-

What

had

rated the church, trembled in the wind,

not solicited at Jedburgh, in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, hospitality,
always generously granted
?

and that the old Scotch

lords, rising up,

armed

What moun-

upon their tombs, saluted the holy Mother of our Kedeemer.'

"

as they were

(1) Gordon's Modern Geography, p. 217. (2) The beautiful St. Mary's Lake, situated at

If thou would'st
visit
it

view

fair

Melrose aright,
;

Go

source of the river Yarrow, in tlie Border, which is often covered with numerous fiiglits of

the

by the pale moonliglit For the gay beams of lightsome day

wild swans, had taken chapel of

its

name from

a beautiful

^Yhen the broken arches

Our Lady,

to

of the frontier often

which the Scottish nobility went on a pilgrimage. The

Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray. are black in night. And each shafted oriel glimmers white ;

When

the cold light's uncertain shower

chapel has been pulled down, but the lake has kept

name and its spotless birds. (3) See how Sir Walter ficott, who placed fine talents for describing scenery and also archaeological science at the service of his graceful poetry, deits

Streams on the ruined central tower; When buttress and buttress, alternately.

Seem framed

of ebon

and ivory;

scribes the magnificent ruins of the

rose, as seen

by moonlight

Abbey

of

Mel-

When silver edges the imagery, And tile scrolls tliat teach thee to live and die; When distant Tweed is heard to rave, And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave,

296

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

foot of the venerated altar of

At the

arches of the abbey church, and the

of

hum
It

Our Lady

of Melrose, the English

and

human

voices was heard mingling with

Scotch, laying aside their hereditary antipathies, were no longer anything but humble and peaceful pilgrims. Chiefs of

the low sound of waters of the Tweed.

was a monk, who came

of the faithful,

stealthily to cele-

brate the divine mysteries for a small flock

there to pray for the repose of the souls of warriors of a hostile clan,
clans
fallen

came

who had not

These

forsaken the

beneath their dirk or under their

claymore, in the course of some mountain war.' Sinners bewailed their faults there
before the Comforter of the alSlicted; and

became so ancient religion. dangerous, that the clergy, in prudence, were obliged to give them up but nothing
visits
;

could prevent the people from burying their dead in the devastated cemeteries of
the old abbeys, and by a feeling of propriety which does honour to the Scotch,

then, rising up full of confidence in her merciful intercession, they went to found
expiatory

monuments, the name

of

which

women

perpetuated the
of conscience.*

memory

of their remorse

only were buried, for a long time, in the enclosed burial-places, where the
virgins of the

Lord reposed.*

The
saints,

Calvinist preachers,

who were
and

as

The

first

harvest

made by the

apostles

declared enemies to the arts as to the

of Calvin in the

mountains of the Border

demolished

Melrose

Jed-

English inn, and thejrs which surrounded the and with reo^jgj^Qgg ^j^g^.^ j-gj^g^jj^g^j

burgh, with a considerable },aries of less renown.

number of Of all the

Blessed

was so discouraging, that they resolved to abandon the clans to their evil destiny,
the want of light, the privation of the sacraments, and the total ab-

and wait

till

presumed lengt
to

an account of tV ^^

^n

altar,
tall

nothing wliich was soon

sence of the ceremonies of the proscribed into the nets religion, should drive them
of Protestantism
;

motives, the tyrannth

which, from which,

was

effected,

grass and weeds an^j^jg^imes, at first, a dark and tliat h , , i i i i

the

which, in

reality,

took

from the Iand."-(CobbeVt Reformation, Letter V., 156._

It
is

beneath the broken

time.'* place in the course of Under James VI., the borderers were

certain that the suppr^

_

was
it

not,

left

by any means, a popular'^ without any resource, not only*

main
'

;.

for

instance, the

Tower of Repentance,

in

Dumfriesshire, and, according to vulgar tradition,

the church of Linton, in lloxburghshire.
x
s

of priests,

whose

families

had endow?"'"'
,

(Border

asylums, but a population of labourers,

Minstrelsy, lutrod.)
(3)

'' of aged soldiers. The wide and genero. ^^'^^^"^ tality of the Catholic clergy was not el

See Johnson's Tour

still

in the

Hebrides.

The

within a narrow and limited circle; it partot some measure of the infinite, that basis of its be.
great baron, with his train of knights, knockt at the door of the monastery, as well as the beggar"^ who wandered about the country, staff in hand, '^
singing pious canticles. There were then no inns, and when the harmonious ringing of the abbey bells

continue to bury their dead, at the present day, in the old Catholic cemeteries : one of the fairest isles of Loch Lomond, the isle of

Scotch highlanders

The

Nuns,

is

of the chiefs

the burial-place of several clans the tombs olMacgregor, and of some noblj families,
;

who

claim descent from the ancient kings of Scotland,

stand rouiul the ruins of the abbey church, which was ruthless followers of Calvin. pulled down by the not only been practised, but (4) This policy has

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

so
cool

297
It is

still

towards the
it

doctrine

of

shepherds and mountaineers.

knight,

Geneva, that
clans

was upon

their warlike
in

that

the

king depended

his

numerous contests with his democratic A hundred years afterwards, church.'

they still used to pray sometimes on the borders of fountains which flowed before
the ruined chapels of Mary and the saints, and they carried the water from these
springs
to

treacherously slain on a lone heath, whose deep wounds are washed at the fountain of Our Lady, and who is carried into her chapel to have the vigils of

the dead kept over him ; it is some great baron, who is buried at the foot of St.

Mary's cross,

considerable

distance,

to

and on whose tomb the monks will come and pray, " as long as Our Lady is invoked in Scotland." The

procure health for the sick.^ The recollections attached to the veneration of

bard, in expressing himself thus, imagined that he was really saying for evert
are knights who leave their golden beads as pledges of their faith, &c. In

Mary

still

survive in the valleys

They

and

forests of the Border; they are

met

with in the historic ballads, sung by the

every danger, they call

upon God and

loudly approved of by Anglicans themselves. Swift advises it as good to be followed, in Ids celebrated

pression of royalty.

pamphlets on Ireland: "Their lands (Catholics) are almost entirely taken from them, and they are rendered incapable of purchasing any more ; and for
that remains, provision is made by the late act against popery, that it will daily crumble away ;

In Scotland, the Keformed nearly two centuries, either the declared enemy, or the ambitions rival, of its prince. The disciples of Calvin could hardly divest them-

Church was,

for

the

little

selves of a tendency to democracy, lican forms of their ecclesiastical

and the repubadministration

were often held up

as a

model

for the state to follow.

among them
in
all

to prevent which, some of the most considerable are already turned Protestants, and so

The

theocracy, haughtily proclaimed, was rigorously exercised ; the offences committed in the king's

probability will

many more. Then,

the popish

household
ministers.

fell

and without permission priests are all registered, I hope will not be granted), they can have (which

The

under the insolent jurisdiction of the prince was formally reprimanded

no successors
it

so that the Protestant clergy will find

perhaps no diflScult matter to bring great numbers and in the mean time the over to the church common people, without leaders, without discipline,
;

for having neglected to say grace before or after meals, and for tolerating the amusements of the solemn malediction was pronounced queen.

against man, horse, or

in

larice,

that should assist the

or natural courage, being

little

better than hewerf

of wood and drawers of water, are out of all capacity of doing any mischief, if they were ever so
well inclined."
Test.)

(Letter concerning the Sacramental

if it
it

king quarrel with the Earl of Gowrie, a The monarch's courtiers, present at conspirator. the sermon, were compared to Aman, the queen to Herodias, and the prince himself to Achab, Herod,
his

and Jeroboam.
being

This excessive zeal was

to

The

Scottish border

negative system, and

it

was submitted to this did not come forth from it

victorious, like Ireland,

strove, nevertheless, before

agreeable (Sir Walter Scott, Hist, of Scotland and Border Minstrelsy.) Charles II. often whispered in the ear of his confidants that Calvinism

James

VI."

far

from

gave way; and Protestantism did not predominate there till after it had pulled down the churches, and
extinguished, one after another, the lights of the ancient faith.
" Never," says a Scotch Protestant author, (1) " could the Calvinist clergy forget that they owed their elevation to the fall, or, at least, to the de-

was not the

religion for a

gentleman.
Calvinist physician of the seventeenth (2) century bitterly censured the inhabitants of the Border, who used even in his time to frequent several holy springs, to carry water from them to

the sick.

(Account of the presbytery of Pentpont.)

Q Q

298

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

never the one without the

Our Lady
other.

murmuring
blood, of

of a rolling sea, their rites of

wrecks of Catholicity took refuge in the north of Scotland;

scattered

The

which they have carried away with them the spirit and myth. They
posted sentinels on the heights to protect the proscribed prayers, and the priest's
head, upon which a price was set; for Protestant bloodhounds, who had taken
the

protected by interminable wastes, and ranges of mist-covered mounthere,

tains, they

and

have maintained their ground,

in a few solitary castles washed by the stormy waves of the Northern Ocean.

name

of Mass-hunters, allured by the

bait of five

There they long

praj'ed for the restora-

pounds sterling, which the commissioners of Dublin paid for the

head of every
belonging to the communion of Rome, tracked the
ecclesiastic

tion of the Stuarts to the Blessed Virgin,

who was honoured by

family,

the Stuarts.

Car-

dinal York, the last of that unfortunate

had rejoined his brother in the tomb, yet they kept praying on and some
;

and woods, Papists across the mountains wild beasts. as if they had been so many
Happily that frightful time
away,
freely
is

passed

poor mountaineers, who cannot

still.'

believe

and

six

millions

of

Catholics

the extinction of that ancient race, pray

Ireland, thoroughly Catholic, remained
faithful to the veneration of the Blessed

now invoke Our Lady

in that green
its

well deserved isle, which has so

glorious

surname of the island of Saints. It was not in England alone that the
veneration of the Blessed Virgin, swept away by the hurricane of Protestantism,
left

Virgin, amidst the longest and most oppressive persecution that ever existed.

Under pain
compelled

of having neither bread nor

shelter, the poor

to

Irishman was not only

numerous traces of its existence the melancholy and picturesque ruins of

:

pay richly the clergy of a religion which he did not profess, but But he also to follow its observances.

monasteries dedicated to Mary,

still

cover

was not the

less attached in his heart

the fairest spots of Germany ; her name has remained to a great many cities of the north gulfs bear it in Denmark, and
;

and soul
assist

to

the

faith

of

his

fathers.

the Styria, Austria, Illyria, Switzerland,

of Baden, where the Castill possess sanctuaries tholic inhabitants beyond the Rhine go

Deprived of his churches, he came to

at the divine office in the secret

Tyrol and the grand

Duchy

underground

vaults

of

his

old

feudal

manor-houses, among the ruins of monasteries, in the echoing caves where the

devoutly
these
still

to

pray

to

Our Lady.

By
we

devotion majestic remains of a

Druids had formerly celebrated, by the

celebrated Scotch writer says that they prayed every evening for the restoration of the Stnarts, in the Catholic mansions of Scotland, long
(1)
after the

formerly so general and so respected,

Scotch liiglilanders cannot even

now be persuaded

" It is that the race of their ancient kings is extinct. not the Stuarts who are dead," eaid a Highlander to

death of Cardinal York.

Many

of the

a French traveller,

"

it is

loyalty that

is

departed."

BLESSED VniGIN MAET.

of the extent of its ancient

299

may judge

directed their

new

believers in the

way of

of the magnitude of a shipwreck, by the number of half broken masts and torn sails which float
influence, as

we judge

the arts, as well as in the way of salvation. Then were seen ignorant savages, who

had

sat

down but a

short time before at

upon the water. The religious veneration of Mary recovered in the New world what it had lost in the Old. Spanish and French missionaries embarking with an image of Our
Lady,

taking up the oompass of the architect, the chisel of the sculptor, and the palette of the
a feast of
flesh,

human

whom

they invoked during their

and erecting, with their own hands, temples to God and chapels to Mary. The recitation of the rosary was
painter,

navigation, and which, when they reached the end of their dangerous
perilous

the exercise of piety best suited to a people addicted to the chase accordingly in the
;

voyage, they deposited under some ajoupa of palm branches, undertook, under the of Mary, whiclj rendered them protection

evening,
tree

when

the shadows of the tulip-

and the magnolia were lengthened

open spaces of the
forest, or in

in the

the

"

powerful, they said,

as an

army

set in

battle array," to civilize

and convert the

to

savannah, you heard the "Hail Mary!" repeated in the language of the forests,

two continents of America.

Warriors,
foreign

who undertake
carry

subdue
train

countries,

in

their

Mary was the Mother of the savage, as well as of the European and she was not more religiously
on
all

the American

hills.

every requisite to accomplish a

destruction

and
;

arms, bipod,

work of
soldiers,

invoked in the temples,

gold,

all glittering

with

which the
built, in

parks of

artillery

devastation goes before

had

Spanish conquerors her honour, in Mexico and

first

them, and tears follow them. The Catholic

missionaries went forth to the conquest of the West Indies with an image of Mary,

Potosi, than in those country churches,

which the pious missionaries had dedicated to her under tl-re title of Our Lady
of Loretto

a cross, and a rosary. Tiianks to their almost superhuman labours, tribes of

people, snatched from the caves of the

and of Our Lady of Dolours,

river of the

on the banks of the

Amazons

and the

river of the

Hurons.

mountains and the shades of great forests, came to form small colonies, where Christianity

America was not the utmost extent of

the conquests of the servants of God and Mary they explored the burning regions
:

was seen again

to flourish, fresh

and pure, as in the time of the primitive

church.

and converted the black princes of Guinea and Monomotapa; at the same
of Africa,

Those
riched

men, who have enbotany, history, and geography

religious"
artists,

time they made their way into Ceylon, into the peninsula of India, to Japan and

with a multitude of precious discoveries,

became
to

and even

artisans, in order

China, and every where the image of Our Lady was treated with reverence and
favour.

teach

their

Christian

colonies,

and

The Mongolian

ladies,

bowing

300

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

before the

Mother of Jesus, styled her the holy and glorious Mary; the Prince of Cashmere sent her wax-tapers
and presents; the grand Lama had a church erected to her, under the title of
the Annunciation.
offered her

down

was an old picture of great antiquity, which had been disthan

all

the rest:

it

covered in the ruins of the village of

Wishau.
crown

It represented

Our Lady, whose

The Chinese
1

ladies
;

perfumes and flowers and the Japanese, who, alas paid very dear
for their energetic devotion
to the true
faith, recited their long rosaries of crystal

by two angels, bearing in their hands scrolls with these Latin inscriptions In hac imagine Marice,
supported
:

was

vinces,

Johannes.

In hac imagine Marice,

(By this picture of

victor ero, Johannes.

Mary, thou, John, shalt conquer.

picture of Mary, I

By

this

as they passed through the streets of idolatrous cities, full of bonzas and

John

shall conquer.)

This picture was considered miracu-

pagans.'

These triumphs, obtained in

lands,

far distant

were not
to console

the

came

Mary

only ones which for the outrages of

John Sobieski destined it for his royal chapel of Zolkiew, and it afterwards followed him in all his campaigns.
lous
;

In the year 1647, the Emperor Fersolemnly dedicated himself, his family, and the empire to the Queen of heaven. A tall column was erected
III.

Protestantism.

Scarcely had Calvin de-

dinand

scended into the tomb, wh<5n the battle of Lepanto was gained by the Spaniards,

beneath the banner of the Blessed Virgin.*

in the great square of Vienna, in of the

honour

John Sobieski

attributed also his cele-

Immaculate

brated victory over the Turks at the siege of Vienna, to the Mother of God ; and
his
first

Blessed Virgin ; moon beneath her with the

Conception of the Mary and her statue

feet,

crushing

care,
city,

when he entered
was
to

the de-

go and prostrate himself, with his face on the ground, before the altar of Our Lady, where he himself
livered

the serpent's head with her heel, was placed on the top of the column.

Calvinism was

and

its icy

disturbing France, breath, penetrating the masses

still

sung a Te Deum of thanksgiving.

magnificent standard of

The the Mahometans

*
;

of the people, slowly, but fatally cooled

their religious

feelings;

for

irreverent

was sent

to

Our Lady

of Loretto

and

the Polish hero kept for himself a trophy

which interested him, as he

(1) Lettres Edifiantes; tion de la Foi.

said,

more

impious scoffing always the worst effect upon the people, produce who do not reason upon their belief, but
In the centre of this Mussulman flag, of gold. which the Polish heroes deposited at the feet of the
Virgin, were read these words, which received a striking contradiction from the Christian images

discourse

and

Annales de

la

Propaga-

(2) The pope had sent this blessed standard to Don John, who had it displayed on his flag-ship. (3) The length of this flag was twelve feet, by eight wide. The border was green, and the ground

red.

It

was of cloth

the ornaments were

em-

broidered in

silver, the Arabic inscriptions in letters

which attested the humiliation of the crescent " There is no god but God, and Mahomet is his propliet." (See Histoire de Pologne, par Leonard Chodzko.)
before the cross

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

lose or recover
it

801
with
a

according to the argutheir attention.

thither

in

1585,

magnificent

ments which win

The

equipage, to offer presents,

and make a

churches and altars laid waste had lost

that holy attractive power, which is imparted hy pomp and long traditions of homage. The Madonnas, despoiled and

The same the holy Madonna. founded the order of the prince, having
vow
to

Holy Ghost, placed among

every

its

statutes
to recite

that each knight sliould be obliged

thrown down from their pedestals, were

restored so poor, that tlie heart was oppressed at the sight of them, and the feet

day one decade of

the rosary.

About the end

Virgin were

of the sixteenth century,

feasts

the vigils of the

still

of the Blessed
fasts,

kept away from their sanctuaries.

clergy,

The

observed as

and
of

calumniated,
hardly the people,
;

ruined,

could

succeed

degraded, anywhere but

no one was exempt from

practice.

this religious

The

licentious

captains

among

who
birth,

after all

under-

valued them

for the people,

who make
respect

fended

Charles IX. and Henry III. warmly dethemselves from the charge of
the

great account of

never

having broken their abstinence on

eve
of the

their equals. Finally, the abbeys, placed in commendam, belonged to military men,

Assumption of Our Lady; some persons having done this through

inadvertency, as they passed through Italy, one of the boldest and least scru-

who undertook to

place in them superiors, whose office was limited to that of super-

intendents of the privations of a com-

munity, which had no longer

to

apply

their revenues to the use of the poor, but to that of the captain, or courtier, who

pulous of the historians of the time, thinks proper to withhold their names, " out of regard for their reputation," and
protests that these gentlemen were wholly imaware of the feast of the following day.

was
the

its

commendatory

abbot.

This enor-

mous

abuse, which would have ended in

of every monastery
in

The

religious veneration of Mary,

which

destruction

France, without the aid of revolutions, still continued under Henry IV. ,^ not-

had been somewhat neglected, revived That majestically under Louis XIII.
prince, to return thanks to the Blessed

withstanding the just complaints of the clergy, and was not put an end to till the
reign of Louis XIII.
this prince
little,

Virgin for the triumphs which he had gained over the Protestants, and to obtain,

From Louis
to

XI. to

we have
facts

glean,
testify

little

by
the

through her intercession, a glorious peace with the powers of Europe who made war
against him, declares, in an edict dated from Saint Germain en Laye (10th of
" taking the most February, 1633), that holy and glorious Virgin for the special
protectress of his kingdom, he dedicates his states, particularly to her his person,

the

which

to

veneration of our kings for the Blessed Louis XII., however, made a Virgin.

pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loretto, and Henry III. sent the Duke of Joyeuse
(1) See the

Memoires de Jaques Sobieski.

his crown,

and his

subjects, beseeching

302
her
of
to

THE HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

defend France against the efforts her enemies, whether in peace or
request that, in 1670, the pope attached indulgences to the recital of the angelus.

all

war," and in

memory
to

of this dedication,

He

would himself receive Confirmation

Louis promises the cathedral of Paris re-erected, and to

place over
it

have the high altar of

on the day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. This fact is attested by the following inscription in the

a picture of the Blessed " her dear Virgin, holding in her arms Son taken down from the cross," causing

chapel of the Louvre

" HAO SACRA DIB

IMUACDLAT^ OONCKFTIONIS
XIV.,

himself to be represented at the feet of the Son and of the Mother, in the
attitude of offering to

LUDOVI0C3

BEX,

BU8CEFIT HIO 8ANCTISS. C0NFIRMATI0NI8 BACBAIIENTUM."

them

his sceptre

and crown.
pleased, moreover, that every on the day of the Assumption, his year, edict should be commemorated, during

Underneath was

this inscription

He was

" IMMACCLATA DOHINA, 8ALTUH FAO BEGEM."

Louis XIV. inherited from his mother,

high mass,

every church in France, and that after vespers there should be a

in

Anne of Austria, a great veneration for Our Lady of Liesse he came there in
;

solemn procession, at which all the chief companies and all the magistrates of the different cities of France were to assist.
Louis XIV. inherited the devotion of his
father to the Blessed Virgin. It was he who
caiised to be executed, in 1723, by Couston,

1652 and 1673, and twice with the queen Maria Teresa, the pious Spain 1680.
niard, that queen who never caused her husband any sorrow but for her death, came After the thither also in 1677 and 1678.

the group which

is

called

"

The Vow

of

death of Anne of Austria, her son promised by vow, for the repose of her soul, fifty

Louis XIII.," as well as the two figures in marble, placed one on each side, and
representing Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. offering their crown to the Blessed Virgin.
Til is prince presented to the

thousand masses in the principal places

of

devotion

dedicated

to

the

Blessed

Virgin.

church of
stand

After the treaty of the Pyrenees, he sent his thanksgiving, accompanied by rich
offerings, to

Boulogne a sum of 12,000

livres, to

Our Lady
Great,

of Chartres,

Our

in place of the ex voto of gold,

which the

Lady

of Loretto,

and our Lady of Grace.

like

kings of France, from Louis XI., offered by way of homage to the Blessed Virgin.

Louis

the

his

father,

He propagated, with

all

his power, the de-

Louis XIII., belonged to the Confraternity of the Scapular, and said his beads
regularly.

votion of the Immaculate Conception, and obtained, in 1657, of Pope Alexander VII.

Father de
to

la

Rue being one

day admitted

a private audience of this

bull,

which Clement
It

XL

confirmed in

1688, to have that feast celebrated in

his kingdom.

in prince, found him piously occupied The saying his rosary of large beads.
fatlier,

was. moreover, at his

showing great surprise, accom-

BLESSED VIEGIN MART.

with
:

803

panied

Don't be so much sursaid the king, " I glory in saying prised,"

edification

respectful "

sentiments

of

the last bulwark of Calvinism in France.

Louis XIV. put an end to this turbulent

heresy by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. This measure, which secured the tranquillity of the kingdom, has been censured in very severe terms. People
forget that the Calvinists were at that

my

beads

it is

a practice

which I learnt

from the queen, be sorry to miss

my
it

mother, and I should

for a single day."

presented himself at the brilliant court of the great

The

Spanish

ambassador

monarch, with his rosary in his hand, and no one found fault with him.

time an incorrigible faction, who had not even been ashamed to appeal to th>
English.

was the custom, derived from ancient times, to put a rosary and a book of hours in the marriage baskets.
it

At that time

Louis XIV., the greatest monarch of his age, muttering with his dying
expired
lips the

Ave Maria, which he had repeated

This custom continued

till

the time of

several times over with a firm voice, whilp

Louis XV.
Louis XIII. had taken

La

Rochelle,

the prayers for the dying were repeated by his bedside.

CHAPTER

XIIL

MODERN TIMES.

Feom

the

bosom of the Mediterranean,

which forms

at present

one of the de-

the blue waves of which are scented at

the distance of ten leagues from the land, with the sweet perfume of the orangetree, a rocky island rises, with mountains covered with snow, with pine forests,
hills

partments of France.
This. island, at the
fertile

same time both

is

and uncultivated,

inhabited by

a race, primitive, poor, warlike, and hospitable, like those of the

shaded by chestnut- trees of enormous size, which would make us think of Switzerland,
if

Highlands of Scotland, or the mountains of Caucasus; attached to Catholicism, and at all times
from heresy, they are sensitive
to
all that reflects upon honour, and forgetting the divine precept, which

myrtle groves, plantations of

free

oranges and lemons, forests of gigantic olive-trees, and the remains of Roman
towers did not proclaim an Italian soil. This island is the native land of Paoli, the great patriot, and of Napoleon, the
great

excess upon

commands the

forgiveness

of

injuries,

they take justice into their own hands, and have for centuries avenged an afiront

emperor, Corsica, an Italian island,

by murder.

304

THE HISTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

first

aspect of this country, which, civiHzed as it is, retains a certain

At the

military music, while the altars of Mary,

perceived to be inhabited by a people essentially devout to the Blessed Virgin. Her image is set

odour of savage hfe,

it is

loaded with a profusion of flowers, cast upon the hallowed pavement the glare of
their thousand tapers.
It is a feast perin its religious attractivefectly Italian

up

at the entrance of the villages, in the

places where streets meet, by the sides of fountains, on the heights of promontories,
in

ness and expansive joy. In country places, the parish priest, the vicar, or merely some old man, says the

the midst of woods

coast.

of orange-trees

beads every evening, at the hour

the village bell rings the
"

when

which grow on the

The

environs

knell of part-

of Bastia are covered with delightful little chapels, in the Italian style, dedicated to

ing day."'

Sometimes there

is-

just visible in a

the Annunciation, the Visitation, or Our Lady of Good Counsel ; on these festival
days,

misty distance, on the summit of a steep rock, a dark figure leaning on his carbine
:

which occur in the spring or summer,

is

it

is

some outlaw,
is

who

risks his life to

the city

deserted to go and visit these Madonnas, whither the people come by

join in the general prayer; for the

Ma-

donna

paths perfumed and bordered with flowers. After having prayed to the Blessed Virgin, each family is seated beneath the cool

the last hope of these fierce, but believing men, who wear her image on
their breasts,

and who

ask, in her

name
and

only, of the shepherds, a little milk

shade of large
collation in the

trees,

and they indulge in

air.

black bread to support

existence.

their

wretched

suitable rejoicing, as they partake of a

Only

lately,

ayoungCorsican,

open

Corsica had formerly several cathedrals; the greater part of them were built under

a companion of the famous bandit Santa Lucia, defending his life, alone and

the

Assumption at present the most solemn feast of Mary is that of

title
;

of the

wounded, against a regiment of the line and a number of gendarmes, called upon
Blessed Virgin in this desperate struggle, while his relatives and friends,
the

the Immaculate Conception. It is preceded by a novena, and announced by the sound of bells and the noise of fireworks;

on their knees, recited for him, at the foot of the rock, which was his last stand,
the prayers for a departing soul. thing induces us to believe," says
"

the ships are decorated with ilags; the pavement of the streets is strewed with
myrtle a solemn procession, in which the Brothers of the Conception, in the habit
;

Every-

Le Droit,

who

of penitents, with lighted torches in their hands, pi'ecede the image of the Blessed

moving scene,," that the last thought of that unhappy man was raised up to God, for a small' medal of tlie
relates this
*
'1

Virgin, adorned with a silver crown, necklaces of precious stones, and bracelets of
gold, walks

{I)"*
Cbe

Squilla di lontano
clie si

paila

giorno jjianger,

muore."

round the

city to the

sound of

(Dante, Purgat.,

lib. viii.)

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

Blessed Virgin was found upon him, which he held in his hand, while his
relations

805

of his relatives,
their lives
;

who were ours

other
at

also, lost

the

Morosaglia,

and

friends were

praying

for

him." 80th of January, 1735, the nation, assembled in a general congress at Corte, to give themselves a national
the

where stood his country seat as a Corsican nobleman. During his exile he
England. In the time of King Theodore, the national council had engraved round the
gold
also built a third in

On

government,

after

having shaken

off the

and copper

coin,

Monstra

te

esse

yoke of the republic of Genoa, elected the most Blessed Virgin Queen of Corsica, and carried her banner in the last

Matrem.

Napoleon delighted in saying that the Blessed Virgin was the Queen of his
country, and while he was only a simple officer, he testified great devotion for a

combats of her young liberty expiring; two Paolis, Pascal and Clement, both great captains, botli very devout to
the Mary,' commanded respect to be paid to this banner. Clement, of whom history

French Madonna which was in the Ursuline convent at Auxonne, and often
prayed there. That image of the Blessed Virgin has since been removed to the
parish church, where it is still to be seen. Through the saturnalia of the Regency,

has said

little,

but who

is

remembered

in

the local tradition, made his soldiers say the beads upon their knees before a battle.

Some Englishmen,

surprised

at

this

custom, called his attention, on several

occasions, to the fact that the

and the corrupt reign of Louis XV., the end of the eighteenth century was attained,

enemy was

when

religion

had been

chilled

marching upon them, and that his soldiers on their knees could not defend
themselves.
lords,"

by the impure and

bad i^hilosophy.

sneering breath of The revolution of 1793

" Let

them pray
with
his

on,

my

came

to

drive
altars,

replied

Paoli,

martial
their

from her

away the blessed Virgin and God from his temples.

given to shut

voice and foreign accent.

When
pray,

The

order was

up the
1

prayer was finished, the Corsicans got up

like lions

for soldiers

who

know

resembled a Christian image.

churches, and to demolish everything that Alas it

not how to

fly;

the Vendeans taught that

lesson to the French Republic. Pascal Paoli had two chapels built to

was a sad spectacle to see the Calvaries pulled down, and the poor little Madonnas
mutilated, which were so chastely sheltered under the green leaves of the

the Blessed Virgin one at Pastoreccia, near Ponte-Nuovo, the scene of thS bloody
battle

woods.

which beheld the nationality of Corsica perish, and where a good number
Pascal

was particularly in Lower Britanny that the devastation found objects " to work upon. It may be affirmed withIt

(1)

Paoli
later

Corsica,

aud

heard mass every day in ou in England, in a chapel

which he himself
Virgin.

built in

honour of the Bleised

B R

306

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

Blessed Virgin,

out exaggeration," says M. Emile Souvestre, in his interesting work on the

Bretons,
"

who had disappeared from

had taken refuge roofs, and below her
hundred times

their village churches,

that in certain locaUties, our

under their thatched

little

cross roads are paved with broken statues of saints ; it is a complete macadaniisation

statues of clay, a

with heads, bodies, and

statues."

hmbs

of Christian

more respected than the household gods " of the ancients, was read, Holy Mother
of God, be thou the protectress of this And I know not if a blue dwelling."

Those miserable days witnessed

of

great profanations, but also noble traits self-devotedness worthy of ancient

would have dared to break

this

image,

Britanny, above all, offered a passive, compact, and tenacious resistance, which succeeded at last in tiring
times.

placed under the shadow of the domestic hearth for there was often an old carbine
;

out persecution
to

itself.

It yielded neither

behind the green serge curtains of the Breton farmer and if Britanny is the
;

anger nor

fear.

niches widowed of

As he passed by the their Madonnas, the

land of religious sentiments, it is also that of strong and lasting resentments.

Breton peasant took oflF his broad felt hat sorrowfully and piously, and went on his

There has remained a

little

of the Celtic

rust on the gold of the virtues of these

way saying the Ave.

family,

On

Sunday, he

seated himself before his door with his

good people this people, for instance, is the only one of -Christendom who ever
;

and remained in profound

silence,

took

it

into their heads to associate the

fixed upon his village where he had so often invoked church,* " Jesus and Mary. I will have your

with his eyes

name
the

of the merciful Virgin with

;

an idea
under

of vengeance

and

to build chapels

pulled down," said John Bon Saint Andre to the mayor of a village, " that you may have no more objects to
steeples

strange title, more Druidical than Christian, of Our Lady of Hatred.' Pilgrimages to the Blessed Virgin were

" Youyou

remind

of your former superstitions."

not discontinued in Britanny during the reign of terror, only they were enveloped
in a Gallic form.

will be still obliged to leave us the stars," answered the peasant, " and they are seen farther off than our steeple."

They took place by

heaths,

uight,

over

desert

where

the

menhirs and dolmens of the

God

without a

Their devotion deprived of

altars

took

name stood up, covered with their gray

moss, like phantoms. Each pilgrim held in his right hand a rosary, and in his left
these faces pale and half veiled by their long hair, or by the bands
a torch
;

the cliaracter of something exalted and

melancholy, which was sympathetically allied with the religious ruins with which
their counti-y places were covered.

and

all

The

(1)

(2) chapel erected to Our Lady of Hatred is BtilJ in ezlbteiice near Treguier, aud the people

Voyanje dans " A

le Finisterre.

have not ceased to believe

prayers said in
it."
ii.)

(Lea

in the efficacy of the

deiuiers Bretons, par

M.

Souvestre,

t.

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

from
their

8or
it

white

head-dresses,

passed

sciences,

where

slowly along the heaths, singing a canticle Sometimes a to the Blessed Virgin.

spectacle of the universe,

to all

condemns you in tha where it speaks

;
!

republican the outskirts of a copse, or behind a hedge of thorns and hazel bushes, which
sloped down upon a hollow pathway, upon the rustic procession. The Breton
fired

column, lying in

ambush

in

in heaven, where it will judge ; Feeble destroyers you. you have cried out Victory but where is your victory

men

now?

Every day you gnash your teeth with rage, as you behold the concourse of people who fill our temples they are no
:

peasant nevertheless began his perilous devotions again a few days afterwards.

longer rich, but they are sacred

are bare, but they are
full.

they
dis-

Pomp has

In a neighbouring province, the villagers who went to pray to God and Our Lady
at the

appeared, but worship has remained; men no longer tread there upon marble and
precious
carpeting,

bottom of some sequestered ravine,

but

they
of

prostrate
*

in a starlight night, passed along the hamlets occupied by the blue soldiers,

upon rubbish, and weep over

ruins."

singing

hymns

to the Blessed Virgin, set

"

to republican tunes.

Mary, Vierge, en votre secours, je mets ma was the hymn of the scaffold. confiance,"

The

beautiful

canticle

All this time the

churches in

cities

In 1793, two tumbrels

full

of poor royalist

were
gold,

suflfering pillage.
silver,

iron,

.They took away screens, marbles, and

every
walls,

the horrible guillotine was erected, passed by a civic banquet,

women,

for

whom

work; they pulled down work of art which decorated the

cai*ved

served up in the street by the leading men of the terrorists. Madam de Mont-

they tore up the pictures, and well paid workmen were ordered to remove all
sculptures

morency Laval, venerable

respectable for her fine
trious in

for

her virtue,
so
illus-

name

from the walls and vaults

they even took down

the bells, to turn

remote ages in France, was in one of these carts, with her hands tied
behind her back, with sixteen of her nuns, for she was abbess of the Carmelites
of Montmartre, a religious order founded
in the East,

them

into

money,

and

this

patriotic
its

coinage cost the state, according to

own

addressing his bold and biting words to the perpetrators of these sacrilegious devasta!

avowal, twenty millions.* " Fools " says Laharpe,

under the patronage of Mary, These holy as we have said elsewhere.

"
tions,

fools

is it

on walls that

faith is

daughters of the Blessed Virgin, whom the tempest of the revolution had cast

graven
written

? is it
?
it

It
is

on pictures that religion is is written on men's hearts,

;

upon the stormy sea

still

as perish, were singing

of the
if

world to

where

out of your reach

in con-

they had been hidden beneath their veils in the

(1) Laharpe,
lutioun., p. 19.

du Fanatisme dana

la

langue revo-

(2) Ibid., p. 44.

308
<;hoir

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

of
their

beautiful

church

the

blood, which flowed in

a great stream

pnyer

of the Vendeans, the canticle of

their holy patroness.

Could not these

noble women, who were going to die, be allowed to sing in peace ? The hideous rage of those wretches who disgraced the

upon her black dress, and the paleness of death had already spread over her meek and patient countenance. " Saint, who
going up' to heaven," cries out a woman from among the people, kneeling
art

Republic
canticle
;

is

excited on hearing this pious a hundred terrorists, in red

to the carts, with

before the expiring nun,

"

"

bless

me

"
!

Be thou

blessed," replies the Carmelite

caps, rush

up

bludgeons

in their hands, cr}'ing out, " Silence the

beguines.
laise
!
. .

Let them sing the Marseil.

!

daughter, in a faint voice; "and you who have defended us on the way to death," she continues, as she presents her rosary
to the republican,

Come Obey the people " the Marseillaise directly As if they had not heard these finghtful vociferations, the daughters of Mary continued
.
. .

who

is

deeply affected,
. .

on

"

accept this token of gratitude

."

The

calls

moved on
;

again,

and the

their sweet canticle.

Provoked

at this

passive resistance, which they did not

expect, these precious bandits stop the

when they had singing began afresh ceased, all the hearts of these poor women had ceased to beat, and Mary
had received
servants.
to

her bosom her faithful

horses with curses, and are going cowardly to strike

poor helpless are so soon to be the prey of death

there
tlie
is

women, who
;

The

revolution

carried

away in
orders

its

but

whirlwind

the

religious

conse-

so

much honour and

chivalry in

that

French, even when they go wrong, some other republicans run up,
out,
!

crated to Mary, as the storm destroys many useful plants; that of the Car-

melites

left

behind

it

something

like the

"

calling

No murder
"
I

what,

kill

women
was a

what a shame
in

Then

there

perfume of the dried rose, a salutary and balsamic water which bears its name.

terrible fight
patriot,

around the tumbrels.

a

Out
France,

of seventeen

hundred thousand
an
altar

young

Phrygian cap,
close to the cart,

sacred edifices which covered the soil of

snatches a sword from one of the mounted

police,

each

having

of the

and standing quite

terrified

where the

Carmelites pressed close round their venerable abbess, he

Blessed Virgin, there remained hardly two thousand churches worthy the attention of the antiquary

and the

artist

the

succeeds in warding oflF the blows which are intended for them, with as much
courage. as coolness; but one of those blows has taken effect in spite of his
efforts;

rest sold, bought, pillaged, pulled

down, thrown into the kiln to make quicklime,

scarcely left a few remains, the sources of " See then," long and fruitless regrets!

young nun

is

struck,

and

exclaims M. Jules Janin, with generous

"

wounded in the breast, with a cut of a Her life was departing with her sabre.

indignation,

see then,

ruins are the end of so

what imperfect much money, so

BLESSED VIEGIN MART.

809
'

much
cities

The genius have been dishonoured. Deprived

patience, so

much

was energetic and immense, and made itself felt in the towns and villages.
ligion

of these masterpieces,

munity
a

of

men
an

resemble ?
ant-hill.

what does a comIt is no longer

The Blessed Virgin had

tuaries,
for a

in the depths of the forests

again rustic altars her sanc;

They have dishonoured the landscape which derived so much beauty from these spires, these
city, it is

where nothing had been heard

long time but the song of the bird, or the humming of the bee flying about
the pale rose of the sweetbriar, resounded once more with the canticles of pilgrims. Restoration, by re-establishing the processions of the Vow of Louis XIIL,

steeples,

and these high walls what they could not pull down, they defiled at pleaOf the noblest Gothic towers they sure.
;

The

made magazines

of the

most correctly
stables

built churches they

made

That fabulous epoch was so perverse and

inexhaustible in
struction, that
it

placed France again under her empire ; a giant step was made in the devotion to
the

its spirit

of universal de-

it is difficult to

believe in

Immaculate Conception, and whole of France consecrated to

the

the

at all

'"
!

Blessed Vii'gin the month of flowers, of

of Mary,

The religious veneration

which

which she has made, piously and poetically,

had slumbered for a short time in France, soon awoke again, and imperceptibly reconsoling power over souls. Napoleon, faithful to the impressions of his youth, chose the day of the Assump-

the

Month

of Mary.

The highest
to

classes set the

example of devotion

covered

its

descendants of the knights Mary; without fear, and of the great barons,
the

who
so

in ancient times built in her

honour

tion for his

own patron

feast,

and made

it

the greatest of the empire; there soon reappeared processions, crosses, white banners, and sacred hymns in those fine Gothic cathedrals of Mary, of which the

many chapels and monasteries, still honour her as in the good old times;
the pious and noble sets the example.

Queen Mary Amelia

bare walls

and poor

altars

brought to

In France, devotion to Mary is tender, but respectful a Frenchman always be

;

mind the

primitive church, while their

brilliant stained-glass

windows, their light

columns, their towers proudly carried up

to the clouds, spoke of the believing

holds the Blessed Virgin in heaven, and honours her accordingly. In Italy, the veneration of the Madonna has something

and

chivalrous epoch of the times of faith. All that had suffered, all that had

mourned,

all

that

had trembled under

the fearful reign of terror, came to kneel the reaction of reat the feet of Mary
;

more ardent in its character, and at the same time more familiar. From his cradle, the Italian has under his eyes graceful pictures, which bring to his mind acts of goodness and mercy only on
the part of
last

Mary

she

of childhood, the
(1)

the protectress dream of youth, the

is

M.

Jules Janin,

La Normandie.

hope of the sinner; evei7where the

310
thought of her
deep waters
is

THE HISTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

uppermost in
religious

festivals, like the rose of

;

nenuphar on the

the ardent Italian sees her

either painted or carved, who the whole district by day she is protects embalmed with the strong scent of myrtle

Madonna,

everywhere, blesses her everywhere, and when his prayer is not heard, far from

or jessamine; by night a lamp is lighted before her, and numerous groups kneel
at

blaming
breast,

Mary,
It is

he

says,

striking
!

his

her feet to recite her Litanies.

like

It is

"

my own

fault

the
I

Ma-

still

the time

when Andrew Doria

donna has not heard me, because

too great a sinner."

am

admirable

faitli

Surely that is a!n above all, a Christian

the office of the Blessed Virgin on board his galleys, and there is still to be
said

faith, for in

the like circumstances the

read on the gates of the majestic city, There are reckoned in Citta di Maria.
this city fifty oratories dedicated to the

pagans used to drag their gods through

the mire.

Devotion

to the

Blessed Virgin, which

produced

in the middle ages the

duomo

Blessed Virgin. Venice, the dethroned queen of the Adriatic, would not send a vessel to sea without adorning

of Pisa, that fine cathedral of Mary, the bronze gates of which, executed after the

designs of John of Bologna, represent the principal scenes of the life of Our Lord

with the holy image of Mary. During the cholera, the city took refuge in the merciful bosom of
it

and the

life

of

the Blessed Virgin Our

;

Our Lady

of Salvation,

whom

she im-

sumptuous metrochurch of Florence, which looks politan like a mountain of marble of divers

Lady

of Flowers, the

plores even in preference to St. Mark, her patron, in great calamities ; and made

an offering

to her of a superb silver

lamp

colours sculptured in the form of a Latin and so many other masterpieces in cross;

weighing a hundred and sixteen pounds, richly ornamented with gilt sculptures.

is as fervent now as at the highest style, that period, the most illustrious of mo-

church of Mary, where the ex voto was hung up, owes its origin to a It was benefit of the same nature.

The

fine

dern

Italy.

landing at Genoa that city which so justly bears the name of superb, and

On

erected in 1531, on the site of a house

which seems

to

have

been

built,

as

where the plague had broken out, from which Venice was delivered by the allpowerful intercession of the Madonna.
In the centre of the cupola appears this inscription, of noble and antique simplicity,

Madame

kings
streets,

de Stael said, for a congress of the first thing that strikes the

eye is the devotion of the Genoese to the Blessed Virgin. At every corner of those

Unde

origo, inde salus.

which are formed of palaces, and are thronged by crowds of the common

Nothing can be compared to the tender veneration which the Tuscans entertain On the roads, on the for the Madonna.
her bridges, in the streets, in the houses,
sweet image
is

people in their picturesque costume, and women iu their long white veils, rises a

found again and again

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

smiling on the passer-by, who takes off his hat before it, and seeming to take
part in every happy event of the domestic hearth. The contadine of the environs of
oil

811

the poor man as well as the rich takes upon himself this expense, he would go
;

without bread to provide it. It is a spectacle at once edifying and picturesque, to

see a street in
brilliantly lighted by thousands of luminous specks, like the fire-flies of Italy, and resounding with the

Florence come down from the heights planted with fruit-trees, and watered by
clear streams

Rome

which flow half round

it,

at

every feast of the Blessed Virgin, driving a mule elegantly harnessed, which they

rustic

music of the

pifferari of

Calabria or

the Abruzzi.

At

all

times these mountain

have laden with baskets of the

grapes, with
little

finest

bunches of wheat, with branches of orange and pomegranate-trees

loaded with fruits or flowers.

musicians assemble a great concourse of people at the foot of the Madonnas, but
in Advent; for they seem anxious to introduce by their rural airs the feast of the shepherds, the most holy
especially

Dressed in

their holiday suits, they go in procession

through the
fruits

city,

and proceed

to lay their

night of Christmas.

and flowers
the

at the foot of the altar

But

it is

particularly

on the day of the

of the Blessed Virgin.

When

Grand Duke
first

of Florence
fall

Assumption that the ardent devotion of the Romans to Mary is displayed; on

that day
St.
all

re-entered his territories, at the

of

the churches are deserted for

royal church,

Napoleon, his

care was to repair to

Mary Major, the

;

the

the Church of Santa Maria della

Nun-

walls of

which are lined with the marble

the villa of the nobleman
its
;

ziata, where a great concourse of people go every day to honour most devoutly a

of Paros

is

abandoned with
delicious shades

salubrious

air

and

picture

of the

have been finished by an angel.

titude for his

Blessed Virgin, said to In grafor return to his

the aria cativa prevails

unhoped

dominions, the excellent prince suspended

a

at Rome, and with it fever; but what matter? the plague might be there, and Is not the people would still go thither.

lamp

of the

most beautiful workmanship

less

Madonna more powerful

fever

to protect,

than

in the chapel of Mary.

,

and pestilence
faith
1

to destroy ?

Rome

is

no

devout to the

Madonna
hour of

confidence!

pious marvellous in truly

than Florence.

At whatever

these our days

of

The whole population

morning
city of

or night you walk about the vast

Saint Peter, you always find groups

before the

assembled in the squares, near the superb church of Mary; they

is

Rome

of

Romans kneeling
to

Madonna,

make

the most magnificent appearance

and praying

her with a devotion and

for this festival.

The men have put on

fervour truly remarkable. In the streets, in the public squares, in the houses, you
see her image, before which one or more lamps are burning, filled with the purest

their picturesque

the

women

costume of blue velvet; have adorned themselves with

their coral necklaces,

long hair,

and bound up their black as ebony, in a white and

313

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

with a gold
to

it gi-aceful drapery, fastening

or silver pin.
gays,

All carry

enormous nosethe
of the
is

and then, one of those fine Italian voices, which seem to come down from heaven,
intones a canticle to Mary, and every one is silent to listen to it ; but that silence
is
still

Madonna.

which they come to offer This immense crowd

faithful, this people, of

whom Mary
down

the

a mental prayer to the Blessed

ahsolute Queen, kneel

in the hot

dust, burnt up by the devouring rays of an Italian sun, or stand against those

Virgin. "

I shall

says

remember as long as I live," a modern traveller, " the beautiful

houses which cast a shadow over these

feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin,

open squares. to be noisy and

The

Italians

who

are born

who
in

gesticulating, those men seem to be always placing themselves

and the evening of the 8th of September, on the Piazza di Navona, where there were from ten to twenty thousand souls

some

attitude for a painter, have for-

moving about.
donna,

The image

of the

Ma-

gotten

their

habits

one

single
is

care

occupies their minds,

which

prayer!

And how
pray
!

well do they understand how to They pray with their looks, with

magnificently illuminated, presided over the rejoicings of the people, and no one could doubt of it, when they

their gestures, with their lips, with their

saw everywhere decorum, restraint, and a kind of half-recollection of spirit the

;

heart,

and pour out

really,

without any

exaggeration of language, their whole soul

at the feet of

abode of a numerous family, subject to the authority of a father, alone can give
the idea of a like serenity in the midst of it the movement of public rejoicings
;

When

Mary. the pope has finished the divine

the people on sacrifice, their knees, the wide gates of the vast

and blessed

all

was

also

remarkable at the

moment when

church
to

roll

slowly on their brazen hinges,

for the crowd,

make way

which

fills it

the crowd retired in peace after the fireI thought I there beheld a proof works. wisdom and mildness of the pontiof the
fical

with sweet singing and odoriferous flowers. When evening is come, the whole city is
illuminated, and
all

government."

Rome

is

praying in

At Naples, in sight of the finest sea and fairest sky of the world, devotion to
the Blessed Virgin still blooms with the freshness and splendour of a new-blown
lily,

the street.

group, without distinction or privilege, with a fraternization worthy of the age of gold,

Each one

falls into a

The

feasts

of the of

Madonna

are

around his own Madonna, the Madonna of the district, for which the Roman
"

popular feasts, joy; her churches, to the

in the city of

full

enthusiasm and

number of

forty
all

prince has

left

his

marble palace, the

all

Naples alone, combine

artisan his shop, and the young maiden

that painting, architecture,

her
ing

father's

roof;

fervour.

The

pray with affectwomen recite the

;

have been able to

and sculpture display of luxury and

rosary, the

men

sing the litanies

now

grandeur; the chapels of Mary, all beautiful and splendid, are adorned witli lapis

BLESSED VIEGIN MAET.

313

lazuli, topaz, jasper,

stones.

and other precious In the church of Santa Maria

miraculous
Grazie
is

thrown down in the famous earthquake of 1753, and the Sicilians have not thought
of rebuilding them.

Ntiova,

the

image

of

the

Madonna

placed under a silver canopy, and covered with precious On the hill of Pausilippo, the stones.
delle

In Piedmont and Savoy, Our Lady is ever religiously honoured. In 1669, the

church of Santa Maria Fortunata occupies the place of an ancient temple of Fortune,

King Charles Emmanuel declared the Mother of God tlie principal protectress of his house and dominions this decla;

where paganism used

votos.

to

hang up
is

its

ex

ration

has often been renewed by the

The

hill

Rulignano

crowned with
churches in

one of the
bear the

finest Neapolitan

pious successors of that prince. Down to the end of the eighteenth

century, the veneration of Mary was universal and splendid in Spain. In the cathedral of Toledo, placed under the

honour of Mary.

name

Five suburhs of Naples of the Blessed Virgin.

The Neapolitans have consecrated Vesuvius to her, that beautiful mountain, the

invocation

of the

Blessed Virgin, the

del Sagrario (of the

base of which resembles the gardens of Armida, and the summit, one of hell's
gates thrown open over some desolate

chapel of

Our Lady

sanctuary) was an object of admiration. The pillars and pavement were of marble;

corner of chaos.
forth its

When the
is

crater vomits

long streams of burning lava,

lighted

the form was octagonal ; in the recesses were seen vases of gold, enriched with

and the whole bay

up
if

in the

diamonds and other precious stones of

great value.

middle of a dark night, as

about
to

the final

The

statue of the Blessed

conflagration, predicted by the sybils,

was
the

destroy

our

little

globe,

Virgin, who held in her arms an infant Jesus of twelve inches high in massive

Neapolitan, threatened with destruction,

takes courage when praying to Mary, and the inhabitants of the hamlets near the

gold set with diamonds, was of massive silver, and she was seated on a throne of

the same metal.

The

cathedral of Seville

volcano run to meet the lava with images of the Sladonna, which they hold up
against
its
is

had

for

her part the celebrated chapel of

of Kings, built by St. Ferdi-

Our Lady

ravages.
still,

Sicily

as well

as Sardinia, a

nand, the richness of which was so great that it passed for the finest chapel in the
world.
at

land essentially Catholic; the veneration of Mary is particularly cherished at Pa-

The chapel

of the Presentation,

lermo and Messina; the beautiful cathedral, which the kings of the Norman race

Burgos, was almost as celebrated. At Madrid, the church of Our Lady of Alme-

mada

is

mains
nile

dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, still rein this latter city; only the campa-

and the

spire,

which surmounted the

the city; the discovery of a heap of wheat, providentially found at the bottom of a tower,
at a

one of the most magnificent of to this Madonna was attributed

great tower which rests on the front, were

moment when

the

city,

closely bes s

814

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

the

sieged by the Moors, was ready to perish The miraculous fact still by famine.

Queen
I.,

since

phonsus

the days of King Althe veneration of her is still

remains painted in fresco on the walls of the chapel of Our Lady ; but we doubt if
the altar and rails of massive silver are
tlaere still.

national and flourishing; she is the born godmother of all the daughters, and her

images are venerated in beautiful and rich

chapels.

At a quarter

of a league from Madrid,

England, where the sects are

hydra's heads,
is

like the

in the enclosure of a vast

convent of
is

beginning

to

turn her
;

Dominicans, which, no doubt,

deserted, like

now

many

others, they used to

head towards the religion of Rome numerous Catholic churches are built there,

go to venerate the miraculous image of Our Lady d'Atocha (of the bush), a dark

under the modest name of chapels, in In Ireland, quite recently, every county.
bonfires were lighted on all the hills, to celebrate, in the style of ancient days, a miracle which took place after a novena
to the

Madonna, usually dressed as a widow which has never been done, as far as we
;

know, anywhere but there, but which on solemn days is attired in royal robes,
adorned with precious stones. Her chapel, dark from its construction, was lighted by

Blessed Virgin, the wonderful libea people devout pilgrims to her sancstill

ration of O'Connell.

hundred lamps of massive gold the Catholic kings had

a
;

silver

and

The Belgians are to Mary they go as

;

their tri-

tuaries,

and consecrate

to

her the most Gothic

bune there, with lattice work before it. It was at Our "Lady d'Atocha that the TeDeum was sung for victories.
Charles TIL, King of Spain, founded an order of knighthood in honour of the

charming
cathedrals.

chapels of their fine

The Tyrolese line their walls and their houses with events taken from the history
of the Blessed Virgin.

Blessed Virgin,
versal patrona de

whom he
Espana
e

proclaimed uniIndias.

Rich and tranquil Bohemia multiplies the images of the Mother of God on her
roads and in her
cities.

In these days the bright moon of Christianity has slightly veiled her disc
in Spain
;

At

intervals, in

but the cloud

will pass

and the Blessed Virgin

will

away, soon recover

the country, a rustic chapel of Mary, at the same time a house of prayer and a caravansera of repose, sets up its pointed
roof,

her rights in this nation essentially religious and chivalrous we hope, like the
;

surmounted by a

cross, as if to sigit oflfers

nify to the traveller that

him a

Spanish doctor,

who has done us

this

the
that

shelter from
is

sun or rain

and

this appeal

honour

of

translating

work,

always religiously listened to.

Austria, with

posterity will
gold, to the

add numerous pages, pa^es of

portion, of the purest

Spanish

veneration of Mary.

manners simple and pure, with tastes poetic and religious, has remained faithful to Mary, and no where
have the sacred ceremonies of her ve-

In Portugal, of which Mary has been

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

neration a character
affecting.

815

more serious and

land, the Lithuanian

women

still

cele-

brate
is
still

their

favourite

festivals

of

the

the kingdom of the Blessed Virgin, whom the Poles invoke, ever since 1655, in their Litanies, under

Poland

return of the flowers and the end of the

harvest

the

title

of Regina

cceli et

Polonice.

Her
the

auspices of Mary; upon her altars they lay the violets which they go to gather at a distance on the
first

under

the

image

hangs

from

the necks of

young Polish women; mothers formerly used to hang it on those of their brave
sons

days of spring, before sunrise ; it is she whom they invoke, seated around the

last sheaf,

when

their

nimble hands weave

when they

set off for battle.

The

great ladies have in their apartments an oratory decorated with the picture of the

hieroglyphics of flowers, or they give, as in the East, a thought to each leaf, and

a symbol to every plant.

These people,
the

Blessed Virgin
nobility,

and that proud Polish

all

who
fields,

passionately

love

woods, the

which eclipsed in splendour

and above

all

the beautiful flowers,

the nobility of Europe, did not fail, at the Christmas festivals, to set up in the most

which they

cultivate

around their poorest

cottages, love far

conspicuous place of their sumptuous banqueting rooms a bundle of straw, in

who

is

still

more the Blessed Virgin, the Grand Duchess of Lifollow the rites of

thuania.

memory of the deep destitution of Jesus and Mary in the stable of Bethlehem.
The Lithuanians,
the the last children of

The Russians, who

the Greek Church, profess the greatest veneration for the Blessed Virgin. When

Blessed Virgin in Europe, in the order of time, since they were not converted till the fifteenth century, have also

they perceive her image, however far they prostrate several times,

off,

and multiply

signs of the cross with extreme rapidity.

remained

faithful to

her, in

despite

of

Protestantism, which completely failed with them from the moment that it spoke
of suppressing the popular veneration of

At Moscow, a statue of the Blessed Virgin, to which miracles are attributed,

lin

ornaments one of the gates of the Krem^two sentinels, bare-headed, mount

;

Mary. replaces the fair Saule, their favourite divinity that

It is

she

who now

guard by it, night and day. The people never fail to uncover their heads respectfully

beautiful goddess of the sun, who came forth each day, say the mystic legends of their fathers, from her palace in the

when they pass before this image. The czars were formerly crowned in the

East,

mounted on a golden car, liglited a thousand torches of white wax, to by give light to the earth, and who had for
(the

Muscovite cathedral of the Assumption, where the bodies of the Russian

fine

patriarchs are deposited; the enclosure

of the sanctuary was covered with plates of silver

her attendants Vdkazinne

star)

evening

and gold

the

sacred vessels
this cathedral
;

to

and Aussra (the aurora). Faithful the ancient customs of their native

and episcopal vestments of

are
still

of unheard-of richness

the pic-

316

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

him
tried to

tuie of the Blessed Virgin, placed in a

large gilt

frame at the bottom of this

but in vain.

make himself master of it, The three hundred monks

it,

church, figures in processions in a superb covered with looking-glass, carriage like the coaches which were seen formerly
all

who

having become soldiers through necessity, were able courageously to defend the ancient altar of their Painhabit
troness.

at the coronation of the kings.

Four

horses richly caparisoned draw this modern triumphal car at a slow and solemn
pace.

The manners
Mussulmans
call

of these caloyers, as the

them, are as simple and as pure as at the time of their foundation ;

they enjoy complete independence they are laborious and strong, and like worthy
;

The Greeks, though

still

schismatics, have

the same respect for the Panagia; the Morea has several fine convents dedicated to Mary; the most celebrated is that of the Assumption, on Mount Cy;
lene, a few hours' journey from the cele-

servants of the merciful Virgin, they have

always held out a helping hand to

all

who were oppressed or suffering. The monks of Thessaly and of Phocis found,
in the fourteenth century, an asylum in

brated cascade of the Styx, which now bears the name of Mavronero. This convent,

which has possessed ever since the

to it

the convent of the Assumption, when, pursued by the Turks, they fled, without

eighth century a miraculous picture of

Mary, given

by an imperial princess

hope of return, from the beloved soil of In the seventeenth centheir country.
tury, the

of Constantinople

named Euphrosine,

is

built almost entirely in a large cavern a

poor monks who escaped from the massacres of Constantinople took rein
this

hundred and twenty feet high, and equally wide. A narrow and steep descent, made
in the side of the mountain, leads to the

fuge

convent.

Finally, in the

eighteenth century, when the devastating war which followed the insurrection in
the
it

entrance of the convent, which has, like the strong castles of the middle ages, an
iron gate

Morea had destroyed

to their

all

around them,

was

thoroughly Christian be-

and

portcullis,

and

is

further

haviour towards the Turks of Calavrita,

to their prayers,

defended by a side wall with numerous openings, and mounted with four pieces
This narrow path, so easily interrupted, and in which large breaches
of cannon.

and

to their

giving up a

portion of their riches, that they owed the power of saving from apostasy or death a great part of the Greeks of

every winter by the torrents, is the only road which leads to the monastery of Mary; this sacred asylum, moreare
over,

made

Achaia.

The Klephts, those brave mountaineers who have so valiantly and so long kept
the Turks in check, are no less devout to

where the Panagia has been invoked

for so
is

many

centuries by the Hellenists,

In the late considered impregnable. war of independence, the celebrated Ibra-

the Panagia than the Moraites. For ages of ages, they have had no other places of
prayer than

some ruinous

chapels,

which

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

were believed to be haunted by vampires, or some oratory hollowed out in the rock,

8ir

which possess the tombs of Christ and the

Blessed Virgin.'

under the protection of the Virgin. They have been seen at times, at daybreak,
climbing the highest points of their lofty mountains, with their curved daggers in

Mount

Athos, called

by the modern
still

Greeks Agion Oros (holy mountain), is

Mary's, as in the time of the
of Byzantium.
first

Caesars

and their long guns slung over their shoulders, to go and hear
their girdles,

mass, or merely to pray in some retired

chapel, which hung over frightful precipices, the very sight of which would have

the Bosphorus and Archipelago contain numerous but poor convents of Mary the bells of these monasisles of
;

The

turned a Turkish soldier giddy.

it

Tliere

was that they came

to

hang up the

Greek rite are hung from the aged trunk of some cypress of prodigious size, which stands up like a phantom At Scio, close to a church or a cemetery.
teries of the

votive offering promised to the Panagia in

the most beautiful island of these seas, the population were Catholics. Mildly treated, thanks to the powerful protection of the Sultana Valiole, the

the hour of danger, and always faithfully rendered. These offerings, which were
oftentimes precious things conquered by gun and sword from the Mussulmans, inspired the most rehgious respect; public devotion guarded them, and no degree of

almost

all

charming
its

isle

cheerful

had preserved its religion, aspect, and its beautiful

stranger was

shades.

The

welcomed

want could put the thought of a Klepht to carry off the least of these objects which had become sacred. M. de Pouqueville quotes, in his
distress or

into the

mind

with

there by the offering of branches laden fruits, and at his departure flowers

were offered to him as a remembrance of

hospitality.

Nothing

could

equal the

travels in Greece, the incident of a chief

pomp

of her festivals.

She had her Ca-

of banditti

who, having pillaged some

tholic archouts, like

votive offerings from a chapel dedicated

to the

Blessed Virgin, near Vonitza, was

daughters were fair smile of Mary, their well-beloved Panagia.

Athens of old; her and pure, like the

given up by his own pallikares to Ali Pacha, by whose order he was hanged. Devotion
pilgrimages to a distance, diffiwas to men placed in the position of the Klephts, was still not unknown
to

The

revolution broke out

....

all this

joy, all this peace

ended in a massacre

make

....

thirteen

hundred young maidens,

cult as

it

the most comely of the island, had their throats cut, without mercy, by the savage

to

them.

The famous

partisan Blachavas,

Osmanli

soldiers,

on the shore of

their

at the age of seventy-six years, was seen to set out on foot for Jerusalem, with his musket on his back, followed by his protopaliikare (aide-de-camp),

They fell, one after another, bright sea. with their hands joined, their eyes fixed on heaven, invoking the Blessed Virgin,
(1) Fauriel,

and

die, as

he
Chants pojjulairea de
la Gr^ce.

seemed

to

have wished, iu the holy places

318

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

for the
tiger,

who does avenge them; who had ordered these

cutions,

Blessed Virgin, the heavenly Queen of

atrocious

exe-

Ali Pacha,

himself

and

his

being burnt, both vessel, by the in-

mountainous country the highest peaks are everywhere crowned among

their
;

came to die on that same shore which he had inundated with blood, and the conqueror returned solemn
trepid Canaris, soon

or a chapel of Mary, placed so high that they cannot at all

them with a church

times reach
it

thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin for

his victory.

themselves, and are obliged, says Chardin, to content themselves with profoundly saluting it from the bottom of
their valleys,

which they never

fail to do.

In Anatolia, and in the islands

cent, at Cyprus, at Tenedos, the

adja-

The Miugrelian, who

sleeps with his

sci-

Greek
of

head resting on his carbine, and his

race

has
in

preserved
all its

the veneration

Mary

fervour.

Mahomet

has

mitar by his side, goes to venerate certain relics of the Blessed Virgin in his churches,

triumphed in the cities; but on the tops of the hills, in the region of the clouds,
the sacred banner of the Panagia played in the lofty monasteries.
of
is dis-

which he has kept there with great

re-

spect from the first ages of Christianity. Armenia, locked up in the midst of

Some

of the Greeks have forgotten the language

Mussulman people, has no more bent before the Koran than before the ZendAvesta, and has remained nearly as it was in the fifth century, after the holy
wars, except that
it

Demosthenes and

Isocrates, but not

the Gospel, not devotion to Mary ; and they recite in Turkish the symbol of

has divided into two

and the Angelical Salutation.* There they have bonfires, to which they
their faith,

camps, one professing Christianity with

Rome, the other with

both, the

Nestorius.
is

By

have given the name of the adopted son of the Blessed Virgin, in opposition to
the illuminations of the Courban-Bairam
;

Blessed Virgin

religiously
fasts fifteen

honoured.

Every Armenian

and the

feast

of

Our Lady
feast of

of

Mount

days before the feast of the Assumption, which was introduced very early into the

Mahomet. The Georgians, who bear on their standard the picture of St. George, and
Olympus, instead of the

and as this regions of the Caucasus people has retained from the Jews the
;

immolation of animals, there

is

not,

on

who

alone, thanks to their indomitable

courage, entered Jerusalem in the middle ages, with banners flying, to perform
their devotions, without paying the
tri-

that day, any good Armenian family who do not kill a lamb in honour of Mary.

Libanus,

that

fine

mountain

of

bute imposed upon other Christians," the Georgians are still faithful subjects of the

hundred leagues in circumference, the western base of which is bathed by the Mediterranean, and which is bounded by

(1) Occident et Orient, par

M.
ii.

Barraiilt.

iinivers.

Ghalcondylo,

liv.

ix.

de

I'Hist.

des

(2) F. de Belleforest,

liv.

c.

5 de son Hist.

Turcs.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

Palestine on the south,
is

819
engaged
of
in

by Catholics.

On

quite peopled one of the elevated

and

faithful

prayer.

The

levels is the village of

Eden, abounding
cool shades
;

in limpid waters

and

an
in

everywhere read walls, images of her are found everywhere, which the piety of the

sweet

name

Mary

is

on the

archiepiscopal
this

church overlooks
an
altar raised in

it;

Oriental

Christians

delights

to

adorn

church

is

honour

with the fairest flowers.

of Mary,
altar

on the right of this that the Ndkar-Bossena (principal

it is

and

Modern Jerusalem, the population

nations,

of

which seems formed out of the wreck of

river) rises in

manner

quite wonderful,
brist-

and which beholds

in its

bosom

which flows from an immense rock,

The Nalcar-Kaling with cypress-trees. disha (holy river), the child of eternal
snows, which formerly beheld on banks so many solitaries employed
its

the Jewish synagogue by the side of the mosque of the Mussulman and the church
of the Christian, is not.
destitute of altars

in

the descendant of
still

Heaven be praised in honour of Mary the kings of Juda is

I

carving the image of Mary in cedar, still shoots down from the greatest heights in foaming sheets, and keeps the name

invoked kneeling in the capital of

which

ages of the Chiirch, to the piety of the hermits of its rocks. At one hour's journey from the
it

owed, in the

first

the holy king David, and all religious mists disappear at the foot of her tomb, where the Armenian, the Georgian, the Arab, the Tyrian, and the Western Christian

meet

together,

and where

even

place where the Holy River reunites

its

Turkish

women

are seen praying beneath

rapid and roaring waters, rises up Tyre, the ancient mistress of the seas its
;

their veils.

Greek monk pours drops

celebrated cathedral of Notre

Dame,
is

de-

stroyed in the last wars of the Crusades, a

upon the heads of those who come to honour Mary. The veneration which is paid to the
of essence of roses

short time after

its

re-construction,

now

only a magnificent ruin, the great roofs and arches of which stand out from the

Blessed Virgin in the Levant has even The Turks and reached the infidels.
Persians,

who speak
terms,

of her in the

most
the

blue sky of Syria, and whence are heard, like a prophetic lamentation, the distant

honourable

regard

her as

and regular noise of the waves but in a church less striking in appearance, the
;

purest and most perfect woman who ever Thus they have often been existed.

four or five hundred Catholic families

seen to hang up votive lamps before her images, to bring their sick children into

who

inhabit Tyre

still

fervently invoke

her churches, to pray devoutly at her

Mary.

The
is

beautiful city of Nazareth,

tomb, and, what

is

still

more

extraor-

which

approached by a fine avenue of its olive-trees, is peopled by Catholics

;

dinary, in the worshippers of Allah, even

build temples in her honour.*

church with three naves, built over that

of St. Helen,
is

always

full of pilgrims

(1)

A pacha of MobdooI, besieged by the famous

320

THE msTOUT OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

In Abyssinia, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin is still as popular as in

past times
oriental
;

among them by a fast of fifteen days, as among the Copts and Syrians; their kings
take the
title

the churches which bear her

of

of son of the'hand of of

name

Mariam
in

are

met with
on

in

(Mary), and

many

Mariam them take her name.

great

numbers

the

cities,

the

In

fine,

travellers

heights of the mountains, and on the banks of the rivers they are thatched,
;

surrounded by a gallery outside, and surmounted by an iron cross, the numerous

branches of which terminate in ostrich
eggs
;

Abyssinia in the Abyssinians ask a favour, or give an invitation, it is always in the name
they swear only by Mary {bi Mariam), and they have her name always in their mouths.*
of

who passed through 1837 inform us that when

Mary;

a cemetery, which
lies

is

an inviolable

round about them, and they are magnificently shaded by dark savins
asylum,

to

This ardent devotion of the Abyssinians the Mother of God has sometimes
fanati-

and gigantic

olive-trees.

In the

inside,

broken out into absolute acts of

cism.

the walls are ornamented with bright frescoes representing the Blessed Virgin,
St.

In 1714, when certain German

Michael, or St.

George one

missionaries, of the order of St. Francis,

of the

most popular saints of the East; the floor is sometimes covered with Persian carpeting, which the Mussulmans bring
from Massaouah, and
the Christians.
sell

sent by Pope Clement XI., endeavoured to bring them back to the unity of the faith, the schismatic monks defeated their

very dear to

gallery runs all

round

by getting a report circulated that these religious from Europe were declared This enemies of the Blessed Virgin.
efforts

these churches, and in the centi-e is a square sanctuary, to which access is allowed to the priests only; it is there the ark is placed which contains the

falsehood had terrible consequences ; the who propeople revolted the emperor,
;

tected the missionaries, was poisoned, and the fathers Ijiberatus, Veis, Pie de Zerbe,

bread and wine destined for the

nion.

Commu-

and Samuel Bienno, were stoned by an

infuriated populace.

veneration which the Abyssinians entertain for the Blessed Virgin

so great
tliat,

The

An

Ethiopian
"

monk

cast the first stone, crying out,

Cursed,

is

world was created

according to them, the for her and by her;

is

excommunicated by the Blessed Virgin, be he who will not throw five stones at
her enemies
"*
1

the feast of the Assumption

preceded

Alas

these poor Fran-

Tliamas Konli-Khan, made a vow to build two cliurclies in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, if
should be able to save his city; Thamas raised the siege, and the pacha, faithful to his promise,
lie

Mnssnlman,
Babylon
Foi.)

(See

the

letter
la

of

in the

Annales de

Bishop of propagation de la
the

built

two churches, the unusual magnificence of

in

(1) Voyage en Abyssinie, par Taniisier, 1835-37.

MM.

Combes

et

which

those countries enables us to estimate

gratitude
of

(2)

Annales de la Propag. de

la Foi.

the danger, the fear, and the

the

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

ciscans were
all

321
is
still

the while the most dethat

!

South America
for
its

voted

servants

the Blessed Virgin

of

devotion

to

distinguished Brazil has IMary.

in her

had

in the world

built

modern churches

honour,

At the present time, the veneration

where she has been lavish of ornaments

the utmost of her power. Peru dedicated to her, from the first, its magnificent cathedral of Lima, under the title of the
to

Mary
tlie

is

extending

itself,

step by step, in
recited

Indies.

The

rosary

is

among
the

the Hindoos

of the

coasts of Malabar,

among

the

Chinese,

the

Siamese,

Assumption, and paved

instead of marble.

it

with

silver,

Thibetians, the people of Tonquin, and Cochin China it is the only prayer-book which the Catholics of distant countries
;

Cusco, the has consecrated to Mary Incas,

of the Sun, the walls of

city of
its

the

Temple

which were co-

possess,
for

and

it is

the

first

thing they ask

when they see a priest from Europe.' The churches of the Indies often bear the name of Mary that of the Nativity of
;

vered with thick plates of gold, and where the image of the god was seen in massive

and of extraordinary dimensions. The Dominicans, whose priory church

gold,
this

the Blessed Virgin, at Pondichery, is one A novena has of the most remarkable.

temple forms

at the present day,

had

built, in

honour

of Mary, a chapel quite

been established in
bar,

this

church of Mala-

Peruvian, from

the

brilliant

materials

which procures a multitude of conversions, in a country where conversions

are so difficult;
it

with which

it

was adorned; pavement of

silver, altar of silver, statue glittering with

opens by a procession,

gold and pearls, lamps of gold, magnificent

votive offerings S])anish

made by

night, with great pomp. Altars of repose, which the faithful of Malabar

ornament with

boxes of

flowers,

and

muslin embroidered with gold, receive, each in turn, beneath the globes of fire

and American, was wanting there. Mary had nothing altars no less rich in the ancient temple of Qitilla (the moon), which the old Peruvians had decorated with silver
of Yllapa (thunder);
;

in that

which light them up, the holy image of Mary, borne upon a triumphal car. The procession moves along slowly, to the sound of loud music, between two rows At each altar of repose, of torches.
while
all is silence,

ing

star).

and of Chasca (evenIn Mexico, the cathedrals and

the Blessed Virgin

altars

dedicated to

are of extraordinary magnificence.

The

the praises
]jord;
after

of

a child's voice sings the holy Mother of our which the image of the

cathedral of the Assumption, at Mexico, begun in the sixteenth century, and

finished
in

the

seventeenth, possesses

Blessed Virgin is solemnly carried back to the church, and replaced upon her
altar,
I

two statues of Mary, which surpass all that Europe can offer that is most splendid of this kind
tion, in
:

the

first is

an Assump-

magnificently illuminated.^
'

massive gold, set with precious

Anuales de
la

T'

"

(1)

Aunales de

la

Propag. de

la Foi.

(2)

Propag. de

la Foi,

T T

823

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

the se-

stones, of considerable weight;

cond,

an

Immaculate

massive
blo
tlie

silver.

The

Conception, in cathedral of Puein

perform them by deputy; a black pilgrim, who sets out on the pious journey, knocks
at all the huts before
collects the gifts

he begins

it,

and
to

d'Angeles, dedicated

honour of

which each one sends

Immaculate Conception, has a large altar of Mary, which is of itself as

as

the

Blessed Virgin. The negresses of distinction have imported from Africa a

chris-

valuable
silver,

a temple

the

altar

is

of

pagan custom, which they have

tianised

^nd surrounded by

little

pillars,

with plinths and capitals, of burnished

gold.

they wish to ascertain whether they possess the affection of their husbands, they take
to the shore of their bright

in

the

Antilles.

When

At Saint Domingo, under French rule, there was made every year, with great

sunny

sea,

a'

pomp, the procession

Louis XIII.

of

the

Vow

of

plank of the wood of the islands, pierced with holes, in which they fix white
light

Since the republic of Haiti has been constituted, this custom has

wax

tapers, well lighted; after invoking

been discontinued, but not so devotion

to Mary,

whom

the blacks

still

invoke

Mary, they launch the little illuminated raft, with all sorts of precautions, upon the waves of their beautiful gulf, and if it
while upon the waters, without upsetting, they bless the Virgin,
for a little

with unbounded confidence.

The Hai-

swims

tians have two pilgrimages to the Blessed Virgin : one in the old Spanish part, and

persuaded that
hearts contented.

they

may make

their

the other in the old French.

They

often

CHAPTER

XIV.

INFLUENCE OF DEVOTION TO MAKY OX THE FINE AHTS.

Religion has been the mother of the
in every part of the globe.
arts

daring to great enterprises, and patience,

At her

inspir-

which matures our plans, as

"

autumn

ing breath have they been seen to begin, to grow, and arrive at a degree of perfection analogous to the state of civilization of the people, as it was more or less ad-

Irreligion is not so ripens our fruits. " a bad, thorny wise it is," say the Arabs, with its roots out of the earth, and plant,
;

with neither leaves nor flowers

nothing

vanced.

The

religious principle is the

is

only one which

competent

to

make

the

weary can repose in its shade, and nothing good grows round about it."
It

understanding

productive, to

extend the
will,

was in order to have under their eyes

of the divinity, that

imagination, to impart energy to the

more noble images

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

the people, near the time of the deluge, substituted for trunks of trees and consecrated stones, statues of marble, brass,

833

ought to be holy, belied their origin, and

got corrupted in
their progress.

After

and gold

it

was

to shelter these gods in

opening temples to idolatry, they introduced successively effeminacy and licentiousness

a suitable

manner

that they built towers

among
came
march.

the

nations:

defeat

of seven stories

high in Babylon, and

;

and

slavery

of their

own
it

accord to
sta-

temples of red granite in Egypt

they

close the

Then

was that

thought

later

on of building

palaces.

To

decorate the wide surface of these temples, they discovered a

tuary and painting produced works not to be looked at without a blush, and that

new

art;

that of

representing

the

forms of

objects

by

poetry sung of the gods all that they should have buried in silence.

simple outlines, which they heightened with brilliant colours and gold leaf.

The worn-out
soon
left

springs of pagan society the nations without belief, and

Greece, inteUigent, and passionately fond of the arts, borrowed the art of design and
that of sculpture from the ancient land of the Pharaos, and preserved their original
destination, while she brought
perfection.

the arts without genius. Religious art had contributed to polish their manners,

but unbelieving art corrupted them ; the former had inflamed their courage, and
perpetuated the great traditions of heroism and virtue the other turned the
;

them

to

The

invention of music even preceded

the art of building, and enlivened the rustic ceremonies of the antediluvian

gods into ridicule, and became the hireling of every vice ; the one had prodigies and masterpieces, the other' was struck
with helpless weakness in the midst of sad and deep degradation.
its

worship.

They played on the harp

before

altars of sods,

where the agricultural pa-

triarchs offered the first-fruits of the earth,

Then

it

was that victorious Christianity

and the shepherds, who already dwelt in

tents, the first-born of their flocks.

The

planted the sign of our Redemption in the midst of the scattered ruins of the moral

grave and religious dance, which represented the revolutions of the heavens,

and placed itself, all at once, not in the rear, but on the summit of men's
world,
It had tempered again understanding. the social links, which were falling to

took

its

origin also

among

this people
to

given to

astronomy; and poetry came

espouse music, to sing the benefits, disarm the wrath, or implore the succour of the Creator. The arts, the principle of

dust

washed away

sins in the regene-

rating waters of Baptism, and invited all nations to the banquet of the heavenly

which, as the pagans themselves acknowledge, was religious,' and the end of which

Father;

it

spread out

its

indulgent arms
deserted

to the fine arts, as to poor prodigal chil-

dren,
originally (Hippocrates.) graces granted to men by the gods.
(1) 1

who had

foolishly

the

have no doubt that the

arts

were

paternal mansion, to go and seek enthusiasm of the prince of death, and holy

324

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

evil.

inspiration of the geniius of

And

owned

and

the

arts,

repentant and

purified, were

most excellent, of

persecuted; modesty, the fears next to that of

re-established at the foot of the cross, by

setting ihe pearls and diamonds of the holy

God; but
still

that tlivine mercy, which raises

reed,

up the bruised
smoking

by erecting imposing temples to the majesty of the true God, by adornScriptures,

flax,

where were they?

which rekindles the

No
re-

one of the foreheads of marble and brass

of the sensual divinities of
flected these exalted virtues.

ing his altars with venerated images, in fine, by shedding over the rites and

Olympus

These gods,

worship of the crucified

God something

imposing, mysterious, and spiritualising, which warmed the heart, steadied the
imagination, and gave wings to prayer to ascend to heaven.

drenched with nectar, intoxicated with ambrosia, and indolently spending their
fabulous

days in

the midst of feasts,

quarrels, licentiousness,

and excesses of

felt

The influence of the holy Virgin was more than any other, in this sur-

every kind, bore the desolating stigma of their infernal origin, that of inflexibility.

These ancient types

fell

before

the

prising transmutation of mire into gold. The veneration of her, fresh as a flower,

image of the Blessed Virgin, the mystical

rose of the gospel, like the idols of Philisthia before the ark of the God of Israel.

d remarkably rich in noble

.

and grace-

nspirations,
'

was

an

inexhaustible

''

the other

ix.

exalted ideas in music, paint^ m. r\ c Ihe Queen or sorrows ^try.

, elevated

The Mother of divine love, the adorable emblem of purity, the woman kneeling on
the
first

step of the throne of Jesus Christ,

height to 'on cannot reach, by hu-

to a

to ofier

the

him, benevolent mediatrix, tears and vows of her mortal bre-

up

to

ind

Mary was a h again took up the

virtue,

thren, caused Christian art to

assume an

attitude so worthy, so noble, so exalted,

compelled the artist ities of the world uf

iNFLUEN.fid created a whole
'e

that from that time there was an abyss to

pass over between that and antiquity. All that paganism had profaned was
sanctified as
stars,

beautiful

and

Religion has been the moi

in every nart of the globe. " ' ^
'

and cold as
>.
,
,

drew near to Mary: flowers, hymns, images, and altars. The

it

and elegance ing breath have they been set,, these

.

roses consecrated to the

impure goddess,

to grow, '
,

and

arrive at a degree

pagan
.,
,

fie

summit
,
.

who was adored beneath the tufted myrtles of Mount Idalus, encircled the Virgin
of virgins with garlands fresh and odoriferous, the sweet odour of which was a

tion analogous to the state of ci\, of the people, as it was more or .

t
,

vanced.

The

religious principle
is

memorial of that of her

stars,'

virtues.

The

only one which

competent

to

mak
.

,.

understanding productive, to extent

imagination, to impart energy to the

invoked by the ancient nations of

tiona of the Eomaiis, the constellation of

Virgo,

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

the East, formed the ornaments of her
celestial

325

crown

the sun, the object of so

After overthrowing rected their growth. the bloody altars of Esus, Odin, and

much
for

idolatry,

condensed his rays to form

her a royal mantle; while the moon, beloved by the poets, and adored by the Syrians, humbly placed her dethroned

Irmensul, she instructed, but never persecuted either the scalds of the North, or
the bards of Gaul, or the minnesingers of

Germany.
In the West, when music, long neglected by the nations who hardly loved anything but the
all

brow beneath the blessed

feet

of the

Queen

of

heaven and of the angels.

Music, which, according to the saying of one of the ancients, no longer produced

clashing of

spears,

awakened
sleep, it

at

once, as from a long

anything but monsters, was of her own accord simplified beneath the pure and inspiring aspect of the descendant of David. Choirs, composed of brilliant Christian

was under the auspices of Mary. The cantadours of Guienne, the troubadours of Provence, the minstrels of England and of Neustria, attempted their
first

youths,

made the roofs of the temples resound with hymns in honour of the Virgin Mother; and those sweet and enrapturing voices, uniting with the sound of harps, lyres, and organs, drew forth new effects from the art of David and

harmonies

in

honour

of the Blessed

Virgin.

In the classic land of harmony,

during a long succession of ages, the Venetian gondolier knew no other barcarole

than the madriale, the hymn to Mary and the contadino of the campagna of
;

Orpheus for that music, alternately simple and majestic, which expressed the joys of Christ's nativity, and the agonies
;

Naples sung nothing else upon his guitar. In Britanny, where the Gaulish bards
kept their ground longer than anywhere else, hymns to the Blessed Virgin Mary were substituted, almost without any transition,

of Calvary, that music, in which were both ecstasy and tears, glorious dreams and holy sorrows, tended to awaken in the

for

the

terrible

and mysterious

very depths of the heart sentiments the most religious, the most noble, and the

songs of the Druids. Ballads in dialogue, popular poems on religious subjects, were
the foundation of the national music of a

most

beneficial to society.

God

created the

lilies

to

adorn the

pleasure, say the the true religion did not trample upon the arts, which are the flowers of the understanding; on the contrary,

earth and for his

own

Hebrews

who seemed to awaken, with their hands joined and on their knees, to a feelEvery Breton ballad ing for the arts.
people

contained an invocation to the Blessed

Virgin, a pious thought, or a subhme moral lesson ; for every thing then in the

she cultivated them, and maternally

di-

seems a prophetic revelation of ISIary, so much does it correspond with her in different ways. "The
conBtellation of

tainly iinbiassed, "is the one

which Bupplies the

most emblems and

allegories."

Virgo" says a learned man, cer-

326

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

of

Catholic system combined to moralise the

people, and give them a. taste for happiness, tranquil and within their reach.
in Ireland, there

White Russia, who were regarded as inspired, and who presided at the choirs of
music of the harvest
feast,

and of that of
in-

In Wales, in Scotland, and especially was not a wandering

flowers,

abandoned the god Sotwaros,

beg poetical

their oriental Apollo, to

harper who had not some beautiful and

simple legend on the miracles of the Blessed Virgin to attract attention in the

spiration of Mary.

was a pious belief of the early times of Christianity, that the Mother of our
It

guard-room of the

castle, or

beneath the

It was, no ormel of the public square. doubt, on account of these religious and

Saviour took under her special protection those poets whose songs were pure ; she was, they said then, bonorum poetarum
magistram.
Irish

popular songs, that the apostles of the

Reformation, who had no music in their souls, broke the harmless harps of the

The
Scotch

verses of Sedulius,
poet,

an

or

who

flourished

same time with the minstrels, organs of the churches, which they conat

the

about the year 430, were considered as particularly pleasing in her sight. Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, never invoked

temptuously called boxes of whistles.^ In Ireland, a price was set upon the heads
of the bards, as well as
priests.*

any other muse, and his fine Ave maris

Stella,

the

hymn

of shipwrecked

mari-

upon the heads of

ners, has come down to us, through ages, with the Salve Regina of Herman de

Among

the Scandinavians, the

hymns

of the Blessed Virgin forget the warlike

had made them

Veringhen, which the angels, according to the Jesuit de Barry, sung on the margins

songs of the scalds, of which there remains only the

fierce

and

honour of their Queen, and which the Christians of Anof

fountains,

in

funeral

hymn of Regner Lodbrog. The celebrated hymn to the Mother of God, the

tioch intoned

on the walls of their be-

Boga-Rodziga of St. Adalbert, succeeded in Poland the wild chant of the WaideIn Lithuania, the hymn to Mary took place of the canticles of Milda, the
lotes.

sieged city, when they repulsed the attacks of the Saracens.^

Soon
the

after the

conquest of England,

Normans established at Rouen, under the name of puys, or palinodes, great contests of poetry in

goddess of beauty, of spring, and of roses. The hartinikas, those wandering minstrels
Border Minstrelsy." (2) By an act of Elizabeth, put in force again under Cromwell, and the execution of which was
(1)
strictly enjoined,

honour of the Mother

of

God
;

these contests, over which the

his bowels

quarters

were torn out and burnt, and

every

Roman
a

the mere fact of being

jiriest,

Catholic priest, by was considered

up on an iron spike, was exposed in In 1652, the commisthe public market-place. sioners of Dublin paid five pounds sterling for the
his head, set

head of a

priest,

or of a bard.

(M.

Feuillide,

gnilty of treason, and without was condemned to be hanged

any further charge, till half dead, for

Lettres sur I'lrlande.) (3) Histoire des Croisades,

t. i.

par

M. Michaud,

then he had his head cut off and his body cut into

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

prince, or the

327

head of the confraternity

presided, were

of

of the

germ French academy, and assumed themselves later on the title of the Aca-

Our Lady

the

middle ages, and the next that followed them, the chant of the pilgrims, who went to some sanctuary built on the
sandy shore of the ocean, or imbedded in the granite and basalt of the mountains.

demy of the Palinodes. An archbishop of Rouen drew up the statutes of this

literary

and

religious

company, whose

That long succession of divine names and graceful appellations, interrupted by

I

sittings were held in one of the principal churches of the city, and who

solemn

those words, so simple and affecting was cast upon the wind, Pray for us

felt

honoured

to

remain under the pa-

which bore away that name, sweet and

indistinct,
valleys, or
to

tronage of Mary.

One

strict

condition

the

depths

of

invisible

for the laureates of the Blessed Virgin

on the surface of the waves.

was that the

ballads, sonnets,

and royal

hymns which were submitted

ment
of the Neustrian

to the judg-

Academy should
them

One might have thought that the angels God, who kissed the shadow of Mary while living, when they passed by her,
of as the Spaniard Zorilla poetically says, scattered her praises in the fields of
ether.

be in honour of the Immaculate Conception, or at least that the subjects of

should be perfectly chaste, and that the praises of the Virgin conceived without
sin should

Christmas carols, those hymns so joyful,

be introduced

into

them.'

which are

full

of the

memory

of

the

These contests exercised an influence over the poetical productions of the minstrels of Normandy, and gave them a
grave and religious tinge adapted to the national character, which was at that

Blessed Virgin of Bethlehem, those carols, sung by night, by the light of torches,
across the country whitened with snow,

or by the side of antique cribs decorated with green leaves and winter flowers,

time serious and chivalrous in a supreme The feast of the Conception, degree.
with
its

were then the favourite songs of

provinces of France.

all

the

The hymns

of our

sacred poesy, became the feast

others, the feast

churches

have

impressed on music a
fills
it, and plunges it Christmas carols, more

above

all

In
St.

the

twelfth

of century, a religious

the

Normans.
of

noble and severe character, which

the soul, overwhelms
into the infinite.

Victor had composed in her honour the Litanies which so well harmonise

with

the

lofty

roofs of cathedrals,

the

majestic sounds of the organ, and the white veils, and the copes of gold brocade, and the roses which are gathered by young children. They were in the

effect, give it a tincture arcadian. It is the song of a bird quite which soars up cheerfully towards God, to celebrate a mystery of joy ; it is a forest

simple in their

perfume which embalms the

altar of the

(1) Eavirons de Paris,

t.

iii.

The youthful Mother of our Saviour. cheerful and rural poetry which is joined with these charming airs, breathes the*

328

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

and that the angels weep over their Queen. No religion, since the world has existed, has furnished poetry and music
with a theme like the Stabat Mater
sorrows of
call
;

shades of the woods, the odour of the white-thorn, the perfume of the bee-hive,

and the bleating of the lambs.

It is the

song of the people, the song of the shepherds, the song of nature herself.
In these
carols,

the

Mary
full

at the foot of the cross,

Mary

is

always exhi-

bited as a Virgin quite young, very fair and innocent, who wraps up the King of

power of harmony and poetic inspiration; this theme, though one of grand effect, as it has been

up the

Angels in her poor veil, and who is too much absorbed in her joy to think of the
bare walls of the stable and the straw of
the

conceived,
to

is
it

still

far

carry

out to

from perfection that height would

;

be the
art.

last

and most sublime

effort

of

manger.

The

people,

inured

to

privations of every kind, have not dwelt upon the poetry, but the happiness of

vival in the

Spanish poetry had signalised its remiddle ages by hymns conto

the Mother of Christ;

it is

a picture of
is light.

secrated

Mary.

In the

thirteenth
first

Claude Loixaine, where

all

In

century,

Gonzalo de Cerceo, the

the Stabat Mater^ that prose of the thir-

known

Spanish poet, called himself the

;

teenth century which the Italians have

so poetically

named

II pianto di Maria,

poet of the Blessed Virgin and Luis de Leon created, a little later, lyric poetry
in

the subject

is

no longer the joys of the

It

Spain, on purpose to celebrate . her

Nativity, but the terrors of Golgotha.

is

worthily.

a liymn of agony, the pervading character of which is a mournful depression,

In Germany, very early also, the Tudescan poets had softened down
their rude idiom for the Blessed Virgin,

mixed with ejaculations which pierce the

it is the poignant recital of very soul the sufferings of a mother, who sees an
;

whom

they celebrated down to the sixteenth century, with admirable faith and
delightful simplicity.

adored Son expiring before her eyes. To be initiated in the inconceivable dolours
included in this
composition, and the sorrowful mysteries which it discloses, it should be heard, as we have heard it, in

the great Italian poets of the revival, the most illustrious distinguished themselves by their devotion to Mary.

Among

Dante

celebrated
" "

her

in

magnificent
"

verses in his

Paradise."

woman,"
great,

one of those vast churches of

Italy,

where

he exclaims,
hast so

thou

art

so

thou

the people pray with faith and chant with soul; one would say that the majestic notes of the organ are broken by sobs,

power, that whoever desires a favour, and has not recourse to thee, desires that his wish may fly without

much

thongbt that the Stabat Mater was couposed by Innocent III., one of the greatest popes of tho church, and the founder of two great
(1) It is

orders

the

Dominicans
it

and

the

Franciscans

others attribute

to Jacoponi de Todi, or to St.

St.

Gregory, and some to

Bernard.

BLESSED VIEGIN MART.

In the picturesque solitudes of

329

wings."'

rara,

Vaucluse, Lintenno, and Arqua, where Petrarch, seduded himself, to await that
poetic inspiration of which the tumult of cities prevents the approach, the tower of
his

tohang round his neck ahttle silver Madonna, which he himself had formerly

given to the father of this great painter. " You will take it back," said he to him, " when I shall have breathed my last."

domestic chapel is still seen, which was adorned with a superb Malittle

Rubens
after

at once obeyed this dying voice, and the author of Jerusalem Delivered,

donna by Perugino.
of this fine

It

was

at the feet

Madonna

that he

composed

burning some poetical sketches, conceived during the maddening hours of his
unjust and horrible captivity, began to

his invocation to Mary, his last canzona, so humble, so tender, so Christian, where
his

heart kneels

before the merciful and

repeat prayers in a low voice, holding in his hands, trembling with the convulsions
of his agony, that

may guide him into the way from which he has wandered, and may commend him to her divine Son
sweet Virgin, that she

image, the sight of

to die well.

which encouraged him

When

the corpse of the great poet,

who had been

at the

moment when he

shall yield

up

his soul.*

Tasso, going from Mantua to turned out of his way to go and Rome,
a

suffered to want every thing during his life, had obtained the honour of a triumph,

Rubens had no heart

cession
;

to join in the pro-

fulfil

vow

to

Our Lady

of Loretto;

he

he went and hid himself in the

St.

fatigued with his and in want of money to finish journey,

arrived

there

much

most obscure corner of

Peter's

at

Rome; and
altar of the

there, prostrate

before the

but a lucky chance brought thither at the same time one of the princes of
it
;

Blessed Virgin, he began to

little

pray with great fervour, holding in his

Gonzaga, who was much attached to him, and who provided for all his wants.
Recovered from his fatigue, he with the most fervent devotion
duties of his pilgrimage, and the finest hymn ever made in
fulfilled
all

hands that
Tasso.

silver

Madonna which
icy

he had taken back from the

Christianity in
birth

hands of

the

its

had respected

composed honour of
in

music and poetry among the pagan bards, only sanctifying their use error was less
;

Our Lady

of Loretto.*

"When stretched upon his death-bed,

the convent of St. Onuphrius, Tasso re-

she had broken indulgent than truth she put a stop to singing, and the harps, members of the puritan universities
;

quested young Rubens, who had freed him from the dungeons of the Duke of Fer-

had
"

to

swear that they renounced poetry,

that profane

and useless

art."*

Here

(1) Dante, II Paradiso, c. 33. (2) Le Rime del Petrarca, t. iii.

(3) Tliis (1)
is

c. 8.

This gross fanaticism lasted so long in some parts of Scotland, that Wilson, the author of a poem
entitled

the opinion of Ginguene.

The

Clyde, appointed, thirty

years ago,

poetry, which they treated as a profane and useless art.

The Scotch

covenanters

despised

to the situation of a schoolmaster at

Greenock, was obliged to promise in writing that he would give

U U

830
the

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

unheard of magnificence, and which
furnishes
still

Reformation was consistent, which, be it said without offence, it was not

always.
Poetr}'
attracts

them with the

finest

powerfully
all

to

grandest conceptions, and

colouring.
is

themes, the the warmest

Catholicism,

which welcomes

great

It is to Catholicity alone that

ideas, and directs without extinguishing them. Poets, who are all ardour and en-

thusiasm, find themselves under restraint within the four bare walls in which they are confined by Protestantism; their

indebted for a type, which painting has eclipsed the finest types of antiquity ; a type of which the great masters of the
Italian school caught glimpses, believing

minds want elasticity, and their imagination knows not what to resort to amidst that labyrinth of sects, which are subdivided and ramified, like the hundred
and twenty thousand
rivulets

they were, in dreams of heaven, beautiful as ecstasies ; a type which conartists as

ducts the Christian artist to the heights

of an ideal world, where

him,

Mary
the

none can follow

of Basra.

Thus numbers

the poets of
to

Germany

return in

Painting is, in relation to her sisters, the eldest daughter of Christian worsliip ;
she
is

sheepfold of the Shepherd of souls, to the sheepfold of the fine arts, and bend the knee before the the true
Protectress
of

first artistic

adoption
is

the church, and this adoption

glorious as
it

made in the more

Accord-

was commenced with Jesus,

sacred

song.

Schlegel,

and continued with his Mother.

Tiek, Novalis, Werner, Adam Miiller, have

returned to the faith of their fathers

and
de-

ing to the tradition of the East, the first Christian painting was the sacred face of

one of their
votes

fellow-countrymen, who

much
all,

ability to the service of a sad

cause, said on this subject,

is

our Lord, miraculously imprinted on the the second, the portrait veil of Veronica
;

"

Alas

this
1"

of the Blessed Virgin, painted by St. Luke.

not

the painters abjure by troops Painters abjure in Germany?

.

These two revered pictures gloriously

of the primitive

in-

troduced the art of Zeuxis into the midst

tlie

reason

is,

that the

same holy
the

in-

Church;

thus we find

fluence,
licism,

which
acts

attracts the poet to Catho-

"

painter. equally upon and painting are sisters," said Poetry the wild Salvator Rosa, and he said well.

holy pictures of Mary in high veneration throughout the Levant, from the first

dawn

of Christianity.

The

painter, like the poet, loves

what

is is

grand and antique

iniftosing in rites

in

faith,

what

Painting, among the Jews, was confined to the representation of flowers and every representation of the animal plants
;

turally

and worship; both naincline towards Catholicism, which

has protected the cradle of the arts with

kingdom had been forbidden by Moses, who distrusted the extreme propensity of that people to idolatry, and who was
called to settle

them

in the midst of a

up

j)oetry.

(Sir

Walter

Scott,

" Border

Min-

strelsy.'")

crowd of pagan nations, where the symbol This had made them forget the type.

BLESSED VIEGIN MAET.

in prohibition was so rigorously observed, the Romans were the latter times, that

831

anything vague, and their active imagination felt the necessity of seeing the
objects presented to their veneration.

obliged to conceal their victorious standards, as they passed through the land of

The
of Asia

first

pictures which adorned the

Juda, to avoid wounding the extreme

susceptibility of the

Hebrews by the

sight

churches of the Syrians and the faithful Minor were painted upon wood,
mixture of melted wax.

of their eagles.

On

the other hand,

we

with colours which rendered solid and

brilliant a

read in the Acts of the Apostles, that the converted Jews divested themselves with

Such

were the famous pictures of Edessa in

much
dices,

difficulty of their national

and that

it

was

prejunot their doing that

the innumerable prohibitions of the law of rigour did not continue under the law
of grace.
It follows thence, that with the

Mesopotamia, of Seydnai in the vicinity of Damascus, of Didinia in Cappadocia, of Sosopoli in Pisidia, of Philermes in
the isle Cyprus, and, in fine, of Antioch. Before these pictures, lamps were kept

exception of the portrait painted by St. Luke, it is all but demonstrated that the
earliest representations of

burning perpetually, and there

it

was that

the work of

Mary were not the Hebrews; every thing,

the great bishops, great doctors, and great saints of the first ages of the church, camo
to pray for help

and support.

St.

Alexis

on the contrary, leads us to suppose that they were the productions of the lonians,

lived at the feet of

St. Basil

Our Lady

of Edessa;

who long possessed

the holy Mother of

implored the divine protection, from the fury of Julian the Apostate,
before

our Saviour at Ephesus, the city of artists, the country of Apelles, and at that time
the light of Asia. The Ephesians, in fact, preserved the memory of the Blessed
Virgin with the most tender veneration, as is attested by the churches which they In the year so early dedicated to her.

Our Lady

of Didinia,

and

St.

Ger-

manus
which

related to the fathers of the second

council of Ephesus, the precious favours

pleased God to grant to Asia Minor, through the intercession of Our

it

Lady of Sosopoli. Our Lady of Philermes, which

attracted

403, the fathers of the general council of Ephesus declared that this great city deits principal lustre from St. John the Evangelist and the Blessed Virgin. There, they say, John the theologian and

a great concourse of pilgrims to the isle of Cyprus, was carried ofl" by the knights
of

rived

Rhodes, when they were forced to

;

abandon the Archipelago to tlie crescent it is still at this day on that impregnable
rock where so

the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, were honoured in churches, for which they had a special veneration. This veneration,

many

chains of Christian

pilgrims have been broken, and protected by the lions of England, once Catholic;

according to

all

appearance, had
;

ah

no doubt the glorious and

faithful

been expressed by holy pictures for the Greeks were not fond of plunging into

banner of the order of Malta was more

pleasing in her eyes.

832
Pictures of
fresco

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

Mary were multiplied
in

on a golden ground
of

found the

duced a long succession of masterpieces, to which the history of the Blessed Virgin
contributed the principal part.
at

basilicas

Constantinople, and the Greek workers in mosaic contended in

Raphael,

and talents with the painters to represent her in a manner more durable,
efforts

handsome, poetical, and pious as an angel, was the first to disthat

time

cover,

in

his

admirable
air,

sposalizio,

the

and no
cleverly

less beautiful, in those pictures so

noble and simple

the beautiful and

and patiently variegated, which

called
for
pictures

Ghirlandtijo

for

eternity.

serious physiognomy, the celestial attitude of the Mother of divine love and

Greece had
frescoes,

ages

the

stained

glass,

monopoly of paintings, and

holy
to

mercy.

One would

say

that

on

some day

mosaics.

The

first

picture of the

Ma-

donna which was venerated in Italy, if we believe the tradition of the Neapoliwas a portrait in mosaic of the Blessed Virgin, executed by Greek artists,
tans,

Mary appeared him, seated on the clouds, with her attendant angels, and that he painted

of fervent prayer

her in her glory as he saw her.

How
foot-

many men
steps
of

of genius

walked in the
master
!

that

great

Michael

on the walls of the ancient church of

Santa Restituta, a temple of Neptune, converted into a Christian cathedral by St. Aspreno, who passes for having been
the a
first

Angelo, Correggio, Titian, the Carracci, Spagnoletti, Domenichino, and that austere

Carlo

Dolce,
to

who had
the
Salvator,

given

his

pencil

by vow

Blessed Virgin

bishop of Naples.*

Italy

for

Mary, and that wild

pilgrimages to What richness
of

who made
Loretto.
!

long time had nothing of its own but barbarous frescoes, where the saints

Our Lady
!

of

imagination

what

made one shudder, and where

Virgin had the
tint

the Blessed

superhuman conceptions
the great Italian masters
gious

what profound

of an

Ethiopian.

feeling of the sanctity of the art,

!

among

Tliose Virgins with black faces, which some have attributed to the degenerate

Those prodi-

pencil of the Greeks, are claimed by the Neapolitans, who give the honour of them
to their first painters
;

men, who have disinherited the future, and made us forget the past, not being afraid to show themselves faithful
servants
lighted
of

we may

leave

them

the

Blessed
before

to them, without adding

any very noble

the Ita-

up tapers

they Virgin her images,

;

ornament

to their artistic glory.

took off their caps as they passed before

From Cimabue, who founded

Maratti and Salvator Rosa,
its latest

lian school, about the year 1240, to Carlo

them, said their beads like every one else, and their great ambition was to
decorate a Christian church with

masters, that

is,

pass for during a space

who

some

of five centuries, religious painting pro-

holy painting, for which tliey prepared as " Sound for some sacred undertaking. all the trumpets, set all the bells ringing,"

(1) Delices

de

I'ltalie,

t. iii.

p. 79.

wrote

Salvator

Rosa

to

Dr. Ricciardi;

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

"
after thirty years' residence
six

833

in

Rome,

by the pope.

whole lustres of disappointed hope, and of an existence full of continual tribulations from heaven and from
after

Caravaggio, the son of a mason, received the cross of the Order of

Malta, a superb gold chain, which the Grand Master put round his neck with
his

men,
to

am

at length called
for a

upon

for

once
"
*
1

own hands, and two

slaves to wait

paint a picture
is

high altar

upon him.
as a cook

This

extravagant joy, as

we

see; but

and a grinder of

Claude Lorraine, who begwi colours, was

then how Catholicity loved, encouraged,

and protected that

her temples with so

art,

which endowed
masterpieces
!

the friend of the elegant Cardinal Bentivoglio, and the distinguished favourite of

many

Urban VIII.
which

The Roman
still

cardinals ex-

did the Apostolic See nobly elevate the man of genius to itself how did it
1

How

pended part of their fortune in masterpieces,

form the ornaments of

make
all

the distance easy, and do away with

distinctions,
to

social

honour

illus-

churches, or of their splendid galleries; and from their example, all the Catholic
princes encouraged the arts, and adorned the altars with religious paintings.

trious talents,

and make them walk on an

equality with great fortunes and patrician birth Giotto, that shepherd who left
I

This

is

what Catholicity has done

for

his flock in a romantic valley of

to

work in

Tuscany the school of Ciraabue, was

V.,

painting.
differently.

The

Protestants

acted very

Calvin,

who
the

patronised by Clement

and

it

was the

and

even

ranked

despised poetry, organs in the

successor of St. Peter

tlie first artist.

who sought out

by his father

to

Michael Angelo, destined be a worker in wool, was

among foolish vanities, inveighed with no less acrimony and vehemence against the idolatry of painting ; accordingly,

churches

honoured by something more than the favour of Julius II., he possessed his
confidence and friendship. Raphael, the son of a poor and obscure painter, was
offered

religious

pictures

were torn

up

without mercy by his savage followers; and this aversion to an art so noble lasted
so long, that in the acts passed in the

on the one hand the cardinalate,

car-

English parliament in 1636,

that
all

it is

enacted

and on the other, the hand of a

dinal's niece, the friend of

those pictures in the royal gallery

Leo

X., t'nat

which represent the Blessed Virgin Mary,

or the Second Person of the Tiinity, shall

munificent protector of the

arts.

Lan-

franc, that Parmegiano, so popular in the

eighteenth

century, friend of cardinals, a knight of the holy

was

an

intimate

be publicly burnt.' What better could the Caliph Omar have done ?
worthy of remark that tlie two leaders of the Protestant sects, while
It is

Roman
(1)

empire, and specially patronised

<li

Lettere

Salvator

Rosa,

al

Dott.

Gio.

Batista Ricciardi, Lettera 20. (2) Journals of the House of

Commons.

In

Holland, the aversion of the Anabaptists to images

was 80 great, that besides those which were in the churches, they broke all the pictures which were in the town of Leyden, and effaced even the paintings on walls and windows. (Delices de la lioU., p. G4.)

334

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

features, the reflection of the soul.

declaiming against Catholic pictures, set themselves up complacently as models

to

The

figure of

Mary was the triumph of mind

their partisans,

and multiplied

their

own
"

likenesses

as

much

as

possible.

over the clay of the body; to represent this heavenly woman, it is not enough to

" Luther," says an Anglican author, was

always

much

flattered in multiplying his

study the moral world, and to represent, in all their variety of shades, the most
gentle and noble virtues of the soul;
it

own

portrait,

and

partner."*

His

of his ugly erected at Witstatue,

that

was necessary

to penetrate the

mystery of

tenberg, is exhibited to the veneration of the Lutherans of Germany, and M.

the existence of those glorified beings, who live not with our life, and are

Hermiuier himself compares that veneration to that which Catholics pay to our

nourished only by holiness, pure love, and

it was essential contemplation that the artist, animated by the fuoco animatore of religion, should be elevated on the wings of faith, to that white

divine

Lady of Loretto. Calvin, possessed by the same strange mania, occasioned this
judicious question of Saconay to be put " to the Huguenots of France Why are
:

you
in

so

malicious

paintings?

against statues and Does not your Calvin delight

throne where the Blessed Virgin is seated in the midst of saints and angels, and
that he should piously invoke his divine model, before he takes up his pencil. It
is

exhibiting

himself

in

his

likeness,

sculptured in Geneva, with so much ability that it vividly represents his face and his sunken eyes, and shows him up as

not enough to be a Christian, one must

;

be a good Catholic to paint Mary more than one young German artist has felt
this before a

bad as he actually is ? ' But let us go back to the fairest page of the annals of Christian art, let us
return to the influence of
arts of the

"

Madonna by Raphael, and

more than one abjuration has been the

consequence of that feeling. It was a just and charming idea of a
great foreign
painter,

Mary over the

revival.

middle ages and of the

M. Overbeck,

to

had represented physical beauty successfully, they had adpainters of antiquity

The

represent the Blessed Virgin inspiring and encouraging the arts of the middle
ages,
it

mirable models for the purpose but the Cliristian painters united to harmony of
;

and of the

revival.^

But how

is

that the chaste Mary, the

Queen

of

(1)

Memoire 8ur
t. i.

la vie

et

si^cle

de Salvator

Rosa,

p. 10.

In the middle of the terrestrial region, Cecily, &c. is a fountain with two Jjasins, one above the other ;
a jet from the upper basin shoots up to the sky. This fountain is inspiration more or less elevated.

(2) Arch, curieuses.

(3)

In heaven, the Blessed Virgin, enthroned on clouds, is surrounded by the angels and saints of the Old and New Testaparts
earth.

heaven and
such

M. Overbeck'a

picture

is

divided into two

Cimabue, Giotto, Mazaccio, L. de Vinci, Eaphael,

Dante, &c., are looking at the upper basin
;

wliile

ments
nacle,

as Moses, the architect

ot'

the taber-

the colourists, Titian, Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, examine in the lower basin the prismatic effects of
light
:

David the

poet, St.

Luke

the painter, St.

seated alone

upon the

steus of the fountain

BLESSED VIEQIN MAEY.

sacred harmonies, the divine model of St.

Luke, does not more inspire our contemporary artists, our national artists?

Bacchanalians, or to old Silene. Mary, bearing the infant Jesus in her arms,

Some
that
it

say that the

French school wants

came same

to disclose to art

and

society, at the

elevation

and genius, we believe rather

faith.

time, the religion of maternity, and she opened to sculpture the unexplored

People ask why the female saints and virgins, with which our

wants

career of moralities.

her

sister,

Sculpture grew, like in the classic land of the arts

lowered

adorned by modern art, are the rank of ordinary women, and have nothing about them suitable
altars

are

beautiful Italy; like her sister, she was

to

protected there by princes of the church.

Roman

to inhabitants of heaven. alas

!

The reason

is,

no longer draws inspiration from the sacred source whence the great masters were wont to draw; and
that
art

modern

Buonarotti decorated the chapel of the Medici, at Florence, with an exquisite

group, in Carrara marble, representing the Blessed Virgin and holy Infant. It is well known that the favourite
subject of Michael Angelo, for sculpture, was Christ dead on tlic lap of his Mother.

that those vague ideas of religion, which flit in the soul of the artist, like the

vaporous
mists, will

shades of

Ossian amid

the

never inspire him with any-

In the hours of dark sorrow, the great

Christian artist sculptured a sieta, that is, a figure of Our Lady of Dolours, of inimitable perfection, which he intended In fine, in our own for his own tomb.
days, the celebrated

thing noble. Let him transport his tent to those heights whence Raphael and

Michael Angelo caught glimpses of the Queen of virgins, and he will see her in
his dreams, pure

and

ideally beautiful as

Canova has paid

the

to

in times past.

Mary the

tribute of statuary, by a group

Nor

is

statuary either without obliga-

representing

Jesus dead,

Blessed

Greece had represented her statues seated, standing, and recumtions to Mary.

Virgin, and Magdalen, a work where the sculptor of Pius VII. has remained
scarcely inferior to

bent; but she had not imagined the suppliant posture of Our Lady of Dolours ; she

him

of Julius II.

The

influence of

Mary over Gothic

conspicuous than it was not on that

had not placed innocence and purity on

their knees before

architecture was less

God she
;

confided her

over the fine arts, but

beautiful children in marble to

female

account the less

real.

The

cathedrals

is

in8l>ired

s^en Michael Angelo, absorbed in himself, and by liis own genius. In the foreground of
is

the picture

Charlemagne, holding
;

in his

hand a

is recognised by their costume they seated except the Frenchman, he, impatient to learn, is standing up, and examining the master's

whose country
all

are

model of a Gothic church

St.

Gregory, the in-

ventor of the Gregorian chant ; artists digging up ancient bas-reliefs and studying them; an architect of the middle ages giving a lesson to young pupils,

The title of this composition is, The Arts plans. of the Middle Ages and the Itenais^auce, under the
"'

Protection of the Blessed Virgin."

836

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

abbe3's,

and

which the middle ages saw

with a crown on

its

head, and a chalice

more delicately more aerial, more graceful, ornamented, than any others we see that a thought
erected in her honour, are
;

in the right hand, is the work of Sabina, the daughter of Ervin, an architect, cele-

brated

like

his father

and his brother,

of

filial

love prevailed, not only with the

founder and the architect, but even with the humble mason who built them.

whose great work he continued after they had consumed their lives upon it.

These

artists,

who had

wrestled like

At that time, poor workmen went their rounds in France, offering their trowels and hammers wherever the piety of the faithful built churches; most of them asked
for

giants with the thought of the infinite, in order to express it in stone, did not

enrich tliemselves in these colossal undertakings, where the

no

salary

few roots, ground. In the course of two centuries, a hundred thousand men were seen working in this manner
at the cathedral of

and they

they received bread and a lay upon the bare

the rich

diamonds of princes, alms of great barons, and the

gold of city corporations passed by millions through their hands ;^ they would

have been ashamed

to

do

so.

Their labour
:

was more worthily paid

for

after their

Strasbourg, which Bishop Werner had

dedicated to Mary. Some of these workmen devoted themselves exclusively to building cliapels of

death, the majestic basilica, which they had built, opening its black marble pave-

ment, gathered them piously into bosom and one would have said that
;

its
its

they worked at them for the love of God, and refused all other work. There were some among these

the Blessed Virgin

lofty

and
to

light spires,

which pierced the

clouds, like

went

the prayer of a holy soul, plead their cause before the

who undertook,
tion, to finish

an exercise of expiaa certain number of oak or

as

Eternal.

clover leaves, or arabesques, every day.

This pious task was called the chaplet of The enthuthe picoteur ('stone-cutter).
siasm even

Around them slept, at the entrance, and in the shadow of the sacred walls, legions of workmen, vvho had wrought under their orders. The Church prayed
for

reached

the

weaker sex

them and blessed them, from age

to

women were

seen taking up the chisel to The statue of the sculpture Madonnas. Blessed Virgin, which is observed on the
of the cathedral of Strasbourg,

age, in their plain stone sepulchres.

this

And

was a recompense worthy of the ambition of spiritual men, who valued life
at its real worth.

portico

(1)

The most renowned

says M. Marmier, had not yet

architects of those days, learnt, with the art

and take

his

companions with him.

Two

Swedish

of building edifices, the art of enriching tliemselves. In 1287, Stephen de Bomraeil, being invited to

students, w ho were then at Paris, lent him 40 livres, which he engaged to repay tliem *' on the faith of

Sweden, to build the magnificent cathedral of Upsal, had not money enough to pay for his journey

Boinmeil, stone-cutter, master engaged to build tho Churcli of UpsaL"

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

837

Oh how carefully ought the preservation

to

these carvings, the loss of which would

of these masterpieces of the ages of faith be attended to Never will there be

!

be irreparable.

Under the

roof of the

cathedral of

seen again that unity of thought and purpose, which imparts to Gothic churches

Paris, that terrible periodical press, which,

something so complete, so devout

and

according to the passions which animate it, does so much good or evil, was born at
that time, like an innocent dove, which

solemn

never will works of their kind be

again executed upon earth ; for kings are not rich enough to defray the expense of

does not yet venture to leave the nest which it has made for itself in the hollow
large chandelier of iron, with diverging tubes, as high as the level of sight, was fixed into one of the walls of
of a stone.

them, and the elevated and religious ideas which guided the men of ancient days are
buried in their sepulchres. To find again the Werners, the Sullys, the Mowbrays,

who

projected our magnificent cathedrals, the architects who made the plans, the workmen who executed them, and the

Notre Dame, close to one of those side doors, which are masterpieces of ironwork. On a level with these tubes, supplied

people who ofiered so liberally the wellearned gold* from their savings for their erection, the globe must undergo a new
cataclysm, to purify it from the impiety which corrodes it, and the egotism which

wax, was suspended, by a flexible chain, a hollow tablet covered with wax. There, every

with

tapers

of

yellow

morning, by the instruction and on the

responsibility of the
editors,

chief directors, or

degrades

it.

The

carvers in

wood paid equal homage

of the period, the bishop, the or public officer, the printer, in mayor wax, recorded, with his stylus, the official
notification of

by their labours
were

to the Blessed Virgin; the stalls of the choir in the old churches

what was particularly

of a
bull,

in-

teresting to the

adorned, for the most part, with these carvings, where the artist delighted
to concentrate,

times

the

people of the good old

a
battle

arrival

gained, &c.
free to

Every

man of letters was then

in a small
life

graceful scene in the Virgin.

space, of the Blessed

some

which

come, by the light of the tapers, were indispensable in edifices

glass, to

The

cathedrals of
to

Auch and

darkened by stained
to the curious

make known
which
sense of the

Evreux, both dedicated

the

Mary, have had

good fortune to preserve many of

assembly was a daily one in the

this gazette,
full

Maurice de Sully had Notre Dame, at Paris, an usurer formed the design to employ a of his ill-acquired wealth in the construction part of the metropolitan church uneasy, however, as
(1)
rebuilt
; :

urged him to restore his ill-gotten gains to hi The usurer obeyed, and came afterwards debtors.
to tell the doctor, that after
all,

he

still

making restitution to had a considerable sum left. Then

"

to this
sult a

way

of

making

satisfaction,

he went to con-

the Chanter, who, holy person, far from approving of the usurer's restoring very to God what he had taken from men, strongly

named Peter

Peter replied to him, Go, brothery you may now bestow your alms upon churches in perfect security." (Felib., Hist, de Paris.)

43

X'

838

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

and
her

word, seeing that the news of the next day effaced that of the preceding.

brow

is

encircled

with

the

The numismatic

art rivalled

in zeal

She keeps the nimbus imperial diadem. or aureole, but does not wear the veil.

both painting and sculpture in representing the image of Mary on medals and
coins.

On

the reverse of the medal

:

is

seen this

inscription

GEKO PQMANQ AE2nOTH

that
'

TQ AIOFENH,
propitious
to

is,

"May

she be

The Empress Theophania, who married Romanus the younger in 959, is the first who presents us the figure of the Virgin on coins. She is placed on the reverse,
her
head, surrounded by the nimbus, wears the veil, and both her hands are
;

the

Emperor

Romanus

Diogenes."
Several emperors also placed the effigy of the Blessed Virgin on their coins after

Diogenes ; but from John Zimisces

to the

raised to the height of her breast

around
that

is taking of Constantinople, the letter no longer found on the coins of the lower

we read
IS,

the inscription

eE0T0K02,

empire.

the Mother of God.

The second husband

John

of that princess, Zimisces,who ascended the imperial

The Greeks were not the only people who paid this mark of respect to Mary a great many modern states still bear
:

throne in 969, had also a medal struck, on which appears on oije side the figure
of Christ,

on their coins the

Virgin.

effigy of

the Blessed

EMMANYHA, Emmanuel

On

the reverse is placed the Blessed Virgin, seated on a throne, and holding the infant

In the Papal states, we see upon the new Roman crown of silver the Blessed
Virgin borne on clouds, and holding in one hand the keys and in the other an ark ; this inscription surrounds the coin
:

Jesus upon her knees. Before her are represented the three wise men bringing

him

gifts
is

above the head of the Blessed

Supra firmam petram (Upon a firm rock).

Virgin
doves.

star,

and beneath are two

The

city of

Genoa

displays also

upon

emperor who placed the efiigy of the Blessed Virgin on the obverse of

The

first

the Blessed Virgin borne upon clouds, and holding the infant Jesus upon one arm. The inscription is
the gold genovines,
:

his coins,

was the Emperor Eomanus IV.,

Et

called Diogenes, who ascended the imperial throne in the year 1068. On these

Austria rege eos (And guide them). has gold ducats, on which is seen the Virgin borne upon clouds, having upon

medals appears the Blessed Virgin, having on her bosom the head of the holy
Infant, as the Council of
prescribed.

her arm the infant Jesus, who holds in

his

hand the globe

:

of the earth.

The

Ephesus had

The Blessed Virgin wears

the robes and head-dress of an empress. Round her head, and intermixed with

Maria, Mater Dei (Mary, inscription is Mother of God.) The same country has also gold maximilians, on the reverse of
the Blessed Virgin carrying the infant Jesus, who holds in his hand the

which

is

her hair, appear several rows of pearls,

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

839
the

The inscription is: globe of the earth. Salus in te sperantibus (The sah'ation of
those that hope in thee). The carolins, or gold pieces of three florins, of the same

carolins,

which exhibit the same

effigy,

Blessed Virgin, and the same inscription as the maximilians and carolins of Austria.
Portugal places upon its gold cruzades the name of Mary, Maria, surmounted

power, display also on their reverse the Blessed Virgin holding the infant Jesus,
with the same inscription as the maximilians.

by a crown, and encircled by two laurel branches; on the other side is a cross
with this inscription: In hoc signo vinces
shalt conquer by this sign).

Bavaria, too, strikes gold maximilians and

(Thou

CHAPTER
I'lLGRIMAGES.

XV.

"

The

devotion of pilgrimages," says

M.

Michaud,^ "has been encouraged in all religions ; indeed it is intimately connected with a feeling natural to man." This remark is just and true; in fact,
all

mountains, where the first nucleus was formed of the great nations of Asia,
lofty

who would have

their

that they descended, like their rivers, from the rocky womb of
it

mountains.

The Chinese, who

nations have had consecrated

places,

claim to be sons of the mountains, climb

to

which they have made

it

a duty to

resort at certain periods of

tion, to

commemora-

on their knees the rugged sides of Kicouthe oriental Tartars go to hou-chan

;

become more deeply penetrated

visiting those spots

with a sense of the benefits received from

summit of their hordes, Chan-pa-chan, and certain Hindoo Genvenerate, as the

tiles,

God, by

which they

the

Pyr-pan-jal

the
in

Japanese
their
lives

believed to be sanctified by his presence or his miracles.

undertake at least once

the

Pilgrimages are as ancient as society itself; those of the East, as Boulanger

very judiciously observes, are almost all connected with reminiscences of the desert;

dangerous pilgrimage of Isje, the mountain from which their ancestors descended; the Apalachites, or wild FIoridans, go at the return of each season to
sacrifice

upon Mount Ohumi,

to

return

in fact, those pilgrimages, the institution of which is lost in the night of

for their object the ages, have generally

their thanks to the sun, who, as they say,

saved their fathers from a deluge, &c.

These pilgrimages

are

founded

upon

(1) Hist, des Crois.,

t. i.

traditions corrupted by time, but certhe tainly historical; we find in them

340
traces,

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

and we see in them the
effects, of

that thought of profound terror, which found expression in the plain of Sennaar,

he may have courage to live. When he finds neither sympathy nor consolation among his fellow-creatures, he inthat
stinctively evokes

by the building of the famous tower of Disheartened by the confusion Babel.

of tongues, the post-diluvian races, not being able to seek refuge in towers

the

inhabitants of a

and claims that support from them which society denies him, or
better world,
is

unable to afford him.

which should reach up

settled at least

to

the

clouds,

proves this propensity of the soul

Nothing better than

upon high mountains, to save themselves, if possible, from the disastrous chances of another deluge.
It
till

the conduct of the Indians,

who were

oppressed by the first viceroys of Porthese people, disarmed and intugal

;

was not

the sun

failed

them, and

offensive,

no longer finding

either protec-

refused to produce the corn necessary for the food of the rising colonies, that they

tion or support in the successors of Al-

phonsus D' Albuquerque, came and sat

were seen

to settle

down

in the plains,
to drain

down

like suppliants at the foot of that

which they were often obliged before they went into them.

great man's tomb, to implore of the illustrious dead, reposing

Hence

heneuth the monu-

comes the respect of the orientals for a respect which their sacred mounts

mental marble, that justice which the living would not grant either to theii
rights or their tears.

they prove by annual visits, accompanied with vows, oiFerings, and prayers. After reverencing the cradle of nations, they
;

Protestantism, which
pulverises all that
it

discolours

and

comes

in contact

venerated t^at of religious

with, has not failed to abolish the pious

visits

then those places which reworship minded them of great events; then the

which Christians Lave, at all times, made to those places which Christ has
sanctified by his sufferings, or

men who became

illustrious

by deeds

which his

Thus the gratitude heroic or religious. of the Jewish people has preserved for so many ages the tomb of Esther and Mordccai, whither all the Hebrews dispersed over Asia have gone in pilgrimage for two thousand years. A wonderful thing,

Mother has rendered celebrated by her

favours. Turks, furious

enemies of images,

have lighted golden lamps before the but what Protestant has altars of Mary
;

placed a lamp in the holy sepulchre ? what Protestant has prayed before the
crib of

that the

by the gratitude of a few captives, should have survived the great empire of the
Assyrians, and that oblivion the ruins of Ecbatana.
it

tomb of two

exiles, erected

Bethlehem, where Saladin and the Caliph Omar prayed ? These local devo-

tions, they say, are superstitions;

God

is

alone saves from

everywhere.

God

is

Man

is like

the ivy

he must

"Who ever doubts

cling to
their catechism

it?

everywhere Catholics have not

first

got to learn one of the

;

questions of

something, something must support him,

they know, they

knew

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

fifteen

841

centuries

before

there

was

an

apostate monk in the world of the name of Luther, that God hears in every place the prayer of faithful souls, and that in
all

that place had been previously sanctified by a noble trait of brotherly love.* Man is, by

nature, so imperfect and so inclined to evil, that he has always some expiation to make,
before he approaches the source of all sanctity
;

places such prayer

is

what should hinder

certain favours
tuaries,

God
those

but granted from attaching

;

when

this expiation appears to

him

to

ancient sanc-

proportioned to his fault,

confidence
in

he

feels a surer
;

where he has been pleased often-

the succour of Heaven

times to manifest his

power by prodigies? There were in Judea plenty of green hills which he might have pointed out to David
for the site of his temple,

thence came the generous elation of the

who hoped in proportion to their tortures. The pilgrim acts upon the same
martyrs,
principle; he adds the fatigue, the-privatious, the inconveniences of the journey to

and yet he

chose the rocky threshing-floor of Areuna, the Jebusite, because there he had already
displayed his mercy;* and also,
believe a
if

we may

the prayer which he comes to O'er; and he hopes, in virtue of the sufl"erings which

charming

tradition,

which has

survived like a flower of the desert be-

neath the dark tent of the Arab, because

he imposes upon himself, to find favour before God, who suS'ered so much himand why should this hope be vain? self
1

(1) It was on tlie threshing-floor of Arenna that, at the prayer of David, the exterminating angel " At all times," says a great stopped his ravages.
ecclesiastical author,

"

God

has marked out certain

places especially destined to receive the prayers of men. One must be more incredulous in the his-

And he did as he had thought of same night, the other brother awoke, doing. and said to his wife, " My brother is young he lives alone without any companion ; he has no one to assist him in his labour, or console him in his
refuse them."

On

the

fatigue

it is

tory of the Church than in any other, not to believe that God has been pleased that his saints should

common

field as

not just that we should take from our many sheaves as he. Let us get

bo honoured more especially in certain places, and that to attract people to them, he grants favours there that he does not grant elsewhere."
(2) Jerusalem was a ploughed field ; two brothers owned that part of the land where the temple was

up, and go and carry secretly to his heap a certain number of sheaves ; he will not perceive them tomorrow, and 80 cannot refuse them." And they

The next day, did as they had thought of doing. each of the two brothers was much snrjirised to see that the two heaps were still equal neither one nor
;

afterwards built

one of those brothers was married,

they cultivated together the inherited from their father.

and had several children; the other lived alone; field which they had

the other could account for this prodigy. They did the same several nights following ; but as each
carried the

same number of sheaves

to his brother's

The

harvest time

being come, the two brothers tied up their sheaves, and made two equal heaps of them, which they left on the field. During the night, that one of the

heap, it remained always the same : till one night, both of them having kept watch, to find out the cause of this miracle, they met one another, each

two brothers who was not married had a good

" thought he said to himself, Jly brother has children and a wife to support, it is not just that my share should be as great as his come, let me take a few sheaves from my heap, which I will secretly
;

carrying the sheaves which they mutually intended Now the place where so good a for each other.

thought had come at the same time, and so perseveriugly to two men, must be a place agreeable to God, and men blessed it, and chose it for building a house of God.

add

to his

he will not perceive

it,

and so cannot

S43

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

illustrious Robertson,

The

who was not

blinded by the narrow prejudices of his sect, loudly acknowledges the benefits

Pilgrimages, which date from the deluge,* which have been received by all
nations,

and

which

among

Catholics

which Europe owes

the seas.

pilgrimages beyond First, the emancipation of the

to

strengthen religious feelings by opening the soul to a crowd of generous and

sanctifying emotions,* are therefore whatever Protestants say of them, who have

common
ledge,

people, the creation of

and navigation,

commerce the propagation of know-

and

tlie

the improvement of agriculture, introduction of numerous plants,

cereals,

trees,

and

which contribute

at

no proper understanding of the human heart a thing good, laudable, useful, and We see those agreeable to the Divinity.

the present day to the support of the people of the West ; then the freedom of
slaves, to

pious practices held in honour from the early times of the Clmrch ; Mary, the

which pilgrimages contributed

else; for the feudal
tight-

holy
first

women, and the

apostles were the

more than anything

lord,

who mingled barefoot, and in

pilgrims, and the faithful of Europe and Asia walked readily in their footsteps,

the pilgrims of all fitting clothes,* with conditions who undertook some holy veage
with him, more easily understood, in those hours of humility and penance, that those
despised slaves, whom antiquity put on a level with mere things, were, nevertheless,
his brethren in the sight of God ;

People flock hither," wrote St. Jerom in the fourth century, " from the whole
world
:

"

Jerusalem

is full

of

men

of every

nation.
to

Every Gaul of distinction comes

Jerusalem.

The
if

Briton,

separated

and when

from our world,

he had obtained the favour which he

came to seek, far away from his castle, in some ancient sanctuary, he often thought of enfranchising a certain number of his
vassals, in

gress in religion, search of a land which

he has made any proleaves his pale sun in

he knows only by

name, and by the testimony of the scripWhat need is there to speak of tures.
the Armenians, the Persians, the people of India, of Ethiopia, of Egypt, fertile in
solitaries,

slavery,

honour of Christ, the enemy of and of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

sweetness and mercy.*
du
Sire de Joinville.

who

is all

of Pontus, of Cappadocia, of

(1) See the Memoires

(2) slaves

hoping that the promised deliverer would soon

enable them to enter

great number of old acts of liberation of " still contain this pious form of words, transfer and abandon to Our Lord and the Blessed

We

Virgin Mary
(3) If

all

our rights over

"

&c.

it again. (4) Doctor Johnson, a zealous Protestant, and one of the most profound thinkers of England, him" since men self acknowledges, that go every day to

we might

believe the old traditions of

view the

Asia, pilgrimages would be of still higher antiquity. According to the rabbins, the children of Adam

fields where great actions have been performed, and return with stronger impressions of the event, curiosity of the same kind may naturally

returned more than once to contemplate from a distance the enclosure of the terrestrial paradise ;

had

dispose us to view that country whence our religion its beginning and I believe no man surveys
;

and some of the sons of Seth settled on the top of a monutain, from which it could be seen, always

those awful scenes without

holy resolutions."

(Rasselas,

some confirmation
c, xi.)

of

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

both Syrias, of Mesopotamia, and of the swarms of tlie faithful sent to us by the East? According to the oracle of our
Saviour, where
will
tlie

343

mascus founded a perpetual lamp, out of gratitude for a favour which he had obtained by the intercession of Mary ; Our Lady of Belment, two hours' march from
Tripoli
;

body

shall be, there

gathered together. They come in crowds to these places, and edify us by the splendour of their
eagles
diflferent,

the

be

finally,

Our Lady

of Tortosa, the

virtues.

Their language is their religion is the same."*

but

miracles at which, in the middle ages, resounded through all Christendom, and to which the Mussulmans themselves

have sometimes brought their children

baptism, persuaded as they were that this ceremony, thanks to the protection of the Blessed Virgin, would
preserve them from We read in the
all evil.'

The Mussulmans, who

that
it is

say very justly

to receive

a pious and eminently salutary practice to go and visit the tombs of those who have died with pure souls, have often
knelt by the side of Christians in places to which these resorted in pilgrimage.
After the taking of Jerusalem, the Caliph

Omar would
into

the

go to Bethlehem church, and there

he went
his

Memoirs of the Sire de Joinville that he went on a pilgrimage to Our Lady de Tourtouze, whence he brought back relics and camlets, which
occasioned a very amusing mistake. The seneschal, who had himself taken the
relics

made

prayer before the crib where the Lord Messy (A'isa Eesoul) was born. He would

to the

have the Mussulmans pray there only one at a time, lest there should arise in
the crowd any disorder unbecoming the sanctity of the place, and he forbad any
to assemble there for any other motive than that of prayer; it is Saadi himelf who informs us of this,'' and the tradition

officers

some

king, sent by one of his packages of fine stuffs from

Tripoli to the pious

Queen Margaret,

to

whom he
them.

was very happy to

The queen, who knew

present that the

Sire de Joinville

he brought

was returned, and that relics from Tortosa, seeing

the chevalier of the seneschal of

Cham-

of Jerusalem adds that the

same prince

went

to pray at the tomb of Mary. Besides the localities connected with

pagne enter her apartment with a package in his hand, was going to kneel down
before the package, thinking that these were the relics she had heard of. The
chevalier

our redemption, there were several famous

pilgrimages in the Holy

Land Our Lady

:

who brought the

parcel, being

of Edessa, in Mesopotamia, whither the first Christians came in crowds ; Our

ignorant of the queen's motive for

what

Lady

of Seydnai,

where a sultan of Da-

she did, knelt dc "n himself, looking at Margaret without being able to speak.
hia

(1) S. Ilicr., Ep. 17.

(2)

Mussulmans pray there only one by

one, with

Omar would go

to

Bethlehem

he entered

the church, and made his prayer in the manger where the Lord Messias was born. lie would have

prohibition to assemble there in crowds, or be at all (Gulistan, On the Manners of Kings, p. 301.) noisy.

(3) Tortosa

is

the

modern Tripoli of

Syria.

844

THE HISTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

princess, seeing

The
told

him

in this posture,

on the rock which was then surrounded by forests, where at the present day rises from the midst of shifting sands the amphibious fortress of Mount St. Michael.* It was there that the pilots of Armorica

him

to rise,

adding with piety and

"Relics,

goodness that it was not for him to kneel, as he had the honour to carry holy relics.

the che" I do not valier, quite astonished, carry it is a of camlets which the any parcel
replied

Madam?"

went

purchase of the Druids of Mount Belen enchanted arrows, to which they

to

Sire de Joinville has sent you."

Then

foolishly attributed the

power of changing

the queen and her ladies in attendance " And," said the queen hegan to laugh. " bad luck to to the chevalier, your lord, for making me kneel before his camlets."'
Pilgrimages to the
lost

When

the winds and dispersing the tempests. the steep mountain, which was

the last bulwark of Druidism, received a

Christian abbey, and it had been solemnly consecrated to St. Michael the archangel, the cavern of Belenus was transformed

Mother of God have

nothing of their fervour in Asia, and the Franks are sometimes astonished to

meet Turkish women praying devoutly before the tomb of the Blessed Virgin,'
with the daughters of Sion, the rich women of Armenia, the Greek women

marine chapel, dedicated to the Star of the Sea, to Mary, This the protectress of seafaring men.
into a delightful

from beyond the seas, and the Catholic Arab women. The veneration of the
Blessed Virgin among the nations of the East, is not one of those things least
they find that devotion worthy of notice which submits the destinies of men to the power of a
striking
travellers;

chapel was built with pebbles, polished by the waves and rolled up by the ocean ; in the inside, the walls and roof were

adorned with branches of

coral, project-

ing pieces of amber and bright shells

to

picked up on every shore, and brought by pious mariners; the altar was part of a
rock, left with
all

sand-bank; and

all

the roughness of the round were seen hung

woman,
little

in a land

where

women

are so

valued.'

up, as votive offerings, anchors in token of safety, and chains of captives. This

Among

the

preceded the tianity; one of the most frequented pilgrimages of western Gaul was a dark
cavern, consecrated to the god Belenus,

Gauls, pilgrimages long establishment of Chris-

chapel was often visited, before the revolution, by long files of seamen saved

from shipwreck these children of the ocean, with a fervour which is not un;

common among them,

intoned, with a

(1) Hist, de Saint Louis, by the Sire de Joinville. (2) Occident et Orient, bj' M. Barrault. (3) The whole of the East, the Jews excepted, are full of respect for the Blessed Virgin, whom Mahomet has placed in the Koran in the number
f the four just

Jews of Persia, having ventured to speak ill of her before the followers of Ali, were nearly massacred
for their pains,

and were obliged

occurred.
forest

to leave the city

where the
(4)
St.

afair

The

vast

which surrounds Mount

women.

Chardin relates that the

Michael was under water about the year 709.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

voice rough as the

345

sound of the waves,

the Ave maris

Stella

oi Fortunatus, Bishop

of Poitiers, or that graceful Salve regina,

which the angels themselves sing on the margins of fountains, according to a

charming old
Barry.
tradition related by F. de

and secluded spot an altar God, and placed there the image, which was transferred later on to a temple built on the hill itself, whence
up in
this wild
to the true
it

took the

name

of

Our Lady

of Four-

viere.

The

veneration of the people, in

Tlie kings of France,

down

to

Louis XV., almost all visited this sanctuary of Mary and it is contended that an
;

the middle ages, surrounded this church, and it was a pilgrimage of great renown

throughout the Lyonnais

vinists,

but the Cal-

ancient prophecy, preserved in the abbatial archives, threatened with the greatest
calamities, even to the third generation,

and pillaged so many rich sanctuaries, showed no favour to

destroyed
that of

who

Lyons

the church of Fourviere,

the posterity af that king who should omit to make a pilgrimage to St. Michael

where, from the birth of Christianity, each generation had marked its passage

and Our Lady. If the prediction really exists, it has been but too truly verified.

by

gifts,

which would be

at this day as

The pilgrimages of France present themselves to us surrounded with wonders,which

precious to the antiquaiy, the sculptor, and the painter, as to the pilgrim, re-

prevent us from tracing their origin ; we shall speak of them, as our fathers spoke,

tained nothing but its four bare walls, which could not be melted down in the
crucible,

who were

so worthy of our esteem.

Those

tions disappeared,

where so many master producwhich had the mis-

wonders, which tradition has bequeathed to us from age to age, are not with us
Catholics articles of faith; and criticism

fortune to be

made

of gold or silver.

The chapter of St. John could not attend to the renovation of that of Fourviere,
till

may

attack
;

them without wounding the

our opinion, there would
:

long after the ravages of the

Church

yet, in

be nothing gained by rejecting them there must be some moss upon old oaks,

on ancient abbeys, and something of the marvellous in Gothic legends.

ivy

They worked at it after had restored the cathedral and the they cloister. The altar of Mary was at last consecrated on the 21st of August, 1586.
Protestants.

From

that

moment

the confidence of the

Lyons, supported by a bull of Innocent IV., St. Pothinus erected the first oratory

According

to the traditions of

where Mary was invoked in Gaul. It is asserted that he brought from the interior
of Asia a small statue of the Blessed Virgin, which he deposited in a solitary and

inhabitants turned towards that beacon " The source of of salvation. prodigies seemed dried up there," says an ancient " historian they began again at the end of the sixteenth century, and all Lyons
;

felt

great joy on the occasion."'

Hist,

shaded crypt on the banks of the Saone,

in front of the hill of Fourviere.

(1)

de Notre

Dame

Recherches historique* sur

Lyonuais.

I'autcl

de Fourvieres, ou ttelaire dea

He

set

44

tx

346

THE HISTOKY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

their eyes,

During the revolution of 1793, the church of Fourviere was sold but when
;

which had been cast down in

to

prayer,

said
"
1

themselves,

"

calm was restored, the zealous prelate who governed the ancient church of
Pothinus and Irenseus procured the sanctuary of Mary to be restored to the veneration of her.

Suchet

It

was indeed he

the

Marshal
mar-

shal of the empire, the child of Lyons, to whom was confided the defence of his
native city

who passed along the nave of

Mary with
a,

The

inauguration of

it

was

the church of

slow step, with

performed on the 19th of

April, 1805, by

a respectful countenance, in which

was

the sovereign pontiff Pius VII.' In 1832 and 1835, Lyons being threatened AA'ith
cholera, lifted

mingled something mild and softened, something like a distant remembrance of

joy,

up her eyes

to

the holy

which awakens and soothes the soul

mountain, and the Blessed Virgin said to " Thou shalt the scourge, go no farther."

with an invisible music.

The

capital of the

Lyonnese, respected

goes into the sacristy, and directs one of the chaplains to come to him there; the vice" Monsieur president hastens to him I'Abbe," says the marshal, stepping forward towards the ecclesiastic, " when I
:

He

against every attempt, changed its cries of alarm into canticles of joy, and the prayers

and

of thanksgiving were solemnly justly oflfered to Mary in her protect-

ing sanctuary.

Ever since the happy period when that sanctuary was restored to religious
worship, piety seems to have redoubled its ardour for Our Blessed Lady, and it is
at Fourviere

was quite a child, my pious and good mother often brought me here, to the feet of Our Lady, and this I still remember.

....

more, this recollection is dear to me, and I have never lost it. Be pleased to have some masses said for
I will say

that

it

is

sharpened and

my

intention."

And

after putting

down

inhabitants of Lyons, and those of the country adjacent, throng the

revived.

The

three Napoleons

on the table where the

offerings are registered, the brilliant hero

paths of the

hill of

Mary;
you

at

whatever

hour you repair

persons of
all

thrther,

always find

went to kneel, quite before the altar of Mary, unpretendingly,

of the gigantic epoch

yourself in the midst of a crowd of pious

where he prayed
edifying

for

some time with

ranks, ages, and conditions.

One

day, in the year 1815, a pilgrim of

devotion. Moreover, Marshal Suchet terminated his noble and loyal

an unusual kind, who had begun by observing Lyons from the summit of the
hill, like a its

career by a Christian end, for which

he
in

was praised upon his tomb.

man who wanted

to study

both

The pilgrimage

of

Our Lady of Puy,

strength and its weakness, presented himself in the church of Notre Dame;

Velay, is also reckoned one of the oldest of France. It is said that during the

and the

faithful, lifting

up

for a

moment

occupation of Gaul by the Romans, a

lady of Gaul,

who had been

first

baptized by

(1) Hist, de Notre

Dame

de Fourvieres.

St.

George, the

bishop of Puy, find-

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

ing herself dangerously ill, was told that she would recover her health on the sum-

847

converted Gaulish woman, he went to visit the miraculous rock. His astonishindescribable on seeing it covered with snow, though the heats of July were felt in the plain; and as he still

mit of mount ^ni'cmm, not

she
lived.

far

from where

ment was

in this

She had herself carried thither hope, and she was hardly seated on

the volcanic rock of Puy,' when a sweet Then she sleep came over her senses.
saw, in a dream, a celestial female, whose

wondered, a stag appeared, and began to run over this summer snow, tracing out
with his light feet the ground plan for a

dazzling robes floated like a white mist,

and whose head was encircled by a crown of precious stones; this woman, of exquisite beauty, was surrounded by a retinue of angelic spirits. "Who," inquired the daughter of the Gauls of one of the " who is that queen so blessed spirits,
gracious, so noble, and so beautiful, who comes to me, a poor, sick woman, in my " "

The holy bishop, yet more more astonished, had the place which the stag had passed over enclosed
vast edifice.

and

with a strong fence, and in a short time, there arose upon this favoured ground
a

cathedral, around

which was formed

the city of Puy, which considers itself impregnable, thanks to the protection of
j\Iary.

extreme
of

affliction ?

It is the

God," replied the angel;

Mother "she has

The

little

statue of the Blessed Virgin,

made
here,

choice of this rock to be invoked

and she charges you to inform her servant George of it. That you may not

which people come to venerate from the and from all the provinces of the South of France, is as old
interior of Spain,

as the crusades

it is

two feet high

it is

take the order of Heaven for a vain dream,

arise,

seated on a throne, after the

tlie

manner

of

woman, you

are healed."

When

she awoke, the Gaulish woman had, in Filled fact, no more languor nor fever.
with gratitude, she lost no time in running to the bishop, and relating to him

Egyptian divinities, and holds the Infant on its knees. What is worthy of
attention is that the statue is enveloped, from the feet to the head, in several

bandages of very

fine

linen,

cemented
was the

with her own mouth the message of the

angel.

most

carefully to the

wood, as

mands

After listening, in silence, to the comof her whom he most venerated

practice of the Egyptians with the mummies. The style of this statue, the

material of

cedar,
it,

and

the bandages
to the

next to God, St. George bowed down, as if the Blessed Virgin herself had spoken
to

which cover
tion that
it

have led

presumpafter the

is

the work of the solitaries

it

him, and, without delay, followed by

servants,

of liibanus,

who fashioned
statues.

some

and accompanied by the

(1)

tain is called

In Auvergne and Langnedoc a liigh mounpuy, from the Italian word jjoggio.

This image of Our Lady was brought by St. Louis on his return from the Holy Land.

model of the Egyptian

The

sovereign pontiffs have encouraged

348
this pilgrimage

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

with great diflSculty that his esquire saved him in a boat, which succeeded in reaching the shore.
event,
Afflicted at this disastrous
fate of his

by their example and beneficence. Several popes have come there

as plain pilgrims.

Puy received great privileges from the court of Rome, in consideration of Our Lady, among others, immediate dependence on the Holy See and
the Pallium.

The bishops

of

and deploring the

com-

panions in arms, the blind prince, accompanied by his faithful servant, made his

way

have also

come

Several Kings of France to venerate Mary on

the mountains of Languedoc, directing his course, by short journeys,

to

towards the Chapel of

Our Lady

of the

the mountain of

Anicium.

In

1422,

who was as yet only Daucame to recommend to Our Lady of phin, Puy his almost desperate cause, and it was in the same church that he was proCharles VII.,

Mounts, where he arrived in 1150. A sportsman, who was spreading his nets

on the verdant banks of the Viaur, pointed out the ford of the river to the two pilgrims,

and led them

little

to

an eminence
for

claimed king of France.

whence the
performed
this

church could be seen.

King Rene

likewise

The

prince palatine,

who had been

of

pilgrimage with a great retinue of men and horses ; a crowd of Moors, probably converted to the Christian faith, followed

some years deprived

the

light

of

heaven, could not see the religious edifice in the distance, but he heard the
lively

him in their oriental costume. The Chapel of Our Lady of the Mounts,
or of Ceignac, seated on a hill surrounded by other hills, in the ancient forest of

chime of its morning bells, and prostrating on the grass still wet with the dew, he blessed God and Our Lady
for his

Cayrac, between Viaur and the Aveyron, is celebrated for the pilgrimage of a

having at length arrived at the end of so long a journey. He entered

the sanctuary which he so far to seek, and had a
at the
altar of

full of faith into

Hungarian palatine prince, who, in 1150,

miraculously recovered his sight, thanks to the intercession of Our Lady, This aJSlicted in the flower of his nobleman,

had come solemn mass celebrated

Mary.

When

the mass was over, and the

age with the most distressing blindness, left the banks of the Danube with a

blind prince was praying with tears before the image of the Blessed Virgin, a noise of arras, raised by pilgrims crowding
into the church, attracted his attention.

hundred military men,

tion

come and petiOur Lady of the Mounts for a terto

to his

mination

long sufierings. He embarked upon the Adriatic Sea, and after having sailed along the coasts
of Italy,

though what a surprise he does see his own banner; and these pilgrims prostrating themselves, whose
he could not
see.

He

instinctively raised his eyes,

he entered

tlie

Gulf of Lyons;
fleet,

oriental

pelisses

form such a contrast

are his faithful

but there

a horrible tempest dispersed

little

with the brown capes of the peasants of

the vessels of his

and

it

was

Languedoc

they

Hun-

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

849
the

garians

cry of happiness

and

grati-

valley

of

tude escapes him; he has recovered his Our sight, and his soldiers are there
1

called the

Dark

Roc-Amadour, was then Valley, and abounded in

wild beasts.

Lady had

treated

her

vassal

with the

generosity of a Lady paramount, and had not done things by halves. Seven lamps of massive silver were the donation which

This scenery, melancholy, but not without grandeur, which reminded one

had doubtless some analogy with the deep and austere thoughts of
of Thebais,

the Hungarian lord offered to the Blessed Virgin ; by his orders a cross was erected

the anchorite

where he had prayed, and this account was engraved upon it in Gothic
on the
hill

cell ou one of the prominent peaks of the mountain, and hollowed out of the rock, on a
;

he made himself a

level with the eagles' nests,

an oratory to

characters.

group in relief, placed in

the Motlier of God.

The Gallico-Roman

the sanctuary of Mary, represented the prince palatine and his esquire on their knees before the image of the Blessed

population of the fine valleys of Figeac

him from

and Saint-Cere, who sometimes perceived a distance on the sharp point

of these bare

Virgin above was a Latin inscription in these terms

; :

" Ecce palatinus privatus Itimine princeps, Munera magna ferens, sed meliora refert, Virginis auspioiis, divino in liimine, lumen
Cernit, et exultat,

and wild mountains, the height of which turns one giddy, surnamed him Amator rupis ; this name, the
only one which has come down to us, was changed into that of Amador, then

dum
;

pia perficerent.

Insuper et centum famulos in littore fractos Inveuit incolumes dicitur inde locus."

Amadour, as more congenial

lect of the South.

to the dia-

Among
of

the

of Arpajon, Cardinal de la Pelagrua, nephew of Pope Clement V.,

Our Dukes

the benefactors of the Chapel Lady of Ceignac are reckoned

statue of the Blessed Virgin, those which the new Chrisresembling tians of Gaul venerated in the hollows of
little

The

oak

trees,

was the instrument of miracles

and a vast number of bishops and great

personages.

in favour of the fervent pilgrims

to

who came

invoke

Her

in her rocky sanctuary.

The pilgrimage

of

Our Lady

of Eoc-

The

Amadour, a short distance from Cahors, is situated in the most sterile and mountainous part of Quercy.

pilgrims multiplied, and soon became so frequent, that a town was built
at the foot of the holy plaoe
;

this town,

saint,

whom

situated in a desolate region, on a spot

an unsupported local tradition would make the Zaccheus of the Gospel, about
century, penetrated into a labyrinth of rocks which raise their lofty crests above the narrow and deep ravine

unproductive, and one of the most difficult of access at first, became nevertheless,

the

third

thanks

to the devotion of

our fathers,
;

where the Lauzou

ravine,

rolls its

waters

this

one of the principal towns of Quercy it had towers, consuls, and a coat-of-arms in which three rocks argent figured with lilies
or,

which

is

at this

day

named

the

upon a

field gules.

360

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

tairi

Above the steeple of the old church of Roc-Amadour, at a prodigious height,

arose a citadel destined
rich sanctuary of
to

sanctuary,

is

reckoned Simon de

protect

the

Montfort, legate of the pope ; Arnauld Amaric, who was afterwards Bishop of

Mary; those bastions, the outlines of which were proudly traced

against the clouds, and which now cover the soil of their ruins, could not repulse

Narbonne;

St. Louisj

his three brothers, by

accompanied by Blanche of Castile,

the gloomy followers of Calvin,

who would
for

and Alphonsus, Count of Boulogne, who ascended the throne of Portugal King Charles the Fair, King John, Louis XL,
;

have gone through hell

sake of gold.

itself

the

and a multitude of powerful

lords.

The chapel
better

of

Our Lady

has

now-a-days a

bulwark

its

the great bishops who visited, at different times, the miraculous chapel

Among

poverty.

of

Our Lady, we
to

find one

name

so dear to

This pilgrimage was celebrated even in the time of Charlemagne the famous
;

literature,

knight-errant Roland,

in 778 ; emperor, came to he offered to the Blessed Virgin a gift of silver of the weight of his ftracmar (sword),

nephew Roc-Amadour

of

this

humanity, and to Catholicism, that we cannot leave him among the crowd this name, by which France
;

considers herself honoured,

and which

commands
itself,

is

the respect even of impiety that of the swan of Cambray.

to

and

after his

death in the

fields of

Ron-

Devoted from his cradle

of

Our Lady

cevaux, this bracmar was brought to RocAmadour.' In the year 1170, according

Roger de Hoveden, Henry II., King of England and Duke of Guienne, through his wife Eleanor, came to Roc-Amadour to fulfil a vow, which he had made to the
to

Roc-Amadour, by his pious mother, Fenelon came more than once to pray, in the depths of Quercy, to her who had

on his lips a comb of Attic honey, and given him the courageous wisdom which he employed so nobly in the inlaid

Blessed Virgin in a long

illness,

with

struction of kings.

Two

pictures,

hung

which he was attacked

Gercei.

at

La Motte-

As the lands bordering upon

up as votive offerings, in the sanctuary of Mary, represent two solemn phases of his
existence.

Quercy had no great liking for the Englishman, the island monarch protected himself with a small
veage.

In the

first,

he
;

is

newly-born,

and

sleeps in his cradle

in the second,

Henry

left

army marks of

to

make

this pious

his

muni-

being a young man, and already a doctor, he comes to pay homage to his divine Protectress, for the first success of his rising

ficence at the chapel of

Our Lady, and

with the poor of Roc-Amadour. In the number of illustrious pilgrims, who came to honour Mary in her moun-

At some distance is a tomb, genius. over which he wept and prayed later on
that of his mother, whose wish was to

(1) Dnpleix, Hist, de France, Charlemagne, c. 8. This bracmar Laving been lest, or stolen, a warlike

mace was substituted for name of Ilolaud'a sword.

it,

which retained the

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

sleep her last sleep in the
altar of

35J
of

shadow of the

the chapel of the Blessed Virgin

Mary

Mary.
it

Sometimes
pilgrims, but

cities

was not merely isolated and provinces in a

to

Roc-Amadour, to honour this Blessed Virgin, and obtain the deliverance of his
soul."
It

1546," says M. de Malleville, in his Chronicles of Quercy, " on the 24th of June, the day and feast of the blessed

body, " In

who

repaired

Roc-Amadour.

would be too long

to cite the

other

benefactors of the chapel of Mary ; the whole extent of this blessed rock shone

with votive offerings of gold, pearls, and

precious stones; Spanish princesses had worked its rich hangings with their own

Sacrament and of
pardon of

St.

Roc-Amadour

John, was the great to which the

;

concourse of people of the kingdom, and

of foreigners, was so great, that several persons, of all ages and of each sex, were

hands, and fourteen lamps of massive silver, the twisted chains of which formed
a magnificent network, lighted it up aight and day. By a contrast not found anywhere but in Christendom, the altar of the

smothered in the crowd, and a very great number of tents were set up in the country, on all sides, like a great en-

Madonna was

of wood, as

it

was in

campment."

the time of St. Amadour, and the miraculous image was a

little

The gifts received by the sanctuary of Roc-Amadour were of great magnificence

:

statue of dark oak,

MontSalvy, given in 1119, by Odo, Count of La Marche, " to the Blessed Mary of Roc" Amadour the lands of Fornellas and
forest of
;

among them appears the

A remarkable object very rudely carved. in the roof of the chapel, in a belfry, surrounded by brilliant windows of painted glass, was a small bell without any rope,
which sounded
by
itself,

whenever

it

Orbanella,

"

for the

good of the souls of

his relatives," by
Castile

Alphonsus IX., King of

pleased the Star of the Sea to manifest her power in favour of vessels in distress

and Toledo, in 1181. In the year 1202, Sancho VII., King of

which called upon her amidst the

tudes of the ocean.

soli-

Navarre, gave a revenue of forty-eight pieces of gold for lighting the chapel of

Virgin of Quercy was a pfey too precious to escape from Protestantism.

the 3rd of September, 1592, Duras took possession of Roc-Amadour; the
crosses
w^ere

The

Notre

Dame; and

in 1208, Savaric, Prince

On

and famous troubadour, gave as a pure and perof Mauleon, a great captain

broken, the

images

dis-

petual alms, to the

Amadour,
absolute

his

Blessed Mary of Rocland of Lisleau, with

figured, the rich vestments burnt and torn up into shreds, the bells melted

from all tax and Clement V., in 1314, left charge. Pope a legacy to the same church, " to keep up perpetually a lighted wax candle

exemption

down, and the body of St. Amadour, smashed with strokes of the hammer, was profanely cast into the flames.' The
Odo de
Gissey, Hist, do

honourably in a vase or dish of

silver, in

(1)

Roc-Amadour.

352
atlieists

THE HISTOKY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

of 1793 put the seal to these sions of the Saracens, confided the care of
it to the brave and pious knights of St. John of Jerusalem. This valiant garrison was often engaged against the infidels who held the ancient country of the Philis-

devastations.

At the present time, the towers of the

city are buried

beneath the turf; shrubs

;

are growing on the ruins of the citadel

tufts of grass spring

up between the

dis-

jointed stones of the magnificent flight of

thines for the Sultan of Egypt. One day the knights of St. John, among whom were

hundred and seventy-eight steps, which leads from the city to the airy
two

three brothers of the ancient and opulent house of Eppes, in Picardy, fell into an

Mary the guitar of the cantadours of Languedoc no longer celebrates and the night the miracles of Our Lady
sanctuary of
;

ambuscade, and in spite of prodigies of valour, were taken and laden with chains
by the Mussulmans, who sent them into

wind alone whistles in that antique chapel, where the organ has been removed for the
sake of economy.

The Blessed Virgin of Roc-Amadour might now call herself the

Virgin

The gentlemen of Eppes had Egypt. the lofty mien, the tall stature, and the heroic bearing of the ancient nobles of
the north of France.
singled them them over to

The

sultan at once

of Ruins, and yet she

to

still

works

out, and, desirous of gaining

miracles.

his false prophet,

he begun

The pilgrimage

Our Lady

of Liesse,

in Picardy, not so old as

those of the

by throwing them into a dungeon to bring down their courage, and held before

south of France, as it does not go farther back than the twelfth century, surpasses

them

in celebrity.

The

origin

of the

most enticing prospects, in order to draw them into The three warriors, who had apostacy.
their eyes afterwards the

statue of the Blessed Virgin, which adorns

this holy place, is very marvellous; the

been inaccessible

to

fear,

were deaf to

tradition has been preserved, not only in

the noise of gold and the voice of amThe sultan, deceived in his bition.
expectations, sent to

the province of France where it is found, * we are but also in the Holy Land ;

brated imaums, to
faith.

them the most celeargue with them upon

assured even

that

it

exists in

the ar-

The good

knights, through hatred

Here chives of the Knights of Malta.' is the tradition, which bears a very decided oriental stamp. Foulques of Anjou,

King

of Jerusalem,

became all at once subtile theologians, and defended Christianity as well in dispute as they had often done with the shield on their arm and the
of Islamism,

having rebuilt the fortress of Bersabee, four leagues from Ascalon, to protect the
frontier of his

The sultan consilance in their grasp. dered himself bound in honour to vanquish the captives, and his opposition

kingdom against the

incur-

(1) See Hist, de

Abbe

Villette, Addit.

Notre Dame de Liesse, by the an disc, prelim., p. 100.

(2) Hist,
et 12.

de Notre

Dame

de Liesse, pp. 10, 11,

BLESSED VIEQIN MAEY.

increasing with their resistance, he swore that the Knights of St. John should
follow the standard of the prophet, even if it should cost him the half of Egypt.

853

while, and, in spite of the imminent danger, the three knights of St.
little

John, determined to keep good guard, made her sit down in a field of doura in
full

He

had a daughter handsome, chaste, accomplished, and every way worthy to

follow a better faith
;

verdure, and seated themselves at a

distance.

respectful
asleep,

The

princess

fell

he sent her

to the

and her

travelling companions,

dungeon where the French knights were languishing in fetters, and charged her
to set before

after struggling in vain against the

drow-

siness which followed long nights without

rest, slept

them

a frightful picture of

soundly

also.

the punishments prepared for them. The knights received the princess with those testimonies of respect which were at that

No one knows how

continued.
eldest of the
three,

long their slumber

of Eppes, tlie
first

The knight

was the

who

time lavished upon ladies but they repelled her insinuations with the resolute
;

awoke

courage of

accept of martyrdom, and explained to her their belief in a manner so persuasive that the Mussullady betook herself
to serious reflec-

men who

the sun was beginning to gild the tops of the trees, where he heard the sweet singing of birds. The crusader
;

looked at the landscape with great surprise:

he had gone

to sleep in sight of

man
tion

the Nile and

on Chbist and his Blessed Mother. miraculous and resplendent image of

it

the pyramids, under the fan-like branches of a palm tree, and he

awoke

beneath

an
the

oak,

with
of

knotty
a
clear

Mary, which,

is

said,

was brought by

branches,
spring,

on

margin

angels to the pious champions of the Christian faith, completed the conversion

on the freshest

with white daisies.

turf, sprinkled short distance off,

young infidel. One night, when she had gained over the guards of the three French warriors by bribes of gold,
of the

the round and dark towers of an old baronial castle

reminded him of the manor

left his

where he had

mother,

all in tears

she

made her way

full of

into their prison with

at his departure for the

Holy Land.

A
;

precious stones, and made her escape with them from her father's

a casket

palace.

shepherd, who was driving his sheep to the fields, relieved him of his perplexity the castle which he beheld, was his own
Marchais, and he awoke in Picardy, beneath the avenue which his He blessed the fathers had planted.
castle

After passing the Nile in a boat prepared for their reception, the fugitives
directed their course towards Alexandria,

of

hoping, perhaps, to conceal themselves for a time in the Coptic monasteries of

the
desert
of
St.

Holy Virgin, and awakened his companions, whose astonishment was as great
as his own.

Macarius

but after
princess,

marching
45

for

some hours, the

exhausted with fatigue, wished to rest for

They had preserved the image of the oriental Madonna; they built a handsome
z z

854

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

it,

church to receive

and the Mussulman

him

to

the

Mother of God, as

her

princess received baptism in the catliedral of Laon.

slave.*

We may
little

innocently believe that this

This sanctuary was pillaged like the others by the Huguenots; the Revolution

statue of Mary came into France by more natural means; but whnt it is impossible to doubt is, that it was brought

came to glean what was left. The chapel of Our Lady of Liesse

still

attracts, at the present day, a great con-

from the Holy Land by three great men of Eppes, knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

course of pilgrims. In the legend of St. Liphard de Meung, who lived in 550, mention is made of the

The most
Our Lady
of
tlic

illustrious

names
list

of the

mo-

narchy figure in the

of Liesse.

of pilgrims to

town of Clery, and of an oratory dedicated there to the Blessed Virgin. In 1280,

We read there those

of Burgundy, Louis IL of Bourbon, Prince of Conde, Duke of Mer-

Duke

some labourers placed there a little statue of Our Lady, which they had one day met with under their ploughshare. This
discovery

Prince Albert Henry of Ligne, of Madam Henrietta Frances of France,

cceur, of

made

a sensation,

and attracted

the attention of the most illustrious no-

Queen

of England,

of the

princes of

Longueville, of Marshal D'Ancre, of

Ma-

blemen of the time. Among these nobles, Simon de Melun, a great baron, who had
accompanied
St.

demoiselle de Guise, of the Count D'Egmont, of Louis, Duke of Orleans, brother

of Charles

Louis in Africa, and

whom

VL,

of Charles

VIL,

of

King
I.,

Philip the Fair elevated to the dignity of marshal of France, formed the

Rene,

of Louis

XL,

of Francis

of

design of founding a collegiate church

there;

Henry IL, of Cliarles IX., of Queen Mary of Medicis, of Louis XIII., of Ann
of Austria, of Louis XIV., &c.

but death, which he gloriously

met with at the siege of Courtray, prevented him from executing this pious
project,
it

Several of these great personages, not satisfied with leaving rich presents to Our

which his widow and son made

After his

their duty to accomplish.

Lady of Liesse, placed their statues there that of Louis II. of Bourbon, Prince of
:

victories in Flanders, Philip the Fair,

who

Conde, was of gold. Mary D'Arquin, then grand Marshal of Poland, and who was afterwards queen of
that kingdom,

had prospered under the protection of Mary, was struck with the concourse of
the faithful

who

repaired to

Our Lady

of

came
in

to the chapel of
to the

Our

Lady

in 1671

she olfered

Blessed

Clery ; he increased the number of the canons, and resolved to rebuild the church but death, who defeats so many
;

silver, Virgin representthe Prince Alexander Sobieski, her ing

child

projects,

religious

as

well

as

others,

son, with a golden chain enriched with

(1) Hist,
et 12.

de Notre

Dame

de Liesse, pp. 10, 11,

diamonds,

to

testify

that

she devoted

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

him, in this respect, no merit than his good intention.
left

355

other

The
saints,

Calvinists,

who no more
pieces

The

the tombs of kings than

respected the altars of

statue

church, nevertheless, was begun in his reign, and continued, thanks to the munificence of his third son, Charles,

broke in

the

of

Duke

of Orleans.
prince,

who

Philip of Valois, that noble said to his soldiers, in con-

Louis XL, and violated his royal tomb the sake of plunder. This tomb, reconstructed by Louis XHL, was mutifor

lated again during the Revolution,

and

quered countries," Respect the churches!" caused that of Our Lady to be finished,

which

English Salisbury pillaged' during the celebrated siege of Orleans. Louis XL, who would have new sleeves
to his old doublets, to

the

Devotion to restored by Louis XVIH. the Blessed Virgin still reigns there, with the greatest fervour, in the ancient

church of Louis

XL
to

The pilgrimage

Our Lady

of the

put

wear them

till

Thorn, near Chalons-sur-Marne, began

in the first years of the fifteenth century.

they were threadbare, but

to act his part as king,
built the

who knew how when he pleased,

it

On

the eve of the feast of the Annuncia-

church of Clery, gave to

2,330

tion, in the year

1419, two young sheptheir sheep by

golden crowns, settled upon it great revenues, erected it into a royal chapel, and richly endowed its canons.

herds

who were tending

the side of a small chapel dedicated to St. John Baptist, perceived, in the middle
of a bramble
light.

This monument, the object of so many

expenses, and so much care, was destroyed by a fire in 1472, as they had just finished

bush near them a bright

sheep, frightened

The foremost

covering
fire

it in.

*'

The whole was

set

on

Louis

and burnt," says the chronicle of XL but the church was rebuilt
;

light, ran away, but the young lambs came near the bush ; the shepherds followed their example, and dis-

at this

covered a

little

statue

of the

Blessed

anew under the inspection

secretary.

of the king's

Virgin, holding in her arms her divine

Infant.

Louis XL, having recovered his health

at Clery,

increased

The miraculous light having when the night came on, the
;

and attributing his recovery

to

the Blessed Virgin, enriched its collegiate church with fresh donations, and had his

people ran from all points whence it and as the spot where could be seen
this prodigy took place
it

tomb prepared
historians,
fitted his

in

it.

"

He

placed him-

could be verified

was very elevated, from a distance of

self in it several times," says

one of his

" to

see

whether the place

body, and was well proportioned

it

The Bishop ten leagues round about. head of his chapter, of Chalons, at the and several parish priests of the neighbouring
as in
villages,

to receive

after his death."

He

was

came

in procession to

interred there, according desire. His wife, Charlotte of Savoy, was laid

to his

the place. They found the bush as green

spring ; they took out the little statue of the Madonna, and transferred

there near him,

some time

after.

356
it

THE mSTOBY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

John Bapthe faithful

to the small chapel of St.

tist,

which was close

by.
all

head of a handful of young men collected together by patriotism and deat the

This prodigy attracted

of

Champagne

to the chapel,

which soon

became a celebrated pilgrimage.

With

to Mary, they succeeded in rethe enemy and saving the altar ot pelling the Madonna. Forced to beat a retreat,

votion

the offerings of the pilgrims, a superb church was built from the designs of an
Irish architect; this

the English behaved like Vandals ; they fired a final discharge at the windows, and

work was continued

with perseverance; in spite of the wars with the English, the inhabitants, though

broke a great part of them. Nevertheless, by a kind of prodigy, the famous

pane of glass on which

untouched.

is

represented the

impoverished

and

plundered,

did

not

finding of the miraculous statue remained

hesitate to leave their ploughs to go

and

In memory of that fortunate

fetch stones from the interior of Lorraine.

day, the fabric of the

Church

of

The works went on with fresh activity when Charles VII. had sent a considerable sum to continue this fine edifice.
It took a century to build it, and during that century, in spite of wars, of the

of -the

Thorn made
the

presents,

Our Lady down to the

Revolution, to

descendants of the

nobleman who had saved it from profanation and pillage, of two blessed swords,
which they received on the day of the
Assumption, at the foot of the the Blessed Virgin.
altar of

black

plague, of famine, of all the of which the English scourges, in fine were certainly the worst the same fer-

A
this

vour had been kept up. The cities of Chalons and Verdun would contribute to
the decoration of this edifice, which was
to perpetuate the

solemn procession takes place in church every year a crowd of young

;

children,

of

delicate

have

been

devoted

to

complexion, who wear white in

memory

of the mirato it superb

culous bush.

The one gave

honour of the Blessed Virgin, assist at it on the 16th of August, each holding a
taper

painted glass, the miracle; the other, magnificent bells; the liberal donations of the faithful, great

which told the history of

these are the supplicants of Mary. Science had issued a sentence of death
:

against

them from
their

their entrance into the

and

small, rich

and poor, did the

wars
of

rest.

During

the

religion,

the

mothers devoutly appealed world; to the Blessed Virgin, and they hope,
thanks to her aid and support, to be able
to save these frail plants,

English Protestants, masters of part of Champagne, having heard of the riches

contained in the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Thorn, formed the project to

who grow

be-

neath the shade of her holy protection, and who need it to acclimatise themselves

plunder and destroy

of the place, a

it

but the proprietor

full of

upon
white,

earth.

Nothing
little

is

more

afiecting

nobleman

courage

than to see these

and

faith,

had the beautiful church fenced

and pale as

angels, clothed in the flowers which

in with palisades, and having put himself

form the wreaths

round their heads,

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

kneeling at the feet of Mary, and beseeching her, by repeating the prayer
veller in this

857
dark crypt, " than their eyes

which

is

dictated to them, without as yet

its

open again, a slight breathing escapes from their little lips closed by death, the
water of baptism flows upon their foreheads; then they fall asleep again, to

understanding

their poor httle lives,

meaning, to preserve which are at the

their mothers

same time those of

....
when

ascend to heaven."

By

digging a

little

When

the rosy tints of health have refaces,

into the ground, the remains of these

appeared on their infantine

at length

the seventh year has passed over their young heads, and they are

poor little flowers of humanity, which withered at the icy breath of death in the
first

hour of their morning, are found

altar dedicated to the

the white livery of the Blessed Virgin, with what joy do their happy mothers bring them to the mass

about to leave

off

round about the

Blessed Virgin,
children
to

who

raises

up the

little

life,
;

of thanksgiving

What
!

prayers,

warm

Jesus Christ

that they may go to that ignorant, but exalted

from the heart,

arise

then to Our Lady of

the Thorn at that altar

tenderness of feeling which came to beg the miracle of Mary, interred them be-

There
age, in

exists in the

Vosges a pilgrimis

neath her wing, that she might not

get

for-

which a superstition
the poor

kept up

them

among

women

of the

common

people, which partakes at the same time of Christian and maternal feeling. About

Let incredulity be indignant at this superstition of the heart; tender and

pious souls will find in it only a motive for gentle commiseration. No doubt,

built

the year 1070, a religious of Senones on the bank of a solitary torrent a

hermitage and a chapel, where people

Our Lady of the Meix the was subsequently discontinued, pilgrimage or suppressed. At the present day, the
came
to pray to
;

more than one mother has been deceived in thinking that she saw the cold lips of her child become reanimated with her
kisses, to receive the sacred water;

but

whoever should

dare

to

advance that
as great

cross broken in half rises alone

chapel has fallen to ruin, and a stone amid the

;

Mary cannot perform miracles when she pleases, would be, to

truth, a bold mortal.

say the

ruins
are

but underneath these ruins there

subterraneous vaults, and a stone

The Pyrenees,

those fine mountains

altar yet tells

where they
children

still

come

to lay

those

little

whom

death has

crowned with larches, whose bowels formerly enclosed mines of gold, and where
cascades, glittering in the sun, fall from a height so prodigious, and are so much

smitten on the threshold of

life,

and who
like

have been unable to receive the sacred

sign which would have

made them

unto the angels.

laid

upon

this

taineer

who

sooner are they stone," says the mounserves as a guide to the tra-

'*

No

detached from their native rocks, that they resemble a long piece of silvery

gauze unrolled in the air; the Pyrenees, some spots of which, fresh and graceful

358
as the

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

of the primitive world, are saddened by the fall of gigantic rocks,

Eden

and perhaps years, a certain religious confidence, which makes him believe that
goes well, thanks to the protection of the " good Virgin." And then,
all
it was perhaps Our Lady who preserved from shipwreck both himself and his ship's crew; and the first care of these

which give one the idea of chaos, are not

without sanctuaries dedicated to Mary: the oldest and most famous is that of

Our Lady

of Heas,
all

the resort of the

inhabitants of

and Bigorre.
Heas, an
altar

the valleys of Beam Among the precipices of

poor people, on landing, will be to go,

barefooted, as they did in the fulness of

has been erected, where the goatherd would never have dared to hang up a temporary screen from the

the middle ages, to hang up on the walls of the maritime chapel the offering which

storm

the

Romans would have

it

dedicated

this altar to the genius of storms

the
who

vowed, when the hurricane was shivering the masts and rending the sails.
they

Christians have erected

to

her

La
its

Vigie of

Dieppe
for

related, last year, in

3,

appeases the winds and the waves. On the 8th of September, the Nativity of Mary, and on the 15th of August, the day
of her glorious death, a prodigious crowd assemble at Our Lady of Heas from the

number

October

one of those

moving scenes which make particular impression upon the people, notwithstanding
the wickedness of the times.
of a

"

cere-

neighbouring

valleys.

Each

pilgrim, as

he returns, breaks off a piece of the blessed rock, which he carries home with
great respect, as a relic, to his cottage. The mountain pilgrimages are pic-

nature truly affecting took mony place yesterday at the church of St. " The crew James," says that journal.
lugger L'Automne, which experienced so violent a tempest on the 3rd of
of the

turesque ; the sea coasts

but how affecting are those of

I

September, gave up all for lost, when the master, Louis Couteur, had the thought

good does a sanctuary of Mary do, which seems to show us heaven with the point of its spire,

How much

make, in the name of his companions, a vow to Our Lady of Good Help, the
to

on the height of a promontory whence it is descried afar off on the deep! The
mariner,

patroness of mariners. pronounced the vow,

He had

scarcely

when a sunbeam,

who

bids adieu to

it

with sad-

suddenly breaking through the profound darkness, in which they were enveloped,

ness, as he departs from the land where he leaves his wife and his little children,

came

to

restore their hopes

and revive

with rapture on his return that steeple looks to him beautiful as hope, and mingles with that anxiety which ophails
it
;

their sunken courage. It was this vow which the gratitude of those brave men
fulfilled

yesterday in the chapel of

Our

Lady
all

of

Good Help.

Yesterday then,

presses his heart in spite of himself,

when

he

on the point of beholding his family again, whom he has quitted for months,
is

the ?ailors of the crew, escaped from the tempest, repaired, with bare heads and
feet, in

their naval

dress,

carrying on

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

their robust shoulders the votive oflfering,

369
the noble lady

revolutions has carried

to a distance, as the

ofi"

placed on a blue

litter,

and surrounded with

the

streamers,

to

chapel of

Our

rose leaf;

wind bears away a but the remembrance of her

still

Lady, accompanied by their relatives and friends, and a considerable crowd of

people.

beneficence

subsists.

made
mass

address, full of feeling, was to them by the cure, who after the
of

An

day, not long ago, groups of spectators covered the little grassy esplanade,

One

which

is

crowned by Our Lady of Grace

thanksgiving,

recited

the

De

Profundis for the captain

and four

sailors

they supported themselves upon the sides of the rock, hung on to the bushes, and

who perished in the waves." Our Lady of Grace is one

this

of the

most

climbed up the trees, and all eyes were turned towards the waters, looking out for

ancient maritime chapels of Normandy;

some object which was expected.

The

sanctuary was

built,

as

we have

enthusiasm was great, but religious and

vow made,

already mentioned; in a great tempest, by a Norman duke, who was very devout to the

in

consequence of a

somewhat mournful; prayers ascended to heaven, and tears fell from many eyes; a vessel passed under the heights of Our
Lady, a ship with a black flag, and a coffin on her deck The clergy let their the people prayers descend upon her
;

Blessed Virgin. The site of this handsome chapel, surrounded by large trees, in
the midst of turf enamelled with flowers,
is

beautiful and calm, like the rich

and

wept

On

that day there was no

fresh landscapes of the magnificent pro-

vince of which
of

it

forms part.
like
little

Our Lady
fortress

chapel of the Blessed Virgin, on either bank of the Seine, where multitudes of
the faithful did not pray for the soul of the great emperor, and Our Lady of Grace

Grace appears Honfleur; from the

it

the

of

mountain which

crowns, the

mouth

of the Seine is vi-

was very fervently invoked

a rock, where,

for that illus-

sible, and farther on the ocean, with its long waves of dark green, which receives

trious cast-away of fortune,

misery

who

died on
1

supreme

there

in its

bosom the

river of blue waters.

:

floated the flag of

Two roads lead to the chapel the one rough and rocky, the other smooth and
even
;

England. Half a league from Pornie, a small seaport ten leagues from Nantes, rises

in other times the inhabitants of

it

Honfleur took dehght in pointing

out,
it

picturesquely on a height which overlooks the ocean, the maritime village and

in reducing its steepness, in covering

with small, fine sand, so that a gracious jirinccss, who had made herself beloved in

Mary; this church, the steeple of which announces remote antiquity, and which possesses in its narrow
St.

church of

these parts by her generous bounty, might be able to ascend it without fatigue, when she went to oSer her prayers and vows to
the Blessed Virgin.

cemetery the burial place of a crusader, is held in great veneration among the

Breton

sailors,

who

The

hurricane of

to fulfil their vows.

often repair thither Whenever a Breton

360
vessel passes

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

under
sail

eastward in sight of the church of St. Mary, the sailors uncover their heads and say the Hail Mary. Not a peasant along the coast goes into

dropping the black beads of their rosaries with their rough hands; and numerous
votive offerings,
walls,

hung upon the ancient

announce that more than one prayer

without dipping his hand into the water, and making with it
the sea to bathe, devoutly the sign of the cross, turning his

has been heard by the Holy Virgin.

Our Lady of La Garde, whose chapel of the thirteenth century, upon the summit
of a high mountain, is built of limestone of a bluish grey, from which can be seen

head towards the protecting sanctuary;

the fishermen
pests,

when tossed about by temwhich are more dangerous on the

on the open

the Mediterranean, with

Castle of

its

islands, its

sea, cherish hope as long as they can see from a distance the picturesque steeple of the church of St. " the Virgin beholds them." This Mary,

coasts than

If, waves, whether bright or dark, receives the last thoughts and the last look of the Provengal mariner as he

and

its

leaves his country.

Thither he directs his

thought prevents their losing courage, and is already to them a chance of preservation.

steps

when

his ship returns to port, after a

voyage in the distant countries of the Levant; it is no rare thing to see the sailors
climb up, on their knees, the mountain

the high and proud waves of the Atlantic, driven by a furious wind, come
roaring on

When

which

is

crowned by that old chapel,

to

mouths of the sandy creeks of La Guienne, and when they recede

to the

return thanks to her,

whom they
"

call,

with

quite Italian familiarity,

the good Mother

from the shore, rolling along pebbles with

a hoarse and frightful roaring, if there appears in the horizon of the sea a vessel dismasted,

of Protection," for having preserved

them
is

from the perils of the sea, the wind, and the

plague.

But not
she
is

to

mariners only

the

and struggling with

all

its

Madonna of
help;

might against the tempest, it is Our Lady

of Arcachon,

Marseilles good and ready to the guardian of the city,

itself to her,

whom

the wives, mothers,

sailors of old

which addresses
confidence, in
cholei'a,

and children of the

if it is

Aqui-

all calamities.

with pious When the

taine invoke for the vessel; which may,

wrecked on the coast, cast upon

the shore of his native land the corpse of some person dear to them. This chapel

which desolated and depopulated France, appeared on the soil of Provence, the ancient and beautiful Phocian city
knelt, as
tectress,

where clouds of white sea-gulls come and perch, announcing a coming

of Mary,

who

one man, before its beloved prodid not fail to succour it.

tempest by their
wild

shrill cries,

stands in a

Moreover, to testify its gratitude to her, Marseilles has just consecrated to her a
magnificent statue of massive silver, of This is well admirable workmanship.

and

solitary spot,

enlivened here

and there by some groves of pines, with [)yramidal tops. Many sailors and poor

donel

women,

in alarm,

come

thither barefoot,

In Corsica, Our

Lady

of

Lavisina,

BLESSED VTEOIN MAET.

seated within sight of the blue waves of the Mediterranean, wafts to her pilgrims,
as well as to the ships whose sails swell in the horizon, the perfume of her orangetrees, as a graceful manifestation of her

861

then covered his country, and to entertain himself alone with his God, by the sound
of

bubbhng

springs, flowing beneath tlie

shade of oaks.

Oftentimes night overtook

him
an

This sanctuary, dedicated to presence. the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, was for
a long time obscure, and the coral fishers, who frequent that fine portion of the coast
of the island, alone

attentively reading the Scriptures in old book with golden clasps, which he

had inherited from

tating profoundly

his fathers, or medi-

on the miracles and

came there

to pray;

benefits of the Blessed Virgin, His soul was elevated in solitude ; taking pity on

when, about the middle of the seventeenth century, the Madonna of Corsica worked
miracles, the report of which reached even
to Italy.

the world and rad

made

worthless goods, Meinhis vows in the Abbey of Richeits

The church was then enlarged

;

nau, which he quitted afterwards to settle in a small hermitage built on the top of

and ornamented

a great concourse of

Mount
there
;

Etzel.

He

spent

seven years

the faithful of the island repaired to it, barefooted and with tapers in their hands, on the feast of the patroness ; which
is
still

but the good odour of his virtues descended to the depths of the valleys ;

done with the same devotion as

the shepherds and woodmen came to him, then the great lords, then the noble ladies,

formerly.

The

picture,

which adorns

this

humbly
These
the

to solicit his prayers

and counsels.

chapel, the

work of an

Italian painter,

represents
St.

Mary as

a child,

on whose head
a transparent

homage were a torment to young hermit, who loved nothing but

acts of

Ann

gracefully lets fall

veil.

contemplative prayer and the peace of the woods; one night he secretly left his hermitage, carrying with him, as his sole possession, the statue of the Blessed
Virgin, the only

of

The origin of Our Lady of

the celebrated pilgrimage the Hermits, the Loretto

of Helvetia, goes back to the heroic times The saint who first of Charlemagne.

ornament of

his chapel,

inhabited the hermitage of Einsiedeln, was a young lord of Suabia, named Meinrad, belonging to the illustrious family of

of Schwytz,

and took refuge in a forest of the canton which bore the characteristic
of the dark forest.

name

the counts of

HoheuzoUern.

Gifted with

Thirty-two years afterwards, he was assassinated by some wicked men, with

that genius of reverie which still forms the prominent feature of the German
character, Meinrad,
scarcely arrived at adolescence, loved to bury himself in

whom he had

shared the water from his

fountain and the wild fruits of the forest ;

when

the birds of heaven pursued the murdererers, who underwent the chastise-

the thickest parts of the woods, which

ment which

their crime deserved.'

(1)

The murderers were betrayed by two raveus

who harassed them

incesaantly aa far as Zurich^.

46

a A

862

THE mSTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

difficulty
;

After the tragical death of Meinrad, his cell, where miracles were wrought, was uninhabited for almost half a cen-

the

fruits
fields

are

rare

and

in-

sipid,

and the

are enlivened only

;

by the lilac flower of the potato

but Our

At the end of that time, a small society of hermits came and settled there
tury.

Lady
there,
tified

under

the

care of St. Benno, of the

power and the rocky road of the sancmountain is often watered with the
delights

to

manifest

her

ducal house of Burgundy.

Hence
the

the

noblest blood

of

Germany

surname of Our Ladij of

Hermits,

than one

count of

more the empire, more

;

for

which was given to the chapel of EinSt. Eberhard devoted his possiedeln. sessions, which were considerable, to
building a monastery in this place, of which he was the first abbot.

than one noble

German

lady,

make
little

it

a duty to ascend the

foot.

Einsiedeln bareof

There

still

remains some

the
of

ancient fei-vour of the brave

men
As
to

Frederick in
Catholic

old

Germany.
of

The chapel
it

was in

of the Blessed Virgin, as the time of St. Benno, was

the

population

Helvetia,

nothing can equal their confidence in

placed in the great church of the convent, of

Our Lady

of the Hermits, and there are

which
;

St.

Meinrad's

cell

formed
this

the choir

the

French destroyed
resisted

few families, even in the most distant cantons, where this ancient pilgrimage
is

chapel, which had

the furious

dispensed with.
"

attempts of Protestantism ; but God permitted that the miraculous statue of the

thing that strikes the sight, in the fine church of Einsiedeln," says a
first

The

Blessed Virgin should be saved in time. It was replaced in the church of Einsiedeln
in 1803, with great solemnity,
it

French
"
is

traveller,

who

visited it in 1839,

the miraculous

chapel, where

the

and

in

1817

recovered part of its ancient magnificence, thanks to the influx of the most
distinguished artists, and alms of the faithful.

unpretending image of the Blessed VirMass was said there, gin is exposed.

the abundant

and a great crowd of the faithful men, women, and children, of all ranks and of
all

ages

assisted at the

The monastery
rise

of Einsiedeln does not

fervently waiting for the

holy sacrifice, time of Com-

beneath

mild sky;
outline

its

steeple,

munion

others
;

thronged
after

round

the

covered

with snow for a

its

gi'eat

the year, has

dull clouds, in
frosts;
at
its

part of traced upon

confessionals

others,

communi-

cating, heard a mass of

thanksgiving

which are hidden long

base

in

the

side

chapels.

Almost
its

every

extends

barren

canton of Switzerland had

tatives there.

country, where poor harvests ripen with

represenThere you saw the broad

"

they even made their way through the windows of then in which the asBassins had entered, and did
not leave them
till

ment.

It is in memory of this event that the Abbey of Reichenaa bcnra two ravens in its coat

they had witneBsed their punish-

of arms.

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

backs of Fribourg, the short petticoat of Guggisberg, the corset, ornamented with
silver,

363
the

table,

who passed round

Rhenish
in

wine in large cups.

teresting time of the

At the most

and the caduceus, decorated with

black lace, of the

women

of Berne, the

as a

young

ofl&cer,

of

German feast, and the name of Ber-

white crests of Schwytz, the velvet collar of ShafFhausen, and the little helmet of
the Valais.

thold, was saying the most foolish things, a pilgrim was introduced, who was

In a group, from which the other pilgrims kept uloof with a kind
of respect,

of the Hermits,
of a

going alone and barefoot to Our Lady and whom the approach
tempest, which already made the great pines of a neighbouring forest creak, and the waves of tlie lake roar,
itself at

we recognised

the ribands,

shawls, and

women
still

elegant appearance of the from France. The men, less

nudierous, and more uniformly dressed,

which extended

the foot of the

betrayed their origin diversities of physiognomy.

by

certain

One

could

mountain, compelled to beg hospitality. The lord arose from his place, and
courteously led his new guest to the corner of a wide Gothic fireplace, where

distinguish among them French, Germans, and Italians but' the respect and
;

fervour of all were alike."

whole
This

trunks

of

oak

In a

visit of

devotion to the abbey of

laid

duty

fulfilled,

burning. Berthold, without

were

upon the altar of the celebrated Swiss Madonna a superb branch of hortensia, made
of large diamonds.

Einsiedeln, Queen Hortense

any respect
the

austere presence of traveller, resumed the foolish and

for the

impious discourse which he had interrupted, now and then giving a side
look
efiect

Volumes have been written in Switzerland, on the miracles worked by the

at

the

pilgrim,

to

ascertain

the

Madonna

of Einsiedeln

we

will

select

cious

produced upon him by his audaand wicked words but the pale
:

from these marvellous accounts only one fantastic legend of the seventeenth century,

and emaciated countenance of the holy

which we found in a very rare book

man preserved the immobility of When the feast was over, the

marble.
guests

of devotion, printed at Fribourg. The Swiss piously believe in the authenticity of this strange fact ; the French are free
to disbelieve
it.

called for their horses, to return to their " several homes. The night is dark,"

In one of those immense halls of the

middle ages, the walls of which were adorned with paintings in fresco, of the

the lord to the young miscreant, who had the honour to belong to his " family ; you have to pass through a defile which is haunted by those wansaid

most frightful character, and around which were seen stone seats, which are found
only in the feudal manors of Germany, some Swiss gentlemen were seated at

dering spirits who move about the world in the dark, to do mischief. .... I am

you may meet with some sad adventure believe me, and stay here."
afraid
;

"

Bah

"
I

replied the ofiicer, laughing,

364

THE HISTOET OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

of France,
"

who was in the service neither God nor devil!

" I fear

his

" Are you quite sure of that ?" said the in a tone of dark raillery, which pilgrim
frightened the rest.

hand upon his sword then he was ashamed of himself, and laughed at his " I have fear. solemnly called upon Lu;

cifer to serve

me

as a torch-bearer," said
to give his

the miscreant,
that I drink

who wanted

" So sure,
to Lucifer,

my good pilgrim,
disengaged." richly deserve

and ask him

is

to escort

me

to-

" but pride the satisfaction of a bravado ; he turns a deaf ear .... or else hell is

night,

if

he

empty."
it,"

"You would
"

cried the

The thunder
mountains
at
let

rolled at a distance,

and

lord of the place.

a long flash lighting

We

will pray to
;

Our Lady
"

for you,"

up the woods and him see two hideous dwarfs

said the traveller

you

will

stand in

his

horse's

need of

it."

officer,

who

" Ah said the head, felt himself growing pale ;

I

"

" I will not trouble you to do plied Berthold, saluting the holy
derision.

so," re-

man

in

A few minutes

after,

he was on

horseback, and singing the burden of a Bacchanalian song, as he descended the

sloping heath, which was crowned by the
little fortified castle.

" Bethen, resuming all his insolence, " cried he, furiously gone, infernal crew 1 " his" sword ; brandishing ye two miserable bergmannlein (dwarfs) you might
!

frighten a cowherd of the Alps."

bergmannlein disappeared, and the galloping of two horses, who came down

The

The hour was

found, and
full

late,

the silence proabsolute

;

the

solitude

the

the almost vertical steep of the mountain, as swift as the wind, made Berthold

and moon, amid huge black clouds, in a starless sky, and broad flashes of lightning darted
solitary, shone, at times,

They were two quickly turn his head. horsemen, covered with black armour,
and mounted on
colour.

horses of

the

same

across the horizon.

The young

noble-

man,

for

some cause

or other, stopped

singing, but kept on swearing. At length he arrived at the dangerous place to which his relative

Their eyes glared like burning lamps through their vizors, which were down on their arms was hung, by a
J

had alluded, and which bore

Devil's way,

stern of

small chain of polished steel, the morgenancient Germany, which was a

battle club,

the

name of the common enough in

name

Switzerland. It was a

deep gorge, hollowed out between the red sides of two mountains, a sinister place,

armed with long iron spikes, which seemed still red with human blood; and jack-o'-lanterns played on their helmets in the form of
crests.

where the Alpine goatherd would hardly have trusted himself in broad daylight. At that late hour, when the stillness and
darkness

The dark horsemen ranged

themselves,

in silence, by the side of the pale ofiicer,

made

the young

superstitions formidable, Swiss, uneasy at times, kept

snatched the reins from his trembling hands, and the three horses set off with
the swiftness of the wind
:

mountains

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

after
fire

865
"

mountains disappeared; sparks of were struck from the flint stones of

;

the roads

the distance was no sooner

Bring us the impious wretch " " We howled out the black bring him horsemen.
!
I

"

perceived than it was swallowed up. Soon they passed over the frail bridges of flexible

Berthold almost lost his senses. Already the three travellers were close to the extreme edge of an abrupt rock,
at the

branches, beneath which cataracts roar, and where the bold chamois hunter hardly
dares to set his foot.

bottom of which was the hollow

Thus they reached

the region of eternal snows, and the horses

abyss which clamoured so imperiously for the Helvetian nobleman. Another second

redoubling their furious pace, made for a gulf, at the bottom of which rolled, at a

and

all

would be over with him

!

But, behold

all at

once, the two horse-

depth which made one giddy, a torrent, the noise of which was scarcely per-

men, in the middle of a furious gallop, remain motionless, like two equestrian
statJies of

sudden, from the midst of those dark waters, reddened at

ceptible.

All on

black marble.

The

faint

sound

intervals

by subterraneous

fires,

a multi-

tude of hollow and hoarse voices were

heard.
cried;

had just died away upon the snow-covered plain; it was the midnightoflice which was rung at Our Lady of
of a bell

"Vengeance! vengeance!" they "give up the seducer, the false

"
I

Einsiedeln.

Berthold understood that

friend, the duellist, to us

the influence of the Blessed Virgin had paralysed the terrible power which was

"Wearebringinghim!"repliedthehorse-

men, brandishing

their heavy battle-clubs.

dragging him to hell, and hastily making the sign of the cross, he recommended
himself ardently and sincerely to the pro-

A
with

cold sweat ran

;

down from the

fore-

head of Berthold
fear,

his hair stood on

end

and his features shrunk up with

convulsions of horror; for among these accusing voices, there were the well-

known

accents of voices which went to

his very soul ; remorse began to speak as loudly as fear. " Give up to us the lawless gambler,

the detractor, the blasphemer, the false " cried out the*voices from tlie swearer
!

abyss.

Madonna, who seemed to interpose between him and the exemplary punishment which he acknowledged, with compunction, that he had deserved. The bell ceased, and the young officer felt a horrible palpitation of his heart when he saw the two horsemen violently moving upon their black coursers. But the voice of repentance had penetrated to the starry throne of Mary, and the phantoms, after gestures of rage and regret, precipitated
tecting

The dark
in

guides of Berthold, laughing the hollow of their helmets, with a

themselves to the bottom of the gulf, The leaving Berthold on the edge of it.
quite cleared itself from the clouds, which had before darkened

kind of metallic grin, horrible to hear, " We replied to the subterranean voices,
are bringing

moon which had

him we
1

are bringing

him

"
!

the sky, shone like a golden lamp in the

366

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

there?
selves,

height of the firmament, and magnificently lighted up the Icndscape; the

oflScer discovered, to his great surprise, that he was on one of the highest shelves of Mount Rigi, from which he had great
difiiculty in

Several, however, offered them-

who went

thither, after

arming

their hearts with piety by the help of the Holy Mass. And the Mother of God, to

prove to these pious

terrors

workmen

that their

descending. Some days afterthe young lord went barefoot to wards, Our Lady of the Hermits, to the profound

courage in contending with superstitious

and

real dangers

was pleasing

to

astonishment of his festive companions,

and made a vow, in expiation of his orgies, that no beverage should henceforth pass his lips but the water of the

her, secured the tottering rocks by threads of the Virgin fastened on to blades of " From grass and the moss of the rocks. that time," say the Swiss of Unterwald,

spring.

In an unknown corner of the canton

of Unterwald,

" the no accipassage has been safe dents happen there, either by day or Our Lady is so good, that she night.
;

on the border

of a path

which, like a long serpent, winds along

the fallen fragments with which the side of the mountain is covered, at

protects all that pass by, even those who do not see her, or will not pay honour to
her."^

among

The pilgrimage
Our Lady whose name
of

of

Maria

Zell,

in

the narrowest point of the passage, where the traveller, contemplating at his feet
still

Austria, hardly yields in celebrity to that

of Einsiedeln.
is

Its founder,

deeper precipices, and

above his

head more

frightful fragments, advances

arises

between two threatenings of death, a small open oratory, decorated

was a religious of the Abbey of St. Lambert, who came to settle, about the middle of the twelfth
lost,

with

homely pictures representing the Blessed

This sweet object, thus placed far away from every habitation and all succour, has received the name of Our
Virgin.

century, in the valley of Affluez, in order to convert to the faith certain people of

This place, often accursed, was called, not long ago,

Lady

of

the

Passer by.

who were still idolaters. This pious German missionary brought with him a little statue of the Blessed Virgin, carved in wood of the lime-tree, which
Carinthia,

the Devil's Strainer.

After trying every

it

he exposed to the veneration of his neophytes on the aged trunk of a fallen tree,
for

means

to

make

more

safe,

they

want of another

pedestal.

The Ca-

thought of building a chapel there, and placing in it a holy image, that no one
forget, however great might be his or danger, to invoke the name of fear our good God, and make the sign of

might

rinthian shephSrds sheltered the little Madonna as well as they could beneath a hut similar to the cabins of the wood-

men, and came

in

crowds

to

pray to

her in this poor habitation, where their

(1) See

the cross.

But where were workmen

to

h found venturesome enough to work

M.

Veuillot,

Voyage en

Suisse, 1839.

BLESSED VIEGIN MAEY.

simple petitions were often the powerful Virgin.
that

367
fathoms above
its level,

granted by
of

hundred and
arises a

fifty

Such were the humble beginnings

mountain which bears the name of Monte Santo; on the top of this mountain
is

famous pilgrimage, of which the pilgrims now-a-days are princes and em1220 Henry, Margrave of perors. Moravia, and his wife, Agnes, out of
In
gratitude for a wonderful cure obtained through the intercession of Mary, built

a monastery of Franciscans,

where

people

go
of

to
St.

venerate

the miraculous

image

Mary

of

Castagnavizza

King Charles

X., a beneficent prince

and

a pious monarch, reposes there under the guardianship of the heavenly protectress

the chapel of stone which is seen in the middle of the church, and the altar of

of

France

one day, perhaps,

which received the image, which till then had remained on the trunk of the tree.
Louis
I.,

King

of Hungary, after an un-

when stormy passions are stilled, six feet of French ground may be granted to the descendant of St. Louis, Henry IV., and Louis XIV.
In the palatinate of Kalish, in Poland, there is a small town seated on a height,
in a very strong position, the fortifications

expected victory over the Turks, built the church which encloses the chapel. The

Mussulmans came
but at the

to

Maria-Zell in 1530,
their chief di-

moment when

of which, in
of by a

rected the point of his lance against the miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin,

modern style, were boasted traveller, who passed through that

he was struck with blindness, and

soldiers, seized

his

with

affright,

fled away.

kingdom about the year 1750. The town, which was always guarded by companies of artillery, was that of Czenstochowa,

The Emperors Mathias, Ferdinand II., Ferdinand III., and Leopold I., made a pilgrimage to Maria-Zell. Maria Teresa
first communion there in 1728; the Emperor Francis went there himself in 1814, and the present emperor, who is no less devout to Mary than his great

much more famed

for its

abbey of Fathers

of Death, or religious of the Congregation of St. Paul, which contained a miraculous

picture of Mary, than for anything else ; Poles and foreigners flocked to this sanctuary,

made her

where every rich pilgrim

left

mag-

nificent ofi'erings.

Besides the picture of

religious affirmed

ancestors, has just performed this pil-

the
to

Madonna, which the

grimage with the empress and part of his court; a magnificent oflfering in precious
stones signalised the munificence of the

be the real portrait of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke, a rather bold
veneopinion, they used to exhibit to the ration of the faithful a relic less disputed ;
the table at which the Holy Family took Polish sentinels of honour their meals.

two

illustrious pilgrims,

who came

to im-

plore the support of the Queen of heaven to govern their people wisely and paternally, as did their glorious

and Catholic

predecessors. On the coast of the lUyrian sea, three

were placed at the gates of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Czenstochowa, and at
different parts of the

monastery; fresh

368

THE HISTOEY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

laid every

blown flowers were

morning

at

the feet of the Blessed Virgin ; but all the sweet and simple grace of the vene-

reanimating their courage with tliat sentiment of religion which enables us to

bear so

many
all

things.

Mary could not exclude a sort of religious horror from this chapel, which The catacombs, with froze one's blood.
ration of
their lugubrious

Belgium has ever been distinguished

among
its

the countries of Europe for tender devotion to Mary; of the nu-

accompaniments man bones, were hardly more frightful

than
tliose

of hu-

merous places of pilgrimage which she possessed and still possesses, we will
only refer to that of Our Lady of Hall, of which Justus Lipsius, one of the

monks,

like spectres,

who wore
heads
see

upon

their black

habits

death's

with two cross bones, such as

we

on

mortuary
skulls in a

palls,*

and who had painted

in their church.
to

most distinguished scholars of the seventeenth century, has left us an interesting

description.

hundred places
has

This devotion
stochowa

the Virgin of Czen-

Our Lady
ful town,
fertile

of Hall, situated in a beauti-

been transplanted into A the Poles in our days. France by pious Polish family, who live in the environs of Paris,
to that which led the

surrounded by a pleasant and country watered by the Senne, is

moved by a similar feeling widow of Hector to

to

considered a charming church even in this country, so Catholic of the ancient

Netherlands, where
magnificent.

the

churches

are

give the

renowned name of the Simois

an obscure rivulet of Epirus, has conceived the truly affecting idea of inaugurating the image of the tutelary Madonna
of Poland in
St.

Virgin

is

The chapel of on the left. The

the Blessed
statue is of

an aged oak of the

forest of

wood, gilt, and has a crown of fine gold. With one hand the Blessed Virgin supports her Divine Son, and with the other
she holds out a
the
lily,

On the 13th of August, a Polish priest, in presence of a 1840, numerous attendance of Poles of both
Germain's.
sexes, dedicated the holy

that

emblem

of chastity,

charming flower, which the in-

noble tree,

image in the which had been chosen for a

habitants of the Pyrenees poetically call Andredana Maria arrosa (the rose of the

temple no doubt for want of money to build one ; tlien the whole assembly,
kneeling on the grass, began to recite, with voices full of emotion and with
tears, the litanies of the Blessed Virgin then they prayed for the dead, for their
;

She formerly wore on her Virgin Mary). breast six large pearls, with a fine ruby
in the centre.

Twelve

cities,

or towns,

which had experienced the effects of her

protection,

had undertaken

to

provide
of Sep-

her dress.

On

the

first

Sunday

tember their deputies brought her, every

in testiyear, twelve magnificent robes,

distant country

they implored of

Heaven

more prosperous days, and

retired after

mony

(1) Hist, des Ordres Monastiques,

t. iii. c.

44.

and devotedness. On that day, a solemn procession was made, in which the image was carried in triumph
of gratitude

BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY.

by the deputies of the twelve towns, in The the city of Hall and its suburbs.
people of Liege are also accustomed to

369

Next

to the

Holy Sepulchre and

St.

Rome, there is not in all Christendom a more famous pilgrimage than

Peter's at

come

thither every year in procession, on

that of

La

Santissima

Casa di Loreto.

the day of Pentecost.' Several princes have enrich this sanctuary.

The holy house

contributed to

of Nazareth was venelife-

rated by the Christians even in the

On

the

altar,

according to Justus Lipsius, were the twelve apostles, and at the ends, angels

time of the apostles, and St. Helen enclosed it in a temple which received the

name

with torches,

all

of silver.

No

altar ex-r

hibited so great a number of lamps, coats of arms, standards, crosses, chalices, and
different

of St. Mary. Under the rule of the Arabian caliphs, a crowd of French pilgrims came to adore God and honour

figures

in

gold

and

silver.

Philip

the

Good, Duke of
to
it,

Burgundy,

Mother in this simple and poor dwelling, where Jesus and Mary had for a long space of time led a laborious and
his

had given
sents, a

among

second

other rich prestatue of the Blessed

hidden

life;

but when the Seldjoucid

Turks had subjected their old masters,

the pilgrims of Europe,

Virgin, with a dragoon and a soldier of his son silver, both completely armed
;

who ventured
and Naza-

into Syria to visit Jerusalem

the flmCharles gave a silver falcon peror Maximilian enriched this sanc;

reth, suffered barbarous treatment, the

recital of

tuary with a tree of gold; Charles V. with a coat of arms; Pope Julius II.

which, inflaming the whole of the West, caused an irruption into Asia. When Godfrey of Bouillon had been
proclaimed King of Jerusalem, Tancred, whose lofty deeds have been sung by
Tasso, was
this prince,

On the right were with a silver lamp. seen the statues of the Emperor Maximilian, of Albert,

Duke

of Saxony,

and

of one of their courtiers on his knees.

named governor of who was very devout

Galilee;
to

Above their heads were suspended flags which the conquerors had offered to Mary. There was also to be seen there a remonstrance of
silver-gilt, of

proved his devotion

offerings

Mary, by the sumptuous

with which

he enriched the

church of Nazareth.
After the disastrous expedition of St. Louis, that corner of the earth, which

considerable

weight, given by

Henry

VIII.,

King

of

England. Justus Lipsius himself, not satisfied with having carefully written
the history of our Lady of Hall, hung up his silver pen before the hnage of

was regarded as the cradle of Christianity, was defended foot by foot by the brave Knights Templars, who shed tears of
rage and blood at the sight of the holy places profaned by the Saracens.
Galilee, whitened

Mary.

with the bones of

(1)

Diva Virgo
t. i.

Hallensis

Millot,

Hist,

des

the Latin warriors, had become

Maho-

Troubad.,

p.

467.

metan

'
;

God was

47

not pleased," says. 3 b

870
Father
of
Torsellini,*

THE HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

" that the holy house should remain exposed to the
;

days,

Mary

very magnificent gifts of princes and popes. Among these pious gifts we

profanations of barbarians
to be

he caused

it

transported by angels into Sclavonia, and thence to the March of Ancona, in the midst of a

observe a gold remonstrance, enriched with diamonds, a chalice, and a thurible,

belonging

named
adds,
"

Lauretta."

to a pious "

wood and noble widow The report goes," he

of laurels

Emperor Napoleon to the an enamelled chalice, set with Madonna;

offered by the

rubies and aqua mannas, offered, in 1819,

house,
forest

that on the arrival of the holy the great trees of the Italian

by Prince Eugene Beauharnais ; another chalice, adorned with brilliants, by the

Princess of Bavaria, his spouse
cross of gold
;

a large

bent down in token of respect, and

till

kept in that position

age, had
levelled

the axe, or old

them with the ground."

of the finest

and diamonds, and a crown of amethysts, rubies, and diamonds, offered, in 1816, by the King and Queen of Spain,
at the time of their pilgrimage to Loreto ;

The church of Loretto, one

in Italy, has
their taste, by the popes,

been adorned, according to who have often

a nosegay of diamonds, offered, in 1815, by Maria Louisa, sister of the King of

come

mon

thither on a pilgrimage like the comfaithful ; three gates of chased bronze

Queen of Etruria; and Duchess of Lucca an immense heart of very fine

Spain,
;

give entrance into the holy temple, in the centre of which arises the Santa Casa in
its

in the centre, gold, with a precious stone suspended from a chain of emeralds and

clothing of white marble, adorned with

magnificent bas-reliefs, designed by Bramante, and executed by Sansovino, Sangallo,

amethysts, the gift of the Emperor of It would b5 Austria to the Madonna. impossible to enumerate the stones and rich presents of
offered by princes

and Bandinelli.
statue of the Madonna
it is

all

precious kinds

The miraculous
is

and kings, under the

thirty-three inches high;

carved

in cedar wood, covered with magnificent

drapery, and placed on an altar glittering are assured with precious stones."

simple title of dono di una pia persona, in the register containing the names of benefactors to the Santa Casa.

We
it

The

beautiful litany of

Our Lady

of

that the

niche which

occupies,

is

covered with plates of gold.^ A numbev of lamps, of massive silver, burn before it.

Loretto was the votive offering with which a celebrated Florentine composer, of the

La
Italy
;

sala del tesoro

to

enough riches
but
it

no longer displays pay the ransom of all

still

eighteenth century, a miracle of the Blessed Virgin. repaid This composer, whose name was Barroni,
early years
all

of the

has

received,

in our

at

once
"

lost his

hearing, like Beete

ricoferta

(1) Historia Laaretana, c. ii. p. 6. " The altar of the Madonna glitters with gold (2)

nd precious
fciii. c.

atones."

(3) d'oro."

(Don Vincenzo

La vaga

nicehia

di

lame

Murri, Storia della Santa

(Italy,

by Lady Morgan,

Casa.)

25.)

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

871

hoven

after

cour of art

having exhausted the sucwithout success, he invoked

of Loretto, specially devoted to defend

the shores of the Italian Mediterranean

against

that of Mary, and set out on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loretto. There he was

the

incursions

of

barbarians.
this

Benedict XIV. embellished

sanc-

cured, after praying with faith, and in his gratitude to the Holy Madonna, he com-

tuary with truly persevering generosity, where Pius VII., having recovered his
liberty,

posed, by

inspiration,

in

her praise, a
title

came
into

to

kneel before his enleft,

chorus, which, under the

delta
first

of Litanie

trance
as

Rome, and where he

visit,

Santa Casa, was performed for the time on the 15th of August, 1737.

This litany was repeated every year afterwards for the feast of the Madonna; Rossini, happening to pass by Our Lady Loretto, was struck with the charm

superb gold chalice, with this inscription "Pius VII., sovereign pontiff, restored to liberty
:

a memorial of his

of of

on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and coming from
France
tude."
to

Rome,
of

left

at

Loretto

this
grati-

composition, and is said introduced it into his Tancredi}

this

to

have

monument

his

devotion

and

His holiness Gregory XVI.

also

The popes have

delighted

to

testify

their respect for Mary, by

making her

made a pilgrimage to Loretto. In Spain, Mount Montserrat has been

dedicated to the veneration of Mary, a mountain standing alone, ten leagues

miraculous sanctuary of Loreto the object of their devout solicitude. Pope

Pius V. offered to the Santa Casa two
silver statues of St.

from Barcelona, which was, according to

the celebrated naturalist Humboldt, the great Atlas of the ancients, at the foot of

Peter and

St.

Paul

he did
natural

still

better by diverting from

river,

its

channel a

the waters of

which the

fine

kingdom

of Valencia dis-

which, sluggish and in great measure stagnant, sent up the most unwhole-

played the golden apples of the garden of This mountain, which the Hesperides.

some exhalations to the top of the hill, where a small town has been formed, under the shadow of the magnificent
church of Mary.
a

owed

its

name
to
if

of Monte Serrats (sawed

its

mountain) seems as

extraordinary form, composed of inlaid work,

it

Gregory XIII. founded

which makes

look as

if

divided and

college for young Illyrians, in the actual enclosure of Loreto, by way of

covered with spiral cones, or pine cones ; so that it appears, from afar, to have

consoling the Dalmatians for the loss of the Madonna, who only stopped a

been the work of men.

it is

a pile

At a distance, of grottoes and Gothic pyraitself;

moment

with them, the better to take her flight to the fair shores of Italy.
Sixtus V. founded the order of Knights

mids; when near, each cone appears a

mountain by

and

all

the cones,

make
(1) Gazette Musicale.

terminated by needles, or points, which a great noise when the wind

blows, form an enormous mass of about

872
five

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

leagues in
circumference.
It

was

probably tbis singular conformation tbat led to tbe invention of tbe fable of tbe
giants,

the pope, placed Benedictin Montserrat."

monks

at

The convent

of Montserrat is a grand

wbo had beaped mountain upon

to scale tbe beavens.

mountain
It is

and noble edifice, situated on a platform very confined, and projecting from the
riiountain,

on a platform of this celebrated mountain that tbe superb convent has

been
built, dedicated

which bears the name of

;

St.

to

tbe

Blessed

Mary's platform enormous rocks project above it, which seem every moment ready
to fall
;

Virgin, which is one of tbe most celeAn brated pilgrimages of Christendom.

inscription, of tbe year

it is

defended by the steep points

six

of the mountain, as by natural fortifications,

1239, preserved

and on the accessible side by

in the convent above a large picture of the same period, thus records the foun" In tbe dation of tbis fine monastery
:

Besides the convent and strong towers. church of Our Lady, the fortified enclosure contains a house of entertainment
for travellers, a hospital,

year 808, under the government of tbe Count of Barcelona, GeofFry le Velu,

and an infirmary.
of Montserrat

The church
spacious

of

Our Lady
is

three"young shepherds having one night seen a great light descend from the sky,

has only a nave, but

;

nevertheless very

the stalls of the choir are of very

and beard melodious music in the

informed
bailiflf

air,

their

relations

of

it.

The

remarkable workmanship. Tbe image of the Blessed Virgin has a face almost black,
like those of

and tbe Bishop of Mauresa having

people, to the

Toledo and Guadeloupe, and

;

repaired, with all these

many
it is

others which are visited in Spain

all over,
;

spot which they pointed out, wise the light from heaven, and after
like-

saw

painted

and represented

in

an advanced age
face
is
:

some

search, they discovered the image

of the Blessed Virgin, which they wanted to remove to Mauresa but, being come
;

and holds in her right hand a globe, from which

made

graceful in tbe form of a throne,

though very brown, tbe she is seated on a seat

to the place

where tbe monastery now

far-

ther.

stands, they could not advance any This prodigy induced tbe Count

springs a fleur de lis, while she supports with the other band tbe Infant Jesus,

of

Barcelona
there,

to

build

convent

of

seated on her lap, giving a blessing with his right band, and holding in the other

women

from which he took the

nuns of the
of Barcelona

royal abbey of
;

Las

Puellas

a globe, surmounted by a cross. The inhabitants of the mountain, divided into four classes, namely, monks, hermits, choristers, and lay brothers, suc-

the

first

abbess of Our

Lady

of Montserrat

Richilda,

who

was his daughter took possession of it about

This community of nuns
976,

tbe year 895. subsisted till

ceed each other uninterruptedly in their The arrangement of the places prayers.
is

when

the Count of

such, that

from several of the heris

Barcelona, Borrell, with the consent of

mitages the chanting of the monastery

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

heard, and the sound of the bells of the different hermits, repeated by the echoes,
is united in the turnings and anfractuousness of the mountain. From the summit

373
a hundred a
spacious

a grand
feet

edifice,

and
nave

fifty

long, with

and

aisles,

and an

infinite
travellers

number

of cha-

pels.
its

Modern

have celebrated

of Montserrat, the

kingdoms and Murcia are seen, and even as the Balearic Isles, which forms the
prospect in the world.

of Valentia
far as

chapels of marble and jasper, on the

sides of
offerings

which were
of
its

hung up

votive

finest

gold,
silver

silver,

and precious

stones

lamps gave so dazzling

Princes and kings of Spain often climbed on foot the steep path which
leads to the altar of Mary, and innumerable captives came there to hang up the

a light on walls covered with brilliant and precious ornaments, that the result

was a vertiginous brightness around the

statue,
itself

sparkling
it

with

precious

chains which they had worn among the Moors. St. Ignatius of Loyola, before he devoted his life to religion, came thither
to tvatch his arms, according to the usages

stones, which made

completely dis-

appear in the midst of this mirage produced by the lights, the splendour of
the gold, and the glittering of the rubies and diamonds. The attire of the Virgin,

and customs of that old chivalry, of which After passing his head was then full.
the night in prayer, and solemnly dedicating himself to the Blessed Virgin as

placed in a standing posture on a pillar of jasper, which may be three feet high, was valued then at several millions.

her knight, according to the warlike ideas

which he

still

had

in his mind,

and under

A place of pilgrimage, still very celebrated in Spain, is tbat of Our Lady of

Guadeloupe.
this

which he conceived the things of God, says F. Bouhours, his historian, he hung up his sword on a pillar near the altar, in
token of his renunciation of secular warfare; then, after

F. Marian assures us that

image, which

in the fourth century,

was already famous was sent by Pope

Leander, Bishop

Gregory the Great

of
Seville.

to St.

communicating
left

early in

The

king,

Don

Alphonso,

the morning, he

Montserrat.

in 1340,

endowed
to his

this sanctuary,

which

Our Lady del

of the oldest

Pilar, at Saragossa, is

one

he reunited
to certain

own

private domain.
I.

and most magnificent places of pilgrimage in Spain. King Ferdinand repaired thither with Queen Christina a
short time before his death, and both,
after

Forty-nine years
it

after,

Don John

gave

to it

Hieronomite monks, adding the lordship of a large town, which

praying very devoutly, like Catholic

had grown up near it. The convent, which took the name of Santa Maria,
is

royal personages, as they were, before the venerable image of the Blessed Virgin of

situated in the middle of the present

city;

and,

as

the

times

when
it

it

was

Saragossa, of their munificence.

left her,

on going away, proofs

is

founded were very insecure,

has more

The

cathedral, dedicated to Mary,

the appearance of a superb citadel, than There is an of a peaceful monastery.

874

THE mSTOBY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

at
first

infirmary for the sick poor, a house of

for

the singing
to

of birds,

and

entertainment for strangers, two colleges, and two fine cloisters.

which, after listening

more

attentively,

In 1389, the celebrated Spanish architect,

John Alphonso, began the church,

aisles,

he was tempted to attribute to angels. There was spread over the Tepijacac a cloud with a rainbow, on which were displayed
the most beautiful colours
;

which has a nave and two

and the

a sweet voice

walls of which are ornamented with magnificent votive ofiierings, attesting, as the

Spaniards say, more than tliree thousand authentic miracles of the Blessed Virgin. The image of the Blessed Virgin is upon
the high altar, which, but a few years ago, was lighted by more than a hundred

issued fropi it, which called the pious Mexican by his name. Full of astonishment, and quite unable to account for so

marvellous an adventure, Diego climbed up the hill, on the top of which he perceived
;

woman

of the

most majestic
streamed from
re-

lamps of massive silver. She is clothed in a white robe, and holds the Divine
Infant in her arms.
wife
of

beauty her white garments, which, being

flected
to

floods of light

Queen Dona
II.,

Maria,

on the surrounding-rocks, seemed have transformed them into precious

Don John

his

son,

Don

stones.

The Blessed

Virgin, for she

it

Henry, and some other princes, have chosen to be buried in this church,
decorated with excellent tapestry by Zurbaran and Jordan. The veneration for Our Lady de la Gua-

was, told Diego that it was her pleasure that there should be built a temple in

which

is

her honour upon this name of Our Lady de

hill,

under the

deloupe crossed the ocean, and was established by miracles in Mexico, a country totally devoted to the Mother of God.

and enjoined him to Zumarraga, who was at that time Bishop of Mexico. The prelate heard this recital in silence,

Guadeloupe, inform Juan de

la

and dismissed the Mexithat he

account printed at Rome in 1786 relates that a converted Indian, who

An

can, telling
positive

him

must have

went every Saturday a journey

to

Mexico,

situated eight miles from his village, to hear mass in honour of the Blessed

guarantee for the truth of his words, and some more assured sign of Informed by her the will of Heaven.

messenger of the

failure

of

his

com-

Virgin, had a miraculous apparition

hill

upon which had formerly enjoyed great a celebrity among the Mexican idolaters,
called
it

mission, the Blessed Virgin ordered him to go up to the top of the hill, and
It gather there a bunch of flowers. was not the season for flowers and the
;

who

it

Tepijacac,

and had conthe

9 th

secrated

to

Tonantim, the mother of

Saturday,
of

the gods.

One

December,

in the year 1531, the pious

Diego, passing by the foot of this hill, heard a sweet harmony, which he took

had never produced anything but briers and thorns but Diego obeyed nevertheless, without making any for reply, and his faith was rewarded
top of that rock
; ;

he soon saw himself in the midst of the

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY,

375

most odoriferous and splendid flowers. He made a nosegay of them, which Mary
ordered him to present to the bishop. " He will believe this time," said the

May, 1709, the holy picture was translated thither, which was placed on
1st of

a throne of silver, valued

francs.

at

400,000

Blessed Virgin, with a smile. Diego goes to the episcopal palace, where the scent of the flowers concealed

offerings kept multiplying, day by day, rich altars were erected of beautiful marbles ; the treasury was enriched

As the

under his cloak

attracts the attention of

with costly vessels.

filigree

The

great

lamp of
six

the officers of the bishop's establishment; they oblige Diego to let them see them,

work weighs alone more than

and want

to

handle them.

But

to their

hundred and twenty marks, and the workmanship surpasses the material. Around
the sanctuary runs a large balustrade of silver, which is continued to the choir,

great surprise, the flowers are impressed upon the cloth ; they are no longer any

The more than painted roses and lilies bishop appears, and Diego, opening the folds of Lis dress, perfumed with a hea!

which, according to the custom of Spain, This occupies the end of the church.
first

balustrade

is

protected by a second

venly odour, finds, to his great astonishment, that the flowers, as they became

one of a precious vyood, ornamented with an infinite number of small figures in

silver, of exquisite

blended together, have formed a delightful picture of

workmanship.

vice-

Mary.

The

prelate,

after

roy of Mexico,
carelli,

Don Antonio Maria Buc-

bending profoundly, takes off" the cloak from the shoulders of the Mexican, and
exposes
it

in his chapel, until another

surrounded the picture with a cornice of massive gold, and enriched the altar with twelve golden candlesticks. In
1749,
service

sanctuary should be raised for it, which they made haste to build, in the place marked out by the Blessed Virgin. When
the edifice was built,
picture was translated thither, which from that time

chapter was founded

of this

for

the

the

Mexico was sanctuary. dedicated to Our Lady of Guasolemnly deloupe, and a holiday of obligation was
fixed for the 12th of
rite of a

December, under the

first class,

wrought a number of miracles, and became the most celebrated Madonna of

double of the
octave.

with a

privileged

Benedict XIV. exall

America.

tended this feast to

Catholic
majesty.

the States of his

city

This new sanctuary not being able to contain the crowds that flocked to it, they
thought of building another, about the
year 1695. The Archbishop of Mexico, Francis de Aguiar and Seixas, laid the This is the splendid church, first stone.

sprung
to

up
is

around
to

this

sanctuary.

Guadeloupe
is

America what Loretto

Europe.

The image
fecit talker

represents the Immaculate Conception, with this inscription, Non

omni nationi}

admired at this day; the sum of 2,270,000 livres was expended upon it. On the

(1)

The Mexicans,

to testify their respect for

376

HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY.

of

Lampadouza, placed, like a beacon, between Malta and Africa, upon a small desert island, but on which the
lamp, kept up alternately by Christians and Mussulmans, remained perpetually
lighted for centuries
;

Our Lady

day behold their country again, regretting the streams of France, on the banks of
the majestic Danube, the king of the
rivers of

Germany.
scatall

For the other sanctuaries of Mary

tered over

Our Lady

of

Monte

Nero, which overlooks Leghorn, and the church of which, frequented by an innu-

parts of the world, we refer the reader to the following historical calendar.

This calendar, published during

merable crowd of pilgrims and encumbered with votive offerings, commands that
fine seaofTuscany,wheretheyoung women

the minority of Louis XIV., includes Blessed every place of pilgrimage to the

of Italy go,

on the eves

of the feasts of

a Virgin throughout Christendom, and which great number of pious foundations,

the Madonna, to cast

flowers,

down garlands
to
;

of

render

it

which formerly used

be offered

a very

very valuable; scarce work, no

it

is

moreover

longer

found
to say

Our Lady to the nymphs of Amphytrite of Mercy, near Savona, in the valley of
Bernard, the most beautiful sanctuary which the piety of the Genoese has conSt.

It is superfluous in libraries. that things have changed, and that a edifices congreat number of religious

secrated to

the Mother of God, which

structed on

its

shore in honour of Mary

;

Our Lady
Chambery
nets,

of Consolation, at Turin
;

of

then flourished, are now nothing more than a mass of ruins; time and revolutions

Charme, in Maurienne
;

of Abimes, near

of Passaw, where the

French

priests, driven

out by revolutionary bayo-

marched onward for nothing. This calendar, which completes our work on the pilgrimages, is given on
have not

went

to pray that they

might one

no other warrant than that of the autho-

Oar Lady of Gnadelonpe, have name to their first steam vessel.

just given her

which the author himself adduces, with its dates and miracles, such as it
rities

existed for centuries.

i'l

-ftO'A
'.jr.o

:!iji

Joitjciit

Tiisii

tjT.

HISTORICAL CALEJ^DAE

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN:

FOUNDATIONS AND DEDICATIONS OF CHURCHES IN HONOUR OF OUR BLESSED LADY.

'

Fecit mihi

magna

qui poteua est."

48

HISTORICAL CALENDAR
or

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN:

FOUNDATIONS AND DEDICATIONS OF CHURCHES IN HONOUR OF OUR BLESSED LADY.

JANUARY.
Dedication of Our

had

this

church bnilt

*n a

where Our Lady appeared

that

wood, on 'the very spot to her. and assured her

Lady

of the Anminciation, at
tlie

one day her innocence woaki t>c acknowledged. (Additiones ad Molanum de Sanctis Bel-

Florence, by William D'Estouville, cardinal, in

gicis.)

preserved in this church a of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, jicture whicli was found miraculously finished when the
ia

year 1452.

There

It

is

said that on this day, in the year 1G06, a

painter,

who had sketched

it,

finishing strokes to

(Archangel;

it,

was going

to

put the

paralytic

man was

Janins.)

of

Our Lady

miraculously cured in the Ciiurch of Sichem, in Brabant. (Justus Lip-

sius in hist. Sichemiensi, cap. 24.)

in

Foundation of the Ahbey of Dunes, in Flanders, honour of the Blessed Virgin, in the year 1128,

by Foulques, a Benedictine monk.

tinense.)

(Chronic. Ber-

Our Lady having been present on

this day, at

the marriage feast of Cana, was the cause of her Son, aged then thirty years, changing water into

wine
8.

this

was

his first public miracle.

(S.

Epiph.

hares. 61,)

Our Lady of Sichem, near Louvain,

of Brabant.
It is said that this

duchy image sweated

in the

7.

four drops of blood, in

the

year 1306.

(Just,

Lips, in hist. Sichem., cap. 5.)

Keturn of Our Lady, with Jesus and St. Joseph, from Egypt into Judea. (Martyrolog. Bom., 7 Jan.)

8.

Dedication of Our
in the year 746,

Lady

of Treves, in

Germany,
by

Our Lady
St.

of the
built

by Hydolph, Archbishop of Treves.

This chapel was

phanus, de

Commencement, at Naples. by St. Helen, and consecrated

The

Princess Genevieve, wife of Syfrede, Palatine

Sylvester, in the year 320.

locis sacris Neapolit.)

(PetruB

Ste-

of Treves, and daughter of the

Duke

of Brabant,

880
9.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OP
miraculously on this day several captives from the tyranny of the Turks.. (Hist. Montierr.)

Onr Lady beyond

the Tiber, at

Rome.

church was built by Calixtus I. in the (Baronius in apparatu ad annaL et in Annal. ad

year 224.

This

17.

Ann. 224.)
10

Our Lady

of the Guides,
distafTs of the

at

Constantinople,

Our Lady of Peace, at Rome. In the year 1483, the Duke of Calabria, having besieged Rome, to be revenged on Sixtus IV., for having prevented him from giving assistance to the Duke of Ferrara against
the Venetians, this sovereign pontiff addressed
self to the

where one of the

Blessed Virgin was

him-

shown, with some of the clothes of the Infant Jesus, which St. Pulcheria had given to this church.
(Niceph.,

and obliged himself by vow to build her a church, under the title of Onr

Queen

of heaven,

Tract

3, cap.

Lady
city

of Peace,

if it

should please her to deliver the

11.

from the siege, and to restore peace to Italy. His prayer having been heard, he fulfilled his vow,
built,

Onr Lady of Bessiere, heretic, who had derided

in Limousin.

certain

by having a church
in
hist,

the devotion paid to this

Innocent VIII., his successor.

tripartita

which was finished by (Gabriel Pennotus

image, saw his house on fire, without being able to discover whence the fire originated. (Triple Cour.,

Canon

regal.,

lib. iii.

cap. 33,

2.)
18.

1. i..

Trait. 2, S. 10, n. 6.)

12.

Our Lady

of the Broad Street, at

Rome,

situated

Our Lady of formerly named

thanksgiving

Dijon, in Burgundy.
of

This image,
in

Good Hope,
this

delivered the city

on the very spot where St. Paul remained for two years, wearing an iron chain, where he preached the Gospel, and wrote several of his epistles.
(Triple Cour., loco
cit., n. 6.)

from the fury of the Swiss,

for

in the

year 1513
is

favour, there

procession there every year.

19.

(Triple Cour.

a general
n. 42.)

13.

Our Lady
iu Calend.)

of Gimout, near Toulouse.

is

This

Pius V. reforms the Little Office of the Blessed

Virgin, in the year 1571.

(Balinghem

church of Citeaux
for its miracles.

much

(Triple Cour.,
20.

celebrated in the country

n. 34.)

14.

Onr Lady
bpain, so

of the

Word, near Montserrat,

it

in

Our Lady

of the Tables, at Mpntpellier.

called

because

is

asserted that she

in the year 1514.

renowned and very ancient church.

of the city the Virgin
is

In the arms

restored speech to a

dumb man,

(Balinghem

in Calend.)

Son

in her arms,

seen holding her divine a bezant, gules. (Triple upon

Cour., n. 38.)

16.

Our Lady
image

of the Portico, at

Rome, where an

21.

is seen which is said to have been brought From heaven by an angel to the Blessed Galla, widow of the consul Symmachus. (Ex monument.

Our Lady
the Capitol.
cles in the

of Consolation, at

Rome,

at the foot of

This Madonna began

to

work mira-

year 1471. (Triple

Cour., n. 43.)

6.

Maria

in Portic.)

22. 16.

Desponsation of
in

Our Lady. This

feast,

celebrated

Our Lady

of

Montserrat,

Spain,

delivers

in

France long ago by certain devout persons, was

FEASTS OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

approved by Pope Paul III., in 1540. (Petr. Auratus, lib. de Imag. Virt., c. 10.)
23.
80.

881

Our Lady
roses

of the Rose, at Lucca, in Italy.

Three
in the

were found in the month of January,

this

Desponsation of
of Arras.

Our Lady, according

to the use

arms of

image, according to a Latin chronicle.

(Caesar Pranciot. in hist. Lucensi.)

This

feast

year 1556.

(Monum. Eccles. Atrebat.)

24.

began to be celebrated in the

31.

Apparition of Our Lady to Sister Angela de

It is asserted that there
is

Our Lady of Damascus.

wood, a miraculous
infidel as
oil

Foligny, (In ejus

vita.)

oozes out from this picture, which

painted on

year 1203, to he was, in acknowledgment of this benefit, he founded a lamp to burn perpetually before
this picture.

which restored sight iu the the Sultan of Damascus, and that,

FEBRUARY.
1.

(Spond. inAnnal. ad ann. 1203.)

25.

Eve
Translation of the winding-sheet and

of the Purification of

Our Lady,

at Paris.

(Locrius in Calend.)

tomb

of
2.

Our Lady
the year
cephal.)

to Constantinople,

by Juvenal, Bishop

of Jerusalem, under the

455. (Ferreol.

empire of Marcian, in Locrius in Chron. ana-

The

Purification of

Our Lady.

This

feast

was

instituted in the year 544,

tinian,

under the Emperor Juson occasion of the plague which ravaged

Constantinople, where there often died ten thousand

26.

persons in a single day.

Our Lady
by Elizabeth,
t.

of

Long-Champs, founded,

sister of St. Louis.

(Gallia

in 1261,
Christ.,

In the year 701, Pope Sergius added to this feast the solemn ceremony of the blessed candles. (Baronius in Annal. ad

iv.)

ann. 544.)

27.

8.

Our Lady of Life, The chronicle relates

restored
life

at

Venasque,
this

in

Provence.

Our Lady of
exuded from
wood, an
oil

Seidaneida, near Damascus.

There

that

image has often

died without

to children

who have

which was painted on which was never exhausted, whatever

this picture,

baptism, in order that they might receive that sacrament. (Triple Cour., n. 89.)

quantity was taken.

great, that
it

The

virtue of this oil

was so

healed even the infidels themselves.

28.

et

(Arnold. Abbas Lubec, apud Baron., ad ann. 870, apud Spondan, ad ann. 1203.)

Our Lady
image
is

of

Good Succour, near Rouen.

very celebrated in the country.

(Ex'
Our Lady
of the Pillar, at Saragossa, in
t|ie

This

arohiv. hujus ecclesise.)

Spam

80 called, because, according to 29.

tradition, the

Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Jilmes the Great,

St.

Our Lady

of Chatillon sur Seine.

Bernard

had great devotion to this image, on account of a miracle which it wrought in his favour.

(Triple

upon a pillar of jasper, in the year 36, and ordered him to build a church, which the Spaniards maintain to

Cour., u. 43.)

(Bentereus,

have been the

lib.
i.

first

dedicated to

Our Lady.

c.

et 3.)

382
6.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OF
in the

year 1131, by Robert, Lord of Liques.

t.

(Gall
by

Dedication of the
St, Peter, at Tripoli,

first

temple of Our Lady, by

now Tortosa.

Christ.,

iv.)

(Canisius,

lib.

v.

12.

de B. Virg.,

c. 32.)

Our Lady
Clovis
I.,

of Argenteuil, near Paris, built

in the year 101.

This

])riory preserves

a portion of the seamless garment of our Lord.

Our Lady
began
to

of Lonvain, in the

Low

Countries.

(Thomas

Bosius,

lib. ix.,

de Sig.
13.

eccl. c. 9.)

This Virgin, in high veneration in that country,

work miracles
in Calend.)

in

the

year

1444.

Our Lady du Four

up

(Balingham

Cliaud, at Bourges, so called

because, in the year 545, a

7.

Jew

is

said to have shut

his son in a hot oven, because

he had received
;

Onr Lady of Grace, in

at Montreuil ear

the

Mar.

(Chronic.
8.

Abbey of Saint-Sauve,
S. Salvi.)

baptism and communicated on Easter Sunday he was taken out sound and whole, thanks to the protection of

Blessed Virgin in

Our Lady. A church was built to the memory of this event. (Aunales

Onr Lady

of the Lily, near Jlelun.

This abbey

de France en Childebert.)
14.

of Cistercian nnns,

was founded by Queen Blanche,

St. Louis.

mother of the King

t.

(Gallia Christiana,

iv.)

Our Lady

of

Bourbourg, in Flanders.

It is

asserted that this image having been struck by a

in the Cathedral of Salutes,

Octave of the Purification of Our Lady, instituted on account, it is said,

wicked man, in the year 1383, the sacrilcgions vi'retch fell dead on the spot. (Bzovins, ex Archiv

of the bells having been heard to ring of themselves in full

to

eccles.

Burburg.)
15.

harmony. The sacristans having run the church, saw several unknown men holding

lighted tapers and chanting hymns melodiously in honour of the Blessed Virgin, who is venerated
in

in

Our Lady'of Paris, first built by King Childebert, the year 522 about the year 1257, the King
;

a chapel of this church nnder the

of

title

of

Our

Lady

softly, they august number to give them his taper, in proof of the miracle. This

Miracles,

and approaching
last of that

Louis had a larger one carried on in the same Auplace, on the foundations which King Philip
St.

besought one of the

taper

is

religiously preserved in

that church.

gustus had laid in the year 1191. (Du Breuil. Theatre des antiq. de Paris, lib. i.)
16.

(Sausseyus Martyr, Gall. die. 9.)

10.

Our Lady of the Thorn, near Chalons, in Champigne, so named because tliis image was found
under a whitethorn. (Triple Cour.,
n.

Our Lady

of the Dove, near Bologna, in Italy,

64)

built, it is said, in a place which a dove designated, by flying round and round, for the space of two days, about certain masons who were at work, and

17.

Our Lady

of Constantinople, formerly the syna.Jews,

to

whom

it

seemed

to

mark out a

certain space.

gogue of the

which was converted into a

(Triple Cour., n. 107.)

church of the Blessed Virgin by the Emperor Justin the Younger, in the year 666. (Locrius.)

11.
St.

Mary

of Liqnes, near Calais.

of the order of the Premonstrateuses,

This monastery, was founded

18.

Our Lady

of Laon, erected into a cathedral and

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIEQIN.

founded by St. Remigius, Archbishop of Rheims, about the year 500, where he consecrated, as its
first

383

city

was delivered from the siege of the Saracens

bishop, St. Genebaud, his nephew.

;

Miracles

(Fereolus Locrius.)

by the aid of the Blessed Virgin, in the year G21.

are wrought tliere

and,

among

others,

we read
26.
of

that in the year 1395, there was seen to appear on

the steeple, the picture of a crucifix, the

which

bled.

(Tlumias Walsingham,
I.)

wounds

Our Lady des Chatnpi,

cated to Ceres.

at Paris, anciently dedi-

Hist, of

Eng-

St. Denis, after

it

driving the devils

land, on

King Richard

out of

it,

consecrated
is

to

Our Lady.

A picture
made

of

the Blessed Virgin

19.

still

to be seen there,

on a
after

small stone, a foot square, wliich was

that which
St.
is

(Triple Cour., Saturdays,

Our Lady
is seen,

Our Lady of Good Tidings, near Rouen, where great number of people are seen, particularly on
n. 52.)

house, which

Denis brought to France. This a Benedictine priory, waa after-

wards occupied by the Carmelites, who were received there in the year G04, and founded by
Catherine, Princess of Longueville.
first

20.
of Boulogne-sur-Mer,
is

It

was the

wiiich

said to

where an image have been brought in a

year 633.

occupied by those nuns in France; the mother

of Jesus, the

Ann

ship by the ministry of angels, in the

its first
lib. ii.)

(Du Breuil, Theatre des Autiq., superior.

27.

companion of

St.

Teresa, was

Louis XI. gave to this cliurch a heart of solid gold, weighing two thousand crowns, in the year 1479,

and he decreed

tliat all

the kings of Franue, his

successors, should

make

succession to the crown.

(Triple Cour.,

the same present on their

n. 63.)

light

Our Lady of Light, near Lisbon, in Portugal. A was seen for a long time shining in this place,

21.

that phenomenon,

without the possibility of discovering the cause of when Our Lady, appearing to a

Our Lady
to mariners.

(Triple Cour.,
22.

of

Bou

Port, at Dol, affording succour

n. 51.)

prisoner, promised

him

his liberty

on condition of

his procuring a church to be built in her

this place,

honour in

which she had chosen.

(Anton. Vas
6.)

Our Lady
(Idem.)

of Succour, at Rennes, in Britanny.

concell. in Descript. reg. Lusitan., c. 7,

28.
23.
Institution of the monastery of the Annunciation,
at Bethune, in Artois

Our Lady
an image
is

of Roches, near Salamanca, in Spain

by Francis de Melun and

there venerated, which

was found mira-

Louisa de Foix, his wife, in the year 1519.

(Fereolus Locrius.)

culously, in

the

year 43i, by Simon Vela, who

caused a church to be built there.

Calend.)
24.

(Balingham

in

Gregory the Great having had the picture of Our Lady, which was painted by St. Luke, carried in procession, tlie
year 591,

On

this day, in the

St.

MARCH.
1.

plague ceased at Rome.

(Balingham in Calend.)
25.

Establishment of the Feast of the Immaculate

Conception of Our Lady, by Sixtus IV., in the

year 1476, and grants of indulgences to those who shall assist at divine serrice, or at mass. (T, iv

Our Lady

of Victory, at Constantinople.

The

Conciliorum.)

384

HISTORICAL CALENDAE OP
ches, in Normandy, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, about the year 1112, by the blessed Vitalis, hermit,

Our Lady

of Apparitions, at Madrid, so called

because in the year 1449, the Blessed Virgin appeared during eight following days to a young

who was

its first

abbot. (Gall.
10.

Christ.,

t,

iv.)

woman named Yyes, and ordered her to huild a church in her honour, on the spot where she should
find a cross planted to

Our Lady.

(In vita B.Joan.)

OurLady
a
fine

of the Vine, near Viterbo, in Tuscany,

(Bzovius, ad ann. 1487.) present

11.

church, occupied at

by Dominicans.

Our Lady
1131,
Christ.,

of Longport, in Valois.

This ahhey,
in the year

of the Cistercian order,

was founded
of

by
t.

Josselin,
iv.)

Bishop

Soissons.

(Gall.

Our Lady of the Forests, at Porto, in PortngaL This image was found again in a forest, where it had been hidden by Queen Matilda, wife of Alphonsus I. (Joan. Barrius, lib. de reb. interam-

nensib.,

c.

12.)

Our Lady d

la Garde, in Arragon, so called for

having preserved a child from death, who had fallen into a well, in the year 1221. (Bzovius, ad ann.

12.^

Our Lady

of Miracles, in the cloister of St.

Maur

1221.)
5.

It is said that this image was found made, when the sculptor, named Eumold, was going to work at it. (Du Breuil, Theatre dea

des Fosses, near Paris.

Our Lady
raine.

of good Succour, at Nancy, in Lor-

Antiq.,

liv. iv.)

It is believed that this

image enabled Ren6,

13.

Duke

of Lorraine, to gain a victory over Charles

the Bold, the last

Cour., n. 55.)

Duke

of

Burgundy. (Triple

Our Lady of

the Empress, at

Rome.

A tradition

records that this image spoke to St. Gregory the

Great, in the year 593.

divi Benedicti.)

(Anton. Yepez, ad anu. 84,

14

Our Lady
tugal.

of Nazareth, at Pierre Noire, in Porat

This image was honoured

if

Nazareth in

the time of the apostles,

we may

believe a writing
this

Our Lady de
for

la Breche, at Chartres,

where a

which was found, by a hunter, attached to

image, in the year 1160.

(Triple Cour.,

procession takes place every year, in thanksgiving

n. 13.)

Our Lady's having delivered the city, when It was besieged by heretics, in the year 1668. this siege that the image of Our Lady, during
placed upon the Drouaise gate, could not be injured

Our Lady

of the Star, at Villa Viciosa, in Por-

tugal, so called from a star,

which a shepherd saw

buUt.-^(Triple Cour.,

by the cannon and musket

fired at
it,

balls,

which the besiegers

still

shining where the church

n. 17.)

is

and the marks of which are

seen at

two or three inches from the image. (Sebastien

Bouillard, Parthenie,
8.
c. 3.)

Our Lady

of Virtues, at Lisbon, in Portugal.

or Raoul,

16.

(Ant. Vasconcell. in Descript. reg. Lusitan., c. 7, 6.)

In the year 911, the city of Chartres was miraculously delivered from the siege laid to
it

by Eollo

Duke

of the

Normans

for as

he was on

Foondation of Savigny,

in the diocese of

Avran-

the point of taking the city, Gaucelin, the forty-

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIKGIN.

seventh Bishop of Chartres, niouuted on the top of the ramparts, holding a relic of Our Lady as an
ensign, which struck such terror in the camp, that
all

386
21.

Our Lady

of Bruges, in Flanders, where a lock

is

of the Blessed Virgin's hair

exhibited, given

retreated in disorder

in

memory

of this fact,

a Syrian bishop,
lib.
i.

named Moses.

(Hugo

by

Farcitus,

the

meadows

of the gate of Drouaise are called, to

miracul. B. Virg.)
22.

this day, the

(Sebastien

meadows

of the fugitives [den Recules).

c. 7, n.

Rouillard, Parthenie,

6.)

On Palm Sunday,
Ifi.

in the year 1098, St. Robert,

Abbot

of

Moleme,

retired with twenty-one of his

Our "Lady
built,

of the Fountain, at Constantinople,

in the year 460, in

monks
he

to the diocese of Chalons-sur-Saone,

where

by the Emperor Leo,

for the

thanksgiving

Blessed Virgin's having ap-

honour of Our Lady, the celebrated monastery of Citeaux, the head house of the
built, in

peared to him on the margin of a spring, to which he was charitably leading a blind man, when he vms

order.

(Arnold

Vionus,

lib.

i.

Ligni vit,

c.

47.)

no more than a common

soldier,

and foretold
lib.

to
c.

that he would be emperor.

(Niceph.,

him
15.)

23.

xv.

Our Lady

of Victory.

This image bears that

17.

In the year 1095, under Pope Urban TI., a council was held at Clermont, in Auvergne, at

name, because the French having fortunately taken it from the hands of the Greeks, during a sanguinary engagement which they had with them near
Constantinople, in the year 1204, they gained by means of it a complete victory. (Spoudanus in

which the

office

of

Our Lady was

instituted.

(Concil. Clarom.)

Foundation of the Abbey of

Annal., ad ann. 1204.)

24.

Baumont-les-Tours, by Ingestrude, in the year

600. (Gallia

Christiana,

t.

iv.)

Eve
18.

of the Annunciation of
II.

by Gregory

On

this day.

Our Lady, instituted Our Lady kept the

In the year 1586, Our Lady's, of Loretto, was erected into a cathedral by Sixtus V., from having
been before a collegiate church.
Lauretana,
v. 10.)

(Balingh. Metaphrastes.)
The Annunciation
of

Passover at Jerusalem, in the year of our Lord 49.

(Tursel., Hist.

25.

Our Lady. This

and
is lib.
ii..

feast

was

19.

instituted by the apostles,

The
is

Beautiful Lady, at Nogent-sur-Seine.

that
it

It

of

all.

(Joan.

the most ancient

c. 6.)

Bonifacius,

Hist. Virg.,

affirmed

is

impossible to remove this

its

celebrated image from

little

only four or

five

feet

square.

(Ex

chapel, which

is

26.

monument.

Our lAdy
monks.

of Soissons, occupied

by Benedictine

Novigent.)
20.

In

Our Lady.

(Hugo Farcitus.)
27.

this

abbey

is

seen one of the shoes of

Our Lady
sels.

of Calevoirt, at Uckelen, near Brus-

This image began to work miracles in the year 1451, which led to the determination to build a magnificent chapel in honour of Our Blessed

Apparition of

Our Lord

to

he was risen from the

c.

dead. (Alphons. a Castro,

28.

Our Lady

as soon as

17.)

Lady,

in the year 1623,

which the Infanta of Spain,

devoutly visited in the
in Aiiual. Belg.)

Isabella Clara Eugenia,

same year.

(Aub. Miraus,

Our Lady
lonia.

of Castelbruedo, at Olian, in Cata-

It

is

related that every year, on the day of

386

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OF

the Annunciation, three lights were seen of a blue

colour,
this

which ahone through the glass windows of

Apparition of onr Lord to Our Lady and the

apostles in the supper-roora, eight days after his

church, lighted the lamps and

wax

candles,
dis-

went out by the same way, and immediately

appeared. (Ludo
c.

resurrection.

(Balingh.

in Calend.)

Marinseus,
29.

lib. v.,

de reb. Hisp.,
4.

ultimo.)

Our Lady
to St. Bonet,

of Grace, in

Normandy.

This image

Apparition of

Our Lady

Bishop of

Clermont, in Auvergne, whom she ordered to say mass one night when he had remained in the church to pray. The saint leaning against a pillar,
as
if

very famous in the country, and people come to venerate it from all parts. (Ex Archiv. hujus eccl.)
is

to bide himself, the stone

became

soft

and

Apparition of Our Lady to Pope Honorius IV.,

for the confirmation of the

made

the place for him, which is seen to this day. But the Blessed Virgin having obliged him to
officiate,

Order

of

Mount Carmel.

(Balingh.
6.

Our Lady

of

in Calend.)

the ceremony being finished, she

left

him
of the Conceptioij, at the Capuchin Convent of Douay, in Flanders, where is seen a
picture of the Immaculate Conception, which

the cliasuble which had been brought him by angels

to celebrate in.

The heavenly
it is

Been at Clermont, where

care.

(In

present is still to be preserved with great

Our Lady

ejus vita,

apud Surium, die 15 Jan.)

80.

was

miraculously preserved from

(Amatus Francisc.
at

fire, in the

year 1553.

in libello

MS.)

Our Lady, Boulogne-Bur-mer, by Claude Dormy, bishop

of the chapel of that city

Re -establishment

of

7.

(Triple Cour., n. 53.)

81.

Our Lady of the Forsaken,

This image
great noise
at
is

at Valencia, in Spain.
it is is

in a chapel,

where

said that

a
or

is

made when any one

drowned

Our Lady
where
St.
is

Holy Cross, kept a part of Our Lady's

of the

Jerusalem,

assassinated in the environs of the city.

Cour., n. 28.)

(Triple

Helen.

(Onuphrius,

veil,

given by

lib. vii.

Eccl.)
8.

Feast of the Miraclerf of Our Lady, at Cambron,

near Mons, in the

Low Countriea.
9.

(Locrius.)

APRIL.
1.

Our Lady
It
is

of

Myans, near Chambery,

in Savoy.

Octave of the Anntinci.ition of Onr Laly, in the

Carmelite order.

(Balingh.
2.

believed that this image, in the year 1249,

in Calend.)

prevented the thunder,

which had already con-

sumed the town

of Saint

Andr^ with
n.

sixteen vilits

lages, from going farther, and was the cause of

Onr Lady the

Great, at Poitiers,

where

is

shown

stopping at

Myaus. (Triple Cour.,

10.

114.)

an image of the Blessed Virgin, in whose hands tlie keys of the city were found miraculously while
the mayor's servant was looking everywhere for

them, to open the gates to the English, to

he had promised

to betray the city.

(Jean

whom
Bou-

is

Our Lady much visited,

of Laval, in Vivarais.

This church

for obtaining rain for the preser-

vation of the produce of the earth.

n. 41.)

(Triple Cour.,

cher, Auual. d'Aquit.)

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

11.
It 18

887
19.

related that on this day a blind

man recovered
of Montaerrat,

his sight in the

Chnrch

of

in the year 1538.

(Balingh.
12.

Our Lady

Confirmation of the Feast of the Conception of Our Lady, by the Council of Trent, in the year

in Calend.)

1545. (Coucil.

Trident.)

20,

Our Lady
seven
this

of Charity, in the

Ahhey
It

of Feuillants,
is

Our Lady
was
built

of Scheir, in Bavaria,

This chnrch

leagues from

Toulouse.

said that

image has several times shed

tears.

(Triple

on the spot where the

castle stood,

which

those of the house of Scheir voluntarily ceded to

Cour., n. 34.)

13,

(Herith. de
to the blessed

his obstinacy,

Our Lady, except Arnaud, who, in punishment of was drowned in a neighbouring lake.
orig. gentia et princ. Bav.)

Apparition of

Mantua.

(In

Our Lady

Jane of
21.
Institution of the Confraternity of the

ejus vita.)

Tmmaby

14.

culate Conception, at Toledo, in the year 1606,

Apparition of Our Lady to St. Ludwina, in the year 1433. (Joan. Bruchman.)
15.

Cardinal Francis Ximenes, archbishop of that city.

(Gomeaius,
Our Lady

in ejus vita.)

22.
of Betharam, in the diocese of Lescar,

In the year 1011, the Blessed Virgin gave the

white
liabit to

the blessed Alberic, instead of the

black which he wore.

(In

in the province of in the year 1503,

ejus vita.)

16.

Beam. This image was found, by some shepherds, who, seeing an extraordinary light on the spot where the high altar of the chapel now stands, came up to it, and
found there an image of Our Lady,
for

Our Lady
Mark,
the Emperors

of Victories, in the

Church

of St.

at Venice.

This

is

the famous image which

had a chapel
n. 32.)

built immediately.

(Triple

which they
Cour.,

John Zimisces and John Comnenus

caused to be carried in a triumphal car; at tliis day, it is borne in procession at Venice to obtain
rain or fine

"

23.

weather. (ft ejus

17.

vita.)

Grant of indulgences, by Pope Calixtus

the year 1455, to those
dral of Arras, are preserved.
Eceles. Atreb.)

II.,

ia

who

shall visit the cathe-

where a

Our Lady
image
is

Arabida, in Portugal, where an seen which an English merchant used to

of

(Andreas

veil

and

girdle of

Our Lady

Herby, ex codice MS.

carry about him.

Finding danger of shipwreck, he saw his image, surrounded witli a great light, on top of the rock of Arabida,

himself one day in

24.

Dedication of Our
rence,

Lady

of Eeparation, at Flo-

which caused him

to build there a little hermitage,

where he spent the remainder of

Cour., n. 16.)

his

(Triple days.

by

Eugenias IV., in the year 143G.

(Balingh.)
2S.

18.

Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Pane,

in

Grant of plenary indulgences, by Urban VI., to those who visit the Church of Our Lady of Loretto.

(Balingh. in Calend.)

honour of Our Lady, by Philip, Archbishop of Bourges, in the year 1248. (Du Breuil, Theatre des

Antiq.)

388
26.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OP
2.

Our Lady of Nalera, was found miraculously

church

in Navarre.

This image
;

Our Lady
sess
in Calend.)

of Oviedo, in Spain,

where they poshair.

in the year 1048

Dom

some of the Blessed Virgin's

(Baliugh.

Garcias de Naiera, King of Navarre, caused a to be built for it, which several kings of Navarre visited. (Andr^ Favin, liv. iii. Hist, de

Navarre.)
27.
It
is

Apparition of

Our Lady
in Calend.)

to the blessed

Mary

Razzi, of the order of St. Dominic, in the year

1597. (Balingh.
Our Lady de to life who had

said that in the year 1419,

Haut, in Hainault, restored a child been dead three days. (Just. Lips, in Hist. D.

Virg. Hallens,

c. 19.)

Our Lady the Helper, three leagues from Caen, Normandy. Every year a solemn procession is made to this chapel. (Triple Cour., n. 61.)
in

28.

Our Lady

of the Oak, near the

town of
so

Sable, in
miracles,
;

Anjou. This image has wrought that it is at present very famous

many

Our Lady

assists,

on the Mount of Olives, at the

to

in the country

Ascension of Our Lord, and returns afterwards

Marshal de Bois, dauphin, had a fine church built for it, and a house of reception fur the pilgrims.

Jerusalem, to retire into the supper-room with the

apostles.

(Act. Apost.

i.)

(Triple Cour., n. 60.)

6.

29.

of Faith, at the Angnstinian convent This image remained a long time in the cabinet of a young lady, who made a present of
of

Our Lady
Amiens.

Our Lady of Miracles, in the Church of Our Lady of Peace, at Rome. It is related that in the year a man who had lost his money by gaming, 1483,
after

it

to the church of the Augustinians,

miracles.

wrought many

(Ex MS. Aug. Ambier.)

30.

where

it

has

stabs with a dagger,

blaspheming at this picture, gave it four and that it bled so copiously

that the miracle

city.

was

at once divulged all over the

This picture

is still

preserved in the Church

of

Our Lady
altar,

of Peace,

where

This church, which had been dedicated to the apostles Peter and

Our Lady

of Nantes, in Britanny.

high

framed in marble.

(Gabr. Pen.,
33, 2.)

it is

to be seen at the in hist.

Tripl. Canon. Regul.,

lib. iii. c.

Paul by Felix, Bishop of Nantes, was pulled down by the Normans, in the year 937, and rebuilt by
Alain,

Duke

of

Britanny.

(Fortunat.,

li

Our Lady
which
St.

of

Hant
little

in Hainault,

where

is

seen

Carm.,

c, 1, 2, 3,

and

4.)

one of the three

statues of the Blessed Virgin

Elizabeth,

daughter of

Andrew

II.,

King

of

Hungary, had
left
it

religiously honoured,

and

which she

by

will to

MAY.
In the year 1449, some of the principal goldemitlis of Paris began to give the May -pole to the

who gave
12G7,

to the

her holy daughter Sophia, church of Haut, in the year

miracles
hist.

wrought.
c. 3.)

where

several

have been

since

(Just. Lipsius,

D. Virg. Hallens.,

Church
liv.

of

Our Lady.

(Du Breuil, Antiq. de Paris,

8.

L)

In the year 1202, the learned Justus Lipsins

FEASTS OF TUB BLESSED VIEOIN.

gave
hia silver

889

before the high akar. (In ejus

Ilaiit, in Haiiiault,

pen to the Church of Onr Lady of where it is still seen hanging

vita.)

and the forty-eighth of the age of the Virgin. (Christoph. a Castro in Hist Virginis.)

16.

Our Lady
in Italy.

of Loretto, in the ]\rarch of

is

Ancona,

Apparition of Our Lady to St. Catherine of Alexandria, whose body was discovered on the

This cliapel

the house of Nazareth,

where the mystery of the Redemption was announced.

1, 2, 5,

(Turselin,
7, 8, 10.)

13th of this month, on IMount Sinai, in consequence of a revelation which the Queen of heaven

in Hist. Lauretana,

lib. i., c.

gave of

it.

(In ejus

vita.)

'i,

17.
10.

Our Lady
Italy.
It is

of Tears, in the

duchy of

Spoletto, in

Dedication of the city of Constantinople to Our Lady, by Constantine the Great, nnder the patri-

said that this picture, painted on a

arch Alexander.

(Niceph.,

wall, shed

many

tears in the year 1494. Hist. TripartitB,

c.

(Gabriel

Lady

of Saussaie, near Paris.

Benedictine jiriory the year 1305, by Pope Clement V.

11.

c. Our 26.) The church of tliis was dedicated to Our Lady, in

lib. viii.,

Pennotus,

lib. iii.,

34.)

18.

Dedication of
tercian

Our Lady

of Bonport, of the Cis-

whom
1694:.

to St. Philip Neri, Apparition she healed of a serious malady, in the year

of

Our Lady

Pont de I'Arche, in the This abbey was founded by diocess of Evreux. Richard Cceur de Lion, on the 11th of March, in
order, hear the

(In ejus
of

the year

1190. (Gallia

Christ.,

t.

iv.)

vita.)

19.

12.

Dedication of

Our Lady

of Flines, near Donny,

Power, This image has wrought so

church,
that
it

Our Lady

at Aubervillers, near Paris.

by

Peter, Archbishop of Rheims, in the year 1279.

many
St.

miracles in this
of

it

is

called

Our Lady

Power,

though
Breuil,

is

dedicated to

Christopher.

(Du

This abbey of nuns, of the order of Citeaux, was given to St. Bernard by Margaret de Dampierre,
in the

year 1234.

(Chronic. Fliuiens.)
20.

lib. iv.)

13.

Dedication of Our

Lady

of Martyrs, called the

Dedication of the churcli of

diocese of Chalons,
in

La

Fort^, in the

Eotunda, at Rome, by Boniface IV., in the year 608. This temple was called the Pantheon, because it was dedicated to all the gods of paganism.

Burgundy, in honour of

(Beda,

Our Lady. This abbey, the eldest daughter of Citeaux, was founded in the year 1113, by Savarie
and William, Counts of Chalons. Abbat. Pirmitutis.)
21.

lib.

ii.,

Hist. Angl.,

c. 4.)

(Ex

Archiviis

14.

Dedication

of

Our Lady

of

the year 998. (Chronic. Annonia;,

15.

douin, thirty-seventh bishop of the

Noyon, by Harsame city, in

t.

Our Lady
in the

of Sweat, at Salerno, in

Ital}'.

It is

iii.)

said that this

Madonna sweated blood and water

year 1611, as a presage of a great conflagration which happened on the following day.
(P.
Spinelli

and the

Descent of the Holy Ghost upon Our Lady apostles, in the year 34 of Jesus Christ,

Tract, de

exempl. et miracuL, cap.

ultim.)

390
22.

mSTOEICAL CALENDAE OP
29.

Monte VeFgine, near Naples. This image preserved from the flames the monastery and

Our Lady

of

Feast of

Our Lady dea Ardents,

is

at

Arras; a
of Arras,

church consecrated in her honour.

citato.)

(Idem,

wax

candle
is

kept

in

the

cathedral

loco

which
Lady,

held to have been brought thither by

the

Our

in

year

1095.

(Jacob.

Meyerus, in

Aunal. Fland., ad ann. 1095.)

23.

Our Lady

of IMiracles, at St. Omer's, where a

80.

glove and some portion of the hair of the Blessed

Virgin are preserved.

(Chronic. Bertinens.)
24.

Dedication of the church of Monte Vergine, near

built in the year 1126, by St. William, founder of the order of Monte Vergine, and re-

Naples,

paired in the year 1519.

(John Juvenal,

lib. vii.,

de Antiq.,

c. 3.)

Gregory XV.,

in the year 1622,

makes a decree,
31.

by which

it

is

forbidden to uphold the contrary

It is also opinion to the Immaculate Conception. forbidden, by the same decree, to use in the mass

Our Lady

of Suffering, in the

Church

of St.

Ger-

or

office

(Buliiigh. in Calend.)

any other term than that of conception.

This image which was at the corner of the street des Rosters, was mutilated by a Jew, in the year 1528 ; Francis I. had it solemnly carried
vase, at Paris.

to St. Gervase, of silver gilt,

and he ordered a statue

set

to he

made

which he himself

up

in the place of

25.

the

first.

Tliis statue

was stolen

in the year 1545,

for
it,

Our Lady
Emperor

the

New,

at Jerusalem, built

Justinian, in the year 630.

(Procopius,

by the

and another of stone was substituted

which

de Q^dific. imperat. Justiniani.)

always retained the name of Our Lady of Silver. (Du Breuil, Theatre des Antiquities, lib. iii.)

26.

Dedication of Our
diocese of Cambray,

Lady

of Vancelles, in the

by Samson, Archbishop of

JUNE.
1.

Rheims.

This abbey, of the order of Citeaux, was

founded in the year 1132.

(In Chronic.

Cisterc.)

Our Lady of the

church
27.
is

Star, at Aquileia, in Italy.

it is

This

so called, because

affirmed that a star

Our Lady Mary Major, by Pope John

Dedication of

of Naples, called St.

II., in

open day on the head of St. Bernardin, when, preaching at Aquileia, he applied to the

was
the year G33.

seen, in

Blessed Virgin that passage

of the Apocalypse,
stars

picture of the Blessed

Virgin, painted by St.

this church.

where

it is

said that there

were twelve

on her

(Schraderous,
Feast of

Luke, has been carefully preserved in

lib. ii.)

head. (Surius,

in ejus vita.)

2.

28.
relics of

Our Lady
at Venice,

of Edessa, in Asia Minor. It

is

asserted

Our Lady,

where

that this image, placed beneath the

ne exposed
tions

to the veneration of the faithful, por-

church, spoke

to St. Alexis,

gateway of a and made known to the

of the robe of the Blessed Virgin, of her

people the merit of that saint.

Thence

it

was re-

mantle, veil,

and girdle.

(Ex

Hist, ea de re

Im-

moved

to

Rome, where

it

is

highly honoured.^

pressa Venetiis.)

(Tiiomas Bosius,

lib. ix. c. 9.)

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

10.

391

Out Lady of
from
tliia

Sosopoli, in Pisidia.
oil,

There exuded
as
ia testified

Our Lady
is

of Cranganor, in the East Indies.

It

image a miraculous

by

asserted that this church was built

Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, in a letter wliich was read at the second council of Nice, assembled for the defence of holy images.
Nicseni.)

three Magi.

(Osorius,

by one of the

t. i.

de Gestis

Emmam.)

(Art.

4, Concil.

11.

Our Lady
in Flanders.

of Esqnernes, half a league from Lille,

This image began to work miraclea

4.

about the year 1162.

(Buzelinus,
12.

in Annal. Gall.,

Our Lady

of the Hill, at Fribourg,

miracles are wrought.

(Triple Cour.,
5.

where many
n. 85.)

lib. ii.)

The

The
Lady

chronicle relates that in the year 1428,

Our
li.e,

appeared to
order,

of

Haut,

in Hainault, restored a child to

day OnrLady Herman, of the Premonstratensian and gave him a lock of her hair. (Surius,
St.

chronicle records that' on this

had-Jbeen dead several days, that he might receive baptism that he lived five .hours after
;

who

in ejus vita.)

13.

receiving that sacrament, and then melted

away by
c.

Dedication of

degrees, like a snow-ball, in presence of seventy

l)er8ons.

Our Lady

of Sichem, near Lonvain,

(Justus Lipsius, de Virg. Hallens.,

in the year 1604,

by Matliias Hovius, Archbishop

21.)

of Mechlin.
in this

The image of the Blessed Virgin seen chur jh, was originally placed in the hollow of an oak tree. (Just. Lipsius, de Virg. Aepricol., c. 4.)

Institution of the

nuns of the Visitation of Our

in Savoy, in

Lady, founded at Annecy,

the year

14.

1610, by St. Francis of Sales, Bishop of Geneva, and Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal, who was the
first

religious.
i.)

(Henri

de Maupas du Tour, 2*

partie, cb.

In the year 371, there fell from heaven, at Arras, something like white wool mixed with heavy rain, of which mention is made by St. Jerom, and it is maintained that the famine being great in the
country, the inhabitants of Arras had recourse to the Blessed Virgin, who sent them this heavenly

Dedication of Our
of

Lady du Val,
leagues

of the Order
Paris,

present,

commonly
still

called

manna, some remains of

church dedicated in

Citeaux,

seven

from

imder

which are

to be seen in the

Louis XIII., on the 18th of April, in the year 1616.

her honour. (Ex Arch. Abb. Truliense.)

(Ex

codice ilS.)
15.
8.

Our Lady
St. Peter,

of Alexandria,
of
this

patriarch

Egypt, built by city. (fiaronius, ad

in

Foundation of Our Lady of the FeuUlants, in the diocese of Toulouse and Kieux, in the year
1145.
16.

ann. 310.)

Our Lady
raine.

of Ligny, near Bar This image is very famous

le

Due,

in

Lor-

miracles which are wrought there.

n. 67.)

(Triple Cour.,

for tlie freiiuent

by CharleLeo III., in the year magne, and consecrated by 804, where there were assembled three hundred

Our Lady

of

Aix

la Chapelle, built

and

fifty

prelates.

Charlemagne

gave

to

this

church two tunics of Our Lady, in the year 810,

392

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OP
23.

from which Charles the Bald took one, sixty -five years afterwards, to give it to the church of
Chartres. (FerreoL
17.)

Locrius,

lib. v.

Mari Aug.,

Our Lady Jusfinienne, at Carthage. This church was built by the Emperor Justinian, in honour of
the Blessed Virgin, to
victories

c.

whom

he attributed the

17,

which he gained over the Vandals. ad ann. 534.) (Baron,

24.

Our Lady
This
little

of the Forest, near Boulogne -sur-Mer.

is

chapel

very celebrated iu that country.

(Triple

Cour., n. 63.)

Our Lady of Clos Evrard, near Treves. This image was fastened to an oak by a vinedresser, who wished to honour it but Our Lady ordered
;

18.

him
St.

to build a small

hut iu her honour.

The
this

Apparition of Our Lady to

Pulciano, with
cross,

Agnes

of

Monte

miracles which were

wrought there caused

little

which

is

whom, it is said, she left a small still shown with great solemnity,

hut

first

to

be exchanged for a

chapel, and

on the 1st of May.

lib.
i.

(Chronic. S. Domiuici,
19.

at last for a church,

which was dedicated in the

of

part

i.

c.

72.)

year 1449, by James de Rircq, Archbishop Treves. (Triple Cour., n. 82.)

25.

At Treves, in Germany, is seen in the church of St. John the Evangelist, built in 333, the comb of Our Lady, given by Agritius, archbishop of that
city.

In the year 431, the council of Ephesus, which declared that the Blessed Virgin must be called

Mother

of

God. (Ooncil.

Ephes.)

20.

26.

Our Lady
of

of Blaquernes, on the port of Con-

Our Lady
where
St.

of

Meliapoor, in the East Indies,

stantinople, where they possess the winding-sheet

Our Lady, given by

the Empress St. Pulcheria,

(In vita S. Franc. Xaverii.) prayers.

27.

Francis Xavier often retired to say his

who had
salem.

(Niceph.

received

it

from Juvenal, Bishop of Jeru-

lib xv., c. 14.)

2L
Our Lady
Egypt, where
of
is

This of the Dorade, at Toulouse. which was formerly dedicated to the goddess place, Pallas, was changed into a church of Our Lady,

Our Lady

Matarieh,

at

Grand

Cairo,

in

when
lib.
i.,

the inhabitants received the faith.

(Foreat.,

seen a miraculous fountain, which

prayers,
;

de GaU. Imperio

Our Lady obtained by her

thither with the
tradition,

when

she fled
28.

that

there

Holy Family and it is held, by she washed the swaddling

Dedication of the church of the Carthusians of

Paris,

clothes of the Infant Jesus.

(Triple Cour.,

u. 5.)

uuder the

title

of

Our Lady, by Jonn

Champagne, iu d'Aubigny, Bishop 1325. (Du Breuil, Theatre des Antithe year

of Troyes, in

22.

quit., hb. ii.)

Our Lady
this

of Narni, in Italy.
to

It is said that

image spoke
little

the blessed Lucy, to wliom

bold. (Triple

29.

she gave the

Trait. 3.)

Jesus to

Cour.,

Our Lady
in Gascouy.

of Buglose,

two leagues from Acqs, This image was miraculously found

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN.

in the year 1634,

393

and removed
n. 36.)

to the

Bugloae. (Triple Cour.,

Our Lady

parish

of

30.
of Calais, built

Dedication of Our Lady of Cambray, in the year 1472, by Peter de llanchicourt. Bishop of Arras. This church was built in honour of Our Lady, in
the year 624; reduced to ruins by the
in the

by the English, while

Normans

they possessed that city, of which they were masters

year 882

rebuilt

by Dossilon, twenty -first

;

during two hundred and ten years a magnificent chapel was added to it, in the year 1631, by James
;

Bishop of Arras, in
after
it

the year 890

in the years

and, finally,

de Bulloye, cure of Calais.

(Davila,

having been burnt

t.

ii.)

was put in the condition

in

in the year
ii.,

1251. (Chronic.

1064 and 1148, which it now is,

t. iii.,

Uaunon.,

lib.

chap. 23.)

JULY.
1.

Our Lady d'Iron, near

was
in
this child,
its

BIois,

in

Dunois.

It

who

chapel that, about the year 1631, a had been smothered by struggling in
to life the

Dedication of the church of Jumiegcs, in Nor-

cradle,

came
it

moment

that

its

parents

mandy,

in the

of Rouen,

year 1067, by Maurice, Archbishop at tiie instance of King William.

had devoted
hujus
loci.)

to our I^ady

d'Iron. (Ex Archiv.

(Thomas Walsingham.)
7.

Dedication of Our

Lady

of Arras, in the year

The
feast

Visitation

of the Blessed Virgin.

This

1484,
city.

was instituted by Urban IV., in the year 1385, and confirmed by Boniface IX., in the year 13S9, (S. Antouin, iv. part, tit. xv., chap. 24.)

by Peter de Ranchicourt, bishop of that This church was built by St. Vaast, Bishop
liberal donations of the first kings of
it

of Arras, in the year 642, according to Baronius,

by the

France.

The Normans destroyed

being
3.

in the

year 683, and, after

1040.

rebuilt, it

was burnt by lightning

1030, and
It is said
lib. ii.)

built again in the year

(Locrius,

in the year

Our Lady

of la

Carolle, at Paris.

was placed at the corner of the Rue aux Ours, was stabbed with a knife, in the year 1418, and that it bled profusely.
that this image, which

It

is

related that, in the year 1410,

in

Our Lady
of
Tiiia

of Haut,

Hainault, restored

life

to a child

Brussels
child,

who had been drowned

in

a well.

In memory of

this,

an

artificial

firework
figure
is

is

made
burnt,

every year, in which a waxen

the blow.

which represents the sacrilegious wretch who gave

(Du

having been taken out of .the well dead, was devoted to Our Lady, and he immediately came to life. (Justus Lipsius, de Virg. Ilallens., c. 16.)

Breuil, lib.

ii.)

8.

of Miracles, at Avignon, built by John XXII., on the occasion of two crimiPope nals being condemned to the fire one was seen
;

Our Lady

in

Our Lady of Peace, at the Capuchin Convent the Rue St. Houore, at Paris.

by the flumes, who had invoked the Blessed Virgin, while the other was entirely conto be spared

Dedication of
fry de

8umed. (Richard Cluuiac.

Our Lady
in 1056.

of Coutances,

by Geof-

in Joan, xxii.)

Mombray,

3 E

394
10.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OF
15,

Dedication of Our Laily of Bonlogne, near Paris,

in
tlie

In the year 1099, the Turks were defeated by

The

year 1409, by Cliartier, Bishop of Paris. confraternity of Our Lady of Boulogne is so

Godfrey of Bouillon, who on this day took Jerusalem, of which he was made king ; and formerly the feast
of this event
office

celebrated, that six of onr kings have chosen to

belong to it

(Da Breuil, Autiq.,

11,

lib. iv.)

and octave.

was celebrated annually with a double (Molauus, ad banc diem.)

Onr Lady
was buried

of Clery, four leagues from Orleans.

IG.

This church was rebuilt by King Louis XI, who

there in the year 1483.

(Locrius, M.

Aug.

lib, iv. c. 68.)

about the year 1251, to the blessed Simon Stock, an Englishman this devotion has since spread all over the world. The
it,

The feast of Our Lady gave

the Scapular;
herself,

tradition says that

12,

Dedication of

Our Lady

of

all

Graces, at the

popes John XXII., Gregory XIII., Sixtus V., Gregory XIV., and Clement VIII., have granted

the year 1678,

convent of the Minims of Nigeon, near Paris, in This house was given in the year Ann of Biitanuy, wife of Louis XII., 1476, by
to St, Francis of

(Cartagena, de Ortu ordinis Carmelitnrum.)

17.

indulgences to those

who

are of this confraternity.

Paula,

who had

instituted his

order in the year

Paris.)

1436. (Du

Breuil,

Ant. de

In the year 1565, Pius V. approves of the reform

of the barefooted Carmelites, instituted 13.
at Avila, in Spain.

by St.Teresa,

image of Our Lady of Chartres was carved

forest, in the

century before the birth of our Saviour, the in a

midst of the plains of

13,

La

Beauce, by

Our Lady

of Victory, at Toledo, so called from a

order of Priscus, king of the people of Chartres, and was set up afterwards with this inscription, " Virgin!

signal victory

which was gained over the Moors,

that To a Virgin who pariturse" the same place where seen

is,

by Alphonsus IX,,
after

King of Castile,

in the year 1202,

it to

bring forth

having a flag carried, on which

in

it is

at the present

of

Our Lady.

(In Hist, Alphonsi ad Innocent

19.

was the picture

III.)

diy, which was then a cave, where the Druids offered

their sacrifices.
St. Potentianus,

second Bishop of

Sens,

whom

the Apostle St. Peter had sent into

France, stopped at Chartres, where he blessed this image, and dedicated the cavern as a church, in the

Our Lady

of

Moyen

Pont, near Peronne,

This

year of Jesus Christ 46. then

;

(Sebast.

Ilouillard,

Par-

image was found by a shepherd, near the ponds, where tlie meadows of Amele are at present; a
church was built there, which was repaired in 1612,
n. 53.)

c. iv. n. 1.)

(Triple Cour,,
14.

Our Lady
was seen
;

of the Bush, in Portugal.

This image

20.

in the middle of a burning bush, by a

Our Lady
Antoine,
of

of Grace, at Picpus,
Paris.
Tliis

Faubourg Saintis

Evora, Vasquez Perdigon, shepherd caused to be built in this place, in the year 1403, a church and monastery, which was given to the

Bishop of

image, which

in

small ship of

wood with two angels

from a
8i)]iuter

at the end,

was

made,

in 162'J,

taken from the famous

monks

of St.

Jerom. (Vascoucell.,
c, vii.

in

Descript.

image of Our Lady of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Cour., u. 47.)

(Triple

regui Luttitautae,

6.)

FEASTS OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

21.
affrighted, retired in disorder,

895
and
lost

Our Lady
numerous

of

Verdun,
this

in Lorraine, celebrated for

part of their army.

(Jacob. Bosius, in Hist, equi28.

the greater

miracles.

St. Polichraine, fifth

Verdun, dedicated

Bishop of church on his return from

tum

lihod.)

the council of Chalcedon.

(Ex Arch,

eccles. Virod.)

Our Lady
22.
is

of Faith, at Gravelines.

very celebrated in the country.

(Hist. Domina

This imago

Our Lady de la Garde, near Marseilles. The Queen of heaven is much honoured in this church, where every Saturday the blessed sacrament is
exposed from midnight till noon. There are seen more than thirty large silver lamps, with a quantity of branches of coral, of extraordinary size. (Ex

Foyens. Gravel.)
29.

In the year 1546,

of Trent

it

was decreed
the

at the council

that, respecting

Immaculate Con

ception of the Blessed Virgin, the constitution of

Chronic. Massiliens.)
23.
Institution of the order of

Sixtus IV. should be strictly observed, under the

penalties thsrein imposed.

(Balingh. in

Kalend.)

Norbert, in th& year 1120, after

Our Lady.

(Biblioth. Prsemonstr.,
24.

Premontre, by St. a revelation from

lib.
i.

30.

c. 2.)

Our Lady de Gray, near Besanfon, in Franche Comte. This image, made of the oak of Montaigu, was much honoured in the country. (Triple Cour.,

n. 58.)

Foundation of Our Lady of Cambron, near Mons, in Hainault, by Anselm de Trasigny, lord of Peronne. (In

31.

MS.

in

the

year 1148;

Hannon.

chronic.)

Our Lady of the Murdered, at CeTca, near Lorban, a Cistercian monastery in Portugal. It is said that this image was brought from heaven to
the
that

25.

Onr Lady
from Blane,

of Bouchet,
in

two leagues and a half a pilgrimage which attracts Berry,

Abbot John, uncle of King Alphonsus, and it restored to life several persons who had
;

been murdered

that in

memory

of this miracle

a great concourse of pilgrims.

Blessed Virgin
is

where the

first

The image of the made of the wood of an aged oak, image was found. fEx monu-

they had from that time a red mark on their throats, like that which is seen at present on the
throat of the image.
c.

(Chronic

Cisterc,

lib.

vi.,

meutis hujus

loci.)

27 and 28.)

26.

Our Lady of Faith, at Cauchy, near Abbeville. This image, having been removed from the oak where it is, into a chapel which was built for it,
yards ofi", was miraculously found again in former place. (Des Archives de Cauchy.)
fifty

its

AUGUST.
1.

In the year 1218, Our Lady, appearing on thw

27.

day

to St.

Raimund, of the order

of St. Dominic,

In the year 1480, the knights of Rhodes gained a signal victory over the Turks, bj' the help of
the Blessed Virgin,

who appeared on
hand
;

the walls of
tiie

King of Arragon, and to St. Peter Nolasco, made known to all three separately that she desired them to establish an order for redeeming
to James,

that city holding a lance in her

enemy.

captives.

(Surius, in vita

S.

Raymundi.)

390
2.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OF
many
indulgences, and given

Onr Lady

of Angels, or of the PortinncTila, six

city of Assissium, in Italy.
this

the Carthusians.

(Balingh. in Calend.)
Rue
St.

by the same pope

to

hundred yards from the

Our Lady

of Protection, in the church of the

The

Benedictine

monks gave
;

chapel

to

St.

Feuillants, in the

Honore, at Paris.

It

Francis, at his request

and he wislied the conprincijtal

first

was so named by Queen

Ann

of Aust^^a, in the

Tent which he built there, to be the

of his order.

one

He

there assembled the

General

year 1561, in thanksgiving for the favours which she had received from the Queen of heaven. (Du

Chapter, where there were five thousand religious, and where he yielded up the ghost, in the year

Breuil, Antiq., lib.

iii.)

fifth

1226, the twentieth of his conversion, and the fortyof his age. (Chr. Ord. part i., lib. ii. c. 1.)

G.

In the year 963, the church of Our Lady of Chartres was entirely burnt, except the tunic of
the Blessed Virgin, which
is

Our Lady

of Bows, in

London.

It is related

(Sebast. Rouillard, Parthen.,

7.

seen there to this day.

c. vii.)

that this image, having been carried

away by a Our Lady

of Schiedam, in Holland.

storm, together with more than six hundred houses,

in the year 1071,
lence, that
it

it fell uninjured with such viobroke into the pavement, and sunk

The

chro-

nicle relatesjhat a merchant,

who had

stolen this
of

more than twenty was never possible

mesbury,
lib. iv.,

feet

into the earth,

it

whence

it

to

draw

out.

(Willel. Mal-

image, having
selling
it

embarked with the intention

at the fair at

Antwerp, could never get

in Willel., 2.)

away from the

it

port.

Alarmed

at this prodigy,

he

restored the image which he had taken away, and

4.

Our Lady

of Dordrecht, in Holland, built

it is

by

St.

John

was solemnly translated to the chiirch of St. Baptist, where St. Ludvvina used to pass

Santera on the spot which an angel, as

said,

who

whole nights in prayer.

norita.)

(Joan.

Bruchman., Mi-

was sent by the Blessed Virgin, marked out; she received, afterwards, the crown of martyrdom in this church. To render her memory more celebrated,

8.

Our Lady

of

La Kuen,

near Brussels.

This

God

caused

a fountain to flow,

after her

death, which cured fevers.

(Molan. in SS. Belg.)

church was built by order of Our Lady, who is said to have marked out its dimensions with a line

which

is still

shown.

(Auctar. ad Molan.)
9.

Dedication of

Our Lady ad Nivet,

called

St.

Mary Major, and formerly of the Crib, at Rome, because our Saviour's crib is kept there. It was built by a patrician named John, and his wife, on
the very place, which they

Our Lady of ffignies, in Brabant, the birthplace of Mary of CEgnies, who visited this holy image
of winter.

once every year, barefoot, during the severe rigours (Jacob, de Vitriaco, in ejus vita.)

found covered with

10.
Institution of the order of
at Barcelona, in the

snow, on the 6th of August, in the year 3G7, and rebuilt by Sixtus II., about the year 432. (Baron,

Our Lady

in Nat. ad ann. 367.)

year 1218.

(Surius

of Mercj',
in vita

Dedication of the Church of

Our Lady

of the

Sancti Raimundi.)
11.

Angels, at Itome, by Pope Pius IV., in the year 1561. This church, which anciently formed part of the thermae, or baths of Dioclosian, was erected
as a titular

church of a cardinal, favoured with

In the year 810, the Emperor Nicephorus and the Empress Irene sent to Charlemagne two of the

FEASTS OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

he deposited them in his church at Aix-la-Chapelle, from which Charles the
Blessed Virgin's robes
;

897

recommending himself to Onr Lady of Chartres. Out of gratitude for this favour, he gave to it in
perpetuity the land and lordship of Barres, founded a daily mass for ever, and left to this church all the

Bald took one, which he presented to the Cathedral

of Chartres.

(Locrius Anaceph.,
12.

p. 3.)

accoutrements which he wore on that day of victory.

This feasKis kept

office
is

in the

Church of Notre

Our Lady of Ronen, which Robert, Duke of Normandy, built. Richard L, king of England, gave
great gifts to this church,

Dame,
c. 6.)

at Paris, on the following day, the 18th,

and the

double.

(Sebastien

Rouillard,

and the kings of France

have granted
mogr., part
ii.,

it

great

privileges.

(Jlerula

Cos18.

lib. iii. c.

30.)

In the year 1022,

13.
in

King Robert founded

a chapel

honour of Our Lady

stands.

in the court of the palace,

Death
except

of

St.

Onr Lady in presence of the apostles, Thomas. Like her divine Son, she rose
t. ii.

at Paris,

now

on the spot where the Sainte Chapelle (Du Breuil, Antiq. de Paris.)

again and ascended to heaven on the third day after

lier

death.

(Suarez.,

in p. Disp. 21, sect, in

19.

fine.)

Our Lady
Portugal.
14.

of Jerusalem, near Montecorvo, in

chapel

is

there seen built in imitation

;

of the one at Jerusalem of

it is

said that the Blessed

Vigil of the
ing, of

Our Lady, with fastAssumption which mentiqn is made by Nicolas I., who
in the year 858.

Virgin

herself gave

the

plan.

(Vasconcell.,

in

Descript. regni Lusit.)

20.

was pope
this

It is recorded that

on
In the celebrated church of the Benedictines of

day angels were heard, near the

singing
this

city of Sois-

sons,

anthem

"
:

Felix

namque

es,

sacra Virgo Maria, et

(Thorn. Concep.,

ex

te ortus est

omni laude dignissima, quia Sol justitise, Christus Deus noster."

lib.
ii.

AfBghem,
tradition "
terras,

in

Brabant,

is
it

seen an image of the

Blessed Virgin, of which

that
St.

has been received by

it

part 7.)

Bernard, saluting
it

in

these

Salve, Maria,"

15.

Bernarde."

(Just. Lipsius,
21.

answered him, " Salve,

t. ii. c.

4, 4.)

The Assumption
feast

of the Blessed Virgin.

This In the year 1022 was instituted the order of the

thirty knights of

was instituted, according

very time of the apostles.

to St. Bernard, in the

(S.

Bernard, Ep. 174.)

16.

by King was the Star of

Navarre.)

Robert,

Our Lady of who said that

the Star, at Paris, the Blessed Virgin

his

kingdom. (A. Favin, Hist, de

22.

day the sepulchre of Our Lady was and in proof that the Blessed Virgin was opened, already assumed into heaven, nothing was found
this

On

but her winding-sheet, which gave a delicious

scent.

(Sausseyus,

in

Martyrolog.

Gallic,

die

Octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, instituted by Pope Leo IV. in the year 847.
(Jacob. Bosius, n. 2.)

Assumpt.)
17.

23.

Philip the Fair gained on this day a signal victory over the Flemish, in the year 1304, after

On

this day, in the year 1328, Philip de Valois,

being surrounded by Flemings near Mount Cassel,

398
had recourse
to the

HISTORIOAL OALENDAE OF
Blessed Virgin,

who imme-

diately delivered

gratitude for this favour,

into Paris, he

him from that danger. Out of when he made his entry

to

Virgin, where numerous miracles are wrought. (Ex MS. ea de re conscript.)

28.

went straight

Notre Dame, and

going the whole length of the nave up to the crucifix, and there laid down his arras. The picture of this

into the church on horseback, he proceeded

Our Lady
alabaster,

6f

Kiow, the metropolitan church of where there

to St.
is

Russia, in Poland,

a large image in

which spoke

Hyacinth, in the year

monarch on horseback was

for

long time to

be

seen in that church, to which he gave a revenue of

100

livres, to

be levied on his domain of Gatinais.

1241, and told him not to abandon it to the enemy who was besieging the city, but to carry it off with him, which he did without any difficulty, the image

(Triple

Cour., trait.

c.

n. 7.)

having

lost its

weight.

(In vita Sancti Hyacinth.)

29.

24.

Dedication of

Our Lady of

Benoiste Vanx, nearly

Our Lady
where there
sent to the

of Clermont, ten leagues from Cracow,

is

This cliapel B league from "Verdun, in Lorraine. an image of the Blessed Virgin, rendered preserves famous by miracles ; in this place is found a miraculous fountain,

a picture painted
St.

by

St.

Luke, and

Empress

Pulcheria;

that princess

placed

it

in the church of

the water of which cures several

at Constantinople,

from which
the

Our Lady of the Guides, it was taken by Leo,

of Opolia wanted to
;

maladies. (Hist, de Notre

ch.
i.

Dame de Benoiste Vaux,

Duke

of Russia;

Duke

and

ix.)

remove
25.

but when it to his duchy, in the year 1380 he had got to the mountain of Clermont, it became
so

Our Lady
tha<!

of Rossano, in Calabria.

It is said

the Saracens, seeking to surprise the

town of
attired
:

heavy that it was impossible to carry it farther ; and seeing by this miracle that the Blessed Virgin
for her abode, they built

Rossano, where they had already planted ladders,

had chosen that mountain

were repulsed in purple, and holding

(Gabr. de Barry.)

by Our Lady, who appeared

in

a church there..(Bzovius, ad ann. 1383.)

80.

her hand a lighted torch this so terrified them, that they took to flight.
26.

Portugal.

Our Lady of Carquere, on the

river Douro, in

Our Lady de la Treille, at Douay. It is related when some children were playing disrespectfully before this image, it made with the hand a sign
that
of disa]>proval. nf

Egas de Monis, governor of King Alphonsus I., had this young prince carried into
this ancient

church of the Blessed Virgin, to pro-

cure that his legs might be straightened through

This miracle induced the inhabitants

it,

her intercession
concell.,

(Buzelin, in Annal. Gallo-Flandr.)

27.

Douay

to build a chapel for

in the

year 1543,

which perfectly succeeded. in Regib. Lusit. Anacephal. 1 and

;

Vas(

2.)

31.

Dedication of
stantinople.

Our Lady
to

of the Pounders, at
St.

Con-

Our Lady

of Moustier, eight or ten leagues from

The Empress
and gave
it

Pulcheria had this

Sisteron, in the direction of Marseilles.

An

ancient

church

built,

the girdle of

Our Lady.
under
girdle.

tradition records tliat a lord of the country being

A feast of this relic is kept

the
title

at Constantinople,

made

prisoner by the Turks, made a vow to have a chaj)el built in honour of the Blessed Virgin, if she

of the Deposition of

Our Lady's

The French having taken

treasure
Soissons,

this city,

this precious

were pleased to deliver him. The Blessed Virgin heard his prayer an angel took him on his wings,
;

was carried
and placed

off

by Nivellon, Bishop of
abbey of Our

in the celebrated

.and carried him back to his country.

The

noble-

man had

a magnificent chapel built to the Blessed

Lady, with a portion of the veil of that Queen of heaven. (Niceph., lib. iv. c. 8.)

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN.

preserved at Valenciennes.

399

(Ex

libello

de ea r

SEPTEMBER.
On
the
first

scripto.)

Sunday of

this

church, at Louvain, a feast is kept in

month, in St. Peter's honour of the

all

Vigil of the Nativity of

Blessed Virgin, called the Collection of

of Our Lady. (Molanus, ad Usuard. Martyrolog.)

the Feasts

Gregory
Calend.)

II.,

Our Lady, instituted hj about the year 722. (Balingh. in

2.

8.

Our Lady
in

of Helhron, or of Nettles, in Franconia,

Germany.

This image began to work miracles

in the year lill.

(Triple

Cour., n. 73,)

Our Lady, which happened, according to Baronius, in the year of the creation of the world 4007, on a Saturday, at daybreak, fifteen years before the birth of our Saviour.
Nativity of

The

This
Dedication of the
of the

feast

was

instituted on the 8th of September,

in the Latin, in the year

Abbey
of the

of Corneville, in honour

in the

Greek Church and

according
to

Assumption
t.

Blessed Virgin, in the

of

year 114:7, by Hugo, Archbishop

Christiana,
iv.)

Kouen.

436,

the

same Baronius

and, in

(Gall.

France, by

St. Maurilius,

Bishop of Angers.

Dedication of the church of

in the diocese of

Our Lady

of Liesse,

Laon, ten leagues from Rheims.

of Montserrat, in Catalonia.

Dedication of

Our Lady

In the year
restored to
lard,
life

14:19,

Our Lady of Haut, in Hainault, a young woman named Jane MailOur Lady
was
its first

a very deep when, the stonework at the top giving way, she fell to the bottom, and was taken out quite
well,

who was drawing water from

of Puy, in Velay.

St.

George,

who

bishop,

had marked out the

site of this

dead
to

Our Lady
life.

but her mother having offered her by vow of Haut, she immediately showed

signs of
c.

(Just. Lipsius, de Virgin. Hallens.,

till about the year 221. Blessed Virgin, herself, gave the charge of it to St. Evodius, or Vosi, the seventh bishop of the

church, which was not built

The

19.)

same

place,

whom

copal see to Puy.

she ordered to transfer his episSt. Evodius obeyed the Blessed

Virgin; but, when he wished to consecrate, his

Our Lady who would have made

(Triple Cour.,
n. 62.)

of Bois, near Arras.

horse-soldier,

new

church,

it it

a stable of this chapel, in the year 1478, was killed on the spot by his horse.

dedication of

was made known to him that the had been performed by angels; the

doors opened of themselves, the bells rung of themselves, the candles were found lighted, and the

holy Chrism, which the angels had used, appeared

6.

quite

fresh

upon

the

altar

and the
lib.

walls.
ii.,

7,

Our Lady
Valenciennes.

of the Fountain, half a league from

Tradition relates that the Blessed

(Odo Gisseus, de Virg. Aniciens., 8, and 9.)

10.

o.

Virgin appeared in this place to a hermit, when

the plague ravaged the town, and
to
tell

commanded him

the inhabitants to fast on the following day,

Our Lady
was
built,

of Trut, near Cologne.

I.,

This church

and pass the night in prayer. Having done this, they saw her descend from heaven, and gird the

under Otho

by

St. Heribert,

Arch-

bishop of Cologne, on the very spot where idols

town

all

round with a cord.

Tbis curd

ia

slill

had been formerly worshipped.

400
11.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OF
Hugo, had escaped death.
t'le
ia

(Locrius, Marias

Au-

Our Lady

of nililesheim, in

duchy

of Bruns-

gusta;,

lib. iv.,

c.

C2.)

wick, in Germany.

An

image

there venerated,
17.

which Louis the Meek always wore about him. One day, when he had forgotten it in a wood, it became so heavy that it was impossible to remove
it,

The

placing of the

image of Our Lady

St.

in Velay.

The King
seas.

Louis gave

this

Puy, image to

of

which made the king resolve

there.

to build a

church

the cliurch of Puy, in the year 1254, on his return

(Triple Cour., n. 75.)

from beyond the

12.

18.

Our Lady of Healing, in Lower Normandy. Miraculous curea are wrought, in great numbers, in this church. (Ex Archiv. hujus Eccl.)

Our Lady
nicle relates

of Smelcem, in Flanders.
that

The

chro-

some shepherds observed that

This
to

their sheep bent their knees before this image.

occasioned Baldwin,
13.

suraamed

Fair Beard,

choose this place to build a

church in thanksgiving

Our Lady

of Guadalupa, in Spain.

This image,

which Pope Gregory sent to St. Leander, Bishop of Seville, was concealed, on the invasion of the
Moors, with the body of
of Guadalupa, where
it

having been cured by our Saviour of a malady which he had had for seventeen years. (Triple
for

Cour., n. G3.)

St. Fulgentius, in the

cave
19.

remained nearly six hunit

(Joann. Mariana,

dred years,

till

Our Lady revealed

lib. vi.,

to a shepherd.

de Reb. Hispan.)

(Geoffroy, Hist, de cony.

Our Lady

of Healing, near
la

Mount Leon,

in

Gas-

Vi^rge de Guerison.)

14r.

20.
of

Dedication of
Poitou, by

Lady Pope Calixtus II..

Our

Fontevrault,

in the year

1129.

in

Our Lady'of Pied d' Argent, at Toul, in Lorraine, where an image is seen, which, according to
woman, in the year 1284, of an act of treachery which was planning the image put against the city, and as a sign of it, out its foot, wliich was found changed into silver.
an-ancient tradition, informed a

(Gall. Christiana.)

15.

Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, instituted on occasion of some disputes, which
arose on the election of a successor to Celestin IV.,

(Triple Cour., n. 57.)

21.

by the intrigues which caused the

of the

Emperor Frederick
to

11.,

cardinals to have recourse to

Our

Our Lady

of Pticha, in the

kingdom

of Valentia.

Lady, obliging themselves, by vow,

octave to her Nativif j',

add an

when

she should have given

This image was found, in the year 1223, by means of seven stars, which were seen shining on tiiis spot,

them a pope.
he instituted

Innocent IV. having been elected,

this octave in the

of his pontificate.

(Arnoldus
16.

year 1243, the

first
v.,

which made people dig into the earth, where they found an image of the Blessed Virgin. (Bernard.

Wionius,

lib.

Comes, Hist. Hispan.,

lib. x.)

Ligni

vitse, c.

22.)

22.

Our Lady of Good Tidings, at Orleans, built by King Robert, in the year 996, on the very spot where he learnt the good news that his father.

The giving
by
St.

of the

name

of

Ann, her mother.

c. 2.)

(Petrus a

Mary

to

Our Lady,

Castro, Hist.

Virg.,

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIEGIN.

23.

401
29.

Onr Lady
was found
in

of Valvanere, in Spain.

This image
is

an oak, on the very spot where

now

seen the magnificent church which Alphonsus IV., King of Castile, caused to be rebuilt. (Anton.

Our Lady of Tongres, in the diocese of Cambray. This 'image, in the year 1081, was taken into a garden, where the Bishop of Cambray had a church
built. (Triple Cour., n. 1G02.)

Yopez,

in Chronic.)

80.
24.

Onr Lady
pilgrimage
is

of Tloqnemadour, or

Rock

of Amator,

of Beaumont, in Lorraine, between and Vaucouleurs. Joan Dare very often Domremy
retired into this church, to

Our Lady

in the diocese of Cahors, in Quercy.

This place of
this rock,

commend

the affairs of

eo

named because

St.

Amator, vulgarly

called St. Araant, lived for

some time upon

which began

to be

famous about the year 1140.

France to the Queen of heaven and earth, who ordered her to take up arms to deliver that king-

dom.

(Z/O m&me,

traite 3, ch. 7.)

(Hugo

Farcitus, de Miracul. B. Virg. Eupiramat.)

25.

Our Lady

of Passer,

at

Rhodes.

This image

having been often removed from the place where it was, to another place, was always found again at its old post, which made it necessary to build a *hurch there.

OCTOBER.
1.

(Triple Cour.,
26.
of Victory, at

n. 53.)

Foundation of the Abbey de

leme, under the
title

la

Conronne, of the

order of St. Augustin, in the diocese of

of

AngouOur Lady, by Lambert, who

Our Lady
of

Tournay.

The

inha-

was

its first
t.

abbot, in the year 1122.

(Gallia Chris-

bitants carried the keys of the city into the church

tiana,

iv.)

Our Lady, in the year 1340, because they knew that the Queen of heaven alone was able to deliver
Our Lady
of the Assumption, at Naples, built

them from the English, who had besieged them for they had no sooner testified this conforty days
;

by
did
fell

the canonesses regular of St. Augustin, out of grati-

fidence in the Blessed Virgin, than the siege

raised,
left for

was

tude for the favour which the llother of

God

when

three days. (Ex Archiv. Tornaceus.)

27.

the inhabitants had hardly provisions

them, by warning them

to leave a

house which
it.

down

as soon as they

were gone out of

(Triple

Cour., n. 42.)

of Good-meeting, half a league from This image, made of baked clay, was discovered miraculously, in the year 1523. (Triple

Our Lady

8.

Agde.

Our Lady
having

of

La

Place, at

Rome.

This image

fallen into a well at the

house of Cardinal

Cour., n. 34.) 28.

Capocius, in the year 1250, the water swelled up miraculously, and cast out the image, which the
cardinal

Onr Lady

of Cambron, of the order of Citeaux,

cent IV. obliged

placed in his chapel, ^ut Pope Innohim to build another on the very

in Hainault, near

Mons. It is said that this image, struck by a wicked man, in the year 1322, being
bled copiously.

This chapel spot where the miracle had occurred. been given to the Servites, they have had having
a fine church built, in which the well
is

(llist.

Camberon.,

edita

Duaci.

enclosed.

auu. 1602.)

{La meme,

n. 100.)

3f

402

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OP
had prayed to her for it with the design of continuing to write in defence of holy images. (Joan. Patriarch. Jerosolimit., in
after this faithful servant

Onr Lady

of Vanssivieres, on the monntains of

Auvergne, near Mont d'Or, where there is an image which has remained miraculously from the
ruins of Vaussivieres, which was ravaged by the

vita Sancti Joann.

Damasc. apud Surium.)

10.

English about the year 1374. This image having been transferred to the Church of Besse, was found again in
its

former place.

(Duchene,
5.

Our Lady

of the Cloister, at Besanfon.

The

c. 9.)

image of Our Lady, placed in the cloister of La Madeleine, was preserved from a fire, in the year
1624, though the niche where
to ashes.
it

Our Lady of Bnch, in the Pine Mountains, in Guienne. The sea cast this image upon the sands,
while
In

(Triple Cour.,

stood was reduced

n. 68.)

Thomas, the Cordelier friar, v ih praying behalf of two vessels which he saw in danger
St.

11.

Our Lady
of Caux.

the White, in the church of

tlie

mo-

of perishing.

He
it

respectfully received this

image
Hist,

nastery of the Feuillants, at Ouville, in the district

and deposited which he built

des Heres.,

in this place, in a small chapel

there.

(Florimond

Raymon,

country.

(Ex Archiv. hujus Monast.)

12.

This image

is

much venerated

in the

liv. i.)

Saint Mary's of Jersey, consecrated in the year

1320, in the archipelago of

La Manche. (Chartrier

Our Lady

of Faith, in the country of Liege.

de Coutances, called Le Livre Noir.)

6.

This image was

found by a carpenter named de Waulin, in the year 1609, who, as he was Gilles cutting down an oak, with the intention of making
a boat, found in
it,

Our Lady de

la Plebe, in the

marshes of Venice,

enclosed in an iron grating, an

built in the year 1480.

image of Our Lady, made of white earth, a foot high, which was placed in another oak, and afterwards
in a

church which was built on the very

Feast of the Rosary, instituted by Pope Gre-

place of the oak which had borne this fair fruit.

gory XIII. in the year 1573,

tians over the Turks.

in

consequence of the

(Triple Cour., n. 60.)

13.

celebrated victory of Lepanto, gained by the Chris-

(Joseph Stephan., Tract, de

Dedication of
8.

Indnlg. Rosarii.)

Clairvaux,

in

the

diocese

of

St. Langres, in honour of the Blessed Virgin. Bernard was the first abbot of this celebrated mo-

Onr Lady
which
St.

of Gifts, at Avignon.

The

tradition

nastery,

where he died

in the year 1153,

I.,

aged sixty-

attributes the foundation of this church to

it

three years.

Alphonsus

King

of Portugal, in the

Martha reports that

himself.
it

was consecrated by our

year 1142, boxind himself and his successors to pay

Lord

Afterwards, having been demolished

by the Saracens,

Charlemagne. (Triple Cour.,

was repaired by the Emperor

n. 4.0.)

every year, as tlie vassal of Our Lady of Clairvaux, fifty gold maravedis. (Chronic. Cisterciens.)

14.
9.

Our Lady

of

La
up

Rochette, near Geneva.

to a bush,

In the year 723, in the night following the day when the prince of the Saracens had unjustly
ordered the hand of St. John Damascen to be cut
off,

shei)herd coming

where he heard a

plaintive voice, found there an

image of the Blessed

Virgin, whicli led to a church being built there.

Our Lady reunited

it

miraculously to his wriat,

(Astolph. Hist, univers.

Marite Virg.)

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

23.

403

Dedication of

Our Lady
its

of Terouenne,

in the

year 1133, by Mile,

thirteenth bishop.

(Jacob

Our Lady of Consolation, near Honfleur, This chapel is much frequented two children have been
;

Meyerus,

lib. ii.,

Annal. Flandrise.)
16.

raised to

life

there, in

are there in silver.

(Ex Arohiv. hujus

24,

memory of which

their figures
loci.)

Dedication of Our

Lady

of

Milan, by

Pope

Martin V., in the year 1417. This church was built in 1388 by John Galleas, Duke of Milan.
(Philip. Bergom., lib. iv., Suplic. ann. 1388.)

Our Lady

of the Hermits, in Switzerland,

where

there was formerly a small hermitage in the midst of woods, occupied by St. Meinrad, till the Emperor

Otho caused a church

17.

to be built there, in

com-

Dedication of the Cave of Our

Lady

of Cliartres,

Dedication of Pontianus, in the year 46. the Church of Citeaux, in the diocese of Chalons,

by

St.

from pliance with an order which he received a small chapel of heaven. This church contains Our Lady, which was consecrated, it is said, in the
year 1418, by

under the
c. 4, n. 4.)

title

of

Our Lady.

(Sebast. Rouillard,

and

saints,

Our Lord, accompanied by who performe'd the functions

angels
of the

ordinary ministers of the church, in presence of the

Blessed Virgin.
18.

(Triple Cour.,
25.

n. 84.)

Dedication of Our
St. Nicasius,

Lady

of Rheims, built

by
Dedication of Our

archbishop of that city, in the year

Lady

of Toledo, in Spain,

405.

This church having fallen to ruins, was It was finished in rebuilt by Ebo and Hincmar.
the year 845.

(Flodoardus,
19.

about the year 1075, by Bernard, archbishop of This cathedral has a revenue of more that city.
than 300,000
livres.

lib.

i.

c. 6.)

(Joan. Mariana,
26.

lib. ix, c,

18.)

Dedication of the
the
title

Abbey

of Iloyaumont, under

of the

Holy Cross and Our Lady, by

in the

John, Archbishop of Mytilene, in the year 1235. This monastery had been founded by St, Louis, in
the year

Lady of Victory, near Senlis, 1225, by Guarin, Bishop of Senlis, and year Chancellor of France. This abbey was built by
Dedication of Our
Philip Augustus, in thanksgiving for the victory which he gained over the Emperor Otho IV., at Bouvines, in the year 214, (Carta Tabular de

1227. (Gallia

Christ.,

t.

iv.)

20.
Victoria.)

Dedication

of

tlie

church

of

Pontigny,

four 27.

leagues from Auxerre, under the

Tliis

abbey was founded

in

of

Champagne.

(Augel. Maurique.)
21.

title of Our Lady. 1114 by Thibaud, Count

Our Lady
order of

of the Basilla, in
is

Lombardy, beyond
in Descrip-

the Po, where there

Our Lady.

(Albert. Leander,
28.

a church built by the express

tione Itallse.)

Our Lady

of Talan.

near Dijon.
22.

(Ex

monu-

mentis Divion.)

Our Lady
culous image
labourer.
tliat

of Vivonne, in Savoy, where a mira-

Our Lady

of the

Under-ground, half a league

It
is

from Grand Cairo.

held by tradition

the

Blessed Virgin lived for some years in this subter-

raueau chapel.

(Triple Cour.,

is venerated, which was found by a This statue, having been removed three times into the village church, was always found again

n. 9.)

iu its former place,

which necessitated the building

404

HISTOraCAL CALENDAR OF THE

of a church, which was given to the Carmelites.

church

(Astolphus, in Histor. univers. imag. B. Virg.)

Our Lady of Emmimont, near Abbeville. This is much visited by pilgrims, (Antiq. d'

Abbev.,
29.

lib. i.)

Our Lady
which
built,
St.

of Orope, near Bielle, in

is

Savoy ;

this

3,

image, of cedar wood, six feet high,

in a chapel,

Eusebins, Bishop of Vercelli, can.ied to be

;

about the year 380 he often retired thither during the troubles caused by the Arians. (Triple

Onr Lady of Rennea, in Britanny. The English having made a mine to blow up the town, it is said that the candles in the chapel were found miraculously lighted
;

the bells rung of themselves, and

Cour., n. 112.)
80.

the image of the Blessed Virgin was seen to stretch

out

its

arms towards the middle

of

the church,
dis-

Our Lady
where there

of Mondevi,
is

at Vic,

in

Piedmont,

where the mine was, which by that means was covered. (Triple Cour., Trait. 3, c. 7 and 8.)

a picture which a tile-maker got

pillat,

painted on a brick
that purpose.

which he had erected

for

This

pillar

has been enclosed in a

church,
attract

where the miracles wliich are wrought

a great concourse of people.
c. 2.)

Our Lady

of Port Louisa, at Milan.

Tradition

(Hist, de

reports that this image received one day the

of two angels,

homage

Mondevi,

whom
it.

the knee before

81.

(Astolphus,

several persons

saw bending

ex Hist, universal,

imag. B. Virgin.)

In the year 1116, a chorister having fallen into the w^ell of St. Fort, which is in the church of
Chartres,
that he

was saved by Our Lady.

All the time

was

in the well, he heard the angels answer-

ing the public prayers which were chanted in the church; whence the custom arose at Chartres that
the choir never answer aloud to the Dominutvohis-

Our Lady of Damietta, in Egypt. This church was consecrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin,
in the

year 1220, by Pelagius, apostolic legate.

cum, chanted at high mass and canonical hours.

(Sebast. RouUlard, Farthen.,
c. G, n.

(^miljus, in Philippo.)

ll.)
6.

Our Lady
Lyons.

of Valfleurie,
is

seven

leagues

from

This church

so

called,

because the

NOVEMBER.
1.

image of the Blessed Virgin on the high altar was found by shepherds in some broom, which had
flowered about the feast of Christmas.
Cour., n. 47.)

(Triple

DeBiit of All Saints, instituted in

honour of Our

Lady and
face

all

the saints, at

Rome, by Pope Boni608, and, since,

in all

IV., about the year

Our Lady

of the Pond, near Dijon.

churches of Christendom, by Pope Gregory IV., about the year 829, at the prayer of Louis the

of baked earth

was discovered

in the year 1631,

This image on

occasion of an ox stopping always in this place, and

Meek, who made a decree

in
all

for

its

his

dominions.

(Baron.,

observance

ad Mnrtyrolog.

though he grazed there constantly, the grass was always found still more abundant. (ia mcme.
n. 4:2.)

Roman.)

FEASTS OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

8.

405
14,

Onr Lady
Boclielle.

of Belle Fontaine, in the diocese of

La

Our Lady
mego,
in

of the Grotto, in the diocese of

La-

This image has been honoured from time immemorial. (Ex Archiv. hujus abbatiss.)

This chapel was cat in the in the same place where an image of" tiie rock, Blessed Virgin had been found. (Vascoucell. in
Portugal.

Descript. regui Lusitan.)

Onr Liuly
Houmalard.
persons

Good-Succonr, in Perclie, near This church is much frequented by

of
in afiSiction.

15.

who are

(Triple Conr.,

n. 62.)

Our Lady

of Pignerol, built in honour of the

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, about the year

1098, by Adelaide, Countess of Savoy.
10.
chiv. hujus loci.)

(Ex

Ar-

In the year 1552, Our Lady of Loretto healed of an incurable malady a Turkiih pacha, who was persuaded by one of his slaves, who was a Christian, to

16.

Our Lady

of Chieves, in Hainault, where, in the

have recourse

to the

Blessed Virgin

this infidel

believed him, and promised to give him his liberty,

if

year 1130, the lady of the place, named Ida, had a chapel built near a fountain where an image of

Our Lady cured him.

of Loretto, and,

Having recovered

his

Our Lady had been

health, he sent several presents to the church of

many

miracles.

(Triple Cour.,
17.

found, which has since wrought

n. G2.)

Our Lady
and quiver.

(Tursel., Hist. Lauret.,

11.

among

others, his
lib. iii. c.

bow
18.)

Institution of the confraternity of

Our Lady

of

Nancy, in Lorraine, in the year 1393, by Ferri, of Lorraine, Count of Vaudemont. {La
Sion, at

On

this day,

about the year 1546, the Portuguese

mhne,

n.

GH

gained a great victory over the infidels,

who had
for

been before the

castle of Die, in the

East Indies,

18.

the space of seven months, and

carried

who would have

Our Lady

of Bourdieux, near Bourges.

This

it by storm, if Our Lady had not appeared upon the walls; which caused so great terror in the enemy's camp, that the siege was at once raised.

abbey Ebbo, the Lord of Berry.

of Benedictines

was

(Bzovius, ad

built, in the year 928,

by

ann. 928.)

(Balingh. in Calcnd.)

19.
12.

Our Lady
at Fribourg, built

of

Good
was

Tidings, in the

Abbey
in

of

Our Lady

of the

Tower,

on

St. Victor,

whicli

visited every Saturday

by

the lands of the heretics, on the very spot where an image of Our Lady had been found. (Triple

Mary

of Medicis.

by Louis the Fat.

eienais.)

(Ex

The abbey was founded

1113

Archiv. S. Victoris Pari-

Cour., n. 85.)

13.

20.
of Beo, in

Dedication of the
in the year 1077,

Abbey

Normandy,

Our Lady

of

La Garde,
in the

near Boloj^na, in Italy.

at

terbury.

by Lanfranc, Archbishop of CanThis abbey of Benedictins was founded

This picture was

Church of Santa Sophia,

"

about the year 1045 by Herluin, who was its first abbot. (Guillelm. Gemiticensis, lib. vi. de due.

Tliis picture, Constantinople, with this inscription : St. Luke, must be taken to the mounpainted by

tain of

Norman., cap.

9.)

La Garde, and placed over A Greek monk set out church."

the altar of the

for Italy

about

406

HISTOEICAL CJALENDAB OP THE

28.

the year 433, with the picture entrusted to him, and deposited it on the mountain of La Garde.
(Bzovius, ad ann. 1433, n. 379.)
21.

Our Lady

of Walsingham, in England, greatly

honoured by Edward

I., v/ho, as he was playing one day at chess, rose up instinctively from his scat, and at the same time a large stone became

Presentation of
stituted in the

Our Lady.
St.

This

feast

was

in-

loose in the roof,

and

fell

upon the chair where he

that time he particularly

Greek church more than nine hunGermanus, who held the

had been

sitting.

From

dred years ago, since

honoured Our Lady of Walsingham.

Walsingh., in Hist.

(Thomas

Bee of Constantinople in the year 715,

aermon upim
tyrolog.)

composed a it. (Baronius, ia Notia ad Mar-

Angl. in
29;

Edward

I.)

Our Lady
22.
Institution of the Confraternity of the Presenta-

of the Crown, at Palermo, so called

of Sicily received

because

it

was there that the kings

it
it

the royal crown, as holding

from the Mother of

for

tion of

(Adalardus
Gar Lady,
Anastasia, in
Cour.,
-n,

Our Lady,

at St. Omer's, in the year 1481.

God, and unwilling

(Thorn. Facellus,
Siculis.)

to

wear

any but her.

Tassart, in Chron., ad ann. 1481.)

23.

lib. viii.

prioris decad. de rebus

of the Vault, near the town of St.

30.

the environs of Florence.

(Triple

Our Lady
Italy.

of Genesta, on the coast of Genoa, in

102.)

to build this church,

poor woman, named Petruccia, undertook which appeared to every one

;

24.

impossible
it,

she did not

fail

to lay the first stone of

In the year 1535, Our Lady of Montserrat restored the use of speech to a Savoyard who had
lost
it.

(His.

BIontisB.)

and assured every one that she should not die without the Blessed Virgin and St. Augustin In fact, this church was found finished this work.
miraculously completed a short time afterwards.
(Segninus, in Chronic.)

25.

Our Lady

of the Rock, in the territory of Pie-

zoH, in Tuscany.

This image is jdaced in a rock, where two shepherds retired to pray Our Lady ordered them to build a church in this place.
;

DECEMBER.
1.

(Archangel.

Janius, in

Anna!. PP. Servitarum.)

26.

Our Lady
miraculously
Cour., n. 99.)

of the Mountains, in Italy, between

the Esqniline and Viminal Hills.

This image was

1500.

found

in

the

year

(Triple

Our Lady of Ratisbonne, in Bavaria, founded by Duke Theodon, after receiving baptism from St.
Rupert, Bishop of Salzburg and apostle of Bavaria,

who afterwards consecrated

lib. V.

this church.

(Canisius,

de B. Virg., cap. 25.)

27.

Dedication of the town of Lesina, in the cam-

pagna of Rome.

Tiiis

town was given

to

Our

Onr Lady
which

of

Didinia, in

Cappadoeia, before
Blessed Virgin to

Lady

in the

year 1400, by Margaret, Queen of

St. Basil

Poland, and mother of Ladislas. de Sign. Eccles.)

(Bzovius,

besought the

liv. ix.

remedy the disorders caused by Julian the ajiostate; he was there favoured with an apparition which

rEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIBGIN.

presaged the death of the emperor.

407
is

(Baronius,

years ago, since mention

made

of

it

by

St.

John

ad ann. 303.)
8.

Damascen, who lived

in 721.

It was

instituted in

England in the year 1100 by St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury ; afterwards in the diocese of
Lyons, in the year 1145; and
throughout Christendom. 1 ad Usuard.)
finally,

of Filermo, near Malta. This image remained in the midst of the ruins of tlie having Church of St. Marlj of Rliodes, was removed into

Our Lady

Sixtus IV.
it

coirmianded, in the year 1576, the celebration of

(Joan. Molan., in Anuot.

the Church of St. Catherine, and finally, the knights

having quitted Rhodes, of St. Laurence, and

it

was placed

in the

Chnrch

having been entirely burnt down, the image remained entire. (Triple
this

Our Lady

of the Conception, at Naples, so called

Cour., n. 91.)

because, in the

year 1G18, the viceroy, with all his court, and the soldiery of Naples, made a vow, in
the Church. of

Our Lady

the Great, to believe and

Our Lady
churcli
hill,

of

La

Chapelle, at Abbeville.

This

defend the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed

Virgin.

was

built about the year 1400,

on a email

where formerly they worshipped

d'Abbev.,
liv. i.)

idols.

(Au-

(Triple Cour., n. 43.)

10.

tiq.

Institution

of nuns of the Conception of

Onr

In the year 1584 was instituted the

gation
of

first

congre-

Lady, by Beatrix de Sylva, to

whom

it is

said that

Our Lady
is

at

the Jesuits'

college, at

Our Lady appeared

Rome, whence
ing
it

derived their custom of establish-

in all their houses.

(Balingh. in Calend.)

in the year 1484, clothed with a white robe and a scapular of the same colour, witli a blue mantle. Beatrix, sister of B. Amadous,

took this habit for that of her order, approved by

Innocent VIII., under the

institute of

Citeaux,

(Vascoucell., in Descript. regui Lusit.)

Our Lady

of Fourviere, at Lyons, on the

moun11.

tain famous for miracles,

and

for the

extraordinary
city, particu-

concourse of the people of that great

larly on
all

Saturdays.

Our Lady
having been

of Angels, in the forest of Livry, four

leagues from Paris.

ill

treated in

Three merchants of Anjou 1212 in this forest, by

to trees, intending to leave to the
tliree

On

this day, a

Sunday,

in the

year 1550, the

robbers

who

tied

them

canonesses of
cession

Our Lady

of Paris being in pro-

them there
Virgin,

to

die,

had recourse
sent to

Blessed

before the image of the Blessed Virgin,

is

who immediately
tliem to

them

angels

which

near the door of the choir, a heretic from

to restore

libert)'.

Since

this

miracle,

Lorraine, breaking tlirough the crowd, sword in

several
this

hand, sought to strike that image, but he was prevented by the assistants, and on the Thursday following, he was executed before the porch of Lady. (Du Breuil, Autiq. de Paris, liv. i.)

more have been wrought, which have made chapel very celebrated. (Des registres do

I'abbaye de Livry.)

Our
12,

Our Lady
8
little

of

Good Tidings,
is

at Abbeville.

This

chapel, which

in

St.

The Conception
festival

of the Blessed Virgin.

Tin's

always been
liv. i.)

much

frequented.

(Antiq. d'Abbev.,

Peter's priory, has

began

in the 'East,

more than nine hundred

408
13.

HISTORICAL CALENDAR OP
a white chasuble.

This

celestial

present

is

still

Onr Lady

of the

Holy

Cliapel, at Paris.

This

preserved at Oviedo,

image, which is under the portal of the lower Holy Chapel, has wrought many miracles.

King

of Castile,

where Alphoiisus the Chaste, had it solemnly taken to the

Cliurch of St. Saviour, vs'hich he had caused to be

built. (Baron., ad ann. 657, n. 42.)

14..

Onr Lady
built

of Albe la Royale, in Hungary, was

of

20.

by

St.

given his

Stephen, King kingdom to the Blessed Virgin.

lib.
ii.

Hungary, who had

(Joann.

The Abbey
founded
Robert,

of

Our Lady
day,
its

of

of St. Benedict, in the diocese of Langres,

Moleme, of the order was

year 1075, by St.
Christ.,
t.

Bouifacius, Hist. Virg.,

c. i.)

on

this

in the

who was

abbot.

(Gallia

iv.)

15.

Octave of the Conception of Our Lady, tuted by Pope Sixtus IV. (Bullarium.)

insti-

21.

Foundation of
the
title

St.

Acheul, near Amiens, under

St.

16.
Institution of the celebrated confraternity of

of that

Our Lady, by (Ex archiv. city.

of

Firminus,

first

bishop

S. Achioli.)

Our
22.

Lady

of

Good

Deliverance, in the Church of St.

Stephen des Gr^s, at Paris, about the year 1533, to

Our Lady
which was

of Chartres, in Beauce.

This chnrch,

which Gregory XIII. granted ample indulgences

in the year 1581.
17.

built in the time of the apostles, after

being several times demolished, was re-erected in

its

Chartres. (Sebast. Rouillard, Parthen.,

present state by St. Fulbert,

fifty -fifth

bishop of

c. 6.)

Onr Lady
had
the crown of
Dioclesian.
is

of Amiens, the cathedral.

This chnrch

for its first bishop St. Firminus,

who

received
of

23.

martyrdom during the persecution

part of the head of St. Jolin Baptist

seen in this church, which

a traveller

named

throughout France, as well on account of the concourse of people who were

Its
illustrious

Our Lady name is

of the Ardilliers, at Sanmnr, in Anjon.

Galo brought thither on

tinople, in the year 1205.
lib. iv. c.

(Locrius Mariae Augustas,

18.

his return

from Constan-

attracted thither, as from a fountain which cured

several maladies.
of Pity,

This image represents Our Lady

69.)

who

holds in her arms her Son dead, whose

head
Dedication of

is

supported by an angel.
lib. iv., c.

(Locrius, Marira

August*,
of Marseilles,
sisters,

60.)

Our Lady

by

St.

Lazarus, in presence of his two

Mary Mag-

24.

dalen and Martha, and of three holy prelates

MaximuB, Trophimus, and Eutropius.

lib. v.,

Celebration of the virginal marriage of

Onr Lady

(Caiiisius,

and

St.

Joseph, kept aa a festival for a long time

Moral)
19.

past at Sens and in several churches of France.

(Sausseyus, in Martyrolog. Gallic.)

Archbishop of was saying matins, Our Lady, it is said, Toledo, appeared to him, accompanied by a great number
In the year 657, as
St. Ildefonsns,

26.

On
tlie

this day, at the

hour of midnight, the Blessed

Virgin brought forth the Saviour of the world, in

of the blessed,

and

liolding in her

hand the book

She which he had composed in her honour. thanked him for it, and out of gratitude gave him

where a fountain sprung up miraculously on the same day. (Baron., in

stable of Bethlehem,

Ajiparat. ad annal.)

FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIBGIN.

20.
Institution of the confraternity of the Conception

409
answered
:

and

it is

said that she

Salve Bernards

The words

of this saint to the image are seen en-

Convent, at Paris, have been ample inin the year 1443, where tliere dulgences granted since by Pope Innocent III.
of
at the Au^'ustiiiian

Our Lady,

graved in a circle on the pavement of the church, on the same spot where lie pronounced them, and they have since been added to the Salvt Regina,

(Du

Breuil, Antiq.,

lib. ii.)

27.
Institution of the order of
in the

which was composed in the year 1040, by Herman, surnamed Contractus, a Benedictine monk. (Angel. Maurique, anual. Cist., ad ann. 1146, c 10, <&c.}

year 1370, by Louis

lib. viii.,

II.,

Knights of Our Lady, Duke of Bourbon.

iii.

80.
St.

(Andr. Favin,

Hist, de Navarre, et lib.

Mary's

of Bonlogne, in Picardy.

This church

of the Theatre d' Honneur.) 28.

was founded by the monks of St. Augustin in the year 1159 it was laid in ruins by Henry VIII., King of England, in the year 1544, secularised and
;

Our Lady

of Pontoise, seven leagues from Paris.

made

a cathedral in the year 1559, according to

This image, which is set up on the front of the church of the suburb of this town, on the side of Bouen, is celebrated for the miracles which are

Locrius.

(Gall. Christ.,

t.

iv.)

81.

wrought

there.

(Ex Archiv. hujus

29.

eccles.)

About a hundred years before the birth of our Saviour, the image of Our Lady of Chartres, which
the Druids had consecrated to the Blessed Virgin,
parturient, raised to
life

Oiir

Lady

entering this

Bernard, church on the 29th of December, 1146,

of Spire, in Germany.

St.

the son of Geoffry, king

or prince of Montlhery, who, having fallen into a

well,

was honourably received there by the canons, who conducted him to the choir, singing the Salve Re-

had been found dead

out of gratitude for

The antiphon being iinished, St. Bernard gina. saluted the image of the Blessed Virgin in these
terms
:

he made several presents to this inage, as the history of this miracle attests, which is reprethis favour,

sented in the stained glass of the great church.

(Sebast. Houillard, Parthen,

clenieiiM,

pia,

dulci* Virgo

Maria !

iii.)

8a

oft

MONUMENT TO THE GLORY OF MART.

LITANY

THE MOST BLESSED

BT

VIRGIN,

ACCOMPANIED WITH MEDITATIONS.

THE

ABB15

EDWARD BARTHE,

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH

BI

THE VERY REV.

F. C.

HUSENBETH,

D.D.,

JLiiilln

Y.

AT

.gzoiTATic

EiTr;

..i l;

IIJ

.,a,*a

LITANY

THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

INTRODUCTION.
The word
veuo)

Litany, from the

Greek A^rain Latin,

of them,

we know the value attached by

piety
to

(I

supplicate),

signifies,

Catholic

these

supplications,

rogatio,

know

English, public prayer. We of no Litanies formally approved

in

which abound so much in devout

by the Church, except those of the holy name of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin, and
of the Saints.

praise, so full of sweet unction, so magnificent in imagery and expressions of admiration.

They

present, in their harmonious

That of the Blessed Virgin bears

the
it

also

assemblage, a kind of rich abridgment of all that could be said most pious, most
worthy, and most grand to the glory of the most holy Virgin, since she left the
earth to reign with her adorable Son in heaven, and to receive there, on the part
of

name

is

certain

of Litany of Loretto, not that that it was composed in

the place consecrated by recollections attached even to the person of Mary; for it is not known where nor by whom

men,

all

the

homage

of

which

was formed that series of pious invocations, which are so affecting, in honour of
the beloved Mother of the Divine Jesus.

created being can be the object. The special veneration with which

we
to

honour Mary goes back,

the time
of

in

reality,

But, according to a respectable tradition, it was at Loretto that the solemn chanting of these Litanies began
;

her glorious Assumption.

and

it

is

That humble daughter of Eve had said, when, still bearing in her chaste womb
the blessed fruit of the Holy Ghost, she visited St. Elizabeth, who was herself the

from thence that the use of them has

been spread throughout tlie Church by the innumerable pilgrims who have not ceased to visit this venerable sanctuary.
But, whatever be the date and origin

mother of a miraculous

child, although

power, she

by

a very

different

act

of the

Divine

had

said, in

the

immortal

414
cdiiticle of

LITANY OP THE
the ecstacy of her gratitude, generations should call her

may
cient

still

study

at

the

that

"

all
'

the catacombs of

Rome.
of

present day in This very andevotion

blessed."

Astonishing words

words

monument
in

Catholic

which one would feel tempted to regard almost as foolish in the mouth of a mor-

sufficiently

shows that as soon as the

the midst of
in

church,

woman woman who

tal
!

But

it

was not a mere

had got a footing

tian
artists

persecutions, the world. Chris-

spoke, it was tlie Mother the God-man, "full of grace,"* the spouse of that Divine Spirit who had
of

the most holy Virgin.

tury,

consecrated their pencils to In the fourth cen-

we

find

upon

several sarcophagi, or

before

enlightened the Prophets of

Is-

rael; and from the heights of the mountains of Hebron, directing her view to the

Christian tombs, a group of the Blessed Virgin and Infant Jesus, in which the
figure of

Mary

is

redolent, at the

same

farthest depths of the future, she could

with confidence declare

time,

to her of his

what God showed future glory among men.

of youth and of divine purity. This occasioned a learned man of our

days,

M. Raoul Rochette,
knowledge
" of
arts

to

make

this

And
this

observe

how

all

generations have
to

important observation, wholly

founded

come forward
prediction.

faithfully

accomplish

on

liis
:

and monu-

Hear how the echoes

with the incomparable

ments

of the Catholic history* of eighteen centuries

not correct to say, as the Protestant historian Basnage has

that
it

is

resound
of l^Iary,

name

and repeat, in accents

"

maintained, that representations of the Virgin began only after the council of
Epliesus ; Christian
for,"

the noise of the great trumpet,"^ the grandeur, the merits, the power of this divine Mother.

resounding like

he adds, " among the

where

sarcophagi of the Vatican, she is seen represented, there

When we
church, we
glory of

look back to the primitive find from the beginning the

celebrated

are certainly

more than one

anterior to

by the arts. Without speaking here of the painting

Mary

attributed to the Evangelist St. Luke the picture so much honoured in times

that epoch." ' The fifth century presents us, under the reign of the Greek Emperor Anastasius, imperial coins, the
reverse of which bears the

past in the East, and the authenticity of which is not scientifically devoid of all

monogram of Mary, encircled with stars, a homage which continued under a great number
of
his

we proof*

successors,

among whom

the

have from the second centhird,

a painting of Alary, which the eye of the antiquary

tury, or, at least, the
(1) St.
(2) St.

Empress Theophania even had engraved upon her coins the figure of Mary, her
head surrounded by a nimbus, with the
(4)

Luke

i.

48.
28.

See the Annales de Philos. Cbret.,

I'ttit

t.

ix.

Luke

i.

p. 74, et tuiv.

(6) Discours sur

du Christiauiame,

p.

84,

(3) Isaiaa xxvii. 13.

uote 1.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

Qsoroxoy (Mother
to

415
it

inscription

of God).

tacle

would

be, if it

were granted us
all

From
it is

our own time, century well known how much the arts have
the
fifth

to contemplate, at

one view,
of

the riches
])re-

of stone

and marble,

wood and

multiplied testimonies of devotion to the most Blessed Virgin. It is true that at

cious metals, of gold

to

and azure

offered

a certain period they

aberrations, such as
of the
their

fell

into

making Mother of God but the works of

;

singular black statues

the arts of the Catholic world, in the course of eighteen centuries, to

bless

God by

him and

glorify

him

for the graces,

bad

taste are not the less proofs of

the virtues, and the power which he has bestowed on her in favour of men
! . .

the faith and piety of those times, which

are called ages of ignorance, but which, nevertheless, have produced, by their

What What
claim

eye could bear the effulgent sight? heart would not be full of lively
?

emotion

What mouth would not

transport:

ex-

incomparable painted windows, and their prodigious churches dedicated to God

in

Glory be to
all

the
so

Lord, who has rendered

faithful
to

ages

under the

Mary, things which are concealed from our modern civilizatitle

of

accomplish

of

his

divine
all

Mother

this "
:

prediction

Behold from

tion,

and which

it

would not have the

henceforth
"

generations shall call

me

courage to attempt. We must not suppose, however, that

blessed

churches consecrated
from
origin
tus
I.,

to
:

Mary
to

date only
find
their

But there is a voice superior to all the voices of the arts, as the moral order is
above the natural,
science, eloquence,
;

the

middle

ages

it

is

the voice of

we must go back to Pope Callixwho built, in the most populous,

of

and genius, by word

quarter

Rome
;

name
in

of

Our

a chapel under the Lady beyond the Tiber,

and by writing and certainly it has not been wanting to the prophecy of the most Blessed Virgin. There remain
but very few writings of the first two Christian centuries, and yet already in the second century we read in the illustrious martyr
St. Irenseus,

the year 224 ther back still ;

we must even go

far-

we

find

in

before that period, Spain the Church of Our

for,

Lady

of the Pillar, at Saragossa,

and

in

Bishop of Lyons, an

Syria several other churches, also dedicated to the divine Virgin. Thus, by an

eulogium of Mai'y most expressive in its " For as she (Eve) was seduced brevity
:

uninterrupted series of

monuments, from

by the word of an angel, so

fled

that

she

the earliest times of Christianity down to the present, has architecture, inspired

by
tlie

faith

and

piety,

united

its

voice, so

away from God, having disobeyed his word, so this virgin (Mary) was induced by the announcement of an angel
to
to

imposing and so powerful,

other arts, to exalt the

to

those of
of the

bear
his

God

in her

womb, being obedient

as

name

word.

And
fly

the former was

august Mother of the Saviour of the world. How fine, how truly magnificent a spec-

seduced so as to
latter

from God, so tho obey God, that the

was iuduoed

to

416

LITANY OP THE

Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve."^ After him, SS.
Athanasius, Basil, Ephrem, Gregory Nazianzen,
Cyril,

The art of enmelody and harmony. which speaks to the eye, as singgraving,
ing speaks to the ear, could not fail to unite its precious resources to this pious
tribute of the art of music.

Epiphanius, John
Bernard,
St.

Da-

mascen, then
called

St.

and that great genius who

the last
of

Ansehn, has been

In

fact, to-

wards the end of the eighteenth century,

certain celebrated

the fathers of the

German

engravers pub-

Church, the immortal Bossuet; all the most eminent men of genius, in a word,
of the

lished a series of figures

and symbolical images, equally ingenious and significant,

destined to explain in succession to the eye, all the titles which the church gives
the Litany of Loretto, and enriched with texts from the Holy Scripto

East and West of Christianity

have in their turns celebrated Mary, exalted her dignity, her virtues, her privileges,

Mary

in

and the admirable

efficacy of

her

intercession.

ture,

which are applicable

to her in the

The Litany of Loretto

said, a sort of rich

forms, as

we have
these

literal sense,

in the spiritual, and also

and

felicitous abridg-

in the

accommodated

senses.

But

this

ment

of all these praises, of all

testimonies of veneration and love, of devotion and confidence

;

masterpiece, produced by the hands of these celebrated artists, is wery rare and

it

is,

therefore,

but

little

known.
!

one of the most beautiful

which we can

acts of

homage
Mother.

O Mary may

the author of these me-

offer to this divine

ditations not fail iu the attempt

which

Accordingly, Pope Clement VIII., in 1601, forbid any other to be recited in her honour
in public prayers;

circumstances, in some degree providenIt .tial, have enabled him to undertake.

Paul V., in his turn,

granted in 1006 an indulgence of sixty days to all who should assist on a Saturday

without doubt, sweet, and very sweet, to me to pour out my soul before
will be,

solemn singing of it in the churches of the Dominicans Sixtus V. and Beneat the
;

you and in your honour, and to exert myself to make more and more known
all

that

dict XIII.,
all

one of two hundred days, to the faithful who should devoutly recite and Pius VII. extended
to three

sionate,

great, holy, good, compasand glorious in the divine Mother

is

of

my

Saviour.

But how can

I speak of

it;

this last in-

you

dulgence

hundred

days.

Thence

we

see

how much

this Litany

has become

worthy manner, after so many others, who have written of you pages so beautiful and affecting ? How can I even

in a

an objectof predilection to Catholic piety, which has delighted to multiply the recital

venture to attempt it, when St. Bernard has said that nothing alarmed him more

and vary the singing of it, and embellish it with all the charms of the sweetest

than to have to speak of your greatness

and glory?*

....

I will venture, never-

(1) Guutru hsDi-eHcs.,

lib. v. c. I'J,

(ii)

fcjenu. 4, lie

Assuinpt. B.

M. V.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

theless,

417
mother, and under her eyes, for aid and succour

my

Mary, you whom I love to ever good and amiable Mother, I

call

works

for his

will

and who must hope

venture, for the love of your divine Sou, who finds his own glory in yours, I will

from her tenderness.

Mary, as
ration,
filial

To you then
pen,

I give

my mind, my heart, and my

it is

divine

venture for the love of you, O masterpiece of the Almighty, most lively image
of his adorable perfections
!

to

you that I dedicate this

feeble testimony of

my

respect,

my

admi-

I will ven-

my

confidence,

my

love,

and

my

ture, with the confidence of a child

who

devotion.

MEDITATION
KYRIE ELEISONI

I.

Why
God

does the Church

the

make us

direct to

inspire us with

an exalted idea of the

lively

humble

aspiration

of prayer,

supreme greatness of God, a

and

before the several invocations which she afterwards

makes us address

to

Mary

profound sentiment of respect, of religious fear, of the pious subjection of all our
faculties

....

It is to recall to

our minds that

before

"

Him who

is."^
all

He
that that

truth of faith so energetically expressed " Of him, and by by the apostle St. Paul
:

thinks and wills,

lives,
all

alone owes nothing to any one; all that breathes,

that exists,
is

all

him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever."* Yes, certainly the creature, even the most august, the most
adorned with virtues, the most brilliant in glory and power, is nothing before him,
nothing without him, nothing but through him. If the most holy Virgin is able to
assist us wonderfully
is to

indebted to him

alone for thought, will, breath, life, being, and the preservation of being. Alone self-

"Blessed and only Mighty,"' who only hath immortality,"* " who alone doth wonderful things,"* who alone
existent, the "
is

"
great,

alone eternal,"'

alone " the

by her protection,

it

him then
:

advantage power, from him alone proceed

graces that flow

we owe this inestimable from him alone comes that

that
all

Beginning and the End"' of all, besides whom " there is no other God,"' he alone
deserves the
title

of

those

eminence
jesty of

and by
to

this title the

upon

us.

would excite our

in view
to

faith

Lord by prechurch in the infinite matlie

The Church has

Rom.

farther

him

whom we

have the im-

(1)

xi. 36.
vi,

(3) 1

Tim.

15.

(2) Exod. iii. 14. (4) 1 Tim, vi. 16.

(6) Ps. Ixxi. 18. (7) Apoc. xxii. 13.

(6) 2 Mace.

i.

25.

(8) Deut. x.\xii. 39,

418

LITANY OF THE

before

mense honour to speak. Ah let us feel him our extreme inferiointy, our
I

unspeakable littleness as creatures, before bis infinite greatness as the Creator; and
as

We have, immeasurable, and eternal. but too much reason to exclaim, then, with St. Teresa, " Alas O Lord, while
!

this mortal life lasts, the eternal is always

in peril.

we implore him,
all

let

us keep ourselves
all

life,

the

enemy

of

my

happi-

at the feet of his

supreme majesty,

ness,

why am

I not permitted to put

I suffer thee,

an

humbled,
adoration.

annihilated with respect and

end

to thee ?

because

my

Let us acknowledge, with all the powers of our soul, that we are but " dust and ashes "' that " our substance
;

God

suffers thee;

take care of thee,

as nothing before him;"* that we do not deserve to speak to him, even by the
is

because thou dost belong to him. But do not betray me, and be not ungrateful to me. Alas Lord, how is my exile
!

silent adoration of the heart.

It is true that all prolonged time is short to gain thy eternity. But
1

again, does the Church, in this first invocation of the Lord, make us say, as if we were uttering a cry of distress,

Why,

one single day and one hour are too long

to those

who are afraid of offending thee, and who do not even know if they do
offend thee
" *
I

"Have mercy on usl"

reality,

It

is,

in

We

have but too

much

because we are

much

to

be comis

reason

passionated; because our misery profound, almost immeasurable.

great,

out with the apostle, when beaten about by the tempest, " Lord, save
to cry

In our

us,

we

body, frailty, infirmity, pain, suffering, at times almost intolerable; in our soul,

our mother,

perish 1"* and with the Church, " "

I

We

wcarisomeness, sadness, severe afilictions,

devouring passions; clouds in our understanding; disorderly affections in the
heart
dangers, shameful propensities, disorders very ignominious in our senses,
;

ought words with a

Lord, have mercy on us always to pronounce these

lively

sense of the

immense

need we have of a divine commiseration, and of an infinite compassion, exceeding

the excessive extent and excessive depth of our misery. Humbly prostrate here,
let

within and without us numerous enemies

of our eternal
feebleness,
salvation
;

in

our will

before the most high majesty of the Lord, us then say to him, like poor men in

and too often, cowardice, drowsiness, and even fatal lethargy. O yes, once more, we are
indecision,
often,

the depth of poverty, like the sick who are tormented with cruel sufferings, like

shipwrecked mariners with death before

their eyes
:

much

to

be pitied: our misery

is

inex-

pressible.

Every moment we run the

risk of losing all without recovery,

the

Being, Being by pre-eminence, Being of all beings, from the

Sovereign

risk of falling

into

misery unequalled.

height of thy supreme greatness, deign to

(1) Gen. xviii. 27.

(2) Ph. sucxviii. 6.

(3) Elevation to

God.
25.

(4) ^t. Matt.

viii.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

lend thine ear to our voice.
pain, and peril;
It is the

419

cry of destitution, the cry of infirmity,

it is

us to call Mother of Mercy' a Mother " whose " praise thou wouldst have the
"

the cry of the heart

earth" to be "
;

full of,"'

even as of thine

which invokes, which implores thy omnipotence and thy infinite goodness it is
;

the cry of faith which makes us see in thee "a merciful and gracious God,"' at

a Mother to whom it is so sweet to us to raise our accents " of benediction," which return upon our heads like the

own

the same
"

time that

it

makes us
"
!

say,

and " divine blessings;"* a Mother, who prays for us, and with whom

dew

of graces

Lord, have mercy on us

of
faith,

It is the

we

unite in repeating to thee

cry

which

shows us also in
Lord, have mkrcy on us
Kyrie, eleison
t
1

heaven, close to the throne of thy eternal glory, a Mother, whom thy Church directs

MEDITATION
CHRISTE, ELEISON
I

II.

The
from

soul, deeply sensible of

her misery,

does the

name

and regarding the majesty of the Lord,

the ear of Catholic faith

whom

relief,

she can expect her her strength, and salvation, does

alone
;

made

The who has dwelt among us, flesh,

and truth
'
;

of Jesus Christ convey to " ? Word

full

of grace

the Mediator be'

not implore him without trembling she remains as it were downcast at the feet

tween God and

man
all

the

Lamb

of God,
;^

who

takes away the sins of the world

The Church of his infinite greatness. raises up her courage in the second invocation,

one tempted in
yet without sin,*
in
all

things like as

we

are,

made

like to his brethren

where she,

in

some measure,

veils

things, that

he might become a

the infinite distance which separates God from the creature, and makes him behold

merciful and faithful high priest,"* in order to compassionate our sad condition,
as having

him

to

whom

this invocation is addressed

been the companion of man's

" the

him near

only in that point of view which brings to us, and which can best open

miseries

our hearts to hope.

What,

in reality,

great high priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God " he that hath the key of
;
;

(1) 2 Esdras ix. 31.

(2) Salve Eegiua, etc. (4)

(6) 1 (8)

(3)

Habac,

iii.

3.

Num.
i.

xxiv. 9.

Tim. ii, o, Heb. iv. 15.

6.

(7) St.
(9)
iv. 14.

John i. 29. Heb. ii. 17.

(5) St.

John

14.

(10) Heb.

420
David

LITANY OP THE he that openeth, and no man

*

no

less value

than

etci'nal life, the eter;

shutteth."

When

she placq? on our lips the

name

nal possession of the sovereign good for the Divine Master has said that " this
is

of this divine PontiflF, the

Church then

eternal

life,

that they

may know
. .

thee,

proposes to
to dilate

us the motive best calculated

the

only

true God,

and Jesus Christ,

.

our hearts contracted by fear;

to

whom
life ?

thou
"

liast sent.""

And

even

she invites them in the most efficacious

give themselves up to the sentiment of Christian hope, which keeps

in this world, is not this the only true

manner

He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath life
everlasting,
tlie

the soul equally removed from despair and presumption. How can we presume

man-God has

also said;

on the goodness of God, when we believe " to blot out the handthat in order
writing of the decree that was against us, it was necessary that Jesus Christ should
fasten
it

and Cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life."* The life,
then, of those

who have not the

faith of

to the cross?"*

How

shall

we

our Saviour, Jesus, is death. In reality, " it is to be a slave to the prince of be without infallible light darkness,"' to
in the

despair on account of our weakness, or of the pardon of our faults, however

midst of cruel uncertainties of

enormous they may

that "
his

be,

when we

believe

the understanding, as to the duties of man and his destiny; to be without a

guide, without a pilot in the midst of rocks, without consolation amidst all the

so loved the world, as to give only-begotten Son, that whosoever

in
life

God

believeth

him may not

everlasting?"*

perish, but

may have

.... O we

Jesus Christ, we too

rable advantages.
gift,

do not sufficiently esteem this faith in little value its admiIt is a supernatural

the earth, without strength against the assaults of the passions, of misfortune, of sorrow to be deprived of
afflictions of
;

the sweet and pure truth of the lessons of the Word incarnate, of the incomparable power of his example, of the inexhaustible resources of his merits, of

which not
all

only

exceeds
ideas,

all

our

power, but
It is

human
is

and every

desire that our nature

ing.

gift,

capable of formwithout which it is

the magnificent hopes of which his word alas what a lot is this, a is the pledge
;
1

impossible to arrive at the happiness of

heaven

"
;

for,

without faith
*

it

is

im-

thousand times to be deplored But thence, what an obligation have we

1

possible to please

God," he who does not please God be judged

worthy to enter into the participation of
his eternal happiness ?
It is a

and how can

to the

Lord,

who has

favoured us with

the inestimable treasure of faith.

Jesus,

eternal

Priest, adorable

good of

Pontiff, adorable victim of

our salvation.

(1) (3)

Apoc.

Hi. 7. ui. 16.

(2) Col. (4)

ii.

11

(6) St.

John

St John

Heb.

xi. 6.

xvii. 3. (6) St. (7) Ephes. vi. 12.

John

v. 24.

UrOST BL-RSSED VIRGIN.

421

it

is

wliich

thou who hast given us the faith we liave in thee be tliou a thou;

sand and a thousand times blessed by What all the pulsations of our heart!

Solomon ? And if that prince said mother " My mother, ask for I must not turn away thy face," " how much more wilt thou yield to the requests of
of
to his
:

thanks can ever equal a favour which he " hath not done to every nation,"*
. . .

her,

a few words

from

whom

sufficed,

long ago, to obtain of thee the first of

thy miracles?'

still

"
sitting

in

darkness and
^
.
.

in

the

She now interposes her

us from those " ar-

shadow of
"confirm,

death."'

vouchsafe to

petition to preserve

God, what thou hast wrought

rows of the Lord," * which thy adorable

heart so
desires to see changed, our compunction, into the in-

in us;"^ deign to

make

the gift fruitful,

much

which we have received from thy infinite * " liberality. Help thou our unbelief,"
grant that our faith
*

may

rity."

It

is

true

" work by chathat we are very

through flamed darts of divine love, as formerly, in her apparition to St. Dominic, she

showed thee

to

him, combining his zeal

ungrateful, very culpable; but are we not thy " brethren,"' for whom thou hast

with that of St Francis of Assisium, and thus appeased thy justice, irritated against the world. Full of confidence in her

shed thy blood ? Behold, moreover, between thee and us thy divine Mother, ' to whose patronage we fly in our disnot the voice of Mary still more powerful with thy heart than that
tress.

maternal influence, we venture to say, " " Out of the depths " of our abyss

Is

Chrtst, have MREcy ON us

Christe, eleison!

H)f

Bethsabee

w^as- formerly

with the heart

MEDITATION
KYBIE, eleison!

III.

After penetrating our hearts with Christian hope, by reviving our faith in ovir

the adorable

name

of Jesus Christ, this

name of Lord,
be at
all

divine Mediator, the Church makes us " " And repeat, Lord, have mercy upon us
I

given to God, can no longer formidable to us. If the Man-God,

in fact, deigns to cover us with his infinite

this,

because having once piously invoked

merits, as with a shield, can

we any more

(1) Ps. cxlvii. 9. (3) Ps. Ixvii. 29.

(5) St.

(2) St. (4) (6) St.

St.

Luke

xvii. 5.

Lnke i. 79. Mark ix. 23. John XX. 17.

(7) (9)

Sub tuum. St. John ii.

(8)
3, 4.

3 Kings

ii.

20.

(10) Job

vi. 4.

(11) Ps. cxxix. 1.

422

LITANY OP THE upon us by baptism

it

tremble to excess before the supreme Majesty? Can we resemble Adam, who,

is

true that

we

when he had become a

afraid of

transgressor,

was

have lessened, by sins which were " not to death,"' or that we have even lost, by
this excellent title.

God

to that degree as almost to

?

For he sought to hide lose his reason himself from his presence,' as if he did not

mortal sin, the rights which accompany But, whatever has

know

" no that creature

is

invisible in his

been our case, we have not been able to forfeit that of relying on the merits of our
Saviour to reascend, by the means which he has destined to apply them to us, to the

things are naked and open sight ; to the eyes of him," and that darkness

but

all

and night shall O rather, the day."^ be light as in the name of that sweet Saviour, why
shall not be dark to him,
.

have

distinguished honour from which we may fallen. Yes, this infinite treasure of
life,

his mortal

of his sufi'erings

and his

should we not speak to the Sovereign Master with filial confidence, since it was

immolation on Calvary, Jesus Christ has placed irrevocably in our hands he has
;

he who " sent his Son,

that

we

given

it

to us,

he has made

it

in
;

some
and
to
to
it

might receive the adoption of sons .... and hath sent the Spirit of his Son into
your
hearts, crying,
I

measure our inalienable property

our last breath we
call

may make use

to

of

Abba,

Father!"*
benefit

Prodigious honour

prodigious
!

upon the Lord, and graces, of which we stand

obtain the

in need.

For

This God, who owed us nothing but reprobation, was not contented with redeeming us, with
granted to guilty

man

he was restoring us by his only Son, " that we should be called, and pleased
should be, the sons of God."*
"

Jesus himself has said, " If you shall ask the Father any thing in my name, he will
give
it

to you."*

O with what honour, what*

it

riches,

what power

has then pleased

!

Behold,

God to endow the soul of a Christian And what heart animated with faith will
not find happiness in borrowing here the sublime accents of the holy man Job,
"

.then, what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us;"* beliold, what

the merits of Jesus Christ have availed

What

is

a man,

that

thou shouldst
"

us
all

They have so admirably reconciled things,"' that they have made of man,
driven back to hell by the

"

magnify him?"'" While we repeat

to

God,

Lord, hav

who had been

mercy on

us," let us

then interiorly pros-

infinite holiness

and justice of God, the

cherished child of
It is true that

God

himself

him, even to the dust; let us be seized with admiration, motionless

trate before

we have disregarded

this

with astonishment, that

hour, speak
to a

we may,
;

high dignity which had been conferred

God

so great

at any and that

(1)

Gen.

iii.

10.

(2)

Heb.
1.

iv.

13.

(S) Ps. cxxxviii. 11.

(6) 1 St.

(4) Gal. iv. 4, 5, 6.

(6) 1 St. (8) 1 St.

John John

iii.

1.
.

(7) Col.
{'.>)

i.

20.
xvi. 23.

V. 16.

St.

John

John

iii.

(10)

Job

vii.

17.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

a

423

God

so great should deign to lend an

the disorder of

ear to the sighs of creatures debased by sin. But, at the same

time, let us expand our hearts, let us dilate tliem as in the bosom of a father,

ing into the holies by the blood of Christ.^ We are his brethren he is our eldest
:

brother,* but we are joint heirs with Christ.* It is then with confidence that

we go
to

to the

who cannot but

children.
to Jesus,

feel a

tender love for his

obtain mercy;"' and that

throne of grace, that we may we beseech thee

For when we unite ourselves

and appear before God

it

in the

have mercy on us, as thou wouldst have compassion on him, if it were possible
for

adorable person of his Son,

sible

is

impos-

him
it
it

to

suffer the

necessities

and

that this cry of the heart which earnestly entreats his mercy and his suc-

dangers in which we find ourselves.

Lord,
thee,
is

Ah

cour should not be favourably heard. Our voice, united to the voice of our divine
Mediator, in a manner changes its nature it loses what it has, as a human voice,
;

is

no longer we who say it to he himself, he, our divine

says to thee by our heart
1

brother,

who

" and by our tongue, " Have mercy on us And together with him, does not his

feeble,

unworthy even, and

defiled,

to

partake of the divine power, purity, and sanctity, of the divine efficacy of the voice
of Jesus.

august Mother, that beloved daughter of " heaven, say to thee that she is our sister,"'
that

"

our kinswoman according to the flesh,* in which Jesus Christ is come,'

she
is
'"

Lord,
infinite

name, and by the merits of the Mediator, which

it is

in the

that invincible lion of the tribe of Juda,"

who triumphed over death by

his resur-

thou hast had the unspeakable charity

transfer to us;
it is

to

rection, over the corruption of the world

in him,

and by him,

we pour out ow prayer," we declare " our trouble,"* " " Have mercy on us in crying out, " We are no more thy sei-vants, but thy
that in thy sight
thee

"

by his adorable purity and infinite sanctity, over the devil by the glory and power
of his cross ? Saviour,

and before

In the name of

this divine

and

in union with Mary,

more we

cry out

once

children
Christ,

heirs also through God,* Jesus

Lord, have mekct on us

Kyrie, eleison
Heb.
I

having a contidence in the enter(2) Gal. iv. 7. (4)

viii.

(1) Ps. cxli. 3. (3) Heb. X. 19.

(6)

iv.

16.

(7)

Geu.
V. 5.

xii.

13.
iv. 2.

Eom.
17.

viii.

29.

(8)

Rom.

ix. 3.

(9) 1 St.

John

(6)

Rom.

(10)

Apoc

42t

LITANY OF THE

MEDITATION
CHRISTE, AUDI NOS
1

IV.

The more we

unite

our

heart

and

voice with the heart

and voice of Jesus, to implore the divine hounty and mercy, the more will our prayer ascend to the " an odour of throne of the Eternal, as
sweetness."'

the admiration of the angels themselves. O a thousand times happy is that soul,

who, possessing the inestimable gift of sanctifying grace, can thus speak to
Jesus,
this
is

as

a friend to

his
tlie

friend

but

more

lively

Here then, to excite in a manner our faith and con" Mediator of the
is

not enough, as

spouse of

fidence in this

New
"'
;

the Canticles to her beloved spouse, to her adorable spouse! Happy, a thou-

Testament,'
ever

who

able also to save for

to

sand times,

is

them

that

come

God by him

well-founded confidence

she who can say with " He is mine,

:

to enter intimately into those admirable

and

am

his,"'

and who deserves

to hear,

dispositions of his adorable heart solemnly praying, the evening before his death,

in her intimate communications with the

" for

them who should

believe in him,"*

divine Jesus, that word so consoling, that " Let thy voice sound in heavenly word
:

we

address ourselves to

him

afresh, by

my

ears, for thy voice is sweet."

!

Not but that entreating him to hear us. his ear is always open to us, or that he rejects the voices of those whom he has
loved more than himself; but we beseech him to hear us, as a good father hears
liis

But, alas
zeal,

our

little

fidelity,

our

little

our

little

faith

and

love,

deprive

us, very often, of these delightful

com-

munications with our God.

We

admit a

poor children, as a good mother the cherished fruit of her womb, however
ungrateful
past.

third party between ourselves and him: we divide a heart, of which he is the

We

we may have been for the beg of him to incline towards

sovereign master by so many titles. obstinately cherish inclinations and passions, small, it is true, but which are
displeasing to him, and are injurious to the absolute right which he has to

We

us that ear of the heart, which hears with tender interest a beloved voice, which

answers to that voice by an effusion of benevolence and love, which even goes so far as to establish between the Christian soul

be preferred before all, without reserve and he punishes us for it, only too justly,
;

and

itself

an ineffable

inter-

by the privation of those favours, of which no man no angel can tell the value, or

course of sentiments worthy for ever of

extol sufficiently the marvellous sweetness.

(1)

Eph.

V, 2.

(2)

Heb.

ix.

15.

(4) St.

John

xvii. 20.

(6) Cant.
ii.

ii.

la

(3)

Heb.

vii.

26.

(6) Cant.

14.

Musi

ilLiJSSSED

VmcilN.

425
to

if

Let us not, however, be discouraged, our weakness does not allow us to

to enjoy those ineffable

vouchsafest
sorrowful
Jesus,
to

lend

thine

ear

to

the

accents

of their prayers.

hope

communiare,

cations with Jesus, which are the portion

of chosen souls.

all good and amiable, we seem hear thee say from the height of
:

Whoever we
to aspire

we

can, and

we ought,
enough

to

enter

" I have heard the groaning of the children of the new Israel;"' " I will

heaven

intimately
heart, to

into

his

adorable

hear from heaven, and

sins."*
it

will forgive their

enjoy his friendship, to persevere in his grace, to live and die in

his holy love.
.

is

by every sigh of our

heart that

we

entreat thee to preserve

Ah

let

us direct our
the avoiding

us from ever offending thee, especially

so far as to lose thy grace
1

most earnest attention

to

And

if

we

of all that might not only break off altogether, but weaken the sacred ties which unite us to this divine Saviour
:

were to have this misfortune, we venture to beg of thee beforehand to save us from the
fatal

consequences which are

may we even employ

them more
closely,

all

our zeal to draw

so often entailed by the privation of thy

day by day, hour by

divine love.

How

great
I

is

the favour
it is

hour; may we

die in this holy exercise

1

which we ask of thee

of a heart truly Christian " so well Jesus, O thou who

est

know-

Mary, our Mother, who carries to the foot of the throne of thy mercy the humble
prayers of her children, which our angels O present to her, as to their Queen.

But

how

to

be a friend,"^ who art so

admirable in the effusions of thy love towards hearts which thou findest void
of creatures
glorified

and of themselves, be thou

earth, as

on

in

heaven, for

preserve us, through her, from all sin ; preserve us from the just rigours of thy love, disowned and insulted preserve
;

deigning so wonderfully to cherish souls

who

worthy of thee Let those, especially, who have had the happiness to " taste and see
feel
little
1

themselves so

us from the unclean Spirit, from all that dishonours man in thy sight preserve
;

us from

how

sweet thou art"* in thy divine favours, unite to sing, with transport, the

maladies of soul, and from evils which might injure the all corporal soul; preserve us from the thunders of
all

name and
Spouse
!

the heart of their adorable

. .

But may those who can

only admire, at a distance, the ineffable mysteries of thy love, celebrate, at least, with a lively feeling of gratitude the in-

thy justice, from sudden and unprovided death Vouchsafe, vouchsafe to grant us the grace " to be ever thine, whether we live, or whether we die." *
1

Divine Jesos, hear us

Christe, audi nos
I

comparable goodness with which thou

(1) Life of St. Teresa, cb. xxv.

(iJ)

(2) Ps. xxsiii. 9.

Exod.

vi. 5.

(4) 2 Paralip. vii. 14. (5) Rom. xiv. S.

3i

420

'fiil'AiNX

OF THE

MEDITATION
CHEISTE,
It
is

V.

EXAUDI NOs!
happiness in pronouncing and invoking this divine name. We derive from this invocation a profound feeling of relief and joy, a mild light which guides us securely

Hear us
able hear us

not enough to have said to Jesus, ; the Church repeats the adorI

name

of Christ, and adds, graciously Why repeat a name which has

Because a just before been uttered ? name so sweet and precious, a name of
help and consolation, a
diction

through the shades of this

life,

a firm

name

of bene-

courage, a persevering energy against all For the the enemies of our salvation.
.

and

salvation, will

be said and said

name

again, without danger of wearisomeness or disgust, and the more it returns to

" is of the Spouse of the Canticle " as oil poured out;"* it gives hght," " it feeds and softens, says St. Bernard,

the ear and the heart, the more does it bring with it of unction, sweetness, and
delights inexpressible.
over,
all

it fortifies, it

even saves the soul from

despair,""

Because,

moreas

unhappy, degraded children,

first

we

are since the fall of our

exiles,

father,

Jesus Christ, " GraHad not the words, ciously hear us?" hear us, as we have seen, their sweetness

But why

say to

unhappy
^rocks,

unhappy voyagers on an

ocean so exposed to tempests, so

so fruitful in shipwrecks,

could

full of

they have lost over our lips? them by passing twice No, certainly ; but the Church would

and

their

charms

Would

not too

much have recourse to a name Ah when we believe, when we know that " there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved; "' that at this name eveiy
so powerful.
I

insinuate that Jesus seems at times to

hear us, to listen to us, without being He wiUing to answer our petitions.
defers, in certain circumstances, granting

us the object of our requests, however

knee bows " in heaven,

on earth, and

humble and
more, to
zeal, to

fervent they

may

be,

in

under the earth

apostles,

;"

that in this

name

the

order to animate

our faith

more and

in

former times, worked

the

inflame our ardour and our

greatest miracles;' that still, every day, marvellous effects are wrought in the

procure for us the great merit of

perseverance.

And

as

we

are too often

in

by the sacraments, which, though invisible, are no less admirable prodigies, we cannot but find

name

of Jesus Christ,

such trials, tempted to discouragement we beseech Jesus to deliver us from this

danger.

let

us then earnestly entreat

(1)

Acta

iv. 12.

(2) Phil.
iii.

ii.

10.

(4) Cant.
(5)

i.

3.

(3) Acts

6.

Serm. xv., super Cantica.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

this Mediator, so good, so benevolent, so

427

Jesus

who

to

make us

sensible of

devoted as he

is

" to our welfare, to

make

If nevertheless it haste to help us."* should enter into the adorable views of his

the plenitude of thy m.ercy, didst become " our advocate with the Father,"' do not

providence to subject us to the holy trial of delay, with respect to the success of our
petitions, let us entreat

permit us ever to cease to implore thee, though our prayers should appear to us to be of no avail. Grant, rather, by thy
all-powerful grace, without which we cannot even " pronounce thy name,"' that we may redouble our ardour and confidence,
voice.

him with no
is
is

less

earnestness, to grant

us the grace of perso precious.

to
to

severance in prayer, which

Discouragement, indeed, injurious the goodness and infinite mercy of God,

when thou

delayest to hoar our

the truth of his promises, to the infinite merits of Jesus, of the efficacy of which

thou whose tender mercy has vouchsafed to represent itself to us under

the afi"ecting image of the mother "

who
"

we seem

to doubt,

ploring the

when we leave off imLord, if we do not obtain so

Perseverance, on the

* gathers her chickens under her wings, confidence moves us to pour into thy

soon as we would.

adorable heart our pains and our sorrows,

contrary, in fidelity, in prayer, even

when

our

evils

and our supplications.

O may
I

God appears deaf to all the groanings of our heart, i^ a noble homage paid to his It makes us adore his goodperfections.
ness, his mercy, his
infallibihty,

perseverance ever attach us firmly to it, by the intercession of thy divine Mother

when
;

by her sacred hands that we present to thee all our requests it is through hel
It is
;

they seem to hide themselves from us his wisdom and his providence, when their ways are the most inexplicable, with
they became as it were visible in the success of our petitions. It
as
as
if

that

we hope

to obtain that

we may not

cease to pray, till she shall say to our " the Lord hath heard me,* good angels,
in favour of

much faith

makes us, moreover, rest all our hopes upon

the infinite merits of our Saviour,

my faithful supplicants ; go, ye swift angels,"* carry the blessings of my Son to those who cease not to repeat to
him

when

they seem to have no longer any efilcacy in our regard, with as much firmness as
if

Christ, graciously hear us

Ghriste, exaudi nos
I

we

felt

the powerful

efi'ects

of them.

(1) Pb. kix. 1.

(2) 1 St.

John

ii.

1.

(4) St. Matt, xxiii. 37.

(5) Deut. ix. 19.

(3) 1 Cor. xii. 3.

(6) Isa. xviii. 2.

428

LITANY OP THE

MEDITATION
Relying on the all-powerful merits of Jesus Christ, and intimately united to

VI.
I

PATEE DE CCELIS DEUS, MISEEEEE NOBIS

visible' essence, as

the sun surrounds and

its

penetrates the crystal with

rays.

him

as our divine Mediator, by the pre-

Woe

be

to us, then, if

impalpable we were in

ceding supplication, we can, and we ought to, implore with renewed confidence, the

our thoughts to banish him, in a manner,

heaven, as to some distant palace, to which we should have to make the voice
to

most holy and most august Trinity. The Church makes us invoke, in succession, the three adorable Persons, be-

of our prayers reach

into a capital error,

We

should

fall

and by thus isolating

ginning with the first, to whom she directs us to say, " God the Father of heaven, " have mercy on us
!

God from

this sad earth,

we should render

our unhappy situation as children of Adam

worse than

it is

in reality.
:

0/ heaven ...
as well as in

Is not
?

heaven

the universe with his

God upon earth Does he not fill presence and his

royal
faith

he
is

No, certainly, God is not far from us No effort is in us, and we are in him.

majesty

Did not the

prophet,

required to make our prayers and the he sighs of our exile ascend to him
:

soaring on the wings of

and

love,

whose mercy we implore

to

is

more present

find it equally present, equally adorable " in heaven, in hell, in the uttermost parts

us than we are
I

to ourselves.
. .
.

May we

of the sea, in the broad light of day, and in the darkest night?"' . . . without
.

is everywhere present. Ho is his knowledge, for he sees and by knows all. He is so by his power, for in

doubt,
so

God

never forget him . once more, why these words, Why, then, " God the Father it of heaven ."... is because in heaven God has prepared
for his elect a delightful abode, a lasting

he has only to instantly whatever he wills

every
place

will,
is

and

country, an eternal kingdom, where, without being more present there than else-

accom-

where, he manifests his adorable presence

to the angels

plished

even nothingness at once obeys

is

and

saints.

There he makes
it is

him.

He

so by his essence, for

infinite

he

is

himself seen by them, for

"

written,
is,

infinite,

and the
" In

knows neither
any limit move, and

we

shall see

him

as

he

is

"'
;

that

in

measure,
be."
'

nor distance, nor

his beauty, in his truth, in his sanctity, in his goodness, in his power, in his love, in
all

whatsoever.

him we

live,

He

surrounds us, he penetrates us

with his knowledge, his power, his incmviii.

Acts

can

his perfections. Here below, nothing our desires ; however fortusatisfy

(1) Pb.

8, 9, 12.

(2)

xvii. 28.

(3) 1 St.

John

iii.

11.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

nate,

429

according to
be,

the world, our lives

may
is

varied

however multiplied, however may be our enjoyments, our exile

felt

dently and immeasurably such happiness? How can we esteem and desire it without

always

in

some way

or other.

being under the most lively apprehension of not fulfilling, with suflScient fidelity,
the conditions which are imposed

Besides, to the greater part of men, is not almost the whole of life a tissue
of fatigues, of wearisomeness, of disgust, of vexation, and of all kinds of suffer-

upon

us for obtaining it? help crying out to

How, then, can we God, with all the

!

ing?

" God the Father of powers of our soul, " " heaven, have mercy on us Father,

Thus, we

all

more

or less sigh,

we

all

who

more

or less eat bread bitter

tears.

and moist-

hast predestined us into the adoption of children through Jesus Christ,' and
hast so loved us as to

ened with

goodness of

God

If, then, the gratuitous were to offer us only

make us heirs indeed

Christ,'

of

God, and joint heirs with

natural happiness after this life, O we should be bound to bless him for ever for
it,

vouchsafe to enlighten the eyes of our heart, that we may know what is the hope
of
thrj

we should be obliged

to

seek after this

calling,

and what are the riches

of thj

happiness with the greatest eagerness. To be eternally exempt from all the evils
of this world, to be eternally out of the reach of want, of sickness, of sorrow, of
all mourning, of all pain, of all sadness, would this not of itself be too much, far too much, for miserable and guilty

of the

glory

inheritance in the
sight of this inhe-

saints."*

May

the

ritance,

where thou dost " inebriate us

with a torrent of divine delights,"' inspire us with the ardour, courage, and strength
" run in the race, so that we necessary to * may obtain the prize and the crown of
life

creatures ?

ness

God

is

prodigy of goodgenerous to us to that

But,

promised to those that love thee

*
I

And you,

degree, as to call us to a supernatural felicity, to a happiness to which our nature

show us, by the effects of your protection, that you are the

Mary

' daughter well-beloved."

We

delight in

bears no proportion, which is incomprehensibly higher than all the soarings of our heart, and all the dreams of our imagination, to a
less

offering to
faithful
:

homage Hail, daughter of God

you
such by a
the other

this

of the pious
the

Father !

You
Eve,

are

title infinitely

more

happiness which

is

nothing
esar-

precious than
"*

daughters of
"

than

to

be

"

made

partakers of the

divine nature."*

How

can we help
help desiring

teeming, how can we

2

you Mother of the Word made flesh and while you were still upon this earth, you could have said to him,
;

(1)

St,

Peter
i.

i.

4.

(6) 1 Cor. ix. 24.

(7)

(2) Ephea. (3) Horn.

5.

St James

i.

12.

viii.

17.

(4) Ephes. i. 18. (5) Pa. XXXV. 9.

(8) Gen. xxiv. 23.

(9) St.

John

i.

14.

430

LITANY OF THE

with a thousand times more confidence

prayer,

O
"

Father,

who

art

God
^

of

than

all

of us his adopted children,

art in heaven."

"

Our

heaven,

the throne of thy glory,"

I

have

Father, who

Grant, then, that by your happy intercesMary, sion, we may address to him this humble

mercy on us
Pater de

coslis

Deus, miserere nobis

MEDITATION
FILI EEDEMPTOR,

VII.
I

MUNDI DEUS, MISERERE NOBIS

This invocation of the Son of God, " consubstantial with the Father, true

And

with

what

ardour

and vigilance
might
ever
:

God

of

ought we

to avoid all that

be,

even
!

true God,"' recalls

to

the

soul

of the

indirectly, prejudicial to our salvation

Christian the great mysteiy, the ineffable mystery, of the redemption of the world ;

We

were

lost, lost for

in con-

sequence of the guilty fall of the first

a mystery ineffable in its marvellous effects.

It

itself, ineffable

in

man, we were
anathema.

all

struck with an eternal

An

expiation was necessary,

infinite

is, then, true, that since the redemption wrought on Calvary, the salvation of

and an expiation of
satisfy

value,

to

man
God.

is

He who did

found secured by the death of a not fear to lower him-

the rights of majesty infinitely But who could make injured by sin.
this ?

Could
?

men ? No, certainly. Could

are pure, exalted, and sub-

self too

much "by being made

thought himself

flesh,"

angels

They

has not

making

too

lime

nevertheless,
is

from them
less

to

the
in-

great a sacrifice by suffering and dying for us, the most cruel and ignominious

infinite, there
finity.

nothing

than

O how truly, then, have death. " * " been redeemed at a great price
!

also,

how
for

have

great our soul

we But an esteem ought we to

1

remedy without hope

eternal

Our

misery, then,

was without

Son

of

God had
*

Yes, if the not become " our

What

importance

victim of propitiation." He clothed himself with our nature, and entering into

ought we to attach to everything that can enhance its dignity before God, and contribute to embellish its "immortal crown "*
I

the world, he said " Behold, I come."'

self all

to the

Most High,
he gave him-

He
;

took upon him" *

"

our iniquities

(1) Isa. Ixvi. 1. (3)

St.

John

i.

U.

(2) NJcene Creed, (4) 1 Cor. vi. 20,

i.

(6) 1 St.

John
X. 7.

ii.

2.

(7) Heb. (8) Isa.

(6) 1 St. Peter

4.

Ixiii. 6.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

self

431
is

up

to

be " wounded and bruised for

that justice and mercy
his person."
^

Paul has said that " grace

life,"'

eterna'

our

sins,* in order

And

this divine life of

our soul,
to give,

should embrace in

He

even

which the sacraments are destined

carried his heroic love so far, as to desire,

to support, to increase, to restore

when
it,

with ardour unequalled, to suffer

for us;'

and die
he
:

and

this

burning desire

ful-

we have had the misfortune -to itself communicates to all our

lieavenly reward,

lose

actions

filled in his

passion.

yes, fulfilled

for

an admirable power, that of meriting a

what

is

the passion of our Saviour, but a

and of constantly

in-

continuation of sufferings of mind and body, a succession of unheard of pains

creasing our eternal glory and happiness. Yes, by sanctifying grace we can make
of our

and

sacrifices for
. .

unworthy and ungrate. .

smallest

actions

exploits

of so

ful creatures ?

In the presence of a devotedness so calculated to excite all our sensibility, to

great value that each one is preferable to all the treasures of the earth ; we can in

moment do more, by one

will,

secret act of

make our
gratitude

hearts beat with the most lively

and the most tender

let

love, let

us

which loves God, than all men together could do in thousands of ages
the

at first be silent;

us adore, in the

by

all their

natural powers.
!

silence of admiration, this mystery

which

enraptures the angels.

"

Then
as

let

us conus study
possible

O wonder wonder this is all can say, O adorable Son of the

!

that

we

eternal

template
to

this

great work
as

;"* let
is

Father!

when we consider the

ineffable

and penetrate,

much

our feeble understanding, the secret abysses. of the mercy and love of our God.
this

work of our redemption by thy blood, and the fruits so precious which we gather
it every day. O with how much. reason does St. Paul declare to us that

from

Let us lose ourselves in

ocean un-

fathomable and without shores, and give up our hearts to the pious transports with

thou hast "loved us

to

excess!"'

....
ex-

which

may please " the superabunand, then, let us admire

it

God

to

animate them,

And how much reason have we to " The thoughts of thy love claim,
exceeding

deep?"*
'

dant riches of grace,"

tion
is

of

which redempsublime

understanding to
worthy of praise
claim
heart
:"

deep for our fathom thou art too

too
;

are

the source.
grace,
gift

Sanctifying
!

and

it
'"

our tongues to pro" thou art greater than our

for
all its

It unites in a wonderful supernatural manner our soul to God, it communicates to

even with

love, it could

not suffice to repay a love like thine.

her a divine

life,

life

which

is

the

Thou
this,

livest,

O divine
is

Redeemer! we know

beginning of the

life

of heaven; for St.

and

it

the foundation of our

(1) l8a.

liii.

5.
xii.

(2) Ps. Ixxxiv. 2.

(3) St.

Luke

60.

(4) 1
ii.

Tim.

iii.

16.

(5) Ephes.

7.

(6) Kom. vi. 23. (8) Ps. xci. 6. (10) 1 St.

(7) Ephes. ii. 4. (9) Ps. cxliv. 3,

John

iii.

20.

482
'

LITANY OF THE
thou
art

hope

always hviug to make intercession for us."* Do not pennit thy

;

"

request."*

Ah, do not permit us

to

render
effi-

useless, by the abuse of graces, the

hlood, the merits of which flow unceas-

ingly upon the earth, to become unprofitable to us through our fault. The
voice of this precious blood says to thy

cacy of thy mediation, nor the intercession of ber whom we salute with happiness as,

Mother of

the

Son of God.

Father,

" Give

me .... my
'

people for

God the

Son,

Redeemer of the World,

i

which
have
'

I request,* that
"
;

people which I
Fill

have mercy on us
Redemptor,
nobis
I

* and Mary says to purchased " him with thee, That people for which I

mundi

Deus,

miserere

MEDITATION
"

VIII.
I

SPIRITUS SANCTE, DEUS, MISERERE NOBIS

God

is love,"

Father, then,

is is

John has love, the Son

St.

said.
is love,

The
the

Holy Ghost

love.

Nevertheless, the
love,

heart of the believer, like rivers of living * water." And the great apostle teaches us that " the of God

operations of Divine

and,

conse-

is poured charity abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost

quently, the operations of grace, whether in our understanding or in our heart, are

who
is

is

given to us;"' that he

is
'"

"the
that
it

Spirit of

wisdom and

revelation

;"

Holy Ghost, though they equally appertain to all the three Persons. The motive is that the Holy

attributed

to

the

speakable groanings."

he who renovates us," that he "helpeth our infirmity, and asketh for us with un"

Ghost proceeds from the Father and from the Son by way of love, and that he is the
substantial

Ignorant and incapable as we are, with what ardour should we beg of the Holy

and reciprocal love of both.

said to his disciples that

Thus Jesus
no one
"

could enter into the kingdom of

"
*

burning and shining"" light which disperses the clouds of the understanding, and animates and inflames the
Spirit that

"

God

without being born again of water

heart!

With what ardour we ought

to

to

that the graces of ; " this divine Spirit should flow from the
Job
xix. 26, 27.
vii. 3. vii. 3.

and the Holy Ghost

beseech him
"
things,
(8) St.

make us judge

of all

not in carnal wisdom," " but

John
i.

(1)

(2)

Heb.
St.

vii.

25.
ii.

vii.

38, 39.

(9)

Rom.
St.

v. 5.
iii.

(3) Eath. (6) Esth.

(4) 1 St. Pet.

(G)

9.

(10) Ephes. (12)

17. 26.

(11) Titus
(13)
i.

5.

John

iv.

16.

Rom.

viii.

John

v. 35.

(7) St.

John

iii.

5.

(14) 2 Cor.

12.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

according to the wisdom of the Gospel ; to direct and support our will in
everything;
to

433

transact the

same

affairs,
;

and meet with

the same accidents

but with intentions

dissimilar, but in a

render

all

our conduct

supernatural; character of the true child of God^ of the true Christian ; and it is this which

for this is the distinctive

and dispositions so manner so unlike

that, in

so contrary, even,
it

the
;

eternity

gold for in that of the other, a cursed

is

hand

of one,

makes the

difference,

wide as heaven

from earth, between his thoughts, his

affections, his views, his desires, his ac-

and the thoughts, affections, views, desires, and actions of the slave of the
tions,

lead which, far from being able to form " for him a treasure in heaven,"' can only " precipitate him to destruction."* The one, animated by the Holy Ghost,

world.

of heaven, as of " one his country; of salvation, as of the thing necessary."* If he has any attach;

The true Christian, God as of his centre

indeed, thinks of

guided by the "Holy Spirit;"* his whole life has in it something noble, elevated, grand, in close connection with
is

heaven and with God

only according to

the other lives

a base and corrupt

nature, connected with the wicked angel,

ment

to creatures, it is in to

God and

for

and

his frightful destiny.

God

him alone does he attach himbois-

then, let us supplicate, once more,

self, as to his sovereign good, like a rock

which remains unshaken amid the

terous waves of time.

the Holy Spirit to make us act in all things in a manner supernatural, and

The

worldling, on

the contrary, thinks of creatures, forgets heaven and salvation ; he seeks his own
interest or his pleasure in all those at-

never to alfow us to have the misfortune " to extinguish the Spirit," or even to
"
contristate it."'

Let us say

to

him,

tachments which divide his heart.

desires,

He

with a sincere resolution to correspond faithfully with all his graces :

that passes away and perishes in the twinkling of an

is

he

ambitious of

all

Holy
right

Spirit, source of life, flame of

charity, divine unction,* guide us into the

eye of frail
;

he

passionately and foolishly fond " which he thinks to hold goods,

is

way,

make us

live

according to

justice;* keep alive within us that charity

fast,

and which

slip

away from him,

like

frozen water, the poor crystal of which melts in the hands which press it, and only
serves to defile them."
*

which proceeds from a pure heart, a good We conscience, and a sincere faith."*
venture, even,

humbly

to

ask of thee that

" our charity

in

may more and more abound

The

true Christian and the slave of

the world often

(1) St.

do

the

same works,

knowledge and in all understanding, that we may be filled with the fruit of
(4)

Luke

X. 42.

Tim.

vi. 9.

(5) Gal. v. 2.

(2) Funeral Oration of

Ann

of Gonzaga,

by

(G) These,

v. 19.

BoBsuet.
(3) St. Matt. vi. 20.

(8)

Hymn

Vent Creator.
(10) 1 Tim.

(7) Ephes. iv. 30. (9) Pa. cxiii. 10, 11.

i.

6.

3 K

484
justice,'

LITANY OP THE
going from virtue to virtue, till of gods shall be seen in Sion."'
"full of grace:*
perfect one
is but

One

is

my

dove,

my
art

the

God

one ;* how beautiful

Vouchsafe to grant us this grace through Mary, to whom we pay honour and re-

thou,

my

love,"*

and how

justly

may her
"*
1

mother

call

her " blessed of the Lord

She could spect as to thy divine Spouse. to thee, when the august mystery say
of the

In the name of

this holy Virgin, the object

:

of thy predilection

Incarnation was

"God

hath endowed

me

accomplished: with a good

proclaim

God, the Holy Ghost, have meecy on us

Spiritus Sancte, Deus, miserere nobis!

dowry."*

Thou

couldst

her

MEDITATION
The
adorable
of

IX.

SANCTA TEINITAS, UNUS DEUS, MISEEERE NOBIS I

mystery

the

Holy

visible, as well as his substance,

he comunder-

Trinity, ."

one and

indivisible,"* is the

municates this to his Son without division

foundation of our religion, the source of all other mysteries, and of all the divine

and without

reserve.

We

shall

mercies

therefore

the

Church,

after

making us invoke in succession, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
us to say Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us 1"
directs
:

stand how, from the eternal union of the Father and the Son, proceeds necessarily their mutual love, which is the Holy

"

union, being in like manner absolute and indivisible, " the

Ghost;,
this

how

day will come, if we are faithful, when we shall see without obscurity what

Holy Ghost proceeds from it with the same perfection which the Son receives
from his Father.""

we now
secrets.

believe,

and when the adorable

to

Trinity will unveil

us his ineffable

But the clear visions of heaven are not made for the earth our country cannot
:

Then we

shall understand

how

the Father, by the knowledge of himself

from

all

eternity, necessarily
is

engenders

be found in exile. " Till the day break, and the shadows retire," " and the day of a happy eternity dawns, till a holy death

"his own image,"* who

this

the Son.

How
indi-

knowledge being absolute and

i.

come and rend the veil of faith, and we know God " even as we are known,"" let
(8) Brev.

(1) Phil.

9, 11.

(3) Gen. xxx. 20.

(6)

(2) Ps. Ixxxiii. 8. (4) St. Luke i. 28.

Rom.
Holy

Cant vL

8.

(7)

Ruth

iii.

(C) Cant. iv. 1. 10.

(10) Serm. on the (11) Cant. iv. 6.

(9) 2 Cor. iv. 4. Trinity, by Bossuet.

(12) 1 Cor.

xiii.

12.

MOST BLESSED
US humbly adore, with all our mind, the mystery which he has been pleased to
reveal to us
;

VIKGIHT.

435

" face to face "* holding thee one day And, in the meantime, how sweet it is to
!

let

him with

all

us praise him and bless our heart, for having thus

be able

to adore thee with the divine cer-

tainty of faith,

and

to bless thee for the

vouchsafed to make us partakers of the divine knowledge, and admit our poor

supernatural union which thou givest us with thee in the Christian religion
1

understanding even into the eternal sanc' " inaccessible What light." tuary of an infinite honour has he done us, by

The Father, by
us to the

his adoption, elevates

communicating with
trial, in

us, in the place of

exile,

sublime dignity of children of God; the Son, by the Incarnation and " the Redemption, " gives us fellowship *
in a wonderful

the darkness of

a truth

manner, with the divine

which dazzles even the angels, and which " gives us cause to long and faint for the
courts of the Lord,' a sight so glorious Trinity in Unity,
!

the Holy Ghost, by the " charity which he pours abroad in our hearts," *

nature

where we
"'

shall enjoy

establishes between

God and
*

us an ad-

Unity in Trinity,
great a

mirable " communication."

may we

how

wonder

Unity of nature in Trinity of Persons, Trinity of Persons in Unity of nature,

estimate, at their just value, these divine relations, and esteem ourselves according
to the nobility

and grandeur of our

dig-

what admirable concord, what rapturous " There is there," says St. harmony
1

nity

May we

well understand that God,

Augustin, something ineffable, which cannot be explained by words, that there should be number, and not number. For
see
if

"

having so highly exalted us, all that is not God is beneath us that having the " sons of inexpressible honour to be the
;

the Father,' the brethren of the Son,'* the

there does not appear, as

it

were, a

temples of the Holy Ghost,"" we ought

in all things to respect ourselves as be-

number, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, the Holy Trinity. If three, what three ? The number fails. Thus God neither
recedes from number, nor
in number.
is he contained Inasmuch as there are three, if you ask it were, number
:

" longing to a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased

people, that we may declare his virtues, who hath called us out of darkness into
his admirable light
"
!

there

is,

as

"

what

three, there

is

not number."

O
that

unity, so inviolable that

it
!

number

can-

" one Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in substance,"" to thee," the only God,

not divide
unity

number so well ordered makes no confusion in it

!

be glory and magnificence, dominion and power, before all ages, and now, and for
all

How
(1) 1
(3)

magnificent
Tim.
vi.

is

the hope of be(2) Ps. lixxiii. 3.

ages of ages

Amen

"
;

'*

to thee,

who

16.

(7)

Eom.

V. 5.

Serm. sur la Sainte Trinite. (4) In Joan. Tract., xxxix. n. 4.

(5) 1 Cor.
xiii.

(9) 1 St. John iii. 1. (U) 1 Cor. vi. 19.

(10) St.

(8) 2 Cor. xiii. 13. John XX. 17.

12.

(G) 1 St.

John

i.

3.

(13)

1 St.

Joha

v. 7.

(12) 1 St. Pet. ii. 9. (14) SU Jude 25.

436

LITANY OP THE
all things we reverence her of thy creatures, and approaching the nearest to thee by the perfections

Last honoured us with the revelation of

beginning of
as the
first

thy eternal essence; to thee, who hast jfsised us to a superhuman dignity, the
perfection of which, in heaven, will be ' " to be transformed into thy image."

" the breadth, and length, and " * of thy love for us, height, and depth what, alas can we do but lisp, with the

before

to her, and by tlie sublime relations of daughter, mother, and spouse with which thou hast ho-

which thou hast given

noured her.

Permit us then, entreating

thee, by her mouth so pure, to keep us

prophet, the accents of admiration and praise,* and unite with-Maiy, who herself " great things which enraptured with the thou hast done in her,"* contemplates

always faithful, always worthy of thee and

of our magnificent title of Christians, to say to thee,

Holy

thee in

an ecstasy of gratitude and love

Thinity, ON us!

one God, have mercy

!

We

adore thee as the Alpha,^ the eternal

Sancta Trinitas, unus Detis, miserere nobis

MEDITATION
SANCTA
MARIA,
give to

X.
NOBIS
I

OBA

PRO

The

first title

of honour which

we

ness, in sublime heroism of the heart.

the most Holy Virgin, when we invoke her, is her own name of Mary, a name which, next to that of Jesus, constitutes the delight of pious souls. What more sweet than the

When,

we have the happiness to be animated with a lively faith when we

then,
;

firmly believe that Jesus is our divine brother ; that Mary, his divine mother, is
also ours
;

name

of a

that she necessarily extends to

mother, and of a mother alike tender and

us that

inexpressible
is

august

A mother

Is there anything

which she
fruit of

filled

for

tenderness with the " blessed

so precious in nature, anything that dilates the heart like her presence, anything that moves it like the recollection
of her ?

her womb,"* for that Jesus, who has loved us so much, what pious emo-

mother

in this world

God

has created nothing similar in goodness, in pure and sweet afiection, in devoted-

what sweet sentiments, must the name of such a Mother excite within usl But what admiration, and what joy
tions,

must

also

the mysterious sense of this

(1) 2 Oor.

iii.

18. (2) Ephes. (3) Jerem. i. 6.

iii.

18.

(4) St.

Luke

i.

49.

(6) St.

Luke

i.

(5) Apoc. 42.

i.

8.

MOST BLESSED
name, a thousand times
us with
!

VITIGIN.

437

blessed, inspire

It signifies at
the

Radiant Star, Queen of who but Mary can laj' claim to these
. . .

once Sovereign, and Sea;^

which the pious invocation of her sacred name appeases and reduces to silence ?
Doubtless, the
"

name

of

Mary

is

not

strong and mighty,"* in comparison with

affecting qualifications?
it

not she

who
"

Sovereign: was the honour to give had

kings,

that of Jesus, except in that inferior de-

birth to the

King of

and the Lord

gree which necessarily distinguishes even the most perfect creature from her Creator

of lords;"' him, to

whom

belong "mag-

and her God; nor has

pleased this divine

it

any

virtue,

but has

nificence, and power, and glory, and " greatness, victory ;" in whose hand is and the empire of all things,"' and who,

through Jesus Christ himself.

But

it

Son

to display his glory

her a glorifying her in heaven, has given power of intercession with himself, which

by his august Mother, and to communicate the marvellous efficacy of his adorable

has no parallel? Radiant Star: was it not she who gave to the world him who

name to that of Mary. Like that of Jesus, the name of this divine Virgih fortifies and
" In dangers," says St. Bernard, consoles. " in troubles, in doubts, think of Mary,

sun of true light"* of men, the withjustice,"* the divine focus of which,
is

the

"

"

invoke Mary.

out aurora and without twilight, without east and without west, incessantly displays
the fulness of
Is
it

your
heart

lips,

let

Let her not depart from her not retire from your

its

inexhaustible radiance ?

go astray

Following her, you will not praying to her, you will not

not she
of
;

who

shines with the bright-

ness

virtues

purest and most perfect with the splendour of a miracuthe

despair; thinking of her, you will not fall into error when she supports you, you do
;

lous virginity, and with a glory before which that of the angels and saints is

when she protects you, you do when she leads you, you are not not fear; weary when she favours you, you arrive
not
fall;
;

Queen of the Sea : is it not she eclipsed whose admirable example, like a heavenly
?

at

the end in safety

the Virgin's

and thus you expejustly

it is

rience in yourself

beacon, overrules the turbulent waves of

this

and

how

said,

and guides to the port of a happy those who do n6t lose sight of her eternity
life,

name was Mary.'"' Like that of Jesus, this name, sweet to our
hearts, puts to flight the spirit of dark" If the winds of ness. temptation arise," " call upon says the same holy doctor, * It was of her, that, in the beMary."
said to the instigator of the revolt of Adam and Eve, those words so

benevolent Hght?
received of God,
dispersing, at

Is it not she,
say, the

who has
power of

we may

her pleasure, the storms and

tempests, the rage of which so often comes to beat upon our frail little vessel, and
(1) Loxic. bibl., Weitenader. (2) 1 Tim. vi. 15. (3) 1 Paralip. xxix. 11, 12.

ginning,

God

(6) Mai. iv. 2. (6)

Pfl. xxiii. 8.

(7) Homil. 2, euper Missusest, (8) Ibid.

(4) St.

John

i.

d.

438
energetic

LITANT OP THE

head;"* resounds anew, like a clap of thunder to Satan, whenever the Christian soul invokes the name of the

" She
oracle

shall crush thy

that

when she invokes

it,

she imagines

and

this

that she sees the fallen angel take flight, compelled to leave behind him this " Terrible is the name of the homage

most Blessed Virgin.

hlessed be the Lord, who has " that 60 glorified thy name, thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of
I

Virgin!"'

O Mary

may

this

sacred

O Mary
"*
!

name be
vour;

ever terrible to hell in our fa-

it be to all the enemies of our " terrible as an salvation, army set in

may

men

tell to

our mind and to our

"*

heart " by what name thou art called ; enable us to comprehend its dignity, sweetness, and power ; penetrate us tho-

never separate it in our hearts from the adorable name of thy

array I

"^

May we
and

divine Son,
it

after that of Jesus,

may

be our refuge and our shield, our

I

roughly with that respect, confidence, and It is admirable love which it deserves. " a to as olive
piety
fruitful,
it

and

plentiful "* beautiful ;

tree,

fair,

It is in the strength and consolation confidence of obtaining this grace, that we say to thee with the Church,

it is

precious to
so

as a vase, " smelling sweet of the best

Holy Maey, pbay for us

ointments."*

Piety esteems

it

much,

Sancta Maria, ova pro nobis I

MEDITATION
A siBiPLE virgin of the tribe of Juda Mother
of God!
.

XI.
I

SANCTA DEI GENITEIX, ORA PEG NOBIS

God

....

If she

how

great a

wonder

What

illustrious saint,

had brought forth an she would be, doubtless,

;

grandeur and majesty are included in this title, what honour and glory, what incomparable magnificence In the general opinion of men, the dignity of a mother is in proportion to that
!

very honourable in our eyes

she would

be more so
world

if

she had brought into the

an
still,

more

incarnate angel; and much if it had entered into the

of her son.

What

then must be the

dignity of Mary, who gave birth to the adorable humanity of the eternal Son of
(1)

counsels of God that the first of the "* " of heaven should be chief princes " made flesh"* in her chaste womb. But,

Mary Mother

of

God

who can

ever suf-

(S)

Gen. iii. 16. Gen. xxxii. 29.

(6) Cant.

(2) Judith xiii. 25. (4) Jer. xi. 16.

i.

(6) Ps. ex. 9.

(7) Cant. vi. 3.

3.

(8)

Dan. x. 13.

(9) St. Jolin

i.

14.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

ficiently esteem, sufficiently

439

comprehend,

and adequately declare the elevation of the most Holy Virgin ? and who, penetrated with lively faith, will not willingly exclaim with the angel of the schools, " that this title has made her

wisdom of the Most High. He might have wrought the inefiable mystery of the Incarnation, without giving a mother to the human nature of his Son. But
was
it not congruous that the divine Person who was to repair the fault of man

something

infinite,

that

is

by reason of the infinite good in her son; "* and with St. Peter

Damian,

" that there

should be the " Son of Man,"* at least by his mother, that so it might be one of us

is

enough

to

make

who should pay

satisfaction

for

us

all

that infinite

dumb with astonishment and admiration, to make ua not dare to lift up

us remain

And

due to the eternal justice? besides, Adam and Eve having both

our eyes before the brightness of such a

dignity?"'

disgraced themselves, and by their fall involved all their posterity in the same

God

possesses infinite power: whatever

wonders he produces, he can always produce new and greater. And yet let us
not be afraid to say that, all-powerful as he is, be could not make Mary more
noble, or greater than he has

not seem right that each sex should have its share in concurring to the
loss,

does

it

restoration

and

salvation of the

human

made her

in

her dignity of Mother of God. Could he, in fact, give her a Son more noble and

thought it no be equal with God," ' and who has said, " I and the Father are one?"* Could he give her a son superior to himrobbery to
self?
.

greater than him,

who

"

wisdom has, then, admirably provided for the work of Redemption in creating a Mother of God. Through Mary the sex of Eve has given to the world its Saviour; and through that Saviour has that of Adam redeemed
race?
divine

The

the world.

But God has done yet more.

He

has

Mary, then, enjoys, by the

favoured us with " a continual and perpetual extension of the mystery of the
Incarnation.
fathers
of the

divine maternity, all the dignity that is possible in a mother; and even, as the

This

is

the language of the

Church."'

In the par-

Creator could not

make a man

greater

than the Man-God, so he could not make a mother more august and more honourable than her, " Man-

ticipation of the mystery which supposes all others, the adorable Eucharist, have

we not the
with

infinite

honour

to.

contract

God,

who Thou

is

able to say to this

art

my

Son."'

that union which approaches the nearest to that of Mary with her Son

God

us admire, praise, and exalt this masterpiece of the divine omnipotence, this accomplished work of the adorable
let
(1) St.

Jesus, to that of the Word with his

nature, since
"

human

are there really incorporated with the divine flesh of Christ,"*

(6) St.

we

Thomas

iii.

p. q. 25, a. 6

ad

1.
ii.
i.

Luke

xxix. 10.

(2) Serm. de Nat. B. (4) St. John X. 30.

M. V.

(3) Phil.

6.

(5)

Heb.

6.

(7) Bourdaloue, 8ur le T. S. Sao. (8) St. Chrysoat., Horn. 63 ad pop. Antiocb.

440

LITANY OF THE
those sacred words, "
in

and since Jesus himself has suid, " He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my O blood abideth in me, and I in him!"*
let

rally

He

that

made
as

me, rested

my tabernacle ;"*and that,

says
to his

us be confounded here before the

the eternal Father " Before the

Son,

day-star I

Lord, that a favour so prodigious should leave us cold, lukewarm, and indifferent,
instead of inflaming our hearts, and exciting within us a zeal and devotion

you may say to him yourself, have begotten thee in time."

begot thee,"* so " And I too

We
all

re-

verence then, we honour with power your divine maternity; we

all

our

ofler

you
!

unbounded
!Mary
1

the

we

are

happy

to proclaim with

dignity

homage which your incomparable Obtain for us, O Mary deserves.

the Church, that you are truly Mother of God. We acknowledge, with joy, that you

"brought forth" that "first-born Son,'"

called,

the admirable participation which your divine Son vouchsafes, in the Sacrament of his love, to give us, in your
to appreciate

by

St. Paul, the first-born of

those

glory,

and in the glory of his adorable

:

who

" are

made conformable
"'
;

to the

image

humanity

of his

Son

that

it is

you, and you alone,

Holy Mothkr of God, pray for us

Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis 1

who have the right to apply to yourself lite-

MEDITATION
what title could be more appropriate for her, who, the first in the world, had consecrated the love of holy virtue by the seal of a perpetual vow A vow so precious in the eyes of Mary,
Virgin of virgins
I
I

XII.
I

SANCTA VIRGO VIKGINUM, ORA PRO NOBIS

Virgin of virgins ! what title could better express the pious admiration

Most High

of tbeChurch for hervirginitymiraculously

perpetual

But

also

what emblem could

that she did not consent to the ineffable

glory of the divine maternity, till after the angel had given her, on the part of God, the

have better figured the favourite virtue of Mary and that magnificent privilege, than
that
lily

stem, the triple flower of which

so well tells us that she was a virgin in

assurance that this glory should not be in the least incompatible with the sacred en-

giving birth to the divine Jesus, virgin before, and after that august mystery
!

gagement which she had made before the

John

The

lily

Is

there

a flower with a

(1) St.

vi.

67.

(3)

Rom.

(2) St. Matt. viu. 2D.

i.

25.

(4) Eccles. xxiv. 12.

(5) Ps. cix. 4.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

sweeter perfume, a purer brightness, a whiteness more delicate? There is, therefore,

441
us sound our hearts; are we a

But,

let

no more perfect symbol of the fairest, the most exquisite of virtues; of that angelic virtue, the triumph of which

holy object of complacency to that divine Lamb whom " virgins follow whithersoever

hegoeth?"'
in

into the mire of vice, do

Alas! without sinking we never indulge

to

shines forth in the Virgin of virgins, on the day itself of the Incarnation of the

anything offensive

his

adorable

eyes ?

How many
1

imprudent, or eveu

Word, when the angel

her confidence, "

said to her, to give

shall

The Holy Ghost

How many liberties, dangerous looks which without going beyond the strict
limits of virtue,

come upon Most High

Thus,

thee,

and the power of the " * shall overshadow thee

!

shock the holy severity of

I

a chaste delicacy
recollections,
projects,

How many
perhaps,

thoughts,
desires,
far

also, Holy Scripture repre" sents to us, under the image of a girdle of lilies,"* the inviolable chastity of the

the

regrets

imaginations, which are

from

Spouse of the Canticles, and the predilection of the heavenly Spouse for virginal " the purity, when it tells us that he is
lily

having as their emblem the shining whiteness of the lily! How many words which
" are far from breathing the sweet odour of Jesus Christ,"' the Son of a Virgin, a
virgin himself,

of the valleys, that

he feeds among the

figures, there

and the tender and

"

inti-

hHes."

mate friend
these
delightful

From
flows
for

because," says " be the Church, wore the crown of virginity undefiled!"*
affections, of

of St. John,

us an expressive and sweet instruction. It is that Jesus loves to

repose in those that are clean of heart;" that he loves to remain united to souls
"
*

In

fine,
is

how many how many

by the O let us

which God
the

neither the

principle

nor

object;

attachments formed, without our being

willing to
spirit

whose pure thoughts, pure desires, pure affections and movements are in his sight
as a garden " bed of aromatical spices."* And in consequence it is given to us to

own

it

to ourselves, less
!

than by the flesh .... banish, let us courageously banish from our heart, not only all that could offend
the divine Son of Mary, but
1

perceive

how much

the divine

Saviour

all

that would

must have been pleased with Mary, whose purity of spirit, truly perfect, was
heightened by another miraculous purity, so that the very name of this double virtue
is

be disagreeable to him Let us respect our " bodies as the members of Christ," *

and never make any but a holy use of them. Let us remember that where the
eye of man does not see or cannot reach, the eye of God both sees and judges; for

become her own proper name, and that

she alone is called pre-eminently theVirginI

(1)

St Lnke
ii.

i.

35.
vi.

(2) Cant.

vii. 2.

(6)

Apoc.

xiv. 4.

(7) 2 Cor. iL 16.

(3) Cant.

(4) (5) Cant. vi. 1,

U.

St.

Matt. v. 8.

(8) Brev. Rom. (9) 1 Cor. vi. 15.

3 L

442
"

LITANY OF THE
poor, or to walk in your footsteps, even amidst the cares of the world. The

hell itself is without darkness before

him, and the abyss without a veill"' Let us bear in mind that his eyes, mild as
"

queens, themselves amid the pomp of

courts,

those of the dove"* for virgin souls, are " a flame of fire " ' for those who dare to as

have given you magnificent the sublime virtues which

practised in your train
auspices.

praises,*

they

by have

do before the Creator, what the mere sight of a mortal would make them avoid as reprehensible.
well,

and under your

if

we understood
forget
it
!

this
. .
.

Glory to you,
live like

Mary, incomparable

and

if

we could not
1

model of that virtue which makes

an angel, as
if

man

living miracle of purity, who wert upon earth to the divine Jesus " his dove, his perfect one, the

Virgin of virgins

his soul were not

bound

to corruptible organs.

O make us,

daughters of Sion saw thee and declared The number is thee most blessed."*

by your protection, your faithful imitators; make us zealous lovers of the most delicate modesty.
It is to have the happiness

young virgins, whom your powerful example has led to renounce the world and all its most seductive
infinite of those

of resembling you,

and of continually the benevolent regards of your meriting divine Son, that we say to you,

delusions,

to

consecrate themselves to

God

in solitude, or to servo Jesus with

Holy Viegtn of

viegins, peay for us

!

unspeakable love iu the person of the

Sancta Virgo virginum, ora pro nobis

MEDITATION
MATER
CHRISTI,

XIII.
!

ORA PEO N03IS

To
all

say of

Mary

that she is Mother of God,

character, less difficult for our understand-

is to

reveal to us, in a single expression,

all

her greatness and

of

to

comprehend it must be capable

well,

But the human mind

her glory.

ing to conceive. Is it not true, that a mothet will appear to us the more honourable as her son
shall be distinguished by
qualities,

embracing infinite This is why the Church, after majesty. directing us to invoke Mary under this title, presents her to us here in another

and

shall

more eminent do nobler and greater

creatures?

deeds for the happiness of his fellow.... What admirable glory,

(1)

Job xxvi.
(3)

6.

(2) Cant. v. 12.

i.

(4) 1 Cant. vi. 7, 8.

Apoc.

14

(5)

Cant

vi. 8.

MOST BLESSED VIHGIN.

then, redounds to the most Blessed Virgin,
treated as

4d3

from her being the Mother of Christ! Does not Jesus possess, even as man, all perfections which can belong to his
Bature
of the
?

Is

it

a mere piece of goods* in the family ? not due to the Son of Mary ? .
. .

To whom

is

due respect

for children, the

He

has received the " unction

Divinity,"*

which

is

united to him.
treasures of
all

" In

him

personally are all the

in

softening down of paternal autliority, in former times absolute and often tyrannical? Is it not to the Son of Mary?

wisdom and knowledge;"*

.... From whom came the abolition of slavery from whom came the august and
;

the treasures of the goodness, the him, meekness, the humility, the patience, the

sacred character with which the servant

is

clothed in the eyes of the Christian

compassion, the most pure and devoted charity ; in him, the plenitude of sentiments the most noble, the most elevated,
the most delicate, the most generous, the

master; from behold in all

whom have we learnt to men our real brethren ?

Has
.
. .

it

not been from the Son of Mary ? From whom come all the succours,
all

most capable of
ravishing the

striking,

moving, and

human

heart

But
for

the good and admirable works, of which our holy religion

all

the consolations,

who

shall tell us

what he has done

is

the soul and the source inexhaustible ?

the happiness of those, to whom he has " been pleased " to be made like? ' With-

Is

not from the Son of Mary ? . . Oh if the most Blessed Virgin were
it
.
!

out speaking here of the salvation which

he procured for us at the price of his life, with what benefits besides this, has he
loaded us
I

not the Mother of God, if Christ, her adorable Son, were no more than the
greatest of all men, the most signal benefactor of human nature, his mother would

our

human

What progress has he caused What intelnature to make

I 1

lectual

and moral amelioration has he

be the most noble, the most august, the most honourable of mothers.
still

brought into the world

digious

What
has

transformation
I

he

a prothere

And
is

in the supernatural order of things,

is

what good
fallen

there of which Jesus Christ

wrought

single day,

Even now Christianity, in a prevents more evil than all

;

not the author?

Without him, for man there would not be, and there

human

laws could do

in a single day

it

would never have been, either sanctifying

any of those actual graces which are so necessary for our weakness. Without him, whether before
grace, or merit for heaven, or

produces more acts of virtue, often sublime,'than could have resulted from all the

pompous maxims

of the philosophers.

To whom is owing the restoration of woman, who was considered formerly, and
Acts

upon earth, or since, there would have been no intercourse of love or

his appearance

(1)

X. 38.
ii.

(4)

De
t.

la

decheance de la femme, et de sa rehale

(2) Coloss.

3.

bilitation

par

Christ, par J.-Ohr. Debas,

Uni

(3)

Heb.

ii.

17.

CathoL,

xxiii

4.U
favour between

LITANT OF THE

God and man, none

of

nourished thee,"* what must have been

those sweetnesses so precious to piety, none of those lights so consoling to faith,

your sentiments, when you had

no gleam of hope

for eternity.

wrap swaddling clothes the delicate limbs of this infant, the first born' of all those

to

"

up

in

But how blind and ungrateful, then, are we to enjoy all these goods, and yet to love so little the Author of them Every one of our steps is marked by some favour of Christianity, and we do not think at all of it At the sight of these
I 1

who by Divine adoption were

brethren
"
!

to

he

his

O without doubt,

you poured

forth your heart in expressions full of love

and admiration ; you were happy in giving

him

continual proofs of devotedness, of consecration, of entire abandonment of

our hearts ought to be more and more inflamed with love for the
gifts so precious,

yourself.

The most ardent words

of the

Son of Mary; and so far from it being so, we refuse him that time which belongs to him by so many titles, to
divine

Spouse of the Canticle were scarcely adequate to express the holy flames which devoured you, and which made you say, again and again, " My beloved is to me, he shall
repose on

employ

it

in violating his holy laws, acting

my

heart."'

Obtain

for

us then,

in opposition to his example,

and

wilfully

Maiy,
tion,

to

have a share in your admira-

offending him.
titude
1 . . .

How great is our ingraO if we have a heart ever

your gratitude, your love for Jesus, which never ceases to load us with benenot permit us to be any longer ungrateful, and especially *^to have the
fits.

capable of feeling, let us make amends by our repentance for this ingratitude, and henceforth cease not, for a
so
little

Do

single instant, to live for

him, who

ceases

misfortune to be ever so to that degree as deliberately to offend such a benefactor.

Yes, we entreat you with all the ardour of our souls, and repeat with the Church,

not to shower down his favours upon us. O Mary who wert able to say to this adorable benefactor, " Thou art my Son;' it was T that bore thee nine months in my
I

Mother of
Mater

Christ, pray for us

!

womb, and gave thee suck .... and

(1)

Christi, ora pro nobis

Ueb.

i.

6.

{?.)

2 Jlacc.
i.

vii.

27.

(4)

Eom.

viii.
i.

29.

(3)

St Matt.

25.

(6) Cant.

12

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

446

MEDITATION XIV.
MATER DIVINE
" Hail
!

GRATLffi,
is

ORA PRO NOBIS

full of

"'

grace

said the heavenly

rich in admirable
title

sent by the messenger Most High to announce to her the sublime

to Marj',

who was

her by the very

if

meaning; he saluted of " full of grace," ' as

to designate

her by what best characmoreover, the

mystery of the Incarnation.

Words

of
in-

terised her in the sight of the

meaning

so profound, that

no human

comprehend them, nor any nioulh explain them Full of grace ! Who then can measure the abundance, or
telligence can
!

But she him who. is

of

is,

"

the

God

of all
said,

Most High. Mother of grace,"* and

whom

St.

Paul has

that in

him
given

" the grace of

appreciate the richness of the treasure

men."*
to be

God has appeared How should she who has

to all

which she possesses? If it be true that more or less grace is the effect of more or
less love

such a Son to the world not be entitled

called Mother of divine grace, she
all, to whom this same Son, we may has confided the distribution of his say, favours ? For Jesus, from his cross, has

which the Lord has

to

for a soul,

above

what soul ought ever

have received so

much as Mary, who was more loved by God than any other? .... Full of grace! O perfect expression " To others grace
:

given us his Mother in giving her to St. John, who, having alone remained of all
the disciples, represented at that time all the faithful ; ' and what the great apostle

is

given as by portions," says St. Peter " to Mary it is given in fulChrysologus;

ness."'
tlie

Alone, in

fact,

was Mary called to

has said of the

gift

which the eternal

us of his Son, we

threefold dignity of beloved daughter

Father has made

to

of the Father, beloved

Mother

of the Son,

and

beloved spouse of the

to

Holy Ghost;
elevation

may, in a proportionate degree, say of the gift which the Son has made to us of his
divine Mother,

an incomparable incomparable sanctity should correspond;

and

this

'

With

and produce unexampled sanctity, was required an unexampled abundance

to

this

not given us all things the holy doctors of the Church are lavish of the most expressive invocations in her

how has he ?"'.... Thus

her

of grace, a plenitude of grace.

angel, wishing
sanctity,
nil

Thus the

to

express this wonderful

which distinguishes Mary among creatures, did not call her by her
though that
Luke
i.

honour. " Be mindful of us, O most Holy Virgin," exclaims St. Athanasius, "who

name,

name,

as

we have

seen,

remained a virgin even after childbirth, and return us for these our imperfect
(5) Tit.
ii.

(1) St.

28.

(3) St.

Luke

i.

(2) 28.

Serm. 143.

11.

(6) Bossuet, Semi, pour la fete (7)

du

S. Eosaire.

(4) 1 St. Peter v. 10.

Rom.

viii.

32.

44ft

LITANY OF THE
Virgin.

praises great gifts from the riches of your * " In you, patroness and graces." mediatrix with God who was born of " the human you," exclaims St. Ephrem,

in affairs even

Let us always implore her aid ; which seem to us the most

"

hopeless, let us

race places its joy ; in you alone does he find refuge and security who has full con"" fidence in God and in another prayer, " Next to the Trinity, you are the mistress
;

implore her from our inmost souls. Sure of entering thus," " into the views St. Bernard, of him says

who has been pleased that come to us through Mary.""

all

should

O Mother
who

of the "

Word made

flesh,

next to the Paraclete, another ; paraclete; next to the Mediator, mediof

ail

has vouchsafed to dwell in the midst

of us, full of grace

and truth,"" we hail

is

atrix of the

whole world."'
"

"

Because
cries

you, with the angel, "full of grace I""

you are the only hope of sinners,"

Your

divine

Son

its

source,

inex-

out St. Augustin, through you we hope for the pardon of our sins ; through you we expect the heavenly reward." * " Mary is the ocean of graces," say of her St. Peter
Chrysologus,* St. St. Bonaventure.*

haustible and infinite, and in fixing in you his first abode among men, he has " In me is all given you the right to say, "* Your blessed hands are as the grace."

John Damascen,' and

happy channel by which

sure
is

this divine trea-

diffused
all

She

is

that fountain through which all

vivifies

over the whole earth, that is sterile, and " makes

graces flow upon the world, as from a " the fountain of spring of living water " gardens,"* destined to water the torrent
:

her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord." '*

To

you, then,

we

desire to have recourse

;

of thorns,"' that

is

to change our hearts,

in all our necessities

in you, next to

to cause all virtues to

bud

forth in

a fountain so full of grace, " Virgin has enough," says the evangelical " to doctor, pour out upon all mankind."'"
let us then approach, with a heart dilated, " to the throne of grace,""

them that this meek

;

Jesus,

place our confidence for ever; through you it is that we expect from him, all unworthy as we are of his mercy

we

and bounty, the pardon of our innumerable faults, the help so necessary for our

our misery

Let us then approach, however great

weakness and

final perseverance.

which the Son of the Eternal has chosen

for

Mother of
Mater

divine gea.ce, pbay for us pro nobis

!

himself in the

womb

of the divine

divince gratios, ora

(1) (2)

De

Sanctissima Deipara.
(3) Ibid. (6) Serra. cxlvi.
(7) In Specul. (9) Joel
iii.

Op. Gr. Lat., t. iii. (4) Serm. de Annuntiat (6) Orat. i. de Nativ.
(8) Cant, iv. 15.

(10) P. III. qu. jcxvii. Art. 5. (11) Heb. iv. 16.

(12) Serm. (13)

St.

ii.

de Assumpt. B. M. V.
i.

v.

John

14.

(14)

St.

Luke
li.

i.

28.

18.

(15) Eccles. xxiv. 25.

(16) Isa.

3.

MOST BLESSED YIBQIN.

447

MEDITATION XV.
MATER PUBISSIMA, OEA PRO NOBIS
" that " It was fitting," says St. Anselm, the sanctity of the Virgin Mother should
!

be such, that no greater could be con"' For otherceived next to that of God
!

been able to attain to purity of soul like that of the Blessed Virgin ? . . Thus the angel of the schools teaches that " the effusion of grace in her was so
.
.

wise,

it

must be supposed that

it

was not
re-

God's will that she, for

whom was

abundant and so complete, that she enjoyed the most intimate union possible
with the divine Author of grace, and thus deserved to receive in her womb him
the source of grace."* It would not suffice, then, to give Mary the first place in the hierarchy of created
is

served the infinite advantage of being his Mother, should be as far as possible equal

and that he did not create her sufficiently worthy of a rank which has not, and never will have, an equal in
to that honour,

who

This gave occasion to St. Thomas to write these remarkable words, " There may exist a created being so pure
the world.
that there could not be any more pure in the works of the Creator and such was
;

She who beings, even of the most holy. comes the nearest possible to God is
above them by
all

the elevation of her

is
lily

incomparable dignity; she " guished from them as the

distin-

among

the purity of the Blessed Virgin, of her who never knew sin, either original or
actual."'

thorns;"" her sanctity is pre-eminent among all the elect, among all the blessed " as a of
spirits,

God and

sin are

incompatible

the

tical spices,

smoke of aromaof myrrh and frankincense,

pillar

opposition between these two terms is Therefore we apabsolute and infinite.

and of

the powders of the perfumer."" While we admire in this august Mother

all

proach to God only by departing from evil, from which also we depart the more as we approach the nearer to the " Holy
of Holies."
^

this privilege of singular sanctity with

which the Lord has favoured her, let us endeavour to comprehend the necessary
hatred

But how can we conceive a

which God

bears

to

all

that

created being to have so intimate a relation with God as the Mother of God ?

offends his infinite majesty. Sin, whatever be its object and circumstances, is

How

then can we

conceive

one who

always a violation of the moral order, a

real disorder,

should have attained, who should have

which God must repel

far

(1)

De

Concept.,

c. xviii.

(4) III. part, quaost. xxvii., Art. v.

ad

1,

(2) 1 Sant. dist. xliv., q. unica, Art. Ill (3) Dan. ix. 24.

ad

3.

(5) Cant.

ii.

21

(6) Cant. iiL 6.

448
from him, because he
essential,
table.
is

LITANY OF THE
himself order
always before
it

substantial, necessary,
is

immu-

divine Master,

the great " He that

maxim

of our

is faithful in
tluit

Sin

a rebellion against God,

that which is least, is faithful also in

that sovereign power, thatsujirerae power, that eternal power, who forbids it, and

which

is

greater;
is

and he that
little,

in that which

is

unjust unjust also in

is

who
self,

cannot, without being unjust to himleave unpunished in his universal

that which

is

greater."^

empire any act of rebellion whatever. Sin is an ingratitude against the first, the
greatest of benefactors
;

fair

you, whose admirable sanctity is as the moon,"' it is with all our heart

an ingratitude so
voluntarily offend

much

the blacker, as

we

" You are fair, say to you, * Mary, and there is not a spot in you," in you, O "house of God whom holiness

that

we

him who

moment
himself,

preserves our lives at the very that we abuse them against

becometh,' tabernacle of the Most High which he hath sanctified."" Yes, we all,

and as

it is

impossible for us to

him without turning one of his benefits against him. But can God do
offend

your cherished children, are happy to contemplate in our august and tender

otherwise than infinitely hate ingratitude, which men themselves brand with sovereign contempt?

Mother that splendid privilege, before which the Church, ever guided by the
Holy Ghost, has solemnly reverted, in
declaring to the Catholic world that she had no intention to include you among
sinners."
fully

....

Let us not pass rapidly over truths so calculated to inspire us with a holy horror
of even

the

smallest violations of the

Obtain for us, Mary, to be sensible of that hatred which God

for
sin, the disorder of

adorable will of God, so capable of exciting our zeal, our vigilance, our efforts
to fly

necessarily has

from the smallest

will

evil.

Like him

which never dishonoured your beauteous of that horror which we ought to soul
;

" who do

not understand that he

may
;

feel for that act of rebellion

and

ingratifar as to

well,"^ danger of " falling, and being cast out"* by the Lord or like those " fools who despise wisdom and instruction,*" we should deserve to be ourselves " despised"* by the Most

we should be

in

tude, even though

it

went not so
alas

produce between
tion of death,
often.
to

God and
!

us the separait

which

effects

too

Vouchsafe, by your intercession, preserve us from it vouchsafe gra;

High, and delivered up to our own reprobate sense. Rather let us meditate on
tliese salutary truUis;

ciously to

hear those who address

to

you

this pious invocation,r

and endeavour

to

derive from

them

Mother most

that pious fear

which

pure, pray for us

"
neglecteth
nothing,''*

and which has

Mater purissima, ora pro nobis !

vi. 9. (8) Cant. iv. 7. Pa. xcii. 5. (10) Ps. xlv. 6. (9) (11) Concil. Trid. SesB. V. et vi.

(1) P. XXXV. 4. (3) Prov.

i.

7.
vii.

(2) Pa. XXXV. 13. (4) Eccles. vii. 14. (G) bt.

(7).

Cant.

(6) EccleB.

19.

Luke

xvi. 10.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

449

MEDITATION XVI.
MATER CASTISSIMA, OKA PEO NOBIS
!

more noble, anything greater, than that virtue which leaves to the mind all its liberty for good, while it
Is there anything

the Mother of

God would have had

"

to

send up

to

heaven those groanings of the

Christian soul:

Unhappy

that I

am,

disengages speak, from the weight, of the body, which it continually keeps within the law of duty ?

it

from the

slavery, and, so to

who
this

shall deliver

death?"'

me from the body of .... O what heart, really

Thus, in every age, among the

as those

would not reject such thoughts as unworthy, at the same time, of the Son
pious,

most civilized nations, as well

most

and of the Mother

flesh,

"

That

this sacred

brutalized by paganism, chastity has been ^ held in honour It might be said, that,
!

which had given

to Christ his vir-

" should ginal body," says St. Augustin,

by a have

sort of instinct,

Memphis, Athens,
of America,

Rome, and the wild huts

felt the pre-eminence of that virtue, which elevates man above his own nature,

have been given up to worms after death, is what I should have a horror of saying."* But if she must have been exempted from
the decomposition of the tomb, which, after all, is not in itself evil, how much

almost to a level with the pure spirits. But see with what marvellous splen-

dour chastity shines forth in the divine Mother of Jesus Although, like all the
!

more ought she to have been preserved by the Lord from every sort of tendency
to

moral disorder

Adam, she was linked to a body passible and mortal, Mary, who had
children of

Mary, then, was in her body, as far as matter may be compared to spirit, what she

been preserved from original sin, was likewise preserved from the most humiliating consequences of this stain of our
birth.

was in her

soul, all pure, all holy.

We may

Would

it

have been

fitting,

indeed,

say of her, applying to her literally, what St. Augustin says figuratively of virginity, " that she had in the flesh something that

that the Lord, in excepting her from the

was not of the

flesh

"*
;

something which

transmission of the sin of Eve, should have left her that miserable fund of con-

cupiscence which Eve herself, while yet He innocent, had not known ?

partook of the nature of angels rather than of our nature, something superhuman, which made the " King of glory not abhor the womb of a mortal virgin."*

would in such case have made of Mary a creature inferior to the companion of the first man in her primitive condition and
;

But let us not imagine that, though Mary had no combat to sustain, the glory
of her chastity
(4)

was on that account

Virginit.,
t. vi.

less

(1)

Du

Pape, par de Maistre,

24.
(3)

t. ii.

ch. 3.
t.

De Sancta

n. 12.

(2)

Rom. vii.

De

Assumpt.,

ix. n.

23.

(5)

Hymn

Te Deutn.

450
brilliant.

LITANY OF TUB

However

glorious is

danger,

ensures victory.

Let us pray

" let us

when

ends in victory, whatever glory there may be in triumphing in a contest

it

pray always;"* let us pray particularly in the moment of danger, " that we enter

where God
the crown,

is
it

the spectator, the prize, and is certainly more honourable

not into temptation." Mary, we bless the Lord that in the

instant of your Conception, " your heart and your flesh exulted in the living " God ; ' we bless him that in you were
realized, in an admirable

to be respected by that

impure

spirit

whose
saints

attacks have

made

the

greatest

groan, and not to experience from him even the smallest attack. Such was, by
his nature, the prerogative of the adorable

Jesus; such was, by grace, the privilege

of his ^Mother,
able to

manner, those words of the great apostle, that " the fruits of the Holy Spirit are continency and
chastity!"*

"

whose eye has always

been

What

continency can be ever

look down upon her enemies,' the

infernal powers triumphed over by the cross ' of her divine Son."

compared to yours? What chastity is there which is not eclipsed before that which

God has

preserved from

all

the attacks of

As

for us,

who experience but

is

too often

" the evil which

present with us, and the combats caused by it,"^ let us takerefuge with
filial

concupiscence, and to which, by the power " of the invincible Lion of the
Juda,* he has always given the glory to Alas! how very diflerent triumph?""
.
.

tribe of

confidence

under the
Let us
re-

maternal protection of Mary.

is

our

lot,

and how formidable

state,

to us, for

member that, however weak we may be, " we can do all things by the grace of God who strengthens us,"* and that by the intercession of his Mother, we must
hope not
to

our eternal

are

those

"

combats

which our souls

sires,"

sufler

from carnal de-

and the
I

spirits of wickedness in

be wanting in grace.

But

let

us not reckon upon her protection without taking the precautions and means which
faith

"" In the name of your glory, Mary, do not permit those who implore your aid, and who combat under the shadow of your protecting power, ever
the high places
to yield in the conflict

points

out to
a

us

this

would be

rendering Mary sumption, and our culpable imprudence. " Let us watch and pray."* Let us watch
over our senses, over our imagination, over the impressions of our heart;
strictly let

partaker in our pre-

Pray for us, that brings peace to our hearts may crush Satan under our feet," and that we may mortify by the spirit the deeds of
!

" the

God who

the flesh.""

Once

again,
!

us

fly

from the very appearance of

only by flight that chastity
(2) Col. ii. 15. (i) Phil. iv. 13. (6) Ephes. vi. 18.

Mother most
Mater

chaste, pray fob us

!

danger:
(1
)

it is

castissima, ova pro nobis

Ps.

liii.

9.

(8) Gal. V. 23.

(3)

tlom.

vii.

(6) 8t.

Mark

21, 23. xiv. 38.

(10) 2 Cor.

ii.

14.

(12) Ephes, vi. 12.

(14)

(9) Apoc. v. 5. (11) 1 St. Pet. ii. 11. (13) Rom. xvi. 20.
viii.

(7) Pa. Ixxxiii. 3.

Rom.

13.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

451

MEDITATION
In ancient times, the prophet Isaias, to whom God showed, in a holy vision, seven
centuries beforehand, the miracle of the

XVII.

MATER INVIOLATA, OKA PRO NOBIS !

before her, nor will she have any after that is, having the joys of a mother, her,

Virgin-Mother, said to the ancestors of " Hear ye, therefore, O house of Mary,

with the honour of virginity. This is the privilege of Mary; it shall not be given to another: it is singular, but at the same

David

behold, a virgin shall conceive,

time

it is

found

ineffable."*

and bring forth a son, whose name shall be called Emmanuel."* This was, indeed, one of those prodigies which God produces from the treasures or his power, when he would impress upon his works a
seal to strike

This prodigy, doubtless, transcends all the laws of nature. But if our first father

came
God's

into the world by a simple act of

will,

was

it

any more

difficult to

men
and

with astonishment and

that, also, is

that Almighty will to associate, in a mortal " the divine fruit of the Holy woman,
Spirit,"* to the flower of virginity?

what the Church would have us honour and praise

admiration
;

And,

by this invocation,
for us
"
!

Mother

undejiled,

pray

besides, does not the image which the " unspotted mirror"* receives and reflects
to us, give us sufficiently to conceive

how

virgin has conceived," exclaims St. " Augustin, wonder and admire a virgin
:

the "brightness of God's glory"' could come and be exhibited to the world, in a

has brought forth, wonder and admire still more after childbirth she remained

manner

as admirable, as well calculated to

. ,

a virgin!"' St. Bernard enlarges upon " If I the immortal Bishop of Hippo praise in her virginity, many virgins seem
:

astonish our understanding? It seems, moreover, that the Lord would prepare
,

to present themselves to

me after

her.

If

a long time beforehand the mind of man to believe this wonder the object of our faith; for the solemn prophecy, which

I proclaim her humility, there will, per-

haps, be found a few, who, taught by her Son, have become meek and humble of
heart.

had announced him so long before to the people of God, had found an echo among
almost
their
all

the pagan nations of antiquity

in

If I wish to

magnify the multi-

religious traditions agreed

ex-

tude of her mercy, there are some

men

of

pecting the
deliverer.'

Son
It

of a Virgin to be their

mercy and women also. There is one thing in which she has seen no one
(1) Is. vii. 14. (2) Scrni. in Nat. Domini, xiii.
(3)

seems, also, that the mystery of a God-Man, being in itself a

(4) St. Matt.
(fi)
i.

20.

(5)

Wisd.

vii.

26.

Heb.

i.

3.

Serm.

iv.

de Assumpt.

13.

M. V.

(7) III. Lettre do

M. Drach.

453
miracle

LETANT OP THE
can render our homage worthy of the

unparalleled, its glory should shine forth in his hirth, as well as in his

conception.

most Holy Virgin O Mother of inviolable

I

purity, called

us praise the Lord for the admirable prodigies, by which he has exlet

Here

alted the mystery of his " annihilation in " the nature of man ; * let us bless him
for the

" by the apostle St. John a great wonder," we love to contemplate you, with him, " clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars, having the moon under

glorious favours

which he has

bestowed on the most Blessed Virgin ; and

let

us endeavour to be more and more

The sun surrounds you your feet!"' with his resplendent brightness : the " Sun of figure of the divine justice,"*

penetrated with a high esteem,

and a

whom you
who
as his

generous love for that virtue, which he has honoured in Mary by such wonders.

bore in your chaste womb, and has rendered your purity unalterable

own

brilliant rays.
:

Twelve

stars

O
is

if

" to God,

we knew how pleasing this virtue who is a spirit, and who must
*

compose your diadem

culate
integrity.

the

image, by

their bright light, of that of your

imma-

be adored in
as

spirit,"

and

wills that

our

You have

the

moon

flesh, in its degree, shall partake, as far

it is

beneath your feet:

an emblem of the

nature,

capable, in the elevation, noble and purity of that adoration

1

triumph of your virginity over all inconstancy, and all imperfection, represented
by this orb with its changeable phases. We unite with the pious transports of St.

.... What
make
to

constant efforts should we

that chastity of
itself

practise

the the

senses, which imposes upon

privation even of lawful pleasure, in order not to be exposed to the danger of going

Ambrose, who, on the solemnity of Christ" The whole mas, made his people sing,
world admires the wonderful parturition It was fitting that a God of the Virgin.
'" should thus be born
!

beyond it; which excludes every

that

chastity of the
affection

heart,

that

is

We

ardently

too sensitive, though it be lawful; that chastity of the imagination, which ba-

desire to

honour

in

you the wonders of

the Lord, by our fidelity in imitating, as

far

nishes even the passing thought of any-

thing improper, or any dangerous object And how carefully should we regulate our
I

our weakness will permit, your To obtain for us superhuman purity.

as

that grace,

whole exterior, so as to inspire others, by our reserve and by our modesty, with

Mother undefiled, pray for us

Mater
Mai.
inviolata, ora pro nobis
I

esteem and love for a virtue which alone

Heb. i. 3. (2) St. John iv. 23. (3) Apoc. xii. 1.

(1)

(4)

iv. 2.

(5) Cited by Pope St. Celestin, Epist. decretal

Rom.

Fontif.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

453

MEDITATION
worthy of God, the splendour of the unprodigy of the Virgin-Mother must be
alterable,

XVIII.

MATER INTEMEEATA, OEA PRO NOBIS I

To be

and the chaste

womb
*

in

which

the "

Word was made flesh" must remain

"

Son of the Eternal? that the increated Word, having dwelt for nine months in her virginal womb, had made it the purest and most august sanctuary ? that if " every
place where formerly the ark of the Lord had reposed, was deserving of solemn

sanctuary ex" Accordclusively reserved for the Lord." was ever a ingly, it is of faith that Mary
for ever incorruptible, as a

virgin

that nothing ever tarnished

"

the

associated flower of purity, so admirably

m her with the fruit of honour and

but that this same flower, on her on earth, was as splendid as at

glory,"'
last

homage,"* this living sanctuary of the Divinity was incomparably more worthy of it?. But, on the other hand, who would not have a horror of supposing that
.
.
.

day

its first

tion

dawn.

Nay, more, the Church

tells us,

could have permitted the profanaof this tabernacle which he had " chosen ' for his Son ? that Mary could
"

God

in her sacred liturgy, that so far from losing any part of its perfection, the virmiraculous ginity of Mary received by the
birth of our Saviour a divine consecration " fountain, which has This, then, is that
I

for a single instant cease to respect

what

God had made

.could ever

so venerable, or that she

have forgotten that sacred engagement, of which she had spoken to the angel Gabriel as of a treasure, which she

ever preserved the pure crystal

of

its

waters
is

would not have

far

sacrificed for the sublime

by being inviolably

sealed up;"" this

maternity which was announced to her?'*

is truly "that garden enclosed,"' which the inaccessible abode of the Divine

" Majesty, and before which the cherubim ' watch, with a flaming sword." Even if we had not, in this respect, the
certitude which

be from us, very far from us, thoughts which would not only be contrary to faith, but would accuse Mary of
" a sacrilege unworthy of her, and a profanation unworthy of Jesus Christ himself."

given to us by the infallible teaching of the Church, where is the faithful soul who does not understand
is

"

Rather

let

us join with the holy

who have celebrated the incorruptibility of her, who is the Virgin by predoctors,

that

Mary, by the glory of the divine

maternity, became the true temple of the

(1) St.

Let us say, with St. Jerom, " She always remained holy in soul and
eminence.
Gen. iii. 24. (8) Ps. cxxxi. 7. (9) Ps. cxxxi. 13. (10) St. Greg, of Nyssa, Horn, in Nat. Christ!.
(7)

John

i.

14.

(2) Ezech. xliv. 2.

(3) Ecclus. xxiv. 23. (4) Missale Rom. Secret, in Concept. B. (6) Ibid. (5) Cant. iv. 12.

M. V.

(11) Elevat. 8ur les Mysteres, par Bossuet.

454

LITANY OP THE
by adopting divine sentiments?"' After " that virginal body, that body feeding on
conceived of aVirgin and born of aVirgin," '

body, eternally a virgin;"* and with St. " Ambrose, Mary is the mistress of virthe glory of which sujffered no in her;"* and with St. Peter Chryeclipse " sologus, By giving birth to the Manginity,

how can we

consent, unless

we

lose the

remembrance

of such a grace, to cease for

only increased, her a fresh lustre, her virchastity acquired * ginity became only the more inviolable."

God,

her

purity

a single instant to be pure and unspotted?

Mary.! "the
rity

new Eden, where publoom, her

shall
fairest

displays, in full

But from

this truth let us

know how
as

to

flowers,"'

what praises

we

give to

derive a lesson fruitful to

our own souls.

The

holy and adorable Eucharist,

we

the glory of your inviolable and perpetual Miracle unheard of," virginity

?...."

have already seen, gives us so close and honourable a relation to Jesus Christ, that
it

shall

we

say to you, with St.

;

Ephrem,

"

prodigy inexplicable
tible;

bush incombus-

bears a wonderful resemblance to that

which the divine maternity produced between Mary and the eternal Son of the
"Why do we not derive from this ineffable union, this immense honour,

golden censer, from which is exhaled a delicious perfume thou who

;

Most High.

alone art most pure of soul and body alone above all integrity, all innocence,
;

and

all

"'

virginity

O may

we hence-

a signal confirmation in the love of virtue, an invincible strength against the seduction of the senses ?

forth, by

tue which you

your protection, delight in the vir" have loved, and wliich shall
for
ever."*"

... O

it is

because
the

make you blessed

"As

the

we do not

sufficiently value, before

Holy Communion, grace which God

is

the rich price of the confers upon us; it

because after

it

we

too soon lose the

wearied hart pants after the fountains of water," so may we long after the adorable " corn mystery, where we taste, with the the wine wliich of the chosen ones,

recollection of the incomparable

honour
be-

maketh
infinite

virgins to spring forth

all,

""
!

May
the

which we have received.

lieve

When we

we, above

when we have had

from the depth of the heart,* how

honour, the inexpressible happi-

can we, before partaking of the sacred banquet, say to ourselves without emotion,

ness to partake of it, preserve the remembrance of it ever present, and lead a life
'" "holy and blameless," under the auspices of her to whom we address this siipplica-

" It

is

angel, it is

not for a man, it is not for an for God himself that I am

preparing a house within myself l"^ And after being thus intimately united to the

tion of a heart, alas

but too

frail,

Man-God, how can we fail

(1) Ep. X. ad Eu8. de Ass.
(2)

"

to live in

God,
13.

Mother untouched, pray for us Mater intemerata, era pro nobis !

(7) St. Basil, Orat. xxx.
(8) St.
('.))

In Ezech.

i.

De

Instit.

Virg.

(4)

Rom.

X. 10.

(3) Serm. cxlii. (5) 1 Paralip. xxix. 1.

Ephrem, Op. Gr. Lat., t. iii. p. 524552, JuJith XV. 11. (10) Ps. xli. 2.
ix.

(6) Medit. snr I'Ev., par Bossuet.

(11) Zach.

17.

(12) Col.

i.

22.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

455

MEDITATION XIX.
MATES AMABILIS, ORA PRO NOBIS
!

The

sacred canticle in which the Holy Spirit presents us with the emblem of

yours."'
it

How much
the

more, then, does

eclipse

charms of Rebecca and

the alliance of the

his Church,
of
all
is

Word

incarnate with

also a magnificent picture

Rachel, the striking features of Esther, the majestic grace of Judith, of which
nevertheless the Scripture able mention '
I

Mary

those qualities which secure to the title of Mother most amiable.

divine
picture,

makes honour-

heavenly her to us in the most Spouse represents varied colours, under images the most
they are flowers, exquisite and brilliant fruits, and plants the most beautiful
:

In that

the

But

let

us not confine ourselves to those

terrestrial ideas furnished

by

tlie

senses

that beauty, that ineffable amiability of the cherished daughter of the King of

they are precious perfumes prepared by art, or the work of nature comparisons
;

kings "comes entirely from her soul,"* and from all those inestimable gifts with

which our Lord has adorned her.

were capable of seeing what a soul
possesses
find
it

If
is

men
that

full of

grace and sweetness

ornaments

of enchanting

delicacy, splendour,
all

and
is

sanctifying grace, they would

charms.
too

But

that belongs to earth

so beautiful, as to ravish eyes the

if this is

much beneath

that Mother,

who

is

most indifferent; and

with every soul
treasure,

the case

pre-eminently amiable ; and behold her saluted by the mouth of the virgins of

how

enjoys this precious great must be the beauty of

who

Jerusalem with this cry of admiration, " Who is she that cometh forth as the

those, who, by their fidelity, zeal,

fervour, merit every day,

and

and we may say

morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun?"* .... Yes, her amiability
has the brilliant colours of the
first

every

gift, this magnificent, divine

moment, an increase of this heavenly ornament of

I

glow

the Christian soul

then,

How

great an idea,

of day, the soft brightness of the

moon,

must we have of the inward beauty

amiability

the rich splendour of the king of the stars; and with justice does St. Epipha-

and supernatural

of

Mary

nius say to her, " Next to

with pious enthusiasm,

:

From her Conception she had

received

God, you are the first beauty

is

the effusion of grace in a superior degree to that with which all other creatures

that of the cherubim

and seraphim, that

effaced before

have been capable of being favoured. The

Lord, indeed, in his eternal counsels,

of all the choirs of angels

(1) Cant. vi. 9.

(3)
viii. 7.

Gen. xxiv. 16; xxix. 17.

Esth.

ii.

7.

Jud.

(2) Serm. de laudibua Virg.

(4) Pa. xliv. 14.

456

LITANY OF THE
renders us so amiable before God, that every faithful soul dying in the state of
grace
is

having chosen her among all to be his Mother, she must, from the first moment of her existence, have been necessarily

associated by

him

to his glory

more pleasing to him than every other; and not to remain inferior to her incomparable destination, she must have been, on that very account, more than any other, closely fixed on God, and united to him in mind and heart,jealous to increase
her treasure, continually, by fresh acts of No other, then, has been divine love.
enriched like her, every moment, with
fresh

and happiness.

Let us remember, in

fine, that by meriting for our soul the felicity of heaven, we merit it also for our

body; and that consequently all that we do in this life for the supernatural beauty
of the soul,

we do not only

for the pro-

motion of

its

eternal beatitude, but also

for that of the glorification of for eternity.

our body

supernatural beauty; no other has possessed, like her, the virtues

traits of

O Mary
how
of faith
1

masterpiece of the Almighty, ravishing is your beauty in the eyes

!

which are inseparable from such an abundance of grace. Never, then, was heart
so humble, so patient, so charitable, so

Yes, you are worthy to be

" Amiable to the

called by pre-eminence,
'

Lord,"

for

compassionate, so obliging; never was heart so generous, so devoted, so pure, so

tues, with

all

you are adorned with all virperfections that can render

a creature amiable."

How

sweet

it is

to

nobly exalted, so great, so nearly approaching to the adorable heart of her

divine Son.

us, O cherished Mother, to exclaim with one of your devout servants, " that you

carry

away the hearts of those who con" *

!

Let us here learn to love before

Mary, what alone

is

truly

amiable God,

all,

like

template you
to express to

How

sweet

it is

to

us

and the means of pleasing him, and being united to him. Let us learn to despise, like her, that outward beauty which is so
frail,

we

you the sincere desire which have to love you continually as you

deserve, to prefer, like you, the beauty of

which

fades, loses colour, withers,

the soul before any other, and to labour to increase it by the fervour of our charity
!

and

at length falls beneath the stroke of

Bless this desire,

divine Mary,
its

death, to give place to something disgusting and hideous. Let us attach our-

and, in order to obtain for us

accom-

plishment,

our power, to that inward beauty, that beauty of the soul, which
selves, with
all

Mother most

amiable, pray for usl

Mater amabilis, ora pro nobis!

2 Kings xii. 26. PhiL iv. 8. (2)

(1)

(3) Medit. in
St.

Ant. Salve Regina., attributed to

Bernard.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

457

MEDITATION XX.
MATER ADMIR4BILIS, ORA PRO NOBIS
!

Man

has wrought out what

God has

created Mary, the Mother most admirahle ;

given up to his produced admirahle things. He has, by the happiest efforts of his genius, subjected the most rebelHous elements, even
;

patient industry, and has

admirable in her grandeur and in her privileges; admirable in the singular prodigy of her divine maternity
in the august
;

admirable

hght itself, to his intelligent activity and he has produced astonishing works, worthy to excite the enthusiasm of all

and incomparable influence which has been given to her over the
destinies of the

human race, and which

is

who can

feel

what is beautiful and sublime

proclaimed by her co-operation in our salvation, as well as the very extensive

in the arts.

But what

are all the master-

works of man, compared with what God has produced by a single act of his al-

power of her intercession ments seem to be subject

for all the eleto

her

at her

mighty

will ?

And what

are all the

most

prayer the infectious air loses its malig nity, the conflagration suspends its ravages, the overflowed waters

glorious works of the creation in comparison with the Mother most admirable ?

return

to

their channel, the barren earth recovers

its fertility.

brought forth from the infinite treasures of his power wonders

God,

it is

true, has

Mary

the most striking and diversified he has scattered them in all space, even as the dust in our fields he has adorned, the
; :

and Mother

the

she

is

at once both Virgin

amazement
is

of nature

confounded by grace; she

the creature and the Mother of the Most High, " the

earth with creatures,

in

which are

dis-

played the most astonishing delicacy and he has adorned the heavens strength
;

handmaid and Mother of God; "' she is the daughter of fallen Eve, and the true " the true Mother of the living,"* Eve,
is the abridgment of the goodthe charity, the mercy, the power of ness, the Creator; "the abridgment of his incom-

with azure, with

and gold he has established in the universe the most prosilver,

';

Mary

she

found combination of contrary elements, the most scientific harmony of laws, sublime in their diversity, in their unity, in their stability ; he has created man, who
is

prehensible perfections," says St. Andrew of Crete.' She is, next to God, the centre
of the prayers

and praises of the Catholic

in the eyes of faith, the

king of

all

ment

of all the

nature, the living abridgwonders of the world.

still

world; she
the

is,

saint by pre-eminence, inseparable from

And

yet

he has done
Luke

more

he has

God-Man

their

names

are repeated

(1) St.

i.

43,

(2) Gen.

iii.

20.

(3) Serm. 2, de

Assumpt.

3 N

458
every

LITANY OP THE
would our conduct correspond with his favours and the sublimity of our
better

day by every mouth ; in their honour, both east and west have ever
united, and ahvays will unite, their

hymns

hopes

and their homage.

"

He

that

is

mighty, t^en,hath done great

incomparable Virgin: he has so wonderfully glorified her in heaven

things"* for this

Mary, and you will ever be, worthy of admiration, not only on account of your perpetual and miraculous virare, ginity, prefigured

You

and upon earth, that in the opinion of St. " Cyril and St. Bernard, the most eloquent
tongues can utter only imperfect praise when they speak of her pre-eminence."*

appeared to God,"' but because of the sublimity of

graces, with

by the prodigy which Moses " on the mountain of

all

your privileges, of the superabundance of

which the Lord has

filled

But ought we here

to a

to confine ourselves

profound sense of admiration for this so perfect work of our Lord ? Let us
.
. .

return upon ourselves; let us consider ourselves well with the eyes of faith ; is there not also a prodigy wrought in us ?

you, of the incomparable power which he has given you, of the singular glory with which he has invested you. " Wonder"' ful that is the peculiar name by which
!

the heavenly Father has been pleased that his divine Son should be called; it is the

Has not God rendered us

mirable?

also truly ad-

"We

were by our birth only

same which the Church gives to you, as that which approaches the nearest to the
adorable greatness of the Man-God, and which best reflects his glory. August " wonder of the object of the miglity and
the princes of the earth,"
you,

children of wrath;"' and we are become

" most dear children,"* objects of the love and most tender care of the heavenly
Father.

Yet more, we mortals, so

little

whose

and contemptible, are exalted, by grace and by the holy Eucharist, to the sublime
life

magnificence is wonderful,""make us sensible of the prodigies of greatness to which

it

of angels, to the divine life of heaven

has pleased

God

to exalt

even us in this

we

are destined to enjoy

eternally the

highest glory, the glory of God himself, since it is written that " we shall be like
to him,*
if

place of exile and probation, of the still more wonderful prodigies of that heavenly
glory

which he vouchsafes

to

promise to

and reign with him for ever."* we were deeply penetrated with

our exertions;
intercession,

make us

worthy, by your
so high

these magnificent lessons of faith,

how

magnificent;
Mater

of a destiny

and

great and generous would be our sentihow much ments towards the Lord
I

Mother most admirable, prat for us

admirabilis,

wa pro
Eom.
(9)

nobis

(1) St. Lnke i. 49. (2) St. Cyr. Horn. in dejirecat. (4)

(6)

Apoc.

xxii. 6.
iii.

babiU

in Neator.

8.
ii.

Bern,

(7) Exod.

2.

Brev.

OfBc. Circnmcis.
viii.

ad B, Virg.
v. 1.

(8) Ephes.

3.
iii.

(8) lea. ix. 6.

2.

Wisd.

11.

Ephes.

(5) 1 St. John

(10) Ecclr.s. xliii. 32.

MOST BLESSED VERGIN.

459

MEDITATION XXI.
MATER CREATORIS, ORA PRO NOBIS
I

The

divine act of creation

is

the greatest,

the most astonishing to the eyes of our in vain does it search understanding
:

with the Father and the Holy Ghost these three adorable Persons having pro-

duced together

all

creatures by the indi-

and explore the passage from nothing to it is a secret which God has existence
;

visible act of their will.

Let us then exclaim with

"

St.

Peter

reserved to himself, which will for ever

Chrysologus,

elude the investigations of

human

reason.

forth into the world

Yes, truly, Mary brought Him who created it

!

God, then, who is so great in so many other ways, shows liimself to us, as we

and brought her herself into the world "' Let us address to her our most eager
congratulations, saying to her with the same holy doctor, " Blessed be you for
everl your Creator has been pleased to be conceived in your chaste womb your
;

may

say, in all

his power, by his title of

;

Creator of the universe

and the Church,

impressed with this truth, directs us here to invoke Mary, by the name of Mother of
our Creator, to elevate our

minds

to the

first

beginning has been pleased

to

owe

highest idea which conceiving of her.

at

we

are

capable

of

his birth to you; your divine Father has

Mother of our Creator I Does

first,

it

not seem

deigned to become your Son your God has vouchsafed to be made flesh in your
;

that there

is

a kind of contradic-

own

flesh."'

tion

between these two terms? What! can

But

for

whom

has the Creator of

.

all
.

the rivulet produce its source ? the work, him who has made it? Who ever saw,

things raised Mary to so great glory ? It is for us all : by her he came into the
.

who

ever heard of such things ? Doubtless, if there was only the divine
, . . .

world

he came

to eflect in

each one of

nature in Jesus Christ, this title could not belong to the most Blessed Virgin
:

us a change more wonderful, perhaps, In the beginning, than the creation.

"God

said,

and

all

was made."*

What

the Divinity exists of itself from all eternity, it has no other principle than
itself.

could resist the all-powerful force of his word ? But in the admirable operations
given us by Jesus Christ,"" God permits our liberty to oppose an obstacle to it, to render us capable
of
is

But

"

the

Word was made

'

"

flesh,"

the grace which

and Mary, by a miracle unparalleled, became the Mother of his human nature.
But, the

Word

is

the Creator, equally

of meriting;

and thus grace triumphing

(I) St.

John

(2) Serni. 143. (3) Serm. 142.

i.

14.

(4) Pa. cxiviii. 5. (5) St. John i. 17.

460

LITANY OP THE
Let us then often think what we should
have been without baptism, and without so many wonderful aids, the source of
has opened to us ; let us compare ourselves with unbelievers, to whom God " hath not done in like manner,"*
it

over our liberty, at the same time that it respects it, and allows it to act in a meritorious

manner, presents something which

might be called greater in a certain sense than the act of primitive creation. This
Paul apparently wishes to make us understand, when he employs the words new creature to express the
is

which

what

St.

and we

shall give

reserve to all

up our hearts without those sentiments which the

transformation of
Christianity.
*

by the grace of " If then any be in Christ

man

most

can inspire. Vouchsafe to make us understand,

lively gratitude

new

creature,"

he wrote

to the Corin-

thians ; and to the Galatians, that in Christ Jesus nothing availed " but a new
creature."
*

Mary, all the gratitude and love required of us by that prodigious change which the
grace of your divine Son operates within us an unspeakable favour, which makes

Tiew creature,
little

we do not see this and this is why we are but

Alas
I

us pass from the boundaries of our nature to a

moved

at the admirable act of divine

it.

power which produces

Accustomed as

superhuman state, incomparably more elevated than the most excellent

moral condition
!

we

are, moreover, to

know human nature

Before the benefit of

some measure by baptism from the cradle, we esteem the benefit the less from not knowing by experience what it is to grow and advance
only as transformed in
in
life

regeneration,"* and its blessed effects, the value of which cannot be expressed, our " heart should be
laver

"the

of

inflamed,
"
*

and

ourselves
I

brought

to

no-

under the

fatal influence of ori-

thing ;
ful,

yet, alas

we

are cold, ungrate-

ginal degradation, without a

remedy and

wilful

sinners.

Permit us not,
"

without supernatural succours. Ah! those

pagan converts knew this well, to whom the great apostle said, after displaying
before

any longer rendering to the things that are God's,"' and off"ering to the Ci'eator, whose majesty
Mary,

to defer

God

them the picture

of the

most hu"

"

rested in your tabernacle,"' the senti-

Such miliating fruits of corrupt nature, some of you were, but you are washed,
but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ."'

ments due
that

him by so many titles and henceforth we may be grateful and

to
:

always faithful.

Mother of oub Creator, pray for

Mater
Creatoris, ora pro nobis
I

us

(1)

2 Cor

V. 17.

(3) 1 Cor. vi. 11.

(2) Gal. vi. 15. (4) Pb. cxlviL 20.

(5) Tit.

iii.

5.

(7) St.

Luke XX.

25.

(6) Ps. Ixxii. 22. C8) Ecclus. xxiv.

12

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

461

MEDITATION XXII.
MATES SALVATORIS, OEA PEO NOBIS
the most affecting title of Mary considered as Mother-; this is her title
is
I

This

death are renewed every moment ; hence it is a life imperishable, but deprived of
the sovereign good, with an incessant and immense desire to possess it, with the
certainty of never obtaining
less life given

most dear

to Christian piety.
is

Mother of

our Saviour! that

you, who by your co-operation in the divine Incarnation have given to us him whose name,
to say,

up

to
it

it ; an end" eternal sufferings."'

Jesus, the angel Gabriel formerly revealed " to your chaste spouse, he who should
' save his people from their sins Mother of our Saviour! you to
!

....

But, as if

were but

little to

free

us from so deplorable a destiny, Jesus has

"

merited for us the invaluable benefit of

"
sitting together one dajj in the

whom

heavenly

we are indebted for him, whose adorable name every pulsation of our heart should speak and repeat without ceasing, if we
had a
lively

places in Christ Jesus,* of being glorified

with him,* of reigning eternally with him,'

of being like to
for

sense of our obligation to

ever happy happy above

him

;"'

that is of being
all

human

your divine

Son

To understand

well

expression,

happy beyond

all

thought,

what Mary is to us, let us then well appreciate what this sweet Saviour is in
our regard,
the world.

vice

beyond he has rendered us

all desire.

And

this twofold serat

the expense of

whom

she brought forth into

the most disinterested and most magna-

nimous
:

self-devotion.

Two things give value to any service the importance of its object, and the generosity with which it is rendered.
how
is

What were we

in regard to Jesus, that

his heart should inspire him with the thought of saving us by his blood ? Were

precious, then,

that for

how truly inestimable which we are indebted of the

Mary
I

we
is

like excellent brethren for

whom

it

sweet to
!

adorable Son of

certainly
lot

make a sacrifice? Were we like beloved

no,

friends,

What would have been our

Holy Ghost,
calls it

for

whose
no.

lot inspires a lively interest?

Again,

eternity but for this divine Saviour?

in order to describe
it

The
to us,

Like strangers,

at least, deserving

of pity for their virtue as well as for their

punishment in destruction,"* that is a state which shall never have an end, and in which the horrors of

"

eternal

misfortunes?

Alasl no

yet once more:

we were but

miserable, sinful creatures,

unworthy of one single sign of regard

(1) St. Matt.

i.

21.

(2) 2 Thess.
(4) Ephes.

i.

9.

(5)

Rom.

viii.

17.

(G)

2 Tinn.
iii.

ii.

12.

(3) Ibid.

ii.

6.

(7) 1 St.

John

2.

463
from him, and from
I sav ?

LITANY OF THE

whom he had not to ex-

should

still

refuse to discharge a debt to

1

pect the most ordinary gratitude; what do

not ignorant that the sole return would be most com-

from whom he was

alas
I

on every account Let us be then henceforth, no longer our own,

him, so sacred
for

monly a deplorable coldness, or even a multiplicity of offences,

" we are not our own,"' but his, who has " bought, with so great a price,"' our
love,

too voluntary.

our

fidelity,

and

self-devotion.

And yet, he has loved us " unto death, even to the death of the cross."' To love, to
him who deserves no sympathy; to love him who does not love, and who never will show any just gratiwhat a love is this But to tude, sacrifice oneself for him in whom we find
love even heroically,

O Mary, your character of Mother of our Saviour associates you to the work of
tlie

Redemption
the

of

men,

effected by his

Passion,

sorrowful

instruments of

which, reminding us of his sufferings and

yours, speak so eloquently to every feeling heart. Let love, oh, love ardent, inviolable

nothing but misery and insensibility, from whom we expect- nothing but black and
obstinate
ingratitude,

and eternal be

to Jesus!

next

to Jesus,

what love purer,

Holy Virgin, ardent and faithful love to our latest breath August and cheto you,
1

stronger, or

more generous can be con-

rished

Mother of

this divine Son,

whose

ceived?

When,
love of

up to the our Saviour what we owe to him?

then, shall
give

we

name "Saviour"* was revealed by an angel to the shepherds, who were called to visit his cradle and adore his birth, how much
more applicable
does
it

We

who detest those who are ungrateful, when shall we cease to be so? .... A man, who at the risk of his own life,
should have saved our bodily
so
frail,
life, this life

is tliis title

of

" Saviour of

the world" to him,

belong

to

how much more justly him than to Joseph, the

so miserable, so full of bitterness

and

tears,
fill

we should

love; to offend

would

us with horror.

Oh

him how

Joseph had deserved it by a service rendered to the people of Pharao,but without any personal sacrifice;
saviour of

Egypt?'

and Jesus may be said

written
his

to

bear this

name

guilty, then,

we

are towards the adorable

upon

his adorable forehead with

of Mary, who, by the most ignominious and cruel of deaths, has delivered

Son

own

blood.

heart

may

Grant, return him,

if

Mary, that our not blood for

us from the most dreadful fate for eternity, and merited for us the most happy eternal
lot
I

blood, at least, love for love;

may

it

return

him

" a love showing

itself in

deed and in

But how much more

if after

so should

we

truth."'

be, seriously meditating on truths so well calculated to move our heart, we

Mother of our
Mater

Saviour, pray for us!

I

Salvatoris, ora pro nobis

(1) Phil.

ii.

8. (2) 1 Oor. vi. 19. (3) 1 Cor. vi. 20.

(4) St.

Luke

ii.

11.

(5)

Gen.
18.

xli.

45.

(G) 1 St.

John

iii.

MOST BLESSED VIKGIN,

463

MEDITATION
After
all

XXIII.

VIEOO PRUDENTISSIMA, ORA PRO NOBIS I

directing us to honour in Mary the grandeurs of her maternity, the Church makes us celebrate her as Virgin,

consent.

She declares her perplexity to The the angel with modest simplicity.

first presents to our liomage the prudence which distinguishes her among all thedaughtersof Eve, even the most perfect. From her childhood, she Hies the cor-

and

heavenly messenger gives her an explanation which satisfies her; immediately,

without further inquiry, she acquiesces with a humility and resignation of herself
to

God

truly sublime,
:

"

Behold the handit

rupt atmosphere of the world, to go

and

maid of the Lord

be

done

to

me
she

breathe the pure air of the sanctuary; she places under the care of tlie most
forecasting prudence a heart which, after all, has nothing to fear from the seduction of the world
;

according to thy word."* And now what will she do

? will

not be eager to announce herself this great mystery to her worthy spouse ?

for the Lord,

it,

who has
does not

always held

possession of

No, she keeps silence, guided by a prudence superhuman. But at least, when
" the just man Joseph"' soon after shall be a prey to the most cruel doubts respecting
her,

permit

it

to

know the dangers nor the

comes
to

attacks of concupiscence. When a prince of heaven

bring her the most glorious of messages, Mary is troubled. She is accustomed to a
" the life so solitary, so full of reserve, that presence of the angel, who was clothed in

themselves

which cannot but betray outwardly, Mary will, no

doubt, speak : does it not seem that it will be a duty for her thus to protect her

the form of a mortal, was enough," says St. * " Ambrose, to fill her with a pious fear ;"

and

this fear redoubles

from his

when she hears mouth the announcement of a

vow which she has made, and which

dear to her heart.
truly admirable
!

dignity naturally incompatible with the is so

so

Then
far

prudence from letting her

honour? ... O let us here more and more admire the Virgin most prudent. She is sensible that to satisfy her spouse, it requires more than the word of a mortal woman, who might seem to be influenced only by her own interest; she " knows, on the other hand, that he who
hopes in the Lord will never be confounded?"* she therefore keeps silent, and
waits for

dwell upon the glory of the divine maternity, Mary thinks only of clearing

mind

the

moment marked

out by

divine Providence, which in reality will

up her conscience, before she gives her

Tract, de
Officlis, lib.
i.

soon justify her confidence.

\1)

c. 8.

(2) St.

Luke i.

38.

(3) St. Matt.

i.

19.

(4) Pa. xxx. 2.

464

LITANY OP THE
good works?"*
" the

Later on, when she hears wonderful things spoken of her new -horn Son, far

"Yes,"
and

says St. Bernard,

lamp of

this glorious Virgin never

its

from joining her words to those which strike her ears, she does violence to her
" inexpressible love, and keeps all in her heart,"' knowing that Jesus is not yet to be manifested to the world. When the

lost its brightness,

light

was always

so brilliant, that the angels themselves

admired

it

as a prodigy."*

And we

too

are

all

invited

to

this

day of her purification arrives, she faithfully

accomplishes
says St.

the

law of
"

Moses,

"

although,"
birth of

Bernard,
the

there has

heavenly feast, think not,"* the sudden cry will sound " Behold in our ears the bridegroom Do forth to meet him."' Cometh, go ye
:

and "

at

what hour we

been nothing but what was pure in the

him who

is

source of

all

we, in sober truths sufiiciently foresee this hour which is so uncertain? We

In that, no doubt, she wishes purity."* to set an example of an obedience which

goes beyond duty ; but she wishes also to leave a miracle unknown, which prudence does not yet allow to be divulged.

may be

called

"

at even, or at midnight, or

at the cock crowing, or in the morning,"* at any moment ; are we ready ? . . " Alas we " children of light Mary,

And it is from the same when she finds Jesus in

to
to

motive,

that

have been even to this day less wise than " the children of this world."* Nay more,

the

temple

in the midst of the doctors, she speaks

him

in terms

which leave no room

suspect either the divinity of the Son, or the miraculous virginity of the

given "understanding"'" the bird, whose crowing announces the break of day, wisdom to the laborious " insect who provideth her meat for herin the and " wisdom to
to
self

the Lord has

summer,""

Mother.

But who does not know

point of view,

that, in

another

the serpent;"" to us he has given that sharp-sighted intelligence which can observe

Mary was ever possessed of

and

calculate,

which knows how

to

incomparable prudence ? Who does not know that she was constantly the perfect

model of those prudent virgins spoken of

by the Gospel, who are ever ready to be admitted " to the feast of the nuptials of
the Lamb,* keeping always in their lamps
the precious oil
the love

prevent misfortune and prepare for success we make use of it, with the greatest zeal, for the management of the aS"airs of
:

time,

and

for the interests of eternity

we

act like blind

men,

like

"

enemies

to our

own

soul."'*

Vouchsafe

to

ask for us of

of

of God and of

our Saviour the grace to place our salva-

(1) St.

Luke

ii.

19.

(2) Serm.

de Puritate.

(8)

(3) Apoc. xxix. 9. (4) St. Matt. XXV. 4, 10. (5) Serm.
(6) St.
ii.,

(9)

St.

(10)

Mark xiii. 35. Luke xvi. 8. Job xxxviii. 36.

St.
vi. 6.

in
xii.

Assumpt. B. M. V.
40.

(11) Prov.

Luke

(12) St. Matt. X. 16.

(7) St. Matt. XXV. 6.

(13) Tob.

xii.

10.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

tion before
all,

465

you, in

whom we

ad-

mire a prudence
that of Abigail,

far

more eminent than

is

who

praised by the

Deign to obtain for us, that we may employ the wisest precautions in all that regards our soul and life eternal
:

Holy Scripture gain the good

for

having known how to

will of a justly

provoked

ViEGIN MOST PEUDENT, PRAY FOR US

Virgo prudentissima, ora pro nobis

heart, at the price of a generous sacrifice.'

MEDITATION XXIV.
VIRGO VENERANDA, ORA PRO NOBIS
!

All

that

is

noble and great, science,

vir-

petual

homage which she was

else shall

to receive

makes an impression upon us more or less vivid,' which inclines us to bow and pay homage to it; and when this science, this virtue,
tue, noble character,

from

all

the nations of the earth.'

Where

we

find,

among

all

this character are

found together in the same person in a high degree, our respect

created beings, a virtue so exalted, so pure, so mild, so heroic ? To point out what astonishing chasonly a few traits,

tity

was that which at an age so tender

is still

more profound.

Let us contemplate Mary with the Could human science ever eyes of faith.
enter into comparison with the sublime communications, with which it has pleased
.

imposed upon itself a vow, the obligation of which naturally forbid her the honour of giving birth to the Messias an honour
1

nevertheless so

much

desired

among the

the Lord to favour her?

Oh
life

to

judge of

Jews, that they regarded barrenness as a " What sublime

disgrace.
St.
*'

them, we need not here

in her

call to

most intimate

mind that with him at

humility," says that which supports Bernard, itself at the summit of greatness, and
is

Nazareth, she partook, as it were, at " treasures of pleasure, of the divine

does not bend beneath the weight of the Mary is the mother of greatest glory 1

wisdom and knowledge;"'

soul, which,

it is

enough
her

her God, and she styles herself his handmaid."*

charity,
to

to think of that supernatural view of

And what
when

even before the birth of our

glorified in her by the per-

obliging and delicate she begs her divine Son

to spare the

Saviour, beheld in the whole course of

work a miracle, in order

ages her

God

new married couple of

Luke

Cana the confusion

(1) 1

Kings XXV.
ii.

3.

(3) St.
(4:)

i.

48.

(2) Col.

a.

Homil.

iv.

super Missus

est.

3o

4C6
of au accident which

LITANY OF THE

humble

feast at

happened at the which he was pleased to

true,

that

the Catholic Church

for

is

the the

greatest

school

respect which
first

be present!^
fortitude of

Then what incomparable soul, when she assists at the

"
!

world has ever seen,

less his

towards God, and

that
is

consequently towards
it

all

more or

sacrifice of Calvary

When

the dis-

ciples

had

fled," says St.

stood before the cross,

" Ambrose, she and beheld the

may also be said that in image, our holy religion, devotion to Mary imparts to this feeling, with regard to the divine

wounds of her Son with pious eyes, because she looked not to the death of
the Tictim, but
world."
'

When a majesty, a consoling sweetness. mother instils into the soul of her pious
child veneration

the

salvation

of

the

and love

for the

most

What

shall,

we

say, in fine, of her dig-

nity, almost divine, crowned in heaven with a glory inferior to that of God alone? " What is most venerable

Blessed Virgin, she calls her by the most sweet name of Mother of our good God, a name which shows the child, in a daughter
of Eve, of a nature like ours, her by
this

whom

upon

earth,"

God

" is exclaims the holy Abbot of Clairvaux, the Virgin womb where the Son of God

down

so great has deigned to come to us for our salvation: does she

became incarnate ;
in heaven,
is,

what

is

most eminent

next to the throne of Jesus,

not thus impress upon this young heart, a respectful confidence in the Most High, which holds the middle course between
properly so called, and presumptuous familiarity, and which is full of exquisite
fear,

that of his holy Mother, whose glory is in proportion to the plenitude of grace which

was given

to her,

even in this world,

sweetness

above every other creature."'

The most Holy Virgin, then, is most worthy of our humble homage; she
claims profound veneration for her aufor the sanctuaries

Formerly, Mary, King Solomon, wishing to do honour to his mother, rose up from his throne, went to meet her, and

gust name, for her festivals, for her altars, which are dedicated to

having respectfully embraced her, made her sit on a second throne on his right
hand.*
Virgin,

This,
is

august and most Holy

her, for everytliing included in the special religious veneration of honour and love

a vei7 faint image of the honours

which belongs

to her.

O let us faithfully

paid to you by Jesus, during his mortal life, and of the glory with which he

discharge this sacred duty towards Mary, a duty, the practice of which is founded

crowned you,
heaven.

at

your Assumption into

to pay

Happy

homage

to her,

upon the immeasurable respect which is due to God, and exercises in its turn so
happy an influence upon
it.

whom
"

we

offer you,

our Saviour has thus honoured, with all our heart, and

For

if it

be

with the most devout affection, the tribute

(1) St. (2)

John

ii.

3.

(3) Serm.

i.

in
ii.

Assnmpt.
19.

Comment

in

Ev. secund. Luc. Lib. x.

(4) 3 Kings

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

of a profound veneration,"
'

467
an unbounded reverence
for

which ex-

trated with

presses the greatest respect in the lan" to guage of men. Do not permit us
forget in any

God, and
will, all

to revere also, according to his

is

that

venerable in heaven and

way that which

is

due

to

upon

earth.

you;"* and to save us from this misfortune, obtain for us a heart ever pene-

Virgin most venerable, pray fob usl

Virgo veneranda, ora pro nobis I

MEDITATION XXY.
VIRGO PR^DICANDA, ORA PRO NOBIS t

Properly speaking, God alone

of our praises. Llerit, a claim to our eulogies, provided they are " directed to him, from whom proceeds

worthy nevertheless, has

is

the salutation of the angel Gabriel ? We see in the Holy Scripture many privileged

persons receiving the honour of a visit from an angel ; but we nowhere see any
of tliem saluted by a heavenly messenger,

every best gift,"' and that they remain within the boundaries of truth. But

where

is there,

on earth, that merit which

in "

pompous and magnificent

!

terms,
is

Hail
;

full

of grace, the

Lord

with

praised without fear of error or " God alone knows exaggeration ? Alas the bottom of our hearts ; and oftentimes
1

may be

thee

blessed art thou

' among women I"

Could anything more honourable be said

to a

human being?

And

is

not

this,

that which

high to men, nation before God."*

is

is

an abomi-

according to the thought of St. Ambrose and St. Peter Chrysologus, " a salutation

In praising Mary, in proclaiming her worthy of our greatest commendations, certainly we have no fear either of being
deceived ourselves, or of exalting her beyond measure ; for the Lord himself " has weighed her merit in the infallible
balance,"* and has caused incomparable
praise
to

unheard

of,

one of which we can find no

example?"' Yet there is nothing in it above the merit of her to whom these so
astonishing words are addressed.
It is

an angel who pronounces them,

faithful

it is

the

be given

to

her in his

own
all

God of truth."' organ of the soon after, causes similar praises' to who, be given to Mary by the holy mother of
Baptist.
fact, tells

"

name.
tliat is

Have we

ever well understood

to

John the

solemn and glorious

Mary

in

The
(5)

Gospel, in
6.

us that
Luke

it

was

(1) S. Bernard,

Serm. de Nativ. B. M. V.

Job xxxi.

(6) St.

i.

28.

(2) 1 Paralip. xxix. 18.

(4) St.

Luke

(3) St. James xvi. 15.

i.

17.

(7) St.

Ambrose

in

Luc,

c. vi.

St.

Peter

Cbryti.,

Serm. 140.

(8) Ps. xxx. 6.

468

LITANY OP THE
according to the sentiment of Venerable " Bede, our Saviour admirably assents to the testimony of the woman, not declaring

not of herself, but after " being filled with the Holy Ghost," tliat Eliz.beth, lifting up

her voice, repeated the expression of the " Blessed art thou angel among women,"
:

her only blessed, who had deseiTcd to be

corporally the Mother of the same Word, .... for that the same Mother of God

and added, " Blessed

womb

"

words

is

the fruit of thy

which admirably exalt

!

the greatness of Maiy, by the ineffable greatness of him whose Mother she is

was much more blessed, because she remained perpetually careful to remain in
his holy love."
*

Ehzabeth says of the most Holy Virgin, " blessed that she is among women," and
of her fruit, that
it

And
Virgin

let
all

is

"blessed."

"0

us also give to the most Blessed manner of praises and let us

;

Mary," exclaims St. Bernard, on this sub" this ject, precious fruit of your womb is not blessed because you are so yourself
the daughters of Eve; but you among are blessed in this manner, because he
all

say, to her glory, with St. Basil of Seleucia, " that we can never be afraid of offending

against truth, whatever praise

we

give her,

because words can never equal her greatness."' Let us supply for our inability

himself has favoured you beforehand with

liis

by our zeal

for

her veneration

let

us

While you are blessed among women, he is not blessed among men, nor among angels he is, according
blessings.
;

eagerly take advantage of every occasion to speak of her with the most tender
devotion, and
inspire others with
filial

to the expressions of the apostle,' over all

things,

God

blessed for ever."'

confidence in her protection ; let us, above all, honour her by the imitation of

But has Jesus himself said nothing in praise of his divine Mother? Coming " to teach men to be, like himself, humble
.

her virtues, so that by seeing and hearing us others may take occasion to glorify our
divine

Mother

in her children.

of heart,"* our Saviour would not exalt,

" Mary, I

know not with what

praises

before them, her of

whom he was

the Son,
de-

to extol you, for

Nevertheless,

when a Jewish woman,

lighted to hear him, cried out, from the midst of the crowd, " Blessed is the

him whom tain 1"* The "God

you

you bore in your womb the heavens could not conof majesty"' alone
;

womb

that bore thee,

"
I

and the breasts

"

deserves infinite praise " alone are also

"

but, next to God,

all

worthy of

praise,""

which gave thee suck

Yea, rather," said he, " blessed are they that hear the

word of God, and keep

(1) St.

it."

By

this,

the apostles loaded with afterwards repeated throughout praises, "" the earth ; you whom all preachers of

you

whom

Luke

i.

41, 42.

(2)

Rom.

ix. 5.

(7)

Serm. de Incarn. Verbi.

(3) Serm. in Aasumpt. B. M. V. (4) St. Matt. ix. 29.

(8) Brev. Rom. in festis B. (9) Ps. xxviii. 3.

M. V.
Nest

(5) St.

Luke

xi. 27, 28.

(6) L. iv. c. 40, in Luc. xi

(10) S. Cyril. Alex. Serm. de Virg. contra (11) Trov. xxxi. 28.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

the divine word, and all the mouths of the truly faithful have ever delighted to " call blessed;"' you whose "praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men!"'

469
to
fulfil

may

exert ourselves

our duty

towards you by our zeal for your glory, and by our fidelity in walking in your
holy footsteps
I

O
as

since

you

are incapable of praising you deserve, grant that at least we

we

Virgin most renowned, prat for us

Virgo prcedicanda, ora pro nobis
I

MEDITATION XXVI.
VIRGO POTENS, ORA PRO NOBISI
If Jesus Christ, as God, possessed by nature omnipotence; if, as man, he derived

admirably
such,
to

fulfilled

her pious duties as

have retained in heaven that

from his personal union with the divinity from the moment of the incarnait

influence

which

tion

the striking manifestation of

:

mothers must

perfect of naturally possess over the

the

most

it

after

his resurrection

became the reward of his this is" what he sufferings and death intimated to his disciples, when he said
them, "All power is given to me in heaven and on eartli."* This sovereign power the divine Son of Mary has comto

heart of the most tender of sons, so that " for her to be heard by him would always be to have her request granted ?"* Is it
that this incomparable power of intercession should bear in such a mother brilliant marks of grandeur and
fitting, in fine,

not

municated

august Mother with marvellous abundance. Ought not, inthe co-operation of Mary in the deed, mysteries of the Man-God, and her intimate participation in his sufferings and his sacrifice on Calvary, to have merited
to

his

worthy of him brought into the world ?

universality,

whom

she

Accordingly, the most striking facts reveal, in the Catholic world, this power
of the

most Blessed Virgin. Are the greatest interests of kings and nations at
?

stake

Glorious
to all

for

her the privilege of being associated with the dominion of Jesus over e\ery
creature ? Ought not she, moreover, who in this world had so long exercised the
right of a

you witness

of Lepanto, generations the admi-

memory

rable victory, which took

its

flight

from

mother towards him, and so

fall the foot of Mary's terribly, and with crushing power, upon the formidable fleet of the infidels to save

throne, to go

and

(1) Prov. xxxi. 28. (2) Judith xiii. 25.

(3) St. Matt, xxviii. 18.

(4) St. Bernard, Serm. de

Aqund.

470
Christendom, and with of the whole of Europe
it
I

LITANY OF THE
the civilization

And

nanimous hero, who in

mation of
faith, cried

tliat

you, magnoble excla-

what melancholy deaths has she prevented what violent temptations

alleviated
I 1

your brave soldiers,

the Mother of

out at the head of " we have

has she enabled people to overcome what graces of every kind has she obtained for
1

March,

those
the

who have implored her

I

aid,

on

God

for our leader," do

earth and on the sea

It is proirre-

you not

tell us,

Sobieski, by that excla-

claimed with a voice imposing and

sistible

mation, to

whom you

were indebted for

your triumph over that compact cordon of Mussulmans, which surrounded the walls
of

by those monuments erected to her glory, those monuments so celebrated by the miraculous recollections which
faith

Vienna so

closely ?

and gratitude
facts too,

have there conse-

But even you, ardent enemies

tholic truth, are

of Ca-

crated.

serve as so

many
most

you not compelled to trophies to the glory of

powerful ?

the

Virgin

.... The

Church solemnly congratulates her on

having destroyed all heresies throughout the world;"* and it pleased God,
particularly in the twelfth century, to give
*'

what admirable facts, have remained, and still daily remain, hidden in the secrets of souls Amiable and holy Bishop of Geneva, we know
1

What

well that you were indebted to

Mary
for

for

victory over a frightful thought of despair;

and you,

St.

Andrew

Corsini,
;

your

the most marvellous lustre to the power of Mary against error. A formidable

conversion and

great virtues

and you,

heresy extended at that time all over the south of France, overthrew altars and
temples, put to death the ministers of the Lord, and opposed every thing with fire

noble martyr of the seal of confession, immortal Nepomucen, for the courage

and fortitude which gained you so much but it will only be in heaven that glory
;

we

shall be able to see

effects

and admire the

and sword. The humble St. Dominic came forth to oppose this impious, devastating sect.

innumerable
power, which

God

of that prodigious has given her, to en-

With what then new David arm himself? Will

will this
it

at least

be the shepherd's sling? .... No, it is with a rosary in his hand that he stops,
overcomes,

and heal souls redeemed with the blood of her divine Son, and to destroy the empire of that
lighten, guide, support,

infernal

and

gains

the

most blind

serpent whose destined to crush.*

head she was

to the

and furious enemies of the Church. And who could enumerate the signal marks of the power of Mary, in favour of
all

Let us have recourse, then,

Blessed Virgin in
necessities
;

most

all

and

let

us

our pains, in all our make it our pious

all

those

who have

intercession?

piously implored her what sorrows has she

duty

to extol

her power at

times.

Yes,

wo

will ever

love to proclaim,

(1) Brev.

Rom., in

festia

B.

M. V.

(2) Gen.

iii.

16.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

august sovereign of the universe, that the Lord in you " hath showed might in his

471
shall arshall be

when the decisive moment rive, when our trembling soul

all,

arm

*" that " in your

hand
all

is

power and

might;"* thatyoucando

things in hira

who strengtheneth you:'

that the glory of Jahel and of Judith,* triumphing over the enemies of the people of God, is not

about to appear before her Judge, deign to defend her against her enemies, to encourage and fortify her, and, at her
entrance into eternity, to receive her in your maternal hands, to present her to your divine Son.

even a shadow of that

shine.

w'ith

which you
conti-

vouchsafe

to

shelter

nually under your protection those who desire never to cease invoking you. Above

Virgin most powerful, pray fob us 1

Virgo potenSf ora pro nobis
I

MEDITATION XXVII.
VIBGO CLEMENS,
ORA.

PRO NOBIS I

Why

does the Church

make us implore

the clemency, rather than the goodness of Mary? Goodness has something so sweet, so calculated to move the heart;

understand that our profound misery as sinful creatures, our detestable ingratitude towards God, render us naturally unworthy of the benevolent protection of
this august Mother. Making but one with Jesus, in regard of whom we are so culpable, has she not much to forgive us

and
it

in

Mary

this quality, to

us so pre!

cious, is

and perfect Does not combine in her immaculate heart

so amiable

all

of mothers,

the complacency of the most tender all the compassion, all the

before she can interest herself for us ?

And

again,

would not the

little

eagerness

charity of souls

most eminent

for their

we show

to imitate the virtues

which we

inclination to do good to all who mourn, to all wlio suffer, to all who groan beneath

contemplate in her, be enough to hinder her from showering down upon us the

the pressure of misfortune ? O without doubt, Mary is good, and that beyond measure she has a heart so feeling, that
.
.

which we may expect from her, if she were not the Virgin full of mercy and
benefits

it is

surpassed only by that of her divine Son. But the Church, in directing us to

sweet compassion, the Virgin most merciful? Yes, this noble quality of great hearts
"

invoke her clemency, wishes to

Luko

make

us

admirably shines forth in that of Mary. We may well understand of her," says
Judith

(1) St.

i.

61.

(2) 1 Paralip. xxix. 12.

(3) Phil. iv. 13.

(4) Judg. iv.

xiii.

472
St.

LITANY OP THE
of the hen, which,
cries

" Bernard, that magnificent image of a mortal woman clothed with the sun,

of alarm,

when her young utter covers them with her

formerly seen by the prophet of Patmos ; for even as that orb of day sheds indif-

maternal wings with the most remarkable In giving us her Son to be tenderness.
our Saviour, has she not given her own blood to us all, whom Jesus honours
of "brethren,"* and whom she herself cherishes as " the members

upon the good and the bad, so Mary regards not in him who invokes her, whether he has been
ferently its floods of light

with the

title

more or less culpable

as regards the past

but she shows herself mild, merciful, and clement towards all those who call upon her for help she embraces, as in the ardour of extreme charity, all their wants,
:

of the body of that divine

like that

Son?"*

And

and all their miseries."'

.... And

could

mother, who at the cry of her chickens, hastens so fondly to shelter them against all danger, does not Mary, when she hears our groans and sighs,
cover us with her protection, to preserve us from all that might prove fatal to us ?
ingratitude we may feel guilty of towards the Son, never, no never let us despair of the clemency
. .
. .

we conceive
"

it

otherwise ?

Has not she

brought us forth to the Church by her

charity ?" says St. Augustin."

And ought
inspire her

Thus,

whatever

not this

inefiiible charity to

continually with all the feelings of a mother in our regard, but of a mother

whose" heart is become like wax melting,"*

as

" were, with compassion ? Yes, certhe immortal Bishop of tainly," says Meaux on this subject, " she is always the same towards us ; she is always good,
it is

but joining confidence with repentance, let us throw ourselves into her arms without any fear, very sure
of the Mother;

After having on former occasions experienced the sweet

of not being forsaken.
effects of this

same clemency,
still

if

we

are

The love of always our mother. our salvation ever lives within her, and
she
it is

so happy as to remain

faithful,

how

not less
it

fruitful,

nor less

efficacious,

than

was

at the time of

her consent to

reckon on every occasion, on the succour of her who " the so tenderly cherishes beloved in
to

much more ought we

the august mystery of the Incarnation."* It is not then without reason that piety
delights to figure to itself Mary, as well as. Jesus, under the emblem of the peli-

God
"

the Father, and preserved in Jesus

Christ."'

can, which, to appease the hunger of her young ones, feeds them, in some measure,

of clemency, sweetness, how well may we say of you, as of our Lord, that " power and

Virgin

full

and tenderness,"*

with her

own substance

and under that

mercy belong to you 1"* If upon earth, an exquisite goodness of heart, which
(6)
tit.

(1)
(2)

Semi, de Assumpt. B. M. V.

John XX.

17.

(G) Ephea. v. 30.

i.

Sftncta Virginitate, n. 6, (3) Pa. xxi. 15.

De

t.

vi.

(7) St.

Jude

(8) Salve Regina. (9) Pa. bd. 12, 13.

(4) Serm. pour

la fete

de rAnnunciat.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

leaves infinitely beneath it the kindness of ]lebecca for EHezer,' led you to ask, of your own accord, of your divine Son the

473
the law of clemency,"* you, in
to refresh the earth,
all

"

tongue

is

whom
rain,*''

this noble virtue is " like the latter

which comes

miracle of his changing water into wine,* what must be in heaven the prodigious extent of this goodness towards us, when, from this "
valley of tears,"'

you,

who

are " nigh to

them that

call

upon you,"* be favourable, notwithstanding our unworthiness, be favourable to us,

even to our latest breath
1

we humbly

entreat you to

come

to the assistance of

poor miserable creatures redeemed by the adorable blood of Jesus O you, on whose
1

ViKGIN MOST MEECIFUL, PEAT FOB US

Virgo clemens, ora pro nobis
!

MEDITATION XXVIII.
VIBGO

FIDELIS, ORA
of Virgin most

PBO

NOBISl

O HOW

well does this

title

faithful express the character of her who was always so faithful to the Lord, so

the just, with what complacency then must the Lord look upon that Virgin in

whom

fidelity, far

from ever

suflfering the

faithful in every duty, so faithful to grace, so faithful to the will of heaven, even in

smallest

blemish, was

ever

increasing
to

from day to day, " rising from virtue

one of those extreme conjunctures, in which we should naturally be led to

pardon the heart of a mother
to sorrow
I

"
virtue,"

till

the glorious

moment when
!

"the just Judge placed upon her head

the crown due to her merits "" Conceived not " in sin," " like the rest of mankind, " but in " and a
justice

for yielding

Fidelity

thing in the sight of

must be a noble and beautiful God, since he calls

holiness,"

by

privilege singular

himself " the faithful and true,"' and he gives, by the mouth of the royal prophet,
as a
title

belongs to not only did she never for a

and inestimable, she God from the first instant; and

moment

loose

of

honour and

distinction, the

name

of the "faithful of the earth"* to

the precious tie which united her to him, but she ceased not to tighten it more and

the just, upon

whom
But

his eyes rest with

more,
exile

till

complacency.*

if this

applies to

all

to

the day when she passed from her heavenly country. Thus
c. 7.

(1) Gen. xxiv. 19. (3) Salve Regina. (6) Prov, xvi. 15.

(2) St.

John

ii.

3.

(8)

Ps.

(9) Ps. xxxiii. 16.

(4) Prov. xxxi. 26.

(6) Ps. cxliv, 18. (7) Apoc. xix. 11.

(10) Ps. Ixxxiii. 8. (12) Ps.

(11) 2 Tim. iv. 8.

i.

7.
i.

(13)

St Luke

17.

3e

474
St.

LITANY OF THE
triumph so heroically over your nature as mother at the foot of the cross of our
1

in his admiration of " Wlien I her, contemplate the immensity of grace which is in you, O Blessed Virgin,

Anselm exclaims,

my mind

loses itself,

my

tongue becomes
beautiful are thy

we

Redeemer, ah
are

we

are profoundly

moved

enraptured at

your sublime

"
speechless."'

how

steps,"* may we add with the Spouse of the " how sublime have they been Canticle; in
the

resignation and superhuman devotion. O what a Son was Jesus What a Mother
1

were you,
is

O Mary
1

waijs of grace,

greatly desired
'

tenderness in botli

What unspeakable .... how true it

daughter of the
in the sight of
it

King of kings!"
"
I

Virgin

ever most faithful,

God

faitliful in all things "*

then of you, in the full force of the " faithful unto expression, that you were death;"* yes, even to assisting at, and uniting yourself, with all the power of

The

little

which

has pleased our Lord to make known to us is ravishing; what must that be

your

which has remained hidden in the inmost sanctuary, which is to be penetrated only
by his

the most painful and humiliating death of your only Son, the most
will, to,

own adorable

eyes

I'

amiable, and most tenderly beloved After this unparalleled act of devoted1

The Gospel,

in fact, informs us of you,

ness to

God

for the sake of

it

men, can we

Mary, that you even so far as not to accept the dazzling

carried the love of duty

be surprised "that

honour of the divine maternity, till after having received from the messenger of the

should be a thing any age, that Mary should ever have rejected the prayers of those

unheard

of, in

who have implored her

assistance?'

."

Most High the assurance that this prodigious glory was compatible with the vow
which had consecrated you
Lord.
It also tells us that
ful to the law,

not this admirable constancy of her merciful goodness towards those who call
is

for ever to the

even so far

you were faithas to submit to

were
other

upon her, sufficiently explained by the sacrifice which her magnanimous heart
has had the prodigious courage to make in our favour? But if such is her goodness

the humiliating ceremony of the Purification

;

you,

who by
this

so

many

titles

exempt from
mothers.
bless God,

obligation

of

towards " every child of Eve who, from the depth of his banishment, cries to this

And we admire
who

you, and we exhibits to us in you

Mother of mercy,"' how great must be

her zeal for the interests of those

who

But when we consider you on Calvary, when we

examples so excellent
behold you there faithful to the adorable designs of Providence, even so far as to

and noble.

profess to be particularly devoted to her,

be " her good and faithful servants!"* May we form a part of this

and

to

happy

number,

by

making

ourselves

(1

Lib. de excellent Virg.

(3) Ps. xliv. 11, 12.

(6)

Apoc.

(2) Cant. vii. 1.

ii. 10. (7) (8) Salve Eegina.

Memorare.

(4) Ecclas. xlviii. 25.

(5) Caut. iv. 1.

('J)

St.

Matt. XXV. 21.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

equally pleasing to the

475

Son and

to the

Mother

hardly lawful to call to mind before you the fidelity of Rahab, who saved the spies
of Israel,* or that of Michol, who, to save

Mary, you ever showed towards God, " upon earth, a heart found faithful before
him."^

You have

always exliibited

it

the

her spouse, did not fear to expose herself O to the resentment of her father.*
.

same, "from the height of heaven, towards men, who for more than eighteen centuries have not failed to find in you, next
to

vouchsafe to obtain for us to be ever

faithful ourselves

to Jesus

and

to you,

that

we may deserve
happy
1

to experience con-

God, the sweetest and surest refuge.

tinually the

effects of

your special

Yes, you are faithful to them in a manner incomparably superior to all human kindness and to
all

protection

Virgin most faithful, peat fob us

Virgo fidelis, ora pro nobis
I

human

devotedness.

It is

MEDITATION XXIX.
SPECULUM JUSTITLE, ORA PRO NOBIS
I

The Church, having

all

as

it

were exhausted
avail

tures ?

The Lord had

first
'

the

titles

which could

her to

hold the

rank among
St.

destined her to " all the works

honour in Mary the Mother and Virgin, passes on to another class of ideas, to
offer to

of his hands,"
of

to be, according to the "

And
image
tlie

her fresh acts of homage. first she invokes her under the

expressions that is not God

to

"'
;

above all Anselm, could he have failed

adorn her with

gifts

and merits most

his

of a mirror,

which admirably

reflects
*

nearly approaching
perfections ?
. .

to

own

infinite

"

brightness of eternal light."

If it

This made
"

St.

Peter

be

he

Word, that " the image and brightness of his ' Father's glory," does not Mary reflect in
is

true, indeed, of the eternal

he who contemChrysologus say, that plates her without rapture and ecstacy, disowns God, who has made her the most
perfect
' image of himself." But why does the Church
.
.

herself, with the greatest fidelity possible,

the

adorable attributes of this "

Word

call

her the

made flesh?"* liim more than

Does not she resemble

all

other intelligent crea-

Mirror of Justice ? First, because Mary is the faithful mirror of him whose
. .

(1)

2 E^ras

ix. 8.

(2) Josue
(4)

ii.

(6) St.

John

i.

14.

(7) Pa. cxxxvii. 8.

c. 7.

(3) 1

Kings

xix.

Wisd.

vii.

2G.

(6)

Heb.

i.

3.

(8) Lib. de exord. lniman vitse, (9) Serm. 104.

476

LITANY OP THE
is

Sun of Justice," ' whose divine rays warm souls, make them fruitful, and cause all Christian virtues to bud

name

the "

the principle and

source of his perseSt. Paul,*

verance and confirmation in grace; for

we may
it

say, relying

upon

and

forth

and blossom in them.

Now, Jesus

several holy doctors of the Church,' that

himself designates to us the assemblage of these virtues by this expression, when " Blessed are he to us that
says
:

tliey
"

hunger and

thirst after justice,"

those

Jesus Christ that the good angels were indebted for the merit and reward of their fidelity. In fine, is not
to

was

who

ardently desire to be perfect,

and who
anotlier

in

the reprobate angel condemned to behold Mary conceived in the state of grace,

"

labour to become so with zeal and constancy

exalted,

because of her humility," ' which

to the Divine

There

is

also

was so profound, even

ternity

meaning in this word here employed by the Church, which deserves well to fix
the attention of every pious soul. The Apostle St. Paul calls by the
of "justice"'

the

ma-

folly of his

own

pride, the

immense

evil

which he has incurred in

beauty, and by

losing his supernatural

name

contrast, the hideous

the state of sanctifying grace, which gives a title to eternal beati-

tude.

This supernatural

state, so

honour-

degrades him ? at the same time, the enormity of his sin, for which he had no redeemer, because

deformity which Does he not see in her,

able, so precious, the first

disobedience, had lost for

his posterity
;

man, by his himself and all

fall,

he had

fallen voluntarily

from a

much

but directly after his

to

the

Lord announces
"
:

him

"

that

greater height than man, by pure malice, without being exposed to the seduction of the senses ? And is he not forced to

woman

shall crush the

makes her fall

in

head of him who from that time he can

join his voice with that of heaven and " God is earth, which proclaims that
just,"*
to
.

contemplate in this daughter of Eve, as

a mirror, as well the depth of his for the cure of which nothing misery,
less is

and renders

to

each one according

than a redeemer, a Mannecessary the God, penance, withas

"his works?"*

necessity of

While we contemplate in the most Blessed Virgin the invaluable favour of '" " our deliverance from sin," let us
take care not to imitate " a

out which he cannot profit by the benefit of the redemption which the Son of Mary
is

man beholding
:

his natural countenance in a glass

for

to

efiect.

The angel who remained

on his
side, in

faithful sees,

this privi-

he beheld himself and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he
was." "

leged creature, the Mother of

(1) Malach. iv. 2. (3) Rom. i. 17, 24.
(4)

him who

is

Rather let us be intimately peneThomas,

lect.

(2) St. Matt. xvi. 27. Tit. iii. 7. Phil. iii. 9.

'

Cant.

St.

10

in cap.

i.

Joan., et qu. 7

prseced., art. 9.

Gen.

iii.

16.

(6) Ephes. 10.

i.

Col.

i.

17, 20.

(7) St.

Luke
vi.

i.

48.

(8)

(6) St.
1.

Jerom, in cap.
i.

ad Ephes.

c. 2, in lib.

Reg.-

St.

Greg. Bernard, Serui. 22 in

St.

(9) St.

Matt. xvi. 27.

18.

Rom.

ii.

6.

Apocv xvi. 5. Apoc. xxii.

12.

(10)

Rom.

(11) St.

James

i.

24.

MOST BLESSED VIKGIN.

trated with

477

made
our

" being thought, that free from sin, we are become the
this

nations; by your charity, our coldness towards God, our want of true fraternal
love
for
all,

servants of justice,' and as we have yielded

our

neighbour

Vouchsafe,

members

to

serve uncleanness,

and

above

iniquity unto iniquity, so now we ought to yield our members to serve justice, unto
sanctification."
'

by your holy protection, to reestablish us in the grace of God, if we

have the incomparable misfortune to have fallen away from it ; to be preserved in it,
if

" we behold as in a you, in whom ' mirror," the adorable perfection of the

we

are so

ship,

happy as to enjoy his friendthe value and honour of which are

;

Most High, O send down upon our souls some salutary rays of the dazzling splendour of your sublime virtues
!

infinite

Vouchsafe,

by your meekness,
sitiveness
mility,

to

correct our sen-

to help us to become more " conformable to and more your divine " who Son,"* by imitating you, O you, "' are his living image
1

and

and impatience; by your huour vain pretensions and our

MiREOE OF

JUSTICE, PBAY FOR US

pride ; by your purity, our sensual incli-

Speculum justitice, ora pro nobis 1

MEDITATION XXX.
SEDES
SAPIENTIiE,

DBA

PRO

NOBIS

Son

of the eternal Father, adorable Word, " internal word, thought, reason, intelli-

end mightily, and ordereth all things " Thou art that infinite Wisdom
sweetly."

gence increated and substantial of God," thou art " the fountain of wisdom." ' Yes, thou art that eternal wisdom " begotten in
the

'

who

rested in the womb of the most Blessed " and whom " in a tabernacle," Virgin, as

Christian faith loves to contemplate on

womb

of the

Most High before

all

creatures;"* that

Wisdom "who sendeth

the knees of that divine Motlier,. under " beautiful above the features of the most the sons of

knowledge as the light, whose thoughts are more vast than the sea, and counsels

men I""

And

more deep than the great ocean " * that Wisdom which " reacheth from end to
;

you,

O Mary, you are a magnificent

much
we
all

throne for this incarnate Wisdom,

more precious and worthy than

(7) Ecclus. i. 5, (9) Ibid., xxiv. 37, 39.

that

(1)

Rom.

vi.

18.
12.

(2)
(4)

(3) 1 Cor.
(5) St.

xiii.

Rom. Rom.

vi.

19.

30. (8) Ecclus. xxiv. 37,

viii. 1.

viii.

29.

John Damascen, Orat. de

Nativ.'B. JI.V.
xii.

(6) Bossuet, vii. Elev. 8ur les Myst.,

seniaiue.

(10) Wisd. (11) Ecclus. xxiv, 12. (12) Ps. xliv. 3.

478
can know or conceive that
rich,
. . .

LITANY OF THE
is

beautiful,
!

and most resplendent

in creatures

ledge of the saints,"* which enlightens man as to all his duties, and traces out

The sacred history, wishing to show us how wonderful was the ivory throne of
King Solomon, tells us that there was no such work made in any kingdom." '
us not be afraid to say ourselves that the Lord, in his omnipotence, has never
let

him the path to follow, to arrive at his The retirement of Mary when last end ?
for

"

yet a child in the temple, her entire consecration to the Lord, her words to the

created any thing equal to her, whom he has made the living throne of his divine Son : " a throne and in-

angel in the mystery of the Annunciation, " her life hidden in God" * at Nazareth, tell us loudly enough how much this
highly privileged soul had been adorned with these precious gifts. And in what

supereminent comparable," where, according to the sentiments of St. Peter Damian, " our
"
pleased to repose:"* august habitation of the Sovereign Monarch of the universe," says St. Peter " sacred palace which WisChrysologus ; dom h^s built for herself; noble and
great

other has shone forth, as in

Calvary,

Mary on
which

that

gift

of

fortitude,

God has been

enables one to triumph over the greatest In what other has shone, as in trials? " the Virgin most prudent,"' the gift of counsel, which directs us in the most
delicate

circumstances;

or the

gift

of

magnificent sanctuary, which she has adorned with seven pillars,* which are

understanding, which penetrates the most elevated ways of grace, as in her, " whose
" did very sleep," say the holy doctors, not interrupt her sublime contemplation?"' What other, in fine, ever possessed in so high a degree the gift of wisdom, which crowns all the rest, and
consists in

emblems

of

the seven

gifts

bestowed

upon the soul of Mary by the Holy Ghost, with abundance so admirable 1"* What heart, indeed, was ever so intimately penetrated with that religious fear which continually dreads offending the
Lord, and which is careful to weigh even the smallest actions of life ? what heart

knowing well the author and

end of

all things, in not acting, living, or breathing but for him alone? Did

was

eminently endowed with that tender piety which makes us adhere to

so

not Mary always live for God alone, and was not her sweet and glorious death
" the effect of a final
love ?"
"

God
-"

with an unbounded devotion, and

his

stroke of divine

delight exceedingly in

command-

ments ?"*

creature ever of that " knowreceived so rich an effusion

What human

Here let us pay all our homage " to this royal throne," to this divine
(9) St.
t.

(1) 3

Kings

X. 20.

(2) Serm.

do Annuutiat.

Ambrose, Lib. de Virg.

5,

St.

Antonin,
t.

(3) Prov. ix. 1, (4) Serm.

140 de Annnntiat.
(G) Prov. ix. 10. (8) Litan.

Serm. Serm. CI p.
2,

Art.

i.

c.

2.

St. Bernaldin,

2,

4, tit. 15, c. 2.

(5) Pb. cxi. 1. (7) Col. iii. 3.

(10) Bossuet, 1 Serm. sur

(11) St. Greg.

TAssompt. Thaumat., Serm. de Annuntiat.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

throne,"* of eternal

i79

wisdom

and beseech

her who has been raised to so great an honour, to obtain for us, with an abundant
participation in the precious gifts which constituted the ornament of her noble
soul, the grace to place all

intercession, that we may be the docile " that wisdom that is from disciples of

above, which

first,

indeed,
'

is

chaste, then

peaceable, modest,

and good

"
fruits;

.... full of mercy which keeps the mind

our esteem in

wisdom which her adorable Son has taught us the grace to make it
that Christian
;

and evangelical moderation ; which represses the disorderly movements of the passions which seasons our judgin calmness
;

the exclusive rule of our conduct, by " seeking first the kingdom of God and
his justice,"
to ourselves, " a treasure which the by our good works, rust does not consume, and where thieves
*

ments with reserve and circumspection ; which teaches us to show indulgence towards others, but
ourselves.
to watch

and securing

you who

with severity over were " the living

do not break through, nor steal." O Mary do not allow us ever to be led
1

'

habitation of the increated wisdom," * of that divine Jesus, in whom " shines forth

the

admirable

variety

of

his

gifts,"'

astray by the
is

"

wisdom of the
"

flesh,

which

beseech a rich effusion of them for our

souls
!

God,"* or by the wisdom of this world, which is foolisliness with God." * Rather grant, by your powerful an enemy
to

Seat of wisdom, prat for us

Sedes sapientice, ora pro nobis
!

MEDITATION XXXI.
CAUSA NOSTRA I^MTITIM, ORA PRO NOBIS
!

When

the world was plunged in the

into the world

God

wills that
:

she shall

when no ray of that Christian hope, so mild and firm, enlightened human nature beyond the tomb,
thickest darkness,

co-operate
birth to our
all
is

to

our salvation

Redeemer.
:

she gives In a short time

when the wretched

abandoned
sense, heart,

children of Adam were

changed man, restored, receives the most sure and consoling knowledge
as to the noble character of his nature,

to the threefold degradation of

and

intelligence, true joy

was unknown

to the earth.

Mary comes

the magnificence of his destiny, and the means of attaining to it; the most abun-

(1) St.

Ephrem, de Laudib. Deip.

(3) St.
viii.

(6) 1 Cor.
vi,

iii.

19.

(2) St. Matt, vi. 33. (4)

Matt,

20.

(7)

Wisd.

(6) St. .Tames vii. 28.

iii.

iii.

17.

Rom.

7.

(8) Ephea.

10.

480

LITANY OF THE

dant succours for the healing of his moral wounds, and for the alleviation of all the
miseries of
life.

human

nature: without him, nothing had been made ' without her, nothing has
;

He

is able,

henceforth,

been repaired, or restored."*

It is in this Virgin, then,

to feel, here below,

pure and delightful

worthy for

joys,

which are as a pledge and foretaste of the divine and eternal joys which the

ever of our gratitude and love, that all the members of the Church find their joy and
their happiness.

Lord promises him in the other world.

before the coaming of " that good and kind Saviour,"* who was given to us by means of Mary, where were you, holy joys of charity, chastity,

She had been the ob-

Where were you

ject of the most ardent desires of the just of ancient times, who from afar had

saluted in her person the

Mother of the

modesty, and humility ; holy joys of the devotion inspired by faith ; holy and sweet
joys of Catholic piety, ineflfable delights of

Divine Redeemer, and who in limbo had waited for her nativity as the aurora of
glorious day of their triumphant entrance into the kingdom of God. She was, upon earth, after the ascension of our Saviour, " the support and consolation of all the faithful." ' She is, in the abodes

the

the adorable Eucharist ?

Yes, it is to Mary, next to God, that we are indebted

.

Jesus Christ, moves, expands, and elevates the heart. It is she who has secured to us goods so
for all that, in the religion of

of immortality, the joy of the elect, whose noble family she adorns for on ascend:

precious, so

much

happiness, even in this

ing to

heaven she added

*

to the joy of its

world, by her acquiescence in the word of the angel, whom the Most High " had

blessed inhabitants,"

says St. Bernardin

come, as were, to ask her consent, before giving himself to us ' Thus the illusby her intervention."
to
it

commissioned

of Sienna; "and their greatest glory, next to the sight of God," says St. Bona-

venture,
also,

"

is

to behold her."

She

is,

according to the pious belief of the

trious martyr, St. Ireneus, almost

contem-

Church, the consolation and joy of the

souls detained in the place of expiation,

porary with the apostles, calls this consent " the cause of salvation to the human
race." "
'

where they complete their

before
:

purification,

St.

Augustin says, after him

She procured the redemption of man,

left

they enter into the life of the " You are their zealous deliblessed
verer," says St. Andrew of Crete, address" ing her ;" I am their Mother," said Mary herself to St. Bridget, " and I cease not
to

who,

to
*

resource."

with Mary," Damian, the Son of God was pleased to regenerate

himself, was lost without " By Mary, in Mary, and " adds St. Peter

relieve

them by

my

intercession."

"

(1) Tit.

iii.

4,

(2) BoBsnet, 2me. Serm. sur I'Annonciat. (3) L. V. contra Hseres, c. 19. (4) Serm. 55, de Sanctis. (5) St.

Serm. Bur rAssompt. Serm. de Assumpt. (8) (9) In Spec, Lect. 6.

(7) Bossuet, 2de.
i.

John

3.

(6) Serm. de Annuuliat.

(10) Orat. i. de Dorm. (11) Lib. iv;, Revelat.

c.

138.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

481

She
all

is,

in fine, in this world, the joy of

:

Christians

in all ages, in all situa!

mother's womb,"* you who can " change into joy all the sorrows of tlie true faithful,"^

name, O Mary full of sweetness and charms to them, full of relief and strength ?
tions, is not your holy

you who, next

*
I

to Jesus, are

"

our

having given us, in Mary, a cause of joy so pure, so sweet, so true, so enduring; let us bless Mary
for

Let us bless God

for

Oh till we are able to enjoy hope," with the angels and saints the happiness to behold you, we desire continually to call to mind the charm of your virtues,
and repeat your holy praises. Yes, we love to cry out here, from the bottom of
our hearts, moved by gratitude and ten" Let our right hand be forderness,
ever forget, sweet Virgin, the claims which you have to our hearts; may
gotten, if

having given us

its

principle

and

source.

if

the Jews formerly testified

their gratitude to Judith

public rejoicings

and Esther, by and acclamations,* what

have obligations
in-

we

ought we not
Virgin, to

to

do to honour this divine

whom we

our tongue be parched,

placed next
to

if

you are not

canticles!"^

comparably greater? How great ought to be our devotion to her august person,
our eagerness
to celebrate
!

your adorable Son at the

beginning of our joy and pious

her feasts with

May

we, at the perpetual

remembrance

of

equal joy and fihal piety O you, good and tender Mary, whose
salutation formerly sufficed to make the " leap for joy in his holy precursor

your benefits, always repeat with transports ever

new

Cause of oue
Causa nostra

joy,

peat for us

Icetitice,

ora pro nobis

MEDITATION XXXII.
VAS

SPIEITUALE,
is

OEA PEG NOBIS

far does the strives
tify

As

far as

mind

is

above matter, so far

body of the Christian who

the body ennobled by being exalted by

the purity and uprightness of its actions, towards the natural dignity and sublimity
of the soul.

by supernatural motives to sancthe use of all his faculties, assume a

of

character
dignity.

admirable

grandeur
in

and
this

And

in like manner, as far

It is to

honour

Mary

as the order of grace excels all that is most eminent in the order of nature, so

nobleness and this greatness that the Church here invokes her under the em-

(1) Judith xvi.

(2) St.

Esther xvi.
44.

(3) St.

John

xvi. 20.

(4) Salve Regina.

Luke

i.

(6) Pa. cxxxvi. 5, 6.

3 Q

48S

LITANY OP THE
qualities analogous to the beauty of the

blem of a precious vessel, an image often * and it employed in the Holy Scripture
;

soul which animated

it ?

This

latter be-

is to

give us to understand the sublime degree of this same greatness, that she

longed wholly to God ; it was in a manner transformed into God," says the same
father again, after St. Dionysius
'
:

entitles

her Spiritual

vessel.

how

Is

it

Virgin

not, in fact, telling us that this of virgins enjoyed beforehand, so

can we suppose that her body, created by the Lord to have a part so intimate in
the mystery of the Word incarnate, could in anything contradict the holy impulse
of that noble soul, or not be in perfect

kind of transformation, apto that which will be realized proaching

to speak, a

in the elect at the great day of the general resurrection? that her sacred body,

harmony with

its

sublime destination

possessing by anticipation something of ^ " the her soul qualities of a spirit,"

neither felt the weight nor the hindrance of it in its relations to God, but could
already freely move towards its Creator, and feed on his adorable presence, as if
it

Let us then welcome with pious eagerness what, after

holy doctors of the Church, Richard of St. Victor hands down " to us, that her exterior was wholly angelical, as well as her interior,"' and

many

were given

to it to

be free from the

admirably reflected the wonderful communications of her soul with God. If, in
the eyes of John the Baptist, destined to see the Christ announced by the
fact,

action of the senses ?

"

Mary had been preserved from original sin, and from concupiscence, which is its " She enjoyed deplorable consequence.^
" the then," says Louis de Blois, privileges of our first parents in the terrestrial
paradise, where, as long as their innocence continued, the faculties of their

other prophets, disdained to look upon

any creature,"* we cannot doubt that Mary concentrated upon her divine Son
her senses, and that everything in her exhibited the life of a pure intelligence, rather than that of a human
the use of
all

soul were united to God,

and

all their

creature.

senses perfectly subject to their mind."* But was it not farther necessary that the
flesh,

how far are we from such a model, we who are so strongly attached
Alas
!

which was

to

become, according
St.

to

to vain idols,

which time

disfigures
;

and

the expression

Augustin, divine flesh of Jesus,"' should be rendered worthy of that immense honour by

of

" the

carries

who

away with everything else devour with our eager looks the

we
frail

goods of this world, and so unfortunately

(1)

Prov. XX. 16.

iv. i.

Acts
ii.

ix.

15.

Rom.

ix.

23.

(6) (7) (8)

c.

2 Thess.

2 Tim.

21,

Serm. 35, de Sanctis. In Epist. ad B. Paul.

(2) 1 Cor. XV. 44, (3) Medit. xvi. supra. (4) InBtitut. Spirit, append,
i.

In Cant. cap. 26.

St.

Ambr. de

Instit.Virg.
3, q. 1,

c. 2.

j-i

(_.;;

7; 2 de Virgin. St. Thomas, Sent., dist. St. Bonav., dist. 3, part 1, art. art. 2 ad 4.
(9) St.

2.

(6) Serm. 8, de

Atsumpt. B. M. V.

Jerom, Ep.

iv.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

employ our
ceitful
activity in

488
"

pursuing the de;

'

you,"

to operate

the mystery of godli-

to

enjoyment of them we who seem have but a wavering faith " of the

invisible goods of eternity;"'

we who

too

ness, which was manifested in the flesh,"* in your chaste womb, and to elevate you at the same time 'to the most august

often let ourselves be weighed down by this body, the inconvenient weight of

which renders our communication with

he made you more and more pure and holy ; he filled " perfect you more and more with that
dignity

among aU

creatures,

God

in prayer difficult,

and hinders us

spirit,"*

which makes

man

live for

God,

from walking with joyful steps in the service of our adorable Master hence!

and

for the

good things of eternity.

We

forth

let

us

make generous

efforts

to

honour in you that superhuman life which is so perfect, and all those privileges with

become "men spiritual,"* remembering that " he that soweth in the spirit, shall
eternal."* If we cannot, even reap at a distance, resemble Mary, divinely
life

which
adorn

it
it.

has pleased the Most High

to

May we

imitate you, as far as

our weakness, by disenit gaging ourselves from the captivity of the

is given to

privileged as she

is, let

us, at least, correct

senses in

all

things,
:

by

"

walking as

"by our
tible

fervent devotion"*

"

that corrup-

body which is a load upon the soul, .... and presseth down the mind,"* which would take a sublime flight towards
its

children of the light and justice, and light is in all goodness, truth proving what is well pleasing to
:

for the fruit of the

God."

'

O
;

do not refuse

to obtain for

us

Author.

that grace

O Mary

the Lord

made

of you from

the beginning, " a most pure vessel." * But when the Holy Ghost " came upon

Spiritual vessel, pray fob us

Vas

a spirituale, or

pro nobis

MEDITATION XXXIII.
TAB HONOEABILE,
It
is

DBA PEG NOBIS

the greater
is

united to a soul which

a great honour for a body to be " the is image of

the

the dignity to which this alliance so intimate raises the body: it

God;""

more that soul

is

beautiful

and enriched with the

(1)

gifts of

the Lord,
iii.

becomes thereby like a vessel which is the more precious, as the perfume which
(7) St. (9) Ps.

2 Cor.
Wisd.

iv. 18.

(2) 1 Oor.
(4)

1.

Luke
1.

i.

35.

(8) 1

Tim.

iii.

16.

(3) Gal. vi. 8.

(6)
ix. 16.

Rom.

xii. 2.

14.

(6) Prov. XXV. 4.

(10) Eph. V. 8, 9, 10. (11) Gen. i. 27,

484
it

LITANY OP THE
in the eyes of faith,

contains

is,

more

comparable relation of the

his

Man-God

with

rare

and
is
it

exquisite.
for the

What an
body of

then,

honour, Mary to be

Mother
let

united to a soul, which, next to that of Jesus, is the most noble, most pure, most
holy,

us not be surprised that the holy doctors of the Church, struck with admiration in presence of that divine Mother,

and most adorned with the favours

I

should have saluted in her, in terms the

of heaven

most expressive, that august womb, where

Mary," Augustin, the very flesh of Jesus." * " It is a living heaven," says St. Peter Damian,
"
is

But how much more honourable is that sacred body, on account of the divine It was anciently, no doubt, maternity a great honour for Abraham to receive the Lord under the form of an angel, and
I

the Word assumed our " The flesh of

human

nature

says St.

to be allowed to converse familiarly with

him

' ;

but

God

did

not unite himself

the bodily sanctuary of the fulness " The of the divinity."' Lord," says St. " in Thomas of Villanova, making a
it is

"

It was that patriarch. a great honour for Moses to enter into the

substantially to

daughter of Adam his Mother, has exalted her to such a greatness, that all the
eyes of

formidable cloud, which covered

Sinai,

Mount

be able, in like manner, even in the midst of lightning and thunto

and

We

' angels cannot reach it." honour, and justly, the precious ves-

men and

sels in

which the Church encloses the

der, to converse face to face with the

Most

High

'
;

but

God

did not

become substan-

tially united with that immortal legislator. It was a great honour for Elias to hear

But is holy and adorable Eucharist. there any proportion between that silver, or that gold, set off by the most magnificent ornaments, and the august and ever venerable body, which supplied our divine

and see striking signs of the

greatness of the

infinite

Supreme Being ;^ but God, when he manifested to him his

Redeemer with the adorable blood

redemption
"
?
. . . .

of our

Yes, that

is

super-

adorable presence, did not unite himself It substantially to that faithful prophet.

eminently
Lord,"' of

the vessel of election of the

was a great honour

Jesus Christ at his

for

Zaccheus

to receive

a value infinitely superior " to that of a massy vessel of gold,

table,*

and

for

Lazarus

adorned with every precious stone;

that flesh so pure

"^^

it is

and his

sisters to

show him
*

hospitality,

and

holy, which, after

and even

to enjoy the signal favour of his

:

divine friendship

but how

far are all

having worthily "borne God in itself,"" did not know the corruption of the tomb,
but on the contrary, according to the pious tradition of the Church, was glorified
(7) Serm. 3 de Nativ. B.
(8) Cone, de

precious and honourable, from that intimate and in-

these relations,

however

(1) Qeu. xviii. (3) 3 Kings xix. (5) St.

(2) Exod. xix., xx. (4) St. Lake xix.

St.

M,

V.

Luke

X.

John

xi.

(6) Serm. de AsBumpt. B. M. V., cap.

5.

(9) Acts ix. 15. Ecclus. 1. 10. (10) (11) 1 Oor. vi. 20.

Annunt.

MOST BLESSED VIEQIN.

by resurrection
Jesus.
like the

485

body of the divine

faith
let

US know

Let us here reanimate our

us

to keep our thoughts, our our desires, our views, and all affections, our actions up to that height of nobleness,

how

remember
it

that by the ineffable mystery

of the Eucharist, our body, corruptible as

is,

we

greatness, and admirable glory to which are elevated by one single Communion.

finds itself elevated to a

it

sublime

union, which also makes of

a vessel of

Mary, you who desei-ve all homage, next to God, you contained for nine

honour; and that we ought constantly to be afraid of profaning it by the slightest

defilement.

months

in your chaste

womb him whose

effulgent majesty the angels adore, "cover-

meditate upon, or too

into, this truth,

... O we cannot much

under
all its

too

much
By

penetrate

ing their faces with their wings."* What, then, can we offer to you for the honour

aspects.

the holy of Jesus

Communion, we become temples

:

which he has done you in borrowing from your substance the body with which he is
clothed,

enough, sanctuaries of Jesus, tabernacles of Jesus this is not

;

this is not

and

in giving

" a kind you thus

of ineffable identity"* with

him? ....

enough, sacred vessels, true living vessels in which Jesus reposes What do
not enough, living vessels, with which he unites himself in
I say?
this
is
still

Receive here the expression of all those sentiments with which so much elevation

and greatness must inspire the heart of

the
true
faithful.

Make

us feel

how

so intimate a

manner,

"

that

he makes
St. Cyril.

high the divine Eucharist places even us

now but one with them,"' says " We, then, who have received
to

so great

an honour, let us not be so unhappy as disown him, above all, so as to descend

among creatures, and that, become by means of it more august than the sacred vessels which contain it, we may consider
ourselves, in all things and at all times, " as vessels of honour,"* prepared for
celestial glory.

to the

rank of the brute, who has no un-

derstanding."' We, who are full of just veneration for the sacred vessels of our
altars,

lt

us know, in every place and

Vessel of honoub, prat for us

Vas honorabile, ora pro nobis I
(4) St. Teter (6)

at all times,

how

to respect ourselves

let

(1) Lib. iv. in Joan. (2) Ps. xlviii. 13.

cap. 17.

Damian, de Nat. Virg.

ix.

(3) Isa. vi. 2.

Eom.

21, 23.

486

LITANY OF THE

MEDITATION XXXIV.
VAS INSIGNE DEVOTTONIS,
Piety, devotion, fervour,

ORA FRO NOBIS

words

inade-

sports of incomparable devotion hast thou

quate to express what burning zeal there always was in Mary, for the service of
the Lord. could describe the lively ardour of her prayer, her intimate union

concealed from the knowledge of

men

Who

what raptures, what unspeakable sighs, when Jesus had ascended to heaven
1

"What impetuosity of love, to which

!

every-

with
peace,

God, her silence of ecstacy, her

her spiritual joy so sweet, so her continual aspirations todelicious, wards her beloved, the holiness of her

thing tender in nature, everything divine and eflficacious in grace concurred " '

thoughts, the purity of her affections and

desires,

Queen Esther could venture to say " to God, Thou knowest .... that thy handmaid has never rejoiced .... but
If

her self-devotedness, so generous,

to the glory

in thee,

so

magnanimous, so absolute

of her Creator?

the holy King David could testify of himself that " the praise of the Lord was always in his mouth,"* if
;

Lord

" *

if

Temple
what

of Jerusalem,
first

where she so

he exclaimed in the ardour of his

"

soul,

piously spent the

secrets,

years of her Ufe,

When

shall I

worthy of our admiration, hast thou enclosed within thy sacred precincts

the face of could say, " I

liveth in

come and appear before God?"' if the Apostle Paul

live,

August house of Nazareth, where she lived so long in the presence and
I

constant contemplation of her God, become her Son ; thou whose venerable
walls so eloquently speak to the heart of the pilgrim of Loretto, tell us then some-

having a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ j"' if, in fine, the illustrious missionary of the
;

me

"*

now
"

not I

but Christ

Indies, amidst the inebriating emotions

of his tender piety, feeling himself over-

thing of

all

those wonders of adoration,

powered with love, prayed to God to moderate his favours " Enough, Lord,
:

praise, love,

and superhuman effusion of

in the heart of the divine

"

enough

what must we think of

the soul of

Mary

Jesus

holy abode, which she shared with the beloved apostle, after
1

And

thou,

the august Mother of our Saviour, of her whom the saints have called a furnace, a " of divine and whom the
fire

the death of our Saviour,'

what

tran-

love,"* " a in the Canticle compares to Spouse

(1) St.

John

xix. 27.

(6)

Gal.

ii.
i.

20.

(2) BoBsuet, 1

Serm. Bur rAssompt.

(7) Phil. (8) (9)

23.
t. i.

(3) Esther xiv. 18. (4) Pb. xxxiii. 2.

Life of St. Francis Xavier,

St.

p. 246.

John Damascen, De Dormit. B. M. V.

9,

(6) Pa. xli. 3,

St.

Bernardin of Sieuna, Serm.

de Visit.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN. lamp

for

487
of
to

of fire

and flames?"*

her a day, an hour, a which her thought, word, will

activity of

for its

her being had not God alone object? an instant in which she

the whole

Was there moment in

the

hand
'

God

" as

instruments of
!

justice,"

May
"

our

combat and conquer sin bodies be a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to

God " '

1

did not do "the things that please him,"' and with an eagerness, a purity of intention, a devotedness

inMary ' strument, the work of the Most High,"

Vouchsafe,

" admirable

vouchsafe to obtain for us the grace to be

pious,

which we cannot con-

and

to

show ourselves meek and

-

ceive ? Let us ask this rather of the angels and seraphim, " ravished," says St. Ber" with the ardour and splendour of nard,

In ancient times, at the word of the prophet Eliseus, an unstrong in our piety.

the holy flame of her devotion"' and who could tell the joys, the sweetness,
. .

happy widow, pursued to extremity by an inexorable creditor, had brought to her

by her children a number of empty vessels;
she poured into them, in succession, part
of the small quantity of oil which she
left;
filled,
all

the marvellous delights with which this devotion inundated her heart ? You yourself give us enough to judge of it, Mary,

had

these vessels were miraculously

to

by that expressive exclamation of your " sacred Canticle, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and

and she had wherewith

and even enough
family.*
I

pay her

debt,

to support herself
also,

my

spirit rejoiceth in

God

and her

To you

holy

my

Saviour."*
piety
1

sweet and tender Christian

Virgin on the word of the angel, who " " on the hailed you as full of grace,"

thou who art the principle and piety, support of all the magnificent works of thou who impartest resignation charity
;

word of the Church, who

calls

of singular devotion, we offer alas too devoid of Christian piety and

!

you Vessel our hearts,

to

the heart lacerated with

grief,

and

strength to the soul attacked by despair ; thou who dost draw from the eyes of repentance tears mixed with so much

good works, which spring from it. Do not refuse to pour into them unceasingly from your superabundance, so that we
not only satisfy the divine justice by our fervour, but acquire precious merits " for heaven. It is written that

may

almost heavenly from those of innocence, inebriated with Divine love, come, come and penetrate us with thy most precious unction come
;

consolation, and tears

godhness

has promise of the

is to

life

that

now

is,

and of that which

and make
tified

of us " vessels of honour sanc-

and profitable to the Lord, prepared "' unto every good work By thy celes!

that these promises so realized in our favour,

come;"" and consoling may be

tial

influence

may

all

our members be in
(2)

Vessel of singular devotion, pray for ds! Vas insigne devotionis, ora pro nobis I
(6) (8)

(1) Cant. viii. 6. (3) (4)

St.

John
ii.

viii.

29.

Eom.

vi. 13.
xliii. 2.
i.

(7) (9)

Rom.

xii. 1.

Serm. 2
St.

in
i.

Assumpt.
47.
(5)

Ecclus.

Luke

2 Tim.

21,

(10) St.

Luke

28.

4 Kings iv. (11) 1 Tim. iv. 8

488

LITANY OF THE
d

oiU

^n

MEDITATION XXXV.
EOSA MYSTICA,
I.hVff'

OKA PEa NOBIS

Queen

sacred books give us to hear the voice of the heavenly Spouse, comparing
his spouse to a garden border of spices, ' " " with all the chief perfumes." Arise," " he and

The

of all the spiritual flowers

will

which

form and

form the ornament of the

Church
tures a

of heaven

and the Church of the

earth, that
!

north wind, cries, arise, come, south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof

Queen, in fine, of all creaLike you, but in a sense and in

infinitely superior to

manner

your

deli-

cious charms,

flow."*

It

is

the divine Virgin,

whom
under

Christian piety loves to recognise

forth in beauty, the incomparable sweetness and divine

how does Mary shine how enchanting is she by

!

the image of all tlie chosen plants, of all the odoriferous flowers of this garden of

odour of her virtues

Never did the beauteous soul of the

most Blessed Virgin undergo even the shadow of the slightest alteration never
;

the Spouse of the Canticles. It is Mary, whom she delights to style, with St. " the true of

Ephrem,
where

garden

pleasure,"'

did the least breath of

evil

come

to spoil

all

flowers abound, with the hea:

venly odour of all virtues flowers, among which the Church made choice of the
rose for the

the freshness or the splendour of that mystical Rose ; never did the pure calyx
of that marvellous flower, truly the fa-

name

of this beloved one of

vourite of

God, cease

to exhale to

the Lord, thus giving her praise the most delicate, the most graceful, the best calculated to
rose,

of the sweet perfume of love and praise love the most ardent, and praise the

him

charm our mind and our

heart.

whom

the Creator has

made

so

most pious. Although planted, like its sisters, on a soil where so many storms bend and wither
their
lost

sweet and so

fair,

so rich in show,

and
so

their stems

and

strip

of such pleasing odour,

queen

of all
are

brilliant

corollas,

she has never

those terrestrial flowers, which

magnificent in their

inimitable
in

attire,

her original beauty or the sweetness and excellence of her perfume.

either

and

yet

so

varied

the

shades of

their colours
tions, with

and

their odoriferous emaiia-

Yet you have had thorns, mystical alas and the sharpest thorns too, Rose,
1

what happiness do

I salute

you, as the emblem of Mary, my divine Mother, that Queen of all intelligences,

but for yourself alone. Could you fail, O Mary to resemble the divine head of the
!

elect, that
suffer,

adorable Saviour,

who

"

was

to

even the most embellished by grace, that

Cant

and so

to enter into his

glory?"*

(1)

iv.

U.

(2) Ibid. iv. 16.

(3) Orat. de Deipara.

(4)

St.

Luke

xxiv. 26.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

not necessary, moreover, that like your divine Son, you should learn by " have compassion on our inyourself to
it
*

489

Was

be dazzled by the deceitful glare of created

things, which,
"
like grass
. . .

flourish
fall,

in the morning, and in the evening

firmities,"

and

to feel for us that lively

grow

dry,

and wither." * Let us remember

sympathy which is imparted by the experience of the same sufferings ?"....

your brethren according to the flesh, your beloved children according to grace, you " are without thorns. You have nothing

that in

But with regard

to

us

who

are

everything has been given to us to raise up our souls to God, and that far from fixing our heart upon
this world

it,

as if
it

it

were our
excite

last end,

we ought

to

use
of,

to

ourselves to the desire

after, that true

and earnest search

which can wound," says St. Ambrose, " nothing which does not express an universal
is there in you," says St. Bernard, " which could You have inspire fear or diffidence ?

country where there are none but immortal flowers, and where the Mtjstical

benevolence."

"

What

Rose

is

the

admiration
"

of

saints

and

angels.

Mary you
!

are

exalted ... as a rose-

are

nothing terrifying, nothing austere all sweetness towards all

you

Go

through the Gospel history attentively," adds this holy doctor, " carefully examine
the sacred pages if you find in Mary the smallest trait of reproach or severity, if you discover the slightest indication
all
;

plant in Jericho;"' you have flourished " as the rose planted by the brooks of " waters your beauty is like that of the
;

'

"

lily

and

as the flower of roses in the

days of the spring."

" But who

"

shall give

the good odour of Jesus,"" which everything in you breathes

forth
?

us an adequate idea of

opposed

to the greatest

meekness,

am
of

Who

shall tell us

how much

the

willing that we should speak no this divine Mother,"*

more

O let us follow the attraction of the heavenly odour of this immortal rose, which

perfume " odour of the best myrrh ?"'^ Yes, you are that chosen flower, which alone in the
barren valley of this world, have drawn down upon you the " dew from above,
. .

of your virtues

surpasses the

their joy
her."'

embalms innocent hearts, and constitutes and dehght " let us run after
;

the Just One." "

blessed flower,

Let us take care not

to suffer our-

by the ephemeral here below, nor to let ourselves perfumes

selves to be overpowered

wonderful flower, flower of heaven, it is in heaven alone that it will be given us to

know you well, and

to praise

you worthily

(1)

(2)

Heb. Heb.
Serm.

iv.
ii.

15.
17. 18.

(8) Ecclus. xxxix. 17. (9) Isa. XXXV. 1.

(3) Lib. 2 de Virginitate, cap. 2.

(4)
1

de Asaumpt.

(10) Ecclus.

I.

8.

(6) Cant. i. 3. (6) Ps. Ixxxix. 6.

(11) 2 Oor.

ii.

15.

(12) Ecclus. xxiv. 20, 21.

(7) Ecclus. xxiv. 18.

(13) Isa. xliv. 8.

3b

490
Grant that we may walk

LITANy OP THE
in the " odour of

your ointments,' in the pure and undefiled " * of the true children of God, to have way

your Son for all the favours with which you have been loaded
glorify
I

one day the happiness

to see you,

and

Mystical Rose, pray foe us Eosa Mystica, ora pro nobis t

MEDITATION XXXVI.
TUERIS
DAVIDICA,

ORA

PRO

NOBIS

If the tower of David, " built with bulwarks, on which

lers, all

brought from heaven by our Lord Jesus

Christ.

hung a thousand buck-

"

how powerful

is this

august

the armour of vahant men,"' was

Queen
venture

the ornament and defence of Jerusalem,

is

against hell," exclaims St. Bona" she is much more terrible than
;

not Mary the glory and impregnable fortress of the Church ? Moreover, does

an army set in array." "... Hence the wicked angel has never failed, when
attacking the Church with violence, to attack at the same time the most Blessed
Virgin,

not the blood of David flow in her veins, the blood of that holy king, who, before he
arrived at the throne,

had known how

to

unite with

the

modest attributes of a

who is its impregnable citadel. From the second century, when the

shepherd the noble distinction of conqueror of the Philisthine giant ? How justly then may Mary be called Tower of
David, she, in

wicked Cerinthus dared to dispute one of the privileges which the Catholic faith
secures to Mary, there has hardly been an

whom we
. .

admire so much

humility joined with so

1 . .

much

greatness

heresiarch whose tongue or pen, either directly or indirectly, has not been dis-

and glory But in what respect ought we

specially

posed to direct against her the venom of his false doctrine there has not been one
;

to apply to the Blessed Virgin the image " of a great and high tower," * the inac-

whose audacious

folly

Mary has not con-

cessible front of
city ?

which defends a warlike

founded by the thunders of the authority of the Church, which is ever ready to defend
Jesus Christ when attacked in his august This is why that faithful guarMother.
dian of the heavenly doctrine dehghts to exhibit to us "the old serpent,"* struggling.

It is particularly

of

her

protection

under the aspect from the assaults

which Satan has always made against the Church, the depository of the truth

(1) Oant.

i.

4.

(2) Ps. c. 2.

(4) 2 Esd.

iii.

27.

(6) Cant. vi. 3.

xii, 9.

(3) Oant. iv. 4.

(6)

Apoc.

Most BLESSED VIEGIN.

always in vain, to raise his head from beneath the ever victorious foot of the
divine Virgin,

491

length against the

new tower

of David.

whose
seems as

against error

it

admirable power if the Lord would

fact, the temples are rethe altars set up again, the pastors opened,

Very soon, in

in

modern times make more conspicuous

ever.
It is

are restored to their sheep ; and it was on the day of the glorious Assumption of the

than

a remarkable thing that those nations who have been the most devout to

most Blessed Virgin that the celebrated concordat was signed, which was the
pledge of the restoration of the Church of France.

or have

Mary, are those who have been preserved, had the least to suffer, from the

ravages of the heresy of the sixteenth

Look at Italy, Spain, Belgium century. look at France .... France, where the
;

us congratulate ourselves, before God, upon the happiness we have in being born on a soil which belongs to
let

Here

Mary by
precious

a solemn consecration, a con-

protection of the Queen of Heaven manifested itself anew, and in a striking man-

soling pledge of the preservation of the

treasure

of

faith

in

our fine

ner

at the

end

of the eighteenth.

was then worse than heresy, there was impiety armed with political power reigning in absolute sovereignty.

There

Nevertheless, let us not forget country. that formerly the apostles, though they were certain, from the word of their Divine

No more
;

temples, no more altars, no more priests faith was of itself a crime deserving death.
. .

Master, that the persecution of the Synagogue would be powerless against the

Church
lifted

in its infancy,

"

with one accord

'

Mary

will

you then forget that

to

up

their voice to God,"

to pray for

France was always

predilection
;

you a country of
to

victory.

We,

also, earnestly

beseech the

that

it

was dedicated

you

Lord not
tinguished

to permit faith to

be ever ex-

by one of

its

kings, of pious

memory ?*
numerous

Do you

not hear the ardent sighs of your

servants

who remain

still

so

the people beloved by Mary; and in our temptations, in those especially which are contrary to that

among

amid so many desolating apostacies ? And in the land of exile, do not our confessors
of the faith join their

fundamental virtue of Christianity, having recourse promptly to her, let us take

refuge in this tower of David, where the darts of the enemy cannot reach us.

most fervent sup-

plications to those of the faithful sheep, from whom the fury of the tempest has

divine

Mother of
it is

Him who
to

calls

Oh this compelled them to retire ? good and tender Mother will not forsake
.

himself " the truth,"^

adorable

you

that your

her cherished people;

all

the efforts of

triumphant impiety

will

be broken at

Son seems to have confided the for it is to you that care of his Church refers the glory of her this same Church*
;

(1) Louis XIII. (2) Acts iv. 24.

(3) St. John xiv. 6. (4) Brev. Rom. in festia B.

M.

492

LITAFY OP THE
against every danger which our faith might incur ; protect us above all at the

triumphs over all the errors which have attempted to shake the most holy points
of belief, and even the foundations of the " * You are to her a refuge, city of God." " a tower of strength against the face of the

hour of death, and to prepare us for the last combat, which ought to secure our
eternal triumph, obtain for us of
faith, lively

God

enemy;"* you are "the strong tower,"' which saves her children in " the day of
tribulation."*

and immovable.
I

protect us.

TowEE OF David, phay for us

Tunis Davidica, ora pro
nobis
!

against the assaults of hell,

Holy Virgin, and especially

MEDITATION XXXVII.
TUREIS

EBUBNEA,

DBA PRO NOBIS

tions,
let

IvOET has a shining whiteness, and a remarkable enamel, which please the eye,
and,
at

us confine ourselves to the

the same

time, a solidity
to the gigantic

and

consideration of the mystical " Tower of Ivory"" as the model and support of our

strength analogous

animal

which supplies image

equally

man
In

with

it:

a twofold

perseverance in the service of our Lord How great was the perpetual consecration of
fices

applicable

to

the

most

Mary
I

to

Holy Virgin. being could we

what

other

human
the

which

filled

God, amidst all the sacriup her most holy life in

find, as in her, that inno-

cence and candour of soul which

angels themselves admired
;

the time of her separation from her family, which the Most
this world

From

that splendour of virginity, which, during the days of her terrestrial pilgrimage, was reflected
in

High required
what

of her at

tribulation,

an age so tender, what anguish, what

which penetrated

her universally, and the charms of all hearts with a feeling

?'

heartrending and certain foresight, what agonizing sorrows elevated to sublimity

of ineffable reverence

The her constancy in the path of duty perplexity of St. Joseph on the subject of
!

But without dwelling here on that miraculous purity which has already been several times the subject of our medita-

a mystery, which prudence did not permit her to reveal to her chaste spouse; the journey to Bethlehem, so painful on so

(1) Pb. Ixxxvi. 3.

(2) Pa. Ix. 4. (3) Prov. xviii. 10.

(5) St. DionysiuB Areop., Ep, ad Paul, apud Garth us, in 1 Sent. dist. 16, q. 2.

(4) Pb. xix. 2.

(6) Cant.

vii.

4^

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

493

many accounts

the isolation and destitu-

tion of the stable, the sole asylum left to

they even run without fatigue in the way of salvation. But as soon as obstacles

the Infant-God; the double prophesy of the holy old man, Simeon, on the unjust

our path, as soon as we must do violence to ourselves, to break through

arise in

hatred of which our Saviour was to be the

object,

the deceitful charm of the seduction of the heart or the senses, or to rise above the senseless ridicule of " the children
of the world,"'

and on the sword which was

to

"pierce the soul"' of his Mother; the flight into Egypt, with all the inconveniences and
all

then

we

feel ourselves

the privations of exile;

the desolating absence of Jesus during three days after the feast of the Passover ;
the humiliating labours to which she saw him subjected in the poor workshop of

O if we imitated Mary, far from letting ourselves be discouraged by the storms which Providence permits to
wanting.

vent their rage against us, we should

regard them as precious means of expiating the past, of acquiring a holy distrust of ourselves, and an entire confidence in

Nazareth

the fatigues and suflferings of his public life the intrigues, the pursuits, the atrocious calumnies of his ene;

all

God

alone, of strengthening

mies, which so deeply

affected her; all

the unheard-of ignominies and disgrace of his passion ; the cross, in fine, standing before her maternal eyes, and herself

ourselves in good by the conflict against evil, and of gaining inestimable merit for
life. And you too, pious souls, walked in the footsteps of her whom you you love to call your good Mother, would you not bear with more courage and con-

eternal

if

what standing at the foot of that cross an uninterrupted succession of rude trials,
:

well calculated to disconcert

and subvert
! .

fidence the weight of those interior pains

the courage of a daughter of Eve But in the midst of all these trials, Mary, ever calm and serene; Mary, ever sub.

which may assault you? ... forget that one day of fidelity
dryness, in

O
to

do not

God

in

missive, ever inseparably united to the will of her God ; Mary, ever valiant and

mental darkness, in wearisomeness and disgust, becomes more profitable you than a thousand days passed in the holy joys of devotion. There are, accordto

devoted; Mary, always the an example what an eloquent lesson for us who are so little firm, so little constant
!

same, what

ing to the sentiment of

lives,

one of which
"
:

Augustin, two depends upon the

St.

in

good

As long
us at

as the dangerous occasion is

at a distance from us, or temptation leaves

rest, or

that of trial, which we must unand that of beatititde, for which dergo; we must hope."' In this second life, all

other

the world will not find fault

your groanings,
acts of

with our

fulfilling our duties towards God, our feet do not stray from the right path,

your sighs, all your resignation will be taken into

all

account before

God

and you
Fel. Manic,

will find

(1) St.

Luke

ii.

35.

(2) St.

Luke

xvi. 8.

(3) Lib. 2, de Act.

cum

c.

10.

494

LITANY OF THE
at the feet of the "just judge,"'

them again

many precious pearls, the immortal splendour of which shall increase the glory of your celestial diadem.
Mary
!

transformed into so

understanding and the discouragements of the will. Perseverance in good, in the

midst of temptations of every kind " with which our life is beset," * is a grace above
all

incomparably more brilliant

price

and we cannot petition

for
is

it

in the sight of the Lord by your virtues and merits than ever was in the sight of "' " made by the men, the house of ivory " seventh king of Israel, and the great throne of ivory"' of King Solomon, we
will always

with

too

much

earnestness.

It

by

your happy intercession that we hope to obtain it ; and to protect our frail virtue,

we

desire to take refuge henceforth in

up our eyes to you as to a tower of salvation, " whence help shall come to us,"* against the world and the
lift

your immaculate heart, as in an impregnable asylum. O you, whom we invoke

full of

confidence,

devil, against the evil propensities of

our
the

TOWEK

OF IVORY, PRAY FOR US

nobis
I

nature,

against

the

obscurities

of

Turns ebumea, ora pro

MEDITATION
wonder was the temple of built by King Solomon IndeJerusalem,
great a
1

XXXYIII.
1

DOMUS AUREA, ORA PRO NOBIS

How

and that it might almost literally have been called a " house of gold?"
gold,"

pendently of the magnificent stones, with which the foundations and walls were

But how much more does

this

name

who could but have admired the wainscoting of cedar, carved with so much
built,
ability,

belong to the most holy Virgin, the living sanctuary which the Lord himself made
for himself;

which " he hath chosen

'

for

the

cherubim, the

palm

trees

standing out in relief, the flowers opening benefith the brilliant glitter of the gold,
the very pavement inlaid with plates of that precious metal, which was so pro" there was nothing fusely employed that
in the temple that was not covered with

This august and holy with which he has is saying too little, united himself by sanctifying grace more
his dwelling,"

closely than with

any other created being,

in a

and by the divine maternity,

approaching

manner
union

nea:rest to the adorable

which makes one and the same person of

(1) 2 (3) 3

Tim.

iv. 8.

Kings

x.

18

(2) 3 Kings xxii. 39. (4) Pb. cxx. 1.

(6)

Job

vii. 1.

(6) 3 Kings vi. 22. (7) Pb. oxxii. 13,

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN

the eternal

49i
colour!

Word and

the Son of

Mary

on account of
is

its fiery

In

fact,

....

Before the Incarnation, you were

incomparable Virgin, in a wonderful sense, the house of the Lord, his

already,

not her perpetual integrity one of the " Does greatest miracles of our Lord ?

Home of Gold, by pre-eminence, you whom

he had adorned with so many prerogatives, infinitely more precious than all the gold
in the world

not the excellence of her purity," says St. " Anselm, surpass, without comparison,
all

the purity of

all

creatures

And

is

you, whose every thought, desire, word, and action were, in his sight, of a value so superior to that which that
;

not this what made her worthy to be in a certain setise the restorer of the world,

which was plunged in the lowest abyss of perdition ?"' Her love of God is no less
"

brilliant

metal bears with men, which

is

astonishing.

Who can
is

doubt," exclaims
of Mary, in

the object of their search, which is full of is the spring of seduction, which, alas
!

" that the St. Augustin,

womb

which God, who

corporally
for

charity

itself,

motion, and too often the idol of their But on the eternally memowhole life
I

nine

months,

was

reposed not

rable day of the Annunciation, you be-

" * This wholly transformed into charity ? is why St. Bernardin could say of this

came
still,

in a sense

much more wonderful

his House of Gold : for of your most pure substance the Word made then and for ever his own ; he dwelt within you
for the first nine

Blessed Virgin, " that there was so much love within her that she would willingly

have given herself up to death for her Son, not once, nor a thousand times, but an infinite number of times, been possible."*
Alas
1

months
sublime

of those expia-

if

it

had

te xy
life
:

years

upon
that "

earth, living

on your
that
to

and

alliance,

why

is it

not the same with us, so

inefi'able

union,

has merited for you

all

far, at least, as

be proclaimed blessed by
blessed by all powers of heaven

generations, the prophets, by all the

;

weak nature

may be permitted to our Why do we, who by Bap-

yes, blessed in our mind, in our heart, blessed in all the

tism, by Confirmation, by the Eucharist have been consecrated to God " as his

concerts of our praises

"
!

temples," show ourselves so little worthy of the "holy of holies,"' who has con-

And how

justly,

moreover,

is

this Viris

descended
within us
?

to

make

"

his living abode

"

'

gin called the House of Gold,

who

en-

Why

are we,

who would be
it

dowed with a perfect

purity, of

which gold,

so eager to decorate our dwelling, if

to

was

not subject to any change, is so excellent a symbol; this Virgin inflamed with divine love, of which gold is likewise the emblem.

have the honour of receiving somt

illustrious guest, so little zealous to

make

of our soul

and body a House of Gold

(1) St. Ildefonaus, Lib. de Virginit. B. (2) De exul. B.V., c. 9.

M.
c.

(4) Serni. de Nat. (5) 2 Cor. vi. 16.

B.V.
(6)

Dan.

iii.

24.

(3)

Quoted by

St.

Bonaventure, in spec.

14.

(7)

1 St.

Peter

il 5.

496

LITANY OF THE
him, and will make our abode with him."* In you the Lord has been

. . agreeable to the Lord ? Why, yet again, so far from allowing ourselves to
. .

come

to

be inflamed with the love of the sovereign good, do we feel only a foolish passion
the bewitching of vanity which obscureth good things,"* and coldness for that God who is so ravishing an object of
for

pleased to dwell,' in a wonderful way, and he has filled you with his glory* in a

"

manner much more wonderful than he

formerly filled the temple of Solomon. if we could comprehend the honour to

amiability

and love
!

Shame and
there

which he

raises us,

by making ourselves

confusion upon us

But

also let

be repentance, and henceforth frequent

acts,

his living temples, how faithful should we be in keeping ourselves pure and holy:
faithful in

as frequent as

possible,

of piety,

devotion, and ardent love towards

him

sacrificing continually upon the altar of our heart nature to duty,

whose temples

it is

given us by a signal

present and transitory joys to the future

favour to become.
It is through you,

and permanent joys of

Mary,
is
it is

eternity

faithful

by your

intercession, which

so powerful, that

in keeping constantly alive therein the fire of holy love Pray for us, that we
!

we hope

to deserve to

have accomplished

in us that word of your divine

Son

"
:

If

may have this inestimable happiness beseech you with all our heart.
House of Gold, pkay fok us Domus aurea, ora pro nobis!
I

we

any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will

MEDITATION XXXIX.
FCEDEEIS
AECA,

ORA

PRO

NOBIs!

where

If the magnificent temple of Solomon, it may be said that everything was

to

not liable to decay,* although

of gold, presents

us an emblem of

' house
figure

Mary, what was most august in this of the Lord,"' the ark of the
covenant,
still

its germ was corruptible. And you, Mary from a guilty stem, were though sprung preserved from the original stain, and no
I

corruption has ever been able to reach

you. Plates of pure

The

significant of this divine Virgin. ark was made of a wood which was

is

much more

gold covered the ark both without and within ; it was sur*

(1)

Wisd.

iv. 12.

(2) St.

John

xiv. 23.

(4) 3

Kings

viii.
viii.

11.
11.

2 Paral.

v. 8.

(3) Pa. cxxxi.

U.

(5) 3 Kings

(6) Ex. XXV. 10.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

497

mounted with a crown

with
the

of gold,

and covered
also

propitiatory,

which was
;

contained within you, by a favour unequalled, tlie Author himself of

fruit.'

You

made
bim,

of that precious metal

also

two

ctieru-

of

gold,

with

their

wings

tne two tables of the covenant; you became as it were " the depository of the
sacred title-deeds of the Old and

extended, overshadowed the propitiatory, from above which the majesty of God
delivered his oracles to the children of
Israel.'

New

Testament,* the abridgment of all the divine oracles," the book of the divine

And you, Mary! "full of with what shining gold, without grace,"*
and beyond
I

alloy,

clothed

What

have you been a throne have you offered

all price,

Word, whose sacred pages the eternal Father opens to the eyes of the whole " world."

God

in

former times impressed his

in yourself to the

Lord

May we not

people, and sometimes even the Gentiles,

say of you, with St. Andrew of Crete, that " you are the universal propitiatory of the
world,"* the living sanctuary, whence the " Word made flesh"* has made the oracle

with a profound respect for the ark of the

covenant, by various prodigies which were " before it the Israelites occasioned by it ;

of salvation heard by the whole earth ? In the ark were deposited " a golden vessel full of manna, the rod of Aaron,

bowed down to procure the favour of heaven,'^ and its stay in the house of Obededom.drew down the blessing of the Lord upon him and his family.'* Before
you,

which had miraculously blossomed, the

two
tables of the covenant,""
Sinai.

given to
you,

the faithful prostrate themselves to obtain of your divine Son the

Mary

Moses on Mount

And

august Virgin, you had the happiness to conceive and bring forth him who became for our sakes " the
living

bread,

favours which they solicit, well knowing that he delights to dispense his gifts to men through you, and that " every grace '* flows from your hands." Through you

which came down from heaven."' You had the infinite honour to become the
of a Son who was formed within and was born of you by a prodigy you, far more astonishing than that which

thousands and thousands of prodigies in

temporal
afi'airs

and in those of

salvation

Mother

are wrought, to the great admiration of

men

of faith

and does not your sacred

venerated
in

image

piously

Christian

when they saw

struck the twelve tribes with admiration, the dry rod of the high-

families draw

down upon them precious

fail to

benedictions

priest covered with leaves, blossoms, and

Who,

in fine, could

see in the*

(1)
(3)

Exod. XXV.

(2) St.
(4) St. (6) St.

Luke
Jobn John

i. i.

28.
14.

(10) Serm.
Epiplianius.

de

laud.

Virg.,

attributed

to

St.

De dormitVirg.
Heb.
ix. 4.

(5) (7)

vi.

61.

(11) Exod. XXV. (12) Josue

vii. 6.

Josue
11.

iii.,

vi.

1 Kings

v., vi.

Numb.

xvii.

(8) Rupert, in cap. 4 Cant. (9) St. Andrew of Crete, Serm.

(13) 2 Kings

vi.

de Assumpt,

(14) St. Bernard, Serm. 3 de nomine Marise.

3 s

498

LITANY OF THE
enable us, Mary happily to pass over the dangerous waters of the present life " you are to us the living ark of the Lord
!

solemn entry which David made with the

ark into Jerusalem, the figure of your
glorious and triumphant Assumption,

you

" ark of
to

sanctification,

who

arose

of

all

the earth."'

Doubtless the cove-

from earth
place,*

and

heaven into your restingto sit at the right hand of

nant with which the " God of majesty"* condescended formerly to honour Abra-

never cease to " Mother?"* show yourself our good may we show ourselves true children

God,"' with

whom you

ham,

Isaac,

of Israel,

and Jacob, and the children was very precious. But it was
an image, a shadow of that
fa-

after all only

of Mary,

and find

in this august ark of

with which the Son of the Eternal

the

a continual protection and a source of heavenly blessings " He who neglects the service of the most
!

new covenant

voured us by becoming

man

for us in

your womb, by regenerating us by his adorable blood, the merits of which he

applies to us by those sacred rites which
sanctify us

Blessed Virgin," says St. Bonaventure, " runs a great risk of dying in his sins; but he who worthily honours her shall be
justified

from our cradle,

assist
life,

us,

strengthen us, console us during

at

and
dis-

according to the expressions of St. Peter Chryso" the blessed Mediatrix between logus,
is,

and saved ; "*

for

she

our

last

hour encourage

us,

and

man and

the Man-God;"* and if the " merits of him who prays," adds St. An" cannot selm, prevail upon Him to hear, those of the divine Mother, who inter-

pose us to pass with confidence over the awful threshold of eternity. you by have come to whom all these blessings
us, "paradise of the

new Adam,*

living
for

palace of the

Most High,"" obtain

us

the grace to

make good use

of them,

and

cedes for him, cause

request."*

him

to obtain his

you with the pious heart ejaculation of a faithful

to repeat always to

As the ark

carried before the

Hebrews

in the passage of the Jordan introduced

Ark or the Covenant, pray for

Foederis area, ora pro nobis
!

us

them

into the land of promise, so do

you

(1) Ps. cxxxi. 8. (3)

(2) St.

Mark

xvi. 19.

(G)

De

Hymn

Ave Marit
Aunuut.

Stella,

(7) Josue
(9) St.

excellent Virg. iii. 11.

(8) Ps. xxviii. 3.

(4) In Psalt. (5) Serm. de

John Damascen, Orat. de dormit. B. M.V. in fest. S. Joan. B. (10) St. John Chrysost., Horn. 'A,

>/

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

499

MEDITATION XL.
JANUA
" I

COSLI,

OEA PRO
conceived
"

NOBIS

AM the

door," said Jesus

'
;

"no one

him

in her heart," says St. Leo,

Cometh to the Father, but by me."* To give then to Mary the name of Gate of Heaven, is not this attributing to her
what belongs exclusively
to

before she conceived

it

Was

in her womb." not through her that " the good-

him

ness of

the

Man-

Saviour appeared to all men,"' under the forms of humanity, of

is

God our

not infringing the inalienable rights of the Son in favour of the

Is
it

God?

him who
life,""

" the

resurrection and

the

and whose triumphant ascension

to introduce to the

Mother?
" the certainly the Church, which is pillar and ground of truth,"* does not " there forget that oracle of St. Paul, that

was able alone

souls
of

abode

of eternal happiness even the

most holy
before

those

who had

died

"he
it

is

one God, and one Mediator of God and

:

men, the man Christ Jesus

who gave

entered into his glory?"" "Was not by Mary," says St. Augustin, " that God descended visibly upon earth, that

himself a redemption for all."* But she teaches with St. Jerom, that " all the

by her

men may

merit

to

ascend to

heaven?""

honour paid
Jesus as
that "
if

to

Mary tends
"*
;

to the glory of
St.

What powerful
"

its

end

and with

Anselm,

support are you, indeed, sweet Virgin Mary,"" to all those who

Mary has so much power, it is from Jesus that she derives it, and with

implore you, and humbly entreat you to

assist

them

to

become worthy
!

to enter

one

him
It

that she exercises it."*

is, therefore, to the greater glory of

day into celestial bliss

St.

how justly did

it is

Anselm

" say that

"

through you

the

Man-God,

that

the

Church here

that the exiles are called back to their

invokes the most Holy Virgin as the Gate

of Heaven, a title admirably adapted to that divine Mother. Was it not through

" You enlighten them, you encourage and support them for, according to the immortal Bishop of Hippo,
eternal country
1

Mary

that

heaven was,

in

a manner

" you are the Mother of

all

the faithful,

brought down to the earth, when she drew down amongst men Him, whose " " name is " God with us ? for she had
'

who

are the

members

of Jesus Christ,

since you co-operated by your charity to " " and if they do net their spiritual birth ;

(1)

St.

John

X. 9.

(2) Ibid., xiv. 6.

(9) Tit.

iii.

i.

(10) St.

John

xi.

25.

(3) 1 (5)
(6)

Tim.

iii.

15.

(4) 1

Tim.

ii.

5, 6.

(11)

St.

Luke

xxiv. 26.

Ad
De

Eu3toch.
excell. Virg., c. 12.
i.

(12) Serm. 18 De tempore (13) Salve Regina. (14) In medit.

i.

(7) St. Matt.

23.

(8)

Serm.

de Nat. Dom.

(15) Lib. de sancta Virginit,

o. 6.

600

LITANY OF THE

render useless, by their wickedness, the

powerful influence of your benign protec-

Son has

laid

open

to

our desires and

you guide them happily to the jiort of salvation. This made St. Antoninus
tion,

hopes. If hitherto

we have had the misfortune,

her, or a devotion

either to forget Mary, or to have only a

say, after St. Anselm,* these astonishing

words,

" As

weak devotion towards

from

whom

is impossible for him turn away your merciful you

it it

too often contradicted by our works, let us

eyes to be saved, so
for

is

certain that

he

deplore our ungrateful coldness tear away the bandage of illusions.

let

us

The
I .
. .

whom

fication

you intercede, and glory."*

will obtain justi-

compassion of a mother is great ; what must be that of a mother like Mary

If then
this

we have seriously laboured to day to draw down upon us the bene-

But from

this

moment
love

let

us have a devo-

tion towards her worthy of Jesus

whom

volent regard of the most Holy Virgin, let us feel happy, and bless the Lord, " who
inspires those," says St. John Daniascen, " who are predestined to salvation with

we ought

Mary and worthy of Mary, whom our brethren ought to learn to love and glorify in the
;

to

and

glorify in

tender devotion towards Mary."' Let us lift up our eyes with joy towards the
eternal Paradise
shall not

examples of all those who her servants.

call

themselves

of delights

there

we

In former times the patriarch Jacob, seeing in a dream a mystical ladder, from
the top of which our Lord foretold to him the sublime future of his posterity, exclaimed, in a ^transport of holy trembling, " How terrible is this place this is no
I

see

cherub armed with a

flaming sword, keeping guard to forbid us entrance, as formerly on the threshold of

the garden of Eden ; but we shall have the consolation to behold there a Mother,
the sweetest, most tender, and most in-

other but the house of God, and the gate

of heaven."
'

What

shall

we

say of you,

dulgent of mothers, turning continually towards us eyes of love, towards us, who drag along with pain our unsteady steps

same God vouchsafed to contract the closest and sweetest alliance of blood and of nature ?
Holy Virgin, with
that

whom

on

this

same

earth,

which she
;

also

once

you are ever worthy of our reverential

But, by your admirable greatness likewise, that maternal tenderness, with
fear,
I

trod with her blessed feet

we

shall see

her, with her hands extended towards this

place of banishment and trial, inviting us ^ to confide in her protection; to do violence to ourselves, in order to bear away that

which you " open to us the doors of heaven, and rain down with marvellous
abundance the manna, of all graces,"' cannot

kingdom,* which the blood of her divine

but inspire us with confidence perfectly

(1)

De

excellent Virg.,
tit.

c.

11.

(2) IV. Part,

13,

c.

14.

(4) St. Matt. xi. 12. (6) Gen. xxviii. 17.

(3) Orat. de

Aasumpt.

(6) Ps. Ixxvii. 23,

24

MOST BLESSED VIRGES.

filial.

601

With these sweet sentiments, we

"

ourselves.

acknowledge you for the true gate of the Lord, throvgh which the just enter*
into
his
eternal

as

we

are

Pray
Cceli,

then for us, unworthy

rest,"'

and

through

Gate of Heaven, pray for us

Janua
ora pro nobis
t

which we hope

to enter into the

same

MEDITATION
STELLA
DIVINE

XLI.
PRO
NOBIS
!

MATUTINA,

OEA

immortal Morning Star, you are as sweet in our eyes as you are If you do not radiant and glittering!

Mary

ficent rays

on every

side,

light of truth to those

who

imparting the were deceived

by

error,

communicating
of
death,"'

to the miserable

emit, like the sun, dazzling rays of light

"children

which enlighten, warm, and

fructify all

alone deserves

the

name

that

life

which

life

eternal?

nature, at least you shine as the star which precedes the course of that " giant
of the heavens
"^
!

Star of salvation, you displayed a splendour worthy of " the sun when it shineth ;"'

" you were truly the bright and morning

star
"*

the beauty of that new day which you announced to the " star of Jacob, who earth, O happy appeared in the horizon of idolatrous hutell

But who can

of that blissful day

of its

when the world

redemption and

saw the divine Star

ineffable regeneration arise

upon

it

manity* to enlighten

them

that sat in the

shades of death

"
!

Who

can describe

be you blessed, for ever blessed by every heart and every tongue for you have been " as the inestimable pledge of the recon1

the happiness which the world enjoyed in being able to salute in you the approach
of its deliverance, the august and holy aurora of that adorable " Sun of justice,"*

ciliation of earth

with heaven," of our

Christ," of our

sanctification

by Jesus
glory of

eternal salvation," of our vocation to the

kingdom and

who, after having in a manner veiled his splendour in your chaste womb, showed
himself afterwards to our eyes with immense brightness, spreading his bene(1) Ps. cxvii. 20. (3) Pb. xviii. 6. (5) St. Luke i. 79.

not mystical Star a pledge of hope and salMorning " vation? Take away Mary," says St. " and what would become
is

And

God "" even now this

!

Bonaventure,

(2)
(4)

Heb.

iv.

10.

Numb.
16.

xxiv. 17.

(10) Col.

(8) Ecclus. i. 7. i. 20.

(9)

Apoc.

xxii. 16.
i.

(11) 1 Cor.
V. 9.
ii.

30.

(6) Mai.

iv. 2.

(12) Heb.

(7) 1

Kings XX vi.

(13) 1 Thess.

12.

802

LITANY OF THE
"
lie

of US unfortunate wretches ? what would

down

in their dens:

"*

let

us beseech

become

of us in the midst of the darkness

if

we were deprived of her mild light?"* Alas! who does not know that there are dangerous moments when
of the world,

her to guide us safely over the dangerous sea of this life to the shores of heaven.
delights in saving the mariner who confides in her holy protection ; and the

She

the light of faith seems to be eclipsed, to give place to thoughts the most opposite
to its divine doctrines

mariner rejoices to repeat to distant lands the glory of " Star of the
grateful

we
our

feel

violently

moments when inclined to what we

;

Sea,"*

and

to sing with

enthusiasm the

name

despise and detest with will ; when the imagination

carried

the fulness of
is

of Virgin of the Port, Virgin of the Guard, Virgin of good Succour. O how

heated

and

objects,

away so fai' as to delight in which strike us with horror as

false
?

does sweet Mary love to support, direct, and save the pious Christian who calls upon her amidst the storms of
the heart, the storms of the

much more

soon as the

charm

falls

calm returns

But

if

away, and a then we raise a

the senses

How

mind and of much more ought we,

supplicating voice to this star of benediction, it delays not to show its consoling rays, and recover for us our serenity. Who does not know, too, by sad experi-

who perhaps have often been consoled by the mild splendour of that cherished star, to be grateful and faithful towards our
heavenly benefactress, and honour her by a life pure as the unchanging rays of her
light
1

ence, that there are hours of bitter disgust,

devouringwearisomeness, dark and melancholy

humour and deep discouragement,

the heart seems ready to
fail, if

when

not

in

you, the sure asylum of the marinei danger, Virgin ever ready to afford

supported by supernatural power? in those hours of desolation if,

But
and

relief,

anguish, fervent sighs call Mary to our succour, her radiant brow soon dissipates
the storm, and restores us to ourselves
for,
;

from us tempests and shipwrecks on this ocean full of shoals, on which is launched the frail skiff which
far
is

remove

freighted with our eternity, happy or

!

miserable

Formidable

clouds,

which

the storms which can assail us here below," says St. Bernard, " it is enough to look up to that tutelary star, to
all

"in

conceal frightful ravages,

us, assail us,
rible

may surround

and
"

deliver us over to ter-

waves

but they can never take you

escape shipwreck."* Let us then implore with fervour the

from our
ever

sight,

star

ever radiant,
I

consoling,

ever

protecting

Fol;

us beseech her to put to Mary ; " powers of darkness,"' even as flight the the first rays of daylight make the lions
aid of
let

lowing her, you do not go astray praying to her, you do not despair ; tliinking of her, you do not fall into error;

(1)

InSpec. B. M.V.

(3) Ephes.

vi.

12.

(4)

Ps.

ciii.

22.

(2) Horn, super MIbsos.

(5)

Ave Maris

BtuUa.

MOST BLESSED VUIGIN.

wheu she supports, you do not she protects, you do not fear ;
leads,
is
fall

503

you are not fatigued

when when she when she

;

deign to realize all these wonderful effects of devotion to you, O Mary,

Deign,

in favour of those who, in the calm as

favourable, you arrive at the desired

well as in the storm, desire to say to you

end;* and as the star of the sea guides the seaman to the port, so do you (O ' Mary !) conduct Christians to glory."

incessantly with tender love,

Morning Star, pray for us

Stella Matutina, ora pro nobis

MEDITATION
SALUS

XLII.
PRO
NOBIS
!

INFIRMORUM,

OEA

Sufferings
humanity.

these are the appendages of By the side of one child of

compassion when she contemplated the long and indescribable sufferings of her
adorable

Adam who moves

along alert and joyous in the journey of life, a thousand others, a prey to infirmities more or less painful,

Son on the torturing wood

Did she

not, at the foot of the cross, re-

ceive from his divine lips, as

all

an inalienable

drag on their steps with difficulty and with tears, and utter a voice of complaint, and
at times heartrending cries.

the faithful in the person inheritance, of the "disciple whom Jesus loved?"'

Did she not thenceforth include us

all,

But amid
arises

this

mournful concert which

from the sufferings of human nature, a name august and sweet, a name full of charms, resounds from the mouth
of the infirm Christian
;

with unspeakable tenderness, in the sweet embraces of her incomparable charity? .... And does not he who in his infirmity

invokes
that

this

and that name

know
love?
It

her power

heavenly Mother, is equal to her

piously

invoked calms sorrows, repairs strength, relieves, and may even heal, the
ills,

....
is

most inveterate

and put an end

;

to the

most incurable maladies

of the divine Mary.
to that of Jesus,
to

it is the name To what heart next

only in particular places that popular devotion has raised to other saints monuments of confidence and gratitude
;

what heart better

whole Christian world.

but to Mary they abound in the Who has not

formed
did not

to

understand him, could the suflearn

heard of those celebrated sanctuaries dedicated to that divine Mother, and

fering faithful soul address himself?

who
visit-

Mary

enough how

to feel

has been able to have the honour of

(1) St. Bernard, Horn.

2 super Missus.

(2) St.

Thomas, Op.

8.

(3) St.

John xk.

26.

504

LITANY OP THE
penetrates it with the sentiment which animated the holy man Job, when he ex" Who will grant .... that this claimed,

ing any one of them, without being piously moved on seeing the irresistible evidences
of the innumerable bodily favours obtained

through her intercession ?

Inscrip-

tions engraved by gratitude, various pre-

sents offered to her altar;

human

limbs

of gold or silver laid at her feet, as trophies of her power over maladies obstinately resisting
all

made

may be my comfort, that whilst he afilicteth me with sorrow, he may not spare me, and I may not contradict the words of the Holy One !"".... And when the hour
arrives

which
to

is

fixed by the Lord, death

suffers

human

art; poor

comes

him who
of Mary,

under the

instruments of wood,
ported the
aid, to

which had supto implore

auspices

not formidable and

man who came

her

terrible, like a grievous

punishment, but

drag himself along to the threshold of the holy place, and which her intercession has rendered henceforth useless,

peaceful and serene as a sweet passage from the end of the combat to the joys of
victory,

from the " vale of tears'" to that

hung up on

the sacred walls, as a peculiar

to

and touching homage

her glory: O how eloquently do you speak to our faith how strongly do you excite confidence in her
!

magnificent kingdom where God himself " wipes away the tears from the eyes of
his
elect.'"''

whom

the Church so well denominates

the

Let us have recourse then, with full confidence, to the most holy Virgin, in all
the
corporal
evils

Health of

weak !

with which

God
;

is

Doubtless, she does not always obtain for us what we desire, because the fulfil-

pleased to permit us to be afflicted

let

and

ment

of our wishes, so far from being

us not grow weary of imploring her intercession with the adorable Jesus,

conducive to our real good, would often be injurious to us. But this " Mother of

remembering those words of

"

St.

Bernard

Grace'" always becomes our health in infirmity always, if the heart which sends
:

given her absolute power in heaven and on earth he has placed our Let life and our death in her hands.""
;

God has

forth towards her the pious desire of prayer

does not interpose any wilful obstacle, she obtains for it the grace to make its sufferings turn to the advantage of its eternal interests; she endues it with strength

us implore her above all for our last moments, and, in order to secure her powerful aid at that hour which decides " our all for eternity, let us live every day * as if we were to die before the end of it."

with resignation and tranquillity during the long sleepless nights, and long days without relief; she

and patience,

fills it

us,

far

you whose tender heart can say to better than the great Apostle
:

"Who

is

weak, and I

am

not weak?'"

(1) (2)

Hymn
vi.

in Offic. parv. B.

M.

(5)

Serm.

i.

on the Salve Regina.

Job

10.
(4)

(3) Salve Regina,

(6) 1 Cor. XV. 31. (7) 2 Cor. xi. 29.

Apoc.

vii.

17.

MOST BLESSED VIKGIK.

be you glorified for displaying your power
so often,

605
'
;

our maladies

and we beseech him

shall be

to let

and so wonderfully, for the

relief

us experience

it,

especially at that decisive

or cure of our bodily sufferings. you are a living resource to us all, " who heal

hour, when we
eternity.
to receive

on the brink of

sweet Virgin,

who " vouchsafe

to

our diseases," while the pool of Jerusalem offered a cure only at times, and to
all

'

with maternal goodness the lasi

sigh of

him who commends himself

*

you

him only who had tbe good fortune to go down first into it, when the water was moved by the angel of the Lord.'' We
bless your divine

with confidence,"

moment we may
the Church

grant that at the last feel, in its fuhest extent,

the efficacy of that pious invocation of

Son a thousand times

to

for causing a secret virtue

go forth
divine

from

you, as formerly from his

life,

own

Health of the weak, pray for

Salus infiimorum, ora pro vohis
.'.

us

person during his mortal

to heal all

MEDITATION
man

XLIII.
I

EEFUGIUM PECCATORUM, ORA PRO NOBIS

It
is

in the nature of

greatly to

ful

influence in his favour, with a son

apprehend appearing before him whom he knows that he has offended, were it only to
testify to

full of
is

tenderness towards her,

!

how

great

his joy

him

his repentance
if

and beg his

is

and happiness Sinners, whoever you may

bless

be, bless,

forgiveness, especially

the offender

the

divine

Mary, who comes

notoriously inferior, and has

self very ungrateful
factor.

shown him-

towards a signal bene-

with admirable goodness to place herself between you and her adorable Son,

what

relief,

what consolation

does he experience, when some mutual friend, a devoted and influential friend,

whose incomparable benefits you have undervalued, that infinite love, whose
supreme majesty you have audaciously
offended!

comes

to offer

him

his

happy mediation,
I

O, without doubt, you are but

and

facilitate his reconciliation

if it is

too guilty against

him

if

you consider
I

the mother of him whose he feels it necessary to solicit, clemency who condescends to interpose her power-

But

only the

God and

Saviour,

you have been able so will you not be tempted

Luke

whom, alas much to offend,

"before the

to fly

(1) Ps.

cii. 3.

(3) St.
V. i.

vi.

19.
.

(2) St.

John

(4) St.

Jerom, Ep. 2 ad Eustoch

3t

606
face of the

LITANY OF THE

before the avenging " lion of the tribe of Juda," ' and to cast

Lamb,"

misery of mankind,"* who are ungrateful for the admirable mystery of redemption.

yourselves into the abyss of despair ? But behold his august Mother opens to
.
.

Thus the holy

sinners, exalt
it,

doctors,

when speaking

you eyes

sweetness and mercy, and invokes in your behalf the remembrance

full of

of her compassionate goodness towards

as
it

of those blessed days when the Man- God reposed in her arms, as if to render her

bounds.

St.

Ephrem

calls

were, beyond all her " their

most powerful resource, the secure port

of
all

the depository of the infinite treasure of bis graces. If you were a thousand times

who have

suffered

shipwreck."*

"

You

more

culpable,
:

still

should

you

take

claims St. Augustin.'

are their only hope, "

"

Mary

ex-

Let there be no

powerful enough to obtain your piurdon, and her goodness leads her to ask for it.

courage

she

is

more mention
Bernard,
"
if it

of your clemency," says St.

to
"
I

any one can be found

"'

have
says

implored
St.
if

in vaini

"O
"

Mary

Can she be ignorant

of all that ineflfable

mercy contained in the heart of her divine Son for the unfortunate children of Adam,

Bonaventure again, the sinner, even he be the refuse of the whole world,

who make themselves

the slaves of sin

does not horrify you ; but you receive him with maternal tenderness, and do not
leave him,
till

interest for
:

never upon earth will any one show an them so tender as Jesus has
it

you have reconciled him

to

his formidable Judge."'

done he carried

so far that his enemies

made

it

tion against him.*

a subject of reproach and accusaBut did not his sweet

Admiration, praise, and eternal benediction to God, who has laid open to the

Mother enter into his feelings more intimately than any creature ? and when she
was assumed into heaven, did she not
carry with her to the seat of happiness that heart so good, and always so feelingly
alive to the loss of souls, redeemed by blood of which she knows all the value ? " Her compassion," says St. Bonaven" ture, only increased with her glory ;

deep misery of the sinner so precious an asylum Confidence, confidence un1

bounded, continual confidence in Mary, both when we pray to her for the pardon
of our sins,
for the

and when we pray

to

her

conversion of our brethren, and

to her for the cure of our

when we pray
spiritual

infirmities.

Confidence again,

unbounded and

constant,

when

discou-

and now that she reigns with Jesus,

this

ragement, or even despair, threatens to ruin our holy resolutions, and our good
inclination
to

commiseration

is

so

much

the

virtue;

greater, as

Mary sees more

clearly the

out with the Church,

then, let us cry " Hail, O Queen,

(1)

Apoc.

vi. 16.

(2)
St.
c. 5.

Apoc.
vii.

v. 5.

(6)

Be

laudib. B. V.

(6) Serm. de

Annuu.

(3) St. Matt. ix. 11.

(4)

Luke

34.

lu upecul. B. Virg.,

(7) Serm. de (8) In PaaJt.

Assampt.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

607

Mother of mercy! our and our hope !"'

life,

our sweetness,

As the Apostle

St. Peter, in

an ecstacy
of animals,

the just Judge, disarmed by your favourable intercession, been able to say to you, " did to Blessed be
as

David

Abigail,

of mind, saw once a

number

which were unclean in the eyes of the Jewish law, purified by the power of the Lord, and taken up again to heaven,'' so
do we see with admiration, O Mary! a multitude of souls who had been but
too

thou who hast kept me this day from revenging me!"' How often have you been pleased to remember the feeble tri. .

bute of
to

homage which had been you by hearts who deserved too

to the sinful

ofi"ered

well to

be compared

woman Rahab,
and
!

much

defiled with

crime, converted

or the children of Babylon,'

to save

by your intercession,
iniquities,

washed from
to the

and "brought

haven

their "^

of eternal salvation.

you are

truly, to

Multiply, the traits of Mary, multiply incessantly your admirable goodness towards so many

them from the

eternal abyss

the greatest sinners, an asylum much more secure than was formerly the fortress
of Bethsura to those
"

blind and senseless

creatures,

who

are

running on

to eternal misery; they are,

who had
safer

forsaken

the law"* of
altar

God;

and

than the
to

by the close bonds of Christian charity, our fellow-members,* and, therefore, we

say to you,

which Adonias

took hold on

escape the vengeance of King Solomon." How many times, how many times has

sinners, pray for us Eefugium peccatorum, ora pro nobis

Refuge of

MEDITATION XLIV.
CONSOLATRIX AFFLICTORUM, ORA PRO NOBIS
!

Where

are there souls without afflictions,

rows of

life is

joined the natural horror or

all, is

hearts without anguish, or eyes without tears ? This world is nothing to man but

death, which, after

inevitable,

and

a school of adversity, where he must learn

to raise

which, at almost every step, presents itself to us under various forms, and seems to

up

his

mind

to

God,

to

humble

himself before him, to pray to him, to aspire towards a better world, towards the

soon be your turn. O if we regarded only the troubles, the cruel deceptions, the profound sorrows, the insay to us,
It will

happiness of heaven; and to

all

the-sor-

consolable mournings, the anguish of soul

(1) Salve Regina. (3)

(2)

Acts

X.
X. 14.

(6) 3

Kings

i.

50.

Ps. cvi. 3Q.

(4) 1

Mace.

(7) Ps. Ixxxvi. 4.

(6) 1 Kings XXV. 33. (8) 1 Cor. xii. 27.

308

LITANY OF THE
the sinner,

which God alone knows, and which almost

bring
it

and

which of us

is

not a

down

to despair, should

we

not be
the

sinner?

Who

does not feel reheved in

sees, that notwith-

tempted

thought of Bossuet upon death, We must

live, how sad is our fate ? But for us. Christians, God,

to cry out, as

we borrowed

his afflictions,

when he

in

his

standing your innocence, you had so large a share of sharp pains, and of moral Who is sufferings truly indescribable ?
there, again,

admirable providence, has vouchsafed to prepare, along with these pains, an inexhaustible source of unspeakable consolation: it is the heart of Mary; a heart

who

does not experience a

consolation,

feeling

of pious
all

when he

thinks of
lively

the tender concern, of the

immense compassion such as never existed before, and will heart, never exist again here below the heart of
full of
;

a Mother's

sympathy, of the devotedness, of the compassionate and helping charity for us

exist in

which

your maternal heart?

a Mother who

identifies herself with

her

Yes, our divine Mother feels for us, unhappy afflicted ones, an expansive and
benevolent sweetness, which
ceivable.
is

children, who, in some measure, forgets ' " herself, to to weep with those who weep,"

incon-

The heavenly Spouse compares

and

to relieve,

by the most tender expan-

the goodness and sweetness with which

sion of affection, the various evils which

afflict

them.
a present from the
I

her words were impressed, during her abode upon earth, to all that is most
all

how sweet
are you,

Mary

to

Lord us who are " groan"

I

sweet in nature

"

Thy

lips

are as

a dropping honeycomb, honey -and milk

are

ing and weeping

in this valley of tears

under thy tongue."*

that
is

And

again,

beloved Mother,

how powerful

is

the

wishing to express to us all that is ravishing in

it

only thought of you to lighten the weight which oppresses the heart, to sweeten the
bitterness with which
it

regard, he

sweetness of Mary in our in a manner enraptured with

overflows,

and

to
it
I

himself: "Arise,

my
.

love,

my

beautiful

heal the cruel wounds which consume

one,
in

and come.
ears
;

Let thy voice sound

*

You

were so excessively

afflicted yourself,

my

for thy voice is sweet."

St.

you so holy, you the august Mother of our God; you had to drink of a chalice

enough to overcome all human strength " you were plunged in grief great as the And in this exsea,"* and crucifying!
;

Bernard, then, has good reason to say that " everything in her breathed kindness and that she made herself all to beneficence
;

all,

and showed
'

"

tremity, wholly unequalled, you were so resigned, so calm; you so admirably gave

charity." " doctor,

superabundant Mary," exclaims that holy Mother of unspeakable ami-

to all a

ability, always,

yourself

up

to the Divine will

Where

is

name

yes always, does your very penetrate the heart with a sweet

(1)

Rom.

xii.

15.

(u) Lament.

(2) Salve Ilegina. li. 13.

(4) Cant. IT. 2.

(o)

Cant.

ii.

13, 14.

(6; Serm. de verbis Apoc. Siguum magnum.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

emanation of that divine sweetness, with which the Lord has enriched your beauteous soul!"^

509

the

moon
it

at the full
to
'

have ascended

and since you heaven, "as the sun

;

"

"No,
all

no, there

is

not in

when

shineth."

you,
"

whom we love

heaven,

among
"

the saints," adds St.

feels for

to call,

next to God,

the comfort of our

Antoninus,

one heart that

our

miseries like that Blessed Virgin Mary.""

Let us go then to this heavenly comforter

life,' our hope in the day of affliction,"* you, whom the Lord makes use of to change our days of trouble and sorrow

in

all

our

pains,

especially

in

into joy, as formerly

pains; let us pour them into her maternal heart she will not disapspiritual
;

pious Esther to people, be you also, at

port in our desolation
shall go to

he employed the comfort and succour his

all

times, our supsuflferings

I

" she is the point our confidence ; for sweetest relief of our anguish," says St.

and

We

John Damascen,

"

and the surest remedy

!

you with that lively faith, and that sincere piety which ought to distinguish your true servants.
tears,

of moral sufferings."'

Obtain that

Who could, O

"the length, and depth "* of your merciful goodness " Mercy grew up with you it was born with you;"* it was to men, before the foundation of the Church, " as the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as
! :

Blessed Virgin measure the breadth, the height,

pains,

tribulations,

and sorrows

may who

turn to the greater good of those say to you in the ejffusion of a filial

heart,

Comforter of the afflicted,

FOR us!

peat
I

Gonsolatrix qfflictorum, ora pro nobis

MEDITATION XLV.
AUXILIUM CHKISTIANORUM, ORA PRO NOBIS
1

At

all

times,

Mary

you have been the

to conspire to the destruction of the ad-

helper, the protecting arm of the disciples of your Son, and of the Church their

mirable work of the divine Jesus

in

mother
been

but

how

wonderfully have you

memorable where everything seemed circumstances,

so, particularly in certain

Islamism, century, threatened to invade Europe, and subvert A formidable fleet disChristianity.
played
itself proudly,

the

si.tteenth

under the

flag of

(1)
(3)

(4)

(2) P. Paneg. B. M. V. Orat. 2 de dormit. Deip. Ephes. iii. 18.

4,

t.

15, o. 2.

(5)

Job xxxi. 18.

(7) (8)

(6) EccIub.
4.

1.

R,

Tob. X.

Jer. xvii, 17.

510

LITANY Of THE
the Emperor after, years Thirty Charles VI. gains a signal victory over the same enemies of the Christian name,

the crescent, in the gulf of Lepanto ; the vessels of the faitliful, although inferior

number, did not hesitate to form, under your auspices, before it in order of battle, and John of Austria, their comin

on the day when

at
!

Rome

your protection,

mander, makes a vow

visit

to

go in person to

was implored in his and again, soon after, on the behalf;

divine Virgin

your august sanctuary of Loretto. Meanwhile, the city of Rome heard within its walls solemn processions of the Rosary
addressing to you the most earnest supof the Catholic plications for the success

octave day of your glorious Assumption, Corfu blesses you for seeing those infidels

who had
parts.

besieged

it, fly

far

from

its

ram-

Admirable

series of victories gained by

!

army.
fleet

On a sudden,

exclaims, to your glory,

.

the holy Pope Pius V. " The Christian

.
.

Mary over the crescent

They

will live for

" In fact, has conquered official news was soon received of the
.

ever in the grateful heart of all the pious faithful, who owe to them the consolation
of celebrating, every year, the solemnity
of the holy Rosary, throughout the whole

complete defeat of the Mussulmans; and

of so magnificent a testimony of your protection, the same holy Pontiff enriched the litany, which we love to sing in

memory

extent of the Catholic world

But
of the

this

was not enough for the glory most holy Virgin it was the will
:

in your honour, with this "

new
!

invocation,

of Providence that her title of

Help This beautiful

of Christians, pray for

title,

usl"

Mary

you have

been

pleased to justify

many

times, since

Help of should be consecrated by a In his long and sorrowspecial festival. ful struggle with the most formidable
Christians

that immortal day of Lepanto. Under the ramparts of Vienna, in the

prince and captain of modern times, Pope Pius VII. had never ceased to invoke

seventeenth century, two hundred and

thirty

thousand Turkish
by a Christian

soldiers

were

defeated

parably less numerous ; the octave of your nativity, the very day

army incomand it was within

His confidence heavenly helper. was not deceived. Napoleon that powerful colossus, fell ; the venerable old man
this
,

was enabled
eternal city;

to re-enter in

triumph the

and he was pleased that the

when solemn

supplications were put up in the city of Munich to the Help of Christians ; and the honour of that brilliant

anniversary of his return from captivity should be annually solemnized by the special feast of Mary the Help of Christians.

triumph was referred

to

you by the

conqueror himself, who having assisted

constant help, powerful help, universal help Help against the force Yes,
I

morning, and partaken of the divine mysteries, had encouat the holy Sacrifice tliat

of

arms

help

against

the

violence

of

political

raged his

officers

by promising them the

help in

power; help against persecutions; all the storms tliat hell can raise

aid of heaven, through your intercession.

against the

Church

of

God upon

earth,

MOST BLESSED VIBGIN.

her precious conquests, to diminish the number of the faithful, and drag down a multitude of
to retard

511

and which tend

illustrious

"

say

Wo

appropriate to be to the nation that riseth up

Judith,

is

it

against

my people!

for the

Lord Almighty

souls to their destruction.

Let us invoke,

will take

revenge on them."*

Be you
broken in

every day, with fresh fervour, the helping Virgin, that she may avert all these
dangers.

glorified for ever, for

having

"
*

But we must

also implore her

our favour the powers of bows," and given us motives so consoling to hope in you

for ourselves, for

our confirmation in faith

kinds which encompass
"
:

against

all

the enemies of the children of

and
us

in virtue; for our perseverance against

all

God and
we

of his holy Church.

With her

the scandals of
;

for

it

is

written

Let him
'

that

stands take heed lest he

fall."

Let us
all

you Holy Mary, succour the miserable, help the fainthearted, comfort the sorrowful, pray for
:

delight to say to

"

then address ourselves to her with

confidence that she
deserves.

the

"

thing obeys her empire,"''' says St. ninus " Your name alone is all-powerful,
;

Every Anto-

the people, entreat for the clergy, intercede for the devoted female sex may all
:

experience your aid

holy

who

celebrate your

commemoration"' with happiness,

fiUal

next to God," exclaims

St.

Bonaventurel'

and implore you with sweet and

confidence.

Mary!
tians,

"

invincible shield"* of Chris-

you who have manifested so conspicuously the protection which you accord
to

Help of

Christians, peat for us

them, to you,

much more than

to the

Auxilium Christianorum, ora pro nobis'

MEDITATION XLVI.
EEGINA ANGELORUM, ORA PRO NOBIS
!

Let US

up on the wings of faith, to that immortal country where " God himsoar
self is the infinite

patriarchs;

reward

"

of the

elect,

and gives to each one according to his merit;' what shall we there see? The
thrones of pontiffs, those of martyrs, those of apostles, those of prophets, those of
(1) (3) (5)

contemplate with rapture so much grandeur and glory. But there in vain shall we seek for Mary. Let us ascend still higher ; here are the

and our eyes

will

choirs of angels : the cherubim and sera'" " phim, all those thousands of thousands
of pure spirits, which shine resplendent
(7)
(8)

1 Cor. X. 12.

(2) (4)
(6)

Serm. 61.

In Cant.

4.

Wied.

V. 20.

Saneta Maria, eucourre miseris, etc. Gen. xv. 1. (9) St. Matt. xvi. 27.
(10)

Judith xvi. 20.

Pa. bcxv. 4.

Dan.

vii.

10.

518
before the
"

LITANY OF THE

Holy of
;

holies,"
it

Uke unthat

quenchable suns

is

there

the

future glory of the most Blessed Virgin, which the Archangel Gabriel honoured

Virgin by pre-eminence enjoys beatitude? No, no higher yet, above the angels and
:

by anticipation, when he saluted her with so much veneration, and in terms so

archangels, close to the adorable throne of the Man-God risen from the dead,

pompous and magnificent

her,

Terms
justly

of

veneration and honour most

due to

another throne will strike our bewildered

senses, another throne, less elevated in-

who was
title

to

be invested with the ad*

mirable

deed

tlian that of Jesus,

all

but higher than

inhabitants
of

of beloved daughter of the Father, beloved Mother of the Son, be-

those of

the other

heaven
of

and on

this throne, a daughter

loved Spouse of the Holy Ghost, and at whose feet the sublime rank to which she

Eve clothed with

glory less dazzling

than that of Jesus, but richer and more splendid than even that of the highest
angels of the celestial hierarchy:
it is

be raised by the divine maternity placed all the grandeurs of heaven and
to

was

earth

the

most holy Virgin Mary, it is the greatest work of the Creator, it is the Queen of all
the Angels. "

of the " his queen, in her whom he saluted as Mother of his divine King?"' And if

How, indeed, could the messenger Most High have failed to recognise

She
"

is,

in reality," says St.

all

Epipha-

the angels are infinitely below the human nature of the Word incarnate for " to

nius,

above
'

beings,

God

alone ex-

"

cepted."

Her

dignity as
St.

Mother of

which of the angels," says St. Paul, " hath he said at any time, as to Jesus, Thou art

our Creator," says " makes her the

"

John Damascen,
of all creatures."^

Queen

how
"

my Son, this

' day have I begotten thee ? could they fail to be below her, who

"

She who has the

Son," exclaims St. Bernard,

right to call "

God

her
fail

can she

could herself also say to that same Jesus, Thou art my Son ;*....! bore thee

to be superior to all the choirs of angels ?

nine months in
suck,
. .

my womb, and

gave thee

pay homage, pay homage, ye heavenly spirits, to the Mother of your divine King,

and nourished thee?"*

this creature so priviall

But who, then, is

leged, before

you who adore

the blessed fruit of our

whom

beloved Virgin!"* "Jesus has placed on her head," says again St. Antoninus, " a diadem of magnificence and glory, which subjects all the angels to this
divine Queen."*

down,
tion;

lull of respect,

the angels bow struck with admira-

they are repeating with holy " Rule thou over us, and thy transport, Son 1" "... O it is the humble daughter
to
'"

this creature " eager to minister,"

whom

And was
(1)

it

not

this

greatness

and

of

Ann and Joachim

it

is

the young

Dan.

ix.

24.

(3) Lib.

4 Fid.

(2) De laud. Virg. orthod., c. 15.

est.

(6) St. Athanasius, Serm. de Deip. (8) Ibid. (7) Heb. i. 5. (9) 2 Macc.vii. 27.

(4) Horn.

i. super Missus Serm. de Assumpt. {5)

(10) Dan.
viii.

vii.

10

(11) Judg.

22.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

obscure virgin, lately espoused to a- poor artisan ; it is the young Mother, so worthy
of compassion,
"

il3

Hail,

Queen
"'
!

of angels

hail

Sove-

reign of angels

What

is

there, next to

who found
which
to lay
to

at

Bethlehem

God, greater than you, who received into

your
Majesty, and to whom that Majesty condescended to submit. " " Miracles on either side says St. Bermost justly; "in the Son, a miracle nard,
!

nothing better than a stable, a manger, a

little

womb Infinite

straw, in

her new-born
banish herself

Son; who was compelled

to a distance in a foreign land, to preserve

the precious life of her adorable child who lived ever simple, ever hidden, even after
;

Mother, a miracle of elevation and greatness I"* from the

of humility
;

in the

the resurrection and glorious ascension of her divine Son. The path of glory, of solid
glory, of glory alone

height of your sublime throne, do not forget your servants upon earth; look

worthy of the name,

of glory eternal, is therefore the

way

of

humility in this world.

eyes of others, little in great in the sight of the Lord, by a high degree of virtue, without artificial adorn-

To be little in the our own eyes, and

upon them with sweet comand benevolent love, as upon unplacency fortunate brethren and children. Deign
rather
to assist us,

down

and support us continually

till
;

in

the

way

of salvation,

of this world of trial

our departure out vouchsafe after-

ment and without show,

cious secret which

that

is

the pre-

wards

to obtain for

us to be visited and

her whole

life,

Mary teaches us by as Jesus teaches it to us by

consoled by our good angels, if the divine justice should condemn us to the temporary fire of expiation,

his divine lessons and his divine example, which he still keeps before our eyes in

and obtain that we

may soon be conducted to heaven.

May

the ineffable mystery of the Eucharist. Let us imitate him, let us imitate his
divine Mother, let us
ourselves,
exalted.'

we merit these inestimable favours, while we repeat to you at all times, with sincere
piety,

know how

to

humble

so

to

be one day eternally

Queen of angels, pray for us

Regina an/jelorum, ora pro nobis
(3) Hoiuil. 1, super Missus est.
t

(1) St. Matt, xxiii. 12.

(2)

Ave

Kegina.

an

514

LITANY OF THE

f.t

MEDITATION XLVII.
REGINA PATRTARCHARUM. OEA
" beheld earth the patriarchs had "' afar ofif and saluted with a lively faith,

PRO

NOBIS

Upon

the existence of the people destined to produce the Messias, honours and praises

a sweet and firm hope, that wonderful

woman, whom the Lord had announced

beginning, as being one day to give birth to the Saviour of the world. In heaven, they offer to her with immea-

from

tlie

with holy transport the Mother of that adorable only Son, of whom Isaac was the and 'in whom " all the nations of
figure,'

the earth have been blessed,"* according to the promise of the Lord. Next, it is

surable joy the tribute of their veneration and tender love, as to her who, through

Jacob who celebrates the glory of this supereminent Virgin, of whom was born
" the salvation of the upon the earth * Lord," which had been the object of his

Jesus, introduced
tabernacles."
^

them
of

into the

"

eternal

Adam,
blesses in

the

first

all,

admires and
the true
foot has
ser;

most ardent
" the

desires.

Then
""

it is

Joseph,

Mary

the

new Eve,
^

"

mother of the

living,"

whose "

saviour of Egypt," who renders solemn homage to the Mother of " the

crushed the head of the infernal * the seducer of the first Eve pent,"

" Saviour of the world," of

whom

his inno-

of

cence, misfortunes, and elevation had so

well prefigured the holiness, the sufferings,

her whose primitive

fall

the divine Son

came

to repair in a

that the

manner so wonderful Church could exclaim, in a pious

"
:

and the glory it is Moses who admires and extols her, who gave to the
;

transport of gratitude

happy

fault

world " the

divine

Prophet

like

unto

which deserved
great a

to possess

such and so

him,""

Redeemer
to
it

"
!

Next
be as

Adam, Noe, chosen formerly to were the second father of the

which was condemned
to

a lawgiver, a worker of miracles and a deliverer in a word, all " the chief fathers the holy patriarchs,
like
;

him

and heads of their

families, blessed by the

human

race,

Lord, who now dwell in the heavenly Jeru-

perish by the deluge, contemplates with " our rapture her whom the Church calls
life

salem,"" who are delighted to acknowledge that through her the immortal crown encircles their radiant brows,

and our hope;"

Abraham, who did

and who say

to

not hesitate of old to sacrifice to

only son, on whose
Heb. Gen.
xi. 13.
iii.

God

his

" her, with one accord,

The

sceptre of thy
. . .

life

naturally

depended
xvi. 9.

kingdom
(8)

is

a sceptre of uprightness ;
xxii. 17, 18.

(1) (3)

(2) St. (4)

Luke
iii.

Gen.

20. Missal,

Gen.

16.

(10) Gen.

xli.

(6)

Roman

Holy Saturday.
(7)

(11) St. Jolin (12) Deut. xviii. 15, 18.

45.

(9) Gen. xlix. 18. iv. 42.

(6) Salve Regina.

Heb.

xi.

19.

(13) 1 Paralip.

viii.

28.

MOST BLESSED VTRGIN.

thy right
fully!"*

516

hand

shall

conduct thee wonder-

and the most precious spiritual resources. But he has done much more, he has fixed
his abode "in this valley of tears,"'

But what has merited

inestimable crown ?
.
.

for

them

this

which

their fidelity to to come,

God, " and their desire

their faith in a

Redeemer

'to possess

doubtless would have been only too happy him for a few years, or even
. .

to see the

comingshine forth"" fidelity, faith, desire,

above,

day of his

moments.
sence
guest,

Alas! and

we

are indif-

ferent to his adorable and continual pre;

which in the heart of the most holy Virgin, before the happy message which she received from

and we neglect to visit this divine who seems to forget himself to

it

had already risen

to

a degree of perfection inexpressible. If, in fact, the faith and fidelity of Abraham,
for example,

delight to be with the let it no longer be children of men."' true to say of us what St. John Baptist
his

make

"

had increased

to a prodigy,

what must have been those of Mary, so far elevated in heaven above that holy
patriarch,

said of the Jews, in the time of our divine " Jesus, There hath stood One in the midst
of you,

whom
"
I

you know not."*

sweet hope of the patri-

in heaven,

where each one

?

O Mary
archs,"

has the rank which he has deserved

the desire
to

If

"
you,

who

so intimately possessed

see

Christ

come down

upon earth had become so strong in the heart of Abraham, that Jesus praised

him whom chey had so much desired, make us appreciate the infinite happiness which we have in possessing ourselves,
and being able to enjoy all those graces, of which he is the inexhaustible source.

him solemnly for it at Jerusalem,' how great must have been the flame of the same desire in the soul of her, of
Proclus has said that " no patriarch can in any way be compared to

As the Messias

to

come had been the

whom

St.

centre of your most ardent desires, the Messias actually come was the centre of
all

her."*

your

afi"ections;

and he was, under

For our part (0 ineffable happiness!) we have not to desire, we have only to
enjoy
;

your auspices, the sole object of the love and devotion of those illustrious founders
of religious orders,

we do not merely

taste the conso-

lations of sweet hope, but

we possess
reality.

all

patriarchs of the
it

the delicious fruits of the

is

Jesus

visited" the earth;'

"descended from heaven;* he has he has enlightened

sanctified
it,

be so with us, our faith, above

whom piety styles the New Testament. May divine Mother May
!

all,

be animated in our

and

he has saved

it,

he has

hearts in so lively a degree as to make us see and feel that by the adorable mystery
of the continual presence of Jesus in the

endowed it with the most magnificent gifts.

(1) Ps. xliv. . (3) St. John viii. 56.

(6) St.

(2) St. John viii. 66. (4) Orat. 5 in S. Deip.

(6) St. Luke i. 78. (8) Prov. viii. 31.

John

iii.

13.

(10) St. Ephrem.

(7) Salve Reg. (9) St. John i. 26. de Laud. B. V.

516

LITANY OF THE
plish this pious duty, to the glory of your

midst of US, " earth becomes to us a

heaven,"
'

and that

to the

Eucharist

all

divine Son,

our thoughts, desires, and affections ought That we may faithfully accomto turn
1

Queen of patriaechs, pbay for us

Regina patriarcharum, ora pro nobis f

MEDITATION
REGINA

XLVIII.
ORA
PRO
NOBIS
!

PROPHETARUM,

The prophets, as living prodigies of supernatural knowledge, traced out long ago
the most perfect picture of the Messias, " The most anmany ages beforehand.
cient made, as
it

0, without beginning of the world?' the sweet and majestic figure of doubt,

Mary made them more than once leap

of her divine

for

joy, while they wrote the prophetic history

were, the
after

first

sketch of
finished,
left

Son

and how much must

been
moved, you whom were

him

those

who came

them

you especially have

in succession, those traits

which were

David,* Ezechiel," Isaias,* to

The imperfect by their predecessors. nearer they approached to the event, the
more
lively

made known by

special lights the great!

were their colours

and when

the picture was finished, the last, as he retired, pointed out the holy precursor, Behold the Lamb of who was to say, God ; laden with the sins of the world " *

ness of the Virgin Mother Now that in the abode of eternal glory, they behold clearly her destiny so brilliant

and so magnificent, her dazzling crown

as the
tures,"
to

'

" universal sovereign of

'

all

crea-

'

with what joy do they pay

1

But in depicting the

the mortal
life

divers phases of

of our Saviour, the several

characters of his person and ministry, the wonderful fruits of his mission, could they
fail

heavenly Queen veneration do they honour the excellence of the divine light with which the Lord
their

homage With what

favoured her

a glimpse of the august Mother of this Man-God, that admirable

to obtain

Each

prophet, in fact, had been super-

naturally enlightened on
of the history of our

daughter of Eve, whose glorious co-operation in the salvation of the world they

some points only Redeemer and you,

;

Queen

of prophets,

knew

that the Lord had

announced

at the

whole series

you embraced the of their predictions, y"u

(1) St. Chrysost., Horn. 24 in 1 Cor. (2) Letters of M. Drack, a converted rabbin. (3) Geu. iii. 16. (4) Pa. xliv. 11, 12.

(5) Ezech. xliv. 2. (6) Isa. vii. 14,

(7) St.

John Damascen,

lib.

4 de

fide

orthod

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

to penetrated their meaning, according ' the thought of St. Alphonsus you saw
;

617

the great Bishop of Meaux, " that God should have deigned to bind himself thus
to us

with your eyes, you heard with your ears,

what they had

hear.'

so

much

desired to see

and

by promises us what he pleased

!

He
;

could have given but why did he pro-

The

holy

fire

the prophets, animated with of inspiration, had risen to an

mise

it

to us, unless, as

Mary

declared, to

elevation of thoughts and of expression, which strikes, charms, and ravishes us in

their writings
;

continue his mercy from age to age," * manifested so admirably by the coming of our Saviour, who has himself promised to
preserve
his

and you,

filled

with the

work
Let us

to

"

the end of the

Holy Ghost,' with your spirit rejoicing in

world?"*
faith

rest with

unshaken

God your Saviour,* sung a hymn to his in which glory, a hymn of thanksgiving,
are displayed a richness of feeling, a sublimity of expression, a divine enthusiasm,

on his divine word

"
:

heaven and

earth shall pass away, but his word shall

which those oracles of the Most High do not equal. You foretold you, an humble

not pass away."* Let us avail ourselves of the faithful accomplishment of the prophecy of Mary, and the promise of her
divine Son, from the cradle of Christianity

and poor daughter of the

tribe of

Juda
"

you the obscure spouse of an obscure and

all indigent artisan of Nazareth, that " a generations should call you blessed
:

strengthen our confidence in all the other words of the holy Gospel; and let us give ourselves up with
to
to

our own times,

prophecy the most astonishing, which all nations and ages have continually fulfilled
for eighteen centuries.

entire confidence to the blessed promises of faith, in which we ought to " drown all

the deceitful hopes with which the world

diverts us."*"

You

foretold also

the future destiny of the Church, of the true people of God, of the true Israel,

Formerly,

O Mary

in

your

whom

the Lord has taken under his pro"

tection,

being mindful of his mercy. As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham

gratitude towards future was opened to your view, and you announced the pious and solemn veneration of

the ecstacy of the Lord, the

and

to his seed for ever:"'

and perpetual

combats, the perpetual triumphs of the Church, have never ceased to bear witness
to the divine intelligence

which you were to be the object on the part of " all generations,"^" and the perpetuity of the Church, which is to live and combat and triumph " to the end of
the world."
'^

which enabled

it is

with sweet consola-

you
"

to read

them beforehand.

tion that we behold the wonderful accom-

How

happy are we," observes here

on the Dolours of Mary.
X.
24-.
i.

plishment of your words, during so long

(8) St. Matt, xxviii. 20. (9) Ibid. xxiv. 36.

(1) Serm. (2)

St.

Luke

(4) Ibid.

47.

(3) Ibid. (6) Ibid.

i.

35.

i.

48.

(6) Ibid. 54, 55. (7) Elev. sur lea Myst.

(10) BosBuet, Elev. sur les Jlyst. (11) St. Luke i. 48. (12) St. Matt, xxviii. 20.

S18
a series of ages;
it is

LITANY OF THE
with lively joy that recognise in you, with St. Basil, her
Isaias

universal

we

whom

had designated under the " * title of prophetess," and to whom the "* " " seers of Israel " give testimony ' in
their predictions relating to the divine

proclaims you "blessed;"' that we may rely upon the infallible oracles of the Gospel that we
;

concert which

may

never suffer ourselves to be shaken,

either by scandals, or by persecutions, but " may ^persevere faithfully to the end,"* in

Redeemer.

Deign,

you

whom David

that faith,

and

in those works

which

it

" calls the king's daughter, ... in golden clothed round about with varieborders,
ties,"

alone inspires.

deign to obtain for us that we may ever mingle our feeble voices with the

Queen of peophets, pray foe

us!
!

Regina prophetarum, ora pro nobis

MEDITATION XLIX.
REGINA APOSTOLORUM, OEA PRO NOBIS
I

What
for

most renowned what the most eloquent learning, orators, what the most powerful and able men had never even had the thought
pliilosopbers the

his death

in the meantime, we must endure every extremity of suffering."

;

'

And,
they

they never would liave succeeded in executing, twelve poor

of undertaking

what

preach this doctrine, they brave torments, and even death itself; and
to

"

draw

all

things to themselves,"'

unlearned Galileans dared

to

attempt,

and in a short time the pagan world adores Jesus, and practises the Gospel.
divine

without any human resources, and realized with success inconceivable. The
apostles divided the world
to

Zeal divine, devotedness divine, success But what share undoubtedly

!

among them

had Mary
the
title

in that great work, to merit

" conquer it, to establish throughout the world a new religion, a new sacrifice,

of Queen of Apostles?

that

august Virgin,
a claim to that
tribute to the

who by
title,

the sole pre-emi-

new

law, having for its author Jesus

nence of her divine maternity would have

did wonderfully con-

crucified at Jerusalem.

And

in order to

gain the minds of men, Come, they say, come and serve Jesus whoever gives
;

formation, increase, and

himself up to him shall be happy after

(1) In Isa. prophet., c. 8. (3) Acts X. 43. (6) St.
(2) Isa. xxx. 10.

support of the infant Church. Do we not see her, from the beginning,
(6) St. Matt. X. 22. (7) BoBsuet, (8)
St.

Luke

i.

(4) Ps. xliv. 16. 48.

Panegyr. de
xii.

S.

Andr^.

John

32.

mr

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

the during that pious retreat, by which " receive the to apostles were disposed

519
to

municate

them the most precious and

power of the Holy Ghost,"' do we not " see her persevering with them in
prayer?"* " that she did not says St. Antoninus, receive, together with them, on the day of Pentecost, the wonderful gifts with

consoling details of the hidden life of Jesus ; for " she had kept all these things,

"And who could suppose,"

pondering them in her heart," according to the words of the Gospel,' as Venerable

Bede

says,

" in order to

when

the

time

should

impart them, come, to the

apostles and

evangelists."*

And how
to

which they were

enriched by the Holy Ghost, that nothing should be wanting

all

can we doubt that she was

to her of all graces,

and

all spiritual

ad-

vantages which
"

possess?"^ " the Yes, certainly," says St. Thomas, Blessed Virgin received in an eminent
degree the
miracles,
gift

she could

source of light, " said that St. John, that sublime eagle, derived from her the exalted and admirable conceptions which he
divinity of the Word?"' But she merits also the
Apostles, by her

them a when St Ambrose has

had

of the

of

wisdom, the
gift

gift

of

title

of Queen of

prophecy."* Doubtless she was not to exercise the

ministry of the apostles
;

and

the

of

happy influence over the

but

all

these

graces were granted to her as an ornament due to the dignity of Mother of

Her example progress of the Gospel. was a powerful preaching; was she not, in everything, the most faithful image of
the
divine

Jesus,

"

the

most

brilliant

God

could such a Mother remain in-

ferior in

anything compatible with her sex to those who were called " the ser

mirror of his life?"" says St. Laurence Justinian. Her discourses had a wonder" out of it is written that ful efficacity
:

vants of Jesus,"

and

of

whom

St.

An-

selm and

St.

Bonaventure have not hesi-

tated to say " that tliey were the disciples of her who had given him birth?"'

the abundance of the heart the mouth " and the heart of Mary was, speaketh," " a furnace of divine St. Bernardin, says
love.""

Her prayers were

aspirations at

And, in
reveal

fact, it

was Mary who was

to

to the apostles all the circumstances of those mysteries which they had

once the purest, the most humble, and and how can we express most ardent
;

with what zeal and fervour that divine

not been able to witness, and which in their turn they were to make known to
the world
;

Mother besought of Heaven the development of the great work of her adorable

it

was she who was

to

com-

Son?

(1) St.
(2) (4)

Luke
i.

xxiv. 49.
(3)

Acts

i.

8.
c.

(7) St. 19.

(8)

Luke

ii.

19.
2.
c. 7.

Acts

14.

Part. Tit. 15,

3 Part. q. 27, Art. 5.

Homil. in Luc, cap. (9) Lib. de instit. Virg.,

1.

Praet. in

Joan.

(6) St.

James

i.

1.

St.

Peter

i.

1.

St.
c.

Jude

(6) St.

Anselm, de Concept. Virg.,

min. in pree.

27.

tjt.

Bouav.

in psult.

triumph, agon. Christ. (10) (11) St. Matt. xii. 34. (12) Serm. 9 de Visit.

De

&ao

LITANY OP THE

To imitate Mary, let us co-operate, as far as wo can, to the good of the Church, and
the success of those pious missionaries, who continue the work of the first apostles.

and their model,

O how
of

justly are

you

Queen whose names are

named

the

"

these twelve heroes,

written in the founda-

tions of the city of

God!"'

May your

Let us be ourselves

apostles,

by our ex-

heart, so ardent for the glory of Jesus,

ample, our discourse, our co-operation in " good works, so that by us, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified."^

communicate to ours some spark of that sacred fire, which devout souls seek to
Obtain, spread incessantly around them a good conversation,"* at least, that "by
!

O Mary

whom

Jesus

left

upon

earth,

after his glorious ascension,

to exercise

we may be

like torches giving light to

our

there a more than apostolic zeal, and to be there " the prop and support of his

brethren, and leading them to "' our Father who is in heaven

!

"
glorify

Church;"* you who not only shared

all

in

the gifts which the apostles received

Queen of

apostles, pray for us

1

from heaven, but who were their light

Regina apostolorum, ora pro nobis

MEDITATION
Who
truly

L.
I

EEGINA MABTYEUM, ORA PRO NOBIS

will give

portion to

us here to lament in proyour sorrows ? O Mary how

!

brother ; more,

O much
I

more

still,

if it

were you able

"

to say to

men, when

your sorrow was

all

great as the sea,*

be that of a son, and of a deserving son, a son tenderly cherished But if it is the
heart of the most tender of mothers that
is

see

you that pass by the way, attend, and if there be any sorrow like to my

condemned

to that sad spectacle,

how
the

much more
impression
1

lively

and sorrowful
if

is

sorrow!"'

And

the son

whom

she

The

sight of bloodshed

fills

us with

horror; our nature cannot coldly see the blood of one of our fellow-creatures flow

is an only son, endowed with the rarest qualities, O no human words can express the extreme degree of

sees sacrificed

by violence
of a friend
;

it suffers

cruelly if
if it

it

be that

that moral suffering

much more

be that of a

You were

that Mother,

Mary

Jesus

(1)

2 Thess.

i.

12.

(4) St,

James

iiL

13.

(2) Bossuet, Serm. sur rAssompt.

^3)

Apoc. xxi. 10, 14.

(6) (7) Ibid.

Lament,
i.

ii.

(5) St. Matt. v. 16. 13.

12.

MOST BLESSED VIK0IN.

was that only Son, truly incomparable, whose ignominious execution you had
assist
!

521

at to

heroes of Christianity," * who, neverthe" had trial of mockeries and stripes, less,

O
"

you

whom

the

Church

so well

moreover also of

bands

and prisons

names thfe sorrowful Mother,"' tell us, for we can neither feel nor express it " tell us how sharp a sword ourselves,

they were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tormented in every way, they of whom the world was not worthy."'

pierced your heart,"'' at each one of those cruel strokes which drove the nails into

the hands and feet of your Jesus ; tell us what was your anguish, what dreadful

But Calvary was not the sole theatre of the martyrdom of the most holy Virgin. When the sacred body of our Saviour had been taken down from the cross, tradition
informs us that
it

and prolonged agony was yours, when, for three hours, you had to contemplate this

was placed in her

its

hands, previously to
sepulchre.

being laid in the

most amiable Son so horribly fastened

an infamous gibbet; or rather be
divine
heroic,

to

who could conceive what

silent,

Mary
so

keep that silence so

so

must have passed in the heart of such a Mother at this moment so sadly solemn ?

eloquent,

sublime,

self-

To hold

in her

arms the

lifeless

body of

imposed
!

by your immense grief upon

that superhuman silence tells Calvary us more, infinitely more, than all the cries,
all

her beloved Son, that body bruised and torn so cruelly? To contemplate, with

her eyes

the groans,
.
. .

all

the sobs of a desolate

willingly

mother.

O how

would you
!

the deep wounds by which that blood so precious and so cherished had flowed out to regenerate the
full of love,

have given your hfe for his life What consolation would you have felt in at least
But. mingling your blood with his blood " more than a martyr," no, you were to be
1

world, to represent to herself in the

lively

most

manner

all

the dreadful scenes of

!

the passion, O what torture St. Augus" tin says that all the sorrows of Jesus

according to the reflection of

St.

Bernard'

had been endured

Bonaventure,* by suffering all that naturally must have taken away your life,
St.

and

by Mary; and that the cross and nails of the Son had
also

been the cross and nails of the Mother."

Therefore at that

'

with the certainty that death would not

moment
that

all

that she

come

to put

torture.

an end to your inexpressible Thus it was that you were

merit the
title

had

felt

before,

all

had rent and

gloriously to

of

Queen

broken her tender heart was renewed, but with double bitterness, extreme desolation, unequalled
fering.

of martyrs, by the unheard-of excess of

and unqualified
all

suf-

your sufferings, before which St. Anselm " esteems as hght those of the other

great lesson for

of us children of

(1) Stabat.

(2) St.

Luke
B.

ii.

35.

(6)
(G)

De

excellent Virg.,
xi.

c. 6.

(3) Serm.

12 do Praerogativis,
Spec,
lect. 4.

M. V.

(4) lu

(7)

3638. Serm. de Pass. Dom.

Hob.

022
the Gospel

LITANY OF THE
Jesus and Mary entered
those

happily

encouraged

who

"

over-

into eternal glory through pains

and

suf!

ferings

Jesus,

who was

holiness itself

Mary, the most holy of created beings And we, sinners by nature, wilful sinners,
I

shall we attempt to arrive thither by another way ? The cross, that is the inheritance which the Man-God has left us in
this world,

came .... by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony," ' and in whose name the glorious St. Stephen offers you his palm and his crown, deign to compassionate our pains, and support our weakness. Turn away from us the
chalice,
if
it
;

is

to

be too bitter for our

and which

is

to

become
"

to us

feeble virtue

or else obtain for us to say

as the assured pledge of that

inheritance

courageously to
"

God
" *
I

incorruptible and undefiled,"' which he

Thy

will

be done

with our Saviour, Obtain for us to

promises to our resignation, to our pafor it tience, and to our fidelity in trials
;

understand well that great word of our " whosoever doth not divine Master, that
carry his cross

is

"
written,

Tf

we

sufi'er,

we

shall also

and come

after him, can-

reign with him."^

not be

his disciple;"*

and that we may

to possess oui

tender Mother!

who endured,

at the

have the happiness always

souls in patience."

foot of the cross, sufierings much more O you, cruel than bodily martyrdom
;

Queen of martyes, pray for

Regina martyrum, ora pro nobis

us
t

whose example and prayer must have so

MEDITATION
Glory be to you, noble confessors of the ' faith, who accounted it a precious gain
avow yourselves openly disciples of Jesus before the enemies of his name, at
to

LI.
I

BEGINA CONFESSORUM, ORA PRO NOBIS

the eminent sanctity of your lives

But

much more, very much more than

glory be to Mary, your august so many titles.

to you,

Queen by

the peril of your lives Glory be to you who, when Providence did not put you to
1

yourselves constantly the devoted servants of our divine

You indeed showed

profession of belonging to that adorable Master, by the practice of all the Gospel virtues, and by

such

trials,

still

made

Saviour but did not Mary continue more intimately and more courageously faithful to her divine Son ? Your heart
;

(1) 1 8t. Peter i. i. (3) Apoc. xii. 11.

(2) 2

Tim.

ii.

12,

(6) St.

Luke

xiv. 27.

(4) St. Matt. xxvi. 42.

(7) Phil.

(6) St. i. 21.

Luke

xxi. 19.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

was penetrated with an ardent and genebut was not Mary rous love of him
;

623
in face of all

inflamed with a

fire truly

incomparable

the fury of the Jews, in presence of the executioners all covered with the blood of your Son, you
display the heroism of your great soul, you surround their victim with all your

and you,

You

braved, for his sake, affronts, dangers, and contradictions of every kind but did
;

not Mary share in

of the mortal
life

all

the painful situations of her Son, and all the

adoration, with all your love

and devotion,

? persecutions of which he was the object

when heaven itself appears to forsake him Who then can be compared to
!

How many

times was he calumniated and

!

injuriously treated by his enemies often must the unjust treatment and the
insults prodigally

How

you, divine

Mary you whose faith in our Redeemer was so magnanimous ?

!

heaped upon the Son have cruelly recoiled upon the Mother See with what a tone of mockery those ex!

ever equalled this divine Virgin in the sublime practice of all those virtues which can characterise a

And who, moreover,

holy soul, and

make her

life,

as

it

were,
;

pressed themselves who refused to believe in Jesus: "Is nothismother called Mary?"*

an eloquent preaching of the Gospel

or

in the possession of those precious gifts

Hear

also

how even

in the extremity of

his tortures the enemies of the adorable

which assign an eminent rank in heaven? Purity, modesty, humility, meekness, disengagement,
poverty,

upon him derision, contempt, and bravadoes the most audacious must
sufferer cast
;

obedience,

piety,

not Mary, standing at the foot of the

ardent love of God, inexhaustible charity for our neighbour, burning zeal for the
glory of the

infamous gibbet, have been mixed up by them with him in the same sentiments of
hatred, and the same insults ? Amidst all the injurious language, and

Most High,

perfect submission

to his adorable will, absolute self-abandon-

ment

to his Providence, patience

:

under

the blasphemous sarcasms with which the enemies of your divine Son make the
all

air resound,

Mary

"
1

woman

above

all

every trial in a word, all virtues, and in the highest degree, shone forth in Mary. Hence St. Peter Chrysologus calls her " the of all the treasures
living assemblage

women,

the

great is are your love and your devotion All the apostles of Jesus, with the exception
!

hdhour and glonj of your sex, your faith !"^ How admirable

of sanctity;"* "

and

St.

John Damascen,
*

the sanctuary of all virtues." Let us learn of this admirable

Queen
re-

of all confessors to despise

spect,

human

of St. John, have

head, Peter himself,

abandoned him; their who had so loudly

and

to live like

worthy disciples of

Jesus Christ.
the world, let

protested that he would be faithful to him even unto death, has three times, and

Amidst the sarcasms of us lift up our heads and

with an oath, refused to acknowledge him;

(1) St. Matt. xiii. 55. (2) St. Matt. xv. 28.

the noble sign of the cross with which our foreheads were marked in Baptism
Berm. 146.

(3)

(4) Lib.

iv.,

De

fide orthod

524

LITANY OP THE
let

and Confirmation

us brave, with holy courage, the disdain and the threats of

;

which they had received from your sweet

*

patronage

you,

who

" in

all

your

"the children of the world,"' remembering that infallible oracle of him

who

will

works gave thanks to the holy One, and to the Most High, with words of glory,"'
obtain
for

judge them as well as

confess

us,

"
I

He

that shall
confess

us

the

grace

to "fight the

me

before

men,

will

him before my Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven."' Nor let us forget
that serious Master "

good fight of faith,"' in the midst of the wicked and corrupt world which surrounds
us.

You who were

at all

times

the most perfect model of all the evangelical virtues, obtain for us that we may

rtdmonition

of our divine

Let your hght so shine before

render our faith honourable by our works, " lest the name of the Lord, and his doctrine be blasphemed,"
'

men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father, who is in
heaven
"*

but,

on the con-

by doing well, we may put to trary, that silence the ignorance of foolish men,"*
considering us by our good works, they may give glory to God in the day of visitation;"" with whom we earnestly entreat you to grant us your kind
intercession.

"

august Virgin, before whose throne the confessors of the faith of Jesus fall
prostrate to pay "

and that

"

ing you the

you homage, some oflfer" crowns * which, under

his
others,

your auspices, they have worn to

greater
glory
"
;

that

heavenly

"

wisdom

which

has

shone in their
works,

Queen of

confessobs, pbay for us

!

writings

or in

their

good

and

Begina confessorum, ora pro nobis

MEDITATION
BEGINA VIRGINUM,
Yes, you are the Queen of virgins, admirable Mary, who, first among all the daughters of Eve, and in spite of the
Luke
xvi. 8.

LII.
PRO NOBIS
1

ORA.

" made opposite prejudice of your nation, to the Lord the solemn promise of per"''

petual chastity

You, according

to the

(1) St.

(3) St. Matt. V. 16.

(6) Dent, xxxiii. 3. (7) 1 Tim. vi. 12.

(2) St. Matt. x. 32, 33. (4) Apoc. iv. 10. (6) Ecclus. xlvii. 9.
(8) 1
8.

(10) 1 St. Peter v. 12.

(11) St.Aug., 8er.20deteiiip. Tract. 10 in Joan. Greg, of Nyssa, Orat. de Nat. Dom. Ven. Bede,
i.

Tim.
ii.

vi. 1.

in c.
St.

Luc.

St.

Anselm, de excel. Virg.

Missus.

c.

4.

(9) 1 St. Peter

15.

Bernard, Ser.

2, sup.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN,

" raised the expressions of St. Ambrose, " * standard of virginity ; you carried the evangelical virtue to such perfection, that "
St.

525
in solitude, or to serve

praise

him

him

in

the

And who

persons of the poor and afflicted. could enumerate the thousands

John Damascen
it

calls

you

the trea-

of admirable traits of virtue, which illustrated those ceaseless generations of vir-

sure of virginal purity."*

And
in her

certainly

should have been so

gins

since

the

commencement

of

the

who was

destined to an incom-

Church ?

How often has the earth beheld

"Incorruption prehensible greatness. bringeth near to God,"' says the Holy Ghost himself, in the book of Wisdom. It

with astonishment the youthful and timid daughters of Mary not shrinking nor

turning pal# at any danger, before any

must have been, then,

in

sufficiently perfect

her as worthy as possible " of the closest alliance with a person of

Mary

to render

infinite

majesty:"*

"an

that admirable," says Albert the Great, could not have been more intimately Mary

alliance "

so

any scourge, any threat, any punishment Every day, moreover, how many religious congregations come forth and say, oftentimes even at the
obstacle,
I .

peril of their lives, to every "

human

evil
;

Be thou my

father

and my brethren
all

"

united to the Divinity, without being iden" " tified with it

1

to

every infirmity,
"
:

to

necessities of

mind and body

and
"

Be you my mother
noble and sublime
it

But

it is

account that

not only on this marvellous all the virgins salute Mary

my

sisters

spiritual posterity of the divine Virgin;

is

by the name of Queen in heaven.

as well as an

Was

she not to them, upon earth, a safeguard,

she who protects you and supports you, " to present you as chaste virgins to

encouragement and model ?

they felt the value of purity when they saw that it was to a virgin that the ineffable privilege of the divine maternity

both against the weakness of your sex, and the seductions of the world, and the assaults of hell, and, when
Christ,"'

was

necessary, against executioners,

and
I

all

reserved

they understood the prodigious

to their sex,

honour which God showed

the instruments of their cruelty The Church puts into her mouth those words
of the book of Proverbs that love me."'
"
:

in the person of Mary, and the immense benefit of restoration which was derived

I love

them

through her

to the Christian female

and
its

their heart felt the

need of testifying
for
it,

not the greatest testimony of love which could be given to her the imitation of that virtue which
is

But

by devoting itself "to please God"* and love him alone in the world, or to contemplate and

gratitude to the

Lord

shone most in her, and which, to our fallen nature, is the most difficult? Is it
not the vow which you made, like her, to

(1) Lib. de instit. Virg, (2) Horn. 6, cont. Nestor.

(4)
St.

(3)
a. 6.

Wisd.

vi. 20.

(6) Sup. Missus est., c. 180. (6) 1 Cor. vii. 32.

(8) Brev.

(7)

2 Oor.

xi. 2.

Thomas,

p. 1, q. 25,

Kom.

in feetis B.

V.

Prov.

viii.

17,

526
live "like to

LITANY OP THE
the angels,"^ in a mortal
divine

Queen

of angels,

who come

in

body?
It is in this

same vow that the

its

spirit of

triumph to ojQfer you the lily of their O purity, and the palm of their victory
;

devotion and sacrifice finds

its

source and

strength ; for, heart ft6m family liberty to dedicate

in
ties,
all

disengaging the
it

august Mother of that divine Lamb who is the leader and "guide of virginity,"*
with what
joy

leaves

it

at

do we

glorify

you

for

the

activity

of

human

nature to the service of God, and

to having, by your example, and caused to grow so many wonderful

given rise

She who has no other good works. " thinljcth on the spouse but Jesus, of the Lord: that she may be things
holy both in body and in
produces, in the true
efi'ects,

virtues

upon the earth deign increase, more and more, the number
!

to

of

your cherished daughters,

it

spirit."''

Let

who adorn the Church like splendid flowers, and embalm

with a perfume of sweetness which
is

us admire this truly heavenly

spirit,

which

Church, wonderful for which so many sects envy her Let us ask of the divine

who

are sterile because they have sepa-

Vouchsafe to inspire us with respect and love for a virtue which does so much honour to humanity,
not of this world.

rated from her.

and which " took

where
it

its

origin in heaven,"*

Jesus that we

may have a

share, each

according to his peculiar vocation, in this zeal of voluntary immolation for his glory,

enjoys, as its reward, the special " privilege of following the Lamb whither-

and

also

to

practise,

according to our

soever he goeth." O you, in whose train thousands of virgins have gained un'

condition, the sublime virtue which, as " St. Ambrose expresses it, makes heroes of martyrdom, and renders us brethren of

speakable glory and felicity, obtain that, "drawn"* by the celestial perfume of

your virtues, we

may be

"

brought to the

the angels;"^ which even raises our merit " above, that of the heavenly spirits for," " to St. Jerom, the glory of says acquire in a mortal body is much more angels
:

by following that pure way which your steps have marked out for us
King,"
1

Queen of

virgins, peay fob us

I

than to possess
(1) St.

it

by nature."
25.

Regina virginum, ora pro nobis

(6) Jerem. iii. 4. Apoc. xiv. 4.
(6) St.

Mark
i.

xii.

(2) 1 Cor. vii. 34.

Ambrose,
i.

ibid.

(3) Lib.

de Virg. circa initinm.

(7)

(4) Serm.

de ABsumpt.

(8) Cant. (9) Ps. xliv. 15.

4.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

637

MEDITATION
THE;,saints have illustrated the

LIII.
I

EEGINA SANCTORUM OMNIUM, OEA PEO NOBIS

Church by
:

portion

splendid they have astonished the world by the heroism

of their
zeal, their

and

admirable virtues

of special glory which his time of probation. during

he won

courage, their

self-

you are their Queen all the individual merit which each one of them

Mary

devotedness, and by the prodigies of their humility, patience, and chai-ity they
;

has had, you possessed alone, and in a supereminent degree; all the traits of
Jesus, our adorable model, you expressed in yourself as faithfully as any creature

have entered into the

"

house of their

eternity,"* with an abundant harvest of " merits, which the Lord has weighed,
even to the smallest, in a just balance,^ and

you practised all the virtues, and in so high and perfect a degree, that
;

could do

which he has rewarded with a recompence

inappreciable."^

St.

Anselm has

said of you, that, of the

"

next

to the holiness
:

Saint of saints
like

O Mary
saints

you are their Queen

been,

if

the

none

is,

or can

be conceived
in

to

have

among

the faithful,

yours."'

And now,

the

heavenly
all
all

as so

many

magnificent flowers

which

country, you are invested with glory in

adorned the garden of the Spouse militant of Jesus Christ, in this mystical garden

proportion to your sublime merit magnificence of the crowns of

saints form your crown.
all:

the the

you shone as the Queen of flowers; you displayed conspicuously by your incom"

But
all

this is
theirs,

not
as

your glory surpasses

it is

parable example, of grace with which

those

immense

riches

you were
"
!

filled

much

as all their virtues are inferior to

riches incomprehensible to every

human

mind,

to every angelic spirit

by the merits of him whom you gave to the world that the grace to practise those same virtues was
yours, and as

The

saints were enabled to exhibit in

themselves, in a
sensible,

manner more
the
life

or less
of their
parti-

some

traits of

granted to them. The saints have a wonderful power with God in our favour. " The Lord," says

divine Master; in each one

some

cular virtue shone forth, and in the hea" Father's house, where there are venly

admirable in giving them to us not only as models, but also

St.

Leo,

"

is

truly

as protectors full of power."'

Thousands

many mansions,"

each one receives that

of splendid facts

pubHsh throughout the

(1) Ecclus. xii. 6.

(2) (3)

Job xxxi. 6. Heb. X. 35.

(4) St. Bernardin, Serm. 6, de Nativ. B.V.,c. 12. (6) De excellent Virg. (6) St. John xiv. 2. (7) In Natali S. Laurent.

528
world "that thev
city of
reis[n for ever*

LITANY OP THE
in the

"

and

direct all our desires towards this

God;"' and that from the height

sublime thrones, they reign also
of all these powerful interall "these immortal kings,"'

eternal

possession of God,

who

is

the

of

tlieir

by a mysterious influence upon earth.

Mar}' cessors, of

sovereign good and the source of all true " Let us take care not to incur goods." the anathema reserved for those " who set
at

nought the desirable land, so worthy

like

you are also the Queen. You do not pray " them, but you, in some sense, com:

of all the aspirations of our hearts.""

Mary! who united

all
;

in yourself all the

mand

for could it
!

Virgin

Blessed be possible, for him who was born of you, all

is,

merits of

the saints in a

admirable
all

manner so you who surpassed them

powerful as he
"

to resist the maternal

in this world, by your virtues as well

power which he has given you over himself?"*

Yes,

your requests are

;

all

but

as by your privileges, and who in heaven are superior to them by your glory and

and commands,"* says St. Antoninus what you wish," says St. Anselm, " is
"'

"

power, with them and with all the happy dwellers in the eternalJerusalem.we bow

accomplished O may this admirable Virgin, to whom all saints ofier their crowns, be one day
infallibly
I

also

our Queen
saints

What is
upon
life

required for this ?

variety
all

August Mother of our " Saviour, who are seated on his right in gilded clothing, surrounded with hand, " " divine You over
before you.
truly
1

down

To be
to

earth.

But
'

to

be a

the
"'*
!

"
elect,

living

reign habitation

of

saint is to live " the

of God,"

accord-

God

as

" in the top of mountains,

and

the magnificent sentiment of the ing apostle of the Gentiles; it is to possess

his grace,

high above the hills."" If we considered only your wonderful greatness, we should
not dare to

and

to labour

preserve and increase it to love our Creator sincerely, "with all our mind, with our whole heart, and with
;

continually to within us it is

up our eyes towards you, heavenly Queen but we know all your
lift
!

all

our strength
united to
if

:"* for

he who loves thus

;

mercy; and our confidence in you is unbounded through your aid we hope to lead a holy
:

charity, all your goodness, all your

him in an ineffable manner he perseveres, he shall be saved,"' he shall become eternally in heaven a
is

life,

and "
"

and obtain a part of that kingdom of God, where we shall rejoice for all eteryou here below with

nity for having said to

partaker of the divine nature,"'" of the " let glory and even beatitude of God. O

tender piety, worthy of your sweet majesty, Queen of all saints, pray for us
!

us raise up our hopes," says

(1) Apoc, xxii. 6.
(3) Ibid. V. 10.

St.

Augustin,

Regina sanctorum omnium, era pro nobis!

(8) St. Luke x. 27. (10) 2 St. Peter i. 4. (12) Ps. cv. 24.

(2) Ibid,

iii,

12.

(4; St. Peter (5)

()

Damian, Serm. de Nat. B. V. T. 2, in 3 part. lect. 2.

(7) Ephes. iv. 18. (9) St. Matt. xxiv. 13. (11) In Ps. 102.

(13) Pe. xliv. 10.

(14) Ephes.
1.

ii.

22.

De

excell. Virg., c. 12.

(16) Mich.iv,

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

529

MEDITATION
It
the exalted piety of our bishops, requested it of the Holy See in these
"

LIV.
!

EGINA SINE LABE OEIGINALI CONCEPTA, ORA PKO NOBIS

is to

who

latter times, that

we

are indebted for the

he compares her to " the earth of which the first man was formed, which had not yet received the malediction
immaculate
:"

sweet consolation of being able to salute

sin.

Mary as the Queen conceived without original The Scripture calls God, in an abmanner,
"

of the Lord, the consequence and chastisement of the original sin."^ Origen,

who comes near

solute

the King,"

to express

the excellence of his supreme majesty; it not proper to honour the sove" is above all reignty of her who except

to the age of the apostles, her " formed in grace," " nor," says styles " was she infected by the breath of he,

was

God,"" by calling her Queen in the proper sense of the word ? And after the invocation which implores her as Qmen of all saints, what other could have been better

the venomous serpent."'' St. Amphilochius calls her, without stain and without * " sin St.

more beautiful Epiphanius, even than the cherubim and seraphim, and all the angelic host the immaculate
; :

placed than that which honours at the same time her royal greatness and the
singular privilege of her exemption from
original
sin ?

sheep who brought forth the Lamb Christ:"* St. Ephrem, "0 unspotted,
undefiled,

and
.

perfectly pure
. .

and chaste

Virgin
"

Mary,
'

every
"

way immacu-

privilege

which would

late

St. Cyril,

alone distinguish her from all the elect, even if, in so many other respects, she were not above them a privilege which
;

original to

stain."*

What need

preserved from the is there

quote other channels of the transmission of the primitive belief in tliis

respect?

the voice of the tradition of the Church always proclaimed, the faithful echo of the teaching of the apostles. In his discourse to the proconsul CEgeas,
St.

Who

does not

know

that Saints

Jerom,* Augustin," Fulgentius," Ildefonsus," John Damascen,'* Peter Damian,"

Andrew himself

gives Mary the

title

of

Anselm," Bonaventure," and even St. Thomas," guarantee alike on this point
In Pa.

(1) Pd. xiv., cxiiv. (2) St. Bernard, Serm. 6, c. 6. (3) Acts of St. Andrew (Dissertation
Imtii. Concept,

(9)

Ixxvii,

on the

Nat. et Grat., c. 36. (10) (11) Serm. de laud. M.

(12) Disput. de V. M. (13) Orat. de Nat. B. V.
(14) Or. 11 de Nat.

De

by Card. Lambruschini).
Luc.
in S. Deip.

(4) Horn. vi. in

M.

(5) (6)

IV. Disc,

M.

laudib. Virg. Orat. de S. Dei Gen. (7)

(8)

De

In Evang. Joan.,

ii.,

vi., c.

15.

(15) De Concept. Virg., o. 18. (16) Serm. 11 de B. V. (17) In lib. 1 Sent. disp. 44, q. 1 ad 3.

3 Y

530

LITANT OP THE
She, in fine, who alone in the world was to be styled " Full of grace,"'
of grace
?

the uninterrupted tradition of the Church; tliat with the testimonies of holy doctors
are united the

monuments of the churches

tliose

who was
corporal

to live for
life

nine months even a

of the East, and

of

the Latin

with the

Word

incarnate,

churches, the words of the sacred hturgy, the usages of dioceses, the customs of

could

she have been struck with the

rehgious orders

in fine, the acts of the

Divine displeasure, in the first moment of her existence, rendered odious to the
" child of wrath?"' Lord, and a

Holy See, crowned by the dogmatical

decree of Pius IX.,' which, accomplishing the desires of pastors and faithful, declared
this belief a truth of faith, to the great

no, a thousand times over

so,

it

could

not be

Virgin so tenderly cherished

I

both by

God and men

this well,

He comprehends
idea

applause and unexampled joy of the

Catholic world ?

and

feels

who has the

And how much

is this

act of doctrinal

which Christianity gives us of sin and grace, and the infinite sanctity of God
:

infallibility in felicitous

harmony with the

inferences from our other holy points of If the personal union of the behefl

such a one loves to proclaim in the face of heaven and earth, with the supernatural certainty of faith, that not for a single moment had the Son of God to

human and divine natures in Jesus

rendered
it

Christ

absolutely necessary that the

Man-God
"

should be conceived in the

turn away his eyes from her who was to be his Mother, as from an object insup-

state of grace, could the divine maternity,

which comes as near as possible to that union,"' have been compatible with the
conception of Mary in the state of sin ? .... Could she, whom God had an-

But such a man portable to his sight. attaches also to the avoidance of all sin
an unparalleled importance he esteems, like Mary, above everything else, the
;

nounced from the beginning of the world,

as being threatened in vain by the bite of the infernal serpent, and even destined

happiness of being in favour with God he " watches and prays"' assiduously to pre:

serve the treasure of the Divine friendship;

" to crush his head,"* have begun by

he labours by good works day the sacred bonds of

closer,

to
it

draw every closer and

being wounded herself by his dart, and

"

and
fruits.
!

to increase

daily its inesti-

being
she,

subject to his
to

who was

Could power ?" be in a manner the

mable

Mary

blessed
1

Queen

O Queen

repairer of the fall of Eve, and the true " Mother of the living,"* have been inferior to

Queen conceived with' by pre-eminence out original sin! behold the last ejaculation
of our heart towards you
;

Eve, who was created in a state

behold the last

(1) 8 Dec. 1854.

(2) St. Dionys, of Carthage, liv.
ii.

(4) Col.

i.

13.
i.

(5)

Gen.
33.

iii.

15.
3.

De Laud. V.

(6) St.

Luke

28.

(7)
xiii.

Ephes,

ii.

(3) Gen.

iii.

16.

(8) St.

Mark

MOST BLESSED YIRQIN.

ray of glory, which,
to
!

531

upon earth, we may add

What a happiness for us your crown to be able to say to you that " the Lord
possessed
you, by his grace,
"
;

our hearts may be pleasing to you, obtain that they may attach themselves more and
with purity and obtain this grace that we repeat to you, with all the humility, confidence, and love in our power,
to

more

serving

God

in

the be-

fervour.

It is to

ginning of his ways

immaculate,

"
!

all fair,
"'

and that you are and that there is not

'

a spot in you

be ever the Queen

you who had the distinguished honour to be exempted from the law, which was "not made for you, but
of our hearts,

Queen conceived without oeiginal

PEAY FOR us
I

sin,

Eegina sine lobe originali concepta, era pro

nobis
t

for

all

others;"^

and that your rule over

MEDITATION LV.
AGNUS DEI, QUI TOLLIS PECCATA MUNDI, PARCE NOBIS, DOMINE
!

The Church
in

terminates the invocations

not consider with sufficient faith in the

adorable Person of our divine Jesus.
love to contemplate

honour of the most holy Virgin, in

We

accents full of emotion, addressed to her adorable Son, under the emblem of the " Lamb of the sins who takes

him under the image

God,
*

away

she presents him to our consideration as the Judge, " the whose clemency we must implore Lamb standing in the midst of the
of the world."
first,
;
. . .

And

Shepherd," under the image good Father,' under the image of a mother full of tenderness ;" and doubtless
of a good
of a

we ought
traits,

so to do, since

he seems

to

delight in depicting to us under these

in the holy Gospel, the unspeakable

throne;' he who is to judge us by his cross, the sign of the Son of Man,"* the
"

riches of his goodness and love for us. But we forget that if we do not worthily

sign

of

death or of life"' to us

all,

according as our works shall have been opposed or conformable to the holy

correspond with so much goodness and love, we shall only be the more culpable " for having known the truth, and having
in a

maxims which
Alas
!

flow from

it.

manner

stifled it in our heart ;"^^

we

this character of

Judge we do

forget that the greater is this goodness.

(1) Prov. viii. 22. (3) Esther xv. 13. (5)

(2) Cant. V. (4) St.

2 John i.

iv. 7.

(7) St.

29.

(9) St.

Apoo.

V. 6.

(6) St. Matt. xxiv. 30.

Luke ii. 34. (8) Luke XV. (10) (11) Rom. i.

St. St.

Luke xv.
Matt, xxiii. 37.

18, 21.

5Sa

LITANY OF THE
eternal misery?
effable

the more ardent,. generous, and prodigious in its effects is this love, the more are we

Yes,

if

of the in-

bound
fine,

to be sensible of
if

it

we

forget, in

that

we
"

carry our ingratitude

mystery of the Eucharist it may be said with truth, when we consider the mystery of the cross, Love explains love

towards this

Lamb

of God,"* so sweet,
us, so

so

and amiable, and tender towards

far as to violate the absolute rights

see on the one side, the prodigies of the goodness and tender love
of Jesus for

when we

which

men, and, on the

other, the
obsti-

he has over our

the use of
all

will,

our affections, and

indifference, the

abominable and

ourselves to find in

our faculties, we expose him in the next world

nate ingratitude of so many sinners, we may well exclaim, the Incarnation, the

only "the terrible Lion of the tribe of ' Juda," before whom the reprobate will one day " say to the mountains and rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face

Redemption, the Eucharist, and Heaven

are a sufficient explanation of hell is not hell itself, in the adorable views
I

of

of Providence, as
to force

it

were, a last resource

to secure

him
But

that sitteth

upon the throne, and

him, in some manner,

from the wrath of the Lamb."*

is

his salvation,
itself,

not this

Lamb

goodness

would leave

whom more noble insensible? ....

motives

meekness

itself," charity itself?"*

:

yes,

Jesus has well proved all this to us has done things for us, which men do not,

he

But we, who perhaps have so often deserved this hell, we, who perhaps have
too long disowned the rights of the

Lamb
his
let

even when they cordially love one another. But the more he is good, the more also is

of

God

over us,

who have abused

love,
1

benefits

and affronted his

for

us

he

just, all

his perfections being alike

if

infinite;

and

we renounce

the sweet

our unworthy conduct; let beg pardon us enter into profound sentiments of grief,
at the thought of wrongs so grievous, with which we have to reproach ourselves to-

reign of his inco in parable love, must not the reign of his justice have its turn, after

given us to choose, either the one or the other? But, do we sincerely

is
" Is it not true that "judge ourselves?" we show but little gratitude? What do

the Ufe which

wards him

let

his feet with a

"

us prostrate ourselves at heart truly contrite, truly

humble,"' as we say to him more in deep feeling than in words,

I say ? Is
ful, that

it

we

treat

not true that we are ungrateJesus as if we owed him

if

God, who takest away the Lord sins of the world,"' spare us,
'

O Lamb

of

nothing, and sometimes almost as

we

Spare us,

had some

interest in provoking his justice

sovereign Master of all things, " sovereign Judge of the living and of
1

Is it not true that he whom against us? it strikes has but too well deserved his

It is true that in the dead,"' spare us thy sight we are nothing but ungrateful

(1) (3)

8t Johni.
Apoc.
vi.

29.

(2)

Apoc,

V. 5.

(5) 1 Cor. xi. 31.

iv. 8.

(6) (8)

Ps.

1.

9.

16.

(4) 1 St.

John

(7) St.

John

i.

29.

Acts

X. 42.

MOST BLESSED VIEGIN.

creatures,

533

\vho

have despised thy un-

Lord, spare thy people I"' that, by the

intercession of thy divine Mother, thou

speakable love, and madly disdained thy rewards, as if heaven were not worth the
trouble of

some few exertions

and who

mayest "be exalted sparing ms;"' and that the word of the prophet Joel may
be verified in us

have braved thy justice, as if the threat of thy chastisements was not serious.

" The Lord hath been

zealous for his land, and hath spared his

people."*

how

criminal are wel

But do not

treat us as

we

deserve

treat us according

clemency, which we all implore, striking our breasts, with the penitent publican,* and saying to thee
to thy infinite

Lamb of God, who takest away the

sins

of the would, spake us,

LoedI
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, parce nobis, Domine I

from the bottom of our heart,

"
Spare,

MEDITATION
After beseeching the Lamb of God to spare us, we persevere, and entreat him
to vouchsafe graciously to hear the groans

LVI.

AGNUS DEI, QUI TOLLIS PECCATA MUNDI, EXAUDI N03, DOMINE.

infinite majesty of this

nefactor,

whom we

incomparable behave had the misfor-

which we have sent up

his clemency.

to the throne of

tune to offend, and to make us more and more contrite for our offences. But it is
also to

The

first

cry of our heart

remind us that he,

to

whom we

was an accent of
second

lively repentance,

an

accent of profound and bitter sorrow.

is

The

address our suppliant cries, is the absolute Master of all things ; " that he has the
* keys of death and hell ;" and that consequently our prayer cannot be too humble

an accent of humble prayer,

infinite goodness, in order

which implores

to obtain a great,

and very great favour,

lot for eternity,
"

on which depends our

"

or too fervent.

then,

may these words

I

Lord! Graciously hear us, The Church here directs us to repeat Lord " to the Lamb who takes away the
"

proceed from the inmost feelings of our " " Lord hearts, Graciously hear us,

sins of the world,"

in order to convince

us more and more of the greatness and

we know too well that we have made ourselves guilty, but we know not, and we never shall know, with certainty, that God has forgiven us.
For, alas
!

(1) St.

Luke

xviii. 13. (2) Joel (3) Isa. XXX. 18.

ii.

17.

(4) Joel

ii.

18. (6)

Apoo.

(5) St. i. 18.

Jobn

i.

29.

534

LITANY OP THE
this account,

On

we ought

every day to

shall

we

live as if

we were

bewail our sins, to endeavour every day to make satisfaction for them before the

straight to heaven ? .... what continual sentiments

sure of going rather in

of profound

Lord, and every day, with fresh ardour, to beseech that God, who is goodness itself,
' " to remember not our iniquities." David, of his pardon by those though well assured " words of the prophet Nathan, The Lord

humility and
to

keep

Bossuet,
the victim

lively contrition ought we " ourselves Sacrifice," says " is the more acceptable, as
!

is

more noble
it

it

cannot then

be doubted that

is

an action incom-

hath taken away thy sin,"* had his crime ' he ennevertheless always before him
;

Most High to " cleanse him "* and in the night he yet more from it
treated the
;

parably more excellent to humble our minds before God, than to mortify our * But to the humilibodies for his sake."
ation of our

mind

before the Lord, let

even " watered his couch with his tears."*

what ought we to do, we who, alas " committed iniquity,"' have too often and who have not received from the infalI

us join sorrow, continually renewed, for " having violated holy Baptism, and trodden under foot, in some sense, the adorable

blood "* of that divine

"

lible

mouth

of a prophet the assurance of

our reconciliation with

that great apostle, caught up to the third heaven, did he not

God St. Paul, who deserved to be

! .
.

Lamb, who became The more we shall a victim for us. deplore the misery into which we have fallen, the more shall we draw near to Let us, the good which we have lost.
then, never cease to shed tears so fruitful
;

not conscious to myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified?"^ What! does then that admirable
also say,

" I

am

let

our sorrow, substituted for

of

tor-

ments

eternal
its

duration,

in

some
perpelast

servant and minister of God,

received
so

who had

measure imitate
tuity,

intolerable

proofs of his benevolence and love, that illustrious saint,

many

by extending at least to our

agony."

who had

achieved innumerable labours

for the glory of his adorable Master,

the incomparable St. Paul, in a word, not dare to think himself justified and
I

Lamb
in figure

of God, adorable victim, " slain

from the beginning of the world,"*'

in

all

the sacrifices of the patriarchs, and

later on, in all those

which were
;

ofi'ered

shall we,

whose

lives

have been so far

under the law of Moses

in a bloody

slain in reality,

from resembling his, we, who after very grievous and multiplied sins have perhaps

manner, on Calvary, on the where Adam had formerly been very spot
interred," that
Heb. X. 29,
S.

done hardly anything

(1) Ps. Ixxviii. 8.

to

expiate them.

"

as in

Adam

all

die, all

(2) 2
(4)

(3) Pa. 1. 5. (6) Pb. vi. 7. (7) 1 Cor. iv. i. (8) lime.

Kings Ps 1, 4.

xii.

13.

(9)

(6) Ps. cv, 6.

p. 203.

(10) Bossuet, 2me. Paneg. de Paule, p. 196.

Franjois do

(11) Apoc.

xiii. 8.

Paneg. ds 8. Francois de Paule,

(12) St. Ambrose, Origen, Tertullian, SS. Atha.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

slain since, might in Thee receive life; and continually in a mystical manner, but in a manner no less real, upon our altars,
"*

635

the august pontiffs and other ministers of the Church, who cease not to pray for all

her members

where thou
slain
"*
;

art always living,

"

as

it

were
to

who
us

the most Holy Virgin, never ceases to intercede herself for

to

to pray
is

and beseech thee

be

all,

we should say

to thee,

with

feel-

merciful to us,

this not responding to

the desire of thy heart, which carried to excess* its self-devotedness for us? No,

ings of humiliation and profound sorrow, " so but also with full confidence that

no

it

did not enter into the designs of

having prayed, we shall be heard us, God, our Saviour :"*

;*

hear

treat us without mercy, thou who grantest us the grace to repent, and implore thee with all our heart, and the desire to labour without

thy justice to
since
it is

Lamb of God, who takest away the

SINS of
us,

the world, graciously hear Lord

!

ceasing, to expiate the past by penance.

it is

then thy

will, that

uniting with

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, exaudi nos Dominel

MEDITATION
persevere, in order to obtain the pardon of our sins, and entreat
still

LVII.
1

AGNUS DEI, QUI TOLLIS PECCATA MUNDI, MISERERE NOBIS

Here we

a final appeal to the adorable heart of our divine Saviour, which cannot remain inefficacious.

the

Lamb
desire,

of

God

to

have mercy on us.

title

Is

it

not,

This time we do not add the

oiLord;
that the

should say to him,

we

if

we may

so say,

delivered thyself for

if we who "hast thou, us,"' who art the

in fact, as

divine Jesus should forget his greatness and majesty, so much offended by us, to

propitiation for the sins

" of the whole

world,"'
to

doubtless

we no way deserve

remember only his

condescending
things like as
to

infinite

mercy, and that

all

adorable compassion which he showed by

be heard, when we beg thy pardon for those which we have had the misfortune

be " tempted in
are."'

we

Thus we make

commit; but we appeal to that unspeakable compassion which thou feelest

to

See the nasius, Epiphanins, Cyril of Jerusalem. Biblioth. cboisie dee P^res, par Guillon, t. ix.
p. 147.

(2)
(4)

Apoc.

V. 6.

(3)
(5) (7)

Ephes.

ii.

4.

Ecolus. xxxiii. 4.

Ps. Ixiv. 6.

(6)

Heb.

iv. 15.
_(8)

Ephes.
2.

v. 2.

(1) Origen, in Matt.

1 St.

John

ii.

636
for US

LITANY OF THE
save us, save us,

Lamb of God

says an
delivers

afflicted

save us at least through pure compassion

him

at the

and mercy? If David formerly said to God, with a sublime confidence founded on a sublime
.

Jericho, a blind
also

him Jesua same moment. Near man named Bartimeus

father to
;

implores his compassion

"

Jesus,
" *
!

sense of infinite mercy,"

ray sin, for
it

Thou
if,

wilt

pardon

Son of David, have mercy on me Jesus commands, and the blind man
covers his sight. " afar
off,
lift

re-

is

Incarnation and

Redemption mysteries

great;"'

before the

Ten

lepers, standing
voice,
I

up

their

saying,
"

in which that mercy was so conspicuous he had an idea so exalted, so ample, of that abyss of goodness, which loves to descend upon the penitent sinner like a of grace and pardon, what idea, what sentiments ought we ourselves to have,

' and Jesus, Master, have mercy on us This admirable they obtain their cure.

sympathy

for all

human

miseries

this

dew

tender compassion, which made St. Peter " went about doing say of him that he ' good," can it be that Jesus now glorified

when we

address ourselves to this infinite

has ceased to

feel ?
it

see rather
to us,

how ho

goodness, manifested to us in the human nature of a God become a victim for us ?

delights to prove

more and more,

....

do we wish to understand what

to his adorable

power every appeal

com-

by the perpetual prodigy of the adorable Eucharist Does he not, in this mystery, place at our disposal his blood and all
!

passion has upon the tender and devoted heart of this Lamb of God ? let us open

his merits?

Does he not

ofTer

himself

the Gospel.

Who
"
!

is

the

man who
"
life,

ever

every day, and every hour, as the victim of propitiation for our sins, and of impetration for all graces of

said to him, during his mortal

Have

which we may

mercy on me

without obtaining the

stand in need

Two poor blind grant of his prayer ? men follow him, crying out, " Son of
David, have mercy on us
their eyes,
"
!

make
is

? Does he not incessantly a sacrifice of his glory for us, which in a manner annihilated under the

He

touches

the

light.'

and their eyes are opened to A woman of Canaan, whose

miserably tormented by the out in her turn, " Son of " "
!

lowly species ; a sacrifice of his liberty, subject in some measure to the will of
his ministers; a sacrifice of the exercise
of his justice, so often provoked by the

daughter

is

devil, cries

Be it David, have mercy on me done to thee as thou wilt," Jesus answers, " and her daughter was cured from that hour."* " Lord, have pity on my son,
for

attacks of sinners,

and suspended by the

wonderful long-sufi'ering of his mercy? For now almost two thousand years has
this

Lamb

of

God

thus prolonged with-

he

is

a lunatic, and sufiereth much,"*

out interruption his incomparable selfdevotedness to our salvation, adding

(1) Ps. xxiv. 11. (3) St.

(2)

St. IMntt. ix. 27.

(4)

St.
St.

Matt. xvii. 14.

(5) (7)

St.

Mark

x. 47.

Matt. XV. 22, ^8.

(6)

Luke

xvii. 13.

Acts

X. 38.

MOST BLESSED VIRGIN.

incessantly miracle to miracle ; and can we doubt the activity, the tenderness, the
overflows

637

generosity of his compassion for hearts moved by repentance and desirous of his

towards penitent sinners; we implore that adorable blood, in which are extinguished all the flames of the
" wrath of God,"' and by which is efilected "the remission of sins;"' and that our
voice
to

love?

Let us then say to him, ourselves up to the sweetest configiving " Lamb of God, who takest dence,

....

may find yet more securely access thee, we unite it with that of the most

away the sins of the world," have mercy on us, who are so much to be pitied, and
so unworthy to be regarded by thy good-

holy Virgin, our good and sweet Mother, and by her sacred lips we oflFer to thee
that pious aspiration which the

Church

ness

if

infinite justice,

thou didst consider only thy thou must strike those

places

upon those of her

children, to

whatever condition they belong

ungrateful creatures, who have rendered thee evil for good, coldness and insult for
love. pity, that inexhaustible mercy with which thy heart

Lamb of God, who takest away the

Agnus Dei,
nobis
t

sins
!

of the world, have mercy on us

qui
tollis

But we implore that

peccata mundi, miserere

(I) St.

John

i.

29.

(2)

Apoc. XV.

7.

(3) Col.

i.

U.

8z

oilt

oi toT.o ov/

r^fi

vd

DEVOTION

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

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PREPAKED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK

REV. XAVIER DONALD MACLEOD,

PKOFBaeOB OF BEIBTOBia AND BBLLS8 LETTBBS IN
ST.

IIABT B OOLLBOB, OINOINKATL

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DEVOTION

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

CHAPTER
GKNEBAI, VIEW

I.

OF THIS DEVCIION FIRST CATHOLICS THE SOUTHERN STATES AND CANADA OUR LADt's DISCOVERT OF AMERICA CHURCHES OP HER NAME MINISTERS OF THE DEVOTION EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN DEVOTION HONOR DUE TO MARY EMIGRANTS PATRONESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

COLUMBUSNATtTEAL GEOWTH

The

seaport town of Palos, in Andalusia, lay basking in the sun, and its
little

ever and anon a strain of the mass

sic

mu-

harbor was crowded with swarthy sightseers and vocal with wondering tongues.

The

cool

mountain waters of the Tinto

brawled past the haven, and flowed into the broad Atlantic. Out on the burnished sea three caravels lay at anchor. The crowd had assembled to see a set

would swell out from the church, where Faith was kneeling to ask protection; where Confidence was drawing new strength from devotion to God and Mary. For the adventurers, their commander at their head, were preparing, by confession and Holy Communion, to
enter
like

Christian

men upon

their

madmen, as they called them, depart upon a hopeless voyage. Their tongues
were busy in discussing the probable manner in which evil fate would faU on the expedition, for no one dreamed of a

of

perilous undertaking.^ Then the mass was over,

and out from the church, grave, resolute, and calm, walked the admiral at the head of hia crew and the crowd, hushed into silence,
;

happy

issue for the adventure.

If

any

opened a way
jetty.

for the procession to the

dared to suggest such a probability, he, too, was hooted at as insane, and
ironically

A few moments were

wells.

allowed for fare-

recommended

to ship for the

Then the

brief orders were given,

voyage.

And

as they disputed

and sneered,

(1) Presoolt,

Ferdinand and

Isabella,

ii.

180.

542

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

sailors entering the boats,

and the

rowed

of honor arise to the Mother Immaculate.

out to their respective vessels. Then the report of the culverin sound-

ed from the bows, and the standard of Castile swung out to the April breeze

For devotion to Mary is in its own nature a necessarily growing one, inas-

much

as

it is

from the peak of the Santa Maria and the crew cheered, and the crowd on
;

and reverence

the expression of our love for her and these are in;

evitable, because of her nature,

immac-

shore responded, as the admiral stepped on board.

ulately conceived, as
sixty
sinless years

it

was,

lingering

on earth, and now

few moments more and the anchors

were weighed, the yards were trimmed, the sails filled, and the flotilla of Columbus stood out to sea. And with it, as it
crossed those pathless waters, the love and protection of our dear Lady and

and triumphant in heaven. Mary is, of aU creatures, except the sacred Humanity of her Lord and Son, the nearest to the heart of God and
glorified
;

the love that she gives us is, after all, God's love, whereof she is the channel

Mother

floated over the Atlantic to the

and God's

love, in
still,

shores of America.^

never stands

His dealings with us, but is evermore on

The

first

land toucliGd by the Chris-

tian admiral he called

honor of the Son

San Salvador,* in the next, Santa Maria

the increase here, as it will be through the rapturous ages of eternity. But

God
is,

de la Concepcion, did reverence to the Mother.

nigh four hundred years since then, but never has Mary forgotten nor been forgotten here but her serIt
is
;

gives love in exchange for love ; He allows us, with our own coin, poor as it
to purchase treasures on high, and so our love necessarily increases in an hum-

weU

vants have labored to extend her devothe faithful have responded with her powerful eager and loving hearts have aided them in heaven and prayers
tion
; ;
;

when He sends us so much Mary, we are impelled

ble kind of proportion with His. Then, favor through

to

return

it

through the same blessed channel, and thus devotion to her grows ever, and
grow, until love shall be placed beyond the reach of change or of decay.
shall

now, from the perpetual Arctic snows to the mists of Terra del Fuego, ascriptions
The bumble and reverent spirit in which Cathundertook theu- great labors is wondered at, and aomeUmes even sneered at, by modern historiana. These
(1)
olics

So, then,
"

Mary has gained

vast posThou
hast,

Lord, eternal and omnipotent God,

by Thy holy word, created the heavens, the

earth,

and

do not understand the consecration of all things to God. Yet such was the spirit of Columbus. His prayer on
reaching San Salvador is preserved by Washington Irving. " Doraino Dens, aeterne et omnipotena, sacro tuo verbo ctsluin et terram et mare creasti ; benedicatur et
glorificetnr

the sea; blessed and glorified be Thy Name; praised be Thy Majesty, who hast deigned that, by means of

Thy unworthy
the globe."
(2)

servant,

Thy

sacred

Name
new

should be
quarter of

acknowledged and made known

in this
i.

Ibvin^o, Columbus,

156.

To
to

call

a land after the Saviour being deemed

chang-

Nomen

tuum, landetnr tuamajestasqusa dig-

superstitious, the English conquerors reverently

nita est per humilem

servum tuum nt ejns sacrum Nomen aguoscatur et preedicetur in hac altera mundi parte."

ed

it

Oat Island.

m
sessions in this country. hope she will conquer it
it all,

NOBTH AMERICA.
let

US

One day
all,

us

and annex

New

armed only with the crucifix, penetrated Mexico in 1539, and gained the
Indian's love.

loyal and devoted, to the kingdom There are peculiarities in of her Son. her conquests and in her sacred warfare

Five other Franciscans

;

without parallel in the victories of the sword. The weapons of her hosts are

took the same path in 1540 and two of them, Father John de Padilla and Brother John of the Cross, remained in
the country, and taught the doctrine of
Christ, until they were slain in an inroad of stranger savages. Rodriguez, Lopez, Santa Maria followed in 1580, and con-

and weariless and refusal of reaffection self-sacrifice ward on earth; and better still, whengentleness,
;

and

mercy,

ever a soldier

falls,

fighting bravely in

firmed the faith in

the front rank for her honor, his death

which

only strengthens her armies and helps to insure the success of her cause. From
the
soil

New Mexico, from has never since departed. But earlier than this, in 1544, Andrew
it
;

which was enriched by the blood

de Olmos had sought out the fierce Texan tribes, and had converted many and
in 1601, the Carmelite Father,

of the martyrs, spring the flowers that deck her altars in the month of May.

Andrew

of the Assumption of the Virgin, with

With

the successors of

Columbus came

the cannon and the sword; but there came also the Cross and the Rosary.

had entered California, and celebrated the divine mysteries at

his companions,

Monterey.
baptized in the blood of Louis Cancel, the Dominican. As he
first

There came
;

lust of dominion, of lands,

Florida was

of gold cruelty, bloodshed, and the vices of civihzation. But among them, and

stepped from his unarmed vessel, alone,

unharmed by
sacrifice,

their contact,

were

self-

God and
They
names

devotion, zeal for souls, love of of man only for God's sake.

and knelt down upon the shore, he was slain by a blow from a war-club, and his reeking scalp was shaken in derision
before his shuddering brethren (1544). To him succeeded many others, to labor
for awhile almost in vain,

that took the

sword perished by
only blood-stained But the war-

the sword, and

riors of

won

as their re.ward.

and then to
to

Zion and of Carmel won souls back to Heaven and if they died in the
;

die

beneath the tomahawk or by the

arrow.

The Spaniards struggled long

conflict,

their blood spake louder than

make
cola,

a successful settlement at Pensa-

their voices

had done.

Ponce de Leon, Yasquez de Ayllon,

Narvaez, de Soto, Alvarado, Coronado, with all the power of their arms, with all the Spanish and Indian gore they shed, only gained the abhorrence and
hatred of the natives.

it up, for a time, in 1561. the soldiers had departed, there lingered on the shore, alone, re-

but gave

And when

solved to labor on. Father Salazar and Brother Matthew of the Mother of God.

But a few years

later,

on the

feast of

But Father

Mark,

the

Franciscan,

the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, St. " Augustine, by more than forty years the

544

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

tion of religious establishments. While the most splendid monuments of religion and art were falling beneath its axes in

town in the United States," was founded, and so soon as this foothold was
oldest

obtained, the heroic missionaries poured

in/

Jesuit,

Franciscan,

Dominican,

thronged in generous rivalry to spread the gospel of the Highest throughout the

Europe, its representatives in the New World, in Carolina and Virginia, banded with and led on the savages to the sack
of the humble missions, and the slaughter of the devoted priests who served them.*

new

country. They pierced the thick forests, they crossed the mountain ranges, they swam the broad rivers of the South.

They

toiled with the Natchez, the Creek,

;

and the Cherokee

sions in Carolina

they estabUshed mis-

No, so-called Protestant, powers have ever made their way to any new or paIndia, China, Japan, or gan country America without finding Cathohc mis-

and Virginia, and they

which
they

coasted the whole Atlantic border as far

north as the

Chesapeake,
it is

sionaries in possession before

them quia
;

called St. Mary's Bay.

Domini
true,

est

terra,

"the earth

is

the

They were martyred,

Indians
;
;

by the

Lord's."

And wherever

they have been

they died in the wild forest of starvation or fatigue but that did not
deter others from following in their steps and the first Europeans who dwelt peace;

strong enough, they have invariably overtlirown those missions and re-established

ably in these lands were the missionary fathers, who claimed them, not for any
earthly power, but for God and St. Mary the Virgin. It is true that they were soon driven

paganism. Nay, in some places they have endowed it; and to-day the distorted idols for India are manufactured

by the ton
gland.

in the cities of Christian

En-

So the missions on
in the Carolinas

St.

Mary's Bay and

from Virginia and the Carolinas. Shortly after the discovery of America, followed the discovery of that system of
rebellion popularly

known

as the Refor-

were destroyed by the combined zeal of the Reformer and the Yemassee but under the Catholic flag of Spain, they flourished and took root in Alabama and Florida and the sum;

mation.
this was,

The only

distinctive

mark

of

mer sun

of 1693 shone

upon a

statue of

and is, hatred to the Church, and whenever its adherents had the power, it was signalized by the destruc(1)

the Mother of God, under whose patron-

age and protection they were founding,

and

successfully, Pensacola.*
Houses in
built

" It was at the hour of vespers, on the evening

to wn in the United States.

wliich are said to

it

are yet standing

preceding the Festival of the Nativity of Mary, that the Spaniards returned to the harbor of St. Augustine. At noonday of the festival itself, the governor went on
shore, to take possession of the continent in the name of his king. The solemn mass of Our Lady was per-

have been

ginia

was colonized." Bancroft, Hist. U. <?., vol. i. p. 69. (2) The Christian Indians driven out with the missionaries took the name of Seminoles, or Wanderers.

many years before Vir-

formed, and the foundation of

diately laid.
It is

St.

Augustine was immeforty years the oldest

Deprived of their instructors, they gradually relapsed into paganism. Fi^ Shba's Catholic Missions, p. 75.

by more than

(3) Shea, History U.

S., p.

40.

m
And

NORTH AMERICA.

545

while these transactions were oc-

curring in the south and southwest, the French missionaries were conquering the
tribes of the north.

were to be subdued; reinforcements of foes from lands inimical to her cause were to be expected, and were only to
be met by reinforcements of friends from lands that loved her.

From Acadia and

Mary

the St. Lawrence the servants of

spread the news of salvation. The forests of Canada rang with the Salve Rejina; from the birch canoes that cut the azure waters of the great lakes swelled

Her conquests resemble those of

world in
the
this,

the

officers

they are to succeed, must be skillful, fearless,

if

that

diligent, prudent, unselfish,

and prompt

up the Ave Maris

Stella.

On

the banks

the troops must be steadfast, obedient,

of the Hudson, Bressany told his beads in the intervals of Iroquois torture. In the valley of the Mohawk streamed the

blood of the martyred Jogues, and whole districts of New York Indians pubUcly

and constant. If they shall appear to have been so, we will understand how her honor has increased in the land how seven hundred churches bear her Name, out of three thousand five hundred in
loyal,
;

renounced their

idolatries.

AUoucz and Dablon evangelized the chill shores of Lake Superior Marquette bore the cross down the waters of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas, established a mission of the Immac;

every portion of the country how the same sweet Name is given to river, lake
;

and mountain, peak and bay, north, south, and through the centre and how
;

more than two million

tectress.^

voices chant her

praise and proclaim her

Lady and Pro-

ulate Conception
laid his

among

the Illinois, and

rest, at last,

weary frame to

on
so

the shores of

Lake Michigan.

And

The instruments, then, of the gracious win and favor of God are the fidelity of
His ministers, the influx of foreign Catholics, and the winning character of the doctrines and devotions of the Church.

the CathoUc embrace circled North

ica,

Ameruntil

extending through pain and priva-

tion,

through

toil

and martyrdom,

the Jesuit, going northward from Missouri,

and westward from Canada, com-

pleted the sacred circle as they met beneath the crests of the Rocky Mountains

and on the plains of Oregon. But after all, this was but Our Lady's discovery of North America, as it were was but a planting of her standard and the act of taking possession. The battle was stiU to be fought, the hostile tribes

The fidelity of the minister is the main point, since, without this, the aborigine would retain his paganism, the emigrant lose his faith, the American remain unconverted. He must be faithful

who would preach

these

the gospel of Christ, and so extend the devotion to Mary, for

two go together.

The Mother,

for

all eternity,

Son.

now is inseparable from her When He took her pure flesh

names of churches are not given ; no report at alL

(1) Even these estimates are less tliau They are made from tlie almanac for 1861,

tlie trutli.

for

some

dioceses, the

in which,

and, indeed, whole dioceses have

o46

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIKGIN MARY

in time,
it

upon Him

was not only

it

to

destruction.
pentes^

suffer in it here,

but to preserve
She,

for-

prudenies yet prudent without

JEsiote ergo

ut ser-

selfishness

ever in heaven.

whom He

called

or trick;

Mother here. He calls Mother there. She has no honor but His, and what she
merits by

simplices brave in their innocence, for

"be ye simple as doves" sicut columhoe. They must be

"I send you

duty faultlessly performed to

Him.
glory
tracts
is

Whatever goes towards God's

an honor to Mary
it
;

forth as sheep in the midst of wolves," mitto vos sicut agnos inter luposf humble,

whatever deit, is

from

or obstructs

a pain to

of

for the
beati

poor in

spirit

have the blessing

yet in all.their

pauper es spiritu;*

Mary.

She has nothing of her own, yet she has all for she has Him, "of whom and by whom and for whom are ail" propter quern omnia et per quern omnia}
;

personal humility they must preserve the highest dignity and sacred character
their
office,

since,

"as

It

is

plains
olic

her Maternity to Him that ex^that only can explain the Cath-

hath sent Me, even so send I misit me Pater et ego mitto vos.^
ciation

you"
choke

My

Father
sicut

Renun-

of

devotion to her.

It

is

because she

from
the

its

world, and separation ties and it, are necessary, for the
of
this

has

Him

for her child that she has us for

"cares

world

the

her reverers.

She has a right to our

word," and the married

man

careth for

veneration, because she bare Him It has a right to our adoration.

who
is

a
to

the things of the world, how he may please his wife, osrumnce sceculi suffocant
verbum,^ and qui
est

common

sentiment
a

of our

nature

honor every good mother

of her son
;

for the sake

it is

sin,

then, against our

regenerate nature to refuse honor to that best Mother of the best Son. And
so
it

cum uxori est solicitus mundi quomodo placeat uxori} The ministers of God and Mary must find no obstacle in disease, privation, or for the poverty, no terror in death
;

comes that His ministers are her

is

ministers

Christ

that fidelity to the gospel of fidelity to devotion for Mary.

;

sufferings of the present life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that
shall

"

be revealed"

non

sunt

condignm

must her minister be endowed with the gifts which Insure it, and which are rendered necessary
for this fidelity

And

passiones hujus temporis ad fuiuram gloriam quae revelabitur in nobis} He must be persevering, for only "to him that

by the circumstances of

their lives, as

overcometh

will I give to eat of the tree

is

well as for the success of their mission.

of Life which

They must be prudent

as serpents, for

God"

in the Paradise of

my
vitcB

Vincenti dabo edere de ligno

a thousand snares are daily laid for their

quod

est in

Paradiso Dei mei;* and he

(1) Saint Paul, Epistle to the (2) St.

(8) St.

Hebrews,

ii.

10.

(6) St.

Mark

xiv. 19.

Matthew's Gospel,

x. 10.

(7) 1 Corintliians vii. 33. (8) St.

(4) St. (5)

Luke X. 3. Matthew v.

Pau) to the Eoinans,

ii.

viii.

18.

3.

(9)

Apocalypse

7.

St John's

Gospel, xx. 21.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
are the Gulf of Mexico, the
Pacific

547

must be ever
servant
is

vigilant, since

only that

Atlantic

blessed

whom

He
servi

Cometh, shall find

illi,

watching Beati
Dominus
inve-

his Lord,

when

and

oceans,

and

its

northern

limits are the

extreme Arctic regions

qvas,

cum

venerii

nerit vigilantes}

while a bishop has his seat at the mouth of the Columbia River, and another in
far

And

it is

precisely
it

men

fications

whom

has

of such qualipleased God to

Florida, the

land

named

for

Pahn

Sunday,**

and a third rules

in the almost

send out for the evangelization of America. Had they been endowed with less
than
all

perpetual winter of Hudson's Bay, and a fourth in the golden land of California
the intrepid the frontiers

this,

the English conquest of

missionaries
still

are

North America would have swept the devotion to Mary from the land. Were
they not so endowed to-day, devotion to Mary would perish before the godlessness, the indifference of the
us.

farther northward,

pushing and

faithful servants of

Mary have

filled,

and

are

still filling,

the whole interior of the

country with love and reverence for her

world around
in the nine;

name.

But they are the same

differ externally

teenth century as in the sixteenth

they

While the old missionary orders, Jesuit, and Sulpitian, and Franciscan,* are
energetically pursuing their sacred conquests in Oregon, among the Esquistill

may

but the interior

pose

the

in

some matters,

intention, the pur-

is

mission

the same, as is the divine comand ordination which gives a

maux and the tribes of British America, new orders have arisen especially devoted and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, as the Marists*

authority to their labors. Monseigneur Verot builds

church

and the Oblates of

to-day on the spot where Luis Cancel de Barbastro was martyred three hun-

Mary Immaculate."
These are the outposts and advanced guards of God's army in North America, while in the interior, the secular and
regular clergy, bishop and priest, are in These have, perthe heat of the fight. the mishaps, even harder work than
I do not say this sionary to the pagan. in a spirit of comparison, but only in expression of a feeling which I possess,

dred years ago.

the

Bishop

Lamy

renews
in
for

among Spaniards and Indians 1862 the fervor awakened in 1560

Our Lady

of Guadalupe. Where Jogues told his beads as a preventive for mar-

tyrdom on the banks of the Mohawk, a hundred voices are repeating the same prayers and while the circle of Mary's influence has been widened, till its bounds
;

in

common with
An
educational

others,

and which

is

(1) St. (2)

Lukexii. 37.
wliich

(4)

order

founded

at

Bordeaux,
is

The Spaniards landing on Palm Sunday,

call

France, in 1818.
(6)

they
this

Pascua Florida, or the Flower Easter, gave

to the

missionary order whose

superior-general

name
The

new

land.

(3)

Recollects, an order of reformed Franciscans,

Mgr. the Bishop of Marseilles, and who are laboring southwestern chiefly in British America and in the United
States.

are bnsiod in Canada.

548

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

That he who
is

this:

roaming through

erer

and he has

to teach the true

God
more

the grand native forssts, breasting the torrent in a birch canoe, setting a stout heart against the inclemencies of a wild
nature, has the poetry and romance, the adventure and ever-varying incident to
inspirit

to those

who have worshipped demons.

priests in the midst of a

But the

or less perfect civilization have not this. Their fight is against the vices of civilization,

very unpoetic, very unromantic

and excite him.

after a tribute to the zeal

So Bancroft,

against the love of money, the cheatery of trade, the permitted dishonor and dis-

of the missionary, says: "And yet the simplicity and the freedom of life in the
wilderness had
its

honesty of the world against the influence of the drinking-shop and the low
;

charms.

The heart of

the missionary would swell with delight, as, imder a serene sky and with a mild

gambling-table against the serpent of liberaUsm and godlessness against the of impurity and false doctemptations
; ;

temperature, and breathing a pure air, he moved over waters as transparent as the most limpid fountain. Every en-

trine

against the ever-changing phases of sin in individuals against dangers

;

campment

offered

his

attendants the

which confer no glory and poverty which is not picturesque. They are in the
heart of the army, in the midst of the ranks they are the unnoticed fighters,
;

Like a patriarch, pleasures of the chase. he dwelt beneath a tent and of the
;

land through which he walked he was its master, in the length of it and in the

who who

breadth of

it,

profiting

by its productions

without the embarrassment of ownership.

was the pillow of stones hke that where Jacob felt the presence of God! How often did the aged oak, whereof the centuries were untold, seem like the tree of Mamre, beneath which Abraham broke bread with angels Each day gave the pilgrim a new site
often
!

How

and are succeeded by others who combat all the it fall in turn lives to gain one foot of ground, or perhaps only not to lose one foot and whose record is only on the page of the book of the Great King on high.
fall,
;
;

which the industry of a few moments could erect, and for which
for his dwelling,

For them the steaming walls of the hospital replace the dark green arching aisles of the stately immemorial wood. For them the rush and roar of the hot and narrow street must be a substitute for the fresh, free leap of the wild and
beautiful river.

The skulking convict

nature suppUed a floor of green, inlaid with flowers. On every side clustered beauties which art had not spoiled and
could not imitate."'
rough, hearty life of a and the triumph of the discovsoldier,
(1) Bancroft, History of the U. States, vol.

and the drunkard, the brazen harlot and the apostate Catholic, must be their darkskinned warrior
tribe.

The

idols they
,

He

has the

must shatter are the human passions the temples they must renovate are hu-

man

hearts.

It is in this
iii.

view that I have ventured

153.

to call their

work

harder, not in

itself,

m
but in
its

NORTH AMERICA,
Pantheism

54$

circumstances

not because

if

may

use that

word

for

more

is required frofa one because of the lack of than another, but much which can stimulate and distract.

actual labor

And

this brings

me

to a point

which

must be carefuUy noticed by the reader. I mean the difference between the rise of devotion to the Blessed Mother of God in this country and in the old Catholic lands, and the consequent difference between the respective external manifestations of
it.

want of a better to express the generalization and depersonalization of God was not universally spread as it is now. If it existed, it was in some head which "too much learning had made mad;" some mind gone astray through overesteem of
reasoning faculties ; and was generally confined to a univerits

own

sity

chamber.

Then men beheved in a personal God, to whom they were personally accountthey loved to receive His gifts and benefits as personal ones they knew of these fine, new, universal hunothing
able
;

the Gospel of the Son of Mary issued from Palestine and spread over Europe, it was for the dethronement of
false- deities

When

among comparatively simple

then was exclulittle

men

for civilization

God but He was my Father and my God as well

manities and confederacies of
;

sively

Roman, save here and there a

as our Father

and our God.

this

They got

colony. or later, in simple, earnest hearts. Faith retained for many, many centuries a
faith,

Men

received the

sooner

closer

to

Him by
in

individualizing

which was yet

no sense exclusive.

man
his

straightforwardness

and

unhesitating

received a benefit, not as a general, imiversal gift, of the gratitude for which

openness which has begun to decay only within the last three hundred years. For the general diffusion of a too thin

own share was so small that God would

it if it

not miss

and innutritive knowledge has unquestionably injured the simplicity of faith,

by

increasing, not our wisdom, but our conceit that we are wise.

were never paid but as a benefit done to him for which all his gratitude was too little. And so they had personal dealings with God and when He said to the be;

loved Disciple

have been taught by this to replace Faith with those niggardliest of State qualities, suspicion and doubt.

Men

of agony " Son, behold thy mother !" they saw in that divinest boon a mother for all and

speaking from the cloud which overhung the Cross

;

any manifestation of God's love to man, any individual and distinct mark of His favor or providence, and for one that
will say Blessed be His

each of them

a mother equally loving and tender to each of her children procuring benefits for each from her Divine
;

Name
its

for that, a

Son,

and therefore naturally carrying

hundred
of

will

doubt

it,

will furnish a score

back to
benefits.

Him

the thanks of each for such

mean

reasons against

will suspect a score of honorable

collusion, invention,

probabihty, men of

and

deceit.

Well, then, in a little time, human thanks to God ran generally through

550

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN MARY

done by her and standing
to in

Mary's heart and lips as their channel, the channel naturally the most agreeable
to

some

particular town,

need of the same kind-

Him and
;

so her

name got

to be

em-

broidered on the bright mantle of the

ness for himself, a man would pray to our Lady of Rehbourg, St. Mary of Cha-

European world as its chiefest decoration. They went to fight, and begged her protection they came back successful, and
;

Immaculate Virgin of Liege. From which circumstance certain flatulons, the

lent

writers have

deduced that those

they built Notre Dame des Vidoires. They were perishing by an epidemic, and made
a novena to her, and she heard them, and their Cathedral is dedicated to Our

there were many and that each lived in Blessed Virgins,

Catholics

thought

her

own

special village.^

Lady of Help
bans secours.

in need, Noire

Dame

de

Hence the History of the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in Europe is simply a
ramble through the Beautiful. There is no hamlet, nor burgh, nor city without its
consecration, partial or entire, to the dear Mother of God, and for His sake ours.

Travellers lighted on land after storms, like the grand, heroic Columbus, and because in their trouble they had begged

help from the gentle Mother, and thought that she had heard them, they called the

Europe is flooded with fact, and legend, and circumstance, and he who writes of
the devotion there finds difiiculty not in
discovering
material,

new

land by her name. some general desolation

for

A
;

city escapes
its

they change

but

in

deciding

name

some

title

of hers.

poor,

pious man, attacked by highwaymen, converts one by his gentle discourse the is called St. of Robbers, and place Mary
;

some nineteenth-century literary skirmisher wiU inform you that the Blessed Virgin was the patroness of thieves in
this

amid the masses that lie before him what he will accept and what refuse. But with us, the national antiquities, so to speak of the Catholic Faith, must be looked for only on our borders. The
poetry of evangelization meets only the Indian missionary, the tradition of the

neighborhood. In this way Europe became covered with mementos of benefits received by

Spaniard in the South, of the Frenchman

in the North. I
;

mean, of course, the

Mary's intercession, and, by inevitable

naturalness, they bear her

published poetry for the hidden, intrinsic beauties of our faith and our devotion
are
live,

name

and

in

imperishable

and

invariable.

We

those days, remembering some kindness

n) Even such as Walter Scott and Wosliington Irving commit blunders which are incomprehensible to men whose education is far inferior to that of those
masters.

comparatively few in number, in a

of the Ramadan, the Mislma, the Norwegian Sagas, Joe Smith the Mormon, the Tezidees, the Fetish, but is al-

lowed to blunder

Catholics going to mass at

all

hours of the

afternoon and evening, confessing to and receiving absolution from laymen, and men, women, and children in
general using breviaries and missals.
author, a Protestant, is required to

like an idiot about Mass, Vespers, and Rosary, the highest and most frequent acts of worship of two hundred millions of Christian men, half of whom

A well-educated
the meaning

are of the leading races of civilization in France, Spain, North America, Germany, Italy, and Great Britain
I

know

IN IfORTH AMERICA.

551

land which

if

not Protestant,

is

at least

anti- Catholic.

No
;

sacred

processions,

with vested

sweep through our streets no train of pilgrims winds along the river bank, or through
the greenwood, to a favored Lady Chapel no sweet face of dear Mary Mother smiles
at us as
;

clerics at their head,

man, so our especial love for Mary is but a shadow, a faint, attenuated shadow of His love for her. The Eternal Father
hath chosen her to be the Mother of His
only Son
;

the Holy Spirit elected her

pass from wayside shrine there is no halt of business and general baring of the head for a moment's com;

we

The Son who giveth righthand thrones to the apostles who preached His word, is bound in justice to do more for the Mother who bore Him. For His if you would please Him, reverence sake,
His spouse.
her
;

munion with God, when the Angelus

few trarings out from the steeple.^ ditional observances may linger in portions of the United States where the

if

you believe

in

honoring your

own mother,

believe that

He

believes in

honoring His. It is impossible for the Christian adorer of the Incarnate God to
give His blessed Mother more honor, interior or exterior, than is her due. Sancta et

French influence has remained unaltered, but the length and

Spanish
or

breadth of the land

is

bitterly hostile to

immaculata Yirginitas, quibus

/

ie

lau-

any outward manifestation of our love

for

dihus efferam nescio

quia quern
consider

coeli

capere

Mary, because bitterly hostile to that

itself.

non poterant, tuo gremio

So, then,

contulisti?

love

when we

how

strong
is
;

Pulpit and lecture-room, rostrum, pubhe meeting, and corner-stone layings, the

this feeling against

devotion to

Mary

how powerful
jority
is
;

the influence of the

ma-

and the bar-room, re-echo with charges of idolatry, of taking from God the honor which is His due only, and and even the giving it to a creature will shake their heads and begentlest
press
;

especially when that majority the wealth and influence of the possesses land, how many temptations surround the

Catholic here
slight,

how hard
easier

it

is

to bear

misrepresentation, and

wilful false-

wail with grave charity the unfortunate propensity of the Papist to give too

hood

how much

it is

to

deny hav-

much honor to Mary. And yet what is our

honor compared tains from God?
fellows
is

ing a delicate and beloved sentiment the rather than to expose it to the risk of a

feeble love

and

sneer

to that

which she ob-

hunter
in Ufe

is

how swift the here how

;

pace of the moneylittle

the beautiful

As our love for our but a shadow of His love for

and creed

devoted are

is cultivated, and how men to what they are pleased

particularly only of the United States.

These statements are to bo taken generally, and French Canada of course retains, with the ancient faith, many of its
(1)

Catholic; but where

largest wealth
(2)

our great populations and onr

are, these

and influence

words are

true.

external practices.

The

colonies

of Catholic

High-

Response in office of B. V. M. Holy and immaculate Virginity with what praises to greet thee 1 know
1

landers in the extreme north can do as they please. Louisiana, New Mexico, and part of California are still

not

for

Him whom

the heavens can not contain, thou

hast borne in thy bosom.

652

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

join their prayers, their counsel, their money, their manual labor, their selfdenial,

to call the practical, and which means simply more careful diligence for the body than for the soul, for time than for
eternity,

and renunciation,

until the Cross

when we
is,

consider

all
is

these,

the

wonder
little

not that there

so

much

peeps through the greenwood from the convent of Mary's Help, and the Church
of the Immaculata crowns the

or BO

devotion to

Our Lady, but

summit of

that there

is

any

at

all.

the

hill.

we are preto believe that there is no old pared Catholic country in Europe that there
Yet
in despite of all this,
;

close this chapter, then, with a short view of the means whereby this

We

devotion has entered and increased in

this country, before

never has been a country in which reverent love and earnest, heartfelt devotion

examining

its

proit

gress and

effects

more

particularly.

Mother of God was more more ardently cherished, deeply rooted, or more fervently and fruitfully practiced than this same North America. It is unfor the Blessed

the Spaniard brought his heart as his best treasure for a

first,
life,

And

in

new
old

his best

memento

of his
it

own

fervent land.

obtrusive, but

it is real.

It guides

and

men, and it is and glowing, in the souls of found, pure some who seem to be the most thoughtless in society, of some who seem to be the driest and most engrossed by affairs.
influences the hearts of
It begins in earliest childhood, when the scapular and the medal are placed round the neck, to be kept there ever af-

He planted of Florida, on the coasts of Alaglades bama or bore it with patient persein the ever;

verance into Mexico, CaUfornia, Texas, and even Oregon. In the various changes

which
litical

this

country has undergone of po-

and advancing civilization, the Iberian was driven from the East,
rule

terward, even in the grave.

As

the child

and made powerless in the West, and his faith grew lazy, and in some places almost disappeared. But religious free-

grows, he

is

won into membership of some

dom
is

fought

some Rosome Confraternity of the sary Society, Immaculate Heart of Mary. The elders form their benevolent associations, and place them under the patronage of the Queen of Angels. Nuns of Notre Dame and of the Visitation train the female chilSodality of the Blessed Virgin,
dren.

acceptation,

way here into general and now the love of Mary

its

reappearing, fresh and beautiful, as the' resurrection of the flowers when the

winter has passed away. Then the Frenchman, above

loyal
"

all,

the

and pious Breton,

settled Acadia.^

When,

Brothers of

Mary

are consecrated

in the tranquil evenings of summer, brightly the sunset

street,

when

to the education of boys.

The Bishop

la-

Lighted the village

chimneys,

and gilded the vanes on the

snow-white caps and in

bors patiently
is

till

his

seminary of St. Mary

Matrons and maidens

kirtles.

sat in

the priest toils arduously until his parish of the Annunciation or

completed

(1)

The Acadia of the French

settlers

embraced

the Assumption

is

established

and

all

Maine,

New

Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Solemnly down the

the children

***.
IN
street

NORTH AMERICA.

653

came the parish

priest,

and

Paused

in their play to kiss the

hand he extended to

sissippi, met the Spaniards coming up from Mexico, through New Mexico, TexAnd yet, as, Arizona, and Arkansas.

bless them.

although

it

was the

forces

of

Great

Reverend walked he among them, and up rose matrons and maidens, Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate
welcome.

Britain which exterminated the missions

of Carolina, and half destroyed those of Acadia and Canada, it was reserved

Then came the

laborers

home from

the

field,

and

se-

renely the sun sank

Down

to his rest,

and twilight prevailed.

Anon from

empire to send forth a colony which should make the central line Cathfor that
olic,

the belfry Slowly the Angelui sonnded, and over the roofs of the
village

and give the name of Mary to the

points
starts

Columns of pale-blue smoke,

ascending,

like

clouds of incense

State they founded. With these three

the

Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and

contentment.

History of the Catholic Church, and consequently of the devotion to the Blessed

Thus dwelt together

farmers

in

love these

simple Acadian

Dwelt

in the love of

God and man."l

thence they were driven by the EngUsh, under circumstances of barbaric

cruelty which wrung from the very heart of a Protestant the finest poem yet written

And

Mother of God in North America. What missionizing was done went either westward from Maryland or southward from Canada, the Jesuits and Recollects reaching the Hudson and Mohawk rivers and But little, howthe State of Hlinois.
ever.

Was accomplished

until

after the

and one of the finest poems of home and domestic affection extant in any language. But the good seed had been blown abroad by those brave northern winds, and the love and the name of Mary had been carried, through
in America,

Revolution, in the interior of the States West of that east of the Mississippi.
great river, the whites were few or none. More But the emigration began. came into the central States on French the Atlantic, and their religion was respected for the sake of their services to the country,
if

the wild red tribes, to the shores of

sighing for permission to bear
far

Lake and missionaries were already Superior,

it

for nothing else.

The

to the

Irishman came, bearing from the shores

of his sea-girt isle the faith which had withstood centuries of persecution, and such a persecution as is a phenomenon
parallel in the anVannals of man's injustice to man.
in history, having

and yet unknown Mississippi.'' And when, in 1673, Father Marquette discovered and explored that river, the name
that he gave
ception."
it

was " Immaculate Con-

no

The Frenchman descending the MisLongfellow's "Evangeline." Thus did the religious zeal of the ii. French bear the Cross to the banks of the St. Mary and
(1)

quished, enslaved, starved, tempted, they

in the valley of the Misyears before the New England Elliot had addressed the tribe of Indians that dwelt within six

wards the home of the Sioux,

sissippi, five

(2) Bancroft,

the confines of Lake Superior, and look wistfully to-

miles of Boston harbor.

4B

554

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

clung to

God and

St.

Mary
all

the Virgin
to

only more
sever them.

closely for

attempts

her ilnage where her name is the most beloved of household words where a
;
;

hundred poets chant her praises

that preposterous
faith-

where

Crushed down by

the great schools of

modern

art love to
;

incubus called the National Church, they

remained and stiU remain devotedly I do not speak ful to the ancient creed. of the priest-hunting and sanguinary
portions of the persecutions, for that violence rather fans the flame of loyalty,

reproduce her pure, maternal face and where the very Protestant has not learned
to speak of her with disrespect, nor utterly to empty his heart of all love for
her.

These came to take up a thousand minor necessary industries which were too slow for the swift, rushing American to
;

but of that dead, stupid, crushing load, which, pressing, as it did, on their very lives and souls, needed a miracle of grace to enable them to resist it as they have
done.

occupy small farms throughout the

rior
;

inte-

to teach the vineyard

how to bloom
too,

upon the hillside. And they,

to

brought
pa-

And when, commending themselves

that dear

a store of devotion to Mary, unobtrusive,

little

in heaven, who had and consolation, they been their support bade adieu to their home, they brought to the land of their adoption the same

Mother

noticed,

but

fixed,

steadfast,

tient,

and indestructible as their own character. These parishes are genquiet

;

unshaken

fidelity to their religion.

They
;

erally the largest in America they retain the pleasant customs of their fath-

spread, hke bee swarms, their strong arms hewed through the forest, and which were the Ufe-veins

over the land

erland

they

call

their

settlements

wide pathways
cut the canals

Mariastein, Mariahilf, and they transmit to their children their own trust in and
affection for die heilige Mutter Gottes.

country's long, interminable lines of railway with which the map is covered as by a spider's
;

heart

their

hands

leading to the laid the

Thus, then, from North, South, and East, have the armies of blessed Mary

web and wherever they went they called

;

to

them Saggart aroon, the priest of their love and when he came, the new little church of St. Mary soon rose, and the
;

marched into the land. Since the year of our Lord 1530 they have advanced, at first slowly, and then with rapid strides. For not only do the foreign populations retain and transmit their
veneration for her, but countless conversions are

ancient Salve Regina resounded beneath the heavens in a new land.

made from

heresy, or from the

Then from the Rhine came

their breth-

" ren, from that long street of cassocks,"

as Charles the Fifth was wont to call it, where pilgrims are seen daily seeking shrines of Our Lady where the mile;

is more prevalent and than it. And how many of dangerous these have been caused through affection for the maternity of Mary, or by her

godlessness which

direct interposition?

Some have been

stones by the road are wayside niches for

brought into the true fold by reading for

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

655

the

first

love

time the story of the Church's for her some by wearing her
;
;

the true interests of this country, by entreating her protection for it in this emi-

medal
need,

some by invoking her

in

time of

holy Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us sinners who have recourse to thee !" and some by observing

"

nent and public way. The next year this election was confirmed by the sovereign Pontiff,^ and

now

forever in the

grand public session

that closes

these

the devotion of Catholic friends to her, and the beautiful charities, the gentleness and unselfishness which are apt to

august has been sung, the cantors, richly coped, stand before the altar and intone their
first

assemblies, after the

Te

Deum

spring from that.

acclamation to the Most High God.

What wonder,
sweet month

then, that in her own of May, the Fathers of the

in

That chorussed, they burst forth

"
originali conceptae,

Council of 1846 held

Baltimore

Beatissimae Virgini Mariae, sine labe

harum Provinciarum
!"

twenty-two bishops, with their theologians should solemnly elect as Patroness of

Patronae, honor aeternus

And
the

in chorus the venerable bishops,

the United States of America the Blessed

Virgin Mary, immaculately conceived. The Fathers had been trained in her
honor, they had lived for her service, they desired to add this crowning glory
to their life-long prayer and praise, and at the same time to show their zeal for

theologians and attendant priests, and the whole multitude of people, repeat the glad ascription, and then, swell-

ing to vaulted roof, and filling aisle and nave and broad cathedral sanctuary,
rolls in deep, majestic

chorus the solemn

Amen Amen
!

(1)

Deoretum

R. P. D. Archiepiscopns Baltimorensis ejnsque Suflfragaaei Episcopi Concilium Sextum Provinciale

Oum

* * * Emi. ac Revmi. Patres in congregatione generali de propaganda Fide censuerunt supplicandum Ssmo. Dno nostro ut pientissimia Concilii votis

Provinciarum;

mense Maio anno 1846 celebrantes, supplices

petiissent

ut a S. Sede approbaretur electio quam ipsi in Concilio fecerunt Bmae. Marias Virginis sine labe originali con-

annuere dignentur. Ilanc vero S. Cong, sententiam in audientia die 7

Februarii 1847 habita

Ssmus Dns noster Pius divina

cept

ip

Patronam Septentrionalia AmeriosB FoederatiB

providentia P.P. IX. benigne probavit in omnibus.

556

DEVOTIOIT TO TEE BLESSED VERGIN

MARY

CHAPTER

II.

THK ZSAL OF THK PIONBKKS CHAMPLAIN AND THB HECOT.T.KTS ^MOTHER MAKY OF THE INCAENATION AND THE UESULIKES MAEQUETTE AND THE IMMACtTLATE CONCEPTION.

The

secret of the devotion to

Mary

is

It heart-felt zeal for the glory of God. was a higher motive than any worldly

God's grace, they might gain some fruit, and might plant in these lands the standard of Jesus Christ, with fixed resolution to live, and, if need were, to die, for His
sacred

one that brought Columbus to San Salvador and Concepcion, or Champlain to the snows and forests of the North.
"

The

salvation of a single soul," says

' '

ready, " each of us examined himself ord, that

Name !"* So, when the ship is we naturally expect the next rec-

this pious gentleman,

is

worth more

than the conquest of an empire, and kings should seek to extend their docountries where idolatry to cause their submission to reigns, only Jesus Christ."^ He undertook his toils

and purged himself of his sins by penitence and confession, so best to say adieu and to place himself in a state of grace, that each might be conscientiously free to give himself up into the keeping of God and to the billows of a vast and perilous sea."*
to France

minions

in

and labors with patience,

in order

"to

plant in this country the standard of the Cross, and to teach the knowledge of

When
what

the voyage is thus undertaken, wonder that we find, along the first
Isle, St.

God and

the glory of His Holy Name, desiring to increase charity for His unfortunate creatures."^

discovered coasts, St. Mary's Bay, St.

Mary's
first

treal is first

Mary's River that Moncalled Ville Marie ; that the

;

Thinking that he would "commit a great fault if he employed no means of

bringing the savages to the knowledge of God," he earnestly " sought out some

grant of land from the Due de Ventadour to the Jesuits is the lordship or
seigneurie of Our Lady of Angels, and that then, by Mary's lake and missions of Assumption and Annunciation, we

good Religious who would have zeal and affection for God's glory." Such as
these are always discoverable by those who are really in want of them, and

sweep away westward to the mysterious river of the Conception?

portal of the Occident being thrown open,, and the highways baptized by the name of Mary, her serso

Champlain soon found themmen

And

the

"

who

were borne away by holy affection, who burned to make this voyage, if so, by
(1)

vants enter

in.

How

they labored, a
et dicouuertu-

The

first

words of the Sieur do Champlain's voy-

envers ses miserables cr6atures.

res depuia 1615.

Voyages

ages.
(2) Planter

en ce pays I'estendart do la Croix et leur

(3)

cnseigner la cognoissance do Dien ct gloire do Son Sainct Kom, ^stant nostra desir d'angmenter la charitd

(4) Ibid., p.

Voyages depuis 1615, 8

p. 3.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
forsaken

557

sketch of one or two of them will suffice

to show.

the lady of the French salons

called

had been
the

Ursuline

Madame Sophie Gaynet beneath the ash tree in

is,

MOTHER MAKY OF THE INCARNATION.

In the convent grounds of the Ursulines at Quebec stood lately an old ash tree.
its

Quebec was Mother Mary of the Incarnation.

And

this

in brief, her story.

More than two hundred years ago, under shadowy foliage, one might have seen

One holy Christmas-tide, in her home at Tours, when her heart and soul had
been particularly given up to union with God, by meditation on the mystery of His Incarnation, she fell asleep and

a crowd of swarthy Indian girls, Algonquins, Iroquois, Abnakis, but most of Their voices sounded with all, Hurons.
natural

sweetness in prayer,

as

their

dusky fingers told their beads, or mingled in the Salve Begina or Ave Maris
Stella,

She thought that she, with one companion, hand in hand, were toiling along a broken and difficult road
dreamed.
;

more
cles.

difficult

than

ordinary, because
felt

and their eyes were closed in meditation or lifted up with love upon the
figure of the crucified Redeemer or the image of Our Lady, or fixed reverently

they did not

see,

but only

the obsta-

and attentively upon the calm,

ate face of their instructress.

affection-

And

she,

with the holy wisdom and patient sweetness which are the gifts of saints, taught them the love of God, winning them one

by

one, and through them their families, from their pagan superstitions and their wretched life, to the love and service of

But they had plenty of courage, and went on until they reached a place known as the Tannery, beyond which lay their home. Here they were met by a venerable old man, in whose pure, sacred lineaments beamed kindness and protection. It was he who had watched and guided St. Mary and her Child from the roofs of Bethlehem to the palm shades of

that dear

Lord and His Mother,

to

whom

And St. Joseph, she thought, Egypt. conducted them into a vast enclosure,
whereof the sky was the only roof. The pavement and the walls were of white,
spotless alabaster,
gold.

she had totally given up her body and

her soul.

Far away in central France she had left a gay and comfortable world, the society of the noble, the ease of wealth, for

Here

all

and arabesqued with was silence, deep, relig-

ious, recollected.

And

without disturb-

the white bandeau and dark veil and

habit of the Ursuhne
;

and

in the

year

ing the holy stillness by a word, their guide pointed out to them the Avay they

of our redemption 1639 she completed her renunciation of all things by forsaking her sunny native land forever for the

should go.

And

they saw a

little

hos-

but pice of quaint, ancient architecture, and of snow-white marvery beautiful,

ble
;

ice-bound shores, the privations, the perHer very name petual toils of Canada.

and in an embrasure of
seat,

this,

delicately-sculptured

sat

upon Our

was

left

behind her in the world she had

Blessed Lady, St. Mary, with the infant

5dS

DEVOTIOK TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN M^VRY

but their backs were
if

Jesus in her arms

inspiration

He would

supply

the

toward the

travellers.

means.
sions
;

Mary of the Incarnation sprang forward and embraced the throne of her
Queen, while her companion knelt at a

She was right in her concluthis was her vocation the shores
;

where she could easily see the Virgin and her Child. The hospice faced the Orient. It was buUt upon an eminence, and at the foot of this was a and vast space, murky with clouds
httle distance,
;

Lawrence were to form the scene of her labors for more than thirty years, and then, blessing and blessed, she was to depart thence for her
of the broad St.
eternal

home

in heaven.

In October, 1636, comes a letter from the Jesuit Fathers, inviting her most
urgently to join them. It is dated from the mission of the Immaculate Conception
;

through the thick, chill mists there rose into pure air the spire and gables of a church, but the body of it was hidden by
the heavy fog. rugged, perilous road led down the rocks into this space, wind-

it

contains an anecdote of

how

the

ing along fearful precipices and through cavernous rents in the mountain. Our

had made a vow to give the names of Mary and Joseph to the first how they persons baptized by them had accomplished that vow how Joseph
fathers
; ;

Lady's gaze was fixed upon this gloomy space, and the heart of the nun kneeling

died a holy Christian death soon after, but Mary was living, and was the first

behind her burned with desire to see the

face of the

Indian

who had brought

her children for

Mother of pure

delights.

baptism and education to the missionaries.

then the Virgin turned and welcomed the suppliant with a smile of ineffable sweetness,

And

Their converts numbered several

and bending down she

hundreds, and the fathers often heard resounding from the leafy aisles of the
forest the sweet

Then she gently kissed her forehead. seemed to whisper something about the
Ursuline to the divine Child in her arms.

names

of Jesus and of

Mary,

The

saints

And when

she had done this three times

plicity in

have a straightforward simtheir lives which prevents our

the vision faded, and in a tremor of delight the nun awoke.

ever being surprised at their actions. After her vision, her waking convictions
as to its significance,

A year after, while absorbed in mental

prayer, the Ursuline became impressed with the idea that the cold, cloudy space was Canada, then called New France.

and the

letters

from

Canada, we are ready to see her seated in the cabin of the St. Joseph, and writ"There ing placidly to her superior
:

She

felt

the most powerful attraction

towards

unhappy regions, and seemed to hear a command to go there, and to found a house for Jesus and for

those

are signs of a storm, the captain says we are at war with Spain and England
;

also,

and
;

may meet

their cruisers in the

Channel
trouble

but those are not reasons for

In
fact,
is

Mary
if

and there she promised, such were the will of God, to obey the
;

so then

being troubled now.

one has no
to explain

now

the difficulty

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
to

559

or understand that infinitely sweet repose which follows one's complete aban-

daybreak devotion

who

is

up with

donment

to

God

lorsqu'on s'est donne une

the sun, reciting her rosary, and who sings beautiful hymns to the Blessed

honne fois a Dieu"'^

There were no crowds of affectionate friends no well-lined carriage no warm

; ;

Virgin in the Huron tongue. They are not like her when they come out of the

and
in

brilliant
:

drawing-room ready

for her

Canada

her welcome was to hear the

savages chant

hymns

in their

own

lan-

But they are brought to the with no more clothing than good a solid coat of grease, well rubbed in by And to- get that, and their parents.^
woods.
sisters

guages

to see five

hundred Huron names

;

worse, off of those

little

bodies, takes a

upon a year's baptismal register to receive her young future pupils as they came forward, and to mark their names,

profound and patient scrubbing, and a frequent changing of garments for months.
Nice work for those delicate French
dies
;

la-

Mary Negabmah, and Mary Amiskwam, and Mary Abateno, and Mary Gamitien f and then to go to such house as she had,
and, with her sisterhood,

but they dispute for the office in their humble, gentle way. Magdalen de Chauvigny, Dame de la Peltrie, gets it
the
first

commence

at

year

Mother Mary of
it

St.

Jo-

once her thirty years' occupation. It is not much of a house, that convent and seminary of the TJrsulines between the cracks of the planks you can
;

seph monopolizes

the next.

And while

the scrubbing goes on, and indeed always, there are men and women waiting in the
parlor to be fed through the grating others of the nuns.

by

see the bright winter stars and it is almost impossible to keep a candle burn;

ing in the rooms.

to

accommodate

all

no easy matter their pupils and the

It
is

The small-pox entered their seminary and turned it into a hospital. The sisters all resigned themselves to catch
it,
;

sisterhood in the bargain.

The

beds, for

of pine plank, have to be instance, arranged in tiers, after the manner of berths in a canal-boat. They are obliged
to cut

made

up

their

own

bed-clothes to

make

were God's will, to die of it for they were in attendance day and night upon their patients, and lived all together in smaU and crowded apartments but, through the care of Mother
and,
if it
;

garments
as they

for the
in,

come

poor little Indian girls and their chief articles

Mary, not one sister was attacked. to this the perpetual wars with
;

Add
the

of diet, indeed their only ones for a while, are salt fish and lard.

treacherous Iroquois the struggles of the medicine men to retain their superstitious

And
all like

then the children.

They

are not

eminence among the savages

Mary Gamitien, who needs no spur

de la Venerable

that small-pox, for instance, and aU these

(1)

(1) Olioix des Lettres Ilistoriqnes

Quand on
*

lea

nous donne

elles

sont nnes cojnme

Mere Marie de

I'luoarnation, premiere superienre des

Ursulines de Quebec, p. 20.

(2)

RU.,

p. 25, 27.

Quelque diligence que I'on fasse, quoiqu'on les change souvont de linge et d'habits, on ne peu de long temps epuiser la vermine. Choix da lettres, p. 31.

un

ver. *

560

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

diseases come, they say,
;

new

from the

Seraphim,

who

has the care of the chilat the door of the semi-

magic of the whites

the seeming imposof teaching the elder ones to sibility bridle their infamous passions the deso;

dren, and sleeps

nary, rushes into our dormitory with the

cry,
is

"Wake,
fire
!"
!

sisters,

wake!
let

The house

lation of the long winters

;

the forests

on

Up, and

us save the chil-

echoing with savage howls the repeated shocks of earthquake the dreary wastes of snow which spread around the news,
; ;

dren

now and

then, of a missionary's martyr-

spring up, the flames, red and wild, leap crackUng through the pine floor of the apartment. The Mother
Assistant and Sister St. Lawrence break

As they

dom

surely these

must break down our

are perfectly we sing oftener and better than well we did in Trance. The air is excellent
it.
;

courage. Not a bit of

"We

the convent grating, which is fortunately of wood, and get out a portion of the scholars that way. Our Mother

down

a httle cool, perhaps, but excellent so, you see, it is a Paradise on earth, where
;

Mary, trying to save some of the chapel furniture, gets caught between two fires, hesitates as to whether she should throw
the large crucifix, her own, out of the window thinks that that would be ir;

the crosses and thorns spring up so lovingly, that if one is pierced by them it is

only to let new floods of love in upon the heart. Pray God to give me the
grace to love

reverence, so kisses it with lowly love and faith, and leaves it to the~ flames.

Him

always."^

But Mother Mary's troubles and trials cannot be given here a mere list of them would take up too much room. Only one or two of them can be mentioned, which
;

Then she escapes into the bell-tower, is just missed by the falling bell, and gets out, barefooted, into the December snow.
Sister Ignatia has a theological
culty.
stairs
:

diffi-

The smaller children are

is it
?

still

up
life

offer

themselves apropos of our subject. It is the night of December thirtieth,

permitted her to give her

"in the Octave of our Lord's Nativity." Sister Martha has a large baking on hand for to-morrow, and forgets the fire in the
bakery, which
nary.
all
is

Meantime she goes up to their room, and lets them down, all safe, from the window, one by one. Then, with a fiery crash, the roof falls in, and
for theirs
Sister Ignatia's difficulty
is

exactly under our semiover,

solved.

The night prayers are

them.

and

go

to bed, to sleep as well as the cold

All in authority appear to have presence of mind. Each goes first to her

will let

A
the

few hours afterward

!

we
so

some of them, poor souls have gone to bed with their shoes on,
find that
terrible
is

proper post, to see if anything may be done there. Mother Superior, who has
the keys, goes to set the doors wide open, and stands there, calling to the sisters by

chill

Canadian

air.

And

at midnight.

Mother Mary of the

lettret, p. 48.

name.
replies
;

But no one comes

forth

no one

then she throws herself at the

(1)

Choiz del

feet of the Blessed Virgin,

and makes a

m
VOW

NORTH AMERICA.
ment.

561

its

terms we. do not

know
;

for the

Nothing remained to them but

preservation of her sisters and after a short agony of doubt, she finds them all
safe,

a black, ugly mass of ashes and ruin, whence a column of gloomy smoke rose

their poor

little

Indian

girls

with

them.
Safe they are, but nine-tenths of them barefooted, with a single garment to

up through the grey, dawn. Not a whit downcast is frosty " Mother Mary. Divine Providence,"
sluggishly curling
" she says, will help us to pay our debts and to build again. That has placed us in our present sad condition. That will
again, through the most holy Virgin, of whose succor we are so assured, that we live in peace in that direction.
set us

cover them, standing in the December snow. But Mother Mary could see, by
the tranquility and submission of their " We faces, that God was in their hearts.

up

were stripped," she says, "as bare as Job, but then we had better friends." In fact, the people had gathered by this time round them the Jesuits from their house, the French and Indians from
;

What

she does not of herself, she will

;

excite friends to do for us

and so in

time she will do

all."^

the neighborhood.

One man,

after star-

Iroquois were the of all. greatest difficulty They would

Those

miserable

ing in amazement at the perfect calm and resignation of the nuns, was heard to say, " Either those women are mad, or they

wage war, make peace, and wage war again. They scalped, burned, and hewed in pieces our good Hurons and AlgonTheir prophets accused our misquins. sionaries of bringing disease and other
misfortunes upon them.

have an exceeding love for God."

Then

all

are hurried

off,

some

to the

neighbors' houses, some to the large the nuns to the parlor of the Jesuits
;

Father Jogues

hospital,

where the

sisters clothe

them

goes cut off,

off

among them to have his fingers to escape, but joint by joint

;

with their

own grey

habits,

for the time being, sceurs

and make, grises of them.

only to go back again and win the crown of martyrdom. Father Daniel is

On

the

way

thither they are

met by some
;

burned by them,
Breboeuf has the

all

clad

in

his vest-

good people with welcome shoes and one of the first pair is given to Mother
Superior, in right of her age and position. Mother Mary of the Incarnation

ments, at the foot of his altar.

flesh

Father

torn from his

bodytorn

carefully in thin strips, so as

;

does not say that she got a pair, which is very good evidence that she did not
in

not to break the large veins has boiling water poured upon his head in mockery
of baptism
; ;

has his nails torn out by

that torture

which case

this

delicately nurtured

woman must have walked some

quarter of a mile, barefooted, through the snow, to the Hospital of the Grey Sisters.

and passes from pincers into the eternal glory.

All these were friends of
Incarnation.

Mary

of the

"Ah," she
Choia det
letireg,

sighs,

"if

we

And now
were gone

house,

all their

earthly possessions
furniture,

and

rai-

(1)

210.

40

562

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN' MART

they tell us, only lasted an Ave Maria, while others were as long as two Misereres.

could only get hold of some Iroquois girls to educate, and eend back as missionaries
to

their

fiendish

clansmen

!"

But some of the French are as bad as the Iroquois. Some have come hither
only to trade, without care for souls ; and the easiest trade is made by means
of brandy, fire-water. Our best converts, some of them, are lured astray our very school-girls get to love the
hellish beverage,

All these trials and

labor seemed, after
diction, only to

all

the daily hard

all,

by God's bene-

make

these delicate wo-

men

more devout.

stronger, happier, healthier, daily Mary of the Incarnation

;

never seemed to need repose teaching, She wrote a catecounselling, praying. chism in Huron and three
in

which they get when

Algonquin.
of
in

they go to see their parents. The traders are excommunicated, but they laugh at that. All our efforts will fail, unless it
please

She

translated

large

collection

prayers, and compiled a dictionary

God

to interfere in our behalf."

"And I," she says, the Indian tongues. "I am so useless, that I tremble at the
account I must render before God."

God

does interfere.

He

shakes that

far northern land with

It was in 1 663 that this occurred.

an earthquake. Houses

rocked to and
ruin
;

fro, cracked, and fell to the atmosphere was dust steeples swung like trees in a storm the mighty
;
;

What, then, were her consolations ? for, in fact, it were impossible to support such a life without some. They were
Mary's heart with courage, confidence, and love. There was

abundant enough to

fill

Lawrence ran yeUow as sulphur the lamp of the Blessed Sacrament fell three
St.
;

the touching, simple faith of the Indians.

One poor
deserted
relatives,

times in

the

church of Beaupre.

couple, no longer young, were with scorn by their heathen

mountain near Tadoussac sank wholly into the yawning earth, and the valleys " rose into plains. The walls of our convent split we were nearly choked with
;

and the old man was

"

ill.

So
husshall

his wife prayed,

all,

Thou who
in Thee,

hast

made

Thou

canst h^lp me.

Cure

my
and

band, for

we beUeve

asphyxiated with bituminous and Half of the sulphurous exhalations.

dust,

believe in Thee, even though he die." "And when my wife had made that

neighboring forest was destroyed some lives were lost but God was with us !"
; ;

prayer," said the poor Indian,

"I got

at least were well and a pious governor, coming frightened over from France, put an end to them for the present. And we learn, too, from these records, a new and very advisable
;

The brandy traders

well. But," he continued, "I had no canoe to fish from, and knew not how to make one. But I prayed with aU my
'

heart,

Creator of

all,

help me, I be-

seech Thee, for Thou knowest I have never made a canoe,' and then I set to

method of measuring time a method much and successfully used by those early
;

work
fect!"

at

it.

Come, look

at

it

it is

per-

Ursulines in Quebec.

Some of the shocks.

Then, again, the Indians got into a

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

563

habit,

when

setting out

on their hunting

expeditions, of leaving their httle daughters in the hands of the Ursuhnes, and

so

by invocation of the Holy Family, and he prayed and received his sight.

Louis, a Christian Huron, taken

by this means good seed was sown in those Httle hearts and matured there, and one day bore a hundred-fold. The
baptisms increased yearly. New laborers for the ripening harvest came from

by the and condemned to sanguinary Iroquois be burned alive, was saved by the
Blessed Virgin.

He

himself told the

Ursuline how, as he prayed earnestly to Our Lady for help, in the night, he felt
the knots of the sinew-cord which

France

the converted Indian himself

tidings to

became a messenger of good

him loo^ning on
it fell off,

his

his brethren, suffering, many a time, torture and death with the fervor and con-

and

left his

bound Then right hand. fingers free to undo

Above all, the venstancy of a martyr. erable Mary of the Incarnation saw that
sweetest fruit of truth, that most civilizing and gentle making of influences,

the other knots, and so, passing unseen through several hundred sleeping Iroquois, he, thanks to St.
safe to

Mary, escaped
Indian
to pass

Quebec.

Mary Mother of God, spreading deeply and broadly throughout the Huron and Algonquin tribes, and sinking more profoundly into the souls of her
devotion to

What a pleasure to see the girls, who had left the seminary
parents,

the winter in household duties with their

coming back

in the spring, laden

own, sometimes too light, countrymen. There was the Abenaki tradition of a
virgin's son,

with early flowers to crown the beloved Their first image of the Queen of May
!

visit,

who had

repaired the world

on returning, was to the Most Holy Sacrament their next, to bring their
;

after the great deluge,

and who was

to

flowers to decorate the statue of their

come to earth again. In the Huron name of this Being, which is Messou, the
good Ursulines loved, probably
to
find

beneficent
troops,

Mother.

Even among the

our venerable Religious

knew
the

correctly,

of five hundred soldiers

who wore

Messiah.

Then,

besides

the

names of places which marked the land

to her devotion, the Feast of the Virgin's

Inscapular and daily said the Rosary. this beautiful devotion of the beads, deed,
to

which

all

grades of men, the simplest

intelligences,

Immaculate Conception was the

and the highest

ed in
a

become

so

patronal feast of all those countries. All the people, habitans and Christian

fervently attached,

New

was seldom neglectFrance. Mother Mary asked

who, soon
after

were wont to recur to the Holy Family in all their distresses, and not in
Indians,

young

Indian,

his

baptism, had gone upon a long hunt,

knew one Mary blind man who had besought St. Anne the Mother of Our Lady to restore his The Saint caused it to be made sight. known to him that that boon must come
vain.

of the Incarnation

how he had managed when

assailed him,

temptation
"
I

"

Ah," he
;

replied,
I
'

was

often tempted

to sin

but then

took

my hand, and said, Have my pity on me, Jesus, Thou who determinest
beads in

564

DEVOTIOK TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

chase
the evil
;'

away mercy upon me

all
;

spirit,

and have

and then the temptawould depart." tion Another, an old man, gave himself up

and to-day, the rough boatman of those regions will tell you countless instances of mercy sought and won by
sion
;

entirely to the instruction of his brethren.

prayer to Mary, his patroness and Queen. So, then, amid such trials and such
consolations, in faith, hope, patience,
charity, did this

They used

to see

him with

Victor,

and
life

an ancient Algonquin, a man of faith and love, but of decayed memory, reciting
the beads thrice over at one
visit.

devout servant of Mary

Many

pass thirty years and and when worn out at

more of holy
last,

with the same

she

of the good souls, even in their ^long and exciting hunts, never once omitted to say the five decades daily
;

sweet confidence and

resignation,

and some, taken

crossed her pale hands upon her bosom, and gave up her soul to the Virgin, who

prisoners and doomed to die with the martyr Jogues, when the beads were taken from them by the cruel Iroquois, said the prayers upon their fingers and when these were cut off, joint by joint, they said them on the bleeding stumps
;

presented

Mother from her labors

lovingly to her God and Son. Mary of the InQ-.rnation ceased

it

in the year of grace 1672.

FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE.

have Breboeuf and Daniel, Jogues and None and Bressany, the Jesuits, the
Recollets, the Oblates, the Sulpicians to

We

a Rosary indeed. Where such faith, such devotion were, it was not possible for our gentle Queen and Mother to leave

unanswered the fervent prayers of her

children.

choose from, and we take Father James Marquette as the most American, so to

One

instance out of

many.
to

A young lieutenant, coming too late

And
was

inasmuch as he was the discoverer and explorer of the Mississippi, and as

say,

say the Rosary with the rest, walked out into the bordering woods to pray apart.
there, while kneeling, the sentinel
for it

remarkably devout to Mary, having in childhood been consecrated to her, and

in

took him for a lurking Iroquois,

as doing all for God through devotion to the Immaculate Conespecial

manhood

in time of war, and firing at him from the distance of ten paces, shot him in the head, a finger's breadth above the

ception.

Of an ancient family of Laon, always famed for their valor in war and their
sincerity in devotion, this glorious servant of Mary was born in the year 1637. Until

temple.

But Our Lady preserved him

;

he
still

fell,

but rose again, with his beads in his hands the ball was extracted
skull,

the age of seventeen, his mother. Rose de

from the
effects

and he

felt

from the wound. famous church of St. Aime overlooks the broad St. Lawrence, our dear Lord manifested His love for His blessed

no very evil Nay, where the

had educated him, inspiring him with that profound, ardent, tender, and unwavering devotion to Our Lady which
la Salle,

Mother by

daily miracles accorded to her interces-

was the mainspring of his life. When he had reached his seventeenth year she gave him up to God in the Society of

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
woods
to re-echo the sweet

665

Twelve years from that dedicaMother Mary tion he landed in Canada. of the Incarnation was one of those who welcomed him to the toils and self-sacriJesus.
fice

names of
felt,

Jesus and of

Mary

This, Father

James Marquette

to be, for the future, his at once

was ambition. So

which

his sacred

ambition desired.

New York was red with missionary blood,

and he longed for that field of labor, but First of aU, he it was not to be his. must learn the languages, but these he soon mastered. Then he began bis westward march, and first halted at the Sault Ste. Marie, where the Cross had been
plante^ ^.by Father Isaac

he began ofiering up perpetual devotions to the Immaculate Mother for

the accomplishment of his yearning. Indeed, things seemed to work that way. He was sent south and westward to

Mackinac, south and westward to Green

Bay

southward,

at last, to the Illinois.

years btxTM'rfibut had

fallen.

Jogues twenty It was for

it

Everywhere he heard more and plainer tidings of the great river, and he redoubled his devotions.

Then Mary heard

Joliet
ar-

Marquette and AUouez to replant

and

and

granted

his

prayers.

to build the first Catholic church there,

where now stands the cathedral of St. Mary, and the apostolic Bishop Baraga
presides.

by the Count de Frontenac, then governor of Canada, and bringing with him, from Marquette's superiors,
rived, sent
.

From

this, farther west to the Ottawa,

was a mission almost hopeless, from the abandonment of that people to the worBut now the ship of their own passions. dream of his life began to rise in great
his heart,

And long wished-for permission. note the day of Joliet's arrival it is the 8th of December, the Feast of the Imthe
:

soon to take possession of it He had heard from stragaltogether.

maculate Conception of Mary The heart of the missionary burned within him, for it took months to prepare the expedition but at last it was
! ;

gling hunters, as from general rumor, that out toward the sunset a mighty
river took
its rise

ready, at the mission of St. Ignatius, the cross of which, on the Isle of Mackinac,

was seen over the wide

straits

and from

and

rolled

its

floods,

the two inland seas of Huron and of Mich-

for measureless miles,

through populous pagan lands, to the far southern seas. Ah to discover this to launch himself on those swift tides with his cross, his
!

igan and in the middle of May, the month of Mary, they pushed out their bark ca;

noes upon the deep blue lake.

all

They took

beads, and

his breviary

not to win a

name among

the learned of the earth,

the applause of science, the gratitude of trade, but to bear to those lost tribes the glad news of a

possible precautions, made all prudent " above all," says Marpreparations, but " I placed our voyage under quette, the protection of the Blessed Virgin

Redeemer

to people
;

Immaculate, and promised her that if she obtained us the grace of discovering
the great river, I would give it the name of Conception, as I would do to the first

heaven with their ransomed souls

teach those pathless prairies and

to

unhewn

566

devotion; to the blessed virgin

those

MARY

mission I should establish

among

new

nations."^

this discovery cannot be here it is the common proprepeated We erty of historian and geographer. have only to show the voyage of devo-

The story of

and hospitable race, receiving Marquette in their villages, showing him their customs, and listening with respect to the new doctrines which he uttered. They urged him to stay with them, and
dignified,

when he
for his

tion to the

Mother of God, and what

refused for the time, gave him provisions for his journey and a calumet
defence.

advances that made into the wild interior

The missionary, starting inward from the shores of Green Bay,

of North America.

again as far as the

Then down the river mouth of the Arkan-

had penetrated west and south, through many adventures, leaving here and there

sas. Just above this they had been attacked by a party of hostile Indians, apparently not natives of the neighborhood

'

some hint of the Gospel, which he hoped one day to preach to all these nations, and reaching at length a stream, wide, and swift, and deep, which they told him would bear him to the great river. Before embarking on its bosom, they began
a

perhaps Tuscaroras or Iroquoi?

some embarking

They

were armed with bows, ar'MWs, axes, war-clubs, and bucklers, and prepared to attack the missionary both by land and
water,
in canoes, a part to ascend, others to descend the river, so

new

devotion to the Blessed Virgin

as to surround their prey.

Immaculate, which they practised every

day,

drew the canoe

to

The current the shore, and the

seize it
;

and "by especial prayers we placed,''

"

young men sprang in to

but not

he

under her protection the successof ourvoyage and ourselves."* Then,

says,

getting near enough for that, they returned to the shore, and seizing their

for a
float

hundred and twenty

miles, they

down the Wisconsin, through the State of that name, to its mouth and the

bows and arrows, prepared to pierce the Death seemed inevservant of God. itable. "But," says the faithful Marquette,

Then out upon object of their wishes. the broad breast of the Father of Waters,
and down
Illinois,

"we had recourse to our patroness

stream past Iowa, Missouri, noting every object, the nature

its

of the trees, the varying width of water, the animals, especially the "wild
cattle,"
sight.*

and guide, the Holy Virgin Immaculate, and we had great need of her assistance, for the savages were urging each other to the slaughter by fierce and continual
cries."*

But God suddenly touched the

and the panthers which came

in

hearts of the old men, the youth were checked, and for that time the missionary

The
(1)

Illinois

seem

to

have been a mild,

was spared.
(2) Reoit dea Voyages, cap.
(3)
iii.

Sourtont je mis nostre voyage soubs la protection

de

Vierge Immaculee, lay promettant, que si elle nous faisoit la gr4ce de dScouvrir la grande ri vidre je lay

la Ste.

Marquette gi^es the name of pisikiou to the Amer-

^ donnerois le nora de la Conception. liecit des Voyages tt del Deteouvertes de P. Jacquet Marquette, cap. ii.

ican bison,
(4) Eecit, cap. vii'

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

667

They had now reached a land where

the inhabitants
"

never see snow, and

or in birch canoe, he reached the mission of Green Bay.

It

know
falls

the winter only by the rain which oftcner than in summer ;" that is,

was

here,

under the roof dedicated

to his beloved mission-model, St. Francis

they were in Arkansas.

And now

the

problem of the great river

and they knew how
that,

was solved, coming from the

mer

Xavier, that Marquette spent the sumof 1674, trying to recover from the chronic dysentery which his labors and

cold lakes of the north, it watered so vast an extent of country, to empty at last in

the Gulf of Mexico.

already,

For they had heard

how bands

missionaries, of wandering Iroquois had warred against the Ontongannha, who

by

the

New York

and it was here that the eagerly sought orders found him to go to the Illinois. In the month of November he set out, and was
fatigues
;

had brought upon him

well enough upon the lake but with the severe cold upon the land, his disease
;

lived on the banks of a beautiful river

attacked
Still

him with redoubled

vigilance.

(Ohio) which leads to the great lake, as they called the sea, where they traded

he pushed on, for had he not his work to do ? But when he reached the

with Europeans " who pray to God as we do, and have rosaries, and bells to
call

banks of the

Illinois,

and found that river

men

to

prayers."^

Of these and

And there frozen, he was prostrated. he lay, so ill that even on his weU-loved
patronal feast, of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), he could not offer the

full

other such accounts, Marquette gained confirmation from the Arkansas

;

tribes

and

so,

having navigated

its

wa-

Holy

Sacrifice.

There he must winter,

ters for a distance of eight degrees, and published the Gospel as well as he could^

that dying servant of Mary, in a halfopen wigwam, exposed to the fierce

to the nations he

had met, and learning

northern

blasts,

dependent

for his food

that

the tribes below were in perpetual war and furnished with firearms, he turned the prow of his canoe and beall

upon

the guns of his two poor French

Illinois

companions.

gan to ascend the

river.

heard of him, but only send to him for powder and for goods.

The

Entering the Illinois River, he passed a town of the Kaskaskias another, higher
;

"I have come," he answers, "to instruct you, to speak to you of prayer, to stop
your wars with the Miamis, and to spread peace throughout the land. Powder have
I

up, of the Peorias, and was compelled to promise both to return and instruct them.

Three days he preached the

faith in

aU

none."^

How much

does he

murmur?

their cabins, baptized a dying child, and so, after a voyage of two thousand seven

hundred and sixty-seven

(1) Shea's

miles,

on foot

The Blessed Immaculate Virgin" these are his words in his last journal " has taken such care of us in our wan-

"

Discovery and Exploration of the Missis-

sippi, pref., p. xxiii.

unfinished journal letter to Father (3) Marquette's Dablon, superior of the missions, Dec. 26.

(2) Eecit, cap. ix.

5^
dering, that

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

we have never wanted

This

food
is

faith

he much.
is

And the

prayer of nine

we
"

live quite comfortably."^

the

History of the Devotion to the Blessed

rises from days past, the couch of death recovered.

and Marquette

Yirgin
spirit

Mary
in

in

North America,"

this

worldly motive power is going to resist or overcome this? See that lone, feeble missionary, that child of an antique race of

her servants.

What

the 29th of March, in the Octave of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin,

On

he

is

The

ice is

very feeble, to start. broken up and is floating down

able, still

sunny

France, in the poor

bark hut of

the savage, in the dead of the northern

winter, lying prostrate there, yet performing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, confessing

the river. On the 8th of April he reaches the long-desired village of the Kaskaskias. Here he assembled for several

days the ancients of the tribe, then

ited the separate wigwams, crowded to hear him. On

vis-

which were

and communicating his two comrades twice a week, fasting on Fridays and Saturdays, and saying, and
believing, in

his

deep, saintly humility,

"
!

Thursday in he spake to all in public. It was a large town, five hundred fires burned there daily, and his audience was

Holy Week

that he

hves quite comfortably ^ That, we say, is the History of the Devotion to Saint Mary stop that, if you can, by a
' ' ;

vast.

His church was a prairie knoll.

On

four sides of

him were planted

his

sneer, a treatise, or a

mob

banners, large pictures of the Blessed Virgin, attached to strips of India taffety.

Meantime, the flesh of humanity has its laws, and under these the missionary
is

Five hundred chiefs and ancients

first circle,

formed the
ther
;

nearest to the Fa-

desired mission

Far south lies the here, where he is lying, stretch the desolate snows and howls
to death.
;

doomed

fifteen

hundred young warriors

gathered behind them.; the women and the children formed the outer ring.

the wild boreal wind.

hourly

sinks daily, his comrades are beginning to

He

Thus he preached

to
;

them the docthe Gospel of

trine of Christ crucified

consider where, beneath the frosts, they shall scoop out his solitary grave. But " he says, Not yet. Let me see my mission
first,

He

God's Son made Mary's Son for them. offered up the awful sacrifice of the
for their conversion.

Mass

On

Easter

friends

!"

and then die. To prayer, Never has that dear Lady

his failed

Mother of
is

him yet

nor, such

Sunday he celebrated the same dread mysteries again, and claimed that land as a possession for the Most High God,
and gave that mission the name of the Immaculate Conception of St. Mary. The good Indians received his message with joy
" Si
les
;

his confidence, will she

do so now.

They make a novena to the Immaculate Mother of God, to Mary conceived without
sin.

His companions have but

Dec. 80.

little

his mission

was securely
iey,

(1) .Jonrnal, (2)

Francois ont de roVbes de eepays

iU ne
les

les

The

last

words

in his journal are a gentle jest at

desrohbent pas, tant les/atiffues sont grandi

pour

en

the fatigues of the French traders.

He

forgets his

own.

tirery

April

6.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
of

669

founded, and his work was done. He could not labor there, but must go and

them to take his crucifix and hold it up where his eyes might rest upon it.
Looking on
this,

For get other fathers to replace him. thirty miles on his way the new converts
attend him, contesting

fession of faith,

he uttered his proand thanked the Triune

who

shall carry

something

belonging to him.

Then he

M-ajesty for the grace of dying a missionary of Jesus, alone and in the land

reaches Lake Michigan, poor Jacques and Francois despairing almost of getting him farther, for he lies helpless in their arms now, or wherever they lay him down gentle, but feeble as a little

of savages. Then, now and again, ttey heard him say, Sustinuit anima mea in verba ejus, and Mater Dei, memento mei.

smiles and speaks sweet, calm encouragement to these two, or lies

child.

He

Then, as he seemed to be passing away, they called aloud, as he had told them, the names of Jesus and of Mary, and at
the sound he raised his eyes above the

murmuring from time to time, I know that my Redeemer liveth," or " Mary, mother of grace and Mother of God, remember me !" He directs everyquiet,

"

he saw some object which they could not see, for his eyes filled with the
crucifix
;

thing to be prepared for his death, blessing holy water for his agony and burial,
instructing his companions, reading his breviary until the film of approaching
dissolution gathers

joy a look of intensest delight made his whole face radiant he cried out Jesus and Mary and fell asleep.
light of ineffable
;
; !

Surely we have no need of words to connect this man's hfe with devotion to
the Mother of God, or of the part he

on

his eyes. his

He had

always

entreated

dear

took in establishing it in America. Let us content ourselves with citing the words
of one of his editors and biographers :* " could say much of his rare virtues,

Mother that he might die on Saturday, the day of the office of the Immaculate Conception. Well, Saturday had come, and he bade them paddle to the shore, to a knoll at the foot of which a little river
ran into the lake.^

We

of his missionary zeal, of his childlike candor, of his angelic purity, and his continual union with God.

They laid him, like St. Francis Xavier, upon the shore, and stretched some birch bark upon poles above him. There he gave them the last directions, thanked them for their

But his predominant virtue was a most rare and

singular devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and especially in the mystery of the Im-

maculate Conception. It was a pleasure to hear him preach or speak on this subject.

begged their pardon for the trouble had given, heard their confessions, he and bade them take some repose. When they returned, he had entered the valley of the shadow of death but he told one
love,
;

Every conversation and

letter of

his contained something about the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, as he always styled

her.

From

the age of nine he fasted

every Saturday, and from his most ten(2)

(1)

The

river

and the bay into which

it

falls,

in Col-

John G. Shea.

Discovery and Exploration of the

ton's Atlas, are called Marquette.

Mississippi, p. 64.

4D

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

der youth began to recite daily the
office
little

of

God

deserved some singular grace,

accordingly granted him the

of the Conception, and inspired all to adopt this devotion. For some months

and she

before his death he daily recited, with his two men, a little chaplet of the Im-

favor he had always asked, to die upon a Saturday and his two companions
;

maculate Conception which he had arranged in this form after the Creed,
:

had no doubt that she appeared to him at the hour of his death, when, after
pronouncing the names of Jesus and Mary, he suddenly raised his eyes above the crucifix, fixing them on an object

Our Father, and Hail they said one then four times these words Mary
'

;'

'

Hail, daughter of

God

the Father
!

hail,

Mother of God the Son hail. Spouse of thfi Holy Ghost hail, temple of the whole
!

which he regarded with such pleasure and joy, that they lit up his countenance and they from that moment believed that
;
'

Trinity

By

thy holy virginity and im-

he had surrendered
hands of
his

his

soul into the

most pure VirIn gin, cleanse my flesh and my heart. the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost and last of all,
maculate conception,
;'

good Mother."

His bones were laid in the Isle of Mack-

the "

'

Glory be to the Father,' the whole

to the

thrice repeated.

So tender a devotion

Mother

where they were taken soon after his name is invoked by the boatmen when the lake is agitated by storms, and " the Angel of the the Indians call him Ottawa Mission."
inac,
;

CHAPTER
ADVAliCE OF THB DEVOTION

III.

ANGELS
SISTERS.

OLIEB

AND

ST.

FIEST SEVENTY-FIVE TEAKSJESUITS IN CANADA OUB LADY OF SULPICBTHE CITY OF MAEYMADEMOISELLE MANSE AND THE HOSPITAL
fully the spirit

We have
of those

shown rather

set forth as

whom

God, in His mercy to

America, has charged with the diffusion of devotion to Mary. Nor did we choose

necessary, is conveniently exemplified in Mary of the Incarnation and the holy discoverer of the Mississippi,

but

it is

the same in

all

the serv-

them from any

special

them, rather than for others

preference for for the

;

ants. Urged by the love of souls, the children of St. Francis, known as Recol-

Hospital Sisters of Our Lady were in Canada before the Ursulines arrived, and

as early as the year 1616 follow Of these three the good Champlain.
lets,

there

were

grey-headed
left his

missionaries

priests,

two throw themselves

at

once

among
The

the Indians before James Mar-

into the difficult struggle, against sin

and

quette had

own sunny

France.

spirit which, in the first chapter,

we

the nomadic Algonquins of the Saguenay, the Ottawa^ and the St.
death,

among

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
that same Virgin,

571

Lawrence, while the other pushes forward to the shores of Lake Huron, among the more settled Wyandots or Hurons.

who hath

ever been
;

Three others are found about the same

time in Maine
;

but the new, young or-

ders of Jesuits and Sulpicians, full of fresh 'ardor and energy, came upon the

Immaculate and without defect and in memory and thanksgiving of the miracles of holiness wrought in her, and in gratitude for the graces which he, the founder, has received from God by her intercession."

dangers and its in the names of Jesus and Mary.

field

and claimed

its

toils,

So there he established a residence of Jesuits, on condition that the "Fathers

shall say or cause to

The year 1625

had labored,
in

is

the

first

of the es-

be said there,

for-

tablishment of the Jesuits, although they

Nova

Scotia and Maine,

ever, a mass of the Blessed Virgin, on every day permitted by the usage of the

from 1608 to the conquest of Acadia. Then the Due de Ventadour granted

Church
shall

and on other days the Mass be celebrated with the same inten;

them lands around Quebec under the

title

of the Seigneufie of our

Lady

of

tion of honoring the Mother of God, so as to thank her more worthily, and to

Angels.

Their

first

house was built at

invoke

her more

efficaciously

by

this

St. Charles.

Then

for the Mission of St,

Joseph, near Quebec, Brulart de Sillery furnishes foundation. He desires to es-

foundation, placing her Son Jesus Christ anew in her hands, and heartily beseech-

tabhsh a spot where the wandering savages may be attracted and assembled, as
the surest

ing her to offer Him, herself, in daily sacrifice to God for the whole Church,

and

in express

memory of that

admirable

mode

of their conversion.

He

all

hopes, in the deed of foundation, that his plans "will happily succeed by

offering which the same Mother made of her Son at the moment of the Incarnation, and afterward in the Temple, to

and powerful help of the most holy Virgin, Mother of God and
the

merits

apparent obligation of the law, and finally at the Cross, on the mountain
of Calvary."^

satisfy the

wishes, by the deed, also, to testify the gratitude which he feels for the won-

drous favors received from that Mother

of Mercy." So he dedicates the founda" tion to the honor and glory of the

Quebec, the members of the Company of Jesus radiated

Thus founded
all

at

throughout
light

New

and warmth

France, carrying the of salvation to every

Most Holy

Trinity, of the Father, who chose the Virgin to give a second life
;

unto His Son

of the Son, who accepted her as His Mother of the Holy Spirit,
;

Checked for awhile part of its territory. by the success of the British arms, it was only to commence again with renewed
fervor.

who

operated in her the work of the adorable Incarnation and in honor of

;

1633, no less than fifteen priests of their order were at work in and every tradition bears tesCanada,

By
'

'

(1)
le

Fondation

faite

Residence de

St.

par le Oorainandeur de Sillery pour Joseph, pres de Quebec, from Father

Bressani's Relation abregfie, redigee par R. P. Martin,

Montreal, 1852

87S

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VTRCrN MARY

timony to their worth.

amenities of Hfe,

Away from

the

by the wild February

banks of the
St.

blasts,

away from

the oppor-

Lawrence.
upright,
breast,

upon the They found

crucifix

tunities of vain-glory, they became dead to the world, and possessed their souls in

him

kneeling
to
his

with

unutterable peace.
to

grow

old,

The few who though bowed by the

lived
toils

and calm eyes open and fixed on heaven, on the Feast

clasped
of the Purification of her

whom

he loved Gar-

of a long mission, still kindled with the fervor of apostolic zeal. The history of their labors is connected with the origin

and served so well (1646).

nier, pierced
balls,

Charlcfs

by

three Iroquois musket-

of every celebrated town in the annals of French America not a cape was turned,
;

prepared to die, when he saw a The sight Christian Indian expiring.

the priest within him he staggered to his feet only to fall again.

awakened

all

nor a river entered, but a Jesuit led the

way."^

They followed the shores of the lakes to the Bay of Saguenay, and pierced into the heart of the Huron forests. St.
Mary's rose upon the Niagara River. The Marquis de Gamache gave himself
to the Society,

But though he could notarise, he could and did drag himself along the bloodstained ground, and, as he gave the last absolution, a tomahawk clove his skull,

and endowed, with

his

and he died on the eve of the Immacuwhich gracious mystery he had early bound himself by a vow to
late Conception,

ample fortune, the first college at Quebec. From 1641 to 1644 the remoter Huron missionaries received no supplies their clothes fell to pieces they had
; ;

defend, even unto death (1649). Anthony Daniel fell at the Iroquois sacking of St. Joseph's, in 1648. The

braves were

all

absent at the chase.

scarce bread
teries
;

enough

for the

Holy Mys-

they themselves crushed the nec-

There were none at home but the old priest, the women, and the children,
the savages burst through the palisades. Swift he rushes to the wigwams
to baptize the sick
;

essary wine from the wild grape that sprang in the woodlands. And yet, before 1647, forty-two members of the order had visited and labored in these

when

a crowd' of others
;

demand
for

that Sacrament

he has no time
;

lonely

wilds,
if

nothing, the kingdom of Christ.

counting their lives as only they could win souls for

even shortest ceremonies

he dips his

handkerchief in water and baptizes them by aspersion. Then he gave general ab-

Before 1690, thirteen had baptized the Others pagan land with their blood.

had

fallen victims to starvation or ex-

aU who sought it, and, entering the chapel, he vested and stood pre" The wigpared to meet his death.
solution to

posure.

wams
stiflf

Father Anne de Nou6, after years of

terrible toil, died, frozen

apthe chapel, and the consecrated proach

;

are set on

fire

the

Mohawks

and cold

envoy serenely advances to meet them. Astonishment seized the barbarians. At

length,

(1) Bancroft's Hist. U. States,

iii.

122,

drawing near, they discharged at

IN NORTH AMEKIOA.

078

him a

flight of arrows.

rent by wounds, he

still

All gashed and continued to

speak to them with surprising energy now inspiring fear of the Divine anger,

the

the brain of Rene, and he died, uttering name of Jesus.'

Bressani (1644), captured by the Iroquois, marched chained in their proces-

and again,

in gentle tones, breathing the

mercy and grace. Such were his actions until he received a death-blow from a halbert. The victim
affectionate messages of

whereof the banner was the head ol a Huron Cathohc, whose heart he saw torn from the body to be eaten in brasion,

vado

^marched

fearlessly in that

dread

of the heroism of charity died, the name of Jesus on his lips. The wilderness gave

procession, for

"

"with confidence
the

filled," he says, in the intercession of

was

him a grave
mourners."^
Visitation

the
It

Huron nation were

his

Holy Virgin."

Six days they adforest,

was in the Octave of the of Mary Mother of God.

vanced through the

he being com-

Noel Chabanel receives his death-blow upon the banks of a stream near St. Mary's, from the axe of an apostate Huron, on the 8th of December, the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception." Il6n6 Goupil, so livid and mashed with
club bruises that his features were undistinguishable, had his thumbs cut off while " Tied Jesus, Mary, Joseph." repeating

pelled to act as their slave, fetching the wood and water for the night encamp-

ments, cooking for his savage captors, and repaid by blows. He slept, tied to a

uncovered, in the night air of tho Arrived at the early northern April.
tree,

village,

they prepared him for running

the gauntlet, by splitting his hand up between the ring and little fingers, and

then beat him as he moved between their

barbarous hnes.
to dance

ground upon his back, at night the savage boys poured coals upon his breast until the flesh was charred. Six days
tormented thus, he and his companion, Father Jogues, too weak to escape, were left at liberty. But one day when they

to the

They forced him then

for hours
;

and sing

they ran

splinters into his flesh

and burned him

with brands

they covered sharp points with hot ashes, and compelled him to walk thereon they tore out aU the nails
; ;

had retired apart to pray, two young men followed and ordered them back.
us

of his fingers with pincers or with savage teeth. One night they would tear out a the next cut off or burn off a joint, and aU this, and more than this, lasted His wounds swarmed with for a month. worms he "said unto rottenness. Thou
nail,
;

"Dear brother," said the Father, "let recommend ourselves to our Lord and

good Mother the Blessed Virgin, men have some evil design." They walked back, telling the beads of their rosary. They had said four decto our
for these

art

my

father

unto worms.
sisters."*

Ye

are

my

mother and

my

ades,

when a tomahawk
iii.

crashed into
139.

Finally the sentence

(4)

was passed, that

(1) Bancroft's Hist. IT. S., vol.

(2)

Putredini dixi: Pater meut ee; mater mea et-

Marie do I'Incarnation,

p. 148.

soror

mea

vermibua.

Job

xvii. 14.

(3) Shea's

Narrative of the Captivity of Jogues.

74

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

what life lingered in hina should be burned out at the stake, and then he says "I prepared my soul and commended my:

martyrdom
;

in 1633.

When

he came to

the Hurons, he found not a single Christian when he left them for the eternal

self

unto the Mother of Mercy,

who

is

Mother most amiable, most most powerful, most clemadmirable, ent, and the consoler of the afflicted. She, after God, was the only refuge of me, a poor sinner, abandoned by all creain truth the

numbered eight thousand. It was the noble Jean de Breboeuf the heglory, they

impassioned servant of Mary. It was he who " once, imparadised in a

roic,

trance, beheld the

cross he bore, surrounded

Mother of Him whose by a crowd of

:

tures in a strange land."* Then they " reversed the death sentence. For " was the will of such,'' he says again,

virgins, in the beatitudes of heaven."* " This was his vow What shall I ren-

of the Virgin Mother. To her I owe not my life only, but the strength to support my pain." It was the Hol-

God and

der to Thee, my Lord Jesus, for all that I have received from Thee ? I will
accept

Thy

chalice

I will call

upon Thy

name.

And now

vow, in presence of

landers of

New York who

saved him at

length, purchasing him from the barbarians for some forty dollars, and he says

Thine Eternal Father, and of the Holy Ghost, in presence of Thy most holy

"I sang my coming owl of Egypt"^ on the 19th of August in the Octave of the As-

Mother before the angels, the apostles, and the martyrs, my sainted fathers, Ignatius and Francis Xavier, that if, in
;

sumption of the Virgin, whom I consider the bestower of my freedom."

Well, this at least

Thy mercy. Thou me. Thy unworthy

shalt ever offer unto

servant, the grace of

was enough
mission.

for one

man

he surely

left his

On the

contrary, the same year saw him on his way to the Hurons. Four times he made

it. So that martyrdom, if any occasion to die for Thee occur, I promise not to shun it (unless Thy greater glory so demand), and even to receive

I will not refuse

that voyage, and thrice he

fell

into the

the mortal blow with joy.

this hour, I offer
will,

Now, from
alt

same bloody hands, and was covered anew with wounds, yet God and Our Lady delivered him out of all. What wonder that those mutilated hands can
record

unto Thee, with

Jesus,

Thou my

my

body,

my my

blood,
sion, I

my
may

soul, so that,

die for

by Thy permisThee who hast deigned

let
!

among
as

the

reverers of Blessed
years,

to die for

me.

So

me

live that I

may

Mary,

the

fruits of thirteen
!

merit such a death

cept

So, Lord, will I ac-

twelve tJiousand Indians

Thy

chalice

and invoke Thy name.

!"*

There was yet another of these Jesuits,

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

in 1625,

the last we shall cite here, who came and won the crimson crown of
llC-139.

St. Louis, St. Mary's, and Conception were attacked by a thousand Iroquois Ji
(3) Bancroft's Hist.
(4)

(1) Bressani, Relation, pp. (2)

U.

S.,

iii.

124.

In exita Israel de ^gypto, domas Jacob de populo barbaro. Ps. 113

Relation de Bressani,

p.

260.

IN

NORTH AMEBIOA.

m
;

the winter of 1649.

ers taken

Among

the prison-

was John de Breboeuf, who,

the stake destined for his
it

ing Iroquois, the frozen river, hunger, to show Garnier cold, and accident

when he saw
torture, kissed

with respect. So earnestly he exhorted his companions to be

wresthng with the floating ice, through which he sunk, on an errand of mercy Chabanel struggling on for years in a
;

firm, that the brutal savages cut off his

lips

and tongue. Continuing exhortation by signs, they gave

preference in the torture.

still

his

mission from which every fibre of his frame shrank with loathing Chaumonot
;

him the

compihng
frozen

his

Indian grammar on the

or the
fall,

first

"Thou
tell

earth,

heroic

Breboeuf,

wert wont," they said to him, "to

others that the

paralyzed by a

with his collar-bone

more they suffered here, the greater would be their recompence

in the

broken, creeping on his hands and feet along the frozen road, and sleeping, un-

new

life.

Now

thank

us, for

we

only brighten thy crown." Then, having made a necklace of red-hot hatchet

on the snow, when the very trees were sphtting with cold." But we must turn to other devout
sheltered,

In heads, they hung it about his neck. mockery of baptism, they poured boiling water upon his head. They pierced his

love has taught this country aiTection and devotion to the Mother of Divine Grace. In the great
children
filial

whose

hands and breast with red-hot irons

;

they tore his flesh away in strips they cut his scalp into the semblance of a
crown, then tore it from his head. He was a strong man, using to say of him"
self,

world of Paris, the Blessed Virgin Mary had few clients more sincerely devoted to her than the secretary of the king,

Henry

the

Fourth

Jacques

Olier

de

am

only an ox

(boeuf), fit for la-

while ;" yet he died in three hours his comrade, Gabriel Lallemant, young, Yet delicate, and frail, lived seventeen.

bor

Verneuil, the trusted minister of his sovereign, the friend of Saint Francis of Sales.

His wife, Mary Dobe, Lady of

Ivoi,

was

his first torture

was

veloped from head urated with rosin, and set on

for other "Marians," as the

to be stripped, ento foot in bark, satfire.*

this holy bore her, of her husband, and of bishop her son. To them, among other chil-

worthy of the respect which

dren,

God gave

a boy

But we must turn elsewhere and look

pagan savages called them, saying only with the historian of the missions,* " Fain would
to follow each in his labors, his recount their dantrials, and his toils
;

Uer years belonged to de Verneuil, founder of Montreal.

in childhood,

Mary Jean Olier

Even

who from

his ear-

we pause

whatever recalled the holy Virgin, or had any reference to her, caused joy or gratitude in him. He was glad to have been born of a mother

named Mary,
of Silver."

in a street called

Our Lady

gers from the heathen Huron, the skulk(1) Bancroft's Hist. (2) Shea's

U.

S.,

iii.

140.

called lioi de Sidle, because of a silver statue placed at

its

History of Catholic Missions, p. 183. '8) Jfotre-dame-d? Argent, a name given to the street

corner by Francis committed there.

I.

in expiation of

some

sacrilege

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

In his studies, he counted more upon

the assistance of the Throne of
(Sedes Sapientice) than on his ities, though these were naturally veryHe says himself that he could great. learn nothing without " Hail, Mary !"

Wisdom own abil-

In 1633, accordingly, he received the holy order of the priesthood, and after three months'
spiritual retreat,

showed him also that he was faithful and devoted servant.

to

be her

said his first

mass

in

the church of our

mel.

Lady

of

Mount Carincreased

and

others" have recorded that the devo-

To her

his

devotion

tion with which he used to repeat this angelic prayer, moved them to tears.

He
first

undertook nothing, indeed, without going to that dear Lady and asking

Convinced that to her, after God, daily. he owed all the graces he had received, he chose her for his august Lady and

Queen

he held
;

all his

possessions as a

her to

command him
son.

to

do

it,

as

mother her

When
or coat

clad

anew,

grant from her name Itnade a

;

used them only in her vow of perpetual servi-

was given him, he never felt at ease until he had gone to dedicate them, and himself in them, to the Blessed Virgin, and to implore
the

when

new hat

tude to her, and, with the antique 33^01bolism of his day, wore round his neck a
silver chain to

show that he was bond-

man

to the

her for the grace, never, s,o long as he should wear them, to offend her Son.
"
I

that day he never refused,

power, to
in the

Queen of Heaven. From when in his whatever was demanded give

of Mary.

have thought," he

said, in later life,

name

sometimes, that this practice might be a feebleness or a folly. But when I

"

omitted

it,

my clothes

were sure to come

He made no journey without first going to the church of Notre Dame to ask his Blessed Mother's benediction. When
struck with apoplexy, his reason shaken,
his

to speedy ruin the first day or the next. So I took these accidents as a visible

punishment, sent to correct

to

my

fault,

or

sight and hearing gone, only two sounds seemed to reach his sense, the

warn me not

to fall into

it

"^

again.

names of Jesus and of Mary.

first,
;

At

the

up, he entered the gay world at Paris, as his birth and rank seemed for the time to require of him, and even

Grown

there his patroness preserved him from its evil. He conceived an ambition to

a bright smile gave intelligence to at the second, his his half-dead face " Mother." paralyzed lips murmured When the idea of the grand Seminary of St. Sulpice was in his mind, he went as usual to Notre Dame, and there our

be profoundly learned, and Rome to gratify it. But an

set out to

affection of

Lady showed him

visibly the plan for

the eyes threatened him with total loss of sight 80, instead of staying at Rome to study, he went to Loretto to pray
; ;

Then he comthe proposed edifice. menced that sacred work, and the corner-stone was laid in the Octave of the

and there Saint Mary healed him, and

(1)

VUdeM.

Ollw.

Paris, 1844, p. 6.

The works went on Virgin's nativity. until the winter interrupted them. They ceased on the Immaculate Conception
;

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
immemorial
ica.

677

they were recommenced in the Octave

of the Purification.

forest lands of

North Amer-

Before treating this point,

we

can-

He
Lady

sang the Mass de Beata, with the

keys m his
as the

bosom, offering them to Our

not leave the holy founder of St. Sulpice without mentionuig his death. His last
years were united to the Passion of his beloved Lord by a complication of disk
orders, especially the agonizing one of gravel.

" For owner of the house. he says, "I trust that the holy herein,"

name
All

of

Mary
is

will

be blessed forever.
it

my

desire

to imprint

deeply on

In

its

acutest attacks,

when

the

the hearts of our brethren, for Mary is our counsellor and president, our treasurer, our princess, our queen,
all."

was almost driven out of him by physical anguish, he uttered no comsoul

plaints,

In the court,

and our facing the portal, he

^ut lay

still,

gently smiling, of-

fering his pain to Jesus crucified,

and

placed a grand statue of the Virgin, seated and holding the infant Jesus in

murmuring,

"0

Love!

Love!"

her arms.

He

refused to be called the

"
it is

rendered up his soul into the hands of Christ and- his dear Mother on Holy
Saturday,

He

founder of the house.

Altissimus," he said
"
;

Fundavit earn
Jesus in

March

26, 1657.

Mary

who

our founder," and he caused the monogram of Maay to be engraved on

is

It was in 1636 that the Company of Montreal was founded " for the conver-

the silver, wrought in the iron- work, marked 'upon the linen, for the house

sion of the savages and the maintenance of the Catholic religion in Canada." Five
priests, a cardinal, Richelieu,

was

hers.

a duchess, two dukes, twelve other nobles, and a

simple Sister of Charity formed the association, and for four years they labored
faithfully to bring their

Olier furnishes the idea, paints the ceiling.

and Le Brun

It is the coronation

of

Mary Queen

of

Heaven by the hands

while below, the represented by the
;

scheme into suc:

of the Father Eternal

Church

militant,

Council of Ephesus, hail her with cries of exultation, and proclaim hef title, de

Their plan was this To build, upon the Isle of Montreal, a town which should be at once a home for
cessful operation.

Two other picfide, of Mother of God.^ tures from the same hand adorned the

the missions, a defence against the savages, a centre of commerce for the neigh-

chapel Mary,
grace, and the
first
;

the

channel

of

God's

boring people, which should be consecrated to the most holy Virgin, and be
called Ville-Marie.

Visitation.

In that house
life

the

devotion was to the interior

of Jesus
all

the second was to Mary. And this love and devotion to the Queen

So, when all was ready, on the morrow of the Feast of Our Lady's Purification,

the

associates

assembled in the

of Saints was, by Father Olier's means, sent to consecrate the swift waters and

cathedral church of Notre

Olier offered

Dame,

M.

(1)

Vie de

M.

Glier, p. 281.

up the perfect Sacrifice at the Virgin's altar, whereat all the laics communed, while those of the Company

578

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIIT MAEY

priests said

who were

mass

at other al-

bears her name.

nishes priests
Gallinet,

intention, "fervently imploring the Queen of Angels to bless their enterprise, and to take the Isle of

tars with the

same

Messrs.

The mother house

fur-

de Quaylus, de

Montreal under her most holy and especial protection."*

Dallet, and Louart to begin In 1663 the Company, whose only object was the conversion of the savages, resigns, into the hands of the Sulpicians,

with.

The collection after this ceremony was two hundred thousand francs. The commandant was Paul de Chaumeday,
lord of Maisonneuve, a warrior

all

seigneurial rights over the island, titles confirmed, a century later, by the British

who

for

government, after the conquest of Canada. And thus it is that the Blessed
Virgin Mary of Montreal.
is still

twenty years had served

his king

with

the sovereign

Lady

honor, the Blessed Virgin with devotion, having made for her sake a vow of perpetual chastity, never omitting, for any excuse, the recitation of the chaplet and
then, they start at length from Rochelle, cross safely, winter at Quebec, and on the 17th of

These Sulpicians also have their crimson records their dealings with the fierce and wily Iroquois. Two only for
;

the

little

office.

Under him,

the present will we mention. When M. Olier first proposed this mission to his
ecclesiastics,

Mary's

own month
They

Montreal.

of May, arrive at build a chapel of bark,

first

selves

eagerly offered themnone were more zealous than

all

Father Le Maitre.
"
I will

"

Send me," he
;

said

erect an altar, and offer for the

time

promise earnest labor

I will

go

the Sacrifice of the Mass.

On

that day

they reserved the Blessed Sacrament, and from that day it has always been reserved in Ville-Marie.
"

to the Indians, even in their own coun" You wiU not have the trouble," try."

Henceforth," the American historian, " the hearth says of the sacred fires of the Wyandots was
consecrated to the Virgin."* The colony does well, only
it

answered the servant of God; "they will come to look for you, and will so
surround you that you shall not escape from their hands." Two years after the
death of M. Olier, Father Le Maitre, then in Canada, was surrounded arid be-

should

not depend entirely upon

clergy. tled here
is

France for
have
set-

hospital the Congregation of Our Lady established expressly for the place
;
;

The

sisters

headed by the Iroquois on the Feast of the Decollation of Saint John the Baptist.

there must be a seminary. The same devotion which built St. Sulpice for
in Paris, builds the

Father Vignal followed him to heaven by the same painful path. On the scant records that we have

Mary

new

thousand miles away

Sulpice three in the colony that

St.

been able to procure, we read the names of twenty-five seminary priests in less
than forty years
:

Salagnac de Fenelon,

(1)

VU de 3<Bur Marguerite Bourgeoyt.

Ville-Marie,

(2) Bancroft,

iii.

128.

1818, p. 21.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
the
ing,

579

on the north Ontario shores

Iroquois, de school of the

among
the

Belmont Mountain

in
;

Indian
St.

Buisson de

when, on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, he strayed by chance into a church in Paris. The preacher

Come, going The children of Ignatius and Xavier were the adventurers and pioneers for them earth had no resting-place, death no terrors their time of labor and its field were while and wherever their lips could
; ;

far south to the

Natchez.

was not well prepared did not get along well on the subject of the day, and went wandering about in his discourse until he found a more familiar This happened to be the necestopic.
sity of

being sure of your vocation, bestate

proclaim the

name

of Jesus

their rest

fore

entering upon any

dealt

of

life.

was only

in Patria.

The

ecclesiastics of

Whether he
this
left for

Jean-Jacques Oher were a settled colony to educate, civilize, train, and keep
the converted.

more happily with subject than with the one he had

it,

we

are not informed

but he

The Jesuit furnished the

;

set the

element of conquest
of conservatism.

the Sulpician that

work

mind of the young Louart at the vocation for matrimony was

exist,

found not to

and a few years after

Dif-

Side by side with the Jesuit of Quebec labored the patient hospital sisters, founded by the bounty of the Duchess
d'Aiguillon, and the Ursulines of Mary of the Incarnation. So at Ville-Marie we have other hospitalieres, endowed by

saw the

fianc6 cure in Ville-Marie.

ferent illustrations are found in the cases

of the two holy

women who came

first

to the wild island in the St. Lawrence,

there to represent the tender pity and care of Mary Frudentissima, Mary Salus

another pious and noble lady, the Duchess de Bullion, and sister Marguerite

Infirmorum.

A
selle

Bourgeoys, and her "Congregation of Our Lady." It is most interesting to trace the manner in which Mary calls and inspires her
the
servants, so various, yet so effective are means she uses. One has simply a

young lady of Langres, MademoiJeanne Manse, passing her life

quietly among her friends in the ordinary routine of a pious girl's life, is suddenly struck with the idea of consecrating
herself to

the

service

of the

Blessed

Mary

in

New

France.

What

restless feeling, searches repose everywhere, and finds it suddenly at the first

purpose of self-consecration to

Mary.

she has no idea, or, at least, a very confused and indistinct one. It is a notion from some traveller's story,

New

France

is,

Another

is

summoned in a moment, when

think her friends.

sulted
;

Her

confessor

is

con-

thinking of nothing less than of the Blessed Virgin, by a voice or an apparition, or an accident, as Father Louart,
the second priest of Montreal, could have He was destined for the testified.

he has never heard of Montreal,

treats his

and he
;

penitent as a vision-

ary he writes to Paris for information.

but as she persists in her notions,

The

world

he was on the point of marry-

answers confirm the purpose of Madeshe goes to Paris, ia moiselle Manse

;

580

DEYOTIOIT TO THE BLESSED VrKGIF

MARY

introduced to the Duchess de Bulhon, a great friend of the Montreal scheme

;

labor too great for any one person, however zealous. new gift of sixty thou-

the vocation
followed.

is

tried,

ascertained,
;

and

sand

livres,

by Madame de

Bullion, en-

"I

will go," she said

"give

me, madame, a

letter to the directors of

edifice, and recruits from larged France brought help to Mademoiselle

the

the Company." The pious duchess gives her a note to M. de la Dauversiere, and

a purse of twenty thousand livres for ex-

Manse. It was de Maisonneuve, the commandant of Ville-Marie, and the sworn servant of its Patroness, who went to
look for hospitalieres. He found eager candidates for the mission among the sisters of St. Joseph, in la Fleche,

She was warned that, in all probability, the walls of Montreal must be cemented in blood that there were
pences.
;

from

tribes of hostile savages

who would
;

op-

whom

three were selected and sent to

pose, perhaps destroy, the colony that she would be alone to care for the sick

found their order^ in America.

And now,

and wounded but when these representations only increased her zeal and fervor, the good man blessed God, and
;

what more have we to say of this lady? Her arm, broken by a fall, and badly treated, became hopelessly paralyzed. She was patient, but she was a burden
to others
;

bade her go in His name. And when he did that, he laid the foundation of that
Hotel of
St.

so she resolved to seek relief

God

{Hotel Dieu), or Hospital

from God through her holy and gentle Mother Mary. Every one in Montreal

Joseph, where now some forty nuns and fifteen novices are consecrated to the
service of Christ in His poor. They arrived in the middle of the

had of course great veneration for M. Olier so, full of devotion and simple faith, she made a journey to France, nd
;

at his

tomb she prayed

for such a res-

month of Mary

the land was assigned,

the gold of the good duchess was exchanged for wood and labor a house
;

toration only as might enable her to aid herself, that she might be no longer a
-

and chapel rose up

swiftly,

15th of August, 1642, it celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of

the Virgin. As the colony grew, the number of its sick augmented also the house was found too small, the
St.

and on the was opened to

burden to others and her arm was made whole.* She returned to her labors, and There is no more to tell. died in 1673. Hospital sisters have no stories. Their
;

Mary
;

whole

lives are beautiful praises to the

gracious God, and are written only in His Book of Life on high.
(2)

(1)

They were

still

seculars.

Pope Alexander the

Vie de

M.

Olier, p. 894.

Eeventh erected them into a religious order in 1666.

NORTH AMERIOA.

681

CHAPTER
The
tues
hospital sister practices the virof Mary, and dies adventureless.
all

IV.
OTTE LADf.

MAEGUBBITE BOUEGEOYS AND THE CONGEEGATION OF

tained.

Her childhood was distinguished,

by a

But Mary's servants are of

There
are

kinds.
life

Marguerite

Bourgeoys more

adventures

in

the

of

certain grave piety, which was always characteristic of her in after life, and by zeal in the confraterni-

quite early,

than she

sought, faithful, loving soul as she was, but not more than God saw were neces-

and rosary societies to which she beIt was at a feast of our Blessed longed.
ties

Lady

that she

first

caught a glimpse of
festival of the

sary for her perfection.

life is itself

for roses, nor did she find

a rose,
conceits

She did not look them but her offered and accepted
;

her vocation.

It

was the

Rosary, and Marguerite had gone to join in the procession, which it is the custom
of the Dominicans to

on Our Lady's
writing
life
is

altar.

If the old style of

were

in vogue, her

On
was was
the

this

one that could almost be com-

posed so that every third "

Mary." and in her heart, from the time her hps first could frame it, until they laid her whitened by ninety winters, behead, neath the snows of Canada. She was born in 1620, this Margarita, this pearl
of the

word should be That word was in her mouth

so great the throng of people, that the pomp forced from its usual neighborhood
occasion.

make on Anno 1640,

this day.

into the larger streets,

grand

cathedral

and passed before church of Notre

Dame.

statue of the

Holy Mother of

God adorned
garet saw
it,

the grand portal, and Maras she thought, at least, en;

vironed with lustre

while the eyes,

full

Queen

of Virgins.

She was

called,

in religion. Marguerite of the

rament.
Fociety

Holy SacShe was the founder of that

as Daughters of the Con-

of kindly intelligence, appeared to look Imagination or reality, wistfully at her.

Marguerite received

it

as

an invitation

known

to consecrate herself to God,

under the
that

gregation of Our Lady.^ It was in the city of Troyes, in

pagne, that parents, not notable for rank or wealth,

distinguished earnestness the
in

ChamMarguerite was born. Her

for

moment

auspices of St. Mary. all the innocent

And from

little fineries

of

dress, in which, like other girls, she

had

were

something better
they be-

hitherto indulged, were laid aside, and she thought only, henceforward, of how

practice of religion.

This was the

best

heritage
;

it was the only of their bequests that she reportion

queathed their daughter

she might accomplish her self-dedication. At first she tried to gain admission into the convent of our Lady of Mount

Carmel, but God had other work for her, and she was baffled in this attempt, al-

fl)

Vie de

M.

Oli&r, p. 894.

though she persisted

for years

although

582

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

written, in of their promise and desire, testimony these lines

it

became the strongest desire of her heart.

Virgin,

whereon they had

:

There was another order of nuns

whom

she frequented in Troyes, those of Notre

Dame, devoted to instruction, and they had under their supervision a number of
young
persons, united

Holy Motlier of our God, Virgin of loyal heart, Keep for ns, of thy royal mount [Montreal], a consecrated part.

by an agreement,

without vow, Uving each in her

own

Naturally, then, the good sisters talked

family and visiting and instructing those who could not attend the classes of the

much about Canada, and Marguerite

For by this time Bourgeoys Ustened. she had won the respect and love of the
whole community, and had been offered admission to the Order, but it was not
her vocation
yet,
;

nuns.

These were called the " outside Congregation of our Lady," and into it

the

members received our Marguerite

with gratitude.

This was her noviciate. Here she practised all those virtues of holy poverty and self-sacrifice, charity, and devotion with which, afterward, she made America illustrious. So, in the

that, as far as she

knew

it

was

to

be a Carmelite.

But de

Maisonneuve, arriving in France to look for hospital sisters for Mademoiselle

won

course of time, her saintly, mortified life great grace for her. Her heart was

Manse, and soldiers for the defence of his colonists, went, as he ever did, to
visit his sisters at

Troyes.

It

was

in the

with fervor when she apthe Holy Communion proached nay, juch was her devotion, that our Lord vouchsafed to show himself to her in the

always

filled

parlor of the convent at Notre

Dame that

Blessed Sacrament as a

little

child in-

comparably beautiful.
of
tival of

It was the Feast Our Lady's Assumption, the chief fes-

her congregation. Among the nuns of Notre

Dame was

Marguerite met him and heard him talk of ViUe-Marie. Then she knew, at last, where her vocation was. If she needed confirmation, she had seen the commandant in a dream some weeks before her arrival, and recognized him as soon as she saw him and when, in the absence of the bishop, she went to take counsel
;

sister of that pious noble, the

commandant
equally

of Ville-Marie,
devoted, the world.

Another

sister,

of the vicar-general, he told her, in so many words, that God required her in

Madame

de Cuilly, remained in Of course both were inter-

Canada.

To know her vocation was

to follow

it.

ested in their brother's far-away colony in America ; they had pledged them-

him some
the

selves to use every effort to procure for reHgious, for the instruction of

young people, and

for a long time

many

of the nuns of Notre

to be sent.

Dame hoped had given to M. de They

She was guardian of a younger brother and sister, and she arranged at once for their education. She had some propshe made it over to them and to erty the poor, and stood free in the world. She said, " I am ready," and then came The the difficulties and temptations.

Maisoimeuve a picture of the Blessed

religious, refused for the present

by de

IN

NOKTH AMERICA.

583

Maisonneuve, dissuaded her from going until they could go too. She desired to
" outhave with her a member of that
side
for
girl,

uncle there, not sharing in the hilarity,

storms, argues, rebukes, forbids, brings tears abundantly and humble protestations of affection, but

congregation," of which she had some time been prefect, a young

no change of pur-

pose.

The

provincial of the Carmelites

whose honor she had saved

;

but

circumstances were inexorable

only one

could be taken

only for one.

there was employment Marguerite must stay or go

;

begs her to renounce this crazy adventure offers to procure her reception in any Carmelite convent she prefers. Here,

then,

is

the dearest wish of her heart

staggers her a She pays a visit to the nearest
it

alonealone,

of her sex, in a ship filled with newly-recruited soldiers, and their

realized at last,
little.

and

commander whom she had seen but once. Not an easy obstacle this to surmount.

church, and comes back fixed. It is not to Our Lady of Mount Carmel that she
belongs, but to

She has recourse to her confessor. "Go freely," he says "M. de Maison;

Our Lady of Ville-Marie. Then she makes up her comforts for

neuve

will

be your guardian

he

is

one

These consist of a crucifix, a the voyage. a book of devotions, and a change rosary,

of the noblest knights in the court of the Queen of Angels."^ Still nature and

She takes this luggage in her and she starts for the port of hand,
of linen.

modest education are powerful

;

Mar-

guerite yet hesitates then the Blessed One morning, Virgin herself decides.

Travelling alone, she is frequently insulted at Saumur and at Orleans she is contemptuously refused en-

Nantes.

while meditating in her own chamber, a lady, beautiful, white robed, surrounded

trance

passes in

with a halo of flashing yet tender hght,

appears
"

She

One night she the other in a church. p, stable, has a letter for a merchant at
at

the hotels.

before

her,

Go, Marguerite, to

and says gently Canada I will not

: ;

abandon thee." This settles the matter. Come now what may, she will be at Nantes for the embarkation by the Feast
of the Visitation of St. Mary.

Nantes, whom, on her arrival, she meets in the street. He gives her the address of his house, and promises to follow
thither shortly.

thing

will

come

temptations, Many remonin

young man, going M. de Maisonneuve, insists upon carrying her little bundle, and they present themselves at the house of Monout

with

strances, imputations which are the hardest for women to endure, but all useless.

sieur le Coq.

Madame,

the dcor

madame appears

in person, opens to have been

Troyes, tave of the Purification, for Paris. Paris she is generally laughed at

She

quits

the

Oc-

At
;

her

She looks at the poor young woman and the youth beside her, and shuts the door in their
Marguerite crosses over to the church of the Jacobins, in time for the
faces.

one of the " unco good."

" C'est un des (1) premiers chevaliers de la chambro de la Reine des Anges." Vie de Smur Marguerite, p. 51.

commencement of the Rosary

procession,

584

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY

and then, with courage, attempts the merThis time she
is

joins in the ceremony,

labors which

knew no

rest for nearly

renewed

chant's house again.

half a century. The town of Ville -Marie

nificences in that day.

soundly rated for her impudence, and

dismissed with ignominy. But, as she turns away patiently, M. le Coq himself

had few magWithin the stock-

comes home, and the weary servant of

outside the walls, twenty or thirty farms, and a half hundred of Indian wigwams that was the
ade,
fifty
;

some

houses

Mary

finds a shelter at last.

She reposes for a day or two. By the Octave of the B. V. M. of Mount Carmel, she
is

out at sea

not

But small though it were. Marguerite could find work enough in it. Scarcely any one of those habitacity of Montreal.

in a

modern

tions failed to receive a daily visit

packet ship, or luxurious, swift-puffing steamer, but in the lumbering little In transport of two hundred years ago. this vessel, sleeping upon a pile of cordage, the nurse of the sick, the consoler

you saw her everywhere, if good were to be done there, nursing the sick, consoling
;

the sorrowful, instructing the ignorant, washing the linen and mending the clothes of the poor, as well as giving

of the distressed, making the night and morning prayer, the attendant upon a

hundred
roic

soldiers

and the crew, the hethe

Atlantic.

woman

traversed

she steadily refused to eat at his table, M. de Maisonneuve sent her food,
filtered

When

needy what others thought the very necessaries of life. M. le Coq had given her a bed, which she had never used on board the ship. There was a straw bed, a mattress, two coverlets, and a pillow.

away

to the

In

less

than a week one after the other

water and wine, which she received gratefully, and distributed among

disappeared, and Marguerite slept the floor in the Canadian winter.

upon
In a

her patients. She ate the coarse fare of the ship, she drank from a little leathern

word,

she

"became an eye unto the

blind and feet unto the lame.

When the
;

cup the

common

ropy, unsavory water of the cask, and drank but once a

ear heard, then

it

blessed her

when

day, a habit she preserved through all her after hfe from devotion to our dear

the eye saw, it gave witness to her, because she delivered the poor that cried,
the fatherless, and the helpless. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon her, and she caused the

Lord's bitter thirst upon the cross. In the practice of these virtues, after a jour-

ney of between three and four months,

Marguerite arrived at Montreal about the Feast of Our Lady's Presentation, 1653, and then and there began the
sister

widow's heart to sing for joy."^ Above all, she found her greatest pleasure in instructing young girls, both French and Indians, in the branches

(1)

Ocalns

fni

coeco et pea clando.

Auris audiens

et

beatificabat me, et oculus videns, testimonium redde-

super
xxix.

pupillum cui non esset adjutor. Benedictio peritiiri me veniebat et cor viduas consolatus oum. Job

bat mihi.

Eo quod

liberassem panperem vociferantom

NORTH AMERICA.

585

necessary for them, especially in the prin"She ciples and practice of religion.
inspired them," says one of her biogra" with sentiments of love and dephers, votion toward the august Mother of

and so sanctify the voyage itself, and arrived in France could gather some devoted souls, and, if it were God's

when
will,

establish

Lady

in Ville-Marie.

congregation of Our They had a safe

God, to

whom

larly devoted.

she was herself particuworthy coadjutrix of

and pleasant passage

gether M.
Olier's

they visited totomb, and, together,

;

M. de Maisonneuve, while he was

build-

rendered thanks to

God

for the

mercy exAlone,

ing up a material city for Mary, she was establishing the spiritual empire of that

tended to Mademoiselle Manse.

as she came, so she goes
tive country, a simple

back to her na-

Mother in the hearts of the For four years occupied in these labors, she ran from house to house, for as yet no building could be But if the comspared her for a school. mandant could give her no building, he could and did give her land and on this,
Blessed
faithful."^
;

woman, without

rank, wealth, or influence, to ask parents for their daughters, to go to an isle in

a scarce explored river, three thousand miles

away, surrounded by cruel and

colonists

hostile savages, to instruct the children

tliinking first as always of St. Mary, she determined to build, not a school, but a

chapel

in

her honor.

Then she

re-

doubled her energies, running about to and so, one every one in the town
;

and Indians in the knowledge of the Gospel of God. Truly it required some confidence to make the request, and more to hope for a favorable response. But Marguerite knew to
of poor

brought wood, and another stone

a few

whom she looked, whom she loved in heart, whom she trusted in, whom
"

her
she

stout money, a greater number and mechanical arms, willing hearts, and thus the chapel arose, just skill where now stands the church of Our
their
;

had chosen.* I will come back in a and successful," she said, as she year, left Montreal, on the Octave of the Virgin's Nativity, 1658.

Lady

of Good Help {du Bon-secours). But the colony was growing large a bishop had arrived, Mgr. de Laval de Montmorenci, and Marguerite felt that if her work was to go forward, she must

No

sooner had she arrived in Troyes,

than three of her old companions presented themselves to her for the mission

but the father of one of them, a notary, wanted a little information on the subject.

have help. Mademoiselle Manse was to France to look for hospital sisgoing
ters

and

for relief for her useless arm.

Marguerite then could wait upon her,

(1)

"They had a stable," " said Marguerite, which M. de Maisonneuve had given them, and wljich only
(2)

How did they wild country?"

"

live, for instance, in

that

La

Vie de la Venerable

geoys, dite
trice et

Smnr Marguerite Bovrdu Saint Sacrament, Instituirice, Fonda-

Regnum mundi
quem amavi,
in

et

omnem omatam
credidi,

sseculi

con-

tempsi propter amorem Domini mei Jesu Christi,

vidi,

premiere Superieure dea Fllles Seculaires de la Congregation de Notre Dame. Ville-Marie, 1818.

quem

quem

dilexi.

Com,

quem

non Virg,

4F

5S6

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VreonT MABY

Iroquois.
It

wanted some repairs to make a residence of it." The notary wished to know what inducements were oifered to those who
should inhabit this fine lodging
bles, humiliations,
' '

Jacques Cartier
the island.

was the mountain which had surnamed the Royal,

its

and which gave

name, corrupted, to
de Maisonneuv

Trou-

and labors," answered

it

When first, in 1649, M.

of the

proposed to support exclusively upon these ?" asked " the notary. Oh, no she would insure them bread and soup, and, with the
Marguerite.
life
;

"

"Was

beheld the stately height, that "knight

Queen of Angels" vowed

to erect

a cross, the standard of his Lord, upon its summit, and to place beside it the lesser

blessing of God, that was enough. tears arose in the old man's eyes. "
shall

The

You

my daughter," he said, "provided you accept a dowry with her."

Marguerite thanked him, in Our Lady's name, for the former, but refused money upon any conditions. At length, with
five recruits, she returns to

have

banner of his sovereign Lady. So he caused a tall, massive cross to be made, and he himself bore it painfully to the
top of the mountain, planting
there, and inserting
it

firmly

carefully, in a niche

at its foot, the

sisters at Troyes.

image given him by his This took place the

America and

Isle Mont-Royal. "It was a stone building, this stable," she tells us, " about twenty-five feet square, and had long been a retreat for

her stable in

animals of every

sort.

But

had a

built and got it cleaned, so that could lodge there the children whom the Indians gave us, as well as hold our

chimney

we

same year and season, perhaps the same day and hour, in which Marguerite, looking up from the Rosary procession upon the great statue of Our Lady, beheld it robed with unwonted splendors. So now she sent two sisters to tol' among the Indians for M. de Belmont serving there as priest, had opened schools for the savages, which were well
;

schools.

As

for us, there

was a

sort of

attended.

And

there the sisters dwelt,

for

dove-cote, or garret above, where, until

in birch-bark

wigwams, and labored

now, pigeons had been bred, and of this I made our dormitory and community room, although it was rather inconvenient of approach, the only access being

the spiritual weal of the native American. When advancing civilization drove the

Indians thence to the Saut au RecoUet, and thence to the Lake of Two Mountains,
still

by a

ladder outside."'^

Yet

in this estab-

the sisters followed them, and are

lishment they lived, taught their schools,

found there, in 1862, faithful to their

first

guarded young emigrant girls who came from France, once as many as eighteen,

inherited duties, as were the

two,

sent

by

sister

and traiaed their postulants and Indian converts. Next, they spared two sisters fbr the famous Mountain Mission of the
Vie de Marguerite Bourgeoys, p. 81.

and

troubles

about the

hard congregation
accumulated
rule.

Marguerite.

But labors
difiiculties

work

in

getting the
hesitates,

The

saintly

bishop

would

like to unite the orders

(1)

of

Quebec and Ville-Marie, does not see

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

687

with

sister Marguerite's eyes.

She must

needs go to France again, and get a charter for her congregation from Louis le

which happened on the eve of the Assumption. So well they labored, that on that day two years they saw the chapel
finished, the first stone

which charter, according to the propriety of dates which seems to ac;

Grand

church erected in

company

these matters,

is

issued

and

signed by King Louis in the month of May. Mgr. de Montmorenci falls ill and
is

Montreal, walked in the long procession, and heard the first mass within its walls. The house of the Congregation rose beside
it,

and the

sisters

dwelt and toiled

of their tender

obliged to resign his see

so that when

there

under the

eye

Marguerite returns to Canada, she finds no bishop to whom to submit hersister

Mother.

Many

a storm passes

by her and over

;

self

and the

rule, as the

term of the char-

ter required.

her during all these years. Chapel and house consumed to ashes the first English war and the capture of the

treasure she acquires in France. All the Company of Montreal, we know,

One

burden of the

Superiority
;

city

the

for the Or-

were distinguished
holy Virgin

for devotion to the

Mary.

Among

them,

le

der numbers forty persons now, and she desires to lay down the authority, to place
it

Pretre, lord of Fleury, had a collection of ancient rehcs in the chapel of his castle.

younger hands nay, she walks to Quebec, on foot through the mid-winter
in

One
work

of these

was a
it

little

statue of

Our

Lady, by which
miracles.

had pleased God to This he determined to

snow, at the age of seventy-three, to beg remission from the office, but the bishop " Go (Lacroix) will not listen to her.
back.

send to Ville-Marie, where, he hoped, a chapel would be built for it, and where
it

Marguerite,

to

your

austerities,

would be more honored than elsewhere, as that town and colony were more particularly consecrated to the pure Mother of God than any other portion
of the world.

your labors, to this position of honor, harder for your humihty to bear than
qui perseveraverit usque in finem hie salvus erit whoso persevereth unto
:

either

'

Being brought to M. de

"^ the end, he shall be saved.' So Marlived to see her misguerite persevered,

Fancamp, another member of the Company in Paris, he was healed instantaneously of a dangerous illness, and then he vowed to labor steadfastly for
the chapel, headed the subscription list with a heavy sum from his own purse, and placed that sum and the sacred im-

sion-schools spread over the land to hear her community blessed by every mouth to build a new church in 1 695,
;
;

and to see there founded the perpetual adoration of the most holy Sacrament. Her prayer on this occasion to the Prisoner of Love is preserved, wherein she
beseeches His especial benediction upon, and His guardianship for, her sistei'hood.

age at once in the hands of sister Mar-

was the consolation of the guerite. sisters on their voyage, and the object of their unremitting zeal on their arrival,
It

(1) St.

Matthew

s. 22.

5S8

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

after long

"

Most Holy Virgin,"

thus,

it

supplication to Jesus in the Sacrament, " remember that thou art our ends,

to live in all things as the poorest people, only in scrupulous neat;

than straw

ness

such

was her rule

for others

it

Be, too, our advocate, and supwhat our devotion to thy Son is ply Make us see the power of lacking in.

Mother.

was luxurious when compared with the rule for herself."^ Thus, when the Master came,
ing,

He

found His servant watchthis wise

:

thy intercession with Him, bearing thyself our poor and feeble prayers to Him,

and the end was on

Sis-

ter Catherine, the mistress of the novices,

and presenting them thyself before the throne of His glory."

lay dying in the infirmary,

And now

the day was well-nigh over,

the hour was approaching for repose, for reward. Sixty years of austerities and
toils

still young, but early called. The last sacraments had been administered the agony came on. The sisters watching her ran to the
;

various rooms to

summon

all

to

the

had done

weary frame

upon forty-seven of those years

Consult her

their

work

the

in the wilds of Canada.

life

prayers for the dying. When they came to sister Marguerite, she groaned in spirit, and said "0 Father why not take me,
:
!

for the extraordinary spirit of mortifica-

tion which always ruled her, or judge what treatment she reserved for herself

the old and useless, and spare that poor sister who can yet serve Thee long?"

And Mary
sacrifice

when

she prescribed this course for her " To live in perfect renuncommunity. ciation of self and all things earthly to
; ;

bore the aspiration of selfto the feet of God, and Gdd

seek only the glory of God to be devoted to the instruction of young girls and the practice of all good works with-

and granted it. Sister Cathup cured. Sister Marguerite lay down upon a couch of cruel anguish
heard
it

erine rose

for ten

days, borne with

praise,

thanksgiving

and hymns of

and then, on the

out murmuring at the pain, trouble, hu-

and suffering which are into imitate the separable from these and modest life of Mary in all simple on their missions to imitate the things
miliations,
;

Feast of the Epiphany, she fell into "a sweet and gentle agony,"** and with her

hands crossed meekly on her bosom, went to "find the young Child and His

Apostles

to travel
;

always,

when

pos-

win their bread by the sible, labor of their hands to be chargeable In their missions and comto no one. munity to have only the simplest, poorto
;

on foot

Mother" in the courts of heaven, January 12, A.D. 1700. How simply she told her Mother what
" she desired for her congregation. Oh, I ask for our commy good mother,

munity no goods, no honors, no pleasures

of this
life.

most indispensable furniture to wear the commonest clothing, and eat the coarsest food to have no better bed
est,
; ;

Obtain for

me

God may be faithfully served, and we may never receive haughty or

(2)

only that that

pre-

(1)

Vie de

Somr Marguerite,

p. 139.

Vie de Smi/r Marguerite,

p.

168.

m
sumptuous persons in our midst those whose hearts are in the world

NORTH AMERICA.
nor
;

589

nor

who

are slanderers or mockers

nor any

and good mother and for eternity."* And then Marguerite and the rest of them prosfounder, protectress,
for time

save such as will study to practice those maxims which our Lord, thy divine Son,

trated themselves before the image of

our dear Lady, and made this prayer, re-

has taught

us,

has sealed with His blood,

oh,

membered and preserved by

:

the sister-

and which thou,

hast observed

most holy Yirgin,

with such exactitude."^

hood " Look, holy Virgin, on this little band of thy servants, who have consecrated themselves to God's service un-

How
little

dearly she loved the very

name

of

Mary, giving

it in baptism to the poor Indian babes, abandoned or easily

der thy direction, and who desire to follow thee as good children follow their

The first, given up by their parents! baptized on the feast of Our Lady of
Snows, and
all

mother and mistress, and who consider

thee as their superior, hoping that God will give to thee the rule over a com-

the others were

named
be

Mary.

One, an

Illinois girl, lived to

eighteen, and died a holy death in their house. Other two, Iroquois, Mary Barbe, and an Algonquin of the same

munity which is thine own creation. We have nothing worthy to present to God, but we hope, by thine intercession,
to obtain the graces necessary for our sal-

name, became
nity.

sisters

of the

commu-

vation and for the perfection of our state. Thou knowest better than we what we

But Marguerite's whole hfe was devotion tp the Blessed Virgin ; every thought was affected by her, every act was done as
if

need and what we should ask

fuse us not thine aid.

for.

Re-

by her

direction.
;

herself in Trance

she gave for her she left her

To Mary

Help us, by thy prayers, to receive light and grace from the Holy Spirit, so that we may labor
faithfully in the instruction of the

young

native land forever to dwell in a wild

and just discovered country in a town bearing the name of Mary, to establish a congregation under the name of Mary, where the books, and houses, and persons wore the Hvery of Mary, and where
herself was solemnly chosen first and perpetual superior. For at the first formal assembly of the

girls whom it is our especial charge to And above all, oh, our dear Lady teach.

and Mother, procure that we, the teachers, and all the children to us committed, and all who shall contribute to their spiritual advancement,
of the
elect,

may

be of the number

Mary

so that in thy society we our good God in the joy may praise which endureth forever."* And so it

congregation for the election of a superior, the sisters had cried with one voice,
that
"

happens that in the Congregation of Our Lady there are no earthly superiors, but
only sub-superiors.

they would have the Blessed Virtheir

gin

for

superior,

their
p.-

origin,

We

would

like to show,

by

its

mani-

(1) Vie

de Sceur Marguerite,

114.

(3)

Vie de Marguerite Bourgeoya, p. 148.

(2) Ibid., p. 148.

690

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN MAEY

purgatory, and for the conversion of sinners on earth.
the age of three years she was taken to the Temple, as to the school of
virtue
;

fold varied examples, the zeal of Marguerite for God's service in other chan-

nels of devotion, but

in this book,

it

which

is

cannot have place dedicated to one

tell

"At

topic only.

But, she used to

life

her

our novices must be scholars of

sisterhood, and her entire

exhibited
that their

her own conviction of

zeal, to be perfect,

its truth,

Mary and with Mary during their preparation. She was edifying in all her
acts

must be formed upon

the model of the Blessed Virgin's, of her whom it pleased the Eternal Father to

ever ready to serve others moderate in her repasts and in all things
;
;

and we,
selves,

like her,
;

must do

make a

coadjutrix (in a manner) of her divine Son's work of redemption. From

edification

must

things for others to ourprefer

all

and be as moderate
in

in food

and

dependence on, and imitation of, Mary, which she so much insisted on in the formation of her society. It was no barren and transitory sentiment of devotion which caused her to call her inthis that

in apparel, conversation as necessity will admit. " Mary was at prayer when the angel

drink,

in

slumber, and

saluted her

' :

Hail, fuU of grace

!'

By

prayer, then,

must we gain the graces

stitute the

Congregation of Our Lady,

title

needed

for

our condition as instructresses.

and invocation of the It was the exMary. pression of the devotion which fiUed her heart. It was a monument of her own dependence and love a model for her
Visitation

under the

And when Our Lady had

of

given her consent to become the Mother of God

by the operation of the Holy Ghost, at once, to show her gratitude to the. Eternal Father, to correspond with the graces

sisterhood, hereafter, that she proposed

to establish

by

these

titles.

Some

brief

quotation from her own simple instructions to them will not only give us an
insight into her ruling sentiment, but will exhibit the power of one means of

He bestowed, and with His designs for the redemption of the human race, she hastened to visit her cousin Saint Elizabecome an instrument for the sanctification of the great Saint John the Baptist, and to carry grace and salvabeth, to

extending the devotion to the Mother of

tion to the house of Zacharias

so we,

God
"

in this country.

sired to continue the

;

The Blessed Virgin," she said, dework of God on earth this must be our desire in our
special mission, the instruction of
girls.

"

the servants of Mary, on our missions, must strive to contribute to the sanctification of children, to edify all persons, especially those of our own sex, and to
let the

young

whole world know that we are

daughters
of
that

As Mary used

to pray for the ful-

indeed
Virgin.

most

holy

filment of the promises, for the deliverance of the fathers who in limbo

awaited the coming of the Just One, so

received, with equal kindness, both kings and shepherds as they came

"Mary

must we pray continually

for the souls in

to adore her Son,

and took

to herself

no

IN"

NORTH AMERICA.

an

of the honors which they paid Him nor shall the sisters distinguish between
tittle
;

accord to Mary, our dear founder, the graces which she asks for her daughters,
so entirely consecrated to her glory and that of her Eternal Holy Son. " Study, then, her life, oh, sisters,

their scholars rich

and poor, nor

attrib-

ute to themselves any of the success which God may grant to their labors. It is believed that as the

my
if

number

of Christians

and imitate her

faithful,

virtues,

and

we

are

increased, Mary and other holy

women

we may be

confident of her per-

aided the Apostles by instructing persons of their own sex, and by their prayers and exhortations recalled them, if they erred from the promise of their baptism, and the sisters must be ready to receive such in retreat and to labor for their ref-

petual help." This is the spirit which animated the whole life of this saintly woman the

spirit

which she carefully

instilled into

the Congregation that she founded. In her own long, laborious life she formed
sixty of the sisters after this model and since she has passed, as we believe, to her eternal joy and reward
at
least
;

ormation, where that is needed. " But the life of the Blessed Virgin being all perfection, and including all the
virtues of the religious state, points her out in all things as especially to be chosen
as our model, our mother,
rectress.

she has seen from heaven that Congregation ramify and extend over the country,
left

and our

di-

As, then, she has deigned to admit us into the ranks of her humble

preserving intact the principles she them. At this hour, in the half-

dozen dioceses

we can

learn about,

more
Con-

servants, has chosen us to imitate her life, and is our founder and superior, let
us, in conformity

than three hundred

sisters of the

with

all

the graces given

gregation are teaching the example of Mary to seven thousand pupils in the very
spirit of their

us, as far as the frailty

and corruption

venerable founder.

of our nature
virtues.

wUl allow us, imitate her Our good God has always, in

So you
guerite

see,

my

reader,

what Margirl

Bourgeoys,

the

poor

of

the history of the Church, given to thefounders of religious orders the special
graces

demanded by the
;

spirit of their

Troyes, the austere, lowly religious of the colony in the wilderness, has to do with the devotion to Our Lady in JN^orth

institutions

be sure, then, that

He

will

America.

593

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

CHAPTER

Y.

EXTERMINATION OP THE HTTEONS OUR LADY OF POIE UTEW LOEETTO THE NORTHWEST ^IMMACTTLATE CONCEPTION riT ILLINOIS MAET AKO DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI BACK TO MONTEEAL OUB lady's GUAED THE CONGREGATION AGAIN THE EECLUSB OP VILLB-MARIB OUE LADY OP ANGELS.

Westward from Nazareth and

Bethle-

hem, through Europe, to the shores of America westward, athwart that conon earth to teach them the way to her tinent, advanced the devotion to Mary, on its consecrating march to the Pacific. protection. Nor less did the tall warWe have seen the broad St. Lawrence rior swear himself to her banner the
; ;

treading this sanctified path, they gave up their very hearts to the Immaculate Queen, and besought her followers

Dame

entered by her servants a vast manor given up to her in the territory of Que;

wisest spake her praises by the councilfires of his tribe the bravest crowned
;

a city built as a monument of devotion to her, and solemnly called by her

bec

his

dusky forehead with the grains of her

rosary.

Mary
two
;

of the Incarnation could

name, and the bearers of her standard pushing westward, painfully, but with courage unflinching, and planting a fort
or a chapel, a station or a mission-house of St. Mary, to mark their toilsome but

count
schools

hundred

redskins

in

her

rament saw them devoted

order.

Marguerite of the Blessed Sacsisters of her

Mary's on

In their country the missionary

placed his headquarters, St.

the Matchedash or

triumphant way.

Let us follow

it

as

it

Wye.

"

There, at the

leads through the limits of the present British possessions then through the
;

humble house dedicated

cabins of the red

to the Virgin, in

one year, three thousand guests from the

French claim, down the valley of the Mississippi, and so to its progress under the Spanish flag, and to the settlement
of the United States.

man

received a frugal

welcome."^
uits

And

thence the early Jes-

went

forth to discovery, to spiritual

This

much

will

bring us to the year 1776, and thus to the present day.

conquest or to martyrdom. In the cabin of the Huron they sate as fathers of the

The Huron learned quickly to love the name of Mary. Above all, the women
looked up, from their laborious debasement, to this glorified model of womanhood and when they heard from the
;

by side with the Huron they received the deadly arrow, or felt the keen scalping-knife of the Iroquois.'
tribe
;

side

Breboeuf organized the mission in 1 6 3 4,

and the fathers never

left until

the

Hu-

Jesuit or the Sulpician that, by imitating her virtues, they might share in her

rons were no more a people, 1650. They taught them in the day of peace suf;

fered with

them

in their misfortunes, and

the Ursuline, the HospitaUere, and the daughter of Notre

glory
;

when they saw

(1) Bancroft's Hist. P. S., vol.

iii.

125.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

593

gave them hope beyond the grave for The tritheu- restraint aud consolation.

umph
up

of the Iroquois broke the nation

though humble, residence of the missionThe Iroquois drove them even ary. from that, it is true, but when the war

sought immediate security with the French. The second fled northward to the Manitouhn
into five bands.
first

The

was over they settled again about four miles off, and gave to their new home the

name

of Mission of

Our Lady of

Foie.

Islands, and driven thence by their implacable foemen, took refuge in Que-

Hither the Belgian Jesuits brought a

statue of the Holy Virgin, sculptured from the oak of that forest near Di-

bec.

The

third, appealing to the gen-

erosity of the Mohawks, were received by them as brethren j^nd adopted into

nan,

in

which was found the

mirac-

the
faith,

tribe.

Here they preserved the

Notre
their

ulous image which bears the title of Dame de Foie in Europe. But

although without priest or instruction. They met in common to chant the

to the woods,

need of the chase drew them nearer and a league farther brought

hymns they had learned and

of their captivity.
sionaries

to teU the

them

beads they had acquired before the days

to a place wherein they The cabins length to rest.

They became misand

al-

lured

among many from paganism.

their captors,

hoped at were arin the form of a square, and in ranged the midst of them the church was placed
supereminent, dominating all the village with its cross as in perpetual benedicTo this the missionary Chaumonot tion.

When

the

fathers at length penetrated into the Iroquois cantons, some of these converts,

old in the long-deferred hope of baptism, rushed forward to meet them,

grown

added a chapel of the Blessed Virgin, in size and form, material and furniture, a
copy of the Holy House of Loretto, wherein our Lord was born. This be-

and wept aloud for joy. The fourth troop went to Mackinac, where the en-

emy

followed, thence far

Superior to as ill as the Iroquois

tawas, in

beyond Lake the Sioux, who treated them

;

came the holy place of the

Indians.

The

thence to the Ot;

Iroquois convert found a home here, side by side with his ancient Huron victim.

North Michigan and then to Point St. Ignace, upon the Straits of Mackinac, where a small remnant of them dweUs to-day. The fifth joined the Eries, and, with them, were blotted from existence by The first alone their relentless enemies.
reaped benefit from the national ruin.

The Hurons themselves grew in holiness and aU primitive virtues and their brethren in far exile were wont to make
;

pilgrimages hitherward, bringing offerings of furs and balm, from the distant west, to the feet of the Virgin Immaculate.

Another and

final

removal to a
after.

very short distance took place long

They

settled in Isle Orleans, in the St.

They

called the settlement the

New

Lo-

Lawrence, and changed its name to St. Mary's Isle, and here, amid their cabins, rose the house of prayer and the fixed,

retto,^

and

there,

to-day, are

gathered

(1)

Notes to Bressani's Relation, 309-318.

594

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

of the

the fast fading remnants

site

once

ahawk, tortures,
River, to

fire."'

So to the Fox
to the

grand Huron nation. What was once the of the Old Loretto of the Hurons is
the parish of the Annunciation of

Iowa and Wisconsin,

tribes of the Kickapoo, the Mascoutin,

now

Our Lady. The Cross went northward, and was planted among the Chippewas of Lake The mission-house was called Superior. by the name of Mary, and stood where
the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception now shadows the leaping waters of the Saut. Then along the south shore of the same great water, Father

and the Miami, the devoted servant of Mary proclaimed her beautiful name. The Mission of the Immaculate Conception among the Illinois was the most
prosperous, although not without its In a foray of the Kickapoos the checks. Recollet Rigourde was slain, and his colleague,

Membre, put

to flight.

AUouez,

the

Apostle of the West," labored long, and then retired to Isle St. Joseph to
die.

"

AUouez

carried the beautiful devotion,

founded the mission of the Holy Ghost

at the very extremity of the lake,

But, as in later times with other races, some of the red men were willing
to adopt Christianity only on condition that it should not interfere with their

and

taught a Chippewa choir to chant the Pater and the Ave Maria.^ And here

he met the scattered Hurons and Ottawas,

the

The chief of the Kaskaskias passions. called himself a Christian, and professed
lost it in this

sun-worshipping

Pottowatto-

mie from the recesses of Lake Michigan, the Sac and Fox, the gentle Illinois, and the
proud warrior Dacota.

great respect for the missionary, but he The light of his way.

For

lodge was his daughter Mary, brought up from childhood in the faith which

years AUouez, Dablon, Marquette evangelized the vast regions from Green Bay
to the head of Superior, "defying the severity of climates, wading through water or through
fort of fire,

had found congenial soil in her innocent heart. Mary had heard of the virgin spouses of Christ, and longed always to
be such as they were.
Besides, she desired to belong altogether to that dear,

snows without the comhaving no bread but pounded

maize, and often no food but the unwholesome moss from the rocks labor;

Mother of Purity, whose name But a she had received in baptism.

spotless

ing incessantly

exposed to

live

as

it

were without nourishment, to sleep without a resting-place, to travel far, and al-

Frenchman, named Ako, rich for the place and time, but dissolute and reckless, demanded her hand, and her father
determined to give
it

him.

ways incurring

perils

to carry his

life

Mary prayed
she was
;

in his hand, or rather daily, and oftener than every day to hold it up as a target,

earnestly to be left as she told her father that she had

expecting captivity, death from the tom(1) Bancroft's Hist. U. S., iil 150.

given her heart to God, and could not but the old chief religiously marry
;

(2) Bancroft's Hist.

U.

S., iii.

152.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
terms of endearment that
cept not as daughter, if mother, what can I do
child,

595

forced her to the chapel. At the very altar she told Father Gravier of her

know, to

ac-

me

as her child.

earnest dislike to the marriage, and was instructed by him that her free consent

If she accept she will not be

?

me

my
beg

am

but a
I

was necessary. and the party

le^ft

This she refused to give, the chapel. But her

and know not how

to pray.

dusky sire stripped her and turned her from his lodge. More than this, he won the other chiefs to his side, and the " Prayer" was prohibited in the village. Gravier appealed to the French commandant, one of the adventurer La Salle's posting, but Ako had been there before
him, and he was dismissed with blame and reproach. The mission was tottering to its fall. Fifty Peorias and Kaskaskias remained faithful, but their opposition

pray, how to defend myself against the evil one, who attacks me ceaselessly and will effect

her to teach

me how to

my

unless I have recourse to her, unless she shelter me in her arms, as a gentle mother does a frightened child."^ This
fall,

was an Illinois Christian woman two hundred years ago. I know of no country in which the influence and interference so to speak of the Blessed Mother of God is so evident as in this country. Here now in Illinois,

was only strong enough

resist,

to irritate,

as the first Jesuits disappear, the Priests

not to
cross

the party of the chief.

The

would soon be broken down, the

offered herself in sacrifice for

of the Foreign Mission take their place, and the Priests of the Foreign Mission

chapel closed, the pastor driven away.

were

Then Mary

originated in a sodality of the Blessed Virgin in Paris. These carried

the good of her tribe, and on her father's promise to restore the mission, she gave

the beloved

name

to the

banks of the

Ohio and the

of converts

St. Joseph's.

The number

her hand to Ako.

Her

virtues

and her

gentleness reclaimed the dissolute Frenchman, and he became a model of penitence.

The

old chief

made

himself a

sacristan,

and morn and even he went

through the village calling his people to His wife influenced the women, prayer.
as

he did the warriors

and Mary

as-

sembled the children daily in her house and taught them to invoke, by prayer

among the Illinois grew rapand embraced the noblest and best idly, of the tribe. So changed was an Indian that the French settlers previllage now, ferred to choose their wives from its maidens. At home, the tribe was punctual at the chapel when they went to their hunting-grounds, they would meet every night and chant for that was
;

their

and hymn, the benign Refuge of Sinners. From this source was it that the good Indian woman drew her consolation and
her only Mother," she was wont to say of the Blessed Mother " of her Lord. I beg her, with all the
strength.
I call

of

way in alternate Our Lady.

choirs, the

Rosary

"

There was no priest at Peoria since the death of Father Gravier, slain there by the influence of the medicine men or
(1) Shea's Indian Missions, 417.

696

DEVOTIOIT TO THE BLESSED VTRGnT

MARY

But the grand chief wore a upon his breast, which he revered with sincere piety, and a medal of the Blessed Virgin. He had found this somewhere, and had carried it to better instructed Christians to learn what it was. They told him that it repreprophets.
crucifix

ments, chaplet in hand, and the by no means too pious Europeans there looked
fully, at

admiringly, and, perhaps, self-reproachthese swarthy warriors, who had

left their religion

not

behind them in the

far-off lodges of their tribe.

prayer to

Mary

Indeed, a Immaculate was not new

sented the Virgin ^Mother of God that the little Infant, whom he saw in her
;

there, for de Soto's expedition in

1539

arms, was the Redeemer of the world, and that her especial title was Mary the

had been accompanied by twenty-two ecclesiastics. The 8ahe Regina had

floated over the waters

Help
his

of Christians.

He

received this

father of streams, from the

of the mighty mouth of the

infidel

lesson into a faithful heart, and he wore

Red River

to the ocean,

and the

medal with confidence in her whose image was embossed upon its surface.
walking with his gun unhe espied a Fox Indian lurking loaded, in a thicket, and saw that the musket of
day,

MobiUan, in the wilds of

listened with

Alabama, had
told

wonder
to the

to the chant of the

One

Litany of Loretto.

Membr6

the
;

the savage was

leveled at his

heart.

Then he
tians,

cried to

Mary Help
of the

of Chris-

pure swarthy Arkansas Montigny to the Tsensas on Red River St. Com6 laid down his Hfe to honor it, amid the towns of the fire-worshipping
;

Name

and she heard him.

Five times in

Natchez

Foucault, du Poisson, and Louel

it

succession the
fire.

gun

Fox missed

shed their blood while proclaiming

Before he could aim a sixth time,

among
zoos.

the Choctaws and the fierce

Ya-

the piece of the Peoria chief was charged

When Iberville came

from France,

and levelled in its turn. The Fox surrendered, threw down his gun, and the
votary of
his lodge.

to

meet the Acadian and the Frenchman

descending from the Canadas, he called

the islands at the

Mary
It

led

him triumphantly

to

mouth

of the Missis-

was

to Father de Charle-

sippi CJiandeleur,^ in

voix that he told the story, when he

Lady's Purification

honor of our Blessed and soon we find

brought

his Uttle

daughter

for

baptism

within the stockade of

New

Orleans the
of the

to that clergyman.^ What most charmed the later missionaries, when they came

hospital sister (1705), the

monks

among
was

these Indians for the

first

time,

Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel (1722), and those devoted pioneers of education,
the daughters of St. Ursula. Thus, then, from its head-waters to the ocean, had the devotion to

their peculiar, grave, alternate chant

for the Rosary.

These

Illinois

chanters

of

the

Ave

Mary

followed the tides

Maria had been even to the mouth of the Mississippi, to the new French settle(1) Shea's Missions, p. 428. (2)

of the Mississippi, and on both sides of the stream it had been planted, and its
our old English Candlemass, or Feast of the Purification.

The French

Festival de la Ohandeleur answers to

m
roots

NORTH AMERICA.
itation to Saint Elizabeth spread fast

697

had taken firm hold, and had spread

and

widely.

We

shall

soon see their bloom.

return,

But wc must now

,

where

in-

wide, the distinctive institution of Northern French America. It was this festival that Marguerite Bourgeoys had chosen for the patronal holiday of her institu" tion. The Visit of Our Lady," she used
to say to her sisters,
' '

deed we find the throbbing heart of this devotion, to the city of Mary on the St.
all

Lawrence, to Ville-Marie. There, while others were contributing to the honor

sacred patroness, their safety

was the occasion

of their

was watched over by the guard of de Maisonneuve for this gentleman had
;

of the greatest of miracles, the purification of Saint John the Baptist from original sin his sanctification and that of his
;

enrolled from

among
all

the soldiers sixtyspecially

family.
sisters,

Take that thought with you,

in
all

three volunteers,

vowed

to

your missions.

Imitate

defend the town of Our Lady, out of The number peculiar devotion to her.

Mary

in the sanctification of children."

Swift and steadfast the good

ecclesiastics

work spread
friends

was suggested by the years of her blessed life on earth and these veterans of old France formed thus, in the forests of
;

wrote

to

their

in

France

home

colonial officers reported to the government the soldier detailed

; ;

America, a sort of military confraternity.

to his ancient

comrade the marvels of

They met
Rosary
;

daily for the

recital of the

they wore the medal of their order as a military decoration they approached the holy sacraments on aU the
;

Their missions Marguerite's institution. multiplied from Isle Orleans to Quebec.

Not only did they

follow their vocation

feasts of the Virgin

for all this they

and be sure that were the first to con;

what was called the Outer Congregation, which was devoted to grown-up girls. This was of
in their schools, but in

front the cannon of the English, or to answer, with their battle-cry of Ave Purissima, the

incalculable benefit, not only in correcting morals and manners that were defective,

war-whoop of the sanguinary

enrolls the in" is attendu que

but in implanting the principles

Iroquois.
So, too,

when their chief

it

of purity and zealous practice of religion. On Sundays and festivals the sisters -vyere
to gather the maidens of the neighborhood to instruct them in the faith and

habitants into a militia,

cetie isle

appartieni a

la Sainte Vierge

be-

wont

cause this island belongs to the Blessed And those who are forward in Virgin."
the service are to have their
licly

in their duties for this

life.

Then they

names pubof honor, as

recorded

"

as a

mark

procession to the church, and watch that their deportment there befitted children of Mary, and
lead
in

would

them

having exposed
of

their lives for the interests

servants of the

Lamb

without spot.

Our Lady and the

And
(1)

public weal."^ the imitation of Mary in her Viset

Memoires

documents pullies par la Societe

1860, vol.
iii.

"Then," says one of the biographers " then did piety, religion, of Marguerite and modesty succeed to levity and irde-

niatorique de Montreal.

p. 134,

votion,

and not only were

all

improved,

598

DEVOTION" TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN

MARY

but the hearts of many, touched by the

outfit

each for one of the poor children

and example of their saintly instructors, grew disgusted with the world, and they consecrated themselves to God ^ in the Congregation of Our Lady." Marlessons

of the outer schools.

that day all assemble, rich and poor, in the presence of the good sisters and a concourse

And on

of friends, in the grand hall, where

all

guerite lived to see no less than eight of these missions securely founded and pros-

the gifts are laid at the foot of an image of Blessed Mary. There stands, too, a bust

a few years after had increased to thirty-three, and they now they form an especial glory of Canada, and are to be found in one diocese

perous in well-doing

of Marguerite, at the feet of her whom she loved so truly and followed so de-

voutly
little

and

there, after the other exer-

at

least

of the
their

United States.
mission

Anysee

where them
"

in

you may

each child leads up her protegee, presents for Mary's sake the roll of comfortable clothing, and adds
cises are over,

patiently, sweetly, perseveringly busied in their beautiful calling, the

sanctification of children," leading the

something wherewith to make a little feast at home in honor of Marguerite and

Saint Mary. And this is the annual celebration of the Daughters of Our Lady
at VUle-Marie.

through Mary's maternal tenderness, to God, her Eternal Son. But most edifying must that sight have

young

heart,

One mark
its

of

the

devotion
still

to

the

been when they met in their new and present home at Ville-Marie, on the
Octave of our Blessed Lady's Nativity, A.D. 1845, their number lacking but one
of the hundred.

Mother of God, which

exists in

aU

pristine fervor in Montreal, I insert here, as belonging to the Congregation

And

still

more touch-

ing

is

they

that anniversary of theirs, when assemble on the day that Mar-

by sentiment, although to our own time by date. It is an extract or two from the pious dedication to the life of Marguerite

not to lament guerite Bourgeoys died her as one lost, but to celebrate with joy

Bourgeoys

to

which

am

in-

debted for so
dedication
is

many

beautiful facts.*

The
op

her birth into that

new and

better land

To THE Most Holy Virgin

and
"

Queen

where her soul

her

reaping the rewards of self-sacrifice, her labors, and her

is

sanctity.

begins Blessed Virgin, I

it

Apostles,

am most happy

to

For many months before the day comes round, the young girls of the wealthier classes consecrate their working hours to the making of a complete
(1) From the large and very beautiful life, in two volumes, published for "the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame." Ville-Marie, 1853. By Rev. M.

recount here the touching effects of your love for the Sister Bourgeoys, who owed
to you, after

God, aU that rendered her

so venerable to the colony of Montreal.

Let

(2)

me

thank, here, for the loan of this book, as

well as for the Life of Mademoiselle Leber, the kind

courtesy of the Hon. Thos.

D'Arcy McGee, M. P. P.

for

laillon, St. Sulince.

MontreaL

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

599

Her

virtues

and her labors are your

is

the history of your love for her, or rather, the manifestation of your especial predilection for

work.

Her biography

are so in an especial sense of this institute, which has received from you all
that
it

has,

and

is,

by you,

all

that

it is.

your beloved city, on which you have deigned to bestow so rare an instrument
of your choicest favors. By this privileged soul you desired to renew and to

Deign forever, and always renew that primitive spirit of fervor and zeal which you gave it so abundantly at the beginning. Cause all who read this book to reap edification from its
it

to protect

to

make
an

felt in

this rising colony the

ef-

pages

to be

drawn

to imitate the vir-

fects of

your grace. abundant communication

You made
living'
;

to her

of

your

tues of your faithful servant above all, her sincere and tender filial love for you.

spirit,

and rendered her a

image
that,

of your

own

apostolic

zeal

so

veiling your power beneath her form,

they by this reading learn how consoling is that truth, that he who has found you has found life^ in you, the Life

And may

you gained as many hearts for God as she attracted by the fervor of her prayers, by the force of her words, and by the
efficacy

which

is

Jesus, from

whom by you he
been

may

attain everlasting salvation." Such, then, for two centuries, has

of her

example.

Be

blessed,

then,
love.

for this sweet discovery of

your

the ardent feeling in Montreal for the Lady of their city. And it is by

reciting

"

Be

blessed

anew

for

having willed

such things as these that we reveal to you the secret springs of devotion to St.

to perpetuate so great a benefit in this

Mary

in

North America.

colony by the establishment of the congregation which justly recognizes you as

its

foundress,

its

instructress, its supe-

Although the history of the famous church of Our Lady of Good Help, and of the chapel of Our Lady of Victory,
**

rior,
it

Queen. She who originated was but an instrument in your hands.

and

its

belong to the History of the Congregation, yet we reserve them for another
place,

was formed by a diffusion of your spirit, extending from her through all the members of this body to give them
It

and end

this

chapter with the

beautiful episode of Mademoiselle le Ber.

Jeanne

by your love it has grown by your care and maternal solicitude it has If you been maintained until to-day. are Mother of all saintly communities,
life
; ;

Among all who loved Marguerite Bourgeoys and who did not love and revere her ? none was more eminent than thia
lady.

participation in His which God the Father gave

by the

you

foecundity in the

Daughter of the wealthiest merchant in French America, she had every-

adorable mystery of the Incarnation, you

(1)
(2)

thing at her command that could make the world inviting an esteemed pupil
;

Proverbs

viii.

35.

(3)

VEeroine Ghretienne du Canada, on

le

la Vie d

Notre

Dams

de Bon-seeown, and Notre

Dame

de

Mademoiselle

Ber, Ville-Marie, ehez 18C0.

les

Sosuri de la
Faillon.

la Vietoire.

Congregation de ^otre Darne.

By M.

600

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

mother's death, meanwhile, giving new strength to her purpose, she retired to the church of the Congregation, which
she had largely aided from her abundant

of the pious Ursulines, the religious orders would have thought her an acquisition,

but her vocation made her turn

from both, and she went to dwell alone in prayer, and work, and meditation with
It is not our purpose to follow her but only to look at it as a devotion life, to Mary. It was love for this Blessed

means.
Here, in a little cell behind the altar, dwelt this devoted recluse, the cell modelled upon the Santo Camino or sacred

God.

so surely and attached her so ardently to the Congregation.

Mother that drew her

"

How

happy your

lot," she

used
the

to say to a cousin of hers in the sister-

chamber of the Holy Hou^ of Loretto so that in this she might be perpetually as it were under one roof with the Mother of the Incarnate Word. Here,
with her rosary, her little office of the Blessed Virgin, and her utensils for em-

hood,

"to be numbered among

daughters of Mary. Learn well the excellence of your good fortune in this,

and

all

You

the extent of your obligations. must be perfectly free from the

of the world and from
all

broidering for she proposed no idleness she was at length enclosed, after vespers on the Feast of Our Lady of the

maxims

carnal

inclinations.

She who wears the livery

Snows, August 5, 1695, to go no more out forever. Here she dwelt for nineteen years in prayer, in manual labor for the altar, in meditation, and in adoration of the thrice holy Sacrament.

of the most holy Virgin must care for Faithful to this predinought else."^
lection,

when
it

the time had

come

at last

to retire,

was with the Congregation

To

aid

her in

obtaining the inner

of Notre

The

she sought seclusion. immediate cause was the holy death

Dame that

union which she sought with the perfect

dispositions imprinted by the Holy Spirit on the heart of the Blessed Virgin, she kept continually before her eyes, upon

of a young sister of that society, whom she tenderly loved, and whose deathscene was of such beauty, and hopefulness, and peace, that it broke what little
tie

the walls of her

cell,

two pious
"

pictures.

The

first

was

called the

interior life

there was to bind her to the world. She exclaimed in her heart, with the " Let my soul die the Syrian prophet, death of the just, and may my last end
like theirs."
'^

of Mary."

among women
hands

There you saw the Blessed enthroned on clouds, the

crossed

upon

her

immaculate
'

be

She determined upon

absolute seclusion, but it was exacted from her that she should undergo a noviciate, as it

bosom, while the sacred Dove, hovering over her, seemed to pour from His spotless wings His seven-fold grace. The
eyes of
fixed

Our Lady,

raised to heaven,
I.

were
H.
S.

house of her father.

(1) "Life," p. 234.

were, of five years in the This ended, her

upon Jesus Tiominum

Tissitna

the sacred monogram,

Salvator.

This showed
ssiii. 10.

mea horum

similia.

Numbers

(2)

Moriatur aaima

mea morte jnstorum

et fiant no-

IN NORTH AMEEIOA,

601

that if the

Holy

Spirit

were the source

of Mary's actions, Jesus and the salvation of souls was their end and aim. Below " the print, you read With Mary. By
:

the notes of the chapels and churches connected with the Congregation. She

never wearied in her benefits to this

"

family of Mary," as she called

it.

Her

ward

Mary. In Mary." This was Sister le Ber's for such was her title henceforthis

means had greatly aided the building of

their church
;

she furnished the richest

;

was her object now

sought

steadily in prayer, at holy Mass, in her communions -^nd other pious exercises, in
labor, in her poor repasts, to unite herself

she founded there the Perpetual Adoration, of the Most Holy Sacrament, and endowed a daily Mass and more, to main;

vases and ornaments for the altar

by

faith

and love to the interior

disposi-

tain,

out of

filial

love and tender devo-

and earnestly she besought that sacred and tender Mother to be with her spirit, her heart and all her faculties to be the model of her actions and the soul of her soul to penetrate
tions of

Mary

tion to St. Mary, an institute so distinctly

her own, she gave them ten thousand livres "for the good friendship that she
bears to the Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady,"* the only condition being
that the revenue shall be

and

her mind, to possess it altogether until she should become a simple instrufill

apphed
sure,

to their

uses in Ville-Marie alone.

ment wherewith the Mother might deign

to glorify her Divine Son.^

Glad enough, we may be

was the

The other print represented the same good Mother receiving into her arms and
lovingly supporting

heart of Sister Marguerite to have such a guest within the walls of her house.

At

Christian

soul,

the time of her coming there were other guests there also. The Hospital
Sisters

which, languishing in this

exile,

condition of

seemed

to find all

its

joy and re-

found

had been burned out, and had affectionate welcome from the

pose in Mary. The Sulpicians celebrated the feast of this interior life of the

humble Daughters of Our Lady.

"We

Blessed Virgin on the nineteenth of October, and for the pious recluse it was a

have now," says Marguerite Bourgeoys, " in our house the three estates of women

whom

our dear Lord

left

on

earth, after

day of particular devotion. And, still more to honor it, even by the works of her hands, she made a superb vestment for the feasts of the Immaculate Queen, and in the centre of the cross she embroidered most cunningly the picture
first

His resurrection, to serve

Him and

His
life
;

Church
like

like

Magdalen, by solitary
active
life

Martha, by

in the cloister

like

the most holy Virgin, by an unThere lived cloistered life of zeal."*

so

then the recluse,

busied with her

all

described.

How

all this

love

was

needle, that she furnished

the parishes

answered and increased, we

shall see in

of Montreal with chasubles, altar fronts,

(1) Life of (2)

Mademoiselle

le Ber, p. 211.

de la Congregatiiffi de Notre
of donation.

Dame.''''

Words of the deed

le

''Pour la honne amitic qu'elle parte aux Somrs

(Z) Vie

de MdlU.

Ber, p. 229.

4H

603

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED

VIEGIlsr

MART

and other ornaments.

They

still

pre-

serve in the parish church of the city a

cope, chasuble, and dalmatics, richly embroidered on cloth of silver by her nimble
fingers.

in song and northern story. Dying before his sister, he left to her beloved

community ten thousand

be one of the
sisters

livres.

on the

sole condition that there should

Toward

herself she

showed an

who

always should bear the

that of

extreme parsimony, making her poor woollen robe and coarse shoes last for
years by mending them repeatedly herself for of all her large revenues, what was left from her gifts to the altar, she
;

name

of Saint

Mary and another

His body was buried in the church of the Hospital Brothers, his heart
in the

Saint Anne.

Our Lady
grave.

chapel of the Congregation of that it and his dear sister's

She scrupulously gave to the poor. the New Testaknew the Psalms and

heart might not be divided even in the

ment almost

entirely

by

heart.

were her books of

predilection.

They But

Marguerite, dying, had charged her sisterhood to increase the accommodation

for their schools so soon as Divine Provi-

besides reading these, she recited daily the Litanies of the Saints, the Office of

dence should provide the means.

But

the

Cross, the Rosary, and the Little Add to Office of the Blessed Virgin.

thirteen years passed on, the necessity annually increasing, but the good sisters

these her ordinary prayers, mental and vocal, her adoration of the Sacrament,
the
office

growing no

this project

for the

dead three times a

week, her embroidery, and her care for the poor, and judge whether she had not
caught some of the tireless spirit of zeal of her sacred model and Mother.

For years, however, had lain in the charitable heart of Jeanne le Ber, and now that she felt heaven drawing nearer, she dericher.

termined to execute

it.

First, she rec-

ommended her

project to the

Blessed

The faithful of that day and place believed that the angels used to help her. That she did receive many and visible
graces from on high, it is impossible to doubt. Touched by her example, her brother Pierre also renounced the world

Virgin and to her holy friends the angels, and then she began to press the sisters to the work. They were reluctant,

having the fear of debt before their

eyes, and they put off the pious recluse But they were as well as they could.

used to listen to her advice, and when

from devotion to Mary in the Holy FamJoining with Francois Charon de la ily.
Barre, he instituted the Hospital Brothers in honor of St. Joseph, and built with his

fortune a chapel of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin, on the opposite
side of the

town from that where stood

his sister's chapel of

Bon

Secours.

This

was the

origin of St. Anne's, so famous

was the will of God, and that the angels would help them, they went to work and gave the first orders, although they had neitlier materials nor money. The foundation was dug, the corner-stone was blessed and laid by M. de Belmont, and tlie new house was dedicated to their heavenly superior, under the title of Our Lady of
she said that she
it

knew

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

60.^

This was the inscription on the plate in the corner-stone " Most Holy Virgin, Queen of Angels,

Angels.

honor of Our Lady of Angels. It was the day after the Feast of the Blessed
Virgin's Nativity, September 9, 1714, that she signed the deed of this foundation twenty-four days after, hope had
;

refuge and safety of men, receive the prayers which we, in full confidence, offer, to obtain

your blessed protection for the commencement, the advance, and the
completion of this building which your servant and our good mother, Marguerite

become

realization.

On

their

own

festival,

the second of

October, the holy guardian angels came for the pure soul of the recluse, and she

With

Bourgeoys, has charged us to construct. all our hearts we desire that it may

died in prayer and love as she had lived, resigning herself into the hands of that
blessed Mother

serve to

augment your honor and the

whom

on earth she had

cell

Do not, oh, glory of your Divine Son. Immaculate Virgin, ever permit mortal
Bid the holy watch so well over the conduct of angels all who dwell therein, that you may be ever loved and faithfully served as Our
sin to enter in this house.

served

so well.

Her modest

and

work-room were religiously preserved, and the devout of Ville-Marie loved to go pray at her tomb but the cell with its furniture, the church, and the house of the Congregation were consumed by
;

Lady and Our Queen. Amen." Ask in the country where it stands
to-day, and they will tell you that immortal hands worked at those walls, and that the masons looked with awe

the

fire

of 1768.

When

the establishrepository
cell,

ment was builded anew, a was made on the site of the

where

now remains in His

Prisoner of Love.

ineffable patience the

every morning at a progress to which, they had not contributed. Be that as it

Beside the grave of the recluse stands the miraculous statue

of

Our Lady

may, the house was finished, and Jeanne le Ber, gathering together her last thirteen thousand
livres,

over the

ashes

of Pity, gracious sentinel of her devoted child.

.

founded therewith

what we would now

girls

call scholarships for

Frequent recurrence will be made to Mademoiselle le Ber in these pages but now, for the present, we leave
;

education, but whose were too poor to furnish the parents And this was the last requisite means.

who merited

the edifying volume which contairs her biography, and is dedicated, with propriety.

To

Mary presented

i>

the

act of money-giving

charity,

done in

Temple,

604

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED YIRGIN MAKY

CHAPTER

Yl.

DEVOTION OF THK HOLT PAMII,T OUB LADY OF TICTOBT OtJR LADY OF GOOD HELP OTJR IJIDY OF THE TISITATIOIT LODGE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OUE LADY OF SNOWS CATHEDEAL OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, AND CHUECHES OP OUE LADY IN QUEBEC.

The
the

first

three

titles

written above are

titles

of three most eminent devotions

rushing rivers of Canada. He came in and with the hospital sisters of Mademoiselle Manse,

in Canada.

Dating back to the very be-

endowed by M. de

la

ginnings of the colony, they, or at least two of them, have grown steadily in the
affections of the

Dauversiere expressly to honor the pure Then came the foster-father of Christ.

Canadian Catholic down

favorite

theme of M. Olier's devout meditation was the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, in the stable, in the humble house at Nazareth, or the flight from the murderous wrath of Herod during the long hidden life of
to this day.
oiu:
it

seminary priests of St. Sulpice, whose aim was, as is that of the sacred priesthood, indeed, to represent our Lord him-

and to diffuse His spirit. And, thirdly, came the institute of Margaret Bourgeoys, to make the name and
self

thought of Mary revered and loved.

To
re-

Lord,

As by

this sacred

household

none of these three had M. Olier

vealed this cherished idea
out
their
;

had pleased the Eternal Father to convey salvation unto man, so did M. Olier
desire to

yet,

with-

own
it.

design,

secure

its

protection for the

in the

accomplished

they perfectly By-and-by the time

new France which was growing up

came

the

Jesuit

Father

Chaumonot

snowy pine-woods of the scarcely trodden West. It was in February, then, that
this holy priest, assembling the Society of Montreal in the church of Our Lady

proposed and took the management of the scheme the three communities ac;

corded heartily, and the Confraternity of

the Holy Family was established in CanThe object was to reach the three ada.
estates

of Paris, and having offered the eternal Sacrifice at the altar of the blessed Virgin, consecrated

of manhood,
;

womanhood, and

Montreal and

its

whole

childhood

to induce every resident of

territory to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, under the particular protection of Mary, to whom the company resigned forever the

the land to do something toward an imitation of these great exemplars of human

virtue

the

men

to find their

model

in

sovereignty and dominion of their lands.

go before, on their journeys in the land of Palestine as he marched before, on the weary way to
to
;

As he used

St. Joseph, the women in Our Lady, the children in the gentle innocence of th^ Infant Jesus.

Joseph was the first to come amid the ice-fields and by the
Egypt, so
St.

now

Sister Marguerite records her signing of the act of foundation, together with

Mademoiselle Manse and Mother Mac6,

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
bier
life

605

" superior of the Hospitalieres for," the Sister Mozier, historian of the says
;

had been over fond of

dress,

vicing with each other in self-ornamenta-

Hotel Dieu, "our

closely

first

superiors were

holy friendship with Marguerite Bourgeoys and her sisters they were daughters of the most holy
in

bound

and by dressing above their class had exposed themselves to vanity and the usual risks and temptation that at-, tend it. But before the end of the first
tion,

Virgin,

whom

they had chosen for mother

;

year this was

and protectress and we daughters of St. Joseph, which makes us, too, adopted children of the same Holy Family." ^ The first use to which Marguerite applied the new scheme was in the establishment of
a house for the reception of poor grown-

cured, and on Corpus Christi a modest neatness was the charall

acteristic of all,

and their head

tire

and

other gilded decorations were lying at the feet of the statue of St. Mary the
Virgin.
to the

Since that day, no people hag ever surpassed the Canadians in devotion

up girls, wherein they might be taught gome honest calling, while their souls were kept pure from the temptations to which they were exposed. And this was called the House of Providence of the Soon it was used for Holy Family.
spiritual retreats
;

Holy Family. About the autumn of 1711, Ville-Marie was filled with terror at the report of

an English armament, twelve thousand strong,^ on their way from Boston to the
conquest of Canada.
bec,

Montreal and Que-

then for the preparafirst

tion of children for their

communion, and so incalculable were the moral benefits

produced, that royal procureurs grew eloquent about it in their letters to the king, travellers consecrated pages of
their journals
to
its

praises,

and the

Parisian Father Souart used to call Sister Marguerite la petite Sainte Genevieve

had they been together, had no means of resisting even the half of such a force and it was soon clearly evident that, if help there were, it must be only from the hand of God. To Him, therefore, the Catholic people had recourse. The churches were thronged, the altars Men and women vied with besieged.
;

each other in acts of interior and exterior penitence.

du Canada.

And

at last the

young

Mgr. de

St.

Vallier

desired such

blessing for his episcopal city of Quebec, and Sister Marie Barbier was sent to

the external Congreof Notre Dame united in a vow to gation the sacred Mother of God that if, by her

people

who formed

found
zeal
life

it.

From the very commencement,

for a better

and fervor

and holier
;

powerful intercession, she would save the town which was built in her honor and
bore
gracious name, they would erect a shrine in their gratitude, in perrei memoriam, which should bear

spread throughout the city

every

her

day gave birth to some new practice in honor of the Infant Saviour, the Virgin,
or St. Joseph
;

petuam
the

the

young

girls in

hum-

title

of

Our Lady of Victory.

Hist U.
S., vol.
iii.

As

(1) Vie de

Saur Marguerite,

i.

170.

(2) Bancroft's

222.

606

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

time passed on, the rumors grew to
fought visibly for the servants of Mary. As the fleet came up the St. Lawrence,
abreast of Egg Island, on the night of the second of September, a fierce northward-careering gale smote thorn suddenly.

tlie

fleet was ah-eady in the and advancing swiftly toSt. Lawrence, ward the city. The alarm reached even

certainty.

The

the cell of Sister le Ber.

The

sister

who

carried her modest provision to her, told her, that if the wind should hold favorable,

Seven of the largest ships were

another was struck

instantly wrecked,

the English fleet and the ruin of Montreal would arrive together, and that in a day
or two.

with lightning, and the shattered remnants of its hulk flung sheer up upon the
yellow sands. The shores were covered with corpses nearly three thousand, say the French about a thousand, says the

But

after a short silence the re-

No, my sister, Blessed Virgin wiU take care of the councluse said, calmly,

"

the

try

she

is

the guardian of Ville-Marie,

to fear."

accurate Bancroft.

The
fled

rest

were driven

and we have nothing

from the river and

back to Boston,

Now

the people of the good town had

where

their arrival

was followed by a con-

great confidence in the prayers of the holy recluse, and they trusted in God
in the midst of their reasonable alarm.

flagration that destroyed eighty houses.

When solemn thanksgiving had been rendered to the Most High for this signal
deliverance, the externes of the CongreThe gation commenced their collection.
sisters

Her

cousin, the

Baron de Longueil, gov-

ernor of the place, resolved to attack the

advancing fleet off Chambly, and do what he could to keep them from the town.

gave a piece of ground within

He
and

could get but a mere handful of men, his hopes were entirely in the help

So a banner was prepared, on the centre whereof they wrought a picture of the Virgin Mother, and Jeanne le Ber's cunning needle worked round the image this le" Our enemies put all their trust gend
of their Blessed Patroness.
:

and the chapel of its roof above the dwellings of Montreal. Pope Benedict Xin. enriched it with privileges and indulgences its patronal feast was the Nativity of Mary and for many a year no day ever saw it unvisited by faithful worshippers who came to give thanks
their

own

enclosure,

Our Lady of Victory raised

for their preservation.

in arms, but

we

confide in the

Queen
is

of

other buildings,

it

Burned with the was reconstructed in

Notre

Angels,
rible

whom we

invoke.

She

ter-

1769, and became thenceforward the particular chapel of the externes of

and under her protection we hope to vanquish our foes." M. de Belmont blessed
in battle array,

as an army

Dame. But the

greatest, as

it

was the

first,

the standard before

all

the populace in

the parish church of

Our Lady.

Then,

treasure of the good sisters was and is their church. Our Lady of Good Help,

bearing

it

in his

own

hands, Longueil set

Notre Dame, de
should

Bon

Secours.

If

you

forth at the head of his httle troop. Their trust was not in vain. Heaven

a pilgrimage to this famed American shrine and a more edifying

make

m
nentyou
will see its

NORTH

A5IEEI0A.

607

devotion you will not find on this contiquaint structure

lous statue of
shrine, gilt

Our Lady was placed in a and enriched with jewels, and

hillside, fronting Notre Dame Street, and overlooking the broad sailcovered St. Lawrence. Its not ungrace-

on the

Bon
the

Secours stood open to the faithful, first stone church on the island.
sisters

Then the

made over

all

their claim

ful,

its

rather Oriental-looking steeple, with two open lanterns one above the
;

to the parish church of the city, retain-

ing this privilege

right to keep
it,

steep snow-shedding roof and old-fashioned ornamentation of the door-

other

its

it

alone, the perpetual in repair and to adorn

"which we

offer to do,"

"

they say,

to

you back to the way, date of the Jesuit martyr and the Indian missions. Of course this, or somewill at once carry

render to the Blessed Virgin, Our Mother,

all

the honor and service that

we

can."

thing like
Olier's

it,

had found a place

reveries.

in

M.

This was accepted by the Sulpicians, as lords of Ville-Marie, and the deed was
sealed with their famous seal for Montreal,

saintly

says, "it comes into my will, of His grace, send me to Montreal, in Canada, where the first chapel built to

Often," he heart that God

"

which shows on

its

intaglio the

Queen

of Saints kneeling to receive the Most Holy Eucharist from the hands of the be-

Him

shall

be under the
I shall

title

of the Holy

loved Disciple, with this

"

Virgin, and

Blessed Lady."^ Canada the work was for Marguerite Bourgeoys, and we have seen her strug;

be the chaplain of that But he was not to see

legend
nicat.

eloquent Virgo Virginem virgini commiivirgin to a virgin gives a Virbrief,

gin in communion."
forth,

And

there, hence;

gles to build cess in 1675.

fulfilled

crowned with ultimate sucThe wish of M. Olier was

person of his spiritual

in all
lic

were daily masses said and there, distresses and calamities, were pub-

in the

children, the Sulpicians, for they

became

a daily pilgrimage sprang up for the citizens, and from the remotest parts of settled Canada came
processions
;

made

the chaplains of Our Lady in Ville-Marie. Father Souart headed a procession of all the people upon the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and solemnly blessed and laid the corner stone, "J). 0. M. Beatce rice Yirgini et sub titulo Assumptionis.

others, for already

Our Lady of Bon Seof

cours had

become the refuge

New

to her protection was attributed the success of the infant colony.

France, and

MaTo

This was the beacon of the boatmen on

the stormy river, and the remembrance of the trapper in the far-off forests. For
the Sisters of the Hospital, expelled by the fire of 1734, it became a refuge, a
hospital,

God, most Good, most Mighty, and to Blessed Mary the Virgin, under the title
of the Assumption." The walls rose swiftly a bell was cast

from a bronze cannon which had been burst in the Iroquois war the miracu;

and a grave for, almost coeval with the fire, an epidemic of most virulent kind broke forth they had no
; ;

(1)

Vie de Marguerite Bourgeoys,

i.

238.

wherein to lay their place but the chapel and it was within its venerated sick
;

608

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEUIN MAKY

the people he might have, but Our Lady's little plot of ground no, that at least no
!

walls that they performed their offices of mercy and that eleven of them, smit;

ten by the plague, died there and were buried there, under the eyes of the Virgin of

Good

Help.^

governor should get, by any fault of theirs. So, toward the end of June, in 1771, the ground was cleared anew, and on the
anniversary of the first procession, a second, manifold as great, chanting litanies

In 1754 a great part of the town was burnt again, and this time, to the horror
of the people, they beheld their beloved and venerated shrine reduced to ashes.

and hymns, passed to the

spot, to lay

anew the ancient

corner-stone.

The new
:

Nothing was saved, picture nor altar furniture all disappeared under the smok-

inscription tells the history of the shrine ^^ D. 0. M. et BeatoB Marim Anxiliatrici

ing ruin all things, save one. Beneath the ashes they found the little statue, not even discolored by the fire, but in per;

sub

titulo

Assumptionis, Templum hoc, pri-

mum

angustiori

forma

cedificatum,

anno

1675, postea flammis adustum anno 1754,

preservation. Imagine with what joy it was recovered by the Sisters of the Congregation They carried it with defect
!

ampliora forma restauraverunt Gives MarianopoUtani, cidtui Beaice Marice Virginis

votion to their

own

church, and the holy

the

Father was pleased to transfer tliither many indulgences with which the
shrine

addidissimi anno 1771, die Junii 30" eadem qua primus lapis veteris ecch' sice fuerat To God the All impositus.

of

Bon Secours had been

evil followed this.

en-

Good, the Almighty, and to Blessed Mary of Good Help under the title of the Assumption, the citizens of Ville-Marie, most devoted to the veneration of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, have restored this

riched.

Famine, and war, and English conquest, with its train of consequences and the ashes
;

Many an

Temple, built at
1754, in
*

first in

1675 of narrower

grew black with age over the site of the venerated shrine, and the rains beat upon them and mingled them with the soil.

dimensions, consumed

by the flames

in

ampler

form, this

30th day of
first

June, 1771, the same day that the

It

Now

and then a devout soul would

say,

stone of the ancient shrine was laid."^

amid the sorrows of a conquered people, "Ah, if we only had Our Lady of Good Help back in her own house, all would go well!" But the people were disheartened, and did nothing toward a
reconstruction.

was

finished in 1774,
It
is

to-day.

not large,
forty-six

and so stands the nave being

;

seventy feet
ty-two by
stands

by

the choir thir-

thirty,

but

it

ious heart of Canada.

holds the religOver the portal

At

last

the

Governor

claimed the place as waste land, and this roused them from their apathy. Not
that at least
(1)
!

Our Lady's image, with the leMaria Auxilium Christianorum gend,

Mary Help

of Christians.

It looks

over

The

land,

and the

city,

and

the swift rushing river, and the flash of

(2)

Manuel du Pelerin de N. D. de Bon

Secoure.

Montreal, 1848, p. 22.

de

K D.,

Vie de Marguerite Bourgeoya,iiA'2,1-Z0; Pelerin

22-2,i.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
their property at the Cote St.

609

its

metallic roof

makes

it

and the sailor, beckoning him," says Father Martin, "as it were,
to the shore of the heavenly country, the

boatman

a beacon to the "

Lambert,

of the said lodge, as well as with a perch of land all round, and a
site

with the

right of

way

to be

adjudged and marked

port of safety and repose." The famous image was of dark-brown wood, ex-

out

way

the said lodge, site, environ, and to be perpetually used for the service

being the object of afiectionate veneration for three

after

quisitely sculptured, and

of the Blessed Virgin, and this lodge to be made a church dedicated to her

centuries,

wretch in
covered.

was stolen by some infamous 1831, and has never been reHow it has been replaced by
substitute,

Sixteen years from this time the pious donors were massacred by the inevitable Iroquois, but the simple church

name."^

modern

we

shall see here-

they gave, blessed under the

title

of

Our

after.

Lady's Immaculate Conception, survived

Another ancient American shrine of the Blessed Mother near, or rather at present in, Montreal' must have brief notice.

them for many years and even now a handsome cross marks the spot and has indulgences, attached to it by Mgr. Bour;

It is that of the first chapel at

La

get, for

aU who

shall salute
is

it

with re-

Prairie, the Indian mission so often re-

ferred to in these pages. The date is 1675, September 22. Very humble, in-

Here, then, of the Immaculate Conception in a land where now nearly a hundred temples
spect.

the second church

the gift we chronicle, but precious as St. Peter's or Cologne in the sight of God and to the heart
deed, in man's eyes
is

stand in honor of that wondrous mystery.

Next

in

Montreal was

and

is

the

It was only of Mary. a lodge of stakes or upright logs, straw thatched, but for thirty years it sheltered the celebration

"

church of Our Lady of the Visitation, or the church of the Congregation. Built,
seen, chiefly by the help of Mademoiselle le Ber in 1696, this shrine

as

we have

the

of the Divine Mysteries, and echoed to responses of the Rosary." Nay,

its
little

of the faithful children of

Mary was held

enclosure of twenty by twenty-five feet, Mgr. de St. Vallier once held a confirmation in 1692. And this
the deed of gift ' Pierre Pera, and Denise Lemaistre, his wife, both dwelling at the Prairie of
is
:

within

second in the devotion of the people only to Bon Secours. Here mouldei-ed the
heart of Sister Marguerite here lived and died the saintly recluse here, for
; ;

many
own

years,

all

the indulgences of

Bon

the Magdalen, with mutual accord and consent, moved thereto by an impulse of

Secours were obtainable, and here, in our day, some of the most earnest devo-

have given, and by these presents give, Holy Virgin Mary Our Mother, purely, simply, and irrevocably, a stake
piety,
to the

In 1718, a pious widow, Marie Biron, gave foundations in

place.
(1) Souvenirs Historique* tur la Seigneurie de la Prairie par J. Viger, Ecuier, aneien et premier Main de Montreal. 1857.

Canada take

lodge, thatched with straw, situated

on

II

610

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

There you

Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in honor of the holy " Heart of Mary, with intention of conforming to the zeal which the Sisters of Our Lady have ever shown to inspire in
tion for a

may hear what

of the

here you read.

And

seek, in witness of tlie deed,

Our Lady
In the old times

Snow

when France held sway

From

the Balize to Hudson's Bay, O'er all the forest free,

cavalier
for

the breasts of the children

whom

they

A noble Breton
Had made
his

educate, a knowledge of, and love for, ^ For this purthat most Sacred Heart." pose was the Mass to be offered and the

home

many

a year

Beside the Rivers Three.

To tempest and
Rose
in the

to trouble proof,

Benediction given, after which the sisters were to say a De Profundis for the
souls in purgatory, who,

when on

earth,

To The Breton song, the Breton dance. The very atmosphere of France,
;

wild his glittering roof every traveller dear

had shown devotion toward the Heart of

Mary.
pious intention is still carried out on the feast of that title, the Sun-

Diffused a generous cheer.

This

Strange sight, that on those fields of snow The genial vine of Gaul should grow. Despite the frigid sky Strange power of man's all-conquering
1

will.

day in the Octave of the Assumption.

Burned
as
it

in 1768, this church

was

That here the hearty Frank can still A Frenchman live and die :

rebuilt,

now

stands,

by the

close of the

next
des

year.

The

last of the
is

ancient shrines,

The But

Seigneur's hair
his

was ashen

grey,

good heart held holiday,

aientioned by us here,
Neiges.

Notre

Dame

He De

As when in youthful pride bared his shining blade before

Tracey's regiment on the shore,

Fronting on Sherbrooke Street, a wall of defence and two towers are still erect, to show you where once stood Our Lady
Formerly, surrounded by of the /Snows. the dwellings of the Indian converts and " Mountain Mistheir instructors of the

Which France has

glorified.

Gay
The

in the field, glad in the hall,

first at

danger's frontier

call,

The humblest devotee

Of God and of St. Catherine dear Was the stout Breton cavalier
Beside the Rivers Three.

on the southern slope of the Royal Mount. The present chapel

sion," it stood

When

bleak December's chilly blast

Fettered the flowing waters fast, And swept the frozen plain

of the

name

is

in the village of Cote des

When

with a frightened cry, half heard,

fled the arctic bird.

Neiges, behind the mountain. lows the Legend of

OTJR
If,

Here

fol-

Far southward

Proclaiming winter's reign

fair,

LADY OF THE SNOW8.2

His custom was, come foul, come For Christmas duties to repair.

pilgrim, chance thy steps shonld lead,

Where, emblem of onr holy creed, Canadian crosses glow

Unto the Ville-Marie, The City of the Mount, which north Of the great river looketh forth
Across
its

sylvan sea.

(1)

Vie de Marguerite Bourgeoya, IL 264.

(2)

From " Canadian

Ballads,"

by Hon. T. D. MoGee,

M. P. P. Montreal.

m
Fast
fell

NORTH AMERICA.
When
lo
!

611

the snow, and soft as sleep,

a light beneath the

trees.

The

hillocks looked like frozen sheep,

Which clank

Like giants grey the

hills

their brilliants in the breeze.

I

The sailing pine seemed canvas spread, With its white bnrden overhead,

And lo a phantom fair As God is in heaven by that blest

I !

light

Our Lady's

self rose to his sight

And

marble hard the

rills.

In robes that

spirits

wear

A thick,

dull light

where ray was none,

Oh,

Of moon,

or cheerful snn, showed the way Obscurely

star,

or

Or

lovelier, lovelier far than pen, tongue, or art, or fancy's ken

While merrily upon the

blast

Can picture was her face Gone was the sorrow of the sword,

The jingling horse-bells, pattering fast. Timed the glad roundelay.

Swift eve came on, and faster fell The winnowed storm on ridge and
Effacing shape and sign Until the scene grew blank at last,

And

the last passion of our Lord

Had
As when

left

no

living trace.

the

moon

across the

moor

dell,

Points the lost peasant to his door,

And
Or when
Bfllatod

glistens

on his pane
trail

along her

of light,

As when some seaman from

Looks

the mast

o'er the shoreless brine.

A harbor to regain
Unbinds

boatmen

steer at night,

Nor marvel anght

to find ere long In such a scene the death of song Upon the bravest lips

So the warm radiance from her hands) for him death's icy bands.
Iler presence

The empty only could be loud

When

nature fronts us in her shroud, Beneath the sky's eclipse.

to find the steed,

Ah

nerves his sinking heart makes a perfect path he who such a helper hath.

And

May anywhere
All trembling as she

depart.

Nor marvel more

onward

smiled,

Though famed for travel or for speed. Drag on a painful pace

Followed that knight our Mother mild.

With drooping

crest

and

faltering foot,

And painful

whine, the weary brute Seemed conscious of disgrace,

Vowing a grateful vow down the mountain gorge. She led him to the antique forge. Where her own shrine stands now.
Until far
If;

Until he paused in mortal fear. Then plaintive sank upon the mere,
Stiff as

pilgrim, chance thy steps should lead,

a steed of stone.

Where, emblem of our holy creed, Canadian crosses glow

In vain the master winds his horn, None save the howling wolves forlorn,

There you

may

hear what here yon read.

And

seek, in witness of the deed,

Attend the dying roan.

Our Lady of the Snow.

Sad was the heart and sore the plight Of the benumbed, bewildered knight.

Now scrambling through the storm every step he sank apace. The death-dew freezing on his faceAt
In vain each loud alarm.

raised a
;

the RecoUet Fathers had handsome church as early as 1693, "to the perpetual glory of God and the honor of the Virgin Mother of

At Quebec,

Down

on

his knees himself

he

cast,

Deeming that hour Yet mindful

to be his

God, instead of the ancient convent of Our.Lady of Angels," converted into an

last,

of his faith

asylum

for the poor.^

He

prayed
Ti'or

St.

Catherine and St. John,

called

And our dear Lady

upon

grace of happy death.

(1) For these notices of churches in Quebec, see "Hawkins' Picture of Quebec." 1834.

C19

DEVOTION TO TEE BLESSED

old even as the original convent,
little

VIRGIIT

MART

But
at

pel,

dedicated in 1672 "to the Blood of

older than our

La

Prairie, is

straw-thatched lodge the cathedral of the

Christ poured forth for us, and to the Blessed Mother of Mercy effuso Christi

Immaculate Conception, built by the noble and saintly Bishop Montmorenci de

Laval in 1666.
drals in
in

Sanguini et Misericordim Matri ;" and thither one goes to look at Coypel's fa-

So that they built catheAmerica two hundred years ago

honor of that dogma which the learned

reformed divines declare a novelty in 1860. The cathedral is very lofty, with
massive arches of stone dividing the nave from the aisles its dimensions are two
;

mous picture of the " Virgin and Child." At the repulse of the British arms in 1690, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory was established in the church of that
title

'

hundred and sixteen feet by one hundred and eight, and it can contain four thousand worshippers. The tall tower and spire stand detached from the body

was destroyed by shells during the bombardment of 1759, and the pictures and decorations now there are modern. Next comes the hospital with its chaof the building.
Its

interior

and twenty-one years later, on the wreck of the Boston fleet, the title was changed to Our Lady of Victories. The* church was destroyed by the bombardment which injured the cathedral. Of old pictures of our Blessed Mother, which we hear of in Quebec, the Ursulines possess an original Vandyke, a Mater Dolorosa. The Seminary of the
;

Holy Family has a Might into Egypt, by Vanloo an Adoration of the Wise Men, and a Virgin ministered unto hy Angels.
;

CHAPTER
DETOnON
IS TEXAS, CALIFOENIA,
OTTE

VII.

LADT OP GUADALUPETHE NEW MOUNT CAEMEL KEW MEXICO THE ATLANTIO SPANISH MISSIONABIESMAKTIAND.

In the North

as

we have

seen
;

the

as the

Bay of St. Mary

as

(the Chesapeake)

devotion was planted and grew grew steadily, in spite of checks and obstacles.

as far west

the

yellow Mississippi.

Throughout the present British possessions

it

maintained

itself healthfully,

with

the single exception of unfortunate AcaBut its story in the South is twodia.

Brought by the early Spaniards, ever devoted to the Holy Mother of God, her name was proclaimed upon the coasts
fold.

But new dominions drove it hence, only to be renewed with additional fervor in our own day. This was the approach from the Atlantic and from the Gulf of Mexico. But the conquests of Our Lady of Victories were more progressive and steadfast on the Pacific side, the side of
"

of Florida and

Alabama

was

carried

thence through the forests as far north

Here, securely shelthe golden flag of Spain, the by missionary pushed his way through the
tered

the Ocean of Peace.

IN

NORTH

AlfERIOA,

613

Mexican territories, new and old Texas and California. From that day the love
of

Mary has
still

and

are the

consecrated those regions, rivers, the mountain

were about St. Augustine, the town founded on the Feast of Our Lady's Nativity, with solemn celebration of that
rising of the

Morning

Star.

By
;

1597,

peaks, the valleys, and the upland slopes blessed by her beautiful name. daily

three

chapels dedicated to stood upon the soil of Florida

St.

Our Lady
a mission

newspaper will show this, wherein the letters from these countries are full of
Santa Maria, Asuncion, Virgen, Concepcion, Loreto, El Rosario, Carmelo, and la
Purissima
;

upon

quins of Virginia

Mary's Bay invited the Algonanother wooed the

;

Uchees and Catawbas amid the pine-covered Carolinian mountains. The Cherokee,

the last
is

new

diocese estab-

lished there
ital

Marysville, and the cap-

Natchez, the Mobilian tribes were visited. The Indian and the Spanthe
stately statue

of

New Mexico is still called Santa F6.

many
be supposed that the blood holy missionaries had been
ef-

iard knelt side

It is not to

by side at the foot of the of Our Lady, which threw

of so

its

sacred shadows over the harbor of

shed in vain in the Southern Atlantic and

Gulf States, or that the English arms

fectually destroyed
all

But they were nearly all washed away in blood. The tomahawk
Pensacola.

reverence for the

sacred
vived,

name
if

of Mary. Something surthe solitary " one cluster only

and arrows of the savages slew over thirty Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans.
rest.

of grapes, or as the shaking of the olivetree, two or three berries on the outer-

The English conquest did the The Catholic Indians who thronged

.most bough, or four or five on the top of the tree."^ Enough was left to give

around the Spanish St. Augustine grew few and feeble in the destructive and licentious presence of the Saxon* successors of the Spaniard. They wandered back
to hide themselves in their thick, green

courage by tradition, enough

to support

hope when
to

it

pleased the Son of

"

Mary

send

new laborers

into His harvest."

everglades,

and were

called Seminoles

Although the first explorers who landed on the Southern coast were accompanied

the Wanderers.

1783, they were all gone from the neighborhood of the city

By

by

ecclesiastics,

yet there remains no

early as

record of any fruits gathered by them for

God.

But

as

1526, Mexico,

where they had been peacefully colonized and instructed in the faith of Christ and the virtues of civilization,
near the shrine of
sions of
St.

thoroughly Christianized, began to pour her heroic missionaries upon the Northern
shores of the

The same power

Alabama,

the Virgin. desolated the mis-

Mary

New World

Mediterranean.

until in

1722 none

re:

Franciscan, Dominican, and Jesuit strugThese first missions gled side by side.
(1) Sicut

racemns et

sicnt escussio oleto

dnarum

mained of the converts save four chiefs Oziuntolo, the Creek Adrian and John Mark, the Appalachicolas and Tixjana
;

vtl

trium olivarnm in snmmitate rami, sive quatuor aut quinqne in cacuminibus ejus fructus ejus. Isaim xvii. 6.

or

Baltasar, Talapoosas. These, gathering a hundred Christians

chief

of

the

614

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VTRGm MARY

for the perpetual guardianship

of their tribes, established the Mission of Our Lady of the SoUtude. Then came
the cession to the English, and the redskinned devotee of Mary disappeared. Their priests were banished the religion
;

and

re-

be said therein
sion of our

pair of the chapel and for the masses to to wit, five of the Pas:

Lord

five

of His

sacred

wounds
;

sixty for the souls in

;

Purga-

of the foolish Establishment was proclaimed and if any still lingered who
;

loved the beautiful Name,

the invader.
cross

it

was

in the

ten of the Holy tory " Our Lady of the Ghost, and twenty of And then he adds: "In Conception."
ten of All Saints
the event that

fastnesses of the forest yet pathless for

my

body cannot be taken

Nevertheless, before

we

for sepulture to Spain, I order that that

the Mississippi, let us note the double consecration of its waters to the

Immaculate Conception. Almost from its source to the Arkansas had Marquette made its shores hear the praise of that adorable mystery of God's love to man and ere his followers sank the
;

be no impediment or hindrance to the founding of said chapel." Ah, Christian Caballero not beside thy mother not
! ;

in the chapel of the Conception, but in the swift, turbid river of the Conception

were thy bones laid to moulder until the trump of God shall bid them rise. Requiescant in pace!''Meanwhile, in Mexico the devotion to

body

of Fernando

De Soto

in its turbu-

lent floods
fingers

where they near the sea, his had traced in his last will and

testament these directions

"
I

order"

he

the Blessed Virgin

and
usual

surely.
it

was spreading rapidly The Spaniard had been nur-

says after the

tured in

afar off beside the Andalusian

Christian preface and commendation of his soul to the most Holy Trinity "I

order, that wherever I

shall

may

be carried to Xeres

my body to the church

die,

And streams, or on the hills of Castile. the Indians they were a gentle race, except in the celebration of their pagan

of San Miguel, and laid in the sepulchre " where lies my mother." * * * ^^d
in that church, I order that of

gladly learned the of the Saviour's Incarbeautiful mystery nation, and gave up their whole hearts
rites

the

Indians

my

goods

and place be bought, where shall be built a chapel which shall have for its
a
site

embracing with simple but most earnest faith the privilege of

to His influence,
little

invocation, Our Lady of the Conception. In which edifice and work I desire that

sharing in Mary's maternal love. In a while they returned that love with
faithful,

childlike affection,

and so won

there be expended two thousand ducats fifteen hundred for the structure and en:

great spiritual reward from her gracious

intercession.

closure,

and

five

hundred

for

an

altar-

piece representing the said Invocation of Our Lady of the Conception." He then
directs fully the furnishing of silk vest-

Throughout Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of California you find
churches by the score dedicated to the
(1)

De

Soto's will

may be

" American found in the

ments

the chaplain's salary

the fund

Historical Magazine," vol. v. p. 104.

m
Mother of God.
built but yesterday

NORTH AMERICA.
California,

615

Some
;

of these were

and

New

Mexico were

rivals

some, echoing

now

on

festal

days to the chant of

Our Lady's

Litanies or the choral sweetness of the

-Rivers and showing her honor. towns were called after her name, and little hamlets on the edge of the forests

in

Ave

JRegina,

heard the same sounds swell-

ing from Indian voices two hundred and

bear the name of Guadalupita, or little Guadalupe.

still

On every mountain forty years ago. side, on forest edge, on village-watering

stream,

At least a score of churches, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, have in those

states resisted the

upon the
prairie

frontier
deserts,

of the
beside

far-

changes of empire

stretching

the

the

canon's

brink

they

stand,

perpetual

many revolutions, the influx of licentious infidels from the Eastern States

prayers in stone, iavoking the intercession of the matchless Virgin with her

the cruel, causeless, wicked destruction of the harmless Catholic Indians by the

Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Angels, Our Lady of Light, Our Lady of Carmel, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady's Annunciation, Nativeternal

Son

people of the United

ter

States.**

chap-

was formed

for the first church,

and

Pope Benedict XIY. accorded a mass and office, with a privileged octave. The
copy of the miraculous portrait given him, he gave to the religious of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin in the Eternal City. To Spain he gave the right of

Conception, AssumpOur Lady of Belen, of Santa Cruz, of the Canon de Jemes but above all, Our Lady of Guadalupe
ity,

Immaculate

tion

Ko less than five

of these famed shrines

are filled with praise, even in this age, in

celebrating the festival in Europe, and the great Pius VI. extended the privilege
to Italy.

the diocese of Santa Fe alone.

cese
is

That

dio-

well named, for the holy faith, in blood three hundred years ago, has never faded from the people's But why so many shrines of hearts.

sown there

New Spain, how fast the

By 1581
carried
it

Judge, then, with such a patroness for devotion spread

!

the fearless missionaries had

seven hundred miles from the

the lady in the drawing-room, or the shepherd boy on the hillside inquire of the soldier in the

Guadalupe

Ask

capital, into

New

what is now the State of Mexico. The land was of course

barrack, the cattle-driver on the pampa, the Indian girl with the basket of fruit

irrigated here as elsewhere with blood, and the first to fall for St. Mary was the

Franciscan father Juan de Santa Maria.

upon her dark-tressed head, and they will all teU you the same story of Nuestra
8enora de Ghiadalupe}

Sixteen years later, eight more of the same order had penetrated to the northern

Our Lady
patroness of
(1)

of Guadalupe was soon the

all

Rio Grande. By 1608, eight thousand souls had been baptized into the faith of
Christ
;

New

Spain

Texas, and
is

and when
(2)

less

than a score of

The legend of Our Lady of Guadalupe

given in

Vide note at end of chapter.

Oraini's Life (Virtue's edition), p. 374.

616

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN MARY

at its feet, looking out
still,
;

years more bad rolled over, Father Benavides had estabUshcd the twenty-seventh
mission in

New

Mexico.

Three well-

Pueblos

transparent sea gathered there

upon the broad, and the dusky

to
;

learn

the

Our Lady of Guadaand others under varipus dedicalupe, tions, sheltered crowds who adored the All Holy and told the beads of the
built churches of

history of the Incarnation the news of a Redeemer

to be glad at to lift their

to

untutored

hearts

in

reverent love

His Mother, whose protection they soon

learned to trust.

Rosary of the Virgin.

Indians, in spite of their

Of

these poor
sufferings

And

the good fathers

many

won them from

from the governments which have plundered and oppressed them, eight thousand
still

exist as a proof of the graces

their savage sloth, and and want, having heard in their idleness, souls a voice like that which sounded to " the prophet of old Feed this people
:

won from God by la Purissima As early as the year 1686

Virgen. there was

with thy crook, this flock of thy heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood in the
midst of Carmel.'"*

a Guadalupe river in Texas, and eight Franciscan missions flourished on its borders. Nay, some of them were pushed forward among the Osages and Missouris,

There the beads of

Rosary were taught, and th6 hymns of her feasts were sung in the Indian language and as in Asia the
Mary's
;

while others, going toward the Pacific shore, had marched to the spiritual con-

Mediterranean bathed the feet of the ancient

hill,

so here the blue, clear Pacific

quest of California.
Christ,

These pioneers of
souls,

who were hunting

more

sought the shore and broke at the base of the new-found vineyard of God.^

precious far

than gold, were in a special

;

Wondrous, indeed, were some of our

dear Mother's manifestations of power and protection. In the Octave of her
glorious Assumption into Heaven, year 1770, the priests Somera and Cambon
started off for the interior,
tribes,

St. Mary's own sworn servants were the Monks of Our Lady of they Mount Carmel. These were the founders, two centuries and a half ago (1601), of Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Monterey and at the latter place an altar was erected beneath a shadowy

way

where pagan hitherto unvisited, were dying in

all.

ignorance of the Father of

little

Weary
till

oak, a^nd Father

Andrew

of the

Assump-

days and nights they travelled with their they reached the base of the vast Sierra.
soldiers,

tion of the Virgin said then

and there

escort

of ten

the

first

mass and

laid claim to Califor-

nia in the

name

of the

King of

kings.^

South of that rose the new Mount Carmel, and the mission of that title stood
(1) Sliea's Indian Missions, p. 88.

ern Ocean

The sun was going down over the Westthe snowy peaks of the
;

mountains were turning rose-hued in the setting day, when they saw hundreds of
Indians, fully armed,
(8)

Pasce populum tuum in virga tua, gregem here, ditatis tua:, habitautes aolus in soltu, in medio Cai-meli.
(2)

and shouting their

signifies

Mieah viL

The Hebrew word Carmel

God*s vine-

14.

yard.

IN

NORTH AMEEIOA.
reations.

617

A moupon them. ment's commendation of their souls to God, and then the missionaries unfurled
war-cry, rushing
their battle flag, the flag of the Blessed Fold after fold, the azure standVirgin.
ard,

Their wealth was in common, and was laid out by their spiritual fathers
for their best welfare

and
the

happy, innocent, thus they lived, until the pious, " lust of gain in the spirit of Cain" sent
;

studded with golden

stars,

streamed

Eastern money-worshipper

among

out in the light of the sunset, and from

its field

them

to blight, demoralize, and destroy.

eyes Their hearts were touched

the radiant beauty of Our Lady's beamed on the startled Indians.

;

In 1837, thirty-one thousand lingered still in plenitude and peace but the next
;

they threw

and catching their trinkets, or whatever else they had of value with them, they came forward humbly

away their arms

year Father Saria died of starvation and poverty died clad in his sacerdotal vest-

ments, as he strove to begin the Mass where for thirty years he had offered it,
at the altar of

to

oflfer

them

to her as a propitiatory

Our Lady of the

Solitude.

gift. They were soon won to know her and love her better the Mission of San
;

In 1840 there remained of these poor children of God only about four thousand in
all

Gabriel, of

him who brought

;

to her the

the

missions of CaUfornia.
the rest of their his-

message of the Incarnation, rose among the mountains the Cross was securely
planted, and the first Mass was offered on the Feast of her Nativity, in the chapel which her new children had builded. Thus the whole golden land was won to Mary and her Divine, Eternal Child. Missions of Santa Maria, Nuestra Senora

Would you know

tory,

read the note which follows this

chapter.

While these first conversions were going on in the more Southern and Southwestern States, an English nobleman, a friend of
his king, yet powerless to practice his religion even under that freedom protection, resolved to seek for

de

la Soledad, la

Purissima Concepcion,

were crowded with the Christianized naAll these establishments l|^d the same rule. At daybreak the Angelus
tives.

of faith in America.

grant of lands
;

summoned

all

to

church for morning

the expedition organized the spiritual charge of it given to some Jesuit fathers, and thus the first step
;

was obtained

prayers and Mass before their fast was After that, each went where broken.
the duties and labors of the day might summon him. Again the Angelus recalled

was taken toward the establishment of that church which two centuries later should declare Our Lady of the Immaculate
land.

Conception patroness of

all

the

them

at eleven,

when they

dined,

rested until two, and returned to work, until the third Angelus sounded as the

sun went down, and they gathered for

the Rosary and then for their last meal. The evenings were spent in innocent rec41
2

was then in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and thirtyof Nothree, on the twenty-second day
It

vember, the

day in the Octave of Our Lady's Presentation in the Temple,

first

618

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED YIEGIN MART

that the Catholic emigrants, under

Lord

used in trade

but the Indian set his

own

Baltimore, "

embarked on board the Ark" and the " Dove." " They placed

value on the land, parted from it willingly, and received in exchange seeds, cloths,

their ships," says their chaplain, Father " White, under the protection of God, of.

and instruments of husbandry.

tive blood stains the soil

No

naSt.
is

purchased for

the Blessed Virgin Mother, of St. Ignatius, and of the Guardian Angels of

Mary the Virgin in the records of

no Indian warfare
its

history

but on

St.

Maryland," and so set forth to seek religious freedom in the forests of America. Their voyage was long, as usual in those days, and a furious storm threatened to send them to the bottom. The two vessels were driven apart, and in the one which bore the Jesuit they expected and
prepared for death. Strengthened by the Sacrament of Penance, they had resigned hope, almost, when the priest, kneeling on the drenched deck, called to
witness "the Lord Jesus and His Holy Mother, that the purpose of the voyage

Mary's River they pitched their tents and, in friendship with the red man, laid the
foundation of their town.
it

They called Mother of their Lord, to whose protection they avowed their and for safety from the perils of the sea years the little town of St. Mary's was
after the beloved
;

the centre of their colony. One of the earliest converts was the
chief Tayac,
his wife

and with him were baptised and daughter, both of whom re-

ceived the sacred

name

soon the fervent

of Mary. And heart of the Jesuit

was to pay honor to the Blood of the Redeemer by the conversion of the barbarians." The tempest soon lulled, and,
at the

Father White was gladdened by hundreds of neophytes, for the aborigines

received with joy the doctrine of Christ. The ceremony of the baptism of the
chiefs family had been conducted with what pomp their rude circumstances percross was borne in procesthe governor of the colony and his sion, officers walking beside the dusky Ameri-

February, they gave thanks to the Blessed Virgin as they landed in Virginia. Then sailing up the

close

of

Chesapeake,

first

called,

by Christian

mitted.

men,

Mary's Bay, they entered the Potomac, and reached the territory of
St.

Maryland. Their first solemn thanksgiving for safe arrival was made on the Feast of Our
Lady's Annunciation (March 25).
offered the

can king, and all chanting the beautiful words of the Litany of the Blessed VirSoon came the crowning boast of gin.
this colony, the passage of the religious

They

Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and then planting a huge cross, hewn from
a tree, they knelt at its foot to recite the Litanies. No other colonists of the United States, known to us, dealt so fairly with the red men. No rum, no worthless
trinkets,

toleration act, in

1649

for these

chil-

dren of

St.

Mary had not

been, like the

Puritans of

New England, soured by perChurches soon arose to bless

secution into relentless and absurd intolerance.

no destructive weapons were

of government, sometimes of individuals, as when

the land, sometimes the

work

NORTH AMERICA.

619

William Bretton gave, for a church, a grant of land "in honor of Almighty God and the Ever Immaculate Virgin
Mary."^ This colony,
it is

mend
Then,

his soul to

touching his

Jesus and to Mary. wounds with a relic of

the true cross, he bade the attendants bring the body to the chapel for inter-

true,

was soon
its

to see

itself disfranchised,

robbed of

religious

freedom

and

its

Catholic people stripped

ment, and launched his canoe to go visit a dying catechumen. Returning, the next day, he beheld, with amazement,
the same Indian vigorously propelUng a canoe to meet him. When they met, the Anacostan stepped into the priest's

of their privileges for worshipping God But before in the way of their fathers.
this

Father White had displayed the in the evanspirit of his holy Company,
Sailing up the rivers in an open boat, with a box of presents, a chest containing the sacred vestments and altar stone, and a basket
gelization of the savages.

canoe and, dropping his blanket, showed him a faint red line, which was all the
trace

remaining of the deadly wound. Recommending him to make his whole

life

of

provisions, with

mat

for

shelter

from the sun and

pursuit of souls.

rain,

he went forth in
nightfall the
;

an act of gratitude to Jesus and Mary, the father went on his way, giving thanks to God.^

Towards

But here the further records of devotion to our

exist,

boat was

made

fast to the shore

the two
to look

Heavenly Queen,
this

if

any such

attendants went into the

for
;

wood

from

time to the Revolution

game and the priest gathered sticks to make a fire, or, if it rained, stretched " Thanks the mat upon boughs of trees.
God," he says, "we enjoy our scanty fare and hard beds as much as if we were accommodated with the luxuries
be
to

of 1776, have, owing to the distracted condition of these States and other

become quite inaccessible to the present writer. The present significance of the settlement of Maryland is this, that the devotion to Our Blessed Lady,
causes,

of Europe." On one of these occasions he was called

to a Christian Indian, an Anacostan,

expressed in the Enghsh language, here

enters the
States.

now

who

The

territory of the United Spaniards planted it, to be

had

an ambush of Susquehanrun through with a lance. nas and been Father White found him chanting his
fallen into

well-nigh extinguished, along the Mexi-

can Gulf

and

more permanently

in

death song, and the Christian red men Then the beside him praying fervently.

Texas, California, as 1540. The French so cherished

New

Mexico, as early
it it

from

its

first

coming, in

1615, that

pared him

and preBut ere leaving for death. he read a gospel and the Litany of him, Loretto over him, he urged him to com-

good

priest heard his confession

grew with luxuriant beauty, grows daily now, and promises, by God's blessing, to
pleasant shade, the whole North, from the Arctic circle to the great
shelter,

with

its

(1)

Day Star

of American Freedom, by G. L. L.

493. (2) Shea's Missions, 492,

Davis, p. 228.

620

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

lakes.

The

English, as
617.
is

we

see,

attempt

the centre in 1634.

We

shall return to

Note to Page
of this sort of fact

zine, 1861, p. 807, et

An unexpected confirmation found in Harper's Monthly MagaWhen I saw, in the Annates eq.

" The wild Indians inhabiting the Coast Range, the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, and tlio western slope of the Sierra Nevada, became troublesome
at a

sionary's letter, that the whites

de la Propagation de la Foi, the statement in a miswore wont to " try their

pistols"

mines.

very early period after the discovery of the gold It was found convenient to take possession of

new

upon the unfortunate Indians,

was un-

their country without recompense, rob

them of

their

Read, now, the testimony to that and to the Catholic Missions from the most prejudiced
willing to helieve.

wives and children, kill them in every cowardly and barbarous manner that could be devised, and when that

and anti-Catholic work in this country " As California became more settled, it was considered
:

was

impracticable, drive

them

as far as possible out of

the way.

Such treatment was not consistent with their

profitable,

owing to the high rate of compensation for white labor, to encourage the Christian Indian tribes to adopt habits of industry, and they were employed very
generally throughout the State.
districts

At best they were an ignorant justice. race of Diggers, wholly unacquainted with our enlightened institutions. They could not understand why
rude ideas of
they should bo murdered, robbed, and hunted down in this way, without any other pretence of provocation

In the vine-growing they were usually paid in native brandy every Saturday night, put in jail next morning for getting

than the color of their skin and the habits of

life

to

drunk, and bailed out on Monday to work out the fine imposed upon them by the local authorities. This sys-

which they had always been accustomed. "Voluminous reports were made to Congress, showing that a general reservation system, on the plan so successfully pursued by the Spanish missionaries, would
best accomplish the object. It was known that the Missions of California had been built chiefly by Indian labor that during their existence the priests had fully
;

tem

still prevails in Los Angeles, where I have often seen a dozen of these miserable wretches carried to jail

The inhabitants roaring drunk of a Sunday morning. of Los Angeles are a moral and intelligent people, and

many
hope
killed

it will
off.

of them disapprove of the custom on principle, and be abolished as soon as the Indians are all
Practically
;

demonstrated the capacity of this race for the acquisition of civilized habits
;

it is

not a bad

way

of bettering

that extensive vineyards

and

"

their condition

for

some of them

die every

week from

large tracts of land

the effects of debauchery, or kill one another in the nocturnal brawls which prevail in the outskirts of the
Pueblo.

solely by Indian and that by this humane system of teaching, many hostile tribes had been subdued, and enabled not only to support themselves, but labor, under their instruction
;

had been cultivated

" The a
still

settlers in the northern portions of the State had more effectual method of encouraging the Indians

to render the Missions highly profitable establishments.

"

No

aid

was given by government beyond the grants

to adopt habits of civilization.

In general they engaged them at a fixed rate of wages to cultivate the ground, and during the season of labor fed them on beans and gave them a blanket or a shirt each after which, when
;

yet they soon grew wealthy, owned immense herds of cattle,

supplied agricultural products to the ranchoros, and carried on a considerable trade in hides and tallow with

of land necessary for missionary purposes;

the harvest was secured, the account was considered squared, and the Indians were driven off to forage in the woods for themselves and families during the winter. Starvation usually wound up a considerable number of

the United States.

If the Spanish priests could do this without arms or assistance, in the midst of a savage country, at a period when the Indians were more

and of those the old and decrepit ones every season that failed to perish from hunger or exposure, some
;

numerous and more powerful than they are now, surely it could be done in a comparatively civilized
country by Intelligent Americans, with all the lights of experience and, the co-operation of a beneficent govern-

on the general principle that they must have subsisted by stealing cattle, for it was well known that while others were not uncattle ranged in the vicinity

were

killed

ment.
" At
'59,

frequently slaughtered by their employers for helping themselves to the refuse portions of the crop which had

Nome

Cult Valley, during the winter of 1858fifty

more than a hundred and

peaceable Indians,

been

the ground. It may be said that these were exceptions to the general rule ; but if ever an Inleft in

including women and children, were cruelly slaughtered by the whites who had settled there under official
authority,
either

dian was fully and honestly paid for his labor by a white settler, it was not my luck to hear of it. Certainly, it

and most of

whom

derived their su])port

res-

from actual or indirect connection with the

It

could Dot have been of frequent occurrence.

ervation.

was

alleged that they

had driven

off

and

m
them
at

NORTH AMERICA.

621

the

Revolution.

Now we

period of the Ameiican are to look at

the other early Missions in the United

States.

CHAPTER

VIII.

THE DBVOTION' IN MAIKB SILLEET AND CHAUDlilRE ITS NUESBRIES THE "WAMPUM BELT FOB OUB LADY OF CanAETEBS THE TOW OF THE OWENAGUNGA THE MISSION OF THE KENNEBEC THE MUEDBE OF FATHEE EASLE THE CATHOLIC EEDSKIN AND THE PUEITAN COUNCIL.

From the crimson record of the IroFrom quois we turn to a gentler race.
the struggle of Christianity with sanguinary paganism, along the bright lakes of

How he reMalta, Brulart de Sillery. nounced the world that favored him left his king who honored, and his country which was proud of him, to consecrate
;

New

York, to the serene and beautiful

himself to

God

rise of the

Morning Star over the

Maine.

hills

World

how,

in the wilds of the " to testify his gratitude

New

and pine

forests of

The reader
fine Catholic

will perhaps recollect that

gentleman and knight of

wondrous favors received from the Mother of Mercy," he founded the Mission of St. Joseph and how he
for the
;

eaten private cattle. Upon an investigation of tliis charge, made by the officers of the army, it was found
to be entirely destitute of truth
lost,
;

a few cattle had been

or probably killed by white men, and this was the whole basis of the massacre. Armed parties went into

During the winter of last year a number of them were gathered at Humboldt. The whites thought it was a favorable opportunity for getting rid of them So they went in a body to the Indian altogether.
asleep, shot all the

"

the rancherias in open day, when no evil was apprehended, and shot the Indians down weak, harmless,

and defenceless as they were

age or sex
;

without

camp, during the night, when the poor wretches were men, women, and children tliey
first

could at the

onslaught, and out

escaped.

tlie

throats of the
sixty

distinction of

remainder.

Very few

Next morning

sucking babes at their breasts; killed or crippled the naked cliildren that were running about and, after they had achieved
;

shot

down women with

bodies lay weltering in their blood

the

old and the

young, male and female

with

tale of horror to the civilized world.

every wound gaping a Children climbed

this brave exploit, to the State appealed

Government

for aid

Oh, shame, shame where is thy blush, that white men should do this with impunity in a civilized
1
1

upon their mothers' breasts and sought nourishment from the fountains that death had drained; girls and boys lay here and there with their throats cut from ear
to ear
terror,
;

ment!

country, under the very eyes of an enlightened governThey did it, and they did more! Tor days,

men and women

clinging to each other in their

killing

weeks, and months they ranged the hills of Nome Cult, every Indian that was too weak to escape and,
;

were found perforated with bullets or cut to Let any with knives all were cruelly murdered pieces who doubt this read the newspapers of San Francisco

what is worse, they did it nnder a State Commission, which in all charity I must believe was issued upon false representations. A more cruel series of outrages
than those perpetrated upon the poor Indians of Nome Cult never disgraced a community of white men. The

of that date.

It will

be found there in
Let them read of

its
tlie

most bloody
Pitt River

and tragic

details.

massacre, and of all the massacres that, for the past three years, have darkened the records of the State."
If such a record as this can

be read in the pages

must be protected, and it protected them protected them from women and children, for the men are too imbecile and too abject to fight.
State said the settlers

of Marper^s Magazine, in what language would the exiled Franciscan describe this unholy march of mod-

ern civilization

23
"

DEVOTION" TO THE BLESSED VIEGEsr

MARY
then two Jesuits went forth
central

hoped,

by the merits and powerful help of the Holy Virgin Mother of God," to " attract, assemble, and settle the wandering savages, as the surest means of
conversion."

robes.

And
their

from

house in Quebec

Isaac Jogues to the New York Iroquois, Gabriel Druillettes to the tribes of Maine.

their

By

that
;

powerful

Father Gabriel was

docile

received

by a

help the foundation succeeded numbers of Algonquins and Montagnais "forsook

their

and

gentle,

brave people.

although heroically In three months he could

nomad

hfe

to

"black-robes," to live
soil,

gather round the by tillage of the

their lives, a simintelligent
faith

catechise a.nd preach in their

own tongue

and he labored, on and

sities

off,

as the neces-

and to exhibit, by plicity and fervor of

of other mission stations required, until 1657 by which time the good seed
;

which races, self-called superior, would do well to emulate. Eminent among these, for his many Charles virtues, was the Algonquin,
Hearing, one day, that a of his pagan clansmen had taken party

was sown and had sprung up never to be eradicated. Although they were
often without a missionary for long years at a time, yet they remained steadfast in

Meiaskwat.

the faith.

Before the attack on Fort

Penquid, in 1689,

we

find all the braves

some Abenaki prisoners and were torturing them, though they were not enemies,
he hurried in pursuit and rescued the captives, but not until they had been

fortifying themselves

by the Holy Sacraall

ment

and during
the

that expedition

they said

Rosary

of

Our Blessed
if

Lady

perpetually, without intermission

most savagely

treated.

But he brought

even at meal time.^

tion to the

Judge, then,

them down to Sillery, or St, Joseph's, and there the Hospital Nuns, from the Quebec foundation, dressed their wounds, and attended them with their usual gentle
charity until they were quite recovered. When they went home, well armed

had not received into fervent

souls,

they devo-

Queen of Angels.

And be not

surprised at their fidelity

through the long residence of Father Rasles and Father

Vincent Bigot among them they remain to-day pure
Catholics
irreligion
;

nor yet that

and clothed, Meiaskwat accompanied them, visited their towns on the Kenne"bec, and preached Christ and His blessed

and fervent amid the temptation, vices, and

of effete

Puritanism.

From

about 1680 to 1700 the missionaries, unable to live amongst these tribes, sought to draw them nearer to Quebec, whence
spiritual

One sagamo, or chief, returned with him to Quebec, was infaith to

them.

His example was structed and baptised. In a little while no Abenaki, followed.
or, as

and physical help could be more

while the

easily procured.

New Yorkers

called them,

Owena-

In a

little

men

of the

Ken-

two or three gunga, village was without Christians. Finally, on the feast of the

nebec outnumbered the vanishing Algonquins in Sillery, and for years the
(1) SLea's

Mother of God's Assumption into heaven,

for blackyear 1646, they formally asked
Indian Missions,
p. 143.

m
Mission was called the Abenaki.

NORTH AMERICA.
Then
then you
neighbor.

28

may

smile with

more

satisfac-

Father James Bigot, of the Society of Jesus, founded the Mission of St. Franthe beautiful Falls of cois de Sales, on not far from the spot the ChaudiSre, where your modern maps show you three

tion to yourselves

and

edification to

your

Among
cathedral

the treasures of the famous

of

Our Lady

of

Chartres,*

townships of
1685, the

of Sillery. got, now before us, are filled with edifying details of these most fervent Ameri-

In St. Mary side by side. new reduction absorbed that Two letters^ of Father Bi-

France, you may still see, preserved with reverence, a band of this sea-shell wam-

pum, aU that the American had of most precious sent to Our Lady, as a token of their simple love, in 1695. The ground is violet, and in white letters you may
read this inscription
:

can Catholics-^these faithful American

devotees of the Blessed Mother of God,

They were poor to extremity, lage seemed a favorite abode

their vilfor

"MATRI VIRGINI ABNAQUIiBI,

"

D. D."

epi-

demics, yet men, women, and children exhibited a firm, resigned love for the holy will of God, most edifying and most instructive to the civilized white,
if,

To the Virgin Mother, her most devoted Abenakis." The chapter of the great
cathedral

received

the

ofiering

as

it

would have received the jewelled a king, and wrote afiectionately

gift of to the

indeed,

he would

take

advantage

thereof.
teristics,
all

Their peculiar religious characif

poor Indians a thousand leagues away. Whatever taste and power of delicate lalavished on this belt.

we may

say peculiar where

were so good, were an intense, trustful love for Jesus crucified, and a zeal for and practice of perfect purity in honor
Tenderly they used to call upon her beautiful name in their sickness, and fondly summon her
to the couch of death with prayers.

bor the Owenagunga could bestow, were The best workers

of the village were employed,'the choicest and most perfect beads carefully selected.

of His Immaculate Mother.

And

this

they entreat the clergy of the

" to ofier as their little present

cathedral
to the

To

her they sent their choicest wampum necklaces, the work of a whole long winter's leisure.

Do you

smile at the poor

?

most Blessed Virgin." " Though '" it be only Indian work," they say, our sacred Mother will see by it our hearts, and all the sentiments of love and tenderness with which we offer it. We
have already offered it here, placing it at the foot of her image during two whole novenas, praying for you and at the end
;

offering of Indian beads

send your

own

necklaces and bracelets of gold and ruby, in the spirit of the simple Abenaki, and

(1)

The

letters,

of an exquisite
things, to

series,

printed from the originals, form part contributed, among so many other
history,

scribed in the

work of the Abb6

Orsini,

and as

close a connection with oar poor little

it had so American Mis-

American Christian
this celebrated

by the

indefati-

gable zeal and taste of John Gilmary Shea.

(2)

sion, a note descriptive of it, and explanatory of a reliquary soon to bo mentioned, wiU follow the notice of

As

oathedi-al

has not been do-

the

Huron

reduction.

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

of each day's Mass chanting the Inviolata These norenas henigna Regina Maria.^'
sacred Princess.
this

We

have

said.

Let
our

belt

of

wampum

confirm

commenced, one on the Feast of the Assumption -of Our Lady, the other on that
of her sinless Nativity.
"

words."

Ah,"

cries

as

The present sent from Chartres was, we find by a letter from Rev. Pere
later,

Father Vincent Bigot, in writing of these " if you could hear them Indians, sing at
the Holy Mass
;

Aubery, written sixty years

a very

if

you beheld

their fer-

beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin in silver, a copy of that known as Notre

vor, their innocence, their

extreme abfault, their

Dame
called

sous

terre,

horrence of even the least

from the

or under-ground, so subterranean chapel,

in a note.

dociUty for the sacred mysteries, their love for Jesus Christ cruciQed, and for

which will be described

letter is

This

signed by the missionary and

His Blessed Mother, which attain to a very great tenderness, to an heroic desire

six

Abenaki chiefs. The letters of their missionaries are

marks of predestination which accompany their holy death, you would be greatly touched."^ The chapter of Chartres having made some presents to the little church of
for suffering,
aU.

and

the

of simple little traits of devotion to St. Mary the Virgin. Sometimes they would want the Indian names, famUy
full

names of the women,

their
registers

to distinguish in

one from another, and

Chaudiere, the hearts of the forest chil" dren with

they would
they would

overflow

gratitude.

We

always loved the blessed Virgin Mother," " we always honored her they write,*
sincerely,

Jdnd

now it seems that your have redoubled our affection gifts and reverence for our good Lady. Some
but

is Mary," But I want your Insay. dian name your Abenaki name." And the answer would be, "I have no other name Abenaki name no good my name Almost every woman was a is Mary !"

getting them.

find the greatest difficulty in "

"

My name

years ago
lage,
all that

we

consecrated to her our

all

vil-

our persons,

that

we

are.

Each

have, and year, on the day

we

they did not get that name in baptism, they took it in confirmation, or they would go and ask permission of

Mary

if

when

she was assumed, body and soul, into heaven, we renew that consecration.

their pastor to be called henceforward Or, after Mass, by the beloved name.

Present our poor

little gift

to

Mary, and,

they would linger in the church, even in

the depth of winter, to recommend their resolutions and their good thoughts es-

what we
from

especially desire, cause that this

very paper touch her shrine. Maybe fresh ardor will be conveyed that, to us here, to augment our love for our
(1)

what else could they do, since they were consecrated to her individually and as a
pecially to her.
after
all,

And

Les Vwux de ffurons

et det

Abnaquu d Notre

Dame

de Chartres, par M. Doublet de Bokthibault.

34-38.

people
It

Chartres, 1857, p. 32.

(2) Va/ux det Hwrons et

AlmaquU,

p.

was on the Feast of the*Immaculate Conception that this solemn dedication,

IN NOllTH AMEUIOA.

625

or donation as they called it, took place. They adorned as well as they could the

thee mistress of our village, and therofore

If in

chapel
Sillery,

of

Our Lady
to
silver

in the church

at

have we borne thine image hither. any of our lodges thou shouldst see

exposing

veneration

their

what can displease

it.

beautiful
after,

statue,

and

for

many

May

all

remove anger, and disunion, and

thee, hasten to

days they practiced particular devotions in honor of their elected Queen.^

evil speaking, all impurity,

Then, every year, on the Feast of the Assumption, they bore the image in procession to bless the village at Chaudiere, and solemnly renewed their gift. This

and every other sin, take the approach of thy sinless

the

drunkenness, flight before

steps.

May

demon not dare

to

which belongs to thee.

injure a land Do not disdain to

was their act of donation "Great Mary, may the heavens and
:

dwell with us, since, having thee, we shall have the virtues that go with thee,

and that remain where thou

ness,

art,

gentle-

earth

bear
all

witness

to

our

sincerity.

May

thy friends

heaven hear us
imitate them.

gathered now in and be glad that we thus

unitedness, charity, docility. not refuse to dwell with us, great

glorious Lady.

Do
and

Though among

us, vile

Let them testify that our and our words accord. May Jesus, our Lord and our God, acknowlhearts

and contemptible as we are, thy grandeur will not be obscured, but our lowliness
will give it new the contrast. splendor by " This, our blessed Princess, is what

and our wretchedness

edge sincerity, His infancy'to be governed by thee, who

miraculously gave Him birth hath made the universe confess
so
;

our

who hath

willed

who
thee

we have

to say.

Would

to

God

that our

Lady of
had

all,

almost

placed

His

though He sovereign dominion

as

in thy hands.

May

He,

whom we

hail

words were engraven upon the rock, But they will never to be effaced. not vanish, for they are written on our hearts. They are imprinted on the
tender hearts even of our
dren.
little

as Lord, behold our hearts, see that

we

chil-

have but one thought, that thou shalt be forever our Lady and our Queen. And hear us from heaven, thou, Mary, where thou art throned in incomparable
splendor, hear us and
offer.

They

will

hand them down, and

our remote descendants shall

know how

we

loved thee and recognized thee as our Queen. So shall our example teach them
to love

accept what

we

and serve thee.

Wo
have

to

him who
!

would destroy our

the

affection,

Mary, Virgin Mother of God, we have long waited for this day to choose
thee for our Queen, for hitherto

"

sentiments

we

for

or change thee

Rather

may

the

brooks cease to flow

we have

and the sun to

exist,

shine, yea, all things to

been but obscurely thine. Take, then, We make possession of us and ours.
(1) Jielation de ce

than that one of our descendants

should prove disloyal to thee.

et de

Love
le

us,
Pir*

dan

la

qui t'eat paste de plug remarquable Mission Abnaquaise de Sainct Joseph de Sillery

Sainct Francois de Sales Vannce 1665, par Jacques Bigot de la Compagnie de Jesus.

79

^^

626

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

unfettered by marriage and
cares.
its

then, Mary, our great Queen procure for us the favor of thy Son, and may we
;

distracting

A yovmg man whose right arm was

one day behold with joy His unutteraWe have spoken."* ble glory and thine.
This was the school in which the true

dropping to pieces from necrosis of the bone, would ask her pardon for the irrepressible groans wrung from him by his bitter pain. To the priest asking a

Americans of Maine learned the faith which they practice still on the banks of the Penobscot and the Kennebec. When, after a time, the Missions were
re-estabUshed in their

young

could do nothing to assuage her sufferings, she answered, " No, father, I can wish for nothing more.
girl dying, if they

own

country,

by

the salmon-filled streams of Maine, we find no diminution in the fervor of these

The Mother of Jesus, my good mother, knows that I have no more fervent and
continual desire than to see her face."*

red-skinned

Mary. Father Thury, at Panawaniske, on the Penobscot the RecoUet Father Simon, and at Medoktek, on the St. John's
; ;

children

of

Saint

An

Indian

who

desires

to

reach a
it.

point has a

way

of going straight at

Not remarkable
rect conclusions.

for syllogistic abilities,

he has a shorter method of reaching cor-

Father Vincent Bigot and Father Rale, or Rasle, on the Kennebec, were steadfast laborers by 1688. Bigot'' has two
especial themes of praise in his people, their fervor for the Most Adorable

The Mohawk, when the Albany Dutchman sneered at her for

honoring
prayed.
she,
.

Mary,

asked

to

whom
God.

he

He

said, to Christ his

But

Eucharist, and their love

first

for

Mary.
if

The
only

"

shaking her head gravely, said, Guess not pray much no have honor
;

thing in the morning, the last thing

for

Mother, no have

much for Son."

One

at night,
for a

was a

visit to
;

our Lord,

few moments

ing from

work

going to or returnthey made it a law to go

of the Kennebec chiefs, of Bigot's time, was taunted with the errors of his creed,
in his visits to the English settlements,

salute, at least, the

Most Holy.

So

fre-

quent were these visits of the children, women, and men, that Father Bigot declares
it

and urged by the people to adopt theirs. "Which of them?" asked the red man,
"for no two of you have the same."

Of

was

like a continual little pro-

cession to and from the chapel. So constant a habit had some of them formed

course they must deny the power of the Blessed Virgin for they could see the
;

of spiritual union with our Lord and His blessed Mother, that none of their occu-

An pations could distract them from it. old chief blesses God for his blindness,
since nothing

scapular on his swarthy chest, or the beads and medal twisted into his headdress but he fought the usual battle with them, and gave himself as an ex;

ample to prove his

(l;
(2J

doctrines.,.

,,^''.|^p,u

now

can attract his sight

VcBux des Burtma, p. 39-41. Relation de cc qui ti'mt passe
I'annee 1701.

frgm the wounds of the crucified and the Maidens die in beautiful face of Mary.
their

dam

lot

Mission

da

bloom blessing her

for taking

them

Abnaquisd VAcadie

(3) Relation, p. 26.

IN

NORTH AMEKICA.
ary and receive one you."
"

627

have known

"You know

long enough," he said. that I was as big a drunkWell,

me

whom

I will

send
,,
;

ard as ever hved.

pity on me, and
I

God

has had

"Listen," said the warrior in answer.

can defy any one to

You saw and knew me

long before the

reproach

me

with having tasted wine or

years.

brandy
the

for

many

To whom am

French, but neither your predecessor.^ nor your ministers ever spoke to me of

obliged for this but to cur holy

recourse in

Mother of Jesus. my extreme

;

Lady, to For to her I had

feebleness, for

prayer or of the Great Spirit. They saw my furs, my beaver and my moose skins ;
these they sought alone, and so eagerly that I have never been able to bring

grace to conquer my inveterate habit of drunkenness and by her help I con-

After that, will you tell me quered that the saints do not hear us v.hat it is
it.
;

them enough. When I had were my friends, and only

plenty, they then. One

useless

to

address

ourselves

to

the

day my canoe missed the route, and I wandered a long time, having lost my

Mother of God ? words you are

;

I believe

none of your
ex-

deceivers.
;

perience convinces me /ou this," and the brave, a renowned one, drew himself up, and his dark Indian
"

My own and, know

At last I landed near Quebec, in a great village of Algonquins, where the black-robes were teaching. As soon as I
way.

had arrived, one of them came to me. I was loaded with furs, but the black-robe
of France disdained to look at them.

eye kindled,

know

this,

that I will love

and
she

bless the

breath of
is

my

holy Virgin to the last For I am sure that life.

will

He

spoke to

me

glad now, and that she

recom-

heaven, of hell, the only way to reach heaven.

his

of the Great Spirit, of of the prayer which is

I

heard
the
in-

pense
you."^

me

for defending her cause agairst

words with pleasure, and remained

in the village near him.

At

last,

Father Vincent Bigot is succeeded by Sebastian Rasle, another of that grand

"

prayer pleased
struction.

me and
*
*

asked for

Then
*

I asked for baptism,

and

Company

of Jesus."

Of

his

thirty
lightly.

received

it.

Now
;

I hold

years' mission

we

shall touch

but

to the prayer of the

it
;

In 1705, one Hilton, at the head of a party of New Bnglanders, burnt the
church and village of Norridgewock, profaned the sanctuary, and withdrew. In
1713, after the peace of Utrecht, some of the chiefs went to Boston to hire

I shall
is

be faithful

French I agree to to it, untU even the

Keep your I men, your gold, and your minister. will go to my French father."* For tliirty years now, has Father Sebastian Rasle dwelt in the forest, teaching to its wild, red children the love of

earth

burnt and destroyed.

workmen
ernor, "if

to rebuild their church.

"I

will rebuild it for

you," said the govdismiss your mission-

youwiU

God and Mary. He and tanned by wind

is

until

burned by sun he is almost

(1) Relation, 9, 10.

(2) Shea's Missions.

(i2S

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

God's worship they have in abundance, The wax is not light from wax candles.
precisely opus apium, but it is a nearer approach to it than you find in richer and
less

as

red as his parishioners. The languages of the Abenaki and Huron, the
IlUnois, are

Algonquin and
iar to

more

famil-

him than the tongue in which his mother taught him the Ave Maria. The huts of Norridgewock contain his people the river Kennebec flows swiftly past his

excusable places.

It

is

wax from the

hills

berry of the laurels which cover the of Maine.

dweUing, to the sea. There, he has built a church handsome, he thinks and says perhaps it would not much excite our

to the chapel every night and morning come all the Indian Christians.

And

At any more luxurious imagination. and he has rate, the altar is handsome
;

gathered a store of copes and chasubles, albs and embroidered stoles, for the dignity of the holy service.
also, as

At morning they make their prayer in common and assist at Mass, chanting in their own dialect, hymns written for that purpose by their pastor. Then they go
;

to their

employment

for the day,

He has trained,

his continuous, orderly,

he to and ceaseless la-

as forty Indian boys in the ceremonies, and, in their crimson cas-

many

The morning is given up to visitors, who come to their good father with their
bor.

socks and white surplices, they aid the Besides the church, there sacred pomp. are two chapels, one on the road which
leads to the forest, where the braves are wont to make a short retreat before they
start to trap

sorrows or disquietudes
lief against

to ask his re-

some

little

injustice of their

fellows

his advice

on their marriage or

other projects. instructs that

consoles this one, re-establishes peace in

;

He

and hunt

the other on the

lands,

disunited families
sciences
;

calms troubled con-

path

to

the

cultivated

where

prayers are offered when they go to plant or gather in the harvest. The one is
dedicated to the Guardian Angel of the 'tribe the other to our most holy Mother,
;

administers gentle rebuke, or The gives encouragement to the timid. afternoon belongs to the sick, who are
visited in their

own

cabins.

If there be

Mary Immaculate.
is

To adorn

this latter

a coimcil, the Black-Robe must come to invoke the Holy Spirit on its deliberations

the especial emulation of the women. "Whatever they have of jewels, of silk stuff from the settlements, or delicate

he must be present to bless the viands and to check aU ap;

if

feast,

proaches to disorder.

And

always in

broidery of porcupine quill, or richly * tinted moose hair, is found here and
;

the afternoon, old and young, warrior and grey-haired squaw, Christian and
catechimaen, assemble for the catechism. When the sun declines westward, and

from amidst their offerings, rises, white and fair, the statue of the Virgin and
;

her sweet face looks

down benignantly

upon her swarthy children, kneeling before her to recite their rosaries.
<*"^0ne beautiful inanimate ministrant to

the shadows creep over the village, they seek the chapel for the public prayer,

and

to sing a

each to his

Then to St. Mary. but before bedtime home,

hymn

IN

NORTH

AilERICA.

629

neighbors gather again, in the house of one of them, and, in antiphonal choirs,

Father Rasle, from his lodge, leagues away in the forest, writes him a Latin
sixty-two pages of it, full of instruction on these topics, and of chariletter,

they svng their beads, and with another

hymn they separate for sleep.^ When they go to the sea-side

for their

table
alone.

recommendation to

let the

Indians

fishing, they bear with them, as wandering Israel bore the tabernacle, a chapel

the divine replies, swiftly, that the arguments are childish and so
;

And

formed of bark, that they may have the

consolations of religion, while exposed to

wends back

to

Boston to inform the

danger and temptation.

pare
votion to

And now com-

this picture of the progress of de-

Protestantism

Our Lady, with any march of among the Indians. Read

august community there of how he had been persecuted by the Jesuits. So, in 1722, Norridgewock was attacked by a force of two hundred and
Englanders, for after the war broke out the Abenaki adhered to the
fifty

New

the French Catholic's mission to the Al-

gonquin, Abenaki, Huron, and Iroquois ; or, in our own day, to the Kaw, the
Osage, and the Flathead and the work of Protestant England or the United
;

French Catholic, rather than to the English Puritan. A few old men, women, and children only were in the village but
;

States

among

towattomies, carries the beads, purity, and civihzation ; the other a whiskey bottle, defile-

or

the Seminoles, the Potthe Pueblos. One

the Puritans were after the priest. He had time to consume the sacred hosts in

and to escape on his But they pillaged the his lodge, and carried off" church and
the
tabernacle, snow shoes.

ment, and death. One thing, in a religious way, the descendant of the Puritan
is

everything, even to his inkstand.

still

They

pretty apt to do namely, to attempt the destruction of his neighbor's religion.

;

Boston contributes a minister to

if

effect,

possible, this end,

even in the wilds of

Maine a hundred years ago. He reaches the mouth of the Kennebec, and building
a school-house there, does his best to entice the children to it by presents and
caresses.

This

failing,

he attempts their

parents, and snuffles out to them nasal denunciations of the Sacraments, purgatory,

Harvard Colhis manuscript Abenaki dictionary, lege, made with such long toil and patience, and bravely conquered by two hundred and fifty advancers of civilization from an old ecclesiastic and a handful of Father Rasle squaws and papooses. had broken both legs some time before, and yet he refused to leave the main band of his people, following them about wherever the necessities of warThe New fare chanced to lead them.
pride, in

show with

invocation of Saints, the beads, the cross, the altar Mghts, and images. Then
(1) Lettre

Englanders never relaxed their efforts to catch Father Sebastian, for in him they Accussaw the soul of the Indians.
deify their own popular leaders, tiU they tired of them,

du R.

Fire, Seboitian Rasle, 1722,

tirle

de la Choix des Lettres eiifiantcs tcritea dcs Missions HrangAres. Paris, 1809, vol. vii. p. 396-413.

tomed themselves

to

680

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

they fancied that the strength of the red man, lay not in the Catholic faith, but
in the talents of the priest. Him, at aU hazards, they

Owenagunga against the arms of Great Britain. The Kennebecs, Passamaquoddies, and Penobscots, met the
of the

must have and triumphant success crowned their efforts in 1724. It was on the feast of
;

Council of Massachusetts and expressed

their determination to espouse the cause

St. Bartholomew the Apostle, August the twentj'-fourth, that a band of Mohawks and New English burst upon

of the colonies, but added: must have a French Black-Robe we will have
;

"We

no

comes from you." Prayer' Orono, the Penobscot chief, bore a com'

that

town of the Owenagunga. The women and children fled a few young braves who were in the village, caught up their arms to withstand the enemy. But before they could be slain, the priest, remembering those words of our dear Lord, "Bonus pastor animam suam dat
the
;

mission in the

army of the Revolution,

and
"

fought beside him. If one of our priests would be agreehis

clansmen

able to you,

endeavor to get you one, and take care he be a good man." Such was the offer of the Council but
will
;

we

pro ovihus suis^ the Good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep ;" and knowing
himself to be the real object of the attack,

the "

answer of the Abenaki was

religion,

stiU,
;

We know our

and love

it

we

know nothing

advanced to meet his

foes.

They saw

Thus you faithful to the teachings which they had received in 1650, these true American
of or yours."
Catholics

him

just as he reached the village cross.

continued to cherish

it,

by

of savage exultation, a volley of bullets, and the missionary lay dead at the foot of the symbol of salvation. Half a century later, the descendants of these

A yell

rosary, and crucifix, and earnest prayer, until they carried the cross which Father

Rasle had worn, to Bishop Carroll at Baltimore, and by it, demanded a pastor
of the true faith.

men were

asking the friendship

z. 14.

We
a) St John's Gospel

shaU see these

faithful red

men,

briefly, again.

-j,'i

vi Q dlqosq ositsS

s>jBii.t

'|o

toei

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

68.

CHAPTER

IX.

THE DEVOTION IN THB STATE OF NEW YORK THE SAINT OF THE MOBAWKS AMONG THE IROQUOIS,

SAINT MABT

Bravest, haughtiest, handsomest, most adventurous of all North American abo-

the waters

of Superior,

the unfortunate

They chased Huron from the fur-Uned

were the clans of the warrior The territory which they Iroquois. dwelt in was small, when compared with
rigines,

sepulchre of his fathers, and drove westward the poor remnants of that shattered
tribe, as the

wind of the autumn drives

the vast circle travelled over by the nomad Algonquin, or the limitless prairies
of the

the leaves of the forest.

For
fied

mounted Dacotah.

The State of

their savage virtues were all nulliby their immeasurable barbarity,

New
From

York, with the neighboring parts

We

have heard of individuals in other

of Pennsylvania and Ohio, held them all. the wide St. Lawrence, they swept

races,

whose cruelty won for them a bad distinction, but here was a nation, from

along the southern shores of Erie and Ontario, to the yellow waters of the
Beautiful River.

the humblest of

whom the
;

historic tyrant

the forests, by the clear blue mountain streams of New

Amid

In stealth they might learn his art. were hke serpents in slakeless bloodthirst

they were

tigers.

York, stood the towns of the tall, spare Seneca, the Cayuga and Onondaga,
the beautiful Oneida and the merciless

no other name
siouex

These were the enemies of Cartier and Chaniplain these

;

the Cruel.

for

The Huron had them than Nado- Wes'

Mohawk. To white man and Indian they were a terror and a fate. The far Natchez
had
felt their

tomahawk, by the winding

Mississippi.

At

the echo of their wild

the

war-cry the

heart of

Frenchman

were an incarnate and ceaseless terror to the rising colonies of Quebec and Montreal. They were Iroquois arrows which quivered through the palisades of the fort an Iroquois torch brought the new mission-house to ashes an Iroquois
; ;

stopped beating within the palisades of Quebec. They slew the wandering Algonquin on the edge of the Chesapeake, or caught him as he fled on his

tomahawk
en.

sent the
is

first

priests to heav-

Their name

the one terrible

word

in

aU the early

writings, in the letters

of

sinew-woven snow-shoes, and crimsoned the white wastes of Canada with his blood. They were a dread to the Winnebago, although Lake Michigan rolled between them to the Chippewa and
;

rite of

Mary of the Incarnation, of MargueOur Lady, of the Jesuit relations,

of the Virgin's knight, Maisonneuve. Priest and laborer, nun and warrior,

wound up
with

the

tale

horror for the Iroquois.

of their hardship Yet into

Menomenee,

although their canoes ruled

the inner tent of that fierce people a rav

632

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

the

from the loving heart of Mary shone at last they learned to hush the war-whoop and to sheath the scalping-knife in honor
;

Blessed Virgin,

at

Three Rivers.

of her

name

and

in a

Mohawk

village

which reeked with Christian gore grew as sweet and gentle a flower of holiness
as ever bloomed.

this place he was returning to Saint Mary's, the canoes hugging the shore to avoid the strong current of the stream, when suddenly the war-whoop

And from

of the fatal Iroquois rang through the air and a hail of musket-balls rattled about

Always
the

at vindictive

war with the Ca-

them.

The pagan Indians leaped

;

at once

nadian Indians, they turned their ire upon

from the canoe

French when

these

made
forts

friends

with the Algonquin and the Wendat.

They attacked the very

settlers
;

of the

but the Jesuit, with the three Frenchmen and the few Christian " offered savages with him, up a prayer to Clorist and faced the enemy."^ But
whistling of the balls, a catechumen had thrown himself upon
already, at the
first

voyagers. Beaten often, punished as well as the small force of the Europeans would allow, they

they waylaid

their

returned with redoubled fury. Champlain and others chased them into their own
country, fired their villages,

knees in the canoe, and the fearless priest had baptised him. They fought,
his

and reduced
the

them
with

for time.

They would make peace

the
;

white
but,

man and bury

some dozen of them, but the Iroquois were seventy in number. The missionary did not even try to escape. Rene Goupil, whom we have mentioned, was taken,
fighting like a lion.
in

dug up again before the blood had well dried upon the blade, it flamed, hungiy for murder, in the clutch
hatchet
of the treacherous savage. favorite method of foray was the waylaying of

The next brought

chief,

was a famous Christian

Ahasis-

tari,

who

cried,

"Did

not swear,
!"

my

father, to live or die

with thee

Finally,

a young Frenchman, William Couture,

Huron

or French parties as they jassed from Montreal or Quebec to the Musssion

on the distant lakes. But the cross was to be planted among even the sanguinary Iroquois, and the mode chosen by God's wisdom was as follows In the year of our Lord 1644,
:

came back and gave " I cannot abandon himself up, saying, dear father." This heroism won him my
escaped,

who had

the

honor

of

stripped

him

at once

away,
teeth,

crushed

they they tore his nails his fingers with their

; ;

instant

torture

and ran a sword through

his right

Father Isaac Jogues,

who had been

Hu-

hand.

laboring for years on the shores of

ron and Superior, descended to Quebec accompanied by a train of Indians. Twenty-three in number they started from the Mission of St. Mary's, in the Huron country, and in thirteen days
reached the colony of the Conception of

The same treatment was then given to Father Jogues and Goupil. But we will recite no more of these brutal tortures
here.

As they treated

Bi-eboeuf, so

they

(1) Lettre de

la

Fire Isaac Jogiies au P. Frmincial d Prmince de France; apud Relation dbregie de P.

Bressani, p. 188-246.

IN NORTH AMERICA.
treated these, not once, but twenty times, stopping short only of death for the present

688

instructing his
ful

Huron neophytes when-

Whenever they

rested,

on

their

ever he could get beside them, as watchand as ready for his duties as a priest,

long journey of thirteen days, torture was the amusement of their captors ;

as if within the walls of a parish churcl

in France.

He
;

hears Goupil's confession

whenever they met another roving band of savages, and the forests were full of them, the torture of their victims was the feast to which they welcomed them.
number, they from the battle ground, and tramped sadly through the woods on their way to

as they drag their weary Umbs through the forest he baptises two pleading as they wade through a woodneophytes

land stream

Twenty-two

in

filed

off

he wrings the rain drops from a stalk of com and confers upon two others the sacrament of regenera;

tion.

Thus,

in

constant

torture

and

Through woods to the beautiful lakes Champlain and Horicon, and thence, past Saratoga, The across the country to the Mohawk. on foot, carlast four miles they marched
rying all the baggage of their masters, covered with putrefying wounds, unfed save by the berries which, with mutilated
hands, they caught from the bushes on the roadside. But, "at last," says the " on the eve of the Asservant of Mary,

the towns of the

Mohawk.

the

prayer, he lingered until the Feast of the

him hope.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin brought Two Hollanders from Albany

arrived to treat for his deliverance, which was effected, however, only in the sum-

mer
that,

of

the

he had
the
for

But before year. seen his friends faU, one by

next
chief praying at the
;

one

Huron
his

stake

enemies

hawked

at the thirty -ninth

;

Goupil toma"Hail Mary"

of the Rosary

blood, death, horror, de-

sumption of the Blessed Virgin, we arrived at the

And He thus

village of the Iroquois. I thank our Lord Jesus Christ that

first

worship around him. His Breviary had long since been taken from him, but he had found, from time
to time, fragments of his Bible, the Imitation of Christ, and the Little Office of

mon

deigned to grant us a share in His sorrows and His cross, on the day

whereon

the

Christian

universe

cele-

brates the triumph of His sacred taken up into heaven."

Mother

the Blessed Virgin. How often did he " sit thus by the waters of Babylon, and " How weep as he remembered Zion!"'
often," he exclaims,

They entered the town of the barbarians by running the gauntlet, Jogues " comforted as he went by a vision of the glory of the Queen of Heaven."^ Then
on to another village, and so to a third, tracking the whole land with their blood
the Jesuit offering up his agonies to God,
(1) Bancroft'8 Hist. XJ. S.,
iii.
;

"did
the

I carve

Thy
of

Name,
the forest

Jesus
!

upon

tall trees

How

often, stripping off the

bark, have I traced there the most holy See him kneeling cross of my God !"
there, half clad with skins,

on the Ufe of

his

and meditating Redeemer or watch hia

;

183.

(2) Pa. cjtxxvi. 1.

8o

IL

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

lips as

they move in the recitation of the

left

So

the

dispensation

only

office

him
last

how

his

voice,

lowered at the
miserere
nobis,

Ihi atitem

Domine,

gathers strength again, and breaks forth in the antiphon, " I^elix namque es, sacra Virgo Maria, et omni
laude dignissima ; quia ex te ortus est Sol Blessed Justitia, Christus Deus nosier/
art thou

tlirong to do him vie in offering him their services prelates throw open their palaces ; the lips
;

All granted. honor great nobles

is
;

of the stately Anne of Austria, the Queen of fair France, are reverently pressed to those deformed and mangled hands. But
his place is not here.

and worthy of

all praise,

sa-

of miles,

it lies,

Away, thousands where the Hudson and

cred Virgin Mary, for from thee rose the Sun of Righteousness, even Christ our

the

Mohawk

mingle their clear waters

beneath the shadow of the immemorial

woods.

God !" Thus

did he teach the aisles of the

for the

New York
first

forests to resound,

In the month consecrated to his beloved heavenly Queen, he left his country for the last time, and arrived just

time, with the sweet

t

and holy name

of Maryii o/

When,
tivity,

endurance of caphe was released by the kind offices

after a year's

soon enough to see a peace concluded with " the Iroquois. They asked for blackrobes," and his superiors offered Father Jogues the mission. "Yes," he said, "I

of the Hollanders, he had baptised no less than seventy persons some captives

and some converts. They get him a passage from New York to England, and a collier carries him thence and lands him, barefooted and in tattered sailor's He apdress, on the coast of Brittany.
proaches a peasant's house, and they rise to receive the forlorn sailor kindly then he lifts up his poor mutilated hands and
;

and I shall not return Ibo et non redibo ; but I will be happy if our Lord will complete the sacrifice where he has begun it, and make the little blood I have shed in that land the earnest of what I would give from every vein of my body and my heart."^ The sacrifice was accepted. He and Father Jean de
shall go,
;

blesses

them

in the

name

of the Eternal.

Lalande departed with the treacherous

What

shall

he do with these hands ?

priest with but one thumb and four or

five fingers left

The very day of their arrival Iroquois. the savages began to threaten them. The next day they tomahawked them
;

him

Courage, Confes-

at

sor of

God
"

the Holy Father,

Urban

Vni.,

will settle that.

"Indignum," he

the door of a lodge their heads were stuck upon the paUsades of the town
their

indignum esse Chrisii martyGhristi non hibere sanguinem ! It rem, were unjust that the martyr of Christ
exclaims,

bodies

were

thrown

into

the
.ji
,

Mohawk.
churches of
is

/ujJj.iiij

But he had not died in

St.

vain.

Two

should not drink the blood of Christ!"

"(1) Letter to a
tivity.

Mary^ stand upon the

friend, in Shea's

Narrative of Cap-

now

Tribes Hill, just opposite to the confluence ot

Schoharie Creek with the Mohawk.

(2)

At Amsterdam and

Little Falls.

The place

itself

nr NORTH AMERICA.
shores of that beautiful river
the

62

Arch

Confraternity of her Immaculate Heart is established in the principal town

under the very walls of Quebec. Then, weary of the war-path, they themselves asked for peace. And the heralda
allies

For the beautiful flower of devotion to Mary had been surely planted by Father Jogues, and nurtured with his tears and blood in the woodlandsof New York, when he kneeled
bathed by
its

waters.^

of this peace were those whose "footsteps are beautiful upon the mountains ;

who

publish

glad

tidings

of

good.""

Father Chaumonot assembled the Ononda

gas in the chief town of their people, on the Oswego received from the nation a
;

trunk of the maple. Beata Dei Genetrix Maria" he had said again and again
in his agony,

to say her office at the foot of the cross traced by his crushed fingers on the "

mission-house, and commenced his labors by the baptism of a poor capsite for a

"

Virgo perpetiia, templum

SaTicti,

of the Eries, and an explanation of the leading doctrines of the Gostive

woman

Domini, sacrarium Spiriius

sine

sola

exemplo placuisti Domino Nostro ora pro populo ; interveni Jesu Christo
clero ;

message with songs of joy, and the council gave

pel.

The red men received

his

fro
sexu.

intercede

Blessed

pro devoto fmmineo Mary, Mother of God,

permission to preach Christianity in all their villages. Soon after, one thousand

ever a Virgin, Temple of the Lord, dwellhig-place of the Holy Ghost thou only,
;

thousand Eries in
like Clo\as, the

Onondaga braves were to meet four fight, and they vowed,

Frank, of
old, that if the

without example, hast been found pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ pray for
;

of the Christians would give them the victory, they would thenceforth serve

God

the people intervene for the clergy intercede for holy women."* And Mary heard him.
;
;

him alone. They drove the Eries Uke deer and though many from before them
;

were
the

false to

their vow, yet a goodly

instruction,

Although the his blood had

tribes
fallen

haughtier than ever, to come when the knees of the Iroquois should bend in prayer to a saint of their

upon whose heads were fiercer and yet the day was

number sought
first fruits

and became

of the warrior Iroquois.

In November, 1653, the backwaUs of St. Mary's church arose, and the dread sacrifice

of the Mass consecrated the land

own

race and nation.

the

At

present, sup-

to its

Maker.

By the Octave
the

of the Vir-

Dutch and English with plied by arms, they spread the flames of war over the land. They destroyed, as we have seen, the Hurons. They drove the northern Algonquins from the shores of the lakes and slew the French and their
(1) Utica. (2)
(8)

back walls gin's Nativity, 1656, were exchanged for stone, and daily devotions to Mary Immaculate were paid in
that
first

church of

New York, Our Lady's

of Ganentaa.

The same year saw Father Rene Meiv

prcedi/Mntis paeem annuntiantU Tsaias lii. 7. talvtem.

Antiphon

in Little Office of

B. V. M.

honum, prcedieantis

Quam pulchri

tuper 7nonte

peam annuncientia

et

ait attdrtuttiuiii.

36

DEVOTION TO

TIIE

BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

remained.

nard standing at the altar of a little chapel among the Cayugas, between pictures

of

our

Lord

and His

blessed

Then the Catholics of the Five Nations went over and joined the French and though the missions were
;

Mother, and explaining their significance by the legend of man's redemption. The
great allies of the missionaries were the
captive

re-established fourteen years afterwards, it was only to linger out a painful exist-

ence
uit

now to

Huron women, many married Iroquois warriors. They brought

and Father Mareuil, the last Jesin New York, left the desolated
;

their babes for baptism, they instructed their pagan neighbors whom they edified " and in almost every by their virtues,

harvest-field of the Iroquois just sixtyseven years after Jogues had first en-

riched

it

with his tears and blood.

cabin could be found an Indian mother

But although the field was laid waste, the fruit had been gathered. In thirty-five
years from the capture of Father Jogues,

teaching her wayward child to lisp a prayer to Jesus and Mary."^

But the demon grew strong again. The war was renewed the missionaries were driven away or fled and, by the end of 1658, not a priest was left in the But the converted Iroquois territory.
; ;

two thousand two hundred and twentyfive Iroquois were baptised many children but many noble women and the choice of the sachems and orators. Gar;

acontie,

"the advancing Sun," the grandNations, the

est statesman of the Five

Indians, notably the grand statesman and

noble warrior Garacontio, had been at work and the missionaries were im;

plored to return to Onondaga. So, with much labor and interruption, the holy toil went forward until, in 1668, they

bulwark of Christianity for a quarter of a century he who cried out before he as he covered with kisses a picture died, " of our Lord, Jesus, born of a Virgin,
;

we may sit near thee

the

thou art peerless in beauty grant that in heaven." Kryn,

;

had once more renewed

;

their foothold

and, in 1670, throughout the cantons the first day of the Octave of the Annun-

when

high chief of the Mohawks, who, his tribe would not listen to his

the worship of the other pagan superstitions were renounced and solemnly con-

Our Lady, demon Areskoui and

ciation of

pleadings, raised his wild war-cry for the last time in the streets of his village

gathered forty devoted followers,

kneeling
fathers,

and

down amid

the graves of their

But the English were by this time in New York, with the energetic Dongan as their governor, and the missionaries to the Iroquois were Frenchmen. Intrigues were commenced with the Indians the servants of Mary were driven
demned.
;

poured

forth a prayer for his na-

tion, then rose and, with streaming eyes, led his braves away forever from the
fires

of their people to the Christian settlement at La Prairie. Catherine Gan-

from the country

and,

by 1687, not one

neaktena, the Erie by birth, the Oneida by adoption, the foundress of La Prairie
St. Lawrence. Mary "the Precious," the saint of Tsawent6,

on the banks of the

(1) Shea'B Missions, p 283.

m
the Onondagas.
akoa,

NORTH AMERICA,

637

Stephen te Gannonto

who
was

suflFered

and

cut

purely for the pieces almost

faith,

the eyes was, in God's will, a means and excuse for that retirement which would

with

otherwise not have been allowed.

Thus

knives before they threw him into the fire. Ourehouhar6, the war-chief of the

she grew up, free from the vanities and vices almost inevitable to an Indian girl
in those

Cayugas, who, when listening on his death-bed to the story of the Passion,
cried out,
there,

Mohawk

villages.

"Oh, had I been they never would so have treated

Clovis,

Uke

The temporary peace already spoken of had been made with the French. The missionaries, whom the savages had demanded, arrived from Quebec, but found chief and people engaged in a drunken debauch to celebrate the peace. Behold
"

my God !"
when
cifix

Frances Gonnonhatena, who,

a barbarous kinsman tore the cru-

to the stake,

from her neck as she stood bound and gashed a cross upon

how

all

her bared bosom with his scalping-knife, said: "I thank thee, my brother thou
;

to

them

things work together for good that love God."^ The drunken-

ness of the tribe was the opportunity of

hast given me a cross which none can take away." These, and many another
like

Tegahkouita.
missionaries,

The

retiring girl, unfit for

the revel, was ordered to entertain the

them, form the crown of the Iroquois

missionary in heaven.
But, brightest and sweetest flower in the Indian coronal of Mary, was Cathe" rine Tegahkouita, the Saint of the
Iroquois." Her father a

and won their hearts by her But her timidity kept her gentleness. silent before them, and they went away from the village to their several stations,
without learning her desire for baptism.

The

girl

grew up

beautiful.

It

was

for

Mohawk chief, her mother an Algonquin captive this holy girl was born in 1656, in the town whence Rene Goupil and Father Isaac Jogues had as;

the interest of her relations to marry her, for the product of the chase went to the wife and her family.

But she earnestly

cended, by martyrdom,

to their rest.

The

and steadily refused. Entreaties, stratagem, argument, were tried in vain.

smaU-pox, which made her an orphan at the age of four years, had also injured her sight and, shunning the light of
;

Then they began to treat her as a slave whatever work was hardest or most unpleasant was laid upon her, mingled with
reproaches and even blows but so invincible was her patience, and so docile
;

the sun, she passed her infancy and girlhood with an uncle, in a cabin, at the

had

door of which the tomahawked priest fallen. The child had not received

her gentleness, that they softened even the hearts of her persecutors.

Holy Baptism, and had only what Christianity she could remember from her mother's instructions with, perhaps, occasional teaching from some poor
the grace of

Then Father James de Lamberville came to the village and brought the fulfilment of her long deferred hopes. She had
(1) St.

Huron

captive.

Thus, her

affliction

of

Paul to the Romans

viii.

28,

638

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

foot

wounded her
the other
harvest.

and could not follow

to lator in the corn

women

The missionary chose the opportunity, offered by the absence of the

majority, to visit those who remained in the village, and to him the girl opened

upon her breast and awaited the blow. The brave was abashed and retired. Then her relatives
returned to their attempts at her marriage, and omitted no effort to shake her
resolution, but in vain.

crossed her hands

Even the

cal-

her heart, and set forth with touching " Prayer," and simpHcity her love for the her long and ardent yearning for bapThis sacrament, however, he dared not lightly confer. He gave the whole winter to her instruction and to close
tism.

umny which

is

hardest for a

woman

to

bear, failed to destroy the

sweet patience

with which she bore their persecutions. But she had heard of La Prairie. Yearly
a few converted Iroquois would bid adieu to the graves of their fathers, and go
thither for peace in religion. And as the love of Christ grew daily greater in her
heart, she sighed for the free exercise of

inquiiy about her character. forth from the trial white

as the blossom of the thorn.

She came and pure

Of

all

that

her, no one could say aught but in her praise. Even when they blamed her for what they considered defects, the Christian priest knew these to be virtues. So at length, upon the Feast of

knew

her worship, the enjoyment of her faith. At last a half-sister of hers, a Christian at

La

Prairie,

opened communica;

tion

with her and urged her flight Father de Lamberville approved of it,
it

Easter, 1676, she received the seal of re-

generation and the name of Catherine. Ah } then how her saintly soul unfolded,
petal after petal, virtue after virtue, till she stood before the dear heavenly

and at length husband of her

was concerted. The sister and a Christian In-

dian from Loretto, in the absence of her but the old uncle, managed the escape
;

chief heard

it,

and, charging his

gun with

Mother Mary,

whom

she tenderly loved,

a white rose of purity and aU goodness.

three balls, he pursued them. They hid her in a thicket and sat down by the

But her trials came with her graces. The time she took for her beads, which
she said twice a day, for her attendance at the chapel, for her various devotions,

roadside as weary

men

taking repose.

When he saw them alone, he was ashamed

of having suspected them, and without telling his uneasiness went back to his

was made a reason of blame and rebuke. .girls of her own age, angered by self-reproach, mocked and insulted her the children were taught to pelt her with earth and stones, and to shout "Chris-

town.

The

flight was renewed, and with her friends, arrived in Catherine,

Then the

safety at

La

Prairie.

There, then, she

tian

!"

derisively as slie passed.

One day

saw with rapture a settlement entirely Christian and what Christians They were like those of the first century, liv;
!

a fierce young warrior dashed into the cabin and swung his axe above her

ing in the fervor of fresh faith in the presence of ever-impending death. For the
leaves of each forest they entered were

head

but,

without,! Iqgkixig

up,

she

IN KORTH AMERICA.

639

likely to conceal the war-paint of the

Mohawk
string.

from behind each rock on the

asked and obtained permission from her confessor to render her ever-cherlife,

roadside might twang the

Cayuga bow-

ished

purpose of living a Christ's sake irrevocable by a

virgin

for

vow.

This

The young

girl

vowed

herself entirely

unto God, and from that moment seemed to have no tie on earth except that of
labor for others.

was done on the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Blessed Mother. "A moment after Our Lord had been given her
in the holy

At

the four o'clock

Mass she entered the chapel, nor left it again till after the community Mass, two hours and a half later. Often in the day
she interrupted her
;

communion, she pronounced, with wondrous fervor, the vow of perpetual virginity. Then she besought the holy Virgin, to whom she always had the
tenderest devotion, to present to her divine Son the self-oblation which she

work

to visit the

Most

and in the sacred Holy Sacrament shadow of the image of Our Lady, she
passed whole hours absorbed in prayer. Every week she summed up her daily
self-examinations, and approached the tribunal of penance. The least defect in

made

and then passed several hours

at

the foot of the altar in perfect union with God."i

From
presence
heaven,

this time she

belonged to earth
for the

no more, but longed perpetually

of

her conduct caused her floods of tears.

"

her

Eternal

Spouse

in

Oh,
"

how can

say,

I be wicked," she would and offend my God who has so

!"

loved

me

recollected

So serenely beautiful, so and devout was she at each

to say

and to be with her Mother,' " She never Mary, Queen of Angels. spoke of Our Lady but with transport,"

communion, that the others used

they could
Catherine.
;

" She had learned says her biographer. the Litany of the Blessed Virgin by
heart,

make
Her

their preparation bet-

and said

it

every night alon,-

ter if they knelt

where they could see

spirit

after the

common

of mortification

was intense she used scourges and iron chains and mingled ashes with her and scanty food she would resimple main on her knees, in mid-winter, in
;

was ended. rosary, which she said many times a On Saturdays and otlier periods day.

prayer of the family She was never without her

chapel,

until directed to retire

;

by the

consecrated to the Virgin she redoubled her austerities, and passed the day in the practice of some one virtue of Our Lady,

pitying priest she slept upon a hard bed strewed with thorns, until her mortifica-

becoming known to her director, were moderated by his command. She visited the Ursulines at Montreal, and falling in love with their consecrated
tions,
(1)

augmenting her fervor on all St. Mary's But the slight frame was wearfeasts."* the eager soul must soon fast away ing be unchained, and, like the dove of the " fly away and be at rest." royal poet,
;

As the spring drew on, she prepared to 777(71 ^m- 9VO

(2)
fS)

Father

Cholenec's Letter.
\\\.

Choix des Lettres

Same

Letter, p. 452.
liv. t.

Edifiantei. torn.

417.

PsalM

640

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN MABY

pass

away when the glory of the

forest

foliage and flowers was just dawning on the land. The men were all away at the

hundred descents, kneel and pray to a native American saint, nearly two hundred years before Satan invented Native

chase

absent the entire day, planting the golden corn and Catherine
;
;

the

women

American
those

politics, for

the persecution of

lay there, in the desolate cabin, alone,

the

who say the prayers and worship God of Catherine Tegahkouita.

to
;

with a plate of crushed maize and a cup of water by her pillow, from morn till the
stars

Thus did the devotion root in North America

;

Mary take filling human

had

risen.

Pain, of the acutest and

most ceaseless nature, racked her worn,

delicate frame
;

hearts with sanctity re-peopling heaven, and making new intercessors for a sinfui

but
;

it

never forced a
the sweet,

murmur from her never drove

tranquil smile from her
lijjs

and

large,

The State of New York had been taken possession of in the names of Jesus and Mary its lands had been consecrated
world.
;

The week of the Lord's drear Passion had come she was to keep Palm Sunday and Holy
dark Indian eyes.
;

to the Immaculate Conception its children taught to say the Ave Maria or
;

Monday on
Easter with

earth, but her glad, eternal

St.

chant the Regina Cceli. In thirty-seven years the fierce Indians of the Five

Mary
was

in heaven.

The

Nations had learned to come in crowds to

the

on Tuesday. Father Cholenec would have anointed her then, but she told him she was not yet dying, and she passed that
holy
administered
night in fervent

Viaticum

new

Our was
St.

Loretto, and pray at the feet of Lady of Foie. St. Mary's Church

built in

Onondaga.

Another

still,

Lord and

his

communion with our " dear Mother. But on

Mohawks, soon occupied the very spot where Father Jogues was slain. The picture of her pure, sweet
Mary's of the
face

Wednesday," says the good father, "she received the last unction with her usual
and at three o'clock in the day, having uttered the holy names of Jesus and of Mary, she passed into her agony."
piety,

adorned the chapel

altar at

Cayuga

the

Mission House of the Immaculate

Conception stood in the midst of the Senecas a statue of the Virgin Mother
;

was erected
of the

in Oneida,

and the Sodality

In half an hour, without struggle or consciousness, she was asleep in Jesus. They did not pray for her when she

Holy Family won scores of that

people to its banner. The noble Mohawk women wore their beads with firm devotion,

had gone, but to her and many a cure and many a grace were obtained by her The holy bishop, Montintercession.
;

though the burghers of Albany

morency de Laval, as he knelt by her

grave, called her the Genevieve of New France they planted a tall cross above
;

displaying their popish trumpery" in the streets. One, stung past all patience by the taunts
for

threatened
"

them

of the boors,

went

into their temple

and

said her rosary aloud.^

The brave and

her ashes, where

did

it still

stands,

and there

American

Catholics,

natives

by a

(1) Shea's Indian Missions, p. 268.

m ^

>i

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
let

641

wise Garaconti^ was driven from that

temple

for

kneeling upon
Christians,
It

its

floor

to

but learning that she had done wrong, recalled him, and so won him by
;

recite his chaplet.

"What!" he

said,

her gentleness that he forsook his paganism.

men pray?"
his

and will not let was the aged Mohawk Assendas^, whose beads were torn from
neck,

"are you

And

another,

for her beads

mocked by the Dutch and her medal of St. Mary,

"
scorn,

said to

them with quiet

while the

raised

tomahawk
chieftain,

threatened his head, white with eighty " !" said the "old
years. "

tend to worship Jesus, yet wish to honor his Mother !"

You preme not

Strike

for this cause I shall

One woman

be glad to die." drove her husband from the

Such, nearly two hundred years ago, was the devotion to the Virgin Mother of God in New York.

lodge because he had destroyed her chap-

CHAPTER
Otm LADT
OB"

X.

LOKETTO OV THE HUE0N8.

September day, rather more than two centuries ago, a young man, a novice, sat in the garden of the Jesuits

One

fair

His name was Joseph Mary Chaumonot.

ary.

Rome, reading the narrative of Father John de Breboeuf. Two points, he tells
in
us,^

especially rivetted his attention. First, that in the land described, there

was no wheaten bread, no wine, nor any of the luxuries that sweeten European life, but there was abundance of sufferAnd second, that to instruct and ing.
convert the barbarous tribes of America, there was more need of humility, and
patience, and charity, and zeal for souls, than of great wit or very great learning. Then it struck the young man that such

Mother and pure fosterfather of the Redeemer he had always had a vivid devotion, even in the early part of his life, which had furnished him with abundant material for penance. So he turned to them to get him all the permissions that were needed to quit his
sinless

For the

be ordained, to leave Rome in time for the next missionary ship, and
studies, to

above

all,

to

make, on foot and begging

his bread, a pilgrimage to the holy shrine

of Loretto, there to offer himself to her in that house had given birth to God For he had made a vow to seek the Son.

who

a home and such a life were precisely what was best for him for he had a very
;

in all things the greater glory of

God,
the

under the

especial

protection

of

decided calling to the

(1)

life

of a mission-

Blessed Virgin Mary.

So, in October, he
1668.

Vie du R. P. Pierre Joseph Marie Cha/um<mot, de la Compagnie de Jems, eerite par luitrUme

La

par ordre de son Superiewr Tan

Another of

Shea's unappreciated gifts to American Catholic history.

81

*M

642

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGHT MART upon

his pilgrimage.

started
first

The very

not forsake them in their ruin, but led

the chief remnant of the tribe
Isle of Orleans,
first

day something
extreme

like the white swell-

to the

ing appeared in his

of
the

knee

hut in spite
daily

under the protection of

afterward,
to

pain,

growing

Quebec,
Loretto.
It

and,

the

new

worse by exercise, he for eight days marched on with heroic fortitude then
;

by the

St. Severino,

intercession of a holy person at during the Mass of his com-

expressed the unuttered wish of Oiler's heart, and with

he,

was

we know, who

Marguerite Bourgeoys, Judith de Bressole,

panion. Father Poucet, he was healed. They arrived in Loretto, and the vow was solemnly pronounced before the shrine,

Superior of the hospital, the Sulpi-

cian Father Souart, and

Madame Barbe

with

this additional

one

that, if it

were

possible, he would some day build in Canada a house upon the model of the

de Boulogne d'Aillebout, founded the Devotion of the Holy Family. While his Hurons were still in the city, he was
appointed chaplain of
arrived troops.
felt

De

Tracey's newly
his

sacred one wherein he was then praying. know that he fulfilled the second

He and

new charge
first,

We

some mutual
that he

distrust at

but

part of his vow at the Mission of the Indians of Loretto. During fourteen

when
idle,

the soldiers saw that he was never

was

in almost

constant
of

he was chaplain there during he was Huron missionary. forty-nine years

years
;

prayer, that he spoke with

them only
that

what

concerned

their

souls,

he

And

in the duties of this post

he sought

waited on their
intercession

sick,

saved them by hia

ill-treatment,

to accomplish the first obligation.

He

from

and

and the Ursulines and the Hospital Sisters reached Quebec together in 1639. Two days after his arrival he set out in a canoe for Lake Huron. His early instructors were Lallemont, Daniel, and
Brebceuf, the latter of

thought nothing of himself, they grew to love him. Soon he had them all at a
short night prayer, then saying a chaplet every night in honor of Jesus, Mary, and

whom

had

first

Joseph, and by-and-by enrolled the devotees of the Holy Family.

among

made known
whose Indian

to

him

his vocation,

and

name, Hechon, he inherited when Breboeuf went to heaven

Nay, one of them, a captain, became a priest and pastor of Port Royal, in Acadia
another became a lay brother in the

by

the bitter path of Iroquois torture. From that moment he was a Huron. He

Company

of Jesus.

never

left them, except for a journey to Montreal or Quebec on their business, except once to aid the Onondaga mission,

The next of his works was the founding of Our Lady of Foie, a shrine immediately sought by the devotion not only of the red men of the parish, but of the French

until his superiors called

last
illness.

him away

in his

from the neighboring city. The writers of

the day record several miracles of mercy wrought through the intercession of St.

He remained

with them

throughout their desperate and fatal struggle with the Five Nations, and did

Mary, and the Uttle chapel was enriched

m
with
gifts

NORTH AMERICA,

643

from Canada, and even from

Europe. The Indians, in gratitude for the

French and Indians together. The Hurona and the Christian Iroquois, of whom, by

had sent to Our Lady of Dinan a wampum belt, the first which
statue bestowed,

reached Europe in

tliis

way.

This one
field,

were many in the Reduction, bore the image of Our Lady, a copy of that in the ItaUan Loretto, in solemn
this time, there

bore, in black letters

on a white

legend, Beata quoe credidisti thou who hast believed" the words of St.

"Blessed
first

the
art

procession; the Superior of the Jesuits chanted the solemn High Mass and

Ehzabeth

to

Our Lady when

she was

preached, and vent devotion

all

hearts saluted with fer-

St.

Mary

of the Hurons.

saluted as Mother of the Lord,'

A second,

despatched to Loretto, bore the inscrip-

The shrine may still be seen, with some modern additions, but substantially the
same.
It stands

Ave Maria Oratia. It was received with aU honor, and, richly encased, was
tion,

between
is

two

upon an elevated point One of these gorges.

;

hung up in the Santa Casa at Loretto. " The canons received it with aU honor," writes the pious Chaumonot, "and I doubt
not that the Blessed Virgin gave it a still kinder reception, since a few years ago
she procured me botli the opportunity and the means of building a new Loretto in the forests of New France.* Ah Mother of Grace," he continues, " why can I not daily render thee a million acts
!

down
the
first

but thickly covered with vegetation the other, over rock and gnarled
heights,

roots, rushes the

foaming river. On all and on the sides of the

rises the

deep glen stand the houses of the

;

habitans

beyond these

remnant

of the aboriginal forests, and the blue, wavy outline of the distant mountains

forms the background of the picture. It is now called the "Ancienne Lorette ; Church
of the Annunciation of

of thanksgiving ? above all, when I have the happiness to celebrate the holy Mass.

Many

a favor,

Our Lady."* obtained by Mary's

in-

Were
all

it

permitted

me

here to set forth

tercession,

made
;

grateful hearts in this

the wretchedness, even spiritual, from which thy pity has rescued me, others

Reduction

many

a miracle aided the

would be excited to thank thee for me, and to have recourse to thee with confidence."

celebrity of the shrine which was now the only shelter of a once flourishing tribe.

Let us give one story here of Mary's pity, on the authority of Father Chausays it would requii-e a large volume to record them all ; of this one

purpose was known, the means soon followed land and labor, money from Canada, and silver lamps and
his
:

When

monot.

He

he was an eye-witness
thus
:

his legend runs

rich vestments

menced

was comJanuary, 1674, and finished and blessed the same year in November, The ceremony drew vast crowds of
It in
(1) Saint (2)

from France.

Mary Ouendraca was a Huron woman and a fervent Christian. Her husband,
Itaenhohi, and
(8)

two of her children

title.

one

Luke L

45.

See Illastration with this

Vie de Fere Ghaumonot, p. 91.

eti

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

five

iu

and one fifteen years old ^had died the bosom of the Church, and slept in

urged her, but she answered gravely,

father

graveyard of Our Lady of Foie. Some years after the removal to Loretto,
the
this

she was perfectly well. Still the good fancied this a dream of mere

delirium, which,

terrible

good Mary was smitten by one of the typhoid fevers which used to
;

she

sent

her

she had observed, children from the lodge

:

when

desolate the Indian villages in those days something analogous to the camp fevers

and told the priest as follows That, soon after he had gone out, two persons entered the lodge and took their places

which we hear of now. So completely reduced was she that her whole body

by her mat, one

side

at the side, the other,

was powerless, as if paralyzed the last sacraments had been given her, and her decease was momently expected. Should she die she must leave behind her her remaining children, John and Teresa. So, when human help had ceased to be of use, Father Chaumonot called the chil;

The one at the seemed a young woman or fuU" grown girl, and said, My mother, if you
httle boy, at the foot.

married woman, and John, a boy of fourteen to him, and the

a

dren

Teresa,

you will be healed." But Mary Ouendraca could not believe that any one from heaven would condescend to visit one so lowly as herself; and as mortals would not have appeared like these, she fancied them demons come to trouble her last hour,
robe,

will

touch the edge of

my

three united in a
gin, tnat if she

vow

to the Blessed Vir-

would be pleased to obtain the Master of Life the recovery of irom

the mother, they would say in her church nine chaplets of the Holy Family in thanks-

and she prayed to be rescued from them. But the young girl, with a sweet,
heavenly smile, brushed the edge of her robe across the sick woman's face, and
said,

they made this promise, the priest went away to the chapel to pray for the dying woman. In a few moments Teresa came to say
giving for the favor.
that her mother asked for Sechon.

When

And

There, mother, you are cured." then they disappeared. Then Mary

"

tried to

steal into

move, and confidence began to her heart as she found herself

He

mistress of her strength. walked to the door, tried

She rose and

all

her limbs,

arose and hurried to the cabin, recalling as he went the prayers for a departing soul.

As he entered
ence, a
la

the lodge, its mistress rose and received him with profound reverFrancaise, he teUs
us.

trembhng daughter for Chaumonot for the boy had fled from her as from a spectre. Then the good
;

and sent

her

He

priest understood that the gracious Queen of Heaven had heard their prayers, and

thought

this effort the last that

flickering of the light -'**c^-.CA-..i-^,i|(j expire forever. He urged

would make

the
ax

nature

had sent
her own
health.

to her lowly

Huron namesake
boon of

children,

with the

except once to

^^^^ ^^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^ until his superiors caixo.,^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ He remamea last iUness.
.

There were no degrees in the recovery, but Mary Ouendraca walked at

once to the church, there to offer her
thankiBgiving, perfectly restored.

^^

^^^.^

throughout their desperate Five Nations, struggle with the

IN

NOKTH AMERICA.

ft

So many and so marked indeed were the favors obtained through the intercession of the Mother of God, that the poor Indians were always regretting their

mouth, one heart with them, to render you praise and service and love. We
beseech them to offer for

name,

all

and in our the honors which they have ever

us,

and poverty, because they had no means of honoring her as they desired. Nevertheless, they determined to do what they could. They had sent a wampum belt to Foie and to Loretto they must send another, ad Yirginem
lowhness
;

It shall be they, for we paid to you. hope they will not refuse us, who shall

win your bounty for us their fervor compensating for our sluggishness, their knowledge for our ignorance, their riches -i^'i for our penury.
;

parituram, to Our Lady of Chartres for the Mission of Loretto, as well as that
;

of the Abnakis, had been united, by a "union of intention in prayer," to the So they grand cathedral in France.

Virgin, although yottf child has been born into the world, holy we will still honor you under that title of

"And, Holy

Virgo Paritura, so that you may deign to As we accept us also as your children.

made

as fine a belt as they could of black

and white wampum, and they wrought

richest dyes,

the edges in the finest quill-work, of the and the legend was, Virgini
it

honor you here in a house modelled upon that wherein you gave a human life to God, we hope that you will obtain a
spiritual life for us
;

so shall

you

be,

Paritur^ Votum Huronum, and they

sent

with this letter

fills

ever Virgin, our regeneratrix until Jesus be born anew in our hearts. This is what
of you, sending this wampum in testimony that we are bound to your
service."*

our hearts with joy, Holy Tirgin, that even before your birth, the city of Chartres built to your honor a

"It

we ask

To the Virwho shall bear a child.' Happy are gin they who have won the glory of being
shrine with this dedication,
'

The chapter of Chartres placed the Huron belt among the treasures of their
their poor Indian brethren

your
able

earliest servants.

Alas

incompar-

glorious cathedral, and were very kind to on the banks

Mother of God, it is quite otherwise with us poor Hurons we have the sorrow to have been the last to know you and to honor you. But we would do what lies in our power to make up for
;

of the St. Lawrence.

They

sent them,

among

well-filled reliquary.
silver, richly

other things, a very handsome, It was of massive

chased

upon one

side bear-

ing in high relief the kneeling figure of

past neglect of your service by fervent devotion now. This we desire to do, joinall

Our Blessed Lady, and of the Angel who

hand extends the
brings the Annunciation, who with one lily of purity, and with

ing ourselves to your children at Chartres, so that we may have but one mind, one
(1)

Those

who

are curious in these matters

letter in

the other points to the eternal Dove, hovering, white-winged, in the upper glory.
V(Eitx de

may

see

the original
site edition

John Gilmary Shea's exquiof Father Chanmonot's Autobiography.

Huron

(2)

Burons

et des

Abnaquis,

p. 1.

646

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

the other side

On

you see the hollow oak

wherein, on a low altar, sits the Virgin with the Holy Child in her arms. On the base of the altar
is

and the dead, an anthem to the most pure Mother, and the Angelus. Thus closed the day, and then the stars
for the living

a legend, Yirgini Pari-

turcB} This was received with great gratitude, and on the feast of All Saints, 1680, it was exhibited for the veneration of

reigned in heaven or, if the clouds made the midnight more profound, the Indian children of Mary slept in secure humility
;

beneath the shadow of her shrine in the

Loretto of the forest.

Sermons were preached in French and Huron the reliquary was incensed and placed within the niche prepared for it, and Our Lady was thanked
the faithful.
;

Missionary to the Hurons for more than fifty years, the hour for Father

Chaumonot's
sion.

rest

must be

at hand.

There

for this as for

other favors, by the mhigled

voices of French and Indians chanting the

Ave Maris Stella. The daily life at Loretto was more

are successors, capable men, for the misPart of his daily duty was to teach the Huron language for at least half an
hour,^ but at length the superior thought him too much worn for further labor, and recalled

like

that of a reUgious community than of a village of poor Indians who depended

him

to the tranquilUty of the

upon

the chase for their support.

Morn-

college, in 1692.

What

else

we know

ing prayer, Mass, and general examination in the chapel occupied the leisure of the forenoon catechism and instruc;

him is not from his autobiography, written in obedience and for humility, but is from the work of a cotemporary
of
father

could attend, with visit to the Blessed Sacrament, sanctified the

tion of those

who

who knew him and watched

his

afternoon

and when the sun was

setting,

declining years, as he passed hfe to holier, in the college of

from holy

Our Lady

the sound of the bell called the canoe to

of Angels.

He had

passed the limit

the shore, and bade the loitering hunter hasten from the forest to end the day

usually allotted to man, the threescore years and ten. In 1689, on the Feast of

with prayer.

Then, when

all

were gath-

ered, they sang vespers on feast days,

Joachim, the second day of the Octave of Our Lady's Assumption (Aug. 15), he
St.

They sang in alternate choirs, in Indian and in Latin, their evening devotions. There was a
a short examination of conscience, the beads of the Blessed Virgin or of the Holy
Family, the Pater, Ave, Credo, Gonfiteor, he Commandments, iand other prayers
(1)
lur<y,'

and other prayers on

ferise.

chanted, in the cathedral of Quebec, his " Mass of fifty years." Half a century had he been priest, and had broken the Bread of Life to " the souls that hungered
in the wilderness."

Falling sick at

last,

the old
sion,

man was summoned from his

mis-

but as soon as he had somewhat

We

ur un Beliquaire donne en 1680 aux de Lorette en la ITouvelle Fratwe par le Chapide Viglue de Chartres, par M. DmMet de BoUthiJfotiee

recovered, he craved permission to return.

(2)

His Huron grammar was the basis of

all

other

bauU.

Extrait de la Remie Areheologique, XV'. antUe.

Northern Indian grammars, and the text-book of the

missionary.

Paris, A. I^-lenx, 1858.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
diocese whereof this venerable shrine
stately abbeys
is

647

They put him

until

off until the Feast of the

cathedral, nine

Immaculate Conception, and from that Epiphany, and then they needed no more excuses. His rapidly breaking
system told him that Loretto and he were parted forever. So he prepared
himself by ceaseless prayer and meditation,

and

forty-five parish

churches are dedi-

cated

by name

to the Blessed Virgin, and her venera-

tion traces back,

of Christianity

itself.

by reverent tradition, beyond tlie date There is nothing requiring a very

unusual stretch of faith or credulity in the tradition. The argument is briefly this: That all peoples' had a
tradition

of a virgin
;

who

should bear a child, the

Saviour of the world

that the Druids in Gaul were the

and

offering

up of

his sufferings,
;

from acute gravel, to his crucified Lord and on the morning of the nineteenth of January, he took leave of the world
without a moan, entering the new life with the words " Jesus, Mary, Joseph!"

learned of the day, the holders of all religious tradition as well as its ministers, and that Chartres was the head-

Such is the argument for its and the legend is as follows The cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres stands upon a hill once covered with the sacred oak grove wherein
quarters of Drnidism.'
probability,
:

the

centre of the

Dmids worshipped their god Tentates.* In the wood was a cavern or vast grotto where

on

his lips.

"We conclude

this

chapter with the

the sunlight scarcely penetrated, and where the sombre mysteries of the Druidio idolatry were celebrated.

promised Note, on the especial patroness of our early Indian Missions, Our Lady
of Chartres.
Note.
jrlise

There, says the legend, one hundred years before the Saviour's birth, did Priscus, king of Chartres, gather his
warriors, bards, orators and priests, to see erected,

by

command

"

L'anciennetfi, la devotion et le service de

of the Druidic college, an altar, bearing the Image of a Woman with a Child in her arms, and the "
inscriptiou,

I'fi-

To

thjb

cath6drale de Nostre

Dame de

Chartres I'ont rendiie

. . .

CniLD."

Vreonfi PAmTnR.E.

Viegin who shall bring fokth a. The altar was set up,

sainte et venerable k tons les Chrestiens

C'est ce

qui a

mou

la piete des roys

nos pred6cesseurs, la dotter

land,

and Priscus the king solemnly consecrated himself, his and his people forever to her who should bear the
" Desire of
all

do plusieurs fonds et domainos, faveurs et privoleges, et

par leur charitfes, liberalites, magnificence royalle, la
8. Fslbert qni void i prfeseut." So speaks the most Christian King Louis the Thirteenth when founding in this famous cathedral, in 1638,

Nations."

When,

then, the first heralds

restablir et la reediffler des le

estoit evesque

temps de

of the truth, S.S. Potentianus, Altinus, and Sabinianus arrived in this country and announced that She, so
there, had come, and had borne "Emanuel, with us," the hearts of the Caruutes, long prorude church pared, received tlio message gladly.

en

en

I'estat qu'elle se

honored

God
was

a perpetual requiem Mass

for the soul of his fatlier

Henri

built within the grotto, the very

image sculptured

Quatre. "The antiquity, devotion, and service of the cathedral church of Our Lady of Chartres have ren-

by pagan

fingers

was

blessed,

and the land became

Mary's, to the greater glory of her Eternal Son.

dered
is

it

holy and venerable to

all

Christians.

This

it

which has moved the kings our predecessors

it

to en-

dow

with many foundations, domaines, favors, and

When Constantine gave peace to the Church, and the Empire of the Caasars became Christendom, the grove was cut down, and a church, still modest and poor, was
erected
Gallic Christians flocked,

privileges,

and by their charities, liberalities, and royal magnificence to re-establish and re-edify it from the days of St. Fulbert who was its bishop, in the condition that

upon the summit of the hill. Hither tlie early and here our Blessed Lady

we

see

it

in to-day.'"

ter of the earth in

For Chartres yields to no quardevotion to the Mother of God. In the

was pleased to manifest her maternal love for the unfortunate human brethren of her Son. The crowds of
worshii)pers gradually augmented, and various structures succeeded to the primitive buildings as the necessity of the times required. At length, in 1020j the Bishop,

(1) Lettres patentes

de Louis

XIH.

(qnid BoUthi-

hault, p. 69.

For a remarkable instance among the American p. 503, Orsini's Life B. V. M., chap. 1, and I'Abbe Henrion's Notre Dame de France,
(2)

Indians, see this work,

(3) Hi (Druides) certo anni tempore in flnibns Ccvrnutum, qua) regie, totius Gallias media habetur, considunt in loco consecrato. G.sab de Bel. Oal., iv. 13, 14.

pp. 184-192.

(4) Tacitus, Oermania.

648

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

aided by the devout largosso of Robert of Knut the Great, of Denmark and England,

Fnlbert,

stroyed by our

modern

political

and

social reformers.

France,

Richard of Normandy, William of Aquitaine, Eudes of

and other sovereign princes, laid the magnificent foandatioDs of the actual cathedral, and finished
Chartres,

however, the church was enriched with other treasures, which happily escaped the rage of the Revolution. There was a statue called Our Lady of
Besides
this,
tlio Pillar
;

vaulting the grotto which thus church.

beoame the crypt of the

is

dren.

The

long a vehicle of Mary's graces to her chilstone pedestal on which it stands has been
kisses of the devout,
es

worn hollow by the

In the orypt-church, which

tinder Ground,
is

known

as

Our Lady's

on the base
est in

is,

Tota pulchra

arnica

mea

and the legend et macula non

is

niche over the

altar.

preserved the antique statue, in a The image was of wood, the

fe.^" Thou art

is also,

all fair,

my

beloved, there

no

spot in thee."

original color long since destroyed

lights

by the smoke of wax-

There
such as

since the year 870, an Oriental veil,

great age. The Virgin was represented as seated in a chair and holding upon her knees lier Divine Son, who holds the globe of the earth in His left

and

its

in the East, and which is said to have been Our Lady's. It was given to the church by Charles the Bald ; it has received the veneration of all
is still

worn

hand, and with Ilis right bestows the benediction. The Blessed Virgin is crowned. And there rested the statlie Druids had placed it, until the progressive republicanism of 1794 overthrew the shrine, tore the image from its niche, heaped outrage

centuries since then, even of our

own

and

in 1855, the

tue where the hands of

eloquence of the great Bishop of Poitiers chose it for one theme of his discourse, when the statue of Notre

Dame was
possess,

solemnly crowned in that year. Many another sacred treasure does this grand old temple

and insult upon it, and then burned it publicly at the door of the noble temple which piety had raised in its
lienor.

and simple and poor, yet honored among them, you may still see the wampum belts of the Abenaki of
:La7{^]{9)xi&,

That which

is

now

seen in the cathedral

is

aad tbtPnrWiQ^ JUu'etto.'

i')

only a copy of the antique image, so consLstently de-

)D

fffirrf"!

'A

I?:t'>

fjlr

faevr ada neffw (nor+fraiirR^

'.od

-gaS

jiulmit!

I./L0J1J

luivnujuj

CHAPTER XL
WHAT
tU*IB OP IT

i(j(

.OITB

lady's ASSimPTIOK OF A.D. 1790, AND

A MISSIONAEY

PEIKCE.

Destined to temper, if possible, the absolute freedom of the one, and to serve as a refuge from the horrors of the

Catholic France.

Dubois, Flaget, Davia,

Badin,

Dubourg, Marechal, Cheverus, Richard, Salmon, and their companions,,

lay the foundations of this country's true indebtedness to the land of St. Louis.

Church in the United States appears serenely between the American and the French revolutions. The first
other, the

name
a

in the hierarchy of this republic is

n^e from the Declaration of Indethe first clergy under the pendence
;

Stephen Badiu^ is to be the first six others priest ordained in America are to be bishops, one afterwards a carthese,
;

Of

dinal

;'

Abb6 Salmon

is
;

to die of cold

jurisdiction of Carroll are those whom fetterless tiger passions drive from old
(1)

and

wounds, in the

snow

Gamier

shall

see his plaisant pays de .France again, and,

(2)

Vide Notre

Dame de Prance

ou Vhistoire du culte

it la Sainte Vierge enFrcmee depuis Voriginedu Gkristianirme jusqyC d nog jours. Province eeclesiastique de
Paris,

(3)

Stephen Badin, ordained at Baltimore, 1793. John Lefevre Oheverus, Bishop of Boston, 1810
;

of Montauban, 1818
Cardinal, 1886.

Archbishop of Bordeaux, 1826

;
'

par M.

le

Cure de Saint-Sulpice.

Vmux

des

Hu-

ron*, etc., etc.

IN

NOETH AMERICA.
of
find

64

end
St.

his

labors

as superior-general

that of the

midsummer morning which

first

Sulpice,

and the others are to

gave their
States.

Bishop to the United

the place of their rest in the land which their toils have consecrated.

So that France, the pioneer of ChrisSpaniard in Louisiana, and sacred conqueror of Canada, sends
the
first

The day was not unhappily chosen. For the discovery and consecration of the land from Maine to Florfrom the Chesapeake to CaUfornia, by the servants of Mary, and the solemn dedication of it to her name, may be
ida,

tianity, heir of the

company

of soldiers of

Mary

to

reduce to the submission of

God

the cen-

tre of this vast northern continent.

likened to her Nativity the growth of the French and Spanish churches is

Nevertheless, it is this act of the sacred

England that drama opens. In

in

her beautiful

Then come the youth. dark times of Puritanic conquest, the

the centre of a well-watered valley, running downward through Dorsetshire to the

destruction of the Catholic missions, and the disappearance of the Catholic Indians,
as the dark time of her sorrows

Channel, stands the antique castle of Lulworth, a Gothic pUe of four round towers united by massive battlemented curtains.
This was the home,
first

from the

Flight into

Egypt

until the Crucifixion.

of the

Norman de

King John's days, of the princely Newburghs then of the Bindon

;

LoUeworths

in

lastly of the Welds, sprung from Edric the Wild. For these a home, for
;

Ho wards

rising of the Church on the Feast of her meetly Assumption, when she went up into the " the presence of the King her Son, and King rose up to do her reverence, and

And now
is

the

new

visible

they set a throno for the King's Mother,

othei's a

temporary refuge.

For here the

of

and she sate at

his right hand."*

austere

monks

of

Our Lady

La Trappe

So

that

from

that

Feast

of

Our

found a shelter when driven from their

mountain
culottes;

forests

and

by the merciless sans effort later, by another

equality,

Blessed Lady's Assumption in the castle chapel of old Lulworth, unto that which
has been celebrated this year throughout the length and breadth of North America,
the devotion to

after universal

the old walls

became the abode of the royal house of France, before they moved to that castle of sadder and darker history, the Scottish
Holyrood.* It was the scene of
in olden days, as
it

Mary has grown steadily

is

scarcely a county without a church to her name ; scarcely a

and now there

many a hard fight when de Clare stormed

;

square mile from the Gulf to the Arctic Ocean wherein that name has not at
least

been proclaimed.

In that short

for the

its

Empress Matilda but none of memories can interest us so much as

Bernard Burke's " Landed Gentry," Article,

space of a single human life, seventy-two " the least has become a thousand, years,
adoravitque earn, et eedit super thronum suum ; positusque est throans matri regis qaes sedit ad dezteram
regis.

(1) Sir

Weld.
iii., Regum : Venit ergo Bethsabee ad ReSaloraonem; et surrexit rex in ocoursum ejus: gem

(2) Lib.

82

4N

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIKGIN MARY

and the
tion."i

little

one a most strong na-

placed by four independent and unintercommunicating powers under her pecu-

The holy de Montfort,' if we remember rightly, applies to Our Lady those words of the Song of Songs: "As the appletrees
is

patronage and protection ? Then, with this for the divinely ordered startliar

among

my

the trees of the wood, so beloved among the children of

ing-point, let us look to see whether the other means, the zeal of the ministry,

men

;'" and says that she shall come to unite in herself almost all the venera;

has been commensurate, in its degree of course, with the clear grace bestowed by

by man to saints or at least shall be acknowledged as supereminently worthy of it in every part of Christendom. And we seem to see the fulfilment of this declaration in North America. In Europe, every town and village has its own patron, who absorbs most of the
tion paid

adopted as principles,*^ at the outset of this work, that a devotion advances in proportion

our eternal Eather.

We

own merits and to the ministry who propagate it.

to its

ardor of the

The whole
"
Life,"

of this great book, Orsini's noble

and our own humble continuation, is an exhibition of the merits of Mary, and we
have seen the
latest illustrious historian

but in this people country, placed under her especial prodevotion of

the
;

tection

by Spaniard and Frenchman, by emigrant Englishman, and American in

fresh
flush

of America, puritan though he be, supporting us in our claims for the early

new independence, the whole devotion of the people nearly concentrates in her or turns, for her
the
of
;

pioneer servants of Mary in the land. Let us begin by stating what they have done in a single evident way for this
beautiful
as Kenelm Digby would say, the way of churches. There are many churches of Our

devotion

Bake,

to Saint

Anne among

the Cana-

dians,* or to Saint
faithful in the

Joseph among the United States, .ml, ju

Catholic
land,

Blessed

Lady unknown
;

to this writer.

What

antique

even

Of

seven dioceses in the British Posses-

Spain or Ireland, can show what this country shows, even by the extremely imperfect record of the almanac, one
church in every Jive bearing the beautiful and enduring name of the Mother of Our

sions he has

no account but with

all this,

and with the great imperfection of such records as he has, he still can give the
following
list

of Mary?s shrines in North

America.

Lord and of us

What

territory,

of

There are (1862) nine dedications to

one tenth the vastness, has ever been

(1) Isaias Ix. 22. (2)

Mary Help

of Christians, nine to

Mary
;

"T^^TtiuT^mnmmrn^vum
KiAer
:

and great for his nnworthiness to address

directly

and

See Dr. Nelligan's "Saintly Characters."

New

York.

so as other Catholics plead througli the maternity of Mary to the Heart of Jesus, the Canadian implores the

(8) Sicut

inter Alios.
(4)

Cant.

mains inter ligna silvamm,

ii.

sio dilectns

mens

maternity of

St.

Anne

to intercede with the Heart of

3.

Mary.
(6)

great devotion to

The voyagenr gives as reverential reason for his 8t Anne, that Oar Lady is too lofty

See page 645.

NORTH AMERICA.

051

Star of the Sea, two to Mary Refuge of Sinners, seven to the Sacred Heart of

Mary. There are sometimes only one, sometimes as many as four, to Our Lady
of the Port, of the Isle, of the Cataract, of the Gulf, of the River, of the Rocks, columha in foraminihus petrce,^ Our Lady

under new difficulties and trials peculiar to their position, extending to the people who surround them their own earnest
devotion to

God and Mary. Coeval with

the consecration of Bishop Carroll, the Daugliters of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Portage, of the Snows, of the Woods, of the Lake, of the Desert. There is Our Lady of La Salette, of
of the
Belen, of Levis, and nine of Guadalupe. Again, we have Our Lady of Light, of

Maryland suffering from poverty almost extreme, fasting eight months in the year, sleeping on straw, obtaining a
in

were

modification of their cloistered austerity to enable them to become teachers,* and

offering perpetual prayer forithe country wherein they came to dwell.

Grace, of Good Help, of Refuge, of Good Hope, of Prompt Succor. There are

The Poor Clares

;

followed, but did not

Our Lady of Victories, three to Our Lady of Consolation, five to Our Lady of Loretto, seven to Our Lady of
four to

continue long when they declined, the Visitation of Our Lady took their place.

Angels, nine of the Rosary, seven of the Good Shepherd, sixteen of Our Lady of

Long, long ago among the mountains of Chamblais, there stood an ancient shrine
of the Blessed Virgin,

resorted to

by

Mercy, twenty-one of Sorrows, twenty" two of Carmel, thirty-one to Our Lady,"

simply.
'

Here, gradually, certain pious pilgrims. hermits gathered, as in Switzerland they

clustered about the famous
Einsiedeln,

J!'

-i^i-'U

Abbey

of

There are three churches of the Mother

of God, five of the Purification, eleven of the Nativity, fourteen of the Annunciation, sixteen of the Visitation,
fifty of

Geneva had given them

mits of the Visitation.

and the saintly Bishop of for title. Her-

Afterwards, when Frances de Chantal formed Saint Jane

the Assumption, one hundred and fortyfive of the Immaculate Conception, and
three hundred and sixty-seven which are simply called Saint Mary's.

her congregation at Annecy, in Savoy, St. Francis de Sales called them the Order
of the Visitation of
their rule

Our Lady.*
of Bishop

It

was

and
her

title

which Miss Alice

Neale,
sister;

In all, there stand in North America, in honor of its Patroness, more than
eight hundred churches.

Lalor,

by

direction

adopted

for

new American

growth has come about in so short a time we are about to look We are to see the at more in detail.
swift
priest

How this

hood in Georgetown, A.D. 1814 and now between three and four hundred of
these daughters of Mary teach reverence to her name in these States. j

and the religious, the energy of man and the patient labor of woman,
(1)

Already the Sisters of Charity were

(2)

My
ii.

dove in the

clefts

of the rock.

Song of Sol-

De Conrcy's

in Ilistory of the Catholic Oharcli

th
+

United States,
(3)

p. 88.
,4

vmon

14,

Approved by Pope Urban VIII., 1926.


at Emmittsburg wliere

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

with their
not
venerable

foundress, Mother Seton, 1809.

are

they

Their
their

To-day orphan

by them, the Devotion to Our Tjady followed the course of the great natiu-al boundaries of this mighty land. Flowing westward from the bay which the first missionaries called St. Mary's from
;

asylums and schools, their barrack near the

their presence.

hospitals,

battle-field

mark

there are no longer in this whole vast country, we believe, unless

And

the
St.

town which
;

its first

settlers

called

perhaps in

New
it

England, many who

its

do not know and reverence the darkrobed form as

moves on
streets.

errand of
to all

devotion, Mary's checked, as might be supposed, by the chain of mountains, by Alleghany, and Cumberland, and Blue Ridge, divided
into three streams.

this

river

of

mercy through the

;

Add

One of these streams

these, the fervent priests, so few at first the early bishops, penniless, in number

ran northward, as if to seek the old wells of devotion among the red men and the

sometimes

barely

clothed,

and
;

often

French

and

this

soon carried on

its

without light or
ing
train

fire in

winter

travers-

distances

on

horseback
all this

that

we

grumble

at passing over in the railway

;

saintly Cheverus to hear through the gloom of the wood the song Magnificat and the Salve Regina from the lips

bosom a

now

enduring

cheerfully

of our old friends the ever-faithful Abenaki.

Sum and heroically as we all these and we begin already to up observe that Devotion to Mary in Central North America is to rival the Devoshall

soon see.

second ran southward, to

visit

tion of the Canadas.

an interval of two centuries, the spots where the blood of Jesuit and Carmelite, of Augustinian and Franciscan^ had mingled to baptize the Carolinas.
again, after

Bishop Carroll found himself spiritual governor of all the territory then owned

And

the

third followed the course of

la belle Riviere,

and flowed with

its

yel-

by

the United States, and his missionstarted

as

aries

from

Baltimore for

the

West

one would strike out to sea

low waters through the fertile heart of the land, to the river wherein De Soto had been buried, and to which Marquette had given its

alone in a bark canoe.

forest surged

For the uncut

name

of Immaculate

around them with its vast the Indian, gi<6li" iwaves of verdure lurked in its dim rerarely friendly, the road was oftenest no clearer cesses
;
;

Conception^b rbw In eighteen years, sixty-eight priests and eighty churches formed too heavy a

than a hunter's trail or a forsaken deer-

were scholarly men, nurtured in European habits, neBut in the cessities, ideas of distance.
pjjIbtirlThey themselves
precise spirit of Marquette, Joguos, Breboeuf, they put their trust in God and

Bishop of Baland the sees of New York, timore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Bardstown in. Kentucky, were established. Let us look at a type or two of the men who led these
missions.

burden

for the venerable

As

early as 1795 there

was

one Father Smith

for

who was
district

went wheresoever He

directed.

Borne

an

enormous

in

missionary western

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

653

Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. There, for forty-one years, he toiled in

humble
Ufe

faithfulness

from

thence

his his

ment of his son in the road of preferment and worldly honor, was resolved to give him an education worthy of his exalted
birth and brilliant prospects. Religion formed no part of the plan of the father,
'

soul ascended to the

judgment which

had merited.

It will not be uninter-

esting to consider some points in the life of this servant of Mary, this glorious,

who was
rot.

a proficient in the school of Gallic infidelity, and the friend of DideIt was carefully excluded. Special was taken not to suffer any minister

although

unrenowned

pioneer of

her

honor in

this country. This Father Smith, missionary of Ha-

care

gerstown

and

Cumberland

in

Mary-

of religion to approach the study-room of the young prince. He was surround-

land, of Martinsburg and Winchester in Virginia, of Chambersburg and the Al-

ed by

infidel teachers.

His mother, a

Catholic

by birth and early education, was

Pennsylleghany mountain sweep of far and thence southward vania,

in
;

seduced into seeming Voltairianism by the court fashion of her native country,

more, in a word, than what

now

consti-

and her marriage with Prince Demetrius

confirmed her habits of apparent
ity
;

tutes the entire diocese of Pittsburg ; this rival of Gomez in the south, and of

infidel-

we say

apparent, for she retained,

Chatelet, a fer-

Father Chaumonot

in the north

this

even in the salons of Paris and in the

society of

founder of Our Lady of Loretto in the centre of the continent, was not always known as Father Smith. In his own
country, the vast Muscovite empire, then ruled by the Czar Alexander I.,

Madame du

vent devotion to Saint Augustine, that gi-and doctor of the Church who had

been a great

he was known as the Prince Augustine de Gallitzin. His father. Prince Demetrius Gallitzin, was ambassador of Catherine the Great, to Holland at the time
His mother, of the missionary's birth. the Princess Amelia, was daughter of
that famous

worldling and heretic. the marriage of the elder Gallitzin After with the Prmcess Amelia, he brought
infidel

her to Paris and introduced her to his

literary
friends,

especially

to

Diderot, in whose

company he

delighted.

This philosopher endeavored to win the

princess over to his atheistical system ; but though she was more than indifferent

Field-marshal Count von

illustrates

Schmettau who

the military annals of Frederick the Great, ut jiybxji'J

on the subject of
of his reasoning.

religion,

her naturally
that

strong mind discovered the hoUowness

It

wae decorated in his very cradle with military titles, which destined him from his birth to the
Gallitzin

The young

was remarked

she would frequently puzzle the philosopher by the little interrogative whyt

highest

High

posts in the Russian army. in the favor of the Empress Cathe-

And

as he

could not satisfy her ob-

jections, she

was determined

to

examuie
she

haughty and ambitious nobleman, dreaming only of the advancerine, his father, a

thoroughly the
I

grounds having no religion Though

of revelation.
herself,

9H
was determined
in one
;

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

to instruct her children

religions,

caused the

governments of

she opened the Bible merely for

the piu'pose of teaching her children the historical part of it. The beauty of re-

vealed truth, notwithstanding the imped-

Austria and Prussia to issue a very strict order disqualifying all foreignei's from In consequence of this military offices. order the young Prince de GalUtzin was

iment of

indiflference

mind being sometimes strike of that mould which, according to Tertullian, is

herher

and

unbelief,

would

Russia not taking any part in the war against France, there was no occasion offered to him for pursuing the
excluded.
profession of arms for which he had been It destined by his military education.

naturally Christian.
called her

^r,4i terrible illness

mind back

she saw the truth and beauty ; of the Catholic faith, and she returned
fo
to the protection of

God

was therefore determined by

the grand tour.

his parents

that he should travel abroad and

make
mean
he

Mary on the Feast

He was
and
lest,

allowed two
in the

of St. Augujjtine, in the week following the Octave of Our Lady's Assumption.
^,

years to travel
time, his

acquirements, the fruits of a

-It is

to the

happy

influence

example of his mother, to God, we must mainly ascribe the conversion of the
illustrious

and bright whom, under

very finished education,

might

suffer,

young Demetrius, As the Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, consoled the mother of Augustine, when that it was impossible he used to say
' '

was placed under the guidance of the Rev. Mr. Brosius, a young missionary then about to embark for America, with whom
his studies .iWQ?^ to

be

still

continued.

In the company of this excellent clergyman he reached the United States in

1792.

for a son

to he

hst for

whom

so

many

tears were shed;" so

we may
,

believe that

The next we need

see of

him

is

as a

the pious Furstenberg, her son's tutor,

cheered, in a .similar

manner,

this

good

seminarian with the Sulpicians in BalIn this timore, November 5, 1792.

lady, in her intense soUcitude for a son whom she so tenderly loved.

moment

of his irrevocable sacrifice of

the age of seventeen the young prince was I, r^peiviefi,,, into the Church.
was, in the year 1792, appointed aide-de-camp to the Austrian General

At

himself to God, the feelings of his inmost soul may be gathered from a letter

He

Lihep, who commanded an army in Brabant at ,tl^e opening of the first cam-

Von

which he wrote at the time to a clergyman of Munster, in Germany. In it he begs him to prepare his mother for the step he had finally taken, and informs him that he had sacrificed himself, witli
all that

paign against the French Jacobins. The sudden death of the Emperor Leopold, and the murder of the King of Sweden

he possessed, to the service

91",,^

the salvation of his neighbor jpi,! America, where the harvest was so great

God and

by Ankerstrom, bpt^ suspected

to be the

work

of,

the Freiich Jacobins

,

who had
.all

and the laborers so few, and where the missionary had to ride frequently forty and.
fifty

declared

war against

all

kings and

miles a day, undergoing difficulties

IN

NORTH AMERIOA.

65S

and dangers of every description. He adds, that he doubted not his call, as he was willing to subject himself to such
arduous labor.
Father Etienne Badin was the
priest
first
;

church, of some twenty-five or thirty feet, was sufficient for a considerable time for

the

first little

flock that

worshipped

aci-

ordained in the United States

cording to the faith of their fathers on the Alleghany. He commenced his colony with twelve heads of families ; he
left

Prince Gallitzin was the second, and he,

behind him when he died six thou-

was settled for life in the then bleak and savage region of the From his post to Lake A.Ileghanies.
as early as 1799,

sand devotees of Mary.

from the Susquehanna to the Potomac, there was no priest, no church, no religious station of any kind. Think,
Erie,

But the population grew rapidly, allured by the saintly reputation of Father Smith. It was he who jmrchased enor
'

mous

tracts of land,
mill,

and saw

he

who built the grist who found himself op-

then, of the inevitable labors and privations of this missionary and again un;

Of pressed by debt in hifi old age. course he expected his father's inheritance,

derstand

how

the devotion to

Mary has

and when that prince died

in

spread over North America.

During long missionary excursions, frequently his bed was the bare floor, his pillow the saddle, and the coarsest
and most forbidding
fare constituted his

1803, he was pressed to quit his beloved Loretto and go to claim his rights in
Russia.

His mother and friends u;"ged

him

to

come

his

prelate
;

was on the

he was always repast. in feeble health, always infirm and delicate in the extreme, and it was ever a
to this, that

Add

point of commanding h'm but when he met Bishop Carroll, he gave reasons for remaining among his lock which that
prelate could not in the end refute.

matter of wonder to others

how

the

little

stated that he

had caused a great

He num

he ate could support nature and hold together so fragile a frame as his. A
veritable imitator of Paul,

ber of Catholic families to settle in a

wild and uncultivated region, where they formed a parish of a considerable size j
that

"

he was in

labor and painfulness, in watching often,

the

Legislature

had proposed to

hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in ^^*'^'cold and nakedness."^ When he first began to reside permanently on this mountain, in 1779, he found not more than a dozen Catholics, scattered here and there through a trackin
*'

establish there a county seat, and that numbers still continued to flock thither.

The Bishop
his

at length

'

remaining, another in his place.

acquiesced 'ih as he could not send

fi

lly

The

apostolic mis-

less forest.

He
left

first settled

on a farm

sionary then wrote to his mother, that whatever hb might gain by the voyage,

generously by the Maguire family for the maintenance of a priest. rude log

a temporal point of view, could not, in his estimation, be compared with the loss
in

list

(1) 2 Cor. xi.

i/j'iii

of a single soul that might be occasioned ''' ''-'>^'"^ by his absence.

'

''

656

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIKGIN MARY

Three
centuries

gone, it would have been in vain, for the Emperor and Senate of St. Petersburg settled the question b)- disinheriting him for "having embraced the CathoUc faith and clerical profession."

Had he

ago they gave

their

bodies to be burned, their heads to the

scalping-knife, their finger-joints to the teeth of the Iroquois later, they give
;

with his

Nevertheless, he hoped to share sister who had inherited all.

and fortunes, counting them as nothing if so they might win souls

their lives
'lyiijom * led ai bt'scogooo'. Let his friend and biographer teU the secret of all this, and thus show what a

to Christ.

And

she did supply him, until the ruined German Prince de Solm, whom she had

married,
his

made way with her

his

fortune as

he had done with

own.

Then came

Muscovite prince can have in with this book

:

common

days of debt, dreariest of all days to men. But he lived so that none should

"As

he had taken for his models the

Lives of the Saints, the Francis of Sales,

the Charles Borromeos, the Vincents of Paul, so like them he was distinguished

but himself. drank nor was clothed at the expense His or loss of any creditor or others.
suffer

He

neither ate nor

was often but some black bread and a few vegetables coffee and tea were
fare
;

unknown

luxuries in those times.

His

home-made and of the most homely description his mansion was a

clothing was
;

and lively devotion to the and he lost no opportunity of extolling the virtues of Mary. He endeavored to be an imitator of her as she was of Christ. He recited her
for his tender

Blessed Virgin

miserable log hut, not denied even to the poorest of the poor. With the prodigal

rosary every evening among his household, and inculcated constantly on his people
this

admirable devotion, and

exercises in

all

the other

son of the Gospel, but in a most meritorious and heroic sense, he could say " How many hired servants in my father's
:

honor of Mary. The church in which he said daily mass, he had dedicated under the invocation of
pious
this ever-glorious Virgin,

house have plenty of bread, and perish with hunger !'"

"

here

whom
It

all

nain

tions
sixty-

were to

call blessed.

was

Being now," he

"
says,

in

my

seventh year, burthened, moreover, with the remnant of my debts, reduced from

honor of Mary, and to place his people under her peculiar patronage, that he
gave the name of Loretto to the town he founded here, after the far-famed

$18,000
spend

to about $2,500, I

had better
if

my

few remaining years,

any, in

trying to pay off that balance, and in

wave of
coast,

Loretto, which, towering above the blue the Adriatic, on the Itahan
exhibits to the Christian pilgrim

preparing for a longer journey." . jOn that Loretto of his love he expended

from the wreck of his fortune $150,000.

hallowed and magnificent temple which contains the sainted shrine of

the

So

is

it

with the
a)
St.

servitors

of

Mary

Mary's humble house, in which she

(2)

at

Naz-

Lake's Qospel zr.

Omnia detriiuentum

ut Chiistiim lucrilaciain.

Phil.

feni et
iii.

arbitror ut stercora
8.

IN NORTH AMERICA.
areih heard announced the mystery of the Incarnation, and which the mariners, as

657

authorized

him

to

form

an auxiliary
in this pas-

society of priests to aid

toral labor.

him

they pass to encounter the perils of the deep, or return in safety from them, joyous hymn, Ave For, like St. John, he recognized in her a mother recommended to him by the words of the dying Jesus
salute, chanting the
Stella !
'

He

accordingly associated
pious

with himself four

clergymen, with

and devoted

whom

he lived a regular
seminary for over
''i

Maris

community
a year.

life

in the

"

He

saith to the disciple,

mother!"

And

so,

Behold thy when the frame was

a few years prea community of a different kind viously, had been founded in the same diocese,
this time, or

About

worn out in her service and her Son's, he went up to see her face on high.^
Proceeding
in the order

by the Very Rev, Mr. Dujarier, one of

the venerable survivors of the Revolution.

proposed to

It consisted of a

band of devoted
aspir-

ourselves, give the first place to that which bears the name of Our Lady.

we

men, mostly young, who, without

ing to the ecclesiastical state, yet, animated by a true zeal to labor for God's
glory and the salvation of souls, had formed themselves into a religious com-

OUR LADY OF THE LAKE.

town of Mans, in Catholic France, a holy and devoted priest, Moreau, was professor of dogma in the seminary and canon of the cathedral in the town. He was eloquent, zealous, and one of the grandest
ago, in 1834, in the old

Not long

munity under the

title

of the Brothers

of St. Joseph, consecrating themselves to the Christian education of youth, and

having no higher aim than to imitate the humble and hidden life of their holy
'

patron.

preachers in France. He gave up much of his time to preaching retreats that is, to the leading of his flock away from
;

Then, two years

self-sacrifice

later,

moved by

the

the world, to the

still

quiet pastures and waters," where is the presence of

"

of these good men, some pious and devoted women of the humbler class of society offered themselves, from a motive of holy charity and zeal, to conduct the work of the establishment, and
to serve those as the holy

the Good Shepherd, whose crook and staff rule, guide, guard, lead who " re;

good Priests and Brothers

storeth the

souls"

of

the

erring,

the

weary, and the so-called lost, and giveth them to eat and to drink of His own
table whereat
is

"

fulness forevermore."*

women of the Gospel did our Saviour and his disciples God willed it that this event should inspire our founder with the idea of estabworthy
;

After
(1)

many

years thus passed, his bishop

lishing, as a third
.

branch of the associa-3t

), )

Oi

Discourse on the Life and Virtues of Rev. Deme-

discoorse nearly the whole of the abore aoconnt is

trius

Augustine

Gallitzin,

by the Very Rev. Thomas

taken.
(2)

Heyden. Printed for the Monumental (to Prince Gallitzin) Committee of Loretto, Penn. From this eloquent

Psalm xxiL

83

40

^
tion,

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

a
life

a sisterhood to co-operate with the two former branches in all their pious
labors,
ticular

levity

of labor

life

interior

and

elevated to

God by

the habitual practice

and to labor themselves in a par-

manner

for

the
;

benefit of the

of the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, by the example of Jesus Christ, whom

youth of their own sex

efficient

the whole asso-

we

are particularly

bound

to imitate in

ciation thus forming a united and most

upon

all

body, able to act in concert Under the classes of society.

of
the
saintly

our conduct, for we 'must above all lead a life hidden in our Lord, if we would
not ruin the work of the Holy Cross. " " are three orders Here," he says, subordinate one to the other, an imitation

training

Superioress,

Mother Mary of St. Dorithei, Juet, they made a fervent and regular novitiate, and
were, one year afterwards, admitted to the religious profession under the name of

Holy Cross," and patronage of Our Lady of the Seven Borrows. They were, said their founder, to seek God in all things, to aim only at
"Sisters of the

Holy Family, where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, although of conditions so different, are made one by the union of thoughts and the uniformity of conduct. " In order to cement this union, and
of the
this imitation of the

Holy Family,

have

Heaven, to aspire to the happiness of

possessing Jesus, of belonging only to Him and to His Blessed Mother, making
Vt'^e 'dif all interests, rights, or goods for the sole honor of their Divine Master and

again as much as in me, the Priests, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pastor of souls the
consecrated,

and

consecrate

Brothers, to the Heart of St. Joseph, their patron and the Sisters, to the Heart of
;

the salvation of souls.

They were

to lead

life

of abnegation in all

and

exercises, never acting save

;

will of a Superior

a life

employments by the and exact, regular

" Mary, pierced with the sword of grief; "Behold, my dear children in Jesus Christ, the plan of government which it is

the will of

God

should be followed in the

administration of Our Lady of Holy Cross."

by constant and universal fidelity to the rules and constitutions of the Society,
observing them in the spirit of love and not of fear, by the light of faith and not through human motives a life social by humility, in meekly bearing or charitably
;

The Bishop of Vincennes, Monseigneur

de St. Palais, desires to have these children of St. Mary to help him in extending her

renown through the west of

supporting others, accomplishing to the letter the maxim of the pious author of
the Imitation, of mutually supporting, consoling, aiding, instructing, and ad-

Northern America. So Father Sorin, still Superior, comes with six Brothers. " They bless God and his Holy Mother"
for

their safe

arrival,

and they claim

"

in the name of possession of the soil the Cross, of the Blessed Virgin, and of
St.

monishing one another

ious
gravity,
criticisms,

life

edifying by
self,

Joseph."^

modesty, the forgetfulness of

avoiding in
raillery,

relig-

conversation
all,

Vide Life of Rev. F. Cointet, Priest and Missionary of tlio Congregation of the Holy Cross. Cin(1)

aU

and above

cinnati, 1855.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

-'li'iy/A

659

Monseigneur sends

his

new

colony,

this resolution

Matris cuUores Dei, to the northern part of Indiana, about thirty miles south of

every day to

up some time reading holy books." Then

to give

"

in his journal, after that,

he adds

,r[

Lake Michigan.

This section had been

"For the same

intention, I shall say the

secured years before, by the proto-priest of the United States, Rev. Father Badin
;

Rosary. Since an early age I have been consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and
to her care
I will this

his

efforts,

however,

had

only been

have I confided

my

chastity.

crowned by the erection of a little log But the church, and a poorer log house. not situation is one of extreme beauty

study attentively the virtues of

grandeur

for northern Indiana can claim

Holy Mother, to whom I am strictly bound to have many traits of resemblance, and toward whom I ardently
desire to feel all the tenderness of a true

nothing of the sublime or grand in her Yet the monotony of her low scenery.
land and prairies is frequently diversified, and the character of the beautiful given
it

by clear, placid, little lakes, surrounded by gently undulating plains. The farm in question contained two of these pleasant lakes, to which Indian tradition had
attached

So then there are two priests how apostolic in one point, these words of Father Sorin himself shall hint " For some years the wardrobe of Father Cointet and his Superior was con;
:

sidered very full

when they

possessed a

many

Dedicating
little

this spot to

a tale of enchantment. "

NStre

Dame

pair of hoots and a hat, as property in common. The boots he adroitly managed not
until they had passed through the oi good and indifferent, hxxi the hat stages could not be so easily managed, there

du Lac," Father Sorin

ing the
site for

selected a charm-

to

wear

island, in the largest lake, as

two new novitiates one for the Priests he hoped to train for his new mission and the other for the Brothers. A beautiful situation was also chosen on the banks of the lake for the future
college
;

being no alternative except to replace the ecclesiastical square cap by the beaver,
if

when on

the Mission.

Accordingly,

then,

with firm confidence in

Father Cointet was recognized riding or walking off with a hat on his head, it
to the

Divine Providence, he spent the winter in collecting the scattered Cathohcs of

the neighborhood into a regular congregation, in forming his Novitiate of the
Brothers, and attending to the temporal wants of his httle colony.

was known

members

of the

little

community
home."

that the

Superior was

at

And now what

else is to

be said of
titl^-

these devoted souls shall not be in the

the aid so long and earnestly desired by this devoted missionary was furnished in the person of
this period,

At

words of him whose name is on the page of this book, but in those of a
:

sister

of the order, of a servant of Mary at the As " Notre Dame du foot of the Cross

his

former beloved
Cointet, he

friend,

Abbe

who

in

young youth had made

the

Lac" now stands,

it

holds,

in

various

establishments circUng the pleasant yi%-

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

ters of the lake, a college, a manual-labor school, a convent in its popular sense,

and

all

the pleasant sounds of midsum-

mer

in the green woods, together with

the

initiatory schools of the

and
lies4

the

seminary

Brothers,

all

and

each

of

solemnly dedicated in 1845 to devotion to, and placed under the special
of,

the joyous chime of twenty-one bells in the church tower, unite to form a triumphal chorus to the happy voices of the
children of NCtre

Dame

as they intone

protection
St.

the Blessed Mother of God.

Mary's Lake is thus encircled, and over all, one hundred and ten feet from
the

the Litany of Loretto, the Magnificat, and the Salve Regina.

ground,

stands the

statue of

the

Devotion to the Blessed Tirgin may truly be said to be the presiding spirit
of the
place.

She looks "Blessed among women." with love upon the apprentices of the
manual-labor
school
fields
;

Private

chapels

in her

in
;

their

different

honor are in every house. The grounds are adorned with statues of the Madonna

workshops and

the Brothers in

their quiet novitiate their holy solitude.

the seminarians in

And

off a mile to

and Child and of the Immaculate ConAt N6tre Dame a luxuriant ception. arbor, at least an eighth of a mile in
length,

the west, her eye rests distinctly upon the institutions of the Sisters of the same
order, dwelling under the title of St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic pupils of both places are

dedicated to Notre

Dame avx

conspicuously on every arch the different titles of the Litany

Raisins, bears

of Loretto.

In the conventual church

is

the altar

enrolled in the sodalities of the Children

the Living Rosary. Every Saturday evening the Litany of Loretto is solemnly chanted in the con-

of

Mary and

of the Seven Dolors, above which is a fine group of statuary representing the

body of Our Blessed Lord taken from

the Cross and laid in the arms of his
j

ventual churches.

"^ **"*
is

Mother.

magnificent stained

window

The Mouth of Mary

here

made a

above the main altar represents the Assumption. In every direction the spirit of seems to breathe and influence.
full ecclesiastical

glorious festival of thirty-one days. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is

given every evening, and a discourse pronounced by one of the Rev. Fathers in honor of their Heavenly Queen.
'

Mary The

'

at
;

year should be passed Notre Dame, in order to understand

The Assumption is annually celebitited by a solemn procession after High Mass.

how

every festival of the Blessed Virgin brings some new or touching evidence
of the love which the Society of Holy Cross bears to NOtre Dame, and which
it

On

that day every picturesque spot is adorned with some memento of the

Queen of Heaven.

Arches ornamented

seeks to

instil into

the hearts of

its

with her image point the route to the

pious pilgrims, and the murmuring waters of the lake, the songs of the birds,

pupils.

On
site

a beautiful

little

promontory oppo-

the college, the zeal of the Superior

IN

NORTH AMEKIOA.
ported, as
it

661

has caused to be erected a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels. Here
the Catholic pupils spend one night of every month in adoration before the

its spiritual

were, this chapel with wealth into our midst.

all

At

St.

Mary's of the Immaculate Con-

This chapel is built on the exact plan of the celebrated " Our Lady of the Angels, or chapel of
Blessed Sacrament.
Portinucula," and has been enriched by the Holy See with all the
the
privileges of that world-renowned pilgrimage established by St. Francis of

ception, the residence of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, one mile west of Our Lady

of the Lake, the duplicate of the Santa Casa, or Holy House of Loretto, has been
erected, as the special chapel of the children of Mary. This chapel has also been

enriched by the Holy See with all the indulgences belonging to the famous
pilgrimage of Loretto.

Assisium.

These privileges, which have made St. Mary's of the Angels" one of the richest
treasures in Italy, consist of plenary indulgences gained by all the faithful who,

"

These two chapels bring to our own land the two most famous shrines of

and are most powerful means, in the hands of the religious, of promoting
Italy,

go to confession, receive Communion, and visit the chapel between the first and second
being heartily sorry for their
sins,

Vespers of the 22d of

August

not one

youth intrusted to their care, a deep and abiding love for and may the Blessed Mother of God
in the hearts of the
;

indulgence alone, but as many times during the day as the faithful enter the chapel with the proper dispositions will

we not hope that at no distant day love for Our Blessed Lady will bring many a
pilgrim to these two chapels, in crowds, if not as great, at least as fervent, as
those which visit the original chapels in
Italy.

they gain a plenary indulgence.

spiritual blessings were to the prayer of St. Francis by granted the visible intercession of Mary, and by

These immense

The Society of Holy Cross has several

houses of education established in
differ-

Jesus Christ himself.

the devout

among

During 625 years the people of Italy,

and many pilgrims from foreign climes, have assembled at Assisium on this feast of grace and mercy. So numerous were
these devotees, that
it is

ent parts of the United States and Canada; and as at Notre Dame and St. Mary's, so do they aU aim at spreading the love

Holy Mother by every means which their zeal and reand devotion
for their

related of St.

Bernardine, when he preached at St. Mary's of the Angels, that 200,000 persons were assembled around the chapel. And to give the faithful of North

sources will present. The consecration of this order was

America an opportunity of gaining the same treasures, and in the same manner,
the

Feast of Our Lady pf Snows, and in the snows of November the old log they first took possession of This church and the adjacent lands.

made on

the

Society of

Holy Cross has

trans-

church had been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by the early French missionaries,

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

de
Seille

and

men had

and here these holy the Indian to love and taught

Petit,

suffering world ; and it expresses that union of self-abasement and self-oblivion

in

venerate their Heavenly Queen. When Father Sorin came and heard of the
pioneer devotion of the American protopriest, he rejoiced at the thought of laboring in this domain, already consecrated to his Blessed Mother. Not as owners of

which

all
life

spiritual

the greater graces of the take root. Devotion to the

Sorrows of Mary unites us to an abiding sorrow for sin. It is all stained with the
precious blood of our dear Lord, and thus it puts us into the very depths of

the

soil,

but as

faithful

and devoted
first

ser-

His Sacred Heart.

vants of

Mary Holy Cross commence their work. Everything was

did the

members

of

The
turn in
loving

lessons which

rows teach us are

life
;

Our Mother's Sorwanted at almost every

be improved, everything made useful or beautiful. For Mary's

to

they are imparted with such tenderness, with such pathetic

sake, their Queen, the lake

was

called St.

Mary's Lake. Plans for novitiate, church, manual-labor school, and college were
sketched, and all consecrated to N6tre Dame, and all the land was Mary's land.

simplicity, and in the midst of such countless similitudes between our sinless

Mother and our

.

sinful

selves,

that no

school can be found in which so

much

Notwithstanding the rigors of. ).n .unusually severe winter, zeal for the glory
of the august Mother of God warmed the hearts of her children with its ardent

heavenly wisdom is taught so winningly as in the Sorrows of Mary. Before we quit this pleasant subject,
let us see that

this land of

Mary does

and generous
first

rays.

Often during the

not belong solely to the living but also to the memory of the dead. In the
parish

years they actually suffered for lack Their favorite of food and raiment.

devotion on such occasions was the thou-

sand Hail Maries said in

votion
still

common

a demem-

customary among the

chapel stands the statuary group of the Mother with her dead Son. Over the earth wherein the " Our Sisters are buried, smiles serenely Lady of Peace ;" where the priests and

grave-yard

bers of the congregation. Let us learn, among the items of this

seminarians repose,

is

the statue of the

Immaculate

wondrous North American devotion

to

Madonna, she
Land,

Conception. Everywhere is the Lady of Lake and

Mary, how these sisters of hers are consecrated to her Seven Sorrows. Let one
of

When

recreation calls the children of

them

still

speak and

tell

how

pleasing,

how

dear to the Queen of Martyrs must

;

be the devotion to her Sorrows

how,

other devotions, it tends to supernaturalize the mind, since in it the

all

more than

the Sisters' schools together, among other pleasures they have the reading of their " Mystical Rose." It was in journal, the this that a Sister, whose heart is full of

most wonderful divine operations mingle with the conimon woes and sorrows of a

music as of devotion, sang in sweet rhythm her prayer for North America.
L^tej^j
,Tffi,

will

eee.,th|it^ Lit^a^g;^^^(f,hanted

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
Sweet Orb of Dawn,
it

66a
was thy ray

by the Ursuline nuns before Our Lady of Swift Help, Notre Dame, de Prompt Secours, during the battle of New Orleans, in 1812 now let us read the hymn of a
;

That, creeping through the western wiU-s, Kissed the broad streams, and kindled daj Along the woodland's dark defiles,

reUgious of Mary's Sorrows, sung in this time of great national pain and small
individual charity.

a song of praise that wound Where mighty lakes miyestic flow Memnon's famed lyre were harshest sound To anthem blest that hailed thy glow;
;

And woke

STELLA MATUTINA.
Morning That hover round our nation's bark, And howling winds shriek through her shrouds As on slie plows the billows dark.
1

The touching strain so The words we ne'er

old

so new,

O star of

dense the clouds

frame Those mystic syllables that drew A God from heaven at thy sweet name.
shall cease to

"

Hail, full of grace

the Lord, with thee.

Oh, show thy light I thou art our guide,

On earth is bless6d evermore ;" And Gabriel's salutation free,

Echoed
iliiO

Thy Virgin beams our path shall lead, As fearful o'er the stormy tide. Before the conquering blast we speed,

in joy

from shore to shore;

9r[j .rroyfi'

ai!w

ejf,fif

And

O Star of Morning
And And
Ere anarchy

pierce the gloom,

savage men submissive bowed, To own a Saviour crucified.

gild our path along the sea,

our doom. chant the death-dirge of the free.

shall seal

in her dusky shroud. Sought in her darkest haunts to hide. The waters of the sylvan lake.

While Error

From St. Augustine, far away,. )'cio8 S. To bold St. Lawrence' northern strand, From San Francisco to the bay
That waters honored Maryland,

And wildwood streams were hallowed By sacred touch for Jesus' sake,
yiOJ J^d Mass was anng
fiyn-n
.

then,

in glade
.-

and glen
,

u<-;U

...

"..r...

And

-Jo

crosses in the wilderness

to bless primeval shade.

Deep love for thee with mystic power Hath mingled with our nation's life,

Sprang up

Where

lilies wild,

and water-cress,

And

aided us, in danger's hour, 'Gainst wars and elemental strife.

1

q
.IXC
,,.,,.

2{;.

Alone before thanksgiving made.

peerless

Orb along thy wake.

1

Star of Morning 'twas thy ray That led the mariner of old

How
..

clear thy constellated train

stars, fair saints

Of virgin
^
..

that take*
I
,
,

Along the ocean's

trackless wayri,-f

JlieJK

r^, aipng ,th etheceAi n

the Son of Light Divine,

,,,,,,,

Earth's western wonders to unfold.

~.

'Twas love for thee that fired his And made him count all perils
That opened

breast^
light,

Of Him,
:>OTml

ri

to the cloud-girt West,

Who

Thy morning beams

sight,t>iHrof)/iM Star of Day-break when the hand 1 T Of bold oppression crossed the wave,
I .

to heathen

drank sweet warmth from thy pure heart,, Whose wondrous grace through thee doth shine 1
climbing soft the evening grey,

When

I!

Thy shelter sweet in Maryland Made conscience there no more a

slave.

Thy radiant form doth gem the sky, We know ere long will come the day, We know the rising Sun is nigh.
Oh, yes, when o'er our
sinful souls

Thy chosen child, Lord Baltimore, Struck off the manacles that bound,

, ,

i , ,

By tyrant power, the infant shore, And stamped her soil true freedom's
'Twas there that Faith

**
.

,
' '

Thy genial rays benignant fall, Onr Blessed Lord His love unfolds,

celestial bird
:

ground.'

First flung abroad her carol loud

And Mercy's daylight spreads o'er all Yes, thou wilt bring to ua, sweet Star (A nation of young restless life),
1 he light of peace, and near and far Win cease the bitter sound of striftL^ ^^'^ lljiV/'

And

thou, fair Star, her matins heard,

Which, soaring heavenward, pierced the cloud.

664

DEVOTION TO THE LLESSED VIRGIN MARY

We ask thy aid we beg thy care, We know we cannot plead in vain
;

Then show thy light then art onr guide Thy Virgin beams our path shall lead,

So, trustful, through the

murky

air

As

We hail thee
O blissful
The

with thy heavenly train. Star I words cannot ftame

hopeful o'er the stormy tide Before the conquering blast we speed.

we owe to thee, As reverent now we name thy Name, And meekly suppliant bow the knee.
gratitude

They educate
5,500
children.

in

the

love

of

Mary
is

Mary Angela Mother Provincial, and Mary

Ascension, Superior.*

the

of

the

CHAPTER
OTTB lady's SISTEBS

XIII.

LBS SCEUBS DE n6teB! DAMB.

from the horror and anguish of the French Revolution. These sisters of Our
Lady, issued by God's will, from that triumph of Satan and Moloch, as lilies

Let us look

at other orders of holy

women who
these States.

bear the name or advance

the devotion to

Our Blessed Lady

fifteen

in

In

dioceses,

per-

haps in

Dame,

ks Soeurs de Ndtre more, you and they Our Lady's Sisters

find
;

are engaged teaching thousands to venFour erate the sacred Mother of God.

from the putrid fertilizers of the soil. Marie Louise, Viscountess de Blin-Bourdon, and Mademoiselle Julie Billiart
sought refuge in Belgium from the merciless iniquity of the land once ruled by
St. Louis.

of their houses are (1862) in the diocese of New York, eight are in Cincinnati, three in New Orleans, three in far

nounced

here, in 1804, they protheir first vows. This was their

And

Monterey.
Oregon, in
adelphia

They are in Baltimore and Newark and Detroit, in PhilBoston

vow

to give themselves,

and,

by the

and
like

spreading
vast

efforts of their lives, to

extend devotion

and

to the Sacred

growing
;

the mustard seed of the

this

covering Gospel with a lace-work of prayer, and education,

continent

by Next year they venture

the

Heart of Jesus, protected Immaculate Heart of Mary.

sixty miles into

self-denial,

devotion, and love

for

the north of France, to Amiens, there commence their work.*

and

God and man,

It is

yet are scarcely sixty

^ years in existence.

amazing how much of fruit for North America, how many unrecked-of
blessings to its headlong people, sprang
(1) Letter of

They have a lodging, it is evident, and some room for scholars of what excellence and how large we cannot
;

say

but

we

can discern one pleasant

It is the

figure at the very beginning.

(2)

Very Rev.

K Sorin, Oct., 1862.

Notice sur I'ordre des Sceuts de Notre

Dame

de

Namnr.

IN NORTH AMEKICA.
of Sistor Bernardine, wandering about the streets with a big boll in
Kopa
sahalo taye.

665

figure

Wawa

pons naika

her hands.
streets,

Gravely along the wealthier

Pons ka kwa yaka temtom Naika memmeloucht,

courageously

down

fetid

alley-

Ayak yaka eskam

In thee I place

naika 8ahal6.

quarters of the very poor, her bell chanting Vivos voco,^ her own voice translating that to those who

ways

and

into

my

confidence,
fair
;'

Oh, Virgin, strong and

came about her

tle

at length her heart with gratitude and love to genthrilling

;

and

Mother Mary,
of

as

she leads

seventy children to the

first-fruits

schools sweet
in It
tolic

some

Be thy protection my defence. Be all my life thy care And when I draw my latest breath, And seek my endless lot, Obtain fer me a holy death, And then forsake me not.
!

Our Lady's new harvest

half-ruined France.

By 1807

the Mother

House

is

well established at

Namur, and

was under the charge of the aposde Smet that these devoted Sisters
:

begins to send forth its colonies. So far as we can ascertain, the first flight of doves

was a long one, over the Atlantic Ocean, and across half a conthis cote

from

Dame made their long journey a journey vexed with many storms, and almost finished by one off the coast.
of Notre

tinent to the very heart of this country to Cincinnati. There they still remain,
:

Decks were swept clear by the irresistible sails shivered waves topmasts went
; ;

by

the

board
;

water-casks completely
;

teaching thirty-six hundred pupils

cathedral city alone.

in the

emptied

no soundings

nothing but

But Ohio does not

bition.
all

satisfy

their

amis

Their next

flight
;

from

Namur

guesses as to their whereabouts, and those guesses proved afterwards to be wrong. But the Sisters were calm, and
full
is

the

way

to

Oregon
rolls

to that river

no

longer to be
Save

known
"
its

as one that

of that most beautiful courage which full of resignation, called resignation

:

and hears no sound

dashing,'"

but not at the expense of hope.

They

own

gather in their cabin, holding there to

but a stream henceforth to show the shadow of the Cross, and to mingle the

song of its waves with the music of mass, and vespers, and convent litany, or with
the sweet, wild notes of the Indian children, as they chant, from their canoes,
their hyton to Blessed
Ayas skokoum

whatever can be seized to steady themselves, and intone their litany they make a new vow to the Immaculate Heart of
;

Mary, and then they trust. By and by the storm subsides, the winds abate, the

waves go down, and

tre
sea,

as the crimson lus-

Mary
inaiflka,

of the sunset

is

flung athwart the

Kwanissoin tlosh Marie

p,rh ('

they notice, floating towards them, masses of long, gi'een, salt-meadow grass,
~"~
(2)

the living." Part of the old (1) inscription " Vivos toco; mortuos upon church bolls: plango ;
call

"I

BryanCs Thanatopsis.
" Pulchra ut luna, terribilis iit castrorum acies orCanl. Canticorum, vi. a.

(3)

Bobbata paru/o."

dinata."

84

<P

666

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

it

and they know by

their lee.^

that the shore

is

on

so they landed, and on the eve of the Assumption of Our Lady they

And

and their orphans housed in and from that time till now, sort, about the hour of twilight, they have
their pupils

some

lodged in a tent
Wallamette.

on the banks of the

never failed to chant the Litany of Our Lady of Loretto. Its sounds of benediction float over the Wallamette,

In the morning, they raised

and

and adorned, as they might, a little altar, and Mr. Blanchet, afterwards Archbishop,
offered the Holy Sacrifice. On the second day of the Octave they reached the mission. It was a house, but without without windows only with open doors,
;

farther, over the scarce-inhabited wide tracts of Oregon, and over the stray

hunter band of savages, or knot of trappers and bear better promises to North;

ern America than that land

is

at all dis-

posed to believe in.

spaces ready Carpenters were the rarest and most costly ar" ticles in Oregon in those days. Every

for such luxuries.

The prospects of
brilliant, that

this mission
' '

were so

they lured

Sister R6nilde

man
got

is

his

own

builder here,"

was the
Sisters

consolation

which Our Lady's

at the

and her companions" to try their fortune in the same direction. That is the style and title of this new expedition " Sceur
:

when they looked

yawning
;

Menilde

et

ses compagnes, Soeurs de

Notre

No matter portals. took the Highlandman's proverb for they " their law Set a stout heart to a steep
window-frames and
:

Dame"
was
still

What
can

Sister

Renilda's

name

in the world
less

we

idea of; suggest any clue to those

in

we have no

hillside ;"

and one undertook to learn the

anonymous companions, except

instances,

management

of the plane, another voted herself a sashmaker, a third claimed to

which we
that

shall see in
is

two a mo-

ment.
in a

AU

we know

contained

be a house-painter, and if any found absolutely no mechanical vocation within

her, she

went straightway to Our Lady

leaves, hardly aspiring to the dignity of a pamphlet, found on a top shelf of the library of his Grace

few very dusty

^'*

and asked her help for the others. Then the voyageurs, and the Indians, and the half-breeds brought melons, and and, that potatoes, and some eggs
;

the Archbishop of Cincinnati. It is a letter addressed to a "very dear Mother

nothing might be wanting to make the good religious feel at home, they added
thirty-five or forty little
girls to

Constantine," whom we suspect to have her abode either at Namur or Amiens. " It is dated July 6, 1847, on board the Morning Star ;" and contains the journal
of the voyage to Oregon, signed as above Sister Renildn and her companstated,
' '

go to

school,

whom

orphans they generously handed over to

and

about

two-score

the Sisters as a '^if^

for ever.
(1)

ei,

a possession

So they got themselves and

ihi.

AnnaUi
TMIre.

483.

de la Propagation de la Foi, P^rt. lie Smct.

torn. xvii.

Our Lady." was on the 22d of February, Washington's birth-day, if Americans choose " to accept that omen, and on the eighth of our Novena in honor of the Holy day
ions, Sisters of

It

IN "

NORTH AMERICA.

fi67

Virgin," says Sister Renilda,

that

we
and

embarked
at nine

at

Brest.

Monseigneur the
his benediction,

employed upon the great waters these men see the wonders of the Lord and
;

Archbishop gave us

o'clock of the cool morning, a

signal for departure.

gun gave the

while
the

And
small

His works upon the deep. For He saith the word, and the stormy winds arise He speaketh, and the waves are lifted up.

Morning

Star the

wound her

They mount up toward the heavens

they sink

way
craft,

buoys, slowly among and other obstacles that somewhat

down

into the deeps

their

souls faint for fear.

They are troubled j

clogged our course out of the harbor, we all gathered on the quarter-deck, chanted
the Litany of the Blessed Virgin and sang the Ave Maris /Stella, so to place

they reel like a drunken wisdom is swallowed up.

cry unto the

man all their And then they

;

again our voyage under Her protection, whom none ever invoked in vain."

Lord in their affliction, and He bringeth them out of their distresses He turneth the storm into a calm and all the waves are still."
;

The Morning Star

for

is

not a very unto

sail
in,

It is

religious pleasant ship for the captain hears mass every day, and at eight bells he calls the crew to

Renilda

necessary to know that Sister is near enough God to retain

some

feeling of poetry.
oflfers
it

She thinks that

the sea

very beautiful, dear " to hear those Mother," says Renilda,

prayers.
is

"It

speaks of
tain all
fall

to her

a panorama of beauty, and "

dear Mother Con^

fltantine" in

hardy
recite

sailors, their

Our

captain at their head, Father, Hail Mary, and the

'

terms which probably conher possible eloquence, but which

exhaustless

infinitely short of the

Creed, and end with the Angelus, which done, the lieutenant wishes them good voyage, stout courage, and fair wind and then, at night again, they come together and sing Hail, Ocean's Sacred Star,'^ and say the same prayers as at
;'
'

reality of beauty which the main presents. "Ah!" she says, " what gracious

varieties does the sea exhibit.

is

Now
;

it

calm as peace,
;

now
it is

troubled
green,
it

then
blue

surging furiously
of heaven,
it

is

flashes

with phosphorescent

morning."
find

that

solemn

might easily beautiful that very recommendation of themselves

to

The gentle
be

Sister

The sun, when setting, clothes gleams. all the deep in raiment of living light and the horizon in clouds of every tint,
;

to Grod's help through Mary's Motherthose men love, of the tough seamen

gold and purple, violet, and green, and These take the most fantastic orange.

who

are professionally nearest to death

forms

volcanoes in eruption
fire
;

vast crim-

and God.

And

they

who cannot

share

son seas of

her admiration must be inland bred. " " For," says the Holy Ghost, they that

and
this

forests,

mountains snow-capped, towns, and battlemented

recreation
is

castles.
;

Our

to look

on

go

down

to

sea in
Ave Mirit

ships,*

who

are

and before going to our

(2)

rest, after

(1)

Stella.

Psalm ovL 25.

668

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

this spectacle,

we chant

the Litany of

Our Lady.
and
bring

The missionaries go ashore

back

the Blessed Virgin and say her Rosary

together." "
I

can not

tell

you,

my
feels

dear Mother,
in

wood-blooms, lupins and the three violets and other probably, " make forest flowers, and the Sisters

what happiness

one

singing

bouquets of them to adorn the Virgin's

Altar."^

Mary's praise, our dear, good Mother's, in the midst of the ocean under a
;

With

all

the length of the voy-

heaven sown with stars new to us, to the solemn sound of seas which break upon the frail sides of our ship and then full of confidence and of thoroughest
;

age, however, and with all those sentiments and absolute stormy realities, with all those prayers, and hymns, and intoned
litanies,

do not

let it

be supposed that
if

the gentle Sisters grew puritanic, or their

faces long

trust, sleep in the hand of God, tranquilly as in our European convent." Still at sea, they keep the Feast of the

we

and sour.

No, no
it is

anybody

may wear
nal Son.

a gay face,
all to

a child of

Mary, devoting
"

her and her Eter-

Annunciation
Star,

Morning with high mass, vespers, and a

"
It is

on

board

the

never passed our recreations more gaily," Sister Renilda says.

"

We

sermon.

very consoling to us,"

"
to see

Even the bad weather

says Sister Renilda,

Mary

so

fun.

We

helps to make us call one end of our particular

loved and honored by aU who surround us ; almost all the sailors wear the medal
of the Immaculate Conception, and many add the chaplet. Easter, too, they keep at sea and the altar on deck is covered
;

cabin Wallamette, such being the name of our mission not yet reached, and the The other end we name The Falls."
place being probably on the lee " All of side, with a very decided slope. " the Sister, visit The Falls sevus," says
latter

with the missionary banner of Oceanica,

where the Oblates of Mary are at work a white banner bearing a crimson cross and then, upon a background of pale-

eral times a day. Sister Francisca goes oftener than any of the rest of us. And only the other day Sister Mary Alphonsus,

blue drapery, there hangs, for altarpiece, a painting of St. Mary, blessed by
the Holy Father."

after

rapidly sliding thither, her

soup-plate in her hand,

And

so after

many experiences

by the
after

roll

was turned about of the vessel, and sliding

the length of the Atlantic, Cape Horn, the length of the Pacific, they reach the mouth of the Columbia. Then the In-

back as rapidly, emptied the contents of that soup-plate on the head of Sister

Mary Bernard."

And

this is the additional information

and scramand Oregons, and Wallawallas, with a haughty Dacotah here and there and they all make the
dians
off in their canoes,

come

ble aboard, Chinooks,

promised by the present writer some This is what he page or so above.

knows about the other two

sisters

that

Mary Alphonsus, compelled

thereto

by

sign of

cross, many wearing the chaplet, and many others the medal of

the

(1) Lettre de Soeur R^nildt, p. 17.

NORTH

A5IERI0A.

669

an affluent wave, emptied her soup upon the person of Mary Bernard.

Among

the Indians
is

who come

or are

America trace their origin to Lorraine, so back as 1565, Blessed Paul Fourrier being their founder, and are to be met
far

brought on board
ft>r

a young female barbarian, une petite sauvagesse, a candidate

before

with at Milwaukee.^

Then Marguerite

And the Sisters, baptism. the ship, assist at that sacrathey quit ment. The captain is godfather, and endows
his JiUeuIe with half the trinkets

Bourgeoys and her sisters are a kind of colony from these. This is the extent of our information regarding the Soeurs de
Notre

Dame

and

it is

possible that

some

and

of our statistics

may

not be always attrib-

gay old clothing in the ship, and, of course, the httle red girl is called Mary.

uted to the proper society of these three. Should any one discover this, we can only
declare

Then

there

is

a venerable Chinook
in his

who

that such
all,

error
least.

is

not wilful.
of

sings for voice by

them

own

tongue, "in a

They

are

at

Sisters

Our

hymn

no means disagreeable," the and pointing just given above

;

Lady, do not intend, by

assign

all children,

of one Mother, and

credit at

we
all.

this present writing, to

with simple exultation to the medal of

the Immaculate Conception which hangs upon his swarthy chest. Then, when the

them any immediate

We

wish to follow their example, and to assign ah credit, all the honor, all the
glory to Jesus, their eternal Spouse, who loved them, and who bought them with

lodged by her pilot upon a sand-bar, at the mouth of the Walla" Sister Renilda and her companmette,

Morning Star

is

ions" quit her deck for canoes, and proceeding in them to their mission house,

Him and His Immaculate, sweet Mother. What we do know is this, that certain devout women, known
His blood
to as Sisters of Notre

are lost to sight of ours.

It is proper to say here, that other or-

Dame,

are daily teach-

ders than that of Sister Renilda call themselves of NOtre

ing more than thirty thousand American children, devotion to the Blessed Saint

Dame.

Some

in

North

Mary

the Virgin.

CHAPTER
OUE LADY OP MKECT AND OP CHAEITT

XIV.
OUE LADT

QUE LADT's LOVING PBIKNDS AT THE CEOSS OP CHEISt's PItECIOUS BLOOD.

The History of Devotion to Blessed Mary in the Old World, and even of tliat
in elder Canada,

anti-antiquarian, and recordless state

we

must be contented with getting at such

(1) ics Servanteg de Dieu en Canada, 1853. Ensai sur Vhittoire des communautes religieusct de femmet i
la,

seems rather an exhibibut in our careless.

tion of effects, the sources of which are

easily

enough divined

Province,

par

O.

de Larnehe-Beron.

670

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

as are visible to
us,

causes

and from
If

Onl7, alas

the poor

who had

neither friends nor a^

those deduce the inevitable

certain

effects.

tendants,

religious have thirty thousand pupils, and are guided in their lives and

Crept away to die in the almshonse,

less.

home

of the

home-

their instruction
ciples, it

by certain visible prinwill require no wizard to guess

which they
called

Then in the suburbs and woodlands.

it

stood, in the midst of

meadows

at the result of the education

give.

Now

the city surrounds

it,

but

still

with

its

gateway

and wicket,
Meek, in the midst of splendor, to echo
Softly the
its

humble walls seem

Kenelm Digby
"

writes a

book

Compitum, the Meeting of the Ways," to show that all roads duly followed lead to the Church. It is true and so is the
;

words of Our Lord, "The poor ye have always with you." Thither by night and by day came the SUter of Mercy.

reverse true.

All

ways lead out of the

The dying Looked up into her

there

face

and thought, indeed, to behold

encircle

Church again over the suffering world. the convent doors open in the morning, it is that one sister may go to

Gleams of

celestial

light

her forehead with

When

splendor. Such as the artist paints o'er the

apostles,

brows of

saints

and
dis-

the school-room, another to the hospital ward, another through the streets to the

Or such
Unto

as hangs

by night

o'er a city seen

from a

tance.

houses of the charitable, another to the garrets and dismal cellars, to the shrines
of utterest poverty, to inodorous alleys,

their eyes

it

seemed the lamps of the Oity Ce-

lestial,

Into whose shining gates, ere long, their spirits should

enter.

where poverty and

supremacy.

filth

and

sin
;

have
And
with light in her looks she entered the chamber of
sickness,

Here, a black robe there, a brown one, with a crimson cross upon the bosom, threads the city paths. On

Noiselessly

moving among the assiduous

lip

faithful

at-

tendants,

one square you hear young voices carolling hymns to Mary from the windows of

Moistening the feverish

in silence

and the aching brow

and

Closing the sightless eyes of the dead and concealing

their faces,

on the next, you see the white, broad-leafed, quaint bonnet of the
an academy
;

Where on

their pallets they lay, like drifts of

snow by

daughter of
all

St.

Vincent de Paul.
;

And
they

these are travelling in a circle

the wayside. Many a languid head upraised as the Sister entered. Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed
for her presence

come from the hearts of Jesus and of Mary they are to go back thither when their earthly work is done.
;

Fell

on

their hearts like a ray of the sun

on the walls

of a prison. And as she looked around, she

Consoler,

saw how Death the

healed
it

One family of these precious souls is known by the name of Sisters of Mercy. Do you remember Longfellow's Evanthe yellow-fever hospital for Let us rethe poor, in Philadelphia?
geline
in

Laying his hand upon many a

ever.'"

hoai-t, hiul

for-

Earlier than the year 1830

(1) Longfellow's Poetical

we

find

Works. Boston

Ticknor

&

peat

it

Fields.

18mo

ed. vol.

ii.

pp. 72, 73.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
Eucharist
to the

671

Sisters

of

Mercy

in

Charleston, South

Carolina, helpers to Bishop

his apostolic

work down
;

England in there, and now

Immaculate Mother of God, and to their Guardian Angels.'' They must say daily in their schools five
;

they are elsewhere

places

in Cincinnati

among

known

to us.

These are of the

decades of our Lady's Rosary or her Litany of Loretto. Their days of recreation are
tion

good gifts ica, and are, so to speak, Children of the Order of the Presentation of the Ever Virgin Mary, in that ancient and Let us judge of what Catholic island. are likely to do in advancing the they
devotion,

bestowed by Ireland on Amer-

aU Mary's days the long vacafrom her Feast of Mount Carmol,

:

June
tion,

16, to

Monday
:

after

her Assump-

August 15

the other

days are

by what we can know of

and
rule.

their

daily lives

Given

fidelity to a

Saturdays, consecrated by the Church to her, and the Feast of her Presentation. Then their rule bids them " bear perpetually in mind that their Congregation is

rule, its natural effects will

to be proved.

Now

not require these Sisters of Our

daily

Lady of Mercy say

of the

the
is

Office

under her especial protection, and that she is, under God, its chief Patroness and Protectress." Therefore the Sisters

Blessed "Virgin, which

com-

"must have

the warmest devotion and

posed of thirty-seven of the Psalms of David the hymns of Simeon, of Blessed

;

Mary, of the three youths in the Assyrian furnace, of Zacharias, prophet of God, with lessons and other passages from

and must regard her in an especial manner as their Mother, and the great model which they are to imiaffection to her,
tate."

They are

to have,

"
;

unlimited confidence in her

course to her in

individually, to have re-

Holy
tions,

Scripture,

and some pious ejaculaprayers, and versified hymns for

all their difficulties

and

spiritual necessities,

and by the imitation

the seven divisions of the day.^ Then another rule binds the

good

of her virtues are to study to please her and to merit her maternal protection."

Sisters "to inspire, as much as in them lies, the children whom they educate with.

They
festivals
tion,

shall,

moreover,

"

solemnize her

a sincere devotion to the passion of Jesus Christ to His real presence in the Holy
;

with

all spiritual

joy and devo-

and

shall instil in the

minds of

the

(1) It is
lettcrs to

almost humiliating to even an ex-raan-of-

of Frederick

mass

be obliged to say that the office is not the to repeat again that the mass is what Protcall
office is

dinous

the Great, and half of whose multitunotes are devoted to abuse of other men's

estants

would

and the

the Service of the Holy Communion, the Breviary, to wit, the Psalms of
;

ignorance; when he gives us mass in the afternoon, and for a whole page jumbles up this Book of Psalms with the Communion Office, what cart an ex-man-ofletters

and commentaries short Pavid, biographies or notices of the saint, or other sacred subcollects or short prayers from which ject of the day those of the Anglican and American Episcopal churches
witli Scripture lessons
;

do bnt notice it?

Vide History of Frederick

II.,
ili,

called Frederick the Great.

p. 206.

By Thomas

Carlyle

vol.

New York
much
as

Mummery
atry as

Harper & Brothers. as much as you please; nonsense and

:

idol-

hymns and pious verees, But when such a man as usually from Holy Writ. Thomas Carlyle, the preeminent "sliain"' hator, who
are translated, and

a few

you please bnt a writer, a public teacher of men, is bound in simple honor to know someof two hundred tliing about the daily mummery even
;

writes in correction of

all

other historians his history

millioUB of civilized men.

672

DKVOTION TO
aud of
ail

TJIE

BLESSED VJKGIN MA14Y

children,
ence, tlie

such as they can infiuveneration, and

God, to receive us

all,

and every one of

greatest respect, " love for her." They shall say the beads " on the every day in her honor ;" and

us in particular, under thy holy proteclook up to thee as our Mother, tion.

We

our Lady, and our Mistress, as our Patroness and

Protectress, Advocate

Feast of her Presentation, in every year the whole community, with lighted wax
hands, shall, knees, before the altar of the Blessed
lights

and

in

their

on their

Directress, humbly entreating thee to obtain the pardon of all our sins and transgressions against the Divine Majesty,

Virgin, make the following act of oblation and of consecration to the Blessed

and of

all

our negligences in thy

Mother of God :"i ." The Act of Renewed Consecration. " Most holy and glorious Vii'gin, Mother of God,

holy service. " We beseech thee to obtain from the

infinite

goodness of thy beloved Son, that

Congregation of Charitable Inmay always be favored with

this little

we

Sisters of the Congregation

struction

of Charitable Instruction, convinced how much we stand in need of the grace of

thy singular assistance, especially in the arduous functions of the institute and in
the
practice

God

to

fulfil

the arduous duties and obli-

of every religious virtue.

gations of our pious institute, and of the greatness of thy power with Jesus
Christ thy Beloved Son, and of thy goodness towards poor Christians, most humbly address ourselves to thee tliis day, as

fine, we most earnestly request thou wilt be graciously pleased to obtain that perfect union Of hearts and minds may

In

always reign amongst us that we may ever be faithful to the observance of our
;

the Mother of Mercy, and in the fuUest

rule,

confidence of obtaining, through thy holy intercession, the Divine assistance. " We, therefore, most clement Virgin, prostrate before thee with all humiUty,
earnestly beseech thee to be most graciously pleased to accept of the oblation

lives in the spirit

tion, that

and persevere to the end of our aud grace of our voca-

having with fidelity served thy beloved Son, by imitating thy virtues on earth, we may with thee and all the elect,
praise

and

glorify

him

in

heaven

for all

eternity.

Amen."*

irrevocably holy day of ourselves to thy love and service, prowith the Divine assistance to bear posing

we

all

make on

this

then those Sisters of Our Lady of Charity all one with some external dif-

And

ference,

always towards thee the most cordial respect and veneration, and to engage, as far as in our power, aU others to love, and respect thee. Deign, most honor, and immaculate Virgin, Mother of pure
Sketch of the Life of Miss Nagle. Rnle of the Sisters of our Lady of Mercy, of the Prescntatioa Dubiin. i -,,, -.i
(1)
.

out

some with schools, some withsome with quaint, picturesque white

butterfly-winged bonnets and antiquelooped gowns ; some all in black and

Mbre brown, but all alike Juchereau in 1630, Mother Seton two
in
;

some

centuries

later

Grey

Sisters

{S(Burs

Grises) or Hospitalieres, or Sisters of St.

(2)

Kules aud Coustitutiuub,

etc.

DuUia, 1809.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

673

Joseph, or of the HStel Dieu, or sacred inn whereof our Lord is the host and

whore the penniless are guests and have wine and milk without money and with'

'

one floor and one garret must lodge sixteen persons. But she has the "chapel of the Blessed Virgin"* wherein to receive the Bread of Life it is Saint
;

out price

;"^

or Sisters of Charity in

New
in

Mary's Mountain which

for

is

their hoped-

York,

in

Boston, in
in

New

Orleans,

laboring-place,

that
;

Saint

Mary's

Cincinnati,

Minnesota, in Montreal,

they are all one all are children of Saint Vincent de Paul all rejoice to be
;

town, now their own

Baltimore

and they can give

fond phase of signification to

Maryland.

known by

proud stowed upon them, "Daughters of Charity and Servants of the Poor."

that

title

which he be-

Here were Dubois, afterwards Bishop of New York, and saintly Brut6, their wise
guides, the second, afterwards Bishop of

What need have we

to speak of

them ?

Viucennes.
at

He it was who had "no time

cut,'"

Let the school, the hospital, the prison, the filthy lodging house, the orphan asylum, the blood-stained camp talk
about them.
the " the

and so catching the barber one day in the woods, he sat down upon a stone and was newly
tonsured there.
It

home to get his hair

Why,
lost"

the Protestant and

was

he, too,

whom

Pagan
Sister

the roughest

lost,

lost,

among men, the among women, know

of Charity, and find somewhere amid the ruins of their souls an

of St. Mary's, known to the present writer, used to see laboring with his own hands to make more easy a
students

untainted blessing for her as she passes. In Quebec, in 1637, more than two

up-mountain path which led to his grotto oratory and the statue of the
steep

hundred years ago, they wanted a school and a hospital, and the Sisters of Charity
furnished both.
felt

Montreal, Mary's

city,

Ah they were very and influence in those money poor early days, but rich in graces, in humility, in love of labor, and in sweet contentedMother of God.
in
!

need, and we have seen how In the Mademoiselle Manse provided.

the

ness.

They have

lives of

great labor, but

God

roughness and gives them encoursickness

States, Mother Seton founds her adaptation of the great order, and now the

agement.
like others,

They have
but

and pain

He

Sister of Charity

is

everywhere.
;

Here,
there,

thoughts.
early,

They

sends them pleasant die, some years too

Poor ;" everywhere the faithful child and humble imMother Seton's itator of Holy Mary. first convent is a tenement of four rooms
little

there " the

is

the Sister of Providence

Sister of the

we may
sick

fancy, but so

"He

giveth

His beloved sleep."*

What
heart

Sister

was

it

on whose
Seton

while

she

slept,

Mother

placed a rose just given her?

We

do
By

(1)

"Qui non
et lac."

habetis argontum, properate

veiiite,

emite absque argento et

vinum

Isaiaa

absque

ulla

commutatloue,
First Superior

of the Daughters of Cliarity iu the United States. Rev. Dr. White ; p. 235.
(8)
(4)

Iv. 1.

(2) Life of Mrs. E. Seton,

Founder and

The same p. 386. Psalm cxxvL 2 " Dederit

;
:

dileotis suis

somnum."

8^

4Q

67i

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED

VIRGIIT

MARY

not kuow, shall never

know her name

nor

is it

in

any

point essential to us or

her that

we

should.

But
it

as she wrote her

nation while the pangs of her offspring were tearing at her own heartstrings and trying to unite her pain with the
pain of Her who stood at the foot of the cross, the Mother of Jesus."* By and

simple thanks for it, at the form of words

The morning was
All nature had

we may look
took.^
and serene.
;

here,

beautiful, mild,

waked from repose

Maternal affection came silently in. And placed on my bosom a rose.

by the innocent head sinks down upon the mother's bosom there is a struggle and a final sigh and then, He that car; ;

rieth
Poor nature was weak, and had almost prevailed The long-wearied eyelids to close
;

the

young lambs
that
little

in

His bosom,*

"

suffereth

one to come to

But the

soul

waked

in

triumph and joyously hailed

The sweet Queen of Flowers, the Rose.

Whitsuntide was the time, 'twas the season of love. And I thought that the Blest Spirit chose

To

And come

leave for a while the sweet form of the Dove, in the blush of the Rose.
Spirit,

Him." That ended, Mother Seton lays the untenanted body from her arms with a low murmured, "Oh, my darling!" then

Come, Heavenly

descend on each breast.

My chains says to the attendant Sister, are broken," and to her God she says,
lifting

' '

And

there let thy blessings repose.

did'st

As thou once

on Mary, the temple of rest.

For Mary's our Mystical Rose.

her eyes and arms, "My Lord, my She will nevermore darling is with thee
!

risk to offend

Thee

and to Thee

O may
Who

give

every rose that springs forth evermore. Enkindle the hearts of all those

wear

it

or see

it

to bless

and adore

The Hand

that created the rose.

her up with all my soul." Now, this was the child's prayer or act of consecration. She and two of her companions had given themselves early to Blessed

Let US guess how Mother Seton would

Mary
: !

in this

move young hearts to the love of the Blessed among women, by what we see Just a of her own child, her Rebecca.
glimpse into that well-tried life of hers a moment's raising of the curtain to ex;

form of their own composition " Oh, our Blessed Mother we conseRecrate our poor little hearts to you.
ceive our offering.

From

this

day we

pose the mother's pain, and one glance The record into the heart of the child.
of the
little
;

will begin, and with your dear assistance will continue to try our very best to love

girl's

long-suffering

is

most

and serve you faithfully. Oh, our dear, dearest Mother, intercede for your poor
Uttle children before the throne of

the record of her patience is pitiable most beautiful, as she lies there white

your

divine Son, for

He

will
;

not deny you, His

and

still,

suffering heroically,

and not

"wishing her sufferings shortened ;" her large eyes never quitting the crucifix
except to turn upon the poor mother beside her, the

dear Mother, anything and therefore we beg you to obtain for us the virtue of
purity of heart, which
to

you and your

so very pleasing Divine Son, and that of

is

mother struggling

for resig-

(1) White's Life, p. 494.

autem juxta Crucem Jesu, Mater ^us.'* Saint JohrCt Qotpel, xix. 26. Saint Mark's Gospel, x. 14. (3) Isaias xl. 11.
(2) ''Stdbat

&

2;

4
i4

si

Oh

O
&4

>a'

?8

u^oiasM'
-

'.

.v,,./^

it

>

-ria^&oT'

zoim?^ b^iiiill sds

fii

is)

viiii JWJ"b

iwais Ja^x

A'

rO PI

it-

i.i! die

-;>^l-f?j.?

SifTj^)?!;

saiii'u;;

:i;Jl

-U^U lO'^^iivf

-t'

,a6i9&

x-MXo

<fti.

Ada

,'j

,i-;'>w Biiij sjSVFI

(*)

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
our

675

modesty and

love.

But above

all,

oh,

tion to each order in the United States

its

Blessed Mother, obtain for us a happy death, that we may reign forever in the
blessed mansions of peace and rest v?hich is our true country and home. Amen."^
It is only the act of three little

due number of

pupils,

but as yet sys-

tem

is wanting. Just take your atlas for awhile and

Amer-

ican school-girls, some fifty years ago, but ex ore infantiurn et lactentium perfecisti

Grey Sisters, the first we ever saw in North America ;* see them today, more than two centuries later, toilsee those

laudem

"Out
all

of

the

mouth

of

ing in the half-tropical heats of South, or braving, for the love of

the

God

babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise ;"* and Mary seems to have heard
them, for they
died in childhood.

One
Seton's

of

these

very

first

of Mother

and Mary, the boreal wind careering over the semi-frozen floods of Hudson's Bay, or the almost perpetual snows that lie around far Athabasca Lake, in north
latitude 60.

community venerable Mother Margaret George,

"

survives (1863), the

fifty-

Look

at the Daughters of

one years a Daughter of Charity and Servant of the Poor." If you would see her and ask her prayers, you will find
her in the midst of the orphans, at the

the Cross, sailing in 1855 from Treguier, in France, to Avoyelles, in Louisiana

Mary Hyacinthe, superior of the first colony Mary Agatha, of the second, in It is this last colony which, when 1856.
;

asylum

in

Cumminsville,

Cincinnati.

Of other Sisters of Charity, and of these, a fact or two will illustrate our attempt One single a history of devotion. that of Emmetsburg, has community,
at

their ship takes fire far out at sea, assemble in their cabin and chant the Salve " Hail, Queen ; hail. Mother Regina

twenty-two asylums, for orphans, for the

insane, for incurables

of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope." These also recite each day the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin.

eleven hospitals, and twenty-five schools. In the city of New York alone. Sisters of various orders
;

Then, when Kentucky was a wilderness, almost, in 1812, and holy Father

teach at least six thousand pupils.

In Canada,

eight hundred

religious

Nerinckx labored as missionary there he called into existence, to aid the cause " Sisters of of God and Our Lady, the
Loretto, or Friends of of the Cross
;"

tvomen, ten years ago, were teaching eleven thousand children, guarding a

Mary

at the foot
first,

their object

their

thousand orphans, nursing

eick,*

five thousand and teaching by precept or exam-

own
of

perfection,

and then the education

girls,

especially of the very poor.

He

to ple devotion to the Blessed Virgin If we had any recthese. jvtry one of
i)rds here,

calls their

house on Hardin's Creek, Lo-

we might be

able to appor-

retto, the house whereof Our Lady was the mistr'^ss on earth within whose walls
;

(1) (2)

"White's Life of Mrs. Seton,". Appendix, Psalm viii. 2.

p. 498.

(8) Seroantes

de Dieu en Canada,
p.

(4) Vide this work,

561.

676

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

incarnate.
St.

Our Lord became

poverty was
Their

Mary's
life.

two women of

this

to be theii

model of

States, so far as

we

order in the present can find out, were in

houses are therefore poor and badly furnished, their food is of the plainest kind, and their raiment of the
coarsest
forests

Hard labor

in the fields

was to be

their earthly luxury,

and and

Kentucky, and were both called Maryy They were here in 1807 or 1808. Then they were at St. Mary's, in Ohio, in 1819, and they have houses in Zanesville in
that last-named State, and in Benicia in
California,

their lives penitentialbarefooted most " of the year, for one item.^ Poor to

and

in

Memphis, Tennessee,
Island.
St.

and

in

Brooklyn, Long

extremity, but ah," says saintly Bishop " such spotless cleanliness !"* Flaget,

Their first convent was called

their second St. Magdalene,
St. Catherine's.

Rose
to

now

called

Now, they have at least ten establishments in Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, otffr' among the Osage Indians. There are two hundred Sisters now, and every
house has
"
schools.

I only

know them

be

in a

most especial manner devoted to the

;

Blessed Virgin to be zealous in imparting that love to others. They educate a

And

then,

these
in

couple of hundred pupils at least each

Friends of

Mary

at the Cross"

meet

year

and

in the

same State of Kentucky

their

darkened chapel when three o'clock comes round each day, for a long mediand commemoration
;

the Sisters of Charity at Nazareth teach between four and five hundred.

tation on,

of.

Our
bell

Lord's drear Passion

tolls

and while the

mournfully they

murmur

at stated
sor'lyJ"!
I

Our road for the rest of this chapter must be a very undetermined one. Perwe wander from force, a vagabond,
mountain to
sea-side,
prairie,

intervals,

"0

suffering Jesus!

from forest to sacred

rowful

the side of these good religious, and educating more children to love and reverence St. Mary, are the

Mary !"* Then, close by

picking up here a woodland sometimes getthere a pebble flower,

;

ting a mere glance at some bright object,

and utterly unable,

for thicket, surf, or

Dominicans
is

and

St.

Dominic, you know,

JN^ot

the father of the Rosary.

of that

What quicksand, to come any nearer. we shall get into our basket, however, be
it

manner of prayer, but only of that manner brought to perfection of practice for the use of beads in prayer sweeps far back beyond the Incarnation of Our
;

agate or patch of moss,

altar,

we

lay on

Our
.

persuaded of this at that she will have no contempt for

Lady's

leasts
it.
'!

The

Sisters of Providence, in Oregon,

Divine Redeemer, and

is

common

to all

in Canada, in

Oriental nations, Pagan, Hebrew, Mahommedan, and Christian. Now, the first
(i) Sketches
tncfcy.

ceived at Gfrosse lie

Vermont, those who rethe thousand of

;

ship-fever patients in 1848

these edu-

By

of the Early Catholic Missions in KenRt. Rot. M. J. Spalding, Bishop of Loais-

Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, First Bishop of Louisa ville. By Rt. Rev. M. J. Spalding; p. 290.
(3) Letter of Rt.

Tiye; p. 206-218. (2) Sketches of the Life, Times, and Character of

Rev. Dr. Spalding, Oct.

2,

1861.

IN NORTH AMEKiOA.

677

some hundred and fifty girls who pay, and some nine hundred who are too " poor for that. The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and of Mary" all bear
cate

affiliated

with

it,

in Africa, India,

not only in Europe*, but and Cliina. It was not

later that the first

until

some years

body

of these holy missionaries directed their

the

name

pupils.

of Mary, and teach a thousand The Sisters of the Presentation,

;

The Rev. M. steps towards America. Sales Brunner, with eight missionary
and six novices, sailed in 1843 for New York, and upon the invitation of the Most Rev. Archbishop, established
priests

the Sisters of St. Joseph how many the Daughters of St. Anne do they teach to honor Mary ? God
at St. Hyacinth
; ;

knows, and God rewards. Everywhere to him who has eyes and who looks out
of them, there
parterre
fertility.^
is

themselves in the diocese of Cincinnati.

During a pious pilgrimage

in the year 1832,

at

Rome,
,

observable some

new

Madame Anna Maria

uniting herself

from the Church's perpetual On the day which sees these

Brunner, mother of the reverend gentle-

man mentioned

above,

lines written,

Journal of

we read in the Freeman^s New York these facts How,

:

with the greatest fervor in all the objects of the saintly Canon di Bufalo, became a

in the year of grace 1844, a small

com-

member

munity of nuns entered the diocese of " The Cincinnati, having the title of Most Precious Blood," whose principal
office consists in

of his Arch-confraternity, and on returning to her native land, resolved

remainder of her days to the adoration of the Most Precious

to consecrate the

the nocturnal adoration

of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the

Altar, together with other duties common to most convents, and some pecuhar
to themselves.

Blood of Jesus, in the Holy Sacrament of the altar. The better to withdraw
from distractions which might tend to interrupt her devotions, she retired to
the solitary castle of Lowenberg, in the Grisons (Switzerland), where, in the

The founder of the Arch-confraternity of Priests of the Most Precious Blood

was the Canon Gaspar di Bufalo, who was bom at Rome a.d. 1786. Another true benefactor of America he, issuing
like so

course of the following year, she was joined by twelve devout young women

from Alsace and Baden, who placed themselves under her direction, and for whom
she prepared a rule, by which they led a regular religious life in the observance
of nocturnal adoration.

others from the red fange of that French Revolution.

many

Chiefly through his exertions the Archconfraternity of the Most Precious Blood

The night was subdivided, and each

was organized, in 1815, at Rome. So rapid was its progress, that fifteen years later, in 1830, more than a hundred and fifty lesser confraternities were already
(1)

member
altar.

passed two hours before the

See M. de Oouroy's " Servantes de Dieu," passim.

Every day, at the close of the morning prayers and before the celebration of the Holy Mass, the sentences enwere rejoined by Arch-confraternity peated by each member of liie eommti-

CT8

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIKGIN MARY

in

nity-,

an audible voice

and during

the celebration of the Mass, they recited together the litany of the Most Precious

of consolation, they now directed their steps towards the great Western

and

full

Blood.

The day was employed

in

man-

ocean, which they must traverse in order to reach their goal in the midst of the

ual labor, always accompanied by prayers or meditation, in the house or garden,

vast continent

beyond

it,

yet no fear or

or in the fields

for

could

command no

they were poor, and other means of sub-

danger agitated their strong hearts.

and

faithful

sistence, either for themselves or for the

"Truly," writes one of them, "this great journey might well have frightened
but when we remembered that the Son of God had freely poured out the last drop of his most precious blood for
us,

indigent female orphans, tained in their convent.

whom
The

they sus-

blessing of
;

God gave

the fruits of their toil

and

trusting to the results of their prayers

and industry, and the powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother of God, they,
after a Uttle

time, charged themselves

with the expense of educating for the holy priesthood seven young missionaries,

we said one to another, If in America we can prevent even one mortal sin, the fatigues we now undergo will be richly repaid, and should we find nothing else to do, we can teach our Catholics to
'

us,

who were

afterwards attached to

say the Rosary of the Most Precious Blood, and we can seek out some poor

the zealous band

who

(as

we have related)
d.

entered the diocese of Cincinnati, a. 1843.

orphans who have need of our care, and then we shall be content. But even if
find nothing to do, we know well that our dear Lord will accept our good in-

we

year after the arrival of the mis-

sionary priests, the Most Rev. Archbishop of Cincinnati extended an invitation also
to the
lish

tentions to honor His great sacrifice

for,

community

at

Lowenberg

to estab-

sweet Mother, have we not laid our undertaking, and all that may result from
it,

themselves in his diocese, which was

at thy feet

"When we accepted

this

The simple story of the travels hitherward, by land and sea, of these angelic women, as given in letters to their friends, is most touching. Our limits conaccepted.
fine

mission to America, did we not place ourselves under thy blessed patronage as
servants of

Mary ?"

us to a few brief extracts from this

Thus rejoicing on their way, these humble daughters of our Blessed Lady
reached America.

interesting correspondence. After a tearful parting with the beloved ones at

Lowenberg, whose faces they should see no more on earth, they went first to
prostrate themselves at the feet of our Lady of Einsiedeln, to implore her bless-

Within a few days, more than forty Catholic maidens were received for catechetical instructions
lost

by the

Sisters,

who

not a

moment

ligious life in its

resuming their reoriginal order, both in

in

ing on their great undertaking, and to Refreshed place it under her direction.

the

nocturnal

adoration of

the
the

Most
daily

Blessed

Sacrament

and

in

A.lTt

'

!*

fa

,/.ji:i2MA iix:io/.

V.

jaift

.U2

t'a'i

Li.

i||;-!s

.:'H.A.
,'J

if.fj

JO

iluixiJ
I

ay..

qxf as

wr+

,7LJO

07

^ a^ii^iv

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
closes an apparition of

679

manual labor, commingled, as before, with constant prayer and meditation,

Their and the offices of the chapel. first Mass was offered on the midnight eve of Christmas, and they commemorated this happy event

wide

fields,

from

near the centre of which rises a cluster

of substantial edifices of various kinds.

The church, no longer a rude of logs, has now become a

structure
spacious,

by naming

chapel Maria ziir Krvppe Mary of the Manger.

Anglice,

their

well-proportioned, and solid pile of brick

The community increased rapidly by the accession of many young women

from Europe, who desired to participate in their holy life of seclusion, which is at
the same time so
full

and stone. Here Father Brunner began to preach on Devotion to Our Lady, and on the
nearly unknown devotion of her Rosary. In the Society, when the sun is setting, they say the Rosary, the Litany of the

of usefulness

and

from time to time American

girls pre-

Blessed Virgin, and have, by special privilege, the Benediction of the Most

sented themselves for admission, so that within five years after their arrival the

number of the Sisterhood had reached one hundred and fifty-four. At this time hours of adoration, recites it thrice. Oh, (1862) their catalogue records the names think of that. How often from these of more than four hundred, some of holy women goes up that beautiful sup-

Then at night prayere, again the Rosary and in the silence of the midnight each sister, during her two Holy Sacrament.
;

whom
rest.

have already entered upon their

their order are dis-

Ten convents of

all, while the beads drop one by one, through the weanoiselessly, riless fingers, and the hush of the solemn

plication for us

tributed over a region of some five and twenty miles or more in length, and of unequal breadth. They are usually seat-

hours

is

scarce broken

by the murmur of
for

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray

us sinners

ed in the midst of

fertile fields

of corn,

death!"

now and at You can hear

;

the hour of our

the brothers and

and surrounded by orchards, vegetable gardens, and vineyards, which present the most striking contrasts to the surroundicg wilderness of woods, which
extends in
all

the sisters at their daily labor, break into and if they rest praises of Saint Mary

from their

toil, it is

them, that they

may

only, with many of If tell their beads.

directions farther than the

It is

any thing
threaten,

is

eye can reach.

a pleasing spectacle

if

greatly needed, if epidemics temporal or spiritual loss

to the traveller as

he pursues his solitary path along the rude highways that perforate the vast forests of this district,

seem

to

impend, a
is

devotion

to

the

gentle Mother say

that

commanded, and they

re-

they always obtain their

when, above the unbroken line of lofty descries first a symmetrical trees, he a little farther on he is almost steeple
;

quests.^

So that you do not wonder to hear,

Rev. Joseph Dwenger, Priest C.PP.8., 14 and August 24, 1861. September
(1) Letters of

startled

by a sudden opening, which

dis-

680
that

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

all

through the surrounding coun-

text-book in each family is Saint " Alphonsus Liguori's Glories of Mary," and that the Chaplet is their daily devotry, the

" ImLady's Seven Sorrows," or of the " maculate Conception," or in the Sodal-

tion

that the chapels are crowded every evening, that in the bitter winter you
;

Our people," a devoted priest of that region, says "would almost think it a mortal sin to
ity of the Blessed Virgin."

"

can see lines of lanterns, glimmering through the dark of the early morning,
as the faithful pick their way, through the most detestable of roads, to the break-

omit the Rosary on Sundays or on Festivals." Every few miles a new brick
convent, or pious school, gleams through the openings of the woods; and the venerable Archbishop Purcell calls the place the " Thebais of Ohio." It is, too, the "Blessed Virgin's

church,

or

All are of-day Mass and first Rosary. enrolled in one or more Confraternities " Saof the Blessed Virgin, that of the

land,"

and the whole

dulcis Virgo

district

resounds

cred Heart of Mary, for the Conversion of Sinners," or that of the "Scapular," " or of the " Living Rosary," or of Our

with Saint Bernard's cry,

pia^

clemeifis,

Maria !
!

piteous,

gentle,

sweet Virgin Mary

CHAPTER XV.
OUE LADY OF SAINT UBSULA AND SAINT ANGELA.
early as the year 1700, the nuns of Our Lady of La Trappe were at work

As

to settle

on such

faces, so as to

destroy

the marks of Time's advance. she be twenty or forty

evident.
is is

Whether
There

amid the

ice

of

New

Scotland.^

By

not particularly
her.

1790, the nuns of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, home of the Scapular, were la-

But you remark

boring in Maryland.
Cincinnati, in these

When you
days,

get to

a look of singular sweetness and patience on the face which gives refinement,
or
it

and debark

may be

that that

perhaps you may want to go to the cathedral. Get then into one of those "street cars," and ride
train,

from the railway

you don't know;

there naturally, she may have- been

is

born a countess, for there are such among them. There is a bonnet, not very peculiar,

up into the town. After a square or two has been passed a woman gets in,
probably accompanied by a child. Young looking, but how young you cannot nearly guess : the infinite peace of
4.4i.

but such as nobody in good socielike to wear, at least; there

is

ty

would
black
;

cloak,
is

a very poor woman's

cloak

there

a coai-se

brown
crest

robe,

God seems on
iL, 470.

the

bosom of that, the

and and arms

J!.

..

//

i. 'li,

Td

'jjt:&.

fl)

Vie de Margiterit9 Bourgeoyt,

of her nobility, is a crimson cross. That is a Franciscan Hospital Sister, out beg-

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

681

ging from door to door,

for food, clothes,

money, any thing that good people choose to give for the support of a hospital where
any who are poor may
ligion."
enter,

spouses of Jesus, sisters of Blessed Mary, vestals who ward off the wrath of Justice,^

"without

distinction of sex, age, country, or re-

pure types of consecrate womanhood, ye are called by many names, ye live by the Other creeds have pulse of one Heart.
striven to imitate you,

and have

gotteji

and bereaved plants, and these tled is the applicant in downright need ? have found no nourishment in those These decid- stranger lands, by stranger waters. But and, is there a bed empty ? ed, they take the patient in, and set to the Catholic sister is a strong and gloriwork to support and nurse him or her ous tree, whose sap is the Blood of the for the love of the dear God who died Lord, whose roots are planted in the That is the way these new Paradise on high. for us all. Think how those these red-cross sisters, do at sisters move about the noisome streets crusaders, the Hospital of Mart's Help. They of poverty and. dark infectious lanes, were added to our holy Archbishop's quietly, as by stealth, stealing through causes of gratitude to God, some three the shadows, uncovetous of man's approor four years ago, invisible for a while bation. Gentle, modest flowers of holithe fragrance of whose mercy and violets in the winter; by-and-by, when ness of years later, prayerfulness, and love for God and man, the spring came, a couple blooming out modestly, two days after like the scent of the Alpine rhododentheir arrival, begging from door to door dron, escapes the perception of man, and
set-

There are only two doubts to be

:

exotic

in the strange, uncultivated,

but not un-

floats

straightway upwards to the Throne.

day, too, shall they
all

kindly town.
their energy,

And then, as reward for God sent them, in the first

One
there,

be gathered

and out from the

us,

lips of

Him who

week, some dozen of pauper patients, in a few weeks forty, and then they knew Swift that His blessing was with them.
then as weeds,
tall lilies,

died for

words

shall flow

of the King and Judge, these " My sisters, I was an

:

but pure and sacred as sprang up their convent and

of "Mary's Help."

their

hospital

In

hungered and ye gave Me meat, I was Me drink, I was thirsty and ye gave naked and ye clothed Me, sick and ye ministered unto Me, in prison and ye
visited

1860, two hundred and seventy patients the next year, five had been nursed
;

Me.

For inasmuch
it

as

ye did

it

unto the least of

hundred and
thirty,

eighteen, and, among those, worn out with age, for life and soled the sorrowful, your words of pity all supported, and all expenses paid, by sank into My wounded heart it was My the daily ashing of alms from door to ear that listened when ye instructed the
; ;

have done

my poor brethren, ye unto Me. When ye con-

door.

Ah, blessed women, daughters of Charity and Mercy, servants of the poor,

Rome, the passing by of a Vestal Virgin conveyed pardon to criminals doomed to death
(1)

In pagan

86

*E

S8ft

DEVOTION TO TOE BLESSED VIRGIN MAliY

May
The
age to age forever sing
Virgin's
praise,

pauper; when ye relieved the beggar, when this pierced hand took the alms
;

Son and Angel's King,

celestial host,

And
The

with the

ye gave drink to the thirsty, ye lifted the cup to the lips of your Redeemer and
your
Grod.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

And
*

these

shall

go

into

And

then the celebrant chants solemn-

everlasting life." As you leave the College of Our Lady of Angels, to cross into Canada by the

ly, for the postulant,

Ora pro

ea,

Smicta
sisters

Dei Genitrix\ and the choir of

respond in

harmony, Ut digna
Cliristi.

efficiatur

Pray for her, Suspension Bridge, you see above the promtssionibus rainbow-crowned mist the Convent of Holy Mother of God, that she may be of Peace. It is a house of made worthy of the promises of Christ."* Our

"

Lady

Lorettines,

and,

being a place of

pil-

These are the Ursulines, and to me,

least

at

grimage, will be spoken of hereafter. Let us come to Our Lady of Saint Ursula

while making this book, they seem inseparable, somehow, from the Sisters
of Charity and Mercy. Remember the beginning of our story, and see how

and Saint Angela. There is an order of holy women

"wonderfully raised up," says the Col" in His Church by God, under the lect, protection of the glorious Virgin Mary,

they stood side by side amid the Canadian snows. When they were burnt
out in the sharp winter of ISSS-S," it sisters who received them into

Mother of His only begotten These enter the Chapel, wherein they take their veil and vows, to the music
of this solemn march:
S'lOV.

Son."* was the

such shelter as they had, and clothed them for the time in their own gray habits.

At New
to
for they

Orleans, they had, at one time, perform the duties of Hospital Sisters,

oJi

Ji> r

O GLORIOSA VIBGINUM.'
while thy Maker blest

O Mary,

were the only religious there in It was 1728,* and for many years after.

Is nonrished at thy virgin breast, Such glory shines that stars, les bright,

Behold thy face and lose their light. .esniaifoo oaoriJ "to The low that man in Eve deplores,

in their schools that the first Indian girls were taught; it may be there that the
last shall learn their

Thy

fruitful

womb
the

in Christ restores;

way to heaven free For them that moorn to follow thee. /!oH baiskfia adi rliiw eliisd oi

And makes

Maria, before they perish under the ruthless feet of the white man.

Ave

When we
treal

last

Saint Angela Merici, they were in

saw the daughters of Mon-

C*^'
f
;

By thee the heavenly gates display And show the lights of endless day, Sing, ransomed nations sing, and own
!

Your ransom was a Virgin's Son.

and Quebec. A century later we find them amid the miasms of Louisiana. Mother Mary Tranchepain, surnamed of
(4)

(1) St.

Matthew, xxv. 34^6.

Feast of
St.

Works

(2) Collect for (3) I find this

Ursula.

(5)
(6)

It, 208.

fiaX

rendering in Bishop England's Works, ^n ^a^aU qniii-ih lo aiii. ; I,

of Rt. Eev. Dr. England, iv., 192. Vide this work, pp. 560, 561. Annales de VOrdre de Samte Ursule, Cltrmontii.,

Ferrand,

661.

'-'^

t-*^'

IN

NOBTH AMERICA.
haustible wells, the Hearts of Jesus

683

Saint Augustine, and ten devoted companions form the first band who go to
the
80

and

new

city of

New

Orleans

city

Mary.*
in 1755, a claim on the charity of these brave women, a claim met heartily and with

of

By-and-by there comes,

many and varied destinies. We have her own earnest and pious account of the voyage ^^ of their danger and wreck, and their vow to Saint Mary the Virgin
;

new

of her perfect confidence in that

good

came from the extreme North, there where Mary of the Incarnation worked and wrote long ago. In

good

will.

It

Mother, and consequent calm fearlessAfterwards she describes the arness.*

and rude settlement of their community, and then, also, she has to tell
rival

her neighborhood, but stiU farther north and eastward, in the now British province of Nova Scotia, was the land once

known

as

Acadia.
historians

There

are

many
the

of the holy death of three of them, as each in her turn succumbed to the labors

Protestant

who

sketch

and the insalubrity of the climate.

sad history of the cruel ruin of these settlements, but there are no Catholic
authors obtainable
tiful

On

the

first

year of their arrival they

ter-

by me.
is
it

Most beauLongfellow's the story

were welcomed by somewhat such

of

all

narratives

rors as greeted their sisters long ago in The Natchez the days of the Iroquois.
fell

"Evangeline;"

but

tells

upon Fort

Rosalie,

and massacred

only of two exiles, both of whom find their rest in another part of this vast semicontinent, and, cradled in Nova Scotia, make their graves in Pennsylvania. When

all

but the children.

These, or thirty at
first

least of them,

were purchased back from

the savages, and formed the Asylum of the Ursulines.

Orphan
they

To

this

soon added other schools, one for young French ladies, one for the slave women,
a day-school for the poorer white children, a hospital, and a Magdalen Asylum.

Evangeline wandered to Louisiana, she found only Ursuline nuns, as there were no other religious in New Orleans at the
time of
the arrival

of the Acadians.

These holy women formed the provisional army of Charity and Mercy during the
first

So that not content with being Ursulines, they must needs, for a while at least, make
themselves Daughters of Charity and Sisters of the Good Shepherd. And for
all

They

struggles of those countriea were Bretons originally, these

these
all

was

1730, seven nuns it that was left of them found

toils,

in

Acadians, and from that land, and from illustrious La Vendee, whose warriors

went
Mary,

to battle with the sacred

Heart of
their

white

embroidered,

upon

courage and resignation in those inexRelation du

breasts,

the
(1)

they brought their fidelity to Queen of Angels, far over the

Voyage dea premises Ursulines

et

i la Nounelle
cette
\,ille.

OrliaTia
la

de leur etablissement en
St.

Par

R. Mire

Augvstin de IVanchepp. 15, 25, 26.

troubled Atlantic, to the wild and icebound shores of Cape Breton. They
(3) Life of

pain.
(i)

Ke^tion du Voyage,

etc.,

BLshop Flaget, pp. 157, 168.

684

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

the valleys

liinade those deserts blossom

of that boreal

and breeze-swept land

stood thick with

golden corn; sixty thousand head of horned cattle soon

tilled

graced upon the pastures

careful

and industrious hands. which they cultivated, and the flocks which they reared, spun and woven by the nimble fingers of their pious women, Each famclothed the Acadian farmers. ily was well able to provide for its own wants, so that there were no poor, and The blessing of paper little barter.

by their The flax

and bade them God speed. The population numbered eighteen thousand souls. And when their sun was at its serenest the storm came down. In 1762 this charge was brought against them, "that the
necessaries for a twelvemonth,

Council were fully convinced of their strict attachment to the French king,

and

their readiness at all times to take

part with and assist him."* This was the cloud, and from it the lightning soon fell. In the Octave of Our Lady's

money had not lighted upon them, and they had little or no use for the slight stock of gold and silver which they
possessed.

Seven Sorrows, September 17, they stood upon the shore surrounded with bayonets which were to drive them, if
resisting, into

They kept

as

clear

of the

the vessels prepared for their deportation. Their houses, churchbarns,

court of justice as they did of the tradThe elders of the viler's exchange.
lages settled all slight quarrels; they carried the greater to the priest. He drew their public acts, recorded their
wills,

the flamestwo hundred and

es,

and

mills,

had been given

to

fifty-three

of these burning at once in a single settlement, five hundred lying in ashes in

another.

kept them instructed

in the law

the woods,

.;

of God, consecrated their lives by Sacraments, kept vivid in their souls devotion His salary was the to Mary Immaculate.
altwenty-seventh part of the harvest more than he needed, for there ways

cape, force employed. Back from the cold

fled and perished in some made good their esmost of them submitted to the

Some

beach about a

mile stood the Church of Our Lady of Acadie. There they gathered for the
last

were no poor. "Misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence anticipated the

time, while Father

the Holy

Mysteries

for

Reynal offered them. Then

;:

demands of poverty." ^ they marched slowly out, weeping, tellThe Acadian married young, chose ing their beads, chanting the Litanies of his own partner for life, and she brought the Blessed Virgin, singing hymns to him her portion in flocks and herds. her eternal Son and her. All the way When the union had been determined from that chapel to the shore the mournon,

the

whole

community

built

the

young couple a house, broke up the lands about it, supplied them with life's
(1) Haliburton, 0. J.,
i.,

procession passed through the kneeling ranks of their wild weeping mothers
ful
Proceedings of His Majesty's Oonncil on the subject of the removal of the Acadians in 1762, ex(2)

172.

tracted from Conncil books.

IN

NORTH

AMElilOA.

685

and wives, of their sisters and little chiland when the men had passed dren
;

There, at a home.

least,

these

little

ones found

these

rose
so,

and followed

to

the ships.

Many

trial to

their faith, hope,

and

And

driven aboard, they passed awayover the strange seas, in that Octave of

patience, had the community of New Orleans to sustain. First, want, and labor,

and poverty, but these were natural to Our Lady of Sorrows. The sun went down. Such of the* the missionary nun; then the loss of poor women as were left found shelter eighteen of their number at once, who where they could for themselves and retired to Havana on the purchase of their children, and the provincial sol- Louisiana by the United States Governdiery stood in their ranks upon the ment;* then by the decay of religious sands, alone in a once beautiful and fer- spirit among the people, only revived
tile

or

" without a foe to subdue, country, a population to protect. But the

volumes of smoke," says the Protestant " which the half-expiring emhistorian,
bers emitted, while they marked the site of the peasant's cottage, bore testimony to the extent of the work of destruction.

by the coming of Bishop Dubourg. They knew where to have recourse in their sorrows. The good bishop having obtained for them the permission of the
to that effect, they placed themselves under the especial protection of Saint Mary, and called themselves

Holy Father

For several successive evenings the cattle gathered round the smoking ruins, as if in
expectation of the return of their masters, and all night long the faithful watchdogs

thenceforward Ursulines of the Presentation of

Our Lady.*

And

then, at the

close of 1814, having finished their chapel, they erected the statue of our Lady

howled over the scene of

desolation,

and

of Swift Help, Notre

Dame

de

Prompt

mourned alike the hand that had fed and the house that had sheltered them."*
All these sad victims were sown, like wild-flower seeds, by chance as it were,
all

Secours, and thither go the Ursulines for In that same year of comfort now. 1815, an army threatened the town of New Orleans, and General Andrew Jack

along the North American coast from

to

son

commanded

its

defences.

And while

regard was paid to family ties daughters were separated from their mothers, wives from husbands, and little children from their families. Such of the latter, a large number, as reached New Orleans formed the second inheritance of orphans which

Maine

Louisiana.
:

No

Old Hickory swore and fought hard, the daughters of Saint Angela knelt before the statue of Notre Dame, and behind them knelt the women of the city, lady and negress side by side, all, with ear
nest supplication, pouring forth the Lit" Our Lady of Prompt Succor." any of

fell

to

the

Ursulines
and
Statistical

of

the

South.

And

the cannon that thundered without,

de Dieu, La Eoche Heron, p. 28. This was effected on Jannarj 16, 1818.

(1) Historical
tia,

Account of Nova ScoHalifax, 1829,

(2) Servantet
(3)

by Hon.

Chiefrjustice Halibnrton.

L, 180, 181.

6SG

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

rattle

and the
also.

of

musketry,

and
their

the

shouts of the

fighters

went

way

Perhaps, since then, with the same or greater agony of supplication,

tempests; against contagious diseases; against the Evil One, Pray for us. Our Lady, Prompt Help of the people

they

may have prayed

this
it

Litany

per-

of New Orleans ; of those defence of their country;

enemies.

who

fight in

against our

haps they are praying

1862.

now, October,

Pray for

us.

We
space.

will condense

it

for

economy of
Trin-

God, passed on
eries
;

Who
all

beholdest

us

encom-

sides

by dangers and mis-

After the usual Kyrie eleison

and invocation of the Most Holy " " Holy Mary," and of Mother ity, of
of the Infant Jesus,"
follows
:

grant us in Thy goodness that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God Thy only Son, may defend us from the malignant enemy, and protect us against all adversity that she may ever, by prompt
;

it is

in substance as

Our Lady of Prompt Help, Pray for

Our Lady, Prompt Help of those who
invoke thee with confidence; of those devout to the Infant Jesus; of those
yearning for an earnest and enlightened of afflicted families faith ; of penitents
; ;

help, deliver us

from the

necessities of

body and soul, and with her powerful hand lead us in safety to the kingdom of
heaven; through, etc' In 1823, these noble Ursulines of
Orleans were strengthened by of six from old Quebec again

New
in
St.

a colony
;

and

of the poor and infirm of travellers of mariners of the shipwrecked ; of those

;
;

1861 by

others from the Convent of

in the last
tory,

agony

of the souls in purgato

Pray for Our Lady, Prompt Help

tis.

Let us move that way. Martin, in Ohio. Up from the French capital, following Marquette's River of the Immaculate

obtain

law of God;

and preserve charity; to observe the to obtain contrition and

perseverance in the practice of good
works. Pray for us.

Conception to the Ohio, first known to those Jesuit servants of Mary who died beneath the Iroquois tomahawk and to the cathedral town of
scalping-knife,

Cincinnati;
in the con-

and thence back

into

the

Our Lady, Prompt Help

version of sinners; in the
soul
;

new country where,

Octave of Our

since July 21, in the

wants of the
;

Lady of Mount Carmel,

in occasions of sin

in temptation

in necessities of the body;

in the acciin
in-

1845, they have been training souls in the love of God and Mary.

dents of

life;

in

conflagration;

As you approach

it,

you are struck

undation; in enlightening unbelievers; in the conversion of heretics, Pray for

us.

with the features of American natural

beauty which surround it: we once heard an eloquent guest compare it to

Lady, Prompt Help against imagainst the revolt of the will purity from God's will; against lightning and
O'xff
;

(1)

Find

this Litany printed in St. John's

Manual.

Dunigan

& Bros., New

York, 1857,

p. 1186.

m
the

NORTH AMERICA.
see,

tr

the devoted daughters of St. Ursula. ^n, Another colony comes to Cleveland. rather liken it to the mountain top, as' more isolated, and higher up, Their bishop, Mgr. Rappe, receives them being nearer to God than valleys are or may in their chapel with Benediction of the
be.

Valley of Rasselas, a valley but not of the world. We would

Happy

amid the

trees, the

noble Convent of

Mountain top or

valley,

however,

this place is like a result of the tradi-

Blessed Sacrament, the first time there, on the feast of the Virgin's Assumption.

tional recollection of Eden.

The broad

In the Octave of the Immaculate Conception,

their chapel received by consecration that beautiful title as
its

plains covered with corn, vineyards, and orchards, or lying in wide sheets of dark

its

green meadow, daisy-spotted and arabesqued by brooks the stately, calm nobleness of ancient forests, linden and oak
;

own.

On

the festival of the Annuncia-

tion, the first

took place.
find

Communion of the pupils Go farther north and you

;

and maple and locust then over and through all this, the humming of bees and golden beetles in the noon, and the flashing of phosphoric fire-flies, diamondand the conlike luminous in the dusk varied song of unhunted birds, stant,
; ;

them

still

at

Three Rivers,

at the

Saut Sainte Marie, children these, too, of the antique pioneers of Quebec. And
these

of the North

now count over

seventeen thousand pupils, instructed in more than the ordinary branches, some
the highest of women's studying; best of all, instructed in the lore of love
in

from the pure sweet whistle of the golden yellow-bird, through robin and redbird, quail-pipe, screech of blue-jay, low
coo of purple-throated dove, to the varied utterance of the reddish mockingbird, and the sweet, rollicking song of the bobolink, rocking on a mullen top. First you see the little church, usually

of God, and devotion to the Model of Christian women, the stainless and gen'

tle

Mary.*
retrace our way, back

But we must

down the Father of Waters, to what, so short a time ago, was wilderness to far;

with half-a-dozen birds upon

etc.

its

cross,

off Texas, to Galveston

nio.

making you think of that, Ucce enim

passer invenit doraum^ sparrow hath found her a home, and the turtle-dove a nest where she may lay her Lord of young, even Thine altars,

Sister

and San AntoSaint Ambrose will be our

in

Behold the

guide.*

From Southern
fair

from
"

Auch,

France, she diocese of Toulouse.

!"

Good-by, from Havre

er

France
all

she

writes

"
;

farewell,

Then where two holy you priests. Fathers Gacon and Schemohl have, like their Master, been "doing good" for twenty years, and then you
Hosts,

my King and my God}

Superior,

and

my good Mothmy sisters. We

and received
this

see the presbytery

confessed,

heard

Mass,

the

Holy Communion

Notre Dame.

Earnestly

we
'
.

morning at called upon

offer us to

Mary, and besought her to

^
'

(1)

Psalm bnmii.

8.

-" - ''"'^'-

^^

'

s rT mgii

p(wrtn'

"^"^

''

(2)

AnnaUt

de Vordre de Sainte Urmle,

ii.,

550, 5661

baa

(8)

Annales,

ii.,

571, 608.

688

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

then, at her feet,

her Divine Son:

we

bade adieu to

all

whom we

love.

Good-

peacefully and joyously, and are confident that Mary will bring us safe to
in the

It by, till heaven." the Annunciation of

was on the eve of port" Our Lady that they After a

little,

summer of 1853,

sailed.

On

the Feast of her Visitation

their

they were at It was on an

home

in Galveston.
tells

the yellow fever and the cholera together furnish them with new experiences.

island, she
;

us,

flat,

without a single spririg

they drank unas in

filtered rain-water there,

Africa

Orleans two thousand persons perish in a single week the dead cart rumbles perpetually over the pavement.

In

New

and elsewhere.
mosquitos;
ants.

They
is

are devoured

by

overrun with

The convent

sharp-biting of wood. "Not

In Galveston these plagues decimate the "But all our confidence is population.
in

Mary,

who we know
for our

will help us to

of a palace," says Sister Saint Ambrose, "but finer than our Lord's at

much

keep ready
our
Lord."

appearance before
are

Bethlehem."
the garden

For her own presidential

room, she has a plank hut, a shanty in with a rough wooden cross
;

ordered, of To these course, by Monseigneur Odin. the Ursulines add a particular devotion

Prayers

to Mary.,

In the Octave of
in

made by

herself,

and below

it,

pasted on

the wall, une petite image de Marie^ little picture of Mary.

Nativity
tropics,

September,

Our Lady's almost in the

a-

severe frost sets in and the

"Send
good

us

some

she writes to France

health.

good mother," young sisters, in Make them study English

help;

"

"No scourges are checked. doubt," says the pious sister, "we owe this favor to Blessed Mary; therefore
terrible

we

intend to

make a devotion

in her

thoroughly, without going before the mirror to practise the th. Preach to

them well Promise them, that if they come here, they shall have affliction, privation, humiliation, suffering, and temptation of all sorts and 'without end,' The
Protestant ministers preach a crusade against them it sends all the curious to
;

honor immediately, at once to jecognize her kindness in banishing the plagues, and to beg her continuous protection
community." There were, before the sickness, seven priests and a deacon in the then new settlement;
priests.

for our

after

it,

there remained

two

This was
Saint

October, 1853, and

says,

look at and listen to them.

Ministers

Sister

Ambrose

"We

hope
In

mock
it

at the poverty of their convent;

that

Mary

will preserve these two.

people thinking, and converts A hurricane come in by the dozen. sweeps away the roof, the rain storm that
sets

our house
neither
scholars.
this is

we have

follows

drenches the house.

says Sister Saint

"Never
Will,'

the only reason for the 'devotion' of which I have

among The true,

not had a single case, the religious nor the

mind,"
sail in

Ambrose, "we

spoken, offered by the community unto

the

good

ship,

'The Divine

Mary."

IN

NORTD AMERICA.
"
1.

681)

THE VOW OP THE GALVESTON URSULINES TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY,

CONSECRATING THEMSELVES TO IT IN GRATITUDE FOB THBnt PKESBRVATION FROM THE SCOUROE OP 1853, AND TO ASStTBE TirEMSELVES A CONTINUATION OF

To

dedicate our

new convent and

title

its

church to God, under the Immaculate Conception.

"
2.

of the

To make a To make

nine days' devotion

feasts.

before each of our

HER

LOVE.

October

9,

1853.

"3.

procession in

thy

Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, deign to look upon this community of the daughters of Saint Anrender gela, who, prostrate before thee, thee their homage and implore thy protection.

"0

honor on the

feasts of

Conception, thy
ciation,

thy Immaculate Nativity, thy Annun-

and Assumption.

"4.

On each

of these days to cause

the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be offered for these intentions.
"

"Remember, Mary, that the Most 0, our dear Mother, crown all the High has made thee the dispenser of His kindness thou hast shown us by the bounty and that He has only made thee grace of a holy and happy death, that so powerful, so rich, and so good that so, one day, we may all ascend to love
;

thou mayst give us succor in our wretch-

and to bless thee forever in heaven. Thou seest the calamities which Amen."^ edness. afflict this land; The Mother Superior, Sister Saint Jane perhaps our want of ardor in thy service has been the only de Chantal, read this vow aloud in the cause of them. Help us now worthily presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament to repair our forgetfulness and our in- exposed. young girl, white-robed,
thee,

gratitude.
thee,

Revenge
revenge

thyself,
thyself,

we pray
tender

but

Mother, by piercing our hearts with a sword of love for thy dear Son and thee.

" We sang held a wax-light near her. the hymn and chorus of Our Lady of Victories, Notre Dame des Victoires ;

Henceforth

we

voted servants.

wish to be thy most deWe choose thee for our

then the Superior, in the name and by the consent of all the sisterhood, pronounced the vow of consecration

Queen, our Mother, our Advocate, and To thee we dedicate our Patroness.

Then, afterwards,
I

we sang

the hymn,

and consecrate ourselves and our convent, and the hearts of all who dwell or
shall

dwell therein forever.

Queen of

am the child of sweet Mary, And that Mother heloved doth hless me am the child of sweet Mary, 'Tis the cry of my heart, 'tis my chorns

each daj

alway

Virgins, deign to accept the irrevocable gift of ourselves, which, in the sight of

How West is he, O tender Mother, Who in thy ranks hath chosen his
There
is

parti

heaven and
day.

earth,

And
is

that

we make we may

to thee this

on earth no

bliss

more

perfect,

Than

his

who

gives to thee his heart'

obtain

thy
(1)
(2)

strong

which
engage

protection for this convent, now thine own, we solemnly

Annates de V OrAre de SainU Vrtule, ii., 595 Je mis Venfant de Marie, Et ma mire chirie me benit ehaquejour;

87

4S

m.

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

Then came the Tantum Ergo, and, Sail now along the gulf where the after the benediction, the Te Deum. coast trends southward and westward, Our statue of the Virgin we had deco- till you reach Espiritu Santo, the Bay rated with our best taste and power, of the Holy Ghost. Into that pour two and ehe seemed to us more gracious streams; the larger is the river of Our
than ordinary." Fire next; but
^^j j^n

Lady of Guadalupe, the second

Anthony's
river.

is

Saint

Mary shows her

ten-

Tracing the latter up,

derness in that; and though the buildings be of pine, and the column of flame
is visible

from

afar,

but

little

damage

is

done.

The Convent of

the Immaculate

some hundred and fifty miles from the beach, you will come to its head-waters and the ancient Spanish town and new Let Ursuline convent of San Antonio.
us listen to an extract from the letters

grows rapidly the while. Next year comes the fever. The houses around us are all draped in mourning:
Conception
our convent alone escapes without a
gle case.
sin-

of Sister Saint Joseph, as Mother Saint Angela reads them aloud to the com-

munity

in far-off

French BrignoUes.
thinks,

At

Abb6

Metz,

falls

the cathedral, a priest, the " Thanks to

victim.

Country,

she

rather

savage.
certain

Our

cloister

wall

consists

of

our Mother Mary, so good, so tender! May the people here learn her gentleness

stakes set in the earth

and connected

and love her."

There are more

hurricanes. Once, the gulf and the bay threaten to unite their waters and sub-

Father Dubois, priest of by Catthe parish, made our grand gate. a circumstance unfatle are numerous;
iron wire.

merge the island. The lime takes fire and burns away four hundred dollars'

Besides this, hundreds vorable to sleep. of wolves^ prowl round the cabins by
night, and if not particularly dangerous, are at least an insufferable nuisance, for

worth.

hurricane unroofs the town.

Mais, Marie nous a protege.

^But

Mary

The other sisters are rathprotected us. er busy, but "I," Sister Saint Ambrose, ^only teach French, writing, drawing,
embroidery, and a few hours of classes!" And so let us bid farewell to Sister Saint
ulate

they howl the whole night through. Any lack of needful peril is made up by the

One great abundance of rattlesnakes. day we found a large one in the kitchen,
coiled

"

up upon a

Joseph begs
the
fleas.

Sister Saint plate." a place in men's memory of

Ambrose and her Convent of the Immac- the animal kingdom

Conception.
Safe
there

on that

island with the

moan

of the American

Mediterranean for perpetual deep basso to the hymns of the Ursulines.

Je suit V enfant de Marie,
O'est

at San Antonio for She says that they are many that they last for five months each season. She declines to commit herself to
;

any

definite census of them, but quotes

Est-il

un

etat tar la terra

cri de

mon

catur, e'eit

mon

refrain d'amour.
jj
i

QuHl

ett heurewc, tendre mere, Celui aui fia donne son eaw/

Qui puisae igaler son honheur t Cantique i Marie Tmmaeulie.

'

suv;,

,(1)

Prairie wolves, eoyotet.

<:&iX xtd

IN
"

NORTH AMERICA.
Even more
night,

>J /

JAi

691

from a

letter of

Father Dubuis.

ere

the

Protestant

now, while I write to you, there are than three thousand in my boots.'" These are the amusements at San Antonio
:

published anonymous
this

letters,

newspapers in which

young

person's

for the

work there has no measure-

in

ment except the

capacities and physical For consolation and of each. strength support they too have their little chapel

This report the public mind; it was intimated that the religious had shut her up in
tioned.

death was quesgained credence

a dungeon, in order to force her

ulti-

mately to join their community.

Be-

of the Immaculate Conception, the inner joy of conformity to God's will, the as-

tween three and four months

after the

surance of Mary's love and protection. Let that noble type of the missionary bishop, Monseigneur Odin, tell a story
of the Convent of San Antonio.

interment, the father of the young person, accompanied by several Protestants, presented himself at the convent to verify the fact,

and was conducted to the tomb which contained the mortal re" A young girl, sixteen years of age, mains. The grave was opened, then belonging to a Protestant family, after the coffin: the deceased was found in having spent three years in the Convent a perfect state of preservation, and even of San Antonio, and often expressed the more beautiful than on the day of her desire of receiving baptism and becom- death her white robe had not received ing a Catholic, concluded that if she re- a single stain. The father recognizing turned to her parents she would never her, cried out, '0 my daughter!' have the happiness of embracing our Then he wept bitterly, and uttered no She consequently asked word of complaint against the religious, holy religion. her father to permit her to remain some for he was convinced that these good Three days aft- sisters had done all in their power to time longer at school.
;

receiving the permission to remain From the first she declared she fell ill.
er that she should never get better, and

preserve the life of his child. "Some time after this event, the

sis-

The again requested to be baptized. her to wait some superior recommended

time longer, hoping that she would be better; but a few days having elapsed,
' she said to the mother superior, I have only a few minutes to live; for God's

ter sacristan, while cleaning the chapel, found, under the foot of the statue of

the Blessed Virgin, a charming letter, which the pious girl had addressed to

Queen of Angels, asking of her, in terms of admirable simplicity, to obtain, from her Divine Son, for the writer, the
the

sake let

me be
for,

baptized.'

The

priest

grace of not dying without baptism.*

"

was sent

young person received the sacrament of regeneration, and died

the

f John Mart,
''Bishop of Galveston."

a few hours afterwards in the most sub-

lime sentiments of piety.

"

(1) Armalea,

ii.,

607.

She had scarcely been buried a

fort-

of tlie Faith, Novem(2) Annals of tLe Propagation ^ ' > J iMK> ber, 1859.

692

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

with a feet or two about
Ursula are more particularly bounden to this duty, so that by her intercession and
especial protection they may labor more fruitfully to form Jesus Christ in the

And now,

the connection of the Ursulines with the

Devotion to the Mother of

God

in

North

America, we will say good-by to those And first noble and exemplary ladies.
:

hearts of

young

girls,

and

to instil into

their distinct mission of education is to

young women of the wealthThey always have schools The North for poor children attached. American Ursulines, or rather the Ursuthe girls and
classes.

those hearts the virtues of Mary, according to the spirit of their institute.

ier

Therefore, in every convent, the Blessed Virgin Mary shall be

II.

Article

lines in

North America,
exceptions,

for,

with a few
chiefly

English

they

are

French, have taught love, confidence, and hope in Christ, through His beloved proper authority, all the religious of Mother to more than thirty thousand of community being assembled in chapel, the wealthier persons of this country. wherein shall be placed a statue of the

and chief' Superior, which election shall be thu? made: Article III. On the day appointed by
especially

chosen

for

first

Ah, what may that not effect; thirty thousand seeds sown, of respect for marof honor to auriage, of maternal duty,
of reverence to Blessed Mary, of love of God, of fear of sin, of love of virtue, of habitual self-government, meanthority,

Blessed Virgin, holding in her sacred arms the Infant Jesus, they .shall invoke the Holy Ghost, by saying or singing

Then Creator Spiritus. to the Mothei shall follow some prayers

the

hymn Yeni

.ing thereby, domination of one's

i..4ndividual passions.
,jten

own

of God, and after that the Mother Supe rior shall place the keys of the conveiil
at the foot of the statue, and, all kneeling, she shall pfier

Ten

Ursulines, or

of their pupils who observe and what the Ursulines teach them, |j;-.keep
,,;would have saved

her charge and the convent to Our Lady by some devout

Sodom and Gomor-

rah.

Here

there are eleven houses of

fthe Order.

Then the Mother Superior shall render homage to the Blessed Virgin by kissing the feet of her image, and all the
prayer.
sisters shall

chapter let us borrow an article or two from the Constitutions.

To conclude
Aeticle
I.

this

cessionally,

do so in turn, passing proand singing the Te Deum

with what
is

Devotion to the Blessed Mother of God being earnestly recom-

laudamus.

And
ed,^ is

mended
inasmuch
Mother,
.

to
as
as

all

she

religious communities, their Lady and is

as

already recorda faint sketch of what the Ursuthis,

well
life

the

sole

perfect

have to do with Devotion to Mary in North America.

lines
See this work, pp. 657-664

;:inodel of the

lead,

which they should the religious of this Order of Saint

:ii1tllC;
t

(1)

ijsr

NORTH AMERICA.

G93

CHAPTER

XVI.

VABIOUS OEDURS OF OUK lADY. PILGRIMAGES TO OUE LADY OF PBACB, OF UBBCY, OF GBACX, AND BACK TO OUB LADY OF GOOD HELP IN MONTREAL.

to be understood that every religious order is devoted in some way to But in our extreme the Blessed Virgin.

It

is

composed, in the first instance, of those who have been educated in the schools
of the Sacred Heart, under the superintendence of a religious of which order

only signalize a few besides those already given. The Ladies of the Sacred Heart are too well

dearth of material

we can

every society
son,

is

however,

Any other perto share in the desiring

placed.

known

need any description. They are in Oregon and New Orleans, in New York and Missouri. They had, in 1853,
to

privileges

may be
tests

admitted, after the

fitness

prescribed

of

have been

made.

The
is

twelve
the

establishments

for

education:

members
their love

principal object of the to cherish a tender love

they numbered two hundred religious

in

United
cousin

States.^

The Princess
heroic prince-

Galitzin,

of the

Heart of Jesus, modelling upon that which Mary bore her adorable Son. They meet on the
for the Divine
first

priest already sketched,* was one of the earliest and most energetic developers of this Order in North America. She

Saturday of every month at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, where

died of yellow fever in Louisiana in the In Canada they have fortyyear 1843. three religious. We can allude to only

they listen to an instruction, after having assisted at Mass and received the

Sacraments of Penance

and the Most

the various
"
la-

Holy

Eucharist.

Then

one of the good works of this devout order of women, of which the influence on Devotion to Our Lady in North

bors and undertakings of the several

members
ty,"

are

discussed.

Our

Socie-

America
their zeal

is

most evident, and by which for that devotion may be parIt is

one writes to me from a metropolis, "is large and fiourishing. Many are attracted to it by the simple sweetness of
the
'

tially estimated.
call

what the French

title,
filial

Children of Mary,' and, inspired

an external association,' composed of

ladies

by

love,

aim diligently
should
of such

young

who

in secular society re-

the virtues which

the children

to acquire characterize

tain their desire to advance,

even

there,

a Mother.

You
;

the cause of religion. It is called "Association of the Chil-

may imagine how

dren of Mary in the World," and

(1) Servantea

is

great must be the and influence of such an association to think how, more and it is consoling
(8)

(3)

de Dieu, etc., pp. 92, 93. See this work, p. 653.

Congregations externes.

S9

DEVOTION TO TOE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

in-

more, in our community here, this

fluence
is

find the sanctification of children to

be

extending among

the wealthi-

their distinct
call

work

in this world.

Some

er and
society,

more educated

classes in general

themselves Lorettines, in reverence

removing antipathies, softening prejudices, and gently but surely instilling the principles of Faith." Some such external association
is,

of that particular Lady-chapel. Some honor especially Our Lady of the Presentation,

and these

all

take, in religion,

the

name of Mary.
" Sisters of the

One

Society

is

believe, directed by the Sisters of Mercy and of Our Lady of the Visitation.

Holy Names of Jesus and Mary;" another is the "Coman order in the dioceses munity of Our Lady of Charity of the I (There is, then, of Michigan and Philadelphia, elsewhere Good Shepherd"of Him who said, " Servants of the " As a shepherd seeketh out his flock, perhaps, who are called
called

Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Their ob;

so will I seek out

my
all

the jects are the instruction of youth founding of Catholic schools ; the care, if necessary, of orphans the instruction of
;

deliver

them out of were scattered they

cloudy day.

sheep and will places wherein

the

in

dark and

communion. Their young churches, convents, and schools are all placed under the immediate protection of Our Blessed Immaculate Mother.
girls for first

Their uniform

is

of her colors, blue and

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick. And I will nfiike with them a covenant of peace, and will

in all their exercises they have particular exercises in honor of the Im-

white

cause the evil beasts to cease out of the

land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness; they shall sleep even in the

and in honor of maculate Conception that sacred mystery they commence even
;

woods.

For

ye.

My

flock,

the flock of
I

their recreations with a

"Hail Mary."^

There
titles

is

no end to the variety of

and My pasture, God, saith the Lord God."*

are men,

am your
first

under which the devotees of Mary

seek to express their love for Our dear Some choose for especial devoIiady. tion that grand Mystery of her preparation to bring forth the Redeemer of the world, called the Immaculate Conception;

the community, the whereof sprang from a brave

is

This

idea of

woman

the working classes, Madelaine I'Amy; but the first who put on the habit and

pronounced the vows, was a child of one of the haughtiest and most ancient houses
of Normandy, Mademoiselle de Taillefer.
i

others choose the Visitation,

/

and
-

ilH iiriinii h

,Uill

^'-

'

'"

'

Cl)'Letter'of Rev."M. Oariaert, October 18, 1861. (2) Sicut visitat pastor gregem suara, sic visitabo

consolidabo.

Et faciam cum

eis

pactum

pacis,

et

oves meas, et liberabo eas de omaibus locU in quibus Quod peridispersa) faeront in die nubis et caliginiB.

cessare faciam bestias pessimas de terra et qui habitant in deserto, securi dormient in ealtibus. Yoa

quod abjectum erat reducam, et quod confractom faerat alligabo et qnod infirmnm fnerat
erat reqairam, et

autem greges mei, greges pascuae mefe homines estia, et ego Dominus Dens vester dicit Dominus Deus.

Ezeehiel, xxxiv. 11, 12, 16, 25, SI.

IN

NOETH AMERICA.
this

695

Now

nearly eight hundred of these devoted women are laboring to reclaim their " are touched," it has ruined sisters. " been said by a certain writer, we are

Order or
all

not,
lists

ing over the

tions, that

but I observe, in lookof three or four institu-

We

Mary.
States,

of the religious are named They have been in the United

touched by the devotion of those chaste spouses of Christ, who have consecrated
themselves to education
;

so far as I can discover, since

1842.

of those

who

The Ladies of Loretto

called

are

also

all

deny themselves the supreme joy of motherhood, to become mothers and servants We venerate those of the orphan poor.

Mary

and

beg

my

readers parIt

ticularly to note these little points.

is

the straw which shows

;

how

the

wind

who have made

tagion
of

themselves, for God's the inseparable companions of consake,

blows

in breeze, or gale, or tornado the

and infection; breathing, as it were by predilection, the putrid miasms

the

So clay-bank stands stupidly steadfast. many of these Dominicans, Lorettines,

Good Shepherds,
are
all

some

hospital; cleansing the loathulcer, binding up the bleeding

feebleness,

Trappists, Carmelites, called Mary, and only intellectual obesity can be dull to the influence of a

wound, sustaining

watching

name.

over idiocy or madness. " But what shall we think of those retheir daily comligious who choose for panions the most degraded of their sex, so as to win those poor lost sheep back

The Lorettines spoken of above come from Dalkey Abbey in Ireland, but

the institute originated in Bavaria among the loyal British exiles who had taken

to the flock

and

fold of

God ? What shall

refuge there in the last struggle of the In North America, since 1845, Stuart. are discoverable by me only in they

we

say of Virtue going to look for Vice, of Modesty searching out Ribaldry, overcoming the mere instincts of respectability to save

Toronto and at Niagara Falls. At the former place their convent is known as

one brand from the burnhell, for

ing,

one immortal soul from

the

love of that eternal

King who

died for

us

all ?

Ah

in the insufferable

wicked

Our Lady of Loretto, at the Falls it is Our Lady of Peace. The grand cataract itself has been consecrated by his lordship Doctor Lynch to the Blessed Virgin of Peace,^ and the Holy Father has
been pleased to grant the privileges of
pilgrimage to this convent. He grants a plenary indulgence to
those who, after the usual preparation, shall receive the Most Holy Communion

mockery of that noblest of English words, in the midst of those floods of 'loyalty,'
which men dare to call, now-a-days, by that pure and Christian and beautiful name, how encouraging to him who has to see eyes and who looks out of them, one set of holy women, if that were all,
trash
loyal

and pray

in the church for

"the concord
'1"^
'''>''

of Christian princes, the peaceful triumph

from V. R. Mr. North-

in its only sense,

loyal

to

their
(1)

King."
I

Kind and coarteona

,,,

letter

do not know whether

it

be a rule of

gravea, October, 1^61.,

,,,;ftguia

tewni

susH-mH^^,-

696

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

George,
stand,

of Our Holy Mother the Church, the extirpation of heresy, and the conversion
of sinnera"
"Pius, P. P. IX., for everIt has been lasting memory of the fact. shown Us by our venerable brother John

we may
in

cross the bridge

and

star-spangled banner, near Our Lady of the Cataract and the Seminary of Our Lady of Anto delay, but to hurry easta little south, through the land wai'd, by of the old Iroquois Missions, of Jogues
gels.

view

of

the

Not

Lynch, now Bishop

of Toronto, that he intends to establish a pilgrimage to the

Church of the Blessed Virgin, called Our. and Goupil's martyrdom, of TegahkouiLady of Peace, situated within his dio- ta's and Garaconti^'s birth past Saint
;

cese, at the Falls of Niagara.

We

granted, therefore, to the pilgrims

have mak-

Mary's church at Medina, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin at Bi'ockport, the

ing this pilgrimage the indulgences attached to the prescribed and annexed
It was on the Sunday within prayers."* the Octave of Our Lady's Ascension

Immaculate

Conception

at

Rochester,

the Assumption at Syracuse, the Visitation at Saratoga, to the handsome

that the church

was dedicated.

dreds of pilgrims, after hearing

in

HunMass

Gothic heights of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, once

the metropolis of antique Dutchmen. Then down the grand Hudson, through the
flat

steamer

the city of Toronto, proceeded by and railway to the shrine.

lands which

won

the Batavian

And when

they came back, at least upon

the steamer, they chanted, with the sublime, perpetual voice of the cataract for
basso, the Vespers of the Blessed VirAfter which all knelt, with their gin. faces towards Toronto, in adoration

years ago, through the majestic Highlands, over the sparkling river. touch our hats as we pass

heart so

many

We

Hudson, Sangerties, and New Hamburg Our Poughkeepsie, Lady of Loretto at Cold Spring Imof the Blessed Sacrament, thanking the maculate Conception at Port Jervis Our Redeemer, there present, for their pres- Lady of Mercy at Portchester; Immacervation from all casualties during that, ulate Conception at Melrose the Church the first pilgrimage to Our Lady of of the Madonna at Port Lee; and thei-, Peace. iyo^ joy landing at Hoboken, within sight of the And now from Our Lady of Peace, tall commanding pile of the Immaculate riding down the shore and past the Conception in Jersey City, across Hartower where swing the interwreathed simus Bay, we linger in Hoboken to crosses of Saint Andrew and Saint say a prayer or twain at the shrines of
Mary's
;
; ;

Saint

of

(1)

Pins P. P. IX. ad perpetnam

rei

memoriam.

Exponendnm nobis nuper curavit Venerabilis Frater Joannes Lynch hodiernus Episcopns Tornntinus sibi
in

Enixas ideo preces qui nominatnr, dictae dioBcesis. Nobis adniovit nt pro fidelibus praefatam sacram peregrinationem, peragentibus cselestes indnlgentiaruni thesanros de benignitate Nostra reserare dignaromus."

animo
ad

esse instituere sacrani peregrinationem ad

ecclesiam Beabe Maria) Virginia, cui

(iitam
praacipiteit

nomen a
loci

Pace,

die 1 Martii,

MDOOCLXI.

Pontificatus nostri

aimo

"

lapsus aquaruui

Niagara"

decimoquinto.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

697

Our Lady of Mercy and Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken. While the energetic and devoted Father Cauvin was building the church of Our Lady of Mercy, a pious layman was It providing an altar-piece in Rome. was an accident, a chance, a providence, which you will. But the facts are these.

her was that which came across the sea

from Italy: the fervently

Signor
Ippoliti.

faithful

devo-

tion of the truly Italian Catholic heart of

From

the

moment he

his picture had found itP he wrote to Father Cau mission-home, vin that he began to place unlimited Qpnfidence in Our Lady of Mercy, through

was told that

'

When

Father Cauvin wrote to his friend

and protector. Cardinal Brignole, for an altar-piece, he received an immediate re-

the prayers of the devout people of the And then he tells how, on the parish.
thirtieth of January, 1853, he was engaged in certain experiments with gun-

Some time before, the Signor Pacijaly. Ippoliti had caused a copy of the Madonna delta Misericordia of Rimini to be made,
and had begged the Cardinal it to some American Mission.
vin's letter followed closely

powder. He thought, happened to think, he says, of the church in Hoboken, and

to the
there,

to present

recommended himself particularly Mr. Cau- care of Our Lady as venerated

this,

on
as

and
It

just as

West Hoboken received

gave
see,

the picture.

he entered the narrow and close room which was the scene of his experiments.

to the

church

its title,

you may
:

if you like, above the great door, where the inscription reads thus

He had

a very large quantity of po"

'-

MATER MISERICORDIA.
Mother of Grace, Mary, hear Mother of Mercy lend thine earl
1

der there, in, "gr/in<^ himself up to Mary with the same filial confidence as a child's, when it throws
itself into its

when he went

mother's arms.'"

In a few

From raging foes our souls defend, And take us when our life shall end.

The dedication of the church was a

solemn one
the preacher was His Grace the Archbishop of New York, and a
:

large attendance of clergy and devout The painting, laity thronged the aisles.

moments the whole inflammable mass had exploded about his head and face. The windows and doors of the room were shattered to pieces, the whole house was shaken, but, as he says, "by the mercy of God and his blessed Mother," the servant of Mary was uninjured.

covered with a curtain, was above the

altar,

The same

and when it was withdrawn, and the Ave Maria rang forth from the choir, petuum When the Passionist Fathers all fell upon their knees and joined in Mercy. that beautiful prayer to Our Lady of were sent there by the Ordinary, Father ^ But the greatest honor paid to Cauvin resigned his pastorate J,o them, Mercy.
Cov/rrier des

year, in gratitude for his preservation, he leaves a foundation in perto the church of Our Lady ot

(1)

EtaU

Unis,

November

27, 1853;

(2) Letter

from Signor

Ippoliti,

August, 1858.

Freeman's Journal, same date.

88

4T

^98

DEVOTION

TO,T||[E

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

and moving eastward into the midst of of unusual merit in the church, notably, the town, founded there the Church of those of Our Lady of Grace {del Foligno), Our Lady of Grace. Our Lady of Sorrows, and Our Lady of There the pilgrim, for these are all the Rosary, An immense assemblage pilgrimages, will find an exquisitely fine attended to do honor to the sacred Lady copy of that Madonna of Rafaele's which of the day, and one among them, Madame Pychowski, sang this hymn in is known as del Foligno y that one where her divine, etet- honor of the festival you see Our Lady, with
:

Son in her arms, surrounded by cherubic heads of extreme finish and beauty. Below stand or kneel Saint John the
nal
Baptist,
dict,

Mother

dearest,

mother

fairest,

Virgin brightest, purest, rarest, Lady mild and sweet ;

and Saint

Saint Augustine, Saint BeneFrancis of Assisium.

Hear the grateful songs we sing thee, Hear the hymns we humbly bring thee,
Bending
at thy feetl

In the centre a cherub holds an uninthe grand picture, the altar-piece as we may say, of the Church of Our Lady of Grace and

scribed tablet

This

is

Gate of Heaven,

star of

morning

Lo, the votive gifts adorning This, thy favored shrine I All the wondrous story telling, Of thy mercy with us dwelling,

outside, over the great door,

tablet bearing this inscription
:

is

set a

Mother of Grace divine

GBATIABUM VIRGINI.
here the pilgrims are frequent numerous. Some thirty ex votos, in and
gratitude for graces, cures,
sions

In our need upon thee calling, Thou hast saved from death appalling,

And

Heard thy children's prayer; Heard our cry amid the dashing

or conver-

Of life's waves, onr

frail
!

barks lashing.

Granting us thy care

obtained by her intercession, already hang at the altar of the Sacred What is said to be a relic Patroness.
is

Mother-arm, thy Son infolding, Mother-heart, within thine holding

All
Still

who

turn to thee

of her veil

piously preserved in the

is

thy kind protection lending,

church, and the Papal benediction

by

Let thy love on us descending, Our sweet comfort be

each year especial permission imparted

on the feast of the Rosary. His lordship the Bishop of

New
;

Jer-

While onr souls to thee uplifting, We seek peace amid the drifting.

for the shrine sey testified his veneration the picture hopby solemnly crowning by that act of honor and veneration
ing,

Darkening storms of earth, Humblest Virgin Queen of Heaven 1 Unto thee be honor given, Honor due thy worth
1

to our blessed Lady, to increase the devotion of the faithful to the Mother of

Joyfully this gift

we

proffer,
offer,

Humbly

this fair

crown we

invitation to the
ful.

Grace, and to consecrate a shrine full of needy and the sorrow-

Deign on us to smile I Mother of Grace, with hearts o'erflowing, Thus our grateful love we're showing,

There

is

a large

number of pictures

Bending low

&

while 1

m
Ages past have known thy glory, Mighty kings and prophets hoary, Sung thy starry crown!
Blessings, honors, clear foretelling,

NORTH AMERICA.

699

the Faithful of our Diocese, Health and Benediction in our Lord Jesus Christ.

You have
ren, that

not forgotten, dearest breth-

Landing thee as

all

excelling,

on the thirteenth of last August

Shadowing

forth thy throne I

we

publicly

bound

ourselves

by vow

to

Israel in thee rejoices,

do our utmost

to re-establish the pious

Salem

lifts

her myriad voices.

Quivering with thy love I Queen of Angels Bride of Heaven I

I

Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Good Help, which, by our indifference and the evil
of the times, had ceased to be frequented as it once was.

Mediatrix to us given I UndefilSd dove

!

East and West unite to praise thee, North and South their hymns still raise thee. Blessed in every land
!

In making this

vow we sought

to erect

a barrier against the terrible

Hosts angelic join with mortals, Far within the starry portals.

Where

the seraphs stand ;

epidemic which was making frightful ravages at the gates of our city, and which every day overleaped the limits within which men
strove to

keep

it,

to smite

its

victims in

Where amid

the wide creation.

Holding foremost rank and station, Christ's dear Mother's seen.

List the glorious strains ascending. Heaven and Earth, their voices blending.

the very heart of the town. In this we only imitated the good example of our
fathers, for

Hail thee.

Crowned Queen

holy chapel was, from immemorial time, a certain refuge

in

whom

this

Sweep northward again, to our venerable early friend, Our Lady of Good This ends the pilgrimages known Help.
to us
It is

great calamity. raverunt nobis}

Patres nostri nar-

We

had long groaned

in secret to see

on

this continent, as it

began them.

the venerable Chapel of Good Help almost deserted. could almost apply

We

with a document of remarkable de-

it

to

the

words wherewith
just

Jeremiah

votion to
ter.

close this chapof Monseigneur Bourget, bishop of Montreal.

Mary

that

we

expressed the

It is the pastoral

whelmed him when he saw

ple
ties

grief which overthe holy tem-

PASTORAL
OP Monseigneur the Bishop of Montreal, to encourage THE PTLGRIMAOE OF NOTRK DAME DE BON-SECOURS, and to ESTABLISH IN THAT ChAPEL THE Confraternity of Our Lady of Good Help POK THE WHOLE DlOCKBB.

abandoned and the august solemnineglected: "The ways of Zion do mourn, because there are none who

come
In

to her solemn festivals.'"

fact,

we no

longer saw, as in our

fathers'

days, crowds of pious pilgrims,

Ignace Bourget, by

the mercy of

God
See,

and the favor of the Holy Apostolic

moving in the evening, when the toils of the day were done, towards the cherished sanctuary to thank our august Lady
(1)

Bishop of Montreal, etc., etc., etc. To the Clergy, secular and regular, to the Religious Communities, and to all

Our

fathers have told us.

Psalm
i.

xliii. 1.

(2) Viaj

Zion lugent eo quod non sint qui veniant ad

solemnitatem.

Lamentatiom,

4.

700

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

for the graces obtained by intercession, and to ask for

of

Good Help
ones.

her mighty

be forgotten yet. we were exposed

Finally, last year, to a new plague,

at

new

Except during low Mass

which threatened

every

moment

to

none were seen there at prayer during the day; so that it became necessary to
keep' the doors closed, so as to prevent the sacrilegious thefts committed there.

invade both country and town.^

Those

whom

duty carried to the field of that affliction, to relieve that wretchedness,

But

this state

of abandonment had someto our eyes.

were nearly all attacked by the disease, and many fell. But we desire not to reopen your wounds,
calling tunes.
still

thing in
secret

it sinister

With-

bleeding,

by

re-

out wishing to examine too closely the

judgments of God,

it

seemed to

us that such an indiflference must, sooner Hisor later, draw misfortune upon us.
tory and our own recollections inspired You yourselves know us with just fear. the great calamities which desolated this

your sufferings Occupied solely with the means of appeasing Heaven, and of preserving you from the ills which have fallen upon your clergy and the religious communities,

and your

misfor-

we were

that

Our Lady of Good Help,

towards
our

struck with the thought so comfathers

in
all

and country after the fire of 1754, which reduced to ashes the second chapYou have not forel of Bon Secours. gotten that, in 1831, a profane hand
city

passionate

their misfortunes, would have pity upon us, and obtain for us grace and mercy. Then we made a vow, at first in our

carried off the statue so venerated

by

own

our fathers, and which had escaped the

secret heart; then in the presence of this diocese we formed the solemn en-

Ah, since that day, how many ills have come upon us! " \ The terrible political agitations which
devastating flames.

gagement
cours
tell
all

to

do what

in our

to restore to the pilgrimage of

its

power Bon

lay Se-

'shed the blood of

citizens in the streets

you

need solemnity. here that Mary heard the

We

not

vow

of the city on the 21st of May, 1832; the dreadful cholera which appeared on
the 8th of June of the same year and decimated our population the same epi;

and granted our prayer.

she do otherwise

How

could

when

she beheld her-

self surrounded, as aforetime,

by a mul-

titude

of

devout servants
sanctuary

when she
with

demic which returned

in 1834, spreading

heard

her

re-echoing

"^

everywhere desolation and death; the troubles of 1837 and '38, which caused so many tears to flow, and covered the
land with sorrow and ruin
;

plaint and moan ; when, throughout the whole Octave of her glorious As-

the millions

sumption, the throngs of sad pilgrims crowded the venerable shrine.

years have desolated our country, and ruined the commerce of the city with the hopes of

of insects which

for so

many

hearing our prayer thus in her Chapel of Good Help, Mary has caused us to know that to-day, as long ago, she

By

the

husbandman
left

all

these are too near

traces to
-^

you, have

too nrofound

'V(i) The

shin-fpver of

m
temple
that this sanctuary

NORTH AMERICA.
front
is

701

wishes to be especially honored in this

;

carved the august name of Mary,

must be

for

us as for our fathers, an asylum in great

calamities; that this chapel was indeed the throne from which she bestowed her

and the heart's gratitude rather than the workman's chisel has engraved her sacred monogram.
It is there to say to the ages to come that Montreal in its greatest calamities must never lack con

pity in

those

terrible

days when the

hand of rigorous

justice lay heavy upon It is then us poor children of Adam. at the close of such favors, at the end of

fidence in that powerful name.

the
that

month

we

consecrated to her honor, undertake to perform a duty so

all

Maria, nemini desperandum qiio est (St. You read over the Augustine). the simple and noble inscripdoorway

nomen sub

tion,

Maria,

auxilium

Christianorum.

our heart, and dictated, agreeable We moreover, by a vivid gratitude. would be the most ungrateful of men, indeed, and our tongue should cleave
to to the roof of our

That was Mary, Help of Christians. our fathers' cry of confidence in all
the trials wherewith
it

Providence
their
sole

to

visit

pleased Divine them such was

;

mouth,

if

we were

to

resource

forget that we owe to your fervent prayers in the chapel of Bon Secours the health we enjoy to-day. May we consecrate
it

threatened them.

when Read it,

thy

total

ruin

Montreal,

with joy and happiness;

nies

for thy desti-

are

great,

if

confidence

in of

wholly to the glory of

exhort

Mary and
to

the sanctification of your souls.

Mary them

correspond to the expectation

that founded thee.

Make
to

We
make

you

then,

brethren,

worthy to take again, and

ever, the glorious

wear

thyself for

otten and with devotion the pious pilgrimage of Our Lady of Good Help.

name of Ville-Marie.

That nothing may be wanting to the

the greater honor of Mary, the greater good of your souls, and the acquittal of our conscience that we invite
It is for

you

lift up your eyes towards that from whence we may expect such place For we are convinced powerful aid.

to

Good Help, that may win your confidence, we propose to establish the pious confraternity of Our Lady of Good Help in that venerable parish, and
holy chapel of

hope that
will unite

all

the parishes of this diocese

it.

with

By

such an

institu-

that this chapel

is

one of those

privi-

tion

we

shall erect a durable

fathers,

leged spots where God is pleased to show His great mercy through the in.

to the piety of our

monument for when

they formed the generous resolution to tercession of Mary. This pilgrim- come to the New World, and there to commenced with the settlement of found in honor of Blessed Mary the city age the country. Three churches have risen wherein we dwell, they formed an asso. .

from the corner-stone laid in 1657, despite the many misfortunes of our country; the

ciation

which they called " Society of

the conversion
in

proof that our fathers felt keenly

need of such a sanctuary.

On

its

place of a handful of associates enrolled to pray

of the Indians."

Our Lady of Montreal for Now,

702
for the conversion

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN MAKY

and
civilization of the

which a sacrilegious hand

shrine in 1831.

stole

from the

red man, we trust that thousands will gather beneath the glorious standard of

May

it,

like the ancient

Our Lady of Good Help,

to implore her

one,* be the instrument of Mary's mercy. It has been solemnly blessed at Notre

mighty intercession for the destruction Dame des Victoires in Paris, that sanctuof error and vice, more particularly of ary whence flow so many graces to water drunkenness and impurity, which ruin all the lands. Let us trust then that it body and soul, and render their victims is filled with heavenly benediction, given it at the altar of the wretched both in time and in eternity. Holy Immaculate Once the pious region of Chartres^ Heart of Mary, powerful to aid poor saw one hundred and nine churches or sinners and lift them from their wretchTo render it still dearer to chapels dedicated to Mary, and all edness. springing from the famous church of your hearts, and worthier of your conNotre Dame de Chartres. So many fidence, we shall crown it with all that

monuments proved
town was

that the venerable

solemn

indeed, as in

name, the city of

pomp of ceremony observed where are pointed out to the Rome,

in
es-

Its legend is Quoe the Blessed Virgin. est Garnutensium tutelaf Maria^ Mater

pecial devotion of the people such sacred images of the Blessed Virgin as God has

Qratice^

Mater MisericordicB}

Long ago

pleased to

make

the instrument of His

a writer said that "all Chartres resound-

ed with the name of Mary;"* and we,

Our gratitude forbids gracious favor. us to forget how, last year, the supplications

bound

to that antique shrine

by ancient
its

offered

in

association of prayers, will follow

ex-

Lady

of

Good Help

the chapel of Our delivered both town

ample and participate in its privileges by means of our new confraternity. .For
each parochial society will be a living church issuing from the mother-church

and country from the terrible pestilence. In the same view we shall place in the
rious Virgin

chapel a painting representing the gloMary arresting the typhus

at the gates of this

Ah, brethren, believe Help. me, there can never be too many sanctuaries for prayer and expiation, nor too

Good

her

city.

people of Montreal, who possess in your midst so venerable a sanctuary,

visit
it assiduously; go hear a mass there on your way to your daily occupations; stop there and give thanks

many
Then

and penitence. us strive to preserve fresh on our city and diocese the stamp of reshelters for virtue
let

ligion imprinted

by two hundred years

for a

moment when

the labors of the

of faith and piety.

preserve the precious souvenirs which should attach you to

;

And now

to

(1)

See for Chartres and

its

connection with Amer-

ican Missions, pp.

(2)

Our Lady of Good Help.

We

purpose,

Q0 the twenty-first of this month (May), to erect a statue which shall replace that

er of Grace
(8)
''4)

the guardian of Chartres ? Mary, Mothand Mother of Mercy. Carnutum uhi omnia Mariam sonant. Eor description, see this vrork, p. 647.
is

Who

IN

NOKTH AMEKICA.
with-

703

day

shall

be ended

never pass

it

guardian."
future,

So

shall
is

we show

to

tho

Read the new inout saluting Mary. above the doorway and obey it. scription
*"

that

Mary

the Patroness

and

" Si I'amonr de Marie

Mother of Montreal, city and diocese. These deeds shall fill us with confidence
in

En ton coeur est grnvd, En passant, ne t'oublie De lui dire nn Ave,"

Pause,
if

her

heljf.

These

shall

make

us

love her shrine, and frequent it with " Quam dilecta tabergreat devotion.

the love of

Mary

nacula tuUj stantes erunt pedes nostri in

atriis tuis.
;

Be graven on thy

heart,

How

And

breathe one fervent Ave

lovely

is

thy dwelling-

Ere thou depart.

place of thine abode."

our feet

shall tread in the courts

Go

thither,

ye dwellers in the peaceful

calls

country,

when duty

you

into town.

Therefore, with the consentient advice of our venerable canons, and in the most

Show your needs with filial confidence holy name of God, we order, that the Recom- twenty-fourth of May be kept as Titular to Our Lady of Good Help. mend your occupations to her vigilance. Feast of Our Lady of Good Help, with Beg of her the grace of going home with Octave: that the Feast of our Lady's an unsullied innocence. Your market is Assumption be the patronal festival:
under the
laws
of
eyes, as it were, of

Mary, Help
then, the

of Christians.

Keep

strictly,

Then back

homes, ^and

sobriety, justice, piety. in peace to your pleasant

and

the Sovereign Pontiff, the Confraternity of Our Lady of Help, be and remain established. authorthat,

by Indult of

We

ize the Sulpician clergy to establish

office,

such

may none of you be met drunk upon the road. Thither, ye pious mariners and boatmen who risk your lives on that vast stream which rolls majestically at the
Our Lady of Good Help, as if to invite you to seek her shrine before you quit the harbor, after you enter it in Look lovingly on the sacred safety.
foot of

and exercises

for the chapel

and

for the pilgrimage thitherward, as they deem meet. In recitation or chanting of

the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, the " Auxilium GhristianorwnC invocation
shall

be thrice said or sung.

confidence,
"JIfarta,

We
all

grant
say

forty days of indulgence to

who

with

Auxilium,

Christianorum,

chapel each time you pass it. In danger regard that Star of the Sea, and call on
Bespice Stellam: voca Mariatri" For you is it that we place upon the

veni pro

clero,

ora pro popuh, interMary, Help of Christians,

pray

for the people, intercede for their

Mary

"

clergy."

These are the words which

;

river front of the shrine, a statue.

In-

scribed over the head

''

you

shall

read

form the inscription of the chapel they are written on the base of the statue; they are to be the expression of trust, the
rallying cry of

Marianopolis

Tutela,

Protectress

of

Ville-Marie ;" and at the feet, ^^Posuerunt me eustodem, they have made me their

Our Lady of Good Help. Such, Mary, are the measures which
venture to take to-day to honor thee

we

roi

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY

in the

good old Chapel of Bon

Secours.

It is little for thee

who

hast merited such

still,

Guess then, pious reader, how the hearts of our dear old friends. Marguerite Bourgeoys, and her Congregation of Notre Dame, must have rejoiced at the

honors from earth and Heaven;

deign to bless and to accept them. And Blessed Mary, be pleased from now, thy sanctuary to watch over this city and
this diocese.

On that same reading of this pastoral. twenty-fourth of May, the whole Community of
Sisters,

They belong
that

to thee, they

have been particularly consecrated to

thee.

made a pilgrimage
cration to

novices, and pupils, to the ancient shrine

Remember

Bon

Secours

is

and there solemnly renewed their conse-

the

town which in Our youth heard Our supplications, and that thou hast chosen Us to govern, under thy protection and guidance, this The work done here is thine, diocese.
first

shrine of this

Mary of Good Help.

As

symbol of

their devotion, they offered to her a heart wrought in silver. It was borne, upon a cushion of blue silk, by

not Ours.

And

as

we

see the risk of

the president of the Children of Mary, and four little girls held ribbons, as you
see the banner-cords held in the procesThe five were the representatives sion.

losing Ourselves

Us

intrusted,

and the dear flock to we cry to thee and say,

:

" Yitam prcesta puram : iter para tutum. Give us purity and innocence of life

of the Children, while the Mother Superior, her assistant, and the mistress of
the novices,

show us the road of perfection." Let not so many souls, to Us intrusted, perish by neglect or inexperience of Ours. But
obtain that

renewed
all

their self-offering in

the

the religious. The heart was placed in the bishop's hands, and

name

of

we may

all

find Ourselves

he,

together in that Eternal Temple, there forever to contemplate Jesus, thy divine
Son, and to rejoice with thee evermore. h Ignatius, Bishop of Montreal.

celebrating High Mass and them a paternal address, presentmaking ed their humble offering to that good and gentle Mother, to whom nothing is
after

small if only offered in love.

CHAPTER
GHXE-UAIBI NAN GAEL.

XVII.

MALIB TKBA WANBANAKKI ALNAMBAK.

Before returning to the United States, by way of tracing the course of our devotion by missionary men, let us pass from Montreal out to Arichat and Antigonish, where the wild Hebridean

dwells

by

his native sea.

The

sea,

ai

least, his;

free as himself; his

own

sea,

because

it is

Mairi

is

its

God's, because Beannaichte Star; and because he is

God's and Mary's.

From

the land to

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
chiefs' fathers,

705

which lona belongs

Protestants
still

where the
and take

so-called

and of their own

"
;

they

bless
;

themselves with
off their

the sign of the Cross

preferred," says a venerable bishop, one of themselves, " they preferred expatria-

bonnets and say a prayer in the ancient churchyard of Saint Columba and Saint
Aidan, on All Soul's Day. Now, in the diocese of Arichat alone, which forms the eastern portion of the

and perpetual banishment from their hills and glens. Under the protection of Heaven, and with filial
tion,
exile,

invocation of the sacred

name of Mary,
to the wild

they committed themselves

ocean.*

Province of Nova Scotia, about thirtyfive thousand Highland Catholics have

Led by God's hand, they

reach-

found

home.

new sea-kissed, sea-nurtured On these, some Indian Missions,

fifteen

ed Prince Edward's Island and Upper Canada, and now the Scottish Highland
Catholic population of the North Ameri-

containing
called,

hundred savages,

so-

depend.

er, for with both, silence

They can abide togethamid torture is a

it

can provinces surpasses one hundred thousand." A single diocese, Arichat,

native quality, be

good or bad.

They

numbers twenty priests of the Clanne nan Gael. Inwards of the brine-nursed

have no poets who sing perpetually of strand of that sea, their count will be their wrongs no political orators to some thirty or forty more. The counties "hawk their sores through the world." of Glengarry and Stormont on the Saint They suffer and remember. The sword Lawrence, are all Catholic Gael, and from
;

indomitable spirit never left their hand till 1745, when both blade
their

of

some one of these came the crook used

in

one of

his latest ministrations

by the

and clutched hand were crushed by the united power of Saxon and Southern Celt. From the misty isles, and from the straths, glens, and mountains of Invernesshire, Ross, and Argyleshire, come
nearly
wail
all

venerable

F. de Charbonnel, of Toronto. umquhile Bishop When King Robei't the Bruce, indom-

A.

M.

itable
crisis

after

thirteen

defeats,

met

his

and

his
first

crown on Bannockburn,
threw
its silver

of this silent Highland

folk.

this

crook

light outIt

From Lochaber, synonym

;

for an exile's from Glengarry and Arisaig, from Knoydart, and Morar, and Stradthglas;

side of the

Abbey

of Aberdeen.

was

of chased silver, and inclosed the bone of the right arm of St. Aidan, monk of lona
It was on and abbot of Lindisfarne. the feast of Saint John the Baptist, 1313, " when King Robert drew his army up about a moat and oi'dered that all should confess their sins and receive the Blessed

from the wave-beaten

isles

Kanna and
apostasy

Uist.

When
of

of Eigg and the unfortunate

chiefs

of

many

the

was

known, it became the choice of these clansmen to renounce allegiance either

to

Him who had

They

given them those

chiefs,

Sacrament."

And

then Mauritius, ab-

or to them

who were His representatives.

and they suffered
(1) Letter

hesitated long,

from his lordship, Rt. Rev. Oolin Francis

bitterly,

but they chose the

God

of their

MackinDoo, bishop of Arichat,

8g

4U

706

JKJfiVOTlON

TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ed them

chaplain, led them, when their wars were over, to the shores of the
as

bot of Aberdeen, said Mass for the king

and

and bishops and celebrated throughout the army. priests Then, after the king's exhortation, as
his chief nobles,

broad Saint Lawrence and dwelt among them, and now rests from his labors in

the English army came near, " the whole Scots army fell down upon their knees to

God, and the holy abbot advanced with the cross erected like a banner" and blessed them
to

recommend themselves

as

they knelt.
and, at

And
"

after

that

they

shadow of the Kingston cathedral. Ten years later, the Hebrideans set sail from Kanna, and Muick, and Ronin, and the shelter of towering Scaur-Eigg from the shadow of sacred lona, from Mull and wild Tiree; from Uist and
the
:

fought;
battle.

the conclusion of the

Skye, of gray mists.

King Robert divided the great From Ulva dark and Colonsay, And all the group of islands gay spoil and ransom-money among his army, That guard famed Staffa round.' except the cloths of gold and silver which were in King Edward's and the Hither they came, these servants of God
English noblemen's tents, which the king caused to be given to the churches for altar cloths and other necessary ornaments.:
v'iipiU ijoi ,9^B bio i>0O js 03 This cross br tjrooi:, of solid alver
;ni5

and children of Mary, with their utter with impossibility of enduring a spy their marrow-bred loathing of informers
;
;

with their thousand-year-old incapacity for servility hither, to be free to adore

:

elaborately carved, having on one side a precious stone and on the other an effigy

the Sacred Trinity, and to worship ten derly the Mother of Emmanuel, after the
rites

of the Redeemer, was in the hereditary custody of the MacNabs, by them intrust-

of their fathers.

Macleod and

his

ed

to the Maclndoirs, their standard-bear-

ers,

and by the

last

of these was brought

to Canada, where, with the letters

and
Scot-

"yellow stick"' disregarded; their beloved mountain land, with its passionate seas resigned for God's sake, they crossed the aiseag mhor, the "great ferry,"
;

charters of
it is

James the Second (of

now preserved in the townland), ship of MacNab on the Ottawa.

The
first,

the Atlantic, and sought new homes for themselves. Always, however, without

asking
still

sympathy,

without

complaint,
in

five

hundred in number, came

Hon. and Rt.

with their good priest Angus Macdonald,

in 1786.

Later, the heroic

unmentioned their deep woes known speeches, their God and to them; known and
resolute,

unsung,

to
re-

Rev. Bishop Macdonnell, who had raised for the crown a regiment of his Catholic

membered by
"

both.

When my forefathers," says the grand

left

clansmen and others, and had serv!'.;j!j')lL<illi!|

son of one of these men, "

converted some of ment of Ms cano.
his

Eigg, in

%r
(1)
folio,

xohnil
Weetminster,

David Scot's History of Scotland.

1728, pp. 187, 188.

humbler clansmen by the arguIlebrideaa Protestants have been

<2)

The

Ix)rd of the Isles.

IS) This chie^ after foraatong the ancient religion,

ever since, aud are now, called "Protestants of the '^

YeUow
j

Stick."

.nonciiosM .id .voS Jil lo isMal

(I)

-qfid

basi

\&m

ey^

fit'

;.r,t

IS

NORTH AMERICA.
iiii > >
1
>

707
lit III

company with many

friends,

they took

lands in a part of the province of Nova Scotia (the name of it was akin to what

There we shall become a numerous progeny. There we shall raise

py home.

was

closest to their hearts), called

Cape

na Crtosdh, the Cross of Christ and under the patronage of the Mother
the Croia
;

bay of Fundy. Here they labored hard for eleven years, until, like
d'Or, on the

of God, in years to come, there shall rise from our descendants, those who shall be
the spiritual rulers and guides of our The venerable woman spake people.'
sooth.
priests,

the Acadians,

by industry and perseverhad converted the primeval ance, they

fields

forest of that wild country into flourish-

and verdant lawns. ing " They were beginning to be very happy, in a temporal point of view but they had neither priest nor church to
:

Of her descendants, five are and one, the child of her daughis

ter

Una,

the bishop, the spiritual ruler

of the Gael in Arichat, Antigonish, and Cape Breton."

them in the land of their pilgrimage, and all the surrounding country was getting rapidly occupied by Protestants. The emigrants saw the imminent danger to which their children would be exposed of losing their faith, if To they remained where they were. what purpose, they asked tearfully, have we abandoned our native hills and glens in ancient Morven, the homes of our Catholic ancestors, if we are to become
console
Protestants here in the wilderness ?

All the Catholics of the old colony left it and settled in the county of Sydney,

Nova

Scotia,

and the sea-beat island

of Cape Breton. And the old motherlived there to a good old age, and saw her children's children to the fourth gen-

Now, in her grandson's diocese, there stand twelve churches, including the cathedral, under the invocation of
eration.

the Immaculate Mother of God.

"

We

have thousands," says the bishop, "members of the Confraternity of Our Lady's Rosary: of the Confraternity of the

No,

we must move again and commit ourselves

to the kind protection of

Heaven.

Un-

der the guidance of the gentle Star of the Sea, our dear Mother, we will seek other
lands,

Scapular and of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary."^ There then, in brief,
imperfect sketch, we intimate the existence of the mountain Gaelic child of

where we hope
will

that,

in

time,

Providence
the practices
lic

enable us to rear our

;

Mary on

this

continent.

Doubtless a

children in the faith of their fathers

in

and teachings of the Catho-

mine, with rich veins of gold therein, could the taste and the opportunity for
its

Church.

working be united
:

in. tte

same

idi-

matron, Mary Macleod her a mother in that Celtic Israel, was name,

"One aged

vidual.

b^v
jurisdiction

Under the
lics

spiritual

of

She constantly especially impatient. to her sons and daughters that repeated there were lands to the eastward.
There,' she said,

Arichat are the tribes of Indian Cathoof that region.

Letter of

The Micmacs, we

'we may

find a hap-

(1)

Rt

Rev. Dr. Mackinnon.

708

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

or a small crucifix hanging from the neck. With the blessed beads in his hand, he
;

believe, are the largest.

Converts they of the old Acadian missionaries, in the

line

days of the martyr Jesuits, of the Ursu- defies all opposition and no human arMary of the Incarnation: and of gument, no amount of bribery can make Margaret Bourgeoys, the Sister of Our him violate his allegiance to God. He Lady.

They

are allied with the Mares-

chite, the
"dy,

Penobscot, the Passamaquodand the remains of the Canadian

all

says to all, that Jesus Christ is his father, that Mary is his mother, and within that

impregnable
gates

Abenaki;

appertaining to the once

stronghold of faith, the of hell cannot prevail against

wide-spread and powerful race of the him.'"' If your canqe be of birch-bark and "A good people these Algonquin. the Prot- your sail of good canvas if the sea be Micmacs of Cape Breton," says estant Judge Haliburton, "possessed of smooth and the wind right abaft, you an inexhaustible stock of spirits and good may sweep over the blue brine like a
;

Catholic priests are still their religious instructors, and, considering the small advantages of these poor

humor.

Roman

swallow through the air, and, in a few hours land, from Cape Breton, in Maine
of the Catholic Abenakis.

people, their character

is

not bad.

Dis-

honesty them."*

is

seldom

heard

of

among

saw of them, if rightly, they were standing horror-struck around the hacked and mangled body of Father
Rasles at Norridgewock. Now we are to see them again, following the steps of
saintly Cardinal de Cheverus, somewhere, I guess, in the absence of dates, about

The we remember

last

we

So says the Protestant historian of

Nova

Scotia,

but the Catholic Pastor

Indians are Catholics, says, "All our Their honest, humble, good people. churches are generally under the invocation of Saint Anne, the

Blessed Virgin Mary. given the aborigines of this country as Our patroness by the first missionaries.

Mother of the Saint Anne was

He has given himself the prelimtrouble to learn what he can of the inary language of these Indians. He thinks it,
1810.

do other scholars in it, ture, at least, to Hebrew.

as

allied

by

strucit

Be

that as

poor Indians are very devout people: they are remarkable for their fidelity to
the
faith.

may, philology
cupation.

is

not at present his oc-

He

Notwithstanding

the

many

ments, books, and other things

gets together what vestin small

'

which they are exposed, and the manner in which their religious ijelief is tampered with, no inducement
temptations to

compass, are absolutely necessary for a He Hires a guide, buys a stafi", priest.

and

sets off,

on

foot,

from Boston, "hub

can bring them to abandon their faith. The Indian, male or female, invariably
has either a medal of the Blessed Virgin,
-IS--):,:
:

of the Universe."

'He strikes into the trackless forest, breaks his way through brush and thickRt
Rev. Bishop of Arichat.

(I)

Hon. 0.

J. Halibnrton's

Nova

Scotia,

ii.,

250.

(2)

IN"

NORTH AMEEICA.
cried,

709
the chief of prayer."

et

upon bread which he has taken sleeps upon the spruce boughs which the guide hews down. Day after
;

lives

"it

is

He

with him

was the first they had seen for fifty years. Yet never, during all that time, had
these
"

day they break

obstructed

their road through the

savages" omitted to celebrate the

forest,

or walk cheerily where

The day of they have found a glade. the Lord, dies Dominica^ comes, crimson
at dawn, to light the green

Sundays and the grand festivals, as they could, without one empowered to oiFer
rifice.

umbrage of

the supreme act of adoration, a pure sacNot an answer of their catechism

redolent pines; "on dewy branch, birds, here and there, with short, deep
the
Stars warble, salute the coming day. The Universe fade out, and galaxies.

had they forgotten: the children had learned question and response correctly
from the memory of their barbarian sires and dams. Their instruction, in its limit,

opens

its

portals for the levee of the

was so

perfect,

and

their morals,

on ex-

great High King.^" woodland notes, or the sough of the wind in the pines, rises a chorus of hu-

And

above the

amination, were so spotless, that the holy

man

voices, indistinct, distant, soft, ring-

de Cheverus wept for joy. " See how good God is to you," he " said to them. He has not forgotten

ing through the verdurous alleys of the scented wood and the French Mission;

you;

He

has only tried your faith and

ary recognizes the notes of

Dupont's
echoes,

Now perseverance. reward. He has sent

you

have

your

me

here to you to

Royal

Mass;

that

which

still

betimes,

among

the stately

arches of
square-flat-

Notre Dame, or the paganish

ness of the Madelaine.

dispense His word, His graces, and His sacraments." And they were glad, those that the bread of life was poor savages,
to

It is the

Sunday

be broken to them again

and, pro-

morning devotion, of the poor priestless, "but impregnably loyal Abnaki. Savages,
them, to distinguish them from the French democrats of 1793, and from

gressionist as

we

are,

we

fear that they

were content with what de Cheverus

could give them, heedless alike of the inviting splendors of the Great Father
at

they

call

others.

They

call

themselves Wanbalistening to such of

Washington, of the Bostonian

intelli-

nakki, Children of the Northern Light.

gence, or of the philanthrophy of Doctoi

So while

God was

Beecher and

Madame

Raphael.
to

the prayers of the Alameskemok, or Mass Devotion, as the poor "savages" were
entitled to utter. His minister

The coarse fancy hunger

be the

and repre-

greatest of evils; ah, if they could feel the horror of being obliged to eat^ by

walked into the midst of them. Then were prayers and all else put aside, as their swift observative eyes saw the
sentative
cassock.
"
It is the

courtesy!
his

Mgr. de Cheverus

sat

upon

bear skin and compelled himself to

black robe," they

swallow, from his birch-bark dish, the filth which the pious Indians can swallow

with impunity
(1) Oarlylo's

French Revolution.

salt,

for

aged fish boiled without two months swine's flesh green:

-h^

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

was an old white-headed Indian who questioned the missionary, and who, comprehending the atrocity, was incapaIt

ly antique: by and by, towards tlie third month of his mission, getting covered by those " friends of man," which, " Le seul having eight legs, are nameless.

ble of

casuel" he
ministere.

quHl retirdt de son The only chance (fee) which

said,

''

I comprehending the excuse. love the French no longer," said the

"

he got in his ministry there." At last he had to confine himself exclusively to

bread
not
piety
;

ignorant savage. " the

priest,

"But,"

people, as a nation,

the

crime."

"Disavow

it,

urged the disavow do they,"

unable as

he was to

see, with his

good Indians and some

Indians,

othei-s

who

are

" cried the unlettered barbarian, they should have stood between their king

the

connection

between

and

his assassins,

and died

in

his

de-

and nastiness. The master of a French vessel recognized him once, from his deck, buffeted by the rough waves of the ocean, in a bark canoe: and begged permission to carry him to his
destination.

fence."*

Later,

when, as Archbishop

The

future Cardinal declarhis Indians,

and Cardinal, he spoke of his barbarous red children, it was with tears in his eyes, and with these words often repeat" ces Ames si grands^ si nobles^ those ed, grand and noble souls."

ed himself

at

home with

and

And
them

the next holy

man we

see

among

refused to change conveyances. '^ur Indians were dirty; but though

that caused

Bishop Fenwick. Bishop of Boston he, and by no means unmindful

is

him much

suffering,

it

not that which he saw most clearly. this* sentiments so noble and so com-

was But

of his red men.

He

goes to Norridge-.

wock, like a true

a Christian.
"

Celt, to take

vengeance

like an apostle to take the

vengeance of
votes

monly prevalent, that the civilized world might well blush at the comparison:
such simplicity of gratitude for small kindness; such tenderness of mothers; such heroism of filial piety. They could
not believe that the French had murder-

Sije ne me trompeje

ai fait part de Vintention ou fetais de

venger
If I

la

mermire

du pere
I

Rasles*

be not deceived

have told you of

purpose to avenge the memory of Father Rasles." He cites, from a New

my

ed

their king (Louis XVI.) "It was a said of their neighbors, "inlie," they

vented to make them hate the French."

In vain did

England authority of that day, the following argument used to convert the "Father Rasles is accused of savages.
employing
all

Monseigneur de Cheverus

the artifices used in his

declare to them, that the nation disavowed the crime, that a handful of miscreants

order (Jesuits) to seduce the Indians., That he taught them the doctrine of
salvation

power had committed it the distinction was too fine for the Wanbanakki
in
:
1 1

through Jesus Christ, but at the sajne time, made them, .believe that
(2) Vie
(8)
vii.,

rati''

,;T'^^

V'i^

'i^'i'-.i

Jif

>

(1)

Vie de Jean Loui

Anne Madelaine

Lefehtre de

Cheverut, Archevftqne de Bonrdeaaz.

LecoflEre, 1850, pp. 61-74.

Paris, Jacques

du Cardinal de Cheverus, p. 74. Annalet de la Propagation de la Foi

i.

Lyon,

177.

IN NORTH AMEKICA.

w.

was a Frenchwoman that our Blessed Lord himself had been put to death by the English, and that it was meritorious, just, and good for all Christians to kill EnglishMary,

Mother of Jesus
:

Clirist,

during the ceremonies, hewept bitterly, and it was in a voice broken by heavy sobs, that he thanked
once,

than

the prelate for the "pious and solemn act of reparation made to the memory o^
as honest a

men."^
as

doctrine not so unbelieved, you might fancy only not a French

:

man

as ever lived

upon the

face of the earth."*

in

If

we

give his story

doctrine.

Now

the

mode

of the good bishop's

this wise.

his own words here, it is to show, what the love and habitual imitation of)

vengeance was on

First

he

purchased an acre of land, inclosing the site of the ancient Indian Church, of the
cabin of Father Rasles, and of part of the once happy village of Narrantsowack.

Mary can effect in the hearts of savages. "Tour work here," he said to the bishop,
"is a truly pious one. I do not belong to your religion, but I esteem this act of
I am no stranger to the event?,, yours. of that deplorable day on which Father

A pile
of the

of stones
altar,

still marked the position and beneath them mouldered

Rasles lost his

life.

My own

grandfather

the relics of the martyred missionary. Bishop Fenwick then ordered a granite

was one of that unhappy, cruel, and; unjust expedition and on the day of his,
;

and pedestal of twenty feet in surmounted by a floriated cross height,

obelisk
in iron.

death, he cried like a child on remem-,,

bering the massacre.

One

circumstance,

Then, after careful publication his intentions, he went to the spot, to of

unknown

to

Catholics,

non-Catholics, I will,
sion, tell you.

unrecorded by with your permis-^

,,

celebrate a requiem mass for the Indians, some sixty or seventy in number, who

"

had
the

fallen in the

massacre

to

pronounce

a large

The New Englanders had with number of pagan savages.

them,;
The,^
,

eulogy of the missionary, and to

inaugurate his
tants

monument. The inhabipoured out of the towns and vil-

young braves of Owenagunga were away hunting or fishing. The first fire of the assassins kiUed the few old men and boys

Five lages to see the novel ceremony. And thousand, the bishop thought. there the monument was erected on that
anniversary of the martyrdom, August Two years afterwards it 29th, 1833. was thrown down restored again and
;

who attempted wounded and

to resist, killed them, qx

One dispersed them. with her baby in her arms, crosswoman, ed the river, and hid herself in a cavern
in the forest there.

On

the next day,

vil-^,

when,

after

burning the church and

again, in 1851, overthrown.

Among

the audience was a grandson

lage, the Yankees had retired, carrying with them what was valuable among the

of one of the murderers; a Protestant and a man of great respectability. More

(1)

missionary's personal eflfects, the poor woman recrossed the stream to search
(2)

See detailed account in Dr. Fenwick's

vii.,

letter.

Ann. de

la Prop., viL, 183, et seq.

.t>:-i;>

Annates de la Prop.,

178.

.qq ,0381 fii&oooJ

712
for her

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

husband among the corpses of tates from the faith, who undertook the She found him, and having perversion of the Alnambay of Maine.
tlie

the

slain.

scooped out his grave in the sands of

river shore, she laid

They succeeded

as those edifying laboris,

him

therein,

and

ers usually do, that

they have not yet

turned away from the spot to recross the river. But deep moans of pain from a
thicket arrested her attention
:

made one

single convert.

Now,

fortu-

she search-

nately, they have a as they, who have

devoted patriarch, or no " R" in their lan-

ed the spot and found, not one of her people, but one of their white murderers, severely wounded by a ball from

guage, call him, Patlias, Rev. Eugene Vetromile.

This priest has secured them

from

some Abnaki musket.

"

There he lay, completely at the of this savage who had just inearthed cy her husband, killed, perhaps, by this same pale face. But she subdued every

much danger by providing them with mer- books in their own tongue, a book of
catechetical

book.^

He

and a prayerwas kind enough to send

instruction

both, as well as his ingenious calendar,

to the present writer.

thought of vengeance, she recalled only

she pardoned, and, succeeded in getting the man to having her canoe, paddled him over the river
ideas of religion
:

The

instruction

book
on
tains

gave

to the venerable

his departure for the

;

De Smet, Rocky Moun-

the other I value gratefully, and

and concealed him, from any chance

return of the Indians, in her own cave of Here she nursed and nourished refuge.

him with the tender care of a mother, and bade God bless him when returning strength permitted him to depart for his
home.
'
'

Siempre jiel, ever true," is the proud motto of the Cuban Spaniard but who have a better right to such a legend than
;

preserve. "

He
;'

wept,' says his descendant,

our poor sons of the Northern Light. So long neglected, bereaved, untaught, but preserving their religious instruction orally, through desolate half centuries at a time. "To-day," says Father

at the recollection of this

good Samari-

tan

woman

which was a great consola-

he was a civilized Puritan, she jnerely a Papist and a savage." All the long period from Father Rasles' death to the advent of Bishop
tion, for

Vetromile,

"you cannot

find house or

wigwam

without a picture or image of

Fenwick,

our poor
to perpetual

red

friends

were

our Lady. I have never met an Indian who did not wear a medal, a Rosary, or a Scapular. The first prayer which
parents
"
still

exposed

" missionaries"

annoyance from the of Boston nay, even

:
;

teach

their

children,

is

the

Malie Kitalamikol, Hail Mary."

They

Indians are employed and their ancient foe, the Iroquois, furnished some apos(1) Alnamhay uli Awikhigan, Indian Good Book, made by Eugene Vetromile, Indian Patriarch, for the

keep up the ancient practice* of sending their sons to our Lady of Saint
other tribes of the Abnaki Indians.
igan

New York

Dun-

&

Brother, 1858.
viii.

Passamaqnoddy, Penobscot,

St.

Johns, Micraac, and

(2)

Vide, passim, chap.

of thia work.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
the Penobscot tongue.
"

713

Francis de Sales, iu times of sickness or

There kneeling, they cast their distress. sorrows at the feet of Mary, and remind " that none ever that gentlest Mother,

have recourse to her in vain."

give this shortest prayer, the
''

Let us

Wewittahama Sangamawi Malie kussiusque, esma wewelmaussi attamahh, kemisnamon ehhlat, Nehamskawass peseko, k'delan attamahh kemisnamon elat. Anda, Sanga-

Memorare Maria: remember, piissima Virgo gentlest Virgin Mary," as a specimen of

mawi Malie
zus.

kussiusque,
eli

anda.

Meli

elitchaweldama, NialetcL"^

k'sangman mena Ze-

CHAPTER
OBLATI

XVIII.

MAELE

lJIMACtrLAT.!.

OFFERED FOB MAET XUMACITLATE.

Surely no one of the devout readers

of these sketches has forgotten the name of Olier how we saw him working for
;

the City of Mary on the Saint Lawrence, founding the society, sending out the
ministers,

and refusing all. Urged by an aged uncle with this final argument, "You are the last of your name ;" he makes answer, "And what more honorable for any family

who, reaping,

for

the same

than to end in the person of a priest."' Finally, grown up; not wilful, but

Master, where the

Jesuits

had

sown,

able

by education and

conviction,

to

garnered glorious harvests in Northern America. Let us hope, too, that Father

convince his elders, he overcomes their opposition, and enters as student in the
is

Chaumonot, that student in the College of Jesus in Rome, who gave its first Loretto to this continent, is not already hidden by the unwise hurry of our life
here.
If yea, let us recall

His name Seminary of Saint Sulpice. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod.

It is

not ours to follow him in his career

them both by

another student, one nearer to us in time. Another flower ripened by that detestable muck-heap, the French Revolution.

and priest. Enough that the blossom and bud foretold the richness of the ripened and perfect fruit. Bishop of Marseilles he stands, when we
as seminarian
first

baby
of

exile

lege

a school -boy in the colnobles at Turin; after that,

;

of

God and Mary,

require to look at him. with the

A
new

soldier
ideas,
;

tempted by wealth, by by abundant opportunity of and influence for distinction to remain in the world;
(1)

his family,

begotten of the Revolution, to combat with the looseness of manner and inner

and the decay of respectability inseparable from the success of liberty,

morals,
Mouseigneur Jeauoard, ^v^que de Cerame.
1861.
Marseille
:

Indian

Good Book,

p. 165.

(2) Oraison fonSbre de Monseiijnear de Mazenod, par 4cX

90

m
falsely

DEVOTION" TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

MARY

so

called,

to

correct,

as

grace

might be given him.

His courage was

high, his will firm, his flag the true one,

his reliance the Strong One, but he could not hope to battle triumphantly alone.

long and hard to gather form a body of devoted priests. and Caught by his spirit, many gave themselves

He worked

and peninsulas of Japan to the snow-clad wastes beyond the vast North American lakes! To see five of them consecrated bishops by his own hands at the head of as many missions We may say of him as of the Apostles, his voice
islands
! '

hath gone forth over all the earth.' What man, of our day, has done more

up

to

him

for these

new

missions

in the land of the

"

Eldest Son of the

Church ? To find his fellows we must remount to the holy founders of

for the

Church,"

Their zeal was rewarded with

;

orders.
it is,

His order, only of yesterday as

as abroad,

a golden harvest of spuls

their success
;

counts a legion of evangelical labor-

won

recruits to their

banner

they were
already,^

ers at

home

evangelizing

seven

dioceses

to the poles.
;

He

it

from the tropics was who cared for

when, entreated by the bishops, he deter- them all he who directed their zeal and He animated mined to form them into an Order, if fortified their courage. So he sought the permission them with his fervent spirit communipermitted.
;

at the

tomb of Peter.

The then

successor

cated to them his

own

lively faith

in-

of the Prince of the Apostles, Leo the Twelfth, received both the bishop and
his project

spired them with that heroic confidence

with favor.

The

Cardinals

charged with such affairs, received their orders, and the new association took its
place
called

which defies obstacles. No seas have been found so vast or stormy, no forest so profound, no race so barbarous and rebel to the truth as to stop them in their

among
"

the canonically constituted

march of

self-devotion, in their progress

families

Ohlati Marice Men

of God's Church.

They were
offered, soul

of spiritual conquest." of Mary.

They

are Oblates

and body unto God Supreme in honor of Immaculate Mary." He had already been offered the Cardinal's hat

Let his

last will

refused

it.

of Mary: " work.

by the same Pontiff, but had Let him stay with his Oblates that was his place: that his
willed," says his eloquent

the spirit of his " the mercy of God, through says therein, the merits of our divine Saviour, Jesus
Christ, in

and testament show "I implore," he life.

whom I

place

all

so to obtain the

pardon of

my confidence, my sins and

God

eulogist, "to bestow upon him, not the purple of terrestrial dignity, but the robe

the grace of reception in His holy Paradise. Therefore, I invoke the interces-

Was it not a foretaste of eternal glory. of that, when he lived to see his spiritual
children evangelizing the world, from the
-.W
ecoxvj.

and Immaculate Virgin Mother of God; daring to remind Mary, her, in this my extreme hour, in all
sion of the holy

"i.iwk
l\) 0r80ii fdnfibre, p. 17.
,

humility, but with consoling confidence, of my life-long filial devotion to her, and

j^

^^ my

perpetual desire and endeavor

t;o,

IN-

NORTE AMERICA.
his eyes.

715

make her known and loved wheresoever my influence could extend." "Never," we
did he neglect his meditation or his Rosary never did he remit the
are told,
;

When

" they said

gentle," he
then, with a

murmured
supreme
"

clement^ the words, and

"

effort,

he added

austerities of his laborious

life,

and penitent

aloud with the others, sweet Virgin and breathed forth his holy soul Mary!"*
into her maternal arms.

nor the fervor of his devotion to

Such was the

little at

the Blessed Virgin." " Stay with us, my Father," said some " one to him as he lay dying. have such need of you, God will not refuse to

father

let

us look for a

the

life

of his sons in North America.

In

We

1827 the

work was begun

in

France, or rather the idea of the holy

prelate

leave

you ask Him." he answered, "I cannot ask for "No," I have but one desire that. that His

you with

us,

if

was accomplished by

that date.

By 1845, nineteen Oblate pi-iests were at work in Canada.* At Montreal, at Quebec, at Kingston, with the vast dependencies of those dioceses. By 1845 they

blessed will

be done.

Read then

the

prayers for the dying!

first

my

missionary

cross

But give me and beads;

the cruci-

those are
fix in

my arms!"

He took
his

one hand and

his chaplet in the

had secured to themselves the Indian Apostolate, and that of the lumberers oi woodmen, thousands of whom live, more
uncultured than the savage, in the vast northern forests where their scene of

other,

and never loosened

again, although his

hold on
lasted

them

agony

thirty hours.

plines

They repeated the comover and over again for him. At

"

the verses,

In

Him

will I sleep

my

rest."

"In Thee,
I shall

and take Lord, have I

They had already visited all the tribes about the mouth of the Saint Lawrence, and were looking with eager
labor
lies.

eyes

towards the ice-bound coasts of

trusted; " Into Thy hands,

never be confounded."
Lord, I

Labrador, and the snow huts of the Es-

commend my quimaux.
of

spirit;" and at the "Now, Lord, let Thy ^ servant depart in peace," he testified his appropriation of the sentiment by a mo-

Each year some one or more them must make a visitation of every In 1846, they are called to Hud; post.
mission nearly as large in son's Bay. Ten territory as the whole of Europe.

tion of his hands.

Then,
sun

when they
it

recited

the

8alve

Jiegina, for

was Tuesday

in the

Whit-

degrees of latitude in width (48 to 58" from N.), it sweeps across the longitude
70 to 142, seventy-two degrees, from the shores of the Northern Atlantic to

Octave, he followed the beautiful At the sentence, " After this prayer.
exile

show

to

us thy Son," he opened

ti/i

beyond the Rocky Mountains, from Lake

"
(2)

.VliM''-

idipsum dormiam et reqniescam. Ps. iv. Te Domine speravi, non confundar in iBtemum.
(1) In

In In

manus Tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum. vnm Tunm Domine. Luke's XXX. Nnnc
Pa.

pia,

O clemens, Filium, post hoc exilinm ostende. Pentecost Compline dulcis Virgo Maria."

Antiphon.
(8)
xvii.,

dimittis ser

St.

AnnaUa

Oospel,

11.

241, et seq.

de la Propagation d* la Foi. '*^^ ^^^

Lyons

1U

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART

forgot thy lessons:

Superior and the northern limit of the States to the perpetual icebergs of the
Arctic Ocean.

we ceased to drink, and

and he
laid

now every word

his

stays here,"

Since that time they have increased

hand upon communions,

Still

his heart.

One hundred

immensely

in

number, and

in fervor,

were

that possible.
limits into the

They
United

are extending their

States.
:

thirty-six baptisms here. another Oblate, Father Laverlochfere, mounts the Ottawa, from Montreal to the

New York
Mexico,
if

tribes of Abbitibbe, nearing the lower

has at least one colony we mistake not, another

New
:

shores of Hudson's Bay.

He

is

met by

California and

Oregon

presence of the Oblates of Immaculate Mary and eleven

rejoice
in the
:

the grand chief, clad all in scarlet, with a collar of pearls round his neck, and hang-

years ago (1852) a party of twenty-two of them left France for the Missions of

ing over his breast Our Lady's Rosary and a medal of the Immaculate Mother.
All fervent Catholics here, having, for Indians, fair wealth of furs and game,

wOl not be uninteresting to watch the growth of their devotion. The first wild missions are from Three Rivers,
Texas.
It

and no whiskey.

Next year we make a

treal of twenty-five

stride

from Monsteamers

up the Saint Maurice, in a canoe, except when the frequent portages required
walking.
Salt pork formed their dinner and dessert; two blankets a-piece their
soil

hundred miles northor

be.
it

westward.
here
is
;

No

railways

yea, 1845 though

Our boat

bed, the dry est bit of

their solid bedstead
;

they could find

of birch bark, rather thicker than this paper which you are holding, twice as

the fir-forest foliage

or the Boreal sky their canopy. But their welcome by the Algonquin, repaid them

more but tough and with ashen ribs and vertestrengthened brae requiring to be very light so that
thick

may

be, not

Such eagerness in the poor redskin to show his love and gratitude such avidity for the truth such humble reliance on God, such childlike love for
for
all.
;
;

two persons may shoulder it and carry it round falls and rapids a boat of perfect
:

buoyancy, holding a dozen persons with a tent or wigwam, if need be, and some
provisions and simple culinary apparatus. So through the grand forests, along the
fair waters, chanting such hymns of the Blessed Virgin as ring in the cathedrals and parish churches of old Catholic

Mary.
dians

In that

first

mission,^ fifty In-

made

their first

communion, and

twenty were baptized, nearly all adults. Another party* stretches off" one hundred miles eastward of Quebec to Tadous-

Old Catholics these, unedifying a year or two ago, but now, 1844, pious and flourishing, " fire-water" having been
sac.

squirrel chatters at them the cardinal grosbeak as they pass; the indigo utters his wild, loud whistle

France.

The

" Look, father," permanently renounced. " when we drank, we says one of them,
(1)

bunting

flashes

his
air
;

through the clear

(2)

sapphire plumage or if it happen to

xvii.,

Annalet de la Prop.,

xvii.,

248.

Father Booras-

Father Fisette, Annales,

247.

80,1844.

IN

NORTH AMERICA,

717
gets assistance. "

be snow season, and the voices and wings of these be still, at least you can see the
white rabbit spring up and scurry away over the spotless waste, and, borne to the

By and by he
lates of

Immacalate Mary

The Obcome over to

help him."' He sees the sacred fruits of his labor extending for eighteen hundred
miles, "

over miles of snow plain, sounds the long, weird howl of the hungry wolf.
ear,

from the door of his cathedral; Germinaverunt specioaa deserti Beauty

the Ottawa or the Mattawan, past Sault Saint Marie, along the north shore of Superior, up the Taministiquia

Away up

springeth up in the desert"* knows that his work is done.

for Mr. Tach6, a missionary

Then he

He

sends

one thousand

to

the extreme limits of Canada,

and

then, on foot, across the broad plateau till the sparkle of the Red River waters

miles away, to help him. But before the Oi>late of Mary can reach him, he
sleeps sweetly in Jesus.
dilecto

"

Dedit Dominus

becomes
stream,

visible,

and, launching on that

its

they follow

course,

to

the

palace

on

its

banks,

of

bishop vicar apostolic of Hudson's Bay.

Provencher,

of Juliopolis

Monseigneur and

Suo somnum. He hath given His beloved sleep!"* And now Monseigneur Tach6 is the Bishop of Saint
Boniface.*

To go back a
in 1843,

little.

When
he

Father

Canadian

he,

by

birth,

early

called,

Laverlochere starts for his second mission

early sent to this wild mission of Saint Boniface, on the Red River, near Lake " the intensity Winipeg. Fancy his life : of cold, the pangs of hunger, the extreme

he begins
the

it,

as

tells us,

"by

offering

August

Sacrifice

and by

placing himself under the protection of This protection is Immaculate Mary."

necessary, thinks the missionary, for in passing down a furious rapid, hurled by

which he was exposed, sometimes without clothes enough to cover him.^ Fatigue and privation in every

want

to

shape were
tolic zeal."

his, also

utmost heroic apos-

the impetuous stream, the bark canoe strikes a tree trunk caught there by the
rocks,
in two, and they, its as they may in the white freight, struggle foaming waters. All get safe, although
is

broken

From 1818
was
axe
wilds.

to 1853, tliirty-five years^

his period of labor in the Boreal

bishop, yet he

swung a

deft

woodland; a bishop, but if you visited him in the season, you would He had sur find him following the plough.
in the

and drenched, to shore. As for the two Oblates, Marie Immacur mere veillait sans cesse lee, lew auguste
well wearied
^'^

leurs Jours,

Mary Immaculate,
xxvi.,
:

their

his

work

to

do over souls
that the

also

to trans(1)

form tribes of furious wolves into a flock

of lambs, so
find

For a sketch of Mgr. Provencher, see Annals

47-51.

might and led them "to the green pastures,

Good Shepherd them ready when He called

waters," where, in "His fulness of joy forevermore."'

of the Propagation of the Faith,

(2) In loco pasonee

feotionis educavit
Itetitia

Psalm cum vultu Tuo. Psalm xv.

me.

me

coUocavit

super

aqaam

re-

xxii.

Adimplebis rce

by

the

(5)

still

Acts of the Apostles, xvi. ii. (5) Psalm oxxvK(4) Prophecy of Joel,

presence,

is

(6) Consecrated,

Nov.

28, 1857.

Tl?:

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

is

august Mother, watched ceaselessly over

their lives."*

his letter.

Now

you,

my

Father, are

At

the last mission, two

following him.

You

will

see

him
that

at

years before, six hundred and twenty -five savages had forsworn whiskey: at this
mission, they find to their sorrow, that one has once broken his pledge.

Abbitibbi, and will tell mother is a Christian."

him

his

Some temporal comfort

finds
in

the missionary

Here, among the Abbitibbi, in a family of distinguished hunters and braves,

only the old mother had remained resoThis time she asked for lutely pagan.
baptism.
last visit,

Sir desolate regions. builds him a church. George Simpson About the same time, another Oblate

those

Mary Immaculate, in Northern Oregon, is in the snow camp of the Yakama.

of

All the long interval since the " she had dreamed," as the Init,

dians call

and had made up her mind

" to follow her children. Ah, Father," " I was very wretched until the she said,'

There pains and miseries, physical and mental, cold and starvation, and sorrow over hard hearts, fall on him, he thinks, " So he like hail on a springing plant."
calls his mission "Holy Cross;" and bears his lesser crosses more cheerfully, in remembrance of that. The petty

Great Spirit took pity upon me.

the Black-robe warned

Since

me

of the danger

of remaining as I was, I have had no rest. Often, while asleep, I seemed to

be

falling into the gulf.

I

Then when

awaked,

obey the counsels of the Black-robe as, often the Matchi-manitou (the
spirit),

promised the Great Spirit to but

;

Snake is his grand enemy. Whenever he calls the better sort to the prayer. Yellow Snake gathers his pagans in a neighboring wigwam and
chieftain Yellow

there

holds infernal revelries.

is

Yellow

evil

conquered me. Whenever I looked at the holy grains of prayer (the

Rosary), or at the blessed face of

nearly as clever at invention, as the devil of Doctor Brownlee, or of the less intelligent American anti-

Snake's devil

Mary

papists.

"The

Black-robe," quoth Yelrattlesnakes,

on the medal round

I

my

children's necks,

low Snake, "catches

and,

and every day toe counted the holy grains of prayer together, and it did good to my heart and I yearned for baptism. Ah, how Will the Blacklong the year seemed

was troubled. have lived with

But,

all

the last year I

by

his enchantments,

makes them vomit

my

eldest son,

a black poison upon our tobacco. will soon kill us all."*

He

To

this is

added accusation of produ-

'

cing aU the sickness, fever, gastritis, a The cold is so case or so of small-pox.

intense that wild animals are scarcely to be found. Sometimes the ponies are

robe never come ?' I

said.

'

He might
I thought

have pity on me.' This was of through the sad winter.

all

And when
Here

frozen to death,

when out hunting

but,

my son

set out for

Kithi

Kami (Hudson's upon

Bay), I prayed him to write you.

(1) Atmales, iviii., 454.

the whole, that is a kind of blessfor then they eat the pony. Our ing,

(2) Annales, xxiii., 76.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
still

nu
him more keenly than
hfe''

Oblate of Mary thanks

God

that he

solitudes, bit

has (Jan. 12, 1849) in his ice larder, one dog and two dead wolves, which

relished.

So I cut out a new cassock from ahe hopes will last fine thick blanket, and dyed it in tW' agreeable provision until milder weather, when, perhaps, juice of the corn-bloom. The color prO^' " Our dear Lord will have pity on us, duced, being a lively violet, I fancieit
.

"

and send us some bear or deer." Meantime, he instructs many, baptizes the
children, attends the dying, buries the The medicine-man falls into disdead. " but does not give up yet. Do repute, you see that cabin, with the white cross

myself a bishop

but the

first

time I was

caught in the
out,

rain, the violet all

washed

and

my

cassock was as white as the

Pope's.

poor pope

I,

for I lost

my

only needle, and could

all

find

no other in

on

it

?"

such
: :

is

one of Yellow Snake's

" That is the source of our harangues. out of that the Black-robe sends misery

But I took the and I made it into a big pin kind of needle, with which I have mended the old cassock. Do not mock at my,

my

Quirinal palace.

head

off a

us

death

he

is

killing

us

all

by

his

prayer, his words,

and

his medicine-water

but solid; it is true that she bends oftener than I could

needle;
she
is

coarse,

Burn down his cabin and desire, but then she never breaks.'" An ingenious man, you say. True, but off, and I promise to cure all your maladies." But Father Chirouse not more so than his brother Oblate oi trusts in God, and hopes that he shall Mary, Father Farand, whose beat is abouj; " welcome death joyfully for the cause of Lake Athabasca, and thence northward. Jesus Christ." He has made himself a little box which It is true that woful tales of destitu- holds bread and wine, a vestment, altai* tion and suffering come in from the Nez- linen, the chalice and the stone, everjjr,^ perc^s, the Cayouses, and the Flatheads, thing, indeed, needed for the adorable that their stock is perishing under the sacrifice, and, when the box is opened,' and its double cover arranged, it forms, snows, and their lodges full of sickness that there is eight feet of snow at the he thinks, a very decent little altar. An-,
(baptism). cut his head
,

mission of the Immaculate Conception but all this does not break down the
;

other
feet

box

contains a neat tent of seven

in base,

by
;

five

which covers

his

Oblate of Mary, nor even take the sweet altar the body of his church is the forFrench gayety out of his heart, nor off est, the prairie, the river bank. He must his pen. Has he not a pantry full of know, if possible, the Montagnais, a diachoice provisions ? A dog and two de- lect of Algonquin. He studies it through He acknowledges that the medium of the Cree, and this he funct wolves!
the climate
tion of his
is

rather cool for the condi;

wardrobe and that when his ragged and only cassock fell to pieces at last, the wind that sweeps those frozen

blind Indian who acquires from an old knows no French. The process is not

(1) Annales, xziii., 79.

720

DEVOTION TO TUE BLESSED VIKGLN MAEY

he can
the way, and, in case of need, any insurmountable obstruction

detailed, but the result is that

removed
;

catechise, at least,
It

in four or five months.

behind

was

this

same Oblate, Father Farand,

who

built the church at Athabasca.

The

them plodded your humble servant, provided with snow-shoes somewhat smaller,
on account of the weakness of his legs next came four of the finest dogs of the country, drawing a sledge four feet six inches broad by six feet and a half in
;

Scots commandant, a Protestant, of the the material post, gave the place and all

but the wood.

the

The

priest cut that

down
Then

in the forests with his

own
it

hands.

commandant had

brought to the

length,

upon which were attached

my

So the frame work place and sawed. soon arose, and the reverend Oblate's

culinary apparatus, my bed, wardrobe, chapel, provisions, as well as the efiects

own

the absolutely necessary furniture, the tables and benches, as well as the doors and window-frames.
fingers

made

of a

years alone at this place; never seeing a co-religionist except his poor
Indians, he never lost courage, nor re-

Two

young half-breed, who closed the procession, and who had charge of the dogs and the sledge. This arrangement was a little disturbed the very first day,
since the kind-hearted M. Deschambault,

member

of the Honorable Hudson's

gretted his self-sacrifice for Mary.^

Bay Company, would have me placed

under the guidance of one of their serThe latter was provided with vants.
excellent dogs, so that I felt disposed to avail myself of the ofier, and husband

As with

We

the priests, so with the bishop. saw the departure of Monseigneur

for the Better

Provencher

Land

let us

look at his successor, Monseigneur Alexander Tach6. He is writing to the venerable BishcJp of Marseilles, Superior

General of the Oblates of Mary.

visited the stations of Saint

He has

This lazy project was, however, speedily abandoned. In the afternoon, the dogs, not much accustom-

my

strength.

Anne and ed
is

to fatigue,

found that the honorable

Our Lady of Victories, setting forth from Saint Boniface to Cross Island,
north latitude 54.
27th.

and

load which they were dragging along was too heavy for them; I was conse-

The date

is

February

Let us see

how

this

bishop makes
as

quently obliged to dismount, put on my snow-shoes, and tread down the snow
before my enfeebled steeds, a necessary labor for the following nine days. "To pitch our rude camp ere the'

his visitations.*

"Our
follows:

small caravan

was comprised

two Montagnais Indians, with guns on their shoulders and hatchets in night fall, the first thing of course necestheir hands, each drawing a small sledge, sary, is to move away the loose snow. upon which was their store of provisions, For this, the snow-shoes serve the purand wearing large snow-shoes, opened pose of shovels, and the ice-bound surface
beneath
(1)
1

is

then covered with

fir

branches.

Annalet, xxiv., 228-227.

2) Annales, Tvi., 112, eta&q.

Baltimore: American

edition.

the same time, the vigorous axe is forest actively engaged in decimating the

At

IN"

NORTH AMERICA.

721

Their gigantic trunks are severed in profusion, the steel emits the longtrees.

rays of the sun of justice so vivifying, that they may ripen it before the period

desired spark, the fine carpet of evergreens, which has replaced the snow, invites the travellers to take possession

assigned by

great desideratum
Oblates,

my

calculation. The more priests. Young brothers and friends, cast, I

is

human

of their

new abode
fire

each one places

himself by the

imperative want
limbs,
is

to satisfy the most that of warming his

entreat you, your regards in this direcIn consecrating yourselves to God, tion.

cold; some time the chin, the cheeks, rubbing and the nose, to restore the circulation

benumbed with

renouncing all worldly enjoyments, you took for your device these expressive

in

spent in

words:

me

Evangelizare pauperihiis misit Deus : God hath sent me to evangel-

'

of the blood; and when the lips have been restored to their natui'al suppleness,
the impressions received, and the adventures of the day are discussed."
so on, day after day, over the cold wastes plods the holy Oblate of

ize the poor.'^

cised here,

May your zeal be exerand may you be one day

exclaim,

enabled
'

to

with

exultation,

Pauperes evangelizantur ! The poor have

And
:

the Gospel preached to them.'*

As a

recompense

Mary

now and

then stopping at a post

Company to confirm, baptize, or celebrate the divine mysteries. One the good bishop is sorry to place jpost
under the care of the nearest
cause he has no assistant
;

of the Hon.

your generosity, I cannot either wealth, pleasures, or promise you honors; I know that your generous
for

hearts despise them. I cannot even assure you that you will always experi-

priest, be-

the residence

ence those sensible joys that sometimes accompany the exercise of the sacred
ministry ed to us
;

of that nearest priest being one hundred and fifty miles from this station. Then
the poor savages are nearly
still.

the

work which

is

tere confidself-

is

one of devotedness and

all

pagans

abnegation.
labors.

theft, murder, drunkenness, the lowest depth of moral degraCrees dation, for their inveterate habits.

They have

recompense, as

Jesus alone will be your He alone is the end of

is

your

It

always a sufficient

Assiniboins, Blood-Eaters. Black-Feet, Here and there only a .Christian family oould be found; suffering, but always

make war upon Sauteux,

Nez-Perc6s,

happiness to find only God, when the only object of our desires."

He

is

Some consolations, nevertheless, there At Fort Augustus seventeen were are.

in another place twenty-two adults baptized; and at Our Lady of

confirmed

faithful.

"Help! help!"
vast field
is

cries the

devoted pre"

late to his friends in

France.

What

here

What an abundant

meeting with the young He had been Oblate, Father Remas. here four months only, suffering much.
Victories,

harvest!

It is true that it
;

from being ripe

grace
is

appears far but the dew of celestial

At

his first coming, says the bishop,

"

he

so fructifying

and powerful, the

(1) St.

Luke's Golpel,

iv. 18.

(2) Ibid., vii. 22.

4Y

799 iiJi
1

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VTRGIN MARY

that the Father has already been enabled to establish in it his penates. On the

had no house, and the season was too

far

advanced

man
his.

a to think of building one of the country gladly offered him This habitation is about thirteen
;

8th of May, in the morning, I took leave of him. You can scarcely imagine what

feet square, and six was in this den that

and a half high. It your poor child first

were

my

feelings

when giving him my

made
of
life

himself acquainted with our mode this was also the episcopal palace
;

Alas! poor missionary, alone, in the depths of the forest, upon the banks of the cold lake,
blessing

and embracing him.

that he

had

to

offer

willingly

accepted. contained, the decayed trunk of a tree,

me, and which The only seat

I
it

among a people of whose language he knows but a few words; far, very far,
from the beautiful France, from his beloved family, without being associated even with one of the numerous brethren

served as ray throne, and I found it perfectly adapted to my condition as a missionary bishop.

Here, as elsewhere, I
I

had no worldly enjoyments, which

not desire
;

do

he has adopted in his religious What noble devotedness! profession!

whom

but

found the inexhaustible

treasure of the consolations which Divine

what admirable generosity holy rewhat power hast thou over the ligion
!
!

goodness
bountiful

is

pleased to bestow with a

human

heart, since

thou art enabled to

hand upon those who labor for break asunder at the same time the ties His glory. The Lake of Our Lady of of nature and those formed by habit!
,

Victories
regions.

is

the finest I have seen in these

At thy

May

the Divine Protectress, to

it is

whose patronage

confided,

make

it

the centre of a flourishing mission!" Before separating, perhaps forever in

he forgets every thing, mindful only of his divine Model, who, in order to save us, withdrew, so to speak, from the bliss of Paradise, and wrested
call

himself from the ineffable embraces of

his celestial Father."

bishop has a house built for the young Oblate of the Immaculate Mother.
this world, the

Sometimes, however, as indeed

is

al-

the 1st of May, Our Lady's own peculiar month, after a mass which I offered up to obtain the protection of the most Holy Virgin in favor of our enter-

"

On

ways the rule in this world, the darkest hour is the hour before the dawn and
;

proceeded, with a troop of men of good will, to the place selected for the mission. One of our pretty Indian canprise,
ticles, in

we

pleasure comes from that which threatened pain. Our Oblates are chiefly Frenchmen; and many. a thing in the Western wilds appears savage and perilous to
those

who
is

issue

from the old

civilizations,

which

a matter of indifference to the

honor of our good Mother, was

the prelude to our labors, which I commenced myself, by felling the first tree.
I then

Besides, if they only the pain of- that is quite imagine danger, as great to them as any sense of reality.

trained American.

engaged workmen

to construct, as

soon as possible, a house;

and

I trust

Only very stupid people laugh at imagined griefs not that the grief is less, but
;

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
they clapped
glee.

723

that the

mocker lacks
it.

in himself the qual-

their

hands with

great

ity that caused

When

Father d'Her-

bomez, an Oblate of Mary, in Oregon, lost his way somewhere between that

"

The

chief

now approached me.

He

and Northern California, his was not a comic one. " It was position
territory

rod.

a case," he says, "for trying the diviHing I said a 'Hail Mary,' and threw

the reins upon the neck of my mule. At one time, I began to fear the Blessed I had Virgin had not heard my prayer.

already been going at a slapping pace for some time, and yet saw nothing of our friends; when, suddenly, I came

was distinguished from the rest by the superior manner in which he was tattooed on the face and over the rest of his body. Strings of beads, formed of human teeth, were suspended from his ears and neck. He made signs for me to dismount, and I felt by no means at ease resistance, however, was out of the question so, without more ado, I commended myself to God and to our tender Mother." After all, they were only glad to see
;

upon a

sort of village, consisting of

some

twenty huts, out of which streamed men,

women, and children, carrying in their hands some sort of instruments, I knew not what, and coming towards me. They
were black
blacker than any coal the white of their eyes and of their teeth
; ;

him, these wild men. They made him smoke the calumet, and he found, on trial, that some of them spoke a little

was the sight of the missionary cross under his cloak that made them glad, they said. Then he saw a
English.
It

seemed

all

the

more

striking,

them, soon surrounded by them. Now, you see, I was not yet used to this sort of
thing; the idea that these folks might turn out to be anthropophagi made me
feel

in truth, a sinister aspect.

and gave I was

couple of children with our dear Lady's Scapular and medal round their necks
;

and finally, he discovered that two-thirds of them were Christians.^

Father Brunet
also, at

La

Crosse,

Hud-

son's Bay, in 1857, has his consolations.

Let him

tell

us a story or so of Mary's
lie

what

To be eaten before

my

post,

would rather not express. I had even reached appeared to me somewhat

I

red children at

La

Crosse,

Hudson's

Bay. year, while giving his mission, he was struck by the perfect, beauIt serenity of one face. face of a girl of seventeen, and asked her name, she told him it " "
tiful

One

premature, to say the least of it; so I assumed as bold a tone as I could, and

was the

when he

asked
w^as

way. simply a horse-laugh.

my

The only reply

I

got

was on the

gela.*

Never," he

tells us,

was Anwas name

point of repeating my question, when those on my right hand uttered a shout

more appropriate." When the mission was over, she, perishing already with
decline, followed her fomily to the forests.

of joy, repeating in their language a savage word which I did not understand.

With them she moved about from place

(1)

They had evidently made

of

a discovery

something

that

pleased

them,

for

Annaks,

xvii., 138.

(2) Ibid., xxx., 74.

724

DEVOTIOIT TO THE BLESSED VIKGIN

MARY

to place, as their needs required, suffer-

ing always, and always patient,

daily

he could not help saying, " May the? angels conduct thee into Paradise,'"* and,
her,

growing

feebler

fading daily as the forthe

fall

as he spoke, she passed away.

For God

est leaves fade

when

conies on.

had heard the

last

So she lived on
May.
to die,
sions.

till

Mary's month of of Mary, and

the

prayer of the Oblate angels came from

Her parents always expected her

and told her of their apprehenBut she said, "No: not before
attend

heaven, and took the soul of their Sister

Angela

to its rest.

she

should

another

mission."

In the same tribe lived the good old chieftain Emmanuel, who, too feeble to

As if she said This was her only prayer. " with the poet-king, One thing have I desired of the Lord, and will seek to obtain
:

go out

for the chase,

employed

his leisure

in searching the forest for the children of his nation, and teaching them the cat-

that I

may once more behold

the

delight of the Lord, and may visit His temple."^ And her sweet purity of life

echism; and so the savage peoples the desert with new children of God. And

obtained this favor for her.

But when

she reached La Crosse, she was no longer able to attend the public services. But
she told the Oblate of Maiy, "I knew that I should see you again, I had asked
that so earnestly from God. parents said that I must die. But I told them,

our young friend Henry, by his tribe, and followed by all in whom the instinct of self-devotion has
is

then there

idolized

been cultivated.
sion,

He writes,

"My

father, I

on one occaremember the Prayer.

My

keep myself altogether for God and I want to go to heaven you. Father,
I
;

pray

for me.

'Yes,

when

I should arrive here.'

"

She

you

will

read
;

When you my heart.

I I

read this
I

letter,

have hunted
;

only wanted one thing more, this Indian Angela, to partake of the Food of Angels
;

successfully

love them;
Father, in
I

have many love God.

furs
I

do not

tell

and on Whit-Sunday her yearning

mine

integrity, I tell

you. you that

is

was gratified. The priest told her she was going, and spoke to her only of the joys of the eternal home.

love only God, and that land which

above, and that I may be preserved for that land and for my good God, I pray And so, on the next Sunday morning, to my Angel, and, above all, to Mary, he went to give her the Sacrament of sweet Mother of God." But the lives of the Oblates, like those Extreme Unction. He thought she slept,

was her agony, only so gentle that He spoke to her, it seemed like sleep. and she opened her eyes. He gave her the crucifix, and she kissed it, saying, " .Jesus, have mercy on me Help me, Mother Mary!" The missionary my thought that she would last through the night; yet, as he turned away to leave
but
it
!

of other men, are

if

made up of alternations

just seen our Lady Mary as Health of the Feeble, as Protectress, as

we have

puissant over the rude savages,

(1)

we must
;

Unam

petii a

volnptatera
xxvi. 4.
(2)

Domini

Domino, banc reqmram utvideam et visitem templum Ejus. Psalm

Ordo Commendationis Animas.

IN
"

NORTH AMERICA.

725

also see her as

Consolatrix Afflidorum, the Consoler of the Afflicted." Go up

then, with Fatlier Grandin, to the Oblate

fession of the sick person ?

Holy Sacrament while hearing the conThere is not

a single piece of furniture in the hovel, not even a log of wood. For my part,

Our Lady of Sorrows, north of Lake Athabasca. Let him give an]\Iissioa

of

knowing beforehand what

pect, I

have to ex-

other sketch or so of the

sionary. "

life

of the mis-

carry with me a small casket, not so large as a quarto volume, which I

the feast of the A.ssumption, I had to convey the holy Viaticum to a

On

wrap

in a piece of clean linen, and,

on

poor dying woman. Every Saturday the aged and infirm came to encamp near
the Mission,
until

arriving at the abode of the savage, I place it on the ground, in the least dirty This is the throne upon which place.

whence they did not return

order
following. to accompany

the

Monday
in

On

this

occasion,

the

King of kings is pleased to descend, while I prepare Him another in the heart of the sick person by receiving his
the
confession."

Blessed Sacrament,

same evening.

My

they returned the canoe was drawn

Then

again,

is

not this a

fit

scene for

by one man lame and another almost blind I was escorted by seven or eight
;

the Mission of Our Lady of Sorrows? " poor old Indian arrived, followed

other barks, strongest of

filled

with sick people, the

by

his wife

and

children,

and laden with

whom

were old grandmothIn their infirmwith

to ply the oars

ers in charge of infants.

ity they

a heavy burden. They struggled through the deep srjow, painfully, to the door of

managed

keep up with the canoe which carried Jesus Christ, and to sing
sufficient effect to

the Mission House, and, with bitter tears, The burden which told their errand. the old

man

cari'ied,

hymns with
lungs. "

the utmost exertion of their

of one of his

was the dead body boys, and his request was

for Christian burial, for his faith was, at

We

arrived at the abode of the sick

at nightfall. at a loss

least, as

woman

A priest in
how

Europe
if,

great as his paternal love. When the coffin and grave had been arranged,

would be

to proceed,

while bearing the sacred elements to his sick people, he met with houses arranged
In Europe, like the huts of our savages. he would find in the habitations of the

I prepared to perform the burial service. The cemetery is at a considerable dis-

there is along the road a quantity of wood, which obstructs it, and there was no one to carry the corpse. Two

tance

poorest at least a table, prepared by some

friendly neighbor ; but he would have to enter the Indian cabin by crawling on
his

of boys, one of whom was the brother the deceased, tried to carry it but they
;

had not
burden,
weight.

sufficient strength,

so that the
hi?

take great precautions against burning his clothes or soilBut, under such circumstaning them.
feet, to

hands and

poor fother was obliged to resume

now

My
;

considerably increased in clerk was a little Indian,

ces,

where

is

the priest to deposit the

five years old

although he had only the

726

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED

VTKGIN"

MART
Cheated
;

to carry, he fell several times, tripped up by the snow and the branchcross
I

source of his trouble.

first

in

was obliged to raise him, myself es; incumbered with my book and the holy and generally in every other point of the I had also to act as guide to the bargain the poor American was driven water. him to desperation, rose, two or three thouold man, that I might not have to lift up also. On arriving at the grave, I was sand strong, without discipline, ammuni;

the form of obtaining their lands second, in the measurement; third, in payment,

let down the corpse myself, the poor father told me to wait for his wife, who had not been able to arrive

about to

tion,

when

or provision, against the millions of Celtico-Saxon civilization in 1858. Paul

Durieu had a mission of four hundred

Christians
;

she came up, the old savage knelt down devotedly, kissed the coffin, in which ^act he was imitated by
in

time.

When

who, obedient to the mission-

ary, refused resolutely to join the exas-

perated
to fly

tribes.

Of
;

course,

they were

his

wife

and

children.

Returning

all

reckoned as enemies
with
its

they were obliged

;

together to the church, in tears, I recited

from their mission

to leave their

with them the Rosary, and sang a hymn,

to

village,

wigwam

church, to the

which they responded,

as well as to

flames,
tains.

and to take refuge in the moun-

the Rosary."^

Father Paul Durieu** had spent five

years in the
forest to

Rocky Mountains, wandering about from solitude to solitude, from

constantly exposed to perish in torrents, to fall by the awful grip of the grizzly bear, scarcely knowing
forest,

Three mighty hills they crossed to reach their place of refuge a range of mountains two hundred and fifty miles in
;

length, rising in enormous peaks, covered with eternal snow. From the top of the
last

height which

divided them from

to get food from shelter and rest at night.

where

day to day, or Stiff" with cold,

their

new home, they looked down over

rain,

and snow, wet

to the bones for days

the plain where the wild massacre was going on, and shuddered at the thought
of

At first the were tinged with blood. the bear and roemission, one hundred and fifty miles hunting was not bad were abundant; and, when the away: staggering the last few miles of buck the distance, and falling at last upon the hunters, with their Oblate Father among
;

together: after his long, long isolation, getting, as best he might, to the next

how

its

thousand sparkling streams

threshold, so apparently dying, that they get him to .bed and administer the Ex-

them, succeeded in finding a good herd,

treme Unction.

The Plenty of sufferings were his! usual unscrupulous wickedness of dealing

with the Indians in the States, was one

they would remember who sent it, and kneeling upon the snow, they "would sing the Ave Maris Stella, to thank God,

through the medium of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for giving them food in the
wilderness."

(1)

AnnaUi,

xix., 343.

(2) Ibid., xxxil, 212.

Twice had the savage pagan warriors

NORTH AMERICA.

727

been crushed by the civilized cannon; and now furious, not tamed, by their defeats, they were searching all the wilderness for reinforcements, and one night a
fierce

want powder and balls; I have none. But, if I had them, I would not give them to you, nor would I become a.ssociated with your massacres, by furni.shing you with the means of committing them.

troop

entered the

Christian

en-

campment. They knew that the Oblate The Black-robe is the man of peace and of Immaculate Mary had prevented his charity. He is ready to give up his life from joining .the fierce forays of to save yours: he detests those who people the heathen. He heard them coming would disseminate death. Go from my and yelling out his title. He fell upon lodge. The Master of Life will deal with his knees, made a solemn act of contri- you some day. He will take vengeance
tion

and recommendation of God, and then awaited them.

his soul to

In a few

what you are doing now. But I entreat Him to have pity on you, and to
for

moments they poured into his lodge.^ change your hearts, for I cannot help " Here is the priest," he said. " What loving you still." Then the chief said, do you want of him?" The chief show- " He has said it. It is true. The Black
ed the cords that were to bind him.
robe was and
us,
is

our best friend.

Pardon

The warriors brandished

the guns and

the knives that were intended, at least, to intimidate him, but he said, " Do you

know

in

whom

whose lodge you you are speaking?

;

stand,

and

to

It is to the

minister of Jesus Christ

to the messen;

ger sent by
is

God among you

to

him who

go away now, without doing harm. The Black-robe shall be our friend," Then they shook always hands with him, and defiled, in their silent way, down the mountain. Well for them, most probably, for the Christian

Black-robe, chief to come.

we were ordered by our

We

sacrificing himself for your salvation.

Indians
;

soon

returned from the

And

hearts so ungrateful, that

your minds are so perverse, your you would do

chase

and had they seen their priest threatened, bloodshed would have certainly ensued.

him harm.
the spot?
blood, I

Are you not afraid that the Master of Heaven will destroy you on
If

you

are thirsting for

:

my

But," as they are so fond of repeating in their letters, "Our Mother Immaculate watches over her
Oblates."

"

your hands pierce the heart that has always loved you here it
in
;

am

The poor

Indians, preposterously sim-

is" and he bared

"
strike if

his breast,

summated,
fice."

you

dare,

and

all

will

adding: be consacri-

ple in the eyes of the schoolmen, are so blessedly childlike in the eyes of our God.

^your crime

and

my
and
:

of
sullen
silent,

One poor old Montagnais at the Mission Our Lady of Sorrows, was found to

The heathens were

and
Mary's

Oblate continued

"

You

pass his Fridays altogether without eating, because fish was not procurable. Father

Grandin told him that there was no

(1)

obli-

AnnaleSi

xxi., 221.

gation of abstinence upon him.

But he

728

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

said,

"I guessed

so,

Father, but I want

the sacred truth.

'

Good and

merciful

to see the face of God,

and
too

would

rath-

God,' exclaimed one of them, 'I thank

for

er do too

much than

little."

And Thee
see

having permitted

me

to live to

the savages, for so the translator of the ''Annales" prefers to render the French

tain salvation.'

Thy priest, through whom I am to obThe Indian ceremonies

word

sativages, the Indians of

Our Lady

of Sorrows, when they cannot get fish for their abstinence days, have a habit of

having been duly performed, 'Father,' said they, 'do you consider our hair
sufficiently

picking out such pieces as they like least. One, only seventeen years old, and newly baptized, went out to hunt. ed three days without eating.
killed a bear.
rib or so of
it

ripe for

gray? heaven ?

Are we

sufficiently

We

are not attached

He

pass-

to the present life, but we have asked of God to grant us the favor of living to see

Then he

again your face, and roceiving baptism.'

And when

to the Oblate Father,

he brought a he

On hearing my affirmative reply, they dried their tears, and I proceeded to the
fort.

him that he had slain the brute on a Friday, and had eaten some of his fat.
told

was soon obliged to leave numerous gun-shots had' every thing " I am not certain whether I did right, just been heard, the whole tribe of the Father, but I said the Blessed Virgin's Yellow Knives had arrived, and this was
I
;

But

^ Rosary three times." And we must remember, in our

esti-

their greeting to me. "

mation of these neophytes, their position,

The Yellow Knives are much less humane than the Montagnais their faces
;

and

its

temptations and consequent

perils.

They

are

among

the savage pagans of

bear the impress of frightful barbarity they had come, however, to hear the
;

their race;

religion;

akin by blood, separate by and, faithful in such circum-

words of
is

salvation.

As

their language

something like that of the Montagnais,

;

stances, can he doubt that as with Abraham of old,* " it will be reckoned to them

was able to instruct them the difficulty was to hear, for they spoke all at once, Father Fa- screaming and howling in the most deaffor greater righteousness?" I could perceive, howrand, of Mary's Oblates, shows us in a ening manner. how wild these circumstances of ever, that they were speaking of me with sketch, association necessarily are.* He says: Some of them, whom I had admiration. " I found an assemblage On my return, seen four years before, wanted to impose
I

of

Indians, leaping, shouting, firing guns, and incapable of restraining the expression of their enthusiasm and joy.
fifty

silence

upon the

others, that they

;

speak to

me

alone

but

it

might was quite im-

Among them were two

infidels,

old men, still but partially acquainted with

possible for any single voice to be disThis scene tinguished amid the tumult.

continued until half-past eleven at night,

(1) Annates, xx., 104.

(2) St.

American

edition.

(3) Annates, xx., 223.

American

ed.

Paul to the Hebrews.

m
when
I feel

NORTH AMERICA.
cd to them how
If the sun,
this
is

lii'J

I dismissed them.

If the

Yellow

could be possible.
so small, lights
all
,

Knives should one day become Christians, convinced that they will practise

which

virtue to heroism.

They have long been

;

our forests and lakes at the same time, is it astonishing that lie Who has made the
sun should be able to penetrate and search even the bottom of our hearts ?'

the terror of the other savages, and they are still the most violent but are not the

most violent dispositions the most

sus-

ceptible of giving the brightest examples of virtue ? " I announced the opening of the Mission for the following day,

But I was not to overlook the prinThe mountains cipal aim of my voyage.
of snow had already disappeared under the sun's rays, and my workmen had
already prepared for

"

which was

me

all

the building

men with me; we got upon a raft, upon which we drifted radiant than usual. concluded towards Elk Island. To relate all the Having my meditation, I rang the bell, and the dangers we incurred that day would be Sometimes in the water up Indians, at the first signal, filled the room impossible. that served us as a church. After Mass to the waist we resolutely persisted in
Sunday, on the morning of which day, the sun appeared to rise more bright and

wood.

took two

and

instructions, the chief of the

Yellow

Knives, a

man

of good sense and regular

conduct, remained with me, together with the second of the old men, who,
also,
'

would not give way sometimes we were carried away by the current, and we were in danger
;

clearing the ice which

baptism. said the latter to me, with an earGod,' nest look, the God, whom you preach, must be good beyond expression, since
'

had

asked

to

receive

of disappearing beneath these floating mountains. At one time, while seated

was thrown into the water, and should have been drowned had I not been an expert swimastride of a flake of ice, I
I got out upon another piece of and was caught by my men but I ice, was obliged to descend in the raft, and

you
'

are so good.' Then, addressing himself to the chief of the Yellow Knives,

mer.

What country has given him birth ? who

has inspired him with the thought of coming here to instruct us, poor, miserable
creatures,

return with them to

the

fort

without

having succeeded

who were

so deserted?'
to the other

The reason appeared evident

in my attempt. The the wind changed, and following day drifted away the ice. hastened to

We

old man, who replied: 'Father, I now see you for the first time, although I have long had the desire of meeting you. But I am happy in having thought of

set out; the

building-wood was put on

board, and at four' o'clock in the afternoon, we landed on the deserted island.

one thing that you have preached to us. You spoke to us of the omnipresence of

Our savages followed us, and we now went to work. For eight days, I superintended the workmen, hatchet in hand. When the house and chapel began to require less of my direction, I left my

God

some of

my
:

tribe considered this

well, I then explain-

very extraordinary

4Z

730

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY

to continue their labors,

workmen

and
in

resumed my missionaiy occupations. " Then a new clan of heathens came

voices muttering prayers. On the previous evening, I had exhorted them all to
prayer,

upon us suddenly, with salvos of musOf ketry and rather discordant yells.
one had been baptized, but he was an apostle; he had instructed
these, only

and they spent the night in singAt ing hymns and reciting the Rosary. break of day, some of them, overcome by others Avere fatigue, had gone to sleep
;

still

engaged

in prayer.

his brethren, and they might have been taken for old Christians. Moreover, the numerous tribes that inhabit the banks

being given, they all Mass, I called over the names, and

the signal assembled. After

thirty-

On

six adults, admirably disposed, received

of the great Mackenzie river, are so desirous of instruction, that it is sufficient

to initiate

the sacrament of regeneration. few days after, eighty other adults were sufficiently well prepared,

one alone to give to

all

the
;

and enjoyed the

rest the essential notions of Christianity

same happiness."

so that

all

these savages, even those

who

And
these

then
great

how

are not baptized, look

as Christians.
I

upon themselves devoted the whole of

gratifying it is, to see heroes, these vparriors of

the night to the examination of the newcomers, and the next day I was enabled
to fix the time for the grand baptismal Providence added to the solemfestival. nity of the event in permitting us to perform the ceremony in our modest chapel,

God, unmentioned in newspapers, unquarrelled for by parties, unaware of

their

own

grandeur,

remembering so
little sister,

tenderly the father, mother,

whom they left at home

Living in the wilds as
uninthralled

in kindly France.

God made

them,

which, although unfinished, was available for the exigencies of the occasion. " In the morning, I ascended a small
hill

that overlooks the house

and chapel,

that I

to prayer.

might more freely devote myself Beneath me lay two hundred

huts,

by and delicacy of North American civilization, these men, amid their wanderings, and perils, and noble self-sacrifice, have liberty at least to remember humanity, their family, and the home, so well worth loving, but which they left to be Oblates
of Mary.

the

extreme elegance

and sixty Indian

and

heard a few

CHAPTER XIX.
MAET'S oblates ok the ATLANTIC AND IN THE LAND OP THE DACOTAH.

There

are other missions, too, less near

the Northern Pole, but no less fruitful in To me there is something suffering.

inexpressibly touching in the address of Father Bernard's letter from the Gulf of
St.

Lawrence.

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

731

"My Good and

"I

Dearest Mother:'

remember

that

when

was

still

very young, I once read to you a letter from a missionary, in which he spoke of sion we find
the labors of his apostleship. He represented himself as catechising his people late at night, seated upon a beam of his
half- erected

eye of faith, it was a splendid sight to witness these thirty-four travellers prayAnd at the Mising daily in common.
all

the Indian Christians.

On our
the pot.

arrival the

up dry wood.

run and pick a fire and boil They light The children gambol, and run
while the

women

chapel.

This

scene was

in quest of wild fruit,

men

lighted by a splendid moonlight; the secret desire of imitating the

priest

and

watch, gun
if

on arm, upon some crag.

good You may,

was enkindled

in

my heart.

It has

you like, apply here the proverb, 'that you should not sell the

pleased God to aid, by His grace, the sentiments with which He then inspired

bear's skin before having killed it.' Deall the proverbs in the world, the spite

me.

It is

now

eleven years since I

left

pot boils

it

must have victims

it

will

France to proceed to Canada, where I have already built two churches, both
dedicated to the Apostle
St. Peter,

have them!

patience! see that napeshish (little boy), nine years

old,

Have

Do you

my

For the means to conglorious patron. struct these two churches, I had to turn
beggar, and I have complete them,
"

with smiling lips and a quick step ? With as little concern as possible, he
' :

now

sufficient

to

Nota shiship / Father, some game!' Good, good! by the aid of the murderous lead we will
says to you, as he passes

For four

years, I exercised the min-

istry

among

the French Canadians, and

it

have some godes, some moniac, for dinner, and there will be some left for this even
ing.

was not

spring that I saw an Indian tribe, in their normal state, in the

aintil last

The meal
until
all

over, the

voyage

is reis

sumed
cast,

nightfall,

when anchor

midst of the woods.

early years
is

The dream of my
and
it is

and
;

again land.

A large

fire is
;

now

realized,

to

you,
first

my good

Mother, that I address the

lighted the game some coarse black tea will serve as a

will soon

be cooked

my wanderings. I left Montreal on the 13th of last May, and Quebec on the 20th, accompanied by Fathers Bubel, appointed to the chief direction
of the Mission; Arnaud, missionary to the Nascapis; and Crepman, sent to

narrative of

After supper, all, at a given beverage. assemble around the large fire, signal, and recite, on their knees, the Rosary. followed by night prayers, after which an Indian, with a clear voice, This
is

intones, in his

own language,

three times,

Labrador.
in the

On

our

way

to the Mission,

the Parce Domine, and three times, also,

that invocation to the Blessed Virgin,
'

bark canoes, we recited the Rosary and prayed together. We mingled our
voices in singing the Magnificat
j

to the

Sanda Maria, refugium peccatorum, ora pro nohis.^^ Then is added that touch(2)

(1)

AnTMles, XX., 228.

American

edition.

Holy Mary, Rofage of Sinners ; pray

for ns.

732

DEVOTIOK TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

recite the Rosary, and so also at the time for Vespers. This is all our consolation

ing invocation from the office of the Lord! I Church: 'Into thy hands, commend my spirit. Thou hast redeem-

while awaiting the return of the Mission.'

"

Lord God of truth Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to ed
us,
!

These words,
fully

am bound
in

to

say,

were
.

justified

their

conduct.

the

Lord, as Keep us, Protect us unof thine eye. the apple der the shadow of thy wings !'^ Sublime
!

Holy Ghost

You would be
the cabins, the

delighted to see them go

about their avocations, the

;

women

inside

men outside some fishing,

accents,

how

they

move

the soul of the

Christian praying in solitude beneath a star-covered sky !"

some hunting, and others building bark You would be equally surprised canoes.

At Mingan, they

Indian families assembled, and Mingan a delightful little chapel, surpossesses

find ninety Christian "

them leave off work to go to conYou would not, perhaps, find fession. one who would content himself with
to see

mounted by a belfry terminated by a small arrow, and ornamented with a

cross.

At nightfall they only once. assemble at the chapel to sing hymns, which are followed by the recitation of
going
the Rosary, prayer, and benediction, and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. " The devotions are terminated by the

A bell is used to

call to

Mass the

nomadic people encamped in the neighThere is a Mass at five o'clock, borhood. preceded by prayer, and accompanied by
the singing of hymns.

singing of a
following
"
'

hymn
:

to

Mary, of which the

first

This

is

followed

by
I

instruction

and, at seven o'clock,

by

simple strophe
How
I

is

a translation of the

and

the last Mass.

An Indian woman, whom

and always
'I wish

asked

if

she were not fatigued with

love to look upon the Queen of Heaven's sacred image! My heart

voice have always understood She says to me, with a her language.

remaining so long at chapel,

and

my

in a squatting posture, replied:

the Fathers would remain with us always. Can we make too much of them during the days of the Mission ? knew how long the months appear
!

smile, " I

Come, my
must
also

child.'

Ah

if

you

speak to you of the procession in honor of the Blessed Virgin,

when
what,'

we
said

sure

\vithout priests!'

'And

which generally that to which I

closes the Mission.

At

allude, a statue of our

we

I, 'do you dp on a Sunday when are not here? Do the men hunt?'

good Mother, brought from France, was borne by four young Montagnais girls,
while four others held the ends of the
ribbons.

'Never, Father, unless they have been unsuccessful the night, or night but one, before. The Great Spirit does not
wi.sh his children to die of

All of them might have said,

'

with the Virgin of Solomon,

sed formosa
(1)
:'^

Nigra sum,

hunger. About the time when we know that the High Mass is being oflfered up in the parish

we

are black, but this

by

Conclusion of the Compline OflBce,

Roman Bre*

viary.
(2)

churches of Canada,

we read

prayers and

Song of Songs.

m
to the

NORTH AMERICA.
every means

733

no means prevents us from being pleasing

we would

use to extermi-

Queen of Heaven.' During the procession, a company of hunters from

time
to

nate panthers.

We

cannot breathe the

of

same

air

with these demon violators of

crucifiers
infants.
soul,

time

discharged

their

guns.

women,
get a

Every"

instantly answered by the cannon fired on board the Cana-

Eucli report

was

Minnesota man who has a

rifle,

and can

will

moored in front of the chapel; and her numerous crew, at least the major part of it, had come, by our invitadienne,
tion, to

and he who

to shooting Indians, hesitates will be blackballed

go

by every Minnesota woman, and posted as a coward in every Minnesota house." ^

form an escort to the image of

be astonished
at the

Now,

if this

be a just way of dealing,

the Protectress of France and Canada.

You

will

grandeur

even retributively just, with the Dacotah, we can gain an insight into the perils of
the Oblate Father Mestre on his journey through the country of these indomitable " I savages less than three years ago.* would not write you these horrors," he " were says to Monseigneur de Mazenod, it not to afford you joy and inspire you

of this ceremony, if you reflect that it took place at a distance of four hundred
miles from Quebec, upon an uncultivated coast, and in a wood, in which, in spite of the gnats and musquitoes, I had open-

ed a road, eighteen feet wide and five hundred yards long. We inaugurated it on the previous evening by planting a large cross, to which disconsolate souls may come hereafter for strength and
consolation."

with gratitude, by proving to you once more that, in the midst of deserts the

most frightful and formidable, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate are visibly protected

by her
"

whom you

teach them daily to

have seen, this year, 1863, that struggle of the Sioux for the possession
of Minnesota, which will probably be have read of their outtheir last.

We

invoke as their Protectress and Mother.

We

Nature herself gives us the first idea of what our journey is to be, for, about liine o'clock at night, just iis we had all
taken to our blankets, and were thinking of taking a little repose on the hard

rages,

and of the hanging of some

Let us see
to

sev-

enty of them.

how

a civilized

woman

matter argue proposes It will give us an idea of with them. the ferocity and savage hate for all whites
the

which exist, as life-elements, in the bo" Minsoms of the untamable Dacotah. nesota," says Mrs. Jane G. Swisshelm,
never make peace with the Sioux Whenever they get out from Indians.
will

ground that was to be our travelling couch, a most violent storm broke out. The wind, blowing with fury, continually lifted up our tent and threatened to
overturn
it,

while the clouds

us a torrent of rain.

down upon

poured For a

"

good hour we had

the greatest difiiculty in preserving our slight place of shelter,

Lecture delivered by the above-nainod lady, in Washington, on Saturday, Feb. 21 or 28, 18G3.
(1)

under Uncle Samuel's wing, we

out 2)oisoned bait for them, kill

will

hunt

them, shoot them, set traps for them, put

them by

(2) Annales, xxii., 229.

Baltimore edition.

734

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN MART

in protecting

and

our provisions against the water, which broke in upon us at all sides. When the storm had ceased, and
the sky became again serene, a tempest of another nature was suddenly heard in

only four young half-breeds, not more than eighteen years old, and a man of about forty, but who appeared least

courageous of

we sought

to

was in vain that rouse him from the proall.

It

the tent next to ours, and one, too, which gave us much more alarm than the one
against which
struggling.

occupations that preyed upon us, as well as him; in vain did we exhort him to

we had been

so vigorously

put his whole trust

Alas!
it

in

God and

the

good
he

The

three half-breeds,
civility,

who Mary.
hav-

would seem

that

had shown us the greatest

ing been visited
in the

evening by some

anticipated the horrible scene in which, eleven days later, he was to fall a victim
to the perfidy of the Sioux. About six o'clock in the evening, just as we were

comrades, invited them to drink, and drank with them to excess then follow;

ed shouts and Songs, which were those of true Iroquois; but these were soon
succeeded by quarrels, and, as a
the
feast,

retiring

within
in the

our camps,
'

perceiving

him
'

still

same dejected mood,

finish to

by sanguinary

battles, for

one

Come,' said I to him, I will stand sentinel, and see that our horses do not go

of the combatants received two knife-cuts

in the orbit of the right eye.

This scene

and give the alarm at the first of danger.' And, accordingly, with sign
astray,

lasted until three o'clock in, the morn-

ing."

in strike off into those

my gun on my left my right hand, I

arm, and
set to

my

Rosary

Then they
less plains

bound-

in all

walking about, around our carts, stopdirections,

trace of

the far

where the eye seldom sees any life between itself and horizon. But in a few days, a

human

ping at every step to listen." So they go on, over those seas of land, till, on the twentieth day of their journey, they "suddenly heard the almost simultaneous report of several guns. It
'

straggling Indian or trader would meet them, and pass them rapidly with the

news

that

the Sioux were

up

"
;

and

is all

over with
'

us,'

said the
is

men one

to
;

soon," says Father Mestre, "we saw, in the direction of the northwest, an immense

another

the

enemy
'Lost,'

behind the

hill

we
the

are lost!'
T,
' ;

exclaimed Father
not possible

and our people recognized in this a practice of the Sioux, who must have disfire,

Moulin and

as if instinctively repeating
it

word

no, no,

is

covered us during the daytime, and who, by this means, were giving to their brethren, dispersed on the prairie, the
signal for a rendezvous, that they might be able to attack us with greater advan-

hand that has protected us thus far, will not abandon us. We are here two missionaries, two children of Mary Immaculate our glorious Moththe AU-Powerful
:

er

is

with

"
us.'

This supposition was but too true. tage. "It so happened that, under these
fearful

circumstances,

we had with

us

came from a band of Dacotahs who had fired at three straggling half-breeds. The latter now came in and
shots

The

NORTH AMERICA.
wolf, the grizzly bear,

735

swelled the drunken, mixed-blood escort of the unfortunate Missionaries. These

fellows told the Oblate Fathers that there

and the

grizzlier

Dacotah.
"
It is needless," says

Mary's Oblate,

were only twenty-five miles

left

of their

journey towards the Mission of Saint Joseph; and that there was no further

"to describe the horrors of that long Half reclined upon the damp night.
ground,

we

danger from the Sioux. The truth was, that they had still one hundred miles to
traverse, and that through the very central camping ground of those redoubtable But " God and Mary" was heathens. their watchword, and earnest, practical belief in that which they professed, was But the luggage of their their strength.

for, at every

could not sleep for a moment, movement of the leaves, we

imagined ourselves assailed by enemies of all sorts and as I placed much leVi;

ance on

gun, I never, for an instant, Ah, with what joy we parted with it. witnessed the break of day about four

my

o'clock
offered

next morning! After having an act of thanksgiving to God, up

of
the

escort consisted chiefly in whiskey

the

and implored the intercession

unbred brutes were always drunk and " offerquarrelling and the two priests, ed to God for Mary," determined to go in advance of the caravan hoping and
;

Blessed Virgin for our protection, we sought the best means of crossing the
river;

but what was our surprise, on

believing to
"
also the

find that she,

who

is

the

reaching the opposite bank, to discover an immense plain between us and the

Star of the Sea," would prove for " Star of the Prairies."

them

The mountain long-desired mountain!" at the foot of which they fancied Saint
Joseph's Mission lay.
Therefore, they
find,
is

They believed
five miles to go,

that they

had twenty-

and they started: Father Moulin, with his breviary under one arm, and their stock of provisions, swung on an umbrella, over the shoulder of the
other
;

march on bravely, and

o'clock, that no Mission

at seven

there.

Cour-

while Father Mestre bore a trav-

elling-bag,

weighing thirty pounds,

rifle.

at-

at the other side of the mounSo they set a stout heart to a steep And on the brae, and climb the hill. find the beginning of a new and top they

age

it is

tain

tached to the muzzle of his

they go on, from daybreak

So

until three

apparently limitless plain, stretching off far to the base of another and a taller
peak.

o'clock, the twenty-five miles of supposition gradually lengthening out into the

Then Father Moulin

been

is

struck with

hundred miles of reality. So the night fell at last, and there was nothing left
but to
lie

an attack of ague, from which he had for some time suffering, and fallfarther.

down beneath

the tufted wil-

ing down, declares his inability to go

lows which fringed the watercourse that guided them, with trust in God and His

any

What

is

to

be

done?
in less

The

escort cannot overtake

them

Immaculate Mother, for their sole protection from the night-dew, the prowling

than two days: they have had no food for twenty -four hours; on this elevated

736

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

is

plateau there
to

not one drop of water

'

quench

Then says Mestre

their parching thirst. "

:

my
you

brother?

Shall I

What shall I do, lie down beside

before me, what appeared to be a man's in the grass. Hold !' said I to mythere is a Sioux lying in wait for self,

head

'

'

me.'

I resolved, however, to advance,

that we may die together, or shall I leave you, and strive to reach the Mission?'

trembling with fear, and Tecommending myself to God, with all the fervor that an
almost certain and immediate death was
calculated to inspire. On approaching the so-much-dreaded object, I distinguish-

And

Father Moulin answered:

if

"Go

forward, friend,

any strength remaining. St. Joseph's is at no great

if

you have still It may be that

distance.

Ah

you could but reach it without accident, you would probably find there some charitable souls who would fly to 'Leave my assistance, and then
'

ed a black cap fixed on the end of a stick set up in the very path along which I was walking. On approaching this trophy, I saw also two arrows on each side of the road, and beneath the cap, a large
knife,

that to me,' said

I,

with

my heart

swollen
left to

with grief

'

Ever since we were

very recently steeped in blood. This was quite sufiicient to convince me

ourselves in this frightful solitude, God has delivered us from so many dangers,
that he will
still

Sioux must have committed there a double murder within a few days.
that

the

be

my

protector and

guide, and will likewise watch over you.' With these words, I placed my gun and

Looking around me, I perceived on the grass, which appeared much trampled, some traces of blood and shreds of clothes;
thirty or forty yards

bag at the feet of my dear brother, and now, that I had divested myself of this
neavy
burden, I felt capable of

behind the

spot, a

walking

knot of dwarf willows, the branches of which were for the most part twisted or
broken, bore evidence that the

several miles before nightfall. "I must admit, that when I

enemy

saw

my

had made

this their

ambush."

beloved brother, hitherto so courageous, lying helpless on the ground, I could not
help feeling discouraged.
I

The next encounter was with a wolf:

no dog-like coyote of the milder prairies, but a gaunt, tawny-gray wolf of the
north. to

For a moment
;

thought

it

was

all

over with us

but

Providence, severe trial,

who had
came
to

reserved for us this

do

for

Poor Father Mestre had nothing it but trust in God, and to keep

my

aid

and no

his umbrella pointed at the brute.

By

longer thinking of the pains in my legs, or the numerous blisters that had almost

and by

it

slunk away, and the Oblate

felt better, until at sunset,

when, having

rendered
as

incapable of putting my feet to the ground, I set out with almost

me

finished his Office, he heard the

growl of

much energy

as at the

moment

of de-

more than one grizzly bear. No hunter's joy was his at the sound for the unaided
:

parture. " I had

umbrella
scarcely proceeded three miles,
bear.

is

not reliable in the case of the

when

suddenly perceived a few yards

"Besides," he says, "I could scarcely bear up against the pain that

m
;

NORTH AMERICA.

737

was caused by the contraction of the sinews I was also parched with thirst, which tended to increase the state of weakness to which I was reduced. I
tried,

eleven o'clock brought him to a river, shadowed by dwarf red oak and maple. Here he quenched his thirst, and, after

one or two

failures,

succeeded in climb-

however, to drag myself along

for

some

time, firmly resolved to keep the promise I had made to Father Moulin, to

Here he ing up into a triple tree fork. felt disposed to mock at the howling of
the

now numerous

wolves, for he

knew

walk day and night. I also expected to meet with some lake or stream at which I should be able to quench my thirst. But at nine o'clock, finding myself deceived
in

that the brute could not climb, but a

his triumph,

deeper growl in the distance moderated and bade him remember

that the tallest trees are accessible to the

bear.

my

expectations, and

my

But he got some

little rest,

though

strength completely exhausted, I was I took shelter for forced to make a halt.
the

broken, in his forest arm-chair, and at daybreak he felt better able to continue
his route.

night

under some bushes densely

And

so

still

fasting

chewing

covered with

foliage, and, before going to sleep, recommended myself with all my heart to God, and to her who is just-

the blossoms of certain odoriferous plants for hunger, and licking the dew from the
large oak loaves to quench his thirst, he found his way at length to his brother

ly designated the Comforter

ed.

of the

afflict-

Apprehensive that I might only awake in the presence of the great Judge, I thrice repeated my act of contrition,
then painfully stretching myself upon the already damp grass, with my cross in one
hand, and

Oblates of

Mary Immaculate,

at

their

mountain Mission of Saint Joseph. He had been separated from Father Moulin forty-two hours, during all which
time that priest lay, prostrate with fever, on the open prairie. But ten stout men
hurried off at once for him, and it pleased our Lord to save him for future usefulness on earth.

my

my my
I

head on
arms on

Rosary in the other, I laid my breviary, and crossed

breast.

my

In this posture,

waited patiently until sleep came t6 close my eyelids. But the sweat in

But Father
saw

Goiffon, of Saint Boniface,

rain, hail,

which my whole body was suffused, the dew which had already wet my clothes,
distressed
till

caught in a storm of

his horse perish in a marsh, in

and snow, De-

me

very much, and

lain

having awake, that a deep sleep enabled me to forget for a time the fatigue and suffering
that
I

after

it was not and painfully long

His efforts to save the cember, 1860. exhausted his own remaining poor brute,
strength, and he fell beside the creature that had carried him. Five days and

At

ten o'clock, I

had endured during the whole day. was suddenly roused by

the howling of the wolves,"

nights he lay there in the knee-deep, halffrozen slush, pillowed on and nourished by the dead horse only.
the sixth day, his wild shouts of delirium attracted attention, and they

So up he must rise and stagger on again but he blessed God for that, for 5 A
:

On

738

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

grand men, who strode
this vast

found him lying cramped there, and, with crazy hospitality, inviting all to
share his delicious banquet of horse-flesh. Saved, he, but at the expense of one leg,

in conquest over
?

land three centuries ago

Do

not the spirits of Marquette, and Jogues, of Lallemant, Bressani, Daniel, Brebeuf,
look

and the

foot of the other.

day or two

down from Heaven

these

in benediction

were amputated, the mission house took fire, and when they came to move him, he said, " Leave me to die
after these
:

on

completers

of

their

work?
they

What, to these heroes, are the

!

toils

go save those who are useful as for me, I am no longer good for any thing." And they had scarcely carried him out when the fire seized upon and consumed the room wherein he had lain.^ Such is our meagre sketch of the ObAre not lates of Immaculate Mary.
:

undergo, the ills they suffer, the death that they confront All have for their
battle-call

and rallying cry, these words of one of their number, now laboring in Texas:* " Blessed forever be the sacred names of Jesus and of Mary, to whom we appertain for time and for eternity too
!

happy we
for

in having given

up our lives

'^ese the legitimate successors of thpse

them."

CHAPTER XX.
THE COMPANY OF JESUS AGAIN.
TION IN MINNESOTA.

THE IMMACUXATK CONCEPTION IN THE BOEEAL LATmjDKS. OUK LADY OP THE KOCK.Y MOUNTAINS.

DEVO-

We
those
tice.

are not to suppose, however, that

for

none others are offered

Mary bat

who

are so

In those

by title as well as pracsame cold regions, side

His most precious Blood. Year after year, new tribes, from among the thousands who still wander between Hudson's
the Pacific, come in search of the Black-robe, or are sought out by him.

Bay and

by side with this fresh young Knighthood of the Immaculate Mother, labor some secular missionaries a few sons of Saint
:

The Dacotah even

respects him, and

if

Jesuit.

Benedict, and, of course, the inevitable Pioneer warrior of God, to-day

he have harmed any it was by mistake, and aU other tribes exhibit to-day the

as

he was three hundred years ago, the

soldier of the

Company

of Jesus pre-

welcome of Hiawatha, as in the days when Daniel and Marquette first visited the cool shores of Gitche Gumme.^
(1)

serves the
of those

spirit, features,

and

discipline

evangelized the Abnaki and Algonquin of old, who paid for the souls of the Iroquois with their blood, as
their

who

(2)

Annates, xxii., 244. Baltimore. Father Mary Sivy, Oblate of Mary Immacnlate.
xxii.,

See Annates,
(3)

251.

Baltimore edition.
Superior.

The Big-Sea Water: Lake

is

The ad-

Master had bought their souls with

dress of Hiawatha, in the poem, from Shea's "Mississippi."

a translation merely

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
lakes,

789

From the distant land of Wabnn, From the farthest realms of morning, Came the Black-robe chief, the Prophet, Ho the Priest of Prayer, the pale-face,
"With his guides and his companions.

the biting

and unsheltered level lands, where wind sweeps barrierless. Th e Iroquois who, of old, was the peril of the Mission, and so often the murderer
of the missionary, is found now amid the far western tribes, a missionary himself: a retainer and earnest lover of the
early tradition of the Black-robes.* that kind of martyrdom has

And
With
Held

tlie

noble Hiawatha,
aloft^

his

hands
full

extended,

aloft in sign of

welcome,

Waited,

of exultation, Till the birch canoe with paddles

Grated on the shining pebbles, Stranded on the sandy margin.

the Black-robe chief, the Pale-face, With the cross upon his bosom.
Till

But

if

nearly the

ceased, the slow, silent

toil,

martyrdom by
allures

Landed on the sandy margin. Then the joyous Hiawatha Cried aloud and spake in this wise:
" Beautiful
is

starvation,

frost,

still

devoted soul from the joys of the world, to selfsacrifice for the Hearts of Jesus

When you come

All our

the sun, O strangers. so far to see us

I

town

in peace awaits

you
you

All our doors stand open for

You

shall enter all our

For the

heart's right

wigwams, hand we give you."

and Mary. The letters from the Mission of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, differ from those of 1654 only in
this,

And

the Black-robe chief

in his speech a

made answer,
:

that

the scalping-knfe, the stake,

Stammered

little.

Speaking words yet unfamiliar " Peace be with you, Hiawatha,

Peace be with you and your people. Peace of prayer, and peace of pardon, Peace of Christ, and joy of Maryl"'

and the tomahawk, figure in them less freely, and that consolations are more abundant from the fidelity of the poor
Indian Christians who inhabit those wilds.

Father Fremiot writes to his Superior such a letter as Dablon might have written to
"
his.^

The

Jesuit of the Missions of Canada,

still

so-called,

found at the old grounds,

I will not here describe to

you our

cred Heart, has

tral post, at

Saut Saint Mary's, Holy Cross, and Sanow a more modern cenof Lake
the extreme northern verge Superior, the Mission of the
this

poverty, our trials and misfortunes.

hasty

glance

at

our

first

proceedings

Immaculate Conception. From go forth to visit their numerous

at thirty, sixty,

they

stations,

and one hundred miles Northward to the nomad distance. tribes which stray over the wastes which are clad with six months of winter over vast turbulent streams, and countless
;

would show you that our only church was a small chapel, extemporized in one day, and built of bark and in the next place, you would witness the sinister glare of a fire amid the winter's ice,
;

house, raised by the penny subscriptions of the poor and the You would also see that, for orphans.

destroying our

new

eighteen months, death has been carryp. 91,

(1) Longfellow's
(2)

"Song
in

of Hiawatha," xxii.

where he

attributes the conversion of tliose Flat-

We

shaU see the

efforts of these Iroquois mis-

sionaries directly,

and

Father de Smet's " Sketches,"

heads, under God, to the once blood-lapping Iroquois. American edition. (31 Annales, xv., 181.

740

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED

without pity, our beloved
chil-

VIRGIN"

MAEY

ing

off,

and thus causing the Black-gowns and their prayers to be blasphemed for the superstition or the bad ftiith of these
dren,
;

truding the Indians from its teiTitories, forced large bands of the unfortunate

red men,

who

still

lingered east of the

people leads them to attribute to us these scourges of Divine wrath.

Mississippi, into the northern lands beyond the great lakes; and these immi-

"But
share

I did not intend to

make you

grations are hailed by the missionary as new grain to be cultured and reaped for

with us the bitter cup of our Let us change our theme. afflictions.

the harvest of God.

" "
I

have already," says the pious

first fruits
:

father,

You have had

the
thorns:

a glance at the cross and behold now, Mary, the

baptized the

of these future

neophytes

of those who, with

God's

mother of good hope, with a countenance radiant with love, and her hands filled with heavenly blessings, which she scatters, like

permission, are to be the objects of our affection here, our consolation on earth,

and our crown of glory

in
is

Heaven."
questioned

fertilizing shower, upon the

little
!

When

this

Indian

woman
as

heads of her
if it
is

Indian family. Ah true that no one need despair

beneath the shadow of her name, how can we imagine that she will permit this
nascent Mission to perish, since its future destiny is placed under the glorious title of the Immaculate Conception? Is not this that tower of David, from which a

motive which induced her to embrace the Prayer, she tells him this story.
to

by Father Fremiot,

the

thousand shields are suspended for the defence of those whom it is to protect ?
Moreover,

went with my three children to an island in Lake Nipigon, about ten miles from the land. While some myrtle berries and other eating wild fruits, a violent wind rose upon the lake, and the waves, gradually rising, at length carried off my canoe, which I had
day,
I
left

"

One

was there ever an age

presented an

in
as-

which

this prerogative

pect so promising for the future ? Where could we find, at the present day, a more
secure pledge of protection, hope, and
life?

was, alone and helpless, upon a desert isle, with my children I thought we should
;

close

to the bank.

There

all

be

way
of

did not, however, give to despair, but resolved to find out

lost.

some means of saving

my

life

and that

The experience of the past already seems to answer for the future. The
finger of

"

my

children.

which

God has stamped our work, His own, with a lasting impress of the Cross; but from the maternal
is

with two pieces tied together with flexible roots, and crouching upon it as if in a canoe, I seized an oar and

made of wood
I

a sort of raft

heart of Mary, a few drops of consoling

balm have already fallen upon us." The government of the United States, in pursuance of its immemorial custom of ex-

pushed off. The storm had fortunately been succeeded by a complete calm, under favor of which, I reached the land

But I had no sooner landed, than the waves began to rise

without accident.

IK

NORTH AMERICA.

741

anew, so that had I been still in the middle of the lake, I must have perished. I
hastened in quest of a canoe, that I might return to fetch my dear children, whose
cries of distress I could
still

of the Immaculate Conception, they are like nearly all the other Catholic Indians
:

they have "become like

little

children."

Except the
sing.

Kyrie

eleison,

Avhich
in

they

hear in the

Father Fremiot

says,

Latin,^

distance.

At length

discovered the

they sing,

congregationally,
in their

the

Mass

my search, and immediately embarked to return. The water had again become calm, and I reached my children, just before sunset, and found them all alive. Then it was that I recolobject of
lected hearing our old men speak of the Great Spirit, when I was still a child.
'

and Vespers,
notes of the

own

dialect, to the

chant: and, at sundown, on the day of the Lord, they gather, for the fourth time that day, to recite

Roman

in

common

the Rosary of

Our Lady Mary

the Immaculate.
It is cold there in the winter.

"A

He

is

is

Who made
is

He
now

He it above,' they used to say ; the earth and all things; the Master of life.' I had never
'

young man, who was

travelling in the

woods, arrived here with his cheeks and chin frozen black and blue, and I myself,

thought of
felt

this for
it

a long period

but I
sent
to

on going to the

fort

by a road through

that

was

He who had
;

the forests, took oif

this extraordinary

calm

that

it

was
I

two minutes,

to

my gloves for about wipe my spectacles, covice,

Him my

children and I were indebted

ered with a double coat of

the respiration, for I
face

caused by

for our lives.

And

hence,

when

heard

had a shawl over

it

the prayer of the Great Spirit mentioned, I felt an earnest desire to learn and

my
the

but I found

ticable.
ice,

My

utterly impracbreath, instead of melting

it.

embrace

it."

"And

indeed,

this

poor

only served to thicken

evefy one by the with which she learnt the promptitude Christian truths, although she only heard
surprised

woman

tion

could not have thought that this operawould have frozen my fingers; but

them publicly announced from time to time in the church. I gave this good neophyte the name of Mary Anne."

became painfully aware of it, a quarter of an hour afterwards, on entering a house and experiencing a sudden transiI

As

for his Catholics,

it

is

nearly

all

consolation.

They
of

are so uncivilized and

barbarous as to practise what they profess.

went out immediately to rub them in snow but it was already a little too late, and this painful sensation continued for two or
tion

from cold to

heat.

One

these

savages,

closely

three days,

On
to

this

occasion

also,

we

examined a year after his baptism by Father de Sraet, said, with some surprise
in his tone

were obliged

thaw the chalice three

"
:

No,

father, I

have done
promise

times during one Mass, although there was by the side of the priest a chafingdish,

none of these

things.

Did

I not

and two stoves

in the chapel.

But

the Master of Life and you to abstain from them?" Here, about the Mission

(1)

AnnaUs,

xv., 185.

r42

DEVOTIOK TO THE BLESSED VIKGnT MART

will

what
ible

is,

appear to you still more incredthat the wine actually froze in the

it

There was indeed still some ice but was so thin, that it would have been
;

"

cruet, placed only half a foot

above the

folly to

venture upon

it.

We

stove

journey during not exactly like a pleasure excursion. Imagine that on some occasions, as was
!

this season, is

sequently obliged to make to encamp even at this

hour.
flakes,

were conup our minds

unseasonable
in

The snow was

falling

large

the case last spring, we have to walk on the melting ice, softened to the depth of
half a foot, or

make our way, with a

watchful eye, across the clefts which present themselves on all sides. Sometimes
also, as
it

and we could scarcely see two before us. We began by setting steps fire to a birch-tree. The bark immedito the very top, and by the ately ignited
light of this

burning column, one shook

happened

this winter,

we have
to

to cross the woods, without

any road

snow from the trees under which we were to camp, another using his snowthe

the early nine or ten at night. Once, morning for example, in crossing a lake at night by the light of birch-bark torches, we

guide

us,

wandering from

till

shoe as a substitute for a shovel, cleared the place of encampment, and a third

went
fire

in quest of dried

wood

to feed the

tread upon the newly-skimmed surface

of a wide crevice, and are well-drenched for our carelessness, but the December

After having during the night. taken a frugal meal, each one lay down to rest upon a few fir-branches, near the

extemporaneous hearth.

wind soon freezes our garments and we do not feel the wet. Only sometimes, on these occasions, we recall our recreation walks over the hills of

"I wrapped myself up

could in

as well as I

blanket and buffalo skin; but although the snow had been shaken

my

sunny south-

from the tree under which

there was
still

was

lying,

ern France, where somewhat nearer to the skyey regions we raised our voices to

some

left,

which, being
in large

melted by the smoke,

face.

fell

her

upon my became painfully aware, when I was This, however, is not the south of wakened out of my first sleep by the France. There is our trip to Prince's cold, for the sky had become clear, and latitude 45 50'; air very pure a cold, frosty wind blew across the desert. Bay: tliere in the month of January bracing I awoke my men, who went to cut some as well-wrapped-up old gentle- wood by moonlight. For my part, I indeed,
is

who

their Queen, in the strains of

Of

this

drops circumstance I

the Salve Regina. "

men
in

call it

when they

see a youngster

shiver.

We

started for the

Bay

at

two

the morning, intending to walk across the ice and to sleep on the other side. There had been a recent thaw, but we

face down upon the bed, the drops of water to congeal leaving In the morning, quietly over my head.

turned

my

the ice of the bay was broken into thousands of pieces. However, after a long

had forgotten

all

about

that,

and now

it

recurred to our remembrance.

winding, we arrived at length at the house where we were so anxious to ar-

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

743

rive the night before. There we spent the remainder of the day and although
;

gradually increasing in size, against the rock to which our canoe is flistened, and

the boards were our only bed, we slept there much better than beneath the

dropping of the forest trees. " But what are all these adventures, If at this fatigues, and even dangers!
price, the priest should only succeed in

makes us apprehensive that, if we defer any longer, we shall not be able to launch her again. But whither shall we go? The storm prevents us from returning
to the

Immaculate Conception.

Let us

cross the lake.

adding one neophyte to this mysterious number of the elect, he would have no
reason to regret the sacrifice he has made. He would recall to mind the sentence of
Saint Francis

"We

say the Litany of the Blessed

The Virgin, and prepare for the worst. wind is on our side, and we set up o,ur
blanket for a
sail.

Xavier To
'
:

go

to the

advance a

little;

means we but the north wind

By

this

world's end to save a soul and then die, " is an enviable fate.'
It has

gradually increases the force of

its

blast

enormous waves, white with foam,

;

rise

happened

to this missionary to

be caught in a storm, towards nightfall, on that grand inland sea, and in order to
save the canoe and
its

before us in rapid succession we cut them in the middle, however, tolerably well but when we arrived in the open
;

contents, to land

water, about half

way

across, the billows

upon an island rock, as the only visible

and place of safety. On the top of the rock, some eighteen feet high, they found a few dead fir-trees, which gave them fire at least. Around them lay
shelter

become irregular and the danger serious. Our only rower begins to lose courage. I said how it would be,' he muttered the wind is too strong let us return.' The other was of a different opinion.
' ;
' ;

many well-bleached bones of the wild 'Let us return,' I said myself, 'if there is Huron and Iroquois of old. There they less danger than in advancing.' 'The slept, and when morning dawned, they danger is equal,' he replied. Courage, added to their usual prayers those two then, my boys mind how you meet the grand hymns to sweet Mary Mother, the waves, and place confidence in Him for Salve Regina and the Inviolata. There whose glory we are laboring. We have
'
:

they pass, fasting, the whole day; very

appropriate that fasting, thinks the Jesuit, "for it is Friday in Ember week,"

not undertaken this voyage from motives of pleasure or interest, but solely for the
service

of the
us.

Great Spirit;

He

will

and with the coming down of the shadows, came also a furious and night-long
rain storm,
"

watch over
work.'
'

I will pray while

you

with peals of thunder and

terrible flashes of lightning."

Yes, Father, intercede earnestly with the Great Spirit,' said the oarsman, Without doubt, my son do a heathen.
' ;

Father Fremiot thus continues his narrative:

"At length, on Saturday, the wind

rolls the

veering to the northeast,

waves,

your heart, and And, while I ply your oar vigorously.' was repeating my Rosary very devoutly,

you

also

pray

to

Him

in

:u
I

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

his lips as
gust, I reached,

saw the young man moving

on the

8th, the

caravan

if reciting

a prayer." Next day the pangs of hunger are rather sharp, but one eifect of this is sal" When we repeat the Our utary. we have unusual earnestness in Father,'
'
'

of Pembina, at the point where it crosses the Mississippi. This was my Rubicon.

passed it in a light canoe I then went on my knees to offer my life to God, to

I
;

implore his protection, and to recomto Mary." Then when he comes into the very presence of the peril, it is thus that he takes courage and

the petition Give us to-day our daily bread.' And we did indeed recite it

mend myself

with fervor, accompanied with a prayer to the Blessed Virgin for calm on the
following day.
at length
Iter

imparts
"

it.

para tutum ;" and so

"

Athough but a

small number, the

their abili-

on Sunday

we

reach

Rock

half-breeds

were confident of

Harbor

in time to recite

with the Indians

the Rosary and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin." And then Father Fr^miot signs " in the Sacred Yours
himself,
faithfully,

hundred Sioux. The former are brave, and well skilled in warfare; they load and fire, on horseback, with extraordinary rapidity, and in this
ty to defeat three
consists their great superiority over the

Hearts of Jesus and of Mary."

While

these,

then,

keep

the

fields

savages.

Besides

this,

we

placed our

which the prowess of their predecessors won for our Blessed Mother east of the Father of Waters, others start westward from that stream, and, conquering the
wild tribes of the bison-trodden prairies, pass the savage gorges and tall peaks of
the

hopes in God; we reflected that Mary was with us. My companions observed
: '

There are many persons

at

Pembina

are praying for us, and who are performing exercises of devotion for our

who

intention.'

We

said prayers in

common

Rocky Mountains, and

upon
Pacific.

everlasting Cross

plant the the strand of the

limits
are,

every evening, and when, in conclusion, I recommended our voyage to the good
Mother, they responded with especial
devotion.

Northern

Their

hitherward, the Mississippi States; beyond, the long shore-line of the great

On

Sunday,

we had Mass

in

runs northerly from California, past Oregon, and then trends westward and northward to 55 north lati-

ocean as

it

the morning, and the Rosary in the evenOn the Feast of the Assumption, ing.

the altar was erected on the banks of a

beautiful lake,

tude,

near

the

regions

of

perpetual

snows.

On

our
,

way

thither, if

we go

and lighted up by the rays This was probably of the rising sun. the first time that Jesus Christ had been
offered

by

the north, let us hear from Father

up

in these solitudes;

the

first

FayoUe, Apostolic Missionary in Minnesota, his means of confidence when, in

1856, he enters the territory of the
rible Sioux.
set out
ter-

time that the triumph of the Queen of

Angels had been mentioned, or the hap-

He
St.

from

us that, "having Paul's on the 6th of Autells

Hope in Mary is piness of loving her. honey of the desert, the refuge of the
traveller,

an impregnable rampart against

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
Of its
aerial roof, arose the
its

745

Whenever you go to every enemy. Notre Dame, beg of the Blessed Virgin,
that

chant of their vespers,

Mingling

notes with the soft susurms and sighs of the branches.

my
life,

love for her

may

increase, that I

Silent,

with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer approaching,

may

labor for her honor until the end of

my

and that

at

my

last

hour

may

Knelt on the swarded

devotions.

floor,

and joined in the evening

obtain her powerful intercession."^ In far Kansas, Oregon, and those

scholars

Rocky Mountain lands, however, as all know and speak of, as the Government of the United States is aware of, to its benefit, what dominion based on

But when the service was done, and the benediction had fallen Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the hands of the sower,
Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers, and bade them

Welcome."

'

love there

the wild men, is given to the Black-robe by these grateful Americans. Start from the central point,
is

among

Ex uno

dtsce omnes.

We

shall

only

follow one of these servants

and children

and push your way any whither towards the Rocky Mountains, and you will be sure, by and by, to see a picture
St. Louis,

of Mary, and him so slightly that this shall not merit to be called even a sketch,
for, in all

that vast territory, I

know

not

like this.
" On the western slope of these mountains,
'

whether there be any thing, great or out of which small, that he has not seen
;

Dwells in his

little village

the Black-robe chief of the

Mission,

Much he

teaches the people, and

tells

them of Mary

human souls, The auinstruction for human minds. thorities of Washington thank him for
he has not drawn
profit for

and Jesus

Loud laugh

their hearts with joy,

and weep with pain,

aa they hear him.' Thither they turned their steeds ; and behind a spur of the mountains,

the topography of those lands of theirs the army asks his attendance, with all respect for their valor, as a safeguard.
;

No

Just as the sun went down, they heard a

voices,

murmur

of

savage so wild, as will not, at least, As he threads the immelisten to him.

morial forests he
classifies

And in
Saw

meadow green and broad, by

river.

the banks of a

the trees

as

he

the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission.

oak, that stood in the midst of the

Under a towering
village,

prairies he notes and catalogues the wild flower and the esculent or medicinal weed.

moves over the

The haunts and

habits of the grizzly

Knelt the Black-robe chief with his children.

cifix

cru-

fastened
tree,

High on the trunk of the

grape-vines,

and overshadowed by

bear and wolf; the marks and seasons of the rock antelope, and tall, peak-loving
wild sheep
;

the

dam

of the beaver
;

the

Looked with
Tliis

its

agonized face
it.

on the multitude kneelthrough the

intri-

ing beneath

was

their rural chapel.

Aloft,

lurking-place of the mink the spot where the otter oftenest plunges in the pool
;

cate arches

the line where theTabbit begins to

"

grow

(1) A7i7iales,

XXX, 88.

Baltimore edition.

(2)

Longfellow's

Evangeline,"

iv.

6B

74.6

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

white,

and that from which the wiry ermine leaps almost invisible over snows no more spotless, save the black tail tip, than himself: all these, and the veins of
the minerals, are most silently taken note

The

first

force of savages

whom he

meets

are the Sheyennes,

who welcome him

warmly, their great chief ordering three of his fattest dogs to be served up as a

banquet for the Black-robe

whom

he

of by this apostle.

Read

one, letter

and

you would say

but hunt
;

this

man

has done

little

delighted to honor.^ By July, he encounters the Flathead deputation who

from a second, you would fancy him a naturalist from a third, a mere painter or poet revelling in the grandeur and beauty of the nature he surveys
;

have come
tave of

to

meet him, and

in the Oc-

Our Lady's

Visitation they reach

the great camp.

him

Ah, how they welcome with what earnest joy with what
!

were
of

it

not that in
;

all

you

see the presence

God
;

glory

the ceaseless zeal for His greater the devotion, as a mental charac-

Kaikolinzosten, simplicity of devotion the Great Spirit," so speaks the high chief, "has accomplished our wishes and
!

' '

the Heart of Jesus; the child's of loving reliance on the gentle heart
ter, to

our hearts swell with joy." That night two thousand red-skins

Immaculate Mother Mary.

past sixty, twenty-three of them on these Indian Missions; years robust, tall, straight as a pine, silver hair-

He

is

man

assembled before the Black-robe's lodge for night prayers. By the next year, the
Mission of Saint Mary's was completely established, and the Flatheads and other
tribes
his

ed now as the poplar of the country.

He

is

grave,

quiet,

simple,

dignified.

formed a Christian people. In all wanderings at this time, he was treated

Bronzed, silent and quick, observant-eyed as he is, he might be a Delaware or

kindly as soon as known. Even the fierce Blackfeet Sioux received him with rever-

Omaha

chief.

Very

earnest

and

straight-

ence and listened to his instructions.

visited thirty-six different tribes,

He

forward, but of feminine gentleness and modesty full, also, of merriment of the
:

number-

ing at least forty thousand

souls.

Wander

silent

kind; laughing more with foe to no than with the lips. eyes man living a friend whom all your prosthe

perity can attach no more closely, whom all your adversity could not separate

from your
this
.

side.

An

Indian Missionary,

ing among them he found a countryman, John Baptist de Velder, from Ghent, an ex-grenadier of Napoleon, who had exchanged grenade and axe for rifle and now fur-trap, and had dwelt thirty years He in pursuit of the bear and beaver.

man

a Black-robe, servant of God,

a child of Mary, a soldier of the pany of Jesus.

Com-

had forgotten his native tongue almost completely, remembering only his prayers and a hymn to Saint Mary the Vir(1) Letters

It was in the yea^ 1840 that Father de Smet started on his first expedition for the Indians with whom his name was to be so tenderly and indissolubly united.

and Sketches, with a narrative of a year's

residence
tains.

among the Indian tribes of the Rocky MounBy P. J. de Smet, of the Society of Jesus. Phil-

adelphia, 1843.

m
gin,
wliicli

NORTH AMERICA.
was the heart of
an affecting
his mother,

747

his

mother had taught him

we beheld

when

a child.

illustration of the beautiful

We

do not notice here the thousand

nor his perils from

thought of Tertullian, that the soul of

objects of interest in this missionary's

man

is

charming

letters;

He

naturally Christian." is again met by the Flatheads the

hunger, exposure, from venomous serpents, from the grizzly bear or panther,

next year, 1841, near Saint Mary's River, on the Feast of Our Blessed Lady's glorious Assumption.

and from wilder, fiercer mortals, who perpetually shed each others' blood around him. He found something good
in the worst of them.
instance,

He had

to listen to a

hundred
that
for

He

recounts, for

and to learn with joy had prayed daily to obtain they me a happy journey and a speedy
stories,

"

the

insatiate

blood-lust,

and
the
;

return.

Their brethren continued in the

;

cruelty of Kansas to their prisoners and foes

measureless,

ingenious

says even of

them

yet

"

however cruel they

Kansas are no

same good disposition almost all, even children and old men, knew by heart the prayers which I had taught them the
preceding year.

may be

to their foes, the

strangers to the tenderest sentiments of

piety, friendship,

Twice on every weekand three times on each Sunday, day,

the assembled tribe recited prayers in

and compassion.

They

are often inconsolable for the death of

common.

Whenever they moved

their

and leave nothing undone Then give proof of their sorrow. do they suffer their hair to grow only
their relations,

to

of safety, the
left in their

camp, they carried with them, as an ark box of church vestments

custody.
I

Five or

six'' chil-

long hair being a sign of long mourning.

principal chief apologized for the length of his hair, informing us of what

The

heaven during

we

could have divined from the sadness

had baptized, had gone to my absence the very day after my departure, a young warrior, whom I had baptized the day previous,
dren,
:

whom

of his ccCuntenance, that he had lost his I wish I could represent to you the son.
respect,

died in consequence of a wound received from the Blackfeet about three months
before.

astonishment, and compassion, expressed on the countenances of three

others,

And
me

another,

who had accomforts

panied

as far as the

of the

when they
first
'

for the

visited our little chapel time. When we showed

them an Ecce Homo' and a statue of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors, and the mother was perfectly consoled for his conviction that his soul was interpreter explained to them that that loss by the A girl, about twelve years head, crowned with thorns, and that in heaven. countenance, defiled with insults, were of age, seeing herself on the point of dythe true and real ipiage of a God who ing, had solicited baptism with such had died for the love of us, and that the earnestness that she was baptized by heart they saw pierced with seven swords Peter, the Iroquois, and received the

Crows, and as yet but a catechumen, died of sickness in returning to the tribe, but in such happy dispositions that his

748

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

After having sung a

uame of Mary.
'

hymn in a stronger voice than usual, she I see died, saying, Oh, how beautiful "
!

Gospel of the present Sunday add to all those mentioned before. To-day, too,

we

celebrate
;

Mary,

my

mother.'

Mary

Sacred Maternity of and what may we not expect from

the

that time, the Mission of Saint Mary's advances steadfastly in sanctity. In October, the good Black-robe thus

From

the Virgin

her Son for

"

Mother who brought forth the salvation of the world ?"

expresses his joy over the souls of his red

children.^

the feast of her Patronage, we shall ofier by her mediation to her Divine
Son, twenty-five
to

On

" Next to the Author of all good things, we returned thanks to her whom the

young

Indians,

who

are

be baptized on that day. So many favors have induced us unanimously to

proclaim Mary the protectress of our mission, and to give her beautiful Name
to our
solid

Church reveres as the Mother of her Divine Spouse, since it vine goodness to send us the greatest consolation on several days consecrated to
has pleased the Di-

new residence." wooden chapel is

By December,

erected, wherein,

her honor.

On the feast of her glorious after weeks of instruction, the fathers Assumption we met the vanguard of our rejoice in the baptism of two hundred dear neophytes. On the Sunday within and two adults. Proud and happy were
when they saw their chapel my return, celebrated the Holy Mysteries adorned. For, "some days previously among them. On the following Sunday the Fathers had engaged all who were our good Indians placed themselves and willing, to make mats of rushes or straw.
the Octave, we, for the
first

time since

the Indians

under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, of which we

their children

All the

women,

girls,

and

children, as-

for this good work, so had enough to cover the floor devotion was renewed by the great chief and ceiling, and hang round the walls. in the name of his whole tribe, on the These mats, ornamented with festoons of On the 24th green, made a pretty drapery around the feast of her Holy Name. On a canopy was inscribed the of September, the feast of Our Lady of altar.

sembled eagerly
that they

then celebrated the

feast.

This act of

Mercy,

we

arrived at the river called Bit-

holy

name

of Jesus.

Among

the ornaBless-

ter Root,

on the banks of which we have

site for

chosen the

our principal missionthe

first

ments they placed a picture of the ed Virgin over the tabernacle."

ary station.
.

On

Sunday of

Then back

to the instructions

and

in

Rosary, of the promised land, by possession planting a cross on the spot which we

October,

feast of the

we took

the joyous Christmas-tide they have a

new

baptismal

fete,

one hundred and

had chosen

for our first residence.

What

fifteen Flatheads, the last of the pagans, with three chiefs at their head; thirty

motives of encouragement does not the

(1) Sketches p. 132.

Ncz-Perces, with their chief; a Blackfoot Seven hundred chief and his family.
adults baptized in one year, and a
little

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
which terminated
feet
lar
in a point

749

army of children
fruits

Thus he sums up the

:

about two

of the year, in that Mission of Saint "The Mary's in the Rocky Mountains

wide

before

me was

a perpendicu-

(Jescent of three

feet;

on

my

left

whole Flathead nation converted four hundred Kalispels baptized eighty Nez; ;

stood a rock as straight as a wall, and on my right yawned a precipice of about a

feet.

Perces, several Cceurs d'Alenes;

many thousand

You

can conceive that

Koetenays, Blackfeet, Snakes, and Banacs

the Sinpoils, the Chaudieres,

their

who The

and eagerly ask them the earnest djemands from Fort Vancouver on the part of the governor, and of the Rev.

opon

arms to

us,

for Fathers to instruct

Mr. Blanchet, assuring us of the good desires and dispositions of a great number of nations,
the gospel,
ministers

was any thing but pleasant. slightest false step would have plunged the mule and his rider into the To descend was imposabyss beneath. sible, as on one side I was closed in by the rock, and suspended over a dreadful chasm on the other. My mule had stop-

my

situation

who

are ready to receive

which only
of

in a word, a vast country, awaits the arrival of true

ped at the commencement of the descent, and not having any time to lose, I recommended myself to God, and as a last
expedient, sunk my spurs deeply into the sides of my poor beast; she made

standard of the Cross.

tiful

round the Behold the beaubouquet, Rev. Father, which we

God,
to
rally

one bold leap and safely landed

another parapet,
I

me on

much

larger than that

have the happiness of presenting you at

the close of 1841."
year. Father de Smet crosses the mountains on a visit to Columbia River,

had

left."

Consolations are found everywhere

by

Next

a dangerous passage, so savagely broken up by rifts and chasms is that vast barrier

the devoted servant of Mary, because the presence of God is everywhere, and " in that presence only is the fulness of

known

as

the

Rocky Mountains.
he
"
says,

"

On one

occasion,"

before

cannot pass over in silence the pleasant meeting I had in the depth of
the forest.
I

consolation." " I

entering the forest, we crossed a high mountain by a wild winding path. Its sides are covered with fine cedars and
pines,

discovered a

little

hut of
river.

rushes, situated

on the banks of the

its its

Raising
tried to

my

voice to

which

are,

however,
those
in

of smaller
the
forest.

make

highest pitch, I inhabitants hear me,

I felt

dimensions

than

but received no answer.

sistible desire to visit
it,

an

irre-

Several times while ascending the mountain I found myself on parapets of rocks,

and accordingly,

whence, thanks to

my

safe-footed mule,

I retired in safety. career at an end. I

Once I thought my had wandered from

accompany me. occupied by a poor old woman, who was blind and very ill. I

made

my

interpreter
it

We

found

my

1 all at

companions, and following the path, once came to a rocky projection

spoke to her of the Great Spirit, of the most essential dogmas of our foith, and
of baptism.

The example of the Apostle

750

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGm MAET

Philip teaches us thr.t there are cases all the requisite dispositions may
nize.

St.

I could see her heart,

from which

where

entirely consist in an act of faith, the sincere desire to enter heaven

and

in

rays of light burst forth and shone upon When I first beheld all this I was me.
frightened, but afterwards my fear left me, my heart was warmed, my mind
clear,

by

the

All the answers of the poor right path. were respectful, and breathold woman Yes,' she would ing the love of God.
'

and
all

do not know how

at

it

happenprayers.'

say,

'I love the

;

whole heart
kind to me.
I

all

Great Spirit with my my life He has been very

forever.'

ed, but (To be

ces.)

once

knew my

brief, I

omit several circumstanhis account

Yes, I wish to be His child,

want

to

be His

And immeand begged

diately she fell on her knees, I roe to give her baptism,

by saying same person had appeared to him while he was sleeping, and that once she had told him she was
that several times the
that the
first

He ended

named her pleased

heads

Mary, and placed around her neck the miraculous medal of the Blessed Virgin.
After leaving her, I overheard her thanking God for this fortunate adventure."
Listen "

be had never seen or heard before any thing of the kind he did not even know if the person was a man or a womshould

village of the Flatcalled Saint Mary.

The

child

On

the legend of little Paul.^ Christmas eve, 1841, a few hours

now to

an,

because the appearance of the dress

before the midnight Mass, the village of St. Mary was deemed worthy of a special

which she wore was entirely unknown to him. Several persons having interrogated the child on this subject, have
found

mark of Heaven's

favor.

The Blessed

named
and

Virgin appeared to a little orphan boy Paul, in the hut of an aged and
piety, sincerity of this child, joined to the

him unvarying in his answers. He continues by his conduct to be the

angel of his tribe.

truly pious

woman.

The youth,

"Next year, 1842, we performed the devotion of the month of Mary, and I can
myself that the exercises were attended with as much piety and edificaflatter

nature of the fact which he related, forbade us to doubt the truth of his state-

ment.

The following

is

what he recountinnocent lips

:

ed

to

me

with his

own

tion as in the

Europe.
statue

most devout parishes of At the end of the month a

'Upon entering John's hut, whither I had gone to learn my prayers, which I
did not know, I saw some one who was very beautiful. Her feet did not touch
the earth, her garments were as white as snow; she had a star over her head, a

was borne in triumph to the very place where our Blessed Mother designed
to

honor us with the

has

aforementioned
pil-

apparition.

Since that day a sort of

'

been established there, grimage under the name of Our Lady of Prayer.'
pass the pious monument without stopping to pray on their knees; the
to

serpent under her feet, and near the serpent was a fruit which I did not recog-

None

(1) Sketches, etc., p. 192, ot seq.

more devout come regularly twice a day speak to their Mother and her divine

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
ed the

751

Son, and the children add to their prayers the most beautiful flowers they can
cull in the prairies."

spot, one of our Fathers, in a short exhortation, in which he reminded them of the signal prodigy and a.ssistance

renewal of the

glorious Pentecost followed, with tribe's self-consecration to

of the Queen of Heaven, encouraged our dear neophytes to sentiments of confi-

the Immaculate
after

Mother of God;

and

dence

in the protection of

Mary.

After

that again, "the feast of Corpus Christi was solemnized by another cereless touching,

mony no

and calculated to

and the singing of the Litaof the Blessed Virgin, the procession ny returned in the same order to the church.
this address,

perpetuate the gratitude and devotion of our pious Indians towards our amiable

Oh!

how

ardently

we

desired

all

the

friends of our holy religion could

have

Queen.

This was the solemn erection of

witnessed the devotion and recollection

of these

a statue to the Blessed Virgin, in memory The folof her apparition to little Paul.

new

children of

Mary!"

See, then,

how
God

this

Blessed

Name

is

lowing

is

a brief account of the ceremo-

known, even

as the
is

"

holy and terrible

the entrance of our chapel to ny. the spot where little Paul received such a special favor, the avenue was simply

From

Name"'

of

known, "from the

rising of the sun unto the going down of the same;"^ how it is sung beneath the

the green sward, the length of which, on

both

sides,

was bordered by garlands,

Triumphal
arose
at

magnolias of Floridian woods, and praised where the ice-bound sea lies silent

hung

in

festoons.

arches,

round the coasts of Labrador

tall

how

the

arranged, regular At the end of the avenue, and in the middle of a kind of repository,
gracefully
distances.

arches of eastern cathedrals re-echo

its

melody, and the sound of its sweetness floats ofi" from the peaks of the hills

stood the pedestal which was destined to The hour specified receive the statue.

of Oregon far over the wide blue Pacific. In this journey of short two years, Father de Smet, with his colleagues, Fathers Mengarini and Point, have established a

having struck, the procession issued from At the head the chapel in this order.

was borne

aloft the

banner of the Sacred

church in the wilderness.

They have

Heart, followed closely by little Paul carrying the statue and accompanied by

destroyed lying, thieving, and the use of

the scalping-knife in several tribes. They have restored marriage to its simplicity

two
the

choristers,

who

way

with flowers.

profusely strewed Then came the

in a cope,

and
in

two Fathers, one vested

the other in

and

they have taught the wild hunter to love agriculture, and,

indestructibility
;

a surplice. Finally, the march was closed by the chiefs and all

some degree, the mechanic

arts

they

have elevated the

women from mere

the members of the colony, emulating each other in their zeal to pay their
of thanksgiving and praise to When they reachtheir Blessed Mother.
tribute

drudges to Christian companions; they

(1)
(2)

Sanctum
MalacW,

et terribile
iii.

Nonien

ejus.

Fmlm ex.

752

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

thousand miles

have baptized one thousand six hundred and forty souls. Soldier and trapper, American furtrader and British governor, no less than
the poor Indian, bless the of the Jesuit missionary.

on the

loftiest
;

height of

the Pointed-Heart territory

on the tow-

ering peaks which separate the waters of the Missouri from those of the Columbia
;

name and work

on the plains of Willamette, Cowlitz, and

seek his aid;

Governments commanders of armies

;

thank
will

God

for his presence

;

but Parker
;

The words of Him who Saint Mary's. said that this holy sign should draw all men to Him,' begin to be verified with
'

disapproves

Parker

is afflicted

Parker

regard to the poor strayed sheep of this

vast continent.

be an obstacle in these matters. "Who is Parker?" you ask. I do not

Father de Smet knows or

know.

Were he who destroyed that humble, knew. solitary cross, now to return, he would
find the

"

It would seem that he had written a book that Parker had written it, since he boasts that, in 1836, on his way home;

image of Jesus Christ

breasts of

crucified,

worn on the

more than four

ward from

these

wilds,

he,

Parker,

thousand Indians, and their smallest child Mr. Parker, we do would say to him
'
:

"broke down a cross planted by some

Catholic Iroquois over a child's grave, not wishing to leave in that country an

not adore the Cross

but do not break

it,

because

it

reminds us of
us.

Him who
we

died

thereon to save

As

for us,

adore

emblem of idolatry !" "Poor man!" says the Black-robe " Were he to return to Chief of Prayer.
these

God

alone.'

"

And

so Father de

Smet

mountains, he would hear the praises of the holy Name of Jesus resounding

leaves Parker, and the above is his only do, inappearance in this history. deed, desire never to see him any more.

We

Nor

among

them.

He would

hear Cath-

olics

chanting the love and mercies of

the rivers, lakes, mountains,

sJiall we, probably, for the mission-' has started back for Saint Louis. He ary reached that town in safety, and by the

God from
bia.

last

prairies, forests,

and

coasts of the

Colum-

He would

behold the Cross planted

Sunday in October, 1842, as he tells us, "he was kneeling at the foot of Saint Mary's altar, offering up thanksgiving
to

from shore to shore for the space of a

(1) Sketches of de Smet, p. 212.

God

for

the
to

signal

protection

He

had extended
servant."

His

poor unworthy

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

753

CHAPTER XXI.
TUB
BLACK-IJOBB IN OREGON HOW THE BLACK-KOBE DIES ROCKY MOUNTAINS AGAIN THK MARCH OF THE BLACKFEBT TOWARDS THE SHRINK OF OUU LADY ^ABENAKI AND FLATHEAD

TOUCH HANDS.
It
is

by

Smet
for

revisits his Indians in 1844.

last,

a long route that Father de Since

thousand Indians have been baptized, and that three thousand more are to be

we saw him
"Morning

he has been to Europe reinforcements, and returns in the

Star,"

added

to these

from other Oregon tribes

track of the Black-robe

since 1841.

The

escorting round Cape

Horn, and up the Pacific Coast, to the Wallaraette Mission on the Columbia,
"sister

winds through ten degrees of latitude, and sixteen of longitude; going up to Athabasca, the middle one of that amazing chain of inland seas which unite the waters of Lake Superior with those of the Arctic Ocean and Behring's Strait.

whose
made,^

Renilda and her companions," acquaintance we have already Before taking final leave of these of our Lady, let us give their
the benefit of an advertisement
:

good academy
readers

sisters

year after his landing,

we

find the

weariless

man

at the station of St.

Mary's

and, for the

who

convenience of any of our may desire to send their

Assumption, the Mission of the Flatbows,

Arcs-a-plats. "

daughters to Wallamette, for education, let us copy the price demanded for a
quarter's tuition, as set forth in the Pro-

Since

my arrival among the Indians,"

feast of the

he writes from here, "the

spectus of the

Sisters.

"Tuition and

glorious Assumption of the Blessed Virgin ^lary has ever been to me a day of

board per quarter 100 lbs. flour,, 25 lbs. pork or 36 of beef, 1 sack of potatoes, 4 lbs. hog's lard, 3 gallons peas, 3 dozen eggs, 4 lbs. candles, 1 lb. tea, and 4 lbs.
of rice."*

great consolation. I had time to prepare for the celebration of this solemn festival.

Thanks to the instructions and counsels

of a brave Canadian, Mr. Berland, who for a long time has resided among them
in the quality of trader, I

From which

it

may be

seen

that the sisters cannot often expect their claims to be remitted by mail. " on the Feast of the
It

found the

little

tribe of Arcs-a-plats docile,

and

in the
faith.

was

Assumption

best disposition

of our glorious Lady that we left our boats for the shore," says Father de Smet.

embrace the They had already been instructed

to

in the

That
finds

is

on the 15th of August, 1845.

founded,
in

He

principal mysteries of religion. They sang hymns in the French and Indian

that since the Mission of

Upper
three

tongues.
families.

They number about ninety

I

Oregon was
(1)

1839,

celebrated the

first

Mass

Vide

this

work,

p. 665.

(2) Missions

de F Oregon par

U Fire de Smet,

p. 53.

5C

roi

DEVOTION TO TOE BLESSED VIRGIN MAEY

times with brutish indifference.
field in

ever oifered in their land; after which ten adults, already advanced in age, and
ninety children received baptism.

which he had

to live,

Ah, the and sleep,

The

and eat among the nasty Assiniboins!

former were very attentive to all my In the afternoon, the plantinstructions.

ing of the Cross was as solemn as circumThere was a stances would permit.

What

uncertainty of

life

he

felt

among

the blood-stained, untamable Blackfeet!

What wearisome days and

nights of

grand

salute of ninety guns,

and

at the

journeying over that enormous territory, he endured that he might win souls to
Christ!

foot of the lowly standard of the GodSaviour, the entire tribe made a tender

But now and then he would meet with

a few poor Iroquois, one family, or may be only an individual wandering tribe;

of their hearts to Him, with the promise of inviolable attachment to all the duties of true children of the Prayer; availing themselves of this occasion to renounce
the remains of their ancient juggling and The Cross was elevated on superstition. the border of a lake, and the Station received the beautiful name of the As-

less

and

priestless,

but ever

faithful

lay missionaries
geners.

among
this

their

now, pagan con-

penance, as it were, for the sanguinary infidelity of their ancestors. By and by he gets back to Saint

Doing

sumption.

Under

the auspices of

Mary

Mary's, to his good, pious Catholics, the Flatheads, the Earrings, and the Awl-

our good Mother, in whose honor they have for many years sung hymns, we

and their devotion to our Blessed Mother he writes as follows

hearts.

Of

then)

hope that religion will take deep root and flourish amidst this tribe, where union, innocence, and simplicity reign
in full vigor."
*
^

to a benefactress in "

You

cannot

Europe but be aware,

:

that,

among

the Indians, the beads are recited

that I

in every family, so

am

already

In September he solemnly plants the Cross among the Koetenays, and on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,

assured, and

have the consolation of

saying to you, that many thousand recitations of the chaplet have already been
off"ered up. to

hundred and five of their number, giving them our Lady of that Mystery for Patroness and its name for
baptizes one
the

God and

his august

Those good you. children of the forest,

for

Indians,

those
my

Mother

so dear to

name of

the Station.

On

the Feast

heart, will continue to display their grat-

of the Blessed Virgin's Nativity, there are a planting of the Cross and baptism at
the

itude

till

I tell

them

to cease,

and that

extreme sources of the Columbia.

on,
ill

So ed

from point

to point,

never receiv-

will not be very soon. What confidence have I not in the prayers of those Indians, whose merit is known only to God
!

by the savages, but sometimes

indeed with hypocritic fondling; some(1) Missiong

Oh who
!

if it

be true that the prayer of him

possesses the innocence, the simplici-

BoeJieue,

aux

de VOre'jon et Voyages aux Moiitagnea sources de la Colomhie, de V Atliabasca

et

du Sascatshawin en 1845-46.

Par

le

Fere P.
p. 78.

J.

de

Smet, de la Societe de Jism.

Gaud, 1848,

IN NORTH AMERICA.

755

ty,

and the
is

faith of a child,

can pierce the

is

clouds,

all-powerful,

and

certainly

heard, then be assured that in these new missions, in which the finger of God has

Geneva and Leghorn to the presence of the Supreme Pontiff" in eternal Rome. Thence over the Atlantic, round Cape
Horn, up the seven thousand miles of
Pacific coast to the Columbia.

been so visibly manifested, these virtues reign pre-eminently and that the prayer
;

Thence,
;

of the Indian will be heard in your behalf! How happy should I be, my dear,
excellent

again, to wander over all Oregon up into New Caledonia and the far British

Northwest possessions

planting crosses,

madam, could

give you to
sweet,

understand
rapturous
is

how
!

great,

how

how

preaching the Gospel of the Son of God, founding Missions, baptizing thousands
of pagans, giving glory to
highest,

their devotion to the august

God
to

in the

mother of God

The name of Mary,

and honor perpetual

faithfully

Mary,

which, pronounced in the Indian language, is a sweet and endearing sound, The hearts delights and charms them. of these good children of the forest melt,
sing the praises of her, whom they, as well as we, call their Mother. Oh I feel con!

the Mother Virgin Immaculate. "

So

have

my

dear Indians

and seem

to overflow,

when they

me," he says in the same letprayed ter, "that, whether by sea or land, I have not suffered one moment's illness; nor had to deplore a single grievous
for

accident.
:

Glory to

God

for so special a

fident,
tions,

that

knowing, as I do, their disposithey have a distinguished

;

place in the heart of that Holy Virgin and that, through the intercession of

and gratitude to the good protection Indians who ceased not night or day to invoke the assistance of heaven through
the intercession of the

Holy Virgin

for

Mary, invoked by so many fervent

souls,

her poor unworthy servant."

loves his poor Indians.

He

you, their benefactress, will obtain from

What

dearly pastor of

God whatever you

ask."

Mn-savage

men

will say this?

"When

Before this letter was written, July 25, 1846, and since 1843, this venerable man

had crossed the great American desert which stretches from the frontier of the white robe and wear it spotless before United States to the Pacific Ocean had the judgment-seat of Our Lord Jesus
;

the priest gives the white robe at baptism to these people, and says in the words of the Roman ritual :* Take this
'

overrun

the United States from Saint

;

Christ,

from New Orleans life,' had seen a great part of that the greater part of these cate-to Ireland and England, all Belgium, Hol- chumens will preserve their innocence land, and France, and had passed through until death."*
Louis to Baltimore

that thou mayst inherit eternal he may enjoy the moral certitude

New York

(1)

(2)

Missions de VOregon, p. 171. Bituale Bomanam. Baptism.

(3)

The testimony to the primitive

Acoipe vestem

plicity of religions practice

rings,

among

piety and simthe Flatheads, Ear-

candidam quam immaculatam perferas ante tribunal Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et habeas vitam asternam.

and Awl-hearts,

is

not that of an enthusiastic

and imaginative young Missionary.

Father do Smet

is

756

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIEGm MAKY

Jesus."
all

Let Father Point of the same Mission

expUiin his ideas of the source of this so great goodness. says: "It is to the

He

Father, my little girl is dying medicines have done her no your good: she refuses the breast; she is
;

"

devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

dying."

Such

is

one Indian

father's re-

and the Immaculate Heart of Mary that

the pastors of souls
at least,
it is

port to the Black-robe.

"Has

the child

owe

their consolation;

we

thence, beyond derive ours. Every day our Indians

a doubt, that

a medal of the Immaculate Conception ?" "No, Father." "Take this one then,

hang

invoke these treasuries of goodness, which

alone explains the wonders which we relate."* Yesterday they the Cceurs d'Al^nes

worshipped
their first

it round her neck, and do thou and wife pray the prayer thereon writthy ten: 'Holy Mary, conceived without

sin,

the

beasts

of

the

pray for us who implore thine aid.' The Indian took the medal and departed,
:

"

the principle of evil, a Qolored the hoof of a mountain antelope. rag, To-day, all who are old enough have
forest,

made
they

Communion
the

they are
their
;

guiding cattle
are

and sheep and swine;

fields
;

and when the Black-robe met him next " How is your little day, he asked child?" "Oh," said the savage simply, "she is well!" What wonder that every year the tribe renews its act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of that

cultivating

squaws have become Christian women their faith and their practice would

dear Mother.

shame us in our educated self-conceit, were our sense of shame nearly so delicate as theirs.

But prayer in our days, however fervent and constant, will not win the white man's veneration. Let us see if the
Black-robe be good for aught else. It was a dangerous time going down the
: :

"If ye have faith even as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this upper Missouri bloodshed daily bitter Be thou removed hence wrongs were to be washed red, by savage sycamore-tree and planted in the middle of the sea, men whose sense of justice was very un:

done^^ Most men profess to believe in Him who spoke these words, and explain these and all his other words

and

it

shall he

civilized

and primitive.

As

for us Black-

to
is

mean nothing

at

all.

This, I

am

told,

the exercise of reason.

It is lacking

on the 20th of October, 1847, we had gone ashore for the night "our fire was seen by a band of Arikaras, armed to the teeth. They crept in close
robes,

to the barbarians

who
is

inhabit the Orecalled

to us in the gloom, without our

having

gon

village

which

"Heart of perceived any trace of them. Their chief

himself a very grave and quiet man: and he says nothing in this way of praise which is not equalled, if

Governor Stevens' Eeport to the President, 1854; President's Message to Congress, 1854-5 Washington
;

not surpassed, by the Protestant governors, Indian

Irving's Bonneville, pp. 890-91

(1)

Putnam,

vol. 10,

&o.

and traders of this country. agents, "Vide Exploring Expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean Lieut Mnllan, U. S. A., p. 308;

army

officers,

Smet's Oregon, pp. 183. (2) Saint Luke's Gospel, xvii. 6.

De

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
fitful

767

recognized
blaze of the

me
fire,

(de Smet) in the

the Cross which

upon
flung

my

breast,
his

down

by hung and by my cassock. lie mace, which was quiver-

A dozen different diseases every day. broke out: strong Father de Smet succumbed at last to a low bilious typhoid
fever;

and
its

finally,

Asiatic cholera de-

ing in his gripe as he made ready for a spring, and bounding towards the fire,

clared

terrible presence

among

the
be-

passengers and crew.

The boat had

On the 10th caught 'Ah, but come a floating hospital. thou wert near departing for the land of of June a clerk of the Company was We thought thee far from here seized with the cholera in a few hours Spirits. " we took thee for a foe.' Of all the tribes he was dead. Others followed him in
in his arms, saying,
:

me

in this part of the desert, the whites

have

swift succession.
in his cabin.

De Smet

lay powerless

most terror of the bloody Arikaras. From this chief and from all hfe men Black-robe de Smet received a solemn promise, that
they would never again approach a party
of white

But night and day,

roic Father

indefatigable, he-

men except with

know,
that,

the pipe of
for

the sick, and said the last prayers over the dead. Priest, doctor, and nurse at once, he
the
ill

Hoeken attended

peace

in their hands.

Now all who know

good
or

aided and waited on

sufferings,

in

their

Indians,
evil,

whether

prepared

their remedies, rubspirits,

they keep their promises.

bed them with camphorated

heard

Look now at this story of the Blackrobes, de Smet and Hoeken, if you fkncy
that
lies

their confessions ere they died, went on shore to bless the grave scooped out

their

physical

and

spiritual

way upon

altogether through flowers.

is

Father

visit to

Hoekeii, remember, returning from a Saint Louis after fifteen years

bank for their remains, and interred them with the sacred solemnity of the ritual. But his life pf privations
the

'

Indian Mission.

They

are on board a

the Indians, his labors and perpetual journeys had broken a once iron

among

steamer struggling up the Mississippi to Fort Union, two thousand miles north of
Saint Louis.

This terrible hospital duty was destined to give the last blow. By
constitution.

The summer had been

rainy

beyond example, the Father of Waters was in flood, covering so much land beyond
hundred
his

banks as to be sometimes There were over a

and by it appeared that the illness of de Smet was changing into the cholera; so he besought his comrade to hear his confession and to administer the last unction.

fifteen miles wide.

But Hoeken, who had that day

assisted

passengers on board, eighty employees, for instance, of the American

three dying persons, assured Father de Smet that he was not to be the fourth.

Fur Company.
impossible.

The

force of the furious

current rendered their progress almost

Their cabins, or state-rooms, adjoined Some hours after this intereach other.

The rains were continual. view, between one and two at night, The change from violent heat to piercing when all was silent but the sighs and chill damp occurred more than once groans of the sick and dying, the pros-

758

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

de Smet heard Father Hoeken's
described their fervor.
to hold the Cross in their
last hour,

trate

"

They begged
in their

voice, the voice as of one in his agony, He rolled from calling to him for help.
his berth as best he might, dragged himself along the floor into the cabin of his
friend,

hands

and implored that the image of the Blessed Virgin might be held before

them.

Begging the

assistance of their

and found him

in his extremity.

There, dying heard the Missionary's

himself, as

he believed, he

good Mother, they turned their dying eyes upon her gentle face and kept them
fixed there
ui
til

last confession, ad-

they expired."
rose at
all

This

ministered the unction, and then breath- Black-robe ed his own shrift into the dulled ear of and priest.
one, already almost in the presence of God. " Yes, there," he says, " I made my confession, crouched, weeping, by the
his

also

was physician,

catechist,

He

forth in all weathers, visited

went the sick and

hours,

dying, baptized the children, converted the hardened at the eleventh hour
:

pillow of

my

my brother in Jesus Christ, of faithful friend, of my only companI, ill

breathed the foul miasm of the plague,

slept in his tainted garments, and arose to renew his trying duties. The Indians " called him The Father who is all heart,"

ion in the wilderness.

and almost
in
his
last

dying,

confessed
^

to

him

agony."
There, he found strength to recite the

and

it

love for

was with expressions of zealous them upon his lips that he relife

prayers for the agonizing to pronounce the final absolution, and then, the fair soul of the Black-robe went forth to the
;

signed his
gave'
it.^

into the hands of

Him who
Company

Thus die the

soldiers of the

bosom of his Redeemer.

He had

preach-

ed the Gospel of the Son of God to thousands of pagans; he had planted

of Jesus: the chivalry of the Queen of Heaven. Three days before his death. Father de Theux, another of these grand
Black-robes, when his physician told him that he could not survive the morrow,
"

many

crosses in those unblessed wilds

he had founded and served many missions; he had baptized many hundreds
of heathen, and now died like his master, a martyr of charity, the war-cry " Jesus, Mary!" on his lips,, in the fore-front of
battle with his

replied gently

wrong.
shall die

shall

No, Doctor, you are not die to-morrow, I

armor

on.

So when a furious plague raged among

the unfortunate Osages in

on Saturday. Saturday is my day." He had always expressed a desire to die on some day consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and he was confident
that his desire
so,

Upper

Mis-

would be

fulfilled.

And
still

souri, was, under God, their comfort and support. Two thousand

Father

Bax

Saturday morning found him

alive,
sus,

and murmuring

at intervals,
!

"

Jefor

Indians had he baptized nearly fifteen hundred of them, swept off by the epi:

have mercy on

me

Mary, pray
xxiv., 238-40.

demic, he consoled with the ments of the Church. His

last Sacralast

(1)

Annales de la Propagation,

(2)

Oinquante Nbuvelles Zettres du . P.

De

Smet.

letter

Paris et Toumai, 1858, p. 245.

m NORTH AMbUICA.
me!" and with
these

759

words on

his lips,

"

When

Father Point was

among

the

he died on that day of the week which is given to the special honor of Saint Mary.

Blackfeet, he

eral chiefs as distinctive

presented crosses to sevmarks; he ex-

One of his
establish

last acts

on

his Mission

was

to

plained to them their signification, ex-

the Arch-confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he it

;

horting them, especially when in danger, to invoke the Son of God, whose image

was,

who, when
coui'se
it

archbishop,

consulted by a venerable in troubled times, as to

they bore, and to place in

tire confidence.

Him

their en-

The

chief

who

related

what
lief,

he

were best to pursue for rewas who made answer. " Have

earnest recourse to the

Supreme

Pontiff,

band of thirty Indians, who oad gone to war against the tribe of the Cro vs. The latter having
these details, was one of a

and obtain
'

his permission to insert in the

'

tracked their enemies, assembled in haste

in great numbers to fight and exterminate them. They soon discovered

proper place in Mass and Office the word ConImmaculate,'' before the word
"^
ception.'

and

them barricaded
that,

in the forest

What wonder then

fierce Blackfeet

with such

men

tected

by a

collection

of

trees

and proand

in pursuit of their souls,

we

find even the

to yield.

Sioux beginning in 1855 That year Father Point could

branches, and surrounded them, raising at the same time the war-cry. The Blackfeet, on perceiving the superior

register

six

hundred

and sixty-seven

numbers of

their opponents,

who were

baptisms,

and the wild blood-drinkers

with wondering admiration

began

to look

at their

brave old enemies, the Flatheads. "For there," says Father Adrian Hoe-

about to pounce upon them suddenly, were under the persuasion that they were all about to perish at their liands. One

among them bore upon

his breast the

ken, brother of him just commemorated, " they all admire the deep and tender

He then sign of salvation, the cross. recollected the advice of Father Point,
which he communicated
ions,

devotion of the Indians for Mary a cei*tain sign that the roots of faith have
;

to his
:

companis

and they

all

repeated

This

our

struck deep into their hearts. Every morning and evening the families meet in their

They then inonly chance of safety! voked the Son of God, and left the barriwas at he pushed forward, and they their head The Crows met them all followed him. with a volley of balls and arrows: not one of them was seriously wounded, and
cade.
cross
;

wigwams

to recite the rosary in

common

The bearer of the

every day they implore the Blessed Virgin to offer their thanks to the great
Spirit, that

He hath drawn them

out from

the old night of their paganism."

Finally from his last journey in 1859, made as chaplain to tlie United States

escaped. stance, the chief

they

all

In relating the circum-

added

in

an energetic

army, Father de Smet brings back from Father Point this story of a Blackfeet
battle.'

(1)
(2)

Cinquante Nouvelles Lettres, p. 426. Annals of the Propagation of the Faith.

p. 232.

Balti-

more, 1860,

760
tone
'

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

village of

Yes, the prayer (religion) of the Son of God is alone good and efficacious
:
;

Immaculate Conception

in the

we

desirous of rendering ourselves " worthy of it, and of embracing it.' So here then let us bid our Indian
are
all

gorges of the Rocky Mountains. May we again have the pleasure of

seeing his venerable face in this life, strong as when he bade adieu to Bishop

apostle farewell, so far as this book is Little more than a year ago concerned.

de

Ram

in Belgium,'

and ready

to

the narrative of his

new adventure
:

as

end he

we enjoyed
and received

his society for a his blessing as

morning,

he started to

" does that of 18G0, in these words My greatest source of consolation is that of

begin a new journey into the American wilderness, his twenty second year of
these wild Missions.

having been, in the hands of Providence,

the instrument of eternal salvation to
nearly nine hundred poor dying children whom I baptized. Several of them seem-

We

gave him then

at parting the Scripture History in the

Abnaki language, and the curious Church Calendars prepared for those Indians, by their Patriarch Rev. Eugene Vetromile. And so by this little book the Owenegunga,
the
ancient servants

ed only

to.

be waiting

for this happi-

ness to fly to their

for evermore. "

God and
all

praise

Him
and

To God

alone be

the glory

of Mary,

stretch out their hands, from

Maine and
or at the

to the Blessed Virgin Mary, humble and profound gratitude for the protection

from Newfoundland

to their brethren at
;

Saint Mary's of the Flatheads

last

and the favors received during and long voyage." *

this

my

CHAPTER
BROKEN THREADS
length we have reached the last chapter of our appointed task and have

XXII.

CONCLUSION,
together,

At

they stand or

fall

together.

only to pick up the broken threads of our subject, and then to bid farewell to

There is no possible separation of Mary and the Church. The Mother of the

our readers.
to Blessed

A history
is

of the devotion

Bridegroom is the Mother of the Mystical Bride. But still every century can fur-

Mary

after all

but a chapter

of Church History. Where the Church there goes the devotion they grow goes,
;

new illustrations every generation of men will find novel expressions of the
nish
;

perpetual idea, and the accumulation of

his teeth

(1)

At

their leave-taking

Black-robe to give him some

brance.

Monseigneur implored the little token of remem-

and gave that to the bishop, who preserves

it

religiously.
(2)

But the Missionary had nothing. So taking a copper soug from his pocket, he bent it double with

Annals of the Propagation of the Faith.

xxi., 284.

Balti-

more,

IN

NOETH AMERICA.

7C1

such illustrations and expressions will constitute each age's History of the Devotion.

of Mary's name, is more remarkable by its publicity, but not by its popularity, than the Sodalities, Confraternities, medal-wearing, saying of rosaries, and other

For
tion

Immaculate Concepof the Mother of God is an old and

instance, the
;

endless truth

but

its

dogmatic
is

definition

Mother of God.

devout forms of showing love for tlie We have already alluded

by

the glorious Pontiff who the signet of the Fisherman,

now wears
a part of

to the, so far as

we know,

among
ing,

all classes

universality of Catholics, of carry-

Note now the history of this century. the example of this fact, in our little book
here.

and we presume naturally of saying

the beads.

On pages 609 and 612 you have

two churches of the Immaculate Conception in North America, on page 564 as early as 1666 and 1675
descriptions of
;

Furthermore, not to judge, but simply to offer an individual observation, it is the American and not the old
Catholic emigrant who is most prone to this devotion. Catholics of the oldest

you have the life of the heroic discoverer of the Northern Mississippi, a life wholly
given up to the worship of this sublime

say to you, when you speak of the beads: "Oh, I can read." Americans of two centuries of

European

fidelities, will

mystery from early childhood,

in

1654 Mary

American-born, educated ancestors;

of
art,

And

in the sketch of the oblates of

names world-revered

in science
call

and

Immaculate, of the Marists, and other new orders, you have to-day's manner of

show what Protestants would

The historic expressing the old idea. truth stands immutable, and even the
utterance of
tions
is

a superstition about saying their chaplet. Generals and admirals, shipping merchants of

by the varying generaless remarkable for variety than

it

New York, prominent lawyers, favorite and most successful physicians, ai'e known
to this writer as fervently particular

for religious fervor

and consistency.

that simplest,

most

childlike,

about and sweetest

So then, the collation of such facts as church dedications, founding of orders,

sayings of

of devotions to our gentle lady-Mother. Of course in these remarks we do not

men

acts of

men and women,

directly referring themselves to Mary, make up, with the known devotion of all
Catholics,

speak of converts to the faith, for the zeal of a convert is generally excessive.

Another poiut
during the Mary.

is

the observable piety

what we have

to offer as our

month of May, the month of

best attempt at a History of the Devotion in North America. But there is some-

is scarcely a missionary small as not to celebrate it. parish so

There

thing else to be added.

is

peculiar to history, but that also which

Not merely what North America makes it

it

Every cathedral, college, chapel, parish, church, and convent chapel has an altar
for those thirty-one especially decorated

has in

common
world.

with the rest of the Catholic

days.

The month

is

opened and closed

The

extreme
seek
5I>

churches which

proportion of the benediction

by

especial solemnities.

A
;

preacher

is

audible at least

ouce a week

the sunset

?62

DEVOTIOIT TO THE BLESSED YIEGIN

MAEY

devotions are nearly invariable throughout the land, and the large number of

worehippers is surprising. The immense majority of Catholics wear the scapular you will with diflBculty find here and
;

good works for the end of the Association: and also, for the conversion of some of their friends, chiefly for those
It is much already favorably disposed. to be desired that the members prepare themselves for the reception of the sac-

there

one,

without the medal of the

Immaculate Conception. Then, again, many thousands belong to an association, established in 1858,
lately approved by the sovereign pontiff, and recommended by several prelates,

raments on

all

those festivals on which a

is

plenary indulgence

granted.

When

any member dies, he shall be recommended to the prayers of the Association

in

which has
:

for its object the con-

version of souls

the Eternal Son of

an object so holy that God became man,

place where he resided; and there residing shall say " three times the Our Father,'' and the
the

every member
"

and remained on earth

thirty-three years, to seek the strayed sheep and redeem

Hail Mary," for the repose of the deAll priests, members of the ceased.
Association,

them with His precious blood. How masses consoling for us to be able, by means of members, and the other prayer and other good works, to co-op- sion of America.
erate with

are requested to say two a year, one for the deceased

for the conver-

God

in the salvation of souls,

St.

the most divine, as

all

Denis

calls

it,

of
as-

Prayers prayer, with

First

for the conversion of

America.

employments.
us,

St.
is

Chrysostom

sures

that

there

nothing more

" Alindulgence. mighty and eternal God, who wisheth to save all, and wilt have none to perish,

pleasing to
souls.

God

than the salvation of

riches should be

have regard to those souls

who

are led

"

Though your

ever so great," says he, "yet, by converting one soul, you would do far more
than by giving
all

astray by the deceits of the devil, that the hearts of those who err, rejecting all errors, may be converted, .and return to

you have

to the poor."

co-operate in this glorious work, prayer is one of the most effica" cious means. Pray for one another

Now,

to

the Unity of Thy Truth, through Christ, Amen." our Lord.

Second

prayer.

Memorare.

(300

that

you may be saved

for the continual

days' indulgence every time, if said with contrite heart.)

prayer of a just

man

availeth much."^

"Remember, Mary, tenderest-hearted

Virgin,

"There
a

is

man who

nothing more powerful than prays, because such a one is

how from

of old the ear hath

never heard that he

who

ran to thee for

made partaker of the power of God."^ The members are most earnestly recommended to offer up frequently their
(1) St. James, t.
(2)

refuge, implored thy help,

and sought was forsaken of God. Virthy pmyers, gin of virgins. Mother, emboldened by
this confidence, I fly to thee
;

to thee I

St Chrysostom.

come, and in thy presence,

I,

a weeping

IN

NORTH AMERICA.
for the conversion of

rc3

sinner stand.

Mother of the
hear

carnate, oh, cast not

but,
in

Word Inaway my prayer;

and
answer.

America.

Should,

thy

pity,

however, any member receive the Holy Sacraments monthly in compliance with
the regulations of any other Society or

Amen."
"

Mary, Mother of Mercy, Help of Confraternity, he may by such reception Christians, Refuge of Sinners, lest I comply with this rule, by adding the perish, take upon thyself the care of ray intention of the Association to the intention or intentions he may have already salvation, and the salvation of all those
in

whose behalf
in to the

mediation,

I implore thy powerful order that all may be

formed.

A plenary
ed,
1st.

brought
live

One True
Amen."

Fold, in

which
all

On

the

indulgence has been grantday of admission. 2d.

Jesus Christ, thy Son, wishes us

to

and

die.

the 16th of May, the day on which the Association was established. Zd.

On

"

Mary, conceived

without

sin,

pray for the conversion of this country. "Queen of Apostles, conceived without
sin,

Once a month, to those who confess and receive Holy Communion. Ath. On the
Nativity of our Lord, the Feast of St. Joseph (19th of March), on the Feasts

pray the Lord of the harvest that He " send laborers into His harvest." Our
Father," "Hail Mary," "Glory be to the Father," &c.

of the Purification, Annunciation, sumption,

As-

To become

member

of the Associa-

and Immaculate Nativity, * of the Blessed Virgin. One Conception hundred days' indulgence to members

tion, nothing more is required than to have the name registered in a book by

who

assist

at the

weekly meetings, pro-

a priest of the diocese in which

established,

it

is

vided they say the prayers appointed by the archbishop, or bishop of the diocese.

and

to say daily, in

honor

of the Immaculate

Conception of the Blessed Virgin, for the conversion of America, one "Hail Mary," with this
ejaculation Mary, conceived without sin, pray for the conversion of this
:

The prayers of the diocese of Cincinnati are three "Hail Mary's." One hundred
days' indulgence, in the archdiocese of

Cincinnati

only,

are

granted to those
into the Associato those "
:

"

who bring
tion
;

member

and a hundred days

who

country."
site
;

No
it

special meeting

is

requi-

say the ejaculatory prayer

Mary,

but

will

be
is

sufficient,

wherever

conceived without

sin, pray for the con-

the Association

established, that the

prayers appointed by the archbishop, or bishop of the diocese, be said by the

pastor,
after

version of this country." The propagation of this good work is most earnestly recommended to the zeal of every one,

either

immediately
It is

before

or

and especially
care of souls.

to those

charged with the

high mass, vespers, or any public

most ardently desired that once every month, every member go to confession and communion
service

on Sundays.

We
furnish

do not know positively but that

the discouragement of writers

who might American books of devotion, may

764

DEVOTION TO THE

B.

V. M. IN

NORTn AMERICA.

be from the zeal for her honor in the hearts of older and better-informed
Catholics.
;

er, in

gutturals deep as those witli which he turned away from the red, red field of Culloden,
ains of the Carolinas

It
it

nationality it attained by authority may be from lest the humihty of the Cliristian charity,
;

may may

be from a

spirit of

be from the wisdom

demands at least the mountand Georgia, the

cold coasts of

Nova

Scotia,

and part of any one of

the shores of Saint Lawrence.

should be injured by some notice of the writer but the consistent discourage;

But we cannot grant

to

these the fulness of his claim.

Wherever

ment, although generally negative,

fiict.

is

a
is

But

for

aU

that,

the

land

they are found as agents acting subserviently to the fulness of our own claim

Mary's.

Why

shall I not

advance thus

modestly her claim to it, when nations have battled and are battling for it ?

wherever they shall seem to have advanced and aided that, we will give them
the praise of worthy servants. Reverence then for the silent Indian

Who

then has the true claim to the

ownership of North America ? The red Indian steps noiselessly forward and
says,

reverence, deep as justice, mute as himself, for the olden lord of this land
!

"It
the

is

For ages immemorial

in these yet undesecratI

Honor

to the swarth Iberian

who
:

plant-

my
ed

fathers fished these waters, or struck

down

game
"

ed the yellow standard of Castile on the shores of the Mexican Gulf honor to
the chivalric

forests."

claim the land," saith

the Spaniard,

"
I,

Frank who swung the

:

lilies

who redeemed

those

Southern pampas, and first taught the Gulf and the lagoon the sounds of Christian praise."

out to the icy air of Canada honor to the broad-chested Briton, for he named
his first

town Saint Mary's

honor to

Gaul.

' '

mine," says the fiery The snow-wastes of Canada were

is
:

"

It

the sinewy son of the green old Island of Eire honor to the patient toiler who
:

crimsoned with French blood

it

was a

French sword which tamed the fierce Iroquois, and tribes of every tongue, the roaming Algonquin, from the mighty
ocean to the mysterious great lakes." " The land is mine," says the English
Puritan from Berks or Huntingdon
;

came, singing harmonious choruses, from but glory the arrowy rush of the Rhine

Lord of Hosts from whom For whom and for all blessings are claim as theirs by right His Mother, we of first discovery and seizure, this North
supreme
to the
!

or

the English Cavalier from Derbyshire,

American continent. Glory to God, the Eternal, and honor perpetual to Immaculate Mary.

York, and Cumberland.

The Highland-

BT 605 .0713 1861 snc Orsini abb (Mathleu) 1802-1875. LI fe of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mother of AYB-9252 (mcab)
,