From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Wenceslas recalls to us the entrance into the Church of a warlike nation, the Czechs, the most indomitable of the Slavonic tribes, which had penetrated into the very midst of Germany. It is well known, with what bitterness and active energy this nation upholds its social claims, as though its struggle for existence in the early days of its history had made it proof against every trial. The faith of its apostles and martyrs, the Roman faith, will be the safeguard, as it is the bond of union, of the countries subject to the crown of St. Wenceslas. Heresy, whether it be the native Hussite, or the ‘reform' imported from Germany, can but lead the people to eternal ruin; may they never yield to the advances and seductions of schism! Wenceslas the martyr, grandson of the holy martyr Ludmilla, and great-uncle of the monkbishop and martyr Adalbert, invites his faithful subjects to follow him in the only path where they may find honour and security both for this w ord and for the next.
Let us now read the legend of holy Church. The conversion of Bohemia dates from the latter part of the ninth century, when St. Methodius baptized St. Ludmilla and her husband Borziwoi the first Christian duke of the line of Premislas. The pagan reaction, during which St. Wenceslas gained the palm of martyrdom, was but shortlived.
Wenceslaus Bohemiæ dux, Wratislao patre Christiano, Drahomira matre gentili natus, ab avia Ludmilla femina sanctissima, pie educatus, omni virtutum genere insignis, summo studio virginitatem per omnem vitam servavit illibatam. Mater per nefariam Ludmillæ necem regni administrationem assecuta, impie cum juniore filio Boleslao vivens, concitavit in se procerum indignationem: quare tyrannici et impii regiminis pertæsi, utriusque excusso jugo, Wenceslaum in urbe Pragensi regem salutarunt.
Ille regnum pietate magis quam imperio regens, orphanis, viduis, egenis tanta caritate subvenit, ut propriis humeris aliquando ligna indigentibus noctu comportant, pauperibus humandis frequenter adfuerit, captivos liberarit, carceribus detentos nocte intempesta visitarit, pecuniis et consilio sæpissime consolatus. Miti animo princeps vehementer dolebat quempiam, etsi reum, morti adjudicari. Summa religione sacerdotes veneratus, suis manibus triticum serebat, et vinum exprimebat, quibus in Missæ sacrificio uterentur. Nocte nudis pedibus super nivem et glaciem circuebat ecclesias, sanguinea et terram calefacientia post se relinquens vestigia.
Angelos habuit sui corporis custodes. Cum enim ad singulare certamen adversus Radislaum, ducem Curimensem, eo fine accederet ut suorum saluti prospiceret, visi sunt angeli arma ministrasse, et dixisse adversario, Ne ferias. Perterritus hostis, venerabundus procidens veniam exoravit. Cum in Germaniam profectus esset, imperator, conspectis duobus angelis aurea cruce ad se accedentem omantibus, e solio prosiliens brachiis excepit, regiis insignibus decoravit, eique sancti Viti brachium donavit. Nihilominus impius frater, matre hortante, convivio exceptum, et postea in ecclesia orantem, paratæ sibi mortis præscium, adhibitis sceleris comitibus, interfecit. Sanguis per parietes aspersus adhuc conspicitur: et, Deo vindice, matrem inhumanam terra absorbuit; interfectores variis modis misere perierunt.
Wenceslas, duke of Bohemia, was bom of a Christian father, Wratislas, and a pagan mother, Drahomira. Brought up in piety by the holy woman Ludmilla his grandmother, he was adorned with every virtue and with the utmost care preserved his virginity unspotted throughout his life. His moth er, having murdered Ludmilla, seized the reins of government; but her wicked life, and that of her younger son Boleslas excited the indignation of the nobles. These, wearied of a tyrannical and impious rule, threw off the yoke of both mother and son, and proclaimed Wenceslas king at Prague.
He ruled his kingdom rather by kindness than authority. He succoured orphans, widows, and all the poor with the greatest charity, sometimes even carrying wood on his shoulders, by night, to those in need of it. He frequently assisted at the funerals of poor persons, liberated captives, and often visited the prisoners during the night, assisting them with gifts and advice. It caused great sorrow to his tender heart to condemn even the guilty to death. He had the greatest reverence for priests; and with his own hands he would sow the com and prepare the wine to be used in the sacrifice of the Mass. At night he used to go the round of the churches barefoot, through ice and snow, while his bloodstained footprints warmed the ground.
The angels formed his body-guard. In order to spare the lives of his soldiers, he undertook to fight in single combat with Radislas, duke of Gurima; but when the latter saw angels arming Wenceslas, and heard them forbidding him to strike, he was terrified and fell at the saint’s feet begging his forgiveness. On one occasion, when he had gone to Germany, the emperor, at his approach, saw two angels adorning him with a golden cross; whereupon, rising from his throne, he embraced the saint, bestowed on him the regal insignia, and presented him with the arm of St. Vitus. Nevertheless, instigated by their mother, his wicked brother invited him to a banquet, and then, together with some accomplices, killed him as he was praying in the church, aware of the death that awaited him. His blood is still to be seen sprinkled on the walls. God avenged his saint; the earth swallowed up the inhuman mother, and the murderers perished miserably in various ways.
Thou didst win thy crown, O holy martyr, in the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, whither their feast had attracted thee.[1] As thou didst honour them, we now in turn honour thee. We are also hailing the approach of that other solemnity, which thou didst greet with thy last words at the fratricidal banquet: ‘In honour of the Archangel Michæl let us drink this cup, and let us beseech him to lead our souls into the peace of eternal happiness.’[2] What a sublime pledge, when thou wast already grasping the chalice of blood! O Wenceslas, fire us with that intrepid valour, which is ever humble and gentle, simple as God to whom it tends, calm as the angels on whom it relies. Succour the Church in these unfortunate times; the whole Church honours thee, she has a right to expect thy assistance. But especially cherish for her the nation of which thou art the honour; as long as it remains faithful to thy blessed memory, and looks to thy patronage in its earthly combats, its wandering from the truth will not be without return.
[1] Christian de Scala, son of the fratricide Boleslas the cruel, and nephew of the saint; he became a monk, and wrote the lives of St. Wenceslas and St. Ludmilla.
[2] Ibid.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the Most High hath created him. For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king. The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. The Most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. Was not bitter water made sweet with wood? The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the Most High hath given knowledge to men, that He may be honoured in Mis wonders. By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end. For the peace of God is over the face of the earth. My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and He shall heal thee. Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician. For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary. For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands: and they shall beseech the Lord, that He would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their conversation.[1]
These words of the Wise Man are appropriate for this feast. The Church obeying the inspired injunction, honours the medical profession in the persons of Cosmas and Damian, who not only, like many others,[2] sanctified themselves in that career; but, far beyond all others, demonstrated to the world how grand a part the physician may play in Christian society.
Cosmas and Damian had been Christians from their childhood. The study of Hippocrates and Galen developed their love of God, whose invisible perfections they admired reflected in the magnificences of creation, and especially in the human body His palace and His temple. To them, science was a hymn of praise to their Creator, and the exercise of their art a sacred ministry; they served God in His suffering members, and watched over His human sanctuary, to preserve it from injury or to repair its ruins. Such a life of religious charity was fittingly crowned by the perfect sacrifice of martyrdom.
East and west vied with each other in paying homage to the Anargyres,[3] as our saints were called on account of their receiving no fees for their services. Numerous churches were dedicated to them. The emperor Justinian embellished and fortified the obscure town of Cyrus out of reverence for their sacred relics there preserved; and about the same time, Pope Felix IV built a Church in their honour in the Roman. Forum, thus substituting the memory of the twin martyrs for that of the less happy brothers Romulus and Remus. Not long before this, St. Benedict had dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian his first monastery at Subiaco, now known as St. Soholastica’s. But Rome rendered the highest of all honours to the holy Arabian brethren, by placing their names, in preference to so many thousands of her own heroes, in the solemn litanies and on the sacred dyptichs of the Mass.
In the middle ages the physicians and surgeons banded together into confraternities, whose object was the sanctification of the members by common prayer, charity towards the destitute, and the accomplishment of all the duties of their important vocation for the greater glory of God and the greater good of suffering humanity. The Society of Saints Luke, Cosmas, and Damian has now undertaken in France the renewal of these happy traditions.
The following is the Church's account of the two brothers.
Cosmas et Damianus, fratres Arabes, in Ægea urbi nati, nobiles medici, imperatoribus Diocletiano et Maximiano, non magis medicinæ scientia quam Christi virtute, morbis etiam insanabilibus medebantur. Quorum religionem cum Lysias præfectus cognovisset, adduci eos ad se jubet, ac de vivendi instituto et de fidei professione interrogatos, cum se et Christianos esse, et Christianam fidem esse ad salutem necessariam, libere prædicarent, deos venerari imperat; et si id recusent, minatur cruciatus et necem acerbissimam.
Verum ut se frustra hæc illis proponere intelligit: Colligate, inquit, manus et pedes istorum, eosque exquisitis torquete suppliciis. Quibus jussa exsequentibus, nihilominus Cosmas et Damianus in sententia persistebant. Quare ut erant vincti, in profundum mare jaciuntur: unde cum salvi ac soluti essent egressi, magicis artibus præfectus factum assignans, in carcerem tradit, ac postridie eductos, in ardentem rogum injici jubet: ubi cum ab ipsis fiamma refugeret, varie et crudeliter tortos securi percuti voluit. Itaque in Jesu Christi confessione martyrii palmam acceperunt.
The brothers Cosmas and Damian were Arabians of noble extraction, born in the town of Ægæ. They were physicians; and during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, healed even incurable maladies by Christ’s assistance rather than by their knowledge of medicine. The prefect Lysias, being informed of their religion, ordered them to be brought before him, and questioned them on their faith and their manner of life. They openly declared that they were Christians, and that the Christian faith is necessary to salvation; whereupon Lysias commanded them to adore the gods, threatening them, if they refused, with torture and a cruel death.
But as the prefect saw his threats were in vain: ‘Bind their hands and feet,’ he cried, ‘and torture them with the utmost cruelty.’ His commands were executed, but Cosmas and Damian remained firm. They were then thrown, chained as they were, into the sea, but came out safe and loosed from their bonds. The prefect attributing this to magical arts ordered them to prison. The next day, he commanded them to be led forth and thrown on a burning pile, but the flame refused to touch them. Finally, after several other cruel tortures, they were beheaded; and thus confessing Jesus Christ, they won the palm of martyrdom.
In you, O illustrious brethren, was fulfilled this saying of the Wise Man: ‘The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised.’[4] The great ones, in whose sight you are exalted, are the princes of the heavenly hierarchies, witnessing to-day the homage paid to you by the Church militant. The glory that surrounds your heads is the glory of God Himself, of that bountiful King, who rewards your former disinterestedness by bestowing upon you His own blessed life.
In the bosom of divine love, your charity cannot wax cold; help us, then, and heal the sick who confidently implore your assistance. Preserve the health of God’s children, so that they may fulfil their obligations in the world, and may courageously bear the light yoke of the Church’s precepts. Bless those physicians who are faithful to their baptism, and who seek your aid; and increase the number of such.
See how the study of medicine now so often leads astray into the paths of materialism and fatalism, to the great detriment of science and humanity. It is false to assert that simple nature is the explanation of suffering and death; and unfortunate are those whose physicians regard them as mere flesh and blood. Even the pagan school took a loftier view than that; and it was surely a higher ideal that inspired you to exercise your art with such religious reverence. By the virtue of your glorious death, O witnesses to the Lord, obtain for our sickly society a return to the faith, to the remembrance of God, and to that piety which is profitable to all things and to all men, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.[5]
[1] Ecclus. xxxviii. 1-14.
[2] Dom A. M. Fournier, Notices sur les saints médecins.
[3] Without fees.
[4] Ecclus. xxxviii. 3.
[5] 1 Tim. iv. 8.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Office of the time gives us, at the close of September, the Books of Judith and Esther. These heroic women were figures of Mary, whose birthday is the honour of this month, and who comes at once to bring assistance to the world.
‘Adonai, Lord God, great and admirable, who hast wrought salvation by the hand of a woman:’[1] the Church thus introduces the history of the heroine, who delivered Bethulia by the sword, whereas Mardoohai’s niece rescued her people from death by her winsomeness and her intercession. The Queen of heaven, in her peerless perfection, outshines them both, in gentleness, in valour, and in beauty. Today’s feast is a memorial of the strength she puts forth for the deliverance of her people.
Finding their power crushed in Spain, and in the east checked by the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the Saracens, in the twelfth century, became wholesale pirates, and scoured the seas to obtain slaves for the African markets. We shudder to think of the numberless victims, of every age, sex, and condition, suddenly carried off from the coasts of Christian lands, or captured on the high seas, and condemned to the disgrace of the harem or the miseries of the bagnio. Here, nevertheless, in many an obscure prison, were enacted scenes of heroism worthy to compare with those witnessed in the early persecutions; here was a new field for Christian charity; new horizons opened out for heroic self-devotion. Is not the spiritual good thence arising a sufficient reason for the permission of temporal ills? Without this permission, heaven would have for ever lacked a portion of its beauty.
When, in 1696, Innocent XII extended this feast to the whole Church, he afforded the world an opportunity of expressing its gratitude by a testimony as universal as the benefit received.
Differing from the Order of holy Trinity, which had been already twenty years in existence, the Order of Mercy was founded as it were in the very face of the Moors; and hence it originally numbered more knights than clerks among its members. It was called the royal, military, and religious Order of our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives. The clerics were charged with the celebration of the Divine Office in the commandaries; the knights guarded the coasts, and undertook the perilous enterprise of ransoming Christian captives. St. Peter Nolasco was the first Commander or Grand Master of the Order; when his relics were discovered, he was found armed with sword and cuirass.
In the following lines the Church gives us her thoughts upon facts which we have already learnt.[2]
Quo tempore major feliciorque Hispaniarum pars diro Saracenorum opprimebatur jugo, innumerique fideles sub immani servitute, maximo cum periculo christianæ fidei abjurandæ ammitendæque salutis æternæ, infeliciter detinebantur, beatissima cœlorum Regina, tot tantisque benigniter occurrens malis, nimiam caritatem suam in iis redimendis ostendit. Nam sancto Petro Nolasco, pietate et opibus fiorenti, qui sanctis vacans meditationibus jugiter animo recogitabat qua ratione tot Christianorum ærumnis sub Maurorum captivitate degentium succurri posset, ipsamet beatissima Virgo serena fronte se conspiciendam dedit, et acceptissimum sibi ac unigenito suo Filio fore dixit, si suum in honorem institueretur Ordo religiosorum, quibus cura incumberet captivos e Turcarum tyrannide liberandi. Qua cœlesti visione vir Dei recreatus, mirum est, quo caritatis ardore flagrare cœperit, hoc unum servans in corde suo, ut ipse, ac instituenda ab eo religio maximam illam caritatem sedulo exercerent, ut quisque animam suam poneret pro amicis et proximis suis.
Ea ipsa nocte eadem Virgo sanctissima beato Raymundo de Pennafort, et Jacobo Aragoniæ regi apparuit, idipsum de religiosis instituendis admonens, suadensque, ut opem pro constructione tanti operis ferrent.Petrus autem statim ad Raymundi pedes, qui ipsi erat a sacris confessionibus, advolans, ei rem omnem aperuit: quem etiam cœlitus instractum reperit, ejusque directioni se humiilime subjecit. At superve mens Jacobus rex, quam et ipse acceperat a beatissima Virgine, revelationem exsequi statuit. Unde collatis inter se consiliis, et consentientibus animis, in honorem ejusdem Virginis Matris Ordinem instituere aggressi sunt, sub invocatione sanctæ Mariæ de Mercede Redemptionis captivorum.
Die igitur decima Augusti anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo decimo octavo, rex idem Jacobus eam institutionem jampridem ab iisdem sanctis viris conceptam exsequi statuit, sodalibus quarto voto adstrictis, manendi in pignus sub paganorum potestate, si pro christianorum liberatione opus fuerit. Quibus rex ipse arma sua regia in pectore deferre concessit, et a Gregorio nono illud tam præcellentis erga proximum caritatis institutum et religionem confirmari curavit. Sed et ipse Deus per Virginem Matrem incrementum dedit, ut talis institutio celerius ac felicius totum per orbem divulgaretur, sanctis que viris floruerit caritate ac pietate insignibus, qui eleemosynas a Christi fidelibus collectas in pretium redemptionis suorurn proximorum expenderent, seque ipsos interdum darent in redemptionem multorum. Ut autem tanti beneficii et institutionisdebita; Deo et Virgini Matri referantur gra tiæ, Sedea apostolica hanc peculiarem festivitatem celebran, et Officium recitan indulsit, cum alia fere innumera eidem Ordini privilegia pariter contulisset.
At the time when the Saracen yoke oppressed the larger and more fertile part of Spain, and great numbers of the faithful were detained in cruel servitude, at the great risk of denying the Christian faith and losing their eternal salvation, the most blessed Queen of heaven graciously came to remedy all these great evils, and showed her exceeding charity in redeeming her children. She appeared with beaming countenance to Peter Nolasco, a man conspicuous for wealth and piety, who in his holy meditations was ever striving to devise some means of helping the innumerable Christians living in misery as captives of the Moors. She told him it would be very pleasing to her and her onlybegotten Son, if a religious Order were instituted in her honour, whose members should devote themselves to delivering captives from Turkish tyranny. Animated by this heavenly vision, the man of God was inflamed with burning love, having but one desire at heart, viz: that both he and the Order he was to found, might be devoted to the exercise of that highest charity, the laying down of life for one’s friends and neighbours.
That same night, the most holy Virgin appeared also to blessed Raymund of Pegnafort, and to James king of Aragon, telling them of her wish to have the Order instituted, and exhorting them to lend their aid to so great an undertaking. Meanwhile Peter hastened to relate the whole matter to Raymund, who was his confessor; and finding it had been already revealed to him from heaven, submitted humbly to his direction. King James next arrived, fully resolved to carry out the instructions he also had received from the blessed Virgin. Having therefore taken counsel together and being all of one mind, they set about instituting an Order in honour of the Virgin Mother, under the invocation of our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives.
On the tenth of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and eighteen, king James put into execution what the two holy men had planned. The members of the Order bound themselves by a fourth vow to remain, when necessary, as securities in the power of the pagans, in order to deliver Christians. The king granted them licence to bear his royal arms upon their breast, and obtained from Gregory IX the confirmation of this religious institute distinguished by such eminent brotherly charity. God himself gave increase to the work, through his Virgin Mother; so that the Order spread rapidly and prosperously over the whole worldIt soon reckoned many holy men remarkable for their charity and piety who collected alms from Christ’s faithful, to be spent in redeeming their brethren; and sometimes gave themselves up as ransom for many others. In order that due thanks might be rendered to God and his Virgin Mother for the benefit of such an institution the apostolic See allowed this special feast and Office to be celebrated, and also granted innumerable other privileges to the Order.
Blessed be thou, O Mary, the honour and the joy of thy people! On the day of thy glorious Assumption, thou didst take possession of thy queenly dignity for our sake; and the annals of the human race are a record of thy merciful interventions. The captives whose chains thou hast broken, and whom thou hast set free from the degrading yoke of the Saracens, may be reckoned by millions. We are still rejoicing in the recollection of thy dear birthday; and thy smile is sufficient to dry our tears and chase away the clouds of grief. And yet, what sorrows there are still upon the earth, where thou thyself didst drink such long draughts from the cup of suffering! Sorrows are sanctifying and beneficial to some; but there are other and unprofitable griefs, springing from social injustice: the drudgery of the factory, or the tyranny of the strong over the weak, may be worse than slavery in Algiers or Tunis. Thou alone, O Mary, canst break the inextricable chains, in which the cunning prince of darkness entangles the dupes he has deceived by the highsounding names of equality and liberty. Show thyself a Queen, by coming to the rescue. The whole earth, the entire human race, cries out to thee, in the words of Mardochai: 'Speak to the king for us, and deliver us from death!’[3]
[1] Magnificat ant. 1st Vesp. 4th Sunday of September.
[2] On the feasts of St. Peter Nolasco and St. Raymund of Pegnafort, January 31 and 23.
[3] Esther xv. 3.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
‘Whosoever ye be, that are seduced by the mysteries of the demons, none of you can equal the zeal I once had for these false gods, nor my researches into their secrets, nor the vain power they had communicated to me, to me Cyprian, who from my infancy was given up to the service of the dragon in the citadel of Minerva. Learn from me the deceitfulness of their illusions. A virgin has proved to me that their power is but smoke. The king of the demons was arrested at the door of a mere child, and could not cross the threshold. He who promises so much is a liar. A woman makes sport of the boaster who vaunted he could shake heaven and earth. The roaring lion becomes a startled gnat before the Christian virgin Justina.’[1]
Cyprianus primum magus, postea martyr, cum Justinam, christianam virginem, quam juvenis quidam ardenter amabat, cantionibua ac veneficiis ad ejus libidinis assensum allicere conaretur, dæmonem consuluit, quanam id re consequi posset. Cui dæmon respondit, nullam illi artem processuram adversus eos qui vere Christum colerent. Quo responso com motus Cyprianus, vehementer dolere cœpit vitæ superioris institutum. Itaque relictis magicis artibus, se totum ad Christi Domini fidem convertit. Quam ob causam una cum virgine Justina comprehensus est, et ambo colaphis flagellisque cæsi sunt: mox in carcerom conjecti,si forte sententiam commutarent. Verum inde postea emissi, cum in Christiana religione constantissimi reperirentur, in sartaginem plenam ferventis picis, adipis et ceræ injecti sunt. Demum Nicomediæ securi feriuntur. Quorum projecta corpora, cum sex dies inhumata jacuissent, noctu quidam nautæ clam ea in navem imposita Romain portaverunt: ac primum in prædio Rufinæ nobilis feminæ sepulta sunt: postea translata in urbem, in basilica Constantiniana condita sunt prope baptisterium.
Cyprian, who was first a magician and afterwards a martyr, attempted, by charms and spells, to make Justina, a Christian virgin, consent to the passion of a certain young man. He consulted the devil as to the best way to succeed, and was told in reply that no art would be of any service to him against the true disciples of Christ. This answer made so great an impression on Cyprian, that, grieving bitterly over his former manner of life, he abandoned his magical arts, and was completely converted to the faith of Christ our Lord. Accused of being a Christian, he was seized together with the virgin Justina, and they were both severely scourged. They were then thrown into prison to see if they would change their mind; but on being taken out, as they remained firm in the Christian religion, they were cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch, fat, and wax. Finally they were beheaded at Nicomedia. Their bodies were left six days unburied; after which some sailors carried them secretly by night to their ship, and conveyed them to Rome. They were first buried on the estate of a noble lady named Rufina, but afterwards were translated into the city and laid in Constantine’s basilica, near the baptistery.
He who sought to ruin thee is now, O virgin, thy trophy of victory; and for thee, O Cyprian, the path of crime turned aside into the way of salvation. May you together triumph over satan in this age, when spirit-dealing is seducing so many faltering, faithless souls. Teach Christians, after your example, to arm themselves, against this and every other danger, with the sign of the cross; then will the enemy be forced to say again: ‘I saw a terrible sign and I trembled; I beheld the sign of the Crucified, and my strength melted like wax.’[2]
[1] Confessio Cypriani Antiocheni, 1. 2.
[2] Acta Cypriani et Justinæ.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity; just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view. To be the supports of the everlasting Church is a sufficient glory: sufficient to justify our confidence in them, and to awaken our gratitude. Let us leave the learned to discuss certain points in the following short legend; as for ourselves, we will rejoice with the Church on this feast, and pay our loving veneration to the humble and gentle Pontiff, who was the first laid to rest beside St. Peter in the Vatican crypts.
Linus Pontifex, Volaterris in Etruria natus, primus post Petrum gubernavit Ecclesiam. Cujus tanta fides et sanctitas fuit, ut non solum dæmones ejiceret, sed etiam mortuos revocaret ad vitam. Scripsit res gestas beati Petri, et ea maxime quæ ab illo acta sunt contra Simonem Magum. Sancivit ne qua mulier, nisi velato capite, in ecclesiam introiret. Huic Pontifici caput amputatum est ob constantiam christianæ fidei, jussu Saturnini impii et ingratissimi consularis, cujus filiam a dæmonum vexatione libera verat. Sepultus est in Vaticano prope sepulchrum principis apostolorum, nono calendas Octobris. Sedit annos undecim, menses duos, dies viginti tres, creatis bis mense Decembri episcopis quindecim, presbyteris decem et octo.
Pope Linus was born at Volterra in Tuscany, and was the first to succeed St. Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were so great, that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the acts of blessed Peter, and in particular what he had done against Simon Magus. He decreed that no woman should enter a church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-consul, whose daughter he had delivered from the tyranny of the devils. He was buried on the Vatican, near the sepulchre of the prince of the apostles, on the ninth of the Kalends of October. He governed the Church eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days. In two ordinations in the month of December he consecrated fifteen bishops and eighteen priests.
Simon Barjona was invested with the sovereign pontificate by our Lord in person, and openly before all; thou, O blessed Pontiff, didst receive in secret, yet none the less directly from Jesus, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. In thy person began the reign of pure faith; henceforth the bride, though she hears not the Man-God repeat His injunction to Peter: 'feed my lambs,’ nevertheless acknowledges the continuance of His authority in the lawfully appointed representative of her divine Spouse. Obtain by thy prayers, that the shadows of earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience; and that hereafter we may merit, with thee, to contemplate our divine Head in the light of eternal day.