"how indignant we should be if Mary were jealous "of Martha!" And St. Jude tells us the awful judgment of the Angels who kept not their principality, the familiar friends of God who forsook their own habitation.2 Keep up in religious families established by their fathers on heights that touch the clouds the sense of their inborn nobility: they are not made for the dust and noise of the plain; and did they come down to it, they would injure both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not, any more than thou, O Magdalene, become indifferent to the lost sheep; but they take the surest of all means for purifying the earth and drawing souls to God. From thy church at Vezelay thou didst look down one day upon a vast multitude eagerly receiving the cross; they were about to undertake that immortal Crusade, not the least glory whereof is to have supernaturalized the sentiments of honour in the hearts of those Christian warriors armed for the defence of the holy Sepulchre. A similar lesson was given to the world at the beginning of last century: Napoleon, intoxicated with power, would raise to himself and his army a Temple of glory; before the building was completed he was swept away, and the temple was dedicated to thee. O Mary! bless this last homage of thy beloved France, whose people and princes have always surrounded with deepest veneration thy hallowed retreat at Sainte Baume, and thy church at Saint Maximin, where rest thy precious relics. In return, teach them and teach us all, that the only true and lasting glory is to follow with thee in his ascensions him who once sent thee to us, saying: Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend 1 BERN. Sermo. III. in Assumpt. B.M.V. 2 St. Jude 6. to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God! During the different seasons of the year Holy Church inserts in their proper places, as so many precious pearls, the various passages of the Gospel relating to St. Mary Magdalene; for the particulars of her life after the Ascension we are referred to the feast of her sister, St. Martha, which we shall keep in a week's time. To the liturgical pieces already given in this work in praise of St. Magdalene we add the following ancient Sequence, well known in the churches of Germany, to which we subjoin a Responsory and the Collect of the feast from the Roman Breviary: SEQUENCE. Praise be to thee, O Christ, Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour, Of heaven and earth and seas, of Angels and of men, Whom we confess to be both God and Man, Who didst come in order to save sinners, Thyself without sin, taking the appearance of sin. Among this poor flock, thou didst visit the Chanaanite woman and Mary Magdalene. From the same table thou didst nourish the one with the crumbs of the Divine Word, the other with thy inebriating cup. While thou art seated at the typical feast in the house of Simon the Leper, The Pharisee murmurs, while the woman weeps conscious of her guilt. PENT. IV. Laus tibi, Christe, qui es creator et redemptor, idem et salvator, Coli, terræ, maris, angelorum et hominum, Quem solum Deum confitemur et hominem. Qui peccatores venisti ut salvos faceres, Sine peccato peccati assumens formulam. Quorum de grege, ut Chananæam, Mariam visitasti Magdalenam. Eadem mensa Verbi divini illam micis, hanc refovens poculis. In domo Simonis leprosi conviviis accubans typicis, Murmurat pharisæus, ubi plorat fœmina criminis conscia. N Peccator contemnit compeccantem, peccati nescius, pœnitentem exaudis, emundas foedam, adamas, ut pulchram facias. Pedes amplectitur dominicos, lacrymis lavat, tergit crinibus, lavando, tergendo, unguento unxit, osculis circuit. Hæc sunt convivia, quæ tibi placent, o Patris Sapientia. Natus de Virgine qui non dedignaris tangi de peccatrice. A pharisæo es invitatus, Mariæ ferculis saturatus. Multum dimittis multum, amanti, nec crimen postea repetenti. Dæmoniis eam septem mundas septiformi Spiritu. Ex mortuis te surgentem das cunctis videre priorem. Hac, Christe, proselytam signas Ecclesiam, quam ad filiorum mensam vocas alienigenam. Quam inter convivia legis et gratiæ spernit pharisæi fastus, lepra vexat hæretica. Qualis sit tu scis, tangit te quia peccatrix, quia veniæ optatrix. Quidnam haberet ægra, The sinner despises his fellow-sinner; thou, sinless One, hearest the prayer of the penitent, cleansest her from stains, lovest her so as to make her beautiful. She embraces the feet of her Lord, washes them with her tears, dries them with her hair; washing and wiping them, she anoints them with sweet ointment, and covers them with kisses. Such, O Wisdom of the Father, is the banquet that delights thee! Though born of a Virgin, thou dost not disdain to be touched by a sinful woman. The Pharisee invited thee, but it is Mary that gives thee a feast. Thou forgivest much to her that loves much, and that falls not again into sin. From seven devils dost thou free her by thy sevenfold Spirit. To her, when thou risest from the dead, thou showest thyself first of all. By her, O Christ, thou dost designate the Gentile Church, the stranger whom thou callest to the children's table; Who, at the feast of the Law and at the feast of grace, is despised by the pride of Pharisees, and harassed by leprous heresy. Thou knowest what manner of woman she is ; it is because she is a sinner that she touches thee, and because she longs for pardon, What could she have, poor JULY 23. SAINT APOLLINARIS, BISHOP AND MARTYR. RAVENNA, the mother of cities, invites us to-day to honour the martyr bishop, whose labours did more for her lasting renown than did the favour of emperors and kings. From the midst of her ancient monuments, the rival of Rome, though now fallen, points proudly to her unbroken chain of Pontiffs, which she can trace back to the Vicar of the ManGod through Apollinaris. This great Saint has been praised by Fathers and Doctors of the Universal Church, his sons and successors. Would to God that the noble city had remembered what she owed to St. Peter. Apollinaris had left family and fatherland, and all he possessed to follow the Prince of the Apostles. One day the master said to the disciple: "Why "stayest thou here with us? Behold thou art in"structed in all that Jesus did; rise up, receive the "Holy Ghost, and go to that city which knows him "not.' And blessing him, he kissed him and sent him away. Such sublime scenes of separation, often witnessed in those early days, and many a time since repeated, show by their heroic simplicity the grandeur of the Church. 1 Passio S. Apollin. ap. Bolland. |