From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

GERTRUDE the Great, from her very infance, felt a special attraction towards the glorious virgin Catharine. As she was desirous of knowing how great were her merits, our Lord showed her St. Catharine seated on a throne so lofty and so magnificent, that it seemed her glory was sufficient to have filled the courts of heaven had she been its sole queen; while from her crown a marvellous brightness was reflected on her devout clients.[1] It is well known how the Maid of Orleans, entrusted by St. Michael to the guidance of St. Catharine and St. Margaret, received aid and counsel from them during seven years; and how it was at Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois that she received her sword.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Crusaders of the West experienced the powerful assistance of the Alexandrian martyr; and on their return from the East they introduced her cultus, which soon became extremely popular. An Order of knighthood was founded to protect the pilgrims visiting her holy body on Mount Sinai. Her feast was raised to the rank of first class, and as observed was a holiday of obligation by many churches. She was honoured as patroness by Christian philosophers, scholars, orators, and attorneys. The senior advocate was called bastonier, because it was his privilege to carry her banner; while confraternities of young girls were formed under the invocation of St. Catharine, whose members vied with one another in their zeal for adorning her venerated image. She was classed among the helping saints, as being a wise counsellor; and was claimed patroness by various associations merely on account of their experience of her powerful intercession with our Lord. Her betrothal with the divine Child, and other scenes from her legend, furnished Christian rt with many beautiful inspirations.

The holy and learned Baronius regretted that even in his day the Acts of the great Oriental martyr were open to discussion on certain points, which were eagerly seized upon by the extreme critics of the succeeding centuries in order to lessen popular devotion towards her.[2] There remains, however, this grlory to Christian honoured by pupils and masters and became the guiding spirit in the development of human though during the centuries illustrated by such brilliant suns of lerning as Albert the Great, Thomas of Aquin, and Bonaventure. “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”[3] Methodius, a bishop and martyr of the third century, thus speaks in his “Banquet of Virgins”: “The virgin must have a very great love of sound doctrine; and she ought to hold an honourable place among the wise.”[4]

Let us now read the abridged Legend of St. Catharine in the book of holy Church.

Catharina, nobilis virgo Alexandrina, a prima aetate studia liberalium artium cum fidei ardore conjungens, brevi ad eam sanctitatis et doctrinae perfectionem pervenit, ut decem et octo anuos nata eruditissimum quemque superaret. Quae cum Maximini jussu multos propter christianae religionis professionem varie tornetis cruciatos, ad supplicium rapi videret, non dubitanter ipsum audiit Maximinum, eique nefariam immanitatem objeciens, sapientissimis rationibus Christi fidem ad salutem necessariam esse affirmavit.

Cujus prudentiam Maximinus admiratus, retineri eam jubet, accersitis undique doctissimis hominibus, magnisque propositis praemiis, qui convictam Catharinam a Christi fide ad idolorum cultum perduxissent. Quod contra accidit. Nam plures philosophi, qui ad eam coarguendam convenerant, vi ac subtilitate ejus disputationis tauto Jesu Christi amore sunt incensi, ut pro illo mori non dubitaverint. Quamobrem Maximinus blanditiis ac promissis Catharinam de sententia deducere aggreditur: verum id frustra fieri intelligens, verberibus affectam, plumbatisque contusam, dies undecim sine cibo ac potu inclusam tenet in carcere.

Quo tempore Maximini uxor, et Porphyrius belli dux, visendae virginis causa carcerem ingressi, et ejusdem praedicatione in Jesum Christum credentes, postea martyrio coronati sunt. Interim Catharina educitur e custodia, et rota expeditur, crebris et acutis praefixa gladiis, ut virginis corpus crudelissime dilaceraretur. Quae machina brevi, Catharinae oratione, confracta est: eoque miraculo multi Christi fidem suscepereunt. Ipse Maximinus in impietate et crudelitate obstinatior, Catharinam securi percuti imperat. Quae fortiter dato capite, ad duplicatum virginitatis et martyrii praemium evolavit septimo calendas Decembris: cujus corpus ab angelis in Sina Arabiae monte mirabiliter collocatum est.

Catharine, a noble virgin of Alexandria, united from early youth the study of the liberal arts with an ardent faith; and attained in a short time to such a degree of holiness and science, that at the age of eighteen she surpassed the most learned men. Seeing many, at the command of Maximin, cruelly tortured and executed for professing the Christian religion, she went boldly to Maximin himself and reproached him for his impious cruelty, showing him by wise reasons that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation.

Maximin, marvelling at her wisdom, caused her to be kept in custody. Then he summoned the most learned men from all parts, and promised a large reward to him that should refute Catharine's arguments, and lead her from the faith of Christ to the worship of idols. But the result was contrary to his expectations. For many of the philo­sophers who had assembled to refute her were, by the force and subtility of her reasoning, so enkindled with love of Jesus Christ, that they were ready to die for him. Maximin next tried to seduce her by flatteries and promises; but seeing his labour lost, he caused her to be lashed and torn with scourges tipped with lead, and finally shut up in prison for eleven days without food or drink.

During this interval, Maximin’s wife, and Porphyrius general of the army, going to see the virgin in prison, were by her exhortations brought to believe in Jesus Christ, and were afterwards crowned with martyrdom. Meanwhile Catharine was brought out of prison, and a wheel was set up garnished with many sharp knives cruelly to rend the virgin’s body. But at Catharine’s prayer the wheel was speedily broken; by which miracle many were converted to the faith of Christ. Maximin only grew more obstinate in wickedness and cruelty, and ordered Catharine to be beheaded. Offering her head bravely to the sword, she took her flight to heaven, adorned with the double crown of virginity and mrtyrdom, on the seventh of the Kalends of December. Her body was miraculously carried away by angels and buried on Mount Sinai in Arabia.

Today’s feast has inspired many liturgical compositions in the West. We will limit our selections to a sequence from the Gradual of St. Victor’s, and a beautiful and touching responsory still used by the Friars Preachers.

Sequence

Vox sonora nostri chori
Nostro sonet Conditori,
Qui disponit omnia,
Per quem dimicat imbellis,
Per quem datur et puellis
De viris victoria;

Per quem plebs Alexandrina
Feminae non feminina
Stupuit ingenis,
Quum beat Catharina
Doctos vinceret doctrina,
Ferrum patientia.

Haec ad gloriam parentum
Pulchrum dedit ornamentum
Morum privilegia,
Clara per progrenitores,
Claruit per sacros mores
Ampliori gratia.

Florem eneri decoris,
Lectionis et laboris
Attrivere studia:
Nam perlegit disciplinas
Saeculares et divinas
In adolescentia.

Vas electum, vas virtutum,
Reputavit sicut lutum
Bona transitoria,
Et reduxit in contemptum
Patris opes et parentum
Larga patrimonia.

Vasis oleum includens
Virgo sapiens et prudens
Sponso pergit obvia,
Ut, adventus ejus hora,
Praeparata, sine mora
Intret ad convivia.

Sistitur imperatori,
Cupiens pro Christo mori;
Cujus in praesentia
Quinquaginta sapientes
Mutos reddit et silentes
Virginis facundia.

Carceris horrendi claustrum,
Et rotarum triste plaustrum,
Famem et jejunia,
Et quaecumque flunt ei,
Sustinet amore Dei,
Eadem ad omnis.

Torta superat tortorem,
Superat imperatorem
Feminae constantia:
Cruciatur imperator,
Quia cedit cruciator,
Nec valent supplicia.

Tandem capite punitur,
Et, dum morte mors finitur,
Vitae subit gaudia.
Angelis mox fuit curae
Dare corpus sepulturae
Terra procul alia.

Oleum ex ipsa manat
Quod informos multos sanat
Evidenti gratia.
Bonum nobis dat unguentum,
Si per suum interventum
Nosra sanet vitia.

Gaudens ipsa videat
De se praesens gaudia,
Et futura praebeat,
Quae dedit praesentis,
Et hic hobis gaudest,
Illi nos in gloria,

Amen.

Let the voices of our choir
resound in praise of our Creator,
who disposes all things;
by whom they fight
who are unskilled in war,
by whose power maidens triumph over men.

Through him, the people of Alexandria
stand amazed to see
in blessed Catharine
qualities that seem above her sex,
when she vanquishes learned men by her science
and the sword by her courage.

To the glory of her race
she adds the precious ornaments
of incomparable virtue;
and noble by birth,
she becomes more noble still
by grace and holy living.

Tender is the flower of her beauty,
yet she spares it
neither labour nor study;
and in early youth
she masters earthly science
and that which is of God.

A chosen vessel full of virtue,
she considers transitory
goods as mire,
contemning her
father's wealth
and her ample patrimony.

Filling her vessel with oil,
as a wise and prudent virgin,
she goes to meet the Spouse;
that, ready at the hour of his coming,
she may enter without delay
to the feast.

Longing to die for Christ,
she is led before the emperor;
and in his presence,
by her eloquence,
puts fifty philosophers
to silence.

For love of God she endures
the horrors of the prison,
the cruel wheel,
hunger and want,
and all her other sufferings;
she remains unchanged through all.

The tortured overcomes her torturer,
a woman's constancy
triumphs over the emperor;
yea, the emperor himself is tormented,
seeing both executioner
and torments un­availing.

At length she is beheaded,
and by death ending death,
enters into the joys of life,
while Angels with all care
bury her body
in a far-off land.

An oil flowing from her body,
by a visible grace
heals the sick;
good indeed is the unction she gives us,
if she heals our vices
by her prayers.

May she rejoice
to see the joy she causes us;
may she who gives us present joys
give likewise those to come;
and may she now rejoice with us,
and we with her in glory.

Amen.

Responsory

Virgo flagellatur, crucianda fame religatur, carcere clausa manet, lux coelica fusa refulget:
* Fragrat odor dulois, cantant coeli agmina laudes.

V. Sponsun amat sponsam, Salvator visitat illam. * Fragrat.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
* Fragrat.

The virgin is scourged, loaded with chains, tormented with hunger; but while she remains shut up in prison a heavenly light shines around.
* A sweet fragrance fills the air, and the hosts of heaven are there singing praises.

V. The Spouse loves his bride and visits her as a Saviour. * A sweet fragrance.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
* A sweet frangrance.

O blessed Catharine, accept us as thy disciples. In thy person, philosophy, true to its beautiful name, leads us to Eternal Wisdom, truth leads to goodness, and science to Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. “O curious inquirers, who delight in idle, fruitless speculation,” exclaims the most eloquent of thy panegyrists, “know that the brilliant light of science which enchants you, is not intended merely to please your eyes, but to guide your steps and rule your conduct. Vain minds, that make such pompous display of your learning in order to win men's praise, learn that this glorious talent has not been entrusted to you for your self-advancement, but for the triumph of the truth. And you, cowardly, sordid souls, who use science as a means of gaining earthly goods, consider seriously that so " divine a treasure is not meant to be traded within so unworthy a manner ; and that the only commerce it is concerned with, is of a higher and sublimer kind, viz: the redemption of souls.”[5]

Thus, O Catharine, thou didst employ thy science solely for the truth. Thou madest “the majesty of Jesus Christ so visible, that his presence dissipated all the errors of philosophy, and the truths it had usurped acknowledged him for their Master, or rather were gathered up in him as in their centre. Let us learn from this holy example to bear witness to the truth and to make it triumph over the world, employing all our light of knowledge in the fulfilment of this duty. O holy truth I owe thee the testimony of my words, of my life, of my blood: for the truth is God himself.”[6]

This, O magnanimous virgin, is the thought of holy Church, when she thus formulates her prayer for today: O God, who didst give the law to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai, and didst wonderfully deposit in the same place the body of the blessed Virgin and Martyr Catharine by means of thy holy Angels; grant, we beseech thee, that by her merits and intercession, we may be enabled to arrive at the mountain, which is Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee for ever and ever.[7]

[1] Legatus divinae pietatis, iv. 57.
[2] Baron, Annal, ad ann. 307.
[3] Matt v.8.
[4] Method, Conviv. Oratio I. i.
[5] Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Catharine.
[6] Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Catharine.
[7] Collect of the day.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

THE memory of St. Clement has been surrounded with a peculiar glory from the very beginning of the Roman Church. After the death of the Apostles, he seems to eclipse Linus and Cletus, although these preceded him in the Pontificate. We pass as it were naturally from Peter to Clement; and the East celebrates his memory with no less honour than the West. He was in truth the universal Pontiff, and his acts as well as his writings are renowned throughout the entire Church. This wide-spread reputation caused numbers of apocryphal writings to be attributed to him, which, however, it is easy to distinguish from his own. But is remarkable that all the falsifiers who have thought fit to put his name to their own works, or to invest stories concerning him, agree in declaring that he was of imperial descent.

With only one exception, all the documents which attest Clement’s intervention in the affairs of distant churches, have perished with time; but the one that remains, shows us in full action the monarchical power of the Bishop of Rome at the primitive epoch. The church of Corinth was disturbed with intestine quarrels, caused by jealousy against certain pastors. These divisions, the germ of which had appeared even in St. Paul’s time, had destroyed all peace, and were causing scandal to the very pagans. The Corinthiansat last felt the necessity of putting an end to a disorder, which might be prejudicial to the extension of the Christian faith; and for this purpose, it was requisite to seek assistance from outside. The Apostles had al departed this life, except St. John, who was still the light of the Church. It was no great distance from Corinth to Ephesus, where the Apostle resided; yet it was not to Ephesus but to Rom that the Church of Corinth turned. Clement examined the case referred to his judgment by that Church, and sent to Corinth five commissaries to represent the Apostolic See. They were bearers of a letter, which St. Irenaeus calls potentissimas litteras.[1] It was considered at the time so beautiful and so apostolic, that it was long read in many churches as a sort of continuation of the canonical Scriptures. Its tone is dignified but paternal, according to Saint Peter’s advice to pastors. There is nothing in it of a domineering spirit; but the grave and solemn language bespeaks the universal pastor, whom none can disobey without disobeying God himself. These words so solemn and so firm wrought the desired effect: peace was re‑established in the church of Corinth, and the messengers of the Roman Pontiff soon brought back the happy news. A century later, St. Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, expressed to Pope St. Soter the gratitude still felt by his flock towards St. Clement for the service he had rendered.

Brought up in the school of the Apostles, Clement had retained their style and manner. These are visible in his two Letters to virgins, which are mentioned by St. Epiphanius and St. Jerome, and were found in the eighteenth century translated into Syriac, in a manuscript brought from Aleppo.[2] As St. Cecilia reminded us yesterday, the principle of chastity being vowed to God was, from the very beginning, one of the bases of Christianity, and one of the most effectual means for the transformation of the world. Christ himself had praised the superior merit of this sacrifice; and St. Paul, comparing the two states of life, taught that the virgin is wholly taken up with our Lord, while the married woman, whatever her dignity, is divided.[3] Clement had to develop this doctrine, and he did so in these two letters. Anticipating those great doctors of Christina virginity, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustin, he developed the teachings of St. Peter and St. Paul on this import subject. “He or she,” he says, “who aspires to this higher life, must lead like the Angels an existence all divine and heavenly. The virgin cuts herself off from the allurements of the senses; not only does she renounce the right to their even lawful use, but she aspires to that hope which God, who can never deceive, encourages by this promise, and which far surpasses the natural hope of posterity. In return for her generous sacrifice, her portion in heaven is the very happiness of the Angels.”

Thus spoke the Disciple chosen by St. Peter to set his hand to the task of renovating Rome. It needed no less than this strong doctrine, in order to combat the depraved manners of the Empire. Had Christianity been satisfied with inviting men to honour, as the Philosophers had done, its efforts would have been to no purpose. Stoicism, by exciting great pride, could bring some men even to despise death; but it was utterly powerless against sensuality, which we must own to have been the strongest auxiliary to the tyranny of the Caesars. The ideal of chastity, thrown into the midst of that dissolute society, could alone arrest the ignominious torrent that threatened to submerge all human dignity. Happily for the world, Christian morality succeeded in gaining ground; and, its maximums being followed up by striking examples, it at length forced itself upon the public notice. Roman corruption was amazed to hear of virginity being held in honour and practised by a great many followers of the new religion; and that at a time when the greatest privileges and the most terrible chastisements could scarcely keep to their duty the six vestals, upon whose fidelity depended the honour and the safety of the city. Vespasian and Titus were aware of the infringements upon their primary duty committed by these guardians of the Palladium; but they considered that the low level at which morals then stood, forbade them to inflict the ancient penalties upon these traitresses.

The time, however, was at hand, when the emperors, the senate, and all Rome, were to learn from the first Apology of St. Justin the marvels of purity concealed within that Babylon of iniquity. “Among us, in this city,” said the Apologist, “there are many men and women who have reached the age of sixty or seventy years; brought up from infancy under the law of Christ, they have persevered to this day in the state of virginity; and there is not a country where I could not point out many such.” Athenagorus, in a memorial presented a few years later to Marcus Aurelius, was able to say in like manner: “You will find among us a multitude of persons, both men and women, who have passed their life up to old age in the state of virginity, having no ambition but to unite themselves more intimately to God.”

Clement was predestined to the glory of martyrdom; he was banished to the Chersonesus on the Black Sea. The Acts, which relate the details of his sufferings, are very great antiquity; we shall not here enter into discussions concerning them. They tell us how Clement found in the peninsula a considerable number of Christians already transported there, and employed in working the rich and abundant marble quarries. The joy of these Christians on seeing clement is easily conceived; his zeal in propagating the faith in this far-off country, and the success of his apostolate, are no matter for surprise. The miracle of a fountain springing from the rock at Clement’s word, to quench the thirst of the Confessors, is a fact analogous to hundreds of others related in the most authentic Acts of the Saints. Lastly, the apparition of the mysterious Lamb upon the mountain, marking with his foot the spot whence the water was to flow, carries back the mind to the earliest Christian mosaics, on which may still be see the symbol of the lamb standing on a green hillock.[4]

In the ninth century St. Cyril, apostle of the Slavs, discovered near Cherson the precious remains of the martyr-pontiff. Clement was brought back to Rome; and the great church which had hitherto, according to St. Jerome, preserved the memory of his name[5], henceforth possessed a still richer treasure. The very memory, however, was of great value for science no less than for piety: on the testimony of ancient traditions, this church was built on the site of St. Clement’s old home in the region of Monte Coelio, which we know from other sources to have been the quarter preferred by the Roman aristocracy of the period. Modern archeological investigations have discovered beneath the apse of the primitive basilica, and forming a sort of underground Confession or crypt, the rooms of a private dwelling, the style and ornaments of which are of the Flavian period.[6]

It is time to read the liturgical account of the great Pope of the first century.

Clemens Romanus, Faustini filius, de regione Coelii montis, discipulus beati Petri, cujus meminit Paulus scribens ad Philippenses: Etiam rogo et te germane compar, adjuva illas quae mecum laboraverunt in Evangelio, cum Clemente et caeteris adjutoribus meis, quorum nominasunt in libro vitae. Hic septem Urbus regions divisit septem Notariis, singulas singulis attribuene, qui passions Martyrum et res ab eis gestas diligentissime conquisitas litteris mandarent. Multa scripsit et ipse accurate et salutariter, quibus christianam religionem illustravit.

Cum autem doctrina ac vitae sanctitate multos ad Christi fidem converteret, a Trajano imperatore relegates est trans mare Ponticum in solitudine Urbis Chersonae, in qua duo milia Christianorum reperit, qui ab eodem Trajano condemnati fuerant. Qui cum in eruendis et secandis marmoribus aquae penuria laborarent, Clements facta oration, in vicinum collem ascendit, in cujus jugo vidit Agnum dextero pede fontem aquae dulcis, qui inde scatebat, attingentem; ubi omnes sitim expleverunt: eoque miraculo ulti infidels ad Christi fidem conversi, Clementis etiam sanctitatem venerari coeperunt.

Quibus concitatus Trajanus, misit illuc, qui Clementem, alligata ad ejus collum anchors, in profundum dejicerent. Quod cum factum esset, Christianis ad littus orantibus, mare ad tria milliaria recessit: eoque illi accendentes, aediculam marmoream in temple formam, et intus arcam lapideam, ubi Martyris corpus conditum erate, et juxta illued anchoram, qua mersus fuerat, invenerunt. Quo miraculo incolae permoti, Christi fidem susceperunt. Ejus corpus postea Romam, Nicolao primo Pontifice translatum, in ecolesia ipsius sancti Clementis conditum est. ecclesia etiam in eo insulse loco, unde divinitus fons manarat, ejusdem nomine dedicate est. vixit in pontificatu annos novem, menses sex dies sex. Fecit ordinations duas mense decembri, quibus creavit presbyteros decem, diaconos duos, episcopos per diversa loca quindecim.

Clement was a Roman by birth, son of Faustinus who dwelt in the region of Monte Coelio. H was a disciple of blessed Peter; and is mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians, in these words: I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have labored with me in the Gospel, with lement and the rest of my fellow-labourers, who names are in the book of life. He divided Rome into seven regions, appointing a notary for each, who was to ascertain and record with the greatest care the acts and sufferings of the martyrs. He wrote many useful and learned works, such as did honour to the Christian name.

He converted many to the faith of Christ by his learning and holiness of life, and was on that account banished by the emperor Trajan to the desert of Cherson beyond the Black Sea. Here he found two thousand Christians, likewise banished by Trajan, who were employed in quarrying marble. Seeing them suffering from want of water, Clement betook himself to prayer, and then ascended a neighbouring hill, on the summit of which he saw a Lamb, pointing out with his right foot a spring of sweet water. At this source they all quenched their thirst; and many infidels were converted by the miracle, and began to revere Clement as a Saint.

On hearing this Trajan was enraged, and sent officers with orders to cast Clement into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. After the execution of this sentence, as the Christians were praying on the shore, the sea began to recede for the distance of three miles; on approaching they found a small building of marble, in the form of a temple, wherein lay the martyr’s body in a stone coffin, and beside it the anchor with which he had been drowned. The inhabitants of the country were so astounded at the miracle, that they were led to embrace the Christian faith. The holy body was afterwards translated to Rome, under Pope Nicholas I. and deposited in the church of St. Clement. A church was also built and dedicated in his honour, on that spot in the island where the miraculous fountain had sprung up. He held the pontificate nine years, six months, and six days. In two ordinations in the month of December, he made ten priests, two deacons, and fifteen bishops for divers places.

The proper Antiphons of St. Clements Office form a graceful collection, bearing evident signs of antiquity.

Antiphons

Oremus omnes ad Dominum Jesum Christum, ut Confessoribus suis fontis venam aperiat.

Orante sancto Clemente, apparuit ei Agnus Dei.

Non meis meritis ad vos me misit Dominus, vestris, coronis participem fieri.

Vidi supra montem Agnum stantem, de sub cujus pede fons vivus emanate.

De sub cujus pede fons vivus emanate, fluminis impetus laetificat civitatem Dei.

Omnes gentes per gyrum crediderunt Christo Domino.

Cum iter ad mare cepisset, populous voce magna clamabat: Domine Jesu Christe, salva illum: et Clemens cum lacrymis dicebat: Suscipe Pater spiritum meum.

Dedisti Domine habitaculum Martyri tuo Clementi in mari, in modum temple marmorei, angelicis minibus preparatum, iter praebens populo terrae, ut enarrent mirabilia tua.

Let us all beseech our Lord Jesus Christ to discover a source of water to his confessors.

While holy Clement was praying, the Lamb of God appeared to him.

Not through any merits of mine hath the Lord sent me to you to share your crowns.

I sat upon the mountain the Lamb standing, from beneath whose feet sprang up a fount of living waters.

From beneath his feet sprang up a fount of living waters: the stream of the river maketh glad the city of God.

All the surrounding nations believed in Christ the Lord.

As he approached the sea, the people cried with a loud voice: Lord Jesus Christ, save him; and Clement weeping said: Father, receive my spirit.

Thou has given, O Lord, to thy martyr Clement, a dwelling-place in the sea, a marble temple built by the hands of Angels; and thou openest a way thither for the people of the earth, that they may tell thy wonderful works.

We take the following beautiful formulae from the Leonian Sacramentary.

Prayer

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui in omnium Sanctorum tuorum es virtute mirabilis: da nobis in beait Clementis annua solemnitate laetari, qui Filii tui Martyr et Pontifex, quod ministerio gessit, testimonio comprobavit, et quod praedicavit ore, firmavit exemplo. Per Dominum.

O Almighty, eternal God, who art wonderful in the virtue of all thy Saints, grant us to rejoice in the annual solemnity of blessed Clement, who, being the Martyr and Pontiff of the Son, justified his ministry by his words, and corroborated his teaching by his example. Through our Lord.

Preface

Vere dignum Sancti Clementis Martyris tui Natalitia celebrantes, qui cognationem reliquit et patriam; et post odorem tui nominis terras mariaque transmittens, abnegansque semetipsum, crucom peregrinationis assumpsit, ut te per Apostolorum tuorum vestigial sequeretur. Cui tu, Domine, … beatissimi Petri mox tradito discipulo, … deinde Magistri sui Vicarium per ordinem subrogando, Romanae Urbis, cujus propter te despexerat dignitatem, tenere constituis Principatum, proque transitoria claritate, coelesti facis honore conspicuum. Postremo Martyrii Gloria sublimatum, pro temporalibus gestis aeternam provehis ad coronam. Per.

It is truly right that we should give thee thanks, while celebrating the birthday of holy Clement thy Martyr, who abandoned his people and his country, and drawn by the sweet odour of thy name passed over lands and seas; denying himself, the took up the cross of these wanderings, that he might follow thee in the footsteps of thine Apostles. He was first a disciple of blessed Peter, and afterwards his vicar and successor; and thus didst thou, O Lord, appoint him to rule that city of Rome, who dignitaries he had despised for thy sake and instead of transitory honours thou didst ennoble him with heavenly dignity. Finally thou didst raise him to the glory of martyrdom, and reward his temporal labours with an eternal crown.

The Lord saith: My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth: and they gifts shall be accepted upon my alter.[7] Thus does the Church open the chants of the great Sacrifice in thy honour, O holy Pontiff! It was indeed a joy and a supreme consolation to her, to experience that after the departure of the Apostles, the word did not fail; for all the fits left her by her divine Spouse at his Ascension into heaven, this was the most indispensable. In thy writings, the word continued to traverse the world, authoritative and respected, directing, pacifying, sanctifying the people, as fully and as surely as in the days of the Apostles or of our Lord himself. Clear and manifest, thanks to thee, was the proof that Jesus, according to this promise, remains with his disciples till the end of the world. Be thou blessed for having thus, in the earliest times, consoled our Mother the Church.

Thou didst understand, O Clement, that the great apostolic work, the diffusion of the Gospel among all nations, was not to be interrupted by the departure of the first labourers. Thou didst cause death and darkness to retreat farther and farther. All nations owe thee a deep debt of gratitude; but especially the French: for thou didst send thy messengers to Paris and its sister cities, crying in thy name: Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall enlighten thee.[8]

But the labours of an apostolate attacked in every land by the prince of this world, and the cares of universal government, did not exhaust the zeal that fired thy apostolic soul. Be thou blessed for having reserved thy special teaching and solicitude for the best-loved portion of our Lord’s flock, for them that follow the Lamb on the mountain, where thou didst see him, and whithersoever he goeth. Through thy prayers, may the imitators of Flavia Domitilla increase in number and still more in merit. May every Christian learn from the lesson of thy life, that the nobility of this world is nothing compared with that which is won by the love of Christ. May the world, and its capital, once given to God by the Apostles and the Roman patricians, become once more his undisputed kingdom.

[1] Contra haereses, iii. 3.
[2] Although modern critics have questioned the authenticity of the text believed by others to be that of St. Clement to virgins, the fact that the holy Pope wrote in favour of virginity still remains, upheld by the concordant testimonies of St. Epiphanius (H. xxx, 15), and St. Jerome (contra Jovinian. 1, 12).
[3] I Cor. vii.
[4] Dom Gueranger, ubi supra.
[5] Hieron. De viris illustribus, xv.
[6] Mullooly, St. Clement and his basilica; DE ROSSI, Bullet. 1863, 1870 etc.
[7] Introit of the feast, from Isaias.
[8] Eph. v. 14.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

LET us go with the Church to Mount Carmel, and offer our grateful homage to John of the Cross, who, following in the footsteps of Teresa of Jesus, opened a safe way to souls seeking God.

The growing disinclination of the people for social prayer was threatening the irreparable destruction of piety, when in the sixteenth century the divine goodness raised up Saints, whose teaching and holiness responded to the needs of the new times. Doctrine does not change: the asceticism and mysticism of that age transmitted to the succeeding centuries the echo of those that had gone before. But their explanations were given in a more didactic way and analysed more narrowly; their methods aimed at obviating the risk of illusion, to which souls were exposed by their isolated devotion. It is but just to recognize that under the ever fruitful action of the Holy Ghost, the psychology of supernatural states became more extended and more precise.

The early Christians, praying with the Church, living daily and hourly the life of her Liturgy, kept her stamp upon them in their personal relations with God. Thus it came about that, under the persevering and transforming influence of the Church, and participating in the graces of light and union, and in all the blessings of that one Beloved so pleasing to the Spouse, they assimilated her sanctity to themselves, without any further trouble but to follow their Mother with docility, and suffer themselves to be carried securely in her arms. Thus they applied to themselves the words of our Lord: Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. We need not be surprised that there was not then, as now, the frequent and assiduous assistance of a particular director for each soul. Special guides are not so necessary to the members of a caravan or of an army: it is isolated travellers that stand in need of them; and even with these special guides, they can never have the same security as those who follow the caravan or the army.

This was understood, in the course of the last few centuries, by the men of God who, taking their inspiration from the many different aptitudes of souls, became the leaders of schools, one it is true in aim, but differing in the methods they adopted for counteracting the dangers of individualism. In this campaign of restoration and salvation, where the worst enemy of all was illusion under a thousand forms, with its subtle roots and its endless wiles, John of the Cross was the living image of the Word of God, more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow; for he read, with unfailing glance, the very thoughts and intentions of hearts. Let us listen to his words. Though he belongs to modern times, he is evidently a son of the ancients.

“The soul,” he says, “is to attain to a certain sense, to a certain divine knowledge, most generous and full of sweetness, of all human and divine things which do not fall within the common-sense and natural perceptions of the soul; it views them with different eyes now, for the light and grace of " the Holy Ghost differ from those of sense, the " divine from the human.[1] The dark night, through which the soul passes, on its way to the divine light of the perfect union of the love of God — so far as it is in this life possible — requires for its explanation greater experience and light of knowledge than I possess. For so great are the trials, and so profound the darkness, spiritual as well as corporal, which souls must endure, if they will " attain to perfection, that no human knowledge can comprehend them, nor experience describe them.[2]

The journey of the soul to the divine union is called night, for three reasons. The first is derived from the point from which the soul sets out, the privation of the desire of all pleasure in all the things of this world, by an entire detachment therefrom. This is as night for every desire and sense of man. The second, from the road by which it travels; that is, faith, for faith is obscure like night to the intellect. The third, from the goal to which it tends, God, incomprehensible and infinite, who in this life is as night to the soul. We must pass through these three nights if we are to attain to the divine union with God.

They are foreshadowed in holy Scripture by the three nights which were to elapse, according to the command of the angel, between the betrothal and the marriage of the younger Tobias.[3] On the first night he was to burn the liver of the fish in the fire, which is the heart whose affections are set on the things of this world, and which, if it will enter on the road that leadeth unto God, must be burned up, and purified of all created things in the fire of this love. This purgation drives away the evil spirit who has dominion over our soul, because of our attachment to those pleasures which flow from " temporal and corporeal things.

The second night, said the angel, thou shalt be admitted into the society of the holy Patriarchs, the fathers of the faith. The soul having passed the first night, which is the privation of all sensible things, enters immediately into the second night, alone in pure faith, and by it alone directed: for faith is not subject to sense.

The third night, said the Angel, thou shalt obtain a blessing — that is, God, who in the second night of faith communicates himself so secretly and so intimately to the soul. This is another night, inasmuch as this communication is more obscure than the others. When this night is over, which is the accomplishment of the communication of God in spirit, ordinarily effected when the soul is in great darkness, the union with the bride, which is the Wisdom of Go immediately ensues.[4]

O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy will arid and constrained, and thy faculties incapable of any interior act, be not grieved at this, but look upon it rather as a great good, for God is delivering thee from thyself, taking the matter out of thy hands; for however strenuously thou mayest exert thyself, thou wilt never do anything so faultlessly, so perfectly, and securely as now — because of the impurity and torpor of thy faculties — when God takes thee by the hand, guides thee safely in thy blindness, along a road and to an end thou knowest not, and whither thou couldst never travel guided by thine own eyes, and supported by thy own feet.”[5]

We love to hear the Saints describe the paths which they themselves have trodden, and of which, in reward for their fidelity, they are the recognized guides in the Church. Let us add that “in sufferings of this kind, we must take care not to excite our Lord's compassion before his work is completed. There can be no mistake about it, certain graces which God gives to the soul are not necessary for salvation, but they must be obtained at a price. If we were to make too many difficulties, it might happen that, to spare our weakness, our Lord would let us fall back into a lower way. This, to the eye of faith, would be a terrible and irreparable misfortune.”[6]

“For the interests of holy Church and the glory of God, it is more important than we are able to say, that truly contemplative souls should be multiplied upon the earth. They are the hidden spring, the moving principle of everything that is for the glory of God, for the kingdom of his Son, and for the perfect fulfilment of his divine Will. Vain would it be to multiply active works and contrivances, yea, and even deeds of sacrifice; all will be fruitless if the Church militant have not her saints to uphold her, saints still wayfarers (in via), which is the state in which the Master chose to redeem the world. Certain powers and a certain fruitfulness are inherent to the present life; it has in itself so few charms that it will not have been useless to show, as we have done, that it has also some advantages.”[7]

The life of St. John of the Cross is thus related by holy Church.

Joannes a Cruce, Fontiberi in Hispania piis parentibus natus, a primis annis certo innotuit, quam Deiparae Virgini futurus esset acceptus; nam quinquennis in puteum lapsus, ejusdem Deiparae manu sublatus, incolumis evasit. Tanto autem patiendi desiderio flagravit, ut novennis, spreto molliori lecto, super sarmentis cubare consueverit. Adolescens hospitio pauperum aegrotantium Metymnae Campi famulum sese addixit, quibus magno caritatis ardore vilissima quaeque complectens officia, praesto aderat. Cujus exemplo excitati ceteri, eadem caritatis munera ardentius obibant. Verum ad altiora vocatus, beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo institutum amplexus est: ubi sacerdos ex obedientia factus, severioris disciplinae et arctioris vitae cupidissimus, primitivam ordinis regulam ex superioris licentia ita professus est, ut, ob jugem Dominicae passionis memoriam, bello in se, tamquam in infensissimum hostem indicto, vigiliis, jejuniis, ferreis flagellis, omnique poenarum genere, brevi carnem cum vitiis et concupiscentiis suis crucifixerit: dignus plane, qui a sancta Teresia inter puriores sanctioresque animas Ecclesiam Dei id temporis illustrantes recenseretur.

Singulari vitae austeritate, et omnium virtutum praesidio munitus, prae assidua rerum divinarum contemplatione, diuturnas et mirabiles extases frequenter patiebatur: tantoque in Deum aestuabat amore, ut cum divinus ignis sese intro diutius continere non posset, foras erumpere, ejusque vultum irradiare visus sit. Proximorum saluti summopere intentus, tum in verbi Dei praedicatione, tum in sacrmentorum ad ministratione fuit assiduus. Hinc tot meritis auctus, strictiorisque disciplinae promovendae ardore vehementer accensus, sancae Teresiae comes divinitus datus est, ut quam ipsa inter sorores primaevam Carmeli ordinis observantiam instauraverat, eamdem et inter fratres, Joanne adjutore, restitueret. Innumeros itaque una cum Dei famula in divino opere promovendo perpessus labores, coenobia quae ejusdem sanctae Virginnis cura per total Hispaniam erecta fuerant, nullis vitae incommodis et periculis territus, singula perlustravit: in quibus aliisque quamplurimis ejus opera erectis, restauratam observantiam propagando, verbo et exemplo firmavit; ut merito primus post sanctam Teresiam Carmelitarum Excalceatorum ordinis professor et parens habeatur.

Virginitatem perpetuo coluit, impudentesque mulieres ejus pudicitiae insidiari conantes, non modo repulit, sed etiam Christo lucrifecit. In divinis explicandis arcanis aeque ac sancta Teresia, apostolicae sedis judicio, divinitus instructus, libros de mystica theologia caelesti sapientia refertos conscripsit. Semel interrogatus a Christo, quid praemii pro tot laboribus posceret, respondit: Domine, pati et contemni pro te. Imperio in daemones, quos e corporibus saepe fugabat, discretione spirituum, prophetiae dono, miraculorum gloria celebratissimus, ea semper fuit humilitate, ut saepius a Domino flagitaverit eo loco mori, ubi omnibus esset ignotus. Voti compos factus, Ubedae diro morbo, et in crure quinque plagis sanie manantibus, ad implendum patiendi desiderium constantissime toleratis. Ecclesiae sacramentis pie sancteque susceptis, in Christi cruxifixi amplexu, quem semper in corde atque ore habuerat, post illa verba: IN manus tuas commendo spiritum meum, obdormivit in Domino, die et hora a se praedictis, anno salutis millesimo quingentesimo nonagesimo primo, aetatis quadragesimo nono. Migrantem ejus animam splendidissimus ignis globus excepit: corpus vero suavissimum odorem spiravit, quod etiamnum incorruptum Segoviae honorifice colitur. Eum plurimis ante et post obitum fulgentem signis Benedictus decimus tertius, Pontifex Maximus, in sanctorum numerum retulti.

John of the Cross was born of pious parents at Hontiveros in Spain. From his infancy it was evident how dear he would be to the Virgin Mother of God, for at five years of age, having fallen down a well, he was held up by our Lady in her arms, so that he sustained no injury. He had so great a desire of suffering, that when he was but nine years old he discarded his soft bed and slept on faggots. As a young man, he devoted himself to the service of the sick in the hospital of Medina del Campo. Here he showed the ardour of his charity by undertaking the vilest offices; and his example incited others to devote themselves to the same charitable deeds. But as God called him still higher, he entered the order of the blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, where he was made priest in obedience to his superiors; and in his ardour for more severe discipline and a more austere manner of life, he obtained their leave to observe the primitive rule of the Order. being ever mindful of our Lord’s Passion, he declared war against himself as against his worst enemy; and by watchings, fasting, iron disciplines, and every kind of penance, he soon crucified his flesh with the vices and concupiscences; so that St. Teresa considered him worthy to be numbered among the holiest and purest souls then adorning God's Church.

Besides his singular austerity of life, John was equipped for the spiritual combat with the armour of all the virtues. He devoted himself assiduously to the contemplation of divine things, in which he frequently experienced long and wonderful ecstasies; and his heart burned with such love of God that this divine fire could not be contained within, but would break forth and light up his countenance. He was exceedingly zealous for his neighbour's salvation, and devoted himself to preaching the word of God and administering the Sacraments. Enriched with all these merits and kindled with the desire of promoting stricter discipline, he was given by God as a companion to St. Teresa, that as she had restored primitive observance among the Sisters of the Order of Carmel, she might with John's help do the same among the Brethren. In carrying out this divine work, he together with that handmaid of God underwent innumerable labours; and fearing neither sufferings nor dangers, he visited all the monasteries founded by the holy virgin in Spain, and himself erected others, propagating in all the restored observance and strengthening it by his words and example. He has thus every right to be called, after St. Teresa, the first professed and the father of the Discalced Carmelites.

He preserved his virginity intact, and not only repulsed impudent women, who tried to ensnare him, but even gained them to Christ. The Holy See has declared that, like St. Teresa, he was divinely inspired in explaining the hidden mysteries of God; and he wrote books on mystical theology, full of divine wisdom. When asked one day by Christ what reward he desired for so many labours, he replied: Lord, sufferings and contempt for thy sake! He was renowned for his power over the devils, whom he often cast out of the possessed; and also for the gifts of discernment of spirits and prophecy; while such was his humility that he often begged our Lord to let him die in a place where no one knew him. His prayer was granted; and after a cruel malady, and the patient endurance of five ulcers in his leg, sent him to satisfy his love of suffering, he fell asleep in our Lord at Ubeda, having received the Sacraments of the Church in the holiest dispositions, and embracing the image of Christ crucified whom he had ever had in his heart and on his lips. His last words were: Into thy hands I commend my spirit. His death took place on the day and at the hour he had foretold, in the year of salvation 1591, the forty-ninth of his age. A brilliant glove of fire received his departing soul; while his body gave forth a most sweet perfume, and is still reverently preserved incorrupt at Segovia. As he was renowned for many miracles both before and after death, Pope Benedict XIII enrolled him among the saints.

On Carmel’s height and on the mountains, in the plain and in the valleys, may there be an ever-increasing number of such souls as are able to reconcile earth to heaven, to draw down the blessings of God, and to avert His anger! We are all called to be saints: may we then, after thy example and through thy prayers, O John of the Cross, suffer the grace of God to work in us with all the plenitude of its purifying and deifymg power. Then shall we be able one day to Say with thee:

O divine Life, who never killest but to give life, as Thou never woundest but to heal; Thou hast wounded me, O divine hand! That Thou mayst heal me. Thou hast slain in me that which made me dead, and destitute of the life of God which I now live. O gentle, subtle touch, the Word, the Son of God, who, because of the pureness of Thy nature, dost penetrate subtilely the very substance of my soul, and touching it gently absorbest it wholly m divine ways of sweetness, not heard of in the

Land of Chanaan, nor seen in Theman.[8] O touch of the Word, so gentle, so wonderfully gentle to me; and yet Thou wert overthrowing the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces in Horeb by the shadow of Thy power going before Thee, when Thou didst announce Thy presence to the prophet in the whistling of a gentle air.[9] O gentle air, how is it that Thous touchest so gently when Thou art so terrible and so strong?

O my God, and my life, they shall know Thee and behold Thee when Thou touchest them, who, making themselves strangers upon earth, shall purify themselves, because purity coresponds with purity. As in Thee there is nothing material, so the more profoundly dost Thou touch me, changing what in me is human into divine, according as Thy divine essence wherewith Thou touchest me is wholly unaffected by modes and manner, free from the husks of form and figure. Thou the more gently touchest, the more Thou art hidden in the purified souls of those who have made themselves strangers here, hidden from the face of all creatures, and whom Thou shalt hide in the secret of Thy face from the disturbance of men. Thou removest the soul far away from every other touch whatever, and makest it Thine own; Thou leavest behind Thee effects and impressions so pure, that the touch of everything else seems vile and low, the very sight offensive, and all relations therewith a deep affliction.[10]

[1] Complete works of St. John of the Cross, translated from the original Spanish by David Lewis, M. A. The obscure night of the Soul, Book ii. chap. ix.
[2] The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Prologue.
[3] Tob. vi. 18.
[4] The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book i. chap. ii.
[5] The Obscure night of the soul. Book. ii. chap. xvi.
[6] The Spiritual Life and Prayer, according to holy Scripture and monastic Tradition, Solesmes 1899. Translated by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. Chap. xiv.
[7] Ibid. Chap. xix.
[8] Baruch iii, 22.
[9] 3 Kings xix. 22, 12
[10] “The Living Flame of Love,” stanza ii., line 3, passim.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

CAECILIA united in her veins the blood of kings with that of Rome's greatest heroes. At the time of the first preaching of the Gospel, more than one ancient patrician family had seen its direct line become extinct. But the adoptions and alliances, which under the Republic had knit more closely the great families by linking them all to the most illustrious among them, formed as it were a common fund of glory, which, even in the days of decline, was passed on intact to the survivors of the aristocracy.

It has now been demonstrated by the undeniable witness of monuments, that Christianity from the very beginning took possession of that glory, by adopting its heirs; and that by a wonderful disposition of divine Providence, the founders of the Rome of the Pontiffs were these last representatives of the Republic, thus preserved in order to give to the two phases of Roman history that powerful unity which is the distinguishing note of divine works. Heretofore bound together by the same patriotism, the Cornelii and the CEmilii, alike heirs of the Fabii, the Caecilii, Valerii, Sergii, Furii, Claudii, Pomponii, Plautii, and Acilii, eldest sons of the Gentile Church, strengthened the connections formed during the Republic, and firmly established, even in the first and second centuries of Christianity, the new Roman society. In the same centuries, and under the influence of the religion preached by Saints Peter and Paul, there came to be grafted on the ever vigorous trunk of the old aristocracy the best members of the new imperial and consular families, worthy by their truly Roman virtues, practised amid the general depravity, to re-inforce the thinned ranks of Rome's founders, and to fill up, without too sudden a transition, the voids made by time in the true patrician houses. Thus was Rome working out her destiny; thus was the building up of the eternal City being accomplished by the very men, who had formerly, by their blood or by their genius, established her strong and mighty on the seven hills.

Caecilia, the lawful representative of this unparalleled aristocracy, the fairest flower of the old stem, was also the last. The second century was passing away; the third, which was to see the empire fall from the hands of Septimus Severus first to the Orientals and then to the barbarians from the banks of the Danube, offered small chance of preservation for the remnants of the ancient nobility. The true Roman society was henceforth at an end; for, save a few individual exceptions, there remained nothing more of Roman but the name: the vain adornment of freedmen and upstarts, who, under princes worthy of them, indulged their passions at the expense of those around them.

Caecilia therefore appeared at the right moment, personifying with the utmost dignity the society that was about to disappear because its work was accomplished. In her strength and her beauty, adorned with the royal purple of martyrdom, she represents ancient Rome rising proud and glorious to the skies, before the upstart Caesars who, by immolating her in their jealousy, unconsciously executed the divine plan. The blood of kings and heroes flowing from her triple wound, is the libation of the old nobility to Christ the conqueror, to the Blessed Trinity the Ruler of nations; it is the final consecration, which reveals in its full extent the sublime vocation of the valiant races called to found the eternal Rome.

But we must not think that to-day's feast is meant to excite in us a mere theoretical and fruitless admiration.[1] The Church recognizes and honours in Saint Caecilia three characteristics, which, united together, distinguish her among all the Blessed in heaven, and are a source of grace and an example to men. These three characteristics are, virginity, apostolic zeal, and the superhuman courage which enabled her to bear torture and death. Such is the threefold teaching conveyed by this one Christian life.

In an age so blindly abandoned as ours to the worship of the senses, is it not time to protest, by the strong lessons of our faith, against a fascination which even the children of the promise can hardly resist? Never, since the fall of the Roman empire, have morals, and with them the family and society, been so seriously threatened. For long years, literature, the arts, the comforts of life, have had but one aim : to propose physical enjoyment as the only end of man's destiny. Society already counts an immense number of members who live entirely a life of the senses. Alas for the day when it will expect to save itself by relying on their energy! The Roman empire thus attempted several times to shake off the yoke of invasion: it fell never to rise again.

Yes, the family itself, the family especially, is menaced. It is time to think of defending itself against the legal recognition, or rather encourage­ment, of divorce. It can do so by one means alone: by reforming and regenerating itself according to the law of God, and becoming once more serious and Christian. Let marriage, with its chaste conse­quences, be held in honour; let it cease to be an amusement or a speculation; let fatherhood and motherhood be no longer a calculation, but an austere duty: and soon, through the family, the city and the nation will resume their dignity and their vigour.

But marriage cannot be restored to this high level, unless men appreciate the superior element, without which human nature is an ignoble ruin: this heavenly element is continence. True, all are not called to embrace it in the absolute sense; but all must do honour to it, under pain of being delivered up, as the Apostle expresses it, to a reprobate sense.[2] It is continence that reveals to man the secret of his dignity, that braces his soul to every kind of devotedness, that purifies his heart and elevates his whole being. It is the culminating point of moral beauty in the individual, and at the same time the great lever of human society. It is because the love of it became extinct, that the ancient world fell to decay; but when the Son of the Virgin came on earth, he renewed and sanctioned this saving principle, and a new phase began in the destinies of the human race.

The children of the Church, if they deserve the name, relish this doctrine, and are not astonished at it. The words of our Saviour and of his Apostles have revealed all to them; and at every page, the annals of the faith they profess set forth in action this fruitful virtue, of which all degrees of the Christian life, each in its measure, must partake. St. Caecilia is one example among others offered to their admiration. But the lesson she gives is a remarkable one, and has been celebrated in every age of Christianity. On how many occasions has Caecilia inspired virtue or sustained courage; how many weaknesses has the thought of her prevented or repaired! Such power for good has God placed in his Saints, that they influence not only by the direct imitation of their heroin virtues, but also by the inductions which each of the faithful is able to draw from them for his own particular situation.

The second characteristic offered for our consideration in the life of St. Caecilia is that ardent zeal, of which she is one of the most admirable models; and we doubt not that here too is a lesson calculated to produce useful impressions. Insensibility to evil for which we are not personally responsible, or from which we are not likely to suffer, is one of the features of the period. We acknowledge that all is going to ruin, and we look on at the universal destruction without ever thinking of holding out a helping hand to save a brother from the wreck. Where should we now be, if the first Christians had had hearts as cold as ours? If they had not been filled with that immense pity, that inexhaustible love, which forbade them to despair of a world, in the midst of which God had placed them to be the salt of the earth? Each one felt himself accountable beyond measure for the gift he had received. Freeman or slave, known or unknown, every man was the object of a boundless devotedness for these hearts filled with the charity of Christ. One has but to read the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles, to learn on what an immense scale the apostolate was carried on in those early days; and the ardour of that zeal remained long uncooled. Hence the pagans used to say: “See how they love one another!” And how could they help loving one another? For in the order of faith they were fathers and children.

What maternal tenderness Camilla felt for the souls of her brethren, from the mere fact that she was a Christian! After her we might name a thousand others, in proof of the fact that the conquest of the world by Christianity and its deliverance from the yoke of pagan depravity, are due to such acts of devotedness performed in a thousand places at once, and at length producing universal renovation. Let us imitate in something at least, these examples to which we owe so much. Let us waste less of our time and eloquence in bewailing evils which are only too real. Let each one of us set to work, and gain one of his brethren: and soon the number of the faithful will surpass that of unbelievers. Without doubt, this zeal is not extinct; it still works in some, and its fruits rejoice and console the Church; but why does it slumber so profoundly in so many hearts which God had prepared to be its active centres?

The cause is unhappily to be traced to that general coldness, produced by effeminacy, which might be taken by itself alone as the type of the age; but we must add thereto another sentiment, proceeding from the same source, which would suffice, if of long duration, to render the debasement of a nation incurable. This sentiment is fear; and it may be said to extend at present to its utmost limit. Men fear the loss of goods or position, fear the loss of comforts and ease, fear the loss of life. Needless to say, nothing can be more enervating, and consequently more dangerous to the world, than this humiliating pre-occupation but above all, we must confess that it is anything but Christian. Have we forgotten that we are merely pilgrims on this earth? And has the hope of future good died out of our hearts? Caecilia will teach us how to rid ourselves of this sentiment of fear. In her days, life was less secure than now. There certainly was then some reason to fear; and yet Christians were so courageous, that the powerful pagans often trembled at the words of their victims.

God knows what he has in store for us; but if fear does not soon make way for a sentiment more worthy of men and of Christians, all particular existences will be swallowed up in the political crisis. Come what may, it is time to learn our history over again. The lesson will not be lost, if we come to understand this much: had the first Christians feared, they would have betrayed us, for the word of life would never have come down to us; if we fear, we shall betray future generations, for we are expected to transmit to them the deposit we have received from our fathers.[3]

The Passio Sanctae Caeciliae is marked in the most ancient Calendars on the 16^th September,[4] and took place, according to the primitive Acts, under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Corn modus. The great feast of November 22^nd, preceded by a Vigil, was one of the most solemn on the Roman Cycle; it recalled the dedication of the church raised on the site of that palace which had been sanctified by the blood of the descendant of the Metelli, and had been bequeathed by her when dying to Bishop Urban, representative of Pope Eleutherius. This Urban having been later on confounded with the Pope of the same name, who governed the Church in the time of Alexander Severus, the martyrdom of our Saint was thought to have occurred half a century later, as we still read in the Legend of the Office.

It was most probably in the year 178 that Caecilia joined Valerian in heaven, whence, a few months before, the Angel of the Lord had descended, bringing wreaths of lilies and roses to the two spouses.

She was buried by Urban, just as she lay at the moment of death. In the beginning of the following century, the family crypt was given by her relatives to the Roman church, and was set apart for the burial of the Popes. In the ninth century, Paschal I. found her surrounded by these venerable tombs, and brought her back in triumph on May 8^th, 822, to her house in the Trastevere, where she remains to this day.

On the 20^th October, 1599, in the course of the excavations required for the restoration of the basilica, Caecilia was once more brought forth to the admiring gaze of the city and of the world. She was clad in her robe of cloth of gold, on which traces of her virginal blood were still discernable; at her feet were some pieces of linen steeped in the purple of her martyrdom. Lying on her right side with her arms stretched before her, she seemed in a deep sleep. Her neck still bore the marks of the wounds inflicted by the executioner's sword; her head, in a mysterious and touching position, was turned towards the bottom of the coffin. The body was in a state of perfect preservation; and the whole attitude, retained by an unique prodigy during so many centuries in all its grace and modesty, brought before the eyes with a striking truthfulness Caecilia breathing her last sigh stretched on the floor of the bath chamber.

The spectators were carried back in thought to the day when the holy bishop Urban had enclosed the sacred body in the cypress chest, without altering the position chosen by the bride of Christ to breathe forth her soul into the arms of her divine Spouse. They admired also the discretion of Pope Paschal, who had not disturbed the virgin's repose, but had preserved for posterity so magnificent a spectacle.[5]

Cardinal Sfondrate, titular of St. Caecilia, who directed the works, found also in the chapel called of the Bath the heating-stove and vents of the sudatorium, where the Saint passed a day and a night in the midst of scalding vapours. Recent excavations have brought to light other objects belonging to the patrician home, which by their style, belong to the early days of the Republic.

Let us now read the liturgical history of the illustrious Virgin and Martyr.

Caecilia, virgo Romana, nobili genere nata, a prima aetate christianae fidei praeceptis instituta, virginitatem suam Deo vovit. Sed cum postea contra suam voluntatem data esset in matrimonium Valeriano, prima nuptiarum nocte hunc cum eo sermonem habuit: Ego, Valeriane, in Angeli tutela sum, qui virginitatem meam custodit: quare ne quid in me committas, quo ira Dei in te concitetur. Quibus verbis commotus Valerianus, illam attingere non est ausus: quin etiam addidit, se in Christum crediturum. Si eum Angelum videret. Cui Caecilia, cum sine baptismo negaret id fieri posse, incensus cupiditate videndi Angelum, se baptizari velle respondit. Quare hortatu virginis ad Urbanum Papam, qui propter persecutionem in Martyrum sepulchris via Appia latebat, veniens, ab eo baptizatur.

Inde ad Caeciliam reversus, orantem et cum ea Angelum divino splendore fulgentem invenit. Quo aspectu obstupefactus, ut primum ex timore confirmatus est, Tiburtium fratrem suum accersit: qui a Caecilia Christi fide imbutus, et ab eodem Urbano baptizatus, ipse etiam ejusdem Angeli, quem frater ejus viderat, aspectu dignatus est. uterque autem paulo post Almachio praefecto constanter martyrium subiit. Qui mox Caeciliam comprehendi imperat, ab eaque primum, ubi Tiburtii et Valeriani facultates sint, exquirit.

Cui cum virgo omnia illorum pauperibus distributa esse respondisset, eo furore concitatus est, ut eam in ipsius aedes reductam, in balneo comburi jusserit. Quo in loco cum diem noctemque ita fuisset, ut ne flamma quidem illam attingeret; eo immissus est carnifex, qui ter securi ectam, cum caput abscindere non potuisset, semivivam reliquit. Illa triduo post, decimo calendas decembris Alexandro impertore duplici virginitatis et mrtyrii palma decorata, evolavit in coelum. Cujus corpus ab ipso Urbano Papa in Callisti coemeteric sepultum est, in ejus aedibus ecclesia ipsius Caeciliae nomine consecrata. Ejus et Urbani ac Lucii Pontificum, Tiburtii, Valeriani et Maximi corpora a Paschali primo Pontifice inde translata in Urbem, in eadem sanctae Caeciliae ecclesia condita sunt.

Caecilia, a Roman virgin of noble origin, was brought up from her infancy in the Christian faith, and vowed her virginity to God. Against her will, she was given in marriage to Valerian; but on the first night of the nuptials she thus addressed him: Valerian, I am under the care of an Angel, who is the guardian of my virginity; wherefore beware of doing what might kindle God's wrath against thee. Valerian moved by these words respected her wishes, and even said that he would believe in Christ if he could see the Angel. On Caecilia telling him that this could not be unless he received Baptism, he, being very desirous of seeing the Angel, replied that he was willing to be baptized. Taking the virgin's advice, he went to Pope Urban, who on account of the persecution was hiding among the tombs of the Martyrs on the Appian Way, and by him he was baptized.

Then returning to Caeceliia, he found her at prayer, and beside her an Angel shining with divine brightness. He was amazed at the sight; but as soon as he had recovered from his fear, he sought out his brother Tiburtius; who also was instructed by Caecilia in the faith of Christ, and after being baptized by Pope Urban, was favoured like his brother with the sight of the Angel. Both of them shortly afterwards courageously suf­fered martyrdom under the prefect Almachius. This latter next commanded Caacilia to be apprehended, and commenced by asking her what had become of the property of Tiburtius and Valerian.

The virgin answered that it had all been distributed among the poor; at which the prefect was so enraged, that he commanded her to be led back to her own house, and put to death by the heat of the bath. When, after spending a day and a night there, she remain unhurt by the fire, an executioner was sent to dispatch her; who, not being able with three strokes of the axe to cut off her head, left her half dead. Three days later, on the tenth of the Kalends of December, she took her flight to heaven, adorned with the double glory of virginity and martyrdom. It was in the reign of the emperor Alexander. Pope Urban buried her body in the cemetery of Callixtus; and her house was converted into a church and dedicated in her name. Pope Paschal I. translated her body into the city, together with those of Popes Urban and Lucius, and of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, and placed them all in this church of St. Caecilia.

The Antiphons and Responsories for the 22^nd November are all taken from the Acts of the Saint, and are the same as were used in the time of St. Gregory. We choose such of them as will complete the foregoing history. The first Responsory represents the virgin as singing in her heart to God amid the profane music of the nuptial feast. It was this silent melody, superior to all earthly concerts, that inspired the happy idea of picturing St. Caecilia as the queen of harmony, and proclaiming her patroness of the most attractive of arts.

Antiphons and Responsories

℟. Cantantibus organis Caecilia virgo in corde suo soli Domino decantabat, dicens:
* Fiat Domine cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum, ut non confumdar.

V. Biduanis et triduanis jejuniis orns, commendabat Domino quod timebat. * Fiat.
℟. O beata Caecilia, quae ducs fratres convertisti, Almachium judicem superasti,
* Urbanum episcopum in vultu angelic demonstrasti.[6]

V. Quasi apis argumentosa Domino deservisti. * Urbanum.
℟. Virgo gloriosa semper Evangelium Christi gerebat in pectore, et non diebus neque noctibus vaabat.
* A colloquiis divinis et oratione.

V. Expansis manibus orabat ad Dominum, et cor ejus igne coelesti ardebat. * A colloquiis.
℟. Cilicio Caecilia membra domabat, Deum gemitibus exorabat:
* Tiburtium et Valerianum ad coronas vocabat.

V. Haec est virgo sapiens, et una de numero prudentum. * Tiburtium.
℟. Domine Jesu Christe, pastor bone, seminator casti consilii, suscipe seminum fructus quos in Caecilia seminasti:
* Caecilia famula tua quasi apis[7] tibi argumentosa deservit.

V. Nam sponsum, quem quasi leonem ferocem accepit, ad te quasi agnum mansuctissimum destinavit. * Caecilia. Gloria Patri. * Caecilia.

Ant. Est secretum Valeriane, quod tibi volo dicere: Angelum Dei habeo amatorem, qui nimio zelo custodit corpus meum.

Ant. Beata Caecilia dixit ad Tiburtium: Hodie te fateor meum cognatum, quia amor Dei te fecit esse contemptorem idolorum.

Ant. Credimus Christum Filium Dei verum Deum esse qui sibi talem elegit famulam.

Ant. Dum aurora finem daret, Caecilia exclamavit, dicens: Eia milites Christi, abjicite opera tenebrarum, et induimini arma lucis.

Ant. Triduanas a Domino poposci inducias, ut domum meam ecclesiam consecrarem.

℟. Amid the harmony of musical instruments, the virgin Caecilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, saying:
* Let my heart, O Lord, and my body be spotless, that I may not be confounded.

V. During two days and three days of fasting and prayer, she commended to the Lord what she feared. * Let my heart.
℟. O blessed Caecilia, who didst convert the two brothers, and overcome the judge Almachius. * Urban the bishop of angelic countenance thou didst show to them.

V. As a busy bee thou didst serve the Lord. * Urban.
℟. The glorious virgin carried always the Gospel of Christ on her heart; and by day and by night she ceased not * From divine colloquies and prayer.

V. With outstretched hands she prayed to the Lord, and her heart burned with a heavenly fire. * From divine.
℟. Caecilia subdued her flesh with hair-cloth, and besought God with groanings. * Tiburtius and Valerian she called to their crowns.

V. This is a wise virgin, one of those who are prudent. * Tiburtius.
℟. O Lord Jesus Christ, good Shepherd, Author of chaste resolutions, receive the fruits of the seed thou didst sow in Caecilia: * Caecilia thy handmaid serves thee like a busy bee.

V. For the spouse whom she had received like a fierce lion, she led to thee as a gentle lamb. * Caecilia. Glory be to the Father. * Caecilia.

Ant. I have a secret, Valerian, which I wish to tell the: I have an Angel of God, who loves me, and with diligent zeal watches over my body.

Ant. Blessed Caecilia said to Tiburtius: Today I acknowledge thee for my brother, because the love of God has made thee become a contemnor of idols.

Ant. We believe that Christ the Son of God, who chose for himself such a handmaid, is true God.

Ant. As dawn was breaking into day, Caecilia cried out saying: Courage, soldiers of Christ, cast away the deeds of darkness, and put on the armour of light.

Ant. Caecilia dying said: I have asked of the Lord three days delay, that I may consecrate my house into a church.

The two following hymns were approved by the Apostolic See in 1852.

Hymn

Terrena cessent organa,
Cor aestuans Caeciliae
Coeleste fundit canticum,
Deoquo totum jubilat.

Dum nuptiali nobilis
Domus resultat gaudio,
Haec sola tristis candido
Gemit columba pectore.

O Christe mi dulcissime,
Cui me sacravit charitas,
Serva pudoris integram,
Averte labem corpore.

Ovis eone sedula
Agnum facit mitissimum:
Hic fonte lotus mystico,
Coelo repente militat.

Solvit Tiburtium soror
Erroris a caligine;
Factoque fratris asseclae
Ad astra pandit semitam.

Seges per illam plurima
Superna replet horrea:
Verbo potens, fit particpes
Apostolorum gloriae.

Delapsus arce siderum
Illam tuetur Angelus;
Rosaeque mixtae liliis
Ambie orines gostiunt.

Sertum rubens et candidum
Affertur una conjugi,
Quem castitatis aemulum
Coelestis ardor efficit.

Te, sponse, Jesu, virginum
Beata laudent agmina;
Patrique cum Paraclito
Par sit per aevum gloria.

Amen.

Hushed be the music of earth:
Cecilia's burning heart
pours out the heavenly song
she sings to her God alone.

While the noble house
resounds with the nuptial joy,
this dove alone is sad,
and her pure heart sighs out:

O Christ, most sweet,
to whom I am bound by love,
preserve my purity
of soul and body.

The diligent sheep converts
the lion into a meek lamb;
and he, washed in the mystic font,
begins at once to fight for the King of heaven.

Sister now of Tiburtius,
she frees him from darksome error,
and bidding him follow his brother,
points out the path to heaven.

Through her efforts an abundant harvest
fills the heavenly granaries;
powerful in word,
she shares the glory of the Apostles.

An Angel comes down
from the highest heavens to protect her;
a rose and lily wreath
entwines her flowing locks.

White and ruddy also
is the crown brought to her spouse,
whom heavenly love has led
to emulate her purity.

May the happy choirs of virgins
praise thee, O Jesus, their Spouse;
to the Father and the Paraclete
be equal and eternal glory.

Amen.

Hymn

Nunc ad coronas pergite,
Clamat suis Caecilia:
Mox ipsa virgo sistitur
Ad judicis praetorium.

Minantis iram despicit,
Et falso ridet numina:
Jam morte digna ducitur
Puella culpae nescia.

Inclusa perstat balneo:
Ardent calore fornices
Ast urit intus virginem
Divinus ignis fortior.

Intaminatam barbarus
Ter ense lictor percutit:
Scelus tamen non perficit;
Christu smoras dat martyri.

Horae supremae proxima,
Deo sacrandas devovet
Aedes avitas, libera
Volatque ad Agni nuptias.

Salvato, corpus martyris,
Diu sub antris abditum:
Nova refulgens gloria
Romae parenti redderis.

Ne flos tenebris areat,
Te Virgo servat virginum;
Rubens cruoris purpura
Stola micante cingeris.

Dormi silenti marmore,
Dum sede laetus coelica
Indulget hymnis spiritus,
Votisque dexter annuit.

Te, sponse, Jesu, virginum
Beata laudent agmina;
Patrique cum Paraclito
Par sit per aevum gloria.

Amen.

Now haste ye to your crowns,
cries Caecilia to her brethren;
and soon the virgin herself
is led before the judge.

She despises his angry threats
and laughs at his false gods;
wherefore the innocent maiden
is declared deserving of death.

She remains long inclosed in the bath,
while the furnace rages beneath;
but stronger is the divine fire
that burns in the virgin's heart.

Thrice does the barbarous lictor
strike the innocent victim:
he cannot accomplish his crime,
for Christ has granted a delay to the martyr.

As her last hour draws nigh,
she devotes her ancestral mansion to God,
then free she wings her flight
to the nuptials of the Lamb.

Hail! Body of the martyr,
long hidden in the sombre crypt;
shining with a new glory,
thou art restored to thy mother Rome.

The Virgin of virgins watches over thee,
lest thou fade as a flower in the darkness,
while thou liest empurpled with the blood of thy martyrdom,
and clad in thy golden robe.

Sleep in thy silent marble tomb,
while thy spirit enthroned in heaven
hymns its glad joy,
and graciously re­ceives our prayers.

May the happy choirs of virgins
praise thee, O Jesus, their Spouse;
to the Father and the Paraclete
be equal and eternal glory.

Amen.

It would need the language of Angels worthily to celebrate thy greatness, O bride of Christ! And we have but the faltering, timid accents of mortals and sinners. O queen, who standest at the King's right hand, clad in the vesture of gold of which the Psalmist sings, look down upon us with a favourable eye, and deign to accept this offering of our praise, which we lay on the lowest step of thy lofty throne. We make bold to join thereto a prayer for the holy Church, whose humble daughter thou wast heretofore, as now thou art her hope and her support. In the dark night of this present life the Bridegroom is long a-coming. In the midst of this solemn and mysterious silence he suffers the virgin to slumber till the cry shall announce his arrival. We honour the repose earned by thy victories, O Caecilia, but we know that thou dost not forget us, for the Bride says in the Canticle: I sleep, and my heart watcheth.

The hour draws nigh when the Spouse is to ap­pear, calling all who are his to gather under the standard of his Cross. Soon will the cry be heard: Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then, O Caecilia, thou wilt say to all Christians what thou saidst to the faithful band grouped around thee at the hour of thy combat: “Soldiers of Christ! Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.”[8]

The Church daily pronounces thy name with love, and confidence, in the Canon of the Mass; and she looks for thy assistance, O Caecilia, knowing it will not fail her. Prepare a victory for her, by raising up the hearts of Christians to the realities, which they too often forget while they run after the vain shadows from which thou didst win Tiburtius. When the minds of men become once more fixed up on the thought of their eternal destiny, the salvation and peace of nations will be secured.

Be thou for ever, O Caecilia, the delight of thy divine Spouse. Breathe eternally the heavenly fragrance of his roses and lilies; and be unceasingly enraptured with the ineffable harmony of which he is the source. From the midst of thy glory thou wilt watch over us; and when our last hour draws nigh, we beseech thee by the merits of thy heroic martyrdom, assist us on our death-bed. Receive our soul into thy arms, and bear it up to the everlasting abode, where the sight of the bliss thou enjoyest will give us to understand the value of Virginity, of the Apostolate, and of Martyrdom.[9]

[1] So far we have summed up the thoughts of our illustrious Father and Master in his Sainte Cécile et la Societé romaine aux deux premiers sièckes; what follows in quoted directly from the Preface to his first Histoire de Sainte Cécile, Viergo romaine et Martyrs.
[2] Rom. i. 28.
[3] Dom Gueranger, ubi supra.
[4] Martyrology of St. Jerome.
[5] Dom Gueranger, Sainte Cécile et la Société romaine.
[6] Magnun virum, Urbanum nomine, in quo est aspectus angelicus. ACTS, wods of Valerian to Tiburtius.
[7] The ancient legend had the word ovis, which recalls the text of Isaias: Leo et ovis simu morabuntur. The lion and the sheep shall abide together. Isaias xi. 6.
[8] Acta S. Caeciliae.
[9] Dom Gueranger, Histoire de sainte Cécile, conclusion.