Through the strength of his love and his zeal for Justice he deems this outward heat but dew; the fire that burns but not consumes, outdoes thy heaped-up coals, O impious minister. Thou knowest not the virtue of the mustard-seed, unless thou touch it, unless thou crush it; and more fragrant is the incense when it smokes upon the fire; even so, the martyr, oppressed and burned with suffering and with heat, exhales more fully the fragrance of his virtue. O Laurence exceedingly honourable, having conquered a king, thou hast become an eminent king, thou, brave soldier of the King of kings, who didst make small account of sufferings when fighting for Justice; thou who didst overcome so many evils by contemplating the good things of Christ, make us by the grace of thy merits, spurn evil and rejoice in good. Amen. Hunc ardorem Parum sapis Sub ardore, O Laurenti, laute nimis, Certans pro Justitia; "Thrice blessed are the Roman people, for they "honour thee on the very spot where thy sacred "bones repose! They prostrate in thy sanctuary, PENT. IV. 2 A 66 66 "and watering the ground with their tears they pour "out their vows. We who are distant from Rome, 'separated by Alps and Pyrenees, how can we even "imagine what treasures she possesses, or how "rich is her earth in sacred tombs ? We have not "her privileges, we cannot trace the martyrs' bloody footsteps; but from afar we gaze on the heavens. "O holy Laurence! it is there we seek the memorial "of thy passion; for thou hast two dwelling-places, "that of thy body on earth and that of thy soul in "heaven. In the ineffable heavenly city thou hast "been received to citizenship, and the civic crown "adorns thy brow in its eternal Senate. So brightly "shine thy jewels that it seemeth the heavenly Rome "hath chosen thee perpetual Consul. The joy of the "Quirites proves how great is thine office, thine 'influence, and thy power, for thou grantest their "requests. Thou hearest all who pray to thee, they "ask what they will and none ever goes away sad. 66 "Ever assist thy children of the queen city; give "them the strong support of thy fatherly love, and a "mother's tender, fostering care. Together with them, "O thou honour of Christ, listen to thy humble client confessing his misery and sins. I acknowledge that "I am not worthy that Christ should hear me; but "through the patronage of the holy Martyrs, my evils "can be remedied. Hearken to thy suppliant; in thy "goodness free me from the fetters of the flesh and of "the world."1 1 PRUDENT. AUGUST 11. SECOND DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ST. LAURENCE. SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA, MARTYRS. LAURENCE is followed to-day by the son of Chromatius, prefect of Rome, Tiburtius, who also suffered upon burning coals for the confession of his faith. Though forty years intervened between the two martyrdoms, it was the same Holy Spirit that animated these witnesses of Christ and suggested to them the same answer to their executioners. Tiburtius, walking upon the fire, cried out: "Learn "that the God of the Christians is the only God, for "these hot coals seem flowers to me." Equally near to the great Archdeacon stands an illustrious virgin, so bright herself as not to be eclipsed by him. A relative of both the Emperor Diocletian and the holy Pope Caius, Susanna, it is said, one day beheld the imperial crown at her feet. But she obtained a far greater nobility; for, by preferring the wreath of virginity, she won at the same time the palm of martyrdom. Now, as St. Leo remarks, on the glorious solemnity whose Octave we are keeping, if no one is good for himself alone, if the favours of Divine Wisdom profit not only the recipient, then, no one is more wise than the martyr, no eloquence can instruct the people so well as his. It is by this excellent manner of teaching that, as the Church tells us to-day, "Laurence enlightened the whole world with the "light of his fire, and by the flames which he endured "he warmed the hearts of all Christians. By the "example of his martyrdom, faith is enkindled and "devotion fostered in our souls. The persecutor lays 66 no hot coals for me, but he sets me on fire with "desire of my Saviour." If, moreover, and it is not mere theory to repeat it in our days, if, as St. Augustine remarks, "circumstances place a man in "the alternative of transgressing a divine precept or "losing his life, he too must know how to die for "the love of God, rather than live at enmity with "him." Morality does not change, neither does the justice of God, who in all ages rewards the faithful, as in all ages be chastises cowards. The Mozarabic Missal eloquently expresses the grandeur of St. Laurence's martyrdom in this beautiful formula which precedes the Consecration on the day of his feast. POST SANCTUS. Hosanna in excelsis: vere dignum et justum est, omni quidem tempore, sed præcipue in honorem Sanctorum tuorum, nos tibi gratias, consempiterna Trinitas et consubstantialis et co-operatrix omnium bonorum Deus, et pro beatissimi Martyris tui Laurentii celeberrimo die, laudum hostias immolare. Cujus gloriosum passionis triumphum, anni circulo revolutum, Ecclesia tua læta Hosanna in the highest. It is truly meet and just, at all times, but especially in honour of thy saints, to return thanks to thee, O God, co-eternal Trinity, consubstantial and co-operatrix of all good things, and to offer sacrifices of praise on this illustrious day of thy most blessed martyr Laurence. The glorious triumph of whose passion brought round again by the circle of the year, the Church doth joyfully cele 'Pseudo-AUG. Sermo 30 de Sanctis. 2 AUG. Tract. in Joan. 51. brate for in teaching he was nearly equal to thine Apostles; but in the confession of his Lord not unequal. Headorned the snow-white robe of the Levite with the purple of the blood of martyrdom: thou didst so inflame his heart with thy fire which thou camest to cast on the earth, that he felt not the visible fire; by the strong purpose of his mind he overcame the flames that surrounded his body; and strong in faith, feared not the burning coal. Placed upon the gridiron, thy chaste minister offered himself a new sacrifice to thee: and burnt as a holocaust upon the altar, sent up a sweet savour to the Lord. There the incomparable Martyr, while his heart and bowels and the marrow of his bones were melting away, suffered his limbs to be roasted, with invincible virtue of patience. There stretched out he lay hanging over the fire: crude impiety broiled the holocaust of piety, and inhaled the hot vapours from the liquefying members. Thy minister laid his own body on the altar, a new kind of sacrifice to be celebrated. The praiseworthy Levite was to himself both pontiff and victim. And he who had been a minister at the offering of the Lord's Body, in offering himself performed the office of priest. concelebrat: Apostolis quidem tuis in doctrina supparem: sed in Domini confessione non imparem. Qui niveam illam stolam Leviticam, martyrii cruore purpureo decoravit: cujus cor in igne tuo, quem veneras mittere super terram, ita flammasti: ut ignem istum visibilem non sentiret: et appositas corpori flammas mentis intentione superaret: ardentemque globum fide validus non timeret. Quique craticulæ superpositus, novum sacrificium tibi semetipsum castus minister exhibuit: et veluti super aram holocausti more decoctus, saporem Domino suavitatis ingessit. In quo incomparabilis Martyr præcordiis pariter ac visceribus medullisque liquescentibus desudavit, ac defluentia membra torreri invicta virtute patientiæ toleravit. In quo extensus ac desuper fixus, subjectis jacuit ac pependit incendiis: et holocaustum pietatis cruda coxit impietas: quæ sudorem liquescentium viscerum bibulis vaporibus suscepit. Supra quam velut super altare corpus suum, novi generis sacrificium celebrandum minister imposuit: et Levita prædicandus ipse sibi Pontifex et hostia fuit. Et qui fuerat minister Dominici corporis, in offerendo semetipsum officio functus est sacerdotio. |