Lent with Dom Gueranger

WHY DOM GUÉRANGER? WHO IS DOM GUÉRANGER? WHAT IS SOLESMES?

The Liturgical Year (French: L'Année Liturgique) is a written work in fifteen volumes describing the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. The series was written by Dom Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger, a French Benedictine priest and abbot of Solesmes. Dom Guéranger began writing the work in 1841, and died in 1875 after writing nine volumes. The remaining volumes were completed by another Benedictine under Dom Guéranger's name.

The series describes the liturgy of the Catholic Church throughout the liturgical year, including the Mass and the Divine Office. Also described is the historical development of the liturgy in both Western and Eastern traditions. Biographies of saints and their liturgies are given on their feast days.

The Liturgical Year has been likened to the "Summa Theologica" of St. Thomas Aquinas, which the Council of Trent placed alongside the Bible as a work of authority. Dom Guéranger's "The Liturgical Year" has thus been called the "Summa" of the liturgy of the Catholic Church. However, a word of warning to the reader, just like the :Summa Theologica", you will encounter some dry difficult parts (much like the Israelites in their forty years of penance in the desert), but there will also be found oases of deep spiritual refreshment. Persevere, read slowly, stop to think, and you will draw much fruit from this masterful work. Put away and put aside the modern-man's desire for fast-food, fast-service, being fast-tracked. There is no fast way of getting to Heaven (except for fasting perhaps!!). Besides, I don't think God appreciates being put quickly aside so that we can run off to do what we wrongly imagine to be "better" things. The season that we have entered should see us being more of a Mary than a Martha!

“Now it came to pass as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’ s feet, heard his word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord, hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).

DOM GUÉRANGER & SOLESMES

Dom Guéranger pictured here when he still a young monk. He was ordained a priest at the younger than usual age of 22.

Destined to be a Scholar, Priest and Monk, Dom Guéranger would begin his work in the aftermath of the French revolution, when religious life was effectively abolished in all of Europe. Aiming to restore all aspects of monastic life, the preservation of Gregorian chant - the sung liturgy of the church - would be an essential part of Dom Guéranger's goal. He would re-found the Abbey of St. Peter in Solesmes.

Dom Geuranger himself writes: “My youth, the complete lack of temporal resources, and the limited reliability of those with whom I hoped to associate — none of these things stopped me. I would not have dreamed of it; I felt myself pushed to proceed. I prayed with all my heart for the help of God; but it never occurred to me to ask His will concerning the projected work.”

That last statement may surprise us, but Dom Guéranger explains: “The need of the Church seemed to me so urgent, the ideas about true Christianity so falsified and so compromised in the lay and ecclesiastical worlds, that I felt nothing but an urgency to found some kind of center wherein to recollect and revive pure traditions.”

Dom Guéranger was born within walking distance of the Abbey of Solesmes that he was destined to reform. Sablé-sur-Sarthe is a little south-west of Solesmes.

The house, as it looks today, in Sablé-sur-Sarthe in which Prosper Guéranger was born.

Born in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, on April 4, 1805, Prosper Guéranger frequently made Solesmes the destination of his childhood walks, drawn by the charm of the church building and its life-sized saints in stone. Though as a child he never imagined himself a monk, he loved the solitude of the place. Aspiring first to the priesthood, a precocious vocation led him, after his high school studies in Angers, to the seminary in Le Mans. There, he was drawn intensely to the study of Church history, and soon he discovered what the institution of monasticism had been. Contact with the great scholarly works of the Maurists soon awoke in him a real desire for the monastic life.

Ordained a priest in 1827 (Guéranger was only 22 years old at the time, so that his bishop had to obtain a canonical dispensation), he pursued his work as the bishop's secretary in Paris and in Le Mans. In 1831, learning that the priory at Solesmes was destined to destruction for lack of a buyer, the idea came to him to find the means to acquire it and to take up the Benedictine life again. With the help of a few friends and encouraged by his bishop, he gathered together — with considerable difficulty — enough money to rent the monastery property, and subsequently moved in with three companions on July 11, 1833.

The more humble years of the Benedictine life in Solesmes, before the ambitious building projects of later years under Dom Guéranger's successors.

The fledgling community encountered, of course, difficult times. But its young prior, borne up by his absolute confidence in Providence, by his humility and by his natural mirth and optimism, proved to possess a calm tenacity. Without copying the past in a servile way, he took inspiration from solid monastic traditions pursuing above all the true spirit of St Benedict while accepting several very necessary material adaptations to modern times. As a result, by his uncommon intuition of the benedictine charism, liturgy and spiritual life, he became a living example to his monks. As for temporal matters, Solesmes' first friends saw to the most urgent needs. They inaugurated a second and long list of the monastery's benefactors: the Cosnards, the Landeaus, the Gazeaus, Mme Swetchine, Montalembert, the Marquis of Juigné, and so many others who thought constantly of the monks.

After a four-year tryout Dom Guéranger went to Rome, in 1837, to ask the Vatican for official recognition of Solesmes as a benedictine community. Rome not only granted Dom Guéranger's request, but on its own initiative raised Solesmes from the status of priory to that of an abbey making it the head of a new Benedictine Congregation de France, successor to the Congregations of St. Maurus and St. Vanne as well as the more venerable and ancient family of monasteries belonging to Cluny. On July 26, Dom Guéranger made his solemn profession in the presence of the abbot of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

From then on began a new period in the history of Solesmes.

An aerial view of the St. Peter's Abbey of Solesmes as it stands today, after the expansive building projects of the 20th century.

The abbey view from the bridge crossing the river

THE LITURGICAL LIFE
Extracts from the Commentary on the Daily Liturgy
by Dom Prosper Guéranger

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Article 1 : ASH WEDNESDAY

"Learn and Live"

Dating from the eleventh century, the discipline of public penance began to fall into disuse, and the holy rite of putting ashes on the heads of all the faithful indiscriminately became so general that, at length, it was considered as forming an essential part of the Roman liturgy. Formerly, it was the practice to approach bare-footed to receive this solemn memento of our nothingness; and in the twelfth century, even the Pope himself, when passing from the church of St. Anastasia to that of St. Sabina, at which the station was held, went the whole distance bare-footed, as also did the Cardinals who accompanied him. The Church no longer requires this exterior penance; but she is as anxious as ever that the holy ceremony, at which we are about to assist, should produce in us the sentiments she intended to convey by it, when she first instituted it.

From the liturgy of Ash Wednesday we learn of the prophet Joel and how acceptable to God is the expiation of fasting. When the penitent sinner inflicts corporal penance upon himself, God's justice is appeased. We have a proof of it in the Ninivites. If the Almighty pardoned an infidel city, as Ninive was, solely because its inhabitants sought for mercy under the garb of penance; what will He not do in favor of His own people, who offer Him the twofold sacrifice, exterior works of mortification, and true contrition of heart? Let us, then, courageously enter on the path of penance.

We are living in an age when, through want of faith and of fear of God, those practices which are as ancient as Christianity itself, and on which we might almost say it was founded, are falling into disuse; it behoves us to be on our guard, lest we, too, should imbibe the false principles, which have so fearfully weakened the Christian spirit. Let us never forget our own personal debt to the divine justice, which will remit neither our sins nor the punishment due to them, except inasmuch as we are ready to make satisfaction.

We have just been told that these bodies, which we are so inclined to pamper, are but dust; and as to our souls, which we are so often tempted to sacrifice by indulging the flesh, they have claims upon the body, claims of both restitution and obedience.

In the Gradual, the Church again pours forth the expressions of her confidence in the God of all goodness, for she counts upon her children being faithful to the means she gives them of propitiating His justice.

The Tract is that beautiful prayer of the psalmist, which she repeats thrice during each week of Lent, and which she always uses in times of public calamity, in order to appease the angel of God.

Our Redeemer would not have us receive the announcement of the great fast as one of sadness and melancholy. The Christian who understands what a dangerous thing it is to be behindhand with divine justice, welcomes the season of Lent with joy; it consoles him. He knows that if he be faithful in observing what the Church prescribes, his debt will be less heavy upon him. These penances, these satisfactions (which the indulgence of the Church has rendered so easy), being offered to God unitedly with those of our Savior Himself, and being rendered fruitful by that holy fellowship which blends into one common propitiatory sacrifice the good works of all the members of the Church militant, will purify our souls, and make them worthy to partake in the grand Easter joy. Let us not, then, be sad because we are to fast; let us be sad only because we have sinned and made fasting a necessity. In this same Gospel, our Redeemer gives us a second counsel, which the Church will often bring before us during the whole course of Lent: it is that of joining almsdeeds with our fasting. He bids us to lay up treasures in Heaven. For this, we need intercessors; let us seek them amidst the poor.

Article 2
THE MYSTERY OF THE FORTY DAYS

We may be sure, that a season, so sacred as this of Lent, is rich in mysteries. The Church has made it a time of recollection and penance, in preparation for the greatest of all her Feasts; she would, therefore, bring into it everything that could excite the faith of her children, and encourage them to go through the arduous work of atonement for their sins. During Septuagesima, we had the number―“Seventy”―which reminded us of those seventy years’ captivity in Babylon, after which, God’s chosen people, being purified from idolatry, was to return to Jerusalem and celebrate the Pasch. It is the number Forty that the Church now brings before us―a number, as Saint Jerome observes, which denotes punishment and affliction (Commentary on Ezechiel, chapter 29).

Let us remember the forty days and forty nights of the Deluge (Genesis 7:12), sent by God in His anger, when He repented that he had made man, and destroyed the whole human race, with the exception of one family. Let us consider how the Hebrew people, in punishment for their ingratitude, wandered forty years in the desert, before they were permitted to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33). Let us listen to our God commanding the Prophet Ezechiel to be forty days on His right side, as a figure of the siege, which was to bring destruction on Jerusalem (Ezechiel 4:6).

There are two, in the Old Testament, who represent, in their own persons, the two manifestations of God: Moses, who typifies the Law; and Elias, who is the figure of the Prophets. Both of these are permitted to approach God―the first on Sinai (Exodus 24:18), the second on Horeb (3 Kings 19:8)―but both of them have to prepare for the great favor by an expiatory fast of forty days.

With these mysterious facts before us, we can understand why it was, that the Son of God, having become Man for our salvation, and wishing to subject himself to the pain of fasting, chose the number of Forty Days. The institution of Lent is thus brought before us with everything that can impress the mind with its solemn character, and with its power of appeasing God and purifying our souls. Let us, therefore, look beyond the little world which surrounds us, and see how the whole Christian universe is, at this very time, offering this Forty Days’ penance as a sacrifice of propitiation to the offended Majesty of God; and let us hope, that, as in the case of the Ninivites, He will mercifully accept this year’s offering of our atonement, and pardon us our sins.

The number of our days of Lent is, then, a holy mystery: let us, now, learn from the Liturgy, in what light the Church views her Children during these Forty Days. She considers them as an immense army, fighting, day and night, against their Spiritual enemies. We remember how, on Ash Wednesday, she calls Lent a Christian Warefare. Yes―in order that we may have that newness of life, which will make us worthy to sing once more our Alleluia―we must conquer our three enemies the devil, the flesh, and the world. We are fellow combatants with our Jesus, for He, too, submits to the triple temptation, suggested to him by Satan in person. Therefore, we must have on our armor, and watch unceasingly. And whereas it is of the utmost importance that our hearts be spirited and brave, the Church gives us a war-song of heaven’s own making, which can fire even cowards with hope of victory and confidence in God’s help: it is the Ninetieth Psalm (Psalm Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi, in the Office of Compline for Thursdays). She inserts the whole of it in the Mass of the First Sunday of Lent, and, every day, introduces several of its verses in the Ferial Office.

She there tells us to rely on the protection, wherewith our Heavenly Father covers us, as with a shield (Scuto circumdabit to veritas ejus, the Responsory during ferial days of Lent at None and the Office of Compline for Sundays]; to hope under the shelter of His wings (Et sub pennis ejus sperabis, the Responsory during ferial days of Lent at Sext and Sunday Compline); to have confidence in Him, for that He will deliver us from the snare of the hunter (Ipse liberavit me de laqueo venantium, the Responsory during ferial days of Lent at Tierce and Sunday Compline), who had robbed us of the holy liberty of the children of God; to rely upon the help of the Holy Angels, who are our Brothers, to whom our Lord hath given charge that they keep us in all our ways (Angelis suis mandavit de te, ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis, versicle during ferial days of Lent at Lauds and Vespers and Sunday Compline), and who, when our Jesus permitted Satan to tempt Him, were the adoring witnesses of His combat, and approached Him, after His victory, proffering to Him their service and homage. Let us get well into us these sentiments wherewith the Church would have us be inspired; and, during our six weeks’ campaign, let us often repeat this admirable Canticle, which so fully describes what the Soldiers of Christ should be and feel in this season of the great spiritual warfare.

Article 3
THREE GREAT SUBJECTS TO PONDER

The Church is not satisfied with thus animating us to the contest with our enemies―she would also have our minds engrossed with thoughts of deepest importance; and for this end, she puts before us three great subjects, which she will gradually unfold to us between this and the great Easter Solemnity. Let us be all attention to these soul-stirring and instructive lessons.

FIRSTLY, there is the conspiracy of the Jews against our Redeemer. It will be brought before us in its whole history, from its first formation to its final consummation on the great Friday, when we shall behold the Son of God hanging on the Wood of the Cross. The infamous workings of the synagogue will be brought before us so regularly, that we shall be able to follow the plot in all its details. We shall be inflamed with love for the august Victim, whose meekness, wisdom, and dignity, bespeak a God. The divine drama, which began in the cave of Bethlehem, is to close on Calvary; we may assist at it, by meditating on the passages of the Gospel read to us, by the Church, during these days of Lent.

The SECOND of the subjects offered to us, for our instruction, requires that we should remember how the Feast of Easter is to be the day of new birth for our Catechumens; and how, in the early ages of the Church, Lent was the immediate and solemn preparation given to the candidates for Baptism. The holy Liturgy of the present season retains much of the instruction she used to give to the Catechumens; and as we listen to her magnificent Lessons from both the Old and the New Testament, whereby she completed their initiation, we ought to think with gratitude on how we were not required to wait years before being made Children of God, but were mercifully admitted to Baptism, even in our Infancy. We shall be led to pray for those new Catechumens, who this very year, in far distant countries, are receiving instructions from their zealous Missioners, and are looking forward, as did the postulants of the primitive Church, to that grand Feast of our Saviour’s victory over Death, when they are to be cleansed in the Waters of Baptism and receive from the contact a flew being, - regeneration.

THIRDLY, we must remember how, formerly, the public Penitents, who had been separated, on Ash Wednesday, from the assembly of the Faithful, were the object of the Church’s maternal solicitude during the whole Forty Days of Lent, and were to be admitted to Reconciliation on Maundy Thursday, if their repentance were such as to merit this public forgiveness. We shall have the admirable course of instructions, which were originally designed for these Penitents, and which the Liturgy, faithful as she ever is to such traditions, still retains for our sakes. As we read these sublime passages of the Scripture, we shall naturally think upon our own sins, and on what easy terms they were pardoned us; whereas, had we lived in other times, we should have probably been put through the ordeal of a public and severe penance. This will excite us to fervor, for we shall remember, that, whatever changes the indulgence of the Church may lead her to make in her discipline, the justice of our God is ever the same. We shall find in all this an additional motive for offering to his Divine Majesty the sacrifice of a contrite heart, and we shall go through our penances with that cheerful eagerness, which the conviction of our deserving much severer ones always brings with it.

Article 4
HISTORY OF PASSIONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK

After having proposed the forty-days’ fast of Jesus in the desert to the meditation of the faithful during the first four weeks of Lent, the holy Church gives the two weeks which still remain before Easter to the commemoration of the Passion. She would not have her children come to that great day of the immolation of the Lamb, without having prepared for it by compassionating with Him in the sufferings He endured in their stead.

The most ancient sacramentaries and antiphonaries of the several Churches attest, by the prayers, the lessons, and the whole liturgy of these two weeks, that the Passion of Our Lord is now the one sole thought of the Christian world. During Passion-week, a saint’s feast, if it occur, will be kept; but Passion Sunday admits no feast, however solemn it may be; and even on those which are kept during the days intervening between Passion and Palm Sunday, there is always made a commemoration of the Passion, and the holy images are not allowed to be uncovered.

We cannot give any historical details upon the first of these two weeks; its ceremonies and rites have always been the same as those of the four preceding ones. We, therefore, refer the reader to the following chapter, in which we treat of the mysteries peculiar to Passiontide. The second week, on the contrary, furnishes us with abundant historical details; for there is no portion of the liturgical year which has interested the Christian world so much as this, or which has given rise to such fervent manifestations of piety.

This week was held in great veneration even as early in the third century, as we learn from St. Denis, Bishop of Alexandria, who lived at that time. In the following century, we find St. John Chrysostom, calling it the great week: ‘Not,’ says the holy doctor, ‘that it has more days in it than other weeks, or that its days are made up of more hours than other days; but we call it great, because of the great mysteries which are then celebrated.’

We find it called also by other names: the “painful week” (hebdomada poenosa), on account of the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the fatigue required from us in celebrating them; the week of indulgence, because sinners are then received to penance; and, lastly, “Holy Week”, in allusion to the holiness of the mysteries which are commemorated during these seven days. This last name is the one under which it most generally goes with us; and the very days themselves are, in many countries, called by the same name, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday.

The severity of the Lenten fast is increased during these its las days; the whole energy of the spirit of penance is now brought out. Even with us, the dispensation which allows the use of eggs ceases towards the middle of this week. The eastern Churches, faithful to their ancient traditions, have kept up a most rigorous abstinence ever since the Monday of Quinquagesima week. During the whole of this long period, which they call Xerophagia, they have been allowed nothing but dry food. In the early ages, fasting during Holy Week was carried to the utmost limits that human nature could endure. We learn from St. Epiphanius, that there were some of the Christians who observed a strict fast from Monday morning to cock-crow of Easter Sunday.

Of course it must have been very few of the faithful who could go so far as this. Many passed two, three, and even four consecutive days, without tasting any food; but the general practice was to fast from Maundy Thursday evening to Easter morning. Many Christians in the east, and in Russia, observe this fast even in these times. Would that such severe penance were always accompanied by a firm Faith and union with the Church, out of which the merit of such penitential works is of no avail for salvation!

Another of the ancient practices of Holy Week, were the long hours spent, during the night, in the churches. On Maundy Thursday, after having celebrated the divine mysteries in remembrance of the Last Supper, the faithful continued a long time in prayer. The night between Friday and Saturday was spent in almost uninterrupted vigil, in honor of Our Lord's burial. But the longest of all these vigils was that of Saturday, which was kept up till Easter Sunday morning. The whole congregation joined in it: they assisted at the final preparation of the catechumens, as also at the administration of Baptism; nor did they leave the church until after the celebration of the holy Sacrifice, which was not over till sunrise.

Cessation from servile work was, for a long time, an obligation during Holy Week. The civil law united with that of the Church in order to bring about this solemn rest from toil and business, which so eloquently expresses the state of mourning of the Christian world. The thought of the sufferings and death of Jesus was the one pervading thought: the Divine Offices and prayer were the sole occupation of the people: and, indeed, all the strength of the body was needed for the support of the austerities of fasting and abstinence. We can readily understand what an impression was made upon men's minds, during the whole of the rest of the year, by this universal suspension of the ordinary routine of life.

Moreover, when we call to mind how, for five full weeks, the severity of Lent had waged war on the sensual appetites, we can imagine the simple and honest joy wherewith was welcomed the feast of Easter, which brought both the regeneration of the soul, and respite to the body.

Article 5
THE MERCIES OF PASSIONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK

In the preceding volume, we mentioned the laws of the Theodosian Code, which forbade all law business during the forty days preceding Easter. This law of Gratian and Theodosius, which was published in 380, was extended by Theodosius in 389, this new decree forbade all pleadings during the seven days before, and the seven days after, Easter. We meet with several allusions to this then recent law, in the homilies of St. John Chrysostom, and in the sermons of St. Augustine. In virtue of this decree, each of these fifteen days was considered, as far as the courts of law were concerned, as a Sunday.

But Christian princes were not satisfied with the mere suspension of human justice during these days, which are so emphatically days of mercy: they would, moreover, pay homage, by an external act, to the fatherly goodness of God, who has deigned to pardon a guilty world, through the merits of the death of His Son.

The Church was on the point of giving reconciliation to repentant sinners, who had broken the chains of sin whereby they were held captives; Christian princes were ambitious to imitate this their mother, and they ordered that prisoners should be loosened from their chains, that the prisons should be thrown open, and that freedom should be restored to those who had fallen under the sentence of human tribunals. The only exception made was that of criminals whose freedom would have exposed their families or society to great danger.

The name of Theodosius stands prominent in these acts of mercy. We are told by St John Chrysostom that this emperor sent letters of pardon to the several cities, ordering the release of prisoners, and granting life to those that had been condemned to death, and all this in order to sanctify the days preceding the Easter feast. The last emperors made a law of this custom, as we find in one of Pope St. Leo the Great’s sermons, where he thus speaks of their clemency:

“The Roman emperors have long observed this holy practice. In honor of Our Lord's Passion and Resurrection, they humbly withhold the exercise of their sovereign justice, and, laying aside the severity of their laws, they grant pardon to a great number of criminals. Their intention in this is to imitate the divine goodness by their own exercise of clemency during these days, when the world owes its salvation to the divine mercy. Let, then, the Christian people imitate their princes, and let the example of kings induce subjects to forgive each other their private wrongs; for, surely it is absurd that private laws should be less unrelenting than those which are public. Let trespasses be forgiven, let bonds be taken-off, let offences be forgotten, let revenge be stifled; that thus the sacred feast may, by both divine and human favors, find us all happy and innocent.”

This Christian amnesty was not confined to the Theodosian Code; we find traces of it in the laws of several of our western countries. We may mention France as an example. Under the first race of its kings, St. Eligius Bishop of Noyon, in a sermon for Maundy Thursday, thus expresses himself: “On this day, when the Church grants indulgence to penitents and absolution to sinners, magistrates, also, relent in their severity and grant pardon to the guilty. Throughout the whole world prisons are thrown open; princes show clemency to criminals, masters forgive their slaves.”

Under the second race, we learn from the “Capitularia of Charlemagne”, that bishops had a right to exact from the judges, for the love of Jesus Christ (as it is expressed), that prisoners should be set free on the days preceding Easter; and should the magistrates refuse to obey, the bishops could refuse them admission into the church. And, lastly, under the third race, we find Charles VI, after quelling the rebellion at Rouen, giving orders, later on, that the prisoners should be set at liberty, because it was “Painful Week”, and very near to the Easter feast.

A last vestige of this merciful legislation was a custom observed by the parliament of Paris. The ancient Christian practice of suspending its sessions during the whole of Lent, had long been abolished: it was not till the Wednesday of Holy Week that the house was closed, which it continued to be from that day until after Low Sunday. On the Tuesday of Holy Week, which was the last day granted for audiences, the parliament repaired to the palace prisons, and there one of the grana presidents, generally the last installed, held a session of the house. The prisoners were questioned; but, without any formal judgment, all those whose case seemed favorable, or who were not guilty of some capital offence, were set at liberty.

Article 6
WE ARE LOSING IT OR HAVE ALREADY LOST IT!

The revolutions of the last eighty-years have produced in every country in Europe the secularization of society, that is to say, the effacing from our national customs and legislation of everything which had been introduced by the supernatural element of Christianity. The favorite theory of the last half-century or more, has been that all men are equal.

The people of the ages of Faith had something far more convincing than theory, of the sacredness of their rights. At the approach of those solemn anniversaries which so forcibly remind us of the justice and mercy of God, they beheld princes abdicating, as it were, their scepter, leaving in God's hands the punishment of the guilty, and assisting at the holy Table of Paschal Communion side by side with those very men, whom, a few days before, they had been keeping chained in prison for the good of society.

There was one thought, which, during these days, was strongly brought before all nations: it was the thought of God, in Whose eyes all men are sinners; of God, from Whom alone proceed justice and pardon. It was in consequence of this deep Christian feeling, that we find so many diplomas and charters of the ages of Faith speaking of the days of Holy Week as being the reign of Christ: such an event, they say, happened on such a day, under the reign of Our Lord Jesus Ohrist: regnante Domino nostro Jesu Christo.

When these days of holy and Christian equality were over, did subjects refuse submission to their sovereign? Did they abuse the humility of their princes, and take occasion for drawing up what modern times call the rights of man? No! That same thought which had inspired human justice to humble itself before the cross of Jesus, taught the people their duty of obeying the powers established by God. The exercise of power, and submission to that power, both had God for their motive. They who wielded the scepter might be of various dynasties: the respect for authority was ever the same.

Nowadays, the liturgy has none of her ancient influence on society; religion has been driven from the world at large, and her only life and power is now with the consciences of individuals; and as to political institutions, they are but the expression of human pride, seeking to command, or refusing to obey.

And yet the fourth century, which, in virtue of the Christian spirit, produced the laws we have been alluding to, was still rife with the pagan element. How comes it that we, who live in the full light of Christianity, can give the name of progress to a system which tends to separate society from everything that is supernatural? Men may talk as they please, there is but one way to secure order, peace, morality, and security to the world; and that is God's war, the war of Faith, of living in accordance with the teachings and the spirit of Faith. All other systems can, at best, but flatter those human passions, which are so strongly at variance with the mysteries of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which we are now celebrating.

We must mention another law made by the Christian emperors in reference to Holy Week. If the spirit of charity, and a desire to imitate divine mercy, led them to decree the liberation of prisoners; it was but acting consistently with these principles, that, during these days when our Savior shed His Blood for the emancipation of the human race, they should interest themselves in what regards slaves. Slavery, a consequence of sin, and the fundamental institution of the pagan world, had received its death-blow by the preaching of the Gospel; but its gradual abolition was left to individuals, and to their practical exercise of the principle of Christian fraternity. As Our Lord and His Apostles had not exacted the immediate abolition of slavery, so, in like manner, the Christian emperors limited themselves to passing such laws as would give encouragement to its gradual abolition.

We have an example of this in the Justinian Code, where this prince, after having forbidden all law-proceedings during Holy Week and the week following, lays down the following exception: “It shall, nevertheless, be permitted to give slaves their liberty; in such manner, that the legal arts necessary for their emancipation shall not be counted as contravening this present enactment.”

This charitable law of Justinian was but applying to the fifteen days of Easter the decree passed by Constantine, which forbade all legal proceedings on the Sundays throughout the year, excepting only such acts as had for their object the emancipation of slaves.

But long before the peace given her by Constantine, the Church had made provision for slaves, during these days when the mysteries of the world's redemption were accomplished. Christian masters were obliged to grant them total rest from labor during this holy fortnight. Such is the law laid down in the apostolic constitutions, which were compiled previously to the fourth century. “During the Great Week preceding the day of Easter, and during the week that follows, slaves rest from labor, inasmuch as the first is the week of Our Lord's Passion, and the second is that of His Resurrection; and the slaves require to be instructed upon these mysteries.”

Another characteristic of the two weeks, upon which we are now entering, is that of giving more abundant alms, and of greater fervor in the exercise of works of mercy. St. John Chrysostom assures us that such was the practice of his times; he passes an encomium on the faithful, many of whom redoubled, at this period, their charities to the poor, which they did out of this motive: that they might, in some slight measure, imitate the divine generosity, which is now so unreservedly pouring out its graces on sinners.

Article 7
THE PRACTICES OF PASSIONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK
(Part 1)

The past four weeks seems to have been but a preparation for the intense grief of the Church during these two. She knows that men are in search of her Jesus, and that they are bent on His death. Before twelve days are over, she will see them lay their sacrilegious hands upon Him. She will have to follow Him up the hill of Calvary; she will have to receive His last breath; she must witness the stone placed against the sepulcher where His lifeless Body is laid. We cannot, therefore, be surprised at her inviting all her children to contemplate, during these weeks, Him who is the object of all her love and all her sadness.

But our mother asks something more of us than compassion and tears; she would have us profit by the lessons we are to be taught by the Passion and Death of our Redeemer. He himself, when going up to Calvary, said to the holy women who had the courage to show their compassion even before His very executioners: “Weep not over Me; but weep for yourselves and for your children!” (St. Luke 23:28). It was not that He refused the tribute of their tears, for He was pleased with this proof of their affection; but it was His love for them that made him speak thus. He desired, above all, to see them appreciate the importance of what they were witnessing, and learn from it how in exorable is God’s justice against sin.

During the four weeks that have preceded, the Church has been leading the sinner to his conversion; so far, however, this conversion has been but begun: now she would perfect it. It is no longer our Jesus fasting and praying in the desert, that she offers to our consideration; it is this same Jesus, as the great Victim immolated for the world’s salvation. The fatal hour is at hand; the power of darkness is preparing to make use of the time that is still left; the greatest of crimes is about to be perpetrated. A few days hence the Son of God is to be in the hands of sinners, and they will put Him to death. The Church no longer needs to urge her children to repentance; they know too well, now, what sin must be, when it could require such expiation as this. She is all absorbed in the thought of the terrible event, which is to close the life of the God-Man on Earth; and by expressing her thoughts through the holy liturgy, she teaches us what our own sentiments should be.

The pervading character of the prayers and rites of these two weeks, is a profound grief at seeing the just One persecuted by His enemies even to death, and an energetic indignation against the deicides. The formulas, expressive of these two feelings are, for the most part, taken from David and the Prophets. Here, it is our Savior Himself, disclosing to us the anguish of His soul; there, it is the Church pronouncing the most terrible anathemas upon the executioners of Jesus. The chastisement that is to befall the Jewish nation is prophesied in all its frightful details; and on the last three days, we shall hear the prophet Jeremias uttering his lamentations over the faithless city. The Church does not aim at exciting idle sentiment; what she principally seeks, is to impress the hearts of her children with a salutary fear. If Jerusalem’s crime strike them with horror, and if they feel that they have partaken in her sin, their tears will flow in abundance.

Let us, therefore, do our utmost to receive these strong impressions, too little known, alas! by the superficial piety of these times. Let us reflect upon the love and affection of the Son of God, who has treated His creatures with such unlimited confidence, lived their own life, spent His three and thirty years amidst them, not only humbly and peaceably, but in going about doing good (Acts 1:38). And now this life of kindness, condescension, and humility, is to be cut short by the disgraceful death, which none but slaves endured: the death of the cross. Let us consider, on the one side, this sinful people, who, having no crimes to lay to Jesus’ charge, accuse Him of his benefits, and carry their detestable ingratitude to such a pitch as to shed the Blood of this innocent and divine Lamb; and then, let us turn to this Jesus, the Just by excellence, and see Him become a prey to every bitterest suffering: His Soul sorrowful even unto death (Matthew 26:38); weighed down by the malediction of our sins; drinking even to the very dregs the chalice He so humbly asks His Father to take from Him; and lastly, let us listen to His dying words: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). This it is that fills the Church with her immense grief; this it is that she proposes to our consideration; for she knows that, if we once rightly understood the sufferings of her Jesus, our attachments to sin must needs be broken, for, by sin, we make our selves guilty of the crime we detest in these Jews.

But the Church knows, too, how hard is the heart of man, and how, to make him resolve on a thorough Conversion, he must be made to fear. For this reason, she puts before us those awful imprecations, which the prophets, speaking in Jesus’ person, pronounced against them that put our Lord to death. These prophetic anathemas were literally fulfilled against the obdurate Jews. They teach us what the Christian, also, must expect, if, as the Apostle so forcibly expresses it, we again crucify the Son of God (Hebrews 6:6). In listening to what the Church now speaks to us, we cannot but tremble as we recall to mind those other words of the same Apostle: How much more, think ye, doth he deserve worse punishment, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the Blood of the testament unclean, (as though it were some vile thing), by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said: “Vengeance belongeth to Me, and I will repay.” And again: “The Lord shall judge His people.” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:29-31).

Fearful indeed it is! O what a lesson God gives us of His inexorable justice, during these days of the Passion! He that spared not even his own Son (Romans 8:32), His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17), will He spare us, if, after all the graces He has bestowed upon us, He should find us in sin, which He so unpitifully chastised even in Jesus, when He took it upon himself, that He might atone for it? Considerations such as these ― the justice of God towards the most innocent and august of victims, and the punishments that befell the impenitent Jews ― must surely destroy within us every affection to sin, for they will create within us that salutary fear which is the solid foundation of firm hope and tender love.

For if, by our sins, we have made ourselves guilty of the death of the Son of God, it is equally true that the Blood which flowed from His sacred wounds has the power to cleanse us from the guilt of our crime. The justice of our Heavenly Father cannot be appeased, save by the shedding of this precious Blood; and the mercy of this same Father wills that it be spent for our ransom. The cruelty of Jesus’ executioners has made five wounds in His sacred Body; and from these, there flow five sources of salvation, which purify the world, and restore within each one of us the image of God which sin had destroyed. Let us, then, approach with confidence to this redeeming Blood, which throws open to the sinner the gates of Heaven, and whose worth is such that it could redeem a million worlds, were they even more guilty than ours. We are close upon the anniversary of the day when it was shed; long ages have passed away since it flowed down the wounded Body of our Jesus, and fell in streams from the cross upon this ungrateful Earth; and yet its power is as great as ever.

Let us go, then, and draw from the Savior’s fountains (Isaias 12:3); our souls will come forth full of life, all pure, and dazzling with Heavenly beauty; not one spot of their old defilements will be left; and the Father will love us with the love wherewith He loves His own Son. Why did He deliver up unto death this His tenderly beloved Son? Was it not that He might regain us, the children whom He had lost? We had become, by our sins, the possession of Satan; Hell had undoubted claims upon us; and, lo, we have been suddenly snatched from both, and all our primitive rights have been restored to us. Yet God used no violence in order to deliver us from our enemy; how comes it, then, that we are now free? Listen to the Apostle: “Ye are bought at a great price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). And what is this price? The prince of the Apostles explains it: “Know ye,” says he, “that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:18-19). This divine Blood was placed in the scales of God’s justice, and so far did it outweigh our iniquities, as to make the bias in our favor. The power of this Blood has broken the very gates of Hell, severed our chains, and made peace both as to the things on Earth, and the things that are in Heaven (Colossians 1:20). Let us receive upon us, therefore, this precious Blood, wash our wounds in it, and sign our foreheads with it as with an indelible mark, which may protect us, on the day of wrath, from the sword of vengeance.

Article 8
THE PRACTICES OF PASSIONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK
(Part 2)

There is another object most dear to the Church, which she, during these two weeks, recommends to our deepest veneration; it is the cross, the altar upon which our incomparable Victim is immolated. Twice during the course of the year, that is, on the feasts of its Invention and Exaltation, this sacred Wood will be offered to us that we may honor it as the trophy of our Jesus’ victory; but now, it speaks to us but of His sufferings, it brings with it no other idea but that of His humiliation. God had said in the ancient Covenant: “Accursed is he that hangeth on a tree” (Deuteronomy 21:23). The Lamb, that saved us, disdained not to suffer this curse; but, for that very cause, this tree, this wood of infamy, has become dear to us beyond measure. It is the instrument of our salvation, it is the sublime pledge of Jesus’ love for us. On this account, the Church is about to lavish her veneration and love upon it; and we intend to imitate her, and join her in this, as in all else she does. An adoring gratitude towards the Blood that has redeemed us, and a loving veneration of the holy cross ― these are the two sentiments which are to be uppermost in our hearts during these two weeks.

But for the Lamb Himself ― for Him that gave us this Blood, and so generously embraced the cross that saved us ― what shall we do? Is it not just that we should keep close to Him, and that, more faithful than the Apostles who abandoned Him during His Passion, we should follow Him day by day, nay, hour by hour, in the way of the cross that He treads for us? Yes, we will be His faithful companions during these last days of His mortal life, when He submits to the humiliation of having to hide Himself from His enemies. We will envy the lot of those devoted few, who shelter Him in their houses, and expose themselves, by this courageous hospitality, to the rage of His enemies. We will compassionate His Mother, who suffered an anguish that no other heart could feel, because no other creature could love Him as she did. We will go, in spirit, into that most hated Sanhedrim, where they are laying the impious plot against the life of the just One. Suddenly, we shall see a bright speck gleaming on the dark horizon; the streets and squares of Jerusalem will re-echo with the cry of Hosanna to the Son of David. That unexpected homage paid to our Jesus, those palm branches, those shrill voices of admiring Hebrew children, will give a momentary truce to our sad forebodings. Our love shall make us take part in the loyal tribute thus paid to the King of Israel, who comes so meekly to visit the daughter of Sion, as the prophet had foretold He would: but, alas, this joy will be short-lived, and we must speedily relapse into our deep sorrow of soul!

The traitorous disciple will soon strike his bargain with the high priests; the last Pasch will be kept, and we shall see the figurative lamb give place to the true one, whose Flesh will become our food, and His Blood our drink. It will be our Lord’s Supper. Clad in the nuptial robe, we will take our place there, together with the disciples; for that day is the day of reconciliation, which brings together, to the same holy Table, both the penitent sinner, and the just that has been ever faithful. Then, we shall have to turn our steps towards the fatal garden, where we shall learn what sin is, for we shall behold our Jesus agonizing beneath its weight, and asking some respite from His eternal Father. Then, in the dark hour of midnight, the servants of the high priests and the soldiers, led on by the vile Iscariot, will lay their impious hands on the Son of God; and yet the legions of angels, who adore Him, will be withheld from punishing the awful sacrilege! After this, we shall have to repair to the various tribunals, whither Jesus is led, and witness the triumph of injustice. The time that elapses between his being seized in the garden and His having to carry His cross up the hill of Calvary, will be filled up with the incidents of His mock trial ― lies, calumnies, the wretched cowardice of the Roman governor, the insults of the by-standers, and the cries of the ungrateful populace thirsting for innocent Blood! We shall be present at all these things; our love will not permit us to separate ourselves from that dear Redeemer, who is to suffer them for our sake, for our salvation.

Finally, after seeing Him struck and spit upon, and after the cruel scourging and the frightful insult of the crown of thorns, we will follow our Jesus up Mount Calvary; we shall know where His sacred feet have trod by the Blood that marks the road. We shall have to make our way through the crowd, and, as we pass, we shall hear terrible imprecations uttered against our divine Master. Having reached the place of execution, we shall behold this august Victim stripped of His garment, nailed to the cross, hoisted into the air, as if the better to expose Him to insult! We will draw near to the free of life, that we may lose neither one drop of that Blood which flows for the cleansing of the world, nor one single word spoken, for its instruction, by our dying Jesus. We will compassionate His Mother, whose heart is pierced through with a sword of sorrow; we will stand close to her, when her Son, a few moments before His death, shall consign us to her fond care. After His three hours’ agony, we will reverently watch His sacred Head bow down, and receive, with adoring love, His last breath.

A bruised and mangled corpse, stiffened by the cold of death – this is all that remains to us of that Son of Man, whose first coming into the world caused us such joy! The Son of the eternal Father was not satisfied with emptying Himself and taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7); this His being born in the flesh was but the beginning of His sacrifice; His love was to lead Him even unto death, even to the death of the cross. He foresaw that He would not win our love save at the price of such a generous immolation, and His heart hesitated not to make it. ‘Let us, therefore, love God,’ says St. John, “because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This is the end the Church proposes to herself by the celebration of these solemn anniversaries. After humbling our pride and our resistance to grace by showing us how Divine Justice treats sin, she leads our hearts to love Jesus, Who delivered Himself up, in our stead, to the rigors of that justice. Woe to us, if this great week fail to produce in our souls a just return towards Him who loved us more than Himself, though we were, and had made ourselves, His enemies. Let us say with the Apostle: “The charity of Christ presseth us; that they who live, may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We owe this return to Him who made Himself a Victim for our sake, and who, up to the very last moment, instead of pronouncing against us the curse we so justly deserved, prayed and obtained for us mercy and grace. He is, one day, to reappear on the clouds of Heaven, and as the prophet says, men shall look upon Him whom they have pierced (Zacharias 3:10). God grant that we may be of the number of those who, having made amends by their love for the crimes they have committed against the divine Lamb, will then find confidence at the sight of those wounds!

Let us hope that, by God’s mercy, the holy time we are now entering upon will work such a happy change in us, that, on the day of judgment, we may confidently fix our eyes on Him we are now about to contemplate crucified by the hands of sinners. The death of Jesus puts the whole of nature in commotion; the midday sun is darkened, the Earth is shaken to its very foundations, the rocks are split: may it be that our hearts, too, be moved, and pass from indifference to fear, from fear to hope, and, at length, from hope to love; so that, having gone down, with our Crucified, to the very depths of sorrow, we may deserve to rise again with Him unto light and joy, beaming with the brightness of His Resurrection, and having within ourselves the pledge of a new life, which shall then die no more!

Article 9
THE MEANING AND SYMBOLISM OF PALM SUNDAY

Early in the morning of this day, Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, leaving Mary His Mother, and the two sisters Martha and Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus, at Bethania. The Mother of sorrows trembles at seeing her Son thus expose Himself to danger, for His enemies are bent upon His destruction; but it is not death, it is triumph, that Jesus is to receive today in Jerusalem. The Messias, before being nailed to the cross, is to be proclaimed King by the people of the great city; the little children are to make her streets echo with their Hosannas to the Son of David; and this in presence of the soldiers of Rome’s emperor, and of the high priests and Pharisees: the first standing under the banner of their eagles; the second, dumb with rage.

The prophet Zachary had foretold this triumph which the Son of Man was to receive a few days before His Passion, and which had been prepared for Him from all eternity. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion! Shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy King will come to thee; the Just and the Savior. He is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zacharias 9:9). Jesus, knowing that the hour has come for the fulfilment of this prophecy, singles out two from the rest of His disciples, and bids them lead to Him an ass and her colt, which they would find not far off. He has reached Beth phage, on Mount Olivet. The two disciples lose no time in executing the order given them by their divine Master; and the ass and the colt are soon brought to the place where He stands.

The holy fathers have explained to us the mystery of these two animals. The ass represents the Jewish people, which had been long under the yoke of the Law; the colt, upon which, as the evangelist says, no man yet hath sat (Mark 9:2), is a figure of the Gentile world, which no one had ever yet brought into subjection. The future of these two peoples is to be decided a few days hence: the Jews will be rejected, for having refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messias; the Gentiles will take their place, to be adopted as God’s people, and become docile and faithful.

The disciples spread their garments upon the colt; and our Savior, that the prophetic figure might be fulfilled, sits upon him (Ibid. 7, and Luke 19:35), and advances towards Jerusalem. As soon as it is known that Jesus is near the city, the holy Spirit works in the hearts of those Jews, who have come from all parts to celebrate the feast of the Passover. They go out to meet our Lord, holding palm branches in their hands, and loudly proclaiming Him to be King (Luke 19:38). They that have accompanied Jesus from Bethania, join the enthusiastic crowd. Whilst some spread their garments on the way, others cut down boughs from the palm-trees, and strew them along the road. Hosanna is the triumphant cry, proclaiming to the whole city that Jesus, the Son of David, has made His entrance as her King.

Thus did God, in His power over men’s hearts, procure a triumph for His Son, and in the very city which, a few days later, was to clamor for His Blood. This day was one of glory to our Jesus, and the holy Church would have us renew, each year, the memory of this triumph of the Man-God. Shortly after the birth of our Emmanuel, we saw the Magi coming from the extreme east, and looking in Jerusalem for the King of the Jews, to whom they intended offering their gifts and their adorations: but it is Jerusalem herself that now goes forth to meet this King.

Each of these events is an acknowledgment of the kingship of Jesus; the first, from the Gentiles; the second, from the Jews. Both were to pay Him this regal homage, before He suffered His Passion. The inscription to be put upon the cross, by Pilate’s order, will express the kingly character of the Crucified: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Pilate, the Roman governor, the pagan, the base coward, has been unwittingly the fulfiller of a prophecy; and when the enemies of Jesus insist on the inscription being altered, Pilate will not deign to give them any answer but this: “What I have written, I have written.”

Today, it is the Jews themselves that proclaim Jesus to be their King: they will soon be dispersed, in punishment for their revolt against the Son of David; but Jesus is King, and will be so for ever. Thus were literally verified the words spoken by the Archangel to Mary, when he announced to her the glories of the Child that was to be born of her: “The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David, His father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever” (Luke 1:32). Jesus begins His reign upon the earth this very day; and though the first Israel is soon to disclaim His rule, a new Israel, formed from the faithful few of the old, shall rise up in every nation of the earth, and become the kingdom of Christ, a kingdom such as no mere earthly monarch ever coveted in his wildest fancies of ambition.

This is the glorious mystery which ushers in the great week, the week of dolors. Holy Church would have us give this momentary consolation to our heart, and hail our Jesus as our King. She has so arranged the service of today, that it should express both joy and sorrow; joy, by uniting herself with the loyal hosannas of the city of David; and sorrow, by compassionating the Passion of her divine Spouse. The whole function is divided into three parts, which we will now proceed to explain.

The first is the blessing of the palms; and we may have an idea of its importance from the solemnity used by the Church in this sacred rite. One would suppose that the holy Sacrifice has begun, and is going to be offered up in honor of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Gospel, even a Preface, are said, as though we were, as usual, preparing for the immolation of the spotless Lamb; but, after the triple Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! the Church suspends these sacrificial formulas, and turns to the blessing of the palms. The prayers she uses for this blessing are eloquent and full of instruction; and, together with the sprinkling with holy water and the incensation, impart a power to these branches, which elevates them to the supernatural order, and makes them means for the sanctification of our souls and the protection of our persons and dwellings. The faithful should hold these palms in their hands during the procession, and during the reading of the Passion at Mass, and keep them in their homes as an outward expression of their faith, and as a pledge of God’s watchful love.

It is scarcely necessary to tell our reader that the palms or olive branches, thus blessed, are carried in memory of those wherewith the people of Jerusalem strewed the road, as our Savior made His triumphant entry; but a word on the antiquity of our ceremony will not be superfluous. It began very early in the east. It is probable that, as far as Jerusalem itself is concerned, the custom was established immediately after the ages of persecution. St. Cyril, who was bishop of that city in the fourth century, tells us that the palm-tree, from which the people cut the branches when they went out to meet our Savior, was still to be seen in the vale of Cedron [Cateches. x. versus fin.] Such a circumstance would naturally suggest an annual commemoration of the great event.

In the following century, we find this ceremony established, not only in the churches of the east, but also in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria. At the beginning of Lent, many of the holy monks obtained permission from their abbots to retire into the desert, that they might spend the sacred season in strict seclusion; but they were obliged to return to their monasteries for Palm Sunday, as we learn from the life of Saint Euthymius, written by his disciple Cyril (Act. SS. Jan. 20). In the west, the introduction of this ceremony was more gradual; the first trace we find of it is in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, that is, at the end of the sixth, or the beginning of the seventh, century. When the faith had penetrated into the north, it was not possible to have palms or olive branches; they were supplied by branches from other trees. The beautiful prayers used in the blessing, and based on the mysteries expressed by the palm and olive trees, are still employed in the blessing of our willow, box, or other branches; and rightly, for these represent the symbolical ones which nature has denied us.

The second of today’s ceremonies is the procession, which comes immediately after the blessing of the palms. It represents our Savior’s journey to Jerusalem, and His entry into the city. To make it the more expressive, the branches that have just been blessed are held in the hand during it. With the Jews, to hold a branch in one’s hand was a sign of joy. The divine law had sanctioned this practice, as we read in the following passage from Leviticus, where God commands His people to keep the feast of tabernacles: And you shall take to you, on the first day, the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God [Lev. xxiii. 40]. It was, therefore, to testify their delight at seeing Jesus enter within their walls, that the inhabitants, even the little children, of Jerusalem, went forth to meet Him with palms in their hands. Let us, also, go before our King, singing our hosannas to Him as the conqueror of death, and the liberator of His people.

During the middle ages, it was the custom, in many churches, to carry the book of the holy Gospels in this procession. The Gospel contains the words of Jesus Christ, and was considered to represent Him. The procession halted at an appointed place, or station: the deacon then opened the sacred volume, and sang from it the passage which describes our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. This done, the cross which, up to this moment, was veiled, was uncovered; each of the clergy advanced towards it, venerated it, and placed at its foot a small portion of the palm he held in his hand.

The procession then returned, preceded by the cross, which was left unveiled until all had re-entered the church. In England and Normandy, as far back as the eleventh century, there was practiced a holy ceremony which represented, even more vividly than the one we have just been describing, the scene that was witnessed on this day at Jerusalem: the blessed Sacrament was carried in procession. The heresy of Berengarius, against the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, had been broached about that time; and the tribute of triumphant joy here shown to the sacred Host was a distant preparation for the feast and procession which were to be instituted at a later period.

A touching ceremony was also practiced in Jerusalem during today’s procession, and, like those just mentioned, was intended to commemorate the event related by the Gospel. The whole community of the Franciscans (to whose keeping the holy places are entrusted) went in the morning to Bethphage. There, the father guardian of the holy Land, being vested in pontifical robes, mounted upon an ass, on which garments were laid. Accompanied by the friars and the Catholics of Jerusalem, all holding palms in their hands, he entered the city, and alighted at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Mass was celebrated with all possible solemnity.

This beautiful ceremony, which dated from the period of the Latin kingdom in Jerusalem, has been forbidden, for now almost two hundred years, by the Turkish authorities of the city.

We have mentioned these different usages, as we have done others on similar occasions, in order to aid the faithful to the better understanding of the several mysteries of the liturgy. In the present instance, they will learn that, in today’s procession, the Church wishes us to honor Jesus Christ as though He were really among us, and were receiving the humble tribute of our loyalty. Let us lovingly go forth to meet this our King, our Savior, who comes to visit the daughter of Sion, as the prophet has just told us. He is in our midst; it is to Him that we pay honor with our palms: let us give Him our hearts too. He comes that He may be our King; let us welcome Him as such, and fervently cry out to Him: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’

At the close of the procession a ceremony takes place, which is full of the sublimest symbolism. On returning to the church, the doors are found to be shut. The triumphant procession is stopped; but the songs of joy are continued. A hymn in honor of Christ our King is sung with its joyous chorus; and at length the subdeacon strikes the door with the staff of the cross; the door opens, and the people, preceded by the clergy, enter the church, proclaiming the praise of Him, who is our resurrection and our life.

This ceremony is intended to represent the entry of Jesus into that Jerusalem of which the earthly one was but the figure ― the Jerusalem of heaven, which has been opened for us by our Savior. The sin of our first parents had shut it against us; but Jesus, the King of glory, opened its gates by His cross, to which every resistance yields. Let us, then, continue to follow in the footsteps of the Son of David, for He is also the Son of God, and He invites us to share His kingdom with Him. Thus, by the procession, which is commemorative of what happened on this day, the Church raises up our thoughts to the glorious mystery of the Ascension, whereby heaven was made the close of Jesus’ mission on earth. Alas! the interval between these two triumphs of our Redeemer are not all days of joy; and no sooner is our procession over, than the Church, who had laid aside for a moment the weight of her grief, falls back into sorrow and mourning.

The third part of today’s service is the offering of the holy Sacrifice. The portions that are sung by the choir are expressive of the deepest desolation; and the history of our Lord’s Passion, which is now to be read by anticipation, gives to the rest of the day that character of sacred gloom, which we all know so well. For the last five or six centuries, the Church has adopted a special chant for this narrative of the holy Gospel.

The historian, or the evangelist, relates the events in a tone that is at once grave and pathetic; the words of our Savior are sung to a solemn yet sweet melody, which strikingly contrasts with the high dominant of the several other interlocutors and the Jewish populace. During the singing of the Passion, the faithful should hold their palms in their hands, and, by this emblem of triumph, protest against the insults offered to Jesus by His enemies. As we listen to each humiliation and suffering, all of which were endured out of love for us, let us offer Him our palm as to our dearest Lord and King. When should we be more adoring, than when He is most suffering?

These are the leading features of this great day. According to our usual plan, we will add to the prayers and lessons any instructions that seem to be needed.

This Sunday, besides its liturgical and popular appellation of Palm Sunday, has had several other names. Thus it was called Hosanna Sunday, in allusion to the acclamation wherewith the Jews greeted Jesus on His entry into Jerusalem. Our forefathers used also to call it Pascha Floridum, because the feast of the Pasch (or Easter), which is but eight days off, is today in bud, so to speak, and the faithful could begin from this Sunday to fulfil the precept of Easter Communion.

It was in allusion to this name, that the Spaniards, having on the Palm Sunday of 1513, discovered the peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico, called it Florida. We also find the name of Capililavium given to this Sunday, because, during those times when it was the custom to defer till Holy Saturday the baptism of infants born during the preceding months (where such a delay entailed no danger), the parents used, on this day, to wash the heads of these children, out of respect to the holy chrism wherewith they were to be anointed. Later on, this Sunday was, at least in some churches, called the Pasch of the competents, that is, of the catechumens, who were admitted to Baptism; they assembled today in the church, and received a special instruction on the symbol, which had been given to them in the previous scrutiny. In the Gothic Church of Spain, the symbol was not given till today. The Greeks call this Sunday Baïphoros, that is, Palm-bearing.

Article 10
THE HOLY THURSDAY RECONCILIATION OF PENITENTS & BLESSING OF OILS

This is the first day of the Azymes, or Feast of the Unleavened Bread. At sunset, the Jews must eat the Pasch in Jerusalem. Jesus is still in Bethania; but He will return to the City before the hour for the Paschal supper. The Law commands this; and, until He has abrogated the Law by the shedding of His Blood, He wishes to observe its ordinances. He therefore sends two of His Disciples to get everything ready for the Pasch, without, however, telling them the great Mystery, wherewith it is to terminate. We who know it, and that it was at this Last Supper that was instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we can understand why He sends Peter and John, in preference to any of the other Disciples, to prepare what is needed (Luke 22:8). Peter, who was the first to confess the Divinity of Jesus, represents Faith: and John, who leaned upon the breast of the Man-God, represents Love. The mystery, which is to be instituted at to-night’s Supper, is revealed to Love by Faith. It is this that Jesus would have us learn from His choice of the two Apostles; but they themselves see not the intention of their Master.

Jesus, who knew all things, tells them by what sign they are to know the house, which He intends to honor with His presence: they have but to follow a man, whom they will see carrying a pitcher of water. The house to which this man is going, belongs to a rich Jew, who recognizes Jesus as the Messias. The two Apostles apprise him of their Master’s wishes; and immediately he puts at their disposal a large and richly furnished room. It was fitting, that the place, where the most august Mystery was to he instituted, should he something above the common.

This Room, where the reality was to be substituted for all the ancient figures, was far superior to the Temple of Jerusalem. In it was to be erected the first Altar for the offering up of the clean oblation, foretold by the Prophet (Malachias 1:11); in it was to commence the Christian Priesthood: in it, finally, fifty days later on, the Church of Christ, collected together and visited by the Holy Ghost, was to make herself known to the world, and promulgate the new and universal Covenant of God with men. This favored sanctuary of our Faith, is still venerated on Mount Sion.

The Infidels have profaned it by their false worship, for even they look on it as a sacred place; but as though Divine Providence, which has mercifully preserved unto us so many traces of our Redeemer, would give us an earnest of better days to come — this venerable sanctuary has been recently thrown open to several Priests of the Church, and they have even been permitted to offer up the Holy Sacrifice in the very place where the Eucharist was instituted.

During the course of the day, Jesus has entered Jerusalem, with the rest of His Disciples: he has found all things prepared.

The Paschal Lamb, after being first presented in the Temple, has been brought to the house, where Jesus is to celebrate the Supper: it is prepared, together with the wild lettuce and the unleavened bread. In a few hours, the Divine Master and His Disciples will be standing round the table, their loins girt, and staves in their hands; and, for the last time, they will observe the solemn rite prescribed by God to His people, when they first went forth from Egypt.

But let us wait for the hour of Mass, before going further into the details of this Last Supper. Meanwhile, let us seek edification and instruction in two holy functions, which belong to this great day. The first is the Reconciliation of Penitents, which, although not now in use, needs to be described, in order that our readers may have a proper idea of the Lenten Liturgy. The second is the Consecration of the Holy Oils, which is a ceremony confined to Cathedral Churches, but so interesting to the Faithful, that we should have scrupled to have excluded it from our volume.

After having briefly described these, we will return to the history of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament, and assist at Mass. Then we shall have to speak of the preparation for the Mass of the Presanctified for tomorrow’s service, of the Stripping the Altars, and of the Mandatum, or Washing of the Feet. We proceed, therefore, to explain these several ceremonies, which make Maundy Thursday to be one of the most sacred days of the Liturgical Year.

THE RECONCILIATION OF PENITENTS

Three solemn Masses were anciently celebrated on this day; and the first was preceded by the absolution of the public penitents, and their re-admission into the Church. The following was the order of the service for the Reconciliation of Penitents. They presented themselves at the church-door, clad in penitential garb, and bare-footed. The hair of both head and beard had been allowed to grow from Ash Wednesday, the day on which they had received their penance. The Bishop recited, in the sanctuary, the seven Psalms, in which David expresses his sorrow for having offended God. These were followed by the Litany of the Saints.

During these prayers, the Penitents were prostrate on the ground, in the porch, for entrance into the Church was forbidden them. Thrice during the Litany, the Bishop deputed some of the Clergy to go and visit them, in his name, and bear them words of hope and consolation. The first time, two Subdeacons went to them and said:

“As I live, saith the Lord, I will not the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live. The second time, two other Sub-Deacons were sent, with this message: Thus saith the Lord: ‘Do penance; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’

Finally, a Deacon was commissioned to go to them, and say: ‘Lift up your heads; lo! your redemption is nigh!”

After these announcements of approaching pardon, the Bishop left the Sanctuary and went towards the Penitents, as far as half way down the center nave, where was prepared a seat, turned towards the door which led into the porch, where the Penitents were still lying prostrate on the ground. The Pontiff being seated, the Archdeacon addressed him in these words:

“Venerable Pontiff! The acceptable time has come, the day of God’s mercy and of man’s salvation, when death was destroyed, and eternal life began. This is the time, when, in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, new plants are to be set, and the detestableness of the old growth is to be pruned away. For though there be no period of time, which is not rich in the goodness and mercy of God, yet now indulgence produces a more abundant remission of sins, and grace yields a more plentiful number of the regenerated. Those that are regenerated add to our ranks; those that return, increase our numbers. There is a laver of water; there is a laver of tears. From the one, there is joy because of the admittance of them that are called; from the other, there is gladness because of them that repent.

“Therefore it is, that these thy suppliant servants — after having fallen into sundry kinds of sins, by the neglect of the divine commandments, and the transgression of the moral law — humbled and prostrate, cry out to the Lord in these words of the Prophet: ‘We have sinned: we have done unjustly! We have committed iniquity! Have mercy on us, Lord!’ It has not been in vain, that they have heard the words of the Gospel: ‘Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted!’ As it is written, ‘they have eaten the bread of sorrow; they have watered their couch with tears’; they have afflicted their hearts with mourning, and their bodies with fasting, that thus they might recover the health of soul, which they had lost. The grace of penance, therefore, is one; but it profits each one that receives it, and gives help to all in common.”

The Bishop then rose, and advanced towards the Penitents. He spoke to them concerning the mercy of God, and how they should live for the time to come. After this exhortation, he thus addressed them: “Come, come, come, my children! I will teach you the fear of the Lord!” The Choir then sang this Antiphon, taken from the 33rd Psalm: “Come ye to Him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded!” Hereupon, the Penitents rose up, and, coming to the Bishop, threw themselves at his feet. The Archpriest then pleaded for them in these words:

“Make good in them, O Apostolic Pontiff, all that has been corrupted in them by the temptation of the devil! By the merit of thy prayers and intercession, and by the grace of the divine reconciliation, bring these men nigh unto God. Thus, they who, heretofore, suffered by the sins they committed, may now be happy in the hope, that, having overcome the author of their death, they may please the Lord, in the land of the living.”

The Bishop answered: “Knowest thou, if they be worthy of reconciliation?”
The Archpriest replied: “I know, and bear witness, that they are worthy.”

A Deacon then ordered the Penitents to rise. This done, the Bishop took one of them by the hand, who did the same to his neighbor; and thus all, hand in hand, followed the Bishop to the place prepared in the center of the nave. Meanwhile, the Choir sang the following Antiphons: “I say unto you, there is joy to the Angels of God over one sinner doing penance. It behooveth thee, my son, to rejoice; for thy brother was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found.” The Bishop then offered up to God this prayer, which he sang to the solemn tone of the Preface.

“It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, through Christ our Lord: Whom Thou, Almighty Father, didst will should be born among us by an ineffable Birth, that so He might pay to Thee, His Eternal Father, the debt contracted by Adam, and put our death to death by His own, and bear our wounds in His own flesh, and cleanse away our stains by His Blood; hereby enabling us, who had fallen by the envy of the old enemy, to rise again by His mercy. Through Him, O Lord, we suppliantly beseech and pray thee that Thou mayest graciously hear us making intercession for the sins of others, who are not worthy to plead for our own.

“Do Thou, O most merciful Lord, recall to Thyself, with Thy wonted goodness, these Thy servants, who have separated themselves from Thee by their sins. For neither didst Thou reject the most wicked Achab when he humbled himself before Thee, but didst avert from him the punishment he had deserved. So, likewise didst Thou graciously hear Peter, when he wept, and didst afterwards give to him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and Thou didst promise the reward of that same Kingdom to the Thief when he trusted in Thee.

“Therefore, most merciful Lord, mercifully welcome back these for whom we offer to Thee our prayers, and restore them to the bosom of the Church, that the enemy may not triumph over them, but that they may be reconciled unto Thee by thy co-equal Son, and by Him be cleansed from their guilt, and graciously admitted by Him to the banquet of Thy most Holy Supper. May He in such wise refresh them by His Flesh and Blood, as to lead them, after this life’s course is run, to the Kingdom of Heaven.”

After this Prayer, all, both clergy and laity, prostrated themselves, together with the Penitents, before the Divine Majesty, and recited the three Psalms which begin with the word Miserere (that is, the 50th, the 55th, and the 56th). The Bishop then stood up, and said over the Penitents (who remained prostrate, as did also all the assistants,) six Prayers, from which we select the following sentences.

“Give ear, Lord, to our supplications, and mercifully hear me, though I myself need mercy above all others. Thou hast chosen me to be the minister of this work, not from any merits Thou didst see in me, but by the pure gift of Thy grace.

Grant me courage to fulfil my office, and do Thou work, by my ministry, the effects of Thine own mercy. It is Thou that didst bring back, on Thy shoulders, the lost sheep to the fold, and that didst mercifully hear the prayers of the Publican: do Thou, also, restore to life these Thy servants, whom Thou wouldst not have die unto Thee. Thou, who abandonest not them that are gone astray, receive these who have returned to Thee.

We beseech Thee, Lord, let the tearful sighs of these Thy servants move Thee to clemency: heal their wounds: stretch out thy saving hand to them, and raise them up. Permit not Thy Church to be injured in any of her members: let not Thy flock surfer loss; let not the enemy exult over the destruction of any of Thy family, nor the second death lay hold of them that have been regenerated in the laver of salvation.

Pardon, O Lord, these that confess their sins to Thee: let them not fall into the punishments of the future judgment to come; let them never know the horrors of darkness, or the torments of the flames of Hell. They have returned from the way of error to the path of justice; let them not be again wounded, but maintain ever within themselves both what Thy grace hath conferred upon them, and what Thy mercy hath reformed within them.”

Having said these Prayers, the Bishop stretched forth his hands over the Penitents, and pronounced the Reconciliation, in this solemn formula:

“May our Lord Jesus Christ, Who vouchsafed to take away the sins of the whole world by delivering Himself up for us, and shedding His spotless Blood; who, also, said unto His Disciples: whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth, shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven: and Who hath numbered me, though unworthy, among these His ministers: may He deign, by the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, of the blessed Archangel Michael, of holy Peter the Apostle, (to whom he gave the power of binding and loosing,) and of all the Saints, to absolve you, by the merits of His Blood shed for the remission of sins, from all whatsoever you have negligently committed in thought, or word, or action; and, having loosed you from the bonds of sin, may He graciously lead you to the Kingdom of Heaven. Who, with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.”

The Bishop then advanced towards the Penitents, who were still lying prostrate: he sprinkled them with holy water, and thurified them (blessed them with the smoke of incense). Finally, he addressed them in these words of the Apostle: “Arise, ye that sleep! arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you!” The Penitents stood up; and, in order to express the joy they felt at being reconciled with their God, they immediately went and changed their penitential garb for one more in accordance with gladness, and with the Holy Communion that they were now to receive together with the rest of the Faithful.

This Reconciliation of Penitents has given rise to the magnificent ceremony, which takes place at Rome on this day — the Papal Benediction. After Mass, the Sovereign Pontiff, vested in cope, and wearing the tiara, goes to the balcony over the center door of the Vatican Basilica. In the Piazza of Saint Peter’s there stands an immense crowd of people, come from every country of the world, awaiting the appearance of the Vicar of Christ, who is about to grant them the remission of the punishment due to their sins.

One of the Prelates, who surround the Pope’s throne, recites the usual form of the Confession of Sins; he recites it in the name of the assembly below, whom one and the same holy Faith has thus brought before the Father of the Christian World. After a few seconds of silence, the Pontiff beseeches God to show the riches of His mercy upon the multitude, who have already purified their conscience in the Tribunal of Reconciliation; he invokes upon them the assistance of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul; and then rising, he raises up his hands to Heaven, as though to draw thence the treasures of eternal indulgence; and immediately lowering them, he blesses the assembled multitude.

This Blessing, which grants a Plenary Indulgence to all that have fulfilled the requisite conditions, was, originally, given only on Maundy Thursday; afterwards, it was given also on Easter Sunday; and again, later on, was extended to two other days in the year, namely, the Ascension (at Saint John Lateran), and the Assumption (at Saint Mary Major). It is incorrectly called a blessing Urbi et Orbi, inasmuch as it is only given to the Faithful who are present at it.

THE BLESSING OF THE HOLY OILS

The second Mass which used, formerly, to be said on Maundy Thursday, was that of the Blessing of the Holy Oils. This holy function, which takes place but once each year, requires a Bishop as the consecrator. For now many centuries, this great ceremony is celebrated at the single Mass, which is said, on this day, in commemoration of our Lord’s Supper.

As this Blessing only takes place in Cathedral Churches, we will not enter into each detail; and yet we would not deprive our readers of what they ought to know with regard to the Holy Oils. Faith teaches us, that, as we are regenerated by water, so are we confirmed and fortified by oil; and that Oil is one of the chief elements chosen by the Divine Author of the Sacraments, whereby to signify and produce grace in our souls.

The reason of the Church’s selecting Maundy Thursday for the Blessing of the Holy Oils, was that they would be so much needed for the Baptism of the neophytes on Easter Eve. It behooves the Faithful to understand the mystery of those sacred elements. We will, therefore, briefly explain it to them, in order that we may excite their hearts to gratitude to our Blessed Lord, who has made material things the instruments of grace, and, by his Blood, has given them the sacramental power which resides within them.

The first of the Holy Oils, that is, the first that is blessed by the Bishop, is the one called the Oil of the Sick. It is the matter of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. It takes away, from the dying Christian, the remnants of sin; it strengthens him in his last combat; and, by the supernatural power it possesses, sometimes restores to him the health of the body. Formerly, it used to be blessed on any day of the year, as often as required: but, later on, its Blessing was fixed for this day, that thus the three Oils might be blessed all together. The Faithful should assist with much devotion, at this ceremony; for the element that is thus sanctified, is one day to anoint and purify their bodies, sinking under sickness. Let them, as they see it being blessed, think upon their last hour, and praise the infinite goodness of their Savior, Whose Blood streams so plentifully through “this precious fluid.”

The noblest of the three Oils is the Chrism, and its consecration is more solemn, and fuller of mystery, than those of the other two. It is by the chrism that the Holy Ghost imprints His indelible seal on the Christian, that has already been made a member of Christ by Baptism. The Water gives us our spiritual birth; the Chrism gives us strength; and, until such time as we have received its holy anointing, we have not as yet the perfect character of a Christian.

Anointed with this Holy Oil, the Faithful has a visible sign given him of his being a member of the Man-God, Whose name of Christ signifies the unction He has received both as King and Pontiff. This consecration of a Christian by Chrism is so much in accordance with the spirit of our holy Religion, that, immediately after Baptism, the child receives upon its head an anointing, (though it is not a sacramental one) of this Oil, to show that he is already a sharer of the kingly character of Jesus Christ.

In order to express, by an outward sign, the sacredness of Chrism, an Apostolic tradition requires the Bishop to mix Balm with it. This Balm represents what the Apostle calls the good odor of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15), of whom it is written: “We will run after thee, to the odor of thy ointments” (Canticles 1:3). The scarcity and high price of other perfumes has obliged the Latin Church to be content with Balm alone in the mixture of holy Chrism: but, in the Eastern Church, where the climate is more favorable than ours, three and thirty species of precious perfumes are put into the Oil, and it thus becomes an ointment of exquisite fragrance.

The Holy Chrism, besides its sacramental use in Confirmation, and its being put upon the head of the newly baptized, is also used by the Church in the consecration of her Bishops, in the consecration of Chalices and Altars, in the blessing of Bells, and in the Dedication of a Church, in which last most imposing ceremony, the Bishop pours out the Chrism on the twelve crosses, which are to attest to all succeeding ages, the glory of God’s House.

The third of the Holy Oils is that which is called the Oil of Catechumens. Though it be not the matter of any Sacrament, it is, nevertheless, an Apostolic institution. Its blessing is less solemn than that of the Chrism, but more so than that of the Oil of the Sick. The Oil of Catechumens is used in the ceremonies of Baptism, for the anointing the breast and shoulders. It is also used for the anointing a Priest’s hands in Ordination, and for the coronation of a King or Queen.

These few words of explanation will give the Faithful some idea of the importance of the Blessing of the Holy Oils. By this threefold Blessing, says St. Fortunatus, (in the beautiful Hymn, which is used during the ceremony) the Bishop acquits the debt he owes, and which none but he can pay.

Holy Mother Church seldom employs such pomp as she does on this occasion. Twelve Priests, seven Deacons, and seven Subdeacons, are present. The Roman Pontifical tells us, that the twelve Priests assist as witnesses and co-operators of the Holy Chrism. The Mass commences, and goes on as far as the Prayer of the Canon, which immediately precedes the Pater Noster. The Bishop then leaves the Altar, and goes to the place prepared for the Blessing. The first phial of Oil that is brought to him, is that which is intended for the sick. He prefaces the blessing, by pronouncing the words of exorcism over this oil, in order to drive from it the influence of the wicked spirits, who, out of hatred for man, are ever seeking to infest the creatures given to us for our use. This done, he blesses it in these words:

“We beseech Thee, O Lord, send forth from Heaven thy Holy Spirit the Paraclete upon this rich juice of the olive, which Thou hast graciously produced from the green wood, for the solace of both mind and body. By Thy holy blessing, may all they that are anointed with this ointment of heavenly virtue, receive help to mind and body; may it remove from them all pains, all infirmities, and all sickness of mind and body, for it was with oil that Thou didst anoint Thy Priests, Kings, Prophets, and Martyrs. May this, being blessed by Thee, O Lord, become unto us an ointment of perfection, and abide within our whole being. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

One of the seven Subdeacons then carries the phial back, and the Bishop returns to the Altar, and continues the Mass. As soon as he has given Holy Communion to the Clergy, he returns to the place prepared for the blessing of the Oils. The twelve Priests, the seven Deacons, and the seven Subdeacons, go to the place where the other two phials have been put. One contains the oil, which is to become the Chrism of salvation; the other, the oil which is to be sanctified as the Oil of Catechumens.

The procession is soon seen returning towards the Pontiff. The two phials are carried by two Deacons; a Subdeacon carries the vase of Balm. The Bishop begins by blessing the Balm: he calls it “the fragrant tear of dry bark”—the oozing of a favored branch, “that gives us the priestly unction.” Before proceeding to bless the Oil of the Chrism, he thrice breathes upon it, in the form of a cross. The twelve Priests do the same. The Gospel tells us that our Blessed Savior used this same ceremony over His Apostles.

It signifies the power of the Holy Ghost, and expresses His name, which is the Spirit. This Holy Spirit is about to make this oil become an instrument of His Divine power. The Bishop first prepares it for the heavenly dignity, by exorcising it. He then celebrates the praises of the Chrism, by this magnificent Preface, which has been handed down to us from the earliest ages of our Faith.

“It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God: Who, in the beginning, among the rest of Thy bounteous gifts, didst command the earth to yield fruit-bearing trees, among which should be the olive, which produces this most rich liquor, and whose fruit was to serve for the making Holy Chrism.

“Hence it was, that David, foreknowing, by a prophetic spirit, the Sacraments of Thy grace, sang that our faces were to be made glad with oil: and when the sins of the world were expiated of old, by the deluge, a dove announced that peace was restored to the Earth, by bearing an olive branch, the type of the gift to come, which has been manifested in these latter ages; for after the waters of Baptism have washed away the sins of men, this anointing of oil gave us joy and calm. Hence, too, Thou didst command Thy servant Moses to ordain his brother Aaron priest, by pouring oil upon him, after he had been cleansed with water.

“A greater honor still was, that when Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, bade John baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan, Thou didst send upon Him the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove; that thus by a voice that bore testimony, Thou mightest designate Thine Only Begotten Son, in Whom Thou wast well pleased, and mightest prove, beyond all doubt, that this was the fulfilment of what the Prophet David had foretold, when he sang, that he was to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.

“We, therefore, beseech Thee, Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, that Thou vouchsafe to sanctify, by Thy blessing, this Thy creature oil, and infuse into it the power of the Holy Ghost, through the co-operating power of Christ, Thy Son, from Whose Name it hath borrowed its own of Chrism, and wherewith Thou didst anoint the Priests, Kings, Prophets, and Martyrs. Raise this Chrism into a Sacrament of perfect salvation and life, to them that are to be renewed by the spiritual laver of Baptism. That thus, the corruption of their first birth being absorbed by the infusion of this holy anointing, they may become a holy temple, redolent with the fragrance of the innocence of holy living. According to what Thou hast appointed in this mystery, bestow upon them the honor of kings, priests, and prophets, by vesting them in the robe of incorruption. May this oil be to them, that are born again from water and the Holy Ghost, a Chrism of salvation, making them partakers of life everlasting, and co-heirs of heavenly glory.”

The Bishop then takes the Balm; and having mixed it, on a paten, with a little oil, he pours it into the Phial. The consecration of the Chrism thus completed, he salutes it with these words: Hail, Holy Chrism! This he does with the intention of honoring the Holy Ghost, who is to work by this sacramental oil. The same is done by each of the twelve Priests.

The Bishop then proceeds to bless the Oil of Catechumens. After having breathed upon it, and pronounced the exorcism, (as before, in the blessing of the Holy Chrism,) he says this Prayer:

“O God, the rewarder of every spiritual increase and growth, who strengthenest the beginnings of weakly souls by the power of the Holy Ghost: we beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thou vouchsafe to pour out Thy blessing upon this oil, and grant to them, that come to the laver of holy regeneration, the cleansing of soul and body, by the anointing they receive from this Thy creature; that so, if there should be any stains fixed upon them by their spiritual enemies, they may be effaced by the touch of this Holy Oil. May the wicked spirits find no room there; may the powers, that have been put to flight, have no further sway; may there be no lurking place left to insidious evil ones. May Thy servants that come to the Faith, and are to be cleansed by the operation of Thy Holy Spirit, find in this anointing a preparation for that salvation, which they are to receive in the Sacrament of Baptism, by the Birth of a heavenly regeneration. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who is to come to judge the living, and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.”

The Bishop then salutes the Oil, on which he has conferred these wonderful prerogatives, saying: “Hail, Holy Oil!” The same act of reverence is repeated by each of the Priests. One of the deacons takes the Chrism, another the Oil of Catechumens, and a procession is again formed for taking them to the place prepared for them. They are covered with veils of silk — the Holy Chrism, with white: the Oil of Catechumens, with purple.

Article 11
THE TRIAL, PASSION AND DEATH OF CHRIST ON GOOD FRIDAY

THE MORNING OF GOOD FRIDAY

The sun has risen upon Jerusalem. But the Priests and Scribes have not waited all this time without venting their rage upon Jesus. Annas, who was the first to receive the divine Captive, has had him taken to his son-in-law Caiphas, the High Priest. Here he is put through a series of insulting questions, which disdaining to answer, he receives a blow from one of the High Priest’s servants. False witnesses had been already prepared: they now come forward, and depose their lies against Him who is the very Truth: — but their testimony is contradictory. Then, Caiphas, seeing that this plan for convicting Jesus of blasphemy is only serving to expose his accomplices, turns to another. He asks him a question, which will oblige our Lord to make an answer; and in this answer, he Caiphas, will discover blasphemy, and blasphemy would bring Jesus under the power of the Synagogue. This is the question: I adjure thee, by the living God, that thou tell us, if thou be the Christ the Son of God?

Our Savior, in order to teach us that we should show respect to those who are in authority, breaks the silence he has hitherto observed, and answers: Thou hast said it: I am: and hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Hereupon, the impious Pontiff rises, rends his garments, and exclaims: He hath blasphemed! What further need have we of ‘witnesses? Behold! now ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? The whole place resounds with the cry: He is guilty of death!

The Son of God has come down upon the earth, in order to restore man to Life; and yet, here we have this creature of death daring to summon his Divine Benefactor before a human tribunal, and condemning him to Death! And Jesus is silent! and bears with these presumptuous, these ungrateful, blasphemers! Well may we exclaim, in the words, wherewith the Greek Church frequently interrupts to-day’s reading of the Passion: ”Glory be to thy Patience, Lord!”

Scarcely have the terrible words, He is guilty of death, been uttered, than the servants of the High Priest rush upon Jesus. They spit upon him, and blindfolding him, they strike him, saying: Prophesy! who is it struck thee? Thus does the Synagogue treat the Messias, who, they say, is to be their glory! And yet, these outrages, frightful as they are, are but the beginning of what our Redeemer has to go through.

But there is something far more trying than all this to the heart of Jesus, and it is happening at this very time. Peter has made his way as far as the court of the High Priest’s Palace! He is recognized by the bystanders as a Galilean, and one of Jesus’ Disciples. The Apostle trembles for his life; — he denies his Master, and affirms, with an oath, that he does not even know him. What a sad example is here of the punishment of presumption! But, Jesus has mercy on his Apostle. The servants of the High Priest lead him to the place, near where Peter is standing; he casts upon him a look of reproach and pardon; Peter immediately goes forth, and weeps bitterly. From this hour forward he can do nothing but lament his sin; and it is only on Easter Morning, when Jesus shall appear to him after his Resurrection, that he will admit any consolation to his afflicted heart. Let us make him our model, now that we are spending these hours, with our holy Mother the Church, in contemplating the Passion of Jesus. Peter withdraws, because he fears his own weakness; let us remain to the end, for what have we to fear? May our Jesus give us one of those looks, which can change the hardest and worst of hearts!

Meanwhile, the day-dawn breaks upon the City, and the Chief Priests make arrangements for taking Jesus before the Roman Governor. They themselves have found him guilty; they have condemned him as a Blasphemer, and according to the Law of Moses, a Blasphemer must be stoned to death: but they cannot apply the law: Jerusalem is no longer free, or governed by her own laws. The power over life and death may only be exercised by her conquerors, and that in the name of Caesar. How is it, that these Priests and Scribes can go through all this, and never once remember the prophecy of Jacob — that the Messias would come, when the scepter should be taken away from Juda. They know off by heart, they are the appointed guardians of those Prophecies, which describe the death to which this Messias is to be put — and yet, they are the very ones who bring it about! How is all this? — They are blind, and it is jealousy that blinds them.

The rumor of Jesus’ having been seized during the night, and that he is on the point of being led before the Roman Governor, rapidly spreads through the City, and reaches Judas’ ear. This wretched man had a passion for money, but there was nothing to make him desire the death of his Divine Master. He knew Jesus’ supernatural power. He perhaps flattered himself that he who could command nature and the elements, would easily escape from the hands of his enemies. But now when he sees that he does not escape, and that he is to be condemned to death — he runs to the Temple, and gives back the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests. Is it that he is converted, and is about to ask his Master to pardon him? Alas! no: despair has possession of him, and he puts an end to his existence. The recollection of all the merciful solicitations made to him, yesterday, by Jesus, both during the Last Supper, and in the Garden, gives him no confidence; it only serves to increase his despair. Surely, he well knew what a merciful Savior he had to deal with! And yet, he despairs, and this at the very time when the Blood, which washes away the sins of the whole world, is about to be shed! He is lost, because he despaired.

The Chief Priests, taking Jesus with them, present themselves at the Governor’s Palace, demanding audience for a case of importance. Pilate comes forward, and peevishly asks them: What accusation bring you against this man? — They answered: If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee. It is very evident from these first words, that Pilate has a contempt for these Jewish Priests; it is not less evident that they are determined to gain their cause. Take him you, says Pilate, and judge him according to your Law. — The Chief Priests answered: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.

Pilate leaves the Hall, in order to speak with these men. He returns, and commands Jesus to be brought in. The son of God and the representative of the pagan world are face to face. Pilate begins by asking him: Art thou the King of the Jews? — To this Jesus thus replies: My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But, now, my kingdom is not from hence. — Art thou a King, then? says Pilate. — Thou sayest, answers Jesus, that I am a King. Having, by these last words, confessed his august dignity, our Lord offers a grace to this Roman; he tells him, that there is something worthier of man’s ambition than earthly honors. For this, says Jesus, was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the Truth. Every one that is of the Truth, heareth my voice. — What is Truth? asks Pilate; but without waiting for the answer, he leaves Jesus, for he is anxious to have done with this case. He returns to the Jews, and says to them: I find no cause in him. — Pilate fancies that this Jesus must be a leader of some Jewish sect, whose teachings give offence to the Chief Priests, but which are not worth his examining into them: yet at the same time, he is convinced that he is a harmless man, and that it would be foolish and unjust to accuse him of disturbing the state.

Scarcely has Pilate expressed his opinion in favor of Jesus, than a long list of accusations is brought up against him by the Chief Priests. Pilate is astonished at Jesus’ making no reply, and says to him: Dost thou not hear how great testimonies they allege against thee? l — These words are kindly meant, but Jesus still remains silent: they, however, excite his enemies to fresh fury, and they cry out: He stirreth Up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, even to this place? This word Galilee suggests a new idea to Pilate. Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee, happens to be in Jerusalem at this very time. Jesus is his subject; he must be sent to him. Thus Pilate will get rid of a troublesome case, and this act of courteous deference will reestablish a good understanding between himself and Herod.

The Savior is therefore dragged through the streets of Jerusalem, from Pilate’s house to Herod’s palace. His enemies follow him with relentless fury; but Jesus still observes his noble silence. Herod, the murderer of John the Baptist, insults him, and ordering him to be clothed in a white garment, as a Fool, he sends him back to Pilate. Another plan for ridding himself of this troublesome case, now strikes the Roman Governor. At the feast of the Pasch, he had the power of granting pardon to any one criminal the people may select. They are assembled together at the court-gates. He feels sure, that their choice will fall upon Jesus, for it is but a few days ago that they led him in triumph through the City: besides, he intends to make the alternative one who is an object of execration to the whole people; he is a murderer, and his name Barabbas. Whom will you that I release to you? says Pilate: Barabbas, or Jesus, that is called the Christ? — He has not long to wait for the answer: the crowd exclaim: Not this man, but Barabbas! — What then, replies Pilate, shall I do with Jesus, that is called the Christ? — Crucify him? — Why, what evil hath he done? I will chastise him, therefore, and let him go. But they growing irritated at this, cry out so much the louder: Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate’s cowardly subterfuge has failed, and left him in a more difficult position than he was before. His putting the innocent on a level with a murderer was in itself a gross injustice; and yet, he has not gone far enough for a people that is blind with passion. Neither does his promise to chastise Jesus satisfy them: they want more than his Blood: they insist on his death!

Here let us pause, and offer our Savior a reparation for the insult he here receives. He is put in competition with a murderer, and the murderer is preferred! Pilate makes an attempt to save Jesus: but, on what terms! — he must be put on a footing with a vile wretch, and, even so, be worsted! Those very lips that, a few days back, sang ” Hosanna to the Son of David,” now clamor for his Crucifixion!

The City Magistrate and Governor pronounces him innocent; and yet, he condemns him to be scourged, because he fears a disturbance!

Jesus is made over to the soldiers, to be scourged. They rudely strip him of his garments, and tie him to the pillar, which is kept for this kind of torture. Fiercely do they strike him; the blood flows down his sacred Body. Let us adore this the second Blood-shedding of our Jesus, whereby he expiates for the sins we and the whole world have committed by the flesh. This Scourging is by the hands of Gentiles: the Jews delivered him up to be punished, and the Romans were the executioners: — thus have we all had our share in the awful deicide!

At last, the soldiers are tired; they loosen their Victim; — but it is not out of anything like pity. Their cruelty is going to rest, and their rest is derision. Jesus has been called “King of the Jews: ” a King, say they, must have a Crown! Accordingly they make one for the Son of David! It is of Thorns. They press it violently upon his head, and this is the third Blood-shedding of our Redeemer. Then, that they may make their scoffing perfect, the soldiers throw a scarlet cloak over his shoulders, and put a reed, for a scepter, into his hand; and bending their knee before him, they thus salute him: Hail, King of the Jews! — This insulting homage is accompanied with blows upon his face; they spit upon him; and, from time to time, take the reed from his hand, wherewith to strike the Thorns deeper into his head.

Here, the Christian prostrates himself before his Savior, and says to him with a heart full of compassion and veneration: ” Yes! my Jesus! Thou art King of the Jews! Thou art the Son of David, and therefore our Messias and our Redeemer! Israel, that hath so lately proclaimed thee King, now uncrowns thee; the Gentiles scoff at thy Royalty, making it a subject for keener insult: — but reign thou must and over both Jews and Gentiles: over the Jews, by thy justice, for they are soon to feel the scepter of thy revenge; over the Gentiles, by thy mercy, for thine Apostles are soon to lead them to thy feet. Receive, dearest King! our homage and submission! Reign now and for ever over our hearts, yea, over our whole being!”

Thus mangled and bleeding, holding the reed in his hand, and with the scarlet tatters on his shoulders, Jesus is led back to Pilate. It is just the sight that will soften the hearts of the people; at least, Pilate thinks so; and taking him with him to a balcony of the palace, he shows him to the crowd below, saying; Behold the Man! Little did Pilate know all that these few words conveyed! He says not: “Behold Jesus! ” — nor, “Behold the King of the Jews! ” he says: Behold the Man! — Man! — the Christian understands the full force of the word thus applied to our Redeemer. Adam the first Man, rebelled against God, and, by his sin, deranged the whole work of the Creator: as a punishment for his pride and intemperance, the flesh tyrannized over the spirit; the very earth was cursed, and thorns were to be its growth. Jesus, the New Man, comes into this world, bearing upon him, not the reality, but the appearance, the likeness, of sin: in him, the work of the Creator regains its primeval order; but the change was not wrought without violence. To teach us, that the flesh must be brought into subjection to the spirit, Jesus’ Flesh was torn by the scourges: to teach us, that pride must give way to humility, the only Crown that Jesus wears is made of Thorns. Yes — Behold Man! — the triumph of the spirit over the flesh, the triumph of humility over pride.

Like the tiger that grows fiercer as he sees blood, so is Israel at the sight of Jesus after his scourging. Crucify him! Crucify him! — the cry is still the same. — Take him you, says Pilate, and crucify him; for I find no cause in him. And yet, he has ordered him to be scourged enough to cause his death! Here is another device of the base coward; but it, too, fails. The Jews have their answer ready: they put forward the right granted by the Romans to the nations that are tributary to the Empire. We have, say they, a law, and according to the law he ought to die; because he made himself the Son of God. Disconcerted by the reply, Pilate takes Jesus aside into the hall, and says to him: Whence art thou? Jesus is silent; Pilate was not worthy to hear the answer to his question. This silence irritates him. Speakest thou not to me? says he. Knoweth thou not, that I have ‘power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee? Here Jesus deigns to speak; and he speaks, in order to teach us that every power of government, even where pagans are in question, comes from God, and not from a pretended social compact: Thou shouldst not have any power against me, unless it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that hath delivered me to thee, hath the greater sin.

This dignified reply produces an impression upon Pilate: he resolves to make another attempt to save Jesus. But the people vociferate a threat which alarms him: If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar’s friend; for whosoever maketh himself a King, speaketh against Caesar. Still, he is determined to try and pacify the crowd. He leaves the hall, sits upon the judgment-seat, orders Jesus to be placed near him, and thus pleads for him: Behold your King! as though he would say, “What have you or Caesar to fear from such a pitiable object as this? ‘: The argument was unavailing, and only provokes the cry: Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! As though he did not believe them to be in earnest, Pilate says to them: Shall I crucify your King? This time the Chief Priests give the answer: We have no king but Caesar} When the very Ministers of God can talk thus, religion is at an end. No king but Caesar! — then, the scepter is taken from Juda, and Jerusalem is cast off, and the Messias is come!

Pilate, seeing that nothing can quell the tumult, and that his honor as Governor is at stake, decides on making Jesus over to his enemies. Though against his own inclination, he passes the Sentence, which is to cause him such remorse of conscience that he will afterwards seek relief in suicide. He takes a tablet, and with a style, writes the Inscription which is to be fastened to the Cross. The people demand that two thieves should be crucified at the same time — it would be an additional insult to Jesus: this, too, he grants, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaias: And with the wicked was he reputed. Having thus defiled his soul with the most heinous of crimes, Pilate washes his hands before the people, and says to them: I am innocent of the blood of this just man; look ye to it! They answer him with, this terrible self-imprecation: His blood be upon us and upon our children! The mark of Parricide here fastens on this ungrateful and sacrilegious people; Cain-like, they shall wander fugitives on the earth. Eighteen hundred years have passed since then; slavery, misery, and contempt, have been their portion; but the mark is still upon them. Let us Gentiles — upon whom this Blood of Jesus has fallen as the dew of heaven’s mercy — let us return fervent thanks to the goodness of our heavenly Father, who hath so loved the world, as to give it his Only Begotten Son. Let us give thanks to the Son, who, seeing that our iniquities could not be blotted out save by his Blood, shed it, on this day, even to the very last drop.

Here commences ” The Way of the Cross ;” the House of Pilate, where our Jesus receives the sentence of Death, is the First Station. Our Redeemer is consigned, by the Governor’s order, into the hands of the Jews. The Soldiers seize him, and drag him from the Court. They strip him of the scarlet cloak and bid him clothe himself with his own garments as before the Scourging. The Cross is ready and they put it on his wounded shoulders. The place where the new Isaac loads himself with the wood of his sacrifice, is the Second Station. To Calvary! — this is the word of command, and it is obeyed: soldiers, executioners, priests, scribes, people — these form the procession. Jesus moves slowly on; but after a few paces, exhausted by the loss of Blood and by his Sufferings, he falls under the weight of his Cross. It is the first fall, and marks the Third Station.

He falls, not so much by the weight of his Cross, as by that of our sins! The Soldiers roughly lay their hands on him, and force him up again. Scarcely has he resumed his steps, than he is met by his afflicted Mother. The Valiant Woman, whose love is stronger than death, was not to be absent at such an hour as this. She must see her Son, follow him, keep close to him, even to his last breath. No tongue could tell the poignancy of her grief. The anxiety she has endured during the last few days has exhausted her strength. All the sufferings of Jesus have been made known to her by a divine revelation; she has shared each one of them with him. But, now, she cannot endure to be absent, and makes her way through the crowd. The Sacrifice is nigh its consummation; no human power could keep such a Mother from her Jesus. The faithful Magdalene is by her side, bathed in tears; John, Mary, (the mother of James the Less) and Salome, (the mother of John,) are also with her: they weep for their Divine Master, she for her Son. Jesus sees her, but cannot comfort her, for all this is but the beginning of what he is to endure. Oh! what an additional suffering was this for his loving Heart — to see his Mother agonizing with sorrow! The executioners observe the Mother of their Victim, but it would be too much mercy in them to allow her to speak to him; she may follow, if she please, with the crowd; it is more than she could have expected, to have been allowed this Meeting, which we venerate as the Fourth Station of the Way of the Cross.

But from this to the last there is a long distance, for there is a law, that criminals are to be executed outside the City Walls. The Jews are afraid of Jesus’ expiring before reaching the place of Sacrifice. Just at this time, they behold a man coming from the country; his name is Simon of Cyrene; they order him to help Jesus to carry his Cross. It is out of a motive of cruelty to our Lord, but it gives Simon the honor of sharing with him the fatigue of bearing the instrument of the world’s salvation. The spot where this happens is the Fifth Station.

A little farther on, an incident occurs which strikes the executioners themselves with astonishment. A woman makes her way through the crowd, and setting the soldiers at defiance, comes close up to Jesus. She holds her veil in her hands, and with it respectfully wipes the Face of our Lord, for it is covered with blood, sweat, and spittle. She loves Jesus, and cares not what may happen to her, so she can offer him this slight comfort. Her love receives its reward: — she finds her Veil miraculously impressed with the likeness of Jesus’ Face. This courageous act of Veronica marks the Sixth Station of the Way of the Cross.

Jesus grows weaker at each step: — he falls a second time: it is the Seventh Station. Again do the soldiers violently raise him up, and push him along the road. It is easy to follow in his footsteps, for a streak of Blood shows where he has passed. A group of women is following close behind the soldiers; they heed not the insults heaped upon them; their compassion makes them brave. But the last brutal treatment shown to Jesus is more than they can bear in silence; they utter a cry of pitiful lamentation.

Our Savior is pleased with these women, who, in spite of the weakness of their sex, are showing more courage than all the men of Jerusalem put together. He affectionately turns towards them, and tells them what a terrible chastisement is to follow the crime they are now witnessing. The chief Priests and Scribes recognize the dignity of the Prophet that had so often spoken to them: they listen with indignation, and, at this the Eighth Station of the Great “Way, they hear these words: Daughters of Jerusalem! weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us! And to the hills: Cover us! ”

At last, they reach the foot of the hill. Calvary is steep; but is the place of Jesus’ Sacrifice. He begins the ascent, but falls a third time: the hallowed spot is counted as the Ninth Station. A third time the soldiers force Jesus to rise and continue his painful journey to the summit of the hill, which is to serve as the Altar for the holocaust that is to surpass all others in holiness and power. The executioners seize the Cross and lay it upon the ground, preparatory to their nailing the Divine Victim to it. According to a custom, practiced both by the Romans and the Jews, a cup containing wine and myrrh is offered to Jesus. This drink, which had the bitterness of gall, was given as a narcotic, in order to deaden, in some degree, the feeling of the criminal, and lessen his pain. Jesus raises to his lips the cup, which was proffered him rather from custom than from any idea of kindness; but he drinks not its contents, for he wishes to feel the full intensity of the sufferings he accepts for our sakes. Then the executioners, having violently stripped him of his garments, which had fastened to his wounds, lead him to the Cross. The place where he was thus stripped of his garments, and where the cup of bitter drink was presented to him, is venerated as the Tenth Station of the Way of the Cross. The first nine, from Pilate’s hall to the foot of Calvary, are still to be seen in the streets of Jerusalem; but the Tenth and the remaining four are in the interior of the Church of Holy Sepulcher, whose spacious walls enclosed the spot where the last mysteries of the Passion were accomplished.

But we must here interrupt our history: we have already anticipated the hours of this great Friday, and we shall have to return, later on, to the hill of Calvary. It is time to assist at the service of our holy Mother the Church, in which she celebrates the Death of her Divine Spouse. We must not wait for the usual summons of the Bells; they are silent; we must listen to the call of our faith and devotion. Let us, then, repair to the House of God.

THE VENERATION OF THE CROSS

The ” Prayers” are ended. The charity and zeal of the Church have embraced the whole universe of men, invoking upon them the merciful effusion of that precious Blood, which is now flowing from the Wounds of her Crucified Lord. She turns next to her faithful Children. Filled with holy indignation at the humiliations heaped upon her Jesus, she invites us to an act of solemn reparation: it is to consist in our venerating that Cross, which our Divine Lord has borne to the summit of Calvary, and to which he is to be fastened with nails. The Cross is a stumbling-block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles; but to us Christians, it is the trophy of Jesus’ victory, and the instrument of the world’s Redemption. It is worthy of our deepest veneration, because of the honor conferred upon it by the Son of God: — he consecrated it by his own Blood, he worked our salvation by its means. No time could be more appropriate than this for the honoring it with the humble tribute of our veneration.

The holy ceremony of venerating the Cross on Good Friday was first instituted at Jerusalem, in the 4th century. Owing to the pious zeal of the Empress St. Helen, the True Cross had then recently been discovered, to the immense joy of the whole Church. The Faithful, as might be expected, were desirous to see the precious Relic, and, accordingly, it was exposed every Good Friday. This brought a very great number of pilgrims to Jerusalem; and yet how few, comparatively, could hope to have the happiness of such a visit, or witness the magnificent ceremony? An imitation of what was done, on this day, at Jerusalem, was a natural result of these pious desires. It was about the 7th century, that the practice of publicly venerating the Cross on Good Friday was introduced into other Churches. True, it was but an image of the True Cross that these other Churches could show to the people; but as the respect that is paid to the True Cross refers to Christ himself, the Faithful could offer him a like homage of adoration, even though not having present before their eyes the sacred Wood which had been consecrated by the Blood of Jesus. Such was the origin of the imposing ceremony, at which holy Church now invites us to assist.

The Celebrant takes off the Chasuble, which is the badge of the Priesthood; it is in order that the Reparation, which he is to be the first to offer to our outraged Jesus, may be made with all possible humility. He then stands on the step near the Epistle side of the Altar, and turns his face towards the people. The Deacon takes down the Cross from the Altar, and gives it to the Celebrant, who then unveils the upper part as far as the arms. He raises it a little, and sings these words: Ecce lignum Crucis; Behold the wood of the Cross: Then he continues, joined by the Deacon and Subdeacon: on which hung the salvation in quo salus mundi pependit. The people then kneel down, and venerate the Cross, while the Choir sings these words: Come, let us adore. Venite, adoremus.

This first exposition, which is made at the side of the Altar, and in a low tone of voice, represents the first preaching of the Cross, that, namely, which the Apostles made, when, for fear of the Jews, they dared not to speak of the great Mystery except to the few faithful Disciples of Jesus. For the same reason, the Priest but slightly elevates the Cross. The homage here paid to it is intended as a reparation for the insults and injuries offered to our Redeemer in the house of Caiphas.

The Priest then comes to the front of the step, and is thus nearer to the people. He unveils the right arm of the Cross, and holds up the holy Sign of our Redemption higher than the first time. He then sings, and on a higher note: Behold the wood of the Ecce lignum Crucis; Cross; Then he continues, joined by the Deacon and Subdeacon: on which hung the salvation of the world― in quo salus mundi pependit. The people then fall upon their knees, and continue in that posture, whilst the Choir sings: Come, let us adore. Venite adoremus.

This second elevation of the holy Cross signifies the Apostles’ extending their preaching the mystery of our Redemption to the Jews, after the descent of the Holy Ghost; by which preaching they made many thousand converts, and planted the Church in the very midst of the Synagogue. It is intended as a reparation to our Savior, for the treatment he received in the Court of Pilate.

The Priest then advances to the middle of the Altar, and, with his face still turned towards the people, he removes the veil entirely from the Cross. He elevates it more than he did the two preceding times, and triumphantly sings on a still higher note: Ecce lignum Crucis; Behold the wood of the Cross; The Deacon and Subdeacon here unite their voices with his: in quo salus mundi pependit―on which hung the salvation of the world. The people fall down upon their knees, and the Choir sings: Venite adoremus. Come, let us adore.

This third and unreserved manifestation represents the mystery of the Cross being preached to the whole earth, when the Apostles, after being rejected by the majority of the Jewish people, turned towards the Gentiles, and preached Jesus Crucified, even far beyond the limits of the Roman Empire. It is intended as a Reparation to our Lord for the outrages offered to him on Calvary.

There is also another teaching embodied in this ceremony of holy Church. By this gradual unveiling of the Cross, she would express to us the contrast of the Jewish and the Christian view. The one finds nothing in Christ Crucified but shame and ignominy: the other discovers in him the power and the wisdom of God. Honor, then, and veneration to his Cross. The veil is removed by Faith. Unveiled let it be upon our Altar, for He that died upon it is soon to triumph by a glorious Resurrection! Yea, let every Crucifix in our Church be unveiled, and every Altar beam once more with the vision of the glorious Standard!

But the Church is not satisfied with showing her Children the Cross that has saved them; she would have them approach, and kiss it. The Priest leads the way. He has already taken off his Chasuble; he now takes off his shoes also, and then advances towards the place where he has put the Crucifix. He makes three genuflections at intervals, and finally kisses the Cross. The Deacon and Sub-deacon follow him, then the clergy, and lastly the people.

The chants which are used during this ceremony are exceedingly fine. First of all, there are the Improperia, that is, the Reproaches made by our Savior to the Jews. Each of the first three stanzas of this plaintive Hymn is followed by the Trisagion, or Prayer to the Thrice Holy God, who, as Man, suffers death for us. Oh! let us fervently proclaim him to be The Holy, The Immortal! This form of prayer was used at Constantinople, so far back as the fifth Century. The Roman Church adopted it, retaining even the original Greek words, to which, however, she adds a Latin translation. The rest of this beautiful chant contains the comparison made by our Lord, between the favors he has bestowed upon the Jewish people, and the injuries he has received from them in return.

THE AFTERNOON OF GOOD FRIDAY

Holy Church will soon be calling us once more to join with her in the holy Offices: meanwhile, let us, as it behooves us, keep our hearts and thoughts upon our Redeemer, for these are the very Hours when he wrought our Salvation. Our morning’s meditation brought us to Calvary, where we were considering how the executioners stripped Jesus of his clothes, preparatory to their nailing him to the Cross. Let us reverently assist at the consummation of the Sacrifice, which he offers, for us, to the Justice of his Eternal Father.

The executioners led Jesus to the spot where the Cross is lying on the ground: it is the Eleventh Station. Like a lamb destined for a holocaust, he lays himself on the wood that is to serve as the Altar. They violently stretch his hands and feet to the places marked for them, and fasten them with nails to the wood. The Blood gushes forth from these four life-giving founts, wherein our souls are to find their purification. This is the fourth Blood-shedding. Mary hears the strokes of the hammer, and every blow wounds her heart. Magdalene’s grief is intensified by her incapability of helping her tortured Master. Jesus is heard to speak: it is his first Word on Calvary: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! O infinite goodness of our Creator! He has come into this world, which is the work of his hands, and men nail him to a Cross: and on that Cross he prays for them, and in his prayer he seems to excuse them!

The Victim is fastened to the wood, whereon he is to die. But the Cross is not to be left, as it is, lying on the ground. Isaias has foretold that the Root of Jesse is to be raised up as a Standard of all nations. Yes, our Crucified God must be raised up, and, by that elevation, purify the polluted atmosphere of this world, infested as it is by the spirits of wickedness. He is the Mediator between God and men; he is our High Priest; our Intercessor; — he is lifted up between earth and heaven, making reconciliation between them. Not far from the spot where the Cross now lies on the ground, they have made a hole in the rock, wherein to fix it, so that all may have a sight of Him that hangs upon it. It is the Twelfth Station. It needs a great effort to raise and plant the Tree of the world’s Redemption. The soldiers lift it up, and then, with impatient vehemence, let it fall into the hole. The shock tears the four wounds. Oh! see him now exposed naked before the multitude, this good Jesus who is come to clothe the nakedness that sin has caused in us! — The soldiers have done their work, and now they claim his Garments.

They tear them into four lots, and each takes a share: but a strange feeling induces them to respect his Tunic, which was without a seam, and, as we are told by a pious tradition, was woven by the hand of his Blessed Mother. Let us not cut it, say they, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be. It is a symbol of the unity of the Church, which is never to be broken under any pretext whatsoever. Above our Redeemer’s head there are written these words, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. The people read this Inscription, and say it to each other; without wishing it, they are once more proclaiming the Royalty of the Son of David. The enemies of Jesus are quick enough to perceive this: they hasten to Pilate, and beseech him to have the Title changed. The only answer he deigns to make them is: What I have written, I have written. The Holy Fathers have noticed a circumstance of the Crucifixion, which expresses, how this King of the Jews is, indeed, rejected by his chosen people, but that he will reign all the more gloriously over the Nations of the earth, whom the Father has given to him for his inheritance. The circumstance we allude to is this: the soldiers, when fixing the Cross in the rock, have so placed it, that Jesus has his back to Jerusalem, and is stretching out his arms towards the countries of the west. The Sun of Truth is setting on the deicide City, and rising upon the new Jerusalem, that proud Rome, which feels that she is destined to be ” The Eternal City,” yet knows not that she is to be so by the Cross. The Tree of our Salvation, as it falls into the hole prepared for it, strikes against a tomb: — and the Tomb is that of our First Parent. The blood of the Redeemer flows down the Cross, and falls upon a skull: it is the skull of Adam, whose sin has called for this great expiation. In his mercy, the Son of God wills that the instrument, wherewith he has gained pardon for the guilty world, should rest amidst the very bones of him that first caused its guilt. Thus is Satan confounded: the creation is not, as he has hitherto thought, turned by his own artifice, to the shame of its Creator. The hill, on which is raised the Standard of our Salvation, is called Calvary, which signifies a skull. Here, according to the tradition of the Jews, was buried our First Parent, the first Sinner. Among the Holy Fathers of the early Ages, who have handed down this interesting tradition to us, we may cite St. Basil, St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, St. Epiphanius, St. Jerome. Origen, too, who had such opportunities of knowing the Jewish traditions, mentions this among the number. At a very early period, Christian Art introduced the custom of placing a human skull at the feet of Jesus’ image on the Cross: it was done to commemorate the great fact, to which we have been alluding.

But let us look up and see this Jesus of ours, whose life is so soon to end upon this instrument of torture. Here we behold him exposed to the view of the Jewish people, as the Serpent was, of old, lifted up, by Moses, in the desert. His enemies pass before him, making insulting gestures, and saying: Wah! Thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it — save thine own self! If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. The Chief Priests and the Ancients continue the blasphemy, but adding their own emphasis to it: He saved others; himself he cannot save! If he be King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him now deliver him, if he will have him; for he said: I am the Son of God. The two thieves, who were crucified with him, insulted him in like manner.

Never had God conferred on his creatures a blessing comparable to this: and yet, never did man so boldly insult his God! Let us Christians, who adore Him whom the Jews blaspheme, offer him, at this moment, the Reparation he so infinitely deserves. These impious men cite his own words, and turn them against him: — let its reverently remind our Jesus of an expression he once deigned to use, which should fill us with hope: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself? Sweet Jesus the time is come: thou art lifted up from the earth: fulfill thy promise — draw us to thyself! Alas! this earth has such hold upon us, we are chained fast to it by so many ties; self-love fetters us; and when we attempt to fly towards thee, our flight is checked. Oh! break our chains, and draw us to thyself, that we may at length reach thee, and thou be consoled by the conquest of our souls!

It is the Sixth hour, or, as we call it, mid-day. The sun immediately withdraws his light, and darkness covers the face of the earth. The stars appear in the heavens, and a gloomy silence pervades throughout the world. It is said, that the celebrated Denys the Areopagite of Athens, who was afterwards a disciple of St. Paul, exclaimed, on witnessing this awful eclipse: ” Either the God of nature is suffering, or the world is coming to an end.” Phlegon, a pagan author, who wrote a century after, tells us, that this sudden darkness spread consternation throughout the Roman Empire, and that the Astronomers owned it baffled all their calculations.

So terrible an indication of the wrath of heaven produced, a panic of fear among the spectators on Calvary. Blasphemers are struck dumb, and the blasphemies of them, that were just now insulting our Redeemer, cease. All is silent as death. The Thief, whose cross was at the right of Jesus’, feels himself touched with repentance and hope. Turning to his companion, he upbraids him for what he had been saying: Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art under the same condemnation? And we, indeed, justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man hath done no evil. Jesus defended by a Thief, at the very time that he is being insulted by them who boast that they know every iota of (rod’s Law, and are sitting in the Chair of Moses! Nothing could give us a clearer idea of the blindness, to which the Synagogue has voluntarily brought itself. This poor criminal, whose name is Dimas, represents the Gentile world, which now is steeped in ignorance and crime, yet is soon to be cleansed from all its abominations by confessing Jesus Crucified to be the Son of God. Turning his head towards our Savior’s Cross, he thus prays to him: Lord! remember me, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom I He believes Jesus to be King; and the Chief Priests and Ancients were, but a moment ago, making jests with this King! Dimas sees the divine calmness and dignity of the innocent Victim: it is evidence enough; he gives him his faith, and begs a remembrance from him when the day of his glory comes. Grace has made him a true Christian: and who can doubt, but that the grace was asked and obtained for him by Mary, the Mother of Mercy, who is now uniting herself in sacrifice together with her Jesus? Jesus is pleased to find in this poor criminal the faith he had vainly sought for from Israel: he thus grants his humble prayer: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise? It is the second of Jesus’ Words on the Cross. The happy penitent is filled with joy, and awaits in patient silence the blissful moment when death shall set him free.

Meanwhile, Mary draws near to the Cross, whereon hangs her Son. She recognizes him, in spite of all the darkness; her love was her light. The eclipse has dispersed the crowd; all is silent; and the soldiers can find no reason for keeping the afflicted Mother from approaching her Son. Jesus looks with tenderest affection upon Mary; the sight of her sorrow is a new grief to his sacred Heart. He is dying, and his Mother cannot console or embrace him. Magdalene, too, is there, distracted with grief. Those feet, which, a few days before, she had anointed with her most precious perfumes, are now pierced through with nails, and the Blood is clotting round the wounds. They are near enough to the ground for her to reach and bathe them with her tears; but her tears cannot stay the pain. She is come to see the Death of Him that forgave her all her sins. John, the Beloved Disciple, the only Apostle that has followed Jesus to Calvary, is overwhelmed with sorrow. He thinks of the favor bestowed upon him last night, when he rested his head on the Breast of this dear Master — and the remembrance intensifies his grief. He grieves for the Son, he grieves for the Mother. He little knows the reward he is soon to receive for this his love! Mary of Cleophas has followed the Holy Mother up to the foot of the Cross. At some distance off, there stands a group of women, who loved Jesus, and had ministered unto him during his life.

The silence is again broken: Jesus speaks his third Word, and it is to his Mother: but he does not call her by that dear name, for it would redouble her pain: Woman! he says, behold thy son! Then looking upon John, he says to him Son! behold thy Mother! What an exchange was here for Mary! but, oh! what a blessing it brought upon John, and through him to all mankind! — -the Mother of God was made our Mother! This was the subject of our meditation on the Friday of Passion Week: let us, to-day, gratefully receive this last Testament of our Jesus, who, having by his Incarnation made us the adopted Children of his Heavenly Father, now, in his dying moments, makes us Children of his own Blessed Mother.

It is close upon the Ninth hour — the third hour after mid-day — and it is the one fixed by the eternal decree of God for the Death of Jesus. The feeling of abandonment, which had caused our Redeemer to suffer an Agony in the garden, now returns. He has taken upon himself the sins of mankind: the whole weight of God’s justice now presses on his soul. The bitter Chalice of God’s anger, which he is drinking to the very dregs, extorts from his lips this plaintive cry: My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me? l It is the fourth Word. He does not say My Father! He speaks as though he were but a poor Sinner, trembling before the judgment-seat of God. A burning thirst elicits from him the fifth Word: I thirst. Whereupon, one of the soldiers presents to his dying lips a sponge full of vinegar; and this is all the refreshment he receives from that earth, on which he daily pours a heavenly dew, and to which he has given ever-flowing fountains and rivers.

The moment is at length come, when Jesus is to yield up his Soul to his Father. He has fulfilled every single prophecy that had been foretold of him, even that of his receiving vinegar when parched with thirst. He therefore speaks this his sixth Word: It is consummated. He has, then, but to die; his Death is to put the finishing stroke to our Redemption, as the Prophet assures us. But he must die as God. This man, worn out by suffering, exhausted by his three hours’ agony, whose few words were scarce audible to them that stood round his Cross — now utters a loud cry, which is heard at a great distance off, and fills the Centurion, who commands the guard, with fear and astonishment: — Father! into thy hands I commend my spirit! This is his seventh and last Word; after which he bows down his head, and dies.

At this awful moment, the sun re-appears in the heavens, and darkness ceases: but the earth is shaken by an earthquake, and the rocks are split. The space between the Cross of Jesus and that of the bad Thief is violently rent asunder, and the opening is shown to this day. The Jewish Priests, who are in the Temple, are terrified at seeing the veil, which hides the Holy of Holies, torn from top to bottom: the time for figures and types is over, the great realities are come. Many holy personages arise from their graves, and return to life. But it is in hell itself that the Death of Jesus is most felt. Satan now sees who He is, against whom he has excited all this persecution. He sees, that the Blood which he has caused to be shed, has saved mankind and opened the gates of heaven. This Jesus, whom he dared to tempt in the desert, he now recognizes as the Son of God, whose precious Blood has purchased for men a Redemption that was refused to the rebel Angels!

Jesus! Son of the Eternal Father! we adore thee now lying dead on the wood of thy Sacrifice. Thy bitter Death has given us Life. Like those Jews who saw thee expire, and returned to Jerusalem striking their breasts — we, also, confess that it is our sins have caused thy Death. Thou hast loved us, as none but a God could love. Henceforth, we must be thine, and serve thee, as creatures redeemed at the infinite price of thy Blood. Thou art our God; we are thy people. Accept, we beseech thee, our most loving thanks for this final proof of thy goodness towards us. Thy holy Church now silently invites us to celebrate thy praise. We leave Calvary for a time; but will soon return thither, to assist at thy holy Burial. Mary, thy Mother, remains immoveable at the foot of thy Cross. Magdalene clings to thy feet. John and the holy women stand around thee. Once more, dearest Jesus! we adore thy sacred Body, thy precious Blood, and thy holy Cross, that have brought us Salvation.

THE EVENING OF GOOD FRIDAY

Let us return to Calvary, and there close this mournful day. We left Mary there, with Magdalene and other holy women, and the Beloved Disciple John. An hour has scarcely elapsed since Jesus died, when a troop of soldiers, led on by a Centurion, come up the hill, breaking the silence with their tramp and voices. They are sent by Pilate. The Chief Priests lost no time in returning to the Governor’s house: and he, at their request, has sent these men to break the legs of the three crucified, detach them from their crosses, and bury them before night. The Jews count the days of their week from sunset; so that the great Sabbath-Day is close upon them. The soldiers come to the Crosses; they begin with the two thieves, and put an end to their sufferings and life by breaking their legs. Dimas dies in saintly dispositions, for the promise made to him by Jesus is his consolation: his companion dies blaspheming. The soldiers now advance towards Jesus: — Mary’s heart sinks within her: — what fresh outrage are these men about to offer to the lifeless and bleeding body of her Son? On inspection, they find that he is dead; but, that no doubt may be left, and no blame for neglect of orders fall upon them, one of the company raises up his spear and thrusts it into the right Side of the divine Victim, even to the Heart; and when he draws his spear out, there gushes forth a stream of Water and Blood. This is the fifth Blood-shedding, and the fifth Wound inflicted on our Jesus upon the Cross. The Church honors this mystery on the Feast of the Sacred Heart; let us reserve our reflections till then. The soul of the Holy Mother is pierced by this cruel spear; and they that are with her redouble their sobs and tears. How is this terrible day to end? Who shall take the Body of her Jesus from his Cross? Who will enable her to give it a last embrace? The soldiers return to the City, and with them Longinus — he that pierced Jesus’ Side, but is already feeling within himself the workings of that faith, for which he is one day to lay down his life as a Martyr. But lo! two other men are seen coming towards the Cross: they are not enemies, they are faithful Disciples of Jesus: one is the wealthy counselor Joseph of Arimathea; the other is Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews. Mary gratefully welcomes their arrival: they are come to take the body of Jesus from the Cross, and give it an honorable burial. They have the requisite authorization, for Pilate has given permission to Joseph to take the Body of Jesus.

They lose no time in doing so, for the sun is near to setting, and then begins the Sabbath. Within a few yards from where stands the Cross, at the foot of the hillock which forms the summit of Calvary, there is a garden, and in this garden a sepulcher cut into the rock. No one has yet been buried in this tomb. It is to be Jesus’ Sepulcher. Hither Joseph and Nicodemus carry the sacred Body: they lay it upon a slab of stone, near to the Sepulcher. It is here that Mary receives into her arms the Body of her Jesus: she kisses each wound, and bathes it with her tears. John, Magdalene, and all that are present, compassionate the holy Mother. She resigns it into the hands of the two Disciples, for they have but a few moments left. Upon this slab, which even to this day, is called the Stone of the Anointing, and designates the Thirteenth Station of the way of the Cross, Joseph unfolds a piece of linen, and Nicodemus, whose servants have brought a hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes, makes every arrangement for the embalming. They reverently wash the Body, for it was covered with Blood; they remove the Crown of Thorns from the Head; and, after embalming it with their perfumes, they wrap it in the Winding-Sheet. Mary gives a last embrace to the remains of her Jesus, who is now hidden under these swathing-bands of the Tomb.

Joseph and Nicodemus take the Body into their arms, and enter the Sepulcher. It is the Fourteenth Station of the Way of the Cross. It consists of two open cells; it is into the one on the right hand that they enter, and there in a cavity cut into the side of the rock, they lay the Body of Jesus. They then retire; and, with the assistance of their servants, they close up the entrance of the Sepulcher with a large square stone, which Pilate, at the request of the Jews, orders to be fastened with his own seal, and guarded by a patrol of soldiers.

The sun is just setting; the great Sabbath, with its severe legal prescriptions, is just about to begin. Magdalene and the other women carefully notice the place where Jesus’ Body has been laid, and return with all speed to Jerusalem, that they may have time to purchase and prepare a quantity of materials for a more careful embalming of the Body early on the Sunday morning, that is, immediately after the Sabbath is over. The holy Mother takes a farewell-look at the Tomb wherein lies her Jesus, and then follows the rest into the City. John, her adopted son, keeps close to her. He is the guardian of Her, who, without ceasing to be Mother of God, has been made, also, Mother of men. But oh! how much this second Maternity cost her! She was standing at the Foot of the Cross, seeing her Jesus die, when she received us as her children. Let us imitate St. John, and keep our Blessed Mother company during these trying hours which she has to pass before her Son is risen from the grave.

How, most merciful Redeemer! Shall we leave thy Holy Sepulcher without offering thee the tribute of our adoration and repentance? Death, which is the consequence of sin, has extended its dominion over thee, for thou didst submit thyself to the sentence pronounced against thee, and wouldst become like to us even to the humiliation of the tomb. It was thy love for us, that led to all this! What return can we make thee? The holy Angels stand around thy Body, thus lying in its rocky grave. They are lost in amazement at thy having loved, to such an excess as this, thy poor ungrateful creature — man. Thou hadst made them, as well as us, out of nothing, and they loved thee with all the intensity of their mighty spirits; but the sight of thy Tomb reveals to them a fresh abyss of thine infinite goodness: — thou hast suffered death, not for their fallen fellow- angels, but for us men, who are so inferior to the Angels! — O what a bond of love between us and thee must result from this Sacrifice of thy Life for us! Thou hast died, Jesus, for us! — we must, henceforth, live for thee. We promise it upon this Tomb, which, alas! is the handiwork of our sins. We, too, wish to die to sin, and live to grace. For the time to come, we will follow thy precepts and thine examples; we will avoid sin which has made us accomplices in thy Passion and Death. We will courageously bear, in union with thine own, the crosses of this life: they are indeed light compared with thine, but our weakness makes them heavy. And our death, too — when the moment comes for us to undergo that sentence which even thou didst submit to — we will accept it with resignation. Terrible as that last hour is to nature, our faith tells us, that thy Death has merited for it graces rich enough to make it sweet. Thy Death, dearest Jesus, has made our death become but a passing into life: and as, now, we leave thy holy Sepulcher with the certain hope of speedily seeing thee glorious in thy Resurrection; so, when our body descends into the tomb, our soul shall confidently mount up to thee, and there blissfully await the day of the Resurrection of the flesh made pure by the humiliation of the grave.

Article 12
HOLY SATURDAY AND THE PASCHAL VIGIL

THE MORNING OF HOLY SATURDAY

A night has passed over the tomb, wherein lies the buried the Body of the Man-God. Death is triumphant in that silent cave, and holds captive Him that gives life to every creature—but His triumph will soon be at an end. The soldiers can watch, as best they will, over that grave, but they cannot hold Jesus prisoner when the moment fixed for His Resurrection comes. The holy Angels are there, profoundly adoring the lifeless Body of Him, whose Blood is to reconcile all things, both on Earth, and in Heaven. This Body, though for a brief interval, separated from the Soul, is still united to the Person of the Son of God; so, likewise, the Soul, during its separation from the Body, has not, for an instant, lost its union with the Word. The Divinity also remains united with the Blood that lies sprinkled on Calvary, and which, at the moment of the Resurrection of the Man- God, is to enter once more into His sacred veins.

Let us also return to the sepulcher, and adore the Body of our buried Jesus. Now, at last, we understand what sin has done―by sin, death entered into the world; and it passed upon all men. Though Jesus knew no sin, yet has He permitted death to have dominion over Him, in order that He might make it less bitter to us, and by His Resurrection, restore unto us that eternal life, of which we had been deprived by sin. How gratefully we should appreciate this death of our Jesus! By becoming Incarnate, He humbled Himself and became a servant; but His death was a still deeper humiliation. The sight of this tomb, wherein His Body lies lifeless and cold, teaches us something far more important than the power of death—it reveals to us the immense, the incomprehensible love of God for man. He knew that we were to gain by His humiliations: the greater His humiliations, the greater our exaltation―this was His principle, and it led Him to what seems like an excess! Let us, then, love this sacred sepulcher, which is to give us life. We have thanked Him for having died for us upon the Cross; let us thank Him, but most feelingly, for having humbled Himself, for our sakes, even to the tomb!

And now let us visit the Holy Mother, who has passed the night in Jerusalem, going over, in saddest memory the scenes she has witnessed. Her Jesus has been a Victim to every possible insult and cruelty: He has been crucified: His Precious Blood has flowed in torrents from those Five Wounds: He is dead, and now lies buried in the tomb, as though He were but a mere man―yea, the most abject of men. How many tears have fallen, during these long hours, from the eyes of the daughter of David! And yet, her Son has not come back to her! Near her is Magdalene; heart-broken by yesterday’s events, she has no words to tell her grief, for Jesus is gone, and, as she thinks gone for ever. The other women, less loved by Jesus than Magdalene, yet, most dear to Him, stand around the disconsolate Mother. They have braved every insult and danger in order to remain on Calvary till all was over, and they intend returning thither with Magdalene, as soon as the Sabbath is over, to honor the tomb and the Body of Jesus.

John, the adopted son of Mary, and the beloved disciple of Jesus, is oppressed with sorrow. Others, also, of the Apostles and disciples visit the house of mourning. Peter, penitent and humble, fears not to appear before the Mother of Mercy. Among the disciples, are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. We may easily imagine the conversation — it is on the sufferings and death of Jesus, and on the ingratitude of the Jews. The Church, in the 7th Responsory of today’s Tenebrae, represents these men as saying: “Behold! How the Just One dieth, and there is none that taketh it to heart. Iniquity has had its way. He was silent as a Lamb under his shearer, and He opened not His mouth. He was taken away from distress and judgment: but His memory shall be in peace.”

Thus speak the men! The women are thinking of their tomorrow’s visit to the sepulcher! The saintliness of Jesus, His goodness, His power, His sufferings, His death—everything is remembered, except His Resurrection, which they had often heard Him say should certainly and speedily take place. Mary alone lives in expectation of His triumph. In her was verified that expression of the Holy Ghost, where, speaking of the Valiant Woman, He says: “Her lamp shall not be put out in the night.” Her courage fails not, because she knows that the sepulcher must yield up its dead, and her Jesus will rise again to life. St. Paul tells us that our religion is vain, unless we have Faith in the mystery of our Savior’s Resurrection. Where was this Faith on the day after Our Lord’s Death? In one heart only—and that was Mary’s. As it was her chaste womb, that had held within it Him, whom Heaven and Earth cannot contain—so on this day, by her firm and unwavering Faith, she resumes, within her single self, the whole Church. How sacred is this Saturday, which, notwithstanding all its sadness, is such a day of glory to the Mother of Jesus! It is on this account that the Church has consecrated to Mary the Saturday of every week.

But it is time to repair to the House of God. The Bells are still silent: our Faith must speak to us, and make us eager to assist at the grand Mysteries, which the Liturgy is about to celebrate. Surely, the Christian sentiment must be dead in them who can be willingly absent from the Church on such a morning as this. No, it cannot be, that we, who have followed the celebration of the Mysteries of our Religion thus far, can flag or tire now, and lose the graces of this morning’s magnificent Service.

THE MORNING SERVICE

It was the practice of the Church, and one that had been handed down from the earliest Ages, that the Sacrifice of the Mass should not be offered up either yesterday or today. Yesterday, the anniversary of Jesus’ death, was exclusively devoted to the remembrance of the Mystery of Calvary, and a holy fear kept the Church from renewing that Sacrifice upon her Altars. For the same reason, she abstained today, also, from its celebration. The Burial of Christ is a sequel of His Passion: and during these hours when His Body lay lifeless in the tomb, it was fitting that the Sacrifice, wherein He is offered as the glorious and Risen Jesus, should be suspended.

Even the Greek Church, which never fasts on the Saturdays of Lent, follows the practice of the Latin Church for this Saturday―she not only fasts, but she even omits the celebration of the Mass of the Pre-sanctified.

Such, we repeat, was the discipline of the Latin Church for nearly a thousand years―but, about the 11th century, an important change began to be introduced with regard to the celebration of Mass on Holy Saturday. The Mass which, until then, had been celebrated during the Night preceding Easter Sunday — then began to be anticipated (celebrated earlier), on the Saturday; but it was always considered as the Mass of the hour of Our Lord’s Resurrection, and not as the Mass of Holy Saturday. The relaxations, that had been introduced with regard to fasting, were the occasion of this change in the Liturgy.

In the first ages, the faithful watched the whole night in the church, awaiting the hour when Our Lord rose triumphant from the tomb. They also assisted at the solemn administration of Baptism to the Catechumens, which so sublimely expressed the passing from spiritual death to the life of grace. There was no other Vigil in the whole year, which was so solemnly observed as this―but it lost a great portion of its interest, when the necessity of baptizing Adults was removed by Christianity having triumphed wheresoever it had been preached. The Orientals have kept up the ancient tradition―of having Mass around midnight at the end of Saturday―to this day: but, in the West, dating from the 11th century, the Mass of the Resurrection Hour has been gradually anticipated (celebrated earlier), until it has been brought even to the morning of Holy Saturday. Durandus of Menda, who wrote his Rational of the Divine Offices, towards the close of the 13th century, tells us that, in his time, there were very few churches which observed the primitive custom of having Mass around midnight at the end of Saturday: even these few churches were soon conformed to the general practice of the Latin Church with its earlier Mass.

As a result of this change, there is an apparent contradiction between the mystery of Holy Saturday and the Divine Service which is celebrated upon it; Christ is still in the tomb, and yet we are celebrating His Resurrection!! The hours preceding Mass are mournful—but before midday, the paschal joy will have filled our hearts!!

The great object of the whole of today’s Paschal Vigil, and the center to which every one of the ceremonies converges—is the Baptism of the Catechumens. The faithful must keep this incessantly before them, or they will be at a loss how to understand or profit by the Liturgy of today. First of all, there is the Blessing of the new Fire, and the Incense. This is followed by the Blessing of the Paschal Candle. Immediately after this, are read the Twelve Prophecies (now reduced to a mere four, though the modern Catholic Church has increased them a little to seven readings), which have reference to the mysteries of today’s Paschal Vigil. As soon as the Prophecies are finished, a procession is formed to the Baptistery, and the Water is blessed. The matter of Baptism thus prepared, the Catechumens receive the Sacrament of Regeneration. Confirmation is then administered to them by the Bishop. Immediately after this, the Holy Sacrifice is celebrated in honor of Our Lord’s Resurrection, and the Neophytes partake of the Divine Mysteries. Finally the joyous Vesper-Office comes in, and brings to a termination the longest and most trying Service of the Latin Liturgy. In order to assist our readers to enter fully into its spirit, we will go back a thousand years, and imagine ourselves to be celebrating this solemn Eve of Easter in one of the ancient Cathedrals of Italy, or of our own dear land.

At Rome, the Station is at St. John Lateran, the Mother and Mistress of all Churches. The Sacrament of Regeneration is administered in the Baptistery of Constantine. The sight of these venerable Sanctuaries carries us back in thought to the 4th century; there, each year, holy Baptism is conferred upon some adult; and a numerous Ordination adds its own to the sacred pomp of this day, whose liturgy, as we have just said, is the richest of the whole year.

THE BLESSING OF THE NEW FIRE AND INCENSE

Last Wednesday, the Catechumens were told to present themselves at the Church, for the hour of today’s Tierce, (that is, nine o’clock in the morning). It is the final scrutiny. The Priests are there to receive them; they who have not previously been examined upon the Symbol, are now questioned. The Lord’s Prayer, and the biblical attributes of the four Evangelists, having been explained, one of the Priests dismisses the Candidates for Baptism, bidding them spend the interval in recollection and prayer.

At the hour of None (our three o’clock in the afternoon), the Bishop and all the Clergy go to the church, and Holy Saturday Vigil begins from this moment. The first ceremony consists in the blessing of the new fire, which is to furnish light for the whole Service. It was the daily custom, in the first Ages of the Church, to strike a light from a flint, before Vespers: from this the lamps and candles were lighted for the celebration of that Hour, and the light thus procured was kept up in the Church till the Vespers of the following day. The Church of Rome observed this custom with great solemnity on Maundy Thursday morning, and the new fire received a special blessing. We learn from a letter written, in the 8th century, by Pope St. Zachary to St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence—that three lamps were lighted from this fire, which were then removed to some safe place, and care was taken that their light was kept in. It was from these lamps that the light for Holy Saturday Night was taken. In the following century, under St. Leo the Fourth, whose Pontificate lasted from 847 to 855, the custom of every day procuring new fire from a flint was extended also to Holy Saturday.

It is not difficult to understand the meaning of this ceremony, which is now not observed by the Latin Church save on this day. Our Lord said of Himself: “I am the Light of the world.” Light, then, is an image of the Son of Good. Stone, also, is one of the types under which the Scriptures speak to us of the Messias. St. Peter, and St. Paul, quoting the words of the Prophet Isaias, speak of Jesus as the Comer-Stone. The spark which is struck from the flint represents Our Lord rising from His rock-hewn sepulcher, through the stone that had been rolled against it.

It is fitting, therefore, that this fire which is to provide light for the Paschal Candle, as well as for those that are upon the Altar, should receive a special blessing, and be triumphantly shown to the Faithful. All the Lamps in the Church have been extinguished; formerly, the faithful used to put out the fires in their houses, before going to the Church: they lighted them, on their return, with a light taken from the blessed Fire, which they received as a symbol of Our Lord’s Resurrection. Let us not here fail to notice, that the putting out of all the lights in the Church is a symbol of the abrogation or end of the Old Law, which ended with the rending, or tearing in two, of the Veil of the Temple; and that the new Fire represents the preaching of the New Law, whereby Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, fulfilled all the figures of the ancient Covenant, the Old Testament.

In order to help our readers to enter more fully into the mystery of the ceremony we are describing, we will here mention a miracle which was witnessed for many centuries. The clergy and people of Jerusalem assembled for the Service of Easter Eve in the Church of Holy Sepulcher. After waiting for some time in silence, one of the lamps that were suspended over Our Lord’s Tomb, was miraculously lighted. The other lamps and torches throughout the Church were lighted from this, and the Faithful took its holy flame with them to their homes. It would seem, that this annual miracle first began after the Saracens had taken possession of Jerusalem; God so ordaining, that it might be a proof to these Infidels, of the Divinity of the Christian Religion. The historians of those times, who have written upon the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, all speak of this miracle as of an incontestable fact; and when Pope Urban the Second went to France, there to preach the first Crusade, he brought forward this miracle as one of the motives, which should inspire the Faithful with zeal for the defense of the sepulcher of Christ. When Our Lord, in the unsearchable ways of His justice, permitted Jerusalem to be re-conquered by the Infidels, the miracle ceased, nor has it ever been witnessed from that time onwards. Our readers have no doubt heard of the scandalous scene, which is now repeated every Holy Saturday in the Church of Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem―we allude to the deception practiced by the schismatic Greek Priests, whereby they persuade their deluded people that their ingenious trick for lighting a lamp is the continuation of the miracle.

The Church also blesses the five grains of Incense which are to be used in this Morning’s Service. They represent the perfumes prepared by Magdalene and her holy companions for the embalming the Body of Jesus―with each of the five grains representing the five wounds of Jesus at the crucifixion―one in each hand, one in each foot and one in His side. The Prayer said by the Bishop, when blessing the Incense, not only shows us the connection there is between it and the Light, but it also teaches us what is the power these several sacred objects have against the wicked spirits.

The Bishop and his attendants go, in procession, from the Church to the place where he is to bless the Fire and Incense. The Fire, as we have already said, is the symbol of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and the sepulcher, whence He is to rise to life, is outside the walls of Jerusalem. The holy Women and the Apostles, when they go to the sepulcher, will have to go forth from the City. The Bishop, having come to the appointed place, blesses the Fire.

THE PASCHAL CANDLE

The sun is setting, and our Earth will soon be mantled in darkness. The Church has provided a torch, which is to spread its light upon us during the whole of this long Vigil. It is of an unusual size. It stands alone, and is of a pillar-like form. It is the symbol of Christ. Before being lighted, its Scriptural type is the pillar of a cloud, which hid the Israelites when they went out from Egypt; under this form, it is the figure of Our Lord, when lying lifeless in the tomb. When lighted, we must see in it both the pillar of fire, which guided the people of God, and the glory of our Jesus risen from His grave. Our Holy Mother the Church, would have us enthusiastically love this glorious symbol, and speaks its praises to us in all the magnificence of her inspired eloquence.

As early as the beginning of the 5th century, Pope St. Zozimus extended to all the Churches of the City of Rome, the privilege of blessing the Paschal Candle, although Baptism was administered nowhere except in the Baptistery of St. John Lateran. The object of this grant was, that all the Faithful might share in the holy impressions which so solemn a rite is intended to produce. It was for the same intention that, later, every church, even though it had no Baptismal Font, was permitted to have the Blessing of the Paschal Candle.

The deacon proclaims the Easter Solemnity to the people, whilst chanting the praises of this sacred object in the Exultet: and, whilst celebrating the glory of Him, Whose emblem it is, he becomes the herald of the Resurrection. The Altar, the Sanctuary, the Bishop, all are in the purple color of the Lenten rite; the deacon alone is vested in white. At other times, he would not presume to raise his voice as he is now going to do, in the solemn tone of a Preface: but this is the Eve of the Resurrection, and the deacon, as the interpreters of the Liturgy tell us, represents Magdalene and the holy women, on whom Our Lord conferred the honor of being the first to know His Resurrection, and to whom He gave the mission of preaching to the very Apostles, that He had risen from the dead, and would meet them in Galilee.

THE PROPHECIES

The Torch of the Resurrection now sheds its light from the Ambo throughout the holy place, and gladdens the hearts of the Faithful. How solemn a preparation for what is now to engage our attention—the Baptism of the Catechumens, whose instruction and progress in good works we have followed with such interest during the past forty days! They are assembled together under the outward porch of the Church. The Priests are performing over them the preparatory rites, which embody such profound teaching, and were instituted by the Apostles. First of all, the sign of the cross is made upon their foreheads; and then, the Priest, imposing his hand upon the head of each Catechumen, adjures Satan to depart from this soul and body, and give place to Christ. Imitating thus our Redeemer, the Priest then touches the ears with his spittle, saying: “Be ye opened!” He does the same to the nostrils, and says: “Breathe ye in the sweetness of fragrance!” The Neophyte is next anointed, on the breast and between the shoulders, with the Oil of Catechumens: but, as this ceremony expresses his having to fight the spiritual combat, the Priest first receives from him the promise to renounce Satan, with his works and pomps.

These rites are performed first over the men, and then over the women. The children of Christian parents are also admitted to take their place among the Catechumens. If any of these latter be laboring under any sickness, and have notwithstanding come to the Church in order to receive, to-night, the grace of Regeneration—a priest says over them a prayer, in which he fervently begs of God to heal them, and confound the malice of Satan.

These ceremonies, which are called the Catechization, occupy a considerable portion of time, on account of the great number of the aspirants to Baptism. It is for this reason, that the Bishop came to the Church at the hour of None (three o’clock in the afternoon), and that the great Vigil began so early. Whilst these rites are being administered to the Catechumens, the rest of the faithful are listening to appropriate passages from the Scripture, which are being read from the Ambo, and which are the complement of the Lenten Instructions.

These Lessons are twelve in number: but in the venerable Basilica, where we are now supposing ourselves to be, we may say they are twenty-four, since each of the Twelve is read in Latin first, and then in Greek. In order to fix the attention, and excite the devotion of her children to what she reads to them, the Church, after each Lesson, recites a Prayer, which sums up the doctrine expressed in the preceding Prophecy.

To some of them is added an appropriate Canticle from the Old Testament, and it is sung, by the whole assembly, to the well known melody of the Tract. The aspirants to Baptism, as soon as they have received the ceremonies of Catechization, are allowed to enter the Church, where, in the place assigned to them, they listen to the Lessons, and join in the Prayers—how could they better continue their preparation for the great Sacrament? And yet, there is an aspect of mournfulness about this portion of the Service, which tells us that the longed-for hour is not yet come. Frequent genuflections, and the somber colored Vestments, strongly contrast with the beautiful flame of the Paschal Torch, which sheds its silent beams of light upon the Faithful. Their hearts are still throbbing with the emotions excited within them by the Exsultet: they are impatient to see their Jesus’ Resurrection fulfilled in the Baptism of the Catechumens.