"Ementissimi Patres, auditis Consultorum votis, rescripserunt: Affirmativé ad primam partem;' 'Negativè ad secundam.' Et facta per me infrascriptum Secretarium relatione S. D. N. Leoni Papæ XIII. in Audientia diei 21 dicti mensis et anni, Sanctitas Sua votum S. Congregationis benignè adprobavit."

"Al. Card. Oreglia à S. Stephano Præf.

"A. Panici, Secretarius."

The Indulgences contained in the above-mentioned Summary, so often approved, are all those found in the Tables II., IV., and V, of this Manual; and therefore they may be regarded as authentic, and as such, be freely and safely published.

Besides the privileges thus specially and exclusively attached to the Archconfraternity of the B. V. Mary of Consolation, Clement X. has declared its members to be partakers of all the other indulgences of the Church by communication; so that by adhering to its rules and practising its devotions, they enjoy the spiritual benefits to be obtained in all other confraternities and sodalities equally with their regularly enrolled associates.

As this communication of privileges is still in force, and is, moreover, a matter of such importance, we shall devote a little space further on for a more complete explanation.

To return to the origin and progress of the devotion to the Cincture. No sooner did Pope Eugene IV. erect the Archconfraternity and permit the laity to be invested with and gain the indulgences attached to the Sacred Cincture of SS. Augustine and Monica, than people of all ranks and station flocked round the Augustinians to obtain so great a favour. To such an extent did this devotion spread, like that of the Rosary in later years, that princes, magistrates, warriors, and nobles gloried in the cincture, and esteemed it of far more moment, as a sign of devotion to Our Lady of Consolation, than the rich robes of their high estate, or the glittering seals of their lofty office. Wherever the spiritual children of St. Augustine were established, perpetuating the work

of their illustrious and glorious Father and Founder, and labouring for their individual sanctification and for the glory of God, there, too, was propagated and perpetuated the Devotion of the Cincture. Even now at the present day, in no part of the world, do we find the spot, be it ever so distant from the centre of unity, in which we cannot discover that self-same devotion to the Cincture, whilst we perceive on all sides a manifest eagerness to become enrolled in its ranks. America and Australia, even though of so comparatively recent discovery, are centres in which the Cincture draws in its ample sway large multitudes of the faithful. Thus by this one especial devotion to the Cincture is Mary known, loved, and served throughout the universe, verifying what she herself says in her beautiful canticle, "All nations shall call me blessed," and wonderfully fulfilling her own promise: "This Cincture is to become the wonder of the universe at a future day." (Tradition of its origin, Chap. II.)

In the Greek Church we find a special Festival celebrated not only twice every year, but wherein there is even a weekly custom of venerating the Cincture of our Blessed Lady.

The solemn Festival is kept on the 31st of August, called the "Invention of the Sacred Cincture of the Blessed Virgin ;" and on the 2nd of July is celebrated another Feast in honour of its Translation, which was carried out with most solemn pomp in the year 450, at the instance of Blessed Pulcheria, the daughter of the Emperor Arcadius and sister of the Emperor Theodosius the Second. This pious princess had the Cincture translated from Jerusalem to Constantinople, where she erected a magnificent church for guarding two most precious treasures, namely, the swaddling clothes of the Infant Jesus, and the Holy Cincture of his Mother. It was in this church that every Wednesday of the year she had vigils kept and continual prayers said throughout the night. A Greek historian of great renown, Nicephorus Calistus, relates this in one of his works: "Pulcheria, the daughter of Arcadius, hath also erected,

from their very foundations, three Temples to the Mother of God, whereof one is in the Chalcoprateio, i.e. Square of the Smiths, having the name and title of the Sacred Tomb. And herein she deposited the Zone, or Girdle of the Mother of God, as an inestimable treasure. In this Temple she constituted, and appointed that, on the fourth day of every week, there should be held a watching and procession of lights and lamps, which she also used to frequent on foot."

St. Germain, Archbishop of Constantinople, at the beginning of the eighth century, likewise testifies to the presence of this holy Cincture in the above Temple in Constantinople, during his own time (A.D. 720); and, indeed, not only made it the subject of his pulpit oratory, but also composed a very devout prayer upon it.

Euthimius, also, a monk in the tenth century, speaks in a sermon of this Cincture of Our Blessed Lady, as being preserved entire, untarnished, and undecayed after nine hundred years.

The holy treasure appears to have remained in Constantinople until the Venetians captured the city, in the tine of the Doge Dandalus (A. D. 1204). It was brought home by them to Venice, and placed by them in the Treasury of the Cathedral of St. Mark. The veritable Cincture worn by our Holy Mother, St. Monica, is carefully preserved to this present day in our Convent of St. Augustine in Rome, along with her holy remains. This Cincture, too, has been the instrument of many wonderful miracles.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE EXCELLENCE OF THE CINCTURE IN THE WONDERS IT HAS EFFECTED.

THE mere consideration, then, of the origin of our Cincture further proves and intensifies its exceeding excellence. Further might this excellence be shown, had we sufficient space, by a reflection on the great number of saints who have worn it; on the countless number of

men and women it has sanctified, a vast multitude of whom have been made holy to such a heroic degree that they have been found worthy to take their rank amongst the canonised and beatified children of Holy Church. Of the Augustinian Order alone, ecclesiastical writers enumerate more than sixteen thousand who have attained this exalted dignity. And what might not be said of the members of the Forty other Orders and Religious Congregations who wear the sacred leather and follow the Rule of our Holy Father? Further again might the excellence of the Cincture be manifest by a consideration of the prodigies, miracles, or marvellous blessings to which it has given rise. It is to be regretted we must pass over these interesting facts handed down to us. But, much as our space is limited, on one species of extraordinary virtue which has been found over and over again in the wearing of the holy Cincture, it seems a duty to notice, en passant. To do so as briefly as possible we shall quote the testimony and words of a holy nun of our Order, who lived in the fifth century. Alluding to its efficacy in dangerous and difficult cases of labour, St. Melania thus wrote: "That whosoever had religiously used this holy Cincture, at the time of painful disorders, especially in that of labour, would be happily delivered."

After reading these and the many prodigies of various kinds in the annals handed down to us, we cease to be surprised at the fervid words in form of prayer used by St. Germain and the holy monk Euthimius: "O Sacred Cincture! which for so long a time encircled the blessed body of the Mother of God; that was at times moistened with her pure milk, ay, that may have been dyed with drops of the most Precious Blood of Jesus; and that hence hath, as from a heavenly and divine ointment, retained the sweetest odour for curing the evils and infirmities of mortals. O Sacred Cincture! which to them who have recourse to you, dost give so effectual a mortification to their loins, as to repress their vices. O Sacred Cincture! that dost bind up and fortify the weakness of our vicious nature, and dost disappoint the treacherous snares and ambuscades of our visible and

invisible enemies. O Cincture! most worthy to be revered and esteemed by all," &c. .

Furthermore, the excellence and prerogatives of our Cincture are made conspicuous by the extraordinary indulgences we behold, even in this Manual, to have been lavished upon the wearers of it by so many Pontiffs. And this thought naturally suggests a few words:

CHAPTER V.

ON THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF INDULGENCES.

TWO great reasons should convince the Christian of the importance, not to say necessity, of gaining as many indulgences as possible; first for one's own spiritual advantage, namely, to forestall and prevent a long term of unutterable suffering in purgatory; and, secondly, to have the consoling power to help those who have gone before us into those scorching flames.

What is an indulgence?

A relaxation of the temporal punishment due to sin after its guilt is remitted.

From what sources are indulgences derived?

From the superabundant merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, also from those of Mary our Blessed Lady and the Saints.

Who gave the Church the power of granting indulgences?

Her Divine Spouse, Christ Jesus, our most beloved Redeemer. (Conc. Const. Sess. 16; Trid., Sess. 25. Matt. 18-19.)

What dispositions are necessary to gain an indulgence?

Three: First, to be in the state of grace; for the temporal punishment due to sin cannot be remitted until the guilt itself is removed. Secondly, to resolve efficaciously to make atonement to Almighty God by penitential and other good works for the injury done Him by our sin. Thirdly, to fulfil the conditions duly pre