APR. 14. SS. TIBURTIUS, VALERIAN, AND MAXIMUS. 353

The Church now makes a commemoration only of our three great Martyrs.

The two following Lessons are extremely short. The reason is, that this Feast is very ancient; and in the early ages of the Church, Simple Offices, as they are called, were extremely frequent; and it was only for great Feasts, that three Nocturns were said, each with three Lessons.

Valerian, a Roman by birth, and of a noble family, was married to the blessed Cecily, who was of equal nobility. By the advice of this virgin, he and his brother Tiburtius were baptised by the holy Pope Urban, under the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus. Almachius, the City Prefect, having been informed that they had become Christians, had distributed their patrimony among the poor, and were burying the bodies of the Christians, he summoned them before him, and severely rebuked them. Finding, however, that they persevered in confessing Christ to be God, and in proclaiming the gods to be but vain images of devils, he ordered them to be scourged.

But they were not to be induced, by this scourging, to adore the idols of Jupiter; they continued firm in the profession of the true Faith: they were, therefore, beheaded four miles out of Rome. One of the Prefect's officials, by name Maximus, who had been appointed to lead them to execution, was filled with admiration at seeing the courage

PASCH TIME. II.

Valerianus Romanus, nobili genere ortus, Alexandro

Severo Imperatore, hortatu beatæ Cæciliæ, Virginis, quam sibi pari nobilitate uxorem desponderat, una cum Tiburtio fratre a sancto Urbano papa baptizatur. Quos ubi præfectus Urbis Almachius christianos esse cognovit, et patrimonio pauperibus distributo, Christianorum corpora sepelire, accersitos graviter reprehendit : atque ubi Christum Deum constanter confitentes, deos autem dæmoniorum inania simulacra prædicantes videt, virgis cædi jubet.

fecti ministris; qui paulo post plumbatis contusi, omnes ex diaboli ministris Christi Domini martyres evaserunt.

wherewith they suffered, and professed himself to be a Christian, as did likewise several other servants of the Prefect. Not long after, they were all beaten to death with whips loaded with plummets of lead; and thus, from being slaves of the devil, they became Martyrs of Christ our Lord.

Holy and precious fruits of the great Cæcilia's apostolate! we this day unite with the blessed Spirits in celebrating your entrance into the court of heaven. Thou, O Valerian, wast led to Faith, and to the sublimest of all virtues, by thy noble spouse; thou wast the first to enter into the joy of the Lord; but, in a few days, thy Cecily followed thee, and the love, begun on earth, was made eternal in heaven. Speaking of thee and her, an Angel said, that your Roses and Lilies should never fade; their fragrance of love and purity is sweeter by far now, than when they bloomed here below. Thou, O Tiburtius !-brother of these two angels of earth!-thou owest to them thy beautiful Martyr's palm; thou art a sharer in their eternal happiness, and the three names, Cæcilia, Valerian, and Tiburtius, are to be for ever united in the admiration of Angels and men. The sight of the two brothers suffering so bravely for Christ, inflamed thy ambition, O Maximus, to imitate them; the God of Cæcilia became thine; thou sheddest thy blood for him; and he, in return, has put thee in heaven near Cæcilia, Valerian and Tiburtius, to whom, whilst on earth, thou wast so inferior by birth and position.

Now, therefore, O holy Martyrs, be our protectors, and hear the prayers we address unto you. Speak in our favour to the Immortal King, for whom you so bravely fought and died; ask him to fill our hearts with his love, and make us generous like you. You

APR. 14. SS. TIBURTIUS, VALERIAN, AND MAXIMUS. 355

despised this fleeting life; we, too, must despise it, if we would share in the happiness you now enjoy,the sight of our Risen Lord. The battle we have to fight may, perhaps, be different from yours; but the reward that awaits us is, like your own, everlasting. Rather than betray Christ, you laid down your lives; our duty is the same, we must die rather than sin. Pray for us, O holy Martyrs, that our lives may, henceforward, be such as will honour this year's Pasch. Pray, also, for the Church of Rome, your Mother; her days of trial have returned; she has a right to count upon your intercession, for obtaining the help she needs.

APRIL 17.

SAINT ANICETUS,

POPE AND MARTYR.

A POPE and Martyr of the second century appears on the Calendar to-day. The Martyrs stand in clusters near our Risen Lord; they are the Eagles, of which he speaks in his Gospel, as gathering together around their longed-for object.1 Anicetus is not the only Pope, whose Martyrdom has to be celebrated during Paschal Time; others will come, adding to our Easter joy. The Saint who claims our attention today, is one of those whose holy actions are shrouded in the venerable gloom of the Church; and yet, his memory will be held in veneration to the end of time, not only as being the eleventh successor of St. Peter, in the See of Rome, but as having imitated him also in holiness of life. St. Polycarp, whose Feast we kept on the twenty-sixth of January, came from Smyrna to Rome, in order to visit him and receive his advice. There have also been transmitted to us one or two instances of the zeal, wherewith he defended the Church against the heresiarchs, Valentine and Marcion. In a word, we know that he was a Martyr; and that is enough to immortalise his

name.

The Church makes the following commemoration of the holy Pontiff.

1 St. Matth. xxiv. 28.

Anicetus, a Syrian by birth, governed the Church during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He passed a decree, which forbade Clerics to nourish their hair. The ordinations, which he held in five Decembers, gave seventeen Priests, four Deacons, and nine Bishops for divers places. His Pontificate lasted eight years, eight months, and twenty-four days. He was crowned with Martyrdom for the Christian Faith, and was buried, on the fifteenth of the Kalends of May (April 17th), in the Cemetery, (afterwards called the Cemetery of Callixtus,) which is on the Appian Way.

Anicetus Syrus, imperatore Marco Aurelio Antonino, præfuit Ecclesiæ. Decrevit, ne clerici comam nutrirent. Quinquies mense decembri ordinavit presbyteros decem et septem, diaconos quatuor, episcopos per diversa loca novem. Vixit in Pontificatu annos octo, menses octo, dies viginti quatuor. Propter Christi fidem Martyrio coronatus, sepultus est via Appia in cemeterio, quod postea Callisti appellatum est, decimo quinto kalendas maii.

Holy Pontiff! who so many long ages ago wast made partaker of the glory of Him, whose Vicar and Martyr thou hadst the privilege to be, we this day celebrate thy blessed memory with filial affection. In thee we venerate one of the pillars of the early Church; and though thy name has been handed down to us, without the history of those holy deeds, which merited for thee a Martyr's palm, we at least know that it was dear to the Faithful of the age in which thou livedst. Now that thou art in heaven, thy zeal for the glory of God is greater than it was when thou wast on this earth; pray, then, for the Church of these sad times. Upwards of two hundred Pontiffs have followed thee upon the Chair of Peter; and Christ has not yet come to judge the world. Assist thy Successor who is our Father; assist the Flock intrusted to his charge, for the dangers that now threaten us are extreme. Thy Pontificate was during a stormy period; pray to our Risen Jesus, that he would quell the tempest that is