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a thousand, yea, ten thousand-fold, be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar!

OBS.-While the priest is giving the Benediction, humbly prostrate, you should adore your living God, and, though profoundly silent, beseech and thank Him for his blessing.

EFFICACIOUS PRAYER TO ST. AGNES. (Model and Patroness of holy purity.)

O

SWEETEST Lord Jesus Christ, source of all virtue, lover of virgins, most powerful conqueror of demons, most severe extirpator of vice; deign to cast thine eyes upon my weakness, and through the intercession of Mary, most blessed Mother and Virgin, and of thy beloved spouse, St. Agnes, glorious virgin and martyr, grant me the aid of thy heavenly grace, in order that I may learn to despise all earthly things, and to love what is heavenly, to walk firmly in the path of virtue, not to seek honours, to shun pleasures, to bewail my past offences, to keep far from the occasions of evil, to keep free from bad habits, to seek the company of the good, and persevere in righteousness, so that, by the assistance of thy grace, I may deserve the crown of eternal life, together with St. Agnes and all the saints, for ever and ever in thy kingdom. Amen.

(100 days indulgence.)

Another efficacious prayer to the Blessed Virgin when under temptation.

M Queen! my Mother! I give thee all myself;

and, to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day my eyes, ears, mouth, heart, myself, wholly and without reserve. Wherefore, O loving Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, defend me as thy property and thy own possession.

My Queen! my Mother! remember I am thine own; keep me, defend me as thy property, thy own possession. (40 days indulgence.)

THE SYMBOL,

OR

Creed of St. Athanasius.

WHOSOEVER will be saved: before all things it

is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.

Which Faith, except everyone shall have kept whole and inviolate, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

Now the Catholic Faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.

Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance.

For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one: the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated.

The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost is incomprehensible. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Ghost is eternal.

And yet they are not three Eternals, but One Eternal.

As neither are there three Uncreated, nor three Incomprehensibles; but One Uncreated, and One Incomprehensible.

In like manner the Father is Almighty, the Son is Almighty, and the Holy Ghost is Almighty.

And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet they are not three Gods, but One God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord; and yet they are not three Lords, but One Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every Person severally to be God and Lord:

So we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three Gods, or three Lords.

The Father is made of no one, neither created, nor begotten.

The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten.

The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but Proceeding.

So there is One Father, not three Fathers; One Son, not three Sons; and One Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less; but the whole three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity is to be worshipped in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity. He, therefore, who will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the right faith is, that we believe and confess : that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and Man.

He is God of the substance of His Father, begotten before the world; and He is Man of the substance of His Mother, born in the world:

Perfect God and Perfect Man; subsisting of a rational soul and human flesh

Equal to the Father according to his Godhead; and less than the Father according to his Manhood.

Who, although He be both God and man, yet He is not two, but One Christ.

One, not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by the taking of the manhood into God.

One altogether, not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.

For as the rational soul and the body is one man, so God and Man is One Christ.

Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead;

He ascended into heaven; sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; but they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic Faith, which, except everyone shall have firmly and faithfully believed, he cannot be saved.

Glory be to the Father, &c.

ORATIO AUDITURI CONFESSIONES.

Da mihi Domine, sedium tuarum assistricem sapientiam, ut sciam judicare populum tuum in justitia, et pauperes tuos in judicio. Fac me ita tractare claves Regni cœlorum, ut nulli aperiam cui claudendum sit, nulli claudam cui aperiendum sit. Sit intentio mea pura, zelus meus sincerus, charitas mea patiens, labor meus fructuosus. Sit in me lenitas non remissa, asperitas non severa, pauperem ne despiciam, diviti ne aduler. Fac me ad alliciendos peccatores suavem, ad interrogandos prudentem, ad instruendos peritum. Tribue, quæso ad retrahendos a malo solertiam, ad confirmandos in bono sedulitatem, ad promovendos ad meliora industriam: in responsis maturitatem, in consiliis rectitudinem, in obscuris lumen, in implexis sagacitatem, in arduis victoriam, inutilibus colloquiis ne detinear, pravis ne contaminer, alios salvem, meipsum non perdam. Amen.

(100 days indulgence once a day.-Pius IX., Mar. 27, 1854.)

PART III.

REGARDING CHIEFLY THE ARCH-CONFRATERNITY OF THE SACRED CINCTURE OF SS. AUGUSTINE AND MONICA.

HIERE is there a child of Holy Church who has not some warm corner in his heart for the sweet Mother of his God? Where is there a pious Christian who has not some peculiar devotion to the ever Blessed Virgin? And most justly so for is not devotion to the Holy Mother of God the surest and safest way which leads to the mansions of everlasting joys, to the bright regions of eternal bliss? Through Mary we come to Jesus. Omnia per Mariam. Jesus Himself knows not how to refuse his Mother; while Mary, too, in turn, who is also our Mother, knows not how to refuse her children.

Now, amongst the many ways of honouring the Heavenly Queen, little reflection will convince there can be none more pleasing to her and efficacious to ourselves than by honouring and venerating her sacred cincture: that cincture which she wore all her life, that cincture which encircled her holy womb during the wondrous in-dwelling of a God, that blessed cincture which she herself deigned to give to St. Monica, the pious mother of our Holy Father, St. Augustine.

On this wondrous gift, on this priceless heavenly treasure, on its excellence, origin, prerogatives, and especially on the immense indulgences with which so

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