What is the good of so much luxury in churches? According to them, whatever is done to honour God is so much lost. This language is not new: it was that of Judas, murmuring against Magdalen, who had poured out a precious ointment on the feet of the Saviour. Truly, our modern Judases can with a good grace complain of the magnificence of Catholic worship! See, they call themselves the friends of the people, and they take it well that riches should be lavished on the most unworthy creatures, on theatres that corrupt morals, on amusements of every kind; but they bewail the expenses incurred in the demonstrations of religion, because such demonstrations instruct men, excite them to virtue, and console them with the hope of future happiness! They pretend pity for the miseries of the people, and not only are they unwilling to retrench anything from their own comforts in order to relieve them, but they even wish to deprive them of the only means left of cheering and encouraging them: which is done in the temple of the Lord by motives of religion.

It would doubtless be better, in their opinion, that the people should go and enjoy themselves in places of debauchery and schools of vice. Hence, such attractions have been multiplied. But where shall they go who fear the infection of these dens, and who do not wish to be perverted? Ah! let us leave fools to rave, and, for ourselves, consult the simple light of reason and the experience of all

nations.

Yes, there must be a certain luxury in our churches, because it is necessary to give men a high idea of the Divine Majesty, and to make worship deserving of respect. The only way to succeed herein is by the help of external pomp. Man cannot be taken but by his senses: this is the principle from which we must set out. It will be impossible to captivate his imagination, if we do not place before his eyes some objects to which he attaches great value.

Unless the people find in religion the same magnificence that they find in civil ceremonies-unless they see as pompous a homage rendered to God as is rendered to earthly powers-what idea will they form of the greatness of the Master whom they adore? This is the reflection of St. Thomas. Protestants feel to-day the sad consequences of that nudity to which they have reduced divine worship. Even an infidel admits that the retrenchments made on divine worship in England have banished piety and encouraged atheism and irreligion there. Hence, our separated brethren reestablish gradually in their temples those ancient symbols which their forefathers pulled down, burned, and profaned with so much fury and blindness.'

'Bergier, art. Culte.

If, therefore, we adorn churches, it is not because God has any need of this magnificence, but because we have need of it in order to raise ourselves towards Him. We ought to offer Him our gold, our riches, our masterpieces of art, because it is a duty to render the homage of all these things to Him from whom wealth and talents come. This tribute of gratitude and adoration is a title to new benefits, while ingratitude is like a scorching wind, which dries up the source of graces. From this new point of view, the pomp of worship is also entirely for our own interest.

Our Lord, it is true, was born in a crib, and instituted the Blessed Eucharist in a room. By this simplicity and poverty, He wished to show us His immense love, which, to be shown, did not need the grandeur of edifices or the pomp of ceremonies. Ye poor of all generations! He wished to teach you that you also might participate in the mysteries of His love, and that He would vouchsafe to dwell even in your thatched chapels.

He also wished to teach Christians that true worship is a worship of the mind and the heart, and thereby to preserve us from the illusions of carnal people, strongly inclined to imagine that a display of ceremonies and a multitude of victims are all that the Lord requires of them. But He did not wish to forbid the magnificence of external worship. Otherwise, He would have abandoned the Church His Spouse to the spirit of deceit, He would have ignored human nature, He would have sought the annihilation of religion. Let us remark, moreover, that He Himself set an example of the luxury which He required in His churches. If He was born in a stable, He wished to have for the institution of the Eucharist a a large and well-furnished apartment-grande, stratum !

External pomp should pass from the material to the living temple, that is to say, to man. One ought to be better dressed on festivals, in order to show more respect for God; in order to acknowledge that all goods come from Him, and that all ought to be consecrated to His service. This sentiment is so natural that it is in the hearts of all men. The poor man himself, the simple rustic, understands it so well, that, to join religious assemblies on feast days, he attires himself in his very best style.

It ought to be so, that outward apparel may remind one of purity of soul; that the disparity placed by fortune between the rich and the poor may vanish somewhat before the Sovereign Master, in whose eyes all men are equal. It was already the same in the Old Law. Jacob, about to offer a sacrifice as the head of his house, ordered his people to wash themselves and to change their

'Someone bas said that whoever does not dress well on Sunday is an infidel.

clothes. God commanded the same thing to the Hebrews, when He was going to give them His law on Mount Sinai. This external mark of respect is found among all nations. All, without exception, blend with the homage that they render to the Deity the utmost pomp in their power.3

Do not think that this outward apparel, this festive look is without influence on the mind and the heart. Oh, no; for it excites and indicates the internal dispositions with which one ought to go to church. Above all it awakens that sentiment which ought to predominate above every other, the sentiment of joy. In point of fact, to visit the church is to visit our Father's house, the house where He waits for us with open arms and a burning heart, to welcome and embrace us, to feed us with His heavenly bread, and to enebriate us with His delicious wine.

To visit the church is to visit the house where we were born; where we tasted our first joys: where our mind was opened to truth and our heart to innocence; where our steps were strengthened in the paths of happiness, which are always near those of innocence; where we meet again the friends of our childhood and all our dear relations, and where we pray with and for them, as they themselves pray with and for us; where we eat together the same blessed food, reminding us that we are all members of one family; where all our voices mingle with those of the angels in their everlasting canticle to the praise of our Father: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, of angels and men!

To visit the church, near which is the cemetery, is perhaps to visit the grave of our mother, our sister, or our brother, on which it will be permitted us to lay, as we pass, a tear, a prayer, or a flower. To visit the church is to visit the place where the rich shall be told to give alms to the poor; the great, to be protectors of the little and the weak; masters, to treat their servants kindly; all, to love, to help, and to forgive one another as children of the same family, and to have but one heart and one soul. Why should we not be filled with gladness, like the Israelites invited to the temple of Jerusalem: We rejoiced at the news that we should soon go to the House of the Lord 2 Full of these sentiments, let us set out for the church. That we may respect and love it still more, let us be sure to know it well. A history and description of it will here

be useful.

From the beginning, our ancestors had places set apart for the assemblies of religion and the offering of the holy mysteries." But 1 Gen., xxxv, 2. 2 Exod., xix, 10. 3 Bergier, art. Culte. 4 Psal., cxxi. 5 S. Clem., Epist. i, n. 40; S. Ign., Epist. ad Magnes., n. 7; Clem. Alex., Strom., 1. VII, &c.

it is in the catacombs that we must look for the first elements and models of our churches. All that we behold herein reminds us of those ever-venerable places: we make the remark when speaking of each part of the church. When it was permitted Christians to celebrate their worship in the broad daylight, they hastened to build churches, and to arrange them in the manner most convenient for the observance of the ceremonies used in those days of holy memory. The Church was divided into seven parts, as shown on the plan below:

3

3

It is certain, says the celebrated antiquary Bottari, that the little chapels of the Catacombs were the rude types of the churches and basilicas that were built afterwards: "E certo che queste cappellette . . . furono un rozzissimo abozzo delle chiese e delle basiliche edificate dipoi." T. III, p. 75. See our Histoire des Catacombes, in which we have given a detailed description of subterranean churches, and shown that they, not pagan basilicas, were the patterns of our churches.

We take as our guides the antiquaries of Rome. They are more to be relied on than any others: the reason is easily understood. See Mamachi, t. I.

1. The Porch or Outer Vestibule.' This was an oblong space at the entrance of the church. It was covered, and the covering was supported by pillars, placed along at intervals. Emperors looked forward to it as an honour to be buried under the vestibule of a church. This made St. Chrysostom say that emperors were in the house of the fishermen, that is to say, in temples dedicated to the Apostle, what porters were in the house of the emperors.

2. The Cloister. From the vestibule, one passed into the cloister. This was a kind of alley, supported by pillars, and surrounding the third part of the church, called the parvise. It was here that penitents of the first class remained. They were termed flentes or weepers, because they wept for their sins, and implored the pity of the Faithful who entered the church.

3. The Parvise. The parvise was a square court. It had no other covering than the sky, and no other lamps than the sun, moon, and stars, that all those who entered it might contemplate at leisure the beauty of the heavens, and prepare themselves by the adoration of the God of nature for the adoration of the God of redemption. In the middle of the parvise was a fountain, a symbol of purification: all washed their hands and faces here before going farther. On the basin of the fountain were engraven these words, "Wash your sins and not merely your faces." 994

This fountain was blessed by the Priest on the eve or the day of the Epiphany. Suppressed in the course of time, it was replaced by holy water fonts. The custom of purifying oneself with water before appearing in the presence of God is as old as the world. The Patriarchs and the Jews observed it. We find it among the Pagans, though incredulous guardians of revelation. Thus, at the first step we make in the church, we meet with a souvenir of the most venerable antiquity. Would that, when taking holy water, we were animated with the same sentiments of respect and compunction as our virtuous ancestors! For this purpose, let us remember that holy water, taken with respect and compunction, effaces venial sins."

4. The Inner Vestibule. Going forward, one passed from the parvise into the inner vestibule. In large churches, this inner vestibule was separated from the nave by a wall. Here were placed the catechumens, the energumens, and the penitents called audientes or hearers, because it was permitted them to hear the hymns and

This vestibule was called nartex, that is to say, rod or baton, because of its long shape. Claustrum. 4 Gen., xxxv. 5 Ibid., XXXV. S. Thomas, 3 p., q. 65, art. 1. See our Traité de l'eau bénite. 7 Nartex interior.

3 Atrium.