{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7977/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7977","id":"gutenberg_7977","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7977","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Poetry","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Purgatory"],"text":"This E-text was prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles\nFranks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\nPURGATORY:\n\nDoctrinal, Historical and Poetical,\n\nBY\n\nMRS. J. SADLIER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  LO! PURGATORY! DOCTRINE BLEST,\n  ENGARLANDED WITH LEGENDS WILD,\n  HISTORIC LORE AND POETRY'S FAIR FLOWERS!\n\n_\"Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just\nwait for me, until thou reward me.\"_\n\nPs. CXLI 8.\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION\n\nTO THE GRACIOUS MEMORY OF MY DEARLY-BELOVED SON, REV. FRANCIS X.\nSADLIER, S.J. WHOSE TENDER DEVOTION TO THE Souls in Purgatory LED HIM\nTO TAKE A DEEP AND ACTIVE INTEREST IN THE PROGRESS OF THIS WORK, BUT\nWHO WAS NOT PERMITTED TO SEE ITS COMPLETION, BEING CALLED HENCE,\nSCARCELY THREE MONTHS AFTER HIS ORDINATION, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH\nCONSECRATED TO THOSE Holy Souls, _November 14th, 1885._\n\nR. I. P.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nI have written many books and translated many more on a great variety\nof subjects, nearly all of which, I thank God now with all my heart,\nwere more or less religious, at least in their tendency; but the circle\nof these my life-long labors seems to me incomplete. One link is\nwanting to the chain, and that is a work specially devoted to the souls\nin Purgatory. This omission I am anxious to supply while the working\ndays of my life are still with me, for, a few more years, at most, and\nfor me \"the night cometh when no man can work.\"\n\nAs we advance into the vale of years and journey on the downward slope,\nwe are happily drawn more and more towards the eternal truths of the\ngreat untried world beyond the grave. Foremost amongst these stands out\nmore and still more clearly, in all its awful reality, the dread but\nconsoling doctrine of Purgatory. When we have seen many of our best\nbeloved relatives, many of our dearest and most devoted friends--those\nwho started with us in \"the freshness of morning\" on the road of life,\nwhich then lay so deceitfully fair and bright before them and us--they\nwho shared our early hopes and aspirations, and whose words and smiles\nwere the best encouragement of our feeble efforts--when we have seen\nthem sink, one by one, into the darkness of the grave, leaving the\nearth more bleak and dreary year by year for those who remain--then do\nwe naturally follow them in spirit to those gloomy regions where one or\nall may be undergoing that blessed purification which prepares them for\nthe eternal repose of Heaven.\n\nOf all the divine truths which the Catholic Church proposes to her\nchildren, assuredly none is more acceptable to the pilgrim race of Adam\nthan that of Purgatory. It is, beyond conception, dear and precious as\none of the links that connect the living with the vanished dead, and\nwhich keeps them fresh in the memory of those who loved them on earth,\nand whose dearest joy it is to be able to help them in that shadowy\nborder-land through which, in pain and sorrow, they must journey before\nentering the Land of Promise, which is the City of God, seated on the\neverlasting hills.\n\nWhen I decided on adding yet another to the many books on Purgatory\nalready existing even in our own language, I, at the same time,\nresolved to make it as different as possible from all the others, and\nthus fill up a void of which I have long been sensible in our English\nPurgatorial literature. Doctrinal works, books of devotion, e have in\nabundance, but it is, unhappily, only the pious, the religiously-\ninclined who will read them. Knowing this, and still desirous to\npromote devotion to the Holy Souls by making Purgatory more real, more\nfamiliar to the general reader, I thought the very best means I could\ntake for that end would be to make a book chiefly of legends and of\npoetry, with enough of doctrinal and devotional matter to give a\nsubstantial character to the work by placing it on the solid\nfoundations of Catholic dogma, patristic authority, and that, at the\nsame time, of the latest divines and theologians of the Church, by\nselections from their published writings.\n\nI have divided the work into five parts, viz.: Doctrinal and\nDevotional, comprising extracts from Suarez, St. Catherine of Genoa,\nSt. Augustine, St. Gertrude, St. Francis de Sales, of the earlier and\nmiddle ages; and from Archbishop Gibbons, Very Rev. Fa\u00e1 di Bruno,\nFather Faber, Father Muller, C.S.S.R., Father Binet, S.J., Rev. J. J.\nMoriarty, and others.\n\nThe Second Part consists of Anecdotes and Incidents relating to\nPurgatory, and more or less authentic. The Third Part contains\nhistorical matter bearing on the same subject, including Father\nLambing's valuable article on \"The Belief in a Middle State of Souls\nafter Death amongst Pagan Nations.\" The Fourth Part is made up of\n\"Thoughts on Purgatory, from Various Authors, Catholic and non-\nCatholic,\" including Cardinals Newman, Wiseman, and Manning; the\nAnglican Bishops Jeremy Taylor and Reginald Heber, Dr. Samuel Johnson,\nWilliam Hurrell Mallock, Count de Maistre, Chateaubriand.\n\nThe Fifth and last part consists of a numerous collection of legends\nand poems connected with Purgatory. Many of these are translated from\nthe French, especially the _L\u00e9gendes de l'Autre Monde,_ by the\nwell-known legendist, J. Colin de Plancy. In selecting the legends and\nanecdotes, I have endeavored to give only those that were new to most\nEnglish readers, thus leaving out many legends that would well bear\nreproducing, but were already too well known to excite any fresh\ninterest.\n\nIn the poetical section I have represented as many as possible of the\nbest-known poets, from Dante down, and some poems of rare beauty and\nmerit were translated from French and Canadian poets by my daughter,\nwho has also contributed some interesting articles for the historical\nportion of the work. As may be supposed, this book is the fruit of much\nresearch. The collection of the material has necessarily been a work of\ntime, the field from which the gleanings were made being so vast, and\nthe selections requiring so much care.\n\nAs regards the legendary portion of the work, whether prose or poetry,\nthe reader will, of course, understand that I give the legends\nprecisely for what they are worth; by no means as representing the\ndoctrinal belief of Purgatory, but merely as some of the wild flowers\nof poetry and romance that have grown, in the long lapse of time, from\nthe rich soil of faith and piety, amongst the Catholic peoples of every\nland--intensified, in this instance, by the natural affection of the\nliving for their dear departed ones, and the solemn and shadowy mystery\nin which the dead are shrouded when once they have passed the portals\nof eternity and are lost to mortal sight. Some of these legends, though\nexceedingly beautiful, will hardly bear close examination in the light\nof Catholic dogma. Of this class is \"The Faithful Soul,\" of Adelaide\nProcter, which is merely given here as an old French legend, nearly\nconnected with Purgatory, and having really nothing in it contrary to\nfaith, though in a high degree improbable, but yet from its intrinsic\nbeauty and dramatic character, no less than the subtle charm of Miss\nProcter's verse, eminently worthy of a place in this collection. The\nsame remark applies more or less to some of Colin de Plancy's legends,\nnotably that of \"Robert the Devil's Penance,\" and others of a similar\nkind, as also T. D. McGee's \"Penance of Don Diego Rias\" and Calderon's\n\"St. Patrick's Purgatory\"--the two last named bearing on the same\nsubject. Nevertheless, they all come within the scope of my present\nwork and are, therefore, presented to the reader as weird fragments of\nthe legendary lore of Purgatory.\n\nTaken altogether, I think this work will help to increase devotion to\nthe Suffering Souls, and excite a more tender and more sensible feeling\nof sympathy for them, at least amongst Catholics, showing, as it does,\nthe awful reality of those purgative pains awaiting all, with few or no\nexceptions, in the after life; the help they may and do receive from\nthe good offices of the living, and the sacred and solemn' duty it is\nfor Christians in the present life to remember them and endeavor to\nrelieve their sufferings by every means in their power. To answer this\npurpose I have made the dead ages unite their solemn and authoritative\nvoice with that of the living, actual present in testimony of the truth\nof this great Catholic dogma. The Saints, the Fathers, the Doctors of\nthe Church in the ages of antiquity, and the prelates and priests of\nour own day all speak the same language of undoubting faith, of solemn\nconviction regarding Purgatory,--make the same earnest and eloquent\nappeal to the faithful on behalf of the dear suffering souls. Even the\nheathen nations and tribes of both hemispheres are brought forward as\nwitnesses to the existence of a middle state in the after life. Nor is\nProtestantism itself wanting in this great and overwhelming mass of\nevidence, as the reader will perceive that some of its most eminent\ndivines and secular writers have joined, with no hesitating or\nfaltering voice, in the grand _Credo_ of the nations and the ages\nin regard to Purgatory.\n\nWhat remains for me to add except the earnest hope that this book may\nhave the effect it is intended to produce by bringing the faithful\nchildren of the Church to think more and oftener of their departed\nbrethren who, having passed from the Militant to the Suffering Church,\nare forever crying out to the living from their darksome prison--\"Have\npity on us, have pity on us, at least you who were our friends, have\npity on us, for the hand of the Lord is heavy upon us!\"\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nPART I.\n\nDOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.\n\n  Doctrine of Suarez on Purgatory\n  St. Catherine of Genoa on Purgatory\n  Extracts from the Fathers on Purgatory\n  Verses from the Imitation _Thomas \u00e0 Kempis._\n  St. Augustine and his Mother, St. Monica\n  St. Gertrude and the Holy Souls\n  St. Joseph's Intercession for the Faithful Departed\n  St. Francis de Sales on Purgatory\n  Cardinal Gibbons on Purgatory\n  Archbishop Hughes on Purgatory\n  Archbishop Lynch on Purgatory\n  Purgatory Surveyed _Father Binet, S. J._\n  Father Faber on Devotion to the Holy Souls\n  Why the Souls in Purgatory are called \"Poor\" _Mullcr._\n  Appeal to all Classes for the Souls in Purgatory _By a Paulist\nFather._\n  The Souls in Purgatory _Rev. F. X. Weninger, S. J._\n  Popular View of Purgatory _Rev. J. J. Moriarty._\n  Extracts from \"Catholic Belief\" _Very Rev. Fa\u00e1 Di Bruno, D.D._\n  Purgatory and the Feast of All Souls _Alban Butkr._\n\nPART II.\n\nANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.\n\n  The Fruit of a Mass _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_.\n  Faith of a Pious Lady _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_.\n  Pay what Thou Owest _Ave Maria_.\n  VIA CRUCIS _Footsteps of Spirits_.\n  Strange Incidents _Footsteps of Spirits_.\n  True Story of the \"_De Profundis_\" _Ave Maria_.\n  Confidence Rewarded _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_\n  Anecdote of the \"_De Profundis_\"\n  Strange Occurrence in a Persian Prison _Life of St. John the\nAlmoner_.\n  A Swiss Protestant Converted by the Doctrine of Purgatory\n_Catechism in Examples_.\n  The Dead Hand _Ave Maria_.\n  A Beautiful Example _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_.\n  How to Pay One's Debts _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_.\n  Faith Rewarded _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_.\n  Apparition of a Citizen of Arles _Histoire des Spectres_.\n  Countess of Strafford _Vie de Monsgr. de la Mothe_.\n\n  Marquis de Civrac _Une Commune Vend\u00e9enne. 183\n  Gratitude of the Holy Souls _Ave Maria_.\n  Strange Incident _Ave Maria_.\n\nPART III.\n\nHISTORICAL.\n\n  Doctrine of Purgatory amongst the Pagan Nations of Antiquity _Rev.\nA. A. Lambing_.\n  Devotion to the Dead amongst American Indians\n  Superstitious Belief amongst American Indians\n  Remembrance, of the Dead amongst the Egyptians\n  Remembrance of the Dead throughout Europe _A. T. Sadlier_. Part\nI.\n  Remembrance of the Dead throughout Europe _A. T. Sadlier_. Part\nII.\n  Prayer for the Dead in the Anglo-Saxon Church _Dr. Lingard_\n  Singular French Custom _Voix de la Verit\u00e9_\n  Devotion to the Holy Souls amongst the Early English _A. T.\nSadlier_\n  Doctrine of Purgatory in the Early Irish Church _Walsh_\n  Prince Napoleon's Prayer\n  Helpers of the Holy Souls _Lady G. Fullerton_\n  The Mass in Relation to the Dead _O'Brien_\n  Daniel O'Connell, Funeral Oration on _Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P._\n  Indulgence of the Portiuncula _Almanac of the Souls in\nPurgatory_.\n  Catherine of Cardona _Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_.\n  The Emperor Nicholas Praying for his Mother _Anecdotes\nChr\u00e9tiennes_.\n  Pius VI., Funeral Oration on _Rev. Arthur O'Leary, O.S.F._\n  Rev. Arthur O'Leary, O.S.F., Funeral Oration on _Rev. M. D'Arcy_\n  _De Mortuis_. Our Deceased Prelates. _Archbishop Corrigan_\n\nPART IV.\n\nTHOUGHTS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON PURGATORY.\n\n  Purgatory _Cardinal Newman_\n  Our Debt to the Dead _Cardinal Manning_\n  Purgatory _Cardinal Wiseman_\n  Reply to some Misstatements about Purgatory _Archbishop\nSpalding_\n  Count de Maistre on Purgatory\n  What the Saints thought of Purgatory\n  Ch\u00e2teaubriand on Purgatory\n  Mary and the Faithful Departed _Brother Azarias._\n  Dr. Johnson on Prayer for the Dead\n  The Doctrine of Purgatory _Burnett._\n  Mallock on Purgatory\n  Boileau-Despr\u00e9aux and Prayer for the Dead\n  All Saints and All Souls _Mrs. Sadlier._\n  Leibnitz on the Mass as a Propitiatory Sacrifice\n  Extracts from \"A Troubled Heart\"\n  Eug\u00e9nie de Guerin and her Brother Maurice\n  Passages from the \"Via Media\" _Newman._\n  All Souls _From the French._\n  An Anglican Bishop Praying for the Dead\n  \"Purgatory\" of Dante _Mariotti._\n  Month of November _Mary E. Blake._\n  Litany of the Departed _Acolytus._\n  All Souls' Day _Mrs. Sadlier._\n  Cemeteries\n  Opinions of Various Protestants\n  Some Thoughts for November\n\nPART V.\n\nLEGENDARY AND POETICAL.\n\n  _Dies Ir\u00e6_\n  Authorship of the _Dies Ir\u00e6_\n  Dante's _\"Purgatorio\"_\n  Hamlet and the Ghost _Shakespeare._\n  Calderon's \"Purgatory of St. Patrick\"\n  The Brig o' Dread _Scott._\n  Shelley and the Purgatory of St. Patrick\n  On a Great Funeral _Aubrey de Vere._\n  _Morte d'Arthur_ _Tennyson._\n  Guido and his Brother _Collin de Plancy._\n  Berthold in Purgatory _Collin de Plancy._\n  Legend of St. Nicholas _Collin de Planey._\n  Dream of Gerontius _Newman. St. Gregory_\n  Releases the Soul of Trajan _Mrs. Jameson._\n  St. Gregory and the Monk Legend of Geoffroid d'lden\n  The Queen of Purgatory _Faber_.\n  The Dead Priest before the Altar _Rev. A. J. Ryan_.\n  Memorials of the Dead _R. R. Madden_.\n  A Child's \"_Requiescat in Pace_\" _Eliza Allen Starr_.\n  The Solitary Soul _Ave Maria_.\n  Story of the Faithful Soul _Adelaide Procter_.\n  Gen\u00e9rade, the Friend of St. Augustine _De Plancy_\n  St. Thomas Aquinas and Friar Romanus _De Plancy_.\n  The Key that Never Turns _Eleanor C. Donnelly_.\n  A Burial _Thomas Davis_.\n  Hymn for the Dead _Newman_.\n  The Two Students _De Plancy_.\n  The Penance of Don Diego Riaz _McGee_.\n  The Day of All Souls _Eliza Allen Starr_.\n  Message of the November Wind _Eleanor C. Donnelly_.\n  Legend of the Time of Charlemagne\n  The Dead Mass\n  The Eve of St. John _Sir Walter Scott_.\n  Request of a Soul in Purgatory\n  All Souls' _Marion Muir_.\n  The Dead _Octave Cremasie_\n  A REQUIEM _Sir Walter Scott_.\n  Penance of Robert the Devil _De Plancy_.\n  All Souls' Eve\n  Commemoration of All Souls _Harriet M. Skidmore_.\n  The Memory of the Dead _Faber_.\n  The Holy Souls.\n  Author of \"Christian Schools and Scholars.\"\n  The Palmer's Rosary _Eliza Allen Starr_.\n  A Lyke Wake Dirge.\n  All Souls' Day _Lyra Liturgica_.\n  The Suffering Souls. _E. M. V. Bulger._\n  \"The Voices of the Dead.\" _M. R. in \"The Lamp.\"_\n  The Convent Cemetery. _Rev. A. J. Ryan._\n  One Hour after Death. _Eliza Allen Starr._\n  A Prayer for the Dead. _T. D. McGee._\n  The _De Profundis Bell._ _Harriet M. Skidmore._\n  November. _Anna T. Sadlier._\n  For the Souls in Purgatory.\n  All Souls' Eve.\n  Our Neighbor. _Eliza Allen Starr._\n  Old Bells.\n  O Holy Church. _Harriet M. Skidmore._\n  An Incident of the Battle of Bannockburn. _Sir Walter Scott._\n  Pray for the Martyred Dead.\n  In Winter. _Eliza Allen Starr._\n  _Oremus._ _Mary E. Mannix._\n  Funeral Hymn. _A. T. Sadlier._\n  _Chant Fun\u00e8bre._ _Nisard._\n  _Requiescat in Pace._ _Harriet M. Skidmore._\n  The Feast of All Souls in the Country. _Anna T. Sadlier._\n  _Requiem \u00c6ternum_ _T. D. McGee._\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n  Association of Masses and Stations of the Cross.\n  Extracts from _The Catholic Review_ of New York.\n  A Duty of November. _The Texas Monitor._\n  Purgatorial Association. _Catholic Columbian._\n  The Holy Face and the Suffering Souls.\n  When will they Learn its Secret? _Baptist Examiner._\n\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\nDOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.\n\n\n\"But now, brethren, if I come to you, speaking with tongues: what shall\nI profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation, or in\nknowledge, or in prophecy, or in doctrine?\"\n\n--ST. PAUL, I. COR. PURGATORY:\n\n\nDOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.\n\n\nDOCTRINE OF SUAREZ ON PURGATORY.\n\n\nTHE PLACE.\n\nIt is a certain truth of faith that after this life there is a place of\nPurgatory. Though the name of Purgatory may not be found in Holy\nScripture, that does not matter, if we can show that the thing meant by\nthe name can be found there; for often the Church, either because of\nnew heresies, or that the doctrine of the faith may be set forth more\nclearly and shortly, gives new and simple names, in which the mysteries\nof the faith are summed up. This is evident in the cases of the Holy\nTrinity, the Incarnation, and the Holy Eucharist.\n\nThe doctrine of Purgatory is proved by:--the Old Testament, the New\nTestament, the Councils of the Church, especially those of Florence and\nof Trent, the Fathers and Tradition, and by theological reasons.\n\n\nWHERE PURGATORY IS.\n\nNothing is said in Holy Scripture about this place, nor is there any\ndefinition of the Church concerning it. The subject, therefore, comes\nwithin the range of theological discussion. Theologians, however,\nsuppose Purgatory to be a certain corporeal place, in which souls are\nkept till they pay fully the debt which they owe. It is true that they\ndo not in themselves need a corporeal place, since they are spirits;\nbut yet, as they are in this world, they must, of necessity, be in some\ncorporeal place--at any rate, with regard to substantial presence. Thus\nwe see that God, in His providence, has made definite places for the\nAngels, according to the difference of their states. Gehenna is\nprepared for the devil and his angels, whereas the empyreal Heaven is\nmade for the good angels. In this way, it is certain that the souls,\npaying their debt, are kept in a corporeal place. This place is not\nheaven, for nothing that is defiled enters there; nor is it hell, for\nin hell there is no redemption, and from that place no souls can be\nsaved.\n\n\nPAIN OF LOSS AND SENSE.\n\nThe pain of loss is the want of the vision of God and of the whole of\nour everlasting beatitude. The pain of sense is the suffering of\npunishment specially inflicted over and above the loss of the beatitude\nof Heaven.\n\nWe must assert that the souls in Purgatory suffer the pain of loss,\ntempered by hope, and not like the souls in hell, which have no hope.\n\nIn the pain of sense we can distinguish two things. There is the sorrow\nwhich follows closely the want or delay of the vision of God, and has\nthat for its object. There is also another pain, as it were outward,\nand this is proportioned to the sensible pain which is caused in us by\nfire, or any like action, contrary to nature and hurtful to it. That in\nPurgatory this sorrow does follow the loss of God is most certain; for\nthat loss, or delay, is truly a great evil, and is most keenly felt to\nbe such by those souls that with all their strength love God and long\nto see Him. Therefore, it is impossible for them not to feel the\ngreatest sorrow about that delay.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe must assert that, besides the pain of loss and the sorrow annexed to\nit, there is in Purgatory a proper and peculiar pain of sense. This is\nthe more common judgment of the scholastics; and seems to be received\nby the common judgment and approbation of the Church. Indeed, the\nequity of the avenging justice of God requires this. The sinner,\nthrough inordinate delight in creatures and affection for them,\ndeserves a punishment contrary to that delight; and if in this life he\nhas not made full satisfaction, he must be punished and freed by some\nsuch pain as this, which we call the pain of sense. Theologians in\ncommon teach this, and distinguish a proper pain of sense from the\nsorrow caused by the want of the vision of God. Thus they distinguish\nspiritual pains, such as sorrow for the delay of the vision, and\nremorse of conscience, from corporeal pains, which come from the fire,\nor any other instrument of God. These corporeal pains we comprehend\nunder the pain of sense.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhether, besides the fire, other corporeal things, such as water and\nsnow, are used as instruments for punishing the souls is uncertain.\nBede says that souls in Purgatory were seen to pass from very great\nheat to very great cold, and then from cold to heat. St. Anselm\nmentions these punishments disjunctively. He says, \"or any other kind\nof punishments.\" We cannot, therefore, speak of this with certainty.\n\n\nTHE PAIN OF LOSS.\n\nIn this matter we may look at the pain of loss as well as the pain of\nsense. It is certain that the pain of loss is very sharp, because of\nthe greatness of the good for which they wait. True, it is only for a\ntime; yet it is rightly reckoned, as St. Thomas taught, a greater evil\nthan any loss in this life. He and other theologians with him mean that\nthe sorrow also which springs from the apprehension of this evil is\ngreater than any pain or sorrow here. Hence, they conclude that the\npain of loss in every way exceeds all pains of this life; for they\nthink, as I have already noted, that this sorrow pertains to the pain\nof loss, and therefore they join this pain with privation, that the\npunishment may be greater in every way.... The vision of God and the\nbeatitude of heaven are such that the possession of them, even for a\nday, could exceed all goods of this life taken together and possessed\nfor a long time.... Therefore, even a short delay of such a good is a\nvery heavy sorrow, far exceeding all the pains of this life. The Holy\nSouls well understand and weigh the greatness of this evil; and very\npiercing is the pain they feel, because they know that they are\nsuffering through their own negligence and by their own fault.... There\nare, however, certain things which would seem to have power to lessen\ntheir pain:\n\n1. They are certain of future glory. This hope must bring them much\njoy; as St. Paul says, \"rejoicing in hope.\" (Roms. xii. 12.)\n\n2. There is the rightness of their will, by which they are conformed to\nthe justice of God. Hence, it follows that, in a certain sense, their\npain is voluntary, and thus not so severe.\n\n3. By the love of God they not only bear their punishment, but rejoice\nin it, because they see that it is the means of satisfying God and\nbeing brought to Heaven.\n\n4. If they choose, they can turn their thoughts from the pain of delay,\nand give them very attentively to the good of hope. This would bring\nthem consolation.\n\n\nTHE PAIN OF SENSE.\n\nIt is the common judgment of theologians, with St. Augustine, St.\nThomas, and St. Bonaventure, that this pain is bitterer than all pain\nof this life.... Theologians, in common with St. Thomas and St.\nBonaventure, teach that the pain of Purgatory is not in any way\ninflicted by devils. These souls are just and holy. They cannot sin any\nmore; and, to the last, they have overcome the assaults of the devils.\nIt would not, therefore, be fitting that such souls should be given\ninto their power to be tormented by them. Again, when the devils tempt\nwayfarers, they do it because they hope to lead them into sin, however\nperfect they may be; but they could have no such hope about the souls\nin Purgatory, and so would not be likely to tempt them. Besides, they\nknow that their temptations or harassings would have an effect not\nintended by them, and would bring the souls from Purgatory to Heaven\nmore quickly.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is the common law that souls in Purgatory, during the whole time\nthat they are there, cannot come out from the prison, even if they\nwish; The constant closing of the prison-doors is a part of the\nseverity of their punishment. So teach St. John Chrysostom, St.\nAthanasius, and St. Augustine.... The reason for this is the law of the\njustice of God. The souls of the lost are kept in prison by force and\nagainst their will. The souls in Purgatory stay there willingly, for\nthey understand the just will of God and submit to it. This law,\nhowever, can be sometimes dispensed with; and so St. Augustine holds it\nto be probable that there are often true apparitions of the Holy Souls\nby the permission of God.... It is true that, as a rule, these are\napparitions of souls, who, by a special decree of God, are suffering\ntheir Purgatory somewhere in this world.... One thing, however, we must\nnote in these cases. When such a permission is given, the pain of the\nsoul is not interrupted. This is not only seen from the visions\nthemselves, but is what reason requires.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHere occurs the question whether the Holy Souls pray for us and can\ngain anything for us by merit of congruity, or, at least, impetrate it\nfor us, as others prefer to say. Some have said that they do not thus\npray for us, because it is not fitting to their state, in that they are\ndebtors and, as it were, kept in prison for their debts; and also\nbecause they do not see God, and so do not know what is done here. They\nmight know such things by special revelations, but revelations of this\nkind are not due to their state. But surely their penal state does not\nnecessarily hinder the Holy Souls from praying for, and impetrating for\nus. They are holy and dear to God; and they love us with charity,\nremembering us, and knowing, at least in a general way, the dangers in\nwhich we live; they understand also how greatly we need the help of\nGod: why, then, should they not be able to pray for us, even though in\nanother way they are paying to God their debt of punishment? For we\nalso in this life are debtors to God, and yet we pray for others....\nBesides, we may well believe that the Holy Angels make revelations to\nthe souls in Purgatory about their relatives or friends still living on\nthis earth. They will do this for the consolation of the Holy Souls, or\nthat they may know what to ask for us in particular cases, or that they\nmay know of our prayers for them.\n\n\nST. CATHARINE OF GENOA ON PURGATORY.\n\nThis Holy Soul, while still in the flesh, was placed in the purgatory\nof the burning love of God, in whose flames she was purified from every\nstain, so that when she passed from this life she might be ready to\nenter the presence of God, her most sweet love. By means of that flame\nof love she comprehended in her own soul the condition of the souls of\nthe faithful in Purgatory, where they are purified from the rust and\nstain of sins, from which they have not been cleansed in this world.\nAnd as in the purgatory of that divine flame she was united with the\ndivine love and satisfied with all that was accomplished in her, she\nwas enabled to comprehend the state of the souls in Purgatory, and thus\ndiscoursed concerning it:\n\n\"As far as I can see, the souls in Purgatory can have no choice but be\nthere; this God has most justly ordained by His divine decree. They\ncannot turn towards themselves and say, 'I have committed such and such\nsins for which I deserve to remain here;' nor can they say, 'Would that\nI had refrained from them, for then I should at this moment be in\nParadise;' nor again, 'This soul will be released before me;' or, 'I\nshall be released before her.' They retain no memory of either good or\nevil respecting themselves or others which would increase their pain.\nThey are so contented with the divine inspirations in their regard, and\nwith doing all that is pleasing to God in that way which he chooses,\nthat they cannot think of themselves, though they may strive to do so.\nThey see nothing but the operation of the divine goodness which is so\nmanifestly bringing them to God that they can reflect neither on their\nown profit nor on their hurt. Could they do so, they would not be in\npure charity. They see not that they suffer their pains in consequence\nof their sins, nor can they for a moment entertain that thought, for\nshould they do so it would be an active imperfection, and that cannot\nexist in a state where there is no longer the possibility of sin. At\nthe moment of leaving this life, they see why they are sent to\nPurgatory, but never again; otherwise they would still retain something\nprivate, which has no place there. Being established in charity, they\ncan never deviate therefrom by any defect, and have no will or desire\nsave the pure will of pure love, and can swerve from it in nothing.\nThey can neither commit sin nor merit by refraining from it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"There is no peace to be compared with that of the souls in Purgatory,\nsave that of the saints in Paradise, and this peace is ever augmented\nby the inflowing of God into these souls, which increases in proportion\nas the impediments to it are removed. The rust of sin is the\nimpediment, and this the fire continually consumes, so that the soul in\nthis state is continually opening itself to admit the divine\ncommunication. As a covered surface can never reflect the sun, not\nthrough any defect in that orb, but simply from the resistance offered\nby the covering, so, if the covering be gradually removed, the surface\nwill by little and little be opened to the sun and will more and more\nreflect his light. So it is with the rust of sin, which is the\ncovering of the soul. In Purgatory the flames incessantly consume it,\nand as it disappears the soul reflects more and more perfectly the true\nsun, who is God. Its contentment increases as this rust wears away, and\nthe soul is laid bare to the divine ray; and thus one increases and the\nother decreases until the time is accomplished. The pain never\ndiminishes, although the time does; but, as to the will, so united is\nit to God by pure charity, and so satisfied to be under His divine\nappointment, that these souls can never say their pains are pains.\n\n\"On the other hand, it is true that they suffer torments which no\ntongue can describe nor any intelligence comprehend, unless it be\nrevealed by such a special grace as that which God has vouchsafed to\nme, but which I am unable to explain. And this vision which God\nrevealed to me has never departed from my memory. I will describe it as\nfar as I am able, and they whose intellects our Lord will deign to open\nwill understand me.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"The source of all suffering is either original or actual sin. God\ncreated the soul pure, simple, free from every stain, and with a\ncertain beatific instinct towards Himself. It is drawn aside from Him\nby original sin, and when actual sin is afterwards added this withdraws\nit still farther, and ever, as it removes from Him, its sinfulness\nincreases because its communication with God grows less and less.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Since the souls in Purgatory are freed from the guilt of sin, there is\nno barrier between them and God save only the pains they suffer, which\ndelay the satisfaction of their desire. And when they see how serious\nis even the slightest hindrance, which the necessity of justice causes\nto check them, a vehement flame kindles within them, which is like that\nof hell. They feel no guilt, however, and it is guilt which is the\ncause of the malignant will of the condemned in hell, to whom God does\nnot communicate His goodness; and thus they remain in despair and with\na will forever opposed to the good-will of God.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"The souls in Purgatory are entirely conformed to the will of God;\ntherefore, they correspond with His goodness, are contented with all\nthat He ordains, and are entirely purified from the guilt of their\nsins. They are pure from sins because they have in this life abhorred\nthem and confessed them with true contrition; and for this reason God\nremits their guilt, so that only the stains of sin remain, and these\nmust be devoured by the fire. Thus freed from guilt and united to the\nwill of God, they see Him clearly according to that degree of light\nwhich He allows them, and comprehend how great a good is the fruition\nof God, for which all souls were created. Moreover, these souls are in\nsuch close conformity to God and are drawn so powerfully toward Him by\nreason of the natural attraction between Him and the soul, that no\nillustration or comparison could make this impetuosity understood in\nthe way in which my spirit conceives it by its interior sense.\nNevertheless, I will use one which occurs to me.\n\n\"Let us suppose that in the whole world there were but one loaf to\nappease the hunger of every creature, and that the bare sight of it\nwould satisfy them. Now man, when in health, has by nature the instinct\nfor food, but if we can suppose him to abstain from it and neither die,\nnor yet lose health and strength, his hunger would clearly become\nincreasingly urgent. In this case, if he knew that nothing but this\nloaf would satisfy him, and that until he reached it his hunger could\nnot be appeased, he would suffer intolerable pain, which would increase\nas his distance from the loaf diminished; but if he were sure that he\nwould never see it, his hell would be as complete as that of the damned\nsouls, who, hungering after God, have no hope of ever seeing the bread\nof life. But the souls in Purgatory have an assured hope of seeing Him\nand of being entirely satisfied; and therefore they endure all hunger\nand suffer all pain until that moment when they enter into eternal\npossession of this bread, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour,\nand our Love.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"I will say, furthermore: I see that as far as God is concerned,\nParadise has no gates, but he who will may enter. For God is all mercy,\nand His open arms are ever extended to receive us into His glory. But I\nsee that the divine essence is so pure--purer than the imagination can\nconceive--that the soul, finding in itself the slightest imperfection,\nwould rather cast itself into a thousand hells than appear, so stained,\nin the presence of the divine majesty. Knowing, then, that Purgatory\nwas intended for her cleansing, she throws herself therein, and finds\nthere that great mercy, the removal of her stains.\n\n\"The great importance of Purgatory, neither mind can conceive nor\ntongue describe. I see only that its pains are as great as those of\nhell; and yet I see that a soul, stained with the slightest fault,\nreceiving this mercy, counts the pains as nought in comparison with\nthis hindrance to her love. And I know that the greatest misery of the\nsouls in Purgatory is to behold in themselves aught that displeases\nGod, and to discover that, in spite of His goodness, they had consented\nto it. And this is because, being in the state of grace, they see the\nreality and the importance of the impediments which hinder their\napproach to God.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"From that furnace of divine love I see rays of fire dart like burning\nlamps towards the soul; and so violent and powerful are they that both\nsoul and body would be utterly destroyed, if that were possible. These\nrays perform a double office; they purify and they annihilate.\n\n\"Consider gold: the oftener it is melted the more pure does it become;\ncontinue to melt it and every imperfection is destroyed. This is the\neffect of fire on all materials. The soul, however, cannot be\nannihilated in God, but in herself she can, and the longer her\npurification lasts the more perfectly does she die to herself, until at\nlength she remains purified in God.\n\n\"When gold has been completely freed from dross, no fire, however\ngreat, has any further action on it, for nothing but its imperfections\ncan be consumed. So it is with the divine fire in the soul. God retains\nher in these flames until every stain is burned away, and she is\nbrought to the highest perfection of which she is capable, each soul in\nher own degree. And when this is accomplished, she rests wholly in God.\nNothing of herself remains, and God is her entire being. When He has\nthus led her to Himself and purified her, she is no longer passible,\nfor nothing remains to be consumed. If, when thus refined, she should\nagain approach the fire she would feel no pain, for to her it has\nbecome the fire of divine love, which is life eternal and which nothing\nmars.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd thus this blessed Soul, illuminated by the divine ray, said: \"Would\nthat I could utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with\nterror, and say to them: O wretched beings! why are you so blinded by\nthis world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no\nprovision for the great necessity that will then come upon you?\n\n\"You shelter yourselves beneath the hope of the mercy of God, which you\nunceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great\ngoodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrain\nyou to His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since His\njustice is unfailing, it must needs be in some way fully satisfied.\n\n\"Have not the boldness to say: 'I will go to confession and gain a\nplenary indulgence, and thus I shall be saved?' Remember that the full\nconfession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary\nindulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are\ncome by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than of\ngaining them.\"\n\n\nEXTRACTS FROM THE FATHERS. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: These extracts are purposely different from those quoted\nby the learned author of \"Purgatory Surveyed,\" in that portion of his\ntreatise herein comprised.]\n\n\nST. CYPRIAN [1] writes: \"Our predecessors prudently advised that no\nbrother, departing this life should nominate any churchman his\nexecutor; and should he do it, that no oblation should be made for him,\nnor sacrifice offered for his repose; of which we have had a late\nexample, when no oblation was made, nor prayer, in his name, offered in\nthe Church.\" [2]\n\n[Footnote 1: Ep., xlvi., p. 114.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Cardinal Wiseman commenting upon this passage, says: \"It\nwas considered, therefore, a severe punishment, that prayers and\nsacrifices should not be offered up for those who had violated any of\nthe ecclesiastical laws.\"--_Lectures on the Catholic Church._\nLecture xi., p. 59.]\n\n\nORIGEN, who wrote in the same century as Cyprian, and some two hundred\nyears after Christ, speaks as follows, in language the most distinct,\nupon our doctrine of Purgatory: \"When we depart this life, if we take\nwith us virtues or vices, shall we receive reward for our virtues, and\nshall those trespasses be forgiven to us which we knowingly committed;\nor shall we be punished for our faults, and not receive the reward of\nour virtues? Neither is true: because we shall suffer for our sins and\nreceive the reward of our virtues. For if on the foundation of Christ\nyou shall have built not only gold and silver and precious stones, but\nalso wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall\nbe separated from the body? Would you enter into Heaven with your wood,\nand hay, and stubble, to defile the Kingdom of God; or on account of\nthose encumbrances remain without, and receive no reward for your gold\nand silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains, then,\nthat you be committed to the fire, which shall consume the light\nmaterials; for our God, to those who can comprehend heavenly things, is\ncalled a _consuming fire_. But this fire consumes not the\ncreature, but what the creature has himself built--wood, and hay, and\nstubble. It is manifest that, in the first place, the fire destroys the\nwood of our transgressions, and then returns to us the reward of our\ngood works.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Homil. xvi al. xii. in Jerem. T. iii. p. 231,232.]\n\n\nST. BASIL, or a contemporary author, thus writes, commenting on the\nwords of Isaiah: \"Through the wrath of the Lord is the land burned; the\nthings which are earthly are made the food of a punishing fire; to the\nend, that the soul may receive favor and be benefited.\" He continues:\n\"And the people shall be as the fuel of the fire.\" (_Ibid_.) This\nis not a threat of extermination; but it denotes expurgation, [1]\naccording to the expression of the Apostles: \"If any man's works burn,\nhe shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by\nfire.\" (1 Cor. iii. 15.) [2]\n\n[Footnote 1: Cardinal Wiseman in commenting upon this passage, says:\n\"Now, mark well the word purgation here used. For it proves that our\nvery term of Purgatory is not modern in the Church.\"--_Lectures on\nthe Catholic Church_. Lecture xi., p. 60.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Com. in C., ix. Isai. T. I., p. 554.]\n\n\nThe following is from ST. EPHREM, of Edessa: \"My brethren, come to me,\nand prepare me for my departure, for my strength is wholly gone. Go\nalong with me in psalms and in your prayers; and please constantly to\nmake oblations for me. When the thirtieth day [1] shall be completed,\nthen remember me: for the dead are helped by the offerings of the\nliving. If also the sons of Mathathias, who celebrated their feasts in\nfigures only, could cleanse those from guilt by their offerings who\nfell in battle, how much more shall the priests of Christ aid the dead\nby their oblations and prayers?\" [2]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"The very day,\" says Cardinal Wiseman, \"observed by the\nCatholic Church with peculiar solemnity, in praying and observing Mass\nfor the dead\". Archbishop Corrigan, of New York, in announcing to the\nclergy of his diocese the death of His Eminence the late Cardinal\nMcCloskey, speaks as follows: \"The reverend rectors are also requested\nto have solemn services for the soul of our late beloved chief pastor,\non the _seventh_ and _thirtieth_ day.\"]\n\n[Footnote 2: In Testament. T. ii., p. 334. p. 371, Edit. Oxen.]\n\n\nThus speaks ST. GREGORY of Nyssa: \"In the present life, God allows man\nto remain subject to what himself has chosen; that, having tasted of\nthe evil which he desired, and learned by experience how bad an\nexchange has been made, he might feel an ardent wish to lay down the\nload of those vices and inclinations, which are contrary to reason; and\nthus, in this life, being renovated by prayers and the pursuit of\nwisdom, or, in the next, being expiated by the purging fire, he might\nrecover the state of happiness which he had lost.... When he has\nquitted his body, and the difference between virtue and vice is known,\nhe cannot be admitted to approach the Divinity till the purging fire\nshall have expiated the stains with which his soul was infected. The\nsame fire, in others, will cancel the corruption of matter and the\npropensity to evil.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Orat. de Defunctis. T. ii., p. 1066, 1067, 1068.]\n\n\nST. CYRIL of Jerusalem: \"Then\" (in the Liturgy of the Church) \"we pray\nfor the holy Fathers and Bishops that are dead; and, in short, for all\nthose who are departed this life in our communion; believing that the\nsouls of those, for whom the prayers, are offered, receive very great\nrelief while this holy and tremendous victim lies upon the altar.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Catech. Mystag., V. N., ix., x., p. 328.]\n\n\nST. EPIPHANIUS writes: \"There is nothing more opportune, nothing more\nto be admired, than the rite which directs the names of the dead to be\nmentioned. They are aided by the prayer that is offered for them,\nthough it may not cancel all their faults. We mention both the just and\nsinners, in order that for the latter we may obtain mercy.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Haer. IV. Lib. LXXV., T. i., p. 911.]\n\n\nST. AUGUSTINE speaks as follows: \"The prayers of the Church, or of good\npersons, are heard in favor of those Christians who departed this life\nnot so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be\nentitled to immediate happiness. So also, at the resurrection of the\ndead, there will some be found, to whom mercy will be imparted, having\ngone through these pains, to which the spirits of the dead are liable.\nOtherwise it would not have been said of some with truth, that their\nsin shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to\ncome (Matt. xii., 32) unless some sins were remitted in the next\nworld.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: De Civit. Dei., Lib. XX, c. xxiv., p. 492.]\n\nIn another passage he comments on the words of St. Paul: \"If they had\nbuilt _gold_ and _silver_ and _precious stones,_ they would be secure\nfrom both fires; not only from that in which the wicked shall be\npunished for ever, but likewise from that fire which will purify\nthose who shall be saved by fire. But because it is said _he shall be\nsaved,_ that fire is thought lightly of; though the suffering will be\nmore grievous than anything man can undergo in this life.\"\n\n\nLet us hear ST. JEROME: [1] \"As we believe the torments of the devil,\nand of those wicked men who said in their hearts _there is no\nGod,_ to be eternal, so, in regard to those sinners who have not\ndenied their faith, and whose works will be proved and purged by fire,\nwe conclude that the sentence of the Judge will be tempered by mercy.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: Comment. in c. xv., Isai., T. ii., p. 492.]\n\nSt. Jerome thus speaks in his letter to Paula, concerning the death and\nburial of her mother, Eustochium: \"From henceforward there were no\nwailings nor lamentations as are usual amongst men of this world, but\nthe swarms of those present resounded with psalms in various tongues.\nAnd being removed by the hands of the bishops, and by those placing\ntheir shoulders under the bier, while other pontiffs were carrying\nlamps and wax tapers, and others led the choirs of psalmodists, she was\nlaid in the middle of the church of the cave of the Saviour.... Psalms\nresounded in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Syriac tongues, not only\nduring the three days intervening until she was laid under the church\nand near the cave of the Lord, but through the entire week.\"\n\n\nST. AMBROSE has many passages throughout his works, as Dr. Wiseman\nremarks. Thus he quotes St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians\n(iii., 5): \"'If any man's works burn he shall suffer loss; but he shall\nbe saved, yet so as by fire.' He will be saved, the Apostle said,\nbecause his substance shall remain, while his bad doctrine shall\nperish. Therefore, he said, yet so as by fife, in order that his\nsalvation be not understood to be without pain. He shows that he shall\nbe saved indeed, but he shall undergo the pain of fire, and be thus\npurified, not like the unbelieving and wicked man who shall be punished\nin everlasting fire.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Comment. in I Ep. ad Cor., T. ii.; in App, p. 122.]\n\n\nThe following is from his funeral oration on the Emperor Theodosius:\n\"Lately we deplored together his death, and now, while Prince Honorius\nis present before our altars, we celebrate the fortieth day. Some\nobserve the third and the thirtieth, others the seventh and the\nfortieth. Give, O Lord, rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which\nThou hast prepared for Thy Saints. May his soul thither tend, whence it\ncame, where it cannot feel the sting of death, where it will learn that\ndeath is the termination, not of nature, but of sin. I loved him,\ntherefore will I follow him to the land of the living; I will not leave\nhim, till, by my prayers and lamentation, he shall be admitted to the\nholy mount of the Lord to which his deserts call him.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: De obitu. Theodosii. Ibid., pp. 1197-8; 1207-8.]\n\nHe thus concludes his letter to ST. FAUSTINUS on the death of his\nsister: \"Therefore I consider her not so much to be deplored as to be\nfollowed by our prayers, nor do I think that her soul should be\nsaddened with tears, but rather commended to the Lord in oblations. For\nour flesh cannot be perpetual or lasting; it must necessarily fall in\norder that it may rise again--it must be dissolved in order that it may\nrest, and that there may be some end of sin.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: St. Ambr., p. 39, ad Faustini, t. 2, p 944, ed. Ben.]\n\n\nIn his funeral oration upon his brother Satyrus, he cries out: \"To Thee\nnow, O omnipotent God, I commend this innocent soul,--to Thee I offer\nmy victim. Accept graciously and serenely the gift of the brother--the\nsacrifice of the priest.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: De excessu frateris satyri, No. 80, p. 1135.]\n\nIn his discourse on the deceased Emperor Valentinian the Younger,\nmurdered in 392: \"Give the holy mysteries to the dead. Let us, with\npious earnestness, beg repose for his soul. Lift up your hands with me,\nO people, that at least by this duty we may make some return for his\nbenefits.\" [1] Joining him with the Emperor Gratian, his brother, dead\nsome years before, he says: \"Both blessed, if my prayers can be of any\nforce! No duty shall pass over you in silence. No prayer of mine shall\never be closed without remembering you. No night shall pass you over\nwithout some vows of my supplications. You shall have a share in all my\nsacrifices. If I forget you let my own right hand be forgotten.\" [2]\n\n[Footnote 1: St. Ambr. de obitu Valent, No. 56, t. 2, p 1189, ed.\nBened.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Ibid., No. 78, p. 1194.]\n\n\n\"It was not in vain,\" says ST. CHRYSOSTOM, \"that the apostles ordained\na commemoration of the deceased in the holy and tremendous mysteries.\nThey were sensible of the benefit and advantage which accrues to them\nfrom this practice. For, when the congregation stands with open arms as\nwell as the priests, and the tremendous sacrifice is before them, how\nshould our prayers for them not appease God? But this is said of such\nas have departed in faith.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Hom. 3 in Phil., t. n., p. 217 ed. Montfauc.]\n\n\nST. AUGUSTINE again says: \"Nor is it to be denied that the souls of the\ndeparted are relieved by the piety of their living friends, when the\nsacrifice of the Mediator is offered for them, or alms are given in the\nChurch. But these things are profitable to those who, while they lived,\ndeserved that they might avail them. There is a life so good as not to\nrequire them, and there is another so wicked that after death it can\nreceive no benefit from them. When, therefore, the sacrifices of the\naltar or alms are offered for all Christians, for the very good they\nare thanksgivings, they are propitiations for those who are not very\nbad. For the very wicked, they are some kind of comfort to the living.\"\n\nIn another of his works he says that prayer for the dead in the holy\nmysteries was observed by the whole church. He expounds the thirty-\nseventh Psalm as having reference to Purgatory. The words: \"Rebuke me\nnot in thy fury, neither chastise me in thy wrath,\" he explains as\nfollows: \"That you purify me in this life, and render me such that I\nmay not stand in need of that purging fire.\"\n\n\nARNOBIUS speaks of the public liturgies: \"In which peace and pardon are\nbegged of God for kings, magistrates, friends and enemies, both the\nliving and those who are delivered from the body.\"\n\n\nTo these few extracts, which space permits, might be added innumerable\nothers from St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, St. Paulinus,\nSt. Eusebius, Lactantius, Tertullian, St. Caesarius of Arles, St.\nBernard, Venerable Bede, St. Thomas Aquinas, and so on down to our own\nimmediate time. Their testimony is most clear not only as regards the\ncustom of praying for the dead, but the actual doctrine of Purgatory,\nas it is now understood in the Church. They are, in fact, in many cases\nmost explicit upon this point, obviously referring to a middle state of\nsuffering and expiation, and thus refuting by anticipation the\nobjections of those who claim that the primitive Christians prayed\nindeed for the dead, but knew nothing of Purgatory: a contradiction, it\nwould seem, as prayer for the dead, to be available, supposes a place\nor state of probation. But, even where the mention made by the Fathers\nof prayer for the dead does not refer expressly to a place of\npurgation, it is no more a proof that they did not hold this doctrine\nthan that those modern Catholic authors disbelieve in it, who suppose\nthis middle state of suffering to be admitted by their readers. Or\neven, which rarely happens, if they be silent altogether upon the\nsubject, it no more infers their ignorance of such a belief than the\nsame silence to be noted in theological and religious works of our own\nday. It proves no more than that they are at the time engaged in\ntreating of some other subject. The following, which may serve as a\nconclusion to these extracts, is the solemn decision of the Council of\nTrent in regard to this doctrine: \"The Church, inspired by the Holy\nGhost, has always taught, according to the Holy Scriptures and\napostolic tradition, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls\nthere detained receive comfort from the prayers and good works of the\nfaithful, particularly through the sacrifice of the Mass, which is so\nacceptable to God.\"\n\nIn the thirteenth Canon of the sixth session, it decrees that, \"if any\none should say that a repentant sinner, after having received the grace\nof justification, the punishment of eternal pains being remitted, has\nno temporary punishment to be suffered either in this life or in the\nnext in Purgatory, before he can enter into the Kingdom of God, let him\nbe anathema.\"\n\nIn the third Canon of the twenty-fourth session, it defines \"that the\nsacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory both for the living and the dead\nfor sins, punishments and satisfactions.\"\n\n\nVERSES FROM THE IMITATION.\n\nTHOMAS A KEMPIS.\n\nTrust not in thy friends and neighbors, and put not oft thy soul's\nwelfare till the future; for men will forget thee sooner than thou\nthinkest.\n\n\nIt is better to provide now in time and send some good before thee than\nto trust to the assistance of others after death.\n\nIf thou art not solicitous for thyself now, who will be solicitous for\nthee hereafter.\n\nDid'st thou also well ponder in thy heart the future pains of hell or\nPurgatory, methinks thou would'st bear willingly labor and sorrow and\nfear no kind of austerity.\n\nWho will remember thee when thou art dead? and who will pray for thee?\n\nNow thy labor is profitable, thy tears are acceptable, thy groans are\nheard, thy sorrow is satisfying and purifieth the soul.\n\nThe patient man hath a great and wholesome purgatory.\n\nBetter is it to purge away our sins, and cut off our vices now, than to\nkeep them for purgation hereafter.\n\nIf thou shalt say thou are not able to suffer much, how then wilt thou\nendure the fire of Purgatory. Of two evils, one ought always to choose\nthe less.\n\nWhen a Priest celebrateth, he honoreth God, he rejoiceth the Angels, he\nedifieth the Church, he helpeth the living, he obtaineth rest for the\ndeparted, and maketh himself partaker of all good things.\n\nI offer to Thee also all the pious desires of devout persons; the\nnecessities of my parents, friends, brothers, sisters, and all those\nthat are dear to me; ... and all who have desired and besought me to\noffer up prayers and Masses for themselves and all theirs, whether they\nare still living in the flesh or are already dead to this world.\n\n\nST. AUGUSTINE AND HIS MOTHER, ST. MONICA.\n\n[In the beautiful account given by the great St. Augustine of the last\nillness and death of his holy mother, St. Monica, we find some touching\nproofs of the pious belief of mother and son in the existence of a\nmiddle state for souls in the after life. The holy doctor had been\nrelating that memorable conversation on heavenly things which took\nplace between his mother and himself on that moonlight night at the\nwindow in the inn at Ostia, immortalized by Ary Schaeffer in his\nbeautiful picture.]\n\nTo this what answer I made her I do not well remember. But scarce five\ndays, or not many more, had passed after this before she fell into a\nfever: and one day, being very sick, she swooned away, and was for a\nlittle while insensible. We ran in, but she soon came to herself again,\nand looking upon me and my brother (Navigius), that were standing by\nher, said to us like one inquiring: \"Where have I been?\" then,\nbeholding us struck with grief, she said: \"Here you shall bury your\nmother.\" I held my peace and refrained weeping; but my brother said\nsomething by which he signified his wish, as of a thing more happy,\nthat she might not die abroad but in her own country; which she\nhearing, with a concern in her countenance, and checking him with her\neyes that he should have such notions, then looking upon me, said: \"Do\nyou hear what he says?\" then to us both: \"Lay this body anywhere; be\nnot concerned about that; only this I beg of you, that wheresoever you\nbe, you make remembrance of me at the Lord's altar.\" And when she had\nexpressed to us this, her mind, with such words as she could, she said\nno more, but lay struggling with her disease that grew stronger upon\nher.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd now behold the body is carried out to be buried, and I both go and\nreturn without tears. Neither in those prayers, which we poured forth\nto Thee when the sacrifice of our ransom was offered to Thee for her,\nthe body being set down by the grave before the interment of it, as\ncustom is there, neither in those prayers, I say, did I shed any tears.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd now, my heart being healed of that wound in which a carnal\naffection might have some share, I pour out to Thee, our God, in behalf\nof that servant of Thine, a far different sort of tears, flowing from a\nspirit frighted with the consideration of the perils of every soul that\ndies in Adam. For, although she, being revived in Christ, even before\nher being set loose from the flesh and lived in such manner, as that\nThy name is much praised in her faith and manners; yet I dare not say\nthat from the time Thou didst regenerate her by baptism, no word came\nout of her mouth against Thy command.... I, therefore, O my Praise and\nmy Life, the God of my heart, setting for a while aside her good deeds,\nfor which with joy I give Thee thanks, entreat Thee at present for the\nsins of my mother. Hear me, I beseech Thee, through that Cure of our\nwounds that hung upon the tree, and that, sitting now at Thy right\nhand, maketh intercession to Thee for us. I know that she did\nmercifully, and from her heart forgive to her debtors their trespasses:\ndo Thou likewise forgive her her debts, if she hath also contracted\nsome in those many years she lived after the saving water.... And I\nbelieve Thou hast already done what I ask, but these free offerings of\nmy mouth approve, O Lord.\n\nFor she, when the day of her dissolution was at hand, had no thought\nfor the sumptuous covering of her body, or the embalming of it, nor had\nshe any desire of a fine monument, nor was solicitous about her\nsepulchre in her own country: none of these things did she recommend to\nus; but only desired that we should make a remembrance of her at Thy\naltar, at which she had constantly attended without one day's\nintermission, from whence she knew was dispensed that Holy Victim by\nwhich was cancelled that handwriting that was against us (Coloss. II.),\nby which that enemy was triumphed over who reckoneth up our sins and\nseeketh what he may lay to our charge, but findeth nothing in Him\nthrough whom we conquer. Who shall refund to Him that innocent blood He\nshed for us? Who shall repay Him the price with which He bought us,\nthat so he may take us away from Him? To the sacrament of which price\nof our redemption Thy handmaid bound fast her soul by the bond of\nfaith....\n\nLet her, therefore, rest in peace, together with her husband, before\nwhom and after whom she was known to no man; whom she dutifully served,\nbringing forth fruit to Thee, in much patience, that she might also\ngain him to Thee. And do Thou inspire, O Lord, my God, do Thou inspire\nThy servants, my brethren, Thy children, my masters, whom I serve with\nmy voice, and my heart, and my writings, that as many as shall read\nthis shall remember, at Thy altar, Thy handmaid Monica with Patricius,\nformerly her husband. Let them remember, with a pious affection, these\nwho were my parents in this transitory life, my brethren under Thee,\nour Father, in our Catholic Mother, and my fellow-citizens in the\neternal Jerusalem, for which the pilgrimage of Thy people here below\ncontinually sigheth from their setting out till their return. That so\nwhat my mother made her last request to me may be more plentifully\nperformed for her by the prayers of many, procured by these, my\nconfessions, and my prayers. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Conf. B. IX. Chs. XI.-XIII.]\n\n\nST. GERTRUDE AND THE HOLY SOULS.\n\n[In the \"Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude\" we find many instances\nof the efficacy of prayers for the dead and how pleasing to God is\ndevotion to the souls in Purgatory. From these we select the\nfollowing.]\n\n\nOur Blessed Lord once said to the Saint: \"If a soul is delivered by\nprayer from Purgatory I accept it as if I had myself been delivered\nfrom captivity, and I will assuredly reward it according to the\nabundance of my mercy.\" The religious also beheld many souls meeting\nbefore her to testify their gratitude for their deliverance from\nPurgatory, through the prayers which had been offered for her, and\nwhich she had not needed.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs St. Gertrude prayed fervently before matins on the blessed night of\nthe Resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to her full of majesty and\nglory. Then she cast herself at His feet, to adore Him devoutly and\nhumbly, saying: \"O glorious Spouse, joy of the angels, Thou who hast\nshown me the favor of choosing me to be Thy spouse, who am the least of\nThy creatures! I ardently desire Thy glory, and my only friends are\nthose who love Thee; therefore I beseech Thee to pardon the souls of\nThy special friends [1] by the virtue of Thy most glorious\nResurrection. And to obtain this grace from Thy goodness, I offer Thee,\nin union with Thy Passion, all the sufferings which my continual\ninfirmities have caused me.\" Then Our Lord, having favored her with\nmany caresses, showed her a great multitude of souls who were freed\nfrom their pains, saying: \"Behold, I have given them to you as a\nrecompense for your rare affection; and through all eternity they will\nacknowledge that they have been delivered by your prayers, and you will\nbe honored and glorified for it.\" She replied: \"How many are they?\" He\nanswered: \"This knowledge belongs to God alone.\"\n\nAs she feared that these souls, though freed from their pains, were not\nyet admitted to glory, she offered to endure whatever God might please,\neither in body or soul, to obtain their entrance into that beatitude;\nand Our Lord, won by her fervor, granted her request immediately.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"This seems to refer,\" says the author of the Saint's\nlife, \"to the souls in Purgatory.\"]\n\nSome time after, as the Saint suffered most acute pain in her side, she\nmade an inclination before a crucifix; and Our Lord freed her from the\npain, and granted the merit of it to these souls, recommending them to\nmake her a return by their prayers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn Wednesday, at the elevation of the Host, she besought Our Lord for\nthe souls of the faithful in Purgatory, that He would free them from\ntheir pains by virtue of His, admirable Ascension; and she beheld Our\nLord descending into Purgatory with a golden rod in His hand, which had\nas many hooks as there had been prayers for their souls; by these He\nappeared to draw them into a place of repose. She understood by this,\nthat whenever any one prays generally, from a motive of charity, for\nthe souls in Purgatory, the greater part of those who, during their\nlives, have exercised themselves in works of charity, are released.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn another occasion, as she remarked that she had offered all her\nmerits for the dead, she said to Our Lord: \"I hope, O Lord, that Thou\nwilt frequently cast the eyes of Thy mercy on my indigence.\" He\nreplied: \"What can I do more for one who has thus deprived herself of\nall things through charity, than to cover her immediately with\ncharity?\" She answered: \"Whatever Thou mayest do, I shall always appear\nbefore Thee destitute of all merit, for I have renounced all I have\ngained or may gain.\" He replied: \"Do you not know that a mother would\nallow a child who was well clothed to sit at her feet, but she would\ntake one who was barely clad into her arms, and cover her with her own\ngarment?\" He added: \"And now, what advantages have you, who are seated\non the shore of an ocean, over those who sit by a little rivulet?\" That\nis to say, those who keep their good works for themselves, have the\nrivulet; but those who renounce them in love and humility, possess God,\nwho is an inexhaustible ocean of beatitude.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn one occasion, while Mass was being celebrated for a poor woman who\nhad died lately, St. Gertrude recited five _Pater Nosters_, in\nhonor of Our Lord's five wounds, for the repose of her soul; and, moved\nby divine inspiration, she offered all her good works for the increase\nof the beatitude of this person. When she had made this offering, she\nimmediately beheld the soul in heaven, in the place destined for her;\nand the throne prepared for her was elevated as far above the place\nwhere she had been, as the highest throne of the seraphim is above that\nof the lowest angel. The Saint then asked Our Lord how this soul had\nbeen worthy to obtain such advantage from her prayers, and He replied:\n\n\"She has merited this grace in three ways: first, because she always\nhad a sincere will and perfect desire of serving Me in religion, if it\nhad been possible; secondly, because she especially loved all religious\nand all good people; thirdly, because she was always ready to honor Me\nby performing any service she could for them.\" He added: \"You may\njudge, by the sublime rank to which she is elevated, how agreeable\nthese practices are to Me.\"\n\nA certain religious died who had always been accustomed to pray very\nfervently for the souls of the faithful departed; but she had failed in\nthe perfection of obedience, preferring her own will to that of her\nsuperior in her fasts and vigils. After her decease she appeared\nadorned with rich ornaments, but so weighed down by a heavy burden,\nwhich she was obliged to carry, that she could not approach to God,\nthough many persons were endeavoring to lead her to Him.\n\nAs Gertrude marvelled at this vision, she was taught that the persons\nwho endeavored to conduct the soul to God were those whom she had\nreleased by her prayers; but this heavy burden indicated the faults she\nhad committed against obedience. Then Our Lord said: \"Behold how those\ngrateful souls endeavor to free her from the requirements of My\njustice, and show these ornaments; nevertheless, she must suffer for\nher faults of disobedience and self-will.\" ...\n\nThen the Saint beheld her ornament, which appeared like a vessel of\nboiling water containing a hard stone, which must be completely\ndissolved therein before she could obtain relief from this torment; but\nin these sufferings she was much consoled and assisted by those souls,\nand by the prayers of the faithful. After this Our Lord showed St.\nGertrude the path by which the souls ascend to heaven. It resembled a\nstraight plank, a little inclined; so that those who ascended did so\nwith difficulty. They were assisted and supported by hands on either\nside, which indicated the prayers offered for them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne day St. Gertrude asked Our Lord how many souls were delivered from\nPurgatory by her prayers and those of her sisters. \"The number,\"\nreplied Our Lord, \"is proportioned to the zeal and fervor of those who\npray for them.\" He added: \"My love urges me to release a great number\nof souls for the prayers of each religious, and at each verse of the\npsalms which they recite, I release many.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Mass was offered for the deceased Brother Hermann, his soul\nappeared to St. Gertrude all radiant with light, and transported with\njoy. Then Gertrude said to Our Lord: \"Is this soul now entirely freed\nfrom its sufferings?\" Our Lord answered: \"He is already free from much\nsuffering, and no human being can form an idea of his glory; but he is\nnot yet so perfectly purified as to be worthy to enjoy My presence,\nthough he is approaching nearer and nearer to this purity by the\nprayers which are offered for him, and is more and more consoled and\nrelieved.\"\n\n\nST. JOSEPH'S INTERCESSION FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.\n\n_(From \"Le Propagateur de la Devotion a Saint Joseph.\")_\n\nST. FRANCIS DE SALES says: \"We do not often enough remember our dead,\nour faithful departed.\" Thus the Church, like a good mother, recalls to\nus the thought of the dead when we have forgotten them, and therefore\nshe consecrates the month of November to the memory of the dead. This\npious and salutary practice of praying for an entire month for the dead\ntakes its rise from the earliest ages of the Church. The custom of\nmourning _thirty days_ for the dead existed amongst the Jews. The\npractice of saying thirty Masses on thirty consecutive days was\nestablished by St. Gregory, and Innocent XI. enriched it with\nindulgences. \"God has made known to me,\" says the venerable sister\nMarie Denise de Martignat, \"that a devotion to the death of St. Joseph\nobtains many graces for those who are agonizing, and that, as St.\nJoseph did not at once pass into heaven--because Jesus Christ had not\nopened its gates--but descended into Limbo, it is a most useful\ndevotion for the agonizing, and for the souls in Purgatory, to offer to\nGod the resignation of St. Joseph when he was dying and about to leave\nJesus and Mary in this world, and to honor the holy patience of this\ngreat Saint waiting calmly in Limbo until Easter-day, when Jesus\nChrist, risen and glorious, released him.\" And if St. Joseph consoles\nthe souls in Purgatory, none will be so dear to him as those who were\ndevout to him in life, and zealous in spreading a devotion to him.\n\n\nST. FRANCIS DE SALES ON PURGATORY [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Consoling Thoughts of St Francis de Sales. Arranged by\nRev. Father Huguet. Pp. 336-7.]\n\n\nThe opinion of St. Francis de Sales was that from the thought of\nPurgatory we should draw more consolation than pain. The greater number\nof those, he said, who fear Purgatory so much, do so in consideration\nof their own interests and of the love they bear themselves rather than\nthe interests of God; and this happens because those who treat of this\nplace from the pulpit usually speak of its pains and are silent in\nregard to the happiness and peace which are found in it....\n\nWhen any of his friends or acquaintances died, he never grew weary of\nspeaking fondly of them and recommending them to the prayers of others.\n\nHis usual expression was: \"We do not sufficiently remember our dead,\nour faithful departed;\" and the proof of it is that we do not speak\nenough of them. We turn away from that discourse as from a sad subject.\nWe leave the dead to bury their dead. Their memory perishes from us\nwith the sound of their funeral-bell. We forget that the friendship\nwhich ends even with death, is never true, Holy Scripture assuring us\nthat true love is stronger than death.\n\nHe was accustomed to say that in this single work of mercy the thirteen\nothers are assembled.\n\nIs it not, he said, in some manner, to visit the sick, to obtain by our\nprayers the relief of the poor suffering souls in Purgatory?\n\nIs it not to give drink to those who thirst after the vision of God,\nand who are enveloped in burning flames, to share with them the dew of\nour prayers?\n\nIs it not to feed the hungry, to aid in their deliverance by the means\nwhich faith suggests?\n\nIs it not truly to ransom prisoners?\n\nIs it not truly to clothe the naked, to procure for them a garment of\nlight, a raiment of glory?\n\nIs it not an admirable degree of hospitality, to procure their\nadmission into the heavenly Jerusalem, and to make them fellow-citizens\nwith the Saints and domestics of God?\n\nIs it not a greater service to place souls in heaven than to bury\nbodies in the earth?\n\nAs to spirituals, is it not a work whose merit may be compared to that\nof counselling the weak, correcting the wayward, instructing the\nignorant, forgiving offenses, enduring injuries? And what consolation,\nhowever great, that can be given to the afflicted of this world, is\ncomparable with that which is brought by our prayers to those poor\nsouls which have such bitter need of them?\n\n\nCARDINAL GIBBONS ON PURGATORY.\n\nThe Catholic Church teaches that, besides a place of eternal torments\nfor the wicked and of everlasting rest for the righteous, there exists\nin the next life a middle state of temporary punishment, allotted for\nthose who have died in venial sin, or who have not satisfied the\njustice of God for sins already forgiven. She also teaches us that,\nalthough the souls consigned to this intermediate state, commonly\ncalled Purgatory, cannot help themselves, they may be aided by the\nsuffrages of the faithful on earth. The existence of Purgatory\nnaturally implies the correlative dogma--the utility of praying for the\ndead; for the souls consigned to this middle state have not reached the\nterm of their journey. They are still exiles from heaven, and are fit\nsubjects for divine clemency.\n\nIs it not strange that this cherished doctrine should be called in\nquestion by the levelling innovators of the sixteenth century, when we\nconsider that it is clearly taught in the Old Testament; that it is, at\nleast, insinuated in the New Testament; that it is unanimously\nproclaimed by the Fathers of the Church; that it is embodied in all the\nancient liturgies of the Oriental and Western Church; and that it is\nalike consonant with our reason and eminently consoling to the human\nheart?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYou now perceive that this devotion is not an invention of modern\ntimes, but a doctrine universally enforced in the best and purest ages\nof the Church.\n\nYou see that praying for the dead was not a devotion cautiously\nrecommended by some obscure or visionary writer, but an act of religion\npreached and inculcated by all the great Doctors and Fathers of the\nChurch, who are the recognized expounders of the Christian religion.\n\nYou see them, too, inculcating this doctrine not as a cold and abstract\nprinciple, but as an imperative act of daily piety, and embodying it in\ntheir ordinary exercises of devotion.\n\n\nThey prayed for the dead in their morning and evening devotions. They\nprayed for them in their daily office, and in the sacrifice of the\nMass. They asked the prayers of the congregation for the souls of the\ndeceased, in the public services of Sunday. And on the monuments which\nwere erected to the dead, some of which are preserved even to this day,\nepitaphs were inscribed, earnestly invoking for their souls the prayers\nof the living. How gratifying it is to our Catholic hearts, that a\ndevotion so soothing to afflicted spirits is, at the same time, so\nfirmly grounded on the tradition of ages.\n\nThat the practice of praying for the dead has descended from apostolic\ntimes is also evident from the _Liturgus_ of the Church. A Liturgy\nis the established form of public worship, containing the authorized\nprayers of the Church. The Missal, or Mass-book, for instance, which\nyou see on our altars, contains a portion of the Liturgy of the\nCatholic Church. The principal Liturgies are: The Liturgy of St. James\nthe Apostle, who founded the Church of Jerusalem; the Liturgy of St.\nMark the Evangelist, founder of the Church of Alexandria, and the\nLiturgy of St. Peter, who established the Church in Rome. These\nLiturgies are called after the Apostles who compiled them. There are,\nbesides, the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, which are\nchiefly based on that of St. James.\n\nNow, all these Liturgies, without an exception, have prayers for the\ndead, and their providential preservation serves as another triumphant\nvindication of the venerable antiquity of this Catholic doctrine.\n\nThe Eastern and the Western churches were happily united until the\nfourth and fifth centuries, when the heresiarchs Arius, Nestorius and\nEutyches withdrew millions of souls from the centre of unity. The\nfollowers of these sects were called, after their founders, Arians,\nNestorians, and Eutychians, and from that day to the present the two\nlatter bodies have formed distinct communions, being separated from the\nCatholic Church in the East, just as the Protestant churches are\nseparated from her in the West.\n\nThe Greek Schismatic Church, of which the present Russo-Greek Church is\nthe offspring, severed her connection with the See of Rome in the ninth\ncentury.\n\nBut in leaving the Catholic Church, these Eastern sects retained the\nold Liturgies, which they use to this day....\n\nDuring my sojourn in Rome, at the Ecumenical Council, I devoted a great\ndeal of my leisure time to the examination of the various Liturgies of\nthe Schismatic churches of the East. I found in all of them formulas of\nprayers for the dead almost identical with that of the Roman Missal:\n\"Remember, O Lord, Thy servants who are gone before us with the sign of\nfaith, and sleep in peace. To these, O Lord, and to all who rest in\nChrist, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and\npeace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord!\"\n\nNot content with studying their books, I called upon the Oriental\nPatriarchs and Bishops in communion with the See of Rome, who belong to\nthe Armenian, the Chaldean, the Coptic, the Maronite, and Syriac rites.\nThey all assured me that the Schismatic Christians of the East among\nwhom they live have, without exception, prayers and sacrifices for the\ndead.\n\nNow, I ask, when could those Eastern sects have commenced to adopt the\nCatholic practice of praying for the dead? They could not have received\nit from us since the ninth century, because the Greek Church separated\nfrom us then, and has had no communion with us since that time, except\nat intervals, up to the twelfth century. Nor could they have adopted\nthe practice since the fourth or fifth century, inasmuch as the Arians,\nNestorians, and Eutychians have had no religious communication with us\nsince that period. Therefore, in common with us, they received this\ndoctrine from the Apostles.... I have already spoken of the devotion of\nthe ancient Jewish Church to the souls of the departed. But perhaps you\nare not aware that the Jews retain to this day, in their Liturgy, the\npious practice of praying for the dead. Yet such in reality is the\ncase.\n\nAmid all their wanderings and vicissitudes of life, though dismembered\nand dispersed, like sheep without a shepherd, over the surface of the\nglobe, the children of Israel have never forgotten or neglected the\nsacred duty of praying for their deceased brethren.\n\nUnwilling to make this assertion without the strongest evidence, I\nprocured from a Jewish convert an authorized Prayer-book of the Hebrew\nChurch, from which I extract the following formula of prayers which are\nprescribed for funerals: \"Departed brother! mayest thou find open the\ngates of heaven, and see the city of peace and the dwellings of safety,\nand meet the ministering angels hastening joyfully towards thee! And\nmay the High Priest stand to receive thee, and go thou to the end, rest\nin peace, and rise again _into_ life! May the repose established\nin the celestial abode... be the lot, dwelling, and the resting place\nof the soul of our deceased brother (whom the spirit of the Lord may\nguide into Paradise), who departed from this world, according to the\nwill of God, the Lord of heaven and earth. May the Supreme King of\nKings, through His infinite mercy, hide him under the shadow of His\nwings. May He raise him at the end of his days, and cause him to drink\nof the stream of His delights!\"\n\nI am happy to say that the more advanced and enlightened members of the\nEpiscopalian Church are steadily returning to the faith of their\nforefathers, regarding prayers for the dead. An acquaintance of mine,\nonce a distinguished clergyman of the Episcopal communion, but now a\nconvert, informed me that hundreds of Protestant clergymen in this\ncountry, and particularly in England, have a firm belief in the\nefficacy of prayers for the dead, but for well-known reasons they are\nreserved in the expression of their faith. He easily convinced me of\nthe truth of his assertion, particularly as far as the Church of\nEngland is concerned, by sending me six different works published in\nLondon, all bearing on the subject of Purgatory. These books are\nprinted under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church; they all\ncontain prayers for the dead, and prove, from Catholic grounds, the\nexistence of a middle state after death, and the duty of praying for\nour deceased brethren. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: See \"Path of Holiness,\" Rivington's, London: \"Treasury of\nDevotion,\" Ibid; \"Catechism of Theology,\" Masten, London.]\n\nTo sum up: we see the practice of praying for the dead enforced in the\nancient Hebrew Church, and in the Jewish synagogue of to-day. We see it\nproclaimed age after age by all the Fathers of Christendom. We see it\nincorporated in every one of the ancient Liturgies of the East and of\nthe West. We see it zealously taught by the Russian Church of to-day,\nand by that immense family of schismatic Christians scattered over the\nEast. We behold it, in fine, a cherished devotion of two hundred\nmillions of Catholics, as well as of a respectable portion of the\nEpiscopal Church.\n\nWould it not, my friend, be the height of rashness and presumption in\nyou to prefer your private opinion to this immense weight of learning,\nsanctity, and authority? Would it not be impiety in you to stand aside\nwith sealed lips, while the Christian world is sending up an unceasing\n_De profundis_ for departed brethren? Would it not be cold and\nheartless in you not to pray for your deceased friends, on account of\nprejudices which have no grounds in Scripture, tradition, or reason\nitself?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOh! far from us a religion which would decree an eternal divorce\nbetween the living and the dead. How consoling is it to the Catholic,\nto think that, in praying thus for his departed friend, his prayers are\nnot in violation of, but in accordance with, the voice of the Church;\nand that as, like Augustine, he watches at the pillow of a dying\nmother, so, like Augustine, he can continue the same office of piety\nfor her soul after she is dead, by praying for her. How cheering the\nreflection that the golden link of prayer unites you still to those who\n\"fall asleep in the Lord,\" and that you can still speak to them and\npray for them!....\n\nOh! it is this thought that robs death of its sting and makes the\nseparation of friends endurable. And if your departed friend needs not\nyour prayers, they are not lost, but, like the rain absorbed by the\nsun, and descending again in fruitful showers on our fields, they will\nbe gathered by the Sun of Justice, and they will come down in\nrefreshing showers of grace upon your head. \"Cast thy bread upon the\nrunning waters; for, after a long time, thou shalt find it again.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Faith of our Fathers, chap. xvi.]\n\n\nTHE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.\n\nARCHBISHOP HUGHES. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Answer to nine objections made.]\n\nThe Catholic Church does not believe that God created any to be damned\nabsolutely, notwithstanding their co-operation with the means of\nsalvation which were secured to them by the death of Jesus Christ; nor\nany to be saved absolutely, unless they co-operate with those means.\nHence she has ever taught the doctrine which is inculcated in\nScripture, that heaven may be obtained by all who shall apply the means\nwhich the Saviour of the World has left in His Church for that end: in\na word, that every man shall be judged according to his works. This\ndoctrine is consonant with the justice which must belong to the Deity.\nShe knows God is too pure to admit anything defiled into His heavenly\nabode (Apoc. xxi. 27); and yet too just and merciful to punish a slight\ntransgression with the same severity as is due to an enormous crime.\nNow, suppose two men to sin against God at the same time, the one by\nthe deliberate murder of his father--for the case is possible--and the\nother, by a slight, almost inadvertent, falsehood; and suppose,\nfurther, that they are both to appear before God the next moment to\nanswer for the deeds done in the flesh, I ask whether it is consistent\nwith the idea we have of divine justice to think that both will be\ncondemned to the same everlasting punishment? If it be, then there is\nno more moral turpitude in parricide than in telling a trivial\nfalsehood, which injures no one, but still is offensive and displeasing\nto God. But if it be not consistent with divine justice, then you must\nadmit the distinction of guilt, and consequently of punishment. Now,\nthat God exacts a temporary punishment for sin, after the guilt and\neternal punishment are remitted, appears from the testimony of His\nSacred Word. St. Paul teaches that the death of the body is a\npunishment which the sin of our first parent entailed on his progeny;\nand yet many who have been regenerated by baptism from that original\nguilt, nevertheless die before they have committed any actual sin\nwhatever. The children of Israel had to leave their bones in the\nwilderness, after the forty years' sojournment, as a punishment,\ninflicted by the Almighty Himself, for sins which He had expressly\nforgiven them. Num. xiv. 20, 22. David was forgiven his sin--and yet he\nwas punished for it, by the death of his child, whom he loved most\ntenderly. He sinned by numbering his people; and although it was\nforgiven him, he had still to choose his punishment--either war,\nfamine, or pestilence. If such be the dispensation of God to His\ncreatures in this world, why may it not be also after death? Will you\nsay it is because the body is the medium of suffering in this life?\nThis is not exactly true--the body, indeed, is the medium, in many\ninstances, through which the soul is made to suffer. But God inflicted\nno corporal chastisement on David by taking his child--it was the\nking's soul that was touched, and felt, and suffered. Does not the soul\nremain susceptible of suffering after death; and may not God,\nconformably with the examples here laid down, extend to it in a future\nstate the same salutary dispensation, for His own just and merciful\npurposes? But you will ask what Scripture I can quote to show that He\nreally does so. Now, suppose I were to refer you to the same rule, and\ndemand from you the text by which you feel warranted to profane the\nSabbath, and sanctify the Sunday in its stead--what will you have to\nanswer in reply? Surely if the authority of the Catholic Church is\nsufficient to authorize your _practice_ in the one case, it is\nequally so with regard to my belief in the other. But our situations\nare very different; because I admit the authority of the Church in both\ninstances, and I shall prove that her doctrine of Purgatory, so far\nfrom opposing, is grounded on Scripture. Whereas you reject the Church,\nyou make, as you say, the Scripture the _only rule_ of your faith;\nand yet when the Scripture says, \"Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath\nday,\" you say I will not sanctify the Sabbath, but I will sanctify the\nday after.... This tenet of belief is proved by every text of Scripture\nin which it is implied that God will render to every man according to\nhis works.... If the word Purgatory has anything in it peculiarly\noffensive, you will not be the less a Catholic for rejecting it, and\nusing the Scriptural word _prison_, provided you admit that such a\nplace exists; in which God after having forgiven the guilt and temporal\npunishment of their sins, causes the souls of the imperfect just to\nundergo, nevertheless, a temporary chastisement, as David did in this\nlife, before admitting them into the realms of felicity. Now, if this\nbe so, is it not rational to believe that the mercy of God will be\nmoved by the prayers of His faithful servants on earth, who intercede\nin behalf of their departed brethren?... In a word, the economy of God\nto His creatures even in this life is consistent with the doctrine of\nPurgatory.\n\n\nPURGATORY AND WHAT WE OWE TO THE DEAD.\n\nARCHBISHOP LYNCH.\n\nThe infallible Church, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Pillar and\nGround of Truth and the true teacher of the doctrine of Christ, has, in\nthe distribution of her feasts and festivals, set apart one day in the\nyear, the second of November, in favor of the suffering souls in\nPurgatory. She calls on all her children to assemble around her sacred\naltars, to assist and pray at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the\ndeliverance from Purgatory of the souls of those who, whilst dying in\npeace with Our Lord, still had debts to pay to His infinite justice.\n\nThese debts were contracted by the commission of mortal sin, whose\ngrievous fault, though removed by the Sacrament of Penance, yet left on\nthe soul a debt which was not sufficiently atoned for, or by the\ncommission of venial sin not sufficiently repented of. Purgatory is one\nof the great consoling doctrines of the Church of Christ. Only the pure\nand perfect can enter Heaven; and how few persons leave this earth of\ntemptation, sin, and trouble in that state of purity and perfection! If\nthere were not a place of purification, how few could go straight to\nHeaven! Nearly the whole human race would be deprived forever of the\nbeatific vision of God. God has chosen this way of exhibiting His\njustice and mercy: His justice, by exacting the last particle of debt;\nand His mercy, by saving the poor repentant sinner. God rewards every\none according to his works. Some are imperfect through want of pure\nintention, through carelessness, vanity, or other causes, like the hay\nand stubble adhering to gold and precious stones which dull their\nlustre.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOh, how few are perfect, and how few do penance in proportion to their\nsins! How few, in their dealing with their fellow-men, giving measure\nfor measure, goods equal to the money paid for them, or services equal\nto the pay received! How many fail in charity, in words and actions!\nHow many prayers said carelessly and without thought, even at the most\nsolemn times! These will have to be repeated, as it were, in Purgatory.\nHow many will suffer from their want of charity and mercy to the poor,\nand failing to pay their just dues to God's Church for the spiritual\nfavors they receive from it! \"If we give you,\" says St. Paul,\n\"spiritual things, you should administer to us temporal things.\"...\n\nAll spiritual writers agree that the pains of Purgatory are intense,\nyet the souls are satisfied to suffer till the last debt is paid. They\nwould not wish to enter Heaven with stains on their souls. God, in His\ngreat mercy, has permitted some souls suffering in Purgatory to appear\nto friends on earth to solicit their prayers and Masses, and to pay\ntheir debts. This the Lives of the Saints and Ecclesiastical History at\nall times attest. In these days when faith is fading from some minds,\neven in the Church, it behooves especially the Bishops to remind the\nfaithful of their duties and obligations to their departed friends. It\nis thought by some that an expensive funeral, with its many carriages,\nand a grand monument over the grave, will satisfy all the requirements\nof decency and of family love. Alas! if the dead could only speak from\ntheir graves, they would cry out and say, \"All these monuments and this\nworldly pageantry only crush us. They only satisfy the vanity of the\nliving, but in no way alleviate our sufferings in Purgatory.\"...\n\nBut the Bishops must, from time to time, remind the people of their\nduty towards God's servants suffering in Purgatory. In olden times,\nwhen faith, love, and affection were stronger than now, devotion\ntowards the souls in Purgatory showed itself in numerous foundations in\nfavor of the souls in Purgatory. Churches and canonries where Masses\nwere celebrated every day by canons and monks, benefices for the\neducation of poor students, hospitals for the care of the sick,\nperiodical distribution of alms to the poor, to have rosaries and other\nprayers said and pilgrimages made for the souls in Purgatory. All these\nhave been swept away by the ruthless hand of the civil power, wishing\nto reform the Church; and even at the present day, when the Christian\nsoul is about to appear before the judgment-seat, there are legal\nimpediments in the way of his making by will donations for prayers or\nMasses. Therefore, my dear people, whilst you are well make provision\nfor your own soul. Do not entrust it to the care of others who cannot\nlove you more than you love yourselves.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis doctrine of Purgatory has always been taught in the Church and\nhanded down from bishops and priests to their successors in the sacred\nministry, and by the voice of the people. \"Stand fast, and hold the\ntradition you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.\" (II.\nThess. ii. 14.) Now prayers and Masses for the dead are to be found in\nevery ancient liturgy of the Church. There is no Oriental liturgy\nwithout prayers for those who have departed in peace. The Apostolic\nConstitutions--the most ancient and genuine work--speak largely of\nprayers for the dead, for the conversion of sinners.\n\nThere are religious congregations and pious associations specially\ndevoted to the relief of the souls in Purgatory. St. Vincent de Paul\nordered the priests of his congregation never to go to meals without\nfirst saying the _De Profundis_ for the souls in Purgatory. The\nChurch ends all the prayers of the divine office with: \"May the souls\nof the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.\" One\nmay turn away with a sad thought from a tomb on which is not engraved:\n\"May he rest in peace,\" or on which a cross--the emblem of our hope in\nGod and in a happy resurrection--does not figure.\n\nWe exhort you, beloved children in Christ, to entertain an earnest\ncharity towards the souls in Purgatory. You loved them during life; do\nnot let it be said: \"Out of sight, out of mind.\" Love them in death or,\nliving, wishing earnestly to go to God. This charity will greatly help\nyourselves. If a cup of cold water given to a servant of God shall not\ngo without its reward, how much more a cup of celestial grace, that\nwill shorten the time in the flames of Purgatory of a soul that most\nardently longs to see God, who desires it Himself with great love, and\nwill reward those who shorten the exile of His dear servants. \"Those,\"\nsays St. Alphonsus Liguori, \"who succor the souls in Purgatory will be\nsuccored in turn by the gratitude of those whom they have relieved, and\nwho enjoy sooner, by their prayers, the beatific vision of God.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Council of Trent, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, has made\ndecrees on the subject which bind the consciences of the faithful. In\nthe Thirteenth Canon of the Sixth Session it decrees \"that if any one\nshould say that a repentant sinner, after having received the grace of\njustification, the punishment of eternal pains being remitted, has no\ntemporary punishment to be suffered, either in this life or in the\nnext, in Purgatory, before he can enter into the Kingdom of God, let\nhim be anathema.\"\n\nThough King David was assured, after his sincere repentance, that his\nsin was forgiven, yet the Prophet told him that he had still to suffer\nby the death of his child.\n\nIn the Twenty-fourth Session and Third Canon the Holy Council defines\nthat the Sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory, both for the living and\nthe dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and for other\nnecessities, according to Apostolic traditions; and the Bishop, when he\nordains, places the patena and chalice, with the bread and wine, in the\nhands of the young priest and says to him: \"Receive the power to offer\nto God the Sacrifice of the Mass, as well for the living as for the\ndead, in the name of the Lord. Amen.\"\n\nThe Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is, therefore, the most powerful means\nof relieving the souls in Purgatory; next is the fervent performance of\nthe Stations of the Cross, to which so many indulgences are attached;\nthen other indulgenced prayers; for example, the Rosary. Alms to the\npoor is another powerful means. \"Blessed are the merciful, for they\nshall obtain mercy.\"\n\nThere is another means which our ancestors loved--to educate a student\nfor the priesthood. St. Monica rejoiced, on her death-bed, that she had\na son to remember her every day at the altar. If you have not a son you\ncan adopt one, or subscribe, according to your means, to the Students'\nFund.\n\nIt is the custom in many places--and we wish that it should be\nintroduced where it is not--to receive the offerings of the people on\nAll Souls' Day, or the Sunday previous, or subsequent, and the proceeds\nto be computed and Masses offered up accordingly.\n\nWe attach the indulgences of the Way of the Cross to certain\ncrucifixes, and thus enable persons who cannot conveniently visit the\nChurch to make the Stations there, to gain the indulgences of the\nStations by reciting fourteen times the \"Our Father\" and \"Hail Mary,\"\nwith a \"Glory be to the Father,\" etc., for each Station, and five \"Our\nFathers\" and \"Hail Marys\" in honor of the five Adorable Wounds, with\none for the intentions of the Pope.\n\n\nPURGATORY SURVEYED. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Published by Burns & Oates, London.]\n\nFATHER BINET, S. J.\n\n[The following passages are taken from a most excellent and valuable\nwork, \"Purgatory Surveyed,\" edited by the late lamented Dr. Anderdon,\nS. J., being by him \"disposed, abridged, or enlarged,\" from a treatise\nby Father Binet, a French Jesuit, published at Paris in 1625, at Douay\nin 1627, and translated soon after by Father Richard Thimbleby, an\nEnglish member of the Society of Jesus. Says Dr. Anderdon in his\npreface: \"The alterations ventured upon in this reprint, consist\nchiefly in the mode of punctuation, which, being probably left to a\nFrench compositor, are anomalous, and often perplexing. Some\nexpressions, so obsolete as to prevent the sense being clear, and in\nthe same degree lessening the value of the book to the general reader,\nhave been exchanged for others in more common use.... Let us earnestly\nhope that, at this moment, on the threshold of the month specially\ndedicated by the Church to devotion on behalf of the Holy Souls, the\njoint work of Fathers Binet and Thimbleby may produce an abundant\nharvest of intercession. If, during their own brief time of trial, they\nwere inspired to put together and to enforce such powerful motives to\nstir up the faithful to this devotion, will they not now rejoice in the\nre-production of their act of zeal and charity? During the two hundred\nand fifty years which have elapsed since the first publication of the\nFrench work, many changes and revolutions have taken place in the\nhistories of those spots of earth, known as France and England. But the\nHistory of Purgatory is ever the same; \"happiness and unhappiness\"\ncombined; both unspeakably great; long detention, perhaps, or perhaps\nswift release, according to the degree of faith and charity animating\nthe Church militant. May we now, and henceforth, realize in act, in\nhabitual practice, and, all the more, from the considerations given in\nthe following pages, the immense privilege of holding, to so great a\ndegree, the keys of Purgatory in our hands.\"]\n\nBelieve it, it is one of the first rudiments, but main principles, of a\nChristian, to captivate his understanding, and so regulate all his\ndictamens, that they be sure to run parallel with the sentiments of the\nChurch. And this I take to be the case when the question is started\nabout Purgatory fire, which I shall ever reckon in the class of those\ntruths, which cannot be contradicted without manifest temerity; as\nbeing the doctrine generally preached and taught all over Christendom.\n\nYou must, then, conceive Purgatory to be a vast, darksome and hideous\nchaos, full of fire and flames, in which the souls are kept close\nprisoners, until they have fully satisfied for all their misdemeanors,\naccording to the estimate of Divine justice. For God has made choice of\nthis element of fire wherewith to punish souls, because it is the most\nactive, piercing, sensible, [1] and insupportable of all others. But\nthat which quickens it, indeed, and gives it more life, is this: that\nit acts as the instrument of God's justice, who, by His omnipotent\npower, heightens and reinforces its activity as He pleases, and so\nmakes it capable to act upon bodiless spirits. Do not, then, look only\nupon this fire, though in good earnest it be dreadful enough of itself;\nbut consider the Arm that is stretched out, and the Hand that strikes,\nand the rigor of God's infinite justice, who, through this element of\nfire, vents His wrath, and pours out whole tempests of His most severe\nand yet most just vengeance. So that the fire works as much mischief,\n[2] as I may say, to the souls, as God commands; and He commands as\nmuch as is due; and as much is due as the sentence bears: a sentence\nirrevocably pronounced at the high tribunal of the severe and rigorous\njustice of an angry God, and whose anger is so prevalent that the Holy\nScripture styles it \"a day of fury.\" Now, you will easily believe that\nthis fire is a most horrible punishment in its own nature; but you may\ndo well to reflect also on that which I have now suggested; that the\nfury of Almighty God is, as it were, the fire of this fire, and the\nheat of its heat; and that He serves Himself of it as He pleases, by\ndoubling and redoubling its sharp pointed forces; for this is that\nwhich makes it the more grievous and insupportable to the souls that\nare thus miserably confined and imprisoned.\n\n[Footnote 1: _i.e._, apprehended by the senses]\n\n[Footnote 2: _i.e._, Not implying injury, far less injustice; but\nsimply punishment and suffering]\n\nThey were not much out of the way, that styled Purgatory a transitory\nkind of hell, because the principal pains of the damned are to be found\nthere; with this only difference, that in hell they are eternal, and in\nPurgatory they are only transitory and fleeting: for, otherwise, it is\nprobably the very same fire that burns both the Holy Souls and the\ndamned spirits; and the pain of loss is, in both places, the chief\ntorment.... Now, does not your hair stand on end? does not your heart\ntremble, when you hear that the poor souls in Purgatory are tormented\nwith the same, or the like flames to those of the damned? Can you\nrefrain from crying out, with the Prophet Isaias: \"Who can dwell with\nsuch devouring fire, and unquenchable burnings?\" Heavens! what a\nlamentable case is this! Those miserable souls, who of late, when they\nwere wedded to their bodies, were so nice and dainty, forsooth, that\nthey durst scarce venture to enjoy the comfortable heat of a fire, but\nunder the protection of their screens and their fans, for fear of\nspoiling their complexions, and if, by chance, a spark had been so rude\nas to light upon them, or a little smoke, it was not to be endured:...\n--Alas! how will it fare with them, when they shall see themselves tied\nto unmerciful firebrands, or imbodied, as it were, with flames of fire,\nsurrounded with frightful darkness, broiled and consumed without\nintermission, and perhaps condemned to the same fire with which the\ndevils are unspeakably tormented? (Pages 4-7.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGood God! how the great Saints and Doctors astonish me when they treat\nof this fire, and of the pain of sense, as they call it! For they\nperemptorily pronounce that the fire that purges those souls, those\nboth happy and unhappy souls, surpasses all the torments that are to be\nfound in this miserable life of man, or are possible to be invented,\nfor so far they go... Thus they discourse: The fire and the pains of\nthe other world are of another nature from those of this life, because\nGod elevates them above their nature to be instruments of His severity.\nNow, say they, things of an inferior degree can never reach the power\nof such things as are of a higher rank. For example, the air, let it be\never so inflated, unless it be converted into fire, can never be so hot\nas fire. Besides, God bridles His rigor in this world; but, in the\nnext, He lets the reins loose and punishes almost equally to the\ndesert. And, since those souls have preferred creatures before their\nCreator, He seems to be put upon a necessity of punishing them beyond\nthe ordinary strength of creatures; and hence it is that the fire of\nPurgatory burns more, torments and inflicts more, than all the\ncreatures of this life are able to do. But is it really true that the\nleast pain in Purgatory exceeds the greatest here upon earth? O God!\nthe very statement makes me tremble for fear, and my very heart freezes\ninto ice with astonishment. And yet, who dare oppose St. Augustine, St.\nThomas, St. Anselm, St. Gregory the Great? Is there any hope of\ncarrying the negative assertion against such a stream of Doctors, who\nall maintain the affirmative, and bring so strong reasons for it?...\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut for Thy comfort, there are Doctors in the Catholic Church that\ncannot agree with so much severity; and, namely, St. Bonaventure, who\nis very peremptory in denying it. \"For, what way is there,\" says this\nholy Doctor, \"to verify so great a paradox, without sounding reason,\nand destroying the infinite mercy of God? I am easily persuaded there\nare torments in Purgatory far exceeding any in this mortal life; this\nis most certain, and it is but reasonable it should be so; but that the\nleast there should be more terrible than the most terrible in the world\ncannot enter into my belief. May it not often fall out that a man comes\nto die in a most eminent state of perfection, save only, that in his\nlast agony, out of mere frailty, he commits a venial sin, or carries\nalong with him some relic of his former failings, which might have been\neasily blotted out with a _Pater Noster_, or washed away with a\nlittle holy water; for I am supposing it to be some very small matter.\nNow, what likelihood is there, I will not say, that the infinite mercy\nof God, but that the very rigor of His justice, though you conceive it\nto be ever so severe, should inflict so horrible a punishment upon this\nholy soul, as not to be equalled by the greatest torments in this life;\nand all this for some petty fault scarce worth the speaking of? How!\nwould you have God, for a kind of trifle, to punish a soul full of\ngrace and virtue, and so severely to punish her as to exceed all the\nracks, cauldrons, furnaces, and other hellish inventions, which are\nscarce inflicted upon the most execrable criminals in the world?\" (Pp.\n9-11.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is not the fire, nor all the brimstone and tortures they endure,\nwhich murders them alive. No, no; it is the domestical cause of all\nthese mischiefs that racks their consciences and is their crudest\nexecutioner. This, this is the greatest of their evils; for a soul that\nhas shaken off the fetters of flesh and blood, and is full of the love\nof God, no more disordered with unruly passions, nor blinded with the\nnight of ignorance, sees clearly the vast injury she has done to\nherself to have offended so good a God, and to have deserved to be thus\nbanished out of His sight and deprived of that Divine fruition. She\nsees how easily she might have flown up straight to heaven at her first\nparting with her body, and what trifle it was that impeded her. A\nmoment lost of those inebriating joys, seems to her now worthy to be\nredeemed with an eternity of pains. Then, reflecting with herself that\nshe was created only for God, and cannot be truly satisfied but by\nenjoying God, and that, out of Him, all this goodly machine of the\nworld is no better than a direct hell and an abyss of evils. Alas! what\nworms, what martyrdoms, and what nipping pincers are such pinching\nthoughts as these. The fire is to her but as smoke in comparison to\nthis vexing remembrance of her own follies, which betrayed her to this\ndisgraceful and unavoidable misfortune. There was a king who, in a\nhumor gave away his crown and his whole estate, for the present\nrefreshment of a cup of cold water; but, returning a little to himself\nand soberly reflecting what he had done, had like to have run stark mad\nto see the strange, irreparable folly he had committed. To lose a year,\nor two years (to say no more), of the beatifical vision for a glass of\nwater, for a handful of earth, for the love of a fading beauty, for a\nlittle air of worldly praise, a mere puff of honor--ah! it is the hell\nof Purgatory to a soul that truly loves God and frames a right conceit\nof things. (Pp. 14, 15.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfusion is one of the most intolerable evils that can befall a soul;\nand, therefore, St. Paul, speaking of Our blessed Saviour, insists much\nupon this, that He had the courage and the love for us all to overcome\nthe pain of a horrible confusion, which doubtless is an insupportable\nevil to a man of intelligence and courage. Tell me, then, if you can,\nwhat a burning shame and what a terrible confusion it must be to those\nnoble and generous souls, to behold themselves overwhelmed with a\nconfused chaos of fire, and such a base fire which affords no other\nlight but a sullen glimmering, choked up with a sulphureous and\nstinking smoke; and in the interim to know that the souls of many\ncountry clowns, mere idiots, poor women and simple religious persons,\ngo straight up to heaven, whilst they lie there burning--they that were\nso knowing, so rich and so wise; they that were counsellors to kings,\neminent preachers of God's word, and renowned oracles in the world;\nthey that were so great divines, so great statesmen, so capable of high\nemployments. This confusion is much heightened by their further knowing\nhow easily they might have avoided all this and would not. Sometimes\nthey would have given whole mountains of gold to be rid of a stone in\nthe kidneys or a fit of the gout, colic or burning fever, and for a\nhandful of silver they might have redeemed many years' torments in that\nfiery furnace; and, alas! they chose rather to give it to their dogs\nand their horses, and sometimes to men more beasts than they and much\nmore unworthy. Methinks this thought must be more vexing than the fire\nitself, though never so grievous.\n\nAnd yet there remains one thought more, which certainly has a great\nshare in completing their martyrdom; and that is the remembrance of\ntheir children or heirs which they left behind them; who swim in nectar\nand live jollily on the goods which they purchased with the sweat of\ntheir brows, and yet are so ungrateful, so brutish, and so barbarous\nthat they will scarce vouchsafe to say a Pater Noster in a whole month\nfor their souls who brought them into the world, and who, to place them\nin a terrestrial paradise of all worldly delights, made a hard venture\nof their own souls and had like to have exchanged a temporal punishment\nfor an eternal. The leavings and superfluities of their lackeys, a\nthrow of dice, and yet less than that, might have set them free from\nthese hellish torments; and these wicked, ungrateful wretches would not\nso much as think on it. (Pp. 31-33.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBefore I leave off finishing this picture, or put a period to the\nrepresentation of the pains of Purgatory, I cannot but relate a very\nremarkable history which will be as a living picture before your eyes.\nBut be sure you take it not to be of the number of those idle stories\nwhich pass for old wives' tales, or mere imaginations of cracked brains\nand simple souls. No; I will tell you nothing but what Venerable Bede,\nso grave an author, witnesses to have happened in his time, and to have\nbeen generally believed all over England without contradiction, and to\nhave been the cause of wonderful effects; and which is so authenticated\nthat Cardinal Bellarmine, a man of such judgment as the world knows,\nhaving related it himself, concludes thus: \"For my part I firmly\nbelieve this history, as very conformable to the Holy Scripture, and\nwhereof I can have no doubt without wronging truth and wounding my own\nconscience, which ought readily to yield assent unto that which is\nattested by so many and so credible witnesses and confirmed by such\nholy and admirable events.\"\n\nAbout the year of our Lord 690, a certain Englishman, in the county of\nNorthumberland, by name Brithelmus, being dead for a time, was\nconducted to the place of Purgatory by a guide, whose countenance and\napparel was full of light; you may imagine it was his good Angel. Here\nhe was shown two broad valleys of a vast and infinite length, one full\nof glowing firebrands and terrible flames, the other as full of hail,\nice, and snow; and in both these were innumerable souls, who, as with a\nwhirlwind, were tossed up and down out of the intolerable scorching\nflames, into the insufferable rigors of cold, and out of these into\nthose again, without a moment of repose or respite. This he took to be\nhell, so frightful were those torments; but his good Angel told him no,\nit was Purgatory, where the souls did penance for their sins, and\nespecially such as had deferred their conversion until the hour of\ndeath; and that many of them were set free before the Day of Judgment\nfor the good prayers, alms, and fasts of the living, and chiefly by the\nholy Sacrifice of the Mass. Now this holy man, being raised again from\ndeath to life by the power of God, first made a faithful relation of\nall that he had seen, to the great amazement of the hearers, then\nretired him self into the church and spent the whole night in prayer;\nand soon after, gave away his whole estate, partly to his wife and\nchildren, partly to the poor, and taking upon him the habit and\nprofession of a monk, led so austere a life that even if his tongue had\nbeen silent, yet his life and conversation spake aloud what wonders he\nhad seen in the other world. Sometimes they would see him, old as he\nwas, in freezing water up to his ears, praying and singing with much\nsweetness and incredible fervor; and if they asked him, \"Brother, alas!\nhow can you suffer such sharp and biting cold?\" \"O my friends,\" would\nhe say, \"I have seen other manner of cold than this.\" Thus, when he\neven groaned under the voluntary burden of a world of most cruel\nmortifications, and was questioned how it was possible for a weak and\nbroken body like his to undergo such austerities, \"Alas! my dear\nbrethren,\" would he still say, \"I have seen far greater austerities\nthan these: they are but roses and perfumes in comparison of what I\nhave seen in the subterraneous lakes of Purgatory.\" And in these kinds\nof austerities he spent the remainder of his life and made a holy end,\nand purchased an eternal paradise, for having had but a sight of the\npains of Purgatory. And we, dear Christians, if we believed in good\nearnest, or could but once procure to have a true sight or apprehension\nof them, should certainly have other thoughts and live in another\nfashion than we do. (Pp. 44-46.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow, would you clearly see how the souls can at the same instant swim\nin a paradise of delights and yet be overwhelmed with the hellish\ntorments of Purgatory? Cast your eyes upon the holy martyrs of God's\nChurch, and observe their behavior. They were torn, mangled,\ndismembered, flayed alive, racked, broiled, burnt--and tell me, was not\nthis to live in a kind of hell? And yet, in the very height of their\ntorments their hearts and souls were ready to leap for joy; you would\nhave taken them to be already transported into heaven. Hear them but\nspeak for themselves. \"O lovely cross,\" cried out St. Andrew, \"made\nbeautiful by the precious Body of Christ, how long have I desired thee,\nand with what care have I sought thee! and now, that I have found thee,\nreceive me into thine arms, and lift me up to my dear Redeemer! O\ndeath, [1] how amiable art thou in my eyes, and how sweet is thy\ncruelty!\" \"Your coals,\" said St. Cecily, \"your flaming firebrands, and\nall the terrors of death, are to me but as so many fragrant roses and\nlilies, sent from heaven.\" \"Shower down upon me,\" cried St. Stephen,\n\"whole deluges of stones, whilst I see the heavens open and Jesus\nChrist standing at the right side of His Eternal Father, to behold the\nfidelity of His champion.\" \"Turn,\" exclaimed St. Lawrence, \"oh! turn,\nthe other side, thou cruel tyrant, this is already broiled, and cooked\nfit for thy palate. Oh, how well am I pleased to suffer this little\nPurgatory for the love of my Saviour!\" \"Make haste, O my soul,\" cried\nSt. Agnes, \"to cast thyself upon the bed of flames which thy dear\nSpouse has prepared for thee!\" \"Oh,\" cried St. Felicitas, and the\nmother of the Machabees, \"Oh, that I had a thousand children, or a\nthousand lives, to sacrifice them all to my God. What a pleasure it is\nto suffer for so good a cause!\" \"Welcome tyrants, tigers, lions,\"\nwrites St. Ignatius the Martyr; \"let all the torments that the devils\ncan invent come upon me, so I may enjoy my Saviour. I am the wheat of\nChrist; oh, let me be ground with the lions' teeth. Now I begin indeed\nto be the disciple of Christ.\" \"Oh, the happy stroke of a sword,\" might\nSt. Paul well exclaim, \"that no sooner cuts off my head, but it makes a\nbreach for my soul to enter into heaven. Let it be far from me to glory\nin anything, but in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let all evils\nband against me, and let my body be never so overloaded with\nafflictions, the joy of my heart will be sure to have the mastery, and\nmy soul will be still replenished with such heavenly consolations that\nno words, nor even thoughts, are able to express it.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: From the author's text, it seems doubtful whether this\nsentence is to be attributed to St. Andrew or St. Cecilia.]\n\nYou may imagine, then, that the souls, once unfettered from the body,\nmay, together with their torments, be capable of great comforts and\ndivine favors, and break forth into resolute, heroical, and even\nsupercelestial acts.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut there is yet something of a higher nature to be said.... We have\nall the reason in the world to believe that God, of His infinite\ngoodness, inspires these holy souls with a thousand heavenly lights,\nand such ravishing thoughts, that they cannot but take themselves to be\nextremely happy: so happy that St. Catherine of Genoa professed she had\nlearnt of Almighty God that, excepting only the blessed Saints in\nheaven, there were no joys comparable to those of the souls in\nPurgatory. \"For,\" said she, \"when they consider that they are in the\nhands of God, in a place deputed for them by His holy providence, and\njust where God would have them, it is not to be expressed what a\nsweetness they find in so loving a thought: and certainly they had\ninfinitely rather be in Purgatory, to comply with His divine pleasure,\nthan be in Paradise, with violence to His justice, and a manifest\nbreach of the ordinary laws of the house of God. I will say more,\"\ncontinued she: \"it cannot so much as steal into their thoughts to\ndesire to be anywhere else than where they are. Seeing that God has so\nplaced them, they are not at all troubled that others get out before\nthem; and they are so absorbed in this profound meditation, of being at\nGod's disposal, in the bosom of His sweet providence, that they cannot\nso much as dream of being anywhere else. So that, methinks, those kind\nexpressions of Almighty God, by His prophets, to His chosen people, may\nbe fitly applied to the unhappy and yet happy condition of these holy\nsouls. 'Rejoice, my people,' says the loving God; 'for I swear unto you\nby Myself, that when you shall pass through flames of fire, they shall\nnot hurt you: I shall be there with you; I shall take off the edge, and\nblunt the points, of those piercing flames. I will raise the bright\nAurora in your darkness; and the darkness of your nights shall outshine\nthe midday. I will pour out My peace into the midst of your hearts, and\nreplenish your souls with the bright shining lights of heaven. You\nshall be as a paradise of delights, bedewed with a living fountain of\nheavenly waters. You shall rejoice in your Creator, and I will raise\nyou above the height of mountains, and nourish you with manna and the\nsweet inheritance of Jacob; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it:\nand it cannot fail, but shall be sure to fall out so, because He hath\nspoken it'\" (Pp. 61, 62).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut let not this discourse cool your charity; lest, seeing the souls\nenjoy so much comfort in Purgatory, your compassion for them grow\nslack, and so continue not equal to their desert. Remember, then, that\nnotwithstanding all these comforts here rehearsed, the poor creatures\ncease not to be grievously tormented; and consequently have extreme\nneed of all your favorable assistance and pious endeavors. When Christ\nJesus was in His bitter agony, sweating blood and water, the superior\npart of His soul enjoyed God and His glory, and yet His body was so\noppressed with sorrow, that He was ready to die, and was content to be\ncomforted by an Angel. In like manner, these holy souls have indeed\ngreat joys; but feel withal such bitter torments, that they stand in\ngreat need of our help. So that you will much wrong them, and me, too,\nto stand musing so long upon their joys, as not to afford them succor.\n(P. 80.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the history of the incomparable order of the great St. Dominic, it\nis authentically related that one of the first of those holy, religious\nmen was wont to say, that he found himself not so much concerned to\npray for the souls in Purgatory, because they are certain of their\nsalvation; and that, upon this account, we ought not, in his judgment,\nto be very solicitous for them, but ought rather to bend our whole care\nto help sinner, to convert the wicked, and to secure such souls as are\nuncertain of their salvation, and probably certain of their damnation,\nas leading very evil lives. Here it is, said he, that I willingly\nemploy my whole endeavors. It is upon these that I bestow my Masses and\nprayers, and all that little that is at my disposal; and thus I take it\nto be well bestowed. But upon souls that have an assurance of eternal\nhappiness, and can never more lose God or offend Him, I believe not,\nsaid he, that one ought to be so solicitous. This certainly was but a\npoor and weak discourse, to give it no severer a censure; and the\nconsequence of it was this, that the good man did not only himself\nforbear to help these poor souls, but, which was worse, dissuaded\nothers from doing it; and, under color of a greater charity, withdrew\nthat succor which, otherwise, good people would liberally have afforded\nthem. But God took their cause in hand; for, permitting the souls to\nappear and show themselves in frightful shapes, and to haunt the good\nman by night and day without respite, still filling his fancy with\ndreadful imaginations, and his eyes with terrible spectacles, and\nwithal letting him know who they were, and why, with God's permission,\nthey so importuned him with their troublesome visits, you may believe\nthe good Father became so affectionately kind to the souls in\nPurgatory, bestowed so many Masses and prayers upon them, preached so\nfervently in their behalf, stirred up so many to the same devotion,\nthat it is a thing incredible to believe, and not to be expressed with\neloquence. Never did you see so many and so clear and convincing\nreasons as he alleged, to demonstrate that it is the most eminent piece\nof fraternal charity in this life to pray for the souls departed. Love\nand fear are the two most excellent orators in the world; they can\nteach all rhetoric in a moment, and infuse a most miraculous eloquence.\nThis good Father, who thought he should have been frightened to death,\nwas grown so fearful of a second assault, that he bent his whole\nunderstanding to invent the most pressing and convincing arguments to\nstir up the world both to pity and to piety, and so persuade souls to\nhelp souls; and it is incredible what good ensued thereupon. (Pp. 82-\n84.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIs there anything within the whole circumference of the universe so\nworthy of compassion, and that may so deservedly claim the greatest\nshare in all your devotions and charities, as to see our fathers, our\nmothers, our nearest and dearest relations, to lie broiling in cruel\nflames, and to cry to us for help with tears that are able to move\ncruelty itself? Whence I conclude there is not upon the earth any\nobject that deserves more commiseration than this, nor where fraternal\ncharity can better employ all her forces. (P. 86.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSt. Thomas tells us there is an order to be observed in our works of\ncharity to our neighbor; that is, we are to see where there is a\ngreater obligation, a greater necessity, a greater merit, and the like\ncircumstances. Now, where is there more necessity, or more obligation,\nthan to run to the fire, and to help those that lie there, and are not\nable to get out? Where can you have more merit, than to have a hand in\nraising up Saints and servants of God? Where have you more assurance\nthan where you are sure to lose nothing? Where can you find an object\nof more compassion, than where there is the greatest misery in the\nworld? Where is there seen more of God's glory, than to send new Saints\ninto heaven to praise God eternally? Lastly, where can you show more\ncharity, and more of the love of God, than to employ your tears, your\nsighs, your goods, your hands, your heart, your life, and all your\ndevotion, to procure a good that surpasses all other goods; I mean, to\nmake souls happy for all eternity, by translating them into heavenly\njoys, out of insupportable torments? That glorious Apostle of the\nIndies, St. Francis Xavier, could run from one end of the world to the\nother, to convert a soul, and think it no long journey. The dangers by\nsea and land seemed sweet, the tempests pleasing, the labor easy, and\nhis whole time well employed. Good God! what an advantage have we, that\nwith so little trouble and few prayers, may send a thousand beautiful\nsouls into heaven, without the least hazard of losing anything? St.\nFrancis Xavier could not be certain that the Japanese, for example,\nwhom he baptized, would persevere in their faith; and, though they\nshould persevere in it, he could have as little certainty of their\nsalvation. Now, it is an article of our faith, that the holy souls in\nPurgatory are in grace, and shall assuredly one day enter into the\nKingdom of Heaven. (Pp. 91, 92.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe read in the life of St. Catherine of Bologna, ... that she had not\nonly a strange tenderness for the souls, but a singular devotion to\nthem, and was wont to recommend herself to them in all her necessities.\nThe reason she alleged for it was this: that she had learned of\nAlmighty God how she had frequently obtained far greater favors by\ntheir intercession than by any other means. And the story adds this:\nthat it often happened that what she begged of God, at the intercession\nof the Saints in heaven, she could never obtain of Him; and yet, as\nsoon as she addressed herself to the souls in Purgatory she had her\nsuit instantly granted. Can there be any question but there are souls\nin that purging fire who are of a higher pitch of sanctity, and of far\ngreater merit in the sight of God, than a thousand and a thousand\nSaints who are already glorious in the Court of Heaven. (P. 102.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCardinal Baronius, a man of credit beyond exception, relates, in his\nEcclesiastical Annals, how a person of rare virtue found himself\ndangerously assaulted at the hour of his death; and that, in this\nagony, he saw the heavens open and about eight thousand champions, all\ncovered with white armor, descend, who fell instantly to encourage him\nby giving him this assurance: that they were come to fight for him and\nto disengage him from that doubtful combat. And when, with infinite\ncomfort, and tears in his eyes, he besought them to do him the favor to\nlet him know who they were that had so highly obliged him: \"We are,\"\nsaid they, \"the souls whom you have saved and delivered out of\nPurgatory; and now, to requite the favor, we are come down to convey\nyou instantly to heaven.\" And with that, he died.\n\nWe read another such story of St. Gertrude; how she was troubled at her\ndeath to think what must become of her, since she had given away all\nthe rich treasure of her satisfactions to redeem other poor souls,\nwithout reserving anything to herself; but that Our Blessed Saviour\ngave her the comfort to know that she was not only to have the like\nfavor of being immediately conducted into heaven out of this world, by\nthose innumerable souls whom she had sent thither before her by her\nfervent prayers, but was there also to receive a hundred-fold of\neternal glory in reward of her charity. By which examples we may learn\nthat we cannot make better use of our devotion and charity than this\nway. (Pp. 104, 105.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Church Triumphant, to speak properly, cannot satisfy, because there\nis no place for penal works in the Court of Heaven, whence all grief\nand pain are eternally banished.\n\nWherefore, the Saints may well proceed by way of impetration and\nprayers; or, at most, represent their former satisfactions, which are\ncarefully laid up in the treasury of the Church, in lieu of those which\nare due from others; but, as for any new satisfaction or payment\nderived from any penal act of their own, it is not to be looked for in\nthose happy mansions of eternal glory.\n\nThe Church Militant may do either; as having this advantage over the\nChurch Triumphant, that she can help the souls in Purgatory by her\nprayers and satisfactory works, and by offering up her charitable\nsuffrages, wherewith to pay the debts of those poor souls who are run\nin arrear in point of satisfaction due for their sins. Had they but\nfasted, prayed, labored, or suffered a little more in this life, they\nhad gone directly into heaven; what they unhappily neglected we may\nsupply for them, and it will be accepted for good payment, as from\ntheir bails and sureties. You know, he that stands surety for another\ntakes the whole debt upon himself. This is our case; for, the living,\nas it were, entering bond for the dead, become responsible for their\ndebts, and offer up fasts for fasts, tears for tears, in the same\nmeasure and proportion as they were liable to them, and so defray the\ndebt of their friends at their own charge, and make all clear. (Pp.\n117, 118.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI am in love with that religious practice of Bologna, where, upon\nfuneral days, they cause hundreds and thousands of Masses to be said\nfor the soul departed, in lieu of other superfluous and vain\nostentations. They stay not for the anniversary, nor for any other set\nday; but instantly do their best to release the poor soul from her\ntorments, who must needs think the year long, if she must stay for help\ntill her anniversary day appears. They do not, for all this, despise\nthe laudable customs of the Church; they bury their friends with honor;\nthey clothe great numbers of poor people; they give liberal alms; but,\nas there is nothing so certain, nothing so efficacious, nothing so\ndivine, as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, they fix their whole\naffection there, and strive all they can to relieve the souls this way;\nand are by no means so lavish, as the fashion is, in other idle\nexpenses and inopportune feastings, which are often more troublesome to\nthe living than comfortable to the dead.\n\nBut you may not only comfort the afflicted souls by procuring Masses\nfor them, nor yet only by offering up your prayers, fasts, alms-deeds,\nand such other works of piety; but you may bestow upon them all the\ngood you do, and all the evil you suffer, in this world.... If you\noffer up unto God all that causes you any grief or affliction, for the\npresent relief of the poor languishing souls, you cannot believe what\nease and comfort they will find by it. (Pp. 123-125).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe world has generally a great esteem of Monsieur d'Argenton, Philip\nCommines; and many worthily admire him for the great wisdom and\nsincerity he has labored to express in his whole history. But, for my\npart, I commend him for nothing more than for the prudent care he took\nhere for the welfare of his own soul in the other world. For, having\nbuilt a goodly chapel at the Augustinians in Paris, and left them a\ngood foundation, he tied them to this perpetual obligation, that they\nshould no sooner rise from table, but they should be sure to pray for\nthe rest of this precious soul. And he ordered it thus, by his express\nwill, that one of the religious should first say aloud: \"Let us pray\nfor the soul of Monsieur d'Argenton;\" and then all should instantly say\nthe psalm _De Profundis_. Gerson lost not his labor when he took\nsuch pains to teach little children to repeat often these words: \"My\nGod, my Creator, have pity on Thy poor servant, John Gerson.\" For these\ninnocent souls, all the while the good man was dying, and after he was\ndead, went up and down the town with a mournful voice, singing the\nshort lesson he had taught them, and comforting his dear soul with\ntheir innocent prayers.\n\nNow, as I must commend their prudence who thus wisely cast about how to\nprovide for their own souls, against they come into Purgatory, so I\ncannot but more highly magnify their charity, who, less solicitous for\nthemselves, employ their whole care to save others out of that dreadful\nfire. And sure I am, they can lose nothing by the bargain, who dare\nthus trust God with their own souls, while they do their uttermost to\nhelp others; nay, though they should follow that unparalleled example\nof Father Hernando de Monsoy, of the Society of Jesus, who, not content\nto give away all he could from himself to the poor souls, while he\nlived, made them his heirs after death; and, by express will,\nbequeathed them all the Masses, rosaries, and whatsoever else should be\noffered for him by his friends upon earth. (Pp. 131-132.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt will not be amiss here to resolve you certain pertinent questions.\nWhether the suffrages we offer up unto God shall really avail them for\nwhom we offer them; and whether they alone, or others also, may receive\nbenefit by them? Whether it be better to pray for a few at once, or for\nmany, or for all the souls together, and for what souls in particular?\n\nTo the first I answer: if your intention be to help any one in\nparticular who is really in Purgatory, so your work be good, it is\ninfallibly applied to the person upon whom you bestow it. For, as\ndivines teach, it is the intention of the offerer which governs all;\nand God, of His infinite goodness, accommodates Himself to the\npetitioner's request, applying unto each one what has been offered for\nits relief. If you have nobody in your thoughts for whom you offer up\nyour prayers, they are only beneficial to yourself; and what would be\nthus lost for want of application, God lays up in the treasury of the\nChurch, as being a kind of spiritual waif or stray, to which nobody can\nlay any just claim. And, since it is the intention which entitles one\nto what is offered before all others, what right can others pretend to\nit; or with what justice can it be parted or divided amongst others,\nwho were never thought of?\n\nAnd hence I take my starting-point to resolve your other question--that\nif you regard their best advantage whom you have a mind to favor, you\nhad better pray for a few than for many together; for, since the merit\nof your devotions is but limited, and often in a very small proportion,\nthe more you divide and subdivide it amongst many, the lesser share\ncomes to every one in particular. As if you should distribute a crown\nor an angel [1] amongst a thousand poor people, you easily see your\nalms would be so inconsiderable, they would be little better for it;\nwhereas, if it were all bestowed upon one or two, it were enough to\nmake them think themselves rich.\n\n[Footnote 1: A gold coin of that period so called because it was\nstamped with the image of an angel.]\n\nNow, to define precisely, whether it be always better done, to help one\nor two souls efficaciously, than to yield a little comfort to a great\nmany, is a question I leave for you to exercise your wits in. I could\nfancy it to be your best course to do both; that is, sometimes to\nsingle out some particular soul, and to use all your powers to lift her\nup to heaven; sometimes, again, to parcel out your favors upon many;\nand, now and then, also to deal out a general alms upon all Purgatory.\nAnd you need not fear exceeding in this way of charity, whatsoever you\nbestow; for you may be sure nothing will be lost by it. And St. Thomas\nwill tell you, for your comfort, that since all the souls in Purgatory\nare perfectly united in charity, they rejoice exceedingly when they see\nany of their whole number receive such powerful helps as to dispose her\nfor heaven. They every one take it as done to themselves, whatsoever is\nbestowed upon any of their fellows, whom they love as themselves; and,\nout of a heavenly kind of courtesy, and singular love, they joy in her\nhappiness, as if it were their own. So that it may be truly said, that\nyou never pray for one or more of them, but they are all partakers, and\nreceive a particular comfort and satisfaction by it. (Pp. 132-134.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt would go hard with many, were it true that a person who neglected to\nmake restitution in his life-time, and only charged his heirs to do it\nfor him in his last will and testament, shall not stir out of Purgatory\ntill restitution be really made; let there be never so many Masses\nsaid, and never so many satisfactory works offered up for him. And yet\nSt. Bridget, whose revelations are, for the most part, approved by the\nChurch, hesitates not to set this down for a truth which God had\nrevealed unto her. Nor are there wanting grave divines that countenance\nthis rigorous position, and bring for it many strong reasons and\nexamples, which they take to be authentical: and the law itself, which\nsays that if a man do not restore another's goods, there will always\nstick upon the soul a kind of blemish, or obligation of justice. And\nsince the fault lies wholly at his door, he cannot, say they, have the\nleast reason to complain of the severity of God's justice, but must\naccuse his own coldness and extreme neglect of his own welfare. Nay,\neven those that are of the contrary persuasion, yet maintain that it is\nnot only much more secure, but far more meritorious, to satisfy such\nobligations while we live, than to trust others with it, let them be\nnever so near and dear to us.... (Pp. 140, 141.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n... I have just cause to fear that all I can say to you will hardly\nsuffice to mollify that hard heart of yours; and, therefore, my last\nrefuge shall be to set others on, though I call them out of the other\nworld.\n\nAnd first, let a damned soul read you a lecture, and teach you the\ncompassion you ought to bear to your afflicted brethren. Remember how\nthe rich glutton in the Gospel, although he was buried in hell-fire,\ntook care for his brothers who survived him; and besought Abraham to\nsend Lazarus back into the world, to preach and convert them, lest they\nshould be so miserable as to come into that place of torments. A\nstrange request for a damned soul! and which may shame you, that are so\nlittle concerned for the souls of your brethren, who are in so restless\na condition.\n\nIn the next place, I will bring in the soul of your dear father, or\nmother, to make her own just complaints against you. Lend her, then, a\ndutiful and attentive ear; and let none of her words be lost; for she\ndeserves to be heard out, while she sets forth the state of her most\nlamentable condition. Peace! it is a holy soul, though clothed in\nflames, that directs her speech to you after this manner:\n\n\"Am I not the most unfortunate and wretched parent that ever lived? I\nthat was so silly as to presume that having ventured my life, and my\nvery soul also, to leave my children at their ease, they would at least\nhave had some pity on me, and endeavor to procure for me some ease and\ncomfort in my torments. Alas! I burn insufferably, I suffer infinitely,\nand have done so, I know not how long; and yet this is not the only\nthing that grieves me. Alas, no! it is a greater vexation to me to see\nmyself so soon forgotten by my own children, and so slighted by them,\nfor whom I have in vain taken so much care and pains. Ah, dost thou\ngrudge thy poor mother a Mass, a slight alms, a sigh, or a tear? Thy\nmother, I say, who would most willingly have kept bread from her own\nmouth, to make thee swim in an ocean of delights, and to abound with\nplenty of all worldly goods? ... Who will not refuse me comfort, when\nmy own children, my very bowels, do their best to forget me? What a\nvexation is it to me, when my companions in misery ask me whether I\nleft no children behind me, and why they are so hard-hearted as to\nneglect me?.... I was willing to forget my own concerns to be careful\nof theirs; and those ungrateful ones have now buried me in an eternal\noblivion, and clearly left me to shift for myself in these dread\ntortures, without giving me the least ease or comfort. Oh, what a fool\nwas I! had I given to the poor the thousandth part of those goods which\nI left these miserable children, I had long before this been joyfully\nsinging the praises of my Creator, in the choir of Angels; whereas now\nI lie panting and groaning under excessive torments, and am like still\nto lie, for any relief that is to be looked for from these undutiful,\nungracious children whom I made my sole heirs.... But am I not all this\nwhile strangely transported, miserable that I am, thus to amuse myself\nwith unprofitable complaints against my children; whereas, indeed, I\nhave but small reason to blame any but myself? since it is I, and only\nI, that am the cause of all this mischief. For did not I know that in\nthe grand business of saving my soul, I was to have trusted none but\nmyself? did I not know that with the sight of their friends, at their\ndeparture, men used to lose all the memory and friendship they had for\nthem?.... Did I not know that God Himself had foretold us, that the\nonly ready way to build ourselves eternal tabernacles in the next\nworld, is not to give all to our children, but to be liberal to the\npoor?.... I cannot deny, then, but the fault lies at my door, and that\nI am deservedly thus neglected by my children.... The only comfort I\nhave left me in all my afflictions, is, that others will learn at my\ncost this clear maxim: not to leave to others a matter of such near\nconcern as the ease and repose of their own souls; but to provide for\nthem carefully themselves. O God! how dearly have I bought this\nexperience; to see my fault irreparable, and my misery without\nredress!\" (Pp. 146-149.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne must have a heart of steel, or no heart at all, to hear these sad\nregrets, and not feel some tenderness for the poor souls, and as great\nan indignation against those who are so little concerned for the souls\nof their parents and other near relations. I wish, with all my soul,\nthat all those who shall light upon this passage, and hear the soul so\nbitterly deplore her misfortune, may but benefit themselves half as\nmuch by it as a good prelate did when the soul of Pope Benedict VIII,\nby God's permission, revealed unto him her lamentable state in\nPurgatory. [1] For so the story goes, which is not to be questioned:\nThis Pope Benedict appears to the Bishop of Capua, and conjures him to\ngo to his brother, Pope John, who succeeded him in the Chair of St.\nPeter, and to beseech him, for God's sake, to give great store of alms\nto poor people, to allay the fury of the fire of Purgatory, with which\nhe found himself highly tormented. He further charges him to let the\nPope know withal, that he did acknowledge liberal alms had already been\ndistributed for that purpose; but had found no ease at all by it\nbecause all the money that had been then bestowed was acquired\nunjustly, and so had no power to prevail before the just tribunal of\nGod for the obtaining of the least mercy. The good Bishop, upon this,\nmakes haste to the Pope, and faithfully relates the whole conference\nthat had passed between him and the soul of his predecessor; and with a\ngrave voice and lively accent enforces the necessity and importance of\nthe business; that, in truth, when a soul lies a burning, it is in vain\nto dispute idle questions; the best course, then, is to run instantly\nfor water, and to throw it on with both hands, calling for all the help\nand assistance we can, to relieve her; and that His Holiness should\nsoon see the truth of the vision by the wonderful effects which were\nlike to follow. All this he delivers so gravely, and so to the purpose,\nthat the Pope resolves out of hand to give in charity vast sums out of\nhis own certain and unquestionable revenue; whereby the soul of Pope\nBenedict was not only wonderfully comforted, but, questionless, soon\nreleased of her torments. In conclusion, the good Bishop, having well\nreflected with himself in what a miserable condition he had seen the\nsoul of a Pope who had the repute of a Saint, and was really so, worked\nso powerfully with him, that, quitting his mitre, crosier, bishopric,\nand all worldly greatness, he shut himself up in a monastery, and there\nmade a holy end; choosing rather to have his Purgatory in the austerity\nof a cloister than in the flames of the Church suffering. (Pp. 150,\n151.)\n\n[Footnote 1: Baronius, _An._ 1024.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI wish, again, they would in this but follow the example of King Louis\nof France, who was son to Louis the Emperor, surnamed the Pious. For\nthey tell us [1] that this Emperor, after he had been thirty-three\nyears in Purgatory, not so much for any personal crimes or misdemeanors\nof his own as for permitting certain disorders in his empire, which he\nought to have prevented, was at length permitted to show himself to\nKing Louis, his son, and to beg his favorable assistance; and that the\nking did not only most readily grant him his request, procuring Masses\nto be said in all the monasteries of his realm for the soul of his\ndeceased father, but drew thence many good reflections and profitable\ninstructions, which served him all his life-time after. Do you the\nsame; and believe it, though Purgatory fire is a kind of baptism, and\nis so styled by some of the holy Fathers, because it cleanses a soul\nfrom all the dross of sin, and makes it worthy to see God, yet is it\nyour sweetest course, here to baptize yourself frequently in the tears\nof contrition, which have a mighty power to cleanse away all the\nblemishes of sin; and so prevent in your own person, and extinguish in\nothers, those baptismal flames of Purgatory fire, which are so\ndreadful. (Pp. 151, 152.)\n\n[Footnote 1: Baronius, _An_. 874.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat shall I say of those other nations, whose natural piety led them\nto place burning lamps at the sepulchres of the dead, and strew them\nover with sweet flowers and odoriferous perfumes. [1] Do they not put\nChristians in mind to remember the dead, and to cast after them the\nsweet incense of their devout sighs and prayers, and the perfumes of\ntheir alms-deeds, and other good works?\n\n[Footnote 1: Herod lib. 2.]\n\nIt was very usual with the old Romans to shed whole floods of tears, to\nreserve them in phial-glasses, and to bury them with the urns, in which\nthe ashes of their dead friends were carefully laid up; and by them to\nset lamps, so artificially composed as to burn without end. By which\nsymbols they would give us to understand, that neither their love nor\ntheir grief should ever die; but that they would always be sure to\nhave tears in their eyes, love in their hearts, and a constant memory\nin their souls for their deceased friends....\n\nThey had another custom, not only in Rome but elsewhere, to walk about\nthe burning pile where the corpse lay, and, with their mournful\nlamentations, to keep time with the doleful sound of their trumpets;\nand still, every turn, to cast into the fire some precious pledge of\ntheir friendship. The women themselves would not stick to throw in\ntheir rings, bracelets, and other costly attires, nay, their very hair\nalso, the chief ornament of their sex; and they would have been\nsometimes willing to have thrown in both their eyes, and their hearts\ntoo. Nor were there some wanting, that in earnest threw themselves into\nthe fire, to be consumed with their dear spouses; so that it was found\nnecessary to make a severe law against it; such was the tenderness that\nthey had for their deceased friends, such was the excess of a mere\nnatural affection. Now, our love is infused from Heaven; it is\nsupernatural, and consequently ought to be more active and powerful to\nstir up our compassion for the souls departed; and yet we see the\ncoldness of Christians in this particular; how few there are who make\nit their business to help poor souls out of their tormenting flames. It\nis not necessary to make laws to hinder any excess in this article; it\nwere rather to be wished that a law were provided to punish all such\nungrateful persons as forgot the duty they owe to their dead parents,\nand all the obligations they have to the rest of their friends. (Pp.\n156-158.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is a pleasure to observe the constant devotion of the Church of\nChrist in all ages, to pray for the dead. And first, to take my rise\nfrom the Apostles' time, there are many learned interpreters, who hold\nthat baptism for the dead, of which the Apostle speaks, [1] to be meant\nonly of the much fasting, prayer, alms-deeds, and other voluntary\nafflictions, which the first Christians undertook for the relief of\ntheir deceased friends. But I need not fetch in obscure places to prove\nso clear an Apostolical and early custom in God's Church.\n\n[Footnote 1: Cor. xv 29.]\n\nYou may see a set form of prayer for the dead prescribed in all the\nancient liturgies of the Apostles. [1] Besides, St. Clement [2] tells\nus, it was one of the chief heads of St. Peter's sermons, to be daily\ninculcating to the people this devotion of praying for the dead; and\nSt. Denis [3] sets down at large the solemn ceremonies and prayers,\nwhich were then used at funerals; and receives them no otherwise than\nas Apostolical traditions, grounded upon the Word of God. And\ncertainly, it would have done you good to have seen with what gravity\nand devotion that venerable prelate performed the divine office and\nprayer for the dead, and what an ocean of tears he drew from the eyes\nof all that were present.\n\n[Footnote 1: Liturgia utrinque, S. Jacobi, S. Math., S. Marci, S. Clem.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Epist. I.]\n\n[Footnote 3: S Dion. _Eccles. Hier_. C. 7.]\n\nLet Tertullian [1] speak for the next age. He tells us how carefully\ndevout people in his time kept the anniversaries of the dead, and made\ntheir constant oblations for the sweet rest of their souls. \"Here it\nis,\" says this grave author, \"that the widow makes it appear whether or\nno she had any true love for her husband; if she continue yearly to do\nher best for the comfort of his soul.\" ... Let your first care be, to\nransom him out of Purgatory, and when you have once placed him in the\nempyrean heaven, he will be sure to take care for you and yours. I know\nyour excuse is, that having procured for him the accustomed services of\nthe Church, you need do no more for him; for you verily believe he is\nalready in a blessed state. But this is rather a poor shift to excuse\nyour own sloth and laziness, than that you believe it to be so in good\nearnest. For there is no man, says Origen, but the Son of God, can\nguess how long, or how many ages, a soul may stand in need of the\npurgation of fire. Mark the word _ages_; he seems to believe that\na soul may, for whole ages--that is, for so many hundred years--be\nconfined to this fiery lake, if she be wholly left to herself and her\nown sufferings.\n\n[Footnote 1: Tertull. _De cor. mil. c 3; _De monogam, c. 10.]\n\nIt was not without confidence, says Eusebius, of reaping more fruit\nfrom the prayers of the faithful, that the honor of our nation, and the\nfirst Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, took such care to be\nburied in the Church of the Apostles, whither all sorts of devout\npeople resorting to perform their devotions to God and His Saints,\nwould be sure to remember so good an emperor. Nor did he fail of his\nexpectation; for it is incredible, as the same author observes, what a\nworld of sighs and prayers were offered up for him upon this occasion.\n\nSt. Athanasius [1] brings an elegant comparison to express the\nincomparable benefit which accrues to the souls in Purgatory by our\nprayers. As the wine, says he, which is locked up in the cellar, yet is\nso recreated with the sweet odor of the flourishing vines which are\ngrowing in the fields, as to flower afresh, and leap, as it were, for\njoy, so the souls that are shut up in the centre of the earth feel the\nsweet incense of our prayers, and are exceedingly comforted and\nrefreshed by it.\n\n[Footnote 1: St. Augustine's views on this subject may be seen from the\nextract elsewhere given, from his \"Confessions,\" on the occasion of the\ndeath of his mother, St. Monica.]\n\nWe do not busy ourselves, says St. Cyril, with placing crowns or\nstrewing flowers at the sepulchres of the dead; but we lay hold on\nChrist, the very Son of God, who was sacrificed upon the Cross for our\nsins: and we offer Him up again to His Eternal Father in the dread\nSacrifice of the Mass, as the most efficacious means to reconcile Him,\nnot only to ourselves, but to them also.\n\nSt. Epiphanius stuck not to condemn Arius for this damnable heresy\namongst others, that he held it in vain to pray for the dead: as if our\nprayers could not avail them.\n\nSt. Ambrose prayed heartily for the good Emperor Theodosius as soon as\nhe was dead, and made open profession that he would never give over\npraying for him till he had, by his prayers and tears, conveyed him\nsafe to the holy mountain of Our Lord, whither he was called by his\nmerits, and where there is true life everlasting. He had the same\nkindness for the soul of the Emperor Valentinian, the same for Gratian,\nthe same for his brother Satyrus and others. He promised them Masses,\ntears, prayers, and that he would never forget them, never give over\ndoing charitable offices for them.\n\n\"Will you honor your dead?\" says St. John Chrysostom; \"do not spend\nyourselves in unprofitable lamentations; choose rather to sing psalms,\nto give alms, and to lead holy lives. Do for them that which they would\nwillingly do for themselves, were they to return again into the world,\nand God will accept it at your hands, as if it came from them.\" (Pp.\n162-166.)\n\nSt. Paulinus, that charitable prelate who sold himself to redeem\nothers, could not but have a great proportion of charity for captive\nsouls in the other world. No; he was not only ready to become a slave\nhimself to purchase their freedom, but he became an earnest solicitor\nto others in their behalf; for, in a letter to Delphinus, alluding to\nthe story of Lazarus, he beseeches him to have at least so much\ncompassion as to convey, now and then, a drop of water wherewith to\ncool the tongues of poor souls that lie burning in the Church which is\nall a-fire.\n\nI am astonished when I call to mind the sad regrets of the people of\nAfrica when they saw some of their priests dragged away to martyrdom.\nThe author says they flocked about them in great numbers and cried out:\n\"Alas! if you leave us so, what will become of us? Who must give us\nabsolution for our sins? Who must bury us with the wonted ceremonies of\nthe Church when we are dead? and who will take care to pray for our\nsouls?\" Such a general belief they had in those days, that nothing is\nmore to be desired in this world than to leave those behind us who will\ndo their best to help us out of our torments. (Pp. 167-8.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAlmighty God has often miraculously made it appear how well He is\npleased to be importuned by us in the souls' behalf, and what comfort\nthey receive by our prayers. St. John Climacus writes, [1] that while\nthe monks were at service, praying for their good father, Mennas, the\nthird day after his departure, they felt a marvellous sweet smell to\nrise out of his grave, which they took for a good omen that his sweet\nsoul, after three days' purgation, had taken her flight into heaven.\nFor what else could be meant by that sweet perfume but the odor of his\nholy and innocent conversation, or the incense of their sacrifices and\nprayers, or the primitial fruits of his happy soul, which was now flown\nup to the holy mountain of eternal glory, there enjoying the\nodoriferous and never-fading delights of Paradise?\n\n[Footnote 1: In 4, gradu scal\u00e6.]\n\nNot unlike unto this is that story which the great St. Gregory relates\nof one Justus, a monk. [1] He had given him up at first for a lost\ncreature; but, upon second thoughts, having ordered Mass to be said for\nhim for thirty days together, the last day he appeared to his brother\nand assured him of the happy exchange he was now going to make of his\ntorments for the joys of heaven.\n\n[Footnote 1: Dial. c. 55, lib. 4.]\n\nPope Symmachus and his Council [1] had reason to thunder out anathemas\nagainst those sacrilegious persons who were so frontless as to turn\npious legacies into profane uses, to the great prejudice of the souls\nfor whose repose they were particularly deputed by the founders. And,\ncertainly, it is a much fouler crime to defraud souls of their due\nrelief than to disturb dead men's ashes and to plunder their graves.\n(Pp. 168-9.)\n\n[Footnote 1: 6 Synod., Rom.]\n\nSt. Isidore delivers it as an apostolic tradition and general practice\nof the Catholic Church in his time, to offer up sacrifices and prayers,\nand to distribute alms for the dead; and this, not for any increase of\ntheir merit, but either to mitigate their pains or to shorten the time\nof their durance.\n\nVenerable Bede is a sure witness for the following century; whose\nlearned works are full of wonderful stories, which he brings in\nconfirmation of this Catholic doctrine and practice.\n\nSt. John Damascene made an elegant oration on purpose to stir up this\ndevotion; where, amongst other things, he says it is impossible to\nnumber up all the stories in this kind which bear witness that the\nsouls departed are relieved by our prayers; and that, otherwise, God\nwould not have appointed a commemoration of the dead to be daily made\nin the unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass, nor would the Church have so\nreligiously observed anniversaries and other days set apart for the\nservice of the dead.\n\nWere it but a dog, says Simon Metaphrastes, that by chance were fallen\ninto the fire, we should have so much compassion for him as to help him\nout; and what shall we do for souls who are fallen into Purgatory fire?\nI say, souls of our parents and dearest friends; souls that are\npredestinate to eternal glory, and extremely precious in the sight of\nGod? And what did not the Saints of God's Church for them in those\ndays? Some armed themselves from head to foot in coarse hair-cloth;\nothers tore off their flesh with chains and rude disciplines; some,\nagain, pined themselves with rigorous fasts; others dissolved\nthemselves into tears; some passed whole nights in contemplation;\nothers gave liberal alms or procured great store of Masses; in fine,\nthey did what they were able, and were not well pleased that they were\nable to do no more, to relieve the poor souls in Purgatory. Amongst\nothers, Queen Melchtild [1] is reported to have purchased immortal fame\nfor her discreet behavior at the death of the king, her husband; for\nwhose soul she caused a world of Masses to be said, and a world of alms\nto be distributed, in lieu of other idle expenses and fruitless\nlamentations.\n\n[Footnote 1: Luitprand, c. 4, c. 7.]\n\nThere is one in the world, to whom I bear an immortal envy, and such an\nenvy as I never mean to repent of. It is the holy Abbot Odilo, who was\nthe author of an invention which I would wittingly have found out,\nthough with the loss of my very heart's blood.\n\nReader, take the story as it passed, thus: [1] A devout religious man,\nin his return from Jerusalem, meets with a holy hermit in Sicily; he\nassures him that he often heard the devils complain that souls were so\nsoon discharged of their torments by the devout prayers of the monks of\nCluny, who never ceased to pour out their prayers for them. This the\ngood man carries to Odilo, then Abbot of Cluny; he praises God for His\ngreat mercy in vouchsafing to hear the innocent prayers of his monks;\nand presently takes occasion to command all the monasteries of his\nOrder, to keep yearly the commemoration of All Souls, next after the\nfeast of All Saints, a custom which, by degrees, grew into such credit,\nthat the Catholic Church thought fit to establish it all over the\nChristian world; to the incredible benefit of poor souls, and singular\nincrease of God's glory. For who can sum up the infinite number of\nsouls who have been freed out of Purgatory by this invention? or who\ncan express the glory which accrued to this good Abbot, who thus\nfortunately made himself procurator-general of the suffering Church,\nand furnished her people with such a considerable supply of necessary\nrelief, to alleviate the insupportable burthen of their sufferings?\n\n[Footnote 1: Sigeb. in _Chron_. An. 998.]\n\nSt. Bernard would triumph when he had to deal with heretics that denied\nthis privilege of communicating our suffrages and prayers to the souls\nin Purgatory. And with what fervor he would apply himself to this\ncharitable employment of relieving poor souls, may appear by the care\nhe took for good Humbertus, though he knew him to have lived and died\nin his monastery so like a Saint, that he could scarce find out the\nfault in him which might deserve the least punishment in the other\nworld; unless it were to have been too rigorous to himself, and too\ncareless of his health: which in a less spiritual eye than that of St.\nBernard, might have passed for a great virtue. But it is worth your\nhearing, that which he relates of blessed St. Malachy, who died in his\nvery bosom. This holy Bishop, as he lay asleep, hears a sister of his,\nlately dead, making lamentable moan, that for thirty days together she\nhad not eaten so much as a bit of bread. He starts up out of his sleep;\nand, taking it to be more than a dream, he concludes the meaning of the\nvision was to tell him, that just thirty days were now past since he\nhad said Mass for her; as probably believing she was already where she\nhad no need of his prayers.... Howsoever, this worthy prelate so plied\nhis prayers after this, that he soon sent his sister out of Purgatory;\nand it pleased God to let him see, by the daily change of her habit,\nhow his prayers had purged her by degrees, and made her fit company for\nthe Angels and Saints in heaven. For, the first day, she was covered\nall over with black cypress; the next, she appeared in a mantle\nsomething whitish, but a dusky color; but the third day, she was seen\nall clad in white, which is the proper livery of the Saints....\n\nThis for St. Bernard. But I cannot let pass in silence one very\nremarkable passage, which happened to these two great servants of God.\nSt. Malachy had passionately desired to die at Clarvallis, [1] in the\nhands of the devout St. Bernard; and this, on the day immediately\nbefore All Souls' Day; and it pleased God to grant him his request. It\nfell out, then, that while St. Bernard was saying Mass for him, in the\nmiddle of Mass it was revealed to him that St. Malachy was already\nglorious in heaven; whether he had gone straight out of this world, or\nwhether that part of St. Bernard's Mass had freed him out of Purgatory,\nis uncertain; but St. Bernard, hereupon, changed his note; for, having\nbegun with a Requiem, he went on with the Mass of a bishop and\nconfessor, to the great astonishment of all the standers-by.\n\n[Footnote 1: Clairvaux.]\n\nSt. Thomas of Aquin, that great champion of Purgatory, gave God\nparticular thanks at his death, for not only delivering a soul out of\nPurgatory, at the instance of his prayers, but also permitting the same\nsoul to be the messenger of so good news. (Pp. 169-174.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd now, we are come down to the fifteenth age, where the Fathers of\nthe Council of Florence, both Greeks and. Latins, with one consent,\ndeclare the same faith and constant practice of the Church, thus handed\ndown to them from age to age, since Christ and His Apostles' time, as\nwe have seen; viz., that the souls in Purgatory are not only relieved,\nbut translated into heaven, by the prayers, sacrifices, alms, and other\ncharitable works, which are offered up for them according to the custom\nof the Catholic Church. Nor did their posterity degenerate, or vary the\nleast, from this received doctrine, until Luther's time; when the holy\nCouncil of Trent thought fit again to lay down the sound doctrine of\nthe Church, in opposition to all our late sectaries. And I wish all\nCatholics were but as forward to lend their helping hands to lift souls\nout of Purgatory, as they are to believe they have the power to do it;\nand that we had not often more reason than the Roman Emperor to\npronounce the day lost; since we let so many days pass over our heads,\nand so many fair occasions slip out of our hands, without easing, or\nreleasing, any souls out of Purgatory, when we might do it with so much\nease. (P. 175.)\n\n\nON DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SOULS.\n\nFATHER FABER.\n\nAlthough we are mercifully freed from the necessity of descending into\nhell to seek and promote the interests of Jesus, it is far from being\nso with Purgatory. If heaven and earth are full of the glory of God, so\nalso is that most melancholy, yet most interesting land, where the\nprisoners of hope are detained by their Saviour's loving justice, from\nthe Beatific Vision; and if we can advance the interests of Jesus on\nearth and in heaven, I may almost venture to say that we can do still\nmore in Purgatory. And what I am endeavoring to show you in this\ntreatise is, how you may help God by prayer, and the practices of\ndevotion, whatever your occupation and calling may be: and all these\npractices apply especially to Purgatory. For although some theologians\nsay that in spite of the Holy Souls placing no obstacle in the way,\nstill the effect of prayer for them is not infallible; nevertheless, it\nis much more certain than the effect of prayer for the conversion of\nsinners upon earth, where it is so often frustrated by their perversity\nand evil dispositions. Anyhow, what I have wanted to show has been\nthis: that each of us, without aiming beyond our grace, without\nausterities for which we have not courage, without supernatural gifts\nto which we lay no claim, may, by simple affectionateness and the\npractices of sound Catholic devotion, do great things, things so great\nthat they seem incredible, for the glory of God, the interests of\nJesus, and the good of souls. I should, therefore, be leaving my\nsubject very incomplete if I did not consider at some length devotion\nto the Holy Souls in Purgatory; and I will treat, not so much of\nparticular practices of it, which are to be found in the ordinary\nmanuals, as of the spirit of the devotion itself.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBy the doctrine of the Communion of Saints and of the unity of Christ's\nmystical body, we have most intimate relations both of duty and\naffection with the Church Triumphant and Suffering; and Catholic\ndevotion furnishes us with many appointed and approved ways of\ndischarging these duties toward them.... For the present it is enough\nto say that God has given us such power over the dead that they seem,\nas I have said before, to depend almost more on earth than on heaven;\nand surely that He has given us this power, and supernatural methods of\nexercising it, is not the least touching proof that His Blessed Majesty\nhas contrived all things for love. Can we not conceive the joy of the\nBlessed in Heaven, looking down from the bosom of God and the calmness\nof their eternal repose upon this scene of dimness, disquietude, doubt\nand fear, and rejoicing in the plenitude of their charity, in their\nvast power with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to obtain grace and blessing\nday and night for the poor dwellers upon earth? It does not distract\nthem from God, it does not interfere with the Vision, or make it waver\nand grow misty; it does not trouble their glory or their peace. On the\ncontrary, it is with them as with our Guardian Angels--the affectionate\nministries of their charity increase their own accidental glory. The\nsame joy in its measure may be ours even upon earth. If we are fully\npossessed with this Catholic devotion for the Holy Souls, we shall\nnever be without the grateful consciousness of the immense powers which\nJesus has given us on their behalf. We are never so like Him, or so\nnearly imitate His tender offices, as when we are devoutly exercising\nthese powers.... Oh! what thoughts, what feelings, what love should be\nours, as we, like choirs of terrestrial angels, gaze down on the wide,\nsilent, sinless kingdom of suffering, and then with our own venturous\ntouch wave the sceptred hand of Jesus over its broad regions all richly\ndropping with the balsam of His saving Blood!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOh! how solemn and subduing is the thought of that holy kingdom, that\nrealm of pain! There is no cry, no murmur; all is silent, silent as\nJesus before His enemies. We shall never know how we really love Mary\ntill we look up to her out of those deeps, those vales of dread\nmysterious fire. O beautiful region of the Church of God. O lovely\ntroop of the flock of Mary! What a scene is presented to our eyes when\nwe gaze upon that consecrated empire of sinlessness and yet of keenest\nsuffering! There is the beauty of those immaculate souls, and then the\nloveliness, yea, the worshipfulness of their patience, the majesty of\ntheir gifts, the dignity of their solemn and chaste sufferings, the\neloquence of their silence; the moonlight of Mary's throne lighting up\ntheir land of pain and unspeechful expectation; the silver-winged\nangels voyaging through the deeps of that mysterious realm; and above\nall, that unseen Face of Jesus which is so well remembered that it\nseems to be almost seen! Oh! what a sinless purity of worship is here\nin this liturgy of hallowed pain! O world! O weary, clamorous, sinful\nworld! Who would not break away if he could, like an uncaged dove, from\nthy perilous toils and unsafe pilgrimage, and fly with joy to the\nlowest place in that most pure, most safe, most holy land of suffering\nand of sinless love!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut some persons turn in anger from the thought of Purgatory, as if it\nwere not to be endured, that after trying all our lives long to serve\nGod, we should accomplish the tremendous feat of a good death, only to\npass from the agonies of the death-bed into fire--long, keen,\nsearching, triumphant, incomparable fire. Alas! my dear friends; your\nanger will not help you nor alter facts. But have you thought\nsufficiently about God? Have you tried to realize His holiness and\npurity in assiduous meditation? Is there a real divorce between you and\nthe world, which you know is God's enemy? Do you take God's side? Have\nyou wedded His interests? Do you long for His glory? Have you put sin\nalongside of our dear Saviour's Passion, and measured the one by the\nother? Oh! if you had, Purgatory would but seem to you the last,\nunexpected, and inexpressibly tender invention of an obstinate love\nwhich was mercifully determined to save you in spite of yourself! It\nwould be a perpetual wonder to you, a joyous wonder, fresh every,\nmorning--a wonder that would be meat and drink to your soul; that you,\nbeing what you are, what you know yourself to be, what you may conceive\nGod knows you to be, should be saved eternally! Remember what the\nsuffering soul said so simply, yet with such force, to Sister\nFrancesca: \"Ah! those on that side the grave little reckon how dearly\nthey will pay on this side for the lives they live!\" To be angry\nbecause you are told you will go to Purgatory! Silly, silly people!\nMost likely it is a great false flattery, and that you will never be\ngood enough to go there at all. Why, positively, you do not recognize\nyour own good fortune when you are told of it. And none but the humble\ngo there. I remember Maria Crocifissa was told that although many of\nthe Saints while on earth loved God more than some do even in heaven,\nyet that the greatest saint on earth was not so _humble_ as are\nthe souls in Purgatory. I do not think I ever read anything in the\nlives of the Saints which struck me so much as that....\n\nBut we not only learn lessons for our own good, but for the good of the\nHoly Souls. We see that our charitable attentions toward them must be\nfar more vigorous and persevering than they have been; for that men go\nto Purgatory for very little matters, and remain there an unexpectedly\nlong time. But their most touching appeal to us lies in their\nhelplessness; and our dear Lord, with His usual loving arrangement, has\nmade the extent of our power to help them more than commensurate with\ntheir inability to help themselves.... St. Thomas has taught us that\nprayer for the dead is more readily accepted with God than prayer for\nthe living. We can offer and apply for them all the satisfactions of\nour Blessed Lord. We can do vicarious penance for them. We can give to\nthem all the satisfaction of our ordinary actions, and of our\nsufferings. We can make over to them by way of suffrage, the\nindulgences we gain, provided the Church has made them applicable to\nthe dead. We can limit and direct upon them, or any one of them, the\nintention of the Adorable Sacrifice. The Church, which has no\njurisdiction over them, can yet make indulgences applicable or\ninapplicable to them by way of suffrage; and by means of liturgy,\ncommemoration, incense, holy water, and the like, can reach\nefficaciously to them, and most of all by her device of privileged\naltars. .... All that I have said hitherto has been, indirectly, at\nleast, a plea for this devotion; but I must come now to a more direct\nrecommendation of it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is not saying too much to call devotion to the Holy Souls, a kind of\ncentre in which all Catholic devotions meet, and which satisfies more\nthan any other single devotion our duties in that way; because it is a\ndevotion all of love, and of disinterested love. If we cast an eye over\nthe chief Catholic devotions, we shall see the truth of this. Take the\ndevotion of St. Ignatius to the glory of God. This, if I may dare to\nuse such an expression of Him, was the special and favorite devotion of\nJesus. Now, Purgatory is simply a field white for the harvest of God's\nglory. Not a prayer can be said for the Holy Souls, but God is at once\nglorified, both by the faith and the charity of the mere prayer. Not an\nalleviation, however trifling, can befall any one of the souls, but He\nis forthwith glorified by the honor of His Son's Precious Blood, and\nthe approach of the soul to bliss. Not a soul is delivered from its\ntrial but God is immensely glorified.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAgain, what devotion is more justly dear to Christians than the\ndevotion to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus? It is rather a family of\nvarious and beautiful devotions, than a devotion by itself. Yet see how\nthey are all, as it were, fulfilled, affectionately fulfilled, in\ndevotion to the Holy Souls. The quicker the souls are liberated from\nPurgatory, the more is the beautiful harvest of His Blessed Passion\nmultiplied and accelerated. An early harvest is a blessing, as well as\na plentiful one; for all delay of a soul's ingress into the praise of\nheaven is an eternal and irremediable loss of honor and glory to the\nSacred Humanity of Jesus. How strangely things sound in the language of\nthe Sanctuary! yet so it is. Can the Sacred Humanity be honored more\nthan by the Adorable Sacrifice of the Mass? And here is our chief\naction upon Purgatory....\n\nDevotion to our dearest Mother is equally comprehended in this devotion\nto the Holy Souls, whether we look at her as the Mother of Jesus, and\nso sharing the honors of His Sacred Humanity, or as Mother of mercy,\nand so specially honored by works of mercy, or, lastly, as, in a\nparticular sense, the Queen of Purgatory, and so having all manner of\ndear interests to be promoted in the welfare and deliverance of those\nsuffering souls.\n\nNext to this we may rank devotion to the Holy Angels, and this also is\nsatisfied in devotion to the Holy Souls. For it keeps filling the\nvacant thrones in the angelic choirs, those unsightly gaps which the\nfall of Lucifer and one-third of the heavenly host occasioned. It\nmultiplies the companions of the blessed spirits. They may be supposed\nalso to look with an especial interest on that part of the Church which\nlies in Purgatory, because it is already crowned with their own dear\ngift and ornament of final perseverance, and yet it has not entered at\nonce into its inheritance as they did. Many of them also have a tender\npersonal interest in Purgatory. Thousands, perhaps millions of them,\nare guardians to those souls, and their office is not over yet.\nThousands have clients there who were especially devoted to them in\nlife. Will St. Raphael, who was so faithful to Tobias, be less faithful\nto his clients there? Whole choirs are interested about others, either\nbecause they are finally to be aggregated to that choir, or because in\nlife-time they had a special devotion to it. Marie Denise, of the\nVisitation, used to congratulate her angel every day on the grace he\nhad received to stand when so many around him were falling. It was the\nonly thing she could know for certain of his past life. Could he\nneglect her, if by the will of God she went to Purgatory? Again, St.\nMichael, as prince of Purgatory, and Our Lady's regent, in fulfilment\nof the dear office attributed to him by the Church in the Mass for the\nDead, takes as homage to himself all charity to the Holy Souls; and if\nit be true, that a zealous heart is always a proof of a grateful one,\nthat bold and magnificent spirit will recompense us one day in his own\nprincely style, and perhaps within the limits of that his special\njurisdiction.\n\nNeither is devotion to the Saints without its interests in this\ndevotion for the dead. It fills them with the delights of charity as it\nswells their numbers and beautifies their ranks and orders. Numberless\npatron saints are personally interested in multitudes of souls. The\naffectionate relation between their clients and themselves not only\nsubsists, but a deeper tenderness has entered into it, because of the\nfearful suffering, and a livelier interest, because of the accomplished\nvictory. They see in the Holy Souls their own handiwork, the fruit of\ntheir example, the answer to their prayers, the success of their\npatronage, the beautiful and finished crown of their affectionate\nintercession.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnother point of view from which we may look at this devotion for the\ndead, is as a specially complete and beautiful exercise of the three\ntheological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, which are the\nsupernatural fountains of our whole spiritual life. It exercises faith,\nbecause it leads men not only to dwell in the unseen world, but to work\nfor it with as much energy and conviction as if it was before their\nvery eyes. Unthoughtful or ill-read persons almost start sometimes at\nthe minuteness, familiarity, and assurance with which men talk of the\nunseen world, as if it were the banks of the Rhine, or the olive-yards\nof Provence, the Campagna of Rome, or the crescent shores of Naples,\nsome place which they have seen in their travels, and whose\ngeographical features are ever in their memory, as vividly as if before\ntheir eyes. It all comes of faith, of prayer, of spiritual reading, of\nknowledge of the lives of the Saints, and of the study of theology. It\nwould be strange and sad if it were not so. For, what to us, either in\ninterest or importance, is the world we see, to the world we do not\nsee? This devotion exercises our faith also in the effects of the\nsacrifice and sacraments, which are things we do not see, but which we\ndaily talk of in reference to the dead as undoubted and accomplished\nfacts. It exercises our faith in the communion of Saints to a degree\nwhich would make it seem impossible to a heretic that he ever could\nbelieve so wild and extravagant a creed. It acts with regard to\nindulgences as if they were the most inevitable material transactions\nof this world. It knows of the unseen treasure out of which they come,\nof the unseen keys which open the treasury, of the indefinite\njurisdiction which places them infallibly at its disposal, of God's\nunrevealed acceptance of them, and of the invisible work they do, just\nas it knows of trees and clouds, of streets and churches--that is, just\nas certainly and undoubtingly; though it often can give others no proof\nof these things, nor account for them to itself.... It exhibits the\nsame quiet faith in all those Catholic devotions which I mentioned\nbefore as centering themselves in this devotion for the dead.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNeither is this devotion a less heroic exercise of the theological\nvirtue of hope, the virtue so sadly wanting in the spiritual life of\nthese times. For, look what a mighty edifice this devotion raises;\nlofty, intricate, and of magnificent proportions, into which somehow or\nother all creation is drawn, from the little headache we suffer up to\nthe Sacred Humanity of Jesus, and which has to do even with God\nHimself. And upon what does all this rest, except on a simple, child-\nlike trust in God's fidelity, which is the supernatural motive of hope?\nWe hope for the souls we help, and unbounded are the benedictions which\nwe hope for in their regard. We hope to find mercy ourselves, because\nof our mercy; and this hope quickens our merits without detracting from\nthe merit of our charity.... For the state of the dead is no dream, nor\nour power to help them a dream, any more than the purity of God is a\ndream, or the Precious Blood a dream.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs to the charity of this devotion, it dares to imitate even the\ncharity of God Himself. What is there in heaven or on earth which it\ndoes not embrace, and with so much facility, with so much gracefulness,\nas if there were scarcely an effort in it, or as if self was charmed\naway, and might not mingle to distract it? It is an exercise of the\nlove of God, for it is loving those whom He loves, and loving them\nbecause He loves them, and to augment His glory and multiply His\npraise.... To ourselves also it is an exercise of charity, for it gains\nus friends in heaven; it earns mercy for us when we ourselves shall be\nin Purgatory, tranquil victims, yet, oh! in what distress! and it\naugments our merits in the sight of God, and so, if only we persevere,\nour eternal recompense hereafter. Now if this tenderness for the dead\nis such an exercise of these three theological virtues, and if, again,\neven heroic sanctity consists principally in their exercise, what store\nought we not to set upon this touching and beautiful devotion?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLook at that vast kingdom of Purgatory, with its empress-mother, Mary!\nAll those countless throngs of souls are the dear and faithful spouses\nof Jesus. Yet in what a strange abandonment of supernatural suffering\nhas His love left them! He longs for their deliverance; He yearns for\nthem to be transferred from that land, perpetually overclouded with\npain, to the bright sunshine of their heavenly home. Yet He has tied\nHis own hands, or nearly so. He gives them no more grace; He allows\nthem no more time for penance; He prevents them from meriting; nay,\nsome have thought they could not pray. How, then, stands the case with\nthe souls in the suffering Church? Why, it is a thing to be meditated\non when we have said it--they depend almost more on earth than they do\non heaven, almost more on us than on Him; so He has willed it on whom\nall depend, and without whom there is no dependence. It is clear, then,\nthat Jesus has His interests there. He wants His captives released.\nThose whom He has redeemed He now bids us redeem, us whom, if there be\nlife at all in us, He has already Himself redeemed. Every satisfaction\noffered up to God for these suffering souls, every oblation of the\nPrecious Blood to the Eternal Father, every Mass heard, every communion\nreceived, every voluntary penance undergone; the scourge, the hair-\nshirt, the prickly chain, every indulgence gained, every jubilee whose\nconditions we have fulfilled, every _De Profundis_ whispered,\nevery little alms doled out to the poor who are poorer than ourselves,\nand, if they be offered for the intention of these dear prisoners, the\ninterests of Jesus are hourly forwarded in Mary's Kingdom of\nPurgatory.... There is no fear of overworking the glorious secretary of\nthat wide realm, the blessed Michael, Mary's subject. See how men work\nat the pumps on ship-board when they are fighting for their lives with\nan ugly leak. Oh! that we had the charity so to work, with the sweet\ninstrumentality of indulgence, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory! The\ninfinite satisfactions of Jesus are at our command, and Mary's sorrows,\nand the Martyr's pangs, and the Confessor's weary perseverance in well-\ndoing! Jesus will not help Himself here, because He loves to see us\nhelping Him, and because He thinks our love will rejoice that He still\nleaves us something we can do for Him. There have been Saints who have\ndevoted their whole lives to this one work, mining in Purgatory; and,\nto those who reflect in faith, it does not seem, after all, so strange.\nIt is a foolish comparison, simply because it is so much below the\nmark; but on all principles of reckoning, it is a much less work to\nhave won the battle of Waterloo, or to have invented the steam-engine,\nthan to have freed one soul from Purgatory.\n\n\nWHY THE SOULS IS PURGATORY ARE CALLED \"POOR\" SOULS.\n\nFATHER MULLER, C.S.S.R. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Charity to the Holy Souls in Purgatory]\n\nWe have just seen that the Jews believed in the doctrine of Purgatory;\nwe have seen that their charity for the dead was so great that the Holy\nGhost could not help praising them for it. Yet for all that, we may\nassert in truth that the people of God under the Old Law were not so\nwell instructed in this doctrine as we are, nor had they such powerful\nmeans to relieve the souls--in Purgatory as we have. Our faith,\ntherefore, should be more lively, and our charity for the souls in\nPurgatory more ardent and generous.\n\nA short time ago a fervent young priest of this country had the\nfollowing conversation with a holy Bishop on his way to Rome. The\nBishop said to him: \"You make mementoes now and then, for friends of\nyours that are dead--do you not?\" The young priest answered:\n\"Certainly, I do so very often.\" The Bishop rejoined: \"So did I, when I\nwas a young priest. But one time I was grievously ill. I was given up\nas about to die. I received Extreme Unction and the Viaticum. It was\nthen that my whole past life, with all its failings and all its sins,\ncame before me with startling vividness. I saw how much I had to atone\nfor; and I reflected on how few Masses would be said for me, and how\nfew prayers. Ever since my recovery I have most fervently offered the\nHoly Sacrifice for the repose of the pious and patient souls in\nPurgatory; and I am always glad when I can, as my own offering, make\nthe 'intention' of my Masses for the relief of their pains.\"\n\nIndeed, dear reader, no one is more deserving of Christian charity and\nsympathy than the poor souls in Purgatory. They are _really_ POOR\n_souls_. No one is sooner forgotten than they are.\n\nHow soon their friends persuade themselves that they are in perfect\npeace! How little they do for their relief when their bodies are\nburied! There is a lavish expense for the funeral. A hundred dollars\nare spent where the means of the family hardly justify the half of it.\nWhere there is more wealth, sometimes five hundred or a thousand, and\neven more, dollars are expended on the poor dead body. But let me ask\nyou what is done for the _poor living soul_? Perhaps the poor soul\nis suffering the most frightful tortures in Purgatory, whilst the\nlifeless body is laid out in state, and borne pompously to the\ngraveyard. You must not misunderstand me: it is right and just to show\nall due respect even to the body of your deceased friend, for that body\nwas once the dwelling-place of his soul. But tell me candidly, what joy\nhas the departed, and, perhaps, suffering soul, in the fine music of\nthe choir, even should the choir be composed of the best singers in the\ncountry? What consolation does the poor suffering soul find in the\nsuperb coffin, in the splendid funeral? What pleasure does the soul\nderive from the costly marble monument, from all the honors that are so\nfreely lavished on the body? All this may satisfy, or at least seem to\nsatisfy, the living, but it is of no avail whatever to the dead.\n\nPoor unhappy souls! how the diminution of true Catholic faith is\nvisited upon you while you suffer, and those that loved you in life\nmight help you, and do not, for want of knowledge or of faith!\n\nPoor unhappy souls! your friends go to their business, to their eating\nand drinking, with the foolish assurance that the case cannot be hard\non one they knew to be so good! Oh, how much and how long this _false\ncharity_ of your friends makes you suffer!\n\nThe venerable Sister, Catherine Paluzzi, offered up, for a long time,\nand with the utmost fervor, prayers and pious works for the soul of her\ndeceased father. At last she thought she had good reason to believe\nthat her father was already enjoying the bliss of Paradise. But how\ngreat was her consternation and grief when Our Lord, in company with\nSt. Catherine, her patroness, led her one day, in spirit, to Purgatory.\nThere she beheld her father in an abyss of torments, imploring her\nassistance. At the sight of the pitiful state the soul of her father\nwas in, she melted into tears; she cast herself at the feet of her\nHeavenly Spouse, and begged Him, through His precious Blood, to free\nher father from his excruciating sufferings. She also begged St.\nCatherine to intercede for him, and then turning to Our Lord, she said:\n\"Charge me, O Lord, with my father's indebtedness to Thy justice. In\nexpiation of it, I am ready to take upon myself all the afflictions\nThou art pleased to bestow upon me.\" Our Lord graciously accepted this\nact of heroic charity, and released at once her father's soul from\nPurgatory. But how heavy were the crosses which she, from that time,\nhad to suffer, may be more easily imagined than described. This pious\nsister seemed to have good reason to believe that her father's soul was\nin Paradise. Yet she was mistaken. Alas! how many are there who\nresemble her! How many are there whose hope as to the condition of\ntheir deceased friends is far more vain and false than that of this\nreligious, because they pray much less for the souls of their departed\nfriends than she did for her father.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is related in the life of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, that one day\nshe saw the soul of one of her deceased sisters kneeling in adoration\nbefore the Blessed Sacrament, in the church, wrapped up in a mantle of\nfire, and suffering great pains, in expiation of her neglecting to go\nto Holy Communion on one day, when she had her confessor's permission\nto communicate.\n\nThe Venerable Bede relates that it was revealed to Drithelm, a great\nservant of God, that the souls of those who spend their whole lives in\nthe state of mortal sin, and are converted only on their death-bed, are\ndoomed to suffer the pains of Purgatory to the day of the last\njudgment.\n\nIn the life and revelations of St. Gertrude we read that those who have\ncommitted many grievous sins, and who die without having done due\npenance, are not assisted by the ordinary suffrages of the Church until\nthey are partly purified by Divine Justice in Purgatory.\n\nAfter St. Vincent Ferrer had learned the death of his sister Frances,\nhe at once began to offer up many fervent prayers and works of penance\nfor the repose of her soul. He also said thirty Masses for her, at the\nlast of which it was revealed to him that, had it not been for his\nprayers and good works, the soul of his sister would have suffered in\nPurgatory to the end of the world.\n\nFrom these examples you may draw your own conclusion as to the state of\nyour deceased friends and relatives. Rest assured that the judgments of\nGod are very different from the judgments of men.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn heaven, love for God is the happiness of the elect; but in Purgatory\nit is the source of the most excruciating pains. It is principally for\nthis reason that the souls in Purgatory are called \"poor souls,\" they\nbeing, as they are, in the most dreadful state of poverty--that of the\nprivation of the beatific vision of God.\n\nAfter Anthony Corso, a Capuchin Brother, a man of great piety and\nperfection, had departed this life, he appeared to one of his brethren\nin religion, asking him to recommend him to the charitable prayers of\nthe community, in order that he might receive relief in his pains. \"For\nI do not know,\" said he, \"how I can bear any longer the pain of being\ndeprived of the sight of my God. I shall be the most unhappy of\ncreatures as long as I must live in this state. Would to God that all\nmen might understand what it is to be without God, in order that they\nmight firmly resolve to suffer anything during their life on earth\nrather than expose themselves to the danger of being damned, and\ndeprived forever of the sight of God.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: 1 Aunal. Pp. Capuc., A.D. 1548.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe souls in Purgatory are _poor_ souls, because they suffer the\ngreatest pain of the senses, which is that of _fire_. Who can be\nin a poorer or more pitiful condition than those who are buried in\nfire? Now, this is the condition of these poor souls. They are buried\nunder waves of fire. It is from the smallest spark of this purgatorial\nfire that they suffer more intense pains than all the fires of this\nworld put together could produce....\n\nCould these poor souls leave the fire of Purgatory for the most\nfrightful earthly fire they would, as it were, take it for a pleasure-\ngarden; they would find a fifty years' stay in the hottest earthly fire\nmore endurable than an hour's stay in the fire of Purgatory. Our\nterrestrial fire was not created by God to torment men, but rather to\nbenefit them; but the fire of Purgatory was created by God for no other\npurpose than to be an instrument of His justice; and for this reason it\nis possessed of a burning quality so intense and penetrating that it is\nimpossible for us to conceive even the faintest idea of it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the year 1150 it happened that, on the Vigil of St. Cecilia, a very\nold monk, one hundred years of age, at Marchiennes, in Flanders, fell\nasleep while sacred lessons were being read, and saw, in a dream, a\nmonk all clad in armor, shining like red-hot iron in a furnace. The old\nman asked him who he was. He was told that he was one of the monks of\nthe convent; that he was in Purgatory, and had yet to endure this fiery\narmor for ten years more, for having injured the reputation of another.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnother reason why these holy prisoners and debtors to the divine\njustice are really _poor_ is because they are not able, in the\nleast, to assist themselves. A sick man afflicted in all his limbs, and\na beggar in the most painful and most destitute of conditions, has a\ntongue left to ask for relief. At least they can implore Heaven; it is\nnever deaf to their prayer. But the souls in Purgatory are so poor that\nthey cannot even do this. Those cases in which some of them were\npermitted to appear to their friends and ask assistance are but\nexceptions. To whom is it they should have recourse? Is it, perhaps, to\nthe mercy of God? Alas! they send forth their sighs in plaintive\nvoices.... But the Lord does not regard their tears, nor heed their\nmoans and cries, but answers them that His justice must be satisfied to\nthe last farthing.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOh, what cruelty! A sick man weeps on his bed and his friend consoles\nhim; a baby cries in his cradle and his mother at once caresses him; a\nbeggar knocks at the door for an alms and receives it; a malefactor\nlaments in his prison, and comfort is given him; even a dog that whines\nat the door is taken in; but these poor, helpless souls cry day and\nnight from the depths of the fire in Purgatory: \"Have pity on me, have\npity on me, at least you, my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath\nsmitten me;\" and there is none to listen! Oh, what great cruelty, my\nbrethren!\n\nBut it seems to me that I hear these poor souls exclaim: \"Priest of the\nLord, speak no longer of our sufferings and pitiable condition. Let\nyour description of it be ever so touching, it will not afford us the\nleast relief. When a man has fallen into the fire, instead of\nconsidering his pains, you try at once to draw him out or quench the\nfire with water. This is true charity. Now, tell Christians to do the\nsame for us. Tell them to give us their feet, by going to hear Mass for\nus; to give us their eyes, by seeking an occasion to perform a good\nwork for us; to give us their hands, by giving an alms for us, or by\noften making an offering for the 'intention' of Masses in our behalf;\nto give us their lips, by praying for us; to give us their tongue, by\nrequesting others to be charitable to us; to give us their memory, by\nremembering us constantly in their devotions; to give us their body, by\noffering up for us to the Almighty all its labors, fatigues, and\npenance.\"...\n\nWe read in the Acts of the Apostles, that the faithful prayed\nunceasingly for St. Peter when he was imprisoned, and that an Angel\ncame and broke his chains and released him. \"We, too, should be good\nangels to the poor souls in Purgatory, and free them from their painful\ncaptivity by every means in our power.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the time of St. Bernard, a monk of Clairvaux appeared after his\ndeath to his brethren in religion, to thank them for having delivered\nhim from Purgatory. On being asked what had most contributed to free\nhim from his torments, he led the inquirer to the church, where a\npriest was saying Mass. \"Look!\" said he; \"this is the means by which my\ndeliverance has been effected; this is the power of God's mercy; this\nis the saving Sacrifice which taketh away the sins of the world.\"\nIndeed, so great is the efficacy of this Sacrifice in obtaining relief\nfor the souls in Purgatory, that the application of all the good works\nwhich have been performed from the beginning of the world, would not\nafford so much assistance to one of these souls as is imparted by a\nsingle Mass. To illustrate: The blessed Henry Suso made an agreement\nwith one of his brethren in religion that, as soon as either of them\ndied, the survivor should say two Masses every week for one year, for\nthe repose of his soul. It came to pass that the religious with whom\nHenry had made this contract, died first. Henry prayed every day for\nhis deliverance from Purgatory, but forgot to say the Masses which he\nhad promised; whereupon the deceased religious appeared to him with a\nsad countenance, and sharply rebuked him for his unfaithfulness to his\nengagement. Henry excused himself by saying that he had often prayed\nfor him with great fervor, and had even offered up for him many\npenitential works. \"Oh, brother!\" exclaimed the soul, \"blood, blood is\nnecessary to give me some relief and refreshment in my excruciating\ntorments. Your penitential works, severe as they are, cannot deliver\nme. Nothing can do this but the blood of Jesus Christ, which is offered\nup in the Sacrifice of the Mass. Masses, Masses--these are what I\nneed!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnother means to relieve the souls in Purgatory is to gain indulgences\nfor them. A very pious nun had just died in the convent in which St.\nMary Magdalen of Pazzi lived. Whilst her corpse was exposed in the\nchurch, the Saint looked lovingly upon it, and prayed fervently that\nthe soul of her sister might soon enter into eternal rest. Whilst she\nwas thus wrapt in prayer her sister appeared to her, surrounded by\ngreat splendor and radiance, in the act of ascending into heaven. The\nSaint, on seeing this, could not refrain from calling out to her:\n\"Farewell, dear sister! When you meet your Heavenly Spouse, remember us\nwho are still sighing for Him in this vale of tears!\" At these words\nour Lord Himself appeared, and revealed to her that this sister had\nentered heaven so soon on account of the indulgences gained for her.\n[1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Vita S. Magd. de Pazzi, L. I., chap, xxxix.]\n\nVery many plenary indulgences can be gained for the souls in Purgatory,\nif you make the Stations of the Cross. The merit of this exercise, if\napplied to these souls, obtains great relief for them. We read in the\nlife of Catherine Emmerich, a very pious Augustinian nun, that the\nsouls in Purgatory often came to her during the night, and requested\nher to rise and make the Stations for their relief. It is also related\nin the life of the venerable Mary of Antigua, that a deceased sister of\nher convent appeared to her and said: \"Why do you not make the Stations\nof the Way of the Cross for me?\" Whilst the servant of the Lord felt\nsurprised and astonished at these words, Jesus Christ Himself spoke to\nher, thus: \"The exercise of the Stations is of the greatest advantage\nto the souls in Purgatory; so much so that this soul has been permitted\nby Me, to ask of you its performance in behalf of them all. Your\nfrequent performance of this exercise to procure relief for these souls\nhas induced them to hold intercourse with you, and you shall have them\nfor so many intercessors and protectors before My justice. Tell your\nsisters to rejoice at these treasures, and the splendid capital which\nthey have in them, that they may grow rich upon it.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfter St. Ludgarde had offered up many fervent prayers for the repose\nof the soul of her deceased friend Simeon, Abbot of the monastery of\nToniac, Our Lord appeared to her, saying: \"Be consoled, My daughter; on\naccount of thy prayers, I will soon release this soul from Purgatory.\"\n\"O Jesus, Lord and Master of my heart!\" she rejoined, \"I cannot feel\nconsoled so long as I know that the soul of my friend is suffering so\nmuch in the Purgatorial fire. Oh! I cannot help shedding most bitter\ntears until Thou hast released this soul from its sufferings.\" Touched\nand overcome by this fervent prayer, Our Lord released the soul of\nSimeon, who appeared to Ludgarde all radiant with heavenly glory, and\nthanked her for the many fervent prayers which she had offered up for\nhis delivery. He also told the Saint that, had it not been for her\nfervent prayers, he should have been obliged to stay in Purgatory for\neleven years....\n\nPeter, the venerable Abbot of Cluny, relates an event somewhat similar.\nThere was a monk at Cluny, named Bernard Savinellus. One night as he\nwas returning to the dormitory, he met Stephen, commonly called\nBlancus, Abbot of St. Giles, who had departed this life a few days\nbefore. At first, not knowing him, he was passing on, till he spoke,\nand asked him whither he was hastening. Bernard, astonished and angry\nthat a monk should speak, contrary to the rules, in the nocturnal\nhours, and in a place where it was not permitted, made signs to him to\nhold his peace; but as the dead abbot replied, and urged him to speak,\nthe other, raising his head, asked in amazement who he might be. He was\nanswered, \"I am Stephen, the Abbot of St. Giles, who have formerly\ncommitted many faults in the Abbey, for which I now suffer pains; and I\nbeseech you to implore the lord Abbot, and other brethren, to pray for\nme, that by the ineffable mercy of God, I may be delivered.\" Bernard\nreplied that he would do so, but added that he thought no one would\nbelieve his report; to which the dead man answered, \"In order, then,\nthat no one may doubt, you may assure them that within eight days you\nwill die;\" he then disappeared. The monk, returning to the church,\nspent the remainder of the night in prayer and meditation. When it was\nday, he related his vision to St. Hugo, who was then abbot. As is\nnatural, some believed his account, and others thought it was some\ndelusion. The next day the monk fell sick, and continued growing worse,\nconstantly affirming the truth of what he had related, till his death,\nwhich occurred within the time specified.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBesides prayer and other acts of devotion we can offer up for the poor\nsouls, we may especially reckon _alms-deeds_; for since this is a\nwork of mercy, it is more especially apt to obtain mercy for the poor\nsouls. But not the rich alone can give alms, but the poor also, since\nit does not so much depend on the greatness of the gift. Of the poor\nwidow who gave but one penny, Our Lord said; that she had given more\nthan all the rich who had offered gold and silver, because these\noffered only of their abundance, whilst the poor widow gave what she\nsaved from her daily sustenance....\n\nThe venerable servant of God, Father Clement Hoffbauer, of the\nCongregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, who died in Vienna in the year\n1820, and whose cause of beatification has already been introduced,\nonce assisted a man of distinction in death. A short time afterwards\nthe same man appeared to his wife in a dream, in a very pitiable\ncondition, his clothes in rags and quite haggard, and shivering with\ncold. He begged her to have pity on him, because he could scarcely\nendure the extreme hunger and cold which he suffered. His wife went\nwithout delay to Father Hoffbauer, related her dream, and asked his\nadvice on this point. The confessor, enlightened by God, immediately\nunderstood what this dream meant, and what kind of assistance was\nespecially needed and asked for by this poor soul. He accordingly\nadvised her to clothe a poor beggar. The woman followed the advice, and\nsoon after her husband again appeared to her, dressed in a white\ngarment, and his countenance beaming with joy, thanking her for the\nhelp which she had given to him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe can assist the poor souls not only by prayers, devotions, exterior\nworks of penance, alms-deeds, and other works of charity, but we can\nalso aid them by _interior mortifications_. Everything which\nappears to us difficult, and which costs us a sacrifice, the pains of\nsickness, and all the sufferings and troubles of this life, may be\noffered up for these poor souls...\n\nThe only son of a rich widow of Bologna had been murdered by a\nstranger. The culprit fell into her hands, but the pious widow was far\nfrom taking revenge by delivering him up to the hands of justice. She\nthought of the infinite love of our Saviour when He died for us upon\nthe cross, and how He prayed for His executioners when dying. She,\ntherefore, thought that she could in no way honor the memory of her\ndear son better, and that she could do nothing more efficient for the\nrepose of his soul, than by granting pardon to the culprit, by\nprotecting him, and by even adopting him as her son and heir to all her\nriches. This heroic self-denial, and the sacrifice which she thereby\noffered to Our Lord in memory of His bitter Passion, was so pleasing to\nGod, that, in reward thereof, He remitted to her son all the pains of\nPurgatory. The happy son then appeared to his mother in a glorified\nstate, at the very moment when he was entering heaven. He thanked her\nfor having thus delivered him from the sufferings of Purgatory much\nsooner than any other good work could have effected it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThose who give themselves up to immoderate grief at the loss of beloved\nfriends, should bear this in mind also: instead of injuring their\nhealth by a grief which is of no avail to the dead, they should\nendeavor to deliver their souls from Purgatory by Masses, prayers, and\ngood works; nay, the very thought that they thus render to the souls of\ntheir beloved friends the greatest possible act of charity, will\nconsole them and mitigate their sorrow. For this reason St. Paul\nexhorts the Thessalonians not to be afflicted on account of the\ndeparted, after the manner of heathens who have no hope.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThomas Cantipratensis relates of a certain mother, that she wept day\nand night over the death of her darling son, so much so that she forgot\nto assist his soul in Purgatory. To convince her of her folly, God one\nday permitted her to be rapt in spirit, and see a long procession of\nyouths hastening towards a city of indescribable beauty. Having looked\nfor her son in vain for some time, she at last discovered him walking\nslowly along at the end of the procession. At once her son turned\ntowards her, and said: \"Ah, mother, cease your useless tears! and if\nyou truly love me, offer up for my soul Masses, prayers, alms-deeds,\nand such like good works.\" Then he disappeared, and his mother, instead\nof any longer wasting her strength by foolish grief, began henceforth\nto give her son proofs of a true Christian and motherly love, by\ncomplying with his request. (L. II. Appar., 5, 17.)\n\nAmong the appointments to the Italian Episcopate made by our Holy\nFather Pope Pius IX. was that of an humble and holy monk, hidden away\nin a poor monastery of Tuscany. When he received his Bulls he was\nthrown into the greatest affliction. He had gone into religion to be\ndone with the world outside; and here he was to be thrown again into\nits whirlpool. He made a novena to Our Blessed Lady, invoking her help\nto rid him of the burden and the danger. Meantime, he wrote a letter to\nthe See of Rome setting forth reasons why he ought not to be asked to\naccept, and also sending back the Bulls, with a positive _noluit_,\nbut Rome would not excuse him. Then he went in person to see the Pope,\nand to implore leave to decline, which he did, even with tears. Among\nother reasons, the good monk said that of late he had a most miserable\nmemory. \"That is unfortunate,\" said the Holy Father, \"for after your\ndeath, if you continue so, no one will ever refer to you as Monsignor\n-----, _of happy memory_! but that will be no great loss to you.\"\nThen, seeing the intense grief of the nominated Bishop, the Holy Father\nchanged his tone and said: \"At one time of my life I, also, was\nthreatened with the loss of my memory. But I found a remedy, used it,\nand it has not failed me. _For the special intention of preserving\nthis faculty of memory I have said every day a 'De Profundis' for the\nsouls in Purgatory_. I give you this receipt for your use; and now,\ndo not resist the will of him who gives you and the people of your\ndiocese his blessing.\"\n\nIt is a new revelation that our Holy Father Pius IX. was ever\nthreatened with loss of memory. Of all his faculties of mind there was\nnot one that excited such general astonishment as his wonderful memory.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe following incident took place at Dole, in France: One day, in the\nyear 1629, long after her death, Leonarda Colin, niece to Hugueta Roy,\nappeared to her, and spoke as follows: \"I am saved by the mercy of God.\nIt is now seventeen years since I was struck down by a sudden death. My\npoor soul was in mortal sin, but, thanks to Mary, whose devoted servant\nI had ever striven to be, I obtained grace, in the last extremity, to\nmake an act of perfect contrition, and thus I was rescued from hell-\nfire, but by no means from Purgatory. My sufferings in those purifying\nflames are beyond description. At last Almighty God has permitted my\nguardian angel to conduct me to you in order that you may make three\npilgrimages to three Churches of our Blessed Lady in Burgundy. Upon the\nfulfillment of said condition, my deliverance from Purgatory is\npromised.\" Hugueta did as she was requested; whereupon the same soul\nappeared in a glorified state, thanking her benefactress, and promising\nto pray for her, and admonishing her always to remember the four last\nthings.\n\nThe Greek Emperor Theophilus was, after his death, condemned to the\npains of Purgatory, because he had been unable to perform the penances\nwhich, towards the end of his life, he had wished to perform. His wife,\nthe pious Empress Theodora, was not satisfied with pouring forth\nfervent prayers and sighs for the repose of his soul, but she also had\nprayers and Masses said in all the convents of the city of\nConstantinople. Besides this, she besought the Patriarch St. Methodius,\nthat for this end he would order prayers to be said by both the clergy\nand the people of the city. Divine mercy could not resist so many\nfervent prayers. On a certain day, when public prayers were again\noffered up in the church of St. Sophia, an Angel appeared to St.\nMethodius, and said to him: \"Thy prayers, O Bishop, have been heard,\nand Theophilus has obtained pardon.\" Theodora, the Empress, had, at the\nsame time, a vision, in which our Lord Himself announced to her that her\nhusband had been delivered from Purgatory. \"For your sake,\" He said,\n\"and on account of the prayers of the priests, I pardon your husband.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the life of Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque it is related that the\nsoul of one of her departed sisters appeared to her, and said: \"There\nyou are, lying comfortably in your bed; but think of the bed on which I\nam lying, and suffering the most excruciating pains.\" \"I saw this bed,\"\nsays the Saint, \"and I still tremble in all my limbs at the mere\nthought of it. The upper and lower part of it was full of red-hot sharp\niron points, penetrating into the flesh. She told me that she had to\nendure this pain for her carelessness in the observance of her rules.\n'My heart is lacerated,' she added, 'and this is the hardest of my\npains. I suffer it for those fault-finding and murmuring thoughts which\nI entertained in my heart against my superiors. My tongue is eaten up\nby moths, and tormented, on account of uncharitable words, and for\nhaving unnecessarily spoken in the time of silence. Would to God that\nall souls consecrated to the service of the Lord could see me in these\nfrightful pains! Would to God I could show them what punishments are\ninflicted upon those who live negligently in their vocation! They would\nindeed change their manner of living, observing most punctually the\nsmallest point of their rules, and guarding against those faults for\nwhich I am now so much tormented.'\"\n\n\nAPPEAL TO ALL CLASSES FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.\n\nBY A PAULIST FATHER.\n\n\"My daughter is just now dead; but come, lay thy hand upon her, and she\nshall live.\"--St. Matt. ix. 18.\n\nSuch was the entreaty made by the ruler to our Lord in the Gospel, and\nsuch are the words that the Lord says to us during the month of\nNovember, in behalf of the poor souls in Purgatory. These souls have\nbeen saved by the Precious Blood, they have been judged by Jesus Christ\nwith a favorable judgment, they are His spouses, His sons and\ndaughters--His children. He cries to us: \"My children are even now\ndead; but come, lay your hands upon them, and they shall live.\" What\nhand is that which our Lord wants us to lay upon His dead children?\nBrethren, it is the hand of prayer. Now, it seems to me that there are\nthree classes of persons who ought to be in an especial manner the\nfriends of God's dead children; three classes who ought always to be\nextending a helping hand to the souls in Purgatory. First, the poor,\nbecause the holy souls are poor like yourselves. They have no work--\nthat is to say, the day for them is past in which they could work and\ngain indulgences and merit, the money with which the debt of temporal\npunishment is paid; for them the \"night has come when no man can work.\"\nThey are willing to work, they are willing to pay for themselves, but\nthey cannot; they are out of work, they are poor, they cannot help\nthemselves. They are suffering, as the poor suffer in this world from\nthe heats of summer and the frosts of winter. They have no food; they\nare hungry and thirsty; they are longing for the sweets of heaven. They\nare in exile; they have no home; they know there is abundance of food\nand raiment around them which they cannot themselves buy. It seems to\nthem that the winter will never pass, that the spring will never come;\nin a word they _are poor_. They are poor as many of you are poor.\nThey are in worse need than the most destitute among you. Oh! then, ye\nthat are poor, help the holy souls by your prayers. Secondly, the rich\nought to be the special friends of those who are in Purgatory, and\namong the rich we wish to include those who are what people call\n\"comfortably off.\" God has given you charge of the poor; you can help\nthem by your alms in this world, so you can in the next. You can have\nMasses said for them; you can say lots of prayers for them, because you\nhave plenty of time on your hands. Again remember, many of those who\nwere your equals in this world, who, like yourselves, had a good supply\nof this world's goods, have gone to Purgatory because those riches were\na snare to them. Riches, my dear friends, have sent many a soul to the\nplace of purification. Oh! then, those of you who are well off, have\npity upon the poor souls in Purgatory. Offer up a good share of your\nwealth to have Masses said for them. Do some act of charity, and offer\nthe merit of it for some soul who was ensnared by riches, and who is\nnow paying the penalty in suffering; and spend some considerable\nportion of your spare time in praying for the souls of the faithful\ndeparted.\n\nAnd lastly, sinners and those who have been converted from a very\nsinful life ought to be the friends of God's dead children. Why?\nBecause, although the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves,\nthey can pray for others, and these prayers are most acceptable to God.\nBecause, too, they are full of gratitude, and they will not forget\nthose who helped them when they shall come before the throne of God.\nBecause sinners, having saddened the Sacred Heart of Jesus by their\nsins, cannot make a better reparation to it than to hasten the time\nwhen He shall embrace these souls whom He loves so dearly, and has\nwished for so long. Because sinners have almost always been the means\nof the sins of others. They have, by their bad example, sent others to\nPurgatory. Ah! then, if they have helped them in, they should help them\nout.\n\nYou, then, that are poor, you that are rich, you that have been great\nsinners, listen to the voice of Jesus; listen to the plaint of Mary\nduring this month of November; \"My children are now dead; come lay thy\nprayers up for them, and they shall live.\" Hear Mass for the poor\nsouls; say your beads for them; supplicate Jesus and Mary and Joseph in\ntheir behalf. Fly to St. Catherine of Genoa and beg her to help them,\nand many and many a time during the month say with great fervor: \"May\nthe souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in\npeace.\"--_Five-Minute Sermons for Low Masses_.\n\n\nTHE SOULS IN PURGATORY. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: From the \"Original, Short and Practical Sermons for every\nFeast of the Ecclesiastical Year.\"]\n\nREV. F. H. WENINGER, S.J., D.D.\n\nOn the Feast of All Souls, and whenever we are reminded of Purgatory,\nwe cannot help thinking of the dreadful pains which the souls in\nPurgatory have to suffer, in order to be purified from every stain of\nsin; of the excruciating torments they have to undergo for their faults\nand imperfections, and how thoroughly they have to atone for the least\noffences committed against the infinite holiness and justice of God. It\nis but just, therefore, that we should condole with them, and do all\nthat we can to deliver them from the flames of Purgatory, or, at least,\nto soothe their pains.... The fire of Purgatory, as the doctors of the\nChurch declare, is as intense as that of the abode of hell; with this\ndifference, that it has an end. Yea! it may be that to-day a soul in\nPurgatory is undergoing more agony, more excruciating suffering than a\ndamned soul, which is tormented in hell for a few mortal sins; while\nthe poor soul in Purgatory must satisfy for millions of venial sins.\n\nAll the pains which afflict the sick upon earth, added to all that the\nmartyrs have ever suffered, cannot be compared with those in Purgatory,\nso great is the punishment of those poor souls.\n\nWe read, how once a sick person who was very impatient in his\nsufferings, exclaimed; \"O God, take me from this world!\" Thereupon the\nAngel Guardian appeared to him, and told him to remember that, by\npatiently bearing his afflictions upon his sick-bed, he could satisfy\nfor his sins, and shorten his Purgatory. But the sick man replied that\nhe chose rather to satisfy for his sins in Purgatory. The poor sufferer\ndied; and behold, his Guardian Angel appeared to him again, and asked\nhim if he did not repent of the choice he had made of satisfying for\nhis sins in Purgatory, by tortures, rather than upon earth by\nafflictions. Thereupon the poor soul asked the angel: \"How many years\nam I now here in these terrible flames?\" The Angel replied: \"How many\nyears? Thy body upon earth is not yet buried; nay, it is not yet cold\nand still thou believest already thou art here for many years!\" Oh, how\nthat soul lamented upon hearing this. Great indeed was its grief for\nnot having chosen patiently to undergo upon earth the sufferings of\nsickness, and thereby shorten its Purgatory.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nUpon earth, persons who anxiously seek another abode or another state\nof life, often know not whether, perhaps, they may not fall into a more\nwretched condition. How many have forsaken the shores of Europe, with\nthe bright hope of a better future awaiting them in America? All has\nbeen disappointment! They have repented a thousand times of having\ndeserted their native country. Now does this disappointment await the\nsouls in Purgatory upon their deliverance? Ah! by no means. They\n_know_ too well that when they are released heaven will be their\nhome. Once there, no more pains, no more fire for them; but the\nenjoyment of an _everlasting bliss_, which no eye hath seen nor\near heard; nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Such\nwill be their future happy state. Oh! how great is their desire to be\nthere already. Another circumstance which especially intensifies hope\nin the breast of man, is _intercourse_--union with those who are\nnear and dear to him.\n\nHow many, indeed, have bid a last farewell to Europe, where they would\nhave prospered; but oh, there are awaiting them in another land their\nbeloved ones--those who are so dear, and in whose midst they long to\nbe! Oh, what a great source of desire is not this, for the poor souls\nin Purgatory to go to heaven! In heaven they shall find again those\nwhom they have loved and cherished upon earth, but who have already\npreceded them on their way to the heavenly mansion.... There is still\nanother feature, another circumstance which presents itself in the\ncondition of the poor souls in Purgatory: I mean the irresistible force\nor tendency with which they are drawn towards _God_; their intense\nlonging after Him, their last aim and end.... Oh, with what intense\nanxiety and longing is not a poor soul in Purgatory consumed, to behold\nthe splendor of its Lord and Creator! But, also! with what marks of\n_gratitude_ does not every soul whom we have assisted to enter\nheaven pray for us upon its entrance!\n\nTherefore, let us hasten to the relief of the poor suffering souls in\nPurgatory. Let us help them to the best of our power, so that they may\nsupplicate for us before the throne of the Most High; that they may\nremember us when we, too, shall one day be afflicted in that prison\nhouse of suffering, and may procure for us a speedy release and an\nearly enjoyment of a blissful eternity.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen it will be your turn one day to dwell in those flames, and be\nseparated from God, how happy will you not be, if others alleviate and\nshorten your pains! Do you desire this assistance for your own soul?\nThen begin in this life, while you have time, to render aid to the poor\nsouls in Purgatory.... He who does not assist others, unto him\nshall no mercy be shown; for this is what even-handed justice requires.\nHence, let us not be deaf to the pitiful cries of the departed ones....\nWhat afflicts those poor, helpless souls still more, is the\ncircumstance that, despite their patience in _suffering_, they can\nearn nothing for heaven. With us, however, such is not the case. We, by\nour patience under affliction, may merit much, very much indeed, for\nParadise.... I well remember a certain sick person who was sorely\npressed with great sufferings. Wishing to console him in his distress,\nI said: \"Friend, such severe pains will not last long. You will either\nrecover from your illness and become well and strong again, or God will\nsoon call you to himself.\" Thereupon the sick man, turning his eyes\nupon a crucifix which had been placed for him at the foot of his bed,\nreplied: \"Father, I desire no alleviation in my suffering, no relief in\nmy pains. I cheerfully endure all as long as it is God's good pleasure,\nbut I hope that I now undergo my Purgatory.\" Then, stretching forth his\nhands towards his crucifix he thus addressed it, filled with the most\nlively hope in God's mercy: \"Is it not so, dear Jesus? Thou wilt only\ntake me from my bed of pain to receive me straightway into heaven!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe find in the lives of all the saints a most ardent zeal in the cause\nof these poor afflicted ones. For their relief they offered to God not\nonly prayers, but also Masses, penances, the most severe sicknesses,\nand the most painful trials, and all this as a recognition and a\npractical display of the belief which they cherished--that they who\nhave slept in Christ are finally to repose with him in glory....\nBecause all that we perform for the help and delivery of the poor souls\nin Purgatory, are works of Christian faith and piety. Such are prayer,\nthe august sacrifice of the Mass, the reception of the holy sacraments,\nalms-deeds, and acts of penance and self-denial....\n\nRemember, dear Christians, that we, too, shall be poor, helpless, and\nsuffering souls in Purgatory, and what shall we carry with us of all\nour earthly goods and treasures? Not a single farthing.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe read, in the life of St. Gertrude, that God once allowed her to\nbehold Purgatory. And, lo! she saw a soul that was about issuing from\nPurgatory, and Christ, who, followed by a band of holy virgins, was\napproaching, and stretching forth his hands towards it. Thereupon the\nsoul, which was almost out of Purgatory, drew back, and of its own\naccord sank again into the fire. \"What dost thou?\" said St. Gertrude to\nthe soul. \"Dost thou not see that Christ wishes to release thee from\nthy terrible abode?\" To this the soul replied: \"O Gertrude, thou\nbeholdest me not as I am. I am not yet immaculate. There is yet another\nstain upon me. I will not hasten thus to the arms of Jesus.\"\n\n\nA POPULAR VIEW OF PURGATORY.\n\nREV. J. J. MORIARTY, LL.D.\n\nPurgatory is a state of suffering for such souls as have left this life\nin the friendship of God, but who are not sufficiently purified to\nenter the kingdom of heaven--having to undergo some temporal punishment\nfor their lighter sins and imperfections, or for their grievous sins,\nthe eternal guilt of which has been remitted. In other words, we\nbelieve that the souls of all who departed this life--not wicked enough\nto be condemned to hell, nor yet pure enough to enjoy the Beatific\nVision of God--are sent to a place of purgation, where, in the crucible\nof suffering, the lighter stains of their souls are thoroughly removed,\nand they themselves are gradually prepared to enter the Holy of Holies\n--where nothing defiled is permitted to approach.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n----There are many venial faults which the majority of persons commit,\nand for which they have little or no sorrow--sins which do not deprive\nthe soul of God's friendship, and yet are displeasing to His infinite\nholiness. For all these we must suffer either in this life or the next.\nDivine justice weighs everything in a strict balance, and there is no\nsin that we commit but for which we shall have to make due reparation.\nFaults which we deem of little or no account the Almighty will not pass\nunnoticed or unpunished. Our Blessed Saviour warns us that even for\n\"every idle word that man shall say he shall render an account in the\nday of judgment.\"\n\nWe know full well that no man will be sent to hell merely for an \"idle\nword,\" or for any venial fault he may commit; consequently there must\nbe a place where such sins are punished. If they be not satisfied for\nhere upon earth by suffering, affliction, or voluntary penance, there\nmust be a place in the other life where proper satisfaction is to be\nmade. That place cannot be either heaven or hell. It cannot be heaven,\nfor no sufferings, no pain, no torment is to be found there, where \"God\nshall wipe away all tears from their eyes, where death shall be no\nmore, nor mourning nor weeping.\" It cannot be hell, where only the\nsouls of those who have died enemies of God are condemned to eternal\nmisery, for \"out of hell there is no redemption.\"\n\n\nThere must be, then, a Middle Place where lighter faults are cleansed\nfrom the soul, and proper satisfaction is rendered for the temporal\npunishment that still remains due. The punishment of every one will\nvary according to his desert.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOur Divine Lord warns us to make necessary reparation whilst we have\nthe time and opportunity.\n\n\"Make an agreement with thy adversary quickly whilst thou art in the\nway with him; lest, perhaps, the adversary deliver thee to the judge,\nand the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into\nprison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou\npay the last farthing.\" (St. Matthew, v., 25, 26.)\n\nThis expresses the doctrine of Purgatory most admirably. The Scriptures\nalways describe our life as a pilgrimage. We are only on our way. We\nhave to meet the claims of Divine justice here before being called to\nthe tribunal of the everlasting Judge; otherwise, even should we die in\nHis friendship and yet have left these claims not entirely satisfied,\nwe shall be cast into the prison of Purgatory; and \"Amen, I say unto\nthee that thou shalt not go out from thence until thou pay the last\nfarthing.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOur Saviour declares (St. Matthew, xii. 32,) that \"whoever shall speak\na word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that\nshall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,\neither in this life or in the world to come;\" which shows, as St.\nAugustine says in the twenty-first book of his work, \"The City of God,\"\nthat there are some sins (venial of course) which shall be forgiven in\nthe next world, and that, consequently, there is a middle state, or\nplace of purgation in the other life, since no one can enter heaven\nhaving any stain of sin, and surely no one can obtain forgiveness in\nhell.\n\nThe testimony of St. Paul is very clear on this point of doctrine: \"For\nno man can lay another foundation but that which is laid; which is\nJesus Christ. Now if any man build on that foundation, gold, silver,\nprecious stones, wood, hay, stubble: every man's work shall be made\nmanifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be\nrevealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort\nit is. If any man's work abide, which he had built thereupon, he shall\nreceive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; _but\nhe himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire_.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the First Epistle of St. Peter (Chap. iii. 18, 19), we learn that\nChrist \"being put to death, indeed, in the flesh, but brought to life\nby the spirit, in which also He came and preached to those spirits who\nwere in prison.\"\n\nOur Blessed Saviour, immediately after death, descended into that part\nof hell called Limbo, and, as St. Peter informs us, \"preached to the\nspirits who were in prison.\" This most certainly shows the existence of\na middle state. The spirits to whom our Lord preached were certainly\nnot in the hell of the damned, where His preaching could not possibly\nbear any fruit; they were not already in heaven, where no preaching is\nnecessary, since there they see God face to face. Therefore they must\nhave been in some middle state--call it by whatever name you please--\nwhere they were anxiously awaiting their deliverance at the hands of\ntheir Lord and Redeemer.\n\nBelief in Purgatory is more ancient than Christianity itself. It was\nthe belief among the Jews of old, and of this we have clear proof in\nthe Second Book of Machabees, xii., 43. After a great victory gained by\nthat valiant chieftain, Judas Machabeus, about two hundred years before\nthe coming of Christ, \"Judas making a gathering, he sent twelve\nthousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered\nfor the sins of the dead, thinking well and justly concerning the\nresurrection.... It is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray\nfor the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins.\"\n\nIt is customary, even in our days, in Jewish synagogues, to erect\ntablets reminding those present of the lately deceased, in order that\nthey may remember them in their prayers. Surely, if there did not exist\na place of purgation, no prayers nor sacrifices would be of any avail\nto the departed. We find the custom of praying, of offering the Holy\nSacrifice of the Mass for their spiritual benefit, more especially on\ntheir anniversaries, an universal practice among the primitive\nChristians of the Eastern and Western Churches, of the Greek, Latin,\nand Oriental Rites.\n\nEven if we did not find strong warrant, as we do, in the Scriptures,\nthe authority of Apostolic Tradition would be amply sufficient for us;\nfor, remember, we Catholics hold the traditions, handed down from the\nApostles, to be of as much weight as their own writings.\n\n... Hence it is that we have recourse to sacred tradition as well as to\nScripture for the proof of our teaching. With reference, then, to the\ndoctrine of \"Purgatory,\" we are guided by the belief that prevailed\namong the primitive Christians.\n\nThat the custom of praying for the dead was sanctioned by the Apostles\nthemselves, we have the declaration of St. John Chrysostom: \"It was not\nin vain instituted by the Apostles that in the celebration of the\ntremendous mysteries a remembrance should be made of the departed. They\nknew that much profit and advantage would be thereby derived.\"\n\nTertullian--the most ancient of the Latin Fathers, who flourished in\nthe age immediately following that of the Apostles--speaks of the duty\nof a widow with regard to her deceased husband: \"Wherefore also does\nshe pray for his soul, and begs for him, in the interim, refreshment,\nand in the first resurrection, companionship, and makes offerings for\nhim on the anniversary day of his falling asleep in the Lord. For\nunless she has done these things, she has truly repudiated him so far\nas is in her power.\" All this supposes a Purgatory.\n\n\"The measure of the pain,\" says St. Gregory Nyssa, \"is the quantity of\nevil to be found in each one.... Being either purified during the\npresent life by means of prayer and the pursuit of wisdom, or, after\ndeparture from this life, by means of the furnace of the fire of\npurgatory.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNot only deeply instructive, but also eminently consoling is the\ndoctrine of Purgatory. We need not \"mourn as those who have no hope,\"\nfor those nearest and dearest who have gone hence and departed this\nlife in the friendship of God.\n\nHow beautifully our Holy Mother the Church bridges over the terrible\nchasm of the grave! How faithfully and tenderly she comes to our aid in\nthe saddest of our griefs and sorrows! She leaves us not to mourn\nuncomforted, unsustained. She chides us not for shedding tears over our\ndear lost ones--a beloved parent, a darling child, a loving brother,\naffectionate sister, or deeply-cherished friend or spouse. She bids us\nlet our tears flow, for our Saviour wept at the grave of Lazarus.\n\nShe whispers words of comfort--not unmeaning words, but words of divine\nhope and strength--to our breaking hearts. She pours the oil of\nheavenly consolation into our deepest wounds. She bids us cast off all\nunseemly grief, assuring us that not even death itself can sever the\nbond that unites us; that we can be of service to those dear departed\nones whom we loved better than life itself; that we can aid them by our\nprayers and good works, and especially by, the Holy Sacrifice of the\nMass. Thus may we shorten their time of banishment, assuage their\npains, and continue to storm Heaven itself with our piteous appeals\nuntil the Lord deign to look down in mercy, open their prison doors,\nand admit them to the full light of His holy presence, and to the\neverlasting embrace of their Redeemer and their God.\n\n\nEXTRACTS FROM \"CATHOLIC BELIEF.\"\n\nVERY REV. FA\u00c1 DI BRUNO. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Catholic Belief, or, A Short and Simple Exposition of\nCatholic Doctrine, by Very Rev. Joseph Fa\u00e1 Di Bruno. D. D., Rector-\nGeneral of the Pious Society of Missions of the Church of San Salvatore\nin Onde, Ponte Sisto, Rome, and St. Peter's Italian Church in London.\nAmerican Edition, edited by Father Lambert, author of Notes on\nIngersoll, &c.]\n\nAs works of penance have no value in themselves except through the\nmerits of Jesus Christ, so the pains of Purgatory have no power in\nthemselves to purify the soul from sin, but only in virtue of Christ's\nRedemption, or, to speak more exactly, the souls in Purgatory are able\nto discharge the debt of temporal punishment demanded by God's justice,\nand to have their venial sins remitted only through the merits of Jesus\nChrist, \"yet so as by fire.\"\n\nThe Catholic belief in Purgatory rests on the authority of the Church\nand her apostolic traditions recorded in ancient Liturgies, and in the\nwritings of the ancient Fathers: Tertullian, St. Cyprian, Origen,\nEusebius of C\u00e6sarea, Arnobius, St. Basil, St. Ephrem of Edessa, St.\nCyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Ambrose, St. Epiphanius,\nSt. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Augustine. It rests also on the\nFourth Council of Carthage, and on many other authorities of antiquity.\n\nThat this tradition is derived from the Apostles, St. John Chrysostom\nplainly testified in a passage quoted at the end of this chapter, in\nwhich he speaks of suffrages or help for the departed.\n\nSt. Augustine tells us that Arius was the first who dared to teach that\nit was of no use to offer up prayers and sacrifices for the dead; and\nthis doctrine of Arius he reckoned among heresies. (Book of Heresies,\nHeresy 53d.)\n\nThere are also passages in Holy Scripture from which the Fathers have\nconfirmed the Catholic belief on this point.\n\nSt. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chap. iii. 11-15,\nwrites: \"For other foundations no one can lay, but that which is laid;\nwhich is Christ Jesus. Now, if any man build upon this foundation,\ngold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work\nshall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it\nshall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of\nwhat sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built\nthereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall\nsuffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.\"\n\nThe ancient Fathers, Origen in the third century, St. Ambrose and St.\nJerome in the fourth, and St. Augustine in the fifth, have interpreted\nthis text of St. Paul as relating to venial sins committed by\nChristians which St. Paul compares to \"wood, hay, stubble,\" and thus\nwith this text they confirm the Catholic belief in Purgatory, well\nknown and believed in their time, as it is by Catholics in the present\ntime. In St. Matthew (chap. v. 25, 26) we read, \"Be at agreement with\nthy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest,\nperhaps, the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver\nthee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen, I say to thee,\nthou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing.\"\n\nOn this passage, St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, a Father of the third\ncentury, says: \"It is one thing to be cast into prison, and not go out\nfrom thence till the last farthing be paid, and another to receive at\nonce the reward of faith and virtue: one thing in punishment of sin to\nbe purified by long-suffering and purged by long fire, and another to\nhave expiated all sins of suffering (in this life); one in fire, at the\nday of Judgment to wait the sentence of the Lord, another to receive an\nimmediate crown from Him.\" (Epist. iii.)\n\nOur Saviour said: \"He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall\nnot be forgiven him in this world, nor in the world to come.\" (St.\nMatt. xii. 32.)\n\nFrom this text St. Augustine argues, that \"It would not have been said\nwith truth that their sin shall not be forgiven, neither in this world,\nnor in the world to come, unless some sins were remitted in the next\nworld.\" (_De Civitate Dei_, Book xxi. chap. 24.)\n\nOn the other hand, we read in several places in Holy Scripture that God\nwill render to every one (that is, will reward or punish) according as\neach deserves. See, for example, in Matthew xvi. 27. But as we cannot\nthink that God will punish everlastingly a person who dies burdened\nwith the guilt of venial sin only, it may be an \"_idle word_,\" it\nis reasonable to infer that the punishment rendered to that person in\nthe next world will be only temporary.\n\nThe Catholic belief in Purgatory does not clash with the following\ndeclarations of Holy Scripture, which every Catholic firmly believes,\nnamely, that it is Jesus who cleanseth us from all sin, that Jesus bore\n\"the iniquity of us all,\" that \"by His bruises we are healed,\" (Isaias\niii., 5); for it is through the blood of Jesus and His copious\nRedemption that those pains of Purgatory have power to cleanse the\nsouls therein detained.\n\nAgain, the Catholic belief in Purgatory is not in opposition to those\ntexts of Scripture in which it is said that a man when he is justified\nis \"translated from death to life;\" that he is no longer judged: that\nthere is no condemnation in him. For these passages do not refer to\nsouls taken to Heaven when natural death occurs, but to persons in this\nworld, who from the death of sin pass to the life of grace. Nor does it\nfollow that dying in that state of grace, that is, in a state of\nspiritual life, they must go at once to Heaven. A soul may be\njustified, entirely exempt from eternal _condemnation_, and yet\nhave something to suffer for a time; thus, also, in this world, many\nare justified, and yet are not exempt from suffering.\n\nAgain, it is not fair to bring forward against the Catholic doctrine on\nPurgatory that text of the Apocalypse, Rev. xix. 13: \"Blessed are the\ndead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that\nthey may rest from their labors: for their works follow them,\" for this\ntext applies only to those souls who die perfectly in the Lord, that\nis, entirely free from every kind of sin, and from the _stain_,\nthe _guilt_, and the _debt of temporal punishment_ of every\nsin. Catholics believe that these souls have no pain to suffer in\nPurgatory, as is the case with the martyrs and saints who die in a\nperfect state of grace.\n\nIt is usual to bring forward against the Catholic belief in Purgatory\nthat text which says: \"If the tree fall to the south, or to the north,\nin what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be.\" (Eccles. xi. 3.)\n\nThis text confirms and illustrates the truth that, when death comes,\nthe _final doom_ of every one is fixed, and that there is no\npossibility of changing it; so that one dying in a state of mortal sin\nwill always remain in a state of mortal sin, and consequently be\nrejected forever; and one dying in a state of grace and friendship with\nGod, will forever remain accepted by God and in a state of grace, and\nin friendship with Him.\n\nBut this text proves nothing against the existence of Purgatory; for a\nsoul, although in a state of grace, and destined to heaven, may still\nhave to suffer for a time before being perfectly fit to enter upon the\neternal bliss, to enjoy the vision of God.\n\nSome might be disposed, notwithstanding, to regard this text as opposed\nto the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory by saying that the two places\nalluded to in the texts are heaven and hell. But this interpretation\nCatholics readily admit, for at death either heaven or hell is the\nfinal place to which all men are allotted, Purgatory being only a\npassage to heaven. This text surely does not tell against those just\nones under the Old Law who died in a state of grace and salvation, and\nwho, though sure of heaven, had yet to wait in a middle state until\nafter the Ascension of Jesus Christ; neither, therefore, does it tell\nagainst Purgatory.\n\nChrist's Redemption is abundant, \"_plentiful_\" as Holy Scripture,\nsays (Ps. cxxix. 7), and Catholics do not believe that those Christians\nwho die guilty only of _venial the practice of the Catholic Church to\noffer prayers and other pious works in suffrage for the dead, as is\namply testified by the Latin Fathers; for instance, Tertullian, St.\nCyprian, St. Augustine, St. Gregory; and amongst the Greek Fathers, by\nSt. Ephrem of Edessa, St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom. St. Chrysostom\nsays: \"It was not without good reason ordained by the Apostles that\nmention should be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, because\nthey knew well that, these would receive great benefit from it\" (on the\nFirst Epistle to Philippians, Homily iii.) By the expression\n\"tremendous mysteries,\" is meant the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.\n\nSt. Augustine says: \"It is not to be doubted that the dead are aided by\nthe prayers of Holy Church and by the salutary sacrifice, and by the\nalms which are offered for their spirits, that the Lord may deal with\nthem more mercifully than their sins have deserved. For this, which has\nbeen handed down by the Fathers, the universal Church observes.\"\n(_Enchirid_, Vol. v., Ser. 172.)\n\nThe same pious custom is proved also from the ancient Liturgies of the\nGreek and other Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Schismatic, in\nwhich the Priest is directed to pray for the repose of the dead during\nthe celebration of the Holy Mysteries.\n\n\nPURGATORY AND THE FEAST OF ALL SOULS.\n\nALBAN BUTLER.\n\nBy Purgatory no more is meant by Catholics than a middle state of\nsouls; namely of purgation from sin by temporary chastisements, or a\npunishment of some sin inflicted after death, which is not eternal. As\nto the place, manner or kind of these sufferings nothing has been\ndefined by the Church; and all who with Dr. Deacon except against this\ndoctrine, on account of the circumstance of a material fire, quarrel\nabout a mere scholastic question, in which a person is at liberty to\nchoose either side.... Certainly some sins are venial, which deserve\nnot eternal death. Yet if not effaced by condign punishment in this\nworld must be punished in the next. The Scriptures frequently mention\nthose venial sins, from which ordinarily the just are not exempt, who\ncertainly would not be just if these lesser sins into which men easily\nfall by surprise, destroyed grace in them, or if they fell from\ncharity. Yet the smallest sin excludes a soul from heaven so long as it\nis not blotted out.... Who is there who keeps, so constant a guard upon\nhis heart and whole conduct as to avoid all sensible self-deceptions?\nWho is there upon whose heart no inordinate attachments steal; into\nwhose actions no sloth, remissness, or other irregularity ever\ninsinuates itself?... The Blessed Virgin was preserved by an\nextraordinary grace from the least sin in the whole tenor of her life\nand actions; but, without such a singular privilege, even the saints\nare obliged to say that they sin daily.... The Church of Christ is\ncomposed of three different parts: the Triumphant in Heaven, the\nMilitant on earth, and the Patient or Suffering in Purgatory. Our\ncharity embraces all the members of Christ.... The Communion of Saints\nwhich we profess in our Creed, implies a communication of certain good\nworks and offices, and a mutual intercourse among all the members of\nChrist. This we maintain with the Saints in heaven by thanking and\npraising God for their triumphs and crowns, imploring their\nintercession, and receiving the succors of their charitable solicitude\nfor us: likewise with the souls in Purgatory by soliciting the divine\nmercy in their favor. Nor does it seem to be doubted but they, as they\nare in a state of grace and charity, pray for us; though the Church\nnever address public suffrages to them, not being warranted by\nprimitive practice and tradition so to do.\n\n... St. Odilo, abbot of Cluni, in 998, instituted the commemoration of\nall the faithful departed in all the monasteries of his congregation on\nthe 1st of November, which was soon adopted by the whole Western\nChurch. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, declared it a holiday of the\nsecond class, on which certain necessary and important kinds of work\nwere allowed. Some dioceses kept it a holiday of precept till noon;\nonly those of Vienne and Tours, and the order of Cluni, the whole day:\nin most places it is only a day of devotion. The Greeks have long kept\non Saturday sevennight before Lent, and on Saturday before Whitsunday,\nthe solemn commemoration of all the faithful departed; but offer up\nMass every Saturday for them.... The dignity of these souls most\nstrongly recommends them to our compassion, and at the same time to our\nveneration. Though they lie at present at a distance from God, buried\nin frightful dungeons under waves of fire, they belong to the happy\nnumber of the elect. They are united to God by His grace; they love Him\nabove all things, and amidst their torments never cease to bless and\npraise Him, adoring the severity of His justice with perfect\nresignation and love.... They are illustrious conquerors of the devil,\nthe world and hell; holy spirits loaded with merits and graces, and\nbearing the precious badge of their dignity and honor by the nuptial\nrobe of the Lamb with which by an indefeasible right they are clothed.\nYet they are now in a state of suffering, and endure greater torments\nthan it is possible for any one to suffer, or for our imagination to\nrepresent to itself in this mortal life.... St. C\u00e6sarius of Aries\nwrites: \"A person,\" says he, \"may say, I am not much concerned how long\nI remain in Purgatory, provided I may come to eternal life. Let no one\nreason thus. Purgatory fire will be more dreadful than whatever\ntorments can be seen, imagined, or endured in this world. And how does\nany one know whether he will stay days, months, or years? He who is\nafraid now to put his finger into the fire, does he not fear lest he be\nthen all buried in torments for a long time.... The Church approves\nperpetual anniversaries for the dead; for some souls may be detained in\npains to the end of the world, though after the day of judgment no\nthird state can exist.... If we have lost any dear friends in Christ,\nwhile we confide in His mercy, and rejoice in their passage from the\nregion of death to that of life, light, and eternal joy, we have reason\nto fear some lesser stains may retard their bliss. In this uncertainty\nlet us earnestly recommend them to the divine clemency.... Perhaps, the\nsouls of some dear friends may be suffering on our account; perhaps,\nfor their fondness for us, or for sins of which we were the occasion,\nby scandal, provocation, or otherwise, in which case motives not only\nof charity, but of justice, call upon us to endeavor to procure them\nall the relief in our power.... Souls delivered and brought to glory by\nour endeavors will amply repay our kindness by obtaining divine graces\nfor us. God Himself will be inclined by our charity to show us also\nmercy, and to shower down upon us His most precious favors. 'Blessed\nare the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' By having shown this\nmercy to the suffering souls in Purgatory, we shall be particularly\nentitled to be treated with mercy at our departure hence, and to share\nmore abundantly in the general suffrages of the Church, continually\noffered for all that have slept in Christ.\"\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\n\nANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.\n\n  We know them not, nor hear the sound\n  They make in treading all around:\n  Their office sweet and mighty prayer\n  Float without echo through the air;\n  Yet sometimes, in unworldly places,\n  Soft sorrow's twilight vales,\n  We meet them with uncovered faces,\n  Outside their golden pales,\n  Though dim, as they must ever be,\n  Like ships far-off and out at sea,\n  With the sun upon their sails.--FABER.\n\n\nTHE FRUIT OF A MASS.\n\nThe incident we are about to relate and which, in some way, only the\nprice of the first Mass paid for, reminds us of another which seems to\nbe also the fruit of a single Mass given under the inspiration of\nfaith. This fact is found in the life of St. Peter Damian, and we are\nhappy to reproduce it here, in order to tell over again the marvels of\nGod in those He loves, and to make manifest that charity for the poor\nsouls brings ever and always its own reward.\n\nPeter, surnamed Damian, was born in 988, at Ravenna, in Italy. His\nfamily was poor, and he was the youngest of several children. He lost\nhis father and mother while still very young, and was taken by one of\nhis brothers to his home. But Damian was treated there in a very\ninhuman manner. He was regarded rather as a slave, or, at least, as a\nbase menial, than as the brother of the master of the house. He was\ndeprived of the very necessaries of life, and, after being made to work\nlike a hired servant, he was loaded with blows. When he was older, they\ngave him charge of the swine.\n\nNevertheless, Peter Damian, being endowed with rare virtue, received\nall with patience as coming from God. This sweet resignation on the\npart of a child was most pleasing to the Lord, and He rewarded him by\ninspiring him to a good action.\n\nOne day the little Damian, leading his flocks to the pasture, found on\nthe way a small piece of money. Oh! how rejoiced he was! How his heart\nswelled within him!\n\nHe clapped his hands joyfully, thinking himself quite rich, and already\nhe began to calculate all he could do with his money. Suggestions were\nnot wanting, for he was in need of everything.\n\nNevertheless, the noble child took time to reflect; a sudden shadow\nfell on the fair heaven of his happy thoughts. He all at once\nremembered that his father, his poor mother who had so loved him, might\nbe still suffering cruel torments in the place of expiation. And\ndespising his own great necessities, and generously making the\nsacrifice of what was for him a treasure, Damian, raised above himself\nand his wants by the thought of his beloved parents, brought his money\nto a priest, to have the Holy Sacrifice offered for them.\n\nThat generous child had obeyed a holy inspiration, and this good deed\nof his was quickly rewarded. Fortune suddenly changed with him. He was\ntaken by another of his brothers, who took all possible care of him.\nSeeing that the child had such excellent dispositions, he made him\nbegin to study. He sent him first to Florence, then to a famous school\nin Parma, where he had for his master the celebrated Ivo. The brilliant\nqualities of Damian were rapidly developed, and soon he became\nprofessor where he had been a pupil. He afterwards gave up the world\nand became a religious, and was, in course of time, not only a\nremarkable man, but a great saint. He was charged by the Holy See with\naffairs the most important, and died clothed in the Roman purple. He is\nstill a great light in the Church, and his writings are always full of\npiety and erudition.\n\nThe little Damian, then, might well think that he possessed a treasure\nin his little coin, since with it he purchased earthly honors and\nheavenly bliss. We all of us have often had in our hand Damian's little\npiece of money, but have we known how to make a treasure of it?\n_Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_, 1877.\n\n\nTHE FAITH OF A PIOUS LADY.\n\n\"In the course of the month of July of last year,\" said a zealous\nmember of our Association for the Souls in Purgatory, \"I was accosted\nby one of our associates who told me, with an exuberance of joy, 'Ah!\nwe have great reason to thank the souls in Purgatory; I beg you to\nunite with us in thanking them for the favor they have just done us.'\n'Indeed? Well! I am very happy to hear it. Has anything extraordinary\nhappened to you? Tell me, if you please, what seems to cause you so\nmuch joy?'\n\n\"Then our fervent associate--a young man of a mild and pleasing aspect,\nusually somewhat reserved, but of gentlemanly bearing--said, in a tone\nof deep emotion:\n\n\"'I am rejoiced to tell you, in the first place, that I have the\nhappiness of still having my good mother. God seems to leave her on the\nearth to complete the work of her purification, for she is always sick\nand suffering, and, as she says herself, there is neither rest nor\npeace for her here below; nevertheless, she resigns herself so\npatiently to the sufferings and tribulations which weigh so heavily\nupon her that it does me a twofold good every time I see her, for I\nlove her as my mother, I venerate her as a saint.\n\n\"'One day, then, last week, finding herself a little stronger, she\nthought she would take a short drive, being in the country for her\nhealth. The drive seemed really to do her good; the beauty of the\ncountry, and still more, the fresh, pure air, appeared to revive her,\nand altogether she enjoyed her drive immensely. Her heart, as well as\nher mind, was changed, for you know there is often a sickness of the\nhead, as of the body. She already began to flatter herself with the\nhope of a speedy recovery, when, in the midst of the drive which was\nhaving so beneficial an effect, the horse, from some unknown cause,\nsuddenly took fright, and, taking the bit between his teeth, started\noff at a fearful pace.\n\n\"'Imagine the terror of my poor mother! On either side the road was a\nbroad, deep ditch, and the rough, uneven soil caused the carriage to\njolt fearfully, which was another great danger; and, as it so often\nhappens in the country, the road was deserted, and no one to be seen\nwho might give any assistance.\n\n\"'To crown all, it happened that the servant who drove my mother, in\nhis efforts to restrain the horse in his headlong flight, had the\nmisfortune to break the reins, which were their only chance of guiding\nthe animal in his mad career.\n\n\"'Ah! how can I describe the feelings of my poor dear mother, already\nso sick and so feeble; in fact, she was almost dead with fright. She\nthought every moment that she was going to be thrown into the ditch, or\ndashed against the stake paling which bordered the road on either side.\nShe was nearly in despair, when all at once the thought occurred to her\nto promise a Mass for the Souls in Purgatory, if the horse stopped.\n\n\"'And what do you think?--Ah! I am still so agitated myself, that I can\nhardly tell it!--But, wonderful to relate, that horse, in the wild\nexcitement of his flight, without so much as a thread to restrain him,\nwho could not have been stopped by any natural cause whatsoever,--that\nhorse stopped immediately, and one might say, suddenly, as though a\nbarrier were placed before him!\n\n\"'It were utterly impossible to express my mother's joy and gratitude.\nHer life will henceforth be but one long act of thanksgiving; for,\nwithout that unlooked-for help it had certainly been all over with her.\nOh, I beseech you help me to thank Heaven for so great a favor.'\"\n\nThis example will serve to show still more clearly that God is pleased\nto manifest His power, even for the slightest service rendered to those\nwhom He deigns to call His \"Beloved\" of Purgatory.--_Almanac of the\nSouls in Purgatory_. 1877.\n\n\nPAY WHAT THOU OWEST.\n\nWhen the fathers of the Society of Jesus first established their order\nin Kentucky, a wealthy and respected Catholic citizen of Bardstown, Mr.\nS----, sought admission among them,--although his age and lack of a\nthorough preparatory education offered obstacles to his success. He\nentered the Novitiate, only to be convinced that it was too late for\nhim to become a priest, as had been prudently represented to him at the\noutset. However, his love for the Society had been strengthened by his\nshort stay in the sanctuary of the community, and he resolved to devote\nhimself to the service of the Fathers in another way. He determined to\nsecure a suitable residence, and found a college, which, as soon as it\nwas in a flourishing condition, he would turn over to the Society.\n\nWith this object in view, Mr. S---- made diligent inquiries, and\nadvertised in various county newspapers for a suitable residence in\nwhich to begin his good work. One of his advertisements received a\nprompt reply from the executors of an estate in C---- County. The\nproperty offered for sale was unencumbered, its broad lands under high\ncultivation, the mansion in good repair, etc. Accompanied by a friend,\nMr. S---- hastened to visit the plantation. He found one wing of the\nhouse occupied by the overseer and his family, and observed with\npleasure that the advertisement seemed not to have exaggerated the\nvalue of the estate.\n\nMr. S---- and his friend tarried over night, and were assigned separate\napartments, which the administrators had ordered to be kept in\nreadiness for the reception of prospective purchasers. Although greatly\nfatigued by a long ride on horseback over ill-kept roads, neither of\nthe gentlemen could sleep, on account of a wearisome, incessant\nknocking in an adjoining room. Each believing the other to be sound\nasleep, forbore to awake his tired companion, but when they met at an\nearly breakfast, they both, as in one breath, inquired of the farmer's\nwife the cause of the continuous tapping in the adjoining apartment.\nMrs. F---- exchanged a significant glance with her husband, and a sort\nof grim smile overspread the face of the latter. After a moment's\nhesitation, he declared that he and his wife, and the servants on the\nestate, had in vain tried to find out the cause. All who slept in those\ntwo rooms heard the noise, and could not sleep. Both husband and wife\nassured their guests that the knocking took place in the apartment\nalways occupied, during her lifetime, by Mrs. G----, the late owner of\nthe estate; furthermore, that the disturbance was unknown before her\ndeath. Mr. S---- and his companion naturally became more and more\ninterested, and after suggesting all the ordinary causes of unusual and\nmysterious knocks, such as rats, cats, chipmunks, creaking doors,\nbroken shutters, and the like, rode off with Mr. F---- to make a\nthorough examination of the estate.\n\nThe two gentlemen rode all over the plantation, conferred with the\nexecutors and some lawyers, and after inspecting the house thoroughly,\nsat down to a dinner that was highly creditable to the hostess, who\nseemed anxious concerning the disclosures of the morning. When night\ncame on, the visitors were shown to the same rooms they had previously\noccupied. In the morning each spoke again of his inability to get any\nrefreshing sleep, and as they rode back to B----, talking over dreams,\nvisions, and other supernatural occurrences, they asked themselves,\nmight not this knocking have a supernatural cause? Concluding it might\nhave, they considered it would be well to lay the case before the Rev.\nFather Q----; at least, they could go, and tell him of their journey\ninto C---- County, and also of the mysterious knocking, if it seemed to\ncome in naturally; for each felt a little dread of being laughed at as\ntoo credulous. In the course of their conversation with the Father, the\nfull details of what they had learned and had personally experienced\nwere related. Father Q---- seemed to consider the occurrence quite\neasily accounted for by some physical cause; but when the gentlemen\nrecalled to his attention the circumstance of Mrs. G----'s death, he\nappeared to take another view of the matter.\n\nFinally, it was decided that Father Q---- and a brother priest should\naccompany Mr. S---- and his friend to the plantation, for a personal\ninvestigation. Soon after their arrival at the mansion the priests,\npreceded by the servants of the family, Mr. and Mrs. F----, and the two\nvisitors, repaired to the mysterious chamber. When a little Holy Water\nhad been sprinkled about the room, there was a cessation of the\nknocking, and after reciting some prayers, Father Q---- inquired, in\nLatin, of whatever spirit might be there the cause of the disturbance.\nHe was distinctly answered in the same tongue that the soul of Mrs.\nG---- could not rest in peace, because of an uncancelled debt to the\nshoemaker, Mr. ----. The interlocutor was assured that the matter should\nbe attended to at once. Thereupon the knocking re-commenced and\ncontinued.\n\nAll were painfully surprised, but thanked God that it would be so easy\na matter to settle the debt. The Rosary was then recited by the\nassembly, most of whom had supposed that the priests were present to\nbless the house. Without delay, Mr. S. and Father Q---- repaired to the\nshop of the village shoemaker, and begged him to present any bill that\nhe might have against the estate of the late Mrs. G----. The shoemaker\nsaid that he did not believe there was anything due to him, for\npayments had always been made very punctually. However, he ran over his\naccount-book, and declared that he found nothing. In sorrowful\nsurprise, the two friends then took their departure, telling the shoe\ndealer that if, at any time, he should find aught against the property,\nto inform them without delay.\n\nOn his return home, the shoemaker related to his mother what had\nhappened in the shop. After reflection, she asked if he had looked over\nhis father's accounts. \"Certainly not,\" he said. She then remarked that\nthe request was only half complied with, for Mrs. G---- had long been\nhis father's customer. After dinner, they repaired to the attic, and,\nsearching out the old ledgers, went over them carefully. To their\nsurprise they found a bill of twelve dollars and a half, for a pair of\nwhite satin slippers (probably Mrs. G----'s wedding shoes), which, in\nthe midst of various affairs, had remained unsettled. A messenger was\nsent with all speed to the mansion. On the way he chanced to meet\nFather Q---- and Mr. S----. The bill, with interest, was paid on the\nspot, and, returning to the house, they learned from the astonished and\ndelighted tenants that the rappings had suddenly and entirely ceased.\n\nShortly after, Mr. S---- became the owner of the estate, the heirs of\nwhich, preferring to live in Europe, had permitted its sale, in order\nto divide and enjoy the proceeds. As Mr. S---- had planned, a college\nwas there founded, and before long it was under the control of the\nSociety of his aspirations and his enthusiastic love.--_Ave\nMaria_, Nov. 15, 1884.\n\n\nTHE VIA CRUCIS\n\nIn November, 1849, Prince Charles L\u00f6wenstein Wertheim Rosenberg died. A\nlady who filled a subordinate office in his family as governess,\ncommunicated to the author the incidents which follow. At the prince's\ndeathbed, which she was permitted to visit, she made a vow to say\ncertain prayers daily for the repose of his soul, in accordance with a\nwish which he had expressed. When the family was residing at the castle\nof Henbach on the Maine, it was this lady's habit to spend a short time\nevery evening in the private chapel. After one of those visits, about\nthree months after the prince's death, she retired to rest, and in the\ncourse of the night had a singular dream. She was in the chapel,\nkneeling in a tribune; opposite to her was the high altar. She had\nspent some time in prayer, when suddenly, on the steps of the altar,\nshe saw the tall figure of the deceased prince, kneeling with great\napparent devotion. Presently he turned towards her, and in his usual\nmanner of addressing her, said: \"Dear child, come down to me here in\nthe chapel; I want to speak to you.\" She replied that she would gladly,\nbut that the doors were all locked. He assured her that they were all\nopen. She went down to him, taking her candle with her. When she came\nnear him, the prince rose to meet her, took her hand, and, without\nspeaking, led her to the altar, and they both knelt down together. They\nprayed for some time in silence, then he rose once more, and standing\nat the foot of the altar, said: \"Tell my children, my dear child, that\ntheir prayers and yours are heard. Tell them that God has accepted the\n_Via Crucis_ [1] which they have daily made for me, and your\nprayers also. I am with God in His glory, and I will pray for all those\nwho have so faithfully prayed for me.\" As he spoke, his face seemed\nlighted up as with the glory usually painted round the head of a saint.\nWith a farewell look he vanished, and she awoke.\n\n[Footnote 1: Way of the Cross, more commonly called the Stations of the\nCross.]\n\nAt breakfast she appeared agitated. She sat beside the prince's\ngranddaughter, Princess Adelaide L\u00f6wenstein, afterwards married to Don\nMiguel of Portugal. This lady asked her what was the matter. She\nrelated her dream, and then begged to know what prayers the princesses\nhad offered for the repose of his Highnesses' soul. They were the\n_Via Crucis_.--_Footsteps of Spirits_. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Published by Burns & Lambert of London.]\n\n\nSTRANGE INCIDENTS.\n\nWhen the Benedictine College at Ampleforth, in Yorkshire, was building,\na few years ago, one of the masons attracted the attention of the\ncommunity by the interest which he took in the incidents of their daily\nlife. He had to walk from a village three miles off, so as to be at the\ncollege every morning by six o'clock. He was first much pleased with\nthe regularity of the community, whom he always found in the church,\nsinging the Hours before Mass, on his arrival in the morning. By\ndegrees he was taught the whole of the Catholic doctrine, and was\nreceived into the Church. None of his family, however, would follow his\nexample. Exposure to cold and wet brought on an illness, of which he\ndied, in a very pious manner. A short time after his death, his wife\nwas one morning sweeping about the open door of her house, when her\nhusband walked in, and sat down on a seat by the fire, and began to ask\nher how she did. She answered that she was well, and hoped he was happy\nwhere he was. He replied that he was, at that time; that, at first, he\nhad passed through Purgatory, and had undergone a brief purification;\nbut that, when this was ended, he had been taken to the enjoyment of\nthe bliss of God in heaven. He remained talking to her some little time\nlonger, then he bade her farewell, and disappeared.\n\nThe woman applied to a Catholic priest for instruction; and it was\nfound that, although she had never in her life read a Catholic book,\nnor conversed about the Catholic religion with any one, she had\nacquired a complete knowledge of the doctrine of Purgatory from that\nshort interview with her husband. She, too, became a Catholic. The\nauthor was told this story by one who was a member of the community of\nAmpleforth at the time.\n\nA missionary priest at B---- (in England), a very few years ago,\npromised to say Mass for a woman in his congregation who had died.\nAmong other engagements of the same kind, he unconsciously overlooked\nher claim upon him. By and by her husband came to him, and begged him\nto remember his promise. The missionary thought that he had already\ndone so. \"Oh! no, sir,\" the man replied; \"I can assure you that you\nhave not; my poor wife has been to me to tell me so, and to get you to\ndo this act of charity for her.\" The priest was satisfied of his\nomission, and immediately supplied it. Soon after, the poor man\nreturned to thank him, at the woman's desire. She had told her husband\nthat now she was perfectly happy in heaven; her face, which had\nappeared much disfigured at her first visit, was surrounded with a halo\nof light when she came again. This anecdote reached the author through\na common friend of his own and of the missionary.\n\nA similar anecdote is told of a nun in the English convent of Bruges,\nbetween thirty and forty years ago. A relation of Canon Schmidt had\ndied in the house, and Miss L----, another nun, much attached to her,\nsaw her friend one night in a dream. She seemed to come with a serious\ncountenance, and pointed to the Office for the Dead in an office-book,\nwhich she appeared to hold in her hand. Her friend was much perplexed,\nand consulted Miss N----, a third nun, who suggested that perhaps Miss\nL---- had not said the Office three times, as usual, for her deceased\nsister. Miss L---- was nearly sure that she had; but as she had a habit\nof marking off this obligation as it was discharged, it could be easily\nascertained. On examining her private note-book, it turned out that she\nhad not said the three Offices. Miss N----'s sister, who was educated\nin the same convent, told the author this little story, and afterwards\nwas good enough to revise his narrative of it. So that this account is\nvirtually her own. Though seeming to have passed through two channels\non its way to this book, that is, through the author's memory and his\nfriend's, yet having, submitted to the latter a written memorandum of\nthe narrative, and received and adopted his friend's corrections, the\nstory is as authentic as if it had passed through only one intermediate\nchannel. For there is no doubt that the value of a story diminishes\nrapidly with every additional hand through which it passes.--\n_Footsteps of Spirits_, 113-14.\n\n\nA TRUE STORY OF THE \"DE PROFUNDIS.\"\n\nOne evening in the month of July, 184--, a happy group were gathered in\nthe wide porch of a well-known mansion in Prince George's County,\nMaryland. A little Catholic church had been recently built in the\nvillage of L---- by the zealous and wealthy proprietor of \"Monticello,\"\nand as the means of the newly-formed congregation were too limited to\nsupport a resident pastor, one of the Reverend Fathers from Georgetown\nkindly came out once a fortnight to celebrate Mass and administer the\nSacraments. On the eve of the favored Sunday, Doctor J---- took his\ncarriage to the railway station and brought back the Reverend Father\nnamed for that week's services; and his visit was always looked for\nwith delight by all the household at Monticello, domestics and\nchildren, but by none so much as by three recent converts to our holy\nfaith, who often took occasion to propound to their amiable and learned\nguest any doubts on religious questions that had arisen during the\ncourse of the intervening weeks.\n\nOn the evening above mentioned, the priest who came was an Italian\nJesuit, the Reverend Father G----. He held his little audience\nentranced with a fund of edifying stories and interesting replies to\nthe questions asked. The calm serenity of the night, the gentle,\nrefreshing breeze that came from a neighboring wood of pine-trees, the\nbeautiful glitter of the flitting glow-worm, and the rich perfume\nwafted from the purple magnolia _grandiflora_--all added to the\nenchantment. The doctor broke the charm by saying: \"Reverend Father, we\nshall be obliged to leave early to-morrow morning. The carriage will be\nready for you at 6 o'clock.\"\n\n\"Is it a long drive to the church?\" asked Father G----.\n\n\"No; only four miles,\" answered the doctor; \"but there will be many\nconfessions to hear and, perhaps, some baptisms to administer; hence,\nunless the work is begun early, Mass will not be over before 12\no'clock.\"\n\n\"I hope, then,\" replied the Father, smiling, \"that you will not fail to\nawake betimes.\"\n\n\"As to that,\" rejoined the doctor, \"when I have to arise at any\nparticular time, I recite a _De Profundis_ for the relief of the\nsuffering souls, and I am sure of awaking promptly at he right hour.\"\n\n\"I can easily credit that,\" said Father G----.\n\n\"It is a pious practice which was recommended to me by the late Dr.\nRyder, of Georgetown, when I was at the College,\" said the host; \"and I\nhave never found that any one to whom I taught the practice failed to\nfind it truly efficacious.\"\n\n\"If it would not detain you too long beyond your customary hours,\" said\nFather G----, \"I would add to my long list of anecdotes one more on the\n_De Profundis_.\"\n\nAll present besought the priest to favor them; in truth, the worthy\nhousehold never wearied of pious conversation.\n\n\"It happened,\" began the good priest, with religious modesty, \"that\nabout twenty years ago I accompanied a number of prominent members of\nour Society who had been summoned to the Mother House, in Rome, on\nbusiness of importance. The Fathers carried with them precious\ndocuments from their several provinces; and, besides the purse\nnecessary to meet their current travelling expenses, certain\ncontributions from churches as Peter's Pence, and donations for the\nGeneral of the Society. Our way lay across the Apennines, and we were\nnumerous enough to fill a large coach. We knew that the fastnesses of\nthe mountains were infested by outlawed bands, and we had been careful\nto select an honest driver. Before setting out, it was agreed that we\nshould place ourselves under the protection of the Holy Souls by\nreciting a _De Profundis_ every hour. At a given signal, mental or\nvocal prayer, reading or recreation, would be suspended, and the psalm\nrecited in unison.\n\n\"Luigi, the driver, had been instructed, in case of any apparent\ndanger, to make three distinct taps on the roof of our vehicle with the\nheavy end of his whip. We travelled the whole day undisturbed, without\nother interruptions than those called for by the observance of our\nitinerary. Just as the evening twilight began, we reached the summit of\na lofty mountain. The air was cool, the scenery wild and majestic, and\neach of us seemed absorbed in the pleasant glimpses of the receding\nlandscapes, when we were startled by three ominous knocks on the roof\nof our coach. Before we could ask any questions, Luigi had given his\nhorses such blows as nearly made them throw us out of the vehicle, and\nsent the animals running at a break-neck speed. We looked, we listened,\nand, to our amazement and horror, beheld about a dozen bandits on\neither side of the road, with arms uplifted, and holding deadly\nweapons, as if ready and determined to strike with well-aimed\nprecision. But, strange to say, they all remained as motionless as\nstatues, until we had gone on so far as to leave them a mere speck on\nthe descending horizon.\n\n\"Each one of our party had kept exterior silence, but inwardly put his\ntrust in the Most High. At last, Luigi halted. His horses were white\nwith foam, and panting as if they would never breathe naturally again.\n\n\"A miracle!\" cried Luigi, signing himself with the mystic Sign; \"may\nGod and Our Lady be praised! I tell you, Fathers, it is a miracle that\nwe are not dead men!\" \"'Indeed, a very special protection of Divine\nProvidence said the superior _pro tem_.; 'and we must all thank\nGod with our whole hearts.'\n\n\"'I tell you,' broke in Luigi, 'those were horrible men; I never saw\nany look fiercer.'\n\n\"'Then, as soon as your horses are able, we had better move on. Shall\nyou be obliged to change them before we get to our proposed stopping-\nplace?' asked the superior.\n\n\"'Oh, we must not stop to change! we should be tracked by some of their\nspies. We had better go on; and, as the road descends gently, I think\nthis team will make the remainder of the route.'\n\n\"'Well,' said our superior, as we re-entered the coach, 'we must all\noffer a Mass in thanksgiving to-morrow;' to which we all heartily\nassented, and found subject for conversation the rest of the way in\nrecalling the particulars of our wondrous escape.\n\n\"Holy obedience afterwards stationed me,\" continued the Reverend\nFather, \"at the Ges\u00fa. About two years later, I was called upon to\ninstruct a prisoner condemned to capital punishment. 'He appears to\nhave been a desperate man,' said the jailer, as he drew aside the\nenormous bolts of iron that held fast the door of a corridor leading to\na dismal dungeon; 'now, however, he is a little subdued; he even seems\ncontrite at times, and I hope he will die penitent.'\n\n\"I visited the prisoner several times; he was always glad to see me,\nbut it cost him a great effort to open his heart, and make a full\nconfession. His birth and parentage, and advantages for a liberal\neducation, should have brought him to a widely-different destiny. He\nhad loved adventure naturally, but had taken a wrong direction. He\nmight have become a famous military man, whereas he was only a rough,\ndesperate highwayman. To win him to God, I began to listen to\nnarratives of his wild brigand exploits. I affected to be interested in\nthese daring adventures, and then succeeded in pointing out to him the\nsin that abounded in each and every act. One day, as he was speaking of\nthe latest years of his life, I was greatly surprised to hear him\nrecount the identical incident with which I began my story. He\ndescribed to me in the most graphic terms the wonderful manner in which\nhis hands and those of his comrades had been held by an invisible,\nirresistible power, saying that they had returned to their mountain\nhaunts perfectly dismayed; that some of them appeared to have a vague\nand conscientious alarm, though revelry and song soon banished such\nmisgivings. He told me that they knew the carriage was full of Jesuit\npriests, and that they had been promised a great pecuniary reward by a\nprominent member of the Freemason Society if they should succeed in\nseizing our luggage.\n\n\"I then made known to my penitent my share in that providential escape;\nhe at once fell on his knees, wept long and bitterly, and finally asked\nmy forgiveness. I prepared him for his dreadful end, and believe he\ndied at peace with God, so great is the mercy of Jesus to the contrite\nsoul, 'even though his sins be as scarlet.' I asked his permission to\nnarrate the particulars of his portion of the story, and he gladly gave\nit, hoping to merit something for his sin-burdened soul by that act of\nhumility.\"\n\nWe were all much impressed by the Reverend Father's narrative, and as\nwe bade one another good-night, the doctor remarked that a kind deed\nperformed for others was sure to merit a blessing in return, even\nthough it were so small a favor as that gained by his favorite practice\nof saying the _De Profundis_.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Father G----, \"charity never fails.\"--_Ave Maria_,\nNov. 24th, 1883.\n\n\nCONFIDENCE REWARDED.\n\nThe following fact took place in Montreal, Canada, some three or four\nyears since. We shall leave the zealous member of our association who\nrelated it to us to tell his own story:\n\n\n\"One morning,\" said he, \"coming back from Mass, I saw Mr. C----, who\nwas also coming out of the church. He was a worthy man, fearing God and\nfulfilling his duties faithfully and conscientiously. I said to myself:\n'There is a man who deserves to belong to our association.' For is it\nnot always a favor when God deems us worthy to do something for Him?\n\n\"I approached and asked him if he would not like to become a member of\nour association. 'What association?' 'The Association of the Way of the\nCross and Masses. It is to relieve the dead by prayer and alms, two\npowerful means.' 'Ah! I knew nothing of it. What has to be done?' 'It\nsuffices to make the Way of the Cross once a week and pay for a Mass\nonce a month.' 'I love the souls in Purgatory,' he said, 'and I do all\nI can to relieve them. But, you see, things are not going well with me\njust now. I have been a long time sick, and am hardly able yet to\ndischarge my ordinary duties.'\n\n\"At these words I cast my eyes on the speaker, and saw what I had not\nbefore noticed, that he looked pale and worn. He went on: 'As for\npaying anything, it would be impossible for me to do it; I have\ncontracted debts, and if my ill health should continue,' he added, in a\nfaltering voice, 'I shall be obliged to sell my little house.' Then he\nstopped, his heart evidently full, and tears in his eyes. 'But\nProvidence watches over you, and nothing happens without God's good\nleave. If a single hair of our head cannot fall unless He will it, what\nhave you to fear? Do something for God whilst you can. If you are\nliberal to Him, He will be more so towards you. Do you remember the\npromise Our Lord made to St. Gertrude? 'I will give an hundred-fold,'\nsaid He, 'for all thou shalt do for my beloved ones in Purgatory.' This\npromise was not for St. Gertrude alone; it was likewise for you. For\none dollar that you give, you will gain ten; and if you are resolved to\nhelp the poor souls all you can, they will get you health to do it.'\n'Ah! what you say touches me much, and truly I know not what to do.'\nAfter a moment's hesitation, he quickly resumed: 'Well, sir, although I\nam actually in distress, I am going to try; it may be the best means of\ngetting out of it.' 'Yes, try; we run no risk when we make the Holy\nSouls our debtors.'\n\n\"At these words, he drew from his pocket a small purse which contained\nonly half a dollar. 'There is all my wealth, and I am happy to share it\nwith you,' and he gave me the stipend for a Mass. 'I will perhaps put\nmyself to some inconvenience in giving you that sum, trifling though it\nbe; but, blessed be God! I will bear with the inconvenience, thinking\nthat those who suffer much more than I will obtain some relief in their\ncruel torments. I will also pray for them, and that they may obtain for\nme the resignation which is so pleasing to God.'\n\n\"When I saw the noble sentiments of this man, I shook him by the hand,\nwarmly thanked him, and reminded him that God was always touched by\nsuch acts, and that He knew how to reward them.\n\n\"From that moment, strange to say, that frail, delicate man began to\nrecover his strength, work came back to his shop, and everything grew\nbrighter around him. And, as an additional reward from Heaven, he was\nanimated by a new zeal for the Holy Souls, for he not only paid his own\nlittle contribution regularly, but he also collected the money for as\nmany Masses as he could on one side and another.\n\n\"Six or seven months thus passed away amid ever increasing prosperity,\nwhen one day he said to me in presence of several persons: 'Last\nautumn, before I gave my name to the Association for the Souls in\nPurgatory, I was so sick and so discouraged that I thought I should\ndie; but when I had paid for my first Mass, from that moment, as all\nmay see, my health began to return, and with it my courage. To-day, as\nyou see, I am perfectly well. Moreover, I have found means to pay off\none hundred and fifty dollars of debt, and to have fifty dollars' worth\nof repairs made to my little house. How has all that been done? I know\nnot: for you will admit that, by a poor shoemaker such as I, who works\nat his bench and without even an apprentice, after such a hard winter,\nand without any advance before me, to find means, despite all that, to\nprovide for the support of his family and pay two hundred dollars over\nand above, is something extraordinary.\n\n\"'But I know well to whom I owe it all; hence,' he added, with a smile,\n'that has given me new zeal. Now, I work not only for myself; every\nevening I go out collecting for our good Souls in Purgatory, and,\nblessed be God! I have got one hundred and fifty dollars for the\nAssociation of Masses. Have I not, sir?' he added, addressing the\ntreasurer, who was present.\n\n\"'Yes, you have, indeed, collected one hundred and fifty dollars,\nperhaps something more, by twenty-five cents here and twenty-five cents\nthere, with a perseverance and a zeal beyond all praise, and well\ndeserving of the favors you have received.'\n\n\"'Ah!' said this worthy man, so admirable in his simplicity and the\nfervor of his conviction, 'it is that I still desire something; I now\nexpect that they will make me better,' and he sighed.\n\n\"Thus was this good man rewarded for his confidence in the Souls in\nPurgatory, and such was his gratitude to them.\"--_Almanac of the Souls\nin Purgatory, 1877_.\n\n\nANECDOTE OF THE \"DE PROFUNDIS.\"\n\nI once heard an anecdote of a good priest who was in the habit of\nsaying the De Profundis every day for the Souls in Purgatory, but,\nhappening one day to omit it, either through inadvertence or press of\noccupation, he was passing through a cemetery about the close of day,\nwhen he suddenly heard, through the hushed silence of the lonely place\nand the solemn evening's hour, a mournful voice repeating the first\nwords of the beautiful psalm--_De Profundis clamavit Domini_--then\nit stopped, but the priest, as soon as he had recovered from the first\nshock, and remembering with bitter self-reproach his omission, took up\nthe words where the supernatural voice had left off, and finished the\nrecitation of the _De Profundis_, resolving, as he did so, that,\nfor the time to come, nothing should prevent him from reciting it every\nday, and more than once in the day, for the benefit of the dear\nsuffering Souls.\n\n\nA STRANGE OCCURRENCE IN A PERSIAN PRISON.\n\nThere is a very strange story concerning Purgatory related by St. John\nthe Almoner, Patriarch of Alexandria, in the end of the sixth and the\nbeginning of the seventh century. A little before a great mortality\nwhich took place in that city, several inhabitants of the Island of\nCyprus were carried off to Persia and cast into a prison so severe that\nit was called the _Oblivion_. Some of them, however, succeeded in\nmaking their escape and returned to their own country. A father and\nmother, whose son had been carried off with the others, asked them for\ntidings of their son. \"Alas!\" said they, \"your son died on such a day;\nwe ourselves had the sad consolation of giving him burial.\" The poor\nparents hastened then to have a solemn service performed for the repose\nof his soul; this they had done three times every year, continuing in\nprayer for the same intention. But, marvellous to relate! one day this\nson, so much regretted, so fondly remembered, came knocking at their\ndoor and threw himself into their arms. He had been supposed dead for\nfour years, yet was really alive, he whom the other prisoners had\nburied having had a great resemblance to him, that is all. \"How! is it\nreally thou, dear son? Oh! how we mourned for thee! Three times every\nyear we had a solemn service for thee.\" \"On what days?\" eagerly\ndemanded the son. \"On the holy days of Christmas, Easter, and\nPentecost.\" \"Precisely!\" he exclaimed; \"on those very days I saw, each\ntime, an officer radiant with light, who came to me and taking off my\nchains, opened the doors of my prison. I went forth into the city,\nwalked wherever I wished, without any one appearing to notice me; only,\nin the evening, I always found myself miraculously chained in my\ndungeon. It was the fruit of your good prayers, and if I had been in\nPurgatory, they would have served at the same time to relieve me; I\nbeseech you not to forget me when the good God shall see fit to call me\nto Himself.\"--_Leontius, Life of St. John the Almoner._\n\n\nA SWISS PROTESTANT CONVERTED BY THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.\n\nI have somewhere read, says a Catholic writer, that a Swiss Protestant\nwas converted to the true religion solely on account of our having the\nconsoling doctrine of Purgatory, whereas Protestants will not admit of\nit. He was a Lutheran somewhat advanced in age, and he had a brother\nwho passed for a worthy man, as the world goes, but had also the\nmisfortune of being a Protestant. He fell sick, and notwithstanding the\ncare of several physicians, died, and was buried by a Protestant\nminister of Berne. His death was a terrible blow to the brother of whom\nI speak. Hoping to dissipate his grief he tried travelling, but the\nthought of his brother's eternal destiny pursued him everywhere. He one\nday, on board a steamer, made the acquaintance of a Catholic priest,\nwith whom he entered into conversation. Confidence was soon established\nbetween them; they spoke of death, and the afflicted traveller asked\nthe priest what he thought of it. \"What I think is this,\" replied the\npriest: \"When a man has perfectly discharged all his duties to God, his\nneighbor and himself, he goes straight to heaven; if he have not\ndischarged them, or have neglected any of those which are essential, he\ngoes straight to hell; but if he have only to reproach himself with\nthose trifling faults which are inseparable from our frail nature, he\nspends some time in Purgatory.\" At these words the listener smiled with\nevident relief and satisfaction; he felt consoled. \"Sir,\" cried he, \"I\nwill become a Catholic, and for this reason: Protestants only admit of\nheaven and hell; but, in order to get to Paradise, one must have\nnothing wherewith to reproach himself. Now, although my brother was a\ngood man, he was by no means free from those slight faults of which you\nspoke just now. He will not be damned for these faults, but they will\nprevent him from going to heaven; there must, therefore, be an\nintermediate place wherein to expiate them; hence, there must be a\nPurgatory. I will be a Catholic, so as to have the consolation of\npraying for my brother.\"--_The Catechism in Examples_, pp. 141-2.\n\n\nTHE DEAD HAND.\n\nSISTER TERESA MARGARET GESTA was struck by apoplexy on the 4th of\nNovember, 1859, without any premonitory symptoms to forewarn her of her\ndanger; and, without recovering consciousness, she breathed her last at\nfour o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. Her companions were\nplunged into the deepest sorrow, for the Sister was a general favorite;\nbut they resigned themselves to the will of God. Whilst lamenting the\ndeath of one who had been to them a model, comforter, and mother, they\nconsoled themselves by the remembrance of the virtues of which she was\na splendid example, and of which they never tired speaking.\n\nTwelve days had passed since her death. Some of the Sisters felt a\ncertain kind of dread of going alone to the places frequented by the\ndeparted one; but Sister Anna Felix Menghini, a person of a lively and\npleasant disposition, often rallied them, good-humoredly, on their\nfears.\n\nAbout ten o'clock in the forenoon, this same Sister Anna, having charge\nof the clothing, was proceeding to the work-room. Having gone up-\nstairs, she heard a mournful voice, which at first she thought might be\nthat of a cat shut up in the clothes-press. She opened and examined it\ncarefully, but found nothing. A sudden and unaccountable feeling of\nterror came over her, and she cried out: \"Jesus, Mary, what can it be?\"\nShe had hardly uttered these words when she heard the same mournful\nvoice as at first, which exclaimed in a gasping sob: \"O my God, how I\nsuffer!\" The religious, though surprised and trembling, recognized\ndistinctly the voice of Sister Teresa; she plucked up courage and asked\nher \"Why?\"\n\n\"On account of poverty,\" answered the voice.\n\n\"What!\" replied Sister Anna, \"and you were so poor!\"\n\n\"Not for me,\" was answered, \"but for the nuns.... If one is enough, why\ntwo? and if two are sufficient, why three?... And you--beware for\nyourself.\"\n\nAt the same time the whole room was darkened by a thick smoke, and the\nshadow of Sister Teresa, moving towards the exit, went up the steps,\ntalking as it moved. Sister Anna was so frightened that she could not\nmake out what the spirit said. Having reached the door, the apparition\nspoke again: \"This is a mercy of God!\" And in proof of the reality,\nwith its open hand it struck the upper panel of the door near the\nframe, leaving the impression of the hand more perfect than it could\nhave been made by the most skillful artist with a hot iron.\n\nSister Anna was like Balthasar: \"Then was the King's countenance\nchanged, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins\nwere loosed, and his knees struck one against the other.\" (Dan., v. 6).\nShe could not stir for a considerable time; she did not even dare to\nturn her head. But at last she tottered out and called one of her\ncompanions, who, hearing her feeble, broken words, ran to her with\nanother Sister; and presently the whole community was gathered round in\nalarm. They learned in a confused manner what had taken place,\nperceived the smell of burnt wood, and noticed a whitish cloud or mist\nthat filled the room and made it almost dark. They examined the door\ncarefully though tremblingly, and recognized the fac-simile of Sister\nTeresa's hand; and, filled with terror, they fled to the choir.\n\nThere the Sisters, forgetting the need of food and rest, remained in\nprayer till after sunset, abandoning everything in their anxiety to\nprocure relief for their beloved Sister Teresa. The zealous Minorite\nFathers, who have the spiritual direction of the convent, learning what\nhad happened, were equally earnest in offering prayers and sacrifice,\nand in singing the psalms for the dead. Many of the faithful likewise\nassembling, not through idle curiosity, but out of genuine piety,\njoined in the recitation of the Rosary and other prayers, though the\ndeceased Sister was almost entirely unknown to the people. Her\nobservance of the rule was very strict, and she scrupulously avoided\nall intercourse with people outside her convent. But still large\nnumbers crowded to join in those devotions for her.\n\nSister Anna, who was more worn out by excitement than the other\nreligious, was directed to retire early the following night. She\nherself confesses that she was fully resolved next day to remove, at\nany cost, the obnoxious marks of the hand. But Sister Teresa appeared\nto her in a dream, saying: \"You intend to remove the sign which I have\nleft. Know that it is not in your power to do so, even with the aid of\nothers; for it is there by the command of God, for the instruction of\nthe people. By His just and inexorable judgment I was condemned to the\ndreadful fires of Purgatory for forty years on account of my\ncondescension to the will of some of the nuns. I thank you and those\nwho joined in so many prayers to the Lord for me; all of which He was\npleased in His mercy to accept as suffrages for me, and especially the\nSeven Penitential Psalms, which were such a relief!\" And then, with a\nsmiling countenance, she added: \"Oh! blessed rags, that are rewarded\nwith such rich garments! Oh! happy poverty, that brings such glory to\nthose who truly observe it! Alas! how many suffer irreparable loss, and\nare in torments, because, under the cloak of necessity, poverty is\nknown and valued by few!\"\n\nFinally, Sister Anna, lying down as usual on the night of the 19th,\nheard her name distinctly pronounced by Sister Teresa. She awoke, all\nin a tremor, and sat up, unable to answer. Her astonishment was great\nwhen, near the foot of the bed, she saw a globe of light that made the\ncell as bright as noonday, and she heard the spirit say in a joyful\nvoice: \"On the day of the Passion I died (on Friday), and on the day of\nthe Passion I go to glory.... Strength in the Cross!... Courage to\nsuffer!...\" Then, saying three times \"Adieu!\" the globe was transformed\ninto a thin, white, shining cloud, rose towards heaven, and\ndisappeared.\n\nThe zealous Bishop of the diocese having heard of these events,\ninstituted the process of examination on the 23d of the same month. The\ngrave was opened in presence of a large number of persons assembled for\nthe occasion; the impression of the hand on the door was compared with\nthe hand of the dead, and both were found to correspond exactly. The\ndoor itself was set apart in a safe place and guarded. Many persons\nbeing anxious to see the impression, it was allowed to be visited,\nafter a certain lapse of time, and with due precautions, by such as had\nsecured the necessary permission.--_Ave Maria_, Nov. 17, 1883.\n\n\nA BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE.\n\nThe following fact is related by the Treasurer of the Association for\nthe Souls in Purgatory. He himself was personally cognizant of the\ncircumstances of the case. We leave him to speak:\n\n\"Mr.----,\" said he, \"was one of our first and most fervent associates.\nHis devotedness for good works is well known, so that he is everywhere\nregarded as an acquisition in all pious enterprises. His exemplary\nconduct rendered him, moreover, one of the most precious auxiliaries of\nthe work. Hence his zeal, instead of slackening, did but go on\nincreasing; and whereas, in the beginning, his collection amounted only\nto some dollars, after a while he often brought me forty or fifty\ndollars for the suffering souls. May Heaven bless that fervent\nassociate, and may his example serve as a lesson to the indifferent!\n\n\"During eighteen months, or two years, this pious and zealous member\nbrought me every six months,--with other moneys,--the sum of fifteen\ndollars which was thus periodically sent him; and each time that I\nasked him whence this money came, he answered that he knew nothing of\nit himself; that it was sent him by a worthy man without further\ninformation, and so he brought it to me without asking, or knowing\nanything more.\n\n\"Desirous of getting to the bottom of this mystery, I resolved to try\nand find out what it meant. I, one day, asked Mr.----. to tell me the\nname of this generous protector of the poor souls, for I was going to\nhunt him up.--'Oh!' said he, 'it is Such-a-one; he lives a long way\noff, towards Hochelaga, [1] but, indeed, I cannot tell you the exact\nplace.'\n\n[Footnote 1: A suburban town or village of Montreal, situated, like the\ncity, on the banks of the St. Lawrence.]\n\n\"Such vague information embarrassed me no little. I, nevertheless, took\nthe City Directory, but, alas! there were fully twenty-five persons of\nthe same name. Resolved, however, to put an end to this uncertainty, I\nproceeded, with the little information I had, to the place indicated to\nme; I arrive at a house bearing the name of the new benefactor of our\nwork. I go in at a venture; it was a little shoe-store, scarcely\nfifteen feet square, somewhat gloomy and not over-clean, owing,\nprobably, to the nature of the business carried on there; the whole\nappearance of the place was, indeed, very unlike one where much money\ncould be made. Going in, I perceived sitting in the farther end of the\nstore, a man whose face was so expressive of goodness, so open and so\ncalm, that only a good conscience could leave so gracious an imprint on\nthe features, and I said to myself: 'That is he.'--Then I asked aloud:\n'You are Mr. Such-a-one?'--That is my name,' he answered, with a\npleasant smile.--'But is it you who has sent us every six months for\ntwo years, the sum of fifteen dollars,--thirty dollars a year,--for\nthe Souls in Purgatory, apart from your regular contribution?'--'Yes,'\nsaid he, quietly, and still with the same smile on his lips.--'Ah!'\nsaid I, 'we are very grateful to you, and the Holy Souls will surely be\nmindful of you. I suppose you have a great compassion for those poor\nsouls who suffer so much, and that that inspires you with zeal, and so\nyou make up this sum amongst your friends and neighbors;--or they,\nperhaps, bring it to your house, quarter by quarter, as is done\nelsewhere?'--'No!' said he, still very quietly, 'no, it is my own\nlittle share.'--'How! your own little share?' and instinctively I cast\na glance around the little store, which seemed hardly to justify the\ngiving of such a sum. 'How! your little share? but we find it a very\nlarge and generous one, and we are happy that your zeal and charity\nmake it seem to you so small. Heaven will bless you for it. Still there\nmust be something hidden under these gifts, so often repeated; the Holy\nSouls must have done you some favor. Please tell me, then, what induces\nyou to give so handsome a sum every year, without being asked?'\n\n\"'Well, I will not conceal from you that the Souls in Purgatory have\nvisibly protected me; and to make known to you, in a few words, all my\nlittle history, I must tell you that, two or three years ago, I heard\npeople speak so favorably of the Association for the Souls in\nPurgatory--I heard so much about it, indeed, that from that day\nforward, I placed all my little business under the care of the\nSuffering Souls, and ever since, I am happy to tell you, to the credit\nof those holy Souls, that my affairs go, as if they were on wheels!\"\n(These are his own words.) \"I give my thirty-three dollars a year\nwithout any injury to myself; on the contrary, all goes the better for\nit. My store is not much to look at, but it is well filled, and all\nthat is in it is my own. Apart from that, and what is still better, I\nhave not a penny of debt.'\n\n\"He then added, in a lower tone: 'I have, moreover, the happiness of\nhonoring in that way the thirty-three years of labors and sufferings\nwhich Our Divine Lord spent on earth. That thought does my poor heart\ngood.\n\n\"'Ah, sir,' said he, with an impulse of true faith which made my heart\nthrill--'Ah, sir, if men believed more, they would do wonders, and the\nword of Our Lord never fails, and He has said that the more one gives\nthe more they receive, for charity never makes any one poor; only we\nmust give without distrust, and without speculation.'\n\n\"I warmly shook hands with this admirable man, and returned home as\ncharmed with my visit as delighted with so much faith. Then I said to\nmyself: 'There is a fine example to follow. How many others might have\nno debts, if they knew how to make sacrifices for the dear Suffering\nSouls!'\"_--Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory, 1877_\n\n\nHOW TO PAY ONE'S DEBTS.\n\nSpeaking just now of that generous man who had no debts, we called to\nmind an example that teaches a pretty way of paying debts. We are about\nto furnish the receipt, so that no one may complain, giving to each the\nchance of making use of it. In divulging this secret we shall certainly\npass for the least selfish man in the world; for, to furnish every one\nwith the means of paying their debts, is it not to procure for each the\nopportunity of enriching himself? But, dear reader, laying aside all\nthanks, hasten only to profit by the receipt, and we shall, each of us,\nhave obtained our object.\n\nWe take this secret from the Chronicles of the good Friars Minors, an\nauthority to which no one can take exception.\n\nThe Blessed Berthold belonged to the great Franciscan family. His fine\ntalents and rare virtues had caused him to be appointed a preacher of\nthe Order. The Sovereign Pontiff, seeing all the good that Berthold was\ndestined to do by his eloquent sermons, had given him power to grant to\neach of his hearers, an indulgence of ten days; which was a great\nprivilege for the faithful, as well as a mark of esteem and distinction\nfor himself.\n\nFriar Berthold, then, had preached a most moving sermon on alms-giving,\nand had granted the ten days' indulgence to all who were present.\nAmongst the audience was a lady of quality who, owing to a reverse of\nfortune, was in great distress and loaded with debt. She had hitherto\nbeen content to suffer in silence, being prevented by a false shame\nfrom making her condition known; but overcome by the enthusiastic\ncharity of the good father, she went privately to him to explain how\nshe was situated, giving him thus an opportunity of putting in practice\nwhat he had so eloquently preached. But Friar Berthold, who, like his\nfather St. Francis, had chosen poverty for his lady and mistress, could\nnot come to her relief. Nevertheless, as poverty, in the man who\nsuffers and endures it voluntarily for the love of God, becomes\nstrength and even riches, Berthold, strong in his sacrifice and rich in\nhis poverty--Berthold, inspired by the Holy Ghost, repeated to her what\nPeter of old, inspired by God, said to the lame man at the gate of the\nTemple who had asked him for alms: \"Silver and gold have I none, but\nthat which I have I will give unto thee.\" He then assured the lady that\nshe had gained ten days' indulgence by being present at his preaching,\nand he added: \"Go to such a banker in the city. Hitherto he has busied\nhimself much more about temporal riches than spiritual treasures, but\noffer him in return for the donation he will give you, to make over to\nhim the merit of this indulgence, so that the pains awaiting him in\nPurgatory may be diminished. I have every reason to think,\" continued\nthe good Father, \"that he will give you some assistance.\"\n\nThe poor woman, full of that faith which is so powerful, went as she\nwas told, in all simplicity. God touched the heart of the rich man, who\nreceived her kindly. He asked her how much she expected to receive in\nexchange for her ten days' indulgence. Feeling herself animated by an\ninterior strength, she replied: \"As much as it weighs in the balance.\"\n--\"Well!\" said the banker, \"here is the balance. Write down your ten\ndays' indulgence, and put the paper in one scale; I will place a piece\nof money in the other.\" O prodigy! the scale with the paper in it does\nnot rise, but the other does. The banker, much amazed, puts in another\npiece of money, but the weight is not changed; he puts in another, then\nanother; but the result is still the same, the paper on which the\nindulgence is written is still the heaviest. The Banker puts down then\nfive, ten, thirty pieces, till there was as much as the whole amount\nwhich the lady required for her present needs. Then only did the two\nscales become equal.\n\nThe banker, struck with astonishment, saw in this marvel a precious\nlesson for him; he was at length made sensible of the value of the\nthings of heaven.\n\nThe poor Souls understand it still better, as, for the slightest\nearthly indulgence they would give all the gold in the world.\n\nYou, then, who have no money to give for the Souls in Purgatory--you,\ntoo, who have financial difficulties on your shoulders, offer up\nindulgences for the poor Souls, and they will make themselves your\nbankers; they will pay you double, nay, a hundred-fold for whatever you\nhave put in the scale of the balance of mercy. They will pay you not\nonly in spiritual treasures, but even in temporal wealth, which will\nprocure for you the double advantage of paying your debts here below,\nand those of the other world.--_Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_,\n1877.\n\n\nFAITH REWARDED.\n\n\"One day, in the month of July,\" relates a zelator of the Association,\n[1] \"I met one of our members. He was a man of an amiable disposition,\nand remarkable for his piety and his devotion to good works. He was a\nmerchant of good standing, engaged in a respectable business. Like many\nothers, however, he had seen bad days; and to the commonplace question,\n'How goes business?' he replied: 'Ah! badly enough; I can hardly pay\nexpenses, and I am doubly unfortunate. I had a house which brought me\nin two or three hundred dollars a year, and I have had the misfortune\nof being unable to rent it this year, so that, losing on all sides, I\nfind myself a good deal embarrassed.'--'Will you allow me,' said I, 'to\ngive you a little advice? Promise some Masses for the Souls in\nPurgatory in case you have the good fortune to rent your house. It will\nbe, as it were, the tithe of your rent. We too often forget that we owe\nto Our Lord a part of what He gives us so freely. It is, nevertheless,\nonly an offering that we make Him of His own goods; and, at the same\ntime, an act of gratitude for that He has deigned to give it to us.\nFurthermore, it is an act of homage, an acknowledgment of His\nsupremacy. And we shall derive the more profit from it according as we\ndo it with a good heart. Besides all that, you have the additional\nhappiness of assisting your relatives and friends who are suffering in\nthe flames of Purgatory.'\n\n[Footnote 1: For the Relief of the Souls in Purgatory.]\n\n\n\"This little exhortation seemed to strike him to whom it was addressed,\nand, as if awaking from a long lethargy, he suddenly said: 'Why did I\nnot think of that before? I promise,' added he, 'five dollars for the\nSouls in Purgatory, if I find a tenant.'\n\n\n\"This eagerness to do good, this species of regret for not having done\nit sooner, this pious disposition which makes us desire to relieve\nthose who are in affliction, must have been very pleasing to God, for,\nwithin the week, the gentleman came to me with his five dollars, and\nsaid, smiling: 'I lose no time, you see, in keeping my promise.'--'Why,\nhave you already rented your house?'--'Yes, a manufacturer from the\ncountry who had just had the misfortune of being burned out, saw my\nhouse by chance, came to ask my terms, and we agreed at once. He is to\ntake possession next week.'\n\n\"A week passed, even a month, then two, and no tenant, when I happened\nagain to meet my friend, whom I almost suspected of having forgotten\nhis promise. 'Ah!' said he, 'I am worse off than ever, and I was so\nsure of having rented my house.'--' How! did that person not come back,\nthen?'--' No, and I thought him such an honest man! The disappointment\nhas been a great loss to me.'--'Write to him, then, threatening to make\nhim responsible for the whole rent. But, better than that, wait still,\nand have confidence; the Holy Souls cannot fail to bring the matter to\na favorable issue. It is, perhaps, a want of faith on your part which\nhas delayed the fulfillment of the contract.'\n\n\"Three days had scarcely passed when I again saw our Associate. 'This\ntime,' said he, 'I come to pay; my tenant has arrived.'--'But he has\nmade you lose five or six weeks' rent.'--'Not so; he is, just as I\nthought, an honorable, upright man. He arrived two days ago. It was I\nthat hired your house,' said he, 'and I come to take possession of\nit.'--'Mr.----,' said I, 'I am very glad, but I expected you sooner.'--\n'It is true I was to have come before now, but was prevented from doing\nso by important business. How long is it since I rented your house?'--\n'Just nine weeks.'--'It is only right, then, that I should pay you for\nthe time I have made you lose;' then handing me a sum of money,\n'there,' said he, 'is the amount coming to you; and now, my family\narrive to-morrow, so we take possession at once of your house, and your\nrent shall be paid regularly.'\n\n\"So there is an end to my anxiety, and you cannot believe how happy I\nam in bringing you the trifling sum I promised; but while keeping my\npromise, I thank you very sincerely for the confidence wherewith you\ninspired me in the Holy Souls. May God bless you for it!\"--_Almanac\nof the Souls in Purgatory_, 1881.\n\n\nAPPARITION OF A CITIZEN OF ARIES.\n\nLECOYER, in his \"Tales of Ghosts and Apparitions,\" [1] relates a\nhistorical occurrence which had great publicity. In the reign of King\nCharles IV. of France, surnamed the Fair, the last king of the first\nbranch of the Capets, who died in 1323, the soul of a citizen, some\nyears dead and abandoned by his relations, who neglected to pray for\nhim, appeared suddenly in the public square at Aries, relating\nmarvellous things of the other world, and asking for help. Those who\nhad seen him in his lifetime at once recognized him. The Prior of the\nJacobins, a man of saintly life, being told of this apparition,\nhastened to go and see the soul. Supposing at first that it might be a\nspirit that had taken the form of this citizen, he took, with lighted\ntapers, a consecrated host, which he held out to it. But the soul\nimmediately showed that it was really there itself, for it prostrated\nitself and adored Our Lord, asking naught else but prayers which might\ndeliver it from Purgatory, to the end that it might enter purified into\nheaven.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Histoires des Spectres et des Apparitions.\"]\n\n\nTHE COUNTESS OF STRAFFORD.\n\nThe Countess of Strafford, before her conversion to the Catholic faith,\nwent often to see Monseigneur de la Mothe, Bishop of Amiens, and her\nconversations with him always made the deepest impression on her mind.\nBut what touched her more than all was a sermon which he preached on\nthe feast of St. John the Baptist, in the chapel of the Ursulines in\nAmiens. After hearing this discourse, she felt within her a lively\ndesire to believe as did the preacher who had so much edified her. She\nstill had some doubts, however, on the Sacrifice of the Mass and\nPurgatory. She went to propose them to the holy Bishop, who, without\ndisputing with her or openly attacking her prejudices, deemed it his\nduty to speak thus to her, in order to undeceive her: \"Madam, you know\nthe Bishop of London and have confidence in him? Well, I beg you to ask\nhim what I am going to tell you: The Bishop of Amiens has told me a\nthing that surprised me; he says that if you can deny that St.\nAugustine said Mass and prayed for the dead, and particularly for his\nmother, he himself will become a Protestant.\" This advice was followed.\nThe Bishop of London made no reply, but contented himself with saying\nto the bearer of the letter that Lady Strafford had been breathing a\ncontagious atmosphere which had carried her away, and that anything he\ncould write to her would probably not remedy the evil. This silence on\nthe part of a man whom she had trusted implicitly, finished opening the\neyes of Lady Strafford, and she soon after made her abjuration at the\nhands of the Bishop of Amiens.--_Vie de Monsgr. de la Mothe._\n\n\nTHE MARQUIS BE CIVRAC. _(From une Commune Vend\u00e9enne.)_\n\nThe belief that the living friends may be of use to their friends in\nthe grave, has in it I know not what instructive and natural which one\nmeets in hearts the most simple and unsophisticated. A pious peasant\nwoman of La Vend\u00e9e kneeling on the coffin of her good master, the\nMarquis de Civrac, cried out: \"O my God, repay to him all the good he\nhas done to us!\" Does not this fervent cry of grateful affection\nsignify: \"My God, some rays are perchance wanting in the crown of our\nbenefactor; supply them, we beseech Thee, in consideration of our\nprayer and all he has done for us?\" and this is precisely the consoling\ndoctrine of Purgatory.\n\n\nGRATITUDE OF THE HOLY SOULS.\n\n[Rev. James Mumford, S.J., born in England in 1605, and who labored for\nforty years for the cause of the Catholic Church in his native country,\nwrote a remarkable work on Purgatory; and he mentions that the\nfollowing incident was written to him by William Freysson, a publisher,\nof Cologne. May it move many in their difficulties to have recourse to\nthe Holy Souls.]\n\nOne festival day, when my place of business was closed, I was occupying\nmyself in reading a book which you had lent me, and which was on \"The\nSouls in Purgatory.\" I was absorbed in my subject when a messenger came\nand told me that my youngest child, aged four years, showed the first\nsymptoms of a very grave disease. The child rapidly grew worse, and the\nphysicians at length declared that there was no hope. The thought then\noccurred to me that perhaps I could save my child by making a vow to\nassist the Suffering Souls in Purgatory. I accordingly repaired at once\nto a chapel, and, with all fervor, supplicated God to have pity on me;\nand I vowed I would distribute gratuitously a hundred copies of the\nbook that had moved me in behalf of the suffering souls, and give them\nto ecclesiastics and to religious to increase devotion to the Holy\nSouls. I had, I acknowledge, hardly any hope. As soon as I returned to\nthe house I found the child much better. He asked for food, although\nfor several days he had not been able to swallow anything but liquids.\nThe next day he was perfectly well, got up, went out for a walk, and\nate as if he had never had anything the matter with him. Filled with\ngratitude, I was only anxious to fulfill my promise. I went to the\nCollege of the Jesuit Fathers and begged them to accept as many copies\nof the work as they pleased, and to distribute them amongst themselves\nand other communities and ecclesiastics as they thought fit, so that\nthe suffering souls, my benefactors, should be assisted by further\nprayers.\n\nThree weeks had not slipped away, however, when another accident not\nless serious befell me. My wife, on entering the house one day, was\nsuddenly seized with a trembling in all her limbs, which threw her to\nthe ground, and she remained insensible. Little by little the illness\nincreased, until she was deprived of the power of speech. Remedies\nseemed to be in vain. The malady at length assumed such aggravated\nproportions that every one was of opinion she had no chance of\nrecovery. The priest who assisted her had already addressed words of\nconsolation to me, exhorting me to Christian resignation. I turned\nagain with confidence to the souls in Purgatory, who had assisted me\nonce before, and I went to the same church. There, prostrate before the\nBlessed Sacrament, I renewed my supplication with all the ardor with\nwhich affection for my family inspired me. \"O my God!\" I exclaimed,\n\"Thy mercy is not exhausted: in the name of Thy infinite bounty, do not\npermit that the recovery of my son should be paid by the death of his\nmother.\" I made a vow this time, to distribute two hundred copies of\nthe holy book, in order that a greater number of persons might be moved\nto intercede for the suffering souls. I besought those who had already\nbeen delivered from Purgatory to unite with me on this occasion. After\nthis prayer, as I was returning to the house, I saw my servants running\ntowards me. They told me with delight that my wife had undergone a\ngreat change for the better; that the delirium had ceased, and she had\nrecovered her power of speech. I at once ran on to assure myself of the\nfact: all was true. Very soon my wife was so perfectly recovered that\nshe came with me into the holy place to make an act of thanksgiving to\nGod for all His mercies.--_Ave Maria_.\n\n\nA STRANGE INCIDENT.\n\nA young German lady of rank, still alive to tell the story, arriving\nwith her friends at one of the most noted hotels in Paris, an apartment\nof unusual magnificence on the first floor was apportioned to her use.\nAfter retiring to rest she lay awake a long while, contemplating, by\nthe dim light of a night-lamp, the costly ornaments in the room, when\nsuddenly the folding-doors opposite the bed, which she had locked, were\nthrown open, and, amid a flood of unearthly light, there entered a\nyoung man in the garb of the French navy, having his hair dressed in\nthe peculiar mode _\u00e0 la Titus_. Taking a chair and placing it in\nthe middle of the room, he sat down, and drew from his pocket a pistol\nof an uncommon make, which he deliberately put to his forehead, fired,\nand fell back as if dead. At the moment of the explosion the room\nbecame dark and still, and a low voice said softly: \"Say an _Ave\nMaria_ for his soul.\"\n\nThe young lady, though not insensible, became paralyzed with horror,\nand remained in a kind of cataleptic trance, fully conscious, but\nunable to move or speak, until, at nine o'clock next day, no answer\nhaving been given to repeated calls of her maid, the doors were forced\nopen. At the same moment the power of speech returned, and the poor\nyoung lady shrieked out to her attendants that a man had shot himself\nin the night, and was lying dead on the floor. Nothing, however, was to\nbe seen, and they concluded that she was suffering from the effects of\na dream. Not being a Catholic, she could not, of course, understand the\nmeaning of the mysterious command.\n\nA short time afterwards, however, the proprietor of the hotel informed\na gentleman of the party that the terrible scene witnessed by the young\nlady had in reality been enacted only three nights previously in that\nvery room, when a young French officer put an end to his life with a\npistol of a peculiar description, which, together with the body, was\nthen lying at the Morgue awaiting identification. The gentleman\nexamined them both, and found them to correspond exactly with the\ndescription of the man and the pistol seen in the apparition.\n\nWhether the young officer was insane, or lived long enough to repent of\nhis crime, is not known; however, the then Archbishop of Paris,\nMonseigneur Sibour, was exceedingly impressed by the incident. He\ncalled upon the young lady, and directing her attention to the words\nspoken by the mysterious voice, urged her to embrace the Catholic\nfaith, to whose teaching it pointed so clearly.--_Ave Maria_,\nAugust 15, 1885.\n\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nHISTORICAL\n\n  All the ages, every clime\n  Strike the silver harp of time,\n  Chant the endless, holy story,\n  Souls retained in Purgatory.\n  Freed by Mass and holy rite,\n  Requiem, dirge and wondrous might,\n  A prayer which hut and palace send,\n  Where king and serf, where lord and hireling blend.\n  The vast cathedral and the village shrine\n  Unite in mercy's choral strain divine.\n\n\nHISTORICAL.\n\n\nTHE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY, OR A MIDDLE STATE, AMONG THE PAGAN NATIONS\nOF ANTIQUITY.\n\nBY THE REV. A. A LAMBING, A.M.\n\n[This very interesting article was originally published in the \"Ave\nMaria.\"]\n\nThe attentive student of the mythology of the nations of antiquity\ncannot fail to discover many vestiges of a primitive revelation of some\nof the principal truths of religion, although in the lapse of time they\nhave been so distorted and mingled with fiction that it requires\ncareful study to sift the few remaining grains of truth from the great\nmass of superstition and error in which they are all but lost. Among\nthese truths may be reckoned monotheism, or the belief in, and the\nworship of, one only God, which the learned Jesuit, the Rev. Aug.\nThebaud, in his \"Gentilism,\" has proved to have been the primitive\nbelief of all nations. It may not, however, be so generally known that\nthe doctrine of Purgatory, or a future state of purification, was also\nheld and taught in all the religious systems in the beginning. While a\nknowledge of this fact cannot add anything to the grounds of our faith\nas Catholics, it will not be wholly without interest, and it will,\nbesides, better enable us to give a reason for the faith that is in us.\nIt was left to Martin Luther to found an ephemeral religious system\nthat should deny this dogma, founded no less on revelation than on\nright reason; but, then, logic has never been one of the strong points\nof Protestants.\n\nBefore turning my attention to the nations of the pagan world, I shall\nbriefly give the Jewish belief on this point. It may not generally be\nknown that the doctrine of a middle state is not explicitly proposed to\nthe belief of the Jews in any of the writings of the Old Testament,\nalthough it was firmly held by the people. We depend for our knowledge\nof this fact mainly on the celebrated passage of the Second Book of\nMachabees (xii. 43-46). The occasion on which the doctrine was stated\nwas this: Some of the soldiers of Judas Machabeus, the leader of the\nJewish armies, fell in a certain battle; and when their fellow-soldiers\ncame to bury them, they discovered secreted in the folds of their\ngarments some parts of the spoils of one of the pagan shrines, which it\nwas not permitted them to keep. After praying devoutly, the sacred\nwriter goes on to say that Judas, \"Making a gathering, sent twelve\nthousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifices to be offered\nfor the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the\nresurrection [for if he had not hoped that they who were slain should\nrise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the\ndead]. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with\ngodliness had great grace laid up for them. It is, therefore, a holy\nand wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed\nfrom sins.\"\n\nThe Catholic doctrine is thus briefly laid down in the Catechism:\n\"Purgatory is a place of punishment in the other life where some souls\nsuffer for a time before they can go to heaven;\" or, in the words of\nthe Catechism of the Council of Trent, there is \"the fire of Purgatory,\nin which the souls of just men are cleansed by a temporary punishment\nin order to be admitted into their eternal country, 'into which nothing\ndefiled entereth.'\"\n\nHow far the pagan notions of a middle state harmonize with the\nChristian doctrine the reader will be able to determine as we proceed.\n\nI must premise by stating that almost all, if not all, the forms of\npaganism were two-fold, containing a popular form of religion, believed\nand practiced by the mass of the people, and a more recondite form that\nwas known only to the initiated, whether this was the priestly caste,\nas was generally the case, or whether they were designated by some\nother name. It should also be observed that the forms of religion were\nconstantly undergoing changes of greater or less importance. Nor must\nwe lose sight of the fact that different nations embodied the same idea\nunder different terms. The conception of the phlegmatic Norseman would\nbe different from that of the imaginative Oriental, and the language of\nthe refined Greek would be far other than that of the rude American\nsavage. But yet the same truth may be found to underlie all, the\noutward garb alone differing.\n\nTurning first to Egypt, which is, rightly or wrongly, commonly\nconsidered the cradle of civilization, we may sum up its teaching with\nregard to the lot of the dead, and the middle state, in these\ninteresting remarks of a learned author: \"The continuance of the soul\nafter its death, its judgment in another world, and its sentence\naccording to its deserts, either to happiness or suffering, were\nundoubted parts both of the popular and of the more recondite religion.\nIt was the universal belief that immediately after death the soul\ndescended into a lower world, and was conducted to the Hall of Truth\n(or, 'of the Two Truths'), where it was judged in the presence of\nOsiris and the forty-two demons, the 'Lords of Truth' and judges of the\ndead. Anubis, 'the director of the weight,' brought forth a pair of\nscales, and, placing on one scale a figure or emblem of Truth, set on\nthe other a vase containing the good actions of the deceased; Thoth\nstanding by the while, with a tablet in his hand, whereon to record the\nresult. According to the side on which the balance inclined, Osiris\ndelivered the sentence. If the good deeds preponderated, the blessed\nsoul was allowed to enter the 'boat of the sun,' and was conducted by\ngood spirits to Aahlu (Elysium), to the 'pools of peace,' and the\ndwelling place of Osiris.... The good soul, having first been freed\nfrom its infirmities by passing through the basin of purgatorial fire,\nguarded by the four ape-faced genii, and then made the companion of\nOsiris three thousand years, returned from Amenti, re-entered its\nformer body, rose from the dead, and lived once more a human life upon\nearth. This process was reiterated until a certain mystic cycle of\nyears became complete, when finally the good and blessed attained the\ncrowning joy of union with God, being absorbed into the Divine Essence,\nand thus attaining the true end and full perfection of their being.\"\n[1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"History of Ancient Egypt,\" George Rawlinson, Vol. I., pp.\n327-329.]\n\nIt may be remarked that all systems of religion which held the doctrine\nof metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, should be considered\nas believing in a middle state of purgation, since they maintained the\nnecessity of the soul's further purification, after death, before it\nwas permitted to enter into its final rest.\n\nIn the ever-varying phases through which Buddhism, the religion of all\nSouth-eastern Asia, has passed in its protracted existence, it is\ndifficult to determine with any degree of certainty, precisely what its\ndisciples hold; but the belief in metempsychosis, which is one of its\nfundamental doctrines, must permit us to range it on the side of those\nwho hold to the idea of a middle state. Certain it is, they believe\nthat the soul, by a series of new births, becomes, in process of time,\nbetter fitted for the final state in which it is destined for ever to\nremain. The same may be said of the religion of the great body of the\nChinese; for, although they have their law-giver Confucius, their\nreligion at present, as far as it merits the name, appears to be no\nmore than a certain form of Buddhism.\n\nComing to the more western nations of Asia, we may remark that, as\ntheir religions were evidently a corruption of primitive revelation,\nless removed in point of time, they must, although they had already\nbecome idolatrous, have embodied the idea of a future state of\npurgation, notwithstanding that it is impossible to determine at this\ndistant day, the exact nature of their doctrines. If, however, we turn\nfrom these to the doctrine of Zoroaster, our means of forming an\nopinion are more ample.\n\nZoroaster, or, more correctly, Zarathustra, the founder of the Persian\nreligion, was born, according to some accounts, in the sixth century\nbefore our era, while others claim for him an antiquity dating at least\nfrom the thirteenth century before Christ. Be that as it may--and it\ndoes not concern us to inquire into it--this much is certain: he was a\nfirm believer in a middle state, and he transmitted the same to his\nfollowers. But, going a step further than some, he taught that the\nsouls undergoing purification are helped by the prayers of their\nfriends upon earth. \"The Zoroastrians,\" says Mr. Rawlinson, \"were\ndevout believers in the immortality of the soul and a conscious future\nexistence. They taught that immediately after death the souls of men,\nboth good and bad, proceeded together along an appointed path, to 'the\nbridge of the gatherer.' This was a narrow road conducting to heaven or\nparadise, over which the souls of the pious alone could pass, while the\nwicked fell from it into the gulf below, where they found themselves in\nthe place of punishment. The good soul was assisted across the bridge\nby the Angel Serosh--'the happy, well-formed, swift, tall Serosh'--who\nmet the weary wayfarer, and sustained his steps as he effected the\ndifficult passage. The prayers of his friends in this world were of\nmuch avail to the deceased, and greatly helped him on his journey.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Ancient Monarchies.\" Vol. II, p 339.]\n\nWith regard to the opinions held by the Greeks,--and the same may, in\ngeneral terms, be applied to the Romans, whose religious views\ncoincided more or less closely with those of their more polished\nneighbors,--it is difficult to form a correct idea. Not that the\nclassic writers and philosophers have permitted the subject to sink\ninto oblivion,--on the contrary, they have treated it at considerable\nlength, as all classic scholars well know,--but while, on the one hand,\nas I remarked above, there is a difference between the popular ideas\nand those of the learned, there is also here a great difference of\nopinion between the various schools of philosophy. Not only so, but it\nis difficult to determine how far the philosophers themselves were in\nearnest in the opinions they expressed; and how far, too, we understand\nthem. The opinions of the people, and much more, those of the learned,\nvary with the principal periods of Grecian and Roman history. This\nmuch, however, may be safely held, that, while they drew their origin\nfrom Central or Western Asia, their religion must, in the beginning,\nhave been that of the countries from which they came. But truth only is\nimmutable; error is ever changing.\n\nI shall not tax the patience of the reader by asking him to pass in\nreview the more striking periods of the history of these famous\nnations, but shall content myself with giving the views of a celebrated\nwriter on a part, at least, of the question. Speaking of the opinions\nheld by the Greek philosophers regarding the future state of the soul,\nDr. Dollinger says, \"The old and universal tradition admitted, in\ngeneral, that man continued to exist after death; but the Greeks of the\nHomeric age did not dream of a retribution appointed to all after\ndeath, or of purifying and penitential punishments. It is only some\nconspicuous offenders against the gods who, in Homer, are tormented in\ndistant Erebus. In Hesiod, the earlier races of man continue to live\non, sometimes as good demons, sometimes as souls of men in bliss, or as\nheroes; yet, though inculcating moral obligations, he does not point to\na reward to be looked for beyond the grave, but only to the justice\nthat dominates in this economy.... Plato expressly ascribes to the\nOrphic writers the dogma of the soul's finding herself in the body as\nin a sepulchre or prison, on the score of previously contracted guilt;\na dogma indubitably ascending to a very high antiquity.\n\n\"... It is from this source that Pindar drew, who, of the old Greeks,\ngenerally has expressed notions the most precise and minutely distinct\nof trial and tribulation after death, and the circuits and lustrations\nof the soul. He assigns the island of the blest as for the everlasting\nenjoyment of those who, in a triple existence in the upper and lower\nworld, have been able to keep their souls perfectly pure from all sin.\nOn the other hand, the souls of sinners appear after death before the\njudgment seat of a judge of the nether world, by whom they are\nsentenced to a heavy doom, and are ceaselessly dragged the world over,\nsuffering bloody torments. But as for those whom Persephone has\nreleased from the old guilt of sin, their souls she sends in the ninth\nyear back again to the upper sun; of them are born mighty kings, and\nmen of power and wisdom, who come to be styled saintly heroes by their\nposterity.\" And, again: \"Plato was the first of the Greeks to throw\nhimself, in all sincerity, and with the whole depth of his intellect,\nupon the solution of the great question of immortality.... He was, in\ntruth, the prophet of the doctrine of immortality for his time, and for\nthe Greek nation.... The metempsychosis which he taught under Orphic\nand Pythagorean inspiration is an essential ingredient of his theory of\nthe world, and is, therefore, perpetually recurring in his more\nimportant works. He connects it with an idea sifted and taken from\npopular belief of a state of penance in Hades, though it can hardly be\nascertained how large a portion of mystical ornament or poetical\nconjecture he throws into the particular delineation of 'the last\nthings,' and of transmigration. He adopts ten grades of migration, each\nof a thousand years; so that the soul, in each migration, makes a\nselection of its life-destiny, and renews its penance ten times, until\nit is enabled to return to an incorporeal existence with God, and to\nthe pure contemplation of Him and the ideal world. Philosophic souls\nonly escape after a three-fold migration, in each of which they choose\nagain their first mode of life. All other souls are judged in the\nnether world after their first life, and there do penance for their\nguilt in different quarters; the incurable only are thrust down forever\ninto Tartarus. He attaches eternal punishment to certain particularly\nabominable sins, while such as have lived justly repose blissfully in\nthe dwelling of a kindred star until their entrance into a second life.\nPlato was clearly acquainted with the fact of the necessity of an\nintermediate state between eternal happiness and misery, a state of\npenance and purification after death.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"The Gentile and the Jew,\" Vol. I. pp. 301-320.]\n\nThe popular notion of Charon, the ferryman of the lower world, refusing\nto carry over the river Acheron the souls of such as had not been\nburied, but leaving them to wander on the shores for a century before\nhe would consent, or rather before he was permitted by the rulers of\nthe Hades to do so, contains a vestige of the belief in a middle state,\nwhere some souls had to suffer for a time before they could enter into\nthe abode of the blest. But when it is said that the friends of the\ndeceased could, by interring his remains, secure his entry into the\ndesired repose, we see a more striking resemblance to the doctrine that\nfriends on earth are able to assist the souls undergoing purgation. A\nremarkable instance of the popular belief in this doctrine is furnished\nin Grecian history, where the soldiers were encouraged on a certain\noccasion to risk their lives in the service of their country by their\nbeing told to write their names on their arms, so that if any fell his\nfriends could have him properly interred, and thus secure him against\nall fear of having to wander for a century on the bleak shores of the\ndividing river. Nothing could better show the hold which this idea had\non the minds of the people.\n\nRoman mythological ideas were, as has been said, nearly related to\nthose of Greece; they underwent as great modifications, while the\nopinions of her philosophers were equally abstruse, varied, and\ndifficult to understand. The author above quoted, treating of the\nnotion of the soul and a future state entertained by the Roman\nphilosophers, proves their ideas to have been extremely vague and ill-\ndefined. Still, there were not wanting those who held to the belief of\nan existence after this life. Plutarch, a Greek, \"has left us a view of\nthe state of the departed. The souls of the dead, ascending through the\nair, and in part reaching the highest heaven, are either luminous and\ntransparent or dark and spotted, on account of sins adhering to them,\nand some have even scars upon them. The soul of man, he says elsewhere,\ncomes from the moon; his mind, intellect,--from the sun; the separation\nof the two is only completely effected after death. The soul wanders\nawhile between the moon and earth for purposes of punishment--or, if it\nbe good, of purification, until it rises to the moon, where the\n_vou\u00e7_ [1] leaves it and returns to its home, the sun; while the\nsoul is buried in the moon. Lucian, on the other hand, whose writings\nfor the most part are a pretty faithful mirror of the notions in vogue\namong his contemporaries, bears testimony to a continuance of the old\ntradition of the good reaching the Elysian fields, and the great\ntransgressors finding themselves given up to the Erinnys in a place of\ntorment, where they are torn by vultures, crushed on the wheel, or\notherwise tormented; while such as are neither great sinners nor\ndistinguished by their virtues stray about in meadows as bodiless\nshadows, and are fed on the libations and mortuary sacrifices offered\nat their sepulchres. An obolus for Charon was still placed in the mouth\nof every dead body.\" [2] Here, again, we have both the belief in the\nexistence of a middle state and of the assistance afforded to those\ndetained there.\n\n[Footnote 1: Mind]\n\n[Footnote 2: \"The Gentile and the Jew,\" Vol. II., p. 146.]\n\nThe religion of the Druids is so wrapped in mystery that it is\ndifficult to determine what they believed on any point, and much more\non that of the future lot of the soul; but as they held the doctrine of\nmetempsychosis, it is fair to class them among the adherents to the\nnotion of a period of purgation between death and the soul's entrance\ninto its final rest. Of the views of the sturdy Norsemen, on the\ncontrary, there can be no two opinions; in their mythology the idea of\na middle state is expressed in the clearest language. The following\npassage from Mr. Anderson, places the matter beyond question. I may\nfirst remark, for the information of the general reader, that by Gimle\nis meant the abode of the righteous after the day of judgment; by\nNaastrand, the place of punishment after the same dread sentence; by\nRagnarok, the last day; Valhal, the temporary place of happiness to\nwhich the god Odin invites those who have been slain in battle; and\nHel, the goddess of death, whose abode is termed Helheim. With these\nexplanations the reader will be able to understand the subjoined\npassage, which expresses the Norse idea of the future purgation of the\nsoul.\n\nAfter speaking of the lot of the departed, the writer says: \"But it\nmust be remembered that Gimle and Naastrand have reference to the state\nof things after Ragnarok, the Twilight of the gods; while Valhal and\nHel have reference to the state of things between death and Ragnarok;--\na time of existence corresponding somewhat to what is called\n_Purgatory_ by the Catholic Church.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Norse Mythology,\" p. 393.]\n\nIt would appear to be no exaggeration to claim the same belief in a\nmiddle state for the American Indians, in as far as it is possible for\nus to draw anything definite from their crude notions of religion. A\ngood authority on subjects connected with Indian customs and beliefs\nsays: \"The belief respecting the land of souls varied greatly in\ndifferent tribes and different individuals.\" And, again: \"An endless\nvariety of incoherent fancies is connected with the Indian idea of a\nfuture life.... At intervals of ten or twelve years, the Hurons, the\nNeutrals, and other kindred tribes, were accustomed to collect the\nbones of their dead, and deposit them, with great ceremony, in a common\nplace of burial. The whole nation was sometimes assembled at this\nsolemnity; and hundreds of corpses, brought from their temporary\nresting-places, were inhumed in one common pit. From this hour the\nimmortality of their souls began.\" This evidently implies a period\nduring which the souls were wandering at a distance from the place of\ntheir eternal repose. Does the following passage throw any light upon\nit? The reader must decide the point for himself. \"Most of the\ntraditions,\" continues the same writer, \"agree, however, that the\nspirits, on their journey heavenward, were beset with difficulties and\nperils. There was a swift river which must be crossed on a log that\nshook beneath their feet, while a ferocious dog opposed their passage,\nand drove many into the abyss. This river was full of sturgeons and\nother fish, which the ghosts speared for their subsistence. Beyond was\na narrow path between moving rocks which each instant crushed together,\ngrinding to atoms the less nimble of the pilgrims who essayed to pass.\"\n[1] A vestige of the same belief seems to crop out in a custom of some\nof the tribes of Central Africa, as appears from the remarks of a\nrecent traveller. \"When a death occurs,\" says Major Serpa Pinto, \"the\nbody is shrouded in a white cloth, and, being covered with an ox-hide,\nis carried to the grave, dug in a place selected for the purpose. The\ndays following on an interment are days of high festival in the hut of\nthe deceased. The native kings are buried with some ceremony, and their\nbodies, being arrayed in their best clothes, are conveyed to the tomb\nin a dressed hide. There is a great feasting on these occasions, and an\nenormous sacrifice of cattle; for the heir of the deceased is bound to\nsacrifice his whole herd in order to regale his people, and give peace\nto the soul of the departed.\" [2]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"The Jesuits in North America,\" Francis Parkman.\nIntroduction, pp. 81, 92.]\n\n[Footnote 2: \"How I Crossed Africa,\" Vol. I., p. 63.]\n\nSuch a unity of sentiment on the part of so many nations differing in\nevery other respect can only be attributed either to a natural feeling\ninherent in man, or to a primitive revelation, which, amid the\nvicissitudes of time, has left its impress on the minds of all nations.\nThat the doctrine of a middle state of purification was a part of the\nprimitive revelation cannot, I think, admit of reasonable doubt. To the\ntrue servant of God, this unanimity is another proof of the faith once\nrevealed to the Saints, and, at the same time, an additional motive for\nthanking God for the light vouchsafed him, while so many others are\nleft to grope in the darkness of error.--_Ave Maria,_ Nov. 17,\n1883.\n\n\nDEVOTION TO THE DEAD AMONGST THE AMERICAN INDIANS OF THE EARLY JESUIT\nMISSIONS.\n\nIn the \"_R\u00e9lations des J\u00e9suites_,\" on their early missions in New\nFrance, now Canada, we find many examples, told in the quaint old\nFrench of the seventeenth century, and with true apostolic simplicity,\nof the tender devotion for the souls in Purgatory cherished by all the\nIndians of every tribe who had embraced Christianity from the teaching\nof those zealous missionaries. The few extracts we give below from the\n\"_R\u00e9lations_\" will serve to show how deeply this touching devotion\nto the departed is implanted in our nature, seeing that the doctrine of\na place of purgation in the after life finds so ready a response in the\nheart and soul of the untutored children of the forest:\n\n\"The devotion which they have for the souls of the departed is another\nmark of their faith. Not far from this assembly there is a cemetery, in\nthe midst of which is seen a fine cross; sepulchres four or five feet\nwide and six or seven feet long, rise about four feet from the ground,\ncarefully covered with bark. At the head and feet of the dead are two\ncrosses, and on one side a sword, if the dead were a man, or some\ndomestic article, if a woman. Having arrived there, I was asked to pray\nto God for the souls of those who were buried in that place. A good\nChristian gave me a beaver skin by the hands of her daughter, about\nseven years of age, and said to me, when her daughter presented it:\n'Father, this present is to ask you to pray to God for the souls of her\nsister and her grandmother.' Many others made the same request; I\npromised to comply with their wishes, but, as for their presents, I\ncould not accept them.\n\n\"Some time ago, when the Christians of this place died, their beads\nwere buried with them; this custom was last year changed for a holier\none, by means of a good Christian who, when dying, gave her chaplet to\nanother, begging her to keep it and say it for her, at least on feast\ndays. This charity was done to her, and the custom was introduced from\nthat time: so it was that when any one died, his or her rosary was\ngiven, with a little present, to some one chosen from the company\npresent, who is bound to take it, and say it for the departed soul, at\nleast on Sundays and Festivals.\"--_Journal of Father Jacques Buteux\nin \"R\u00e9lations,\" Vol. II_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn one of the Huron missions, an Indian named Joachim Annicouton,\nconverted after many years of evil courses and, later, of hypocritical\npretense of conversion, was murdered by three drunken savages of his\nown tribe, but lived long enough to edify all around him by his pious\nresignation, his admirable patience in the most cruel sufferings, and\nhis generous forgiveness of his enemies. Having given a touching\naccount of his death, the good Father Claude Dablon goes on to say:\n\n\"A very singular circumstance took place at his burial, which was\nattended by all the families of the village, with many of the French\nresidents of the neighborhood. Before the body was laid in the earth,\nthe widow inquired if the authors of his death were present; being told\nthat they were not, she begged that they might be sent for. These poor\ncreatures having come, they drew near to the corpse, with downcast\neyes, sorrow and confusion in their faces. The widow, looking upon\nthem, said: 'Well! behold poor Joachim Annicouton, you know what\nbrought him to the state in which you now see him; I ask of you no\nother satisfaction but that you pray to God for the repose of his\nsoul.' ...\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"It is customary amongst the Indians to give all the goods of the dead\nto their relatives and friends, to mourn their death; but the husband\nof Catherine, in his quality of first captain, assembled the Council of\nthe Ancients, and told them that they must no longer keep to their\nformer customs, which profited nothing to the dead; that, as for him,\nhis thought was to dress up the body of the deceased in her best\ngarments, as she might rise some day,--and to employ the rest of what\nbelonged to her in giving alms to the poor. This thought was approved\nof by all, and it became a law which was ever after strictly observed.\n\n\"The body of his wife was then arrayed in her best clothes, and he\ndistributed amongst the poor all that remained of her little furniture,\ncharging them to pray for the dead. The whole might have amounted to\nthree hundred francs, which is a great deal for an Indian.\"--\n_R\u00e9lations_, 1673-4.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"They [1] have established amongst them a somewhat singular practice to\nhelp the souls in Purgatory. Besides the offerings they make for that\nto the Church, and the alms they give to the poor,--besides the\ndevotion of the four Sundays of the month, to which is attached an\nindulgence for the souls in Purgatory, so great that these days are\nlike Easter; as soon as any one is dead, his or her nearest relations\nmake a spiritual collection of communions in every family, begging them\nto offer all they can for the repose, of the dead.\"--_R\u00e9lations_,\n1677-8.\n\n[Footnote 1: The Hurons of Loretto, near Quebec.]\n\n\nSUPERSTITIOUS BELIEF AMONGST SOME OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.\n\nCABRAL.\n\nWhen they are asked what they think of the soul, they answer that it is\nthe shadow \"or living image\" of the body; and it is as a consequence of\nthis principle that they believe all animated in the universe. It is by\ntradition that they suppose the soul immortal. They pretend that,\nseparated from the body, it retains the inclinations it had during\nlife; and hence comes the custom of burying with the dead all that had\nserved to satisfy their wants or their tastes. They are even persuaded\nthat the soul remains a long time near the body after their separation,\nand that it afterwards passes on into a country which they know not,\nor, as some will have it, transformed into a turtle. Others give all\nmen two souls, one such as we have mentioned, the other which never\nleaves the body, and goes from one but to pass into another.\n\nFor this reason it is that they bury children on the roadside, so that\nwomen passing by may pick up these second souls, which, not having long\nenjoyed life, are more eager to begin it anew. They must also be fed;\nand for that purpose it is that divers sorts of food are placed on the\ngraves, but that is only done for a little while, as it is supposed\nthat in time the souls get accustomed to fasting. The difficulty they\nfind in supporting the living makes them forget the care for the\nnourishment of the dead. It is also customary to bury with them all\nthat had belonged to them, presents being even added thereto; hence it\nis a grievous scandal amongst all those nations when they see Europeans\nopen graves to take out the beaver robes they have placed therein. The\nburial-grounds are places so respected that their profanation is\naccounted the most atrocious outrage that can be offered to an Indian\nvillage.\n\nIs there not in all this a semblance of belief in our doctrine of\nPurgatory?\n\n\nREMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD AMONGST THE EGYPTIANS.\n\nIn Egypt, as all over the East, the lives of women amongst the\nwealthier classes are for the most part spent within the privacy of\ntheir homes, as it were in close confinement: they are born, live, and\ndie in the bosom of that impenetrable sanctuary. It is only on Thursday\nthat they go forth, with their slaves carrying refreshments and\nfollowed by hired weepers. It is a sacred duty that calls them to the\npublic cemetery. There they have funeral hymns chanted, their own\nplaintive cries mingling with the sorrowful lamentations of the\nmourners. They shed tears and flowers on the graves of their kindred,\nwhich they afterwards cover with the meats brought by their servants,\nand all the crowd, after inviting the souls of the dead, partake of a\nreligious repast, in the persuasion that those beloved shades taste of\nthe same food and are present at the sympathetic banquet. Is there not\nin this superstition a distorted tradition of the dogma by which we are\ncommanded not to forget the souls of our brethren beyond the grave?--\n_Annals of the Propagation of the Faith_, Vol. XVII.\n\nREMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE.\n\n\nPART I.\n\nANNA T. SADLIER.\n\n\"Hark! the whirlwind is in the wood, a low murmur in the vale; it is\nthe mighty army of the dead returning from the air.\" These beautiful\nwords occur in one of the ancient Celtic poems quoted by Macpherson and\ndating some thousand years later than Ossian. For the Celts held to the\ndoctrine of the immortality of souls, and believed that their ethereal\nsubstance was wafted from place to place by the wind on the clouds of\nheaven. Amongst the Highlanders a belief prevailed that there were\ncertain hills to which the spirits of their departed friends had a\npeculiar attachment. Thus the hill of Ore was regarded by the house of\nCrubin as their place of meeting in the future life, and its summit was\nsupposed to be supernaturally illumined when any member of the family\ndied. It was likewise a popular belief that the spirits of the departed\nhaunted places beloved in life, hovered about their friends, and\nappeared at times on the occasion of any important family event. In the\ncalm of a new existence,\n\n  \"Side by side they sit who once mixed in battle their steel.\"\n\nThere is a poetic beauty in many of these ancient beliefs concerning\nthe dead, but they are far surpassed in grandeur and sublimity, as well\nas in deep tenderness, by the Christian conception of a state of\npurgation after death, when the souls of the departed are still bound\nto, their dear ones upon earth by a strong spiritual bond of mutual\nhelp. They dwell, then, in an abode of peace, although of intense\nsuffering, and calmly await the eternal decree which summons them to\nheaven; while the time of their probation is shortened day by day,\nmonth by month, year by year by the Masses, prayers, alms-deeds and\nother suffrages of their friends who are still dwellers on earth,\nliving the old life; and in its rush of cares and duties, of pleasures\nand of pains, forgetting them too often in all save prayer. That is the\nreminder. The dead who have died in the bosom of the Holy Church can\nnever be quite forgotten. \"The mighty army of the dead returning from\nthe air\" might in our Catholic conception be that host of delivered\nsouls who, after the Feast of All Souls, or some such season of special\nprayer for them, are arising upwards into everlasting bliss. But it is\nour purpose in the present chapters to gather up from the byways of\nhistory occasions when the belief in prayer for the dead is made\nmanifest, whether it be in some noted individual, in a people, or in a\ncountry. It is \"the low murmur of the vale\" going up constantly from\nall peoples, from all times, under all conditions.\n\nIn Russia not only is prayer for the dead most sedulously observed by\nthe Catholic Church, but also in a most particular manner by the\nSchismatic Greeks. The following details under this head will be, no\ndoubt, of interest to our readers:\n\n\"As soon as the spirit has departed, the body is dressed and placed in\nan open coffin in a room decorated for the purpose. Numerous lights are\nkept burning day and night; and while the relations take turns to watch\nand pray by the coffin, the friends come to pay the last visit to the\ndeceased.... On the decease of extraordinary persons, the Emperor and\nhis successor are accustomed to visit the corpse, while the poor, on\nthe other hand, never fail to lament at the door the loss of their\nbenefactor, and to be dismissed with handsome donations. Total\nstrangers, too, come of their own accord to offer a prayer for the\ndeceased; for the image of a saint hung up before the door indicates to\nevery passenger the house of mourning.... The time of showing the\ncorpse lasts in general only three or four days, and then follow the\nblessing of the deceased, and the granting of the pass. The latter is\nto be taken literally. The corpse is carried to the Church, and the\npriest lays upon the breast a long paper, which the common people call\n'a pass for heaven.' On this paper is written the Christian name of the\ndeceased, the date of his birth and that of his death. It then states\nthat he was baptized as a Christian, that he lived as such, and before\nhis death, received the Sacrament--in short, the whole course of life\nwhich he led as a Greek Russian Christian.... All who meet a funeral\ntake off their hats, and offer a prayer to Heaven for the deceased, and\nsuch is the outward respect paid on such occasions, that it is not\nuntil they have entirely lost sight of the procession that they put on\ntheir hats again. This honor is paid to every corpse, whether of the\nRussian, Protestant, or Catholic Communions.... After the corpse is\nduly prepared, the priests sing a funeral Mass, called in Russian\nclerical language, _panichide_.... On the anniversary of the death\nof a beloved relative, they assemble in the Church, and have a\n_panichide_ read for his soul.... Persons of distinction found a\nlamp to burn forever at the tombs of their dead, and have these\n_panichides_ repeated every week, for, perhaps, a long series of\nyears. Lastly, every year, on a particular day, Easter Monday, a\nservice and a repast are held for all the dead.\"\n\nThe history of France, like that of all Catholic nations, abounds in\ninstances of public intercession for the dead, the pomp and splendor of\nroyal obsequies, the solemn utterances of public individuals; the\ncelebrations at P\u00e8re la Chaise, the magnificent requiems. In a nation\nso purely Catholic as it was and is, though the scum of evil men have\narisen like a foul miasma to its surface, it does not surprise us. We\nshall therefore select from its history an incident or two, somewhat at\nrandom. That beautiful one, far back at the era of the Crusades, where\nSt. Louis, King of France, absent in the East, received intelligence of\nthe death of Queen Blanche, his mother. The grief of the Papal Legate,\nwho had come to announce the news, was apparent in his face, and Louis,\nfearing some new blow, led the prelate into his chapel, which,\naccording to an ancient chronicler, was \"his arsenal against all the\ncrosses of the world.\" Louis, overcome with sorrow, quickly changed his\ntears and lamentations into the language of resignation, and desiring\nto be left alone with his confessor, Geoffrey de Beaulieu, recited the\noffice of the dead. \"He was present every day at a funeral service\ncelebrated in memory of his mother; and sent into the West a great\nnumber of jewels and precious stones to be distributed among the\nprincipal churches of France; at the same time exhorting the clergy to\nput up prayers for the repose of his mother. In proportion with his\nendeavors,\" continues the historian, \"to procure prayers for his\nmother, his grief yielded to the hope of seeing her again in heaven;\nand his mind, when calmed by resignation, found its most effectual\nconsolation in that mysterious tie which still unites us with those we\nhave lost, in that religious sentiment which mingles with our\naffections to purify them, and with our regrets to mitigate them.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Michaud's Hist. of the Crusades,\" Vol. II., pp. 477-8.]\n\nIn the Instructions which St. Louis addressed on his death-bed to his\nson, Philip the Bold, is to be found the following paragraph:\n\n\"Dear Son, I pray thee, if it shall please our Lord that I should quit\nthis life before thee, that thou wilt help me with Masses and prayers,\nand that thou wilt send to the congregations of the kingdom of France,\nto make them put up prayers for my soul, and that thou wilt desire that\nour Lord may give me part in all the good deeds thou shalt perform.\"\n[1]\n\n[Footnote 1: These instructions were preserved in a register of the\nChamber of Accounts. See Appendix to \"Michaud's History of Crusades,\"\nVol. II., p. 471.]\n\nPhilip, on the death of his father, in a letter which was read aloud in\nall the churches, begs of the clergy and faithful, \"to put up to the\nKing of kings their prayers and their offerings for that prince; with\nwhose zeal for religion and tender solicitude for the kingdom of\nFrance, which he loved as the apple of his eye, they were so well\nacquainted.\" In the Chronicles of Froissart, as well as in the Grande\nChronique of St. Denis, we read that the body of King John, who died a\nprisoner in England, was brought home with great pomp and circumstance,\non the first day of May, 1364. It was at first placed in the Abbey of\nSt. Anthony, thence removed to Notre Dame, and finally to St. Denis,\nthe resting-place of royalty, where solemn Mass was said. On the day of\nhis interment, the Archbishop of Sens sang the requiem. Thus did Holy\nMother Church welcome the exile home.\n\nA pretty anecdote is that of Marie Lecsinska, Queen of Louis XV., who,\non hearing of the death of Marshal Saxe, a Lutheran by profession, and\nbut an indifferent observer of the maxims of any creed, cried out:\n\"Alas! what a pity that we cannot sing a _De Profundis_ for a man\nwho has made us sing so many _Te Deums_.\"\n\nWe cannot take our leave of France, without noticing here the beautiful\nprayer offered up by the saintly Princess Louise de Bourbon Cond\u00e9, in\nreligion _S\u009cur Marie Joseph de la Mis\u00e9ricorde_, on hearing of the\ndeath of her nephew, the Duc d'Enghien, so cruelly put to death by the\nfirst Napoleon. Falling, face downwards, on the earth, she prayed:\n\"Mercy, my God, have mercy upon him! Have mercy, Lord, on the soul of\nLouis Antoine! Pardon the faults of his youth, remembering the precious\nBlood, which Jesus Christ shed for all men, and have regard to the\ncruel manner in which his blood was shed. Glory and misfortune have\nattended his life. But what we call glory, has it any claims in Thy\neyes? However, Lord, it is not a demerit before Thee, when it is based\non true honor, which is always inseparable from devotion to our duties.\nThou knowest, Lord, those that he has fulfilled, and for those in which\nhe has failed, let the misfortunes of which he has been at last the\nvictim, be a repararation and an expiation. Again, Lord, I ask for\nmercy for his soul.\" On the death of Napoleon, the murderer of this\nbeloved nephew, the same holy religious wrote to the Bishop of St.\nFlour: \"Bonaparte is dead; he was your enemy, for he persecuted you. I\nthink you will say a Mass for him; I beg also that you say a Mass on my\nbehalf for this unfortunate man.\"\n\nTurning to the History of Rome, it will be of interest to take a glance\nat the pious Confraternity _della Morte_ which was instituted in\n1551, and regularly established in 1560, by His Holiness, Pius IV. It\nwas chiefly composed of citizens of high rank. Its object was to\nprovide burial for the dead. Solemnly broke upon the balmy stillness of\nthe Roman nights, all these years and centuries since its foundation,\nits chanting of holy psalmody, and its audible praying for the dead,\nborne along in its religious keeping. The glare of the waxen torches\nfell upon the bier, the voices of the associates joined in the\n_Miserere,_ and the Church reached, the corpse was laid there,\ntill the fitting hour, when the Requiem Mass should be sung, and the\nfinal absolution given, preparatory to interment.\n\nFlorence supplies us with a brilliant picture of that sixth day of\nJuly, 1439, the feast of Saint Romolo the Martyr, in the ninth year of\nthe Pontificate of Pope Eugenius IV., when long-standing differences\nbetween the Greek and Latin Churches were brought to an end in a most\namicable manner. Alas! for the Greeks, that they did not accept the\ndecisions of that day as final. On the 22d of January, 1439, Cosmo de\nMedici, then Gonfaloniere of Florence, received the Pope and his\ncardinals, with a pomp and splendor unknown to the history of modern\nEurope. On the 12th of the following month came the Patriarch, Joseph\nof Constantinople, and his bishops and theologians. On the 15th arrived\nthe Greek Emperor, John Paleologus, who was received at the Porto San\nGallo by the Pope and all his cardinals, the Florentine Signory, and a\nlong procession of the members of the monastic orders. \"A rare and very\nremarkable assemblage,\" says a chronicler [1] \"of the most learned men\nof Europe, and, indeed, of those extra European seats of a past\nculture, which were even now giving forth the last flashes from a once\nbrilliant light on the point of being quenched in utter darkness, were\nthus assembled at Florence.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: T. A. Trollope, in \"History of the Commonwealth of\nFlorence,\" Vol. III., pp. 137-8.]\n\nThis was the inauguration of the far-famed Council of Florence, which\nhad the result of settling the points at issue between the Eastern and\nWestern Churches. \"The Greeks confessed that the Roman faith proceeded\nrightly (_prociedere bene_), and united themselves with it by the\ngrace of God.\" Proclamation was accordingly made in the Cathedral, then\ncalled Santa Reparata, that the Greeks had agreed to hold and to\nbelieve the five disputed articles of which the fifth was, \"That he who\ndies in sin for which penance has been done, but from which he has not\nbeen purged, goes to Purgatory, and that the divine offices, Masses,\nprayers, and alms are useful for the purging of him.\"\n\nIn the history of Ireland, as might be expected, we come upon many\ninstances wherein the dead are solemnly remembered from that period,\nwhen still pagan, and one of the ancient manuscripts gives us an\naccount of certain races, it calls them, which were held for \"the souls\nof the foreigners slain in battle.\" This was back in the night of\nantiquity, and was no doubt some relic of the Christian tradition which\nhad remained amid the darkness of paganism. But to come to the\nChristian period. The famous Hugues de Lasci, or Hugo de Lacy, Lord of\nMeath, and one of the most distinguished men in early Irish annals,\nfounded many abbeys and priories, one at Colpe, near the mouth of the\nBoyne, one at Duleek, one at Dublin, and one at Kells. The Canons of\nSt. Augustine, as we read, \"in return for this gift, covenanted that\none of them should be constantly retained as a chaplain to celebrate\nMass for his soul and for those of his ancestors and successors.\" We\nalso read how Marguerite, wife of Gualtier de Lasci, brother of the\nabove, gave a large tract in the royal forest of Acornebury, in\nHerefordshire, for the erection of a nunnery for the benefit of the\nsouls of her parents, Guillaume and Mathilda de Braose, who with their\nson, her brother, had been famished in the dungeon at Windsor. In the\naccount of the death in Spain of Red Hugh O'Donnell, who holds a high\nplace among the chivalry of Ireland, it is mentioned that on his death-\nbed, \"after lamenting his crimes and transgressions; after a rigid\npenance for his sins and iniquities; after making his confession\nwithout reserve to his confessors, and receiving the body and blood of\nChrist; after being duly anointed by the hands of his own confessors\nand ecclesiastical attendants,\" he expired after seventeen days'\nillness at the king's palace in Simancas. \"His body,\" says the ancient\nchronicler, \"was conveyed to the king's palace at Valladolid in a four-\nwheeled hearse, surrounded by countless numbers of the king's State\nofficers, council and guards, with luminous torches and bright\nflambeaux of wax lights burning on either side. He was afterwards\ninterred in the monastery of St. Francis, in the Chapter, precisely,\nwith veneration and honor, and in the most solemn manner that any of\nthe Gaels had been ever interred in before. Masses and many hymns,\nchants and melodious canticles were celebrated for the welfare of his\nsoul; and his requiem was sung with becoming solemnity.\"\n\nOn the death of the celebrated Brian Boroihme, historians relate how\nhis body was conveyed by the clergy to the Abbey of Swords, whence it\nwas brought by other portions of the clergy and taken successively to\ntwo monasteries. It was then met by the Archbishop of Armagh, at the\nhead of his priesthood, and conveyed to Armagh, where the obsequies\nwere celebrated with a pomp and a fervor worthy the greatness and the\npiety of the deceased monarch.\n\nIn view of the arguments which are sometimes adduced to prove that the\nearly Irish Church did not teach this doctrine of prayer for the dead,\nit is curious to observe how in St. Patrick's second Council he\nexpressly forbids the holy sacrifice being offered up after death for\nthose who in life had made themselves unworthy of such suffrages. At\nthe Synod of Cashel, held just after the Norman conquest, the claim of\neach dead man's soul to a certain part of his chattels after death was\nasserted. To steal a page from the time-worn chronicles of Scotland, it\nis told by Theodoric that when Queen Margaret of Scotland, that gentle\nand noble character upon whom the Church has placed the crown of\ncanonization, was dying, she said to him: \"Two things I have to desire\nof thee;\" and one of these was thus worded, \"that as long as thou\nlivest thou wilt remember my poor soul in thy Masses and prayers.\" It\nhad been her custom in life to recite the office of the dead every day\nduring Lent and Advent. Sir Walter Scott mentions in his Minstrelsy of\nthe Scottish Border \"a curious league or treaty of peace between two\nhostile clans, by which the heads of each became bound to make the four\npilgrimages of Scotland for the benefit of those souls who had fallen\nin the feud.\" In the Bond of Alliance or Field Staunching Betwixt the\nClans of Scott and Ker this agreement is thus worded: \"That it is\nappointed, agreed and finally accorded betwixt honorable men,\" the\nnames are here mentioned, \"Walter Ker of Cessford, Andrew Ker of\nFairnieherst,\" etc., etc., \"for themselves, kin, friends, maintenants,\nassisters, allies, adherents, and partakers, on the one part; and\nWalter Scott of Branxholm,\" etc., etc., etc. For the staunching of all\ndiscord and variance between them and so on, amongst other provisions,\nthat \"the said Walter Scott of Branxholm shall gang, or cause gang, at\nthe will of the party, to the four head pilgrimages of Scotland, and\nshall say a Mass for the unquhile Andrew Ker of Cessford and them that\nwere slain in his company in the field of Melrose; and, upon his\nexpence, shall cause a chaplain to say a Mass daily, when he is\ndisposed, in what place the said Walter Ker and his friend pleases, for\nthe weil of the said souls, for the space of five years next to come.\nMark Ker of Dolphinston, Andrew Ker of Graden, shall gang at the will\nof the party to the four head pilgrimages of Scotland, and shall gar\nsay a Mass for the souls of the unquhile James Scott of Eskirk and\nother Scots, their friends, slain in the field of Melrose; and, upon\ntheir expence, shall gar a chaplain say a Mass daily, when he is\ndisposed, for the heal of their souls, where the said Walter Scott and\nhis friend pleases, for the space of the next three years to come.\" We\nmay mention that the four pilgrimages are Scoon, Dundee, Paisley, and\nMelrose. This devotion of praying for the dead seems, indeed, to have\ntaken strong hold upon these rude borderers, who, Sir Walter Scott\ninforms us, \"remained attached to the Roman Catholic faith rather\nlonger than the rest of Scotland.\" In many of their ancient ballads, at\nsome of which we have already glanced, this belief is prominent. The\ndying man, or as in the case of Clerk Saunders, the ghost begs of his\nsurvivors to \"wish my soul good rest.\" This belief is intermingled with\ntheir superstitions as in that one attached to Macduff's Cross. This\ncross is situated near Lindores, on the marsh dividing Fife from\nStrathern. Around the pedestal of this cross are tumuli, said to be the\ngraves of those who, having claimed the privilege of the law, failed in\nproving their consanguinity to the Thane of Fife. Such persons were\ninstantly executed. The people of Newburgh believe that the spectres of\nthese criminals still haunt the ruined cross, and claim that mercy for\ntheir souls which they had failed to obtain for their mortal existence.\n\nThus does the historian [1] mention the burial of St. Ninian, one of\nthe favorite Saints of the Scots: \"He was buried in the Church of St.\nMartin, which he had himself built from the foundation, and placed in a\nstone coffin near the altar, the clergy and people standing by and\nlifting up their heavenly hymns with heart and voice, with sighs and\ntears.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: Walsh's Hist, of the Cath. Church in Scotland.]\n\nIn the treasurer's books which relate to the reign of James IV. of\nScotland, there is the following entry for April, 1503: \"The king went\nagain to Whethorn.\" (A place of pilgrimage.) \"While there he heard of\nthe death of his brother, John, Earl of Mar, and charged the priests to\nperform a 'dirge and soul Mass' for his brother, and paid them for\ntheir pains.\"\n\nIn Montalembert's beautiful description of Iona, he mentions the\ntradition which declares that eight Norwegian kings or princes, four\nkings of Ireland, and forty-eight Scottish kings were buried there, as\nalso one king of France, whose name is not mentioned, and Egfrid, the\nSaxon King of Northumbria. There is the tomb of Robert Bruce, the tombs\nof many bishops, abbots, and of the great chiefs and nobles, the\nMacdougalls, Lords of Lorn; the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles; the\nMacleods, and the Macleans. Nowhere, perhaps, has death placed his seal\non a more imposing assemblage, of truly royal stateliness, of\nastonishingly cosmopolitan variety. In the midst of it all, in the very\ncentre of the burying-ground, stands a ruined chapel, under the\ninvocation of St. Oran, the first Irish monk who died in this region.\nThe church was built by the sainted Margaret, the wife of Malcolm\nCanmore, and the mother of St. David. Its mission there was obvious.\nFrom its altar arose to the Most High, the solemn celebration of the\ndread mysteries, the psalm and the prayer, for prince and for prelate,\nfor the great alike in the spiritual and temporal hierarchy.\n\nThe Duke of Argyle, in his work on Iona, seems astonished to find that\nSt. Columba believed in all the principal truths of Catholic faith,\namongst others, prayers for the dead, and yet he considers that he\ncould not be called a Catholic. The process of reasoning is a curious\none.\n\nMention is made in the history of Scotland of a famous bell, preserved\nat Glasgow until the Reformation. It was supposed to have been brought\nfrom Rome by St. Kentigern, and was popularly called \"St. Mungo's\nBell.\" It was tolled through the city to invite the citizens to pray\nfor the repose of departed souls.\n\nIn the great cathedrals of Scotland, before the Reformation, private\nchapels and altars were endowed for the relief of the dead, while in\nthe cities and large towns, each trade or corporation had an altar in\nthe principal churches and supported a chaplain to offer up Masses and\nprayers as well for the dead as for the living. The following incident\nis related in the life of the lovely and so sadly maligned Mary Queen\nof Scots. In the early days of her reign, when still struggling with\nthe intolerant fury of Knox and his followers,--it was in the December\nof 1561--Mary desired to have solemn Mass offered up for the repose of\nthe soul of her deceased husband, the youthful Francis. This so aroused\nthe fury of the fanatics about her, that they threatened to take the\nlife of the priests who had officiated. \"Immediately after the Requiem\nwas over, she caused a proclamation to be made by a Herald at the\nMarket Cross, that no man on pain of his life should do any injury, or\ngive offense or trouble to her chaplains.\"\n\nThe poet Campbell in his dirge for Wallace, makes the Lady of\nElderslie, the hero's wife, cry out in the first intensity of her\nsorrow;\n\n  \"Now sing you the death-song and loudly pray\n  For the soul of my knight 'so dear.'\"\n\nWe shall now leave the wild poetic region of Scotland, and with it\nconclude Part First, taking up again in Part Second the thread of our\nnarrative, which will wind in and out through various countries of\nEurope, ending at last with a glance at our own America.\n\n\nREMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE.\n\n\nPART II.\n\nIn Austria we find an example of devotion to the dead, in the saintly\nEmpress Eleanor, who, after the death of her husband, the Emperor\nLeopold, in 1705, was wont to pray two hours every day for the eternal\nrepose of his soul. Not less touching is an account given by a\nProtestant traveller of an humble pair, whom he encountered at Prague\nduring his wanderings there. They were father and daughter, and\nattached, the one as bell-ringer, the other as laundress, to the Church\non the Visschrad. He found them in their little dwelling. It was on the\nfestival of St. Anne, when all Prague was making merry. The girl said\nto him: \"Father and I were just sitting together, and this being St.\nAnne's Day, we were thinking of my mother, whose name was also Anne.\"\nThe father then said, addressing his daughter: \"Thou shalt go down to\nSt. Jacob's to-morrow, and have a Mass read for thy mother, Anne.\" For\nthe mother who had been long years slumbering in the little cemetery\nhard by. There is, something touching to me in this little incident,\nfor it tells how the pious memory of the beloved dead dwelt in these\nsimple hearts, dwells in the hearts of the people everywhere, as in\nthat of the pious empress, whose inconsolable sorrow found vent in long\nhours of prayer for the departed.\n\nIn the will of Christopher Columbus there is special mention made of\nthe church which he desired should be erected at Concepcion, one of his\nfavorite places in the New World, so named by himself. In this church\nhe arranged that three Masses should be celebrated daily--the first in\nhonor of the Blessed Trinity; the second, in honor of the Immaculate\nConception; and the third for the faithful departed. This will was made\nin May, 1506. The body of the great discoverer was laid in the earth,\nto the lasting shame of the Spaniards, with but little other\nremembrance than that which the Church gives to the meanest of her\nchildren. The Franciscans, his first friends, as now his last,\naccompanied his remains to the Cathedral Church of Valladolid, where a\nRequiem Mass was sung, and his body laid in the vault of the\nObservantines with but little pomp. Later on, however, the king, in\nremorse for past neglect, or from whatever cause, had the body taken up\nand transported with great pomp to Seville. There a Mass was sung, and\na solemn funeral service took place at the cathedral, whence the corpse\nof the Admiral was conveyed beyond the Guadalquivir to St. Mary of the\nGrottoes (Santa Maria de las Grutas). But the remains of this most\nwonderful of men were snatched from the silence of the Carthusian\ncloister some ten years later, and taken thence to Castile, thence\nagain to San Domingo, where they were laid in the sanctuary of the\ncathedral to the right of the main altar. Again they were disturbed and\ntaken on board the brigantine Discovery to the Island of Cuba, where\nsolemnly, once more, the Requiem for the Dead swelled out, filling with\nawe the immense assembly, comprising, as we are told, all the civil and\nmilitary notables of the island.\n\nIn the annals of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John, it is recorded\nthat after a great and providential victory won by them over the Moslem\nfoe, and by the fruits of which Rhodes was saved from falling into the\nhands of the enemy, the Grand Master D'Aubusson proceeded to the Church\nof St. John to return thanks. And that he also caused the erection of\nthree churches in honor of Our Blessed Lady, and the Patron Saints of\nthe city. These three churches were endowed for prayers and Masses to\nbe offered in perpetuity for the souls of those who had fallen in\nbattle. This D'Aubusson was in all respects one of the most splendid\nknights that Christendom has produced. A model of Christian knighthood,\nhe is unquestionably one of the greatest of the renowned Grand Masters\nof St. John. There is a touching incident told in these same annals of\ntwo knights, the Chevalier de Servieux, counted the most accomplished\ngentleman of his day, and La Roche Pichelle. Both of them were not only\nthe flower of Christian knighthood, but model religious as well. They\ndied of wounds received in a sea fight off Saragossa in 1630, and on\ntheir death-beds lay side by side in the same room, consoling and\nexhorting each other, it being arranged between them, that whoever\nsurvived the longest should offer all his pains for the relief of his\ncompanion's soul.\n\nWe have now reached a part of our work, upon which we shall have\noccasion to dwell at some length, and notwithstanding the fact that it\nhas already formed the subject of two preceding articles. It is that\nwhich relates to England, and which is doubly interesting to Catholics,\nas being the early record of what is now the chief Protestant nation of\nEurope. To go back to those Anglo-Saxon days, which might be called in\nsome measure the golden age of Catholic faith in England, we shall see\nwhat was the custom which prevailed at the moment of dissolution. In\nthe regulations which follow there is not question of a monarch nor a\npublic individual, nor of priest nor prelate, but simply of an ordinary\nChristian just dead. \"The moment he expired the bell was tolled. Its\nsolemn voice announced to the neighborhood that a Christian brother was\ndeparted, and called on those who heard it to recommend his soul to the\nmercy of his Creator. All were expected to join, privately, at least,\nin this charitable office; and in monasteries, even if it were in the\ndead of night, the inmates hastened from their beds to the church, and\nsang a solemn dirge. The only persons excluded from the benefit of\nthese prayers were those who died avowedly in despair, or under the\nsentence of excommunication.\n\n\"... Till the hour of burial, which was often delayed for some days to\nallow time for the arrival of strangers from a distance, small parties\nof monks or clergymen attended in rotation, either watching in silent\nprayer by the corpse or chanting with subdued voice the funeral\nservice.... When the necessary preparations were completed, the body of\nthe deceased was placed on a bier or in a hearse. On it lay the book of\nthe Gospels, the code of his belief, and the cross, the emblem of his\nhope. A pall of linen or silk was thrown over it till it reached the\nplace of interment. The friends were invited, strangers often deemed it\na duty to attend. The clergy walked in procession before, or divided\ninto two bodies, one on each side, singing a portion of the psalter and\ngenerally bearing lights in their hands. As soon as they entered the\nchurch the service for the dead was performed; a Mass of requiem\nfollowed; the body was deposited in the grave, the sawlshot paid, and a\nliberal donation distributed to the poor.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Lingard's Antiquities of the Anglo Saxon Church,\" Vol.\nII, pp. 46-47.]\n\nIn the northern portico of the Cathedral of Canterbury was erected an\naltar in honor of St. Gregory, where a Mass was offered every Saturday\nfor the souls of departed archbishops. We read that Oidilwald, King of\nthe Deiri, and son of King Oswald, founded a monastery that it might be\nthe place of his sepulture, because \"he was confident of deriving great\nbenefit from the prayers of those who should serve the Lord in that\nhouse.\" Dunwald the Thane, on his departure for Rome to carry thither\nthe alms of his dead master, King Ethelwald, A.D. 762, bequeathed a\ndwelling in the market in Queengate to the Church of SS. Peter and Paul\nfor the benefit of the king's soul and his own soul.\n\nAs far back as the days of the good King Arthur, whose existence has\nbeen so enshrouded in fable that many have come to believe him a myth,\nwe read that Queen Guenever II., of unhappy memory, having spent her\nlast years in repentance, was buried in Ambreabury, Wiltshire. The\nplace of her interment was a monastery erected by Aurelius Ambrose, the\nuncle of King Arthur, \"for the maintenance of three hundred monks to\npray for the souls of the British noblemen slain by Hengist.\" Upon her\ntomb was inscribed, \"in rude letters of massy gold,\" to quote the\nancient chronicler, the initials R. G. and the date 600 A.D.\n\nIn the Saxon annals Enfleda, the wife of Oswy, King of Northumbria,\nplays a conspicuous part. Soon after her marriage, Oswin, her husband's\nbrother, consequently her cousin and brother-in-law, was slain. The\nqueen caused a monastery to be erected on the spot where he fell as a\nreparation for her husband's fratricide, and as a propitiation for the\nsoul of the departed. This circumstance is alluded to by more than one\nEnglish poet, as also the monastery which Enfleda, for the same\npurpose, caused to be erected at Tynemouth. Thus Harding:\n\n  \"Queen Enfled, that was King Oswy's wife,\n  King Edwin, his daughter, full of goodnesse,\n  For Oswyn's soule a minster, in her life,\n  Made at Tynemouth, and for Oswy causeless\n  That hym so bee slaine and killed helpeless;\n  For she was kin to Oswy and Oswin,\n  As Bede in chronicle dooeth determyn.\"\n\nThe most eminent Catholic poet of our own day, Sir Aubrey de Vere, in\nhis Saxon legends, likewise refers to it. He describes first what\n\n \"Gentlest form kneels on the rain-washed ground,\n  From Giling's Keep a stone's throw. Whose those hands\n  Now pressed in anguish on a bursting heart.\n  ... What purest mouth\n\n \"Presses a new-made grave, and through the blades\n  Of grass wind shaken, breathes her piteous prayer?\n  ... Oswin's grave it is,\n  And she that o'er it kneels is Eanfleda,\n  Kinswoman of the noble dead, and wife\n  To Oswin's murderer--Oswy.\"\n\nAgain, describing the repentance of Oswy:\n\n \"One Winter night\n  From distant chase belated he returned,\n  And passed by Oswin's grave. The snow, new fallen,\n  Whitened the precinct. In the blast she knelt,\n  She heard him not draw nigh. She only beat\n  Her breast, and, praying, wept. Our sin! our sin!\n\n \"So came to him those words. They dragged him down:\n  He knelt beside his wife, and beat his breast,\n  And said, 'My sin! my sin!' Till earliest morn\n  Glimmered through sleet that twain wept on, prayed on:--\n  Was it the rising sun that lit at last\n  The fair face upward lifted?\n  ....... Aloud she cried,\n  'Our prayer is heard: our penitence finds grace.'\n  Then added: 'Let it deepen till we die.\n  A monastery build we on this grave:\n  So from this grave, while fleet the years, that prayer\n  Shall rise both day and night, till Christ returns\n  To judge the world,--a prayer for him who died;\n  A prayer for one who sinned, but sins no more!'\"\n\nIn the grant preserved in the Bodleian Collection, wherein Editha the\nGood, the widow of Edward the Confessor, confers certain lands upon the\nChurch of St. Mary at Sarum, occurs the following:\n\n\"I, Editha, relict of King Edward, give to the support of the Canons of\nSt. Mary's Church, in Sarum, the lands of Secorstan, in Wiltshire, and\nthose of Forinanburn, to the Monastery of Wherwell, for the support of\nthe nuns serving God there, with the rights thereto belonging, for the\nsoul of King Edward.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Phillips' Account of Old Sarum.\"]\n\nThis queen was buried in Westminster Abbey, her remains being removed\nfrom the north to the south side of St. Edward's shrine, on the\nrebuilding of that edifice, and it is recorded that Henry III. ordered\na lamp to be kept burning perpetually at the tomb of Editha the Good.\n\nIt is related of the celebrated Lady Godiva of Coventry, the wife of\nthe wealthy and powerful Leofric, that on her death-bed she \"bequeathed\na precious circlet of gems, which she wore round her neck, valued at\none hundred marks of silver (about two thousand pounds sterling) to the\nImage of the Virgin in Coventry Abbey, praying that all who came\nthither would say as many prayers as there were gems in it.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Saxon Chronicle, Strickland's \"Queens of England Before\nthe Conquest, etc.\"]\n\nThe following is an ancient verse, occurring in an old French treatise,\non the manner of behaving at table, wherein one is warned never to\narise from a meal without praying for the dead. This treatise was\ntranslated by William Caxton.\n\n  \"Priez Dieu pour les trepass\u00e9s,\n  Et te souveigne en piti\u00e9\n  Qui de ce monde sont passez,\n  Ainsi que tu es obligez,\n  Priez Dieu pour les trepass\u00e9s!\"\n\n[We subjoin a rough translation of the verse.\n\n  To God, for the departed, pray\n  And of those in pity think\n  Who have passed from this world away,\n  As, indeed, thou art bound to do,\n  To God, for the departed pray.]\n\nSpeaking of his early education, Caxton says:\n\n\"Whereof I humbly and heartily thank God, and am bounden to pray for my\nfather and mother's souls, who in my youth set me to school.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Christian Schools and Scholars.\"]\n\nIn 1067, William the Conqueror founded what was known as Battle Abbey,\nwhich he gave to the Benedictine Monks, that they might pray for the\nsouls of those who fell in the Battle of Hastings. Speaking of William\nthe. Conqueror, it is not out of place to quote here these lines from\nthe pen of Mrs. Hemans:\n\n \"Lowly upon his bier\n  The royal Conqueror lay,\n  Baron and chief stood near,\n  Silent in war's array.\n  Down the long minster's aisle\n  Crowds mutely gazing stream'd,\n  Altar and tomb the while\n  Through mists of incense gleamed.\n\n \"They lowered him with the sound\n  Of requiems to repose.\"\n\nThese stanzas on the Burial of William the Conqueror lead us naturally\nto others from the pen of the same gifted authoress on \"Coeur de Lion\nat the Bier of his Father.\"\n\n \"Torches were blazing clear,\n  Hymns pealing deep and slow,\n  Where a king lay stately on his bier,\n  In the Church of Fontevraud.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n \"The marble floor was swept\n  By many a long dark stole\n  As the kneeling priests, round him that slept,\n  Sang mass for the parted soul.\n  And solemn were the strains they pour'd\n  Through the stillness of the night,\n  With the cross above, and the crown and sword,\n  And the silent king in sight.\"\n\nWe forgive the ignorance of the gentle poetess with regard to the Mass,\nfor the beauty and solemnity of the verse, which is quite in keeping\nwith the nature of the subject.\n\nWe read, again, of tapers being lit at the tomb of Henry V., the noble\nand chivalrous Henry of Monmouth, for one hundred years after his\ndeath. The Reformation extinguished that gentle flame with many another\nholy fire, both in England and throughout Christendom.\n\nWe shall now pass on to another period--a far different and most\ntroublous one of English history, that of the Reformation.\n\nIn the Church of St. Lawrence at Iswich is an entry of an offering made\nto \"pray for the souls of Robert Wolsey and his wife Joan, the father\nand mother of the Dean of Lincoln,\" thereafter to be Cardinal and\nChancellor of the Kingdom. An argument urged to show the Protestantism\nof Collet, one of the ante-Reformation worthies, is that he \"did not\nmake a Popish will, having left no monies for Masses for his soul;\nwhich shows that he did not believe in Purgatory.\" The dying prayer of\nSir Thomas More concludes with these words: \"Give me a longing to be\nwith Thee; not for avoiding the calamities of this wicked world, nor so\nmuch the pains of Purgatory or of hell; nor so much for the attaining\nof the choice of heaven, in respect of mine own commodity, as even for\na very love of Thee.\" The unfortunate Anne Boleyn, who during her\nimprisonment had repented and received the last sacraments from the\nhands of Father Thirlwall, begs on the scaffold that the people may\npray for her. In her address to her ladies before leaving the Tower,\nshe concludes it by begging them to forget her not after death. \"In\nyour prayers to the Lord Jesus forget not to pray for my soul.\" In the\naccount of the death of another of King Henry's wives, the Lady Jane\nSeymour, who died, as Miss Strickland says, after having all the rites\nof the Catholic Church administered to her, we read that Sir Richard\nGresham thus writes to Lord Cromwell:\n\n\"I have caused twelve hundred Masses to be offered up for the soul of\nour most gracious Queen.... I think it right that there should also be\na solemn dirge and high Mass, and that the mayor and aldermen should\npray and offer up divers prayers for Her Grace's soul.\"\n\nAnne of Cleves some two years before her death likewise embraced the\nCatholic faith. At her funeral Mass was sung by Bonner, Bishop of\nLondon, and many monks and seculars attended her obsequies. The\ninfamous Thomas Cromwell, converted, as it seems evident from\ncontemporary witnesses, on his death-bed, left what might be called\ntruly a \"Popish will.\" After bequeathing money or effects to various\nrelatives and friends, he speaks of charity \"works for the health of my\nsoul.\" \"I will,\" he says, \"that my executors shall sell said farm\n(Carberry), and the money thereof to be employed in deeds of charity,\nto prayer for my soul and all Christian souls.\" Item. \"I will mine\nexecutors shall conduct and hire a priest, being an honest person of\ncontinent and good living, to sing (pray) for my soul for the space of\nseven years next after my death.\" Item. \"I give and bequeath to every\none of the five orders of Friars within the Citie of London, to pray\nfor my soul, twenty shillings. ...\" He further bequeaths \u00a320 to be\ndistributed amongst \"poor householders, to pray for his soul.\"\n\nIn this he closely resembled his royal master, Henry VIII., who\nordained that Masses should be said \"for his soul's health while the\nworld shall endure.\" And after his death it was agreed that the\nobsequies should be conducted according to the observance of the\nCatholic Church. Church-bells tolled and Masses were celebrated daily\nthroughout London. In the Privy Chamber, where the corpse was laid,\n\"lights and Divine service were said about him, with Masses, obsequies,\netc.\" After the body was removed to the chapel it was kept there twelve\ndays, with \"Masses and dirges sung and said everyday.\" Norroy, king at\narms, stood each day at the choir door, saying: \"Of your charity pray\nfor the soul of the high and mighty prince, our late sovereign lord and\nking, Henry VIII.\" When the body was lowered into the grave we read of\na _De Profundis_ being read over it. God grant it was not all a\nsolemn mockery, this praying for the soul of him who was styled \"the\nfirst Protestant King of England,\" and who by his crimes separated\nEngland from the unity of Christendom! May these \"Popish practices,\"\nwhich were amongst those he in his ordinances condemned, have availed\nhim in that life beyond the grave, whither he went to give an account\nof his stewardship!\n\nThe Catholic Queen, Mary, after her accession to the throne, caused a\nrequiem Mass to be sung in Tower Chapel for her brother, Edward the\nSixth. Elizabeth, in her turn, had Mary buried with funeral hymn and\nMass, and caused a solemn dirge and Mass of Requiem to be chanted for\nthe soul of the Emperor Charles V.\n\nWith this period of spiritual anarchy and desolation we shall take our\nleave of England, passing on to pause for an instant to observe the\npeculiar _cultus_ of the dead in Corsica. It is represented by\nsome writers as being similar to that which prevailed amongst the\nRomans. But as a traveller remarks, \"it is a curious relic of paganism,\ncombined with Christian usages.\" Thus the dirge sung by women, their\nwild lamenting, their impassioned apostrophizing of the dead, their\nrhetorical declamation of his virtues, finds its analogy among many of\nthe customs of pagan nations, while the prayer for the dead, \"the\nrelatives standing about the bed of death reciting the Rosary,\" the\nConfraternity of the Brothers of the Dead coming to convey the corpse\nto the church, where Mass is sung and the final absolution given, is\neminently Christian and Catholic. In the Norwegian annals we read how\nOlaf the Saint, on the occasion of one of his battles, gave many marks\nof silver for the souls of his enemies who should fall in battle.\n\nA traveller in Mexico relates the following: \"I remember to have seen,\"\nhe says, \"on the high altar of the dismantled church of Yanhuitlan a\nskull as polished as ivory, which bore on the forehead the following\ninscription in Spanish:\n\n'Io soy Jesus Pedro Sandoval; un Ave Maria y un Padre Nuestro, por Dios,\nhermanos!' [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Ferdinand Gregorovius, \"Wanderings in Corsica,\" translated\nby Alexander Muir.]\n\n'I am Jesus Pedro Sandoval; a Hail Mary and an Our Father for the love\nof God, my brother.'\n\n\"I cannot conceive,\" he continues, \"anything more heart-rending than\nthe great silent orbs of this dead man staring me fixedly in the face,\nwhilst his head, bared by contact with the grave, sadly implored my\nprayers.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Deux Ans au Mexique,\" Faucher de St. Maurice.]\n\nIt would be impossible to conclude our _olla podrida_, if I may\nventure on the expression, of historical lore, relating to the dead,\nwithout referring, however briefly, to the two great deaths, and\nconsequently the magnificent obsequies which have marked this very year\nof 1885, in which we write. Those of Archbishop Bourget, of Montreal,\nand of His Eminence, Cardinal McCloskey, of New York. They were both\nexpressions of national sorrow, and the homage paid by sorrowing\nmultitudes to true greatness. On the 10th of June, 1885, the venerable\nArchbishop Bourget died at Sault-au-Recollet, and was brought on the\nfollowing morning to the Church of Notre Dame, Montreal. The days that\nensued were all days of Requiem. Psalms were sung, and the office of\nthe dead chanted by priests of all the religious orders in succession,\nby the various choirs of the city, by the secular clergy, and by lay\nsocieties. Archbishops and bishops sang high Mass with all the pomp of\nour holy ritual, and the prayers of the poor for him who had been their\nbenefactor, mingled with those of the highest in the land, and followed\nthe beloved remains from the bed of death whence they were taken down\ninto the funeral vault. On the 10th of October, 1885, His Eminence the\nCardinal Archbishop of New York passed peacefully away, amidst the\ngrief of the whole community, both Protestant and Catholic. Again,\nthere was a very ovation of prayer. The obsequies were marked by a\nsplendor such as, according to a contemporary journal, had never before\nattended any ecclesiastical demonstration on this side of the water.\nThe clergy, secular and religious, formed one vast assemblage, while\nlayman vied with layman in showing honor to the dead, and in praying\nfor the soul's repose. \"All that man could do,\" says a prominent\nCatholic journal, \"to bring honor to his bier was done, and in honor\nand remembrance his memory remains. All that Mother Church could offer\nas suffrage for his soul has been offered.\"\n\nThat is wherein the real beauty of it all consists. Honor to the great\ndead may, it is true, be the splendid expression of national sentiment.\nBut in the eyes of faith it is meaningless. Other great men, deservedly\nhonored by the nations, have passed away during this same year, but\nwhere was the prayer, accompanying them to the judgment-seat, assisting\nthem in that other life, repairing their faults, purging away sins or\nimperfections? The grandeur that attended Mgr. Bourget's burial and\nCardinal McCloskey's obsequies consisted chiefly in that vast symphony\nof prayer, which arose so harmoniously, and during so many days, for\ntheir soul's welfare.\n\nDevotion to the dead, as we have seen, exists everywhere, is everywhere\ndear to the hearts of the people, from those first early worshippers,\nwho, in the dawn of Christianity, in the dimness of the Catacombs\nprayed for the souls of their brethren in Christ, begging that they\nmight \"live in God,\" that God might refresh them, down through the ages\nto our own day, increasing as it goes in fervor and intensity. We meet\nwith its records, written boldly, so to say, on the brow of nations, or\nin out-of-the-way corners, down among the people, in the littleness and\nobscurity of humble domestic annals. In the earliest liturgies, in the\nmost ancient sacramentaries, there is the prayer for \"refreshment,\nlight, and peace,\" as it is now found in the missals used at the daily\nsacrifice, on the lips of the priest, in the prayers of the humblest\nand most unlettered petitioner. It is the \"low murmur of the vale,\"\nchanging, indeed, at times into the thunder on the mountain tops,\namazing the unbelieving world which stands aloof and stares, as in the\ninstances but lately quoted, or existing forgotten, and overlooked by\nthem, but no less deep and solemn. It is a _Requiem \u00c6ternam_\npervading all time, and ceasing only with time itself, when the\nEternity of rest for the Church Militant has begun.\n\n\nPRAYER FOR THE DEAD IN THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH.\n\nDR. LINGARD.\n\nThe Anglo-Saxons had inherited from their teachers the practice of\nprayer for the dead--a practice common to every Christian Church which\ndates its origin from any period before the Reformation. It was not\nthat they pretended to benefit by their prayers the blessed in heaven,\nor the reprobate in hell; but they had never heard of the doctrine\nwhich teaches that \"every soul of man, passing out of the body, goeth\nimmediately to one or other of those places\" (Book of Homilies. Hom.\nVII. On Prayer). And therefore assuming that God will render to all\naccording to their works, they believed that the souls of men dying in\na state of less perfect virtue, though they might not be immediately\nadmitted to the supreme felicity of the saints, would not, at least, be\nvisited with the everlasting punishment of the wicked. [1] It was for\nsuch as these that they prayed, that if they were in a state of\nimperfect happiness, that happiness might be augmented; if in a state\nof temporary punishment, the severity of that punishment might be\nmitigated; and this they hoped to obtain from the mercy of God, in\nconsideration of their prayers, fasts, and alms, and especially of the\n\"oblation of the most Holy Victim in the Sacrifice of the Mass.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Some souls proceed to rest after their departure; some go\nto punishment for that which they have done, and are often released by\nalms-deeds, but chiefly through the Mass, if it be offered for them;\nothers are condemned to hell with the devil.\" (Serm. ad. Pop. in Oct.\nPent.) \"There be many places of punishment, in which souls suffer in\nproportion to their guilt before the general judgment, so that some of\nthem are fully cleansed, and have nothing to suffer in that fire of the\nlast day.\" (Hom. apud. Whelock, p. 386.)]\n\nThis was a favorite form of devotion with our ancestors. It came to\nthem recommended by the practice of all antiquity; it was considered an\nact of the purest charity on behalf of those who could no longer pray\nfor themselves; it enlisted in its favor the feelings of the survivor,\nwho was thus enabled to intercede with God for his nearest and dearest\nfriends, and it opened at the same time to the mourner a source of real\nconsolation in the hour of bereavement and distress. It is true,\nindeed, that the petitioners knew not the state of the departed soul;\nhe might be incapable of receiving any benefit from their prayers, but\nthey reasoned, with St. Augustine, that, even so, the piety of their\nintentions would prove acceptable to God. When Alcuin heard that\nEdilthryde, a noble Saxon lady, lamented most bitterly the death of her\nson, he wrote to her from his retreat at Tours, in the following\nterms:--\"Mourn not for him whom you cannot recall. If he be of God,\ninstead of grieving that you have lost him, rejoice that he is gone to\nrest before you. Where there are two friends, I hold the death of the\nfirst preferable to that of the second, because the first leaves behind\nhim one whose brotherly love will intercede for him daily, and whose\ntears will wash away the frailties of his life in this world. Be\nassured that your pious solicitude for the soul of your son will not be\nthrown away. It will benefit both you and him--you, because you\nexercise acts of hope and charity; him, because such acts will tend\neither to mitigate his sufferings, or to add to his happiness.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: Ep. Cli Tom. I, p. 212.]\n\nBut they did not only pray for others, they were careful to secure for\nthemselves, after their departure, the prayers of their friends. This\nthey frequently solicited as a favor or recompense, and for this they\nentered into mutual compacts by which the survivor was bound to perform\ncertain works of piety or charity for the soul of the deceased. Thus\nBeda begs of the monks of Lindisfarne that, at his death, they will\noffer prayers and Masses for him as one of their own body; thus Alcuin\ncalls upon his former scholars at York to remember him in their prayers\nwhen it shall please God to withdraw him from this world; and thus in\nthe multifarious correspondence of St. Boniface, the apostle of\nGermany, and of Lullus, his successor in the See of Mentz, both of them\nAnglo-Saxons, with their countrymen, prelates, abbots, thanes, and\nprinces, we meet with letters the only object of which is to renew\ntheir previous engagements, and to transmit the names of their defunct\nassociates. It is \"our earnest wish,\" say the King of Kent and the\nBishop of Rochester in their common letter to Lullus, \"to recommend\nourselves and our dearest relatives to your piety, that by your prayers\nwe may be protected till we come to that life which knows no end. For\nwhat have we to do on earth but faithfully to exercise charity towards\neach other? Let us then agree, that when any among us enter the path\nwhich leads to another life (may it be a life of happiness), the\nsurvivors shall, by their alms and sacrifices, endeavor to assist him\nin his journey. We have sent you the names of our deceased relations,\nIrmige, Vorththry, and Dulicha, virgins dedicated to God, and beg that\nyou will remember them in your prayers and oblations. On a similar\noccasion we will prove our gratitude by imitating your charity.\"\n\nSuch covenants were not confined to the clergy, or to persons in the\nhigher ranks of life. England, at this period, was covered with\n\"gilds,\" or associations of townsmen and neighbors, not directly for\nreligious purposes, but having a variety of secular objects in view,--\nsuch as the promotion of trade and commerce, the preservation of\nproperty and the prosecution of thieves, the legal defence of the\nmembers against oppression, and the recovery of bots, or penalties, to\nwhich they were entitled; but whatever might be their chief object, all\nimposed one common obligation, that of accompanying the bodies of f the\ndeceased members to the grave, of paying the soul-shot for them at\ntheir interment, and of distributing alms for the repose of their\nsouls. As a specimen of such engagements, I may here translate a\nportion of the laws established in the gild at Abbotsbury. \"If,\" says\nthe legislator, \"any one belonging to this association chance to die,\neach member shall pay one penny for the good of the soul, before the\nbody be laid in the grave. If he neglect, he shall be fined in a triple\nsum. If any of us fall sick within sixty miles, we engage to find\nfifteen men, who may bring him home; but if he die first, we will send\nthirty to convey him to the place in which he desired to be buried. If\nhe die in the neighborhood, the steward shall inquire where he is to be\ninterred, and shall summon as many members as he can to assemble,\nattend the corpse in an honorable manner, carry it to the minster, and\npray devoutly for the soul. Let us act in this manner, and we shall\ntruly perform the duty of our confraternity. This will be honorable to\nus both before God and man. For we know not who among us may die first;\nbut we believe that, with the assistance of God, this agreement will\nprofit us all if it be rightly observed.\"\n\nBut the clerical and monastic bodies inhabiting the more celebrated\nmonasteries offered guildships of a superior description. Among them\nthe service for the dead was performed with greater solemnity; the\nrules of the institute insured the faithful performance of the duty;\nand additional value was ascribed to their prayers on account of the\nsanctity of the place and the virtue of its inmates. Hence it became an\nobject with many to obtain admission among the brotherhood in quality\nof honorary associates; an admission which gave them the right to the\nsame spiritual benefits after death to which the professed members were\nentitled. Such associates were of two classes. To some the favor was\nconceded on account of their reputation for piety or learning; to\nothers it was due on account of their benefactions. Instances of both\nabound in the Anglo-Saxon records. Beda, though a monk at Jarrow,\nprocured his name to be entered for this purpose on the bead-roll of\nthe monks at Lindisfarne; and Alcuin, though a canon at Tours, in\nFrance, had obtained a similar favor from the monks at Jarrow. It\nbelonged, of right, to the founders of churches, to those who had made\nto them valuable benefactions, [1] or had rendered to them important\nservices, or had bequeathed to them a yearly rent charge [2] for that\npurpose.\n\n[Footnote 1: When Osulf, ealdorman, by the grace of God, gave the land\nat Stanhamstede to Christ Church, he most humbly prayed that he and his\nwife, Beornthrythe, might be admitted \"into the fellowship of God's\nservants there, and of their lords who had been, and of those who had\ngiven lands to the Church.\"--Cod. Dipl. I. 292. The following is an\ninstance of a rent charge given by Ealburge and Eadwald to Christ\nChurch for themselves, and for Ealred and Ealwyne forty ambres of malt,\ntwo hundred loaves, one wey, &c, &c.; \"and I, Ealburge,\" she adds,\n\"command my son Ealwyne, in the name of God, and of all the saints,\nthat he perform this duty in his day, and then command his heirs to\nperform it as long as Christendom shall endure.\"]\n\n[Footnote 2: I Monast. Ang. i. 278. A similar regulation is found among\nthe laws of the gild in London. \"And ye have ordained respecting every\nman who has given his 'wed' in our gildships, if he should die, that\neach gild brother shall give a 'genuine loaf' for his soul, and sing a\nditty, or get it sung, within thirty days.\"--Thorpe's Laws of London\nGilds.]\n\nOf all these individuals an exact catalogue was kept; the days of their\ndecease [1] were carefully noted, and on their anniversaries a solemn\nservice of Masses and psalmody was yearly performed. [2] It may be\neasily conceived that to men of timorous and penitent minds this custom\nwould afford much consolation. However great might be their\ndeficiencies, yet they hoped that their good works would survive them;\nthey had provided for the service of the Almighty a race of men, whose\nvirtues they might in one respect call their own, and who were bound,\nby the strongest ties, to be their daily advocate at the throne of\ndivine mercy. [3] Such were the sentiments of Alwyn, the caldorman of\nEast Anglia, and one of the founders of Ramsey. Warned by frequent\ninfirmities of his approaching death, he repaired, attended by his sons\nEdwin and Ethelward, to the abbey. The monks were speedily assembled.\n\"My beloved,\" said he, \"you will soon lose your friend and protector.\nMy strength is gone: I am stolen from myself. But I am not afraid to\ndie. When life grows tedious death is welcome. To-day I shall confess\nbefore you the many errors of my life. Think not that I wish to solicit\na prolongation of my existence. My request is that you protect my\ndeparture by your prayers, and place your merits in the balance against\nmy defects. When my soul shall have quitted my body, honor your\nfather's corpse with a decent funeral, grant him a constant share in\nyour prayers, and recommend his memory to the charity and gratitude of\nyour successors.\" At the conclusion of his address the aged thane threw\nhimself on the pavement before the altar, and, with a voice interrupted\nby frequent sighs, publicly confessed the sins of his past years, and\nearnestly implored the mercies of his Redeemer.... He exhorted the\nbrethren to a punctual observance of their rule, and forbade his sons,\nunder their father's malediction, to molest them in possession of the\nlands which he had bestowed on the abbey.... Within a few weeks he\ndied, his body was interred with proper solemnity in the Church; and\nhis memory was long cherished with gratitude by the monks of Ramsey.\n[4]\n\n[Footnote 1: According to Wanly there is in the Cotton Library (Dom. A.\n7) of the reign of Athelstan, in which the names of the chief\nbenefactors of the Church of Lindisfarne are written in letters of gold\nand silver, which catalogue was afterwards continued, but not in the\nsame manner (Wanly, 249). This is probably the same book which was\npublished in 1841 by the Surtees Society, under the name of _Liber\nVit\u00e6 Ecclesi\u00e6 Dunelmensis_. It contains the names of all the\nbenefactors of St. Cuthbert's Church from its foundation, and lay\nconstantly on the altar for upwards of six centuries.]\n\n[Footnote 2: According to Wanly there is in the Cotton Library (Dom. A.\n7) of the reign of Athelstan, in which the names of the chief\nbenefactors of the Church of Lindisfarne are written in letters of gold\nand silver, which catalogue was afterwards continued, but not in the\nsame manner (Wanly, 249). This is probably the same book which was\npublished in 1841 by the Surtees Society, under the name of _Liber\nVit\u00e6 Ecclesi\u00e6 Dunelmensis_. It contains the names of all the\nbenefactors of St. Cuthbert's Church from its foundation, and lay\nconstantly on the altar for upwards of six centuries.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Thus when Leofric established canons in the Church of\nExeter, he made them several valuable presents, on condition that, in\ntheir prayers and Masses, they should always remember his soul, \"that\nit might be the more pleasing to God.\" Monas. Ang. tom i. p. 222.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Hist. Rames, p. 427.]\n\nThere were three kinds of good works usually performed for the benefit\nof the dead: One consisted in the distribution of charity. To the\nmoney, which the deceased, if he were in opulent or in easy\ncircumstances, bequeathed for that purpose, an addition was often made\nby the contributions of his relatives and friends. Large sums were\noften distributed in this manner. King Alfred the Great says in his\nwill: \"Let there be given for me, and for my father, and for the\nfriends that he prayed for, and that I pray for, two hundred pounds;\nfifty among the Mass-priests throughout my kingdom; fifty among the\nservants of God that are in need, fifty among lay paupers, and fifty to\nthe church in which my body shall rest.\" [1] Archbishop Wulfred in his\nwill, (an. 831) made provision for the permanent support and clothing\nof twenty-seven paupers, out of the income from certain manors which,\nat his own cost and labor, he had recovered for the Church of\nCanterbury. Frequently the testator bequeathed a yearly dole of money\nand provisions to the poor on the anniversary of his death. Thus the\nclergy of Christ-church gave away one hundred and twenty suffles, or\ncakes of fine flour, on the anniversaries of each of their lords, by\nwhich word we are probably to understand archbishops; but Wulfred was\nnot content with his accustomed charity; he augmented it tenfold on his\nown anniversary, having bequeathed a loaf, a certain quantity of\ncheese, and a silver penny to be delivered to twelve hundred poor\npersons on that day. Of such dole some vestiges still remain in certain\nparts of the kingdom.\n\n[Footnote 1: Cod Diplom (double S?) i. 115.]\n\nAnother species of charity, at the death of the upper ranks, was the\ngrant of freedom to a certain number of slaves, whose poverty, to\nrender the gift more valuable, was relieved with a handsome present. In\nthe Council of Calcuith, it was unanimously agreed that each prelate at\nhis death should bequeath the tenth part of his personal property to\nthe poor, and set at liberty all bondmen of English descent, whom the\nChurch had acquired during his administration; and that each bishop and\nabbot who survived him, should manumit three of his slaves, and give\nthree shillings to each, for the benefit of the soul of the deceased\nprelate.\n\nThe devotions in behalf of the dead consisted in the frequent\nrepetition of the Lord's Prayer, technically called a belt of\nPaternosters, which was in use with private individuals, ignorant of\nthe Latin tongue; 2d, in the chanting of a certain number of psalms,\ngenerally fifty, terminating with the collect for the dead, during\nwhich collect all knelt down, and then repeated the anthem in Latin or\nEnglish: \"According to Thy great mercy give rest to his soul, O Lord,\nand of Thine infinite bounty grant to him eternal light in the company\nof the saints;\" [1] 3d, in the sacrifice of the Mass, which was offered\nas soon as might be after death, again on the third day, and afterwards\nas often as was required by the solicitude of the relatives or friends\nof the deceased. No sooner had St. Wilfred expired than Talbert, to\nwhom he had intrusted the government of his monastery at Ripon, ordered\na Mass to be celebrated, and alms to be distributed daily for his soul.\nOn his anniversary the abbots of all the monasteries founded by Wilfred\nwere summoned to attend; they spent the preceding night in watching and\nprayer, on the following morning a solemn Mass was performed, and then\nthe tenth part of the cattle belonging to the monastery was distributed\namong the neighboring poor.\n\n[Footnote 1: On the death of St. Guthlade, his sister Pega recommended\nhis soul to God, and sang psalms for that purpose during three days.]\n\nIn like manner we find the ealdorman Osulf, \"for the redemption and\nhealth of his own soul, and of his wife, Beornthrythe,\" giving certain\nlands to the Church of Liming, in Kent, under the express condition\nthat \"every twelve months afterwards, the day of their departure out of\nthis life should be kept with fasting and prayer to God, in psalmody\nand the celebration of Masses.\"\n\nIt would appear that some doubt existed with respect to the exact\nmeaning of this condition; and a few years later the archbishop, to set\nthe question at rest, pronounced the following decree: \"Wherefore I\norder that the godly deeds following be performed for their souls at\nthe tide of their anniversary; that every Mass priest celebrate two\nMasses for the soul of Osulf, and two for Beornthrythe's soul; that\nevery deacon read two passions (the narratives of our Lord's sufferings\nin the gospels) for his soul, and two for hers; and each of God's\nservants (the inferior members of the brotherhood) two fifties\" (fifty\npsalms) \"for his soul, two for hers; that as you in the world are\nblessed with worldly goods through them, so they may be blessed with\ngodly goods through you.\"\n\nIt should, however, be observed, that such devotions were not confined\nto the anniversaries of the dead. In many, perhaps in all, of these\nreligious establishments, the whole community on certain days walked,\nat the conclusion of the matin service, in procession to the cemetery,\nand there chanted the dirge over the graves of their deceased brethren\nand benefactors.\n\nRespecting these practices some most extraordinary opinions have\noccasionally been hazarded. We have been told that the custom of\npraying for the dead was no part of the religious system originally\ntaught to the Anglo-Saxons, that it was not generally received for two\ncenturies after their conversion, and that it probably took its rise\n\"from a mistaken charity, continuing to do for the departed what it was\nonly lawful to do for the living.\" To this supposition it may be\nsufficient to reply, that it is supported by no reference to ancient\nauthority, but contradicted in every page of Anglo-Saxon history.\nOthers have admitted the universal prevalence of the practice, but have\ndiscovered that it originated in the interested views of the clergy,\nwho employed it as a constant source of emolument, and laughed among\nthemselves at the easy faith of their disciples. But this opinion is\nsubject to equal difficulties with the former. It rests on no ancient\ntestimony: it is refuted by the conduct of the ancient clergy. No\ninstance is to be found of any one of these conspirators as they are\nrepresented, who in an unguarded moment, or of any false brother who,\nin the peevishness of discontent, revealed the secret to the ears of\ntheir dupes. On the contrary, we see them in their private\ncorrespondence holding to each other the same language which they held\nto their disciples; requesting from each other those prayers which we\nare told that they mutually despised, and making pecuniary sacrifices\nduring life to purchase what, if their accusers be correct, they deemed\nan illusory assistence after death.\n\n\nA SINGULAR FRENCH CUSTOM.\n\nVernon is perhaps the only town in France wherein the ancient custom of\nwhich we are about to speak still exists. When a death occurs, an\nindividual, robed in a mortuary tunic, adorned with cross-bones and\ntear-drops, goes through the streets with a small bell in either hand,\nthe sound of which is sharp and penetrating; at every place where the\nstreets cross each other, he rings his bells three times, crying out in\na doleful voice: \"Such-a-one, belonging to the Confraternity of St.\nRoch, or the Confraternity of St. Sebastian, &c., &c., is recommended\nto your prayers. He is dead. The funeral will take place at such-an-\nhour.\" Then he rings again three times. The first Sunday of each month\narrives. Then, at the dawn of day the same individual goes again\nthrough the town, ringing continuously, knocking thrice at the door of\neach member of the confraternity, and stopping at the corners of the\nstreets, he sings: \"Good people,\" or \"good souls, who sleep, awake!\nawake! pray for the dead! &c.\"--_Voix de la Verit\u00e9_, July 22,\n1846.\n\n\nDEVOTION TO THE HOLY SOULS AMONGST THE EARLY ENGLISH.\n\nANNA T. SADLIER.\n\nAn English writer, the gifted author of the Knights of St. John, makes\nthe following assertion as regards the people of her own nationality:\n\"Our Catholic ancestors,\" she says, \"are said to have been\ndistinguished above all other nations for their devotion towards the\ndead; and it harmonizes with one feature in our national character,\nnamely, that gravity and attraction to things of solemn and pathetic\ninterest which, uncontrolled by the influence of faith, degenerates\neven into melancholy.\" In view of this assertion, it will be\ninteresting to spend a few moments in gathering up the links of this\nmost ancient and most touching devotion, amongst a people who have\ncollectively, as it were, fallen away from grace. It is therefore our\npurpose to look backwards into that solemn and beautiful past of which\nheretical England can boast, and behold her, as Carlyle beheld her in\nhis \"Past and Present,\" offering to the world the sublime spectacle of\na people devout and faithful, undisturbed by doubt, tranquilized by the\nharmonious influence of religion, and unharassed by the spirit of so\ncalled philosophic inquiry, which, misdirected, is the true bane of\nEnglish society at the present day.\n\nThis retrospection, as we shall have occasion later on to recur to the\nsubject of devotion to the dead in England, must necessarily be both\nbrief and cursory. But even the merest outlines are of interest, for\nthey prove that prayer for the departed was no less the favorite\ndevotion of the learned than of the simple, and that it had its home in\nthose ancient seats of learning, Oxford and Cambridge and their\ndependencies, from the very hour of their foundation. Of the Founder of\nOxford, it is said, that prayer for the dead was one of his devotions\nof predilection. It is not necessary here for us to follow him, the\ngreat and good William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, and\nsubsequently Lord Chancellor of England, in the gradual unfoldings of\nthat project of founding a University, so dear to him from almost the\nmoment of his elevation to the episcopate. Suffice that in the March of\n1379, he laid the corner-stone of \"St. Marie's College of Winchester,\nOxenford.\" It is with his great charity towards the Holy Souls that we\nare at present concerned, and of this we have ample proof in the\ntestimonies of his biographers. Here is one of them, in the paragraph\nwhich follows:\n\n\"There was another devotion which was most dearly cherished by Wykeham,\nand which is an equal indication of the singular _spirituality_ of\nhis mind,--we mean, that for the suffering souls in Purgatory. It may\nbe safely affirmed, that this devotion, so unselfish and unearthly in\nits tendencies, carrying us beyond the grave, and making us familiar\nwith the secrets of the unseen world, could never find a place in the\nheart of one who was engrossed by secular cares, or the love of money.\nIts existence in any marked and special degree argues in the soul of\nits possessor a profound sense of sin, a deep compassion for the\nsufferings of others, and a habit of dwelling on the thoughts of death,\njudgment, and eternity. Moreover, it is utterly opposed to anything of\nthat mercenary or commercial spirit which exists among men of the\nworld, who like to see some large practical result even in matters of\ndevotion. We pray, and are sensible of no return; we spend our money in\na Requiem Mass, and there is nothing but trust in God's word, and God's\nfidelity, to assure us that the money is not thrown away. Every _De\nProfundis_ that we say is as much an act of faith as it is an act of\ncharity; and it has its reward. We do not speak merely of the benefit\nreaped by the souls of the faithful departed; but who can measure the\neffect of this devotion on a man's own soul, bringing him (as it does)\ninto communion with the world of spirits, and realizing to him the\nworth of Christian suffering, and the awful purity of God?\"...\n\nWykeham's heart was full of compassion for suffering, and the dead\nshared his charity with the living. Never did he offer the Holy\nSacrifice for the departed without abundant tears. His reverence for\nthe Holy Mysteries, and the singular devotion with which he celebrated,\nare often referred to by those who have written his life; one of whom,\nafter speaking of his various charities, thus continues: \"Not only did\nhe, as we have said, offer his goods, but also his very self, as a\nlively sacrifice to God, and hence, in the solemn celebration of Mass,\nand chiefly at that part where there is made a special memorial of the\nliving and the dead, he was wont to shed many tears out of the humility\nof his heart, reputing himself unworthy, as he was wont to express it\nin speaking to his secretary, to perform such an office, or to handle\nthe most sublime mysteries of the Church.\"\n\nFrom the same biographer we add to the foregoing a further testimony as\nto what a hold this devotion of predilection had taken upon the soul of\nthe Founder of Oxford:\n\n\"Among his charities we accordingly find a great many which were solely\ndirected to the relief of the suffering souls. Wykeham's benevolence\nhad in it one admirable feature: it was not left to be carried out\nafter his death by his executors, but all his great acts of munificence\nwere performed in his own lifetime. One of his first cares, after his\naccession to the See of Winchester, was to found a chantry in the\nPriory of Southwyke, near Wykeham, for the repose of the souls of his\nfather and mother and sister, who were buried within the priory church;\nand in all his after foundations provisions were made for the continual\nremembrance of the dead; and (ever grateful to his early friends) King\nEdward III., the Black Prince, and King Richard II. were all commended\nto the charity of those who, as they prayed for Wykeham, were charged\nat the same time to pray for the souls of his benefactors.\"\n\nIn Winchester we read, also, of the College of the Holy Trinity,\nendowed as a \"carnarie,\" or charnel-house, of the city. The chief\nduties of the priests belonging to the chantry attached thereto were to\nbury the dead, and keep up perpetual Masses for the souls of the\ndeparted.\n\nThose Colleges of Winchester, with their simple beauty and grandeur of\ndesign, with their conventional rule of life, the singing of Matins,\nand the daily chanting of the divine office by chaplains and fellows,\noffer to us a very fair picture, indeed. But we observe that in the\nMasses sung with \"note and chant,\" there is one specially mentioned for\nthe souls of the founder's parents, and of all the faithful departed; a\nsecond for the souls of King Edward III., Queen Philippa, the Black\nPrince, Richard II., Queen Anne, and certain benefactors.\n\nOn the 24th of July, 1403, the saintly Wykeham made his will. He\ndirected that his body should be laid in a chantry which he had himself\nfounded, and at the altar of which he was wont to offer up the Holy\nSacrifice. He desired that on the day of his burial, \"to every poor\nperson coming to Winchester, and asking alms, for the love of God, and\nfor the health of his soul, there should be given fourpence.\" Alms were\nlikewise to be distributed in every place through which his body was to\npass, and large provision was made for Masses and prayers for the\nrepose of his soul. He had, besides, made an agreement with the monks\nof St. Swithin's, by which they were to offer three Masses daily for\nhis parents and benefactors in the chantry chapel; the first of these\nwas a Mass of Our Lady, to be said very early. The boys attached to the\nCollege were, moreover, to sing every night in perpetuity, either the\n_Salve Regina_ or _Ave Regina_, with a _De Profundis_ for his soul's\nrepose. So, as the hour of his death drew near, he who had concerned\nhimself through life with the souls of the departed, essayed to make\nprovision for his own. Since that hour when he proceeded to the high\naltar of Winchester Cathedral, escorted by the Lord Prior of Winchester\nand the Abbot Hyde, to celebrate his first Pontifical Mass, the same\nconstant memory of the dead had been with him, as when kneeling he\nprayed aloud for the soul of his predecessor,\nWilliam de Edyndon, and bade the choir chant the _De Profundis_,\nwhile he himself recited the _Fidelium omnium conditor_.\n\nBut leaving Oxford and its pious founder, we turn our gaze upon that\nancient foundation of Eton, which was to serve as a preparatory school\nfor the new establishment of King's College of Cambridge, which Henry\nhad in contemplation. Henry, in his famous Eton charter, makes mention\nof his desire that this college shall be, as it were, a memorial of\nhim, and be composed of clerks, \"who,\" he says, \"shall pray for our\nwelfare whilst we live, and for our soul when we shall have departed\nthis life.\" The Pope, Eugenius IV., afterwards granted a plenary\nindulgence to all who should visit the College Chapel of Our Lady of\nEton, after Confession and Communion. Henry having visited the\nColleges of Winchester, first met there with William Wayneflete, with\nwhom he was to be united in so warm and beautiful a friendship. The\n\"Master of Winton,\" as Wayneflete then was, is described as \"simple,\ndevout, and full of learning.\" But a short time after he was removed\nto Eton, and presently raised to the Provostship. Among many beautiful\nand pious customs, the memory of the dead was carefully preserved\namong the Eton scholars, and their verses on All Souls' Day were on\nthe blessedness of those who die in the Lord. But Wayneflete is, of\ncourse, chiefly identified with Magdalen College, Oxford, said to be\n\"the finest collegiate building in England,\" and of which he was the\nfounder. It was, in truth, his dream, and one which he was destined\nto see realized. Here is neither the place nor time to dwell upon its\nbeauties. The first stone was laid by the venerable Tybarte, its first\npresident. He was buried in the middle of the inner chapel, and upon a\ncope, preserved among the ancient church vestments, is one upon which\nis worked the inscription, \"_Orate pro anima Magistri Tybarte_.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Pray for the soul of Master Tybarte.]\n\nAmong the rules and regulations of this new foundation was one which\nobliged the president, fellows, and scholars to recite, while dressing,\ncertain prayers in honor of the Blessed Trinity, and a suffrage for the\nfounder. Daily prayers were offered up for the repose of the souls of\nthe founder's father and mother, \"those of benefactors of the college,\nand for all the souls of the faithful departed.\" These suffrages were\nto be made by every one, at whatever hour of the day was most\nconvenient.\n\nThere were many foundations of Masses attached to this College of\nMagdalen. Of these daily Masses, offered at the six altars of the\nchapel, the early \"Morrow Mass\" was always said in the Arundel Chapel,\nfor the soul of Lord Arundel, the chief benefactor of the institute.\nAnother Mass was to be said every day for \"souls of good memory,\"\nincluding, besides the two kings, Henry III. and Edward III., his dear\nand never forgotten friends, Henry VI., Lord Cromwell, and Sir John\nFastolfe, as well as King Edward IV. Other Masses and prayers were said\nfor other intentions. The founder was to be especially remembered every\nquarter. Every day, after High Mass, one of the demys was to say aloud\nin the chapel, \"_Anima fundatoris nostri Willielmi, et animae omnium\nfidelium defunctorum, per miscricordiam Dei in pace requiescat._\"\n[1] The same prayer was to be repeated in the hall after dinner and\nsupper.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"May the soul of our founder, William, and the souls of\nall the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.\"]\n\nBut the life of the Founder of Magdalen, the great Bishop, was drawing\nto a close. We shall see by his will how firm his faith in that most\nCatholic of all doctrines--Purgatory. After various bequests, he left a\ncertain portion of his property for Masses and alms-deeds for his own\nsoul and the souls of his parents and friends. On the day of his\nburial, and on the thirtieth day from the time of his decease, and on\nother appointed days, his executors are charged to have 5,000 Masses\nsaid in honor of the Five Wounds of Christ, and the Five Joys of Mary--\nhis favorite devotions--for the same intention. His remains were buried\nat Winchester, in a tomb which he had prepared as a place of burial\nduring his lifetime. His was, indeed, the third chantry chapel in\nWinchester, the others being those of his predecessor. This custom was\ncommon to all the great prelates of the time. They prepared a place of\nsepulture during their life, and there where they officiated at all\nsolemn offices, and so frequently celebrated requiems for the departed,\nthey knew that their remains were one day to be laid, and prayers and\nthe Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be offered for themselves. It was\nthus a constant reminder of death.\n\nA ceremony connected with Magdalen Tower seems likewise to have had its\norigin in this pious custom of remembrance of the dead. \"On the 1st of\nMay,\" says Anthony Wood, \"the choral ministers of this house do,\naccording to ancient custom, salute Flora from the top of the tower, at\nfour in the morning, with vocal music of several parts.\" Of course, as\na chronicler remarks, it was not to salute Flora that any Catholic\nchoristers thus made vocal the sweet air of May. \"The sweet music of\nMagdalen Tower,\" remarks the author of the Knights of St. John, \"had a\ndirectly religious origin. On the 1st of May the society was wont\nannually to celebrate the obit or Requiem Mass of King Henry VII., who\nproved a generous benefactor to the College, and who is still\ncommemorated as such upon that day. The requiem was not, indeed,\ncelebrated _on the top of the tower_, as Mr. Chalmers, in his\nhistory of the university, affirms, in total ignorance that a\n_requiem_ is a Mass, and that a Mass must be said upon an altar;\nbut it is probable that the choral service chanted on the 1st of May\nconsisted originally of the _De Profundis_, or some other psalm,\nfor the repose of Henry's soul, and as a special mark of gratitude.\"\nSome semblance of the old custom is still kept up, as ten pounds is\nstill annually paid by the rectory of Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire,\nfor the purpose of keeping up this ceremony.\n\nSuch are a few brief glimpses of this belief in Purgatory, which was so\ndear to the hearts of Englishmen, in those centuries before the blight\nof heresy had fallen upon the Island of the Saints. These hints upon\nthe subject are given very much at random, and will simply serve to\nshow how prayer for the dead was a part of all Christian lives in those\nages of faith. It was incorporated in the rules of every collegiate\ninstitute, and more especially those two most notable ones of Oxford\nand Cambridge. It entered into every man's calculations, and was\nprovided for in every Will and Testament. Had it been in our power to\ngo backwards, into a still more remote antiquity, it would have been\nour pleasant task to find this belief in suffrage for the dead taking\nso vigorous root in every heart. Do we not find the Venerable Bede,\n\"the Father of English Learning,\" who was born in 673 and died in 734,\nasking that his name may be enrolled amongst the monks of the monastery\nfounded by St. Aidan, in order that his soul after death might have a\nshare in the Masses and prayers of that numerous community, as he tells\nus himself in his Preface to the Life of St. Cuthbert. \"This pious\nanxiety,\" says Montalembert, \"to assure himself of the help of prayer\nfor his soul after death is apparent at every step in his letters. It\nimprints the last seal of humble and true Christianity on the character\nof the great philosopher, whose life was so full of interest, and whose\nlast days have been revealed to us in minute detail by an eye-witness.\"\n[1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Monks of the West,\" Vol v, p 89.]\n\nThe passionate entreaties of Anselm, another of the shining lights of\nearly Anglo-Saxon days, that the soul of his young disciple Osbern be\nremembered in prayers and Masses, proves what value he attached to\nsuffrages for the departed:\n\n\"I beg of you,\" he writes to his friend Gondulph, \"of you and of all my\nfriends, to pray for Osbern. His soul is my soul. All that you do for\nhim during my life, I shall accept as if you had done it for me after\nmy death. ... I conjure you for the third time, remember me, and forget\nnot the soul of my well-beloved Osbern. And if I ask too much of you,\nthen forget me and remember him.... The soul of my Osbern, ah! I\nbeseech thee, give it no other place than in my bosom.\"\n\nAnd do we not read of those \"prayers for souls,\" incessant and\nobligatory, which were identified with all the monastic habits--thanks\nto that devotion for the dead which received in a monastery its final\nand perpetual sanction. \"They were not content,\" says Montalembert,\n\"even with common and permanent prayer for the dead of each isolated\nmonastery. By degrees, vast spiritual associations were formed among\ncommunities of the same order and the same country, with the aim of\nrelieving by their reciprocal prayers the defunct members of each\nhouse. Rolls of parchment, transmitted by special messengers from\ncloister to cloister, received the names of those who had 'emigrated,'\naccording to the consecrated expression, 'from this terrestrial light\nto Christ,' and served the purpose of a check and register to prevent\ndefalcation in that voluntary impost of prayer which our fervent\ncenobites solicited in advance for themselves or for their friends.\"\nAnd, of course, this was many years, even centuries, before the Feast\nof All Souls was instituted by the Abbot Odilo and the monks of Cluny\nin 998. English history, like every other history, furnishes us,\nindeed, with innumerable traits of this pious devotion to the Holy\nSouls. Obviously, our space must prevent us from entering more deeply\ninto the subject. May the few scattered hints we have been enabled to\nthrow out be of interest and profit to our readers!\n\n\nDOCTRINE OF PURGATORY IN THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH.\n\nWALSH. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Ecclesiastical History of Ireland.\" Rev J. Walsh.]\n\nCoerced by the unvarying as well as unequivocal testimony of our\nwriters, our liturgies, our canons, Usher was obliged to admit that the\nancient Irish had been in the constant practice of offering up the\neucharistic sacrifice, and that Masses, termed _Requiem Masses_,\nused to be celebrated daily. So interwoven is the doctrine of the\neucharistic sacrifice with the records of the nation, that the\nantiquarian himself should reject the antiquities of Ireland if he had\nventured on the denial of this practice .... Admitting the practice of\nthe ancient Irish Church, Usher strives to escape from the difficulty,\nas well as attempts to deceive his readers, by pretending that it had\nbeen only a sacrifice of thanksgiving, offered as such for those souls\nwho were in possession of eternal happiness, and that it had not been\nbelieved or practiced in the ancient Irish Church as a propitiatory\nsacrifice. .... The ancient canons of the Irish Church as clearly point\nout as the firmament demonstrates the glory of God, the doctrine of our\nChurch regarding the eucharistic sacrifice, as one of thanksgiving, and\nalso one of propitiation. In an ancient canon contained in D'Achery's\ncollection (lib. 2, cap. 20), the synod says: \"The Church offers for\nthe souls of the deceased in four ways--for the very good, the\noblations are simply thanksgiving; for the very bad, they become\nconsolations to the living; for such as were not very good, the\noblations are made in order to obtain full remission; and for those who\nwere not very bad, that their punishment may be rendered more\ntolerable.\" Here, then, is enunciated in plain terms, the doctrine of\nthe eucharistic oblation being a propitiatory sacrifice. When offered\nfor the first class of happy souls, it is an offering of thanksgiving.\nWhen offered for those whose lives were bad in the sight of Heaven, its\noblation is a comfort to the faithful. When offered for those who were\nnot very good or very bad, the object of its oblation was to render\ntheir state more tolerable, and that full pardon would be at length\naccorded. The framers of this canon give us also the doctrine of a\nmiddle state, as a tenet also believed by the Church of Ireland.\n\nAnother canon, still more ancient, and which is reckoned among those of\nSt. Patrick, is entitled \"Of the Oblation for the Dead.\" This canon is\ncouched in the following words: \"There is a sin unto death, I do not\nsay that for it any do pray.\" This sin is final impenitence.\n\nThe ancient Irish Missal, \"the _Cursus Scotorum\"_ contains an\noration for the dead: \"Grant, O Lord, to him, Thy servant, deceased,\nthe pardon of all his sins, in that secret abode where there is no\nlonger room for penance. Do Thou, O Christ, receive the soul of Thy\nservant, which Thou hast given, and forgive him his trespasses more\nabundantly than he has forgiven those who have trespassed against him.\"\nAn oration is also given for the living and the dead: \"Propitiously\ngrant that this sacred oblation may be profitable to the dead in\nobtaining pardon, and to the living, in obtaining salvation; grant to\nthem (living and dead) the full remission of all their sins, and that\nindulgence they have always deserved.\"\n\nThe liturgy usually called _\"Cursus Scotorum\"_ was that which had\nbeen first brought to Ireland by St,. Patrick, and was the only one\nthat had been used, until about the close of the sixth century. About\nthis period the Gallican liturgy, _\"Cursus Gallorum\"_ was, it is\nprobable, introduced into Ireland. The _\"Cursus Scotorum\"_ is\nsupposed to have been the liturgy originally drawn up and used by St.\nMark the evangelist; it was afterwards followed by St. Gregory\nNazianzen, St. Basil, and other Greek Fathers; then by Cassian,\nHonoratus, St. Cassarius of Aries, St. Lupus of Troyes, and St.\nGermaine of Auxerre, from whom St. Patrick received it, when setting\nout on his mission to Ireland. A copy of the \"_Cursus Scotorum_\"\nwas found by Mabillon, in the ancient monastery of Bobbio, of which St.\nColumbanus was founder, and which missal that learned writer believes\nto have been written at least one thousand years before his time. ...\nIt contains two Masses for the dead; one a general Mass, and the other\n\"_Missa Sacerdotis defuncti_\" (Mass for a deceased priest).\n\n\nPRINCE NAPOLEON'S PRAYER.\n\nThis prayer, in the handwriting of the Prince Imperial, was found among\nthe papers in his desk at Camden Palace. In publishing it the Morning\nPost adds: \"The elucidation of his character alone justifies the\npublication of such a sacred document, which will prove to the world\nhow intimately he was penetrated with all the feelings which most\nbecome a Christian, and which give higher hopes than are afforded by\nthe pains and merits of this transitory life.\" The following is a\ntranslation: \"O God, I give to Thee my heart, but give me faith.\nWithout faith there is no strong prayer, and to pray is a longing of my\nsoul. I pray, not that Thou shouldst take away the obstacles on my\npath, but that Thou mayst permit me to overcome them. I pray, not that\nThou shouldst disarm my enemies, but that Thou shouldst aid me to\nconquer myself. Hear, O God, my prayer. Preserve to my affection those\nwho are dear to me. Grant them happy days. If Thou only givest on this\nearth a certain sum of joy, take, O God, my share, and bestow it on the\nmost worthy, and, may the most worthy be my friends. If thou seekest\nvengeance on man, strike me. Misfortune is converted into happiness by\nthe sweet thought that those whom we love are happy. Happiness is\npoisoned by the bitter thought: while I rejoice, those whom I love a\nthousand times better than myself are suffering. For me, O God, no more\nhappiness. Take it from my path. I can only find joy in forgetting the\npast. _If I forget those who are no more, I shall be forgotten in my\nturn_, and how sad the thought that makes me say, 'Time effaces\nall.' The only satisfaction I seek is that which lasts forever, that\nwhich is given by a tranquil conscience. O, my God! show me where my\nduty lies, and give me strength to accomplish it always. Arrived at the\nterm of my life, I shall turn my looks fearlessly to the past. Remember\nit will not be for me a long remorse. I shall be happy. Grant, O God,\nthat my heart may be penetrated with the conviction that those whom I\nlove and who are dead shall see all my actions. My life shall be worthy\nof this witness, and my innermost thoughts shall never make them\nblush.\"\n\nThat single line, \"If I forget those who are no more, I shall be\nforgotten in my turn,\" is an epitome of what is taught us, and what our\nown hearts feel in relation to the dead. May the noble young heart that\npoured forth this beautiful prayer be remembered by Christian charity\nnow that he is amongst the departed!\n\n\nTHE HELPERS OF THE HOLY SOULS. BY LADY GEORGIANA ILLERTON.\n\nIt has always seemed to me a particularly interesting subject of\nthought to trace as far back as possible the origin of great and good\nworks,--to ascertain what were the tendencies or the circumstances\nwhich concurred in awakening the first ideas, or giving the first\nimpulses, which have eventually led to results the magnitude of which\nwas little foreseen by those destined to bring them about; how much of\nnatural character, and what peculiar gifts, united with God's grace in\nthe formation of some of those grand developments of religion which\nhave been the joy and the glory of the Church.\n\nWhat would we not give to know, for instance, at what page, at what\nsentence, of the volume of the \"Lives of the Saints\" which St. Ignatius\nwas reading on his sick couch at the Castle of Loyola, the thought came\ninto his mind the ultimate development of which was the foundation of\nthe Society of Jesus? or when the blessed Father Clavers' soul was for\nthe first time moved by a casual mention, perhaps, of the sufferings of\nthe negro race? or the particular disappointment at some Parisian lady\ngoing out of town in the midst of her works of charity, or at another\nbeing detained at home by the sickness of some relative, which\nsuggested to St. Vincent de Paul the first idea of gathering together a\nfew servant girls from the country, to do with greater regularity, if\nnot more zeal, the visiting amongst the poor which the ladies had\nundertaken, and thus founding the Order of the Sisters of Charity? I\nsuppose that every one who has done anything worth doing in the course\nof their lives could call to mind the moment when a book, a sermon, a\nconversation, a casual word, perhaps,--or, if they have been so\nfavored, a direct inspiration from God in the hour of prayer,--has\ngiven the impulse--set fire, as it were, to the train lying ready in\ntheir hearts. But long before this decisive time has come, indications\nhave existed, thoughts have arisen, feelings have been awakened, which,\nlike the cloud big as a man's hand, have foreshadowed the deluge of\ngraces and mercies about to inundate their souls.\n\nAs an instance of these indications of a particular bias, I was struck\nwith the mention of a childish fancy in the early years of the\nfoundress of the Order of Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory,--a new\ncommunity, which has sprung up during the last ten years, and has a\nhistory well worth relating. To many this fresh manifestation of the\nspirit of the Church on earth, and of its close affinity with the\nsuffering Church in Purgatory, has come as a wonderful blessing and\nconsolation, and inspired them with a grateful regard for these new\noblates and victims of charity to the dead.\n\nAbout thirty years ago a little girl in the town of N--, in France, had\nbeen much struck with the mention of Purgatory. It made a very great\nimpression upon her. She used to picture it to herself as a dark\ncloset, in which a little friend of hers who had lately died was\nperhaps shut up, whilst she herself was playing in the garden and\nrunning after butterflies; and she kept longing to open the door and\nlet her out. This little girl was subsequently educated in one of the\nConvents of the Sacred Heart, and learnt in that school lessons of\nself-devotion and ardent zeal for souls which were hereafter to bear\nfruit. She has retained to this day an enthusiastic affection for the\nreligious teachers of her childhood; and devotion to the Sacred Heart\nof Jesus is one of the principal devotions of the order she has\nfounded.\n\nThe thought which had occurred to her almost in infancy continued to\nhaunt her in another form as she grew older. She kept asking herself,\"\nHow could I help God? He is our helper: how can we help Him? He gives\nme everything: how could I give Him everything?\" And the answer which\ngrace put into her heart to these oft-repeated questions was always, \"By\npaying the debts of the souls in Purgatory.\"\n\nThe inevitable result of this thought was the desire to have wherewith\nto pay these debts. For this object the necessity of a perfect life, of\na daily sanctification, of an ever-increasing store of merits and\nsatisfactions, was obvious. Hence naturally arose the idea of the\ncommunity-life, of the practice of the evangelical counsels, and of a\nmeritorious, arduous, self-sacrificing charity towards the poor, in\norder worthily to pray, to act, and to suffer for the souls in\nPurgatory--to become, as it were, a co-operator with our Lord, by\naiding His designs of mercy towards them, whilst satisfying His justice\nby voluntary expiation. This lady was not led by one of those startling\nbereavements which close a person's prospects of earthly happiness, and\nleave them no object to live for but the hope of winning mercy at God's\nhands for some dear departed one; or by the terrible anxiety about the\nstate of some beloved soul which forces on the survivor the practice of\na continual appeal to His compassionate goodness. Her zeal for the\nsouls in Purgatory was perfectly free from any earthly attachment; it\nwas as disinterested as possible, and sprung up in her heart before she\nhad known what it is to lose a friend or a relative, before she had\nexperienced the keen anguish of bereavement. She was a happy, contented\ngirl, living in a cheerful and comfortable home, beloved by her family,\nenjoying all innocent pleasures, going occasionally into society, and\namusing herself like other young people; devoted, indeed, to good\nworks, and taking the lead in the numerous charities existing in her\nnative town. But this was not to be her eventual mode of life. It was\ngood as far as it went; but she had been chosen for the accomplishment\nof a special work, and grace was continually urging her to its\nfulfilment.\n\nOn the 1st of November, 1853, Mdlle. ---- was hearing vespers with her\nfather and her mother in a church dedicated to Our Lady. Whilst the\nBlessed Sacrament was being exposed on the altar, she felt a strong\ninternal inspiration prompting her to form an association of prayers\nand offerings for the dead; but, afraid of being misled by her\nimagination, she prayed earnestly that God would give her a sign that\nthis was indeed His will. As she was coming out of the church, a friend\nof hers stopped her in the porch, and of her own accord proposed that\nthey should offer up jointly, during the month set apart for special\ndevotion to the souls in Purgatory, all their prayers and works for\ntheir relief. This seemed to her a token that her inspiration had been\na true one, and that very evening an association was begun which by\nthis time numbers not less than fifteen thousand members. On the\nfollowing day, the 2d of November, during her thanksgiving after\nCommunion, Mdlle. ---- was strongly impressed with the thought that there\nexisted orders intended to supply every need in the Church militant,\nbut none exclusively devoted to the relief of the suffering portion of\nthe Church, and it appeared to her that she was called upon to fill up\nthis void. This idea seemed at the outset too bold a one. She felt\nstartled, almost alarmed, at its magnitude, and earnestly entreated our\nLord to make known to her if such was indeed to be her mission. She\nbegged of Him, by His Five Sacred Wounds, to give her five indications\nof His will in this respect. Her prayers were heard, and during the\ncourse of the years 1854 and 1855 these tokens were successively\nvouchsafed to her. What she had asked for was, 1st, that the Holy\nFather should approve of in writing, and give his blessing to, the\nassociation of prayers set on foot on All Saints' Day (on the 7th of\nJuly, 1854, Pius IX. wrote, with his own hand, at the bottom of the\npetition presented to him, \"_Benedicat vos Deus benedictione\nperpetua_\"--may God bless you with an everlasting blessing); 2d,\nthat a great number of Bishops should approve of this association; 3d,\nthat it should extend rapidly; 4th, that a few pious persons should co-\noperate in the scheme, and devote themselves to works of charity in\nbehalf of the souls in Purgatory; 5th, that a priest might be met with\nwho had previously formed a similar project.\n\nIn the month of July, 1855, Mdlle. ---- thought of consulting the Cur\u00e9\nd'Ars, whom she had for the first time heard of a little while before.\nThe sanctity of this extraordinary man was beginning to be much spoken\nof, not only in France, but all over Europe. Pilgrims flocked to the\ninsignificant little town of Ars, seeking the advice and help of the\npoor _cur\u00e9_--whose ascetic mode of life, spiritual discernment,\nheroic virtues, and even miraculous gifts, were gradually becoming\nknown, in spite of the desperate efforts he made to conceal them. We\ncan hardly imagine, when reading his Life, that in the neighboring\ncountry of France, and in our own day, a man was actually living that\nwe might have seen and spoken and gone to confession to, the details of\nwhose supernatural existence are like the marvels that we read of in\nthe \"Lives of the Saints.\" Mdlle. ---- felt persuaded that this holy\npriest was the instrument appointed by God to make her acquainted with\nHis will, and earnestly longed in some way or other to communicate with\nhim. She did not think of obtaining leave from her parents to go to\nArs. It seemed to her that his answer to her question, after he had\nconsidered the subject before God in prayer, would be more unbiassed,\nand carry greater weight with it, than if she had spoken of it to him\nherself. She did not wish to be influenced by any human considerations,\nor to be tempted to say more than, \"Such is my thought and desire; does\nit come from God?\" With this view she began a novena, and on the day it\nended one of her friends called to tell her she was going to Ars, and\nto inquire if she could do anything for her. On the 5th of August this\nfriend sent her M. Vianney's answer: \"Tell her that she can establish,\nas soon as she likes, an order for the souls in Purgatory.\"\n\nThe future foundress never had any personal communication with the Cur\u00e9\nd'Ars, and yet he always used to say, \"I know her.\" On the 30th of\nOctober Mdlle. ---- entreated him to pray on All Souls' Day for her\nintention, and on the 11th of November the Abb\u00e9 T--, his assistant in\nhis extensive correspondence, wrote to her as follows:\n\n\"Your edifying letter reached me at Pont d'Ain, where our worthy\nBishop, Monseigneur Chalandon, was preaching a retreat. This seemed\nexpressly arranged by Providence, in order that I should speak to him\nof you and your pious projects. On my return to Ars, on All Souls' Day,\nI mentioned your wishes to my holy _cur\u00e9_, begging him to meditate\non the subject in prayer before he gave me an answer. Three or four\ntimes since I have put to him the same question, and always received\nthe same answer. 'He thinks that it is God who has inspired you with\nthe thought of a heroic self-devotion, and that you will do well to\nfound an order in behalf of the souls in Purgatory.' Whether the good\n_cur\u00e9_ speaks in consequence of a divine enlightenment, or whether\nhe only expresses his own opinion and his own wishes, which his tender\ndevotion to the souls in Purgatory would naturally incline in favor of\nyour design, neither I nor any of those most intimately acquainted with\nhim can presume to say. But you can remain certain of two things,--that\nhe quite approves of your vocation to the religious life, and of the\nfoundation of this new order, which he thinks will increase rapidly.\nThis is surely enough to confirm you in your intention, which you will\ncarry into effect whenever and wherever it will please God to open a\nway to it, and you will then be the faithful instrument of His Divine\nProvidence.\"\n\nOn the 25th of the same month M. Vianney sent a message to Mdlle. ---- in\nanswer to a letter in which she had spoken of the obstacles which she\nforesaw on the part of her family. The Abb\u00e9 T---- writes:\n\n\"If I have not written to you before, it is because you particularly\nwished to have an answer _after special prayer_. And now here is\nthis much-wished-for answer. The good _cur\u00e9_ has expressed himself\nas explicitly as possible. I told him that you were troubled at the\nthought of a separation from your family more on their account than\nyour own, and also at relinquishing the many charitable works which you\ncarry on in your parish. To my great surprise, he who generally very\nstrongly recommends young people not to act against their parents'\nwishes, but patiently to await their consent, did not hesitate in\nadvising you to proceed. He says that the tears your parents are now\nshedding will soon be dried up. Do not, then, be afraid to let your\nheart burn with the love of Jesus. He will find a way of removing all\nthe obstacles in your path, and of making you an angel of consolation\nto His holy spouses, the souls in Purgatory. The moon has no light in\nherself, and only reflects that of the sun. This is truly my case with\nregard to our saintly priest. I will constantly remind him to pray for\nyou, and will unite my unworthy prayers to his, that, in the terrible\nstruggle in your heart between nature and grace, grace may remain\nvictorious.\"\n\nWhen this letter reached Mdlle. ----, the principal difficulty she\nforesaw was already removed. On the 21st of November, the Feast of the\nPresentation of the Blessed Virgin, her mother, seeing that her heart\nwas ready to break with the wish and the fear of broaching the subject\nso painfully interesting to them both, had the pious courage to speak\nfirst, and to give her full consent to her child's vocation.\n\nBoth mother and daughter were struck some time afterwards at finding in\na little prayer-book they had not seen before, called \"The Month of\nNovember Consecrated to the Souls in Purgatory,\" the following prayer,\nappointed to be said on the 21st of November, the very day on which\nthey had made their sacrifice, and uttered for the first time the\nbitter word _separation_.\n\n\"O Holy Spirit! who at divers times has raised up religious orders for\nthe needs of the Church Militant; O Father of Light! full of compassion\nand zeal for the dead; we implore Thee to raise up also in behalf of\nthe suffering Church a new order, the object of which will be to work\nday and night for the relief and the deliverance of the souls in\nPurgatory; whose intentions, invariably dedicated to the dead, will\napply to them the merits of all their prayers, fastings, vigils, and\ngood works. Thou alone, Creating Spirit, canst achieve a work which\nwill procure so much glory to God, and for which we shall never cease\nto sigh and pray.\"\n\nOther difficulties failed not to arise. Some persons were of opinion\nthat Mdlle. ---- ought to remain in the world for the very sake of the\nobjects she had in view, whereas her whole heart and soul were bent on\nconsecrating herself without any reserve to our Lord. She was warned\nthat her parents, who had never been separated from their children,\nwould suffer terribly if she left them; and finally, her own health\nbegan to fail. But whilst the world and the devil were multiplying the\nobstacles in her way, the venerable Cur\u00e9 d'Ars spared neither advice\nnor encouragement to support her in her arduous struggle. On the 23d of\nDecember his coadjutor writes:\n\n\"Divine Providence always acts with sweetness and with power. The\nconsent of your good mother is an important step gained. The good\n_cur\u00e9_ advises you not to go to Paris until you have some means\nwherewith to begin your work. You will do well to avail yourself of the\ninterest you possess in your diocese to obtain some aid towards it. The\n_cur\u00e9_ entirely approves of your becoming a religious. It is quite\npossible that God may restore your health; and he advises you to make a\nnovena to St. Philomena.\n\n\"The very day I received your letter, Monseigneur Chalandon, our worthy\nBishop, came to Ars, to call on my holy _cur\u00e9_. I mentioned you\nto him. He told me he had written to you. He also says that you must\nnot begin without some means and better health. Pray very hard that God\nmay give you both. I think the souls in Purgatory ought to take this\nopportunity to prove that they have influence with God. Their interests\nare at stake in the removal of these obstacles.\" Mdlle. ---- had asked to\nmake this novena conjointly with M. Vianney; and she soon received the\nfollowing letter:\n\n\"It is to-day, the 9th of January, that our much-wished-for novena is\nto begin. The souls in Purgatory are interested in the re-establishment\nof your health. I am, you know, but the echo of our good and holy\n_cur\u00e9_. Your director gives you excellent advice. You might,\nindeed, as soon as you have means enough of support for one year, go to\nParis for a while, and come back again to forward the work in the same\nway you are doing now. You say, 'St. Vincent de Paul used to begin his\nworks with nothing.' So he did. But then, as my good _cur\u00e9_\nobserves, 'St. Vincent de Paul was a great saint!'\"\n\nAccording to M. Vianney's advice, on the 19th of January, 1856, the\nfoundress went to Paris, where she met some persons who had, like her,\nresolved to devote themselves to the service of the souls in Purgatory;\nbut who were quite at a loss how to proceed, and had no means of\nsupport. All sorts of crosses awaited this little band of Helpers of\nthe Holy Souls, for such was the name they had taken. Not only were\nfunds wanting for their establishment, but they did not know where to\napply for work, and sufferings of every kind assailed them. Mdlle. ----\nexperienced what always happens to generous souls at the outset of\ntheir enterprises, when they have unreservedly devoted themselves to\nthe service of God, and are being tried like gold in the furnace. Blame\nand neglect became her portion. Nobody thought it worth their while to\nassist a little band of women, whose heroic project had seemed\nadmirable, indeed, in theory, but was now declared to be impracticable.\nThey were considered as mere enthusiasts; and, indeed, as was said by\nM. Desgenettes, the venerable Cur\u00e9 of Notre Dame des Victoires, they\nwere truly possessed with the holy folly of the Cross.\n\nMeantime they had to work for their bread, and did work with all their\nmight. But it was not always that work could be obtained; and trials\nwithout end beset the infant community, lodged in an attic in the Rue\nSt. Martin. Every day, as they asked their Heavenly Father for their\ndaily bread, they prepared themselves to receive with it their habitual\nportion of sufferings and privations--a fit noviceship for souls\nundertaking a work of heroic expiation. Mdlle. ----, who, for the first\ntime in her life quitted a home where she had known all the comforts of\naffluence, had to undergo numberless privations. Illness combined with\npoverty to heighten their trials. Their Divine Master made them\nexperience the kind of suffering which it was hereafter to be their\nspecial vocation to relieve. The Cur\u00e9 d'Ars fully understood the nature\nof that training, and never offered them any help but that of his\nadvice and prayers. \"He does not give you anything,\" says a letter\nwritten on the 16th of March, \"but _he_ will ask St. Philomena,\nhis heavenly treasurer, to put it into the hearts of those who could\nassist you to do so.\" And, indeed, help used to come whenever the\ndistress of the holy society became too urgent. One day the foundress\nhad not a single penny left, and was, to use a common expression, at\nher wits' end. But, thank God, there is something better than human\nwits or human ingenuity in such extremities; and that is prayer. The\nSister who acted as housekeeper placed her bills before the\nSuperioress, and asked for money to buy food for the day. Mdlle. ----\ntold her to wait a little, and went out, not knowing very well what to\ndo next. She entered a church, threw herself on her knees before the\nBlessed Sacrament, and prayed long and fervently. As she was coming\naway she stopped before an image of our Holy Mother, and clasping her\nhands, exclaimed: \"My Blessed Mother, you _must_ get me 100 francs\nto-day. I will take no refusal. You _cannot_, you never do forsake\nyour children.\" She went straight home, and up the dingy stairs into\nthe little room inhabited by the infant community. The instant she\nopened the door her eyes fell on a letter lying on the table. She\nopened it with a beating heart, and found in it a note of 100 francs.\nThere was no name; not a word written on the cover. The postman had\njust left it, and to this day the donor of this sum, or the place it\ncame from, has not been discovered. Another time eight sous was all\nthat remained in the purse of the associates. They agreed to lay out\nthis money to advantage, and accordingly employed it in purchasing a\nlittle statue of St. Joseph, whom they instituted their treasurer. The\nSaint has fulfilled ever since the trust reposed in him; but he often\nwaits till the very last moment to supply the necessities of his\nclients. I have seen this little image in their convents. It is, of\ncourse, very dear to them.\n\nOne day, when no needle-work was to be had, and distress was\nthreatening them, a little girl came to their room, and asked if they\nhad finished the bracelets she had been told to call for. Finding she\nhad mistaken the direction, the child said: \"You could have some of\nthat work to do if you liked.\"\n\nUpon inquiry they found that the employment consisted in threading rows\nof pearls for foreign exportation; that it was less fatiguing and\nbetter paid than needle-work, and proved for some months a valuable\nresource. On another occasion the sum of 500 francs was required for\nsome pressing necessity. This time the foundress had recourse to our\nLady of Victories. Having placed the matter in her hands, she went to\ncall on a person whom she thought might lend her this money, but met\nwith a decided negative. She did not know any one else in Paris to whom\nshe could apply; but on leaving the house she met a gentleman, with\nwhom she had no previous acquaintance, who came up to her and said: \"I\nthink you are Mdlle. ----, and that you have a special devotion for the\nsouls in Purgatory. Will you allow me to place this 500 francs at your\ndisposal, and to recommend my intentions to your prayers?\" Meanwhile\nillnesses and trials continued to affect the little community. The Abb\u00e9\nT---- writes from Ars: \"Do not ask for miraculous cures. _M. le\nCur\u00e9_ complains that St. Philomena sends us too many people.\" The\nnext letter is full of kind encouragement: \"_M. le Cur\u00e9_ only\nsmiles when I tell him all you have to go through, and he bids me\nrepeat the same thing to you, which he desired me to write to a good\nSister, devoted to all sorts of good works and suffering cruel\npersecution. 'Tell her that these crosses are flowers which will soon\nbear fruit.' You have thought, prayed, taken advice, and thoroughly\nweighed the sacrifices you will have to make, and you have every reason\nto believe that in doing this work you are doing God's will. The energy\nwhich He alone can give will enable you to accomplish what you have\nbegun.\"...\"_M. le Cur\u00e9_ has said to me several times, in a tone\nof the strongest conviction, 'Their enterprise cannot fail to succeed;\nbut the foundress will have to experience what anxiety and what labor,\nwhat efforts and what sufferings, have to be endured ere such a work\ncan be consolidated; but,' he adds, 'if God is with them, who shall be\nagainst them?'\"\n\nOn the 20th of June the Superioress received another letter from the\nsame good priest:\n\n\"I feel deeply affected,\" he writes, \"at the thought of the many and\nsevere trials which beset you. Tell your friend that the holy\n_cur\u00e9_ bids her not to look back, but obey with courage the sacred\ncall she has received. The souls in Purgatory must be enabled to say of\nyou, 'We have advocates on earth who can feel for us, because they know\nthemselves what it is to suffer.' And mind you go on praying to St.\nPhilomena, and begging of her to obtain for you the means necessary for\nthe accomplishment of your holy projects.\"\n\nThe associates continued to pray, to work, and to suffer with patience\nand cheerfulness. They received at last some unexpected assistance. New\nmembers proposed to join them; but it became then absolutely necessary\nto hire a house. The Superioress searched in every direction for a\nsuitable one, but without success. It seems as if the words, \"there was\nno room for them,\" were destined to prove applicable to all religious\nfoundations during their periods of probationary trial. After having\nexerted herself, and employed others in vain for a long time, the\nSuperioress received a message from a holy man whose prayers she had\nasked, desiring her to go to a particular part of the town, and to\nawait there some providential indication as to the abode she was\nseeking. For several hours she paced up and down the streets of that\npart of Paris, praying interiorly, but totally at a loss where to\napply. At last she accidentally turned into the Rue de la Barouilli\u00e8re,\nand saw a house and garden with a bill upon it indicating that it was\nto be let or sold. She immediately asked to go over it. All sorts of\ndifficulties, apparently insurmountable ones, stood in the way of the\npurchase. They were overcome in a strangely unaccountable manner, and\nthe money which had to be paid in advance was actually forthcoming on\nthe appointed day, to the astonishment of all concerned. The history of\nthis negotiation, and the wonderful answers to prayer vouchsafed in the\ncourse of it, are very striking; only the more we study the\nmanifestations of God's Providence with regard to works carried on in\nfaith and simple reliance on His assistance, the more _accustomed_\nwe get to these miracles of mercy. The Helpers of the Souls in\nPurgatory took possession of their new home on the 1st of July, 1856,\nand not long after began their labors amongst the poor. An act of\nkindness solicited at their hands towards a sick and destitute neighbor\nsoon after their arrival, was the primary cause of their choosing as\ntheir particular line of charity attendance on the sick poor in their\nown destitute homes by day and by night also. This, together with their\nprayers, their fasts, and their watches, is the continual sacrifice\nthey offer up for the souls in Purgatory.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBefore I go on with the history of the Helpers of the Holy Souls in\nPurgatory, I must describe to you their house,--No. 16 Rue de la\nBarouilli\u00e8re,--a very small and inconvenient one at the time of their\ninstallation, but which has since been re-modelled according to the\nwants of the increasing community, and an adjoining one added to it. I\nhave often visited this convent, which soon becomes dear to those who\nwould fain help the many beloved ones removed from their sight, but\nfeel the impotency of their own efforts, their want of holiness, of\ncourage, and of perseverance in this blessed work. The sight of this\nreligious house is very touching; the inscriptions on the walls, which\nare taken from the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Saints, all\nbear reference to the state of departed souls, and our duty towards\nthem; the quiet chapel where the Office for the Dead is daily said, and\na number of Masses offered up. The memorials of the saintly Cur\u00e9 d'Ars,\nwhose spirit seems to hover over the place, gives a peculiar character\nto its aspect. The nuns do not wear the religious dress, but are simply\ndressed in black, like persons in mourning.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 18th of August, 1856, Monseigneur Sibour, the Archbishop of\nParis, came to visit and bless the new community. \"It is a grain of\nmustard-seed,\" he said, \"which will become a great tree, and spread its\nbranches far and wide.\" He approved of all that had been done since the\nhouse had been opened, and allowed Mass to be said every day in the\nchapel as soon as it could be properly fitted up, which was the case on\nthe ensuing 5th of November. On the 8th of the same month the house was\nsolemnly consecrated to the Blessed Virgin; the keys were laid at the\nfeet of her image, and she was entreated to become herself the\nSuperioress of the congregation.\n\nIt was on the 27th of December, the feast of the disciple whom Jesus\nloved, the great apostle of charity, that the foundress and five other\nSisters made their first vows. A few days afterwards, Monseigneur\nSibour was about to sign a grant of indulgences for the work of the\nreligious; someone standing beside him said, \"Monseigneur, the souls in\nPurgatory are guiding your pen.\" He smiled, and made haste to write his\nname. He little thought how soon he would be himself numbered with the\ndead. It was on the 3d of January, 1857, that his tragical death took\nplace.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 4th of August, 1859, the holy Cur\u00e9 of Ars died; but he lives in\nthe hearts and in the memories of the community which owes so much to\nhis prayers and his advice. His name is frequently on their lips; often\nhas his intercession obtained for them miraculous cures. Every memorial\nof him is carefully preserved and venerated.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the course of the year 1859, on the Feast of St. Benedict, Cardinal\nMorlot sanctioned the institution of a third order of Helpers of the\nSouls in Purgatory, and the affiliation to it of honorary members. The\nladies of the third order engage to lead a practically Christian life\nin the world, to perform exactly all their religious duties, and those\nof their state of life. They promise, in their measure, to suffer, act,\nand pray for the dead, and offer up their good works, the sacrifices\nthey may be inspired to make, and the devotions prescribed by a simple\nand easy rule adapted to their condition, for this object.... On the\nday of the institution of the third order, twenty-eight ladies joined\nit, received the cross, and made their act of consecration in presence\nof the Archbishop. The honorary members have been continually and\nrapidly increasing in number.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe new order has a special devotion to St. Joseph, the great minister\nof God's mercy to all religious, the particular protector of the souls\nin Purgatory, the foster-father of Christ's poor, and the helper of the\ndying. He was himself once in limbo, and knows what it is to wait. It\nis scarcely necessary to speak of their devotion to the Blessed Virgin,\nwhom they have crowned as the Queen of Purgatory, and invoke under the\ntitle of Our Lady of Providence. They specially keep the Feast of the\nSacred Heart, those of St. Ignatius and St. Gertrude; but All Souls is\nof course the day of their most particular devotion. The Holy Sacrament\nis exposed during the whole time of the Octave.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd now, to use words of P\u00e8re Blot, of the Society of Jesus: \"How\nconsoling a thought it is that as the Holy Souls in Purgatory, in all\nprobability, and according to the opinion of the greatest theologians,\nknow what we do for them, and pray for us, they see these acts of\ncharity; they see these devoted women making themselves the slaves of\nthe poor, and sowing in tears, that they themselves may reap in joy. We\ncannot also but believe that the prayers of the Holy Souls, and perhaps\ntheir influence, contribute to the success of the mission carried on\nfor their sakes and in their name amidst the poor and suffering.\nSeveral times when they have been invoked by the community, wonderful\ncures have been vouchsafed and favors obtained. Instances of this kind\nhave excited the astonishment of physicians, and confirmed a pious\nbelief in the efficacy of those prayers. St. Catherine, of Bologna,\nused to say, 'When I wish to obtain some favor from the Eternal Father,\nI invoke the souls in the place of expiation, and charge them with the\npetition I have to make to Him, and I feel I am heard through their\nmeans.' Let us, then, if we feel inspired to do so, ask the prayers of\nthe souls in Purgatory; but, above all things, let us pray for them,\nand, like these religious, join to our prayers acts of self-denying\ncharity towards the poor. Let us always remember, that to the Eternal\nLord of all things everything is present--the future as well as the\npast. We call Him the King of Ages, because the order of events depends\nwholly on His will, and nothing in their course or succession can alter\nor change the effects of that will. He looks upon what is to come as if\nit were present or already past. In consideration of the prayers, the\nsuffrages, and the good works of the Church, which He foresees, He\ngrants proportionate graces, even as if those prayers and good works\nhad been already offered up.... Amongst the Helpers of the Holy Souls\nseveral have made great sacrifices to God in order to obtain mercy for\nsouls long ago called away from this world. We can all imitate their\nexample. 'Oh! if it was not too late!' is the cry of many a heart\ntortured by anxiety for the fate of some loved one who has died\napparently out of the Church, or not in a state of grace. We answer,\n'It is never too late. Pray; act; suffer. The Lord foresaw your\nefforts. The Lord knew what was to come, and may have given to that\nsoul at its last hour some extraordinary graces, which snatched it from\ndestruction, and placed it in safety where your love may still reach\nit, your prayers relieve, your sacrifices avail.'\"\n\nI could not resist closing this letter with these sentences, which have\nraised the hopes and stimulated the courage of many mourners. I only\nwish this imperfect sketch of the Order of Helpers of the Holy Souls,\nand of the nature of their work, might prove a first though feeble step\ntowards the introduction amongst us at some future day of a Sisterhood\nwhich, in the words used on his death-bed by Father Faber, the great\nadvocate amongst us of devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory,\n\"procures such immense glory to God.\"\n\n\nTHE MASS IN RELATION TO THE DEAD.\n\nO'BRIEN [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Rev. John O'Brien, A.M., Prof. of Sacred Liturgy at Mt.\nSt. Mary's, Emmittsburg. \"History of the Mass and its Ceremonies in the\nEastern and Western Churches.\"]\n\nThe Mass of Requiem is one celebrated in behalf of the dead.... If the\nbody of the deceased be present during its celebration, it enjoys\nprivileges that it otherwise would not, for it cannot be celebrated\nunless within certain restrictions. Masses of this kind are accustomed\nto be said in memory of the departed faithful, _first_, when the\nperson dies--or, as the Latin phrase has it, _dies obitus seu\ndeposifionis_, which means any day that intervenes from the day of\none's demise to his burial; _secondly_, on the third day after\ndeath, in memory of Our Divine Lord's resurrection after three days'\ninterval; _thirdly_, on the seventh day, in memory of the mourning\nof the Israelites seven days for Joseph (Gen. i. 10); _fourthly_,\non the thirtieth day, in memory of Moses and Aaron, whom the Israelites\nlamented this length of time (Numb. xx.; Deut. xxxiv.); and, finally,\nat the end of the year, or on the anniversary day itself (Gavant.,\nThesaur. Rit. 62). This custom also prevails with the Orientals.\n\nDuring the early days it was entirely at the discretion of every priest\nwhether he said daily a plurality of Masses or not (Gavant., Thesaur.\nRit. p. 19). It was quite usual to say two Masses, one of the occurring\nfeast, the other for the benefit of the faithful departed. This\npractice, however, kept gradually falling into desuetude until the time\nof Pope Alexander II. (A. D. 1061-1073), when that pontiff decreed that\nno priest should say more than one Mass on the same day.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThroughout the kingdom of Aragon, in Spain (including Aragon, Valentia,\nand Catalonia), also in the kingdom of Majorca (a dependency of\nAragon), it is allowed each secular priest to say two Masses on the 2d\nof November, the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, and each\nregular priest three Masses. This privilege is also enjoyed by the\nDominicans of the Monastery of St. James at Pampeluna (Benedict XIV.,\n_De Sacrif. Missal Romae, ex. Congr. de Prof. Fide_, an. 1859\neditio, p. 139). This grant, it is said, was first made either by Pope\nJulius or Pope Paul III., and though often asked for afterwards by\npersons of note, was never granted to any other country, or to any\nplace in Spain except those mentioned. For want of any very recent\ninformation upon the subject, I am unable to say how far the privilege\nextends at the present day. A movement is on foot, however, to petition\nthe Holy See for an extension of this privilege to the Universal\nChurch, in order that as much aid as possible may be given to the\nsuffering souls in Purgatory.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn case of a death occurring (amongst the Armenians) Mass is never\nomitted. The Armenians say one on the day of burial and one on the\nseventh, fifteenth, and fortieth after death; also one on the\nanniversary day. This holy practice of praying for the dead and saying\nMass in their behalf is very common throughout the entire East, with\nschismatics as well as Catholics.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs late as the sixteenth century, a very singular custom prevailed in\nEngland--viz.: that of presenting at the altar during a Mass of Requiem\nall the armor and military equipments of deceased knights and noblemen,\nas well as their chargers. Dr. Kock (Church of our Fathers, II. 507),\ntells us that as many as eight horses, fully caparisoned, used to be\nbrought into the church for this purpose at the burial of some of the\nhigher nobility. At the funeral of Henry VII., in Westminster Abbey,\nafter the royal arms had first been presented at the foot of the altar,\nwe are told that Sir Edward Howard rode into Church upon \"a goodlie\ncourser,\" with the arms of England embroidered upon his trappings, and\ndelivered him to the abbots of the monastery (_ibid_). Something\nsimilar happened at the Mass of Requiem for the repose of the soul of\nLord Bray in A. D. 1557, and at that celebrated for Prince Arthur, son\nof Henry VII. (_ibid_).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs the priest begins to recite the memento for the dead, he moves his\nhands slowly before his face, so as to have them united at the words\n\"_in somno pacis_.\" This gentle motion of the hands is aptly\nsuggestive here of the slow, lingering motion of a soul preparing to\nleave the body, and the final union of the hands forcibly recalls to\nmind the laying down of the body in its quiet slumber in the earth. As\nthis prayer is very beautiful, we transcribe it in full. It is thus\nworded: \"Remember, also, O Lord! Thy servants, male and female, who\nhave gone before us with the sign of faith and sleep in the sleep of\npeace, N. N.; to them, O Lord! and to all who rest in Christ, we\nbeseech Thee to grant a place of refreshment, light, and peace; through\nthe same Christ our Lord. Amen.\" At the letters N. N. the names of the\nparticular persons to be prayed for among the departed were read out\nfrom the diptychs in ancient times. When the priest comes to them now\nhe does not stop, but pauses awhile at \"_in, somno pacis_\" to make\nhis private memento of those whom he wishes to pray for in particular,\nin which he is to be guided by the same rules that directed him in\nmaking his memento for the living, only that here he cannot pray for\nthe conversion of any one, as he could there, for this solely relates\nto the dead who are detained in Purgatory. Should the Holy Sacrifice be\noffered for any soul among the departed which could not be benefited by\nit, either because of the loss of its eternal salvation or its\nattainment of the everlasting joys of heaven, theologians commonly\nteach that in that case the fruit of the Mass would enter the treasury\nof the Church, and be applied afterwards in such indulgences and the\nlike as Almighty God might suggest to the dispensers of his gift\n(Suarez, _Disp._, xxxviii, sec. 8). We beg to direct particular\nattention here to the expression \"sleep of peace.\" That harsh word\n_death_, which we now use, was seldom or never heard among the\nearly Christians when talking of their departed brethren. Death to them\nwas nothing else but a sleep until the great day of resurrection, when\nall would rise up again at the sound of the angel's trumpet; and this\nbright idea animated their minds and enlivened all their hopes when\nconversing with their absent friends in prayer. So, too, with the place\nof interment; it was not called by that hard name that distinguishes it\ntoo often now, viz., the _grave-yard_, but was called by the\nmilder term of _cemetery,_ which, from its Greek derivation, means\na dormitory, or sleeping-place. Nor was the word _bury_ employed\nto signify the consigning the body to the earth. No, this sounded too\nprofane in the ears of the primitive Christians; they rather chose the\nword _depose_, as suggestive of the treasure that was put away\nuntil it pleased God to turn it to better use on the final reckoning\nday. The old Teutonic expression for cemetery was, to say the least of\nit, very beautiful. The blessed place was called in this tongue\n_gottes-acker_--that is, God's field--for the reason that the dead\nwere, so to speak, the seed sown in the ground from which would spring\nthe harvest reaped on the day of general resurrection in the shape of\nglorified bodies. According to this beautiful notion, the stone which\ntold who the departed person was that lay at rest beneath, was likened\nto the label that was hung upon a post by the farmer or gardener to\ntell the passer-by the name of the flower that was deposited beneath.\nThis happy application of the word _sleep_ to death runs also\nthrough Holy Scripture, where we frequently find such expressions as\n\"He slept with his fathers,\" \"I have slept and I am refreshed,\" applied\nfrom the third Psalm to our Divine Lord's time in the sepulchre; the\n\"sleep of peace,\" \"he was gathered to his fathers,\" etc.\n\nThe prayers of the Orientals for the faithful departed are singularly\ntouching. In the Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil the memento is worded\nthus: \"In like manner, O Lord! remember also all those who have already\nfallen asleep in the priesthood and amidst the laity; vouchsafe to give\nrest to their souls in the bosoms of our holy fathers, Abraham, Isaac,\nand Jacob; bring them into a place of greenness by the waters of\ncomfort, in the paradise of pleasure where grief and misery and sighing\nare banished, in the brightness of the saints.\" The Orientals are very\nmuch attached to ancient phraseology, and hence their frequent\napplication of \"the bosom of Abraham\" to that middle state of\npurification in the next life which we universally designate by the\nname of Purgatory. In the Syro-Jacobite Liturgy of John Bar Maadan,\npart of the memento is thus worded: \"Reckon them among the number of\nThine elect; cover them with the bright cloud of Thy saints; set them\nwith the lambs on Thy right hand, and bring them into Thy habitation.\"\nThe following extract is taken from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom,\nwhich, as we have said already, all the Catholic and schismatic Greeks\nof the East follow: \"Remember all those that are departed in the hope\nof the resurrection to eternal life, and give them rest where the light\nof Thy countenance shines upon them.\" But of all the Orientals, the\nplace of honor in this respect must be yielded to the Nestorians; for,\nheretics as they are, too much praise cannot be given them for the\nsingular reverence they show towards their departed brethren. From a\nwork of theirs called the \"Sinhados,\" which Badger quotes in his\n\"Nestorians and their Rituals,\" we take the following extract: \"The\nservice of third day of the dead is kept up, because Christ rose on the\nthird day. On the ninth day, also, there should be a commemoration, and\nagain on the thirtieth day, after the example of the Old Testament,\nsince the people mourned for Moses that length of time. A year after,\nalso, there should be a particular commemoration of the dead, and some\nof the property of the deceased should be given to the poor in\nremembrance of him. We say this of believers; for, as to unbelievers,\nshould all the wealth of the world be given to the poor in their\nbehalf, it would profit them nothing.\" The Armenians call Purgatory by\nthe name _Goyan_--that is, a mansion. The Chaldeans style it\n_Matthar_, the exact equivalent of our term. By some of the other\nOriental Churches it is called _Kavaran_, or place of penance; and\n_Makraran_, a place of purification (Smith and Dwight, I. p. 169).\n\nWe could multiply examples at pleasure to prove that there is no church\nin the East to which the name of Christian can be given that does not\nlook upon praying for the faithful departed, and offering the Holy Mass\nfor the repose of their souls, as a sacred and solemn obligation.\nProtestants who would fain believe otherwise, and who not unfrequently\nrecord differently in their writings about the Oriental Christians, can\nverify our statements by referring to any Eastern Liturgy and examining\nfor themselves. We conclude our remarks on this head by a strong\nargument in point from a very unbiased Anglican minister--the Rev. Dr.\nJohn Mason Neale. Speaking of prayers for the dead in his work entitled\n\"A History of the Holy Eastern Church,\" general introduction, Vol. I.\np. 509, this candid-speaking man uses the following language: \"I am not\nnow going to prove, what nothing but the blindest prejudice can deny,\nthat the Church, east, west, and south, has, with one consentient and\nuniversal voice, even from Apostolic times, prayed in the Holy\nEucharist for the departed faithful.\"\n\n\nFUNERAL ORATION ON DANIEL O'CONNELL.\n\nREV. THOMAS BURKE, O. P.\n\n[\"Wisdom conducted the just man through the right ways, and showed him\nthe kingdom of God, made him honorable in his labors, and accomplished\nhis works. She kept him safe from his enemies, and gave him a strong\nconflict that he might overcome; and in bondage she left him not till\nshe brought him the sceptre of the kingdom, and power against those\nthat oppressed him, and gave him everlasting glory.\"--Wisdom x. [1] ]\n\n[Footnote 1: From the funeral oration preached at Glassaevin Cemetery,\nin May, 1869, on the occasion of the removal of the remains of the\nLiberator to their final resting place.]\n\nNor was Ireland forgotten in the designs of God. Centuries of patient\nendurance brought at length the dawn of a better day. God's hour came,\nand it brought with it Ireland's greatest son, Daniel O'Connell. We\nsurround his grave to-day to pay him a last tribute of love, to speak\nwords of praise, of suffrage, and prayer. For two and twenty years has\nhe silently slept in the midst of us. His generation is passing away,\nand the light of history already dawns upon his grave, and she speaks\nhis name with cold, unimpassioned voice. In this age of ours a few\nyears are as a century of times gone by. Great changes and startling\nevents follow each other in such quick succession that the greatest\nnames are forgotten almost as soon as those who bore them disappear,\nand the world itself is surprised to find how short-lived is the fame\nwhich promised to be immortal. The Church alone is the true shrine of\nimmortality--the temple of fame which perisheth not; and that man only\nwhose name and memory is preserved in her sanctuaries receives on this\nearth a reflection of that glory which is eternal in heaven. But before\nthe Church will crown any one of her children, she carefully examines\nhis claims to the immortality of her gratitude and praise. She asks,\n\"What has he done for God and for man?\" This great question am I come\nhere to answer to-day for him whose tongue, once so eloquent, is now\nstilled in the silence of the grave, and over whose tomb a grateful\ncountry has raised a monument of its ancient faith and a record of its\npast glories; and I claim for him the need of our gratitude and love,\nin that he was a man of faith, whom wisdom guided in \"the right ways,\"\nwho loved and sought \"the kingdom of God,\" who was \"most honorable in\nhis labors,\" and who accomplished his \"great works;\" the liberator of\nhis race, the father of his people, the conqueror in \"the undented\nconflict\" of principle, truth and justice....\n\n....Before him stretched, full and broad, the two ways of life, and he\nmust choose between them: the way which led to all that the world\nprized--wealth, power, distinction, title, glory, and fame; the way of\ngenius, the noble rivalry of intellect, the association with all that\nwas most refined and refining--the way which led up to the council\nchambers of the nation, to all places of jurisdiction and of honor, to\nthe temples wherein were enshrined historic names and glorious\nmemories, to a share in all blessings of privilege and freedom....\nBefore him opened another way. No gleam of sunshine illumined this way;\nit was wet with tears--it was overshadowed by misfortune--_it was\npointed out to the young traveller of life by the sign of the\ncross_, and he who entered it was bidden to leave all hope behind\nhim, for it led through the valley of humiliation, into the heart of a\nfallen race, and an enslaved and afflicted people. I claim for\nO'Connell the glory of having chosen this latter path, and this claim\nno man can gainsay, for it is the argument of the Apostle in favor of\nthe great lawgiver of old--\"By faith Moses\" denied himself to be the\nson of Pharoah's daughter.\n\n....Into this way was he led by his love for his religion and his\ncountry. He firmly believed in that religion in which He was born. He\nhad that faith which is common to all Catholics, and which is not\nmerely a strong opinion nor even a conviction, but an absolute and most\ncertain knowledge that the Catholic Church is the one and the only true\nmessenger and witness of God upon earth; and that to belong to her\ncommunion and to possess her faith is the first and greatest of all\nendowments and privileges, before which everything else sinks into\nabsolute nothing ... He was Irish of the Irish and Catholic of the\nCatholic. His love for religion and country was as the breath of his\nnostrils, the blood of his veins, and when he brought to the service of\nboth the strength of his faith and the power of his genius, with the\ninstinct of a true Irishman, his first thought was to lift up the\nnation by striking the chains off the National Church. And here again,\ntwo ways opened before him. One was a way of danger and of blood, and\nthe history of his country told him that it ever ended in defeat and in\ngreat evil.... He saw that the effort to walk in it had swept away the\nlast vestige of Ireland's national legislature and independence. But\nanother path was still open to him, and wisdom pointed it out as \"the\nright way.\" Another battle-field lay before him on which he could\n\"fight the good fight\" and vindicate all the rights of his religion and\nof his country. The armory was furnished by the inspired Apostle when\nhe said: ... \"Having your loins girt about with truth, and having on\nthe breast-plate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of\nthe Gospel of Peace, in all things taking the shield of faith.... And\ntake unto you the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word.\" O'Connell\nknew well that such weapons in such a hand as his were irresistible--\nthat girt around with the truth and justice of his cause, he was clad\nin the armor of the Eternal God, that with words of peace and order on\nhis lips, with the strong shield of faith before him and the sword of\neloquent speech in his hand, with the war-cry of obedience, principle,\nand law, no power on earth could resist him, for it is the battle of\nGod, and nothing can resist the Most High.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n... He who was the Church's liberator and most true son, was also the\nfirst of Ireland's statesmen and patriots. Our people remember well, as\ntheir future historian will faithfully record, the many trials borne\nfor them, the many victories gained in their cause, the great life\ndevoted to them by O'Connell. Lying, however, at the foot of the altar,\nas he is to-day, whilst the Church hallows his grave with prayer and\nsacrifice, it is more especially as the Catholic Emancipator of his\npeople that we place a garland on his tomb. It is as the child of the\nChurch that we honor him, and recall with tears of sorrow our\nrecollections of the aged man, revered, beloved, whom all the glory of\nthe world's admiration and the nation's love had never lifted up in\nsoul out of the holy atmosphere of Christian humility and simplicity.\nObedience to the Church's laws, quick zeal for her honor and the\ndignity of her worship, a spirit of penance refining whilst it\nexpiated, chastening while it ennobled all that was natural in the man;\nconstant and frequent use of the Church's holy sacraments which shed\nthe halo of grace around his venerated head,--these were the last grand\nlessons which he left to his people, and thus did the sun of his life\nset in the glory of Christian holiness.\n\n.... In the triumph of Catholic Emancipation, he pointed out to the\nIrish people the true secret of their strength, the true way of\nprogress, and the sure road to victory.... Time, which buries in utter\noblivion so many names and so many memories, will exalt him in his\nwork. The day has already dawned and is ripening into its perfect noon,\nwhen Irishmen of every creed will remember O'Connell, and celebrate him\nas the common friend, and the greatest benefactor of their country.\nWhat man is there, even of those whom our age has called great, whose\nname, so many years after his death, could summon so many loving hearts\naround his tomb? We, to-day, are the representatives not only of a\nnation but of a race.... Where is the land that has not seen the face\nof our people and heard their voice? And wherever, even to the ends of\nthe earth, an Irishman is found to-day, his spirit and his sympathy are\nhere. The millions of America are with us--the Irish Catholic soldier\non India's plains is present amongst us by the magic of love--the Irish\nsailor standing by the wheel this moment in far-off silent seas, where\nit is night, and the Southern stars are shining, joins his prayer with\nours, and recalls the glorious image and the venerated name of\nO'Connell. ... He is gone, but his fame shall live forever on the\nearth, as a lover of God and of His people. Adversities, political and\nreligious, he had many, and like a\n\n    \"Tower of strength\n  Which stood full square to all the winds that blew,\"\n\nthe Hercules of justice and of liberty stood up against them. Time,\nwhich touches all things with mellowing hand, has softened the\nrecollections of past contests, and they who once looked upon him as a\nfoe, now only remember the glory of the fight, and the mighty genius of\nhim who stood forth the representative man of his race, and the\nchampion of his people. They acknowledge his greatness, and they join\nhands with us to weave the garland of his fame.\n\nBut far other, higher and holier are the feelings of Irish Catholics\nall the world over to-day. They recognize in the dust which we are\nassembled to honor, the powerful arm which promoted them, the eloquent\ntongue which proclaimed their rights and asserted their freedom, the\nstrong hand which, like that of the Maccabees of old, first struck off\ntheir chains and then built up their holy altars. They, mingling the\nsupplication of prayer and the gratitude of suffrage with their tears,\nrecall--oh! with how much love--the memory of him who was a Joseph to\nIsrael--their tower of strength, their buckler, and their shield--who\nshed around their homes, their altars, and their graves the sacred\nlight of religious liberty, and the glory of unfettered worship. \"His\npraise is in the Church,\" and this is the pledge of the immortality of\nhis glory. \"A people's voice\" may be \"the proof and echo of all Human\nfame,\" but the voice of the undying Church, is the echo of \"everlasting\nglory,\" and, when those who surround his grave to-day shall have passed\naway, all future generations of Irishmen to the end of time will be\nreminded of his name and glory.\n\n\nTHE INDULGENCE OF PORTIUNCULA.\n\nTowards the middle of the fourth century, four pilgrims from Palestine\ncame to settle in the neighborhood of Assisi, and built a chapel there.\nNearly two centuries after, this little chapel passed into the hands of\nthe monks of St. Benedict, who owned some lots, or _portions_ of\nland, in the vicinity, whence came the name of _Portiuncula_,\ngiven first to those little plots of ground, and afterwards to the\nchapel itself. St. Bonaventure says that, later still, it was called\n\"Our Lady of Angels,\" because the heavenly spirits frequently appeared\nthere.\n\nSt. Francis, at the outset of his penitential life, going one day\nthrough the fields about Assisi, heard a voice which said to him: \"Go,\nrepair my house!\" He thought the Lord demanded of him to repair the\nsanctuaries in which He was worshipped, and, amongst others, the Church\nof St. Damian, a little way from Assisi, which was falling to decay.\n\nHe went to work, therefore, begging in the streets of Assisi, and\ncrying out: \"He who giveth me a stone shall have one blessing--he who\ngiveth me two, shall have two.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Francis often bent his steps towards the little chapel of\nthe Portiuncula, built about half a league from Assisi, in a fertile\nvalley, in the midst of a profound solitude. The place had great charms\nfor him, and he resolved to take up his abode there, but as the little\nchapel was urgently in need of repair, he undertook to do it,\nfollowing, as he thought, the orders he had received from Heaven. He\nmade himself a cell in the hollow of a neighboring rock, and there\nspent several years in great austerities. Some disciples, having joined\nhim, inhabited caverns which they found in the rocks around, and some\nbuilt themselves cells. This was the origin of the Order of St.\nFrancis. The _Portiuncula_, or Our Lady of Angels, afterwards\ngiven to the holy penitent by the Benedictine Abbot of Monte Soubasio,\nthus became the cradle of the three orders founded by the Seraphic\nPatriarch, and is unspeakably dear to every child of St. Francis. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: The little chapel of the Portiuncula is now inclosed\nbeneath the dome of the great basilica of Our Lady of Angels, built to\npreserve it from the injuries of the weather. It stands there still\nwith its rough, antique walls, in all the prestige of its marvellous\npast. \"I know not what perfume of holy poverty,\" says a pious author,\n\"exhales from that venerable chapel. The pavement within is literally\nworn by the knees of the pious faithful, and their repeated and burning\nkisses have left their imprint on its walls.\"]\n\nFrancis, in the midst of his prodigious austerities, living always in\nthe greatest privation, united, nevertheless, the most tender\ncompassion for men and a marvellous love for poverty. He prayed above\nall, and with tears and groans, for the conversion of sinners. But one\nnight--it was in October, 1221--Francis being inspired with a greater\nlove and a deeper pity for men who were offending their God and\nSaviour, shedding torrents of tears, macerating his body, already\nattenuated by excessive mortifications, hears, all at once, the voice\nof an Angel commanding him to repair to the chapel of the Portiuncula.\nRavished with joy, he rises immediately, and entering with profound\nrespect into the chapel, he falls prostrate on the ground, to adore the\nmajesty of God. He then sees Our Lord Jesus Christ, who appears to him,\naccompanied by His Holy Mother and a great multitude of Angels, and\nsays to him: \"Francis, thou and thy brethren have a great zeal for the\nsalvation of souls; indeed, you have been placed as a torch in the\nworld and as the support of the Church. Ask, then, whatsoever thou wilt\nfor the welfare and consolation of nations, and for My glory.\"\n\nIn the midst of the wonders which ravished him, Francis made this\nprayer: \"Our most holy Father, I beseech Thee, although I am but a\nmiserable sinner, to have the goodness to grant to men, that all those\nwho shall visit this Church may receive a plenary indulgence of all\ntheir sins, after having confessed to a priest; and I beseech the\nBlessed Virgin, Thy Mother, the advocate of mankind, to intercede, that\nI may obtain this favor.\"\n\nThe merciful Virgin interceded, and Our Lord said to Francis: \"What\nthou dost ask is great, nevertheless thou shalt receive still greater\nfavors. I grant it to thee, but I will that it be ratified on earth by\nhim to whom I have given the power of binding and loosening.\"\n\nThe companions of the Saint overheard this colloquy between Our Lord\nand St. Francis; they beheld numerous troops of Angels, and a great\nlight that filled the Church, but a respectful fear prevented them from\napproaching.\n\nNext day Francis set out, accompanied by one of his brethren, and\nrepaired to Perugia, where Pope Honorius III. then was. The Saint,\nintroduced to the Pontiff, repeated the order he had received from Our\nLord Jesus Christ Himself, and conjured him not to refuse what the Son\nof God had been pleased to grant him.\n\n\"But,\" said the Sovereign Pontiff, \"thou askest of me something very\ngreat, and the Roman Court is not wont to grant such an indulgence.\"\n\"Most Holy Father,\" replied Francis, \"I ask it not of myself; it is\nJesus Christ who sendeth me. I come on His behalf.\" Wherefore the Pope\nsaid publicly three times: _\"I will that thou have it.\"_\n\nThe Cardinals made several objections; but Honorius, at length\nconvinced of the will of God, granted most liberally, most\ngratuitously, and in perpetuity, this indulgence solicited so\nearnestly, yet with so much humility, _but only during one natural\nday, from evening till evening, including the night, till sunset on the\nfollowing day._\n\nAt these words, Francis humbly bowed his head. As he was going away,\nthe Pope demanded of him: \"Whither goest thou, simple man? What\nassurance hast thou of that which thou hast obtained?\" \"Holy Father,\"\nhe replied, \"thy word is sufficient for me; if this Indulgence be the\nwork of God, He Himself will make it manifest. Let Jesus Christ, His\nholy Mother and the Angels be in that regard, notary, paper and\nwitness; I ask no other authentic act.\" Such was the effect of the\ngreat confidence he felt in the truth of the apparition.\n\nThe Indulgence of the Portiuncula had been two years granted, and still\nthe day when the faithful might gain it was not fixed. Francis waited\ntill Jesus Christ, the first Author of a grace so precious, should\ndetermine it.\n\nMeanwhile, one night, when Francis was at prayer in his cell, the\ntempter suggested to him to diminish his penances: feeling the malice\nof the demon, he goes into the woods, and rolls himself amongst briers\nand thorns until he is covered with blood. A great light shines around\nhim, he sees a quantity of white and red roses all about, although it\nis the month of January, in a very severe winter. God had changed the\nthorny shrubs into magnificent rose-bushes, which have ever since\nremained green and without thorns, and covered with red and white\nroses. [1] Angels, who appeared then in great numbers, said to him:\n\"Francis, hasten to the church; Jesus is there with His holy Mother.\"\nAt the same moment, he was clothed in a spotless white habit, and\nhaving reached the church, after a profound obeisance, he made this\nprayer: \"Our Father, Most Holy Lord of heaven and earth, Saviour of\nmankind, vouchsafe, through Thy great mercy, to fix the day for the\nIndulgence Thou hast had the goodness to grant.\" Our Lord replied that\nHe would have it to be from the evening of the day on which the Apostle\nSt. Peter was bound with chains till the following day. He then ordered\nFrancis to present himself to his vicar, and give him some white and\nred roses in proof of the truth of the fact, and to bring some of his\ncompanions who might bear testimony of what they had heard.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"We have received from Rome,\" says the editor of the\n\"Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory,\" \"some leaves from these miraculous\nrose-bushes. We will willingly give some to the devout clients of St.\nFrancis.\"]\n\nThe Pope, convinced by proofs so incontestable, confirmed the\nIndulgence with all its privileges.\n\nThe Indulgence of the Portiuncula, was soon known throughout the whole\nworld; and the prodigies which were seen wrought every year at St. Mary\nof Angels, excited the devotion of the faithful to gain it. Many times\nthere were seen there fifty thousand, and even a hundred thousand\npersons assembled together from all parts.\n\nMeanwhile, in order to facilitate the means of gaining an Indulgence so\nadmirable, the Sovereign Pontiffs extended it to all the churches of\nthe three Orders of St. Francis, and it may be gained by all the\nfaithful indiscriminately. \"Of all Indulgences,\" said Bourdaloue, \"that\nof the Portiuncula is one of the surest and most authentic that there\nis in the Church, since it is an Indulgence granted immediately by\nJesus Christ, a privilege peculiar to itself, and this Indulgence has\nspread amongst all Christian people with a marvellous progress of\nsouls, and a sensible increase of piety.\"\n\nThe Indulgence of the Great Pardon has another very special privilege;\nit is, that it may be gained _totus quotus_--that is to say, as\noften as one visits a church to which it is attached, and prays for the\nSovereign Pontiff; and this privilege may be enjoyed from the 1st of\nAugust about two o'clock in the afternoon, till sunset on the following\nday.\n\nPope Boniface VIII. said that it is \"most pious to gain that Indulgence\nseveral times for oneself; for, although by the first gaining of a\nplenary Indulgence, the penalty be remitted, by seeking to gain it\nagain, one receives an augmentation of grace and of glory that crowns\nall their good works.\" Besides, this Indulgence can be applied to the\nSouls in Purgatory, as it can be also gained for the living by way of\nsatisfaction, provided they be in the state of grace.\n\nIt was one day revealed to St. Margaret of Cortona that the Souls in\nPurgatory eagerly look forward every year to the Feast of Our Lady of\nAngels, because it is a day of deliverance for a great number of them.\n\nWhile speaking of the Indulgence of the Portiuncula, we are naturally\ndisposed to say a few words in regard to the grievous outrage recently\ncommitted on that place, venerated for more than six hundred years by\nall Christian nations, and manifestly chosen as the object of divine\npredilection by all the prodigies there wrought.\n\nThe Italian government had unlawfully, and in a sacrilegious manner,\npossessed itself of the Convent of the Portiuncula; and notwithstanding\nthe protest of all the members of the Order of St. Francis, and the\nindignation excited by so arbitrary an act in every Catholic heart,\nthose iniquitous men put it up for sale, and actually sold it by public\nauction. The Minister General of the Franciscan Order, unwilling that\nthis brightest gem of the Franciscan crown should fall into impious\nhands, resolved to have it purchased for him by a lay person. But how\nwas this to be done, when he had no revenue, often not means enough for\nnecessary expenses? a grave question, truly, for the children of St.\nFrancis, who might have seen themselves bereft of the cradle of their\nOrder, were it not that, at the critical moment, a man of a truly\nChristian heart came forward and advanced the thirty-four thousand\nfrancs, the price to which their precious relic had been raised. Thus,\nGod would not permit that so many memories connected with His servant\nFrancis should be effaced from the earth, although they would still\nhave lived in the hearts of his children, and the Friars Minors are\nstill the owners and possessors of that venerable sanctuary. [1]--\n_Almanac of the Souls in Purgatory_, 1881.\n\n[Footnote 1: Nevertheless, means must be taken to pay back this sum so\nseasonably advanced. Hence it is, that at the request of the Minister\nGeneral of the Franciscans, Father Marie, of Brest, has made a touching\nappeal to all friends of the Order and of justice, and has opened\nsubscription lists wherever there are children of St. Francis, and\nthere are children of St. Francis all over the world. These lists, with\nthe names of the pious donors, shall be sent to Assisium, to be\npreserved there in the very sanctuary of the Portiuncula.--ED. AL.]\n\n\nCATHERINE OF CARDONA.\n\nCatherine of Cardona was born in the very highest rank. She was but\neight years old when she lost her father, Raymond of Cardona, who was\ndescended from the kings of Aragon. Catherine had already made herself\nremarkable by her love of prayer, solitude, and mortification, and by\nher admirable fidelity to grace she had drawn down upon herself, at an\nage still so tender, the signal favor of Heaven.\n\nOne day, whilst absorbed in prayer in her little oratory, her father\nappeared to her enveloped in the flames of Purgatory, and, conjuring\nher to deliver him, he said to her: \"Daughter, I shall remain in this\nfire until thou hast done penance for me.\" With a heart full of\ncompassion, Catherine promised her father to satisfy the divine justice\nfor him, and the vision disappeared.\n\nFrom that moment Catherine, rising above the weakness of her age and\nsex, applied herself to those amazing austerities which have made her a\nprodigy of penance. To open Heaven to her father, she freely sheds, in\nbloody scourgings, the first fruits of that virginal blood which is to\nflow for half a century in innumerable torments. Magnanimous child, she\nis already the martyr of filial piety, but her tears, her\nmortifications, her prayers have disarmed the divine justice and\ndischarged the paternal debt. Raymond, resplendent with the glory of\nthe blessed, appears again to his daughter, and addresses her in these\nwords: \"God has accepted thy penance, my daughter, and I go to enjoy\nHis glory. By that penance, thou hast become so pleasing to Jesus\nChrist that He has chosen thee for His spouse. Continue all thy life to\nimmolate thyself as a victim for the salvation of souls; such is His\ndivine will.\"\n\nWith these words, which filled the heart of Catherine with joy\nunspeakable, he goes to Heaven to sing the mercies of his God, and to\nintercede with Him, in his turn, for the beloved daughter who was his\nliberator.\n\nOh! happy, thrice happy Catherine! Whilst accomplishing an act of\nfilial piety, she gained the title of Spouse of Christ, and secured for\nherself a powerful intercessor in heaven.--_Almanac of the Souls in\nPurgatory, 1881._\n\nThe life of the little Catherine was so admirable that we cannot resist\nthe desire of giving some extracts from it here. It will be so much the\nmore appropriate that her whole life was consecrated to the relief of\nthe souls in Purgatory and the salvation of men.\n\nOverwhelmed with the happiness of seeing herself chosen for the spouse\nof the God of Virgins, Catherine consecrates herself entirely to Him,\nand promises inviolable fidelity to Him. Rejoiced to belong to the same\nSpouse as the Agathas and Agnesses, she makes a vow of perpetual\nvirginity, and exclaims in the fullness of her bliss: \"Thou alone, mine\nAdorable Beloved, Thou alone shalt reign over my heart, Thou alone\nshalt have dominion over it for all eternity!\" Then Jesus invisibly\nplaces on her finger the marriage ring, and endows with strength her\nwho aspires only to die with Him on the cross.\n\nCatherine, who, after the death of her father, was placed under the\ncare of the Princess of Salerno, a near relative of her mother, leads\nin the palace of the princess a life no less rigorous than that of the\npenitents of the desert; but she will have no other witness of it than\nHe by whom she alone desires to be loved. Condemned by her rank to wear\nrich clothing, she values only the glorious vesture of the soul, which\nis grace. The hair-cloth that macerates her flesh is her chosen\ngarment. At that age, when people allow themselves to be dazzled by the\nworld, Catherine of Cardona has trampled it beneath her feet, and later\non, becoming entirely free from the slavery of the world, she retires\nto the Capuchin Convent at Naples, and there prepares, by a seclusion\nof twenty-five years, to give to the great ones of the earth an example\nof the most sublime virtues. Called by the Princess of Salerno to share\nher disfavor with the king, she hesitates not to quit her dear\nsolitude, and repairs to Spain, in 1557. Her presence at Valladolid was\nan eloquent sermon, and produced the happiest fruits in souls. The\nPrincess died at the end of two years; and Philip II., knowing the\nwisdom of Catherine, kept her at the Court, appointing her as governess\nto Don Carlos, his son, and the young Don Juan of Austria, afterwards\nthe hero of Lepanto.\n\nIn 1562, Our Lord, in a vision, says to Catherine: \"Depart from this\npalace; retire to a solitary cave, where thou mayest more freely apply\nthyself to prayer and penance.\" At these words, the soul of Catherine\nis inundated with joy, and she feels that no worldly obstacle could\nrestrain her. She would fain set out forthwith, but her spiritual\nguides opposed her doing so. Finally, after many trials, whilst she was\nin prayer, before the dawn, the crucifix she wore hanging from her\nneck, suddenly rose into the air, and said: \"Follow me!\" She followed\nit to a window on the ground-floor; and although it was fastened with\ngreat iron bars, Catherine, without knowing how, found herself in the\nstreet. Transported with joy at this new miracle, she flew to the place\nwhere the Hermit of Alcada and another priest were waiting to conduct\nher to the desert. Seeing the heroic virgin, they blessed Him who had\nthus broken her chains. In order that she might not be recognized they\ncut off her hair, gave her a hermit's robe, and set out without delay.\nArriving at a small hill about four leagues from Roda, Catherine said\nto her guides: \"Here it is that God will have me take up my abode; let\nus go no farther.\" After a careful search they discovered amongst\nthorny hedges difficult to get through, a species of grotto\nsufficiently deep; but the entrance thereto was so narrow, and the roof\nso low, that Catherine, who was of medium height and rather full\nfigure, could hardly stand upright in it. The two guides of the holy\nrecluse, taking leave of her, left her some instruments of penance, and\nthree loaves, for all provision. There it was that the daughter of the\nDuke of Cardona commenced, in 1562, that admirable life which has been\nthe wonder of all succeeding ages.\n\nTeresa, the seraphic Teresa, who lived at that time not far from\nCatherine's solitude, cried out in a transport of admiration: \"Oh! how\ngreat must be the love that transported her, since she thought neither\nof food, nor danger, nor the disgrace her flight might bring upon her;\nwhat must be the intoxication of that holy soul, flying thus to the\ndesert, solely engrossed by the desire of enjoying there without\nobstacle the presence of her Spouse! And how firm must be her\nresolution to break with the world, since she thus fled from all its\npleasures!\"\n\nSt. Teresa adds that Catherine spent more than eight years in this\ndesert cave, that after having exhausted the small provision of three\nloaves left her by the hermit who had served her as a guide, she had\nlived solely on roots and wild herbs, but that, after several years,\nshe met with a shepherd, who thenceforward faithfully supplied her with\nbread, of which she, nevertheless, ate but once in three days. The\ndiscipline which she took with a large chain lasted often for an hour\nand a half, and sometimes two hours. Her hair-cloth was so rough that a\nwoman, returning from a pilgrimage, having asked hospitality of her,\ntold me (it is still St. Teresa who speaks), that feigning sleep, she\nsaw the holy recluse take off her hair-cloth and wipe it clean, for it\nwas full of blood. The warfare she had to sustain against the demons\nmade her suffer still more than her austerities; she told our sisters\nthat they appeared to her, now in the form of great dogs who sprang on\nher shoulders, and now in that of snakes; but do as they might, they\ncould not make her afraid.\n\nShe heard Mass in a convent of the Sisters of Mercy, a quarter of a\nleague distant; sometimes she made the journey on her knees. She wore a\ntunic of coarse serge, and over that a robe of drugget so fashioned\nthat she was taken for a man.\n\nNevertheless, the fame of her sanctity soon spread everywhere, and the\npeople conceived so great a veneration for her that they flocked from\nevery side, so that, on certain days, the surrounding country was\ncovered with vehicles full of people going to see her.\n\n\"About this time,\" says St. Teresa, \"she was seized with a great desire\nto found near her cave a monastery of religious, but being undecided in\nher choice of the order, she postponed for a time the execution of her\ndesign. One day while at prayer before a crucifix which she always\ncarried about her, Our Lord showed her a white mantle, and gave her to\nunderstand that she was to found a monastery of barefooted Carmelites.\nShe knew not till then that such an order existed, as she had never\nheard it mentioned; indeed, we had then but two monasteries of reformed\nCarmelites, that of Moncera and that of Pastrana. Catherine was\nspeedily informed of the existence of this last. As Pastrana belonged\nto the Princess of Eboli, her former friend, she set out for that town\nwith the firm resolution of doing what Our Lord had enjoined her to do.\nIt was at Pastrana, in the church of our religious, that the Blessed\nCatherine took the habit of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, having no\nintention, notwithstanding that act, to embrace the religious life. Our\nLord conducted her by another way, and she never felt any attraction\ntowards that state. What kept her away from it was the fear of being\nobliged through obedience to moderate her austerities and quit her\nsolitude.\"\n\nAs she had worn man's apparel ever since she had been in the desert,\nshe would not now change it. So, in laying aside her hermit's robe, and\nassuming that of Carmel, she took a habit like that of the barefooted\nCarmelite monks, and wore it till her last breath. In this Catherine\nwas led by a very special way.\n\nCatherine had been preceded at Pastrana by the account of the wonders\nwhich had marked the eight years she had spent in her cave; she was\nthus greeted as a saint as soon as she appeared; no one was surprised\nto see her in her Carmelite habit, a cowl on her head, a white mantle\non her shoulders, a robe of coarse drugget, and a leathern girdle. God\npermitted the appearance of Catherine at the court of Philip II. as a\nvirgin with the heart of a man, victorious over all the weakness, of\nher sex, and rivalling in her austerities the most famous penitents of\nthe desert. At the Escurial, she observed the same abstinence as in her\nhermitage; there, as in her cave, she took but one hour's sleep, and\ngave to prayer the rest of the time at her disposal.\n\nFrom the Escurial, Catherine returned to Madrid. From the carriage in\nwhich she rode, she gave her blessing to the multitudes who crowded the\nroad as she passed. ... The Nuncio, having sent for her, reproached her\nfor wearing the apparel of a man, and for taking it upon her to give\nher blessing, like a bishop. The humble virgin heard all prostrate on\nthe ground. When the Nuncio had finished speaking, she arose and\njustified herself with that holy simplicity peculiar to herself. The\nlegate of the Holy See, perceiving then that God was leading the\nBlessed Catherine by an extraordinary way, left her at liberty to wear\nthat costume, blessed her, and recommended himself to her prayers.\n\nIn Madrid Catherine again met Don Juan of Austria, who had been\nappointed Generalissimo of the Christian fleet directed against the\nTurks. He gave her the name of mother, and regarded her as a Saint.\nAfter having given some wise counsel to the young prince, she predicted\nto him that he should obtain a victory over the enemies of the\nChristian name. It was a happy day in the life of Don Juan on which he\nheard these prophetic words. Kneeling on the ground, with clasped hands\nand tearful eyes, the future liberator of Christendom asked Catherine's\nblessing, and arose with a heart strengthened by an invincible hope.\n\nThe Carmelites of Toledo, amongst whom she spent some time, endeavoring\nto persuade her to diminish her austerities a little, she replied in\nthese memorable words, which reveal to us the secret of her life: \"When\none has seen, as I have, what Purgatory and Hell are, one cannot do too\nmuch to draw souls from one, and preserve them from the other; I may\nnot spare myself, since I have offered myself in sacrifice for them.\"\n\nOn the 7th October, 1571, Catherine was warned by a light from above\nthat the great combat against the Turks was to take place that day. She\nmacerated herself with fearful rigor, and offered herself as a victim\nto the anger of God, justly indignant at the sins of His people. She\naddressed to the Saviour of men the most tender supplications, when,\nall at once, seized with a holy transport, she uttered in a distinct\nvoice these words, which were heard by several persons of the Court: \"O\nLord, the hour is come, help Thy Church; give the victory to the\nCatholic chiefs; have pity on so many kingdoms which are Thine own,\npreserve them from ruin! The wind is against us: my God, if Thou order\nit not to change, we perish!\"\n\nSome time after, she cried out in a still stronger voice: \"Blessed be\nThou, O Lord, Thou hast changed the wind at the needful moment; finish\nwhat Thou hast begun!\" After these words she prayed in silence for a\nlong space of time. Then, starting up joyfully, she offered to God the\nmost lively thanksgivings for the victory He had just granted to His\nChurch.\n\nSoon, in fact, the news of the victory of Lepanto confirmed the\nmiraculous vision of Catherine. Don Juan wrote immediately to the\nvenerable Catherine of Cardona, thanking her for her prayers, and sent\nher, as a memento, some spoils taken from the enemy.\n\nCatherine having received, at the Court and elsewhere, sufficient means\nto found her monastery, regained her solitude in the month of March,\n1572. She lived there five years longer. It has been considered as a\nsupernatural thing that mortifications so extraordinary as hers had not\nended her life sooner. She died on the 11th of May, 1577.\n\n\"One day,\" says St. Teresa, \"after having received communion in the\nchurch of this monastery (that which Catherine had founded), I entered\ninto a profound recollection, which was soon followed by an ecstasy.\nWhilst I was thus ravished out of myself, that holy woman appeared to\nmy intellectual vision, resplendent with light like a glorified body,\nand surrounded by angels. She said to me: 'Weary not of founding\nmonasteries, but rather pursue that work with ardor.' I understood,\nalbeit that she did not say so, that she was assisting me with God.\nThis apparition left me exceedingly comforted, and inflamed with the\ndesire of working for Our Lord's glory. Hence, I hope from His divine\ngoodness and the powerful prayers of that Saint, that I may be able to\ndo something for His service.\"\n\n\nTHE EMPEROR NICHOLAS PRAYING FOR HIS MOTHER.\n\nHeretics or Schismatics care very little about contradicting\nthemselves. It is of the nature of the iniquity of lying. The _Anti\nde la Religion_, of March 1, 1851, judiciously observes:\n\n\"It is well known that the Russian Church pretends not to admit the\ndoctrine of Purgatory, which one of its principal prelates set down as\n'_a crude modern invention._' Nevertheless, the manifesto recently\npublished by the Emperor Nicholas, on the death of his mother, the\nGrand Duchess Elizabeth, Duchess of Nassau, concludes with these words:\n'We are convinced that all our faithful subjects will unite their\nprayers with ours, _for the repose of the soul_ of the deceased.'\nHow are we to reconcile this request for prayers with the denial of\nPurgatory, coming as it does from the mouth of the supreme pontiff of\nthe Church of Russia?\"--\"_Christian Anecdotes._\"\n\n\nFUNERAL ORATION ON PIUS VI.\n\nREV. ARTHUR O'LEARY, O S F.\n\nThou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow;\nthat declineth, and I am withered like grass; but thou, O Lord, shall,\nendure forever.--Ps. cii., verses 10, 11, 12.\n\nYes! O my God! You lift up and you cast down; you humble and you exalt\nthe sons of men. You cut off the breath of princes, and are terrible to\nthe kings of the earth. It is then we know your power, when, by the\nstroke of death, we feel what we are, that our life is but as a shadow\nthat declineth, a vapor dispersed by the beams of the rising sun, or as\nthe grass which loses at noon the verdure it had acquired from the\nmorning dew. It is a truth of which we, are made sensible upon this\nmournful occasion, and in this sacred temple, where the trophies of\ndeath are displayed, and its image reflected on every side. The\nmournful accents of the solemn dirge, the sable drapery that lines\nthese walls, the vestments of the ministers of the sacred altar, this\nartificial darkness which is a figure of the darkness of the grave;--\nthe tapers that blaze around the sanctuary to put us in mind that when\nour mortal life is extinct, there is an immortal life beyond the grave,\nin a kingdom of light and bliss reserved for those who walk on earth by\nthe light of the gospel;--that tomb, in which the tiara and the\nsceptre, the Pontifical dignity, and the power of the temporal prince,\nare covered over with a funeral shroud,--every object that strikes the\neye, and every sound that vibrates on the ear, is an awful memento\nwhich reminds us of our approaching dissolution, points out the vanity\nand nothingness of all earthly grandeur, and convinces, us that in\nholiness of life, which unites us to God and secures an immortal crown\nin the enjoyment of the sovereign good, consists the greatness as well\nas the happiness of man. An awful truth exemplified in many great\ncharacters, hurled from the summit of power and grandeur into an abyss\nof woe, whose unshaken virtue supported them under the severest trials,\nand whose greatness of soul shone conspicuous in their fall as well as\nin their elevation. A truth particularly exemplified in His Holiness\nPope Pius VI., whose obsequies we are assembled to solemnize on this\nday--Pius VI. great in prosperity; Pius VI. great in adversity.\n\nWhen his life is written by an impartial hand, when his contemporaries\nare dead, when history lays open the hidden and mysterious springs of\nthe events connected with his reign, and posterity erects a tribunal,\nat which it is to judge, without dread of giving offence, then his\nvirtues and wisdom will appear in their true light, as the symmetry and\nproportion of those beautiful statues, which are placed in the\nporticoes or entrance of temples and public edifices, are better\ndiscovered, and seen to a greater advantage at a certain distance.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThough His life was spotless, yet as the judgments of God are\nunsearchable, as there is such a quantity of dross mixed with our\npurest gold, such chaff with our purest grain, our purest virtues\ntarnished with so many imperfections, that on appearing in the presence\nof God, into whose Kingdom the slightest stain is not admitted, who can\nsay, \"My soul is pure; I have nothing to answer for?\" as in our belief,\ndivine justice may inflict temporary as well as eternal punishments\nbeyond the grave, according to the quality of unexpiated offences, let\nus perform the sacred rites of our holy religion for the repose of his\nsoul. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: These extracts are taken from the funeral oration on Pius\nVI, delivered at St. Patrick's Chapel, Soho, in presence of Monsignore\nErskine, Papal Auditor, on the 10th Nov., 1799.]\n\n\nFROM THE FUNERAL ORATION ON THE REV. ARTHUR. O'LEARY, O.S.F.\n\nREV. MORGAN D'ARCY.\n\nMy brethren, as it is God alone, that searcher of hearts, who can truly\nappreciate the merits of His elect, as it belongs only to the Holy\nCatholic Church, \"_that pillar and ground of truth_,\" to canonize\nthem, as we know that nothing impure can enter into heaven, and that\nMoses himself, that great legislator, and peculiar favorite of heaven,\nwas not entirely spotless in the discharge of his ministry, nor exempt\nfrom temporal punishment at his death, let us no longer interrupt the\nawful mysteries and impressive ceremonies of religion, but, uniting,\nand, as it were, embodying our prayers and fervent supplications, let\nus offer a holy violence to heaven; while we mingle our tears with the\nprecious blood of the spotless Victim offered in sacrifice on our\nhallowed altar, let us implore the Father of Mercies, through the\nmerits and passion of His adorable Son, our merciful Redeemer, to\npurify this His minister, and admit him to a participation of the\nnever-ending joys of the heavenly Jerusalem. May he rest in peace.\n_Amen_.\n\n\nDE MORTUIS. OUR DECEASED PRELATES.\n\n[From a Sermon delivered by Most Rev. ARCHBISHOP CORRIGAN, of NEW YORK,\nat the THIRD PLENARY COUNCIL of BALTIMORE.]\n\nRemember your prelates who have spoken the Word of God to you. Heb. c.\nxiii. v. 2.\n\nOf the forty-six Fathers who sat in the Second Plenary Council, only\nsixteen still survive. More than this. During the few years that have\nsince elapsed not only have thirty bishops and archbishops gone to the\nhouse of their eternity, but in several instances, their successors,\ntoo, have passed away, so that the Solemn Requiem offered this morning\nfor the prelates who have died since the last Council is chanted for\nforty-two consecrated rulers. For these, \"as it is a good and wholesome\nthought to pray for the dead,\" we send up our sighs and our prayers in\nthe spirit of fraternal charity, and as a tribute of love and gratitude\nto our Fathers in the faith who had the burden of the day and the heat,\nand who now rest from their labors. \"Blessed are the dead who die in\nthe Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit,... for their works\nfollow them.\"\n\nIn the commemorative services and solemn supplications offered in this\ncathedral, the first place, dear brethren, is deservedly due to your\nown lamented archbishops.... Besides these, memory turns, with fond\nregret, to a long list of Right Reverend Prelates, who were all present\nat the late Plenary Council, and who have since, one by one, passed\naway.... As we repeat each well-known name, hosts of pleasant memories\ncome crowding on the mind just as by-gone scenes are awakened to new\nlife by some sweet strain of once familiar music. Venerable forms loom\nup again before us with the paternal kindness, the distinguished\npresence, the winning ways we knew so well of old; and while the vision\nlasts we seem to hear a still small voice saying: \"To-day for me, to-\nmorrow for thee,\" or the echo of the words spoken by the wise woman of\nThecua to the king on his throne: \"We all die, and fall down into the\nearth, like waters that return no more.\"\n\n\"Star differeth from star in glory.\" The bishops, whose virtues we\ncommemorate, differed in gifts of mind, in habits of thought, in\nnationality, in early training, in personal experience, in almost\neverything else but their common faith. This golden bond united them to\neach other and to us. There was still another point of resemblance and\nanother link that bound them all together--the participation in the\ndivine work of the Good Shepherd which was laid upon them all....\n\n\n\n\nPART IV.\n\nTHOUGHTS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON PURGATORY.\n\n  The fuel justice layeth on,\n  And mercy blows the coals,\n  The metal in this furnace wrought\n  Is men's defiled souls.--SOUTHWELL.\n\n\nTHOUGHTS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON PURGATORY.\n\n\nPURGATORY.\n\nCARDINAL NEWMAN.\n\nThus we see how, as time went on, the doctrine of Purgatory was brought\nhome to the minds of the faithful as a portion or form of penance due\nfor post-baptismal sin. And thus the apprehension of this doctrine, and\nthe practice of Infant Baptism, would grow into general reception\ntogether. Cardinal Fisher gives another reason for Purgatory being then\ndeveloped out of earlier points of faith. He says: \"Faith, whether in\nPurgatory or in Indulgences, was not so necessary in the Primitive\nChurch as now; for then love so burned that every one was ready to meet\ndeath for Christ. Crimes were rare; and such as occurred were avenged\nby the great severity of the Canons.... The doctrine of post-baptismal\nsin, especially when realized in the doctrine of Purgatory, leads the\ninquirer to fresh developments beyond itself. Its effect is to convert\na Scripture statement, which might seem only of temporary application,\ninto a universal and perpetual truth. When St. Paul and St. Barnabas\nwould 'confirm the souls of the disciples,' they taught them 'that we\nmust, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.' It is\nobvious what very practical results would follow on such an\nannouncement in the instance of those who accepted the apostolic\ndecision; and, in like manner, a conviction that sin must have its\npunishment, here or hereafter, and that we all must suffer, how\noverpowering will be its effect, what a new light does it cast on the\nhistory of the soul, what a change does it make in our judgment of the\nexternal world, what a reversal of our natural wishes and aims for the\nfuture! Is a doctrine conceivable which would so elevate the mind above\nthis present state, and teach it so successfully to dare difficult\nthings, and to be reckless of danger and pain? He who believes that\nsuffer he must, and that delayed punishment may be the greater, will be\nabove the world, will admire nothing, fear nothing, desire nothing. He\nhas within his breast a source of greatness, self-denial, heroism. This\nis the secret spring of strenuous efforts and persevering toil; of the\nsacrifice of fortune, friends, ease, reputation, happiness. There is,\nit is true, a higher class of motives which will be felt by the Saints;\nwho will do from love what all Christians who act acceptably do from\nfaith. And, moreover, the ordinary measures of charity which Christians\npossess suffice for securing such respectable attention to religious\nduties as the routine necessities of the Church require. But, if we\nwould raise an army of devoted men to resist the world, to oppose sin\nand error, to relieve misery, or to propagate truth, we must be\nprovided with motives which keenly affect the many. Christian love is\ntoo rare a gift, philanthropy is too weak a material, for that\noccasion. Nor is there an influence to be found to suit our purpose\nbesides this solemn conviction, which arises out of the very rudiments\nof Christian theology, and is taught by its most ancient masters,--this\nsense of the awfulness of post-baptismal sin. It is in vain to look out\nfor missionaries for China or Africa, or evangelists for our great\ntowns, or Christian attendants on the sick, or teachers of the\nignorant, on such a scale of numbers as the need requires, without the\ndoctrine of Purgatory. For thus the sins of youth are turned to account\nby the profitable penance of manhood; and terrors, which the\nphilosopher scorns in the individual, become the benefactors, and earn\nthe gratitude of nations.\"--_Essay on the Development of Christian\nDoctrine_, [1] p. 386.\n\n[Footnote 1: Nevertheless, means must be taken to pay back this sum so\nseasonably advanced. Hence it is, that at the request of the Minister\nGeneral of the Franciscans, Father Marie, of Brest, has made a touching\nappeal to all.]\n\n\nOUR DEBT TO THE DEAD.\n\nCARDINAL MANNING\n\nThe Saints, by their intercession and their patronage, unite us with\nGod. They watch over us; they pray for us; they obtain graces for us.\nOur guardian angels are round about us: they watch over and protect us.\nThe man who has not piety enough to ask their prayers must have a heart\nbut little like to the love and veneration of the Sacred Heart of\nJesus. But there are other friends of God to whom we owe a debt of\npiety. They are those who are suffering beyond the grave, in the silent\nkingdom of pain and expiation--in the dark and yet blessed realm of\npurification; that is to say, the multitudes who pass out of this\nworld, washed in the Precious Blood, perfectly absolved of all guilt of\nsin, children and friends of God, blessed souls, heirs of the kingdom\nof Heaven, all but Saints; nevertheless, they are not yet altogether\npurified for His kingdom. They are there detained--kept back from His\npresence--until their expiation is accomplished. You and I, and every\none of us, will pass through that place of expiation. Neither you nor I\nare Saints, nor, upon earth, ever will be; therefore, before we can see\nGod, we must be purified by pain in that silent realm. But those\nblessed souls are friends of God next after His Saints; and in the same\norder they ought to be the objects of our piety; that is, of our love\nand compassion, of our sympathy and our prayers. They can do nothing\nnow for themselves: they have no longer any Sacraments; they do not\neven pray for themselves. They are so conformed to the will of God that\nthey suffer there in submission and in silence. They desire nothing\nexcept that His will should be accomplished. Therefore, it is our duty\nto help them--to help them by our prayers, our penances, our\nmortifications, our alms, by the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. There may\nbe father and mother, brother and sister, friend and child, whom you\nhave loved as your own life: they may now be there. Have you forgotten\nthem? Have you no pity for them now, no natural piety, no spirit of\nlove for them? Do you forget them all the day long? Look back upon\nthose who made your home in your early childhood, the light of whose\nfaces you can still see shining in your memories, and the sweetness of\nwhose voice is still in your ears--do you forget them because they are\nno longer seen? Is it, indeed, \"out of sight, out of mind\"? What an\nimpiety of heart is this!\n\nThe Catholic Church, the true mother of souls, cherishes, with loving\nmemory, all her departed. Never does a day pass but she prays for them\nat the altar; never does a year go by that there is not a special\ncommemoration of all her children departed on one solemn day, which is\nneither feast nor fast, but a day of the profoundest piety and of the\ndeepest compassion. Surely, then, if we have the spirit of piety in our\nhearts, the holy souls will be a special object of our remembrance and\nour prayers. How many now are there whom we have known in life? There\nare those who have been grievously afflicted, and those who have been\nvery sinful, but, through the Precious Blood and a death-bed\nrepentance, have been saved at last. Have you forgotten them? Are you\ndoing nothing for them? There may also be souls there for whom there is\nno one to pray on earth; there may be souls who are utterly forgotten\nby their own kindred, outcast from all remembrance; and yet the\nPrecious Blood was shed for their sakes. If no one remember, them now,\nyou, at least, if you have in your hearts the gift of piety, will pray\nfor them.--_Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost, p._ 247.\n\n\nPURGATORY\n\nCARDINAL WISEMAN.\n\nI need hardly observe, that there is not a single liturgy existing,\nwhether we consider the most ancient period of the Church, or the most\ndistant part of the world, in which this doctrine is not laid down. In\nall Oriental liturgies, we find parts appointed, in which the Priest or\nBishop is ordered to pray for the souls of the faithful departed; and\ntables were anciently kept in the churches, called the _Dyptichs_,\non which the names of the deceased were enrolled, that they might be\nremembered in the Sacrifice of the Mass and the prayers of the\nfaithful. The name of Purgatory scarcely requires a passing comment. It\nhas, indeed, been made a topic of abuse, on the ground that it is not\nto be found in Scripture. But where is the word Trinity to be met with?\nWhere is the word _Incarnation_ to be read in Scripture? Where are\nmany other terms, held most sacred and important in the Christian\nreligion? The doctrines are, indeed, found there; but these names were\nnot given, until circumstances had rendered them necessary. We see that\nthe Fathers of the Church have called it a purging fire--a place of\nexpiation or purgation. The idea is precisely, the name almost, the\nsame.\n\nIt has been said by divines of the English Church, that the two\ndoctrines which I have joined together, of prayers for the dead and\nPurgatory, have no necessary connection, and that, in fact, they were\nnot united in the ancient Church. The answer to this assertion I leave\nto your memories, after the passages which I have read you from the\nFathers. They surely speak of purgation by fire after death, whereby\nthe imperfections of this life are washed out, and satisfaction made to\nGod for sins not sufficiently expiated; they speak, at the same time,\nof our prayers being beneficial to those who have departed this life in\na state of sin; and these propositions contain our entire doctrine on\nPurgatory. It has also been urged that the established religion, or\nProtestantism, does not deny or discourage prayers for the dead, so\nlong as they are independent of a belief in Purgatory; and, in this\nrespect, it is stated to agree with the primitive Christian Church.\nBut, my brethren, this distinction is exceedingly fallacious. Religion\nis a lively, practical profession; it is to be ascertained and judged\nby its sanctioned practices and outward demonstration, rather than by\nthe mere opinions of the few. I would at once fairly appeal to the\njudgment of any Protestant, whether he has been taught, and has\nunderstood that such is the doctrine of his Church. If, from the\nservices which he attended, or the Catechism which he has learned, or\nthe discourses heard, he has been led to suppose that praying for the\ndead, in terms however general, was noways a peculiarity of\nCatholicism, but as much a permitted practice of Protestantism. It is a\npractical doctrine in the Catholic Church, it has an influence highly\nconsoling to humanity, and eminently worthy of a religion that came\ndown from heaven to second all the purest feelings of the heart. Nature\nherself seems to revolt at the idea that the chain of attachment which\nbinds us together in life, can be rudely snapped asunder by the hand of\ndeath, conquered and deprived of its sting since the victory of the\ncross. But it is not to the spoil of mortality, cold and disfigured,\nthat she clings with affection. It is but an earthly and almost\nunchristian grief, which sobs when the grave closes over the bier of a\ndeparted loved one: but the soul flies upward to a more spiritual\naffection, and refuses to surrender the hold which it had upon the love\nand interest of the spirit that has fled. Cold and dark as the\nsepulchral vault is the belief that sympathy is at an end when the body\nis shrouded in decay, and that no further interchange of friendly\noffices may take place between those who have lain down to sleep in\npeace and us, who for awhile strew fading flowers upon their tomb. But\nsweet is the consolation to the dying man, who, conscious of\nimperfection, believes that even after his own time of merit is\nexpired, there are others to make intercession on his behalf; soothing\nto the afflicted survivors the thought, that instead of unavailing\ntears they possess more powerful means of actively relieving their\nfriend, and testifying their affectionate regret, by prayer and\nsupplication. In the first moments of grief, this sentiment will often\noverpower religious prejudice, cast down the unbeliever on his knees\nbeside the remains of his friend, and snatch from him an unconscious\nprayer for rest; it is an impulse of nature, which for the moment,\naided by the analogies of revealed truth, seizes at once upon this\nconsoling belief. But it is only like the flitting and melancholy light\nwhich sometimes plays as a meteor over the corpses of the dead; while\nthe Catholic feeling, cheering, though with solemn dimness, resembles\nthe unfailing lamp which the piety of the ancients is said to have hung\nbefore the sepulchres of their dead. It prolongs the tenderest\naffections beyond the gloom of the grave, and it infuses the inspiring\nhope that the assistance which we on earth can afford to our suffering\nbrethren, will be amply repaid when they have reached their place of\nrest, and make of them friends, who, when _we_ in our turns fail,\nshall receive us into everlasting mansions. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Lectures on the Catholic Church,\" often called the\n\"Moorfield Lectures,\" from being delivered in St. Mary's Moorfields, in\nthe Lent of 1836. Vol. I., Lecture xi, pp 65,68. This lecture upon\nPurgatory is an admirable exposition of the Catholic doctrine,\nsupported by numberless testimonies from the Fathers.]\n\n\nREPLY TO SOME MISSTATEMENTS ABOUT PURGATORY.\n\nARCHBISHOP SPALDING, OF BALTIMORE.\n\n\"The Synod of Florence,\" says this writer, [1] \"was the first which\ntaught the doctrine of Purgatory, as an article of faith. It had,\nindeed, been held by the Pope and by many writers, and it became the\npopular doctrine during the period under review; but it was not decreed\nby any authority of the universal, or even the whole Latin Church. In\nthe Eastern Church it was always rejected.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: Rev. Wm. A. Palmer of Worcester College, Oxford, in his\n\"Compendium of Ecclesiastical History.\"]\n\nEven admitting, for the sake of argument, that the Council of Florence\nwas the first which defined this doctrine as an article of faith, would\nit thence follow that the doctrine itself was of recent origin? It\ncould only be inferred that it was never before questioned, and that,\ntherefore, there was no need of any definition on the subject. Would it\nfollow from the fact, that the Council of Nice was the first general\nsynod which defined the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Son\nwith the Father, that this, too, was a new doctrine, unknown to the\nthree previous centuries? Mr. Palmer himself admits that this tenet of\nPurgatory \"had become the popular doctrine during the period under\nreview;\" which, in connection with the solemn promises of Christ to\nguard His Church from error, clearly proves that it was an article of\ndivine revelation,--on the principles even of our Oxford divine!\n\nIt is not true that \"it was always rejected in the Eastern Church.\" The\nGreek Church admitted it in the Council of Florence and, at least,\nimpliedly, in that of Lyons. It had never been a bar to union between\nthe churches, however their theologians may have differed on the\nsecondary question, whether the souls detained in this middle place of\ntemporary expiation are purified by a material fire. \"The ancient\nFathers, both of the Greek and Latin Church, who had occasion to refer\nto the subject, had unanimously agreed in maintaining the doctrine, as\ncould be easily shown by reference to their works. All the ancient\nliturgies of both Churches had embodied this same article of faith. And\neven at present, not only the Greek Church, but all the Oriental\nsectaries still hold it as doctrine, and practice accordingly.\"\n\n\nCOUNT DE MAISTRE ON PURGATORY.\n\nYou have heard, in countries separated from the Roman Church, the\n_doctors of the law_ deny at once Hell and Purgatory. You might\nwell have taken the denial of a word for that of a thing. An enormous\npower is that of words! The minister who would be angry at that of\nPurgatory will readily grant us a _place of expiation_, or an\n_intermediate state_, or perhaps even _stations_, who knows?\nwithout thinking it in the least ridiculous. One of the great motives\nof the sixteenth century revolt was precisely _Purgatory_. The\ninsurgents would have nothing less than Hell, pure and simple.\nNevertheless, when they became philosophers, they set about denying the\neternity of punishment, allowing, nevertheless, a _hell for a\ntime_, only through good policy and for fear of putting into heaven\nat one stroke Nero and Messalina side by side with St. Louis and St.\nTeresa. But a temporary hell is nothing else than Purgatory; so that\nhaving broken with us because they did not want Purgatory, they broke\nwith us anew because they wanted Purgatory only.\n\n\nWHAT THE SAINTS THOUGHT OF PURGATORY.\n\nIn the Special Announcement of the \"Messenger of St. Joseph's Union\"\nfor 1885-6, we find the following interesting remarks in relation to\nthe devotion to the Souls in Purgatory: \"St. Gregory the Great,\nspeaking of Purgatory, calls it 'a penitential fire harder to endure\nthan all the tribulations of this world.' St. Augustine says that the\ntorment of fire alone endured by the holy souls in Purgatory, exceeds\nall the tortures inflicted on the martyrs; and St. Thomas says that\nthere is no difference between the fire of Hell and that of Purgatory.\nPrayer for the souls in Purgatory is a source of great blessings to\nourselves. It is related of a holy religious who had for a long time\nstruggled in vain to free himself from an impure temptation, and who\nappealed earnestly to the Blessed Virgin to deliver him, that she\nappeared to him and commanded him to pray earnestly for the souls in\nPurgatory. He did so, and from that time the temptation left him. The\nduration of the period of confinement in Purgatory is probably much\nlonger than we are inclined to think. We find by the Revelations of\nSister Francesca of Pampeluna that the majority of souls in Purgatory\nwith whose sufferings she was made acquainted, were detained there for\na period extending from thirty to sixty years; and, as many of those of\nwhom she speaks were holy Carmelites, some of whom had even wrought\nmiracles when on earth, what must be the fate of poor worldlings who\nseldom think of gaining an indulgence either for themselves or their\ndeparted friends and relatives? Father Faber commenting on this\nsubject--the length of time that the holy souls are detained in\nPurgatory--says very justly: 'We are apt to leave off too soon praying\nfor our parents, friends, or relatives, imagining with a foolish and\nunenlightened esteem for the holiness of their lives, that they are\nfreed from Purgatory much sooner than they really are.' Can the holy\nsouls in Purgatory assist us by their prayers? Most assuredly. St.\nLiguori says: 'Though the souls in Purgatory are unable to pray or\nmerit for themselves, they can obtain by prayer many favors for those\nwho pray for them on earth.' St. Catherine of Bologna has assured us\nthat she obtained many favors by the prayers of the holy souls in\nPurgatory which she had asked in vain through the intercession of the\nsaints. The Holy Ghost says: 'He who stoppeth his ear against the cry\nof the poor, shall also cry himself and shall not be heard,' and St.\nVincent Ferrer says, in expounding that passage, that the holy souls in\nPurgatory cry to God for justice against those who on earth refuse to\nhelp them by their prayers, and that God will most assuredly hear their\ncry. Let us, therefore, do all in our power to relieve the holy souls\nin Purgatory, and avert from ourselves the punishment that God is sure\nto inflict on those whose faith is too dead, or whose hearts are too\ncold to heed the cry that rises, day and night, from that sea of fire:\n'Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends!'\" Job xix.\n21.\n\n\nPURGATORY.\n\nCHATEAUBRIAND.\n\nThat the doctrine of Purgatory opens to the Christian poet a source of\nthe marvellous which was unknown to antiquity will be readily admitted.\n[1] Nothing, perhaps, is more favorable to the inspiration of the muse\nthan this middle state of expiation between the region of bliss and\nthat of pain, suggesting the idea of a confused mixture of happiness\nand of suffering. The graduation of the punishments inflicted on those\nsouls that are more or less happy, more or less brilliant, according to\ntheir degree of proximity to an eternity of joy or of woe, affords an\nimpressive subject for poetic description. In this respect, it\nsurpasses the subjects of heaven and hell, because it possesses a\nfuture which they do not.\n\n[Footnote 1: Some trace of this dogma is to be found in Plato and in\nthe doctrine of Zeno. (See Diog. Laer.) The poets also appear to have\nhad some idea of it (\u00c6neid, v. vi), but these notions are all vague and\ninconsequent.]\n\nThe river Lethe was a graceful appendage of the ancient Elysium; but it\ncannot be said that the shades which came to life again on its banks\nexhibited the same poetical progress in the way to happiness that we\nbehold in the souls of Purgatory. When they left the abodes of bliss to\nreappear among men, they passed from a perfect to an imperfect state.\nThey re-entered the ring for the fight. They were born again to undergo\na second death. In short, they came forth to see what they had already\nseen before. Whatever can be measured by the human mind is necessarily\ncircumscribed. We may admit, indeed, that there was something striking\nand true in the circle by which the ancients symbolized eternity; but\nit seems to us that it fetters the imagination by confining it always\nwithin a dreaded enclosure. The straight line extended _ad\ninfinitum_ would, perhaps, be more expressive, because it would\ncarry our thoughts into a world of undefined realities, and would bring\ntogether three things which appear to exclude each other--hope,\nmobility, eternity.\n\nThe apportionment of the punishment to the sin is another source of\ninvention which is found in the purgatorial state, and is highly\nfavorable to the sentimental.... If violent winds, raging fires, and\nicy cold, lend their influence to the torments of hell, why may not\nmilder sufferings be derived from the song of the nightingale, from the\nfragrance of flowers, from the murmur of the brook, or from the moral\naffections themselves? Homer and Ossian tell us of the joy of grief\n_aruerou tetarpo mesthagolo_.\n\nPoetry finds its advantage also in that doctrine of Purgatory which\nteaches us that the prayers and other good works of the faithful may\nobtain the deliverance of souls from their temporal pains. How\nadmirable is this intercourse between the living son and the deceased\nfather--between the mother and daughter--between husband and wife--\nbetween life and death. What affecting considerations are suggested by\nthis tenet of religion! My virtue, insignificant being as I am, becomes\nthe common property of Christians; and, as I participate in the guilt\nof Adam, so also the good that I possess passes to the good of others.\nChristian poets! the prayers of your Nisus will be felt, in their happy\neffects, by some Euryalus beyond the grave. The rich, whose charity you\ndescribe, may well share their abundance with the poor, for the\npleasure which they take in performing this simple and grateful act\nwill receive its regard from the Almighty in the release of their\nparents from the expiatory flame. What a beautiful feature in our\nreligion to impel the heart of man to virtue by the power of love, and\nto make him feel that the very coin which gives bread for the moment to\nan indigent fellow-being, entitles, perhaps, some rescued soul to an\neternal position at the table of the Lord. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Genius of Christianity.\" Book II., Chap. xv. pp. 338-\n340.]\n\n\nMARY AND THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.\n\nBY BROTHER AZARIAS.\n\nMary, from her nearness to Jesus, has imbibed many traits of the Sacred\nHeart of Jesus. She shares, in a preeminent degree, His Divine\ncompassion for sorrow and suffering. Where He loves and pities, she\nalso loves and pities. Nay, may we not well say that all enduring\nanguish of soul and writhing under the pangs of a lacerated heart, are\nespecially dear to both Jesus and Mary? Was not Jesus the Man of\nSorrows? and did He not constitute Mary the Mother of suffering and\nsorrowing humanity? And even as His Divine breast knew keenest sorrow,\ndid not a sword of sorrow pierce her soul? She participated in the\nagony of Jesus only as such a Mother can share the agony of such a Son;\nin the tenderest manner, therefore, does she commiserate sorrow and\nsuffering wherever found. Though now far beyond all touch of pain and\nmisery, still as the devoted Mother of a pain-stricken race, she\ncontinues to watch, to shield, to aid and to strengthen her children in\ntheir wrestlings with these mysterious visitants.\n\nII.\n\nNor does Mary's interest cease upon this side of the grave. It\naccompanies souls beyond. And when she beholds those souls undergoing\ntheir final purgation, before entering upon the enjoyment of the\nbeatific vision, she pities them with a pity all the more heartfelt\nbecause their suffering is so much greater than any they could have\nendured in this life. See the state of those souls. They are in grace\nand favor with God; they are burning with love for Him; they are\nyearning, with a yearning boundless in its intensity, to drink\nrefreshment of life, and love, and sanctification, and to be\nreplenished with goodness and truth, and to perfect their natures at\nthe Fountain-head of all truth, all goodness, all love, and all\nperfection. They are yearning; but so clearly and piercingly does the\nwhite light of God's truth and God's holiness shine through them and\npenetrate every fold and recess of their moral natures, and reveal to\nthem every slightest imperfection, that they dare not approach Him and\ngratify their intense desire to be united with Him. Their weaknesses\nand imperfections; the traces in them of, and the attachments in them\nto, former sins, incident upon the frailties of feeble human nature,\nstill cling to them, and must needs be consumed in the fiery ordeal of\nsuffering before their enjoyment of the beatific vision can be\ncompleted and their union with the Godhead consummated.\n\nIII.\n\nThat there should be for souls after death such a state of purgation is\nall within the grasp of human reason. It is a doctrine that was taught\nin the remotest ages of the world. Here is a condensed version of the\ntradition as handed down in clearest terms, beautifully expressed by\none of the world's greatest thinkers and writers: \"All things are\ndistinctly manifest in the soul after it has been divested of the body;\nand this is true both of the natural disposition of the soul and of the\naffections that the man has acquired from his various pursuits. When\ntherefore the soul comes before the Judge ... the Judge finds all\nthings distorted through pride and falsehood and whatsoever is\nunrighteous, for as much as the soul has been nurtured with untruth ...\nand he forthwith sends it to a prison state where it will undergo the\npunishment it deserves. But it behooveth that he that is punished, if\nhe be justly punished, either become better and receive benefit from\nhis punishment, or become a warning to others.... _But whoso are\nbenefited ... are such as have been guilty of curable transgressions;\ntheir benefit here and hereafter [1] accrues to them through pains and\ntorments; for it is impossible to get rid of injustice by other manner\nof means._\" This reads like a page torn from one of the early\nFathers of the Church. [2] More than five centuries before the\nChristian era it was penned by Plato. [3] Clearly does he draw the line\nbetween eternal punishment for unrepented crimes and temporal\npunishment for curable _Idmpa_ trangressions. Virgil in no\nuncertain tone echoes the same doctrine, making no exception to the\nrule that some corporeal stains and traces of ill follow all beyond the\ngrave; _and therefore do they suffer punishment and pay the penalty\nof old wrongs._ [4] What antiquity has handed down, and reason has\nfound to be just and proper, the Church has defined and decreed. She\nhas gone further. She has supplemented and completed the pagan\nconception of expiation by that of intercession; and she has added\nthereto, for the comfort and consolation of the living and the dead,\nthat the souls so suffering \"may be helped by the suffrages of the\nfaithful, but principally by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar.\"\n[5] And in her prayers for deceased friends, relatives and benefactors,\nshe is mindful of Mary's sweet influence with her Son, and asks their\ndeliverance through her intercession. [6]\n\n[Footnote 1: Kai enthude kai en Aidou]\n\n[Footnote 2: There is a passage in Clement of Alexandria, not unlike\nthis in statement of the same doctrine (\"Stromaton\" 1. vi. m. 14, p.\n794 Ed. Potter). The passage is quoted in \"Faith of Catholics.\" Vol.\nIll p. 142.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Gorgias, cap. lxxx, lxxxi.]\n\n[Footnote 4: \u00c6neid, lib. vi. 735, 740.]\n\n[Footnote 5: Council of Trent, Sess. xxv. Decret. de Purgatorio, p.\n204.]\n\n[Footnote 6: Beata Maria semper virgine intercedente.]\n\nThe tendency to commune with the dead, and to pray for them, is strong\nand universal. It survives whatever systems or whatever creeds men may\ninvent for its suppression. Samuel Johnson is professedly a staunch\nProtestant, bristling with prejudices, but a delicate moral sense\nenters the rugged manhood of his nature. Instinctively he seeks to\ncommune with his departed wife, after the manner dear to the Catholic\nheart, but forbidden to the Protestant. He keeps the anniversary of her\ndeath. He composes a prayer for the repose of her soul, beseeching God\n\"to grant her whatever is best in her present state, and finally to\nreceive her to eternal happiness.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Boswell's Johnson, vol. 1, p. 100. Croker's Ed. There is\npathos in this entry, remembering the man: \"Mar. 28, 1753. I kept this\nday as the anniversary of my Tetty's death, with prayer and tears in\nthe morning. In the evening I prayed for her conditionally, if it were\nlawful.\" _Ibid._ p. 97.]\n\nIV\n\nOf the nature and intensity of the sufferings of souls undergoing this\npurgation, we on earth can form but the faintest conception. Not so\nMary. She sees things as they are. She sees the great love animating\nthose I holy souls. She sees their eager desire to be united to God,\nthe sole centre and object of their being. She sees and appreciates the\nstruggle going on in them between that intense desire--that great\nyearning--that groping after perfect union--that unfilled and\nunsatiated vagueness arising from their privation of the only fulness\nthat could replenish them, on the one hand, and on the other, the sense\nof their unfitness, keen, strong, deep, intense, overwhelming them and\ndriving them back to the flames of pain and soul-hunger and soul-thirst\nuntil they shall have satisfied God's justice to the last farthing, and\neven the slightest stain has been cleansed, and they stand forth in the\nlight of God's sanctity, whole and spotless. She sees the terrible\nstruggle; and her motherly heart goes out in tender pity to these her\nchildren, washed and ransomed by the Blood of her Divine Son, and she\nis well disposed to extend to them the aid of her powerful\nintercession. She is fitly called the Mother of Mercy. Her merciful\nheart goes out to these, the favored ones of her Son, all the more\nlovingly and tenderly because they are unable to help themselves.\n\nV.\n\nBut whilst Mary looks upon those souls with an eye of tender mercy and\nsweet compassion, and whilst Jesus is prepared to admit them to the\nbeatific vision as soon as they become thoroughly purified, still the\nassuaging of their pains and the abridging of their time of purgation\ndepend in a great measure upon the graces and the merits that are\napplied to them by us, their brethren upon earth. According to the\nearnestness of the prayers we say for them, and the measure of the good\nworks we do for them, will the intercession of Mary and all the saints\nbe efficacious with Jesus in their behalf. It is unspeakably consoling\nto the living and the dead to know that the members of the Church\nmilitant upon earth have it within their power to aid and relieve the\nmembers of the Church suffering. It is therefore really and indeed a\nholy and a wholesome thought for us of the one to pray for those of the\nother. It is more: it is an imperative duty we owe the faithful\ndeparted. They are our brethren in Christ, bought at the same price,\nnurtured by the same graces, living by the same faith, and sanctified\nby the same spirit. Many of them may have been near and dear to us in\nthis life; and of these, many again may now suffer because of us;\nwhether it was that we led them directly into wrong-doing, or whether\nit was that, in their loving kindness for us, they connived at,\npermitted, aided or abetted us, in what their consciences had whispered\nthem not to be right. In each and every case it is our bounden duty to\ndo all in our power to assuage sufferings to which we may have been\naccessory. In heart-rending accents do they cry out to us: \"_Have\npity on me, have pity on me, at least ye my friends!_\" [1] And as we\nwould have others do by us under like circumstances, so should we not\nturn a deaf ear to their petition.\n\n[Footnote 1: Job, xix. 21.]\n\n\nVI.\n\nDaily does the Angel of Death enter our houses, and summon from us\nthose that are rooted in our affections, and for whom our heart-throbs\nbeat in love and esteem. Daily must we bow our heads in reverent\nsilence and submission to the decree that snatches from us some loved\none. Perhaps it is a wife who mourns the loss of her husband. She finds\ncomfort and companionship in praying for the repose of his soul; in the\nwords of Tertullian, \"she prays for his soul, and begs for him in the\ninterim refreshments, and in the first resurrection companionship, and\nmaketh offerings on the anniversary day of his falling asleep.\" [1]\nPerhaps it is a husband whose loving wife has gone to sleep in death.\nThen will he hold her memory sacred, and offer thereto the incense of\nunceasing prayer, so that it may be said of him as St. Jerome wrote to\nPammachius: \"Thou hast rendered what was due to each part; giving tears\nto the body and alms to the soul.... There were thy tears where thou\nknewest was death; there were thy works where thou knewest was life....\nAlready is she honored with thy merits; already is she fed with thy\nbread, and abounds with thy riches.\" [2] Perhaps it is a dear friend\naround whom our heart-strings were entwined, and whose love for us was\nmore than we were worthy of: whose counsels were our guide; whose soul\nwas an open book in which we daily read the lesson of high resolve and\nsincere purpose; whose virtuous life was a continuous inspiration\nurging us on to noble thought and noble deed; and yet our friendship\nmay have bound his soul in ties too earthly, and retarded his progress\nin perfection; in consequence he may still dread the light of God's\ncountenance, and may be lingering in this state of purgation. It\nbehooves us in all earnestness, and in friendship's sacred claim, to\npray unceasingly for that friend, beseeching God to let the dews of\nDivine mercy fall upon his parching soul, assuage his pain, and take\nhim to Himself, to complete his happiness.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Dc Monogam,\" n. x. p 531. \"Faith of Catholics,\" Vol.\nIII., p. 144.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Ep. XXXVII]\n\nSo the sacred duty of prayer for the dead runs through all the\nrelations of life. From all comes the cry begging for our prayers. We\ncannot in justice ignore it; we cannot be true to ourselves and\nunmindful of our suffering brethren. Every reminder that we receive is\na voice coming from the grave. Now it is the mention of a name that\nonce brought gladness to our hearts; or we come across a letter written\nby a hand whose grasp used to thrill our souls--that hand now stiffened\nand cold in death; or it is the sight of some relic that vividly\nrecalls the dear one passed away; or it is a dream--and to whom has not\nsuch a dream occurred?--in which we live over again the pleasant past\nwith the bosom friend of our soul, and he is back once more, in the\nflesh, re-enacting the scenes of former days, breathing and talking as\nnaturally as though there were no break in his life or ours and we had\nnever parted. When we awaken from our dream, and the pang of reality,\nlike a keen blade, penetrates our hearts, let us not rest content with\na vain sigh of regret, or with useless tears of grief; let us pray God\nto give the dear departed soul eternal rest, and admit it to the\nperpetual light of His Presence. And in like manner should we regard\nall other reminders as so many appeals to the charity of our prayers.\nIn this way will the keeping of the memory of those gone before us be\nto them a blessing and to us a consolation.\n\nVII.\n\nFurthermore, every prayer we say, every sacrifice we make, every alms\nwe give for the repose of the dear departed ones, will all return upon\nourselves in hundredfold blessings. They are God's choice friends, dear\nto His Sacred Heart, living in His grace and in constant communing with\nHim; and though they may not alleviate their own sufferings, their\nprayers in our behalf always avail. They can aid us most efficaciously.\nGod will not turn a deaf ear to their intercession. Being holy souls,\nthey are grateful souls. The friends that aid them, they in turn will\nalso aid. We need not fear praying for them in all faith and\nconfidence. They will obtain for us the special favors we desire. They\nwill watch over us lovingly and tenderly; they will guard our steps;\nthey will warn us against evil; they will shield us in moments of trial\nand danger; and when our day of purgatorial suffering comes, they will\nuse their influence in our behalf to assuage our pains and shorten the\nperiod of our separation from the Godhead. And so may we, in constant\nprayer, begging in a special manner the intercession of Mary the Mother\nof Mercy, say to our Lord and Saviour: \"_Deliver them from gloom and\ndarkness, and snatch them from sorrow and grief; enter not into\njudgment with them, nor severely examine their past life; but whether\nin word or deed they have sinned, as men clothed with flesh, forgive\nand do away with their transgressions.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: From prayer for the Faithful Departed in the Syriac\nLiturgy. See \"Faith of Catholics,\" Vol. III, p. 203]\n\n\nDR. JOHNSON ON PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD.\n\nBOSWELL. What do you, think, sir, of Purgatory, as believed by the\nRoman Catholics?\n\nJOHNSON. Why, sir, it is a very harmless doctrine. They are of opinion\nthat the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked as to\ndeserve everlasting punishment, nor so good as to merit being admitted\ninto the society of blessed spirits; and therefore that God is\ngraciously pleased to allow of a middle state, where they may be\npurified by certain degrees of suffering. You see, sir, that there is\nnothing unreasonable in this.\n\nBOSWELL. But then, sir, their Masses for the dead?\n\nJOHNSON. Why, sir, if it be once established that there are souls in\nPurgatory, it is as proper to pray for them as for our brethren of\nmankind who are yet in this life.\n\nBOSWELL. The idolatry of the Mass?\n\nJOHNSON. Sir, there is no idolatry in the Mass. They believe God to be\nthere, and they adore Him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBOSWELL. We see in Scripture that Dives still retained an anxious\nconcern about his brethren?\n\nJOHNSON. Why, sir, we must either suppose that passage to be\nmetaphorical, or hold with many divines, and all purgatorians, that\ndeparted souls do not all at once arrive at the utmost perfection of\nwhich they are capable.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBOSWELL. Do you think, sir, it is wrong in a man who holds the doctrine\nof Purgatory to pray for the souls of his deceased friends?\n\nJOHNSON. Why, no, sir.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHe states, that he spent March 22, 1753, in prayers and tears in the\nmorning; and in the evening prayed for the soul of his deceased wife,\n\"conditionally, if it be lawful.\" The following is his customary prayer\nfor his dead wife: \"And, O Lord, so far as it may be lawful in me, I\ncommend to Thy fatherly goodness the soul of my departed wife;\nbeseeching Thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state, and\nfinally to receive her into eternal happiness.\"--_Boswell's \"Life of\nJohnson,\"_ Pages 169, 188.\n\nTHE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.\n\nBURNETT [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: From his work, \"The Path which Led a Protestant Lawyer to\nthe Catholic Church,\" p. 637.]\n\nThe Council of Trent declared, as the faith of the Catholic Church,\n\"_that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained are\nhelped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the\nacceptable sacrifice of the altar._\"\n\nThis is all that is required to be believed. As to the kind and measure\nof the purifying punishment, the Church defines nothing. This doctrine\nhas been very much misrepresented, and has most generally been attacked\nby sarcasm and denunciation. But is this a satisfactory method to treat\na grave matter of faith, coming down to us from the olden times? The\ndoctrine of Purgatory is most intimately connected with the doctrine of\nsacramental absolution and satisfaction, and legitimately springs from\nit. That there is a distinction in the guilt of different sins, must be\nconceded. All our criminal laws, and those of all nations, are founded\nupon this idea. To say that the smallest transgression, the result of\ninadvertence, is equal in enormity to the greatest and most deliberate\ncrime, is utterly opposed to the plain nature of all law, and to the\nword of God, which assures us that men shall be punished or rewarded\naccording to their works (Rom. ii. 6), as not to require any\nrefutation. Our Lord assures us that men must give an account in the\nday of judgment for every idle word they speak (Matt, xii. 36), and St.\nJohn tells us that nothing denied shall enter heaven (Rev. xxi. 27).\nThen St. John says there is a sin unto death, and there is a sin which\nis not unto death (I John, v. 16), and he also tells us that \"all\nunrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death.\" So we are\ntold by the same apostle, that if we confess our sins, God is faithful\nand just to forgive us (I John, i. 9). Now we must put all these texts\ntogether, and give them their full, harmonious, and consistent force.\nWe must carry out the principles laid down to their fair and logical\nresults. Suppose, then, a man speak an idle word, and die suddenly,\nbefore he has time to repent and confess his sin, will he be lost\neverlastingly? Must there not, in the very nature of Christ's system,\nbe a middle state, wherein souls can be purged from their lesser sins?\n\n\nMALLOCK ON PURGATORY. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: William Hurrell Mallock, the author of \"Is Life Worth\nLiving,\" from which this extract is given, and of several other recent\nworks, was, at the time when the above was written, as he says himself\nin his dedication, \"an outsider in philosophy, literature, and\ntheology,\" and not, as might be supposed, a Catholic. It has been\npositively asserted, and as positively denied, that he has since\nentered the Church. But it is certain that he has not done so. Mallock\nis not a Catholic.--COMPILER'S NOTE.]\n\nTo those who believe in Purgatory, to pray for the dead is as natural\nand rational as to pray for the living. Next, as to this doctrine of\nPurgatory itself--which has so long been a stumbling-block to the whole\nProtestant world--time goes on, and the view men take of it is\nchanging. It is becoming fast recognized on all sides that it is the\nonly doctrine that can bring a belief in future rewards and punishments\ninto anything like accordance with our notions of what is just or\nreasonable. So far from its being a superfluous superstition, it is\nseen to be just what is demanded at once by reason and morality, and a\nbelief in it to be not an intellectual assent, but a partial\nharmonizing of the whole moral ideal.--_W. H. Mattock, \"Is Life Worth\nLiving,\"_ Page 297.\n\n\nBOILEAU-DESPR\u00c9AUX AND PRAYER FOR THE DEAD.\n\nWe love to see the truth of our dogmas proclaimed from amid the great\nassemblies of choice intelligences. Boileau did not hesitate to do\nhomage to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory on the following solemn\noccasion:--\n\nOn the death of Fureti\u00e8re, the French Academy deliberated whether they\nwould have a funeral service for him, according to the ancient custom\nof the establishment. Despr\u00e9aux, who had taken no part in the expulsion\nof his former associate, gave expression, when he was no more, to the\nlanguage of courageous piety. He feared not to express himself in these\nwords: \"Gentlemen, there are three things to be considered here--God,\nthe public, and the Academy. As regards God, He will, undoubtedly, be\nwell pleased if you sacrifice your resentment for His sake and offer\nprayers to Him for the repose of a fellow-member, who has more need of\nthem than others, were it only on account of the animosity he showed\ntowards you. Before the public, it will be a glorious thing for you not\nto pursue your enemy beyond the grave. And as for the Academy, its\nmoderation will be meritorious, when it answers insults by prayers, and\ndoes not deny a Christian the resources offered by the Church for\nappeasing the anger of God, all the more that, besides the\nindispensable obligation of praying to God for your enemies, you have\nmade for yourselves a special law to pray for your associates.\"\n\n\nALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: New York _Tablet_, Nov. 12, 1870]\n\nMRS. J. SADLIER.\n\nOF all the sublime truths which it is the pride and happiness of\nChristians to believe, none is more beautiful, more consoling than that\nof the Communion of Saints. Do we fully realize the meaning of that\nparticular article of our faith? From their earliest infancy Christian\nchildren repeat, at their mother's knee, \"I believe in the Communion of\nSaints;\" but it is only when the mind has attained a certain stage of\ndevelopment that they begin to feel the inestimable privilege of being\nin the Communion of Saints.\n\nBut how sad to think that even in later life many of those whose\nchildhood lisped \"I believe in the Communion of Saints,\" neither know,\nnor care to know, what it means. Outside the Church who believes in the\nCommunion of Saints?--who rejoices in the glory of the glorified, or\ninvokes their intercession with God? Who believes in that state of\nprobation whereby the earth-stains are washed from the souls of men?\nWho has compassion on \"the spirits who are in prison?\" To Catholics\nonly is the Communion of Saints a reality, a soul-rejoicing truth. How\ninestimable is the privilege of being truly and indeed \"of the\nhousehold of faith,\"--within and of \"the Church of the Saints,\" the\nChurch that alone connects the life which is and that which is to come,\nthe living and the dead!\n\nYear by year we are reminded of this truth, so solemn and so beautiful,\nthe Communion of Saints, by the double festival of All Saints and All\nSouls--when the Church invites her children of the Militant Church to\nrejoice with her on the glory of her Saints, and to pray with her for\nthe holy dead who are still in the purgatorial fire that is to prepare\nthem for that blessed abode into which \"nothing defiled can enter.\"\n\nGrand and joyous is the feast of the Saints, when we lovingly honor all\nour brethren who have gained their thrones in Heaven, and with faith\nand hope invoke their powerful aid, that we, too, may come where they\nare, and be partakers in their eternal blessedness; solemn and sad, but\nmost sweetly soothing to the heart of faith, is the day of All Souls,\nwhen the altars are draped in black, and the chant is mournful, and\nsacrifice is offered, the whole world over, for the dead who have slept\nin Christ, with the blessing of the Church upon them. For them, if they\nstill have need of succor, are all the good works of the faithful\noffered up, and the prayers of all the Saints and all the Angels\ninvoked, not only on the second day of November, but on every day of\nthat mournful month.\n\nThus do we, who are still on earth, honor the glorified Saints of God,\nand invoke them for ourselves and for the blessed souls who may yet be\ndebarred from the joys of Heaven. And this is truly the Communion of\nSaints--the Church on earth, the Church in Heaven, the Church in\nPurgatory, distinct, yet united, the children of one common Father, who\nis God; of one common Mother, who is Mary, the Virgin ever Blessed.\n\n\nLEIBNITZ [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz, the eminent Protestant\nphilosopher. The above is from his \"Systema Theologicum.\"]\n\nON THE MASS AS A PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE.\n\nNo new efficacy is superadded to the efficacy of the Passion from this\npropitiatory Sacrifice, repeated for the remission of sins; but its\nentire efficacy consists in the representation and application of the\nfirst bloody Sacrifice, the fruit of which is the Divine Grace bestowed\non all those who, being present at this tremendous sacrifice, worthily\ncelebrate the oblation in unison with the priest. And since, in\naddition to the remission of eternal punishment, and the gift of the\nmerits of Christ for the hope of eternal life, we further ask of God,\nfor ourselves and others, both living and dead, many other salutary\ngifts (and amongst those, the chief is the mitigation of that paternal\nchastisement which is due to every sin, even though the penitent be\nrestored to favor); it is therefore clearly manifest that there is\nnothing in our entire worship more precious than the sacrifice of this\nDivine Sacrament, in which the Body of Our Lord itself is present.\n\n\nEXTRACTS FROM \"A TROUBLED HEART.\"\n\nHow often have I been touched at the respect paid the dead in Catholic\ncountries; at the reverence with which the business man, hastening to\nfulfil the duties of the hour, pauses and lifts his hat as the funeral\nof the unknown passes him in the street! What pity streams from the\neyes of the poor woman who kneels in her humble doorway, and, crossing\nherself, prays for the repose of the soul that was never known to her\nin this life; but the body is borne towards the cemetery, and she joins\nher prayer to the many that are freely offered along the solemn way\n(pp. 151-2).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo passes the faithful soul to judgment; after which, if not ushered at\nonce into the ineffable glory of the Father, it pauses for a season in\nthe perpetual twilight of that border-land where the spirit is purged\nof the very memory of sin. Even as Our Lord Himself descended into\nLimbo; as He died for us, but rose again from the dead and ascended\ninto heaven, so we hope to rise and follow Him,--sustained by the\nunceasing prayers of the Church, the intercession of the Saints, and\nall the choirs of the just, who are called on night and day, and also\nby the prayers and pleadings of those who have loved us, and who are\nstill in the land of the living.\n\nThe prayers that ease the pangs of Purgatory, the _Requiem_, the\n_Miserere_, the _De Profundis_--these are the golden stairs\nupon which the soul of the redeemed ascends into everlasting joy. Even\nthe Protestant laureate of England has confessed the poetical justice\nand truth of this, and into the mouth of the dying Arthur--that worthy\nknight--he puts these words:\n\n  \"Pray for my soul! More things are wrought by prayer\n  Than this world dreams of; wherefore let thy voice\n  Rise like a fountain for me night and day;\n  For, what are men better than sheep or goats\n  That nourish a blind life within the brain,\n  If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer\n  Both for themselves and those who call them friend?\n  For so the whole round earth is every way\n  Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: These exquisite lines will be found elsewhere in this\nvolume in the full description of King Arthur's death from Tennyson.\nBut they bear repetition.]\n\n\nO ye gentle spirits that have gone before me, and who are now, I trust,\ndwelling in the gardens of Paradise, beside the river of life that\nflows through the midst thereof,--ye whose names I name at the Memorial\nfor the Dead in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,--as ye look upon the\nlovely and shining countenances of the elect, and, perchance, upon the\nbeauty of our Heavenly Queen, and upon her Son in glory,--O remember me\nwho am still this side of the Valley of the Shadow, and in the midst of\ntrials and tribulations. And you who have read these pages, written\nfrom the heart, after much sorrow and long suffering, though I be still\nwith you in the flesh, or this poor body be gathered to its long home,\n--you whose eyes are now fixed upon this line, I beseech you,\n\n    _Pray for me_!--_Anon_.\n\n\nEUG\u00c9NIE DE GU\u00c9RIN AND HER BROTHER MAURICE.\n\n[In Eug\u00e9nie de Gu\u00e9rin's journal we find the following beautiful words\nwritten while her loving heart was still bleeding for the early death\nof her best-loved brother, Maurice--her twin soul, as she was wont to\ncall him.]\n\n\"O PROFUNDITY! O mysteries of that other life that separates us! I who\nwas always so anxious about him, who wanted so much to know everything,\nwherever he may be now there is an end to that. I follow him into the\nthree abodes; I stop at that of bliss; I pass on to the place of\nsuffering, the gulf of fire. My God, my God, not so! Let not my brother\nbe there, let him not! He is not there. What! his soul, the soul of\nMaurice, among the reprobate! ... Horrible dread, no! But in Purgatory,\nperhaps, where one suffers, where one expiates the weaknesses of the\nheart, the doubts of the soul, the half-inclinations to evil. Perhaps\nmy brother is there, suffering and calling to us in his pangs as he\nused to do in bodily pain, 'Relieve me, you who love me!' Yes, my\nfriend, by prayer. I am going to pray. I have prayed so much, and\nalways shall. Prayer? Oh, yes, prayers for the dead, they are the dew\nof Purgatory.\"\n\n_All Souls'_--How different this day is from all others, in\nchurch, in the soul, without, within. It is impossible to tell all one\nfeels, thinks, sees again, regrets. There is no adequate expression for\nall this except in prayer.... I have not written here, but to some one\nto whom I have promised so long as I live, a letter on All Souls'....\n\nO my friend, my brother, Maurice! Maurice! art thou far from me? dost\nthou hear me? What are they, those abodes that hold thee now? ...\nMysteries of another life, how profound, how terrible ye are--\nsometimes, how sweet!\n\n\nPASSAGES FROM THE VIA MEDIA.\n\n[Written while Cardinal Newman was still an Anglican]\n\nNow, as to the punishments and satisfactions for sins, the texts to\nwhich the minds of the early Christians seem to have been principally\ndrawn, and from which they ventured to argue in behalf of these vague\nnotions, were these two: 'The fire shall try every man's work,' etc.,\nand 'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' These\npassages, with which many more were found to accord, directed their\nthoughts one way, as making mention of fire, whatever was meant by the\nword, as the instrument of trial and purification; and that, at some\ntime between the present time and the Judgment, or at the Judgment. As\nthe doctrine, thus suggested by certain striking texts, grew in\npopularity and definiteness, and verged towards its present Roman form,\nit seemed a key to many others. Great portions of the books of Psalms,\nJob, and the Lamentations, which express the feelings of religious men\nunder suffering, would powerfully recommend it by the forcible and most\naffecting and awful meaning which they received from it. When this was\nonce suggested, all other meanings would seem tame and inadequate.\n\nTo these may be added various passages from the prophets, as that in\nthe beginning of the third chapter of Malachi, which speaks of fire as\nthe instrument of purification, when Christ comes to visit His Church.\n\nMoreover, there were other texts of obscure and indeterminate meaning,\nwhich seem on this hypothesis to receive a profitable meaning; such as\nOur Lord's words in the Sermon on the Mount, \"Verily, I say unto thee,\nthou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the\nuttermost farthing;\" and St. John's expression in the Apocalypse, that,\n\"no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to\nopen the book.\"--_Via Media, pp._ 174-177.\n\nMost men, to our apprehensions, are too little formed in religious\nhabits either for heaven or for hell; yet there is no middle state when\nChrist comes in judgment. In consequence, it is obvious to have\nrecourse to the interval before His coming, as a time during which this\nincompleteness may be remedied, as a season, not of changing the\nspiritual bent and character of the soul departed, whatever that be,\nfor probation ends with mortal life, but of developing it in a more\ndeterminate form, whether of good or evil. Again, when the mind once\nallows itself to speculate, it will discern in such a provision a means\nwhereby those who, not without true faith at bottom, yet have committed\ngreat crimes, or those who have been carried off in youth while still\nundecided, or who die after a barren, though not immoral or scandalous\nlife, may receive such chastisement as may prepare them for heaven, and\nrender it consistent with God's justice to admit them thither. Again,\nthe inequality of the sufferings of Christians in this life compared\none with another, leads the mind to the same speculations; the intense\nsuffering, for instance, which some men undergo on their death-bed,\nseeming as if but an anticipation in their case of what comes after\ndeath upon others, who, without greater claims on God's forbearance,\nlive without chastisement and die easily. The mind will inevitably\ndwell upon such thoughts, unless it has been taught to subdue them by\neducation or by the fear of the experience of their dangerousness.--\n_Via Media, pp. 174-177_.\n\n\nALL SOULS.\n\nFROM THE FRENCH.\n\nNovember is come; and the pleasant verdure that the groves and woods\noffered to our view in the joyous spring is fast losing its cheerful\nhue, while its withered remains lie trembling and scattered beneath our\nfeet. The grave and plaintive voice of the consecrated bell sends forth\nits funereal tones, and, recalling the dead to our pensive souls,\nimplores, for them the pity of the living. Oh! let us hearken to its\nthrilling call; and may the sanctuary gather us together within its\ndarkened walls, there to invoke our Eternal Father, and breathe forth\ncherished names in earnest prayer!\n\nWhen the solemn hour of the last farewell was come for those we loved,\nand their weakened sight was extinguished forever, it seemed as if our\nhearts' memory would be eternal, and as if those dear ones would never\nbe forgotten. But time has fled, their memory has grown dim, and other\nthoughts reign paramount in our forgetful hearts, which barely give\nthem from time to time a pious recollection.\n\nNevertheless, they loved us, perhaps too well, lavish of a love that\nHeaven demanded. How devoted was their affection; and shall we now\nrequite it by a cruel forgetfulness? Oh! if they suffer still on our\naccount; if, because of their weakness, they still feel the wrath of\nGod's justice, shall we not pray, when their voices implore our help,\nwhen their tears ascend towards us?\n\nAlas! in this life what direful contamination clings to the steps of\nirresolute mortals! Who has not wavered in the darksome paths into\nwhich the straight road so often deviates?\n\nThe infinite justice of the God of purity perhaps retains them in the\ndungeons of death. Alas! for long and long the Haven of eternal life\nmay be closed against them! Oh, let us pray; our voices will open the\nabode of celestial peace unto the imprisoned soul. The God of\nconsolation gave us prayer, that love might thus become eternal.--\n_The Lamp_, Nov. 5, 1864.\n\n\nAN ANGLICAN BISHOP PRAYING FOR THE DEAD.\n\nForemost among later Anglican divines in piety, in learning, and in the\nfiner qualities of head and heart, stands the name of Reginald Heber,\nBishop of the Establishment, whose gentle memory,--embalmed in several\ngraceful and musical poems, chiefly on religious subjects,--is still\nrevered and cherished by his co-religionists, respected and admired\neven by those who see in him only the man and the poet--not the\nreligious teacher. I am happy to lay before my readers the following\nextract from a letter of Bishop Heber, in which that amiable and\naccomplished prelate expresses his belief in the efficacy of prayers\nfor the departed:\n\n\"Few persons, I believe, have lost a beloved object, more particularly\nby sudden death, without feeling an earnest desire to recommend them in\ntheir prayers to God's mercy, and a sort of instinctive impression that\nsuch devotions might still be serviceable to them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Having been led attentively to consider the question, my own opinion\nis, on the whole, favorable to the practice, which is, indeed, so\nnatural and so comfortable, that this alone is a presumption that it is\nneither unpleasing to the Almighty nor unavailing with Him.\n\n\"The Jews, so far back as their opinions and practices can be traced\nsince the time of Our Saviour, have uniformly recommended their\ndeceased friends to mercy; and from a passage in the Second Book of\nMaccabees, it appears that, from whatever source they derived it, they\nhad the same custom before His time. But if this were the case, the\npractice can hardly be unlawful, or either Christ or His Apostles\nwould, one should think, have, in some of their writings or discourses,\ncondemned it. On the same side it may be observed that the Greek\nChurch, and all the Eastern Churches, pray for the dead; and that we\nknow the practice to have been universal, or nearly so, among the\nChristians a little more than one hundred and fifty years after Our\nSaviour. It is spoken of as the usual custom by Tertullian and\nEpiphanius. Augustine, in his _Confessions_, has given a beautiful\nprayer which he himself used for his deceased mother, Monica; and among\nProtestants, Luther and Dr. Johnson are eminent instances of the same\nconduct. I have, accordingly, been myself in the habit, for some years,\nof recommending on some occasions, as, after receiving the sacrament,\netc., my lost friends by name to God's goodness and compassion, through\nHis Son, as what can do them no harm, and may, and I hope will, be of\nservice to them.\"\n\n\nTHE \"PURGATORY\" OF DANTE.\n\nMARIOTTI.\n\nIn the course of his remarks upon the _Divina Comedia_ of Dante, a\nbitter opponent of the Holy See and of everything Catholic, Mariotti,\n[1] an apostle of United Italy, expresses his views upon the ancient\ndoctrine of Purgatory. These views are but an instance of how its\nbeauty and truthfulness to nature strike the minds of those who have\nstrayed from the centre of Christian unity.\n\n[Footnote 1: Mariotti, author of \"Italy Past and Present,\" an\nunscrupulous opponent of the Papacy and of the Church.]\n\n\"To say nothing of its greatness and goodness, the poem of Dante,\" says\nMariotti, \"is the most curious of books. The register of the past,\nnoting down every incident within the compass of man's nature.... Dante\nis the annalist, the interpreter, the representative of the Middle\nAges.... The ideas of mankind were in those '_dark_' ages\nperpetually revolving upon that 'life beyond life,' which the\nomnipresent religion of that _fanatical_ age loved to people with\nappalling phantoms and harrowing terrors. Dante determined to\nanticipate his final doom, and still, in the flesh, to break through\nthe threshold of eternity, and explore the kingdom of death.... No poet\never struck upon a subject to which every fibre in the heart of his\ncontemporaries more readily responded than Dante. It is not for me to\ntest the soundness of the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, or to\ninquire which of the Holy Fathers first dreamt of its existence. It\nwas, however, a sublime contrivance, unscriptural though it may be--a\nconception full of love and charity, in so far as it seemed to arrest\nthe dead on the threshold of eternity; and making his final welfare\npartly dependent on the pious exertions of those who were left behind,\nestablished a lasting interchange of tender feelings, embalmed the\nmemory of the departed, and by a posthumous tie wedded him to the\nmourning survivor.... Woe to the man, in Dante's age, who sunk into his\ngrave without bequeathing a heritage of love; on whose sod no\nrefreshing dew of sorrowing affection descended. Lonely as his relics\nin the sepulchre, his spirit wandered in the dreaded region of\nprobation; alone he was left defenceless, prayerless, friendless to\nsettle his awful score with unmitigated justice. It is this feeling,\nunrivalled for poetic beauty, that gives color and tone to the second\ndivision of Dante's poem. The five or six cantos, at the opening, have\nall the milk of human nature that entered into the composition of that\nmiscalled saturnine mind. With little more than two words, the poet\nmakes us aware that we have come into happier latitudes. Every strange\nvisitor breathes love and forgiveness. The shade we meet is only\ncharged with tidings of joy to the living, and messages of good will.\nThe heart lightens and brightens at every new stratum of the atmosphere\nin that rising region; the ascent is easy and light, like the gliding\nof a boat down the stream. The angels we become familiar with are\nangels of light, such as human imagination never before nor afterwards\nconceived. They come from afar across the waves, piloting the barge\nthat conveys the chosen spirits to heaven, balancing themselves on\ntheir wide-spread wings, using them as sails, disdaining the aid of all\nmortal contrivance, and relying on their inexhaustible strength; red\nand rayless at first, from the distance, as the planet Mars when he\nappears struggling through the mist of the horizon, but growing\nbrighter and brighter with amazing swiftness. They stand at the gate of\nPurgatory, they guard the entrance to each of the seven steps of its\nmountain--some with green vesture, vivid as new-budding leaves,\ngracefully waving and floating in simple drapery, fanned by their\nwings; bearing in their hands flaming swords broken at the point;\nothers, ash-colored garments; others again, in flashing armor, but all\nbeaming with so intense, so overwhelming a light, that dizziness\novercomes all mortal ken, whenever directed to their countenance. The\nfriends of the poet's youth one by one arrest his march, and engage him\nin tender converse. The very laws of immutable fate seem for a few\nmoments suspended to allow full scope for the interchange of\naffectionate sentiments. The overawing consciousness of the place he is\nin, for a moment forsakes the mortal visitor so miraculously admitted\ninto the world of spirits. He throws his arms round the neck of the\nbeloved shade, and it is only by the smile irradiating its countenance\nthat he is reminded of the intangibility of its ethereal substance. The\nepisodes of \"the Purgatory\" are mostly of this sad and tender\ndescription. The historical personages introduced seem to have lost\ntheir own identity, and to have merged into a blessed calmness,\ncharacterizing medium of the region they are all travelling through.\"\nIt is plain that, bitterly hostile as is this faithless Italian to the\nChurch of his fathers, and the truth which it teaches, his poetic\ninstinct, at least, rises above mere prejudice, and enables him to\npenetrate into that dim but holy atmosphere created by the poet's\ngenius, and yet more fully by the poet's faith. This homage to the\nunion of religious grandeur, natural tenderness, and supernatural\nfervent charity, which make this doctrine unconsciously dear to every\nhuman heart, is of value coming from the pen of so prejudiced a\nwitness. It is but one of countless testimonies that in all times, and\nin all ages, have sprung from the heart of man, as it were in his own\ndespite.\n\n\nTHE MOUTH OF NOVEMBER. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: New York _Tablet_, Nov. 26, 1859.]\n\nMARY E. BLAKE (MARIE).\n\nIt is but a few days since the Church has celebrated the triumph of her\nsaints, rejoicing in the eternal felicity of that innumerable throng\nwhom she has given to the celestial Sion. She invites us to share her\njoy. She bids us look up from the rugged pathway of our thorn-strewn\npilgrimage to that blissful abode which is to be the term and the\nreward of all our trials. Yet, like a true mother, she cannot forget\nthat portion of her family who are sighing for their deliverance, in\nthat region of pain to which they are consigned by eternal justice. On\none day she sings with radiant brow and tones of jubilee her _Sursum\nCorda_; on the next, she kneels a suppliant, chanting with uplifted\nhands and tearful eyes her _Requiem \u00c6ternam_; and we, the\ncompanions of her exile, shall we not sympathize with every emotion of\nthe heart of our tender Mother?\n\nAmong the pious customs which owe their existence to the fertile spirit\nof Catholic devotion is that which dedicates the month of November to\nthe Suffering Souls in Purgatory. It would seem as though the annual\ncircle of commemorative devotion were incomplete without this crowning\nfulfilment of charity.\n\nSome years since, I met with a graphic description of a spectacle in\nthe Catholic Cemetery of New Orleans. It was the 2d of November, when\nthe friends and relatives of the dead came to scatter emblematic\nwreaths and sweet-scented flowers on their graves. This custom was\nobserved by the French Catholics and their descendants; and the writer,\nalthough a Protestant, was deeply impressed with its beauty and\nsignificance. He asked why, among Americans, there was so little of\nthis eloquent affection for the dead. He might have found an answer in\nthe fact that the principle of faith was wanting--of that vivid and\nactive faith which seeks and finds by such means its outward\nmanifestation.\n\nWe, also, are the children of the Saints. We have inherited from them\nthe same faith in all its integrity, and how does our _practice_\ncorrespond with it? What are we doing for that army of holy captives\nwho cannot leave their prison till the uttermost farthing be paid? Let\nus not imitate those tepid Christians who are satisfied with erecting\ncostly monuments, and observing, with scrupulous exactness, the usual\nperiod of \"mourning,\" while the poor souls are left to pine forgotten,\nif they have gone with some-lingering stains--some earthly tarnish on\ntheir nuptial garment. Ah! there is so much that might be done if we\nwould only reflect, and let our hearts be softened by the intense\neloquence of their mute appeal....\n\nThese are a few of the thoughts suggested by the late solemnity, and\nperhaps they cannot be concluded more appropriately than by introducing\nthe following poem, found in an old magazine. If the theme be\nsufficient to inspire thus one who had but faint glimmerings of divine\ntruth, what should be expected of us, who rejoice in the fullness of\nthat light? I twine, then, this flower of the desert with the leaves I\nhave gathered, and offer my humble wreath as a tribute of faith and\naffection on the altar dedicated to the dear departed.\n\n_November_, 1859.\n\nLITANY OP THE DEPARTED.\n\nIt is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.--\nII. Mach. xii. 26.\n\n  For the spirits who have fled\n    From the earth which once they trod;\n  For the loved and faithful dead,\n    We beseech the living God!\n    Oh! receive and love them!\n  By the grave where Thou wert lying,\n  By the anguish of Thy dying,\n    Spread Thy wings above them;\n  Grant Thy pardon unto them,\n    _Dona eis requiem!_\n\n  Long they suffered here below,\n    Outward fightings, inward fears;\n  Ate the cheerless bread of woe,--\n    Drank the bitter wine of tears:--\n    Now receive and love them!\n  By Thy holy Saints' departures,\n  By the witness of Thy martyrs,\n    Spread Thy wings above them.\n    On the souls in gloom who sit,\n    _Lux eterna luceat_!\n\n  Lord, remember that they wept,\n    When Thy children would divide;\n  Lord, remember that they slept\n    On the bosom of Thy Bride;\n    And receive and love them!\n  By the tears Thou couldst not smother;\n  By the love of Thy dear Mother,\n    Spread Thy wings above them.\n    To their souls, in bliss with Thee,\n    _Dona pacem, Domini_!\n\n  Grant our prayers, and bid them pray,\n    O thou Flower of Jesse's stem;\n  Lend a gracious ear when they,\n    Plead for us, as we for them.\n    _Deus Angelorum_,\n    _Dona eis requiem_,\n    _Et beatitudinem_.\n    _Cordibus eorum_\n    _Jesu, qui salutam das_\n    _Micat lumen animas_!\n\n--_Acolytus_.\n\n\nALL SOULS' DAY [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: New York _Tablet_, Nov. 12, 1864.]\n\nMRS. J. SADLIER.\n\nNothing in the whole grand scheme of Religion is more beautiful than\nthe tender care of the Church over her departed children. Not content\nwith providing for their spiritual wants during their lives, and\nsending them into eternity armed with and strengthened by the last\nsolemn Sacraments, blessing their departure from, as she blessed their\nentrance into, this world, her maternal solicitude follows them beyond\nthe grave, and penetrates to the dreary prison in the Middle State\nwhere, happily, they may be, as the Apostle says, \"cleansed so as by\nfire.\" With the tender compassion of a fond mother, the Church,\n_our_ mother, yearns over the sufferings of her children, all the\ndearer to her because they suffer in the Lord, and by His holy will.\n\nBy every means within her power she aids these blessed souls who are at\nonce so near Heaven, and so far from it; by solemn prayers, by\nsacrifice, by continual remembrance of them in all her good works, she\ngives them help and comfort herself, while encouraging the faithful to\nimitate her example in that respect by numerous and great Indulgences,\nand by the crown of eternal blessedness she holds out to those who\nperform faithfully and in her own proper spirit this Seventh Spiritual\nWork of Mercy--\"to pray for the living _and the dead_.\" In every\nMass that is said the long year round on each of her myriad altars, a\nsolemn commemoration is made for the Dead immediately after the\nElevation of the Sacred Host, the great Atoning Sacrifice of the New\nLaw; in all the other public offices of the Church, \"the faithful\ndeparted\" are tenderly remembered, and, to crown the efforts of her\nmaternal charity, the second day of November of every year is set apart\nfor the solemn remembrance of these her most beloved and most afflicted\nchildren, for whose benefit and relief all the Masses of that day\nthroughout the whole Catholic world are specially offered up. Nay, more\nthan that, the entire month of November is devoted to the Souls in\nPurgatory, and the good works and pious prayers of all the holy\ncommunities who spend their lives in commune with God are offered up\nwith that benign intention during the month.\n\nIn Catholic countries, the faithful are touchingly reminded of this sad\nthough pleasing duty to their departed brethren, by the tolling of the\nseveral convent and church bells at eight o'clock in the evening, at\nwhich time the different communities unite in reciting the solemn _De\nProfundis_, and other prayers for the dead. Solemn and sonorous we\nhave heard that passing-bell, year after year, booming through the\ndarkness and storm of the November night in a northern land [1] where\nthe pious customs of the best ages of France, transplanted over two\ncenturies ago, flourish still in their pristine beauty and touching\nfervor.\n\n[Footnote 1: Eastern, or French Canada, now known as the Province of\nQuebec]\n\nBut, though all Catholics may not hear the _De Profundis_ bell of\nNovember nights, nor all households kneel at evening hour to join in\nspirit with the pious communities who are praying then for the faithful\ndeparted, yet all Catholics know when, on the first of November, they\ncelebrate the great and joyous festival of All Saints, that the next\nday will bring the mournful solemnity of All Souls, when the altars of\nthe Church will be draped with black, and her ministers robed in the\nsame sombre garb, whilst offering the \"Clean Oblation\" of the New Law\nfor the souls who are yet in a state of purgation in the other life.\n\nTo the deep heart of Catholic piety nothing can be more sensibly\ntouching than \"the black Mass\" of All Souls' Day. If the feast be not\ncelebrated by the laity as it so faithfully is by the Church, it\ncertainly ought to be, if the spirit of the faith be still amongst\nthem. The funereal solemnity of the occasion touches the deepest,\nholiest sympathies in every true Catholic heart, reminding each of\ntheir loved and lost, and filling their souls with the soothing hope\nthat the Great Sacrifice then offered up for all the departed children\nof the Church may release one or more of their nearest and dearest from\nthe cleansing fires of Purgatory. Then, while the funeral dirge fills\nthe sacred edifice, and the mournful _Dies Ir\u00e6_ thrills the hearts\nof all, each one thinks of his own departed ones, and recalls with\nindescribable sadness other just such celebrations in the years long\npast, when those for whom they now invoke the mercy of Heaven were\nstill amongst the living. Then comes, too, the solemn thought that\nsome, perhaps many, of those then present in life and health may be\nnumbered with the dead before All Souls' Day comes round again, and a\nvoice from the depths of the Christian heart asks, \"May not I, too, be\nthen with the dead?\"\n\nWhen noting with surprise and regret how many Catholics neglect the\ncelebration of All Souls' Day, we have often endeavored to account for\nsuch strange apathy. Surely, if the charity of the Church do not\ninspire them--if they do not feel, with the valiant Macchabeus of old,\nthat \"it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the Dead that\nthey may be loosed from their sins\"--if natural affection, even, do not\nmove them to think of the probable sufferings of their own near and\ndear--sufferings which they may have it in their power to alleviate--at\nleast, a motive of self-interest ought to make them reflect that when\nthey themselves are with the dead, retributive justice may leave them\nforgotten by their own flesh and blood, as they forget others now. But\nto those who do faithfully unite with the Church in her solemn\ncommemoration of the faithful departed on All Souls' Day, nothing can\nbe more soothing to the deep heart of human sadness, as nothing is more\nimposing, or more strikingly illustrative of that Catholic charity,\nthat all-embracing charity which has its life and fountain within the\nChurch.\n\n\n\n\nCEMETERIES.\n\nTHE respect due to cemeteries is too closely connected with the\ndoctrine of Purgatory for us to omit observing here that those asylums\nof the dead, being the objects of pious reverence, even amongst\ninfidels, ought to be still more so amongst us. It was in this\nconnection that Mgr. Pelletan, Arch-priest of the Cathedral of Algiers,\nwrote thus on the 13th of March, 1843:\n\n\"Here in Algiers, do we not see, every Friday, the Mussulman Arab,\nwandering pensively through his cemetery, placing on some venerated and\nbeloved grave bouquets of flowers, branches of boxwood; wrapped in his\nbornouse, he sits for hours beside it, motionless and thoughtful; lost\nin gentle melancholy, it would seem as though he were holding intimate\nand mysterious converse with the dear departed one whose loss he\ndeplores....\n\n\"But for us, Christians, nourished, enlightened by the truth of God,\nwhat special homage, what profound reverence we should manifest towards\nthe remains of our fathers, our brethren who died in the same faith!\nOh, let us remember the first faithful--the martyrs--the catacombs! The\ncemetery is for us the land where grows invisibly the harvest of the\nelect; it is the sleeping world of intelligence; sheltered are its\npeaceful slumbers in the bosom of nature ever young, ever fruitful; the\ncrowd of the dead pressed together beneath those crosses, under those\nscattered flowers, is the crowd that will one day rise to take\npossession of the infinite future, from which it is only separated by\nsome sods of turf.\n\n\"Hence how lively, how motherly has ever been the solicitude of the\nChurch in this respect! She wishes that the ground wherein repose the\nremains of her children be blessed and consecrated ground; she purifies\nit with hyssop and holy water; she calls down upon it by her humble\nsupplications, the benediction of Him who disposes according to His\nwill of things visible and invisible, of souls and of bodies; she\nwishes that the cross should rise in its midst, that her children may\nrest in peace in its shade while awaiting the grand awaking; even as a\ntemple and a sanctuary, she banishes from it games, noise of all kinds,\nand even all that savors of levity or irreverence.\"--_Dictionnaire\nd'Anecdotes Chr\u00e9tiens, p_. 993.\n\n\nOPINIONS OF VARIOUS PROTESTANTS.\n\nSome say, like Lessing in his \"Treatise on Theology,\" \"What hinders us\nfrom admitting a Purgatory? as if the great majority of Christians had\nnot really adopted it. No, this intermediate state being taught and\nrecognized by the ancient Church, notwithstanding the scandalous abuses\nto which it gave rise, should not be absolutely rejected.\"\n\nOthers, with Dr. Forbes (_controv. pontif. princip., anno_ 1658):\n\"Prayer for the dead, MADE USE OF FROM THE TIMES OF THE APOSTLES,\ncannot be rejected as useless by Protestants. They should respect the\njudgment of the primitive Church, and adopt a practice sanctioned by\nthe continuous belief of so many ages. We repeat that prayer for the\ndead is a salutary practice.\"\n\nSeveral others, rising to our point of view, drawing their inspiration\nfrom the sources of Catholic charity, tell you, with the theologian\nCollier (Part II. p. 100): \"Prayer for the dead revives the belief in\nthe immortality of the soul, withdraws the dark veil which covers the\ntomb, and establishes relations between this world and the other. Had\nit been preserved, we should probably not have had amongst us so much\nincredulity. I cannot conceive why our Church, which is so remote from\nthe primitive times of Christianity, should have abandoned or disdained\na custom that had never been interrupted; which, on the contrary, as we\nhave reason to believe from Scripture, existed in ancient times; which\nwas practiced in the Apostolic age, in the time of miracles and\nrevelations; introduced amongst the articles of faith, and never\nrejected, except by Arius.\"\n\n\"It was evidently in use in the Church in the time of St. Augustine,\nand down to the sixteenth century. If we do nothing for our dead, if we\nomit to occupy ourselves with them and pray for them, as was formerly\ndone in the Holy Supper, we break off all intercourse with the Saints;\nand then, how could we dare to say that we remain in communion with the\nblessed? And if we break off in this way from the most noble part of\nthe universal Church, may it not be said that we mutilate our belief\nand reject one of the articles of the Christian faith?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" says the German Sheldon, in his turn, \"prayer for the dead is\none of the most ancient and most efficacious practices of the Christian\nreligion.\"\n\nYou have just heard the sound of some bells; listen again and you shall\nhear something different.\n\nYou think, then, that there are Protestants who admit Purgatory and\nothers who deny it? You are mistaken! There are some who at once admit\nand do not admit it. This is difficult to comprehend, but it is so,\nnevertheless, and this is how they take it:\n\nOn the one side, they will have nothing but hell, pure and simple; this\nis the Catholic side; but on the other is the philosophic side, the\neternity of horrible pains is something too hard; and then, why not a\nhell that will end a little sooner, or a little later? For, in fine,\nthere are small criminals and great criminals. So that their temporary\nhell--that is to say, having an end--being, after all, nothing more\nthan one Purgatory, it follows that, having broken with us because they\ndid not want Purgatory, they broke off again because they wanted\nPurgatory only.--_Dictionnaire d'Anecdotes_, 998-9.\n\nMr. Thorndike, a Protestant theologian, says: \"The practice of the\nChurch of interceding for the dead at the celebration of the Eucharist,\nis so general and so ancient, that it cannot be thought to have come in\nupon imposture, but that the same aspersion will seem to take hold of\nthe common Christianity.\"\n\nThe Protestant translators of Du Pin observe, that St. Chrysostom, in\nhis thirty-eighth homily on the Philippians, says, that to pray for the\nfaithful departed in the tremendous mysteries, was decreed by the\nApostles.\n\nThe learned Protestant divine, Dr. Jeremy Taylor, writes thus: \"We find\nby the history of the Machabees, that the Jews did pray and make\nofferings for the dead, which appears by other testimonies, and by\ntheir form of prayer still extant, which they used in the captivity.\nNow, it is very considerable, that since our Blessed Saviour did\nreprove all the evil doctrines and traditions of the Scribes and\nPharisees, and did argue concerning the dead and the resurrection, yet\nHe spake no word against this public practice, but left it as He found\nit; which He who came to declare to us all the will of His Father would\nnot have done, if it had not been innocent, pious, and full of charity.\nThe practice of it was at first, and was universal: it being plain both\nin Tertullian and St. Cyprian, and others.\"\n\n\"Clement,\" says Bishop Kaye, \"distinguishes between sins committed\nbefore and after baptism: the former are remitted at baptism, the\nlatter are purged by discipline.... The necessity of this purifying\ndiscipline is such, that if it does not take place in this life, it\nmust after death, and is then to be effected by fire, not by a\ndestructive, but a discriminating fire, pervading the soul which passes\nthrough it.\"--_Clem_., ch. xii.\n\n\nSOME THOUGHTS FOR NOVEMBER.\n\n  I stood upon an unknown shore,\n  A deep, dark ocean, rolled beside;\n  Dear, loving ones were wafted o'er\n  That silent and mysterious tide.\n\nTo most persons, the idea of Purgatory is simply one of pain; they try\nto avoid thinking about it, because the subject is unpleasant, and\npeople's thoughts do not naturally revert to painful subjects; they\nfeel that it is a place to which they must go at least, if they escape\nworse; they must suffer, they cannot help it, and so the less they\nthink about it beforehand, the better. Purgatory and suffering are to\nthem synonymous terms; perhaps fear keeps them from some sins which,\nwithout this salutary apprehension, they would readily fall into; but,\non the whole, they take their chance, and hope for the best. This,\nperhaps, is the view of a large class of people, and of those who will\nscarcely own to themselves what they think on the subject; but their\nlives are the tell-tales, and we cannot but fear that to escape hell is\nthe utmost effort of many who apparently are good Catholics. Still, we\nwould not say that they do not love God, that they are not in many ways\npleasing to Him; but, oh! how many there are who only want a little\nmore generosity to become Saints! Then, there is another class, further\non in their heavenward journey--souls who do love God, who do seek only\nto please Him, who are generous, often even noble-hearted, in their\nMaster's service; souls who can say, \"Our Father,\" and look up with\nchild-like love to Heaven; but even with such, and perhaps with almost\nall, the feeling about Purgatory is much the same; it is a sort of\nnecessary evil; a something that must be endured. They feel strongly\nall that justice demands; their very sanctity and goodness lead them to\ndesire that that which is evil in them should be taken out, even by\nfire; but still there are few that do really see the deep, deep love of\nPurgatory. We are very far from wishing to hinder people from thinking\nless of its sufferings--nay, rather their very intenseness and severity\nonly pleads our case more strongly. All that has been revealed to the\nSaints, all that has been made known to us by the Church or tradition,\nproclaims the same fact. Suffering, intense, unearthly anguish, is the\nportion of those most blessed souls; and it has been said that the\npains of Purgatory only differ in duration from those of hell. Still,\nthere is this difference--oh! blessed be God, there is this difference,\nand it is all we could ask: in hell, the damned blaspheme their Master\nwith the demons that torment them; in Purgatory, the holy souls love\ntheir God with the angelic choirs who await their entrance to the land\nof bliss. If the souls of the damned could love, hell would cease to be\nhell; if the souls of the blessed ones in prison could cease to love,\nPurgatory would be worse to them than a thousand such hells.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYes; Purgatory is love, and if it be true that the love of God extends\neven to hell, because its torments might be worse, did not His infinite\nmercy temper His infinite justice, how much more truly may this be said\nof Purgatory! We have no wish to enter into any detailed account of\nwhat the pains of Purgatory are supposed to be; this is a subject for\nthe pen of the theologian, or the raptures of the Saint. Awful and\nterrible we know they are. But there is one suffering which we wish to\nspeak of, because we cannot but hope, if people reflected upon it\nseriously, that they would learn to think of Purgatory less as a\nnecessary evil, and more as a most tender mercy, and be more inclined\nto enter into a hearty co-operation with those who are anxious to help\nthe poor souls in this awful prison.\n\nSurely, the one object of our whole lives is, not so much to get to\nHeaven because we shall be happy there, as to see Jesus forever and\nforever, to be near Him, to gaze on Him, and to love Him without fear;\nfor then love will be fearless, because suffering and sin will have\nceased.\n\nAnd what will happen when we die? Oh! if we were sent to Purgatory\nwithout seeing Jesus, we might bear it better. There have been souls on\nearth privileged to suffer for months the pains of the holy souls, and\nthey have lived and borne the pain, and longed, if it were possible,\neven for more; but they had not seen Jesus as we shall see Him at the\nmoment of our death. The very thought makes us shudder and our life-\nblood run cold. What if we should indeed be saved, we who have so\ntrembled and feared, and known not whether we were worthy of love or\nhatred? What if we should behold the face of Divinest Majesty gaze upon\nus even for one moment in tenderness? And yet, unless we see it in\nunutterable wrath, this will be. But what then? Shall we see it\nforever? Shall our eyes gaze on and on, and feast themselves on that\nsight for all eternity? ... Ah! not yet; we must lose sight of that\nvision of delight; it must be withdrawn from us--not, thank God, in\nanger, but in sorrow. Oh! what are the pains of Purgatory, what the\nburning of its fire, in comparison with the suffering which the soul\nendures when separated, even for a moment, from her God? Who can tell,\nwho can understand, who can even faintly guess, what will be the\nanguish of longing which shall consume our very being? But why must\nthis be? Why does love, infinite, tender love, inflict such intense\npain? Why does the parent turn away from his child, and forbid him his\npresence for a time? Is it that he loves him less than when he lavished\non him the tenderest caresses? ... Why, but because suffering is needed\nas an atonement to justice, because love cannot be perfected without\nfear. \"It is here tried and purified, but hath in Heaven its perfect\nrest.\" Oh! the love of Purgatory! we shall never know it, or understand\nit, until we are there. Yes, we cannot but think that the greatest, the\nkeenest suffering of the soul will be the remembrance of that which it\nhas seen for a passing moment, and the pining to behold again and\nforever the face of God. It has been revealed to Saints that so intense\nis this desire, that the soul would gladly place itself even in the\nmost fearful tortures, could it thus become more quickly purged from\nthat which withholds it from the presence of God. Did we but well\nconsider, and enter into this feeling, we should be much more careful\nabout our imperfections and our venial sins.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Saints have ever desired suffering, and consider it as the greatest\nfavor which could be bestowed upon them; not that it is in itself\ndesirable, but because it perfects love. Let us, then, we who are not\nSaints, think of Purgatory with more affection; let us rejoice that, if\nwe are not privileged to have keen, unearthly anguish in this life, we\nshall yet suffer, and suffer intensely, in the next. Our love will be\npurified; our dross be purged away; the weary pain which we feel\ncontinually when we think how vile we are in the sight of God, how the\neye of Jesus, with all its tenderness, must often turn from us in\nsorrow--the weary pain, the deep degradation of misery and sin, will\none day cease; we shall not tremble under our Father's eye, or long to\nhide ourselves from our Father's countenance. Now we must often feel,\nwhen trying with our whole hearts to please God, how impure, how\nsullied we are before Him. Our pride, our vanity, our impatience, our\nself-love, are all there. God sees them; how can He, then, look on us\nas we desire He should? And often we almost long to be in those purging\nflames, even should it be for years and years, that this vileness might\nbe burned away.\n\n\n\n\nPART V.\n\nLEGENDARY AND POETICAL.\n\n    Well beseems\n  That we should help them wash away the stains\n  They carried hence; that so, made pure and light,\n  They may spring upward to the starry spheres.\n  Ah! so may mercy tempered justice rid\n  Your burdens speedily; that ye have power\n  To stretch your wing, which e'en to your desire\n  Shall lift you.\n\n--DANTE.\n\nLEGENDARY AND POETICAL.\n\nDIES IR\u00c6.\n\n  The day of wrath, that dreadful day\n  Shall the whole world in ashes lay,\n  As David and Sybils say.\n\n  What horror will invade the mind,\n  When the strict Judge, who would be kind,\n  Shall have few venial faults to find!\n\n  The last loud trumpet's wondrous sound\n  Must thro' the rending tombs rebound,\n  And wake the nations underground.\n\n  Nature and death shall with surprise\n  Behold the pale offender rise,\n  And view the Judge with conscious eyes.\n\n  Then shall with universal dread,\n  The sacred mystic book be read,\n  To try the living and the dead.\n\n  The Judge ascends His awful throne,\n  He makes each secret sin be known,\n  And all with shame confess their own.\n\n  O then! what int'rest shall I make,\n  To save my last important stake,\n  When the most just have cause to quake!\n\n  Thou mighty formidable King!\n  Thou mercy's unexhausted spring!\n  Some comfortable pity bring.\n  Forget not what my ransom cost,\n  Nor let my dear-bought soul be lost,\n  In storms of guilty terror tost.\n\n  Thou, who for me didst feel such pain,\n  Whose precious blood the cross did stain,\n  Let not those agonies be vain.\n\n  Thou whom avenging powers obey,\n  Cancel my debt (too great to pay)\n  Before the said accounting day.\n\n  Surrounded with amazing fears,\n  Whose load my soul with anguish hears,\n  I sigh, I weep, accept my tears.\n\n  Thou, who wast mov'd with Mary's grief,\n  And by absolving of the thief,\n  Hast given me hope, now give relief.\n\n  Reject not my unworthy prayer,\n  Preserve me from the dangerous snare,\n\n  Which death and gaping hell prepare.\n\n  Give my exalted soul a place\n  Among the chosen right hand race,\n  The sons of God, and heirs of grace.\n\n  From that insatiate abyss,\n  Where flames devour and serpents hiss,\n  Promote me to Thy seat of bliss.\n\n  Prostrate, my contrite heart I rend,\n  My God, my Father, and my Friend:\n  Do not forsake me in my end.\n\n  Well may they curse their second birth,\n  Who rise to a surviving death.\n  Thou great Creator of mankind,\n  Let guilty man compassion find.--_Amen_.\n\n\nAUTHORSHIP OF THE DIES IR\u00c6.\n\nO'BRIEN. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Rev. John O'Brien, A.M., Prof. of Sacred Liturgy in Mount\nSt. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, Md.]\n\nThe authorship of the \"Dies Ir\u00e6\" seems the most difficult to settle.\nThis much, however, is certain: that he who has the strongest claims to\nit is Latino Orsini, generally styled _Frangipani_, whom his\nmaternal uncle, Pope Nicholas III. (G\u00e6tano Orsini), raised to the\ncardinalate in 1278. He was more generally known by the name of\nCardinal Malabranca, and was, at first, a member of the Order of St.\nDominic. (See _Dublin Review_, Vol. XX., 1846; Gavantus, Thesaur.\nSacr. Rit., p. 490.)\n\nAs this sacred hymn is conceded to be one of the grandest that has ever\nbeen written, it is but natural to expect that the number of authors\nclaiming it would be very large. Some even have attributed it to Pope\nGregory the Great, who lived as far back as the year 604. St. Bernard,\ntoo, is mentioned in connection with it, and so are several others; but\nas it is hardly necessary to mention all, we shall only say that, after\nCardinal Orsini, the claims to it on the part of Thomas de Celano, of\nthe Order of Franciscans Minor, are the greatest. There is very little\nreason for attributing it to Father Humbert, the fifth general of the\nDominicans in 1273; and hardly any at all for accrediting it to\nAugustinus de Biella, of the Order of Augustinian Eremites. A very\nwidely circulated opinion is that the \"Dies Ir\u00e6,\" as it now stands, is\nbut an improved form of a Sequence which was long in use before the age\nof any of those authors whom we have cited. Gavantus gives us, at page\n490 of his \"Thesaurus of Sacred Rites,\" a few stanzas of this ancient\nsequence. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: We subjoin this Latin stanza: Cum recordor moriturus,\n  Quid post mortem sum futurus\n  Terror terret me venturus,\n  Queru expecto non securus.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTo repeat what learned critics of every denomination under heaven have\nsaid in praise of this marvellous hymn, would indeed be a difficult\ntask. One of its greatest encomiums is, that there is hardly a language\nin Europe into which it has not been translated; it has even found its\nway into Greek and Hebrew--into the former, through an English\nmissionary of Syria, named Hildner; and into the latter, by Splieth, a\ncelebrated Orientalist. Mozart avowed his extreme admiration of it, and\nso did Dr. Johnson, Sir Walter Scott, and Jeremy Taylor, besides hosts\nof others. The encomium passed upon it by Schaff is thus given in his\nown words: \"This marvellous hymn is the acknowledged master-piece of\nLatin poetry and the most sublime of all uninspired hymns. The secret\nof its irresistible power lies in the awful grandeur of the theme, the\nintense earnestness and pathos of the poet, the simple majesty and\nsolemn music of its language, the stately metre, the triple rhyme, and\nthe vocal assonances, chosen in striking adaptation--all combining to\nproduce an overwhelming effect, as if we heard the final crash of the\nuniverse, the commotion of the opening graves, the trumpet of the\narchangel summoning the quick and the dead, and saw the King 'of\ntremendous majesty' seated on the throne of justice and mercy, and\nready to dispense everlasting life, or everlasting woe.\" (See \"Latin\nHymns,\" Vol. I. p. 392, by Prof. March, of Lafayette College, Pa.)\n\nThe music of this hymn formed a chief part in the fame of Mozart; and\nit is said, and not without reason, that it contributed in no small\ndegree to hasten his death, for so excited did he become over its awe-\nenkindling sentiments while writing his celebrated \"Mass of Requiem,\"\nthat a sort of minor paralysis seized his whole frame, so\n\n  Terret dies me terroris,\n  Dies irae, ac furoris,\n  Dies luctus, ac moeroris,\n  Dies ultrix peccatoris,\n  Dies irae, dies illa, etc, etc.\n\nthat he was heard to say: \"I am certain that I am writing this Requiem\nfor myself. It will be my funeral service.\" He never lived to finish\nit; the credit of having done so belongs to Sussmayer, a man of great\nmusical attainments, and a most intimate friend of the Mozart family.--\n_Dublin Review_, Vol. I., May, 1836.\n\nThe allusion to the sibyl in the third line of the first stanza, \"Teste\nDavid cum Sybilla,\" [1] has given rise to a good deal of anxious\ninquiry; and so very strange did it sound to French ears at its\nintroduction into the sacred hymnology of the Church, that the Parisian\nrituals substituted in its place the line, _Crucis expandens\nvexilla_. The difficulty is, however, easily overcome if we bear in\nmind that many of the early Fathers held that Almighty God made use of\nthese sibyls to promulgate His truths in just the same way as He did of\nBalaam of old, and many others like him. The great St. Augustine has\nwritten much on this subject in his \"City of God;\" and the reader may\nform some idea of the estimation in which these sibyls were held, when\nhe is told that the world-renowned Michael Angelo made them the subject\nof one of his greatest paintings.... In the opinions of the ablest\ncritics it was the Erythrean sibyl who uttered the celebrated\nprediction about the advent of our Divine Lord and His final coming at\nthe last day to judge the living and the dead.... The part of the\nsibyl's response which referred particularly to the Day of Judgment was\nwritten (as an acrostic) on the letters of Soter, or Saviour. It is\ngiven as follows in the translation of the \"City of God\" of St.\nAugustine:\n\n[Footnote 1: As David and Sibyls say.]\n\n  \"Sounding, the archangel's trumpet shall peal down from heaven,\n  Over the wicked who groan in their guilt and their manifold sorrows,\n  Trembling, the earth shall be opened, revealing chaos and hell.\n  Every king before God shall stand on that day to be judged;\n  Rivers of fire and of brimstone shall fall from the heavens.\"\n\n\nDANTE'S \"PURGATORIO.\"\n\n  The bright sun was risen\n  More than two hours aloft; and to the sea\n  My looks were turned. \"Fear not,\" my master cried.\n  \"Assured we are at happy point. Thy strength\n  Shrink not, but rise dilated. Thou art come\n  To Purgatory now. Lo! there the cliff\n  That circling bounds it. Lo! the entrance there,\n  Where it doth seem disparted.\"...\n\n  Reader! thou markest how my theme doth rise;\n  Nor wonder, therefore, if more artfully\n  I prop the structure. Nearer now we drew,\n  Arrived whence, in that part where first a breach\n  As of a wall appeared. I could descry\n  A portal, and three steps beneath, that led\n  For inlet there, of different color each;\n  And one who watched, but spake not yet a word,\n  As more and more mine eye did stretch its view,\n  I marked him seated on the highest step,\n  In visage such as past my power to bear.\n  Grasped in his hand, a naked sword glanced back\n  The rays so towards me, that I oft in vain\n  My sight directed. \"Speak from whence ye stand,\"\n  He cried; \"What would ye? Where is your escort?\n  Take heed your coming upward harm ye not.\"\n\n  \"A heavenly dame, not skilless of these things,\"\n  Replied the instructor, \"told us, even now,\n  'Pass that way, here the gate is.'\" \"And may she,\n  Befriending, prosper your ascent,\" resumed\n  The courteous keeper of the gate. \"Come, then,\n  Before our steps.\" We straightway thither came.\n\n  The lowest stair was marble white, so smooth\n  And polished, that therein my mirrored form\n  Distinct I saw. The next of hue more dark\n  Than sablest grain, a rough and singed block\n  Cracked lengthwise and across. The third, that lay\n  Massy above, seemed porphyry, that flamed\n  Red as the life-blood spouting from a vein.\n  On this God's Angel either foot sustained,\n  Upon the threshold seated, which appeared\n  A rock of diamond. Up the trinal steps\n  My leader cheerily drew me. \"Ask,\" said he,\n  \"With humble heart, that he unbar the bolt.\"\n  Piously at his holy feet devolved\n  I cast me, praying him, for pity's sake,\n  That he would open to me; but first fell\n  Thrice on my bosom prostrate. Seven times\n  The letter that denotes the inward stain,\n  He, on my forehead, with the blunted point\n  Of his drawn sword, inscribed. And \"Look,\" he cried,\n  \"When entered, that thou wash these scars away.\"\n  Ashes, or earth ta'en dry out of the ground,\n  Were of one color with the robe he wore.\n  From underneath that vestment forth he drew\n  Two keys, of metal twain; the one was gold,\n  Its fellow, silver. With the pallid first,\n  And next the burnished, he so plyed the gate,\n  As to content me well. \"Whenever one\n  Faileth of these that in the key-hole straight\n  It turn not, to this alley then expect\n  Access in vain.\" Such were the words he spake.\n  \"One is more precious, but the other needs\n  Skill and sagacity, large share of each,\n  Ere its good task to disengage the knot\n  Be worthily performed. From Peter these\n  I hold, of him instructed that I err\n  Rather in opening, than in keeping fast;\n  So but the suppliant at my feet implore.\"\n\n  Then of that hallowed gate he thrust the door.\n  Exclaiming, \"Enter, but this warning hear:\n  He forth again departs who looks behind.\"\n\n  As in the hinges of that sacred ward\n  The swivels turned, sonorous metal strong.\n  Harsh was the grating; nor so surlily\n  Rocked the Tarpeian when by force bereft\n  Of good Metellus, thenceforth from his loss\n  To leanness doomed. Attentively I turned,\n  Listening the thunder that first issued forth;\n  And \"We praise Thee, O God,\" methought I heard,\n  In accents blended with sweet melody.\n  The strains came o'er mine ear, e'en as the sound\n  Of choral voices, that in solemn chant\n  With organ mingle, and, now high and clear\n  Come swelling, now float indistinct away.--_Canto IX_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Hell's dunnest gloom, or night unlustrous, dark,\n  Of every planet reft, and palled in clouds,\n  Did never spread before the sight a veil\n  In thickness like that fog, nor to the sense\n  So palpable and gross. Entering its shade,\n  Mine eye endured not with unclosed lids;\n  Which marking, near me drew the faithful guide,\n  Offering me his shoulder for a stay.\n\n  As the blind man behind his leader walks,\n  Lest he should err, or stumble unawares\n  On what might harm him, or perhaps destroy;\n  I journeyed through that bitter air and foul,\n  Still listening to my escort's warning voice,\n\n  \"Look that from me thou part not.\" Straight I heard\n  Voices, and each one seemed to pray for peace,\n  And for compassion to the Lamb of God\n  That taketh sins away. The prelude still\n  Was \"Agnus Dei;\" and, through all the choir,\n  One voice, one measure ran, that perfect seemed\n  The concord of their song. \"Are these I hear\n  Spirits, O Master?\" I exclaimed; and he,\n  \"Thou aim'st aright: these loose the bonds of wrath.\"--_Canto_\nXVI.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Forthwith from every side a shout arose\n  So vehement, that suddenly my guide\n  Drew near, and cried: \"Doubt not, while I conduct thee.\"\n  \"Glory!\" all shouted (such the sounds mine ear\n  Gathered from those who near me swelled the sounds),\n  \"Glory in the highest be to God!\" We stood\n  Immovably suspended, like to those,\n  The shepherds, who first heard in Bethlehem's field\n  That song: till ceased the trembling, and the song\n  Was ended: then our hallowed path resumed,\n  Eyeing the prostrate shadows, who renewed\n  Their customed mourning. Never in my breast\n  Did ignorance so struggle with desire\n  Of knowledge, if my memory do not err,\n  As in that moment; nor, through haste, dared I\n  To question, nor myself could aught discern.\n  So on I fared, in thoughtfulness and dread.--_Canto XX._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Now the last flexure of our way we reached;\n  And, to the right hand turning, other care\n  Awaits us. Here the rocky precipice\n  Hurls forth redundant flames; and from the rim\n  A blast up-blown, with forcible rebuff\n  Driveth them back, sequestered from its bound.\n\n  Behooved us, one by one, along the side,\n  That bordered on the void, to pass; and I\n  Feared on one hand the fire, on the other feared\n  Headlong to fall: when thus the instructor warned:\n  \"Strict rein must in this place direct the eyes.\n  A little swerving and the way is lost.\"\n\n  Then from the bosom of the burning mass,\n  \"O God of mercy!\" heard I sung, and felt\n  No less desire to turn. And when I saw\n  Spirits along the flame proceeding, I\n  Between their footsteps and mine own was fain\n  To share by turns my view. At the hymn's close\n  They shouted loud, \"I do not know a man;\" [1]\n  Then in low voice again took up the strain.-_Canto XXV_.\n\n[Footnote 1: _I do not know a man._ St. Luke, i. 34.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Now was the sun [1] so stationed, as when first\n  His early radiance quivers on the heights\n  Where streamed his Maker's blood; while Libra hangs\n  Above Hesperian Ebro; and new fires,\n  Meridian, flash on Ganges' yellow tide.\n    So day was sinking, when the Angel of God\n  Appeared before us. Joy was in his mien.\n  Forth of the flame he stood--upon the brink;\n  And with a voice, whose lively clearness far\n  Surpassed our human, \"Blessed are the pure\n  In heart,\" he sang; then, near him as we came,\n  \"Go ye not further, holy spirits,\" he cried,\n  \"Ere the fire pierce you; enter in, and list\n  Attentive to the song ye hear from thence.\"\n    I, when I heard his saying, was as one\n  Laid in the grave. My hands together clasped,\n  And upward stretching, on the fire I looked,\n  And busy fancy conjured up the forms,\n  Erewhile beheld alive, consumed in flames.--_Canto XXVII._\n\n[Footnote 1: At Jerusalem it was dawn, in Spain midnight, and in India\nnoonday, while it was sunset in Purgatory]\n\n\nHAMLET AND THE GHOST.\n\nSHAKESPEARE.\n\n   HAMLET. Where wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go no further.\n   GHOST. Mark me.\n   HAM. I will.\n   GHOST. My hour is almost come,\n   When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames\n   Must render up myself.\n   HAM. Alas! poor ghost!\n   GHOST. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing\n   To what I shall unfold.\n   HAM. Speak, I am bound to hear.\n   GHOST. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.\n   HAM. What?\n   GHOST. I am thy father's spirit;\n   Doomed for a certain time to walk the night;\n   And, for the day, confined to fast in fires,\n   Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,\n   Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid\n   To tell the secrets of my prison-house,\n   I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word\n   Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood;\n   Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;\n   Thy knotted and combined locks to part,\n   And each particular hair to stand on end,\n   Like quills upon the fretful porcupine;\n   But this eternal blason must not be\n   To ears of flesh and blood.\n\n\nCALDERON'S \"PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK.\"\n\nIn a work of this nature, it is essential to its purpose that the\ncompiler should take cognizance of the many legends, wild and\nextravagant as some of them are, which have been current at various\ntimes and amongst various peoples, on the subject of Purgatory. For\nthey have, indeed, a deep significance, proving how strong a hold this\nbelief in a middle state of souls has taken on the popular mind. They\nare, in a certain sense, a part of Catholic tradition, and have to do\nwith what is called Catholic instinct. They prove that this dogma of\nthe Church has found a home in the hearts of the people, and become\nfamiliar to them, as the tales of childhood whispered around the winter\nhearth. If it appear now and then, in some such uncouth disguise, as\nthat which we, are about to present to our readers, we see,\nnevertheless, through it all the truth, or rather the fragments of\ntruth, such as is often found floating about through Europe on the\nbreath of tradition. The curious legend has been turned by Calderon\nfrom dross into precious gold. He presents it to us in his \"Purgatory\nof St. Patrick\" with a beauty that divests it of much of its native\nwildness. He presumably drew his materials for the drama from a work,\n\"The Life and Purgatory of St. Patrick,\" published in Spain in 1627 by\nMontalvan, a Spanish dramatist. It was translated into French by a\nFranciscan priest and doctor of theology, Fran\u00e7ois Bouillon; as also\ninto Portuguese by Father Manuel Caldeira. When this work was issued\nCalderon was wish the army in Flanders. He must have seen it, his\nbrilliant imagination at once taking hold of it as the groundwork for a\nsplendid effort of his genius.\n\nWe cite here an extract from an introduction by Denis Florence\nMacCarthy to his translation of Calderon's \"Purgatory of St. Patrick.\"\nIt will be of interest as following the thread of this weird legend:\n\nThe curious history of Ludovico Enio, on which the principal interest\nof this play depends, has been alluded to, and given more or less fully\nby many ancient authors. The name, though slightly altered by the\ndifferent persons who have mentioned him, can easily be recognized as\nthe same in all, whether as Owen, Oien, Owain, Eogan, Euenius, or\nEnnius. Perhaps the earliest allusion to him in any printed English\nwork is that contained in 'Ranulph Hidgen's Polychronicon,' published\nat Westminster by Wynkin de Worde, in 1495: 'In this Steven's tyme, a\nknyght that hyght Owen wente into the Purgatory of the second Patrick,\nabbot, and not byshoppe. He came agayne and dwelled in the abbaye of\nLudene of Whyte Monks in Irlonde, and tolde of joycs and of paynes that\nhe had seen.'\n\nThe history of Enio had, however, existed in manuscript for nearly\nthree centuries and a half before the Polychronicon was printed; it had\nbeen written by Henry, the Monk of Salterey, in Huntingdonshire, from\nthe account which he had received from Gilbert, a Cistercian monk of\nthe Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Luden, or Louth, above\nmentioned. [1] Colgan, after collating this manuscript with two others\non the same subject, which he had seen, printed it nearly in full in\nhis \"Trias.\" ... Matthew Paris had, however, before this, in his\n\"History of England,\" under date 1153, given a full account of the\nadventures of OEnus in the Purgatory. ... Sir Walter Scott mentions, in\nhis \"Border Minstrelsy,\" that there is a curious Metrical Romance in\nthe Advocates' Library of Edinburgh, called \"The Legend of Sir Owain,\"\nrelating his adventures in St. Patrick's Purgatory; he gives some\nstanzas from it, descriptive of the knight's passage of \"The Brig o'\nDread;\" which, in the legend, is placed between Purgatory and Paradise.\nThis poem is supposed to have been written early in the fourteenth\ncentury.\n\n[Footnote 1: Colgan's \"Trias Thanmaturg\u00e6,\" p. 281, Ware's \"Annals of\nIreland,\" A.D. 1497.]\n\nA second extract on the subject, taken from the Essay by Mr. Wright on\nthe \"Purgatory of St. Patrick,\" published in London in 1844, gives\nstill further information with regard to it.\n\n\"The mode,\" he says, \"in which this legend was made public is thus told\nin the Latin narrative. Gervase (the founder and first Abbot of Louth,\nin Lincolnshire) sent his monk, Gilbert, to the king, then in Ireland,\nto obtain a grant to build a monastery there. Gilbert, on his arrival,\ncomplained to the king, Henry II., that he did not understand the\nlanguage of the country. The king said to him,' I will give you an\nexcellent interpreter,' and sent him the knight Owain, who remained\nwith him during the time he was occupied in building the monastery, and\nrepeated to him frequently the story of his adventures in Purgatory.\nGilbert and his companions subsequently returned to England, and there\nhe repeated the story, and some one said he thought it was all a dream,\nto which Gilbert answered: 'That there were some who believed that\nthose who entered the Purgatory fell into a trance, and saw the vision\nin the spirit, but that the knight had denied this, and declared that\nthe whole was seen and felt really in the body.' Both Gilbert, from\nwhom Henry of Salterey received the story, and the bishop of the\ndiocese, assured him that many perished in this Purgatory, and were\nnever heard of afterwards.\" It is clear from the allusion to it in\nC\u00e6sarius of Heisterbach, that already, at the beginning of the\nthirteenth century, St. Patrick's Purgatory had become famous\nthroughout Europe. 'If any one doubt of Purgatory,' says this writer,\n'let him go to Scotland (i. e., Ireland, to which this name was\nanciently given), and enter the Purgatory of St. Patrick, and his\ndoubts will be expelled.' This recommendation was frequently acted upon\nin that, and particularly in the following century, when pilgrims from\nall parts of Europe, some of them men of rank and wealth, repaired\nthither. On the patent rolls in the Tower of London, under the year\n1358, we have an instance of testimonials given by the king, Edward\nIII., on the same day, to two distinguished foreigners, one a noble\nHungarian, the other a Lombard, Nicholas de Becariis, of their having\nfaithfully performed this pilgrimage. And still later, in 1397, we find\nKing Richard II. granting a safe conduct to visit the same place to\nRaymond, Viscount of Perilhos, Knight of Rhodes, and Chamberlain of the\nKing of France, with twenty men and thirty horses. Raymond de Perilhos,\non his return to his native country, wrote a narrative of what he had\nseen, in the dialect of the Limousin (_Lemosinalingna_), of which\na Latin version was printed by O'Sullivan in his '_Historia Catholica\nIbernica.' ... This is a mere compilation from the story of 'Henry of\nSalterey,' and begins, like that, with an account of the origin of the\nPurgatory. He represents himself as having been first a minister to\nCharles V. of France, and subsequently the intimate friend of John I.\nof Aragon, after whose death (in 1395) he was seized with the desire of\nknowing how he was treated in the other world, and determined, like a\nnew \u00c6neas, to go into St. Patrick's Purgatory in search of him. He saw\nprecisely the same sights as the knight, Owain, but (as in Calderon)\nonly twelve men came to him in the hall instead of fifteen, and in the\nfourth hall of punishments he saw King John of Aragon, and many others\nof his friends and relations.\n\nWe will now select from the drama of \"Calderon\" a few characteristic\npassages, to show how this subject was treated by the glowing pen and\nfervid fancy of the greatest of all the poets of Catholic Spain, whose\npoetry, indeed, is deserving of more widespread appreciation than it\nhas yet received at the hands of the Catholic reading public. We will\nbegin with those lines in which Ludovico Enio, the hero of the tale,\nmakes known his identity to King Egerio.\n\n  LUDOVICO. Listen, most beautiful divinity,\n  For thus begins the story of my life.\n  Great Egerio, King of Ireland, I\n\n  Am Ludovico Enio--a Christian also--\n  In this do Patrick and myself agree,\n  And differ, being Christians both,\n  And yet as opposite as good from evil.\n  But for the faith which I sincerely hold\n  (So greatly do I estimate its worth),\n  I would lay down a hundred thousand lives--\n  Bear witness, thou all-seeing Lord and God.\n\n  . . . . . . All crimes,\n  Theft, murder, treason, sacrilege, betrayal\n  Of dearest friends, all these I must relate.\n  For these are all my glory and my pride.\n  In one of Ireland's many islands I\n  Was born, and much do I suspect that all\n  The planets seven, in wild confusion strange,\n  Assisted at my most unhappy birth.\n\nHe proceeds with a catalogue of his crimes, most dark, indeed, and\nrelates how St. Patrick, who was present, had saved him from shipwreck.\nThe King, however, who is a pagan, takes the Knight into his service,\nwhile he bids the Saint begone. Before they part Patrick asks of him a\nfavor:\n\n  PATRICK. This one boon I ask--\n  LUDOVICO. What is it?\n  PATRICK. That, alive or dead, we meet\n  In this world once again.\n  LUDOVICO. Dost thou demand\n  So strange and dread a promise from me?\n  PATRICK. Yes.\n  LUDOVICO. I give it to thee then.\n  PATRICK. And I accept it.\n\nWhat follows is from a conversation between Patrick and the King,\nwherein are explained many of the truths of faith, including the\nexistence of heaven and of hell. Thus the Saint:\n\n  PATRICK. There are more places\n  In the other world than those of\n  Everlasting pain and glory:\n  Learn, O King, that there's another,\n  Which is Purgatory; whither\n  Flies the soul that has departed\n  In a state of grace; but bearing\n  Still some stains of sin upon it:\n  For with these no soul can enter\n  God's pure kingdom--there it dwelleth\n  Till it purifies and burneth\n  All the dross from out its nature;\n  Then it flieth, pure and limpid,\n  Into God's divinest presence.\n\n  KING. So you say, but I have nothing,\n  Save your own words, to convince me;\n  Give me of the soul's existence\n  Some strong proof--some indication--\n  Something tangible and certain--\n  Which my hands may feel and grasp at.\n  And since you appear so powerful\n  With your God, you can implore him,\n  That to finish my conversion,\n  He may show some real being,\n  Not a mere ideal essence,\n  Which all men can touch; remember,\n  But one single hour remaineth\n  For this task: this day you give us\n  Certain proofs of pain or glory,\n  Or you die: where we are standing\n  Let your God display his wonders--\n  And since we, perhaps, may merit\n  Neither punishment nor glory,\n  Let the other place be shown us,\n  Which you say is Purgatory.\n\nPATRICK then prays, concluding with the words:\n\n  \"I ask, O Lord, may from Thy hand be given,\n  That Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven\n  May be revealed unto those mortals' sight.\"\n\nAn Angel then descends and speaks as follows:\n\n  ANGEL. Patrick, God has heard thy prayer,\n  He has listened to thy vows;\n  And as thou hast ask'd, allows\n  Earth's great secrets to lie bare.\n  Seek along this island ground\n  For a vast and darksome cave,\n  Which restrains the lake's dark wave,\n  And supports the mountains round;\n  He who dares to go therein,\n  Having first contritely told\n  All his faults, shall there behold\n\n  Where the soul is purged from sin.\n  He shall see with mortal eyes\n  Hell itself--where those who die\n  In their sins forever lie,\n  In the fire that never dies.\n  He shall see, in blest fruition,\n  Where the happy spirits dwell.\n  But of this be sure as well--\n  He who without true contrition\n  Enters there to idly try\n  What the cave may be, doth go\n  To his death--he'll suffer woe\n  While the Lord doth reign on high.\n  Who this day shall set you free\n  From this poor world's weariness;\n\n  He shall grant to you, in pity,\n  Bliss undreamed by mortal men--\n  Making thee a denizen\n  Of his own celestial city.\n  He shall to the world proclaim\n  His omnipotence and glory,\n  By the wondrous Purgatory,\n  Which shall bear thy sainted name.\n\nPolonia, the King's daughter, whom Ludovico had married and deserted,\nhaving first tried to kill her, appears upon the scene just as the\nKing, Patrick, and some others, who have set out upon their quest for\nthe Purgatory, have reached a gloomy mountain and a deep cave. Polonia\nrelates the wonders and the terrors of the cavern through which she has\npassed. Patrick then speaks as follows:\n\n  PATRICK. This cave, Egerio, which you see, concealeth\n  Many mysteries of life and death,\n  Not for him whose hardened bosom feeleth\n  Nought of true repentance or true faith.\n  But he who freely enters, who revealeth\n  All his sins with penitential breath,\n  Shall endure his Purgatory then,\n  And return forgiven back again.\n\nLater in the drama we find Ludovico desiring\n\n \"To enter\n  Into Patrick's Purgatory;\n  Humbly and devoutly keeping\n  Thus the promise that I gave him.\"\n\nAgain, he says:\n\n \"I have faith and firm reliance\n  That you yet shall see me happy,\n  If in God's name blessed Patrick,\n\n \"Aid me in the Purgatory.\"\n\nHaving confessed his sins and made due preparation, he enters the cave.\nOn his return hence, the Priest, or Canon as he is called, bids him\nrelate the wonders he has seen. He finds himself first \"in thick and\npitchy darkness,\" he hears horrid clangor, and falls down at length\ninto a hall of jasper, where he meets with twelve grave men, who\nencourage him, and bid him keep up his courage amid the fearful sights\nhe is to behold later on. At length he reaches the Purgatory:\n\n  \"I approached another quarter;\n  There it seemed that many spirits\n  I had known elsewhere, were gathered\n  Into one vast congregation,\n  Where, although 'twas plain they suffered,\n  Still they looked with joyous faces,\n  Wore a peaceable appearance,\n  Uttered no impatient accents,\n  But, with moistened eyes uplifted\n  Towards the heavens, appeared imploring\n  Pity, and their sins lamenting.\n  This, in truth, was Purgatory,\n  Where the sins that are more venial\n  Are purged out.\"\n\nHe then alludes to that Bridge or \"Brig o' Dread,\" to which allusion\nwill be made in another portion of our volume. As this passage is\ncelebrated, it is well to give it in full:\n\n  LUDOVICO. To a river did they lead me,\n  Flowers of fire were on its margin,\n  Liquid sulphur was its current,\n  Many-headed hydras--serpents--\n  Monsters of the deep were in it;\n  It was very broad, and o'er it\n  Lay a bridge, so slight and narrow\n  That it seem'd a thin line only.\n  It appear'd so weak and fragile,\n  That the slightest weight would sink it.\n  \"Here thy pathway lies,\" they told me,\n  \"O'er this bridge so weak and narrow;\n  And, for thy still greater horror,\n  Look at those who've pass'd before thee.\"\n  Then I look'd, and saw the wretches\n  Who the passage were attempting\n  Fall amid the sulphurous current,\n  Where the snakes with teeth and talons\n  Tore them to a thousand pieces.\n  Notwithstanding all these horrors,\n  I, the name of God invoking,\n  Undertook the dreadful passage,\n  And, undaunted by the billows,\n  Or the winds that blew around me,\n  Reached the other side in safety.\n  Here within a wood I found me,\n  So delightful and so fertile,\n  That the past was all forgotten.\n  On my path rose stately cedars,\n  Laurels--all the trees of Eden.\n\nAfter having described some of the glories of this abode of bliss, he\nrelates his meeting with \"the resplendent, the most glorious, the great\nPatrick, the Apostle\"--and was thus enabled to keep his early promise.\nThe poem ends with the following somewhat confused list of authorities:\n\n  \"For with this is now concluded\n  The historic legend told us\n  By Dionysius, the great Carthusian,\n  With Henricus Salteriensis,\n  C\u00e6sarius Heisterbachensis,\n  Matthew Paris, and Ranulphus,\n  Monbrisius, Marolicus Siculus,\n  David Rothe, and the judicious\n  Primate over all Hibernia,\n  Bellarmino, Beda, Serpi,\n  Friar Dymas, Jacob Sotin,\n  Messingham, and in conclusion\n  The belief and pious feeling\n  Which have everywhere maintained it.\"\n\nFrom Alban Butler's notes to \"Lives of the Saints,\" Vol. I. p. 103, we\nsubjoin the following:\n\n\"St. Patrick's Purgatory is a cave on an island in the Lake Dearg\n(Lough Derg), in the County of Donegal, near the borders of Fermanagh.\nBollandus shows the falsehood of many things related concerning it.\nUpon complaint of certain superstitious and false notions of the\nvulgar, in 1497, it was stopped up by an order of the Pope. See\nBollandus, 'Tillemont,' p. 287, Alemand in his 'Monastic Hist. of\nIreland,' and Thiers, 'Hist. des. Superst.' I. 4 ed. Nov. It was soon\nafter opened again by the inhabitants; but only according to the\noriginal institution, as Bollandus takes notice, as a penitential\nretirement for those who voluntarily chose it, probably in imitation of\nSt. Patrick, or other saints, who had there dedicated themselves to a\npenitential state. They usually spent several days here, living on\nbread and water, lying on rushes, praying and making stations\nbarefoot.\"\n\n\nTHE BRIG O' DREAD.\n\nSIR WALTER SCOTT.\n\nIn connection with the extracts which we have given from the celebrated\nDrama of Calderon, the \"Purgatory of St. Patrick,\" and in particular of\nthat one which relates to the passage of Ludovico over the bridge which\nleads from Purgatory to Paradise, it will be interesting to quote the\nfollowing from Sir Walter Scott's \"Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border:\"\n\n\"There is a sort of charm, sung by the lower ranks of Roman Catholics,\nin some parts of the north of England, while watching a dead body\nprevious to interment. The tone is doleful and monotonous, and, joined\nto the mysterious import of the words, has a solemn effect. The word\nsleet, in the chorus, seems to be corrupted from selt or salt; a\nquantity of which, in compliance with a popular superstition, is\nfrequently placed on the breast of a corpse. The mythologic ideas of\nthe dirge are common to various creeds. The Mahometan believes that, in\nadvancing to the final judgment seat, he must traverse a bar of red-hot\niron, stretched across a bottomless gulf. The good works of each true\nbeliever, assuming a substantial form, will then interpose between his\nfeet and this 'Bridge of Dread;' but the wicked, having no such\nprotection, fall headlong into the abyss.\" Passages similar to this\ndirge are also to be found in \"Lady Culross' Dream,\" as quoted in the\nsecond Dissertation, prefixed by Mr. Pinkerton to his select Scottish\nBallads, 2 vols. The dreamer journeys towards heaven, accompanied and\nassisted by a celestial guide:\n\n \"Through dreadful dens, which made my heart aghast,\n  He bore me up when I began to tire.\n  Sometimes we clamb o'er craggy mountains high,\n  And sometimes stay'd on ugly braes of sand.\n\n \"They were so stay that wonder was to see;\n  But when I fear'd, he held me by the hand.\n  Through great deserts we wandered on our way--\n  Forward we passed a narrow bridge of trie,\n  O'er waters great, which hideously did roar.\"\n\nAgain, she supposes herself suspended over an infernal gulf:\n\n  \"Ere I was ware, one gripped me at the last,\n  And held me high above a flaming fire.\n  The fire was great, the heat did pierce me sore;\n  My faith grew-weak; my grip was very small.\n  I trembled fast; my faith grew more and more.\"\n\nA horrible picture of the same kind, dictated probably by the author's\nunhappy state of mind, is to be found in Brooke's \"Fool of Quality.\"\nThe Russian funeral service, without any allegorical imagery, expresses\nthe sentiment of the dirge in language alike simple and noble: \"Hast\nthou pitied the afflicted, O man? In death shalt thou be pitied. Hast\nthou consoled the orphan? The orphan will deliver thee. Hast thou\nclothed the naked? The naked will procure thee protection.\"--\n_Richardson's \"Anecdotes of Russia.\"_\n\nBut the most minute description of the Brig o' Dread occurs in the\nlegend of Sir Owain, No. XL. in the MS. collection of romances, W. 4.\nI, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. Sir Owain, a Northumbrian knight,\nafter many frightful adventures in St. Patrick's Purgatory, at last\narrives at the bridge, which, in the legend, is placed betwixt\nPurgatory and Paradise:\n\n \"The fendes han the Knight ynome,\n  To a stink and water thai ben ycome,\n  He no seigh never er non swiche;\n  It stank fouler than ani hounde,\n  And mani mile it was to the grounde,\n  And was as swart as piche.\n\n \"And Owain seigh ther ouer ligge\n  A swithe, strong, naru brigge:\n  The fendes seyd tho;\n  Lo, Sir Knight, sestow this,\n  This is the brigge of Paradis,\n  Here ouer thou must go.\n\n \"And we the schul with stones prowe\n  And the winde the schul ouer blow,\n  And wirche the ful wo;\n  Thou no schalt for all this unduerd,\n  Bot gif thou falle a midwerd, To our fewes [1] mo.\n\n[Footnote 1: Sir Walter Scott says probably a contraction of\n\"fellows.\"]\n\n \"And when thou art adoun yfalle,\n  Than schal com our felawes alle,\n  And with her hokes the hede;\n  We schul the teche a newe playe:\n  Thou hast served ous mani a day,\n  And into helle the lede.\n\n \"Owain biheld the brigge smert,\n  The water ther under blek and swert,\n  And sore him gan to drede;\n  For of othing he tok yeme,\n  Never mot, in sonne beme,\n  Thicker than the fendes yede.\n\n \"The brigge was as heigh as a tower,\n  And as scharpe as a rasour,\n  And naru it was also;\n\n \"And the water that ther run under,\n  Brend o' lighting and of thonder,\n  That thocht him michel wo.\n\n \"Ther nis no clerk may write with ynke,\n  No no man no may bithink, No no maister deuine;\n  That is ymade forsoth ywis,\n  Under the brigge of paradis Halven del the pine.\n\n \"So the dominical ous telle,\n  Ther is the pure entrae of helle,\n  Seine Poule [1] verth witnesse;\n  Whoso falleth of the brigge adown,\n  Of him nis no redempcion, Neither more nor lesse.\n\n[Footnote 1: St. Paul.]\n\n \"The fendes seyd to the Knight tho,\n  'Ouer this brigge might thou nowght go,\n  For noneskines nede;\n  Fie peril sorwe and wo,\n  And to that stede ther thou com fro,\n  Wel fair we schul the lede.'\n\n \"Owain anon began bithenche,\n  Fram hou mani of the fendes wrenche,\n  God him saved hadde;\n  He sett his fot opon the brigge,\n  No feld he no scharpe egge,\n  No nothing him no drad.\n\n \"When the fendes yseigh tho,\n  That he was more than half ygo,\n  Loude thai gun to crie:\n  Allas! Allas! that he was born!\n  This ich night we habe forlorn\n  Out of our baylie.\"--_Minstrelsy of Scottish Border._\n\n\nSHELLEY AND THE PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK.\n\nIt will be of interest to quote the following passage from one of\nShelley's best known works, \"The Cenci,\" of which he himself says: \"An\nidea in this speech was suggested by a most sublime passage in 'El\nPurgatorio de San Patricio,' of Calderon.\"\n\n\"But I remember, Two miles on this side of the fort, the road Crosses a\ndeep ravine; 'tis rough and narrow, And winds with short turns down the\nprecipice; And in its depths there is a mighty rock Which has, from\nunimaginable years, Sustained itself with terror and with toil Over the\ngulf, and with the agony With which it clings seems slowly coming down;\nEven as a wretched soul, hour after hour, Clings to the mass of life;\nyet clinging, leans; And leaning, makes more dark the dread abyss In\nwhich it fears to fall; beneath this crag Huge as despair, as if in\nweariness, The melancholy mountain yawns.\"\n\n\nON A GREAT FUNERAL. [1]\n\n[Footnote: The above lines apply with peculiar impressiveness to the\nfuneral of General Grant, so lately occupying public attention.]\n\nAUBREY DE VERE.\n\nNo more than this? The chief of nations bears Her chief of sons to his\nlast resting-place; Through the still city, sad and slow of pace, The\nsable pageant streams; and as it nears That dome, to-day a vault\nfunereal, tears Run down the gray-hair'd veteran's wintry face; Deep\norgans sob and flags their front abase; And the snapt wand the rite\ncomplete declares. Soul, that before thy Judge dost stand this day,\nDisrobed of strength and puissance, pomp and power; O soul! defrauded\nat thine extreme hour Of man's sole help from man, and latest stay,\nSwells there for thee no prayer from all that host, And is this burial\nbut a nation's boast?\n\n\n\"MORTE D'ARTHUR.\"\n\nTENNYSON.\n\n  Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere,\n  \"Ah! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go?\n  Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes?\n  For now I see the true old times are dead,\n  When every morning brought a noble chance,\n  And every chance brought out a noble knight.\n  Such times have been not since the light that led\n  The holy Elders with the gift of myrrh.\n  But now the whole Round Table is dissolved\n  Which was an image of the mighty world;\n  And I, the last, go forth companionless,\n  And the days darken round me, and the years,\n  Among new men, strange faces, other minds.\"\n\n  And slowly answered Arthur from the barge:\n  \"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,\n  And God fulfils Himself in many ways.\n  Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.\n  Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?\n  I have lived my life, and that which I have done\n  May He within Himself make pure! but thou,\n  If thou shouldst never see my face again,\n  Pray for my soul.\n  More things are wrought by prayer\n  Than this world dreams of.\n  Wherefore, let thy voice\n  Rise like fountain for me night and day.\n  For what are men better than sheep or goats\n  That nourish a blind life within the brain,\n  If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer\n  Both for themselves and those who call them friend?\n  For so the whole round earth is every way\n  Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.\n  But now farewell!\n  I am going a long way\n  With these thou seest--if indeed I go\n  (For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)\n  To the island-valley of Avilion;\n  Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow;\n  Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies\n  Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns\n  And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea,\n  Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.\"\n\n  So said he, and the barge with oar and sail\n  Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan.\n  That, fluting a wild carol, ere her death,\n  Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood\n  With swarthy webs.\n  Long stood Sir Bedivere\n  Revolving many memories, till the hull\n  Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn,\n  And on the meer the wailing died away.\n\n\nGUIDO AND HIS BROTHER.\n\nCOLLlN DE PLANCY.\n\nThe brother who forgets his brother is no longer a man, he is a\nmonster.--Sr. John Chrysostom.\n\nPeter the Venerable relates the story of a lord of his time, named Guy\nor Guido, who had lost his life in battle; this was very common in the\nMiddle Ages, when the nobles were beyond all else great warriors. As\nthis Guido had not been able to make his last confession, he appeared\nfully armed, to a priest, some time after his death.\n\n\"Stephanus,\" said he (that was the name of the priest), \"I pray thee go\nto my brother Anselm; thou shalt tell him that I conjure him to restore\nan ox which I took from a peasant,\" naming him; \"and also to repair the\ndamage I did to a village which did not--belong to me, by wrongfully\nimposing taxes thereupon. I was unable to confess, or to expiate these\ntwo sins, for which I am grievously tormented. As an assurance of what\nI tell thee,\" continued the apparition, \"I warn thee that, when thou\nreturnest to thy dwelling, thou shalt find that the money thou hast\nsaved to make the pilgrimage of St. James has been stolen.\"\n\nThe priest, on his return, actually found that his strongbox had been\nbroken open and his money carried off; but he could not discharge his\ncommission, because Anselm was absent.\n\nA few days after, the same Guido appeared a second time, to reproach\nStephanus for his neglect. The good priest excused himself on the\nimpossibility of finding Anselm; but learning that he had returned to\nhis manor, he repaired thither, and faithfully fulfilled his\ncommission.\n\nHe was received very coolly. Anselm told him that he was not obliged to\ndo penance for the sins of his brother; and with these words he\ndismissed him.\n\nThe dead man, who experienced no relief, appeared a third time, and\nbemoaning his brother's harshness, he besought the worthy servant of\nGod to have compassion himself on his distress, and assist him in his\nextremity. Stephanus, much affected, promised that he would, He\nrestored the price of the stolen ox, gave alms to the wronged village,\nsaid prayers, recommended the deceased to all the good people he knew,\nand then Guido appeared no more.\n\n\nBERTHOLD IN PURGATORY.\n\nCOLLIN DE PLANCY.\n\nMiseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos, amici moi.--JOB xix.\n\nA short time after the death of Charles the Bald, there is found in\nHincmar a narrative which it may be well to introduce here; it is the\njourney of Berthold, or Bernold, to Purgatory in the spirit.\n\nBerthold was a citizen of Rheims, of good life, fulfilling his\nChristian duties and enjoying public esteem. He was subject to\necstasies, or syncope, which sometimes lasted a good while. Then,\nwhether he had visions, or that his soul transported itself or was\ntransported out of his body--an effect which, is evidently produced in\nour days by magnetism--he made, in his ecstasies, several journeys into\nPurgatory.\n\nHaving fallen seriously ill when already well advanced in age, he\nreceived all the sacraments which console the conscience; after which\nhe remained four entire days in a sort of ecstasy, during which he took\nno nourishment of any kind. At the end of the fourth day he had become\nso weak that there was hardly any breath in him. About midnight,\nhowever, he begged his wife to send quickly for his confessor. He\nafterwards remained motionless. But, at the end of a quarter of an\nhour, he said to his wife:\n\n\"Place a seat here, for the priest is coming.\"\n\nHe entered the moment after, and recited the beautiful prayers for the\ndeparting soul, to which Berthold responded clearly and exactly. After\nthis he had again a moment of ecstasy; and, coming out of it, he\nrelated his several visits to Purgatory, and the commissions wherewith\nhe had been charged by many suffering souls.\n\nHe was conducted by a spirit, an Angel doubtless. Amongst those who\nwere being purified, in ice or in fire, he found Ebbon, Archbishop of\nRheims; Pardule, Bishop of Laon; En\u00e9e, Bishop of Paris, and some other\nprelates, clothed in filthy garments, torn and rusty. Their faces were\nwrinkled, haggard, and sallow. Ebbon besought him to ask the clergy and\npeople of Rheims to pray for him and his companions, who made him the\nsame request. He charged himself with all these commissions.\n\nHe found, farther on, or in another visit, the soul of Charles the\nBald, extended in the mud and much exhausted. The ex-king asked\nBerthold to recommend him to Archbishop Hincmar and the princes of his\nfamily, acknowledging that he was principally punished for having given\necclesiastical benefices to courtiers and worldly laics, as had been\ndone by his ancestor, Charles Martel. Berthold promised to do what he\ncould.\n\nFarther on, and perhaps also on another occasion, he saw Jesse, Bishop\nof Orleans, in the hands of four dark spirits, who were plunging him\nalternately into a well of boiling pitch and one of ice-cold water. Not\nfar from him, Count Othaire was in other torments. The two sufferers\nrecommended themselves, like the others, to the pious offices of\nBerthold, who faithfully executed the commissions of the souls in pain.\nHe applied, on behalf of the bishops, to their clergy and people; for\nKing Charles the Bald, to Archbishop Hincmar. He wrote besides--for he\nwas a lettered man--to the relatives of the deceased monarch, making\nknown to them the state wherein he had seen him. He went to urge the\nwife of Othaire, his vassals and friends, to offer up prayers and give\nalms for him; and in a last visit which he was permitted to make, he\nlearned that Count Othaire and Bishop Jess\u00e9 were delivered; King\nCharles the Bald had reached the term of his punishment; and he saw the\nBishops Ebbon, En\u00e9e, and Pardule, who thanked him as they went forth\nfrom Purgatory, fresh and robed in white.\n\nAfter this account, whereto Berthold subjoined that his guide had\npromised him some more years of life, he asked for Holy Communion,\nreceived it, felt himself cured, left his bed on the following day, and\nhis life was prolonged for fourteen years.\n\n\nA LEGEND OF ST. NICHOLAS.\n\n\nLet us quote here, says Collin de Plancy, a good English religious\nwhose journey has been related by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny,\nand by Denis the Carthusian. This traveller speaks in the first person:\n\n\"I had St. Nicholas for a guide,\" he says; \"he led me by a level road\nto a vast horrible space, peopled with the dead, who were tormented in\na thousand frightful ways. I was told that these people were not\ndamned, that their torment would in time come to an end, and that it\nwas Purgatory I saw. I did not expect to find it so severe. All these\nunfortunates wept hot tears and groaned aloud. Since I have seen all\nthese things I know well that if I had any relative in Purgatory, I\nwould suffer a thousand deaths to take him out of it.\n\n\"A little farther on, I perceived a valley, through which flowed a\nfearful river of fire, which rose in waves to an enormous height. On\nthe banks of that river it was so icy cold that no one can have any\nidea of it. St. Nicholas conducted me thither, and made me observe the\nsufferers who were there, telling me that this again was Purgatory.\"\n\n\"DREAM OF GERONTIUS.\"\n\nCARDINAL NEWMAN.\n\nANGEL. Thy judgment now is near, for we are come Into the veiled\npresence of our God.\n\nSOUL. I hear the voices that I left on earth.\n\nANGEL. It is the voice of friends around thy bed,\n  Who say the \"Subvenite\" with the priest.\n  Hither the echoes come; before the\n  Throne Stands the great Angel of the Agony,\n  The same who strengthened Him, what time He knelt\n  Lone in that garden shade, bedewed with blood.\n  That Angel best can plead with Him for all\n  Tormented souls, the dying and the dead.\n\nANGEL OF THE AGONY. Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;\n  Jesu! by that cold dismay which sicken'd Thee;\n  Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrill'd in Thee;\n  Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;\n  Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee;\n  Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee;\n  Jesu! by that sanctity which reign'd in Thee;\n  Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;\n  Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee;\n  Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;\n  Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee,\n  To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.\n\nSOUL. I go before my Judge. Ah! ...\n\nANGEL. ... Praise to His Name! The eager spirit has darted from my\nhold,\n  And, with the intemperate energy of love,\n  Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel;\n  But, ere it reach them, the keen sanctity,\n  Which, with its effluence, like a glory, clothes\n  And circles round the Crucified, has seized,\n  And scorch'd, and shrivell'd it; and now it lies\n  Passive and still before the awful Throne.\n  O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe,\n  Consumed, yet quicken'd, by the glance of God.\n\nSOUL. Take me away, and in the lowest deep\n  There let me be, And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,\n  Told out for me.\n  There, motionless and happy in my pain,\n  Lone, not forlorn,--There will I sing my sad, perpetual strain,\n  Until the morn.\n  There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast,\n  Which ne'er can cease\n  To throb, and pine, and languish, till possess'd\n  Of its Sole Peace.\n  There will I sing my absent Lord and Love:--Take me away,\n  That sooner I may rise, and go above,\n  And see Him in the truth--of everlasting day.\n\nANGEL. Now let the golden prison ope its gates,\n  Making sweet music, as each fold revolves\n  Upon its ready hinge.\n  And ye, great powers,\n  Angels of Purgatory, receive from me\n  My charge, a precious soul, until the day,\n  When from all bond and forfeiture released,\n  I shall reclaim it for the courts of light.\n\n\nSOULS IN PURGATORY\n\n1. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge: in every generation;\n\n2. Before the hills were born, and the world was: from age to age, Thou\nart God.\n\n3. Bring us not, Lord, very low: for Thou hast said, Come back again,\nye sons of Adam!\n\n4. A thousand years before Thine eyes are but as yesterday: and as a\nwatch of the night which is come and gone.\n\n5. The grass springs up in the morning: at evening-tide it shrivels up\nand dies.\n\n6. So we fall in Thine anger: and in Thy wrath are we troubled.\n\n7. Thou hast set our sins in Thy sight: and our round of days in the\nlight of Thy countenance.\n\n8. Come back, O Lord! how long: and be entreated for Thy servants.\n\n9. In Thy morning we shall be filled with Thy mercy: we shall rejoice\nand be in pleasure all our days.\n\n10. We shall be glad according to the days of our humiliation: and the\nyears in which we have seen evil.\n\n11. Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and upon Thy work: and direct their\nchildren.\n\n12. And let the beauty of the 'Lord our God be upon us: and the work of\nour hands, establish Thou it.\n\nGlory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost.\n\nAs it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without\nend. Amen.\n\nANGEL. Softly and gently, dearly-ransom'd soul, In my most loving arms\nI now enfold thee, And, o'er the penal waters, as they roll, I poise\nthee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.\n\nAnd carefully I dip thee in the lake, And thou, without a sob, or a\nresistance, Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take, Sinking\ndeep, deeper, into the dim distance.\n\nAngels, to whom the willing task is given, Shall tend, and nurse, and\nlull thee, as thou liest; And Masses on the earth, and prayers in\nheaven, Shall aid thee at the throne of the Most High.\n\nFarewell, but not for ever! brother dear, Be brave and patient on thy\nbed of sorrow; Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here, And I will\ncome and wake thee on the morrow.\n\n\nST. GREGORY RELEASES THE SOUL OF THE EMPEROR TRAJAN\n\nMRS. JAMESON.\n\nIn a little picture in the Bologna Academy he is seen praying before a\ntomb, on which is inscribed \"TRAJANO IMPERADOR;\" beneath are two\nangels, raising the soul of Trafan out of flames. Such is the usual\ntreatment of this curious and poetical legend, which is thus related in\nthe \"Legenda Aurea\": \"It happened on a time, as Trajan was hastening to\nbattle at the head of his legions, that a poor widow flung herself in\nhis path, and cried aloud for justice, and the emperor stayed to listen\nto her; and she demanded vengeance for the innocent blood of her son,\nkilled by the son of the emperor. Trajan promised to do her justice\nwhen he returned from his expedition. 'But, sire', answered the widow,\n'should you be killed in battle, who will then do me justice?' 'My\nsuccessor,' replied Trajan. And she said, 'What will it signify to you,\ngreat emperor, that any other than yourself should do me justice? Is it\nnot better that you should do this good action yourself than leave\nanother to do it?' And Trajan alighted, and having examined into the\naffair, he gave up his own son to her in place of him she had lost, and\nbestowed on her likewise a rich dowry. Now, it came to pass that as\nGregory was one day meditating in his daily walk, this action of the\nEmperor Trajan came into his mind, and he wept bitterly to think that a\nman so just should be condemned to eternal punishment. And entering a\nchurch, he prayed most fervently that the soul of the good emperor\nmight be released from torment. And a voice said to him, 'I have\ngranted thy prayer, and I have spared the soul of Trajan for thy sake;\nbut because thou hast supplicated for one whom the justice of God had\nalready condemned, thou shalt choose one of two things: either thou\nshalt endure for two days the fires of Purgatory, or thou shalt be sick\nand infirm for the remainder of thy life.' Gregory chose the latter,\nwhich sufficiently accounts for the grievous pains and infirmities to\nwhich this great and good man was subjected, even to the day of his\ndeath.\"\n\nThis story of Trajan was extremely popular in the Middle Ages; it is\nillustrative of the character of Gregory.... Dante twice alludes to it.\nHe describes it as being one of the subjects sculptured on the walls of\nPurgatory, and takes occasion to relate the whole story.\n\n\"There was storied on the rock Th'exalted glory of the Roman Prince,\nWhose mighty worth moved Gregory to earn This mighty conquest--Trajan\nthe Emperor. A widow at his bridle stood attired In tears and mourning.\nRound about them troop'd Full throng of knights: and overhead in gold\nThe eagles floated, struggling with the wind The wretch appear'd amid\nall these to say: 'Grant vengeance, sire! for woe, beshrew this heart,\nMy son is murder'd!' He, replying, seem'd: 'Wait now till I return.'\nAnd she, as one Made hasty by her grief: 'O, sire, if thou Dost not\nreturn?'--'Where I am, who then is, May right thee.'--'What to thee is\nothers' good, If thou neglect thine own?'--'Now comfort thee,' At\nlength he answers: 'It beseemeth well My duty be perform'd, ere I move\nhence. So justice wills and pity bids me stay.'\"--_Purg. Canto X_.\n\nIt was through the efficacy of St. Gregory's intercession that Dante\nafterwards finds Trajan in Paradise, seated between King David and King\nHezekiah.--_Purg. Canto XX_.\n\n\nST. GREGORY AND THE MONK\n\nThere was a monk who, in defiance of his vow of poverty, secreted in\nhis cell three pieces of gold. Gregory, on learning this,\nexcommunicated him, and shortly afterwards the monk died. When Gregory\nheard that the monk had perished in his sin, without receiving\nabsolution, he was filled with grief and horror, and he wrote upon a\nparchment a prayer and a form of absolution, and gave it to one of his\ndeacons, desiring him to go to the grave of the deceased and read it\nthere: on the following night the monk appeared in a vision, and\nrevealed to him his release from torment.\n\nThis story is represented in the beautiful bas-relief in white marble\nin front of the altar of his chapel; it is the last compartment on the\nright.\n\n\nIn chapels dedicated to the Service of the Dead, St. Gregory is often\nrepresented in the attitude of supplication, while on one side, or in\nthe background, angels are raising the tormented souls out of the\nflames.--_Sacred and Legendary Art, Vol. I._\n\n\nTHE LEGEND OF GEOFFROID D'IDEN.\n\nIt is related by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, that, in the\nfirst half of the twelfth century, the Lord Humbert, son of Guichard,\nCount de Beaujeu, in the Ma\u00e7onnais, having made war on some other\nneighboring lords, Geoffroid d'Iden, one of his vassals, received in\nthe fight a wound which instantly killed him. Two months after his\ndeath, Geoffroid appeared to Milon d'Ansa, who knew him well; he begged\nhim to tell Humbert de Beaujeu, in whose service he had lost his life,\nthat he was in Purgatory, for having aided him in an unjust war and not\nhaving expiated his sins by penance, before his unlooked-for death;\nthat he besought him, therefore, most urgently, to have compassion on\nhim, and also on his own father, Guichard, who, although he had led a\nreligious life at Cluny in his latter days, had not entirely satisfied\nthe justice of God for his past sins, and especially for a portion of\nhis wealth, which, as his children knew, was ill gained; that, in\nconsequence thereof, he prayed him to have the Holy Sacrifice of the\nMass offered for him and for his father, to distribute alms to the\npoor, and to recommend both sufferers to the prayers of good people, in\norder to shorten their time of penance. \"Tell him,\" added the\napparition, \"that if he hear thee not, I must go myself to announce to\nhim that which I have now told to thee.\"\n\nThe lof Ansa (now Anse) faithfully discharged the task imposed upon\nhim. Humbert was frightened; but he neither had prayers nor Masses\noffered up, made no reparation, and distributed no alms.\n\nNevertheless, fearing lest Guichard his father or Geoffroid d'Iden\nmight come to disturb him, he no longer dared to remain alone,\nespecially by night; and he always had some of his people around him,\nmaking them sleep in his chamber.\n\nOne morning, as he was still in bed, but awake, he saw appear before\nhim Geoffroid d'Iden, armed as on the day of the battle. Showing him\nthe mortal wound which he had received, and which appeared still fresh,\nhe warmly reproached him for the little pity he had for himself and for\nhis father, who was groaning in torment; and he added: \"Take care lest\nGod may treat thee in His rigor, and refuse thee the mercy thou dost\nnot grant to us; and for thee, give up thy purpose of going to the war\nwith Amadeus. If thou goest thither, thou shalt lose thy life and thy\npossessions.\"\n\nAt that moment, Richard de Marsay, the Count's squire, entered, coming\nfrom Mass; the, spirit disappeared, and thenceforward Humbert de\nBeaujeu went seriously to work to relieve his father and his vassal,\nafter which he made the journey to Jerusalem to expiate his own sins.\n\n\nTHE QUEEN OF PURGATORY.\n\nBY FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, D. D.\n\n  Oh! turn to Jesus, Mother! turn,\n  And call Him by His tenderest names;\n  Pray for the Holy Souls that burn\n  This hour amid the cleansing flames.\n\n  Ah! they have fought a gallant fight;\n  In death's cold arms they persevered;\n  And, after life's uncheery night,\n  The harbor of their rest is neared.\n\n  In pains beyond all earthly pains\n  Fav'rites of Jesus, there they lie,\n  Letting the fire wear out their stains,\n  And worshipping God's purity.\n\n  Spouses of Christ they are, for He\n  Was wedded to them by His blood;\n  And angels o'er their destiny\n  In wondering adoration brood.\n\n  They are the children of thy tears;\n  Then hasten, Mother! to their aid;\n  In pity think each hour appears\n  An age while glory is delayed!\n\n  See, how they bound amid their fires,\n  While pain and love their spirits fill;\n  Then, with self-crucified desires,\n  Utter sweet murmurs, and lie still.\n\n  Ah me! the love of Jesus yearns\n  O'er that abyss of sacred pain;\n  And, as He looks, His bosom burns\n  With Calvary's dear thirst again.\n\n  O Mary! let thy Son no more\n  His lingering spouses thus expect;\n  God's children to their God restore,\n  And to the Spirit His elect.\n\n  Pray then, as thou hast ever prayed;\n  Angels and Souls all look to thee;\n  God waits thy prayers, for He hath made\n  Those prayers His law of charity.\n\n\nTHE DEAD PRIEST BEFORE THE ALTAR.\n\nREV. A. J. RYAN.\n\n  Who will watch o'er the dead young priest,\n  People and priests and all?\n  No, no, no, 'tis his spirit's feast,\n  When the evening shadows fall.\n  Let him rest alone--unwatched, alone,\n  Just beneath the altar's light,\n  The holy Hosts on their humble throne\n  Will watch him through the night.\n\n  The doors were closed--he was still and fair,\n  What sound moved up the aisles?\n  The dead priests come with soundless prayer,\n  Their faces wearing smiles.\n  And this was the soundless hymn they sung:\n  \"We watch o'er you to-night;\n  Your life was beautiful, fair and young,\n  Not a cloud upon its light.\n  To-morrow--to-morrow you will rest\n  With the virgin priests whom Christ has blest.\"\n\n  Kyrie Eleison! the stricken crowd\n  Bowed down their heads in tears\n  O'er the sweet young priest in his vestment shroud.\n  Ah! the happy, happy years!\n  They are dead and gone, and the Requiem Mass\n  Went slowly, mournfully on,\n  The Pontiff's singing was all a wail,\n  The altars cried and the people wept,\n  The fairest flower in the Church's vale\n  Ah me! how soon we pass!\n  In the vase of his coffin slept. _--From In Memoriam._\n\n\nMEMORIALS OF THE BEAD.\n\nR. R. MADDEN. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Author of \"Lives and Times of United Irishmen.\"]\n\n  'Tis not alone in \"hallowed ground,\"\n  At every step we tread\n  Midst tombs and sepulchres, are found\n  Memorials of the dead.\n\n  'Tis not in sacred shrines alone,\n  Or trophies proudly spread\n  On old cathedral walls are shown\n  Memorials of the dead.\n\n  Emblems of Fame surmounting death,\n  Of war and carnage dread,\n  They were not, in the \"Times of Faith,\"\n  Memorials of the dead.\n\n  From marble bust and pictured traits\n  The living looks recede,\n  They fade away: so frail are these\n  Memorials of the dead.\n\n  On mural slabs, names loved of yore\n  Can now be scarcely read;\n  A few brief years have left no more\n  Memorials of the dead.\n\n  Save those which pass from sire to son,\n  Traditions that are bred\n  In the heart's core, and make their own\n  Memorials of the dead.\n\n\nA CHILD'S REQUIESCAT IN PACE.\n\n_ELIZA ALLEN STARR_.\n\n  With the gray dawn's faintest break,\n  Mother, faithfully I wake,\n  Whispering softly for thy sake\n  _Requiescat in pace_!\n\n  When the sun's broad disk at height\n  Floods the busy world with light,\n  Breathes my soul with sighs contrite,\n  _Requiescat in pace_!\n\n  When the twilight shadows lone\n  Wrap the home once, once thine own,\n  Sobs my heart with broken moan,\n  _Requiescat in pace_!\n\n  Night, so solemn, grand, and still,\n  Trances forest, meadow, rill;\n  Hush, fond heart, adore His will,\n  _Requiescat in pace_!\n\n\nTHE SOLITARY SOUL.\n\nI died; but my soul did not wing its flight straight to the heaven-\nnest, and there repose in the bosom of Him who made it, as the minister\nwho was with me said it would. Good old man! He had toiled among us,\npreaching baptizing, marrying, and burrying, until his hair had turned\nfrom nut-brown to frost-white; and he told me, as I lay dying, that the\nvictory of the Cross was the only passport I needed to the joys of\neternity; that a life like mine would meet its immediate reward. And it\ndid; but, O my God! not as he had thought, and I had believed.\n\nAs he prayed, earth's sights and sounds faded from me, and the strange,\nnew life began. The wrench of agony with which soul and body parted\nleft me breathless; and my spirit, like a lost child, turned frightened\neyes towards home.\n\nI stood in a dim, wind-swept space. No gates of pearl or walls of\njacinth met my gaze; no streaming glory smote my eyes; no voice bade me\nenter and put on the wedding garment. Hosts of pale shapes circled by,\nbut no one saw me. All had their faces uplifted, and their hands--such\npatient, pathetic hands--were clasped on their hearts; and the air was\nheavy with the whisper, \"Christ! Christ!\" that came unceasingly from\ntheir lips.\n\nAbove us, the clouds drifted and turned; about us, the horizon was\nblotted out; mist and grayness were everywhere. A voiceless wind swept\nby; and as I gazed, sore dismayed and saddened, a rent opened in the\ndriving mass, and I saw a man standing with arms upraised. He was\nstrangely vestured; silver and gold gleamed in his raiment, and a large\ncross was outlined upon his back. He held in his hands a chalice of\ngold, in which sparkled something too liquid for fire, too softly\nbrilliant for water or wine.\n\nAs this sight broke on our vision, two figures near me uttered a cry,\nwhose rapturous sweetness filled space with melody; and, like the up-\nspringing lark, borne aloft by the beauty of their song, they vanished;\nand those about me bowed their heads, and ceased their moan for a\nmoment.\n\n\"What is it?\" I cried. \"Who is the man? What was it he held in his\nhand?\"\n\nBut there was none to answer me, and I drove along before the wind with\nthe rest, helpless, bewildered.\n\nHow long this lasted I do not know; for there was neither night nor day\nin the sad place; and a fire of longing burnt in my breast, so keen, so\nstrong, that all other sensation was swallowed up.\n\nAnd then, too, my grief! There were many deeds of my life to which I\nhad given but casual regret. When the minister would counsel us to\nconfess our sins to God, I had knelt in the church and gone through the\nform; but here, where the height and depth and breadth of God's\nperfection dawned upon me, and grew hourly clearer, they seemed to rend\nmy heart, and to far outweigh any little good I might have done. Oh!\nwhy did no one ever preach the justice of God to me, and the necessity\nof personal atonement! Why had they only taught me, \"Believe, and you\nshall be saved?\"\n\nTime by time, the shapes about me rose and vanished with the same cry\nas the two I saw liberated in my first hour; and sometimes--like an\necho--the sound of human voices would go through space--some choked\nwith tears, some low with sadness, some glad with hope.\n\n\"Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord!\"\n\n\"And let perpetual light shine upon them!\"\n\n\"May they rest in peace!\"\n\nAnd the \"Amen\" tolled like a silver bell, and I would feel a respite.\n\nBut no one called me by name, no one prayed for my freedom. My mother's\nvoice, my sister's dream, my father's belief--all were that I was happy\nbefore the face of God. And friends forgot me, except in their\npleasures.\n\nAt seasons, through the mist would loom an altar, at which a man, in\nblack robes embroidered with silver, bowed and bent. The chalice, with\nits always wonderful contents, would be raised, and a disc, in whose\ncircle of whiteness I saw Christ crucified. From the thorn-wounds, the\nHands, the Feet, the Side, shot rays of dazzling brightness; and my\nfrozen soul, my tear-chilled eyes, were warmed and gladdened; for the\nman who held this wondrous image would himself sigh: \"For _all_\nthe dead, sweet Lord!\" And to me, even me, would come hope and peace.\n\nBut, oh! the agony, oh! the desolateness, to be cut off from the sweet\nguerdon of immediate release! Oh! the pain of expiating every fault,\nmeasure for measure! Oh, the grief of knowing that my own deeds were\nthe chains of my captivity, and my unfulfilled duties the barriers that\nwithheld me from beholding the Beatific Vision!\n\nSometimes a gracious face would gleam through the mist--a face so\ntender, so human, so full of love, that I yearned to hear it speak to\n_me_, to have those radiant eyes turned on _me_. My companions called\nher \"Mary!\" and I knew it was the Virgin of Nazareth. Often she would\ncall them by name, and say: \"My child, my Son bids thee come home.\"\n\nWhy had I never known this gentle Mother! Why could I not catch her\nmantle, and clinging to it, pass from waiting to fulfilment!\n\nOnce when I had grown grief-bowed with waiting, worn with longing, I\nsaw again the vision of the Church. At a long railing knelt many young\ngirls, and they received at the hands of the priest what I had learned\nto discern as the Body of the Lord. One--God bless her tender heart!--\nwhispered as she knelt: \"O dearest Lord, I offer to Thee this Holy\nCommunion for the soul _that has no one to pray for her_.\"\n\nAnd through the grayness rang at last _my_ name, and straight to\nheaven I went, ransomed by that mighty price, freed by prayer from\nprison.\n\n\nO you who live, who have voices and hearts, for the sake of Christ and\nHis Holy Mother; by the love you bear your living, and the grief you\ngive your dead, pray for those whose friends do not know how to help\nthem; for the suddenly killed; for the executed criminal; and for those\nwho, having suffered long in Purgatory, need one more prayer to set\nthem free.--_Ave Maria_, November 10, 1883.\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FAITHFUL SOUL.\n\n_Founded on an old French Legend_.\n\nADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER.\n\n  The fettered spirits linger In purgatorial pain,\n  With penal fires effacing\n  Their last faint earthly stain,\n  Which Life's imperfect sorrow\n  Had tried to cleanse in vain.\n\n  Yet, on each feast of Mary\n  Their sorrow finds release,\n  For the great Archangel Michael\n  Comes down and bids it cease;\n  And the name of these brief respites\n  Is called \"Our Lady's Peace.\"\n\n  Yet once--so runs the legend--\n  When the Archangel came,\n  And all these holy spirits\n  Rejoiced at Mary's name,\n  One voice alone was wailing,\n  Still wailing on the same.\n\n  And though a great Te Deum\n  The happy echoes woke, I\n  This one discordant wailing\n  Through the sweet voices broke:\n  So when St. Michael questioned,\n  Thus the poor spirit spoke:--\n\n  I am not cold or thankless,\n  Although I still complain;\n  I prize Our Lady's blessing,\n  Although it comes in vain\n  To still my bitter anguish,\n  Or quench my ceaseless pain.\n\n  \"On earth a heart that loved me\n  Still lives and mourns me there,\n  And the shadow of his anguish\n  Is more than I can bear;\n  All the torment that I suffer\n  Is the thought of his despair.\n\n  \"The evening of my bridal\n  Death took my Life away;\n  Not all Love's passionate pleading\n  Could gain an hour's delay.\n  And he I left has suffered\n  A whole year since that day.\n\n  \"If I could only see him--\n  If I could only go\n  And speak one word of comfort\n  And solace--then, I know\n  He would endure with patience,\n  And strive against his woe.\"\n\n  Thus the Archangel answered:\n  \"Your time of pain is brief,\n  And soon the peace of Heaven\n  Will give you full relief;\n  Yet if his earthly comfort\n  So much outweighs your grief,\n\n  \"Then, through a special mercy,\n  I offer you this grace--\n  You may seek him who mourns you\n  And look upon his face,\n  And speak to him of Comfort,\n  For one short minute's space.\n\n  \"But when that time is ended,\n  Return here and remain\n  A thousand years in torment,\n  A thousand years in pain;\n  Thus dearly must you purchase\n  The comfort he will gain.\"\n\n  The lime-trees shade at evening\n  Is spreading broad and wide;\n  Beneath their fragrant arches\n  Pace slowly, side by side,\n  In low and tender converse,\n  A Bridegroom and his Bride.\n\n  The night is calm and stilly,\n  No other sound is there\n  Except their happy voices:--\n  What is that cold bleak air\n  That passes through the lime-trees,\n  And stirs the Bridegroom's hair?\n\n  While one low cry of anguish,\n  Like the last dying wail\n  Of some dumb, hunted creature,\n  Is borne upon the gale--\n  Why dogs the Bridegroom shudder\n\n  And turn so deathly pale?\n\n  Near Purgatory's entrance\n  The radiant Angels wait;\n  It was the great St. Michael\n  Who closed that gloomy gate,\n  When the poor wandering spirit\n  Came back to meet her fate.\n\n  \"Pass on,\" thus spoke the Angel:\n  \"Heaven's joy is deep and vast;\n  Pass on, pass on, poor spirit,\n  For Heaven is yours at last;\n  In that one minute's anguish,\n  Your thousand years have passed.\"\n\n\nGEN\u00c9RADE, THE FRIEND OF ST. AUGUSTINE.\n\nJ. COLLIN DE PLANCY.\n\nST. AUGUSTINE reckoned among his friends the physician Gen\u00e9rade, highly\nhonored in Carthage, where his learning and skill were much esteemed.\nBut by one of those misfortunes of which there are, unhappily, but too\nmany examples, while studying the admirable mechanism of the human\nbody, he had come to believe matter capable of the works of\nintelligence which raise man so far above other created beings. He was,\ntherefore, a materialist; and St. Augustine praying for him, earnestly\nbesought God to enlighten that deluded mind.\n\nOne night while he slept, this doctor, who believed, as some do still,\nthat \"when one is dead, all is dead\"--we quote their own language--saw\nin his dreams a young man, who said to him: \"Follow me.\" He did so, and\nwas conducted to a city, wherein he heard, on the right, unknown\nmelodies, which filled him with admiration. What he heard on the left\nhe never remembered. But on awaking he concluded, from this vision,\nthat there was, somewhere, something else besides this world.\n\nAnother night he likewise beheld in sleep the same young man, who said\nto him:\n\n\"Knowest thou me?\"\n\n\"Very well,\" answered Gen\u00e9rade.\n\n\"And wherefore knowest thou me?\"\n\n\"Because of the journey we made together when you showed me the city of\nharmony.\"\n\n\"Was it in a dream, or awake, that you saw and heard what struck you\nthen?\"\n\n\"It was in a dream.\"\n\n\"Where is your body now?\"\n\n\"In my bed.\"\n\n\"Knowest thou well that thou now seest nothing with the eyes of the\nbody?\"\n\n\"I know it.\"\n\n\"With what eyes, then, dost thou see me?\"\n\nAs the physician hesitated, and could not answer, the young man said to\nhim:\n\n\"Even as thou seest and hearest me, now that thine eyes are closed and\nthy senses benumbed, so, after thy death, thou shalt live, thou shalt\nsee, thou shalt hear--but with the organs of the soul. Doubt, then, no\nmore!\"\n\n\nST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND FRIAR ROMANUS.\n\nWE are about to treat of facts concerning which our fathers never had\nany hesitation, because they had faith. Nowadays, the truths which are\nabove the material sight have been so roughly handled that they are\nmuch diminished for us. And if the goodness of God had not allowed some\nrays of the mysteries which He reserves for Himself to escape, if some\ngleams of magnetism and the world of spirits occupying the air around\nus had not a little embarrassed those of our literati who make a merit\nof not believing, we would hardly dare, in spite of the grave\nauthorities on which they rest, to represent here some apparitions of\nsouls departed from this world. We shall venture to do so,\nnevertheless.\n\nOne day, when St. Thomas Aquinas was praying in the Church of the\nFriars, Preachers, at Naples, the pious friar Romanus, whom he had left\nin Paris, where he replaced him in the chair of Theology, suddenly\nappeared beside him. Thomas, seeing him, said:\n\n\"I am glad of thine arrival. But how long hast thou been here?\"\n\nRomanus answered: \"I am now out of this world. Nevertheless, I am\npermitted to come to thee, because of thy merit.\"\n\nThe Saint, alarmed at this reply, after a moment's recollection, said\nto the apparition: \"I adjure thee, by Our Lord Jesus Christ, tell me\nsimply if my works are pleasing to God!\"\n\nRomanus replied: \"Persevere in the way in which thou art, and believe\nthat what thou doest is agreeable unto God.\"\n\nThomas then asked him in what state he found himself.\n\n\"I enjoy eternal life,\" answered Romanus. \"Nevertheless, for having\ncarelessly executed one clause of a will which the Bishop of Paris gave\nme in charge, I underwent for fifteen days the pains of Purgatory.\"\n\nSt. Thomas again said: \"You remind me that we often discussed the\nquestion whether the knowledge acquired in this life remain in the soul\nafter death. I pray you give me the solution thereof.\"\n\nRomanus made answer: \"Ask me not that. As for me, I am content with\nseeing my God.\"\n\n\"Seest thou him face to face?\" went on Thomas.\n\n\"Just as we have been taught,\" replied Romanus, \"and as I see thee.\"\n\nWith these words he left St. Thomas greatly consoled.\n\n\nTHE KEY THAT NEVER TURNS.\n\nELEANOR C. DONNELLY.\n\n\"In Purgatory, dear,\" I said to-day, Unto my pet, \"the fire burns and\nburns, Until each ugly stain is burned away--And then an Angel turns A\ngreat, bright key, and forth the glad soul springs Into the presence of\nthe King of kings.\"\n\n\"But in that other prison?\" \"Sweetest love! The same fierce fire burns\nand burns, but thence None e'er escapes.\" The blue eyes, raised above,\nWere fair with innocence. \"Poor burning souls!\" she whispered low, \"ah\nme! No Angel ever comes to turn _their_ key!\"\n\n\nTHE BURIAL.\n\nTHOMAS DAVIS.\n\n  \"ULULU! ululu! wail for the dead,\n  Green grow the grass of\n  Fingal on his head;\n  And spring-flowers blossom, ere elsewhere appearing,\n  And shamrocks grow thick on the martyr for Erin.\n  Ululu! ululu! soft fall the dew\n  On the feet and the head of the martyred and true.\"\n\n  For a while they tread\n  In silence dread--\n  Then muttering and moaning go the crowd,\n  Surging and swaying like mountain cloud,\n  And again the wail comes wild and loud.\n\n  \"Ululu! ululu! kind was his heart!\n  Walk slower, walk slower, too soon we shall part.\n  The faithful and pious, the\n  Priest of the Lord,\n  His pilgrimage over, he has his reward.\n\n  \"By the bed of the sick, lowly kneeling,\n  To God with the raised cross appealing--\n  He seems still to kneel, and he seems still to pray,\n  And the sins of the dying seem passing away.\n\n  \"In the prisoner's cell, and the cabin so dreary,\n  Our constant consoler, he never grew weary;\n  But he's gone to his rest,\n  And he's now with the blest,\n  Where tyrant and traitor no longer molest--\n  Ululu! ululu! wail for the dead!\n  Ululu! ululu! here is his bed.\"\n\n  Short was the ritual, simple the prayer,\n  Deep was the silence, and every head bare;\n  The Priest alone standing, they knelt all around,\n  Myriads on myriads, like rocks on the ground.\n  Kneeling and motionless.--\n  \"Dust unto dust.\"\n\n  \"He died as becometh the faithful and just--\n  Placing in God his reliance and trust;\"\n\n  Kneeling and motionless--\n  \"Ashes to ashes\"--\n  Hollow the clay on the coffin-lid dashes;\n  Kneeling and motionless, wildly they pray,\n  But they pray in their souls, for no gesture have they--\n  Stern and standing--oh! look on them now!\n  Like trees to one tempest the multitude bow.\n\n\nHYMN FOR THE DEAD.\n\nNEWMAN.\n\n  Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,\n  The souls to Thee so dear,\n  In prison, for the debt unpaid\n  Of sins committed here.\n\n  Those holy souls, they suffer on,\n\n  Resign'd in heart and will,\n  Until Thy high behest is done,\n  And justice has its fill.\n  For daily falls, for pardon'd crime,\n  They joy to undergo\n  The shadow of Thy cross sublime,\n  The remnant of Thy woe.\n\n  Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,\n  The souls to Thee so dear,\n  In prison, for the debt unpaid Of sins committed here.\n\n  Oh! by their patience of delay,\n  Their hope amid their pain,\n  Their sacred zeal to burn away\n  Disfigurement and stain;\n  Oh! by their fire of love, not less\n  In keenness than the flame,\n  Oh! by their very helplessness,\n  Oh! by Thy own great Name,\n\n  Good Jesu, help! sweet Jesu, aid\n  The souls to Thee most dear,\n  In prison, for the debt unpaid\n  Of sins committed here.\n\n\nTHE TWO STUDENTS.\n\nThe Abb\u00e9 de Saint Pierre, says Collin de Plancy, has given a long\naccount, in his works, of a singular occurrence which took place in\n1697, and which we are inclined to relate here:\n\nIn 1695, a student named Bezuel, then about fifteen years old,\ncontracted a friendship with two other youths, students like himself,\nand sons of an attorney of Caen, named D'Abaqu\u00e8ne. The elder was, like\nBezuel, fifteen; his brother, eighteen months younger. The latter was\nnamed Desfontaines. The paternal name was then given only to the\neldest; the names of those who came after were formed by means of some\nvague properties....\n\nAs the young Desfontaines' character was more in unison with Bezuel's\nthan that of his elder brother, these two students became strongly\nattached to each other.\n\nOne day during the following year, 1696, they were reading together a\ncertain history of two friends like themselves, who had promised each\nother, with some solemnity, that he of the two who died first would\ncome back to give the survivor some account of his state. The historian\nadded that the dead one really did come back, and that he told his\nfriend many wonderful things. Young Desfontaines, struck by this\nnarrative, which he did not doubt, proposed to Bezuel that they should\nmake such a promise one to the other. Bezuel was at first afraid of\nsuch an engagement. But several months after, in the first days of\nJune, 1697, as his friend was going to set out for Caen, he agreed to\nhis proposal.\n\nDesfontaines then drew from his pocket two papers in which he had\nwritten the double agreement. Each of these papers expressed the formal\npromise on the part of him who should die first to come and make his\nfate known to the surviving friend. He had signed with his blood the\none that Bezuel was to keep. Bezuel, hesitating no longer, pricked his\nhand, and likewise signed with his blood the other document, which he\ngave to Desfontaines.\n\nThe latter, delighted to have the promise, set out with his brother.\nBezuel received some days after a letter, in which his friend informed\nhim that he had reached his home in safety, and was very well. The\ncorrespondence between them was to continue. But it stopped very soon,\nand Bezuel was uneasy.\n\nIt happened that on the 31st of July, 1697, being about 2 o'clock in\nthe afternoon, in a meadow where his companions were amusing themselves\nwith various games, he felt himself suddenly stunned and taken with a\nsort of faintness, which lasted for some minutes. Next day, at the same\nhour, he felt the same symptoms, and again on the day after. But then--\nit was Friday, the 2d of August--he saw advancing towards him his\nfriend Desfontaines, who made a sign for him to come to him. Being in a\nsitting posture and under the influence of his swoon, he made another\nsign to the apparition, moving on his seat to make place for him.\n\nThe comrades of Bezuel moving around saw this motion, and were\nsurprised.\n\nAs Desfontaines did not advance, Bezuel arose to go to him. The\napparition then took him by the left arm, drew him aside some thirty\npaces, and said:\n\n\"I promised you that, if I died before you, I would come to tell you. I\nwas drowned yesterday in the river at Caen, about this hour. I was out\nwalking; it was so warm that we took a notion to bathe. A weakness came\nover me in the river, and I sank to the bottom. The Abb\u00e9 de Menil-Jean,\nmy companion, plunged in to draw me out; I seized his foot; but whether\nhe thought it was a salmon that had caught hold of him, or that he felt\nit actually necessary to go up to the surface of the water to breathe,\nhe shook me off so roughly that his foot gave me a great blow in the\nchest, and threw me to the bottom of the river, which is there very\ndeep.\"\n\nDesfontaines then told his friend many other things, which he would not\ndivulge, whether the dead boy had prayed him not to do so, or for other\nreasons.\n\nBezuel wanted to embrace the apparition, but he found only a shadow.\nNevertheless, the shadow had squeezed his arm so tightly, that it\npained him after.\n\nHe saw the spirit several times, yet always a little taller than when\nthey parted, and always in the half-clothing of a bather. He wore in\nhis fair hair a scroll on which Bezuel could only read the word\n_In_. His voice had the same sound as when he was living, he\nappeared neither gay nor sad, but perfectly tranquil. He charged his\nfriend with several commissions for his parents, and begged him to say\nfor him the Seven Penitential Psalms, which had been given him as a\npenance by his confessor, three days before his death, and which he had\nnot yet recited.\n\nThe apparition always ended by a farewell expressed in words which\nsignified: \"Till we meet again! (_Au revoir!_)\" At last, it ceased\nat the end of some weeks; and the surviving friend, who had constantly\nprayed for the dead, concluded from this that his Purgatory was over.\n\nThis Monsieur Bezuel finished his studies, embraced the ecclesiastical\nstate, became _cur\u00e9_ of Valogne, and lived long, esteemed by his\nparishioners and the whole city, for his good sense, his virtuous life,\nand his love of truth.\n\n\nTHE PENANCE OF DON DIEGO RIEZ.\n\n_A Legend of Lough Derg._ [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Lough Derg, in Donegal, was a place famous for pilgrimage\nfrom a very early period, and was much resorted to out of France,\nItaly, and the Peninsula, during the Middle Ages, and even in the\nsixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Mathew Paris, and Froissart, as\nwell as in our native annals, and in O'Sullivan Beare, there are many\nfacts of its extraordinary history.]\n\nT. D. MCGEE.\n\n  There was a knight of Spain--Diego Riaz,\n  Noble by four descents, vain, rich and young,\n  Much woe he wrought, or the tradition lie is,\n  Which lived of old the Castilians among;\n  His horses bore the palm the kingdom over,\n  His plume was tall, costliest his sword,\n  The proudest maidens wished him as a lover,\n  The _caballeros_ all revered his word\n\n  But ere his day's meridian came, his spirit\n  Fell sick, grew palsied in his breast, and pined--\n  He fear'd Christ's kingdom he could ne'er inherit,\n  The causes wherefore too well he divined.\n  Where'er he turns, his sins are always near him,\n  Conscience still holds her mirror to his eyes,\n  Till those who long had envied came to fear him,\n  To mock his clouded brow and wintry sighs.\n\n  Alas! the sins of youth are as a chain\n  Of iron, swiftly let down to the deep,\n  How far we feel not--till when, we'd raise't again\n  We pause amid the weary work and weep.\n  Ah, it is sad a-down Life's stream to see.\n  So many ag\u00e8d toilers so distress'd,\n  And near the source--a thousand forms of glee\n  Fitting the shackle to Youth's glowing breast.\n\n  He sought peace in the city where she dwells not,\n  He wooed her amid woodlands all in vain,\n  He searches through the valleys, but he tells not\n  The secret of his quest to priest or swain,\n  Until, despairing evermore of pleasure,\n  He leaves his land, and sails to far Peru;\n  There, stands uncharm'd in caverns of treasure,\n  And weeps on mountains heavenly high and blue.\n\n  Incessant in his ears rang this plain warning--\n  \"Diego, as thy soul, thy sorrow lives\";\n  He hears the untired voice, night, noon, and morning,\n  Yet understanding not, unresting grieves.\n  One eve, a purer vision seized him, then he\n  Vow'd to Lough Derg, an humble pilgrimage--\n  The virtues of that shrine were known to many,\n  And saving held even in that skeptic age.\n\n  With one sole follower, an Esquire trustful,\n  He pass'd the southern cape which sailors fear,\n  And eastward held: meanwhile his vain and lustful\n  Past works more loathsome to his soul appear.\n  Through the night-watches, at all hours o' day,\n  He still was wakeful as the pilot, and\n  For grace, his vow to keep, doth always pray,\n  And for his death to lie in the saints' land.\n\n  But ere his eyes beheld the Irish shore, Diego died.\n  Much gold he did ordain\n  To God and Santiago--furthermore,\n  His Esquire plighted, ere he went to Spain,\n  To journey to the Refuge of the Lake;\n  Before St. Patrick's solitary shrine,\n  A nine days' vigil for his rest to make,\n  Living on bitter bread and penitential wine. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: The brackish water of the lake, boiled, is called wine by\nthe pilgrims.]\n\n  The vassal vow'd; but, ah! how seldom pledges\n  Given to the dying, to the dead, are held!\n  The Esquire reach'd the shore, where sand and sedge is\n  O'er melancholy hills, by paths of eld;\n  Treeless and houseless was the prospect round,\n  Rock-strewn and boisterous the lake before;\n  A Charon-shape in a skiff a-ground--\n  The pilgrim turned, and left the sacred shore.\n\n  That night he lay a-bed hard by the Erne--\n  The island-spangled lake--but could not sleep--\n  When lo! beside him, pale, and sad, and stern,\n  Stood his dead master, risen from the deep.\n  \"Arise,\" he said, \"and come.\" From the hostelrie\n  And over the bleak hills he led the sleeper,\n  And when they reach'd Derg's shore, \"Get in with me,\"\n  He cried; \"nor sink my soul in torments deeper.\"\n\n  The dead man row'd the boat, the living steer'd,\n  Each in his pallor sinister, until\n  The Isle of Pilgrimage they duly near'd--\n  \"Now hie thee forth, and work thy master's will!\"\n  So spoke the dead, and vanish'd o'er the lake,\n  The Squire pursued his course, and gain'd the shrine,\n  There, nine days' vigil duly he did make,\n  Living on bitter bread and penitential wine.\n\n  The tenth eve shone in solemn, starry beauty,\n  As he, rejoicing, o'er the old paths came,\n  Light was his heart from its accomplished duty,\n  All was forgotten, even the latest shame--\n  When these brief words some disembodied voice\n  Spoke near him: \"Oh, keep sacred, evermore,\n  Word, pledge, and vow, so may you still rejoice,\n  And live among the Just when Time is o'er!\"\n\n\nTHE DAY OF ALL SOULS.\n\nELIZA ALLEN STARR.\n\n  FROM the far past there comes a thought of sweetness,\n  From the far past a thought of love and pain;\n  A voice, how dear! a look of melting kindness,\n  A voice, a look, we ne'er shall know again.\n\n  A fresh, young face, perchance of boyish gladness,\n  An aged face, perchance of patient love;\n  My heart-strings fail, I sob in utter anguish,\n  As past my eyes these lovely spectres move.\n\n  The chill morn breaks, the matin star still flaming;\n  The hushed cathedral's massive door stands wide;\n  Through the dim aisles I pass, in silent weeping,\n  From mortal eyes my sorrowing tears to hide.\n\n  Already morn has touched the painted windows;\n  The yellow dawn creeps down the storied panes;\n  Already, in the early solemn twilight,\n  The sanctuary's taper softly wanes.\n\n  My faltering step before the altar pauses;\n  My treasur'd dead I see remembered here;\n  All climes, all nations, lost on land or ocean,\n  They on whose grave none ever drop a tear.\n\n  The Church, their single mourner, drapes in sorrow\n  The festal shrines she loves with flowers to dress;\n  And \"Kyrie! Kyrie!\" sighs, while lowly bending\n  To Thee, O God! to shorten their distress.\n\n  \"_Dies ir\u00e6, dies illa,_\" sobs the choir;\n  \"_In pace, pace,_\" from the altar rises higher;\n  \"_Lux \u00e6terna;_\" daylight floods the altar,\n  Priest and choir take up the holy psalter.\n  \"_Requiescant in pace!\"\n  Amen, amen, in pace!_\n\n\nTHE MESSAGE OF THE NOVEMBER WIND.\n\nBY ELEANOR C. DONNELLY.\n\nI.\n\n  Wrapped in lonely shadows late,\n  (Bleak November's midnight gloom),\n  As I kneel beside the grate\n  In the silent sitting-room:\n  Down the chimney moans the wind,\n  Like the voice of souls resigned,\n  Pleading from their prison thus,\n  \"Pray for us! pray for us!\n  Gentle Christian, watcher kind,\n  Pray for us, oh! pray for us!\"\n\nII.\n\n  Melt mine eyes with sudden tears--\n  Old familiar tones are there;\n  Dear ones lost in other years,\n  Breathing Purgatory's prayer.\n  Through my fingers pass the beads,\n  Tender heart, responsive bleeds,\n  As the wind, all tremulous,\n  \"Pray for us! pray for us!\"\n  Seems to murmur \"Love our needs--\n  Pray for us! oh, pray for us!\"\n\n\nA LEGEND OF THE TIME OF CHARLEMAGNE.\n\nWe read in the _Gesta Caroli Magni_ that Charlemagne had a man-at-\narms who served him faithfully till his death. Before breathing his\nlast he called a nephew of his, to make known to him his last will:\n\n\"Sixty years,\" said he, \"have I been in the service of my prince; I\nhave never amassed the goods of this world, and my arms and my horse\nare all I have. My arms I leave to thee, and I will that my horse be\nsold immediately after my death; I charge thee with the care of this\nmatter, if thou wilt promise me to distribute the full price amongst\nthe poor.\"\n\nThe nephew promised to execute the will of his uncle, who died in\npeace, for he was a good and loyal Christian. But when he was laid in\nthe earth the young man, considering that the horse was a very fine\none, and well-trained, was tempted to keep him for himself. He did not\nsell him, and gave no money to the poor. Six months after, the soul of\nthe dead man appeared to him and said: \"Thou hast not accomplished that\nwhich I had ordered thee to do for the welfare of my soul, and for six\nmonths I have suffered great pains in Purgatory. But behold God, the\nstrict Judge of all things, has decreed, and His angels will execute\nthe decree, that my soul be placed in eternal rest, and that thine\nshall undergo all the pains and torments which I had still to undergo\nfor the expiation of my sins.\"\n\nThereupon the nephew, being instantly seized with a violent disease,\nhad barely time to confess to a priest, who had just been announced. He\ndied shortly after, and went to pay the debt he had undertaken to\ndischarge.\n\n\nTHE DEAD MASS.\n\nIt has been, and still is believed, that the mercy of God sometimes\npermits souls that have sins to expiate, to come and expiate them on\nearth. Of this the following is an example:\n\nPolet, the principal suburb of Dieppe, is still inhabited almost\nexclusively by fishermen, who, in past times, more especially, have\never been solid and faithful Christians. The Catholic worship was\nformerly celebrated with much solemnity in their church, consecrated\nunder the invocation of \"Our Lady of the Beach\" (Notre Dame des\nGr\u00e8ves); and the mothers of the worthy fishermen who give to Polet an\naspect so picturesque, have forgotten only the precise date of the\nadventure we are about to relate.\n\nThe sacristan of Notre Dame des Gr\u00e8ves dwelt in a little cottage quite\nclose to the church. He was an exact and pious man; he had the keys of\nthe sacred edifice and the care of the bells. Several worthy priests\nwere attached to the lovely church; the earliest Masses were never rung\nexcept by the honest sacristan. Now, one morning, during the Christmas\nholydays, he heard, before day, the tinkle of one of his bells\nannouncing a Mass. He rose immediately and ran to the window. The snow-\ncovered roofs enabled him to see objects so distinctly that he thought\nthe day was beginning to dawn. He hastened to put on his clothes and go\nto the church. The total solitude and silence reigning all around him\nmade him understand that he was mistaken and that day was not yet\nbreaking. He tried to go into the church, however, but the door was\nclosed.\n\nHow, then, could he have heard the bell? If robbers had got in, they\nwould certainly have taken good care not to touch the bell. He listens;\nnot the slightest noise in the holy place. Should he return home? Not\nso, for having heard the bell, he must go in.\n\nHe opens a little door leading into the sacristy; he passes through\nthat, and advances towards the choir.\n\nBy the light of the small lamp burning before the tabernacle and that\nof a taper already lighted, he perceives, at the foot of the altar, a\npriest robed in a chasuble, and in the attitude of a celebrant about to\ncommence Mass. All is prepared for the Holy Sacrifice. He stops in\ndismay. The priest, a stranger to him, is extremely pale; his hands are\nas white as his alb; his eyes shine like the glow-worm, the light going\nforth, as it were, from the very centre of the orbits.\n\n\"Serve my Mass,\" he said gently to the sacristan.\n\nThe latter obeyed, spell-bound with terror. But if the pallor of the\npriest and the singular fire of his eyes frightened him, his voice, on\nthe contrary, was mild and melancholy.\n\nThe Mass goes on. At the elevation of the Sacred Host the limbs of the\npriest tremble and give forth a sound like that of dry reeds shaken by\nthe wind. At the _Domine, non sum dignus_, his breast, which he\nstrikes three times, sounds like the coffin when the first shovel-full\nof earth is cast upon it by the grave-digger. The Precious Blood\nproduces in his whole body the effect of water which, in the silence of\nthe night, falls drop by drop from the roof.\n\nWhen he turns to say _Ita Missa est_, the priest is only a\nskeleton, and that skeleton speaks these words to the server:\n\n\"Brother, I thank thee! In my life-time, I was a priest; I owed this\nMass at my death. Thou hast helped me to discharge my debt; my soul is\nfreed from a heavy burden.\"\n\nThe spectre then disappeared. The sacristan saw the vestments fall\ngently at the foot of the altar, and the burning taper suddenly went\nout. At that moment, a cock crowed somewhere in the neighborhood. The\nsacristan took up the vestments, and passed the rest of the night in\nprayer.\n\n\nTHE EVE OF ST. JOHN.\n\nSIR WALTER SCOTT.\n\n  \"O fear not the priest who sleepeth to the east!\n  For to Dryburgh the way he has ta'en;\n  And there to say Mass, till three days do pass,\n  For the soul of a Knight that is slayne.\"\n\n  He turned him round, and grimly he frowned;\n  Then he laughed right scornfully--\n  \"He who says the Mass-rite for the soul of that Knight,\n  May as well say Mass for me.\"\n\n  Then changed, I trow, was that bold baron's brow,\n  From dark to the blood-red high;\n  \"Now tell me the mien of the Knight thou hast seen,\n  For by Mary he shall die.\"\n\n  \"O hear but my word, my noble lord,\n  For I heard her name his name,\n  And that lady bright, she called the Knight\n  Sir Richard of Coldinghame.\"\n\n  The bold baron's brow then chang'd, I trow,\n  From high blood-red to pale--\n  \"The grave is deep and dark--and the corpse is stiff and stark--\n  So I may not trust thy tale.\n\n  \"The varying light deceived thy sight,\n  And the wild winds drown'd the name,\n  For the Dryburgh bells ring, and the white monks do sing,\n  For Sir Richard of Coldinghame.\"\n\n  It was near the ringing of matin-bell,\n  The night was well-nigh done,\n  When the lady looked through the chamber fair,\n  On the eve of good St. John.\n\n  The lady looked through the chamber fair,\n  By the light of a dying flame;\n  And she was aware of a knight stood there--\n  Sir Richard of Coldinghame.\n\n  \"By Eildon-tree for long nights three,\n  In bloody grave have I lain,\n  The Mass and the death-prayer are said for me,\n  But, lady, they are said in vain.\n\n  \"By the baron's hand, near Tweed's fair stand,\n  Most foully slain I fell;\n  And my restless sprite on the beacon's height,\n  For a space is doom'd to dwell.\"\n\n  He laid his left palm on an oaken beam,\n  His right upon her hand;\n  The lady shrunk, and fainting sunk,\n  For it scorched like a fiery brand.\n\n\nTHE BEQUEST OF A SOUL, IN PURGATORY.\n\n[From \"A Collection of Spiritual Hymns and Songs on Various Religious\nSubjects,\" published by Chalmers & Co., of Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1802.\nIts quaint and touching simplicity, redolent of old-time faith, will\ncommend it to the reader]\n\n  From lake where water does not go,\n  A prisoner of hope below,\n  To mortal ones I push my groans,\n  In hopes they'll pity me.\n\n  O mortals that still live above,\n  Your faith, hope, prayers, and alms, and love,\n  Still merit place With God's sweet grace;\n  O faithful, pity me.\n\n  My fervent groans don't merit here,\n  Strict justice only doth appear,\n  My smallest faults,\n  And needless talks Heap chains and flames on me.\n\n  Though mortal guilt doth not remain,\n  I still am due the temp'ral pain, I did delay\n  To satisfy,\n  Past coldness scorcheth me.\n\n  Tepidity and good works done\n  With imperfections mixt, here come;\n  All these neglects\n  And least defects,--\n  Great anguish bring on me.\n\n  Though my defects here be not spared,\n  Yet endless glory for me's prepared,\n  I love in flames,\n  And hope in chains;\n  O friends, then, pity me!\n\n  My God, my Father, is most dear,\n  For me your sighs and prayers He'll hear;\n  Though just laws scourge,\n  His mercies urge,\n  That you would pity me.\n\n  Through pains and flames\n  I'll come to Him,\n  They purge me both from stain and sin;\n  When I'm set free,\n  Their friends I'll be\n  Who now do pity me.\n\n  The smallest thing that could defile\n  Keeps me from bliss in this exile.\n  God loves to see\n  That you me free;\n  For His love pity me!\n\n  For me who alms give, fast, or pray,\n  Great store of grace will come their way;\n  Try this good thought--\n  Great help is brought,\n  And souls from sin set free.\n\n  If you for me now do not pray,\n  The utmost farthing I must pay;\n  The time is hid\n  That I'll be rid,\n  Unless you pity me.\n\n  In mortal sin who yields his breath,\n  Pray not for him behind his death.\n  All mortal crime\n  I quit in time;\n  O faithful, pity me!\n\n  For me good works may be practised,\n  Thus some were for the dead baptized.\n  Suet pains endure\n  For me, and sure\n  You'll help and pity me!\n\n  For his good friend, as Scriptures say,\n  Onesiphorus, Paul did pray, [1]\n  His words, you see,\n  Urge, then, for me;\n  And thus you'll pity me.\n\n[Footnote 1: II. Tim., i. 16, 18.]\n\n  This third place clear in writ you spy,\n  Where all your works the fire will try,\n  From death game rose,\n  Sure then all those\n  From third place were set free.\n\n  In hell there's no redemption found;\n  God ne'er degrades whom\n  He once crowned--These judgments both\n  Confirmed by oath\n  And absolute decree.\n\n  For all the Saints prayer should be made,\n  Who stand in need, alive or dead.\n  I stand in need\n  That you with speed\n  Should help and pity me.\n\n  In presence of our sweetest Lord,\n  For dead they, prayed, as all accord.\n  Christ did not blame\n  What I now claim;\n  Oh! haste and pity me!\n\n  To a third place Christ's soul did go.\n  And preached to spirits there below;\n  This in the Creed\n  And Writ you read,\n  That you may pity me.\n\n  When Christ on earth would stay no more,\n  These captives freed He brought to glore;\n  There I will be,\n  And soon set free,\n  If you would pity me.\n\n  Mind, then, Communion of the Saints;\n  All should supply each other's wants:\n  In pains and chains,\n  And scorching flames,\n  I languish; pity me!\n\n  Eternal rest, eternal glore,\n  Eternal light, eternal store,\n  To them accord,\n  O sweetest Lord!\n  There's mercy still with Thee!\n\n  Let mercy stay Thy just revenge,\n  Their scorching flames to glory change;\n  The precious flood\n  Of Thine own blood\n  For them we offer Thee!\n\n\nALL SOULS.\n\nBY MARION MUIR.\n\n  FOR all the cold and silent clay\n  That once, alive with youth and hope,\n  Rushed proudly to the western slope-\n  O brothers, pray!\n\n  For all who saw the orient day\n  Rise on the plain, the camp, the flood,\n  The sudden discord drowned in blood-\n  O brothers, pray!\n\n  For all the lives that ebbed away\n  In darkness down the gulf of tears;\n  For all the gray departed years-\n  O brothers, pray!\n\n  For all the souls that went astray\n  In deserts hung with double gloom;\n  For all the dead without a tomb-\n  O brothers, pray!\n\n  For we have household peace; but they\n  Who led the way, and held the land,\n  Are homeless as the heaving sand-\n  Oh! let us pray!\n\n\nTHE DEAD.\n\n(From the French of Octave Cremacie.)\n\nANNA T. SADLIER.\n\n  O dead, ye sleep within your tranquil graves;\n  No more ye bear the burden that enslaves\n  Us in this world of ours.\n  For you outshine no stars, no storms rave loud,\n  No buds has spring, the horizon no cloud,\n  The sun marks not the hours.\n\n  The while, with anxious thought oppress'd, we go,\n  Each weary day but bringing deeper woe,\n  Silently and alone\n  Ye list the sanctuary chant arise,\n  That downwards first to you, remounts the skies,\n  Sweet pity's monotone.\n\n  The vain delights whereto our souls incline,\n  Are naught beside the prayer to love divine,\n  Alms-giving of the heart,\n  Which reaching to you warms your chilly dust\n  And brings your name enshrined a sacred trust,\n  Swift to the throne of God!\n\n  Alas! love's warmest memory will fade\n  Within the heart, ere yet the mourning shade\n  Has ceased to mark the garb.\n  Forgetfulness, our meed to you, outweighs\n  The leaded coffin as it dully lays\n  Upon your lifeless bones.\n\n  Our selfish hearts but to the present look,\n  And see in you the pages of a book\n  Now laid aside long read.\n  For loving in our fev'rish joy or pain\n  But those who serve our hate, pride, love of gain,\n  No more can serve the dead.\n\n  To cold ambition or to joy's sweet store,\n  Ye dusty corpses minister no more,\n  We give to you neglect.\n  Nor reck we of that suff'ring world's pale bourne\n  Where you beyond the bridgeless barrier mourn\n  O'erpast the wall of death.\n\n  'Tis said that when our coldness grieves you sore,\n  Ye quit betimes that solitude's cold shore\n  Where ye forsaken dwell,\n  And flit about in darkness' sad constraint,\n  The while from spectral lips your mournful plaint\n  Upon the winds outswell.\n\n  When nightingales their woodland nests have left,\n  The autumn sky of gray, white-capped, cloud-reft,\n  Prepares the shroud which Winter soon shall spread\n  On frozen fields; there comes a day thrice blest,\n  When earth forgetting, all our musings rest\n  On those who are no more the dreamless dead.\n\n  The dead their graves forsake upon this day,\n  As we have seen doves mount with joyous grace,\n  Escape an instant from their prison drear,\n  Their coming brings us no repellent fear.\n  Their mien is dreamy, passing sweet their face,\n  Their fixed and hollow eyes cannot betray.\n\n  When spectral coming thus unseen they gaze\n  On crowds who, kneeling in the temple, pray\n  Forgiveness for them, one faint, joyful ray,\n  As light upon the opal, glittering plays,\n  On faces pale and calm an instant rests,\n  And brings a moment's warmth to clay-cold breasts.\n\n  They, the elect of God, with souls of saints,\n  Who bear each destined load without complaints,\n\n  Who walk all day beneath God's watching eye,\n  And sleep the night 'neath angels' ministry,\n  Nor made the sport of visions that arise\n  To show th' abyss of fire to dreaming eyes.\n\n  All they who while on earth, the pure of heart,\n  The heav'nly echoes hear, and who in part\n  Make smooth for man rude ways he has to tread,\n  And knowing earthly vanity, outspread\n  Their virtue like a carpet rich and rare,\n  And walk o'er evil, touching it nowhere.\n\n  When come sad guests from off that suff'ring shore,\n  Which Dante saw in dream sublime of yore,\n  Appearing midst us here that day most blessed,\n  'Tis but to those; for they alone have guessed\n  The secrets of the grave; alone they understand\n  The pallid mendicants, who ask for heav'n.\n\n  Of Israel's King the psalms, inspired cries,\n  With Job's sublime distress, commingled rise;\n  The sanctuary sobs them through the naves\n  While wak'ning subtle fear, the bell's deep toll\n  With fun'ral sounds, demanding pity's dole\n  For wand'ring ghosts, as countless as the waves.\n\n  Give on this day, when over all the earth\n  The Church to God makes moan for parted worth;\n  Your own remorse, regret at least to calm\n  Awak'ning memory's dying flame, give balm,\n  Flow'rs for their graves, and prayer for each loved soul,\n  Those gifts divine can yet the dead console.\n\n  Pray for your friends, and for your mother pray,\n  Who made less drear for you life's desert way,\n  For all the portions of your heart that lie\n  Shut in the tomb, alas, each youthful tie\n  Is lost within the coffin's close constraint,\n  Where, prey of worms, the dead send up their plaint\n\n  For exiles far from home and native land,\n  Who dying hear no voice, nor touch no hand\n  In life alone, more lonely still in death.\n  With none for their repose, to breathe one prayer,\n  Cast alms of tears upon an alien grave,\n  Or heed the stranger lonely even there;\n\n  For those whose wounded souls when here below,\n  But anxious thought and bitter fancies know,\n  With days all joyless, nights of dull unrest;\n  For those who in night's calm find all so blest\n  And meet, in place of hope with morning beams,\n  A horrid wak'ning to their golden dreams;\n\n  For all the pariahs of human kind\n  Who, heavy burdens bearing, find\n  How high the steeps of human woe they scale.\n  Oh, let your heart some off'ring make to these,\n  One pious thought, one holy word of peace,\n  Which shall twixt them and God swift rend the veil.\n\n  The tribute bring of prayers and holy tears,\n  That when your hour draws nigh of nameless fears,\n  When reached their term shall be your numbered days,\n  Your name made known above with grateful praise,\n  By those whose suff'rings it was yours to end,\n  Arriving there find welcome as a friend!\n\n  Your loving tribute, white-winged angels take,\n  Ere bearing it unto eternal spheres,\n  An instant lay it on the grass-grown graves,\n  While dying flow'rs in church-yards raise each head\n  To life, refreshed by breath of prayer, awake\n  And shed their fragrance on the sleeping dead.\n\n\nA REQUIEM.\n\nSIR WALTER SCOTT.\n\n  No sound was made, no word was spoke,\n  Till noble Angus silence broke;\n  And he a solemn sacred plight\n  Did to St. Bryde of Douglas make,\n  That he a pilgrimage would take\n  To Melrose Abbey, for the sake\n  Of Michael's restless sprite.\n  Then each, to ease his troubled breast,\n  To some blessed saint his prayers addressed-\n  Some to St. Modan made their vows,\n  Some to St. Mary of the Lowes,\n  Some to the Holy Rood of Lisle,\n  Some to our Lady of the Isle;\n  Each did his patron witness make,\n  That he such pilgrimage would take,\n  And monks should sing, and bells should toll,\n  All for the weal of Michael's soul,\n  While vows were ta'en, and prayers were prayed.\n\n  Most meet it were to mark the day\n  Of penitence and prayer divine,\n  When pilgrim-chiefs, in sad array,\n  Sought Melrose, holy shrine.\n  With naked foot, and sackcloth vest,\n  And arms enfolded on his breast,\n  Did every pilgrim go;\n  The standers-by might hear aneath,\n  Footstep, or voice, or high-drawn breath.\n  Through all the lengthened row;\n  No lordly look, no martial stride,\n  Gone was their glory, sunk their pride,\n\n  Forgotten their renown;\n  Silent and slow, like ghosts, they glide,\n  To the high altar's hallowed side,\n  And there they kneeled them down;\n  Above the suppliant chieftains wave\n  The banners of departed brave;\n  Beneath the lettered stones were laid\n  The ashes of their fathers dead;\n  From many a garnished niche around,\n  Stern saint and tortured martyr frowned,\n  And slow up the dim aisle afar,\n  With sable cowl and scapular,\n  And snow-white stoles, in order due,\n  The holy Fathers, two and two,\n  In long procession came;\n  Taper, and host, and book they bare,\n  And holy banner, flourished fair\n  With the Redeemer's name;\n  Above the prostrate pilgrim band\n  The mitred Abbot stretched his hand,\n  And blessed them as they kneeled;\n  With holy cross he signed them all,\n  And prayed they might be sage in hall,\n  And fortunate in field.\n\n  The Mass was sung, and prayers were said,\n  And solemn requiem for the dead;\n  And bells tolled out their mighty peal,\n  For the departed spirit's weal;\n  And ever in the office close\n  The hymn of intercession rose;\n  And far the echoing aisles prolong\n  The awful burthen of the song--\n  _Dies Irae, Dies Illa,\n  Salvet S\u00c6lum in Favilla;_\n  While the pealing organ rung,\n  Thus the holy father sung:\n\n\nHYMN FOR THE DEAD.\n\n  The day of wrath, that dreadful day,\n  When heaven and earth shall pass away,\n  What power shall be the sinner's stay?\n  How shall he meet that dreadful day?\n  When, shrivelling like a parched scroll,\n  The flaming heavens together roll;\n  While louder yet, and yet more dread,\n  Swells the high trump that wakes the dead;\n  O! on that day, that wrathful day,\n  When man to judgment wakes from clay,\n  Be Thou the trembling sinner's stay,\n  Though heaven and earth shall pass away.\n\n\nTHE PENANCE OF ROBERT THE DEVIL.\n\nCOLLIN DE PLANCY.\n\nIn Normandy, the most sinister associations still remain connected with\nthe name of Robert the Devil. By the people, who change historical\ndetails, but yet preserve the moral thereof, it is believed that Robert\nis undergoing his penance here below, on the theatre of his crimes, and\nthat, after a thousand years, it is not yet ended. Messrs. Taylor and\nCharles Nodier have mentioned this tradition in their \"Voyage\nPittoresque de l'Ancienne France\" (\"Picturesque Journey through Old\nFrance\").\n\n\"On the left shore of the Seine,\" say they, \"not far from Moulineaux,\nare seen the colossal ruins, which are said to be the remains of the\ncastle, or fortress, of Robert the Devil. Vague recollections, a\nballad, some shepherd's tales--these are all the chronicles of those\nimposing ruins. Nevertheless, the fame of Robert the Devil's doings\nstill survives in the country which he inhabited. His very name still\nexcites that sentiment of fear which ordinarily results only from\nrecent impressions.\n\n\"In the vicinity of the castle of Robert the Devil every one knows his\nmisdeeds, his violent conquests, and the rigor of his penance. The\ncries of his victims still reecho through the vaults, and come to\nterrify himself in his nocturnal wanderings, for Robert is condemned to\nvisit the ruins and the dungeons of his castle.\n\n\"Sometimes, if the old traditions of the country are to be believed,\nRobert has been seen, still clad in the loose tunic of a hermit, as on\nthe day of his burial, wandering in the neighborhood of his castle, and\nvisiting, barefoot and bareheaded, the little corner of the plain where\nthe cemetery must have been. Sometimes, a shepherd straying through the\nadjoining copse in search of his flock, scattered by an evening storm,\nhas been frightened by the fearful aspect of the phantom, seen by the\nglare of the lightning, flitting about amongst the graves. He has heard\nhim, in the pauses of the tempest, imploring the pity of their mute\ninhabitants; and on the morrow he shunned the place in horror, because\nthe earth, freshly turned up, had opened on every side to terrify the\nmurderer.\"\n\nBut there is another tradition which we cannot omit.\n\nA band of those Northmen who, during the troubled reign of Charles III.\nof France--without any sufficient reason called Charles the Simple--had\ninvaded that part of Neustria where Robert the Devil was born; a group\nof these fierce warriors were one evening warming themselves around a\nfire of brambles, and, joyous in a country more genial than their own,\nthey sang, to a wild melody, the great deeds of their princes, when\nthey saw, leaning against the trunk of a tree, an old man poorly clad,\nand of a sad, yet resigned aspect. They called to him as he passed\nalong before the fortress of Robert the Devil, then only half ruined.\n\n\"Good man,\" said they, \"sing us some song of this country.\"\n\nThe old man, advancing slowly, chanted in an humble yet manly voice,\nthe beautiful prose of St. Stephen. It told how the first of the\nmartyrs paid homage till the end to Jesus Christ, Our Lord; and how,\nexpiring under their blows, he besought Heaven to forgive his\nmurderers.\n\nBut this hymn displeased the rude band, who began brutally to insult\nthe old man. The latter fell on one knee and uttered no complaint.\n\nAt this moment appeared a young man, before whom all the soldiers rose\nto their feet. His lofty mien and his tone of authority indicated the\nson of a mighty lord.\n\n\"You who insult a defenceless old man,\" said he, \"your conduct is base\nand cowardly. Away with you! those who insult women or old men are\nunworthy to march with the brave. For you, good old man, come and share\nmy meal. It is for the chief to repair the wrong-doings of those he\ncommands.\"\n\n\"Young man,\" said the stranger, \"what you have just done is pleasing to\nGod, who loveth justice; but it concerneth not me, who can bear no ill-\nwill to any one.\"\n\nHe then told his name; related the hideous story of his crimes, then\nhis conversion through the prayers of his mother, and his penance,\nwhich was to last yet a long time. He showed how the grace of faith and\nof repentance had entered into his heart.\n\n\"Exhausted with emotion,\" said he, \"I sat down on a stone amid some\nruins; I slept. Oh! blessed be my good angel for having sent me that\nsleep! Scarcely had I closed mine eyes when I had a vision. It seemed\nto me that the mountain on which rises the Castle of Moulinets darted\nup to heaven and formed a staircase. Up the steps went slowly a crowd\nof phantoms, in which I, alas! recognized my crimes. There were women\nand young maidens, whose death was my doing, hardworking vassals\ndishonored, old men driven from their dwellings, and forced to ask the\nbread of charity. I saw thus ascending not only men, but things, houses\nburned, crops destroyed, flocks, the hope and the care of a whole life\nof toil, sacrificed at a moment in some wild revel.\n\n\"And I saw an angel rising rapidly. Then did my limbs quiver like the\nleaves of the aspen. I said to that ascending angel:\n\n\"'Whither goest thou?' He answered: 'I bring thy crimes before the\nLord, that they may bear testimony against thee.'\n\n\"Then all my members became as it were burning grass. 'O good angel!' I\ncried, 'could I not at least efface some of these images?' He replied:\n'All, if thou wilt.' 'And how?' 'Confess them; the breath of thy avowal\nwill disperse them. Weep them in penance, and thy tears will efface\neven the traces thereof.'\"\n\nThe old man then told how he had made his confession, and what penance\nhe did, wandering about in rags, without other food than that which he\nshared with the dogs.\n\n\"I had known,\" he added, \"all the pleasures of the earth, and had known\nsome of its joys. But I found them still more in the miseries, the\nlife-long fatigue, the hard humiliations of penance, because they were\nexpiating my faults. Thus, then, O strangers, whatever fate Heaven may\ndecree for you, if you desire happiness, find Our Lord Jesus Christ,\nand practice His justice.\"\n\nThe old man was silent; the barbarians remained motionless. He,\nhowever, taking the young chief by the hand, led him to the esplanade\nof the castle, and showing him all that vast country which is watered\nby the Seine: \"Young man,\" said he, \"for as much as thou hast protected\na poor old man, God will reward the noble heart within thee. Thou seest\nthese lands so rich--they were once mine; and even now, after God, they\nhave no other lawful owner. I give them to thee; make faith and equity\nreign there. I will rejoice in thy reign.\"\n\nNow this chief, to whom the penitent Robert thus bequeathed his faith\nand his inheritance, was Rollo, first Duke of the Normans.\n\n\nALL SOULS' EVE.\n\n  Where the tombstones gray and browned,\n  And the broken roods around,\n  And the vespers' solemn sound,\n    Told an old church near;\n  I sat me in the eve,\n  And I let my fancy weave\n  Such a vision as I leave\n    With a frail pen here.\n\n  Methought I heard a trail\n  Like to slowly-falling hail\n  And the sadly-plaintive wail\n    Of a misty file of souls,\n  As they glided o'er the grass,\n  Sighing low: \"Alas! alas!\n  How the laggard moments pass\n    In purgatorial doles!\"\n\n  Through their garments' glancing sheen,\n  As if nothing were between,\n  Pierced the moon's benignant beam\n    To a grove of stunted pines;\n  In whose distant lightsome shade,\n  With their gilded coats arrayed,\n\n  Danced a fairy cavalcade,\n    To a fairy poet's rhymes.\n\n  Then a cloud obscured the moon,\n  And the fairy dance and rune\n  Faded down behind the gloom\n    Which along the upland fell,\n  And my ears could only hear,\n  In the church-yard lone and drear,\n  The tinkle soft and clear\n    Of the morning Mass's bell.\n  It eddied through the air,\n  And it seemed to call to prayer\n  All the waiting spirits there\n    Which the moon's beams showed,\n  But each tinkle sank to die\n  In a heart-distressing sigh,\n  And no worshippers drew nigh\n    With the penitential word.\n\n  Mute as statue, on each knoll\n  Stood a thin, transparent soul,\n  While the fresh breeze stole\n    From its long night's rest,\n  Till it bore upon its tongue,\n  Like a snatch of sacred song,\n  All the peopled graves among,\n    _Ite Missa est!_\n\n  Then a cry, as Angels raise\n  In an ecstasy of praise,\n  When the Godhead's glowing rays\n    To their eager sight is given,\n  Shook the consecrated ground,\n  And the souls it lost were found\n  From their venial sins unbound,\n    In the happy fields of heaven!\n\n  Where the tombstones gray and browned,\n  And the broken roods around,\n  And the vespers' solemn sound,\n    Told an old church near;\n  I sat me in the eve,\n  And I let my fancy weave\n  Such a vision as I leave\n    With a frail pen here.\n\n\nELEVENTH MONTH, NOVEMBER: THE HOLY SOULS.\n\nCOMMEMORATION OF ALL SOULS.\n\nHARRIET M. SKIDMORE.\n\n  O faithful church! O tender mother-heart,\n  That, 'neath the shelter of thy deathless love,\n  Shieldest the blood-bought charge thy Master gave;\n  Laving the calm, unfurrowed infant brow\n  With the pure wealth of Heaven's cleansing stream;\n  Breathing above the sinner's grief-bowed head\n  The mystic words that loose the demon-spell,\n  And bid the leprous soul be clean again;\n  Decking the upper chamber of the heart\n  For the blest banquet of the Lord of love;\n  Binding upon the youthful warrior's breast\n  The buckler bright, the sacred shield of strength,\n  The fair, celestial gift of Pentecost,\n  Borne on the pinions of the holy Dove!\n  And when, at last, life's sunset hour is near,\n  And the worn pilgrim-feet stand trembling on\n  The shadowy borders of the death-dark vale,\n  At thy command the priestly hand bestows\n  The potent unction in the saving Name,\n  And gives unto the parched and pallid lip\n  The blest Viaticum, the Bread of Life,\n  As staff and stay for that drear pilgrimage!\n  Thy prayers ascend, with magic incense-breath,\n  From the lone couch, where, fainting by the way,\n  The frail companion of the deathless soul\n  Parteth in pain from its immortal guest.\n    And when, at last, the golden chain is loosed,\n  And through the shadows of that mystic vale\n  The ransomed captive floateth swiftly forth,\n  In solemn tones thy _De Profundis_ rings\n  O'er all the realms of vast eternity;\n  Thy tender litanies call gently down\n  The angel-guides, the white-robed band of Saints,\n  To lead the wanderer to \"the great White Throne,\"\n  To plead, with Heaven's own pitying tenderness,\n  For life and mercy at the judgment-seat.\n  The account is given, the saving sentence breathed,\n  Yet He who said that nought by sin defiled\n  Can take at once its blessed place amid\n  The spotless legion of His shining Saints,\n  Will find, upon the white baptismal robe,\n  Full many a blemish; stains too lightly held,\n  Half-cleansed by an imperfect sorrow's flood.\n  \"The Christian shall be saved, yet as by fire;\"\n  So, to the pain-fraught, purifying flame\n  The robe is given, till every blighting spot\n  Hath faded from its primal purity;\n  Still, faithful Church, thy blest Communion binds\n  Each suffering child unto thy mother's heart.\n  Full well thou know'st the wondrous power of prayer--\n  That 'tis a holy and a wholesome thought\n  To plead for those who in the drear abode\n  Of penance linger, \"that they may be loosed\n  From all their sins;\" that on each spotless brow\n  Love's shining hand may place the starry crown.\n  And so the holy Sacrifice ascends,\n  A sweet oblation for that wailing band\n  Thy regal form in mourning hues is draped,\n  Thy pleading _Miserere_ ceaseth not\n  Till, at its blest entreaty, Love descends,\n  As erst, from His rent tomb, to Limbo's realm,\n  And leads again the freed, exultant throng,\n  Within the gleaming gates of gold and pearl,\n  To bask in fadeless splendor, where the flow\n  Of the \"still waters\" by the \"pastures green\"\n  Faints not, nor slackens, through the endless years.\n  O Christians, brethren by that holy tie\n  That links the living with the ransomed dead!\n  Children of one fond mother are ye all,\n  White-robed in heaven, militant on earth,\n  And sufferers 'mid the purifying flame.\n  O ye who tread the highway of our world,\n  Join now your voices with that mother's sigh!\n  And while the mournful autumn wind laments,\n  And sad November's ceaseless tear-drops fall\n  Upon \"the Silent City's\" marble roofs,\n  O'er lonely graves amid the pathless wild,\n  Or where the wayworn pilgrim sank to rest\n  In some lone cavern by the crested sea--\n  List to the pleading wail that e'er ascends\n  From the dark land of suffering and woe:\n  \"Our footsteps trod your fair, sun-lighted paths,\n  Our voices mingled in your joyous songs,\n  Our tears were blended in one common grief;\n  Perchance our erring hearts' excessive love\n  For you, the worshipped idols of our lives,\n  Hath been the blemish on our bridal robes.\n  Plead for us, then, and let your potent prayer\n  Unlock the golden gates, that we who beat\n  Our eager wings against these prison bars,\n  May wing our flight to endless liberty!\"\n\n\nTHE MEMORY OF THE DEAD.\n\nFATHER FABER\n\n[This poem scarcely comes within the scope of the present work, yet it\nis, by its nature, so closely connected therewith, and is, moreover, so\nexquisitely tender and pathetic, so beautiful in its mournful\nsimplicity, that I decided on giving it a place amongst these funereal\nfragments.]\n\n  Oh! it is sweet to think\n    Of those that are departed,\n  While murmured Aves sink\n    To silence tender-hearted--\n  While tears that have no pain\n    Are tranquilly distilling,\n  And the dead live again\n    In hearts that love is filling.\n\n  Yet not as in the days\n    Of earthly ties we love them;\n  For they are touched with rays\n    From light that is above them;\n  Another sweetness shines\n    Around their well-known features;\n  God with His glory signs\n    His dearly-ransomed creatures.\n\n  Yes, they are more our own,\n    Since now they are God's only;\n  And each one that has gone\n    Has left one heart less lonely.\n  He mourns not seasons fled,\n    Who now in Him possesses\n  Treasures of many dead\n    In their dear Lord's caresses.\n\n  Dear dead! they have become\n    Like guardian angels to us;\n  And distant Heaven like home,\n    Through them begins to woo us;\n  Love that was earthly, wings\n    Its flight to holier places;\n  The dead are sacred things\n    That multiply our graces.\n\n  They whom we loved on earth\n    Attract us now to Heaven;\n  Who shared our grief and mirth\n    Back to us now are given.\n  They move with noiseless foot\n    Gravely and sweetly round us,\n  And their soft touch hath cut\n    Full many a chain that bound us.\n\n  O dearest dead! to Heaven\n    With grudging sighs we gave you;\n  To Him--be doubts forgiven!\n    Who took you there to save you:--\n  Now get us grace to love\n    Your memories yet more kindly,\n  Pine for our homes above\n    And trust to God more blindly.\n\n\nTHE HOLY SOULS.\n\nWRITTEN FOR MUSIC BY THE AUTHOR OF \"CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS.\"\n\n  O Mary, help of sorrowing hearts,\n    Look down with pitying eye\n  Where souls the spouses of thy Son,\n    In fiery torments lie;\n  Far from the presence of their Lord\n    The purging debt they pay,\n  In prisons through whose gloomy shades\n    There shines no cheering ray.\n\n  The fire of love is in their hearts,\n    Its flame burns fierce and keen;\n  They languish for His Blessed Face,\n    For one brief moment seen;\n  Prisoners of hope, their joy is there\n    To wait His Holy Will,\n  And, patient in the cleansing flames,\n    Their penance to fulfil.\n\n  But dark the gloom where smile of thine,\n    Sweet Mother, may not fall,\n  Oh, hear us, when for these dear souls\n    Thy loving aid we call!\n  Thou art the star whose gentle beam\n    Sheds joy upon the night,\n  Oh, let its shining pierce their gloom\n    And give them peace and light.\n\n  The sprinkling of the Precious Blood\n    From thy dear hand must come,\n  Quench with its drops their cruel flames,\n    And call them to their home;\n  Freed from their pains, and safe with thee,\n    In Jesu's presence blest,\n  Oh, may the dead in Christ receive\n    Eternal light and rest!\n\n\nTHE PALMER'S ROSARY.\n\nELIZA ALLEN STARR.\n\n  No coral beads on costly chain of gold\n  The Palmer's pious lips at Vespers told;\n  No guards of art could Pilgrim's favor win,\n  Who only craved release from earth and sin.\n  He from the Holy Land his rosary brought;\n  From sacred olive wood each bead was wrought,\n  Whose grain was nurtured, ages long ago,\n  By blood the Saviour sweated in His woe;\n  Then on the Holy Sepulchre was laid\n  This crown of roses from His passion made;\n  The Sepulchre from which the Lord of all\n  Arose from death's dark bed and icy thrall.\n\n  Yet not complete that wreath of joy and pain,\n  Which for the dead must sweet indulgence gain;\n  The pendant cross, on which with guileless art,\n  Some hand had graved what touches every heart,\n  The image of the Lamb for sinners slain,\n  From Bethlehem's crib, now shrine, his prayers obtain;\n  And tears and kisses tell the holy tale\n  Of pilgrim love and penitential wail.\n\n  The love, the tears, which fed his pious flame,\n  May well be thine, my heart, in very same;\n  Since bead and cross, by Palmer prized so well,\n  At vesper-hour, these fingers softly tell,\n  And press, through them, each dear and sacred spot\n  Where God once walked, \"yet men received Him not.\"\n  And still, with pious Palmer gray, of yore,\n  Thy lips can kiss the ground He wet with gore,\n  Still at the Sepulchre with her delay,\n  Who found Him risen ere the break of day;\n  And hover round the crib with meek delight\n  Where shepherds hasted from their flocks by night,\n  To there adore Him whom a Virgin blessed,\n  Bore in her arms and nourished at her breast.\n  My Rosary dear! my Bethlehem Cross so fair!\n\n  No rose, no lily can with thee compare;\n  No gems, no gold, no art, or quaint device\n  Could be my precious Rosary's priceless price;\n  For Heaven's eternal joys at holier speed,\n  I trust to win through every sacred bead;\n  And still for suffering souls obtain release\n  From cleansing fires to everlasting peace.\n\n\nA LYKE WAKE DIRGE.\n\n[From Sir Walter Scott's \"Minstrelsy of the Border,\" we take this\nfragment. The dirge to which the eminent author alludes in a before-\nquoted extract from his work, and which he erroneously styles \"a\ncharm,\" is here given in full. The reader will observe that it partakes\nnot the least of the nature of a charm. It would seem to have some\nanalogy with the \"Keen,\" or Wail of the Irish peasantry.]\n\n  This ae nighte, this ae nighte,\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  Fire and sleet, and candle lighte,\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  When thou from hence away are paste,\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  To Whinny-muir thou comest at laste;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon;\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  Sit thee down and put them on;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n  If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gavest nane,\n    Every nighte and alle,\n  The whinnes shall pricke thee to the bare bane;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  From Whinny-muir, when thou mayest passe,\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  To Brig o' Dread thou comest at laste;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  From Brig o' Dread when thou mayest passe,\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  To Purgatory fire thou comest at laste;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  If ever thou gavest meat or drink,\n    Every nighte and alle,\n  The fire shall never make thee shrinke;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  If meat or drink thou never gavest nane,\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  The fire will burn thee to the bare bane;\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n  This ae nighte, this ae nighte,\n    Every nighte and alle;\n  Fire and sleet, and candle lighte,\n    And Christe receive thye saule.\n\n\nALL SOULS' DAY.\n\nSECOND VESPERS OF ALL SAINTS.\n\n_From \"Lyra Liturgica.\"_\n\n  What means this veil of gloom\n  Drawn o'er the festive scene;\n  The solemn records of the tomb\n  Where holy mirth hath been:\n  As if some messenger of death should fling\n  His tale of woe athwart some nuptial gathering?\n\n  Our homage hath been given\n  With gladsome voice to them\n  Who fought, and won, and wear in heaven\n  Christ's robe and diadem;\n  Now to the suffering Church we must descend,\n  Our \"prisoners of hope\" with succor to befriend.\n\n  They will not strive nor cry,\n  Nor make their pleading known;\n  Meekly and patiently they lie,\n  Speaking with God alone;\n  And this the burden of their voiceless song,\n  Wafted from age to age, \"How long, O Lord, how long?\"\n\n  O blessed cleansing pain!\n  Who would not bear thy load,\n  Where every throb expels a stain,\n  And draws us nearer GOD?\n  Faith's firm assurance makes all anguish light,\n  With earth behind, and heaven fast opening on the sight.\n\n  Yet souls that nearest come\n  To their predestin'd gain,\n  Pant more and more to reach their home:\n  Delay is keenest pain\n  To those that all but touch the wish'd for shore,\n  Where sin, and grief that comes of sin, shall fret no more.\n\n  And O--O charity,\n  For sweet remembrance sake,\n  These souls, to God so very nigh,\n  Into your keeping take!\n  Speed them by sacrifice and suffrage, where\n  They burn to pour for you a more prevailing prayer.\n\n  They were our friends erewhile,\n  Co-heirs of saving grace;\n  Co-partners of our daily toil,\n  Companions in our race;\n  We took sweet counsel in the house of God,\n  And sought a common rest along a common road.\n\n  And had their brethren car'd\n  To keep them just and pure,\n  Perchance their pitying God had spar'd,\n  The pains they now endure.\n  What if to fault of ours those pains be due,\n  To ill example shown, or lack of counsel true?\n\n  Alas, there are who weep\n  In fierce, unending flame,\n  Through sin of those on earth that sleep,\n  Regardless of their shame;\n  Or who, though they repent, too sadly know\n  No help of theirs can cure or soothe their victim's woe.\n\n  Thanks to our God who gives,\n  In fruitful Mass or prayer,\n  To many a friend that dies, yet lives,\n  A salutary share;\n  Nor stints our love, though cords of sense be riven,\n  Nor bans from hope the soul that is not ripe for heaven.\n\nFeast of the Holy Dead!\n  Great Jubilee of grace!\n  When angel guards exulting lead\n  To their predestin'd place\n  Souls, that the Church shall loose from bonds to-day\n  In every clime that basks beneath her genial sway.\n\n\nTHE SUFFERING SOULS.\n\nBY E. M. V. BULGER.\n\nIt is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.--II Mac. xii.\n46.\n\n  In some quiet hour at the close of day,\n  When your work is finished and laid away,\n  Think of the suffering souls, and pray.\n\n  Think of that prison of anguish and pain,\n  Where even the souls of the Saints remain,\n  Till cleansed by fire from the slightest stain.\n\n  Think of the souls who were dear to you\n  When this life held them; still be true,\n  And pray for them now; it is all you can do.\n\n  Think of the souls who are lonely there,\n  With no one, perchance, to offer a prayer\n  That God may have pity on them and spare.\n\n  Think of the souls that have longest lain\n  In that place of exile and of pain,\n  Suffering still for some uncleansed stain.\n\n  Think of the souls who, perchance, may be\n  On the very threshold of liberty--\n  One \"_Ave Maria_\" may set them free!\n\n  Oh, then, at the close of each passing day,\n  When your work is finished and folded away,\n  Think of the suffering souls, and pray!\n\n  Think of their prison, so dark and dim,\n  Think of their longing to be with Him\n  Whose praises are sung by the cherubim!\n\n  As you tell the beads of your Rosary,\n  Ask God's sweet Mother their mother to be;\n  Her immaculate hands hold Heaven's key.\n\n  Oh, how many souls are suffering when\n  You whisper \"Hail Mary\" again and again,\n  May see God's face as you say \"_Amen!_\"\n\n--_Ave Maria_, November 24, 1883.\n\n\nTHE VOICES OF THE DEAD.\n\n  'Twas the hour after sunset,\n    And the golden light had paled;\n  The heavy foliage of the woods\n    Were all in shadow veiled.\n\n  Yet a witchery breathed through the soft twilight,\n    A thought of the sun that was set,\n  And a soft and mystic radiance\n    Through the heavens hung lingering yet.\n\n  The purple hills stood clear and dark\n    Against the western sky,\n  And the wind came sweeping o'er the grass\n    With a wild and mournful cry:\n\n  It swept among the grass that grows\n    Above the quiet grave,\n  And stirred the boughs of the linden-trees\n    That o'er the church-yard wave.\n\n  And the low murmur of the leaves\n    All softly seemed to say,\n\n  \"It is a good and wholesome thought\n    For the dead in Christ to pray.\"\n\n  Earth's voices all are low and dim;\n    But a human heart is there,\n  With psalms and words of holy Church,\n    To join in Nature's prayer.\n\n  A Monk is pacing up and down;\n    His prayers like incense rise;\n  Ever a sweet, sad charm for him\n    Within that church-yard lies.\n\n  Each morning when from Mary's tower\n    The sweet-toned _Ave_ rings,\n  This herdsman of the holy dead\n    A Mass of Requiem sings.\n\n  And when upon the earth there falls\n    The hush of eventide,\n  A dirge he murmurs o'er the graves\n    Where they slumber side by side.\n\n  \"Eternal light shine o'er them, Lord!\n    And may they rest in peace!\"\n  His matins all are finished now,\n    And his whispered accents cease.\n\n  But, hark! what sound is that which breaks\n    The stillness of the hour?\n  Is it the ivy as it creeps\n    Against the gray church tower?\n\n  Is it the sound of the wandering breeze,\n    Or the rustling of the grass,\n  Or the stooping wing of the evening birds\n    As home to their nests they pass?\n  No; 'tis a voice like one in dreams,\n    Half solemn and half sad,\n  Freed from the weariness of earth,\n    Not yet with glory clad;\n\n  Full of the yearning tenderness\n    Which nought but suffering gives;\n  Too sad for angel-tones--too full\n    Of rest for aught that lives.\n\n  They are the Voices of the Dead\n    From the graves that lie around,\n  And the Monk's heart swells within his breast,\n    As he listens to the sound.\n\n  \"Amen! Amen!\" the answer comes\n    Unto his muttered prayer;\n  \"Amen!\" as though the brethren all\n    In choir were standing there.\n\n  The living and departed ones\n    On earth are joined again,\n  And the bar that shuts them from his ken\n    For a moment parts in twain.\n\n  Over the gulf that yawns beneath,\n    Their echoed thanks he hears\n  For the Masses he has offered up,\n    For his orisons and tears.\n\n  And as the strange responsory\n   Mounts from the church-yard sod,\n  Their mingled prayers and answers rise\n    Unto the throne of God. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: There is a story recorded of St. Birstan, Bishop of\nWinchester, who died about the year of Christ 944, how he was wont\nevery day to say Mass and Matins for the dead; and one evening, as he\nwalked in the church-yard, reciting his said Matins, when he came to\nthe _Requiescat in Pace_, the voices in the graves round about him\nmade answer aloud, and said, \"Amen, Amen!\"--_From the \"English\nMartyrology\" for October 22_]\n\n--_M. R., in \"The Lamp,\" Oct. 31, 1863._\n\n\nTHE CONVENT CEMETERY.\n\nREV. ABRAM J. RYAN.\n\n[This is an extract from Father Ryan's poem, \"Their Story Runneth\nThus.\"]\n\n  And years and years, and weary years passed on\n  Into the past; one autumn afternoon,\n  When flowers were in their agony of death,\n  And winds sang \"_De Profundis_\" o'er them,\n  And skies were sad with shadows, he did walk\n  Where, in a resting-place as calm as sweet,\n  The dead were lying down; the autumn sun\n  Was half-way down the west--the hour was three,\n  The holiest hour of all the twenty-four,\n  For Jesus leaned His head on it, and died.\n  He walked alone amid the Virgins' graves,\n  Where calm they slept--a convent stood near by,\n  And from the solitary cells of nuns\n  Unto the cells of death the way was short.\n\n  Low, simple stones and white watched o'er each grave,\n  While in the hollows 'twixt them sweet flowers grew,\n  Entwining grave with grave. He read the names\n  Engraven on the stones, and \"Rest in peace\"\n  Was written 'neath them all, and o'er each name\n  A cross was graven on the lowly stone.\n  He passed each grave with reverential awe,\n  As if he passed an altar, where the Host\n  Had left a memory of its sacrifice.\n  And o'er the buried virgin's virgin dust\n  He walked as prayerfully as though he trod\n  The holy floor of fair Loretto's shrine.\n  He passed from grave to grave, and read the names\n  Of those whose own pure lips had changed the names\n  By which this world had known them into names\n  Of sacrifice known only to their God;\n  Veiling their faces they had veiled their names.\n  The very ones who played with them as girls,\n  Had they passed there, would know no more than he,\n  Or any stranger, where their playmates slept.\n  And then he wondered all about their lives, their hearts,\n  Their thoughts, their feelings, and their dreams,\n  Their joys and sorrows, and their smiles and tears.\n  He wondered at the stories that were hid\n  Forever down within those simple graves.\n\n\nONE HOUR AFTER DEATH.\n\nELIZA ALLEN STARR.\n\n  Oh! I could envy thee thy solemn sleep,\n    Thy sealed lid, thy rosary-folding palm,\n  Thy brow, scarce cold, whose wasted outlines keep\n    The \"_Bona Mors_\" sublime, unfathomed calm.\n\n  I sigh to wear myself that burial robe\n    Anointed hands have blessed with pious care:\n  What nuptial garb on all this mortal globe\n    Could with thy habit's peaceful brown compare?\n\n  Beneath its hallowed folds thy feeble dust\n    Shall rest serenely through the night of time;\n  Unharmed by worm, or damp, or century's rust,\n    But, fresh as youth, shall greet th' eternal prime\n\n  Of that clear morn, before whose faintest ray\n    Earth's bliss will pale, a taper's flickering gleam;\n  I see it break! the pure, celestial day,\n    And stars of mortal hope already dim.\n\n  \"_In pace_\" Lord, oh! let her sweetly rest\n    In Paradise, this very day with Thee:\n  Her faithful lips her dying Lord confessed,\n    Then let her soul Thy risen glory see!\n\n\nA PRAYER FOR THE DEAD.\n\nT. D. MCGEE.\n\n  Let us pray for the dead!\n    For sister and mother,\n    Father and brother,\n    For clansman and fosterer,\n    And all who have loved us here;\n    For pastors, for neighbors,\n    At rest from their labors;\n  Let us pray for our own beloved dead!\n  That their souls may be swiftly sped\n  Through the valley of purgatorial fire,\n  To a heavenly home by the gate called Desire!\n\n  I see them cleave the awful air,\n    Their dun wings fringed with flame;\n  They hear, they hear our helping prayer,\n    They call on Jesu's name.\n\n  Let us pray for the dead!\n    For our foes who have died,\n    May they be justified!\n    For the stranger whose eyes\n    Closed on cold alien skies;\n    For the sailors who perished\n    By the frail arts they cherished;\n  Let us pray for the unknown dead.\n\n  Father in heaven, to Thee we turn,\n    Transfer their debt to us;\n  Oh! bid their souls no longer burn\n    In mediate anguish thus.\n  Let us pray for the soldiers,\n    On whatever side slain;\n   Whose white bones on the plain\n   Lay unclaimed and unfathered,\n   By the vortex-wind gathered,\n  Let us pray for the valiant dead.\n\n  Oh! pity the soldier,\n    Kind Father in heaven,\n  Whose body doth moulder\n    Where his soul fled self-shriven.\n\n  We have prayed for the dead;\n    All the faithful departed,\n    Who to Christ were true-hearted;\n    And our prayers shall be heard,\n    For so promised the Lord;\n    And their spirits shall go\n    Forth from limbo-like woe--\n  And joyfully swift the justified dead\n  Shall feel their unbound pinions sped,\n  Through the valley of purgatorial fire,\n  To their heavenly home by the gate called Desire,\n\n  By the gate called Desire,\n    In clouds they've ascended--\n    O Saints, pray for us,\n    Now your sorrows are ended!\n\n\nTHE DE PROFUNDIS BELL. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Among the many beautiful and pious customs of Catholic\ncountries, none appeals with more tender earnestness to the pitying\nheart than that of the _De Profundis_ bell. While the shades of\nnight are gathering over the earth, a solemn, dirge like tolling\nresounds from the lofty church towers. Instantly every knee is bent,\nand countless voices, in city and hamlet, from castle and cottage,\nrepeat, with heartfelt earnestness, the beautiful psalm, \"_De\nProfundis_,\" or, \"Out of the depths,\" etc., for the souls of the\nfaithful departed. Thus is illustrated, in a most touching manner, the\nblessed doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Thus does the Church\nMilitant clasp, each day anew, the holy tie which binds her to the\nsuffering Church of Purgation.\n\nThe compassionate heart of the Christian is stirred to its inmost\ndepths by the plaintive call of that warning bell; and as, in the holy\nhush of nightfall, he obeys its tender appeal, how fully does he\nrealize that \"it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the\ndead.\"]\n\n\nHARRIET M. SKIDMORE.\n\n  The day was dead; from purple summits faded\n    Its last resplendent ray,\n  And softly slept the wearied earth, o'ershaded\n    By twilight's dreamy gray;\n  Then flowed deep sound-waves o'er silence holy\n    Of nature's calm repose,\n\n  As from its lofty dome, outpealing slowly\n    Through the still gloaming, rose\n    The deep and dirge-like swell\n    Of _De Profundis_ bell.\n\n  To heedful hearts each solemn cadence falling\n    Through twilight's misty veil,\n  An echo seemed of spirit-voices calling\n    With sad, beseeching wail;\n  And thus outspake the mournful intonation:\n    \"Plead for us, brethren, plead!\"\n  From the drear depths of woe and desolation\n    Our cry of bitter need\n    Floats upward in the swell\n    Of _De Profundis_ bell.\n  Then bowed each knee, the plaintive summons heeding,\n    And rose the blended sigh.\n  As incense-breath of fond, united pleading\n    E'en to the throne on high:\n  \"Hear, Lord, the cry of fervent supplication\n    Earth's children lift to Thee;\n  And from the depths of long and dread purgation\n    Thy faithful captives free,\n    Ere dies on earth the swell\n    Of _De Profundis_ bell.\n\n  \"If, in Thy sight, scarce e'en the perfect whiteness\n    Of seraph-robe is pure,\n  Shall mortals brave Thine eye's eternal brightness?\n    Shall man its search endure?\n  Ah! trusting hope may meet the dazzling splendor\n    Of those celestial rays,\n  For with Thee, Lord, is pardon sweet and tender,\n    When contrite sorrow prays.\n  Ay, Thou wilt lead, from desert-waste of sadness,\n    Thine Israel's chosen band;\n  And Miriam's song of pure, triumphant gladness\n    Shall, in Thy promised land,\n    Succeed the dirge-like swell\n    Of _De Profundis_ bell.\"\n\n\nNOVEMBER.\n\nANNA. T. SADLIER.\n\n  Robed in mourning, nave and chancel,\n    In the livery of the dead,\n  Hymns funereal are chanted.\n    Services sublime are read.\n\n  Sounds the solemn _Dies Ir\u00e6_,\n    Fraught with echoes from the day\n  When the majesty of Heaven\n    Shall appear in dread array.\n\n  Next the Gospel's weird recital,\n    Full of mystery and dread;\n  Holding message for the living,\n    Bringing tidings of the dead.\n\n  With its resurrection promised--\n    Resurrection unto life,\n  With its full and true fruition,\n    And immunity from strife.\n\n  Blest immunity from sorrow,\n    Primal man's unhappy dower;\n  While the evil shall find judgment\n    In the resurrection hour.\n\n  To the Lord, the King of Glory,\n    Goes the voiceless, tuneless prayer,\n  From the deep pit to deliver,\n    From eternal pains to spare.\n\n  All who wait the holy coming,\n    Wait the dawning of a day\n  That shall ope the gates of darkness,\n    Shall illume the watcher's way.\n  May the holy Michael lead them\n    To the fullness of the light\n  That of old, in prophet visions,\n    Burst on Adam's dazzled sight.\n\n  May they pass from death to living--\n    Message that the Master's voice\n  Gave to Abraham the faithful,\n    Bade his exiled soul rejoice.\n\n  May perpetual light descending\n    Touch their foreheads, dark with fear--\n  Dark with deadly torments suffered;\n    Sign them with the glory near!\n\n  May they rest, O Lord, forever\n    In a peace that, unexpressed,\n  Shall bestow upon the pilgrims\n    Dual crowns of light and rest!\n\n  Death's weird canticle is ringing\n    In its supplication strong--\n  In its far cry to the heavens,\n    Couched in wild, unearthly song.\n\n  Ay, this _Libera_ o'ercomes us,\n    Requiem, at once, and dirge--\n  Makes this life with life immortal\n    In our consciousness to merge.\n\n\nFOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.\n\nANONYMOUS.\n\n  Ye souls of the faithful who sleep in the Lord,\n    But as yet are shut out from your final reward,\n  Oh! would I could lend you assistance to fly\n    From your prison below to your palace on high!\n\n  O Father of Mercies! Thine anger withhold,\n    These works of Thy hand in Thy mercy behold;\n  Too oft from Thy path they have wandered aside,\n    But Thee, their Creator, they never denied.\n\n  O tender Redeemer, their misery see,\n    Deliver the souls that were ransomed by Thee;\n  Behold how they love Thee, despite all their pain;\n    Restore them, restore them to favor again!\n\n  O Spirit of Grace! O Consoler divine!\n    See how for Thy presence they longingly pine;\n  Ah! then, to enliven their sadness descend,\n    And fill them with peace and with joy in the end!\n\n  O Mother of Mercy! dear soother in grief!\n    Send thou to their torments a balmy relief;\n  Oh! temper the rigor of justice severe,\n    And soften their flames with a pitying tear.\n\n  Ye Patrons, who watched o'er their safety below,\n    Oh! think how they need your fidelity now;\n  And stir all the Angels and Saints in the sky\n    To plead for the souls that upon you rely!\n\n  Ye friends, who once sharing their pleasure and pain,\n    Now hap'ly already in Paradise reign,\n  Oh! comfort their hearts with a whisper of love,\n    And call them to share in your pleasures above!\n  O Fountain of Goodness! accept of our sighs:\n  Let Thy mercy bestow what Thy justice denies;\n  So may Thy poor captives, released from their woes,\n  Thy praises proclaim, while eternity flows!\n\n  All ye who would honor the Saints and their Head,\n  Remember, remember to pray for the dead--\n  And they, in return, from their misery freed,\n  To you will be friends in the hour of your need!\n\n--_Garland of Flowers_.\n\n\nALL SOULS' EVE.\n\n  'Twas All Souls' Eve; the lights in Notre Dame\n  Blazed round the altar; gloomy, in the midst,\n  The pall, with all its sable hangings, stood;\n  With torch and taper, priests were ranged around,\n  Chanting the solemn requiem of the dead;\n  And then along the aisles the distant lights\n  Moved slowly, two by two; the chapels shone\n  Lit as they pass'd in momentary glare;\n  Behind the fretted choir the yellow ray,\n  On either hand the altar, blazing fell.\n  She thought upon the multitude of souls\n  Dwelling so near and yet so separate.\n  With dawn she sought Saint Jacques; the altars there\n  Had each its priest; the black and solemn Mass,\n  The nodding feathers of the catafalque,\n  The flaring torches, and the funeral chant,\n  And intercessions for the countless souls\n  In Purgatory still. With pity new\n  The Pilgrim pray'd for the departed. Long\n  She knelt before the Blessed Sacrament,\n  Beside Our Lady's altar. Pictured there,\n  She saw, imprisoned in the forked flames,\n  The suffering souls who ask the alms of prayer;\n  Her taper small an aged peasant lit,\n  To burn before Our Lady, that her voice,\n  Mother of mercy as she is, might plead\n  For one who left her still on earth to pray.\n  . . . . . Sable veils\n  Soon hid the altars; all things spoke of death,\n  And realms where those who leave the upper air\n  Wait till the stains of sin are cleansed, and pant\n  Amid the thirsty flames for Paradise. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: These verses are taken from an anonymous metrical work\ncalled \"The Pilgrim,\" published in England in 1867.]\n\n\nOUR NEIGHBOR.\n\nELIZA ALLEN STARR.\n\n  Set it down gently at the altar rail,\n    The faithful, aged dust, with honors meet;\n  Long have we seen that pious face, so pale,\n    Bowed meekly at her Saviour's blessed feet.\n\n  These many years her heart was hidden where\n    Nor moth, nor rust, nor craft of man could harm;\n  The blue eyes, seldom lifted, save in prayer,\n    Beamed with her wished-for heaven's celestial calm.\n\n  As innocent as childhood's was the face,\n    Though sorrow oft had touched that tender heart;\n  Each trouble came as winged by special grace,\n    And resignation saved the wound from smart.\n\n  On bead and crucifix her finger kept,\n    Until the last, their fond, accustomed hold;\n  \"My Jesus,\" breathed the lips; the raised eyes slept,\n    The placid brow, the gentle hand grew cold.\n\n  The choicely ripening cluster, ling'ring late\n    Into October on its shrivelled vine,\n  Wins mellow juices, which in patience wait\n    Upon those long, long days of deep sunshine.\n\n  Then set it gently at the altar rail,\n    The faithful, aged dust, with honors meet;\n  How can we hope, if such as she can fail\n    Before th' Eternal God's high judgment-seat?\n\n\nPURGATORY.\n\nOLD BELLS.\n\n    Ring out merrily,\n    Loudly, cheerily,\n  Blithe old bells from the steeple tower.\n    Hopefully, fearfully,\n    Joyfully, tearfully,\n  Moveth the bride from her maiden bower.\n  Cloud there is none in the bright summer sky,\n  Sunshine flings benison down from on high;\n  Children sing loud as the train moves along,\n  \"Happy the bride that the sun shineth on.\"\n\n    Knell out drearily,\n    Measured out wearily,\n  Sad old bells from the steeple gray.\n    Priests chanting slowly,\n    Solemnly, slowly,\n  Passeth the corpse from the portal to-day.\n  Drops from the leaden clouds heavily fall,\n  Drippingly over the plume and the pall;\n  Murmur old folk, as the train moves along,\n  \"Happy the dead that the rain raineth on.\"\n\n    Toll at the hour of prime,\n    Matin and vesper chime,\n  Loved old bells from the steeple high;\n    Rolling, like holy waves,\n    Over the lowly graves,\n  Floating up, prayer-fraught, into the sky.\n  Solemn the lesson your lightest notes teach,\n  Stern is the preaching your iron tongues preach;\n  Ringing in life from the bud to the bloom;\n  Ringing the dead to their rest in the tomb.\n\n    Peal out evermore--\n    Peal as ye pealed of yore, Brave old bells, on each holy day.\n    In sunshine and gladness,\n    Through clouds and through sadness,\n  Bridal and burial have both passed away.\n  Tell us life's pleasures with death are still rife;\n  Tell us that death ever leadeth to life;\n  Life is our labor and death is our rest,\n  If happy the living, the dead are the blest.\n\n--_Popular Poetry_.\n\n\nO HOLY CHURCH!\n\nHARRIET M. SKIDMORE.\n\n  O holy Church! thy mother-heart\n    Still clasps the child of grace;\n  And nought its links of love can part,\n    Or rend its fond embrace.\n\n  Thy potent prayer and sacred rite\n    Embalm the precious clay,\n  That waits the resurrection-light--\n    The fadeless Easter day.\n\n  And loving hearts, by faith entwined,\n    True to that faith shall be,\n  And keep the sister-soul enshrined\n    In tender memory;\n\n  Shall bid the ceaseless prayer ascend,\n    To win her guerdon blest;\n  The radiant day that hath no end,\n    The calm, eternal rest.\n\n\nAN INCIDENT OF THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.\n\nSIR WALTER SCOTT.\n\n  Again he faced the battle-field--\n  Wildly they fly, are slain, or yield.\n  \"Now then,\" he said, and couch'd his spear,\n  \"My course is run, the goal is near;\n  One effort more, one brave career,\n    Must close this race of mine.\"\n  Then, in his stirrups rising high,\n  He shouted loud his battle-cry,\n   \"St. James for Argentine!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Now toil'd the Bruce, the battle done,\n  To use his conquest boldly won:\n  And gave command for horse and spear\n  To press the Southern's scatter'd rear,\n  Nor let his broken force combine,\n  When the war-cry of Argentine\n    Fell faintly on his ear!\n  \"Save, save his life,\" he cried. \"O save\n  The kind, the noble, and the brave!\"\n  The squadrons round free passage gave,\n    The wounded knight drew near.\n  He raised his red-cross shield no more,\n  Helm, cuish, and breast-plate stream'd with gore.\n  Yet, as he saw the King advance,\n  He strove even then to couch his lance--\n    The effort was in vain!\n  The spur-stroke fail'd to rouse the horse;\n  Wounded and weary, in 'mid course\n    He tumbled on the plain.\n  Then foremost was the generous Bruce\n  To raise his head, his helm to loose:--\n    \"Lord Earl, the day is thine!\n  My sovereign's charge, and adverse fate,\n  Have made our meeting all too late;\n    Yet this may Argentine,\n  As boon from ancient comrade, crave--\n  A Christian's Mass, a soldier's grave.\"\n  Bruce pressed his dying hand--its grasp\n  Kindly replied; but, in his clasp\n    It stiffen'd and grew cold--\n  And, \"O farewell!\" the victor cried,\n  Of chivalry the flower and pride,\n    The arm in battle bold,\n  The courteous mien, the noble race,\n  The stainless faith, the manly face!\n  Bid Ninian's convent light their shrine,\n  For late-wake of De Argentine.\n  O'er better knight on death-bier laid,\n  Torch never gleamd, nor Mass was said! [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: It is said that the body of Sir Giles de Argentine was\nbrought to Edinburgh, and interred with the greatest pomp in St. Giles'\nChurch. Thus did the royal Bruce respond to the dying knight's\nrequest.]\n\n--_From \"The Lord of the Isles\"_\n\n\nPRAY FOE THE MARTYRED DEAD.\n\n  Pray for the Dead! When, conscienceless, the nations\n\n    Rebellious rose to smite the thorn-crowned Head\n  Of Christendom, their proudest aspirations\n    Ambitioned but a place amongst the dead.\n\n  Pray for the Dead! The seeming fabled story\n    of early chivalry, in them renewed,\n  Shines out to-day with an ascendent glory\n    Above that field of parricidal feud.\n\n  The children of a persecuted mother,\n    When nations heard the drum of battle beat,\n  Through coward Europe, brother leagued with brother,\n    Rallied and perished at her sacred feet.\n\n  O Ireland, ever waiting the To-morrow,\n    Lift up thy widowed, venerable head,\n  Exultingly, through thy maternal sorrow,\n    Not comfortless, like Rachel, for thy dead.\n\n  For, where the crimson shock of battle thundered,\n    From hosts precipitated on a few,\n  Above thy sons, outnumbered, crushed and sundered,\n    Thy green flag through the smoke and glitter flew.\n\n  Lift up thy head! The hurricane that dashes\n    Its giant billows on the Rock of Time,\n  Divests thee, mother, of thy weeds and ashes,\n    Rendering, at least, thy grief sublime.\n\n  For nations, banded into conclaves solemn,\n    Thy name and spirit in the grave had cast,\n  And carved thy name upon the crumbling column\n    Which stands amid the unremembered Past.\n\n  Pray for the Dead! Cold, cold amid the splendor\n    Of the Italian South our brothers sleep;\n  The blue air broods above them warm and tender,\n    The mists glide o'er them from the barren deep.\n\n  Pray for the Dead! High-souled and lion-hearted,\n    Heroic martyrs to a glorious trust,\n  By them our scorned name is re-asserted,\n    By them our banner rescued from the dust.\n\n--_Kilkenny Journal_.\n\n\nIN WINTER\n\nELIZA ALLEN STARR.\n\n  How lonely on the hillside look the graves!\n  The summer green no longer o'er them waves;\n  No more, among the frosted boughs, are heard\n  The mournful whip-poor-will or singing bird.\n\n  The rose-bush, planted with such tearful care,\n  Stands in the winter sunshine stiff and bare;\n  Save here and there its lingering berries red\n  Make the cold sunbeams warm above the dead.\n\n  Through all the pines, and through the tall, dry grass,\n  The fitful breezes with a shiver pass,\n  While o'er the autumn's lately flowering weeds\n  The snow-birds flit and peck the shelling seeds.\n\n  Because those graves look lonely, bleak and bare,\n  Because they are not, as in summer, fair,\n  O turn from comforts, cheery friends, and home,\n  And 'mid their solemn desolation roam!\n\n  On each brown turf some fresh memorial lay;\n  O'er each dear hillock's dust a moment stay,\n  To breathe a \"Rest in Peace\" for those who lie\n  On lonely hillsides 'neath a wintry sky.\n\n\nOSEMUS.\n\nMARY E MANNIX\n\n  Welcome, ye sad dirges of November,\n  When Indian summer drops her brilliant crown\n  All withered, as in clinging mantle brown\n  She floats, away to die beneath the leaves;\n  Pressed are the grapes, gathered the latest sheaves;\n  O wailing winds! how can we but remember\n  The loved and lost? O ceaseless monotones!\n  Hearing your plaints, counting your weary moans\n  Like voices of the dead, like broken sighs\n  From stricken souls who long for Paradise,\n  We will not slight the message that ye bear,\n  Nor check a pitying thought, nor guide a prayer.\n  They have departed, we must still remember;\n  Welcome, ye sad, sad dirges of November!\n\n\nFUNERAL HYMN.\n\n_From the French of Theodore Nisard_\n\nA. T. SADLIER\n\n  The bell is tolling for the dead,\n  Christians, hasten we to prayer,\n  Our brothers suffer there,\n  Consumed in struggles vain.\n\n  Have pity, have pity on them,\n  In torturing flames immersed,\n  The stains their souls aspersed\n  Retain them far from heav'n.\n  Since God has giv'n us power,\n  Oh, let us their woes relieve;\n  Their hope do not deceive,\n  Our protectors they will be.\n\n  For these suff'ring ones we pray,\n  Lord Jesus, Victim blest,\n  Take them from pain to rest,\n  Thy children, too, are they.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[As the translation is a very rude one, we add the French original,\nwhich, particularly when set to music, is full of a deep solemnity and\npathos.]\n\nCHANT FUN\u00c8BRE.\n\nNISARD\n\n  La cloche tinte pour les morts\n  Chr\u00e9tiens, mettons nous en pri\u00e8res!\n  Ceux qi gemissent sont des fr\u00e8res,\n  Se consumant en vains efforts.\n  Piti\u00e9 pour eux! Piti\u00e9 pour eux!\n  Ils tourbillonnent dans la flamme;\n  Les taches qui souillent leur \u00e2mes,\n  Les tiennent captifs loin des cieux.\n  Mettons un terme \u00e0 leur douleurs,\n  Dieu nous en donne la puissance;\n  Ne trompons point leur esp\u00e9rance,\n  Puis ils seront nos protecteurs.\n  Disons pour nos fi\u00e8res souffrants:\n  Sauveur J\u00e9sus, Sainte Victime,\n  Tirez nos fr\u00e8res de l'abime,\n  Car, eux aussi, sont vos enfants.\n\n\nREQUIESCAT IN PACE.\n\nHARRIET M. SKIDMORE\n\n    O Father, give them rest--\n  Thy faithful ones, whose day of toil is o'er,\n\n  Whose weary feet shall wander never more\n    O'er earth's unquiet breast!\n\n    The battle-strife was long;\n  Yet, girt with grace, and guided by Thy light,\n  They faltered not till triumph closed the fight,\n    Till pealed the victor's song.\n\n    Though drear the desert path,\n  With cruel thorns and flinty fragments strewn,\n  Where fiercely swept, amid the glare of noon.\n    The plague-wind's biting wrath.\n\n    Still onward pressed their feet;\n  For patience soothed with sweet celestial balm,\n  And, from the rocks, hope called her founts to calm\n    The Simoom's venom-heat.\n\n    Their march hath reached its close,\n  Its toils are o'er, its Red Sea safely passed;\n  And pilgrim feet have cast aside at last\n    Earth's sandal-shoon of woes.\n\n    Thou blissful promised land!\n  One rapturous glimpse of matchless glory caught,\n  One priceless vision, with thy beauty fraught,\n    Hath blessed that way-worn band.\n\n    And to thy smiling shore\n  Their ceaseless messengers of longing went,\n  And blooms of bliss and fruitage of content,\n    Returning, gladly bore.\n\n    Yet sadly still they wait;\n  For, past idolatries to gods of clay,\n  And past rebellions 'gainst the Master's sway,\n    Have barred the golden gate.\n\n    The magic voice of prayer,\n  The saving rite, the sacrifice of love,\n  The human tear, the sigh of Saints above,\n    Blent in one off'ring fair--\n\n    These, these alone, can win\n  The boon they crave: glad entrance into rest,\n  The fadeless crown, the garment of the blest,\n    Washed pure from stain of sin.\n\n    Hear, then, our eager cry.\n  O God of mercy! bid their anguish cease;\n  To prisoned souls, ah! bring the glad release,\n    And hush the mourner's sigh.\n\n    Mother of pitying love!\n  On sorrow's flood thy tender glances bend,\n  And o'er its dark and dreadful torrent send\n    The olive-bearing dove.\n\n    Thy potent prayer shall be\n  An arch of peace, a radiant promise-bow,\n  To span the gulf, and shed its cheering glow\n    O'er the dread penance-sea.\n\n    And on its pathway blest\n  The ransomed throng, in garments washed and white,\n  May safely pass to love's fair realm of light,\n    To heaven's perfect rest.\n\n\nTHE FEAST OF ALL SOULS IS THE COUNTRY.\n\n_From the French of Fontanes_. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Louis, Marquis de Fontanes, Peer of France, and Member of\nthe French Academy.]\n\nANNA T. SADLIER\n\n  E'en now doth Sagittarius from on high,\n    Outstretch his bow, and ravage all the earth,\n    The hills, and meadows where of flowers the dearth\n  Already felt, like some vast ruins lie.\n\n  The bleak November counts its primal day,\n    While I, a witness of the year's decline,\n    Glad of my rest, within the fields recline.\n  No poet heart this beauty can gainsay,\n    No feeling mind these autumn pictures scorn,\n    But knows how their monotonous charms adorn.\n  Oh, with what joy does dreamy sorrow stray\n    At eve, slow pacing, the dun-colored vale;\n    He seeks the yellow woods, and hears the tale\n  Of winds that strip them of their lonely leaves;\n  For this low murmur all my sense deceives.\n    In rustling forests do I seem to hear\n    Those voices long since still, to me most dear.\n  In leaves grown sere they speak unto my heart.\n\n    This season round the coffin-lid we press,\n    Religion wears herself a mourning dress,\n  More grand she seems, while her diviner part\n  At sight of this, a world in ruins, grows.\n  To-day a pious usage she has taught,\n    Her voice opens vaults wherein our fathers dwell.\n  Alas, my memory doth keep that thought.\n    The dawn appeareth, and the swaying bell\n  Mingles its mournful sound with whistling winds,\n    The Feast of Death proclaiming to the air.\n    Men, women, children, to the Church repair,\n  Where one, with speech and with example binds\n    These happy tribes, maintaining all in peace.\n    He follows them, the first apostles, near,\n    Like them the pastor's holy name makes dear.\n\n    \"With hymns of joy,\" said he, \"but yesterday\n    We celebrated the triumphant dead\n    Who conquer'd heav'n by burning zeal, faith-fed.\n  For plaintive shades, whom sorrow makes his prey\n    We weep to-day, our mourning is their bliss,\n    All potent prayer is privileged in this,\n    Souls purified from sin by transient pain\n    It frees; we'll visit their most calm domain.\n  Man seeks it, and descends there every hour.\n  But dry our tears, for now celestial rays\n    The grave's dim region swift shall penetrate;\n    Yea, all its dwellers in their primal state\n  Shall wake, behold the light in mute amaze.\n    Ah, might I to that world my flight then wing\n    In triumph to my God, my flock recovered bring.\"\n\n  So saying, offered he the holy rite,\n    With arms extended praying God to spare,\n    The while adoring knelt he humbly there.\n  That people prostrate! oh, most solemn sight\n  That church, its porticoes with moss o'ergrown,\n  The ancient walls, dim light and Gothic panes,\n    In its antiquity the brazen lamp\n    A symbol of eternity doth stamp.\n  A lasting sun. God's majesty down sent,\n    Vows, tears and incense from the altars rise,\n    Young beauties praying 'neath their mothers' eyes,\n  Do soften by their voices innocent,\n  The touching pomp religion there reveals;\n  The organ hush'd, the sacred silence round,\n    All, all uplifts, ennobles and inspires;\n    Man feels himself transported where the choirs\n  Of seraphim with harps of gold entone\n  Low at Jehovah's feet their endless song.\n    Then God doth make His awful presence known,\n    Hides from the wise, to loving hearts is shown:\n  He seeks less to be proved than to be felt. [1]\n  From out the Church the multitudes depart,\n    In separate groups unto th' abode they go\n    Of tranquil death, their tears still silent flow.\n  The standard of the Cross is borne apart,\n    Sublime our songs for death their sacred theme,\n    Now mixed with noise that heralds storms they seem;\n  Now lower above our heads the dark'ning clouds,\n    Our faces mournful, our funereal hymn\n  Both air and landscape in our grief enshrouds.\n\n  Towards death's tranquil haven, on we fare,\n    The cypress, ivy, and the yew trees haunt\n  The spot where thorns seem growing everywhere.\n  Sparse lindens rise up grimly here and there,\n  The winds rush whistling through their branches gaunt.\n    Hard by a stream, my mind found there exprest\n    In waves and tombs a twofold lesson drest,\n    Eternal movement and eternal rest.\n\n  Ah, with what holy joy these peasants fain\n    Would honor parent dust; they seek with pride\n    The stone or turf, concealing those allied\n  To them by love, they find them here again.\n  Alas, with us we may not seek the boon\n    Of gazing on the ashes of our dead.\n    Our dead are banish'd, on their rights we tread,\n  Their bones unhonored at hap-hazard strewn.\n    E'en now 'gainst us cry out their _Manes_ pale,\n    Those nations and those times dire woes entail,\n  'Mongst whom in hearts grown weak by slow degree,\n    The _cultus_ of the dead has ceased.\n  Here, here, at least have they from wrong been free,\n  Their heritage of peace preserving best.\n    No sumptuous marbles burden names here writ,\n    A shepherd, farmer, peasant, as is fit,\n  Beneath these stones in tranquil slumber see;\n    Perchance a Turenne, a Corneille they hide,\n  Who lived obscure, e'en to himself unknown.\n    But if from men he'd risen separate,\n    Sublime in camps, the theatre, the state,\n  His name by idol-loving worlds outcried,\n  Would that have made his slumber here more sweet?\n\n[Footnote 1: La Harpe said that these last twenty lines were the most\nbeautiful verses in the French tongue. They necessarily lose\nconsiderably in the translation.]\n\n\nREQUIEM \u00c6TERNAM.\n\nT. D. MCGEE.\n\n[This beautiful requiem, written March 6th, 1868 (St. Victor's Day), on\nthe death of an intimate friend, acquires a new pathos and a new\nsolemnity, from the fact that its gifted author met his death at the\nhands of an assassin but one month later, on the 7th of April of the\nsame year. Like Mozart, he wrote his own requiem]\n\n  Saint Victor's Day, a day of woe,\n  The bier that bore our dead went slow\n  And silent gliding o'er the snow--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  With Villa Maria's faithful dead,\n  Among the just we make his bed,\n  The cross, he loved, to shield his head--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  The skies may lower, wild storms may rave\n  Above our comrade's mountain grave,\n  That cross is mighty still to save--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Deaf to the calls of love and care,\n  He bears no more his mortal share,\n  Nought can avail him now but prayer--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  To such a heart who could refuse\n  Just payment of all burial dues,\n  Of Holy Church the rite and use?\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Right solemnly the Mass was said,\n  While burn'd the tapers round the dead,\n  And manly tears like rain were shed--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  No more St. Patrick's aisles prolong\n  The burden of his funeral song,\n  His noiseless night must now be long--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Up from the depths we heard arise\n  A prayer of pity to the skies,\n  To Him who dooms or justifies--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Down from the skies we heard descend\n  The promises the Psalmist penned,\n  The benedictions without end--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Mighty our Holy Church's will\n  To shield her parting souls from ill,\n  Jealous of Death, she guards them still--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n  The dearest friend will turn away,\n  And leave the clay to keep the clay,\n  Ever and ever she will stay--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  When for us sinners at our need,\n  That mother's voice is raised to plead,\n  The frontier hosts of heaven 'take heed--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Mother of Love! Mother of fear,\n  And holy Hope, and Wisdom dear,\n  Behold we bring thy suppliant here--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  His glowing heart is still for aye,\n  That held fast by thy clemency,\n  Oh! look on him with loving eye--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  His Faith was as the tested gold,\n  His Hope assured, not over-bold,\n  His Charities past count, untold--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Well may they grieve who laid him there,\n  Where shall they find his equal--where?\n  Nought can avail him now but prayer--\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n  Friend of my soul, farewell to thee!\n  Thy truth, thy trust, thy chivalry;\n  As thine? so may my last end be!\n    _Miserere Domine!_\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n\nASSOCIATION OF MASSES AND STATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR THE BELIEF OF THE\nHOLY SOULS.\n\nIt would be a great defect in a book such as this to omit all mention\nof an Association which exists in Montreal, Canada, for the special\nrelief of the Souls in Purgatory. It is certain that there are\nPurgatorian societies, established in many other cities, both of Europe\nand America. But this Canadian one seems unique, in so far, that it\nhas a triple aim: first, that of relieving the holy souls; second,\nthat of the conversion of infidels; third, that of contributing to the\nsupport of the Mendicant Order of St. Francis. The money received is\nsent direct to these missionaries, by whom the Masses are said.\nTouching stories are told of the joy of these devoted apostles on\nreceipt of such alms, which aid them so much in the various good works\nin which they are engaged.\n\nThe society has, as it were, two branches. In the first the associates\nmerely bind themselves to make the Way of the Cross once a week, on a\nday fixed, with the primary object of relieving the holy souls, and\nparticularly those most pleasing to God; and the secondary one of\nconverting the infidels. At the end of this exercise, they make use of\nthe following invocation: \"Holy Souls in Purgatory, rest in peace, and\npray for us.\"\n\nThe other branch has for its object the procuring of Masses for the\ndeliverance of the suffering souls. Each associate must pay to the\ntreasurer twenty-five cents a month, or three dollars a year; for which\nMasses will be said according to the intention of the subscriber,\nhaving always in view those souls which are most pleasing to God.\n\nOne may become a life member, on payment of twenty-five dollars.\nFoundations of Masses can also be made in connection with the\nAssociation. They are similar to those which came into existence at the\ntime of the Crusades and at many other epochs in Christian history.\nSuch foundations are sometimes made in wills. They are, of course, not\nwithin the reach of every one. It is necessary to pay five hundred\ndollars into the hands of the Society. Every necessary security for its\nproper use is given, and the donor is entitled in perpetuity to a\ncertain yearly rental to be expended in Masses for his soul. The sum\nmay be paid in instalments, or several persons may club together in\nmaking the foundation. It is a sublime thought that the Holy Sacrifice\nwill thus continue to be said for us, long after our memory has passed\naway from earth. But as the three dollars a year which constitutes one\na member of the Association is much more within the reach of most of\nus, it may be well to lay more stress upon the advantages which we\nshall thereby gain for ourselves and our deceased friends. It entitles\nus after death to a special Mass and a Way of the Cross every year from\neach associate. The number of associates is very great; besides a share\nin all the Masses and Stations, we have also a share in the good works\nof the missionaries of St. Francis, and can gain Indulgences which have\nbeen granted to the members. These Indulgences, plenary and partial,\nare attached to all the principal, and to some of the minor feasts of\nthe year.\n\nIn connection with the work, an almanac both in French and English is\npublished every year at Montreal, and sold for the moderate sum of five\ncents. In this pamphlet a full account is given of the Association, and\nthere is besides a great deal of useful and interesting reading, such\nas anecdotes relating to the dead, the opinions of various spiritual\nauthors on Purgatory, and letters from foreign countries, or from\nvarious individuals concerning, the society and its progress. [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: To become an associate one must address himself to the\nchaplain, Rev. F. Reid, 401 St. Denis Street, or to the treasurer,\nLouis Ricard, Esq., 166 St. Denis St, Montreal, Canada.]\n\n\nEXTRACTS FROM \"THE CATHOLIC REVIEW.\" [1]\n\n[Footnote 1: November, 1885.]\n\n\"The Month of the Holy Souls\" is at hand. In Catholic lands November is\nspecially devoted by the faithful to increased suffrages for the repose\nof the holy and patient dead. Many reports reach us from experienced\npriests showing that the practice of requesting Requiem Masses for the\ndead is not increasing. Priests have what is, in some respects, a\nnatural objection to urge upon their people perseverance in this old\nCatholic practice of piety and gratitude. It is one which can be easily\nunderstood. Yet, largely owing to this nice delicacy, they are, after\ntheir own deaths, forgotten by many bound to them through spiritual\ngratitude. One of the most experienced priests in New York tells us\nthat for five priests that have died in his house he has not known ten\nMasses to be said at the request of the laity. How does friendship\nserve others less public and less popular? It gives a big funeral, a\nlong procession of useless carriages, but no alms to the poor, and no\nMasses for the dead.\n\nWhat a pity it is that in drawing so much that is Catholic and\nbeautiful from Ireland, we did not adopt its truly Christian devotion\nfor the forgotten and neglected dead, which makes every priest recite\nthe _De Profundis_ and prayers for the faithful departed, before\nhe leaves the altar. We noticed some time ago that the Holy See\nsanctioned a Spanish practice of permitting to each priest three Masses\non All Souls' Day as on Christmas Day. No doubt, were it properly\npetitioned, it would likewise extend to all the churches drawing their\nfaith from St. Patrick's preaching, that privilege, as well as the\nbeautiful custom that now has the force of law in Ireland, and that\nrecalls so much of her devotion to the dead and of her suffering for\nthe Catholic faith. That _De Profundis is one of the chapters of\n\"fossil history,\" which in all future periods will recall the generous\nendowments that Ireland once provided for her dead, and the ruthless\nconfiscations by which they were robbed.\n\nNot a Catholic American paper that we have received this November has\nfailed to argue ably, generously, and most Christianly, for suffrages\nfor those who have gone before and are anticipating the advent of final\npeace.\n\nThe letters which come to a Catholic newspaper office are a very sure\nbarometer of the waves of thought in the Catholic atmosphere of the\ncountry. From those that we have received we can affirm that no\ndevotion would be much more popular with the people than that which was\npronounced in the days of the Maccabees \"a holy and wholesome thought.\"\n\nEvery day now there is an agreeable record in the daily papers of New\nYork of Requiem services held in the various churches for the repose of\nthe soul of the late Cardinal. Church after church seems to surpass its\npredecessors in the grateful devotion of the people, who show that they\nremember their prelate. In St. Gabriel's the Cardinal's private\nsecretary, Mgr. Farley, had the satisfaction of witnessing an\nexceptionally large gathering to honor his illustrious chief. The\nPaulist Fathers had a Requiem service that was worthy of their Church\nand their affection for the dead, to whom they were bound by so many\nties.\n\nRome, if the city of the soul, is also pre-eminently the city of the\ndead. So many great and illustrious deaths are reported to it daily\nfrom the ends of the earth that to it death and greatness are familiar\nand almost unnoticeable facts. It is, therefore, not undeserving of\nremark to find the newspapers of the Eternal City marking their notices\nof the passing of our Cardinal with unusual signs of mourning. Their\ncomments on the great loss of the American Church are toned by the\n_gravis m\u009cror_ with which the Holy Father received by Atlantic\nCable the sad news.\n\nIn the American College, Rev. Dr. O'Connell, the President, took\nimmediate steps to pay to its illustrious patron the last homage that\nCatholic affection and loyalty can render to the great dead. From a\nletter to _The Catholic Review_ we learn that the celebrant of the\nSolemn Mass of Requiem was the rector, Rev. Dr. O'Connell; Rev. John\nCurley, deacon; Rev. Bernard Duffy, sub-deacon; Rev. Thomas McManus and\nWilliam Guinon, acolytes; Mr. William Murphy, thurifer; and Rev.\nMessrs. Cunnion and Raymond, masters of ceremonies. All these gentlemen\nare students from the diocese of New York.\n\n\nA REQUIEM FOR THE CARDINAL IN PARIS.\n\nPARIS, _October_ 30.--A solemn funeral service of exceptional\nsplendor was celebrated this morning at the Madeleine for the repose of\nthe late Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York. The church was\nhung with black and was resplendent with lights. Outside the portico,\non the steps, were two large funeral torches, with green flames.\nSimilar torches were visible in many parts of the edifice, including\nthe lofty upper galleries. The catafalque was of large dimensions, and\nwas flanked on either side by numerous lights and torches as well as by\nmarble images. Over all was a sable canopy, suspended from the ceiling.\nA Cardinal's hat, with its tassels, lay on the pall. The late\nCardinal's motto, \"In the hope of life eternal,\" was repeated\nfrequently in the decorations.\n\n\nA DUTY OF NOVEMBER.\n\n\"HAVE PITY ON ME, AT LEAST YOU, MY FRIENDS.\"\n\n(_From the Texas Monitor_.)\n\nWe have often repeated in our morning and night prayers the words of\nthe Creed: \"I believe in the communion of saints,\" without thinking,\nperhaps, that we were expressing our belief in one of the most\nbeautiful and consoling doctrines of the Holy Catholic Church. I\nbelieve in the communion of saints--that is, I believe in the holy\ncommunion of prayer and intercession which exists between all the\nmembers of the Mystical Body of Christ--the Church, be they fighting\nthe battles of the Lord against the Devil, the Flesh, and the World, in\nthe ranks of the Church Militant on earth, or enjoying in the happy\nmansions of Heaven their eternal reward, as members of the Church\nTriumphant, or finally waiting in the dark prison of Purgatory until\nthey shall have paid their debt to the Eternal Justice \"_to the last\nfarthing_,\" and be saved \"yet, so as by fire.\" I believe in the\ncommunion of saints--that is, I believe that there exists no barrier\nbetween the members of Christ. Death itself cannot separate us from our\nbrethren, who have gone before us. We believe that we daily escape\ninnumerable dangers, both spiritual and temporal, through the prayers\nof our friends of the Triumphant Church; and we believe also that it is\nwithin our power to help by our prayers and sacrifices our friends who\nare for a time in the middle place of expiation, because \"nothing\ndefiled can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\nIt has always been the practice of the Catholic Church to offer prayers\nand other pious works in suffrage for the dead, as is abundantly proved\nby the writings of the Latin Fathers, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St.\nAugustine, St. Gregory, and of the Greek Fathers, St. Ephrem, St.\nBasil, and St. John Chrysostom. St. Chrysostom says:\n\n\"It was not without good reason ordained by the Apostles that mention\nshould be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, because they\nknew well that these would receive great benefit from it.\" By the\nexpression \"tremendous mysteries\" is meant the Holy Sacrifice of the\nMass.\n\nSt. Augustine says, upon the same subject:\n\n\"It is not to be doubted that the dead are aided by prayers of the Holy\nChurch and by the salutary sacrifice, and by the alms which are offered\nfor their spirits that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully than\ntheir sins have deserved. For this, which has been handed down by the\nFathers, the Universal Church observes.\"\n\nSt. Augustine also tells us that Arius was the first who dared to teach\nthat it was of no use to offer up prayers and sacrifices for the dead,\nand this doctrine of Arius lie reckoned among heresies. (Heresy 53.)\n\nThe Church has always made a memento of the dead in the holy sacrifice\nof the Mass, and exhorted the faithful to pray for them. She urges us\nto pray for the souls in Purgatory, because not being able to merit,\nthey cannot help themselves in the least. To their appeals for mercy\nthe Almighty answers that His Justice must be satisfied, and that the\nnight in which no one can any longer work has arrived for them (St.\nJohn ix., v. 4), and thus these poor souls have recourse to our\nprayers. According to the pious Gerson we may hear their supplications:\n\"Pray for us because we cannot do anything for ourselves. This help we\nhave a right to expect from you, you have known and loved us in the\nworld. Do not forget us in the time of our need. It is said that it is\nin the time of affliction that we know our true friends; but what\naffliction could be compared to ours? Be moved with compassion.\" Have\npity on us, at least you, our friends!\n\nThe Church being aware of the ingratitude and forgetfulness of men, and\nthe facility with which they neglect their most sacred duties, has set\napart a day to be consecrated to the remembrance of the dead. On the 2d\nday of November, All Souls' Day, she applies all her prayers to\npropitiate the Divine Mercy through the merits of the Precious Blood of\nJesus Christ, her Divine Spouse, to obtain for the souls in Purgatory\nthe remission of the temporal punishment due to their sins, and their\nspeedy admission into the eternal abode of rest, light, and bliss. How\nholy and precious is the institution of All Souls' Day! How full of\ncharity! It truly demonstrates the love and solicitude of the Church\nfor all her children. In the first centuries of the Church, while the\nfaithful were most exact in praying for their deceased friends and\nrelatives and in having the holy sacrifice of the Mass offered for\nthem, the Church had not yet appointed a special day for all the souls\nin Purgatory. But in 998 St. Odilon, Abbot of Cluny, having established\nin all the monasteries of his order the feast of the commemoration of\nthe faithful departed, and ordered that the office be recited for them\nall, this devotion which was approved by the Popes, soon became general\nin all the Western Churches.\n\nIn doing away with the Christian practice of praying for the dead, the\nProtestant sects have despised the voice of nature, the spirit of\nChristianity, and the most ancient and respectable tradition.\n\nThe most efficacious means to help the suffering souls in Purgatory are\nprayer, fasting, almsgiving, and above all the holy sacrifice of the\nMass. By fasting we mean all sorts of mortifications to abstain from\ncertain things in our meals, to deprive ourselves of lawful amusements,\nto suffer with resignation trials and contradictions, humiliations and\nreverses of fortune. The alms we give for the dead prompt the Lord to\nbe merciful to them. The sacrifice of the Mass, which was instituted\nfor the living and the dead, is the most efficacious means of\ndelivering them from their pains. \"If the sacrifices which Job,\" says\nSt. John Chrysostom, \"offered to God for his children purified them,\nwho could doubt that, when we offer to God the Adorable Sacrifice for\nthe departed, they receive consolation therefrom, and that the Blood of\nChrist which flows upon our altars for them, the voice of which ascends\nto heaven, brings about their deliverance.\"\n\nNot only charity and gratitude demand that we should pray for the souls\nin Purgatory, but it is also for us a positive duty, which we are in\njustice bound to fulfill. Perhaps some of these poor souls are\nsuffering on our account. Perhaps they are relatives or friends who\nhave loved us too much, or who have been induced to commit sin by our\nwords or example. We are also prompted to pray for them by our own\ninterest. What consolation will it not be for us to know that we have\nabbreviated their sufferings! How great will their gratitude be after\ntheir deliverance! They will manifest it by praying for us, and\nobtaining for us the help which is so necessary in this valley of\ntears. In prosperity men forget those who have helped them in\nadversity; but it will not be so with the souls in Purgatory. After\nbeing admitted to the kingdom of heaven through the help of our\nprayers, \"they will solicit,\" says St. Bernard, \"the most precious\ngifts of grace in our behalf, and because the merciful shall obtain\nmercy, we will receive after our death the reward of whatever may have\nbeen done for the souls of Purgatory during our life. Others will pray\nfor us, and we shall share more abundantly in the suffrages which the\nChurch offers without ceasing, for those who sleep in the Lord.\"\n\n\nPURGATORIAL ASSOCIATION.\n\nA CARD FROM REV. S. S. MATTINGLY.\n\n(from the Catholic Columbian)\n\nWe wish to call the attention of the members of this Association to the\nnear approach of the commemoration of all the faithful departed, which\ntakes place on Monday, the second day of next November. Our Association\nis in its fourth year of existence. Its numbers have increased beyond\nour expectations.\n\nJust now, on account of the season, applications begin to come in more\nrapidly, hence we wish to give again the conditions for membership, and\nthe benefits derived from it. The members say one decade of the beads,\nor one \"Our Father\" and ten \"Hail Marys\" every day. They may take what\nmystery of the Holy Rosary devotion may prompt, and retain or change it\nat their own will, without reference to us. This is all that is\nrequired, and, of course, the obligation cannot bind under pain of even\nvenial sin. Those families which say the Rosary every day need not add\nanother decade unless they choose, but may say the Rosary in union with\nthe Purgatorial Association, and thus gain the benefits for themselves\nand the faithful departed.\n\nThe benefits are one Mass every week, which is said for the poor souls,\nfor the spiritual and temporal welfare of the members, according to\ntheir intention, and for the same intention a memento is made every day\nduring Holy Mass for them.\n\nThere are many kind priests who are associated with us in this good\nwork, and they, we are sure, remember us all in the Holy Sacrifice. We\nthank and beg them to continue to be mindful of us associated and bound\ntogether in this most charitable work of shortening, by our prayers and\ngood works, the time of purgation for the souls in Purgatory. Those who\ndesire to become members may send their names, with a postal card\ndirected to themselves, so that their application may be answered. The\napplications for membership are directed to Rev. S. S. Mattingly,\nMcConnellsville, Morgan County, Ohio.\n\nSome two or three times complaints have come to us, but in all cases\nthe letters never came to hand. We have from time to time received\nletters not intended for us, and from this we judge our letters went\nelsewhere. We try to be prompt, though an odd time our absence on the\nmission may delay an answer.\n\nNow, dear friends, there is another fact to which we must advert. Many\nof our dear associates, who were attracted by the charity of our work,\nare no longer among the living. Their friends have kindly reminded us\nof their death by letter, and we, grateful for this charity, always\npray for them. Their day is passed. Our time is coming. Who can\nremember the kind faces which have gone out of our families and not\nshed tears at their absence? Their places are vacant. Love leaves the\nvery chairs on which they sat unoccupied. We look around the room and\nat the places their forms filled within it. All these bring tears to\nour eyes, and make the heart too full for utterance. Thus fond\nimagination, sprung from love, wipes out the vacancy. We look through\nthe mist of our tears and there again are the forms of our love, but\nalas! they do not speak to us. And days and months are run into years,\nyet our tears flow on; indeed we cannot and we do not want to forget\nthem. We think of our sins and faults and how they caused theirs, and\nour cry of pardon for ourselves must come after or with that of mercy\nfor them.\n\n\nTHE HOLY FACE AND THE SUFFERING SOULS.\n\nThe holy souls in Purgatory are ever saying in beseeching accents:\n\"Lord, show us Thy Face,\" desiring with a great desire to see it;\nwaiting, they longingly wait for the Divine Face of their Saviour. We\nshould often pray for the holy souls who during life thirsted to see,\nin the splendor of its glory, the Human Face of Jesus Christ. We should\noften say the Litany of the Holy Face of Jesus, that our Lord may\nquickly bring these holy souls to the contemplation of His Adorable\nCountenance. We should pray to Mary, Mother All-Merciful, who, before\nall others, saw the Face of Jesus in His two-fold nativity in\nBethlehem, and from the tomb, to plead for those holy souls; to St.\nJoseph, who saw the Face of Jesus in Bethlehem and Nazareth; to the\nglorious St. Michael, Our Lady's regent in Purgatory, one of the seven\nwho stands before the throne and Face of God, who has been appointed to\nreceive souls after death, and is the special consoler and advocate of\nthe holy souls detained amidst the flames of Purgatory. We should also\npray to St. Peter for the holy souls, he to whom Christ gave the keys\nof the kingdom of Heaven. The holy souls are suffering the temporal\npenalty due to sin. This Apostle had by his sin effaced the image of\nGod in his soul, but Jesus turned His Holy Face toward the unfaithful\ndisciple, and His divine look wounded the heart of Peter with repentant\nsorrow and love; also St. James and St. John, who with him saw the\nglory of the Face of Jesus on Mount Thabor, and its sorrow in\nGethsemane, when, 'neath the olive trees, it was covered with\nconfusion, and bathed in a bloody sweat for our sins. These great\nsaints, dear to the Heart of Jesus, will surely hear our prayers in\nbehalf of the holy souls. St. Mary Magdalen, who saw the Holy Face in\nagony on the cross, when its incomparable beauty was obscured under the\nfearful cloud of the sins of the world, and who assisted the Virgin\nMother to wash, anoint, and veil the bruised, pale, features of her\nDivine Son; the saint, whose many sins were forgiven her because she\nhad loved much, will lend heed to our prayers for the holy souls. We\nshould also invoke, for the holy souls, the Virgin Martyrs, because of\ntheir purity, love, and the sufferings they endured to see in Heaven\nthe Face of their King.\n\nYet nothing can help these souls so much as the Holy Sacrifice of the\nMass. By the \"Blood of the Testament\" these prisoners can be brought\nout of the pit. Even to hear Mass with devotion for the holy souls,\nbrings them great refreshment. St. Jerome says: \"The souls in\nPurgatory, for whom the priest is wont to pray at Mass, suffer no pain\nwhilst Mass is being offered, that after every Mass is said for the\nsouls in Purgatory some souls are released therefrom.\" Our Blessed\nLady, the consoler of the afflicted, will always do much to aid the\nholy souls; in her maternal solicitude, she has _promised_ to\nassist and console the devout wearers of the Brown Scapular of Mount\nCarmel detained in Purgatory, and also to speedily release them from\nits flames, the Saturday after their death, if _some_ few\nconditions have been complied with during their life-time on earth.\nBishop Vaughan says, \"there can be no difficulty in believing thus, if\nwe consider the meaning of a Plenary Indulgence granted by the Church,\nand applicable to the holy souls. The Sabbatine Indulgence is, in fact,\na Plenary Indulgence granted by God, through the prayers of the Blessed\nVirgin Mary to the deceased who are in Purgatory, provided they have\nfulfilled upon earth certain specified conditions. The Sacred\nCongregation of the Holy Office by a Decree of February 13, 1613,\nforever settled any controversy that should arise on the subject of\nthis Bull. St. Teresa, in the thirty-eighth chapter of her life, shows\nthe special favor Our Lady exerts in favor of her Carmelite children\nand all who wear the Brown Scapular. She saw a holy friar ascending to\nHeaven without passing through Purgatory, and was given to understand,\nthat because he had kept his rule well he had obtained the grace\ngranted to the Carmelite Order by special bulls, as to the pains of\nPurgatory. So from their prison these waiting souls are ever crying out\nto us, patient and resigned, yet with a most burning desire, they are\nlonging to be brought to the presence of God, and to gaze upon the\nglorified countenance of the Incarnate Word. They are far more\nperfectly members of the Mystical Body of Christ than we are, because\nthey are confirmed in grace, and the doctrine of the Communion of\nSaints should hence prompt us to give the holy souls the charitable\nassistance of our alms, prayers, and good works. 'Bear ye one another's\nburdens, and so ye shall fulfill the law of Christ,' and thus one day\nwith them enjoy the endless Vision of the Holy Face of Jesus Christ in\nits unclouded splendor in Heaven.\"\n\n\nWHEN WILL THEY LEARN ITS SECRET?\n\nHOW THE CARDINAL'S OBSEQUIES IMPRESSED A BAPTIST SPECTATOR.\n\n(_From the Baptist Examiner._)\n\nFor the third time in a quarter of a century the streets have been\nthronged, and an unending procession has filed by the dead. Long lines\nreached many blocks, both up and down Fifth avenue, and they grew no\nshorter through the best part of three days. This recognition of the\neminence and power of the Cardinal, John McCloskey, has been very\ngeneral.\n\nAll classes have paid homage. And why? He was a gentleman. He was\nlearned, politic, able, far-sighted, clean. His energy was without\nmeasure. The rise and reach of his influence and work have no chance\nfor comparison with the accomplishment of any other American clergyman.\nThere is none to name beside him. He was a burning zealot all his life.\nElevation and honors came to him. He became a prince in his Church. He\nswept every avenue of power and influence within his grasp into that\nChurch. He lived singly for it. In his death, his Church exalts\nherself. She gives, after her faith, prayers, Masses, glory. In his,\nlife he spoke only for Rome. In his death his voice is intensified. His\nlife was one long gain to his people. In his, death they suffer no\nloss. His time and character and personality are so exalted, that,\n\"being dead he yet speaketh.\"\n\nThe Church of Rome stands alone. It is forever strange. It is a law to\nitself. Thus it comes that this funeral does not belong to America, or\nto the century. Rome and the Middle Ages conducted the obsequies. The\ncanons are prescribed. They have never changed. Behold then in New\nYork, what might have been seen in ruined Melrose Abbey in its ancient\nday of splendor.\n\nThe Cardinal lies in state in his cathedral, that consummate flower of\nall his ministry. Saw you ever a Roman Pontiff lying in state? The high\ncatafalque is covered with yellow cloth. The body, decked in official\nrobes, uncoffined, reclines aslant thereon. The head is greatly\nelevated. A mighty candle shines on the bier at either corner. The\nCardinal's red hat hangs at his feet. His cape is purple, his sleeves\nare pink drawn over with lace, his shirt is crimson and white lace\ncovered. Purple gloves are on his hands. On his head is his tall white\nmitre. His pectoral cross lies on his pulseless breast. His seal ring\nglitters on his finger. To me it was an awful and uncanny figure. The\nman was old and disease wasted. The lips were sunken over shrunken\ngums. The chin was sharp and far-protruding. The colors of the cloths\nwere garish and loud. It was a gay lay figure, red and yellow and white\nand black and purple and pink. It made me shudder. Yet lying there\nunder the very roof his hands had builded, that reclining figure was\nimmensely impressive.\n\nThe work--the work, in light and strength and glory stands; but the\nskilled and cunning workman is brought low, and lies cold and silent.\nThe crowded and glorious, almost living cathedral--the richly bedecked\nbody dismantled, deserted, dead. Was ever contrast so wide or\nsuggestive? The white, shining arches and pinnacles, up-pointing in\narchitectural splendor. The architect lies under them prone,\nunconscious, decaying. The beautiful windows, all storied in colors\nalmost supernatural, and telling their histories and honoring their\nplace. But the temple of the Cardinal's soul is in ruins, the windows\nare broken, and its day is darkness and mold.\n\nSo, silent he lies in his house, surrounded by his faithful, whose\ncries and lamentations he hears not, his cold hands clasped, his dead\nface uncovered, as though looking above its high vaulted roof.\n\nI seemed to see again the bedizened skeleton of old St. Carlo Borromeo\nin the crypt of the Cathedral of Milan, as lying in his coffin of\nglass, his bones all bleached and dressed. But the careless throngs go\nthoughtlessly, noisily on. Some weep, some laugh, and Thursday, the day\nof sepulture, comes. What masses of people! What platoons of police!\nThe magnificent temple is packed by pious thousands. The four candles\nabout the bier become four shining rows. The glitter of royal violet\nvelvet and cloth of gold add to the gorgeous trappings of the dead. The\nwaiting multitudes look breathlessly at the black draped columns, the\nemblems of mourning put on here and there. Without announcement a\nsingle voice cries out from the dusky chancel the first lines of the\noffice for the dead. A great Gregorian choir of boys takes up the wail,\nand their shrill treble is by-and-by joined by the hoarser notes of\nfour hundred priests, in the solemn music of the Pontifical Requiem\nMass. It has never been given to mortal ears to listen to such marvels\nof musical sound in this country. Anon the great organs and the united\nchoirs render the master's most mournful music for the dead. Then\nprocessions, then eulogy. And what eulogy! Schools, colleges, convents,\nasylums, protectories, palaces, cathedrals, churches. What a vast and\nimpressive testimony!\n\nWhat a company rises up to call him blessed! This imposing pageantry is\nnot an empty show. It is Rome's display of her resources and power. Who\nelse can have such processions and vestments and music? Who can so\nminister to the inherent, perhaps barbaric remnant, love for display?\nIn the wide world where can the ear of man catch such harmonies? The\nmusic, as a whole, was a deluge of lofty and inspiring expressions.\nAnguish, despair, devotion, submission, elevation! Ah, how the lofty\nGothic arches thundered! How they sighed and cried and melted. The\ngreat assembly was swayed, awe-struck, like branches of forest trees in\ngales or in zephyrs. The influence of those melodies will not die. Oh!\nRome is old, Rome is new; Rome is wise. Rome is the Solomon of the\nChurches.\n\nMark this well. The Cardinal is dead. What happens? Does the machinery\nstagger? Has a great and irreparable calamity fallen on the churches?\nAre any plans abandoned? Is the policy affected? Will aggression cease?\nNothing happens but a great and imposing funeral. The plans are not\naffected. The lines do not waver. No work begun will be suspended.\nEverything goes on. If only a deacon should die out of some Baptist\nchurch, alas! my brethren, the plate returns empty to the altar. The\nminister puts on his hat. Consternation jumps on the ridge-pole and\nlanguishing, settles down. When shall we learn? When shall we plan\nharmoniously, unite our counsels, work within the lines, cease wasting\nresources, carry forward a common work, and when some man falls, put a\nnew man in his place, move up the line, and keep step? To-day, when a\ngap is made here, we try to mend it, after a time, by seeking how great\na gap we can create somewhere else. What wonder that good men get tired\nand go where no such folly flies, and where the current flows on and on\nforever!\n\nAnd the old Cardinal rests in the crypt, under the high white altar. He\nsleeps in the mausoleum of the great. He has the reward of his labors.\nHe carried into his tomb the insignia of his high office. Sealed up in\nhis coffin is a parchment which future ages may read, long after we are\nall forgot, giving a condensed record of his long and active career.\nThe bishops and priests have gone home to their parishes; and their\ntireless labors go on. They are thinking of the mighty but gentle and\nkindly Cardinal; of the telegrams from the Papal Court, the College of\nCardinals, the Pope, and of the imposing funeral; of his own words\nwhich they wrung from him amidst the rigors of death:\n\n\"I bless you, my children, and all the churches.\" It was the parting of\na prophet. And the priests will live for the Church and mankind. They\nare whispering, \"The faithful are rewarded! Effort is acknowledged! O,\nRome has shaken the earth! Rome is putting her armor together again.\"\nSometimes I hear the creaking of her coat of mail as she mightily moves\nherself in exercise.","title":"Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and Poetical","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":148341}