He made the restoration of piety among Catholics his first care. He increased the beauty of the sacred buildings, the giving of catechetical instructions, the frequentation of sermons and of the Sacraments. Heeverywhere opened schools for the education of youth in piety and letters. He founded at Rome the German College, refuges for women of evil life, and for young girls who were in danger, houses for orphans and catechumens of both sexes, and many other pious works. He devoted himself unweariedly to gaining souls to God. Once he was heard saying, that if he were given his choice, he would rather live uncertain of attaining the Beatific Vision, and in the meanwhile devote himself to the service of God and the salvation of his neighbour, than die at once certain of eternal glory. His power over the demons was wonderful. St. Philip Neri and others saw his countenance shining with heavenly light. At length in the sixty-fifth year of his age he passed to the embrace of his Lord, whose greater glory he had ever preached and ever sought in all things. He was celebrated for miracles and for his great services to the Church, and Gregory XV. enrolled him amongst the Saints. Sed in primis inter catholicos instaurare pietatem curæ fuit. Templorum nitor, cathechismi traditio, concionum ac sacramentorum frequentia ab ipso incrementum accepere. Ipse apertis ubique locorum ad juventutem erudiendam in litteris ac pietate gymnasiis, erectis Romæ Germanorum collegio, male nuptarum et periclitantium puellarum cœnobiis, utriusque sexus tam orphanorum quam catechumenorum domibus, aliisque pietatis operibus, indefessus lucrandis Deo animis iustabat; auditus aliquando dicere, Si optio daretur, malle se beatitudinis incertum vivere, et interim Deo inservire, et proximorum saluti, quam certum ejusdem gloriæ statim mori. In dæmones mirum exercuit imperium. Vultum ejus cœlesti luce radiantem sanctus Philippus Nerius aliique conspexere. Denique ætatis anno sexagesimo quinto ad Domini sui amplexum, cujus majorem gloriam in ore semper habuerat,semper in omnibus quæsierat, emigravit. Quem Gregorius Decimus quintus, magnis in Ecclesiam meritis et miraculis illustrem, Sanctorum fastis adscripsit. This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.' And thou didst prove this truth once PENT. IV, 11 St. John v. 4. R more to the world, O thou great conqueror of the age in which the Son of God chose thee to raise up again his ensign that had been humbled before the standard of Babel. Against the ever-increasing battalions of the rebels thou didst long stand almost alone, leaving it to the God of armies to choose his own moment for engaging thee against Satan's troops, as he chose his own for withdrawing thee from human warfare. If the world had then been told of thy designs, it would have laughed them to scorn; yet now, no one can deny that it was a decisive moment in the history of the world when, with as much confidence as the most illustrious general concentrating his forces, thou gavest the word to thy nine companions to proceed three and three to the holy City. What great results were obtained in the fifteen years during which this little troop, recruited by the Holy Ghost, had thee for its first General! Heresy was trampled out of Italy, confounded at Trent, checked everywhere, paralysed in its very centre; immense conquests were made in new worlds, as a compensation for the losses suffered in our West; Sion herself, renewing the beauty of her youth, saw her people and her pastors raised up again, and her sons receiving an education befitting their heavenly destiny; in a word, all along the line, where he had rashly cried victory, Satan was now howling, overcome once more by the name of Jesus, which makes every knee to bow, in heaven, on earth, and in hell! Hadst thou ever, O Ignatius, gained such glory as this in the armies of earthly kings? From the throne thou hast won by so many valiant deeds, watch over the fruits of thy works, and prove thyself always God's soldier. In the midst of the contradictions which are never wanting to them, uphold thy sons in their position of honour and prowess which makes them the vanguard of the 66 66 Church. May they be faithful to the spirit of their glorious Father, "having unceasingly before their eyes: first, God; next, as the way leading to Him, the form of their institute, consecrating all their powers to attain this end marked out for them by "God; yet each following the measure of grace "he has received from the Holy Ghost, and the "particular degree of his vocation:" Lastly, O head of such a noble lineage, extend thy love to all religious families whose lot in these times of persecution is so closely allied with that of thine own sons; bless, especially, the monastic Order whose ancient branches overshadowed thy first steps in the perfect life, and the birth of that illustrious Society which will be thy everlasting crown in heaven. Have pity on France, on Paris, whose University furnished thee with foundations for the strong, unshaken building raised by thee to the glory of the Most High. May every Christian learn of thee to fight for the Lord, and never to betray his standard; may all men, under thy guidance, return to God, their beginning and their end. 1 Litt. Apos. primæ Instituti approbationis, Pauli III. Regimini militantis. AUGUST 1. SAINT PETER'S CHAINS. ROME, making a god of the man who had subjugated her, consecrated the month of August to Cæsar Augustus. When Christ had delivered her, she placed at the head of this same month, as a trophy of her regained liberty, the feast of the chains, wherewith, in order to break hers, Peter the Vicar of Christ had once been bound. O Divine Wisdom, who hast a better claim to reign over this month than had the adopted son of Cæsar, thou couldst not have more authentically inaugurated thy empire. Strength and sweetness are the attributes of thy works, and it is in the weakness of thy chosen ones that thou triumphest over the powerful. Thou thyself, in order to give us life, didst swallow death; Simon, son of John, became a captive, to set free the world entrusted to him. First, Herod, and then Nero showed him the cost of the promise he had once received, of binding and loosing on earth as in heaven: he had to share the love of the Supreme Shepherd, even to allowing himself, like him, to be bound with chains for the sake of the flock, and led where he would not. Glorious chains! never will ye make Peter's successors tremble any more than Peter himself; before the Herods and Neros and Cæsars of all ages ye will be the guarantee of the liberty of souls. With what veneration have the Christian people honoured you, ever since the earliest times! One may truly say of the present feast that its origin is lost in the darkness of ages. According to ancient monuments,1 St. Peter himself first consecrated on this date the basilica on the highest of the seven hills, where the citizens of Rome are gathered to-day. The name Title of Eudoxia, by which the venerable Church is often designated, seems to have arisen from certain restorations made on occasion of the events mentioned in the Lessons. As to the sacred chains, which are its treasure, the earliest mention now extant of honour being paid to them occurs in the beginning of the second century. Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, keeper of the prisons, had been cured by touching the chains of the holy Pope Alexander; she could not cease kissing the hands which had healed her. "Find the chains of blessed "Peter, and kiss them rather than these," said the Pontiff. Balbina, therefore, having fortunately found the Apostle's chains, lavished her pious veneration upon them, and afterwards gave them to the noble Theodora, sister of Hermes.2 The irons which had bound the arms of the Doctor of the Gentiles, without being able to bind the word of God, were also after his martyrdom treasured more than jewels and gold. From Antioch, in Syria, St. John Chrysostom, thinking with holy envy of the lands enriched by these trophies of triumphant bondage, cried out in a sublime transport: "What more "magnificent than these chains? Prisoner for Christ "is a more beautiful name than that of Apostle, "Evangelist, or Doctor. To be bound for Christ's "sake is better than to dwell in the heavens; to sit upon the twelve thrones is not so great an honour. 66 1 Martyrolog. Hieronym., Bed., Raban., Notker. |