Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and Poetical (2024)

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PURGATORY:

Doctrinal, Historical and Poetical,

BY

MRS. J. SADLIER

"Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the justwait for me, until thou reward me."

Ps. CXLI 8.

DEDICATION

TO THE GRACIOUS MEMORY OF MY DEARLY-BELOVED SON, REV. FRANCIS X.
SADLIER, S.J. WHOSE TENDER DEVOTION TO THE Souls in Purgatory LED HIM
TO TAKE A DEEP AND ACTIVE INTEREST IN THE PROGRESS OF THIS WORK, BUT
WHO WAS NOT PERMITTED TO SEE ITS COMPLETION, BEING CALLED HENCE,
SCARCELY THREE MONTHS AFTER HIS ORDINATION, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH
CONSECRATED TO THOSE Holy Souls, November 14th, 1885.

R. I. P.

INTRODUCTION

I have written many books and translated many more on a great varietyof subjects, nearly all of which, I thank God now with all my heart,were more or less religious, at least in their tendency; but the circleof these my life-long labors seems to me incomplete. One link iswanting to the chain, and that is a work specially devoted to the soulsin Purgatory. This omission I am anxious to supply while the workingdays of my life are still with me, for, a few more years, at most, andfor me "the night cometh when no man can work."

As we advance into the vale of years and journey on the downward slope,we are happily drawn more and more towards the eternal truths of thegreat untried world beyond the grave. Foremost amongst these stands outmore and still more clearly, in all its awful reality, the dread butconsoling doctrine of Purgatory. When we have seen many of our bestbeloved relatives, many of our dearest and most devoted friends—thosewho started with us in "the freshness of morning" on the road of life,which then lay so deceitfully fair and bright before them and us—theywho shared our early hopes and aspirations, and whose words and smileswere the best encouragement of our feeble efforts—when we have seenthem sink, one by one, into the darkness of the grave, leaving theearth more bleak and dreary year by year for those who remain—then dowe naturally follow them in spirit to those gloomy regions where one orall may be undergoing that blessed purification which prepares them forthe eternal repose of Heaven.

Of all the divine truths which the Catholic Church proposes to herchildren, assuredly none is more acceptable to the pilgrim race of Adamthan that of Purgatory. It is, beyond conception, dear and precious asone of the links that connect the living with the vanished dead, andwhich keeps them fresh in the memory of those who loved them on earth,and whose dearest joy it is to be able to help them in that shadowyborder-land through which, in pain and sorrow, they must journey beforeentering the Land of Promise, which is the City of God, seated on theeverlasting hills.

When I decided on adding yet another to the many books on Purgatoryalready existing even in our own language, I, at the same time,resolved to make it as different as possible from all the others, andthus fill up a void of which I have long been sensible in our EnglishPurgatorial literature. Doctrinal works, books of devotion, e have inabundance, but it is, unhappily, only the pious, the religiously-inclined who will read them. Knowing this, and still desirous topromote devotion to the Holy Souls by making Purgatory more real, morefamiliar to the general reader, I thought the very best means I couldtake for that end would be to make a book chiefly of legends and ofpoetry, with enough of doctrinal and devotional matter to give asubstantial character to the work by placing it on the solidfoundations of Catholic dogma, patristic authority, and that, at thesame time, of the latest divines and theologians of the Church, byselections from their published writings.

I have divided the work into five parts, viz.: Doctrinal and
Devotional, comprising extracts from Suarez, St. Catherine of Genoa,
St. Augustine, St. Gertrude, St. Francis de Sales, of the earlier and
middle ages; and from Archbishop Gibbons, Very Rev. Faá di Bruno,
Father Faber, Father Muller, C.S.S.R., Father Binet, S.J., Rev. J. J.
Moriarty, and others.

The Second Part consists of Anecdotes and Incidents relating to
Purgatory, and more or less authentic. The Third Part contains
historical matter bearing on the same subject, including Father
Lambing's valuable article on "The Belief in a Middle State of Souls
after Death amongst Pagan Nations." The Fourth Part is made up of
"Thoughts on Purgatory, from Various Authors, Catholic and non-
Catholic," including Cardinals Newman, Wiseman, and Manning; the
Anglican Bishops Jeremy Taylor and Reginald Heber, Dr. Samuel Johnson,
William Hurrell Mallock, Count de Maistre, Chateaubriand.

The Fifth and last part consists of a numerous collection of legendsand poems connected with Purgatory. Many of these are translated fromthe French, especially the Légendes de l'Autre Monde, by thewell-known legendist, J. Colin de Plancy. In selecting the legends andanecdotes, I have endeavored to give only those that were new to mostEnglish readers, thus leaving out many legends that would well bearreproducing, but were already too well known to excite any freshinterest.

In the poetical section I have represented as many as possible of thebest-known poets, from Dante down, and some poems of rare beauty andmerit were translated from French and Canadian poets by my daughter,who has also contributed some interesting articles for the historicalportion of the work. As may be supposed, this book is the fruit of muchresearch. The collection of the material has necessarily been a work oftime, the field from which the gleanings were made being so vast, andthe selections requiring so much care.

As regards the legendary portion of the work, whether prose or poetry,the reader will, of course, understand that I give the legendsprecisely for what they are worth; by no means as representing thedoctrinal belief of Purgatory, but merely as some of the wild flowersof poetry and romance that have grown, in the long lapse of time, fromthe rich soil of faith and piety, amongst the Catholic peoples of everyland—intensified, in this instance, by the natural affection of theliving for their dear departed ones, and the solemn and shadowy mysteryin which the dead are shrouded when once they have passed the portalsof eternity and are lost to mortal sight. Some of these legends, thoughexceedingly beautiful, will hardly bear close examination in the lightof Catholic dogma. Of this class is "The Faithful Soul," of AdelaideProcter, which is merely given here as an old French legend, nearlyconnected with Purgatory, and having really nothing in it contrary tofaith, though in a high degree improbable, but yet from its intrinsicbeauty and dramatic character, no less than the subtle charm of MissProcter's verse, eminently worthy of a place in this collection. Thesame remark applies more or less to some of Colin de Plancy's legends,notably that of "Robert the Devil's Penance," and others of a similarkind, as also T. D. McGee's "Penance of Don Diego Rias" and Calderon's"St. Patrick's Purgatory"—the two last named bearing on the samesubject. Nevertheless, they all come within the scope of my presentwork and are, therefore, presented to the reader as weird fragments ofthe legendary lore of Purgatory.

Taken altogether, I think this work will help to increase devotion tothe Suffering Souls, and excite a more tender and more sensible feelingof sympathy for them, at least amongst Catholics, showing, as it does,the awful reality of those purgative pains awaiting all, with few or noexceptions, in the after life; the help they may and do receive fromthe good offices of the living, and the sacred and solemn' duty it isfor Christians in the present life to remember them and endeavor torelieve their sufferings by every means in their power. To answer thispurpose I have made the dead ages unite their solemn and authoritativevoice with that of the living, actual present in testimony of the truthof this great Catholic dogma. The Saints, the Fathers, the Doctors ofthe Church in the ages of antiquity, and the prelates and priests ofour own day all speak the same language of undoubting faith, of solemnconviction regarding Purgatory,—make the same earnest and eloquentappeal to the faithful on behalf of the dear suffering souls. Even theheathen nations and tribes of both hemispheres are brought forward aswitnesses to the existence of a middle state in the after life. Nor isProtestantism itself wanting in this great and overwhelming mass ofevidence, as the reader will perceive that some of its most eminentdivines and secular writers have joined, with no hesitating orfaltering voice, in the grand Credo of the nations and the agesin regard to Purgatory.

What remains for me to add except the earnest hope that this book mayhave the effect it is intended to produce by bringing the faithfulchildren of the Church to think more and oftener of their departedbrethren who, having passed from the Militant to the Suffering Church,are forever crying out to the living from their darksome prison—"Havepity on us, have pity on us, at least you who were our friends, havepity on us, for the hand of the Lord is heavy upon us!"

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I.

DOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.

Doctrine of Suarez on Purgatory
St. Catherine of Genoa on Purgatory
Extracts from the Fathers on Purgatory
Verses from the Imitation Thomas à Kempis.
St. Augustine and his Mother, St. Monica
St. Gertrude and the Holy Souls
St. Joseph's Intercession for the Faithful Departed
St. Francis de Sales on Purgatory
Cardinal Gibbons on Purgatory
Archbishop Hughes on Purgatory
Archbishop Lynch on Purgatory
Purgatory Surveyed Father Binet, S. J.
Father Faber on Devotion to the Holy Souls
Why the Souls in Purgatory are called "Poor" Mullcr.
Appeal to all Classes for the Souls in Purgatory By a Paulist
Father.
The Souls in Purgatory Rev. F. X. Weninger, S. J.
Popular View of Purgatory Rev. J. J. Moriarty.
Extracts from "Catholic Belief" Very Rev. Faá Di Bruno, D.D.
Purgatory and the Feast of All Souls Alban Butkr.

PART II.

ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.

The Fruit of a Mass Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory.
Faith of a Pious Lady Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory.
Pay what Thou Owest Ave Maria.
VIA CRUCIS Footsteps of Spirits.
Strange Incidents Footsteps of Spirits.
True Story of the "De Profundis" Ave Maria.
Confidence Rewarded Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory
Anecdote of the "De Profundis"
Strange Occurrence in a Persian Prison Life of St. John the
Almoner.
A Swiss Protestant Converted by the Doctrine of Purgatory
Catechism in Examples.
The Dead Hand Ave Maria.
A Beautiful Example Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory.
How to Pay One's Debts Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory.
Faith Rewarded Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory.
Apparition of a Citizen of Arles Histoire des Spectres.
Countess of Strafford Vie de Monsgr. de la Mothe.

Marquis de Civrac _Une Commune Vendéenne. 183
Gratitude of the Holy Souls Ave Maria.
Strange Incident Ave Maria.

PART III.

HISTORICAL.

Doctrine of Purgatory amongst the Pagan Nations of Antiquity Rev.
A. A. Lambing.
Devotion to the Dead amongst American Indians
Superstitious Belief amongst American Indians
Remembrance, of the Dead amongst the Egyptians
Remembrance of the Dead throughout Europe A. T. Sadlier. Part
I.
Remembrance of the Dead throughout Europe A. T. Sadlier. Part
II.
Prayer for the Dead in the Anglo-Saxon Church Dr. Lingard
Singular French Custom Voix de la Verité
Devotion to the Holy Souls amongst the Early English A. T.
Sadlier
Doctrine of Purgatory in the Early Irish Church Walsh
Prince Napoleon's Prayer
Helpers of the Holy Souls Lady G. Fullerton
The Mass in Relation to the Dead O'Brien
Daniel O'Connell, Funeral Oration on Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P.
Indulgence of the Portiuncula Almanac of the Souls in
Purgatory.
Catherine of Cardona Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory.
The Emperor Nicholas Praying for his Mother Anecdotes
Chrétiennes.
Pius VI., Funeral Oration on Rev. Arthur O'Leary, O.S.F.
Rev. Arthur O'Leary, O.S.F., Funeral Oration on Rev. M. D'Arcy
De Mortuis. Our Deceased Prelates. Archbishop Corrigan

PART IV.

THOUGHTS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON PURGATORY.

Purgatory Cardinal Newman
Our Debt to the Dead Cardinal Manning
Purgatory Cardinal Wiseman
Reply to some Misstatements about Purgatory Archbishop
Spalding
Count de Maistre on Purgatory
What the Saints thought of Purgatory
Châteaubriand on Purgatory
Mary and the Faithful Departed Brother Azarias.
Dr. Johnson on Prayer for the Dead
The Doctrine of Purgatory Burnett.
Mallock on Purgatory
Boileau-Despréaux and Prayer for the Dead
All Saints and All Souls Mrs. Sadlier.
Leibnitz on the Mass as a Propitiatory Sacrifice
Extracts from "A Troubled Heart"
Eugénie de Guerin and her Brother Maurice
Passages from the "Via Media" Newman.
All Souls From the French.
An Anglican Bishop Praying for the Dead
"Purgatory" of Dante Mariotti.
Month of November Mary E. Blake.
Litany of the Departed Acolytus.
All Souls' Day Mrs. Sadlier.
Cemeteries
Opinions of Various Protestants
Some Thoughts for November

PART V.

LEGENDARY AND POETICAL.

Dies Iræ
Authorship of the Dies Iræ
Dante's "Purgatorio"
Hamlet and the Ghost Shakespeare.
Calderon's "Purgatory of St. Patrick"
The Brig o' Dread Scott.
Shelley and the Purgatory of St. Patrick
On a Great Funeral Aubrey de Vere.
Morte d'Arthur Tennyson.
Guido and his Brother Collin de Plancy.
Berthold in Purgatory Collin de Plancy.
Legend of St. Nicholas Collin de Planey.
Dream of Gerontius Newman. St. Gregory
Releases the Soul of Trajan Mrs. Jameson.
St. Gregory and the Monk Legend of Geoffroid d'lden
The Queen of Purgatory Faber.
The Dead Priest before the Altar Rev. A. J. Ryan.
Memorials of the Dead R. R. Madden.
A Child's "Requiescat in Pace" Eliza Allen Starr.
The Solitary Soul Ave Maria.
Story of the Faithful Soul Adelaide Procter.
Genérade, the Friend of St. Augustine De Plancy
St. Thomas Aquinas and Friar Romanus De Plancy.
The Key that Never Turns Eleanor C. Donnelly.
A Burial Thomas Davis.
Hymn for the Dead Newman.
The Two Students De Plancy.
The Penance of Don Diego Riaz McGee.
The Day of All Souls Eliza Allen Starr.
Message of the November Wind Eleanor C. Donnelly.
Legend of the Time of Charlemagne
The Dead Mass
The Eve of St. John Sir Walter Scott.
Request of a Soul in Purgatory
All Souls' Marion Muir.
The Dead Octave Cremasie
A REQUIEM Sir Walter Scott.
Penance of Robert the Devil De Plancy.
All Souls' Eve
Commemoration of All Souls Harriet M. Skidmore.
The Memory of the Dead Faber.
The Holy Souls.
Author of "Christian Schools and Scholars."
The Palmer's Rosary Eliza Allen Starr.
A Lyke Wake Dirge.
All Souls' Day Lyra Liturgica.
The Suffering Souls. E. M. V. Bulger.
"The Voices of the Dead." M. R. in "The Lamp."
The Convent Cemetery. Rev. A. J. Ryan.
One Hour after Death. Eliza Allen Starr.
A Prayer for the Dead. T. D. McGee.
The De Profundis Bell. Harriet M. Skidmore.
November. Anna T. Sadlier.
For the Souls in Purgatory.
All Souls' Eve.
Our Neighbor. Eliza Allen Starr.
Old Bells.
O Holy Church. Harriet M. Skidmore.
An Incident of the Battle of Bannockburn. Sir Walter Scott.
Pray for the Martyred Dead.
In Winter. Eliza Allen Starr.
Oremus. Mary E. Mannix.
Funeral Hymn. A. T. Sadlier.
Chant Funèbre. Nisard.
Requiescat in Pace. Harriet M. Skidmore.
The Feast of All Souls in the Country. Anna T. Sadlier.
Requiem Æternum T. D. McGee.

APPENDIX.

Association of Masses and Stations of the Cross.
Extracts from The Catholic Review of New York.
A Duty of November. The Texas Monitor.
Purgatorial Association. Catholic Columbian.
The Holy Face and the Suffering Souls.
When will they Learn its Secret? Baptist Examiner.

PART I.

DOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.

"But now, brethren, if I come to you, speaking with tongues: what shallI profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation, or inknowledge, or in prophecy, or in doctrine?"

—ST. PAUL, I. COR. PURGATORY:

DOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.

DOCTRINE OF SUAREZ ON PURGATORY.

THE PLACE.

It is a certain truth of faith that after this life there is a place ofPurgatory. Though the name of Purgatory may not be found in HolyScripture, that does not matter, if we can show that the thing meant bythe name can be found there; for often the Church, either because ofnew heresies, or that the doctrine of the faith may be set forth moreclearly and shortly, gives new and simple names, in which the mysteriesof the faith are summed up. This is evident in the cases of the HolyTrinity, the Incarnation, and the Holy Eucharist.

The doctrine of Purgatory is proved by:—the Old Testament, the NewTestament, the Councils of the Church, especially those of Florence andof Trent, the Fathers and Tradition, and by theological reasons.

WHERE PURGATORY IS.

Nothing is said in Holy Scripture about this place, nor is there anydefinition of the Church concerning it. The subject, therefore, comeswithin the range of theological discussion. Theologians, however,suppose Purgatory to be a certain corporeal place, in which souls arekept till they pay fully the debt which they owe. It is true that theydo not in themselves need a corporeal place, since they are spirits;but yet, as they are in this world, they must, of necessity, be in somecorporeal place—at any rate, with regard to substantial presence. Thuswe see that God, in His providence, has made definite places for theAngels, according to the difference of their states. Gehenna isprepared for the devil and his angels, whereas the empyreal Heaven ismade for the good angels. In this way, it is certain that the souls,paying their debt, are kept in a corporeal place. This place is notheaven, for nothing that is defiled enters there; nor is it hell, forin hell there is no redemption, and from that place no souls can besaved.

PAIN OF LOSS AND SENSE.

The pain of loss is the want of the vision of God and of the whole ofour everlasting beatitude. The pain of sense is the suffering ofpunishment specially inflicted over and above the loss of the beatitudeof Heaven.

We must assert that the souls in Purgatory suffer the pain of loss,tempered by hope, and not like the souls in hell, which have no hope.

In the pain of sense we can distinguish two things. There is the sorrowwhich follows closely the want or delay of the vision of God, and hasthat for its object. There is also another pain, as it were outward,and this is proportioned to the sensible pain which is caused in us byfire, or any like action, contrary to nature and hurtful to it. That inPurgatory this sorrow does follow the loss of God is most certain; forthat loss, or delay, is truly a great evil, and is most keenly felt tobe such by those souls that with all their strength love God and longto see Him. Therefore, it is impossible for them not to feel thegreatest sorrow about that delay.

* * * * *

We must assert that, besides the pain of loss and the sorrow annexed toit, there is in Purgatory a proper and peculiar pain of sense. This isthe more common judgment of the scholastics; and seems to be receivedby the common judgment and approbation of the Church. Indeed, theequity of the avenging justice of God requires this. The sinner,through inordinate delight in creatures and affection for them,deserves a punishment contrary to that delight; and if in this life hehas not made full satisfaction, he must be punished and freed by somesuch pain as this, which we call the pain of sense. Theologians incommon teach this, and distinguish a proper pain of sense from thesorrow caused by the want of the vision of God. Thus they distinguishspiritual pains, such as sorrow for the delay of the vision, andremorse of conscience, from corporeal pains, which come from the fire,or any other instrument of God. These corporeal pains we comprehendunder the pain of sense.

* * * * *

Whether, besides the fire, other corporeal things, such as water andsnow, are used as instruments for punishing the souls is uncertain.Bede says that souls in Purgatory were seen to pass from very greatheat to very great cold, and then from cold to heat. St. Anselmmentions these punishments disjunctively. He says, "or any other kindof punishments." We cannot, therefore, speak of this with certainty.

THE PAIN OF LOSS.

In this matter we may look at the pain of loss as well as the pain ofsense. It is certain that the pain of loss is very sharp, because ofthe greatness of the good for which they wait. True, it is only for atime; yet it is rightly reckoned, as St. Thomas taught, a greater evilthan any loss in this life. He and other theologians with him mean thatthe sorrow also which springs from the apprehension of this evil isgreater than any pain or sorrow here. Hence, they conclude that thepain of loss in every way exceeds all pains of this life; for theythink, as I have already noted, that this sorrow pertains to the painof loss, and therefore they join this pain with privation, that thepunishment may be greater in every way…. The vision of God and thebeatitude of heaven are such that the possession of them, even for aday, could exceed all goods of this life taken together and possessedfor a long time…. Therefore, even a short delay of such a good is avery heavy sorrow, far exceeding all the pains of this life. The HolySouls well understand and weigh the greatness of this evil; and verypiercing is the pain they feel, because they know that they aresuffering through their own negligence and by their own fault…. Thereare, however, certain things which would seem to have power to lessentheir pain:

1. They are certain of future glory. This hope must bring them muchjoy; as St. Paul says, "rejoicing in hope." (Roms. xii. 12.)

2. There is the rightness of their will, by which they are conformed tothe justice of God. Hence, it follows that, in a certain sense, theirpain is voluntary, and thus not so severe.

3. By the love of God they not only bear their punishment, but rejoicein it, because they see that it is the means of satisfying God andbeing brought to Heaven.

4. If they choose, they can turn their thoughts from the pain of delay,and give them very attentively to the good of hope. This would bringthem consolation.

THE PAIN OF SENSE.

It is the common judgment of theologians, with St. Augustine, St.Thomas, and St. Bonaventure, that this pain is bitterer than all painof this life…. Theologians, in common with St. Thomas and St.Bonaventure, teach that the pain of Purgatory is not in any wayinflicted by devils. These souls are just and holy. They cannot sin anymore; and, to the last, they have overcome the assaults of the devils.It would not, therefore, be fitting that such souls should be giveninto their power to be tormented by them. Again, when the devils temptwayfarers, they do it because they hope to lead them into sin, howeverperfect they may be; but they could have no such hope about the soulsin Purgatory, and so would not be likely to tempt them. Besides, theyknow that their temptations or harassings would have an effect notintended by them, and would bring the souls from Purgatory to Heavenmore quickly.

* * * * *

It is the common law that souls in Purgatory, during the whole timethat they are there, cannot come out from the prison, even if theywish; The constant closing of the prison-doors is a part of theseverity of their punishment. So teach St. John Chrysostom, St.Athanasius, and St. Augustine…. The reason for this is the law of thejustice of God. The souls of the lost are kept in prison by force andagainst their will. The souls in Purgatory stay there willingly, forthey understand the just will of God and submit to it. This law,however, can be sometimes dispensed with; and so St. Augustine holds itto be probable that there are often true apparitions of the Holy Soulsby the permission of God…. It is true that, as a rule, these areapparitions of souls, who, by a special decree of God, are sufferingtheir Purgatory somewhere in this world…. One thing, however, we mustnote in these cases. When such a permission is given, the pain of thesoul is not interrupted. This is not only seen from the visionsthemselves, but is what reason requires.

* * * * *

Here occurs the question whether the Holy Souls pray for us and cangain anything for us by merit of congruity, or, at least, impetrate itfor us, as others prefer to say. Some have said that they do not thuspray for us, because it is not fitting to their state, in that they aredebtors and, as it were, kept in prison for their debts; and alsobecause they do not see God, and so do not know what is done here. Theymight know such things by special revelations, but revelations of thiskind are not due to their state. But surely their penal state does notnecessarily hinder the Holy Souls from praying for, and impetrating forus. They are holy and dear to God; and they love us with charity,remembering us, and knowing, at least in a general way, the dangers inwhich we live; they understand also how greatly we need the help ofGod: why, then, should they not be able to pray for us, even though inanother way they are paying to God their debt of punishment? For wealso in this life are debtors to God, and yet we pray for others….Besides, we may well believe that the Holy Angels make revelations tothe souls in Purgatory about their relatives or friends still living onthis earth. They will do this for the consolation of the Holy Souls, orthat they may know what to ask for us in particular cases, or that theymay know of our prayers for them.

ST. CATHARINE OF GENOA ON PURGATORY.

This Holy Soul, while still in the flesh, was placed in the purgatoryof the burning love of God, in whose flames she was purified from everystain, so that when she passed from this life she might be ready toenter the presence of God, her most sweet love. By means of that flameof love she comprehended in her own soul the condition of the souls ofthe faithful in Purgatory, where they are purified from the rust andstain of sins, from which they have not been cleansed in this world.And as in the purgatory of that divine flame she was united with thedivine love and satisfied with all that was accomplished in her, shewas enabled to comprehend the state of the souls in Purgatory, and thusdiscoursed concerning it:

"As far as I can see, the souls in Purgatory can have no choice but bethere; this God has most justly ordained by His divine decree. Theycannot turn towards themselves and say, 'I have committed such and suchsins for which I deserve to remain here;' nor can they say, 'Would thatI had refrained from them, for then I should at this moment be inParadise;' nor again, 'This soul will be released before me;' or, 'Ishall be released before her.' They retain no memory of either good orevil respecting themselves or others which would increase their pain.They are so contented with the divine inspirations in their regard, andwith doing all that is pleasing to God in that way which he chooses,that they cannot think of themselves, though they may strive to do so.They see nothing but the operation of the divine goodness which is somanifestly bringing them to God that they can reflect neither on theirown profit nor on their hurt. Could they do so, they would not be inpure charity. They see not that they suffer their pains in consequenceof their sins, nor can they for a moment entertain that thought, forshould they do so it would be an active imperfection, and that cannotexist in a state where there is no longer the possibility of sin. Atthe moment of leaving this life, they see why they are sent toPurgatory, but never again; otherwise they would still retain somethingprivate, which has no place there. Being established in charity, theycan never deviate therefrom by any defect, and have no will or desiresave the pure will of pure love, and can swerve from it in nothing.They can neither commit sin nor merit by refraining from it.

* * * * *

"There is no peace to be compared with that of the souls in Purgatory,save that of the saints in Paradise, and this peace is ever augmentedby the inflowing of God into these souls, which increases in proportionas the impediments to it are removed. The rust of sin is theimpediment, and this the fire continually consumes, so that the soul inthis state is continually opening itself to admit the divinecommunication. As a covered surface can never reflect the sun, notthrough any defect in that orb, but simply from the resistance offeredby the covering, so, if the covering be gradually removed, the surfacewill by little and little be opened to the sun and will more and morereflect his light. So it is with the rust of sin, which is thecovering of the soul. In Purgatory the flames incessantly consume it,and as it disappears the soul reflects more and more perfectly the truesun, who is God. Its contentment increases as this rust wears away, andthe soul is laid bare to the divine ray; and thus one increases and theother decreases until the time is accomplished. The pain neverdiminishes, although the time does; but, as to the will, so united isit to God by pure charity, and so satisfied to be under His divineappointment, that these souls can never say their pains are pains.

"On the other hand, it is true that they suffer torments which notongue can describe nor any intelligence comprehend, unless it berevealed by such a special grace as that which God has vouchsafed tome, but which I am unable to explain. And this vision which Godrevealed to me has never departed from my memory. I will describe it asfar as I am able, and they whose intellects our Lord will deign to openwill understand me.

* * * * *

"The source of all suffering is either original or actual sin. Godcreated the soul pure, simple, free from every stain, and with acertain beatific instinct towards Himself. It is drawn aside from Himby original sin, and when actual sin is afterwards added this withdrawsit still farther, and ever, as it removes from Him, its sinfulnessincreases because its communication with God grows less and less.

* * * * *

"Since the souls in Purgatory are freed from the guilt of sin, there isno barrier between them and God save only the pains they suffer, whichdelay the satisfaction of their desire. And when they see how seriousis even the slightest hindrance, which the necessity of justice causesto check them, a vehement flame kindles within them, which is like thatof hell. They feel no guilt, however, and it is guilt which is thecause of the malignant will of the condemned in hell, to whom God doesnot communicate His goodness; and thus they remain in despair and witha will forever opposed to the good-will of God.

* * * * *

"The souls in Purgatory are entirely conformed to the will of God;therefore, they correspond with His goodness, are contented with allthat He ordains, and are entirely purified from the guilt of theirsins. They are pure from sins because they have in this life abhorredthem and confessed them with true contrition; and for this reason Godremits their guilt, so that only the stains of sin remain, and thesemust be devoured by the fire. Thus freed from guilt and united to thewill of God, they see Him clearly according to that degree of lightwhich He allows them, and comprehend how great a good is the fruitionof God, for which all souls were created. Moreover, these souls are insuch close conformity to God and are drawn so powerfully toward Him byreason of the natural attraction between Him and the soul, that noillustration or comparison could make this impetuosity understood inthe way in which my spirit conceives it by its interior sense.Nevertheless, I will use one which occurs to me.

"Let us suppose that in the whole world there were but one loaf toappease the hunger of every creature, and that the bare sight of itwould satisfy them. Now man, when in health, has by nature the instinctfor food, but if we can suppose him to abstain from it and neither die,nor yet lose health and strength, his hunger would clearly becomeincreasingly urgent. In this case, if he knew that nothing but thisloaf would satisfy him, and that until he reached it his hunger couldnot be appeased, he would suffer intolerable pain, which would increaseas his distance from the loaf diminished; but if he were sure that hewould never see it, his hell would be as complete as that of the damnedsouls, who, hungering after God, have no hope of ever seeing the breadof life. But the souls in Purgatory have an assured hope of seeing Himand of being entirely satisfied; and therefore they endure all hungerand suffer all pain until that moment when they enter into eternalpossession of this bread, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour,and our Love.

* * * * *

"I will say, furthermore: I see that as far as God is concerned,Paradise has no gates, but he who will may enter. For God is all mercy,and His open arms are ever extended to receive us into His glory. But Isee that the divine essence is so pure—purer than the imagination canconceive—that the soul, finding in itself the slightest imperfection,would rather cast itself into a thousand hells than appear, so stained,in the presence of the divine majesty. Knowing, then, that Purgatorywas intended for her cleansing, she throws herself therein, and findsthere that great mercy, the removal of her stains.

"The great importance of Purgatory, neither mind can conceive nortongue describe. I see only that its pains are as great as those ofhell; and yet I see that a soul, stained with the slightest fault,receiving this mercy, counts the pains as nought in comparison withthis hindrance to her love. And I know that the greatest misery of thesouls in Purgatory is to behold in themselves aught that displeasesGod, and to discover that, in spite of His goodness, they had consentedto it. And this is because, being in the state of grace, they see thereality and the importance of the impediments which hinder theirapproach to God.

* * * * *

"From that furnace of divine love I see rays of fire dart like burninglamps towards the soul; and so violent and powerful are they that bothsoul and body would be utterly destroyed, if that were possible. Theserays perform a double office; they purify and they annihilate.

"Consider gold: the oftener it is melted the more pure does it become;continue to melt it and every imperfection is destroyed. This is theeffect of fire on all materials. The soul, however, cannot beannihilated in God, but in herself she can, and the longer herpurification lasts the more perfectly does she die to herself, until atlength she remains purified in God.

"When gold has been completely freed from dross, no fire, howevergreat, has any further action on it, for nothing but its imperfectionscan be consumed. So it is with the divine fire in the soul. God retainsher in these flames until every stain is burned away, and she isbrought to the highest perfection of which she is capable, each soul inher own degree. And when this is accomplished, she rests wholly in God.Nothing of herself remains, and God is her entire being. When He hasthus led her to Himself and purified her, she is no longer passible,for nothing remains to be consumed. If, when thus refined, she shouldagain approach the fire she would feel no pain, for to her it hasbecome the fire of divine love, which is life eternal and which nothingmars."

* * * * *

And thus this blessed Soul, illuminated by the divine ray, said: "Wouldthat I could utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men withterror, and say to them: O wretched beings! why are you so blinded bythis world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, noprovision for the great necessity that will then come upon you?

"You shelter yourselves beneath the hope of the mercy of God, which youunceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His greatgoodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrainyou to His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since Hisjustice is unfailing, it must needs be in some way fully satisfied.

"Have not the boldness to say: 'I will go to confession and gain aplenary indulgence, and thus I shall be saved?' Remember that the fullconfession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenaryindulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they arecome by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than ofgaining them."

EXTRACTS FROM THE FATHERS. [1]

[Footnote 1: These extracts are purposely different from those quotedby the learned author of "Purgatory Surveyed," in that portion of histreatise herein comprised.]

ST. CYPRIAN [1] writes: "Our predecessors prudently advised that nobrother, departing this life should nominate any churchman hisexecutor; and should he do it, that no oblation should be made for him,nor sacrifice offered for his repose; of which we have had a lateexample, when no oblation was made, nor prayer, in his name, offered inthe Church." [2]

[Footnote 1: Ep., xlvi., p. 114.]

[Footnote 2: Cardinal Wiseman commenting upon this passage, says: "Itwas considered, therefore, a severe punishment, that prayers andsacrifices should not be offered up for those who had violated any ofthe ecclesiastical laws."—Lectures on the Catholic Church.Lecture xi., p. 59.]

ORIGEN, who wrote in the same century as Cyprian, and some two hundredyears after Christ, speaks as follows, in language the most distinct,upon our doctrine of Purgatory: "When we depart this life, if we takewith us virtues or vices, shall we receive reward for our virtues, andshall those trespasses be forgiven to us which we knowingly committed;or shall we be punished for our faults, and not receive the reward ofour virtues? Neither is true: because we shall suffer for our sins andreceive the reward of our virtues. For if on the foundation of Christyou shall have built not only gold and silver and precious stones, butalso wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shallbe separated from the body? Would you enter into Heaven with your wood,and hay, and stubble, to defile the Kingdom of God; or on account ofthose encumbrances remain without, and receive no reward for your goldand silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains, then,that you be committed to the fire, which shall consume the lightmaterials; for our God, to those who can comprehend heavenly things, iscalled a consuming fire. But this fire consumes not thecreature, but what the creature has himself built—wood, and hay, andstubble. It is manifest that, in the first place, the fire destroys thewood of our transgressions, and then returns to us the reward of ourgood works." [1]

[Footnote 1: Homil. xvi al. xii. in Jerem. T. iii. p. 231,232.]

ST. BASIL, or a contemporary author, thus writes, commenting on thewords of Isaiah: "Through the wrath of the Lord is the land burned; thethings which are earthly are made the food of a punishing fire; to theend, that the soul may receive favor and be benefited." He continues:"And the people shall be as the fuel of the fire." (Ibid.) Thisis not a threat of extermination; but it denotes expurgation, [1]according to the expression of the Apostles: "If any man's works burn,he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as byfire." (1 Cor. iii. 15.) [2]

[Footnote 1: Cardinal Wiseman in commenting upon this passage, says:"Now, mark well the word purgation here used. For it proves that ourvery term of Purgatory is not modern in the Church."—Lectures onthe Catholic Church. Lecture xi., p. 60.]

[Footnote 2: Com. in C., ix. Isai. T. I., p. 554.]

The following is from ST. EPHREM, of Edessa: "My brethren, come to me,and prepare me for my departure, for my strength is wholly gone. Goalong with me in psalms and in your prayers; and please constantly tomake oblations for me. When the thirtieth day [1] shall be completed,then remember me: for the dead are helped by the offerings of theliving. If also the sons of Mathathias, who celebrated their feasts infigures only, could cleanse those from guilt by their offerings whofell in battle, how much more shall the priests of Christ aid the deadby their oblations and prayers?" [2]

[Footnote 1: "The very day," says Cardinal Wiseman, "observed by theCatholic Church with peculiar solemnity, in praying and observing Massfor the dead". Archbishop Corrigan, of New York, in announcing to theclergy of his diocese the death of His Eminence the late CardinalMcCloskey, speaks as follows: "The reverend rectors are also requestedto have solemn services for the soul of our late beloved chief pastor,on the seventh and thirtieth day."]

[Footnote 2: In Testament. T. ii., p. 334. p. 371, Edit. Oxen.]

Thus speaks ST. GREGORY of Nyssa: "In the present life, God allows manto remain subject to what himself has chosen; that, having tasted ofthe evil which he desired, and learned by experience how bad anexchange has been made, he might feel an ardent wish to lay down theload of those vices and inclinations, which are contrary to reason; andthus, in this life, being renovated by prayers and the pursuit ofwisdom, or, in the next, being expiated by the purging fire, he mightrecover the state of happiness which he had lost…. When he hasquitted his body, and the difference between virtue and vice is known,he cannot be admitted to approach the Divinity till the purging fireshall have expiated the stains with which his soul was infected. Thesame fire, in others, will cancel the corruption of matter and thepropensity to evil." [1]

[Footnote 1: Orat. de Defunctis. T. ii., p. 1066, 1067, 1068.]

ST. CYRIL of Jerusalem: "Then" (in the Liturgy of the Church) "we prayfor the holy Fathers and Bishops that are dead; and, in short, for allthose who are departed this life in our communion; believing that thesouls of those, for whom the prayers, are offered, receive very greatrelief while this holy and tremendous victim lies upon the altar." [1]

[Footnote 1: Catech. Mystag., V. N., ix., x., p. 328.]

ST. EPIPHANIUS writes: "There is nothing more opportune, nothing moreto be admired, than the rite which directs the names of the dead to bementioned. They are aided by the prayer that is offered for them,though it may not cancel all their faults. We mention both the just andsinners, in order that for the latter we may obtain mercy." [1]

[Footnote 1: Haer. IV. Lib. LXXV., T. i., p. 911.]

ST. AUGUSTINE speaks as follows: "The prayers of the Church, or of goodpersons, are heard in favor of those Christians who departed this lifenot so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to beentitled to immediate happiness. So also, at the resurrection of thedead, there will some be found, to whom mercy will be imparted, havinggone through these pains, to which the spirits of the dead are liable.Otherwise it would not have been said of some with truth, that theirsin shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world tocome (Matt. xii., 32) unless some sins were remitted in the nextworld." [1]

[Footnote 1: De Civit. Dei., Lib. XX, c. xxiv., p. 492.]

In another passage he comments on the words of St. Paul: "If they hadbuilt gold and silver and precious stones, they would be securefrom both fires; not only from that in which the wicked shall bepunished for ever, but likewise from that fire which will purifythose who shall be saved by fire. But because it is said he shall besaved, that fire is thought lightly of; though the suffering will bemore grievous than anything man can undergo in this life."

Let us hear ST. JEROME: [1] "As we believe the torments of the devil,and of those wicked men who said in their hearts there is noGod, to be eternal, so, in regard to those sinners who have notdenied their faith, and whose works will be proved and purged by fire,we conclude that the sentence of the Judge will be tempered by mercy."

[Footnote 1: Comment. in c. xv., Isai., T. ii., p. 492.]

St. Jerome thus speaks in his letter to Paula, concerning the death andburial of her mother, Eustochium: "From henceforward there were nowailings nor lamentations as are usual amongst men of this world, butthe swarms of those present resounded with psalms in various tongues.And being removed by the hands of the bishops, and by those placingtheir shoulders under the bier, while other pontiffs were carryinglamps and wax tapers, and others led the choirs of psalmodists, she waslaid in the middle of the church of the cave of the Saviour…. Psalmsresounded in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Syriac tongues, not onlyduring the three days intervening until she was laid under the churchand near the cave of the Lord, but through the entire week."

ST. AMBROSE has many passages throughout his works, as Dr. Wisemanremarks. Thus he quotes St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians(iii., 5): "'If any man's works burn he shall suffer loss; but he shallbe saved, yet so as by fire.' He will be saved, the Apostle said,because his substance shall remain, while his bad doctrine shallperish. Therefore, he said, yet so as by fife, in order that hissalvation be not understood to be without pain. He shows that he shallbe saved indeed, but he shall undergo the pain of fire, and be thuspurified, not like the unbelieving and wicked man who shall be punishedin everlasting fire." [1]

[Footnote 1: Comment. in I Ep. ad Cor., T. ii.; in App, p. 122.]

The following is from his funeral oration on the Emperor Theodosius:"Lately we deplored together his death, and now, while Prince Honoriusis present before our altars, we celebrate the fortieth day. Someobserve the third and the thirtieth, others the seventh and thefortieth. Give, O Lord, rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest whichThou hast prepared for Thy Saints. May his soul thither tend, whence itcame, where it cannot feel the sting of death, where it will learn thatdeath is the termination, not of nature, but of sin. I loved him,therefore will I follow him to the land of the living; I will not leavehim, till, by my prayers and lamentation, he shall be admitted to theholy mount of the Lord to which his deserts call him." [1]

[Footnote 1: De obitu. Theodosii. Ibid., pp. 1197-8; 1207-8.]

He thus concludes his letter to ST. FAUSTINUS on the death of hissister: "Therefore I consider her not so much to be deplored as to befollowed by our prayers, nor do I think that her soul should besaddened with tears, but rather commended to the Lord in oblations. Forour flesh cannot be perpetual or lasting; it must necessarily fall inorder that it may rise again—it must be dissolved in order that it mayrest, and that there may be some end of sin." [1]

[Footnote 1: St. Ambr., p. 39, ad Faustini, t. 2, p 944, ed. Ben.]

In his funeral oration upon his brother Satyrus, he cries out: "To Theenow, O omnipotent God, I commend this innocent soul,—to Thee I offermy victim. Accept graciously and serenely the gift of the brother—thesacrifice of the priest."

[Footnote 1: De excessu frateris satyri, No. 80, p. 1135.]

In his discourse on the deceased Emperor Valentinian the Younger,murdered in 392: "Give the holy mysteries to the dead. Let us, withpious earnestness, beg repose for his soul. Lift up your hands with me,O people, that at least by this duty we may make some return for hisbenefits." [1] Joining him with the Emperor Gratian, his brother, deadsome years before, he says: "Both blessed, if my prayers can be of anyforce! No duty shall pass over you in silence. No prayer of mine shallever be closed without remembering you. No night shall pass you overwithout some vows of my supplications. You shall have a share in all mysacrifices. If I forget you let my own right hand be forgotten." [2]

[Footnote 1: St. Ambr. de obitu Valent, No. 56, t. 2, p 1189, ed.
Bened.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid., No. 78, p. 1194.]

"It was not in vain," says ST. CHRYSOSTOM, "that the apostles ordaineda commemoration of the deceased in the holy and tremendous mysteries.They were sensible of the benefit and advantage which accrues to themfrom this practice. For, when the congregation stands with open arms aswell as the priests, and the tremendous sacrifice is before them, howshould our prayers for them not appease God? But this is said of suchas have departed in faith." [1]

[Footnote 1: Hom. 3 in Phil., t. n., p. 217 ed. Montfauc.]

ST. AUGUSTINE again says: "Nor is it to be denied that the souls of thedeparted are relieved by the piety of their living friends, when thesacrifice of the Mediator is offered for them, or alms are given in theChurch. But these things are profitable to those who, while they lived,deserved that they might avail them. There is a life so good as not torequire them, and there is another so wicked that after death it canreceive no benefit from them. When, therefore, the sacrifices of thealtar or alms are offered for all Christians, for the very good theyare thanksgivings, they are propitiations for those who are not verybad. For the very wicked, they are some kind of comfort to the living."

In another of his works he says that prayer for the dead in the holymysteries was observed by the whole church. He expounds the thirty-seventh Psalm as having reference to Purgatory. The words: "Rebuke menot in thy fury, neither chastise me in thy wrath," he explains asfollows: "That you purify me in this life, and render me such that Imay not stand in need of that purging fire."

ARNOBIUS speaks of the public liturgies: "In which peace and pardon arebegged of God for kings, magistrates, friends and enemies, both theliving and those who are delivered from the body."

To these few extracts, which space permits, might be added innumerableothers from St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, St. Paulinus,St. Eusebius, Lactantius, Tertullian, St. Caesarius of Arles, St.Bernard, Venerable Bede, St. Thomas Aquinas, and so on down to our ownimmediate time. Their testimony is most clear not only as regards thecustom of praying for the dead, but the actual doctrine of Purgatory,as it is now understood in the Church. They are, in fact, in many casesmost explicit upon this point, obviously referring to a middle state ofsuffering and expiation, and thus refuting by anticipation theobjections of those who claim that the primitive Christians prayedindeed for the dead, but knew nothing of Purgatory: a contradiction, itwould seem, as prayer for the dead, to be available, supposes a placeor state of probation. But, even where the mention made by the Fathersof prayer for the dead does not refer expressly to a place ofpurgation, it is no more a proof that they did not hold this doctrinethan that those modern Catholic authors disbelieve in it, who supposethis middle state of suffering to be admitted by their readers. Oreven, which rarely happens, if they be silent altogether upon thesubject, it no more infers their ignorance of such a belief than thesame silence to be noted in theological and religious works of our ownday. It proves no more than that they are at the time engaged intreating of some other subject. The following, which may serve as aconclusion to these extracts, is the solemn decision of the Council ofTrent in regard to this doctrine: "The Church, inspired by the HolyGhost, has always taught, according to the Holy Scriptures andapostolic tradition, that there is a Purgatory, and that the soulsthere detained receive comfort from the prayers and good works of thefaithful, particularly through the sacrifice of the Mass, which is soacceptable to God."

In the thirteenth Canon of the sixth session, it decrees that, "if anyone should say that a repentant sinner, after having received the graceof justification, the punishment of eternal pains being remitted, hasno temporary punishment to be suffered either in this life or in thenext in Purgatory, before he can enter into the Kingdom of God, let himbe anathema."

In the third Canon of the twenty-fourth session, it defines "that thesacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory both for the living and the deadfor sins, punishments and satisfactions."

VERSES FROM THE IMITATION.

THOMAS A KEMPIS.

Trust not in thy friends and neighbors, and put not oft thy soul'swelfare till the future; for men will forget thee sooner than thouthinkest.

It is better to provide now in time and send some good before thee thanto trust to the assistance of others after death.

If thou art not solicitous for thyself now, who will be solicitous forthee hereafter.

Did'st thou also well ponder in thy heart the future pains of hell orPurgatory, methinks thou would'st bear willingly labor and sorrow andfear no kind of austerity.

Who will remember thee when thou art dead? and who will pray for thee?

Now thy labor is profitable, thy tears are acceptable, thy groans areheard, thy sorrow is satisfying and purifieth the soul.

The patient man hath a great and wholesome purgatory.

Better is it to purge away our sins, and cut off our vices now, than tokeep them for purgation hereafter.

If thou shalt say thou are not able to suffer much, how then wilt thouendure the fire of Purgatory. Of two evils, one ought always to choosethe less.

When a Priest celebrateth, he honoreth God, he rejoiceth the Angels, heedifieth the Church, he helpeth the living, he obtaineth rest for thedeparted, and maketh himself partaker of all good things.

I offer to Thee also all the pious desires of devout persons; thenecessities of my parents, friends, brothers, sisters, and all thosethat are dear to me; … and all who have desired and besought me tooffer up prayers and Masses for themselves and all theirs, whether theyare still living in the flesh or are already dead to this world.

ST. AUGUSTINE AND HIS MOTHER, ST. MONICA.

[In the beautiful account given by the great St. Augustine of the lastillness and death of his holy mother, St. Monica, we find some touchingproofs of the pious belief of mother and son in the existence of amiddle state for souls in the after life. The holy doctor had beenrelating that memorable conversation on heavenly things which tookplace between his mother and himself on that moonlight night at thewindow in the inn at Ostia, immortalized by Ary Schaeffer in hisbeautiful picture.]

To this what answer I made her I do not well remember. But scarce fivedays, or not many more, had passed after this before she fell into afever: and one day, being very sick, she swooned away, and was for alittle while insensible. We ran in, but she soon came to herself again,and looking upon me and my brother (Navigius), that were standing byher, said to us like one inquiring: "Where have I been?" then,beholding us struck with grief, she said: "Here you shall bury yourmother." I held my peace and refrained weeping; but my brother saidsomething by which he signified his wish, as of a thing more happy,that she might not die abroad but in her own country; which shehearing, with a concern in her countenance, and checking him with hereyes that he should have such notions, then looking upon me, said: "Doyou hear what he says?" then to us both: "Lay this body anywhere; benot concerned about that; only this I beg of you, that wheresoever yoube, you make remembrance of me at the Lord's altar." And when she hadexpressed to us this, her mind, with such words as she could, she saidno more, but lay struggling with her disease that grew stronger uponher.

* * * * *

And now behold the body is carried out to be buried, and I both go andreturn without tears. Neither in those prayers, which we poured forthto Thee when the sacrifice of our ransom was offered to Thee for her,the body being set down by the grave before the interment of it, ascustom is there, neither in those prayers, I say, did I shed any tears.

* * * * *

And now, my heart being healed of that wound in which a carnalaffection might have some share, I pour out to Thee, our God, in behalfof that servant of Thine, a far different sort of tears, flowing from aspirit frighted with the consideration of the perils of every soul thatdies in Adam. For, although she, being revived in Christ, even beforeher being set loose from the flesh and lived in such manner, as thatThy name is much praised in her faith and manners; yet I dare not saythat from the time Thou didst regenerate her by baptism, no word cameout of her mouth against Thy command…. I, therefore, O my Praise andmy Life, the God of my heart, setting for a while aside her good deeds,for which with joy I give Thee thanks, entreat Thee at present for thesins of my mother. Hear me, I beseech Thee, through that Cure of ourwounds that hung upon the tree, and that, sitting now at Thy righthand, maketh intercession to Thee for us. I know that she didmercifully, and from her heart forgive to her debtors their trespasses:do Thou likewise forgive her her debts, if she hath also contractedsome in those many years she lived after the saving water…. And Ibelieve Thou hast already done what I ask, but these free offerings ofmy mouth approve, O Lord.

For she, when the day of her dissolution was at hand, had no thoughtfor the sumptuous covering of her body, or the embalming of it, nor hadshe any desire of a fine monument, nor was solicitous about hersepulchre in her own country: none of these things did she recommend tous; but only desired that we should make a remembrance of her at Thyaltar, at which she had constantly attended without one day'sintermission, from whence she knew was dispensed that Holy Victim bywhich was cancelled that handwriting that was against us (Coloss. II.),by which that enemy was triumphed over who reckoneth up our sins andseeketh what he may lay to our charge, but findeth nothing in Himthrough whom we conquer. Who shall refund to Him that innocent blood Heshed for us? Who shall repay Him the price with which He bought us,that so he may take us away from Him? To the sacrament of which priceof our redemption Thy handmaid bound fast her soul by the bond offaith….

Let her, therefore, rest in peace, together with her husband, beforewhom and after whom she was known to no man; whom she dutifully served,bringing forth fruit to Thee, in much patience, that she might alsogain him to Thee. And do Thou inspire, O Lord, my God, do Thou inspireThy servants, my brethren, Thy children, my masters, whom I serve withmy voice, and my heart, and my writings, that as many as shall readthis shall remember, at Thy altar, Thy handmaid Monica with Patricius,formerly her husband. Let them remember, with a pious affection, thesewho were my parents in this transitory life, my brethren under Thee,our Father, in our Catholic Mother, and my fellow-citizens in theeternal Jerusalem, for which the pilgrimage of Thy people here belowcontinually sigheth from their setting out till their return. That sowhat my mother made her last request to me may be more plentifullyperformed for her by the prayers of many, procured by these, myconfessions, and my prayers. [1]

[Footnote 1: Conf. B. IX. Chs. XI.-XIII.]

ST. GERTRUDE AND THE HOLY SOULS.

[In the "Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude" we find many instancesof the efficacy of prayers for the dead and how pleasing to God isdevotion to the souls in Purgatory. From these we select thefollowing.]

Our Blessed Lord once said to the Saint: "If a soul is delivered byprayer from Purgatory I accept it as if I had myself been deliveredfrom captivity, and I will assuredly reward it according to theabundance of my mercy." The religious also beheld many souls meetingbefore her to testify their gratitude for their deliverance fromPurgatory, through the prayers which had been offered for her, andwhich she had not needed.

* * * * *

As St. Gertrude prayed fervently before matins on the blessed night ofthe Resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to her full of majesty andglory. Then she cast herself at His feet, to adore Him devoutly andhumbly, saying: "O glorious Spouse, joy of the angels, Thou who hastshown me the favor of choosing me to be Thy spouse, who am the least ofThy creatures! I ardently desire Thy glory, and my only friends arethose who love Thee; therefore I beseech Thee to pardon the souls ofThy special friends [1] by the virtue of Thy most gloriousResurrection. And to obtain this grace from Thy goodness, I offer Thee,in union with Thy Passion, all the sufferings which my continualinfirmities have caused me." Then Our Lord, having favored her withmany caresses, showed her a great multitude of souls who were freedfrom their pains, saying: "Behold, I have given them to you as arecompense for your rare affection; and through all eternity they willacknowledge that they have been delivered by your prayers, and you willbe honored and glorified for it." She replied: "How many are they?" Heanswered: "This knowledge belongs to God alone."

As she feared that these souls, though freed from their pains, were notyet admitted to glory, she offered to endure whatever God might please,either in body or soul, to obtain their entrance into that beatitude;and Our Lord, won by her fervor, granted her request immediately.

[Footnote 1: "This seems to refer," says the author of the Saint'slife, "to the souls in Purgatory."]

Some time after, as the Saint suffered most acute pain in her side, shemade an inclination before a crucifix; and Our Lord freed her from thepain, and granted the merit of it to these souls, recommending them tomake her a return by their prayers.

* * * * *

On Wednesday, at the elevation of the Host, she besought Our Lord forthe souls of the faithful in Purgatory, that He would free them fromtheir pains by virtue of His, admirable Ascension; and she beheld OurLord descending into Purgatory with a golden rod in His hand, which hadas many hooks as there had been prayers for their souls; by these Heappeared to draw them into a place of repose. She understood by this,that whenever any one prays generally, from a motive of charity, forthe souls in Purgatory, the greater part of those who, during theirlives, have exercised themselves in works of charity, are released.

* * * * *

On another occasion, as she remarked that she had offered all hermerits for the dead, she said to Our Lord: "I hope, O Lord, that Thouwilt frequently cast the eyes of Thy mercy on my indigence." Hereplied: "What can I do more for one who has thus deprived herself ofall things through charity, than to cover her immediately withcharity?" She answered: "Whatever Thou mayest do, I shall always appearbefore Thee destitute of all merit, for I have renounced all I havegained or may gain." He replied: "Do you not know that a mother wouldallow a child who was well clothed to sit at her feet, but she wouldtake one who was barely clad into her arms, and cover her with her owngarment?" He added: "And now, what advantages have you, who are seatedon the shore of an ocean, over those who sit by a little rivulet?" Thatis to say, those who keep their good works for themselves, have therivulet; but those who renounce them in love and humility, possess God,who is an inexhaustible ocean of beatitude.

* * * * *

On one occasion, while Mass was being celebrated for a poor woman whohad died lately, St. Gertrude recited five Pater Nosters, inhonor of Our Lord's five wounds, for the repose of her soul; and, movedby divine inspiration, she offered all her good works for the increaseof the beatitude of this person. When she had made this offering, sheimmediately beheld the soul in heaven, in the place destined for her;and the throne prepared for her was elevated as far above the placewhere she had been, as the highest throne of the seraphim is above thatof the lowest angel. The Saint then asked Our Lord how this soul hadbeen worthy to obtain such advantage from her prayers, and He replied:

"She has merited this grace in three ways: first, because she alwayshad a sincere will and perfect desire of serving Me in religion, if ithad been possible; secondly, because she especially loved all religiousand all good people; thirdly, because she was always ready to honor Meby performing any service she could for them." He added: "You mayjudge, by the sublime rank to which she is elevated, how agreeablethese practices are to Me."

A certain religious died who had always been accustomed to pray veryfervently for the souls of the faithful departed; but she had failed inthe perfection of obedience, preferring her own will to that of hersuperior in her fasts and vigils. After her decease she appearedadorned with rich ornaments, but so weighed down by a heavy burden,which she was obliged to carry, that she could not approach to God,though many persons were endeavoring to lead her to Him.

As Gertrude marvelled at this vision, she was taught that the personswho endeavored to conduct the soul to God were those whom she hadreleased by her prayers; but this heavy burden indicated the faults shehad committed against obedience. Then Our Lord said: "Behold how thosegrateful souls endeavor to free her from the requirements of Myjustice, and show these ornaments; nevertheless, she must suffer forher faults of disobedience and self-will." …

Then the Saint beheld her ornament, which appeared like a vessel ofboiling water containing a hard stone, which must be completelydissolved therein before she could obtain relief from this torment; butin these sufferings she was much consoled and assisted by those souls,and by the prayers of the faithful. After this Our Lord showed St.Gertrude the path by which the souls ascend to heaven. It resembled astraight plank, a little inclined; so that those who ascended did sowith difficulty. They were assisted and supported by hands on eitherside, which indicated the prayers offered for them.

* * * * *

One day St. Gertrude asked Our Lord how many souls were delivered fromPurgatory by her prayers and those of her sisters. "The number,"replied Our Lord, "is proportioned to the zeal and fervor of those whopray for them." He added: "My love urges me to release a great numberof souls for the prayers of each religious, and at each verse of thepsalms which they recite, I release many."

* * * * *

When Mass was offered for the deceased Brother Hermann, his soulappeared to St. Gertrude all radiant with light, and transported withjoy. Then Gertrude said to Our Lord: "Is this soul now entirely freedfrom its sufferings?" Our Lord answered: "He is already free from muchsuffering, and no human being can form an idea of his glory; but he isnot yet so perfectly purified as to be worthy to enjoy My presence,though he is approaching nearer and nearer to this purity by theprayers which are offered for him, and is more and more consoled andrelieved."

ST. JOSEPH'S INTERCESSION FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.

(From "Le Propagateur de la Devotion a Saint Joseph.")

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES says: "We do not often enough remember our dead,our faithful departed." Thus the Church, like a good mother, recalls tous the thought of the dead when we have forgotten them, and thereforeshe consecrates the month of November to the memory of the dead. Thispious and salutary practice of praying for an entire month for the deadtakes its rise from the earliest ages of the Church. The custom ofmourning thirty days for the dead existed amongst the Jews. Thepractice of saying thirty Masses on thirty consecutive days wasestablished by St. Gregory, and Innocent XI. enriched it withindulgences. "God has made known to me," says the venerable sisterMarie Denise de Martignat, "that a devotion to the death of St. Josephobtains many graces for those who are agonizing, and that, as St.Joseph did not at once pass into heaven—because Jesus Christ had notopened its gates—but descended into Limbo, it is a most usefuldevotion for the agonizing, and for the souls in Purgatory, to offer toGod the resignation of St. Joseph when he was dying and about to leaveJesus and Mary in this world, and to honor the holy patience of thisgreat Saint waiting calmly in Limbo until Easter-day, when JesusChrist, risen and glorious, released him." And if St. Joseph consolesthe souls in Purgatory, none will be so dear to him as those who weredevout to him in life, and zealous in spreading a devotion to him.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES ON PURGATORY [1]

[Footnote 1: Consoling Thoughts of St Francis de Sales. Arranged by
Rev. Father Huguet. Pp. 336-7.]

The opinion of St. Francis de Sales was that from the thought ofPurgatory we should draw more consolation than pain. The greater numberof those, he said, who fear Purgatory so much, do so in considerationof their own interests and of the love they bear themselves rather thanthe interests of God; and this happens because those who treat of thisplace from the pulpit usually speak of its pains and are silent inregard to the happiness and peace which are found in it….

When any of his friends or acquaintances died, he never grew weary ofspeaking fondly of them and recommending them to the prayers of others.

His usual expression was: "We do not sufficiently remember our dead,our faithful departed;" and the proof of it is that we do not speakenough of them. We turn away from that discourse as from a sad subject.We leave the dead to bury their dead. Their memory perishes from uswith the sound of their funeral-bell. We forget that the friendshipwhich ends even with death, is never true, Holy Scripture assuring usthat true love is stronger than death.

He was accustomed to say that in this single work of mercy the thirteenothers are assembled.

Is it not, he said, in some manner, to visit the sick, to obtain by ourprayers the relief of the poor suffering souls in Purgatory?

Is it not to give drink to those who thirst after the vision of God,and who are enveloped in burning flames, to share with them the dew ofour prayers?

Is it not to feed the hungry, to aid in their deliverance by the meanswhich faith suggests?

Is it not truly to ransom prisoners?

Is it not truly to clothe the naked, to procure for them a garment oflight, a raiment of glory?

Is it not an admirable degree of hospitality, to procure theiradmission into the heavenly Jerusalem, and to make them fellow-citizenswith the Saints and domestics of God?

Is it not a greater service to place souls in heaven than to burybodies in the earth?

As to spirituals, is it not a work whose merit may be compared to thatof counselling the weak, correcting the wayward, instructing theignorant, forgiving offenses, enduring injuries? And what consolation,however great, that can be given to the afflicted of this world, iscomparable with that which is brought by our prayers to those poorsouls which have such bitter need of them?

CARDINAL GIBBONS ON PURGATORY.

The Catholic Church teaches that, besides a place of eternal tormentsfor the wicked and of everlasting rest for the righteous, there existsin the next life a middle state of temporary punishment, allotted forthose who have died in venial sin, or who have not satisfied thejustice of God for sins already forgiven. She also teaches us that,although the souls consigned to this intermediate state, commonlycalled Purgatory, cannot help themselves, they may be aided by thesuffrages of the faithful on earth. The existence of Purgatorynaturally implies the correlative dogma—the utility of praying for thedead; for the souls consigned to this middle state have not reached theterm of their journey. They are still exiles from heaven, and are fitsubjects for divine clemency.

Is it not strange that this cherished doctrine should be called inquestion by the levelling innovators of the sixteenth century, when weconsider that it is clearly taught in the Old Testament; that it is, atleast, insinuated in the New Testament; that it is unanimouslyproclaimed by the Fathers of the Church; that it is embodied in all theancient liturgies of the Oriental and Western Church; and that it isalike consonant with our reason and eminently consoling to the humanheart?

* * * * *

You now perceive that this devotion is not an invention of moderntimes, but a doctrine universally enforced in the best and purest agesof the Church.

You see that praying for the dead was not a devotion cautiouslyrecommended by some obscure or visionary writer, but an act of religionpreached and inculcated by all the great Doctors and Fathers of theChurch, who are the recognized expounders of the Christian religion.

You see them, too, inculcating this doctrine not as a cold and abstractprinciple, but as an imperative act of daily piety, and embodying it intheir ordinary exercises of devotion.

They prayed for the dead in their morning and evening devotions. Theyprayed for them in their daily office, and in the sacrifice of theMass. They asked the prayers of the congregation for the souls of thedeceased, in the public services of Sunday. And on the monuments whichwere erected to the dead, some of which are preserved even to this day,epitaphs were inscribed, earnestly invoking for their souls the prayersof the living. How gratifying it is to our Catholic hearts, that adevotion so soothing to afflicted spirits is, at the same time, sofirmly grounded on the tradition of ages.

That the practice of praying for the dead has descended from apostolictimes is also evident from the Liturgus of the Church. A Liturgyis the established form of public worship, containing the authorizedprayers of the Church. The Missal, or Mass-book, for instance, whichyou see on our altars, contains a portion of the Liturgy of theCatholic Church. The principal Liturgies are: The Liturgy of St. Jamesthe Apostle, who founded the Church of Jerusalem; the Liturgy of St.Mark the Evangelist, founder of the Church of Alexandria, and theLiturgy of St. Peter, who established the Church in Rome. TheseLiturgies are called after the Apostles who compiled them. There are,besides, the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, which arechiefly based on that of St. James.

Now, all these Liturgies, without an exception, have prayers for thedead, and their providential preservation serves as another triumphantvindication of the venerable antiquity of this Catholic doctrine.

The Eastern and the Western churches were happily united until thefourth and fifth centuries, when the heresiarchs Arius, Nestorius andEutyches withdrew millions of souls from the centre of unity. Thefollowers of these sects were called, after their founders, Arians,Nestorians, and Eutychians, and from that day to the present the twolatter bodies have formed distinct communions, being separated from theCatholic Church in the East, just as the Protestant churches areseparated from her in the West.

The Greek Schismatic Church, of which the present Russo-Greek Church isthe offspring, severed her connection with the See of Rome in the ninthcentury.

But in leaving the Catholic Church, these Eastern sects retained theold Liturgies, which they use to this day….

During my sojourn in Rome, at the Ecumenical Council, I devoted a greatdeal of my leisure time to the examination of the various Liturgies ofthe Schismatic churches of the East. I found in all of them formulas ofprayers for the dead almost identical with that of the Roman Missal:"Remember, O Lord, Thy servants who are gone before us with the sign offaith, and sleep in peace. To these, O Lord, and to all who rest inChrist, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, andpeace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Not content with studying their books, I called upon the OrientalPatriarchs and Bishops in communion with the See of Rome, who belong tothe Armenian, the Chaldean, the Coptic, the Maronite, and Syriac rites.They all assured me that the Schismatic Christians of the East amongwhom they live have, without exception, prayers and sacrifices for thedead.

Now, I ask, when could those Eastern sects have commenced to adopt theCatholic practice of praying for the dead? They could not have receivedit from us since the ninth century, because the Greek Church separatedfrom us then, and has had no communion with us since that time, exceptat intervals, up to the twelfth century. Nor could they have adoptedthe practice since the fourth or fifth century, inasmuch as the Arians,Nestorians, and Eutychians have had no religious communication with ussince that period. Therefore, in common with us, they received thisdoctrine from the Apostles…. I have already spoken of the devotion ofthe ancient Jewish Church to the souls of the departed. But perhaps youare not aware that the Jews retain to this day, in their Liturgy, thepious practice of praying for the dead. Yet such in reality is thecase.

Amid all their wanderings and vicissitudes of life, though dismemberedand dispersed, like sheep without a shepherd, over the surface of theglobe, the children of Israel have never forgotten or neglected thesacred duty of praying for their deceased brethren.

Unwilling to make this assertion without the strongest evidence, Iprocured from a Jewish convert an authorized Prayer-book of the HebrewChurch, from which I extract the following formula of prayers which areprescribed for funerals: "Departed brother! mayest thou find open thegates of heaven, and see the city of peace and the dwellings of safety,and meet the ministering angels hastening joyfully towards thee! Andmay the High Priest stand to receive thee, and go thou to the end, restin peace, and rise again into life! May the repose establishedin the celestial abode… be the lot, dwelling, and the resting placeof the soul of our deceased brother (whom the spirit of the Lord mayguide into Paradise), who departed from this world, according to thewill of God, the Lord of heaven and earth. May the Supreme King ofKings, through His infinite mercy, hide him under the shadow of Hiswings. May He raise him at the end of his days, and cause him to drinkof the stream of His delights!"

I am happy to say that the more advanced and enlightened members of theEpiscopalian Church are steadily returning to the faith of theirforefathers, regarding prayers for the dead. An acquaintance of mine,once a distinguished clergyman of the Episcopal communion, but now aconvert, informed me that hundreds of Protestant clergymen in thiscountry, and particularly in England, have a firm belief in theefficacy of prayers for the dead, but for well-known reasons they arereserved in the expression of their faith. He easily convinced me ofthe truth of his assertion, particularly as far as the Church ofEngland is concerned, by sending me six different works published inLondon, all bearing on the subject of Purgatory. These books areprinted under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church; they allcontain prayers for the dead, and prove, from Catholic grounds, theexistence of a middle state after death, and the duty of praying forour deceased brethren. [1]

[Footnote 1: See "Path of Holiness," Rivington's, London: "Treasury of
Devotion," Ibid; "Catechism of Theology," Masten, London.]

To sum up: we see the practice of praying for the dead enforced in theancient Hebrew Church, and in the Jewish synagogue of to-day. We see itproclaimed age after age by all the Fathers of Christendom. We see itincorporated in every one of the ancient Liturgies of the East and ofthe West. We see it zealously taught by the Russian Church of to-day,and by that immense family of schismatic Christians scattered over theEast. We behold it, in fine, a cherished devotion of two hundredmillions of Catholics, as well as of a respectable portion of theEpiscopal Church.

Would it not, my friend, be the height of rashness and presumption inyou to prefer your private opinion to this immense weight of learning,sanctity, and authority? Would it not be impiety in you to stand asidewith sealed lips, while the Christian world is sending up an unceasingDe profundis for departed brethren? Would it not be cold andheartless in you not to pray for your deceased friends, on account ofprejudices which have no grounds in Scripture, tradition, or reasonitself?

* * * * *

Oh! far from us a religion which would decree an eternal divorcebetween the living and the dead. How consoling is it to the Catholic,to think that, in praying thus for his departed friend, his prayers arenot in violation of, but in accordance with, the voice of the Church;and that as, like Augustine, he watches at the pillow of a dyingmother, so, like Augustine, he can continue the same office of pietyfor her soul after she is dead, by praying for her. How cheering thereflection that the golden link of prayer unites you still to those who"fall asleep in the Lord," and that you can still speak to them andpray for them!….

Oh! it is this thought that robs death of its sting and makes theseparation of friends endurable. And if your departed friend needs notyour prayers, they are not lost, but, like the rain absorbed by thesun, and descending again in fruitful showers on our fields, they willbe gathered by the Sun of Justice, and they will come down inrefreshing showers of grace upon your head. "Cast thy bread upon therunning waters; for, after a long time, thou shalt find it again." [1]

[Footnote 1: Faith of our Fathers, chap. xvi.]

THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.

ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. [1]

[Footnote 1: Answer to nine objections made.]

The Catholic Church does not believe that God created any to be damnedabsolutely, notwithstanding their co-operation with the means ofsalvation which were secured to them by the death of Jesus Christ; norany to be saved absolutely, unless they co-operate with those means.Hence she has ever taught the doctrine which is inculcated inScripture, that heaven may be obtained by all who shall apply the meanswhich the Saviour of the World has left in His Church for that end: ina word, that every man shall be judged according to his works. Thisdoctrine is consonant with the justice which must belong to the Deity.She knows God is too pure to admit anything defiled into His heavenlyabode (Apoc. xxi. 27); and yet too just and merciful to punish a slighttransgression with the same severity as is due to an enormous crime.Now, suppose two men to sin against God at the same time, the one bythe deliberate murder of his father—for the case is possible—and theother, by a slight, almost inadvertent, falsehood; and suppose,further, that they are both to appear before God the next moment toanswer for the deeds done in the flesh, I ask whether it is consistentwith the idea we have of divine justice to think that both will becondemned to the same everlasting punishment? If it be, then there isno more moral turpitude in parricide than in telling a trivialfalsehood, which injures no one, but still is offensive and displeasingto God. But if it be not consistent with divine justice, then you mustadmit the distinction of guilt, and consequently of punishment. Now,that God exacts a temporary punishment for sin, after the guilt andeternal punishment are remitted, appears from the testimony of HisSacred Word. St. Paul teaches that the death of the body is apunishment which the sin of our first parent entailed on his progeny;and yet many who have been regenerated by baptism from that originalguilt, nevertheless die before they have committed any actual sinwhatever. The children of Israel had to leave their bones in thewilderness, after the forty years' sojournment, as a punishment,inflicted by the Almighty Himself, for sins which He had expresslyforgiven them. Num. xiv. 20, 22. David was forgiven his sin—and yet hewas punished for it, by the death of his child, whom he loved mosttenderly. He sinned by numbering his people; and although it wasforgiven him, he had still to choose his punishment—either war,famine, or pestilence. If such be the dispensation of God to Hiscreatures in this world, why may it not be also after death? Will yousay it is because the body is the medium of suffering in this life?This is not exactly true—the body, indeed, is the medium, in manyinstances, through which the soul is made to suffer. But God inflictedno corporal chastisem*nt on David by taking his child—it was theking's soul that was touched, and felt, and suffered. Does not the soulremain susceptible of suffering after death; and may not God,conformably with the examples here laid down, extend to it in a futurestate the same salutary dispensation, for His own just and mercifulpurposes? But you will ask what Scripture I can quote to show that Hereally does so. Now, suppose I were to refer you to the same rule, anddemand from you the text by which you feel warranted to profane theSabbath, and sanctify the Sunday in its stead—what will you have toanswer in reply? Surely if the authority of the Catholic Church issufficient to authorize your practice in the one case, it isequally so with regard to my belief in the other. But our situationsare very different; because I admit the authority of the Church in bothinstances, and I shall prove that her doctrine of Purgatory, so farfrom opposing, is grounded on Scripture. Whereas you reject the Church,you make, as you say, the Scripture the only rule of your faith;and yet when the Scripture says, "Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbathday," you say I will not sanctify the Sabbath, but I will sanctify theday after…. This tenet of belief is proved by every text of Scripturein which it is implied that God will render to every man according tohis works…. If the word Purgatory has anything in it peculiarlyoffensive, you will not be the less a Catholic for rejecting it, andusing the Scriptural word prison, provided you admit that such aplace exists; in which God after having forgiven the guilt and temporalpunishment of their sins, causes the souls of the imperfect just toundergo, nevertheless, a temporary chastisem*nt, as David did in thislife, before admitting them into the realms of felicity. Now, if thisbe so, is it not rational to believe that the mercy of God will bemoved by the prayers of His faithful servants on earth, who intercedein behalf of their departed brethren?… In a word, the economy of Godto His creatures even in this life is consistent with the doctrine ofPurgatory.

PURGATORY AND WHAT WE OWE TO THE DEAD.

ARCHBISHOP LYNCH.

The infallible Church, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Pillar andGround of Truth and the true teacher of the doctrine of Christ, has, inthe distribution of her feasts and festivals, set apart one day in theyear, the second of November, in favor of the suffering souls inPurgatory. She calls on all her children to assemble around her sacredaltars, to assist and pray at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for thedeliverance from Purgatory of the souls of those who, whilst dying inpeace with Our Lord, still had debts to pay to His infinite justice.

These debts were contracted by the commission of mortal sin, whosegrievous fault, though removed by the Sacrament of Penance, yet left onthe soul a debt which was not sufficiently atoned for, or by thecommission of venial sin not sufficiently repented of. Purgatory is oneof the great consoling doctrines of the Church of Christ. Only the pureand perfect can enter Heaven; and how few persons leave this earth oftemptation, sin, and trouble in that state of purity and perfection! Ifthere were not a place of purification, how few could go straight toHeaven! Nearly the whole human race would be deprived forever of thebeatific vision of God. God has chosen this way of exhibiting Hisjustice and mercy: His justice, by exacting the last particle of debt;and His mercy, by saving the poor repentant sinner. God rewards everyone according to his works. Some are imperfect through want of pureintention, through carelessness, vanity, or other causes, like the hayand stubble adhering to gold and precious stones which dull theirlustre.

* * * * *

Oh, how few are perfect, and how few do penance in proportion to theirsins! How few, in their dealing with their fellow-men, giving measurefor measure, goods equal to the money paid for them, or services equalto the pay received! How many fail in charity, in words and actions!How many prayers said carelessly and without thought, even at the mostsolemn times! These will have to be repeated, as it were, in Purgatory.How many will suffer from their want of charity and mercy to the poor,and failing to pay their just dues to God's Church for the spiritualfavors they receive from it! "If we give you," says St. Paul,"spiritual things, you should administer to us temporal things."…

All spiritual writers agree that the pains of Purgatory are intense,yet the souls are satisfied to suffer till the last debt is paid. Theywould not wish to enter Heaven with stains on their souls. God, in Hisgreat mercy, has permitted some souls suffering in Purgatory to appearto friends on earth to solicit their prayers and Masses, and to paytheir debts. This the Lives of the Saints and Ecclesiastical History atall times attest. In these days when faith is fading from some minds,even in the Church, it behooves especially the Bishops to remind thefaithful of their duties and obligations to their departed friends. Itis thought by some that an expensive funeral, with its many carriages,and a grand monument over the grave, will satisfy all the requirementsof decency and of family love. Alas! if the dead could only speak fromtheir graves, they would cry out and say, "All these monuments and thisworldly pageantry only crush us. They only satisfy the vanity of theliving, but in no way alleviate our sufferings in Purgatory."…

But the Bishops must, from time to time, remind the people of theirduty towards God's servants suffering in Purgatory. In olden times,when faith, love, and affection were stronger than now, devotiontowards the souls in Purgatory showed itself in numerous foundations infavor of the souls in Purgatory. Churches and canonries where Masseswere celebrated every day by canons and monks, benefices for theeducation of poor students, hospitals for the care of the sick,periodical distribution of alms to the poor, to have rosaries and otherprayers said and pilgrimages made for the souls in Purgatory. All thesehave been swept away by the ruthless hand of the civil power, wishingto reform the Church; and even at the present day, when the Christiansoul is about to appear before the judgment-seat, there are legalimpediments in the way of his making by will donations for prayers orMasses. Therefore, my dear people, whilst you are well make provisionfor your own soul. Do not entrust it to the care of others who cannotlove you more than you love yourselves.

* * * * *

This doctrine of Purgatory has always been taught in the Church andhanded down from bishops and priests to their successors in the sacredministry, and by the voice of the people. "Stand fast, and hold thetradition you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle." (II.Thess. ii. 14.) Now prayers and Masses for the dead are to be found inevery ancient liturgy of the Church. There is no Oriental liturgywithout prayers for those who have departed in peace. The ApostolicConstitutions—the most ancient and genuine work—speak largely ofprayers for the dead, for the conversion of sinners.

There are religious congregations and pious associations speciallydevoted to the relief of the souls in Purgatory. St. Vincent de Paulordered the priests of his congregation never to go to meals withoutfirst saying the De Profundis for the souls in Purgatory. TheChurch ends all the prayers of the divine office with: "May the soulsof the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace." Onemay turn away with a sad thought from a tomb on which is not engraved:"May he rest in peace," or on which a cross—the emblem of our hope inGod and in a happy resurrection—does not figure.

We exhort you, beloved children in Christ, to entertain an earnestcharity towards the souls in Purgatory. You loved them during life; donot let it be said: "Out of sight, out of mind." Love them in death or,living, wishing earnestly to go to God. This charity will greatly helpyourselves. If a cup of cold water given to a servant of God shall notgo without its reward, how much more a cup of celestial grace, thatwill shorten the time in the flames of Purgatory of a soul that mostardently longs to see God, who desires it Himself with great love, andwill reward those who shorten the exile of His dear servants. "Those,"says St. Alphonsus Liguori, "who succor the souls in Purgatory will besuccored in turn by the gratitude of those whom they have relieved, andwho enjoy sooner, by their prayers, the beatific vision of God."

* * * * *

The Council of Trent, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, has madedecrees on the subject which bind the consciences of the faithful. Inthe Thirteenth Canon of the Sixth Session it decrees "that if any oneshould say that a repentant sinner, after having received the grace ofjustification, the punishment of eternal pains being remitted, has notemporary punishment to be suffered, either in this life or in thenext, in Purgatory, before he can enter into the Kingdom of God, lethim be anathema."

Though King David was assured, after his sincere repentance, that hissin was forgiven, yet the Prophet told him that he had still to sufferby the death of his child.

In the Twenty-fourth Session and Third Canon the Holy Council definesthat the Sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory, both for the living andthe dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and for othernecessities, according to Apostolic traditions; and the Bishop, when heordains, places the patena and chalice, with the bread and wine, in thehands of the young priest and says to him: "Receive the power to offerto God the Sacrifice of the Mass, as well for the living as for thedead, in the name of the Lord. Amen."

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is, therefore, the most powerful meansof relieving the souls in Purgatory; next is the fervent performance ofthe Stations of the Cross, to which so many indulgences are attached;then other indulgenced prayers; for example, the Rosary. Alms to thepoor is another powerful means. "Blessed are the merciful, for theyshall obtain mercy."

There is another means which our ancestors loved—to educate a studentfor the priesthood. St. Monica rejoiced, on her death-bed, that she hada son to remember her every day at the altar. If you have not a son youcan adopt one, or subscribe, according to your means, to the Students'Fund.

It is the custom in many places—and we wish that it should beintroduced where it is not—to receive the offerings of the people onAll Souls' Day, or the Sunday previous, or subsequent, and the proceedsto be computed and Masses offered up accordingly.

We attach the indulgences of the Way of the Cross to certaincrucifixes, and thus enable persons who cannot conveniently visit theChurch to make the Stations there, to gain the indulgences of theStations by reciting fourteen times the "Our Father" and "Hail Mary,"with a "Glory be to the Father," etc., for each Station, and five "OurFathers" and "Hail Marys" in honor of the five Adorable Wounds, withone for the intentions of the Pope.

PURGATORY SURVEYED. [1]

[Footnote 1: Published by Burns & Oates, London.]

FATHER BINET, S. J.

[The following passages are taken from a most excellent and valuablework, "Purgatory Surveyed," edited by the late lamented Dr. Anderdon,S. J., being by him "disposed, abridged, or enlarged," from a treatiseby Father Binet, a French Jesuit, published at Paris in 1625, at Douayin 1627, and translated soon after by Father Richard Thimbleby, anEnglish member of the Society of Jesus. Says Dr. Anderdon in hispreface: "The alterations ventured upon in this reprint, consistchiefly in the mode of punctuation, which, being probably left to aFrench compositor, are anomalous, and often perplexing. Someexpressions, so obsolete as to prevent the sense being clear, and inthe same degree lessening the value of the book to the general reader,have been exchanged for others in more common use…. Let us earnestlyhope that, at this moment, on the threshold of the month speciallydedicated by the Church to devotion on behalf of the Holy Souls, thejoint work of Fathers Binet and Thimbleby may produce an abundantharvest of intercession. If, during their own brief time of trial, theywere inspired to put together and to enforce such powerful motives tostir up the faithful to this devotion, will they not now rejoice in there-production of their act of zeal and charity? During the two hundredand fifty years which have elapsed since the first publication of theFrench work, many changes and revolutions have taken place in thehistories of those spots of earth, known as France and England. But theHistory of Purgatory is ever the same; "happiness and unhappiness"combined; both unspeakably great; long detention, perhaps, or perhapsswift release, according to the degree of faith and charity animatingthe Church militant. May we now, and henceforth, realize in act, inhabitual practice, and, all the more, from the considerations given inthe following pages, the immense privilege of holding, to so great adegree, the keys of Purgatory in our hands."]

Believe it, it is one of the first rudiments, but main principles, of aChristian, to captivate his understanding, and so regulate all hisdictamens, that they be sure to run parallel with the sentiments of theChurch. And this I take to be the case when the question is startedabout Purgatory fire, which I shall ever reckon in the class of thosetruths, which cannot be contradicted without manifest temerity; asbeing the doctrine generally preached and taught all over Christendom.

You must, then, conceive Purgatory to be a vast, darksome and hideouschaos, full of fire and flames, in which the souls are kept closeprisoners, until they have fully satisfied for all their misdemeanors,according to the estimate of Divine justice. For God has made choice ofthis element of fire wherewith to punish souls, because it is the mostactive, piercing, sensible, [1] and insupportable of all others. Butthat which quickens it, indeed, and gives it more life, is this: thatit acts as the instrument of God's justice, who, by His omnipotentpower, heightens and reinforces its activity as He pleases, and somakes it capable to act upon bodiless spirits. Do not, then, look onlyupon this fire, though in good earnest it be dreadful enough of itself;but consider the Arm that is stretched out, and the Hand that strikes,and the rigor of God's infinite justice, who, through this element offire, vents His wrath, and pours out whole tempests of His most severeand yet most just vengeance. So that the fire works as much mischief,[2] as I may say, to the souls, as God commands; and He commands asmuch as is due; and as much is due as the sentence bears: a sentenceirrevocably pronounced at the high tribunal of the severe and rigorousjustice of an angry God, and whose anger is so prevalent that the HolyScripture styles it "a day of fury." Now, you will easily believe thatthis fire is a most horrible punishment in its own nature; but you maydo well to reflect also on that which I have now suggested; that thefury of Almighty God is, as it were, the fire of this fire, and theheat of its heat; and that He serves Himself of it as He pleases, bydoubling and redoubling its sharp pointed forces; for this is thatwhich makes it the more grievous and insupportable to the souls thatare thus miserably confined and imprisoned.

[Footnote 1: i.e., apprehended by the senses]

[Footnote 2: i.e., Not implying injury, far less injustice; butsimply punishment and suffering]

They were not much out of the way, that styled Purgatory a transitorykind of hell, because the principal pains of the damned are to be foundthere; with this only difference, that in hell they are eternal, and inPurgatory they are only transitory and fleeting: for, otherwise, it isprobably the very same fire that burns both the Holy Souls and thedamned spirits; and the pain of loss is, in both places, the chieftorment…. Now, does not your hair stand on end? does not your hearttremble, when you hear that the poor souls in Purgatory are tormentedwith the same, or the like flames to those of the damned? Can yourefrain from crying out, with the Prophet Isaias: "Who can dwell withsuch devouring fire, and unquenchable burnings?" Heavens! what alamentable case is this! Those miserable souls, who of late, when theywere wedded to their bodies, were so nice and dainty, forsooth, thatthey durst scarce venture to enjoy the comfortable heat of a fire, butunder the protection of their screens and their fans, for fear ofspoiling their complexions, and if, by chance, a spark had been so rudeas to light upon them, or a little smoke, it was not to be endured:…—Alas! how will it fare with them, when they shall see themselves tiedto unmerciful firebrands, or imbodied, as it were, with flames of fire,surrounded with frightful darkness, broiled and consumed withoutintermission, and perhaps condemned to the same fire with which thedevils are unspeakably tormented? (Pages 4-7.)

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Good God! how the great Saints and Doctors astonish me when they treatof this fire, and of the pain of sense, as they call it! For theyperemptorily pronounce that the fire that purges those souls, thoseboth happy and unhappy souls, surpasses all the torments that are to befound in this miserable life of man, or are possible to be invented,for so far they go… Thus they discourse: The fire and the pains ofthe other world are of another nature from those of this life, becauseGod elevates them above their nature to be instruments of His severity.Now, say they, things of an inferior degree can never reach the powerof such things as are of a higher rank. For example, the air, let it beever so inflated, unless it be converted into fire, can never be so hotas fire. Besides, God bridles His rigor in this world; but, in thenext, He lets the reins loose and punishes almost equally to thedesert. And, since those souls have preferred creatures before theirCreator, He seems to be put upon a necessity of punishing them beyondthe ordinary strength of creatures; and hence it is that the fire ofPurgatory burns more, torments and inflicts more, than all thecreatures of this life are able to do. But is it really true that theleast pain in Purgatory exceeds the greatest here upon earth? O God!the very statement makes me tremble for fear, and my very heart freezesinto ice with astonishment. And yet, who dare oppose St. Augustine, St.Thomas, St. Anselm, St. Gregory the Great? Is there any hope ofcarrying the negative assertion against such a stream of Doctors, whoall maintain the affirmative, and bring so strong reasons for it?…

* * * * *

But for Thy comfort, there are Doctors in the Catholic Church thatcannot agree with so much severity; and, namely, St. Bonaventure, whois very peremptory in denying it. "For, what way is there," says thisholy Doctor, "to verify so great a paradox, without sounding reason,and destroying the infinite mercy of God? I am easily persuaded thereare torments in Purgatory far exceeding any in this mortal life; thisis most certain, and it is but reasonable it should be so; but that theleast there should be more terrible than the most terrible in the worldcannot enter into my belief. May it not often fall out that a man comesto die in a most eminent state of perfection, save only, that in hislast agony, out of mere frailty, he commits a venial sin, or carriesalong with him some relic of his former failings, which might have beeneasily blotted out with a Pater Noster, or washed away with alittle holy water; for I am supposing it to be some very small matter.Now, what likelihood is there, I will not say, that the infinite mercyof God, but that the very rigor of His justice, though you conceive itto be ever so severe, should inflict so horrible a punishment upon thisholy soul, as not to be equalled by the greatest torments in this life;and all this for some petty fault scarce worth the speaking of? How!would you have God, for a kind of trifle, to punish a soul full ofgrace and virtue, and so severely to punish her as to exceed all theracks, cauldrons, furnaces, and other hellish inventions, which arescarce inflicted upon the most execrable criminals in the world?" (Pp.9-11.)

* * * * *

It is not the fire, nor all the brimstone and tortures they endure,which murders them alive. No, no; it is the domestical cause of allthese mischiefs that racks their consciences and is their crudestexecutioner. This, this is the greatest of their evils; for a soul thathas shaken off the fetters of flesh and blood, and is full of the loveof God, no more disordered with unruly passions, nor blinded with thenight of ignorance, sees clearly the vast injury she has done toherself to have offended so good a God, and to have deserved to be thusbanished out of His sight and deprived of that Divine fruition. Shesees how easily she might have flown up straight to heaven at her firstparting with her body, and what trifle it was that impeded her. Amoment lost of those inebriating joys, seems to her now worthy to beredeemed with an eternity of pains. Then, reflecting with herself thatshe was created only for God, and cannot be truly satisfied but byenjoying God, and that, out of Him, all this goodly machine of theworld is no better than a direct hell and an abyss of evils. Alas! whatworms, what martyrdoms, and what nipping pincers are such pinchingthoughts as these. The fire is to her but as smoke in comparison tothis vexing remembrance of her own follies, which betrayed her to thisdisgraceful and unavoidable misfortune. There was a king who, in ahumor gave away his crown and his whole estate, for the presentrefreshment of a cup of cold water; but, returning a little to himselfand soberly reflecting what he had done, had like to have run stark madto see the strange, irreparable folly he had committed. To lose a year,or two years (to say no more), of the beatifical vision for a glass ofwater, for a handful of earth, for the love of a fading beauty, for alittle air of worldly praise, a mere puff of honor—ah! it is the hellof Purgatory to a soul that truly loves God and frames a right conceitof things. (Pp. 14, 15.)

* * * * *

Confusion is one of the most intolerable evils that can befall a soul;and, therefore, St. Paul, speaking of Our blessed Saviour, insists muchupon this, that He had the courage and the love for us all to overcomethe pain of a horrible confusion, which doubtless is an insupportableevil to a man of intelligence and courage. Tell me, then, if you can,what a burning shame and what a terrible confusion it must be to thosenoble and generous souls, to behold themselves overwhelmed with aconfused chaos of fire, and such a base fire which affords no otherlight but a sullen glimmering, choked up with a sulphureous andstinking smoke; and in the interim to know that the souls of manycountry clowns, mere idiots, poor women and simple religious persons,go straight up to heaven, whilst they lie there burning—they that wereso knowing, so rich and so wise; they that were counsellors to kings,eminent preachers of God's word, and renowned oracles in the world;they that were so great divines, so great statesmen, so capable of highemployments. This confusion is much heightened by their further knowinghow easily they might have avoided all this and would not. Sometimesthey would have given whole mountains of gold to be rid of a stone inthe kidneys or a fit of the gout, colic or burning fever, and for ahandful of silver they might have redeemed many years' torments in thatfiery furnace; and, alas! they chose rather to give it to their dogsand their horses, and sometimes to men more beasts than they and muchmore unworthy. Methinks this thought must be more vexing than the fireitself, though never so grievous.

And yet there remains one thought more, which certainly has a greatshare in completing their martyrdom; and that is the remembrance oftheir children or heirs which they left behind them; who swim in nectarand live jollily on the goods which they purchased with the sweat oftheir brows, and yet are so ungrateful, so brutish, and so barbarousthat they will scarce vouchsafe to say a Pater Noster in a whole monthfor their souls who brought them into the world, and who, to place themin a terrestrial paradise of all worldly delights, made a hard ventureof their own souls and had like to have exchanged a temporal punishmentfor an eternal. The leavings and superfluities of their lackeys, athrow of dice, and yet less than that, might have set them free fromthese hellish torments; and these wicked, ungrateful wretches would notso much as think on it. (Pp. 31-33.)

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Before I leave off finishing this picture, or put a period to therepresentation of the pains of Purgatory, I cannot but relate a veryremarkable history which will be as a living picture before your eyes.But be sure you take it not to be of the number of those idle storieswhich pass for old wives' tales, or mere imaginations of cracked brainsand simple souls. No; I will tell you nothing but what Venerable Bede,so grave an author, witnesses to have happened in his time, and to havebeen generally believed all over England without contradiction, and tohave been the cause of wonderful effects; and which is so authenticatedthat Cardinal Bellarmine, a man of such judgment as the world knows,having related it himself, concludes thus: "For my part I firmlybelieve this history, as very conformable to the Holy Scripture, andwhereof I can have no doubt without wronging truth and wounding my ownconscience, which ought readily to yield assent unto that which isattested by so many and so credible witnesses and confirmed by suchholy and admirable events."

About the year of our Lord 690, a certain Englishman, in the county ofNorthumberland, by name Brithelmus, being dead for a time, wasconducted to the place of Purgatory by a guide, whose countenance andapparel was full of light; you may imagine it was his good Angel. Herehe was shown two broad valleys of a vast and infinite length, one fullof glowing firebrands and terrible flames, the other as full of hail,ice, and snow; and in both these were innumerable souls, who, as with awhirlwind, were tossed up and down out of the intolerable scorchingflames, into the insufferable rigors of cold, and out of these intothose again, without a moment of repose or respite. This he took to behell, so frightful were those torments; but his good Angel told him no,it was Purgatory, where the souls did penance for their sins, andespecially such as had deferred their conversion until the hour ofdeath; and that many of them were set free before the Day of Judgmentfor the good prayers, alms, and fasts of the living, and chiefly by theholy Sacrifice of the Mass. Now this holy man, being raised again fromdeath to life by the power of God, first made a faithful relation ofall that he had seen, to the great amazement of the hearers, thenretired him self into the church and spent the whole night in prayer;and soon after, gave away his whole estate, partly to his wife andchildren, partly to the poor, and taking upon him the habit andprofession of a monk, led so austere a life that even if his tongue hadbeen silent, yet his life and conversation spake aloud what wonders hehad seen in the other world. Sometimes they would see him, old as hewas, in freezing water up to his ears, praying and singing with muchsweetness and incredible fervor; and if they asked him, "Brother, alas!how can you suffer such sharp and biting cold?" "O my friends," wouldhe say, "I have seen other manner of cold than this." Thus, when heeven groaned under the voluntary burden of a world of most cruelmortifications, and was questioned how it was possible for a weak andbroken body like his to undergo such austerities, "Alas! my dearbrethren," would he still say, "I have seen far greater austeritiesthan these: they are but roses and perfumes in comparison of what Ihave seen in the subterraneous lakes of Purgatory." And in these kindsof austerities he spent the remainder of his life and made a holy end,and purchased an eternal paradise, for having had but a sight of thepains of Purgatory. And we, dear Christians, if we believed in goodearnest, or could but once procure to have a true sight or apprehensionof them, should certainly have other thoughts and live in anotherfashion than we do. (Pp. 44-46.)

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Now, would you clearly see how the souls can at the same instant swimin a paradise of delights and yet be overwhelmed with the hellishtorments of Purgatory? Cast your eyes upon the holy martyrs of God'sChurch, and observe their behavior. They were torn, mangled,dismembered, flayed alive, racked, broiled, burnt—and tell me, was notthis to live in a kind of hell? And yet, in the very height of theirtorments their hearts and souls were ready to leap for joy; you wouldhave taken them to be already transported into heaven. Hear them butspeak for themselves. "O lovely cross," cried out St. Andrew, "madebeautiful by the precious Body of Christ, how long have I desired thee,and with what care have I sought thee! and now, that I have found thee,receive me into thine arms, and lift me up to my dear Redeemer! Odeath, [1] how amiable art thou in my eyes, and how sweet is thycruelty!" "Your coals," said St. Cecily, "your flaming firebrands, andall the terrors of death, are to me but as so many fragrant roses andlilies, sent from heaven." "Shower down upon me," cried St. Stephen,"whole deluges of stones, whilst I see the heavens open and JesusChrist standing at the right side of His Eternal Father, to behold thefidelity of His champion." "Turn," exclaimed St. Lawrence, "oh! turn,the other side, thou cruel tyrant, this is already broiled, and cookedfit for thy palate. Oh, how well am I pleased to suffer this littlePurgatory for the love of my Saviour!" "Make haste, O my soul," criedSt. Agnes, "to cast thyself upon the bed of flames which thy dearSpouse has prepared for thee!" "Oh," cried St. Felicitas, and themother of the Machabees, "Oh, that I had a thousand children, or athousand lives, to sacrifice them all to my God. What a pleasure it isto suffer for so good a cause!" "Welcome tyrants, tigers, lions,"writes St. Ignatius the Martyr; "let all the torments that the devilscan invent come upon me, so I may enjoy my Saviour. I am the wheat ofChrist; oh, let me be ground with the lions' teeth. Now I begin indeedto be the disciple of Christ." "Oh, the happy stroke of a sword," mightSt. Paul well exclaim, "that no sooner cuts off my head, but it makes abreach for my soul to enter into heaven. Let it be far from me to gloryin anything, but in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let all evilsband against me, and let my body be never so overloaded withafflictions, the joy of my heart will be sure to have the mastery, andmy soul will be still replenished with such heavenly consolations thatno words, nor even thoughts, are able to express it."

[Footnote 1: From the author's text, it seems doubtful whether thissentence is to be attributed to St. Andrew or St. Cecilia.]

You may imagine, then, that the souls, once unfettered from the body,may, together with their torments, be capable of great comforts anddivine favors, and break forth into resolute, heroical, and evensupercelestial acts.

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But there is yet something of a higher nature to be said…. We haveall the reason in the world to believe that God, of His infinitegoodness, inspires these holy souls with a thousand heavenly lights,and such ravishing thoughts, that they cannot but take themselves to beextremely happy: so happy that St. Catherine of Genoa professed she hadlearnt of Almighty God that, excepting only the blessed Saints inheaven, there were no joys comparable to those of the souls inPurgatory. "For," said she, "when they consider that they are in thehands of God, in a place deputed for them by His holy providence, andjust where God would have them, it is not to be expressed what asweetness they find in so loving a thought: and certainly they hadinfinitely rather be in Purgatory, to comply with His divine pleasure,than be in Paradise, with violence to His justice, and a manifestbreach of the ordinary laws of the house of God. I will say more,"continued she: "it cannot so much as steal into their thoughts todesire to be anywhere else than where they are. Seeing that God has soplaced them, they are not at all troubled that others get out beforethem; and they are so absorbed in this profound meditation, of being atGod's disposal, in the bosom of His sweet providence, that they cannotso much as dream of being anywhere else. So that, methinks, those kindexpressions of Almighty God, by His prophets, to His chosen people, maybe fitly applied to the unhappy and yet happy condition of these holysouls. 'Rejoice, my people,' says the loving God; 'for I swear unto youby Myself, that when you shall pass through flames of fire, they shallnot hurt you: I shall be there with you; I shall take off the edge, andblunt the points, of those piercing flames. I will raise the brightAurora in your darkness; and the darkness of your nights shall outshinethe midday. I will pour out My peace into the midst of your hearts, andreplenish your souls with the bright shining lights of heaven. Youshall be as a paradise of delights, bedewed with a living fountain ofheavenly waters. You shall rejoice in your Creator, and I will raiseyou above the height of mountains, and nourish you with manna and thesweet inheritance of Jacob; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it:and it cannot fail, but shall be sure to fall out so, because He hathspoken it'" (Pp. 61, 62).

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But let not this discourse cool your charity; lest, seeing the soulsenjoy so much comfort in Purgatory, your compassion for them growslack, and so continue not equal to their desert. Remember, then, thatnotwithstanding all these comforts here rehearsed, the poor creaturescease not to be grievously tormented; and consequently have extremeneed of all your favorable assistance and pious endeavors. When ChristJesus was in His bitter agony, sweating blood and water, the superiorpart of His soul enjoyed God and His glory, and yet His body was sooppressed with sorrow, that He was ready to die, and was content to becomforted by an Angel. In like manner, these holy souls have indeedgreat joys; but feel withal such bitter torments, that they stand ingreat need of our help. So that you will much wrong them, and me, too,to stand musing so long upon their joys, as not to afford them succor.(P. 80.)

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In the history of the incomparable order of the great St. Dominic, itis authentically related that one of the first of those holy, religiousmen was wont to say, that he found himself not so much concerned topray for the souls in Purgatory, because they are certain of theirsalvation; and that, upon this account, we ought not, in his judgment,to be very solicitous for them, but ought rather to bend our whole careto help sinner, to convert the wicked, and to secure such souls as areuncertain of their salvation, and probably certain of their damnation,as leading very evil lives. Here it is, said he, that I willinglyemploy my whole endeavors. It is upon these that I bestow my Masses andprayers, and all that little that is at my disposal; and thus I take itto be well bestowed. But upon souls that have an assurance of eternalhappiness, and can never more lose God or offend Him, I believe not,said he, that one ought to be so solicitous. This certainly was but apoor and weak discourse, to give it no severer a censure; and theconsequence of it was this, that the good man did not only himselfforbear to help these poor souls, but, which was worse, dissuadedothers from doing it; and, under color of a greater charity, withdrewthat succor which, otherwise, good people would liberally have affordedthem. But God took their cause in hand; for, permitting the souls toappear and show themselves in frightful shapes, and to haunt the goodman by night and day without respite, still filling his fancy withdreadful imaginations, and his eyes with terrible spectacles, andwithal letting him know who they were, and why, with God's permission,they so importuned him with their troublesome visits, you may believethe good Father became so affectionately kind to the souls inPurgatory, bestowed so many Masses and prayers upon them, preached sofervently in their behalf, stirred up so many to the same devotion,that it is a thing incredible to believe, and not to be expressed witheloquence. Never did you see so many and so clear and convincingreasons as he alleged, to demonstrate that it is the most eminent pieceof fraternal charity in this life to pray for the souls departed. Loveand fear are the two most excellent orators in the world; they canteach all rhetoric in a moment, and infuse a most miraculous eloquence.This good Father, who thought he should have been frightened to death,was grown so fearful of a second assault, that he bent his wholeunderstanding to invent the most pressing and convincing arguments tostir up the world both to pity and to piety, and so persuade souls tohelp souls; and it is incredible what good ensued thereupon. (Pp. 82-84.)

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Is there anything within the whole circumference of the universe soworthy of compassion, and that may so deservedly claim the greatestshare in all your devotions and charities, as to see our fathers, ourmothers, our nearest and dearest relations, to lie broiling in cruelflames, and to cry to us for help with tears that are able to movecruelty itself? Whence I conclude there is not upon the earth anyobject that deserves more commiseration than this, nor where fraternalcharity can better employ all her forces. (P. 86.)

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St. Thomas tells us there is an order to be observed in our works ofcharity to our neighbor; that is, we are to see where there is agreater obligation, a greater necessity, a greater merit, and the likecirc*mstances. Now, where is there more necessity, or more obligation,than to run to the fire, and to help those that lie there, and are notable to get out? Where can you have more merit, than to have a hand inraising up Saints and servants of God? Where have you more assurancethan where you are sure to lose nothing? Where can you find an objectof more compassion, than where there is the greatest misery in theworld? Where is there seen more of God's glory, than to send new Saintsinto heaven to praise God eternally? Lastly, where can you show morecharity, and more of the love of God, than to employ your tears, yoursighs, your goods, your hands, your heart, your life, and all yourdevotion, to procure a good that surpasses all other goods; I mean, tomake souls happy for all eternity, by translating them into heavenlyjoys, out of insupportable torments? That glorious Apostle of theIndies, St. Francis Xavier, could run from one end of the world to theother, to convert a soul, and think it no long journey. The dangers bysea and land seemed sweet, the tempests pleasing, the labor easy, andhis whole time well employed. Good God! what an advantage have we, thatwith so little trouble and few prayers, may send a thousand beautifulsouls into heaven, without the least hazard of losing anything? St.Francis Xavier could not be certain that the Japanese, for example,whom he baptized, would persevere in their faith; and, though theyshould persevere in it, he could have as little certainty of theirsalvation. Now, it is an article of our faith, that the holy souls inPurgatory are in grace, and shall assuredly one day enter into theKingdom of Heaven. (Pp. 91, 92.)

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We read in the life of St. Catherine of Bologna, … that she had notonly a strange tenderness for the souls, but a singular devotion tothem, and was wont to recommend herself to them in all her necessities.The reason she alleged for it was this: that she had learned ofAlmighty God how she had frequently obtained far greater favors bytheir intercession than by any other means. And the story adds this:that it often happened that what she begged of God, at the intercessionof the Saints in heaven, she could never obtain of Him; and yet, assoon as she addressed herself to the souls in Purgatory she had hersuit instantly granted. Can there be any question but there are soulsin that purging fire who are of a higher pitch of sanctity, and of fargreater merit in the sight of God, than a thousand and a thousandSaints who are already glorious in the Court of Heaven. (P. 102.)

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Cardinal Baronius, a man of credit beyond exception, relates, in hisEcclesiastical Annals, how a person of rare virtue found himselfdangerously assaulted at the hour of his death; and that, in thisagony, he saw the heavens open and about eight thousand champions, allcovered with white armor, descend, who fell instantly to encourage himby giving him this assurance: that they were come to fight for him andto disengage him from that doubtful combat. And when, with infinitecomfort, and tears in his eyes, he besought them to do him the favor tolet him know who they were that had so highly obliged him: "We are,"said they, "the souls whom you have saved and delivered out ofPurgatory; and now, to requite the favor, we are come down to conveyyou instantly to heaven." And with that, he died.

We read another such story of St. Gertrude; how she was troubled at herdeath to think what must become of her, since she had given away allthe rich treasure of her satisfactions to redeem other poor souls,without reserving anything to herself; but that Our Blessed Saviourgave her the comfort to know that she was not only to have the likefavor of being immediately conducted into heaven out of this world, bythose innumerable souls whom she had sent thither before her by herfervent prayers, but was there also to receive a hundred-fold ofeternal glory in reward of her charity. By which examples we may learnthat we cannot make better use of our devotion and charity than thisway. (Pp. 104, 105.)

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The Church Triumphant, to speak properly, cannot satisfy, because thereis no place for penal works in the Court of Heaven, whence all griefand pain are eternally banished.

Wherefore, the Saints may well proceed by way of impetration andprayers; or, at most, represent their former satisfactions, which arecarefully laid up in the treasury of the Church, in lieu of those whichare due from others; but, as for any new satisfaction or paymentderived from any penal act of their own, it is not to be looked for inthose happy mansions of eternal glory.

The Church Militant may do either; as having this advantage over theChurch Triumphant, that she can help the souls in Purgatory by herprayers and satisfactory works, and by offering up her charitablesuffrages, wherewith to pay the debts of those poor souls who are runin arrear in point of satisfaction due for their sins. Had they butfasted, prayed, labored, or suffered a little more in this life, theyhad gone directly into heaven; what they unhappily neglected we maysupply for them, and it will be accepted for good payment, as fromtheir bails and sureties. You know, he that stands surety for anothertakes the whole debt upon himself. This is our case; for, the living,as it were, entering bond for the dead, become responsible for theirdebts, and offer up fasts for fasts, tears for tears, in the samemeasure and proportion as they were liable to them, and so defray thedebt of their friends at their own charge, and make all clear. (Pp.117, 118.)

* * * * *

I am in love with that religious practice of Bologna, where, uponfuneral days, they cause hundreds and thousands of Masses to be saidfor the soul departed, in lieu of other superfluous and vainostentations. They stay not for the anniversary, nor for any other setday; but instantly do their best to release the poor soul from hertorments, who must needs think the year long, if she must stay for helptill her anniversary day appears. They do not, for all this, despisethe laudable customs of the Church; they bury their friends with honor;they clothe great numbers of poor people; they give liberal alms; but,as there is nothing so certain, nothing so efficacious, nothing sodivine, as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, they fix their wholeaffection there, and strive all they can to relieve the souls this way;and are by no means so lavish, as the fashion is, in other idleexpenses and inopportune feastings, which are often more troublesome tothe living than comfortable to the dead.

But you may not only comfort the afflicted souls by procuring Massesfor them, nor yet only by offering up your prayers, fasts, alms-deeds,and such other works of piety; but you may bestow upon them all thegood you do, and all the evil you suffer, in this world…. If youoffer up unto God all that causes you any grief or affliction, for thepresent relief of the poor languishing souls, you cannot believe whatease and comfort they will find by it. (Pp. 123-125).

* * * * *

The world has generally a great esteem of Monsieur d'Argenton, PhilipCommines; and many worthily admire him for the great wisdom andsincerity he has labored to express in his whole history. But, for mypart, I commend him for nothing more than for the prudent care he tookhere for the welfare of his own soul in the other world. For, havingbuilt a goodly chapel at the Augustinians in Paris, and left them agood foundation, he tied them to this perpetual obligation, that theyshould no sooner rise from table, but they should be sure to pray forthe rest of this precious soul. And he ordered it thus, by his expresswill, that one of the religious should first say aloud: "Let us prayfor the soul of Monsieur d'Argenton;" and then all should instantly saythe psalm De Profundis. Gerson lost not his labor when he tooksuch pains to teach little children to repeat often these words: "MyGod, my Creator, have pity on Thy poor servant, John Gerson." For theseinnocent souls, all the while the good man was dying, and after he wasdead, went up and down the town with a mournful voice, singing theshort lesson he had taught them, and comforting his dear soul withtheir innocent prayers.

Now, as I must commend their prudence who thus wisely cast about how toprovide for their own souls, against they come into Purgatory, so Icannot but more highly magnify their charity, who, less solicitous forthemselves, employ their whole care to save others out of that dreadfulfire. And sure I am, they can lose nothing by the bargain, who darethus trust God with their own souls, while they do their uttermost tohelp others; nay, though they should follow that unparalleled exampleof Father Hernando de Monsoy, of the Society of Jesus, who, not contentto give away all he could from himself to the poor souls, while helived, made them his heirs after death; and, by express will,bequeathed them all the Masses, rosaries, and whatsoever else should beoffered for him by his friends upon earth. (Pp. 131-132.)

* * * * *

It will not be amiss here to resolve you certain pertinent questions.Whether the suffrages we offer up unto God shall really avail them forwhom we offer them; and whether they alone, or others also, may receivebenefit by them? Whether it be better to pray for a few at once, or formany, or for all the souls together, and for what souls in particular?

To the first I answer: if your intention be to help any one inparticular who is really in Purgatory, so your work be good, it isinfallibly applied to the person upon whom you bestow it. For, asdivines teach, it is the intention of the offerer which governs all;and God, of His infinite goodness, accommodates Himself to thepetitioner's request, applying unto each one what has been offered forits relief. If you have nobody in your thoughts for whom you offer upyour prayers, they are only beneficial to yourself; and what would bethus lost for want of application, God lays up in the treasury of theChurch, as being a kind of spiritual waif or stray, to which nobody canlay any just claim. And, since it is the intention which entitles oneto what is offered before all others, what right can others pretend toit; or with what justice can it be parted or divided amongst others,who were never thought of?

And hence I take my starting-point to resolve your other question—thatif you regard their best advantage whom you have a mind to favor, youhad better pray for a few than for many together; for, since the meritof your devotions is but limited, and often in a very small proportion,the more you divide and subdivide it amongst many, the lesser sharecomes to every one in particular. As if you should distribute a crownor an angel [1] amongst a thousand poor people, you easily see youralms would be so inconsiderable, they would be little better for it;whereas, if it were all bestowed upon one or two, it were enough tomake them think themselves rich.

[Footnote 1: A gold coin of that period so called because it wasstamped with the image of an angel.]

Now, to define precisely, whether it be always better done, to help oneor two souls efficaciously, than to yield a little comfort to a greatmany, is a question I leave for you to exercise your wits in. I couldfancy it to be your best course to do both; that is, sometimes tosingle out some particular soul, and to use all your powers to lift herup to heaven; sometimes, again, to parcel out your favors upon many;and, now and then, also to deal out a general alms upon all Purgatory.And you need not fear exceeding in this way of charity, whatsoever youbestow; for you may be sure nothing will be lost by it. And St. Thomaswill tell you, for your comfort, that since all the souls in Purgatoryare perfectly united in charity, they rejoice exceedingly when they seeany of their whole number receive such powerful helps as to dispose herfor heaven. They every one take it as done to themselves, whatsoever isbestowed upon any of their fellows, whom they love as themselves; and,out of a heavenly kind of courtesy, and singular love, they joy in herhappiness, as if it were their own. So that it may be truly said, thatyou never pray for one or more of them, but they are all partakers, andreceive a particular comfort and satisfaction by it. (Pp. 132-134.)

* * * * *

It would go hard with many, were it true that a person who neglected tomake restitution in his life-time, and only charged his heirs to do itfor him in his last will and testament, shall not stir out of Purgatorytill restitution be really made; let there be never so many Massessaid, and never so many satisfactory works offered up for him. And yetSt. Bridget, whose revelations are, for the most part, approved by theChurch, hesitates not to set this down for a truth which God hadrevealed unto her. Nor are there wanting grave divines that countenancethis rigorous position, and bring for it many strong reasons andexamples, which they take to be authentical: and the law itself, whichsays that if a man do not restore another's goods, there will alwaysstick upon the soul a kind of blemish, or obligation of justice. Andsince the fault lies wholly at his door, he cannot, say they, have theleast reason to complain of the severity of God's justice, but mustaccuse his own coldness and extreme neglect of his own welfare. Nay,even those that are of the contrary persuasion, yet maintain that it isnot only much more secure, but far more meritorious, to satisfy suchobligations while we live, than to trust others with it, let them benever so near and dear to us…. (Pp. 140, 141.)

* * * * *

… I have just cause to fear that all I can say to you will hardlysuffice to mollify that hard heart of yours; and, therefore, my lastrefuge shall be to set others on, though I call them out of the otherworld.

And first, let a damned soul read you a lecture, and teach you thecompassion you ought to bear to your afflicted brethren. Remember howthe rich glutton in the Gospel, although he was buried in hell-fire,took care for his brothers who survived him; and besought Abraham tosend Lazarus back into the world, to preach and convert them, lest theyshould be so miserable as to come into that place of torments. Astrange request for a damned soul! and which may shame you, that are solittle concerned for the souls of your brethren, who are in so restlessa condition.

In the next place, I will bring in the soul of your dear father, ormother, to make her own just complaints against you. Lend her, then, adutiful and attentive ear; and let none of her words be lost; for shedeserves to be heard out, while she sets forth the state of her mostlamentable condition. Peace! it is a holy soul, though clothed inflames, that directs her speech to you after this manner:

"Am I not the most unfortunate and wretched parent that ever lived? Ithat was so silly as to presume that having ventured my life, and myvery soul also, to leave my children at their ease, they would at leasthave had some pity on me, and endeavor to procure for me some ease andcomfort in my torments. Alas! I burn insufferably, I suffer infinitely,and have done so, I know not how long; and yet this is not the onlything that grieves me. Alas, no! it is a greater vexation to me to seemyself so soon forgotten by my own children, and so slighted by them,for whom I have in vain taken so much care and pains. Ah, dost thougrudge thy poor mother a Mass, a slight alms, a sigh, or a tear? Thymother, I say, who would most willingly have kept bread from her ownmouth, to make thee swim in an ocean of delights, and to abound withplenty of all worldly goods? … Who will not refuse me comfort, whenmy own children, my very bowels, do their best to forget me? What avexation is it to me, when my companions in misery ask me whether Ileft no children behind me, and why they are so hard-hearted as toneglect me?…. I was willing to forget my own concerns to be carefulof theirs; and those ungrateful ones have now buried me in an eternaloblivion, and clearly left me to shift for myself in these dreadtortures, without giving me the least ease or comfort. Oh, what a foolwas I! had I given to the poor the thousandth part of those goods whichI left these miserable children, I had long before this been joyfullysinging the praises of my Creator, in the choir of Angels; whereas nowI lie panting and groaning under excessive torments, and am like stillto lie, for any relief that is to be looked for from these undutiful,ungracious children whom I made my sole heirs…. But am I not all thiswhile strangely transported, miserable that I am, thus to amuse myselfwith unprofitable complaints against my children; whereas, indeed, Ihave but small reason to blame any but myself? since it is I, and onlyI, that am the cause of all this mischief. For did not I know that inthe grand business of saving my soul, I was to have trusted none butmyself? did I not know that with the sight of their friends, at theirdeparture, men used to lose all the memory and friendship they had forthem?…. Did I not know that God Himself had foretold us, that theonly ready way to build ourselves eternal tabernacles in the nextworld, is not to give all to our children, but to be liberal to thepoor?…. I cannot deny, then, but the fault lies at my door, and thatI am deservedly thus neglected by my children…. The only comfort Ihave left me in all my afflictions, is, that others will learn at mycost this clear maxim: not to leave to others a matter of such nearconcern as the ease and repose of their own souls; but to provide forthem carefully themselves. O God! how dearly have I bought thisexperience; to see my fault irreparable, and my misery withoutredress!" (Pp. 146-149.)

* * * * *

One must have a heart of steel, or no heart at all, to hear these sadregrets, and not feel some tenderness for the poor souls, and as greatan indignation against those who are so little concerned for the soulsof their parents and other near relations. I wish, with all my soul,that all those who shall light upon this passage, and hear the soul sobitterly deplore her misfortune, may but benefit themselves half asmuch by it as a good prelate did when the soul of Pope Benedict VIII,by God's permission, revealed unto him her lamentable state inPurgatory. [1] For so the story goes, which is not to be questioned:This Pope Benedict appears to the Bishop of Capua, and conjures him togo to his brother, Pope John, who succeeded him in the Chair of St.Peter, and to beseech him, for God's sake, to give great store of almsto poor people, to allay the fury of the fire of Purgatory, with whichhe found himself highly tormented. He further charges him to let thePope know withal, that he did acknowledge liberal alms had already beendistributed for that purpose; but had found no ease at all by itbecause all the money that had been then bestowed was acquiredunjustly, and so had no power to prevail before the just tribunal ofGod for the obtaining of the least mercy. The good Bishop, upon this,makes haste to the Pope, and faithfully relates the whole conferencethat had passed between him and the soul of his predecessor; and with agrave voice and lively accent enforces the necessity and importance ofthe business; that, in truth, when a soul lies a burning, it is in vainto dispute idle questions; the best course, then, is to run instantlyfor water, and to throw it on with both hands, calling for all the helpand assistance we can, to relieve her; and that His Holiness shouldsoon see the truth of the vision by the wonderful effects which werelike to follow. All this he delivers so gravely, and so to the purpose,that the Pope resolves out of hand to give in charity vast sums out ofhis own certain and unquestionable revenue; whereby the soul of PopeBenedict was not only wonderfully comforted, but, questionless, soonreleased of her torments. In conclusion, the good Bishop, having wellreflected with himself in what a miserable condition he had seen thesoul of a Pope who had the repute of a Saint, and was really so, workedso powerfully with him, that, quitting his mitre, crosier, bishopric,and all worldly greatness, he shut himself up in a monastery, and theremade a holy end; choosing rather to have his Purgatory in the austerityof a cloister than in the flames of the Church suffering. (Pp. 150,151.)

[Footnote 1: Baronius, An. 1024.]

* * * * *

I wish, again, they would in this but follow the example of King Louisof France, who was son to Louis the Emperor, surnamed the Pious. Forthey tell us [1] that this Emperor, after he had been thirty-threeyears in Purgatory, not so much for any personal crimes or misdemeanorsof his own as for permitting certain disorders in his empire, which heought to have prevented, was at length permitted to show himself toKing Louis, his son, and to beg his favorable assistance; and that theking did not only most readily grant him his request, procuring Massesto be said in all the monasteries of his realm for the soul of hisdeceased father, but drew thence many good reflections and profitableinstructions, which served him all his life-time after. Do you thesame; and believe it, though Purgatory fire is a kind of baptism, andis so styled by some of the holy Fathers, because it cleanses a soulfrom all the dross of sin, and makes it worthy to see God, yet is ityour sweetest course, here to baptize yourself frequently in the tearsof contrition, which have a mighty power to cleanse away all theblemishes of sin; and so prevent in your own person, and extinguish inothers, those baptismal flames of Purgatory fire, which are sodreadful. (Pp. 151, 152.)

[Footnote 1: Baronius, An. 874.]

* * * * *

What shall I say of those other nations, whose natural piety led themto place burning lamps at the sepulchres of the dead, and strew themover with sweet flowers and odoriferous perfumes. [1] Do they not putChristians in mind to remember the dead, and to cast after them thesweet incense of their devout sighs and prayers, and the perfumes oftheir alms-deeds, and other good works?

[Footnote 1: Herod lib. 2.]

It was very usual with the old Romans to shed whole floods of tears, toreserve them in phial-glasses, and to bury them with the urns, in whichthe ashes of their dead friends were carefully laid up; and by them toset lamps, so artificially composed as to burn without end. By whichsymbols they would give us to understand, that neither their love northeir grief should ever die; but that they would always be sure tohave tears in their eyes, love in their hearts, and a constant memoryin their souls for their deceased friends….

They had another custom, not only in Rome but elsewhere, to walk aboutthe burning pile where the corpse lay, and, with their mournfullamentations, to keep time with the doleful sound of their trumpets;and still, every turn, to cast into the fire some precious pledge oftheir friendship. The women themselves would not stick to throw intheir rings, bracelets, and other costly attires, nay, their very hairalso, the chief ornament of their sex; and they would have beensometimes willing to have thrown in both their eyes, and their heartstoo. Nor were there some wanting, that in earnest threw themselves intothe fire, to be consumed with their dear spouses; so that it was foundnecessary to make a severe law against it; such was the tenderness thatthey had for their deceased friends, such was the excess of a merenatural affection. Now, our love is infused from Heaven; it issupernatural, and consequently ought to be more active and powerful tostir up our compassion for the souls departed; and yet we see thecoldness of Christians in this particular; how few there are who makeit their business to help poor souls out of their tormenting flames. Itis not necessary to make laws to hinder any excess in this article; itwere rather to be wished that a law were provided to punish all suchungrateful persons as forgot the duty they owe to their dead parents,and all the obligations they have to the rest of their friends. (Pp.156-158.)

* * * * *

It is a pleasure to observe the constant devotion of the Church ofChrist in all ages, to pray for the dead. And first, to take my risefrom the Apostles' time, there are many learned interpreters, who holdthat baptism for the dead, of which the Apostle speaks, [1] to be meantonly of the much fasting, prayer, alms-deeds, and other voluntaryafflictions, which the first Christians undertook for the relief oftheir deceased friends. But I need not fetch in obscure places to proveso clear an Apostolical and early custom in God's Church.

[Footnote 1: Cor. xv 29.]

You may see a set form of prayer for the dead prescribed in all theancient liturgies of the Apostles. [1] Besides, St. Clement [2] tellsus, it was one of the chief heads of St. Peter's sermons, to be dailyinculcating to the people this devotion of praying for the dead; andSt. Denis [3] sets down at large the solemn ceremonies and prayers,which were then used at funerals; and receives them no otherwise thanas Apostolical traditions, grounded upon the Word of God. Andcertainly, it would have done you good to have seen with what gravityand devotion that venerable prelate performed the divine office andprayer for the dead, and what an ocean of tears he drew from the eyesof all that were present.

[Footnote 1: Liturgia utrinque, S. Jacobi, S. Math., S. Marci, S. Clem.]

[Footnote 2: Epist. I.]

[Footnote 3: S Dion. Eccles. Hier. C. 7.]

Let Tertullian [1] speak for the next age. He tells us how carefullydevout people in his time kept the anniversaries of the dead, and madetheir constant oblations for the sweet rest of their souls. "Here itis," says this grave author, "that the widow makes it appear whether orno she had any true love for her husband; if she continue yearly to doher best for the comfort of his soul." … Let your first care be, toransom him out of Purgatory, and when you have once placed him in theempyrean heaven, he will be sure to take care for you and yours. I knowyour excuse is, that having procured for him the accustomed services ofthe Church, you need do no more for him; for you verily believe he isalready in a blessed state. But this is rather a poor shift to excuseyour own sloth and laziness, than that you believe it to be so in goodearnest. For there is no man, says Origen, but the Son of God, canguess how long, or how many ages, a soul may stand in need of thepurgation of fire. Mark the word ages; he seems to believe thata soul may, for whole ages—that is, for so many hundred years—beconfined to this fiery lake, if she be wholly left to herself and herown sufferings.

[Footnote 1: Tertull. _De cor. mil. c 3; _De monogam, c. 10.]

It was not without confidence, says Eusebius, of reaping more fruitfrom the prayers of the faithful, that the honor of our nation, and thefirst Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, took such care to beburied in the Church of the Apostles, whither all sorts of devoutpeople resorting to perform their devotions to God and His Saints,would be sure to remember so good an emperor. Nor did he fail of hisexpectation; for it is incredible, as the same author observes, what aworld of sighs and prayers were offered up for him upon this occasion.

St. Athanasius [1] brings an elegant comparison to express theincomparable benefit which accrues to the souls in Purgatory by ourprayers. As the wine, says he, which is locked up in the cellar, yet isso recreated with the sweet odor of the flourishing vines which aregrowing in the fields, as to flower afresh, and leap, as it were, forjoy, so the souls that are shut up in the centre of the earth feel thesweet incense of our prayers, and are exceedingly comforted andrefreshed by it.

[Footnote 1: St. Augustine's views on this subject may be seen from theextract elsewhere given, from his "Confessions," on the occasion of thedeath of his mother, St. Monica.]

We do not busy ourselves, says St. Cyril, with placing crowns orstrewing flowers at the sepulchres of the dead; but we lay hold onChrist, the very Son of God, who was sacrificed upon the Cross for oursins: and we offer Him up again to His Eternal Father in the dreadSacrifice of the Mass, as the most efficacious means to reconcile Him,not only to ourselves, but to them also.

St. Epiphanius stuck not to condemn Arius for this damnable heresyamongst others, that he held it in vain to pray for the dead: as if ourprayers could not avail them.

St. Ambrose prayed heartily for the good Emperor Theodosius as soon ashe was dead, and made open profession that he would never give overpraying for him till he had, by his prayers and tears, conveyed himsafe to the holy mountain of Our Lord, whither he was called by hismerits, and where there is true life everlasting. He had the samekindness for the soul of the Emperor Valentinian, the same for Gratian,the same for his brother Satyrus and others. He promised them Masses,tears, prayers, and that he would never forget them, never give overdoing charitable offices for them.

"Will you honor your dead?" says St. John Chrysostom; "do not spendyourselves in unprofitable lamentations; choose rather to sing psalms,to give alms, and to lead holy lives. Do for them that which they wouldwillingly do for themselves, were they to return again into the world,and God will accept it at your hands, as if it came from them." (Pp.162-166.)

St. Paulinus, that charitable prelate who sold himself to redeemothers, could not but have a great proportion of charity for captivesouls in the other world. No; he was not only ready to become a slavehimself to purchase their freedom, but he became an earnest solicitorto others in their behalf; for, in a letter to Delphinus, alluding tothe story of Lazarus, he beseeches him to have at least so muchcompassion as to convey, now and then, a drop of water wherewith tocool the tongues of poor souls that lie burning in the Church which isall a-fire.

I am astonished when I call to mind the sad regrets of the people ofAfrica when they saw some of their priests dragged away to martyrdom.The author says they flocked about them in great numbers and cried out:"Alas! if you leave us so, what will become of us? Who must give usabsolution for our sins? Who must bury us with the wonted ceremonies ofthe Church when we are dead? and who will take care to pray for oursouls?" Such a general belief they had in those days, that nothing ismore to be desired in this world than to leave those behind us who willdo their best to help us out of our torments. (Pp. 167-8.)

* * * * *

Almighty God has often miraculously made it appear how well He ispleased to be importuned by us in the souls' behalf, and what comfortthey receive by our prayers. St. John Climacus writes, [1] that whilethe monks were at service, praying for their good father, Mennas, thethird day after his departure, they felt a marvellous sweet smell torise out of his grave, which they took for a good omen that his sweetsoul, after three days' purgation, had taken her flight into heaven.For what else could be meant by that sweet perfume but the odor of hisholy and innocent conversation, or the incense of their sacrifices andprayers, or the primitial fruits of his happy soul, which was now flownup to the holy mountain of eternal glory, there enjoying theodoriferous and never-fading delights of Paradise?

[Footnote 1: In 4, gradu scalæ.]

Not unlike unto this is that story which the great St. Gregory relatesof one Justus, a monk. [1] He had given him up at first for a lostcreature; but, upon second thoughts, having ordered Mass to be said forhim for thirty days together, the last day he appeared to his brotherand assured him of the happy exchange he was now going to make of historments for the joys of heaven.

[Footnote 1: Dial. c. 55, lib. 4.]

Pope Symmachus and his Council [1] had reason to thunder out anathemasagainst those sacrilegious persons who were so frontless as to turnpious legacies into profane uses, to the great prejudice of the soulsfor whose repose they were particularly deputed by the founders. And,certainly, it is a much fouler crime to defraud souls of their duerelief than to disturb dead men's ashes and to plunder their graves.(Pp. 168-9.)

[Footnote 1: 6 Synod., Rom.]

St. Isidore delivers it as an apostolic tradition and general practiceof the Catholic Church in his time, to offer up sacrifices and prayers,and to distribute alms for the dead; and this, not for any increase oftheir merit, but either to mitigate their pains or to shorten the timeof their durance.

Venerable Bede is a sure witness for the following century; whoselearned works are full of wonderful stories, which he brings inconfirmation of this Catholic doctrine and practice.

St. John Damascene made an elegant oration on purpose to stir up thisdevotion; where, amongst other things, he says it is impossible tonumber up all the stories in this kind which bear witness that thesouls departed are relieved by our prayers; and that, otherwise, Godwould not have appointed a commemoration of the dead to be daily madein the unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass, nor would the Church have soreligiously observed anniversaries and other days set apart for theservice of the dead.

Were it but a dog, says Simon Metaphrastes, that by chance were falleninto the fire, we should have so much compassion for him as to help himout; and what shall we do for souls who are fallen into Purgatory fire?I say, souls of our parents and dearest friends; souls that arepredestinate to eternal glory, and extremely precious in the sight ofGod? And what did not the Saints of God's Church for them in thosedays? Some armed themselves from head to foot in coarse hair-cloth;others tore off their flesh with chains and rude disciplines; some,again, pined themselves with rigorous fasts; others dissolvedthemselves into tears; some passed whole nights in contemplation;others gave liberal alms or procured great store of Masses; in fine,they did what they were able, and were not well pleased that they wereable to do no more, to relieve the poor souls in Purgatory. Amongstothers, Queen Melchtild [1] is reported to have purchased immortal famefor her discreet behavior at the death of the king, her husband; forwhose soul she caused a world of Masses to be said, and a world of almsto be distributed, in lieu of other idle expenses and fruitlesslamentations.

[Footnote 1: Luitprand, c. 4, c. 7.]

There is one in the world, to whom I bear an immortal envy, and such anenvy as I never mean to repent of. It is the holy Abbot Odilo, who wasthe author of an invention which I would wittingly have found out,though with the loss of my very heart's blood.

Reader, take the story as it passed, thus: [1] A devout religious man,in his return from Jerusalem, meets with a holy hermit in Sicily; heassures him that he often heard the devils complain that souls were sosoon discharged of their torments by the devout prayers of the monks ofCluny, who never ceased to pour out their prayers for them. This thegood man carries to Odilo, then Abbot of Cluny; he praises God for Hisgreat mercy in vouchsafing to hear the innocent prayers of his monks;and presently takes occasion to command all the monasteries of hisOrder, to keep yearly the commemoration of All Souls, next after thefeast of All Saints, a custom which, by degrees, grew into such credit,that the Catholic Church thought fit to establish it all over theChristian world; to the incredible benefit of poor souls, and singularincrease of God's glory. For who can sum up the infinite number ofsouls who have been freed out of Purgatory by this invention? or whocan express the glory which accrued to this good Abbot, who thusfortunately made himself procurator-general of the suffering Church,and furnished her people with such a considerable supply of necessaryrelief, to alleviate the insupportable burthen of their sufferings?

[Footnote 1: Sigeb. in Chron. An. 998.]

St. Bernard would triumph when he had to deal with heretics that deniedthis privilege of communicating our suffrages and prayers to the soulsin Purgatory. And with what fervor he would apply himself to thischaritable employment of relieving poor souls, may appear by the carehe took for good Humbertus, though he knew him to have lived and diedin his monastery so like a Saint, that he could scarce find out thefault in him which might deserve the least punishment in the otherworld; unless it were to have been too rigorous to himself, and toocareless of his health: which in a less spiritual eye than that of St.Bernard, might have passed for a great virtue. But it is worth yourhearing, that which he relates of blessed St. Malachy, who died in hisvery bosom. This holy Bishop, as he lay asleep, hears a sister of his,lately dead, making lamentable moan, that for thirty days together shehad not eaten so much as a bit of bread. He starts up out of his sleep;and, taking it to be more than a dream, he concludes the meaning of thevision was to tell him, that just thirty days were now past since hehad said Mass for her; as probably believing she was already where shehad no need of his prayers…. Howsoever, this worthy prelate so pliedhis prayers after this, that he soon sent his sister out of Purgatory;and it pleased God to let him see, by the daily change of her habit,how his prayers had purged her by degrees, and made her fit company forthe Angels and Saints in heaven. For, the first day, she was coveredall over with black cypress; the next, she appeared in a mantlesomething whitish, but a dusky color; but the third day, she was seenall clad in white, which is the proper livery of the Saints….

This for St. Bernard. But I cannot let pass in silence one veryremarkable passage, which happened to these two great servants of God.St. Malachy had passionately desired to die at Clarvallis, [1] in thehands of the devout St. Bernard; and this, on the day immediatelybefore All Souls' Day; and it pleased God to grant him his request. Itfell out, then, that while St. Bernard was saying Mass for him, in themiddle of Mass it was revealed to him that St. Malachy was alreadyglorious in heaven; whether he had gone straight out of this world, orwhether that part of St. Bernard's Mass had freed him out of Purgatory,is uncertain; but St. Bernard, hereupon, changed his note; for, havingbegun with a Requiem, he went on with the Mass of a bishop andconfessor, to the great astonishment of all the standers-by.

[Footnote 1: Clairvaux.]

St. Thomas of Aquin, that great champion of Purgatory, gave Godparticular thanks at his death, for not only delivering a soul out ofPurgatory, at the instance of his prayers, but also permitting the samesoul to be the messenger of so good news. (Pp. 169-174.)

* * * * *

And now, we are come down to the fifteenth age, where the Fathers ofthe Council of Florence, both Greeks and. Latins, with one consent,declare the same faith and constant practice of the Church, thus handeddown to them from age to age, since Christ and His Apostles' time, aswe have seen; viz., that the souls in Purgatory are not only relieved,but translated into heaven, by the prayers, sacrifices, alms, and othercharitable works, which are offered up for them according to the customof the Catholic Church. Nor did their posterity degenerate, or vary theleast, from this received doctrine, until Luther's time; when the holyCouncil of Trent thought fit again to lay down the sound doctrine ofthe Church, in opposition to all our late sectaries. And I wish allCatholics were but as forward to lend their helping hands to lift soulsout of Purgatory, as they are to believe they have the power to do it;and that we had not often more reason than the Roman Emperor topronounce the day lost; since we let so many days pass over our heads,and so many fair occasions slip out of our hands, without easing, orreleasing, any souls out of Purgatory, when we might do it with so muchease. (P. 175.)

ON DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SOULS.

FATHER FABER.

Although we are mercifully freed from the necessity of descending intohell to seek and promote the interests of Jesus, it is far from beingso with Purgatory. If heaven and earth are full of the glory of God, soalso is that most melancholy, yet most interesting land, where theprisoners of hope are detained by their Saviour's loving justice, fromthe Beatific Vision; and if we can advance the interests of Jesus onearth and in heaven, I may almost venture to say that we can do stillmore in Purgatory. And what I am endeavoring to show you in thistreatise is, how you may help God by prayer, and the practices ofdevotion, whatever your occupation and calling may be: and all thesepractices apply especially to Purgatory. For although some theologianssay that in spite of the Holy Souls placing no obstacle in the way,still the effect of prayer for them is not infallible; nevertheless, itis much more certain than the effect of prayer for the conversion ofsinners upon earth, where it is so often frustrated by their perversityand evil dispositions. Anyhow, what I have wanted to show has beenthis: that each of us, without aiming beyond our grace, withoutausterities for which we have not courage, without supernatural giftsto which we lay no claim, may, by simple affectionateness and thepractices of sound Catholic devotion, do great things, things so greatthat they seem incredible, for the glory of God, the interests ofJesus, and the good of souls. I should, therefore, be leaving mysubject very incomplete if I did not consider at some length devotionto the Holy Souls in Purgatory; and I will treat, not so much ofparticular practices of it, which are to be found in the ordinarymanuals, as of the spirit of the devotion itself.

* * * * *

By the doctrine of the Communion of Saints and of the unity of Christ'smystical body, we have most intimate relations both of duty andaffection with the Church Triumphant and Suffering; and Catholicdevotion furnishes us with many appointed and approved ways ofdischarging these duties toward them…. For the present it is enoughto say that God has given us such power over the dead that they seem,as I have said before, to depend almost more on earth than on heaven;and surely that He has given us this power, and supernatural methods ofexercising it, is not the least touching proof that His Blessed Majestyhas contrived all things for love. Can we not conceive the joy of theBlessed in Heaven, looking down from the bosom of God and the calmnessof their eternal repose upon this scene of dimness, disquietude, doubtand fear, and rejoicing in the plenitude of their charity, in theirvast power with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to obtain grace and blessingday and night for the poor dwellers upon earth? It does not distractthem from God, it does not interfere with the Vision, or make it waverand grow misty; it does not trouble their glory or their peace. On thecontrary, it is with them as with our Guardian Angels—the affectionateministries of their charity increase their own accidental glory. Thesame joy in its measure may be ours even upon earth. If we are fullypossessed with this Catholic devotion for the Holy Souls, we shallnever be without the grateful consciousness of the immense powers whichJesus has given us on their behalf. We are never so like Him, or sonearly imitate His tender offices, as when we are devoutly exercisingthese powers…. Oh! what thoughts, what feelings, what love should beours, as we, like choirs of terrestrial angels, gaze down on the wide,silent, sinless kingdom of suffering, and then with our own venturoustouch wave the sceptred hand of Jesus over its broad regions all richlydropping with the balsam of His saving Blood!

* * * * *

Oh! how solemn and subduing is the thought of that holy kingdom, thatrealm of pain! There is no cry, no murmur; all is silent, silent asJesus before His enemies. We shall never know how we really love Marytill we look up to her out of those deeps, those vales of dreadmysterious fire. O beautiful region of the Church of God. O lovelytroop of the flock of Mary! What a scene is presented to our eyes whenwe gaze upon that consecrated empire of sinlessness and yet of keenestsuffering! There is the beauty of those immaculate souls, and then theloveliness, yea, the worshipfulness of their patience, the majesty oftheir gifts, the dignity of their solemn and chaste sufferings, theeloquence of their silence; the moonlight of Mary's throne lighting uptheir land of pain and unspeechful expectation; the silver-wingedangels voyaging through the deeps of that mysterious realm; and aboveall, that unseen Face of Jesus which is so well remembered that itseems to be almost seen! Oh! what a sinless purity of worship is herein this liturgy of hallowed pain! O world! O weary, clamorous, sinfulworld! Who would not break away if he could, like an uncaged dove, fromthy perilous toils and unsafe pilgrimage, and fly with joy to thelowest place in that most pure, most safe, most holy land of sufferingand of sinless love!

* * * * *

But some persons turn in anger from the thought of Purgatory, as if itwere not to be endured, that after trying all our lives long to serveGod, we should accomplish the tremendous feat of a good death, only topass from the agonies of the death-bed into fire—long, keen,searching, triumphant, incomparable fire. Alas! my dear friends; youranger will not help you nor alter facts. But have you thoughtsufficiently about God? Have you tried to realize His holiness andpurity in assiduous meditation? Is there a real divorce between you andthe world, which you know is God's enemy? Do you take God's side? Haveyou wedded His interests? Do you long for His glory? Have you put sinalongside of our dear Saviour's Passion, and measured the one by theother? Oh! if you had, Purgatory would but seem to you the last,unexpected, and inexpressibly tender invention of an obstinate lovewhich was mercifully determined to save you in spite of yourself! Itwould be a perpetual wonder to you, a joyous wonder, fresh every,morning—a wonder that would be meat and drink to your soul; that you,being what you are, what you know yourself to be, what you may conceiveGod knows you to be, should be saved eternally! Remember what thesuffering soul said so simply, yet with such force, to SisterFrancesca: "Ah! those on that side the grave little reckon how dearlythey will pay on this side for the lives they live!" To be angrybecause you are told you will go to Purgatory! Silly, silly people!Most likely it is a great false flattery, and that you will never begood enough to go there at all. Why, positively, you do not recognizeyour own good fortune when you are told of it. And none but the humblego there. I remember Maria Crocifissa was told that although many ofthe Saints while on earth loved God more than some do even in heaven,yet that the greatest saint on earth was not so humble as arethe souls in Purgatory. I do not think I ever read anything in thelives of the Saints which struck me so much as that….

But we not only learn lessons for our own good, but for the good of theHoly Souls. We see that our charitable attentions toward them must befar more vigorous and persevering than they have been; for that men goto Purgatory for very little matters, and remain there an unexpectedlylong time. But their most touching appeal to us lies in theirhelplessness; and our dear Lord, with His usual loving arrangement, hasmade the extent of our power to help them more than commensurate withtheir inability to help themselves…. St. Thomas has taught us thatprayer for the dead is more readily accepted with God than prayer forthe living. We can offer and apply for them all the satisfactions ofour Blessed Lord. We can do vicarious penance for them. We can give tothem all the satisfaction of our ordinary actions, and of oursufferings. We can make over to them by way of suffrage, theindulgences we gain, provided the Church has made them applicable tothe dead. We can limit and direct upon them, or any one of them, theintention of the Adorable Sacrifice. The Church, which has nojurisdiction over them, can yet make indulgences applicable orinapplicable to them by way of suffrage; and by means of liturgy,commemoration, incense, holy water, and the like, can reachefficaciously to them, and most of all by her device of privilegedaltars. …. All that I have said hitherto has been, indirectly, atleast, a plea for this devotion; but I must come now to a more directrecommendation of it.

* * * * *

It is not saying too much to call devotion to the Holy Souls, a kind ofcentre in which all Catholic devotions meet, and which satisfies morethan any other single devotion our duties in that way; because it is adevotion all of love, and of disinterested love. If we cast an eye overthe chief Catholic devotions, we shall see the truth of this. Take thedevotion of St. Ignatius to the glory of God. This, if I may dare touse such an expression of Him, was the special and favorite devotion ofJesus. Now, Purgatory is simply a field white for the harvest of God'sglory. Not a prayer can be said for the Holy Souls, but God is at onceglorified, both by the faith and the charity of the mere prayer. Not analleviation, however trifling, can befall any one of the souls, but Heis forthwith glorified by the honor of His Son's Precious Blood, andthe approach of the soul to bliss. Not a soul is delivered from itstrial but God is immensely glorified.

* * * * *

Again, what devotion is more justly dear to Christians than thedevotion to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus? It is rather a family ofvarious and beautiful devotions, than a devotion by itself. Yet see howthey are all, as it were, fulfilled, affectionately fulfilled, indevotion to the Holy Souls. The quicker the souls are liberated fromPurgatory, the more is the beautiful harvest of His Blessed Passionmultiplied and accelerated. An early harvest is a blessing, as well asa plentiful one; for all delay of a soul's ingress into the praise ofheaven is an eternal and irremediable loss of honor and glory to theSacred Humanity of Jesus. How strangely things sound in the language ofthe Sanctuary! yet so it is. Can the Sacred Humanity be honored morethan by the Adorable Sacrifice of the Mass? And here is our chiefaction upon Purgatory….

Devotion to our dearest Mother is equally comprehended in this devotionto the Holy Souls, whether we look at her as the Mother of Jesus, andso sharing the honors of His Sacred Humanity, or as Mother of mercy,and so specially honored by works of mercy, or, lastly, as, in aparticular sense, the Queen of Purgatory, and so having all manner ofdear interests to be promoted in the welfare and deliverance of thosesuffering souls.

Next to this we may rank devotion to the Holy Angels, and this also issatisfied in devotion to the Holy Souls. For it keeps filling thevacant thrones in the angelic choirs, those unsightly gaps which thefall of Lucifer and one-third of the heavenly host occasioned. Itmultiplies the companions of the blessed spirits. They may be supposedalso to look with an especial interest on that part of the Church whichlies in Purgatory, because it is already crowned with their own deargift and ornament of final perseverance, and yet it has not entered atonce into its inheritance as they did. Many of them also have a tenderpersonal interest in Purgatory. Thousands, perhaps millions of them,are guardians to those souls, and their office is not over yet.Thousands have clients there who were especially devoted to them inlife. Will St. Raphael, who was so faithful to Tobias, be less faithfulto his clients there? Whole choirs are interested about others, eitherbecause they are finally to be aggregated to that choir, or because inlife-time they had a special devotion to it. Marie Denise, of theVisitation, used to congratulate her angel every day on the grace hehad received to stand when so many around him were falling. It was theonly thing she could know for certain of his past life. Could heneglect her, if by the will of God she went to Purgatory? Again, St.Michael, as prince of Purgatory, and Our Lady's regent, in fulfilmentof the dear office attributed to him by the Church in the Mass for theDead, takes as homage to himself all charity to the Holy Souls; and ifit be true, that a zealous heart is always a proof of a grateful one,that bold and magnificent spirit will recompense us one day in his ownprincely style, and perhaps within the limits of that his specialjurisdiction.

Neither is devotion to the Saints without its interests in thisdevotion for the dead. It fills them with the delights of charity as itswells their numbers and beautifies their ranks and orders. Numberlesspatron saints are personally interested in multitudes of souls. Theaffectionate relation between their clients and themselves not onlysubsists, but a deeper tenderness has entered into it, because of thefearful suffering, and a livelier interest, because of the accomplishedvictory. They see in the Holy Souls their own handiwork, the fruit oftheir example, the answer to their prayers, the success of theirpatronage, the beautiful and finished crown of their affectionateintercession.

* * * * *

Another point of view from which we may look at this devotion for thedead, is as a specially complete and beautiful exercise of the threetheological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, which are thesupernatural fountains of our whole spiritual life. It exercises faith,because it leads men not only to dwell in the unseen world, but to workfor it with as much energy and conviction as if it was before theirvery eyes. Unthoughtful or ill-read persons almost start sometimes atthe minuteness, familiarity, and assurance with which men talk of theunseen world, as if it were the banks of the Rhine, or the olive-yardsof Provence, the Campagna of Rome, or the crescent shores of Naples,some place which they have seen in their travels, and whosegeographical features are ever in their memory, as vividly as if beforetheir eyes. It all comes of faith, of prayer, of spiritual reading, ofknowledge of the lives of the Saints, and of the study of theology. Itwould be strange and sad if it were not so. For, what to us, either ininterest or importance, is the world we see, to the world we do notsee? This devotion exercises our faith also in the effects of thesacrifice and sacraments, which are things we do not see, but which wedaily talk of in reference to the dead as undoubted and accomplishedfacts. It exercises our faith in the communion of Saints to a degreewhich would make it seem impossible to a heretic that he ever couldbelieve so wild and extravagant a creed. It acts with regard toindulgences as if they were the most inevitable material transactionsof this world. It knows of the unseen treasure out of which they come,of the unseen keys which open the treasury, of the indefinitejurisdiction which places them infallibly at its disposal, of God'sunrevealed acceptance of them, and of the invisible work they do, justas it knows of trees and clouds, of streets and churches—that is, justas certainly and undoubtingly; though it often can give others no proofof these things, nor account for them to itself…. It exhibits thesame quiet faith in all those Catholic devotions which I mentionedbefore as centering themselves in this devotion for the dead.

* * * * *

Neither is this devotion a less heroic exercise of the theologicalvirtue of hope, the virtue so sadly wanting in the spiritual life ofthese times. For, look what a mighty edifice this devotion raises;lofty, intricate, and of magnificent proportions, into which somehow orother all creation is drawn, from the little headache we suffer up tothe Sacred Humanity of Jesus, and which has to do even with GodHimself. And upon what does all this rest, except on a simple, child-like trust in God's fidelity, which is the supernatural motive of hope?We hope for the souls we help, and unbounded are the benedictions whichwe hope for in their regard. We hope to find mercy ourselves, becauseof our mercy; and this hope quickens our merits without detracting fromthe merit of our charity…. For the state of the dead is no dream, norour power to help them a dream, any more than the purity of God is adream, or the Precious Blood a dream.

* * * * *

As to the charity of this devotion, it dares to imitate even thecharity of God Himself. What is there in heaven or on earth which itdoes not embrace, and with so much facility, with so much gracefulness,as if there were scarcely an effort in it, or as if self was charmedaway, and might not mingle to distract it? It is an exercise of thelove of God, for it is loving those whom He loves, and loving thembecause He loves them, and to augment His glory and multiply Hispraise…. To ourselves also it is an exercise of charity, for it gainsus friends in heaven; it earns mercy for us when we ourselves shall bein Purgatory, tranquil victims, yet, oh! in what distress! and itaugments our merits in the sight of God, and so, if only we persevere,our eternal recompense hereafter. Now if this tenderness for the deadis such an exercise of these three theological virtues, and if, again,even heroic sanctity consists principally in their exercise, what storeought we not to set upon this touching and beautiful devotion?

* * * * *

Look at that vast kingdom of Purgatory, with its empress-mother, Mary!All those countless throngs of souls are the dear and faithful spousesof Jesus. Yet in what a strange abandonment of supernatural sufferinghas His love left them! He longs for their deliverance; He yearns forthem to be transferred from that land, perpetually overclouded withpain, to the bright sunshine of their heavenly home. Yet He has tiedHis own hands, or nearly so. He gives them no more grace; He allowsthem no more time for penance; He prevents them from meriting; nay,some have thought they could not pray. How, then, stands the case withthe souls in the suffering Church? Why, it is a thing to be meditatedon when we have said it—they depend almost more on earth than they doon heaven, almost more on us than on Him; so He has willed it on whomall depend, and without whom there is no dependence. It is clear, then,that Jesus has His interests there. He wants His captives released.Those whom He has redeemed He now bids us redeem, us whom, if there belife at all in us, He has already Himself redeemed. Every satisfactionoffered up to God for these suffering souls, every oblation of thePrecious Blood to the Eternal Father, every Mass heard, every communionreceived, every voluntary penance undergone; the scourge, the hair-shirt, the prickly chain, every indulgence gained, every jubilee whoseconditions we have fulfilled, every De Profundis whispered,every little alms doled out to the poor who are poorer than ourselves,and, if they be offered for the intention of these dear prisoners, theinterests of Jesus are hourly forwarded in Mary's Kingdom ofPurgatory…. There is no fear of overworking the glorious secretary ofthat wide realm, the blessed Michael, Mary's subject. See how men workat the pumps on ship-board when they are fighting for their lives withan ugly leak. Oh! that we had the charity so to work, with the sweetinstrumentality of indulgence, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory! Theinfinite satisfactions of Jesus are at our command, and Mary's sorrows,and the Martyr's pangs, and the Confessor's weary perseverance in well-doing! Jesus will not help Himself here, because He loves to see ushelping Him, and because He thinks our love will rejoice that He stillleaves us something we can do for Him. There have been Saints who havedevoted their whole lives to this one work, mining in Purgatory; and,to those who reflect in faith, it does not seem, after all, so strange.It is a foolish comparison, simply because it is so much below themark; but on all principles of reckoning, it is a much less work tohave won the battle of Waterloo, or to have invented the steam-engine,than to have freed one soul from Purgatory.

WHY THE SOULS IS PURGATORY ARE CALLED "POOR" SOULS.

FATHER MULLER, C.S.S.R. [1]

[Footnote 1: Charity to the Holy Souls in Purgatory]

We have just seen that the Jews believed in the doctrine of Purgatory;we have seen that their charity for the dead was so great that the HolyGhost could not help praising them for it. Yet for all that, we mayassert in truth that the people of God under the Old Law were not sowell instructed in this doctrine as we are, nor had they such powerfulmeans to relieve the souls—in Purgatory as we have. Our faith,therefore, should be more lively, and our charity for the souls inPurgatory more ardent and generous.

A short time ago a fervent young priest of this country had thefollowing conversation with a holy Bishop on his way to Rome. TheBishop said to him: "You make mementoes now and then, for friends ofyours that are dead—do you not?" The young priest answered:"Certainly, I do so very often." The Bishop rejoined: "So did I, when Iwas a young priest. But one time I was grievously ill. I was given upas about to die. I received Extreme Unction and the Viaticum. It wasthen that my whole past life, with all its failings and all its sins,came before me with startling vividness. I saw how much I had to atonefor; and I reflected on how few Masses would be said for me, and howfew prayers. Ever since my recovery I have most fervently offered theHoly Sacrifice for the repose of the pious and patient souls inPurgatory; and I am always glad when I can, as my own offering, makethe 'intention' of my Masses for the relief of their pains."

Indeed, dear reader, no one is more deserving of Christian charity andsympathy than the poor souls in Purgatory. They are really POORsouls. No one is sooner forgotten than they are.

How soon their friends persuade themselves that they are in perfectpeace! How little they do for their relief when their bodies areburied! There is a lavish expense for the funeral. A hundred dollarsare spent where the means of the family hardly justify the half of it.Where there is more wealth, sometimes five hundred or a thousand, andeven more, dollars are expended on the poor dead body. But let me askyou what is done for the poor living soul? Perhaps the poor soulis suffering the most frightful tortures in Purgatory, whilst thelifeless body is laid out in state, and borne pompously to thegraveyard. You must not misunderstand me: it is right and just to showall due respect even to the body of your deceased friend, for that bodywas once the dwelling-place of his soul. But tell me candidly, what joyhas the departed, and, perhaps, suffering soul, in the fine music ofthe choir, even should the choir be composed of the best singers in thecountry? What consolation does the poor suffering soul find in thesuperb coffin, in the splendid funeral? What pleasure does the soulderive from the costly marble monument, from all the honors that are sofreely lavished on the body? All this may satisfy, or at least seem tosatisfy, the living, but it is of no avail whatever to the dead.

Poor unhappy souls! how the diminution of true Catholic faith isvisited upon you while you suffer, and those that loved you in lifemight help you, and do not, for want of knowledge or of faith!

Poor unhappy souls! your friends go to their business, to their eatingand drinking, with the foolish assurance that the case cannot be hardon one they knew to be so good! Oh, how much and how long this falsecharity of your friends makes you suffer!

The venerable Sister, Catherine Paluzzi, offered up, for a long time,and with the utmost fervor, prayers and pious works for the soul of herdeceased father. At last she thought she had good reason to believethat her father was already enjoying the bliss of Paradise. But howgreat was her consternation and grief when Our Lord, in company withSt. Catherine, her patroness, led her one day, in spirit, to Purgatory.There she beheld her father in an abyss of torments, imploring herassistance. At the sight of the pitiful state the soul of her fatherwas in, she melted into tears; she cast herself at the feet of herHeavenly Spouse, and begged Him, through His precious Blood, to freeher father from his excruciating sufferings. She also begged St.Catherine to intercede for him, and then turning to Our Lord, she said:"Charge me, O Lord, with my father's indebtedness to Thy justice. Inexpiation of it, I am ready to take upon myself all the afflictionsThou art pleased to bestow upon me." Our Lord graciously accepted thisact of heroic charity, and released at once her father's soul fromPurgatory. But how heavy were the crosses which she, from that time,had to suffer, may be more easily imagined than described. This pioussister seemed to have good reason to believe that her father's soul wasin Paradise. Yet she was mistaken. Alas! how many are there whor*semble her! How many are there whose hope as to the condition oftheir deceased friends is far more vain and false than that of thisreligious, because they pray much less for the souls of their departedfriends than she did for her father.

* * * * *

It is related in the life of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, that one dayshe saw the soul of one of her deceased sisters kneeling in adorationbefore the Blessed Sacrament, in the church, wrapped up in a mantle offire, and suffering great pains, in expiation of her neglecting to goto Holy Communion on one day, when she had her confessor's permissionto communicate.

The Venerable Bede relates that it was revealed to Drithelm, a greatservant of God, that the souls of those who spend their whole lives inthe state of mortal sin, and are converted only on their death-bed, aredoomed to suffer the pains of Purgatory to the day of the lastjudgment.

In the life and revelations of St. Gertrude we read that those who havecommitted many grievous sins, and who die without having done duepenance, are not assisted by the ordinary suffrages of the Church untilthey are partly purified by Divine Justice in Purgatory.

After St. Vincent Ferrer had learned the death of his sister Frances,he at once began to offer up many fervent prayers and works of penancefor the repose of her soul. He also said thirty Masses for her, at thelast of which it was revealed to him that, had it not been for hisprayers and good works, the soul of his sister would have suffered inPurgatory to the end of the world.

From these examples you may draw your own conclusion as to the state ofyour deceased friends and relatives. Rest assured that the judgments ofGod are very different from the judgments of men.

* * * * *

In heaven, love for God is the happiness of the elect; but in Purgatoryit is the source of the most excruciating pains. It is principally forthis reason that the souls in Purgatory are called "poor souls," theybeing, as they are, in the most dreadful state of poverty—that of theprivation of the beatific vision of God.

After Anthony Corso, a Capuchin Brother, a man of great piety andperfection, had departed this life, he appeared to one of his brethrenin religion, asking him to recommend him to the charitable prayers ofthe community, in order that he might receive relief in his pains. "ForI do not know," said he, "how I can bear any longer the pain of beingdeprived of the sight of my God. I shall be the most unhappy ofcreatures as long as I must live in this state. Would to God that allmen might understand what it is to be without God, in order that theymight firmly resolve to suffer anything during their life on earthrather than expose themselves to the danger of being damned, anddeprived forever of the sight of God." [1]

[Footnote 1: 1 Aunal. Pp. Capuc., A.D. 1548.]

* * * * *

The souls in Purgatory are poor souls, because they suffer thegreatest pain of the senses, which is that of fire. Who can bein a poorer or more pitiful condition than those who are buried infire? Now, this is the condition of these poor souls. They are buriedunder waves of fire. It is from the smallest spark of this purgatorialfire that they suffer more intense pains than all the fires of thisworld put together could produce….

Could these poor souls leave the fire of Purgatory for the mostfrightful earthly fire they would, as it were, take it for a pleasure-garden; they would find a fifty years' stay in the hottest earthly firemore endurable than an hour's stay in the fire of Purgatory. Ourterrestrial fire was not created by God to torment men, but rather tobenefit them; but the fire of Purgatory was created by God for no otherpurpose than to be an instrument of His justice; and for this reason itis possessed of a burning quality so intense and penetrating that it isimpossible for us to conceive even the faintest idea of it.

* * * * *

In the year 1150 it happened that, on the Vigil of St. Cecilia, a veryold monk, one hundred years of age, at Marchiennes, in Flanders, fellasleep while sacred lessons were being read, and saw, in a dream, amonk all clad in armor, shining like red-hot iron in a furnace. The oldman asked him who he was. He was told that he was one of the monks ofthe convent; that he was in Purgatory, and had yet to endure this fieryarmor for ten years more, for having injured the reputation of another.

* * * * *

Another reason why these holy prisoners and debtors to the divinejustice are really poor is because they are not able, in theleast, to assist themselves. A sick man afflicted in all his limbs, anda beggar in the most painful and most destitute of conditions, has atongue left to ask for relief. At least they can implore Heaven; it isnever deaf to their prayer. But the souls in Purgatory are so poor thatthey cannot even do this. Those cases in which some of them werepermitted to appear to their friends and ask assistance are butexceptions. To whom is it they should have recourse? Is it, perhaps, tothe mercy of God? Alas! they send forth their sighs in plaintivevoices…. But the Lord does not regard their tears, nor heed theirmoans and cries, but answers them that His justice must be satisfied tothe last farthing.

* * * * *

Oh, what cruelty! A sick man weeps on his bed and his friend consoleshim; a baby cries in his cradle and his mother at once caresses him; abeggar knocks at the door for an alms and receives it; a malefactorlaments in his prison, and comfort is given him; even a dog that whinesat the door is taken in; but these poor, helpless souls cry day andnight from the depths of the fire in Purgatory: "Have pity on me, havepity on me, at least you, my friends, because the hand of the Lord hathsmitten me;" and there is none to listen! Oh, what great cruelty, mybrethren!

But it seems to me that I hear these poor souls exclaim: "Priest of theLord, speak no longer of our sufferings and pitiable condition. Letyour description of it be ever so touching, it will not afford us theleast relief. When a man has fallen into the fire, instead ofconsidering his pains, you try at once to draw him out or quench thefire with water. This is true charity. Now, tell Christians to do thesame for us. Tell them to give us their feet, by going to hear Mass forus; to give us their eyes, by seeking an occasion to perform a goodwork for us; to give us their hands, by giving an alms for us, or byoften making an offering for the 'intention' of Masses in our behalf;to give us their lips, by praying for us; to give us their tongue, byrequesting others to be charitable to us; to give us their memory, byremembering us constantly in their devotions; to give us their body, byoffering up for us to the Almighty all its labors, fatigues, andpenance."…

We read in the Acts of the Apostles, that the faithful prayedunceasingly for St. Peter when he was imprisoned, and that an Angelcame and broke his chains and released him. "We, too, should be goodangels to the poor souls in Purgatory, and free them from their painfulcaptivity by every means in our power."

* * * * *

In the time of St. Bernard, a monk of Clairvaux appeared after hisdeath to his brethren in religion, to thank them for having deliveredhim from Purgatory. On being asked what had most contributed to freehim from his torments, he led the inquirer to the church, where apriest was saying Mass. "Look!" said he; "this is the means by which mydeliverance has been effected; this is the power of God's mercy; thisis the saving Sacrifice which taketh away the sins of the world."Indeed, so great is the efficacy of this Sacrifice in obtaining relieffor the souls in Purgatory, that the application of all the good workswhich have been performed from the beginning of the world, would notafford so much assistance to one of these souls as is imparted by asingle Mass. To illustrate: The blessed Henry Suso made an agreementwith one of his brethren in religion that, as soon as either of themdied, the survivor should say two Masses every week for one year, forthe repose of his soul. It came to pass that the religious with whomHenry had made this contract, died first. Henry prayed every day forhis deliverance from Purgatory, but forgot to say the Masses which hehad promised; whereupon the deceased religious appeared to him with asad countenance, and sharply rebuked him for his unfaithfulness to hisengagement. Henry excused himself by saying that he had often prayedfor him with great fervor, and had even offered up for him manypenitential works. "Oh, brother!" exclaimed the soul, "blood, blood isnecessary to give me some relief and refreshment in my excruciatingtorments. Your penitential works, severe as they are, cannot deliverme. Nothing can do this but the blood of Jesus Christ, which is offeredup in the Sacrifice of the Mass. Masses, Masses—these are what Ineed!"

* * * * *

Another means to relieve the souls in Purgatory is to gain indulgencesfor them. A very pious nun had just died in the convent in which St.Mary Magdalen of Pazzi lived. Whilst her corpse was exposed in thechurch, the Saint looked lovingly upon it, and prayed fervently thatthe soul of her sister might soon enter into eternal rest. Whilst shewas thus wrapt in prayer her sister appeared to her, surrounded bygreat splendor and radiance, in the act of ascending into heaven. TheSaint, on seeing this, could not refrain from calling out to her:"Farewell, dear sister! When you meet your Heavenly Spouse, remember uswho are still sighing for Him in this vale of tears!" At these wordsour Lord Himself appeared, and revealed to her that this sister hadentered heaven so soon on account of the indulgences gained for her.[1]

[Footnote 1: Vita S. Magd. de Pazzi, L. I., chap, xxxix.]

Very many plenary indulgences can be gained for the souls in Purgatory,if you make the Stations of the Cross. The merit of this exercise, ifapplied to these souls, obtains great relief for them. We read in thelife of Catherine Emmerich, a very pious Augustinian nun, that thesouls in Purgatory often came to her during the night, and requestedher to rise and make the Stations for their relief. It is also relatedin the life of the venerable Mary of Antigua, that a deceased sister ofher convent appeared to her and said: "Why do you not make the Stationsof the Way of the Cross for me?" Whilst the servant of the Lord feltsurprised and astonished at these words, Jesus Christ Himself spoke toher, thus: "The exercise of the Stations is of the greatest advantageto the souls in Purgatory; so much so that this soul has been permittedby Me, to ask of you its performance in behalf of them all. Yourfrequent performance of this exercise to procure relief for these soulshas induced them to hold intercourse with you, and you shall have themfor so many intercessors and protectors before My justice. Tell yoursisters to rejoice at these treasures, and the splendid capital whichthey have in them, that they may grow rich upon it."

* * * * *

After St. Ludgarde had offered up many fervent prayers for the reposeof the soul of her deceased friend Simeon, Abbot of the monastery ofToniac, Our Lord appeared to her, saying: "Be consoled, My daughter; onaccount of thy prayers, I will soon release this soul from Purgatory.""O Jesus, Lord and Master of my heart!" she rejoined, "I cannot feelconsoled so long as I know that the soul of my friend is suffering somuch in the Purgatorial fire. Oh! I cannot help shedding most bittertears until Thou hast released this soul from its sufferings." Touchedand overcome by this fervent prayer, Our Lord released the soul ofSimeon, who appeared to Ludgarde all radiant with heavenly glory, andthanked her for the many fervent prayers which she had offered up forhis delivery. He also told the Saint that, had it not been for herfervent prayers, he should have been obliged to stay in Purgatory foreleven years….

Peter, the venerable Abbot of Cluny, relates an event somewhat similar.There was a monk at Cluny, named Bernard Savinellus. One night as hewas returning to the dormitory, he met Stephen, commonly calledBlancus, Abbot of St. Giles, who had departed this life a few daysbefore. At first, not knowing him, he was passing on, till he spoke,and asked him whither he was hastening. Bernard, astonished and angrythat a monk should speak, contrary to the rules, in the nocturnalhours, and in a place where it was not permitted, made signs to him tohold his peace; but as the dead abbot replied, and urged him to speak,the other, raising his head, asked in amazement who he might be. He wasanswered, "I am Stephen, the Abbot of St. Giles, who have formerlycommitted many faults in the Abbey, for which I now suffer pains; and Ibeseech you to implore the lord Abbot, and other brethren, to pray forme, that by the ineffable mercy of God, I may be delivered." Bernardreplied that he would do so, but added that he thought no one wouldbelieve his report; to which the dead man answered, "In order, then,that no one may doubt, you may assure them that within eight days youwill die;" he then disappeared. The monk, returning to the church,spent the remainder of the night in prayer and meditation. When it wasday, he related his vision to St. Hugo, who was then abbot. As isnatural, some believed his account, and others thought it was somedelusion. The next day the monk fell sick, and continued growing worse,constantly affirming the truth of what he had related, till his death,which occurred within the time specified.

* * * * *

Besides prayer and other acts of devotion we can offer up for the poorsouls, we may especially reckon alms-deeds; for since this is awork of mercy, it is more especially apt to obtain mercy for the poorsouls. But not the rich alone can give alms, but the poor also, sinceit does not so much depend on the greatness of the gift. Of the poorwidow who gave but one penny, Our Lord said; that she had given morethan all the rich who had offered gold and silver, because theseoffered only of their abundance, whilst the poor widow gave what shesaved from her daily sustenance….

The venerable servant of God, Father Clement Hoffbauer, of theCongregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, who died in Vienna in the year1820, and whose cause of beatification has already been introduced,once assisted a man of distinction in death. A short time afterwardsthe same man appeared to his wife in a dream, in a very pitiablecondition, his clothes in rags and quite haggard, and shivering withcold. He begged her to have pity on him, because he could scarcelyendure the extreme hunger and cold which he suffered. His wife wentwithout delay to Father Hoffbauer, related her dream, and asked hisadvice on this point. The confessor, enlightened by God, immediatelyunderstood what this dream meant, and what kind of assistance wasespecially needed and asked for by this poor soul. He accordinglyadvised her to clothe a poor beggar. The woman followed the advice, andsoon after her husband again appeared to her, dressed in a whitegarment, and his countenance beaming with joy, thanking her for thehelp which she had given to him.

* * * * *

We can assist the poor souls not only by prayers, devotions, exteriorworks of penance, alms-deeds, and other works of charity, but we canalso aid them by interior mortifications. Everything whichappears to us difficult, and which costs us a sacrifice, the pains ofsickness, and all the sufferings and troubles of this life, may beoffered up for these poor souls…

The only son of a rich widow of Bologna had been murdered by astranger. The culprit fell into her hands, but the pious widow was farfrom taking revenge by delivering him up to the hands of justice. Shethought of the infinite love of our Saviour when He died for us uponthe cross, and how He prayed for His executioners when dying. She,therefore, thought that she could in no way honor the memory of herdear son better, and that she could do nothing more efficient for therepose of his soul, than by granting pardon to the culprit, byprotecting him, and by even adopting him as her son and heir to all herriches. This heroic self-denial, and the sacrifice which she therebyoffered to Our Lord in memory of His bitter Passion, was so pleasing toGod, that, in reward thereof, He remitted to her son all the pains ofPurgatory. The happy son then appeared to his mother in a glorifiedstate, at the very moment when he was entering heaven. He thanked herfor having thus delivered him from the sufferings of Purgatory muchsooner than any other good work could have effected it.

* * * * *

Those who give themselves up to immoderate grief at the loss of belovedfriends, should bear this in mind also: instead of injuring theirhealth by a grief which is of no avail to the dead, they shouldendeavor to deliver their souls from Purgatory by Masses, prayers, andgood works; nay, the very thought that they thus render to the souls oftheir beloved friends the greatest possible act of charity, willconsole them and mitigate their sorrow. For this reason St. Paulexhorts the Thessalonians not to be afflicted on account of thedeparted, after the manner of heathens who have no hope.

* * * * *

Thomas Cantipratensis relates of a certain mother, that she wept dayand night over the death of her darling son, so much so that she forgotto assist his soul in Purgatory. To convince her of her folly, God oneday permitted her to be rapt in spirit, and see a long procession ofyouths hastening towards a city of indescribable beauty. Having lookedfor her son in vain for some time, she at last discovered him walkingslowly along at the end of the procession. At once her son turnedtowards her, and said: "Ah, mother, cease your useless tears! and ifyou truly love me, offer up for my soul Masses, prayers, alms-deeds,and such like good works." Then he disappeared, and his mother, insteadof any longer wasting her strength by foolish grief, began henceforthto give her son proofs of a true Christian and motherly love, bycomplying with his request. (L. II. Appar., 5, 17.)

Among the appointments to the Italian Episcopate made by our HolyFather Pope Pius IX. was that of an humble and holy monk, hidden awayin a poor monastery of Tuscany. When he received his Bulls he wasthrown into the greatest affliction. He had gone into religion to bedone with the world outside; and here he was to be thrown again intoits whirlpool. He made a novena to Our Blessed Lady, invoking her helpto rid him of the burden and the danger. Meantime, he wrote a letter tothe See of Rome setting forth reasons why he ought not to be asked toaccept, and also sending back the Bulls, with a positive noluit,but Rome would not excuse him. Then he went in person to see the Pope,and to implore leave to decline, which he did, even with tears. Amongother reasons, the good monk said that of late he had a most miserablememory. "That is unfortunate," said the Holy Father, "for after yourdeath, if you continue so, no one will ever refer to you as Monsignor——-, of happy memory! but that will be no great loss to you."Then, seeing the intense grief of the nominated Bishop, the Holy Fatherchanged his tone and said: "At one time of my life I, also, wasthreatened with the loss of my memory. But I found a remedy, used it,and it has not failed me. For the special intention of preservingthis faculty of memory I have said every day a 'De Profundis' for thesouls in Purgatory. I give you this receipt for your use; and now,do not resist the will of him who gives you and the people of yourdiocese his blessing."

It is a new revelation that our Holy Father Pius IX. was everthreatened with loss of memory. Of all his faculties of mind there wasnot one that excited such general astonishment as his wonderful memory.

* * * * *

The following incident took place at Dole, in France: One day, in theyear 1629, long after her death, Leonarda Colin, niece to Hugueta Roy,appeared to her, and spoke as follows: "I am saved by the mercy of God.It is now seventeen years since I was struck down by a sudden death. Mypoor soul was in mortal sin, but, thanks to Mary, whose devoted servantI had ever striven to be, I obtained grace, in the last extremity, tomake an act of perfect contrition, and thus I was rescued from hell-fire, but by no means from Purgatory. My sufferings in those purifyingflames are beyond description. At last Almighty God has permitted myguardian angel to conduct me to you in order that you may make threepilgrimages to three Churches of our Blessed Lady in Burgundy. Upon thefulfillment of said condition, my deliverance from Purgatory ispromised." Hugueta did as she was requested; whereupon the same soulappeared in a glorified state, thanking her benefactress, and promisingto pray for her, and admonishing her always to remember the four lastthings.

The Greek Emperor Theophilus was, after his death, condemned to thepains of Purgatory, because he had been unable to perform the penanceswhich, towards the end of his life, he had wished to perform. His wife,the pious Empress Theodora, was not satisfied with pouring forthfervent prayers and sighs for the repose of his soul, but she also hadprayers and Masses said in all the convents of the city ofConstantinople. Besides this, she besought the Patriarch St. Methodius,that for this end he would order prayers to be said by both the clergyand the people of the city. Divine mercy could not resist so manyfervent prayers. On a certain day, when public prayers were againoffered up in the church of St. Sophia, an Angel appeared to St.Methodius, and said to him: "Thy prayers, O Bishop, have been heard,and Theophilus has obtained pardon." Theodora, the Empress, had, at thesame time, a vision, in which our Lord Himself announced to her that herhusband had been delivered from Purgatory. "For your sake," He said,"and on account of the prayers of the priests, I pardon your husband."

* * * * *

In the life of Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque it is related that thesoul of one of her departed sisters appeared to her, and said: "Thereyou are, lying comfortably in your bed; but think of the bed on which Iam lying, and suffering the most excruciating pains." "I saw this bed,"says the Saint, "and I still tremble in all my limbs at the merethought of it. The upper and lower part of it was full of red-hot sharpiron points, penetrating into the flesh. She told me that she had toendure this pain for her carelessness in the observance of her rules.'My heart is lacerated,' she added, 'and this is the hardest of mypains. I suffer it for those fault-finding and murmuring thoughts whichI entertained in my heart against my superiors. My tongue is eaten upby moths, and tormented, on account of uncharitable words, and forhaving unnecessarily spoken in the time of silence. Would to God thatall souls consecrated to the service of the Lord could see me in thesefrightful pains! Would to God I could show them what punishments areinflicted upon those who live negligently in their vocation! They wouldindeed change their manner of living, observing most punctually thesmallest point of their rules, and guarding against those faults forwhich I am now so much tormented.'"

APPEAL TO ALL CLASSES FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.

BY A PAULIST FATHER.

"My daughter is just now dead; but come, lay thy hand upon her, and sheshall live."—St. Matt. ix. 18.

Such was the entreaty made by the ruler to our Lord in the Gospel, andsuch are the words that the Lord says to us during the month ofNovember, in behalf of the poor souls in Purgatory. These souls havebeen saved by the Precious Blood, they have been judged by Jesus Christwith a favorable judgment, they are His spouses, His sons anddaughters—His children. He cries to us: "My children are even nowdead; but come, lay your hands upon them, and they shall live." Whathand is that which our Lord wants us to lay upon His dead children?Brethren, it is the hand of prayer. Now, it seems to me that there arethree classes of persons who ought to be in an especial manner thefriends of God's dead children; three classes who ought always to beextending a helping hand to the souls in Purgatory. First, the poor,because the holy souls are poor like yourselves. They have no work—that is to say, the day for them is past in which they could work andgain indulgences and merit, the money with which the debt of temporalpunishment is paid; for them the "night has come when no man can work."They are willing to work, they are willing to pay for themselves, butthey cannot; they are out of work, they are poor, they cannot helpthemselves. They are suffering, as the poor suffer in this world fromthe heats of summer and the frosts of winter. They have no food; theyare hungry and thirsty; they are longing for the sweets of heaven. Theyare in exile; they have no home; they know there is abundance of foodand raiment around them which they cannot themselves buy. It seems tothem that the winter will never pass, that the spring will never come;in a word they are poor. They are poor as many of you are poor.They are in worse need than the most destitute among you. Oh! then, yethat are poor, help the holy souls by your prayers. Secondly, the richought to be the special friends of those who are in Purgatory, andamong the rich we wish to include those who are what people call"comfortably off." God has given you charge of the poor; you can helpthem by your alms in this world, so you can in the next. You can haveMasses said for them; you can say lots of prayers for them, because youhave plenty of time on your hands. Again remember, many of those whowere your equals in this world, who, like yourselves, had a good supplyof this world's goods, have gone to Purgatory because those riches werea snare to them. Riches, my dear friends, have sent many a soul to theplace of purification. Oh! then, those of you who are well off, havepity upon the poor souls in Purgatory. Offer up a good share of yourwealth to have Masses said for them. Do some act of charity, and offerthe merit of it for some soul who was ensnared by riches, and who isnow paying the penalty in suffering; and spend some considerableportion of your spare time in praying for the souls of the faithfuldeparted.

And lastly, sinners and those who have been converted from a verysinful life ought to be the friends of God's dead children. Why?Because, although the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves,they can pray for others, and these prayers are most acceptable to God.Because, too, they are full of gratitude, and they will not forgetthose who helped them when they shall come before the throne of God.Because sinners, having saddened the Sacred Heart of Jesus by theirsins, cannot make a better reparation to it than to hasten the timewhen He shall embrace these souls whom He loves so dearly, and haswished for so long. Because sinners have almost always been the meansof the sins of others. They have, by their bad example, sent others toPurgatory. Ah! then, if they have helped them in, they should help themout.

You, then, that are poor, you that are rich, you that have been greatsinners, listen to the voice of Jesus; listen to the plaint of Maryduring this month of November; "My children are now dead; come lay thyprayers up for them, and they shall live." Hear Mass for the poorsouls; say your beads for them; supplicate Jesus and Mary and Joseph intheir behalf. Fly to St. Catherine of Genoa and beg her to help them,and many and many a time during the month say with great fervor: "Maythe souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest inpeace."—Five-Minute Sermons for Low Masses.

THE SOULS IN PURGATORY. [1]

[Footnote 1: From the "Original, Short and Practical Sermons for every
Feast of the Ecclesiastical Year."]

REV. F. H. WENINGER, S.J., D.D.

On the Feast of All Souls, and whenever we are reminded of Purgatory,we cannot help thinking of the dreadful pains which the souls inPurgatory have to suffer, in order to be purified from every stain ofsin; of the excruciating torments they have to undergo for their faultsand imperfections, and how thoroughly they have to atone for the leastoffences committed against the infinite holiness and justice of God. Itis but just, therefore, that we should condole with them, and do allthat we can to deliver them from the flames of Purgatory, or, at least,to soothe their pains…. The fire of Purgatory, as the doctors of theChurch declare, is as intense as that of the abode of hell; with thisdifference, that it has an end. Yea! it may be that to-day a soul inPurgatory is undergoing more agony, more excruciating suffering than adamned soul, which is tormented in hell for a few mortal sins; whilethe poor soul in Purgatory must satisfy for millions of venial sins.

All the pains which afflict the sick upon earth, added to all that themartyrs have ever suffered, cannot be compared with those in Purgatory,so great is the punishment of those poor souls.

We read, how once a sick person who was very impatient in hissufferings, exclaimed; "O God, take me from this world!" Thereupon theAngel Guardian appeared to him, and told him to remember that, bypatiently bearing his afflictions upon his sick-bed, he could satisfyfor his sins, and shorten his Purgatory. But the sick man replied thathe chose rather to satisfy for his sins in Purgatory. The poor suffererdied; and behold, his Guardian Angel appeared to him again, and askedhim if he did not repent of the choice he had made of satisfying forhis sins in Purgatory, by tortures, rather than upon earth byafflictions. Thereupon the poor soul asked the angel: "How many yearsam I now here in these terrible flames?" The Angel replied: "How manyyears? Thy body upon earth is not yet buried; nay, it is not yet coldand still thou believest already thou art here for many years!" Oh, howthat soul lamented upon hearing this. Great indeed was its grief fornot having chosen patiently to undergo upon earth the sufferings ofsickness, and thereby shorten its Purgatory.

* * * * *

Upon earth, persons who anxiously seek another abode or another stateof life, often know not whether, perhaps, they may not fall into a morewretched condition. How many have forsaken the shores of Europe, withthe bright hope of a better future awaiting them in America? All hasbeen disappointment! They have repented a thousand times of havingdeserted their native country. Now does this disappointment await thesouls in Purgatory upon their deliverance? Ah! by no means. Theyknow too well that when they are released heaven will be theirhome. Once there, no more pains, no more fire for them; but theenjoyment of an everlasting bliss, which no eye hath seen norear heard; nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Suchwill be their future happy state. Oh! how great is their desire to bethere already. Another circ*mstance which especially intensifies hopein the breast of man, is intercourse—union with those who arenear and dear to him.

How many, indeed, have bid a last farewell to Europe, where they wouldhave prospered; but oh, there are awaiting them in another land theirbeloved ones—those who are so dear, and in whose midst they long tobe! Oh, what a great source of desire is not this, for the poor soulsin Purgatory to go to heaven! In heaven they shall find again thosewhom they have loved and cherished upon earth, but who have alreadypreceded them on their way to the heavenly mansion…. There is stillanother feature, another circ*mstance which presents itself in thecondition of the poor souls in Purgatory: I mean the irresistible forceor tendency with which they are drawn towards God; their intenselonging after Him, their last aim and end…. Oh, with what intenseanxiety and longing is not a poor soul in Purgatory consumed, to beholdthe splendor of its Lord and Creator! But, also! with what marks ofgratitude does not every soul whom we have assisted to enterheaven pray for us upon its entrance!

Therefore, let us hasten to the relief of the poor suffering souls inPurgatory. Let us help them to the best of our power, so that they maysupplicate for us before the throne of the Most High; that they mayremember us when we, too, shall one day be afflicted in that prisonhouse of suffering, and may procure for us a speedy release and anearly enjoyment of a blissful eternity.

* * * * *

When it will be your turn one day to dwell in those flames, and beseparated from God, how happy will you not be, if others alleviate andshorten your pains! Do you desire this assistance for your own soul?Then begin in this life, while you have time, to render aid to the poorsouls in Purgatory…. He who does not assist others, unto himshall no mercy be shown; for this is what even-handed justice requires.Hence, let us not be deaf to the pitiful cries of the departed ones….What afflicts those poor, helpless souls still more, is thecirc*mstance that, despite their patience in suffering, they canearn nothing for heaven. With us, however, such is not the case. We, byour patience under affliction, may merit much, very much indeed, forParadise…. I well remember a certain sick person who was sorelypressed with great sufferings. Wishing to console him in his distress,I said: "Friend, such severe pains will not last long. You will eitherrecover from your illness and become well and strong again, or God willsoon call you to himself." Thereupon the sick man, turning his eyesupon a crucifix which had been placed for him at the foot of his bed,replied: "Father, I desire no alleviation in my suffering, no relief inmy pains. I cheerfully endure all as long as it is God's good pleasure,but I hope that I now undergo my Purgatory." Then, stretching forth hishands towards his crucifix he thus addressed it, filled with the mostlively hope in God's mercy: "Is it not so, dear Jesus? Thou wilt onlytake me from my bed of pain to receive me straightway into heaven!"

* * * * *

We find in the lives of all the saints a most ardent zeal in the causeof these poor afflicted ones. For their relief they offered to God notonly prayers, but also Masses, penances, the most severe sicknesses,and the most painful trials, and all this as a recognition and apractical display of the belief which they cherished—that they whohave slept in Christ are finally to repose with him in glory….Because all that we perform for the help and delivery of the poor soulsin Purgatory, are works of Christian faith and piety. Such are prayer,the august sacrifice of the Mass, the reception of the holy sacraments,alms-deeds, and acts of penance and self-denial….

Remember, dear Christians, that we, too, shall be poor, helpless, andsuffering souls in Purgatory, and what shall we carry with us of allour earthly goods and treasures? Not a single farthing.

* * * * *

We read, in the life of St. Gertrude, that God once allowed her tobehold Purgatory. And, lo! she saw a soul that was about issuing fromPurgatory, and Christ, who, followed by a band of holy virgins, wasapproaching, and stretching forth his hands towards it. Thereupon thesoul, which was almost out of Purgatory, drew back, and of its ownaccord sank again into the fire. "What dost thou?" said St. Gertrude tothe soul. "Dost thou not see that Christ wishes to release thee fromthy terrible abode?" To this the soul replied: "O Gertrude, thoubeholdest me not as I am. I am not yet immaculate. There is yet anotherstain upon me. I will not hasten thus to the arms of Jesus."

A POPULAR VIEW OF PURGATORY.

REV. J. J. MORIARTY, LL.D.

Purgatory is a state of suffering for such souls as have left this lifein the friendship of God, but who are not sufficiently purified toenter the kingdom of heaven—having to undergo some temporal punishmentfor their lighter sins and imperfections, or for their grievous sins,the eternal guilt of which has been remitted. In other words, webelieve that the souls of all who departed this life—not wicked enoughto be condemned to hell, nor yet pure enough to enjoy the BeatificVision of God—are sent to a place of purgation, where, in the crucibleof suffering, the lighter stains of their souls are thoroughly removed,and they themselves are gradually prepared to enter the Holy of Holies—where nothing defiled is permitted to approach.

* * * * *

——There are many venial faults which the majority of persons commit,and for which they have little or no sorrow—sins which do not deprivethe soul of God's friendship, and yet are displeasing to His infiniteholiness. For all these we must suffer either in this life or the next.Divine justice weighs everything in a strict balance, and there is nosin that we commit but for which we shall have to make due reparation.Faults which we deem of little or no account the Almighty will not passunnoticed or unpunished. Our Blessed Saviour warns us that even for"every idle word that man shall say he shall render an account in theday of judgment."

We know full well that no man will be sent to hell merely for an "idleword," or for any venial fault he may commit; consequently there mustbe a place where such sins are punished. If they be not satisfied forhere upon earth by suffering, affliction, or voluntary penance, theremust be a place in the other life where proper satisfaction is to bemade. That place cannot be either heaven or hell. It cannot be heaven,for no sufferings, no pain, no torment is to be found there, where "Godshall wipe away all tears from their eyes, where death shall be nomore, nor mourning nor weeping." It cannot be hell, where only thesouls of those who have died enemies of God are condemned to eternalmisery, for "out of hell there is no redemption."

There must be, then, a Middle Place where lighter faults are cleansedfrom the soul, and proper satisfaction is rendered for the temporalpunishment that still remains due. The punishment of every one willvary according to his desert.

* * * * *

Our Divine Lord warns us to make necessary reparation whilst we havethe time and opportunity.

"Make an agreement with thy adversary quickly whilst thou art in theway with him; lest, perhaps, the adversary deliver thee to the judge,and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast intoprison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thoupay the last farthing." (St. Matthew, v., 25, 26.)

This expresses the doctrine of Purgatory most admirably. The Scripturesalways describe our life as a pilgrimage. We are only on our way. Wehave to meet the claims of Divine justice here before being called tothe tribunal of the everlasting Judge; otherwise, even should we die inHis friendship and yet have left these claims not entirely satisfied,we shall be cast into the prison of Purgatory; and "Amen, I say untothee that thou shalt not go out from thence until thou pay the lastfarthing."

* * * * *

Our Saviour declares (St. Matthew, xii. 32,) that "whoever shall speaka word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but he thatshall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,either in this life or in the world to come;" which shows, as St.Augustine says in the twenty-first book of his work, "The City of God,"that there are some sins (venial of course) which shall be forgiven inthe next world, and that, consequently, there is a middle state, orplace of purgation in the other life, since no one can enter heavenhaving any stain of sin, and surely no one can obtain forgiveness inhell.

The testimony of St. Paul is very clear on this point of doctrine: "Forno man can lay another foundation but that which is laid; which isJesus Christ. Now if any man build on that foundation, gold, silver,precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: every man's work shall be mademanifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall berevealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sortit is. If any man's work abide, which he had built thereupon, he shallreceive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; buthe himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."

* * * * *

In the First Epistle of St. Peter (Chap. iii. 18, 19), we learn thatChrist "being put to death, indeed, in the flesh, but brought to lifeby the spirit, in which also He came and preached to those spirits whowere in prison."

Our Blessed Saviour, immediately after death, descended into that partof hell called Limbo, and, as St. Peter informs us, "preached to thespirits who were in prison." This most certainly shows the existence ofa middle state. The spirits to whom our Lord preached were certainlynot in the hell of the damned, where His preaching could not possiblybear any fruit; they were not already in heaven, where no preaching isnecessary, since there they see God face to face. Therefore they musthave been in some middle state—call it by whatever name you please—where they were anxiously awaiting their deliverance at the hands oftheir Lord and Redeemer.

Belief in Purgatory is more ancient than Christianity itself. It wasthe belief among the Jews of old, and of this we have clear proof inthe Second Book of Machabees, xii., 43. After a great victory gained bythat valiant chieftain, Judas Machabeus, about two hundred years beforethe coming of Christ, "Judas making a gathering, he sent twelvethousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offeredfor the sins of the dead, thinking well and justly concerning theresurrection…. It is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to prayfor the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins."

It is customary, even in our days, in Jewish synagogues, to erecttablets reminding those present of the lately deceased, in order thatthey may remember them in their prayers. Surely, if there did not exista place of purgation, no prayers nor sacrifices would be of any availto the departed. We find the custom of praying, of offering the HolySacrifice of the Mass for their spiritual benefit, more especially ontheir anniversaries, an universal practice among the primitiveChristians of the Eastern and Western Churches, of the Greek, Latin,and Oriental Rites.

Even if we did not find strong warrant, as we do, in the Scriptures,the authority of Apostolic Tradition would be amply sufficient for us;for, remember, we Catholics hold the traditions, handed down from theApostles, to be of as much weight as their own writings.

… Hence it is that we have recourse to sacred tradition as well as toScripture for the proof of our teaching. With reference, then, to thedoctrine of "Purgatory," we are guided by the belief that prevailedamong the primitive Christians.

That the custom of praying for the dead was sanctioned by the Apostlesthemselves, we have the declaration of St. John Chrysostom: "It was notin vain instituted by the Apostles that in the celebration of thetremendous mysteries a remembrance should be made of the departed. Theyknew that much profit and advantage would be thereby derived."

Tertullian—the most ancient of the Latin Fathers, who flourished inthe age immediately following that of the Apostles—speaks of the dutyof a widow with regard to her deceased husband: "Wherefore also doesshe pray for his soul, and begs for him, in the interim, refreshment,and in the first resurrection, companionship, and makes offerings forhim on the anniversary day of his falling asleep in the Lord. Forunless she has done these things, she has truly repudiated him so faras is in her power." All this supposes a Purgatory.

"The measure of the pain," says St. Gregory Nyssa, "is the quantity ofevil to be found in each one…. Being either purified during thepresent life by means of prayer and the pursuit of wisdom, or, afterdeparture from this life, by means of the furnace of the fire ofpurgatory."

* * * * *

Not only deeply instructive, but also eminently consoling is thedoctrine of Purgatory. We need not "mourn as those who have no hope,"for those nearest and dearest who have gone hence and departed thislife in the friendship of God.

How beautifully our Holy Mother the Church bridges over the terriblechasm of the grave! How faithfully and tenderly she comes to our aid inthe saddest of our griefs and sorrows! She leaves us not to mournuncomforted, unsustained. She chides us not for shedding tears over ourdear lost ones—a beloved parent, a darling child, a loving brother,affectionate sister, or deeply-cherished friend or spouse. She bids uslet our tears flow, for our Saviour wept at the grave of Lazarus.

She whispers words of comfort—not unmeaning words, but words of divinehope and strength—to our breaking hearts. She pours the oil ofheavenly consolation into our deepest wounds. She bids us cast off allunseemly grief, assuring us that not even death itself can sever thebond that unites us; that we can be of service to those dear departedones whom we loved better than life itself; that we can aid them by ourprayers and good works, and especially by, the Holy Sacrifice of theMass. Thus may we shorten their time of banishment, assuage theirpains, and continue to storm Heaven itself with our piteous appealsuntil the Lord deign to look down in mercy, open their prison doors,and admit them to the full light of His holy presence, and to theeverlasting embrace of their Redeemer and their God.

EXTRACTS FROM "CATHOLIC BELIEF."

VERY REV. FAÁ DI BRUNO. [1]

[Footnote 1: Catholic Belief, or, A Short and Simple Exposition of
Catholic Doctrine, by Very Rev. Joseph Faá Di Bruno. D. D., Rector-
General of the Pious Society of Missions of the Church of San Salvatore
in Onde, Ponte Sisto, Rome, and St. Peter's Italian Church in London.
American Edition, edited by Father Lambert, author of Notes on
Ingersoll, &c.]

As works of penance have no value in themselves except through themerits of Jesus Christ, so the pains of Purgatory have no power inthemselves to purify the soul from sin, but only in virtue of Christ'sRedemption, or, to speak more exactly, the souls in Purgatory are ableto discharge the debt of temporal punishment demanded by God's justice,and to have their venial sins remitted only through the merits of JesusChrist, "yet so as by fire."

The Catholic belief in Purgatory rests on the authority of the Churchand her apostolic traditions recorded in ancient Liturgies, and in thewritings of the ancient Fathers: Tertullian, St. Cyprian, Origen,Eusebius of Cæsarea, Arnobius, St. Basil, St. Ephrem of Edessa, St.Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Ambrose, St. Epiphanius,St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Augustine. It rests also on theFourth Council of Carthage, and on many other authorities of antiquity.

That this tradition is derived from the Apostles, St. John Chrysostomplainly testified in a passage quoted at the end of this chapter, inwhich he speaks of suffrages or help for the departed.

St. Augustine tells us that Arius was the first who dared to teach thatit was of no use to offer up prayers and sacrifices for the dead; andthis doctrine of Arius he reckoned among heresies. (Book of Heresies,Heresy 53d.)

There are also passages in Holy Scripture from which the Fathers haveconfirmed the Catholic belief on this point.

St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chap. iii. 11-15,writes: "For other foundations no one can lay, but that which is laid;which is Christ Jesus. Now, if any man build upon this foundation,gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's workshall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because itshall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work ofwhat sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath builtthereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shallsuffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."

The ancient Fathers, Origen in the third century, St. Ambrose and St.Jerome in the fourth, and St. Augustine in the fifth, have interpretedthis text of St. Paul as relating to venial sins committed byChristians which St. Paul compares to "wood, hay, stubble," and thuswith this text they confirm the Catholic belief in Purgatory, wellknown and believed in their time, as it is by Catholics in the presenttime. In St. Matthew (chap. v. 25, 26) we read, "Be at agreement withthy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest,perhaps, the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliverthee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen, I say to thee,thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing."

On this passage, St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, a Father of the thirdcentury, says: "It is one thing to be cast into prison, and not go outfrom thence till the last farthing be paid, and another to receive atonce the reward of faith and virtue: one thing in punishment of sin tobe purified by long-suffering and purged by long fire, and another tohave expiated all sins of suffering (in this life); one in fire, at theday of Judgment to wait the sentence of the Lord, another to receive animmediate crown from Him." (Epist. iii.)

Our Saviour said: "He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shallnot be forgiven him in this world, nor in the world to come." (St.Matt. xii. 32.)

From this text St. Augustine argues, that "It would not have been saidwith truth that their sin shall not be forgiven, neither in this world,nor in the world to come, unless some sins were remitted in the nextworld." (De Civitate Dei, Book xxi. chap. 24.)

On the other hand, we read in several places in Holy Scripture that Godwill render to every one (that is, will reward or punish) according aseach deserves. See, for example, in Matthew xvi. 27. But as we cannotthink that God will punish everlastingly a person who dies burdenedwith the guilt of venial sin only, it may be an "idle word," itis reasonable to infer that the punishment rendered to that person inthe next world will be only temporary.

The Catholic belief in Purgatory does not clash with the followingdeclarations of Holy Scripture, which every Catholic firmly believes,namely, that it is Jesus who cleanseth us from all sin, that Jesus bore"the iniquity of us all," that "by His bruises we are healed," (Isaiasiii., 5); for it is through the blood of Jesus and His copiousRedemption that those pains of Purgatory have power to cleanse thesouls therein detained.

Again, the Catholic belief in Purgatory is not in opposition to thosetexts of Scripture in which it is said that a man when he is justifiedis "translated from death to life;" that he is no longer judged: thatthere is no condemnation in him. For these passages do not refer tosouls taken to Heaven when natural death occurs, but to persons in thisworld, who from the death of sin pass to the life of grace. Nor does itfollow that dying in that state of grace, that is, in a state ofspiritual life, they must go at once to Heaven. A soul may bejustified, entirely exempt from eternal condemnation, and yethave something to suffer for a time; thus, also, in this world, manyare justified, and yet are not exempt from suffering.

Again, it is not fair to bring forward against the Catholic doctrine onPurgatory that text of the Apocalypse, Rev. xix. 13: "Blessed are thedead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, thatthey may rest from their labors: for their works follow them," for thistext applies only to those souls who die perfectly in the Lord, thatis, entirely free from every kind of sin, and from the stain,the guilt, and the debt of temporal punishment of everysin. Catholics believe that these souls have no pain to suffer inPurgatory, as is the case with the martyrs and saints who die in aperfect state of grace.

It is usual to bring forward against the Catholic belief in Purgatorythat text which says: "If the tree fall to the south, or to the north,in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be." (Eccles. xi. 3.)

This text confirms and illustrates the truth that, when death comes,the final doom of every one is fixed, and that there is nopossibility of changing it; so that one dying in a state of mortal sinwill always remain in a state of mortal sin, and consequently berejected forever; and one dying in a state of grace and friendship withGod, will forever remain accepted by God and in a state of grace, andin friendship with Him.

But this text proves nothing against the existence of Purgatory; for asoul, although in a state of grace, and destined to heaven, may stillhave to suffer for a time before being perfectly fit to enter upon theeternal bliss, to enjoy the vision of God.

Some might be disposed, notwithstanding, to regard this text as opposedto the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory by saying that the two placesalluded to in the texts are heaven and hell. But this interpretationCatholics readily admit, for at death either heaven or hell is thefinal place to which all men are allotted, Purgatory being only apassage to heaven. This text surely does not tell against those justones under the Old Law who died in a state of grace and salvation, andwho, though sure of heaven, had yet to wait in a middle state untilafter the Ascension of Jesus Christ; neither, therefore, does it tellagainst Purgatory.

Christ's Redemption is abundant, "plentiful" as Holy Scripture,says (Ps. cxxix. 7), and Catholics do not believe that those Christianswho die guilty only of _venial the practice of the Catholic Church tooffer prayers and other pious works in suffrage for the dead, as isamply testified by the Latin Fathers; for instance, Tertullian, St.Cyprian, St. Augustine, St. Gregory; and amongst the Greek Fathers, bySt. Ephrem of Edessa, St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom. St. Chrysostomsays: "It was not without good reason ordained by the Apostles thatmention should be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, becausethey knew well that, these would receive great benefit from it" (on theFirst Epistle to Philippians, Homily iii.) By the expression"tremendous mysteries," is meant the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

St. Augustine says: "It is not to be doubted that the dead are aided bythe prayers of Holy Church and by the salutary sacrifice, and by thealms which are offered for their spirits, that the Lord may deal withthem more mercifully than their sins have deserved. For this, which hasbeen handed down by the Fathers, the universal Church observes."(Enchirid, Vol. v., Ser. 172.)

The same pious custom is proved also from the ancient Liturgies of theGreek and other Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Schismatic, inwhich the Priest is directed to pray for the repose of the dead duringthe celebration of the Holy Mysteries.

PURGATORY AND THE FEAST OF ALL SOULS.

ALBAN BUTLER.

By Purgatory no more is meant by Catholics than a middle state ofsouls; namely of purgation from sin by temporary chastisem*nts, or apunishment of some sin inflicted after death, which is not eternal. Asto the place, manner or kind of these sufferings nothing has beendefined by the Church; and all who with Dr. Deacon except against thisdoctrine, on account of the circ*mstance of a material fire, quarrelabout a mere scholastic question, in which a person is at liberty tochoose either side…. Certainly some sins are venial, which deservenot eternal death. Yet if not effaced by condign punishment in thisworld must be punished in the next. The Scriptures frequently mentionthose venial sins, from which ordinarily the just are not exempt, whocertainly would not be just if these lesser sins into which men easilyfall by surprise, destroyed grace in them, or if they fell fromcharity. Yet the smallest sin excludes a soul from heaven so long as itis not blotted out…. Who is there who keeps, so constant a guard uponhis heart and whole conduct as to avoid all sensible self-deceptions?Who is there upon whose heart no inordinate attachments steal; intowhose actions no sloth, remissness, or other irregularity everinsinuates itself?… The Blessed Virgin was preserved by anextraordinary grace from the least sin in the whole tenor of her lifeand actions; but, without such a singular privilege, even the saintsare obliged to say that they sin daily…. The Church of Christ iscomposed of three different parts: the Triumphant in Heaven, theMilitant on earth, and the Patient or Suffering in Purgatory. Ourcharity embraces all the members of Christ…. The Communion of Saintswhich we profess in our Creed, implies a communication of certain goodworks and offices, and a mutual intercourse among all the members ofChrist. This we maintain with the Saints in heaven by thanking andpraising God for their triumphs and crowns, imploring theirintercession, and receiving the succors of their charitable solicitudefor us: likewise with the souls in Purgatory by soliciting the divinemercy in their favor. Nor does it seem to be doubted but they, as theyare in a state of grace and charity, pray for us; though the Churchnever address public suffrages to them, not being warranted byprimitive practice and tradition so to do.

… St. Odilo, abbot of Cluni, in 998, instituted the commemoration ofall the faithful departed in all the monasteries of his congregation onthe 1st of November, which was soon adopted by the whole WesternChurch. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, declared it a holiday of thesecond class, on which certain necessary and important kinds of workwere allowed. Some dioceses kept it a holiday of precept till noon;only those of Vienne and Tours, and the order of Cluni, the whole day:in most places it is only a day of devotion. The Greeks have long kepton Saturday sevennight before Lent, and on Saturday before Whitsunday,the solemn commemoration of all the faithful departed; but offer upMass every Saturday for them…. The dignity of these souls moststrongly recommends them to our compassion, and at the same time to ourveneration. Though they lie at present at a distance from God, buriedin frightful dungeons under waves of fire, they belong to the happynumber of the elect. They are united to God by His grace; they love Himabove all things, and amidst their torments never cease to bless andpraise Him, adoring the severity of His justice with perfectresignation and love…. They are illustrious conquerors of the devil,the world and hell; holy spirits loaded with merits and graces, andbearing the precious badge of their dignity and honor by the nuptialrobe of the Lamb with which by an indefeasible right they are clothed.Yet they are now in a state of suffering, and endure greater tormentsthan it is possible for any one to suffer, or for our imagination torepresent to itself in this mortal life…. St. Cæsarius of Arieswrites: "A person," says he, "may say, I am not much concerned how longI remain in Purgatory, provided I may come to eternal life. Let no onereason thus. Purgatory fire will be more dreadful than whatevertorments can be seen, imagined, or endured in this world. And how doesany one know whether he will stay days, months, or years? He who isafraid now to put his finger into the fire, does he not fear lest he bethen all buried in torments for a long time…. The Church approvesperpetual anniversaries for the dead; for some souls may be detained inpains to the end of the world, though after the day of judgment nothird state can exist…. If we have lost any dear friends in Christ,while we confide in His mercy, and rejoice in their passage from theregion of death to that of life, light, and eternal joy, we have reasonto fear some lesser stains may retard their bliss. In this uncertaintylet us earnestly recommend them to the divine clemency…. Perhaps, thesouls of some dear friends may be suffering on our account; perhaps,for their fondness for us, or for sins of which we were the occasion,by scandal, provocation, or otherwise, in which case motives not onlyof charity, but of justice, call upon us to endeavor to procure themall the relief in our power…. Souls delivered and brought to glory byour endeavors will amply repay our kindness by obtaining divine gracesfor us. God Himself will be inclined by our charity to show us alsomercy, and to shower down upon us His most precious favors. 'Blessedare the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' By having shown thismercy to the suffering souls in Purgatory, we shall be particularlyentitled to be treated with mercy at our departure hence, and to sharemore abundantly in the general suffrages of the Church, continuallyoffered for all that have slept in Christ."

PART II

ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.

We know them not, nor hear the sound
They make in treading all around:
Their office sweet and mighty prayer
Float without echo through the air;
Yet sometimes, in unworldly places,
Soft sorrow's twilight vales,
We meet them with uncovered faces,
Outside their golden pales,
Though dim, as they must ever be,
Like ships far-off and out at sea,
With the sun upon their sails.—FABER.

THE FRUIT OF A MASS.

The incident we are about to relate and which, in some way, only theprice of the first Mass paid for, reminds us of another which seems tobe also the fruit of a single Mass given under the inspiration offaith. This fact is found in the life of St. Peter Damian, and we arehappy to reproduce it here, in order to tell over again the marvels ofGod in those He loves, and to make manifest that charity for the poorsouls brings ever and always its own reward.

Peter, surnamed Damian, was born in 988, at Ravenna, in Italy. Hisfamily was poor, and he was the youngest of several children. He losthis father and mother while still very young, and was taken by one ofhis brothers to his home. But Damian was treated there in a veryinhuman manner. He was regarded rather as a slave, or, at least, as abase menial, than as the brother of the master of the house. He wasdeprived of the very necessaries of life, and, after being made to worklike a hired servant, he was loaded with blows. When he was older, theygave him charge of the swine.

Nevertheless, Peter Damian, being endowed with rare virtue, receivedall with patience as coming from God. This sweet resignation on thepart of a child was most pleasing to the Lord, and He rewarded him byinspiring him to a good action.

One day the little Damian, leading his flocks to the pasture, found onthe way a small piece of money. Oh! how rejoiced he was! How his heartswelled within him!

He clapped his hands joyfully, thinking himself quite rich, and alreadyhe began to calculate all he could do with his money. Suggestions werenot wanting, for he was in need of everything.

Nevertheless, the noble child took time to reflect; a sudden shadowfell on the fair heaven of his happy thoughts. He all at onceremembered that his father, his poor mother who had so loved him, mightbe still suffering cruel torments in the place of expiation. Anddespising his own great necessities, and generously making thesacrifice of what was for him a treasure, Damian, raised above himselfand his wants by the thought of his beloved parents, brought his moneyto a priest, to have the Holy Sacrifice offered for them.

That generous child had obeyed a holy inspiration, and this good deedof his was quickly rewarded. Fortune suddenly changed with him. He wastaken by another of his brothers, who took all possible care of him.Seeing that the child had such excellent dispositions, he made himbegin to study. He sent him first to Florence, then to a famous schoolin Parma, where he had for his master the celebrated Ivo. The brilliantqualities of Damian were rapidly developed, and soon he becameprofessor where he had been a pupil. He afterwards gave up the worldand became a religious, and was, in course of time, not only aremarkable man, but a great saint. He was charged by the Holy See withaffairs the most important, and died clothed in the Roman purple. He isstill a great light in the Church, and his writings are always full ofpiety and erudition.

The little Damian, then, might well think that he possessed a treasurein his little coin, since with it he purchased earthly honors andheavenly bliss. We all of us have often had in our hand Damian's littlepiece of money, but have we known how to make a treasure of it?Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory, 1877.

THE FAITH OF A PIOUS LADY.

"In the course of the month of July of last year," said a zealousmember of our Association for the Souls in Purgatory, "I was accostedby one of our associates who told me, with an exuberance of joy, 'Ah!we have great reason to thank the souls in Purgatory; I beg you tounite with us in thanking them for the favor they have just done us.''Indeed? Well! I am very happy to hear it. Has anything extraordinaryhappened to you? Tell me, if you please, what seems to cause you somuch joy?'

"Then our fervent associate—a young man of a mild and pleasing aspect,usually somewhat reserved, but of gentlemanly bearing—said, in a toneof deep emotion:

"'I am rejoiced to tell you, in the first place, that I have thehappiness of still having my good mother. God seems to leave her on theearth to complete the work of her purification, for she is always sickand suffering, and, as she says herself, there is neither rest norpeace for her here below; nevertheless, she resigns herself sopatiently to the sufferings and tribulations which weigh so heavilyupon her that it does me a twofold good every time I see her, for Ilove her as my mother, I venerate her as a saint.

"'One day, then, last week, finding herself a little stronger, shethought she would take a short drive, being in the country for herhealth. The drive seemed really to do her good; the beauty of thecountry, and still more, the fresh, pure air, appeared to revive her,and altogether she enjoyed her drive immensely. Her heart, as well asher mind, was changed, for you know there is often a sickness of thehead, as of the body. She already began to flatter herself with thehope of a speedy recovery, when, in the midst of the drive which washaving so beneficial an effect, the horse, from some unknown cause,suddenly took fright, and, taking the bit between his teeth, startedoff at a fearful pace.

"'Imagine the terror of my poor mother! On either side the road was abroad, deep ditch, and the rough, uneven soil caused the carriage tojolt fearfully, which was another great danger; and, as it so oftenhappens in the country, the road was deserted, and no one to be seenwho might give any assistance.

"'To crown all, it happened that the servant who drove my mother, inhis efforts to restrain the horse in his headlong flight, had themisfortune to break the reins, which were their only chance of guidingthe animal in his mad career.

"'Ah! how can I describe the feelings of my poor dear mother, alreadyso sick and so feeble; in fact, she was almost dead with fright. Shethought every moment that she was going to be thrown into the ditch, ordashed against the stake paling which bordered the road on either side.She was nearly in despair, when all at once the thought occurred to herto promise a Mass for the Souls in Purgatory, if the horse stopped.

"'And what do you think?—Ah! I am still so agitated myself, that I canhardly tell it!—But, wonderful to relate, that horse, in the wildexcitement of his flight, without so much as a thread to restrain him,who could not have been stopped by any natural cause whatsoever,—thathorse stopped immediately, and one might say, suddenly, as though abarrier were placed before him!

"'It were utterly impossible to express my mother's joy and gratitude.
Her life will henceforth be but one long act of thanksgiving; for,
without that unlooked-for help it had certainly been all over with her.
Oh, I beseech you help me to thank Heaven for so great a favor.'"

This example will serve to show still more clearly that God is pleasedto manifest His power, even for the slightest service rendered to thosewhom He deigns to call His "Beloved" of Purgatory.—Almanac of theSouls in Purgatory. 1877.

PAY WHAT THOU OWEST.

When the fathers of the Society of Jesus first established their orderin Kentucky, a wealthy and respected Catholic citizen of Bardstown, Mr.S——, sought admission among them,—although his age and lack of athorough preparatory education offered obstacles to his success. Heentered the Novitiate, only to be convinced that it was too late forhim to become a priest, as had been prudently represented to him at theoutset. However, his love for the Society had been strengthened by hisshort stay in the sanctuary of the community, and he resolved to devotehimself to the service of the Fathers in another way. He determined tosecure a suitable residence, and found a college, which, as soon as itwas in a flourishing condition, he would turn over to the Society.

With this object in view, Mr. S—— made diligent inquiries, andadvertised in various county newspapers for a suitable residence inwhich to begin his good work. One of his advertisem*nts received aprompt reply from the executors of an estate in C—— County. Theproperty offered for sale was unencumbered, its broad lands under highcultivation, the mansion in good repair, etc. Accompanied by a friend,Mr. S—— hastened to visit the plantation. He found one wing of thehouse occupied by the overseer and his family, and observed withpleasure that the advertisem*nt seemed not to have exaggerated thevalue of the estate.

Mr. S—— and his friend tarried over night, and were assigned separateapartments, which the administrators had ordered to be kept inreadiness for the reception of prospective purchasers. Although greatlyfatigued by a long ride on horseback over ill-kept roads, neither ofthe gentlemen could sleep, on account of a wearisome, incessantknocking in an adjoining room. Each believing the other to be soundasleep, forbore to awake his tired companion, but when they met at anearly breakfast, they both, as in one breath, inquired of the farmer'swife the cause of the continuous tapping in the adjoining apartment.Mrs. F—— exchanged a significant glance with her husband, and a sortof grim smile overspread the face of the latter. After a moment'shesitation, he declared that he and his wife, and the servants on theestate, had in vain tried to find out the cause. All who slept in thosetwo rooms heard the noise, and could not sleep. Both husband and wifeassured their guests that the knocking took place in the apartmentalways occupied, during her lifetime, by Mrs. G——, the late owner ofthe estate; furthermore, that the disturbance was unknown before herdeath. Mr. S—— and his companion naturally became more and moreinterested, and after suggesting all the ordinary causes of unusual andmysterious knocks, such as rats, cats, chipmunks, creaking doors,broken shutters, and the like, rode off with Mr. F—— to make athorough examination of the estate.

The two gentlemen rode all over the plantation, conferred with theexecutors and some lawyers, and after inspecting the house thoroughly,sat down to a dinner that was highly creditable to the hostess, whoseemed anxious concerning the disclosures of the morning. When nightcame on, the visitors were shown to the same rooms they had previouslyoccupied. In the morning each spoke again of his inability to get anyrefreshing sleep, and as they rode back to B——, talking over dreams,visions, and other supernatural occurrences, they asked themselves,might not this knocking have a supernatural cause? Concluding it mighthave, they considered it would be well to lay the case before the Rev.Father Q——; at least, they could go, and tell him of their journeyinto C—— County, and also of the mysterious knocking, if it seemed tocome in naturally; for each felt a little dread of being laughed at astoo credulous. In the course of their conversation with the Father, thefull details of what they had learned and had personally experiencedwere related. Father Q—— seemed to consider the occurrence quiteeasily accounted for by some physical cause; but when the gentlemenrecalled to his attention the circ*mstance of Mrs. G——'s death, heappeared to take another view of the matter.

Finally, it was decided that Father Q—— and a brother priest shouldaccompany Mr. S—— and his friend to the plantation, for a personalinvestigation. Soon after their arrival at the mansion the priests,preceded by the servants of the family, Mr. and Mrs. F——, and the twovisitors, repaired to the mysterious chamber. When a little Holy Waterhad been sprinkled about the room, there was a cessation of theknocking, and after reciting some prayers, Father Q—— inquired, inLatin, of whatever spirit might be there the cause of the disturbance.He was distinctly answered in the same tongue that the soul of Mrs.G—— could not rest in peace, because of an uncancelled debt to theshoemaker, Mr. ——. The interlocutor was assured that the matter shouldbe attended to at once. Thereupon the knocking re-commenced andcontinued.

All were painfully surprised, but thanked God that it would be so easya matter to settle the debt. The Rosary was then recited by theassembly, most of whom had supposed that the priests were present tobless the house. Without delay, Mr. S. and Father Q—— repaired to theshop of the village shoemaker, and begged him to present any bill thathe might have against the estate of the late Mrs. G——. The shoemakersaid that he did not believe there was anything due to him, forpayments had always been made very punctually. However, he ran over hisaccount-book, and declared that he found nothing. In sorrowfulsurprise, the two friends then took their departure, telling the shoedealer that if, at any time, he should find aught against the property,to inform them without delay.

On his return home, the shoemaker related to his mother what hadhappened in the shop. After reflection, she asked if he had looked overhis father's accounts. "Certainly not," he said. She then remarked thatthe request was only half complied with, for Mrs. G—— had long beenhis father's customer. After dinner, they repaired to the attic, and,searching out the old ledgers, went over them carefully. To theirsurprise they found a bill of twelve dollars and a half, for a pair ofwhite satin slippers (probably Mrs. G——'s wedding shoes), which, inthe midst of various affairs, had remained unsettled. A messenger wassent with all speed to the mansion. On the way he chanced to meetFather Q—— and Mr. S——. The bill, with interest, was paid on thespot, and, returning to the house, they learned from the astonished anddelighted tenants that the rappings had suddenly and entirely ceased.

Shortly after, Mr. S—— became the owner of the estate, the heirs ofwhich, preferring to live in Europe, had permitted its sale, in orderto divide and enjoy the proceeds. As Mr. S—— had planned, a collegewas there founded, and before long it was under the control of theSociety of his aspirations and his enthusiastic love.—AveMaria, Nov. 15, 1884.

THE VIA CRUCIS

In November, 1849, Prince Charles Löwenstein Wertheim Rosenberg died. Alady who filled a subordinate office in his family as governess,communicated to the author the incidents which follow. At the prince'sdeathbed, which she was permitted to visit, she made a vow to saycertain prayers daily for the repose of his soul, in accordance with awish which he had expressed. When the family was residing at the castleof Henbach on the Maine, it was this lady's habit to spend a short timeevery evening in the private chapel. After one of those visits, aboutthree months after the prince's death, she retired to rest, and in thecourse of the night had a singular dream. She was in the chapel,kneeling in a tribune; opposite to her was the high altar. She hadspent some time in prayer, when suddenly, on the steps of the altar,she saw the tall figure of the deceased prince, kneeling with greatapparent devotion. Presently he turned towards her, and in his usualmanner of addressing her, said: "Dear child, come down to me here inthe chapel; I want to speak to you." She replied that she would gladly,but that the doors were all locked. He assured her that they were allopen. She went down to him, taking her candle with her. When she camenear him, the prince rose to meet her, took her hand, and, withoutspeaking, led her to the altar, and they both knelt down together. Theyprayed for some time in silence, then he rose once more, and standingat the foot of the altar, said: "Tell my children, my dear child, thattheir prayers and yours are heard. Tell them that God has accepted theVia Crucis [1] which they have daily made for me, and yourprayers also. I am with God in His glory, and I will pray for all thosewho have so faithfully prayed for me." As he spoke, his face seemedlighted up as with the glory usually painted round the head of a saint.With a farewell look he vanished, and she awoke.

[Footnote 1: Way of the Cross, more commonly called the Stations of the
Cross.]

At breakfast she appeared agitated. She sat beside the prince'sgranddaughter, Princess Adelaide Löwenstein, afterwards married to DonMiguel of Portugal. This lady asked her what was the matter. Sherelated her dream, and then begged to know what prayers the princesseshad offered for the repose of his Highnesses' soul. They were theVia Crucis.—Footsteps of Spirits. [1]

[Footnote 1: Published by Burns & Lambert of London.]

STRANGE INCIDENTS.

When the Benedictine College at Ampleforth, in Yorkshire, was building,a few years ago, one of the masons attracted the attention of thecommunity by the interest which he took in the incidents of their dailylife. He had to walk from a village three miles off, so as to be at thecollege every morning by six o'clock. He was first much pleased withthe regularity of the community, whom he always found in the church,singing the Hours before Mass, on his arrival in the morning. Bydegrees he was taught the whole of the Catholic doctrine, and wasreceived into the Church. None of his family, however, would follow hisexample. Exposure to cold and wet brought on an illness, of which hedied, in a very pious manner. A short time after his death, his wifewas one morning sweeping about the open door of her house, when herhusband walked in, and sat down on a seat by the fire, and began to askher how she did. She answered that she was well, and hoped he was happywhere he was. He replied that he was, at that time; that, at first, hehad passed through Purgatory, and had undergone a brief purification;but that, when this was ended, he had been taken to the enjoyment ofthe bliss of God in heaven. He remained talking to her some little timelonger, then he bade her farewell, and disappeared.

The woman applied to a Catholic priest for instruction; and it wasfound that, although she had never in her life read a Catholic book,nor conversed about the Catholic religion with any one, she hadacquired a complete knowledge of the doctrine of Purgatory from thatshort interview with her husband. She, too, became a Catholic. Theauthor was told this story by one who was a member of the community ofAmpleforth at the time.

A missionary priest at B—— (in England), a very few years ago,promised to say Mass for a woman in his congregation who had died.Among other engagements of the same kind, he unconsciously overlookedher claim upon him. By and by her husband came to him, and begged himto remember his promise. The missionary thought that he had alreadydone so. "Oh! no, sir," the man replied; "I can assure you that youhave not; my poor wife has been to me to tell me so, and to get you todo this act of charity for her." The priest was satisfied of hisomission, and immediately supplied it. Soon after, the poor manreturned to thank him, at the woman's desire. She had told her husbandthat now she was perfectly happy in heaven; her face, which hadappeared much disfigured at her first visit, was surrounded with a haloof light when she came again. This anecdote reached the author througha common friend of his own and of the missionary.

A similar anecdote is told of a nun in the English convent of Bruges,between thirty and forty years ago. A relation of Canon Schmidt haddied in the house, and Miss L——, another nun, much attached to her,saw her friend one night in a dream. She seemed to come with a seriouscountenance, and pointed to the Office for the Dead in an office-book,which she appeared to hold in her hand. Her friend was much perplexed,and consulted Miss N——, a third nun, who suggested that perhaps MissL—— had not said the Office three times, as usual, for her deceasedsister. Miss L—— was nearly sure that she had; but as she had a habitof marking off this obligation as it was discharged, it could be easilyascertained. On examining her private note-book, it turned out that shehad not said the three Offices. Miss N——'s sister, who was educatedin the same convent, told the author this little story, and afterwardswas good enough to revise his narrative of it. So that this account isvirtually her own. Though seeming to have passed through two channelson its way to this book, that is, through the author's memory and hisfriend's, yet having, submitted to the latter a written memorandum ofthe narrative, and received and adopted his friend's corrections, thestory is as authentic as if it had passed through only one intermediatechannel. For there is no doubt that the value of a story diminishesrapidly with every additional hand through which it passes.—Footsteps of Spirits, 113-14.

A TRUE STORY OF THE "DE PROFUNDIS."

One evening in the month of July, 184—, a happy group were gathered inthe wide porch of a well-known mansion in Prince George's County,Maryland. A little Catholic church had been recently built in thevillage of L—— by the zealous and wealthy proprietor of "Monticello,"and as the means of the newly-formed congregation were too limited tosupport a resident pastor, one of the Reverend Fathers from Georgetownkindly came out once a fortnight to celebrate Mass and administer theSacraments. On the eve of the favored Sunday, Doctor J—— took hiscarriage to the railway station and brought back the Reverend Fathernamed for that week's services; and his visit was always looked forwith delight by all the household at Monticello, domestics andchildren, but by none so much as by three recent converts to our holyfaith, who often took occasion to propound to their amiable and learnedguest any doubts on religious questions that had arisen during thecourse of the intervening weeks.

On the evening above mentioned, the priest who came was an ItalianJesuit, the Reverend Father G——. He held his little audienceentranced with a fund of edifying stories and interesting replies tothe questions asked. The calm serenity of the night, the gentle,refreshing breeze that came from a neighboring wood of pine-trees, thebeautiful glitter of the flitting glow-worm, and the rich perfumewafted from the purple magnolia grandiflora—all added to theenchantment. The doctor broke the charm by saying: "Reverend Father, weshall be obliged to leave early to-morrow morning. The carriage will beready for you at 6 o'clock."

"Is it a long drive to the church?" asked Father G——.

"No; only four miles," answered the doctor; "but there will be manyconfessions to hear and, perhaps, some baptisms to administer; hence,unless the work is begun early, Mass will not be over before 12o'clock."

"I hope, then," replied the Father, smiling, "that you will not fail toawake betimes."

"As to that," rejoined the doctor, "when I have to arise at anyparticular time, I recite a De Profundis for the relief of thesuffering souls, and I am sure of awaking promptly at he right hour."

"I can easily credit that," said Father G——.

"It is a pious practice which was recommended to me by the late Dr.Ryder, of Georgetown, when I was at the College," said the host; "and Ihave never found that any one to whom I taught the practice failed tofind it truly efficacious."

"If it would not detain you too long beyond your customary hours," saidFather G——, "I would add to my long list of anecdotes one more on theDe Profundis."

All present besought the priest to favor them; in truth, the worthyhousehold never wearied of pious conversation.

"It happened," began the good priest, with religious modesty, "thatabout twenty years ago I accompanied a number of prominent members ofour Society who had been summoned to the Mother House, in Rome, onbusiness of importance. The Fathers carried with them preciousdocuments from their several provinces; and, besides the pursenecessary to meet their current travelling expenses, certaincontributions from churches as Peter's Pence, and donations for theGeneral of the Society. Our way lay across the Apennines, and we werenumerous enough to fill a large coach. We knew that the fastnesses ofthe mountains were infested by outlawed bands, and we had been carefulto select an honest driver. Before setting out, it was agreed that weshould place ourselves under the protection of the Holy Souls byreciting a De Profundis every hour. At a given signal, mental orvocal prayer, reading or recreation, would be suspended, and the psalmrecited in unison.

"Luigi, the driver, had been instructed, in case of any apparentdanger, to make three distinct taps on the roof of our vehicle with theheavy end of his whip. We travelled the whole day undisturbed, withoutother interruptions than those called for by the observance of ouritinerary. Just as the evening twilight began, we reached the summit ofa lofty mountain. The air was cool, the scenery wild and majestic, andeach of us seemed absorbed in the pleasant glimpses of the recedinglandscapes, when we were startled by three ominous knocks on the roofof our coach. Before we could ask any questions, Luigi had given hishorses such blows as nearly made them throw us out of the vehicle, andsent the animals running at a break-neck speed. We looked, we listened,and, to our amazement and horror, beheld about a dozen bandits oneither side of the road, with arms uplifted, and holding deadlyweapons, as if ready and determined to strike with well-aimedprecision. But, strange to say, they all remained as motionless asstatues, until we had gone on so far as to leave them a mere speck onthe descending horizon.

"Each one of our party had kept exterior silence, but inwardly put histrust in the Most High. At last, Luigi halted. His horses were whitewith foam, and panting as if they would never breathe naturally again.

"A miracle!" cried Luigi, signing himself with the mystic Sign; "may
God and Our Lady be praised! I tell you, Fathers, it is a miracle that
we are not dead men!" "'Indeed, a very special protection of Divine
Providence said the superior pro tem.; 'and we must all thank
God with our whole hearts.'

"'I tell you,' broke in Luigi, 'those were horrible men; I never sawany look fiercer.'

"'Then, as soon as your horses are able, we had better move on. Shallyou be obliged to change them before we get to our proposed stopping-place?' asked the superior.

"'Oh, we must not stop to change! we should be tracked by some of theirspies. We had better go on; and, as the road descends gently, I thinkthis team will make the remainder of the route.'

"'Well,' said our superior, as we re-entered the coach, 'we must alloffer a Mass in thanksgiving to-morrow;' to which we all heartilyassented, and found subject for conversation the rest of the way inrecalling the particulars of our wondrous escape.

"Holy obedience afterwards stationed me," continued the ReverendFather, "at the Gesú. About two years later, I was called upon toinstruct a prisoner condemned to capital punishment. 'He appears tohave been a desperate man,' said the jailer, as he drew aside theenormous bolts of iron that held fast the door of a corridor leading toa dismal dungeon; 'now, however, he is a little subdued; he even seemscontrite at times, and I hope he will die penitent.'

"I visited the prisoner several times; he was always glad to see me,but it cost him a great effort to open his heart, and make a fullconfession. His birth and parentage, and advantages for a liberaleducation, should have brought him to a widely-different destiny. Hehad loved adventure naturally, but had taken a wrong direction. Hemight have become a famous military man, whereas he was only a rough,desperate highwayman. To win him to God, I began to listen tonarratives of his wild brigand exploits. I affected to be interested inthese daring adventures, and then succeeded in pointing out to him thesin that abounded in each and every act. One day, as he was speaking ofthe latest years of his life, I was greatly surprised to hear himrecount the identical incident with which I began my story. Hedescribed to me in the most graphic terms the wonderful manner in whichhis hands and those of his comrades had been held by an invisible,irresistible power, saying that they had returned to their mountainhaunts perfectly dismayed; that some of them appeared to have a vagueand conscientious alarm, though revelry and song soon banished suchmisgivings. He told me that they knew the carriage was full of Jesuitpriests, and that they had been promised a great pecuniary reward by aprominent member of the Freemason Society if they should succeed inseizing our luggage.

"I then made known to my penitent my share in that providential escape;he at once fell on his knees, wept long and bitterly, and finally askedmy forgiveness. I prepared him for his dreadful end, and believe hedied at peace with God, so great is the mercy of Jesus to the contritesoul, 'even though his sins be as scarlet.' I asked his permission tonarrate the particulars of his portion of the story, and he gladly gaveit, hoping to merit something for his sin-burdened soul by that act ofhumility."

We were all much impressed by the Reverend Father's narrative, and aswe bade one another good-night, the doctor remarked that a kind deedperformed for others was sure to merit a blessing in return, eventhough it were so small a favor as that gained by his favorite practiceof saying the De Profundis.

"Yes," said Father G——, "charity never fails."—Ave Maria,
Nov. 24th, 1883.

CONFIDENCE REWARDED.

The following fact took place in Montreal, Canada, some three or fouryears since. We shall leave the zealous member of our association whor*lated it to us to tell his own story:

"One morning," said he, "coming back from Mass, I saw Mr. C——, whowas also coming out of the church. He was a worthy man, fearing God andfulfilling his duties faithfully and conscientiously. I said to myself:'There is a man who deserves to belong to our association.' For is itnot always a favor when God deems us worthy to do something for Him?

"I approached and asked him if he would not like to become a member ofour association. 'What association?' 'The Association of the Way of theCross and Masses. It is to relieve the dead by prayer and alms, twopowerful means.' 'Ah! I knew nothing of it. What has to be done?' 'Itsuffices to make the Way of the Cross once a week and pay for a Massonce a month.' 'I love the souls in Purgatory,' he said, 'and I do allI can to relieve them. But, you see, things are not going well with mejust now. I have been a long time sick, and am hardly able yet todischarge my ordinary duties.'

"At these words I cast my eyes on the speaker, and saw what I had notbefore noticed, that he looked pale and worn. He went on: 'As forpaying anything, it would be impossible for me to do it; I havecontracted debts, and if my ill health should continue,' he added, in afaltering voice, 'I shall be obliged to sell my little house.' Then hestopped, his heart evidently full, and tears in his eyes. 'ButProvidence watches over you, and nothing happens without God's goodleave. If a single hair of our head cannot fall unless He will it, whathave you to fear? Do something for God whilst you can. If you areliberal to Him, He will be more so towards you. Do you remember thepromise Our Lord made to St. Gertrude? 'I will give an hundred-fold,'said He, 'for all thou shalt do for my beloved ones in Purgatory.' Thispromise was not for St. Gertrude alone; it was likewise for you. Forone dollar that you give, you will gain ten; and if you are resolved tohelp the poor souls all you can, they will get you health to do it.''Ah! what you say touches me much, and truly I know not what to do.'After a moment's hesitation, he quickly resumed: 'Well, sir, although Iam actually in distress, I am going to try; it may be the best means ofgetting out of it.' 'Yes, try; we run no risk when we make the HolySouls our debtors.'

"At these words, he drew from his pocket a small purse which containedonly half a dollar. 'There is all my wealth, and I am happy to share itwith you,' and he gave me the stipend for a Mass. 'I will perhaps putmyself to some inconvenience in giving you that sum, trifling though itbe; but, blessed be God! I will bear with the inconvenience, thinkingthat those who suffer much more than I will obtain some relief in theircruel torments. I will also pray for them, and that they may obtain forme the resignation which is so pleasing to God.'

"When I saw the noble sentiments of this man, I shook him by the hand,warmly thanked him, and reminded him that God was always touched bysuch acts, and that He knew how to reward them.

"From that moment, strange to say, that frail, delicate man began torecover his strength, work came back to his shop, and everything grewbrighter around him. And, as an additional reward from Heaven, he wasanimated by a new zeal for the Holy Souls, for he not only paid his ownlittle contribution regularly, but he also collected the money for asmany Masses as he could on one side and another.

"Six or seven months thus passed away amid ever increasing prosperity,when one day he said to me in presence of several persons: 'Lastautumn, before I gave my name to the Association for the Souls inPurgatory, I was so sick and so discouraged that I thought I shoulddie; but when I had paid for my first Mass, from that moment, as allmay see, my health began to return, and with it my courage. To-day, asyou see, I am perfectly well. Moreover, I have found means to pay offone hundred and fifty dollars of debt, and to have fifty dollars' worthof repairs made to my little house. How has all that been done? I knownot: for you will admit that, by a poor shoemaker such as I, who worksat his bench and without even an apprentice, after such a hard winter,and without any advance before me, to find means, despite all that, toprovide for the support of his family and pay two hundred dollars overand above, is something extraordinary.

"'But I know well to whom I owe it all; hence,' he added, with a smile,'that has given me new zeal. Now, I work not only for myself; everyevening I go out collecting for our good Souls in Purgatory, and,blessed be God! I have got one hundred and fifty dollars for theAssociation of Masses. Have I not, sir?' he added, addressing thetreasurer, who was present.

"'Yes, you have, indeed, collected one hundred and fifty dollars,perhaps something more, by twenty-five cents here and twenty-five centsthere, with a perseverance and a zeal beyond all praise, and welldeserving of the favors you have received.'

"'Ah!' said this worthy man, so admirable in his simplicity and thefervor of his conviction, 'it is that I still desire something; I nowexpect that they will make me better,' and he sighed.

"Thus was this good man rewarded for his confidence in the Souls inPurgatory, and such was his gratitude to them."—Almanac of the Soulsin Purgatory, 1877.

ANECDOTE OF THE "DE PROFUNDIS."

I once heard an anecdote of a good priest who was in the habit ofsaying the De Profundis every day for the Souls in Purgatory, but,happening one day to omit it, either through inadvertence or press ofoccupation, he was passing through a cemetery about the close of day,when he suddenly heard, through the hushed silence of the lonely placeand the solemn evening's hour, a mournful voice repeating the firstwords of the beautiful psalm—De Profundis clamavit Domini—thenit stopped, but the priest, as soon as he had recovered from the firstshock, and remembering with bitter self-reproach his omission, took upthe words where the supernatural voice had left off, and finished therecitation of the De Profundis, resolving, as he did so, that,for the time to come, nothing should prevent him from reciting it everyday, and more than once in the day, for the benefit of the dearsuffering Souls.

A STRANGE OCCURRENCE IN A PERSIAN PRISON.

There is a very strange story concerning Purgatory related by St. Johnthe Almoner, Patriarch of Alexandria, in the end of the sixth and thebeginning of the seventh century. A little before a great mortalitywhich took place in that city, several inhabitants of the Island ofCyprus were carried off to Persia and cast into a prison so severe thatit was called the Oblivion. Some of them, however, succeeded inmaking their escape and returned to their own country. A father andmother, whose son had been carried off with the others, asked them fortidings of their son. "Alas!" said they, "your son died on such a day;we ourselves had the sad consolation of giving him burial." The poorparents hastened then to have a solemn service performed for the reposeof his soul; this they had done three times every year, continuing inprayer for the same intention. But, marvellous to relate! one day thisson, so much regretted, so fondly remembered, came knocking at theirdoor and threw himself into their arms. He had been supposed dead forfour years, yet was really alive, he whom the other prisoners hadburied having had a great resemblance to him, that is all. "How! is itreally thou, dear son? Oh! how we mourned for thee! Three times everyyear we had a solemn service for thee." "On what days?" eagerlydemanded the son. "On the holy days of Christmas, Easter, andPentecost." "Precisely!" he exclaimed; "on those very days I saw, eachtime, an officer radiant with light, who came to me and taking off mychains, opened the doors of my prison. I went forth into the city,walked wherever I wished, without any one appearing to notice me; only,in the evening, I always found myself miraculously chained in mydungeon. It was the fruit of your good prayers, and if I had been inPurgatory, they would have served at the same time to relieve me; Ibeseech you not to forget me when the good God shall see fit to call meto Himself."—Leontius, Life of St. John the Almoner.

A SWISS PROTESTANT CONVERTED BY THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.

I have somewhere read, says a Catholic writer, that a Swiss Protestantwas converted to the true religion solely on account of our having theconsoling doctrine of Purgatory, whereas Protestants will not admit ofit. He was a Lutheran somewhat advanced in age, and he had a brotherwho passed for a worthy man, as the world goes, but had also themisfortune of being a Protestant. He fell sick, and notwithstanding thecare of several physicians, died, and was buried by a Protestantminister of Berne. His death was a terrible blow to the brother of whomI speak. Hoping to dissipate his grief he tried travelling, but thethought of his brother's eternal destiny pursued him everywhere. He oneday, on board a steamer, made the acquaintance of a Catholic priest,with whom he entered into conversation. Confidence was soon establishedbetween them; they spoke of death, and the afflicted traveller askedthe priest what he thought of it. "What I think is this," replied thepriest: "When a man has perfectly discharged all his duties to God, hisneighbor and himself, he goes straight to heaven; if he have notdischarged them, or have neglected any of those which are essential, hegoes straight to hell; but if he have only to reproach himself withthose trifling faults which are inseparable from our frail nature, hespends some time in Purgatory." At these words the listener smiled withevident relief and satisfaction; he felt consoled. "Sir," cried he, "Iwill become a Catholic, and for this reason: Protestants only admit ofheaven and hell; but, in order to get to Paradise, one must havenothing wherewith to reproach himself. Now, although my brother was agood man, he was by no means free from those slight faults of which youspoke just now. He will not be damned for these faults, but they willprevent him from going to heaven; there must, therefore, be anintermediate place wherein to expiate them; hence, there must be aPurgatory. I will be a Catholic, so as to have the consolation ofpraying for my brother."—The Catechism in Examples, pp. 141-2.

THE DEAD HAND.

SISTER TERESA MARGARET GESTA was struck by apoplexy on the 4th ofNovember, 1859, without any premonitory symptoms to forewarn her of herdanger; and, without recovering consciousness, she breathed her last atfour o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. Her companions wereplunged into the deepest sorrow, for the Sister was a general favorite;but they resigned themselves to the will of God. Whilst lamenting thedeath of one who had been to them a model, comforter, and mother, theyconsoled themselves by the remembrance of the virtues of which she wasa splendid example, and of which they never tired speaking.

Twelve days had passed since her death. Some of the Sisters felt acertain kind of dread of going alone to the places frequented by thedeparted one; but Sister Anna Felix Menghini, a person of a lively andpleasant disposition, often rallied them, good-humoredly, on theirfears.

About ten o'clock in the forenoon, this same Sister Anna, having chargeof the clothing, was proceeding to the work-room. Having gone up-stairs, she heard a mournful voice, which at first she thought might bethat of a cat shut up in the clothes-press. She opened and examined itcarefully, but found nothing. A sudden and unaccountable feeling ofterror came over her, and she cried out: "Jesus, Mary, what can it be?"She had hardly uttered these words when she heard the same mournfulvoice as at first, which exclaimed in a gasping sob: "O my God, how Isuffer!" The religious, though surprised and trembling, recognizeddistinctly the voice of Sister Teresa; she plucked up courage and askedher "Why?"

"On account of poverty," answered the voice.

"What!" replied Sister Anna, "and you were so poor!"

"Not for me," was answered, "but for the nuns…. If one is enough, whytwo? and if two are sufficient, why three?… And you—beware foryourself."

At the same time the whole room was darkened by a thick smoke, and theshadow of Sister Teresa, moving towards the exit, went up the steps,talking as it moved. Sister Anna was so frightened that she could notmake out what the spirit said. Having reached the door, the apparitionspoke again: "This is a mercy of God!" And in proof of the reality,with its open hand it struck the upper panel of the door near theframe, leaving the impression of the hand more perfect than it couldhave been made by the most skillful artist with a hot iron.

Sister Anna was like Balthasar: "Then was the King's countenancechanged, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loinswere loosed, and his knees struck one against the other." (Dan., v. 6).She could not stir for a considerable time; she did not even dare toturn her head. But at last she tottered out and called one of hercompanions, who, hearing her feeble, broken words, ran to her withanother Sister; and presently the whole community was gathered round inalarm. They learned in a confused manner what had taken place,perceived the smell of burnt wood, and noticed a whitish cloud or mistthat filled the room and made it almost dark. They examined the doorcarefully though tremblingly, and recognized the fac-simile of SisterTeresa's hand; and, filled with terror, they fled to the choir.

There the Sisters, forgetting the need of food and rest, remained inprayer till after sunset, abandoning everything in their anxiety toprocure relief for their beloved Sister Teresa. The zealous MinoriteFathers, who have the spiritual direction of the convent, learning whathad happened, were equally earnest in offering prayers and sacrifice,and in singing the psalms for the dead. Many of the faithful likewiseassembling, not through idle curiosity, but out of genuine piety,joined in the recitation of the Rosary and other prayers, though thedeceased Sister was almost entirely unknown to the people. Herobservance of the rule was very strict, and she scrupulously avoidedall intercourse with people outside her convent. But still largenumbers crowded to join in those devotions for her.

Sister Anna, who was more worn out by excitement than the otherreligious, was directed to retire early the following night. Sheherself confesses that she was fully resolved next day to remove, atany cost, the obnoxious marks of the hand. But Sister Teresa appearedto her in a dream, saying: "You intend to remove the sign which I haveleft. Know that it is not in your power to do so, even with the aid ofothers; for it is there by the command of God, for the instruction ofthe people. By His just and inexorable judgment I was condemned to thedreadful fires of Purgatory for forty years on account of mycondescension to the will of some of the nuns. I thank you and thosewho joined in so many prayers to the Lord for me; all of which He waspleased in His mercy to accept as suffrages for me, and especially theSeven Penitential Psalms, which were such a relief!" And then, with asmiling countenance, she added: "Oh! blessed rags, that are rewardedwith such rich garments! Oh! happy poverty, that brings such glory tothose who truly observe it! Alas! how many suffer irreparable loss, andare in torments, because, under the cloak of necessity, poverty isknown and valued by few!"

Finally, Sister Anna, lying down as usual on the night of the 19th,heard her name distinctly pronounced by Sister Teresa. She awoke, allin a tremor, and sat up, unable to answer. Her astonishment was greatwhen, near the foot of the bed, she saw a globe of light that made thecell as bright as noonday, and she heard the spirit say in a joyfulvoice: "On the day of the Passion I died (on Friday), and on the day ofthe Passion I go to glory…. Strength in the Cross!… Courage tosuffer!…" Then, saying three times "Adieu!" the globe was transformedinto a thin, white, shining cloud, rose towards heaven, anddisappeared.

The zealous Bishop of the diocese having heard of these events,instituted the process of examination on the 23d of the same month. Thegrave was opened in presence of a large number of persons assembled forthe occasion; the impression of the hand on the door was compared withthe hand of the dead, and both were found to correspond exactly. Thedoor itself was set apart in a safe place and guarded. Many personsbeing anxious to see the impression, it was allowed to be visited,after a certain lapse of time, and with due precautions, by such as hadsecured the necessary permission.—Ave Maria, Nov. 17, 1883.

A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE.

The following fact is related by the Treasurer of the Association forthe Souls in Purgatory. He himself was personally cognizant of thecirc*mstances of the case. We leave him to speak:

"Mr.——," said he, "was one of our first and most fervent associates.His devotedness for good works is well known, so that he is everywhereregarded as an acquisition in all pious enterprises. His exemplaryconduct rendered him, moreover, one of the most precious auxiliaries ofthe work. Hence his zeal, instead of slackening, did but go onincreasing; and whereas, in the beginning, his collection amounted onlyto some dollars, after a while he often brought me forty or fiftydollars for the suffering souls. May Heaven bless that ferventassociate, and may his example serve as a lesson to the indifferent!

"During eighteen months, or two years, this pious and zealous memberbrought me every six months,—with other moneys,—the sum of fifteendollars which was thus periodically sent him; and each time that Iasked him whence this money came, he answered that he knew nothing ofit himself; that it was sent him by a worthy man without furtherinformation, and so he brought it to me without asking, or knowinganything more.

"Desirous of getting to the bottom of this mystery, I resolved to tryand find out what it meant. I, one day, asked Mr.——. to tell me thename of this generous protector of the poor souls, for I was going tohunt him up.—'Oh!' said he, 'it is Such-a-one; he lives a long wayoff, towards Hochelaga, [1] but, indeed, I cannot tell you the exactplace.'

[Footnote 1: A suburban town or village of Montreal, situated, like thecity, on the banks of the St. Lawrence.]

"Such vague information embarrassed me no little. I, nevertheless, tookthe City Directory, but, alas! there were fully twenty-five persons ofthe same name. Resolved, however, to put an end to this uncertainty, Iproceeded, with the little information I had, to the place indicated tome; I arrive at a house bearing the name of the new benefactor of ourwork. I go in at a venture; it was a little shoe-store, scarcelyfifteen feet square, somewhat gloomy and not over-clean, owing,probably, to the nature of the business carried on there; the wholeappearance of the place was, indeed, very unlike one where much moneycould be made. Going in, I perceived sitting in the farther end of thestore, a man whose face was so expressive of goodness, so open and socalm, that only a good conscience could leave so gracious an imprint onthe features, and I said to myself: 'That is he.'—Then I asked aloud:'You are Mr. Such-a-one?'—That is my name,' he answered, with apleasant smile.—'But is it you who has sent us every six months fortwo years, the sum of fifteen dollars,—thirty dollars a year,—forthe Souls in Purgatory, apart from your regular contribution?'—'Yes,'said he, quietly, and still with the same smile on his lips.—'Ah!'said I, 'we are very grateful to you, and the Holy Souls will surely bemindful of you. I suppose you have a great compassion for those poorsouls who suffer so much, and that that inspires you with zeal, and soyou make up this sum amongst your friends and neighbors;—or they,perhaps, bring it to your house, quarter by quarter, as is doneelsewhere?'—'No!' said he, still very quietly, 'no, it is my ownlittle share.'—'How! your own little share?' and instinctively I casta glance around the little store, which seemed hardly to justify thegiving of such a sum. 'How! your little share? but we find it a verylarge and generous one, and we are happy that your zeal and charitymake it seem to you so small. Heaven will bless you for it. Still theremust be something hidden under these gifts, so often repeated; the HolySouls must have done you some favor. Please tell me, then, what inducesyou to give so handsome a sum every year, without being asked?'

"'Well, I will not conceal from you that the Souls in Purgatory havevisibly protected me; and to make known to you, in a few words, all mylittle history, I must tell you that, two or three years ago, I heardpeople speak so favorably of the Association for the Souls inPurgatory—I heard so much about it, indeed, that from that dayforward, I placed all my little business under the care of theSuffering Souls, and ever since, I am happy to tell you, to the creditof those holy Souls, that my affairs go, as if they were on wheels!"(These are his own words.) "I give my thirty-three dollars a yearwithout any injury to myself; on the contrary, all goes the better forit. My store is not much to look at, but it is well filled, and allthat is in it is my own. Apart from that, and what is still better, Ihave not a penny of debt.'

"He then added, in a lower tone: 'I have, moreover, the happiness ofhonoring in that way the thirty-three years of labors and sufferingswhich Our Divine Lord spent on earth. That thought does my poor heartgood.

"'Ah, sir,' said he, with an impulse of true faith which made my heartthrill—'Ah, sir, if men believed more, they would do wonders, and theword of Our Lord never fails, and He has said that the more one givesthe more they receive, for charity never makes any one poor; only wemust give without distrust, and without speculation.'

"I warmly shook hands with this admirable man, and returned home ascharmed with my visit as delighted with so much faith. Then I said tomyself: 'There is a fine example to follow. How many others might haveno debts, if they knew how to make sacrifices for the dear SufferingSouls!'"—Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory, 1877

HOW TO PAY ONE'S DEBTS.

Speaking just now of that generous man who had no debts, we called tomind an example that teaches a pretty way of paying debts. We are aboutto furnish the receipt, so that no one may complain, giving to each thechance of making use of it. In divulging this secret we shall certainlypass for the least selfish man in the world; for, to furnish every onewith the means of paying their debts, is it not to procure for each theopportunity of enriching himself? But, dear reader, laying aside allthanks, hasten only to profit by the receipt, and we shall, each of us,have obtained our object.

We take this secret from the Chronicles of the good Friars Minors, anauthority to which no one can take exception.

The Blessed Berthold belonged to the great Franciscan family. His finetalents and rare virtues had caused him to be appointed a preacher ofthe Order. The Sovereign Pontiff, seeing all the good that Berthold wasdestined to do by his eloquent sermons, had given him power to grant toeach of his hearers, an indulgence of ten days; which was a greatprivilege for the faithful, as well as a mark of esteem and distinctionfor himself.

Friar Berthold, then, had preached a most moving sermon on alms-giving,and had granted the ten days' indulgence to all who were present.Amongst the audience was a lady of quality who, owing to a reverse offortune, was in great distress and loaded with debt. She had hithertobeen content to suffer in silence, being prevented by a false shamefrom making her condition known; but overcome by the enthusiasticcharity of the good father, she went privately to him to explain howshe was situated, giving him thus an opportunity of putting in practicewhat he had so eloquently preached. But Friar Berthold, who, like hisfather St. Francis, had chosen poverty for his lady and mistress, couldnot come to her relief. Nevertheless, as poverty, in the man whosuffers and endures it voluntarily for the love of God, becomesstrength and even riches, Berthold, strong in his sacrifice and rich inhis poverty—Berthold, inspired by the Holy Ghost, repeated to her whatPeter of old, inspired by God, said to the lame man at the gate of theTemple who had asked him for alms: "Silver and gold have I none, butthat which I have I will give unto thee." He then assured the lady thatshe had gained ten days' indulgence by being present at his preaching,and he added: "Go to such a banker in the city. Hitherto he has busiedhimself much more about temporal riches than spiritual treasures, butoffer him in return for the donation he will give you, to make over tohim the merit of this indulgence, so that the pains awaiting him inPurgatory may be diminished. I have every reason to think," continuedthe good Father, "that he will give you some assistance."

The poor woman, full of that faith which is so powerful, went as shewas told, in all simplicity. God touched the heart of the rich man, whor*ceived her kindly. He asked her how much she expected to receive inexchange for her ten days' indulgence. Feeling herself animated by aninterior strength, she replied: "As much as it weighs in the balance."—"Well!" said the banker, "here is the balance. Write down your tendays' indulgence, and put the paper in one scale; I will place a pieceof money in the other." O prodigy! the scale with the paper in it doesnot rise, but the other does. The banker, much amazed, puts in anotherpiece of money, but the weight is not changed; he puts in another, thenanother; but the result is still the same, the paper on which theindulgence is written is still the heaviest. The Banker puts down thenfive, ten, thirty pieces, till there was as much as the whole amountwhich the lady required for her present needs. Then only did the twoscales become equal.

The banker, struck with astonishment, saw in this marvel a preciouslesson for him; he was at length made sensible of the value of thethings of heaven.

The poor Souls understand it still better, as, for the slightestearthly indulgence they would give all the gold in the world.

You, then, who have no money to give for the Souls in Purgatory—you,too, who have financial difficulties on your shoulders, offer upindulgences for the poor Souls, and they will make themselves yourbankers; they will pay you double, nay, a hundred-fold for whatever youhave put in the scale of the balance of mercy. They will pay you notonly in spiritual treasures, but even in temporal wealth, which willprocure for you the double advantage of paying your debts here below,and those of the other world.—Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory,1877.

FAITH REWARDED.

"One day, in the month of July," relates a zelator of the Association,[1] "I met one of our members. He was a man of an amiable disposition,and remarkable for his piety and his devotion to good works. He was amerchant of good standing, engaged in a respectable business. Like manyothers, however, he had seen bad days; and to the commonplace question,'How goes business?' he replied: 'Ah! badly enough; I can hardly payexpenses, and I am doubly unfortunate. I had a house which brought mein two or three hundred dollars a year, and I have had the misfortuneof being unable to rent it this year, so that, losing on all sides, Ifind myself a good deal embarrassed.'—'Will you allow me,' said I, 'togive you a little advice? Promise some Masses for the Souls inPurgatory in case you have the good fortune to rent your house. It willbe, as it were, the tithe of your rent. We too often forget that we oweto Our Lord a part of what He gives us so freely. It is, nevertheless,only an offering that we make Him of His own goods; and, at the sametime, an act of gratitude for that He has deigned to give it to us.Furthermore, it is an act of homage, an acknowledgment of Hissupremacy. And we shall derive the more profit from it according as wedo it with a good heart. Besides all that, you have the additionalhappiness of assisting your relatives and friends who are suffering inthe flames of Purgatory.'

[Footnote 1: For the Relief of the Souls in Purgatory.]

"This little exhortation seemed to strike him to whom it was addressed,and, as if awaking from a long lethargy, he suddenly said: 'Why did Inot think of that before? I promise,' added he, 'five dollars for theSouls in Purgatory, if I find a tenant.'

"This eagerness to do good, this species of regret for not having doneit sooner, this pious disposition which makes us desire to relievethose who are in affliction, must have been very pleasing to God, for,within the week, the gentleman came to me with his five dollars, andsaid, smiling: 'I lose no time, you see, in keeping my promise.'—'Why,have you already rented your house?'—'Yes, a manufacturer from thecountry who had just had the misfortune of being burned out, saw myhouse by chance, came to ask my terms, and we agreed at once. He is totake possession next week.'

"A week passed, even a month, then two, and no tenant, when I happenedagain to meet my friend, whom I almost suspected of having forgottenhis promise. 'Ah!' said he, 'I am worse off than ever, and I was sosure of having rented my house.'—' How! did that person not come back,then?'—' No, and I thought him such an honest man! The disappointmenthas been a great loss to me.'—'Write to him, then, threatening to makehim responsible for the whole rent. But, better than that, wait still,and have confidence; the Holy Souls cannot fail to bring the matter toa favorable issue. It is, perhaps, a want of faith on your part whichhas delayed the fulfillment of the contract.'

"Three days had scarcely passed when I again saw our Associate. 'Thistime,' said he, 'I come to pay; my tenant has arrived.'—'But he hasmade you lose five or six weeks' rent.'—'Not so; he is, just as Ithought, an honorable, upright man. He arrived two days ago. It was Ithat hired your house,' said he, 'and I come to take possession ofit.'—'Mr.——,' said I, 'I am very glad, but I expected you sooner.'—'It is true I was to have come before now, but was prevented from doingso by important business. How long is it since I rented your house?'—'Just nine weeks.'—'It is only right, then, that I should pay you forthe time I have made you lose;' then handing me a sum of money,'there,' said he, 'is the amount coming to you; and now, my familyarrive to-morrow, so we take possession at once of your house, and yourrent shall be paid regularly.'

"So there is an end to my anxiety, and you cannot believe how happy Iam in bringing you the trifling sum I promised; but while keeping mypromise, I thank you very sincerely for the confidence wherewith youinspired me in the Holy Souls. May God bless you for it!"—Almanacof the Souls in Purgatory, 1881.

APPARITION OF A CITIZEN OF ARIES.

LECOYER, in his "Tales of Ghosts and Apparitions," [1] relates ahistorical occurrence which had great publicity. In the reign of KingCharles IV. of France, surnamed the Fair, the last king of the firstbranch of the Capets, who died in 1323, the soul of a citizen, someyears dead and abandoned by his relations, who neglected to pray forhim, appeared suddenly in the public square at Aries, relatingmarvellous things of the other world, and asking for help. Those whohad seen him in his lifetime at once recognized him. The Prior of theJacobins, a man of saintly life, being told of this apparition,hastened to go and see the soul. Supposing at first that it might be aspirit that had taken the form of this citizen, he took, with lightedtapers, a consecrated host, which he held out to it. But the soulimmediately showed that it was really there itself, for it prostrateditself and adored Our Lord, asking naught else but prayers which mightdeliver it from Purgatory, to the end that it might enter purified intoheaven.

[Footnote 1: "Histoires des Spectres et des Apparitions."]

THE COUNTESS OF STRAFFORD.

The Countess of Strafford, before her conversion to the Catholic faith,went often to see Monseigneur de la Mothe, Bishop of Amiens, and herconversations with him always made the deepest impression on her mind.But what touched her more than all was a sermon which he preached onthe feast of St. John the Baptist, in the chapel of the Ursulines inAmiens. After hearing this discourse, she felt within her a livelydesire to believe as did the preacher who had so much edified her. Shestill had some doubts, however, on the Sacrifice of the Mass andPurgatory. She went to propose them to the holy Bishop, who, withoutdisputing with her or openly attacking her prejudices, deemed it hisduty to speak thus to her, in order to undeceive her: "Madam, you knowthe Bishop of London and have confidence in him? Well, I beg you to askhim what I am going to tell you: The Bishop of Amiens has told me athing that surprised me; he says that if you can deny that St.Augustine said Mass and prayed for the dead, and particularly for hismother, he himself will become a Protestant." This advice was followed.The Bishop of London made no reply, but contented himself with sayingto the bearer of the letter that Lady Strafford had been breathing acontagious atmosphere which had carried her away, and that anything hecould write to her would probably not remedy the evil. This silence onthe part of a man whom she had trusted implicitly, finished opening theeyes of Lady Strafford, and she soon after made her abjuration at thehands of the Bishop of Amiens.—Vie de Monsgr. de la Mothe.

THE MARQUIS BE CIVRAC. (From une Commune Vendéenne.)

The belief that the living friends may be of use to their friends inthe grave, has in it I know not what instructive and natural which onemeets in hearts the most simple and unsophisticated. A pious peasantwoman of La Vendée kneeling on the coffin of her good master, theMarquis de Civrac, cried out: "O my God, repay to him all the good hehas done to us!" Does not this fervent cry of grateful affectionsignify: "My God, some rays are perchance wanting in the crown of ourbenefactor; supply them, we beseech Thee, in consideration of ourprayer and all he has done for us?" and this is precisely the consolingdoctrine of Purgatory.

GRATITUDE OF THE HOLY SOULS.

[Rev. James Mumford, S.J., born in England in 1605, and who labored forforty years for the cause of the Catholic Church in his native country,wrote a remarkable work on Purgatory; and he mentions that thefollowing incident was written to him by William Freysson, a publisher,of Cologne. May it move many in their difficulties to have recourse tothe Holy Souls.]

One festival day, when my place of business was closed, I was occupyingmyself in reading a book which you had lent me, and which was on "TheSouls in Purgatory." I was absorbed in my subject when a messenger cameand told me that my youngest child, aged four years, showed the firstsymptoms of a very grave disease. The child rapidly grew worse, and thephysicians at length declared that there was no hope. The thought thenoccurred to me that perhaps I could save my child by making a vow toassist the Suffering Souls in Purgatory. I accordingly repaired at onceto a chapel, and, with all fervor, supplicated God to have pity on me;and I vowed I would distribute gratuitously a hundred copies of thebook that had moved me in behalf of the suffering souls, and give themto ecclesiastics and to religious to increase devotion to the HolySouls. I had, I acknowledge, hardly any hope. As soon as I returned tothe house I found the child much better. He asked for food, althoughfor several days he had not been able to swallow anything but liquids.The next day he was perfectly well, got up, went out for a walk, andate as if he had never had anything the matter with him. Filled withgratitude, I was only anxious to fulfill my promise. I went to theCollege of the Jesuit Fathers and begged them to accept as many copiesof the work as they pleased, and to distribute them amongst themselvesand other communities and ecclesiastics as they thought fit, so thatthe suffering souls, my benefactors, should be assisted by furtherprayers.

Three weeks had not slipped away, however, when another accident notless serious befell me. My wife, on entering the house one day, wassuddenly seized with a trembling in all her limbs, which threw her tothe ground, and she remained insensible. Little by little the illnessincreased, until she was deprived of the power of speech. Remediesseemed to be in vain. The malady at length assumed such aggravatedproportions that every one was of opinion she had no chance ofrecovery. The priest who assisted her had already addressed words ofconsolation to me, exhorting me to Christian resignation. I turnedagain with confidence to the souls in Purgatory, who had assisted meonce before, and I went to the same church. There, prostrate before theBlessed Sacrament, I renewed my supplication with all the ardor withwhich affection for my family inspired me. "O my God!" I exclaimed,"Thy mercy is not exhausted: in the name of Thy infinite bounty, do notpermit that the recovery of my son should be paid by the death of hismother." I made a vow this time, to distribute two hundred copies ofthe holy book, in order that a greater number of persons might be movedto intercede for the suffering souls. I besought those who had alreadybeen delivered from Purgatory to unite with me on this occasion. Afterthis prayer, as I was returning to the house, I saw my servants runningtowards me. They told me with delight that my wife had undergone agreat change for the better; that the delirium had ceased, and she hadrecovered her power of speech. I at once ran on to assure myself of thefact: all was true. Very soon my wife was so perfectly recovered thatshe came with me into the holy place to make an act of thanksgiving toGod for all His mercies.—Ave Maria.

A STRANGE INCIDENT.

A young German lady of rank, still alive to tell the story, arrivingwith her friends at one of the most noted hotels in Paris, an apartmentof unusual magnificence on the first floor was apportioned to her use.After retiring to rest she lay awake a long while, contemplating, bythe dim light of a night-lamp, the costly ornaments in the room, whensuddenly the folding-doors opposite the bed, which she had locked, werethrown open, and, amid a flood of unearthly light, there entered ayoung man in the garb of the French navy, having his hair dressed inthe peculiar mode à la Titus. Taking a chair and placing it inthe middle of the room, he sat down, and drew from his pocket a pistolof an uncommon make, which he deliberately put to his forehead, fired,and fell back as if dead. At the moment of the explosion the roombecame dark and still, and a low voice said softly: "Say an AveMaria for his soul."

The young lady, though not insensible, became paralyzed with horror,and remained in a kind of cataleptic trance, fully conscious, butunable to move or speak, until, at nine o'clock next day, no answerhaving been given to repeated calls of her maid, the doors were forcedopen. At the same moment the power of speech returned, and the pooryoung lady shrieked out to her attendants that a man had shot himselfin the night, and was lying dead on the floor. Nothing, however, was tobe seen, and they concluded that she was suffering from the effects ofa dream. Not being a Catholic, she could not, of course, understand themeaning of the mysterious command.

A short time afterwards, however, the proprietor of the hotel informeda gentleman of the party that the terrible scene witnessed by the younglady had in reality been enacted only three nights previously in thatvery room, when a young French officer put an end to his life with apistol of a peculiar description, which, together with the body, wasthen lying at the Morgue awaiting identification. The gentlemanexamined them both, and found them to correspond exactly with thedescription of the man and the pistol seen in the apparition.

Whether the young officer was insane, or lived long enough to repent ofhis crime, is not known; however, the then Archbishop of Paris,Monseigneur Sibour, was exceedingly impressed by the incident. Hecalled upon the young lady, and directing her attention to the wordsspoken by the mysterious voice, urged her to embrace the Catholicfaith, to whose teaching it pointed so clearly.—Ave Maria,August 15, 1885.

PART III.

HISTORICAL

All the ages, every clime
Strike the silver harp of time,
Chant the endless, holy story,
Souls retained in Purgatory.
Freed by Mass and holy rite,
Requiem, dirge and wondrous might,
A prayer which hut and palace send,
Where king and serf, where lord and hireling blend.
The vast cathedral and the village shrine
Unite in mercy's choral strain divine.

HISTORICAL.

THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY, OR A MIDDLE STATE, AMONG THE PAGAN NATIONSOF ANTIQUITY.

BY THE REV. A. A LAMBING, A.M.

[This very interesting article was originally published in the "Ave
Maria."]

The attentive student of the mythology of the nations of antiquitycannot fail to discover many vestiges of a primitive revelation of someof the principal truths of religion, although in the lapse of time theyhave been so distorted and mingled with fiction that it requirescareful study to sift the few remaining grains of truth from the greatmass of superstition and error in which they are all but lost. Amongthese truths may be reckoned monotheism, or the belief in, and theworship of, one only God, which the learned Jesuit, the Rev. Aug.Thebaud, in his "Gentilism," has proved to have been the primitivebelief of all nations. It may not, however, be so generally known thatthe doctrine of Purgatory, or a future state of purification, was alsoheld and taught in all the religious systems in the beginning. While aknowledge of this fact cannot add anything to the grounds of our faithas Catholics, it will not be wholly without interest, and it will,besides, better enable us to give a reason for the faith that is in us.It was left to Martin Luther to found an ephemeral religious systemthat should deny this dogma, founded no less on revelation than onright reason; but, then, logic has never been one of the strong pointsof Protestants.

Before turning my attention to the nations of the pagan world, I shallbriefly give the Jewish belief on this point. It may not generally beknown that the doctrine of a middle state is not explicitly proposed tothe belief of the Jews in any of the writings of the Old Testament,although it was firmly held by the people. We depend for our knowledgeof this fact mainly on the celebrated passage of the Second Book ofMachabees (xii. 43-46). The occasion on which the doctrine was statedwas this: Some of the soldiers of Judas Machabeus, the leader of theJewish armies, fell in a certain battle; and when their fellow-soldierscame to bury them, they discovered secreted in the folds of theirgarments some parts of the spoils of one of the pagan shrines, which itwas not permitted them to keep. After praying devoutly, the sacredwriter goes on to say that Judas, "Making a gathering, sent twelvethousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifices to be offeredfor the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning theresurrection [for if he had not hoped that they who were slain shouldrise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for thedead]. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep withgodliness had great grace laid up for them. It is, therefore, a holyand wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosedfrom sins."

The Catholic doctrine is thus briefly laid down in the Catechism:"Purgatory is a place of punishment in the other life where some soulssuffer for a time before they can go to heaven;" or, in the words ofthe Catechism of the Council of Trent, there is "the fire of Purgatory,in which the souls of just men are cleansed by a temporary punishmentin order to be admitted into their eternal country, 'into which nothingdefiled entereth.'"

How far the pagan notions of a middle state harmonize with the
Christian doctrine the reader will be able to determine as we proceed.

I must premise by stating that almost all, if not all, the forms ofpaganism were two-fold, containing a popular form of religion, believedand practiced by the mass of the people, and a more recondite form thatwas known only to the initiated, whether this was the priestly caste,as was generally the case, or whether they were designated by someother name. It should also be observed that the forms of religion wereconstantly undergoing changes of greater or less importance. Nor mustwe lose sight of the fact that different nations embodied the same ideaunder different terms. The conception of the phlegmatic Norseman wouldbe different from that of the imaginative Oriental, and the language ofthe refined Greek would be far other than that of the rude Americansavage. But yet the same truth may be found to underlie all, theoutward garb alone differing.

Turning first to Egypt, which is, rightly or wrongly, commonlyconsidered the cradle of civilization, we may sum up its teaching withregard to the lot of the dead, and the middle state, in theseinteresting remarks of a learned author: "The continuance of the soulafter its death, its judgment in another world, and its sentenceaccording to its deserts, either to happiness or suffering, wereundoubted parts both of the popular and of the more recondite religion.It was the universal belief that immediately after death the souldescended into a lower world, and was conducted to the Hall of Truth(or, 'of the Two Truths'), where it was judged in the presence ofOsiris and the forty-two demons, the 'Lords of Truth' and judges of thedead. Anubis, 'the director of the weight,' brought forth a pair ofscales, and, placing on one scale a figure or emblem of Truth, set onthe other a vase containing the good actions of the deceased; Thothstanding by the while, with a tablet in his hand, whereon to record theresult. According to the side on which the balance inclined, Osirisdelivered the sentence. If the good deeds preponderated, the blessedsoul was allowed to enter the 'boat of the sun,' and was conducted bygood spirits to Aahlu (Elysium), to the 'pools of peace,' and thedwelling place of Osiris…. The good soul, having first been freedfrom its infirmities by passing through the basin of purgatorial fire,guarded by the four ape-faced genii, and then made the companion ofOsiris three thousand years, returned from Amenti, re-entered itsformer body, rose from the dead, and lived once more a human life uponearth. This process was reiterated until a certain mystic cycle ofyears became complete, when finally the good and blessed attained thecrowning joy of union with God, being absorbed into the Divine Essence,and thus attaining the true end and full perfection of their being."[1]

[Footnote 1: "History of Ancient Egypt," George Rawlinson, Vol. I., pp.327-329.]

It may be remarked that all systems of religion which held the doctrineof metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, should be consideredas believing in a middle state of purgation, since they maintained thenecessity of the soul's further purification, after death, before itwas permitted to enter into its final rest.

In the ever-varying phases through which Buddhism, the religion of allSouth-eastern Asia, has passed in its protracted existence, it isdifficult to determine with any degree of certainty, precisely what itsdisciples hold; but the belief in metempsychosis, which is one of itsfundamental doctrines, must permit us to range it on the side of thosewho hold to the idea of a middle state. Certain it is, they believethat the soul, by a series of new births, becomes, in process of time,better fitted for the final state in which it is destined for ever toremain. The same may be said of the religion of the great body of theChinese; for, although they have their law-giver Confucius, theirreligion at present, as far as it merits the name, appears to be nomore than a certain form of Buddhism.

Coming to the more western nations of Asia, we may remark that, astheir religions were evidently a corruption of primitive revelation,less removed in point of time, they must, although they had alreadybecome idolatrous, have embodied the idea of a future state ofpurgation, notwithstanding that it is impossible to determine at thisdistant day, the exact nature of their doctrines. If, however, we turnfrom these to the doctrine of Zoroaster, our means of forming anopinion are more ample.

Zoroaster, or, more correctly, Zarathustra, the founder of the Persianreligion, was born, according to some accounts, in the sixth centurybefore our era, while others claim for him an antiquity dating at leastfrom the thirteenth century before Christ. Be that as it may—and itdoes not concern us to inquire into it—this much is certain: he was afirm believer in a middle state, and he transmitted the same to hisfollowers. But, going a step further than some, he taught that thesouls undergoing purification are helped by the prayers of theirfriends upon earth. "The Zoroastrians," says Mr. Rawlinson, "weredevout believers in the immortality of the soul and a conscious futureexistence. They taught that immediately after death the souls of men,both good and bad, proceeded together along an appointed path, to 'thebridge of the gatherer.' This was a narrow road conducting to heaven orparadise, over which the souls of the pious alone could pass, while thewicked fell from it into the gulf below, where they found themselves inthe place of punishment. The good soul was assisted across the bridgeby the Angel Serosh—'the happy, well-formed, swift, tall Serosh'—whomet the weary wayfarer, and sustained his steps as he effected thedifficult passage. The prayers of his friends in this world were ofmuch avail to the deceased, and greatly helped him on his journey." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Ancient Monarchies." Vol. II, p 339.]

With regard to the opinions held by the Greeks,—and the same may, ingeneral terms, be applied to the Romans, whose religious viewscoincided more or less closely with those of their more polishedneighbors,—it is difficult to form a correct idea. Not that theclassic writers and philosophers have permitted the subject to sinkinto oblivion,—on the contrary, they have treated it at considerablelength, as all classic scholars well know,—but while, on the one hand,as I remarked above, there is a difference between the popular ideasand those of the learned, there is also here a great difference ofopinion between the various schools of philosophy. Not only so, but itis difficult to determine how far the philosophers themselves were inearnest in the opinions they expressed; and how far, too, we understandthem. The opinions of the people, and much more, those of the learned,vary with the principal periods of Grecian and Roman history. Thismuch, however, may be safely held, that, while they drew their originfrom Central or Western Asia, their religion must, in the beginning,have been that of the countries from which they came. But truth only isimmutable; error is ever changing.

I shall not tax the patience of the reader by asking him to pass inreview the more striking periods of the history of these famousnations, but shall content myself with giving the views of a celebratedwriter on a part, at least, of the question. Speaking of the opinionsheld by the Greek philosophers regarding the future state of the soul,Dr. Dollinger says, "The old and universal tradition admitted, ingeneral, that man continued to exist after death; but the Greeks of theHomeric age did not dream of a retribution appointed to all afterdeath, or of purifying and penitential punishments. It is only someconspicuous offenders against the gods who, in Homer, are tormented indistant Erebus. In Hesiod, the earlier races of man continue to liveon, sometimes as good demons, sometimes as souls of men in bliss, or asheroes; yet, though inculcating moral obligations, he does not point toa reward to be looked for beyond the grave, but only to the justicethat dominates in this economy…. Plato expressly ascribes to theOrphic writers the dogma of the soul's finding herself in the body asin a sepulchre or prison, on the score of previously contracted guilt;a dogma indubitably ascending to a very high antiquity.

"… It is from this source that Pindar drew, who, of the old Greeks,generally has expressed notions the most precise and minutely distinctof trial and tribulation after death, and the circuits and lustrationsof the soul. He assigns the island of the blest as for the everlastingenjoyment of those who, in a triple existence in the upper and lowerworld, have been able to keep their souls perfectly pure from all sin.On the other hand, the souls of sinners appear after death before thejudgment seat of a judge of the nether world, by whom they aresentenced to a heavy doom, and are ceaselessly dragged the world over,suffering bloody torments. But as for those whom Persephone hasreleased from the old guilt of sin, their souls she sends in the ninthyear back again to the upper sun; of them are born mighty kings, andmen of power and wisdom, who come to be styled saintly heroes by theirposterity." And, again: "Plato was the first of the Greeks to throwhimself, in all sincerity, and with the whole depth of his intellect,upon the solution of the great question of immortality…. He was, intruth, the prophet of the doctrine of immortality for his time, and forthe Greek nation…. The metempsychosis which he taught under Orphicand Pythagorean inspiration is an essential ingredient of his theory ofthe world, and is, therefore, perpetually recurring in his moreimportant works. He connects it with an idea sifted and taken frompopular belief of a state of penance in Hades, though it can hardly beascertained how large a portion of mystical ornament or poeticalconjecture he throws into the particular delineation of 'the lastthings,' and of transmigration. He adopts ten grades of migration, eachof a thousand years; so that the soul, in each migration, makes aselection of its life-destiny, and renews its penance ten times, untilit is enabled to return to an incorporeal existence with God, and tothe pure contemplation of Him and the ideal world. Philosophic soulsonly escape after a three-fold migration, in each of which they chooseagain their first mode of life. All other souls are judged in thenether world after their first life, and there do penance for theirguilt in different quarters; the incurable only are thrust down foreverinto Tartarus. He attaches eternal punishment to certain particularlyabominable sins, while such as have lived justly repose blissfully inthe dwelling of a kindred star until their entrance into a second life.Plato was clearly acquainted with the fact of the necessity of anintermediate state between eternal happiness and misery, a state ofpenance and purification after death." [1]

[Footnote 1: "The Gentile and the Jew," Vol. I. pp. 301-320.]

The popular notion of Charon, the ferryman of the lower world, refusingto carry over the river Acheron the souls of such as had not beenburied, but leaving them to wander on the shores for a century beforehe would consent, or rather before he was permitted by the rulers ofthe Hades to do so, contains a vestige of the belief in a middle state,where some souls had to suffer for a time before they could enter intothe abode of the blest. But when it is said that the friends of thedeceased could, by interring his remains, secure his entry into thedesired repose, we see a more striking resemblance to the doctrine thatfriends on earth are able to assist the souls undergoing purgation. Aremarkable instance of the popular belief in this doctrine is furnishedin Grecian history, where the soldiers were encouraged on a certainoccasion to risk their lives in the service of their country by theirbeing told to write their names on their arms, so that if any fell hisfriends could have him properly interred, and thus secure him againstall fear of having to wander for a century on the bleak shores of thedividing river. Nothing could better show the hold which this idea hadon the minds of the people.

Roman mythological ideas were, as has been said, nearly related tothose of Greece; they underwent as great modifications, while theopinions of her philosophers were equally abstruse, varied, anddifficult to understand. The author above quoted, treating of thenotion of the soul and a future state entertained by the Romanphilosophers, proves their ideas to have been extremely vague and ill-defined. Still, there were not wanting those who held to the belief ofan existence after this life. Plutarch, a Greek, "has left us a view ofthe state of the departed. The souls of the dead, ascending through theair, and in part reaching the highest heaven, are either luminous andtransparent or dark and spotted, on account of sins adhering to them,and some have even scars upon them. The soul of man, he says elsewhere,comes from the moon; his mind, intellect,—from the sun; the separationof the two is only completely effected after death. The soul wandersawhile between the moon and earth for purposes of punishment—or, if itbe good, of purification, until it rises to the moon, where thevouç [1] leaves it and returns to its home, the sun; while thesoul is buried in the moon. Lucian, on the other hand, whose writingsfor the most part are a pretty faithful mirror of the notions in vogueamong his contemporaries, bears testimony to a continuance of the oldtradition of the good reaching the Elysian fields, and the greattransgressors finding themselves given up to the Erinnys in a place oftorment, where they are torn by vultures, crushed on the wheel, orotherwise tormented; while such as are neither great sinners nordistinguished by their virtues stray about in meadows as bodilessshadows, and are fed on the libations and mortuary sacrifices offeredat their sepulchres. An obolus for Charon was still placed in the mouthof every dead body." [2] Here, again, we have both the belief in theexistence of a middle state and of the assistance afforded to thosedetained there.

[Footnote 1: Mind]

[Footnote 2: "The Gentile and the Jew," Vol. II., p. 146.]

The religion of the Druids is so wrapped in mystery that it isdifficult to determine what they believed on any point, and much moreon that of the future lot of the soul; but as they held the doctrine ofmetempsychosis, it is fair to class them among the adherents to thenotion of a period of purgation between death and the soul's entranceinto its final rest. Of the views of the sturdy Norsem*n, on thecontrary, there can be no two opinions; in their mythology the idea ofa middle state is expressed in the clearest language. The followingpassage from Mr. Anderson, places the matter beyond question. I mayfirst remark, for the information of the general reader, that by Gimleis meant the abode of the righteous after the day of judgment; byNaastrand, the place of punishment after the same dread sentence; byRagnarok, the last day; Valhal, the temporary place of happiness towhich the god Odin invites those who have been slain in battle; andHel, the goddess of death, whose abode is termed Helheim. With theseexplanations the reader will be able to understand the subjoinedpassage, which expresses the Norse idea of the future purgation of thesoul.

After speaking of the lot of the departed, the writer says: "But itmust be remembered that Gimle and Naastrand have reference to the stateof things after Ragnarok, the Twilight of the gods; while Valhal andHel have reference to the state of things between death and Ragnarok;—a time of existence corresponding somewhat to what is calledPurgatory by the Catholic Church." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Norse Mythology," p. 393.]

It would appear to be no exaggeration to claim the same belief in amiddle state for the American Indians, in as far as it is possible forus to draw anything definite from their crude notions of religion. Agood authority on subjects connected with Indian customs and beliefssays: "The belief respecting the land of souls varied greatly indifferent tribes and different individuals." And, again: "An endlessvariety of incoherent fancies is connected with the Indian idea of afuture life…. At intervals of ten or twelve years, the Hurons, theNeutrals, and other kindred tribes, were accustomed to collect thebones of their dead, and deposit them, with great ceremony, in a commonplace of burial. The whole nation was sometimes assembled at thissolemnity; and hundreds of corpses, brought from their temporaryresting-places, were inhumed in one common pit. From this hour theimmortality of their souls began." This evidently implies a periodduring which the souls were wandering at a distance from the place oftheir eternal repose. Does the following passage throw any light uponit? The reader must decide the point for himself. "Most of thetraditions," continues the same writer, "agree, however, that thespirits, on their journey heavenward, were beset with difficulties andperils. There was a swift river which must be crossed on a log thatshook beneath their feet, while a ferocious dog opposed their passage,and drove many into the abyss. This river was full of sturgeons andother fish, which the ghosts speared for their subsistence. Beyond wasa narrow path between moving rocks which each instant crushed together,grinding to atoms the less nimble of the pilgrims who essayed to pass."[1] A vestige of the same belief seems to crop out in a custom of someof the tribes of Central Africa, as appears from the remarks of arecent traveller. "When a death occurs," says Major Serpa Pinto, "thebody is shrouded in a white cloth, and, being covered with an ox-hide,is carried to the grave, dug in a place selected for the purpose. Thedays following on an interment are days of high festival in the hut ofthe deceased. The native kings are buried with some ceremony, and theirbodies, being arrayed in their best clothes, are conveyed to the tombin a dressed hide. There is a great feasting on these occasions, and anenormous sacrifice of cattle; for the heir of the deceased is bound tosacrifice his whole herd in order to regale his people, and give peaceto the soul of the departed." [2]

[Footnote 1: "The Jesuits in North America," Francis Parkman.
Introduction, pp. 81, 92.]

[Footnote 2: "How I Crossed Africa," Vol. I., p. 63.]

Such a unity of sentiment on the part of so many nations differing inevery other respect can only be attributed either to a natural feelinginherent in man, or to a primitive revelation, which, amid thevicissitudes of time, has left its impress on the minds of all nations.That the doctrine of a middle state of purification was a part of theprimitive revelation cannot, I think, admit of reasonable doubt. To thetrue servant of God, this unanimity is another proof of the faith oncerevealed to the Saints, and, at the same time, an additional motive forthanking God for the light vouchsafed him, while so many others areleft to grope in the darkness of error.—Ave Maria, Nov. 17,1883.

DEVOTION TO THE DEAD AMONGST THE AMERICAN INDIANS OF THE EARLY JESUITMISSIONS.

In the "Rélations des Jésuites," on their early missions in NewFrance, now Canada, we find many examples, told in the quaint oldFrench of the seventeenth century, and with true apostolic simplicity,of the tender devotion for the souls in Purgatory cherished by all theIndians of every tribe who had embraced Christianity from the teachingof those zealous missionaries. The few extracts we give below from the"Rélations" will serve to show how deeply this touching devotionto the departed is implanted in our nature, seeing that the doctrine ofa place of purgation in the after life finds so ready a response in theheart and soul of the untutored children of the forest:

"The devotion which they have for the souls of the departed is anothermark of their faith. Not far from this assembly there is a cemetery, inthe midst of which is seen a fine cross; sepulchres four or five feetwide and six or seven feet long, rise about four feet from the ground,carefully covered with bark. At the head and feet of the dead are twocrosses, and on one side a sword, if the dead were a man, or somedomestic article, if a woman. Having arrived there, I was asked to prayto God for the souls of those who were buried in that place. A goodChristian gave me a beaver skin by the hands of her daughter, aboutseven years of age, and said to me, when her daughter presented it:'Father, this present is to ask you to pray to God for the souls of hersister and her grandmother.' Many others made the same request; Ipromised to comply with their wishes, but, as for their presents, Icould not accept them.

"Some time ago, when the Christians of this place died, their beadswere buried with them; this custom was last year changed for a holierone, by means of a good Christian who, when dying, gave her chaplet toanother, begging her to keep it and say it for her, at least on feastdays. This charity was done to her, and the custom was introduced fromthat time: so it was that when any one died, his or her rosary wasgiven, with a little present, to some one chosen from the companypresent, who is bound to take it, and say it for the departed soul, atleast on Sundays and Festivals."—Journal of Father Jacques Buteuxin "Rélations," Vol. II.

* * * * *

In one of the Huron missions, an Indian named Joachim Annicouton,converted after many years of evil courses and, later, of hypocriticalpretense of conversion, was murdered by three drunken savages of hisown tribe, but lived long enough to edify all around him by his piousresignation, his admirable patience in the most cruel sufferings, andhis generous forgiveness of his enemies. Having given a touchingaccount of his death, the good Father Claude Dablon goes on to say:

"A very singular circ*mstance took place at his burial, which wasattended by all the families of the village, with many of the Frenchresidents of the neighborhood. Before the body was laid in the earth,the widow inquired if the authors of his death were present; being toldthat they were not, she begged that they might be sent for. These poorcreatures having come, they drew near to the corpse, with downcasteyes, sorrow and confusion in their faces. The widow, looking uponthem, said: 'Well! behold poor Joachim Annicouton, you know whatbrought him to the state in which you now see him; I ask of you noother satisfaction but that you pray to God for the repose of hissoul.' …"

* * * * *

"It is customary amongst the Indians to give all the goods of the deadto their relatives and friends, to mourn their death; but the husbandof Catherine, in his quality of first captain, assembled the Council ofthe Ancients, and told them that they must no longer keep to theirformer customs, which profited nothing to the dead; that, as for him,his thought was to dress up the body of the deceased in her bestgarments, as she might rise some day,—and to employ the rest of whatbelonged to her in giving alms to the poor. This thought was approvedof by all, and it became a law which was ever after strictly observed.

"The body of his wife was then arrayed in her best clothes, and hedistributed amongst the poor all that remained of her little furniture,charging them to pray for the dead. The whole might have amounted tothree hundred francs, which is a great deal for an Indian."—Rélations, 1673-4.

* * * * *

"They [1] have established amongst them a somewhat singular practice tohelp the souls in Purgatory. Besides the offerings they make for thatto the Church, and the alms they give to the poor,—besides thedevotion of the four Sundays of the month, to which is attached anindulgence for the souls in Purgatory, so great that these days arelike Easter; as soon as any one is dead, his or her nearest relationsmake a spiritual collection of communions in every family, begging themto offer all they can for the repose, of the dead."—Rélations,1677-8.

[Footnote 1: The Hurons of Loretto, near Quebec.]

SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEF AMONGST SOME OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

CABRAL.

When they are asked what they think of the soul, they answer that it isthe shadow "or living image" of the body; and it is as a consequence ofthis principle that they believe all animated in the universe. It is bytradition that they suppose the soul immortal. They pretend that,separated from the body, it retains the inclinations it had duringlife; and hence comes the custom of burying with the dead all that hadserved to satisfy their wants or their tastes. They are even persuadedthat the soul remains a long time near the body after their separation,and that it afterwards passes on into a country which they know not,or, as some will have it, transformed into a turtle. Others give allmen two souls, one such as we have mentioned, the other which neverleaves the body, and goes from one but to pass into another.

For this reason it is that they bury children on the roadside, so thatwomen passing by may pick up these second souls, which, not having longenjoyed life, are more eager to begin it anew. They must also be fed;and for that purpose it is that divers sorts of food are placed on thegraves, but that is only done for a little while, as it is supposedthat in time the souls get accustomed to fasting. The difficulty theyfind in supporting the living makes them forget the care for thenourishment of the dead. It is also customary to bury with them allthat had belonged to them, presents being even added thereto; hence itis a grievous scandal amongst all those nations when they see Europeansopen graves to take out the beaver robes they have placed therein. Theburial-grounds are places so respected that their profanation isaccounted the most atrocious outrage that can be offered to an Indianvillage.

Is there not in all this a semblance of belief in our doctrine of
Purgatory?

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD AMONGST THE EGYPTIANS.

In Egypt, as all over the East, the lives of women amongst thewealthier classes are for the most part spent within the privacy oftheir homes, as it were in close confinement: they are born, live, anddie in the bosom of that impenetrable sanctuary. It is only on Thursdaythat they go forth, with their slaves carrying refreshments andfollowed by hired weepers. It is a sacred duty that calls them to thepublic cemetery. There they have funeral hymns chanted, their ownplaintive cries mingling with the sorrowful lamentations of themourners. They shed tears and flowers on the graves of their kindred,which they afterwards cover with the meats brought by their servants,and all the crowd, after inviting the souls of the dead, partake of areligious repast, in the persuasion that those beloved shades taste ofthe same food and are present at the sympathetic banquet. Is there notin this superstition a distorted tradition of the dogma by which we arecommanded not to forget the souls of our brethren beyond the grave?—Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, Vol. XVII.

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE.

PART I.

ANNA T. SADLIER.

"Hark! the whirlwind is in the wood, a low murmur in the vale; it isthe mighty army of the dead returning from the air." These beautifulwords occur in one of the ancient Celtic poems quoted by Macpherson anddating some thousand years later than Ossian. For the Celts held to thedoctrine of the immortality of souls, and believed that their etherealsubstance was wafted from place to place by the wind on the clouds ofheaven. Amongst the Highlanders a belief prevailed that there werecertain hills to which the spirits of their departed friends had apeculiar attachment. Thus the hill of Ore was regarded by the house ofCrubin as their place of meeting in the future life, and its summit wassupposed to be supernaturally illumined when any member of the familydied. It was likewise a popular belief that the spirits of the departedhaunted places beloved in life, hovered about their friends, andappeared at times on the occasion of any important family event. In thecalm of a new existence,

"Side by side they sit who once mixed in battle their steel."

There is a poetic beauty in many of these ancient beliefs concerningthe dead, but they are far surpassed in grandeur and sublimity, as wellas in deep tenderness, by the Christian conception of a state ofpurgation after death, when the souls of the departed are still boundto, their dear ones upon earth by a strong spiritual bond of mutualhelp. They dwell, then, in an abode of peace, although of intensesuffering, and calmly await the eternal decree which summons them toheaven; while the time of their probation is shortened day by day,month by month, year by year by the Masses, prayers, alms-deeds andother suffrages of their friends who are still dwellers on earth,living the old life; and in its rush of cares and duties, of pleasuresand of pains, forgetting them too often in all save prayer. That is thereminder. The dead who have died in the bosom of the Holy Church cannever be quite forgotten. "The mighty army of the dead returning fromthe air" might in our Catholic conception be that host of deliveredsouls who, after the Feast of All Souls, or some such season of specialprayer for them, are arising upwards into everlasting bliss. But it isour purpose in the present chapters to gather up from the byways ofhistory occasions when the belief in prayer for the dead is mademanifest, whether it be in some noted individual, in a people, or in acountry. It is "the low murmur of the vale" going up constantly fromall peoples, from all times, under all conditions.

In Russia not only is prayer for the dead most sedulously observed bythe Catholic Church, but also in a most particular manner by theSchismatic Greeks. The following details under this head will be, nodoubt, of interest to our readers:

"As soon as the spirit has departed, the body is dressed and placed inan open coffin in a room decorated for the purpose. Numerous lights arekept burning day and night; and while the relations take turns to watchand pray by the coffin, the friends come to pay the last visit to thedeceased…. On the decease of extraordinary persons, the Emperor andhis successor are accustomed to visit the corpse, while the poor, onthe other hand, never fail to lament at the door the loss of theirbenefactor, and to be dismissed with handsome donations. Totalstrangers, too, come of their own accord to offer a prayer for thedeceased; for the image of a saint hung up before the door indicates toevery passenger the house of mourning…. The time of showing thecorpse lasts in general only three or four days, and then follow theblessing of the deceased, and the granting of the pass. The latter isto be taken literally. The corpse is carried to the Church, and thepriest lays upon the breast a long paper, which the common people call'a pass for heaven.' On this paper is written the Christian name of thedeceased, the date of his birth and that of his death. It then statesthat he was baptized as a Christian, that he lived as such, and beforehis death, received the Sacrament—in short, the whole course of lifewhich he led as a Greek Russian Christian…. All who meet a funeraltake off their hats, and offer a prayer to Heaven for the deceased, andsuch is the outward respect paid on such occasions, that it is notuntil they have entirely lost sight of the procession that they put ontheir hats again. This honor is paid to every corpse, whether of theRussian, Protestant, or Catholic Communions…. After the corpse isduly prepared, the priests sing a funeral Mass, called in Russianclerical language, panichide…. On the anniversary of the deathof a beloved relative, they assemble in the Church, and have apanichide read for his soul…. Persons of distinction found alamp to burn forever at the tombs of their dead, and have thesepanichides repeated every week, for, perhaps, a long series ofyears. Lastly, every year, on a particular day, Easter Monday, aservice and a repast are held for all the dead."

The history of France, like that of all Catholic nations, abounds ininstances of public intercession for the dead, the pomp and splendor ofroyal obsequies, the solemn utterances of public individuals; thecelebrations at Père la Chaise, the magnificent requiems. In a nationso purely Catholic as it was and is, though the scum of evil men havearisen like a foul miasma to its surface, it does not surprise us. Weshall therefore select from its history an incident or two, somewhat atrandom. That beautiful one, far back at the era of the Crusades, whereSt. Louis, King of France, absent in the East, received intelligence ofthe death of Queen Blanche, his mother. The grief of the Papal Legate,who had come to announce the news, was apparent in his face, and Louis,fearing some new blow, led the prelate into his chapel, which,according to an ancient chronicler, was "his arsenal against all thecrosses of the world." Louis, overcome with sorrow, quickly changed histears and lamentations into the language of resignation, and desiringto be left alone with his confessor, Geoffrey de Beaulieu, recited theoffice of the dead. "He was present every day at a funeral servicecelebrated in memory of his mother; and sent into the West a greatnumber of jewels and precious stones to be distributed among theprincipal churches of France; at the same time exhorting the clergy toput up prayers for the repose of his mother. In proportion with hisendeavors," continues the historian, "to procure prayers for hismother, his grief yielded to the hope of seeing her again in heaven;and his mind, when calmed by resignation, found its most effectualconsolation in that mysterious tie which still unites us with those wehave lost, in that religious sentiment which mingles with ouraffections to purify them, and with our regrets to mitigate them." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Michaud's Hist. of the Crusades," Vol. II., pp. 477-8.]

In the Instructions which St. Louis addressed on his death-bed to hisson, Philip the Bold, is to be found the following paragraph:

"Dear Son, I pray thee, if it shall please our Lord that I should quitthis life before thee, that thou wilt help me with Masses and prayers,and that thou wilt send to the congregations of the kingdom of France,to make them put up prayers for my soul, and that thou wilt desire thatour Lord may give me part in all the good deeds thou shalt perform."[1]

[Footnote 1: These instructions were preserved in a register of the
Chamber of Accounts. See Appendix to "Michaud's History of Crusades,"
Vol. II., p. 471.]

Philip, on the death of his father, in a letter which was read aloud inall the churches, begs of the clergy and faithful, "to put up to theKing of kings their prayers and their offerings for that prince; withwhose zeal for religion and tender solicitude for the kingdom ofFrance, which he loved as the apple of his eye, they were so wellacquainted." In the Chronicles of Froissart, as well as in the GrandeChronique of St. Denis, we read that the body of King John, who died aprisoner in England, was brought home with great pomp and circ*mstance,on the first day of May, 1364. It was at first placed in the Abbey ofSt. Anthony, thence removed to Notre Dame, and finally to St. Denis,the resting-place of royalty, where solemn Mass was said. On the day ofhis interment, the Archbishop of Sens sang the requiem. Thus did HolyMother Church welcome the exile home.

A pretty anecdote is that of Marie Lecsinska, Queen of Louis XV., who,on hearing of the death of Marshal Saxe, a Lutheran by profession, andbut an indifferent observer of the maxims of any creed, cried out:"Alas! what a pity that we cannot sing a De Profundis for a manwho has made us sing so many Te Deums."

We cannot take our leave of France, without noticing here the beautifulprayer offered up by the saintly Princess Louise de Bourbon Condé, inreligion Sur Marie Joseph de la Miséricorde, on hearing of thedeath of her nephew, the Duc d'Enghien, so cruelly put to death by thefirst Napoleon. Falling, face downwards, on the earth, she prayed:"Mercy, my God, have mercy upon him! Have mercy, Lord, on the soul ofLouis Antoine! Pardon the faults of his youth, remembering the preciousBlood, which Jesus Christ shed for all men, and have regard to thecruel manner in which his blood was shed. Glory and misfortune haveattended his life. But what we call glory, has it any claims in Thyeyes? However, Lord, it is not a demerit before Thee, when it is basedon true honor, which is always inseparable from devotion to our duties.Thou knowest, Lord, those that he has fulfilled, and for those in whichhe has failed, let the misfortunes of which he has been at last thevictim, be a repararation and an expiation. Again, Lord, I ask formercy for his soul." On the death of Napoleon, the murderer of thisbeloved nephew, the same holy religious wrote to the Bishop of St.Flour: "Bonaparte is dead; he was your enemy, for he persecuted you. Ithink you will say a Mass for him; I beg also that you say a Mass on mybehalf for this unfortunate man."

Turning to the History of Rome, it will be of interest to take a glanceat the pious Confraternity della Morte which was instituted in1551, and regularly established in 1560, by His Holiness, Pius IV. Itwas chiefly composed of citizens of high rank. Its object was toprovide burial for the dead. Solemnly broke upon the balmy stillness ofthe Roman nights, all these years and centuries since its foundation,its chanting of holy psalmody, and its audible praying for the dead,borne along in its religious keeping. The glare of the waxen torchesfell upon the bier, the voices of the associates joined in theMiserere, and the Church reached, the corpse was laid there,till the fitting hour, when the Requiem Mass should be sung, and thefinal absolution given, preparatory to interment.

Florence supplies us with a brilliant picture of that sixth day ofJuly, 1439, the feast of Saint Romolo the Martyr, in the ninth year ofthe Pontificate of Pope Eugenius IV., when long-standing differencesbetween the Greek and Latin Churches were brought to an end in a mostamicable manner. Alas! for the Greeks, that they did not accept thedecisions of that day as final. On the 22d of January, 1439, Cosmo deMedici, then Gonfaloniere of Florence, received the Pope and hiscardinals, with a pomp and splendor unknown to the history of modernEurope. On the 12th of the following month came the Patriarch, Josephof Constantinople, and his bishops and theologians. On the 15th arrivedthe Greek Emperor, John Paleologus, who was received at the Porto SanGallo by the Pope and all his cardinals, the Florentine Signory, and along procession of the members of the monastic orders. "A rare and veryremarkable assemblage," says a chronicler [1] "of the most learned menof Europe, and, indeed, of those extra European seats of a pastculture, which were even now giving forth the last flashes from a oncebrilliant light on the point of being quenched in utter darkness, werethus assembled at Florence."

[Footnote 1: T. A. Trollope, in "History of the Commonwealth of
Florence," Vol. III., pp. 137-8.]

This was the inauguration of the far-famed Council of Florence, whichhad the result of settling the points at issue between the Eastern andWestern Churches. "The Greeks confessed that the Roman faith proceededrightly (prociedere bene), and united themselves with it by thegrace of God." Proclamation was accordingly made in the Cathedral, thencalled Santa Reparata, that the Greeks had agreed to hold and tobelieve the five disputed articles of which the fifth was, "That he whodies in sin for which penance has been done, but from which he has notbeen purged, goes to Purgatory, and that the divine offices, Masses,prayers, and alms are useful for the purging of him."

In the history of Ireland, as might be expected, we come upon manyinstances wherein the dead are solemnly remembered from that period,when still pagan, and one of the ancient manuscripts gives us anaccount of certain races, it calls them, which were held for "the soulsof the foreigners slain in battle." This was back in the night ofantiquity, and was no doubt some relic of the Christian tradition whichhad remained amid the darkness of paganism. But to come to theChristian period. The famous Hugues de Lasci, or Hugo de Lacy, Lord ofMeath, and one of the most distinguished men in early Irish annals,founded many abbeys and priories, one at Colpe, near the mouth of theBoyne, one at Duleek, one at Dublin, and one at Kells. The Canons ofSt. Augustine, as we read, "in return for this gift, covenanted thatone of them should be constantly retained as a chaplain to celebrateMass for his soul and for those of his ancestors and successors." Wealso read how Marguerite, wife of Gualtier de Lasci, brother of theabove, gave a large tract in the royal forest of Acornebury, inHerefordshire, for the erection of a nunnery for the benefit of thesouls of her parents, Guillaume and Mathilda de Braose, who with theirson, her brother, had been famished in the dungeon at Windsor. In theaccount of the death in Spain of Red Hugh O'Donnell, who holds a highplace among the chivalry of Ireland, it is mentioned that on his death-bed, "after lamenting his crimes and transgressions; after a rigidpenance for his sins and iniquities; after making his confessionwithout reserve to his confessors, and receiving the body and blood ofChrist; after being duly anointed by the hands of his own confessorsand ecclesiastical attendants," he expired after seventeen days'illness at the king's palace in Simancas. "His body," says the ancientchronicler, "was conveyed to the king's palace at Valladolid in a four-wheeled hearse, surrounded by countless numbers of the king's Stateofficers, council and guards, with luminous torches and brightflambeaux of wax lights burning on either side. He was afterwardsinterred in the monastery of St. Francis, in the Chapter, precisely,with veneration and honor, and in the most solemn manner that any ofthe Gaels had been ever interred in before. Masses and many hymns,chants and melodious canticles were celebrated for the welfare of hissoul; and his requiem was sung with becoming solemnity."

On the death of the celebrated Brian Boroihme, historians relate howhis body was conveyed by the clergy to the Abbey of Swords, whence itwas brought by other portions of the clergy and taken successively totwo monasteries. It was then met by the Archbishop of Armagh, at thehead of his priesthood, and conveyed to Armagh, where the obsequieswere celebrated with a pomp and a fervor worthy the greatness and thepiety of the deceased monarch.

In view of the arguments which are sometimes adduced to prove that theearly Irish Church did not teach this doctrine of prayer for the dead,it is curious to observe how in St. Patrick's second Council heexpressly forbids the holy sacrifice being offered up after death forthose who in life had made themselves unworthy of such suffrages. Atthe Synod of Cashel, held just after the Norman conquest, the claim ofeach dead man's soul to a certain part of his chattels after death wasasserted. To steal a page from the time-worn chronicles of Scotland, itis told by Theodoric that when Queen Margaret of Scotland, that gentleand noble character upon whom the Church has placed the crown ofcanonization, was dying, she said to him: "Two things I have to desireof thee;" and one of these was thus worded, "that as long as thoulivest thou wilt remember my poor soul in thy Masses and prayers." Ithad been her custom in life to recite the office of the dead every dayduring Lent and Advent. Sir Walter Scott mentions in his Minstrelsy ofthe Scottish Border "a curious league or treaty of peace between twohostile clans, by which the heads of each became bound to make the fourpilgrimages of Scotland for the benefit of those souls who had fallenin the feud." In the Bond of Alliance or Field Staunching Betwixt theClans of Scott and Ker this agreement is thus worded: "That it isappointed, agreed and finally accorded betwixt honorable men," thenames are here mentioned, "Walter Ker of Cessford, Andrew Ker ofFairnieherst," etc., etc., "for themselves, kin, friends, maintenants,assisters, allies, adherents, and partakers, on the one part; andWalter Scott of Branxholm," etc., etc., etc. For the staunching of alldiscord and variance between them and so on, amongst other provisions,that "the said Walter Scott of Branxholm shall gang, or cause gang, atthe will of the party, to the four head pilgrimages of Scotland, andshall say a Mass for the unquhile Andrew Ker of Cessford and them thatwere slain in his company in the field of Melrose; and, upon hisexpence, shall cause a chaplain to say a Mass daily, when he isdisposed, in what place the said Walter Ker and his friend pleases, forthe weil of the said souls, for the space of five years next to come.Mark Ker of Dolphinston, Andrew Ker of Graden, shall gang at the willof the party to the four head pilgrimages of Scotland, and shall garsay a Mass for the souls of the unquhile James Scott of Eskirk andother Scots, their friends, slain in the field of Melrose; and, upontheir expence, shall gar a chaplain say a Mass daily, when he isdisposed, for the heal of their souls, where the said Walter Scott andhis friend pleases, for the space of the next three years to come." Wemay mention that the four pilgrimages are Scoon, Dundee, Paisley, andMelrose. This devotion of praying for the dead seems, indeed, to havetaken strong hold upon these rude borderers, who, Sir Walter Scottinforms us, "remained attached to the Roman Catholic faith ratherlonger than the rest of Scotland." In many of their ancient ballads, atsome of which we have already glanced, this belief is prominent. Thedying man, or as in the case of Clerk Saunders, the ghost begs of hissurvivors to "wish my soul good rest." This belief is intermingled withtheir superstitions as in that one attached to Macduff's Cross. Thiscross is situated near Lindores, on the marsh dividing Fife fromStrathern. Around the pedestal of this cross are tumuli, said to be thegraves of those who, having claimed the privilege of the law, failed inproving their consanguinity to the Thane of Fife. Such persons wereinstantly executed. The people of Newburgh believe that the spectres ofthese criminals still haunt the ruined cross, and claim that mercy fortheir souls which they had failed to obtain for their mortal existence.

Thus does the historian [1] mention the burial of St. Ninian, one ofthe favorite Saints of the Scots: "He was buried in the Church of St.Martin, which he had himself built from the foundation, and placed in astone coffin near the altar, the clergy and people standing by andlifting up their heavenly hymns with heart and voice, with sighs andtears."

[Footnote 1: Walsh's Hist, of the Cath. Church in Scotland.]

In the treasurer's books which relate to the reign of James IV. ofScotland, there is the following entry for April, 1503: "The king wentagain to Whethorn." (A place of pilgrimage.) "While there he heard ofthe death of his brother, John, Earl of Mar, and charged the priests toperform a 'dirge and soul Mass' for his brother, and paid them fortheir pains."

In Montalembert's beautiful description of Iona, he mentions thetradition which declares that eight Norwegian kings or princes, fourkings of Ireland, and forty-eight Scottish kings were buried there, asalso one king of France, whose name is not mentioned, and Egfrid, theSaxon King of Northumbria. There is the tomb of Robert Bruce, the tombsof many bishops, abbots, and of the great chiefs and nobles, theMacdougalls, Lords of Lorn; the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles; theMacleods, and the Macleans. Nowhere, perhaps, has death placed his sealon a more imposing assemblage, of truly royal stateliness, ofastonishingly cosmopolitan variety. In the midst of it all, in the verycentre of the burying-ground, stands a ruined chapel, under theinvocation of St. Oran, the first Irish monk who died in this region.The church was built by the sainted Margaret, the wife of MalcolmCanmore, and the mother of St. David. Its mission there was obvious.From its altar arose to the Most High, the solemn celebration of thedread mysteries, the psalm and the prayer, for prince and for prelate,for the great alike in the spiritual and temporal hierarchy.

The Duke of Argyle, in his work on Iona, seems astonished to find thatSt. Columba believed in all the principal truths of Catholic faith,amongst others, prayers for the dead, and yet he considers that hecould not be called a Catholic. The process of reasoning is a curiousone.

Mention is made in the history of Scotland of a famous bell, preservedat Glasgow until the Reformation. It was supposed to have been broughtfrom Rome by St. Kentigern, and was popularly called "St. Mungo'sBell." It was tolled through the city to invite the citizens to prayfor the repose of departed souls.

In the great cathedrals of Scotland, before the Reformation, privatechapels and altars were endowed for the relief of the dead, while inthe cities and large towns, each trade or corporation had an altar inthe principal churches and supported a chaplain to offer up Masses andprayers as well for the dead as for the living. The following incidentis related in the life of the lovely and so sadly maligned Mary Queenof Scots. In the early days of her reign, when still struggling withthe intolerant fury of Knox and his followers,—it was in the Decemberof 1561—Mary desired to have solemn Mass offered up for the repose ofthe soul of her deceased husband, the youthful Francis. This so arousedthe fury of the fanatics about her, that they threatened to take thelife of the priests who had officiated. "Immediately after the Requiemwas over, she caused a proclamation to be made by a Herald at theMarket Cross, that no man on pain of his life should do any injury, orgive offense or trouble to her chaplains."

The poet Campbell in his dirge for Wallace, makes the Lady ofElderslie, the hero's wife, cry out in the first intensity of hersorrow;

"Now sing you the death-song and loudly pray
For the soul of my knight 'so dear.'"

We shall now leave the wild poetic region of Scotland, and with itconclude Part First, taking up again in Part Second the thread of ournarrative, which will wind in and out through various countries ofEurope, ending at last with a glance at our own America.

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE.

PART II.

In Austria we find an example of devotion to the dead, in the saintlyEmpress Eleanor, who, after the death of her husband, the EmperorLeopold, in 1705, was wont to pray two hours every day for the eternalrepose of his soul. Not less touching is an account given by aProtestant traveller of an humble pair, whom he encountered at Pragueduring his wanderings there. They were father and daughter, andattached, the one as bell-ringer, the other as laundress, to the Churchon the Visschrad. He found them in their little dwelling. It was on thefestival of St. Anne, when all Prague was making merry. The girl saidto him: "Father and I were just sitting together, and this being St.Anne's Day, we were thinking of my mother, whose name was also Anne."The father then said, addressing his daughter: "Thou shalt go down toSt. Jacob's to-morrow, and have a Mass read for thy mother, Anne." Forthe mother who had been long years slumbering in the little cemeteryhard by. There is, something touching to me in this little incident,for it tells how the pious memory of the beloved dead dwelt in thesesimple hearts, dwells in the hearts of the people everywhere, as inthat of the pious empress, whose inconsolable sorrow found vent in longhours of prayer for the departed.

In the will of Christopher Columbus there is special mention made ofthe church which he desired should be erected at Concepcion, one of hisfavorite places in the New World, so named by himself. In this churchhe arranged that three Masses should be celebrated daily—the first inhonor of the Blessed Trinity; the second, in honor of the ImmaculateConception; and the third for the faithful departed. This will was madein May, 1506. The body of the great discoverer was laid in the earth,to the lasting shame of the Spaniards, with but little otherremembrance than that which the Church gives to the meanest of herchildren. The Franciscans, his first friends, as now his last,accompanied his remains to the Cathedral Church of Valladolid, where aRequiem Mass was sung, and his body laid in the vault of theObservantines with but little pomp. Later on, however, the king, inremorse for past neglect, or from whatever cause, had the body taken upand transported with great pomp to Seville. There a Mass was sung, anda solemn funeral service took place at the cathedral, whence the corpseof the Admiral was conveyed beyond the Guadalquivir to St. Mary of theGrottoes (Santa Maria de las Grutas). But the remains of this mostwonderful of men were snatched from the silence of the Carthusiancloister some ten years later, and taken thence to Castile, thenceagain to San Domingo, where they were laid in the sanctuary of thecathedral to the right of the main altar. Again they were disturbed andtaken on board the brigantine Discovery to the Island of Cuba, wheresolemnly, once more, the Requiem for the Dead swelled out, filling withawe the immense assembly, comprising, as we are told, all the civil andmilitary notables of the island.

In the annals of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John, it is recordedthat after a great and providential victory won by them over the Moslemfoe, and by the fruits of which Rhodes was saved from falling into thehands of the enemy, the Grand Master D'Aubusson proceeded to the Churchof St. John to return thanks. And that he also caused the erection ofthree churches in honor of Our Blessed Lady, and the Patron Saints ofthe city. These three churches were endowed for prayers and Masses tobe offered in perpetuity for the souls of those who had fallen inbattle. This D'Aubusson was in all respects one of the most splendidknights that Christendom has produced. A model of Christian knighthood,he is unquestionably one of the greatest of the renowned Grand Mastersof St. John. There is a touching incident told in these same annals oftwo knights, the Chevalier de Servieux, counted the most accomplishedgentleman of his day, and La Roche Pichelle. Both of them were not onlythe flower of Christian knighthood, but model religious as well. Theydied of wounds received in a sea fight off Saragossa in 1630, and ontheir death-beds lay side by side in the same room, consoling andexhorting each other, it being arranged between them, that whoeversurvived the longest should offer all his pains for the relief of hiscompanion's soul.

We have now reached a part of our work, upon which we shall haveoccasion to dwell at some length, and notwithstanding the fact that ithas already formed the subject of two preceding articles. It is thatwhich relates to England, and which is doubly interesting to Catholics,as being the early record of what is now the chief Protestant nation ofEurope. To go back to those Anglo-Saxon days, which might be called insome measure the golden age of Catholic faith in England, we shall seewhat was the custom which prevailed at the moment of dissolution. Inthe regulations which follow there is not question of a monarch nor apublic individual, nor of priest nor prelate, but simply of an ordinaryChristian just dead. "The moment he expired the bell was tolled. Itssolemn voice announced to the neighborhood that a Christian brother wasdeparted, and called on those who heard it to recommend his soul to themercy of his Creator. All were expected to join, privately, at least,in this charitable office; and in monasteries, even if it were in thedead of night, the inmates hastened from their beds to the church, andsang a solemn dirge. The only persons excluded from the benefit ofthese prayers were those who died avowedly in despair, or under thesentence of excommunication.

"… Till the hour of burial, which was often delayed for some days toallow time for the arrival of strangers from a distance, small partiesof monks or clergymen attended in rotation, either watching in silentprayer by the corpse or chanting with subdued voice the funeralservice…. When the necessary preparations were completed, the body ofthe deceased was placed on a bier or in a hearse. On it lay the book ofthe Gospels, the code of his belief, and the cross, the emblem of hishope. A pall of linen or silk was thrown over it till it reached theplace of interment. The friends were invited, strangers often deemed ita duty to attend. The clergy walked in procession before, or dividedinto two bodies, one on each side, singing a portion of the psalter andgenerally bearing lights in their hands. As soon as they entered thechurch the service for the dead was performed; a Mass of requiemfollowed; the body was deposited in the grave, the sawlshot paid, and aliberal donation distributed to the poor." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Lingard's Antiquities of the Anglo Saxon Church," Vol.
II, pp. 46-47.]

In the northern portico of the Cathedral of Canterbury was erected analtar in honor of St. Gregory, where a Mass was offered every Saturdayfor the souls of departed archbishops. We read that Oidilwald, King ofthe Deiri, and son of King Oswald, founded a monastery that it might bethe place of his sepulture, because "he was confident of deriving greatbenefit from the prayers of those who should serve the Lord in thathouse." Dunwald the Thane, on his departure for Rome to carry thitherthe alms of his dead master, King Ethelwald, A.D. 762, bequeathed adwelling in the market in Queengate to the Church of SS. Peter and Paulfor the benefit of the king's soul and his own soul.

As far back as the days of the good King Arthur, whose existence hasbeen so enshrouded in fable that many have come to believe him a myth,we read that Queen Guenever II., of unhappy memory, having spent herlast years in repentance, was buried in Ambreabury, Wiltshire. Theplace of her interment was a monastery erected by Aurelius Ambrose, theuncle of King Arthur, "for the maintenance of three hundred monks topray for the souls of the British noblemen slain by Hengist." Upon hertomb was inscribed, "in rude letters of massy gold," to quote theancient chronicler, the initials R. G. and the date 600 A.D.

In the Saxon annals Enfleda, the wife of Oswy, King of Northumbria,plays a conspicuous part. Soon after her marriage, Oswin, her husband'sbrother, consequently her cousin and brother-in-law, was slain. Thequeen caused a monastery to be erected on the spot where he fell as areparation for her husband's fratricide, and as a propitiation for thesoul of the departed. This circ*mstance is alluded to by more than oneEnglish poet, as also the monastery which Enfleda, for the samepurpose, caused to be erected at Tynemouth. Thus Harding:

"Queen Enfled, that was King Oswy's wife,
King Edwin, his daughter, full of goodnesse,
For Oswyn's soule a minster, in her life,
Made at Tynemouth, and for Oswy causeless
That hym so bee slaine and killed helpeless;
For she was kin to Oswy and Oswin,
As Bede in chronicle dooeth determyn."

The most eminent Catholic poet of our own day, Sir Aubrey de Vere, inhis Saxon legends, likewise refers to it. He describes first what

"Gentlest form kneels on the rain-washed ground,
From Giling's Keep a stone's throw. Whose those hands
Now pressed in anguish on a bursting heart.
… What purest mouth

"Presses a new-made grave, and through the blades
Of grass wind shaken, breathes her piteous prayer?
… Oswin's grave it is,
And she that o'er it kneels is Eanfleda,
Kinswoman of the noble dead, and wife
To Oswin's murderer—Oswy."

Again, describing the repentance of Oswy:

"One Winter night
From distant chase belated he returned,
And passed by Oswin's grave. The snow, new fallen,
Whitened the precinct. In the blast she knelt,
She heard him not draw nigh. She only beat
Her breast, and, praying, wept. Our sin! our sin!

"So came to him those words. They dragged him down:
He knelt beside his wife, and beat his breast,
And said, 'My sin! my sin!' Till earliest morn
Glimmered through sleet that twain wept on, prayed on:—
Was it the rising sun that lit at last
The fair face upward lifted?
……. Aloud she cried,
'Our prayer is heard: our penitence finds grace.'
Then added: 'Let it deepen till we die.
A monastery build we on this grave:
So from this grave, while fleet the years, that prayer
Shall rise both day and night, till Christ returns
To judge the world,—a prayer for him who died;
A prayer for one who sinned, but sins no more!'"

In the grant preserved in the Bodleian Collection, wherein Editha the
Good, the widow of Edward the Confessor, confers certain lands upon the
Church of St. Mary at Sarum, occurs the following:

"I, Editha, relict of King Edward, give to the support of the Canons ofSt. Mary's Church, in Sarum, the lands of Secorstan, in Wiltshire, andthose of Forinanburn, to the Monastery of Wherwell, for the support ofthe nuns serving God there, with the rights thereto belonging, for thesoul of King Edward." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Phillips' Account of Old Sarum."]

This queen was buried in Westminster Abbey, her remains being removedfrom the north to the south side of St. Edward's shrine, on therebuilding of that edifice, and it is recorded that Henry III. ordereda lamp to be kept burning perpetually at the tomb of Editha the Good.

It is related of the celebrated Lady Godiva of Coventry, the wife ofthe wealthy and powerful Leofric, that on her death-bed she "bequeatheda precious circlet of gems, which she wore round her neck, valued atone hundred marks of silver (about two thousand pounds sterling) to theImage of the Virgin in Coventry Abbey, praying that all who camethither would say as many prayers as there were gems in it." [1]

[Footnote 1: Saxon Chronicle, Strickland's "Queens of England Beforethe Conquest, etc."]

The following is an ancient verse, occurring in an old French treatise,on the manner of behaving at table, wherein one is warned never toarise from a meal without praying for the dead. This treatise wastranslated by William Caxton.

"Priez Dieu pour les trepassés,
Et te souveigne en pitié
Qui de ce monde sont passez,
Ainsi que tu es obligez,
Priez Dieu pour les trepassés!"

[We subjoin a rough translation of the verse.

To God, for the departed, pray
And of those in pity think
Who have passed from this world away,
As, indeed, thou art bound to do,
To God, for the departed pray.]

Speaking of his early education, Caxton says:

"Whereof I humbly and heartily thank God, and am bounden to pray for myfather and mother's souls, who in my youth set me to school." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Christian Schools and Scholars."]

In 1067, William the Conqueror founded what was known as Battle Abbey,which he gave to the Benedictine Monks, that they might pray for thesouls of those who fell in the Battle of Hastings. Speaking of Williamthe. Conqueror, it is not out of place to quote here these lines fromthe pen of Mrs. Hemans:

"Lowly upon his bier
The royal Conqueror lay,
Baron and chief stood near,
Silent in war's array.
Down the long minster's aisle
Crowds mutely gazing stream'd,
Altar and tomb the while
Through mists of incense gleamed.

"They lowered him with the sound
Of requiems to repose."

These stanzas on the Burial of William the Conqueror lead us naturallyto others from the pen of the same gifted authoress on "Coeur de Lionat the Bier of his Father."

"Torches were blazing clear,
Hymns pealing deep and slow,
Where a king lay stately on his bier,
In the Church of Fontevraud.

* * * * *

"The marble floor was swept
By many a long dark stole
As the kneeling priests, round him that slept,
Sang mass for the parted soul.
And solemn were the strains they pour'd
Through the stillness of the night,
With the cross above, and the crown and sword,
And the silent king in sight."

We forgive the ignorance of the gentle poetess with regard to the Mass,for the beauty and solemnity of the verse, which is quite in keepingwith the nature of the subject.

We read, again, of tapers being lit at the tomb of Henry V., the nobleand chivalrous Henry of Monmouth, for one hundred years after hisdeath. The Reformation extinguished that gentle flame with many anotherholy fire, both in England and throughout Christendom.

We shall now pass on to another period—a far different and mosttroublous one of English history, that of the Reformation.

In the Church of St. Lawrence at Iswich is an entry of an offering madeto "pray for the souls of Robert Wolsey and his wife Joan, the fatherand mother of the Dean of Lincoln," thereafter to be Cardinal andChancellor of the Kingdom. An argument urged to show the Protestantismof Collet, one of the ante-Reformation worthies, is that he "did notmake a Popish will, having left no monies for Masses for his soul;which shows that he did not believe in Purgatory." The dying prayer ofSir Thomas More concludes with these words: "Give me a longing to bewith Thee; not for avoiding the calamities of this wicked world, nor somuch the pains of Purgatory or of hell; nor so much for the attainingof the choice of heaven, in respect of mine own commodity, as even fora very love of Thee." The unfortunate Anne Boleyn, who during herimprisonment had repented and received the last sacraments from thehands of Father Thirlwall, begs on the scaffold that the people maypray for her. In her address to her ladies before leaving the Tower,she concludes it by begging them to forget her not after death. "Inyour prayers to the Lord Jesus forget not to pray for my soul." In theaccount of the death of another of King Henry's wives, the Lady JaneSeymour, who died, as Miss Strickland says, after having all the ritesof the Catholic Church administered to her, we read that Sir RichardGresham thus writes to Lord Cromwell:

"I have caused twelve hundred Masses to be offered up for the soul ofour most gracious Queen…. I think it right that there should also bea solemn dirge and high Mass, and that the mayor and aldermen shouldpray and offer up divers prayers for Her Grace's soul."

Anne of Cleves some two years before her death likewise embraced theCatholic faith. At her funeral Mass was sung by Bonner, Bishop ofLondon, and many monks and seculars attended her obsequies. Theinfamous Thomas Cromwell, converted, as it seems evident fromcontemporary witnesses, on his death-bed, left what might be calledtruly a "Popish will." After bequeathing money or effects to variousrelatives and friends, he speaks of charity "works for the health of mysoul." "I will," he says, "that my executors shall sell said farm(Carberry), and the money thereof to be employed in deeds of charity,to prayer for my soul and all Christian souls." Item. "I will mineexecutors shall conduct and hire a priest, being an honest person ofcontinent and good living, to sing (pray) for my soul for the space ofseven years next after my death." Item. "I give and bequeath to everyone of the five orders of Friars within the Citie of London, to prayfor my soul, twenty shillings. …" He further bequeaths £20 to bedistributed amongst "poor householders, to pray for his soul."

In this he closely resembled his royal master, Henry VIII., whoordained that Masses should be said "for his soul's health while theworld shall endure." And after his death it was agreed that theobsequies should be conducted according to the observance of theCatholic Church. Church-bells tolled and Masses were celebrated dailythroughout London. In the Privy Chamber, where the corpse was laid,"lights and Divine service were said about him, with Masses, obsequies,etc." After the body was removed to the chapel it was kept there twelvedays, with "Masses and dirges sung and said everyday." Norroy, king atarms, stood each day at the choir door, saying: "Of your charity prayfor the soul of the high and mighty prince, our late sovereign lord andking, Henry VIII." When the body was lowered into the grave we read ofa De Profundis being read over it. God grant it was not all asolemn mockery, this praying for the soul of him who was styled "thefirst Protestant King of England," and who by his crimes separatedEngland from the unity of Christendom! May these "Popish practices,"which were amongst those he in his ordinances condemned, have availedhim in that life beyond the grave, whither he went to give an accountof his stewardship!

The Catholic Queen, Mary, after her accession to the throne, caused arequiem Mass to be sung in Tower Chapel for her brother, Edward theSixth. Elizabeth, in her turn, had Mary buried with funeral hymn andMass, and caused a solemn dirge and Mass of Requiem to be chanted forthe soul of the Emperor Charles V.

With this period of spiritual anarchy and desolation we shall take ourleave of England, passing on to pause for an instant to observe thepeculiar cultus of the dead in Corsica. It is represented bysome writers as being similar to that which prevailed amongst theRomans. But as a traveller remarks, "it is a curious relic of paganism,combined with Christian usages." Thus the dirge sung by women, theirwild lamenting, their impassioned apostrophizing of the dead, theirrhetorical declamation of his virtues, finds its analogy among many ofthe customs of pagan nations, while the prayer for the dead, "therelatives standing about the bed of death reciting the Rosary," theConfraternity of the Brothers of the Dead coming to convey the corpseto the church, where Mass is sung and the final absolution given, iseminently Christian and Catholic. In the Norwegian annals we read howOlaf the Saint, on the occasion of one of his battles, gave many marksof silver for the souls of his enemies who should fall in battle.

A traveller in Mexico relates the following: "I remember to have seen,"he says, "on the high altar of the dismantled church of Yanhuitlan askull as polished as ivory, which bore on the forehead the followinginscription in Spanish:

'Io soy Jesus Pedro Sandoval; un Ave Maria y un Padre Nuestro, por Dios,hermanos!' [1]

[Footnote 1: Ferdinand Gregorovius, "Wanderings in Corsica," translatedby Alexander Muir.]

'I am Jesus Pedro Sandoval; a Hail Mary and an Our Father for the loveof God, my brother.'

"I cannot conceive," he continues, "anything more heart-rending thanthe great silent orbs of this dead man staring me fixedly in the face,whilst his head, bared by contact with the grave, sadly implored myprayers." [1]

[Footnote 1: "Deux Ans au Mexique," Faucher de St. Maurice.]

It would be impossible to conclude our olla podrida, if I mayventure on the expression, of historical lore, relating to the dead,without referring, however briefly, to the two great deaths, andconsequently the magnificent obsequies which have marked this very yearof 1885, in which we write. Those of Archbishop Bourget, of Montreal,and of His Eminence, Cardinal McCloskey, of New York. They were bothexpressions of national sorrow, and the homage paid by sorrowingmultitudes to true greatness. On the 10th of June, 1885, the venerableArchbishop Bourget died at Sault-au-Recollet, and was brought on thefollowing morning to the Church of Notre Dame, Montreal. The days thatensued were all days of Requiem. Psalms were sung, and the office ofthe dead chanted by priests of all the religious orders in succession,by the various choirs of the city, by the secular clergy, and by laysocieties. Archbishops and bishops sang high Mass with all the pomp ofour holy ritual, and the prayers of the poor for him who had been theirbenefactor, mingled with those of the highest in the land, and followedthe beloved remains from the bed of death whence they were taken downinto the funeral vault. On the 10th of October, 1885, His Eminence theCardinal Archbishop of New York passed peacefully away, amidst thegrief of the whole community, both Protestant and Catholic. Again,there was a very ovation of prayer. The obsequies were marked by asplendor such as, according to a contemporary journal, had never beforeattended any ecclesiastical demonstration on this side of the water.The clergy, secular and religious, formed one vast assemblage, whilelayman vied with layman in showing honor to the dead, and in prayingfor the soul's repose. "All that man could do," says a prominentCatholic journal, "to bring honor to his bier was done, and in honorand remembrance his memory remains. All that Mother Church could offeras suffrage for his soul has been offered."

That is wherein the real beauty of it all consists. Honor to the greatdead may, it is true, be the splendid expression of national sentiment.But in the eyes of faith it is meaningless. Other great men, deservedlyhonored by the nations, have passed away during this same year, butwhere was the prayer, accompanying them to the judgment-seat, assistingthem in that other life, repairing their faults, purging away sins orimperfections? The grandeur that attended Mgr. Bourget's burial andCardinal McCloskey's obsequies consisted chiefly in that vast symphonyof prayer, which arose so harmoniously, and during so many days, fortheir soul's welfare.

Devotion to the dead, as we have seen, exists everywhere, is everywheredear to the hearts of the people, from those first early worshippers,who, in the dawn of Christianity, in the dimness of the Catacombsprayed for the souls of their brethren in Christ, begging that theymight "live in God," that God might refresh them, down through the agesto our own day, increasing as it goes in fervor and intensity. We meetwith its records, written boldly, so to say, on the brow of nations, orin out-of-the-way corners, down among the people, in the littleness andobscurity of humble domestic annals. In the earliest liturgies, in themost ancient sacramentaries, there is the prayer for "refreshment,light, and peace," as it is now found in the missals used at the dailysacrifice, on the lips of the priest, in the prayers of the humblestand most unlettered petitioner. It is the "low murmur of the vale,"changing, indeed, at times into the thunder on the mountain tops,amazing the unbelieving world which stands aloof and stares, as in theinstances but lately quoted, or existing forgotten, and overlooked bythem, but no less deep and solemn. It is a Requiem Æternampervading all time, and ceasing only with time itself, when theEternity of rest for the Church Militant has begun.

PRAYER FOR THE DEAD IN THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH.

DR. LINGARD.

The Anglo-Saxons had inherited from their teachers the practice ofprayer for the dead—a practice common to every Christian Church whichdates its origin from any period before the Reformation. It was notthat they pretended to benefit by their prayers the blessed in heaven,or the reprobate in hell; but they had never heard of the doctrinewhich teaches that "every soul of man, passing out of the body, goethimmediately to one or other of those places" (Book of Homilies. Hom.VII. On Prayer). And therefore assuming that God will render to allaccording to their works, they believed that the souls of men dying ina state of less perfect virtue, though they might not be immediatelyadmitted to the supreme felicity of the saints, would not, at least, bevisited with the everlasting punishment of the wicked. [1] It was forsuch as these that they prayed, that if they were in a state ofimperfect happiness, that happiness might be augmented; if in a stateof temporary punishment, the severity of that punishment might bemitigated; and this they hoped to obtain from the mercy of God, inconsideration of their prayers, fasts, and alms, and especially of the"oblation of the most Holy Victim in the Sacrifice of the Mass."

[Footnote 1: "Some souls proceed to rest after their departure; some goto punishment for that which they have done, and are often released byalms-deeds, but chiefly through the Mass, if it be offered for them;others are condemned to hell with the devil." (Serm. ad. Pop. in Oct.Pent.) "There be many places of punishment, in which souls suffer inproportion to their guilt before the general judgment, so that some ofthem are fully cleansed, and have nothing to suffer in that fire of thelast day." (Hom. apud. Whelock, p. 386.)]

This was a favorite form of devotion with our ancestors. It came tothem recommended by the practice of all antiquity; it was considered anact of the purest charity on behalf of those who could no longer prayfor themselves; it enlisted in its favor the feelings of the survivor,who was thus enabled to intercede with God for his nearest and dearestfriends, and it opened at the same time to the mourner a source of realconsolation in the hour of bereavement and distress. It is true,indeed, that the petitioners knew not the state of the departed soul;he might be incapable of receiving any benefit from their prayers, butthey reasoned, with St. Augustine, that, even so, the piety of theirintentions would prove acceptable to God. When Alcuin heard thatEdilthryde, a noble Saxon lady, lamented most bitterly the death of herson, he wrote to her from his retreat at Tours, in the followingterms:—"Mourn not for him whom you cannot recall. If he be of God,instead of grieving that you have lost him, rejoice that he is gone torest before you. Where there are two friends, I hold the death of thefirst preferable to that of the second, because the first leaves behindhim one whose brotherly love will intercede for him daily, and whosetears will wash away the frailties of his life in this world. Beassured that your pious solicitude for the soul of your son will not bethrown away. It will benefit both you and him—you, because youexercise acts of hope and charity; him, because such acts will tendeither to mitigate his sufferings, or to add to his happiness."

[Footnote 1: Ep. Cli Tom. I, p. 212.]

But they did not only pray for others, they were careful to secure forthemselves, after their departure, the prayers of their friends. Thisthey frequently solicited as a favor or recompense, and for this theyentered into mutual compacts by which the survivor was bound to performcertain works of piety or charity for the soul of the deceased. ThusBeda begs of the monks of Lindisfarne that, at his death, they willoffer prayers and Masses for him as one of their own body; thus Alcuincalls upon his former scholars at York to remember him in their prayerswhen it shall please God to withdraw him from this world; and thus inthe multifarious correspondence of St. Boniface, the apostle ofGermany, and of Lullus, his successor in the See of Mentz, both of themAnglo-Saxons, with their countrymen, prelates, abbots, thanes, andprinces, we meet with letters the only object of which is to renewtheir previous engagements, and to transmit the names of their defunctassociates. It is "our earnest wish," say the King of Kent and theBishop of Rochester in their common letter to Lullus, "to recommendourselves and our dearest relatives to your piety, that by your prayerswe may be protected till we come to that life which knows no end. Forwhat have we to do on earth but faithfully to exercise charity towardseach other? Let us then agree, that when any among us enter the pathwhich leads to another life (may it be a life of happiness), thesurvivors shall, by their alms and sacrifices, endeavor to assist himin his journey. We have sent you the names of our deceased relations,Irmige, Vorththry, and Dulicha, virgins dedicated to God, and beg thatyou will remember them in your prayers and oblations. On a similaroccasion we will prove our gratitude by imitating your charity."

Such covenants were not confined to the clergy, or to persons in thehigher ranks of life. England, at this period, was covered with"gilds," or associations of townsmen and neighbors, not directly forreligious purposes, but having a variety of secular objects in view,—such as the promotion of trade and commerce, the preservation ofproperty and the prosecution of thieves, the legal defence of themembers against oppression, and the recovery of bots, or penalties, towhich they were entitled; but whatever might be their chief object, allimposed one common obligation, that of accompanying the bodies of f thedeceased members to the grave, of paying the soul-shot for them attheir interment, and of distributing alms for the repose of theirsouls. As a specimen of such engagements, I may here translate aportion of the laws established in the gild at Abbotsbury. "If," saysthe legislator, "any one belonging to this association chance to die,each member shall pay one penny for the good of the soul, before thebody be laid in the grave. If he neglect, he shall be fined in a triplesum. If any of us fall sick within sixty miles, we engage to findfifteen men, who may bring him home; but if he die first, we will sendthirty to convey him to the place in which he desired to be buried. Ifhe die in the neighborhood, the steward shall inquire where he is to beinterred, and shall summon as many members as he can to assemble,attend the corpse in an honorable manner, carry it to the minster, andpray devoutly for the soul. Let us act in this manner, and we shalltruly perform the duty of our confraternity. This will be honorable tous both before God and man. For we know not who among us may die first;but we believe that, with the assistance of God, this agreement willprofit us all if it be rightly observed."

But the clerical and monastic bodies inhabiting the more celebratedmonasteries offered guildships of a superior description. Among themthe service for the dead was performed with greater solemnity; therules of the institute insured the faithful performance of the duty;and additional value was ascribed to their prayers on account of thesanctity of the place and the virtue of its inmates. Hence it became anobject with many to obtain admission among the brotherhood in qualityof honorary associates; an admission which gave them the right to thesame spiritual benefits after death to which the professed members wereentitled. Such associates were of two classes. To some the favor wasconceded on account of their reputation for piety or learning; toothers it was due on account of their benefactions. Instances of bothabound in the Anglo-Saxon records. Beda, though a monk at Jarrow,procured his name to be entered for this purpose on the bead-roll ofthe monks at Lindisfarne; and Alcuin, though a canon at Tours, inFrance, had obtained a similar favor from the monks at Jarrow. Itbelonged, of right, to the founders of churches, to those who had madeto them valuable benefactions, [1] or had rendered to them importantservices, or had bequeathed to them a yearly rent charge [2] for thatpurpose.

[Footnote 1: When Osulf, ealdorman, by the grace of God, gave the landat Stanhamstede to Christ Church, he most humbly prayed that he and hiswife, Beornthrythe, might be admitted "into the fellowship of God'sservants there, and of their lords who had been, and of those who hadgiven lands to the Church."—Cod. Dipl. I. 292. The following is aninstance of a rent charge given by Ealburge and Eadwald to ChristChurch for themselves, and for Ealred and Ealwyne forty ambres of malt,two hundred loaves, one wey, &c, &c.; "and I, Ealburge," she adds,"command my son Ealwyne, in the name of God, and of all the saints,that he perform this duty in his day, and then command his heirs toperform it as long as Christendom shall endure."]

[Footnote 2: I Monast. Ang. i. 278. A similar regulation is found amongthe laws of the gild in London. "And ye have ordained respecting everyman who has given his 'wed' in our gildships, if he should die, thateach gild brother shall give a 'genuine loaf' for his soul, and sing aditty, or get it sung, within thirty days."—Thorpe's Laws of LondonGilds.]

Of all these individuals an exact catalogue was kept; the days of theirdecease [1] were carefully noted, and on their anniversaries a solemnservice of Masses and psalmody was yearly performed. [2] It may beeasily conceived that to men of timorous and penitent minds this customwould afford much consolation. However great might be theirdeficiencies, yet they hoped that their good works would survive them;they had provided for the service of the Almighty a race of men, whosevirtues they might in one respect call their own, and who were bound,by the strongest ties, to be their daily advocate at the throne ofdivine mercy. [3] Such were the sentiments of Alwyn, the caldorman ofEast Anglia, and one of the founders of Ramsey. Warned by frequentinfirmities of his approaching death, he repaired, attended by his sonsEdwin and Ethelward, to the abbey. The monks were speedily assembled."My beloved," said he, "you will soon lose your friend and protector.My strength is gone: I am stolen from myself. But I am not afraid todie. When life grows tedious death is welcome. To-day I shall confessbefore you the many errors of my life. Think not that I wish to solicita prolongation of my existence. My request is that you protect mydeparture by your prayers, and place your merits in the balance againstmy defects. When my soul shall have quitted my body, honor yourfather's corpse with a decent funeral, grant him a constant share inyour prayers, and recommend his memory to the charity and gratitude ofyour successors." At the conclusion of his address the aged thane threwhimself on the pavement before the altar, and, with a voice interruptedby frequent sighs, publicly confessed the sins of his past years, andearnestly implored the mercies of his Redeemer…. He exhorted thebrethren to a punctual observance of their rule, and forbade his sons,under their father's malediction, to molest them in possession of thelands which he had bestowed on the abbey…. Within a few weeks hedied, his body was interred with proper solemnity in the Church; andhis memory was long cherished with gratitude by the monks of Ramsey.[4]

[Footnote 1: According to Wanly there is in the Cotton Library (Dom. A.7) of the reign of Athelstan, in which the names of the chiefbenefactors of the Church of Lindisfarne are written in letters of goldand silver, which catalogue was afterwards continued, but not in thesame manner (Wanly, 249). This is probably the same book which waspublished in 1841 by the Surtees Society, under the name of LiberVitæ Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis. It contains the names of all thebenefactors of St. Cuthbert's Church from its foundation, and layconstantly on the altar for upwards of six centuries.]

[Footnote 2: According to Wanly there is in the Cotton Library (Dom. A.7) of the reign of Athelstan, in which the names of the chiefbenefactors of the Church of Lindisfarne are written in letters of goldand silver, which catalogue was afterwards continued, but not in thesame manner (Wanly, 249). This is probably the same book which waspublished in 1841 by the Surtees Society, under the name of LiberVitæ Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis. It contains the names of all thebenefactors of St. Cuthbert's Church from its foundation, and layconstantly on the altar for upwards of six centuries.]

[Footnote 3: Thus when Leofric established canons in the Church ofExeter, he made them several valuable presents, on condition that, intheir prayers and Masses, they should always remember his soul, "thatit might be the more pleasing to God." Monas. Ang. tom i. p. 222.]

[Footnote 4: Hist. Rames, p. 427.]

There were three kinds of good works usually performed for the benefitof the dead: One consisted in the distribution of charity. To themoney, which the deceased, if he were in opulent or in easycirc*mstances, bequeathed for that purpose, an addition was often madeby the contributions of his relatives and friends. Large sums wereoften distributed in this manner. King Alfred the Great says in hiswill: "Let there be given for me, and for my father, and for thefriends that he prayed for, and that I pray for, two hundred pounds;fifty among the Mass-priests throughout my kingdom; fifty among theservants of God that are in need, fifty among lay paupers, and fifty tothe church in which my body shall rest." [1] Archbishop Wulfred in hiswill, (an. 831) made provision for the permanent support and clothingof twenty-seven paupers, out of the income from certain manors which,at his own cost and labor, he had recovered for the Church ofCanterbury. Frequently the testator bequeathed a yearly dole of moneyand provisions to the poor on the anniversary of his death. Thus theclergy of Christ-church gave away one hundred and twenty suffles, orcakes of fine flour, on the anniversaries of each of their lords, bywhich word we are probably to understand archbishops; but Wulfred wasnot content with his accustomed charity; he augmented it tenfold on hisown anniversary, having bequeathed a loaf, a certain quantity ofcheese, and a silver penny to be delivered to twelve hundred poorpersons on that day. Of such dole some vestiges still remain in certainparts of the kingdom.

[Footnote 1: Cod Diplom (double S?) i. 115.]

Another species of charity, at the death of the upper ranks, was thegrant of freedom to a certain number of slaves, whose poverty, torender the gift more valuable, was relieved with a handsome present. Inthe Council of Calcuith, it was unanimously agreed that each prelate athis death should bequeath the tenth part of his personal property tothe poor, and set at liberty all bondmen of English descent, whom theChurch had acquired during his administration; and that each bishop andabbot who survived him, should manumit three of his slaves, and givethree shillings to each, for the benefit of the soul of the deceasedprelate.

The devotions in behalf of the dead consisted in the frequentrepetition of the Lord's Prayer, technically called a belt ofPaternosters, which was in use with private individuals, ignorant ofthe Latin tongue; 2d, in the chanting of a certain number of psalms,generally fifty, terminating with the collect for the dead, duringwhich collect all knelt down, and then repeated the anthem in Latin orEnglish: "According to Thy great mercy give rest to his soul, O Lord,and of Thine infinite bounty grant to him eternal light in the companyof the saints;" [1] 3d, in the sacrifice of the Mass, which was offeredas soon as might be after death, again on the third day, and afterwardsas often as was required by the solicitude of the relatives or friendsof the deceased. No sooner had St. Wilfred expired than Talbert, towhom he had intrusted the government of his monastery at Ripon, ordereda Mass to be celebrated, and alms to be distributed daily for his soul.On his anniversary the abbots of all the monasteries founded by Wilfredwere summoned to attend; they spent the preceding night in watching andprayer, on the following morning a solemn Mass was performed, and thenthe tenth part of the cattle belonging to the monastery was distributedamong the neighboring poor.

[Footnote 1: On the death of St. Guthlade, his sister Pega recommendedhis soul to God, and sang psalms for that purpose during three days.]

In like manner we find the ealdorman Osulf, "for the redemption andhealth of his own soul, and of his wife, Beornthrythe," giving certainlands to the Church of Liming, in Kent, under the express conditionthat "every twelve months afterwards, the day of their departure out ofthis life should be kept with fasting and prayer to God, in psalmodyand the celebration of Masses."

It would appear that some doubt existed with respect to the exactmeaning of this condition; and a few years later the archbishop, to setthe question at rest, pronounced the following decree: "Wherefore Iorder that the godly deeds following be performed for their souls atthe tide of their anniversary; that every Mass priest celebrate twoMasses for the soul of Osulf, and two for Beornthrythe's soul; thatevery deacon read two passions (the narratives of our Lord's sufferingsin the gospels) for his soul, and two for hers; and each of God'sservants (the inferior members of the brotherhood) two fifties" (fiftypsalms) "for his soul, two for hers; that as you in the world areblessed with worldly goods through them, so they may be blessed withgodly goods through you."

It should, however, be observed, that such devotions were not confinedto the anniversaries of the dead. In many, perhaps in all, of thesereligious establishments, the whole community on certain days walked,at the conclusion of the matin service, in procession to the cemetery,and there chanted the dirge over the graves of their deceased brethrenand benefactors.

Respecting these practices some most extraordinary opinions haveoccasionally been hazarded. We have been told that the custom ofpraying for the dead was no part of the religious system originallytaught to the Anglo-Saxons, that it was not generally received for twocenturies after their conversion, and that it probably took its rise"from a mistaken charity, continuing to do for the departed what it wasonly lawful to do for the living." To this supposition it may besufficient to reply, that it is supported by no reference to ancientauthority, but contradicted in every page of Anglo-Saxon history.Others have admitted the universal prevalence of the practice, but havediscovered that it originated in the interested views of the clergy,who employed it as a constant source of emolument, and laughed amongthemselves at the easy faith of their disciples. But this opinion issubject to equal difficulties with the former. It rests on no ancienttestimony: it is refuted by the conduct of the ancient clergy. Noinstance is to be found of any one of these conspirators as they arerepresented, who in an unguarded moment, or of any false brother who,in the peevishness of discontent, revealed the secret to the ears oftheir dupes. On the contrary, we see them in their privatecorrespondence holding to each other the same language which they heldto their disciples; requesting from each other those prayers which weare told that they mutually despised, and making pecuniary sacrificesduring life to purchase what, if their accusers be correct, they deemedan illusory assistence after death.

A SINGULAR FRENCH CUSTOM.

Vernon is perhaps the only town in France wherein the ancient custom ofwhich we are about to speak still exists. When a death occurs, anindividual, robed in a mortuary tunic, adorned with cross-bones andtear-drops, goes through the streets with a small bell in either hand,the sound of which is sharp and penetrating; at every place where thestreets cross each other, he rings his bells three times, crying out ina doleful voice: "Such-a-one, belonging to the Confraternity of St.Roch, or the Confraternity of St. Sebastian, &c., &c., is recommendedto your prayers. He is dead. The funeral will take place at such-an-hour." Then he rings again three times. The first Sunday of each montharrives. Then, at the dawn of day the same individual goes againthrough the town, ringing continuously, knocking thrice at the door ofeach member of the confraternity, and stopping at the corners of thestreets, he sings: "Good people," or "good souls, who sleep, awake!awake! pray for the dead! &c."—Voix de la Verité, July 22,1846.

DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SOULS AMONGST THE EARLY ENGLISH.

ANNA T. SADLIER.

An English writer, the gifted author of the Knights of St. John, makesthe following assertion as regards the people of her own nationality:"Our Catholic ancestors," she says, "are said to have beendistinguished above all other nations for their devotion towards thedead; and it harmonizes with one feature in our national character,namely, that gravity and attraction to things of solemn and patheticinterest which, uncontrolled by the influence of faith, degenerateseven into melancholy." In view of this assertion, it will beinteresting to spend a few moments in gathering up the links of thismost ancient and most touching devotion, amongst a people who havecollectively, as it were, fallen away from grace. It is therefore ourpurpose to look backwards into that solemn and beautiful past of whichheretical England can boast, and behold her, as Carlyle beheld her inhis "Past and Present," offering to the world the sublime spectacle ofa people devout and faithful, undisturbed by doubt, tranquilized by theharmonious influence of religion, and unharassed by the spirit of socalled philosophic inquiry, which, misdirected, is the true bane ofEnglish society at the present day.

This retrospection, as we shall have occasion later on to recur to thesubject of devotion to the dead in England, must necessarily be bothbrief and cursory. But even the merest outlines are of interest, forthey prove that prayer for the departed was no less the favoritedevotion of the learned than of the simple, and that it had its home inthose ancient seats of learning, Oxford and Cambridge and theirdependencies, from the very hour of their foundation. Of the Founder ofOxford, it is said, that prayer for the dead was one of his devotionsof predilection. It is not necessary here for us to follow him, thegreat and good William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, andsubsequently Lord Chancellor of England, in the gradual unfoldings ofthat project of founding a University, so dear to him from almost themoment of his elevation to the episcopate. Suffice that in the March of1379, he laid the corner-stone of "St. Marie's College of Winchester,Oxenford." It is with his great charity towards the Holy Souls that weare at present concerned, and of this we have ample proof in thetestimonies of his biographers. Here is one of them, in the paragraphwhich follows:

"There was another devotion which was most dearly cherished by Wykeham,and which is an equal indication of the singular spirituality ofhis mind,—we mean, that for the suffering souls in Purgatory. It maybe safely affirmed, that this devotion, so unselfish and unearthly inits tendencies, carrying us beyond the grave, and making us familiarwith the secrets of the unseen world, could never find a place in theheart of one who was engrossed by secular cares, or the love of money.Its existence in any marked and special degree argues in the soul ofits possessor a profound sense of sin, a deep compassion for thesufferings of others, and a habit of dwelling on the thoughts of death,judgment, and eternity. Moreover, it is utterly opposed to anything ofthat mercenary or commercial spirit which exists among men of theworld, who like to see some large practical result even in matters ofdevotion. We pray, and are sensible of no return; we spend our money ina Requiem Mass, and there is nothing but trust in God's word, and God'sfidelity, to assure us that the money is not thrown away. Every DeProfundis that we say is as much an act of faith as it is an act ofcharity; and it has its reward. We do not speak merely of the benefitreaped by the souls of the faithful departed; but who can measure theeffect of this devotion on a man's own soul, bringing him (as it does)into communion with the world of spirits, and realizing to him theworth of Christian suffering, and the awful purity of God?"…

Wykeham's heart was full of compassion for suffering, and the deadshared his charity with the living. Never did he offer the HolySacrifice for the departed without abundant tears. His reverence forthe Holy Mysteries, and the singular devotion with which he celebrated,are often referred to by those who have written his life; one of whom,after speaking of his various charities, thus continues: "Not only didhe, as we have said, offer his goods, but also his very self, as alively sacrifice to God, and hence, in the solemn celebration of Mass,and chiefly at that part where there is made a special memorial of theliving and the dead, he was wont to shed many tears out of the humilityof his heart, reputing himself unworthy, as he was wont to express itin speaking to his secretary, to perform such an office, or to handlethe most sublime mysteries of the Church."

From the same biographer we add to the foregoing a further testimony asto what a hold this devotion of predilection had taken upon the soul ofthe Founder of Oxford:

"Among his charities we accordingly find a great many which were solelydirected to the relief of the suffering souls. Wykeham's benevolencehad in it one admirable feature: it was not left to be carried outafter his death by his executors, but all his great acts of munificencewere performed in his own lifetime. One of his first cares, after hisaccession to the See of Winchester, was to found a chantry in thePriory of Southwyke, near Wykeham, for the repose of the souls of hisfather and mother and sister, who were buried within the priory church;and in all his after foundations provisions were made for the continualremembrance of the dead; and (ever grateful to his early friends) KingEdward III., the Black Prince, and King Richard II. were all commendedto the charity of those who, as they prayed for Wykeham, were chargedat the same time to pray for the souls of his benefactors."

In Winchester we read, also, of the College of the Holy Trinity,endowed as a "carnarie," or charnel-house, of the city. The chiefduties of the priests belonging to the chantry attached thereto were tobury the dead, and keep up perpetual Masses for the souls of thedeparted.

Those Colleges of Winchester, with their simple beauty and grandeur ofdesign, with their conventional rule of life, the singing of Matins,and the daily chanting of the divine office by chaplains and fellows,offer to us a very fair picture, indeed. But we observe that in theMasses sung with "note and chant," there is one specially mentioned forthe souls of the founder's parents, and of all the faithful departed; asecond for the souls of King Edward III., Queen Philippa, the BlackPrince, Richard II., Queen Anne, and certain benefactors.

On the 24th of July, 1403, the saintly Wykeham made his will. Hedirected that his body should be laid in a chantry which he had himselffounded, and at the altar of which he was wont to offer up the HolySacrifice. He desired that on the day of his burial, "to every poorperson coming to Winchester, and asking alms, for the love of God, andfor the health of his soul, there should be given fourpence." Alms werelikewise to be distributed in every place through which his body was topass, and large provision was made for Masses and prayers for therepose of his soul. He had, besides, made an agreement with the monksof St. Swithin's, by which they were to offer three Masses daily forhis parents and benefactors in the chantry chapel; the first of thesewas a Mass of Our Lady, to be said very early. The boys attached to theCollege were, moreover, to sing every night in perpetuity, either theSalve Regina or Ave Regina, with a De Profundis for his soul'srepose. So, as the hour of his death drew near, he who had concernedhimself through life with the souls of the departed, essayed to makeprovision for his own. Since that hour when he proceeded to the highaltar of Winchester Cathedral, escorted by the Lord Prior of Winchesterand the Abbot Hyde, to celebrate his first Pontifical Mass, the sameconstant memory of the dead had been with him, as when kneeling heprayed aloud for the soul of his predecessor,William de Edyndon, and bade the choir chant the De Profundis,while he himself recited the Fidelium omnium conditor.

But leaving Oxford and its pious founder, we turn our gaze upon thatancient foundation of Eton, which was to serve as a preparatory schoolfor the new establishment of King's College of Cambridge, which Henryhad in contemplation. Henry, in his famous Eton charter, makes mentionof his desire that this college shall be, as it were, a memorial ofhim, and be composed of clerks, "who," he says, "shall pray for ourwelfare whilst we live, and for our soul when we shall have departedthis life." The Pope, Eugenius IV., afterwards granted a plenaryindulgence to all who should visit the College Chapel of Our Lady ofEton, after Confession and Communion. Henry having visited theColleges of Winchester, first met there with William Wayneflete, withwhom he was to be united in so warm and beautiful a friendship. The"Master of Winton," as Wayneflete then was, is described as "simple,devout, and full of learning." But a short time after he was removedto Eton, and presently raised to the Provostship. Among many beautifuland pious customs, the memory of the dead was carefully preservedamong the Eton scholars, and their verses on All Souls' Day were onthe blessedness of those who die in the Lord. But Wayneflete is, ofcourse, chiefly identified with Magdalen College, Oxford, said to be"the finest collegiate building in England," and of which he was thefounder. It was, in truth, his dream, and one which he was destinedto see realized. Here is neither the place nor time to dwell upon itsbeauties. The first stone was laid by the venerable Tybarte, its firstpresident. He was buried in the middle of the inner chapel, and upon acope, preserved among the ancient church vestments, is one upon whichis worked the inscription, "Orate pro anima Magistri Tybarte." [1]

[Footnote 1: Pray for the soul of Master Tybarte.]

Among the rules and regulations of this new foundation was one whichobliged the president, fellows, and scholars to recite, while dressing,certain prayers in honor of the Blessed Trinity, and a suffrage for thefounder. Daily prayers were offered up for the repose of the souls ofthe founder's father and mother, "those of benefactors of the college,and for all the souls of the faithful departed." These suffrages wereto be made by every one, at whatever hour of the day was mostconvenient.

There were many foundations of Masses attached to this College ofMagdalen. Of these daily Masses, offered at the six altars of thechapel, the early "Morrow Mass" was always said in the Arundel Chapel,for the soul of Lord Arundel, the chief benefactor of the institute.Another Mass was to be said every day for "souls of good memory,"including, besides the two kings, Henry III. and Edward III., his dearand never forgotten friends, Henry VI., Lord Cromwell, and Sir JohnFastolfe, as well as King Edward IV. Other Masses and prayers were saidfor other intentions. The founder was to be especially remembered everyquarter. Every day, after High Mass, one of the demys was to say aloudin the chapel, "Anima fundatoris nostri Willielmi, et animae omniumfidelium defunctorum, per miscricordiam Dei in pace requiescat."[1] The same prayer was to be repeated in the hall after dinner andsupper.

[Footnote 1: "May the soul of our founder, William, and the souls ofall the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."]

But the life of the Founder of Magdalen, the great Bishop, was drawingto a close. We shall see by his will how firm his faith in that mostCatholic of all doctrines—Purgatory. After various bequests, he left acertain portion of his property for Masses and alms-deeds for his ownsoul and the souls of his parents and friends. On the day of hisburial, and on the thirtieth day from the time of his decease, and onother appointed days, his executors are charged to have 5,000 Massessaid in honor of the Five Wounds of Christ, and the Five Joys of Mary—his favorite devotions—for the same intention. His remains were buriedat Winchester, in a tomb which he had prepared as a place of burialduring his lifetime. His was, indeed, the third chantry chapel inWinchester, the others being those of his predecessor. This custom wascommon to all the great prelates of the time. They prepared a place ofsepulture during their life, and there where they officiated at allsolemn offices, and so frequently celebrated requiems for the departed,they knew that their remains were one day to be laid, and prayers andthe Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be offered for themselves. It wasthus a constant reminder of death.

A ceremony connected with Magdalen Tower seems likewise to have had itsorigin in this pious custom of remembrance of the dead. "On the 1st ofMay," says Anthony Wood, "the choral ministers of this house do,according to ancient custom, salute Flora from the top of the tower, atfour in the morning, with vocal music of several parts." Of course, asa chronicler remarks, it was not to salute Flora that any Catholicchoristers thus made vocal the sweet air of May. "The sweet music ofMagdalen Tower," remarks the author of the Knights of St. John, "had adirectly religious origin. On the 1st of May the society was wontannually to celebrate the obit or Requiem Mass of King Henry VII., whoproved a generous benefactor to the College, and who is stillcommemorated as such upon that day. The requiem was not, indeed,celebrated on the top of the tower, as Mr. Chalmers, in hishistory of the university, affirms, in total ignorance that arequiem is a Mass, and that a Mass must be said upon an altar;but it is probable that the choral service chanted on the 1st of Mayconsisted originally of the De Profundis, or some other psalm,for the repose of Henry's soul, and as a special mark of gratitude."Some semblance of the old custom is still kept up, as ten pounds isstill annually paid by the rectory of Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire,for the purpose of keeping up this ceremony.

Such are a few brief glimpses of this belief in Purgatory, which was sodear to the hearts of Englishmen, in those centuries before the blightof heresy had fallen upon the Island of the Saints. These hints uponthe subject are given very much at random, and will simply serve toshow how prayer for the dead was a part of all Christian lives in thoseages of faith. It was incorporated in the rules of every collegiateinstitute, and more especially those two most notable ones of Oxfordand Cambridge. It entered into every man's calculations, and wasprovided for in every Will and Testament. Had it been in our power togo backwards, into a still more remote antiquity, it would have beenour pleasant task to find this belief in suffrage for the dead takingso vigorous root in every heart. Do we not find the Venerable Bede,"the Father of English Learning," who was born in 673 and died in 734,asking that his name may be enrolled amongst the monks of the monasteryfounded by St. Aidan, in order that his soul after death might have ashare in the Masses and prayers of that numerous community, as he tellsus himself in his Preface to the Life of St. Cuthbert. "This piousanxiety," says Montalembert, "to assure himself of the help of prayerfor his soul after death is apparent at every step in his letters. Itimprints the last seal of humble and true Christianity on the characterof the great philosopher, whose life was so full of interest, and whoselast days have been revealed to us in minute detail by an eye-witness."[1]

[Footnote 1: "Monks of the West," Vol v, p 89.]

The passionate entreaties of Anselm, another of the shining lights ofearly Anglo-Saxon days, that the soul of his young disciple Osbern beremembered in prayers and Masses, proves what value he attached tosuffrages for the departed:

"I beg of you," he writes to his friend Gondulph, "of you and of all myfriends, to pray for Osbern. His soul is my soul. All that you do forhim during my life, I shall accept as if you had done it for me aftermy death. … I conjure you for the third time, remember me, and forgetnot the soul of my well-beloved Osbern. And if I ask too much of you,then forget me and remember him…. The soul of my Osbern, ah! Ibeseech thee, give it no other place than in my bosom."

And do we not read of those "prayers for souls," incessant andobligatory, which were identified with all the monastic habits—thanksto that devotion for the dead which received in a monastery its finaland perpetual sanction. "They were not content," says Montalembert,"even with common and permanent prayer for the dead of each isolatedmonastery. By degrees, vast spiritual associations were formed amongcommunities of the same order and the same country, with the aim ofrelieving by their reciprocal prayers the defunct members of eachhouse. Rolls of parchment, transmitted by special messengers fromcloister to cloister, received the names of those who had 'emigrated,'according to the consecrated expression, 'from this terrestrial lightto Christ,' and served the purpose of a check and register to preventdefalcation in that voluntary impost of prayer which our ferventcenobites solicited in advance for themselves or for their friends."And, of course, this was many years, even centuries, before the Feastof All Souls was instituted by the Abbot Odilo and the monks of Clunyin 998. English history, like every other history, furnishes us,indeed, with innumerable traits of this pious devotion to the HolySouls. Obviously, our space must prevent us from entering more deeplyinto the subject. May the few scattered hints we have been enabled tothrow out be of interest and profit to our readers!

DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY IN THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH.

WALSH. [1]

[Footnote 1: "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland." Rev J. Walsh.]

Coerced by the unvarying as well as unequivocal testimony of ourwriters, our liturgies, our canons, Usher was obliged to admit that theancient Irish had been in the constant practice of offering up theeucharistic sacrifice, and that Masses, termed Requiem Masses,used to be celebrated daily. So interwoven is the doctrine of theeucharistic sacrifice with the records of the nation, that theantiquarian himself should reject the antiquities of Ireland if he hadventured on the denial of this practice …. Admitting the practice ofthe ancient Irish Church, Usher strives to escape from the difficulty,as well as attempts to deceive his readers, by pretending that it hadbeen only a sacrifice of thanksgiving, offered as such for those soulswho were in possession of eternal happiness, and that it had not beenbelieved or practiced in the ancient Irish Church as a propitiatorysacrifice. …. The ancient canons of the Irish Church as clearly pointout as the firmament demonstrates the glory of God, the doctrine of ourChurch regarding the eucharistic sacrifice, as one of thanksgiving, andalso one of propitiation. In an ancient canon contained in D'Achery'scollection (lib. 2, cap. 20), the synod says: "The Church offers forthe souls of the deceased in four ways—for the very good, theoblations are simply thanksgiving; for the very bad, they becomeconsolations to the living; for such as were not very good, theoblations are made in order to obtain full remission; and for those whowere not very bad, that their punishment may be rendered moretolerable." Here, then, is enunciated in plain terms, the doctrine ofthe eucharistic oblation being a propitiatory sacrifice. When offeredfor the first class of happy souls, it is an offering of thanksgiving.When offered for those whose lives were bad in the sight of Heaven, itsoblation is a comfort to the faithful. When offered for those who werenot very good or very bad, the object of its oblation was to rendertheir state more tolerable, and that full pardon would be at lengthaccorded. The framers of this canon give us also the doctrine of amiddle state, as a tenet also believed by the Church of Ireland.

Another canon, still more ancient, and which is reckoned among those ofSt. Patrick, is entitled "Of the Oblation for the Dead." This canon iscouched in the following words: "There is a sin unto death, I do notsay that for it any do pray." This sin is final impenitence.

The ancient Irish Missal, "the Cursus Scotorum" contains anoration for the dead: "Grant, O Lord, to him, Thy servant, deceased,the pardon of all his sins, in that secret abode where there is nolonger room for penance. Do Thou, O Christ, receive the soul of Thyservant, which Thou hast given, and forgive him his trespasses moreabundantly than he has forgiven those who have trespassed against him."An oration is also given for the living and the dead: "Propitiouslygrant that this sacred oblation may be profitable to the dead inobtaining pardon, and to the living, in obtaining salvation; grant tothem (living and dead) the full remission of all their sins, and thatindulgence they have always deserved."

The liturgy usually called "Cursus Scotorum" was that which hadbeen first brought to Ireland by St,. Patrick, and was the only onethat had been used, until about the close of the sixth century. Aboutthis period the Gallican liturgy, "Cursus Gallorum" was, it isprobable, introduced into Ireland. The "Cursus Scotorum" issupposed to have been the liturgy originally drawn up and used by St.Mark the evangelist; it was afterwards followed by St. GregoryNazianzen, St. Basil, and other Greek Fathers; then by Cassian,Honoratus, St. Cassarius of Aries, St. Lupus of Troyes, and St.Germaine of Auxerre, from whom St. Patrick received it, when settingout on his mission to Ireland. A copy of the "Cursus Scotorum"was found by Mabillon, in the ancient monastery of Bobbio, of which St.Columbanus was founder, and which missal that learned writer believesto have been written at least one thousand years before his time. …It contains two Masses for the dead; one a general Mass, and the other"Missa Sacerdotis defuncti" (Mass for a deceased priest).

PRINCE NAPOLEON'S PRAYER.

This prayer, in the handwriting of the Prince Imperial, was found amongthe papers in his desk at Camden Palace. In publishing it the MorningPost adds: "The elucidation of his character alone justifies thepublication of such a sacred document, which will prove to the worldhow intimately he was penetrated with all the feelings which mostbecome a Christian, and which give higher hopes than are afforded bythe pains and merits of this transitory life." The following is atranslation: "O God, I give to Thee my heart, but give me faith.Without faith there is no strong prayer, and to pray is a longing of mysoul. I pray, not that Thou shouldst take away the obstacles on mypath, but that Thou mayst permit me to overcome them. I pray, not thatThou shouldst disarm my enemies, but that Thou shouldst aid me toconquer myself. Hear, O God, my prayer. Preserve to my affection thosewho are dear to me. Grant them happy days. If Thou only givest on thisearth a certain sum of joy, take, O God, my share, and bestow it on themost worthy, and, may the most worthy be my friends. If thou seekestvengeance on man, strike me. Misfortune is converted into happiness bythe sweet thought that those whom we love are happy. Happiness ispoisoned by the bitter thought: while I rejoice, those whom I love athousand times better than myself are suffering. For me, O God, no morehappiness. Take it from my path. I can only find joy in forgetting thepast. If I forget those who are no more, I shall be forgotten in myturn, and how sad the thought that makes me say, 'Time effacesall.' The only satisfaction I seek is that which lasts forever, thatwhich is given by a tranquil conscience. O, my God! show me where myduty lies, and give me strength to accomplish it always. Arrived at theterm of my life, I shall turn my looks fearlessly to the past. Rememberit will not be for me a long remorse. I shall be happy. Grant, O God,that my heart may be penetrated with the conviction that those whom Ilove and who are dead shall see all my actions. My life shall be worthyof this witness, and my innermost thoughts shall never make themblush."

That single line, "If I forget those who are no more, I shall beforgotten in my turn," is an epitome of what is taught us, and what ourown hearts feel in relation to the dead. May the noble young heart thatpoured forth this beautiful prayer be remembered by Christian charitynow that he is amongst the departed!

THE HELPERS OF THE HOLY SOULS. BY LADY GEORGIANA ILLERTON.

It has always seemed to me a particularly interesting subject ofthought to trace as far back as possible the origin of great and goodworks,—to ascertain what were the tendencies or the circ*mstanceswhich concurred in awakening the first ideas, or giving the firstimpulses, which have eventually led to results the magnitude of whichwas little foreseen by those destined to bring them about; how much ofnatural character, and what peculiar gifts, united with God's grace inthe formation of some of those grand developments of religion whichhave been the joy and the glory of the Church.

What would we not give to know, for instance, at what page, at whatsentence, of the volume of the "Lives of the Saints" which St. Ignatiuswas reading on his sick couch at the Castle of Loyola, the thought cameinto his mind the ultimate development of which was the foundation ofthe Society of Jesus? or when the blessed Father Clavers' soul was forthe first time moved by a casual mention, perhaps, of the sufferings ofthe negro race? or the particular disappointment at some Parisian ladygoing out of town in the midst of her works of charity, or at anotherbeing detained at home by the sickness of some relative, whichsuggested to St. Vincent de Paul the first idea of gathering together afew servant girls from the country, to do with greater regularity, ifnot more zeal, the visiting amongst the poor which the ladies hadundertaken, and thus founding the Order of the Sisters of Charity? Isuppose that every one who has done anything worth doing in the courseof their lives could call to mind the moment when a book, a sermon, aconversation, a casual word, perhaps,—or, if they have been sofavored, a direct inspiration from God in the hour of prayer,—hasgiven the impulse—set fire, as it were, to the train lying ready intheir hearts. But long before this decisive time has come, indicationshave existed, thoughts have arisen, feelings have been awakened, which,like the cloud big as a man's hand, have foreshadowed the deluge ofgraces and mercies about to inundate their souls.

As an instance of these indications of a particular bias, I was struckwith the mention of a childish fancy in the early years of thefoundress of the Order of Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory,—a newcommunity, which has sprung up during the last ten years, and has ahistory well worth relating. To many this fresh manifestation of thespirit of the Church on earth, and of its close affinity with thesuffering Church in Purgatory, has come as a wonderful blessing andconsolation, and inspired them with a grateful regard for these newoblates and victims of charity to the dead.

About thirty years ago a little girl in the town of N—, in France, hadbeen much struck with the mention of Purgatory. It made a very greatimpression upon her. She used to picture it to herself as a darkcloset, in which a little friend of hers who had lately died wasperhaps shut up, whilst she herself was playing in the garden andrunning after butterflies; and she kept longing to open the door andlet her out. This little girl was subsequently educated in one of theConvents of the Sacred Heart, and learnt in that school lessons ofself-devotion and ardent zeal for souls which were hereafter to bearfruit. She has retained to this day an enthusiastic affection for thereligious teachers of her childhood; and devotion to the Sacred Heartof Jesus is one of the principal devotions of the order she hasfounded.

The thought which had occurred to her almost in infancy continued tohaunt her in another form as she grew older. She kept asking herself,"How could I help God? He is our helper: how can we help Him? He givesme everything: how could I give Him everything?" And the answer whichgrace put into her heart to these oft-repeated questions was always, "Bypaying the debts of the souls in Purgatory."

The inevitable result of this thought was the desire to have wherewithto pay these debts. For this object the necessity of a perfect life, ofa daily sanctification, of an ever-increasing store of merits andsatisfactions, was obvious. Hence naturally arose the idea of thecommunity-life, of the practice of the evangelical counsels, and of ameritorious, arduous, self-sacrificing charity towards the poor, inorder worthily to pray, to act, and to suffer for the souls inPurgatory—to become, as it were, a co-operator with our Lord, byaiding His designs of mercy towards them, whilst satisfying His justiceby voluntary expiation. This lady was not led by one of those startlingbereavements which close a person's prospects of earthly happiness, andleave them no object to live for but the hope of winning mercy at God'shands for some dear departed one; or by the terrible anxiety about thestate of some beloved soul which forces on the survivor the practice ofa continual appeal to His compassionate goodness. Her zeal for thesouls in Purgatory was perfectly free from any earthly attachment; itwas as disinterested as possible, and sprung up in her heart before shehad known what it is to lose a friend or a relative, before she hadexperienced the keen anguish of bereavement. She was a happy, contentedgirl, living in a cheerful and comfortable home, beloved by her family,enjoying all innocent pleasures, going occasionally into society, andamusing herself like other young people; devoted, indeed, to goodworks, and taking the lead in the numerous charities existing in hernative town. But this was not to be her eventual mode of life. It wasgood as far as it went; but she had been chosen for the accomplishmentof a special work, and grace was continually urging her to itsfulfilment.

On the 1st of November, 1853, Mdlle. —— was hearing vespers with herfather and her mother in a church dedicated to Our Lady. Whilst theBlessed Sacrament was being exposed on the altar, she felt a stronginternal inspiration prompting her to form an association of prayersand offerings for the dead; but, afraid of being misled by herimagination, she prayed earnestly that God would give her a sign thatthis was indeed His will. As she was coming out of the church, a friendof hers stopped her in the porch, and of her own accord proposed thatthey should offer up jointly, during the month set apart for specialdevotion to the souls in Purgatory, all their prayers and works fortheir relief. This seemed to her a token that her inspiration had beena true one, and that very evening an association was begun which bythis time numbers not less than fifteen thousand members. On thefollowing day, the 2d of November, during her thanksgiving afterCommunion, Mdlle. —— was strongly impressed with the thought that thereexisted orders intended to supply every need in the Church militant,but none exclusively devoted to the relief of the suffering portion ofthe Church, and it appeared to her that she was called upon to fill upthis void. This idea seemed at the outset too bold a one. She feltstartled, almost alarmed, at its magnitude, and earnestly entreated ourLord to make known to her if such was indeed to be her mission. Shebegged of Him, by His Five Sacred Wounds, to give her five indicationsof His will in this respect. Her prayers were heard, and during thecourse of the years 1854 and 1855 these tokens were successivelyvouchsafed to her. What she had asked for was, 1st, that the HolyFather should approve of in writing, and give his blessing to, theassociation of prayers set on foot on All Saints' Day (on the 7th ofJuly, 1854, Pius IX. wrote, with his own hand, at the bottom of thepetition presented to him, "Benedicat vos Deus benedictioneperpetua"—may God bless you with an everlasting blessing); 2d,that a great number of Bishops should approve of this association; 3d,that it should extend rapidly; 4th, that a few pious persons should co-operate in the scheme, and devote themselves to works of charity inbehalf of the souls in Purgatory; 5th, that a priest might be met withwho had previously formed a similar project.

In the month of July, 1855, Mdlle. —— thought of consulting the Curéd'Ars, whom she had for the first time heard of a little while before.The sanctity of this extraordinary man was beginning to be much spokenof, not only in France, but all over Europe. Pilgrims flocked to theinsignificant little town of Ars, seeking the advice and help of thepoor curé—whose ascetic mode of life, spiritual discernment,heroic virtues, and even miraculous gifts, were gradually becomingknown, in spite of the desperate efforts he made to conceal them. Wecan hardly imagine, when reading his Life, that in the neighboringcountry of France, and in our own day, a man was actually living thatwe might have seen and spoken and gone to confession to, the details ofwhose supernatural existence are like the marvels that we read of inthe "Lives of the Saints." Mdlle. —— felt persuaded that this holypriest was the instrument appointed by God to make her acquainted withHis will, and earnestly longed in some way or other to communicate withhim. She did not think of obtaining leave from her parents to go toArs. It seemed to her that his answer to her question, after he hadconsidered the subject before God in prayer, would be more unbiassed,and carry greater weight with it, than if she had spoken of it to himherself. She did not wish to be influenced by any human considerations,or to be tempted to say more than, "Such is my thought and desire; doesit come from God?" With this view she began a novena, and on the day itended one of her friends called to tell her she was going to Ars, andto inquire if she could do anything for her. On the 5th of August thisfriend sent her M. Vianney's answer: "Tell her that she can establish,as soon as she likes, an order for the souls in Purgatory."

The future foundress never had any personal communication with the Curéd'Ars, and yet he always used to say, "I know her." On the 30th ofOctober Mdlle. —— entreated him to pray on All Souls' Day for herintention, and on the 11th of November the Abbé T—, his assistant inhis extensive correspondence, wrote to her as follows:

"Your edifying letter reached me at Pont d'Ain, where our worthyBishop, Monseigneur Chalandon, was preaching a retreat. This seemedexpressly arranged by Providence, in order that I should speak to himof you and your pious projects. On my return to Ars, on All Souls' Day,I mentioned your wishes to my holy curé, begging him to meditateon the subject in prayer before he gave me an answer. Three or fourtimes since I have put to him the same question, and always receivedthe same answer. 'He thinks that it is God who has inspired you withthe thought of a heroic self-devotion, and that you will do well tofound an order in behalf of the souls in Purgatory.' Whether the goodcuré speaks in consequence of a divine enlightenment, or whetherhe only expresses his own opinion and his own wishes, which his tenderdevotion to the souls in Purgatory would naturally incline in favor ofyour design, neither I nor any of those most intimately acquainted withhim can presume to say. But you can remain certain of two things,—thathe quite approves of your vocation to the religious life, and of thefoundation of this new order, which he thinks will increase rapidly.This is surely enough to confirm you in your intention, which you willcarry into effect whenever and wherever it will please God to open away to it, and you will then be the faithful instrument of His DivineProvidence."

On the 25th of the same month M. Vianney sent a message to Mdlle. —— inanswer to a letter in which she had spoken of the obstacles which sheforesaw on the part of her family. The Abbé T—— writes:

"If I have not written to you before, it is because you particularlywished to have an answer after special prayer. And now here isthis much-wished-for answer. The good curé has expressed himselfas explicitly as possible. I told him that you were troubled at thethought of a separation from your family more on their account thanyour own, and also at relinquishing the many charitable works which youcarry on in your parish. To my great surprise, he who generally verystrongly recommends young people not to act against their parents'wishes, but patiently to await their consent, did not hesitate inadvising you to proceed. He says that the tears your parents are nowshedding will soon be dried up. Do not, then, be afraid to let yourheart burn with the love of Jesus. He will find a way of removing allthe obstacles in your path, and of making you an angel of consolationto His holy spouses, the souls in Purgatory. The moon has no light inherself, and only reflects that of the sun. This is truly my case withregard to our saintly priest. I will constantly remind him to pray foryou, and will unite my unworthy prayers to his, that, in the terriblestruggle in your heart between nature and grace, grace may remainvictorious."

When this letter reached Mdlle. ——, the principal difficulty sheforesaw was already removed. On the 21st of November, the Feast of thePresentation of the Blessed Virgin, her mother, seeing that her heartwas ready to break with the wish and the fear of broaching the subjectso painfully interesting to them both, had the pious courage to speakfirst, and to give her full consent to her child's vocation.

Both mother and daughter were struck some time afterwards at finding ina little prayer-book they had not seen before, called "The Month ofNovember Consecrated to the Souls in Purgatory," the following prayer,appointed to be said on the 21st of November, the very day on whichthey had made their sacrifice, and uttered for the first time thebitter word separation.

"O Holy Spirit! who at divers times has raised up religious orders forthe needs of the Church Militant; O Father of Light! full of compassionand zeal for the dead; we implore Thee to raise up also in behalf ofthe suffering Church a new order, the object of which will be to workday and night for the relief and the deliverance of the souls inPurgatory; whose intentions, invariably dedicated to the dead, willapply to them the merits of all their prayers, fastings, vigils, andgood works. Thou alone, Creating Spirit, canst achieve a work whichwill procure so much glory to God, and for which we shall never ceaseto sigh and pray."

Other difficulties failed not to arise. Some persons were of opinionthat Mdlle. —— ought to remain in the world for the very sake of theobjects she had in view, whereas her whole heart and soul were bent onconsecrating herself without any reserve to our Lord. She was warnedthat her parents, who had never been separated from their children,would suffer terribly if she left them; and finally, her own healthbegan to fail. But whilst the world and the devil were multiplying theobstacles in her way, the venerable Curé d'Ars spared neither advicenor encouragement to support her in her arduous struggle. On the 23d ofDecember his coadjutor writes:

"Divine Providence always acts with sweetness and with power. Theconsent of your good mother is an important step gained. The goodcuré advises you not to go to Paris until you have some meanswherewith to begin your work. You will do well to avail yourself of theinterest you possess in your diocese to obtain some aid towards it. Thecuré entirely approves of your becoming a religious. It is quitepossible that God may restore your health; and he advises you to make anovena to St. Philomena.

"The very day I received your letter, Monseigneur Chalandon, our worthyBishop, came to Ars, to call on my holy curé. I mentioned youto him. He told me he had written to you. He also says that you mustnot begin without some means and better health. Pray very hard that Godmay give you both. I think the souls in Purgatory ought to take thisopportunity to prove that they have influence with God. Their interestsare at stake in the removal of these obstacles." Mdlle. —— had asked tomake this novena conjointly with M. Vianney; and she soon received thefollowing letter:

"It is to-day, the 9th of January, that our much-wished-for novena isto begin. The souls in Purgatory are interested in the re-establishmentof your health. I am, you know, but the echo of our good and holycuré. Your director gives you excellent advice. You might,indeed, as soon as you have means enough of support for one year, go toParis for a while, and come back again to forward the work in the sameway you are doing now. You say, 'St. Vincent de Paul used to begin hisworks with nothing.' So he did. But then, as my good curéobserves, 'St. Vincent de Paul was a great saint!'"

According to M. Vianney's advice, on the 19th of January, 1856, thefoundress went to Paris, where she met some persons who had, like her,resolved to devote themselves to the service of the souls in Purgatory;but who were quite at a loss how to proceed, and had no means ofsupport. All sorts of crosses awaited this little band of Helpers ofthe Holy Souls, for such was the name they had taken. Not only werefunds wanting for their establishment, but they did not know where toapply for work, and sufferings of every kind assailed them. Mdlle. ——experienced what always happens to generous souls at the outset oftheir enterprises, when they have unreservedly devoted themselves tothe service of God, and are being tried like gold in the furnace. Blameand neglect became her portion. Nobody thought it worth their while toassist a little band of women, whose heroic project had seemedadmirable, indeed, in theory, but was now declared to be impracticable.They were considered as mere enthusiasts; and, indeed, as was said byM. Desgenettes, the venerable Curé of Notre Dame des Victoires, theywere truly possessed with the holy folly of the Cross.

Meantime they had to work for their bread, and did work with all theirmight. But it was not always that work could be obtained; and trialswithout end beset the infant community, lodged in an attic in the RueSt. Martin. Every day, as they asked their Heavenly Father for theirdaily bread, they prepared themselves to receive with it their habitualportion of sufferings and privations—a fit noviceship for soulsundertaking a work of heroic expiation. Mdlle. ——, who, for the firsttime in her life quitted a home where she had known all the comforts ofaffluence, had to undergo numberless privations. Illness combined withpoverty to heighten their trials. Their Divine Master made themexperience the kind of suffering which it was hereafter to be theirspecial vocation to relieve. The Curé d'Ars fully understood the natureof that training, and never offered them any help but that of hisadvice and prayers. "He does not give you anything," says a letterwritten on the 16th of March, "but he will ask St. Philomena,his heavenly treasurer, to put it into the hearts of those who couldassist you to do so." And, indeed, help used to come whenever thedistress of the holy society became too urgent. One day the foundresshad not a single penny left, and was, to use a common expression, ather wits' end. But, thank God, there is something better than humanwits or human ingenuity in such extremities; and that is prayer. TheSister who acted as housekeeper placed her bills before theSuperioress, and asked for money to buy food for the day. Mdlle. ——told her to wait a little, and went out, not knowing very well what todo next. She entered a church, threw herself on her knees before theBlessed Sacrament, and prayed long and fervently. As she was comingaway she stopped before an image of our Holy Mother, and clasping herhands, exclaimed: "My Blessed Mother, you must get me 100 francsto-day. I will take no refusal. You cannot, you never do forsakeyour children." She went straight home, and up the dingy stairs intothe little room inhabited by the infant community. The instant sheopened the door her eyes fell on a letter lying on the table. Sheopened it with a beating heart, and found in it a note of 100 francs.There was no name; not a word written on the cover. The postman hadjust left it, and to this day the donor of this sum, or the place itcame from, has not been discovered. Another time eight sous was allthat remained in the purse of the associates. They agreed to lay outthis money to advantage, and accordingly employed it in purchasing alittle statue of St. Joseph, whom they instituted their treasurer. TheSaint has fulfilled ever since the trust reposed in him; but he oftenwaits till the very last moment to supply the necessities of hisclients. I have seen this little image in their convents. It is, ofcourse, very dear to them.

One day, when no needle-work was to be had, and distress wasthreatening them, a little girl came to their room, and asked if theyhad finished the bracelets she had been told to call for. Finding shehad mistaken the direction, the child said: "You could have some ofthat work to do if you liked."

Upon inquiry they found that the employment consisted in threading rowsof pearls for foreign exportation; that it was less fatiguing andbetter paid than needle-work, and proved for some months a valuableresource. On another occasion the sum of 500 francs was required forsome pressing necessity. This time the foundress had recourse to ourLady of Victories. Having placed the matter in her hands, she went tocall on a person whom she thought might lend her this money, but metwith a decided negative. She did not know any one else in Paris to whomshe could apply; but on leaving the house she met a gentleman, withwhom she had no previous acquaintance, who came up to her and said: "Ithink you are Mdlle. ——, and that you have a special devotion for thesouls in Purgatory. Will you allow me to place this 500 francs at yourdisposal, and to recommend my intentions to your prayers?" Meanwhileillnesses and trials continued to affect the little community. The AbbéT—— writes from Ars: "Do not ask for miraculous cures. M. leCuré complains that St. Philomena sends us too many people." Thenext letter is full of kind encouragement: "M. le Curé onlysmiles when I tell him all you have to go through, and he bids merepeat the same thing to you, which he desired me to write to a goodSister, devoted to all sorts of good works and suffering cruelpersecution. 'Tell her that these crosses are flowers which will soonbear fruit.' You have thought, prayed, taken advice, and thoroughlyweighed the sacrifices you will have to make, and you have every reasonto believe that in doing this work you are doing God's will. The energywhich He alone can give will enable you to accomplish what you havebegun."…"M. le Curé has said to me several times, in a toneof the strongest conviction, 'Their enterprise cannot fail to succeed;but the foundress will have to experience what anxiety and what labor,what efforts and what sufferings, have to be endured ere such a workcan be consolidated; but,' he adds, 'if God is with them, who shall beagainst them?'"

On the 20th of June the Superioress received another letter from thesame good priest:

"I feel deeply affected," he writes, "at the thought of the many andsevere trials which beset you. Tell your friend that the holycuré bids her not to look back, but obey with courage the sacredcall she has received. The souls in Purgatory must be enabled to say ofyou, 'We have advocates on earth who can feel for us, because they knowthemselves what it is to suffer.' And mind you go on praying to St.Philomena, and begging of her to obtain for you the means necessary forthe accomplishment of your holy projects."

The associates continued to pray, to work, and to suffer with patienceand cheerfulness. They received at last some unexpected assistance. Newmembers proposed to join them; but it became then absolutely necessaryto hire a house. The Superioress searched in every direction for asuitable one, but without success. It seems as if the words, "there wasno room for them," were destined to prove applicable to all religiousfoundations during their periods of probationary trial. After havingexerted herself, and employed others in vain for a long time, theSuperioress received a message from a holy man whose prayers she hadasked, desiring her to go to a particular part of the town, and toawait there some providential indication as to the abode she wasseeking. For several hours she paced up and down the streets of thatpart of Paris, praying interiorly, but totally at a loss where toapply. At last she accidentally turned into the Rue de la Barouillière,and saw a house and garden with a bill upon it indicating that it wasto be let or sold. She immediately asked to go over it. All sorts ofdifficulties, apparently insurmountable ones, stood in the way of thepurchase. They were overcome in a strangely unaccountable manner, andthe money which had to be paid in advance was actually forthcoming onthe appointed day, to the astonishment of all concerned. The history ofthis negotiation, and the wonderful answers to prayer vouchsafed in thecourse of it, are very striking; only the more we study themanifestations of God's Providence with regard to works carried on infaith and simple reliance on His assistance, the more accustomedwe get to these miracles of mercy. The Helpers of the Souls inPurgatory took possession of their new home on the 1st of July, 1856,and not long after began their labors amongst the poor. An act ofkindness solicited at their hands towards a sick and destitute neighborsoon after their arrival, was the primary cause of their choosing astheir particular line of charity attendance on the sick poor in theirown destitute homes by day and by night also. This, together with theirprayers, their fasts, and their watches, is the continual sacrificethey offer up for the souls in Purgatory.

* * * * *

Before I go on with the history of the Helpers of the Holy Souls inPurgatory, I must describe to you their house,—No. 16 Rue de laBarouillière,—a very small and inconvenient one at the time of theirinstallation, but which has since been re-modelled according to thewants of the increasing community, and an adjoining one added to it. Ihave often visited this convent, which soon becomes dear to those whowould fain help the many beloved ones removed from their sight, butfeel the impotency of their own efforts, their want of holiness, ofcourage, and of perseverance in this blessed work. The sight of thisreligious house is very touching; the inscriptions on the walls, whichare taken from the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Saints, allbear reference to the state of departed souls, and our duty towardsthem; the quiet chapel where the Office for the Dead is daily said, anda number of Masses offered up. The memorials of the saintly Curé d'Ars,whose spirit seems to hover over the place, gives a peculiar characterto its aspect. The nuns do not wear the religious dress, but are simplydressed in black, like persons in mourning.

* * * * *

On the 18th of August, 1856, Monseigneur Sibour, the Archbishop ofParis, came to visit and bless the new community. "It is a grain ofmustard-seed," he said, "which will become a great tree, and spread itsbranches far and wide." He approved of all that had been done since thehouse had been opened, and allowed Mass to be said every day in thechapel as soon as it could be properly fitted up, which was the case onthe ensuing 5th of November. On the 8th of the same month the house wassolemnly consecrated to the Blessed Virgin; the keys were laid at thefeet of her image, and she was entreated to become herself theSuperioress of the congregation.

It was on the 27th of December, the feast of the disciple whom Jesusloved, the great apostle of charity, that the foundress and five otherSisters made their first vows. A few days afterwards, MonseigneurSibour was about to sign a grant of indulgences for the work of thereligious; someone standing beside him said, "Monseigneur, the souls inPurgatory are guiding your pen." He smiled, and made haste to write hisname. He little thought how soon he would be himself numbered with thedead. It was on the 3d of January, 1857, that his tragical death tookplace.

* * * * *

On the 4th of August, 1859, the holy Curé of Ars died; but he lives inthe hearts and in the memories of the community which owes so much tohis prayers and his advice. His name is frequently on their lips; oftenhas his intercession obtained for them miraculous cures. Every memorialof him is carefully preserved and venerated.

* * * * *

In the course of the year 1859, on the Feast of St. Benedict, CardinalMorlot sanctioned the institution of a third order of Helpers of theSouls in Purgatory, and the affiliation to it of honorary members. Theladies of the third order engage to lead a practically Christian lifein the world, to perform exactly all their religious duties, and thoseof their state of life. They promise, in their measure, to suffer, act,and pray for the dead, and offer up their good works, the sacrificesthey may be inspired to make, and the devotions prescribed by a simpleand easy rule adapted to their condition, for this object…. On theday of the institution of the third order, twenty-eight ladies joinedit, received the cross, and made their act of consecration in presenceof the Archbishop. The honorary members have been continually andrapidly increasing in number.

* * * * *

The new order has a special devotion to St. Joseph, the great ministerof God's mercy to all religious, the particular protector of the soulsin Purgatory, the foster-father of Christ's poor, and the helper of thedying. He was himself once in limbo, and knows what it is to wait. Itis scarcely necessary to speak of their devotion to the Blessed Virgin,whom they have crowned as the Queen of Purgatory, and invoke under thetitle of Our Lady of Providence. They specially keep the Feast of theSacred Heart, those of St. Ignatius and St. Gertrude; but All Souls isof course the day of their most particular devotion. The Holy Sacramentis exposed during the whole time of the Octave.

* * * * *

And now, to use words of Père Blot, of the Society of Jesus: "Howconsoling a thought it is that as the Holy Souls in Purgatory, in allprobability, and according to the opinion of the greatest theologians,know what we do for them, and pray for us, they see these acts ofcharity; they see these devoted women making themselves the slaves ofthe poor, and sowing in tears, that they themselves may reap in joy. Wecannot also but believe that the prayers of the Holy Souls, and perhapstheir influence, contribute to the success of the mission carried onfor their sakes and in their name amidst the poor and suffering.Several times when they have been invoked by the community, wonderfulcures have been vouchsafed and favors obtained. Instances of this kindhave excited the astonishment of physicians, and confirmed a piousbelief in the efficacy of those prayers. St. Catherine, of Bologna,used to say, 'When I wish to obtain some favor from the Eternal Father,I invoke the souls in the place of expiation, and charge them with thepetition I have to make to Him, and I feel I am heard through theirmeans.' Let us, then, if we feel inspired to do so, ask the prayers ofthe souls in Purgatory; but, above all things, let us pray for them,and, like these religious, join to our prayers acts of self-denyingcharity towards the poor. Let us always remember, that to the EternalLord of all things everything is present—the future as well as thepast. We call Him the King of Ages, because the order of events dependswholly on His will, and nothing in their course or succession can alteror change the effects of that will. He looks upon what is to come as ifit were present or already past. In consideration of the prayers, thesuffrages, and the good works of the Church, which He foresees, Hegrants proportionate graces, even as if those prayers and good workshad been already offered up…. Amongst the Helpers of the Holy Soulsseveral have made great sacrifices to God in order to obtain mercy forsouls long ago called away from this world. We can all imitate theirexample. 'Oh! if it was not too late!' is the cry of many a hearttortured by anxiety for the fate of some loved one who has diedapparently out of the Church, or not in a state of grace. We answer,'It is never too late. Pray; act; suffer. The Lord foresaw yourefforts. The Lord knew what was to come, and may have given to thatsoul at its last hour some extraordinary graces, which snatched it fromdestruction, and placed it in safety where your love may still reachit, your prayers relieve, your sacrifices avail.'"

I could not resist closing this letter with these sentences, which haveraised the hopes and stimulated the courage of many mourners. I onlywish this imperfect sketch of the Order of Helpers of the Holy Souls,and of the nature of their work, might prove a first though feeble steptowards the introduction amongst us at some future day of a Sisterhoodwhich, in the words used on his death-bed by Father Faber, the greatadvocate amongst us of devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory,"procures such immense glory to God."

THE MASS IN RELATION TO THE DEAD.

O'BRIEN [1]

[Footnote 1: Rev. John O'Brien, A.M., Prof. of Sacred Liturgy at Mt.
St. Mary's, Emmittsburg. "History of the Mass and its Ceremonies in the
Eastern and Western Churches."]

The Mass of Requiem is one celebrated in behalf of the dead…. If thebody of the deceased be present during its celebration, it enjoysprivileges that it otherwise would not, for it cannot be celebratedunless within certain restrictions. Masses of this kind are accustomedto be said in memory of the departed faithful, first, when theperson dies—or, as the Latin phrase has it, dies obitus seudeposifionis, which means any day that intervenes from the day ofone's demise to his burial; secondly, on the third day afterdeath, in memory of Our Divine Lord's resurrection after three days'interval; thirdly, on the seventh day, in memory of the mourningof the Israelites seven days for Joseph (Gen. i. 10); fourthly,on the thirtieth day, in memory of Moses and Aaron, whom the Israeliteslamented this length of time (Numb. xx.; Deut. xxxiv.); and, finally,at the end of the year, or on the anniversary day itself (Gavant.,Thesaur. Rit. 62). This custom also prevails with the Orientals.

During the early days it was entirely at the discretion of every priestwhether he said daily a plurality of Masses or not (Gavant., Thesaur.Rit. p. 19). It was quite usual to say two Masses, one of the occurringfeast, the other for the benefit of the faithful departed. Thispractice, however, kept gradually falling into desuetude until the timeof Pope Alexander II. (A. D. 1061-1073), when that pontiff decreed thatno priest should say more than one Mass on the same day.

* * * * *

Throughout the kingdom of Aragon, in Spain (including Aragon, Valentia,and Catalonia), also in the kingdom of Majorca (a dependency ofAragon), it is allowed each secular priest to say two Masses on the 2dof November, the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, and eachregular priest three Masses. This privilege is also enjoyed by theDominicans of the Monastery of St. James at Pampeluna (Benedict XIV.,De Sacrif. Missal Romae, ex. Congr. de Prof. Fide, an. 1859editio, p. 139). This grant, it is said, was first made either by PopeJulius or Pope Paul III., and though often asked for afterwards bypersons of note, was never granted to any other country, or to anyplace in Spain except those mentioned. For want of any very recentinformation upon the subject, I am unable to say how far the privilegeextends at the present day. A movement is on foot, however, to petitionthe Holy See for an extension of this privilege to the UniversalChurch, in order that as much aid as possible may be given to thesuffering souls in Purgatory.

* * * * *

In case of a death occurring (amongst the Armenians) Mass is neveromitted. The Armenians say one on the day of burial and one on theseventh, fifteenth, and fortieth after death; also one on theanniversary day. This holy practice of praying for the dead and sayingMass in their behalf is very common throughout the entire East, withschismatics as well as Catholics.

* * * * *

As late as the sixteenth century, a very singular custom prevailed inEngland—viz.: that of presenting at the altar during a Mass of Requiemall the armor and military equipments of deceased knights and noblemen,as well as their chargers. Dr. Kock (Church of our Fathers, II. 507),tells us that as many as eight horses, fully caparisoned, used to bebrought into the church for this purpose at the burial of some of thehigher nobility. At the funeral of Henry VII., in Westminster Abbey,after the royal arms had first been presented at the foot of the altar,we are told that Sir Edward Howard rode into Church upon "a goodliecourser," with the arms of England embroidered upon his trappings, anddelivered him to the abbots of the monastery (ibid). Somethingsimilar happened at the Mass of Requiem for the repose of the soul ofLord Bray in A. D. 1557, and at that celebrated for Prince Arthur, sonof Henry VII. (ibid).

* * * * *

As the priest begins to recite the memento for the dead, he moves hishands slowly before his face, so as to have them united at the words"in somno pacis." This gentle motion of the hands is aptlysuggestive here of the slow, lingering motion of a soul preparing toleave the body, and the final union of the hands forcibly recalls tomind the laying down of the body in its quiet slumber in the earth. Asthis prayer is very beautiful, we transcribe it in full. It is thusworded: "Remember, also, O Lord! Thy servants, male and female, whohave gone before us with the sign of faith and sleep in the sleep ofpeace, N. N.; to them, O Lord! and to all who rest in Christ, webeseech Thee to grant a place of refreshment, light, and peace; throughthe same Christ our Lord. Amen." At the letters N. N. the names of theparticular persons to be prayed for among the departed were read outfrom the diptychs in ancient times. When the priest comes to them nowhe does not stop, but pauses awhile at "in, somno pacis" to makehis private memento of those whom he wishes to pray for in particular,in which he is to be guided by the same rules that directed him inmaking his memento for the living, only that here he cannot pray forthe conversion of any one, as he could there, for this solely relatesto the dead who are detained in Purgatory. Should the Holy Sacrifice beoffered for any soul among the departed which could not be benefited byit, either because of the loss of its eternal salvation or itsattainment of the everlasting joys of heaven, theologians commonlyteach that in that case the fruit of the Mass would enter the treasuryof the Church, and be applied afterwards in such indulgences and thelike as Almighty God might suggest to the dispensers of his gift(Suarez, Disp., xxxviii, sec. 8). We beg to direct particularattention here to the expression "sleep of peace." That harsh worddeath, which we now use, was seldom or never heard among theearly Christians when talking of their departed brethren. Death to themwas nothing else but a sleep until the great day of resurrection, whenall would rise up again at the sound of the angel's trumpet; and thisbright idea animated their minds and enlivened all their hopes whenconversing with their absent friends in prayer. So, too, with the placeof interment; it was not called by that hard name that distinguishes ittoo often now, viz., the grave-yard, but was called by themilder term of cemetery, which, from its Greek derivation, meansa dormitory, or sleeping-place. Nor was the word bury employedto signify the consigning the body to the earth. No, this sounded tooprofane in the ears of the primitive Christians; they rather chose theword depose, as suggestive of the treasure that was put awayuntil it pleased God to turn it to better use on the final reckoningday. The old Teutonic expression for cemetery was, to say the least ofit, very beautiful. The blessed place was called in this tonguegottes-acker—that is, God's field—for the reason that the deadwere, so to speak, the seed sown in the ground from which would springthe harvest reaped on the day of general resurrection in the shape ofglorified bodies. According to this beautiful notion, the stone whichtold who the departed person was that lay at rest beneath, was likenedto the label that was hung upon a post by the farmer or gardener totell the passer-by the name of the flower that was deposited beneath.This happy application of the word sleep to death runs alsothrough Holy Scripture, where we frequently find such expressions as"He slept with his fathers," "I have slept and I am refreshed," appliedfrom the third Psalm to our Divine Lord's time in the sepulchre; the"sleep of peace," "he was gathered to his fathers," etc.

The prayers of the Orientals for the faithful departed are singularlytouching. In the Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil the memento is wordedthus: "In like manner, O Lord! remember also all those who have alreadyfallen asleep in the priesthood and amidst the laity; vouchsafe to giverest to their souls in the bosoms of our holy fathers, Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob; bring them into a place of greenness by the waters ofcomfort, in the paradise of pleasure where grief and misery and sighingare banished, in the brightness of the saints." The Orientals are verymuch attached to ancient phraseology, and hence their frequentapplication of "the bosom of Abraham" to that middle state ofpurification in the next life which we universally designate by thename of Purgatory. In the Syro-Jacobite Liturgy of John Bar Maadan,part of the memento is thus worded: "Reckon them among the number ofThine elect; cover them with the bright cloud of Thy saints; set themwith the lambs on Thy right hand, and bring them into Thy habitation."The following extract is taken from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom,which, as we have said already, all the Catholic and schismatic Greeksof the East follow: "Remember all those that are departed in the hopeof the resurrection to eternal life, and give them rest where the lightof Thy countenance shines upon them." But of all the Orientals, theplace of honor in this respect must be yielded to the Nestorians; for,heretics as they are, too much praise cannot be given them for thesingular reverence they show towards their departed brethren. From awork of theirs called the "Sinhados," which Badger quotes in his"Nestorians and their Rituals," we take the following extract: "Theservice of third day of the dead is kept up, because Christ rose on thethird day. On the ninth day, also, there should be a commemoration, andagain on the thirtieth day, after the example of the Old Testament,since the people mourned for Moses that length of time. A year after,also, there should be a particular commemoration of the dead, and someof the property of the deceased should be given to the poor inremembrance of him. We say this of believers; for, as to unbelievers,should all the wealth of the world be given to the poor in theirbehalf, it would profit them nothing." The Armenians call Purgatory bythe name Goyan—that is, a mansion. The Chaldeans style itMatthar, the exact equivalent of our term. By some of the otherOriental Churches it is called Kavaran, or place of penance; andMakraran, a place of purification (Smith and Dwight, I. p. 169).

We could multiply examples at pleasure to prove that there is no churchin the East to which the name of Christian can be given that does notlook upon praying for the faithful departed, and offering the Holy Massfor the repose of their souls, as a sacred and solemn obligation.Protestants who would fain believe otherwise, and who not unfrequentlyrecord differently in their writings about the Oriental Christians, canverify our statements by referring to any Eastern Liturgy and examiningfor themselves. We conclude our remarks on this head by a strongargument in point from a very unbiased Anglican minister—the Rev. Dr.John Mason Neale. Speaking of prayers for the dead in his work entitled"A History of the Holy Eastern Church," general introduction, Vol. I.p. 509, this candid-speaking man uses the following language: "I am notnow going to prove, what nothing but the blindest prejudice can deny,that the Church, east, west, and south, has, with one consentient anduniversal voice, even from Apostolic times, prayed in the HolyEucharist for the departed faithful."

FUNERAL ORATION ON DANIEL O'CONNELL.

REV. THOMAS BURKE, O. P.

["Wisdom conducted the just man through the right ways, and showed himthe kingdom of God, made him honorable in his labors, and accomplishedhis works. She kept him safe from his enemies, and gave him a strongconflict that he might overcome; and in bondage she left him not tillshe brought him the sceptre of the kingdom, and power against thosethat oppressed him, and gave him everlasting glory."—Wisdom x. [1] ]

[Footnote 1: From the funeral oration preached at Glassaevin Cemetery,in May, 1869, on the occasion of the removal of the remains of theLiberator to their final resting place.]

Nor was Ireland forgotten in the designs of God. Centuries of patientendurance brought at length the dawn of a better day. God's hour came,and it brought with it Ireland's greatest son, Daniel O'Connell. Wesurround his grave to-day to pay him a last tribute of love, to speakwords of praise, of suffrage, and prayer. For two and twenty years hashe silently slept in the midst of us. His generation is passing away,and the light of history already dawns upon his grave, and she speakshis name with cold, unimpassioned voice. In this age of ours a fewyears are as a century of times gone by. Great changes and startlingevents follow each other in such quick succession that the greatestnames are forgotten almost as soon as those who bore them disappear,and the world itself is surprised to find how short-lived is the famewhich promised to be immortal. The Church alone is the true shrine ofimmortality—the temple of fame which perisheth not; and that man onlywhose name and memory is preserved in her sanctuaries receives on thisearth a reflection of that glory which is eternal in heaven. But beforethe Church will crown any one of her children, she carefully examineshis claims to the immortality of her gratitude and praise. She asks,"What has he done for God and for man?" This great question am I comehere to answer to-day for him whose tongue, once so eloquent, is nowstilled in the silence of the grave, and over whose tomb a gratefulcountry has raised a monument of its ancient faith and a record of itspast glories; and I claim for him the need of our gratitude and love,in that he was a man of faith, whom wisdom guided in "the right ways,"who loved and sought "the kingdom of God," who was "most honorable inhis labors," and who accomplished his "great works;" the liberator ofhis race, the father of his people, the conqueror in "the undentedconflict" of principle, truth and justice….

….Before him stretched, full and broad, the two ways of life, and hemust choose between them: the way which led to all that the worldprized—wealth, power, distinction, title, glory, and fame; the way ofgenius, the noble rivalry of intellect, the association with all thatwas most refined and refining—the way which led up to the councilchambers of the nation, to all places of jurisdiction and of honor, tothe temples wherein were enshrined historic names and gloriousmemories, to a share in all blessings of privilege and freedom….Before him opened another way. No gleam of sunshine illumined this way;it was wet with tears—it was overshadowed by misfortune—it waspointed out to the young traveller of life by the sign of thecross, and he who entered it was bidden to leave all hope behindhim, for it led through the valley of humiliation, into the heart of afallen race, and an enslaved and afflicted people. I claim forO'Connell the glory of having chosen this latter path, and this claimno man can gainsay, for it is the argument of the Apostle in favor ofthe great lawgiver of old—"By faith Moses" denied himself to be theson of Pharoah's daughter.

….Into this way was he led by his love for his religion and hiscountry. He firmly believed in that religion in which He was born. Hehad that faith which is common to all Catholics, and which is notmerely a strong opinion nor even a conviction, but an absolute and mostcertain knowledge that the Catholic Church is the one and the only truemessenger and witness of God upon earth; and that to belong to hercommunion and to possess her faith is the first and greatest of allendowments and privileges, before which everything else sinks intoabsolute nothing … He was Irish of the Irish and Catholic of theCatholic. His love for religion and country was as the breath of hisnostrils, the blood of his veins, and when he brought to the service ofboth the strength of his faith and the power of his genius, with theinstinct of a true Irishman, his first thought was to lift up thenation by striking the chains off the National Church. And here again,two ways opened before him. One was a way of danger and of blood, andthe history of his country told him that it ever ended in defeat and ingreat evil…. He saw that the effort to walk in it had swept away thelast vestige of Ireland's national legislature and independence. Butanother path was still open to him, and wisdom pointed it out as "theright way." Another battle-field lay before him on which he could"fight the good fight" and vindicate all the rights of his religion andof his country. The armory was furnished by the inspired Apostle whenhe said: … "Having your loins girt about with truth, and having onthe breast-plate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation ofthe Gospel of Peace, in all things taking the shield of faith…. Andtake unto you the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word." O'Connellknew well that such weapons in such a hand as his were irresistible—that girt around with the truth and justice of his cause, he was cladin the armor of the Eternal God, that with words of peace and order onhis lips, with the strong shield of faith before him and the sword ofeloquent speech in his hand, with the war-cry of obedience, principle,and law, no power on earth could resist him, for it is the battle ofGod, and nothing can resist the Most High.

* * * * *

… He who was the Church's liberator and most true son, was also thefirst of Ireland's statesmen and patriots. Our people remember well, astheir future historian will faithfully record, the many trials bornefor them, the many victories gained in their cause, the great lifedevoted to them by O'Connell. Lying, however, at the foot of the altar,as he is to-day, whilst the Church hallows his grave with prayer andsacrifice, it is more especially as the Catholic Emancipator of hispeople that we place a garland on his tomb. It is as the child of theChurch that we honor him, and recall with tears of sorrow ourrecollections of the aged man, revered, beloved, whom all the glory ofthe world's admiration and the nation's love had never lifted up insoul out of the holy atmosphere of Christian humility and simplicity.Obedience to the Church's laws, quick zeal for her honor and thedignity of her worship, a spirit of penance refining whilst itexpiated, chastening while it ennobled all that was natural in the man;constant and frequent use of the Church's holy sacraments which shedthe halo of grace around his venerated head,—these were the last grandlessons which he left to his people, and thus did the sun of his lifeset in the glory of Christian holiness.

…. In the triumph of Catholic Emancipation, he pointed out to theIrish people the true secret of their strength, the true way ofprogress, and the sure road to victory…. Time, which buries in utteroblivion so many names and so many memories, will exalt him in hiswork. The day has already dawned and is ripening into its perfect noon,when Irishmen of every creed will remember O'Connell, and celebrate himas the common friend, and the greatest benefactor of their country.What man is there, even of those whom our age has called great, whosename, so many years after his death, could summon so many loving heartsaround his tomb? We, to-day, are the representatives not only of anation but of a race…. Where is the land that has not seen the faceof our people and heard their voice? And wherever, even to the ends ofthe earth, an Irishman is found to-day, his spirit and his sympathy arehere. The millions of America are with us—the Irish Catholic soldieron India's plains is present amongst us by the magic of love—the Irishsailor standing by the wheel this moment in far-off silent seas, whereit is night, and the Southern stars are shining, joins his prayer withours, and recalls the glorious image and the venerated name ofO'Connell. … He is gone, but his fame shall live forever on theearth, as a lover of God and of His people. Adversities, political andreligious, he had many, and like a

"Tower of strength
Which stood full square to all the winds that blew,"

the Hercules of justice and of liberty stood up against them. Time,which touches all things with mellowing hand, has softened therecollections of past contests, and they who once looked upon him as afoe, now only remember the glory of the fight, and the mighty genius ofhim who stood forth the representative man of his race, and thechampion of his people. They acknowledge his greatness, and they joinhands with us to weave the garland of his fame.

But far other, higher and holier are the feelings of Irish Catholicsall the world over to-day. They recognize in the dust which we areassembled to honor, the powerful arm which promoted them, the eloquenttongue which proclaimed their rights and asserted their freedom, thestrong hand which, like that of the Maccabees of old, first struck offtheir chains and then built up their holy altars. They, mingling thesupplication of prayer and the gratitude of suffrage with their tears,recall—oh! with how much love—the memory of him who was a Joseph toIsrael—their tower of strength, their buckler, and their shield—whoshed around their homes, their altars, and their graves the sacredlight of religious liberty, and the glory of unfettered worship. "Hispraise is in the Church," and this is the pledge of the immortality ofhis glory. "A people's voice" may be "the proof and echo of all Humanfame," but the voice of the undying Church, is the echo of "everlastingglory," and, when those who surround his grave to-day shall have passedaway, all future generations of Irishmen to the end of time will bereminded of his name and glory.

THE INDULGENCE OF PORTIUNCULA.

Towards the middle of the fourth century, four pilgrims from Palestinecame to settle in the neighborhood of Assisi, and built a chapel there.Nearly two centuries after, this little chapel passed into the hands ofthe monks of St. Benedict, who owned some lots, or portions ofland, in the vicinity, whence came the name of Portiuncula,given first to those little plots of ground, and afterwards to thechapel itself. St. Bonaventure says that, later still, it was called"Our Lady of Angels," because the heavenly spirits frequently appearedthere.

St. Francis, at the outset of his penitential life, going one daythrough the fields about Assisi, heard a voice which said to him: "Go,repair my house!" He thought the Lord demanded of him to repair thesanctuaries in which He was worshipped, and, amongst others, the Churchof St. Damian, a little way from Assisi, which was falling to decay.

He went to work, therefore, begging in the streets of Assisi, andcrying out: "He who giveth me a stone shall have one blessing—he whogiveth me two, shall have two."

Meanwhile, Francis often bent his steps towards the little chapel ofthe Portiuncula, built about half a league from Assisi, in a fertilevalley, in the midst of a profound solitude. The place had great charmsfor him, and he resolved to take up his abode there, but as the littlechapel was urgently in need of repair, he undertook to do it,following, as he thought, the orders he had received from Heaven. Hemade himself a cell in the hollow of a neighboring rock, and therespent several years in great austerities. Some disciples, having joinedhim, inhabited caverns which they found in the rocks around, and somebuilt themselves cells. This was the origin of the Order of St.Francis. The Portiuncula, or Our Lady of Angels, afterwardsgiven to the holy penitent by the Benedictine Abbot of Monte Soubasio,thus became the cradle of the three orders founded by the SeraphicPatriarch, and is unspeakably dear to every child of St. Francis. [1]

[Footnote 1: The little chapel of the Portiuncula is now inclosedbeneath the dome of the great basilica of Our Lady of Angels, built topreserve it from the injuries of the weather. It stands there stillwith its rough, antique walls, in all the prestige of its marvellouspast. "I know not what perfume of holy poverty," says a pious author,"exhales from that venerable chapel. The pavement within is literallyworn by the knees of the pious faithful, and their repeated and burningkisses have left their imprint on its walls."]

Francis, in the midst of his prodigious austerities, living always inthe greatest privation, united, nevertheless, the most tendercompassion for men and a marvellous love for poverty. He prayed aboveall, and with tears and groans, for the conversion of sinners. But onenight—it was in October, 1221—Francis being inspired with a greaterlove and a deeper pity for men who were offending their God andSaviour, shedding torrents of tears, macerating his body, alreadyattenuated by excessive mortifications, hears, all at once, the voiceof an Angel commanding him to repair to the chapel of the Portiuncula.Ravished with joy, he rises immediately, and entering with profoundrespect into the chapel, he falls prostrate on the ground, to adore themajesty of God. He then sees Our Lord Jesus Christ, who appears to him,accompanied by His Holy Mother and a great multitude of Angels, andsays to him: "Francis, thou and thy brethren have a great zeal for thesalvation of souls; indeed, you have been placed as a torch in theworld and as the support of the Church. Ask, then, whatsoever thou wiltfor the welfare and consolation of nations, and for My glory."

In the midst of the wonders which ravished him, Francis made thisprayer: "Our most holy Father, I beseech Thee, although I am but amiserable sinner, to have the goodness to grant to men, that all thosewho shall visit this Church may receive a plenary indulgence of alltheir sins, after having confessed to a priest; and I beseech theBlessed Virgin, Thy Mother, the advocate of mankind, to intercede, thatI may obtain this favor."

The merciful Virgin interceded, and Our Lord said to Francis: "Whatthou dost ask is great, nevertheless thou shalt receive still greaterfavors. I grant it to thee, but I will that it be ratified on earth byhim to whom I have given the power of binding and loosening."

The companions of the Saint overheard this colloquy between Our Lordand St. Francis; they beheld numerous troops of Angels, and a greatlight that filled the Church, but a respectful fear prevented them fromapproaching.

Next day Francis set out, accompanied by one of his brethren, andrepaired to Perugia, where Pope Honorius III. then was. The Saint,introduced to the Pontiff, repeated the order he had received from OurLord Jesus Christ Himself, and conjured him not to refuse what the Sonof God had been pleased to grant him.

"But," said the Sovereign Pontiff, "thou askest of me something verygreat, and the Roman Court is not wont to grant such an indulgence.""Most Holy Father," replied Francis, "I ask it not of myself; it isJesus Christ who sendeth me. I come on His behalf." Wherefore the Popesaid publicly three times: "I will that thou have it."

The Cardinals made several objections; but Honorius, at lengthconvinced of the will of God, granted most liberally, mostgratuitously, and in perpetuity, this indulgence solicited soearnestly, yet with so much humility, but only during one naturalday, from evening till evening, including the night, till sunset on thefollowing day.

At these words, Francis humbly bowed his head. As he was going away,the Pope demanded of him: "Whither goest thou, simple man? Whatassurance hast thou of that which thou hast obtained?" "Holy Father,"he replied, "thy word is sufficient for me; if this Indulgence be thework of God, He Himself will make it manifest. Let Jesus Christ, Hisholy Mother and the Angels be in that regard, notary, paper andwitness; I ask no other authentic act." Such was the effect of thegreat confidence he felt in the truth of the apparition.

The Indulgence of the Portiuncula had been two years granted, and stillthe day when the faithful might gain it was not fixed. Francis waitedtill Jesus Christ, the first Author of a grace so precious, shoulddetermine it.

Meanwhile, one night, when Francis was at prayer in his cell, thetempter suggested to him to diminish his penances: feeling the maliceof the demon, he goes into the woods, and rolls himself amongst briersand thorns until he is covered with blood. A great light shines aroundhim, he sees a quantity of white and red roses all about, although itis the month of January, in a very severe winter. God had changed thethorny shrubs into magnificent rose-bushes, which have ever sinceremained green and without thorns, and covered with red and whiteroses. [1] Angels, who appeared then in great numbers, said to him:"Francis, hasten to the church; Jesus is there with His holy Mother."At the same moment, he was clothed in a spotless white habit, andhaving reached the church, after a profound obeisance, he made thisprayer: "Our Father, Most Holy Lord of heaven and earth, Saviour ofmankind, vouchsafe, through Thy great mercy, to fix the day for theIndulgence Thou hast had the goodness to grant." Our Lord replied thatHe would have it to be from the evening of the day on which the ApostleSt. Peter was bound with chains till the following day. He then orderedFrancis to present himself to his vicar, and give him some white andred roses in proof of the truth of the fact, and to bring some of hiscompanions who might bear testimony of what they had heard.

[Footnote 1: "We have received from Rome," says the editor of the
"Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory," "some leaves from these miraculous
rose-bushes. We will willingly give some to the devout clients of St.
Francis."]

The Pope, convinced by proofs so incontestable, confirmed the
Indulgence with all its privileges.

The Indulgence of the Portiuncula, was soon known throughout the wholeworld; and the prodigies which were seen wrought every year at St. Maryof Angels, excited the devotion of the faithful to gain it. Many timesthere were seen there fifty thousand, and even a hundred thousandpersons assembled together from all parts.

Meanwhile, in order to facilitate the means of gaining an Indulgence soadmirable, the Sovereign Pontiffs extended it to all the churches ofthe three Orders of St. Francis, and it may be gained by all thefaithful indiscriminately. "Of all Indulgences," said Bourdaloue, "thatof the Portiuncula is one of the surest and most authentic that thereis in the Church, since it is an Indulgence granted immediately byJesus Christ, a privilege peculiar to itself, and this Indulgence hasspread amongst all Christian people with a marvellous progress ofsouls, and a sensible increase of piety."

The Indulgence of the Great Pardon has another very special privilege;it is, that it may be gained totus quotus—that is to say, asoften as one visits a church to which it is attached, and prays for theSovereign Pontiff; and this privilege may be enjoyed from the 1st ofAugust about two o'clock in the afternoon, till sunset on the followingday.

Pope Boniface VIII. said that it is "most pious to gain that Indulgenceseveral times for oneself; for, although by the first gaining of aplenary Indulgence, the penalty be remitted, by seeking to gain itagain, one receives an augmentation of grace and of glory that crownsall their good works." Besides, this Indulgence can be applied to theSouls in Purgatory, as it can be also gained for the living by way ofsatisfaction, provided they be in the state of grace.

It was one day revealed to St. Margaret of Cortona that the Souls in
Purgatory eagerly look forward every year to the Feast of Our Lady of
Angels, because it is a day of deliverance for a great number of them.

While speaking of the Indulgence of the Portiuncula, we are naturallydisposed to say a few words in regard to the grievous outrage recentlycommitted on that place, venerated for more than six hundred years byall Christian nations, and manifestly chosen as the object of divinepredilection by all the prodigies there wrought.

The Italian government had unlawfully, and in a sacrilegious manner,possessed itself of the Convent of the Portiuncula; and notwithstandingthe protest of all the members of the Order of St. Francis, and theindignation excited by so arbitrary an act in every Catholic heart,those iniquitous men put it up for sale, and actually sold it by publicauction. The Minister General of the Franciscan Order, unwilling thatthis brightest gem of the Franciscan crown should fall into impioushands, resolved to have it purchased for him by a lay person. But howwas this to be done, when he had no revenue, often not means enough fornecessary expenses? a grave question, truly, for the children of St.Francis, who might have seen themselves bereft of the cradle of theirOrder, were it not that, at the critical moment, a man of a trulyChristian heart came forward and advanced the thirty-four thousandfrancs, the price to which their precious relic had been raised. Thus,God would not permit that so many memories connected with His servantFrancis should be effaced from the earth, although they would stillhave lived in the hearts of his children, and the Friars Minors arestill the owners and possessors of that venerable sanctuary. [1]—Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory, 1881.

[Footnote 1: Nevertheless, means must be taken to pay back this sum soseasonably advanced. Hence it is, that at the request of the MinisterGeneral of the Franciscans, Father Marie, of Brest, has made a touchingappeal to all friends of the Order and of justice, and has openedsubscription lists wherever there are children of St. Francis, andthere are children of St. Francis all over the world. These lists, withthe names of the pious donors, shall be sent to Assisium, to bepreserved there in the very sanctuary of the Portiuncula.—ED. AL.]

CATHERINE OF CARDONA.

Catherine of Cardona was born in the very highest rank. She was buteight years old when she lost her father, Raymond of Cardona, who wasdescended from the kings of Aragon. Catherine had already made herselfremarkable by her love of prayer, solitude, and mortification, and byher admirable fidelity to grace she had drawn down upon herself, at anage still so tender, the signal favor of Heaven.

One day, whilst absorbed in prayer in her little oratory, her fatherappeared to her enveloped in the flames of Purgatory, and, conjuringher to deliver him, he said to her: "Daughter, I shall remain in thisfire until thou hast done penance for me." With a heart full ofcompassion, Catherine promised her father to satisfy the divine justicefor him, and the vision disappeared.

From that moment Catherine, rising above the weakness of her age andsex, applied herself to those amazing austerities which have made her aprodigy of penance. To open Heaven to her father, she freely sheds, inbloody scourgings, the first fruits of that virginal blood which is toflow for half a century in innumerable torments. Magnanimous child, sheis already the martyr of filial piety, but her tears, hermortifications, her prayers have disarmed the divine justice anddischarged the paternal debt. Raymond, resplendent with the glory ofthe blessed, appears again to his daughter, and addresses her in thesewords: "God has accepted thy penance, my daughter, and I go to enjoyHis glory. By that penance, thou hast become so pleasing to JesusChrist that He has chosen thee for His spouse. Continue all thy life toimmolate thyself as a victim for the salvation of souls; such is Hisdivine will."

With these words, which filled the heart of Catherine with joyunspeakable, he goes to Heaven to sing the mercies of his God, and tointercede with Him, in his turn, for the beloved daughter who was hisliberator.

Oh! happy, thrice happy Catherine! Whilst accomplishing an act offilial piety, she gained the title of Spouse of Christ, and secured forherself a powerful intercessor in heaven.—Almanac of the Souls inPurgatory, 1881.

The life of the little Catherine was so admirable that we cannot resistthe desire of giving some extracts from it here. It will be so much themore appropriate that her whole life was consecrated to the relief ofthe souls in Purgatory and the salvation of men.

Overwhelmed with the happiness of seeing herself chosen for the spouseof the God of Virgins, Catherine consecrates herself entirely to Him,and promises inviolable fidelity to Him. Rejoiced to belong to the sameSpouse as the Agathas and Agnesses, she makes a vow of perpetualvirginity, and exclaims in the fullness of her bliss: "Thou alone, mineAdorable Beloved, Thou alone shalt reign over my heart, Thou aloneshalt have dominion over it for all eternity!" Then Jesus invisiblyplaces on her finger the marriage ring, and endows with strength herwho aspires only to die with Him on the cross.

Catherine, who, after the death of her father, was placed under thecare of the Princess of Salerno, a near relative of her mother, leadsin the palace of the princess a life no less rigorous than that of thepenitents of the desert; but she will have no other witness of it thanHe by whom she alone desires to be loved. Condemned by her rank to wearrich clothing, she values only the glorious vesture of the soul, whichis grace. The hair-cloth that macerates her flesh is her chosengarment. At that age, when people allow themselves to be dazzled by theworld, Catherine of Cardona has trampled it beneath her feet, and lateron, becoming entirely free from the slavery of the world, she retiresto the Capuchin Convent at Naples, and there prepares, by a seclusionof twenty-five years, to give to the great ones of the earth an exampleof the most sublime virtues. Called by the Princess of Salerno to shareher disfavor with the king, she hesitates not to quit her dearsolitude, and repairs to Spain, in 1557. Her presence at Valladolid wasan eloquent sermon, and produced the happiest fruits in souls. ThePrincess died at the end of two years; and Philip II., knowing thewisdom of Catherine, kept her at the Court, appointing her as governessto Don Carlos, his son, and the young Don Juan of Austria, afterwardsthe hero of Lepanto.

In 1562, Our Lord, in a vision, says to Catherine: "Depart from thispalace; retire to a solitary cave, where thou mayest more freely applythyself to prayer and penance." At these words, the soul of Catherineis inundated with joy, and she feels that no worldly obstacle couldrestrain her. She would fain set out forthwith, but her spiritualguides opposed her doing so. Finally, after many trials, whilst she wasin prayer, before the dawn, the crucifix she wore hanging from herneck, suddenly rose into the air, and said: "Follow me!" She followedit to a window on the ground-floor; and although it was fastened withgreat iron bars, Catherine, without knowing how, found herself in thestreet. Transported with joy at this new miracle, she flew to the placewhere the Hermit of Alcada and another priest were waiting to conducther to the desert. Seeing the heroic virgin, they blessed Him who hadthus broken her chains. In order that she might not be recognized theycut off her hair, gave her a hermit's robe, and set out without delay.Arriving at a small hill about four leagues from Roda, Catherine saidto her guides: "Here it is that God will have me take up my abode; letus go no farther." After a careful search they discovered amongstthorny hedges difficult to get through, a species of grottosufficiently deep; but the entrance thereto was so narrow, and the roofso low, that Catherine, who was of medium height and rather fullfigure, could hardly stand upright in it. The two guides of the holyrecluse, taking leave of her, left her some instruments of penance, andthree loaves, for all provision. There it was that the daughter of theDuke of Cardona commenced, in 1562, that admirable life which has beenthe wonder of all succeeding ages.

Teresa, the seraphic Teresa, who lived at that time not far fromCatherine's solitude, cried out in a transport of admiration: "Oh! howgreat must be the love that transported her, since she thought neitherof food, nor danger, nor the disgrace her flight might bring upon her;what must be the intoxication of that holy soul, flying thus to thedesert, solely engrossed by the desire of enjoying there withoutobstacle the presence of her Spouse! And how firm must be herresolution to break with the world, since she thus fled from all itspleasures!"

St. Teresa adds that Catherine spent more than eight years in thisdesert cave, that after having exhausted the small provision of threeloaves left her by the hermit who had served her as a guide, she hadlived solely on roots and wild herbs, but that, after several years,she met with a shepherd, who thenceforward faithfully supplied her withbread, of which she, nevertheless, ate but once in three days. Thediscipline which she took with a large chain lasted often for an hourand a half, and sometimes two hours. Her hair-cloth was so rough that awoman, returning from a pilgrimage, having asked hospitality of her,told me (it is still St. Teresa who speaks), that feigning sleep, shesaw the holy recluse take off her hair-cloth and wipe it clean, for itwas full of blood. The warfare she had to sustain against the demonsmade her suffer still more than her austerities; she told our sistersthat they appeared to her, now in the form of great dogs who sprang onher shoulders, and now in that of snakes; but do as they might, theycould not make her afraid.

She heard Mass in a convent of the Sisters of Mercy, a quarter of aleague distant; sometimes she made the journey on her knees. She wore atunic of coarse serge, and over that a robe of drugget so fashionedthat she was taken for a man.

Nevertheless, the fame of her sanctity soon spread everywhere, and thepeople conceived so great a veneration for her that they flocked fromevery side, so that, on certain days, the surrounding country wascovered with vehicles full of people going to see her.

"About this time," says St. Teresa, "she was seized with a great desireto found near her cave a monastery of religious, but being undecided inher choice of the order, she postponed for a time the execution of herdesign. One day while at prayer before a crucifix which she alwayscarried about her, Our Lord showed her a white mantle, and gave her tounderstand that she was to found a monastery of barefooted Carmelites.She knew not till then that such an order existed, as she had neverheard it mentioned; indeed, we had then but two monasteries of reformedCarmelites, that of Moncera and that of Pastrana. Catherine wasspeedily informed of the existence of this last. As Pastrana belongedto the Princess of Eboli, her former friend, she set out for that townwith the firm resolution of doing what Our Lord had enjoined her to do.It was at Pastrana, in the church of our religious, that the BlessedCatherine took the habit of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, having nointention, notwithstanding that act, to embrace the religious life. OurLord conducted her by another way, and she never felt any attractiontowards that state. What kept her away from it was the fear of beingobliged through obedience to moderate her austerities and quit hersolitude."

As she had worn man's apparel ever since she had been in the desert,she would not now change it. So, in laying aside her hermit's robe, andassuming that of Carmel, she took a habit like that of the barefootedCarmelite monks, and wore it till her last breath. In this Catherinewas led by a very special way.

Catherine had been preceded at Pastrana by the account of the wonderswhich had marked the eight years she had spent in her cave; she wasthus greeted as a saint as soon as she appeared; no one was surprisedto see her in her Carmelite habit, a cowl on her head, a white mantleon her shoulders, a robe of coarse drugget, and a leathern girdle. Godpermitted the appearance of Catherine at the court of Philip II. as avirgin with the heart of a man, victorious over all the weakness, ofher sex, and rivalling in her austerities the most famous penitents ofthe desert. At the Escurial, she observed the same abstinence as in herhermitage; there, as in her cave, she took but one hour's sleep, andgave to prayer the rest of the time at her disposal.

From the Escurial, Catherine returned to Madrid. From the carriage inwhich she rode, she gave her blessing to the multitudes who crowded theroad as she passed. … The Nuncio, having sent for her, reproached herfor wearing the apparel of a man, and for taking it upon her to giveher blessing, like a bishop. The humble virgin heard all prostrate onthe ground. When the Nuncio had finished speaking, she arose andjustified herself with that holy simplicity peculiar to herself. Thelegate of the Holy See, perceiving then that God was leading theBlessed Catherine by an extraordinary way, left her at liberty to wearthat costume, blessed her, and recommended himself to her prayers.

In Madrid Catherine again met Don Juan of Austria, who had beenappointed Generalissimo of the Christian fleet directed against theTurks. He gave her the name of mother, and regarded her as a Saint.After having given some wise counsel to the young prince, she predictedto him that he should obtain a victory over the enemies of theChristian name. It was a happy day in the life of Don Juan on which heheard these prophetic words. Kneeling on the ground, with clasped handsand tearful eyes, the future liberator of Christendom asked Catherine'sblessing, and arose with a heart strengthened by an invincible hope.

The Carmelites of Toledo, amongst whom she spent some time, endeavoringto persuade her to diminish her austerities a little, she replied inthese memorable words, which reveal to us the secret of her life: "Whenone has seen, as I have, what Purgatory and Hell are, one cannot do toomuch to draw souls from one, and preserve them from the other; I maynot spare myself, since I have offered myself in sacrifice for them."

On the 7th October, 1571, Catherine was warned by a light from abovethat the great combat against the Turks was to take place that day. Shemacerated herself with fearful rigor, and offered herself as a victimto the anger of God, justly indignant at the sins of His people. Sheaddressed to the Saviour of men the most tender supplications, when,all at once, seized with a holy transport, she uttered in a distinctvoice these words, which were heard by several persons of the Court: "OLord, the hour is come, help Thy Church; give the victory to theCatholic chiefs; have pity on so many kingdoms which are Thine own,preserve them from ruin! The wind is against us: my God, if Thou orderit not to change, we perish!"

Some time after, she cried out in a still stronger voice: "Blessed beThou, O Lord, Thou hast changed the wind at the needful moment; finishwhat Thou hast begun!" After these words she prayed in silence for along space of time. Then, starting up joyfully, she offered to God themost lively thanksgivings for the victory He had just granted to HisChurch.

Soon, in fact, the news of the victory of Lepanto confirmed themiraculous vision of Catherine. Don Juan wrote immediately to thevenerable Catherine of Cardona, thanking her for her prayers, and senther, as a memento, some spoils taken from the enemy.

Catherine having received, at the Court and elsewhere, sufficient meansto found her monastery, regained her solitude in the month of March,1572. She lived there five years longer. It has been considered as asupernatural thing that mortifications so extraordinary as hers had notended her life sooner. She died on the 11th of May, 1577.

"One day," says St. Teresa, "after having received communion in thechurch of this monastery (that which Catherine had founded), I enteredinto a profound recollection, which was soon followed by an ecstasy.Whilst I was thus ravished out of myself, that holy woman appeared tomy intellectual vision, resplendent with light like a glorified body,and surrounded by angels. She said to me: 'Weary not of foundingmonasteries, but rather pursue that work with ardor.' I understood,albeit that she did not say so, that she was assisting me with God.This apparition left me exceedingly comforted, and inflamed with thedesire of working for Our Lord's glory. Hence, I hope from His divinegoodness and the powerful prayers of that Saint, that I may be able todo something for His service."

THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS PRAYING FOR HIS MOTHER.

Heretics or Schismatics care very little about contradictingthemselves. It is of the nature of the iniquity of lying. The Antide la Religion, of March 1, 1851, judiciously observes:

"It is well known that the Russian Church pretends not to admit thedoctrine of Purgatory, which one of its principal prelates set down as'a crude modern invention.' Nevertheless, the manifesto recentlypublished by the Emperor Nicholas, on the death of his mother, theGrand duch*ess Elizabeth, duch*ess of Nassau, concludes with these words:'We are convinced that all our faithful subjects will unite theirprayers with ours, for the repose of the soul of the deceased.'How are we to reconcile this request for prayers with the denial ofPurgatory, coming as it does from the mouth of the supreme pontiff ofthe Church of Russia?"—"Christian Anecdotes."

FUNERAL ORATION ON PIUS VI.

REV. ARTHUR O'LEARY, O S F.

Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow;that declineth, and I am withered like grass; but thou, O Lord, shall,endure forever.—Ps. cii., verses 10, 11, 12.

Yes! O my God! You lift up and you cast down; you humble and you exaltthe sons of men. You cut off the breath of princes, and are terrible tothe kings of the earth. It is then we know your power, when, by thestroke of death, we feel what we are, that our life is but as a shadowthat declineth, a vapor dispersed by the beams of the rising sun, or asthe grass which loses at noon the verdure it had acquired from themorning dew. It is a truth of which we, are made sensible upon thismournful occasion, and in this sacred temple, where the trophies ofdeath are displayed, and its image reflected on every side. Themournful accents of the solemn dirge, the sable drapery that linesthese walls, the vestments of the ministers of the sacred altar, thisartificial darkness which is a figure of the darkness of the grave;—the tapers that blaze around the sanctuary to put us in mind that whenour mortal life is extinct, there is an immortal life beyond the grave,in a kingdom of light and bliss reserved for those who walk on earth bythe light of the gospel;—that tomb, in which the tiara and thesceptre, the Pontifical dignity, and the power of the temporal prince,are covered over with a funeral shroud,—every object that strikes theeye, and every sound that vibrates on the ear, is an awful mementowhich reminds us of our approaching dissolution, points out the vanityand nothingness of all earthly grandeur, and convinces, us that inholiness of life, which unites us to God and secures an immortal crownin the enjoyment of the sovereign good, consists the greatness as wellas the happiness of man. An awful truth exemplified in many greatcharacters, hurled from the summit of power and grandeur into an abyssof woe, whose unshaken virtue supported them under the severest trials,and whose greatness of soul shone conspicuous in their fall as well asin their elevation. A truth particularly exemplified in His HolinessPope Pius VI., whose obsequies we are assembled to solemnize on thisday—Pius VI. great in prosperity; Pius VI. great in adversity.

When his life is written by an impartial hand, when his contemporariesare dead, when history lays open the hidden and mysterious springs ofthe events connected with his reign, and posterity erects a tribunal,at which it is to judge, without dread of giving offence, then hisvirtues and wisdom will appear in their true light, as the symmetry andproportion of those beautiful statues, which are placed in theporticoes or entrance of temples and public edifices, are betterdiscovered, and seen to a greater advantage at a certain distance.

* * * * *

Though His life was spotless, yet as the judgments of God areunsearchable, as there is such a quantity of dross mixed with ourpurest gold, such chaff with our purest grain, our purest virtuestarnished with so many imperfections, that on appearing in the presenceof God, into whose Kingdom the slightest stain is not admitted, who cansay, "My soul is pure; I have nothing to answer for?" as in our belief,divine justice may inflict temporary as well as eternal punishmentsbeyond the grave, according to the quality of unexpiated offences, letus perform the sacred rites of our holy religion for the repose of hissoul. [1]

[Footnote 1: These extracts are taken from the funeral oration on Pius
VI, delivered at St. Patrick's Chapel, Soho, in presence of Monsignore
Erskine, Papal Auditor, on the 10th Nov., 1799.]

FROM THE FUNERAL ORATION ON THE REV. ARTHUR. O'LEARY, O.S.F.

REV. MORGAN D'ARCY.

My brethren, as it is God alone, that searcher of hearts, who can trulyappreciate the merits of His elect, as it belongs only to the HolyCatholic Church, "that pillar and ground of truth," to canonizethem, as we know that nothing impure can enter into heaven, and thatMoses himself, that great legislator, and peculiar favorite of heaven,was not entirely spotless in the discharge of his ministry, nor exemptfrom temporal punishment at his death, let us no longer interrupt theawful mysteries and impressive ceremonies of religion, but, uniting,and, as it were, embodying our prayers and fervent supplications, letus offer a holy violence to heaven; while we mingle our tears with theprecious blood of the spotless Victim offered in sacrifice on ourhallowed altar, let us implore the Father of Mercies, through themerits and passion of His adorable Son, our merciful Redeemer, topurify this His minister, and admit him to a participation of thenever-ending joys of the heavenly Jerusalem. May he rest in peace.Amen.

DE MORTUIS. OUR DECEASED PRELATES.

[From a Sermon delivered by Most Rev. ARCHBISHOP CORRIGAN, of NEW YORK,at the THIRD PLENARY COUNCIL of BALTIMORE.]

Remember your prelates who have spoken the Word of God to you. Heb. c.xiii. v. 2.

Of the forty-six Fathers who sat in the Second Plenary Council, onlysixteen still survive. More than this. During the few years that havesince elapsed not only have thirty bishops and archbishops gone to thehouse of their eternity, but in several instances, their successors,too, have passed away, so that the Solemn Requiem offered this morningfor the prelates who have died since the last Council is chanted forforty-two consecrated rulers. For these, "as it is a good and wholesomethought to pray for the dead," we send up our sighs and our prayers inthe spirit of fraternal charity, and as a tribute of love and gratitudeto our Fathers in the faith who had the burden of the day and the heat,and who now rest from their labors. "Blessed are the dead who die inthe Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit,… for their worksfollow them."

In the commemorative services and solemn supplications offered in thiscathedral, the first place, dear brethren, is deservedly due to yourown lamented archbishops…. Besides these, memory turns, with fondregret, to a long list of Right Reverend Prelates, who were all presentat the late Plenary Council, and who have since, one by one, passedaway…. As we repeat each well-known name, hosts of pleasant memoriescome crowding on the mind just as by-gone scenes are awakened to newlife by some sweet strain of once familiar music. Venerable forms loomup again before us with the paternal kindness, the distinguishedpresence, the winning ways we knew so well of old; and while the visionlasts we seem to hear a still small voice saying: "To-day for me, to-morrow for thee," or the echo of the words spoken by the wise woman ofThecua to the king on his throne: "We all die, and fall down into theearth, like waters that return no more."

"Star differeth from star in glory." The bishops, whose virtues wecommemorate, differed in gifts of mind, in habits of thought, innationality, in early training, in personal experience, in almosteverything else but their common faith. This golden bond united them toeach other and to us. There was still another point of resemblance andanother link that bound them all together—the participation in thedivine work of the Good Shepherd which was laid upon them all….

PART IV.

THOUGHTS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON PURGATORY.

The fuel justice layeth on,
And mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought
Is men's defiled souls.—SOUTHWELL.

THOUGHTS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON PURGATORY.

PURGATORY.

CARDINAL NEWMAN.

Thus we see how, as time went on, the doctrine of Purgatory was broughthome to the minds of the faithful as a portion or form of penance duefor post-baptismal sin. And thus the apprehension of this doctrine, andthe practice of Infant Baptism, would grow into general receptiontogether. Cardinal Fisher gives another reason for Purgatory being thendeveloped out of earlier points of faith. He says: "Faith, whether inPurgatory or in Indulgences, was not so necessary in the PrimitiveChurch as now; for then love so burned that every one was ready to meetdeath for Christ. Crimes were rare; and such as occurred were avengedby the great severity of the Canons…. The doctrine of post-baptismalsin, especially when realized in the doctrine of Purgatory, leads theinquirer to fresh developments beyond itself. Its effect is to converta Scripture statement, which might seem only of temporary application,into a universal and perpetual truth. When St. Paul and St. Barnabaswould 'confirm the souls of the disciples,' they taught them 'that wemust, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.' It isobvious what very practical results would follow on such anannouncement in the instance of those who accepted the apostolicdecision; and, in like manner, a conviction that sin must have itspunishment, here or hereafter, and that we all must suffer, howoverpowering will be its effect, what a new light does it cast on thehistory of the soul, what a change does it make in our judgment of theexternal world, what a reversal of our natural wishes and aims for thefuture! Is a doctrine conceivable which would so elevate the mind abovethis present state, and teach it so successfully to dare difficultthings, and to be reckless of danger and pain? He who believes thatsuffer he must, and that delayed punishment may be the greater, will beabove the world, will admire nothing, fear nothing, desire nothing. Hehas within his breast a source of greatness, self-denial, heroism. Thisis the secret spring of strenuous efforts and persevering toil; of thesacrifice of fortune, friends, ease, reputation, happiness. There is,it is true, a higher class of motives which will be felt by the Saints;who will do from love what all Christians who act acceptably do fromfaith. And, moreover, the ordinary measures of charity which Christianspossess suffice for securing such respectable attention to religiousduties as the routine necessities of the Church require. But, if wewould raise an army of devoted men to resist the world, to oppose sinand error, to relieve misery, or to propagate truth, we must beprovided with motives which keenly affect the many. Christian love istoo rare a gift, philanthropy is too weak a material, for thatoccasion. Nor is there an influence to be found to suit our purposebesides this solemn conviction, which arises out of the very rudimentsof Christian theology, and is taught by its most ancient masters,—thissense of the awfulness of post-baptismal sin. It is in vain to look outfor missionaries for China or Africa, or evangelists for our greattowns, or Christian attendants on the sick, or teachers of theignorant, on such a scale of numbers as the need requires, without thedoctrine of Purgatory. For thus the sins of youth are turned to accountby the profitable penance of manhood; and terrors, which thephilosopher scorns in the individual, become the benefactors, and earnthe gratitude of nations."—Essay on the Development of ChristianDoctrine, [1] p. 386.

[Footnote 1: Nevertheless, means must be taken to pay back this sum soseasonably advanced. Hence it is, that at the request of the MinisterGeneral of the Franciscans, Father Marie, of Brest, has made a touchingappeal to all.]

OUR DEBT TO THE DEAD.

CARDINAL MANNING

The Saints, by their intercession and their patronage, unite us withGod. They watch over us; they pray for us; they obtain graces for us.Our guardian angels are round about us: they watch over and protect us.The man who has not piety enough to ask their prayers must have a heartbut little like to the love and veneration of the Sacred Heart ofJesus. But there are other friends of God to whom we owe a debt ofpiety. They are those who are suffering beyond the grave, in the silentkingdom of pain and expiation—in the dark and yet blessed realm ofpurification; that is to say, the multitudes who pass out of thisworld, washed in the Precious Blood, perfectly absolved of all guilt ofsin, children and friends of God, blessed souls, heirs of the kingdomof Heaven, all but Saints; nevertheless, they are not yet altogetherpurified for His kingdom. They are there detained—kept back from Hispresence—until their expiation is accomplished. You and I, and everyone of us, will pass through that place of expiation. Neither you nor Iare Saints, nor, upon earth, ever will be; therefore, before we can seeGod, we must be purified by pain in that silent realm. But thoseblessed souls are friends of God next after His Saints; and in the sameorder they ought to be the objects of our piety; that is, of our loveand compassion, of our sympathy and our prayers. They can do nothingnow for themselves: they have no longer any Sacraments; they do noteven pray for themselves. They are so conformed to the will of God thatthey suffer there in submission and in silence. They desire nothingexcept that His will should be accomplished. Therefore, it is our dutyto help them—to help them by our prayers, our penances, ourmortifications, our alms, by the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. There maybe father and mother, brother and sister, friend and child, whom youhave loved as your own life: they may now be there. Have you forgottenthem? Have you no pity for them now, no natural piety, no spirit oflove for them? Do you forget them all the day long? Look back uponthose who made your home in your early childhood, the light of whosefaces you can still see shining in your memories, and the sweetness ofwhose voice is still in your ears—do you forget them because they areno longer seen? Is it, indeed, "out of sight, out of mind"? What animpiety of heart is this!

The Catholic Church, the true mother of souls, cherishes, with lovingmemory, all her departed. Never does a day pass but she prays for themat the altar; never does a year go by that there is not a specialcommemoration of all her children departed on one solemn day, which isneither feast nor fast, but a day of the profoundest piety and of thedeepest compassion. Surely, then, if we have the spirit of piety in ourhearts, the holy souls will be a special object of our remembrance andour prayers. How many now are there whom we have known in life? Thereare those who have been grievously afflicted, and those who have beenvery sinful, but, through the Precious Blood and a death-bedrepentance, have been saved at last. Have you forgotten them? Are youdoing nothing for them? There may also be souls there for whom there isno one to pray on earth; there may be souls who are utterly forgottenby their own kindred, outcast from all remembrance; and yet thePrecious Blood was shed for their sakes. If no one remember, them now,you, at least, if you have in your hearts the gift of piety, will prayfor them.—Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost, p. 247.

PURGATORY

CARDINAL WISEMAN.

I need hardly observe, that there is not a single liturgy existing,whether we consider the most ancient period of the Church, or the mostdistant part of the world, in which this doctrine is not laid down. Inall Oriental liturgies, we find parts appointed, in which the Priest orBishop is ordered to pray for the souls of the faithful departed; andtables were anciently kept in the churches, called the Dyptichs,on which the names of the deceased were enrolled, that they might beremembered in the Sacrifice of the Mass and the prayers of thefaithful. The name of Purgatory scarcely requires a passing comment. Ithas, indeed, been made a topic of abuse, on the ground that it is notto be found in Scripture. But where is the word Trinity to be met with?Where is the word Incarnation to be read in Scripture? Where aremany other terms, held most sacred and important in the Christianreligion? The doctrines are, indeed, found there; but these names werenot given, until circ*mstances had rendered them necessary. We see thatthe Fathers of the Church have called it a purging fire—a place ofexpiation or purgation. The idea is precisely, the name almost, thesame.

It has been said by divines of the English Church, that the twodoctrines which I have joined together, of prayers for the dead andPurgatory, have no necessary connection, and that, in fact, they werenot united in the ancient Church. The answer to this assertion I leaveto your memories, after the passages which I have read you from theFathers. They surely speak of purgation by fire after death, wherebythe imperfections of this life are washed out, and satisfaction made toGod for sins not sufficiently expiated; they speak, at the same time,of our prayers being beneficial to those who have departed this life ina state of sin; and these propositions contain our entire doctrine onPurgatory. It has also been urged that the established religion, orProtestantism, does not deny or discourage prayers for the dead, solong as they are independent of a belief in Purgatory; and, in thisrespect, it is stated to agree with the primitive Christian Church.But, my brethren, this distinction is exceedingly fallacious. Religionis a lively, practical profession; it is to be ascertained and judgedby its sanctioned practices and outward demonstration, rather than bythe mere opinions of the few. I would at once fairly appeal to thejudgment of any Protestant, whether he has been taught, and hasunderstood that such is the doctrine of his Church. If, from theservices which he attended, or the Catechism which he has learned, orthe discourses heard, he has been led to suppose that praying for thedead, in terms however general, was noways a peculiarity ofCatholicism, but as much a permitted practice of Protestantism. It is apractical doctrine in the Catholic Church, it has an influence highlyconsoling to humanity, and eminently worthy of a religion that camedown from heaven to second all the purest feelings of the heart. Natureherself seems to revolt at the idea that the chain of attachment whichbinds us together in life, can be rudely snapped asunder by the hand ofdeath, conquered and deprived of its sting since the victory of thecross. But it is not to the spoil of mortality, cold and disfigured,that she clings with affection. It is but an earthly and almostunchristian grief, which sobs when the grave closes over the bier of adeparted loved one: but the soul flies upward to a more spiritualaffection, and refuses to surrender the hold which it had upon the loveand interest of the spirit that has fled. Cold and dark as thesepulchral vault is the belief that sympathy is at an end when the bodyis shrouded in decay, and that no further interchange of friendlyoffices may take place between those who have lain down to sleep inpeace and us, who for awhile strew fading flowers upon their tomb. Butsweet is the consolation to the dying man, who, conscious ofimperfection, believes that even after his own time of merit isexpired, there are others to make intercession on his behalf; soothingto the afflicted survivors the thought, that instead of unavailingtears they possess more powerful means of actively relieving theirfriend, and testifying their affectionate regret, by prayer andsupplication. In the first moments of grief, this sentiment will oftenoverpower religious prejudice, cast down the unbeliever on his kneesbeside the remains of his friend, and snatch from him an unconsciousprayer for rest; it is an impulse of nature, which for the moment,aided by the analogies of revealed truth, seizes at once upon thisconsoling belief. But it is only like the flitting and melancholy lightwhich sometimes plays as a meteor over the corpses of the dead; whilethe Catholic feeling, cheering, though with solemn dimness, resemblesthe unfailing lamp which the piety of the ancients is said to have hungbefore the sepulchres of their dead. It prolongs the tenderestaffections beyond the gloom of the grave, and it infuses the inspiringhope that the assistance which we on earth can afford to our sufferingbrethren, will be amply repaid when they have reached their place ofrest, and make of them friends, who, when we in our turns fail,shall receive us into everlasting mansions. [1]

[Footnote 1: "Lectures on the Catholic Church," often called the"Moorfield Lectures," from being delivered in St. Mary's Moorfields, inthe Lent of 1836. Vol. I., Lecture xi, pp 65,68. This lecture uponPurgatory is an admirable exposition of the Catholic doctrine,supported by numberless testimonies from the Fathers.]

REPLY TO SOME MISSTATEMENTS ABOUT PURGATORY.

ARCHBISHOP SPALDING, OF BALTIMORE.

"The Synod of Florence," says this writer, [1] "was the first whichtaught the doctrine of Purgatory, as an article of faith. It had,indeed, been held by the Pope and by many writers, and it became thepopular doctrine during the period under review; but it was not decreedby any authority of the universal, or even the whole Latin Church. Inthe Eastern Church it was always rejected."

[Footnote 1: Rev. Wm. A. Palmer of Worcester College, Oxford, in his
"Compendium of Ecclesiastical History."]

Even admitting, for the sake of argument, that the Council of Florencewas the first which defined this doctrine as an article of faith, wouldit thence follow that the doctrine itself was of recent origin? Itcould only be inferred that it was never before questioned, and that,therefore, there was no need of any definition on the subject. Would itfollow from the fact, that the Council of Nice was the first generalsynod which defined the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Sonwith the Father, that this, too, was a new doctrine, unknown to thethree previous centuries? Mr. Palmer himself admits that this tenet ofPurgatory "had become the popular doctrine during the period underreview;" which, in connection with the solemn promises of Christ toguard His Church from error, clearly proves that it was an article ofdivine revelation,—on the principles even of our Oxford divine!

It is not true that "it was always rejected in the Eastern Church." TheGreek Church admitted it in the Council of Florence and, at least,impliedly, in that of Lyons. It had never been a bar to union betweenthe churches, however their theologians may have differed on thesecondary question, whether the souls detained in this middle place oftemporary expiation are purified by a material fire. "The ancientFathers, both of the Greek and Latin Church, who had occasion to referto the subject, had unanimously agreed in maintaining the doctrine, ascould be easily shown by reference to their works. All the ancientliturgies of both Churches had embodied this same article of faith. Andeven at present, not only the Greek Church, but all the Orientalsectaries still hold it as doctrine, and practice accordingly."

COUNT DE MAISTRE ON PURGATORY.

You have heard, in countries separated from the Roman Church, thedoctors of the law deny at once Hell and Purgatory. You mightwell have taken the denial of a word for that of a thing. An enormouspower is that of words! The minister who would be angry at that ofPurgatory will readily grant us a place of expiation, or anintermediate state, or perhaps even stations, who knows?without thinking it in the least ridiculous. One of the great motivesof the sixteenth century revolt was precisely Purgatory. Theinsurgents would have nothing less than Hell, pure and simple.Nevertheless, when they became philosophers, they set about denying theeternity of punishment, allowing, nevertheless, a hell for atime, only through good policy and for fear of putting into heavenat one stroke Nero and Messalina side by side with St. Louis and St.Teresa. But a temporary hell is nothing else than Purgatory; so thathaving broken with us because they did not want Purgatory, they brokewith us anew because they wanted Purgatory only.

WHAT THE SAINTS THOUGHT OF PURGATORY.

In the Special Announcement of the "Messenger of St. Joseph's Union"for 1885-6, we find the following interesting remarks in relation tothe devotion to the Souls in Purgatory: "St. Gregory the Great,speaking of Purgatory, calls it 'a penitential fire harder to endurethan all the tribulations of this world.' St. Augustine says that thetorment of fire alone endured by the holy souls in Purgatory, exceedsall the tortures inflicted on the martyrs; and St. Thomas says thatthere is no difference between the fire of Hell and that of Purgatory.Prayer for the souls in Purgatory is a source of great blessings toourselves. It is related of a holy religious who had for a long timestruggled in vain to free himself from an impure temptation, and whoappealed earnestly to the Blessed Virgin to deliver him, that sheappeared to him and commanded him to pray earnestly for the souls inPurgatory. He did so, and from that time the temptation left him. Theduration of the period of confinement in Purgatory is probably muchlonger than we are inclined to think. We find by the Revelations ofSister Francesca of Pampeluna that the majority of souls in Purgatorywith whose sufferings she was made acquainted, were detained there fora period extending from thirty to sixty years; and, as many of those ofwhom she speaks were holy Carmelites, some of whom had even wroughtmiracles when on earth, what must be the fate of poor worldlings whoseldom think of gaining an indulgence either for themselves or theirdeparted friends and relatives? Father Faber commenting on thissubject—the length of time that the holy souls are detained inPurgatory—says very justly: 'We are apt to leave off too soon prayingfor our parents, friends, or relatives, imagining with a foolish andunenlightened esteem for the holiness of their lives, that they arefreed from Purgatory much sooner than they really are.' Can the holysouls in Purgatory assist us by their prayers? Most assuredly. St.Liguori says: 'Though the souls in Purgatory are unable to pray ormerit for themselves, they can obtain by prayer many favors for thosewho pray for them on earth.' St. Catherine of Bologna has assured usthat she obtained many favors by the prayers of the holy souls inPurgatory which she had asked in vain through the intercession of thesaints. The Holy Ghost says: 'He who stoppeth his ear against the cryof the poor, shall also cry himself and shall not be heard,' and St.Vincent Ferrer says, in expounding that passage, that the holy souls inPurgatory cry to God for justice against those who on earth refuse tohelp them by their prayers, and that God will most assuredly hear theircry. Let us, therefore, do all in our power to relieve the holy soulsin Purgatory, and avert from ourselves the punishment that God is sureto inflict on those whose faith is too dead, or whose hearts are toocold to heed the cry that rises, day and night, from that sea of fire:'Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends!'" Job xix.21.

PURGATORY.

CHATEAUBRIAND.

That the doctrine of Purgatory opens to the Christian poet a source ofthe marvellous which was unknown to antiquity will be readily admitted.[1] Nothing, perhaps, is more favorable to the inspiration of the musethan this middle state of expiation between the region of bliss andthat of pain, suggesting the idea of a confused mixture of happinessand of suffering. The graduation of the punishments inflicted on thosesouls that are more or less happy, more or less brilliant, according totheir degree of proximity to an eternity of joy or of woe, affords animpressive subject for poetic description. In this respect, itsurpasses the subjects of heaven and hell, because it possesses afuture which they do not.

[Footnote 1: Some trace of this dogma is to be found in Plato and inthe doctrine of Zeno. (See Diog. Laer.) The poets also appear to havehad some idea of it (Æneid, v. vi), but these notions are all vague andinconsequent.]

The river Lethe was a graceful appendage of the ancient Elysium; but itcannot be said that the shades which came to life again on its banksexhibited the same poetical progress in the way to happiness that webehold in the souls of Purgatory. When they left the abodes of bliss toreappear among men, they passed from a perfect to an imperfect state.They re-entered the ring for the fight. They were born again to undergoa second death. In short, they came forth to see what they had alreadyseen before. Whatever can be measured by the human mind is necessarilycirc*mscribed. We may admit, indeed, that there was something strikingand true in the circle by which the ancients symbolized eternity; butit seems to us that it fetters the imagination by confining it alwayswithin a dreaded enclosure. The straight line extended adinfinitum would, perhaps, be more expressive, because it wouldcarry our thoughts into a world of undefined realities, and would bringtogether three things which appear to exclude each other—hope,mobility, eternity.

The apportionment of the punishment to the sin is another source ofinvention which is found in the purgatorial state, and is highlyfavorable to the sentimental…. If violent winds, raging fires, andicy cold, lend their influence to the torments of hell, why may notmilder sufferings be derived from the song of the nightingale, from thefragrance of flowers, from the murmur of the brook, or from the moralaffections themselves? Homer and Ossian tell us of the joy of griefaruerou tetarpo mesthagolo.

Poetry finds its advantage also in that doctrine of Purgatory whichteaches us that the prayers and other good works of the faithful mayobtain the deliverance of souls from their temporal pains. Howadmirable is this intercourse between the living son and the deceasedfather—between the mother and daughter—between husband and wife—between life and death. What affecting considerations are suggested bythis tenet of religion! My virtue, insignificant being as I am, becomesthe common property of Christians; and, as I participate in the guiltof Adam, so also the good that I possess passes to the good of others.Christian poets! the prayers of your Nisus will be felt, in their happyeffects, by some Euryalus beyond the grave. The rich, whose charity youdescribe, may well share their abundance with the poor, for thepleasure which they take in performing this simple and grateful actwill receive its regard from the Almighty in the release of theirparents from the expiatory flame. What a beautiful feature in ourreligion to impel the heart of man to virtue by the power of love, andto make him feel that the very coin which gives bread for the moment toan indigent fellow-being, entitles, perhaps, some rescued soul to aneternal position at the table of the Lord. [1]

[Footnote 1: "Genius of Christianity." Book II., Chap. xv. pp. 338-340.]

MARY AND THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.

BY BROTHER AZARIAS.

Mary, from her nearness to Jesus, has imbibed many traits of the SacredHeart of Jesus. She shares, in a preeminent degree, His Divinecompassion for sorrow and suffering. Where He loves and pities, shealso loves and pities. Nay, may we not well say that all enduringanguish of soul and writhing under the pangs of a lacerated heart, areespecially dear to both Jesus and Mary? Was not Jesus the Man ofSorrows? and did He not constitute Mary the Mother of suffering andsorrowing humanity? And even as His Divine breast knew keenest sorrow,did not a sword of sorrow pierce her soul? She participated in theagony of Jesus only as such a Mother can share the agony of such a Son;in the tenderest manner, therefore, does she commiserate sorrow andsuffering wherever found. Though now far beyond all touch of pain andmisery, still as the devoted Mother of a pain-stricken race, shecontinues to watch, to shield, to aid and to strengthen her children intheir wrestlings with these mysterious visitants.

II.

Nor does Mary's interest cease upon this side of the grave. Itaccompanies souls beyond. And when she beholds those souls undergoingtheir final purgation, before entering upon the enjoyment of thebeatific vision, she pities them with a pity all the more heartfeltbecause their suffering is so much greater than any they could haveendured in this life. See the state of those souls. They are in graceand favor with God; they are burning with love for Him; they areyearning, with a yearning boundless in its intensity, to drinkrefreshment of life, and love, and sanctification, and to bereplenished with goodness and truth, and to perfect their natures atthe Fountain-head of all truth, all goodness, all love, and allperfection. They are yearning; but so clearly and piercingly does thewhite light of God's truth and God's holiness shine through them andpenetrate every fold and recess of their moral natures, and reveal tothem every slightest imperfection, that they dare not approach Him andgratify their intense desire to be united with Him. Their weaknessesand imperfections; the traces in them of, and the attachments in themto, former sins, incident upon the frailties of feeble human nature,still cling to them, and must needs be consumed in the fiery ordeal ofsuffering before their enjoyment of the beatific vision can becompleted and their union with the Godhead consummated.

III.

That there should be for souls after death such a state of purgation isall within the grasp of human reason. It is a doctrine that was taughtin the remotest ages of the world. Here is a condensed version of thetradition as handed down in clearest terms, beautifully expressed byone of the world's greatest thinkers and writers: "All things aredistinctly manifest in the soul after it has been divested of the body;and this is true both of the natural disposition of the soul and of theaffections that the man has acquired from his various pursuits. Whentherefore the soul comes before the Judge … the Judge finds allthings distorted through pride and falsehood and whatsoever isunrighteous, for as much as the soul has been nurtured with untruth …and he forthwith sends it to a prison state where it will undergo thepunishment it deserves. But it behooveth that he that is punished, ifhe be justly punished, either become better and receive benefit fromhis punishment, or become a warning to others…. But whoso arebenefited … are such as have been guilty of curable transgressions;their benefit here and hereafter [1] accrues to them through pains andtorments; for it is impossible to get rid of injustice by other mannerof means." This reads like a page torn from one of the earlyFathers of the Church. [2] More than five centuries before theChristian era it was penned by Plato. [3] Clearly does he draw the linebetween eternal punishment for unrepented crimes and temporalpunishment for curable Idmpa trangressions. Virgil in nouncertain tone echoes the same doctrine, making no exception to therule that some corporeal stains and traces of ill follow all beyond thegrave; and therefore do they suffer punishment and pay the penaltyof old wrongs. [4] What antiquity has handed down, and reason hasfound to be just and proper, the Church has defined and decreed. Shehas gone further. She has supplemented and completed the paganconception of expiation by that of intercession; and she has addedthereto, for the comfort and consolation of the living and the dead,that the souls so suffering "may be helped by the suffrages of thefaithful, but principally by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar."[5] And in her prayers for deceased friends, relatives and benefactors,she is mindful of Mary's sweet influence with her Son, and asks theirdeliverance through her intercession. [6]

[Footnote 1: Kai enthude kai en Aidou]

[Footnote 2: There is a passage in Clement of Alexandria, not unlikethis in statement of the same doctrine ("Stromaton" 1. vi. m. 14, p.794 Ed. Potter). The passage is quoted in "Faith of Catholics." Vol.Ill p. 142.]

[Footnote 3: Gorgias, cap. lxxx, lxxxi.]

[Footnote 4: Æneid, lib. vi. 735, 740.]

[Footnote 5: Council of Trent, Sess. xxv. Decret. de Purgatorio, p.204.]

[Footnote 6: Beata Maria semper virgine intercedente.]

The tendency to commune with the dead, and to pray for them, is strongand universal. It survives whatever systems or whatever creeds men mayinvent for its suppression. Samuel Johnson is professedly a staunchProtestant, bristling with prejudices, but a delicate moral senseenters the rugged manhood of his nature. Instinctively he seeks tocommune with his departed wife, after the manner dear to the Catholicheart, but forbidden to the Protestant. He keeps the anniversary of herdeath. He composes a prayer for the repose of her soul, beseeching God"to grant her whatever is best in her present state, and finally toreceive her to eternal happiness." [1]

[Footnote 1: Boswell's Johnson, vol. 1, p. 100. Croker's Ed. There ispathos in this entry, remembering the man: "Mar. 28, 1753. I kept thisday as the anniversary of my Tetty's death, with prayer and tears inthe morning. In the evening I prayed for her conditionally, if it werelawful." Ibid. p. 97.]

IV

Of the nature and intensity of the sufferings of souls undergoing thispurgation, we on earth can form but the faintest conception. Not soMary. She sees things as they are. She sees the great love animatingthose I holy souls. She sees their eager desire to be united to God,the sole centre and object of their being. She sees and appreciates thestruggle going on in them between that intense desire—that greatyearning—that groping after perfect union—that unfilled andunsatiated vagueness arising from their privation of the only fulnessthat could replenish them, on the one hand, and on the other, the senseof their unfitness, keen, strong, deep, intense, overwhelming them anddriving them back to the flames of pain and soul-hunger and soul-thirstuntil they shall have satisfied God's justice to the last farthing, andeven the slightest stain has been cleansed, and they stand forth in thelight of God's sanctity, whole and spotless. She sees the terriblestruggle; and her motherly heart goes out in tender pity to these herchildren, washed and ransomed by the Blood of her Divine Son, and sheis well disposed to extend to them the aid of her powerfulintercession. She is fitly called the Mother of Mercy. Her mercifulheart goes out to these, the favored ones of her Son, all the morelovingly and tenderly because they are unable to help themselves.

V.

But whilst Mary looks upon those souls with an eye of tender mercy andsweet compassion, and whilst Jesus is prepared to admit them to thebeatific vision as soon as they become thoroughly purified, still theassuaging of their pains and the abridging of their time of purgationdepend in a great measure upon the graces and the merits that areapplied to them by us, their brethren upon earth. According to theearnestness of the prayers we say for them, and the measure of the goodworks we do for them, will the intercession of Mary and all the saintsbe efficacious with Jesus in their behalf. It is unspeakably consolingto the living and the dead to know that the members of the Churchmilitant upon earth have it within their power to aid and relieve themembers of the Church suffering. It is therefore really and indeed aholy and a wholesome thought for us of the one to pray for those of theother. It is more: it is an imperative duty we owe the faithfuldeparted. They are our brethren in Christ, bought at the same price,nurtured by the same graces, living by the same faith, and sanctifiedby the same spirit. Many of them may have been near and dear to us inthis life; and of these, many again may now suffer because of us;whether it was that we led them directly into wrong-doing, or whetherit was that, in their loving kindness for us, they connived at,permitted, aided or abetted us, in what their consciences had whisperedthem not to be right. In each and every case it is our bounden duty todo all in our power to assuage sufferings to which we may have beenaccessory. In heart-rending accents do they cry out to us: "Havepity on me, have pity on me, at least ye my friends!" [1] And as wewould have others do by us under like circ*mstances, so should we notturn a deaf ear to their petition.

[Footnote 1: Job, xix. 21.]

VI.

Daily does the Angel of Death enter our houses, and summon from usthose that are rooted in our affections, and for whom our heart-throbsbeat in love and esteem. Daily must we bow our heads in reverentsilence and submission to the decree that snatches from us some lovedone. Perhaps it is a wife who mourns the loss of her husband. She findscomfort and companionship in praying for the repose of his soul; in thewords of Tertullian, "she prays for his soul, and begs for him in theinterim refreshments, and in the first resurrection companionship, andmaketh offerings on the anniversary day of his falling asleep." [1]Perhaps it is a husband whose loving wife has gone to sleep in death.Then will he hold her memory sacred, and offer thereto the incense ofunceasing prayer, so that it may be said of him as St. Jerome wrote toPammachius: "Thou hast rendered what was due to each part; giving tearsto the body and alms to the soul…. There were thy tears where thouknewest was death; there were thy works where thou knewest was life….Already is she honored with thy merits; already is she fed with thybread, and abounds with thy riches." [2] Perhaps it is a dear friendaround whom our heart-strings were entwined, and whose love for us wasmore than we were worthy of: whose counsels were our guide; whose soulwas an open book in which we daily read the lesson of high resolve andsincere purpose; whose virtuous life was a continuous inspirationurging us on to noble thought and noble deed; and yet our friendshipmay have bound his soul in ties too earthly, and retarded his progressin perfection; in consequence he may still dread the light of God'scountenance, and may be lingering in this state of purgation. Itbehooves us in all earnestness, and in friendship's sacred claim, topray unceasingly for that friend, beseeching God to let the dews ofDivine mercy fall upon his parching soul, assuage his pain, and takehim to Himself, to complete his happiness.

[Footnote 1: "Dc Monogam," n. x. p 531. "Faith of Catholics," Vol.
III., p. 144.]

[Footnote 2: Ep. XXXVII]

So the sacred duty of prayer for the dead runs through all therelations of life. From all comes the cry begging for our prayers. Wecannot in justice ignore it; we cannot be true to ourselves andunmindful of our suffering brethren. Every reminder that we receive isa voice coming from the grave. Now it is the mention of a name thatonce brought gladness to our hearts; or we come across a letter writtenby a hand whose grasp used to thrill our souls—that hand now stiffenedand cold in death; or it is the sight of some relic that vividlyrecalls the dear one passed away; or it is a dream—and to whom has notsuch a dream occurred?—in which we live over again the pleasant pastwith the bosom friend of our soul, and he is back once more, in theflesh, re-enacting the scenes of former days, breathing and talking asnaturally as though there were no break in his life or ours and we hadnever parted. When we awaken from our dream, and the pang of reality,like a keen blade, penetrates our hearts, let us not rest content witha vain sigh of regret, or with useless tears of grief; let us pray Godto give the dear departed soul eternal rest, and admit it to theperpetual light of His Presence. And in like manner should we regardall other reminders as so many appeals to the charity of our prayers.In this way will the keeping of the memory of those gone before us beto them a blessing and to us a consolation.

VII.

Furthermore, every prayer we say, every sacrifice we make, every almswe give for the repose of the dear departed ones, will all return uponourselves in hundredfold blessings. They are God's choice friends, dearto His Sacred Heart, living in His grace and in constant communing withHim; and though they may not alleviate their own sufferings, theirprayers in our behalf always avail. They can aid us most efficaciously.God will not turn a deaf ear to their intercession. Being holy souls,they are grateful souls. The friends that aid them, they in turn willalso aid. We need not fear praying for them in all faith andconfidence. They will obtain for us the special favors we desire. Theywill watch over us lovingly and tenderly; they will guard our steps;they will warn us against evil; they will shield us in moments of trialand danger; and when our day of purgatorial suffering comes, they willuse their influence in our behalf to assuage our pains and shorten theperiod of our separation from the Godhead. And so may we, in constantprayer, begging in a special manner the intercession of Mary the Motherof Mercy, say to our Lord and Saviour: "_Deliver them from gloom anddarkness, and snatch them from sorrow and grief; enter not intojudgment with them, nor severely examine their past life; but whetherin word or deed they have sinned, as men clothed with flesh, forgiveand do away with their transgressions." [1]

[Footnote 1: From prayer for the Faithful Departed in the Syriac
Liturgy. See "Faith of Catholics," Vol. III, p. 203]

DR. JOHNSON ON PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD.

BOSWELL. What do you, think, sir, of Purgatory, as believed by the
Roman Catholics?

JOHNSON. Why, sir, it is a very harmless doctrine. They are of opinionthat the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked as todeserve everlasting punishment, nor so good as to merit being admittedinto the society of blessed spirits; and therefore that God isgraciously pleased to allow of a middle state, where they may bepurified by certain degrees of suffering. You see, sir, that there isnothing unreasonable in this.

BOSWELL. But then, sir, their Masses for the dead?

JOHNSON. Why, sir, if it be once established that there are souls inPurgatory, it is as proper to pray for them as for our brethren ofmankind who are yet in this life.

BOSWELL. The idolatry of the Mass?

JOHNSON. Sir, there is no idolatry in the Mass. They believe God to bethere, and they adore Him.

* * * * *

BOSWELL. We see in Scripture that Dives still retained an anxiousconcern about his brethren?

JOHNSON. Why, sir, we must either suppose that passage to bemetaphorical, or hold with many divines, and all purgatorians, thatdeparted souls do not all at once arrive at the utmost perfection ofwhich they are capable.

* * * * *

BOSWELL. Do you think, sir, it is wrong in a man who holds the doctrineof Purgatory to pray for the souls of his deceased friends?

JOHNSON. Why, no, sir.

* * * * *

He states, that he spent March 22, 1753, in prayers and tears in themorning; and in the evening prayed for the soul of his deceased wife,"conditionally, if it be lawful." The following is his customary prayerfor his dead wife: "And, O Lord, so far as it may be lawful in me, Icommend to Thy fatherly goodness the soul of my departed wife;beseeching Thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state, andfinally to receive her into eternal happiness."—Boswell's "Life ofJohnson," Pages 169, 188.

THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.

BURNETT [1]

[Footnote 1: From his work, "The Path which Led a Protestant Lawyer tothe Catholic Church," p. 637.]

The Council of Trent declared, as the faith of the Catholic Church,"that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained arehelped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by theacceptable sacrifice of the altar."

This is all that is required to be believed. As to the kind and measureof the purifying punishment, the Church defines nothing. This doctrinehas been very much misrepresented, and has most generally been attackedby sarcasm and denunciation. But is this a satisfactory method to treata grave matter of faith, coming down to us from the olden times? Thedoctrine of Purgatory is most intimately connected with the doctrine ofsacramental absolution and satisfaction, and legitimately springs fromit. That there is a distinction in the guilt of different sins, must beconceded. All our criminal laws, and those of all nations, are foundedupon this idea. To say that the smallest transgression, the result ofinadvertence, is equal in enormity to the greatest and most deliberatecrime, is utterly opposed to the plain nature of all law, and to theword of God, which assures us that men shall be punished or rewardedaccording to their works (Rom. ii. 6), as not to require anyrefutation. Our Lord assures us that men must give an account in theday of judgment for every idle word they speak (Matt, xii. 36), and St.John tells us that nothing denied shall enter heaven (Rev. xxi. 27).Then St. John says there is a sin unto death, and there is a sin whichis not unto death (I John, v. 16), and he also tells us that "allunrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death." So we aretold by the same apostle, that if we confess our sins, God is faithfuland just to forgive us (I John, i. 9). Now we must put all these textstogether, and give them their full, harmonious, and consistent force.We must carry out the principles laid down to their fair and logicalresults. Suppose, then, a man speak an idle word, and die suddenly,before he has time to repent and confess his sin, will he be losteverlastingly? Must there not, in the very nature of Christ's system,be a middle state, wherein souls can be purged from their lesser sins?

MALLOCK ON PURGATORY. [1]

[Footnote 1: William Hurrell Mallock, the author of "Is Life WorthLiving," from which this extract is given, and of several other recentworks, was, at the time when the above was written, as he says himselfin his dedication, "an outsider in philosophy, literature, andtheology," and not, as might be supposed, a Catholic. It has beenpositively asserted, and as positively denied, that he has sinceentered the Church. But it is certain that he has not done so. Mallockis not a Catholic.—COMPILER'S NOTE.]

To those who believe in Purgatory, to pray for the dead is as naturaland rational as to pray for the living. Next, as to this doctrine ofPurgatory itself—which has so long been a stumbling-block to the wholeProtestant world—time goes on, and the view men take of it ischanging. It is becoming fast recognized on all sides that it is theonly doctrine that can bring a belief in future rewards and punishmentsinto anything like accordance with our notions of what is just orreasonable. So far from its being a superfluous superstition, it isseen to be just what is demanded at once by reason and morality, and abelief in it to be not an intellectual assent, but a partialharmonizing of the whole moral ideal.—W. H. Mattock, "Is Life WorthLiving," Page 297.

BOILEAU-DESPRÉAUX AND PRAYER FOR THE DEAD.

We love to see the truth of our dogmas proclaimed from amid the greatassemblies of choice intelligences. Boileau did not hesitate to dohomage to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory on the following solemnoccasion:—

On the death of Furetière, the French Academy deliberated whether theywould have a funeral service for him, according to the ancient customof the establishment. Despréaux, who had taken no part in the expulsionof his former associate, gave expression, when he was no more, to thelanguage of courageous piety. He feared not to express himself in thesewords: "Gentlemen, there are three things to be considered here—God,the public, and the Academy. As regards God, He will, undoubtedly, bewell pleased if you sacrifice your resentment for His sake and offerprayers to Him for the repose of a fellow-member, who has more need ofthem than others, were it only on account of the animosity he showedtowards you. Before the public, it will be a glorious thing for you notto pursue your enemy beyond the grave. And as for the Academy, itsmoderation will be meritorious, when it answers insults by prayers, anddoes not deny a Christian the resources offered by the Church forappeasing the anger of God, all the more that, besides theindispensable obligation of praying to God for your enemies, you havemade for yourselves a special law to pray for your associates."

ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS. [1]

[Footnote 1: New York Tablet, Nov. 12, 1870]

MRS. J. SADLIER.

OF all the sublime truths which it is the pride and happiness ofChristians to believe, none is more beautiful, more consoling than thatof the Communion of Saints. Do we fully realize the meaning of thatparticular article of our faith? From their earliest infancy Christianchildren repeat, at their mother's knee, "I believe in the Communion ofSaints;" but it is only when the mind has attained a certain stage ofdevelopment that they begin to feel the inestimable privilege of beingin the Communion of Saints.

But how sad to think that even in later life many of those whosechildhood lisped "I believe in the Communion of Saints," neither know,nor care to know, what it means. Outside the Church who believes in theCommunion of Saints?—who rejoices in the glory of the glorified, orinvokes their intercession with God? Who believes in that state ofprobation whereby the earth-stains are washed from the souls of men?Who has compassion on "the spirits who are in prison?" To Catholicsonly is the Communion of Saints a reality, a soul-rejoicing truth. Howinestimable is the privilege of being truly and indeed "of thehousehold of faith,"—within and of "the Church of the Saints," theChurch that alone connects the life which is and that which is to come,the living and the dead!

Year by year we are reminded of this truth, so solemn and so beautiful,the Communion of Saints, by the double festival of All Saints and AllSouls—when the Church invites her children of the Militant Church torejoice with her on the glory of her Saints, and to pray with her forthe holy dead who are still in the purgatorial fire that is to preparethem for that blessed abode into which "nothing defiled can enter."

Grand and joyous is the feast of the Saints, when we lovingly honor allour brethren who have gained their thrones in Heaven, and with faithand hope invoke their powerful aid, that we, too, may come where theyare, and be partakers in their eternal blessedness; solemn and sad, butmost sweetly soothing to the heart of faith, is the day of All Souls,when the altars are draped in black, and the chant is mournful, andsacrifice is offered, the whole world over, for the dead who have sleptin Christ, with the blessing of the Church upon them. For them, if theystill have need of succor, are all the good works of the faithfuloffered up, and the prayers of all the Saints and all the Angelsinvoked, not only on the second day of November, but on every day ofthat mournful month.

Thus do we, who are still on earth, honor the glorified Saints of God,and invoke them for ourselves and for the blessed souls who may yet bedebarred from the joys of Heaven. And this is truly the Communion ofSaints—the Church on earth, the Church in Heaven, the Church inPurgatory, distinct, yet united, the children of one common Father, whois God; of one common Mother, who is Mary, the Virgin ever Blessed.

LEIBNITZ [1]

[Footnote 1: Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz, the eminent Protestantphilosopher. The above is from his "Systema Theologicum."]

ON THE MASS AS A PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE.

No new efficacy is superadded to the efficacy of the Passion from thispropitiatory Sacrifice, repeated for the remission of sins; but itsentire efficacy consists in the representation and application of thefirst bloody Sacrifice, the fruit of which is the Divine Grace bestowedon all those who, being present at this tremendous sacrifice, worthilycelebrate the oblation in unison with the priest. And since, inaddition to the remission of eternal punishment, and the gift of themerits of Christ for the hope of eternal life, we further ask of God,for ourselves and others, both living and dead, many other salutarygifts (and amongst those, the chief is the mitigation of that paternalchastisem*nt which is due to every sin, even though the penitent berestored to favor); it is therefore clearly manifest that there isnothing in our entire worship more precious than the sacrifice of thisDivine Sacrament, in which the Body of Our Lord itself is present.

EXTRACTS FROM "A TROUBLED HEART."

How often have I been touched at the respect paid the dead in Catholiccountries; at the reverence with which the business man, hastening tofulfil the duties of the hour, pauses and lifts his hat as the funeralof the unknown passes him in the street! What pity streams from theeyes of the poor woman who kneels in her humble doorway, and, crossingherself, prays for the repose of the soul that was never known to herin this life; but the body is borne towards the cemetery, and she joinsher prayer to the many that are freely offered along the solemn way(pp. 151-2).

* * * * *

So passes the faithful soul to judgment; after which, if not ushered atonce into the ineffable glory of the Father, it pauses for a season inthe perpetual twilight of that border-land where the spirit is purgedof the very memory of sin. Even as Our Lord Himself descended intoLimbo; as He died for us, but rose again from the dead and ascendedinto heaven, so we hope to rise and follow Him,—sustained by theunceasing prayers of the Church, the intercession of the Saints, andall the choirs of the just, who are called on night and day, and alsoby the prayers and pleadings of those who have loved us, and who arestill in the land of the living.

The prayers that ease the pangs of Purgatory, the Requiem, theMiserere, the De Profundis—these are the golden stairsupon which the soul of the redeemed ascends into everlasting joy. Eventhe Protestant laureate of England has confessed the poetical justiceand truth of this, and into the mouth of the dying Arthur—that worthyknight—he puts these words:

"Pray for my soul! More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of; wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day;
For, what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." [1]

[Footnote 1: These exquisite lines will be found elsewhere in thisvolume in the full description of King Arthur's death from Tennyson.But they bear repetition.]

O ye gentle spirits that have gone before me, and who are now, I trust,dwelling in the gardens of Paradise, beside the river of life thatflows through the midst thereof,—ye whose names I name at the Memorialfor the Dead in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,—as ye look upon thelovely and shining countenances of the elect, and, perchance, upon thebeauty of our Heavenly Queen, and upon her Son in glory,—O remember mewho am still this side of the Valley of the Shadow, and in the midst oftrials and tribulations. And you who have read these pages, writtenfrom the heart, after much sorrow and long suffering, though I be stillwith you in the flesh, or this poor body be gathered to its long home,—you whose eyes are now fixed upon this line, I beseech you,

Pray for me!—Anon.

EUGÉNIE DE GUÉRIN AND HER BROTHER MAURICE.

[In Eugénie de Guérin's journal we find the following beautiful wordswritten while her loving heart was still bleeding for the early deathof her best-loved brother, Maurice—her twin soul, as she was wont tocall him.]

"O PROFUNDITY! O mysteries of that other life that separates us! I whowas always so anxious about him, who wanted so much to know everything,wherever he may be now there is an end to that. I follow him into thethree abodes; I stop at that of bliss; I pass on to the place ofsuffering, the gulf of fire. My God, my God, not so! Let not my brotherbe there, let him not! He is not there. What! his soul, the soul ofMaurice, among the reprobate! … Horrible dread, no! But in Purgatory,perhaps, where one suffers, where one expiates the weaknesses of theheart, the doubts of the soul, the half-inclinations to evil. Perhapsmy brother is there, suffering and calling to us in his pangs as heused to do in bodily pain, 'Relieve me, you who love me!' Yes, myfriend, by prayer. I am going to pray. I have prayed so much, andalways shall. Prayer? Oh, yes, prayers for the dead, they are the dewof Purgatory."

All Souls'—How different this day is from all others, inchurch, in the soul, without, within. It is impossible to tell all onefeels, thinks, sees again, regrets. There is no adequate expression forall this except in prayer…. I have not written here, but to some oneto whom I have promised so long as I live, a letter on All Souls'….

O my friend, my brother, Maurice! Maurice! art thou far from me? dostthou hear me? What are they, those abodes that hold thee now? …Mysteries of another life, how profound, how terrible ye are—sometimes, how sweet!

PASSAGES FROM THE VIA MEDIA.

[Written while Cardinal Newman was still an Anglican]

Now, as to the punishments and satisfactions for sins, the texts towhich the minds of the early Christians seem to have been principallydrawn, and from which they ventured to argue in behalf of these vaguenotions, were these two: 'The fire shall try every man's work,' etc.,and 'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' Thesepassages, with which many more were found to accord, directed theirthoughts one way, as making mention of fire, whatever was meant by theword, as the instrument of trial and purification; and that, at sometime between the present time and the Judgment, or at the Judgment. Asthe doctrine, thus suggested by certain striking texts, grew inpopularity and definiteness, and verged towards its present Roman form,it seemed a key to many others. Great portions of the books of Psalms,Job, and the Lamentations, which express the feelings of religious menunder suffering, would powerfully recommend it by the forcible and mostaffecting and awful meaning which they received from it. When this wasonce suggested, all other meanings would seem tame and inadequate.

To these may be added various passages from the prophets, as that inthe beginning of the third chapter of Malachi, which speaks of fire asthe instrument of purification, when Christ comes to visit His Church.

Moreover, there were other texts of obscure and indeterminate meaning,which seem on this hypothesis to receive a profitable meaning; such asOur Lord's words in the Sermon on the Mount, "Verily, I say unto thee,thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid theuttermost farthing;" and St. John's expression in the Apocalypse, that,"no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able toopen the book."—Via Media, pp. 174-177.

Most men, to our apprehensions, are too little formed in religioushabits either for heaven or for hell; yet there is no middle state whenChrist comes in judgment. In consequence, it is obvious to haverecourse to the interval before His coming, as a time during which thisincompleteness may be remedied, as a season, not of changing thespiritual bent and character of the soul departed, whatever that be,for probation ends with mortal life, but of developing it in a moredeterminate form, whether of good or evil. Again, when the mind onceallows itself to speculate, it will discern in such a provision a meanswhereby those who, not without true faith at bottom, yet have committedgreat crimes, or those who have been carried off in youth while stillundecided, or who die after a barren, though not immoral or scandalouslife, may receive such chastisem*nt as may prepare them for heaven, andrender it consistent with God's justice to admit them thither. Again,the inequality of the sufferings of Christians in this life comparedone with another, leads the mind to the same speculations; the intensesuffering, for instance, which some men undergo on their death-bed,seeming as if but an anticipation in their case of what comes afterdeath upon others, who, without greater claims on God's forbearance,live without chastisem*nt and die easily. The mind will inevitablydwell upon such thoughts, unless it has been taught to subdue them byeducation or by the fear of the experience of their dangerousness.—Via Media, pp. 174-177.

ALL SOULS.

FROM THE FRENCH.

November is come; and the pleasant verdure that the groves and woodsoffered to our view in the joyous spring is fast losing its cheerfulhue, while its withered remains lie trembling and scattered beneath ourfeet. The grave and plaintive voice of the consecrated bell sends forthits funereal tones, and, recalling the dead to our pensive souls,implores, for them the pity of the living. Oh! let us hearken to itsthrilling call; and may the sanctuary gather us together within itsdarkened walls, there to invoke our Eternal Father, and breathe forthcherished names in earnest prayer!

When the solemn hour of the last farewell was come for those we loved,and their weakened sight was extinguished forever, it seemed as if ourhearts' memory would be eternal, and as if those dear ones would neverbe forgotten. But time has fled, their memory has grown dim, and otherthoughts reign paramount in our forgetful hearts, which barely givethem from time to time a pious recollection.

Nevertheless, they loved us, perhaps too well, lavish of a love thatHeaven demanded. How devoted was their affection; and shall we nowrequite it by a cruel forgetfulness? Oh! if they suffer still on ouraccount; if, because of their weakness, they still feel the wrath ofGod's justice, shall we not pray, when their voices implore our help,when their tears ascend towards us?

Alas! in this life what direful contamination clings to the steps ofirresolute mortals! Who has not wavered in the darksome paths intowhich the straight road so often deviates?

The infinite justice of the God of purity perhaps retains them in thedungeons of death. Alas! for long and long the Haven of eternal lifemay be closed against them! Oh, let us pray; our voices will open theabode of celestial peace unto the imprisoned soul. The God ofconsolation gave us prayer, that love might thus become eternal.—The Lamp, Nov. 5, 1864.

AN ANGLICAN BISHOP PRAYING FOR THE DEAD.

Foremost among later Anglican divines in piety, in learning, and in thefiner qualities of head and heart, stands the name of Reginald Heber,Bishop of the Establishment, whose gentle memory,—embalmed in severalgraceful and musical poems, chiefly on religious subjects,—is stillrevered and cherished by his co-religionists, respected and admiredeven by those who see in him only the man and the poet—not thereligious teacher. I am happy to lay before my readers the followingextract from a letter of Bishop Heber, in which that amiable andaccomplished prelate expresses his belief in the efficacy of prayersfor the departed:

"Few persons, I believe, have lost a beloved object, more particularlyby sudden death, without feeling an earnest desire to recommend them intheir prayers to God's mercy, and a sort of instinctive impression thatsuch devotions might still be serviceable to them.

* * * * *

"Having been led attentively to consider the question, my own opinionis, on the whole, favorable to the practice, which is, indeed, sonatural and so comfortable, that this alone is a presumption that it isneither unpleasing to the Almighty nor unavailing with Him.

"The Jews, so far back as their opinions and practices can be tracedsince the time of Our Saviour, have uniformly recommended theirdeceased friends to mercy; and from a passage in the Second Book ofMaccabees, it appears that, from whatever source they derived it, theyhad the same custom before His time. But if this were the case, thepractice can hardly be unlawful, or either Christ or His Apostleswould, one should think, have, in some of their writings or discourses,condemned it. On the same side it may be observed that the GreekChurch, and all the Eastern Churches, pray for the dead; and that weknow the practice to have been universal, or nearly so, among theChristians a little more than one hundred and fifty years after OurSaviour. It is spoken of as the usual custom by Tertullian andEpiphanius. Augustine, in his Confessions, has given a beautifulprayer which he himself used for his deceased mother, Monica; and amongProtestants, Luther and Dr. Johnson are eminent instances of the sameconduct. I have, accordingly, been myself in the habit, for some years,of recommending on some occasions, as, after receiving the sacrament,etc., my lost friends by name to God's goodness and compassion, throughHis Son, as what can do them no harm, and may, and I hope will, be ofservice to them."

THE "PURGATORY" OF DANTE.

MARIOTTI.

In the course of his remarks upon the Divina Comedia of Dante, abitter opponent of the Holy See and of everything Catholic, Mariotti,[1] an apostle of United Italy, expresses his views upon the ancientdoctrine of Purgatory. These views are but an instance of how itsbeauty and truthfulness to nature strike the minds of those who havestrayed from the centre of Christian unity.

[Footnote 1: Mariotti, author of "Italy Past and Present," anunscrupulous opponent of the Papacy and of the Church.]

"To say nothing of its greatness and goodness, the poem of Dante," saysMariotti, "is the most curious of books. The register of the past,noting down every incident within the compass of man's nature…. Danteis the annalist, the interpreter, the representative of the MiddleAges…. The ideas of mankind were in those 'dark' agesperpetually revolving upon that 'life beyond life,' which theomnipresent religion of that fanatical age loved to people withappalling phantoms and harrowing terrors. Dante determined toanticipate his final doom, and still, in the flesh, to break throughthe threshold of eternity, and explore the kingdom of death…. No poetever struck upon a subject to which every fibre in the heart of hiscontemporaries more readily responded than Dante. It is not for me totest the soundness of the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, or toinquire which of the Holy Fathers first dreamt of its existence. Itwas, however, a sublime contrivance, unscriptural though it may be—aconception full of love and charity, in so far as it seemed to arrestthe dead on the threshold of eternity; and making his final welfarepartly dependent on the pious exertions of those who were left behind,established a lasting interchange of tender feelings, embalmed thememory of the departed, and by a posthumous tie wedded him to themourning survivor…. Woe to the man, in Dante's age, who sunk into hisgrave without bequeathing a heritage of love; on whose sod norefreshing dew of sorrowing affection descended. Lonely as his relicsin the sepulchre, his spirit wandered in the dreaded region ofprobation; alone he was left defenceless, prayerless, friendless tosettle his awful score with unmitigated justice. It is this feeling,unrivalled for poetic beauty, that gives color and tone to the seconddivision of Dante's poem. The five or six cantos, at the opening, haveall the milk of human nature that entered into the composition of thatmiscalled saturnine mind. With little more than two words, the poetmakes us aware that we have come into happier latitudes. Every strangevisitor breathes love and forgiveness. The shade we meet is onlycharged with tidings of joy to the living, and messages of good will.The heart lightens and brightens at every new stratum of the atmospherein that rising region; the ascent is easy and light, like the glidingof a boat down the stream. The angels we become familiar with areangels of light, such as human imagination never before nor afterwardsconceived. They come from afar across the waves, piloting the bargethat conveys the chosen spirits to heaven, balancing themselves ontheir wide-spread wings, using them as sails, disdaining the aid of allmortal contrivance, and relying on their inexhaustible strength; redand rayless at first, from the distance, as the planet Mars when heappears struggling through the mist of the horizon, but growingbrighter and brighter with amazing swiftness. They stand at the gate ofPurgatory, they guard the entrance to each of the seven steps of itsmountain—some with green vesture, vivid as new-budding leaves,gracefully waving and floating in simple drapery, fanned by theirwings; bearing in their hands flaming swords broken at the point;others, ash-colored garments; others again, in flashing armor, but allbeaming with so intense, so overwhelming a light, that dizzinessovercomes all mortal ken, whenever directed to their countenance. Thefriends of the poet's youth one by one arrest his march, and engage himin tender converse. The very laws of immutable fate seem for a fewmoments suspended to allow full scope for the interchange ofaffectionate sentiments. The overawing consciousness of the place he isin, for a moment forsakes the mortal visitor so miraculously admittedinto the world of spirits. He throws his arms round the neck of thebeloved shade, and it is only by the smile irradiating its countenancethat he is reminded of the intangibility of its ethereal substance. Theepisodes of "the Purgatory" are mostly of this sad and tenderdescription. The historical personages introduced seem to have losttheir own identity, and to have merged into a blessed calmness,characterizing medium of the region they are all travelling through."It is plain that, bitterly hostile as is this faithless Italian to theChurch of his fathers, and the truth which it teaches, his poeticinstinct, at least, rises above mere prejudice, and enables him topenetrate into that dim but holy atmosphere created by the poet'sgenius, and yet more fully by the poet's faith. This homage to theunion of religious grandeur, natural tenderness, and supernaturalfervent charity, which make this doctrine unconsciously dear to everyhuman heart, is of value coming from the pen of so prejudiced awitness. It is but one of countless testimonies that in all times, andin all ages, have sprung from the heart of man, as it were in his owndespite.

THE MOUTH OF NOVEMBER. [1]

[Footnote 1: New York Tablet, Nov. 26, 1859.]

MARY E. BLAKE (MARIE).

It is but a few days since the Church has celebrated the triumph of hersaints, rejoicing in the eternal felicity of that innumerable throngwhom she has given to the celestial Sion. She invites us to share herjoy. She bids us look up from the rugged pathway of our thorn-strewnpilgrimage to that blissful abode which is to be the term and thereward of all our trials. Yet, like a true mother, she cannot forgetthat portion of her family who are sighing for their deliverance, inthat region of pain to which they are consigned by eternal justice. Onone day she sings with radiant brow and tones of jubilee her SursumCorda; on the next, she kneels a suppliant, chanting with upliftedhands and tearful eyes her Requiem Æternam; and we, thecompanions of her exile, shall we not sympathize with every emotion ofthe heart of our tender Mother?

Among the pious customs which owe their existence to the fertile spiritof Catholic devotion is that which dedicates the month of November tothe Suffering Souls in Purgatory. It would seem as though the annualcircle of commemorative devotion were incomplete without this crowningfulfilment of charity.

Some years since, I met with a graphic description of a spectacle inthe Catholic Cemetery of New Orleans. It was the 2d of November, whenthe friends and relatives of the dead came to scatter emblematicwreaths and sweet-scented flowers on their graves. This custom wasobserved by the French Catholics and their descendants; and the writer,although a Protestant, was deeply impressed with its beauty andsignificance. He asked why, among Americans, there was so little ofthis eloquent affection for the dead. He might have found an answer inthe fact that the principle of faith was wanting—of that vivid andactive faith which seeks and finds by such means its outwardmanifestation.

We, also, are the children of the Saints. We have inherited from themthe same faith in all its integrity, and how does our practicecorrespond with it? What are we doing for that army of holy captiveswho cannot leave their prison till the uttermost farthing be paid? Letus not imitate those tepid Christians who are satisfied with erectingcostly monuments, and observing, with scrupulous exactness, the usualperiod of "mourning," while the poor souls are left to pine forgotten,if they have gone with some-lingering stains—some earthly tarnish ontheir nuptial garment. Ah! there is so much that might be done if wewould only reflect, and let our hearts be softened by the intenseeloquence of their mute appeal….

These are a few of the thoughts suggested by the late solemnity, andperhaps they cannot be concluded more appropriately than by introducingthe following poem, found in an old magazine. If the theme besufficient to inspire thus one who had but faint glimmerings of divinetruth, what should be expected of us, who rejoice in the fullness ofthat light? I twine, then, this flower of the desert with the leaves Ihave gathered, and offer my humble wreath as a tribute of faith andaffection on the altar dedicated to the dear departed.

November, 1859.

LITANY OP THE DEPARTED.

It is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.—
II. Mach. xii. 26.

For the spirits who have fled
From the earth which once they trod;
For the loved and faithful dead,
We beseech the living God!
Oh! receive and love them!
By the grave where Thou wert lying,
By the anguish of Thy dying,
Spread Thy wings above them;
Grant Thy pardon unto them,
Dona eis requiem!

Long they suffered here below,
Outward fightings, inward fears;
Ate the cheerless bread of woe,—
Drank the bitter wine of tears:—
Now receive and love them!
By Thy holy Saints' departures,
By the witness of Thy martyrs,
Spread Thy wings above them.
On the souls in gloom who sit,
Lux eterna luceat!

Lord, remember that they wept,
When Thy children would divide;
Lord, remember that they slept
On the bosom of Thy Bride;
And receive and love them!
By the tears Thou couldst not smother;
By the love of Thy dear Mother,
Spread Thy wings above them.
To their souls, in bliss with Thee,
Dona pacem, Domini!

Grant our prayers, and bid them pray,
O thou Flower of Jesse's stem;
Lend a gracious ear when they,
Plead for us, as we for them.
Deus Angelorum,
Dona eis requiem,
Et beatitudinem.
Cordibus eorum
Jesu, qui salutam das
Micat lumen animas!

—Acolytus.

ALL SOULS' DAY [1]

[Footnote 1: New York Tablet, Nov. 12, 1864.]

MRS. J. SADLIER.

Nothing in the whole grand scheme of Religion is more beautiful thanthe tender care of the Church over her departed children. Not contentwith providing for their spiritual wants during their lives, andsending them into eternity armed with and strengthened by the lastsolemn Sacraments, blessing their departure from, as she blessed theirentrance into, this world, her maternal solicitude follows them beyondthe grave, and penetrates to the dreary prison in the Middle Statewhere, happily, they may be, as the Apostle says, "cleansed so as byfire." With the tender compassion of a fond mother, the Church,our mother, yearns over the sufferings of her children, all thedearer to her because they suffer in the Lord, and by His holy will.

By every means within her power she aids these blessed souls who are atonce so near Heaven, and so far from it; by solemn prayers, bysacrifice, by continual remembrance of them in all her good works, shegives them help and comfort herself, while encouraging the faithful toimitate her example in that respect by numerous and great Indulgences,and by the crown of eternal blessedness she holds out to those whoperform faithfully and in her own proper spirit this Seventh SpiritualWork of Mercy—"to pray for the living and the dead." In everyMass that is said the long year round on each of her myriad altars, asolemn commemoration is made for the Dead immediately after theElevation of the Sacred Host, the great Atoning Sacrifice of the NewLaw; in all the other public offices of the Church, "the faithfuldeparted" are tenderly remembered, and, to crown the efforts of hermaternal charity, the second day of November of every year is set apartfor the solemn remembrance of these her most beloved and most afflictedchildren, for whose benefit and relief all the Masses of that daythroughout the whole Catholic world are specially offered up. Nay, morethan that, the entire month of November is devoted to the Souls inPurgatory, and the good works and pious prayers of all the holycommunities who spend their lives in commune with God are offered upwith that benign intention during the month.

In Catholic countries, the faithful are touchingly reminded of this sadthough pleasing duty to their departed brethren, by the tolling of theseveral convent and church bells at eight o'clock in the evening, atwhich time the different communities unite in reciting the solemn DeProfundis, and other prayers for the dead. Solemn and sonorous wehave heard that passing-bell, year after year, booming through thedarkness and storm of the November night in a northern land [1] wherethe pious customs of the best ages of France, transplanted over twocenturies ago, flourish still in their pristine beauty and touchingfervor.

[Footnote 1: Eastern, or French Canada, now known as the Province of
Quebec]

But, though all Catholics may not hear the De Profundis bell ofNovember nights, nor all households kneel at evening hour to join inspirit with the pious communities who are praying then for the faithfuldeparted, yet all Catholics know when, on the first of November, theycelebrate the great and joyous festival of All Saints, that the nextday will bring the mournful solemnity of All Souls, when the altars ofthe Church will be draped with black, and her ministers robed in thesame sombre garb, whilst offering the "Clean Oblation" of the New Lawfor the souls who are yet in a state of purgation in the other life.

To the deep heart of Catholic piety nothing can be more sensiblytouching than "the black Mass" of All Souls' Day. If the feast be notcelebrated by the laity as it so faithfully is by the Church, itcertainly ought to be, if the spirit of the faith be still amongstthem. The funereal solemnity of the occasion touches the deepest,holiest sympathies in every true Catholic heart, reminding each oftheir loved and lost, and filling their souls with the soothing hopethat the Great Sacrifice then offered up for all the departed childrenof the Church may release one or more of their nearest and dearest fromthe cleansing fires of Purgatory. Then, while the funeral dirge fillsthe sacred edifice, and the mournful Dies Iræ thrills the heartsof all, each one thinks of his own departed ones, and recalls withindescribable sadness other just such celebrations in the years longpast, when those for whom they now invoke the mercy of Heaven werestill amongst the living. Then comes, too, the solemn thought thatsome, perhaps many, of those then present in life and health may benumbered with the dead before All Souls' Day comes round again, and avoice from the depths of the Christian heart asks, "May not I, too, bethen with the dead?"

When noting with surprise and regret how many Catholics neglect thecelebration of All Souls' Day, we have often endeavored to account forsuch strange apathy. Surely, if the charity of the Church do notinspire them—if they do not feel, with the valiant Macchabeus of old,that "it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the Dead thatthey may be loosed from their sins"—if natural affection, even, do notmove them to think of the probable sufferings of their own near anddear—sufferings which they may have it in their power to alleviate—atleast, a motive of self-interest ought to make them reflect that whenthey themselves are with the dead, retributive justice may leave themforgotten by their own flesh and blood, as they forget others now. Butto those who do faithfully unite with the Church in her solemncommemoration of the faithful departed on All Souls' Day, nothing canbe more soothing to the deep heart of human sadness, as nothing is moreimposing, or more strikingly illustrative of that Catholic charity,that all-embracing charity which has its life and fountain within theChurch.

CEMETERIES.

THE respect due to cemeteries is too closely connected with thedoctrine of Purgatory for us to omit observing here that those asylumsof the dead, being the objects of pious reverence, even amongstinfidels, ought to be still more so amongst us. It was in thisconnection that Mgr. Pelletan, Arch-priest of the Cathedral of Algiers,wrote thus on the 13th of March, 1843:

"Here in Algiers, do we not see, every Friday, the Mussulman Arab,wandering pensively through his cemetery, placing on some venerated andbeloved grave bouquets of flowers, branches of boxwood; wrapped in hisbornouse, he sits for hours beside it, motionless and thoughtful; lostin gentle melancholy, it would seem as though he were holding intimateand mysterious converse with the dear departed one whose loss hedeplores….

"But for us, Christians, nourished, enlightened by the truth of God,what special homage, what profound reverence we should manifest towardsthe remains of our fathers, our brethren who died in the same faith!Oh, let us remember the first faithful—the martyrs—the catacombs! Thecemetery is for us the land where grows invisibly the harvest of theelect; it is the sleeping world of intelligence; sheltered are itspeaceful slumbers in the bosom of nature ever young, ever fruitful; thecrowd of the dead pressed together beneath those crosses, under thosescattered flowers, is the crowd that will one day rise to takepossession of the infinite future, from which it is only separated bysome sods of turf.

"Hence how lively, how motherly has ever been the solicitude of theChurch in this respect! She wishes that the ground wherein repose theremains of her children be blessed and consecrated ground; she purifiesit with hyssop and holy water; she calls down upon it by her humblesupplications, the benediction of Him who disposes according to Hiswill of things visible and invisible, of souls and of bodies; shewishes that the cross should rise in its midst, that her children mayrest in peace in its shade while awaiting the grand awaking; even as atemple and a sanctuary, she banishes from it games, noise of all kinds,and even all that savors of levity or irreverence."—Dictionnaired'Anecdotes Chrétiens, p. 993.

OPINIONS OF VARIOUS PROTESTANTS.

Some say, like Lessing in his "Treatise on Theology," "What hinders usfrom admitting a Purgatory? as if the great majority of Christians hadnot really adopted it. No, this intermediate state being taught andrecognized by the ancient Church, notwithstanding the scandalous abusesto which it gave rise, should not be absolutely rejected."

Others, with Dr. Forbes (controv. pontif. princip., anno 1658):"Prayer for the dead, MADE USE OF FROM THE TIMES OF THE APOSTLES,cannot be rejected as useless by Protestants. They should respect thejudgment of the primitive Church, and adopt a practice sanctioned bythe continuous belief of so many ages. We repeat that prayer for thedead is a salutary practice."

Several others, rising to our point of view, drawing their inspirationfrom the sources of Catholic charity, tell you, with the theologianCollier (Part II. p. 100): "Prayer for the dead revives the belief inthe immortality of the soul, withdraws the dark veil which covers thetomb, and establishes relations between this world and the other. Hadit been preserved, we should probably not have had amongst us so muchincredulity. I cannot conceive why our Church, which is so remote fromthe primitive times of Christianity, should have abandoned or disdaineda custom that had never been interrupted; which, on the contrary, as wehave reason to believe from Scripture, existed in ancient times; whichwas practiced in the Apostolic age, in the time of miracles andrevelations; introduced amongst the articles of faith, and neverrejected, except by Arius."

"It was evidently in use in the Church in the time of St. Augustine,and down to the sixteenth century. If we do nothing for our dead, if weomit to occupy ourselves with them and pray for them, as was formerlydone in the Holy Supper, we break off all intercourse with the Saints;and then, how could we dare to say that we remain in communion with theblessed? And if we break off in this way from the most noble part ofthe universal Church, may it not be said that we mutilate our beliefand reject one of the articles of the Christian faith?"

"Yes," says the German Sheldon, in his turn, "prayer for the dead isone of the most ancient and most efficacious practices of the Christianreligion."

You have just heard the sound of some bells; listen again and you shallhear something different.

You think, then, that there are Protestants who admit Purgatory andothers who deny it? You are mistaken! There are some who at once admitand do not admit it. This is difficult to comprehend, but it is so,nevertheless, and this is how they take it:

On the one side, they will have nothing but hell, pure and simple; thisis the Catholic side; but on the other is the philosophic side, theeternity of horrible pains is something too hard; and then, why not ahell that will end a little sooner, or a little later? For, in fine,there are small criminals and great criminals. So that their temporaryhell—that is to say, having an end—being, after all, nothing morethan one Purgatory, it follows that, having broken with us because theydid not want Purgatory, they broke off again because they wantedPurgatory only.—Dictionnaire d'Anecdotes, 998-9.

Mr. Thorndike, a Protestant theologian, says: "The practice of theChurch of interceding for the dead at the celebration of the Eucharist,is so general and so ancient, that it cannot be thought to have come inupon imposture, but that the same aspersion will seem to take hold ofthe common Christianity."

The Protestant translators of Du Pin observe, that St. Chrysostom, inhis thirty-eighth homily on the Philippians, says, that to pray for thefaithful departed in the tremendous mysteries, was decreed by theApostles.

The learned Protestant divine, Dr. Jeremy Taylor, writes thus: "We findby the history of the Machabees, that the Jews did pray and makeofferings for the dead, which appears by other testimonies, and bytheir form of prayer still extant, which they used in the captivity.Now, it is very considerable, that since our Blessed Saviour didreprove all the evil doctrines and traditions of the Scribes andPharisees, and did argue concerning the dead and the resurrection, yetHe spake no word against this public practice, but left it as He foundit; which He who came to declare to us all the will of His Father wouldnot have done, if it had not been innocent, pious, and full of charity.The practice of it was at first, and was universal: it being plain bothin Tertullian and St. Cyprian, and others."

"Clement," says Bishop Kaye, "distinguishes between sins committedbefore and after baptism: the former are remitted at baptism, thelatter are purged by discipline…. The necessity of this purifyingdiscipline is such, that if it does not take place in this life, itmust after death, and is then to be effected by fire, not by adestructive, but a discriminating fire, pervading the soul which passesthrough it."—Clem., ch. xii.

SOME THOUGHTS FOR NOVEMBER.

I stood upon an unknown shore,
A deep, dark ocean, rolled beside;
Dear, loving ones were wafted o'er
That silent and mysterious tide.

To most persons, the idea of Purgatory is simply one of pain; they tryto avoid thinking about it, because the subject is unpleasant, andpeople's thoughts do not naturally revert to painful subjects; theyfeel that it is a place to which they must go at least, if they escapeworse; they must suffer, they cannot help it, and so the less theythink about it beforehand, the better. Purgatory and suffering are tothem synonymous terms; perhaps fear keeps them from some sins which,without this salutary apprehension, they would readily fall into; but,on the whole, they take their chance, and hope for the best. This,perhaps, is the view of a large class of people, and of those who willscarcely own to themselves what they think on the subject; but theirlives are the tell-tales, and we cannot but fear that to escape hell isthe utmost effort of many who apparently are good Catholics. Still, wewould not say that they do not love God, that they are not in many wayspleasing to Him; but, oh! how many there are who only want a littlemore generosity to become Saints! Then, there is another class, furtheron in their heavenward journey—souls who do love God, who do seek onlyto please Him, who are generous, often even noble-hearted, in theirMaster's service; souls who can say, "Our Father," and look up withchild-like love to Heaven; but even with such, and perhaps with almostall, the feeling about Purgatory is much the same; it is a sort ofnecessary evil; a something that must be endured. They feel stronglyall that justice demands; their very sanctity and goodness lead them todesire that that which is evil in them should be taken out, even byfire; but still there are few that do really see the deep, deep love ofPurgatory. We are very far from wishing to hinder people from thinkingless of its sufferings—nay, rather their very intenseness and severityonly pleads our case more strongly. All that has been revealed to theSaints, all that has been made known to us by the Church or tradition,proclaims the same fact. Suffering, intense, unearthly anguish, is theportion of those most blessed souls; and it has been said that thepains of Purgatory only differ in duration from those of hell. Still,there is this difference—oh! blessed be God, there is this difference,and it is all we could ask: in hell, the damned blaspheme their Masterwith the demons that torment them; in Purgatory, the holy souls lovetheir God with the angelic choirs who await their entrance to the landof bliss. If the souls of the damned could love, hell would cease to behell; if the souls of the blessed ones in prison could cease to love,Purgatory would be worse to them than a thousand such hells.

* * * * *

Yes; Purgatory is love, and if it be true that the love of God extendseven to hell, because its torments might be worse, did not His infinitemercy temper His infinite justice, how much more truly may this be saidof Purgatory! We have no wish to enter into any detailed account ofwhat the pains of Purgatory are supposed to be; this is a subject forthe pen of the theologian, or the raptures of the Saint. Awful andterrible we know they are. But there is one suffering which we wish tospeak of, because we cannot but hope, if people reflected upon itseriously, that they would learn to think of Purgatory less as anecessary evil, and more as a most tender mercy, and be more inclinedto enter into a hearty co-operation with those who are anxious to helpthe poor souls in this awful prison.

Surely, the one object of our whole lives is, not so much to get toHeaven because we shall be happy there, as to see Jesus forever andforever, to be near Him, to gaze on Him, and to love Him without fear;for then love will be fearless, because suffering and sin will haveceased.

And what will happen when we die? Oh! if we were sent to Purgatorywithout seeing Jesus, we might bear it better. There have been souls onearth privileged to suffer for months the pains of the holy souls, andthey have lived and borne the pain, and longed, if it were possible,even for more; but they had not seen Jesus as we shall see Him at themoment of our death. The very thought makes us shudder and our life-blood run cold. What if we should indeed be saved, we who have sotrembled and feared, and known not whether we were worthy of love orhatred? What if we should behold the face of Divinest Majesty gaze uponus even for one moment in tenderness? And yet, unless we see it inunutterable wrath, this will be. But what then? Shall we see itforever? Shall our eyes gaze on and on, and feast themselves on thatsight for all eternity? … Ah! not yet; we must lose sight of thatvision of delight; it must be withdrawn from us—not, thank God, inanger, but in sorrow. Oh! what are the pains of Purgatory, what theburning of its fire, in comparison with the suffering which the soulendures when separated, even for a moment, from her God? Who can tell,who can understand, who can even faintly guess, what will be theanguish of longing which shall consume our very being? But why mustthis be? Why does love, infinite, tender love, inflict such intensepain? Why does the parent turn away from his child, and forbid him hispresence for a time? Is it that he loves him less than when he lavishedon him the tenderest caresses? … Why, but because suffering is neededas an atonement to justice, because love cannot be perfected withoutfear. "It is here tried and purified, but hath in Heaven its perfectrest." Oh! the love of Purgatory! we shall never know it, or understandit, until we are there. Yes, we cannot but think that the greatest, thekeenest suffering of the soul will be the remembrance of that which ithas seen for a passing moment, and the pining to behold again andforever the face of God. It has been revealed to Saints that so intenseis this desire, that the soul would gladly place itself even in themost fearful tortures, could it thus become more quickly purged fromthat which withholds it from the presence of God. Did we but wellconsider, and enter into this feeling, we should be much more carefulabout our imperfections and our venial sins.

* * * * *

The Saints have ever desired suffering, and consider it as the greatestfavor which could be bestowed upon them; not that it is in itselfdesirable, but because it perfects love. Let us, then, we who are notSaints, think of Purgatory with more affection; let us rejoice that, ifwe are not privileged to have keen, unearthly anguish in this life, weshall yet suffer, and suffer intensely, in the next. Our love will bepurified; our dross be purged away; the weary pain which we feelcontinually when we think how vile we are in the sight of God, how theeye of Jesus, with all its tenderness, must often turn from us insorrow—the weary pain, the deep degradation of misery and sin, willone day cease; we shall not tremble under our Father's eye, or long tohide ourselves from our Father's countenance. Now we must often feel,when trying with our whole hearts to please God, how impure, howsullied we are before Him. Our pride, our vanity, our impatience, ourself-love, are all there. God sees them; how can He, then, look on usas we desire He should? And often we almost long to be in those purgingflames, even should it be for years and years, that this vileness mightbe burned away.

PART V.

LEGENDARY AND POETICAL.

Well beseems
That we should help them wash away the stains
They carried hence; that so, made pure and light,
They may spring upward to the starry spheres.
Ah! so may mercy tempered justice rid
Your burdens speedily; that ye have power
To stretch your wing, which e'en to your desire
Shall lift you.

—DANTE.

LEGENDARY AND POETICAL.

DIES IRÆ.

The day of wrath, that dreadful day
Shall the whole world in ashes lay,
As David and Sybils say.

What horror will invade the mind,
When the strict Judge, who would be kind,
Shall have few venial faults to find!

The last loud trumpet's wondrous sound
Must thro' the rending tombs rebound,
And wake the nations underground.

Nature and death shall with surprise
Behold the pale offender rise,
And view the Judge with conscious eyes.

Then shall with universal dread,
The sacred mystic book be read,
To try the living and the dead.

The Judge ascends His awful throne,
He makes each secret sin be known,
And all with shame confess their own.

O then! what int'rest shall I make,
To save my last important stake,
When the most just have cause to quake!

Thou mighty formidable King!
Thou mercy's unexhausted spring!
Some comfortable pity bring.
Forget not what my ransom cost,
Nor let my dear-bought soul be lost,
In storms of guilty terror tost.

Thou, who for me didst feel such pain,
Whose precious blood the cross did stain,
Let not those agonies be vain.

Thou whom avenging powers obey,
Cancel my debt (too great to pay)
Before the said accounting day.

Surrounded with amazing fears,
Whose load my soul with anguish hears,
I sigh, I weep, accept my tears.

Thou, who wast mov'd with Mary's grief,
And by absolving of the thief,
Hast given me hope, now give relief.

Reject not my unworthy prayer,
Preserve me from the dangerous snare,

Which death and gaping hell prepare.

Give my exalted soul a place
Among the chosen right hand race,
The sons of God, and heirs of grace.

From that insatiate abyss,
Where flames devour and serpents hiss,
Promote me to Thy seat of bliss.

Prostrate, my contrite heart I rend,
My God, my Father, and my Friend:
Do not forsake me in my end.

Well may they curse their second birth,
Who rise to a surviving death.
Thou great Creator of mankind,
Let guilty man compassion find.—Amen.

AUTHORSHIP OF THE DIES IRÆ.

O'BRIEN. [1]

[Footnote 1: Rev. John O'Brien, A.M., Prof. of Sacred Liturgy in Mount
St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, Md.]

The authorship of the "Dies Iræ" seems the most difficult to settle.This much, however, is certain: that he who has the strongest claims toit is Latino Orsini, generally styled Frangipani, whom hismaternal uncle, Pope Nicholas III. (Gætano Orsini), raised to thecardinalate in 1278. He was more generally known by the name ofCardinal Malabranca, and was, at first, a member of the Order of St.Dominic. (See Dublin Review, Vol. XX., 1846; Gavantus, Thesaur.Sacr. Rit., p. 490.)

As this sacred hymn is conceded to be one of the grandest that has everbeen written, it is but natural to expect that the number of authorsclaiming it would be very large. Some even have attributed it to PopeGregory the Great, who lived as far back as the year 604. St. Bernard,too, is mentioned in connection with it, and so are several others; butas it is hardly necessary to mention all, we shall only say that, afterCardinal Orsini, the claims to it on the part of Thomas de Celano, ofthe Order of Franciscans Minor, are the greatest. There is very littlereason for attributing it to Father Humbert, the fifth general of theDominicans in 1273; and hardly any at all for accrediting it toAugustinus de Biella, of the Order of Augustinian Eremites. A verywidely circulated opinion is that the "Dies Iræ," as it now stands, isbut an improved form of a Sequence which was long in use before the ageof any of those authors whom we have cited. Gavantus gives us, at page490 of his "Thesaurus of Sacred Rites," a few stanzas of this ancientsequence. [1]

[Footnote 1: We subjoin this Latin stanza: Cum recordor moriturus,
Quid post mortem sum futurus
Terror terret me venturus,
Queru expecto non securus.]

* * * * *

To repeat what learned critics of every denomination under heaven havesaid in praise of this marvellous hymn, would indeed be a difficulttask. One of its greatest encomiums is, that there is hardly a languagein Europe into which it has not been translated; it has even found itsway into Greek and Hebrew—into the former, through an Englishmissionary of Syria, named Hildner; and into the latter, by Splieth, acelebrated Orientalist. Mozart avowed his extreme admiration of it, andso did Dr. Johnson, Sir Walter Scott, and Jeremy Taylor, besides hostsof others. The encomium passed upon it by Schaff is thus given in hisown words: "This marvellous hymn is the acknowledged master-piece ofLatin poetry and the most sublime of all uninspired hymns. The secretof its irresistible power lies in the awful grandeur of the theme, theintense earnestness and pathos of the poet, the simple majesty andsolemn music of its language, the stately metre, the triple rhyme, andthe vocal assonances, chosen in striking adaptation—all combining toproduce an overwhelming effect, as if we heard the final crash of theuniverse, the commotion of the opening graves, the trumpet of thearchangel summoning the quick and the dead, and saw the King 'oftremendous majesty' seated on the throne of justice and mercy, andready to dispense everlasting life, or everlasting woe." (See "LatinHymns," Vol. I. p. 392, by Prof. March, of Lafayette College, Pa.)

The music of this hymn formed a chief part in the fame of Mozart; andit is said, and not without reason, that it contributed in no smalldegree to hasten his death, for so excited did he become over its awe-enkindling sentiments while writing his celebrated "Mass of Requiem,"that a sort of minor paralysis seized his whole frame, so

Terret dies me terroris,
Dies irae, ac furoris,
Dies luctus, ac moeroris,
Dies ultrix peccatoris,
Dies irae, dies illa, etc, etc.

that he was heard to say: "I am certain that I am writing this Requiemfor myself. It will be my funeral service." He never lived to finish*t; the credit of having done so belongs to Sussmayer, a man of greatmusical attainments, and a most intimate friend of the Mozart family.—Dublin Review, Vol. I., May, 1836.

The allusion to the sibyl in the third line of the first stanza, "TesteDavid cum Sybilla," [1] has given rise to a good deal of anxiousinquiry; and so very strange did it sound to French ears at itsintroduction into the sacred hymnology of the Church, that the Parisianrituals substituted in its place the line, Crucis expandensvexilla. The difficulty is, however, easily overcome if we bear inmind that many of the early Fathers held that Almighty God made use ofthese sibyls to promulgate His truths in just the same way as He did ofBalaam of old, and many others like him. The great St. Augustine haswritten much on this subject in his "City of God;" and the reader mayform some idea of the estimation in which these sibyls were held, whenhe is told that the world-renowned Michael Angelo made them the subjectof one of his greatest paintings…. In the opinions of the ablestcritics it was the Erythrean sibyl who uttered the celebratedprediction about the advent of our Divine Lord and His final coming atthe last day to judge the living and the dead…. The part of thesibyl's response which referred particularly to the Day of Judgment waswritten (as an acrostic) on the letters of Soter, or Saviour. It isgiven as follows in the translation of the "City of God" of St.Augustine:

[Footnote 1: As David and Sibyls say.]

"Sounding, the archangel's trumpet shall peal down from heaven,
Over the wicked who groan in their guilt and their manifold sorrows,
Trembling, the earth shall be opened, revealing chaos and hell.
Every king before God shall stand on that day to be judged;
Rivers of fire and of brimstone shall fall from the heavens."

DANTE'S "PURGATORIO."

The bright sun was risen
More than two hours aloft; and to the sea
My looks were turned. "Fear not," my master cried.
"Assured we are at happy point. Thy strength
Shrink not, but rise dilated. Thou art come
To Purgatory now. Lo! there the cliff
That circling bounds it. Lo! the entrance there,
Where it doth seem disparted."…

Reader! thou markest how my theme doth rise;
Nor wonder, therefore, if more artfully
I prop the structure. Nearer now we drew,
Arrived whence, in that part where first a breach
As of a wall appeared. I could descry
A portal, and three steps beneath, that led
For inlet there, of different color each;
And one who watched, but spake not yet a word,
As more and more mine eye did stretch its view,
I marked him seated on the highest step,
In visage such as past my power to bear.
Grasped in his hand, a naked sword glanced back
The rays so towards me, that I oft in vain
My sight directed. "Speak from whence ye stand,"
He cried; "What would ye? Where is your escort?
Take heed your coming upward harm ye not."

"A heavenly dame, not skilless of these things,"
Replied the instructor, "told us, even now,
'Pass that way, here the gate is.'" "And may she,
Befriending, prosper your ascent," resumed
The courteous keeper of the gate. "Come, then,
Before our steps." We straightway thither came.

The lowest stair was marble white, so smooth
And polished, that therein my mirrored form
Distinct I saw. The next of hue more dark
Than sablest grain, a rough and singed block
Cracked lengthwise and across. The third, that lay
Massy above, seemed porphyry, that flamed
Red as the life-blood spouting from a vein.
On this God's Angel either foot sustained,
Upon the threshold seated, which appeared
A rock of diamond. Up the trinal steps
My leader cheerily drew me. "Ask," said he,
"With humble heart, that he unbar the bolt."
Piously at his holy feet devolved
I cast me, praying him, for pity's sake,
That he would open to me; but first fell
Thrice on my bosom prostrate. Seven times
The letter that denotes the inward stain,
He, on my forehead, with the blunted point
Of his drawn sword, inscribed. And "Look," he cried,
"When entered, that thou wash these scars away."
Ashes, or earth ta'en dry out of the ground,
Were of one color with the robe he wore.
From underneath that vestment forth he drew
Two keys, of metal twain; the one was gold,
Its fellow, silver. With the pallid first,
And next the burnished, he so plyed the gate,
As to content me well. "Whenever one
Faileth of these that in the key-hole straight
It turn not, to this alley then expect
Access in vain." Such were the words he spake.
"One is more precious, but the other needs
Skill and sagacity, large share of each,
Ere its good task to disengage the knot
Be worthily performed. From Peter these
I hold, of him instructed that I err
Rather in opening, than in keeping fast;
So but the suppliant at my feet implore."

Then of that hallowed gate he thrust the door.
Exclaiming, "Enter, but this warning hear:
He forth again departs who looks behind."

As in the hinges of that sacred ward
The swivels turned, sonorous metal strong.
Harsh was the grating; nor so surlily
Rocked the Tarpeian when by force bereft
Of good Metellus, thenceforth from his loss
To leanness doomed. Attentively I turned,
Listening the thunder that first issued forth;
And "We praise Thee, O God," methought I heard,
In accents blended with sweet melody.
The strains came o'er mine ear, e'en as the sound
Of choral voices, that in solemn chant
With organ mingle, and, now high and clear
Come swelling, now float indistinct away.—Canto IX.

* * * * *

Hell's dunnest gloom, or night unlustrous, dark,
Of every planet reft, and palled in clouds,
Did never spread before the sight a veil
In thickness like that fog, nor to the sense
So palpable and gross. Entering its shade,
Mine eye endured not with unclosed lids;
Which marking, near me drew the faithful guide,
Offering me his shoulder for a stay.

As the blind man behind his leader walks,
Lest he should err, or stumble unawares
On what might harm him, or perhaps destroy;
I journeyed through that bitter air and foul,
Still listening to my escort's warning voice,

"Look that from me thou part not." Straight I heard
Voices, and each one seemed to pray for peace,
And for compassion to the Lamb of God
That taketh sins away. The prelude still
Was "Agnus Dei;" and, through all the choir,
One voice, one measure ran, that perfect seemed
The concord of their song. "Are these I hear
Spirits, O Master?" I exclaimed; and he,
"Thou aim'st aright: these loose the bonds of wrath."—Canto
XVI.

* * * * *

Forthwith from every side a shout arose
So vehement, that suddenly my guide
Drew near, and cried: "Doubt not, while I conduct thee."
"Glory!" all shouted (such the sounds mine ear
Gathered from those who near me swelled the sounds),
"Glory in the highest be to God!" We stood
Immovably suspended, like to those,
The shepherds, who first heard in Bethlehem's field
That song: till ceased the trembling, and the song
Was ended: then our hallowed path resumed,
Eyeing the prostrate shadows, who renewed
Their customed mourning. Never in my breast
Did ignorance so struggle with desire
Of knowledge, if my memory do not err,
As in that moment; nor, through haste, dared I
To question, nor myself could aught discern.
So on I fared, in thoughtfulness and dread.—Canto XX.

* * * * *

Now the last flexure of our way we reached;
And, to the right hand turning, other care
Awaits us. Here the rocky precipice
Hurls forth redundant flames; and from the rim
A blast up-blown, with forcible rebuff
Driveth them back, sequestered from its bound.

Behooved us, one by one, along the side,
That bordered on the void, to pass; and I
Feared on one hand the fire, on the other feared
Headlong to fall: when thus the instructor warned:
"Strict rein must in this place direct the eyes.
A little swerving and the way is lost."

Then from the bosom of the burning mass,
"O God of mercy!" heard I sung, and felt
No less desire to turn. And when I saw
Spirits along the flame proceeding, I
Between their footsteps and mine own was fain
To share by turns my view. At the hymn's close
They shouted loud, "I do not know a man;" [1]
Then in low voice again took up the strain.-Canto XXV.

[Footnote 1: I do not know a man. St. Luke, i. 34.]

* * * * *

Now was the sun [1] so stationed, as when first
His early radiance quivers on the heights
Where streamed his Maker's blood; while Libra hangs
Above Hesperian Ebro; and new fires,
Meridian, flash on Ganges' yellow tide.
So day was sinking, when the Angel of God
Appeared before us. Joy was in his mien.
Forth of the flame he stood—upon the brink;
And with a voice, whose lively clearness far
Surpassed our human, "Blessed are the pure
In heart," he sang; then, near him as we came,
"Go ye not further, holy spirits," he cried,
"Ere the fire pierce you; enter in, and list
Attentive to the song ye hear from thence."
I, when I heard his saying, was as one
Laid in the grave. My hands together clasped,
And upward stretching, on the fire I looked,
And busy fancy conjured up the forms,
Erewhile beheld alive, consumed in flames.—Canto XXVII.

[Footnote 1: At Jerusalem it was dawn, in Spain midnight, and in Indianoonday, while it was sunset in Purgatory]

HAMLET AND THE GHOST.

SHAKESPEARE.

HAMLET. Where wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go no further.
GHOST. Mark me.
HAM. I will.
GHOST. My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
HAM. Alas! poor ghost!
GHOST. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.
HAM. Speak, I am bound to hear.
GHOST. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAM. What?
GHOST. I am thy father's spirit;
Doomed for a certain time to walk the night;
And, for the day, confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine;
But this eternal blason must not be
To ears of flesh and blood.

CALDERON'S "PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK."

In a work of this nature, it is essential to its purpose that thecompiler should take cognizance of the many legends, wild andextravagant as some of them are, which have been current at varioustimes and amongst various peoples, on the subject of Purgatory. Forthey have, indeed, a deep significance, proving how strong a hold thisbelief in a middle state of souls has taken on the popular mind. Theyare, in a certain sense, a part of Catholic tradition, and have to dowith what is called Catholic instinct. They prove that this dogma ofthe Church has found a home in the hearts of the people, and becomefamiliar to them, as the tales of childhood whispered around the winterhearth. If it appear now and then, in some such uncouth disguise, asthat which we, are about to present to our readers, we see,nevertheless, through it all the truth, or rather the fragments oftruth, such as is often found floating about through Europe on thebreath of tradition. The curious legend has been turned by Calderonfrom dross into precious gold. He presents it to us in his "Purgatoryof St. Patrick" with a beauty that divests it of much of its nativewildness. He presumably drew his materials for the drama from a work,"The Life and Purgatory of St. Patrick," published in Spain in 1627 byMontalvan, a Spanish dramatist. It was translated into French by aFranciscan priest and doctor of theology, François Bouillon; as alsointo Portuguese by Father Manuel Caldeira. When this work was issuedCalderon was wish the army in Flanders. He must have seen it, hisbrilliant imagination at once taking hold of it as the groundwork for asplendid effort of his genius.

We cite here an extract from an introduction by Denis Florence
MacCarthy to his translation of Calderon's "Purgatory of St. Patrick."
It will be of interest as following the thread of this weird legend:

The curious history of Ludovico Enio, on which the principal interestof this play depends, has been alluded to, and given more or less fullyby many ancient authors. The name, though slightly altered by thedifferent persons who have mentioned him, can easily be recognized asthe same in all, whether as Owen, Oien, Owain, Eogan, Euenius, orEnnius. Perhaps the earliest allusion to him in any printed Englishwork is that contained in 'Ranulph Hidgen's Polychronicon,' publishedat Westminster by Wynkin de Worde, in 1495: 'In this Steven's tyme, aknyght that hyght Owen wente into the Purgatory of the second Patrick,abbot, and not byshoppe. He came agayne and dwelled in the abbaye ofLudene of Whyte Monks in Irlonde, and tolde of joycs and of paynes thathe had seen.'

The history of Enio had, however, existed in manuscript for nearlythree centuries and a half before the Polychronicon was printed; it hadbeen written by Henry, the Monk of Salterey, in Huntingdonshire, fromthe account which he had received from Gilbert, a Cistercian monk ofthe Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Luden, or Louth, abovementioned. [1] Colgan, after collating this manuscript with two otherson the same subject, which he had seen, printed it nearly in full inhis "Trias." … Matthew Paris had, however, before this, in his"History of England," under date 1153, given a full account of theadventures of OEnus in the Purgatory. … Sir Walter Scott mentions, inhis "Border Minstrelsy," that there is a curious Metrical Romance inthe Advocates' Library of Edinburgh, called "The Legend of Sir Owain,"relating his adventures in St. Patrick's Purgatory; he gives somestanzas from it, descriptive of the knight's passage of "The Brig o'Dread;" which, in the legend, is placed between Purgatory and Paradise.This poem is supposed to have been written early in the fourteenthcentury.

[Footnote 1: Colgan's "Trias Thanmaturgæ," p. 281, Ware's "Annals of
Ireland," A.D. 1497.]

A second extract on the subject, taken from the Essay by Mr. Wright onthe "Purgatory of St. Patrick," published in London in 1844, givesstill further information with regard to it.

"The mode," he says, "in which this legend was made public is thus toldin the Latin narrative. Gervase (the founder and first Abbot of Louth,in Lincolnshire) sent his monk, Gilbert, to the king, then in Ireland,to obtain a grant to build a monastery there. Gilbert, on his arrival,complained to the king, Henry II., that he did not understand thelanguage of the country. The king said to him,' I will give you anexcellent interpreter,' and sent him the knight Owain, who remainedwith him during the time he was occupied in building the monastery, andrepeated to him frequently the story of his adventures in Purgatory.Gilbert and his companions subsequently returned to England, and therehe repeated the story, and some one said he thought it was all a dream,to which Gilbert answered: 'That there were some who believed thatthose who entered the Purgatory fell into a trance, and saw the visionin the spirit, but that the knight had denied this, and declared thatthe whole was seen and felt really in the body.' Both Gilbert, fromwhom Henry of Salterey received the story, and the bishop of thediocese, assured him that many perished in this Purgatory, and werenever heard of afterwards." It is clear from the allusion to it inCæsarius of Heisterbach, that already, at the beginning of thethirteenth century, St. Patrick's Purgatory had become famousthroughout Europe. 'If any one doubt of Purgatory,' says this writer,'let him go to Scotland (i. e., Ireland, to which this name wasanciently given), and enter the Purgatory of St. Patrick, and hisdoubts will be expelled.' This recommendation was frequently acted uponin that, and particularly in the following century, when pilgrims fromall parts of Europe, some of them men of rank and wealth, repairedthither. On the patent rolls in the Tower of London, under the year1358, we have an instance of testimonials given by the king, EdwardIII., on the same day, to two distinguished foreigners, one a nobleHungarian, the other a Lombard, Nicholas de Becariis, of their havingfaithfully performed this pilgrimage. And still later, in 1397, we findKing Richard II. granting a safe conduct to visit the same place toRaymond, Viscount of Perilhos, Knight of Rhodes, and Chamberlain of theKing of France, with twenty men and thirty horses. Raymond de Perilhos,on his return to his native country, wrote a narrative of what he hadseen, in the dialect of the Limousin (Lemosinalingna), of whicha Latin version was printed by O'Sullivan in his '_Historia CatholicaIbernica.' … This is a mere compilation from the story of 'Henry ofSalterey,' and begins, like that, with an account of the origin of thePurgatory. He represents himself as having been first a minister toCharles V. of France, and subsequently the intimate friend of John I.of Aragon, after whose death (in 1395) he was seized with the desire ofknowing how he was treated in the other world, and determined, like anew Æneas, to go into St. Patrick's Purgatory in search of him. He sawprecisely the same sights as the knight, Owain, but (as in Calderon)only twelve men came to him in the hall instead of fifteen, and in thefourth hall of punishments he saw King John of Aragon, and many othersof his friends and relations.

We will now select from the drama of "Calderon" a few characteristicpassages, to show how this subject was treated by the glowing pen andfervid fancy of the greatest of all the poets of Catholic Spain, whosepoetry, indeed, is deserving of more widespread appreciation than ithas yet received at the hands of the Catholic reading public. We willbegin with those lines in which Ludovico Enio, the hero of the tale,makes known his identity to King Egerio.

LUDOVICO. Listen, most beautiful divinity,
For thus begins the story of my life.
Great Egerio, King of Ireland, I

Am Ludovico Enio—a Christian also—
In this do Patrick and myself agree,
And differ, being Christians both,
And yet as opposite as good from evil.
But for the faith which I sincerely hold
(So greatly do I estimate its worth),
I would lay down a hundred thousand lives—
Bear witness, thou all-seeing Lord and God.

. . . . . . All crimes,
Theft, murder, treason, sacrilege, betrayal
Of dearest friends, all these I must relate.
For these are all my glory and my pride.
In one of Ireland's many islands I
Was born, and much do I suspect that all
The planets seven, in wild confusion strange,
Assisted at my most unhappy birth.

He proceeds with a catalogue of his crimes, most dark, indeed, andrelates how St. Patrick, who was present, had saved him from shipwreck.The King, however, who is a pagan, takes the Knight into his service,while he bids the Saint begone. Before they part Patrick asks of him afavor:

PATRICK. This one boon I ask—
LUDOVICO. What is it?
PATRICK. That, alive or dead, we meet
In this world once again.
LUDOVICO. Dost thou demand
So strange and dread a promise from me?
PATRICK. Yes.
LUDOVICO. I give it to thee then.
PATRICK. And I accept it.

What follows is from a conversation between Patrick and the King,wherein are explained many of the truths of faith, including theexistence of heaven and of hell. Thus the Saint:

PATRICK. There are more places
In the other world than those of
Everlasting pain and glory:
Learn, O King, that there's another,
Which is Purgatory; whither
Flies the soul that has departed
In a state of grace; but bearing
Still some stains of sin upon it:
For with these no soul can enter
God's pure kingdom—there it dwelleth
Till it purifies and burneth
All the dross from out its nature;
Then it flieth, pure and limpid,
Into God's divinest presence.

KING. So you say, but I have nothing,
Save your own words, to convince me;
Give me of the soul's existence
Some strong proof—some indication—
Something tangible and certain—
Which my hands may feel and grasp at.
And since you appear so powerful
With your God, you can implore him,
That to finish my conversion,
He may show some real being,
Not a mere ideal essence,
Which all men can touch; remember,
But one single hour remaineth
For this task: this day you give us
Certain proofs of pain or glory,
Or you die: where we are standing
Let your God display his wonders—
And since we, perhaps, may merit
Neither punishment nor glory,
Let the other place be shown us,
Which you say is Purgatory.

PATRICK then prays, concluding with the words:

"I ask, O Lord, may from Thy hand be given,
That Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven
May be revealed unto those mortals' sight."

An Angel then descends and speaks as follows:

ANGEL. Patrick, God has heard thy prayer,
He has listened to thy vows;
And as thou hast ask'd, allows
Earth's great secrets to lie bare.
Seek along this island ground
For a vast and darksome cave,
Which restrains the lake's dark wave,
And supports the mountains round;
He who dares to go therein,
Having first contritely told
All his faults, shall there behold

Where the soul is purged from sin.
He shall see with mortal eyes
Hell itself—where those who die
In their sins forever lie,
In the fire that never dies.
He shall see, in blest fruition,
Where the happy spirits dwell.
But of this be sure as well—
He who without true contrition
Enters there to idly try
What the cave may be, doth go
To his death—he'll suffer woe
While the Lord doth reign on high.
Who this day shall set you free
From this poor world's weariness;

He shall grant to you, in pity,
Bliss undreamed by mortal men—
Making thee a denizen
Of his own celestial city.
He shall to the world proclaim
His omnipotence and glory,
By the wondrous Purgatory,
Which shall bear thy sainted name.

Polonia, the King's daughter, whom Ludovico had married and deserted,having first tried to kill her, appears upon the scene just as theKing, Patrick, and some others, who have set out upon their quest forthe Purgatory, have reached a gloomy mountain and a deep cave. Poloniarelates the wonders and the terrors of the cavern through which she haspassed. Patrick then speaks as follows:

PATRICK. This cave, Egerio, which you see, concealeth
Many mysteries of life and death,
Not for him whose hardened bosom feeleth
Nought of true repentance or true faith.
But he who freely enters, who revealeth
All his sins with penitential breath,
Shall endure his Purgatory then,
And return forgiven back again.

Later in the drama we find Ludovico desiring

"To enter
Into Patrick's Purgatory;
Humbly and devoutly keeping
Thus the promise that I gave him."

Again, he says:

"I have faith and firm reliance
That you yet shall see me happy,
If in God's name blessed Patrick,

"Aid me in the Purgatory."

Having confessed his sins and made due preparation, he enters the cave.On his return hence, the Priest, or Canon as he is called, bids himrelate the wonders he has seen. He finds himself first "in thick andpitchy darkness," he hears horrid clangor, and falls down at lengthinto a hall of jasper, where he meets with twelve grave men, whoencourage him, and bid him keep up his courage amid the fearful sightshe is to behold later on. At length he reaches the Purgatory:

"I approached another quarter;
There it seemed that many spirits
I had known elsewhere, were gathered
Into one vast congregation,
Where, although 'twas plain they suffered,
Still they looked with joyous faces,
Wore a peaceable appearance,
Uttered no impatient accents,
But, with moistened eyes uplifted
Towards the heavens, appeared imploring
Pity, and their sins lamenting.
This, in truth, was Purgatory,
Where the sins that are more venial
Are purged out."

He then alludes to that Bridge or "Brig o' Dread," to which allusionwill be made in another portion of our volume. As this passage iscelebrated, it is well to give it in full:

LUDOVICO. To a river did they lead me,
Flowers of fire were on its margin,
Liquid sulphur was its current,
Many-headed hydras—serpents—
Monsters of the deep were in it;
It was very broad, and o'er it
Lay a bridge, so slight and narrow
That it seem'd a thin line only.
It appear'd so weak and fragile,
That the slightest weight would sink it.
"Here thy pathway lies," they told me,
"O'er this bridge so weak and narrow;
And, for thy still greater horror,
Look at those who've pass'd before thee."
Then I look'd, and saw the wretches
Who the passage were attempting
Fall amid the sulphurous current,
Where the snakes with teeth and talons
Tore them to a thousand pieces.
Notwithstanding all these horrors,
I, the name of God invoking,
Undertook the dreadful passage,
And, undaunted by the billows,
Or the winds that blew around me,
Reached the other side in safety.
Here within a wood I found me,
So delightful and so fertile,
That the past was all forgotten.
On my path rose stately cedars,
Laurels—all the trees of Eden.

After having described some of the glories of this abode of bliss, he
relates his meeting with "the resplendent, the most glorious, the great
Patrick, the Apostle"—and was thus enabled to keep his early promise.
The poem ends with the following somewhat confused list of authorities:

"For with this is now concluded
The historic legend told us
By Dionysius, the great Carthusian,
With Henricus Salteriensis,
Cæsarius Heisterbachensis,
Matthew Paris, and Ranulphus,
Monbrisius, Marolicus Siculus,
David Rothe, and the judicious
Primate over all Hibernia,
Bellarmino, Beda, Serpi,
Friar Dymas, Jacob Sotin,
Messingham, and in conclusion
The belief and pious feeling
Which have everywhere maintained it."

From Alban Butler's notes to "Lives of the Saints," Vol. I. p. 103, wesubjoin the following:

"St. Patrick's Purgatory is a cave on an island in the Lake Dearg(Lough Derg), in the County of Donegal, near the borders of Fermanagh.Bollandus shows the falsehood of many things related concerning it.Upon complaint of certain superstitious and false notions of thevulgar, in 1497, it was stopped up by an order of the Pope. SeeBollandus, 'Tillemont,' p. 287, Alemand in his 'Monastic Hist. ofIreland,' and Thiers, 'Hist. des. Superst.' I. 4 ed. Nov. It was soonafter opened again by the inhabitants; but only according to theoriginal institution, as Bollandus takes notice, as a penitentialretirement for those who voluntarily chose it, probably in imitation ofSt. Patrick, or other saints, who had there dedicated themselves to apenitential state. They usually spent several days here, living onbread and water, lying on rushes, praying and making stationsbarefoot."

THE BRIG O' DREAD.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

In connection with the extracts which we have given from the celebratedDrama of Calderon, the "Purgatory of St. Patrick," and in particular ofthat one which relates to the passage of Ludovico over the bridge whichleads from Purgatory to Paradise, it will be interesting to quote thefollowing from Sir Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border:"

"There is a sort of charm, sung by the lower ranks of Roman Catholics,in some parts of the north of England, while watching a dead bodyprevious to interment. The tone is doleful and monotonous, and, joinedto the mysterious import of the words, has a solemn effect. The wordsleet, in the chorus, seems to be corrupted from selt or salt; aquantity of which, in compliance with a popular superstition, isfrequently placed on the breast of a corpse. The mythologic ideas ofthe dirge are common to various creeds. The Mahometan believes that, inadvancing to the final judgment seat, he must traverse a bar of red-hotiron, stretched across a bottomless gulf. The good works of each truebeliever, assuming a substantial form, will then interpose between hisfeet and this 'Bridge of Dread;' but the wicked, having no suchprotection, fall headlong into the abyss." Passages similar to thisdirge are also to be found in "Lady Culross' Dream," as quoted in thesecond Dissertation, prefixed by Mr. Pinkerton to his select ScottishBallads, 2 vols. The dreamer journeys towards heaven, accompanied andassisted by a celestial guide:

"Through dreadful dens, which made my heart aghast,
He bore me up when I began to tire.
Sometimes we clamb o'er craggy mountains high,
And sometimes stay'd on ugly braes of sand.

"They were so stay that wonder was to see;
But when I fear'd, he held me by the hand.
Through great deserts we wandered on our way—
Forward we passed a narrow bridge of trie,
O'er waters great, which hideously did roar."

Again, she supposes herself suspended over an infernal gulf:

"Ere I was ware, one gripped me at the last,
And held me high above a flaming fire.
The fire was great, the heat did pierce me sore;
My faith grew-weak; my grip was very small.
I trembled fast; my faith grew more and more."

A horrible picture of the same kind, dictated probably by the author'sunhappy state of mind, is to be found in Brooke's "Fool of Quality."The Russian funeral service, without any allegorical imagery, expressesthe sentiment of the dirge in language alike simple and noble: "Hastthou pitied the afflicted, O man? In death shalt thou be pitied. Hastthou consoled the orphan? The orphan will deliver thee. Hast thouclothed the naked? The naked will procure thee protection."—Richardson's "Anecdotes of Russia."

But the most minute description of the Brig o' Dread occurs in thelegend of Sir Owain, No. XL. in the MS. collection of romances, W. 4.I, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. Sir Owain, a Northumbrian knight,after many frightful adventures in St. Patrick's Purgatory, at lastarrives at the bridge, which, in the legend, is placed betwixtPurgatory and Paradise:

"The fendes han the Knight ynome,
To a stink and water thai ben ycome,
He no seigh never er non swiche;
It stank fouler than ani hounde,
And mani mile it was to the grounde,
And was as swart as piche.

"And Owain seigh ther ouer ligge
A swithe, strong, naru brigge:
The fendes seyd tho;
Lo, Sir Knight, sestow this,
This is the brigge of Paradis,
Here ouer thou must go.

"And we the schul with stones prowe
And the winde the schul ouer blow,
And wirche the ful wo;
Thou no schalt for all this unduerd,
Bot gif thou falle a midwerd, To our fewes [1] mo.

[Footnote 1: Sir Walter Scott says probably a contraction of"fellows."]

"And when thou art adoun yfalle,
Than schal com our felawes alle,
And with her hokes the hede;
We schul the teche a newe playe:
Thou hast served ous mani a day,
And into helle the lede.

"Owain biheld the brigge smert,
The water ther under blek and swert,
And sore him gan to drede;
For of othing he tok yeme,
Never mot, in sonne beme,
Thicker than the fendes yede.

"The brigge was as heigh as a tower,
And as scharpe as a rasour,
And naru it was also;

"And the water that ther run under,
Brend o' lighting and of thonder,
That thocht him michel wo.

"Ther nis no clerk may write with ynke,
No no man no may bithink, No no maister deuine;
That is ymade forsoth ywis,
Under the brigge of paradis Halven del the pine.

"So the dominical ous telle,
Ther is the pure entrae of helle,
Seine Poule [1] verth witnesse;
Whoso falleth of the brigge adown,
Of him nis no redempcion, Neither more nor lesse.

[Footnote 1: St. Paul.]

"The fendes seyd to the Knight tho,
'Ouer this brigge might thou nowght go,
For noneskines nede;
Fie peril sorwe and wo,
And to that stede ther thou com fro,
Wel fair we schul the lede.'

"Owain anon began bithenche,
Fram hou mani of the fendes wrenche,
God him saved hadde;
He sett his fot opon the brigge,
No feld he no scharpe egge,
No nothing him no drad.

"When the fendes yseigh tho,
That he was more than half ygo,
Loude thai gun to crie:
Allas! Allas! that he was born!
This ich night we habe forlorn
Out of our baylie."—Minstrelsy of Scottish Border.

SHELLEY AND THE PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK.

It will be of interest to quote the following passage from one of
Shelley's best known works, "The Cenci," of which he himself says: "An
idea in this speech was suggested by a most sublime passage in 'El
Purgatorio de San Patricio,' of Calderon."

"But I remember, Two miles on this side of the fort, the road Crosses adeep ravine; 'tis rough and narrow, And winds with short turns down theprecipice; And in its depths there is a mighty rock Which has, fromunimaginable years, Sustained itself with terror and with toil Over thegulf, and with the agony With which it clings seems slowly coming down;Even as a wretched soul, hour after hour, Clings to the mass of life;yet clinging, leans; And leaning, makes more dark the dread abyss Inwhich it fears to fall; beneath this crag Huge as despair, as if inweariness, The melancholy mountain yawns."

ON A GREAT FUNERAL. [1]

[Footnote: The above lines apply with peculiar impressiveness to thefuneral of General Grant, so lately occupying public attention.]

AUBREY DE VERE.

No more than this? The chief of nations bears Her chief of sons to hislast resting-place; Through the still city, sad and slow of pace, Thesable pageant streams; and as it nears That dome, to-day a vaultfunereal, tears Run down the gray-hair'd veteran's wintry face; Deeporgans sob and flags their front abase; And the snapt wand the ritecomplete declares. Soul, that before thy Judge dost stand this day,Disrobed of strength and puissance, pomp and power; O soul! defraudedat thine extreme hour Of man's sole help from man, and latest stay,Swells there for thee no prayer from all that host, And is this burialbut a nation's boast?

"MORTE D'ARTHUR."

TENNYSON.

Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere,
"Ah! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go?
Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes?
For now I see the true old times are dead,
When every morning brought a noble chance,
And every chance brought out a noble knight.
Such times have been not since the light that led
The holy Elders with the gift of myrrh.
But now the whole Round Table is dissolved
Which was an image of the mighty world;
And I, the last, go forth companionless,
And the days darken round me, and the years,
Among new men, strange faces, other minds."

And slowly answered Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways.
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?
I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within Himself make pure! but thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.
Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
But now farewell!
I am going a long way
With these thou seest—if indeed I go
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)
To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow;
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound."

So said he, and the barge with oar and sail
Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan.
That, fluting a wild carol, ere her death,
Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood
With swarthy webs.
Long stood Sir Bedivere
Revolving many memories, till the hull
Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn,
And on the meer the wailing died away.

GUIDO AND HIS BROTHER.

COLLlN DE PLANCY.

The brother who forgets his brother is no longer a man, he is amonster.—Sr. John Chrysostom.

Peter the Venerable relates the story of a lord of his time, named Guyor Guido, who had lost his life in battle; this was very common in theMiddle Ages, when the nobles were beyond all else great warriors. Asthis Guido had not been able to make his last confession, he appearedfully armed, to a priest, some time after his death.

"Stephanus," said he (that was the name of the priest), "I pray thee goto my brother Anselm; thou shalt tell him that I conjure him to restorean ox which I took from a peasant," naming him; "and also to repair thedamage I did to a village which did not—belong to me, by wrongfullyimposing taxes thereupon. I was unable to confess, or to expiate thesetwo sins, for which I am grievously tormented. As an assurance of whatI tell thee," continued the apparition, "I warn thee that, when thoureturnest to thy dwelling, thou shalt find that the money thou hastsaved to make the pilgrimage of St. James has been stolen."

The priest, on his return, actually found that his strongbox had beenbroken open and his money carried off; but he could not discharge hiscommission, because Anselm was absent.

A few days after, the same Guido appeared a second time, to reproachStephanus for his neglect. The good priest excused himself on theimpossibility of finding Anselm; but learning that he had returned tohis manor, he repaired thither, and faithfully fulfilled hiscommission.

He was received very coolly. Anselm told him that he was not obliged todo penance for the sins of his brother; and with these words hedismissed him.

The dead man, who experienced no relief, appeared a third time, andbemoaning his brother's harshness, he besought the worthy servant ofGod to have compassion himself on his distress, and assist him in hisextremity. Stephanus, much affected, promised that he would, Herestored the price of the stolen ox, gave alms to the wronged village,said prayers, recommended the deceased to all the good people he knew,and then Guido appeared no more.

BERTHOLD IN PURGATORY.

COLLIN DE PLANCY.

Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos, amici moi.—JOB xix.

A short time after the death of Charles the Bald, there is found inHincmar a narrative which it may be well to introduce here; it is thejourney of Berthold, or Bernold, to Purgatory in the spirit.

Berthold was a citizen of Rheims, of good life, fulfilling hisChristian duties and enjoying public esteem. He was subject toecstasies, or syncope, which sometimes lasted a good while. Then,whether he had visions, or that his soul transported itself or wastransported out of his body—an effect which, is evidently produced inour days by magnetism—he made, in his ecstasies, several journeys intoPurgatory.

Having fallen seriously ill when already well advanced in age, hereceived all the sacraments which console the conscience; after whichhe remained four entire days in a sort of ecstasy, during which he tookno nourishment of any kind. At the end of the fourth day he had becomeso weak that there was hardly any breath in him. About midnight,however, he begged his wife to send quickly for his confessor. Heafterwards remained motionless. But, at the end of a quarter of anhour, he said to his wife:

"Place a seat here, for the priest is coming."

He entered the moment after, and recited the beautiful prayers for thedeparting soul, to which Berthold responded clearly and exactly. Afterthis he had again a moment of ecstasy; and, coming out of it, herelated his several visits to Purgatory, and the commissions wherewithhe had been charged by many suffering souls.

He was conducted by a spirit, an Angel doubtless. Amongst those whowere being purified, in ice or in fire, he found Ebbon, Archbishop ofRheims; Pardule, Bishop of Laon; Enée, Bishop of Paris, and some otherprelates, clothed in filthy garments, torn and rusty. Their faces werewrinkled, haggard, and sallow. Ebbon besought him to ask the clergy andpeople of Rheims to pray for him and his companions, who made him thesame request. He charged himself with all these commissions.

He found, farther on, or in another visit, the soul of Charles theBald, extended in the mud and much exhausted. The ex-king askedBerthold to recommend him to Archbishop Hincmar and the princes of hisfamily, acknowledging that he was principally punished for having givenecclesiastical benefices to courtiers and worldly laics, as had beendone by his ancestor, Charles Martel. Berthold promised to do what hecould.

Farther on, and perhaps also on another occasion, he saw Jesse, Bishopof Orleans, in the hands of four dark spirits, who were plunging himalternately into a well of boiling pitch and one of ice-cold water. Notfar from him, Count Othaire was in other torments. The two sufferersrecommended themselves, like the others, to the pious offices ofBerthold, who faithfully executed the commissions of the souls in pain.He applied, on behalf of the bishops, to their clergy and people; forKing Charles the Bald, to Archbishop Hincmar. He wrote besides—for hewas a lettered man—to the relatives of the deceased monarch, makingknown to them the state wherein he had seen him. He went to urge thewife of Othaire, his vassals and friends, to offer up prayers and givealms for him; and in a last visit which he was permitted to make, helearned that Count Othaire and Bishop Jessé were delivered; KingCharles the Bald had reached the term of his punishment; and he saw theBishops Ebbon, Enée, and Pardule, who thanked him as they went forthfrom Purgatory, fresh and robed in white.

After this account, whereto Berthold subjoined that his guide hadpromised him some more years of life, he asked for Holy Communion,received it, felt himself cured, left his bed on the following day, andhis life was prolonged for fourteen years.

A LEGEND OF ST. NICHOLAS.

Let us quote here, says Collin de Plancy, a good English religiouswhose journey has been related by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny,and by Denis the Carthusian. This traveller speaks in the first person:

"I had St. Nicholas for a guide," he says; "he led me by a level roadto a vast horrible space, peopled with the dead, who were tormented ina thousand frightful ways. I was told that these people were notdamned, that their torment would in time come to an end, and that itwas Purgatory I saw. I did not expect to find it so severe. All theseunfortunates wept hot tears and groaned aloud. Since I have seen allthese things I know well that if I had any relative in Purgatory, Iwould suffer a thousand deaths to take him out of it.

"A little farther on, I perceived a valley, through which flowed afearful river of fire, which rose in waves to an enormous height. Onthe banks of that river it was so icy cold that no one can have anyidea of it. St. Nicholas conducted me thither, and made me observe thesufferers who were there, telling me that this again was Purgatory."

"DREAM OF GERONTIUS."

CARDINAL NEWMAN.

ANGEL. Thy judgment now is near, for we are come Into the veiledpresence of our God.

SOUL. I hear the voices that I left on earth.

ANGEL. It is the voice of friends around thy bed,
Who say the "Subvenite" with the priest.
Hither the echoes come; before the
Throne Stands the great Angel of the Agony,
The same who strengthened Him, what time He knelt
Lone in that garden shade, bedewed with blood.
That Angel best can plead with Him for all
Tormented souls, the dying and the dead.

ANGEL OF THE AGONY. Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sicken'd Thee;
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrill'd in Thee;
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;
Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee;
Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee;
Jesu! by that sanctity which reign'd in Thee;
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;
Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee;
Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;
Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee,
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.

SOUL. I go before my Judge. Ah! …

ANGEL. … Praise to His Name! The eager spirit has darted from my
hold,
And, with the intemperate energy of love,
Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel;
But, ere it reach them, the keen sanctity,
Which, with its effluence, like a glory, clothes
And circles round the Crucified, has seized,
And scorch'd, and shrivell'd it; and now it lies
Passive and still before the awful Throne.
O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe,
Consumed, yet quicken'd, by the glance of God.

SOUL. Take me away, and in the lowest deep
There let me be, And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,
Told out for me.
There, motionless and happy in my pain,
Lone, not forlorn,—There will I sing my sad, perpetual strain,
Until the morn.
There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast,
Which ne'er can cease
To throb, and pine, and languish, till possess'd
Of its Sole Peace.
There will I sing my absent Lord and Love:—Take me away,
That sooner I may rise, and go above,
And see Him in the truth—of everlasting day.

ANGEL. Now let the golden prison ope its gates,
Making sweet music, as each fold revolves
Upon its ready hinge.
And ye, great powers,
Angels of Purgatory, receive from me
My charge, a precious soul, until the day,
When from all bond and forfeiture released,
I shall reclaim it for the courts of light.

SOULS IN PURGATORY

1. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge: in every generation;

2. Before the hills were born, and the world was: from age to age, Thouart God.

3. Bring us not, Lord, very low: for Thou hast said, Come back again,ye sons of Adam!

4. A thousand years before Thine eyes are but as yesterday: and as awatch of the night which is come and gone.

5. The grass springs up in the morning: at evening-tide it shrivels upand dies.

6. So we fall in Thine anger: and in Thy wrath are we troubled.

7. Thou hast set our sins in Thy sight: and our round of days in thelight of Thy countenance.

8. Come back, O Lord! how long: and be entreated for Thy servants.

9. In Thy morning we shall be filled with Thy mercy: we shall rejoiceand be in pleasure all our days.

10. We shall be glad according to the days of our humiliation: and theyears in which we have seen evil.

11. Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and upon Thy work: and direct theirchildren.

12. And let the beauty of the 'Lord our God be upon us: and the work ofour hands, establish Thou it.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world withoutend. Amen.

ANGEL. Softly and gently, dearly-ransom'd soul, In my most loving armsI now enfold thee, And, o'er the penal waters, as they roll, I poisethee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.

And carefully I dip thee in the lake, And thou, without a sob, or aresistance, Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take, Sinkingdeep, deeper, into the dim distance.

Angels, to whom the willing task is given, Shall tend, and nurse, andlull thee, as thou liest; And Masses on the earth, and prayers inheaven, Shall aid thee at the throne of the Most High.

Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear, Be brave and patient on thybed of sorrow; Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here, And I willcome and wake thee on the morrow.

ST. GREGORY RELEASES THE SOUL OF THE EMPEROR TRAJAN

MRS. JAMESON.

In a little picture in the Bologna Academy he is seen praying before atomb, on which is inscribed "TRAJANO IMPERADOR;" beneath are twoangels, raising the soul of Trafan out of flames. Such is the usualtreatment of this curious and poetical legend, which is thus related inthe "Legenda Aurea": "It happened on a time, as Trajan was hastening tobattle at the head of his legions, that a poor widow flung herself inhis path, and cried aloud for justice, and the emperor stayed to listento her; and she demanded vengeance for the innocent blood of her son,killed by the son of the emperor. Trajan promised to do her justicewhen he returned from his expedition. 'But, sire', answered the widow,'should you be killed in battle, who will then do me justice?' 'Mysuccessor,' replied Trajan. And she said, 'What will it signify to you,great emperor, that any other than yourself should do me justice? Is itnot better that you should do this good action yourself than leaveanother to do it?' And Trajan alighted, and having examined into theaffair, he gave up his own son to her in place of him she had lost, andbestowed on her likewise a rich dowry. Now, it came to pass that asGregory was one day meditating in his daily walk, this action of theEmperor Trajan came into his mind, and he wept bitterly to think that aman so just should be condemned to eternal punishment. And entering achurch, he prayed most fervently that the soul of the good emperormight be released from torment. And a voice said to him, 'I havegranted thy prayer, and I have spared the soul of Trajan for thy sake;but because thou hast supplicated for one whom the justice of God hadalready condemned, thou shalt choose one of two things: either thoushalt endure for two days the fires of Purgatory, or thou shalt be sickand infirm for the remainder of thy life.' Gregory chose the latter,which sufficiently accounts for the grievous pains and infirmities towhich this great and good man was subjected, even to the day of hisdeath."

This story of Trajan was extremely popular in the Middle Ages; it is
illustrative of the character of Gregory…. Dante twice alludes to it.
He describes it as being one of the subjects sculptured on the walls of
Purgatory, and takes occasion to relate the whole story.

"There was storied on the rock Th'exalted glory of the Roman Prince,Whose mighty worth moved Gregory to earn This mighty conquest—Trajanthe Emperor. A widow at his bridle stood attired In tears and mourning.Round about them troop'd Full throng of knights: and overhead in goldThe eagles floated, struggling with the wind The wretch appear'd amidall these to say: 'Grant vengeance, sire! for woe, beshrew this heart,My son is murder'd!' He, replying, seem'd: 'Wait now till I return.'And she, as one Made hasty by her grief: 'O, sire, if thou Dost notreturn?'—'Where I am, who then is, May right thee.'—'What to thee isothers' good, If thou neglect thine own?'—'Now comfort thee,' Atlength he answers: 'It beseemeth well My duty be perform'd, ere I movehence. So justice wills and pity bids me stay.'"—Purg. Canto X.

It was through the efficacy of St. Gregory's intercession that Danteafterwards finds Trajan in Paradise, seated between King David and KingHezekiah.—Purg. Canto XX.

ST. GREGORY AND THE MONK

There was a monk who, in defiance of his vow of poverty, secreted inhis cell three pieces of gold. Gregory, on learning this,excommunicated him, and shortly afterwards the monk died. When Gregoryheard that the monk had perished in his sin, without receivingabsolution, he was filled with grief and horror, and he wrote upon aparchment a prayer and a form of absolution, and gave it to one of hisdeacons, desiring him to go to the grave of the deceased and read itthere: on the following night the monk appeared in a vision, andrevealed to him his release from torment.

This story is represented in the beautiful bas-relief in white marblein front of the altar of his chapel; it is the last compartment on theright.

In chapels dedicated to the Service of the Dead, St. Gregory is oftenrepresented in the attitude of supplication, while on one side, or inthe background, angels are raising the tormented souls out of theflames.—Sacred and Legendary Art, Vol. I.

THE LEGEND OF GEOFFROID D'IDEN.

It is related by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, that, in thefirst half of the twelfth century, the Lord Humbert, son of Guichard,Count de Beaujeu, in the Maçonnais, having made war on some otherneighboring lords, Geoffroid d'Iden, one of his vassals, received inthe fight a wound which instantly killed him. Two months after hisdeath, Geoffroid appeared to Milon d'Ansa, who knew him well; he beggedhim to tell Humbert de Beaujeu, in whose service he had lost his life,that he was in Purgatory, for having aided him in an unjust war and nothaving expiated his sins by penance, before his unlooked-for death;that he besought him, therefore, most urgently, to have compassion onhim, and also on his own father, Guichard, who, although he had led areligious life at Cluny in his latter days, had not entirely satisfiedthe justice of God for his past sins, and especially for a portion ofhis wealth, which, as his children knew, was ill gained; that, inconsequence thereof, he prayed him to have the Holy Sacrifice of theMass offered for him and for his father, to distribute alms to thepoor, and to recommend both sufferers to the prayers of good people, inorder to shorten their time of penance. "Tell him," added theapparition, "that if he hear thee not, I must go myself to announce tohim that which I have now told to thee."

The lof Ansa (now Anse) faithfully discharged the task imposed uponhim. Humbert was frightened; but he neither had prayers nor Massesoffered up, made no reparation, and distributed no alms.

Nevertheless, fearing lest Guichard his father or Geoffroid d'Idenmight come to disturb him, he no longer dared to remain alone,especially by night; and he always had some of his people around him,making them sleep in his chamber.

One morning, as he was still in bed, but awake, he saw appear beforehim Geoffroid d'Iden, armed as on the day of the battle. Showing himthe mortal wound which he had received, and which appeared still fresh,he warmly reproached him for the little pity he had for himself and forhis father, who was groaning in torment; and he added: "Take care lestGod may treat thee in His rigor, and refuse thee the mercy thou dostnot grant to us; and for thee, give up thy purpose of going to the warwith Amadeus. If thou goest thither, thou shalt lose thy life and thypossessions."

At that moment, Richard de Marsay, the Count's squire, entered, comingfrom Mass; the, spirit disappeared, and thenceforward Humbert deBeaujeu went seriously to work to relieve his father and his vassal,after which he made the journey to Jerusalem to expiate his own sins.

THE QUEEN OF PURGATORY.

BY FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, D. D.

Oh! turn to Jesus, Mother! turn,
And call Him by His tenderest names;
Pray for the Holy Souls that burn
This hour amid the cleansing flames.

Ah! they have fought a gallant fight;
In death's cold arms they persevered;
And, after life's uncheery night,
The harbor of their rest is neared.

In pains beyond all earthly pains
Fav'rites of Jesus, there they lie,
Letting the fire wear out their stains,
And worshipping God's purity.

Spouses of Christ they are, for He
Was wedded to them by His blood;
And angels o'er their destiny
In wondering adoration brood.

They are the children of thy tears;
Then hasten, Mother! to their aid;
In pity think each hour appears
An age while glory is delayed!

See, how they bound amid their fires,
While pain and love their spirits fill;
Then, with self-crucified desires,
Utter sweet murmurs, and lie still.

Ah me! the love of Jesus yearns
O'er that abyss of sacred pain;
And, as He looks, His bosom burns
With Calvary's dear thirst again.

O Mary! let thy Son no more
His lingering spouses thus expect;
God's children to their God restore,
And to the Spirit His elect.

Pray then, as thou hast ever prayed;
Angels and Souls all look to thee;
God waits thy prayers, for He hath made
Those prayers His law of charity.

THE DEAD PRIEST BEFORE THE ALTAR.

REV. A. J. RYAN.

Who will watch o'er the dead young priest,
People and priests and all?
No, no, no, 'tis his spirit's feast,
When the evening shadows fall.
Let him rest alone—unwatched, alone,
Just beneath the altar's light,
The holy Hosts on their humble throne
Will watch him through the night.

The doors were closed—he was still and fair,
What sound moved up the aisles?
The dead priests come with soundless prayer,
Their faces wearing smiles.
And this was the soundless hymn they sung:
"We watch o'er you to-night;
Your life was beautiful, fair and young,
Not a cloud upon its light.
To-morrow—to-morrow you will rest
With the virgin priests whom Christ has blest."

Kyrie Eleison! the stricken crowd
Bowed down their heads in tears
O'er the sweet young priest in his vestment shroud.
Ah! the happy, happy years!
They are dead and gone, and the Requiem Mass
Went slowly, mournfully on,
The Pontiff's singing was all a wail,
The altars cried and the people wept,
The fairest flower in the Church's vale
Ah me! how soon we pass!
In the vase of his coffin slept. —From In Memoriam.

MEMORIALS OF THE BEAD.

R. R. MADDEN. [1]

[Footnote 1: Author of "Lives and Times of United Irishmen."]

'Tis not alone in "hallowed ground,"
At every step we tread
Midst tombs and sepulchres, are found
Memorials of the dead.

'Tis not in sacred shrines alone,
Or trophies proudly spread
On old cathedral walls are shown
Memorials of the dead.

Emblems of Fame surmounting death,
Of war and carnage dread,
They were not, in the "Times of Faith,"
Memorials of the dead.

From marble bust and pictured traits
The living looks recede,
They fade away: so frail are these
Memorials of the dead.

On mural slabs, names loved of yore
Can now be scarcely read;
A few brief years have left no more
Memorials of the dead.

Save those which pass from sire to son,
Traditions that are bred
In the heart's core, and make their own
Memorials of the dead.

A CHILD'S REQUIESCAT IN PACE.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

With the gray dawn's faintest break,
Mother, faithfully I wake,
Whispering softly for thy sake
Requiescat in pace!

When the sun's broad disk at height
Floods the busy world with light,
Breathes my soul with sighs contrite,
Requiescat in pace!

When the twilight shadows lone
Wrap the home once, once thine own,
Sobs my heart with broken moan,
Requiescat in pace!

Night, so solemn, grand, and still,
Trances forest, meadow, rill;
Hush, fond heart, adore His will,
Requiescat in pace!

THE SOLITARY SOUL.

I died; but my soul did not wing its flight straight to the heaven-nest, and there repose in the bosom of Him who made it, as the ministerwho was with me said it would. Good old man! He had toiled among us,preaching baptizing, marrying, and burrying, until his hair had turnedfrom nut-brown to frost-white; and he told me, as I lay dying, that thevictory of the Cross was the only passport I needed to the joys ofeternity; that a life like mine would meet its immediate reward. And itdid; but, O my God! not as he had thought, and I had believed.

As he prayed, earth's sights and sounds faded from me, and the strange,new life began. The wrench of agony with which soul and body partedleft me breathless; and my spirit, like a lost child, turned frightenedeyes towards home.

I stood in a dim, wind-swept space. No gates of pearl or walls ofjacinth met my gaze; no streaming glory smote my eyes; no voice bade meenter and put on the wedding garment. Hosts of pale shapes circled by,but no one saw me. All had their faces uplifted, and their hands—suchpatient, pathetic hands—were clasped on their hearts; and the air washeavy with the whisper, "Christ! Christ!" that came unceasingly fromtheir lips.

Above us, the clouds drifted and turned; about us, the horizon wasblotted out; mist and grayness were everywhere. A voiceless wind sweptby; and as I gazed, sore dismayed and saddened, a rent opened in thedriving mass, and I saw a man standing with arms upraised. He wasstrangely vestured; silver and gold gleamed in his raiment, and a largecross was outlined upon his back. He held in his hands a chalice ofgold, in which sparkled something too liquid for fire, too softlybrilliant for water or wine.

As this sight broke on our vision, two figures near me uttered a cry,whose rapturous sweetness filled space with melody; and, like the up-springing lark, borne aloft by the beauty of their song, they vanished;and those about me bowed their heads, and ceased their moan for amoment.

"What is it?" I cried. "Who is the man? What was it he held in hishand?"

But there was none to answer me, and I drove along before the wind withthe rest, helpless, bewildered.

How long this lasted I do not know; for there was neither night nor dayin the sad place; and a fire of longing burnt in my breast, so keen, sostrong, that all other sensation was swallowed up.

And then, too, my grief! There were many deeds of my life to which Ihad given but casual regret. When the minister would counsel us toconfess our sins to God, I had knelt in the church and gone through theform; but here, where the height and depth and breadth of God'sperfection dawned upon me, and grew hourly clearer, they seemed to rendmy heart, and to far outweigh any little good I might have done. Oh!why did no one ever preach the justice of God to me, and the necessityof personal atonement! Why had they only taught me, "Believe, and youshall be saved?"

Time by time, the shapes about me rose and vanished with the same cryas the two I saw liberated in my first hour; and sometimes—like anecho—the sound of human voices would go through space—some chokedwith tears, some low with sadness, some glad with hope.

"Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord!"

"And let perpetual light shine upon them!"

"May they rest in peace!"

And the "Amen" tolled like a silver bell, and I would feel a respite.

But no one called me by name, no one prayed for my freedom. My mother'svoice, my sister's dream, my father's belief—all were that I was happybefore the face of God. And friends forgot me, except in theirpleasures.

At seasons, through the mist would loom an altar, at which a man, inblack robes embroidered with silver, bowed and bent. The chalice, withits always wonderful contents, would be raised, and a disc, in whosecircle of whiteness I saw Christ crucified. From the thorn-wounds, theHands, the Feet, the Side, shot rays of dazzling brightness; and myfrozen soul, my tear-chilled eyes, were warmed and gladdened; for theman who held this wondrous image would himself sigh: "For allthe dead, sweet Lord!" And to me, even me, would come hope and peace.

But, oh! the agony, oh! the desolateness, to be cut off from the sweetguerdon of immediate release! Oh! the pain of expiating every fault,measure for measure! Oh, the grief of knowing that my own deeds werethe chains of my captivity, and my unfulfilled duties the barriers thatwithheld me from beholding the Beatific Vision!

Sometimes a gracious face would gleam through the mist—a face sotender, so human, so full of love, that I yearned to hear it speak tome, to have those radiant eyes turned on me. My companions calledher "Mary!" and I knew it was the Virgin of Nazareth. Often she wouldcall them by name, and say: "My child, my Son bids thee come home."

Why had I never known this gentle Mother! Why could I not catch hermantle, and clinging to it, pass from waiting to fulfilment!

Once when I had grown grief-bowed with waiting, worn with longing, Isaw again the vision of the Church. At a long railing knelt many younggirls, and they received at the hands of the priest what I had learnedto discern as the Body of the Lord. One—God bless her tender heart!—whispered as she knelt: "O dearest Lord, I offer to Thee this HolyCommunion for the soul that has no one to pray for her."

And through the grayness rang at last my name, and straight toheaven I went, ransomed by that mighty price, freed by prayer fromprison.

O you who live, who have voices and hearts, for the sake of Christ andHis Holy Mother; by the love you bear your living, and the grief yougive your dead, pray for those whose friends do not know how to helpthem; for the suddenly killed; for the executed criminal; and for thosewho, having suffered long in Purgatory, need one more prayer to setthem free.—Ave Maria, November 10, 1883.

THE STORY OF THE FAITHFUL SOUL.

Founded on an old French Legend.

ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER.

The fettered spirits linger In purgatorial pain,
With penal fires effacing
Their last faint earthly stain,
Which Life's imperfect sorrow
Had tried to cleanse in vain.

Yet, on each feast of Mary
Their sorrow finds release,
For the great Archangel Michael
Comes down and bids it cease;
And the name of these brief respites
Is called "Our Lady's Peace."

Yet once—so runs the legend—
When the Archangel came,
And all these holy spirits
Rejoiced at Mary's name,
One voice alone was wailing,
Still wailing on the same.

And though a great Te Deum
The happy echoes woke, I
This one discordant wailing
Through the sweet voices broke:
So when St. Michael questioned,
Thus the poor spirit spoke:—

I am not cold or thankless,
Although I still complain;
I prize Our Lady's blessing,
Although it comes in vain
To still my bitter anguish,
Or quench my ceaseless pain.

"On earth a heart that loved me
Still lives and mourns me there,
And the shadow of his anguish
Is more than I can bear;
All the torment that I suffer
Is the thought of his despair.

"The evening of my bridal
Death took my Life away;
Not all Love's passionate pleading
Could gain an hour's delay.
And he I left has suffered
A whole year since that day.

"If I could only see him—
If I could only go
And speak one word of comfort
And solace—then, I know
He would endure with patience,
And strive against his woe."

Thus the Archangel answered:
"Your time of pain is brief,
And soon the peace of Heaven
Will give you full relief;
Yet if his earthly comfort
So much outweighs your grief,

"Then, through a special mercy,
I offer you this grace—
You may seek him who mourns you
And look upon his face,
And speak to him of Comfort,
For one short minute's space.

"But when that time is ended,
Return here and remain
A thousand years in torment,
A thousand years in pain;
Thus dearly must you purchase
The comfort he will gain."

The lime-trees shade at evening
Is spreading broad and wide;
Beneath their fragrant arches
Pace slowly, side by side,
In low and tender converse,
A Bridegroom and his Bride.

The night is calm and stilly,
No other sound is there
Except their happy voices:—
What is that cold bleak air
That passes through the lime-trees,
And stirs the Bridegroom's hair?

While one low cry of anguish,
Like the last dying wail
Of some dumb, hunted creature,
Is borne upon the gale—
Why dogs the Bridegroom shudder

And turn so deathly pale?

Near Purgatory's entrance
The radiant Angels wait;
It was the great St. Michael
Who closed that gloomy gate,
When the poor wandering spirit
Came back to meet her fate.

"Pass on," thus spoke the Angel:
"Heaven's joy is deep and vast;
Pass on, pass on, poor spirit,
For Heaven is yours at last;
In that one minute's anguish,
Your thousand years have passed."

GENÉRADE, THE FRIEND OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

J. COLLIN DE PLANCY.

ST. AUGUSTINE reckoned among his friends the physician Genérade, highlyhonored in Carthage, where his learning and skill were much esteemed.But by one of those misfortunes of which there are, unhappily, but toomany examples, while studying the admirable mechanism of the humanbody, he had come to believe matter capable of the works ofintelligence which raise man so far above other created beings. He was,therefore, a materialist; and St. Augustine praying for him, earnestlybesought God to enlighten that deluded mind.

One night while he slept, this doctor, who believed, as some do still,that "when one is dead, all is dead"—we quote their own language—sawin his dreams a young man, who said to him: "Follow me." He did so, andwas conducted to a city, wherein he heard, on the right, unknownmelodies, which filled him with admiration. What he heard on the lefthe never remembered. But on awaking he concluded, from this vision,that there was, somewhere, something else besides this world.

Another night he likewise beheld in sleep the same young man, who saidto him:

"Knowest thou me?"

"Very well," answered Genérade.

"And wherefore knowest thou me?"

"Because of the journey we made together when you showed me the city ofharmony."

"Was it in a dream, or awake, that you saw and heard what struck youthen?"

"It was in a dream."

"Where is your body now?"

"In my bed."

"Knowest thou well that thou now seest nothing with the eyes of thebody?"

"I know it."

"With what eyes, then, dost thou see me?"

As the physician hesitated, and could not answer, the young man said tohim:

"Even as thou seest and hearest me, now that thine eyes are closed andthy senses benumbed, so, after thy death, thou shalt live, thou shaltsee, thou shalt hear—but with the organs of the soul. Doubt, then, nomore!"

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND FRIAR ROMANUS.

WE are about to treat of facts concerning which our fathers never hadany hesitation, because they had faith. Nowadays, the truths which areabove the material sight have been so roughly handled that they aremuch diminished for us. And if the goodness of God had not allowed somerays of the mysteries which He reserves for Himself to escape, if somegleams of magnetism and the world of spirits occupying the air aroundus had not a little embarrassed those of our literati who make a meritof not believing, we would hardly dare, in spite of the graveauthorities on which they rest, to represent here some apparitions ofsouls departed from this world. We shall venture to do so,nevertheless.

One day, when St. Thomas Aquinas was praying in the Church of theFriars, Preachers, at Naples, the pious friar Romanus, whom he had leftin Paris, where he replaced him in the chair of Theology, suddenlyappeared beside him. Thomas, seeing him, said:

"I am glad of thine arrival. But how long hast thou been here?"

Romanus answered: "I am now out of this world. Nevertheless, I ampermitted to come to thee, because of thy merit."

The Saint, alarmed at this reply, after a moment's recollection, saidto the apparition: "I adjure thee, by Our Lord Jesus Christ, tell mesimply if my works are pleasing to God!"

Romanus replied: "Persevere in the way in which thou art, and believethat what thou doest is agreeable unto God."

Thomas then asked him in what state he found himself.

"I enjoy eternal life," answered Romanus. "Nevertheless, for havingcarelessly executed one clause of a will which the Bishop of Paris gaveme in charge, I underwent for fifteen days the pains of Purgatory."

St. Thomas again said: "You remind me that we often discussed thequestion whether the knowledge acquired in this life remain in the soulafter death. I pray you give me the solution thereof."

Romanus made answer: "Ask me not that. As for me, I am content withseeing my God."

"Seest thou him face to face?" went on Thomas.

"Just as we have been taught," replied Romanus, "and as I see thee."

With these words he left St. Thomas greatly consoled.

THE KEY THAT NEVER TURNS.

ELEANOR C. DONNELLY.

"In Purgatory, dear," I said to-day, Unto my pet, "the fire burns andburns, Until each ugly stain is burned away—And then an Angel turns Agreat, bright key, and forth the glad soul springs Into the presence ofthe King of kings."

"But in that other prison?" "Sweetest love! The same fierce fire burnsand burns, but thence None e'er escapes." The blue eyes, raised above,Were fair with innocence. "Poor burning souls!" she whispered low, "ahme! No Angel ever comes to turn their key!"

THE BURIAL.

THOMAS DAVIS.

"ULULU! ululu! wail for the dead,
Green grow the grass of
Fingal on his head;
And spring-flowers blossom, ere elsewhere appearing,
And shamrocks grow thick on the martyr for Erin.
Ululu! ululu! soft fall the dew
On the feet and the head of the martyred and true."

For a while they tread
In silence dread—
Then muttering and moaning go the crowd,
Surging and swaying like mountain cloud,
And again the wail comes wild and loud.

"Ululu! ululu! kind was his heart!
Walk slower, walk slower, too soon we shall part.
The faithful and pious, the
Priest of the Lord,
His pilgrimage over, he has his reward.

"By the bed of the sick, lowly kneeling,
To God with the raised cross appealing—
He seems still to kneel, and he seems still to pray,
And the sins of the dying seem passing away.

"In the prisoner's cell, and the cabin so dreary,
Our constant consoler, he never grew weary;
But he's gone to his rest,
And he's now with the blest,
Where tyrant and traitor no longer molest—
Ululu! ululu! wail for the dead!
Ululu! ululu! here is his bed."

Short was the ritual, simple the prayer,
Deep was the silence, and every head bare;
The Priest alone standing, they knelt all around,
Myriads on myriads, like rocks on the ground.
Kneeling and motionless.—
"Dust unto dust."

"He died as becometh the faithful and just—
Placing in God his reliance and trust;"

Kneeling and motionless—
"Ashes to ashes"—
Hollow the clay on the coffin-lid dashes;
Kneeling and motionless, wildly they pray,
But they pray in their souls, for no gesture have they—
Stern and standing—oh! look on them now!
Like trees to one tempest the multitude bow.

HYMN FOR THE DEAD.

NEWMAN.

Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,
The souls to Thee so dear,
In prison, for the debt unpaid
Of sins committed here.

Those holy souls, they suffer on,

Resign'd in heart and will,
Until Thy high behest is done,
And justice has its fill.
For daily falls, for pardon'd crime,
They joy to undergo
The shadow of Thy cross sublime,
The remnant of Thy woe.

Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,
The souls to Thee so dear,
In prison, for the debt unpaid Of sins committed here.

Oh! by their patience of delay,
Their hope amid their pain,
Their sacred zeal to burn away
Disfigurement and stain;
Oh! by their fire of love, not less
In keenness than the flame,
Oh! by their very helplessness,
Oh! by Thy own great Name,

Good Jesu, help! sweet Jesu, aid
The souls to Thee most dear,
In prison, for the debt unpaid
Of sins committed here.

THE TWO STUDENTS.

The Abbé de Saint Pierre, says Collin de Plancy, has given a longaccount, in his works, of a singular occurrence which took place in1697, and which we are inclined to relate here:

In 1695, a student named Bezuel, then about fifteen years old,contracted a friendship with two other youths, students like himself,and sons of an attorney of Caen, named D'Abaquène. The elder was, likeBezuel, fifteen; his brother, eighteen months younger. The latter wasnamed Desfontaines. The paternal name was then given only to theeldest; the names of those who came after were formed by means of somevague properties….

As the young Desfontaines' character was more in unison with Bezuel'sthan that of his elder brother, these two students became stronglyattached to each other.

One day during the following year, 1696, they were reading together acertain history of two friends like themselves, who had promised eachother, with some solemnity, that he of the two who died first wouldcome back to give the survivor some account of his state. The historianadded that the dead one really did come back, and that he told hisfriend many wonderful things. Young Desfontaines, struck by thisnarrative, which he did not doubt, proposed to Bezuel that they shouldmake such a promise one to the other. Bezuel was at first afraid ofsuch an engagement. But several months after, in the first days ofJune, 1697, as his friend was going to set out for Caen, he agreed tohis proposal.

Desfontaines then drew from his pocket two papers in which he hadwritten the double agreement. Each of these papers expressed the formalpromise on the part of him who should die first to come and make hisfate known to the surviving friend. He had signed with his blood theone that Bezuel was to keep. Bezuel, hesitating no longer, pricked hishand, and likewise signed with his blood the other document, which hegave to Desfontaines.

The latter, delighted to have the promise, set out with his brother.Bezuel received some days after a letter, in which his friend informedhim that he had reached his home in safety, and was very well. Thecorrespondence between them was to continue. But it stopped very soon,and Bezuel was uneasy.

It happened that on the 31st of July, 1697, being about 2 o'clock inthe afternoon, in a meadow where his companions were amusing themselveswith various games, he felt himself suddenly stunned and taken with asort of faintness, which lasted for some minutes. Next day, at the samehour, he felt the same symptoms, and again on the day after. But then—it was Friday, the 2d of August—he saw advancing towards him hisfriend Desfontaines, who made a sign for him to come to him. Being in asitting posture and under the influence of his swoon, he made anothersign to the apparition, moving on his seat to make place for him.

The comrades of Bezuel moving around saw this motion, and weresurprised.

As Desfontaines did not advance, Bezuel arose to go to him. Theapparition then took him by the left arm, drew him aside some thirtypaces, and said:

"I promised you that, if I died before you, I would come to tell you. Iwas drowned yesterday in the river at Caen, about this hour. I was outwalking; it was so warm that we took a notion to bathe. A weakness cameover me in the river, and I sank to the bottom. The Abbé de Menil-Jean,my companion, plunged in to draw me out; I seized his foot; but whetherhe thought it was a salmon that had caught hold of him, or that he feltit actually necessary to go up to the surface of the water to breathe,he shook me off so roughly that his foot gave me a great blow in thechest, and threw me to the bottom of the river, which is there verydeep."

Desfontaines then told his friend many other things, which he would notdivulge, whether the dead boy had prayed him not to do so, or for otherreasons.

Bezuel wanted to embrace the apparition, but he found only a shadow.Nevertheless, the shadow had squeezed his arm so tightly, that itpained him after.

He saw the spirit several times, yet always a little taller than whenthey parted, and always in the half-clothing of a bather. He wore inhis fair hair a scroll on which Bezuel could only read the wordIn. His voice had the same sound as when he was living, heappeared neither gay nor sad, but perfectly tranquil. He charged hisfriend with several commissions for his parents, and begged him to sayfor him the Seven Penitential Psalms, which had been given him as apenance by his confessor, three days before his death, and which he hadnot yet recited.

The apparition always ended by a farewell expressed in words whichsignified: "Till we meet again! (Au revoir!)" At last, it ceasedat the end of some weeks; and the surviving friend, who had constantlyprayed for the dead, concluded from this that his Purgatory was over.

This Monsieur Bezuel finished his studies, embraced the ecclesiasticalstate, became curé of Valogne, and lived long, esteemed by hisparishioners and the whole city, for his good sense, his virtuous life,and his love of truth.

THE PENANCE OF DON DIEGO RIEZ.

A Legend of Lough Derg. [1]

[Footnote 1: Lough Derg, in Donegal, was a place famous for pilgrimagefrom a very early period, and was much resorted to out of France,Italy, and the Peninsula, during the Middle Ages, and even in thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Mathew Paris, and Froissart, aswell as in our native annals, and in O'Sullivan Beare, there are manyfacts of its extraordinary history.]

T. D. MCGEE.

There was a knight of Spain—Diego Riaz,
Noble by four descents, vain, rich and young,
Much woe he wrought, or the tradition lie is,
Which lived of old the Castilians among;
His horses bore the palm the kingdom over,
His plume was tall, costliest his sword,
The proudest maidens wished him as a lover,
The caballeros all revered his word

But ere his day's meridian came, his spirit
Fell sick, grew palsied in his breast, and pined—
He fear'd Christ's kingdom he could ne'er inherit,
The causes wherefore too well he divined.
Where'er he turns, his sins are always near him,
Conscience still holds her mirror to his eyes,
Till those who long had envied came to fear him,
To mock his clouded brow and wintry sighs.

Alas! the sins of youth are as a chain
Of iron, swiftly let down to the deep,
How far we feel not—till when, we'd raise't again
We pause amid the weary work and weep.
Ah, it is sad a-down Life's stream to see.
So many agèd toilers so distress'd,
And near the source—a thousand forms of glee
Fitting the shackle to Youth's glowing breast.

He sought peace in the city where she dwells not,
He wooed her amid woodlands all in vain,
He searches through the valleys, but he tells not
The secret of his quest to priest or swain,
Until, despairing evermore of pleasure,
He leaves his land, and sails to far Peru;
There, stands uncharm'd in caverns of treasure,
And weeps on mountains heavenly high and blue.

Incessant in his ears rang this plain warning—
"Diego, as thy soul, thy sorrow lives";
He hears the untired voice, night, noon, and morning,
Yet understanding not, unresting grieves.
One eve, a purer vision seized him, then he
Vow'd to Lough Derg, an humble pilgrimage—
The virtues of that shrine were known to many,
And saving held even in that skeptic age.

With one sole follower, an Esquire trustful,
He pass'd the southern cape which sailors fear,
And eastward held: meanwhile his vain and lustful
Past works more loathsome to his soul appear.
Through the night-watches, at all hours o' day,
He still was wakeful as the pilot, and
For grace, his vow to keep, doth always pray,
And for his death to lie in the saints' land.

But ere his eyes beheld the Irish shore, Diego died.
Much gold he did ordain
To God and Santiago—furthermore,
His Esquire plighted, ere he went to Spain,
To journey to the Refuge of the Lake;
Before St. Patrick's solitary shrine,
A nine days' vigil for his rest to make,
Living on bitter bread and penitential wine. [1]

[Footnote 1: The brackish water of the lake, boiled, is called wine bythe pilgrims.]

The vassal vow'd; but, ah! how seldom pledges
Given to the dying, to the dead, are held!
The Esquire reach'd the shore, where sand and sedge is
O'er melancholy hills, by paths of eld;
Treeless and houseless was the prospect round,
Rock-strewn and boisterous the lake before;
A Charon-shape in a skiff a-ground—
The pilgrim turned, and left the sacred shore.

That night he lay a-bed hard by the Erne—
The island-spangled lake—but could not sleep—
When lo! beside him, pale, and sad, and stern,
Stood his dead master, risen from the deep.
"Arise," he said, "and come." From the hostelrie
And over the bleak hills he led the sleeper,
And when they reach'd Derg's shore, "Get in with me,"
He cried; "nor sink my soul in torments deeper."

The dead man row'd the boat, the living steer'd,
Each in his pallor sinister, until
The Isle of Pilgrimage they duly near'd—
"Now hie thee forth, and work thy master's will!"
So spoke the dead, and vanish'd o'er the lake,
The Squire pursued his course, and gain'd the shrine,
There, nine days' vigil duly he did make,
Living on bitter bread and penitential wine.

The tenth eve shone in solemn, starry beauty,
As he, rejoicing, o'er the old paths came,
Light was his heart from its accomplished duty,
All was forgotten, even the latest shame—
When these brief words some disembodied voice
Spoke near him: "Oh, keep sacred, evermore,
Word, pledge, and vow, so may you still rejoice,
And live among the Just when Time is o'er!"

THE DAY OF ALL SOULS.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

FROM the far past there comes a thought of sweetness,
From the far past a thought of love and pain;
A voice, how dear! a look of melting kindness,
A voice, a look, we ne'er shall know again.

A fresh, young face, perchance of boyish gladness,
An aged face, perchance of patient love;
My heart-strings fail, I sob in utter anguish,
As past my eyes these lovely spectres move.

The chill morn breaks, the matin star still flaming;
The hushed cathedral's massive door stands wide;
Through the dim aisles I pass, in silent weeping,
From mortal eyes my sorrowing tears to hide.

Already morn has touched the painted windows;
The yellow dawn creeps down the storied panes;
Already, in the early solemn twilight,
The sanctuary's taper softly wanes.

My faltering step before the altar pauses;
My treasur'd dead I see remembered here;
All climes, all nations, lost on land or ocean,
They on whose grave none ever drop a tear.

The Church, their single mourner, drapes in sorrow
The festal shrines she loves with flowers to dress;
And "Kyrie! Kyrie!" sighs, while lowly bending
To Thee, O God! to shorten their distress.

"Dies iræ, dies illa," sobs the choir; "In pace, pace," from the altar rises higher; "Lux æterna;" daylight floods the altar, Priest and choir take up the holy psalter. "Requiescant in pace!" Amen, amen, in pace!

THE MESSAGE OF THE NOVEMBER WIND.

BY ELEANOR C. DONNELLY.

I.

Wrapped in lonely shadows late,
(Bleak November's midnight gloom),
As I kneel beside the grate
In the silent sitting-room:
Down the chimney moans the wind,
Like the voice of souls resigned,
Pleading from their prison thus,
"Pray for us! pray for us!
Gentle Christian, watcher kind,
Pray for us, oh! pray for us!"

II.

Melt mine eyes with sudden tears—
Old familiar tones are there;
Dear ones lost in other years,
Breathing Purgatory's prayer.
Through my fingers pass the beads,
Tender heart, responsive bleeds,
As the wind, all tremulous,
"Pray for us! pray for us!"
Seems to murmur "Love our needs—
Pray for us! oh, pray for us!"

A LEGEND OF THE TIME OF CHARLEMAGNE.

We read in the Gesta Caroli Magni that Charlemagne had a man-at-arms who served him faithfully till his death. Before breathing hislast he called a nephew of his, to make known to him his last will:

"Sixty years," said he, "have I been in the service of my prince; Ihave never amassed the goods of this world, and my arms and my horseare all I have. My arms I leave to thee, and I will that my horse besold immediately after my death; I charge thee with the care of thismatter, if thou wilt promise me to distribute the full price amongstthe poor."

The nephew promised to execute the will of his uncle, who died inpeace, for he was a good and loyal Christian. But when he was laid inthe earth the young man, considering that the horse was a very fineone, and well-trained, was tempted to keep him for himself. He did notsell him, and gave no money to the poor. Six months after, the soul ofthe dead man appeared to him and said: "Thou hast not accomplished thatwhich I had ordered thee to do for the welfare of my soul, and for sixmonths I have suffered great pains in Purgatory. But behold God, thestrict Judge of all things, has decreed, and His angels will executethe decree, that my soul be placed in eternal rest, and that thineshall undergo all the pains and torments which I had still to undergofor the expiation of my sins."

Thereupon the nephew, being instantly seized with a violent disease,had barely time to confess to a priest, who had just been announced. Hedied shortly after, and went to pay the debt he had undertaken todischarge.

THE DEAD MASS.

It has been, and still is believed, that the mercy of God sometimespermits souls that have sins to expiate, to come and expiate them onearth. Of this the following is an example:

Polet, the principal suburb of Dieppe, is still inhabited almostexclusively by fishermen, who, in past times, more especially, haveever been solid and faithful Christians. The Catholic worship wasformerly celebrated with much solemnity in their church, consecratedunder the invocation of "Our Lady of the Beach" (Notre Dame desGrèves); and the mothers of the worthy fishermen who give to Polet anaspect so picturesque, have forgotten only the precise date of theadventure we are about to relate.

The sacristan of Notre Dame des Grèves dwelt in a little cottage quiteclose to the church. He was an exact and pious man; he had the keys ofthe sacred edifice and the care of the bells. Several worthy priestswere attached to the lovely church; the earliest Masses were never rungexcept by the honest sacristan. Now, one morning, during the Christmasholydays, he heard, before day, the tinkle of one of his bellsannouncing a Mass. He rose immediately and ran to the window. The snow-covered roofs enabled him to see objects so distinctly that he thoughtthe day was beginning to dawn. He hastened to put on his clothes and goto the church. The total solitude and silence reigning all around himmade him understand that he was mistaken and that day was not yetbreaking. He tried to go into the church, however, but the door wasclosed.

How, then, could he have heard the bell? If robbers had got in, theywould certainly have taken good care not to touch the bell. He listens;not the slightest noise in the holy place. Should he return home? Notso, for having heard the bell, he must go in.

He opens a little door leading into the sacristy; he passes throughthat, and advances towards the choir.

By the light of the small lamp burning before the tabernacle and thatof a taper already lighted, he perceives, at the foot of the altar, apriest robed in a chasuble, and in the attitude of a celebrant about tocommence Mass. All is prepared for the Holy Sacrifice. He stops indismay. The priest, a stranger to him, is extremely pale; his hands areas white as his alb; his eyes shine like the glow-worm, the light goingforth, as it were, from the very centre of the orbits.

"Serve my Mass," he said gently to the sacristan.

The latter obeyed, spell-bound with terror. But if the pallor of thepriest and the singular fire of his eyes frightened him, his voice, onthe contrary, was mild and melancholy.

The Mass goes on. At the elevation of the Sacred Host the limbs of thepriest tremble and give forth a sound like that of dry reeds shaken bythe wind. At the Domine, non sum dignus, his breast, which hestrikes three times, sounds like the coffin when the first shovel-fullof earth is cast upon it by the grave-digger. The Precious Bloodproduces in his whole body the effect of water which, in the silence ofthe night, falls drop by drop from the roof.

When he turns to say Ita Missa est, the priest is only askeleton, and that skeleton speaks these words to the server:

"Brother, I thank thee! In my life-time, I was a priest; I owed thisMass at my death. Thou hast helped me to discharge my debt; my soul isfreed from a heavy burden."

The spectre then disappeared. The sacristan saw the vestments fallgently at the foot of the altar, and the burning taper suddenly wentout. At that moment, a co*ck crowed somewhere in the neighborhood. Thesacristan took up the vestments, and passed the rest of the night inprayer.

THE EVE OF ST. JOHN.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

"O fear not the priest who sleepeth to the east!
For to Dryburgh the way he has ta'en;
And there to say Mass, till three days do pass,
For the soul of a Knight that is slayne."

He turned him round, and grimly he frowned;
Then he laughed right scornfully—
"He who says the Mass-rite for the soul of that Knight,
May as well say Mass for me."

Then changed, I trow, was that bold baron's brow,
From dark to the blood-red high;
"Now tell me the mien of the Knight thou hast seen,
For by Mary he shall die."

"O hear but my word, my noble lord,
For I heard her name his name,
And that lady bright, she called the Knight
Sir Richard of Coldinghame."

The bold baron's brow then chang'd, I trow,
From high blood-red to pale—
"The grave is deep and dark—and the corpse is stiff and stark—
So I may not trust thy tale.

"The varying light deceived thy sight,
And the wild winds drown'd the name,
For the Dryburgh bells ring, and the white monks do sing,
For Sir Richard of Coldinghame."

It was near the ringing of matin-bell,
The night was well-nigh done,
When the lady looked through the chamber fair,
On the eve of good St. John.

The lady looked through the chamber fair,
By the light of a dying flame;
And she was aware of a knight stood there—
Sir Richard of Coldinghame.

"By Eildon-tree for long nights three,
In bloody grave have I lain,
The Mass and the death-prayer are said for me,
But, lady, they are said in vain.

"By the baron's hand, near Tweed's fair stand,
Most foully slain I fell;
And my restless sprite on the beacon's height,
For a space is doom'd to dwell."

He laid his left palm on an oaken beam,
His right upon her hand;
The lady shrunk, and fainting sunk,
For it scorched like a fiery brand.

THE BEQUEST OF A SOUL, IN PURGATORY.

[From "A Collection of Spiritual Hymns and Songs on Various Religious
Subjects," published by Chalmers & Co., of Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1802.
Its quaint and touching simplicity, redolent of old-time faith, will
commend it to the reader]

From lake where water does not go,
A prisoner of hope below,
To mortal ones I push my groans,
In hopes they'll pity me.

O mortals that still live above,
Your faith, hope, prayers, and alms, and love,
Still merit place With God's sweet grace;
O faithful, pity me.

My fervent groans don't merit here,
Strict justice only doth appear,
My smallest faults,
And needless talks Heap chains and flames on me.

Though mortal guilt doth not remain,
I still am due the temp'ral pain, I did delay
To satisfy,
Past coldness scorcheth me.

Tepidity and good works done
With imperfections mixt, here come;
All these neglects
And least defects,—
Great anguish bring on me.

Though my defects here be not spared,
Yet endless glory for me's prepared,
I love in flames,
And hope in chains;
O friends, then, pity me!

My God, my Father, is most dear,
For me your sighs and prayers He'll hear;
Though just laws scourge,
His mercies urge,
That you would pity me.

Through pains and flames
I'll come to Him,
They purge me both from stain and sin;
When I'm set free,
Their friends I'll be
Who now do pity me.

The smallest thing that could defile
Keeps me from bliss in this exile.
God loves to see
That you me free;
For His love pity me!

For me who alms give, fast, or pray,
Great store of grace will come their way;
Try this good thought—
Great help is brought,
And souls from sin set free.

If you for me now do not pray,
The utmost farthing I must pay;
The time is hid
That I'll be rid,
Unless you pity me.

In mortal sin who yields his breath,
Pray not for him behind his death.
All mortal crime
I quit in time;
O faithful, pity me!

For me good works may be practised,
Thus some were for the dead baptized.
Suet pains endure
For me, and sure
You'll help and pity me!

For his good friend, as Scriptures say,
Onesiphorus, Paul did pray, [1]
His words, you see,
Urge, then, for me;
And thus you'll pity me.

[Footnote 1: II. Tim., i. 16, 18.]

This third place clear in writ you spy,
Where all your works the fire will try,
From death game rose,
Sure then all those
From third place were set free.

In hell there's no redemption found;
God ne'er degrades whom
He once crowned—These judgments both
Confirmed by oath
And absolute decree.

For all the Saints prayer should be made,
Who stand in need, alive or dead.
I stand in need
That you with speed
Should help and pity me.

In presence of our sweetest Lord,
For dead they, prayed, as all accord.
Christ did not blame
What I now claim;
Oh! haste and pity me!

To a third place Christ's soul did go.
And preached to spirits there below;
This in the Creed
And Writ you read,
That you may pity me.

When Christ on earth would stay no more,
These captives freed He brought to glore;
There I will be,
And soon set free,
If you would pity me.

Mind, then, Communion of the Saints;
All should supply each other's wants:
In pains and chains,
And scorching flames,
I languish; pity me!

Eternal rest, eternal glore,
Eternal light, eternal store,
To them accord,
O sweetest Lord!
There's mercy still with Thee!

Let mercy stay Thy just revenge,
Their scorching flames to glory change;
The precious flood
Of Thine own blood
For them we offer Thee!

ALL SOULS.

BY MARION MUIR.

FOR all the cold and silent clay
That once, alive with youth and hope,
Rushed proudly to the western slope-
O brothers, pray!

For all who saw the orient day
Rise on the plain, the camp, the flood,
The sudden discord drowned in blood-
O brothers, pray!

For all the lives that ebbed away
In darkness down the gulf of tears;
For all the gray departed years-
O brothers, pray!

For all the souls that went astray
In deserts hung with double gloom;
For all the dead without a tomb-
O brothers, pray!

For we have household peace; but they
Who led the way, and held the land,
Are homeless as the heaving sand-
Oh! let us pray!

THE DEAD.

(From the French of Octave Cremacie.)

ANNA T. SADLIER.

O dead, ye sleep within your tranquil graves;
No more ye bear the burden that enslaves
Us in this world of ours.
For you outshine no stars, no storms rave loud,
No buds has spring, the horizon no cloud,
The sun marks not the hours.

The while, with anxious thought oppress'd, we go,
Each weary day but bringing deeper woe,
Silently and alone
Ye list the sanctuary chant arise,
That downwards first to you, remounts the skies,
Sweet pity's monotone.

The vain delights whereto our souls incline,
Are naught beside the prayer to love divine,
Alms-giving of the heart,
Which reaching to you warms your chilly dust
And brings your name enshrined a sacred trust,
Swift to the throne of God!

Alas! love's warmest memory will fade
Within the heart, ere yet the mourning shade
Has ceased to mark the garb.
Forgetfulness, our meed to you, outweighs
The leaded coffin as it dully lays
Upon your lifeless bones.

Our selfish hearts but to the present look,
And see in you the pages of a book
Now laid aside long read.
For loving in our fev'rish joy or pain
But those who serve our hate, pride, love of gain,
No more can serve the dead.

To cold ambition or to joy's sweet store,
Ye dusty corpses minister no more,
We give to you neglect.
Nor reck we of that suff'ring world's pale bourne
Where you beyond the bridgeless barrier mourn
O'erpast the wall of death.

'Tis said that when our coldness grieves you sore,
Ye quit betimes that solitude's cold shore
Where ye forsaken dwell,
And flit about in darkness' sad constraint,
The while from spectral lips your mournful plaint
Upon the winds outswell.

When nightingales their woodland nests have left,
The autumn sky of gray, white-capped, cloud-reft,
Prepares the shroud which Winter soon shall spread
On frozen fields; there comes a day thrice blest,
When earth forgetting, all our musings rest
On those who are no more the dreamless dead.

The dead their graves forsake upon this day,
As we have seen doves mount with joyous grace,
Escape an instant from their prison drear,
Their coming brings us no repellent fear.
Their mien is dreamy, passing sweet their face,
Their fixed and hollow eyes cannot betray.

When spectral coming thus unseen they gaze
On crowds who, kneeling in the temple, pray
Forgiveness for them, one faint, joyful ray,
As light upon the opal, glittering plays,
On faces pale and calm an instant rests,
And brings a moment's warmth to clay-cold breasts.

They, the elect of God, with souls of saints,
Who bear each destined load without complaints,

Who walk all day beneath God's watching eye,
And sleep the night 'neath angels' ministry,
Nor made the sport of visions that arise
To show th' abyss of fire to dreaming eyes.

All they who while on earth, the pure of heart,
The heav'nly echoes hear, and who in part
Make smooth for man rude ways he has to tread,
And knowing earthly vanity, outspread
Their virtue like a carpet rich and rare,
And walk o'er evil, touching it nowhere.

When come sad guests from off that suff'ring shore,
Which Dante saw in dream sublime of yore,
Appearing midst us here that day most blessed,
'Tis but to those; for they alone have guessed
The secrets of the grave; alone they understand
The pallid mendicants, who ask for heav'n.

Of Israel's King the psalms, inspired cries,
With Job's sublime distress, commingled rise;
The sanctuary sobs them through the naves
While wak'ning subtle fear, the bell's deep toll
With fun'ral sounds, demanding pity's dole
For wand'ring ghosts, as countless as the waves.

Give on this day, when over all the earth
The Church to God makes moan for parted worth;
Your own remorse, regret at least to calm
Awak'ning memory's dying flame, give balm,
Flow'rs for their graves, and prayer for each loved soul,
Those gifts divine can yet the dead console.

Pray for your friends, and for your mother pray,
Who made less drear for you life's desert way,
For all the portions of your heart that lie
Shut in the tomb, alas, each youthful tie
Is lost within the coffin's close constraint,
Where, prey of worms, the dead send up their plaint

For exiles far from home and native land,
Who dying hear no voice, nor touch no hand
In life alone, more lonely still in death.
With none for their repose, to breathe one prayer,
Cast alms of tears upon an alien grave,
Or heed the stranger lonely even there;

For those whose wounded souls when here below,
But anxious thought and bitter fancies know,
With days all joyless, nights of dull unrest;
For those who in night's calm find all so blest
And meet, in place of hope with morning beams,
A horrid wak'ning to their golden dreams;

For all the pariahs of human kind
Who, heavy burdens bearing, find
How high the steeps of human woe they scale.
Oh, let your heart some off'ring make to these,
One pious thought, one holy word of peace,
Which shall twixt them and God swift rend the veil.

The tribute bring of prayers and holy tears,
That when your hour draws nigh of nameless fears,
When reached their term shall be your numbered days,
Your name made known above with grateful praise,
By those whose suff'rings it was yours to end,
Arriving there find welcome as a friend!

Your loving tribute, white-winged angels take,
Ere bearing it unto eternal spheres,
An instant lay it on the grass-grown graves,
While dying flow'rs in church-yards raise each head
To life, refreshed by breath of prayer, awake
And shed their fragrance on the sleeping dead.

A REQUIEM.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

No sound was made, no word was spoke,
Till noble Angus silence broke;
And he a solemn sacred plight
Did to St. Bryde of Douglas make,
That he a pilgrimage would take
To Melrose Abbey, for the sake
Of Michael's restless sprite.
Then each, to ease his troubled breast,
To some blessed saint his prayers addressed-
Some to St. Modan made their vows,
Some to St. Mary of the Lowes,
Some to the Holy Rood of Lisle,
Some to our Lady of the Isle;
Each did his patron witness make,
That he such pilgrimage would take,
And monks should sing, and bells should toll,
All for the weal of Michael's soul,
While vows were ta'en, and prayers were prayed.

Most meet it were to mark the day
Of penitence and prayer divine,
When pilgrim-chiefs, in sad array,
Sought Melrose, holy shrine.
With naked foot, and sackcloth vest,
And arms enfolded on his breast,
Did every pilgrim go;
The standers-by might hear aneath,
Footstep, or voice, or high-drawn breath.
Through all the lengthened row;
No lordly look, no martial stride,
Gone was their glory, sunk their pride,

Forgotten their renown;
Silent and slow, like ghosts, they glide,
To the high altar's hallowed side,
And there they kneeled them down;
Above the suppliant chieftains wave
The banners of departed brave;
Beneath the lettered stones were laid
The ashes of their fathers dead;
From many a garnished niche around,
Stern saint and tortured martyr frowned,
And slow up the dim aisle afar,
With sable cowl and scapular,
And snow-white stoles, in order due,
The holy Fathers, two and two,
In long procession came;
Taper, and host, and book they bare,
And holy banner, flourished fair
With the Redeemer's name;
Above the prostrate pilgrim band
The mitred Abbot stretched his hand,
And blessed them as they kneeled;
With holy cross he signed them all,
And prayed they might be sage in hall,
And fortunate in field.

The Mass was sung, and prayers were said,
And solemn requiem for the dead;
And bells tolled out their mighty peal,
For the departed spirit's weal;
And ever in the office close
The hymn of intercession rose;
And far the echoing aisles prolong
The awful burthen of the song—
Dies Irae, Dies Illa,
Salvet SÆlum in Favilla;
While the pealing organ rung,
Thus the holy father sung:

HYMN FOR THE DEAD.

The day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?
When, shrivelling like a parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll;
While louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead;
O! on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay,
Be Thou the trembling sinner's stay,
Though heaven and earth shall pass away.

THE PENANCE OF ROBERT THE DEVIL.

COLLIN DE PLANCY.

In Normandy, the most sinister associations still remain connected withthe name of Robert the Devil. By the people, who change historicaldetails, but yet preserve the moral thereof, it is believed that Robertis undergoing his penance here below, on the theatre of his crimes, andthat, after a thousand years, it is not yet ended. Messrs. Taylor andCharles Nodier have mentioned this tradition in their "VoyagePittoresque de l'Ancienne France" ("Picturesque Journey through OldFrance").

"On the left shore of the Seine," say they, "not far from Moulineaux,are seen the colossal ruins, which are said to be the remains of thecastle, or fortress, of Robert the Devil. Vague recollections, aballad, some shepherd's tales—these are all the chronicles of thoseimposing ruins. Nevertheless, the fame of Robert the Devil's doingsstill survives in the country which he inhabited. His very name stillexcites that sentiment of fear which ordinarily results only fromrecent impressions.

"In the vicinity of the castle of Robert the Devil every one knows hismisdeeds, his violent conquests, and the rigor of his penance. Thecries of his victims still reecho through the vaults, and come toterrify himself in his nocturnal wanderings, for Robert is condemned tovisit the ruins and the dungeons of his castle.

"Sometimes, if the old traditions of the country are to be believed,Robert has been seen, still clad in the loose tunic of a hermit, as onthe day of his burial, wandering in the neighborhood of his castle, andvisiting, barefoot and bareheaded, the little corner of the plain wherethe cemetery must have been. Sometimes, a shepherd straying through theadjoining copse in search of his flock, scattered by an evening storm,has been frightened by the fearful aspect of the phantom, seen by theglare of the lightning, flitting about amongst the graves. He has heardhim, in the pauses of the tempest, imploring the pity of their muteinhabitants; and on the morrow he shunned the place in horror, becausethe earth, freshly turned up, had opened on every side to terrify themurderer."

But there is another tradition which we cannot omit.

A band of those Northmen who, during the troubled reign of Charles III.of France—without any sufficient reason called Charles the Simple—hadinvaded that part of Neustria where Robert the Devil was born; a groupof these fierce warriors were one evening warming themselves around afire of brambles, and, joyous in a country more genial than their own,they sang, to a wild melody, the great deeds of their princes, whenthey saw, leaning against the trunk of a tree, an old man poorly clad,and of a sad, yet resigned aspect. They called to him as he passedalong before the fortress of Robert the Devil, then only half ruined.

"Good man," said they, "sing us some song of this country."

The old man, advancing slowly, chanted in an humble yet manly voice,the beautiful prose of St. Stephen. It told how the first of themartyrs paid homage till the end to Jesus Christ, Our Lord; and how,expiring under their blows, he besought Heaven to forgive hismurderers.

But this hymn displeased the rude band, who began brutally to insultthe old man. The latter fell on one knee and uttered no complaint.

At this moment appeared a young man, before whom all the soldiers roseto their feet. His lofty mien and his tone of authority indicated theson of a mighty lord.

"You who insult a defenceless old man," said he, "your conduct is baseand cowardly. Away with you! those who insult women or old men areunworthy to march with the brave. For you, good old man, come and sharemy meal. It is for the chief to repair the wrong-doings of those hecommands."

"Young man," said the stranger, "what you have just done is pleasing toGod, who loveth justice; but it concerneth not me, who can bear no ill-will to any one."

He then told his name; related the hideous story of his crimes, thenhis conversion through the prayers of his mother, and his penance,which was to last yet a long time. He showed how the grace of faith andof repentance had entered into his heart.

"Exhausted with emotion," said he, "I sat down on a stone amid someruins; I slept. Oh! blessed be my good angel for having sent me thatsleep! Scarcely had I closed mine eyes when I had a vision. It seemedto me that the mountain on which rises the Castle of Moulinets dartedup to heaven and formed a staircase. Up the steps went slowly a crowdof phantoms, in which I, alas! recognized my crimes. There were womenand young maidens, whose death was my doing, hardworking vassalsdishonored, old men driven from their dwellings, and forced to ask thebread of charity. I saw thus ascending not only men, but things, housesburned, crops destroyed, flocks, the hope and the care of a whole lifeof toil, sacrificed at a moment in some wild revel.

"And I saw an angel rising rapidly. Then did my limbs quiver like theleaves of the aspen. I said to that ascending angel:

"'Whither goest thou?' He answered: 'I bring thy crimes before the
Lord, that they may bear testimony against thee.'

"Then all my members became as it were burning grass. 'O good angel!' Icried, 'could I not at least efface some of these images?' He replied:'All, if thou wilt.' 'And how?' 'Confess them; the breath of thy avowalwill disperse them. Weep them in penance, and thy tears will effaceeven the traces thereof.'"

The old man then told how he had made his confession, and what penancehe did, wandering about in rags, without other food than that which heshared with the dogs.

"I had known," he added, "all the pleasures of the earth, and had knownsome of its joys. But I found them still more in the miseries, thelife-long fatigue, the hard humiliations of penance, because they wereexpiating my faults. Thus, then, O strangers, whatever fate Heaven maydecree for you, if you desire happiness, find Our Lord Jesus Christ,and practice His justice."

The old man was silent; the barbarians remained motionless. He,however, taking the young chief by the hand, led him to the esplanadeof the castle, and showing him all that vast country which is wateredby the Seine: "Young man," said he, "for as much as thou hast protecteda poor old man, God will reward the noble heart within thee. Thou seestthese lands so rich—they were once mine; and even now, after God, theyhave no other lawful owner. I give them to thee; make faith and equityreign there. I will rejoice in thy reign."

Now this chief, to whom the penitent Robert thus bequeathed his faithand his inheritance, was Rollo, first Duke of the Normans.

ALL SOULS' EVE.

Where the tombstones gray and browned,
And the broken roods around,
And the vespers' solemn sound,
Told an old church near;
I sat me in the eve,
And I let my fancy weave
Such a vision as I leave
With a frail pen here.

Methought I heard a trail
Like to slowly-falling hail
And the sadly-plaintive wail
Of a misty file of souls,
As they glided o'er the grass,
Sighing low: "Alas! alas!
How the laggard moments pass
In purgatorial doles!"

Through their garments' glancing sheen,
As if nothing were between,
Pierced the moon's benignant beam
To a grove of stunted pines;
In whose distant lightsome shade,
With their gilded coats arrayed,

Danced a fairy cavalcade,
To a fairy poet's rhymes.

Then a cloud obscured the moon,
And the fairy dance and rune
Faded down behind the gloom
Which along the upland fell,
And my ears could only hear,
In the church-yard lone and drear,
The tinkle soft and clear
Of the morning Mass's bell.
It eddied through the air,
And it seemed to call to prayer
All the waiting spirits there
Which the moon's beams showed,
But each tinkle sank to die
In a heart-distressing sigh,
And no worshippers drew nigh
With the penitential word.

Mute as statue, on each knoll
Stood a thin, transparent soul,
While the fresh breeze stole
From its long night's rest,
Till it bore upon its tongue,
Like a snatch of sacred song,
All the peopled graves among,
Ite Missa est!

Then a cry, as Angels raise
In an ecstasy of praise,
When the Godhead's glowing rays
To their eager sight is given,
Shook the consecrated ground,
And the souls it lost were found
From their venial sins unbound,
In the happy fields of heaven!

Where the tombstones gray and browned,
And the broken roods around,
And the vespers' solemn sound,
Told an old church near;
I sat me in the eve,
And I let my fancy weave
Such a vision as I leave
With a frail pen here.

ELEVENTH MONTH, NOVEMBER: THE HOLY SOULS.

COMMEMORATION OF ALL SOULS.

HARRIET M. SKIDMORE.

O faithful church! O tender mother-heart,
That, 'neath the shelter of thy deathless love,
Shieldest the blood-bought charge thy Master gave;
Laving the calm, unfurrowed infant brow
With the pure wealth of Heaven's cleansing stream;
Breathing above the sinner's grief-bowed head
The mystic words that loose the demon-spell,
And bid the leprous soul be clean again;
Decking the upper chamber of the heart
For the blest banquet of the Lord of love;
Binding upon the youthful warrior's breast
The buckler bright, the sacred shield of strength,
The fair, celestial gift of Pentecost,
Borne on the pinions of the holy Dove!
And when, at last, life's sunset hour is near,
And the worn pilgrim-feet stand trembling on
The shadowy borders of the death-dark vale,
At thy command the priestly hand bestows
The potent unction in the saving Name,
And gives unto the parched and pallid lip
The blest Viaticum, the Bread of Life,
As staff and stay for that drear pilgrimage!
Thy prayers ascend, with magic incense-breath,
From the lone couch, where, fainting by the way,
The frail companion of the deathless soul
Parteth in pain from its immortal guest.
And when, at last, the golden chain is loosed,
And through the shadows of that mystic vale
The ransomed captive floateth swiftly forth,
In solemn tones thy De Profundis rings
O'er all the realms of vast eternity;
Thy tender litanies call gently down
The angel-guides, the white-robed band of Saints,
To lead the wanderer to "the great White Throne,"
To plead, with Heaven's own pitying tenderness,
For life and mercy at the judgment-seat.
The account is given, the saving sentence breathed,
Yet He who said that nought by sin defiled
Can take at once its blessed place amid
The spotless legion of His shining Saints,
Will find, upon the white baptismal robe,
Full many a blemish; stains too lightly held,
Half-cleansed by an imperfect sorrow's flood.
"The Christian shall be saved, yet as by fire;"
So, to the pain-fraught, purifying flame
The robe is given, till every blighting spot
Hath faded from its primal purity;
Still, faithful Church, thy blest Communion binds
Each suffering child unto thy mother's heart.
Full well thou know'st the wondrous power of prayer—
That 'tis a holy and a wholesome thought
To plead for those who in the drear abode
Of penance linger, "that they may be loosed
From all their sins;" that on each spotless brow
Love's shining hand may place the starry crown.
And so the holy Sacrifice ascends,
A sweet oblation for that wailing band
Thy regal form in mourning hues is draped,
Thy pleading Miserere ceaseth not
Till, at its blest entreaty, Love descends,
As erst, from His rent tomb, to Limbo's realm,
And leads again the freed, exultant throng,
Within the gleaming gates of gold and pearl,
To bask in fadeless splendor, where the flow
Of the "still waters" by the "pastures green"
Faints not, nor slackens, through the endless years.
O Christians, brethren by that holy tie
That links the living with the ransomed dead!
Children of one fond mother are ye all,
White-robed in heaven, militant on earth,
And sufferers 'mid the purifying flame.
O ye who tread the highway of our world,
Join now your voices with that mother's sigh!
And while the mournful autumn wind laments,
And sad November's ceaseless tear-drops fall
Upon "the Silent City's" marble roofs,
O'er lonely graves amid the pathless wild,
Or where the wayworn pilgrim sank to rest
In some lone cavern by the crested sea—
List to the pleading wail that e'er ascends
From the dark land of suffering and woe:
"Our footsteps trod your fair, sun-lighted paths,
Our voices mingled in your joyous songs,
Our tears were blended in one common grief;
Perchance our erring hearts' excessive love
For you, the worshipped idols of our lives,
Hath been the blemish on our bridal robes.
Plead for us, then, and let your potent prayer
Unlock the golden gates, that we who beat
Our eager wings against these prison bars,
May wing our flight to endless liberty!"

THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD.

FATHER FABER

[This poem scarcely comes within the scope of the present work, yet itis, by its nature, so closely connected therewith, and is, moreover, soexquisitely tender and pathetic, so beautiful in its mournfulsimplicity, that I decided on giving it a place amongst these funerealfragments.]

Oh! it is sweet to think
Of those that are departed,
While murmured Aves sink
To silence tender-hearted—
While tears that have no pain
Are tranquilly distilling,
And the dead live again
In hearts that love is filling.

Yet not as in the days
Of earthly ties we love them;
For they are touched with rays
From light that is above them;
Another sweetness shines
Around their well-known features;
God with His glory signs
His dearly-ransomed creatures.

Yes, they are more our own,
Since now they are God's only;
And each one that has gone
Has left one heart less lonely.
He mourns not seasons fled,
Who now in Him possesses
Treasures of many dead
In their dear Lord's caresses.

Dear dead! they have become
Like guardian angels to us;
And distant Heaven like home,
Through them begins to woo us;
Love that was earthly, wings
Its flight to holier places;
The dead are sacred things
That multiply our graces.

They whom we loved on earth
Attract us now to Heaven;
Who shared our grief and mirth
Back to us now are given.
They move with noiseless foot
Gravely and sweetly round us,
And their soft touch hath cut
Full many a chain that bound us.

O dearest dead! to Heaven
With grudging sighs we gave you;
To Him—be doubts forgiven!
Who took you there to save you:—
Now get us grace to love
Your memories yet more kindly,
Pine for our homes above
And trust to God more blindly.

THE HOLY SOULS.

WRITTEN FOR MUSIC BY THE AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS."

O Mary, help of sorrowing hearts,
Look down with pitying eye
Where souls the spouses of thy Son,
In fiery torments lie;
Far from the presence of their Lord
The purging debt they pay,
In prisons through whose gloomy shades
There shines no cheering ray.

The fire of love is in their hearts,
Its flame burns fierce and keen;
They languish for His Blessed Face,
For one brief moment seen;
Prisoners of hope, their joy is there
To wait His Holy Will,
And, patient in the cleansing flames,
Their penance to fulfil.

But dark the gloom where smile of thine,
Sweet Mother, may not fall,
Oh, hear us, when for these dear souls
Thy loving aid we call!
Thou art the star whose gentle beam
Sheds joy upon the night,
Oh, let its shining pierce their gloom
And give them peace and light.

The sprinkling of the Precious Blood
From thy dear hand must come,
Quench with its drops their cruel flames,
And call them to their home;
Freed from their pains, and safe with thee,
In Jesu's presence blest,
Oh, may the dead in Christ receive
Eternal light and rest!

THE PALMER'S ROSARY.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

No coral beads on costly chain of gold
The Palmer's pious lips at Vespers told;
No guards of art could Pilgrim's favor win,
Who only craved release from earth and sin.
He from the Holy Land his rosary brought;
From sacred olive wood each bead was wrought,
Whose grain was nurtured, ages long ago,
By blood the Saviour sweated in His woe;
Then on the Holy Sepulchre was laid
This crown of roses from His passion made;
The Sepulchre from which the Lord of all
Arose from death's dark bed and icy thrall.

Yet not complete that wreath of joy and pain,
Which for the dead must sweet indulgence gain;
The pendant cross, on which with guileless art,
Some hand had graved what touches every heart,
The image of the Lamb for sinners slain,
From Bethlehem's crib, now shrine, his prayers obtain;
And tears and kisses tell the holy tale
Of pilgrim love and penitential wail.

The love, the tears, which fed his pious flame,
May well be thine, my heart, in very same;
Since bead and cross, by Palmer prized so well,
At vesper-hour, these fingers softly tell,
And press, through them, each dear and sacred spot
Where God once walked, "yet men received Him not."
And still, with pious Palmer gray, of yore,
Thy lips can kiss the ground He wet with gore,
Still at the Sepulchre with her delay,
Who found Him risen ere the break of day;
And hover round the crib with meek delight
Where shepherds hasted from their flocks by night,
To there adore Him whom a Virgin blessed,
Bore in her arms and nourished at her breast.
My Rosary dear! my Bethlehem Cross so fair!

No rose, no lily can with thee compare;
No gems, no gold, no art, or quaint device
Could be my precious Rosary's priceless price;
For Heaven's eternal joys at holier speed,
I trust to win through every sacred bead;
And still for suffering souls obtain release
From cleansing fires to everlasting peace.

A LYKE WAKE DIRGE.

[From Sir Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Border," we take thisfragment. The dirge to which the eminent author alludes in a before-quoted extract from his work, and which he erroneously styles "acharm," is here given in full. The reader will observe that it partakesnot the least of the nature of a charm. It would seem to have someanalogy with the "Keen," or Wail of the Irish peasantry.]

This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle;
Fire and sleet, and candle lighte,
And Christe receive thye saule.

When thou from hence away are paste,
Every nighte and alle;
To Whinny-muir thou comest at laste;
And Christe receive thye saule.

If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon;
Every nighte and alle;
Sit thee down and put them on;
And Christe receive thye saule.
If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gavest nane,
Every nighte and alle,
The whinnes shall pricke thee to the bare bane;
And Christe receive thye saule.

From Whinny-muir, when thou mayest passe,
Every nighte and alle;
To Brig o' Dread thou comest at laste;
And Christe receive thye saule.

From Brig o' Dread when thou mayest passe,
Every nighte and alle;
To Purgatory fire thou comest at laste;
And Christe receive thye saule.

If ever thou gavest meat or drink,
Every nighte and alle,
The fire shall never make thee shrinke;
And Christe receive thye saule.

If meat or drink thou never gavest nane,
Every nighte and alle;
The fire will burn thee to the bare bane;
And Christe receive thye saule.

This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle;
Fire and sleet, and candle lighte,
And Christe receive thye saule.

ALL SOULS' DAY.

SECOND VESPERS OF ALL SAINTS.

From "Lyra Liturgica."

What means this veil of gloom
Drawn o'er the festive scene;
The solemn records of the tomb
Where holy mirth hath been:
As if some messenger of death should fling
His tale of woe athwart some nuptial gathering?

Our homage hath been given
With gladsome voice to them
Who fought, and won, and wear in heaven
Christ's robe and diadem;
Now to the suffering Church we must descend,
Our "prisoners of hope" with succor to befriend.

They will not strive nor cry,
Nor make their pleading known;
Meekly and patiently they lie,
Speaking with God alone;
And this the burden of their voiceless song,
Wafted from age to age, "How long, O Lord, how long?"

O blessed cleansing pain!
Who would not bear thy load,
Where every throb expels a stain,
And draws us nearer GOD?
Faith's firm assurance makes all anguish light,
With earth behind, and heaven fast opening on the sight.

Yet souls that nearest come
To their predestin'd gain,
Pant more and more to reach their home:
Delay is keenest pain
To those that all but touch the wish'd for shore,
Where sin, and grief that comes of sin, shall fret no more.

And O—O charity,
For sweet remembrance sake,
These souls, to God so very nigh,
Into your keeping take!
Speed them by sacrifice and suffrage, where
They burn to pour for you a more prevailing prayer.

They were our friends erewhile,
Co-heirs of saving grace;
Co-partners of our daily toil,
Companions in our race;
We took sweet counsel in the house of God,
And sought a common rest along a common road.

And had their brethren car'd
To keep them just and pure,
Perchance their pitying God had spar'd,
The pains they now endure.
What if to fault of ours those pains be due,
To ill example shown, or lack of counsel true?

Alas, there are who weep
In fierce, unending flame,
Through sin of those on earth that sleep,
Regardless of their shame;
Or who, though they repent, too sadly know
No help of theirs can cure or soothe their victim's woe.

Thanks to our God who gives,
In fruitful Mass or prayer,
To many a friend that dies, yet lives,
A salutary share;
Nor stints our love, though cords of sense be riven,
Nor bans from hope the soul that is not ripe for heaven.

Feast of the Holy Dead!
Great Jubilee of grace!
When angel guards exulting lead
To their predestin'd place
Souls, that the Church shall loose from bonds to-day
In every clime that basks beneath her genial sway.

THE SUFFERING SOULS.

BY E. M. V. BULGER.

It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.—II Mac. xii.46.

In some quiet hour at the close of day,
When your work is finished and laid away,
Think of the suffering souls, and pray.

Think of that prison of anguish and pain,
Where even the souls of the Saints remain,
Till cleansed by fire from the slightest stain.

Think of the souls who were dear to you
When this life held them; still be true,
And pray for them now; it is all you can do.

Think of the souls who are lonely there,
With no one, perchance, to offer a prayer
That God may have pity on them and spare.

Think of the souls that have longest lain
In that place of exile and of pain,
Suffering still for some uncleansed stain.

Think of the souls who, perchance, may be
On the very threshold of liberty—
One "Ave Maria" may set them free!

Oh, then, at the close of each passing day,
When your work is finished and folded away,
Think of the suffering souls, and pray!

Think of their prison, so dark and dim,
Think of their longing to be with Him
Whose praises are sung by the cherubim!

As you tell the beads of your Rosary,
Ask God's sweet Mother their mother to be;
Her immaculate hands hold Heaven's key.

Oh, how many souls are suffering when
You whisper "Hail Mary" again and again,
May see God's face as you say "Amen!"

—Ave Maria, November 24, 1883.

THE VOICES OF THE DEAD.

'Twas the hour after sunset,
And the golden light had paled;
The heavy foliage of the woods
Were all in shadow veiled.

Yet a witchery breathed through the soft twilight,
A thought of the sun that was set,
And a soft and mystic radiance
Through the heavens hung lingering yet.

The purple hills stood clear and dark
Against the western sky,
And the wind came sweeping o'er the grass
With a wild and mournful cry:

It swept among the grass that grows
Above the quiet grave,
And stirred the boughs of the linden-trees
That o'er the church-yard wave.

And the low murmur of the leaves
All softly seemed to say,

"It is a good and wholesome thought
For the dead in Christ to pray."

Earth's voices all are low and dim;
But a human heart is there,
With psalms and words of holy Church,
To join in Nature's prayer.

A Monk is pacing up and down;
His prayers like incense rise;
Ever a sweet, sad charm for him
Within that church-yard lies.

Each morning when from Mary's tower
The sweet-toned Ave rings,
This herdsman of the holy dead
A Mass of Requiem sings.

And when upon the earth there falls
The hush of eventide,
A dirge he murmurs o'er the graves
Where they slumber side by side.

"Eternal light shine o'er them, Lord!
And may they rest in peace!"
His matins all are finished now,
And his whispered accents cease.

But, hark! what sound is that which breaks
The stillness of the hour?
Is it the ivy as it creeps
Against the gray church tower?

Is it the sound of the wandering breeze,
Or the rustling of the grass,
Or the stooping wing of the evening birds
As home to their nests they pass?
No; 'tis a voice like one in dreams,
Half solemn and half sad,
Freed from the weariness of earth,
Not yet with glory clad;

Full of the yearning tenderness
Which nought but suffering gives;
Too sad for angel-tones—too full
Of rest for aught that lives.

They are the Voices of the Dead
From the graves that lie around,
And the Monk's heart swells within his breast,
As he listens to the sound.

"Amen! Amen!" the answer comes
Unto his muttered prayer;
"Amen!" as though the brethren all
In choir were standing there.

The living and departed ones
On earth are joined again,
And the bar that shuts them from his ken
For a moment parts in twain.

Over the gulf that yawns beneath,
Their echoed thanks he hears
For the Masses he has offered up,
For his orisons and tears.

And as the strange responsory
Mounts from the church-yard sod,
Their mingled prayers and answers rise
Unto the throne of God. [1]

[Footnote 1: There is a story recorded of St. Birstan, Bishop ofWinchester, who died about the year of Christ 944, how he was wontevery day to say Mass and Matins for the dead; and one evening, as hewalked in the church-yard, reciting his said Matins, when he came tothe Requiescat in Pace, the voices in the graves round about himmade answer aloud, and said, "Amen, Amen!"—From the "EnglishMartyrology" for October 22]

—M. R., in "The Lamp," Oct. 31, 1863.

THE CONVENT CEMETERY.

REV. ABRAM J. RYAN.

[This is an extract from Father Ryan's poem, "Their Story Runneth
Thus."]

And years and years, and weary years passed on
Into the past; one autumn afternoon,
When flowers were in their agony of death,
And winds sang "De Profundis" o'er them,
And skies were sad with shadows, he did walk
Where, in a resting-place as calm as sweet,
The dead were lying down; the autumn sun
Was half-way down the west—the hour was three,
The holiest hour of all the twenty-four,
For Jesus leaned His head on it, and died.
He walked alone amid the Virgins' graves,
Where calm they slept—a convent stood near by,
And from the solitary cells of nuns
Unto the cells of death the way was short.

Low, simple stones and white watched o'er each grave,
While in the hollows 'twixt them sweet flowers grew,
Entwining grave with grave. He read the names
Engraven on the stones, and "Rest in peace"
Was written 'neath them all, and o'er each name
A cross was graven on the lowly stone.
He passed each grave with reverential awe,
As if he passed an altar, where the Host
Had left a memory of its sacrifice.
And o'er the buried virgin's virgin dust
He walked as prayerfully as though he trod
The holy floor of fair Loretto's shrine.
He passed from grave to grave, and read the names
Of those whose own pure lips had changed the names
By which this world had known them into names
Of sacrifice known only to their God;
Veiling their faces they had veiled their names.
The very ones who played with them as girls,
Had they passed there, would know no more than he,
Or any stranger, where their playmates slept.
And then he wondered all about their lives, their hearts,
Their thoughts, their feelings, and their dreams,
Their joys and sorrows, and their smiles and tears.
He wondered at the stories that were hid
Forever down within those simple graves.

ONE HOUR AFTER DEATH.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

Oh! I could envy thee thy solemn sleep,
Thy sealed lid, thy rosary-folding palm,
Thy brow, scarce cold, whose wasted outlines keep
The "Bona Mors" sublime, unfathomed calm.

I sigh to wear myself that burial robe
Anointed hands have blessed with pious care:
What nuptial garb on all this mortal globe
Could with thy habit's peaceful brown compare?

Beneath its hallowed folds thy feeble dust
Shall rest serenely through the night of time;
Unharmed by worm, or damp, or century's rust,
But, fresh as youth, shall greet th' eternal prime

Of that clear morn, before whose faintest ray
Earth's bliss will pale, a taper's flickering gleam;
I see it break! the pure, celestial day,
And stars of mortal hope already dim.

"In pace" Lord, oh! let her sweetly rest
In Paradise, this very day with Thee:
Her faithful lips her dying Lord confessed,
Then let her soul Thy risen glory see!

A PRAYER FOR THE DEAD.

T. D. MCGEE.

Let us pray for the dead!
For sister and mother,
Father and brother,
For clansman and fosterer,
And all who have loved us here;
For pastors, for neighbors,
At rest from their labors;
Let us pray for our own beloved dead!
That their souls may be swiftly sped
Through the valley of purgatorial fire,
To a heavenly home by the gate called Desire!

I see them cleave the awful air,
Their dun wings fringed with flame;
They hear, they hear our helping prayer,
They call on Jesu's name.

Let us pray for the dead!
For our foes who have died,
May they be justified!
For the stranger whose eyes
Closed on cold alien skies;
For the sailors who perished
By the frail arts they cherished;
Let us pray for the unknown dead.

Father in heaven, to Thee we turn,
Transfer their debt to us;
Oh! bid their souls no longer burn
In mediate anguish thus.
Let us pray for the soldiers,
On whatever side slain;
Whose white bones on the plain
Lay unclaimed and unfathered,
By the vortex-wind gathered,
Let us pray for the valiant dead.

Oh! pity the soldier,
Kind Father in heaven,
Whose body doth moulder
Where his soul fled self-shriven.

We have prayed for the dead;
All the faithful departed,
Who to Christ were true-hearted;
And our prayers shall be heard,
For so promised the Lord;
And their spirits shall go
Forth from limbo-like woe—
And joyfully swift the justified dead
Shall feel their unbound pinions sped,
Through the valley of purgatorial fire,
To their heavenly home by the gate called Desire,

By the gate called Desire,
In clouds they've ascended—
O Saints, pray for us,
Now your sorrows are ended!

THE DE PROFUNDIS BELL. [1]

[Footnote 1: Among the many beautiful and pious customs of Catholiccountries, none appeals with more tender earnestness to the pityingheart than that of the De Profundis bell. While the shades ofnight are gathering over the earth, a solemn, dirge like tollingresounds from the lofty church towers. Instantly every knee is bent,and countless voices, in city and hamlet, from castle and cottage,repeat, with heartfelt earnestness, the beautiful psalm, "DeProfundis," or, "Out of the depths," etc., for the souls of thefaithful departed. Thus is illustrated, in a most touching manner, theblessed doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Thus does the ChurchMilitant clasp, each day anew, the holy tie which binds her to thesuffering Church of Purgation.

The compassionate heart of the Christian is stirred to its inmostdepths by the plaintive call of that warning bell; and as, in the holyhush of nightfall, he obeys its tender appeal, how fully does herealize that "it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for thedead."]

HARRIET M. SKIDMORE.

The day was dead; from purple summits faded
Its last resplendent ray,
And softly slept the wearied earth, o'ershaded
By twilight's dreamy gray;
Then flowed deep sound-waves o'er silence holy
Of nature's calm repose,

As from its lofty dome, outpealing slowly
Through the still gloaming, rose
The deep and dirge-like swell
Of De Profundis bell.

To heedful hearts each solemn cadence falling
Through twilight's misty veil,
An echo seemed of spirit-voices calling
With sad, beseeching wail;
And thus outspake the mournful intonation:
"Plead for us, brethren, plead!"
From the drear depths of woe and desolation
Our cry of bitter need
Floats upward in the swell
Of De Profundis bell.
Then bowed each knee, the plaintive summons heeding,
And rose the blended sigh.
As incense-breath of fond, united pleading
E'en to the throne on high:
"Hear, Lord, the cry of fervent supplication
Earth's children lift to Thee;
And from the depths of long and dread purgation
Thy faithful captives free,
Ere dies on earth the swell
Of De Profundis bell.

"If, in Thy sight, scarce e'en the perfect whiteness
Of seraph-robe is pure,
Shall mortals brave Thine eye's eternal brightness?
Shall man its search endure?
Ah! trusting hope may meet the dazzling splendor
Of those celestial rays,
For with Thee, Lord, is pardon sweet and tender,
When contrite sorrow prays.
Ay, Thou wilt lead, from desert-waste of sadness,
Thine Israel's chosen band;
And Miriam's song of pure, triumphant gladness
Shall, in Thy promised land,
Succeed the dirge-like swell
Of De Profundis bell."

NOVEMBER.

ANNA. T. SADLIER.

Robed in mourning, nave and chancel,
In the livery of the dead,
Hymns funereal are chanted.
Services sublime are read.

Sounds the solemn Dies Iræ,
Fraught with echoes from the day
When the majesty of Heaven
Shall appear in dread array.

Next the Gospel's weird recital,
Full of mystery and dread;
Holding message for the living,
Bringing tidings of the dead.

With its resurrection promised—
Resurrection unto life,
With its full and true fruition,
And immunity from strife.

Blest immunity from sorrow,
Primal man's unhappy dower;
While the evil shall find judgment
In the resurrection hour.

To the Lord, the King of Glory,
Goes the voiceless, tuneless prayer,
From the deep pit to deliver,
From eternal pains to spare.

All who wait the holy coming,
Wait the dawning of a day
That shall ope the gates of darkness,
Shall illume the watcher's way.
May the holy Michael lead them
To the fullness of the light
That of old, in prophet visions,
Burst on Adam's dazzled sight.

May they pass from death to living—
Message that the Master's voice
Gave to Abraham the faithful,
Bade his exiled soul rejoice.

May perpetual light descending
Touch their foreheads, dark with fear—
Dark with deadly torments suffered;
Sign them with the glory near!

May they rest, O Lord, forever
In a peace that, unexpressed,
Shall bestow upon the pilgrims
Dual crowns of light and rest!

Death's weird canticle is ringing
In its supplication strong—
In its far cry to the heavens,
Couched in wild, unearthly song.

Ay, this Libera o'ercomes us,
Requiem, at once, and dirge—
Makes this life with life immortal
In our consciousness to merge.

FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.

ANONYMOUS.

Ye souls of the faithful who sleep in the Lord,
But as yet are shut out from your final reward,
Oh! would I could lend you assistance to fly
From your prison below to your palace on high!

O Father of Mercies! Thine anger withhold,
These works of Thy hand in Thy mercy behold;
Too oft from Thy path they have wandered aside,
But Thee, their Creator, they never denied.

O tender Redeemer, their misery see,
Deliver the souls that were ransomed by Thee;
Behold how they love Thee, despite all their pain;
Restore them, restore them to favor again!

O Spirit of Grace! O Consoler divine!
See how for Thy presence they longingly pine;
Ah! then, to enliven their sadness descend,
And fill them with peace and with joy in the end!

O Mother of Mercy! dear soother in grief!
Send thou to their torments a balmy relief;
Oh! temper the rigor of justice severe,
And soften their flames with a pitying tear.

Ye Patrons, who watched o'er their safety below,
Oh! think how they need your fidelity now;
And stir all the Angels and Saints in the sky
To plead for the souls that upon you rely!

Ye friends, who once sharing their pleasure and pain,
Now hap'ly already in Paradise reign,
Oh! comfort their hearts with a whisper of love,
And call them to share in your pleasures above!
O Fountain of Goodness! accept of our sighs:
Let Thy mercy bestow what Thy justice denies;
So may Thy poor captives, released from their woes,
Thy praises proclaim, while eternity flows!

All ye who would honor the Saints and their Head,
Remember, remember to pray for the dead—
And they, in return, from their misery freed,
To you will be friends in the hour of your need!

—Garland of Flowers.

ALL SOULS' EVE.

'Twas All Souls' Eve; the lights in Notre Dame
Blazed round the altar; gloomy, in the midst,
The pall, with all its sable hangings, stood;
With torch and taper, priests were ranged around,
Chanting the solemn requiem of the dead;
And then along the aisles the distant lights
Moved slowly, two by two; the chapels shone
Lit as they pass'd in momentary glare;
Behind the fretted choir the yellow ray,
On either hand the altar, blazing fell.
She thought upon the multitude of souls
Dwelling so near and yet so separate.
With dawn she sought Saint Jacques; the altars there
Had each its priest; the black and solemn Mass,
The nodding feathers of the catafalque,
The flaring torches, and the funeral chant,
And intercessions for the countless souls
In Purgatory still. With pity new
The Pilgrim pray'd for the departed. Long
She knelt before the Blessed Sacrament,
Beside Our Lady's altar. Pictured there,
She saw, imprisoned in the forked flames,
The suffering souls who ask the alms of prayer;
Her taper small an aged peasant lit,
To burn before Our Lady, that her voice,
Mother of mercy as she is, might plead
For one who left her still on earth to pray.
. . . . . Sable veils
Soon hid the altars; all things spoke of death,
And realms where those who leave the upper air
Wait till the stains of sin are cleansed, and pant
Amid the thirsty flames for Paradise. [1]

[Footnote 1: These verses are taken from an anonymous metrical workcalled "The Pilgrim," published in England in 1867.]

OUR NEIGHBOR.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

Set it down gently at the altar rail,
The faithful, aged dust, with honors meet;
Long have we seen that pious face, so pale,
Bowed meekly at her Saviour's blessed feet.

These many years her heart was hidden where
Nor moth, nor rust, nor craft of man could harm;
The blue eyes, seldom lifted, save in prayer,
Beamed with her wished-for heaven's celestial calm.

As innocent as childhood's was the face,
Though sorrow oft had touched that tender heart;
Each trouble came as winged by special grace,
And resignation saved the wound from smart.

On bead and crucifix her finger kept,
Until the last, their fond, accustomed hold;
"My Jesus," breathed the lips; the raised eyes slept,
The placid brow, the gentle hand grew cold.

The choicely ripening cluster, ling'ring late
Into October on its shrivelled vine,
Wins mellow juices, which in patience wait
Upon those long, long days of deep sunshine.

Then set it gently at the altar rail,
The faithful, aged dust, with honors meet;
How can we hope, if such as she can fail
Before th' Eternal God's high judgment-seat?

PURGATORY.

OLD BELLS.

Ring out merrily,
Loudly, cheerily,
Blithe old bells from the steeple tower.
Hopefully, fearfully,
Joyfully, tearfully,
Moveth the bride from her maiden bower.
Cloud there is none in the bright summer sky,
Sunshine flings benison down from on high;
Children sing loud as the train moves along,
"Happy the bride that the sun shineth on."

Knell out drearily,
Measured out wearily,
Sad old bells from the steeple gray.
Priests chanting slowly,
Solemnly, slowly,
Passeth the corpse from the portal to-day.
Drops from the leaden clouds heavily fall,
Drippingly over the plume and the pall;
Murmur old folk, as the train moves along,
"Happy the dead that the rain raineth on."

Toll at the hour of prime,
Matin and vesper chime,
Loved old bells from the steeple high;
Rolling, like holy waves,
Over the lowly graves,
Floating up, prayer-fraught, into the sky.
Solemn the lesson your lightest notes teach,
Stern is the preaching your iron tongues preach;
Ringing in life from the bud to the bloom;
Ringing the dead to their rest in the tomb.

Peal out evermore—
Peal as ye pealed of yore, Brave old bells, on each holy day.
In sunshine and gladness,
Through clouds and through sadness,
Bridal and burial have both passed away.
Tell us life's pleasures with death are still rife;
Tell us that death ever leadeth to life;
Life is our labor and death is our rest,
If happy the living, the dead are the blest.

—Popular Poetry.

O HOLY CHURCH!

HARRIET M. SKIDMORE.

O holy Church! thy mother-heart
Still clasps the child of grace;
And nought its links of love can part,
Or rend its fond embrace.

Thy potent prayer and sacred rite
Embalm the precious clay,
That waits the resurrection-light—
The fadeless Easter day.

And loving hearts, by faith entwined,
True to that faith shall be,
And keep the sister-soul enshrined
In tender memory;

Shall bid the ceaseless prayer ascend,
To win her guerdon blest;
The radiant day that hath no end,
The calm, eternal rest.

AN INCIDENT OF THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

Again he faced the battle-field—
Wildly they fly, are slain, or yield.
"Now then," he said, and couch'd his spear,
"My course is run, the goal is near;
One effort more, one brave career,
Must close this race of mine."
Then, in his stirrups rising high,
He shouted loud his battle-cry,
"St. James for Argentine!"

* * * * *

Now toil'd the Bruce, the battle done,
To use his conquest boldly won:
And gave command for horse and spear
To press the Southern's scatter'd rear,
Nor let his broken force combine,
When the war-cry of Argentine
Fell faintly on his ear!
"Save, save his life," he cried. "O save
The kind, the noble, and the brave!"
The squadrons round free passage gave,
The wounded knight drew near.
He raised his red-cross shield no more,
Helm, cuish, and breast-plate stream'd with gore.
Yet, as he saw the King advance,
He strove even then to couch his lance—
The effort was in vain!
The spur-stroke fail'd to rouse the horse;
Wounded and weary, in 'mid course
He tumbled on the plain.
Then foremost was the generous Bruce
To raise his head, his helm to loose:—
"Lord Earl, the day is thine!
My sovereign's charge, and adverse fate,
Have made our meeting all too late;
Yet this may Argentine,
As boon from ancient comrade, crave—
A Christian's Mass, a soldier's grave."
Bruce pressed his dying hand—its grasp
Kindly replied; but, in his clasp
It stiffen'd and grew cold—
And, "O farewell!" the victor cried,
Of chivalry the flower and pride,
The arm in battle bold,
The courteous mien, the noble race,
The stainless faith, the manly face!
Bid Ninian's convent light their shrine,
For late-wake of De Argentine.
O'er better knight on death-bier laid,
Torch never gleamd, nor Mass was said! [1]

[Footnote 1: It is said that the body of Sir Giles de Argentine wasbrought to Edinburgh, and interred with the greatest pomp in St. Giles'Church. Thus did the royal Bruce respond to the dying knight'srequest.]

—From "The Lord of the Isles"

PRAY FOE THE MARTYRED DEAD.

Pray for the Dead! When, conscienceless, the nations

Rebellious rose to smite the thorn-crowned Head
Of Christendom, their proudest aspirations
Ambitioned but a place amongst the dead.

Pray for the Dead! The seeming fabled story
of early chivalry, in them renewed,
Shines out to-day with an ascendent glory
Above that field of parricidal feud.

The children of a persecuted mother,
When nations heard the drum of battle beat,
Through coward Europe, brother leagued with brother,
Rallied and perished at her sacred feet.

O Ireland, ever waiting the To-morrow,
Lift up thy widowed, venerable head,
Exultingly, through thy maternal sorrow,
Not comfortless, like Rachel, for thy dead.

For, where the crimson shock of battle thundered,
From hosts precipitated on a few,
Above thy sons, outnumbered, crushed and sundered,
Thy green flag through the smoke and glitter flew.

Lift up thy head! The hurricane that dashes
Its giant billows on the Rock of Time,
Divests thee, mother, of thy weeds and ashes,
Rendering, at least, thy grief sublime.

For nations, banded into conclaves solemn,
Thy name and spirit in the grave had cast,
And carved thy name upon the crumbling column
Which stands amid the unremembered Past.

Pray for the Dead! Cold, cold amid the splendor
Of the Italian South our brothers sleep;
The blue air broods above them warm and tender,
The mists glide o'er them from the barren deep.

Pray for the Dead! High-souled and lion-hearted,
Heroic martyrs to a glorious trust,
By them our scorned name is re-asserted,
By them our banner rescued from the dust.

—Kilkenny Journal.

IN WINTER

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

How lonely on the hillside look the graves!
The summer green no longer o'er them waves;
No more, among the frosted boughs, are heard
The mournful whip-poor-will or singing bird.

The rose-bush, planted with such tearful care,
Stands in the winter sunshine stiff and bare;
Save here and there its lingering berries red
Make the cold sunbeams warm above the dead.

Through all the pines, and through the tall, dry grass,
The fitful breezes with a shiver pass,
While o'er the autumn's lately flowering weeds
The snow-birds flit and peck the shelling seeds.

Because those graves look lonely, bleak and bare,
Because they are not, as in summer, fair,
O turn from comforts, cheery friends, and home,
And 'mid their solemn desolation roam!

On each brown turf some fresh memorial lay;
O'er each dear hillock's dust a moment stay,
To breathe a "Rest in Peace" for those who lie
On lonely hillsides 'neath a wintry sky.

OSEMUS.

MARY E MANNIX

Welcome, ye sad dirges of November,
When Indian summer drops her brilliant crown
All withered, as in clinging mantle brown
She floats, away to die beneath the leaves;
Pressed are the grapes, gathered the latest sheaves;
O wailing winds! how can we but remember
The loved and lost? O ceaseless monotones!
Hearing your plaints, counting your weary moans
Like voices of the dead, like broken sighs
From stricken souls who long for Paradise,
We will not slight the message that ye bear,
Nor check a pitying thought, nor guide a prayer.
They have departed, we must still remember;
Welcome, ye sad, sad dirges of November!

FUNERAL HYMN.

From the French of Theodore Nisard

A. T. SADLIER

The bell is tolling for the dead,
Christians, hasten we to prayer,
Our brothers suffer there,
Consumed in struggles vain.

Have pity, have pity on them,
In torturing flames immersed,
The stains their souls aspersed
Retain them far from heav'n.
Since God has giv'n us power,
Oh, let us their woes relieve;
Their hope do not deceive,
Our protectors they will be.

For these suff'ring ones we pray,
Lord Jesus, Victim blest,
Take them from pain to rest,
Thy children, too, are they.

* * * * *

[As the translation is a very rude one, we add the French original,which, particularly when set to music, is full of a deep solemnity andpathos.]

CHANT FUNÈBRE.

NISARD

La cloche tinte pour les morts
Chrétiens, mettons nous en prières!
Ceux qi gemissent sont des frères,
Se consumant en vains efforts.
Pitié pour eux! Pitié pour eux!
Ils tourbillonnent dans la flamme;
Les taches qui souillent leur âmes,
Les tiennent captifs loin des cieux.
Mettons un terme à leur douleurs,
Dieu nous en donne la puissance;
Ne trompons point leur espérance,
Puis ils seront nos protecteurs.
Disons pour nos fières souffrants:
Sauveur Jésus, Sainte Victime,
Tirez nos frères de l'abime,
Car, eux aussi, sont vos enfants.

REQUIESCAT IN PACE.

HARRIET M. SKIDMORE

O Father, give them rest—
Thy faithful ones, whose day of toil is o'er,

Whose weary feet shall wander never more
O'er earth's unquiet breast!

The battle-strife was long;
Yet, girt with grace, and guided by Thy light,
They faltered not till triumph closed the fight,
Till pealed the victor's song.

Though drear the desert path,
With cruel thorns and flinty fragments strewn,
Where fiercely swept, amid the glare of noon.
The plague-wind's biting wrath.

Still onward pressed their feet;
For patience soothed with sweet celestial balm,
And, from the rocks, hope called her founts to calm
The Simoom's venom-heat.

Their march hath reached its close,
Its toils are o'er, its Red Sea safely passed;
And pilgrim feet have cast aside at last
Earth's sandal-shoon of woes.

Thou blissful promised land!
One rapturous glimpse of matchless glory caught,
One priceless vision, with thy beauty fraught,
Hath blessed that way-worn band.

And to thy smiling shore
Their ceaseless messengers of longing went,
And blooms of bliss and fruitage of content,
Returning, gladly bore.

Yet sadly still they wait;
For, past idolatries to gods of clay,
And past rebellions 'gainst the Master's sway,
Have barred the golden gate.

The magic voice of prayer,
The saving rite, the sacrifice of love,
The human tear, the sigh of Saints above,
Blent in one off'ring fair—

These, these alone, can win
The boon they crave: glad entrance into rest,
The fadeless crown, the garment of the blest,
Washed pure from stain of sin.

Hear, then, our eager cry.
O God of mercy! bid their anguish cease;
To prisoned souls, ah! bring the glad release,
And hush the mourner's sigh.

Mother of pitying love!
On sorrow's flood thy tender glances bend,
And o'er its dark and dreadful torrent send
The olive-bearing dove.

Thy potent prayer shall be
An arch of peace, a radiant promise-bow,
To span the gulf, and shed its cheering glow
O'er the dread penance-sea.

And on its pathway blest
The ransomed throng, in garments washed and white,
May safely pass to love's fair realm of light,
To heaven's perfect rest.

THE FEAST OF ALL SOULS IS THE COUNTRY.

From the French of Fontanes. [1]

[Footnote 1: Louis, Marquis de Fontanes, Peer of France, and Member ofthe French Academy.]

ANNA T. SADLIER

E'en now doth Sagittarius from on high,
Outstretch his bow, and ravage all the earth,
The hills, and meadows where of flowers the dearth
Already felt, like some vast ruins lie.

The bleak November counts its primal day,
While I, a witness of the year's decline,
Glad of my rest, within the fields recline.
No poet heart this beauty can gainsay,
No feeling mind these autumn pictures scorn,
But knows how their monotonous charms adorn.
Oh, with what joy does dreamy sorrow stray
At eve, slow pacing, the dun-colored vale;
He seeks the yellow woods, and hears the tale
Of winds that strip them of their lonely leaves;
For this low murmur all my sense deceives.
In rustling forests do I seem to hear
Those voices long since still, to me most dear.
In leaves grown sere they speak unto my heart.

This season round the coffin-lid we press,
Religion wears herself a mourning dress,
More grand she seems, while her diviner part
At sight of this, a world in ruins, grows.
To-day a pious usage she has taught,
Her voice opens vaults wherein our fathers dwell.
Alas, my memory doth keep that thought.
The dawn appeareth, and the swaying bell
Mingles its mournful sound with whistling winds,
The Feast of Death proclaiming to the air.
Men, women, children, to the Church repair,
Where one, with speech and with example binds
These happy tribes, maintaining all in peace.
He follows them, the first apostles, near,
Like them the pastor's holy name makes dear.

"With hymns of joy," said he, "but yesterday
We celebrated the triumphant dead
Who conquer'd heav'n by burning zeal, faith-fed.
For plaintive shades, whom sorrow makes his prey
We weep to-day, our mourning is their bliss,
All potent prayer is privileged in this,
Souls purified from sin by transient pain
It frees; we'll visit their most calm domain.
Man seeks it, and descends there every hour.
But dry our tears, for now celestial rays
The grave's dim region swift shall penetrate;
Yea, all its dwellers in their primal state
Shall wake, behold the light in mute amaze.
Ah, might I to that world my flight then wing
In triumph to my God, my flock recovered bring."

So saying, offered he the holy rite,
With arms extended praying God to spare,
The while adoring knelt he humbly there.
That people prostrate! oh, most solemn sight
That church, its porticoes with moss o'ergrown,
The ancient walls, dim light and Gothic panes,
In its antiquity the brazen lamp
A symbol of eternity doth stamp.
A lasting sun. God's majesty down sent,
Vows, tears and incense from the altars rise,
Young beauties praying 'neath their mothers' eyes,
Do soften by their voices innocent,
The touching pomp religion there reveals;
The organ hush'd, the sacred silence round,
All, all uplifts, ennobles and inspires;
Man feels himself transported where the choirs
Of seraphim with harps of gold entone
Low at Jehovah's feet their endless song.
Then God doth make His awful presence known,
Hides from the wise, to loving hearts is shown:
He seeks less to be proved than to be felt. [1]
From out the Church the multitudes depart,
In separate groups unto th' abode they go
Of tranquil death, their tears still silent flow.
The standard of the Cross is borne apart,
Sublime our songs for death their sacred theme,
Now mixed with noise that heralds storms they seem;
Now lower above our heads the dark'ning clouds,
Our faces mournful, our funereal hymn
Both air and landscape in our grief enshrouds.

Towards death's tranquil haven, on we fare,
The cypress, ivy, and the yew trees haunt
The spot where thorns seem growing everywhere.
Sparse lindens rise up grimly here and there,
The winds rush whistling through their branches gaunt.
Hard by a stream, my mind found there exprest
In waves and tombs a twofold lesson drest,
Eternal movement and eternal rest.

Ah, with what holy joy these peasants fain
Would honor parent dust; they seek with pride
The stone or turf, concealing those allied
To them by love, they find them here again.
Alas, with us we may not seek the boon
Of gazing on the ashes of our dead.
Our dead are banish'd, on their rights we tread,
Their bones unhonored at hap-hazard strewn.
E'en now 'gainst us cry out their Manes pale,
Those nations and those times dire woes entail,
'Mongst whom in hearts grown weak by slow degree,
The cultus of the dead has ceased.
Here, here, at least have they from wrong been free,
Their heritage of peace preserving best.
No sumptuous marbles burden names here writ,
A shepherd, farmer, peasant, as is fit,
Beneath these stones in tranquil slumber see;
Perchance a Turenne, a Corneille they hide,
Who lived obscure, e'en to himself unknown.
But if from men he'd risen separate,
Sublime in camps, the theatre, the state,
His name by idol-loving worlds outcried,
Would that have made his slumber here more sweet?

[Footnote 1: La Harpe said that these last twenty lines were the mostbeautiful verses in the French tongue. They necessarily loseconsiderably in the translation.]

REQUIEM ÆTERNAM.

T. D. MCGEE.

[This beautiful requiem, written March 6th, 1868 (St. Victor's Day), onthe death of an intimate friend, acquires a new pathos and a newsolemnity, from the fact that its gifted author met his death at thehands of an assassin but one month later, on the 7th of April of thesame year. Like Mozart, he wrote his own requiem]

Saint Victor's Day, a day of woe,
The bier that bore our dead went slow
And silent gliding o'er the snow—
Miserere Domine!

With Villa Maria's faithful dead,
Among the just we make his bed,
The cross, he loved, to shield his head—
Miserere Domine!

The skies may lower, wild storms may rave
Above our comrade's mountain grave,
That cross is mighty still to save—
Miserere Domine!

Deaf to the calls of love and care,
He bears no more his mortal share,
Nought can avail him now but prayer—
Miserere Domine!

To such a heart who could refuse
Just payment of all burial dues,
Of Holy Church the rite and use?
Miserere Domine!

Right solemnly the Mass was said,
While burn'd the tapers round the dead,
And manly tears like rain were shed—
Miserere Domine!

No more St. Patrick's aisles prolong
The burden of his funeral song,
His noiseless night must now be long—
Miserere Domine!

Up from the depths we heard arise
A prayer of pity to the skies,
To Him who dooms or justifies—
Miserere Domine!

Down from the skies we heard descend
The promises the Psalmist penned,
The benedictions without end—
Miserere Domine!

Mighty our Holy Church's will
To shield her parting souls from ill,
Jealous of Death, she guards them still—
Miserere Domine!
The dearest friend will turn away,
And leave the clay to keep the clay,
Ever and ever she will stay—
Miserere Domine!

When for us sinners at our need,
That mother's voice is raised to plead,
The frontier hosts of heaven 'take heed—
Miserere Domine!

Mother of Love! Mother of fear,
And holy Hope, and Wisdom dear,
Behold we bring thy suppliant here—
Miserere Domine!

His glowing heart is still for aye,
That held fast by thy clemency,
Oh! look on him with loving eye—
Miserere Domine!

His Faith was as the tested gold,
His Hope assured, not over-bold,
His Charities past count, untold—
Miserere Domine!

Well may they grieve who laid him there,
Where shall they find his equal—where?
Nought can avail him now but prayer—
Miserere Domine!

Friend of my soul, farewell to thee!
Thy truth, thy trust, thy chivalry;
As thine? so may my last end be!
Miserere Domine!

APPENDIX

ASSOCIATION OF MASSES AND STATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR THE BELIEF OF THEHOLY SOULS.

It would be a great defect in a book such as this to omit all mentionof an Association which exists in Montreal, Canada, for the specialrelief of the Souls in Purgatory. It is certain that there arePurgatorian societies, established in many other cities, both of Europeand America. But this Canadian one seems unique, in so far, that ithas a triple aim: first, that of relieving the holy souls; second,that of the conversion of infidels; third, that of contributing to thesupport of the Mendicant Order of St. Francis. The money received issent direct to these missionaries, by whom the Masses are said.Touching stories are told of the joy of these devoted apostles onreceipt of such alms, which aid them so much in the various good worksin which they are engaged.

The society has, as it were, two branches. In the first the associatesmerely bind themselves to make the Way of the Cross once a week, on aday fixed, with the primary object of relieving the holy souls, andparticularly those most pleasing to God; and the secondary one ofconverting the infidels. At the end of this exercise, they make use ofthe following invocation: "Holy Souls in Purgatory, rest in peace, andpray for us."

The other branch has for its object the procuring of Masses for thedeliverance of the suffering souls. Each associate must pay to thetreasurer twenty-five cents a month, or three dollars a year; for whichMasses will be said according to the intention of the subscriber,having always in view those souls which are most pleasing to God.

One may become a life member, on payment of twenty-five dollars.Foundations of Masses can also be made in connection with theAssociation. They are similar to those which came into existence at thetime of the Crusades and at many other epochs in Christian history.Such foundations are sometimes made in wills. They are, of course, notwithin the reach of every one. It is necessary to pay five hundreddollars into the hands of the Society. Every necessary security for itsproper use is given, and the donor is entitled in perpetuity to acertain yearly rental to be expended in Masses for his soul. The summay be paid in instalments, or several persons may club together inmaking the foundation. It is a sublime thought that the Holy Sacrificewill thus continue to be said for us, long after our memory has passedaway from earth. But as the three dollars a year which constitutes onea member of the Association is much more within the reach of most ofus, it may be well to lay more stress upon the advantages which weshall thereby gain for ourselves and our deceased friends. It entitlesus after death to a special Mass and a Way of the Cross every year fromeach associate. The number of associates is very great; besides a sharein all the Masses and Stations, we have also a share in the good worksof the missionaries of St. Francis, and can gain Indulgences which havebeen granted to the members. These Indulgences, plenary and partial,are attached to all the principal, and to some of the minor feasts ofthe year.

In connection with the work, an almanac both in French and English ispublished every year at Montreal, and sold for the moderate sum of fivecents. In this pamphlet a full account is given of the Association, andthere is besides a great deal of useful and interesting reading, suchas anecdotes relating to the dead, the opinions of various spiritualauthors on Purgatory, and letters from foreign countries, or fromvarious individuals concerning, the society and its progress. [1]

[Footnote 1: To become an associate one must address himself to thechaplain, Rev. F. Reid, 401 St. Denis Street, or to the treasurer,Louis Ricard, Esq., 166 St. Denis St, Montreal, Canada.]

EXTRACTS FROM "THE CATHOLIC REVIEW." [1]

[Footnote 1: November, 1885.]

"The Month of the Holy Souls" is at hand. In Catholic lands November isspecially devoted by the faithful to increased suffrages for the reposeof the holy and patient dead. Many reports reach us from experiencedpriests showing that the practice of requesting Requiem Masses for thedead is not increasing. Priests have what is, in some respects, anatural objection to urge upon their people perseverance in this oldCatholic practice of piety and gratitude. It is one which can be easilyunderstood. Yet, largely owing to this nice delicacy, they are, aftertheir own deaths, forgotten by many bound to them through spiritualgratitude. One of the most experienced priests in New York tells usthat for five priests that have died in his house he has not known tenMasses to be said at the request of the laity. How does friendshipserve others less public and less popular? It gives a big funeral, along procession of useless carriages, but no alms to the poor, and noMasses for the dead.

What a pity it is that in drawing so much that is Catholic andbeautiful from Ireland, we did not adopt its truly Christian devotionfor the forgotten and neglected dead, which makes every priest recitethe De Profundis and prayers for the faithful departed, beforehe leaves the altar. We noticed some time ago that the Holy Seesanctioned a Spanish practice of permitting to each priest three Masseson All Souls' Day as on Christmas Day. No doubt, were it properlypetitioned, it would likewise extend to all the churches drawing theirfaith from St. Patrick's preaching, that privilege, as well as thebeautiful custom that now has the force of law in Ireland, and thatrecalls so much of her devotion to the dead and of her suffering forthe Catholic faith. That _De Profundis is one of the chapters of"fossil history," which in all future periods will recall the generousendowments that Ireland once provided for her dead, and the ruthlessconfiscations by which they were robbed.

Not a Catholic American paper that we have received this November hasfailed to argue ably, generously, and most Christianly, for suffragesfor those who have gone before and are anticipating the advent of finalpeace.

The letters which come to a Catholic newspaper office are a very surebarometer of the waves of thought in the Catholic atmosphere of thecountry. From those that we have received we can affirm that nodevotion would be much more popular with the people than that which waspronounced in the days of the Maccabees "a holy and wholesome thought."

Every day now there is an agreeable record in the daily papers of NewYork of Requiem services held in the various churches for the repose ofthe soul of the late Cardinal. Church after church seems to surpass itspredecessors in the grateful devotion of the people, who show that theyremember their prelate. In St. Gabriel's the Cardinal's privatesecretary, Mgr. Farley, had the satisfaction of witnessing anexceptionally large gathering to honor his illustrious chief. ThePaulist Fathers had a Requiem service that was worthy of their Churchand their affection for the dead, to whom they were bound by so manyties.

Rome, if the city of the soul, is also pre-eminently the city of thedead. So many great and illustrious deaths are reported to it dailyfrom the ends of the earth that to it death and greatness are familiarand almost unnoticeable facts. It is, therefore, not undeserving ofremark to find the newspapers of the Eternal City marking their noticesof the passing of our Cardinal with unusual signs of mourning. Theircomments on the great loss of the American Church are toned by thegravis mror with which the Holy Father received by AtlanticCable the sad news.

In the American College, Rev. Dr. O'Connell, the President, tookimmediate steps to pay to its illustrious patron the last homage thatCatholic affection and loyalty can render to the great dead. From aletter to The Catholic Review we learn that the celebrant of theSolemn Mass of Requiem was the rector, Rev. Dr. O'Connell; Rev. JohnCurley, deacon; Rev. Bernard Duffy, sub-deacon; Rev. Thomas McManus andWilliam Guinon, acolytes; Mr. William Murphy, thurifer; and Rev.Messrs. Cunnion and Raymond, masters of ceremonies. All these gentlemenare students from the diocese of New York.

A REQUIEM FOR THE CARDINAL IN PARIS.

PARIS, October 30.—A solemn funeral service of exceptionalsplendor was celebrated this morning at the Madeleine for the repose ofthe late Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York. The church washung with black and was resplendent with lights. Outside the portico,on the steps, were two large funeral torches, with green flames.Similar torches were visible in many parts of the edifice, includingthe lofty upper galleries. The catafalque was of large dimensions, andwas flanked on either side by numerous lights and torches as well as bymarble images. Over all was a sable canopy, suspended from the ceiling.A Cardinal's hat, with its tassels, lay on the pall. The lateCardinal's motto, "In the hope of life eternal," was repeatedfrequently in the decorations.

A DUTY OF NOVEMBER.

"HAVE PITY ON ME, AT LEAST YOU, MY FRIENDS."

(From the Texas Monitor.)

We have often repeated in our morning and night prayers the words ofthe Creed: "I believe in the communion of saints," without thinking,perhaps, that we were expressing our belief in one of the mostbeautiful and consoling doctrines of the Holy Catholic Church. Ibelieve in the communion of saints—that is, I believe in the holycommunion of prayer and intercession which exists between all themembers of the Mystical Body of Christ—the Church, be they fightingthe battles of the Lord against the Devil, the Flesh, and the World, inthe ranks of the Church Militant on earth, or enjoying in the happymansions of Heaven their eternal reward, as members of the ChurchTriumphant, or finally waiting in the dark prison of Purgatory untilthey shall have paid their debt to the Eternal Justice "to the lastfarthing," and be saved "yet, so as by fire." I believe in thecommunion of saints—that is, I believe that there exists no barrierbetween the members of Christ. Death itself cannot separate us from ourbrethren, who have gone before us. We believe that we daily escapeinnumerable dangers, both spiritual and temporal, through the prayersof our friends of the Triumphant Church; and we believe also that it iswithin our power to help by our prayers and sacrifices our friends whoare for a time in the middle place of expiation, because "nothingdefiled can enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

It has always been the practice of the Catholic Church to offer prayersand other pious works in suffrage for the dead, as is abundantly provedby the writings of the Latin Fathers, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St.Augustine, St. Gregory, and of the Greek Fathers, St. Ephrem, St.Basil, and St. John Chrysostom. St. Chrysostom says:

"It was not without good reason ordained by the Apostles that mentionshould be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, because theyknew well that these would receive great benefit from it." By theexpression "tremendous mysteries" is meant the Holy Sacrifice of theMass.

St. Augustine says, upon the same subject:

"It is not to be doubted that the dead are aided by prayers of the HolyChurch and by the salutary sacrifice, and by the alms which are offeredfor their spirits that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully thantheir sins have deserved. For this, which has been handed down by theFathers, the Universal Church observes."

St. Augustine also tells us that Arius was the first who dared to teachthat it was of no use to offer up prayers and sacrifices for the dead,and this doctrine of Arius lie reckoned among heresies. (Heresy 53.)

The Church has always made a memento of the dead in the holy sacrificeof the Mass, and exhorted the faithful to pray for them. She urges usto pray for the souls in Purgatory, because not being able to merit,they cannot help themselves in the least. To their appeals for mercythe Almighty answers that His Justice must be satisfied, and that thenight in which no one can any longer work has arrived for them (St.John ix., v. 4), and thus these poor souls have recourse to ourprayers. According to the pious Gerson we may hear their supplications:"Pray for us because we cannot do anything for ourselves. This help wehave a right to expect from you, you have known and loved us in theworld. Do not forget us in the time of our need. It is said that it isin the time of affliction that we know our true friends; but whataffliction could be compared to ours? Be moved with compassion." Havepity on us, at least you, our friends!

The Church being aware of the ingratitude and forgetfulness of men, andthe facility with which they neglect their most sacred duties, has setapart a day to be consecrated to the remembrance of the dead. On the 2dday of November, All Souls' Day, she applies all her prayers topropitiate the Divine Mercy through the merits of the Precious Blood ofJesus Christ, her Divine Spouse, to obtain for the souls in Purgatorythe remission of the temporal punishment due to their sins, and theirspeedy admission into the eternal abode of rest, light, and bliss. Howholy and precious is the institution of All Souls' Day! How full ofcharity! It truly demonstrates the love and solicitude of the Churchfor all her children. In the first centuries of the Church, while thefaithful were most exact in praying for their deceased friends andrelatives and in having the holy sacrifice of the Mass offered forthem, the Church had not yet appointed a special day for all the soulsin Purgatory. But in 998 St. Odilon, Abbot of Cluny, having establishedin all the monasteries of his order the feast of the commemoration ofthe faithful departed, and ordered that the office be recited for themall, this devotion which was approved by the Popes, soon became generalin all the Western Churches.

In doing away with the Christian practice of praying for the dead, the
Protestant sects have despised the voice of nature, the spirit of
Christianity, and the most ancient and respectable tradition.

The most efficacious means to help the suffering souls in Purgatory areprayer, fasting, almsgiving, and above all the holy sacrifice of theMass. By fasting we mean all sorts of mortifications to abstain fromcertain things in our meals, to deprive ourselves of lawful amusem*nts,to suffer with resignation trials and contradictions, humiliations andreverses of fortune. The alms we give for the dead prompt the Lord tobe merciful to them. The sacrifice of the Mass, which was institutedfor the living and the dead, is the most efficacious means ofdelivering them from their pains. "If the sacrifices which Job," saysSt. John Chrysostom, "offered to God for his children purified them,who could doubt that, when we offer to God the Adorable Sacrifice forthe departed, they receive consolation therefrom, and that the Blood ofChrist which flows upon our altars for them, the voice of which ascendsto heaven, brings about their deliverance."

Not only charity and gratitude demand that we should pray for the soulsin Purgatory, but it is also for us a positive duty, which we are injustice bound to fulfill. Perhaps some of these poor souls aresuffering on our account. Perhaps they are relatives or friends whohave loved us too much, or who have been induced to commit sin by ourwords or example. We are also prompted to pray for them by our owninterest. What consolation will it not be for us to know that we haveabbreviated their sufferings! How great will their gratitude be aftertheir deliverance! They will manifest it by praying for us, andobtaining for us the help which is so necessary in this valley oftears. In prosperity men forget those who have helped them inadversity; but it will not be so with the souls in Purgatory. Afterbeing admitted to the kingdom of heaven through the help of ourprayers, "they will solicit," says St. Bernard, "the most preciousgifts of grace in our behalf, and because the merciful shall obtainmercy, we will receive after our death the reward of whatever may havebeen done for the souls of Purgatory during our life. Others will prayfor us, and we shall share more abundantly in the suffrages which theChurch offers without ceasing, for those who sleep in the Lord."

PURGATORIAL ASSOCIATION.

A CARD FROM REV. S. S. MATTINGLY.

(from the Catholic Columbian)

We wish to call the attention of the members of this Association to thenear approach of the commemoration of all the faithful departed, whichtakes place on Monday, the second day of next November. Our Associationis in its fourth year of existence. Its numbers have increased beyondour expectations.

Just now, on account of the season, applications begin to come in morerapidly, hence we wish to give again the conditions for membership, andthe benefits derived from it. The members say one decade of the beads,or one "Our Father" and ten "Hail Marys" every day. They may take whatmystery of the Holy Rosary devotion may prompt, and retain or change itat their own will, without reference to us. This is all that isrequired, and, of course, the obligation cannot bind under pain of evenvenial sin. Those families which say the Rosary every day need not addanother decade unless they choose, but may say the Rosary in union withthe Purgatorial Association, and thus gain the benefits for themselvesand the faithful departed.

The benefits are one Mass every week, which is said for the poor souls,for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the members, according totheir intention, and for the same intention a memento is made every dayduring Holy Mass for them.

There are many kind priests who are associated with us in this goodwork, and they, we are sure, remember us all in the Holy Sacrifice. Wethank and beg them to continue to be mindful of us associated and boundtogether in this most charitable work of shortening, by our prayers andgood works, the time of purgation for the souls in Purgatory. Those whodesire to become members may send their names, with a postal carddirected to themselves, so that their application may be answered. Theapplications for membership are directed to Rev. S. S. Mattingly,McConnellsville, Morgan County, Ohio.

Some two or three times complaints have come to us, but in all casesthe letters never came to hand. We have from time to time receivedletters not intended for us, and from this we judge our letters wentelsewhere. We try to be prompt, though an odd time our absence on themission may delay an answer.

Now, dear friends, there is another fact to which we must advert. Manyof our dear associates, who were attracted by the charity of our work,are no longer among the living. Their friends have kindly reminded usof their death by letter, and we, grateful for this charity, alwayspray for them. Their day is passed. Our time is coming. Who canremember the kind faces which have gone out of our families and notshed tears at their absence? Their places are vacant. Love leaves thevery chairs on which they sat unoccupied. We look around the room andat the places their forms filled within it. All these bring tears toour eyes, and make the heart too full for utterance. Thus fondimagination, sprung from love, wipes out the vacancy. We look throughthe mist of our tears and there again are the forms of our love, butalas! they do not speak to us. And days and months are run into years,yet our tears flow on; indeed we cannot and we do not want to forgetthem. We think of our sins and faults and how they caused theirs, andour cry of pardon for ourselves must come after or with that of mercyfor them.

THE HOLY FACE AND THE SUFFERING SOULS.

The holy souls in Purgatory are ever saying in beseeching accents:"Lord, show us Thy Face," desiring with a great desire to see it;waiting, they longingly wait for the Divine Face of their Saviour. Weshould often pray for the holy souls who during life thirsted to see,in the splendor of its glory, the Human Face of Jesus Christ. We shouldoften say the Litany of the Holy Face of Jesus, that our Lord mayquickly bring these holy souls to the contemplation of His AdorableCountenance. We should pray to Mary, Mother All-Merciful, who, beforeall others, saw the Face of Jesus in His two-fold nativity inBethlehem, and from the tomb, to plead for those holy souls; to St.Joseph, who saw the Face of Jesus in Bethlehem and Nazareth; to theglorious St. Michael, Our Lady's regent in Purgatory, one of the sevenwho stands before the throne and Face of God, who has been appointed toreceive souls after death, and is the special consoler and advocate ofthe holy souls detained amidst the flames of Purgatory. We should alsopray to St. Peter for the holy souls, he to whom Christ gave the keysof the kingdom of Heaven. The holy souls are suffering the temporalpenalty due to sin. This Apostle had by his sin effaced the image ofGod in his soul, but Jesus turned His Holy Face toward the unfaithfuldisciple, and His divine look wounded the heart of Peter with repentantsorrow and love; also St. James and St. John, who with him saw theglory of the Face of Jesus on Mount Thabor, and its sorrow inGethsemane, when, 'neath the olive trees, it was covered withconfusion, and bathed in a bloody sweat for our sins. These greatsaints, dear to the Heart of Jesus, will surely hear our prayers inbehalf of the holy souls. St. Mary Magdalen, who saw the Holy Face inagony on the cross, when its incomparable beauty was obscured under thefearful cloud of the sins of the world, and who assisted the VirginMother to wash, anoint, and veil the bruised, pale, features of herDivine Son; the saint, whose many sins were forgiven her because shehad loved much, will lend heed to our prayers for the holy souls. Weshould also invoke, for the holy souls, the Virgin Martyrs, because oftheir purity, love, and the sufferings they endured to see in Heaventhe Face of their King.

Yet nothing can help these souls so much as the Holy Sacrifice of theMass. By the "Blood of the Testament" these prisoners can be broughtout of the pit. Even to hear Mass with devotion for the holy souls,brings them great refreshment. St. Jerome says: "The souls inPurgatory, for whom the priest is wont to pray at Mass, suffer no painwhilst Mass is being offered, that after every Mass is said for thesouls in Purgatory some souls are released therefrom." Our BlessedLady, the consoler of the afflicted, will always do much to aid theholy souls; in her maternal solicitude, she has promised toassist and console the devout wearers of the Brown Scapular of MountCarmel detained in Purgatory, and also to speedily release them fromits flames, the Saturday after their death, if some fewconditions have been complied with during their life-time on earth.Bishop Vaughan says, "there can be no difficulty in believing thus, ifwe consider the meaning of a Plenary Indulgence granted by the Church,and applicable to the holy souls. The Sabbatine Indulgence is, in fact,a Plenary Indulgence granted by God, through the prayers of the BlessedVirgin Mary to the deceased who are in Purgatory, provided they havefulfilled upon earth certain specified conditions. The SacredCongregation of the Holy Office by a Decree of February 13, 1613,forever settled any controversy that should arise on the subject ofthis Bull. St. Teresa, in the thirty-eighth chapter of her life, showsthe special favor Our Lady exerts in favor of her Carmelite childrenand all who wear the Brown Scapular. She saw a holy friar ascending toHeaven without passing through Purgatory, and was given to understand,that because he had kept his rule well he had obtained the gracegranted to the Carmelite Order by special bulls, as to the pains ofPurgatory. So from their prison these waiting souls are ever crying outto us, patient and resigned, yet with a most burning desire, they arelonging to be brought to the presence of God, and to gaze upon theglorified countenance of the Incarnate Word. They are far moreperfectly members of the Mystical Body of Christ than we are, becausethey are confirmed in grace, and the doctrine of the Communion ofSaints should hence prompt us to give the holy souls the charitableassistance of our alms, prayers, and good works. 'Bear ye one another'sburdens, and so ye shall fulfill the law of Christ,' and thus one daywith them enjoy the endless Vision of the Holy Face of Jesus Christ inits unclouded splendor in Heaven."

WHEN WILL THEY LEARN ITS SECRET?

HOW THE CARDINAL'S OBSEQUIES IMPRESSED A BAPTIST SPECTATOR.

(From the Baptist Examiner.)

For the third time in a quarter of a century the streets have beenthronged, and an unending procession has filed by the dead. Long linesreached many blocks, both up and down Fifth avenue, and they grew noshorter through the best part of three days. This recognition of theeminence and power of the Cardinal, John McCloskey, has been verygeneral.

All classes have paid homage. And why? He was a gentleman. He waslearned, politic, able, far-sighted, clean. His energy was withoutmeasure. The rise and reach of his influence and work have no chancefor comparison with the accomplishment of any other American clergyman.There is none to name beside him. He was a burning zealot all his life.Elevation and honors came to him. He became a prince in his Church. Heswept every avenue of power and influence within his grasp into thatChurch. He lived singly for it. In his death, his Church exaltsherself. She gives, after her faith, prayers, Masses, glory. In his,life he spoke only for Rome. In his death his voice is intensified. Hislife was one long gain to his people. In his, death they suffer noloss. His time and character and personality are so exalted, that,"being dead he yet speaketh."

The Church of Rome stands alone. It is forever strange. It is a law toitself. Thus it comes that this funeral does not belong to America, orto the century. Rome and the Middle Ages conducted the obsequies. Thecanons are prescribed. They have never changed. Behold then in NewYork, what might have been seen in ruined Melrose Abbey in its ancientday of splendor.

The Cardinal lies in state in his cathedral, that consummate flower ofall his ministry. Saw you ever a Roman Pontiff lying in state? The highcatafalque is covered with yellow cloth. The body, decked in officialrobes, uncoffined, reclines aslant thereon. The head is greatlyelevated. A mighty candle shines on the bier at either corner. TheCardinal's red hat hangs at his feet. His cape is purple, his sleevesare pink drawn over with lace, his shirt is crimson and white lacecovered. Purple gloves are on his hands. On his head is his tall whitemitre. His pectoral cross lies on his pulseless breast. His seal ringglitters on his finger. To me it was an awful and uncanny figure. Theman was old and disease wasted. The lips were sunken over shrunkengums. The chin was sharp and far-protruding. The colors of the clothswere garish and loud. It was a gay lay figure, red and yellow and whiteand black and purple and pink. It made me shudder. Yet lying thereunder the very roof his hands had builded, that reclining figure wasimmensely impressive.

The work—the work, in light and strength and glory stands; but theskilled and cunning workman is brought low, and lies cold and silent.The crowded and glorious, almost living cathedral—the richly bedeckedbody dismantled, deserted, dead. Was ever contrast so wide orsuggestive? The white, shining arches and pinnacles, up-pointing inarchitectural splendor. The architect lies under them prone,unconscious, decaying. The beautiful windows, all storied in colorsalmost supernatural, and telling their histories and honoring theirplace. But the temple of the Cardinal's soul is in ruins, the windowsare broken, and its day is darkness and mold.

So, silent he lies in his house, surrounded by his faithful, whosecries and lamentations he hears not, his cold hands clasped, his deadface uncovered, as though looking above its high vaulted roof.

I seemed to see again the bedizened skeleton of old St. Carlo Borromeoin the crypt of the Cathedral of Milan, as lying in his coffin ofglass, his bones all bleached and dressed. But the careless throngs gothoughtlessly, noisily on. Some weep, some laugh, and Thursday, the dayof sepulture, comes. What masses of people! What platoons of police!The magnificent temple is packed by pious thousands. The four candlesabout the bier become four shining rows. The glitter of royal violetvelvet and cloth of gold add to the gorgeous trappings of the dead. Thewaiting multitudes look breathlessly at the black draped columns, theemblems of mourning put on here and there. Without announcement asingle voice cries out from the dusky chancel the first lines of theoffice for the dead. A great Gregorian choir of boys takes up the wail,and their shrill treble is by-and-by joined by the hoarser notes offour hundred priests, in the solemn music of the Pontifical RequiemMass. It has never been given to mortal ears to listen to such marvelsof musical sound in this country. Anon the great organs and the unitedchoirs render the master's most mournful music for the dead. Thenprocessions, then eulogy. And what eulogy! Schools, colleges, convents,asylums, protectories, palaces, cathedrals, churches. What a vast andimpressive testimony!

What a company rises up to call him blessed! This imposing pageantry isnot an empty show. It is Rome's display of her resources and power. Whoelse can have such processions and vestments and music? Who can sominister to the inherent, perhaps barbaric remnant, love for display?In the wide world where can the ear of man catch such harmonies? Themusic, as a whole, was a deluge of lofty and inspiring expressions.Anguish, despair, devotion, submission, elevation! Ah, how the loftyGothic arches thundered! How they sighed and cried and melted. Thegreat assembly was swayed, awe-struck, like branches of forest trees ingales or in zephyrs. The influence of those melodies will not die. Oh!Rome is old, Rome is new; Rome is wise. Rome is the Solomon of theChurches.

Mark this well. The Cardinal is dead. What happens? Does the machinerystagger? Has a great and irreparable calamity fallen on the churches?Are any plans abandoned? Is the policy affected? Will aggression cease?Nothing happens but a great and imposing funeral. The plans are notaffected. The lines do not waver. No work begun will be suspended.Everything goes on. If only a deacon should die out of some Baptistchurch, alas! my brethren, the plate returns empty to the altar. Theminister puts on his hat. Consternation jumps on the ridge-pole andlanguishing, settles down. When shall we learn? When shall we planharmoniously, unite our counsels, work within the lines, cease wastingresources, carry forward a common work, and when some man falls, put anew man in his place, move up the line, and keep step? To-day, when agap is made here, we try to mend it, after a time, by seeking how greata gap we can create somewhere else. What wonder that good men get tiredand go where no such folly flies, and where the current flows on and onforever!

And the old Cardinal rests in the crypt, under the high white altar. Hesleeps in the mausoleum of the great. He has the reward of his labors.He carried into his tomb the insignia of his high office. Sealed up inhis coffin is a parchment which future ages may read, long after we areall forgot, giving a condensed record of his long and active career.The bishops and priests have gone home to their parishes; and theirtireless labors go on. They are thinking of the mighty but gentle andkindly Cardinal; of the telegrams from the Papal Court, the College ofCardinals, the Pope, and of the imposing funeral; of his own wordswhich they wrung from him amidst the rigors of death:

"I bless you, my children, and all the churches." It was the parting ofa prophet. And the priests will live for the Church and mankind. Theyare whispering, "The faithful are rewarded! Effort is acknowledged! O,Rome has shaken the earth! Rome is putting her armor together again."Sometimes I hear the creaking of her coat of mail as she mightily movesherself in exercise.