"Ave Maris Stella. "Hail thou resplendent star, Which shinest o'er the main ; And ever Virgin Queen. "Hail happy gate of bliss, And cancel Eva's wrong. "Loosen the sinner's bands, "Exert the mother's care, And us thy children own; "O pure, O spotless maid, Whose meekness all surpass'd, "Preserve our lives unstain'd, To joys that ne'er decay. "Praise to the Father be, With Christ his only Son, And to the Holy Ghost, Thrice blessed three in one." "Prayer of St. Bernard.-Remember, O most holy Virgin Mary, that no one ever had recourse to your protection, implored your help, or sought your mediation, without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, behold me a penitent sinner sighing out my sins before you, beseeching you to adopt me for your son, and to take upon you the care of my eternal salvation. Despise not, O Mother of Jesus, the petition of your humble client, but hear and grant my prayer." The "Litany of our Lady of Loretto" deserves to be added: "We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.” "Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. "God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us. "God the Son, the Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. "God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us. 66 66 Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, "Mother most pure, "Mother most chaste, "Mother undefiled, "Mother untouched, "Mother most amiable, 66 Pray for us. "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world— Spare us, O Lord. "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world— Graciously hear us, O Lord. “Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world— Have mercy on us. "Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. "Lord have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us."* The present Pope, Gregory XVI., has shewn his signal attachment to the Virgin, in his Encyclical Letter, addressed to the prelates of the Romish church in 1832, shortly after his assumption of the pontifical dignity. In the beginning of the letter, his holiness observes, "We select for the date of our letter this most joyful day, (Aug. 15,) on which we celebrate the solemn festival of the most blessed Virgin's triumphant as * Garden of the Soul, pp. 134, 169, 296-301. Other specimens of this profane and idolatrous service may be seen, usque ad nauseam, in "The devotion and office of the sacred heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, with its nature, origin, progress, &c.; including the devotion to the heart of the blessed Virgin Mary, &c."-Thirteenth Edition, 1830. sumption into heaven, that she, who has been through every great calamity our Patroness and Protectress, may watch over us, writing to you, and lead our mind by her heavenly influence to those counsels which may prove most salutary to Christ's flock." The closing paragraph contains the following sentences:- -"But that all may have a successful and happy issue, let us raise our eyes to the most blessed Virgin Mary, who alone destroys heresies, WHO IS OUR GReatest hope, YEA, THE ENTIRE GROUND OF OUR HOPE. May she exert her patronage to draw down an efficacious blessing on our desires, our plans, and our proceedings, in the present straitened condition of the Lord's flock."* Gregory XVI. is an idolater: he bows down and worships one who is "no God," and calls upon others to do the same, and yet he is infallible! Relics hardly merit any notice. The reader, will observe, that by them, according to the declaration of the council, “God bestows many benefits upon men." The fathers may be believed: "many benefits," truly, have been enjoyed by monks, and priests, and popes, through the intervention of relics. Happy is that church or monastery which possesses a tooth or bone of some renowned saint, or any, the minutest fragment of the instrument of his martyrdom. There cannot be a surer road to wealth. The shrine shall glitter in diamonds; the treasury shall be replenished with silver and gold. We cannot wonder that the late Pope should so pathetically urge the faithful to visit Rome at the jubilee, that they might see the cradle in which the Saviour was laid, a piece of the true cross, the nails used at the crucifixion, &c. He knew *Laity's Directory, 1833. “Epistolam damus lætissimo hoc die, quo de Virginis Sanctissimæ in Cœlum assumptæ triumpho sollemnia festa peragimus, ut quam Patronum ac Sospitam inter maximas quasque calamitates persensimus, ipsa et scribentibus ad vos nobis adstet propitia, mentemque nostram cœlesti afflatu suo in ea inducat consilia, quæ Christiano Gregi futura sint quam maxime salutaria." "Sed ut omnia hæc prospere ac feliciter eveniant, levemus oculos manusque ad Sanctissimam Virginem Mariam, quæ sola universas hæreses interemit, nostraque maxima fiducia, imo tota ratio est spei nostræ. Suo ipsa patrocinio in tanta Dominici gregis necessitate studiis, consiliis, actionibusque nostris exitus secundissimos imploret." They shew at Rome the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, encased in silver busts, set with jewels; a lock of the Virgin Mary's hair, a phial of her tears, that this was the most effectual method to empty their purses, and fill his own coffers. But what is the tendency of this part of the system? In the first place, it affords ample encouragement to avarice and imposture. When men will believe anything that priests choose to assert, it is too much to suppose that the latter will not take advantage of the credulity of their victims. Accordingly, the grossest frauds have been committed, and are still practised, in connexion with supposed relics. Examination and inquiry would make sad havoc among these imaginary treasures; and a large proportion of them would come off with as little honour as St. Peter's chair at Rome, or the emerald dish in which it was said that our Saviour ate his last supper.* Again, (and the reflection is and a piece of her green petticoat; a robe of Jesus Christ, sprinkled with his blood, some drops of his blood in a bottle, some of the water which flowed out of the wound in his side, some of the sponge, a large piece of the cross, all the nails used in the crucifixion; a piece of the stone of the sepulchre on which the angel sat; the identical porphyry pillar on which the cock perched when he crowed after Peter denied Christ; the rods of Moses and Aaron; and two pieces of the wood of the real ark of the covenant !-Rome in the Nineteenth Century, ii. pp. 234, 289. * "At the extremity of the great nave of St. Peter's, behind the altar, stands a sort of throne, composed of precious materials, and supported by four gigantic pillars. This throne enshrines the real, plain, wormeaten wooden chair, in which St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, is said to have pontificated." When the French were at Rome," they removed its superb casket, and discovered the relic. Upon its mouldering and dusty surface were traced carvings which bore the appearance of letters. The chair was quickly brought into a better light, the dust and cobwebs removed, and the inscription faithfully copied. The writing is in Arabic characters, and is the well-known confession of Mahometan faith,-'There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet.'" It is supposed that the chair was brought from Palestine by the crusaders.-Lady Morgan's Italy, iii. p. 81. [Since the first edition of this work was published, Dr. Wiseman has printed his" Remarks on Lady Morgan's Statements regarding St. Peter's Chair preserved in the Vatican Basilic." The learned Doctor endeavours to shew that the chair in question belonged to some wealthy Roman senator, as the bassirelievi sculptured on it represent "the exploits of the monster-quelling Hercules ;" and further, that Lady Morgan was misinformed on the subject, having confounded this chair with a stone chair at Venice, which was long venerated as St. Peter's chair at Antioch, but has been proved to be a Mahometan relic. The pamphlet is worthy the attention of the curious in these matters, and is liable to pretty severe animadversion.] The church of St. Lorenzo, in Genoa, possessed a most sacred relic: a dish |