Chapter XLII: Appendix: ON (5)

The perfect spirit of humility, meekness, patience, charity, and all other Christian virtues, which the seven epistles of St. Ignatius breathe in every part, cannot fail deeply to affect all who attentively read them. Critics confess that they find in them a sublimity, an energy and beauty of thought and expression, which they cannot sufficiently admire. But the Christian is far more astonished at the saint's perfect disengagement of heart from the world, the ardor of his love for God, and the earnestness of his desire of martyrdom. Every period in them is full of profound sense, which must be attentively meditated on before we can discover the divine sentiments of all virtues which are here expressed. Nor can we consider them without being inspired by some degree of the same, and being covered with confusion to find ourselves fall so far short of the humility and fervor of the primitive saints. Let us listen to the instructions which this true disciple of Christ gives in his letter to the Philadelphians, an abstract of his other six epistles being given above. He begins it by a strenuous recommendation of union with their bishop, priests, and deacons; and gives to their bishop (whom he does not name) great praises, especially for his humility and meekness, insomuch that he says his silence was more powerful than the vain discourses of others, and that conversing with an unchangeable serenity of mind, and in the sweetness of the living God, he was utterly a stranger to anger. He charges them to refrain from the pernicious weeds of heresy and schism, which are not planted by the Father, nor kept by Christ. "Whoever belong to God and Jesus Christ, these are with the bishop. If any one follows him who maketh a schism, he obtains not the inheritance of the kingdom of God. He who walks in the simplicity of obedience is not enslaved to his passion. Use one eucharist: for the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ is one, and the cup is one in the unity of his blood. There is one altar, as there is one bishop, with the college of the priesthood and the deacons, my fellow-servants, that you may do all things according to God. My brethren, my heart is exceedingly dilated in the tender love which I bear you, and exulting beyond bounds, I render you secure and cautious; not I indeed, but Jesus Christ, in whom being bound I fear the more for myself, being yet imperfect. But your prayer with God will make me perfect, that I may obtain the portion which his mercy assigns me." Having cautioned them against adopting Jewish ceremonies, and against divisions and schisms, he mentions one that had lately happened among them, and speaks of a revelation which he had received of it as follows: "When I was among you, I cried out with a loud voice, with the voice of God, saying: Hearken to your bishop, and the priesthood, and the deacons. Some suspected that I said this from a foresight of the division which some afterwards {333} made. But He for whom I am in chains is my witness, that I knew it not from man, but the Spirit declared it, saying: Do ye nothing without your bishop. Keep your body holy as the temple of God. Be lovers of unity; shun all divisions. Be ye imitators of Jesus Christ, as he is of the Father. I therefore did what lay in me, as one framed to maintain union. Where disagreement or anger is found, there God never dwells. But God forgives all penitents." He charges them to send some person of honor from their church to congratulate with his church in Syria upon peace being restored to it, and calls him blessed who should be honored with this commission.

Footnotes:
1. The accent placed on the penultima of [Greek: Theophoros], as the
word is written in the saint's acts, denotes it of an active
signification, _one that carrieth God_; but of the passive, _carried
of God_, if placed on the antepenultima.
2. St. Gregory tells us, (l. 4, ep. 37,) that he was a disciple of St.
Peter. The apostolic constitutions add, also of St. Paul, (l. 7, c.
46.) We are assured by St. Chrysostom (Hom. in St. Ignat.) and
Theodoret, (Dial. 1, p. 33,) that he was made bishop by the
direction of the apostles, and by the imposition of their hands. St.
Chrysostom says, that St. Peter appointed him bishop to govern the
see of Antioch, when he quitted it himself; which seems also to be
affirmed by Origen, (in Luc. Hom. 6,) St. Athanasius, (de Syn. p.
922,) F{}dus, &c. Baronius thinks he was left by St. Peter, bishop
of the Jewish converts, and became bishop also of the Gentiles in
68: for Eusebius (Hist. l. 3, c. 22, 36.) says, that St. Evodius
succeeded St. Peter at Antioch; he adds in his chronicle, in the
year 43, that he died in 68, and was succeeded by St. Ignatius. Some
think there is a mistake in the chronicle of Eusebius, as to the
year of the death of Evodius, and that this happened before the
martyrdom of St. Peter, who appointed St. Ignatius his successor.
See Cotelier, not. p. 299. Tillem. not. t. 2. p. 619. The Greek
Menaea mentions Evodius on the 7th of September.
3. Hom. in St. Ignat. t. 2, p. 592. See also Theodoret. Dial. 1, p. 33.
4. 2 Cor. v. 16.
5. In his letter to the Magnesians, after saluting them, he says, he
rejoices exceedingly in their charity and faith, and adds: "Having
the honor to bear a name of divine dignity, on account to the chains
which I carry, I sing the glow of the churches, and wish them the
union of the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ our perpetual life, of
faith, and of charity, than which nothing is more excellent; and
what is chiefest, of Jesus and the Father, in whom, bearing with
patience the whole power of the prince of this world, and escaping
him, we shall possess God." The saint much commends their bishop
Damas, and exhorts them to yield him perfect obedience,
notwithstanding his youth. Setting death before their eyes as near
at hand to every one, he puts them in mind that we must bear the
mark of Jesus Christ, (which is charity,) not that of the world. "If
we are not ready to die, in imitation of his sufferings, his life is
not in us," says he. "I recommend to you that you do all things in
the concord of God, the bishop presiding for God, the priests in the
place of the college of the apostles, and my dearest deacons, to
whom is the ministry of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before
all ages, and has appeared in the end. Therefore, following all the
same conduct, respect one another, and let no one consider his
neighbor according to the flesh, but ever love each other in Jesus
Christ. As the Lord did nothing without the Father, so neither do
you say thing without the priests. Meeting together, have one
prayer, one mind, one hope in charity, in holy joy. All of you meet
as in one church of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ,
who proceeds from one Father, exists in one, and returns to him in
Unity." He cautions them against admitting the Jewish ceremonies,
and against the errors of the Docetes. Then adds: "I shall enjoy you
in all things if I am worthy. For though I am in chains, I am not to
be compared to any one of you who enjoy your liberty. I know there
is in you no pride; for you have Jesus Christ within you. And when I
commend you, I know that you are more confounded, as it is written:
_The just man is his own accuser_." Prov. xviii. 18. He again
tenderly exhorts them to concord, and to obedience to their bishop,
and commends himself, that he may attain to God and his church, of
which he is not worthy to be called one, to their prayers, adding:
"I stand much in need of your united prayer and charity in God, that
the church in Syria may deserve to be watered by your church."

The epistle to the Trallians he begins thus: "I know that your
sentiments are pure, your hearts inseperable in patience and
meekness, which is not passing, but as it were natural; as I learn
from your bishop Polybius who congratulated with me in my chains in
Christ Jesus, in such manner that in him I beheld your whole
multitude. Receiving through him your good-will in God, I gloried,
finding you to be, as I knew, imitators of God. As you are subject
to the bishop as to Christ, you seem not to live according to men,
but according to Jesus Christ." He bids them respect the deacons
(whom be calls the ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ) as
the precept of Christ; the priests as the senate of God, and the
bishop as representing God. "Without these the very name of a church
is not given," says he--"I know many things in God, but I measure
myself, lest by glorying I perish. Now I have reason more to fear:
nor must I listen to those who speak kindly to me; for they who
speak to commend me, scourge me. I desire indeed to suffer: but I
know not whether I am worthy. Though I am in chains, and understand
heavenly things, the ranks of angels and principalities, things
visible and invisible; am I on this account a disciple? for many
things are wanting to us that we be not separated from God. I
conjure you, not I, but the charity of Jesus Christ, to use
Christian food, and to refrain from foreign weed, which is heresy.
Heretics join Jesus Christ with what is defiled, giving a deadly
poison in a mixture of wine and honey which they who take, drink
with pleasure their own death without knowing it. Refrain from such,
which you will do if you remain united to God, Jesus Christ, and the
bishop, and the precepts of the apostles. He who is within the altar
is clean, but he who is without it, that is, without the bishop,
priests, and deacons, is not clean." He adds his usual exhortations
to union, and begs their prayers for himself and his church, of
which he is not worthy to be called one, being the last of them, and
yet fighting is danger. "May my spirit sanctify you, not only now,
but also when I shall enjoy God."
6. 1 Cor. iv. 4.
7. Not that he would really incite the beasts to dispatch him, without
a special inspiration, because that would have been self-murder; but
this expresses the courage and desire of his soul.
8. [Greek: Ho hemos eros estanrotai.]
9. See an account of these two last in the life of St. Polycarp. Orsi
draws a proof in favor of the supremacy of the see of Rome, from the
title which St. Ignatius gives it at the head of his epistle. In
directing his other letters, and saluting other churches, he only
writes: "To the blessed church which is at Ephesus:" [Greek: Te ese
en Epheso] "at Magnesia near the Maeander: at Tralles: at
Philadelphia: at Smyrna:" but in that to the Romans he changes his
style, and addresses his letter: "To the beloved church which is
enlightened, (by the will of Him who ordaineth all things which are
according to the charity of Jesus Christ our God,) which presides in
the country of the Romans, [Greek: etis prokathetai en topo chores
Romaion], worthy of God, most adorned, justly happy, most commended,
fitly regulated and governed, most chaste, and presiding in charity,
&c."
10. According to the common opinion, St. Ignatius was crowned with
martyrdom in the year 107. The Greek copies of a homily of the sixth
age, On the False Prophets, among the works of St. Chrysostom, say
on the 20th; but Bede, in his Martyrology, on the 17th of December.
Antoni Pagi, convinced by the letter of Dr. Loyde, bishop of St.
Asaph's, places his martyrdom about the end of the year 116: for
John Malalas of Antioch tells us the great earthquake, in which Dion
Cassias mentions that Trajan narrowly escaped at Antioch, happened
in that journey of Trajan in which he condemned St. Ignatius. Now
Trajan marching to the Parthian war, arrived at Antioch on the 8th
of January, in 113, the sixteenth year of his reign: and in his
return from the East, above two years later, passed again through
Antioch in 116, when this earthquake happened. St. Ignatius suffered
at Rome towards the end of that year. Le Quien prefers this date,
because it best agrees with the chronology of his successors to
Theophilus. Orien. Christ. t. 2, p. 700.
11. Evagr. Hist. Eccl. l. 1, c. 16, Ed. Vales.
12. Or. in S. Ignat. t. 2, p. 600. Ed. Nov.
13. See Baron. Annal. ad an. 637, and Not. ad Martyr. Rom. ad 17 Dec.
14. See Henschenius, Feb. t. 1, p. 35.

ST. PIONIUS, M.

HE was priest of Smyrna, a true heir of the spirit of St. Polycarp, an apostolic man, who converted multitudes to the faith. He excelled in eloquence, and in the science of our holy religion. The paleness of his countenance bespoke the austerity of his life. In the persecution of Decius, in 250, on the 23d of February, he was apprehended with Sabina and Asclepiades, while they were celebrating the anniversary festival of St. Polycarp's martyrdom. Pionius, after having fasted the eve with his companions, was forewarned thereof by a vision. On the morning after their solemn prayer, taking the holy bread (probably the eucharist) and water, they were surprised and seized by Polemon, the chief priest, and the guardian of the temple. In prolix interrogatories before him, they resisted all solicitations to sacrifice; professed they were ready to suffer the worst of torments and deaths rather than consent to his impious proposals, and declaring that they worshipped one only God, and that they were of the Catholic church. Asclepiades being asked what God he adored, made answer: "Jesus Christ." At which Polemon said: "Is that another God?" Asclepiades replied: "No; he is the same they have just now confessed." A clear confession of the consubstantiality of God the Son, before the council of Nice. Being all threatened to be burnt alive, Sabina smiled. The pagans said: "Dost thou laugh? thou shalt then be led to the public stews." She answered: "God will be my protector on that occasion." They were cast into prison, and preferred a lower dungeon, that they might be more at liberty to pray when alone. They were carried by force into the temple, and all manner of violence was used to compel them to sacrifice. Pionius tore the impious garlands which were put upon his head, and they resisted with all their might. Their constancy repaired the scandal given by Eudaemon, the bishop of Smyrna, there present, who had impiously apostatized and offered sacrifice. In the answers of St. Pionius to the judges, and in all the circumstances of his martyrdom, we admire the ardent piety and courage of one who had entirely devoted himself to God, and employed his whole life in his service. When Quintilian the proconsul arrived at Smyrna, he caused Pionius to be hung on the rack, and his body to be torn with iron hooks, and afterwards condemned him to be burned alive; he was accordingly nailed to a trunk or post, and a pile heaped round him and set on fire. Metrodorus, a Marcionite priest, underwent the same punishment with him. His acts were written by eye-witnesses, quoted by Eusebius, l. 4, c. 15, and are extant genuine in Ruinart, p. 12. See Tillemont t. 3, p. 397; Bollandus, Feb. t. 1, p. 37.

{334}

ST. BRIDGIT, OR BRIDGET, V.

AND BY CONTRACTION, BRIDE, ABBESS, AND PATRONESS OF IRELAND.

SHE was born at Fochard, in Ulster, soon after Ireland had been blessed with the light of faith. She received the religious veil in her youth, from the hands of St. Mel, nephew and disciple of St. Patrick. She built herself a cell under a large oak, thence called Kill-dara, or cell of the oak; living, as her name implies, the bright shining light of that country by her virtues. Being joined soon after by several of her own sex, they formed themselves into a religious community, which branched out into several other nunneries throughout Ireland; all which acknowledged her for their mother and foundress, as in effect she was of all in that kingdom. But a full account of her virtues has not been transmitted down to us, together with the veneration of her name. Her five modern lives mention little else but wonderful miracles. She flourished in the beginning of the sixth century, and is named in the Martyrology of Bede, and in all others since that age. Several churches in England and Scotland are dedicated to God under her name, as, among others, that of St. Bride in Fleet-street; several also in Germany, and some in France. Her name occurs in most copies of the Martyrology which bears the name of St. Jerom, especially in those of Esternach and Corbie, which are most ancient. She is commemorated in the divine office in most churches of Germany, and in that of Paris, till the year 1607, and in many others in France. One of the Hebrides, or western islands which belong to Scotland, near that of Ila, was called, from a famous monastery built there in her honor, Brigidiani. A church of St. Brigit, in the province of Athol, was reputed famous for miracles, and a portion of her relics was kept with great veneration in a monastery of regular canons at Aburnethi, once capital of the kingdom of the Picts, and a bishopric, as Major mentions.[1] Her body was found with those of SS. Patrick and Columba, in a triple vault in Down-Patrick, in 1185, as Giraldus Cambrensis informs us:[2] they were all three translated to the cathedral of the same city;[3] but their monument was destroyed in the reign of king Henry VIII. The head of St. Bride is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon.[4] See Bollandus, Feb. t. 1, p. 99.

Footnotes: 1. Major de Gestis Scotor. l. 2, c. 14. 2. Topogr. Hibern. dist. 3, c. 18. Camden, &c. 3. {Footnote not in text} Camden. 4. Bolland. p. 112 and p. 941, t. 1, Februarii.

ST. KINNIA. V.

HER memory was long sacred in Ireland, and her relics were in veneration at Lowth, in the southern part of Ulster; but we have no other authentic account of her actions, than that she was baptized by St. Patrick, and received the religious veil at his hand. See Jocelin's life of St. Patrick, Colgan, and Bollandus, ad 1 Feb. p. 96.

ST. SIGEBERT II., FRENCH KING OF AUSTRASIA, C.

DAGOBERT I., king of France, led for some time a very dissolute life, but was touched by an extraordinary grace upon the birth of his son Sigebert {335} and from that time entirely converted to God. Bagnetrude, our saint's mother, is only styled the concubine of Dagobert, though he was publicly married to her. The father desiring to have his son baptized by the most holy prelate of his dominions, recalled St. Amand, bishop of Masstricht, whom he had banished for his zeal in reproving his vices, fell at his feet at Clichi, near Paris, to ask his pardon, promised amendment, and by the advice of St. Owen and St. Eligius, then laymen in his court, engaged him to initiate his son in the sacrament of regeneration. The ceremony was performed with great pomp at Orleans, Charibert, king of part of Aquitaine, and brother to Dagobert, being god-father. The young prince's education was intrusted by the father to the blessed Pepin of Landen, mayor of his palace, who being forced by the envy of the nobility to withdraw for some time, carried Sigebert into the dominions of Charibert in Aquitaine, where he enjoyed a considerable estate, the paternal patrimony of his wife, the blessed Itta. Pepin remained there about three years; after which term he was recalled to the court of Dagobert, who declared his son Sigebert, though only three years old, in 633, king of Austrasia, and gave him for his ministers, St. Cunibert, archbishop of Cologne, and duke Adelgise, and committed the administration of the whole kingdom to Pepin, whom he always kept near his own person. Dagobert's second son, Clovis II., was born in the following year, 634, and to him the father allotted for his inheritance all the western part of France, containing all Neustria and part of Burgundy.[1] Austrasia, or Eastern France, (in which sense Austria retains a like name in Germany,) at that time comprised Provence and Switzerland, (dismembered from the ancient kingdom of Burgundy,) the Albigeois, Auvergne, Quercy, the Cevennes, Champagne, Lorraine, Upper Picardy, the archbishopric of Triers, and other states, reaching to the borders of Friesland; Alsace, the Palatinate, Thuringia, Franconia, Bavaria, Suabia, and the country which lay betwixt the Lower Rhine and Old Saxony. Dagobert died in 638, and was buried at the abbey of St. Denys, of which he was the munificent founder. According to the settlement which he had made, he was succeeded in Austrasia by St. Sigebert, and in the rest of France by his youngest son Clovis II. Pepin of Landen, who had been mayor of the palace to the father, discharged the same office to his death under St. Sigebert, and not content to approve himself a faithful minister, and true father to the prince, he formed him from the cradle to all heroic Christian virtues. By his prudence, virtue, and valor, St. Sigebert in his youth was beloved and respected by his subjects, and feared by all his enemies. Pepin dying in 640, the virtuous king appointed his son Grimoald mayor of his palace. He reigned in perfect intelligence with his brother, of which we have few examples among the Merovingian kings whenever the French monarchy was divided. The Thuringians revolting, he reduced them to their duty; and this is the only war in which he was engaged. The love of peace disposed his heart to be a fit temple of the Holy Ghost, whom he invited into his soul by assiduous prayer, and the exercise of all Christian virtues. His patrimony he employed in relieving the necessitous, and in building or endowing monasteries, churches, and hospitals. He founded twelve monasteries, the four principal of which were Cougnon, now a priory, not far from Bouillon; Stavelo and Malmedi, two miles from each other, and St. Martin's, near Metz. St. Remaclus brought from Solignac the rule of St. Columban, which king Sigebert {336} in his charter to Cougnon calls the rule of the ancient fathers. This that holy abbot established first at Cougnon, and afterwards at Malmedi and Stavelo. A life filled with good works, and devoted all to God, can never be called short. God was pleased to call this good king from the miseries of this world to the recompense of his labors on the 1st of February, in the year 656, the eighteenth of his reign, and the twenty-fifth of his age.[2] He was interred in the abbey of St. Martin's, near Metz, which he had built. His body was found incorrupt in 1063, and placed in a monument on the side of the high altar: and in 1170 it was enshrined in a silver case. The monastery of St. Martin's, and all others in the suburbs, were demolished by Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise, in 1552, when Charles V. laid siege to Metz. The relics of St. Sigebert are now deposited in the collegiate church of our Lady at Nancy. He is honored among the saints in great part of the dominions which he governed, and in the monasteries and churches which he founded. See Fredegarius and his continuator, Sigebert of Gemblours, in his life of this saint, with the learned remarks of Henschenius, p. 40. Also Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, t. 1, p. 419. Schoepflin, Alsatia Illustrata, Colmariae, an. 1751. Sect. 2, p. 742.

Footnotes:
1. Charibert, though he took the title of king, and resided at
Toulouse, held his estates of his brother Dagobert, and by his gift.
After Charibert's death, Chilperic, his eldest son, was put to death
by Dagobert; but his second son, Boggis, left a numerous posterity,
which was only extinguished in Louis d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours,
slain at the battle of Cerignole, where he commanded for Louis XII.
against Gonzales de Cordova, surnamed The Great Captain, for the
Catholic king Ferdinand in 1503, by which the French lost the
kingdom of Naples. So long did the family of Clovis II. subsist. See
Vaisette, Hist de Languedoc, Henault, Abr. de l'Hist. de France, t.
1, pp. 26, and 818.
2. St. Sigebert left his son Dagobert, about seven years old, under the
care of Grimoald, mayor of his palace, who treacherously sent him
into Ireland, and placed his own son Childebert on the throne. This
usurper reigned seven months, as Schoepflin proves from the express
testimony of Chronicon Brevissimum, and from circumstances mentioned
by Fredegarius, against the mistake of the authors, l'Art de
verifier les Dates, p. 481, who say he only reigned seven days. By
an insurrection of the people, Grimoald and his son were deposed,
and both perished in prison: but Dagobert not being found, Clovis
II. united Austrasia to his other dominions. Dagobert II., by the
assistance of St. Wilfrid, afterwards archbishop of York, returned
into France eighteen years after the death of his father, and
recovered Alsace and some other provinces by the cession either of
Childeric II., son of Clovis II., (then monarch of all France,) or
of his brother Theodoric III., who succeeded him before the month of
April, in 674: for the reign of Dagobert II must be dated from the
latter end of 673, with Henault, or from 674, with Schoepflin. The
spirit of religion and piety, which he had learned in the school of
afflictions, and under the great masters of a spiritual life, who
then flourished among the Scots and Irish, was eminently the
distinguishing part of his character. As he resided chiefly in
Alsace, he filled that country, in the first place, with monuments
of his devotion, being so liberal in founding and endowing
monasteries and churches, that though his reign was only of six
years, Schoepflin assures us that the French church is not more
indebted to any reign than to this, at least in those parts, (p.
740.) St. Wilfrid, bishop of York, had exceedingly promoted his
return into France; and when that prelate was compelled to leave
England Dagobert entertained him with the most cordial affection,
and, upon the death of St. Arbogastus, earnestly pressed him to
accept of that see. St. Wilfrid declined that dignity, promising,
however, to call upon this good king in his return from Rome, where
he obtained a sentence of pope Agatho in his favor. But coming but
into France, he found his royal friend cut off by a violent death.
It is the general persuasion of the French historians, that the
impious Ebroin, mayor of the palace to Theodoric III., king of
Burgundy and Noustria, was the author of his death, with a view to
seize his dominions. Dagobert was murdered by assassins at Stenay
upon the Meuse, now the best town in the duchy of Bar in Lorraine.
The people, however, chose Pepin and Martin dukes or governors of
Austrasia, who defended their liberty against Ebroin. Martin was
afterwards assassinated by the contrivance of Ebroin, and Ebroin by
Ermenfrid; but Pepin, in 687, defeated Theodoric III. at Testry,
took Paris, and the king himself; from which time, under the title
of mayor, he enjoyed the supreme power in the French monarchy. The
death of St. Dagobert happened in 679, on the 23d of December, on
which day he is commemorated in the Martyrology of Ado and others,
and honored as a martyr at Stenay, in the diocese of Verdun, ever
since the eighth century. The church of Strasburg was much enriched
by this prince, as maybe seen in Schoepflin's Alsatia Illustrata.
The same author gives an account of some of the monasteries which
were founded by this prince in those parts, (c. 11, Sec.254, p. 736,)
and shows from his charters that the palace where he chiefly resided
was at Isenburg in Alsace. (Sect. 1, c. 10, Sec.146, p. 693.) The year
of the death of Dagobert II. is learned from the life of St.
Wilfrid, who returned from Rome when St. Agatho sat in St. Peter's
chair. See on this holy king the lives of St. Wilfrid and St.
Salaberga; also his charters; and, among the moderns, Dan.
Schoepflin, professor of history and eloquence at Strasburg, in his
Alsatia Illustrata, anno 1751. Sect. 2, c. 1, Sec.3, pp. 740, 743, and
Sec.1, c. 10, Sec.146, p. 693, c. 11, Sec.254, p. 736. Also Calmet, Hist. de
Lorraine, t. 1, l. 10, n. 16, p. 432. The first edition of this work
was given in 1728, in three volumes folio, but the second edition is
so much enlarged as to fill six volumes folio. The reign of Dagobert
II. escaped most of the French historians; which omission, and a
false epoch of the beginning of the reign of Dagobert I., brought
incredible confusion into the chronology and history of most of the
Merovingian kings, which Adrian Valois, Henschenius, Le Cointe,
Pagi, Louguerue and others have taken great pains to clear up.

{337}

FEBRUARY II.

THE PURIFICATION,

COMMONLY CALLED CANDLEMAS-DAY.

THE law of God, given by Moses to the Jews, to insinuate both to us and to them, that by the sin of Adam man is conceived and born in sin, and obnoxious to his wrath, ordained that a woman, after childbirth, should continue for a certain time in a state which that law calls unclean; during which she was not to appear in public, nor presume to touch any thing consecrated to God.[1] This term was of forty days upon the birth of a son, and the time was double for a daughter: on the expiration of which, the mother was to bring to the door of the tabernacle, or temple, a lamb of a year old, and a young pigeon or turtle-dove. The lamb was for a holocaust, or burnt-offering, in acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God, and in thanksgiving for her own happy delivery; the pigeon or turtle-dove was for a sin-offering. These being sacrificed to Almighty God by the priest, the woman was cleansed of the legal impurity, and reinstated in her former privileges.

A young pigeon, or turtle-dove, by way of a sin-offering, was required of all, whether rich or poor: but whereas the charge of a lamb might be too burdensome on persons of narrow circumstances, in that case, nothing more was required than two pigeons, or two turtle-doves, one for a burnt, the other for a sin-offering.[2]

Our Saviour having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, and his blessed Mother remaining always a spotless virgin, it is most evident from the terms of the law,[3] that she was, in reality, under no obligation to it, nor within the intent of it. She was, however, within the letter of the law, in the eye of the world, who were as yet strangers to her miraculous conception. And her humility making her perfectly resigned, and even desirous to conceal her privilege and dignity, she submitted with great punctuality and exactness to every humbling circumstance which the law required. Pride indeed proclaims its own advantages, and seeks honors not its due; but the humble find their delight in obscurity and abasement, they shun all distinction and esteem, which they clearly see their own nothingness and baseness to be most unworthy of: they give all glory to God alone, to whom it is due. Devotion also and zeal to honor God by every observance prescribed by his law, prompted Mary to perform this act of religion, though evidently exempt from the precept. Being poor herself, she made the offering appointed for the poor: accordingly is this part of the law mentioned by St. Luke,[4] as best agreeing with the meanness of her worldly condition. But her offering, however mean in itself, was made with a perfect heart, which is what God chiefly regards in all that is offered to him. The King of Glory would appear everywhere in the robes of poverty, to point out to us the advantages of a suffering and lowly state, and to repress our pride, by which, though really poor and mean in the eyes of God, we covet to appear rich, and, though sinners, would be deemed innocents and saints.

A second great mystery is honored this day, regarding more immediately {338} the person of our Redeemer, viz. his presentation in the temple.[5] Besides the law which obliged the mother to purify herself, there was another which ordered that the first-born son should be offered to God: and in these two laws were included several others, as, that the child, after its presentation, should be ransomed[6] with a certain sum of money,[7] and peculiar sacrifices offered on the occasion.

Mary complies exactly with all these ordinances. She obeys not only in the essential points of the law, as in presenting herself to be purified, and in her offering her first-born, but has strict regard to all the circumstances. She remains forty days at home, she denies herself all this time the liberty of entering the temple, she partakes not of things sacred, though the living temple of the God of Israel; and on the day of her purification, she walks several miles to Jerusalem, with the world's Redeemer in her arms. She waits for the priest at the gate of the temple, makes her offerings of thanksgiving and expiation, presents her divine Son by the hands of the priest to his eternal Father, with the most profound humility, adoration, and thanks giving. She then redeems him with five shekels, as the law appoints, and receives him back again as a depositum in her special care, till the Father shall again demand him for the full accomplishment of man's redemption. It is clear that Christ was not comprehended in the law; "The king's son, to whom the inheritance of the crown belongs, is exempt from servitude:--much more Christ, who was the Redeemer both of our souls and bodies, was not subject to any law by which he was to be himself redeemed," as St. Hilary observes.[8] But he would set an example of humility, obedience, and devotion: and would renew, in a solemn and public manner, and in the temple, the oblation of himself to his Father for the accomplishment of his will, and the redemption of man, which he had made privately in the first moment of his Incarnation. With what sentiments did the divine Infant offer himself to his Father at the same time! the greatest homage of his honor and glory the Father could receive, and a sacrifice of satisfaction adequate to the injuries done to the Godhead by our sins, and sufficient to ransom our souls from everlasting death! With what cheerfulness and charity did he offer himself to all his torments! to be whipped, crowned with thorns, and ignominiously put to death for us!

Let every Christian learn hence to offer himself to God with this divine victim, through which he may be accepted by the Father; let him devote himself with all his senses and faculties to his service. If sloth, or any other vice, has made us neglectful of this essential duty, we must bewail past omissions, and make a solemn and serious consecration of ourselves this day to the divine majesty with the greater fervor, crying out with St. Austin, in compunction of heart: "Too late have I known thee, too late have I begun to love thee, O beauty more ancient than the world!" But our sacrifice, if we desire it may be accepted, must not be lame and imperfect. It would be an insult to offer to God, in union with his Christ, a divided heart, or a heart infected with wilful sin. It must therefore first be cleansed by tears of sincere compunction: its affections must be crucified to the world by perfect mortification. Our offering must be sincere and fervent, without reserve, allowing no quarter to any of our vicious passions and inclinations, and no division in any of our affections. It must also be universal; to suffer and to do all for the divine honor. If we give our hearts to Christ in this manner, we shall receive him with his graces and {339} benedictions. He would be presented in the temple by the hands of his mother: let us accordingly make the offering of our souls through Mary and beg his graces through the same channel.

The ceremony of this day was closed by a third mystery, the meeting in the temple of the holy persons, Simeon and Anne, with Jesus and his parents, from which this festival was anciently called by the Greeks Hypante, the meeting.[9] Holy Simeon, on that occasion, received into his arms the object of all his desires and sighs, and praised God in raptures of devotion for being blessed with the happiness of beholding the so much longed-for Messias. He foretold to Mary her martyrdom of sorrow; and that Jesus brought redemption to those who would accept of it on the terms it was offered them; but a heavy judgment on all infidels who should obstinately reject it, and on Christians also whose lives were a contradiction to his holy maxims and example. Mary, hearing this terrible prediction, did not answer one word, felt no agitation of mind from the present, no dread for the future; but courageously and sweetly committed all to God's holy will. Anne also, the prophetess, who, in her widowhood, served God with great fervor, had the happiness to acknowledge and adore in this great mystery the world's Redeemer. Amidst the crowd of priests and people, the Saviour of the world is known only by Simeon and Anne. Even when he disputed with the doctors, and when he wrought the most stupendous miracles, the learned, the wise, and the princes did not know him. Yet here, while a weak, speechless child, carried in the arms of his poor mother, he is acknowledged and adored by Simeon and Anne. He could not hide himself from those who sought him with fervor, humility, and ardent love. Unless we seek him in these dispositions, he will not manifest himself, nor communicate his graces to us. Simeon, having beheld his Saviour in the flesh, desired no longer to see the light of this world, nor any creatures on earth. If we truly love God, our distance from him must be a continual pain: and we must sigh after that desired moment which will free us from the danger of ever losing him by sin, and will put us in possession of Him who is the joy of the blessed, and the infinite treasure of heaven. Let us never cease to pray that he purify our hearts from all earthly dross, and draw them to himself: that he heal, satiate, and inflame our souls, as he only came upon earth to kindle in all hearts the fire of his love.

Footnotes: 1. Lev. xii. 2. 2. Lev. xii. 8. 3. Ibid. 2. 4. Luke ii. 64. 5. {Footnote not in text} Luke ii. 23. 6. Exod. xiii. 13. 7. This, from Levit. xxvii. 6, and Numb. iii. 47, appears to have been five shekels, each shekel weighing according to Prideaux, (Preface to Connection of the Old and New Testament, p. xvii.) about three shillings of our money: so that the five amounted to about fifteen shillings sterling. 8. S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 17, n. 11, pp. 696, 697. 9. [Greek: Hypante], from [Greek: hupantao], occurro.

_On blessing the candles and the procession._

The procession with lighted tapers on this day is mentioned by pope Gelasius I., also by St. Ildefonsus, St. Eligius,[1] St. Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, St. Cyril of Alexandria, &c., in their sermons on this festival, St. Bernard says:[2] "This holy procession was first made by the virgin mother, St. Joseph, holy Simeon, and Anne, to be afterwards performed in all places and by every nation, with the exultation of the whole earth, to honor this mystery." In his second sermon on this feast he describes it thus:[3] "They walk two and two, holding in their hands candles lighted, not from common fire, but from that which had been first blessed in the church by the priests,[4] and singing in the ways of the Lord, because great is his glory." He shows that the concurrence of many in the procession and prayer is a symbol of our union and charity, and renders our praises {340} the more honorable and acceptable to God. We _walk_ while we sing to God, to denote that to stand still in the paths of virtue is to go back. The lights we bear in our hands represent the divine fire of love with which our hearts ought to be inflamed, and which we are to offer to God without any mixture of strange fire, the fire of concupiscence, envy, ambition, or the love of creatures. We also hold these lights in our hands to honor Christ, and to acknowledge him as the _true light_,[5] whom they represent under this character, and who is called by holy Simeon in this mystery, _a light for the enlightening of the Gentiles;_[6] for he came to dispel our spiritual darkness. The candles likewise express that by faith his light shines in our souls: as also that we are to _prepare his way_ by good works, by which we are to be _a light to_ men.[7]

Lights are used by the church during the celebration of the divine mysteries, while the gospel is read, and the sacraments administered, on a motive of honor and respect. On the same account lamps burned before the Lord in the tabernacle[8] and temple. Great personages were anciently received and welcomed with lights, as was king Antiochus by Jason and others on his entering Jerusalem.[9] Lights are likewise expressive of joy, and were anciently used on this account in receiving Roman emperors, and on other public occasions, as at present. "Throughout all the churches of the East," says St. Jerom, "when the gospel is to be read, though the sun shines, torches are used, not to chase away darkness, but for a sign of joy."[10] The apostolic canons mention incense, and oil for the lamps, then used in the churches.[11] Many out of devotion burned lamps before the bodies of saints, as we read in Prudentius,[12] St. Paulinus,[13] &c. The corporeal creatures, which we use, are the gifts of God: it is therefore just that we should honor and glorify him by them. Besides, in our embodied state, they contribute to excite our souls to devotion; they are to our eyes, what words are to our ears, and by our organs move the affections of our hearts.[14] Though piety consists in the fervor of the soul, and is interior and spiritual, yet many sensible things concur to its aid and improvement; and we may as well condemn the use of words, which are corporeal, and affect the soul by the sense of hearing, as the use of suitable approved ceremonies. Christ made use of sensible signs in the institution of his most divine sacraments, and in several miraculous cures, &c. The church always used external rites and ceremonies in the divine worship. These contribute to the majesty and dignity of religion, which in our present condition would appear naked, if destitute of all exterior. The candles are blessed previously to the use of them, because the church blesses and sanctifies, by prayer, what ever is employed in the divine service. We are to hold the candles in our hands on this day, while the gospel is read or sung; also from the elevation to the communion, in the most fervent spirit of sacrifice, offering ourselves to God with our divine Redeemer, and desiring to meet in spirit this blessed company in this mystery; likewise to honor the mother of God in her purification, and still more so, with the most profound adoration and gratitude, our divine Saviour in his presentation in our flesh for us. The same lively sentiments of devotion ought to inflame our breasts on this occasion, as if we had been present with holy Simeon and the rest in the temple, while we carry in our hands these emblems of our spiritual joy and homage, and of the consecration of ourselves in union with our heavenly victim, through the intercession of his virgin mother.

Footnotes: 1. Serm. 2. 2. Serm. de Purif. p. 959. 3. Serm. 2, p. 961. 4. According to the ceremonies then in use. 5. John i. 9. 6. Luke ii. 3. 7. Matt. v. 6. 8. Exod. xxviii. 20. 9. 2 Macch. iv. 22. 10. Adv. Vigil. p. 304. 11. Can. 3. 12. Hymn 2. 13. Nat. iii. v. 98. 14. See the pastoral charge of the late Dr. Butler, bishop of Durham.

{341}

_On the Christian rite of churching women after childbirth._

God, in the old law, declared several actions unclean, which, though innocent and faultless it themselves, had a constant but remote regard to sin. One of these was childbirth, to denote the impurity of man's origin by his being conceived and born in sin. For the removal of legal uncleanness in general, God established certain expiatory rites, consisting of ablutions and sacrifices, to which all were strictly obliged who desired to be purified; that is, restored to the privileges of their brethren, and declared duly qualified members of the synagogue or Jewish church. It would be superstitious since the death of Christ, and the publication of the new law, to stand in awe of legal uncleannesses, or to have recourse to Jewish purifications on account of any of them, whether after childbirth or in any other cases. It is not, therefore, with that intention, that Christian mothers come to the church, as Jewish women did to the tabernacle, in order to be purified from any uncleanness they contract by childbirth. It is not on any consideration peculiar to the Jews that this ceremony was established in the Christian church, but on a motive common to all mankind, the performing the duty of thanksgiving and prayer. Hence in the canon law, pope Innocent III. speaks of it as follows: "If women after childbearing desire immediately to enter the church, they commit no sin by so doing, nor are they to be hindered. Nevertheless, if they choose to refrain out of respect for some time, we do not think their devotion ought to be reprehended."[1]

In some dioceses this term is limited to a certain number of days. Where this is not regulated by custom, or by any particular statute, the party may perform this duty as soon as she is able to go abroad. Her first visit is to be to the church: first, to give God thanks for her safe delivery: secondly, to implore his blessing on herself and her child. It ought to be her first visit, to show her readiness to acquit herself of this duty to God, and to give him the first-fruits of her recovery and blessing received; as the first-fruits in every thing are most particularly due to God, and most agreeable to him, and which, in the old law, he was most jealous in exacting of his people. The acknowledgment of a benefit received, is the least return we can make for it: the law of nature dictates the obligation of this tribute; God strictly requires it, and this is the means to draw down new blessings on us, the flowing of which is by nothing more effectually obstructed than by insensibility and ingratitude: wherefore, next to the praise and love of God, thanksgiving is the principal homage we owe him in the sacrifice of our hearts, and is a primary act of prayer. The book of psalms abounds with acts of thanksgiving; the apostle everywhere recommends and inculcates it in the strongest terms. The primitive Christians had these words, _Thanks be to God_, always in their mouths, and used them as their ordinary form of salutation on all occasions, as St. Austin mentions,[2] who adds, "What better thing can we bear in our hearts, or pronounce with our tongues, or express with our pens, than, _Thanks be to God_?" It is the remark of St. Gregory of Nyssa,[3] that besides past benefits, and promises of other inestimable benefits to come, we every instant of our lives receive from God fresh favors; and therefore we ought, if it were possible, every moment to make him a return of thanks with our whole hearts, and never cease from this duty. We owe a particular thanksgiving for his more remarkable blessings. A mother regards her safe delivery, and her happiness is being blessed with a child, as signal benefits, and therefore she owes a {342} particular holocaust of thanks for them. This she comes to offer at the foot of the altar. She comes also to ask the succors of divine grace. She stands in need of an extraordinary aid from above, both for herself and her child. For herself, that, by her example, instructions, and watchfulness, she may fulfil her great obligations as a mother. For her child, that it may reap the advantage of a virtuous education, may live to God, and become one day a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem: otherwise, what will it avail her to have been a mother, or the child to have been born? Now prayer is the channel which God has appointed for the conveyance of his graces to us. The mother, therefore, must be assiduous in begging daily of the Father of mercies all necessary succors for these purposes: but this she should make the subject of her most zealous petitions on the occasion of her first solemn appearance after childbed before his altar. She should, at the same time, make the most perfect offering and consecration of her child to the divine Majesty. Every mother, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, ought to perform this triple duty of thanksgiving, petition, and oblation, and through her hands, who, on the day of her purification, set so perfect a pattern of this devotion.

Footnotes: 1. Cap. unico de Purif. post partum. 2. Ep. 41. olim 77. 3. Or. 1, de praest. t. 1, p. 715

ST. LAURENCE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

HE was one of those who accompanied St. Austin into this island, about the year 597, and was his immediate successor in the see of Canterbury, in 608, in which he sat eleven years. When Eadbald, son and successor to the holy king Ethelbert, not only refused to follow his father's example in embracing the faith, but gave into idolatry, and incestuously took to his bed his father's widow, Laurence having labored hard for his conversion to no purpose, and despairing of reclaiming him, thought of nothing but retiring into France, as some others had already done. But he was severely scourged by St. Peter, in a dream, on the eve of his intended departure, with reproaches for designing to forsake that flock for which Christ had laid down his life. This did not only prevent his going, but had such an effect upon the king, when he was shown the marks of the stripes he had received on this occasion, that he became a thorough convert, doing whatever was required of him, both for his own sanctification, and the propagation of Christianity in his dominions. St. Laurence did not long survive this happy change, dying in the year 619. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. See Bede, Hist. b. 2, c. 4, 6, 7.[1] Malmesb. l. 1, Pontif. Angl.

Footnotes:
1. From these words of Bede, b. 1, c. 27, Austin sent to Rome Laurence
the priest, and Peter the monk, some modern historians infer that
St. Laurence was no monk, but a secular priest; though this proof is
wreak. See Collier, Dict. Suppl. Henschenius, p. 290. and Le Quien,
Oriens Christ. t. 1, p. 421.

{343}

FEBRUARY III.

ST. BLASE, BISHOP AND MARTYR.

The four modern different Greek acts of this Saint are of small authority. Bollandus has supplied this deficiency by learned remarks.

A D. 316.