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ZLF
PILGRIM
Digitized by Google
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Rf
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THE PILGRIM
OF
Our Lady of Martyrs
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
DEVOTED TO
The Interests of the Shrine
of Our Lady of Martyrs,
Auriesville,
to
the
Cause
of
the
Martyrs
who died there, to the American and
other Missions, past and present.
EIGHTEENTH YEAR.
VOL
XVIII.
JANUARY—DECEMBER, 190a
5u>
.V.
1 4^ il: Street.
jl
Digitized by Google
19537
1
PROPERTY OF THE
STY OF NEW YORK.
INDEX
The Pilgrim of Our Lady of Martyrs
VOLUME XVIII— 1902.
Paob
Blessed Virgin in Passion Week.
The
34
Brebeuf, Rev. John de
353
Bressanl, Father.
Rev. Camille de Rochemonteix, S.J
114
Broken Treaty, The.
Rev. Camille de Rochemonteix, S.J
169
Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, Extract from the Report of the
365
Centra Catolico of Manila
359
China, The Martyrs of
357
Cross, The Royal Way of the. Rev. Victor Van Tricht
. 19, 46, 68, 94, 125, 154, 175, 280,
298
Crown of Thorns, The
: Sermon preached on August
24, at Auriesville, on the
occasion of the unveiling and crowning of the
Pieta, by Father Camp-
bell, S. J
265
Daniel, Death of Father.
Rev. Camille De Rochemonteix, S. J
33>
De Gerarab, Ferdinand, Soldier and Trappist
306
Devotion Never Extravagant, A
16
English
Martyrs,
Progress
in
the
Cause of
the.
John Hungerford
Pollen,
S.J
89
Fiction:
John Garnet's Holiday. Mary T. Waggaman
7,
37
Birds of the Madonna, The. Mary Macalpine
274
Jogues, First Sufferings of Father. Rev. Camille de Rochemonteix, S. J.
85
Jogues,' Sequel to the Death of Father.
Rev. Camille de Rochemonteix,
S. J
•
•
*
293
Manila, The Centra Catolico
359
Martyrs of China, The
>
357
Mission Notes
:
Congo—Lower Niger—Algeria—Amongst the Bechuanas—China
....
26
The New Vicariates and Prefectures Apostolic of 1901—Recent Martyrs
in China
:
Mgr. Hamer,
Mgrs.
Fantosati, Grassi, Fogolla, Guillon
and Buleon—View of Mission Field in 1901—Denmark
54
More Martyrs in China
: Father Van Merhaegen, Father Henry Bon-
gaerts, Father Julien—Echoes of Martyrdom—The Indian and Negro
Missions—The Propagation of the Faith
80
France and the Missionary Army—A Missionary Contrast—South Africa
—Matabele Customs—A Year among the Bechuanas—St. Mary's Mis-
sion, Washington—An Appeal from Alaska— The Indian Sentinel
.
.
107
Details of the Death of Recent Martyrs—The Kingdom of Annam—Hin-
dostan—Catholic and Protestant Mission Funds—Protestant Foreign
Missions—Protestantizing Mexico—International Marion Congress at
Fribourg, Switzerland
134
Father Lomiiller, S.J.. Killed in China—Mgr. Favier's Reception by the
/
Empress of China—The Danish West Indies—An African King writes
to Pope I^eo—For the Propagation of the Faith—Appeals from Cuba-
Porto Rico
162
Catholic Educational Work in Shanghai and its Environs- Stricken India
—The Trappist Monks in Japan—The Harvest in China—Northern
Patagonia—French IndoChina—Notable Conversion of a Native of
Ceylon—The Kiangnan
Mission, China
186
Digitized by
iv
INDF.X.
Mission Notes— Continued :
fag k
Cardinal
Ledochowskl,
Prefect of the
Propaganda—The "End
of the
" Jacobite" Schism in Ceylon
291
Four Missionary
Martyrs
Declared
Venerable—The
" Rovers
of
the
Cross " in Japan
.
323
Slavery in West Africa—Central Madagascar—War-worn Transvaal
.
.
.
350
Martinique—China—In the Land of the Mad Mullah—Irish
Missionary
News—Corea
373
Missions of North America, The Early. Rev. Camille de Rochemonteix,
S.J.
2, 29,
57
Our Lady after the Crucifixion
v
78
Pallotti.
Ellis Schreiber
336
Passion Week, The Blessed Virgin in
.
.
34
Paul Siu, Mandarin and Apostle.
Rev. Wm. L. Hornsby, S.J
118,
146
Peace.
Rev. Camille de Rochemonteix, S.J
142
Pilgrimage Beyond Auriesville, A
325
Poetry
:
Our Lady's Pity.
Poem.
J. B. Jaggar, S.J
1
A Contrast.
Rev. M. Watson, S.J
....
33
A Legend of San Jago.
Alba
....
61
The Way of the Cross.
Eva Molesworth
94
The Legend of the Quivering Aspen.
Mary Macalpine
113
Two Prayers.
E. M. V. McCleon
24
Our Lady of the Bells
141
The Blue Bird's Egg.
Charles Elmer Jenny ...
153
The Watcher.
Rosa Mulholland (Lady Gilbert)
173
Mary Obedient.
Maurice Francis Egan
273
A Sign.
Marie Blake
357
Shrine Annals
:
Improvements at the shrine—Statue of the Sacred Heart
The Pilgrim
of Our Lady of Martyrs—The
Process
for the
Beatification of
Father Jogues
23
Auriesville in Winter—The new Chalice
.
53
Offerings
for the Chalice—Books of Interest to Pilgrim Readers—The
Index of the Jesuit Relations—Acknowledgment of
favors received at the
Shrine
75
Anniversary of Death of Catherine Tegakwitha—Purchase of Property—
Auriesville in the Catholic Directory—The Crown
105
The Anniversary of the Death of Catherine Tegakwitha—Improvements.
132
Local Improvements—Appleton's "Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas "
.
.
161
The Coronation of the Pieta—Pilgrimages from Cohoes, Saugerties and
Utica
r83
A Memorable Day in Auriesville
: The Crowning of the Statue
261
Pilgrimages from Troy, Albany, Schenectady and Amsterdam, Fonda,
Little Falls, Ilion and Utica—The Crown
288
The Schenectady Pilgrimage—Celebration of the Anniversary of the Death
of Rene Goupil- Caughnawaga, Canada, to have a Jesuit Pastor
.
.
.
320
Shrine, Contributions to the
25, 53, 78, 107, 133, 162, 185,
379
Syrian Church of Malabar, The.
J. K
347
Digitized by Google
HEADING ROOM
THE PILGRIM
OF
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
January,
1902.
No.
1.
OUR
LADY'S
PITY.
BY
J.
B. JAGGAR, S.J.
WAD we our promises belied
And from the feet of Jesus strayed
'Twas then for us Our Mother prayed
And lead us to the Crucified.
She soothed us in the weary noon,
And through the sunless evening hour,
When wraiths from woods
of sorrow lower,.
And in the night that knows no moon.
Her Mother-heart on Calvary born,
Though we proved faithless or untrue,
Still poured its pity as the dew
That woos the rosebuds
in the morn.
And this we know, when life
is
o'er,
Her Child Divine will not pass by
Her love for us or let it lie
Like wasted sea-weed on the shore.
Copyright, Apostleship of Prayer, 1901.
Digitized by
THE EARLY
MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
FROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMIU,E DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
(Continued.)
The Indians of Northern New York.
rr\HE
Chevalier de Montmagny
succeeded
Champlain
at
X
Quebec.
The Jesuits opened
a
college there.
A hos-
pital was established and
the school of Mother Mary of
the Incarnation
for Indian
girls was growing in importance.
Sillery was developing and
the
Indians
who
settled
around
cultivated the fields.
Champflour was in charge at Three Riv-
ers and had won
the
respect of the
natives.
At Montreal
Chomedey de Maisonneuve had thrown a fortification around
the
colony,
and
his
forty
settlers
were by
turns
soldiers,
ploughmen and
mechanics.
The
Jesuits
looked
after
the
Church affairs of all these places.
The French were very few
in
number—three hundred
or thereabouts—although
fifteen
years had elapsed since the organization of the Compagnie de
Richelieu.
In establishing it the great Cardinal had put in its first plan
the
conquest,
the
evangelization and
the
settlement of New
France.
Commercial
profit was
a
result aimed
at
as
well
as a means for furthering
this
colonial enterprise.
That was
his scheme,
but
his
associates
lost sight of it
little by little
either because of inability to appreciate its scope or unconcern
about furthering
it,
or
for
other
reasons which we need not
consider, and made it all a matter of pelf and
let colonization
take care of itself.
More concerned about making money than about their obli-
gations
to
their
country,
they
divided up
the land into vast
Seigneuries ; they -imported
free
from
the
mother country
^everything they
could, for
private
use, on
the plea that
it
was merchandise for the good of the
colony, and through the
monopoly which the Royal
Charter gave them also got their
goods into the ports
of France
free
of
duty.
Besides, there
was not any
immigration,
and
the
land was left unoccupied.
The Governor had not even troops enough to compel respect
2
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
3
from the Indians for the flag of France and with great difficulty
succeeded in protecting the country under
cultivation around
Quebec, Sillery and Three Rivers.
Two great parties at that time divided the country.
On one
side the savage
Iroquois, on
the
other
the
French with their
allies the Hurons and Algonquins.
We have said something about the allies and about the
Iro-
quois.
Our account, of course, did
not
tell the
whole story,
for these tribes indubitably took the
largest share in the events
which occurred in ^orth America
in
the seventeenth century.
The Iroquois were ambitious, aggressive, very ferocious and
remarkable for their tenacity in what they
undertook.
They
were shorter and more stocky than
the Hurons but were more
cunning and better
fighters.
The fire-arms of the Europeans
did not daunt them.
The
whistling of the musket
ball and
the roar of cannon seemed
to
be something they had been
accustomed to all their life.
They paid no more attention
to
it all than
if
it had been
a storm.
Being crafty politicians as
well as intrepid warriors they soon detected the rivalry between
French and English and made common cause with the English
whom they did not like, against the French whom
they
did,
simply because the French were
allied with the
Hurons and
Algonquins
;
but they were
astute enough
not
to
wish
the
triumph of either of the foreign
invaders, for that result would
be disastrous for themselves.
They
lived
to
the south of Lake
Ontario,
in what is now
the State of New York from
the Genesee
to the Richelieu.
Divided into what might be called five cantons, independent of
each other and competent
to make peace
or war as it suited
them, they were, however, of one mind, at least, in the begin-
ning ol the seventeenth century when
there was question of
the common good.
They sacrificed everything for the honor
and salvation of their nation.
The section called Aniers which was on
the banks of the
Mohawk and along Lake Champlain, some distance from Fort
Orange or Albany which the Dutch had
seized, comprised
three villages.
Ossernenon was the most important of all and
was surrounded by a triple palisade.
The others were Anda-
Digitized by
4
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
garon
or Canagero (which
is
the present
Canajoharie) and
Teonnontogen.
Those
of
the
first
village
were
dreaded
because of their daring character and
the violence with which
they vented their fury.
They were even feared by their friends,
and were the worst enemies of France, stubbornly refusing any
attempt at peace.
A little further toward the west near Oneida Lake were the
Oneionts who were the weakest in numbers as well as in mar-
tial prowess and who counted at most one village.
Still further to the west on a pleasant hill was the village ot
Onnontague, now Onondaga.
It
was
the
Iroquois
Capital
where the General Assemblies of the five cantons were usually
held. The Onondagas were the strongest of the tribes although
they had but three
villages,
viz.
: Onondaga,
Cassonda and
Touenho, but they were populous and well-protected by strong
palisades.
West of them
again on
a vast plain skirted by magnificent
forests between Lakes Cayuga and Seneca were three villages
admirably
located, called Goioguen, Onnontare and Tiohero.
Father Rafeix
said it was the
finest country he had seen
in
America.
Game abounded there.
The wild goose, otters and
salmon brought the people considerable wealth for their kind
of life.
The Iroquois were in reality a Huron colony.
Like them
they had a fixed abode and cultivated the land.
They never
shifted their villages and they had found the way to reap
their
harvests without exhausting the soil.
They had the same cus-
toms, the same
traditions and the same habits
of
life.
The
differences were scarcely perceptible.
The form of government at least in its general
outlines was
identical.
However, among the Iroquois there was something
of an approach to the methods of civilization.
It was well de-
fined,
exact and
vigorous.
Each
village
claimed and was
granted autonomy.
But in each
there was the same
classifi-
cation of families, the same manner of policing the settlement
and
the same
order.
Seeing one was seeing
all
the
rest.
Each village had three tribes or families known
severally by
the name of some animal.
Each
tribe had its
chief,
its old
Digitized by
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
5
men,
its Agoianders, or
assistant chiefs and its warriors, and
combined they formed the administrative body. The power was
hereditary and was transmitted through the women.
If the line
of descent failed the woman most distinguished for birth chose
the chief.
u When the tree falls " says the Indian, "that is the
way it is put up again."
If the one chosen is too young he re-
ceives a guardian, who exercises authority for him.
The cere-
monies of election and installation are accompanied with dances,
songs and banquets.
The authority of the
chief
extends
to
all the members of
the tribe,
but he
advises,
induces,
entreats but never com-
mands.
The inferior obeys because he wishes and not because
his
superior commands.
However,
the
chiefs authority
is
very great as is the respect with which he is regarded.
Never-
theless, to prevent him from claiming absolute power several
assistants are assigned who share
his rule.
Each family of the
tribe furnishes one who is often named by them as
their repre-
sentative.
They form
the Supreme Council.
An appeal from them
goes to the elders whose number is
not
determined, each one
having a right to enter that Council when a specified age
will
have conferred
maturity of judgment.
This
Council
is
the
Moderator between
the Agoianders or
Assistant Chiefs, and
the main body of those who are able to bear arms.
Orators chosen by each
tribe expose
before these Councils
the matter submitted to their deliberations
; they make a spec-
ial study of the annals and customs of the nation, as well as of
politics and
eloquence.
If there
are,
properly speaking,
no
archives, their astounding memories helped by mnemonic signs
supply the
deficiency.
No member of the three
Councils
considers
himself bound
by the general decision.
Individual liberty is never sacrificed to
the general order.
Commonly, however, they all obey.
The general interests of the nation are
discussed
in a Diet
convened at nightfall and usually on the outskirts of a forest or
in the house of a chief, or in some large hall constructed espe-
cially for that purpose.
It
is made up of
all
the members of
the
various
councils.
When
the
matter has been discussed
6
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
they vote on
it.
The
subjects are war, peace
and
embassies
,*
the civil and criminal matters are disposed of by the Agoian-
ders and Elders.
War was naturally the ordinary theme of these assemblies
;
and the
basis of Iroquois
politics.
Once
decided
on,
it was
proclaimed.
The warriors, painted
black from head
to
foot,
crept on to the enemy's country under cover of the night and
hung on a conspicuous tree the red war club.
This custom ot
long-standing was, however, abandoned, and
in those days the
custom was to
steal
in and massacre
their
foes when war was
least expected.
The uplifted tomahawk proclaimed the war through all the
villages.
The
chiefs of each village assembled the braves and
invited them
to
follow.
Refusal was
permitted, but
the war-
rior who accepted gave the chief a chip painted red and bearing
a special mark.
It was a sign of readiness to take part in the
expedition,
and
although
a
private,
yet an
irrevocable en-
gagement.
To withdraw after
that was to brand oneself as a
traitor or a coward.
Forthwith
there began
a succession
or
superstitious
cere-
monies calculated to inflame
the courage of the warriors and
give the war a sacred character.
They began by a fast of two
or three days.
The chief kept himself shut up
in
a sweat-
house where he sweated and fasted and dreamed.
On the third
day the braves all smeared in red and
black, their
breasts and
arms bare, gathered round the chief in the council hall for the
great war feast.
Dogs were killed and offered to Areskoui, the
god of
war, and then thrown
into great cauldrons.
They are
the principal objects of sacrifice.
Digitized by Google
JOHN GARNETS
HOLIDAY.
BY MARY
T. WAGGAMAN.
IT
was a deadly midsummer.
The
great
city
lay panting
under the baleful August
sky,
lifeless
in
its better
sec-
tions, where rows of closed houses stood in grim, gloomy
silence, languid
in
its business
centres, where
the
pulse
of
trade beat sluggishly, stocks were torpid and
even the electric
nerves, stretching into other hemispheres, brought no awaken-
ing thrill.
Only through
the poorer
quarters surged
the tide of
life
—fevered, wretched, reckless life—life that had nothing to lose
but its own
misery, nothing to win but
a moment's surcease
of pain.
Life, gasping for air at window and housetop, crowd-
ing for breath into fetid
court and
alley,
daring death in the
wild riot of dance house and saloon.
The mortuary record of the previous day was fully a column
in length as Mr.
Harold Brycerly
observed,
with
the vague
alarm that
middle-aged gentlemen, however sound in heart,
liver and pocket, feel at sight of the wide swath cut by the great
Reaper.
Mr. Brycerly was heavily insured and he felt uneasily that
it
would be an irony of the successful Fate
that always attended
his investments if he were cut off in his prime.
" I must really get out of town," he
soliloquized,
pushing
aside his paper and glancing at the
thermometer, which even
here, in his airy private
office,
with
its
awnings, screens and
electric
fans,
stood
close
to
eighty.
a This
is
dangerous
weather, absolutely dangerous.
I am a fool to be
risking my
health here now.
There
is no
necessity for it in the world.
I should have gone with Lilian and
her mother a month ago,
and
I suppose I would have done
so
if they had
been going
anywhere
but
the
mountains.
I
can't
stand
Cro'
Nest,
nothing to do and nothing to see.
"A
ten -thousand-dollar
log
cabin on the mountain topis
surely the wildest of woman whims.
Six miles from a railroad
or post-office, and up break-neck roads where one cannot even
7
8
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
drive a decent
horse.
Well
! "—Mr.
Brycerly
shrugged
his
shoulders with the
philosophy
of the
well-trained American
husband—" Everyone
has a
different idea
of pleasure,
I sup-
pose, and Cro' Nest may
be Mrs.
Brycerly's.
It certainly is
not mine."
A florid, fine looking man was
Mr.
Brycerly, and one thor-
oughly convinced of his own importance,
personal, social and
financial.
The great house of Brycerly & Brycerly was known in every
mercantile centre to the antipodes.
Founded nearly a century
ago, on a solid bed rock of integrity, by the two hard-headed,
honest-hearted
brothers
Brycerly,
it had been built up
to its
present magnitude by generations of equally hard-headed, hon-
est-hearted successors.
If the tough fibre of the
race had in any way deteriorated,
its present representative was so panoplied by precedent and
tradition that only two persons had discovered
it.
One
of these was
the
wife who
ruled
Harold
Brycerly's
home and made it a brilliant
social
centre;
the other was the
grave, silent cashier, who, for twenty years had managed
his
business and made
it an
equally
brilliant
financial
success.
Both
wisely left Mr.
Brycerly's self-importance
undisturbed,
so that he had reached middle life with
the conviction that he
was the central sun of a planetary system that would lapse into
primeval chaos if his rays were withdrawn.
"I really never felt such
heat," he
thought
irritably as he
loosened
his
necktie and
prepared
to glance over his neatly
assorted mail.
"I will be off to the sea shore to-night.
Gar-
net can attend to all these matters for me.
Eh, God bless me
'
what is that?"
Mr. Brycerly wheeled round
in
his great desk
chair at the
sound of a heavy fall, a stifled cry, a sudden commotion in the
usually noiseless
office without.
''It's—it's Mr. Garnet, sir."
A wide-eyed
clerk burst
into
his employer's sanctum with scant ceremony.
" He—he—has
fallen off his stool in—in—some sort of a fit."
" Garnet
fallen
off his
stool
!
M
repeated
Mr.
Brycerly
in
blank amazement.
Digitized by Google
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
9
If the stone statue in the square without had been suddenly
seized with human weakness, the speaker's tone could scarcely
have been more incredulous.
"John Garnet I"
a Ye,
yes
sir, he
is
lying on the
floor, sir, looking—look-
ing awful—Wirt has run for the nearest doctor.
I thought we
might lift Mr. Garnet in here—until he comes."
* ' Certainly, certainly/ '
Mr. Brycerly started
up, roused
for
the moment
into
real
feeling.
" Good God
! my
poor
Gar-
net
! " he cried, hurrying into the outer room where the clerks
had gathered in an excited crowd about the cashier's desk.
" Stand back, you fools
! back, and give him breath
!
Gar-
net, old fellow—Garnet
! "
Mr. Brycerly's ruddy
face paled
as he bent over the prostrate figure.
" Garnet, old man
!
There was no response, not even
to the unwonted comrade-
ship of the tone.
For the first time in twenty years John Garnet
failed to an-
swer his employer's call.
With
ashen
face and livid lips, the
pen still
thrust
in
the damp waves of
his iron grey hair, the
rough draft
of a
cash account clutched in his rigid hand, Mr.
Brycerly's cashier lay at his feet.
Some spring in the curious
mechanism called life broken, some tense chord snapped, some
brain cell clogged.
The human machine that had worked so steadily for twenty
years, had run down at last.
They
lifted him
from
the close
corner
in
which he had
seemed as much of a fixture as the letter-press
at his
side,
or
the great iron safe
whose
combination
he
alone knew and
placed him on
the
luxurious lounge in Mr. Brycerly's private
office.
The nearest
doctor came,
a
grim, seedy, blunt-spoken
old
man, who had never
learned the soft speech, that is the open
sesame
to
success,
and had been obliged
to
fight death
on
death's own lines.
" Worn out," he said tersely, as he and Mr.
Brycerly stood
watching
the
effect
of restoratives on
the
death-like
figure
stretched upon
the
sofa.
a Vitality
at a very low
ebb, heart
action very feeble indeed.
Completely run down."
IO
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
" You mean
that he wont—wont
pull
through,'' said Mr.
Brycerly anxiously.
" Can't say yet," answered
the doctor"—" what sort
of a
man is he—active, studious, drinking, what ? "
a Drinking, great
heaven,
no
!
He has been
at that desk
there
for
twenty
years.
I
don't
think
he
has
missed
six
days."
" Humph,"
said
the doctor
drily,
u rather
a bad
record.
A twenty years pull without a break
usually means a
general
smash up at the end."
" Garnet could have had the break
if he pleased," said Mr.
Brycerly.
" He didn't ask
it, didn't seem
to want it, and
he
was always one of those quiet reserved
fellows, that one does
not
care
to meddle
with,
even
at
school.
Brainy,
though,
took
all
the
prizes,
medals, and
everything,
you'd scarcely
believe
it now, but he was one
of
the most brilliant
students
that ever left
old Saint
Bride's.
Then, just after he took his
degree and was going
in
for the law or church,
I don't know
which, his father died bankrupt, and Jack, we called him Jack
in
those
days,
had
to buckle down
to hard
work,
for
his
mother and her three young children.
Father
offered him a
place in our
office, and here he has-been ever since.
Relia-
ble
! everything under him goes
like
clock-work.
Honest
and he demands absolute honesty
in every one around him.
Accurate to a fraction
in the smallest account."
"All strain, strain, strain," said the doctor.
" I can see the
lines
of
it
in
his
face.
It
is the
curse of our age,
sir.
No
rest, no let up,
it's go,
go, go, to the bitter end.
A neck and
neck race to the grave."
a You
are
mistaken
in
our business
methods,"
said
Mr.
Brycerly
stiffly, " Mr.
Garnet was
never
driven
in any way.
He allowed nothing to hurry or discompose him.
It was his
one fault, perhaps I should
say his
misfortune, that he never
had a particle of what you term go.
He was always as steady
as a rock and as
" Strong " interposed the doctor.
"One cannot always judge
the quiet calm of the
rocks,
Mr. Brycerly.
Sometimes they
are only the crust of volcanic fire below."
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
II
Tossing in the strange dream ocean, that lies between death
and life, John Garnet seemed to
hear
the words as
if spoken
from far off heights.
They were talking of him,
he thought with
a vague sur-
prise, that he should be of interest to any one, talking of him
he thought, with a dull wonder at the strange
voice and tone.
" Volcanic
fire
below."
Volcanic—fire—below—The words
lingered even after he had lost his frail
hold on consciousness
and had
drifted away
again
by
shores
peopled
with
dim
memories
echoing with
the
music
and
voices
of
the
long
ago.
Now it was his mother's song, as she rocked his baby sister
in the twilight, now the shouts of the ball-players in the college
campus, now the Vesper chant swelling
through its cloistered
aisles.
" Etenim illuc manus tua deducet me.
The lines written by a feeble hand
in
his
missal, when he
turned his back on the hope and promise of his youth, seemed
to rise clear above the roar of waters surging about his bewild-
ered soul
:
"Etenim illuc manus tua deducet me."
He was leading the chant
in
the old college
chapel, where
the sunset streaming through the great west windows showed
John the Beloved leaning on his Master's breast.
"Etenim illuc manus tua deducet me."
Many times in the long grey stretch
of years
since he had
turned his back on that
radiant
picture had
the words given
strength and peace
to John
Garnet,
it was meet they should
rise, triumphant over life's broken echoes now.
" Even there
Thy hand shall lead me, thy right hand shall hold me."
A strange peace seemed to
steal
over him
; it was as
if he
had drifted over troubled waters into some tranquil eddy where
he was waiting, waiting upheld by the Mighty Hand that had
been
his guide and
strength—waiting
for
what—Death or
Life?
/
Digitized by Google
12
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
Chapter
II.
Drifting thus between two eternities, John Garnet was dimly
conscious of priestly blessing and anointing, of daily care and
nightly watching, of the touch of kind hands, and the sound of
soothing
voices, until
the fading shore of
life began
to grow
brighter and
clearer, and the
guardian angels
resolved them-
selves into two sisters of Bon Secours watching by his bed.
Brighter still grew the familiar scenes as if life were welcom-
ing him back, with a new radiance friendly faces began to look
in upon him—Mr. Brycerly, his fellow clerks, there were kindly
gifts of
fruit and flowers, anxious queries from the poor he had
befriended—new warmth, new cheer everywhere.
Until
at
last, at
the peremptory order of good old Doctor
Brabazon, he found
himself one breezy October morning
es-
tablished luxuriously in
a
parlor car and on
his way to
the
mountains to gain vigor and strength on their rugged heights.
u Remember Cliffbourne is your station,'' said Wirt-Grayson>
Mr.
Brycerly's head clerk and
favorite
protege, who had been
commissioned by his employer to see the
invalid
off.
u The
carriage will meet you there, Mr. Garnet, and take you to Cro'
Nest.
Loveliest spot you ever saw
;
I was up there for a week's
hunting
last fall.
It is about as near to heaven as I ever ex-
pect
to
get,''
added
the young man
gaily.
u Don't worry
about business.
I am doing the best I can to take your place."
John
Garnet was conscious of a vague
uneasiness
at
the
words.
This handsome, bright-faced young fellow was not the
substitute he would have chosen, but he was
far
too weak as
yet to take up the burden and care of the past.
So with a cor-
dial good bye, he leaned back amid his cushions and gave him-
self up to the dreamy enjoyment of the convalescent, while the
train swept on through
a world that
the
first tender touch of
autumn had mellowed into
a softened beauty that seemed the
perfect fullness of life.
Warmth and color and light were everywhere, the waysides
were gay with
golden-rod and wild asters, the
red banners of
the sumach waved upon the
hills, the forests were aflame with
crimson and
gold, the
orchards and
vineyards jewelled with
ripened fruit.
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
!3
Bob White piped cheerily in
the sedges, the full-fed stream-
let murmured soft music in the trestled gorge.
And John Garnet, whose past had known neither springtime
bloom, nor summer beauty, felt something in the feeble current
of
his
blood
stir
in harmony
with
this
autumn
gladness.
Echoes of his far-off youth awoke
as he
sat wrapped
in
half-
waking
reveries, verses of the old
poets forgotten
for
years,
songs of
the early days when man lay close to Nature's heart,
while the train swept on higher and higher up rocky steeps,
veiled in golden mists spicy with autumn odors, until the lower
earth
vanished into
a dim
cloud
land, and
this new world
seemed like a great censer smoking before the throne of God.
" Cliffbourne," shouted
the brakeman.
" Cliffbourne your
station,
I think, sir," said the conductor, laying
a hand upon
the dreaming
traveller's shoulder.
And, starting
to
his
feet,
John Garnet made
his way from the car to the
little platform
beside the road, where a
tiny Swiss
chalet was
perched
at a
station.
Near by was a
dainty pony
carriage,
gay
with
rugs and
cushions and a sturdy little
Shetland in
the
traces, and Miss
Lilian Brycerly herself holding the reins.
He
had known
her
slightly from
childhood,
for
his
in-
tercourse
with
his employer's family had been of the most
formal kind.
Still the lovely young
face shaded by
a poppy
wreathed hat was not strange to him.
But very strange and sweet was the new warmth
of her
greeting, the friendly anxiety of her tone.
" Oh
!
Mr. Garnet,
I am so glad you have
come.
I was
afraid you would not be strong enough
for
the long journey.
I told mama I would drive down
to meet the
train
myself, so
as to be sure you would be taken care
of.
We cannot use
heavy carriages on
our mountain
roads, and
I
felt
this
little
phaeton of mine would be just the
thing.
Let me put
these
cushions at your back and draw the rug
close, the
air
is keen.
You see we have orders to take you in charge,'' she continued
gaily, u for that you have no
care
for
yourself, the
past
has
shown.
When
I think of the long years you have spent at
that dreadful desk, toiling that we might live like butterflies in
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
the sunshine.
But we will not talk or think of that trying time
now.
We are going to make you well and strong again. Our
mountain air
is the best of
tonics.
It gives new
life
to body
and soul."
u Soul
! " he echoed with a grave smile.
" Yes," she answered. " After a season of dancing and dress-
ing and dining,
one's soul
is
shrivelled
as a parched
flower.
I come up here
to grow and freshen
again.
Did not
all the
good men
of old go up on
the mountains
to worship God ?
They always seemed
to me His
natural
altars, filled with the
Majesty of His presence, echoing with His voice."
" So the old pagan poets taught," said her companion quietly.
" Don't
write me down with
the pagan
poets,'' she
said,
" though indeed I was very near
to paganism two
years
ago.
But
I have learned since then that God chooses lowlier
dwell-
ings than the mountain
tops, that He speaks in
softer
tones
than the mountain thunder.
I am a Catholic as I
believe you
are, Mr. Garnet."
He started " This is, indeed, a happy surprise—I thought—''
"That
I
was
a
little
heathen,"
she
gaily
concluded
the
sentence for him.
" Ah, yes, so I was, but mama sent me to the Sacre Coeur to
perfect my French and my year there, thank God, was a
grace
irresistible,
it brought me to my knees
before
the
tabernacle.
But poor mama, she has not yet recovered from
the
blow, she
counted on making me a woman after her own."
"And what may
that be?" asked her companion, wonder-
ing the while what mother heart
could
find to desire
in
the
bright winsome girl beside him.
" Oh, a sort
of feminine free lance/' she laughed.
u Scout-
ing on ail debatable lands,
yet owing fealty to none, unhamp-
ered by creed, color, caste
or condition—you will find us very
broadminded at Cro' Nest, Mr. Garnet.
Truth is as vague and
indefinable as the light that plays upon the clouds. We believe
and
disbelieve as
it
is given or taken from us by the passing
shadows.
An immobile
truth mama
holds
to be mediaeval
tyranny.
Our
latest luminary is a Buddhist and we are deep
in the study of the Vedas.
In short,
all
things
are
true, but
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDAY.
15
the one Truth immutable,
and
eternal
submission
to
that,
dear mama
regards
as
slavery and bondage and
to
see her
daughter thus fettered
is a grief unspeakable.
Still she hopes
it is only a
youthful vagary, that will pass if not strengthened
by opposition
; so my
illusions are
indulged.
Even dear old
Father Lambert, who dropped
in
to
see me one
day, while
looking up his scattered
sheep, was received very kindly and
pronounced
by
several
critical
guests,
4 a most
picturesque
character.' "
As she ran gaily on in this tone, John Garnet was conscious
that beneath this light satire lay depths of feeling, rarely sounded
at twenty-one for such he knew was Miss Brycerly' s
age.
But when the modern girl stimulated by all the potent forces
of her time, finds the Faith, it is no fount to quench her thirst,
but a flood of many waters, submerging, re-vivifying, re-creat-
ing her.
As they talked the little Shetland sped boldly on, higher and
ever higher until the scarlet and gold of the
oaks and maples
vanished, and John Garnet and his guide were among the pines.
Everywhere they rose erect, solemn, changeless, stretching into
great columned vistas, flooded with
the
sunset,
carpeting the
road with noiseless velvet, filling
the
air with
their balsamic
breath, until suddenly they seemed to dwarf and mass
into a
hedge of living green, through which a great
rustic
gate-way
opened into a broad avenue, beyond which spread
a low wide
winged house, built of the unhewn cedar, surrounded on every
side by broad verandas, gay with hammocks, and rugs and cush-
ions.
A dozen or more guests were already in possession, and Mrs.
Brycerly came forward to meet the new-comer with a warmth
and kindness, never shown to her husband's book-keeper before.
She was a handsome, stately woman close to fifty, but in voice
and manner and glance—there was still something of the rest-
lessness of youth without youth's hope and
gladness.
If Cro' Nest was as Mr. Brycerly had declared,
" a woman's
whim "
it
was undoubtedly
a
graceful and charming one.
Rustic simplicity was the keynote of an enchanting symphony
of light and comfort and luxurious ease.
i6
A DEVOTION NEVER EXTRAVAGANT.
Mr. Garnet was ushered
into
a
wide
hall
or living room
where a log fire, blazing on a great central hearth,
lit the rough
hewn walls, the high raftered ceiling, the
quaint
old
Mission
furniture brightened by rugs, and cushions and draperies, into
modern warmth and cheer, and after resting a moment in this
genial glow in a pleasant hubbub ofgreeting and introduction,
he was led up stairs
to
the room made ready for him by Mr.
Brycerly's telegram, a spacious chamber, warm and firelit, filled
with the glory of the sunset, and the fragrance of the pines.
ran in quaint
old English
lettering
over the
stone
chimney
place.
But above on
the carved mantel was a more sympathetic,
greeting, a vase of late roses
placed
before an
ivory
crucifix,
the rare work of some master hand.
"The Cross," thought John Garnet smiling as he realized this
was
the young convert's touch
of sympathy.
" The Cross,
strange to find
it waiting me, even here."
{To be continued,)
/TJIMID
souls sometimes shudder
at the expressions which
X
devotional writers make use of, especially in speaking of
the Blessed Mother.
Now and then the titles given
to
her seem almost heretical or idolatrous. But
it must not be for-
gotten that books of devotion
are outpourings of the heart
;
and that the heart does not express
itself
in dogmatic
utter-
ances
or
mathematical formulas.
A man may speak of his
adorable mother or his
adorable wife and nobody is shocked.
We understand
his meaning and admire him
all
the more
for it.
So also we
pray to John
the
Divine
but no one
is
scandalized.
In
fact,
at
the
present time the
Episcopalians
are honoring him with a splendid
cathedral under that desig-
nation.
Divus Thomas or
the Divine Thomas
is the usual
Good luck and cheer,
Attend ye here.
A DEVOTION NEVER EXTRAVAGANT.
A DEVOTION NEVER EXTRAVAGANT.
17
way in which Aquinas has been described for centuries.
And
coming to the profane world we find even Divas in the Opera,
who
every season have the world
at their
feet.
Our petty
magistrates used to be called their worships—who judged their
fellow-men, and even we poor sinners are
described by the
Apostle as
"gods.''
The
explanation of
our timidity
in
this matter
is
to be
found in our contact with heresy.
Heresy has lost the love of
God
; and its heart is shrivelled as every heart
is when
it does
not
love.
It
exerts a withering
influence on anyone or any-
thing it comes near.
Its name heresy means
,c picking," and
picking
implies meanness while the word
Catholicity means
broadness.
If a Spaniard or an Italian or a Syrian
expresses
his love in a way that I do not like
I am not going to worry
about it. He may not fancy mine. Otherwise I might resemble
the American sailor in Rio Janeiro who was indignant that the
natives called hats' sombreros and not hats.
If we are in doubt
about what a man means we bring him to book, and exact an
explanation.
If he
is not
in
error then
it would be
folly to
insist on his using the same words or puckering his lips in the
same way as myself.
Some are warm-hearted some
are
cold,
some generous and extravagant and some close and calculating
in their methods, and all must be dealt with differently.
What
is peculiar about this rigorousness with regard
to devotion,
is
that we meet
it
at
a time when
all
sorts
of damnable error
in doctrine are condoned by the world with the phrases " oh
!
we all mean the same
thing''; and u it is immaterial what a
man believes "
; but when
there
is question of piety the same
world stiffens itself up
as a stern judge
of the
childlike and
exuberant expressions of it in people whose orthodoxy when
they are asked to explain their meaning
is found to be abso-
lutely beyond
suspicion.
The Church
is a Mother and has
all the kindness and indulgence of a mother
for the
different
dispositions
of
her children
while
at the same time she
is
careful to instruct them properly and reprove them sharply if
they go wrong.
St Ignatius advises us to try always
to put
the best interpretation on a man's words, and he was a wise
and prudent saint
1 8
A DEVOTION NE VER EXTRA VA GANT.
No Catholic with a grain
of sense (and surely none others
should be consulted) has any other idea of the Blessed Mother
except
that
of one between whom and God an
infinite im-
passable
gulf
intervenes.
She
is
a mere
creature
chosen
indeed by God for a marvellous
participation
in the work of
Redemption
but great
precisely
because
of
that and with
everything that she does
referable
to Almighty God.
She is
God's
chief servant
;
the Ancilla Domini, and the only con-
ceivable purpose of her being is to " Magnify the Lord." When
we honor the servant of the king we honor the king, and much
more so when we honor his mother.
Let us by way of illustration take
the
Office
of her Seven
Dolors
which
the Church
recites on
two feast days of the
liturgical year.
The Stabat Mater, which
is the hymn
that
runs through the Office, ends each stanza with a
reference
to
the Divine Son.
It
is the
" dum pendebat
Filius"
" Mater
Unigeniti."
" In
amando
Christum Deum"
i.e.
" While
the Son was
hanging
there,"
a Mother
of the
Only Be-
gotten."
" In
loving
Christ
Our
God"
etc.
So
in what
is
called
the
Invitatorium
or
Invitation
to
the
Office,
the
refrain
is
:
a While
recalling
the
woes
of
the
glorious
Virgin,
come
let
us
adore
the
Lord who
suffered
for
us."
We
are
bidden
to
ask
the
Mother
of Sorrows
to
pray for us, not that we may be made worthy of her promises
but
of
Chrisfs.
The psalms
are
all
descriptive of the war
which the Son of God is waging
for
us.
In the
first place
is
the glorious song
:
" Why have the nations raged and the peo-
ple meditated vain things, M in
which the culminating verse is:
"The Lord has said to me
: Thou art my Son this day have I
begotten Thee."
We have the beautiful refrains at the end of
the
first
lessons
:
rt With
thy
loving
eyes O Virgin
behold
Him, but see in Him not so much the lividness of His wounds
as the
salvation He
brings
to
the
world.
His
pierced and
bleeding hands are as it were
filled
with
hyacinths
for
those
gashes are the price of mans salvation.
Thus with all the ex-
pressions of love, the Divinity of Christ is always in evidence.
In the Second Nocturn we have the
tender conversation
of
St. Bernard with the
Blessed
Mother
as
in
imagination he
Digitized by Google
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
19
sees her standing beneath the cross, and many of his expres-
sions might well make the un-Catholic mind uneasy and yet he
is a Doctor of the Church.
The Third Nocturn concludes with the words of St. Augus-
tine who reminds us that when Our Lord cared for His mother's
future by giving her St. John, He was not
so much
acting as
God
providing
for His
servant, but
as a man who was con-
cerned for the happiness of his mother, and yet the lesson ends
with the
refrain:
u O dear
Mother
fount
of love make me
feel the force of grief for
the
sufferings
of my
Lord, that as
thy Son died for me I may rise to life with Him."
Knowing that He
is
the Omnipotent God and that she has
been elevated to the incomprehensible
dignity of His Mother,
it is no wonder that
language
loses
itself
at
times
in what
seems extravagance.
It would be ^strange
if
it did
not.
But
if we love Her, she will keep us out of danger of saying any-
thing that is incorrect
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
BY THE REV. VICTOR VAN TRICHT.
n"TT|C\Y God," wrote the celebrated
author of these
reflec-
J?XA§
tions, which are
addressed to all who
suffer; "My
God,
I
write
these
pages
in
Your
presence,
in*
the hope of helping those souls that suffer."
You have called them
: Come to Me, You said, come to Mer
all you who suffer and bear
the burdens
of
life,
come and
1
shall give you courage.
Let me, oh my God, bring to You at least some one
of the
more unhappy.
A heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam, from
the day
of their coming out of
their mother's womb, until
the day of
their burial into the mother of all. (i)
That yoke
is suffering.
(i)
Eccles. 40
:
i.
Digitized by Google
20
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
The child who
is
born, weeps
:
it
is
his
greeting
to
life.
The old man who is in his agony
lets
the
cold, silent
tears
flow slowly from beneath
his shrivelled eyelids
: they are
his
farewell to life.
And between
these tears, how many others
have
fallen
!
Who can calculate the bitternesses and the suffer-
ings, accumulated
in the heart of a man who has lived a long
time
!
No one escapes that yoke.
Since the
fall,
it
is
the
lot
of
every man coming into this world
:
it is the fatal and
inalien-
able heritage from a father who has transgressed
: it is our part of
the chastisement in the expiation which has been taking place
from the beginning of the world and which will continue to the
end of time, even until the last of the children of man dies.
Philosophy, helpless, strikes its brow and seeks, but notwith-
standing
the
reasonings
it
multiplies,
it
does
not
find the
origin of that evil, of that suffering.
Faith, divinely enlightened, finds
it written on the first page
of the holy Bible
" Quia audisti vocem uxoris tuae et comedisti
de ligno."
" Because thou hast harkened to the voice of thy
wife, and hast eaten of the tree." (i)
You
will
suffer, because
you have transgressed.
But while philosophy reasons and faith
reveals, man suffers.
Some, stricken by a visible and
crying misfortune show, so
to speak, in their very looks all
the blood which
their
heart
has shed.
We are moved to pity at sight of them and we call
them unfortunate.
Others pass before
us with
all
the
vain
display of riches
:
their eyes are full of joy, their lips are wreathed in smiles.
.
.
we do not lift that veil, we believe them happy, we envy their
lot.
How often, if we could observe them
in
their hours of
solitude, should we see them weep bitter tears, and, with grief-
stricken soul, press in their hands hearts wrung with anguish.
Others know not these
great
misfortunes
of
life
: and evil
more
insensible,
and
less
acute
undermines and consumes
them
: the sensation of the
emptiness of
everything.
Nausea
seizes them on account of the finiteness of
all
creatures, ennui
(i) Gen. 3:
17.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
21
devours them
: ennui, says Bousset, that inexorable ennui that
forms the basis of life.
One thing appeals to me
in
Holy
Scripture.
It has
por-
trayed two men
: one stricken
with every
misery, poor
after
having been
rich, alone, abandoned by
his
wife and
all
his
friends, he has looked upon the death of his
sons and daugh-
ters
: there he
lies, stretched upon a
dunghill, scraping with
a potsherd the matter that flows from his sores.
This is Job.
The other enjoys every good fortune, he is rich, he
is power-
ful, he is a king, he is learned, he is the wisest of men, he has
glory, he enjoys all the pleasures of spirit and
all
the joys of
sense
;
there he
is on his throne, in all the pomp of a court.
This is Solomon.
I ask Job about
life.
He
answers
me,
" Taedet
. animam
meant vitcz mece^
\ \)
My soul
is weary of my life.
I ask Solomon and in the same terms, with the same words,
he answers me, u Taeduit me vitcs mece. v (2)
I was weary
of
my life.
What conclusion,
then, should we not draw from that com-
parison ?
Is
it that life is kind to no one ?
No,
life
is kind to none.
But
if suffering is inevitable in this world, has
it no consola-
tion, no remedy ?
I ask myself.
It is not within
itself that the human heart finds
these con-
solations.
a Non est auxilium mihi in me" says Job
again.
I have not found any help in myself.
Without doubt man can
divert his thoughts from his sorrow
: he can
fling himself into
absorbing and arduous labors
; he can plunge headlong into in-
toxication and the mad whirl of pleasure
:
he can forget there
his misery and in a more lively sensation, drown, so to say, the
sensation of
his sorrows.
But one awakes from
that
state of
torpor as one awakes from a dream
: he
finds himself
still un-
der the cruel sting of the
reality
: he had forgotten the sword
which pierced his heart, but it is there now:
it is always there;
it cuts, it tears,
it penetrates more and more every day.
(1) Job, 10:
1,
(2)
Eccl.,
2:
17.
22
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
Besides to forget
!
Let us suppose that a man forgets.
To that forgotten sorrow, does there not succeed a new sor-
row ?
Does not each day introduce its own ?
How long does
our sky remain serene ?
What would man find then in himself
to console him in the
midst of his sufferings ?
What can he avail against death, when it snatches from him
those whom
he
loves?
What can
he
do
against
sickness?
Against ruin?
Against dishonor?
Against the ennui of life?
Against the uncertainty of things ?
One thing we can demand of him—from
himself
against
himself—and that
is energy
: not
to
let his arms drop, or his
courage waver
;
that he take his soul between
his hands, that
he keep it there and that he be a man.
u Esto vir. v
This is
all.
And yet how often do we ask this of him in vain
!
Will the aching heart find
its
consolation and
its
relief
in
other men ?
I do not deny that a man can find consolation in other men
:
I have
too
frequently tasted
the
sweetness and
the force of
friendship not to recognize its goodness and its power.
It is so
consoling when you suffer to rest on the bosom of a friend, to
feel your hand pressed by his.
Alas
!
this help from man
is vain, because
it comes
from
man, vain in
itself.
When Rachel had beheld the death of her little children, her
riends crowded around
her and wept with
her.
.
.
.
But
Rachel would not be comforted, " because they were not."
The love which surrounded her could it not supply the place
of the dead whom she loved ?
Why should she weep further ?
" Quia non sunt."
Who, then, has not
experienced
that cruel
helplessness
of
man in
the presence of the
grief of
a friend ?
A misfortune
strikes one, ruin falls on him and
his
family, the hope of his
life is suddenly blasted.
.
.
. He suffers,
his soul is
tortured
;
you run to
his
assistance, you
feel in your heart a pity full of
tenderness, you would
sacrifice your share
of happiness
to
make him happy, and, suddenly, arrived in his presence, your
tongue
is mute, your words
fail you,
your thoughts,
vague
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
23
and shapeless, cross one over the other, you can only press him
in your arms, repeating to him
: u My friend, my poor friend
! "
Ah
!
I know it well,
it
is one of those commonplace phrases
which
is
in
everybody's
mouth,
one
of the expressions
of
sympathy, always ready
for
use, but
true
friendship feels so
keenly that all this is vain and of no avail.
It dares not repeat
them.
Those who do not understand sorrow learn
to speak,
just as the comedian
learns how
to
play
his
part.
Of such
speech, Job says
:
" Verbosi amici,
consolatores onerosi, audivi
frequenter talia
.
.
. nunc antem oppressit me dolor meus. v (1)
O my friends full of talk, troublesome comforters, I have often
heard
such
things
as
these
.
.
.
but now my
sorrow
hath
oppressed me.
Oh
! how
rare
is the friend who understands
the
sorrow
of his
friend
!
.
.
. How
often
does he perceive
what lies on the surface without suspecting
that the
evil lies
still deeper
!
And when God has given
us, for the comfort of
our life, one of those friendships which understands and which
feels, how often, after a few years, after
a few months, are we
deprived of it
!
.
.
. We
lose our friends, we
leave them just
as one leaves for exile some well-beloved shore
; they die
.
.
.
and we remain
alone, surviving
the funeral of our own heart
!
Oh
! no
!
It
is
not
in man
that we should look
for
the
con-
solation and the remedy
!
There remains God
!
So frequently have we had to record in these annals the dam-
ages done by floods
, at
Auriesville, particularly
in
the
Ravine,
that we are happy to state for once that the overflowing creeks
and rivers, which lately did so much harm west and east of the
Shrine, have not injured our property
in any way.
Thanks to
the labor of the past few years, and to
the contributions of our
friends enabling us
to
requite
this
labor, we may hope to be
spared in future the trouble and expense of repairing in one part
or other of the property there the serious damage which storms
and overflows have hitherto so often inflicted.
(1) Job 16
: 2 and 8.
(To be continued.)
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
24
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
The village has had more than its usual population this winter,
as several canal boats were caught there by the ice in November,
and a number of their crews have been forced
to hibernate
in
that neighborhood.
Occasionally some one comes in
pilgrimage
to visit the Shrine, and it is pleasant to learn
that they are de-
lighted with everything.
Each year they find new evidences of
the improvement
and piety that can grow only with the years,
and we hope this year that something still more
impressive and
permanent can be done
there
to witness
to the
veneration in
which the Shrine is held.
*
*
*
It is somewhat early
in the year
to announce what
is to be
done
at the Shrine itself.
But no
obstacle should prevent
us
from having, at last, the long promised ceremony of erecting the
permanent statue of Our I^ady of
Martyrs and placing thereon
the crown of thorns in gold.
The crown is ready, the statue has
been ordered and will be ready in good time—early the coming
summer.
If the means at our disposal when spring comes around
justify the construction of a proper oratory or shrine for the new
statue, we shall certainly attempt it
; but there
is still some debt
to clear, in all about $3,000 in loan and mortgage.
Much was
done last
year,
for besides purchasing land and improving
the
hotel and grounds the debt was
lessened by
fully $1,000.
We
trust we shall be able to do, at least, this much the coming year,
and as soon as our plans are matured we shall announce them to
our readers.
*
*
*
Our friends must not forget the proposal made last summer to
erect
at
Auriesville
a
statue
in honor of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus.
The
proposal was to spend about $400 on
this statue,
and this sum would be
quite enough
for a large
metal
statue
and
shrine
;
but
a
fine
marble
statue can be
placed
there
properly enshrined
for $800, and
it would be far
preferable to
one in metal, so we shall try to procure it, if the money be forth-
coming.
Already $200 have been
contributed for
this purpose,
and we are confident that the balance will soon be given for this
very worthy object.
It is always advisable to increase the prop-
erty we hold there, but this is
a matter that can very well wait
on these and other much-needed improvements.
What can be announced with certainty is what we have actu-
ally done, and that is an improvement
in the Pilgrim of Our
Digitized by Google
CONTRIBUTIONS.
25
Lady of Martyrs.
This magazine
is entering
its eighteenth
year, and we are glad to observe that its readers not only appre-
ciate it, but also strive
to extend
its circulation,
as appears by
an increase in our subscription lists the past few months.
This
year we are to add to the usual subjects treated in the Pilgrim,
a monthly contribution
to devotion to Our L,ady and another on
some devotion to Our Lord.
Very properly we open
the
series
in honor
of Our Lady by an
article on her Sorrows, taking the
Office of the Seven Dolors as the source
; and the series on devo-
tion to Christ will be about the Royal Way of the
Cross, with a
view to showing how the Passion of
Christ is a source of conso-
lation
in
suffering.
The name
of
the
writer, the Rev. Victor
Van Tricht, of the Society of Jesus,
is sufficient warrant for the
merit of this series.
You wish
to know what you can do
for the Shrine in 1902 ?
Renew your
subscription
to the Pilgrim
; subscribe
for
it
for
some friend.
Each subscription is only fifty cents a year.
How
easy
it would be for each subscriber
to
obtain
several
others.
The Shrine would gain and no one would lose.
*
*
*
Finally,
some
slight
changes which we have
been making
lately in the Messe?iger of the Sacred Heart and
its
Suppleme?it y
which was formerly one with The Pilgrim, will enable us to de-
vote more time to the preparation of the process for the beatifica-
tion of Father Isaac Jogues and his companions.
We, therefore,
request the aid of the prayers of our readers and of
all who are
interested in this, for not only is the labor long and arduous, but
the result to be attained is something far beyond every human en-
deavor.
Of late we have been encouraged by letters of thanksgiv-
ing for favors received through prayers offered at the Shrine, and
attributed to the intercession of the holy persons whose memory is
associated with it
;
letters have also been received asking prayers
through their intercession and we recommend these petitions to
our readers.
Just as soon as we shall have done something for
the cause of Father Jogues, we may confidently hope
for more
signal evidence of
his favor with God and power of intercession
for us.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SHRINE.
J. B., National Military Home,
D. H., Troy, N. Y
$0 56
Ind
$1 20
M. L. S. H., Buffalo, N. Y.
.
.
5 00
J. OR., Youngstown, O
1 00
"In honor of St. Joseph."
25 00
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MISSION
NOTES.
AFRICA.
Congo.—There
is
actually
a
great movement
towards
the
Church,
Father Hencxthoven,
S.J.,
assures
us.
The
natives
from different places
invite the missionaries
to come and teach
them.
Hence, multiplication of mission-stations is hindered only
by the lack of resources.
The name " farm-chapels " indicates
the method of the
missionaries.
They aim
at forming
settle-
ments in which the convert colonists will
be
trained
iu
agricul-
ture and trades as well
as
in
the Christian faith.
There are
at
present
183 "farm-chapels" in the Congo mission of the Bel-
gian Jesuits, with
4,294
children under instruction.
Here
the
little blacks study their maps, arithmetical tables etc.
, something
after the fashion of European schools.
A series of pictures illus-
trating
the history
of the Old and New Testaments brighten
the walls
of the
schools,
aid are found
extremely useful for
teaching.
Father Hencxthoven has opened a normal
school
for
cate-
chists.
It already contains seventeen pupils, who are willing to
live as the missionaries
do, amongst
the
people, receiving only
food and clothing, but no payment for their labor.
Lower Niger.
Another black King.—Some months ago we an-
nounced the conversion of King Sami of Onitcha.
His example
has
been
followed by
that
of King Obi
of Nsube.
All
the
town or
settlement
of Nsube
is following
the
royal
example.
His conversion
is very sincere.
During the Mass preceding his
Baptism, he was unwilling, through his
humility, to occupy the
place specially prepared for him.
He had put away his idols and
amulets, and separated from
his unlawful
wives.
His crown,
also
made of antelope's horns, he had
laid
aside.
The
Sister
Superior
of Onitcha was
his
god-mother.
After Baptism, he
went outside
; and in his enthusisam cried out in the words of St.
Michael, "Quis ut Deus
' '—
6 Who is like unto God f
1
9
The lead-
ers
of the people
of Nsube,
which has
a
population of 9,000
souls, are taking steps
for the
instruction and Baptism of
this
multitude.
Algeria. —Some years ago, Cardinal Lavigerie said of his mis-
sionaries
in Algeria that he thought none
in
the world were
more
devoted.
Voluntary
exiles, they
toiled without hope
of
human reward, and often with
little apparent
fruit amongst the
26
MISSION NOTES.
27
Mussulman natives.
An early death, the fatal gift of
the Afri-
can climate, was known to await a great many amongst them,
if
not nearly all.
Of two hundred and
fifty-nine priests with Car-
dinal Lavigerie at the time referred to, only fourteen reached the
age of sixty years.
There are now 300 priests where the present
Archbishop, Mgr. Oury, says 3,000 are needed.
The mission is
peculiarly difficult owing to the distance between the settlements.
Hence many of the scattered faithful neglect the practice of their
religion, because they so rarely see a priest, and sometimes they
die
before the sacraments can be
administered.
The country
teems with a Mussulman population very difficult to convert, in
fact very difficult to approach on the question of Christianity.
It
is to a great extent by the care of the sick and diseased that an
opening is made to plant the seeds of the gospel.
The confidence
of the people having been gained, the missionaries were allowed
to enter freely amongst the native tribes.
Schools were opened,
those for girls being taught by the
'
4 White Sisters.'
'
At first
the parents insisted that nothing should be said
to the children
about the Christian religion, but by degrees, it won favor, and in
time, whole families were baptized.
Still great reserve and pru-
dence
are necessary, and
the
greatest
caution
in
referring
to
Mahomet and his doctrines.
The devotedness of the
missionaries
is
in many cases
abso-
lutely heroic.
The trappist monks, for instance, at the beginning
of the French colonization, endured untold miseries before assur-
ing their establishment.
When disease thinned their ranks, they
returned
to France
for new recruits, and
at last had the conso-
lation
of
seeing
their deserts bloom as the fields of their native
country.
Amongst the Bechuanas.—The geographical divisions
of South
Africa
have been
long since sadly familiar.
Bechuanaland
is
west of the Transvaal and
the Orange Free
State.
One of the
Zambesi missionaries, travelling through
it
in 1893, te^s °f his
reaching, after nightfall, in a remote and lonely, but lovely spot,
the settlement
of
an
Irish
Catholic, who had
left
his native
country nearly fifty years before, and after many wanderings had
married a Boer wife.
He had a large family of healthy children,
not one of whom could speak a word of English.
" He had not
seen a priest for many a long year
; but
in
spite
of
this he had
clung to his faith as only a son of Erin can
do, and all his chil-
dren had been baptized Catholics.
As
he had never made his
first Communion, he and his older children were prepared for
it
28
MISSION NOTES,
during the
night, and
next morning
received
it
together.
I
have
never
witnessed
a more
touching
sight,*
'
writes
the
missionary.
Although
the
conversion
of
the
Bechuanas
is slow, owing
chiefly to want of
priests,
they make very
faithful
Christians.
" Morning after morning," writes a priest after a year's residence
amongst them,
" as regular as clock work, practically the whole
of the congregation (at Vleeschfontein) used to come
to Mass;
and every evening they would
all assemble
in
the
little chapel
for the public recitation of the Rosary.
More than this,
I have
seen many and many a
time, men, women and
children, come
quietly from their homes to spend a long time
in silent prayer
before the Blessed Sacrament.
These
people
really loved the
chapel, and no service could be too long for them.
,,
Bishop Hofman, of
the Order of
St. Francis, Vicar-Apostolic
of Southern Shan-Si, fears that, at least
in
parts of China,
the
future
is
far
from
promising.
The
guilty
Mandarins
and
" Boxers,"
easily
escaping
punishment,
will
as
easily
revolt
anew.
The bishop says
that
in
his vicariate many apostatized
through fear when they were separated from
their leaders,
the
missionaries.
Nearly all,
however, have returned
to
the faith.
Many who died
for the
faith
had
been
considered
indifferent
Christians.
But at the moment of danger they were steadfast.
The persecution has had a remarkable consequence in the recon-
ciliation
of many Christians who were
at
variance
with one
another.
The common danger united them.
The number of
converts has been greater since the
late disasters, so
that more
missionaries are imperatively called for.
The pagans, instead of
.destroying their unloved offspring, prefer to give them up to the
Christian asylums.
Very many
Christian
infants have shared
the fate of
the Holy Innocents, cut off like unfolding roses.
In
July, 1901, the mission
of Southern Shan-Si had sixteen Fran-
ciscan priests and three secular.
There were seventeen students
in
the
seminaries,
seventy-two
catechists,
and
seventy-eight
school teachers.
Acknowledgment
is made of the following contributions
:
CHINA.
FOR THE MOST NEEDY MISSION.
R. B., Battle Creek, Mich.
$10 00
FOR THE INDIAN MISSIONS.
A Friend.
$25 00
THE PILGRIM
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
February,
1902.
No.
2.
THE EARLY
MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
FROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMILI.E DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
T
the end of the feast the chief arises and with a loud voice,
prays, " I invoke thee, O god of war to be favorable
to
me and my friends; to have pity on me and on my fam-
ily.
I invoke, also, all the good and bad spirits, all those who
are in the air and on the earth and
in the earth
to keep me
and those of my party and to help us after a happy journey to
return to our
country."
The Indians answer
" Ho
! Ho
! "
which is their cry of approbation and prayer, and then the chief
sings the death song.
Very often
it embraces the
most
atro-
cious details.
u May rage choke my enemies
; may I devour
them and drink their blood to the last drop.
I
will
lift
their
scalps
;
I will drink in the skull
of my enemies.
I
will cut
their fingers
with my teeth.
I will burn their feet and
their
limbs.
I will let the worms feed on their wounds.
I will tear
the skin from their heads.
I will pluck out
their hearts and
plunge it in their mouths."
The warriors repeat
these songs
of death and of vengeance.
#
The dance Athonront commences.
The chief strikes a post
of the cabin and begins the dance.
Each warrior does the same.
It is a public declaration of the private arrangement which he
has made to follow his chief and to
fight
his
assailants.
The
proceedings end by the war dance in which all take part and in
which the braves
execute,
each
in
his own
fashion,
all
the
Copyright, Apostlcship of Prayer, 1901.
2 9
(Continued.)
Iroquois Aggressions.
THE EARL V MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
movements of a troop on
the march
or
in
the
fight.
They
utter cries of death and yells of vengeance.
They imitate the
labors of a siege and
the
attack
of a
palisade.
They make
marches and countermarches.
They brandish their clubs and
their tomahawks.
They stretch their bows and flourish
their
knives.
They leap
over
ditches and
imitate
the
action
of
swimming.
Nothing is wanting in this picturesque and horri-
ble pantomine to make
it an
infernal image
of savage
war.
The ceremonies and the dances and the songs
are
intended to
arouse their martial ardor.
Before their departure they interrogate
the
Medicine Men.
They consult dreams and take their manitou and thus
assured
they set out convinced that they have nothing'to fear, and that
the victory is already won.
Their imaginations are excited by
the story of the exploits of their ancestors and they are on fire
to win glory like them in the combat.
At the beginning of our
narrative
the Iroquois
population
was about 25,000, of whom 2,000 or more were warriors. The
number was not great, but their geographical situation protected
them against all attack from without while they had easy
ac-
cess to the West and North along the Ohio, Mississippi and the
great lakes, and to the East by the river St. Lawrence and
its
tributary streams.
With
their canoes
they
could
transport
their warriors rapidly to the points where they hoped
to sur-
prise the enemy.
The enemy were
the
Hurons,
the Algon-
quins and the French, who were superior
to them
in number
indeed, but did not
possess
the same power
of
cohesion,
of
mutual understanding and discipline.
Moreover, the Iroquois
had, at the south, a wall of defense in the Dutch colony estab-
lished on Manhattan Island.
For these Dutch
settlers they
procured rich peltries, and received in return firearms and am-
munition for war or
for
the
hunt, and
they thus possessed
a
great superiority over the other savage tribes.
In this manner
they soon became the first military power of North
America.
Sure, henceforth, of this advantage, and proud of their
ability
for war, they knew no restraint.
They were found in ambus-
cade on the borders of the St. Lawrence, and at the mouths ot
rivers to attack the canoes and
the
boats which were loaded
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
31
with peltries.
They prowled around Quebec and Three Rivers;
they
went
into
the
very
heart of the Algonquin
country.
They ascended the St. Lawrence as far as the
island
of Allu-
raettes.
They attacked the camps which were badly guarded,
surprised their enemies, massacred them
or
carried them
off
as prisoners.
They even captured prisoners from beneath the
very cannon of Quebec.
The Hurons who came down every
year for trading often met them and each time
there was a
bloody conflict, with the victory
usually on
the
side
of the
Iroquois.
lt They came
like
foxes," says Charlevoix,
" they
attacked like lions, and fled like birds.
They were most usually
sure of their stroke."
When Champlain returned to Quebec, after the peace of St.
Germain, he saw immediately the gravity of the situation.
There
was no illusion about
it.
A prompt remedy had to be applied
if the future of the colony was to be assured.
For that reason
he asked 120 soldiers from
Richelieu.
"With
this
troop of
warriors," he said, " together with two or three thousand allies,
we would be absolute masters in a year of
all
this people."
This was in
1633.
^n
the
following
year he wrote again
:
u One hundred and twenty Frenchmen, well
equipped
with
our Indian allies, would suffice to exterminate the Iroquois or
make them listen to reason."
These one hundred and twenty
soldiers
he
never
got.
The
Cardinal
engaged
in
the
war
against the House of Austria was unable to give any assistance
to the French colony.
The successor of Champlain, Huault de
Montmagne,
succeeded
no
better
with
the
Minister,
and,
powerless
to
attack, he contented himself with remaining on
the defensive.
This wise and prudent course seemed
to
the
Iroquois a manifest sign of great weakness.
Up
to
that they
had conceived a great idea of the military power of France, but
from that
out
their ideas changed and
gave
place
to
quite
another impression, for they did not understand the real motive
of the
expectant
attitude
of
the
governor.
Their
audacity
increased as this apparent weakness showed itself, and
soon
it
was beyond all bounds.
In
1 64 1, Father Vimonot, Superior of Quebec, writes
to his
Provincial at Paris
:
" New France will perish if it is not vigor-
32
THE EARL V MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
ously and promptly
assisted.
The business of the Hundred
Associates,
the
colony
of
the
French
and
religion,
which
begins to take hold of the subjects, are forever gone if the Iro-
quois are not conquered.
If we have not that people on our
side, or if they are not exterminated, we may well abandon to
their cruelties all our excellent neophytes and all the fine hopes
we had cherished.
The Iroquois have become so insolent that
either the country must be
lost
or a prompt and
efficacious
remedy must be applied.'
Again, the following year, he expressed the same fears:
u The
Iroquois are the scourge of our growing church, and
are de-
stroying our neophytes with
their firearms, and have sworn a
cruel war against the French.
They block all the entrances to
our great river, are destroying all our commerce, and bring ruin
on the entire country."
These words are the expressions of
the general
opinion of
the colony.
The fear of the Iroquois had caused much depres-
sion
of
spirits.
The
people
lived
with
the
constant
fear
of death before them
;
there was no protection except
in the
very citadel of Quebec.
a The Algonquins, who are Christians
or catechumens, and who established themselves in Three Rivers,
have
fled
in
terror.
Many have gone back to
their country
and others have taken refuge in Quebec.
The
Iroquois have
not
yet
discovered
(this was
towards
the end
of
1642)
the
colony established at Montreal in the spring
of that year, but
hostilities will begin soon, and
people
can no longer be sure
once
they
leave
their
doorsteps.
The
region between
the
country of the Hurons and Quebec, which is frequented every
year after the great winter frosts by
fleets
of thirty,
fifty and
even one hundred canoes, is to-day so insecure that convoys of
merchandise are something that you rarely see."
Digitized by Google
A CONTRAST.
BY THE REV.
M. WATSON,
SJ.
I.
I WALKED along a city street to-day,
*
And Souls in crowds passed near me, each to sight
Invisible within its house of clay,
A Spirit by its nature glad and bright.
A pure Celestial Presence stood revealed
And asked me
:
" Wouldst thou these veiled Spirits know,
And view their state, now from thy sight concealed ? M
I looked my wish, he touched mine eyes, and lo
!
Each Spright I knew.
And some were hideous, black,
And bound in straitest bonds, yea, wounded sore
As
if to death
; and yet, most strange, alack
!
The body seemed to know
it not, and wore
Apparel gay and cried in vaunting joy
:
" Ours is true life, ours, bliss without alloy.''
II.
But some there were, whose Soul a glorious Queen,
Dwelt in their flesh as in a palace fair,
For strong and glad and crowned with light serene,
She lived free as unfettered mountain
air.
And these were children and some ill-clad poor,
And men and women with a child-like heart,
Who won Angelic love and guidance sure,
And spotless walked through busy street and mart.
They shunned all sinful stain
; and yet their
fill
Of keenest pleasure quaffed
;
for, hour by hour,
They grew in holiest peace and love, until
They gained, e'en while on earth, Heaven's happiest dower.
True life was theirs
; but many sneered and said
:
u What earthly joy
is yours?
Fools, ye are dead
! "
33
4
Digitized by Google
THE BLESSED VIRGIN
IN PASSION WEEK.
IT
is somewhat
striking
that
in
the
Office of Holy Week
there
is almost no
mention
of
the Holy Mother.
The
Feast of the Seven Dolors has been already celebrated
in
Passion Week, but in the gloom
of the week that follows she
virtually disappears.
She
is, of course, mentioned as standing
at the
foot
of the
Cross, and Our Lord's words
to her
are
recorded and have formed the delight of the Church ever since,
but
beyond
that
there
is
nothing.
We have,
indeed,
the
meeting of Mother and Son on the way to Calvary and there
is the laying of the mangled body of Jesus
in
her arms at the
foot of the Cross
; but these two events are given to us by tradi-
tion and are not recorded in Holy Writ.
The silence of the
Scripture on
these two events does
not, of
course, imply that
they did
not
occur, for
the
tradition and piety and
instinct
of
the Church are
absolutely
safe
guides
in
such
matters.
They were not written down simply
because it was unneces-
sary to do so.
That they occurred
is
self-evident.
But apart
from that, Our Lady
is
almost
lost
sight of in the Liturgy of
the Church during that week.
It
is
the Church's way of em-
phasizing the doctrine that Jesus u trod
the
wine-press alone
;
that He looked to the right and to the
left and
there was no
one to help Him.''
It is for the same reason that during that
time there is no invocation of any saint
; on Good Friday there
is not even Mass
;
and, in keeping with that spirit, the Blessed
Mother for the moment is unseen, though she is present. When
she does appear
at the
foot of the
Cross, it only brings out
more forcibly the utter loneliness
of the Redeemer in the work
He has entered upon.
Even she
is of no help.
She only
in-
creases His sorrow.
Against
the
darkness
of
those days the
figure of Jesus appears alone.
There are, of course, many
allusions to her in the Lamenta-
tions of Jeremias, which the Church
sings when coming close
to the time of the Crucifixion. But they are such only by adap-
tation.
Thus the Prophet, contemplating the desolation
actu-
ally brought on the Holy City in
the time of Sedecias sees a
vivid picture of the greater desolation which is to come upon
34
THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN PASSIOA WEEK.
35
it in the days when
it has
cast out the great King.
It
is that
scene which he primarily describes when he exclaims
:
" How
doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people
!
How is the
mistress
of the
gentiles become as
a widow
;
the princes of
provinces made
tributary.
Weeping she
hath
wept in
the
night, and her tears are on her cheeks
;
there
is none to com-
fort her among all them that were dear to her
;
all her friends
have despised her
and
are become her enemies.
From the
Daughter of Sion all beauty is departed.
O,
all ye
that pass
by the way, come and
see
if there be any sorrow
like unto
mine."
Nevertheless, in
the immemorial custom of the Church
all
this is applied to the Blessed Virgin, and rightly so, for she in
the
most
admirable
and
marvellous
way
was the
Virgin
daughter of Sion.
In her all the holiness ot the ancient peo-
ple of God, which was her people,
culminated.
She was its
most perfect flower and fruit.
Her, the prophecies had
fore-
told and the types foreshadowed.
In the general ruin of her
race and
in
the
disaster
which had
fallen
on
religion
she
stands luminous at the side of the Redeemer, and hence, with
perfect propriety all those prophetic utterances may be applied
to
her, always, of course, with reference
to
the
great
events
which they portray, and understanding that whatever momen-
tary
obscuration
there may
be,
is
only
to bring out more
vividly
the great truth that in Christ alone is our redemption.
Possibly, also,
it may be a way of hinting that her grief was
not merely a matter of that time alone, but followed her all her
life and hence the Church.devotes two other portions of the litur-
gical year, one of which, at
least,
is
remote from the Passion,
to study
the sorrows of the
Blessed
Mother.
She
does so
because she wants us to remember that the sword was
always
in the Blessed
Virgin's
heart
;
that the
vision of Calvary was
ever
before
her, and
the
sea
of sorrow
constantly sweeping
over her soul.
Hence, apart from
the
Feast of the Seven Dolors
in
the
springtime, there
is another in autumn, and
singularly enough
it follows immediately
after the Feast of her Nativity as
if to
intimate that her sorrows began with her birth.
In the hymn
/
Digitized by Google
3$
THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN PASSION WEEK.
of the first vespers we have a most pathetic almost harrowing
picture of her maternal anguish over the mangled body of her
Son.
That hymn alone
is
sufficient
to show us what tender-
ness and depth of sympathy the
true
Catholic ought
to have
with regard to the Mother of Christ.
We have not a metrical
translation of it. but the thought runs as follows
:
" O
with what
torrents of
tears, with sorrow
surging like
the waves of the
sea,
does
the
grief-stricken
Virgin Mother
gaze upon her Child when He
is torn from
the bloody cross
and
laid
in her arms
!
Crushed
with
grief she bathes with
tears
His
gentle
lips,
His
tender
breast, His
sweet
wide-
gaping side, His wounded
right hand and mangled
left, and
His
feet
all red
with
blood.
A
hundred
and a thousand
times
she
clasps
in
her
close embrace
His sacred form, and
with her
lips fixed upon His
wounds melts away
in
kisses
of anguish and
pain.
O Mother, we entreat, by those tears
of thine and
the sad
funeral scene over the body of thy Son
and
for
the sake of those
livid wounds make the sorrow
01
thy heart abide in ours."
Could we want any more touching
expression
of human
grief
than
this?
As we
are
all
aware
no
one
can
be
subject
of keener anguish than a
loving mother holding
in
her arms the dead body of her son, and we know
that
there
never was a mother,
there never was a son
like those who
are depicted
there.
Add
to
it
the
fact
that
no
saint
ever
could
feel the outraged majesty of God
as
did
she, and we
need no longer wonder why the Church, when
it has
to use
human speech,
is sometimes
mute.
The agony of
Christ
is
shown
to be
all
the greater when, even for
this
grief of the
Mother, the Church has almost no
words, and has to wait till
the time of the
Passion
is
passed
to give
utterance
to her
thoughts.
Digitized by Google
JOHN GARNETS
HOLIDAY.
BY MARY
T. WAGGAMAN.
Chapter
III.
HUS John Garnet's
holiday began.
Like some
strange,
beautiful dream
the
days went
by,
bringing him new
hope and vigor and
life.
Wonderful days, indeed, they
were to this grave, austere man, who had hitherto walked only
the barren way of duty and self-renunciatiotf—the desert path
whose sole glory is the radiance of distant stars.
Here on
these enchanted
heights
life
was
all
color
and
beauty and glow
; here
Nature,
cruel
step-dame for so long,
seemed to soften into motherly tenderness
and
lap and cradle
him into delicious rest.
For a time it was
not only rest,
rest,
—on the wide
verandah, in a soft cushioned chair, wrapped in
warm rugs, or basking in the autumn
sunlight—rest,
by the
great chimney-place
in
the
hall,
where a special corner was
his
invalid
right—rest,
in
the
cosy
library, where he could
dream undisturbed over his favorite authors.
And always, and
everywhere, he was
conscious
of a
gentle care and solicitude
that watched without wearying him.
The rug, the cushion, the foot-stool, the dainty milk punch,
the invigorating
cordial—all
these
little comforts and neces-
sities of the convalescent, Lilian took into her hands, minister-
ing to the gaunt, grave, lonely man with a tenderness almost
He grew stronger daily
; every morning he awoke
with an
added sense of vigor and
well-being, every day life seemed to
grow richer in warmth and
color,
fuller
of
pleasant interest,
nay, ot keen though quiet delight.
Soon he was able
to walk,
to
drive, to take a share in the
pleasures
and
amusements
of
the
guests.
For
the
Open
Sesame
to
Cro' Nest was not wealth or social
position, but
cleverness.
The dull, the stupid,
the heavy,
found no admission there.
" One must tolerate Midas in town," Mrs. Brycerly said, " but
here we
pull his ears
fearlessly and
will have none of him.''
So it was
a
brilliant
coterie she
gathered around her in her
filial.
37
3*
JOHN GARNETS HOLIDAY,
mountain
fastness—artists, authors, musicians came and went,
bold thinkers and
theorists lingered delightedly in the con-
genial atmosphere—where all that was novel or original roused
eager interest.
But as John Garnet
soon found,
it was a pagan
Parnassus,
where all gods had a place but the One Infinite and Eternal.
In vain had
Lilian, filled with the
beautiful enthusiasm
of
the young
convert,
striven
to champion
the Truth
against
overwhelming odds, she had
found herself no match for the
keen, subtle, scholarly minds arrayed against her.
Again and
again had she been driven to covet the
Christians'
Credo, her
only
defence.
But she had a powerful ally now.
After long
years
of
in-
activity John Garnet found himself handling the
old weapons
of his youth against foemen worthy
of
his
steel.
Long
dor-
mant powers seemed to quicken into new life, dulled
thought
kindled into glow and
flame, and
Lilian's
ckeek
flushed and
her eyes sparkled
with triumph at the masterly logic and
elo-
quence with which this grave, quiet friend upheld her cause,
and defended the Truth she loved against pagan onslaught.
" Ah, you have scattered
the hosts
of darkness,"
she said
gaily, one night, when
the
circle, held
breathless around
the
fire by some such
philosopher's
battle,
dispersed
to
billiard
and music room, and she and Mr. Garnet were left in quiet by
the glowing hearth.
a Even Doctor Danfuth confessed to me
that your mediaeval battle axe struck with tremendous
force.
And
Mildred Vane,
poor unhappy woman, told mamma that
your argument last night showed her the first solid ground she
had touched for twenty
years.
Mr.
Garnet,"
the gay
voice
took a graver tone, and Lilian sank down in her graceful, girlish
way on
the cushion beside her guest.
u You have been here
three weeks, and each week
I have wondered more and more
how you could have been
content
in papa's office
all
these
weary
years.
Surely you could have done better things than
drudge over his books."
a Once I thought so," he answered, quietly.
" But we can-
not always choose
our own
paths, Miss
Lilian.
I was
left
with a mother and
three
sisters depending
solely upon
me.
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDAY.
39
There was no time for choice or delay.
Perhaps if I had been
a bolder man, I might have ventured, but
there seemed
too
much at stake.
" I
understand,"
she
said,
gently.
" Then you
are
not
alone ? "
u Two of my sisters are married in the West
; one is a clois-
tered nun
; my mother died last year.
Yes,
I am alone.''
a And free,'' she
said,
eagerly.
' 4 Then
surely, surely you
will not go back into bondage.
Oh,
it must have been such a
hard, such a blighting life.
Do you know when I was a
very
little girl,
I used to think that high grated desk of yours was
a cage, and wonder how papa could be
so
cruel
as
to
keep
you there.
Once after a visit to the office I went to him cry-
ing, and begged him to let you out."
The
grave, strong face had softened
into
tremulous lines
while she spoke, but they were seated in the shadow and she
did not see.
Though arches and corridors, brightly lit, opened
on either side,
it was a fancy
of
Mrs.
Brycerly
to
leave her
central room to the firelight alone.
All
lesser
radiance,
she
said, broke the spell of the great hearth, where mighty logs of
oak hickory blared like royal bonfires, sending quivering shad-
ows high upon the rough-hewn walls."
" I remember a little white plumed fairy,
that used to peep
shyly in upon me," Mr. Garnet said very softly.
u And so you
were sorry for this poor old prisoner."
" Oh, not old! " was her quick rejoinder.
"You are not old
now, Mr. Garnet."
" Forty-five my
last
birthday, Miss
Lilian, and
out of the
race."
" Need one ever be out of the race," she asked, thoughtfully.
u Yes,
if he fall twenty years behind.'*
" But not when the years have brought only strength, wis-
dom,
courage,
endurance.
Oh, what
a long
sacrifice
those
years have been
!
Sacrifice
; " she repeated.
u It is the word
that meets me at every turn in the beautiful new language that
I am learning.
Sacrifice!
It is a hard word, Mr. Garnet."
"Yes," he
said, quietly; "a hard word.
May
it be long
before you know its full meaning."
4°
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDAY.
44 But it is
not always suffering/'
she said
;
" sometimes it
must be joy, when—when—one loves for instance."
Her voice had grown lower, sweeter.
The glow of the
fire
brightened
as the great hickory back log whose rugged bark
had defied the flame all evening, began to kindle and snap.
It
seemed to fling a softer flush upon the beautiful profile, turned
half away from John Garnet's gaze.
" Can love that would gladly give all
things be sacrifice ? "
she asked.
" Yes," he
answered,
slowly.
41 The
highest, the holiest,
the most
agonizing, when
it is
called
to
the
Calvary of
self-
immolation."
" But I would die to save some one 1 loved without a pang,''
she said with a quick, drawn breath.
4< There are pangs crueler than death,"
he answered, briefly.
44 Oh, yes—yes," she
said,
with sudden pain
in her
voice
;
" and
these
I
pray God
will spare me for I would not know
how to bear them."
44 Amen
to
that
prayer,"
said John
Garnet,
softly.
a I
would like to think of you
as the
little, white-plumed fairy of
old,
pitying, helping—not, God
grant,
enduring.
I
believe
there are some bright souls sent into this world to comfort and
gladden, some who, only by a beautiful sympathy, know
of
its sorrow and sin, some upon whom the burden of life is never
laid.
And—" he paused for a moment, while the
great heart
of the hickory burst into a blaze that illumined the tremulous
lines of his grave, strong face—" I would go on in my own dark,
lonely way forever to keep this happy lot of yours undimmed.
I tell you this that you may not think me altogether unmind-
ful/ungrateful for the sweet pity and kindness you have shown
to
a
dull, weary, lonely man.
For
I
leave Cro' Nest to-mor-
row morning."
41 Oh, Mr. Garnet, no
! we cannot permit it,'* cried Lilian, in
dismay.
" You know you are far from strong yet."
4 'Far from
strong,' ' he
repeated
in an odd tone, as he rose,
tall and gaunt in the ruddy firelight.
<4 You are right, perhaps;
I am far from strong, but I will grow stronger in the old ways,
at the old work."
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDAY.
41
a Oh,
but
this
so strange,
so
sudden,M
continued
Lilian.
" Papa does not expect you,
I am sure.
Oh, please do not go
yet."
The
soft, pleading
tone
trembled, there were
tears
in
the
sweet,
uplifted
eyes
;
it was
the
pitying, little white-plumed
fairy of old that spoke
to the lonely, desolate stranger within
her
gates.
But
the
spell
of the
firelight was
in John Gar-
net now, the
great
heart of the
hickory mailed
against the
storms and suns of nigh fifty was glowing to its core.
" My dear little girl," he said, in a moved voice
; " since you
so wish it, I will stay."
When he went to his room that night there was a letter upon
his table that had come with the
late mail.
He looked at
it
curiously, for both postmark and handwriting were strange to
him.
Then carelessly, he broke the seal and read.
His uncle
and godfather, an eccentric old man, of whom he had not heard
for years, had died in a far-off western town and left him
fifty
thousand
dollars.
His bonds were broken forever, he was free
as
Lilian had
wished, free to live
his own
life, to reach
the
heights which
Poverty had barred, free to strive, to win, to triumph yet. And
like one who had quaffed some strange new elixir, John Garnet
sat half the night before the white Christ
in his mantle where
Lilian had placed her last roses, dreaming the dreams of youth,
heedless of the storm that swept the mountain
baring, blight-
ing, blasting its autumn
glory, leaving behind the sere silence
of winter and death.
The storm
passed
with
the
night.
The wind had swept
away mist and cloud
veil from
the mountain and the dawn
broke with a pallid radiance
like one whose
vision had been
cleared by a vigil of tears.
John Garnet rose late as was his convalescent
privilege, and
descended to find the house abandoned save by Mrs. Vane and
the olive-skinned old Buddhist, who were deep in some
Orien-
tal occultism on the sunlit porch.
tl You have been
left
at our mercy, Mr. Garnet,
, ' said the
Chapter IV.
42
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
lady, gaily.
a All the rest of the party have gone on the long
intended picnic to Indian Rock.
The
waters are
at the
full
to-day, and the cataract is superb in foam and rainbow.
Mrs.
Brycerly left word that if you should feel like joining them
at
the hotel, Lara was in the stable at your command."
But Indian
Rock, with
its leaping
waterfall and gay
pic-
nicers, had no charms for John Garnet to-day.
He was glad to be
alone, to
think, to
resolve, to look
into
the strange, beautiful vistas that had suddenly opened around
him.
He had telegraphed to Mr. Brycerly
yesterday
that he
was
about
to
return, and now he must
notify him
of
his
changed plans, for with this legacy ^in
cash, at his command,
so the letters had informed him), the shackles of the trials had
dropped from him, he could reach
to higher
things than
his
cashier's cage.
And with something of the vigor and
briskness
of twenty
years ago, he took up his heavy walking stick and started out
for a morning tramp through the woods.
Even the pines had
felt the fury of the storm
; more than one cone-crowned mon-
arch lay prostrate in
his
path, while the
oaks and
chestnuts
were swept bare.
There was a tender melancholy
in
the sunlight that trem-
bled through the leafless boughs
; the wind sighed in the
hol-
lows like a passion-weary child.
The note everywhere was of
penitence and pain.
The little chapel of Our Lady
ol
Dolors lay near the
tele-
graph office to which John Garnet had directed his
steps, and
he stopped there for a few minutes to kneel
before the simple
rustic altar, his heart filled with new hopes, new purposes, that
seemed to need the touch divine, to
steady and assure them.
And through the sombre light that had suddenly fallen upon
his desert path, there seemed to come again the old blessing ot
his
youth.
Even there Thy hand shall lead me
; Thy
right hand
up-
hold me.
He retraced his steps to Cro' Nest more slowly, lingering in
the sunlit aisles with the pleasant thoughts that he might loiter
thus, unburdened, unhampered now.
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDA Y.
43
Dreams of travel, of happy leisure, nay, dreams sweeter and
holier still flitted through his mind as he rambled
in
his foot-
steps scattering the fallen leaves,
his cane swinging carelessly
from his hand, his whole being stirred by a new sense
of
free-
dom and power.
He had nearly reached the wide gateway
of
Cro' Nest when a figure started out of the shadowing pines
to
meet him.
44 Grayson !" he exclaimed—conscious of a sudden chill, like
the breath from some frosty height
For it was Wirt Grayson,
the bright, cheery young man, who had
taken
his
desk who
confronted him.
Wirt Grayson, white, haggard, hollow-eyed, the
herald of some disaster—John Garnet felt at a glance.
" One word with you, Mr. Garnet, here
alone/'
the young
man began, excitedly,
41 1—I have risked everything to come up
here to-day, to throw myself on your mercy
;
it rests with you
to save or to ruin me."
The boy—he seemed
little more
to the man of
forty-five,
spoke in short, quick gasps, like one in mortal pain or fear.
44 Be plain, Grayson," was the terse business answer—" what
has happened ? "
" We got your telegram that you were coming back to your
work, to your desk, to-day.
For God's sake don't, Mr. Garnet,
give me just—just one week more."
The cashier's sunken eyes flashed.
With the quick trained
instinct he grasped the situation.
tl So you have turned scoundrel, Grayson—
14 Call it what you please sir,
I have nothing to say in my de-
fense, except, perhaps
this.
There was
a chance
before
me
that would have turned older heads than mine—that did turn
them—half a dozen of the best firms
in
the
street have gone
down like card-houses.
44 And
ours—," asked John Garnet, paling.
<4 Is Brycerly &
Brycerly hurt? "
44 Not—not yet, sir
'' faltered the young man.
44 But,
I—I— ''
44 And you have dared to use the
funds, at your command,
to risk the credit intrusted
to
you, and you come back to me
for help, for time, to cover your
rascality.
Grayson, there
is
only one excuse
for such
a
proposition.
You must be mad
indeed."
44
JOHN GARNET'S H0L1DA V.
" I am,
I
believe I am," answered
the young man, desper-
ately.
" For the last ten days
I have scarcely eaten or slept,
watching the balance swaying that meant either safety or ruin,
and
it is swaying yet, Mr. Garnet, a day, an
hour, and
I may
win back all.
Let me show you—
" Not a day, an hour, a
minute, will
I give you," was the
stern reply.
" I go back to my post by the next train."
" And ruin me," said Grayson, with a catch in his breath.
"It is not my business
to
consider you, sir,"
was the cold
answer.
44 No, no
; .oh my God
! " groaned
the young man, " if it
were only
myself.
But
Lilian,
poor
Lilian, this
will break
her heart
!
We—we have loved each other so
long, since we
were children, Mr. Garnet
; we were to be
married next year.
She
is so proud, and yet
so tender, so
true, she
will
cling to
me through
everything.
And
yet
to drag
her down with
me.
My God
!
I
will
die
first,
it will be a short end to all."
" Hush
! "
said
Garnet,
in
a
sharp,
strange
voice.
" He
was white to the lips now, his brow damp with a sudden sweat.
a Let me understand you.
You—you
are
betrothed you say
to—to—Miss Brycerly.
You were
to
be—married next year.
Is this the truth, Grayson, or—or
are you
a
liar as
well as a
thief?"
The young man winced and flushed.
"I have given you the right to insult me, Mr. Garnet, there-
fore
I
cannot
resent it," he
answered, with
a
quiet dignity.
" In all that
I have said to you,
I have told the simple
truth."
"The
truth—ah! indeed,
the
truth—fool,
fool, unused to
man's ways
to
cry
silence
in
that which
is
dearest
to her."
John Garnet's
heart seemed
to cry out in its
bitterness as a
thousand trifles corroborative of
Grayson's
words flashed into
his startled memory.
u It was madness, as you
say, to appeal to you,M continued
the young man.
"There
is but one course left to me
;
I will
go myself to Mr. Brycerly and confess
all."
" What
is your
deficit ? " asked
Garnet, a
fierce glow
in
his deep set eyes.
t{ Over
forty
thousand
dollars,''
answered
Grayson,
des-
perately."
Digitized by Google
JOHN GARNET'S HOLIDAY.
45
u Great Heaven, man
! you
are indeed lost.''
And for one
l>rief moment John Garnet felt a demon's triumph, as he saw
this young life so rich in all that had been denied him, crushed
a.nd
blighted at his
feet,
for
that Harold
Brycerly,
narrow,
.selfish, pitiless to any personal
injury, would show no mercy,
lie knew.
" Lost, yes
! " echoed Grayson, recklessly.
u But when
all
•else fails, there is a way out still."
At those words, the
last cry
of fierce young
despair, John
Oarnet's
soul awoke—mighty
in
its
Christian strength—su-
preme
over trembling heart and mind
and
will.
And the
stern, self-disciplined man saw the barren, desert path he had
trodden
for
years, suddenly flame
into
sacrificial
fire.
With
a quick change of manner and voice he
laid his hand upon
Grayson's shoulder.
u Yes, there is a way out,'' he said
;
" but not that of eternal
perdition.
Grayson,
I have a plan, we will go back
to
the
office together and settle matters."
tl Mr. Garnet
! "
cried the young man, in amazement.
" In
all honesty and
justice," added John Garnet, quickly.
<c Not to save you or your promised wife, or any other creature
from grief or shame, will I swerve from this path of right.
But
I see a way out of this difficulty. We have no time to lose.
I
will leave a parting message at the gate here and take the next
train with you to the city."
That night found John Garnet again at his post—the cage of
the cashier at Brycerly & Brycerly's office.
For long hours he sat there bending
over his
books, a
pale,
bewildered young man wondering and trembling at his side.
And when the midnight had passed Wirt Grayson was saved
and John Garnet's brief holiday dream had vanished forever.
The deficit had been made good by his uncle's legacy.
Bry-
cerly & Brycerly stood strong and unshaken by the storm.
" Mr. Garnet, it is too much, too much," young Grayson had
said, huskily, when he realized the noble generosity of the sac-
rifice.
" I will give my note to you for this sum, and devote my
whole life,
if need be, to repaying it."
" No
! " answered John Garnet, quietly.
a I wish no note, ask
46
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
no payment.
It would shackle, burden you for life.
Not the
money,
but
you,
yourself
free, unhampered,
bound
by
no-
secrets, no mistakes of the past, I give to-night
to the woman
you love, to the woman who loves you.
Make the
gift worthy
of her as you can, Grayson.
It is all the payment I ask.
Tut,
tutM—he
laid
his hand
on
the
bright head
that was
bent,
shaken with sobs on
his
cashier's desk.
" How young you
are
Grayson, how very young.
But it is better so—far better
to grow old together.
As for me, I am a man broken beyond
my
years.
My
old
work, my old
place—it
is
best
for me
until
M
and
a
radiant
light came over the
grave,
rugged
face
u God gives me the holiday which is eternal/'
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
BY THE
REV. VICTOR VAN
TRICHT.
(Concluded.)
t<)\OTHING
so touches
us
in Holy Scripture
as
God's
I =#
incessant
solicitude
for man
:
to draw man
to Him
\^
^
He has recourse to all the tenderest comparisons.
Sometimes, to that of a nurse who cherished her
little one on her breast, u Tamquam sinutrix foveatfiliossuos"
(1) Sometimes, to that of a hen which calls together its chickens
under its wing, " Quemadmodum gallina congregatpullos suos?
y
(2) Sometimes, to that of an old and desolate father who awaits
the return of his son, and seeing him coming home from afar,
runs to meet him, throws himself on his neck, and embraces him
amid tears of joy.
Who does not remember the parable of the
prodigal child?
Sometimes, and more frequently, to that of the
supreme tenderness of a mother
!
a Obviabit tilt quasi mater. n
(3) I shall go before you as a mother, a Quomodo si cui mater
blandiatur
ita ego consolabor vos. v
(4)
As a caressing mother
shall I console you.
(1) Thes. 2
: 7.
(3) Keel. 15
: 42.
(2)
St. Matt. 23
: 37.
(4)
Is. 66
:
13,
Digitized by Google
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
47
You would say that He wished to exhaust all the resources
of love, to attract to Himself the souls that suffer.
You would
say that He begs them, He implores them.
And we go so rarely to Him.^
Why?
Do we doubt that He can console us and dry our tears ?
No
! We know well that the great God
possesses in Himself
all goodness and
all
happiness.
How
often, in
raising our
souls to Him in prayer, have we said
to Him
:
" Oh my God,
everything that is desirable
in
the world, everything that
is
glorious, honorable, lovable,
all
this
is
in You
in a sovereign
degree, in
the most
perfect
purity, and in the most intimate
union, and that from all eternity, without any of the imperfec-
tions which
are found
in
created
things.
In You is found
every delight, every rapture, everything which
refreshes, and
everything that charms, every
consolation
and every joy,
all
beauty and all happiness, every blessedness and the consumma-
tion of blessedness.
From You
it
is
that
everything
that
is
sweet, draws
its
sweetness
; everything beautiful, its beauty
; everything bright,,
its splendor
;
all
those who
live,
their
life
; everything that
feels, its sensation
; everything that moves, its strength
; every-
thing that is spirit,
its knowledge
; everything
that is perfect,
its perfection
; everything that is good,
its goodness,
(i)
We know
this and we
believe
it.
We know and believe
that God alone is able to console
us, because He alone is the.
source of happiness.
And yet for all this, once again, we do
not go to Him, we*
go to men
: we go to the
created
things, to
things vain and
heartless.
Whence comes
this mystery ?
Whence comes this contra-
diction to ourselves ?
This is the reason.
Our poor souls are so much
dragged down by our bodies;,
that we come
to seek no other
consolation than
that which
appeals to the body itself.
We are
so much absorbed by our
(i) Lessius,
1 4 Elevations to God.' *
7.
48
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
grosser
life of
feeling and
instinct
that we
scarcely relish or
appreciate any
longer the
life of the
spirit and
of thought.
God ought, so to say, show Himself to our eyes
; He ought to
touch our hands, speak to our ears so that we can see Him, feel
Him, hear Him.
The sensitiveness of our souls has become
so dulled
that we no
longer quiver under the delicate and
mysterious touches of which He is the source.
Without doubt, God
being the Sovereign
Master
of man,
and the Searcher-out of all
the
depths of his nature, God can
touch him, console
him, gladden him by means of the body
and the senses
: He can make him feel in his organism, in his
nerves and in his bones, the divine
ecstasy of happiness.
He
has done so for His saints,
.
.
. He does
the same for us and
it is to Him that we must attribute those moments of serene
delight, by which we feel ourselves moved, and
for which we
search in vain around us for a visible and created cause.
But
God is not lavish of this sensible action, He holds it in reserve,
as an extraordinary and
superior reward.
Ordinarily
it is to
the spirit, it
is to the
reason, it
is by
Faith, that He speaks
and communicates Himself.
This is the chaste
consolation of
the
soul, which He
gives us
.
.
.
but we,
spoiled
through
continual experience of the artificial warmth of this world, we
hold
it
In
slight esteem, we disdain it,
it appears to us cold,
and of little value.
What folly, therefore, is ours
!
Yes! What folly
!
.
.
. And yet God has had pity. Knowing
the wretched dust from which we are made, He humbles Him-
self even to our level
; He so annihilates Himself as to assume
our
nature,
the form
of a
servant,
" exinanivit
semetipsum
formam servi accipiens ; n He has clothed Himself like us in a
visible and tangible flesh
; He has spoken the language which
our ears understand
; He has lived in the midst of us, the
life
which we ourselves live.
Jesus Christ, the word made
flesh, God made man, will be
then the consoler of our sufferings, our friend, His open
heart
the refuge of our heart.
Everything in Jesus Christ is mystery
for our feeble and hesitating minds ; but among
all the
prob-
lems which His human
incarnation
proposes, that which has
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS,
49
struck me with greater force is to understand why, of His en-
tire life, He has made such a complete
tissue of sorrows and
sufferings, to the extent of being called
in
truth " the man of
sorrows
vir dolorum.P
To teach man his faith and his duties, to recall to him all the
old law which he had forgotten, and to crown the whole law
by the loftiest revelation, His lessons and His discourses were
sufficient
To reestablish in a supernatural order the
fallen
nature of
man, there was no need that Jesus Christ should submit to
suffering.
To satisfy the divine Justice of His Father
for our
sins the
slightest act of reparation on His part would have
superabundantly sufficed.
He wished, however, to drink the chalice
of expiation even
to the dregs.
Why ?
Why, then, "ought" He suffer, as the Holy Scripture says?
I know of only one answer: To teach us to suffer.
Oh
! What a master!
What a model
!
Come, then, to this divine school, you who are suffering and
know not how to suffer.
Listen to that silent instruction pro-
posed to us, from the crib even to Calvary ; absorb
it into your
very soul, engrave it upon your memory, and carry
it, living
warm, in your hearts.
It will be your power and your energy,
your strength and your courage.
C St. Augustine
calls some men
" Filii Calvaries—the
chil-
dren of Calvary."
Yes, we are the children of Calvary.
It
is
there that Christ has given us birth to a life of grace
;
it is also
there that He wij^ pour into our hearts, so weak in themselves,
a power of endurance and of resignation which
will
put them
to the test and make them regard, without terror, without fear,
without fainting, all the cortege of miseries, how cruel soever,
which unfolds itself in the life of man.
And what, then, has the Master done ?
<
He has not changed anything in the calamitous condition of
His creature.
He has not
relieved us of our sufferings.
He
has taken sufferings upon His own shoulders.
u Surely He hath
borne our infirmities
Vere dolores nostros
ipse portavity
(i)
(i) Isais 53
: 4.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
He has taken His cross and mounted Calvary.
From that day
suffering became for man a glorious sign and seal of Christian
nobility.
Rejoice, then, you who suffer.
You are called to the fellow-
ship of the sufferings of your God
%t Ad societatem passionum
ejus!"
(i) With Him mount to Calvary,climb that rugged hill
:
you will not take a step there without putting your foot
in the
footprint of the Crucified.
Not one
tear from your
eyes, not
one drop of blood from your heart will touch the ground with-
out touching the tears and the blood which Jesus
Christ shed
before
you.
Mount
even
to
the top and gaze upon Him
attentively. Look on His forehead, His hands, His feet, His torn
side, His reddened eyes, His pierced Heart. ...
If your fore-
head is like His crowned with thorns, if your hands are pierced
like
His, if your
heart
is torn as
His, be
brave.
You bear
within you the features of your King
Stigmata Domini Jesu
in corpore porto.
(2)
u You have put on the countenance, and
as it were, the figure of your God
Configuratus mortiejus" (3)
But
Christ did not
restrict Himself to making
suffering
glorious, He has made
it
lovable and a cause
of joy.
c< I
abound with joy
in my
sufferings,'' says
St.
Paul.
u Super-
abundogaudio in omni tribukUione mea" (4)
This it is the world does not well understand.
It does not
understand how anyone can love suffering
: this
is, according
to its way of thinking, foolishness
; and to indicate clearly that
dt
is on Calvary, at the foot of the
cross, that
this
foolishness
seizes on men, it calls it the foolishness of the cross.
Even in
the time of St. Paul, the world spoke thus
:
" We preach the
Crucified, said the Apostle, to the Gentiles foolishness." (5)
But
it
matters
little what
the world' thinks.
The
fact is
none the less there.
It is none the less true that at the foot of
Calvary, a race of men had sprung up, which has loved
suffer-
ing, which has made suffering
the inseparable companion
of
its pilgrimage, which has preferred pain to
pleasure,
humilia-
(1) Philip 3
;
10.
(3) Philip 3
:
10.
(2) Gal. 6:
17.
(4)
2 Cor. v.
7,
(5)
1 Cor.
1
: 23.
Digitized by Google
1
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
51
tion and comtempt to glory, poverty
to
riches.
It is no less
true that that race perpetuates itself and that by a divine fertil-
ity,
it produces even to-day a glorious offspring.
Our voluptuous age, just as the early ages
of the Church,
sees its penitents leave its bosom amid fire and blood, greedy
of suffering, because Jesus Christ has suffered
; our
age,
inde-
pendent and rebellious, sees men ambition the
annihilation
of
obedience, because Jesus
Christ
annihilated
Himself to obey
•even to the death.
Our
age
so
madly,
so
vainly
pursuing
riches, sees men loving poverty and
" regarding
it as a most
tender mother,"
as
St.
Francis de Sales says,
because Jesus
Christ had been poor and had lived on public
charity.
Who
will deny this ?
And why do we not recognize
that
Jesus
Christ has given a charm to suffering, which we do not perhaps
know, for we have not felt
its
attractions—but which
others
whom
it has captivated,
feel.
You ask me the secret of this mysterious transformation ?
Behold
it.
It is love
!
.
.
.
love which makes everything
sweet and dear that one suffers for the well beloved
.
.
. Love
generated
in
the
fire of those
silent communications which
pass between the Heart of the Crucified God, and
those poor
mortal hearts that draw near to His cross.
Let us
not
forget, moreover,
those consoling words
of the
Apostle
" Momentaneum
et breve
tribulationis
nostrce,
supra
modum
in
sublimitate externum
gloricB pondus operatur. (1)
Our momentary and light tribulations
here below accumulate
for us in heaven a weight of incomparable glory.
He who has raised
up
Jesus,
will
raise
us up with Jesus.
Scientes quoniam qui suscitavit Jesum
et nos cum Jesu suscita-
Mt.(i)
And if we have been the companions of His sufferings,
so shall we be of His joys and His
happiness.
Scientes quod
sicut sociipassionum estis,
sic eritis et
consolationis. (3)
You
who are suffering you will soon
reach,—perhaps you have
al-
ready reached
that point
in
life whence
the
future
inspires
more melancholy than hope.
You
will have
lost
along life's
(1)
2 Cor. 4; v.
17.
(2)
2 Cor. 4: v.
14.
(3)
2 Cor.
1
: v. 7.
Digitized by
52
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
pathway,
those generous
illusions,
those
artless
joys,
those
pleasant dreams, those hopes
so
full
of simplicity, and inex-
perience, all that
beauty
of the
springtime which
will be na
more.
All this is withered
!
The wind which
blows
across
your brow is
the wind of autumn which
blights
as
it
passes.
You must descend ...
the
decline
is
so rapid
! and
at the
foot ... so near alas
! behold the end—Death.
Ah, though
life is so short and eternity so long, though death can, at any
instant, seize us by the throat, and lay us in the grave, believe
me,
it is sweet to think that part of the suffering which
is sent
us in this world is a fruitful seed of happiness,
planted
in the
soil of Eternity.
The Christian falls asleep so peacefully when he rests beneath
the cross of his Master
!
My intention is not to offer pages which
will
serve
as the
ordinary exercise of the Way
of the
Cross
; they
require a
longer time than people can ordinarily give.
But, to those who read them,
it will be easy
later
to
recall
the thoughts before the stations of that sorrowful journey and
thither I would conduct all who suffer.
The true, the only consolation is there.
A
visit to Auriesville at this season leaves on one the impression
that it should be photographed over again.
The snow gives not
only new color, but new form to everything.
If you come by
Tribes Hill, where the new power house for the electric line from
Johnstown to Amsterdam
is soon to be erected, you can enjoy
sleigh riding as much as the weather permits over the meadows-
or lowlands from the lock at Fort Hunter.
Should you write or
telegraph for a sleigh to meet you
it would be worth the extra
charges to insert a few words about a storm coat, muffler and ear-
laps, though even without these you will enjoy the trip, and know
better by personal experience what the climate is like, and what
it must have been before the cultivation of the past two centuries
helped to moderate it.
Ice and snow are everywhere and one wonders how the horse
can be so fleet against a driving sleet and so sure-footed over the
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
CONTRIBUTIONS.
53
glassy road.
Clear above the stretch of snow the chapel stands
out on the hill -top and even the grey wood of the Station crosses
may be discerned above the whiteness.
In parts of the Ravine one
would need snow shoes.
Difficult as the walking is, one
is well
repaid by the sight of tbe creek, the water in some places flowing
in a stream twenty feet wide, in others leaping over, or running-
under, a narrow bridge of ice.
The clearing done in the autumn
has made the Ravine a new piece of property.
Not one patch of
undergrowth is left to cut off the view.
Shrine and
grotto and
statues can be seen from every part, and the place is so secluded
as to afford a welcome retreat from the high winds bending the
pines on the hills above. About the chapels and Calvary all is quiet,
and all is covered with snow save where a drift has bared a piece
of road or field.
One would fain remain and witness
this scene
under the moonlight which will be at its best to-night, after this
storm has swept by
; but it
is not hard
to imagine how
it will
look, and to wish that the day were come when the snows would
sparkle from some convent or cathedral roof in this setting, and
the lights within flash through
the
storied windows as beacons
of faith and of piety for the country around.
The design for the new chalice is ready, and a very handsome
piece of work it is to be, of solid gold set with
precious stones
About the cup will be a band of seraph beads surmounted by a
row of diamonds, a row of pearls underneath.
Precious stones
adorn the stem and knob, and the base is profusely covered with
them—sapphires, diamonds,
rubies, emeralds and garnets.
To
designate the object of the chalice
as an ex
voto a medallion of
Our I^ady of Sorrows will be inserted in the base.
Thirty ounces
of gold are needed to give the chalice the massive appearance all
this work and ornamentation require.
Of these, twenty are
al-
ready in the jeweller's hands,
and ten more are
needed.
We
thought last August that there was enough, but since more is
needed we trust that our
friends
will contribute
for
this good
purpose any pieces of gold they prize enough to wish to have them
devoted to this pious object.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO SHRINE.
Anon
$5,oo
Anon
#25.00
J. H. W., Chelsea, Mich. ...
1.00
M. L. S. H.,
Buffalo, N. Y.
.
5.00
K. D., Providence, R.
I.
.
.
.
50
FOR SACRED VESSELS.
Anon, per Rev. C.
J. G., Gloucester, N.
J., a gold chain, a silver medal
and a gold brooch.
Digitized by
MISSION NOTES.
THE NEW
VICARIATES
AND
PREFECTURES
APOSTOLIC
OF
The mission of the New Hebrides, formerly a portion of the
Vicariate Apostolic of New Caledonia, has been made a prefec-
ture, and confided to a Marist Missionary, Father Donceret. The
development of the missions in Chili (South America) has led to
the formation of the new prefecture of Arancania, administered by
the Capuchins.
The prefecture
of Upper Kassai has been de-
tached from the Congo Free State.
It
is attended by Belgian
missionaries.
Dahomey and the Gold Coast have become Vicar-
iates
Apostolic.
Western
Tonkin, in French Indo-China, has
been divided into two Vicariates.
So has Athabaska-Mackenzie,
in Canada.
The Brussels Foreign office has received an
official confirma-
tion of the report that two Belgian missionaries and several hun-
dreds
of
Chinese
Christians have been
slain, and the Belgian
church burned in Southwest Mongolia.
During 1900, nine missionary Bishops went to their eternal re-
gard.
Of these, five were put to death for the faith
; one, Mgr.
Hamer, having been burned
alive
in Mongolia.
Three
of the
martyred
Bishops,
Mgrs.
Fantosati,
Grassi
and Fogolla, were
Italian Franciscans.
Mgr. Hamer, who was from Holland, and
Mgr. Guillon, from France, belonged to the Society
of Foreign
Missions.
All were slain
in China.
Mgr. Bul6on, of the Con-
gregation of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Heart of Mary, died
of yellow fever in Senegambia, Africa.
Of the missionary priests who died during the year 1900, thirty
were slain for the faith in China.
One of these was buried alive,
another burned to death with his people in a church, and another
was shot while the Christians were defending themselves.
Four
of the martyrs were Jesuits, and
all from France.
Seven were
Franciscans, six being Italians, and one Frenchman. The Lazar-
ists had
four martyrs, three from France and one from
Italy.
The Paris Society of Foreign Missions has nine
to
its credit on
the glorious roll.
The Society of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
has five, three from Belgium and two from Holland.
And the
Roman Seminary has one.
In
all, 162
missionary
priests
died
during
the
year.
The
1901.
LATE DISASTERS.
54
MISSION NOTES.
55
Society of the Holy Ghost lost
five by yellow fever
in Africa.
One Marist was drowned in Oceanic seas.
And Father
Flandin,
of
the
Paris
Foreign
Missions, was drowned
in
Manchuria.
Tather Izaguire,
a
Venezuelan, who had been many years a
chaplain of the
lepers,
is, also, from our vain vision, "greatly
fled." Of the missionaries gone to rest, seventeen were sons of St.
Trancis, thirteen of St. Ignatius, sixteen of St. Vincent de Paul.
"The longest
list, thirty-seven, is furnished by the Paris Foreign
Missions.
Nineteen were of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost,
and fifteen of the congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Europe.—In
the
Protestant
countries of
Northern
Europe,
many of which were, until recent years, practically closed to the
Catholic Faith, there has been much success, and we have reason
to hope for yet greater.
Amongst the most educated persons,
particularly, conversions have been numerous.
In the old Latin
Catholic countries, on the contrary, there has been a concerted
and very bitter persecution.
This has taken on an entirely new
feature—hostility
even
to
the
missionaries.
The
sacred
and
•extraordinary
diplomacy
of
Pope
I*eo
has,
however,
gained
immense advantage for the Church.
Asia.—The yet unfinished pages of the fearful persecution
in
China are familiar to everybody.
It is, no doubt, the old story
:
the blood of martyrs will fertilize the hostile
soil.
The mission-
ary work
is
energetically recommencing
in
China.
Christian
blood has flowed
in
Corea, land
of martyrs.
But
the French
Minister's
intervention
quickly stemmed
the
tide.
In
Indo-
China, converts have increased, and are increasing, in unhoped
for numbers.
While in the Mussulman countries of the nearer
East there has been an efflorescence of
Catholic works, quite as
extraordinary as it was unexpected.
India, harassed by famine, is filling up by converts the places
of the dead.
Africa.—Africa has had
its
sorrows and some
reverses.
A
great many soldiers of the Cross have died #t
their
posts.
But
the ranks have been quickly and nobly filled, and the harvest is
being very rapidly and abundantly gathered in.
America.—The last
statistics of the well-known authority, Dr.
Carroll, puts the Catholic communicants in the United States at
9,158,741
; while the Methodist Episcopal Church, coming next,
VIEW OF THE MISSION FIELD IN
19OI.
56
MISSION NOTES.
counts
2,762,291
;
and the Regular
Baptist
(South), next in
number, has 1,664,108.
The other Christian organizations
fol-
low in decreasing order.
Dr. Carroll puts the Catholic increase
since
1890
at
nearly 3,000,000
;
while during
that
time, the
growth of the other large churches has been about 300,000. We
have now 87 dioceses or Vicariates Apostolic.
Canada, notwithstanding its large immigration
to the
States,
has needed a new Vicariate Apostolic.
South America is rich in
developments.
Brazil has given not only new missions
to the
Church, but also the first martyrs of the century.
Oceanica.—The new mission of the Solomon Islands
is grow-
ing rapidly, owing to the zealous
labors of
the Marist mission-
aries.
Just
as
the
Apostolic work
was becoming
definitely
assured,
the
priests found, on
Isabella
Island, the
remains of
Bishop Epalle, who, half a century ago, shed
his
life-blood on
those distant lands of unbelief.
In the Gilbert Islands and New
Pomerania, the Fathers of the Sacred Heart are meeting with
success similar to that of the Marists.
The Sisters of St. Joseph, from Chamb6ry (France), see their
works in Denmark grow year by year.
Their hospital in Copen-
hagen, begun in 1875, being much too small
for the number of
patients applying for admission, the good
Sisters began to beg
from house to house in this Protestant city.
They were received
very favorably.
Next they organized a bazaar under
the pat-
ronage of Princess Waldemar.
The royal family came
to honor
it, and the success was so great that the Sisters began to increase
their hospital by an additional building.
Mgr. Von Euch, Vicar
Apostolic of Denmark, blessed the corner-stone
in presence of a
most distinguished audience.
A month
after the
building was
ready for occupation, the 153 beds were
all
filled by
the
sick.
Counting the 153 in the
old building, the
patients now number
over 300.
The Sisters have opened a novitiate, and are actually
in need of fifty more Religious.
Acknowledgment
is made
of
the
following
contributions
:
Conference of
St. Vincent de
Paul,
St.
Ignatius' Church, New
York, $25.00, for the Zambesi Mission.
NORTHERN EUROPE.
THE PILGRIM
OF
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
March,
1902.
No.
3.
THE EARLY
MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
FROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMIIXE DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
IN
spite of
all its troubles
the French colony
displayed
a
courage which never faltered, and an energy which never
relaxed.
Montmagny
at Quebec, Champlain at Three
Rivers, and Maisonneuve at Montreal, gave to
all an example
of splendid courage.
Maisonneuve one day pursued by a band
of Iroquois who tried
to take
his
life retreated
step by
step,
his pistol in his hand, with his face to the foe, killing the
first
Indian who approached and succeeded
in gaining the
fort.
His men regarded him as a hero and not without reason. He had
received from Richelieu a reinforcement
of forty-nine soldiers,
and leaving Quebec, directed his steps to the Iroquois River to
build a fort at the place where it empties into the St. Lawrence.
It was by that river
that the Agniers
Indians descended the
St. Lawrence.
The object of
the
fort
was
to prevent
these
manoeuvres.
It did so with but partial success, for the enemy
landed a few miles further down,
carried
their
canoes
across
the forest, and embarked on the waters of the great river.
Montmagny had quitted Quebec towards the
end
of July,
1642.
A few days after, viz., on the
first
of August,
twelve
Huron canoes left Three Rivers and paddled slowly up the St.
Lawrence. The canoes were loaded with provisions and carried
about forty persons. Among the passengers were Father Isaac
Jogues and the two donnes of the Mission, Rene Goupil and
William
Couture.
There was also
a young Huron woman
Copyright, Apostleship of Prayer, 1901.
57
{Continued.}
5«
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
named Theresa Iiouhaton who had been
at
school with the
Ursulines of Quebec.
In the party were likewise some Hurons
who had been baptized and were fervent
Christians, namely,
Joseph Teondechoren,
Charles
Tsondatsaa,
Etienne
Totiri,
Paul Ononhoraton and Eustache
Ahastirari
; the others were
Indians who had been trading at Quebec, and were returning
to their country.
Ren6 Goupil was a surgeon and Couture
was a joiner.
" Men "
says Father Lalemant,
u who were sim-
ply incomparable and admirably suited for this kind of life."
Both had given themselves heart and soul to the Mission and
much could be expected from young men like them whom
the
spirit ofsacrifice and zeal had alone brought to Canada.
Totiri,
the Huron chief of the St. Joseph's Settlement was one of the
first to embrace
Christianity.
He had
converted
half of his
cabin into a chapel.
The Indians wanted
to destroy
it and
to force their former chiet to abandon
it.
" I will not leave it/'
said the proud Christian,
14 except when the Fathers who
in-
struct us will leave
this
place,
and
then
I
will
follow them
wherever they go.
I am more attached
to them than
to my
country or to my relations, for they have brought us the words
of eternal life.
My soul clings but lightly to my body.
One
moment can separate them, but you will never make me lose
my faith."
Teondechoren had been a desperate man and a gambler be-
fore his conversion.
When he became a Christian he was
the
marvel of the Indians because of the beauty and strength of his
virtue.
" What did the Black Robes do to you,"
they asked
him, a to change you in this fashion." They tore out whatever
was evil in me,'' said
he.
" If you believe
in
prayer
as you
ought, you will find out this better than
I can tell you."
Tsondatsaa was a medicine man, son
of a
chief, and when
he was
baptized
at Sillery
the governor stood sponsor and
gave him the name of Charles.
When he returned to his tribe
he made a great feast for the chiefs and the old men, and at the
end he said to them
:
" You see before you a man who has be-
come a Christian since he left you, and who
is
determined to
die a thousand times rather than renounce his religion.
My
goods, my life and my courage are yours, provided you do not
THE EARL Y MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA.
59
require anything of me which is against God."
He never de-
viated from this line of conduct.
The most celebrated
of
all was
Ahastirari, the
first of his
nation.
No one had fought more battles, no one had achieved
more glory.
What was wonderful
in
his
case was
that ever
since his boyhood he had been continually in circumstances of
the greatest danger.
None of those who had fought at his side
had escaped while he seemed to bear a charmed life. This was
the occasion of his conversion.
In
1641, he
said
to
the mis-
sionary who was about to baptize him
:
u Before you came to
this country
I- escaped from a thousand dangers
to which my
companions succumbed.
I see now that
it was not owing to
myself that I was kept out of harm's way.
I was under the
impression that there was some
spirit whom
I
did not know
who was protecting me.
Although the Hurons attribute their
good luck to their dreams
I was convinced
that
all
that was
nonsense.
My own case I could not explain.
When
I heard
you speak of the greatness of God and of Jesus Christ who had
been on the earth, I thought it was He who had preserved me,
and I resolved to honor Him all my life.
In the morning when I
went out to fight I recommended myself to Him.
It is to Him
that I owe all my victories, it is to Him that I believe and ask you
to baptize me so that after my death He may have pity on tne."
In the simplicity of this story one
cannot
help
recognizing
a great nobility
of
soul.
These three
Indians had
escorted
Father
Jogues on
his
return
from
his
mission
to
Quebec,
whither his superior had sent him to procure
the
necessaries
of
life
;
for
the
station was
absolutely without the means of
sustenance.
The mission was a dangerous one
as
there were
bands
of Iroquois
all
along
the
route
; but
danger did not
frighten this apostle.
He seemed
to be looking
for
it with
what was almost a passion.
Some time
before
his departure
he was
kneeling alone
before the Blessed Sacrament, and he
asked the Lord to grant him the grace to suffer for His
glory.
He heard a voice in the depths of his soul which said
to him,
1 1What you ask I grant, be courageous and constant."
Courage and constancy were
not
lacking.
These two
vir-
tues formed the basis of his character.
Although of an unim-
Digitized by
Co
THE EARL Y MISSIOAS OF NORTH AMERICA.
pressive
exterior
he was
rich
in
natural and
supernatural
qualities.
He was very like Father Gamier in disposition,
of
a very frail and delicate temperament, almost sickly.
But con-
cealed under this exterior, which was far from impressive, was
a firm and intrepid soul.
To look at him with his head slightly
bent, his eyes partly closed as if he were
praying, you would
think him
timid and
embarassed, and
nevertheless, he
dis-
played
in the most
trying
situations, a
boldness which was
almost audacity, a calm and a coolness which one would
find
scarcely anywhere.
There was no missionery more indefati-
gable than he, no one who was more active.
Canada had few
apostles to equal him, and God knows there were splendid men
there at that time.
The Protestant Parkman never wearies of praising his splen-
did
character, in which there seemed to be so much greatness
without effort.
He writes of Father Jogues, that " he had made
complete studies in Europe and might have achieved a literary
reputation.' '
Perhaps he was exaggerating, but
in any case
brilliant studies had been made by him
in
Orleans, his native
city, and later on, as Professor of Humanities, he wrote
in
the
college
at
Rouen,
at
the beginning of the scholastic year,
a
Latin poem which made considerable sensation.
An overpowering love ofsouls impelled him, when still young,
to
enter
the
novitiate
of the
Jesuits at Paris.
He was then
seventeen years of age.
His desire was to be sent to Ethiopia.
He spoke of it to the rector of the novitiate, Father Louis Lale-
mant, who made answer
:
" Brother, you will die nowhere but
in Canada
! "
These words, prophetic or not, were to be
ful-
filled to the letter.
Twelve years
after
his entrance
into the
Society he stepped on Canada soil.
The first of August, 1642, he was ascending the St. Lawrence,
.-as we have said, with a band of Huron Indians.
To avoid the
current the canoes kept close to the shore, and on
the second
of the month they had reached the end of Lake St. Peter when
they fell into an ambuscade of seventy Iroquois.
The Hurons
in consternation abandoned their canoes, their arms and
their
straps, Jeaped on shore and dispersed in the depths of the forest.
X,eft aloae, the French, the Neophytes, and the Huron Cate-
A LEGEND OF ST. /AGO.
61
chumens, fifteen in all, withstood the onslaught.
The struggle
of course was hopeless.
Most of them were made prisoners, as
well
as
a dozen of
those who had first taken flight.
Goupil,
the three converted Indians, and the young Theresa were of
the number.
Couture had succeeded in escaping and was con-
cealed in the woods.
Father Jogues had not been
perceived,
and stood unmolested on the bank of the river.
Here follows a scene of generous courtesy and
Christian de-
votedness, which it is the duty of the historian to relate.
Father Jogues had been accustomed to such combats and he
knew what the result would be.
When he saw all his
friends
taken
prisoners,
he
said
to
himself :
" Can
I abandon good
Rine Goupil, the Huron captives who are Christians, and those
who
are about
to become such ? "
Listening only
to
the
promptings
of his
apostolic
heart, he issues from his conceal-
ment and
offers
himself
a
prisoner.
One of the Indians who
had
succeeded
in
escaping on
learning of
this, retraces
his
steps and surrenders himself also.
" Father,*' said he to Father
Jogues, as he embraced him,
" I have sworn to live and to die
near you.
Behold us reunited.''
Couture also, who was young,
full of life and activity, had escaped from the
danger, but, not
seeing Father Jogues with him, said to
himself
:
" How can
I
abandon him, and leave him alone exposed to the rage of the
Iroquois.M
He too returns
to the place
of
the combat and
took his place among the prisoners.
A LEGEND OF SAN JAGO.
BY ALBA.
ROM what far country dost thou come,
Oh
! holy pilgrim, say ?
That thou hast wandered far from home
Thy foreign looks betray
;
Nor Spanish tower nor Moorish dome
Hath seen thy natal day.'
Digitized by Google
62
A LEGEND Of ST. /AGO.
"
I come from Grecia's distant clime,'
The aged pilgrim said,
" Where blest St. Paul in early time
The True Evangel spread,
And where the world's black cup of crime
With martyrs' blood grew red."
" And why, oh
! holy father, say,
Why hast thou come so far,
Braving the perils of a way
Beset with blood and war,
Where danger lacks not, night and day,
A pilgrim's road to bar ? "
" Through dangers neither light nor few
I come, by help Divine,
San Jago's sacred church to view,
To kneel before his shrine,
And blessings true, and blessings new
To ask for me and mine."
u Then, pilgrim, may the God of Love
Protect thee with
all care,
Each trouble from thy path remove,
And grant thine every prayer
;
And may San Jago plead above
The suit thou urgest here.'*
u And if a kind word thou wilt say
For other than thine own,
Oh
! then, for our poor soldiers pray,
That mercy may be shown,
And that his knightly panoply
San Jago would gird on."
4< For six long months, King Ferdinand
Coimbra hath beset
;
He swore upon his royal hand
It should its crimes regret
;
But vain the prowess of his band,
Closed are its portals yet/'
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A LEGEND OF ST. /AGO.
63
" And now hath Famine's ruthless sword
Outstarted from its sheath
;
Now Pestilence hath on them poured
Its all-destroying breath
;
And well have these already stored
The dark domain of Death.'*
" Right gladly I my prayers will lend
HeavVs clemency to crave,
That He Whose Mighty Hand can rend
Its victim from the grave
Would of His endless pity send
Your dying friends to save."
" But of San Jago, sooth to say,
In error great ye be.
No belted knight, no courtier gay,
No soldier fierce was he,
But a poor Fisher far away
In distant Galilee.'*
*
*
*
The setting sun's last
glories through
The deep-stain'd windows pour,
With many a rich and varied hue
Tingeing the marble floor
;
They gild the Cross-crown'd shrine anew,
Far brighter than before.
Beside the altar rev'rently
The grey-hair'd Grecian kneels
;
His time-worn lineaments display
The holy joy he feels
That thus the troubles of his way
Such happy ending seals.
Pilgrims are there from many a strand,
In worship bending low.
The stalwart Norseman from the land
Of icicle and snow,
. The Arab from his desert sand
Have quitted friend and foe.
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64
A LEGEND OF ST. JAGO.
The Dane hath left his forests green,
The Swiss his mountains blue,
The dark-brow'd African each scene
His sunny childhood knew
;
And Britain's sons, full well I ween,
Are neither faint nor few.
The king aside his crown hath laid,
And on the drear way toiled
;
The aged monk, the youthful maid
Have on its dangers smiled
;
The soldier hath ensheath'd his blade,
And kneels beside the child.
Who the devotion shall declare
Enkindling ev'ry breast
Of all the hosts who worship there
The Lamb for ever blest
Enthroned upon the altar where
His martyr's relics rest
!
*
*
*
Hush'd
is the anthem's solemn peal
;
The Vesper-hymn is o'er
;
And priest and mitred prelate kneel
Around the shrine no more
;
The last few ling'ring stragglers steal
In silence from the door.
Gone is the radiance rich and bright,
The sunset's glorious beam
;
'Tis the pale moon's reflected light
Which falls in silver stream
And glistens o'er the pavement white,
Making
it whiter seem.
One only figure still
is bending
On the cold marble stone
;
One heart-drawn voice is still ascending
Unto the Heav'nly Throne,
Pray'rs for the wasted army blending
With pleadings for his own.
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A LEGEND OS ST. /AGO.
65
Midnight is nigh, and still untired
The Grecian pilgrim prays
;
His soul, with heav'nly strength inspired,
No fleshly weakness sways,
But ev'ry energy is fired
To supplicate and praise.
His last Amen was yet unsaid
When lo
! a radiance bright
Around San Jago's altar shed
A pure, unearthly light.
Awe-struck, the pilgrim bent his head,
And wonder'd at the sight.
A voice of tone divinely sweet
Fell softly on his ear
;
And now, his wond'ring glances meet
A figure standing near
In knightly armor clad complete,
With buckler and with spear.
White was the plume that nodded o'er
His helmet's shining crest
;
A Crown upon his shield he bore,
A Cross upon his
breast
;
The trembling pilgrim bows before
San Jago's Vision blest.
u Pilgrim,'' he said,
44 thine earnest prayer
Hath favor found on High.
No more shall death and famine wear
Spain's fainting chivalry,
For I am sent their fierce despair
To quench in victory."
" To-morrow, ere the
tierce-bells ring,
My sword shall turn the scale,
And wide Coimbra's gates shall fling
The conqueror to hail.
Sure
is the promise which
I bring,
His word can never fail."
Digitized by Google
66
A LEGEND OF ST. /AGO.
" But first,
I come before thy sight
Thus arm'd with mail and sword
That thou mayst know lam a Knight—
The Champion of the Lord,
Ready to arm, and mount, andfighty
And conquer at His word ! "
Scarce had the vision ceas'd, when lo
!
A proud and princely steed,
White as the pathless mountain's snow,
Two angel pages lead.
San Jago mounts—the Knight,
I trow,
Of Jesus Christ indeed
!
*
*
*
Oh
! wherefore peal the bells so loud
From ev'ry town and tower ?
And whither streams that motley crowd
From cottage, hall and bower
The peasant rough, the baron proud,
And beauty's fairest flower?
To celebrate Coimbra's fall
Those ceaseless joy-bells ring
;
Those loyal hearts are thronging all
To welcome back their King.
Lo
! within Compostella's wall
The conquering host they bring.
Straight to San Jago's ancient pile
Proceeds the arm'd array,
For happy ending to their
toil
Adoring thanks to pay
;
And choir and transept, nave and aisle
Echo their holy lay.
" Hail Supreme One
! All-adoring,
Lo
! Thy servants bend the knee,
E'en as late with voice imploring
They besought Thy clemency.*'
Digitized by Google
A LEGEND OF ST. /AGO.
6 7
" Faithful art Thou, and unfailing
Ev'ry promise by Thee giv'n
;
While man's efforts unavailing
Perish at the breath of heav'n."
" Long our wasted ranks were lying
'Neath Coimbra's rebel wall.
Weary, hopeless, faint and dying,
Dark despair was over all.''
41 Morn, at length, the tierce-hour bringing,
Call'd us to renew the fray.
Like a knell the trumpets' ringing
Broke upon our ear that day."
"On we went, with hearts despairing,
To possess our gory graves,
Or once more, Destruction sparing,
To return,
fell Famine's slaves."
u On we went, Coimbra nearing
;
On we went, to bleed, to
die
;
When a white-plumed knight appearing
Fix'd each wond'ring heart and eye."
u With celestial radiance shining,
Golden mail his limbs array'd
;
On his breast a Cross reclining,
While a Crown his shield
display'd"
" Like the snow o'er desert driven,
Spotless was the steed he rode,
And the majesty of Heaven
In his form and features glow'd."
a Bright he cast his glances o'er us
;
Bright he waved his sword on high
;
4 On
! Coimbra falls before us
!
God
! San Jago
! be your cry
!
'
''
u Wail, Coimbra
! Crime unmeasur'd
In thy ruin meets its fate
;
Retribution long up-treasur'd
Now hath laid thee desolate."
Digitized by Google
68
THE RO YAL WA Y OF THE CROSS.
u See
! Two garlands freshly breathing
Home we bring, with hearts elate
Peace be ours, while Glory's wreathing
To our God we consecrate."
u Upward may San Jago bear it
At his Master's feet to lay.
Glory's garland, who shall wear it ?
He Whose word
is victory
! "
PILATE CONDEMNS JESUS TO DEATH.
BETRAYED by one of His own followers, bound by
the
Roman soldiers, dragged from one judge to another by
the Jews who wanted His blood, but are unable to accuse
Him
of any
crime, Jesus
is
at
last brought
before
Pilate.
Jesus
it would appear, then, could trust, as did St, Paul a little
later, the uprightness of the Roman magistracy.
Pilate ques-
tions Him—he finds no crime
in Him, he twice openly de-
clares
; he is going to
release Him.
No
!
the
people want
Christ to die—and there they stand, full of hate, blood-thirsty,
yelling,
in the court yard of the pretorium.
The weak Pilate
has an inspiration of
cruel pity.
" I
will
scourge Him," he
says.
" When
the people see Him
bleeding they will have
pity."
And Jesus
bleeds
beneath
the whips of the Romans.
But the people had no pity.
He must die.
To Pilate, who is
irritated at their obstinacy against a just man, the
priests said
contemptuously
:
" Take care
;
if you do not condemn Him,
you will work your own ruin with Caesar," and at these words,
trembling
lest he
should
lose
his
office
of proconsul, Pilate
abandons the innocent and exclaims
: "Well, so be it! Crucify
Him you.
I wash my hands of
it.
I am innocent of the blood
of that just man." And he ordered a golden basin to be brought
him, wherein he washed
his hands.
But Jesus held out His
hands to the soldiers who were to lead Him to torture.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
First Station.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
69
The people in their triumph crowd around with cries of joy.
They are going to see Christ die
; they urge on the soldiers to
hasten the work.
What a feast for the Jews, above all for the
Pharisees
;
they
are
going
to
be
rid
of
this
sermonizer
!
Jesus heard all—the calumnies
of His
accusers, the cowardly
surrender of Pilate, the insults of the crowd, their
cries of
joy.
He is silent.
Eight days before, that same crowd had shouted
"Hosanna to the King of the Jews."
His eyes look around for His Apostles, those whom He had
loved-and whom He had called His brethren.
Peter, their chief,
trembling before a woman, had
denied Him thrice
:
a I swear
to you that
I never saw that man
non novi hominemP
Judas,
the traitor, had gone to destroy himself.
The
others, at
the
first alarm, had fled and were hiding at a distance.
And Jesus
is silent.
He sought everywhere in that crowd the sick whom He had
healed, the blind to whom He had
restored
sight, the lame
whom He
had made
walk, that
centurion to whom He had
restored his servant, that widow of Nairn, whose son He had
brought back to life.
Nobody
!
There was indeed a centurion
there, but he was taking care that
they made the cross heavy
enough
; and truly, too, there were women there, but with hair
dishevelled they cried out, " Crucify Him
; His blood be upon
our children.''
And Jesus is silent.
And is there no one
in
all
that crowd
that
will
raise
his
voice for Christ ?
No heart to remember Him ?
No voice to
repeat those words whose echoes the hillsides of Jerusalem still
preserve
:
" Blessed is He
that cometh
in
the name
of the
Lord.
Blessed is the womb
that
bore Thee, and the breasts
that gave Thee suck " ?
No
!
No one
!
Jesus is alone, betrayed, sold, abandoned
alone in the hands of His executioners.
And Jesus is silent
!
My God
!
Dare I compare my trifling sorrows to Your in-
finite sorrows ?
We too, we have in this world to drink of the
chalice of calumny.
Some accuse
us
of
faults the thought
even of which never entered our minds.
Some spitefully pene-
trate into our secret thoughts and discover
there'plans which
7o
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
we had never conceived.
Some
misinterpret our words and
pervert them to a bad sense.
Some give to our purest affec-
tions the appearance of the most hateful passions.
That what
we are doing in all simplicity and guilelessness some say is done
in malice and deceit.
The jealous defame us.
Are we under-
stood, are we esteemed by the world as we think we deserve ?
Let us bear this grief with patience, and
like
Christ, know
how to be silent.
Let us submit to ingratitude, contempt and
outrage.
.
.
. What are our sufferings in comparison with the
sufferings of our master ?
And He was silent
!
Let us learn to be silent
!
We also have our judges, the protectors and defenders of our
rights.
It
is sometimes
a
father,
or a
mother, a spouse, a
master, sometimes
a
friend whose
esteem we have more at
heart than all the judgments of the world.
Have
they
always
judged us justly ?
Alas
!
frequently we have found in them
neither
assistance
nor recourse.
They have
believed
everything that the crowd
believed, they have condemned us as
did the
crowd, and even
among them, our innocence
has been waved
aside and
con-
temned.
" Oh,
if an enemy had condemned me,
I would have
resigned myself in silence,
but
you, you
were one
soul with
mine,
(i)
Quoniam
si
inimicus
homo
maledixisset
mihi
sustinuissem utique, tu autem homo unananimis / "
Let us learn
to be silent
We have done good to men, we have
devoted
ourselves
to
them,
sacrificed
ourselves
perhaps
to
make
them
happy.
Where are they now when
I am
suffering ?
I
did not count
the money
I put into their hands.
Where are they now when
ruin strikes me ?
They have fled.
Who knows, perhaps they
have betrayed and sold me
!
I have loved,
I have given my
affection, my whole
soul,
I
lived only for him whom I loved.
My thoughts were for him
day and night, and my work, and my
honor, and my
happi-
ness, and all my
life.
Where are those whom
I loved ?
Where
is the friend of my
soul ?
One day he left me there on the side
of
the road, just
(i)
Pt. 54 v.
14.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
71
as a broken vase of which he no
longer wished
to assume the
useless charge
;
I am alone
!
Learn to be silent.
Jesus was
personally innocent
Although He
had taken
upon Himself our sins, those sins were unknown to Pilate.
He
could, as far
as the judge and
His accusers were concerned,
show a countenance without stain, a heart without reproach.
But we, we who complain of the accusations, the judgments,
the abandonment of which we are the victims, can we show a
stainless
countenance
and
an
immaculate
heart?
Are we
innocent ?
Perhaps we are, of some fault of which they make
us bear the shame
; but for how many other
faults would we
have to
blush,
did
they not remain hidden
in
the
deepest
depths of our own
hearts.
What man
is
there that would
agree to appear before the world such as he knows himself to
be in the solitude of his own
conscience, with
his deeds made
known, with his desires, his
regrets, his thoughts, his passions
all laid bare ?
They would judge us
then according
to
our
true
merits.
We
cry
out, because
through
the
corner
of the
veil
with
which we have again and
again
covered our
baseness, they
have seen some
fault
in us and have judged
it
!
But
if all
were known
!
And we complain
!
Let us be
silent, Christians, let us
be
silent
!
And
before
the approach of the condemnations of
this world, let us bend
with resignation our heads which repentence alone will give us
the right to lift again.
Juste patimur—we suffer justly
; they
condemn us, it is but justice.
Jesus let Himself be condemned.
He suffered
in silence
!
Innocent, He wished to expiate
our
sins
; culpable,
let us unite our expiation
to
His, and
let
us
begin to undergo judgment like Him without a murmur.
Like
Him let us suffer in silence the abandonment of our friends, the
accusations of our enemies and their persecutions, their ingrat-
itude, their contempt, their treachery
;
let
us
accept
all
the
evil that men inflict on our heart
;
let us bare our shoulders to
it
What is its weight in comparison to the weight of the cross
that they were preparing
for Jesus?
Digitized by
72
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
The Second Station,
jesus
is laden with the
cross.
All
is
ready
: the
cross
is
made, the Roman
soldiers
are
under arms.
To
Calvary
!
The crowd
forms
in procession,
the
children
rush
to
its
head,
shouting and clapping
their
hands, they are
going
to
see
a man die.
The priests of the
Sanhedrin follow, hiding beneath a feigned
gravity the secret
joy of their
soul.
O
you, who
conceal beneath
the
divine
name your sanguinary
hatred, O
you, who
preach
under the
cloak of the
law and the
prophets your shameful vengeance,
what has Christ then done to you ?
Then comes the deluded crowd, the hired crowd, which spits
upon
Christ and embraces
Barrabas,
the crowd of the slums
and of evil ways.
Come, Innocent Christ, it is time
; move on
!
The
soldiers
place
the
cross
erect,
laying
it
on
the
divine
shoulders
;
it is raised,
its dark form outlined
against the
sky.
And Jesus, as
if He had aroused Himself from some distract-
ing thought, sees
it.
His eyes light up, His lips part in smiles,
He
stretches
out
His arms toward
it, He accepts it, He
em-
braces
it, He
takes
it on
His
shoulder, He
clasps it in
both
hands and He goes to Calvary, to death
!
And all
the
time
the crowd
is shouting
with joy.
Above
the cries, one can
hear the confused
and increasing babel of
intermingling conversations, the jests which give rise to laughter,
loud and coarse and brutal.
They push and jostle one another,
they leap
over
the garden hedges, to obtain
a closer view of
the condemned, and
to
offer Him
injury more
easily.
And
behold
the
contrast
!
The Jews always
ready for any revolt
against the Roman authority, the Jews quivering
at the recol-
lection of the law and
their ancient
country, the Jews
so
ill-
disposed to the yoke, so
full of hatred
against Caesar, applaud
the soldiers and clap their hands because they see on His way
to
death a Jew
like
themselves,
accused
of preaching
revolt
against Caesar.
To obtain the blood of Christ they become the
courtiers of Caesar, they, once defiant, are now cringing, haughty,
—Oh, the depths of human passions
!
Jesus, always
silent, moves on beneath these outrages—the
Digitized by
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
73
cross above
His head
like an archway of ignominy.
Alone,
not a friend, not a follower
!
But what lesson does the Master teach us here ?
Our cross
is suffering.
And what are we doing ?
When, from
afar,
it
threatens
us, long before it strikes
us,
at the first sign that it is coming to
us, at the simple thought
even that it
is
possible, we
begin to grieve at once.
We cry
out, beneath the fancied blows that have not as yet touched us
;
we anticipate sorrow, adding of our own accord
to the sorrow
which will come that which can or might come.
Our imagination, not under our
control, makes
itself in a
wonderful way the distributor of our griefs.
How often have
we wept over evils which have never affected us.
Tears, empty
and childish
!
Is it thus that Jesus bore Himself with regard to the Cross,
while the assistants of the
executioners were cutting down
a
tree, while they were forming
it
into a
cross, and while they
were
bringing
it
to Him ?
No, His
thoughts, calm and re-
signed, reposed lovingly in the providence of His Father! Ah!
let us then not mind the future—poor
souls,
is the present not
hard enough to bear ? The future belongs to God.
He alone
knows whether it will
bring us happiness
or sorrow.
What-
ever comes, will come only because God willed
it.
Let us repose,
then,
in
the arms of the providence of our
good God
;
let us lay our
heart on
His,
let
us
press close to
Him, as does the
trembling
little chicken which hides itself
beneath the wings and under the heart of its mother.
But when the cross is there, erect before Him, how does He
accept it
!
How does He
reach
out
His
hands, happy and
smiling
!
And we, what do we do ?
We shut our eyes so
as
not to see
it, we turn aside our head with
cries of terror, we
stretch out our arm to stay it as
it
is falling upon us, to cast
it
away from us as it touches our shoulder.
We flee from it
;
it
pursues us, it overtakes us
;
fatal
cross,
it is upon us and
then,
when all hope is lost, beneath its weight we let ourselves fall to
earth and lie there, crushed, without energy, without courage,
faint-hearted,
hopeless.
Let us
be men
!
If our
life be sor-
74
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
rowful
at
times, God measures
the sorrow according to our
strength.
Let
us
not exaggerate our
pains
to
excuse our
weakness
;
if we are weak, let us strive all the more against our
weakness.
Oh,
if we, too, were
to
look upon
the
Cross, erect, face to
face, we should not consider it so formidable.
If reason put a
check to the wild flights of our childish imagination, we should
not see its black arms springing up and stretching themselves
across
the
horizon so as to overshadow our whole lives.
We
should smile at everything here below, even sorrow and suf-
fering. But above all,
if our eyes were opened to higher lights,
if we had a living faith,
just as a curtain, would
visible things
fall from before our eyes.
That cross,
it is not the Roman sol-
diers who bring
it
to Him,
it
is God Who gives it.
It is no
longer an instrument of torture,
it
is an
instrument of happi-
ness and glory.
That death,
it is not the vengeance of men,
it
is not the chastisement with which an enemy
afflicts us,
it is
the gift of a Father,
it is the gold which buys Paradise.
Why, why has
the Cross become to the eyes ot
the faithful
soul an instrument of
its happiness and
glory ?
Because the
Cross
purifies the soul stained with evil, buys back
the
soul
sold to evil, because
it is the instrument of expiation for those
acts for which we have deserved punishment.
It is hard for the human heart to acknowledge itself blame-
worthy,
its
self-love receives a
shock,
it
suffers.
But what-
ever it may do,
it is forced to such acknowledgment by its own
conscience.
This
cries out
in
us more
loudly than
all
the
noise we make to drown
its voice, and, day and night witness
of our faults, it
conjures them up
before
us.
How can we
plead not guilty before Him who has seen
all, heard
all, who
was there present even in the innermost recesses of our souls ?
That avowal made by ourselves against ourselves is hard, but
what is it in comparison to the avowal, to the acknowledgment
ofour faults before the tribunal of others ? Oh
! How our hearts
shrink from that thought
!
What pretenses do we not make to
escape it
! How ingenious we become in our hypocrisy
! How
we hide ourselves
!
But there is one thing that seems
harder
still
;
it is
to
bear, without murmuring, the just punishment
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
75
that our faults have deserved, to
give
satisfaction for
the
evil
we have done.
One would
say truly that we have never seen Christ
!
a O Jesus, innocent Jesus," cries out Bossuet, a ought You to
confess
that You
have
deserved
this
punishment ? "
He
ought, He ought, my brethren.
Men attribute to Him crimes
which He has not committed, but God has put upon Him our
iniquities, and behold He goes to make satisfaction in the face
of heaven and earth.
As soon as He sees that cross, whereon
He was soon to be nailed
:
" O my Father," He
cries, " it
is
My just due, not
on account
of the
crimes
that
the
Jews
ascribe to Me, but because of those with which You
charge
Me.
Come, O cross, come that I may embrace you
;
it is just
that I should carry you, because I have so well deserved you."
In
this
spirit He
lifts
it upon
His
shoulder; He
gathers
together all His strength to drag it up to Calvary.
In placing
it on His shoulders He burdens Himself and
clothes Himself
anew with
the
sins of the world, to go and expiate them on
this infamous gibbet.
Behold what
our Master does
!
And we would refuse
to
submit to the chastisement of our own sins
!
We would draw
back from the cross we have merited
!
Is this not so ?
Auriesville has not fared so badly in the severe storms
of the
past month. The latest news from there confirms our best hopes,
and will be of interest to Pilgrim readers
:
'
' I have not been able to go down to the Ravine on account of the
weather, which has been something 'fierce,' one almost continual
blizzard since February 5.
The snow
is as high as the tops of
the willows across from the Shrine and from three to six feet all
the way down the Ravine.
East of the priests' house the snow
is as high as the roof.
However, no serious damage has been
done, only a window broken over the porch back of the chapel,
—From the French of Victor Van Tricht, S. J.
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
Auriksviub, February 22, 1902.
7 6
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
and the coping off the chimney in the west end of the hotel. The
weather is milder to-day.
We had no mail here from Monday
until Thursday, and some of the farmers are not out yet
'
' Mr.
F.
Galbraith has been transferred
to
Fultonville
as
freight agent, and Irving Shutts is now station agent at Auries-
ville.
Mr. F. Allen has returned to live here."
—In response to our appeal last month for offerings of gold for
the chalice to be made for the Shrine, several pieces
of jewelry,
in all about seven ounces, have been kindly sent us for this pur-
pose.
Still five ounces more are needed and we
trust that
all
who wish to contribute pieces of jewelry
will send
it
in good
time, as the goldsmith is actually making portions of the chalice.
—Several books of interest to Pilgrim readers have appeared
lately, and although we have no book department, we may take
occasion to review some of them later.
Among them are
:
" The Road to Frontenac," by Samuel Merwin
;
" Maid and
Matrons
of New
France, "
by Mary
Sifton Pepper;
<( Notre
Dame de Lorette de la Nouvelle France/ * per l'Abbe
L,. St. G.
Lindsay
;
" The Mohawk Valley, Its Legends and Its History/
by W. Max Reid, and the last two volumes of the
1
1
Jesuit Rela-
tions and Allied Documents," the latter containing the analytical
Index, and an exhaustive one
it
is,
of the
entire
series of the
seventy- three volumes issued under
this
title by the Burrows
Brothers' Company, of Cleveland, Ohio.
Of these
last volumes
the New York Evening Post of February 20 says
:
" We thought we had said our last word on the
' Jesuit Rela-
tions
' when the publication of documents ceased, but the appear-
ance
of the general index brings us back
to the subject once
more.
This
last
part of the work—so essential a feature of its
usefulness— has
been
wonderfully
well
done.
By
glancing
through vols, lxxii. and lxxiii.,
one can now see what a wide
range of subjects the series embraces, and how fully it illustrates
the history of New France.
That proper names and subjects are
both represented
is a most inadequate statement.
The index
forms
a complete analysis
of
contents.
Take,
for example,
the word
' bark (of trees),' and follow out the entries under it.
*As material : for cabins [96 references]; canoes [57 references];
casks, boxes, etc.
; cords
; snares
; cradles
; household utensils
;
kettles
; shields
; sledges
; tombs.
Other uses ; beds and bedding
;
litter for sick
;
(birch) in place of writing paper
; dead shrouded
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE,
77
in
; eaten in time of famine
;
embroidery on
;
in Indian medi-
cine
; packages wrapped in
;
torches.
'
We have given the num-
ber of references only in the case of bark cabins and bark canoes.
Altogether
there
are hundreds
of
references
under
the word
' bark.'
* Mosquitoes
'
is treated with a like respect.
* Beaver
receives greater prominence
still, with
heads, sub-headings and
hundreds of special references.
These may be taken as minor
examples.
In the case of a large subject like
1 Indians
' the classi-
fication becomes much more elaborate, and
recalls the arrange-
ment of a public library.
Forty-seven pages of the index
are
given to Indians in general, apart from the numerous references to
separate tribes.
It is unnecessary to multiply details.
This long
set of the
4 Jesuit Relations
' closes with a complete and exhaust-
ive index which is based upon
logical methods and worked out
with scrupulous care."
Saturday in Passion week, March 22, is the commemoration of
the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it should be
a day of special devotion for our readers and
for
friends of her
Shrine at Auriesville, under this title.
Although we have not been publishing extracts from the letters
received from readers of the Pilgrim and from
friends of the
Shrine,
they
contain as usual many
interesting
answers
to
prayer, as the following show
:
L
, Pa.—"Two of the petitions made several years ago at
Auriesville, through the intercession of Our Lady of Martyrs, of
Father Jogues, saintly Rene* Goupil and Catherine Tegakwitha,
have been happily answered.
I send the promised thanksgiving
and please use the enclosed for the Shrine."
St. Louis, Mo.—" I am also pleased to tell you that the inten-
tion I sent the chain for has been answered. Thank God for it."
P
,
111.—"The enclosed offering to the Shrine
is in honor
of St. Joseph and to ask a particular favor of Our Lady of Mar-
tyrs.
You will be pleased to learn that the one
I recommended
when at Auriesville is now very
fervent
in the
practice of
his
religious
duties
and very exact and regular in
his
life, so that
I feel an entire security in his conversion.
I wish you would
record a special thanksgiving for this conversion, also for a con-
siderable improvement
in my
affairs.
Please recommend my
special intentions."
78
OUR LADY AFTER THE CRUCIFIXION,
Acknowledgment is made of the following contributions
:
M. L. S. H.,
Buffalo, N. Y
$5 00
M. B., Troy, N. Y
50
M. McK., St. Louis, Mo
2 00
FOR THE CHALICE.
J. C, Somerville, Mass., Jio in gold.
H. J. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. two gold sovereigns.
C. H., New York, two gold sleeve buttons.
K. M. H., Albany, N. Y., a gold cross and a pair of gold earrings.
B. F. J. Montclair, N. J., 102 pieces of jewelry
.
OUR
LADY AFTER THE
CRUCIFIXION.
N the
Little
Office of
the Seven
Dolors,
the great Saint
Athanasius reminds us that because the Blessed Virgin's
glory was so
far above the ordinary course of nature, a
corresponding degree of merit had to be elaborated
in her
soul to fit her for the station which she occupied.
There had to
be an equation between what
theologians
call the grace which
made her externally so resplendent and the grace which made her
soul so acceptable to Him who honored her.
'
' Thee whom the
Angel
Gabriel knelt before,"
says he "thee whom the Most
High overshadowed, thee whom the Holy Ghost abided in
; thee
upon whom the
Magi gazed with wondering
veneration
and
whose glories were sung by the shepherds and the
angels
; thee
whom Jacob saw as the ladder that reached to heaven, and Moses
as the golden candlestick, and Aaron as the flowering
rod, and
David as the ark of the covenant, and Solomon as the throne of
gold, the lily of the valley and the paradise of delight
; thee who
wert elected before thy birth, whom the generations longed for,
whom the Father chose as His daughter, the Son as His Mother,
and the Holy Ghost as His Spouse, a sword of grief shall pierce,
and on the suffering
it inflicts shalt thou meditate in the deep
silence of thy thoughts.'
The almost absolute silence which we note with regard to her
in Holy Scripture
in
the
concluding moments
of
the
Passion
reflects to a certain extent the manner in which she must have
borne herself in her sorrow.
The sorrow was
felt as no one else
could feel it, but it was buried in
the
silence
of her thoughts.
Though we have no
record,
it
is
scarcely conceivable that she
gave way to any strong outward manifestations of grief such
as
Digitized by
OUR LADY AFTER THE CRUCIFIXION.
79
almost necessarily any other mother would show.
But the grief
that requires consolation from others, though not reprehensible it
nevertheless is something imperfect.
It is wrong of course when
it leads to neglect of one's duties.
She
is represented as the Daughter of
Sion, seated upon the
mountain and calling to mankind to come and see if there were
ever sorrow
like her sorrow
; but did
the
lips of the Queen of
Martyrs utter any wail or complaint ? rather was she not oblivious
of herself, and intent only upon the outrage done to the Divine
Majesty of Him who was lying mangled on her lap, as well as.
eager
to
console and strengthen
the
afflicted ones who
stood
around?
Is
it not more than
likely
that with
the calm and
almost incomprehensible heroism of one whom God had chosen
for the ministrations of that awful moment, she kept in control
the emotions of her ineffably
loving heart and with that tran-
quillity and repose which must have always
characterized her,
prepared
the body of her Son and her God
for
burial.
The
moments were hurrying on when He must be laid in the tomb
and it was doubtless she who guided and directed those who less
holy and
less
controlled than
herself were giving way to their
grief.
When these sad rites were performed, no doubt, also, she gave
the signal for the journey
to the burial.
She is sometimes rep-
resented
as leaning on
St. John as she walks to the sepulchre,
apparently about
to
sink.
Is
it not more in keeping with her
dignity as Queen to conceive her as walking with calmness, and
erect just as she is said
to have stood by the cross?
More
than
likely
it was she who directed
all the ceremonies of the entomb-
ment just as it was probably she who wrapped the shroud around
Him as He was taken from the cross?
For it was fitting that the
same hands that had wrapped Him in swaddling clothes should
now wrap Him
in His winding sheet
; and the same arms that
bore Him to His resting place in the manger now assisted and
directed others to lay Him in the tomb.
Digitized by Google
MISSION
NOTES.
MANY MORE MARTYRS.
The blood of martyrs has not yet ceased to flow in China and
its dependencies.
The Belgian Missionary Congregation
of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary offered to God the blood of two of its
sons on the mission
field of Mongolia at the beginning of this
year.
Father Van Merhaeghen was sent out to southwestern
Mongolia in
1894.
Driven out by the tempest of persecution,
he returned through
Siberia to Belgium, but returned again to
his former post last May.
He knew well the danger he incurred,
and gave up for the Faith the life which he had ^offered
to God.
He could have been
in
his mission only a short time when he
received the crown of martyrdom.
The story of Father Merhaeghen is very touching.
When he
was setting out from his native town of Waereghem in 1894, the
people decorated the principal street with banners.
Still young,
and tall and handsome, as he passed along with a little party of
friends, the men
raised
their hats and the women waved their
handkerchiefs, while they
raised
their children
to see the mis-
sionary.
His last salutation was for his aged mother as he took
the train.
At
his Mass
that morning in the parish church, at
which the people with their burgomaster had
assisted, she had
wept for the loss of him, while she made the sacrifice to God.
He was destined to return after four years of labor and danger.
He and his companions were spared from death, although their
church and convent were wrecked,
and
their
flock
dispersed.
He was anxious to return to the place of danger, and envied the
glorious death of his Vicar-Apostolic, Mgr. Hamer.
There was
another tearful parting from the one who loved him most in the
world, and, soon
after, to her was gently broken the news that
her son had set upon his apostolate the seal of martyrdom.
With Father Van Merhaeghen was slain
Father Henry Bon-
gaerts, who was born
in
1874, became a religious
in
1894, and
was ordained priest in
1898.
He was sent to Mongolia in 1899,
to
be soon
the
ninth
martyr
of
his
religious
congregation.
With the two priests a large number of
their converts were put
to death.
A few days later, another missionary, Father Julien,
of the Paris Foreign Missions, was put to death with two Chinese,
in the mission of Kwang-tung, to which he had been sent from
80
MISSION NOTES,
81
France in 1897.
He, too, was in the flush of youth, being only
twenty-eight years of age.
A photograph of the ruined church of Tchou-kia-ho, in Che-li,
China, shows the floor thickly covered with human bones. Here
two priests, Fathers Mangin and Denn, were slaughtered with
330 of their Christians, on the 20th of July, 1900.
Men, women,
children, virgins,
orphans—all were enveloped in the horrible
butchery, amidst the flames of the church which had sheltered
them.
Priests and people had passed
in the church the
last
night of their lives.
The two priests were shot at the foot of the
altar.
A woman,
attempting
to
protect
Father Mangin, had
stood in front of the leveled guns.
Pierced with bullets, she fell
dead.
Just at that moment a renegade Christian, said to have
betrayed his brethren, rushed through the crowd and threw him-
self at the priests' feet to ask for pardon.
Immediately he was
struck by a bullet and fell to rise no more.
The church was set
on fire and the people, as they
tried
to escape, were massacred.
Just as the Boxers, assured
of the death of
the
priests, ceased
firing, the
roof
of the church
fell
in, carrying down with it a
number of Christians into the furnace beneath.
As the savage
cohort of butchers departed next day, they wore around
their
necks the rosaries of their victims.
Impressed by the wonderful
constancy of the Christian martyrs, and by
their veneration
for
their rosaries, the superstitious pagans put them on themselves
as amulets.
For months the church remained a vast sepulchral
vault, or
rather an immense
reliquary.
The Chinese authorities
have
decided, by way of reparation, that all
these
sacred bones shall
be collected in richly ornamented boxes lined with white silk,
and deposited in brick vaults, over which
a monument
will be
raised, and an expiatory chapel in this same
village where they
died.
It is the story of our Lord over again
:
'
1 His sepulchre
shall be glorious\"
They need no tears, these sacred bones.
The
martyr's palms befit them better.
In the district of Siu-ning, a Christian community
of nearly
200 persons were massacred together.
The Boxers surrounded
them on a plain and commenced an indiscriminate slaughter, as
if those defenseless Christians were wild beasts.
While some
were shot, others were cut down with hatchets and knives, or
pierced with
lances.
The heads
of others were broken with
ECHOES OF MARTYRDOM.
82
MISSION NOTES.
clubs.
The victims made no defence
;
but, holding their rosar-
ies in their hands, prayed to God and Our Lady.
The intrepidity
of some was altogether extraordinary. A young girl
of
fifteen
raised herself up, proudly declaring herself a Christian, and imme-
diately was struck down.
Even little children, wounded, faced
death with joy.
When the savage assailants had grown weary
of slaughter,
they buried alive the Christians who yet survived.
Amongst those left for dead on the plain, a pagan woman found
the body of a young woman who breathed still.
She was nursed
back to life
; and when discovered heroically faced death a second
time.
For some reason or other, however, her life was spared.
The
contributions
for those missions
in
1901
amounted
to
$82,798.
The largest sum from any one diocese was that of
Philadelphia—$6,621.
New York gave $5,100
; Boston, $4,000;
Baltimore, $2,900;
Cincinnati, $2,412
; Brooklyn, $2,141
;
Chi-
cago, $1,456.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore received back as much as it had
contributed
;
Cincinnati,
$1,500
;
and New
York
the same.
Philadelphia received $1,200.
From October
19th,
1898
to December
31st,
1901,
Mother
Catherine Drexel has given, for the support of the Catholic In-
dian Schools, the sum of $231,096.
This sum was urgently
re-
quired by the withdrawal of the government appropriations.
There are fifty-two priests engaged in
the work
of the negro
missions
in the United
States
;
fifteen of
these belong to the
Archdiocese of Baltimore.
During the year there were 4,551
baptisms of children among the negroes, but 3,055 of these were
in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and 855
in
Baltimore.
The
total Catholic negro population of the United States
is placed at
141,000.
There
are
7,173 negro children
in
Catholic schools.
New Orleans leads with 78,000 negro
Catholics and Baltimore
comes next with 37,000, while Louisville is a distant third with
Of the 264,825 Indians in the country,
95,192 are said
to be
Catholics;
16,500 of these
Indians
live
in the
Archdiocese of
Santa Fe,
while
50,000
live
in
the
Vicariate of
Brownsville,
Texas.
There are 800 Catholic Indians in Maine.
Eighty-five
priests look after the spiritual interests of the Indians—fifteen in
Al iska, fifteen in Brownsville, twelve in Montana.
THE INDIAN AND NEGRO MISSIONS.
9,500.
MISSION NOTES.
83
THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH.
In the January number
of the Annals
of the Propagation of
the Faith, which, in their new
form,
are extremely
attractive,
there is an explanation of the conditions of membership in the
Society, and of the indulgences and other
favors
conferred on
associates.
The headquarters of the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith are at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore.
It assists
over 300 dioceses and 25,000 missionaries throughout the world.
Some idea of the extraordinary good
it helps
to
do
for
the
Church and
souls may be obtained from the
fact that
in one
year alone, 112,318 adult converts
are
officially
reported.
All
Catholics should help
in
this magnificent work by prayer and
contributions.
FILLING UP THE RANKS.
Father John Pellegrino Mondaini of the Friars Minor, has been
appointed Vicar-Apostolic of Southern Hu-nan,
in China
; and
Father Odoric Rizzi, of the same Order, Vicar-Apostolic of Shen-
si.
The vacant missionary posts are filling with new men.
Brazil.—Two independent provinces of the Franciscan Order
have been established in
Brazil.
Many of the
old
Franciscan
houses have been renewed in form and
spirit, and several new
ones founded.
"It is," says the London Tablet ,
" in these mis-
sions and settlements of the great Orders and missionary societies
from Europe, in various parts
of South America, such
as the
Benedictines of the Beuron Congregation, the German
Francis-
cans, the
Salesians and
the Steyl
Missionary Society, that we
have the greatest hope for the religious regeneration of the peo-
ple and
clergy
of
the
Spanish
and
Portuguese
speaking
re-
publics."
His Eminence Cardinal Martinelli, commends the work of the
Society for the Preservation of the Faith among Indian Children,
as appears from the subjoined letter
:
Apostolic Delegation,
Washington, D. C, February 4, 1902.
Rev. Wm. H. Ketcham,
Director Bureau
Catholic Indian
Missions,
Washington, D. C.
Rev. Dear Sir
:
I am grateful for the information you have given me concern-
ing the nature and work of the Society for
the Preservation of
Digitized by
84
MISSION NOTES,
the Faith among Indian Children.
I do not see how such a work
can fail to enlist the zealous cooperation of the clergy and relig-
ious institutions of the country, and the charitable aid of the
faithful.
It is the proud boast of
this nation that the Indians
are its wards, and that it feels itself responsible for their care and
protection.
But, owing to the lack of religious profession which
is universal among the people,
the country
finds
itself utterly
unable to
fulfill the
first of
all
the
duties of a guardian to his
ward—the enlightenment
of
his
soul by
divine
faith.
Upon
Catholics, then, who, better than all others, understand the value
of a soul and the necessity of faith
for
its salvation, devolves a
duty of supplying by their own zeal and charity that which the
nation cannot give to the Indians.
I hope and pray
that
the work
of the Society may prosper
more and more, and that God's richest blessings may descend on
all its efforts.
Most faithfully yours in Xt.
,
Sebastian Cardinal Martinelli,
Pro-Delegate Apostolic.
A number of promoters have taken up the work of securing
members for the Society for the Preservation of the Faith Among
Indian Children.
At the present time the Society has a member-
ship of 4,000.
But it needs 400,000, and thinks that
it should
not be difficult to obtain that number in a Catholic population
of over 10,000,000 souls.
We beg our readers to apply at once
for information and blank Certificates of Membership to
Rev. Wm. H. Ketcham,
941 F Street,
Washington, D. C.
The
Society
has* Membership
Certificates
and
Circulars
in
English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
Digitized by Google
THE PILGRIM
O*
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
April,
1902.
No.
4.
FIRST SUFFERINGS OF FATHER JOGUES.
BY RBV. CAMILLE DE ROCHEMONTEIX,
S.J.
rriHE
three captives understood to what kind of treatment
X
the
ferocity
of
their
captors had
destined them,
but
their
devotion
to
Father Jogues
prevailed
over every
personal consideration.
Couture was stripped of his garments
and beaten with
clubs; they tore
out
his
nails, chewed
his
,
fingers
with
their
teeth,
ran a knife through his hand, and
sawed off his thumb with a
shell.
Not
a
quiver of suffering
betrayed itself on his countenance.
At last, after all this torture,
he was sent to a village of the Agniers as a slave in the family
of a chief who had perished in battle.
He could have escaped
and
Father
Jogues
counselled
him
to
do
so.
" Father,"
answered Couture, " try to escape, yourself.
As soon as
I see
that you are no longer here, I will find the means to get away.
You know perfectly well that I live as a captive only through
love of you.
Do what you
can, therefore, to get away, for I
will not give a thought to my liberty or my life until I see you
in safety."
Ahastirari, the Indian, underwent still more atrocious
treat-
ment
When he arrived among the Agniers he was subjected
to the same
trials
as
Couture.
They tore off his
scalp and
cut
off
his two
thumbs, and
drove a
stick which had been
hardened in the fire up through his arms until
it came out in
the elbow
; when
finally, after having burned
every
part
of
his body, they cut off his head with a knife.
Copyright,
Aposlleship of
Prayer,
1901.
85
86
FIRST SUFFERINGS OF FATHER JOGUES.
Father Jogues was looking on at all this and exhorting him
to keep up his courage.
<4 Remember," he
said, "'that there
is
another
life.
Remember
that God
is
looking on
and
will recompense
all
the agony that you
are undergoing
for
Him."
" I remember all
that,"
said
the
neophyte,
"and
I
will not yield."
The three other Hurons succeeded
in escap-
ing, but a nephew of Ahastirari sank under the blow of a toma-
hawk, whilst young Theresa was forced
to marry an
Iroquois
warrior
;
but, nevertheless, always remained a faithful
Chris-
tian.
Twelve years later
a
missionary met her at Onandaga,
and we find these words in his journal
:
" My God
!
What a
sweet
consolation
to meet
so much
faith
in
the
heart of
a
savage
living
in
captivity, and without any other
help than
heaven above.
God makes
apostles everywhere, and
to
this
Huron woman
are we
indebted
for
the
first
baptism of an
adult at Onandaga."
Rene* Goupil was slain soon after.
Like all the prisoners, he
suffered from
starvation, from
fire, and
all
the
horrible
tor-
ments which
the
savage mind
of
the Indian could
invent.
But his sufferings never succeeded in putting a check upon his
zeal.
In his captivity he constantly sought for opportunities
to spread the faith.
One day when an old man with whom he
lived saw him make the sign of the cross on
the forehead of a
child, he cried out
to
his nephew, " Go and
kill that dog of a
Frenchman."
In the evening, ^en Goupil was coming back
from the woods with
Father Jogues, the nephew approached
and
slew him with
a blow of a tomahawk.
In
this young
donne Father Jogues lost a most devoted friend, the dearest of
all his companions
in captivity.
He was slain on the 29th of
September,
1642,
after having pronounced
the vows which
united him to the Society of Jesus.
We have not said anything of the horrible treatment which
the missionary had to undergo.
His martyrdom, which lasted
twelve months, was of the most cruel description.
The reason
of
their fury is
given by Bresani.
" The Iroquois,*' said he,
" look upon the priest as their enemy, not so much because he
is European, for they are friendly with the Dutch, but because
\e is the friend and protector of the Hurons with whom
they
FIRST SUFFERINGS OF FATHER JOGUES.
87
are at war.
Moreover, they hate our holy faith, which
they
consider to be a sort of magic.
They have an
especial horror
for the sign of the
cross because the Dutch have taught them
that it is superstition.
Father Jogues' suffering began on
the
day he was made a
prisoner. We shall not enter into the details which the reader
will find elsewhere described at length, by those who were con-
cerned in those savage deeds as well as by some of the Dutch
who
were
living
at
Fort
Orange.
It
will
be
sufficient
to
indicate a few of the excesses which were
committed by his
executioners.
On the very
first day they tore off his finger-
nails, chewed his thumbs with
their
teeth
and
beat him
so
dreadfully with clubs that he fell on the ground for dead.
They
picked him
up, put him in a canoe
and brought him to the
country of the Agniers sailing up the river Richelieu and across
Lake Champlain.
On the journey they treated him as a slave.
He was a sort of beast of burden to carry their packs.
When
they reached the Agnier territory they brought him from village
to village
subjecting him everywhere to the mockery of
the
people, by placing him on an improvised platform in the mid-
dle of the village.
There everyone gave himself the pleasure
of caressing him as the Iroquois expressed it.
They tore out
his beard and his
hair.
They cut
off
his left
thumb.
They
made him run the gauntlet between two lines of Indians.
His
flesh was lacerated and torn with hooks to the very bones, and
the children, as if to make their apprenticeship of cruelty, drove
knives into
his
agonizing flesh, and
covered
his naked body
with hot coals or burning ashes.
With
cords made from the
bark of a
tree they suspended him by his arms
to two posts.
" My suffering was so great then," said Father Jogues, " that I
begged my executioners to loosen my bonds a little
; but God
permitted
that
the more
I
begged
the
tighter
they drew
them.
Night brought me no rest, for the women and children
swarmed round me to torment me in every conceivable man-
Gangrene then
set
in, and he became an object of
horror.
The Indians, with a refinement of cruelty, relented a little but
only in order to make him undergo other torments later.
It is
ner.
88
FIRST SUFFEXJNGS OF FATHER JOGUES.
impossible to understand how Father Jogues did not succumb
to the violence and ceaselessness of these sufferings.
During two months after the murder of Goupil he expected
every day to
be
killed, and only by a
special
protection
of
Providence did he escape the
clubs
of his executioners.
At
this time he lost the other thumb.
During the winter he was
sent from family to family.
He followed his masters in their
hunting expeditions, carrying on
his shoulders their
sacks of
meal, smoked meat and wood.
In the night he
slept in
the
open air half clad.
How he
did
not
die
a victim of
cold is
inexplicable.
At the return of spring he went with his masters on a fish-
ing expedition.
During the day they treated him like a beast
of burden, using him for the hardest and most revolting work,
but in the evening
they gave him
a
little
liberty which he
made
use of
to withdraw
to a neighboring
hill and obtain a
little peace in calm and solitude.
He used
to cut the sign of
the
cross on
the bark of a tree, and on
his knees with tears
streaming from his eyes meditated on the sufferings of his Sav-
iour, going over mentally all the stations of Calvary.
When he
thought he was alone he hummed some hymn of the Church,
and by roundabout
paths came back
to
the wigwam of his
masters, but did not dare to enter for they would have thrown
him out.
He
stretched
himself on the ground or sat upon
the
trunk of some
tree and broken down with
fatigue and
hunger slept while thinking of God, and waited the awakening
of the
savages
to take up again his labor as a slave.
" How
often in these days," he said, "
I wept at
the remembrance of
Sion, not only of the triumphant Sion of the heavens but of
the
one that
glorifies God upon
earth ?
How
often in
that
strange land
I sang the
canticles of the
Lord, and made the
forests ring with the praise of their Maker ? How often I have
cut the name of Jesus on
the
trees which reared themselves
aloft in the forests."
In these
days of comparative
liberty he
could have easily
escaped.
He did not do so although he was condemned to
a
life, worse than a thousand deaths.
"I have resolved to live and
to die on
this cross," he said, u for who could
in my absence
PROGRESS IN THE CAUSE OF ENGLISH MARTYRS.
89
console and absolve the French captives ? v
Who could recall
the Christian Hurons to their duties, who could regenerate the
children in the waters of baptism, provide for the salvation
of
the dying, and instruct those who are in health ?
God blessed his zeal.
"Without counting the persons, French
and Huron whom
I have
aided,
consoled and
confessed,
I
have," said he, u during my captivity regenerated in the waters
of baptism seventy persons, children, young men
and
old
of
five nations and
of different languages.
PROGRESS IN THE CAUSE OF ENGLISH MARTYRS.*
iHE slow progress of
causes of
canonization
is proverbial
even at Rome.
To advert to only one modern instance,
our present Holy Father concluded, during
his
year of
Jubilee, the canonization of the Seven Holy Founders of the
Servites, which had been
before the Papal Tribunals
for over
six centuries.
The cause of our own Martyrs
is in reality over
three hundred years
old,
if we reckon (as we
should) from the
first concession made by Gregory XIII in 1584.
Nowadays, moreover, the rate of speed must, of necessity, be
more measured
and
leisurely
than
ever.
More documents,
monuments,
matters
needing
investigation,
are known now
than of
old.
There
is, by consequence, more to inquire
into,
and
modern methods
of
research
are,
on
the
whole,
more
thorough than the old ones were.
Again, the melancholy cir-
cumstances of the Church in Rome act as a decided drag.
As
our
Universities would be sadly hampered
if
all their endow-
ments passed into the hands of a
hostile power, so have
the
men of study among the Roman clergy been miserably crippled
by the latter-day confiscations of benefices under the new rulers
of the Eternal City.
A
still
further
complication
has
risen
from the modern
zeal of promoting canonization which Pope
Leo
has
encouraged.
The
undermanned
and
overworked
* From the Weekly Register of London, January 10, 1902.
BY JOHN HUNGERFORD POLLEN,
S.J.
90
PROGRESS IN THE CAUSE OF ENGLISH MARTYRS,
Congregation
of Rites
has now some 260 causes before
it,
one or two of which (ours, for instance) contain
several hun-
dred names.
The Holy Father, with his usual legislative skill,
has
abolished some
of
the old
regulations which were most
fruitful in delays, but much remains
to be done before the old
machinery will be quite competent to turn out as much
as
is
expected of
it
The quality of the work, thank God, is
still
admirable.
To descend to our own
cause in
particular.
The first
pre-
liminaries to the modern cause were taken in 1855, the
first
process was held
in London
in
1874, the first formal
conces-
sions came from Rome
in 1886.
The detailed account of the
progress made down to the death of
the apostle, Father John
Morris, in 1893, will be found in my Life of him (pp. 194-217).
I now propose to survey very briefly what has been done since
down to the present time.
In order
to understand what follows,
it will be necessary to
distinguish the meanings of the terms Blessed and Venerable,
Dilati and
Prcetermissi.
The martyrs are obviously divisible
into three groups
:
(1)
Those whose cultus Rome has not yet
taken into consideration
;
(2) those whose
right
to
cultus she
is now investigating
;
(3) those whose cultus she
has
already
permitted.
This last class are the Beati : Blessed John Fisher,
Thomas More,
etc., sixty-three in all.
The middle
class
are
Venerables, 253 in
all.
They comprised, roughly speaking, all
martyrs posterior to Gregory's concession
; the Beati comprise
those that preceded it.
The third class must be sub-divided into
(a) Dilati {i.e. , the postponed) forty-four in all, viz.
: those who
were reserved for further
consideration
at
the time when
the
decree
for
the Venerables was
issued
;
and
(b)
Prcztermissi>
those who, for
various
reasons, were
u passed over "
in the
original list of names sent up from
England
to Rome.
The
number of the latter class
is large, nearly 200
in
all, and
is to
be explained by various
considerations.
For instance,
it was
first believed that the cause of all the martyrs would be decided,
more or less, en bloc, so that any appreciable number of insuffi-
cient cases might have prejudiced the
success of the whole.
Hence, unnecessary caution in curtailing the
first martyr
roll.
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PROGRESS IN THE CAUSE OF ENGLISH MARTYRS.
91
Again, far less was known about the martyrs a quarter of a cen-
tury ago than now, for at that time the Record Office Papers for
the reign of Henry VIII were still unarranged.
These papers
are now our most abundant source
of information, and have
revealed to us many a
tale of
heroism, of which nothing was
previously known.
The greater part of the Prcetermissi suffered
under Henry VIII, most of the
rest perished
in
Elizabeth's
dungeons.
The cause of
this
third
class
(Dilati and
Prcetermissi
to-
gether) will be the next on which the Sacred Congregation of
Rites will pronounce.
Though
held in this country in 1888,
and sent to Rome
in 1889,
it was
at
first unavoidably kept
back while the
beatification of the
three Benedictine Abbots
(Whiting, Beche and Farringdon) was being promoted.
After
a decree had been obtained
for
this (1895), the
health of our
Postulator-General, Father Torquato
Arrnellini, S.J., began
to
decline, and the cause made no headway until Father Camillo
Beccari came
to
his
assistance.
Father
Beccari
is now our
vigorous postulatore, Father Arrnellini having
died
last sum-
mer (R.I.P).
The whole report of the proceedings
in Eng-
land—a thick
folio volume—was translated
into
Italian, and
our awocato has since drawn up a positio and summarium from
it, and these are at present in the press.
It is to be hoped that
the congregation will find time
to
discuss them this year, and
if so, we may expect a decision in 190^.
It may be as well to say beforehand, that whereas in the pre-
vious Roman decrees, almost all the names proposed in England
were accepted, the contrary will, in all probability, happen now.
This will follow from the description of the prcetermissi given
above.
Once, indeed, we adopt the principle that a somewhat
obscure case may be referred to Rome,
it becomes
practically
impossible to do less than refer all such cases thither.
Nothing
short of that will satisfy future
cultores martyrum.
They will
at
once
acquiesce
if a Roman
decision
were given
against
arguments in favor of honoring liturgically some Catholic con-
fessor or quasi-martyr, though they would not be satisfied with
any other
ruling.
Hence the
prospect
that our
professedly
comprehensive lists of Prcetermissi will be a good
deal short-
Digitized by Google
92
PROGRESS IN THE CAUSE OF ENGLISH MARTYRS.
ened during
their next revision.
It will be
better
so, for we
should all
prefer a short but brilliant martyr-roll
to a long and
obscure one.
Meanwhile, another
portion of the
process of
Beatification
has been taken in hand
in this country.
In 1899, a Commis-
sion was issued from Rome directing his Eminence the Cardi-
nal
Archbishop
to
inquire
after, collect and
forward
to
the
Sacred Congregation all the books and writings of the Venera-
bles.
This is technically called the Processus Industriarum, or
Processus de Scriptis.
Information on this subject has therefore
been gathered together during the last two years .
All the Catho-
lic archives and libraries have been searched, and authenticated
copies have been gathered of all the books, documents and let-
ters which could be found.
It so happens that there were but
few writers among the Venerables, Father Southwell being the
only author of importance.
The collection has, nevertheless,
reached a
total of
over 450
pieces
(mostly correspondence).
When quite finished
its completeness and authenticity will be
tested in due form by a commission appointed by the Cardinal,
after which
it will be forwarded to Rome, where judgment will
be
pronounced
as
to their freedom from
errors against the
Another
branch
of
this
great
cause,
which
has only been
under
consideration
for
a
few
months,
is the
case
of
the
eleven
Bishops
deposed
and
imprisoned
by
Elizabeth
for
resisting her
changes
in
religion.
They
died
in
durance,
and
if
it
were
clear
that
they
all died
in consequence of
their imprisonment
they would unquestionably be
martyrs.
But this last point
is
always
a
difficult one
to
prove,
and,
moreover, before we can safely
(tuto a
qualification on which
more remains to be said later) give
rein
to our
devotion
to-
wards them, we shall want to know how they bore themselves
in the great vicissitudes of the reigns
of Henry, Edward, and
Mary.
These preliminaries are not yet cleared
up,
but they
are being investigated.
It looks as though the last struggle of
the old hierarchy may now be honored with honor such as only
the Catholic Church can give.
This leads me on to advert to what well-wishers to the mar-
Faith.
PROGRESS IN THE CAUSE OF ENGLISH MARTYRS.
93
tyrs should do and what they should avoid
doing
in order
to
promote their canonization.
It must, above
all
things, be
re-
membered that canonization is regarded by Rome as a sanction
set upon existing cultus, as well as an incitement to future de-
votion.
It is not a motus proprius made on the Pope's initia-
tive, but a response to the collective prayer of some great
sec-
tion of Christianity given after the demonstration that the de-
votion to the Saint in question
is
proof
against
all the objec-
tions which an ever-envious and fault-finding world
is likely to
bring against it.
Before we can demonstrate that,
it is essen-
tial that all the acts of our
martyrs,
their Lives, their
works,
letters, the
relations
of their
trials,
the
accusations brought
against them of old—in fact, everything that
is known about
them—should be made practically accessible
to
all
inquirers.
This will mean
a good deal.
The whole body of evidence
could not be published,
I fancy, in less than half a dozen such
volumes, as
are
issued year
after year by our Government,
under the title of Calendars of State Papers.
Some
organi-
zation and a good deal of cooperation would
be
necessary to
complete such a task.
But if the
Cultores Martyrum would
produce the demand, the men and the money would be soon
forthcoming.
This is one of the necessary conditions for the success of the
cause.
The other is the care that our Martyrs get their proper
share in the
u devotions " of the faithful, that their monuments
find due place in our churches,
that they may be
invoked
in
our liturgies, that their feasts be solemnized
with due
solem-
nity. When asked for special or miraculous favors, they should
be petitioned in the joint invocation of " Blessed and
Venera-
ble " Martyrs of England.
A
miracle worked
in answer to
such prayer would assist the canonization of all.
But here a word of warning is requisite to prevent exaggera-
tions which would result in no little harm
to
the
progress
ot
the cause.
The Church severely forbids anyone to attempt to
forestal her judgment of canonization, or to
force
or
" cook "
the cultus of any servant of God, by paying him more honor
than has been declared
to be
his
due.
A
special inquiry
(called a Processus de non cultu)
into this
matter must be
in-
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94
THE WA V OF THE CROSS.
stituted before "solemn"
Beatification,
and we may expect
one to be ordered in this country in due
course.
To prevent
any abuses creeping in,
it will be well to remember that a Mar-
tyr who may be styled Venerable, may not on that account be
allowed any open honor in church.
His relics must not be ex-
posed there, but kept in
the
sacristy.
His picture may not
be venerated on an altar, and nowhere may
it have
rays.
He
may never be called Saint.
I will
conclude by
quoting from
Father Morris some limits of cultus payable to
a
Beato.
" It
is forbidden to dedicate altars or churches
to a Beato, so that
the title of the altar or church be taken trom his name. Hence
the picture of a Beato cannot be the principal
altar-piece, but
may only be a secondary
picture placed
before and beneath
the altar-piece.
His portrait, or statue, may have a radiating
nimbus, not an
aureola,
or
circle
of light.
The
relics
of a
Beato may be exposed for veneration, but must not
be carried
in procession.
A votive Mass of a Beato is not
allowed, and
his feast can be celebrated only in the churches of that country,
diocese, or order to which this privilege has been granted by
the Holy See."
( To be continued?)
THE WAY OF THE CROSS.
rr\HE Way of the Cross is a cruel way,
X
So long, and rough, and steep
;
It lies o'er wastes all bare and grey,
And rivers swift and deep.
And
it leads through many a thorny brake
That wound the tender feet
;
But daring all for His dear sake
Will make the journey sweet.
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THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
95
If thou wouldst follow the Way of the Cross
That leads to Calvary,
Thou must endure both pain and loss,
And bitter agony.
But glorious the light that will one day shine
On thee, from God's great throne
;
And oh, what welcome will be thine
When He redeems His own.
Eva Molesworth.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
Third Station,
jesus falls beneath the weight of the cross.
ESUS walked beneath a heavy cross. From the hour, when,
in
the
garden
of Gethsemani, the
soldiers, under
the
guidance of the traitor, had apprehended Him and even from
the supper itself, Jesus had neither drunk nor
eaten.
He had
passed a night without rest and
without
sleep, in
a dungeon
of the priest Annas
;
in the morning He was subjected to an
insidious examination by this first judge.
Then they had Him
dragged to Caiphas, from
there
to
Pilate's house
;
Pilate had
Him sent to Herod, who had Him robed in the white garment
of fools.
They had Him again brought back to Pilate, always
amid the injuries and the curses of an infuriated mob.
Pilate
had Him scourged, and the whips of the Roman
soldiers had
cut long, bloody furrows in His innocent and pure flesh
; very
often a victim died beneath
their
rods and
whips.
Jesus
re-
mained standing, but His blood had gushed forth from
a hun-
dred gashes.
And they procured new joy
for themselves, by
crowning the king of the Jews, sold by the Jews, with thorns.
From His
beautiful
forehead, and
from
His
whole
head the
blood had trickled
in purple streams, dyeing His countenance,
suffusing His eyes and His neck.
Digitized by
96
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
And
it
is
then, exhausted
of strength and
life, while
His
wounds, still open, were bleeding beneath His garments,
it
is
then that with such courage, He took up the cross
!
But soon, despite His great courage,
. His poor body became
exhausted, His breast
heaved, His limbs, sustained for a long
time by a will
stronger
than
pain, finally
weaken, His knees
become unsteady, He falls—the cross
falls upon Him.
There was excitement among the people
; they believed that
their victim had escaped them—when they saw that Christ still
lived, they recovered and resumed their cries and their
insults.
The Roman soldiers brutally lifted up the condemned, and with-
out pity for a Jew, who moreover deserved to
die, and whom
they despised as they despised all Jews, without giving Him an
instant's
respite, replaced
the
cross
on
His
shoulders and
drove Him
forward.
And Jesus, pale and bood-stained, walked on.
To bear its cross with courage, to accept
the sorrow when
God offers
it the
chalice,
is
the
characteristic of a great
and
noble soul.
It is the
first
step
towards
Calvary.
Let
it be
difficult if
it will, the Christian arrives there.
A certain exaltation from the very
first, an enthusiasm which
always inspires a noble soul, whenever there is the
conviction
of a great work
to
be
fulfilled, whenever
there
is
the
con-
sciousness of a great trial to be undergone, these
are the very
human feelings which help us to attain
to
the
heroism
of ac-
cepting
the
cross. At the
outset, there would be few
hearts
which would not be ready for martyrdom.
But there is something harder
still than sorrow, and that is
the continuance of sorrow.
When exaltation and enthusiasm
depart, and when man relapsing into his ordinary state of mind
finds himself face to face with lasting sorrow, ah, how weak he
then finds himself
!
To suffer for a day, yes, man can do that;
he will find in his heart strength and courage
for this
; but to
suffer for weeks, for months, for years, always the same sorrow,
^
always the same
torment, always
the same
anguish,
it
is
too
much
for
his
poor feeble
will
;
it
falls crushed and the cross
falls down upon
it.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
97
Question that poor soul
lying
there
thus bruised, afflicted,
it will answer you amid its tears,
4 4 Oh
!
it
is hard to suffer, I
have no more courage, why does not God let me die
! "
Yes,
it would be much sweeter to die
!
May God keep me from reproaching a man with that failure
of will, that draining away of his courage, for Jesus Christ Him-
self fell to encourage him to bear these things.
Surely neither
the
will
of the
Master nor
His
courage weakened,
but
the
strength of His body overmastered the energy
of
His
soul.
With us, poor as we
are, body and
soul, everything falls, and
our will weakens as well as our strength.
Oh my divine
Master, how
well you understand our poor
hearts
!
You lcnow then that our wills
are things of an hour,
of an instant
; that our strength
is as the wind which passes, as
a light which shines suddenly and which
is
lost in the night.
No, You are not
surprised
at seeing us so weak and our falls
do not turn You from
us.
You have had
pity on
us.
You
have willed
to
fall with us
!
But, O Jesus, you rise and shall
not we rise ?
Shall we remain there, lying in the dust, without
making a
fresh
effort?
Arise,
Christian, take up
thy
cross
again, as Jesus Christ took up His
again and walked forward.
But it is not
only in
the presence of sorrow that we ought
to nerve ourselves, for it is not only from sorrow that we
fall.
The road of duty is
for
us
another
road
to
Calvary and how
many
are the
falls along this road
!
Duty is hard for man, it
is difficult, it is painful;
to love
it he must have a stern heart.
And while duty presents
itself
under an appearance cold and
repelling,
passion, warm,
smiling,
alluring, murmers
in
his
ears.
Man thus lives between these two opposing inclinations
from the instant in which reason awakes, even to the hour in
which he reposes in death.
In
the
interval, what
is
his
his-
tory?
I except the
saints, rare, however, in
this case, whom
God prevents by some exceptional grace.
What is the history
of man, between
his
conscience and
his
desires, between his
duty and his passion ?
It
is
the history
of
a
ship, which
before contrary winds,
turns her
sail now to the
right, now to the left, and making
headway only by tacking.
He goes from one to the other, he
98
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
quits duty and he follows his
passion, he comes back
to
his
duty, he returns to his passion, and thus his life runs on.
The
elect, the saved, are those who, always returning to their duty,
find themselves in
its
path in
the
silent hour in which God
calls them.
The damned, the
lost,
are those who, tired of
tacking, abandon
themselves, all
sail down, to
the
course of
evil.
And yet once again, these falls and relapses are the property
of our human nature
; he who does not compassionate, he who
has no pity for those who fall, has not the spirit of Christ
If
he comes in contact with a soul, he makes it despair
Nescitis
cujus spiritus estis.
But the
fallen
soul must
arise, though
it
falls a hundred
times, a thousand times, though each step be marked by a fall,
it must rise again.
God is always ready to grant His pardon,
why should we not be always ready to ask it ?
Ah
! poor
souls, for God's sake
I beg of you not
to lose
courage
!
When a mother is teaching her little child to walk,
if it falls, does she not pity it?
And how often, while
its
lit-
tle limbs are weak and awkward, how often does
it not
fall
!
But if that babe
enters
the world, misshapen and deformed,
will she be angry ?
Ah
! would she be a mother
!
Well, does
not God love us more than any mother ?
Does He
not know
that we have come into this world with our
intellects blinded
and our wills feeble ?
And God would not have pity !
With-
out doubt
evil
irritates Him, without doubt our faults cause
Him
horror,
but
at the
first movement
of the
soul which
returns to Him and implores His help, how He stretches out
His arms to it
Rise then, poor soul, arise
!
The
fugitive disciples had tried, no doubt, to conceal from
Mary
all
the
horror of the
fate of her Son, but
very soon,
warned by the shouts of the crowd, which came swelling from
the distance as if the air was bearing them along with it she
The Fourth Station.
JESUS MEETS MARY, HIS MOTHER.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
99
learned
all, and she
flies.
Her Son
!
She will see her Son
!
Love urges her step, anguish rends her
heart.
Through the
narrow streets
of Jerusalem, shortening her journey she goes
with
hurrying
steps,
and suddenly
at
a
turn of the
rqad,
there He
is before her, pale, covered with blood, bent beneath
the cross which
is crushing Him.
O mother, this is thy Son
!
A cry of supreme anguish escapes from the Virgin
;
neither
the crowd nor the soldiers stop her, and, sobbing, her two arms
about the neck of
her
Son, she covers Him with
her
kisses.
*• Nec potuit dicere verbum" says St. Boniface.
" She
could
not say a word."
She
did
not speak, she wept, and
just
as
tradition puts no word on her lips,
it puts no word on the lips
of Jesus Christ.
What need have a mother and a son to speak
to understand one another
!
Their tears
spoke, their sorrow-
ful tears, and their hearts touched one another.
O Mary
!
Poor Mary
! Behold then thy Son, thy only Son,
the well-beloved of thy womb
!
That Jesus, so beautiful, whom
you have so often
lulled
to sleep on your knees, whom you
caressed with so much love, that Jesus whom you hastened to
conceal in Egypt to escape from the jealousy of
Herod, that
Jesus, who, having
lived
under
thy
virginal
gaze
for
thirty
years, leaves you to go to teach and save His people—behold
what that people is now doing to Him.
Oh, do not then leave
Him, thy Son, again
; do not leave Him any more, Mother, He
is going to die
!
There
is, in the look of a mother, a dominating characteris-
tic.
It made
the crowd and
the
soldiers
instinctively draw
back, just
as, they say, that
at
Florence, a
lion, frightened by
a mother's look and by a mother's
cry, stood
still, trembled,
and dropped the
child that he was about to
carry
off.
But
that noble instinct was soon extinguished by the
seething
ot
base
passions.
They
tore
Jesus from
Mary, the
procession,
stayed for a minute, aroused
itself and continued
its
march.
Mary,
in
the
crowd,
followed
her Son
with
her
eyes, and
walked along with Him.
Jesus advanced, more firmly it would seem, and
as
it
reani-
mated by His mother.
One loving heart at
least was accom-
. 445.119
'.'"19
Google
IOO
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
panying Him along the journey of His
suffering.
He was no
longer to suffer alone.
I thank you, Lord, for having permitted that the first mark
of love which was shown you along
that
dolorous way, was
from a mother's heart
!
Oh
! the love of a mother
!
Among
all other loves, what compares to that
!
It was worthy Lord,
to touch You and
console You, though You had
all
other
loves
!
Other loves will come to You, oh my God, but as
it
were,
in Your
abundance
;
this
love
will never
leave you
again.
Behold then the first consolation offered to Jesus.
I learn a lesson from the Master in His most natural capac-
ity.
You suffer, my child.
Go then to your mother and there
in her arms your tears will be soon dried
!
What
need have
I to give this counsel ?
Our heart naturally inclines and goes
towards a mother's heart.
And when a mother sees her child
suffer, oh
! how sweet her voice becomes.
Oh, how warm her
love
!
Oh, how tender and ardent her caresses, as
if she had
no thought of herself, but of Him, Him her child, flesh of her
flesh, blood of her blood, life of her
life.
See, then, Monica
and Augustine on the shore where the ocean came to exhaust
at their feet its dying surge.
But why need I recall Augustine
and Monica ?
Have we not all had a mother ?
Have we for-
gotten how she loved us ?
Have we not seen her eyes and her
smile, have we not heard
her voice and
the pleasant sweet-
ness of her words, have we not felt her caresses on our cheeks,
her kisses on our lips ?
Who does not know what a true refuge our soul has
there
!
But alas, however
little a man goes on
in years,
following
the ordinary course of nature, soon nothing more
will
be
left
of this ineffable love but the memory ...
to go to his mother,
he must go down to the home of the dead and even there what
will
he
find ?
Lifeless
dust which can no longer speak to or
understand him.
What
!
Is that all that is left of her who has
loved us so much ?
Ah
! when shall we cast aside these gross
ideas of men,
to
believe at last and to live in the light of faith ?
Dead, our mother
! No, she lives, she sees
us, she
hears
us,
she loves us and across the mysterious depths which
separate
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
IOI
the exile from his country,
the world from
heaven, the earth
from paradise, she still surrounds
us with her
tenderest and
most consoling affections.
Why do we no longer go
to her ?
Why do we no longer speak
to her ?
Why do we not show
her our poor, bruised hearts ?
But this is not all
; on Calvary, where Christ mounts, a second
mother
will
be
given
us.
The
Virgin, who
restrains
her
tears and represses her sobs, in
following her Son along the
dolorous journey, Mary, the Queen
of Sorrows,
will become
our mother.
She
also will bend
over
us, as she bent over
Him.
She
also
will have
pity
on
us and
will look upon
us with compassion.
She also, by her
presence, will console
us and will give us new strength.
Courage then, oh my soul, no more than your
Master,
are
you alone when you suffer
: there are two
hearts which weep
with you, which love you, which console you.
Though you
shall be abandoned by all, alone in
the
world,
alone in your
suffering, these two hearts will still be near
you.
The heart
of your mother and
the heart of Mary, the mother of Jesus
Christ, your mother also.
You are suffering, O my soul,
but
you are suffering less than
the
Master and yet your lips can
drink from the very same cup consolation and sweetness.
This consoling power of the Holy Virgin, the true
mother's
love which she bears for those who suffer, this tenderness with
which she surrounds them
.
.
. what need
to
insist on these
things ?
Does not every Christian heart know them and has
it not had experience of them ?
She is so truly our mother.
"You will see sometimes,"
says Bossuet, "a mother caress
most tenderly her child, for no other reason
than
that
in her
opinion, it is the perfect image of herself.
That
is the way,
she will say, that it holds its hands, that
is the way
it moves
its eyes, that action, and that
face
is
just like her.
Mothers
are ingenious in observing even the slightest details." And what
is all this, if not, as it were, a hunt, if I may use the expression,
in which the affection of a mother engages—who, not content
with loving her son
in his own person, seeks everywhere to
find some likeness of him.
And if they are so moved at some
/
102
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
rough resemblance, what shall we say of Mary, when she sees
in Christians those immortal signs of the perfect beauty of her
divine Son, which the finger of God has imprinted so deeply in
their souls ?
But there is something more.
We are not only
the
living
images of the Son of God, we are besides, His members
; we
compose with Him a body of which He
is the head
; we are
His body and
his
fullness, as the Apostles
teach.
It
is
this
which attracts so strongly towards us the affection of the holy
Virgin, and no mother can love us more than she.
Go, Christians, to that incomparable
mother.
Believe that
she will not distinguish you from
her own Son, she will
look
upon you as " flesh of her flesh and as bone of her bone," as per-
sons on whom and in whom her own blood
is
flowing, and, to
go further, she will regard each one as another Jesus
Christ on
earth.
The
love which she bears her own Son will be the
measure of that which she will bear for you, and above
all, do
not fear to
call her your mother
; she has in a sovereign degree
all the tenderness that that title demauds.
SIMON THE CYRENEAN HELPS JESUS TO CARRY HIS CROSS.
Christ continued His journey, still carrying His cross, but it
became apparent even to His
executioners, that He would not
have strength sufficient for the long distance that still separa-
ted Him from Calvary.
A Cyrenean happened
to be passing
by
; ignorant of the tragedy that was
being
enacted, he drew
near, anxious to see what could be the object that thus attracted
the Jews.
The soldiers seize him and make him help the con-
demned to carry His cross.
This was a kind of service which
the Roman officers on duty had the right to impose on whom-
soever it seemed good to them.
Simon did not know Jesus
; he was
indifferent
to His case,
he bore Him neither love nor hate
;
at most he had heard men
speak of the Prophet of Nazareth, who was exciting all Judea.
No good sentiment could have prevailed on him to assist Jesus
;
perhaps,
if he had a tender heart he
at
first pitied Him, but
The Fifth Station.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
103
that
superficial
pity soon disappeared
before the natural dis-
pleasure of a man on whom has
been
laid a heavy and unex-
pected
burden.
He could
not, however,
escape, he had
to
submit, he resigned
himself.
He took
then on
his shoulder
the foot of the cross which was dragging along the ground and
he carried
it with Jesus.
Jesus was relieved.
The weight which was crushing Him
did not grow less, but
it no longer dragged Him forward with
painful shocks which
tore open His wounds, as the wood re-
bounded from all the rough places of the road.
He had
not regarded
the indifference
of
Simon.
He
re-
warded him
for the good which he was doing, even with a
heart perhaps unwilling.
He called him to the light.
An
indifferent Simon, unknown, without love or hate, and
who, however, solaces us and gives us assistance in our sorrows,
do we also meet him on our journey?
Yes.
I see
his
faint
image in the events and circumstances that are prepared far from
us, that happen independently of us, and which without remov-
ing our sorrow, give, as
it were, a new course to our life and
distract
it.
Very frequently we cannot impute our suffering to anybody
;
some general causes which disquiet the world without aiming at
us, overtake and strike
us.
A deadly pestilence passes above
our heads ; amid a thousand, it enters our breast, confines us to
bed a prey to sickness, doomed, perhaps, to death.
Where
is
the culprit?
An industrial or a commercial crisis shakes an en-
tire country, by some law altogether as fatal as the laws of nature,
it precipitates me into ruin.
Where
is the culprit ?
A mother
weeps over the grave of her child, a husband over that of his wife,
a son over that of his mother
;
is not death one of the universal
laws ofhumanity ?
Whom will you blame ?
Likewise, when our sorrows come
altogether, entirely, from
the free will of other men, that
will is not always as perverse
or as malicious as at first sight we might be
led
to
believe.
Have they willed the evil they have done? Have they not been
less malicious than helpless ?
Do they not even now perhaps
grieve over an evil that they did not foresee ?
And just
as some
circumstances, some
events, some men
104
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
make us
suffer without intending
it, without knowing, so too,
without knowing
it, without
intending
it, do
other circum-
stances, other events, other men comfort us and console us.
It is a thing assuredly remarkable that at the first shock of
grief it appears to us altogether insurmountable. We do not see
how, under a similar shock, we can any longer
live,
it seems
to us we are on the point of death.
Time
passes and we do
not die
!
And
if, after some months of that sad
life,
after a
year, after two years, we ask ourselves how
it
is possible that
we have surmounted the trial, we find only one answer—it
is
owing to the chance circumstances and events which have, as it
were, come to throw a ray of light in a night that we thought
would be eternal, a hope in
a
soul
that seemed
to have bid
farewell to happiness.
These are our Cyreneans, and we are
wrong not to avail ourselves of their aid.
Neither our prosperity nor our misfortune ever attains the
measure we had anticipated
; nothing ever happens either for
good or for evil as we had expected
it
; whether we look
for-
ward to a
s id or a joyful future, our prevision
is always ex-
aggerated.
But why do
I speak of chance events, of fatal circumstances,
of blind laws ?
Is this a Christian way
of talking ?
Oh, no
!
a thousand times, no
!
It is God who makes us look into the
very nature of things, our good God and our Father.
It is He
who disposes everything about us, He who arranges the whole
course of our life, He who intermingles joys and sorrows, tears
and smiles, sadness and consolation.
Let the road along which
we walk be soever rough,
it is He who has marked
it out, He
has made
it for our steps, He has proportioned it to our forces,
measured it with our courage.
He loves us, and it is His love,
nothing else but His love which inspires Him.
What, His love
!
Yes, it is His love which makes us suffer
and which comforts us in our sufferings.
I know well that our
poor little human
minds do
not
understand
this.
But God
understands
; He knows that
it is necessary, in order that our
souls may
arrive
at happiness.
Shall we not understand
it ?
Why, then, do we not abandon ourselves to Him ?
Would
it
not be more wise ?
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
I05
Simon of Cyrene has helped Christ to carry His cross.
When
the Roman soldiers gave him the order, he could have objected:
"Why?
I am neither guilty nor am I condemned
; what have
I done that you should make me the companion of a criminal ? "
When God
permits
suffering to try our courage, when He
lays a part of the cross on our shoulders, who among us could
say
:
a I am neither guilty nor am I condemned
; what have I
done that you should associate me with a criminal ? "
We, and we alone
are the true
culprits, truly condemned.
It is for us, to expiate our sins, that Jesus is a victim.
We are
they who ought to carry the whole cross—we are so
inclined,
when misfortune overtakes us, to cry out
:
u What have I done
to God that He should treat me thus ? " But examine yourself,
listen to your own
heart, review your
life.
Is everything so
stainless in that life, in that heart ?
Let us follow, then, very humbly and very submissively in
the footsteps of our Master
;
let us take upon our shoulders the
foot of the cross, which He offers us, with
courage, even with
joy, because he permits us to participate in His sufferings and
in His expiation.
Christians, forget not that He is
innocent and
that we are
guilty.
" Nos quidem digna factis recipimus—we receive what
we have deserved.0
Suffering entered into this world by the
sin of man, God had not sent
it.
It has become man's chas-
tisement
;
this is
justice.
Let us thank God.
Mass will be said at the Shrine,on Sunday, April 13, the anni-
versary of the death of Catherine Tekagwitha.
The hotel property purchased last year by
the Rev. John
J.
Wynne, has been transferred to the corporation of the Shrine of
Our Lady of Martyrs and is now
entirely under
the
control of
this body.
For the first time the name of the Shrine at Auriesville appears
this year in the Catholic
Directory
as a
station
in the Albany
diocese attended by Jesuit Fathers, when it is opened for services
during the summer.
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
io6
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
The crown of thorns in gold is now ready and a marvellously
fine piece of work it is.
It
will be described in the Messenger
for May, in which number there will be a fine
illustration of
it.
Arrangements will soon be made for exhibiting it in some of our
cities in which the Shrine
is
well known, in
Providence where
it was designed and made, in
Boston, New York and Philadel-
phia.
The statue will be ready in June.
The day for the cere-
mony of blessing it and
offering the crown
will be determined
later.
The
chalice will be ready
in good time
; offerings of
gold for it will still be gratefully received.
The storm and
flood which did
so much damage along the
Mohawk valley were the worst experienced there in forty years.
It is gratifying, therefore, to learn that they did so little damage
in and about Auriesville, as the following letters show.
Dear Rev. Father
:
I
must
try to
tell you what
I can
about the
ravine.
On
Friday, there was a great bank of snow and ice extending across
the creek on a line with the Sepulchre, and forming a dam about
four feet high.
The water falling over this dam had washed the
creek bed to quite an extent
; but after cutting all the afternoon
until
ii
p. m. we succeeded
in breaking a channel through
the ice.
The water then began running
in
its natural
channel
with such force that it rolled a great many
large
stones on the
curb near the bridge away from the ties, and for a time it seemed
as if
it would wash the creek bed low enough
to undermine the
ties.
There is more water in the creek than I ever saw in it be-
fore, and never did I see such an angry stream.
We could hear
it roar distinctly at the hotel.
Next day the danger was passed,
the water subsiding without doing any serious damage.
The weather
is very
fine.
The song birds
are here and
I
assure you that they are very welcome visitors after the long, cold
winter.
The snow has disappeared from the hill sides, and only
where the large drifts accumulated is there any trace of it.
The
ice is thawing so fast that we expect an early spring.
Everything
about the Shrine looks well.
The paths are in as good shape as
they were last fall except about fifty feet between the chapel and
the cross which has been washed out to a depth
of about a foot.
This
will be
filled
in
as soon as
the ground dries.
The road
Auriesviujs, March 2, 1902.
March 20, 1902.
MISSION NOTES.
107
leading down to the ravine, which gave
so much
trouble
for-
merly, shows no sign of sliding
this
spring.
The ravine creek
is behaving very well, and has apparently given up
the task of
breaking the embankment, contenting itself with running peace-
ably along.
I wish you could have been here when the ice went
out of the river.
From the hotel bridge you could
see
fields of
it floating along and jumping and piling up
to
a great height.
The water backed up so far that people had
to
ferry across the
Fultonville bridge
to the railway
ties,
and the
ferry
people
charged as high as two dollars a passage.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SHRINE.
A.E.L., Phila
$0.50
M.L.S.H., Buffalo, N. Y
5.00
Miss H., Boston, Mass
1.00
FOR THE CHALICE.
K.F.R., Troy, N. Y., a gold pencil.
M.C., Troy, N. Y., a gold locket, a brooch, a gold
ring and two pieces of
jewelry.
Miss H., New York, a gold brooch.
J. N., Boston, five dollars in gold.
O. Mc, Scheveous, N. Y., a brooch and a gold badge.
MISSION
NOTES.
THE MISSIONARY ARMY.
France supplies more than four-fifths of the missionary army
of the
Catholic Church.
This
includes,
of course,
religious
women, who are quite essential for the care of children and others
in places where converts are numerous.
Religious women, who
fearlessly and nobly leave home and country
to
face the labors,
privations and dangers
of the
distant
missionfield,
are
very
numerous.
With scarcely more than one exception, that of the Society
of
Foreign Missions, all the French missionaries belong to Religious
Orders.
Amongst those Religious Orders, some have
no work
whatsoever save foreign missions.
Native missionaries are carefully selected where it
is possible,
and trained with
great
care,
particularly when they are to be
raised
to the
priesthood.
The native
missionaries
especially
when destined for
a
religious
life or the priesthood, are often
sent to France, where they receive the most
excellent education
Digitized by
io8
MISSION NOTES.
and training.
In the extreme
Orient, amongst the old native
Catholic families of China and Indo-China, are found very
effi-
cient and very
faithful missionaries.
These have not rarely
shown a courage and constancy entirely heroic.
An
illustration of the remarkable" contrast, which
is really
typical, between the spirit of the Catholic missionary and that of
the non-Catholic, is given by the New York Herald of March 21st.
Two missionaries had arrived
at New York, on the preceding
day, by the White Star liner Teutonic.
One was the Rev. M.
Schoonmaker of Plainfield, N. J., who was sent to the African
missions a short time ago by the authorities of the
Presbyterian
Church.
On the way he began to consider " whether he should
sacrifice his mother's happiness to the possible salvation
of hea-
then souls."
He was the oldest
son, and
his widowed mother
had been left to his care.
She had implored him, moreover, not
to enter upon a missionary career.
After his arrival in England
he consulted Rev. John Watson (Ian Maclaren), the well-known
novel writer, who advised him
to return to his mother.
This
advice was
enforced by the appearance of a young physician
whom he met and who was wasted to a skeleton by African fever.
So the missionary returned home.
We are
far from blaming
him.
Why should he go so far and risk his life
to
teach to the
heathen what is at best but a doubtfully true form of Christianity
for he surely cannot be absolutely certain that his form of
relig-
ion is the true one.
The other missionary arriving at New York was Father Weig,
nephew of Bishop Anzer, of Ratisbon, Bavaria.
He had passed
through all the Boxer horrors in China, where he had been con-
demned to die, but was saved by a mandarin.
Through count-
less hardships he escaped to Shanghai, where he spent forty-two
days in a hospital, exhausted by fever and privations. Undeterred
he is going back to his former post of danger.
Matabeleland is in Rhodesia,
just north of the South African
Republics, and Bechuanaland
is west of them, but on their bor-
der.
Those two regions have been long annexed by England,
and in them Catholic missions
are
favorably progressing.
The
Zambesi Mission Record is published in the interest
of those and
A MISSIONARY CONTRAST.
IN SOUTH AFRICA.
MISSION NOTES.
109
neighboring missions, about which
it gives
its readers very in-
teresting news.
THE KRAAL FAMILY SYSTEM AMONG THE AMANDEBELE
.
Although
the Amandabele have considerably departed from
the customs
of
the
Zulus,
their
ancestors,
still they retain
in
many ways their usages as the basis of their present mode of liv-
ing.
One of these is the family Kraal system.
It may as well be stated
at once
that
the word kraal denotes
the
domestic
establishment
and
usual
place
of
residence
of
natives.
The upper part of a chief's kraal is occupied by his wives and
secluded from common contact.
There are also the dwellings of
the children of the various houses, the girls having
their huts
nearest to their mother's hut, while the boys have theirs in front
of the girls' habitations.
It must not be supposed that the kraals are
circular in shape,
nor that regularity or symmetry is observed in the arrangement
of the various sections.
The kraals are sometimes oval and often
irregular in their outer boundary
;
still the internal dispositions
of the sections are always observed in the kraals of the leading
families of the country.
The sides of the kraal are facing the isango or main entrance
by which the cattle walked into their enclosure, each kraal being
provided also with smaller openings called intuba, for the con-
venience of the inhabitants.
The affiliation of houses is brought about by the giving of cat-
tle or other property, generally goats, if
cattle are wanting, by
and on behalf of an intended husband to the father or guardian
of an intended wife.
This delivery of cattle or property is called
lobolo.
In
Matabeleland,
marriage
entered
into
between
natives,
according to native law, is not an act of religion.
It is merely a
civil
contract
entered
into by and between
the two
parties,
assisted when necessary by their respective fathers or guardians,
which contract is made valid by the delivery of lobolo.
In prac-
tice it is frequently not
distinguishable from
the purchase of a
wife by a man
for
the purpose
of begetting
children, among
whom
the
girls when marriageable
are disposed
of
to obtain
lobolo, which
is used again
to purchase other
wives, the
final
object being to acquire position and substance through the pos-
session of women and children.
no
MISSION NOTES.
A YEAR AMONG THE BECHUANAS.
Father O'Neill, S.J., after his return from Bechuanaland, thus
gives an account of his experience amongst the natives
:
The people who were settled in the
district
of Vleeschfontein
belonged to that tribe of the Bechuanas which is known as the
Batlapins.
They are a bright, intelligent race of good physique,
some
of
them
splendid
specimens
of humanity.
We
always
found them docile, tractable, cleanly in their habits, and not
ad-
verse
to work
; indeed,
one may
doubt
if any
of the
Kaffir
tribes afford more promising material for the missionary's labors.
Nearly all the men on the property had
at one time
or other
worked in the mines
of Johannesburg
and Kimberly, so that
they
were
able
to
speak the "taal" as
well
as
their
native
tongue.
This latter language is closely akin to the Sesuto
(the
language of the Basutos), and possesses none of the clicks which
are such stumbling blocks to the European who tries to learn the
Kaffir or Sulu tongues.
It had been
at
first no easy
task
to
induce the natives to
give ear to instructions and exhortations, but little by little they
had yielded, and first one and then another had received baptism.
At Vleeschfontein one witnessed
real genuine
piety
every day.
Morning after morning as regular as clockwork, practically the
whole of the congregation used to come to Mass, and every eve-
ning they would all assemble in the
little chapel
for
the public
recitation of
the Rosary.
More than
this, I have many and
many a time seen men, women and
children come quietly from
their homes to spend a long time
in
silent
prayer
before
the
Blessed Sacrament.
What impressed one even more than their simple
piety was
their wonderful honesty.
The Kaffir is rarely troubled by much
delicacy of conscience
in
the
matter meum and tuum % but our
Christians
of
Vleeschfontein were exceptions
in
this
respect.
Where in South Africa will you see natives who finding a shilling
lying on the
floor
of a room or in the road will bring it up to
the probable owner? Yet I have seen this done at Vleeschfontein,
and not once only.
The collection of habitations known
as the Christian village,
was well worth a visit.
The dwellings stood in two rows with a
broad street between
; the houses nearest to the mission building
were rectangular in shape, those farther away being circular like
the ordinary Kaffir hut, but spacious and lofty.
All alike had an
MISSION NOTES.
Ill
enclosed yard at the back, and the walls, both of the houses and of
the yards, shone with an almost painful whiteness, thanks to the
abundance of lime to be obtained near
at hand, which enabled
the people to whitewash their dwellings periodically.
The roofs
of the huts were beautifully thatched, and always kept in excel-
lent repair.
The interiors of the houses were likewise conspicu-
ous for order and cleanliness.
The dwellings were divided
into
three or four rooms, so that the inmates did not huddle together
in one chamber
at night-time
as
is the
case among
the raw
natives.
ST. MARY'S MISSION, ALMA
P.
O., WASH.
As seen by a
Visitor.
The lover of nature in all her rugged and primitive simplicity
would find much
to admire
should chance or pleasure-seeking
lead
his
steps
to
the Omack
valley
in
distant Washington.
Were he religiously inclined, he would meet, too, near the centre
of the valley, a sight
at once edifying and
pathetic.
It
is the
Jesuit Mission, established under the patronage of Mary in 1887.
Edifying, we say, in the
order, regularity and piety that there
prevail
;
pathetic,
in the history
of
its struggle
for existence
against the inroad of ever pressing poverty.
The
first building
erected was a small log chapel,
but
the generosity of a French
Catholic enabled the missioner to build a second larger building,
which was at once
his residence and a
chapel.
A day school
soon followed, but without means, without sisters or brothers to
teach in it, without the consolation and help of even a companion
priest,
the
task was a
difficult one.
But it was accomplished,
and with an Indian woman for cook and her husband
as prefect
of the boys, and small gifts of clothing and food from the Indians
themselves, a few boarding scholars were
received.
More than
once has the missioner been tempted
to abandon the school for
want of means but, encouraged by the exhortation
of Bishop
Juncker and his successor, Bishop O'Dea,
he has struggled on.
There are now thirty Indian children gathered under its roof, but
many more have been refused admittance.
How long will he be
able to continue the unequal struggle ?
And yet the parents of
these children are anxious to give them a Catholic education, and
have made many
sacrifices
to help the father in charge.
The
good already
effected may be seen
in
Indians old and young,
trained to sing at mass and benediction, and in their temperance
Digitized by Google
112
MISSION NOTES.
roll
of more
than two hundred
names.
Shall
the work
be
dropped ?
I say No, and so saying have given by
mite.
Who
will follow?
Donations may be sent to the Rev. E. de Rouge,
S.J., St. Mary's Mission, Alma P. O., Okenagan Co., Wash.
Holy Cross Mission, Koserefsky P.O., Alaska, Oct. 3, 1901.
Dear Messenger of the Sacred Heart :
The Alaska Mission of the Yukon finds itself in
sore need of
help owing to a devastating plague which has raged lately among
the Esquimaux and which, in
a short time, carried
off one-half
of the population.
It would be too long to
describe the
tale of
horror witnessed by the missionaries during the plague.
Suffice
it to say that the well ones fled from shelter, from food and from
home, abandoning the sick
to their fate, amidst the unburied re-
mains of the dead and exposing themselves to the horrors of
starvation.
The missionaries exerted themselves to their utmost
nursing the sick, assisting the dying, burying the dead and
dis-
tributing with unsparing hand every means at command, leaving
the mission exhausted and in a crippled condition, struggling
to
keep on
with
its work and
its
schools.
We cannot think of
abandoning the field or of sending adrift the orphans whom the
fearful plague
left upon our hands, but we
shall continue the
work begun, confiding
in God's Providence and trusting in the
efficacy of this appeal to your generosity.
Hoping you will con-
tribute your mite of one dollar and pray
for the conversion of
these natives, I am sincerely yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
P.S.
Contributions may be sent directly to above
address, or
to Rev. J. M. Piet, S.J., Gonzaga College, Spokane, Wash.
We
have sixteen priests on the Yukon and Mass intentions would be
most welcome.
The Bureau of Catholic Indian
Missions, at Washington, has
just issued its first Annual, a neat illustrated magazine
of
fifty
four
pages,
bearing the suggestive
title
Ihe Indian
Sentinel.
The reading matter is most interesting and instructive, and letters
from different missionary centres evidence the work that is being
done among the Indian of our Western
plains and mountains,
and the aid afforded them by the Bureau. The subscription price
is only twenty-five cents.
AN APPEAL FROM ALASKA.
Rev. J. L. Lucchesi, S.J.
THE PILGRIM
OF
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
May,
1902.
#
No.
5.
A.
THE LEGEND OF THE QUIVERING ASPEN.
' ^
/hY
shiver' st
thou, oh aspen, why
tremble
as
in
X@U
.
fright?
V* Vi
No storm is brewing near thee now—so calm, so
low the wind
!
Through the day thy leaflets quiver
; in the silence of the night
The moonbeams cast thy trembling on the whiteness of my
blind"
Methought
the aspen answered, "When
the Virgin mother
mild,
OSt Joseph and the Babe were forced to Egypt's land to fly,
They had entered in a forest, where,
before the Blessed Child,
All the
tall
trees bowed themselves in reverence,
save I."
" /, in my pride and arrogance, knew not the Infant God
;
The others bent their lofty heads—alone upright I stood,
With branches swaying gently, firmly rooted in the sod
I held up my leaflets heavenwards, alone within the wood!"
u The Christ, who knoweth
all
things, saw my arrogance and
pride,
Saw the other trees that bent their heads His Face Divine
before,
Said—in sad yet tender accents, " Oh, proud aspen, wpe betide
Thee and thy race.
Henceforward thou shalt tremble ever-
more !"
Methought the tree was silent.
But I saw a shiver run
Through all its fragile leaflets, though calm and low the wind
;
Morn and eve I watch its quivering—and when the day is done
The moonbeams cast
its trembling on the whiteness of my
blind
!
Mary Macalpine.
"
Copyright,
Apostleship of
Prayer,
1901.
I 1
3
Digitized by
FATHER
BRESSANI.
BY REV. CAMIIXB DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
IN
the month of September,
1 643, Father Jogues
left New
Amsterdam and arrived on the coast of Lower Brittany on
Christmas
f)ay,
1643.
In
1644, Father Vimont, Superior of
Quebec, commissioned Father Bressani to bring to the Huron
missionaries some letters and packages.
Nothing had be^n re-
ceived by them for the last three years.
Father Francis Joseph Bressani was born in Rome the sixth
of May, 16 1 2.
He entered the Society of Jesus at the
age of
fourteen, having already studied one year of philosophy. When
the trials of his novitiate and his philosophical and theological
studies were terminated he
filled
with
success the
chairs of
literature, philosophy and mathematics.
He was
destined
for
the apostolate of great cities, but he preferred
the
savages of
the New World.
Coming to Quebec in 1642, he began his life
as a missionary first with
the French and
later on
at Three
Rivers with the Algonquins. To train himself to undertake the
hardest kind of work he prepared himself by labor and prayer
for the martyrdom which
it had been
predicted
he
would
suffer.
Father Bressani left Three
Rivers on
the
twenty-second of
April, accompanied
by
six
Christian
Indians and
a
young-
Frenchman.
On the third day they fell into an ambuscade of
Iroquois not far from
Fort Richelieu.
They were
all made
prisoners
;
their letters were seized and
torn
up, and
all
the
provisions destined for the Huron missionaries were
captured.
A brave Huron, named
Bertrand. was
slain
while
defending
himself.
The Iroquois cut his
legs
and arms
in
pieces, and
boiled them in a pot along with
His
heart.
After devouring
what they had thus prepared they set out and journeyed along
the Richelieu River up
to the country of the Agniers,
stop-
ping with
their prisoners at the
village of Ossernenon.
Like Jogues, Bressani tells his own sufferings.
His account,
which is a model of literary purity and simplicity, is found in the
" Brief Relation," published while he was still
living at Mace-
114
FA THER BRESSANI.
"5
rata and dedicated to Father De Lugo.
In reading it one feels
a thrill of horror and disgust along with a profound and relig-
ious compassion.
It
is hard
to
find
a
story which
is more
touching,
showing
the
most
terrible
sufferings
united
with
the
greatest endurance
and
expressing
the
loftiest
senti-
ments.
We shall not give here all the details
of this
terrible
captivity for that would mean the transcription of
all
the
let-
ters
of
Father
Bressani.
It
is worth noting that when he
wrote them he had only one finger on the right hand, and the
blood which flowed from his open wounds
fell upon the paper
which he was using.
The ink was made from some powder
which he had found and the ground was his table.
u I shall not narrate,'* he said, u all that I had to suffer during
the journey from Fort Richelieu
to Ossernenon.
It is enough
to say that we had to carry our packs
through
the woods by
unbeaten
roads
full
of stones and
thorns and
of holes and
water and
snow.
We were
barefooted and sometimes had
nothing to eat until three or four
o'clock
in
the afternoon
or
even during the entire day.
At night I had to carry wood and
water, and cook whatever
provisions they had.
When
I did
not succeed in doing well or did not understand the orders they
gave me they did not spare their blows.
" On the fourteenth day which was the fifteenth of May, we
found ourselves about three
in
the
afternoon and without yet
having eaten
anything, at a
place where about 400 savages
had
gathered
for
a
fishing
expedition
on the banks of a
river.
They came
to meet us and
at about 200 paces from
their cabins they tore
off what garments
we
wore
and put
me at the head of the procession.
The young braves formed
a hedge on the right and
on
the
left, all armed
with
clubs,
except
the
first who
had
a
knife.
When
I attempted
to
advance the man with the knife stopped me and seizing my left
hand split
it with
the
knife between
the
little and the next
finger.
He did it with such violence
that
I
thought
he had
cut off the entire hand.
The others then began to beat me with
their clubs and did not stop till I had
arrived
at the platform
which they had prepared to torment us.
I had to
get up on
this heap of bark high enough for the crowd to
see us and
to
A
n6
FATHER BRESSANI.
jeer at us.
I was covered with
blood
which
flowed
from
all
parts of my body and the wind to which we were exposed was
cold enough to freeze it immediately on my
skin.
One of the
^chiefs seeing me trembling with cold gave me the half of an old
•cassock which was in rags.
It was enough to cover me but not
to warm me.
They kept us sometime in this place leaving us
entirely
to
the mercy
of the young men and
children who
pierced me with sharp instruments, beat me with clubs and tore
out my hair and beard.
^ When night came on the chiefs cried out with aloud voice
:
x Come here ye braves and
caress our
prisoners.'
The crowd
gathered in the great wigwam, then tore off the rag of garment
which they had given me and
in
this
state
of
nudity some
pierced my body with
sharp
sticks
; others burned
it with
torches or with stones heated in the fire
; others again covered
me
with
hot ashes
or burning coals;
they made me march
around the fire on the glowing embers under which
they had
planted sharp sticks in the ground.
Then for about a quarter
of an hour they slowly burned off one
of my fingers.
I had
now only one finger left, and they tore off the nail of that one
with their teeth.
One night they would tear off a nail and the
next day the first joint, on the following day another, and I was
obliged to keep singing during this treatment.
They did not
cease their torture up to one or two o'clock at night and then
they left me usually tied
to
the ground and
without shelter.
The only bed or covering that I had was a portion of the
hide
of a wild animal
;
it was only long enough to cover half of my
body.
I was even left without any covering at all for they had
already destroyed the piece of a cassock that they had given me.
" On the 26th of May we left that place and after travelling
several days we arrived at Ossernenon.
There our reception was
like the first only more cruel
;
for, besides the blows with their
fists and with their clubs which they showered on
every part
of my body especially where
1 might feel it most, they a second
time split my right hand between
the thumb
and
the index
finger, and they scourged me until
I fell upon the ground half
dead.
As
I did not get up simply because
I could not they
continued to beat me on the breast and on the head.
I would
FA 7HER BXESSANI.
117
certainly have died under their blows if one of their chiefs had
not dragged me upon a platform made of a heap
of bark
like
the other on which I had already suffered.
There they cut off
the thumb of my left hand and split the index
finger.
In the
evening an Indian made me enter into his cabin where we were
tormented with more cruelty and in more horrible ways than
before.
They disjointed
all my
toes and
pierced my
feet
through and through with a blazing torch.
I can scarcely say
what they did not attempt to do.
"After having satisfied
their cruelty they sent us to another
village nine or ten miles further on.
In this place they added to
the treatment of which I have already spoken, another torment,
namely, that of hanging me by the feet sometimes with ropes,
sometimes with chains which the Hollanders had given them.
During the night I remained stretched
out on
the bare earth
and tied as usual to several sticks by the feet, hands and neck.
During six or seven nights the methods which
they adopted
to make me
suffer were such
as
are
scarcely permissible to
speak of.
"After this treatment my body became so horrible to look at
that everyone kept away from me, or if they approached it was
only to increase my suffering.
I was covered with vermin and
had no power to free myself from them.
There were worms
in all my wounds.
I had become a burden
to myself so that
if I had only
consulted my own
feelings
I would have
re-
garded death as a gain.
I desired it and watched for it but not
without feeling a terrible horror of the fire by which
I
was
to
suffer.
Death did not come, and on the 19th of June, contrary
to my expectation I was given to an old woman of the tribe in
order to take the place of her
father who had formerly been
killed by the Hurons, instead of burning me as all had decided
to do.
They accepted a purchase price from her.
The
price
was a few beads.
" The old Iroquois woman found her captive too weak and too
clumsy to be of any service, and she sold me to the Hollanders
at 250 or 300 francs./'
Father
Bressani's
captivity
lasted
four months.
He was
brought by his deliverers to La Rochelle where he
arrived
in
the month of November, 1644.
PAUL SIU.
Mandarin and Apostle.
by rev. william l. hornsby, s.j.
*TX FEW steps
from
the
large missionary establishment of
jP\
the Jesuit Fathers near Shanghai, there
is a crescent
shaped mound, overgrown with long glass and surmounted by
four fine trees standing tall and straight like sentinels.
It is in
the midst of the little fields where the peasants grow their vege-
tables and cotton, and round about may be seen broken fragments
of statues, parts of human and animal figures.
The visitor, if at
all acquainted with Chinese monuments, is at once aware that
he is before the
ruined tomb
of some
important
personage,
though there is no inscription left to tell the name and title of
the
distinguished
mandarin, whose
mortal
remains
have
for
centuries rested within the concave of that crescent.
Any pas-
sing villager,
if asked, will answer at once that it is the tomb
of Zi Kolao, the Prime Minister Zi, and the inquirer, acquainted
with the history of Chinese missions, learns, not without emo-
tion, that he is before the tomb of the most
illustrious, and
in
every respect one of the noblest Christians that the Church in
China has produced.
Paul
Siu was
introduced
to the readers of The Messenger
some years ago, (i) as the founder of the family that has given
its name to Zi-ka-wei, the headquarters
of the Jesuit mission.
Siu
is pronounced Zi in the Shanghai
dialect.
The name of
this noble Christian has
for three centuries headed the list of
Chinese converts and, though the hand of God is not shortened,
it would seem that the mission shall have to wait some time
still before such another fervent Christian and zealous
apostle
arises in the ranks of
China's high
officials.
The
writer has
heard
it remarked by an
old
missionary, who
is at present
writing a history of Chinese missions,
that three names stand
out preeminently at the beginnings of the Church
in the em-
pire—the name of St. Francis Xavier, of Father Matthew Ricci>
(i) Messenger. Dec,
1895.
118
PAUL S/U.
119
and of Paul Siu.
St. Francis gave the
impulse,
Father Ricci
founded the
mission
and
Paul
supported and extended the
growing Christianity.
No greater praise and honor, from our
point of view, could be bestowed upon the illustrious neophyte
than to class his name with those
of the great Apostle of the
East and his faithful follower and brother, the founder
of the
Chinese
mission.
Siu Kwong-ki, as he was called, was born in 1562,
in what
was then the unimportant little city of Shanghai.
He did not
belong to a family of wealth or rank, but he was ambitious and
talented, and he aimed at winning himself a high place
in the
government of the empire.
In China the doors are open
to
worth in any rank.
Siu applied himself with
diligence
to the
usual literary studies, and at the age of thirty-five he obtained
the first place in the provincial examination of Nanking.
The
scholars of Nanking are reputed
the
first
in
the empire, and
Siu's signal success at the southern capital assured him a
bril-
liant career.
Two years later he went up
to Peking
for the
final examination, which was to open for him the doors
of the
public administration, but, however it may have happened, the
first scholar of Nanking failed in the examination at the
capi-
tal.
It must have been a crushing disappointment
for a man
of his hopes and ambition, but the
national
spirit of patience
and plodding perseverance did
not
forsake him.
He waited
quietly
for
the
next
trial, which
according
to rule was
held
three years later.
Little did he dream then
of the
career Di-
vine Providence had marked out for him, but
after his conver-
sion he recognized a special dispensation in his failure and the
following years of quiet study at the capital.
In the meantime a learned man from a far western land had
arrived at Pekin, in the company of a high mandarin, and had
attracted much attention by his wonderful maps and accounts
of the world, and also by his remarkable erudition and his
re-
fined manners.
The stranger, known as the western scholar,
Li Ma-tow, was Father Matthew
Ricci.
Many
high
officers
and scholars of the capital
eagerly sought
an
introduction to
the learned stranger, and our future
convert was among the
number.
He was much taken by the missionary's discourses
Digitized by
120
PAUL SIU.
on the immortality of the soul and the existence and nature of
God, and thenceforth the missionary could claim no more de-
voted disciple than the scholar from Shanghai.
The
ideas of
God and the immortality of the soul were not altogether new;
they may be found more or less vaguely expressed in the
na-
tional
classics.
But the inklings
of such important
truths,
which he may have gathered from his books, seemed only
to
whet the appetite of this earnest seeker
for
the whole
truth,
and he listened with avidity to the certain and clear teaching of
the missionary.
After sufficient instruction, he was baptized
at Nanking in 1603, by Father John
Rocha.
One year
later
he obtained the
literary degree which he had missed
in the
former trial, and this time he succeeded so well, that he ranked
high, even among the chosen few admitted to what Europeans
call
the
u Imperial Academy."
The
Chinese
call
it,
meta-
phorically as usual, the " Forest of Pencils." That distinction as-
sured him a bright future in the public service.
*
He was im-
mediately given a subordinate
place on one of the boards
ot
administration, and he sent for his family.
His first solicitude
was to make them all
Catholics.
This he accomplished
; he
had the happiness of being followed in
the
faith, not only by
his wife and his son and the latter's family, but
also
finally by
his aged father, who was not so easily brought around.
During those quiet years of public employ in the capital, he
had daily intercourse with the missionaries, and was
of
great
assistance to them in the composition of the
excellent works,
on science as well as on religion, which are
still
standards
in
their line. Their first work, published under the name of Father
Ricci, was a geometry, the first six books
of Euclid.
It has
been reprinted often, notably by the Viceroy of Nanking some
thirty-five years ago, who himself composed a laudatory preface
for the edition.
The religious works
of
those
first
years are
still turned out by mission presses, and nothing better for their
purpose has been produced since then.
Before going farther with our sketch,
it will be of interest to
know how the
great Christian mandarin was and
is
still
es-
teemed by his pagan fellow countrymen.
The
following ex-
tracts are
translated
from the
official Gazetteer of Shanghai.
Digitized by Google
PAUL SIU.
121
After speaking of his birth and literary degrees,
it goes on
to
say that " he studied astronomy and mathematics and the
sci-
ence of fire-arms, under
the western scholar, Li Ma-tow.
He
mastered the works on the art of warfare, on military coloniza-
tion, on the salt industry, and on the regulation of water-ways.
.
.
. He requested permission to cast large European guns for
the defence of the city.
The emperor approved
of
his pro-
posal, and promoted him
to
the presidency
of
the
Board of
War.''
It then recounts how he was twice removed from his
charges on account of misunderstandings.
" In the
first year
of Tsong-chen [1628],''
it goes on, " he was called back, and he
offered advice on the organization of the army. He was named
First Vice-President of the Board of War with the
control of
affairs.
After narrating how he was raised to
the Presidency of the
Board of Rites,
it continues
:
"About that time the emperor
was troubled at an error in the prediction of an eclipse, and he
wished
to
punish
the
astronomer.
Kwong-ki
said
:
4 The
astronomer follows the method of Ko Shau-king.
Now, in the
time of Yuan
[the Mongol
dynasty of
Kublai Khan and his
successors, 1295-1368], an
eclipse was once
predicted which
did not take place.
That in
the time
of Shau-king himself
;
why wonder at the present astronomer's error?
Your minis-
ter has heard that the calendar has long been in error, and it
would seem time to correct
it.' " " The emperor took his advice
and summoned the westerners, Longobardi, Terrenz, Rho and
others, and entrusted to them the rectification of the calendar.
Kwong-ki was appointed
to
superintend
the
work.
.
.
.
Next year, in
addition
to
his
other
charges, he was named
chief Minister of State and
Privy Counsellor, and received the
title of Senior Tutor of the Prince
Imperial.
We have
here
the account of how Siu introduced the
missionaries at court as
astronomers, and how he was later raised to the highest charge
of state.
Our
authority continues
:
" Kwong-ki possessed a
steadfast character and well bananced powers.
He had capac-
ity for governing, but upon arriving into power, he was already
advanced in age, and the empire could not profit by his ability.
He died the following year in the tenth moon.
.
. .A cen-
122
PAUL SIU.
sor called attention to the fact
that Kwong-ki, on the day that
he was put
into
the
coffin, had
no superfluous money in his
purse.
The fact was mentioned
as
a
reproach
to
avaricious
officials.
He was given the posthumous
title
of The Accom-
plished and Firm.
Long did the emperor speak of Kwong-ki's
erudition and his diligence in office.
His son Ki was granted
an audience, and he offered the
" Complete Treatise on Agri-
culture
'*
in
sixty
books, which
the
emperor ordered
to be
printed by the government
press and
distributed.
The work
referred to was the chief work of the deceased.
The above sketch, in the typical laconic
style of the Gazet-
teer,
is
taken almost word
for word from a still more author-
ized source, the imperial annals of the last dynasty
; so that it
may be considered the official appreciation of our subject. We
gather from
it that Paul Siu ranked among the first scholars
of his day
; that his
services were demanded on various occa-
sions to save the tottering dynasty from impending
ruin
;
that
no one served the government more
faithfully or with greater
success
; that he finally rose to the highest offices of
state, and
that the emperor sincerely
deplored
his
loss and honored his
family with the
imperial
favor and gratitude.
The proud an-
nalists would not
deign
to
mention
that such a worthy man
professed a foreign religion, though that was the most prominent
fact of his life, nor would they even notice the intimate friend-
ship which existed between -their subject and
the westerners
whom he employed
to correct the
calendar.
The Shanghai
Gazetteer,
however,
does
not
entirely
ignore
Siu's
religion.
Under the sub-heading of Churches, which
is
relegated
to the
end of the work and appended contemptuously to the article
on pagodas, we read
:
"It is a tradition
that during the reign
T'ien-ki, in
the
city of Si-an-foo, while
digging, a stone was
found which had been
erected
in the second
year
of Kien-
chung of the Tang dynasty (782), and
it was called the
4 Illus-
trious
Religion Tablet.'
The scholars and mandarins who had
taken up the western doctrine,
all contended
that the religion
had
been
known
in
the
time
of Tang.
At that
time Siu
Kwong-ki was living at home.
The western scholars, Cattaneo
and
Ribeiro,
were very intimate
with
him, and he
built a
PAUL
s/cr.
123
chapel west of his residence.
.
.
.
He received an imperial
inscription,
'Reverently Praise the Doctrine of Heaven,' to be
hung in all the churches, and first of
all in that of Shanghai."
Again, in noticing the chapel
in the cemetery of the Catholic
mission, the Gazetteer
states
that one
of
Siu's memorials to
the throne which, however,
it does not say was in defence
of
the
Christian
religion,
is conserved there, inscribed on a stone
tablet.
Siu's work on
agriculture
is
held in
high esteem, and he
will be remembered in the literary annals of the empire as the
author
of the standard work of reference on a
subject
justly
deemed of the first importance.
The memory of their illustri-
ous fellow citizen
is perpetuated for the inhabitants of Shang-
hai by the most honorable and most notable monument of the
city.
It
is
a handsome granite
arch over the main
street,
leading from
the south
gate
straight
to
the
magistrate's tri-
bunal.
The small merchants have encroached upon the street,
and the
sides
of
the
arch
are
almost
hidden by shop signs.
The ornaments surmounting
it, moreover, are broken in places
and defaced, but the principal inscription in three large charac-
ters
stands
out
boldly,
to
tell
that
it is
the monument
of a
prime minister.
Not
far from
the
arch, on
a
side
street,
is
Siu's old house, still standing, with the chapel to the west as
mentioned in the
annals.
On the main
street,
also, a
little
distance from the arch,
is the family hall,
in which the great
Christian receives a
sort of cult from
his pagan descendants.
Digitized by Google
TWO
PRAYERS.
AM so lonely, Lord
! the night is here
Within my heart, tho' sunshine smiles above,
And pain has gathered all its hosts of
fear.
The low, green mound has shut out earthly love.
When kindly eyes shone on me I was brave,
A child's hand made me fearless.
But the grave
Has hid the gladness from my weary eyes.
I look to Heaven, but the very skies
Are clothed in darkness.
I stand here alone,
With only Thou to hear my bitter moan
;
Thou who didst call to
life the widow's son
Pity, and say to me, "Thy work is done."
So prayed I yestereve. The warm spring rain,
From God's dear hand, fell
softly through the night,
And flowers, long withered, lifted up again
Their drooping leaves to greet the morning light,
What though my feet are climbing Calvary now,
He went before me with His thorn-crowned brow,
My hands are empty, but can
I not share
With those whose burdens are too much to bear
As they toil upward ?
Can I not pour
Balm upon wounded
hearts tho' mine be sore ?
Hear Thou my pleading,
till my crown be won,
Teach Thou my lips to say, u Thy will be done."
E. M. V. M'Clean.
124
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THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
{Continued).
The Sixth Station,
a woman of jerusalem wipes the face of jesus.
£T\HE example of Mary following her Son, compassionating
|_
Him, courageous and brave, strengthened other more timid
hearts.
Some women soon began
to accompany Him, like-
wise compassionate, and weeping with her.
Jesus offered then
a pitiable sight.
Always bent beneath His Cross, ever panting
heavily and very pale, He moves totteringly on, large drops of
sweat roll down and mingle with His blood upon His beautiful
countenance.
The Jews
insult Him, the
soldiers
treat Him
roughly
: as a sheep which is led to
the slaughter, He
offers
no resistance
; He makes no complaint.
In the presence of so
many
griefs, in
the
presence
of such
great
outrages, in the
presence of that divine
figure, covered with
blood, a woman
feels her heart stirred, she throws
herself before
the ranks of
the soldiers, falls on her knees before Jesus and
offers Him a
towel with which Jesus wipes His face.
Tradition relates that
when He returned it to her His features were stamped in lines
of blood upon the cloth.
Ignorant of the name of that woman,
tradition calls her in remembrance
: Veronica, the true image,
the true
portrait.
This is the second mark of affection
which
Christ
receives
and acknowledges
:
the first came to Him
from
His mother
;
the second from a friend.
Does
not
this show
us the two
prime sources of consolation, wherewith we can strengthen our
souls, our family and our
friends ?
Holy Scripture
calls
friendship
u the
medicine
of
life
medicamentum vitce^
It offers
us in David and Jonathan a
most
attractive
and
tender
picture.
" Anima
Jonathae
conglutinata est animae David
et
dilexit eum Jonathas quasi
animam suam. (i)
The soul of Jonathan was
knit
with
the
soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.''
(i) I Reg.
18,
i.
"5
Digitized by
126
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
But how rare is this holy and
delightful friendship among
men
!
How
frequently do
self-interest, egotism, caprice, the
very passions hide themselves under that name
!
How lavish
men are of that name
!
How they profane it
!
Friendship
!
How
they
betray
it
!
If
God,
in
His
goodness,
has
sent
across your path a friend, a true friend, sincere, loving, tender
and faithful, oh
! bless Him, recognize the value of that great
gilt
!
Open
to your
friend your
suffering
heart
Only
to
show him your suffering will at once relieve your soul.
Did the love of Mary, did the friendship of Veronica remove
the
cross from Jesus?
No,
it
is
ever
there,
bruising
His
shoulder, but, at
least, they have poured some sweetness into
the heart of the Master.
So will it be with your friends
; before their friendship, your
grief will not disappear, you will carry it ever poignant in your
soul, but they will sweeten its bitterness.
Their words will be
as those ointments which do not
close the wound, but which
render the
pain
less
intense.
Taste
then
the sweetness
of
friendship, since God invites you to
it by His example.
Cul-
tivate the
joys of
friendship since He
has made friendship a
remedy to the evils of
life.
Alas
! what did
I say in the beginning of these pages ?
Was it not that our friends abandon and leave us ?
Was it
not that absence separates us from their eyes and their hearts ?
Was it not that they die ?
Ah
!
the anguish of abandonment
!
the sadness of departure
!
The heartrending of death
!
To see them forget us and leave us here when we have cen-
tred in them all our hopes and all our happiness in life
!
To see them go, a great way off, without hope
!
Above all, to see them
die, to see them
die frequently, one
after another, and to survive alone in the midst of their tombs!
Is not
this the supreme agony
of our poor human
heart!
Hear David weeping over Jonathan
:
" O Israel, Israel, thy illustrious children are slain upon thy
mountains.
How they have fallen, thy valiant ones
!
Tell it
not in Geth, publish
it not
in the
streets of Ascalon, lest the
daughters of the Philistines rejoice.
Ye mountains of Gelboe,
let neither the dew nor the rain come upon you, for upon you
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THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
127
has been broken
the
shield
of
the
valiant
!
Daughters
of
Israel weep
over him
!
0, my
brother Jonathan, exceeding
beautiful and amiable to me above the love of women, as
the
mother loveth her only son, so did
I love thee
!
How could
you have died
! " (1)
Alas!
who does not know how those we
love
can
die?
Who does not carry the grief of these deaths in his heart?
Would we then be alone
if
all human
friendships should
fail us in our sufferings ?
No
!
There
still remains a Friend who
never
dies, who,
night and day, waits for us and calls us, ready to give Himself
to us in an unspeakable love.
Jesus Christ.
It is He who calls Himself by that name, giving it to us for
ourselves, " Non jam dicam vos servos, sed amicos—You are no
longer My servants, but My friends."
Behold the immortal Friend of our soul.
Before taking that
cross, which He was about to carry to Calvary, He had given
to His Apostles His Body to eat and His Blood to drink, wish-
ing so to say to be dissolved in them, to make one with them.
" He who eats My Flesh, and
drinks My Blood remaineth in
Me and I in Him."
Read and reread in the Gospel
that grand
scene of the parting of Christ from those whom He calls His
friends
;
it is overflowing with tenderness and
love
!
Why do we not go to that divine Friend ? Why do we forget
Him when we are suffering ?
Why do we leave Him alone in
the tabernacle in His temples ?
The friendship of Christ
!
How many Christians know nothing of that word, and lose,
in consequence of their ignorance, all the consolations and
all
the joys of that divine friendship.
Weighed down by their bodies, as I have said before, they do
not imagine that there is something else in the world besides this
material life.
They understand wonderfully well friendship between two
living beings whom they see, touch and hear.
If they had lived
in the
time of Jesus Christ, they would go
to Him without
hesitation, without difficulty, they would have loved Him.
(1) II Kings,
i.
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128
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
They understand too
that
divine friendship between Christ
and those
privileged
souls, those
saintly men and women, to
whom they have read that our Saviour appeared, to whom He
spoke, whom He questions, and to whose questions He replied.
They
envy
the
happiness
of
these
souls.
Oh,
how
they
would love Jesus Christ, if Jesus Christ showed Himself thus to
them.
How they would abandon for Him all the friends of the
world
!
Between
these two
friendships,
they know
of no
other
!
And how to commence them ?
How shall we make them rec-
ognize
those
mysterious
communications which grace
estab-
lishes without
ceasing between
Jesus
Christ
and
our souls
.
.
. and that mutual current which, by prayer, passes from our
heart
to
the
heart
of
the
Master, and by
illuminations,
by-
strength, and by
consolations, comes from
the
heart
of the
Master to our heart.
Oh
! if you do not comprehend this interchange of affections,
at least make an attempt
to
taste
its
sweetness.
When you
suffer, go to the foot of the altar, before the tabernacle where-
in Jesus Christ reposes, and
there, on your
knees, with hands
joined, without seeking formula or expression, with all simpli-
city, as a friend to a friend,
tell Him
that you
are
suffering,
tell Him your troubles, tell Him your regrets, your desires, and
ask His help.
.
.
. Then, listen to the movement of your soul
—it is Jesus Christ who
is moving
it,
it is His grace which ani-
mates
it, He
is the Friend who consoles
it, and responds to
it.
a Nec lingua
valet* dicere
Nec littera exprimere
Expertus
potest credere
Quid sit Jesum diligere."
i
Neither tongue can say, nor words picture, what it is to love
Jesus.
He who has
tasted
it alone can understand and be-
lieve.
The Seventh
Station.
JESUS FALLS THE SECOND TIME.
Notwithstanding the help of Simon and the comfort which
Mary and Veronica had
given
Him, Jesus was by
this time
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THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
129
thoroughly exhausted.
His strength failed again
; He
falls a
second time.
This happened
before one
of the city's gates,
the Judiciary Gate.
The Jews had
it
walled up afterwards
;
according to their
tradition,
if the Christians should take Jeru-
salem,
it was by
that gate they
should
enter, and the Jews
wanted to guard against
this.
It was a torturing shock to the hearts of Mary and Veronica
;
they stifled a
cry of agony,
and,
without doubt, they darted
forward to run to the assistance of Christ.
But the crowd and
the soldiers drove them back.
Those
executioners, with their
rude hands, lifted Jesus and kept Him standing. Then Simon,
who only for an instant had supported the weight of the cross,
put it back again on
the
shoulders of the condemned.
They
continue
the
march.
The
martyr
could
not
endure much
longer.
In the crowd many are astonished that a body so deli-
cate, so exhausted from the loss of blood and from
suffering,
endures so long a torture so cruel.
Who
can
picture to him-
self our Divine Master at this time ?
So many shocks had re-
opened
all
His
wounds,
His blood dyed
His garments and
flowed to His
feet,
it flowed from His forehead and enpurpled
His countenance.
A heart of bronze would have melted
;
the
hearts of the Jews remained dry and hard.
If they experienced
any fear,
it was
that
death would come
too quickly and rob
them of the passionate emotions of the crucifixion.
But Jesus,
in
His
heart, was
thinking of that people
He
beheld,
in
the
future, Jerusalem, ruined,
pillaged, captured
;
over her, over her children, over
that
perfidious race that was
putting Him
to
death,
he was weeping
!
Jerusalem,
Jeru-
salem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are
sent to thee, how often would
I
have
gathered
together thy
children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings,
and thou wouldst not ?
Behold, your house
shall
be
left
to
you desolate.
(1)
...
For the days shall come, and thy ene-
mies shall cast a trench about
thee, and compass thee around
and
straiten
thee on
every
side, and
beat
thee
flat
to
the
ground, and thy children who are in thee, (2) and of Jerusalem,
not one stone shall remain upon another.
(1) Matt, 23, 37.
(2)
St. Luke,
19, 43.
13*
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
It was not on His own
sorrows
that
the
thoughts of Jesus
rested,
it was over His people, popule Mens.
In that second fall there seems to me to be a two-fold lesson
for man.
Christ, the Master, shows us here that all
consolations how
sweet
soever
they
be
that come from
creatures, are
of no
avail to us.
He lets me have them, just as He wishes to taste
them Himself
; but immediately afterward, He wishes
to an-
ticipate the illusion which He fears in my regard, He is
afraid
that I should rely too much on them.
It
is when He had
re-
ceived all the love of His mother,
it is when Simon had come
to His assistance,
it is when Veronica, full pi
pity, had wiped
His face,
it is then that His strength again
fails Him and He
falls painfully over the stones on the road.
I have
said
before
;
friendship,
maternal
affection,
all
the
human
affections,
can sweeten
for an
instant our
suffering.
They are the oil and wine poured into the sores of the wounded
traveller by the Samaritan who passes by
;
but
see
the evil
:
the Samaritan passes
!
The sweetnesses of friendship do not
last long, they pass.
How often to the friend who is leaving
us, have we said
in
supplication, as the disciples
of Emmaus said
to the Master
:
a Mane
nobiscum, Domine, quoniam advesperascit."
Oh, re-
main, remain with us—the
night
is
at hand
! "
But he de-
parts
!
And
night
descends
into
our
heart, we
fall back
into that gloomy solitude which our thoughts begin to people
with phantoms.
There is our grief, it revives,
it
increases,
it
reassumes
its frightful appearance and proportions.
.
.
. Our
remnant of
courage is
quickly
lost, and we
fall
back
upon
ourselves.
We ourselves can do so
little for our friends and
the little we can do, how short a time we are able to do
it
!
In falling a second time beneath
His
burden,
Jesus
Christ
wanted something more.
He wanted
to
prepare
us
for
the
lapses and relapses of our own
courage.
Under
the chagrin
which oppresses us, we make fervent resolutions.
We triumph
over our chagrin.
The victory does not last long
;
our energy
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
131
being soon spent, suddenly leaves us, and we fall again beneath
our burden.
Let us rise and renew our courage.
It is the second triumph,
but once more
our
energies
are exhausted,
once
more we
fall
heavily beneath
the cross
which
is
crushing
us.
And
fatigue and discouragement
seizes
us, and
I know
not what
disgust at the victories which we must always gain anew
over
an enemy who always
defeats
us
again.
Will
it
be
neces-
sary then ever to begin anew ?
Yes, poor soul,
it is necessary
ever to begin anew.
Each day you must prepare yourself
for
grief.
But is not Jesus there to give you an example ?
Is He
not there above all to give you strength.
But it is not for sorrow only that we must each day prepare
ourselves,
it
is
also and
above
all
for virtue
and
for
duty.
When a man fails the first time and
consents
to
evil, his will
has in the beginning struggled, then, beginning
to waver, has
become weaker in its resistance, and has
finally yielded.
But
scarcely has the quickly-passing pleasure of the evil subsidedi
than his intelligence, clouded
for
a moment,
lights up again
his
soul; blushing with shame,
the man recognizes beneath
its light
the
evil
in
all
its
ugliness, of which he
has been
guilty ... he
is ashamed of himself, he reproaches himself
bitterly for having yielded, for having debased and defiled him-
self
.
.
. and
for
so
little
!
He
repents
and
rises
again.
These
two
phases
of
a
first
fall
are
inseparable
;
the
pleasure
there
is followed
so
closely
by
remorse,
that, how
charming soever the first may be, the second is so painful that
in truth, all
things considered, the poor soul
can say that
it
does not love the evil, but that the
evil
hurries
it along.
A
second fall, a third brings again to
the
heart the same succes-
sion of contrary emotions.
Nevertheless, while, by incipient habit, pleasure in evil takes
root and grows greater, by the same
habit
the
string
of
re-
morse becomes milder and more blunted.
And there arrives a moment, when, from fall after fall, from
the force of
" the cup
of iniquity "
as the Scripture says,
the
pleasure of evil is so deeply implanted in the soul, remorse has
so lost its sting, that the first alone excites the soul and affects
i3 2
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
it
; the second
.
.
.
the soul no longer feels
it
!
Or if it still
feels
it,
it is at long separated intervals ...
at a time when a
word, an event, a misfortune arouses
it and harshly recalls it
to its duty.
Oh
! then, that soul has become enamored of evil
!
There
it is enchained, it
has become
allied
to
it,
it
reposes
in
its
arms,
there
is
that
soul, on the ground,
in
the mire
!
And
who does not see
that here
the
only remedy is in the energy
of our recovery ... we must, at
each new
fall,
rise with so
much
the more
courage,
to
counterbalance
that weakening
influence of habit.
Arise, O my Soul, arise more quickly, arise always
!
ANNALS OF THE
SHRINE.
§UNDAY, April 13, the anniversary of the death of Catherine
Tekagwitha, Mass was said
at Auriesville in her memory
and in behalf of
all who are interested in the Shrine.
The
weather was quite cold on the
hill-top, and the shelter afforded
•
by the chapel made
it preferable to the Shrine itself for the ser-
vice.
About fifteen persons assisted at the Mass, two from Troy,
one from Albany, and the others from the village and the neigh-
borhood.
For altar flowers evergreens were
used.
The scene
was quite
pretty when the sun shone over it, as
all proceeded
quietly and devoutly, but there was no warmth
in the sunlight
then or the rest of
the day, which was raw and gusty through-
out, with an occasional rainfall, until the evening, when one of
the beautiful Auriesville sunsets promised clearer weather for the
morrow.
Snow was
still
visible on the
distant
hillsides, and
some of the drifts still remained along the willow hedge opposite
the Shrine entrance and in the
ravine, which, however, was the
only agreeable refuge from the stormy winds above.
Needless
to say the cold without made the hotel
all the more comfortable
a resort, especially after sundown.
So frequently have we had to report damage from the autumn
and winter storms of
late years, that it was
a great pleasure to
spend the rest of the day discovering that the roads and embank-
ments had withstood the stress of the worst winter in the Mohawk
^Valley for forty-one years.
It
is the
first year
for some time
Digitized by
CONTRIB UTIONS.
133
that we can
proceed with improvements without stopping
to
repair damages, and our
readers can imagine how agreeable a
task
it was next day to plan for the coming summer.
It
is a
pleasure,
too,
to report
that with favorable weather we have
been able to accomplish much of what was then planned.
1
' We have finished/ '
writes the foreman,
"planting
all the
trees along the fence from the priest's house down to the Fulton-
ville
road, along the road
to the hotel and around the hotel.
We have replaced all the dead trees on the Shrine grounds, and
planted
trees about the house and
a grove near the flagpole,
straightened the line of trees on the north side of the ravine and
planted pine trees on the south from
the statue
of
St.
Joseph
down to the large fir trees on the knoll over the entrance.
Vines
have been planted over the bank.
4
1 We have walled up the spring near the hickory tree, the one
below the well called
the
old
Indian
well.
We struck
a
fine
spring in the ravine bank back
of the
statue
of
St. Joseph
;
it
comes through a bed of quicksand and gravel, and we are mak-
ing a reservoir so that the water can be led by pipes to any spot
along the roadside.
We are also draining the
field between the
Calvary and the old shrine.
'
' The new railroad station
is actually in
course
of
erection.
It is to be forty feet long and sixteen
feet deep, the office in the
centre, a waiting room on the west
side, and a freight room on
the east.'
The
first pilgrimage
for this year
is announced for June 29,
from
St.
Joseph's Church,
Cohoes, New York.
Further
an-
nouncements for the coming pilgrimage season we hope to make
by circular during the month.
FOR THE CHALICE.
M. C, Philadelphia, a gold ring.
B. F.
J., Montclair, N.
J., five brooches, two pair of earrings, four cuff but-
tons, a gold pencil and several other pieces of jewelry.
M. A. C, Troy, N. Y., two pairs of earrings, two brooches, two rings, a pair
of bracelets and several pieces of jewelry.
J. A. R-, fifteen dollars in gold from three contributors.
FOR THE ALASKAN MISSION.
Collection from Ward's Island,New York
$6.00
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SHRINE.
M. McG.,
St.
Louis,
Mo.
J. S., St. #Paul, Minn.,
.
.
M. L. S.
H., Buffalo, N. Y.
1.00
5.00
Digitized by Google
MISSION
NOTES.
DETAILS OF THE DEATH OF RECENT MARTYRS.
The March number of The Pilgrim announced the death of
the two Belgian missionaries, Fathers Van Merhaeghen and Bon-
gaerts
in
Mongolia,
and
of
Father
Julien
in
China.
Some
details of their martyrdoms are published by the Missions Catholi-
ques.
On Friday, December 13, just as the night was falling, a band
of thirty men, of whom sixteen wore military uniforms, appeared
suddenly at the residence of the missionaries in Sia-yen-tzen, near
Ning-Sia, in southwestern
Mongolia.
Father Van Merhaeghen
was the
first to fall, his
head having been split open by a sabre
stroke.
His body was found
all covered with blood, and bear-
ing three deep wounds on the head.
Father Bongaerts was left
for dead, having
received no fewer than fifteen wounds.
Life,
however, was not quite extinct.
He was able to arise after some
time, and
lived ten days longer.
There were three Christians
slaughtered with them.
The residence was pillaged, as were also
some of the houses of the Christian natives.
These murders have been generally attributed to the vengeance
of the Mahometans,who had been compelled to restore the Chris-
tian women
and girls carried off after the martyrdom of
Bishop
Hamer.
Father Julien was from Normandy.
He had been only a few
years
in
the mission
of Kwang-tung,
China,
whither he had
gone as a missionary of the famous Society of Foreign Missions
whose headquarters
are
at
Paris.
He was massacred with his
two native Christian companions on the night of the fifteenth of
January, through undisguised hatred of the Christian faith.
He
was
killed while he
slept
; and on
his head, neck and hands,
were^ nine fearful wounds.
The Viceroy of Canton, when he heard the news of the mur-
der of Father Julien, sent a message of condolence to the Prefect
Apostolic, Mgr. Merel.
As the mandarins showed little energy
in seeking out the
assassins, the French consul is insisting on a
thorough investigation.
134
MISSION NOTES.
135
THE REVOLT IN SOUTHERN CHINA.
For some time
past there has been a very serious outbreak in
southern China,
although as to
its causes,
purposes and
real
strength, there
is much
obscurity.
Since the cessation of the
Boxer rising
in the
north,
there had been indications
of rest-
lessness in the
south.
But a general outburst of sedition was
restrained by
the powerful
viceroys.
Of
late,
however,
the
imperial
troops have been defeated in Kwang-tung and Kwang-
si.
According
to recent
reports, some
20,000 of the national
troops have joined the rebellion.
The generals in the field seem
to be unable to cope with
the
rebel army, while reinforcements
will be slow and difficult to obtain.
Before the Boxer
rising, there was a bitter, though generally
not a bloody, persecution
in some provinces of the
south.
In
July, 1900, there were martyrdoms in Kiang-si
; and through a
great portion of the southern and southeastern provinces the fero-
cious
secret
societies
had numerous
followers.
The
present
revolt seems to be a continuation of the Boxer outrages.
South
of China
is Annam, belonging
to
France.
Here
the
faith has been sown in blood, and quite recently there has been
a
fierce
persecution.
Over
and
over
Christianity
has
been
almost
entirely rooted
out.
In
1885
occurred, in the Eastern
Vicariate, the massacre of 15 priests, 60 catechists, 270 nuns and
24,000 Christians
; and, in the north, the massacre of
10 native
priests and 12,000 Christians.
Yet, before the
recent troubles,
there were at least 700,000 fervent Christians, 20,000 Christian
children in the schools, 355 native priests besides
the European
missionaries, and 2,000 native nuns.
The
fact
that
there
are
here so many native nuns is a singular feature of the missions of
Annam.
The Bombay Catholic Examiner, of March 27, gives the follow-
ing statistics of the growth of an East Indian Vicariate
:
" The Summary of Five Years' Mission Work.—In November,
1896, when
Bishop Makil
took charge of
the Changanacherry
Mission, there were 72 parish churches and 30 chapels.
Now
the parish churches number 92 and the chapels
51.
According
to the census of 1900, the Catholics of this mission number 140,-
THE KINGDOM OF ANNAM.
HINDOSTAN.
136
MISSION NOTES.
272.
Of these, 5,000 souls have, within the last five years, been
converted from Paganism; Pulayas, Pareyas, etc.
Two churches
with more
than
1,000
souls were rescued from schism
;
the
priests and clerics converted from schism are 2 1
; parishes newly
established, 20
; chapels newly erected, 21
;
of which
5
are for
neophytes
; new chapels and churches under construction,
11
;
newly consecrated church,
1
; vernacular parish schools newly
erected, 20
; confraternities newly established in several churches,
12; convents newly erected, 2; churches and chapels visited, 115;
baptisms administered by the Vicar-Apostolic himself
to pagans,
203;
confirmations,
21,585;
communions
distributed
by
his
hand, 12,692.
" Ordinations Conferred.—Newly ordained priests, 28.
Besides
12 seminarists there are pursuing their course of studies 19 young
men in minor orders, 10 sub-deacons and 3 deacons.
Total num-
ber of the native priests of this mission, 271."
The Annals ofthe Propagation of the Faith (March-April, 1902),
give these interesting facts about
the
great society which they
represent
:
"
1. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded
on May 3, 1822.
" 2. Founded in France, the Society was soon introduced into
the United States, and all parts of Europe, until to-day it receives
alms from the Faithful of every country in the world.
"3. The amount of alms collected through
the Society and
distributed by it to Catholic Missions, from
its foundation until
1900 was $65,690,017.00
" 4. From 1822 up to 1900 the Society gave to the Church in
the United States nearly $6,000,000.00.
On December 6,
1884,
His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, writing to the Directors of the
Society, and speaking in the name of the Third Plenary Council of
Baltimore, said
:
' Gratitude imposes upon us the highly
pleas-
ing duty of acknowledging publicly the signal
services rendered
to the Infant Church of the United States, by that Holy Work,
the Society for the Propagation of the
Faith.
If the grain of
mustard seed, sown in the virgin soil of America, has struck deep
root and has grown
into a mighty
tree, whose branches spread
from the borders of the Atlantic Ocean, even to the shores of the
CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT MISSION FUNDS.
MISSION NOTES.
137
Pacific,
it is, gentlemen, owing chiefly to the co-operation of your
admirable work that we are indebted for this happy result.'
" 5. At theit annual meeting in October, 1897, held at Wash-
ington, the Archbishops of this country
formally approved the
systematic establishment of the Society throughout the United
States
; the general headquarters
are at St. Mary's Seminary,
Baltimore, Md.
" 6. To-day the Society helps over 300
Dioceses and 25,000
Missionaries throughout the world, and some idea of the results
accomplished through the missions assisted by
the Society may
be gathered from the fact that
in 1896 alone, 112,318
adult con-
verts were officially reported.
" 7.
The Society of the Holy Childhood, in the United States, re-
ceived for its mission work, from March,
1901,
to March,
1902,
the sum of $21,558.00.
Of all the dioceses, Pittsburg gave most,
namely, $2,136; Cleveland was next, with $2,108
; Milwaukee
gave $2,047
; St. Louis, $1,942
; Cincinnati, $1,601
; New York,
The effective force of the Protestant
foreign
mission
societies
of the world comprises 13,412 missionaries, men and women, and
70,218 native workers, with 1,285,227 communicants
;
a gain of
about 4,500 over last year's reports.
Their total income last year
was $18,121,120.00; of which
the
United
States
contributed
$5,636,758.00, besides supplying 3,635 missionaries, 17,427 native
workers, and a membership of 405,653.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
a
Congregationalist society from whose statistics these figures are
quoted has performed a considerable part of the labor represented
by them
;
its contributions amounted to $697,370 00, its mission-
aries to 544, its native laborers 3,483, and communicants 50,892.
Since its foundation in 18 10 it has
collected $32,845,372.49 for
foreign missions.
The Mexican
Herald, which
is
not
a
Catholic
newspaper,
informs us that Protestant ministers are quite welcome in Mex-
ico since the accession of Diaz.
The welcome
is on the part of
the government, not of the people, and
the motive
is
political
and not religious, just the same, we presume, as
Protestantism
$255-
»»
PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
PROTESTANTIZING MEXICO.
138
MISSION NOTES.
is cultivated by the infidel statesmen of France to help the anti-
clerical movement.
In Mexico, Protestants of all denominations
amount to about 60,000
; but on the 12,000,000 Catholics of the
country they make no
real
impression, nor
is
there any likeli-
hood
of
their doing
so
in
the
future.
The
sixty
thousand
include
all
non-Catholic
settlers from
the
United
States and
elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the
Mexican
clergy are
very much
alarmed
by
the presence
of such
a
number,
and regard
the
exploitation of
mines, the building of
railroads,
the establish-
ing of
factories,
etc., by foreigners as a
part of the
religious
invasion and a means employed by Protestantism for the peace-
ful conquest of the country.
In point of
fact, however, the busi-
ness men have nothing to do with the religious propaganda, and
when reproached by the parsons with their indifference answer
:
" We are here for business purposes, and we do not propose to
interfere with our profits by attacking the religion of those from
whom we hope to gain a livelihood.
'
'
The quickened commer-
cial activity of the country is, the writer thinks, a mere matter
of business evolution, and
is quite distinct from any proselytiz-
ing
intent, although
the
religious views of those Captains of
Industry,
if they have any religious views, may not be Catholic.
Contrary
to
a widespread
impression,
the Mexican clergy,
says this Protestant
paper, are not rightly to be condemned off-
hand and sweepingly in
the matter
of
their
moral
standing.
Thousands of them do their Master's work, faring poorly, and
coming to their last day in poverty.
The self-indulgent,
ill liv-
ing, careless priests are in the minority.
" I know priests," the
writer says, " who deny themselves the principal comforts of life
to be able to spare something for the poor of their parishes
; and
priests
I have seen sleeping on boards without
mattresses, and
with only a rough blanket
for
a
cover.
When those who are
unmindful of their high calling find Protestants at work in their
parishes, they will
probably be spurred on
to a sense of
their
duty."
About Mexican women
this writer has nothing but words of
praise.
Anglo-Saxon
himself,
he
characterizes
the
modern
Anglo-Saxon
girl as a
sort of Pagan, whose
chief object
is
to
discover how much enjoyment she can get out of life, and who is
only
nominally
a
Christian.
But
the
"Latin woman,"
he
thinks,
places duty
first, and so centres
herself in her home.
Her life may be " narrow," but so, according to the Scriptures,
MISSION NO TES.
1 39
is the way to eternal happiness.
She believes this heartily, and
her life is one of self-sacrifice
; and in her old age she achieves a
beauty of the soul, a tranquillity of the heart rarely seen in the
lands of feminine endeavor after pleasure and individuality.
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS IN HONOR OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
AT FRIBOURG, (SWITZERLAND), August
1 8-2 1,
1902.
During
the
last years of the nineteenth century several
con-
gresses were
held
in honor of
the Blessed Virgin
:
at Leghorn
(1896),
Florence
(1897), Turin
(1898), and
at Lyons
(1900).
Catholic piety thought that, also at the beginning of the twentieth
century,
it should offer to Our Lady the homage of
its respect,
fidelity and
love, under the form of an international reunion, at
which by means of religious festivities would be proclaimed and
honored
the Blessed Virgin's prerogatives, which to know and
revere is of the greatest importance in our days.
The voice
of
the Roman Pontiff every year invites us with an ever increasing
constancy to flock to Mary.
In order that the reign of Jesus may
come, that of His Blessed Mother must be established and spread
;
in order that Our Lady may come
to the
assistance of a world,
against which hell multiplies its attacks, we must strive with
all
our might to glorify the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God,
her who so often has frustrated the efforts of the enemies of the
Church.
It seemed proper, therefore, to invite the Catholics of all lands
to an
international convention the first of the twentieth century
held in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
The universal character of
this reunion, the study of
the manifold needs of our time, the
gravity of the threatening dangers, the hopes the
realization of
which must be secured, the very event of the festivals which are
being prepared, all these reasons give foundation
for the belief
that this solemn homage rendered
Mary will have the most fa-
vorable consequences for the progress of faith and increase of de-
votion towards Our Lady. Another motive for choosing the year
1902 for this convention, is that the Holy Father the Pope
cele-
brates during these days the twenty-fifth anniversary of his eleva-
tion to the Sovereign Pontificate.
Indeed, no one can deny that
Leo XIII,ever since he governed the Church, did not cease to urge
the Catholics to seek aid and protection from the Blessed Virgin
and
to
increase her honor continually.
The convention
will,
consequently,
also be
a
feast of
the jubilee of Leo
XIII,
at
Digitized by Google
140
MISSION NOTES.
which the proper means will be studied to reduce to practise the
teachings contained
in
the Holy Father's
encyclicals on the
Blessed Virgin.
Acceding to the wishes expressed to him, His
Lordship
the Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva has authorized
the holding of the congress in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland,
which
ever
distinguished
itself by
its
devotion
towards
the
Blessed Virgin, and which
possesses one of the oldest churches
consecrated under the protection of the Immaculate Conception.
This same year brings back the seven hundredth anniversary
of
its
construction, which will
be
celebrated by a triduum of
solemn festivities.
The Catholics of the entire world are invited to render to Mary
the proof of
their
filial devotion, to
be present at the scientific
sessions in honor of Our Lady, and
to
edify themselves by the
solemn celebrations,
which
will
reiterate the
glory of Mary
:
Beatam me dicent omnes generationes.
Circular of the Committee.
Digitized by Google
THE PILGRIM
OP
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
June,
1902.
No.
6.
OUR LADY OF THE BELLS.
*W VE MARIA, the sweet bells are so chiming,
They sound on the mountain, the lakeside and lea,
And up through blue ether the echoes far climbing,
Melodious ring o'er the charmed turquoise sea.
Ave Maria, the soul knows the power
Of mystical bells in the campanile high,
Whose notes wake the day and the rose in her bower,
And forth with the lark at the Angelus fly.
Ave Maria, we hasten to render
The honor God's Mother Immaculate claims
;
Thy heart, the pure seat of love regnant and tender,
The love of Thy children with ardor inflames.
Ave Maria, with deep veneration,
We ever would come to thy privileged shrine
;
Devoutly presenting the truest oblation,
Hearts—worth to thy Son more than gems of the mine.
Ave Maria, the chiming is ended
And jewel-tipped tapers Thy altar adorn
;
May prayer
rise as pure, with the sweet incense blended,
As dew on the rose or the breath of the morn.
Copyright, Apostleship of Prayer, 1901.
1^1
Digitized by Google
PEACE.
PROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMIXLE DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
IN
his letter to Father Mutius
Vitelleschi,
Father
Bressani
makes this reflection after describing his heroic sufferings:
"I never thought
that
a man
could
hold on
to
life so
long."
As a matter of fact
it is surprising that he could have
withstood these awful torments, but what is still more astonish-
ing is the perfect liberty and tranquillity of spirit manifested in
the midst of
his
sufferings.
" Although every
minute," he
said,
" I was within two inches of death, my soul always pre-
served its freedom, and I was
able
to
centre my mind com-
pletely on everything I did.
My body was almost crushed with
pain, and
I
could scarcely open my
lips
to
recite the Our
Fatb er.
But nevertheless I had perfect control over my thoughts.
God gave me the grace
to check the very
first movements of
indignation against my executioners, and even
to
inspire me
with pity for them.
Of course
I was not insensible to pain but
felt it keenly.
Nevertheless
I had such power
to support
it
that the abundance of grace astounded me, and I found myself
in the same state as David when he said,
' In the midst of my
tribulations Thou hast dilated my heart.'
I consider that was
a greater grace than my escape from captivity."
Those words are the finest panegyric of Father Bressani that
could be written.
The Apostle and the Religious are revealed
in them in perfection.
It
is narrated that the Queen Regent Anne of Austria said
to the ladies of her court when she heard the story of the cap-
tivity and deliverance of Father Jogues
:
u They are giving us
romances every day which are nothing but lies
; here is a story
which
is true, where the marvellous is united with the most
wonderful heroism."
The same could be said of the martyrdom
of Father Bressani and
it would be hard to resume
in more fit-
ting terms the long and painful sufferings of these two men.
Father Bressani did not remain in Europe long. New France
which had been moistened by his blood was always the object
(Continued).
142
PEACE.
143
of his thoughts, and he returned
there
the
following year.
Father Jogues had preceded him by a year having only one
ambition, viz., to live and die in the land of his first labors and
of his bloody
struggle.
In
fact, one would judge from
his
words that his very sufferings added an attraction to that which
possessed his heart before.
Both ofthem had their hands muti-
lated, and that was a canonical impediment for the celebration
of Mass.
Their piety, of course, was
distressed by
this priva-
tion, than which there can be no greater for a
priest.
The
Roman Pontiffs removed the
obstacle.
Urban VIII.
said
to
Father Jogues,
(i It would be an unworthy thing to forbid
a
martyr of Jesus Christ to drink the blood of Jesus Christ."
In-
nocent X. kissed with respect the wounds of Father Bressani,
and said to him affectionately,
il You have been mutilated
for
the sake of the Gospel, you ought
not to be deprived
of the
honor of offering the Holy Sacrifice.
When the latter returned to Quebec
towards
the middle
of
1645, a great event was being brought about,
in consequence
of which the pacification of New France seemed about to be as-
sured.
The Iroquois, the Hurons, the Algonquins, the Mon-
tagais, the Attikamagues and the Frenchmen were assembled
at Three Rivers for a treaty of peace.
The Governor, M. de
Montmagny had convoked
this
assembly, as
his
allies were
partly demoralized, and he himself could make no law for the
Iroquois or punish them for any infraction.
He had scarcely
soldiers enough
to make the French
outposts be
respected.
Commerce and agriculture were suffering as a consequence
of
the war.
There was no safety anywhere.
The whole colony
was longing for peace, provided it could be brought about with-
out compromising the honor and dignity
of
France.
An
oc-
currence insignificant enough in itself, furnished
the governor
the means of entering into negotiations with the enemy.
He
had some Iroquois prisoners, one of whom was a chief.
This
latter he sent back to his country, enjoining on him to tell
the
different camps that
if they wished to save
the
lives of other
captives they must send without
delay ambassadors with
full
powers to strike a treaty of peace.
The
Iroquois
federation was growing weaker
every
day.
144
PEACE.
Although
it had achieved some successes, it had
suffered con-
siderable
loss, and
the number of
its
warriors was
notably
diminished.
In consequence a strong party, especially among
the Agniers, was calling upon the others to bury the hatchet.
The scheme
of the
Governor produced
the
desired
effect.
Two months later the chief whom he had sent presented him-
self to the commandant
of Three
Rivers, and with him were
two other envoys of his tribe.
They demanded an audience of
the great Ononthio, as M. de Montmagny was
called.
At the
meeting was another great
chief, Kiotaceton, an indefatigable
talker and the most cunning and tricky of his
tribe.
Among
the deputies and
dressed
like an
Iroquois was Wm. Couture,
to whom
the
Indians had given
his
liberty.
We might say
here that
Couture, as
will be
remembered, went when
very
young to Canada, and first worked on the Huron Mission.
In
1640 his name was on the list of the Donnes.
In the
list of
employments in which he was engaged, he
figures sometimes
as a carpenter,
and sometimes
as
a
general workman.
He
came now as the negotiator
of peace with the Iroquois, and
it
was that that gained him
his
liberty.
Being
freed from
his
contract
as
a Donne, he
married and became the father of a
numerous family.
This marriage was contracted with the full
approval of the Fathers.
He died at the age of ninety-four.
On the
1 2th of July the
audience took place
under a tent
within
the
palisade.
At one end sat the Governor, having at
his side de Champfleur, Father Vimont, Father Jogues, and
all
the military staff in full uniform.
Facing them
at
the other
end
were
the Algonquins
; the French and the Hurons took
their places on
the
right and
left of the great
hall.
In the
middle
the
Iroquois
envoys
deposited
their
presents,
viz.,
Fourteen collars
of china.
Kiotaceton
arose.
He
turns
his
eyes
to
the sun, then
takes the
collars one after another, ex-
plains at great length the meaning of
each, offers them
to the
Governor, and after having spoken, sung, and gesticulated like
a
buffoon
during
three
hours, he demands
that
the
clouds
should disperse, and that the sun
of peace
should shine upon
the
entire
country.
His harangue ends by a dance in which
all the Indians took part.
On
the morrow
a
great
feast was
offered by the Governor, both to friends and foes.
PEACE.
145
On the 14th, there was a new reunion under the great tent-
M.
de Montmagny gives
in
return
fourteen presents to the
Iroquois, and then begins to discuss the
articles of the
treaty
of peace.
Piescoret, chief of the
Algonquins of
the
Island,
presents to the ambassadors some beaver skins and says to them
in the name of the nation
:
u Behold I place a stone upon the
grave of those who died in our last combat, so that no one will
disturb their bones, and we shall lose the memory of what has
happened and never more dream of vengeance.
,,
Negahamet,
the Montagnais
chief, then
rises and
offers
five great moose
skins.
"Behold,"
said
he
to
the
Iroquois,
"something
to
cover your feet and your limbs, lest you be wounded on your
return, if perchance there be any stones upon the road which
you have taken."
Three salutes from the cannon
of the
fort
announced the end of the session and the conclusion of peace
and on the morrow the ambassadors embarked on their canoes
and
returned
to
their
country.
But the task was not
over.
Peace was concluded with the
Agniers, but
the other
tribes
held the tomahawk uplifted and the
greater part of the chiefs
ot the allied nations of France were ignorant of what was pass-
ing at Three Rivers.
Before the departure of the Iroquois it
was agreed that the ambassadors would have the treaty ratified
by the general assembly
of the federated
tribes, and
that the
Governor would submit
it
for
the approbation of the Huron
and Algonquin chiefs who had
not
taken
part
in
the Three
Rivers'
convention.
The second reunion for the confirmation
of this peace was fixed on for the month of September.
Until
then every act of hostility was absolutely forbidden.
This was for the whole French colony a time of great conso-
lation and of indescribable joy.
The
allies were happy
also.
From the mouth of the
St. Lawrence to the Ottawa, and from
Ottawa to Lake Huron, a general
lassitude had come over the
braves.
Everyone was weary of war and were longing for the
day when peace would return in the sombre and bloody forests
of the New World.
Of course the missionaries desired
it more
than anyone
else, hoping
in
consequence
of
it
to make
the
adorable name
of
Jesus
Christ
better
known
and
revered
among the Indians.
146
PAUL SIU.
Sixty Huron canoes loaded with
peltries
profited by
this
cessation of hostilities to go down to Quebec, and Father Lalle-
mand, who had been named Superior General of the mission,
instead of Father Vimont, arrived to assume the obligations of
his new office.
Before quitting St Mary
of the
Hurons, he
had
transferred
his
authority there
into
the hands of Father
Ragueneau.
On the 20th of September the great convention
assembled for the confirmation of peace.
It took place under
the presidency of the Governor of Quebec.
At the end of the
session
the
Iroquois
chief
arose,
and looking
at
the sun
steadily for sometime, said
:
"Ononthio, thou hast scattered
the clouds; the sky is serene; the sun
is beaming through the
parted clouds.
I see trouble no longer.
Peace is established
;
everything
is
tranquil.
My
heart
is
at
rest, and
I go back
satisfied to my country."
{To be continued?)
PAUL
SIU.
Mandarin and Apostle.
by rev. william
l. hornsby,
s.j.
{Continued}.
rrSHUS
is the memory of the illustrious Christian statesman
1
preserved for his pagan fellow-countrymen
; a page or two
in the official annals, a public monument in his native city, and
a standard work on agriculture.
Such testimony is not much,
to be sure, for the worth of a man whose ability raised him to
the highest offices of
state, but
it is more than can be claimed
for many a
public man of high renown
in his
day, after the
lapse of
three
centuries.
If we turn now
to the
missionary
records of Dr. Paul, as he was
called, on account of his
liter-
ary degree, by the fathers who knew him, our view of the man
is far more satisfactory and complete.
He stands before
us in
the robes of state
of the last dynasty, as he
is pictured in the
well-known work
of Duhalde, and,
acquainted
with the mis-
sionaries' account of him, we recognize
in that modest coun-
Digitized by
PAUL S1U.
147
tenance and
dignified
bearing,
a
statesman of consummate
prudence, an humble and devout Christian, and an
apostle of
generous and untiring zeal.
Endowed
naturally with an am-
bitious, enterprising spirit, when once converted he turned all
the ardor of his generous
nature to
supernatural ends, to his
own spiritual perfection and to the spread of our holy religion
among his benighted fellow-countrymen.
It should be noted
to his
praise, that his
ability and superior qualities were such
as to raise him to the highest offices of state, in spite of the fact
that he was openly known
to profess what was looked down
upon as a foreign religion.
Pagfes might be
filled with an ac-
count of his virtues, his simple and solid piety, his zeal for the
propagation
of the
faith,
his love and
profound
respect for
everything
pertaining to
religion.
Twice
he made the long
journey to Macao, nearly a thousand
miles from
his home in
Shanghai,
and
eighteen
hundred
miles from
Peking;
and
though there were other reasons for his
visits, he was person-
ally largely actuated by motives of private devotion. He longed
to see the
beautiful and impressive ceremonies of the Church
carried out in detail, with the full complement of ministers and
acolytes.
On one of these
occasions,
moreover,
he made a
spiritual
retreat of eight days, going through the exercises of
St. Ignatius.
To satisfy his devotion, he would have the Fathers in Peking
live next to his own residence, and he opened
a
private door
between the two houses,
so that
at any hour of
the day or
night he could pass into the domestic chapel unobserved.
He
would
pass
long hours
before the
Blessed
Sacrament,
even
when charged with onerous duties of state. He was accustomed
to begin the day with meditation, and at the daily Mass which
he was accustomed to hear, he often took the part of the server
himself,
discharging
that
duty
with
edifying
modesty and
devotion. He practised corporal penances worthy of a recluse,
fasting frequently, and using
freely hair-shirts and
disciplines.
Accustomed as he was
to ceremonious
attentions, given and
received in his official capacity, he was most
particular in this
respect in things
of
religion.
A missionary returning from
Rome brought him
from
the
Sovereign
Pontiff,
Paul V, the
Digitized by Google
148
PAUL SIU.
Apostolic Blessing and paternal encouragement.
To show his
respect for the Vicar of Christ, Paul Siu wished to receive the
blessing and message with
all possible solemnity.
He put on
his richest robes of state, just as when he was to be admitted
to an imperial audience, and- he assembled all his family and a
large retinue of his subordinates, all
likewise
in
official dress.
Then, on his knees and deeply moved, he received the blessing.
He went through a similar ceremony on another occasion, when
he received an autograph letter from Cardinal Bellarmine.
His zeal was untiring, inspired with the sincerest charity and
directed with consummate
tact.
In
the single year
of 1623,
he brought to the faith no fewer than
a hundred and twenty-
three persons of the lettered class, many of them being officials
of high rank.
A few years later
a stimulus was
given
to
his
zeal by the remarkable discovery of an
old
Christian monu-
ment, dating from the
eighth century.
That famous
tablet,
brought to light so opportunely, enhanced the esteem
of the
Christian religion immensely, by proving that
it was
not new,
that
it
had,
in
fact,
been
preached with
imperial
consent,
during one of the most brilliant epochs of their national
his-
tory.
When, some years later, an iron cross was unearthed in
one of the
provinces, and the pagaus did not know what to
make
of
it,
Dr. Paul was the first to publish
a
discussion
of
it, associating
it with the
famous
tablet
as
proving the old
standing of Christianity in China.
The zeal of our great Christian was not confined to his own
land.
The
missions of Tonkin,
then
a
tributary country of
China, were suffering under a dire persecution.
Paul used
his
influence in behalf of the
afflicted neophytes, and wrote them
letters
of sympathy and
encouragement.
On
one occasion
there was question at Peking of sending a commission to Corea
for
reasons
of
state.
Paul immediately offered himself, and
would gladly have undertaken that arduous and disagreeable
service, with the secret hope of taking a missionary with him,
to open up that benighted land to the light of the Gospel.
His
preferments at court were all welcomed by him, and he refused
no public labor, not out
of a
spirit of worldly ambition, but
because he was assured by the missionaries, whose
advice he
PAUL SIU.
149
followed
with
childlike
confidence,
that by
accepting
such
honors he could render the most efficacious service to the cause
of religion.
Amidst all of his
occupations he was
never too
busy to help the missionaries with his advice, his accomplished
pen, and all his influence.
It may be remarked in passing, that Paul Siu was not alone
in rendering such important services to the early missionaries.
He was strongly seconded
by
other notable converts, particu-
larly by one who ranked even higher than he as a scholar, but
whose official charges were lower.
That was
Dr. Leo
Li,
as
he
is called in
the
missionary
narrations, a Christian of the
staunchest character and of great zeal.
He took part with Siu
in
having
the
missionaries employed as astronomers, and he
was one
of their great
aids
in
the
active propaganda of the
press.
With such scholars at their service, Father
Ricci and
his earliest successors produced
in
a
short time a number of
valuable works.
One early edition of their writings, published
in a
single
collection, contained nineteen
works,
nine
being
purely religious and ten on scientific or literary subjects.
The death of our subject was
in
every way worthy of
his
noble life.
He fell
ill in the autumn
of
1633,
at
the
age of
seventy-one and, seeming to foresee
his approaching end, he
resolved that his last efforts should be in behalf of his religion,
infinitely dearer to him than his life.
In answer to kind mes-
sages from the emperor, who was
filled
with solicitude at the
prospect of losing his esteemed counsellor, Paul memorialized
the throne in favor of the
missionaries.
He announced
that
their great work
on
astronomy was
nearing completion, that
130 books had
already been
translated
from European
lan-
guages, and
in view
of the
missionaries' services
he begged
for them
the
imperial
favor.
He requested, moreover, that
he
might
be
succeeded
in
the
direction
of the
bureau
of
astronomy by a certain mandarin, whom he knew to be a zeal-
ous and devout
Christian.
His
requests
were
immediately
acceded
to, and we
have seen, from
extracts already quoted,
how
sincerely
the Emperor deplored the
loss of
his valued
minister.
After discharging this
last duty for the good of the
missions, he gave himself up
to
his own devotions, preparing
Digitized by Google
ISO
PAUL SIU.
with calmness and a certain holy joy for the approaching end.
His pious, zealous
life was crowned
with a
beautiful death,
awaited and prepared
for
in
sentiments of the
purest peace
and consolation.
The funeral ceremonies were performed, by
the Emperor's
order,
with
great pomp, and a few years later
his remains were conveyed to his native province, and interred
with due Christian rites in their last resting place.
In his death the
Jesuits
sustained
a heavy loss, the loss
at
once of a beloved friend and
a
powerful protector.
Messages
of
condolence
were
received
from
all
parts of China, from
neighboring missions and from Europe.
Even
the Sovereign
Pontiff had his
regrets
sent to
the
Fathers in Peking.
The
missions of Tonkin, which had experienced the
charity of the
great Christian in
life, did not forget him after death.
Paul Siu left one son and a large family of grandchildren, so
that his descendants are numerous in Shanghai and the vicinity.
Many
of them,
alas
! are
pagans.
Scarcely
ten
years had
elapsed
from
Siu's
death, when the empire was convulsed by
the Tartar conquest.
Then followed persecutions and enforced
neglect of the missions, so
that Siu's descendants in the fourth
and fifth generations fell away in numbers from
the
faith of
their illustrious ancestor.
There are, however, several branches
that have never wavered in the Faith, and one of
the pleasant-
est
recollections
which
the
present writer
retains of central
China is that of a
Christmas spent in the family of a Christian
branch of Siu's descendants.
They had
their family
record,
which the Chinese keep with such care, and even the little boys
could trace themselves back through three centuries of genera-
tions to the great founder of their family.
Of Siu's grandchildren, one is especially commemorated
as
a worthy imitator of the great
Christian.
That was Candida,
the details of whose edifying life are preserved in a manuscript
biography composed by a contemporary missionary.
We
are-
presented with a pretty picture of Candida, instructed in holy
things, when quite
a
little
girl, by her
grandfather, who was
struck with her precocious intelligence and
early piety.
She
was married at the age of sixteen, and at thirty she was
left a
widow
with
eight
little
children.
From
that
time
to
her
PAUL SIU.
151
death, a period of forty years and
more, her
life was
a
con-
tinued example of the most beautiful
virtues than can adorn
Christian widowhood.
Needless to dwell on her tender piety,
her personal devotion and- private virtues.
She had, moreover?
caught or inherited from her grandfather his spirit of zeal, and
she became in her own way a real apostle.
And that not only
in her own domestic and social circles
; she would be
of
ser-
vice
to
the
mission
at
large.
Her
munificence was
really
princely
; she built thirty churches or chapels
in
and around
Shanghai, the home of her birth, and nine in other parts of the
empire.
She
helped to organize
and generously
patronized
the Catholic Truth Society of her day.
It was an association
of writers, organized under the patronage
of
St.
Ignatius, and
so prolific were their pens that in a short time they had pub-
lished as many as eighty-nine works on
profane
subjects and
126 of a religious character.
Many of them were translations
from standard works on philosophy, history and commentaries
on Holy Scriptures.
The missionaries, of course, collaborated
largely upon works of this class.
Candida's eldest son was a person of distinguished qualities,
and he rose to the highest charges in the provinces, under the
first Emperors of the present Tartar dynasty.
His mother used
to accompany him to his various seats of government,
for the
apostolic purpose of promoting
missionary work
throughout
her son's jurisdiction.
The effects of her work may be seen
to this day in some of the most distant provinces, as in that
of
Sse-chuan,
where
she
resided
some
time
while
her
son
governed the province.
Governor as he was of the province
a
province, by-the-way, larger than any state
of
our Union
except Texas, and counting to-day a population
as
great
as
that of the whole empire of Germany—governor as he was of
the province, he was not always master at home.
It is related
that on one occasion his mother, in holy indignation, instituted
a little inquisition and burnt a large number of
costly books,
because she
considered them tainted
with
superstition.
He
was a dutiful son, and tenderly devoted to his excellent mother.
History compels me to relate, at the risk of marring the gravity
of the narration, that once he manifested his dutiful love, in a
152
PAUL SW.
way most
characteristically
Chinese, which we should not
understand.
He presented her on her sixtieth birthday with
a handsome coffin.
This excellent lady closed her virtuous and useful life at the
good age of seventy-three.
She was attended by one of the
Jesuits, whose missions she had through
life so
zealously and
munificently patronized.
She had ever held the Fathers in the
highest esteem, and they in turn had looked up to her as, in a
way, the mother of many of
- their cherished works.
She had
been particularly devout to
St. Francis
Xavier, and she once
manifested
her devotion
to
St.
Ignatius by sending
to
the
chapel
of the
saint in Rome
a beautiful
chalice of exquisite
workmanship.
There
is something particularly
touching in
such an act, as also in the intercourse which
her grandfather
had with the Church in Rome
;
it is touching as showing how
the neophytes in this ancient and
exclusive
empire, wrapped
up in the pride of its own antiquity, were free from the foolish
prejudices of their surroundings, and counted themselves happy
as simple children of the Church of Rome.
The Church in China to-day, however fast her members may
be multiplying, is far from counting among her devout
chil-
dren ministers of state, or in fact acting mandarins of any de-
scription.
The
soul of the humblest
of our neophytes,
it
is
true, is worth as much as that of the Emperor, yet for purposes
of propagating the
faith,
it cannot be denied that conversions
in high places are greatly to be desired.
A Catholic Li Hung-
Chang would be a veritable host in himself for the good cause.
Though catechumens are springing up by the thousands in some
provinces,
still the official ranks are quite untouched. Indeed,
under the present system, and according to prevailing notions,
it would be almost impossible
to have
Christian
mandarins,
and consequently to have conversions of high and
low, of
let-
tered and unlettered alike.
But we do not know what changes
may be in store for China
; the time for a more general move-
ment towards the truth may
be
nearer than we
think.
The
blood of the just shed so freely two years ago—the blood of so
many heroic bishops and priests, of steadfast Christians by the
tens of thousands, who died, if not in every instance directly for
THE BLUE-BIRD'S EGG.
153
the faith, at least for their association with the missionaries
may prove efficacious for the conversion of many. Never before
was so much Christian blood shed in China,
I do not say at any
one time, but not even throughout
all
the
three
centuries of
the mission's history.
Persecutions in China were
never
vio-
lent and bloody, as
in
the
neighboring empire
of Japan
;
it
was only here and there, now and then, that a few—relatively
few—martyrs were crowned.
But in the dreadful summer
of
1900, single vicariates could count their thousands of victims.
In five instances the
chief pastor
fell
with
his
flock, and
a
great many priests, and some religious, men and women, made
the supreme sacrifice for the faith they had
preached and the
charity they had practised.
I^et us hope then, and
pray that,
whatever turn things may take in
China, better times may be
in store for the missions, and that the Church in China may
at
no distant date be consoled for past trials, by seeing
not only
a rapidly increasing number of children, but also in the higher
ranks
zealous
and
noble
Christians, like the
subject
of
this
sketch.
THE BLUE-BIRD'S EGG.
I MARVELLED, from this bit of amethyst blush,
A careless touch may crush,
A chilling breath may blight,
One day shall spring a song to sudden flight,
A little life shall come into its right,
And soaring on glad wing,
Shall through the fields the praises of the Master sing.
And looking up to the blue sky above,
A thought as bright as love
Wove me a magic spell.
In that fair cerulean arch a shell,
The inner lining of a mighty cell
Through which our souls ere long,
Shall burst into eternal sunlight and sweet song.
Charles Elmer Jenney.
Digitized by Google
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
{Continued.)
The Eighth Station.
Jesus Meets the Daughters of Jerusalem.
«T ESUS
arose, and going forward with a new courage, had
(*J
passed beyond
the
walls
of the
city.
A hundred steps
from
the
gate, at
the
spot where the
road
to Calvary
becomes steeper, He perceived a group of weeping women, who
were coming to meet Him
; some of the
faithful, no doubt,
perhaps mothers whose
little
children He had
caressed, per-
haps that widow of Nairn, to whom He had
restored the son,
whom they were even bearing
to
the tomb.
He recognized
them, saw their tears, He thanked them with a look, and then,
revealing the thoughts that filled His soul, in a voice penetrat-
ing and
sweet
:
" Ah,
daughters
of Jerusalem," He
said
to
them, " weep not
for Me, weep
for yourselves and your chil-
dren.
For
quickly
shall sad
days come to Jerusalem.
You
will then cry out
,
' Blessed are the barren, blessed the womb
that has borne no children,
blessed the women that have not
nourished children/
You
will cry to the mountains
' Fall on
us,' and to the hills,
' Cover
us.' "
And this was but a touching echo of the
prophecies made
two days previous
:
u Let those who are
in Judea
flee
to the
mountains
!
Let those who are in the city leave it
Let those
who are in the fields not enter it
!
Those days will be days of
vengeance
!
Woe to them that
are
with child
or who give
suck
in
those
days.
.
.
.
They
shall
fall
beneath
the
sword
.
.
.
the Gentiles will lead them away
captive,
for
Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, till the times
of the nations be fulfilled.
,,
While Jesus was speaking,
a deep silence fell on the crowd.
The Jews heard His voice, but they hated the prophecies of evil,
and they answered Jesus by hootings and shameful banterings.
Later on, when the days shall have
arrived, another Jesus, the
son of A nanus, in the midst of the silence and the solemnities
of
the
feast
of
the Tabernacles, will
arise to proclaim in his
154
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
155
time, " Woe to the city
!
Woe to the temple
!
A voice from
the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four quarters
of the earth, woe to Jerusalem
! "
They will scourge him, but
at each blow of the rod he will cry
in a most mournful voice,
" Woe to Jerusalem
! "
During four years he repeated the cry
;
in the public square,
along the streets, on the ramparts, everywhere, and everywhere
the same most sorrowful tone.
One day to that cry of
" Woe
to Jerusalem " he added
a second,
u Woe
to me."
A rock
hurled from a Roman machine had struck him—he fell, rigid.
Some days later Jerusalem and
the temple were destroyed,
amid the flames of a mighty conflagration.
In diverting His thoughts from His own sufferings to those
of others the Master teaches us a wonderful means of sweet-
ening
the
sufferings
of our
lot.
Like Him, let us put aside
all consideration of our own
griefs, and
consider what
other
souls suffer.
We are so inclined to believe
ourselves
the most unhappy
of men
!
We
believe
so
easily that our
miseries are excep-
tional, that no one else suffers as we do ; our life appears most
Alas
! no ; let us be as unhappy as we may, we are no excep-
tion to our fellow men.
It is the lot of all
; we are all suffering.
Without doubt, God does not dispense to all the same meas-
ure of suffering, but no one
is exempt from
it.
All have not
the wound in the same part of the
soul, but all are wounded
and bleed.
Our mistake comes from this, that we look at the
world amiss.
A mother
loses
a
child whom she loved.
She
looks at a mother
to whom God has granted that all her chil-
dren should
live
;
she does not consider
the
other who had
three, four or five, and beheld them
all dying at the same age,
one after another, of the same disease.
A wealthy family
is ruined during a crisis. ...
It casts
its eyes on those whose fortune has suffered no harm, who can
continue all the excesses of
their luxury, while
it
itself must
curtail
its expenses and
resign
itself to a moderate way of
living.
It does not consider the poor, who pass their days with
scarcely, a mouthful of bread.
hard.
156
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
Oh, consider the poor
!
Here
is
the great
resource for the
soul that suffers.
To think about
them, to
interest oneself in their miseries,
to aid them, to speak to them
and
to
listen
to them, to give
them help, to nurse them, to make oneself their friend, to sac-
rifice oneself for them, to serve them as Jesus Christ served them,
in
fine to love them—for one comes very soon to love them
!
You can scarcely understand how the care of the
poor, the
love
of the
poor, the
visitation
of
the
poor, above
all, can
sweeten a deep and secret sorrow.
Granted
! but I ask you to
undergo the experience, go thither, go as a friend and you will
feel whatN you were not able to understand.
I appeal, moreover, to all the members of the conferences of
St. Vincent de Paul, to all those Christian women who love to
be
called
the Ladies of the
Poor.
What scenes might they
depict
if they would—emotions sweet and
strong,
a
virtue
powerful and consoling, which they have found in those
attics
and in those hovels where they visited the unfortunate.
Almsgiving ...
it is good
.
.
.
but, bestowed from
afar,
it is so very little.
Approach closer to poverty and mis-
ery, and the sight
of these souls, more unfortunate than you,
and who bear their misery with courage, frequently with joy,
will teach you how you ought to suffer.
Among the poor of this world
are
not only
those poor in
body,
those who
are
hungry
and
thirsty,
those who are
naked.
Surely this is a sad destitution, and one which appeals
to your mercy.
According to the beautiful saying of Bossuet,
" God has committed the poor to the rich and has assigned the
superfluities of the one for the life of the other/' Ut fiat cequali-
tas(i)
that there may be an equality.
There is a poverty, a destitution, sadder still, a moral poverty
and
destitution, a poverty and
a
destitution
of soul.
How
many men are thus impoverished, ignorant or at least forgetful
of their
faith,
of their
duty,
of
their destiny
!
How many
men are in hunger and thirst
for the
truth, the light for good
counsel.
Think then of
these
;
if you are rich in these
higher
gifts
^11 Cor. viii
:
14.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
157
bestow them on these
; give them
this alms so precious.
Oh,
how niggardly we all are of
this currency even
towards those
we love.
And what is altogether singular is the
strange way
in
which we
love
them.
From
fear
of opposing them,
of
paining them, of estranging them, we let them slip on
quietly
to
their
ruin.
A prudent and mild reproach, a
loving and
sincere word would save them, and we
are
silent
!
This
is an
apostolate
of which God
has given us a direct
charge with
regard
to our brethren
:
Behold
it.
Learn
not
to fail in
it.
How
none
of
the
miseries
of man
leave
us
insensible!
How every suffering of our brethren finds an echo in our heart!
It cries, go to his help
!
Let
us
detach
ourselves
from
our-
selves, let us go to others.
We suffer and others suffer, let us
forget our own suffering and
let
us
console
the
sufferings
of
others.
Believe
me, at
the
first attempt,
our own
will
find
consolation.
" It is a great alleviation," says an old writer, a to have a com-
panion
in
pain."
Let
us seek
then these well-beloved com-
panions of our misery,'and with them follow Christ who points
out the way.
You wish consolation and relief : there they are
:
love, serve
Jesus Christ, in His poor
! poor of body, poor
of
soul, poor
in
riches, poor in prosperity.
Ninth Station,
jesus falls the third time.
From the Judiciary gate to the summit of the hill of Calvary,
there is a distance of about two hundred paces.
It was about
the middle of the journey that Jesus met the women of Jerusa-
lem.
He was reaching its end, when
a
third
time His knees
bent beneath Him and He
fell.
They raised Him again, they put on Him again
His
cross
and under the pushing and thrusting of the
soldiers, He com-
pleted His journey.
Why that third fall of the Divine Master ?
Why
recall
to
us again the lesson which two falls had already given us ?
Do
Digitized by
158
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
we not know that our courage will
fail, that we must
rise
un-
ceasingly ?
Yes, we know
it,
but we do not know
it
suffi-
ciently
; and very frequently, to see us at our work, one would
say that we did not know it at all.
Oh
! when we are at peace we reason so well about all these
things
; we see in our memory our past sufferings, and what
little wisdom we have shown
in our abandonment
;
it
is
in
these moments that we make our strongest resolutions
: hence-
forth we shall have courage, we shall be on our guard against
the weakness of despondency into which we formerly
fell.
.
.
we shall know how to suffer when the
time comes
!
.
.
. Alas,
and when the time comes,
all our beautiful fervor vanishes like
smoke
!
Our knees do not support us, we fall, we lie stretched
out on the ground and we remain there groaning.
The great danger of our relapses, of our failures, does not lie
in the relapse itself, nor in the failure itself.
These weaknesses
are so characteristic of men, and the example
of
the
Master
shows sufficiently that He pities them
!
The danger is not in a
fit
of
discouragement, which
passes
and which one overcomes
:
it is in
the discouragement which
remains and from which
one does not
rouse
himself.
Now,
though it
is so humiliating for a man to remain,
without ener-
gy, without vigor, supinely on the ground, bathed in tears, yet
the temptation to do so comes to him so quickly
; comes to him
under such sweet forms
: "What good will it be for me to rise,
if I am going to fall again ? "
he says
to himself,
or
perhaps,
not throwing any cloak over his moral slothfulness, " I have no
longer courage to rise, I have no more courage to take heart!
This softness, this
cowardice, this
lack
of
nerve, this
repug-
nant shrinking of the human will in the presence of suffering
is not, alas, a very rare spectacle in this world.
And yet,
it is the death of the
soul.
What can
a soul any
longer do, that thus abandons itself?
It has no longer any elas-
ticity or fire
;
it stagnates.
Ah
!
let us never yield to this pos-
itive discouragement, which dries up within
us
the
roots
of
life.
Let us struggle, let us
struggle
even
to
the
last hour.
Let us rise when we fall,
let us rise again, let us rise continually
.
.
.
within the very sight of death as did Jesus
Chiist, let us
rise
!
THE ROYAL WA* OF THE CROSS.
1 59
I have said that our repeated falls in the path of virtue lead
us soon
to love evil, or at least to commit
it without sensible
regret
:
it becomes as
it were an
integral part of our life, we
are made so accustomed to
it.
To arrive at a point in which he no longer
feels
that he
is
yielding, that he is falling, indicates a great failing in a man.
Nevertheless, there
is
a
degree lower
still, and a fall more
complete.
It is when one, having accustomed
himself to evil,
even so
far as to avow that he no
longer knows he
is
doing
wrong, seeks within himself to justify the evil.
It is no longer
his will only which is corrupt, from
the
force
of
self-debase-
ment.
It is the intellect which has perverted and blinded itself
through love of passion.
To do evil is nothing now for that
soul,
it seeks
to excuse the
evil, to
palliate
it, to declare
it
guiltless, to make it almost a virtue.
Let us look well into our hearts, let us see
there that
effort
of a corrupted will, seeking in, its turn to corrupt the intellect.
The motive which urges man to attempt
that new
perversion
is evident.
Howsoever rare may be the stings of remorse
in
a soul given up to evil, they are
too numerous
for
it.
Con-
science is such a troublesome
visitor
!
But whence comes re-
morse
if not from the intellect which
sees the
evil and cries
out to the soul
:
" You
are doing
evil, you are
loving
evil,
you
are
giving
yourself up
to
evil.''
Ah,
if
the
intellect
would
see
less
clearly
!
If it did not have
that
invincible
certainty, if evil could appear as inoffensive, as legitimate, as a
lawful pleasure,
it would not cry out so,
it would not stir up re-
morse, and we could
let ourselves run along so
easily in the
course of the passion which
is luring us on.
The
interest then which can prompt a man to pervert his in
tellect is very clear.
But does he succeed ?
Yes, in a measure sufficient
to assure a sinner a certain dull-
ness of conscience and stupor to which he yields himself mak-
ing a plaything of
his
eternity.
Ask
the world about such
and such a fault most dear to human passion—it will tell you
that it
is an insignificant evil, that it is not an evil at all—that
it would be a mark of great severity to think of reprehending
it.
Try, with such an abandoned sinner, to make him under-
i6o
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
stand
the horror of
his vices—he
opens
his eyes, he smiles
:
you speak to him in a language that he has forgotten
!
And
how many
crimes
are thus
committed
by
these men, who,
wearied
of
the
light which condemned them, have loved
the
darkness better and have at last found
it.
To commit evil through weakness
:
the
first
fall of human
dignity.
To love evil
: the second fall.
To
justify
evil
:
the
final
fall
and almost irreparable, for
in
driving away remorse,
the soul banishes the only spur which can urge it to rouse itself
and live a new
life.
If we do not wish to fall into such a sad excess, let us watch
over ourselves
: our repeated falls will
lead
us
thither almost
inevitably, unless after each one of them, rising and renewing
our courage we make it stronger each time and
keep
it con-
tinually greater.
The energy of our combat against ourselves,
ought to be proportionate to the number of our falls.
Alas
! and
so frequently we let our falls, one after the other, throw a new
heap of ruin over our energy.
This greatness of a man
falling and
still
falling
again, of
which we have ourselves had sad experience, ought to
inspire
in us for the faults of others an extreme indulgence.
How we
would be on our guard against disdain, contempt, the bitter re-
proaches which rise so easily in
our hearts when we
see
evil
done
!
And are we then so
guiltless ?
Without doubt one should feel a horror for wrong, for
evil,
for sin, but what great pity should he have for men
!
Do we
not feel within ourselves how easy it is to fail
!
How quickly
we slip, how soon we fall
!
And we do not pity those who fall
!
And
if they rise again—shall we not forget
their
fall ?
Shall
we repeat
it continually to
ourselves and
to
others so
as
to
perpetuate the hateful remembrance
of
it ?
Is
it
thus
that
Jesus acted with Mary Magdalen ?
Yet
what was Magdalen
before her repentance ?
'
Oh
!
let us be kind and indulgent to others
! Let us see how
Jesus Christ acts towards us all
!
Even towards those who
ac-
cuse and condemn Him, even towards those who torture Him,
who strike Him, who spit in His face, even towards those who
ring to crucify Him
!
ANNALS OF THE
SHRINE.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM AURIESVIIXE.
April 28.—" I have started
the well in the ravine where the
springs come to the surface, and
I think
it
will be
a splendid
well.
When finished we can erect a rustic covering over it."
April 30.— " The well above the statue of St. Joseph is finished:
It is quite near the fence, and gives very nice
water, which we
can lead by pipe to any point along the road you wish.
To-day
we are draining the
field between
the
old Shrine and
the
Cal-
vary."
April 28.— " The old Indian well and the one below it near the
hickory
tree, just
east
of the
line
of
the
Stations, has
been
cleaned and walled about, so that we have now an abundance of
water in every part of our grounds.
'
May 8.—"You may judge of the supply of water in the well
below in the ravine by the fact that it is fourteen feet deep and
nine feet in diameter. When digging it, we kept this space clear
of water all day, but during the night it would fill and overflow
before morning.
No pump will be needed
here, as more than
enough water will run over to supply all the pilgrims.
'
May 19.—" I have finished all we had agreed to do except the
changes in the hotel.
The garden about it has been new soiled
and
planted,
and
all
looks
very
well.
The
trees we
trans-
planted
are
doing
remarkably
well.
The
flag pole has been
moved forward and the space whereon it stood is now clear.
'
' We had two Indian
visitors Saturday with
Mr. Van Horn.
One was a Mohawk, and the other
a Cayuga.
They seemed to
be very much interested in the Indian
village
site and
will
call
again some time next month."
The circular promised in the Pilgrim for May
will be issued
early in June.
How untrustworthy the new edition
of
Appletons'
Universal
Cyclopaedia
and Atlas
is our readers may learn by reading in
The Messenger
for
June, the
article "Poisoning
the
Wells."
Those who know the history
of the
missions
in
the Mohawk
Valley will be surprised to
find that the name of Le Moyne has
been omitted from
this
Cyclopaedia.
Marquette
is mentioned,
161
162
MISSION NOTES.
but in such a way that one would
scarcely suspect he was the
explorer of the Mississippi.
The Rev. Arthur E. Jones has issued a corrected portion of his
map of the sites of the Huron Missions, and we hope after veri-
fying some of his findings to publish a copy and explanation of
this map in the Pilgrim.
He
has
used
in the preparation of
this map the pamphlets of Mr. Andrew F. Hunter, M.A.
We
are
in
receipt of a brochure from
the Shrine
of Notre
Dame de Foy near Dinant, giving an account of the statue and
pilgrimages
there.
It
will be remembered by our readers that
this statue was the original
of the
statues
first brought
to the
missions among the Mohawks, and we hope soon
to
give our
readers an authentic history of the shrine and statue.
CONTRIBUTIONS, ETC.
Among the
contributions
for the Shrine is a thanks-offering
' 1 for a temporal favor received through
the intercession of Our
L,ady of Martyrs, Father Jogues and all who suffered at Auries-
ville."
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SHRINE.
Miss
D.,
#1.00
J. F., New York,
5.00
M.
L.
S. H., Buffalo, N. Y.,
5-oo
FOR THE CHALICE.
I. S., Libertytown, Md., several pieces of gold.
P. F. S., Utica, N. Y., a gold pencil.
M. McL., Troy, N. Y., fifty pieces of jewelry.
F. L., New York, several pieces of jewelry.
MISSION
NOTES.
ANOTHER MISSIONARY KILLED IN CHINA-
The rumor of the massacre of another Jesuit missionary in the
mission of southeastern Che-li is confirmed by the Procurator of
the mission, Father Desmarquets.
This last martyr was Father
Iyomiiller who, before he became a religious, had been a surgeon-
major in the French army.
He was
fifty years of age, and had
been for thirteen years a missionary in China.
The report is that
he had left a fortified
Christian
village
to
visit another mission
when he was slain, and that his head was afterwards carried on
Digitized by
MISSION NOTES.
163
a pole by the
rebels.
At
the same time another
missionary,
Father Fink, disappeared.
No news has been received of him,
and it is feared that he, too, has been killed.
Although accord-
ing to the
last despatches the
rebels have been
repressed, the
state of China is anything but reassuring.
MONSIGNOR FAVIER'S RECEPTION BY THE EMPRESS OF CHINA.
After the return of the Empress
to Pekin, Bishop Favier and
his coadjutor, Bishop Jarlin, were received in audience by the
Emperor and Empress, on February 23. A few days before Mon-
signor Favier had received the
dignity
of Mandarin of the first
class, a dignity conferred on princes, and seldom on foreigners.
The following is the Bishop's own account of his reception
:
" Escorted by several mandarins who had been
sent to meet
us, we entered
the
palace by the western
gate, where we left
our chaises.
Twenty mandarins of the first class were awaiting
us and ushered us to the apartment of Prince Ksing, who was to
introduce us to their majesties.
Clothed in purple cassocks and
robes, we followed the Prince into the throne room.
One end of
it, separated from the rest by draperies,
is set apart for the meet-
ings of the State Councils
;
that is where we were received.
" Their
majesties were
seated
on
a
throne
covered
with
embroidered yellow silk, the Dowager Empress on the right, the
Emperor on the left.
A little table was
before
them.
Having
made three bows we approached the throne, and at once I began
to express our gratitude to the Empress and the Emperor for the
great favor shown us by granting the audience.
I congratulated
them on their return to Pekin, and thanked them for the decrees
enacted in favor of the Christians.
"The Empress
deplored
the troubles
of
the
last years and
assured us
repeatedly
that
they would not occur again.
She
added
:
1
1
' I perceive that the doctrine you are teaching is excellent,
that the Bishops and missionaries are very good men and lead the
people to do good.
All the mandarins have told me that you are
most just, having for so many years decided all questions with a
perfect
equity and
love
of
peace which have won
universal
esteem.
I have known you by reputation, and
for a long time
have wished
to
see you.
I am very much pleased
at having
done so.'
"•In the course of our conversation I had informed the Empress
that Pope Leo XIII, ninety-two years old, had asked me about
164
MISSION NO TES.
her
; so her last words were
:
' I wish that
the Pope may have
many days to live full of peace and happiness.' "
The Empress assured Monsignor Favier that he might rely
upon her protection, and that in future the peace of the Christian
Chinese would not be disturbed.
On the following day an official letter was received from Prince
Tsin, written at the
instance
of
the Empress, and announcing
that further dignities had been conferred on the two Bishops.
The three West Indian
Islands, Santa Cruz, St. Thomas and
St. John, recently purchased by the United States from Denmark,
lie a short distance to the east of Porto Rico, and belong
to the
spiritual
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Roseau
in
the
island of
Dominica.
Dominica is the neighbor of
ill-starred
Martinique.
It
is estimated that the Catholic population of the three newly-
acquired
islands
is
about
17,000.
Church
Progress (May
3)
announces the consecration of a new Bishop of Dominica, and
gives interesting details of his life and projects
:
1
* Much interest attaches
in this country to
the
elevation
of
Mr. Schelhaut to the list of bishops.
The ceremony took
place
recently in the Redemptorist Church at Brussels, and he becomes
Bishop of Roseau,
Dominica Island, W.I.
This interest
arises
from the fact that Bishop Schelhaut will have
jurisdiction over
the West Indian
Islands which the United
States recently pur-
chased from Denmark.
"The new bishop, who is a Belgian by birth and a member of
the Redemptorist Order, spent nineteen years in the Lesser An-
tilles in a missionary capacity.
He therefore knows the needs of
the
territories over which he
will rule as chief pastor.
That
knowledge, coupled with the fact of the transfer of some of the
islands to the United States, make him desire to secure American
priests, or at least priests imbued with the American spirit.
He
addressed himself
to that end to the American
College of Lou-
vain, where he has been given good hopes to secure the
recruits
he looks for.
4
1 The diocese of Roseau contains about 48,000 Catholics and is
composed of
the
islands of Dominica, Antiqua, Montserrat, St.
Christopher, St. Thomas and
St. Croix.
The
islands
recently
purchased contain about 17,000 Catholics, and have a number of
academies and high schools.
'
THE DANISH WEST INDIES.
MISSION NOTES.
165
AN AFRICAN KING WRITES TO POPE LEO-
King Samuel
of
Onitsha
in Lower
Nigeria (West
Africa),
lately converted to the Catholic faith, received from Pope Leo a
magnificent picture
of
the Blessed Virgin,
in February,
1901.
The convert king was much
affected by the
gift and
fatherly
encouragement of the Pope, and
in a
letter
recently
published
pours out his gratitude, his joy in
his new-found
faith, and his
confidence in the success of the Catholic missions in his country.
Addressing Pope Leo as
'
1 the Head of the true Church of Jesus
Christ/ ' he says
:
4
* Among
all
the African kings
I am fortunate because you
have had the great kindness of presenting me with
this picture
of the Blessed Virgin and especially because you have given me
your paternal
blessing.
This picture
of our good Mother
will
always hold the place of honor in my house and I
shall unceas-
ingly ask of my powerful advocate her assistance in the faithful
discharge of all my duties.
My people are now receiving Chris-
tian
instructions.
The schools
are
filled with
children and a
great crowd of people assist every Sunday at the divine service.
It is a truly consoling spectacle for a
Christian king
to
see
his
people thus cultivating religion and turning their backs upon the
idols.
"I have also great
pleasure
in informing you that the law
against
the
killing
of
twins
is now
strictly obeyed and
that
Chief Obi-Fatou of Nsoube, the neighboring village
to Onitsha,
has been baptized and is a fervent
Christian.
The great major-
ity of his people are ready to follow his example.
The chiefs of
Ogidi have given orders
that the missionaries for whom they are
building a house shall be received.
All
the settlements on
the
Niger are now disposed to receive the Gospel.
Send them, Most
Holy Father, a still greater number of missionaries that they may
take possession of these villages in advance of the Mussulmans
and
of the
various
Protestants
sects,
such as
the Wesleyans,
Presbyterians,
African
Church and
the
Episcopalians
of
the
Church
of England.
These
sects are everywhere doing
their
best to get ahead of the Catholic Church.
They are
ten
times
more numerous than the Catholic priests, but with your blessing
and under your orders the true Church will be stronger than
all
others and she
will be everywhere
victorious
as she
is now at
Onitsha, Ossomari, Nsoube, Agouleri, Ikem, Ogidi, and in other
places with a population of from ten to fifteen thousand souls.
1 66
MISSION NOTES.
1
' Bless me, most
holy and well beloved
Father, bless me as
well as my subjects, bless also our dear mission with
its fathers,
its brothers and its
sisters, so that the Niger may become one
of the most flourishing Catholic countries."
The Amials of
the Propagatio7i of the Faith announce (May-
June, 1902) that the
total amount contributed during
1901 by
the Catholic world for the foreign missions
is $1,345,733
; some-
thing less than during the preceding year.
Much of this sum
apparently the far greater part—represents the
offerings of the
poor and the working people.
The contributions from the United
States have increased.
In 1901 they were larger than in any pre-
,
ceding
year.
Some
dioceses
are, however, not
at
all up to the
mark
; and
it
is, no doubt, only required that the importance of
work be brought to the notice of the people
in order that
their
generosity may be awakened.
Of the above-mentioned
offerings
for the propagation of the
faith,
France
contributed
$791,236,
the diocese
of Lyons,
as
usual, leading all the others.
Its share was $85,922.
Our offer-
ing from
the United States
is $77,000.
The most generous of
all the dioceses
is
Boston, which
gave
$20,805.
Next comes
Baltimore, with $3,740.
The Annals give the following impressive words of Bishop Le
Roy, Superior-General of the Fathers of the Holy
Ghost, who
delivered recently an eloquent sermon in favor of the Propagation
of the Faith
:
"Our Lord Jesus Christ commenced
the Propagation of
the
Faith when He founded the Church
;
or rather He founded the
Church for the Propagation of the Faith.
.
.
.
This is why the
constitutive elements of the Church, Pope, bishops, priests,
reli-
gious,
nuns,
faithful, while keeping
for themselves the sacred
deposit of the Christian faith, must strive to communicate it to as
many souls as possible.
No one may disregard that mission un-
der
the
fallacious
pretext that that apostolate will impoverish
ourselves in men and resources.
There is nothing
to oppose
to
such a clear and formal command
as
this
:
' Go and
teach
all
nations and baptize them.'
.
.
.
Therefore, let us confess
it,
it
is a cause of deep humiliation for all Christians to see that nine-
teen centuries after Christ died on Calvary and sent His messen-
gers to announce that heaven is open, there are still eight hundred
FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH.
MISSION NOTES.
millions of men who never heard of
it.
Can there be a more sor-
rowful
spectacle for a true follower
of Christ ?
There can be
one
; and it
is to see
Christians, good
Christians, even
priests,
who remain perfectly indifferent at that spectacle."
APPEAI^S FROM CUBA.
In Cuba and Porto Rico a determined effort is made to rob the
Catholic natives of their faith.
With a strange zeal, Protestants
who have themselves no definite creed, who can scarcely agree on
any point of religion amongst themselves and very many of whom
deny the
divinity of Our Lord or doubt about it, look upon the
newly acquired territories as expressly opened by heaven
to the
light of the Gospel.
They
are succeeding with
great
rapidity
and inevitably in
destroying Christianity
at home by
their un-
ceasing and
radical contradictions.
Careless
as many
of our
Spanish-speaking Catholics may be, they are far more
religious
than American
Protestants.
Their
religion, too,
is advancing
with enormous strides in the United States, and is gaining every
day more widely and deeply
the respect
of Protestants.
But
such is the traditional obliquity of spiritual vision through sense-
less prejudice in many people, that they esteem
it
a work most
acceptable to heaven
to
uproot the Catholic faith from amongst
the unfortunate people who have already had to bear many tem-
poral as well as spiritual ills.
It is only too easy to close our eyes and hearts
to the needs
of our
fellow-Catholics.
We are assured
by
letters
recently
received from the Dominican Fathers now
at work in Cuba that
the principal cause of religious indifference is the lack of religious
training amongst a people ill-provided with
priests,
scattered
widely over country districts, and long agitated by
political dis-
turbances.
The Protestants saw immediately the influence which
they would acquire by schools in seizing upon the rising genera-
tion.
The adult Cubans, like all their fellow -Catholics, can see
nothing in the
endless
contradictions of the Protestant sects to
win their conviction
; but the needy and the children may be led
away in the present crisis of want and unrest.
The needs of our
fellow- Catholics in the newly acquired
territories
call aloud
for
our most intelligent and devoted efforts.
PORTO RICO.
We take from the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith the
following account of Porto Rico
:
Digitized by Google
1 68
MISSION NOTES.
" Porto Rico, with an area about twice as large as the State of
Delaware
; with a widely scattered rural population
; with priests
numbering less than one to every six thousand people
; with an
influx of scores of Protestant missionaries
; with feeble resources
to oppose to their ample wealth, Porto Rico in this condition has
to face problems which should stir our deepest sympathy.
u Asa step toward preserving the faith, the Porto Ricans, who
are fully
alive
to the dangers
that confront them,
have com-
menced
to organize
Catholic
societies throughout the
island.
They also have felt the need of federation, and on the 2d day of
March, 1902, a meeting of their most prominent citizens was held
in San Juan under the presidency of the Bishop, Rt. Rev.
J. H.
Blenk, S. M. Judges, lawyers, bankers, doctors, merchants, etc.
,
numbering about four hundred in all, attended.
In the words of an
eyewitness,
1 It
was the grandest religious
manifestation ever
beheld
on
the
island, and
showed
clearly
that, whatever may-
have been said, religious faith is thoroughly alive in
the
hearts
of the Porto Ricans, whose only desire is to remain faithful chil-
dren of the Catholic Church.
" The main object of the meeting of the newly founded federa-
tion is, in the words of its president,
Dr.
Saldana,
' to preserve
and propagate the Catholic
faith,
and promote the
practice of
Christian virtues under the guidance of the Catholic Church.
" A distinguished lawyer, Mr.
J. Guzman Benitez, speaking on
the duties of Catholics, affirmed
to the applause
of
all, 'that if
the Porto Ricans were happy to live under
the American flag, if
they were ready
to
admit
modifications
in
their
laws, and to
adapt themselves to American customs, never would they give up
the faith of their forefathers.
Nothing
is more
absurd than to
assert that the arrival in our island of the Americans must mean
the exit
of our
religion/
Other
addresses
were
delivered to
devise means for the financial support of the Church,
heretofore
maintained by the
Spanish
government
;
for
the
adoption
of
American
methods
in
Sunday-school work,
Catholic
societies,
etc.
Resolutions were adopted on each one of those points, and
commissions appointed to carry them out.
Finally, a telegram
was sent to the Pope to declare the inviolable fidelity of the Cath-
olics of Porto Rico to the Vicar of Christ.
Meetings have been
held in other parts of the island,
and
the
formation of societies
for affiliation with the general organization is steadily going on.
'
THE PILGRIM
OF
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
July,
1902.
No.
7.
THE BROKEN
TREATY.
WOW
could Quebec
be sure
that
the
Indians were not
tricking them ?
Had the Iroquois representatives acted
honestly ?
Did they represent the Five Nations or only
theAgniers?
Did not
the
treaty conceal
a trap?
Judging
from the Relations the hearts of the Jesuits were troubled, for
they had a sad experience of the
treachery, falsehood, fickle-
ness and wickedness of the Indian.
The Governor took about
the same view now after
the treaty was solemnly renewed
at
Three Rivers the following year.
But it was of vital necessity
to do everything for peace, and M. de Montmagny proposed to
send an embassy to
the
Iroquois to express his satisfaction at
the good understanding that had been arrived at.
This mission
called for a man of
tried courage who knew
the
Iroquois customs and spoke
their language.
The
peril
came from
the
inconstancy of the
savage, whose tomahawk
made light of diplomatic immunities.
Father Jogues seemed
to
be
the man,
and
Father Lalemant approved
the
choice
without hesitation, for along
with the
diplomatic
purpose he
had another of a
loftier kind, and he hoped
that
the
Jesuit
ambassador might succeed
in planting
a mission for
evange-
lizing
this land
of the
martyrs.
Father Jogues was
then
in
Montreal.
As the writer of
Father
Jogues' Life remarks
:
" However
well controlled human nature is in the heart of the saints, it is
never utterly dead, and
although the will
is
strengthened by
169
Digitized by Google
170
THE BROKEN TREATY.
grace, there
still
lingers the shudder
of repugnances
in
the
face of sublime self-sacrifice."
Father Jogues
felt
that when
Father Lalemant's message came.
In the heart of this valiant
apostle there was a moment of involuntary terror.
How could
it be otherwise
with
the
remembrance
of
all
that he had
undergone among the Agniers so fresh in
his memory
!
And
perhaps
the new mission which was entrusted
to him was
a
new way of the cross and the road to death.
u But,"
says
Father
Lalemant,
" this
warrior, who
had
fought such a fierce battle, was not going to shrink in times of
peace."
On
the 2d of May,
1646, he wrote to
his
superior:
" Would you imagine that on
the
receipt of your
letter my
heart was at first seized with terror ?
The past made my poor
human nature tremble, but Our Blessed Lord by His goodness
has sent me peace and will send me
still more in the future.
Yes, Father, I wish all that Our Lord wishes, were
it a thou-
sand lives.
Could I bear the thought that because of me some
souls had not been saved
!
I trust
that His goodness, which
did not abandon me in the
other
trials will
not fail me
now.
He and I can overcome all the hardships
that
present them-
selves."
And he ends the
letter by saying
:
" My companion
must be
capable of great courage and virtue, and desirous of
doing something for God."
The Governor gave him the man he wanted, namely, Jean
Bourdon, a man of energy and good sense
;
resourceful
and
devoted to the land
of
his
adoption, and
ever ready for any
service.
He was
a
civil engineer, a surveyor, a lawyer, a sol-
dier, an explorer, and had been a counsellor and ambassador
;
he had shown himself a master in all he undertook, and above
all, he was an honest man and a good Christian.
On the
16th of May the two envoys set out for Three Rivers
along
with
four Agniers and
two
Algonquins,
and
carried
many presents with them.
On
the
Feast
of Corpus
Christi
they
reached
the
northern extremity
of Lake Andiatoracte,
which Father Jogues called the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament
now called Lake George.
This latter appellation was given it
by General Johnson, not in honor of St. George but of one who
was
not
a
saint, George IV
of England.
There they met
THE BROKEN TREATY.
171
the young Indian
girl
Theresa, whom
they
consoled and
strengthened in her faith.
They travelled down the lake, and
leaving it near the southern end
travelled
across the country
and reached Ossernenon on the eve of Trinity Sunday.
On the 10th of June
they met
the
chiefs and
old men
of
those tribes.
There were present also some Iroquois
braves.
In the midst of a profound silence Father Jogues arose and,
in the name oi Ononthio and of all the
French, expressed the
great and universal joy which was felt in the colony at the con-
clusion of the peace between the
Iroquois,
the French, the
Hurons and the Algonquins.
"The council
fire
is lighted
at
Three Rivers M he said, a and will never be extinguished." At
the end of his discourse he gives and
receives many
presents
and peace is once more confirmed.
•
But it was only
apparent.
He was
not deceived by the
tranquillity which was on the surface.
He soon perceived that
the Agniers
alone had made
the
peace and
only
with the
French
; and he was convinced that they would break the treaty
on the first occasion and for the slightest pretext.
He learned
also that the other tribes were still on the warpath and that a
band of warriors were actually on the
Ottawa, waiting for the
Hurons who were going down to Quebec.
Meantime he went
the round of the wigwams to hear the confessions of the Chris-
tian prisoners, and on the 16th of the same month
set out on
his homeward journey by the way of Three Rivers.
His impression of course was not and could not be favorable
as to the pacific dispositions of the confederation, but the recep-
tion which he personally
received
from
the Wolf family, the
most important of the tribe, had profoundly touched him.
He
saw in it an indication of the merciful Providence of God, and,
as Father Lalemant informs us, he began to think of going back
even before winter, not being able to bear separation from the
tribe that he had attached to himself in his bloody espousals.
He found the opportunity at the end of September and he left
Three Rivers on the 24th of the
month,
1646, along with a
young Frenchman and some Iroquois and other Indians.
Before his departure he had a vague presentiment ofwhat was
in store for him, and he wrote to a Jesuit in France who had
172
THE BROKEN TREATY.
the secrets of his heart:
" My heart tells me that if I have the
happiness of being employed in that mission,
ibo
et non
red-
ibo, I shall go, but I
shall
not
return
; but
I
shall be happy
if Our Lord would deign to complete the sacrifice there where
it
began, and to accept the blood which
I
shed
there
as
the
pledges that
1 will pour out for Him every drop that is
in my
veins and in my heart."
These presentiments were not long in being realized. On their
journey word came that there was a change
in
the
feelings of
the Agniers.
The Indians in terror
refused to go further and
abandoned the
Father, but
he continued
his journey
in
his
canoe down the Iroquois River along with that splendid Chris-
tian, Jean Lalande, a native of Dieppe who had given himself as
a donne to the Society.
The news of the change of sentiment among the savages was
only too true.
But how had
it come about ?
At the end of his diplomatic mission, Father Jogues had en-
trusted to an Indian with whom
he
lived,
just before setting
out for Three Rivers, a little box with some things in
it for his
personal use.
Having the intention of returning he
did not
wish to burden himself with it on
his
journey, but knowing
the suspicious nature of the Indians he was careful to open
it,
to show them all it contained and
then he
closed
it.
But a
contagious disease broke
out soon
after
in
that
part
of the
country, and besides, worms destroyed
all
the
crops.
There
was universal
desolation,
the medicine-men
were
consulted
;
they dreamt their dreams, and when
all
else
failed
they
dis-
covered that there was a spell in Father Jogues' box and Jhat it
was the cause of all their woes.
The Huron and Algonquin
prisoners confirmed them in this belief.
Immediately two parties were formed among
the Agniers.
That of the Bear for war, while the Wolf and the Tortoise fam-
ily pleaded for peace.
The former prevailed
; the tomahawk
was again uplifted and two bands set out for Montreal. One of
them met Father Jogues and
his companion on
the Lake of
the Holy
Sacrament, and
carried them back
to Ossernenon
stripped of their clothes and all bruised and
battered with the
blow* of fmts and clubs.
" You will die to-morrow " they said.
THE WATCHER.
173
" But fear not, you will not be burned
; we shall
cut
off your
heads and plant them on the stakes before our village to show
them to your brothers whom we shall take prisoners.
,,
Father
Jogues endeavored to show them how serious was their action,
that he had come to them in time of peace and in pursuance of
an invitation by the chiefs of their nation.
His remonstrances only exasperated them.
One savage cut
off pieces of the flesh from his arms and back and devoured them
saying
:
"See if this white flesh is
the
flesh
of a
manitou.''
The sufferer regarded him calmly and made answer
:
" No, 1
am only a man like the rest of you.
But
I
fear neither death
nor torments.
Why do you
kill me ?
I only came
to your
country to cement the peace
; to strengthen you and
to show
you the way to heaven and you
treat me like a wild
beast.
Have a fear of the Master of Life."
THE WATCHER.
BY ROSA MULHOIXAND (i^ADY GILBERT).
BEHIND the altar-stone,
In silence and alone,
Hid in perpetual night,
Thou, the Author of light,
Bidest
for love of me
For me, untrue to Thee.
Lord, I love Thee,
I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee, I implore Thee
!
Who madest the universe
Each sun in
its course,
The children of those suns,
The planets with their moons
Dwellest in this hole
For my ungrateful soul.
Lord,
I love Thee, I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee,
I implore Thee
!
Digitized by Google
174
THE WATCHER.
Who madest the teeming earth,
Mother of fruitful birth
Madest the flocks and herds,
Fishes and singing birds
Madest ungrateful me
Who turn my back on Thee.
Lord, I love Thee,
1 adore Thee,
I beseech Thee, I implore Thee
!
The seas and the high hills,
Rivers and little rills,
Blue sky and green wood,
All Thou madest
is good
;
Only me, me,
A rebel child to Thee.
Lord, I love Thee, I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee, I implore Thee
!
O Thou mighty One
Behind the altar-stone
!
Thou the Giver of breath,
Thou the slayer of death,
Here ensepulchr£d
Stayest as one dead.
Lord, I love Thee, I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee, I implore Thee
!
When the day
is loud
With voices of the crowd,
Of men who know Thee
not,
Of men who have forgot,
Thou waitest on the feet
That pass Thy lone retreat.
Lord, I love Thee, I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee,
I implore Thee
!
Digitized by Google
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
175
While the night wears old,
Dark and lone and cold
Is Thy place of rest.
Soft is the bird's nest
And mine
; Thou, Thou alone
Choosest the hard stone.
Lord, I love Thee,
I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee, I implore Thee
!
Lord, let me watch by Thee,
Even ungrateful me.
Quiet in Thy holy place,
Dreaming of Thy hidden Face,
Trusting I am all-forgiven,
Watching at the door of Heaven.
Lord I love Thee, I adore Thee,
I beseech Thee,
I implore Thee
!
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
( Continued) .
The Tenth Station.
JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS.
THEY GIVE HIM WINE
T
last, behold the end
!
They
lift
the
cross from
the
shoulders of Christ and make
the last
preparation for
the sacrifice.
The crowd, kept at a distance by the Roman guard, gathers
in a circle round the victim and the executioners.
In the first
rank, her soul pierced with grief, but strong and courageous,
I
behold Mary;
Magdalene
is with her and one man, John
the well-beloved
!
The soldiers begin to dig the hole wherein the cross will be
set, others are preparing the hammers and the nails, while two
others strip Jesus Christ.
They pull
off His
cloak, they
pull
off His long robe, that robe which the hands of Mary had spun
MINGLED WITH MYRRH.
176
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
and woven for her child.
These clothes of the condemned are
the spoils of the soldiers
; presently they will divide
the cloak
and cast lots to see to whom the long robe will belong.
And Christ stood forth before the world naked, erect, with
eyes uplifted to heaven
!
The blood which
flows from His newly-opened wounds
is
His kingly mantle, the
platted thorns which press upon His
head
are His crown
!
Behold
Christ
!
The Master and the
Sovereign of the universe
!
It
is He,
it
is He, in the state of
absolute destitution.
What has He left ?
Gold ? He has lived by His labors and by alms, and the little
which might serve to support
His
disciples, Judas has stolen.
A home ?
For a long while He had been able to say that He
had
not
a
place whereon
to
lay His head.
Glory ?
He is
about to die on a gibbet, between two criminals, who are there
at His
side, and whom
they will crucify with Him.
.
.
.
Honor?
They have calumniated
His
fair name, they have
made Him pass for a common
conspirator, for a drunkard, for
a fool
; they have found that a Barrabas was more worthy than
He.
.
.
.
The faithful disciples?
Where are they?
They
have fled, they have hidden themselves
!
They did not hide
themselves when they had
to follow
their Master as He was
borne along in triumph
!
But to-day
there
remains
to Him
only a piece of cloth
for His covering, and they are about to
pull that off, and the soldiers are wrangling over its possession.
What then is left to Him ?
Ah
!
There remains something, something tender and sweet.
O my God, be Thou blessed for having guarded that treasure
at least, and for having thus permitted me to keep it myself.
There remained to Him His mother and two friends
!
His
mother, Magdalene and John
!
These souls He kept, He did
not deprive Himself of these
!
Tell me why the Roman
soldier permitted them
to cling
together at the foot of the cross,
if
it were
not
because
Jesus
wished that the last glance of His eyes might fall on them ?
It was the custom of the Romans to offer
to the condemned
criminal a mixture of wine and myrrh, a drink
so
bitter
that
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THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
177
you could compare
it to gall
;
its effect was
to produce drow-
siness and even
a stupor that would
relieve
the
sensation of
suffering.
This mark of
traditional
kindness was shown
to
Jesus.
Wishing to recognize it, He brought His lips to the mix-
ture, but would not drink it
;
to let us understand
that
it was
not by the deadening
of our own
feelings,
nor by
drowsi-
ness of body that we are
to seek for an
assuaging of our
sor-
rows
!
And yet how many confiding natures have thus sought
to divert their thoughts, but they have found nothing but ani-
mal abasement, more befitting a brute than a man.
But what did Christ wish to teach us by that total spoliation
of self ?
Why did
they deprive Him even of His
robe ?
I
shall tell you
:
" It would be a horrible blasphemy," wrote the
venerable Father de Ravignan, " to pretend
that there exists
in the world a pain, a trial, a fall, a
relapse, a
grief, that Jesus
has not borne upon His blood-stained shoulders."
You do not understand that divestment, Christians, because
your unhappiness has not reached such
a depth
; you do not
understand
it, because Providence, even
in
striking you, has
not cast you into such an abyss of misery.
But you are not alone in the world
!
There are poor people
who have not wherewith
to clothe themselves, and who must
beg from door to door for the rags that cover them.
There are
fathers who have poured out their sweat
in ungrateful toil, yet
have not obtained sufficient money to dress
their ragged chil-
dren.
There
are
mothers who,
as
the day approaches when
their little boys and girls will make their first Communion with
other children, and will go to Jesus
Christ who calls them, to
that very Heart to which He calls the
rich, must weep and sob
because they have not wherewith
to
clothe becomingly their
dear little ones, these poor little ones who are eager
to
receive
their God
!
What
!
You do not know this?
What
!
You do not know
that in our large cities, within a few feet of you, perhaps, there
are men. and women, there are children who have nothing
to
eat?
And, think you, that
Christ
forgets them, these poor?
Think you that He does not
see what they are
suffering, and
i 78
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
that He has not an example and a consolation
to
offer them ?
Behold how He stands
there on
Calvary, naked, stripped
of
everything
!
It is for the poor, for His well-beloved poor, for
the poor whom He has made His
brothers.
Forget not this,
ye rich, it is not among you that He willed to be born, it was
among them.
He who loves not the poor and the little ones and the despised
and the condemned of this world, has paid no attention
to
the
love of Jesus Christ.
Providence sometimes inflicts on us a certain divestment of
body when It deprives us of the goods of fortune.
But more
frequently It
inflicts on us what
I may call a " divestment of
soul."
Be
prepared, O my
soul,
to
divest
yourself
of your own
wishes so as to yield to the wishes of others
; of your own will
so as to bend it to the will of your superior or master
; and of
your affections so as
to obey the voice of duty and the com-
mandment of God
!
I shall go further.
If God demanded of you the sacrifice of
your liberty, are you ready ? your memory? your intelligence ?
Yes,
if God
in His impenetrable
designs, should
strike you
with
insanity, that
terrible
evil which
deprives man
of
the
characteristic of humanity, are your prepared ?
And yet, why should you complain ?
Why should you complain if God should say to you, " I have
given you desires that you might aspire
after good, you haye
directed them to evil.
I have given you
a will by which you
might become attached to duty, you have turned
it to
revolt.
I have given you power to love so that your heart might lift
itself to Me, Who alone am lovable and you have given your-
self to
the love of things transient and
vain, shameful and
blameworthy.
I take these goods from you, for you have not
learned to make them subservient
to
yourself.
I
take back
that liberty which you have perverted.
I take back that intel-
lect whose light you have disdained.'
What will you answer ? You have only one answer to make
:
" Lord, it is just
; take all from me,"
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
1 79
Let us not complain then, Christians, because God has de-
prived us of certain goods whose loss we deplore
; they are so
small
in comparison with those greater
gifts, which He
still
leaves with us, notwithstanding the manner in which we have
abused them.
Let us thank Him and let us suffer in patience
!
The Evangelists have only one word to describe the scene of
the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
" Crucifixerunt eum, M says St.
Matthew.
St Mark uses the same
word, and
St. Luke and
St. John " Crucifixerunt eum,"
" They crucified Him n
: with-
out delaying at all on that torture, they pass on to
the
details
which follow.
The productions of painters and sculptors would lead
us to
believe that the Saviour was nailed to the
cross, while
it was
still lying on the ground and that the soldiers afterwards raised
it, and planted it in the hole prepared.
The faithful, long ac-
customed to such representations of the crucifixion in art, have
come to regard them as historically true, though there is
little
probability that such is the
case.
For the Romans did not crucify in that manner. But the cross
was erected and
the condemned, stripped
of
his clothes, was
brought to
its foot
; then the soldiers passed a rope under his
armpits, threw
the ends of it over the arms of the
cross and
drew him upwards.
Next, the ladders were
raised and
the
executioner mounting stretched out the arms of the victim and
fastened them
to the wood
;
finally large
nails were driven
through the hands and feet.
If the Roman soldier, who had charge
of
the
execution
of
Jesus Christ, had modified the form or the manner
of
torture,
the Evangelists would undoubtedly have mentioned it
See now what has befallen
Jesus,
our Master
!
His body,
which was but; one wound,
is raised upon the cross, the cutting
cords bind His hands and feet, and the nails, piercing His flesh
under the blows of the hammer, cause His blood to gush forth.
He is nailed and fastened to the cross.
The Eleventh Station.
JESUS
IS NAILED TO THE CROSS.
i8o
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
And all this before the eyes of His Mother.
The Jews shout
in triumph
!
All the blood which is flowing, that palpitating and
quivering
flesh, the Mother who weeps beside Him, all
these
add joy to their hatred.
Hear how they insult Him
:
" Come
! " say they, "You Who would destroy the temple of
Jerusalem,
and
in
three days rebuild
it,
save Yourself now
from death.'
" Come
! "
cries another, " If You are the Son of God, come
down from the cross/
u Ah
! "
answers a third, " He saved others, Himself He can-
not save.
,,
And at each one of these sarcasms, the crowd answers with
shocking laughter.
The Roman
soldiers,
too, laugh
at Him and mock Him.
Even one of the two thieves, whom
they have
crucified with
Him, amid His own tortures insults Him.
Jesus had allowed His head to fall upon
His
breast.
His
open eyes rest upon Mary, upon John and upon Magdalen.
He answers, however, the insults of the crowd.
With open
lips and
eyes turned towards heaven, He
cries out
;
" O My
Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.'*
Why all this shedding of blood ?
Why
all
this accumula-
tion of
torture, this poor body scourged, this forehead opened
by the thorns, these hands and these feet
pierced and
torn ?
Why has Jesus willed to die in
this way ?
He would be an example to martyrs
; He Himself wished to
bear all the pains of the body %to which He would
call
thou-
sands of His Faithful.
The martyrs are so
far from us, so many
ages have passed
since the days
of the Coliseum and
the catacombs
that we
forget what
it then
cost
to remain
faithful
to
Jesus
Christ.
We forget that other
martyrs have
followed, in every age of
Christianity, that each century
has
its own, and
that
for all
the passion of the Master has served as a model*
Jesus Christ
is not our only teacher
here.
Is it
nothing
that His Mother
without
fainting
stands, contemplating
the sufferings
of Her
Son?
It
is not only the body of Jesus that is laid open by the
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS,
181
executioners
: the Heart
of Mary
is
torn by
each
of
their
blows, by each of the wounds they inflict, by each drop of
that
blood.
Is
not that victim, now
in agony, Her Son ?
It
was
necessary that Mary too should give us that grand
example
!
For some mothers, later on, will have to
lead
their
sons to martyrdom and look on them as they die.
It was necessary that
all
the
sufferings, all
the
sorrows, all
the tortures of humanity, throughout
all
the
centuries
of
its
history, should find in the divine sufferings an example and a
model.
And now
I invite you
:
a Come and see
if your sufferings
are comparable to these sufferings ? "
And you complain
! You lose courage! You would reproach
God for the
lot He
has
assigned you
!
You
ask yourselves
when have you merited such great
sufferings
!
<( What have
I done to God" you cry
!
Did He merit these sufferings ?
What had He done to God?
He has
suffered.
u Ought not Christ
to have
suffered
these
things,'' says
the
Gospel, "and
so enter
into His
glory. M—
" Nonne hcec oportuit pati Christum
et
ita intrare in gloriam
suam" (i)
And now see why you, you
too
suffer, why you
ought
to
suffer
!
It is to enter into happiness and glory.
Oh, my God, what then
are the goods of
this
world, whose
loss we so bitterly deplore ? What is there in worldly pleasures
for which my
poor heart suffers so
cruelly when
they depart
from it?
Is not
all this vanity and foolishness?
Has any of
these pleasures, any of these goods, ever known how to satisfy
my heart?
And when God demands
the
sacrifice
of them
from us, as the cheap coin with which we should pay
for the
riches of heaven, we hesitate, we grow niggardly, we
find that
this is too dear a
price.
Oh
!
if we only understood once
for
all what
earth
is, and
what heaven
is, what this
short life
here below
is, so fugitive,
so transient, and what
the
eternal
life
is.
If we once
thor-
oughly convinced ourselves that to suffer here is
to
be happy
(i) St. Luke xxiv, 26.
182
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
hereafter, how quickly would
all
our complaints
vanish, how
much would we bless our sufferings!
Behold then Jesus raised on the cross
!
His passion is near-
ing its end
; very soon death will come and finish the comple-
ted
series of His
sufferings.
Let
us
cast
a
look backward.
What has Jesus done
in the midst
of His
sufferings?
Let
Bossuet answer for us
:
u Behold
it
in
one
word
in
Holy Scripture
:
1 Tradebat
autem judicanti se
indigne—(i)
He
delivered
Himself, He
abandoned Himself to one who was judging Him unworthily,'
and that which is said of His judge must be consequently said
of all those who undertook to insult Him
:
' Tradebat autem—
He gave Himself to them
to do with Him
as they wished.'
They want to kiss Him, He offers His
lips
; they want to bind
Him, He yields His hands
; they want to give Him a blow in
the
face, He bends
His back
;
to scourge Him
cruelly, He
bends His
shoulders
; they accuse Him before
Caiphas and
before
Pilate, He stands condemned by
all
; Herod and
his
court mock Him and send Him back
as
a
fool, He
admits
everything by His silence.
They abandon Him to the servants
and the soldiers, and He Himself
still more abandons Himself.
That countenance formerly so majestic, which held heaven and
earth in ravishing admiration, He
tries not to turn away from
the spittle of the mob.
They pull His hair and His beard; He
speaks no word, He complains not
; He is a poor sheep which
lets itself be shorn.
4 Come, come, comrades,' cries that inso-
lent soldiery,
' see that fool under guard Who imagines himself
to be King of the Jews
; He ought to wear a crown of thorns.'
He receives it and
' it
is
not
tight enough,
it must be driven
in with
the blows
of
a
rod.
Strike, see His head.'
.
.
.
Herod clothed Him like a fool, in white
:
4 Bring that old scar-
let cloak here,—throw
it on Him
;
see, here are the shoulders
;
put out your hand, King of the Jews
; hold
this reed
as your
sceptre
!
There
it
is, do with
it what you
wish.
But now
it
is no longer
a
jest, your sentence
of death has been
pro-
(i)
I Pet.
ii, 23.
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
183
nounced—put out your hand that we may nail
it.
Take hold,
there it is again.'
Jesus answers not when they accuse Him,
He murmurs not when they strike Him, and even
that
con-
fused
cry which
a moaning and groaning produces, the cry
full of sadness, the only resource of oppressed weakness, striv-
ing
to arouse hearts and arrest through pity that which it can-
not prevent by force, that cry Jesus would not permit Himself.
Amid all that violence no one hears Him complain
; why, no
one hears even His voice
non aperuit os suum (1)
; nay more,
He does not even permit Himself to turn His head aside from
the blows.
Ah
! a worm of the earth which you trample under
foot, makes at least some
effort
to withdraw
itself
; and Jesus
stands motionless, He tries not
to elude the blow by the least
movement
:
' Faciem meant non avertV "
(2).
Is it thus that you suffer, Christians ?
Instead
of
issuing
a
circular announcing
the
date
of
the
ceremony, as some call it, of the coronation of Our Lady's statue
at Auriesville, as we promised in The Pilgrim for May, we have
concluded to devote the entire number
for the month of August
to
this announcement, and
to an
account
of
this
ceremony,
together with a brief history of
the Shrine and
the pilgrimages
since the location of the site of the early Missions there and the
purchase of the property.
This special number
for August
will be issued as
early as
possible 'this month, so as to reach subscribers about the fifteenth.
It will contain illustrations of the shrine and scenes on and about
the grounds, the Statue and the Crown.
It will be sent as usual
to subscribers, and an extra edition will be printed
for
all who
may wish to send copies to friends.
Glimpses of the correspond-
ence from the very beginning
of
the work, and
statistics from
The Pilgrim and diary of the pilgrimages will make
it a most
valuable number.
Though we speak of the ceremony
as
the coronation
of
the
statue of Our Lady, it is not strictly speaking a coronation, but the
(1) Isaias
liii,
7.
(2) Isaias 1, 6.
ANNALS OF THE
SHRINE.
184
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
offering of the crown of thorns, in gold and precious stones, the
votive offering of her many clients, as an ornament for her statue.
This statue, as our readers know, is the group known
as the
Pi&ta, the Blessed Virgin, supporting the figure of
Christ taken
from the Cross.
It would not be proper
to crown
the figure
representing her in her grief, but
it
is highly
proper
that the
offerings of gold and precious stones form
a crown
representing
the one removed from the head of Christ at that solemn moment.
The statue is of marble, and by the time this Pilgrim reaches
subscribers it will be on its way from Carrara where it has been
carved.
Due announcement will be given in the special number
of The Pixgrim
for August of
the dates and places
for the
exhibition of
the Crown in the cities
in which the p&trons and
friends of the shrine reside.
We have held this number back a few days so as
to
give our
readers a report of the
first pilgrimage
of
this season, from St.
Joseph's Church, Cohoes, New York, which took place Sunday,
June 29.
As our readers are aware, we
prefer not
to have pil-
grimages so
early, but there are
special reasons why
this one
should be held in June.
Next year we hope to be prepared to
receive pilgrimages even earlier than
this.
The pilgrimage from Saugerties and neighboring towns along
the Hudson
is
announced
for August
24
;
another from
St.
John's, Utica, for August 31.
It is probable that the ceremony
mentioned above will take place Sunday, August 17, within the
octave of the Assumption, but this will depend on the arrival of
the steamer carrying the statue.
Mass
will
be
said
regularly every morning
at
the
shrine,
beginning
Sunday, July 13, and special
excursion
rates from
points on the West Shore Railroad may be obtained from the
day before, July
12.
The new station at Auriesville is a decided improvement, and
the hotel
is
at
last
quite
as well
appointed as any along the
route.
On June 29th, the feast of the great Apostle Peter, the French
Canadian parish of St. Joseph's, Cohoes, N. Y., came as pilgrims
to the shrine.
There were nearly 900.
A pitiless rain met them
as they descended from the cars.
Of course
there was none of
the usual display of banners by the different societies, nor could
the usual solemnities of the procession be observed, but the very
inclemency of the weather to which
they were subjected, made
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
185
the sight of that vast body of pious people toiling up the hillside
in the wet all the more
inspiring.
They completely
filled the
chapel and though naturally disappointed accepted the
trial in
the way that only pious and enlightened Catholics know how to
do.
It was impossible
to even attempt
a
visit
to the ravine
though some of the more devout made the stations over the wet
grass.
There was a missa cantata by Father Dugas who accom-
panied them.
At the Post Communion the
celebrant preached
an eloquent sermon reminding his hearers that
if any one could
feel at home at the shrine it was assuredly the French Canadians
some of whose ancestors had accompanied the early missionaries
to this sacred spot.
After the mass some of
the pilgrims with-
drew to the shelter of the cars, but the greater number remained
quietly in the open chapel until the afternoon.
At two o'clock
the beads were
recited,
a sermon was preached in English by
Father
Campbell,
S.
J., and after Benediction of the Blessed
Sacrament all betook themselves to the cars to wait for more than
an hour for the time of departure.
The sun had not shone upon
them but the piety of the pilgrims was only the more in evidence.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SHRINE.
A grateful subscriber
$5 00
M. L. S. H., Buffalo, N. Y
M.
J. W
5 00
5 00
25
25
.5o
A. T., St. John's, Canada
H. S., St. John's, Canada
.
P. E., St. John's, Canada
.
FOR SACRED VESSELS.
Miss G., two gold rings.
E. B. D., Eldred, Pa., twelve pieces of jewelry.
Digitized by Google
MISSION NOTES.
CATHOLIC EDUCATIONAL WORK IN SHANGHAI AND ITS
ENVIRONS.
Shanghai, April 6.
To the Editor ofthe Shanghai Mercury :
Sir.—In an
article
entitled " Shanghai by night and day,"
which appeared in your issue
of April
3, a
valuable tribute is
paid to the educational work performed by Protestant Missions
in and around Shanghai.
Statistics are
also quoted from Dr.
Fryer's educational directory
for China, 1890, and betoken the
excellent work that is being done.
You then add
:
" It will be
noticed that nothing has been
said
of the
educational work of
the Roman Catholic communion.
This is not from lack
of in-
terest, but from want of
statistics.
We
believe, however, from
our own observation and the reports of friends that the Catholic
Missions are quite as much to the front as their Protestant breth-
ren
and
that
in numbers they probably outshine
all the
rest
combined."
While thanking the writer
for his unbiased and very hope-
ful view of Catholic educational work, I venture
to supply the
much needed want of statistics
of which he complains.
They
are gleaned from the annual report
of the Catholic Mission for
the year 1901, and will adequately bear out
the most sanguine
expectations.
In Shanghai and its neighborhood, the Catholic Mission main-
tains 26 schools for boys and 32 for girls, thus making a total of
58 in all.
The children frequenting these schools are grouped as
follows
:
Catholic boys,
1032
Catholic girls,
1 298
2330
Pagan boys,
.
.
.
.
.
625
Pagan girls,
186
811
The two—Catholic and pagan—aggregate
3 141 pupils, a very
large number indeed and probably equal,
if not in advance of
all
other religious denominations combined.
186
Digitized by Google
MISSION NOTES,
187
Having stated briefly the general results, I think it will not be
out of place to dilate upon a few
principal
schools, which com-
bine an elaborate programme with
a large staff and a big attend-
ance and accordingly deserve a special mention.
1. The Sicawei College.
This institution, founded
in 1849, is
exclusively for native boys and
purports
to
give them
a
thor-
ough knowledge of the classics and train them
in
letter-writing
and
penmanship.
A
special course under competent teachers
prepares
for the
B.A. and
the
large numbers who have so
far
attained the coveted degree are evidenced to visitors by
the
di-
plomas that adorn the entrance to the college.
Beside the native
programme, a western one has been lately introduced and com-
prises
the
study
of modern
languages,
French,
mathematics,
history and geography.
The teaching
staff is carefully selected
and is under the superintendence
of one of
the
Fathers.
The
pupils in attendance number 150. Of these 35 study Latin and 65
western science.
2.
St. Xavier's
School, Hongkew.
This
school, situated in
Nanzing Road,
is carried on under the
direction of the
Marist
Brothers, of whom there are eighteen on the teaching staff.
The
programme
is most extensive and comprises
a
full
course of
English literature, French being optional, science, modern his-
tory, political and commercial geography, especially of the East,
mathematics, bookkeeping, shorthand and typewriting, drawing,
music and gymnastics.
The teaching
is in English throughout,
and the three upper forms are directly superintended by British
subjects.
Children of
all religious denominations are admitted
into this
school, and the conscience clause
is strictly respected,
no undue influence being used to change the religious belief of a
pupil.
There is also
a well-stocked library of ancient and mod-
ern literature provided with the intention of
affording the boys
agreeable and useful pastime.
The attendance nowadays at this school
is over five hundred
boys, one of the largest in Shanghai.
Strange to say, however,
no mention of
this establishment
is found on the " Map of the
Foreign Settlement at Shanghai, 1900," published at the office of
the North China Daily News and China Herald.
A next edition
shall, we hope, remedy this oversight.
3. The French
Municipal School.
On Wednesday
last,
2d
April, the North China Daily News published minutes of a report
on this school.
From these
it may be gathered that the pupils
i88
MISSION NOTES.
are divided into two divisions.
The upper contains four classes
and
is superintended by
three
Marist or Teaching
Brothers,
assisted by one native teacher.
In
the lower
are
six
classes,
each subdivided into two sections.
The teachers of the latter
are all natives.
The pupils on the rolls at
the opening of the
present year numbered three hundred and twenty-nine, and these
figures are daily on the increase.
4. The Tusewei Orphan School.
This may be styled a model
training
school
for
native orphan
boys.
An
elementary pro-
gramme is carried out, and when the children have reached the
age of twelve or fourteen, they are taught
a variety of useful
trades, such as architecture, drawing, painting, lithography, car-
pentering, tailoring, shoemaking, etc.
The establishment has a
large European printing press and workshops for the boys, both
of which are highly appreciated by visitors.
Poultney Bigelow,
an eminent American writer, went over the school a few years
ago, and he states that he
4
* much admired the
beautiful altar-
pieces and statues chiselled by the lads, and the large number of
books and other articles they helped to turn out."
" The Catho-
lic missionaries,
1 ' he adds, " who conduct the department do a
great work, and if China can be transformed, they will be promi-
nent factors in her revival.'
5.
St. Berchman's School, within the native city.
This
is an
elementary establishment conducted on native lines, and super-
intended by trained native
teachers, of whom the mission has
thirty at present.
The number of pupils attending this school is
one hundred.
The other schools, twenty-one
in number, for
boys, are
all
elementary.
The programme
comprises
the
memorizing and
explanation of the classics, reading and writing and the general
attainment of the native curriculum.
The
girls'
education
is no
less
carefully attended
to by the
Catholic Mission than that of the boys.
To illustrate
this, it is
but necessary to consider a specimen or two of the institutions
both for natives and foreigners.
1. The Sicawei Boarding School.
The French nuns
assisted
by native teachers are in charge of
the
school.
The pupils, all
natives and
of
the
better
class,
are
taught
reading, writing,
geography and arithmetic and have the
classics
explained
to
them.
Special instruction in needlework,
embroidery, knitting
practical housekeeping is imparted
in
all and principally in
superior grades.
The number of boarders is 160.
Digitized by Google
MISSION NOTES.
Besides the boarding school there is a large female orphanage,
the inmates therein numbering 430.
There is also a deaf and dumb institute with sixteen pupils and
superintended by one
of the
sisters
specially
trained
for
the
work.
2.
St. Joseph's Institution, established 187 1.
At the writer's
request, the lady superior has furnished him with a prospectus
and a brief report upon the state of this school.
From the items
supplied,
he
begs
to quote
the following
:
This institution
is
situated in
the French settlement and
is under the direction of
the sisters, Helpers of the Holy Souls.
The building
is a large,
well constructed monument of four stories, containing capacious
dormitories, classrooms and
refectories, all clean and well
kept
and provided with every requisite for the comfort and health
of
the pupils.
The establishment is divided into two departments,
one a high school or academy for the paying pupils and boarders,
and the other a poor girls' and orphan school.
The
institution proper
is under the management
of a lady
superior, assisted by fourteen sisters on the teaching
staff, sev-
eral of whom are of English or American nationality.
The aim
of the school is to provide the advantages of a complete educa-
tion for young girls of foreign nationality.
The course of studies
embraces
all the branches of ordinary and higher education in
English
and
French,
comprising
reading,
writing, grammar,
poetry and
literature, ancient and modern
history, geography,
arithmetic, the
outlines of astronomy,
elementary physics and
chemistry,
shorthand, vocal and instrumental music, drawings
painting and
calisthenics.
German
is optional.
Special hour*
are allotted daily for instruction in plain and fancy needlework,
embroidery and dressmaking.
The number of
girls attending
the boarding school is 270.
Another department of this school was started
is 1875 and is
engaged in the instruction of poor children, orphans and Eura-
sians.
The pupils in
this branch are taught reading, writing,
arithmetic, a fair knowledge of English and French, music and
drawing and moreover the more practical knowledge of laundry
work, cooking, plain sewing and other useful subjects fit to equip
them efficiently for the work of after life.
The children supported and educated in this latter department
number 150, making a total in both schools of 420 pupils.
3. The Holy Family Day School
in Hongkew.
This estab-
Digitized by
190
MISSION NOTES,
lishment, opened but a few years
since,
is conducted on
lines
similar to the preceding one.
The lady .superior
is of English
nationality.
A limited number of boarders have been lately ad"
mitted.
The actual attendance aggregates 407 girls and embra-
ces all the nationalities represented in Shanghai.
The above is but a brief sketch of school work performed by
the Catholic Mission
in
this great metropolis of the Far East.
The mission has
ever considered education
as an indispensable
work.
Hoping this information volunteered
in the
interest
of
the
general public
will meet with its kind appreciation and
find a
valuable place in " Shanghai by day and night.
11
Towards the beginning of May, Bishop Barthe, during his pas-
toral
visit to the missions of Madura, Southeastern India, wrote
that famine was increasing day by day
: there was neither food to
eat, nor water to drink.
The thatch of the houses was given as
fodder to cattle.
The Christian converts of his flock were suffer-
ing from extreme poverty, so that the
missionaries,
from their
slender store, had to aid them, arid thus save them from actual
starvation.
In many parts of these poor, miserable missions, the
priests had only a shelter of no better conditions than the wretched
abodes
of
their
flocks.
In
1,120
villages,
the Bishop stated,
there was no church.
At the same time converts were offering themselves in great
numbers.
" What
a
magnificent
harvest,"
he
exclaimed,
' 1 would we not reap if we had only chapels and schools
!
In our
helplessness to open Heaven to so many pagans, we
stretch out
our hands towards the Heart of Jesus and the generous souls on
the earth."
A special cable despatch to the New York Sun (June 22), from
London, giving the Government statement regarding the condi-
tion of
India in
respect
to the plague, from its first outbreak in
Bombay, in September, 1896, to March, 1902, shows a total of re-
ported deaths from the disease during that period
of 536,600 in
the Bombay Presidency and 315,400 in other parts of India, or a
total of 852,000 for the whole of
British
India and the native
I am, etc.,
Educationist.
STRICKEN INDIA.
MISSION NOTES.
191
states.
Making allowance for untraced and unreported deaths
it is calculated that a million died during the period mentioned.
During the first three months
of
1902
the deaths reported in
the Bombay Presidency were 62,667 compared with 17,806 m the
corresponding period of 1901.
Other parts of India show a cor-
responding increase, especially in the Punjab, where the deaths
in 1900 were 515, in 1901, 15,245, while
in
the
first months of
1902 the figures have risen enormously.
The deaths reported in
March alone numbered 42,788.
THE TRAPPIST MONKS IN JAPAN.
Father Marie-Gerard Peullier, Prior of the Monastery of Our
Lady of the Light-house, writes in the Missions EtrangZres, of
the foundation and growth of his religious establishment.
At
the
end
of
October,
1896,
nine
Cistercian
Religious
landed at Hakodata, at the instance of
its Bishop, Mgr. Berlioz,
who had been long anxious to see a Trappist monastery founded
in his vast diocese, so much in need
of apostolic laborers.
The
foundations were laid in the
island
of Yeso, and
a temporary
dwelling-place of wood was erected.
The constancy of the mis-
sion monks was soon
severely
tried.
The rigor of winter
con-
spired with sickness, and even death.
The surrounding people
were hostile, the newspapers bitter, the government
distrustful.
A typhoon threw down a part of the buildings, and want began
to be painfully felt.
At times,
it seemed a miracle that the mis-
sionaries
could
live
;
and,
exiles
as
they
were,
their
hearts
turned fondly home.
But men who had renounced
everything
for the noblest of all causes were not to be shaken
in their pur-
pose.
Even the novices'
fervor became a powerful motive
to
persevere.
Soon came
the
first
religious profession of native
Japanese monks, and the schools became nurseries for
the novi-
tiate.
Difficulties
gradually disappeared
; and the neighboring
pagans, who before had threatened violence, now offered, as they
passed, their friendly salutations.
After a time, too, the unfriendly watchfulness
of the govern-
ment ceased altogether
; and one
of the police
officers
reported
that
* i those are truly men from Heaven."
The
chief paid a
visit,
others
followed
:
Japanese
journalists came
to
write
friendly articles for the newspapers.
The President of the Senate
came, and even the governor of the province.
Although
devoted
to
a
life of
contemplation,
the
Trappist
Digitized by Google
192
MISSION NOTES.
monks made converts in the neighborhood.
These drew their
relatives and acquaintances
; and soon
there was a
question of
establishing a Christian village beyond the monastic
enclosure.
" Only a pleasant dream yet," adds the
Prior, " since resources
are so small."
Mgr. Berlioz confided
to the missionaries a boys' orphanage,
the little waifs being
fed and clothed, as
well
as taught.
But
the
rules
of
the
Ministry
of Public Instruction—for there
is
such
in progressive Japan—had to be
followed, and a teacher
hired who
enjoyed
a
government
diploma.
This
increased
expenses very considerably.
But the school has great advan-
tages for the mission inasmuch as the Japanese have a thirst for
knowledge.
The school has been enlarged, and its pupils keep
increasing.
The
best of
these, when they
desire
it and have
been
sufficiently
well proved, are admitted
as novices into the
Trappist community.
The Trappists are the only Religious Order in Japan.
Their
number now, novices included,
is twenty-two.
The Society of Foreign Missions (Paris) has published the an-
nual report of its labors.
In the beginning of January,
1901,
the only hope
for the
missions of China was that founded on
supernatural grounds
; namely, that
persecution and
especially
martyrdom, would be followed by a rich harvest of souls.
Not-
withstanding all the ruins heaped up during 1900, this supernat-
ural hope has begun to be justified.
The missionaries have gone
back to the two extensive missions in Manchuria, nearly
all the
former posts being reoccupied. And notwithstanding the disorder
and uncertainty reigning over
that province,
292
adult pagans
have been baptized.
In the other missions
of
China,
also,
al-
though there have been local outbreaks and the Mandarins are
not friendly, very consoling
results have been obtained.
The
Society has thirty-one missions in China, not including Yun-nan.
In these during the year 1901 there have been
32,472 baptisms
of adult converts, and
132,790 baptisms of
children
of pagan
parents
; 607 heretics have been converted to the faith.
In the
thirty-one missions of the Society there are at present 632 native
priests, 2,474
catechists,
5,023 churches or chapels,
forty-two
seminaries, 2,812 schools, 299 orphanages, 404 free dispensaries,
ted sixty-seven hospitals, including those for lepers.
THE MISSION-HARVEST IN CHINA.
MISSION NOTES.
*93
The Jubilee was celebrated throughout the missions with great
fervor and manifestations of faith, and " with admirable fruits of
salvation.'
Father Berardi, a Salesian missionary, writes from Viedrua
:
" Lately, a group of young girls received,
from the hands of
Bishop Cagliero,
the
religious veil
of the Daughters of Mary
Help of Christians.
One was Ceferina Yancuchd, twenty years
of age, the daughter of the Cacique of the Marzanares, and sister
of Captain Miguel de Comayo.
She is the first Indian of Pata-
gonia to receive the religious habit.
She has had a touching history.
Bishop Cagliero, Fathers Milanesio and Panaro, with the cate-
chist Zanchetta, now a priest in Chili, gave a mission in Chichi-
nal, in 1887.
During this mission, 1,700 Indians were instructed
and baptized.
Amongst the native children was the daughter
of the Cacique Yancuch6, who had
fled
to
Chili
to escape the
troops of Argentina.
Little Ceferina was then nine years of age
and remarkable for intelligence and
piety.
Her older
sister,
Maria, was the first confirmed, and then became god-mother for
the others.
Ceferina an<d her little cousin Josepha were brought
to the boarding-school of Our Lady Help
of Christians.
Their
progress in study and manual training was very rapid.
Some of
their handiwork won a prize at the exposition in Genoa.
They
had the happiness*of being presented to the Holy Father.
Hav-
ing returned to Patagonia, they continued
their studies.
And
now Josepha 's great desire is to receive the same religious habit
as her cousin, in order to go with her to evangelise and instruct
the children of their native tribes in the vast region of Comayo,
at the foot of the Cordilleras.
A telegram, published in the Madras Catholic Register of May
10th, states that an outbreak has occurred at Laos, and that com-
munications between Savannakek and Vientian have been cut
for several days.
The Siamese Government having made impor-
tant movements of
troops, the French Minister
at Bankok has
made representations on the subject.
Serious
difficulties have
also occurred
at Battambang.
The
acting governor
of
Indo-
China has sent four hundred troops to Pursat and three hundred
to the left bank of the Mekong, opposite Bassac.
IN NORTHERN PATAGONIA.
FRENCH INDO- CHINA.
i 94
MISSION NOTES.
NOTABLE CONVERSION OF A NATIVE OF CEYLON.
The above cited paper (of the same date)
gives an interesting
account of
the mental
trials and
final conversion
of
Mr. T. S.
Charles, B.A., a native of Ceylon, and a communicating member
of the Church of England Mission, who has declared for our holy-
Faith, to the sacrifice of his worldly prospects. He has for about
twelve years been attached to the local C. M. S. High School as
First Assistant Master, which place he has now had
to resign,
thus
throwing
himself on
the
wide, wide world
to begin
life
anew.
Mr. Charles' parents, who are living in Ceylon, are con-
verts from Hinduism to Congregationalism.
From them (and
also from seeing the bad
lives of some Catholics
in
his native
place of Jaffna) he had imbibed very strong prejudices against
the Church.
It was when he came in contact with Mr. B. C.
Banerji, who was then
carrying on
his work
in
Karachi, that
these prejudices began gradually to wear away.
He was sincere
and honest with himself, yet in spite of constant
efforts on the
part of Mr.
Banerji and
others,
it has taken Mr. Charles ten
years' study of Catholic literature to be thoroughly convinced of
the claims of the Catholic Church.
As soon as he had made up
his mind, he sent in his resignation.
There was consternation in
> the Church Mission Camp.
The Protestant Bishop of
Lahore, Dr. Lefroy, who happened
to come to Karachi just then, disowned the doctrine of justifica-
tion by " faith alone," and with
it Luther himself.
He further
denies that the Church of England had ever been Roman Catho"
lie
!
But he, like the others, was loth to give or hear " a reason
for the hope that is in you."
All his Protestant acquaintances
complimented Mr. Charles on having led an exemplary Chris-
tian
life.
He
told them
all how he had himself heard
con-
flicting doctrines preached from
the
pulpits
of
the Church of
England in
Karachi, nay, even from one and
the same pulpit,
and how
Lord
Curzon,
the
highest
representative
of King
Edward
VII,
'
' Defender of the Faith/
; had publicly and
re-
peatedly advised Hindus and Mohammedan to stick to their respec-
tive
religions, and bestowed
praise on the same.
The
Bishop
admitted that there was indeed no definitude in his Church and
want of authority was really its weak point.
The Kiangnan Mission comprises two large provinces of China
•
Kiangsu and Anhui—both extending over an area of 90,000 square
iacmillan's Atlas of China and Japan), with a total popula-
MISSION NOTES.
195
tion of about 50,000,000.
There are
in Kiangsu 67 district
cities
and
12 prefectures, while Anhui has a litde less—55 of the former
and 13
of the latter.
In regard to missionary labor, both provinces
are otherwise mapped out.
Leaving aside Shanghai and its environs,
the field is divided into 19 sections
and
100
districts.
A
district
comprises a certain number
of churches and out stations adminis-
tered by one missionary.
A section is the sum total of several dis-
tricts, and
is under the supervision of a head
priest, whose
office
is
principally to direct and control
his workers and their respective
flocks.
The staff of the Mission is numerous.
Of the regular clergy there
are the Vicar -Apostolic, Bishop Paris,
S.J, 138 Jesuit Missionaries,
of whom 23 are natives;
16 theological students, and 22 coadjutor
brothers.
Of the secular clergy there are 30 priests,
17 theological
students, 17 following a preparatory course, and 22
Latin students.
These latter are all
natives, the priests having completed their theo-
logical
astudies and
the others undergoing training for the ministry.
Beside the
clerical element,
the Mission
is helped
in
its work by
several religious congregations
:
the Little Marist Brothers (29) in
charge of St. Xavier's College, Hongkew
;
trained native teachers
(30), Carmelite nuns (32), Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory (81)
conducting the orphanage
in Sicawei and Convents
in the French
Concession,
and
in Hongkew
;
Sisters
of
Charity
(29),
and
a
native
congregation of
Presentation nuns (134), occupying in the
interior 23
stations throughout Kiangsu and
18
in Anhui.
Sicawei,
distant
five
miles from Shanghai,
is the
headquarters
and training department of the Mission.
The various buildings are
all
of the foreign type and bespeak an elaborate organization unpar-
alleled in the Far East.
There are within this human hive a central
residence for the whole Mission, a Theological
Department for
the
training of foreign and native clergy, a College (131 pupils) with a
native
classical and Western
programme,
a
Meteorological
and
Magnetic Observatory, a museum containing valuable specimens of
zoology,
conchology,
ophiology,
etc.
Close by, at the village of
Tusewei, there are an orphanage for boys (247), a European print-
ing press, workshops where the lads, after completing an elementary
education,
are taught a variety
of
useful
trades such as architec-
ture,
drawing, carving, carpentering, tailoring, shoemaking, etc.
At Sen-mou-yeu (Our Lady's Home) there is a nunnery, a board-
ing school for native girls (157), and a complete detailed organiza-
tion of a Deaf and Dumb Institute (16), a Home for Aged Females
196
MISSION NOTES.
(44 inmates), a Foundling Asylum (425
destitutes), a Dispensary
with gratuitous consultations, aggregating 23,545 during the year.
On the French Concession at Shanghai
the
mission maintains a
General Agency and the very popular Church of St. Joseph. There
are also a European Girls' Academy (St. Joseph's Institution—269
pupils), a Poor Girls' School (Europeans and Eurasians 145), and
a Dispensary (12,863 consultations). The French Municipal School
(303 pupils)
is under the superintendence
of a
Jesuit Father and
of three Marist Brothers.
In Hongkew we are informed that there
are a Boys' School (St. Xavier's College,
500 pupils of all kinds),
the Holy Family Day School for Girls (407
children),
a
Hospital,
two Dispensaries, a Catholic Circle (80 members), and a
Confer-
ence of St Vincent of Paul (28 members) for the assistance of the
poor and
needy.
Within
the
city and
in
the Tungadu
suburb
there are a Cathedral, two Hospitals (1,265
patients
received dur-
ing the year), a Home for the aged, a Native Elementary School
(109
pupils),
etc.
Distributed over the sections beyond Shanghai we find a central
residence at Wuhu (Anhui Province), forty-three Orphanages, two
Hospitals, two Homes for the Aged, and 120 centres for probation-
ers.
These
stations
have
trained
during the year, of men 4,604
and of women 2,040
;
188 boarding-schools, largely frequented by
day scholars, of whom 3,407 are boys, and 2,384 of the female sex.
The total number
of baptized
Christians
in
the present state of
the Mission amounts
to 127,839,
a very
creditable result indeed,
and the more so when we consider that
in 1847
it reckoned but
60,963
converts.
In
the
space
of sixty
years
the number of
Christians has therefore more than doubled.
Inquirers
attain the
very
considerable
figure
of
52,000, one
section furnishing alone
nearly 20,000.
Acknowledgment is made of the following contributions
:
For Indian Missions
$1 00
For Ne^ro Missions
1 00
For Peter's Pence
1 00
Contributed by W. H. M., San Antonio, Tex.
Digitized by Google
CIk
Sbrinc
of Our Lady
of martyrs
fluriwillc, nw Vork
The following account of
this
shrine, on the
site of the
tor-
tures, labors and death for the faith of some of the first mission-
aries to the Mohawk Indians and their neophytes in the territory
now comprised in the State of New York,
is compiled from the
"Annals
of
the
Shrine,"
published
in The
Pilgrim
of Our
Lady of Martyrs
since January,
1885,
an<^
from our
corres-
pondence with the many friends of the Shrine during this period.
-
Editor.
Digitized by Google
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
After the design of Achterman, in the Munster Cathedral.
The new statue for the Shrine at Auriesville is carved after the same model even more closely tbau
the siaiue represented above.
Digitized by
SPECIAL NUMBER
OF
THE PILGRIM
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
On Sunday, August 24, there will be a remarkable ceremony
at Auriesville, New York.
There, on the hilltop overlooking one
of the beautiful scenes of the Mohawk Valley,
in a fane gleam-
ing
white under
the
sun,
a
statue
representing
in
marble
the
figure of Christ departed, resting on the knee of His mother, will
be unveiled and blessed, and near by a massive crown of thorns
in gold and precious gems
will be placed as the votive offering
of hearts to which this Pieta, as the group
is called,
is the most
perfect expression of motherly piety.
The
place
is
famous
for
historical
and
sacred
associations,
which this ceremony in veneration of the Mother of Sorrows will
fittingly commemorate.
It was, in 1642, the scene of the torture,
captivity and
labors of the
first missionary to the Mohawk
In-
dians, Isaac Jogues, the death and burial place of his companion,
Rene
Goupil, and
the
birthplace
of
the
Indian maiden,
Kateri
Tegakwitha, who
lived
so innocently among
this savage people
as to deserve the name "Lily of the Mohawks. "
It was the scene
of the torture of Bressani, another missionary,
in
1644; of the
death of Father Jogues, in 1646, and, a year later, of several In-
dian Christian neophytes.
The
first of a series of fourteen mis-
sions established among the Indians along the Mohawk Valley,
it
was opened on the Feast of the Holy Trinity in June, 1646, under
that august
title, by the one whose own sufferings and death on
the spot deserved
for
it even then the name by which
it
is
still
most commonly known
: the "Mission of the Martyrs/'
( 1
)
( 1 )
Isaac Jogues, Life, pages 186, 189.
XVIII. Year.
August,
1902.
No.
8.
AURIESVILLE.
3
200
THE SHRINE OF OUR LAD\ OF MARTYRS.
Auriesville is a station on the West Shore Railroad about forty
miles west of Albany, and
fifty east of Utica.
Fonda, the Mont-
gomery county
seat,
is
the nearest town of importance.
About
four miles up the Mohawk River
is a New York Central Rail-
road station, at which most of the express trains stop.
The vil-
lage had
different
Indian
as
well
as
Christian names.
Osser-
nenon
(Osserion, Oneongioure)
it was called when Jogues was
brought there
first, August
14, the eve of the Assumption,
1642.
Auries,
too,
is an Indian name taken from the
last of the race
known
to have
lived where the
village now
stands.
Its
chief
point of interest
is the site which was once a mission, but which
is now a shrine
; for where Jogues and Goupil and many Christian
Indians
suffered
torture and
death
for the
faith a
shrine now
stands
erected
to
their memory, but dedicated
to the Queen of
Martyrs,
until
such
time
as we may be permitted
to
venerate
them as saints and dedicate a temple in their honor.
;
1
.
{
It was under a
title like
this that Our Lady was
first vener-
ated
in the Mohawk Valley.
At
least, the meaning attached
to
the name of her
first statue which was brought to the Mohawks
when
their village was at St. Peter's, above Fonda, was "Virgin
Faithful/' Notre Dame de Foye, though "Foye" would seem to
have been the name of a town near Dinant where she was
spe-
cially honored, and whence also statues similar to the statue ven-
erated there were sent to many places in Europe and to the mis-
sions in America.
At any rate,
it was suggestive of the
fidelity
of Our Lady in life and in death, not only to her Divine Son, but
to
all her
clients; and
the missionaries had good reason
to be
grateful
for the fervor manifested by the Indians on the advent
of this statue.
In 1676 Father Bruyas wrote in the Relations:
"Since we
have
this
precious
treasure
in
our
possession,
the
church of the Mohawks has completely changed
its appearance.
The old Christians have regained
their fervor, and the number
of the new goes on increasing day by day."
A tribute altogether similar to this might be paid to the many
devout
people who
visit
Auriesville
in
pilgrimage.
Since
the
simple shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs was erected there in 1885,
every year has witnessed an increase
in the number and extent
of the pilgrimages made thither, and not the least, nay the chief,
attraction there has been the Pieta, simple and inartistic though
it
be, which represents the Mother of Christ
in the climax of her
sorrows.
It was
this that led the pious originator of the crown
4
Digitized by Google
202
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
to contribute for
it the
first bits of gold, and
it
is
this that has
induced us
to provide
for the
shrine
a
statue worthy
in every
way of the traditions and beauty of the place as well as of
the
devotion of the donors.
On Sunday, August 24, then, this statue will be blessed by the
Right Rev. Bishop Thomas M. A. Burke, D.D., of Albany, in the
presence
of
pilgrims assembled from every part
of
the Mohawk
Valley and the
adjacent
country,
as
well
as from
more
distant
cities.
The statue is after the design of Achterman in the
Cathe-
dral at Miinster.
It represents Our Lady bending over her Son's
body reposing in death.
One knee on the ground, with the other
she is supporting her precious burden.
The group is
perfect, the
central figure of our Lord attracting the gaze of the spectator only
to direct
it
to the form
of the Mother, in whose sad features one
reads unerringly the meaning of the
statue.
Placed over an
altar
erected on the brow of the
hill within an octagonal colonnade,
it
overlooks a scene
of
surpassing
beauty,
recalling
the words
of
DeVere
:
The Saviour from
the Cross they took;
Across His mother's knee He lies
;
She wept not, but a little shook
As with dead hand
she closed dead
eyes.
********
The Saviour from the Cross they took;
Across His mother's knee He lay,
O passers by, be
still and look
!
That twain compose one Cross
for aye.
Digitized by Google
THE STORY OF THE CROWA.
203
The Story of the Crown.
One of the most touching and beautiful features of the devo-
tion paid to Our Lady of Martyrs
in her Shrine at Auriesville,
has been
the
spirit of
pious emulation manifested by
Catholics
throughout the country, in their efforts to make a crown worthy
of her statue. To this end her clients have contributed their jewels
—many of them treasured heirlooms, associated with
all that
is
holiest, dearest and tenderest
in
life,
as pathetic
letters, accom-
panying the gifts, attest.
Fused,
as
this
is, of
metals,
precious
intrinsically,
but
infin-
itely more
precious
for
the sacred memories
they
represent
to
the donors, the crown of the Queen of Martyrs will be aptly and
uniquely symbolical of the love and self-sacrifice of her children
and subjects.
The very pathos of tragedy breathes through these
letters, every one telling
its own
tale—some of grateful thanks-
giving
for favors
received, some of
trustful
petition
for
favors
hoped for, others of pure zeal for our Lady's honor and glory
all of fervent devotion to the Queen of America's glorious mar-
tyrs.
The donated jewels suggest and represent every epoch of
life,
every dream and hope and
aspiration
of the human
heart,
from the young graduate's medal of honor to the engagement and
wedding ring of maid and wife, the birthday gift of brother or
sister or friend, the death-bed legacy of father or mother.
"Dear
Reverend Father," wrote the lady who originated the project of
this coronation, "to-day
I sen^ you four medals, the offering of
my sons
to the shrine
at
Auriesville.
I hope they may be the
beginning
of
a crown
for
the
statue
of Our
Blessed Lady
of
Martyrs.
Two of the medals
are given
in honor of Our Lady
of Guadaloupe, and the other two in honor of Our Lady of Per-
petual Help."
This was the beginning, and so rapidly did offerings of gold
for this purpose flow in that
it was necessary to limit the time for
receiving them to a few months.
Later on, as the plan
for the
crown assumed larger proportions, other
contributions were
re-
ceived, with the understanding that whatever could not be used
for the crown would go to make a chalice.
"I have a five-dollar
gold
piece,
dated
1853,"
wrote
a
person
from
Northfield,
Vt.
"It belonged to my mother, who died
in
1868.
She gave
it to
my
sister, who
let my brother have
it, and he kept
it
until
his
death
in
1890, when he
left
it
to me together with
his watch
Digitized by Google
204
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
chain, to which
it
is attached.
I value
it very highly for its asso-
ciations,
but
will
give
it
for
our
Lady's
crown,
if
it
will be
accepted."
Another person writes from Syracuse, N. Y.
: "With this note
you
will
find a ring
for our Lady's crown.
The
ring
is very
precious to me for three reasons:
it was the first piece of jewelry
I ever wore
;
it is my graduating ring, and, greatest of all,
it was
a gift from my father, now dead.
If
it may form a part of that
crown how much more precious
it will be !"
Yet another writes from Tremont, N. Y.
: "I send this pin as a
donation
for the crown of Our Lady of Martyrs
at Auriesville,
for a special favor."
While a poor Irish girl writes pathetically:
"You will find in this package one gold sovereign.
It is the only
thing
I had to remember old Erin by, but
I am glad to send
it
to our Lady's crown."
In
like strain
is the following:
"I send
you two rings to be used for the crown of Our Lady of Martyrs.
One was a present from a sister who has since died.
The other
is made from a piece of gold
I brought from my home
in
the
Green Isle.
I send them in honor of Our Lady, Refuge of Sin-
ners, that she may obtain the grace of a happy death for a poor
exile of Erin."
A widow writes from Chicago: "I send the enclosed earrings,
a gift from a loving husband, now dead.
I wish them to be used
in the crown of our Lady at Auriesville, in honor of Our Mother
of Perpetual Help, from whom I have received many favors, and
for the reform of two young men, who are the cause of great
trouble to their parents."
There
are some
things
that money
cannot buy—things
that
suggest "thoughts
that do
often
lie too deep
for
tears."
Just
such things are the- priceless heirlooms of maiden and widow and
wife, of orphaned childhood and bereaved parents—the
trinkets
of
love and
affection—the
ring,
the
necklace,
the
bracelet,
the
earring, the pin, the brooch, hallowed by sacred association
; yet
they have been ungrudgingly given to crown our Lady's statue.
What a crown that will be!
How much of human pathos and
human tragedy
it
will
represent!
How many
tears and
heart-
pangs, how much
of
suffering and
self-surrender
it
will sym-
bolize,
all
laid
in loving homage at the feet of her who was the
Mother of Sorrows and
is the Queen of Martyrs
!
So
the touching
letters
continue:
"I
send my wedding
ring
as an offering for the crown of Our Lady of Martyrs.
It
is a
8
206
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
token of gratitude
to our Lady
for a great favor she conferred
upon my dead husband."
"Enclosed are a few grains of gold for the crown of Our Lady
of Martyrs/' writes a Western miner.
"While suffering acutely
from
a
severe
disease the words 'Promise and be made
well!'
came into my mind.
I did so, and
in about an hour
I
felt well,
without the aid of medicine.
The Blessed Mother has granted
me many
favors, and
I
feel
that
she
desires me
to make
this
offering."
4T send you two
little diamond rings which
I ask you
to put
in
the crown
of Our Lady
of
Martyrs.
One belonged to my
deceased sister
; the other
is my own.
I wish
I could send more,
but I trust our Lady will accept even these small gifts."
From Philadelphia came jewelry with the accompanying note:
"The much-worn ring
is my great-great-grandmother's wedding
ring, which was and
still
is regarded as a
relic, as
it was only a
short
time
before
her
marriage
that
she
became
a
saintly
Catholic."
Men
that go down
to
the
sea
in
ships
are
not
proverbially
pious, but what a lesson
is taught in the following note
: "I am a
captain
of
a
vessel on
the
Great
Lakes,
and
I
belong
to
the
League of the Sacred Heart.
I enclose you five dollars in honor
of the Sacred Heart, that Almighty God may give me the grace
to spend
all my
life without sin."
Offerings and donations
in money were frequent.
They came
in
sums
ranging
from
one hundred
dollars
to
fifty
cents,
in
almost
all cases
in thanksgiving for graces obtained through the
intercession of Our Lady of Martyrs and the martyrs of Auries-
ville—"in
thanksgiving
for
favors
obtained
through
the
inter-
cession of Father Jogues," being a not unusual explanation.
A ring with a history came from
St. Louis, to be, in the crown
of
our Lady,
a
perpetual
petition
for
spiritual
favors
for
the
Protestant
friends of the donor.
She writes: "I
send my wed-
ding ring, given to me in 1864 at my marriage by a Baptist min-
ister, we all being Baptists then.
The ring has a history.
It was
first a handsome string of
solid gold beads belonging for
years
to my grandmother, a saintly woman.
At her death they passed
to my mother.
Not being then fashionable, they were laid away,
but my
sister, roguishly, with a playmate, came upon them
in a
drawer and innocently
ate them,
to my mother's
dismay.
She
managed to recover some of them and afterwards gave them
to
TO
1
1
Digitized by Google
208
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
me for my wedding ring
; but
I, young and foolish, got a friend
to make
it up nearly pure, with
insufficient
alloy.
Hence
it
is
much worn, but
I hope what
is
left may be a share for me in
that beautiful crown
of our Lady.
I became a Catholic some
six years ago and love my beautiful
faith
daily more and more.
We were all brought up very bigoted against Catholics and hated
them with deep hatred—brought up exceedingly
strictly,
as my
parents understood God's Word
; but so absolutely ignorant was-
I of what Catholic belief
is, that
I was
utterly astonished when
I learned the true
belief, having been taught to regard
it as the
antithesis of Christ's teachings.
May I be a means in the hand of
God to bring others to a knowledge of the truth !"
Thus
the
offerings
record
favors,
spiritual
and
temporal,,
granted through Mary's intercession—death-bed conversions,
re-
turns to lives of religious duty, conversions of the indifferent, the
apostate, the intemperate; light in difficulty; heavenly counsel in
doubt
; solace in sorrow and affliction
; vocations to religious
life ;
success in business affairs
; miraculous cures of sickness and dis-
ease; protection in deadly peril; reconciliations of the estranged.
So, too, the petitions for graces cover every possible spiritual and
temporal phase of life.
But what a record of faith, often pathetic
in
its childlike simplicity, these petitions are!
"Holy Mother!" writes a poor
invalid from
Philadelphia,
di-
rectly addressing the Queen of Martyrs, "enclosed you will find a
small donation for your crown,
for the cure of a
helpless arm.
Sweet mother, as you brought the King into the world to redeem
and save us, you may hear my prayer and grant my petition."
So runs this record of love to our Lady and faith
in her inter-
cession.
But we will close
it with one more quotation from the
annals of the poor, assuredly not a monument of etymology, but
a lesson of
faith and hope and
living devotion
as
eloquent,
as
beautiful and as edifying as
it is touching in
its evidence of wom-
anly love and tender human devotion to God's afflicted and erring
ones.
"You will find enclosed $10 for our Lady's crown.
I own
no jewelry nor precious
stones, but
I send my earnings
for my
brother and
myself.
He
is an
invalid and
I am a poor wash-
woman.
I hope
it may be acceptable to our Lady for my poor
brother, Michael,
for
all intemperate persons, and especially for
twenty such."
Now
to help our
readers form some image of the crown
of
thorns destined
for the Pieta
at
Auriesville, we repeat here
the
T2
THE CHALICE.
209
following extract from the Messenger of The Sacred Heart for
March,
1897, from an
article on
the "Instruments
of the
Pas-
sion," based on the researches of the eminent archaeologist, Ro-
hault de Fleury:
'
' The soldiers, platting a crown of thorns, put it on His head.
"We are accustomed to think of the crown of thorns as a mere
-circlet resting on the temples, whereas
it was,
in
all probability,
a sort of cap, covering the whole top of the head, and inflicting
intense pain at every point of the skull.
Judging from the relics
extant,
it was composed
of two
sorts
of
plants.
There was a
large wreath of reeds, bound together by filaments of reed, which
served as a frame.
So large was
it that of
itself
it would have
slipped down from the head to the shoulders.
The reason of
its
size was
that the thorns were interwoven and
inserted
into the
-wreath of reeds, thus diminishing its inner diameter.
So horrible
was the torment which this cruel cap of thorns inflicted that the
•early Christians could not bear to represent
it in its awful reality,
and so only expressed
it by emblems.
Thus, in a bas-relief in the
Lateran Museum, a soldier is seen respectfully placing a crown of
roses and laurel on the head of our Lord.
Perhaps,
too,
this
is
the reason why,
in Christian
art,
the crown of thorns
is rather
suggested than depicted as
it really was—an instrument of fiend-
ish torture.
"This explanation of the forming of the crown removes what
was
formerly considered a great
difficulty—how
to account
for
the
reedy
circlet
preserved
at
Notre Dame
in
Paris
and
the
numerous thorns treasured
in various
places.
The combination
solves the difficulty satisfactorily.
'
We hope
to have
inserted
in the gold a relic
of the Crown of
Thorns.
The new
chalice
is
a very handsome
piece of work
of
solid
gold set with precious stones.
About the cup is a band of seraph
beads surmounted by a row of diamonds, a row of pearls under-
neath.
Precious stones adorn the stem and knob, and the base
is
profusely
covered
with
them—sapphires,
diamonds,
rubies,
emeralds and garnets.
To designate the object of the chalice as
an ex voto
a. medallion of Our Lady of Sorrows is inserted in the
base.
Thirty ounces of gold give the chalice the massive appear-
ance this work and ornamentation require.
The Chalice.
2IO
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADlc OF MARTYRS.
Captivity and Death of Father Jogues.
In the year of our Lord 1642, Isaac Jogues was led to Auries-
ville, then known
as Ossernenon, as a captive of the Mohawks,
one of the Five Nations
of Iroquois
Indians, who
lived
in the
Mohawk Valley.
He was a missionary of the Society of Jesus,
only
thirty-five years
old, but he had already proved himself
a
competent and intrepid apostle among the Hurons and Ottawas,
and
it was
while leading an
expedition
of the former back
to
their own country that he was captured by the Mohawks at Lake
St. Peter, above Three Rivers, along with Rene Goupil and Will-
iam Couture, two young Frenchmen, who had given
their
ser-
vices to the missions
; Joseph Theondechoren, Eustace Ahasistari
and
his nephew;
Stephen
Totiri, and Paul Ononchoraton.
Of
these Paul was put
to death
at Ossernenon, Stephen
at Anda-
garon, and Eustace and
his nephew
at Tionnontoguen.
When
they were seized the missionary's
first thought was to baptize the
pilot of his canoe, who was
still a catechumen.
He might have
escaped himself, but "how," he wrote, "could
I abandon the cap-
tives, many of whom were not baptized?"
He had the happiness
of regenerating all who were unbaptized.
By encouraging Gou-
pil and Couture he aroused the rage of the savages.
They rushed
upon him, stripped him, beat him with clubs, bit his fingers, tore
out his nails with their teeth, and crushed the bones of his
fore-
fingers.
The
victims
were
then
thrown
into
canoes.
The
captors
amused
themselves by
irritating
the
undressed wounds
of
the
captives.
On land they were treated
like beasts of burden.
At
night they were bound to stakes and exposed to the bites of in-
numerable insects.
After eight days they met a band of warriors.
Indian custom
required
all
prisoners
to pass between
a
double
row of executioners armed with
clubs.
At the end of the
line,
half dead from the blows, the victims were placed on a platform
for
fresh
tortures.
They
beat
Father Jogues
about
the
head
and body, burned one of his
fingers, and crushed another with
their teeth.
The next day they started again.
Four days' jour-
ney
still remained.
Whenever they met with warriors the same
fearful
tortures
ensued.
On
the
eve
of
the Assumption
they
CAPTI VITY AND DEA TH OF FA THER JOG UES.
2 1
1
reached Ossernenon, now Auriesville.
"I had always thought/'
wrote the servant of God, "that
this day of great joy in heaven
would be
for us
a day of
suffering, and
I thanked
Jesus, my
Saviour,
for the joys of heaven
are only purchased by sharing
His
sufferings.
,,
On a platform
erected on
the
hilltop the cap-
tives were subjected anew
to
all these excruciating tortures.
At
FATHER ISAAC JOGUES,
S.J.,
From portrait iii the private chapel ot'Rt. Rev. T. M. A. Burke, Albany, N. Y.
night
the children amused
themselves
in torturing the
captives.
Among other torments Father Jogues was hung up by the arms
from the beams of a hut.
After a quarter of an hour of agony,
a strange Indian cut the cords and released the poor victim, who
else would have
died.
A year after, Father Jogues
in
a distant
village found a dying man.
The poor savage at once said
: "Don't
i5
Digitized by
212
THE SHRINE OF OUR LAD\ OF MARTYRS.
you
recognize me, Ondesonk?
Don't you remember
the man
who cut the cords?
It
is
I."
Father Jogues, known
as Onde-
sonk by the Hurons, was overpowered with joy, and hastened to
prepare his liberator for baptism and heaven.
From Ossernenon
to Andagaron,
a
village
eight
miles
west,
and from there to Tionnontoguen, about as far away again, they
were
all
led,
suffering the same
tortures on
the march and
at
each station.
Father Jogues had the consolation of baptizing at
Tionnontoguen
four Huron
captives condemned
to be burned.
He himself was
destined
for the same
fate
at Andagaron,
but
was handed over as a slave to a family which had lost a member
in
war.
Rene
Goupil was
a
slave
in
the same
village.
This
angelic young man was soon after put to death for making the
sign of the cross on a child's forehead.
Father Jogues thought
his time had come.
But his martyrdom for the present was to be
a
slave.
Wherever he went he carved
the Holy Name and
a
cross on the trees.
Again his life was menaced.
Again the exe-
cution was deferred, and
in his place ten Abenaki prisoners were
burned.
He had the happiness of baptizing all of them.
Several
efforts had
been made
to ransom
the
captive.
He,
however,
showed no inclination for
it.
He was willing to live and die on
the cross "to which the Lord had nailed him."
He saw
in his
captivity God's way of effecting an entrance
for
the
faith
into
this country.
In one year he had baptized seventy persons be-
longing to five different nations.
Thus had he scattered the good
seed which later on would yield an abundant harvest.
In August,
1643, Father Jogues was on a
fishing expedition
with his masters on the bank of the Hudson.
On his way back
to Ossernenon he passed through the Dutch post of Rensselaers-
wyck.
The Governor had certain information that the Iroquois
intended to put their captive to death.
He, therefore, begged the
Father
to escape on
a
vessel
about
to
start
for
Europe.
The
saintly man spent a whole night in meditating upon what choice
he should make.
Deciding that he was useless
for souls
in the
present
state of
affairs, he
accepted
the
offer.
His escape was
discovered before the ship sailed.
So enraged were the savages
that they threatened to sack the settlement.
Father Jogues came
forth from his hiding place willing to surrender himself, but the
Dutch paid a ransom of sixty dollars and the rage of the Indians
somewhat subsided.
In the meanwhile the ship sailed away with-
out him.
For six weeks Father Jogues lay hidden
in a barn
to
CAPTIVITY AND DEATH OF FATHER JOGUES.
213
which the savages had
access.
Finally, towards
the middle
of
October, he
effected
his
escape.
While passing through New
Amsterdam, now New York, he met an Irishman who
profited
by the occasion to go to confession.
Thus the Father was prob-
ably the first priest to exercise the priestly ministry on the island
of Manhattan*.
He reached France on Christmas Day, and was received by his
brethren in religion with reverence and joy.
The Queen Regent,
Anne of Austria, summoned him to
Paris, treated him with the
greatest honor ,and wept when she saw his mangled hands.
The more he was honored, the more he humbled himself.
His
heart was with the poor savages and he earnestly entreated
his
superiors to send him back to Canada.
His prayer was granted,
and, in the spring of 1644, he embarked at La Rochelle for Que-
bec.
His
first
office, on
reaching
his
destination, was
that
of
ambassador of France
to the
Iroquois.
The embassy was
suc-
cessful, thanks to the Father's eloquence and generous presents.
He profited by the opportunity to visit and absolve many Chris-
tian
prisoners.
He also baptized
several children
in danger of
death.
He then returned to Quebec.
Three months later he started for the country of the Iroquois,
who were now supposed to be at peace with the French.
"My
heart
tells me," he
wrote,
"that
if
I have
the happiness
to be
employed
in
this mission,
I
shall go, but shall not return; but I
shall be happy
if our Lord will complete the sacrifice there where
He began
it, and that the little blood
I have already shed on that
earth shall be the
first fruits of that which
I
shall give from
all
•the veins of my body and heart.
Farewell, beg our Lord to unite
me to Him, never to be separated."
The holocaust was accepted.
The
fury of
the
fickle Indians
was once more inflamed.
The French were blamed for
all their
misery.
War was
declared.
Warriors
took
the
warpath
on
October
15.
Father Jogues
fell
into
the hands
of one
of
the
bands.
He imagined them to be
allies, but the bonds with which
he was bound and the harsh treatment he underwent soon unde-
ceived him.
Two days
later he reached Ossernenon, where he
had
before
spent
thirteen months
of
captivity.
Here
the
bar-
barous reception he knew so well awaited him. He was savagely
beaten.
A
wretch
tore
out
pieces
of
flesh from
his arms and
shoulders and
devoured them before
his
victim's
eyes,
saying,
"Let us see
if this white flesh
is the flesh of a manitou"
(god).
214
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY 01 MARTYRS.
"No," replied the victim, "I am only a man like you
; but
I don't
fear death.
But why do you
kill me?
I have come to confirm
peace and
to lead you to heaven, and you
treat me
like a wild
beast.
Fear the punishment of the Great Spirit."
Opinions
were
divided.
The
two
powerful
families
of
the
Wolf and
the
Turtle wished
to
save
the
captives
at any
cost;
those of the Bear and the Beaver clamored for his blood to ap-
pease the Sun God, Agreskoui, whom he had offended. A gen-
eral council was convoked at Tionnontoguen.
It was decided to
free the prisoners.
But when the delegates brought the news to
Ossernenon,
it was too late.
On a pole of the palisade hung the
bleeding head
of Father Jogues, who had
been
struck with
a
tomahawk and then beheaded, as he was entering a cabin for a
banquet to which he had been treacherously invited
; his body was
thrown into the
river.
This was on the evening of October
18,
1646; the next day his companions, Lalande and a Huron Indian,
met the same fate.
The last wish of the martyr had been grant-
ed
: "The Lord
had
united him
to
Himself, never
to be
sep-
arated."
We call him martyr, not that he has been so proclaimed by the
Church,
but simply repeating the words
of Pope Urban VIII.,
when permission had been asked
for the apostle of the Iroquois
to offer the Holy Sacrifice in spite of the mutilation of his hands.
The
Pontiff
replied,
li Indignum
esset
Christi martyrem Christi
non
bibere
sanguinem. "
"It
would
never
do
to
deprive
Christ's martyr of drinking Christ's blood."
And so he accorded
the
permission
with
this
glorious
eulogy
even
before
the
last
shedding of the blood.
The ground whereon he poured his precious veins
Not fruitless aye nor fallow, Lord, shall be
;
Such field made fertile by such heavenly rains
Shall blossom yet for Thee.
s
Digitized by Google
DEATH OF RENE C0UP1L.
215
Death of Rene Goupil.
In the month
of September,
1642,
Father
Isaac Jogues and
Rene Goupil were captives of the Iroquois
at Ossernenon, now
Auriesville.
The attitude of the Indians towards them was hos-
tile.
Father Jogues resolved to prepare his companion and him-
self for death.
He invited Rene to go with him one evening to
a
little
hill about a gunshot from
the
village.
There they
fell
upon their knees and prayed together for a while.
When they were returning, they were stopped by two young
savages.
One of them said to Father Jogues
: "Go ahead."
To
Rene
he
said:
"Stand
still."
Both
obeyed.
Hardly had
the
Father taken five or six steps, when he heard a voice behind him.
He looked back and saw poor Rene struck to the earth by a blow
from an axe, by which one of these two savages had broken his
head.
At the same time he heard his dear companion utter the
Holy Name of Jesus as he breathed his last.
This was the agree-
ment they had made, to have the Holy Name frequently on their
lips and to try to say
it at the hour of death.
Father Jogues expected a similar favor
for himself and knelt
down, took off his cap and prayed.
Then quite
fearless he said
to the Indians
: "Do as you please with me."
"No," replied one of them, "I only wanted
that fellow
there.
Get up."
The Father arose and went
to embrace the body of his dear
companion.
The savages separated them and dealt the dead body
two more blows with the axe,
lest some spark of
life might
stil!
remain in
it.
Not
satisfied
with
this,
they took
the
corpse, bound
it with
ropes,
dragged
it
through
the
street
of
the
village,
and
then
threw
it into an out-of-the-way place.
"The death of this blessed martyr," says Father Buteux, "oc-
curred
September
29.
I
have
called him
blessed
martyr,
for
besides my belief that the opinion of many theologians
is
true,
which
holds
that they are martyrs who
die a
violent
death
in
this country where they are solely for the conversion of the sav-
ages, there
is
still another reason why Rene should be considered
a martyr, which
Father Jogues
learned
afterwards.
It
is
that
this good young man, out of zeal to contribute something to the
spiritual welfare of the savages, was in the
habit of frequently
making the sign of the cross on the little children. A certain old
2l6
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
man noticed
this and would not suffer him to make
this sacred
sign
on
his grandson.
Becoming angry he
said
aloud
to
his
nephew who was present: 'What
is that dog there doing to that
child?
The Dutch
tell us
that
it
is no good and he
doubtless
wants
to
kill my grandson.
Go, nephew, and
kill
this dog
for
me.'
Soon
after,
this very nephew executed
the command and
killed poor Rene."
Although Father Jogues envied the happy lot of Rene, his dear
companion, and had every reason to rejoice at seeing God glori-
fied by so beautiful a death, yet he could not help
feeling great
interior anguish at finding himself alone among the savages, and
at his inability to render the last offices to one whom he loved
sv.
tenderly.
When he had returned
to his cabin, they watched to see how
he would behave.
They even
felt the beating of his heart to see
how he was affected.
They forbade him to go out for fear that
some other young rascals would break his head, as they had
re-
solved to do.
None of these things astonished him.
On the con-
trary, he believed that
it was a fine chance which God gave him,
to
die
like those who exposed
their
lives and shed
their blood
when seeking and honoring the
relics of the holy martyrs.
He believed that this would certainly be the last day of his life,
for a certain Huron, who had given him a pair of shoes, asked
for them again, saying that he would soon have no further need
of them.
He willingly gave them back.
While
this was going
on, an impudent young Iroquois entered
the cabin and
invited
the Father
to go with him to another
village.
The look of the
young fellow bespoke his evil intentions.
The Father replied that
he was not his own master, but that
if the one who had the say in
the matter agreed to
it, he was quite ready to go.
The would-be
murderer had nothing to answer, but did not give up his murder-
ous design.
He disclosed
it to another old man, who dissuaded
him, and told the Father's guardian not to
let him go out alone.
This was
promised.
Accordingly,
the
Father had
two
young
men
to
escort him
to
the
place
to
which he was
going.
He
searched for the body, which he found naked in a little brook.
All
that
he
could
then
do was
to cover
it
with some
large
stones which he found near the place, hoping that the next day
he could come with a pick-axe to di^ a grave
in which to
inter
the body.
This, indeed, he tried to do on the morrow, but with-
out
success
;
for
all
night
long
the
rain had
poured
down,
so
DEATH OF RENE G0UP1L.
217
REM-
GOUP1L.
swelling the brook that
it had become
a
torrent, and had
carried away
the body,
so that the next morning the Father could
see neither body nor stones, for the water
had covered everything.
Thinking
that
the body might
still be where he had laid
it, he plunged into the torrent at that spot,
but could find nothing either
there
or
in
the
neighborhood.
1
4
Oh
what
sighs
I
heaved,
what
tears
I
shed,"
he wrote
later,
4
1
to mingle with
the waters
of the
torrent, while
I
chanted
to Thee, O my
God, the psalms of the holy Church in the
Office of the Dead."
The loss of so dear a treasure brought to his eyes tears which
mingled with the waters
of
the stream, and
afflicted him much
more than
the
cold and
rain which
chilled
his body.
Up and
down he went sounding the bed of the torrent with his
feet and
a stick,
still hoping to recover the body.
But God withheld this
consolation until the coming spring, when he learned from some
young children that
the body of the Frenchman was
in a broo**
near a
little
thicket.
Thither he betook
himself.
He
searched
for a long time and
at
last found the bones.
He reverently col-
lected them, kissed them and hid them
in
the
earth, hoping
to
bring them with him some day "as a great treasure to a conse-
crated Christian land."
"This
angel
of innocence and martyr
of Jesus
Christ, "
says
Father Jogues, "was immolated
in his thirty-fifth year, for Him
who had given His
life for his ransom.
He had consecrated his
soul and his heart to God, his hand, his very
life, to the welfare
of the poor Indians."
With good reason
is the Cause of Rene combined with that of
Father Jogues.
In his early days he entered the Jesuit noviceship
in
Paris, but was obliged to leave
it on account of poor health.
Skilled in surgery, he resolved to devote his talents freely to the
service of the Society's Canadian missionaries, and in
this capac-
ity,
as
a donnt
of the Fathers, he met his
death,
not, however,
before making his vows of devotion as a Jesuit, with the consent
of Father Jogues.
Digitized by Google
218
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
Catherine Tegakwitha.
Catherine, or Kateri, as she was called, was born in 1656 in the
Indian
village of Ossernenon,
in the Iroquois
territory, on the
banks of the Mohawk
River.
She was the daughter of a Mo-
hawk chief.
Her mother, a Christian Algonquin, had been reared
in the French settlement of Three Rivers.
Taken captive by the
Iroquois,
she became the wife of one of their braves who had
saved her from torture.
When Kateri was four years old her father, mother and
little
brother died of smallpox, and she herself bore the marks of the
disease.
The
little orphan was adopted by an uncle, and she grew up
to be a treasure to the household.
She was not proof to the love
of finery, and
in after years she bewailed, as the one sin of her
innocent
life, that she had taken pleasure in such fooolish things.
Her uncle tried several times to induce her to marry, and even
resorted to strategy to
effect his wish.
But Kateri was firm in
her
refusal.
This
brought
down
upon
her
harsh
treatment.
Thenceforth she was treated rather as a servant than a daughter.
They jeered
at her disfigured
features and
defective
sight—the
result
of
smallpox—but
she bore
it
all
so
patiently
that they
desisted.
When she was eighteen years old, some Jesuit missionaries vis-
ited her
village, which
in
1667 had beeen removed
to the
hills
beyond Fonda overlooking Cayadutta Creek.
Kateri, by the inno-
cence of her
life, was well prepared to receive the truth, so that
after a careful
instruction, she was baptized by Father de Lam-
berville on Easter Sunday, 1675.
She received the name of Cath-
arine, and her modest bearing and angelic piety made a deep im-
pression on the crowd of Indians who witnessed the solemn
rite.
Her delight was to be
in the Mission Chapel, and more than
ever
she shunned
the dances and
disorderly gatherings of her
people.
This excited their anger.
They accused her of idleness
and even attacked her fair name.
But her real virtue shone the
more clearly for the notice attracted to her by the slanders.
The
real cause of the offence was her refusal to marry;
for,
though by no means beautiful, she was a desirable match, as she
excelled
in needlework.
But
Kateri was
steadfast.
Her only
desire was to advance in perfection.
They feared that she would
betake
herself
to
the
French
settlement
to
escape
persecution.
22
CATHERINE TEGAKWITHA
.
219
CATHERINE TMGAKWITHA.
In St. Joseph's Seminary, Dnnwoodie.
Design by Sibbel.
They attempted
to
terrify
her.
One
day
a
young
savage
rushed
into
her
presence
and brandishing
a
hatchet over her
head,
cried
out
:
" Death
,
death
!
or
give
up
thy
faith, and swear never
to
leave
this
village.
99
She
bent
her
head,
saying
:
4
1
1 give thee my life
; my
faith, never
!
99
Under
these
circum-
stances she determined
to
take
refuge
at
Sault
St.
Louis, where she met one
who had known and loved
her mother, Anastasia, one
of the
pillars
of
the Mis-
sion.
This
was
a
great
help and comfort
to
her.
She advanced
rapidly
in
perfection, chiefly by
the exalted
idea
she had formed of the majesty
of God.
She loved the services of
the church
On the Christmas day after her arrival she had the happiness
to receive for the
first time the Bread of Angels.
So great was
"her fervor on this and similar occasions that people declared that
to be near her served them as a preparation.
Once more
false accusations were made, but not once did she
turn upon
her
accusers.
The
originator
of
the
slander
after-
wards performed voluntary penance
for three years, and loudly
proclaimed Kateri's saintliness.
Again matrimony was proposed,
hut she answered that she had consecrated herself, body and soul,
to her heavenly Spouse.
He did not prolong her exile long.
Her
health
failed.
They recommended
her
to go
to
the
forest
to
regain her strength, but she could not bring herself to starve her
soul of
its
spiritual food
for the sake of her body.
So she
re-
mained
in
the
Mission
and
suffered
heroically,
adding
self-
inflicted penances to share in the passion of her Saviour.
On Wednesday
in Holy Week,
in the year
1678,
she passed
away from
earth.
After death her face became
like that of an
23
Digitized by Google
220
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
angel:
serene, pure,
fair, without a trace of the disease that had
marred
it in life
; all felt impelled to pray as they gazed upon her,
stretched on her pallet apparently asleep.
Every article that had
belonged
to her was treasured
as a
relic.
Many are the favors
related to have been granted by this pure and holy "Lily of the
Mohawks, " "the good Catharine/' as those who knew her were
wont to call her.
Her body was interred beside a
little stream, at the foot of a
tree, on which she had cut the figure of a cross, and before which
she used
to pray.
After two hundred years her tomb
is
still
a
place of pilgrimage
for
tourists
as
well
as
for the members of
her tribe, whose reservation
is but a few miles away.
There on
the banks of the St. Lawrence, the late Father Walworth erected
an urn-shaped monument to her memory and the cross beside
it
speaks the devotion of her
life.
To her intercession their pastor
ascribes the constancy with which they adhere to the
faith, and
the marvellous favors granted to their prayers.
Her Cause has
been combined with
that of Father Jogues, because
she
is
the
first distinguished fruit of his sufferings and death.
1647.
A
band
of
Algonquin
Christians
were
tortured
and
slain, with unusual cruelty, from hatred of their Prayer.
1648-9-50.—The Mohawks took a principal part .in the destruc-
tion of the Huron missions and massacres of the Jesuit
priests,
Daniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant and Gamier.
1650-1.
Several leading Algonquin Christians were burned
in
the Mohawk
villages,
with added tortures
for
their
faith
:
also
a captive French woman, Catherine Boudart.
Blind Monica and
other native Christians kept the memory of the faith alive among
the captives.
1653.
Father Anthony Joseph Poncet captured and tortured;
he exercised the ministry of a Catholic
priest, for the
first time
in Albany, on a
visit to that place, and was sent back to Canada
by the Black River route.
1655-6-7.
Flying
missions, with
visits
to Albany,
of Father
Simon Lemoyne
;
at
the same
time
a
settled
mission was
at-
tempted
at Onondaga
(near
Syracuse), where
the
first
chapel
in the State was erected, with three sodalities of the Christians.
Annals of the Shrine,
1 647-1 700.
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE,
1647-1700.
221
In this and following years, many native Christians were cap-
tured and put to death, often with additional cruelties because of
their
faith
; among
others
three
sodalists,
one
the
prefect
of
the Huron Sodality.
French captives were also tortured.
Cath-
erine Tegakwita was born
in
1656,
of an Algonquin
Christian
mother, who was married
in
captivity
to a Mohawk
chief, but
died before the baptism of her children.
1666.
After an unsuccessful
expedition of
Courcelles, which
reached
Schenectady,
the Marquis
de Tracy,
lieutenant-general
of the French
king, marched
with
the regiment Carignan-Sali-
eres, famous
in the wars against the Turks, into the country of
the Mohawks
and
destroyed
their
villages.
He
was
accom-
panied by two
secular
priests, MM. Cosson and du
Bois, and
by the Jesuit missionaries, Raffeix and Albanel, who celebrated
Mass with Te Deum.
The burning of the
village was on
the
twentieth anniversary of Father Jogues' death.
1667.
Founding of settled mission, called St. Mary's, though
still
retaining
the
old
name
of
Mission
of
the
Martyrs,
by
Fathers Fremin and Pierron.
In the following years, arrival of
Fathers Beschefer, Nicolas, and Boniface.
The latter had charge
of
first
village, now moved
across
river higher up and known
as Gandaouague
(Caughnazvaga)—St.
Peter's.
1670.
The Jesuit lay-brother Maigneret superintended
build-
ing of churches in two villages.
Fifteen leading Mohawk Chris-
tians went
for Christian training to Notre Dante de Foye, near
Quebec.
1673.
Large bands
of
native
Christians
took
refuge
in
the
Canadian
reservation
(now
Caughnawaga,
near
Montreal).
Father Boniface died worn out, and Father Bruyas, general Su-
perior of
the Iroquois missions, now
resided
at the upper Mo-
hawk Church
(St. Mary's).
1675.
Father James de Lamberville came for lower mission,
bringing the venerated statue of Our Lady of Foye, devotion to
which was inaugurated on
the
Feast
of
the Immaculate Con-
ception.
1676.
Easter
Sunday,
Father
de
Lamberville
baptized
Catherine
Tegakzmta
in
the church
at
St.
Peter's.
Kryn,
the
great Mohawk,
led new
bands
of
Christians
to
the
Canadian
reservation.
1677.
Hot Ashes, one of the murderers of Father de Brebeuf
in 1649, but now cme f of the Oneida converts in Canada, helped
222
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
Catherine Tegakwita to escape to the reservation near Montreal.
Father Francis Vaillant de Gueslis,
the
last resident missionary,
took charge of
all the Mohawk missions.
Before their destruc-
tion, Fathers John de
Lamberville and de
Carheil,
the
latter
a
companion of Petavius
in learning when young, and afterwards
labored here on the Iroquois and Ottawa missions for sixty years.
1680.
Brother Maigneret again at work at church building.
1684.
At
the beginning
of
the
year,
all
the missions
were
abandoned on account of the French and English war.
Father
Vaillant came to Albany in
1687, as French envoy, but was pre-
vented
from
visiting
his
flock.
The Mohawk
Indians
were
henceforth under English influence, and those already Christians
took refuge in Canada.
There may afterwards have been a few
flying visits from missionaries of the west
; Catholic Indians from
Canada continued trying to draw their countrymen
to
the
faith
by frequent visits as late as 1730.
After
1800,
Canadian
Iroquois
voyageurs
begin
the
Rocky
Mountain Indian Missions by a journey to St. Louis in 1831, ask
the Bishop
for a Black-gown,
a journey which
resulted
in
the
mission of De Smet.
The heroism and holiness of these
first missionaries have been
always a theme for our historians.
Bancroft, Sparks, Parkman,
O'Callaghan and Shea have immortalized their courage and
zeal
for
the
civilization of the Indians
of New
France,
in
territory
which
is now comprised within Canada, Maine and New York
State.
Nor are Catholic writers alone in recommending the most
distinguished of these missionaries
to our veneration and
grati-
tude.
When the Reverend Joseph Loyzance, as Superior of the
Jesuit Residence in Troy, New York, conceived the desire to dis-
cover the site of Jogue's captivity and death, he found his most
competent
and
zealous
adviser
in
General John
S.
Clark,
of
Auburn, New York, who had spent'years in determining the sites
and migrations of Indian
tribes
in New York and other
States.
Before
1880 Father Loyzance was
of
the
opinion
that
Osser-
nenon, now
Auriesville, had been
situated
at Tribes
Hill,
and
ocasionally some of his assistant priests used to say mass
in the
church
in
that
village
on
or about
the anniversary
of
Father
Jogue's
death.
In
this view Dr. John Gilmary Shea concurred
Identification of the Site.
26
27
Digitized by Google
224
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
with the reverend pastor.
General Clark, on the other hand, was
satisfied that
all the Mohawk villages had been on the north side
of the
river, and he wrote
to Dr. Shea to express
this view on
August
15,
1877.
It
*s providential that the chief authorities
in
this matter had been thus committed to views which they would
not be
likely
to change
later on without the strongest evidence.
Writing to Dr. Shea, February
15, 1880, General Clark expresses
his conviction that the Mohawk villages between 1642 and 1673
were on the south side of the river.
The evidence on which this
conviction
is based may be summed up as follows
:
1.
The three Mohawk
villages, Ossernenon, Andagaron, and
Tionnontoguen,
from
1642
to
their
destruction
by
fire
at
the
hands of the French
in
1666, were certainly on
the south bank
of the Mohawk, and
west
of
the Schoharie River
(as
is
clear
from the contemporary maps
in Vanderdonck, the Relations, the
Expedition of De Tracy, Jolliet's Map,
etc., and from the
letters
of Fathers Jogues and Poncet).
Louis
Jolliet, who with Father
Marquette explored the Mississippi River, and who was one of
the
best and most accurate hydrographers
of
his
time,
as
his
many maps show,
left one on which Ossernenon
is shown
in the
angle between the Mohawk and Schoharie
rivers, where Auries-
ville railway station now
is.
2.
Father Jogues,
in his account of the captivity and journey
of himself and Rene Goupil
to the
villages
in
1642, says: "We
arrived at a small river distant about a quarter of a league from
the
first Iroquois village"
(Relations, 1647,
P- 22 )- A quarter of
a French league was considerably
less than three-quarters
of a
mile
; the same distance
is given in the MS. of 1652, taken from
the lips of Father Jogues himself by his Superior, Father Buteux.
In the account as given by Bressani, who had been a captive in
the same place, the words are: "On the Eve of the Assumption
of
the Blessed Virgin, about
three
o'clock, we reached
a
river
which
flows
by
their
first
village;
.
.
.
both
banks
were
filled with Iroquois, who received us with clubs, sticks and stones.
They then led us to their village on the top of the hill."
The MS.
of 1652 says
: "On the other side of this river were many Iroquois
who were waiting
for
the
prisoners."
This
locates
the
village
south of the Mohawk on a hill a quarter of a league distant from
the river.
3.
In his account of the death of Rene, Father Jogues says
:
'They
told me
that
the body had been
dragged
to
a
river
a
IDENTIFICA T10N OF THE SITE.
225
quarter of a league
distant,
with which
I was not
acquainted."
This can only apply to the Schoharie, as the Mohawk was in plain
view
of
the
village,
and
Father
Jogues
must
certainly
have
been thoroughly well acquainted with
it at this time
; whereas the
Schoharie was separated from the village by the
hills and woods
between.
The
village then must have been on a
hill
at a point
between the Mohawk and Schoharie
rivers, about a quarter of a
league distant from each.
At this exact
point, on the
hill near
Auriesville Station,
is found abundant evidence of an Indian
vil-
lage.
These two accounts alone taken together appear to be con-
clusive and unanswerable.
The impossibility of locating
it
else-
where
is
clear from the explanation formerly given of the two
rivers by Dr.
Shea,
"Catholic Missions/'
note,
p.
218.
At
this
time (1854)
it was commonly supposed that the villages were on
the north bank of the Mohawk.)
4.
In addition, several
allusions to the topography are made
"by Father Jogues
in the
different accounts he gave of
his
cap-
tivity.
From the river to the foot of the hill the bank was steep
(MS. 1652; the word used
is the old French cscors, now written
.ecore,
or, more commonly,
atcore, and
still employed
in naval
engineering.
It
signifies, not cliff-like, but simply a strongly
in-
clined ascent.
The name
is
still given in Canada to a part of the
banks
of
the mouth
of
the Ottawa,
near
St. Vincent de
Paul,
•opposite Montreal
Island.
It exactly describes
the condition of
the ascent from the river beach to the plateau at the foot of the
hill at Auriesville Station. Up this Father Jogues and the other
captives were forced with a rush, pursued by
sticks and stones
;
he said pathetically to Father Buteux, "We climbed up with great
•difficulty").
Near the village was
a
ravine.
In the same MS. of 1642
is
given the further detail in regard to the precise spot of the ravine
where he found the body of Rene, that
it was
at the union of a
small water-course with a rivulet.
The ravine, as now existing,
•could not be more exactly described than by
this and the other
details given of
it
in
the different accounts.
In
all the accounts the
hill of prayer, overlooking the
village,
is mentioned; the MS. of 1652 describes
it as
it
still
is—"a small
"hill, distant from the village a musket-shot."
5.
Besides
all
this, the
first
village was
at
a known
distance
from Andagaron,
the second
castle
; and this again a given
dis-
226
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS,
tance from Tionnontoguen, the third.
Both of these are found at
the precise points thus indicated.
To sum
up,
a few only of these
details thus
verified would
render strongly probable the identification of the sites
; the meet-
ing of
all
in one
spot places
it beyond reasonable doubt; while
the
fact
that no other spot of
the
carefully explored Mohawk
Valley
verifies any number of them taken together, as General
Clark, from personal study of every site known by map, account,
or tradition, declares positively, puts the matter beyond all possi-
ble
doubt,
or,
in
other
words,
gives
the
conclusion
absolute
certainty.
On the plateau the outline of the Indian town
is
still
visible,
and
remains
of
Indian
occupation have been
constantly
found
there.
The field in which are found the chief remains of the In-
dian
village
has
recently
been
bought by
the
Fathers
of
the
Society of Jesus.
All these circumstances, and the finding during the necessary
researches of the necessary documents for taking up the Cause of
Beatification,
led
to the presentation of the whole matter before
the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in December, 1884.
This-
resulted in a petition to the Holy Father, Leo XIII., for the for-
mal
introduction
before
the
Sacred
Congregation
of
Rites
at
Rome of the Cause of Beatification of the three servants of God,
Rene Goupil and
Father
Isaac Jogues, both
of the
Society of
Jesus,
as Martyrs, and Catherine Tegakwita as Virgin.
Since
that time other important petitions of the same nature have also-
been sent to Rome, especially from various members of the ven-
erable Canadian hierarchy, and from more than a score of differ-
ent
Indian
nations,
each
in
their own
language.
There
are
reasonable grounds for hoping that Providence will at length, by
the authoritative voice of the head of His Church on earth, con-
firm
those
titles, and
that
religious
veneration
and
confidence
which
all who have
studied
these
holy
lives
have
already
in
heart bestowed on these true servants of God.
30
Digitized by Google
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE,
/884-/902.
227
Annals of the Shrine,
1884-1902.
1884.
Purchase of the
site of the village of Ossernenon,
the
scene of the death of Father Jogues and Rene Goupil, and the
birthplace of Catherine Tegakwitha, a
ten- acre field in the farm
of
Victor Putnam.
The Pilgrim of Our Lady of Martyrs an-
nounced as the organ of the shrine.
1885.
Erection of memorial cross near entrance gate by Rev.
J. F. X. Hourigan, pastor of
St. Patrick's Church, Binghamton,
New York.
Chapel
of Our Lady of Martyrs
erected
in
July.
First mass August
15, pilgrimage of 4,000 people from Troy,
Albany and points in the neighborhood of Shrine; 1,500 received
Holy Communion.
Rev. Robert Fulton,
S.J.,
Provincial of the
Society
of
Jesus,
blessed
the
chapel
and
celebrated
the mass;
Rev. Augustus Langcake,
S.J., preached
at the mass, and
later
Father Wayrich.
Publication of the Life of Isaac Jogues by Dr.
John Gilmary Shea.
1886.
Second
great
pilgrimage
on
August
15,
2,600
com-
municating.
St.
Joseph's German
Catholic
parish
pilgrimage,
September 20, Feast of the Sorrows of Our Lady.
1887.
No organized pilgrimage, nor mass at the Shrine.
1888.
Calvary
erected
in
centre
of
field,
life-size
figure
of
Christ on huge cross, with figures of Our Lady and
St. John be-
neath, and fourteen Crosses in
circle as stations for Way of the
Cross.
August
12,
pilgrimage from Troy
for men, Very Rev.
T. M. A. Burke, V.G.,
officiating; August
19, pilgrimage from
Troy for women, 1,200 communicating.
1889.
Pilgrimage from Philadelphia,
forty
in number, Fath-
ers Buckley,
S.J., and Currier preaching.
1890.
Pilgrimage
from Amsterdam August
15;
from Troy
August
17,
communicants
1,700.
Publication
of
the Life and
Times of Kateri Tegakwita, by Ellen H. Walworth.
1892.
Pilgrimages from Amsterdam,
Philadelphia and New
York, August 15.
1893.
First
donations
for the crown
for
the
statue
of Our
Lady.
Gold and precious stones received in such abundance that
limit was
set
to time
for
receiving
it.
First donation of
vest-
ments and altar ware.
Project of new statue for crowning.
Pil-
grimages from Cohoes, Amsterdam,
Little Falls, Troy.
228
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
1894.
Erection of open chapel for shelter of pilgrims during
mass, instead of tents, used hitherto.
Priest at Shrine all month
of August.
Pilgrimages from Amsterdam, Troy, Albany,
Little
Falls.
First procession of the Blessed Sacrament.
Purchase of
strip of two acres on brow of
hill.
The
first annual novena
in
preparation for Feast of the Assumption.
1895.
Erection
of
sanctuary,
sacristy
and
dwelling
rooms
tack
of
chapel.
Blessed
Sacrament
reserved.
Pilgrimages
as
usual,
especially August
15,
18, 25.
Purchase of sixteen
acres,
including
the
Ravine.
Planting
of 500
trees; grounds
fenced
about.
1896.
Two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the death
of
Father Jogues.
Grotto built in Ravine.
Way of the Cross from
Memorial
Cross
to
Calvary.
Bell
of
shrine
blessed.
Shrine
manual, album and medal issued.
Exhibition of Jogues and other
documents by Rev.
A.
E.
Jones,
S.J.,
archivist
of
St.
Mary's
College,
Montreal.
Pilgrimages numerous, one bringing
5,000
persons.
Mass October 18, anniversary of Father Jogues.
Death
of Rev. D. Mclncrow, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Amsterdam,
New York, friend and patron of the Shrine from the beginning.
1897.
Death
of Rev. Joseph Loyzance,
S.J., founder
of
the
Shrine, and The Pilgrim,
its
organ.
Stations
in
zinc;
roads.
Pilgrimages
as
usual.
1898.
Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows,
established
at
Auriesville.
New
altar.
Pilgrimages
earlier than
usual, June
26.
Shrine incorporated.
Ravine damaged by storms.
Decision
to offer crown of thorns
in gold as votive offering for a
Pieta,
instead
of crowning a
statue of Our Lady standing
at
foot
of
•cross.
1899.
Gold and jewels collected in 1893 sent to goldsmith for
crown. Ravine repaired.
House erected for priests attendant on
Shrine.
Pilgrimages as usual.
1900.
Pilgrimages more numerous than ever.
1901.
Hotel and surrounding property purchased
for Shrine,
four acres, and improved.
Way of Cross extended down the
hill.
A Holy Sepulchre and statues of St. Joseph and
St. Ignatius in
Ravine.
Pilgrimages as usual.
:>2
Digitized by Google
A URIES VILLE AND THE MEMORY OF FATHER JOGUES.
229
auriesville and the memory of father jogues and
Companions.
This
is
the
eighteenth
year
of
the
pilgrimages
to
Auries-
ville.
The
site
on
which
the
Shrine
stands
was
purchased
and made ready for the
first pilgrimage
in
1884, and every year
since
it has been frequented by pilgrims.
Until
1895 tne Feast
of the Assumption and the Sunday
within
its Octave were
the
special days of pilgrimage.
Since then the number of days and
of pilgrimages has been increasing, and
it has been necessary for
one priest or more
to be
in attendance
all during August, and
during part,
if not
all, of July.
This year the
first pilgrimage
was held on
the
last Sunday
in June,
as
recorded
in
the July
Pilgrim, from
St. Joseph's parish, Cohoes, and a priest has been
there since July
12, and one will remain there until September
8.
The question naturally suggests
itself. What has been done
at
Auriesville
the
past
eighteen
years?
What
is
there
to show
for
the
contributions
and the labor
de-
voted
to
the
Shrine? When we
put it altogether it
seems very
little,
and, in truth,
it is
not
a very
great
deal.
In
fact,
nothing very great
has been
at-
tempted.
We
have
not,
as
yet,
for instance, made
any
strenuous
ef-
forts
to
erect
the
permanent
chapel
or
the
house
of
retreats
it was
at
first
and
is
still
proposed to erect.
the memorial cross.
33
Digitized by Google
250
THE SHRIXE OF OCR LAD } OF MARTYRS.
there
in good
time.
It
is
most
desirable,
no
doubt,
to
have
something
permanent
there, and
to
begin
it
very
soon
;
but
it s^)uld
be remembered
that the
Shrine and
the
pilgrimages,
important
as
they
are
in
themselves,
were
not
the
principal
object
in
view
in
erecting,
improving
and
maintaining
them.
That object was the beatification of the servants of God, Father
Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, who died there for the
faith, and of
Catherine Tegakwita, who was born
there.
This
object has by
no means been neglected, but the work done for
it
is not of such
a nature that
it can be estimated properly by any save by those
who have to do
it.
Although no formal steps have been taken
for the Introduction
of the Cause of
Beatification of Father Jogues before the Holy
See, from the very time of his death popular veneration made his
religious brethren and
superiors
careful
to
secure authentic
ac-
counts
of
his
saintly
life, of
his
captivity,
suffering and
death,
testimonies to his heroic virtues, and evidences of his intercession
after death.
Unfortunately, the
state of the missions
in which they
toiled,
the
arduous
labors
of
all
concerned,
the
distances
separating
them,
the
difficulties of communication
in
the regions
in which
Jogues and
his companions
died,
the
dispersion
of
the
Jesuits
prior to the French Revolution, and the subsequent scattering of
their most precious documents here and in France—all these and
m
I Ilk
\\ V\
OV
l Ilk CROSS
AURIESVILLE AND THE MEMORY OF FATHER JOGUES.
231
THE OPEN CHAPEL.
other
causes
prevented any
formal
attempt
to have
the
Cause
introduced
at Rome.
But for the learning and labor and great
expenditure of time and money of the eminent historiographer,
Felix Martin, S J.,
it would be hopeless to think of attempting to
prepare a process for the beatification of Father Jogues or any of
the heroic missionaries who died as nobly in the same cause.
About eighteen years ago, the Rev. Joseph Loyzance, S.J., then
Rector of
St. Joseph's Church, Troy,
since departed, began
the
work of preparing
for the
process of the beatification of Isaac
Jogues, Rene Goupil, and Catherine Tegakwita.
After he had
enlisted the interests of thousands of Catholics, he petitioned the
Fathers of the Third
Plenary Council
of
Baltimore, who
peti-
tioned the Holy See to act in the case.
He was instructed to pro-
ceed
in the ordinary manner, and founded the Pilgrim of Our
Lady of Martyrs, in order to make known the lives and virtues
of the servants of God
in question.
By the
aid of the eminent
topographer, Gen. John
S. Clark, of Auburn, N. Y., he was able
to identify the
site upon which Father Jogues and Rene Goupil
died, and upon
which
Catherine Tegakwita,
the
saintly
Chris-
tian maiden, was born.
Meantime
the
late
Dr.
Gilmary
Shea, whose
life
was,
in
a
measure, one of devotion
to Father Jogues,
translated and pub-
lished Father Martin's
life of the saintly missionary, and, a few
vears
later, Miss
Ellen H. Walworth,
of Albany,
N.
Y., pub-
35
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232
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
AT THE CALVARY.
lished her entertaining life
of
the
Virgin
Catherine.
While
these
two
excellent
biographies,
to-
gether
with
the
Pilgrim,
were
making the
cause known
to
all,
Father Loyzance had purchased
the
site
identified
by
General
Clark, and had already erected a
Shrine to Our Lady, under whose
invocation
the
Mission
of
the
Martyrs was first established, and,
as early as 1884, he had instituted
the pious pilgrimages which have
been growing in number and fer
vor ever
since, so much
so
that
it is safe
to say
they would
con
•
tinue
in our Lady's honor and in memory of her
servants
even
if
their cause should never be advanced.
To elevate a saint to the honors of the Church is not the exclu-
sive work
of the
Sovereign
Pontiff,
but,
in some measure,
of
every member of the Church of whatever degree.
Bishops must
aid in
it by their judgment, priests by their pleading, all who can
by their testimony, the rich by their alms, and the poor by their
prayers.
It is fortunate, then, that every Catholic in America can
contribute to
this
great work, because the
time,
the
labor, and
expense required would far exceed what any individual or body
of men
could
contribute.
It
is
well known how
rigid
are
the
examinations demanded by the Holy See before any servant of
God, of howsoever great a repute for sanctity, can even be pro-
posed
as worthy
of
beatification.
Few,
however,
except
those
who are immediately employed in such work, can estimate what
vast labor the entire process entails or estimate what
it must cost.
To collect, authenticate, examine and copy the best documents
bearing upon the case, scattered as they are in different libraries in
Canada, France, Italy and the United States
; to search out, verify
and present for examination the correspondence and writings of
the servants of God
; to compile the various testimonies concern-
ing them
left
us
in books
written by
authors from
their time
down to our own
;
to
collect the traditions that
still
exist as
to
their virtues, heroic deaths and powers of intercession with God
;
to meet the salaries of secretaries and their assistants in so many
ALRIESV1LLE AND THE MEMORY OF FATHER JOGUES.
233
different places,
the cost of
translating, printing and publishing
the various processes in various languages
; the expenses of travel
and the necessary fees of the Postulator for his advocate and their
assistants—all this
is only a summary of what must be done and
expended in order to bring the cause to a successful issue. Then
explorations must be made,
at
the
sites thus
far
identified,
for
relics
of any
sort that may confirm even
indirectly the truth of
our documentary testimonies.
+
FORMERLY A CHAPEL, NOW USED FOR INDIAN
RELICS.
The process of proving the heroic virtues of those who are pro-
posed for beatification, the veneration
in which they are held by
the
faithful,
their martyrdom,
as
in
the case
of
Father Jogues
and Rene Goupil, and,
if need be, their power of intercession by
authenticated miracles,
is not an easy nor brief one.
In this case
the preliminary steps are slower, because
it has been decided to
combine
in
one
the
processes
of
Fathers
Brebeuf,
Lalemant,
Daniel and Gamier, who died in missions situated in what
is
still
Canadian
territory,
since ultimately
this
will
save the labor and
expense of repeating the process.
The Rev. Arthur
Jones,
until
lately Archivist
of
St. Marv's
College,
Montreal, has not been
idle so far as
his
share of the
37
Digitized by
234
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
work
is concerned.
Besides arranging the documents
that
per-
tain to the missionaries mentioned above in order in the vaults of
the College, he has made a map of the early Huron Missions and
identified some of the
sites where
they labored and
died.
His
successor will continue his good work.
We may therefore hope
soon to put in form me material we have been gathering for so ne
years, so as to present
it to the Postulator and thus introduce the
Cause which
so many are praying
for,
especially when
visiting
Auriesville in pilgrimage.
The
principal
object
in
view
in
the purchase
of
the land
at
Auriesville and in the erection of the Shrine there has not been
lost sight of
; nor have we neglected the Shrine and the pilgrim-
ages.
Most of all, we have been fortunate enough to become pos-
sessors of the Ravine, a site quite as important as the hill
site, as
it
is described
so accurately
as being the burial
place of Rene
Goupil, and the place has been preserved from
destruction and
beautified
in a way that
will begin
to appear
in another
year.
The Holy Sepulchre, the grotto of Our Lady and the statues of
St. Joseph,
St. Ignatius, already erected there, as well as one of
the Sacred Heart which we hope to add
to these, make
it
pre-
eminently a place of our
favorite devotions.
The Shrine grounds proper are not the fenceless sun-scorched
fields they were when we purchased them.
The improvements
made there have been duly recorded in these pages, and need not
be mentioned again
here.
These,
too,
will appear to better ad-
vantage in a year or two.
Last, but not
least,
is the purchase
made only
this year of
all the land we need to keep the Shrine
grounds
strictly private, the hillside and the hotel from undesir-
able intruders on pilgrimage days.
As we have often
told our
readers, there would be no sense in making permanent improve-
ments before obtaining possession
of what we now own.
Ac-
commodating as our neighbors have always been,
this year for
the first time can we invite guests to the hotel, plain as
it
is, with-
out apologizing for
its condition and appearance.
Meanwhile
divine
worship
has
been
faithfully and
properly
provided for
; the pilgrimages have been multiplied and are now
made Sunday after Sunday instead of one day only
; the crown of
thorns
in gold, the pious offering of hundreds of clients of Our
Lady,
is ready, and the statue on which this
is to be placed
will,
we trust, be ready
this time next
year.
Thus, devotion
to Our
Lady
of Sorrows has been more
piously
practiced
;
the
heroic
Digitized by
236
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS,
lives and
sacrifices of the early missionaries are better and more
widely known
;
confidence
in
their powers
of
intercession
has
been
increased,
and, we
believe,
richly rewarded by marvelous
answers to prayers.
On this last score, our files of thousands of
letters bear abundant
testimony which
will
furnish
interesting
reading when the complete records of the work of Auriesville will
be written.
The Shrine and the Pilgrimages.
One thing has been accomplished during these years.
Auries-
ville has become a shrine in the true and best sense of that term.
THE SEPULCHRE IN THE RAVINE.
It
is strange to hear the notions which some people, Catholics
as well as Protestants, have about a shrine.
They imagine there
must necessarily be some famous
relic, or curative pool, and sen-
sational
miracles occurring
daily.
Some view
it
entirely from
the business
point
of
view,
and,
in
true modern
fashion,
sug-
gest a hundred ways of "booming"
it, supplying hotels, increas-
ing
traffic,
etc.,
as
if everything depended on
the concourse of
people coming to
it, whether they came as devout pilgrims or not.
Very few can
appreciate what
it
is to have a place
of prayer.
40
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THE SHRINE AND THE PILGRIMAGES.
237
Those who come here, or who study the sacred association of the
site, with the reverence for well-founded
traditions which
is the
mark of
a
Catholic
instinct, soon view
things
with
the
proper
spirit, and go away with the conviction that heaven has favored
GKOTTO IN THE RAVINE.
this spot naturally and supernaturally, and are not surprised
to
see the number and fervor of the pilgrimages increase from year
to
year, in spite
of obstacles and of our neglect—pardon the vul-
garism—to "boom" Auriesville and
its surroundings.
41
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238
THE SHRINE OF OCR LADY OF MARTYRS.
It
is important to bear in mind that Auriesville
is preeminently
a place of hallowed memories and associations calculated to excite
our
piety,
to quicken our devotion, and move us
to profess our
faith,
and
to
pray
with
the
confidence
that
will
obtain
even
miraculous answers.
In
this country we are so unacquainted with
the
true nature
and object of a shrine, that we are apt to expect too much or to
obtain too
little of the benefits of which
it should be the medium,
simply because we overlook or ignore
its real purpose.
The his-
tory of Lourdes and other great shrines have led many people to
think that a shrine must necessarily be a scene of frequent and
BRIDGE IN RAVINE.
striking
miracles.
Indeed,
it
is
quite common
to
meet
with
people who imagine that, when God sees
fit to grant a miracle in
answer
to the prayers made through
the
intercession of Father
Jogues,
it will surely take place
at the Shrine at Auriesville.
It
will not do
to answer that the miracle which
finally determined
the canonization of
St. Berchmans happened not
at the shrine in
Diest, but in our own country in the diocese of New Orleans.
It
would,
it
is true, be natural to look for special favors at the place
where so much piety
is shown
; but the many remarkable favors
reported as granted
in other places through the interecession of
42
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THE SHRINE AND THE PILGRIMAGES.
239
Father Jogues and his companions should correct our belief that
the Shrine must necessarily be a place of miracles.
A place of
marvels
it
surely
has been,
both
in
the temporal and
spiritual
order
; but, as yet, no miracles that we know of have
lately been
granted through the interecession of those whom we seek to have
beatified.
If we need a proof of the attractive power of spots with hal-
lowed association, we would but have to journey to Auriesville in
August, especially on the Feast of Our Lady's Assumption or one
of the Sundays of that month.
There, on the brow of the
hill,
A PILGRIMAGE STARTING (LITTLE FALLS, N.
Y. )
overlooking the Mohawk, stands the Shrine of Our Lady of Mar-
tyrs, a plain wooden open pavilion capable of accommodating a
thousand people, with an enclosed sanctuary
in which a
life-like
statue of the Queen of Martyrs looks down on her children from
over the altar.
East and west the river flows through the fertile
lowlands, now breaking over the rocks into the "Caugnewaghas"
or Indian "laughing waters," now moving
straight
in
a broad,
dark stream, with no apparent current
until
the channel winds
gracefully
within banks which seem
reluctant
to
let
its waters
meet the broad but swift tide of the Schoharie.
Between the river
and
hills on the south the Erie canal stretches
like a long silver
43
Digitized by
240
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
thread,
its slow
traffic making a striking contrast with the swift
trains which are constantly passing on either side of these waters.
Bridges over canal and river vary the beauty of the picture, and
neat, substantial houses, surrounded by meadow, garden and or-
chard, add
to
it the charm of cultivation which only human
in-
dustry can
impart.
Away
to the north
lie
the
foothills
of the
Adirondacks
; to the east are the cities of Amsterdam and Schen-
ectady, both illumining the heaven by night, and
the former dis-
tinctly visible even by day from the hills of Glen to the south
; in
the west the hills seem to close, locking in the towns of Fonda and
Fultonville, and blending in outline and color with a sky which
needs firm blue hills and the deep purple valley beneath as proper
setting
for
its gorgeous
sunsets.
It
is
all beautiful beyond
de-
scription, and even apart from the sacred traditions of the place,
it
has
for some
the charm,
for
others
the
inspiration,
to
rest
quietly
in the contemplation not only of the scene on which
the
eye
rests, but of the peace which
it suggests and of the higher
spiritual beauties of which
it
is the
veil.
Nature has eminently
fitted Auriesville to be the
site of a Shrine of Our Lady.
PILGRIMAGE TRAIN AND KARGK.
44
THE SHRINE AND THE PILGRIMAGES,
241
It is hard to imagine anything more devotional than the sight of
the pilgrims who have come
thither
in honor of
their Mother
Mary and her servants slain for their love of the Cross of Christ.
They have come from long distances
; many of them are fasting
in order to receive Holy Communion.
They are not excursion-
ists, out for a day in the country
; they are performing a religious
act, and, in spite of the crowds, there
is never any disorder, noise
or levity.
After assisting at Mass and hearing a short sermon,
they disperse over the broad enclosure, some visit the old shrine
containing a
statue of the
Pieta, the Sorrowful Mother, holding
ARRIVAL OF PILGRIMS BY ERIE CANAL.
in her lap the dead Christ
; some go to the Calvary, while others
betake
themselves
to
the
Ravine.
Then
comes
t|ie
open-air
luncheon.
At two o'clock the beautiful devotion of the Stations
of the Cross
is made in common.
This implies considerable self-
sacrifice, for there
is no friendly shade as yet to protect the wor-
shippers from the burning rays of the sun overhead.
Next a procession
is formed to visit the Ravine.
The Rosary
is recited publicly on the way.
When they reach the huge boulder
near which the body of Rene Goupil was probably hidden,
the
missionary
priest
stands on
the rock and
tells the story of the
heroic young Frenchman or reads the pathetic account
of
it by
45
Digitized by
242
THE SHRINE OF OUR LAD) OF MART} RS
Father Jogues.
Then once again the procession forms and when
they arrive at the Shrine, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
is given and the pilgrims
start for home carrying with them de-
vout recollections of a day spent at the sanctuary of Our Lady of
Martyrs.
I
The Way of the Cross
is the most frequent
if not the favorite
devotion here, and has been so since Father Loyzance first erected
the Calvary with
its
circle of fourteen
crosses, each the
gift
of
some of his many friends.
Even v^ere this devotion not an indis-
SODALITY PILGRIMAGE FROM AMSTERDAM.
pensable one of every Catholic shrine,
it would have suggested
it-
self to one who, like Father Loyzance, had in view when purchas-
ing this place the commemoration of Isaac Jogues, who consoled
himself during his long captivity here with the reflection that he
had been born under the shadow of the Cathedral of the Holy
Cross
in Orleans, France, and was only earning by his tortures
the right to be called "Citizen of the Cross."
The first memorial
structure raised on these grounds was the large cross donated by
the
late Father Hourigan,
inscribed
with
the
title
given
to
his
mission by Father Jogues, The Mission of the Most Holy Trinity..
46
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7HE SHRINE AND THE PILGRIMAGES.
243
UP THE HILL OF TOKTUKE.
which
is brought back to our minds by the sign of the cross.
It is
now the
starting point
for the Way of the Cross, which winds
about the
hill along an avenue planted
with young
trees, which
will soon shade the small,
if not the large, groups of pilgrims on
this
penitential journey, though
in time even
the two thousand
who go over this path some Sundays
will be sheltered from the
burning
rays
of
the
sun.
To
the
credit
of
all who make
the
Way of the Cross here
it should be
said
that no one seems
to
mind the sun, nor has any one ever been harmed by
it, and
it
is a
common thing on pilgrimage days to witness from one thousand
to three thousand men, women, and children at
this devotion
at
midday in August, and the sight
is inspiring and memorable.
As
the
round
is 'made
the
view
is
ever changing,
the
valley,
the
AT MASS
IN THE OPEN CHAPEL.
47
Digitized by
244
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
river at
its most beautiful turn, the village, the
hills, the Shrine
grounds,
and,
not
the
least,
the
stations themselves
succeeding
one another, and
all
contributing some
stimulus
to
recollection
and
piety.
The new
stations
are
the
gifts
of
pious
pilgrims,
whose
intentions
are not
forgotten, even when they are
absent.
Some day the figures in these stations must be life-size, and each
group or station must have
its pedestal or grotto.
The relic of the Holy Cross
is the only relic offered for public
veneration here, and
it
is the only one applied to those who come
to be relieved of mental or bodily ailments.
It
is not surprising
that a relic of such virtue should be the means of obtaining many
singular blessings in a place where everything disposes one better
to faith and confidence.
We have a relic of Catherine Tegakwitha,
but since she has not. been beatified,
it cannot be offered for pub-
lic
veneration.
It has been used
privately,
however, and
with
success, nor
is
it strange, since her
life was so saintly, and since
the widespread and endearing veneration for her virtues merit in
some way
special
graces and
favors through
her
intercession.
The
relics of Father Jogues and of Rene Goupil have not been
found, nor has
it
as
yet been deemed
advisable
to
explore
for
them.
The Most Blessed Trinity is honored here because this mission
was founded under that august title
; and the Holy Name
is also
honored because Father Jogues used to honor
it specially here and
carve
it on. the trees; but, since
it
is a Shrine of Our Lady,
pil-
grims
all seem
to
cultivate
in a
special manner her
title under
which she was first venerated in this valley, Notre Dame de Foye.
AFTER MASS.
THE SHRINE AND THE PILGRIMAGES.
245
MAKING THE WAY OF THE CROSS.
which
in those days expressed what we now mean by
the
title
"Our Lady
of
Sorrows/'
or,
as we
style
it
here, "Our Lady
Queen of Martyrs."
Prayers are said before the Pieta after the
Way of the Cross
; the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows
is
established here and members are regularly received; the Seven
Dolor beads are
in demand and
are always
recited on
the way
to
the Ravine;
the black
scapular
is
also
conferred
here, and
a Solemn
Novena
is made here
yearly
in
preparation
for
the
Feast of the Assumption.
In this Novena people join whether
it
be their good fortune to come to the Shrine or not, and the cus-
tom has grown of sending intentions
to be placed on
the
altar.
These intentions or petitions for prayer embrace every conceiva-
ble object,
spiritual or temporal, the former
especially, and
it
is
gratifying to observe that vocations and conversions figure most
prominently as well among the thanksgivings for favors received
49
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246
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
AFTU.R A SERMON
IN RAVINE.
as among the requests for prayers.
Among these intentions we
should always include the benefactors and friends of the Shrine,
living or dead.
We may remark here that, since the
first purchase of land at
Auriesville, in 1884, not a year has passed without some improve-
ment
in or about
the grounds.
These improvements,
together
with the expense connected with the attendance on the pilgrims,
especially when they come
in large numbers, have
all cost large
sums of money, considering our limited resources, and yet, thank
God, they have all been paid for by the charity of the friends and
patrons of the cause of the Martyrs.
Although, in all justice, we
might have called upon the pastors and other leading parties
to
visit the Shrine to help us to meet these expenses, we have never
asked nor
received an offering from them.
What
is more,
zve
have never required admission tickets at the Shrine grounds, nor
charged for
entrance, nor even sought
to
obtain
a
commission
from
the
railroad and other
tramsport
companies
bringing
pil-
grims
to Auriesville.
We do not mention this by way of boast-
ing of our generosity, for we are aware that most people will at-
tribute
it
to poor business methods,
while others
will malevo-
lently regard the pilgrimages as a scheme for making money.
Nor do we
regard
it
as
altogether
just
that
these
expenses
should
fall
on
a
few,
or
that
such
vast numbers
of
pilgrims
should frequent the Shrine without helping to provide the means
required
for maintaining and improving
it.
Indeed,
if we
at-
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THE SHRINE AND THE PILGRIMAGES.
247
A BENEDICTION, DURING PROCESSION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.
tempt to erect a permanent church or pilgrims' house at Auries-
ville, as, we trust, shall soon be done, we should necessarily have
to
call upon every one that knows or visits the place to help us.
All we can plead in favor of our present poor business methods,
with those who choose to consider them poor, is that we are striv-
ing
to
live by
faith, and
that,
so
far, thank God, our
trust
in
Providence has not failed us.
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243
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
The Cause of Father Jogues.
The Church begets holiness and esteems
it above every treas-
ure.
It is her constant aim to cultivate
it in her children and her
great glory to record their saintly deeds from the annals of the
past.
Time does not efface them from her memory, because when
memory
is prompted by love
it
is always unerring and far-reach-
ing.
The love of the Church,
like that of Christ her spouse,
is
undying; her memory of ages past
is as sure as her memory of
yesterday.
Thousands of souls have died in the lowly walks of life, full of
merits before God, but unknown to their fellow-men.
In life they
were not called upon to take a prominent part in the affairs of this
world
; after death there would seem to be no reason why special
notice should be taken of their virtues.
At times,
it
is
true, the
very humility and hidden
life they had cultivated has been glori-
fied, as
in
the
case of
St.
Alexis, by a
special
revelation from
God.
However, in the ordinary ways of Providence, those souls
are usually chosen for honor after death whose
lives have been
remarkable among
their
fellow-men.
Naturally
enough,
it
is
the benefit derived from their example of philanthropy that de-
termines men to have them exalted to the honors of the altar.
THE CAUSE OF FATHER JO CUES,
249
It
is proverbial that
it requires a long period of years to bring
about
this
exaltation
of
souls departing
this
life
in
repute
for
holiness.
Even when
all
is clear as to the heroism of their vir-
tues, and certain about the miraculous favors required to manifest
the power of
their
intercession,
so many years must
intervene
between their death and the decree of their beatification that the
one who takes up a cause at the start can rarely hope to bring
it to a conclusion.
Meantime, so great
is the labor required, and
so vast,
in most cases, the expense incurred, that one
is tempted
to frame the proverb
: "It needs a saint to make a saint," for
it
requires
something of
the
spirit
of a martyr
to overcome
the
obstacles in the way of having one who lays down his life for the
faith declared a martyr, and some of the heroism of a
saint to
do
the work
required
to
prove
another's
title
to be venerated
as a saint.
It
is easy to see how in the course of a process of beatification
delays
can occur which may
prolong
the
process
indefinitely;
sometimes so long as to necessitate its being taken up again from
the very beginning
; and at other times long enough to dishearten
and even exhaust the patience of its advocates.
It is certainly no
slight test of a soul's repute for holiness, when the tradition con?
cerning it is so strong as to inspire other souls, even after a lapse
of
centuries, with
the
desire
to have
it beatified and
declared
worthy of public worship.
This
is a remarkable fact in the case
of Father Isaac Jogues and of several of his companions, so re-
markable,
indeed,
as
to be one of
the
strongest
proofs
of
his
heroic virtues in life and of his death in the odor of sanctity.
While Father Jogues was still alive he was regarded by all who
knew him
intimately as a
saint.
In recording this estimate
of
him, we must remember that
it was not formed, as our own is apt
to be formed, by the heroism he displayed during his two years
of captivity among the Iroquois.
Many a stolid Indian bore like
tortures as calmly as the missionary, though more through their
own motives of pride than through his motive of
self-sacrifice.
Many a white trader, too,
in early colonial days stood brave and
defiant under most brutal torments;
in
fact,
several of Father
Jogues' companions suffered with him just as keenly as himself,
and yet they are not proposed
as worthy of beatification.
The
virtues that made Father Jogues' companions and superiors look
upon him as a
saint were the obedience, the patience, the
self-
sacrifice, the
fortitude, and the devotion which made them
feel
53
250
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
so sure of his constancy under every
trial, that they never hesi-
tated to entrust him with
the most arduous missions, and they
were never surprised
that he should
fulfil them with constancy
unto death and under tortures even worse than death.
When
his superior was choosing him
as a minister of peace
to the Mohawks, he noted
in his
"relation," or
report,
for that
year, that the mission he hoped to found amongst them he would
name Mission of the Martyrs.
"If we are permitted to conjecture
in matters that seem highly probable," he added, "we may believe
that the designs we have formed against the empire of Satan will
not bear fruit until they are irrigated with the blood of martyrs."
When a third time Father Jogues must go to the Mohawks,
it
would seem that he was the only one his superiors and brethren
could think of as suited for the "Mission of the Martyrs."
Such
an estimate of his virtues they could have had only after witness-
ing in him, during
all
his
religious
life, the
spirit of a martyr.
His superior's conjecture was justified; only blood could sow the
seeds of faith among the Mohawks.
His choice of Father Jogues
was justified.
He chose him for his martyr-like spirit.
He could
quite
naturally,
therefore,
write, on hearing of Father Jogues'
death
: "We may regard him as a martyr before God."
That this view of Father Jerome Lalemant was not
singular
or
short-lived
is clear from the
fact that, some years
later, one
of his successors, Father Paul Raguenau, thought
fit to include
the
traditions
concerning
Father
Jogues among
the
collection
which was drawn up, not only to preserve the memory of such
men as Brebeuf, Gamier, Daniel and
Gabriel Lalemant, but
to
provide materials
for the process of
their beatification, should
it
ever be instituted.
Each of these memoirs
is attested by Father
Paul over the signature of his
secretary, Joseph Poncet.
This,
then,
is the first step taken for the beatification of Father Jogues,
and fortunately this collection of memoirs exists to-day,
certified
by one who knew
its whereabouts during the suppression of the
Society
of
Jesus, and who
witnessed
its
return
to
its
original
owners.
All the memoirs and lives we have of Father Jogues were writ-
ten with this one purpose, to preserve the memory of his virtues,
heroic sufferings and death for the faith, and to gather together
the material that might serve for the process of his beatification.
It was
this purpose
his
superiors had
in view when
they had
Father Buteux put together all he had heard from Father Jogues
himself concerning his tortures and slavery among the Iroquois.
54
THE CAUSE OF FATHER JOGUES.
251
It was
this same purpose that led Abbe Forest, a Jesuit of the
-eighteenth century, to write the biography of his townsman
; and
with a like purpose Father Felix Martin made use of the manu-
script of Abbe Forest, which the French Revolution had prevented
the author from
publishing,
in
preparing
his
excellent
life
of
Isaac Jogues.
Finally, the distinguished translator of
this
life,
Dr. Gilmary Shea, made his work one of devotion.
It was only
one of very many
tributes of the great historian to the Apostle
of the Iroquois, whose generous self-sacrifice he loved to record,
though the story of his sufferings pained him so much that his
manuscripts
still bear evidence of
the tears he shed when com-
posing them.
It
is
clear,
then,
that
at no time
since
the
death
of Father
Jogues has the project of having him some day declared Blessed
been forgotten.
It is noteworthy, besides, that in all the eulogies
pronounced on him and on his many fellow missionaries, heroic
as
all of them were, he has always been classed with those who
are singled out from the others
for their distinguished
sanctity.
So characteristic and predominant
is his sanctity
in
all he does,
that
it compels the admiration even of men who think a Jesuit
cannot be
sincere.
According
to Parkman, he
is one of
those
44 whose character the pressure of Loyola's systtm intensified, with-
out debasing, one who was so good
that, even the violence done
by
that system
to
the
noblest
qualities
of manhood,
joined
to
that equivocal system of morality which eminent
casuists of the
Order have inculcated, could not make a whit
less conscientious
or religious."
If documents and historical eulogy of every sort were enough
to
establish
the
sanctity
of Father Jogues,
they
could be
fur-
nished in abundance—so abundantly that the difficulty would be
not in providing them, but in selecting from their splendid
testi-
monials to his merit.
Documents, however, are not enough, how-
soever important may be the part they must play in every process
of beatification.
In a case
like that of Father Jogues, in which
it
is impossible to furnish traditional evidence of his repute
for
holiness,
either before or after
death,
the
written testimony of
authors and compilers from his day down
to our own must be
used to show that he practised
all the theological and moral vir-
tues
in an heroic degree, and that his suffering and death were
patiently and freely met for the interests of our holy
faith.
But
the mere dry statement made from these sources
is not the only,
or in
every
case, the most convincing, argument
in
behalf
of
a
55
Digitized byG00gk
252
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
cause.
What
is
also
in
demand,
and what
naturally
appeals
strongly to the judges in a process of beatification,
is the popular
sentiment which such documentary evidence should produce, the
sentiment of great regard for the sanctity of the soul in question,
and the sentiment also of a great desire to have that soul honored
on our altars.
It speaks well for the cause of Father Jogues that such a senti-
ment springs naturally even from a slight acquaintance with the
manner of his life and sufferings and death.
No sooner had the
scholars who best knew the documents pertaining to his career
prepared his biography for popular reading than an eagerness to
know more
about him was
apparent
everywhere.
The
short
sketches published
in pamphlet form, the monthly notices in the
PUgrim of Our Lady of Martyrs, the circulars issued from time
to time, the excellent short biography written by Father F. Rou-
vier, of Mongres, France, all have been in great demand.
Writ-
ten as they were with the intention of arousing popular interest,
it was soon found that even before they had appeared there was
a disposition to read them, and this disposition has been increas-
ing ever since
their
first appearance.
Much of
this
interest
is
due, no doubt, to the familiarity of many of our priests with the
story of Father Jogues' captivity and death.
During the Third
Plenary Council of Baltimore, when the Fathers assembled were
asked to approve a postulate recommending the cause of Father
Jogues, Rene Goupil and Catherine Tegakwita to the Holy See,
they did not need to inquire either about the merits of these three
servants of God, or about the motives which should prompt every
Catholic to wish for their beatification.
What has most advanced the cause of Father Jogues the past
twelve years
is the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs which has
been erected on the site of Rene Goupil's and his own martyrdom,
which site was also the birthplace of Catherine Tegakwita, whose
cause is associated with theirs.
When the Reverend Joseph Loy-
zance, then of Troy, N. Y., first thought of finding the place con-
secrated by the memories of these heroic souls
his project was
considered a hopeless one by many.
Even when by the use of
maps and by the aid of the distinguished topographer,
General
John
S.
Clark of Auburn, N.
Y., he succeeded
in locating the
site where the Shrine now
stands,
it was thought
that he would
never be able to establish his position in such a way as to satisfy
the many residents of the Mohawk Valley who had
all their dif-
ferent theories about where this
site must be.
In the
first place,
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THE CAUSE OF FATHER JOGUES.
253
not all could have access to the maps of the old Indian villages
as they were located at different intervals from 1635 to 1684; nor
could
all have the
benefit of the personal
direction of General
Clark in their several researches.
Even could they have availed
themselves of all these aids, the convictions that had grown with
years would naturally be hard to shake, the more so that plausible
arguments were not wanting for the many theories.
To encounter
all
this opposition would seem
thankless, were
the determination of the
site of the death of Father Jogues for
mere historical interest the only object of Father Loyzance.
The
pious admirer of the first pioneer priest of New York State had a
higher object in view.
To his eye ol faith
it would be a great
achievement to discover the spot hallowed by the blood of a mar-
tyr; but this discovery seemed to him desirable only in so far as
it would help to bring about the solemn declaration that Father
Jogues was truly a martyr in spirit as well as in the manner of his
taking off.
To help on this result the site of his death must be
made a means, not only of making his heroic
life and death
better
known, but
also
of
inciting pious
souls
to a
confidence
in
his
favor with Almighty God
; or, at least, to the desire to prove by
their prayers the power of his intercession.
As
is well known,
two things which seem, at
first sight, to be mutually contradic-
tory,
are required before a cause of beatification can be
intro-
duced.
It must
first be proved that no worship has been paid
to the servant of God whose cause
is presented and then
it must
also be shown that miracles have been performed in answer to
prayers made through
their
intercession.
As
in
every
other
detail of a process,
in these two points also
is the investigation
most searching.
How, we ask, obtain a miracle unless we induce
the people
to pray, and that
fervently,
in
the way
that makes
prayer most acceptable to God, the prayer that calls for miracles,
united prayer.
And how
shall we have them do
this without
leaving them under the impression that they are to some extent
worshiping those whom the Church as yet forbids us to worship ?
The difficulty is not so great as
it appears to be at
first sight
;
but like many difficulties that are easy to answer,
it may be very
hard to meet in practice, explain as you will the
distinction be-
tween public veneration, which
is forbidden, and private venera-
tion, which
is allowed
;
insist, as much as you can, on the right
we all have to ask any departed soul to intercede for us, so soon
as one of God's servants
is proposed
as being possibly worthy
of beatification,
it is hard for some pious minds to treat with that
57
254
7HE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
soul as with ordinarily
faithful
souls, and
it
is hard to prevent
them from acting or speaking as
if they might publicly venerate
the soul
in
question.
It was a
wise plan,
therefore, of Father
Loyzance
to
erect,
as
the only
place of worship
at the
site
of
Father Jogues' death, a shrine in honor of Our Lady of Martyrs,
securing
in
this way our Blessed Mother's
favor on
the cause
of those who had hallowed, whether by their
life or death,
the
soil
of
the
old
Mission
of
the
Martyrs, and
preventing most
effectually
any
tendency
to
worship
publicly
those whom
the
Church has not yet presented to our worship.
Now
in
this
country we
are
so unacquainted
with
the
true
nature and object of a Shrine, that we are apt to expect too much
or
to obtain too
little oi
Ihe
benefits
of which
it
should
be
a
medium, simply because we overlook or ignore
its
real purpose.
The great Shrine at Lourdes has led many people to think that a
Shrine must necessarily be a scene of frequent and striking mir-
acles.
Indeed,
it
is quite common to meet with people who im-
agine that, when God sees
fit to grant a miracle in answer to the
prayers made through the intercession of Father Jogues,
it
will
surely take place at the Shrine at Auriesville.
It will not do to
answer that the miracle which finally determined the canonization
of St. Berchmans happened not at his Shrine in Diest, but in our
own country in the diocese of New Orleans.
It would,
it is true,
be natural to look for special favors at the place where so much
piety
is
shown,
but
the many
remarkable
favors
reported
as
granted in other places through the intercession of Father Jogues
and
his companions
should
correct
our
belief
that
the
Shrine
must necessarily be a place of miracles.
A place of marvels
it
surely has been, both in the temporal and spiritual order, but as
yet no miracles that we know of have lately been granted through
the intercession of those whom we seek to have beatified.
In his excellent
life of Isaac Jogues, Father Felix Martin nar-
rates several wonderful answers to prayer made with a view
to
having the power of this servant of God made manifest to men
;
but
it would serve no purpose to present these in his process
at
this late day.
If God wishes to have Father Jogues beatified, He
will surely manifest His power;
if men wish to hasten this mani-
festation they must do all they can by their prayers and by their
zeal
for his cause in every way to deserve that he should extend
to them the power of his intercession even by a miracle.
"What
can we expect from the martyr," wrote Dr. Shea
in one of his
private letters, " if we treat him so shabbily ? M
True enough
; how
THE CAUSE OF FATHER JOGUES.
255
can we look to him for a miracle until we do something propor-
tionate to such a favor.
But
there
are no
relics!
The
implication
is
that
there
can
therefore be no miracles.
Now, one of the most frequent experi-
ences in the course of a process of beatification
is the discovery,
or what comes to the same,
the
identification, of the remains
of
the one to be beatified.
In many instances this discovery
is made
in such a singular way as
to be regarded
itself as
miraculous.
Relics of Father Jogues do not exist, unless we regard his manu-
script as such.
His body was thrown into the Mohawk
; his head
lies buried near the village palisades, we suppose, because
it had
been placed on them the evening after his murder.
The remains of Catharine Tegakwita
still
exist, and are kept
carefully by the Abbe of the parish
in which her reservation
is
still maintained, and the
site of her tomb
is known, and many
and remarkable
are the favors ascribed
to the use of the
relics
and to prayers said at the tomb, at which descendants of her tribe
may be seen kneeling frequently on pleasant Sunday afternoons.
The bones of Rene Goupil were buried in the ravine which
falls
back of
the
old
Indian
village
line,
a
short
distance from
the
Shrine grounds.
They were buried by Father Jogues, who hoped
one day to enrich some Christian soil with the bones of this mar-
tyr.
Of course they have not yet been found.
What honor they
would receive could they be discovered may be judged from the
value set upon a stone which lies in the ravine, and which popular
credulity at one time sought to invest with supernatural virtue.
When Father Jogues,
previous
to
the
burial
of the body of
Rene, was obliged
to hide
it from the young Indian braves, he
put
it
in
the
stream,
fastening
it against a
large
rock, around
which the waters flowed, by piling upon
it smaller stones.
Now,
it happens that there
is a
large limestone
in
the depths of the
ravine,
just where the stream-bed formerly
lay, and because
it
was
natural, when
the ravine was
first
identified
as
the
burial
place of the young martyr,
to say
that
this may have been the
large stone
described by Father Jogues,
it was soon taken
for
granted that
it must have been the same, and immediately
it was
treated as a relic.
Fragments were broken off and passed around,
and kept sacredly, and even steeped in water to try their curative
powers.
Cures were soon
attributed
to
it, and the demand
for
more fragments became so great that
it was necessary to
fence
round the stone, encage and padlock
it,
lest
its popularity should
be the cause of its utter disappearance.
59
256
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
Strange to say, Catholics were not the only ones to ascribe such
virtue to this stone
; non-Catholics also began to look upon
it as
a preternatural agent, partly out of respect for what they thought
the
Catholics
believed,
but
chiefly because
of the
superstitious
tendencies of our nature, which are common to
all men, even to
unbelievers.
Now, God can make use of the
lowliest and sim-
plest
of His
creatures
as
a means
of
exercising His almighty
power; and the soil of certain spots consecrated by the blood of
martyrs, or even the bark of the trees, have been used as a me-
dium of His
divine influence even
to the extent of miraculous
results.
There
is no reason why the ravine, so hallowed by the
burial of the young and saintly hero, Rene Goupil, and by the
devotions of his companion
in sufferings and death, should not
thus become a place and source of miracles,
if God wills
it
; but
to encourage or even lightly to permit a belief more or less super-
stitious to be spread abroad about
it and
acted upon would do
great damage
to
the
cause
of both
Father Jogues and Rene
Goupil.
The Church, which
is
so slanderously accused of
fos-
tering
superstition,
is, on the
contrary, most jealous
of
it, and
severe with her children who give way
to
it.
The truth
is, miracles and,
in most cases,
relics, though most
important as a cause of this kind proceeds, are in the beginning
of the process only secondary
in importance compared with the
statements that must be prepared on the virtues of the souls to
be beatified, on their repute for sanctity, on their strict orthodoxy
in doctrinal and moral writings and teachings, on their Christian-
like deaths, on the popular belief in their salvation and extraordi-
nary power of intercession, and, finally, on the rigor with which
every attempt to cultivate them by public worship has been
dis-
couraged and frustrated.
It may sound strange, but this very tendency to venerate pub-
licly a servant of God not yet beatified
is one of the strongest
proofs of his sanctity, and yet
it must be checked under the pen-
alty of losing his cause entirely should
it be encouraged or per-
mitted.
As we have mentioned
in the case of Rene Goupil,
so
an episode in the cause of Catharine Tegakwita will show what
vigilance and sternness this requires.
Born at Ossernenon, now
Auriesville Station, Catharine moved with her tribe
first to Gan-
dawague,
the
present
village
site
of
Auriesville,
and
next
to
Caughnawauga, now Fonda, where she spent most of her
life.
The spring which marked the site of the old Indian village ^soon
became known as the Tegakwita Spring.
Its waters are still run-
Digitized by Google
THE CAUSE OF FATHER JOGUES.
257
ning, and
it was a harmless thought to use them for drinking, but
it was not so harmless to think of sending them here and there as
being likely to show curative powers.
Yet
still some thought of
doing
this,
all on
the
strength
that
Catherine must have
fre-
quented the spring when she went to draw water for her house-
hold.
Happily, this did not last long, and people now look more
to the saintly maiden herself and to her virtues than to any of the
material things associated with her memory.
It should be clear from
all that has been said that the cause
of
Father Jogues
has
not
yet been
formally
presented
to
the
Holy See.
Petitions have been made by the Bishops both of this
country and of Canada
to
receive
his cause
favorably when
it
shall be deemed proper to present
it, but this only means that the
highest dignitaries of the Church in these countries concur with
the clergy and
laity in the conviction that he lived a saintly
life
and died a martyr's
death.
It means
also
that they appreciate
the great benefit
it would be
to our piety to have him declared
Blessed.
Meantime the same conviction has been growing among
the
laity, and
it has led them to appeal to his intercession with
greater confidence, and, to judge by many letters of gratitude they
write,
with greater proofs of the favors God grants through his
servant.
These are some of the results of the work done for his
cause
since
1884, when
active
interest
in
it was renewed, and
they
are important:
they
lend
additional weight
to documents
and testimonies that have been collected with more energy during
that time, and urge on us the need of a speedy presentation of the
cause to Rome.
By the appointment of a vice-postulator the preparation
of
this
first
process was
assured.
The
Rev.
Arthur
E.
Jones,
S.J.,
whose
familiarity with
the
archives
relating
to
the
history
of
Father
Jogues recommended him
for
this
office
has
been
ap-
pointed
to
this
charge.
All
the
evidence
of
Father
Jogues'
virtues
must
be
sifted,
all
his
writings
examined, and
all
the
traditions
about
his
sanctity and
his death
for
the
faith
inves-
tigated thoroughly, before the Bishops, who will be deputed
to
judge in the case, will consent to transmit this first process to be
examined by the congregation of Rites.
While
all the erudition
of postulators and advocates shall be thus employed in establish-
ing the proofs of his title to our veneration, the faithful generally
will be praying for the corroborative testimony of miraculous in-
tervention on the part of God in answer to prayers made through
His servant, which testimony of miracles must
in turn be exam-
61
258
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS.
ined with the closest scrutiny, in order that every possible human
means may
be employed
to
assure
us
that
Father Jogues
is
worthy of the honors of our altars.
This then
is the present
state of the cause of Father Jogues.
Everything seems opportune for the preparation and speedy pre-
sentation of his cause to the proper ecclesiastical courts.
This
is
the most important of
all the measures thus far taken.
All that
has been hitherto done will help to a favorable reception of the
cause when presented, but they are by no means essential
for
its
introduction.
The
publication,
the
Shrine,
the
pilgrimages
in
behalf of the cause, might be done away with to-morrow, but the
preliminary process of presenting
it could and must be prepared.
It can be prepared, moreover, without any detriment even before
the
relics of those who are to be beatified are found, or before
any first-class miracles are accredited to them.
It would not do,
however, to give up what has been of such aid to the work in the
past; nor
is
it too soon
to pray and
to pray
fervently
for the
miracles required before the final decree of beatification.
Accord-
ingly, while the preliminary process
is being actively prepareu,
renewed
efforts must be made
to publish
still more about
the
servant of God
in
question,
to
increase the pilgrimages
to the
Shrine
in number and
in
fervor, and
to multiply
the
prayers
which shall finally draw down God's benediction on the undertak-
ing, even to the extent of a miracle.
With
the cause of Father Jogues,
that
of Rene
Goupil,
his
companion, and of Catharine Tegakwita, who was born on the
site of their martyrdom, will be combined.
And with this
triple
cause,
that
of Father Jogues' companions,
Brebeuf,
Lalemant,
Daniel and Gamier, who died on Canadian
soil,
is
also
to be
united.
No true Catholic will ask why we should be so anxious
about the beatification of these great servants of God.
It
is for
us a family as well as a national affair.
To the men and women
who made the beginnings of our history Catholic we owe unceas-
ing gratitude; to the most distinguished of them who make our
entrance and
first foundations
in America
a splendid record of
heroism and saintliness we owe a devout remembrance that can
never rest satisfied until
it shall be permitted to manifest
itself in
public veneration.
Divine providence blessed our
soil with
the
miracles of grace that made a Jogues,
a Tegakwita, a Brebeuf.
It has worked the miracle of compelling even biased non-Cath-
olic minds to proclaim their esteem for these heroes
in terms so
reverent as to sound almost
like those of religious worship
: the
62
SOME DIRECTIONS FOR PILGRIMAGES.
259
same divine providence can and
will,
in answer to our prayers,
atttest what
it has done in sanctifying their souls, by miraculous
proofs of the glory to which their sanctity entitled them.
Some Directions for Pilgrimages.
The
following
regulations
for
pilgrimages
to
the
Shrine
of
Our Lady of Martyrs, at Auriesville, N. Y., will be useful to pas-
tors organizing pilgrimages, and conducive to the order and piety
of the pilgrims.
Announce the pilgrimage
in good
time,
as
definitely
as
pos-
sible.
Have the announcement printed, giving date of pilgrim-
age, time of departure and return, and the Order of Exercises at
the Shrine.
Make it clear that it is not an excursion, but a pious pilgrimage
to a Shrine erected in the name of Our Lady of Martyrs, on the
site consecrated by the zeal and
sacrifice of devout servants of
God, who,
it
is hoped, will one day be honored as saints for their
virtues and heroic death.
If an instruction on the end of pious pilgrimages, and on the
particular object of this one, be given
in the church some time
before, the mere pleasure seekers
will remain
at home, and the
pilgrims
will be better disposed
to reap the
full benefit of their
piety
Topics for this instruction will be found in Shrine Mauual,
and
in the pamphlet sketch of the Shrine.
Ample opportunity should be given
to the
pilgrims
to go
to
confession on the day before, as there
is time to hear only a few
confessions on their arrival at the Shrine.
The best way to organize a pilgrimage is to choose a committee
from the various parish
societies, both of men and women.
A
number of marshals
should be
chosen
for
the day
of
the
pil-
grimage, to help the priest
in charge to conduct the pilgrims to
and from the railway
station,
to lead the devotions, beads,
etc.,
in the
cars, and when at the Shrine to assist the priests there in
forming the various processions, and to act as ushers at the gates,
about the grounds, and in the chapel during services.
The
choir should
be
as
large
as
possible, and
the members
should be instructed to prepare a programme of suitable hymns,
for singing on the way to the Shrine, for the procession up the
hill, and for the Mass; the Stabat Mater at the Stations of the
Cross, some hymns to Our Lady for the procession to the ravine,
and the Pange Lingua, O Salutaris, and Tantum Ergo during the
procession of the Blessed Sacrament.
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260
THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS,
On
arriving
at
the
Auriesville
Station,
the
pilgrims
form
ranks, the members of
the various church
societies walking to-
gether at the head of the column, led by a Cross bearer.
They
proceed up the hill, singing the Litany or some hymn in honor of
the Blessed Virgin, and saying a decade of the beads after every
ten invocations, or after each stanza.
Mass
is said as soon as the pilgrims
fill the chapel, and imme-
diately after the Mass groups of pilgrims are led about the Way
of the Cross.
This
is followed by an intermission,
after which
the bell gives the signal for the procession to the Ravine, where
the sermon of the day
is generally preached, followed by prayers
and a hymn in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
If time and weather permit, the last exercise of the day
is usu-
ally a procession in honor of the Most Blessed Sacrament,
all the
pilgrims walking
together
in
ranks
to
the
three
altars
erected
on the grounds for this purpose. When
it
is not possible to have
this
procession,
the devotions
are
closed by Benediction
of
the
Most Blessed Sacrament.
It
will
help very much
to have
the members
of the various
parish
societies
wear
their
proper
regalia,
and
walk
together
under the leadership of their own
officers, with -any banners or
flags they may be accustomed to carry.
We would suggest that every pilgrim wear a Shrine pin, which
we can furnish you, or some other emblem.
For
the
procession
of
the
Blessed
Sacrament,
the
priest
in
charge of the pilgrimage should choose
four men
to carry the
canopy, and,
if possible, send some altar boys with their cassocks.
Pious
articles,
such
as
beads,
crucifixes,
scapulars,
medals^
Shrine Manuals,
pictures,
souvenirs,
etc., may be purchased on
the grounds.
Pilgrims
should
not come
together
in
large numbers
to
the
Shrine,
especially on
Sundays, without notifying and
receiving
the consent of their pastors and apprising us of his consent.
This
is necessary for order, at the Shrine and in the parish.
Some days before the pilgrimage word should be sent to
the
priest
in
charge
of
the
Shrine,
about
the number expected
to
make
it, how many may receive Communion
at the Shrine,
the
number of priests to accompany the pilgrims, and the time for the
arrival and leaving of trains.
Lunch may be had at the hotel, and stands for selling coffee, tea
and soft drinks, and sandwiches, are convenient to the grounds, but
for large numbers the hotel keeper should be notified beforehand.
THE PILGRIM
OF
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
September, 1902.
No.
9.
A MEMORABLE DAY
IN
AURIESVILLE.
SUNDAY, August 24, the day to which the clients of Our
Lady
of Martyrs had looked
forward with such eager
anticipation, was in every way a memorable one in the
history of the Shrine.
For earnestness of
devotion, the multi-
tude of pilgrims, the dignity of ceremonials, the presence of his
Lordship, the Right Reverend Thomas
M. A. Burke, Bishop
of the diocese of Albany, and
of so many of
the
clergy who
have at various times helped to make this Shrine worthy of its
August Patron, rendered this dedication of the beautiful statue
of our Sorrowing Mother and the offering of the golden crown
a source of happy memories to those who witnessed
it and a
reward for the devotedriess and faith of those who have trusted
that this hallowed spot would become a shrine worthy of our
Lady's especial complacency.
Notwithstanding the manifold
difficulties that at times were
indeed
discouraging,
all was
in
readiness
for
the
beautiful
ceremony.
The new shrine, with its graceful proportions and
harmony of pillars and capitals and cornice and dome, was suf-
ficiently advanced
to
offer
protection
to
its
treasure.
The
statue, surrounded by masses of fern and palm and
flowers,
already occupied its place beneath the dome.
Never before had pilgrims from so many different places met
at Auriesville,
' The pilgrimage organized by Reverend Father
Murray, of Saugerties, brought pilgrims from
Poughkeepsie,
Kingston, Saugerties, Catskill, Hudson and other places along
the Hudson.
It required nineteen cars
to bring the pilgrims
from Albany, swelled as their number was by many pilgrims
261
262
A MEMORABLE DAY IN AURIESVILLE.
from Troy, who, in spite of
the fact that the Troy pilgrimage
had
taken
place
but a week
before, were
not willing
to
let
this opportunity
of paying
especial honor
to
the Queen of
Martyrs pass unused.
From Amsterdam came Father Gorski,
with his devout congregation of Poles
; many others also came
from
this
city on
the
regular
train, on
the various
pilgrim
trains, in carriages, on bicycles, and even on foot
Johnstown
and Fonda were well represented
;
in fact, the number of those
who came in carriages from the neighboring towns was beyond
all previous record.
It was especially remarked that our neigh-
bors of this section of the valley, many of them gentlemen of
influence and
standing, almost
all
of them not of the
faith,
were
there with members of
their
families and
followed the
exercises with marked
attention and respect.
Devout clients
of our Lady came also from New York City, from Philadelphia
and from
Boston.
The
priests
present were
:
Rev. John
J.
Wynne, S.J.; Rev. Thomas
Campbell, S.J.; Rev. F. X. Brady,
S.J.; Rev. Henry Van Rensselaer, S.J.; Rev. D. T. O' Sullivan,
S.J.;
Rev.
J. F. O'Donovan, S.J.;
Rev.
Charles Lamb, S.J.;
Rev. Fathers Schoppe and Henrich,
of Schenectady
; Father
Driscoll, of Fonda; Rev. Father
Dolan,
of Johnstown; Rev.
Father Murray, of Saugerties
; Rev. Father Gorski, of Amster-
dam, and Rev. Father Gilmartin, of New York.
As the
different pilgrimages arrived they were marshalled
into line by Fatker Denis O' Sullivan, S.J., and led up the hill
to the chapel where, owing to the large number of priests that
were present, masses were being said from early morning until
within a few minutes of noon.
There was an
orderliness, a
seriousness, an earnestness
of devotion manifested by all that
was edifying and impressive and made one
feel that our Lady
must
indeed look down
with
love on these men and women
and children who came thus to honor her.
Holy communion was
distributed
to more than 1,000 per-
sons.
This and
the numerous Masses
occupied
the whole
morning
until
after twelve
o'clock.
It was then announced
that the stations of the cross would be made at two o'clock and
that at three o'clock the ceremonies connected with the blessing
of the statue would commence.
The interval was occupied by
A MEMORABLE DAY IN AUR1ESVILLE.
263
lunch and visits to the ravine.
Some even made the stations
in groups of two or firee.
Promptly
at
the
hour announced,
the
cross
bearer
and
acolytes,
followed by two
of the
Fathers, left the chapel to
begin the Way of the Cross.
Touching as this exercise of de-
votion always is, the sight of
this vast throng, recollected and
devout, listening attentively to the description of our Saviour's
sufferings, seeming verily as they toiled up the hill as though
they were walking
in His very
footsteps and
praying aloud
with sincere fervor, gave to that day's devotions an impressive-
ness that affected many even to tears.
At
last the hour for
the great ceremony of
the day had
arrived, for the great act of veneration and homage that had
brought this multitude together at the feet of our Lady of Mar-
tyrs.
From the chapel on the brow of the hill, preceded by
the cross bearer and
alcolytes and
thurifers, by the priests in
surplice, attended by his chaplains, the Right Reverend Bishop,
with cope and
mitre and
crosier,
blessing
the people
as he
passed, walked in solemn procession to the beautiful new shrine
of our Lady.
There on its massive
pedestal
of whitest marble rested the
statue of the dead Son and the martyr Mother, the Son with a
kingly dignity in His calm face on which still rests the shadow
of His awful passion, the Mother supporting Him against her
knee and bending over Him a face full of sympathy, of tender
love, of repressed anguish that will fill the mind of the onlooker
and occupy his imagination for many a long day
after.
That
the statue
is beautiful beyond all anticipation has been the oft-
repeated comment heard among the pilgrims.
Before
the
Piet&, resting on
a
rich cushion of velvet and
gold,
lay the
crown of
thorns,
the
offering
of
the devoted
friends of the shrine and
loyal children of the Queen of Mar-
tyrs.
Of massive gold, in which are set precious rubies, red as
blood, it is a token whose
beauty appeals
to us more strongly
the longer we look on
it and the further we get away from our
preconceived notions as to what form
the crown
that pierced
the Sacred Head must in reality have had.
When the procession had come to the shrine the Right Rev-
264
A MEMORABLE DAY IN AURIESVILLE.
erend Bishop seated himself at the Gospel side of the altar and
Reverend Father Campbell, S.J., arose to deliver the discourse.
As if our Lady wished to give some little token of Her pleasure,
the
sun, which
until
that moment had been
beating down
almost
mercilessly upon
us, was shaded by a cloud
that pro-
tected the
people as they stood in semi-circles thirty-five deep
to listen
to the eloquent words
that fell from
the lips of the
orator.
Father Campbell's sermon on the Kingship of Christ,
suggested by the crown that was the object of our offering, on
the extent of
Christ's sway, on the
real character of it and the
strength and
the courage and the consolation that we should
derive from the consideration of it, needs no comment
; indeed,
the
very best comment
is found
in
the
rapt attention with
which every sentence of
it was
followed, and
in the straining
eagerness of those at some distance not to lose a word that was
said.
When
Father Campbell had
concluded, the ceremony
of
blessing the statue and the crown was performed by the Bishop,
and the crown was
laid
in
solemn offering
at the feet of our
Blessed Mother.
It was held in place by a golden chain passed
about the wrist of the statue of our Saviour.
After this blessing, simple, as are all the ceremonies of Holy
Church, yet borrowing much of their impressiveness and even
sublimity from
this very
simplicity, Bishop
Burke
arose to
say a few well-chosen and pious words to the
pilgrims
:
" Not
the material wealth of the gold and gems gives
value to
this
offering, but being
the most
precious things
in
the material
world they are the best symbols of the most precious things of
the soul, the deep devotion and loyalty of our human hearts."
And here we cannot refrain from expressing our admiration
for this zealous and pious prelate, whose
presence and active
cooperation did so much to make
this day a memorable
oite.
Coming as a pilgrim with the others from Albany, he absolutely
refused to allow any special accommodation to be prepared for
him on the train
; he took
his
seat among the other pilgrims
and went from car to car during the journey to say a kind word
to all whom he met.
His Lordship came fasting, as he wished
to say mass
at
the shrine.
While there he spared himself no
CROWN OF THORNS.
265
fatigue and
insisted on giving
with
his own hand more than
five hundred communions.
All day long he went about among
the people, and the confidence that all evidently repose in him
and the love they openly manifested for him
whenever he
ap-
peared among them, was one of
the
most edifying spectacles
of a day that was so full of things impressive and edifying.
Benediction of
the
Blessed
Sacrament was given by the
Bishop and the day's ceremonies were concluded.
The pilgrimages departed in the
order
in which they had
arrived
:
first those who
had come by
the regular
train, then
the
pilgrims from Amsterdam, next
those from Albany and
finally those from the towns along the Hudson.
Not until all
were comfortably seated in their cars did
the
rain, which had
threatened for some time, begin to
fall abundantly.
It was a day which nature and the devotion of men and the
favor of heaven seemed to combine to make a noteworthy and
a blessed one.
CROWN OF THORNS.
[The
sermon
preached
at
Auriesville by
the Rev. T.
J. Campbell, SJ.,
Sunday, August 24th, on the occasion of the blessing of the new
statue and offering of the crown of thorns in gold. ]
HY do we bring here to-day the tribute of a gold and
jewelled crown ?
Because we have nothing better.
Is there anything richer than gold ? Anything more
precious than gems ?
If there be, we would and should use it
for our offering.
But there is not.
And even if there were, it
could never approach in value the crown whose beauty, whose
glory and whose significance we commemorate
to-day.
Not
all the gold that ever glittered in the sands of mountain streams
or is yet undug in the mountain depths could fashion a crown
to be at all compared to the rude and hurried one of common
branches which was bound around
the brows of the
Saviour.
Not all the jewels
that ever flashed on earthly diadems,
or still
lie buried in the impenetrable rocky bases of the earth, could
ever equal the glory and splendor of the crimson
drops that
dripped from the sharp thorns of this instrument of pain.
They
Digitized by Google
266
CROWN OF THORNS.
had welled up from
the broken
Heart and were
part of the
priceless Blood of Jesus Christ
There
never was a crown, or a crowning, or a king such as
this effigy in metal and in marble endeavors
partially to por-
tray.
We are familiar with coronations.
For months past we have
been watching the preparations for the gorgeous ceremonial of
the crowning of a representative of a royal race. We have been
startled, as
all
the world has
been, by the shadow
of death
which so unexpectedly darkened the splendor of the scene that
was preparing, and from afar we have witnessed the completion
of
it, when with
all the pomp and magnificence which earthly
pride could suggest, with the remnants of a ritual kept from a
religion which
his ancestors had
rejected, in the most sacred
shrine that England possesses, the golden circlet symbolical of
kingly dignity and power was taken from an altar whereon the
Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ had centuries ago
been
offered,
and with many
ceremonies and
presentations
which have long since
lost
their sacramental significance, was
placed on the royal brows by the hands of one who was thought
to be the highest spiritual dignitary of the realm.
'It was right
;
it was proper.
For the man who was chosen
from among others to be king represented
in
this instance a
kingdom whose imperial power stretches back through long and
turbulent but glorious centuries, a dominion whose realms ex-
tend from the vast continent in the far-off southern seas to the
regions on the north of us which border the unnavigable wastes
of the frozen ocean
; a nation whose formidable navies are on
every sea
; whose rich argosies laden with precious freight are
in every port, whose
gold
and
treasures
are
seemingly ex-
haustless
; whose ambition
to extend
its
limits
is sometimes
challenged but never completely checked
; and whatever our
judgment about its policy or justice may be, there can be no
doubt that the influence which it wields by its statesmanship,
its literature,
its wealth, and even
its
religion, has been more
than stupendous in shaping the manifold destinies of the mod-
ern world.
It
is proper, therefore, that one who
typifies, ex-
presses and
emphasizes
all
these
national
glories
should be
gloriously crowned.
CROWN OF THORNS.
267
But he
is only one of many who have been so honored.
There
have been
rulers, for example, like
those
of ancient
Rome, who not only governed separate portions
of the world,
but
to whom
every known
part
of
it was
subject.
There
have been emperors whose word or nod was enough
to make
or devastate entire nations and races
; who wielded an impe-
rial sway which for its extent, its relentless absolutism as well
as its splendor was
until
then undreamed
of
; who were
the
centres of a civilization which embodied all that
the
previous
civilizations of Egypt and Nineveh and Persia and Greece had
achieved
; who were surrounded by such glories of philosophy,
literature and art as to make
of the age by
the
lustre which
was shed upon it the golden era of intellectual culture and re-
finement, and besides all that whose mighty military armaments
traversed every highway of the world
; whose boundless treas-
ures flowed in constant streams from every
part
of the
earth
for the indulgence of imperial luxury or the advancement of
imperial
power, and who,
dazzled by
the
magnificence and
majesty and might of
it all, aspired to be divinities and were
accorded honors which are given to God alone.
But how trivial and insignificant is all that human ambition
could ever covet or conceive when compared
with
the king-
ship of Jesus
Christ.
Not
merely
all
the kingdoms
of the
world but all the
limits of earth are given
to Him
as an
in-
heritance
; not merely every representative of the human race,
for u He illumineth every man that cometh into
this
world,"
but all animate and
inanimate
things do His
bidding
;
" He
calleth to the stars and they say
: here am
I
not merely all
who are upon earth but "all who
are
in
heaven, or earth, or
hell shall bend the knee at the mention of His
name."
As
when He walked among men in
His
brief earthly apparition
and the sea grew still at His command, the darkened
eye was
illumined, the withered limbs waxed strong and the grave gave
up its dead, so now all nature is subject to
His sway and pro-
claims His kingly majesty and
power.
Here in
this
usually
peaceful valley you have sometimes witnessed the fierce storms
sweeping across the sky
;
you have trembled
at
the pealing
thunder and shuddered at the lightning flash.
It
is the King
Digitized by Google
268
CROWN OF THORNS.
passing in His might.
You have seen, as we did a week ago,
the rainbow of the clouds, not
merely spanning
the heavens,
but enveloping
in its
iridescent splendor
the hill and the val-
ley and the stream as with a vesture, and then slowly gathering
into the distant east give way to
the
sunburst
that touched
all the landscape and the clouds above as with burnished gold.
It was only the hem of
the royal robe of Him who
ruleth all,
a glimpse of which it was vouchsafed us
to
see.
Or perhaps
you have looked upon the ocean
and heard
the
roar
of
the
tempest as the billows flung themselves in white foam against
the
darkened
sky
;
it
was
" the
voice of
the
Lord
upon
the
waters.''
Or you have
stood,
perchance,
upon
some
mountain peak and gazed into the illimitable
blue, or
felt the
ecstasy of the
myriads
of brilliant
luminaries glorifying the
sky at night and making
it,
if possible, more
beautiful than
the day
;
you
were
only
looking
at
the
pavement of
the
heavenly court, where the King
of glory
reigns more radiant
than a million suns.
They are
all
His.
The
hills and
the
mountains and
the
valleys, the
rivers and
forests, the
birds
that
fill the skies with music, the
fishes
that flash in the
sea,
all living things that are in the depths
of the earth
or roam
over its surface, or float unseen in the air, have only
one pur-
pose
and
end and
object,
that
namely, which the
inspired
psalmist sung thousands
of years ago
to
the
music
of His
quivering harp strings, and
that
is
to
bless the name of the
Lord.
His
is not
a kingdom
of
limited
space.
He
is the
Ruler of all
; His is not a dominion whose
beginning we can
note in time.
u Before the day
star, was He begotten in the
splendor of holiness, when He was constituted a
king upon
Mt. Sion
; His is
not a kingdom
of a few
fleeting
years,
' for
heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word will
net pass
away.
His kingdom is unto everlasting.
His is not a divinity
that pride and
folly
has
conceived, but
though
a Man
like
unto
us, He is God of God, true God of true God by whom
and in whom and through whom all
things were made, Jesus
Christ yesterday, to-day and forever."
Not only is He a King but He is the King of kings and
the
Lord of lords.
A king's majesty perishes when you flout and
CROWN OF THORNS.
269
buffet him
; when you pluck his sceptre from his grasp, when
you bind him in chains and overwhelm him with agony and
pain.
These things a king will
die
to avoid.
Jesus
Christ
died to make them His own and to transmute them from signs
of ignominy
into emblems
of triumph.
When
amid
the
unspeakable
horrors
of the
night
in
the
guard room, the
soldiers spat upon Him with scorn, when they tied
his hands
with cords, when with their sticks and their iron-covered fists
they beat down the cruel crown upon His head, when they led
him out in mockery of royalty to hear His
people
revile and
repudiate Him, when
they not only bound Him but nailed
Him to a gibbet which
they gave Him for a throne with His
title to kingship fastened above Him, they only prepared for
Him new
titles
to glory and
enabled Him
to
make what
dishonors and
destroys a king, new motives
for His subjects
to venerate
Him, and more
efficacious
means
for extending
more widely and more powerfully His kingdom among men.
For not all the glory that shone upon His transfigured body on
Mt. Thabor is comparable to the splendor which radiates from
His crown of thorns and from the ignominy and pains which
His
enemies
put upon
Him.
Nay, not all the glory of the
Godhead
appeals
to
the hearts of men whom He came
to
conquer as the bleeding brow which His coronet had pierced
and the bleeding hands and
feet by which "He led captivity
captive,
5 " Christ reigneth from the tree."
What is the purport of all this ?
Is it merely to
call up be-
fore our minds the picture of the royalty of Christ in order to
produce
feelings
of
wonder and
admiration?
If it were so,
would not that be sufficient ?
Would not the vision of such a
king, if we could keep
it constantly before our eyes, ensure the
tenderest loyalty and most devoted service ?
Is it not, in fact,
incumbent upon us, as the Sovereign
Pontiff has recently re-
minded us, to preach the Kingship of
Christ in these
days of
ours which not only scoff at His right to rule, but which deny
His divinity, and degrade Him,
if
they
consider Him at all,
into a mere teacher or benefactor, blasphemously coupling His
holy name with wretched, vile and contemptible creatures like
Buddha, Confucius and even the impure Mohammed ?
270
CROWN OF THORNS.
But this is not the principal sentiment which this commem-
oration
of the closing
scenes
of
the Passion
is intended to
evoke.
It is rather to help us to penetrate more profoundly, or
if we are not Catholics, to help
us
to
solve,
it may be for the
first time, the mystery which has always perplexed the world,
viz.: the mystery of sin and its consequent mystery of sorrow
and pain.
The
catastrophes
which
desolate
the
earth, the
famines,
wars and pestilences and whatever else is
included in the uni-
versal doom
of
intellectual, moral
and
physical
disease and
death, is sin
; not in
itself, indeed, but in its necessary and un-
escapable
consequences.
But before us, in the representation
of the dead Christ we have its truest and completest expression.
Here it is seen assailing the Lord God of
majesty and
glory,
trampling Him down with hatred, under the feet
ot the vilest
and most abominable of human
creatures; an
outrage
not
restricted
to
that particular Good
Friday, but unfortunately
perpetrated
at every moment of time.
It is clear that an act
of such infinite
atrocity demands an equivalent, that
is to say,
an infinite reparation.
It is either that, or the everlasting dam-
nation of the entire human
race.
In other words, it
is the
satisfaction for an infinite crime committed against the majesty
of the Most High God by His creatures.
But justice is never
satisfied except by a complete and equivalent penalty of some
kind or other
inflicted on the criminal.
Therefore must we
suffer.
Moreover, this paying
of the
penalty of our
trans-
gressions, this atonement for sin
is a war against the powers of
evil which
are threatening to destroy us.
Can we expect to
be other than battered and bruised
in any war which we en-
gage in, or which we are compelled by circumstances to enter?
It
is a storming
of
the
gates
of
heaven, which
sin has shut
against us.
Can we imagine
that in such an undertaking we
shall
not be asked to forego worldly advantages, worldly com-
forts, worldly pleasures, when our aim
is to gain and make our
own, all that heaven contains ?
From the lips of Jesus Christ
we have it that "we must suffer in order to enter the kingdom
of heaven."
Such then is the answer
to
the problem, such the
solution
CROWA OF THORNS.
271
of the
mystery.
Suffering
is
necessary, is
just,
is
inevitable,
and it was to reveal that truth to
us, to impress it as deeply as
possible on our hearts, that the Son of God assumed our human
nature, and
because He assumed
also the
sins of mankind,
leaped
into the deepest abyss of ignominy and
suffering into
which
it was possible to descend.
Capable of the greatest pain,
and paying the greatest penalty
( for everything He did was of
infinite value), He bound the cruel crown of thorns upon His
brow and bade all His followers, who would win the crown of
glory, to
imitate His example.
From
that crowu
of thorns therefore the light
flashes.
It
penetrates the gloom of despondency and despair with which
we are sometimes surrounded.
It not only clears up the mys-
tery of sorrow by showing us
its
necessity, but
it even helps
us
to
appreciate the
blessing
that
is
conferred on us by en-
abling us, through our union with Jesus
Christ, to cancel our
debt, and for a
little
suffering to gain
a
happiness
that
can
know no limitation or reach no end.
By that light we seize the significance of this representation
of the Mother of Sorrows who takes the crown of thorns in her
stainless hands as her Son
lies
all mangled and disfigured in
her lap. We can appreciate, to some extent at least, how He
would have this glorious woman, His own dearest mother, and
ours, upon whom the shadow of sin had never
fallen, this
woman whom the Holy Scriptures depicts as clothed with the
sun and with a diadem of stars upon her head, who is the ideal
of
all
that
is pure and
radiant
in humanity, who is the fair
dream of painters and sculptors of every age in their imperfect
and vain endeavors to portray her beauty upon living canvas
or
in speaking marble, we
can, I say, by the light of Christ's
agony, solve the mystery of how He
has permitted, nay, how
He has wished that while she pressed her blood-stained lips to
His gaping wounds and bathed them with her streaming tears,
she should have the whole sea of sorrow dash against her break-
ing heart and feel as no one else could
feel, mother and saint
as she was,
the agony which her beloved Son had
suffered.
She was cooperating with Him as no one else could in the re-
demption of the world and winning
for
her crown
of
thorns
her resplendent crown of glory.
272
CROWN OF THORNS.
By it we
can
understand why millions of martyrs
suffered
death in every horrible form, though a word or a gesture or a
look, might have averted
it, and won for them instead, all that
earthly honor and riches and pleasure could bestow.
We
can
understand
why
upon
this
blood-stained
hill
during
fourteen
months
of
frightful
torture,
Father Jogues
could linger among
the savage men who seemed to be trans-
formed to demons
; how he could have suffered his flesh to be
slashed and devoured before his eyes
;
his
fingers
to be eaten
off his body
;
to
writhe
in agony on the ground to which he
was
fastened
while
living
coals
were heaped upon him
;
to
shiver naked in the winter
blasts, and after his deliverance to
come again
to
receive the blow of
the tomahawk that ended
his sufferings.
It was the way that God had appointed for him
to enter into glory.
An awful way,
it
is true, but his under-
standing and will were made equal to the task.
We can understand the otherwise inexplicable problem of
the poor and the wretched and the
outcast, who are flung into
the foul slums of our great cities, or sheltered
in
the hospital
wards or asylums, when their weary life draws to a close.
We
can understand also our own sufferings and disappointments
and
humiliations and
poverty, the
desertion and betrayal of
friends,
the persecutions of enemies, the
desolation and
dis-
couragement of sickness and old age, and the appalling disaster
of death.
To us they are explicable and supportable, to others
without faith they are expressions of God's cruelty and lead to
suicide and despair.
And with it all comes another revelation,
the
revelation of
our own nobility, our own kingliness.
We are not as the false
teachers of the present day would have us be, mere matter acted
upon and influenced irresistibly by what has
preceded or by
what is actually surrounding us. We are possessed of immortal
souls
; we have a mind that can know, and a free and indomitable
will that can execute what the mind sees
is right.
We are sur-
rounded in
myriad ways by an
all encompassing and
lovable
Providence of God
; we are associated with all that has existed or
exists now on earth or in heaven, of the noblest and purest of the
human race;we are accompanied on our way and aided in our battle
by the countless armies of the angelic hosts; we are consecrated
MARY OBEDIENT.
273
as kings in the Sacraments
; we are nourished and strengthened
by the Blood of Jesus Christ
; nay when our poor bodies
suc-
cumb to the stroke of death, they are brought like the remains
of conquerors before the sanctuary of God, surrounded by flar-
ing torches, shrouded in clouds of fragrant incense, laved with
blessed water, and with holy rites and ceremonies laid in ground
that no profane thing can desecrate.
And above
all we have
ever before us the well founded hope that glows like a blessed
vision to the eyes of faith, of the time when amid the unimagin-
able glories of heaven, surrounded by the countless hierarchies
of angelic spirits, and the exulting multitudes
of
martyrs
and
confessors and virgins who are crowned with their diadems of
light and waving
their
triumphant palms,
near
the
bright
throne of the
ever
Blessed Mother we
shall look upon tht
countenance of Jesus
Christ
; shall behold the crown of thorns
no longer an instrument of
torture, but adding new
glory
to
the heavenly courts
; we shall feel the touch of His hands, and
hear the celestial music
of His
voice
as He pronounces the
words of triumph and bids us reign with Him for ever
in the
Kingdom which His
suffering
has enabled us
to
win.
For
our crown of thorns " He will give us our crown of glory."
LILY-FLOWER she was, white, slight and fair,
And gracious as the lily, bending low
As lilies bend before the winds that blow
Across our gardens when eve chills the air
;
One—and One only—knew her sweetness rare,
One and One only could her sweetness know,
For, near her heart had rested in Love's glow
The Inlant God, to find all solace there.
Pure as the falling snow
!
What snow so pure ?
Pure as the morning dewdrop
!
Who can say
That ought of earth could be so pure as she?
All symbols fail
; mere words can not endure
The strain of mystic meaning
; on a day,
She, to the Temple, carried doves and purity.
MARY OBEDIENT.
—Maurice Francis Egan.
THE BIRDS OF THE MADONNA.
BABY MARIA RONDINELLA opened her eyes in a poor
little cottage outside the Milanese Porta Roma*a.
It was
in the end of May
; the swallows had come back
; they
were wheeling overhead in thousands, darting down among the
rice-fields where the
baby's
father
and mother worked, and
from whence rose the thick, white mists winter and summer
;
all
the
air resounded
to
the
shrill,
tuneful
music
of
their
screams.
Giorgio and
Giulia
had
always worked among
the
rice,
though the pay was small
; they both
suffered
from rheuma-
tism, too, growing prematurely old
; but they could not change
their lives,
so
they did
the work
to the best of their ability.
They had another child, " Stella," who took the new bambina
to her motherly five-year-old heart at once.
It was the month
of the Madonna, so they
called
it
Maria, adding Rondinella,
after Our Lady's own birds, the swallows, whose beautiful satin
waistcoats and
tailcoats were flashing in the clear skies.
Stella was
a
pretty
child, fair
hair and dark
eyes, with a
sunny, rosebud mouth.
Rondinella was a graver, speculative-
looking baby, of a type you may so often see in Ireland, blue-
eyed with dark curls.
From the day when
Giulia bound her
with the yards of narrow linen which they call fascie,
laid
her
on a pillow and carried her to the open door, she gazed at the
blue sky where
the
swallows were
skimming.
Then they
said
:
" She knows them
; she is their sister,
little Rondinella."
At length the nests were empty, the birds were ready to de-
part
; by now she could clap her tiny hands and
coo to them.
When they flew away she wept.
The bleak
winter of North
Italy was gone
;
the swallows
came back, but the cottage was a sad home now.
Giorgio had
died of fever in April, so only the desolate widow with her help-
less babes were left.
The fattore of the estate they worked on
had
interested himself so much in their case that he got Stella
elected
to
the Milanese
Orphanage
of
Stelline,
where
she
would be educated and taught a business
or
trade, set out in
274
Digitized by Google
THE BIRDS OF THE MADONNA.
275
life, and, if she married, would
receive a thousand francs as a
dowry for linen and clothes.
Giulia
herself had been
offered a situation
in
the fattore's
own house, so ther* only remained the baby, Maria Rondinella.
The mother's heart was half broken at parting with her, but as
her three sisters and only relatives, who kept a cafe* on the Lake
of Como, had offered to give
the child a home and so provide
for her, she had to submit to the separation.
" The Holy Virgin keep you both,'' wept
the poor woman
as she packed
their few belongings
;
for
this was
their last
night in the cottage where Giorgio had died.
The baby sat in a
low chair at the door, watching the swallows flying in the red
sunset, and holding out her tiny hands and crying
:
" Rondini, bei rondini" while the elder child clung to
the
mother with many sobs, for she understood that after this night
she would live with her no
more.
On
the morrow the new
tenants took
possession, the
little family now being scattered
and settled in their new homes.
This story has to do with Rondinella.
Her three aunts-, the
" Signorine Courti," known as the
" Tre
Sorelli,"
or
as the
"Three Graces " or "Three Furies/' were all kindly, hot-tem-
pered,
ugly
old
maids.
The Cafe* had
been
their
father's
before them, and they did a
fair business
in an old-fashioned
way, holding a government license for tobacco also.
Zia Amalia, the best tempered, let the baby do pretty much
as she liked, Zia Elena was much stricter as became the eldest
and head of the house, while Zia Quillina, being the gossip of
the family, only pounced down upon the
child when she was
not watching
the
entire village
street from
the Cafe
door, or
retailing
the
latest news
to
her
sisters
and
other
friends.
Among them all Rondinella ran a fair chance of being spoiled,
for they loved her, were proud of her very pretty little plump per-
son and serious blue eyes.
Later on they were delighted with
her success at school, for she was very quick, learning French
easily and even a little English, to say nothing
of her knowl-
edge of the real meaning of the Latin prayers in church.
Every year the /attorns wife gave Giulia a week's holiday,
and 6he came down
to Como from Milan
in the "Tramvia
276
THE BIRDS OF THE MADONNA.
Economica," to see her
daughter.
The years
rolled
by, and
now Rondinella was fourteen, the prettiest
girl in the village,
rather too grave and old for her age, some thought, though that
might have come from living with the three aunts.
She was of
a thoughtful nature.
Stella had finished her education, and had
been placed with a noble family as a
lace ironer and embroid-
eress
at
Monza.
There
she met with an undergardener of
the king's palace, to whom
she became engaged, for one
of
the Stelline need
never go without a husband should
she be
inclined to
marry, for between the dowry they will have, the
education, and the good
character they bear, they are much
sought after.
Stella told her mother, Giulia, and she cried for
joy.
a Mamma
mia, you
shall come
and
live with
us
here
in
Monza, you shall work no more.
Tonio will
be
glad, he
has
no mother, povertno."
In the meantime the sister grew up
to womanhood on
the
lovely shores of Como, becoming more and more necessary
to
the
tl Three Graces"
as
they grew
older and
uglier.*
She
helped Zia Amalia in the tobacco shop, Zia Elena counted on
her assistance in the kitchen, while Zia Quillina could hardly
spare the time to do her own business, which was the keeping
in order of the Cafe, or minding that of everybody else.
So
Rondinella, her schooling finished, was busy enough.
She had
many admirers, but seemed indifferent to all, at least as lovers.
She had, however, one firm friend, a fine looking lad,
the doc-
tor's youngest son, Leopoldo della Torre.
In their school days
he had been her protector, when they grew older her
cavalier
on every village festay and when he had
been marched off,
a
disconsolate conscript,
two
years
ago,
Rondinella had
cried
bitterly—feeling that life held but little
for her now.
Poldo
wrote very often to her
;
the descriptions of cities he had seen
interested her and made her long
to
travel.
He had
served
his three years, was coming home in the summer, and was
to
resume his studies
as an
electrical
engineer
in
Milan.
His
father and mother did not in the least approve of his
affection
for the orphan in the Caf£, though they admitted she was duti-
ful, quiet, and clever, but they
looked
higher
for Poldo than
THE BIRDS OF THE MADONNA.
277
the portionless niece of the "TreSorelli,"
it being well known
that they could give her but little when she married.
He was
now nineteen
; she just two years younger.
A good many young men from Como and the hotels had be-
gun to drop in
of an evening
to the
Caf<£, and although Zia
Quillina served them and had all the news out
of them in
a
jiffy, they usually managed to have a little
talk
with Rondin-
ella.
There was an extremely handsome
Florentine
; he acted
as majordomo for a great family who had a villa on the Lake,
when they stayed three or four months in the summer, until it
was the fashionable time to go to the sea
baths on the
Lido,
where they owned a home on the shores of the blue Adriatic.
This young man seemed to fascinate the girl, who had done no
more than speak to any one since Poldo had left.
She liked to
hear the pure Tuscan tripping from his tongue,
his imitations
of the Venetian
gondoliers,
his
tales
of London and
Paris,
wherein he himself figured as the hero very often.
His name
was Enrico Tullo
;
his master the Marchese Sforzi, trusted him
with everything; the Marchesa thought nothing could be done
without him
;
the Marchesini
adored
him.
They
paid him
well, he dressed like a gentleman
with
very good
taste,
and
smoked the best cigars the Caf<£ people could sell.
So when he
began to pay such attention to the girl
her three Aunts were
more than flattered, saying
" What
a handsome
couple they
are, per Bacco."
But there was something about Rico that
didn't quite ring true, for all
his grace and
adroit
flattering,
sometimes the child wondered about him
in
her own
heart.
One may be sure that the
doctor's wife gave
her son all
the
news, which drove Leopoldo distracted, until he beat his head
on the bare white walls of the
" Caserma
or barracks where
he was in Rome.
" In three months," he cried, " I shall be free—and then—'*
It was the day of Corpus Domini.
In the morning the win-
dows and
balconies had all been gaily draped and filled with
spectators
to
see
the
procession
pass.
In
the pageant (now
suppressed by the law in Italian cities, but still allowed in
the
country districts) were
nearly
all
the
village
children, repre-
senting the saints, etc.
There was St. John, with his wayward
278
THE BIRDS OF THE MADONNA,
little lamb, led by a baby in sheepskins, who had
to have an
acolyte
told off to attend to them
both
; Santa Maria Madde-
lena in pomp, with looking-glass and beautiful long train
; the
same in penitence, with bare feet and a nun's habit
;
St. Peter
with
the keys
;
St. Ursula
attended by
virgins
; and half a
hundred
other
saints.
Also
groups
of angels and cherubs,
then priests carrying the Host, in magnificent vestments, under
a splendid
canopy.
It was now the afternoon
; Maria Rondi-
nella sat in her new muslin frock, near her Aunt Amalia, when
Enrico Tullo
entered
the cool, dark tobacco shop.
It was to
ask the three aunts for their consent to his marriage with their
niece.
So
they were
formally engaged.
Zia
Quillina, in a
trice, dressed herself in her best, and very soon the village was
ringing with
the
news.
Then was
the doctor's
wife glad
at
heart.
Every one was smiling
; only Rondinella herself was
grave
; she loved him very much, certainly, and would have
been terribly hurt
if he had not spoken
; but there was some-
thing
Is a lover always what a girl wishes exactly ?
He
was not so forgetful as poor Poldo
; he bragged to the " Three
Graces " about
the home
he would give
her, how he would
bring her home to
see them every year, making light
of her
want of a dowry, even turning that to his own glorification.
" I
have enough for
us both/' he laughed
; and indeed he
was for the moment madly in love with Rondinella's dark blue
eyes and the admiration for himself that shone out from them.
He was
a devoted
lover, and
in
the
still summer evenings,
amid the scent of
roses and songs of nightingales,
all Rondi-
nella' s fears vanished and she was perfectly happy.
Then Poldo came home, not
very
tall, but
straight and
broad, with a fine bronze color in his cheeks.
He had schooled
himself
to
forget, even going the length of
being friendly to
Enrico.
It was early in September.
The two young men went
one morning with
a gun
apiece to shoot some
uccelli for the
polenta at midday.
There was to be a little feast
in the Cafe,
for the Marchese's household left on the morrow.
When they
returned the young majordbmo was evidently out of temper.
" Corpo di Bacco, the luck was with Poldo,' ' he cried, throw-
ing down
the
almost empty bag on the
marble
table
before
THE BIRDS OF THE MADONNA.
279
him.
Leopoldo drew out of this about a dozen plump
little
birds, which he handed to the girl in silence.
" But I have shot some
small
ones," continued
Rico,
" we
will skin them and make thee a
collarette with
the
breasts,
carina"
And he shook his bag, tumbling out a heap of tiny
bodies with black rumpled feathers and white satin waistcoats.
Rondinella absolutely screamed.
" Dio
tnio,
hadst thou
the
heart to
shoot the Madonna's
birds?
I will never forgive thee, never
!
''
She rushed out of the Cafe, and left the two men looking at
each other.
u I told you/' said Poldo slowly,
" you
did wrong, they are
her little sisters/'
" Such superstition
is ridiculous," snapped the other.
" It may be, but
it is not
to
Rondinella.
Besides no luck
follows any one who
shoots the swallows, we all believe that
round here."
Before the girl's anger was over, Enrico had
vanished
; but
he came back later on and pleaded
his
ignorance,
professing
such
penitence
that
she
forgave him.
He was
leaving
to-
morrow too.
" Thou wilt write, Amor mio?"
he
whispered,
kissing her
farewell.
" Stcuro, Rico, and thou ?
''
" 1 will think of my bird until we build our nest together in
the spring.'
Enrico was gone.
Then
the swallows
flew away and the
bleak winds whistled again down
the mountains.
Poldo was
in Milan.
At Christmas when he came home his heart ached
for Rondinella, she had grown
so
thin
and
pale.
Enrico's
letters were few and short
; but he always spoke
of the home
he was getting ready for u Pasqua."
Just before the Carnival, Poldo went with his master to Rome,
where an
electric
novelty
was
being
exhibited.
Lent
had
hardly begun, when he stood in
the door of the tobacco shop
where the girl sat sewing
alone.
She looked
up,
her
heart
almost ceasing to beat, for she had asked him to
see
Enrico
;
there he stood with
a troubled
face, while
his downcast
eyes-
would not meet her own.
28o
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
" Madre Mia/' she cried, "what is it, Poldo ?"
On her listening ears his answer
fell
like
lead.
Just three
words.
" He
is married."
Poverina !
That was some years ago.
Rondinella has long been Leo-
poldo's happy wife, they have a
little villa
with
a
roof, Swiss
fashion,
of
pointed
eaves.
There
the swallows come every
year, filling the clear air with their joyous cries.
Giulia has
almost
forgotten the
bitter
days
of her youth,
resting in the peaceful
eventide now with
one, now with the
other of her daughters.
And Enrico Tullo.
They say he came
to no good in the end, but what can
be expected
of one who
wantonly took
the
blessed
little
lives
of the
" Birds
of the
Madonna? "
Mrs. Mary Macalpine.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
( Continued} .
The Twelfth
Station,
jesus dies.
cTESUS hung suspended on the cross, His blood falling drop
(#j
by drop, and His life was being slowly spent.
The Jews
were gloating over His
approaching
death.
Mary was
there,
still erect, her eyes fixed upon her Son.
John, standing
like her, and like her, overwhelmed with sorrow.
Magdalen,
fallen to her knees, her two arms embracing the wood
of the
cross, amid her sobs and her tears withdrew not her lips from
the lacerated feet of her divine Master.
Toward
midday
the
heavens become darkened, baneful,
livid,
night
envelops the
-earth.
Jesus feels that His
hour
has come.
" Mother," He
.-says to Mary, in a tone of inexpressible
tenderness,
" Mother,
.behold your son, henceforth," and His
eyes
rested on
John,
;His
well-beloved.
Then
addressing
Himself
to
John,
<l Behold your Mother
! " And as if He wanted to condescend
a last time to human weakness
:
" O, My
Father, He
cried,
Digitized by
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
28l
looking up
to heaven, O, My Father, why have you
forsaken
Me
! "
But recovering Himself quickly in
His
divine power,
44 All is now accomplished,' ' He
said, and with
a loud voice
He uttered the cry
" My Father, into Thy Hands I commend
My spirit," then He bowed His head, and died.
In the temple, suddenly, from
the top even to the bottom,
the
great
veil
was
rent.
The earth was shaken
to its very
depths, as if it were about to perish.
The rocks were split and
the bones of the dead put on their
flesh.
A
great
curtain of
blood passed before the sun.
44 Ah
! M
cried
out the trembling centurion in command of
the cohort
:
44 it was
true
then, this was
the Son
of God
! "
and he went away striking his breast.
His soldiers follow him
; then
the Jewish
people, satisfied,
all
that
croTtfd
disappeared
little by
little,
concealing
its
terror
under
the
restless mask
of
a
sardonic smile
;
and
there remained at the side of the dead body, Mary, John, and
Magdalen.
When
the
throng
of
people had
gone, two other women
approached, who until now had
remained aloof
: Mary,
the
mother of James, and Salome, the mother of John.
Together,
silent and
desolate,
before
that cross whereon
hung the Master, they began the death watch.
Death
!
God has submitted to
it.
We
must submit to it
;
perhaps it is not far off
; perhaps we already bear its germs in
in
our
breasts
; perhaps
it has
already
set
its mark on our
brow.
To die
!
To die
!
I,
too,
even
I,
must
die.
That word
sounds
hard
to
the
ear
of man
!
And
yet
he
must
die.
4< Man's days are as grass, as
the flower of the field so shall he
flourish
Homo
sicut fcenum
dies
ejus, tanquam flos agri sic
efflorebitr
(1)
Whence comes
that
dread
with which death
inspires us ?
We live altogether by means of our senses in this world
;
it is
through them that our thoughts come to us,
it is through them
that our affections are nourished and our desires aroused. Our
(1)
Ps.
cii, 15.
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282
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
whole
life,
thenceforward,
even
supposing
it
innocent,
is
peopled with material and sensible objects
; we see only them,
we love only them.
Death arouses us, snatches us cruelly from
this world of sense
;
it separates us forever from
it.
You
can
understand now how cruel it is to us
!
But why are we
so much
attached to passing things ?
Do
we not know that we must leave them some day, and depart
without them ?
God has set the seal of death on every creature.
He wished
that everything should warn us
of
its disastrous frailty.
The
flowers fade before our eyes, the fruits fall, the trees die.
The
day is extinguished
in
night.
The song of that
bird, which
charms you,
is growing feebler
in
the echo of the woods,
it is
no more. There is not even one of those gigantic rocks, whose
mass seems to defy the ages, which will not crumble and little
by
little
fall
into
dust.
And within
ourselves, how many
things die
!
The very act which we perform
in
one
instant, has it not
escaped from us in the next ?
How often would we not will-
ingly have been able to seize it as
it
fled
from us, to perform
it over again better and more worthily.
It has
gone.
Time,
that mysterious image of life, what is
it but a succession of in-
stants of which
one
dies
while
the other
is
arriving.
Our
thoughts pass away, our resolutions vanish,
our
affections die
one after another.
Everything cries out
to us
: "I am going
to die
! n
Everything dies within us and around us.
What is
there that is permanent and unchangeable in the world ? And
we, we consumed with the desires of eternal
affections,
it is to
these
things
that must
die,
to which we
attach our hearts.
And this
is not
all.
We, who must
ourselves
die, we attach
ourselves to that world which we will have
to
leave.
Let us
suppose that everything outside of us were
immortal, would it
not be enough to know that we must
die
to prevent us from
exposing ourselves to
the heartrendings
of an
inevitable and
ever-threatening separation ?
Why, no
!
It is when death approaches, when our wrinkles
deepen and our hair becomes white, when our body is stiff and
exhausted,
it is then that we cling, with a frenzied energy, just
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
283
like a man who is drowning,
to
the
vain
loves of this earth
!
Whose fault is
it, then, if it is hard for us to die ?
An
instinct of nature makes
us
look upon
death with
an
equal terror.
Our body and our soul, this is ourselves in
this
world
: death, which separates these two, one from the other,
appears to us then as a tearing asunder of our very
selves.
In fine, sickness, sorrow, the dread of agony, form
a
cortege
from which our soul in terror shrinks.
The animal, like man, gives proof of that natural horror and
the better tempered soul, the most saintly soul cannot always
defend itself against it.
And what is wonderful in this ?
Death is a punishment
!
It
is by sin that it entered into the world
;
it is the wages of sin
!
Let us receive
it as such, Christians, and recognizing that we
are guilty, let us bow our head humbly before
divine
justice
which strikes
us.
It is the custom, when the
priest assists
at the bedside of a
man in his agony,
it
is the custom
to
inspire him with
the
thought of the voluntary acceptance of death.
What does that
mean ?
To accept death when it is inevitable, when it is upon
us, when nothing in the world can snatch us from
its hands.
Yes, Christians, to accept
it
with sweetness, with
resignation,
with a submissive heart,
is an act of supreme expiation.
Ah
!
It is a grand and sublime
thought,
it
is one of the
most
noble
efforts
to
which
the human
will
can
extend
:
to prepare for our death, let us practice it from to-day on.
Let
us accept death in advance, let us acknowledge
that we have
deserved
it.
Let us imitate our Master, who, in submitting to
it, offered expiation for us
!
Let neither fear nor agony be on
our countenance.
Scarcely is that sweet reproach given
us,
so
to say,
as
an
excuse
in
our
lamentations
and despair:
44 O my Father, why have you abandoned me?"
Oh
! what a
Master
!
and how continually ought He be before our eyes to
prepare us for death
!
To very humble and simple souls God gives sometimes great
courage in the hour of death.
A woman of faith—not of that
deep and well-reasoned faith which
is the share of only a small
number, but of that
simple, ingenuous faith, which you
find
284
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS,
even among the little ones of the world—one of these women
having suffered greatly during her life, felt her death sickness
seize her:
"See,
it
is my time," she
said
to
her
daughter,
" do not leave me."
She summoned the priest, made her con-
fession,
received
holy communion and was
anointed,
then,
when some one urged her still to have hope
:
" No, no!" she
answered,
44 1 have had my share of suffering,
I am going now
to rest in Paradise."
She herself made the arrangements
for her
obsequies, gave
the order for her coffin, and disposed of everything with a calm
and deliberate self possession.
Then, one day, feeling a chok-
ing beginning in her throat, without emotion, without a
tear
:
" My child," she said, u my agony is on me.
Until we meet
again> good bye
! "
And she died.
The Thirteenth Station.
JESUS
IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS, AND PLACED IN
THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER.
The hour of the Sabbath was at hand.
The Jewish law for-
bade that the bodies of criminals should remain hanging on the
cross during that
holy
day.
The
priests
went then
to ask
Pilate to have the legs of the
three who
had been
crucified,
broken so as to hasten their death
: they would take their bodies
down afterwards.
The order was given
:
the soldiers, with the
blows of a crowbar broke the legs of the two thieves, but when
they were ready to do the same to Jesus,
they
found
that He
was already dead, and they went away.
One
of them, some-
what uncertain, to remove
all
doubt,
plunged
his
lance
into
the side of Jesus, and pierced His Heart
: the body was fastened
by the nails, and from the wound flowed blood and water.
All
this, before the eyes of Mary
!
According
to
Jewish
custom, the bodies of criminals were
thrown in a common pit
; they remained there, uncovered until
all the flesh had disappeared.
Then only was it granted to the
relatives to carry away the bones and place them in the sepul-
chre of their family.
lathcea, a
counsellor of
the Sanhedrin, could
Digitized by Google
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
285
not bear that this last outrage should be reserved for
his Mas-
ter.
For some time previous, he had been a
disciple of Jesus,
but through fear of the Jews had concealed the
fact.
Before
the Sanhedrin, he had
not had
sufficient courage openly
to
defend the
innocent, but now
his indignation burst forth and
made him fearless.
He went to
Pilate, and
boldly demanded
of him the body of the victim.
Pilate granted
it
to him, and
Joseph returned to Calvary.
There, assisted by some disciples, who, once the crowd had
disappeared, had dared
to approach
the dead body of their
Master, he prepared to take Jesus down.
The
ladders were
erected, the nails drawn out, and gently the sacred Body was
lowered.
At the foot of
the
cross, Mary seated
herself and
opened her arms, covered with blood, torn, livid and cold the
body of her Son was placed upon the knees of the mother.
O Mary, do you recall that day, when in the stable of Beth-
lehem, God gave Him to you, that Son, charming and
beauti-
ful, upon your knees, between your arms,
smiling
at your
re-
spectful caresses..
Behold what men
have done
to Him and
how they give Him back to you
!
" Oh, what floods of tears she shed
!
In what a
sea of grief
was she immerged, that Virgin in sorrow, when she beheld, be-
tween her arms, taken down from the cross, her Son."
O quot undis lacrymarum
Quo dolore volvitur
Luctuosa, de cruento
Dum revulsum stipite,
Cernit ulnis incubantem
Virgo Mater Filium.
His gentle lips, His tender
breast, His
side, sweetest of
all,
His
torn
hands, His
feet red
with
blood, all His
body, she
kisses amid her bitter tears.
Os suave, mite pectus
Et latus dulcissimum
Dexteramque vulneratam
Et sinistram sauciam
Et rubras cruore plantas
-
iEgra tingit lacrymis.
Digitized by Google
286
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
A hundred
times, a thousand
times, she
strains Him in her
arms,
her
lips
fastened
to
all
His
wounds,—sucking
His
wounds, the Church says—and all together, she melts away in
the kisses of her sorrow.
Centiesque milliesque
Stringit arctis nexibus
Pectus illud et lacertos
Ilia sugit vulnera,
Sicque tota colliquescit
In doloris osculis.(i)
I have been translating the hymn which the Church makes
her priests sing on the day on which she celebrates the
dolors
of Mary
!
Certainly there is no mother who has seen one of
her children die, who does not understand it
Oh
!
when a mother
sees
her son
die,
she
doubts,
she
doubts
still.
No
!
he
is
not
dead.
What,
dead
!
my
son
! she
gazes on him, a breath seems to her
to pass from
his
lips, or a movement
takes place
over
his
countenance.
But when, between
her hands, she feels the
little body grow
cold, when all illusion vanishes, when she can no longer doubt,
when she must at
last
cry out
44 he
is dead.
My
child
is
dead
! " who
can
tell the chords that break within her soul
!
And they cannot die
!
Oh
!
If
they could
die
!
If they
could follow
their well-
beloved into the tomb !
But
no, they must
suffer, they must
live, and
they must
go
on, long years perhaps, carrying
in
their heart a void which will never
fill
!
" Quia non
sunt
Because they are not."
Unfortunate
mothers,
behold Mary
!
See
if
your
grief
is
comparable
to
hers
!
When
you weep
for
your
dead,
go
to
weep close
beside
her
!
She
has
suffered
as
you
suffer, more than you
; she will understand so well
!
She will
know so well how to speak words which will comfort you and
reanimate your courage
!
Go
to her
;
she,
like
you,
is
a
mother, and like you she has seen her Son die, her only Son
!
(
i
) Hymn oi the first Vespers of the feast of our Lady of the Seven Dolors.
THE ROYAL WAY* OF THE CROSS.
287
And you all, whatsoever may be the sorrow which oppresses
you,
go
to
the
Virgin.
Ah
!
you
suffer
!
Listen
then
what her life was
:
A daughter of
kings, she
lived
in
poverty
and
obscurity
until her sixteenth year.
She was espoused then
to a carpen-
ter, she who was of the blood of David. God gave her a son
His own Son—it was in a stable, where the cattle sought shel-
ter
at
night,
that
she brought Him
lorth
into
this worli.
Scarcely
is He born, she must fly into Egypt to save Him from
slaughter
!
After
a
long
exile
she
returns
and
resumes
with
Joseph and
Jesus
her
life
of toil.
Joseph
dies, Jesus
leaves her.
He goes to preach to His people, and
after three
years, behold
her Jesus
dishonored,
spat
upon, calumniated,
condemned,
scourged,
crucified,
dead
finally,
in
her
arms
!
and now alone with John, with
a
stranger
;
she
is going
to
finish her
life
!
And
ever since Bethlehem,
all
that
future,
that
Judas, that
Pilate, those
Jews, those
executioners, those
whips, those
thorns, that
cross,
those
nails,
that
spittle and
that
blood,
that
dead
Christ,
cold and
livid, during thirty
years, day and night, without interruption, have floated, full of
gloom,
before
her
eyes,
opened
to the
light of
prophecy
!
What are your sufferings by the side of this ?
And she said
:
*' Be it done unto me according as you wish,
Lord
! »
See her now, see her in the very hour when she holds in her
arms
her
well-beloved
Son.
Do
you
hear her
complain?
Do you hear
her murmur?
Does
she demand an
account
from God: "Why have
you
taken my
child
from me?"
Does she
complain
of
life?
Does she
appeal
to
death?
Learn
well,
in
that
grand
silence
of
Calvary.
Nothing,
nothing
!
a
sound
of
tears
which
are
falling and
of sobs
which she stifles.
Oh, yes, for she is suffering
!
Her heart is broken, crushed by sorrow
;
she suffers all that
you
suffer, you
mothers who
see your
children die, but she
fails not; she controls her grief
; she does not let a cry escape
her.
She is resigned, and from
her
lips, which
tremble, and
from
her
soul, rent with anguish, issues ever
that word which
was the motto of her life
:
" Behold me, Lord.
Do with me as
you wish.
I am your handmaid.''
288
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
How often have we not seen those whom we love die ? How
often do we
not
see
those who
love
us die, before God sum-
mons us ourselves to die ?
He who has
not passed beside the
deathbed of a mother, of a friend, of a child
; he who has not seen
those beloved eyes shed their last tear, who has not seen those
lips tremble, that
breast
heave, and
then become quiet, mo-
tionless
; he who has not touched his lips to that brow already
cold knows not what it is to suffer
!
And yet
Mary was
resigned.
Where
did
she
find that
strength ?
Here is the source.
She knew
that death
is only a momentary separation, and
that in heaven she would find again her son.
But do we, too, not know this ?
Do we not
. know, we
too,
that we
shall
find
in heaven our
mothers, our children, our
friends, all our well-beloved who have died in the Lord ?
Yes,
we
shall
find them
again, we
shall know
them, and, under
God's eye, reuniting the chain, broken for an instant, of all our
holy affections, we
shall
love one
another
above, just as we
loved here below, for ever and ever
!
Before their tomb let us now learn, like Mary, to master our
grief, and to say to God, in offering Him our bleeding hearts
:
" Thy will be done, Lord
! "
{To be continued?)
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
Owing to the impossibility of having the new Shrine and statue
ready for blessing earlier than August 24, no invitation was given
to pastors to come to the Shrine before that day.
As usual, how-
ever, many pilgrims, about 500, came to Auriesville for the feast
of the Assumption, and took part in all the exercises, Mass,
the
Way of the Cross, Sermon in the Ravine, and Benediction of the
Blessed Sacrament.
On
Sunday, August
17,
over
1600 came from
St. Joseph's
parish, Troy, and about that number from the Polish parish
in
Schenectady.
On the regular train from
the
east came many
from Albany,
Schenectady
and Amsterdam.
Fully
1200
re-
ceivedjHoly Communion, chiefly members of St. Joseph's parish,
Troy.
The two congregations made the Way of
the
Cross and
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ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
289
the march to the Ravine separately.
At Mass and in the Ravine
Father Dezerewski preached in Polish to his congregation, and
Father Wynne preached the sermon in English.
The entire body of pilgrims joined together in the chapel
for
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and the sight of the multi-
tude was very impressive.
Sunday, August
31,
pilgrimages came
to
the Shrine
from
Fonda, Little Falls, Ilion and Utica, taking up a great number
from almost every station on the route, &nd joined at Auriesville
by the many pilgrims who had come from Albany, Amsterdam
and other cities east of the' shrine.
*
The two sections of the
Little Falls' pilgrimage of about 800
each marched up the hill preceded by the band which is now so
well known in Auriesville, and
at
the masses
offered,
as each
section reach the open chapel the choir, accompanied by this band
>
sang very sweet hymns.
The pilgrims from Ilion also had a
fine band of music, which
played all
the way up the hill and to the old shrine where Mass
was said immediately, over 800 pilgrims kneeling about.
No sooner had the second section of the Little Falls' pilgrimage
cleared the open chapel than
the Utica pilgrims, 982 in number
assembled
in
it for Mass and with them
nearly 500 who had
come in the regular train from the east.
At this Mass there were
about 600 communicants.
The Way of the Cross was made by the pilgrims from Little
Falls and Ilion, the bands accompanying
the
Stabat Mater, and
soon after them the Utica pilgrims followed in great numbers in
spite of the mid-day heat.
During the lunch hour the bands played sacred airs near the
porch back of the chapel,
and
rarely has
a
band had
a more
beautiful stage, or a more appreciative audience.
The march
to the Ravine, about 2 p. m.
, was really the event
of the day, the vast throng of people following the two bands of
music to the grotto and gathering about
the
pulpit whilst the
choir was singing a hymn in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
The Rev. James Conway, of St. Ignatius' Church, New York,
preached the sermon, and after him
the Right Reverend Mon-
signor Lynch,
of
St. John's
Church, Utica,
Father Quinn,
of
Ilion, and Father White, of Little Falls, addressed
their parish-
ioners united in this pilgrimage.
Benediction of
the Blessed Sacrament was given by Father
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
White for the pilgrims from
Little Falls and
Ilion, and
later
there was a procession
of the Blessed Sacrament, Mgr. Lynch
officiating.
This closed the exercises of the day which was one
of the great days in the annals of Auriesville, and the third time
this month that nearly 5,000 persons gathered at the Shrine.
There is still another pilgrimage Sunday, and then the Shrine
will be closed for this season, though Mass will be said Monday,
September 29, the anniversary of the death of Ren6 Goupil, and
Saturday, October 18, anniversary of Father Jogues.
This year will be a memorable one in the annals of Auriesville.
The blessing of the new statue, the
erection of
the new Shrine,
the votive offering of the Crown of Thorns in
gold, and the pil-
grimages larger, more enthusiastic, and,
if possible, more pious
than ever, prove that Heaven's blessing is on the place.
When
we reflect that all this was done without much
effort, with little
or no time to foresee what was necessary by way of preparation,
we cannot but
recognize a special
intervention of Providence in
our
favor.
Occupied
about many
things
at
a distance
from
Auriesville, we could not devote as much time and
attention to
it as we did in
previous years, although the ceremony and pil-
grimages of this year needed more preparation than those of any
year before.
We must thank and bless God for it all and renew
our confidence in Our Lady of Sorrows, who is venerated at the
Shrine, and in
the
intercession of the
servants
of God whose
memory is honored there.
Invitations to the ceremony of August 24 were
issued
to
all
who have shown interest in Auriesville, as
all of them, we were
sure, would be pleased to be present in spirit if was not possible
to be present in person.
With the
invitation was an appeal for
help to meet the expenses of the Shrine
to which many have
already generously responded, and to which others will respond in
time.
Our friends know that we would not ask assistance unless it
were needed, and they know also that that when we ask for it,
we do not urge or constrain anyone to give, knowing,
as we do,
that all who can help us will do so willingly, according to their
means.
We need not remind those who contribute to the Shrine
that they are remembered in the Masses said there by the fathers
in charge, and in our prayers for our benefactors
at other times
of the year.
The new statue is beyond description.
It is a sermon in mar-
ble.
The figure of Christ in death, and of His Mother support-
Digitized by Google
MISSION NOTES.
291
ing Him, makes a group which moves the heart quite as much
as it captivates the eyes.
Auriesville is fortunate in having such
a statue, and the Shrine or position in which it is placed is quite
in keeping with the work of art the statue is.
To see the statue
one must visit Auriesville.
The crown we can show
Jto those
who wish to see it at our
office, 27-29 West 16th street, and at
the first opportunity we shall
exhibit it to our
friends in other
cities who could not be present at the ceremony in Auriesville.
THE CARDINAL PREFECT OF THE PROPAGANDA.
To the Cardinal
Prefect
of
the Congregation of the Propa-
ganda (de Propaganda Fide—for the Propagation of
the Faith)
is confided the supreme direction of all the Catholic
missions in
the world.
Cardinal Ledochowski's death was
a surprise to no
one, for he had been long ill
; but the end came suddenly, never-
theless, by a stroke
of paralysis.
Of noble
descent, Miecislas,
Count Ledochowski, was born at Gorki, in Poland, on
the
29th
of October,
1822.
His education was completed in the College
of
Nobles
in Rome,
where
he was
ordained
priest in
1845.
Through
various positions,
honorable and important,
notably
that of Delegate Apostolic to the South American Republics, he
advanced to the post of Nuncio at Brussels in 1861, with the title
of Archbishop of Thebes.
In September,
1865, he was
elected
Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen, in Prussian Poland.
In 1874 the relentless persecution
of
the Kulturkampf broke
out in Germany.
The Archbishop was first fined
for
his noble
fidelity to the Church, then imprisoned at Ostrowo, a little town
near Prussian Siberia, because he refused, and rightly, to recog-
nize the usurped jurisdiction of the courts of Posen in matters
appertaining solely to the authority of the Catholic Church. As a
reward for his courage and constancy, Pius IX sent him the Car-
dinal's crimson in his prison.
After the Kulturkampf had been
dropped by Germany, Pope Leo called Cardinal Ledochowski to
Rome in January,
1892, and appointed him Prefect of the Propa-
ganda.
It was remarked that no better choice could have been
made than that of this Confessor of the Faith for the supreme
leadership of the heroic army of Catholic missionaries, whose lot
it is to suffer, and often to die, for the great cause.
MISSION NOTES.
292
MISSION NOTES.
Cardinal Ledochowski is succeeded by the Carmelite Cardinal,
Jerome Maria
Gotti.
He was born
at Genoa on the 29th of
March, 1834.
He has been Provincial and General of his Order,
and internuncio in Brazil under the title of Archbishop of Petra.
He was jnade Cardinal in November,
1895.
Eloquent and liter-
ary, he is a great theologian and
canonist, speaking French and
Latin as his native Italian.
THE END OF A SCHISM.
The Catholic Messenger of Ceylon announces that the schism of
the " Jacobites," or " Independent Catholics,' ' in the diocese of
Jaffna, has ceased to be.
It began through some Portuguese who
refused
to obey the
Concordat
of
1887, by which Ceylon was
withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa.
The
leader, a priest named Alvares, had
himself consecrated bishop
by a schismatic prelate in southern India.
Alvares, in his turn,
ordained
the
notorious
Vilatte.
It is said, that
at the present
time,
there
scarcely
remain
a
dozen
schismatical
families
at
Colombo.
This schism caused much evil, and especially great
bitterness
between its adherents and
the
Catholics.
The healing of
the
wound is due, in no small part, to the prudence of Bishop Joulain
(Ornate
of Mary
Immaculate).
He summoned
the leaders of
the erring people, reasoned kindly with them, and finally assured
them, that whether
they returned
or
not, they would be ever
dear to him.
They soon began to grow weary
of Alvares and
the
false
priests he sent them.
Notwithstanding
the
strong
bonds of caste which united them, some
of them came
back to
the fold.
At the beginning of
this year, their unworthy
leader
fell sick and went away to Colombo, where he died.
Thereupon,
the
principal persons decided
to write a collective note of sub-
mission to the Bishop of
Jaffna.
There was
a triumphal arch
erected at the first church he visited, in other places the people,
at
his
approach,
fell
on
their
knees
to receive his blessing
;
everywhere they were
sympathetic.
Two
Protestant ministers
endeavored
to
prevent
the people's return to the church, but
they were invited to leave.
About
2000 persons have renewed
their obedience to the Holy See.
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THE PILGRIM
O*
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
October, 1902.
No.
10.
SEQUEL TO FATHER JOGUES' DEATH.
FROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMIU.E DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
HERE was
a
division
in
the camp.
The Bear and the
Tortoise families wanted to save the life of the prisoners
and
appealed
to
the
treaty of peace which had
been
signed with the French in pursuance of the demand of the Iro-
quois ambassadors.
On the other hand the Bear family clam-
ored
for
their
death
in
the most violent language.
Not to*
create an irreconcilable
hatred among
the
three
families,,
it-
was agreed to refer the matter to the general assembly of the-
chiefs and old men of the tribe at the meeting that was going*
to take place on
the
1 8th of October,
at Tionnontogen, the-
largest encampment
that
the Agniers
then had.
The peace
party prevailed and they decided to set the captives at liberty..
But while the deliberations were going on some savages
oft'
the Bear family formed a plot to get
rid
of
the French prison-
ers.
Father Jogues was praying in his hut when they came to
invite him out to a feast with one of the
chiefs.
He rose and>
without
apparent
mistrust, directed
his steps to the wigwam.
As he was
entering, an
Indian who stood behind
the door
clove his head in two with a stroke of a tomahawk.
Next day
Lalande met the same fate.
They cut off the heads of the two
martyrs and placed them on the stakes of the palisade round
the enclosure with their faces turned
in the
direction whence
they had come
; the bodies were thrown into the river.
When the deputies who had gone to Tionnontogen brought
to Ossernenon the
decision
of the assembly, the crime had
Copyright, Apostleship of Prayer, 1901.
293
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294
SEQUEL TO FATHER JOGUES' DEATH.
already taken place.
The
assassins were blamed, but nothing
more was done.
Father Jogues was assassinated on the
18th
of October, J646, in the village of Ossernenon.
It is a curious
thing that the man who
killed him was later on captured by
the Algonquins and condemned
to
death.
Before dying he
was converted and narrated
all the
circumstances
of the last
moments
of
the
missionaries.
His story is, in every respect,
confirmed by that of
the Hurons who had
been
prisoners in
the same place and had succeeded in escaping.
When the news
of
his
death was brought to the colony it
was hailed as that of
a martyr to
the
faith.
" We
regarded
this
death."
writes
Father Iyalemant,
"as
that of a martyr.
When we heard
it, many of us, though separated from
each
other and consequently without having been able to discuss
it,
could not make up our minds to offer the sacrifice of the Mass
for the repose of his
soul.
On
the
contrary, we
offered it in
thanksgiving for the blessings which God had bestowed upon
him.
Men of the world who knew him intimately, and relig-
ious houses also, look upon his death in the same manner, and
we are prompted rather to ask his prayers than to pray for his
soul.
"In fact it
is the
opinion
of many learned
men,
and
this
opinion is no more than
reasonable, that that man is truly a
martyr in the sight of God who testifies
to Him before heaven
and earth
; who makes more account of his
faith
and
of
the
spread of the gospel than of his own life which he loses in the
midst of dangers
into which
he
casts
himself
for the love of
•Christ.
Such a death
is, in the
sight of
the angels, the death
of a martyr, and
it is thus that Father Jogues gave his life for
Jesus Christ.
Nay more, not only did he employ all possible
means
to
preach
the Gospel
to those who slew him, but there
is not the shadow of
a doubt that he was killed in hatred of
/the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
" In
point
of
fact, the Algonquins, the Hurons and
after-
wards the Iroquois, as those who had been in captivity among
-them assure us, had, and some among them still have, a hatred
and a horror of our doctrine
; they maintain that it kills them,
;that it has spells and charms in it which cause the destruction
SEQUEL TO FATHER JOGUES' DEATH.
295
of their harvests, which bring upon them
contagions and epi-
demics.
Hence we are in constant dread of being slain wherever
we go.
Just as in the primitive Church, they reproached the
disciples of Christ with being the cause of public misfortunes,
and on that account put them to death, so we
are persecuted
because, as they fancy, by our
doctrine, which
is
none other
than that of Christ, we devastate their countries.
It is for that
reason that they killed Father Jogues
; but for that reason we
can maintain that he is a martyr in the sight of God."
The
author
of
the Cours d^histoire, on
telling the story of
the death of
this valiant
apostle, gives
a pen
picture
of his
character
: He was
a man of most
amiable
simplicity and
sweetness of disposition in
the ordinary affairs of life.
Never-
theless, when there was question of duty, he was firm and reso-
lute.
In important matters, before deciding on a measure, he
examined it at length in
the
presence of God.
Once
his de-
cision was
taken he
kept at
his work quietly with great sim-
plicity, but also with an energy and perseverance that the con-
sciousness
of duty could
alone
inspire.
" Ondessonk,"
the
Agniers used to say to him, u you are like a child when you are
bidden
to
do something, but you easily become
the
master
when you want
to.
You speak too boldly, and you will be
killed, for you are a prisoner
in our country.
You are alone,
and
yet you
oppose
us.
What would you do if you were at
liberty among your
people ?"
They were astonished at times
at the
audacity
with which he reproved them
; but as he had
already made the
sacrifice of his
liberty and
life, he showed
himself superior
to all
fear, and by his courage and his noble
outspokenness he forced the most independent of these savages
to respect him.
When he died he was only forty-eight years old.
His death became
the
signal of a
general
rupture and a
renewal of hostilities.
Not to keep up the flames of hatred
in
the nation
.itself, the three
great
families
of the Agniers, the
Bears, the Wolves and the Tortoises, ended by voting
for war
in spite of
the
protestations of certain
influential
chiefs like
Le Berger and Kiotsaeton.
It is worth knowing here that Le
Berger was made
prisoner by the Algonquins and given
his
liberty by M. Montmagny.
He was
so
touched by
this
act
296
SEQUEL TO FATHER JOGUES' DEATH.
•
that he flung his tomahawk in
the
fire and cried out:
44 My
anger is appeased.
I lay down my arms.
I am your friend for-
ever." He kept his word.
At Ossernenon he made every effort
to save Father Jogues.
Not being able to prevent the war, he
refused to take up arms.
Later on he became a Christian and
died in France.
Kiotsaeton, the chief of the embassy of
1 844,
regarded as a
piece
of criminal
perfidy the death
of Father
Jogues, and, because of his freedom of
speech in this matter,
became a suspect in the eyes of the Bear
family.
In spite of
the protest of the minority the voice of the majority prevailed
;
in fact, some of the other encampments had. not yet laid down
their arms, and from
that out
the struggle was going to be
fiercer than ever, and a war of extermination was begun.
In the month of November the braves were on the war path.
At Montreal they surprised and massacred
the Hurons and
two colonists who were off their guard not knowing
that war
had been proclaimed.
They pillaged and burned Fort Riche-
lieu which had been left without a garrison
;
in the neighbor-
hood of Three Rivers they met Piescaret, their most formidable
enemy, who came to them under the impression that they were
friends and singing a peace song as he approached.
They run
him through with a spear and scalped him.
At Three Rivers,
while Mass was going on, they entered the houses which were
separated from the fort and carried off everything
they
could
find
:
clothes, blankets, muskets, powder
• and
lead, and then
divided into two bands set
off
in
pursuit of the Algonquins
who were at that moment engaged
in
fishing, some on the
north and some on the south bank of the St Lawrence.
They
massacred the old men, women and children.
They killed the
chief, Jean Baptiste Manitou, who was a valiant Christian and
the god-son of the commandant.
They killed, also, Ouapman-
gouch, one of the bravest and cleverest of the Algonquins. In
order to make a mockery of the sacred mystery
of the
cross
they laid a child of four or five years old on a piece of bark and
fixed him to
it hands and feet with sharp pieces of wood.
The Iroquois carried off as prisoners many of the chieftains,
ttf|¥tes and the young people with the exception of four or five
^f^^^CGtded in making their escape.
Among these captives
\
SEQUEL TO FATHER JOGUES' DEATH.
297
were some neophytes and catechumens, and when
they were
brought to the country of the Agniers
they
were
distributed
among the villages where they were beaten and burned, boiled
and roasted.
In the horrible
torture
of
this
treatment they
showed a
heroic courage and died
like
Christians.
Some
women, who had been brought into captivity, but found means
of escape, carried the details of this disaster to Three Rivers.
Among these captives was Mary the
wife
of Jean
Baptiste
Manitou who,
after the most extraordinary adventures, arrived
at Montreal and from there was brought to Three Rivers. There
was another Algonquin woman who had been made a prisoner
by the Iroquois, who was bound during the night by her hands
and feet to four sticks driven into the ground.
Still she man-
aged to free herself, and
braining with a blow of a tomahawk
the
Iroquois who was
lying
near the door of the hut,
suc-
ceeded almost
naked
in making her
escape.
They pursued
her, but in vain, and after thirty-five days of fatigues, privations
and sufferings of every description she arrived at Three Rivers.
The audacity of the Iroquois became so great that they were
planning to take Three
Rivers by
assault.
The plans were
made, the
positions were
actually taken when
two hundred
Hurons unexpectedly arrived and the Iroquois were beaten and
took to flight, losing
their arms,
their baggage and
a great
many of their men who were taken
prisoners.
This victory did not prevent the consternation from spread-
ing among the nations which were
scattered on
the north of
the St. Lawrence from Tadoussac to the Ottawa, and from the
Laurentides to the Great River.
They no longer dared to go
down to Quebec or Three Rivers to sell their furs or
to
trade
with the colonists.
The
colonists
themselves stuck
close to
the forts for fear of being surprised and massacred. The Indians
of Sillery did not dare to go out of the
fortified
enclosures
to
hunt or to fish
; but in order to protect them from any sudden
raid in the seed-time or harvest the Governor had
a
fort con-
structed in the midst of the fields.
Although the situation was serious the
courage
of the mis-
sionaries and of the French did not weaken.
The Superior of
Quebec writes on the 20th October, 1647
:
" You
must
not
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298
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
imagine that the fury
of
the
Iroquois and
the
loss of some
Christians and catechumens can make void the mystery of the
cross of Jesus Christ or stop the efficacy of His blood. We may
die, we may be captured, burned or massacred, but that is of no
consequence.
The best death is not always in one's bed.
I see
no one here who shrinks.
On
the
contrary, they demand to
be sent to the Hurons and some protest
that the
fires which
the Iroquois will build around them are the very motives which
would induce them to make the dangerous journey.
The men who went so bravely to face the fire of the Iroquois
were Joseph Bressani, Adrian Daran, Gabriel Lalemant, Jacques
Bonnin and Adrian Grelan, priests
; and Nicholas
Noirclair, a
lay-brother.
They were accompanied by twenty-five or thirty
Frenchmen who undertook this long, hard and dangerous jour-
ney, says the Relation of 1648.
As for the missionaries, such
joy shone upon their countenances that you would think they
were going to take possession of the crown of a martyr. They
set out on the 26th of August, 1648, at the risk of being taken
and massacred on the way by the
Iroquois.
Alas
! they had
gone to take possession of a crown, and as martyrs they went
to assist at the
last hour of the
tribe
in its agony and at the
extinction of the sad remnants of the Huron nation.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
{Concluded.)
The
Fourteenth
Station.
jesus is laid in the tomb.
.
HE
disciples quickly took the body down and
carried
it
reverently even
to
the
foot
of
Calvary.
The
Virgin,
Mary Magdalene and the other women followed
in pro-
cession.
They advanced
silently, amid
the darkness
of the
night which had set in.
The sacred body was laid out upon a
large rock.
Endearing and reverent hands wash from
it
all
^J^~ ^nrl wherewith itwas dyed.
Then they spread over it a
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THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
299
perfumed ointment of myrrh and aloes, of
whifch Joseph had
bought a hundred
pounds.
They covered
the body with a
shroud, and, according
to Jewish
custom, wrapped
it in fine
linen
bands.
It was Mary
Magdalene, without
doubt, who
presided over the burial, for we read
that immediately at the
close of the Sabbath day, she returned in haste to the sepulchre
to complete the work which had to be done
hurriedly because
of the late hour.
Close beside them, in a rock, stood the sep-
ulchre, which Joseph of Arimathea had prepared for his family.
Thither they carry the body of Jesus in its wrappings.
Mary
kisses it
for the
last
. time, she
looks upon
it
long, as
it
lies
there motionless, then the large rock was rolled more closely>
they raise
it, and the tomb was
sealed.
All is over
!
Yet
neither
Mary nor
the
holy women
leave
the tomb
wherein reposes their well-beloved.
The Gospel remarks
:
"That they sat near the tomb, think-
ing where they had laid Him."
The
Virgin,
all
alone
henceforth,
and
Magdalene,
now
almost inconsolable, moved slowly toward the village. On the
ground,
at each
step, they
find
the
blood which
Jesus had
shed!
When
death
separates us from
those we
love,
it seems at
first, that we do not completely realize our loss, we are stunned
by the blow, we do
not
picture
to ourselves
the
extent
of
our unhappiness.
It requires a longer time
for our eyes
to
grow accustomed
to
this new sight
;
for our
hearts
to
feel
thoroughly all the coldness and the depth of
that void which
henceforth will surround us.
But that hour comes, the hour
of stern reality, when the body is carried out by the pall-bearers,
when the
coffin
creaks on the ropes
that lower
it
into
the
grave, when the clods of earth from
the shovels
fall, one by
one, with a thud on the sounding wood, then, like
a
flash, a
heart-rending sensation seizes
us
; the sensation of our deep
loss, which they say is the crown of sorrow.
I know of nothing that
drives more quickly to
despair
!
And
it is not only death that makes us feel thus.
This feeling
300
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
accompanies the loss of nearly all the goods which charm our
When
a friend abandons us, we
remain
so
long in
doubt,
hesitating, in anguish, passing from hope to fear and from fear
to hope, an hour comes in which
the treachery of him whom
we loved appears evident to our
eyes, which, up to that time,
were blinded.
The friendship is gone
;
it is gone forever.
Our fortune disappears in a
crisis
; we know that poverty is
on us, but we do not realize
it yet
;
there
remains some hope
in the sky.
One day want rises up before us. Ah
! behold the
hour of the irreparable, and it is terrible
! and so of the rest
!
Oh
!
as long as a faint ray of distant hope
remains with a
man, he can, if he has any heart, summon up courage, but when
all hope has faded
away, when
all
is destroyed, when
all
is
gone, when we feel ourselves, as Mary felt, alone in
the silent
night
!
Poor hearts who
suffer, why do we deceive
ourselves
so ?
Nothing
is ever gone, nothing
is
ever
destroyed, nothing
is
ever irreparable, because everything is perfected, everything is
recovered, everything is repaired in heaven
!
Without doubt, if we consider our
life
as wholly comprised
within these two
terrestrial
limits
: birth and
death, oh, yes,
how many things would be ended, destroyed, made
irrepar-
able
!
But
this
is only a part, a
little
part, a very little part
of our life.
Do you forget that it must follow you above, and
and continue unceasingly throughout an immense eternity ?
Why have we not Faith
!
Our true life is as a book, in which
we
turn
here below a
few pages
; death comes very soon
to
turn its
page, but the
book does not end on the leaf which it touches.
Not a phrase, not a word
is left out, and without delay, with-
out a break, just as the
preceding page was opened, the
fol-
lowing one opens in Eternity.
Oh
!
that I could
impress
this thought on your mind
! We
never cease to live, nor does any one
of our departed
friends
<;ease to live
; an hour comes when they cease to live here be-
low where we too cease to live here below, only to begin a new
life, immediately, in eternity.
life.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
30I
There
is no gap in man's existence.
If we have this living faith, we will
not
concentrate all our
thoughts,
all our plans, all our resolutions,
all our work and all
our
effects, all
our
love upon
this world, wherein we
have
no lasting, resting-place.
We shall be like travellers who cross
the great oceans to reach the regions of the New World.
Do
they seek in their ship a permanent abode ?
Is
it there that
their preoccupations and their projects find their term ? would
not this be folly ?
No, they
are
thinking
of
the land
which
they are quickly approaching, and
it is for their life there that
they are preparing.
And should not we do this too ?
Is the
present life aught
else
but
a voyage ?
Oh
! how slight the
ennui and the constraint
of the
voyage becomes
to one who
looks towards his native country. Do we suffer much in being
absent from those we
love, when we
are making the journey
that is bringing us to them, when each day as it passes shortens
the timexand the distance which separates us?
What a sweetness would this thought give to our pangs!
It
would have another advantage.
It would open our eyes more
frequently to that future and unchangeable life, and we would
more earnestly propose to ourselves
to
secure
there a happy
destiny.
For if faith tells us that death introduces us1 there,
it
also tells us that the first
step
that we take there, leads
us
to
the tribunal of the Master.
How could
I appear there,
if my
hands were empty of good works and of virtues ?
How could
I appear there,
if my soul was impure and
stained with sin ?
How could
I appear there,
if I have done nothing for heaven,
if I have labored only for this earth and for this world, which
has escaped me so quickly ?
But if I have loved the good,
if I have made an
effort to be
just,
if my heart has remained
firm
against evil and against a
perverse will,
if I have
been
able
above
all
to follow
Christ,
along the royal
road of suffering, oh, how consoling and how
blessed shall that hour be
!
It will be the end of my grief,
the
commencement of my joy
!
it
is from
exile
to my fatherland
that I shall pass.
There, my well-beloved dead await me.
302
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS,
There, I myself shall await the living whom I shall have left
behind, until the day when God will assemble there all souls of
good will, to whom He is come to announce peace.
The pres-
ent life is so short,
in
truth
it
is nothing compared with that
other, what is it then to
lose here below, for a few hours,
the
goods which we shall regain above, forever.
In
the presence
of the dead for whom you weep, Christian, root deeply in your
heart these holy hopes, hopes for them, hopes
for yourselves.
If they have suffered much here below,
let me repeat
it
again
to you,
if you suffer much here, have confidence.
To suffer is
the sign of divine predestination.
Suffering is the great atoner
it cleanses us in the
blood
of our own
hearts, and our
souls,,
thus dyed, become dear to Christ.
He recognizes in them the
livery which He wore when climbing Calvary.
It was on Friday evening that Jesus was
laid
in the tomb.
Mary returned to the house of John, who was henceforth her
own.
Her heart was broken, but her
faith was strong, living
and unwavering
in
the early resurrection of her well-beloved
Son.
Magdalene, less enlightened, seemed to be without hope ;
she was more human
; and
approached
nearer
to our weak-
nesses, hence it is she whom I am willing to follow.
She spent the Sabbath in tears.
On Friday she had bought
some precious ointments and spices to complete the embalming
of the
body of her
Master: "And
returning they prepared
spices and ointments
: and on
the Sabbath day they rested
according
to commandment." (i)
For
the law
forbade
her r
during this holy day, even this religious work.
It was long in
passing for her.
The next day, at the first sign of dawn, in the
solitude and
silence of daybreak,
she
set
out, with another
Mary, and with
hurried
pace they go together to
the tomb.
The large rock which sealed it had been rolled back.
Full of
anxiety, they enter
the open
crypt, some
linen
clothes were
lying on
the ground,
but
the body
of Jesus was no
longer
there
!
Horror stricken by this wonder, the mystery of which
she did not comprehend, and almost
in
despair, Mary ran
to
tteapostles and said
:
"They have taken away our Lord, and
Luke
xxiii, 56.
Digitized by
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
303
I know not where they have placed Him."
And, after her, come
the others to confirm what she said.
But the apostle saw here
only the hallucination of imaginative women.
Magdalene did
not stop to convince them
; she returned to the tomb and there,
in the surrounding gardens, in
the ruins, in the copses, in the
fissures of the
rocks,
everywhere,
revisiting
the same place
twenty times, she searched for the body of her Master.
u Wo-
man, why do you weep ? " they asked of her.
" Because they
have taken away my Saviour, and I know not where they have
laid Him."
And scalding
tears ran down her
cheeks.
Now,
while she was searching, a man presented himself before her
:
u Woman," he asks of
her, " why do you weep ? Whom seek
you?"
She thought
she saw
before
her
the
gardener
of
Joseph.
"Ah
! " she said to him, " if you have taken Him away,
tell me where you have hidden Him, that I might carry Him
away."
" Mary," Jesus said to her.
At that name, at the sound of that familiar and divine voice,
the heart of Mary leaped within
her.
She raised her head,
her eyes met the eyes of Jesus.
" Oh, my Master
! " she cried
and she fell at His feet.
Who
will
tell the unspeakable
consolation
that
then
de-
scended into the heart of that unhappy mourner
!
Her
Master, her
divine, her well-beloved
Master was there
before
her
!
He was then
alive
!
He was then
restored
to
her
!
She saw Him, she heard Him, He smiled upon her with
that
smile which had welcomed her when she was a
sinner,
with that smile which had accompanied him to the foot of the
cross and which had been effaced only by the rigidity of death.
Poor, human
hearts, we, too, are
like
Magdalene.
In
our
tears we run
about, over rocks and through
gardens, seeking
the goods we have lost, our vanished
joys, our dead
affections.
To all things
of this world, we
cry out
:
u They have taken
away my happiness.
Oh,
if you have hidden
it,
tell me, and
I
will get it back again !"
Yes, we question them, we
taste them, we touch
them, we
would penetrate them to find in them
that happiness, the pur-
Digitized by Google
304
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS,
suit of which wearies our
entire
life.
And
all
things of
this
world end with the answer
:
4< Non est hie! "
"It is not. here!"
We shall hear only this word during our miserable life, " Non
est hie! "
"It
is not here!
The little
joys, the little empty happinesses which we taste
here below, are as the linen bands and the handkerchief which
Mary
found
in
the tomb
!
They
had
touched
the
Well-
Beloved, they had retained the perfume of His body, hence she
took them in her hands, no
doubt, and
lifted them
from
the
ground.
They were not, however, the body of Jesus.
Happi-
ness
is not
to be found
in
these
vain and
transient
things,
scarcely have they a slight savor of it, or a faint perfume.
And we search, always in tears.
But the hour will come
!
To us as to Magdalene Jesus will
appear.
As He called her by name, so too will He call us by
name
; and
suddenly, leaping up with
love and ecstasy, our
eyes will be opened, a great light will
illumine our
souls, we
shall see then that happiness, our happiness, our only, our true,
our eternal happiness
is in Him
!
u O Master
! " we shall say
as she said, and like her we, too,
shall throw ourselves at His
That hour will be the hour of heaven
!
Heaven
! Behold the last word of our suffering
!
It is not here
below,
it is in nothing
that belongs to earth
that we shall find the
consolation
for which our soul hungers
and thirsts. Have all our great sorrows that seal of the " irrepar-
able " of which
I spoke above?
What shall we do to sweeten
them ?
The saying of Rachel is nearly always true
:
" They
are no longer
! Will you
restore them to ine" ?
No, neither
the earth nor the world can restore to us our lost joys
!
They
put others in
their place
; I know it well, but these new joys
are, like the former, transient and unstable. We lose some, but
replace them by others
; only to lose these
in
turn.
And
it
will happen that our hearts will become worn out in this game,
without having found either rest or peace.
Oh, how I pity
that
soul,
which, when
it
suffers, puts
its
hope in the things of this earth
!
But, heaven
!
feet.
THE ROYAL WAY OF THE CROSS.
305
Heaven
is the proper place of
happiness, just
as the
earth,
according to Bossuet is the proper place of misery.
Heaven,
is God possessed, tasted, relished by our
souls.
God, that
is,
infinite and eternal beauty
;
infinite and eternal, happiness
; in-
finite and eternal love
!
" In the vision of God," says the cel-
ebrated theologian Lessius,
u we take hold of God, as it were,
in our two hands, we hold Him tightly pressed
to our hearts,
we possess that good which is ours, and
wljich we can
enjoy.
It is our right to taste all His sweetness, to enjoy all the pleas-
ure which springs from Him as from its source."
De Summo
Bono, Lib.
ii.
c.
4.
If we
can
thus
enjoy
the Author of all
these things,
is it not evident that we should enjoy in Him
all
those happinesses which these things
themselves
could give
us?
that to drink from that great chalice, surpasses, as the in-
finite exceeds the finite, the little drop of joy which creatures
let fall into our soul and which even now,
however,
ravishes
and entrances us.
And
it is I who will then rejoice, I who to-day
suffer,
I,
I
!
Ah, if my personality could bury itself and disappear
in some
vague, sense-benumbing blessedness, what would heaven be to
me in this state.
I would have no more
care for the ashes of
my soul than for the ashes of my body.
But
it is
I whom God
calls
to
happiness
;
it
is my poor
heart, bleeding to-day with
grief that
will
leap
with
divine
ecstasy
; these eyes of mine, so brimful now
of tears, will be-
hold the delights of my Saviour, these my lips will
drink that
ambrosial nectar, lips which here below have tasted only bitter-
ness and gall, these my arms, which have been wrung so
fre-
quently with the despairs of this will, they too will possess true
joy.
Oh, for me, yes for me
!
Ah
! when then will that day of regeneration come ?
When shall all of us who are suffering, find ourselves there ?
When
will the
Saviour appear
to
us
as He appeared
to
Magdalene ?
We know not the hour.
What we do know is that
it will
not be long in coming.
Life passes so quickly
!
You reach
the
middle of
life quickly, and from
the
middle
to
the end,
there seems scarcely to be a step
!
306
FERDINAND DE G&RAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
Oh, you who suffer
!
Courage then
; heaven is so near and
heaven is so beautiful
!
Oh, you who
suffer, bless God
!
The
present
is hard
to
bear
;
yes, but have you not the Crucified for an example and
for your Master
!
Oh, you who
suffer,
bless God
!
The
present
is hard to
bear
;
yes, but the present is nothing, the future
is everything,
and the future is happiness
!
Oh, you who
suffer, bless God
!
The
present
is hard
to
bear
; but see,
it is already past.
Jesus Christ calls you.
u Mary,'' said He to Magdalene.
Listen, it is your name that is about to pass His lips.
"Oh, come Lord, come
!
Veni> Domine, Veni
f
v
FERDINAND DE GERAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
HERO under the standard of the Cross as well as that of an
earthly king, a monk of austere life, after having shown
hknself a
soldier
of
greatest
intrepidity,
Ferdinand,
Baron de G6ramb, in religion Brother Marie-Joseph, is a strik-
ing example of the power ol grace raising its
superstructure of
holiness on the basis of nature,
and while elevating and super-
naturalizing all the views and actions
of the man, leaving un-
changed much
of the
individuality and originality of his char-
acter.
De Geramb retained
to the end of life his martial bear-
ing, a soldier's impetuosity and chivalry,
all that
vivacity and
play of features and eyes which made his sisters nickname him
in boyhood
" perpetual
motion,'' and
which drew from Mon-
signor
Cheverus the remark in later
years that he had
seen
what he had never before witnessed, "a barrel of powder under
a cowl."
On
the
battlefield,
in the court and in the cloister.
Ferdinand de G£ramb's
is a
career full of almost romantic in-
terest and one that will repay our study.
I.
The Soldier.
Born at Lyons,
in France, in the year 1772, the future gen-
eral and trappist from early childhood was possessed of a proud
Digitized by
FERDINAND DE GARAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPJST.
307
and haughty spirit,
brooking no
opposition, an irascible tem-
per, and a desire to be seen and
heard, which might have led
him to great excesses,
were
not
all
these dangerous qualities
tempered in great measure and held in check by a lively faith,
sincere piety, and even delicacy of conscience, the result of the
careful training of his gifted and saintly mother.
Destined by
his
father for a military career, young De G6ramb received an
education
fitted
to prepare him
for
the
profession of arms.
His early studies were pursued under the personal supervision
of his mother, and he made such progress
in them that at the
age of sixteen he could read and
explain any
part
of
Cicero
and Tacitus at sight, was quite familiar with
the Greek trage-
dians and Latin poets, an
adept
in
music, drawing and horse-
back riding and, in addition
to
his native
French, spoke with
fluency four modern languages.
The
time had
come
for his
matriculation
at a
military
school when the outbreak of the
Revolution
of
1790
compelled the De Geramb family to
fly
from Lyons to Austria for safety. A year of travel in Italy pre-
ceded
their
arrival in Vienna, September
22, 1791, and the
trip was one of
ever
increasing
pleasure and profit for Ferdi-
nand.
At St. Peter's, Rome, he nearly lost his life in a tourist-
like attempt to scratch his name on top of the cross of the ball
surmounting the dome of the great Basilica.
In after
life, he
penned the
following
characteristic
account
of
this
event
:
" My head was in such a whirl that I cried out to my brother,
who was standing below, that I could not descend without risk-
ing my life, and that I must therefore remain where I was.
I
begged him
to
bid
farewell for me to my family, and not to
forget to advise my friends of my new address: M. Ferdinand,
Baron de Geramb, on top ofthe ball of the dome of St. Peter's,
Rome:"
We are not told how he escaped from
his predicament, but
that he did so,
is evidenced by the
fact
that two years later,
in 1793, we
fi 11^ him a second lieutenant of cavalry in the regi-
mental barracks at Presburg, after having graduated from the
Military School
of
Vienna, with
the reputation of a hard and
brilliant student, and a youth
of irreproachable
morals.
We
all know something
of the
dangers of barrack
life, and re-
Digitized by Google
3IO
FERDINAND DE G&RAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPP1ST.
time, the sound of
a
bell.
I came nearer, and soon
I was
able to distinguish an aged priest, with white hair and
poorly
clad.
He was
accompanied
by
two
peasants,
bareheaded,
despite the intense cold.
One was ringing from time to time a
bell, the other carried a lantern.
' Good God, it is Jesus!
Al-
low me, Monsieur
le Cur6,'
I
cried
out, 'to accompany
the
Blessed Sacrament.
Don't be alarmed
at
the military move-
ment we are about
to execute.
It is to do homage
to
Jesus
Christ.'
I gave my orders, and
in
a moment the venerable
pastor, surrounded by a staff of
officers and
in
the
middle of
my
troops, continued on
his way to
a
neighboring
village.
We advanced in religious silence, broken
only by the tramp of
the horses hoofs and the blare of the trumpet announcing
the
presence of the Most Holy
God."
They thus accompanied
Our Lord to the house of an old officer, who received Commun-
ion with lively sentiments of faith and piety.
A few days
later some
religious ceremony brought together
in the Imperial Chapel the royal families and all the high offi-
cials and nobles
of the
empire.
As Chamberlain,
it was the
Baron de Geramb's duty to see that good order was preserved,
and
that
all were
assigned
to
the places called
for by
their
rank.
As he moved from one part of the chapel to another, he
could not fail to notice
that the daughters of the Prime Minis-
ter were
distracting and annoying
the worshippers by their
loud talking and
laughter.
For some time he restrained him-
self, but at lengh, losing all patience, he called out in an indig-
nant voice that could be heard by all, " Ladies, either get out
or
stop your
talking.' '
The
report
of
this occurrence soon
spread abroad, and
caused considerable
adverse criticism.
It
served, however, to show
his contempt of
all human respect
when there was question of God's
honor, and gave no
little
edification to the court.
Just at this time
his devoted wife
fell
seriously
ill, and the
doctors were of the unanimous opinion that a change of climate
was
the only thing that could prolong her life.
He therefore
resolved, at
the advice of his sovereign, although
it cost him
no small sacrifice
to leave Vienna, to repair with his family to
the court
of Queen Caroline
of
Sicily.
The queen
received
FERDINAND DE GARAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPRIST.
311
him most graciously, and at once
appointed him Royal Cham-
berlain.
In return for this kindness he became the chivalrous
champion of the unfortunate princess, and even went so tar as
to travel to England to ameliorate the condition of Sicily, then
groaning under the tyrannous exactions of Bentink, the British
representative.
His
mission was
successful, but he had
in-
curred the undying hatred of the latter, who now sought to be
revenged.
The first step in the scheme was to induce a young
British officer, of great
reputation as a marksman, to publicly
insult the Chamberlain in the hope that a duel would
follow.
The expected
challenge was sent, but its acceptance contained
the unusual and barbarous condition that it should take place
on the side of Mt. ^Etna, and
that the vanquished
party, dead
or alive, should be thrown into the volcano's crater.
The first
exchange of shots was without result.
On the second firing it
was
found
that
the
bullet had crippled
the leg of the young
Englishman.
A silence
as of death fell
upon
all, principals,
seconds and
witnesses
of
the duel.
Quietly, dispassionately,
G£ramb advanced with outstretched hand towards his wounded
antagonist, declaring that
his honor was satisfied, and
that so
far from wishing to carry out the condition that had been forced
upon him, he freely granted him his life.
Thus
thwarted
of
his
revenge,
Bentink
continued along
other lines his intrigues against the Chamberlain who,
in the
end, deemed
it wise to leave
Sicily to offer his sword to Spain
to fight against Napoleon.
On January
16,
18 10, he arrived
at
Cadiz and
presented
himself before
the
President of the
Spanish Council.
After consultation with his colleagues, he
appointed De G£ramb a general, and
entrusted him with the
command of the City Guards, made up of 8,000 soldiers.
One
evening, as he was returning to the city at the head of a small
troop, they were suddenly attacked by
a regiment of French
grenadiers, before whose bayonet charge
the
Spaniards
were
rapidly yielding ground.
The
intrepid
baron
threw
himself
into the midst of the enemy, only
to
fall wounded.
At
this,
his men, now somewhat recovered from
their
first
fright, re-
turned to the fray, and by heroic efforts beat back the French
and carried off the field their bleeding commander.
312 FERDINAND DE G&RAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
Thus incapacitated for active service, he was entrusted with
a mission to England to recruit an auxiliary corps, and accord-
ingly embarked upon an English
frigate
loaded with
French
prisoners.
During the voyage a young soldier
died.
Just
at
the moment that the sailors were about to cast
the body
into
the sea, something occurred that provoked a laugh among the
men.
Shocked and indignant at their thoughtlessness and ap-
parent want
of
feeling,
De Geramb
stepped
to
the
front.
ik Soldiers," he said,
" how
is
it that when you
are on
the
point of burying one of your companions in the waves, you can
find matter for amusement? Not one of you accompanies him
!
Not one of you says a prayer
for
his soul
!
Well,
it shall be
mine to render to him the last rites."
Officers and men stood
up, and with bare heads listened to the prayer which the gen-
eral, in full view of all, read from the bridge.
Having landed at Portsmouth, he hastened immediately
to
London.
The better to ensure the success of his
enterprise,
he published a pamphlet
entitled Lettres a Sophie, which had
for its avowed
object
to
arouse
public opinion
in favor
of
Spain.
It was answered by many
applicants
for
enlistment,
and in a short time he was
able
to
dispatch
upward of 500
volunteers to Cadiz.
Unhappily, he was a better soldier than
financier.
His
disbursements were made without
reference
to his bank account and so, after
a few
months, the London
bankers refused
him
further
credit, and sent a statement
of
his indebtedness to the Cadiz
Council.
They
settled
for
all
the expenses incurred in recruiting
the
soldiers, but
declined
to meet the personal bills of
their
representative, which
they
pronounced exorbitant.
The creditors then entered suit, and
soon a pack
of
bailiffs were hammering at his
apartments
to
take possession of his
furniture and horses.
Such
a
proceed-
ing was little to the taste of the
baron, already wrought up
to
a high pitch by the unfairness of the Spanish Council.
With
the aid of his valet he barricaded doors and windows, hoisting
on
the outside a flag with the well-known axiom
of English
law, u My house
is my castle."
tftffc^tesiegers in
vain endeavored to wrench the door from
^
^\
One
of them, more courageous
than
the
rest,
Digitized by
FERDINAND DE G&RAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
313
mounted a ladder
to raise a window.
It
was raised quickly
enough, but a moment later the unhappy
minion
of law and
order fell to the ground, stunned by a violent blow of a sword
on his head.
Then, arming himself with his
pistols, the Gen-
eral made
his appearance
at the open window,
declaring, in
stentorian tones
:
" I
promise
to
break
the head of the
first
one who sets a foot upon that ladder."
Of
course, after such
a threat nobody attempted to enter.
The incident was a mat-
ter of common talk in all London.
To end
it, the government
expelled him from the
country
under
the
provisions
of the
Alien Bill.
It was the beginning of his reverses and, we may
add, of his conversion.
Driven from England, the
ex-general was thrown on
the
shores of Denmark.
He was looking for a means to make his
way
to Vienna, when
Napoleon, who
recognized
in him an
implacable and dangerous enemy, caused his arrest at Husum.
Led
first to Hamburg, and
then
to
Paris, de Gdramb was
in
February,
1812, imprisoned
in
the dungeons
of Vincennes.
Sometime later he was transferred to the prison called la Force
and there he remained till April
1, 1814, when the entry of the
victorious army of the
allies into
Paris gave freedom
to
all
prisoners for
political
offenses.
A
great
spiritual writer has
laid down the
principle
that we should
hold
ourselves
indif-
ferent to honor and dishonor, and that in God's providence the
latter may be most for our good.
This was
certainly true
in
the case of the Baron de Geramb.
His two years' confinement
had placed him in the most intimate relations with
his fellow-
prisoners, Mgr. De Gregorio, Bishop of Troyes, Father Fontana
and
the Abb£
Pedicini, secretary to Cardinal
Pacca.
Their
words and,
still more,
their example, told upon the generous
character of the impetuous soldier, they opened
to him vistas
of a greatness higher than that to be be
achieved on
battle-
fields or in the court of kings.
As the gates of his Paris prison
flew open there issued
forth
a changed man,
filled and
fired
with but one ambition—to pass his life clothed
in the drugget
of a monk in the land hallowed by the footsteps of his Divine
Master.
This determination was rendered possible by the fact
that his wife had already died at Palermo in 1808.
As to the
3H
FERDINAND DE G&RAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPFIST,
six
children,
two had
already followed
their mother
to
the
tomb and the others had no need of their father's presence and
assistance.
Edward was an officer in the Emperor of Russia's
Noble Guards, Gustave
a student
of
the
Military School
at
Vienna.
Adelaide was just finishing her education in an Ursu-
Hne convent,
while
the
youngest,
Eugenie,
had been con-
fided
to
his
sister,
the
Baroness
de
Hedl.
With
nothing,
therefore,
to impede
the
execution
of
his
pious
design,
de G£ramb prepared to start at once for the Holy Land.
Vocations are
neither of our own making or our own choos-
ing.
True
it
is that conditions of time and
place, health, dis-
position, tastes,
gifts
of mind and body, may determine our
suitability
or
likelihood
of
success in one profession
rather
than another, or if there be question of higher things, may de-
termine
our entrance
into
this
or
that
particular
religious
order.
Yet not unfrequently God's grace calls men to paths
hitherto untrod, or for
which, humanly speaking,
they would
seem to have no aptitude.
Such, assuredly, was
the vocation
of Ferdinand de Geramb
to
the Trappists.
We could
easily
understand how his restless energy might be transformed, trans-
mitted into a loftier channel and his fiery eloquence, enhanced
by the play of his mobile features, his sparkling eyes and deep,
rich voice, become the instrument of leading
souls
to God
in
the pulpit of Notre Dame.
We could even picture him a mis-
sionary in pagan lands, traversing
as
a Xavier
vast
regions,
indefatigable in labor, unlimited in expedients to attain his end.
But that the soldier of fortune who had engaged
in
battle on
the soil of nearly every European
country, who, almost from
the outset of his career, had been accustomed to command, the
Chamberlain who had
lived amidst the pomp and honor and
luxury of royal courts, should embrace a
state where
solitude
and
obscurity,
contemplation and
penance,
silence
and
the
monotonous round of menial work and prayer should form the
rule of life, this
it is that surprises us and baffles all expectation.
And yet, we have
it from the testimony of his fellow-religious,
that from the day on which
it came
to him as an inspiration
II.
The Trappist.
FERDINAND DE CERAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPRIST.
315
that it was God's will that he should enter La Trappe
instead
of going to Palestine, he excelled
in
all these virtues
that go
to make up the perfection of the members of the most
austere
Order in the Church.
His first intention was to enter a French
monastery, but the arrival of Napoleon
at Cannes
gave him
good reason to fear arrest and so he fled
to
Darfield
in West-
phalia.
Here, on January
5,
18 16, the good
Brother
Porter of the
Monastery of Port-du-Salut was startled by a violent ringing of
the door bell, and as he hastened to admit the visitor, we may
judge of his surprise on meeting a general in full military ac-
coutrement, who asked
instant audience with the abbot.
His
surprise must have increased when he saw him a few moments
later throw himself at the
feet of the
superior, and humbly
crave the favor of being
received as one of
his spiritual sons.
And
the pompous
titles
of
general, chamberlain, knight of
Malta, of which
he
had
formerly
been
so
proud, we^e soon
merged into the simple appellation of Brother Marie-Joseph.
On Good Friday, April 4, 18 17, de Geramb made his religious
profession.
At
the end
of Prime, the
postulant entered the
chapel attired in the brilliant court dress of a chamberlain, his
breast ablaze with the many military and civic decorations with
which he had been honored and with sword and boots and
spurs, as if ready to
lead
once more his
troops.
At a signal
from the
Father Abbot, he prostrated himself on the ground,
and soon the coarse, woolen habit of the Trappist had replaced
the livery of the world.
Now more than ever during the days of his severe novitiate,
did Brother Marie-Joseph give himself to the practice of morti-
fication.
To make his short rest more uncomfortable, he slept
upon small disconnected boards filled with knots, a log ofwood
serving him for pillow. He embraced with joy and avidity all the
humbler employments of the house entrusted to him, although,
it must be confessed, that his fulfilment of these duties was not
without
inconvenience
to
the
rest of
the community, for as
tailor, he broke all his needles, and as barber his hair-cuts were
so villainous " that no one wished to
avail himself of
his ser-
vices.'
}
316
FERDINAXD DE GERAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
But it was as a painter
that he
chiefly distinguished him-
self.
Beneath his brush, guest-house, refectories and corridors
became a veritable sepulchre.
On all sides one could see only
skulls, and dead men's bones arranged in the shape of crosses.
In 1820, he was appointed to the charge of the guest-house.
It
was a responsible and delicate position, and not without danger,
since it brought him once more
in contact with
the world he
had abandoned.
He, however, fulfilled its duties with rare tact
and good
nature,
and
the many
visitors who came
partly
through curiosity to see a monk who had once held such high
positions, were moved and
bettered by
his
pious
and
enter-
taining conversation.
Their gratitude and
admiration found
expression in very generous alms, which were
well employed
in repairing and enlarging the little monastery.
The church,
however, was still too small and poor, and to supply this want,
the Abbot, Dom Bernard de Girmont, resolved, in the autumn
of 1822^ to send Brother Marie-Joseph to beg aid in the districts
of Mayenne and Sarthe.
Before his
departure he formed the
resolution on entering any city or village, to make his first visit
to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and to salute
the angel
guardians and patron saints of the place under whose
protec-
tion he would place his quest for alms.
Begging is not an agreeable occupation, and if there remained
any of his old-time pride or human respect in the former general,
this order of obedience must have been no easy one.
Perhaps
it was to crush out any lurking vestige of these defects that he
directed his first steps towards the chateau of one of his most
intimate and aristocratic friends, the Count de Vos, at Panard.
He
was
received
most
cordially,
but
no
remonstrance
or
entreaty could induce him
to change aught in the manner of
his austere
life.
Disdaining the
soft bed
that had been pre-
pared for him, he took his night's rest upon the bare floor.
In
all other respects he was affability and graciousness
itself.
The count invited a large number of distinguished
persons
to a dinner in his honor.
At the end of the banquet, all went
3$ usual to the parlor, where some one knowing the Trappist's
talent, asked
him
to play
a
selection
on
the piano.
led to the
request, and
after
a
few
improvisations,
FERDINAND DE GERAMB, SOLDIER AND TRARRIS T.
317
began a waltz which
in
the
perfection and
brilliancy
of
its
execution
elicited
loud
applause.
To
all
this
must
have
seemed a strange
sight, a monk in a cowl
and sandals seated
at a piano in a fashionable
salon, but stranger
still and telling
a tale of higher import was the clanking of
the sharp-pointed
penance-chains on his arm,, as his finger moved
with
lightning
rapidity over the ivory keys.
One of the
ladies
immediately
arose to take
up
a
collection, which proved most generous.
The whole winter
was
thus spent
in begging, the
while
he
was living in the world
the life of a
monk, and
in the spring
he returned to his monastery with sufficient money
to ensure
the erection of a new church.
Within five months the building
was completed.
But quick work is not solid work, and so one
evening in the
following December, as
the community were
seated in the refectory, a loud crash told
too
clearly
that the
roof of their church had fallen in.
Nothing daunted, the very next
day, Brother Marie-Joseph
set
out to
begin anew
to
beg.
This
time
his steps were
directed towards the district of Sarthe, and as in the preceding
year, the
vivacity
and
intelligence
of
his
conversation, his
genial manners and mortified life, secured
for the mere asking
ample alms.
In the beginning of the Lent of 1824, the church
was finished.
His task
had
been accomplished, and with
all
the joy of a true contemplative he
resumed
the
exercises
of
community life, and kneeling within his narrow cell meditated
the truths he had depicted on the
convent's walls, This night
perhaps / ...
To be silent, to suffer, to die
to self!
It was about
this time
that P£re Marie-Joseph published
a
book
entitled Lettres a Eugenie.
Its
purpose was
to draw
souls to
frequent communion, and
it was a cry of love from a
heart
enamored of God, a love which
in
the silence of La
Trappe was every day growing and expanding.
No effort, no
sacrifice was spared
that he might follow in the footprints of
his Divine
Master.
His chief aim was to hold
in check
his
natural
impetuosity and
brusqueness
of character, of which,
however, he never became thoroughly master.
God left these
defects for the greater humiliation of his servant, and we may
learn from the fact the great lesson of patience with ourselves,
often a more difficult virtue than patience with others.
318
FERDINAND DE GERAMBy SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
At
the beginning of January,
1827, he was
transferred
to
another Trappist monastery, called Our Lady of the Mount of
Olives, near Mulhouse
in the diocese of Strasburg.
Here he
employed
the
free time allowed by Superiors in completing
three
brochures he had
in hand, Litanies for a Good Death,
The One Thing Necessary and At the Tomb of My
Saviour.
In 1828, when Mgr.
Feutrier attacked the Jesuits, P£re de Ge-
ramb protested in a letter of great power and eloquence, which
brought down upon the Mount of Olives the hatred of the sec-
taries.
The monastery was closed, and
all
the religious who
were not
French were expelled.
After some months' wander-
ing he found a home in the Cistercian Abbey of Saint-Urbain,
in
the
canton
of Lucerne.
In
the
quiet of
his cell he gave
much thought to the outrages committed against our Lord
in
Paris and
elsewhere, and there grew up
within
his heart a
great longing to go on a pilgrimage of reparation to the Holy
Land.
This desire was realized when, in the June of 183 1, he
embarked
at Altorf on
his way to the
East, to
return
to
his
monastery only on December 21, 1833.
The impressions and experiences of this two years' pilgrim-
age have been embodied
in
the work, A Pilgrimage to Pales-
tine and Aft. Sinai.
What
strikes one
most
in reading
this
interesting volume is
not the touch of the artist
or the obser-
vations of an educated tourist, though both these are found
in
it, but that everywhere we meet the religious whose faith and
piety are ever in evidence in all he sees and notes.
Called
to Rome by Pope
Gregory XVI
in May, 1837, he
was shortly afterwards named Abbot in partibus and Procura-
tor-General of theTrappists at the Pontifical Court.
The duties
of the new office were far from congenial, although with ready
obedience he threw himself heartily into
his work.
The
pro-
verbial slowness of the Roman Congregations sorely tried
his
not over-patient
spirit, as we may judge from
the following
extract from a letter written to the Abbot of Port-du-Salut, in
reference to some business matters he had been asked to expe-
dite
:
u There will
be
the whole
sea
to
drink!
Cardinal
Drioli, who weighs at least six hundred pounds, will be harder
to be moved than was Ostini.
The slowness of the Roman
FERDINAND DE CERAMB, SOLDIER AND TRAPPIST.
319
Congregation kills me.
When one has to wait for a decision
from
these
cardinals, monsigori, secretaries, etc., we may say
that time lays aside her wings to drag along on crutches."
Each
year,
Brother
Marie-Joseph
passed
the
summer
months with the Camaldulese
Hermits
at
Frascati.
He
fol-
lowed in all things the abstemious and
penitential life led by
these good religious, and although he was suffering greatly
in
health, neither
the
advice of
his
friends, Cardinals Lambni-
schini and Polidori, nor even of
his physician, M. Viale, could
prevail on him to change
his mode of
living.
Nothing
less
than a formal order from the Holy Father was needed.
In the
afternoon of October 7, while de GeVamb was quietly engaged
in writing in his room, he heard a great stir and noise
in
the
hallway, followed by several raps at his own door.
Hastening
to open it he found himself
in the presence of Gregory XVI.
During the long conversation between them
the Pope notic-
ing
the
Abbot's
great
weakness,
gave him
a command
of
obedience henceforth to eat meat.
From that time on, Pere Marie-Joseph was the Pope's most in-
timate friend, and scarcely a day passed on which they might not
be seen conversing together.
One day, a young priest entering
the
Pontifical Palace, perceived the Father in his large white
habit standing in the midst of a group of ecclesiastics. Think-
ing it was the Pope, he drew near to throw himself at his feet.
Whereupon Gregory XVI, who was standing a few feet away,
smilingly remarked, "We are two Popes at present."
The following year, failing health obliged him to seek repose
and
rest
at
Vichy, where
his white habit and
distinguished
bearing
elicited no little
attention and
admiration.
We
find
him in Rome the next Feast of the Purification, assisting at the
ceremony of presenting a wax
candle
to
the Holy Father by
the representative of each of the religious
Orders.
No sooner
had the Pope observed the presence of
his old
friend than he
called him to a seat beside himself, near the Pontifical throne.
After the public audience, they were closeted together for a long
time in His Holiness' private apartments.
To assert
that de Geramb was
insensible to these marks
of
distinction would
be
to betray ignorance of
his
true
nature.
320
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
To
the end of
life
his
besetting fault was a certain
boastful
pride in the honors he had received and the
great friends he
had made.
This was an occasion of many harsh
criticisms on
the part of those who
did not
appreciate how hard he strug-
gled to overcome this weakness in his character.
Towards the end of July he
left Rome
to
take
part
in a
General Chapter of
his Order in France.
When he arrived in
Paris news reached him
that
his
eldest
son, Edward, a high
officer in the Russian army, had just been killed in an expedi-
tion to the Caucasus.
His grief was bitter, and showed clearly
that his separation from his family and the years he had spent
in the cloister, had in no wise lessened his father's love for his
children.
For a time even he was incapacitated for work, and
he begged
with
insistence
to
be
relieved
of
his
charge of
Procurator-General.
The Chapter answered his
request by a
pressing letter, confirming him in his office.
He then returned to Rome, but the fatigue of travel brought
on an illness from which he never recovered.
His sufferings
were borne without complaint, and
he
heard unmoved
the
announcement
of
his
approaching
death.
He
generously
offered the sacrifice of his life to God, and after having received
the last sacraments
and answered
in
full
consciousness the
prayers for
the
dying, calmly expired March
15,
1848.
At
the time of his death he was
sixty-six
years
of age, thirty-six
of which had been lived
as
a
Trappist.
Earnestness was the
keynote of his life, and the lesson
it
teaches
is
that sanctity
consists u in
making
stepping
stones
of our
dead
selves to
higher things.'
1
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
The Schenectady Pilgrimage.
The closing pilgrimage of this year was that of the German
Congregation of St. Joseph's Church, Schenectady.
It took place
September 7, and fittingly ended the series.
Unlike the other pil-
j^^M^lglich included several churches, the people of St. Jo-
*ke *r v*sit to the shrine to be exclusively their own.
f
'
Digitized by Google
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
321
The dayjand evening preceding seemed to preclude any possibility
of bad weather, but heavy rain came during the night and though
it had ceased to
fall
at Auriesville early in the morning,
there
were dark clouds hanging over the valley,
particularly
in the
direction of Schenectady.
Fears were entertained of their com-
ing, but a little after 9 o'clock, the train rolled up to the station
with
900 pilgrims with their devoted
priests,
Fathers Schoppe
and Henrich leading, surrounded by a great number of altar boys
in their red cassocks and surplices and followed by their numer-
ous sodalities and other associations.
The banners were*furled,
because of the rain, as the pilgrims wound up the hill
; but the
people came with their usual enthusiastic devotion, heedless of
the threatening skies and of the wet grass through which they
were tramping.
They trusted in the Lord, and when the con-
gregation knelt in the open chapel, at the beginning of the High
Mass, the sun came out in all its splendor.
The scene was beau-
tiful indeed, as the bright light illumined that devout multitude
kneeling there on the hill-top, praying in their loud, earnest voices
and singing as Germans so well do while the Holy Sacrifice was
being offered.
The Stations of the Cross immediately followed,
a devotion which is always very striking with the
congregation
because of the unusual plaintiveness of their Stabat Mater which
they all sing, and the vigor which they never fail to put in their
responses to the prayers. The sermon in the chapel was preached
in German by Father
L,auer.
That
in the Ravine, by Father
O' Donovan, S. J., was in English.
The method and orderliness
of the procession, both in going and coming,
are always very
notable with the people of St. Joseph's.
Throughout the entire
journey hymns are sung or the beads and
litanies are
recited.
Then followed the procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the
three aftars, which is always so solemn and impressive.
This
ended the devotions at Auriesville, but not the
devotions of St.
Joseph's pious people.
On returning to Schenectady, they again
formed in procession
at the station, proceeded to
their Church
and after solemn Benediction and the
Grosser Gott, withdrew to
their homes. They had gone in the same way processionally, from
the church to the train in the early morning
; a beautiful custom
which must make a very deep impression on
the non- Catholics
who witness this act of brave, outspoken piety.
The same thing
is done by other congregations, it is true, but it would be well if
the practice were universal.
It puts a stamp
of unmistakable
322
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
Catholicity on the entire day and prevents the pilgrimage from
being taken for anything else but a
sincere and genuine act of
religion.
How will the new shrine look in winter ?
It will not be cased
in, as some imagine, though the statue
will be protected from
the weather by a covering, the front of which will be of
glass,
so as to admit a view of the beautiful group.
The shrine will,
therefore, look the same
in winter as in summer, though the
surroundings will change, and in pure white from base to roof it
will match the winter snows.
" Everything is in perfect order at the shrine,' ' writes the one
who is in charge there, and we trust that during the autumn, in
spite of the rains, as well
as during the winter, in
spite of
the
frosts and thaws, everything may remain in perfect order.
This
order implies not only that things have been put to rights since
the pilgrimages, but that many things have
already been done
by way
of improvement, particularly
for the
trees, which- will
appear only next year.
Mass was
said
at the
shrine on Sunday, September
28, the
feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, and again on Monday,
the anniversary of the death of Rene* Goupil, 1642.
On Sunday,
also, the visiting priest and a party drove to the sites of the other
two villages at which the missionaries and their neophytes were
tortured,
Andagaron
and
Tionnontoguen.
Mass
will be said
again at Auriesville on
the morning
of Saturday,
October
18,
the anniversary of the death
of
Father Jogues, 1646.
At the
Mass, Sunday, September 28, the new chalice was used for the
first time.
The Indian mission or reservation at Caughnawaga, in Can-
ada, is to come again under the care of a
Jesuit pastor.
Our
readers will recall that it was
to
this reservation the early mis-
sionaries from Canada used to send the converts they had made
among the Iroquois along the Mohawk valley, in order that, by
separating them
from
those who
still remained pagans, they
might develop more speedily and maintain in them more securely
the Christian spirit.
It was
to
this
reservation that Catherine
Tegakwitha was
sent
soon
after her baptism at the Mohawk
Caughnawaga, near Fonda, N. Y., four miles above Auriesville
where she was born.
Father Walworth erected a tomb in her
honor
at
the Canada Caughnawaga, which
is now a place of
MISSION NOTES.
323
Sunday
pilgrimage
for
the
Indians
there.
An oblate
priest,
Father Forbes, has been in charge of the reservation lately, and
within a year he will hand it over to the Jesuit Father Granger,
who is now studying the languages needed.
Father Jones, accompanied by Father Quirk, both of Montreal,
has again visited the sites of the early missions above Toronto,
and is now satisfied that he has sufficient data to justify the pub-
lication of his map
of
these
sites and the notes explaining the
same.
MISSION NOTES.
FOUR MISSIONARY MARTYRS DECLARED VENERABLE.
The title was given to them on May 1st by Pope Leo's decree.
Two were Bishops, one a priest, and one a native Christian.
All
belonged to the Dominican Order.
They were put to death for
the faith in Tonkin, on the same day, in 1861.
Bishop Jerome
Hermosilla was Vicar Apostolic
of Eastern
Tonkin.
Born
in Spain, he became
a Dominican when quite
young, went to the Philippines immediately after his profession,
and as soon as ordained went to Tonkin.
After years of Apos-
tolic labor, he was betrayed
into the hands of
the
persecutors,
imprisoned, and after a form of judgment, was beheaded on No-
vember
1 st,
1 86 1, being then sixty-one years of age.
Bishop Valentine
Berrio-Ochoa, born
in Spain
in
1827, had
been also
in
the
Philippines.
He was made Coadjutor
to the
Vicar Apostolic of Central Tonkin, to whom, after
his martyr-
dom, he succeeded.
From his places of concealment he continued
to aid his people, until he was seized and executed.
Father Peter Almato was born in
Catalonia in 1830.
He was
ordained priest in the Philippines, and passed thence, in 1855, to
Tonkin.
His ill-health and the persecution hindered him from
performing very much missionary work
; but he had the happi-
ness of giving his life for the missions he loved.
Venerable Joseph Chang was born of native Christian parents
in Tonkin
in
1832.
From the age of
thirteen he
attended a
native priest, who taught him Latin.
Later on he labored with
Bishop Hermosilla
: and having been captured with him, he was
subjected to fearful
tortures.
All efforts were unavailing, how-
ever, to force him to deny his faith and tread the Crucifix under
foot.
His tormentors, grown weary of their savage
toil, finally
killed him the same day as the three other martyrs.
Digitized by Google
324
MISSION NOTES.
(
< THE LOVBRS OF THE CROSS
99 IN JAPAN.
These
are communities
of
native
Christian women
living
together as religious do.
They were
instituted
after
the last
great persecution.
In the little hamlet
of Motobari, beneath a
roof of straw, the first members were gathered together.
Wear-
ing no
distinctive habit,
but the ordinary
dress
of
Japanese
women, they
till the
fields, raise
silk worms, work
at
trades,
spin and weave, in order
to supply the
simple
needs
of
their
austere life.
They take care of
the sick, collect orphans, teach
catechism to the children of the
district, and whether
it be to
face danger in the midst of an epidemic, or to devote themselves
to any other work of charity, they are ready at the word of the
Bishop to go even to the most distant places.
Their services no
longer needed, they humbly return to their houses, to take up
again the instruments of lowly labor.
The diocese
of
Nagasaki, which contains 40,000 Christians,
has ten communities of those consecrated virgins, numbering in
all 160 persons.
It is particularly as catechists that those valiant
women render inestimable
services.
They are
easily admitted
into families not yet Christian, where by degrees they exert a
great and salutary influence.
Thus, in one place, by their aid,
one
missionary
is able
to look after 4,600 scattered converts.
In particular, they labor amongst the separated descendants of
the early Christians of Japan, numerous villages of whom have
not yet received the Catholic missionaries.
As to their spiritual training, " the Lovers of
the Cross
99 are
admirable.
Great charity for one another as well
as for those
outside their communities, readiness to obey and exact observ-
ance of
their rule characterize
their
lives.
They are severely
tried by temporal needs.
Great poverty
is
their
lot, and hard
work to pay debts and support themselves.
Their homes are
miserable, and their wretchedness is keenly felt in cases of sick-
ness.
The same room must serve
for instruction, work, eating
and repose.
Google
Digitized by
THE PILGRIM
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
November, 1902.
No.
11.
A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND AURIESVILLE.
THERE are three places near Auriesville which the supreme
importance of the site of the actual martyrdom itself may,
perhaps, cause us to lose sight of.
They are the spring of
Catherine Tegakwitha, and the two
stations of Andagaron, and
Tionnontoguen.
The two
latter were Indian
villages west of
Auriesville where the captives were taken from time to time to
be exhibited
to the savages who were
settled
there and
to be
tortured
in
whatever
manner
the
wild
Indian
fury
might
suggest.
If you
leave
Auriesville and
journey
westward
along
the
wooded high- way under the shadows of
the rising hills on your
left, you come, after a mile or two, to what
is
called
the River-
road, which crosses the canal at this point and runs close to the
Mohawk through the fertile low lands which stretch for miles up
and down the valley.
It soon brings you
to
the bridge which
spans the river between Fultonville and the little town of Fonda.
At the end of the bridge, to your right on
the Fonda side, you
will pass the old hotel that once was a famous hostelry in its day,
but which, because of the gruesome
tales of murder connected
with it, was abandoned and allowed to fall into decay, but is now
occupied, in part, by the families of Italian laborers who
appar-
ently have no fear of ghosts, or whose ignorance
of English has
happily debarred them from knowledge of
local
history.
Con-
tinue on through the principal street, and you pass the diminu-
tive Catholic church perched half-way up a slope on the roadway
in a position which seems
to preclude any further enlargement.
Further on is the structure called
the Opera House where the
principal meetings of the townspeople are held
; the appearance
of the edifice being in singular opposition to its ambitious name.
Around the depot is the usual agglomeration
of
hotels,
rather
325
Digitized by
326
A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND A URIESVILLE,
excessive one would fancy in such a small
place and suggestive
that the name Fonda, which signifies hotel,
is not inappropriate
in the present instance.
From this point
starts the electric road
to Johnstown, the place named after the most conspicuous
per-
sonality in
these regions, subsequent to the time of the missions
and just prior to the Revolution, Sir William Johnson.
Outside of
the town you
cross
the Cayudutta Creek, which
jimt here issues from the valley towards which we are directing
our steps.
Crossing the bridge we immediately find
ourselves
climbing a steep ascent, and see on our left a wide sweep of the
river
beneath
us.
There
are
numbers
of
comfortable
farm
houses and elegant residences on the
side on which we are, but
I lie south bank of the river towards which we now
look, begins
In
pile up
in
loftier
hills and only here and there through its
dark pine woods a dwelling or a farm
reveals
itself
in the occa-
sional clearing.
About a mile beyond Fonda, when well up on the
hills, you
hit h abruptly to your right on a narrow farm-road, a trespass to
whirU the good-natured owner, whose house is close to the high-
way, apparently has no objection.
Within a few hundred feet is
ft iterp gully , going down almost perpendicularly through gigantic
Unhand
tangled undergrowth,
till it reaches the river-bottoms
\<e\nw, a distance of perhaps two hundred
feet.
Almost
at the
fop of ibis ravine is a spring so copious that a wooden reservoir,
jimw somewhat dilapidated, but still
carefully covered over, has
li^n constructed to catch
the flow of water.
Down deeper an-
hM**' stream gushes rapidly from between the roots of a towering
\\w
This second stream meets the
first after a little distance,
tfH'l
together they flow down
into the creek
at
the
foot of the
HHftfe
This is the spring to which
the
tradition of the neigh-
loolfoort has attached the name of Tegakwitha.
|f yuu have courage enough to clamber down the deep descent
+\\\\ \h*n to creep around up the hillside to your right, clinging
tH m\Mh%* to aid your ascent, you will find
yourself on a high,
'
tion, which
juts
far out and commands a
full
i
luded valley, running north and south.
It is in-
|
| nf/w by the
electric railway that
leads to Johnstown, but
tfUen the Iroquois had driven their enemies from the
III
i h buuk of
the Mohawk and were able to settle here, this
1
1
i'i
afforded an
excellent shelter for the scattered
would
scarcely detect
it when standing on
I
Digitized byG00gk
A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND AURIESVILLE.
327
the other bank of the river, but if you know where to look for it
you can discover the mouth of the Cayudutta
Creek, where the
stream
finds
its way through
the
still
tall
river-grass on the
banks of the Mohawk
; and by that way the Indians found an
•entrance to their valley much easier than the one we followed.
The hill-top to which we had climbed
for a view of
the scene
is, because of the circuit we had been compelled to make, only a
few steps from the top of the ravine, into which we had descended
before in search of the spring
; and, going back to the road by
which you had entered the farm, you can look down into it again,
but you first have to walk cautiously along
the
side of a great
-excavation which is being made in the hill- side for the excellent
building sand which is found
there.
The sand pit is so close to
the spring that the possibility suggests
itself of the spring soon
disappearing and remaining only as a memory for pious pilgrims.
Retracing our
steps towards Fonda, in order
to recross the
Mohawk, for there is no bridge to the west
nearer than Canajo-
harie, we find ourselves once more on the Auriesville side of the
river.
There is a break in the hills opposite Fonda, or rather a
little above that point, and then the road begins to be absolutely
shut in on one side, leaving only the river and the northern bank
for
the eye
to
rest upon.
The scene becomes more and more
beautiful as we journey on, the river growing wider in some places
than
it
is farther down the stream, the canal following it faith-
fully, either running straight through long stretches of the coun-
try or winding where the hills drive the water out of
its direct
-course through the valley.
It would not be noticed by the trav-
eller, but above Fonda the Mohawk takes a decided bend towards
the south, and so permitted the savages, who were always on the
alert, to command a long view of the waterway, which doubled
in on
itself when
it approached, as
in this instance, the places
which the Indians chose for
their fortresses.
We are now at the
station of Andagaron, about seven miles
from Auriesville We have travelled along,
if not the exact road
followed by Father Jogues, at
least
in the same direction, and,
as
it
is
the
shortest,
it
is probably the same.
At the present
time, especially in the autumn, when the foliage is changing
its
color, the scene is one of constantly changing beauty
; but though
the same river and
hills and woods are still there,
it is doubtful
if the poor victims of those days saw it as we do now.
They had just run the gauntlet
at Auriesville, or Ossernenon,
Digitized by Google
328
A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND A URIESVILLE.
as it was called.
Father Jogues had already one
of his fingers*
eaten
off.
Rene* Goupil, who was with him, had suffered a sim-
ilar mutilation
; they both had been slashed with knives and
beaten with clubs
; had been covered with hot ashes as they lay
fastened
to
the earth, and were dripping with blood from head
to foot.
We do not know who were there with Father Jogues
besides Goupil, except the heroic Couture, who was particularly
marked out
for torture because of his courage.
Two Indians,
Joseph and Eustace, are also mentioned, but
there were several
others who were
tortured with them.
An Indian named Theo-
dore had escaped, but died of his wounds before he reached the
French.
It was this group of almost dying men who were driven
by their savage captors up to Andagaron after the monsters at
Auriesville had been satiated.
We have a record of that first journey:
*
' My jailer, says Father
Jogues, afraid that he might lose the chance of securing my shirt,
took it from me.
He made me start on my march
in this ex-
posed state with nothing on
me,
but
a
pair
of wretched old
drawers.
Finally he took pity on me and gave me a piece of old
canvas which was enough to cover my shoulders and part of my
back
; but my festering wounds could not stand this rough, coarse
texture.
9 9
When they reached the village the same torture was repeated
as at Ossernenon.
" Though it is contrary
to custom
to make
prisoners run the gauntlet more than
twice yet they were not
spared, and a refinement of cruelty was added.
As the crowd
was smaller the executioners could take better aim. They struck
particularly the shin bones covering the
legs with bruises and
causing acute pain.**
The prisoners remained two days and two
nights in the village
; by day on
the pillory,
exposed to every
sort of insult and ill-treatment
;
at night in a cabin at the mercy
of the children.
It is this glorious journey which makes this road from Auries-
ville to Andagaron
so sacred.
The exact
position of
the old
village is rather difficult to indicate for there is nothing striking
in the surrounding landscape to serve as a mark for the traveller,,
except that it is about opposite a peculiar house on
the north
bank of the Mohawk, known as the house of the Seven Gables.
To the west of the village just as one remarks in Auriesville is the
creek which is of little consequence now and
is not designated
by any name on General Clarke's map, nor is any known to the
people thereabout.
A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND A URIES P ILLE.
3 29
Six or seven miles further up the stream lies the other settle-
ment of Tionnontoguen to which the captives were
carried after
the tortures of Andagaron.
This
is
really
the most beautiful
part of the journey, and perhaps the most romantic portion
of
the Mohawk valley, with the exception,
it may be, of Little Falls,
which has an attraction all its own and quite different from what
is found in this part of the river.
The hills on either side begin
~to loom up high, here
and there,
presenting
rocky
formations
which resemble titanic fortresses with
great
parapets and pro-
jecting bastions arranged with such regularity as almost to sug-
gest the hand
of
art.
The enormous height of
these masses
of rock
of course precludes any such
possibility, but the way
these mighty castles suddenly obtrude themselves high up the
mountain
side, appearing suddenly out
of
a gloomy
forest of
pines, is something that even one not given to romancing cannot
easily forget.
As we approach this last station, the river suddenly seems
to
stop at the base
of the two great promontories which
project
from either side of the river.
It reminds one of those
features
-of landscape which are continually presenting themselves
to the
traveller on the Hudson.
For a military engineer who would
wish
to command
the entire valley
below, this would appear,
were a layman to suggest it, an almost impregnable position.
Our journey, always on the south bank of the Mohawk, leads
around one of these mountains, and we arrive at last at the little
village now known by the scarcely poetic appellation of Sprakers,
but
in
the
times
to
which
our memory
is
reverting, Tion-
nontoguen.
The same welcome awaited Father Jogues and his companions
^as in the village below.
It is amazing how he absolutely forgot
his own sufferings.
As he mounted the platform to be tortured,
he met there four Hurons who were condemned
to
death.
He
talked to them
; succeeded
in converting them, and " with the
few drops of water which the rain had left on the grains of corn
given them for food baptized them.
'
It was here that Couture lost some of his fingers.
Besides the
other sufferings Father Jogues signalizes the torture
all of them
liad to undergo
at
the hands
of the younger Indians at night.
*
' They suspended me by my arms with bark ropes from two
posts raised
in the centre of the
cabin.
I thought they were
jgoing to burn me, for such is the posture usually given
to those
33Q
A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND A URIESVILLE.
who are condemned to the stake.' '
He owed his relief from this-
torture to a strange Indian who happened
to come upon the
scene.
Without uttering a word he approached the sufferer and
cut the cords.
No one dared oppose him.
Two days were spent
in this village.
Tiounontoguen is easily identified.
It is near the railway sta-
tion, and every one knows it.
A short distance up from the river
is Iroquois Knoll, where arrow-heads and other Indian relics are
easily found.
The topography is strikingly like that of Auries-
ville.
West of it is the usual
creek which rushes down to the
Mohawk.
From the knoll a superb view up and down the river
is obtained,
picturesque
indeed,
but
in those days useful
for
people who were always on the lookout for
the approach
of
an.
enemy.
About a quarter of
a mile away
in a
thick clump of
stunted pine there are said to be Indian
graves. Their proximity^
to an old and now
dilapidated
little cemetery belonging
to a
family that had settled there many years ago may have given
rise to this impression.
That is immaterial.
About the situation
of the Indian village there is no doubt whatever.
We took our last look
at
this holy
place and turned our face
to the Mohawk.
We were
desirous of
returning home by the
northern
side of the
river.
But how
cross the river ?
As an
example of the way in which
primitive conditions may still lin-
ger, even in such advanced centres of civilization as the Empire
State possesses, you drive your weary horses down through the
mud and
rain
to the
river bank.
The night is coming on and
you cannot
attract the attention
of the man on the other side
who owns a flat-boat, as
level as a floor,
with no
rail or guard
about it.
On a withered branch of a tree hangs a horn, and you
toot and toot until the man, who has to flag a train, descends in
the pelting rain and, by means of a cable flung across the stream,
ferries himself over to where you
are
waiting.
If you are not
afraid that your frightened and prancing steeds will plunge over-
board,
carriage
and
all, which
just
fits on
this raft, you will
make up your mind
to cross
in
this primitive fashion.
It
is
well to stand
at the horses' heads and pet and coax them,
as
the
ropes
swish
past
them,
or the eddies in the river make
them
start
aside,
and
finally
you
will
reach
the
muddy
bank
beyond
and
thank
the
Lord
you
had
not
to
pay
more dearly than the ferriage for your temerity.
The roads are
good on the shore you have reached, and you
will speed home-
DEATH OF FATHER DANIEL.
33*
ward
quicker,
although you have a journey
of
thirteen miles
before you in the dark, three of which are along the narrow tow-
path of the canal, with an occasional break in the bank to warn
you of a possible wreck at the journey's end.
The darkness, of
course, might have been avoided by
starting out
earlier,
but
in any
case,
the
physical
features
of
the
journey
will
ever
remain in one's memory replete with the loftiest spiritual inspir-
ations.
DEATH OF FATHER DANIEL
PROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMILLE DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
OT
to
interrupt the
course
of
this
narrative we have
omitted
certain
facts
which, on
account of
their im-
portance, we ought to recall here.
The death of Louis XIII and of
his minister,
the Cardinal
de Richelieu, did not change the
dispositions
of
the govern-
ment of the metropolis in favor of the Canadian Colony.
The
Queen Regent Anne of Austria openly
proclaimed
herself its
protectress, and one of her first acts was to send
to the Baron
de Renty, protector of the Company of Montreal, a large sum
of money to help the infant Church in Canada.
She also sent
two small pieces of cannon in the name of
the
king, her som
Finally she despatched to Quebec a company of sixty soldiers,
raised and equipped at her own expense, with orders
to estab-
lish them in the different posts of the country.
Le
Sieur de
la Barre, a hypocrite, who concealed
under an
appearance
of
virtue a life of immorality, arrived
with
this
reinforcement
in
the course of
the summer
of 1644, an^ twenty-two
of these
soldiers as soon as they were landed were sent
to
St. Mary of
the Hurons, where their simple presence stopped the Iroquois
invasion and
preserved
the country from
total
ruin.
Again
the following year, immediately after the conclusion of peace,,
they
returned
to Quebec
loaded
with
peltries, the
price of
which amounted to thirty or forty thousand
francs.
We call attention to this last
fact because
it occurs now for
the first time in the
annals
of the
Colony, and
marks a pro-
found change in the
administration
of its commercial affairs.
Digitized by Google
33 2
DEATH OF FATHER DANIEL.
In fact the Company
of One Hundred
Associates
had
just
ceded the trade to the inhabitants on
condition
of an annual
tribute, besides all the burdens which the decree of the colonial
foundation had already
imposed.
The
inhabitants who were
established at Quebec, Three Rivers and Montreal had in each
of these forts
a
Syndic, who was
entrusted
with
the care of
their several
interests.
This concession of
the
privilege
of trading
to the colonists
was the signal for changes in the general government
of the
colony.
A
council was created, composed of
the Governor-
General who was at Quebec, of the Superior of the Mission, and
ofthe subordinate Governor ofMontreal. This council regulated
all matters of police, commerce and war.
The commander
of
the fleet as well as the
Syndics took
part
in
these
councils,
but the Syndics could discuss only matters which
related
to
their special community, and
the
General
of the
fleet
what
concerned his
particular
office.
The
Governor-General
pre-
sided and had the casting
vote.
Later
in
1648
considerable
modifications were made in this arrangement, the
number of
members being increased to five and sometimes to seven when
the Governors of Montreal and Three
Rivers happened
to be
at Quebec on the day of meeting.
The Council
of Three was hardly
organized when
M. de
Montmagny was recalled
to France and was succeeded on the
20th of August,
1648, by M. d'Ailleboust.
M. de Montmagny took
his
departure
with
the
regrets of
the entire colony.
For the twelve years that he
was charged
with the affairs of
Canada
he
had
learned
all
its
needs and
resources.
He knew the dangers
it had to
fear, the hopes
it
could entertain, the measures that were
necessary
for
its
de-
fence.
Having received the young colony from the hands of
Champlain he had governed and directed it with
all the devo-
tion of a father.
Carefully following the line marked
out by
his predecessor he
strove
to
found
the
colony on
the only
basis
which
can
make
a
state
secure, namely, religion and
honesty.
With very feeble resources he succeeded in averting
the dangers that menaced the colony,. especially with regard to
the Iroquois.
During the whole
course
of his administration
DEATH OF FATHER DANIEL.
333
he never ceased to show a prudence and a courage
which
in-
spired the colonists with confidence and
held
the savages
in
awe.
He possessed to a lofty degree that persevering energy
which never wavers in
the
face
of
difficulties.
After having
done the honors of an official reception to his successor he laid
•down his authority and assisted the new comer with his counsel
and advice.
u Ailleboust," says Charlevoix, " was a good man,
religious and
well meaning."
He had commanded
at Mon-
treal in the absence of Maisonneuve, and completed
the forti-
fications of the place.
He knew the country, he loved
it, and
was not lacking
in
those
qualities which
in
ordinary times
would have made him a good Governor.
Unhappily for him
he was entrusted with
the care
of the entire country
at the
most
critical
moment,
just when
the
war
was
rekindled
^between the Iroquois and the Hurons.
Determined
to strike a
decisive blow,
the Tonnontouans
had centered a great
part of
their forces
in
the
tribe
of the
Neuter Nation, and six weeks after the installation of the new
^Governor they
had
passed
the
frontier which separated
the
Neuters from the Huron
Nation.
This quick stroke had
for
its purpose to
defeat
the
treaty which
was
being prepared
between the Hurons, the Onandagos and the Andastes
as well
as to surprise the Hurons by a general
massacre.
The mis-
sionaries were as much in
the dark about
it
all
as were the
savages.
The mission then counted eighteen
Fathers, three of whom
lived
at
St.
Mary's,
three who
were
employed
among the
Algonquins, four among the Petuns and eight in the
different
residences of
the Huron country.
They had at
their service
four coadjutor brothers
besides twenty-four devoted French-
men, who were either domestics, donnes or soldiers.
After the death of Father Jogues a great movement
in
the
conversion of the
Indians was marked in
all the centres of the
mission, and the fervor of the neophytes was everywhere most
ardent and sincere.
Father Ragueneau, Superior
of the Mis-
sion, wanted to be
assured of the fact and made a visit to
all
the Huron churches.
On his return he wrote
thus to Father
Jerome Lalemant
:
" I never would
have believed that I could
334
DEATH OF FATHER DANIEL.
have seen after fifty years of labor the tenth part of the piety,
virtue and holiness which
I witnessed everywhere in my visits
to
these
churches.
They have
far surpassed
all my hopes.
The
greater
part of these
people, even
the
fiercest among
them, show themselves so docile and submissive
to the teach-
ing of the gospel that it appears that the angels must have beer*
working among them."
Such was, towards the middle of 1648, the condition of the
Huron Mission when, on the 4th of July, at sunrise, the cry "to-
arms" rang through the settlement of St. Joseph, where about
four hundred
families had been
gathered
quite
close to the
frontier.
Father Daniel had just finished Mass, and the faithful
assembled
in
the
chapel were
reciting the morning prayers.
The enemy, who were not then suspected of being on the war-
path, had
crept up in the
night and were now attacking the
palisades.
The
alarm was
general.
Some were
overcome
with terror, while others marched boldly towards
the enemy..
Unhappily the latter were few in number, for the best warriors-
were out on a hunting expedition.
While all this was going on at
the palisades
Father Daniel
went from
cabin
to
cabin
baptizing the
catechumens and
absolving
the
neophytes.
Then
he
returned
to
the
chapel
where the greater number of the old men, women and children
were gathered to receive
either general
absolution or baptism,
by aspersion.
The warriors came in soon and gave the sad news that the
palisades had been thrown down and the Iroquois were inside
the enclosure, and in the midst of fire and blood the foe were
advancing to the chapel.
Already their;frightful yells and war
whoops were heard.
u Fly, my brethren," said Father Daniel
to his Christians
;
" fly, and
carry with you your
faith to the
day of your death.
As for me, I must remain
here as long as
there is any soul to gain for heaven.
If
I die to save you my
life is of little account; we shall meet in heaven
; M and point-
ing out the road by which
they could still
escape he cried
to
them, " Fly, the road is still clear."
As for himself, in order
to stop the approach of the enemy
and to give his Christians as much time to escape as possible*
DEATH OF FATHER DANIEL.
335
he issued from the chapel and advanced
alone to meet
the*
Iroquois.
Astounded they stopped for a moment, but recover-
ing from their surprise they overwhelmed him with a shower
of arrows and finished their work by a musket shot
; and then,
falling upon his corpse, they stripped
it, soaked their hands in
his blood, and
setting fire
to the chapel
they flung
into the
flames the mangled body of the servant of God.
This heroic
victim of charity died with the name of Jesus Christ on his lips.
His death prevented the massacre of some hundreds of Hurons^
who found shelter at St. Mary's among the other Christians.
The victors left
St. Joseph's carrying with them seven hun-
dred prisoners, many of whom were slain on the road.
Before
leaving they set fire to all
the cabins, and from
thence betook
themselves to St. Michael's, which they gave up to pillage and.
to the flames.
Father
Daniel was
the
first
Jesuit who won
the crown of
martyrdom in the Huron
country.
He had worked
there
for
fourteen
years, the
first
nine of which he had
passed in the
settlements which were most
exposed
to
the
attacks
of the
enemy.
He
was
a
missionary
of
exceptional
power.
His
Superior
assures us, in a private
letter to the General
of the
Society, " He was humble, obedient, united with God in prayer,,
possessed
of a patience
that
defied
every trial, and a courage
that was balked by no
obstacle
; he was
greatly esteemed by
the
Fathers and
loved by the
Indians, and
burned with the
most ardent desire to
give his life for his
flock.
He appeared
twice
after
his
death,
surrounded
with
glory,
to
Father
Chaumonot.
Another time, when the Fathers were gathered
in council at St. Mary's treating of the affairs of the missions,,
he appeared among
them, directed
their plans and animated
them with the divine spirit with which he himself was filled.
Digitized by Google
THE
VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
|HE founder of the Society of Pious Missions, some mem-
£
bers
of which
are known to our readers
as
the clergy
attached to the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
in New York, was a man of singular virtue and
extraordinary
sanctity.
Born at Rome in 1795, the scion of an ancient and
noble family, the child of devout, one might almost say saintly,
parents, Vincent
Pallotti, from
his
very
infancy,
understood
and took delight in
divine
things.
In his earliest
childhood
he manifested the
utmost horror of sin, and
is
said
never to
have
sullied
his
baptismal
innocence.
He
rarely joined
in
the games
of other
children, preferring to remain
alone*
amusing himself witrndecking
little
altars or giving religious
instruction and sage advice to his younger brothers and sisters-
When he was
seven years
old he was
confirmed, and on that
day his godfather
presented him with a piece
of
gold.
The
child asked what he should do with
it, and
the
donor, to
see
what he would do, rejoined: "Throw it into the mud." With-
out a moment's hesitation Vincent obeyed, thus foreshadowing
his future contempt for earthly riches, as well as exhibiting the
spirit of obedience which was later on a marked feature in his
teaching and practice.
Towards his parents and teachers he was a model of docility
and
respectful
obedience
;
his
confessor
frequently
told
his
father
:
" You have a saint for your son.
I can detect no fault,
not even the
slightest venial sin in him."
Vincent
alone con-
sidered himself
to be a great sinner
; he
inflicted upon his in-
nocent body mortifications and
penances
so
severe
as to be
almost incredible in one so young. A child in years, in virtue
an adult, he early began to
exercise his apostolic
zeal.
When
in the holidays his parents migrated to their country house at
Frascati, Vincent would go amongst the
laborers in
the
fields
explaining
the
catechism
to them, reciting
the
Rosary with
them or teaching them simple prayers.
Of an evening he vis-
ited the cottages, distributing to the sick or aged the delicacies
which had been given to him at dessert as his portion, and not
^infrequently stripping himself of a part of his clothing to sup-
336
THE VEN% VINCENT PALLOTTI.
337
ply the needs of
others.
Later on, when
he no
longer
lived
under the parental roof, many a time his own meals, as well as
his own clothes, passed into the possession of the poor.
When Vincent left school he went to the Roman College to
study the humanities.
He was not naturally quick at learnings
and one of the professors remarked that it seemed a pity, though
the boy was certainly a saint, that he was so much the reverse
of clever.
Thereupon, by his pious mother's
advice, Vincent
made a novena
to
the Holy
Spirit, and
at
the
end a cloud
seemed to be rolled away from his mental faculties
; from that
time forward he made
rapid and easy progress in
his studies,
outstripping all
his
fellow-students.
He passed
his examina-
tions later on in philosophy and theology with brilliant success,
became an
excellent Greek scholar, and
in
the
interests of
theology acquired a knowledge of several
Oriental languages.
While in the Roman
college he gained many prizes, but his
humility induced him
to
tell
no one
of
this, not even
his
parents.
The books were
accidentally found
in
his
library
;
the gold and
silver medals awarded him he
sold, giving the
proceeds to the poor.
The curriculum
of study
ended, Vincent, a youth
of six-
teen, entering upon the world, had to decide upon
his future
career.
Although the state of Rome was at
that period one
of desolation, the city being overrun by
the
victorious troops
of Napoleon
I, while
the Head of the Church, Pius VII, in
ignominious captivity at Savona, and many palaces and man-
sions standing deserted, yet not a few
attractive
paths
to for-
tune and fame were open to
a young man
of
talent,
wealth
and high social standing.
But no
prospects
of
earthly
dis-
tinction
possessed
allurements
for Vincent
;
he
felt himself
called to follow the evangelical counsels, and desired to become
a Capuchin.
His
confessor,
however,
dissuaded him
from
entering the cloister on
account
of his weak
health, and
ad-
vised him
to
become
a
secular priest.
This Vincent, after
long deliberation, determined
to
do, and began immediately
to prepare himself for the reception of Holy Orders with
great
fervor and anxious
care.
On the
16th
of May, 1818, having obtained
the
necessary
338
THE VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
dispensation, as he was only twenty-three years of age, he was
admitted
to the
priesthood, and
on
the
following day
the
feast of the Holy Trinity, he celebrated his first Mass
at Fras-
oati, where his family was residing.
With
trembling joy and
fear, joy on account of the exalted privilege accorded
to him,
fear on account
of his
unworthiness
for the
holiest, highest
office of man on
earth, he
offered
the
holy
mysteries, at the
same time offering himself as
a holocaust
for
the service
of
God and the salvation of souls.
This fervor and devotion, far
from
diminishing
as
years
went
on,
grew
and
deepened.
Those who heard his Mass said that at the
altar he
appeared
more like a seraph than a mortal man.
At the period of which we
are speaking many priests
in
Italy, especially in Rome and Naples, who had private means
of their own, used
to
live
at home, devoting
their time, after
saying Mass, to prayer and study, but
taking no
active part
in the care of souls.
Thus Vincent Pallotti
continued
to live
with his parents, declining the benefices and
canonries offered
him and accepting only a professorship in the Roman univer-
sity.
This
post he held
until
his
mother's
death
in 1827,
shortly after which he relinquished
it, in order to
devote him-
self entirely
to
the work
of
the
apostolate.
He
was
then
thirty-three
years
of age.
At
the
request
of
the
King of
Naples he undertook the charge of the small and poor church
of Santo Spirito, the national church of the Neapolitans resid-
ing in Rome, a most unattractive post, one, however, which not
only gave him ample
scope
for
the
exercise
of
his zeal, but
afforded him, as he probably foresaw, an
opportunity of prac-
tising some of the most difficult of
christian
virtues—forbear-
ance, self-denial, charity
to one's enemies.
When, in a short time, religion
revived
in
that
quarter
of
the city, the neglected church was thronged with devout wor-
shippers,
hardened
sinners
were brought to repentance, and
crowds flocked to Father
Pallotti's
confessional.
His health,
always
frail, broke down at this time,
so
that he was tempo-
rarily compelled to desist from his labors.
Meanwhile Cardinals, Prelates, heads
of Religious Houses,
came to the lowly
priest
for confession and counsel.
His re-
THE VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
339
nown
spread even beyond
the
precincts of the Eternal City,
and strangers arriving in Rome sought him out as the holiest
and most able
of
confessors.
A young
seminarist from
St.
Sulpice, who came to Rome to complete
his studies, gives the
following account of his first interview with the servant of God
:
On inquiring
for Don
Pallotti,
I was
directed to a narrow
street behind the Neapolitan church,
where
stood a house of
very humble appearance, before the door of which a Cardinal's
carriage was
waiting.
I
ascended
the
stairs
to
the second
story, and was ushered
into
a
tolerably spacious room, round
the walls of which wooden benches were placed
; between the
two windows a
life-sized
statue of
the Blessed Virgin, by no
means a finished work of art, dominated the apartment.
Before
this
statue
Cardinal
Lambruschini, Secretary of State to His
Holiness Pope Gregory XVI, was kneeling on a prie-dieu, with
his attendant priest, reciting the breviary until his turn should
-come.
Excepting a few pictures
in wooden frames, the room
was,
as
far
as
I
remember,
devoid of
all
other furniture or
ornament.
" When my turn came I passed through a door on the oppo-
site side
into
the chamber where
Pallotti, in stole and cotta,
seated beside a prie-dieu, heard the confessions of all who came
to him. While he glanced at the letter of introduction I handed
to him, I was able to take note of his- person.
He was short
of stature and stooped slightly.
But
for
a fringe of fair hair,
already almost gray, his head
was
bald, showing a well-devel-
oped forehead, white as ivory.
His features were well cut, his
eyes large and
bright
; their
expression was one of
tender
kindness and charity.
When I knelt to kiss his hand, the cus-
tomary manner of saluting
a
priest
in
Italy,
I observed that
he adroitly
slipped
a small
silver reliquary, on which a Ma-
donna and Child were painted, down his
sleeve, so that it was
the picture one kissed, not
his hand.
This, I learnt, was his
constant habit, so that no one ever touched his hand with their
lips."
The acquaintance thus commenced ripened
into friendship
;
the seminarist, Paul de Geslin, afterwards became a prominent
member of the
Society
of
Pious
Missions.
He has recorded
34o
THE VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
many traits illustrative of his
superior's
characteristic virtues^
and instances of the wonderful
gift
of penetration which the
servant of God possessed, whereby he was enabled to recount
to hardened
sinners
all
the transgressions whereof they had
been guilty in the past
; of
his success
in softening the hearts
of the obdurate and
in
consoling and
relieving the doubting
penitent.
We will give one instance out of many of the power wielded
by this man of prayer.
A young man, young
in
years
but
old in sin, lay on his deathbed.
„ He scoffed at religion and his
hatred of priests was so great
that he kept a loaded pistol un-
der his pillow, ready to shoot any minister of God who should
venture
into
his
presence.
One
evening
the
father of the
unhappy man went to Don Pallotti and told him with
tears of
his son's condition.
The servant of God accompanied him to
his home, but the mother of the dying man, much as she de-
plored her son's state of mind and the iniquity of his past
life,
would not suffer the priest to risk his life by entering the room
where he lay..
" Poor soul
! " said Pallotti.
" Well, you must
dress me up in something.
,,
The woman brought him one of
her gowns, which he
put on
;
a handkerchief was then tied
round his head to look like a cap.
Thus disguised, he was introduced into the sick room, under
the pretext that the mother needing rest, had got an old nurse
to sit up with her son that night.
No one
could have
recog-
nized in the comical figure
the well-known
priest, who, after
managing to slip his picture of the Madonna under
the
suf-
ferer's pillow, seated himself
in
a
corner, and
repeated
in a
low voice the exorcisms
wherewith
he was
accustomed
to
banish
evil
spirits.
He then
fervently implored
the
divine
assistance, and going up to
the
bed, removed the
pistol, and
disclosed his identity.
So forcibly did he speak to the young
man's heart, that his defiance broke down.
With humility and
compunction and deep self-abasement he confessed
the
sins of
his past life and made his peace with God.
The
next morn-
ing, his mother on entering the room, found her son holding a
crucifix in one hand, in the other grasping
the hand
of
the
priest, who
presently brought him the viaticum, for which he
THE FEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
34'
had already prepared him.
He visited the
patient daily
until
his death, which occurred shortly after.
An amusing incident narrated by Paul de
Geslin, illustrates
the ingenuity of the servant of God in making the most insig-
nificant things serve his single aim, the glory of God and
the
salvation of souls.
One day De Geslin, having read a letter he
had just received, was about
to throw
it, envelope and
all,
into the fire.
"Stop, my child," Vincent said
to
him, "I think you
are
going to throw away paper that might be useful."
"It is only a note, Father,"
Paul
replied, " I have
already
read it."
" Very well," Vincent rejoined, with his gentle smile, " but
all of it need not be destroyed."
" Of what value is a scrap of paper, dear Father? "
" You may think it valueless,'' Pallotti contiuued, " but it
is
not entirely so, and we must not destroy anything
that might
be of the least use.
We must imitate our Father
in Heaven,
who, though He is infinitely rich and almighty, makes
every
thing He has created of service,
if only a drop of water, that
may quench a bird's thirst, or revive a drooping flower.
Our
Lord also taught us the same lesson when after the miraculous
multiplication of the loaves, He who could feed
five thousand
with
a word, caused
the
fragments
to
be gathered up
that
nothing
should
be
lost
:
colligite fragmenta,
for
our
in-
struction."
" That is very true in
regard
to
bread,"
Paul
ventured
to
urge, " but, Father, a scrap of paper? "
Pallotti continued,
4< Yes, a scrap of paper is of worth, how-
ever trifling, and in obedience to our Lord, tear
off the
clean
page.
The letter must be burned, as its contents are
for you
alone
; put the other part into the wastepaper basket."
Paul obeyed, out of respect to his master, who, after a pause,
resumed
:
" It strikes me that
as
the
basket
is
full, we had
better call in the rag-collector,
if you see one pass."
A chiffonnier was soon found, who gave a few halfpence for
the contents of the well-filled
basket.
Pallotti then proposed
to his companion that they should go together to the
hospital
342
THE VEA. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
he daily
visited, and they both
left
the
house,
reciting the
rosary as they passed through the street.
At a confectioner's
shop he paused, and entering, purchased with the halfpence he
had just received
a few
sweet
cakes, which he put
into
his
pocket.
Scarcely had
they
crossed
the threshold
of
the
principal
ward
of
the
hospital, when one
of
the
nurses
hastened
to
Pallotti, saying
:
u Your Reverence, there
is one
of the cases,
No.
15, in urgent need of your aid
;
he will certainly not live
through the night.
If one speaks to him about confession, he
utters a volley of oaths, for he is quite conscious
;
the
patients
in the next beds
to
his
hold
their
ears,
his
language
is
so
dreadful."
" We must pray
for him, my children," Vincent answered,
" we must pray right earnestly
; God
is omnipotent,
and He
desires the rescue of this soul even more than we do."
Thereupon they betook themselves to
the
chapel, and
in a
short time returned
to
the
ward.
Paul de
Geslin
stationed
himself at a distance, to observe how his superior would tackle
the formidable No.
15.
But
Pallotti's method
of
procedure
was not what he expected
: he
began
to
talk
to one
of the
patients not in the immediate
proximity
of the
blasphemer,
casting now and
again
stealthy glances
in his direction.
As
soon as No. 15 became aware of the presence
of a
priest, his
-countenance assumed a diabolical expresssion of hatred, and he
murmured curses between his teeth.
Finding however that no
notice was taken of him,
he
presently turned wearily on
his
pillow and closed his eyes.
Instantly
Pallotti
stepped
noise-
lessly up to his side, and when the sick man again opened his
eyes, he met the steady gaze of
the priest fixed on him,
while
the sign of the cross was made over him.
It
was
a
terrible
moment
; Paul de Geslin held
his
breath
; the
sufferer trans-
ported with fury glared at his visitor, gnashing his teeth, foam-
ing at the mouth,
and had
his
strength
not
failed
him, he
would
certainly have
sprung
upon him
and
throttled
him.
He opened his
lips to
utter horrible imprecations, but quick
as thought, Pallotti took from his pocket one of the little cakes,
and slipped
it into
the man's mouth, saying
in
the kindest
THE VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
343
manner
:
" Mangia> figlio, eke tifarh bene.
Eat that, my son,
it will do you good."
The oaths were stopped but
not the
rage
of
the
sufferer
;
yet Pallotti gained time
to
say
a
few words, reminding him
that he must soon
appear
before
his judge, and
that by
his
blasphemies he injured his own soul, not God and .the
saints.
The biscuit was swallowed, and fresh curses rose to the sinner's
lips, when another was slipped between
them,
and
a second
time
silence
imposed
:
This
was
repeated
several
times,
Pallotti meanwhile imploring him with
tears
to think
of his
soul, and commanding the malign
spirit to depart in the name
of God.
He held
his
beloved
picture
of
the
Blessed Virgin
before the sinner's eyes, he placed
the
crucifix on
his
pallid
lips.
Finally grace prevailed, though
the
struggle was
pro-
tracted
; the voice long trained to cursing, repeated falteringly
an act of
contrition,
large
tears
rolled down
his
cheeks, he
humbly kissed the
cross.
The servant
of God
immediately
put on his stole, and bending over the dying man, helped him
to make his confession.
Then he administered the viaticum to
him, and
anointed
him.
Before
nightfall
he
expired,
with
«very sign of contrition, and fully resigned to die
; his last words
were
:
u Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony
! "
Pallotti said
a De Profundis beside
the
body
; when the
sheet was drawn over the livid features of the departed, he rose
from his knees, and on rejoining his companion, remarked with
a smile
:
" There
is now a soul in purgatory who this morning
little expected to go there.
You see, my son, the use that can
be madii of old scraps of paper."
It was early intimated to him by God
that he was destined
to found a congregation of missioners for the revival of the faith
amongst negligent Catholics, and the dispersion of the religion
of Christ amongst heretics
and
unbelievers.
Indeed, he
felt
the need of zealous, well-trained
co-operators
whilst carrying
on with indefatigable
energy
the work
of the
Apostolate
in
Rome and its Environs.
An
unexpected
incident
led to
the
formation of the society known to us as that
of the
Pallottine
Fathers.
One day, towards the
close of the year
1834, one
of Don
y
344
THE VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
Pallotti's penitents, a simple pious man, told him he had been:
much impressed by a sermon he had
heard
from a missionary^
lately returned from Arabia, dwelling on the great need of mis-
sions to that country.
u I have
a proposal to make
to your
Reverence,"
the man said,
" that we should have St.
Alphon-
sus's Way of Salvation
printed
in
Arabic,
and
sent
to that
benighted land.''
Pallotti reminded him
that the translating
and printing would cost a great deal, but
to
this the man
re-
plied that he would make a collection from
house to
house,
asking for a contribution in his Reverence's name.
" Not
in
my name," Pallotti answered, "but
if you like to make the at-
tempt, do so in the name of Jesus Christ."
The man started immediately on the
quest, and
in
half an
hour returned, his pockets full of money, which he poured out
on
the
table
;
coins
of every
size
and
value,
which when
counted, were found to amount
to
the sum of 15,000 francs,
($3,000) affording clear proof of the
love and esteem
felt
for
the servant of God by all classes
in Rome.
A committee
of
priests and laymen was called to
decide upon
the manner of
spending the money
; the Way of Salvation was printed
in
Arabic, the remainder of the collection being devoted to print-
ing religious pamphlets
for
distribution among the
ignorant
Italian peasantry.
This committee became
a permanent
in-
stitution, under the name of the society of the Catholic Apos-
tolate, and was the germ of the
Congregation
to which
at a
later period Pius IX gave the appellation of Pia Societas
mis-
sionum.
The formation of this society was a long and difficult t3sk.
It
consists
of
three
classes
:
Priests
living
in
community and
devoted
to active work for souls
both
at home and abroad
;
Sisters who consecrate
themselves
to
the
education of hea-
then girls in foreign missions
; and a third class, embracing
all
members of the clergy and laity who pledge themselves to pro-
mote the object of the institution, and who thereby share in the
indulgences accorded to
it.
In solitude and seclusion Pallotti
spent many months in framing the rules and
constitutions for
his future subjects.
During that time our Lady appeared to
him promising him her gracious favors.
Not until 1846 was
THE VEN. VINCENT PALLOTTI.
345
the Rule, already
tested by
practice,
submitted
to the Holy
See, and approved by the Supreme
Pontiff.
Pallotti was extremely careful in the reception of postulants,
and at the outset the number of members was very small.
" I
have few/' he would say, " but they are men of sterling worth.
St. Francis Xavier was alone, and he converted
10,000
heath-
•ens."
His discrimination was very great, and his kindness and
consideration not less. When compelled to dismiss a novice, he
invariably provided him with a suitable situation in the world.
Although he could be severe when necessary, Pallotti avoided
if possible giving a reprimand.
Poverty was strictly enforced
in
the congregation
;
Pallotti
-desired that his followers should subsist on alms.
In all em-
barrassments or difficulties his maxim was
: fiducia et orattone,
and indeed countless times during
his
life
his confidence and
prayer proved all-powerful.
Space forbids
us
to mention severally the virtues in which
this saintly priest set a bright example to his community, or to
-enlarge upon his
filial devotion, his tender love for the Mother
of God, whose image he always carried about
with him, and
with
which
he worked many miracles.
Of
this
picture he
caused copies to be made, giving one to every missioner whom
he sent out, and telling them thatffrom his own experience, no
theme was so efficacious for touching the hearts of sinners
as
that of the glory, the power, the loving kindness of Mary.
We must now turn to the closing scenes of Vincent Pallotti's
life.
The
Feast
of the
Epiphany, on
which
the
vocation
of the heathen
to
the faith
of
Christ
is commemorated, has
long been celebrated
in Rome with special solemnity.
Don
Pallotti
conceived
the
design
of
giving
a
yearly
mission
during the octave of the festival
to
persons of
all
classes and
nationalities, his
idea being to bring together Christians of all
nations
round
the
crib
of the
world's Redeemer.
Sermons
were
to be preached and
confessions heard
in all European
languages, and the holy sacrifice offered according to the Syro-
Chaldaic and Greek as well as the Roman rite.
This mission, held for the first time
in
1836, proved most
successful, the concourse of people being so great that it had to
346
THE VEN. VINCENT PALL07TJ.
be transferred in succeeding years to a larger and more central
church
than that of Santo Spirito.
The mission was usually
1
closed by a
cardinal, who, while preaching, held
in his arms
Don Pallotti's
favorite image of the Infant Jesus, and with
it
gave
the
final benediction.
In January, 1850, Don
Pallotti^
contrary
to
his
custom,
preached
the
opening
discourse.
Never had the church been so crowded, never before were the
confessions and communions so numerous.
He also gave the
benediction at the close of the mission, though his strength was
failing
fast.
On going down
to
the
sacristy he
said
to
the
priests who
pressed round him
to congratulate him
:
" Next
year you will have
to do
all
yourselves.''
He returned home
wearied out and
chilled
to the bone.
The weather was cold
and rainy, and he had given his cloak to a mendicant.
On the
following morning he said Mass
at
the chapel
of a religious
house.
When
he left he
said
to
the
superior
: "This is the
last time of my coming
; we
shall not meet again."
For two
more days, in spite of increasing illness, he persisted in visiting^
the sick and receiving the numerous applicants who came to
him to solicit temporal
relief or
spiritual
aid.
Then a sharp
attack of pleurisy and
fever
compelled him
to give
in.
Pa-
tient and resigned as ever, he complied with all the physician's
wishes, though he knew full well the remedies would be
inef-
fectual.
In prophetic view he had for some months past fore-
seen the hour of his death, and
the last enemy had no terrors
for him.
On the 2 2d of January, the eve of our Lady's espou-
sals, he seemed in an ecstasy, his countenance
shining as if a
foretaste of future glory were granted him.
Prematurely aged
by labors and austerities, his bent and emaciated form and sil-
very locks gave him the appearance of having borne the weight
of far more than
his fifty-four
years of life.
As he lay on
his
straw
pallet, surrounded by his priests and
scholars, they en-
treated him with
tears not
to leave them orphans, but to ask
God
to spare him
to them
for a few more
years.
a Not so,
dear children," he replied
;
<l let me go whither our Lord calls
me.
To-morrow a happy feast will
be kept in heaven.
Fear
not; our congregation will last
;
it will be blest by God."
He
then
gave them
his final
blessing, and before the
last words
were uttered he calmly expired.
THE SYRIAN CHURCH OF MALABAR.
347
This brief sketch cannot be concluded
better than by quot-
ing the words of our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII
:
u 1 knew Don Pallotti well in my younger days, and not only
heard from others of
his wonderful
activity, but witnessed
it
myself.
So high was the esteem in which
I held him that im-
mediately after his death, at the time when I was Bishop of Peru-
gia, I caused a bust of this saintly priest
to be sculptured
for
me
and
placed
it
in my ante-room.
Every morning,
as
I
passed out on my way to the chapel,
I besought him to obtain
for me the divine
assistance
that I might make a good prepa-
ration before celebrating Holy Mass."
BOTH history and
tradition
attest
that
St. Thomas
the
Apostle came to India
in 52 a.
d., founded a church
in
Malabar and suffered a martyr's death at Mailapur, near
the modern city of Madras.
This old Christian community of
Malabar is known to the world as " Christians of St. Thomas,"
and Mailapur, the place where the Apostle suffered martyrdom,
is called " St. Thomas' Mount "
; and in its neighborhood the
tomb
of
the
Apostle
is
still
frequented by thousands of pil-
grims.
The apostolic origin of this church
is
firmly believed
by all the Syrian
Christians and
clearly
asserted by the early
Fathers
of the
Universal Church
;
several
old
liturgies and
martyrologies of the East and West speak
of
St. Thomas in
India.
There are seven
oratories
or
churches
in
Malabar
founded by St. Thomas, and there exist also some well-known
Brahmin families converted to the faith by the Apostle.
St Thomas had ordained priests and bishops who, after the
Apostle's death, carried on the ministry of
this church up to
the fourth century by succession. But in the fourth century, on
account of a severe persecution
by
the
surrounding heathens,
the church was left without a pastor.
Then, by Divine
Provi-
dence, a certain wealthy
merchant
of Canan, named Thomas
Cana, trading on
the
coast
of Malabar, became
acquainted
Elus Schreiber.
THE SYRIAN CHURCH OF MALABAR.
34«
THE SYRIAN CHURCH OF MALABAR.
with this church, and in the year 345 he brought to this afflicted
community a good supply, u e.,
a colony of 400 Christians of
Syro-Chaldean
rite
from
Bagdad,
Ninive
and
Jerusalem,
among whom was Mar Joseph, Bishop of Edessa, with several
priests and deacons. About this time the body, or a part of the
body of St. Thomas,
was
carried from
Mailapur
to
Edessa.
From the time of the said immigration the Malabar church was
on a firmer footing.
The Christians, headed by Thomas Cana,
obtained
high
privileges
in
this
country
from
Cheraman-
Perumal,
the
ruler
of Malabar.
This
Syrian
community,
which
is mainly composed
of
the
Brahmin converts made by
St.
Thomas
and
of
% the
immigrants
from
Mesopotamia,
is
highly honored by
the
rulers and
people
of Malabar.
But
from the time of this immigration up to the Synod of Diamper
in 1599, the Bishops for this church were
sent
from Babylon
and Persia,
as
this church formed
part of the Syro-Chaldean
church in Mesopotamia and Persia.
After the arrival of the Portuguese, in the fifteenth century,
or,
rather,
after
the Synod of Diamper, in 1599, the Syrian
church of Malabar has undergone many changes with regard
to
its
government
and
liturgy.
For
the
Portuguese who
claimed monopoly
of the
churches
in
India tried to get pos-
session
of
this primitive and
apostolic
church.
They
suc-
ceeded in their long-contemplated
project by the Synod con-
voked at Diamper.
With this Synod
begins
a
series of Por-
tuguese Bishops in this purely oriental church.
It
is
said by
the Portuguese historians and those who follow them, that the
Syrian church of Malabar was
converted from Nestorian her-
esy by means of the Synod held
at Diamper.,
But the fact is
not so.
A
long
time before
this Synod, the church of Mal-
abar was in Catholic union and was governed by good Catholic
Bishops, Mar Jacob, Mar Joseph and Mar Abraham, of whom
the two last were sent to Malabar by the celebrated Chaldean
patriarch, Ebedjesus, who attended the Council of Trent.
St.
Francis Xavier, in his letters to the King of Portugal, praised
Mar Jacob as a virtuous and holy man.
Pope Pius V deemed
Mar Joseph worthy of a Cardinal's hat, but the premature death
of the latter prevented him from being made a Cardinal.
Pope
THE SYRIAN CHURCH OF MALABAR.
349
Gregory XIII ordered the Syrian Christians to obey Mar Abra-
ham,
their Archbishop
at Angemale.
And we see this Mar
Abraham admit many Jesuits to teach in his diocese, and con-
voke a diocesan Synod in 1583, in which he made profession
of Catholic faith and published the decrees
of the
Council of
Florence.
And
after
his death Pope Clement VIII makes
mention of him as " boncz memorise."
The series
of Portuguese
Bishops
did
not
last
for a long
time.
For the Syrians, disgusted with their Portuguese rulers,
made a strong revolt in 1653.
Only 400 out of the 200,000
Syrians remained
with
the Archbishop, Francis Garcia,
S.J.;
all the rest turned schismatics.
Pope Alexander VII hearing
of this disorder sent the barefooted Carmelites to
call back the
schismatics to Catholic union.
After
the
arrival
of the
Car-
melites in 1657, a
Jacobite
bishop, named Mar Gregory, was
sent to Malabar in 1665 by the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch
;
and a party of the schismatics joined him.
Thus the Jacobite
heresy got a footing on the Indian soil.
The
Carmelites suc-
ceeded in their mission until they became practically the only
masters of this church for about three centuries.
But
in 1887
Pope Leo XIII,
at the
constant and
earnest
prayers
of
the
Catholic
Syrians,
separated
the
Syrian
Christians
from
the
jurisdiction
of the
Carmelite
Bishops
of Verapoly, and gave
them two Latin
Vicars
Apostolic
in
Mgr.
Lavigne,
S.J. sta-
tioned
at
Kottayam,
and
in
Mgr.
Medlycott
stationed
at
Trichur.
But this arrangement
lasted
only
till 1896, when
the
oft-
Tepeated request of the Syrians to have Bishops
of
their own
nationality was at last granted by Rome. Now they are under
their own
Bishops, Mgr. John Menachery, Vicar Apostolic of
Trichur,
Mgr.
Aloysius
Pareparambil,
Vicar
Apostolic
of
Ernakulam,
and
Mgr.
Matthew
Makil,
Vicar
Apostolic
of
Changanacherry.
As
it
is evident, a perfect hierarchy
is not
yet established.
We have every reason to hope
that the glo-
rious Pontiff, Leo XIII, to whom the St. Thomas Christians are
ever thankful, will complete the work started by His Holiness
himself.
35o
MISSION NO TES.
The religious life is also flourishing among these Christians.
There are eleven monasteries
of
the
native
Syrian
Carmelite
Fathers.
There
are
$lso
twelve
convents
of
native
Syrian
nuns of different
orders, namely
: nine
of
Carmelites, two of
Clarists, and one of Visitandines.
The statistics of the three Vicariates
Apostolic of Trichwv
Ernakulam and Changanacherry are as follows
:
Vicariate
Apostolic.
Catholics.
Churches
and Chapels.
1
Schools.
Pupils.
Native
Priests.
Trichur.
91.787
8l
178
8,588
76
Ernakulam.
86,986
IOO
159
7,684
115
Changanacherry.
140,272
151
423
15.328
274
Vicariate
Apostolic.
Trichur.
Ernakulam.
Changanacherry
.
Monasteries.
Monks.
35
20
50
Convents.
Members of
Nuns.
1 Apostleship of
Prayer.
!
30
:
71
1
61
4,297
J.
K.
MISSION NOTES.
SLAVERY IN WEST AFRICA.
The provinces
of Northern
Nigeria
are supposed
to depend
upon the Sultan of Sokoto
; but war is almost continual between
them and between the Sultan and
his
Emirs.
The purpose
is
nearly always to obtain slaves. A traveller lately passed through
a
territory
of 5,000
square miles,
and found
it
entirely
laid
waste
;
the
villages were in
ruins,
the
fields overgrown with
brushwood and the inhabitants dead or dispersed. A Mahometan
Emir, finding the tribute which he exacts from the
natives in-
sufficient, sends his soldiers
to
seize
all
the women and
carry
them off.
Some time ago one of those Moslem tyrants sent
his soldiers
dujfc^
to attack a village
of the
native
blacks.
The
ir
^mI in while their victims were
sleeping, fired the
Digitized by Google
MISSION NOTES.
351
huts and captured all who attempted to fly.
The old were let go
free
; but the young were bound together, and the infants placed
in sacks.
The captives, for two or three days, while yet near
their native place, made frantic efforts to escape, and some suc-
ceeded, carrying their chains with them.
Exhausted by hunger
and
fatigue, most
of them soon died.
When
the
rest of the
captives arrived at their destination, they were
separated at the
choice of their captors, who, enclosing them in pens where they
could not move, committed upon them the most cruel excesses.
The Catholic
missionaries, wherever
their resources are suf-
ficient, are founding free villages or
towns, where the captives,
when
delivered
from
the
enslavers,
are
received.
They
are
favored by the English military authorities, who have promised
all the ground needed and protection when the
places
of refuge
are prepared.
CENTRAL MADAGASCAR.
After great and fruitful labor of French Catholic missionaries,
Madagascar was about to become, in 1847, a
Protestant
island,
when the evangelization of
it was confided to the
Jesuits of the
province
of Toulouse.
For
fifteen
years they had to labor in
neighboring islands, the hostile Queen Ranavalona I forbidding
their approach.
Her death, in
1862, opened the way
for the
Catholic missionaries.
Unimpeded for eighteen years, Protestant-
ism had gained great influence.
In 1869 it was made the official
religion. An army of " evangelists" were spread over the island.
The London
Missionary Society announced in
1873
that there
were
801
missionary
stations
and
531
schools,
with
16,584
children.
In
face
of
powerful
hostile influences the Catholic mission,
with
little
resources, fought an
excellent
battle.
After thirty
years of labor there were 443 stations, more than 20,000 children
in the schools and 140,000 natives following the teaching of the
Catholic
missionaries.
Under
French
influence progress was
greater.
Two new
vicariates were
created
in
the north and
south, the Jesuits remaining in the centre.
Works of beneficence
began to spring up everywhere.
Higher schools were opened for
the children of Europeans
;
Catholic
associations were formed.
The Christian
Brothers and the Sisters of
St. Joseph
of Cluny
multiplied their schools.
The College of
St. Michael
in Tana-
narive prepares
its students
for university examinations as in
Digitized by
352
MISSION NOTES.
France.
Hospitals and workshops have been
erected.
Father
Beyzim, a Polish Jesuit, has voluntarily shut himself in with the
lepers.
Unfortunately, resources are not equal to the needs. The
Protestant missions, with greater supplies of money, have excel-
lent normal schools—real
colleges, and very well furnished hos-
pitals and dispensaries,
The needs of
Catholic normal
schools
may be
realized by considering that
there are over 2,000 male
teachers employed in the missions.
The
Oblate
missionary, Father Langouet,
writes of
the
ill-
starred, heroic land
:
'
' This stricken region, harassed with
its
three years' war, and whose sorrows have drawn to it all the eyes of
European peoples, sees at last the close of a strife which demanded
so much blood, caused woes so
great, and occasioned heroism
unparalleled.
How many hearths
are desolate
!
How many
tears have loved ones shed
!
The names of the gallant dead will
be repeated, their letters kept with sorrowing love.
But the sol-
diers sleep beneath the grassy carpet of the desolate veldt, where
their rosaries and scapulars moulder into their dust.
For great
numbers of those young soldiers came from
Catholic
Ireland
;
and before going
to meet
death, which they did with calmest
courage, their earnest care was to prepare for it.
The present peace, for which men have paid
so dearly,
will,
we
trust, be very
favorable
for
the missionary harvest.
The
Boer people, mingling frequently henceforward with Catholics,
will lay aside ancient prejudices.
During these past year? Apostolic work has been rendered dif-
ficult and
painful
in those wide regions of South
Africa.
The
many Catholic soldiers in the British armies called for the exer-
cise of a ministry which we could not refuse, in spite of the dangers
coming
incessantly, either from the events of the war
itself, or
from
contagious
diseases
frequent amongst
the
troops.
The
necessity for the priests of
the respective missions to bring the
consolations of the Church to those poor men, and to accompany
them on the march, hindered our ordinary missionary
labors.
On the other hand, the difficulty of communication owing to mar-
tial law, has forced us to leave many families altogether without
frhf atA pj our ministry.
But we trust that
all impediments will
WAR-WORN TRANSVAAL.
loved, and that we shall be thus enabled
to
restore
aped up by the dreadful visitations of war.
THE PILGRIM
OF
OUR LADY OF MARTYRS
XVIII. Year.
December, 1902.
No.
12.
DEATH OF FATHER DE BREBEUF.
FROM THE FRENCH OF THE REV. CAMILLE DE ROCHEMONTEIX, S.J.
THE victory of the Iroquois did not stop here, but, skillful
tacticians as they were, they refrained from pursuing the
enemy, for they knew
that
defences would
be thrown
up everywhere and that it would be impossible to dislodge the
Hurons from
their
position.
They were also
afraid of being
overwhelmed by numbers.
They
therefore
returned to their
country, driving before them hundreds
of
prisoners.
But in
secret they organized a new expedition, and
in
the month of
March, 1649, they came through
the woods to the number of
one thousand, and were unperceived
until
they were
in the
very heart of the Huron country.
The Hurons, deceived by the
appearances of peace, slept in fatal
security
; many of them, in
fact, had gone off to the hunt.
On the
16th
of
March, at the
first dawn
of
day, the
Tsonnontouans and
the Agniers, who
had joined
their
forces, came
to
St. Ignace while
the whole
mission was
buried
in
sleep, entered
without
resistance into
the
village and
killed
or
captured
the
inhabitants
as
they
sprung from their slumbers.
The
village was soon a heap of
ruins.
Three
Hurons,
escaping from
the tomahawks
of
the
in-
vaders, ran to the
village
of
St. Louis, about
a league
off, to
bring the news of the disaster which
they had just witnessed.
There they found Father de Brebeuf and Father Lalemant.
The chiefs immediately made the women and children take
to flight and urged the missionaries
to
do
the same.
kt Your
presence," they said, " can be
of no
help to us.
You cannot
353
354
DEATH OF FATHER DE BREBE UF.
handle
the
club
or
the
musket."
" But,"
says
Father
de
Berbeuf, " there is something more
necessary than weapons>
namely, the sacraments.
We alone can administer them, and
our place is in the midst of you."
Struck by
this
act of de-
votedness, Stephen, a chief of splendid
faith, said to an unbe.
lieving
Indian who had come up and who was
talking of
flight
:
u Can you abandon
these
fathers who
are exposing
their lives for us ?
The love which they have
for our salva-
tion will be the cause of their death.
Let
us
die with them
and we shall go with them to heaven.
,,
The two apostles immediately addressed themselves to their
work.
Father Lalemant baptized the catechumens and Father
de Br£beuf confessed the neophytes.
There were only eighty
warriors and some weak old men.
The Iroquois were already
upon them.
The first and the second assaults were vigorously
repelled, but, attacked by
a thousand
enemies on every side
at once, the Hurons
finally gave up the
fight.
They were
killed or captured.
Their cabins were set on fire, and the two
missionaries, seized in the midst of their
sacerdotal functions,
were stripped of their garments and
led
to
St. Ignace along
with the other prisoners.
They marched at the head.
Before arriving at the village they had to pass a long double
line of Indians, who beat them with clubs on the shoulders, on
the loins, on the limbs and in the face.
It was the first station
of Calvary.
In the village the stakes
to which
the
victims were
to
be
bound had been already put up.
At the sight of these instru-
ments of torture Father
de
Br^beuf turning
to the Christian
captives said
:
" My children, when your pain
is greatest lift
your eyes to heaven
; remember that God
is witness of our suf-
ferings, and He will soon be our recompense exceeding great-
Let us die in this faith, and
let us hope from His goodness an
accomplishment of His promises.
I
pity you more than my-
self, but keep up your courage during the little while that our
torments last
; they will finish
with
your
lives and the glory
which follows
will
never end."
" Echon," his
neophytes an-
swered, " our souls will be in heaven
while our bodies are suf-
i^^-^ml on
earth.
Ask God
to
have mercy on
us.
We will
DEATH OF FATHER DE BREBELF.
355
pray to Him
until we
die."
Every one
of them remained
faithful to the last breath.
Coming near the stake where their sacrifices were to be con-
summated,
the
two
missionaries
knelt down
and,
like
St.
Andrew, kissed the
blessed
cross with
transports
of
delight.
a It is now," Father Lalemant
exclaimed, " that we are given
as a spectacle to heaven, to the angels and to men."
Let us follow the two
victims separately in the long course
of their torments.
It was upon them
chiefly
that the fury of
the savages expended
itself.
God
permitted
it
to
be so, as
they were the purest and most agreeable offerings to His divine
majesty.
We might
note
here
that
there were among the
enemy Hurons who had become Iroquois—formerly Christians,
now apostates—and who felt bound to repay the priests by an
excessive
cruelty for the benefits which they had formerly re-
ceived.
Perhaps they wanted to
efface the
indelible stamp of
their baptism in showing themselves more eager even than the
Iroquois in tormenting the two servants of God.
Father
de
Brebeuf was
tied
to
the
stake.
Then
they
plunged red hot awls into
his
flesh and
passed burning coals
over his limbs, while they hung on
his neck
a collar of fiery
hatchet-heads.
Firm and immovable
as
a rock amidst these
terrible
torments, the
apostle, forgetful
of
his
sufferings like
Christ on the Cross, spoke with
a
loud
voice
at one time to
the Huron Christians, at another to
his
executioners, encour-
aging the
first and showing them the crown
of
glory, and
menacing the second with
divine justice and the
fire of
hell
;
to all he preached Jesus Christ
So much
freedom of speech joined
to such power
of soul
astonished and exasperated
his tormentors.
In
order to pre-
vent him from preaching they cut off his lips and nose and cut
out his tongue ; they slit his mouth back to the ears and drove
a red hot iron into his throat, while they
filled his mouth with
burning
coals.
" But," says
Charlevoix, "the
unconquerable
missionary stood there with such a peaceful and tranquil coun-
tenance that he seemed to be commanding
his very enemies.'
>
New tortures were inflicted
; they tore out his
hair; they lifted
his scalp
; they slashed his
flesh
and sneeringly
said to him,.
356
DEATH OF FATHER DE BREBEUF.
" You have told others that the more one suffered in this life
the greater his recompense would be in
the
other.
Thank us
now for helping you to wear a better crown."
At the instigation of a renegade Huron, and
to show their
hatred for baptism, they poured
boiling water three times over
his head and shoulders.
" Look," said they, " we baptize you
to make you happy in heaven, for without a good baptism you
cannot be saved."
Finally they heaped around him
bark covered with resin,
which they
lighted
and
caused
to
burn
slowly,
that
the
suffering of the martyr, who remained calm and serene, might
be
protracted.
The
intrepidity
of the
hero
was communi-
cating itself to his companions.
The executioners saw it and
resolved to be done with him.
A chief cut open his side, tore
out his heart and devoured
it, while the
other savages drank
the blood which poured out of the wound.
He expired on the
16th of March at four in the
afternoon
at the age of fifty-six
years.
" In all the history of Canada,*' says Ferland, " one meets no
grander
figure,"
"and," adds
the
Protestant Parkman,
" we
cannot fail to recognize in this sublime life the great heart of a
saint and a hero."
These words sum up
perfectly
the mar-
velous and
holy
character
of Father de
Br£beuf.
We have
spoken elsewhere of what he was and what he did.
He was
a
religious who
practised
the
mortification
of an
anchoret.
He fasted often, carried on
his body a hair
shirt armed with
iron points, watched in prayer
the greater part
of the night,
and, for a few hours only, took
his
rest on
the bare earth or
the bark of a tre^.
He was a man of sublime prayer, lived in
union with God both in
heart and
mind.
Our Lord and the
Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, the angels and the saints frequently
appeared to him.
Even our Blessed
Lord came once bearing
His cross.
Three days before his martyrdom the Divine Mas-
ter revealed to His servant the moment and the circumstances
of his death, and Father de Brebeuf communicated
it
to his
brethren with transports of joy.
!e lived
for nothing
else than
to pour
out
his blood for
Christ.
As early as 1639 he had made
this vow:
"
I
Digitized by Google
THE MARTYRS OF CHINA.
357
promise
never
to reject
the cross
of martyrdom,
if in Thy
mercy, O my God, Thou offerest
it to Thy unworthy servant.
If the occasions
of dying
for Thee
present themselves I will
not avoid them, and when the stroke of death shall be given to
me I will accept it with a joyous and triumphant heart."
His
Superior had commanded him
to
put
in writing his number-
less visions and graces and revelations, at least those which he
could
remember, says
Father Ragueneau, for
the
multitude
was such that he
could
not
relate them
all.
His
Superior
adds
:
" There is nothing more frequent in his memoirs than
the expression of his
desire
to die
for Jesus Christ.
' I find
myself vehemently impelled to die for Christ/ "
THE
SIGN.
WEAK, spent and weary, sick of grief and woe,
Pressing around me as the crowd streams by,
Battling for Hope,
I raise my eyes and lo
!
A star clear shining in the quiet sky.
Marie Blake.
THE MARTYRS OF CHINA.
FROM June to October, 1900, about 3,000 Christians of South-
western Tche-li were massacred by the Boxers.
Many
of
these died with arms in their hands, defending their families
and
their churches against the bandits
; but very many others,
and, in particular, old men, women and children, were slain merely
because they were Christians and refused to deny the faith.
In many instances the proposition was expressly made that
the Christians would be spared if they apostatized.
For instance,
in the village of Nang-la-seu, such a proposal was made by the
mandarin after he had summoned
all the Christians
together.
They firmly refused
; and next day, the place having been given
tip
to the Boxers,
all were slain save one, who fell away, and
Digitized by Google
358
THE MARTYRS OF CHINA.
three children, who were delivered up to the bonzes.
Later on,,
the mandarin himself counted 147 victims.
At Yang-t'ai a troop
of
Christian women
and young
girls-
braved the most cruel death in defence of their faith and chastity.
The
Jesuit
Father Wibaux
attested that, long after
the mas-
sacre,
their bodies
were found
entirely
incorrupt
amidst the
putrefying corpses in the common pit.
Often, when everybody else
fled at
the approach of the mur-
derers, old persons and the wounded caused themselves to be
carried to the church, in order
to await death before the altar.
Flying from Changes' ounn, a numerous company of Chris-
tians was surrounded by the Boxers.
Some were massacred on
the
route,
as
they recited
the beads.
Some, brought back to
the
village, were
slain with others or buried alive.
v
Amongst
these were some catechumens—not yet baptized.
There were superb examples of heroism.
One old man of 70-
years, holding up his outstretched hand, said 1**1 am a Christian,
a
Christian
of five generations
! M
He was struck down imme-
diately and died.
It often happened that Christians were murdered because they
wore the scapular or carried
a
rosary.
The body of a mother
slain by sabre blows for this cause was found intact by her rela-
tives after a year.
Mothers, like the mother of the Maccabees,,
presented
their children
for death before themselves, lest they
might lose the martyr's palm.
Many, too, whose lives had been
disedifying,
joyously
seized the opportunity of atoning
for the
past by a martyr's death.
Death did not always come
quickly.
Frequently,
after con-
fessing their faith, the noble victims had to endure prolonged and
horrible
tortures.
One,
a young man
of
twenty-five
years,
refusing to apostatize, was pierced from the knee to the foot by a
piece of steel.
A long moaning cry was his
tribute
of pain.
Then his two hand? were cut off at the wrists and his whole body
cut in pieces.
Mothers exhorted their sons
; wives,
their
husbands,
to be
constant unto death.
Sometimes all the members of a family
were slain together
;
as was the case
in the town of Ki-tcheou,
where a grandfather of sixty-six years, the wife of the oldest son
and her four children, the second son with his wife, daughter and
two infants, and the stepmother of the oldest son with her little
grandchild, met death together.
Summoned to the courts, they
THE CENTRO CATOLICO OF MANILA.
359
refused to deny
their religion.
The old grandfather asked as a
favor to be allowed
to die
after the others, whom he kept on
encouraging to the last.
Mgr. Van
Aertselaer,
Vicar Apostolic of Central Mongolia,
states, in a recent
letter, that
in
three-fourths of the
territory
over which he has
jurisdiction, nothing remains of what the
mission or the
native Christians possessed.
Five missionaries
and more than 1500 of the
faithful have been slain.
Hundreds
of women and
children have been
carried
off and
sold.
The
15,000 surviving
Christians
or Catechumens
are deprived
of
everything.
Fifteen central residences and ten small ones, with
the churches attached to them, have been pillaged and burned.
All
the Christian settlements have
been broken
up.
To the
supreme joy of the good
Bishop,
the Blessed
Sacrament
has
nowhere been profaned.
Eastern
Mongolia,
its Vicar Apostolic, Mgr.
Abels,
writes,
lias
lost twenty-seven churches or chapels, burnt or otherwise
destroyed.
The Pro-Vicar Apostolic
of Western Su-Tchuen (China)
re-
ports
that,
at Ngan-Yo, eight persons preparing
for Baptism
were
«lain, and
ten wounded,
about the middle of May,
this
year,
in the new
outbreak
of the
Boxers,
of whom twenty-
seven were
shot
by
the
Chinese
soldiers.
Brigandage
and
famine are increasing the woes of this land of sorrow.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE
CENTRO CATOLICO
To the Catholic Press and all the
Catholic faithful of the
United
States of America greeting
.
The Centro CatSlico de Filipinas, in the name and in represen-
tation of the Catholic people of the Philippines who body and soul
associate therewith, has recently dispatched
to
their Lordships
the Bishops of Pittsburg and Grand Rapids, a telegram of thanks,
as a demonstration of heartfelt gratitude for the enthusiasm and
valor with which their Lordships protested against the expulsion
of the Religious Orders from the Philippines.
Right well do we know
that His Holiness Leo XIII, by the
grace of God, Supreme
Pontiff of the Church
Militant
; Mgr.
OF MANILA.
360
THE CENTRO CATOLICO OF MANILA,
Chapelle, the late Delegate Apostolic of the Holy See
; the Philip-
pine Episcopate, and by far the
greater and better part of our
Clergy and all the true Catholic people of the Philippines,are op-
posed to the proposed expulsion of the Religious Corporations
from Philippine soil
; but to us it was most grateful to know, by
telegram of the 14th of the last month, that the Catholic
clergy
and people of Pennsylvania and Michigan had publicly demon-
strated the self-same sentiments.
We
therefore consider
it our duty
to
give to our Catholic
Fathers and Brethren of the United States our most sincere thanks
and a lively congratulation for
their noble and just
attitude in
this question, which is one of vital importance for the people of
the Philippines, and we earnestly appeal to all the prelates and
faithful of America for their aid and assistance against the taking
of a step so transcendental for our religious and social future.
The Spanish Religious who have been the objects of so much
persecution, evangelized our country, taught us the arts of agri-
culture, industry and commerce
; they inspired in us the love of
the liberal arts
; they gave us an exquisite social and moral edu-
cation, and sent us forward in the path of true progress and civil-
ization in a quiet gentle manner.
The whole world is witness to
the fact that in three centuries we have passed from a state of
savagery to one of a civilization which is the cause of envy in the
breasts of all our Malay neighbors.
Its knowledge of this archipelago being recent and as yet
in-
complete, America, perhaps, has not yet formed a just idea of the
immense labor and the innumerable sacrifices which the Religious
Orders, of whose ministrations a certain element would unjustly
deprive us, have undertaken and suffered for our welfare and ad-
vancement.
And apart from this, they would find it difficult to
appreciate these labors and
sacrifices, on account of the
social
and political crisis through which this country has passed during
these last few years, and on account of the fact that our civiliza-
tion being eminently Catholic and accommodated to our especial
idiosyncrasy, it possesses characters but little visible, very modest
and
better
suited
to demonstrate
a
social, moral
and
interior
progress, than a material and industrial civilization.
Let America but examine carefully our rich literature and his-
tory, and open her eyes to the
light of experience, and she
will
see and realize the immense services these Religious Orders have
rendered to us, and which they are called
to render in time to
THE CENTRO CATOLICO OF MANILA.
361
come to our country under any noble and just banner whatever,
that may shelter us.
One of the things most evident in this our coutftry
is that the
improvements, the roadways and
bridges,
the schools, colleges
and the Universities
; the barracks and fortresses, the seminaries
and charitable institutions
; the books and documents of arts and
sciences, the implements of labor transport, the utensils and tools
of construction
; the perfection of the languages, the betterment
of customs and
the foundation of culture
;
in a word,
all
the
vestiges of civilization and progress bear the
marks,
the embel-
lishment and seal of the Spanish Religious Corporations.
Did there exist any colonial literature, including that of Cuba,
so abundant and select as ours, perhaps one might
criticise the
Spanish Religious.
Were there a colony in
the world whose
youth
in equal numbers and proportional degree, could read,
write, count, who knew the truths of our holy Religion, the rules
of good manners and the principles of courtesy as do our filipino
youth, perchance one might
call
to account the
direction and
labors of our missionaries.
Were there to be found registered
in the geographical annals of the world a colony as cultured,
as
religious, as rich, peaceful,
obedient, and as happy as was our
beloved Filipinos during the three centuries of Spanish domina-
tion, peradventure one might doubt the immense sacrifices of our
Spanish Religious missionaries.
Moreover
: why shall there be expelled from
this country the
ministers of the Catholic Church, when there
are admitted into
the country those of all sects, of all
beliefs and of
all supersti-
tions, of all systems and ideals ?
Why should the Spaniards be
excluded, seeing that they are naturally the only ones who civil-
ized and embellished our country ?
Why should
the American
constitution be undermined, and
the Treaty of Paris be set at
naught, for all of these prohibit the expulsion of any subject
of
any nation whatever without some just cause and without the
previous declaration of the legislative chambers
that such sub-
jects and such institutions are inconvenient and detrimental
for
the wellbeing of the public order ?
What occasion, cause or pre-
text have our Spanish Catholic
priests given
that such
unjust
and unheard of measures should be taken ?
Let our enemies point the finger of justice at one single
case,
one single scandal, one single crime committed by any one of the
members of the Religious Orders during the four years of Amer-
362
THE CENTRO CAT0L1C0 OF MANILA.
ican sovereignty and if any such case shall be found,
if any in-
dividual shall have committed any
fault meriting his expulsion
from the country, then let the penalty fall on the guilty one, but
in the name of Justice leave to us the remainder who are inno-
cent, in the natural enjoyment of their rights.
And who are those who defame the Religious, those who shout
for the expulsion of these Orders ?
They are Protestants, they
are sectarians, they are freemasons, or members of kindred socie-
ties condemned by our holy Mother the Church, they are impious
persons,
all of them the sworn enemies of the Church of God,
and of our
Faith.
They
are those who
first
rebelled against
Spain and afterwards against the United States and
those who
without public sincerity or private conscience make echo of ideals
they do not profess, and who spread abroad
stories of disorders
which never existed, and never will exist in the Religious Orders.
They are traitors to threeflags and. adulators to three sovereignties
against which they plotted whilst they kissed
the
feet of their
governors.
They are the insurgents against Spain and America
who formerly lived by political and armed pillage and who to-day,
thanks to the iniquitous favoritism on the part of the one and the
villainous servility on the part of the other, enjoy the benefits of
municipal and provincial salaries.
They compose, in a word, a
hungry crowd of political
factionists,
engendered, suckled and
favored contrary to all justice by a few politicians unworthy of
the name of Americans.
The direct aim of those who demand the expulsion of the friars
is double
:
first they would throw
off
all
bridle
of
religion,
re-
move all presential testimony to certain inhumanities and scan-
dalous proceedings and facts.
And
thus they could commit all
kinds of iniquities upon this poor people which, numbering some
eight millions to-day would in their hands be reduced in ten years
to a single million or less of miserable, unfortunate creatures.
In the second place they aim to despoil the Church and Her
institutions
of
their property and estates that they may fatten
themselves like birds of prey that they
are
;
to rob and disrobe
the sacred images, and despoil the altars of their sacred vessels,
polluting the house of God and turning it into a meeting house
for discordant mobs of political schemers and agitators.
And let it be well understood that these muched talked of estates
possess better titles of property and comply with all the require-
ments of the law both canonical and civil, better than any other
THE CENTRO CATOLICO OF MANILA.
363
landed property possessed by Filipinos or foreigners in the arch-
ipelago.
Nor are these
estates, in
their extension and
value, what
is
claimed by the enemies
of their Religious owners who justly
possess them.
Taken all together they are
less
in
their extent
than Rhode Island as compared
to the vast
superfices of your
immense country.
They are purchased
for small amounts be-
cause land formerly was, and is even now, so abundant that the
Spanish Government and private owners almost gave it away.
These famous and coveted estates were in the hands of their
Religious owners, a grand practical school of agricultural econo-
my, in which natives and foreigners might learn
that all might
be accomplished by a just and prudent administration, in carry-
ing out large enterprises.
If all had
imitated the Religious in
the moderation of the rents asked, and in the paternal treatment
of their tenants, in charity in years of scarcity and justice in those
of abundance, in prudent expenses and rewards of the masters,
to-day the' fertile forests and desert valleys
of the
Philippines
would be converted into model farms and into lively settlements.
It is obvious that the pueblos in which these estates existed were
among the largest, richest and happiest in the country.
With these estates, from which they received about three and
a half per cent, of their value, the Religious were enabled
to
at-
tend to the expenses of their seminaries, to the work of the mis-
sions conducted by them in China and Tung-kin, to the needs of
public worship, to the erection of schools and charitable institu-
tions, and to an endless number of public and private alms, and,
at times, to the alleviation of the strained condition of the public
treasuries of the provinces and the municipalities.
These estates
are
to-day
in
the
possession
of
foreign
companies,
Belgian,
French, American and English, who comply with all the require-
ments of the laws that be, and are in as
just and
pacific a pos-
session of their lands as are other companies, Filipino, Spanish or
American, of theirs.
But one of the most curious phenomena noticeable in connec-
tion with these estates is that when the Government concerns it-
self in their purchase they commence to be looked upon as small,
bad and scarcely worth the price of purchase except for political
(!) reasons
; whereas two years ago the Religious were said to be
the possessors of somewhere
near
the half of the archipelago,
and it was even supposed that
the possession
of these estates
364
THE CENTRO CATOLICO OF MANILA.
constituted the social problem of the Philippines.
Time will be
a witness whether or no the sale of these estates is to the benefit
of the people or to that of the Government.
And yet the Spanish
Religious Corporations
are,
or course,
ready to submit themselves to the judgment of the Holy See as
regards both their persons and farms.
Some ill-intentioned folk teach and preach that the expulsion
of*the friar will be a political measure, because
they expect that
the friars will be anti-American and
will sow
the seed
of
dis-
affection among the natives of our country.
A ridiculous and
unjust suspicion
!
You know, well beloved Fathers and
brethren, what
are the
teachings of the Church
in
this matter, and what is the history
of our Catholic missionaries in all parts.
We are convinced, and
in the face of the world declare, that the existence of the Spanish
Corporations in the
Philippines will not only be a fountain of
advantages for us, the Filipinos, but it will be the best guarantee
of order, obedience and concord and peace between the sovereign
nation and
its Filipino
subjects.
Would
to God that America
did not have any worse enemies than the poor Spanish Religious.
The day in which they disappear from here there will be founded
in the hearts of thousands of people all over the archipelago a
deep-seated and perpetual suspicion of America and
all her in-
stitutions.
The day when these Religious leave us we shall be
left shepherdless, without
instruction, without preachers, with-
out
professional courses, without
places
of
worship, without
sacraments,
without
help or counsel,
without hopes—forlorn.
Alas if such should be our
lot.
Fortunately we know the abyss which has opened at our
feet,
we foresee the fatal future of
our
religion and of our pitiable
fatherland, and therefore whilst imploring the help of
heaven,
we
turn
our
eyes
towards
our Fathers and Brethren
of
the
United States, asking their help in our just demand.
American Catholics, you are numerous and strong
; you are
sons of a great nation who live in the land of liberties, who have
a thousand newspapers of large circulation
; you enjoy the care
and guidance of many Bishops, you who
are famous
for your
love and tendency toward association, who are enjoying a period
of peace and normal prosperity, who are accustomed
to struggle
and
conquer,
forget
not your poor
Catholic
colonist
of
the
Philippines.
REPORT OF BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS.
365
Heaven will reward you and our hearts
will ever be grateful
to you.
In token of our perpetual union and solidarity with the
Catholics of the United States we shall ever pray
for peace and
prosperity for your country, and now with
the
filial
confidence
we have for the sons of the Catholic Church throughout
all the
world we embrace all our brethren in the faith.
Feast of St. Joachim August, 1902.
(Signed)
Vicente Cavanna,
.
President.
Josfi Arriola,
.
1st Vice-President.
Tei^esforo Casas,
.
2d
"
JosiC L. Pozas,
.
Secretary.
Bartolomic Pons,
.
Asst. Secretary.
Juuan de
i,a O,
.
Treasurer.
Josfe Memije,
.
^
W. Breckno K. Watson,
> Vocales.
Manuel Assensi,
.
)
EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF
CATHOLIC INDIAN
MISSIONS.
For 1900-01 and
1901-02.
The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions,
Washington, D. C, November 8,
1902.
To His Eminence, James Cardinal Gibbons,
Archbishop of Baltimore.
His Grace, Most Rev. P.
J. Ryan,
Archbishop of Philadelphia.
Incorporators
of the Bureau
of
Catholic
Indian
Mis-
sions.
The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions issued no report
last
year, for the reason that its Rt. Rev. Director died shortly before
the Annual Meeting of the Board
of Incorporators, and it was
only at that meeting that his successor was appointed.
As I had active charge of the Bureau during the year 1900-
190 1, I shall cover that period in this my first report.
1900-1901.
On June 30, 1900,
all Government aid for the Catholic Indian
mission schools ceased, and the burden of their support—in round
Digitized by
366 REPORT OF BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS.
numbers, $ 140,000 per annum—was shifted upon the Catholics
of the country.
The Very Rev. Treasurer of the Bureau had on hand a cash
balance of only a few thousand
dollars with which to meet the
obligations of 1900-1901.
But Bishops and priests from Western
dioceses collected throughout the East
; an appeal was issued by
the Bureau ; an allocation was obtained from the Lenten Collec-
lection for Indian and Negro Missions
; generous personal dona-
tions were made by His Eminence, Cardinal
Gibbons, and His
Grace, Archbishop Ryan
;
the Rev. Mother Katherine Drexel
contributed a very large sum—and in
this way the schools were
kept in operation, although they did not receive the full amount
due them until after January of
1902, which delay caused great
anxiety and hardship to those faithful souls who, in the midst o
so much suffering and discouragement, devote themselves to the
Christian education of Indian youth.
The Bureau at once undertook to obtain from the Government
the following
:
1.—The revocation of the objectionable " Browning Ruling,"
according to which
'
' Indian parents have no right to designate
which school their children shall attend,' ' and by virtue of which
children, despite the wishes of their parents, were placed in Gov-
ernment schools, and on account of which Catholic Indian parents
were often outraged in their natural rights.
2.—The recognition of
the right of Catholic children in Gov-
ernment schools to
receive instruction in
their
religion a stated
number of hours each week, and
to be allowed the
consolations
of Holy Mass and the Sacraments.
3.—The use of the " tribal funds
99 for the education of Indian
children in Catholic schools—the contention being that Catholic
parents belonging to tribes having money on deposit in the U. S.
Treasury (such money being held in common by the Indians and
disbursed for their benefit by the Secretary of the Interior) should
he allowed, in the emphatic words of Archbishop Ryan, " to use
their own money, in educating their own
children, in the schools
of their choice
:
99 a number of
Indians, by petition and personal
interviews with officials in Washington, having asked that a por-
tion of
their individual pro rata
in such funds be paid
for the
education of their children in Catholic schools.
The Bureau, seconded by staunch and influential friends, made
strong and determined efforts to secure favorable, action on these
REPORT OF B UREA U OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS. 367
three propositions.
To that end a memorial covering the ques-
tions involved was submitted by the Bureau to President McKin-
ley, who stated that he desired that
they should be settled satis-
factorily, and all
cause
of
friction removed.
He
referred this
momorial to the Secretary of the
Interior, who in turn referred
it to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, which
latter official re-
ported unfavorably upon the first and third propositions.
President McKinley then directed that the "Browning Ruling "
should be revoked, and Secretary Hitchcock promised the Most
Rev. Archbishop
Ireland
that
this should be done—a promise,
however, executed only after a long delay, so long, indeed, that
the year 1900-1901 passed before it was carried into effect.
Regarding the " tribal funds/' the Bureau fortified its position
by opinions of legal authorities of the first order.
Secretary Bliss
had decided
that such
funds could not be used
for sectarian
schools, but it was thought that his decision might be reconsid-
ered. Up to the present, however, Secretary Hitchcock has taken
no action on the matter.
In
1 90 1
I
carefully inspected the Catholic Indian schools of
California, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming, and found
them all doing good work, remarkable work, in fact, considering
their scanty resources.
The school at Banning, Cal., is in need
of repairs, while the one at San Diego, Cal., could be carried on
with less expense
if means were forthcoming to provide for irri-
gating the school
lands, which
at present produce only olives,
and these have failed to prove a source of revenue.
Rev. Father
Ubach, the venerable missionary in charge
of
this
school, has
made every effort to provide irrigation for the mission lands, but
the financial condition of
the Bureau has made help from this
quarter an impossibility.
During this year there was trouble of greater or less magnitude
between Indian Agents and Catholic school
authorities, which
arose chiefly over the enforcement of the " Browning Ruling. 0
The Indian
Office
adjusted
these
difficulties
in
a satisfactory
manner, with the exception
of
one, which was
settled by
the
revocation of the
li Browning Ruling.'
1
VISITATION OF SCHOOLS.
DIFFICULTIES WITH AGENTS.
368 REPORT OF BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS.
TULALIP SCHOOL.
From
its inception
the
Catholic
Mission
school
at Tulalip
Agency, Washington, was conducted
in a building erected by
the Government.
Small additions had been made by the Sisters
in charge, but no transfer of the property ever took place. These
facts were reported by inspectors to the Indian
Office, the Gov-
ernment took charge
of the
school, and
the
Sisters withdrew.
The loss of this school is to be very much regretted, as the In-
dians of the Tulalip reservation are as a rule Catholics, and their
children, with very few exceptions, have for many years had the
benefit of Catholic training.
His
Eminence,
Cardinal
Gibbons, His
Eminence,
Cardinal
Martinelli, the Most
Rev.^ Archbishop Corrigan and the Most
Rev. Archbishop Ryan
at once gave
their approbation to
the
new society.
As
the
year
1 900-1 901 drew
near
its
close,
the
venerable
Director
of
the
Bureau,
Monsignor Joseph A-
Stephan—the
intrepid defender of the Catholic Indian—died full of years and
honors.
Requiescat in pace /
The
all-important
and
unsolved
problem
confronting
the
Bureau is
: By what means can $140,000 be raised annually for the
support of the Catholic Indian schools ?
Many schools would have been discontinued long since had
it not been for the great generosity of Rev. Mother M. Katherine
Drexel.
But
this generous help by
itself does not
suffice
;
it
cannot be expected for a great number of years
;
it
is even now
given
at
a
sacrifice and
to
the
detriment of
other necessary
works.
The future of the Catholic Indian schools depends upon
the providing of some permanent source of revenue.
In the beginning of 1901-1902, steps were taken to establish,
as widely as
possible, the " Society for the
Preservation of the
Faith among Indian
Children.' '
This,
in
fact, has been the
chief feature of the year's work.
The Society has received
the
hearty
approval
of many
prelates,
has been introduced
into
every
archdiocese and very nearly every diocese
in
the United
States, and has Promoters in Canada, Ireland and Germany.
DEATH OF MONSIGNOR STEPHAN.
1901-1902.
THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY.
REPORT OF B UREAL OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS. 369
Through
the medium of the Catholic press and the United
States mail, the Bureau has secured several hundred Promoters
and thousands of members.
A number of priests have spent a
portion of their time in spreading from the pulpit a knowledge of
the aim, methods and obligations of the Society, and in enlist-
ing the service of Promoters.
This work has been done in Phila-
delphia by the Rev. H. G. Ganss,
of Carlisle, Pa.
;
in Indiana,
Illinois and California by the Rev. B. Florian Hahn, of Banning,
Cal.; in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by the Rev. J. M. Kasel,
of
St. Francis, Wis.
, and in the Archdiocese of
Baltimore, par-
ticularly
in the City
of
Washington,
by
the
Director of
the
Bureau.
During the summer months two
Jesuit missionaries
of South Dakota, the Rev. Fathers Digmann and Bosch, took up
the same work in various cities, and this
winter another Indian
missionary, the Rev. Isidore Ricklin, O.S.B., of Oklahoma, will
canvass the Diocese of Rochester.
The Rev. Father Ganss at the
present time is working in New York City.
The Right Rev. Bishop Hortsmann,
of
Cleveland, has done
more than any one person for the propagation of
the Preserva-
tion Society.
By a
pastoral
letter, dated December
9, 1901, he
established it in the parishes of his diocese, with the result that
from them
alone $6,000
(in round numbers) were obtained
for
the support of the Indian schools.
The Most Rev. Archbishop Katzer issued a
similar
letter to
his
clergy, and the
Rev. Father Kasel
took up
the work
of
preaching in the
interest of the Society in the churches of the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
If other prelates could find it possible
to pursue a like policy,
the support of
the Indian schools would soon be placed beyond
question.
The
Bureau
indulges
the hope
that many
Arch-
bishops and Bishops may warmly recommend
the Preservation
Society to the faithful in their I^enten letters for 1903.
Up
to
date the
Society has brought
in
$21,357.29, which
would represent a membership of more than 85,000.
All promises made
in respect
to
spiritual benefits have been
religiously kept.
While the Preservation Society has advantages,
it has
also
grave disadvantages.
At the close of the
first year many Pro-
moters gave up their work and a great many members failed to
renew their subscriptions.
It can readily be seen that to keep
the
Society in
operation,
constant work,
constant preaching,
370 REPORT OF BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS.
and, above all, constant co-operation of bishops and priests will
be required,
if the returns are to be
sufficiently large
to support
the schools.
It is true that only 400,000 members, a small pro-
portion of the Catholics of the United States, are needed.
But
it
is extremely
difficult
to secure 400,000 members, and
still
more difficult to retain them for a number of years.
Moreover,
while many priests are willing to
assist
in
this good work by
preaching and soliciting Promoters and members,
it is often\m-
possible to obtain permission to preach and solicit, so heavily are
pastors burdened with parish and diocesan obligations.
The Society for the Preservation of
the Faith among Indian
Children ought to yield $100,000 per year, but even if it fails to
do this, it will still be very useful for securing at least a portion
of the amount required to maintain the schools.
COLLECTORS.
It was thought that
a considerable sum
of money could be
obtained if one or more priests were appointed as Collectors, who
would
devote
their whole time
to
the
soliciting
of
aid
from
the wealthier Catholics of the country.
Accordingly, the Rev.
Father Ganss was appointed
to do
this
particular work.
He
began his canvass about the middle of January, 1902, and
zeal-
ously applied himself to his most arduous task.
The Very Rev.
Treasurer of the Bureau reports
that up
to date $6,000 have
been
secured
for
the
schools
by
the
efforts
of
Rev.
Father
Ganss.
Collecting money for Indian schools
is by no means an easy
work, and one of the obstacles in the way is the difficulty that is
often experienced in obtaining permission to canvass a parish or
diocese.
ST. xavibr's school.
Mention should here
be made of
the
fact
that
St. Xavier's
Mission
School,
Crow
Agency,
Montana,
is
now
supported
entirely
by
the
charity
of
an
estimable
Catholic
lady,
who
requests
that her name should not
be mentioned.
There
are
probably some who would prefer to contribute regularly toward
the support of a particular school, and this mode of giving would
be most acceptable.
If others could be induced
to
follow
the
cample of this devoted Catholic lady, the general burden
^greatly lightened.
Digitized by Google
REPORT OF BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS. 37
1
THE ANNUAL APPEAL.
Last year the Bureau issued an Appeal,
which brought
in
$3,247.09.
A similar Appeal was sent out in January, 1902, and
returns have been coming in steadily, but they will fall far short
of what they were last year.
More than eight months passed by
after
President McKinley
directed
that the Browning Ruling should be abrogated before
the abrogation actually took
place.
Such action was taken by
the Secretary of the Interior on January 18, 1902.
The Secretary
of
the
Interior informed
the Director of the
Bureau that the Browning Ruling might at any time be revived
should the Department see fit to do so.
Statements appeared in
the
daily papers
to the
effect that many
protests against the
revocation
of
the Browning Ruling had been
filed
with
the
Secretary of
the
Interior by the different Protestant
sects
of
the United States.
Nevertheless
the recognition
of the
rights
of Indian parents was hailed with delight by Catholics.
Mission
priests and teachers were inspired with renewed hope and cour-
age.
They are easily satisfied
; they only ask for justice
; and it
is a creditable commentary on
their work
that the Indians pat-
ronize their schools without being forced to do so by such reg-
ulations as the Browning Ruling.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
The Commissioner
of Indian Affairs has conceded the right
of Catholic children in Government
schools
to
receive instruc-
tion in their religion,, to assist
at Holy Mass, and to receive the
Sacraments.
In endeavoring to provide such advantages
for these children
in the
different Government schools, the Bureau has met with
uncompromising opposition
on
the
part
of
the
superintend-
ents.
Whenever this opposition has been reported to the Com-
missioner
of Indian
Affairs,
be
it
said
to his
credit,
he
has
in every instance directed the superintendent in question to allow
Catholic children suitable
facilities
for
religious instruction and
worship, suggesting the plan in operation
at
Carlisle as the one
to be adopted.
By the withdrawal
of the
rations, Catholic
Mission
schools
sustain a
loss
of not
less than
$25,000 a year, while hundreds
of Indian children are deprived of food and clothing guaranteed
to them by treaty.
ABROGATION OF THE BROWNING RULING.
372 REPORT OF BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS,
PRESENT CONDITION OF SCHOOLS.
Attention must be
called to the
fact
that a number of Mis-
sion school buildings
are
in need of repairs, and that an annual
outlay is necessary for insurance on
the school buildings owned
by
the
Bureau—to
meet
which expenses there
are no funds
available.
On
the other hand,
the
Mission -priests and
teachers are as
zealous and devoted
as ever
;
in
fact,
the
abrogation
of
the
Browning Ruling and
the
belief that better
things are yet to
come inspire them with new hope and energy.
As
for
the
Indians,
they were never more anxious to pat-
ronize Catholic schools, although these schools cannot offer their
children many
of
the
material
comforts
of
the Government
schools.
There has been no falling off in the number of children
attending
the Mission
schools, while applications for admission
to these schools are steadily on the increase.
The relations between the Bureau and the Indian Office during
the past year have been
cordial and
satisfactory.
The Hon.
Commissioner of Indian Affairs has done kind things in a kind
way, and is entitled to this recognition of his many favors.
The Bureau
suffered
a great
loss
in
the death of one of its
incorporators,
the Most Rev. M.
A.
Corrigan.
Always inter-
ested in the work of the Bureau, and ready
to
listen with sym-
pathy to the story of its struggles and hopes, he never failed to
give his unqualified support to every effort for the perpetuation
of the Mission schools. The Bureau now appeals with confidence
to his successor, Monsignor
Farley,
feeling assured that he will
give like sympathy and support.
The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, which has been placed
as a sentinel to stand guard over the interests of the Catholic In-
dians, would be recreant
to its duty if it
failed
to
call attention
to what it firmly believes to be a very grave danger.
It cannot say that there is no bigotry and proselytizing in Gov-
ernment schools.
To do this it would have to run counter to the
dictates of reason, it would have to impugn the veracity of Indian
THE INDIAN OFFICE.
DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP
CORRIGAN.
A VITAL
ISSUE.
MISSION NOTES.
373
children and parents, of Catholic teachers in Government schools,
and of the priests and Sisters who work among the Indians.
There appears
to be only one legitimate conclusion, namely
:
the Catholic Indian Mission School
is an absolute necessity, and
the day (God grant
it may never come) the Church of America
discontinues the Mission schools, that day she
turns her Indian
children over to the sects, and practically withdraws from Indian
mission work.
Shall the schools be supported ?
The outlook is
not bright.
But in spite of two years of the gloomiest prospects
they are
still
in
operation.
Can they be supported ?
There
is
certainly enough
surplus money among
the
Catholics
of
the
country to support them
;
there must be found some way of induc-
ing the people to minister unto Jesus Christ in the person of His
suffering Indian brethren.
I am, with high esteem,
Your faithful servant in Xto.,
Wm. H. Ketcham, Director.
MISSION
NOTES.
MARTINIQUE—DEATH OF THE HEROIC FATHER MARIE.
P&re Marie, undeterred by
the awful tragedy
of St.
Pierre,
continued at his post in Morne Rouge on the very slopes of death-
dealing Pel6e.
The civil authorities summoned him away, but
he obeyed only when he had provided for the safety of his flock.
Later he returned, after he had spent some time in the hospital
at Fort de France owing to his injuries.
But Morne Rouge was
doomed
:
for two or three days before the end of August, the
volcano had been menacing the little town.
Father Marie pro-
posed to
lead
the people away
; but,
attached
to
their homes
through affection and necessity, they hesitated.
At last the end
came on August 31
: Morne Rouge and
its people were over-
whelmed.
Terribly burnt and dying, the heroic priest was borne
to Fort de France, where he had time to receive the
last Sacra-
ments.
AU SOUI^' DAY IN CHINA.
A
French missionary describes the
scene
in the
Christian
cemetery of Canton on All Souls' Day,
contrasting
it with the
Digitized by
374
MISSION NOTES.
religious ceremonies on the same day in Southern France. There
was much difference.
In the rich glow of the autumn in his na-
tive place, he had seen all classes of people, rich and poor, faith-
ful and unbelieving, meeting between the sombre cypresses in
the resting-place of the beloved dead,
and carrying flowers to
deck the graves.
They knelt beneath the large crucifix, beside
the angels in stone, and scattered everywhere, silently and often
with tears, their multitudinous flower-tribute.
Here, in China, he says, this vast mould house, mortals sleep
forever where they choose, on wind-swept hill or soft-green rice-
field.
There are no crosses here
to mark the narrow places of
repose, no flowers
nor prayers.
Christian crucifixes would be
broken and the graves violated.
At Canton, things are a little better. Here, in this Babylon of
three millions of people, there is a Christian cemetery.
It lies
beyond the ramparts, and beneath two pleasant
hills.
Between
the
hills rises an enormous Gothic Cross in granite, dominating
all the Canton plain.
Before it is the common grave of the sol-
diers of France.
Near the entrance of the cemetery,
a
little Christian village
has grown around a modest mission chapel.
Until lately a white-
haired missionary ministered to the little congregation, just then
he was dying in Hong-Kong.
He will sleep in another field of
the dead.
The Bishop, lately consecrated, Mgr. M6rel, had come to say
a Mass of Requiem.
Hundreds of Christians had gathered
; and
a band of about thirty soldiers, under their Christian commander
Paul, presented arms as the prelate arrived.
It was very solemn,
that Requiem in distant China
; solemn and sad—a Requiem
in-
deed, over the slaughtered thousands of the Church's children.
CHARITY FOR THE LEPER AND THE MENDICANT.
In the new Vicariate Apostolic on the coast of Tonkin,
Mgr.
Marcou is doing what the Church always does according to her
opportunities
; he is providing for the desolate and the suffering.
He has two leper-houses in his wide mission-field.
One shelters
about 200 stricken inmates, the other
is more
important, being
surrounded by a very numerous population.
Death comes often
amongst the afflicted beings for whom Christian charity provides
a refuge and kindly care.
It commonly happens,
that,
after a
MISSION NOTES.
375
short time in the leper-houses, the poor sufferers themselves ask
to be instructed in the Christian religion.
The condition of sick mendicants has also moved the Bishop to
pity.
On the long roads of Tonkin and Annam, he says, the
mendicants are frequently found
lying beside
the way,
utterly
worn out with sickness and
fatigue, and waiting in helpless pa-
tience for death to end
their woes.
The people of the country,
though generous
after their
fashion,
will not
take
into
their
houses those that are ill.
When death has come, the women, as
they pass, throw each a clod of earth on the body, and thus the
melancholy monuments rise at intervals along the roads.
The French government, which now exercises a protectorate
over all thi9 region,
is doing much for the mendicants, but chiefly
in the principal towns.
Beyond the sphere of its efforts, there is
much misery
to be relieved by
the
hospices which the Vicar-
Apostolic desires to erect.
Somali Land has become generally known of late on account
of the campaign of the British troops against the Mad Mullah, as
he has been called.
It is just below the Red Sea, along the Gulf
of Aden.
A Catholic mission station was begun here in 1892, at
Berbera, by the
sea.
The missionary was accompanied by two
young
Somalis,
trained in
the
faith
at Aden.
They
had
to
struggle against native
prejudice, Mussulman hostility and the
distrust of the local government.
The mission, however, took root and flourished in the inhospi-
table
land.
The people
began, after
a while, to be won
over.
The government itself gave a site for a building.
After three or
four years
it was necessary to introduce
the Sisters to care for
the children and the sick.
The native language was not written
when the
missionaries first came,
but after some time they pub-
lished a dictionary and grammar.
For more than three years the country of the Somalis has been
disturbed by the self-styled prophet, the Mullah.
Mullah means
priest and envoy
of heaven.
He
calls
himself
also
Madhi, or
prophet.
His name
is Mohammed
Abdileh.
He was born of
poor parents in the shepherd lands of the southern Somali coun-
try.
Ogaden, " Our South," was his native place.
In his youth, they say, he was initiated amongst the Dankalis
and trained
in
their
sorceries.
In the schools of the marabuts
IN THE
I,AND OF THE MAD MULLAH.
376
MISSION NOTES.
(practitioners in magic) he learned the prayers of the Koran and
the Arab Scriptures.
Still young, he made
the pilgrimage to
Mahomet's tomb
at Mecca, in Arabia, and renewed it three or
four times, in order to merit the title of hadji, or pilgrim.
At length he appeared as a prophet at Berbera, but gained few
followers, and
lived by begging.
He went thence amongst the
powerful tribesmen of the southeast, and lived in the valley of
Nogal.
Here he assumed the
title of Mullah and Madhi, and gained
influence by his air of austerity and command, and by the fanati-
cal vehemence of his threats and prophecies.
Superhuman power
was attributed to him.
Gifts were showered
at
his
feet by the
superstitious people, and soon he became one of the wealthiest
and the most influential amongst the wild shepherd tribesmen.
The Koran of other teachers he caused to be burned, and pro-
claimed himself a living Koran and
a new
prophet.
All who
refused to obey him were to be slaughtered.
A numerous band
of followers gathered around him and made war on the neighbor-
ing tribes.
His advance, like that of Mahomet, was everywhere
stained with blood.
To the terror of
Berbera, he appeared, in
August
of
1899, on
the mountain chains, fifty
or sixty miles
away.
There was only a handful of soldiers in the town
; but
two warships
arrived
from Aden, and
the
Mullah withdrew,
marking his path with rapine and death
as he retired
to
his
native Ogaden.
This richest portion of Somali Land is claimed
by the Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia.
The Somalis are heredi-
tary foes of the Abyssinians, and Mohammed found it easy to rouse
his countrymen.
He
proceeded against Harrar,
his scattered
bands pillaging also the tribes faithful to the English.
Ras Makonnen, one of the boldest of the war-chiefs of
Mene-
lik, blocked the way of the fanatical Mullah.
In a terrific battle
the latter lost 2,000 followers, and
fell back on Ogaden,
filling
up the wells as he went,
in order to make pursuit impossible.
It was thought then that his power was broken
; but he retrieved
his losses and again
took
the
field.
His
last
exploit
in
the
English protectorate was his defeat
of the English troops, who
lost a colonel, a captain and
fifty men.
MASSACRES CONTINUE IN CHINA.
Still more martyrs are being added to the long roll.
The Box-
ers, as we know, have been
restless since they were repelled by
MISSION NOTES.
377
the European
allies.
They
began to reorganize in
the prov-
ince
of
Sze-Chuen.
Some
massacres
of
Christians
occurred
towards Ganio, but
the rebels were quickly repressed.
Better
prepared, they began again
at the end of
last June.
They pil-
laged and burned the homes of
the
Christians and slew all who
fell into their hands.
So rapidly had
their numbers grown that
they hoped to seize the capital
of
the province.
Thousands of
them poured down on one of the older
Christian settlements at
Su-Kia-Wan.
The priest in charge, Father Dupuis, and about
forty men defended it for a day and a night.
It was impossible
to continue and,
in the darkness
of the
night, some escaped.
Then the Boxers gave the church, presbytery and homes of the
people to the flames.
With
refinement of
cruelty, every Chris-
tian found was slain.
A young Chinese
priest,
Father Joseph
Huang, after his skin had been torn off, was cut into pieces.
A
young native woman, who had taken vows, and who had taught
the little children
for
years, met a glorious martyrdom.
The
family which sheltered her were
all
slain.
In this and a neigh-
boring place, the victims numbered a thousand.
Christians fled
from other settlements, but their houses were
destroyed.
The
whole district to the north of the capital was rendered absolutely
desolated
; every Christian
village was swept away.
The Box-
ers had with them women, young and old, who, carried away by
a fiendish frenzy, declared they were commissioned by the Spir-
its to lead the rebels
to
victory over the
foreigners.
Towards
the middle of August the Boxers' excesses had aroused the Chi-
nese authorities, whose
soldiers succeeded,
to some
extent, in
repressing the revolt.
Notwithstanding all the horrors, there has been this year an
extraordinary movement towards the Catholic Church.
In
this
province of Sze-Chuen 8,000 have presented themselves for bap-
tism, and the missionaries say that had the apostolic laborers been
numerous enough 20,000 would have been gathered into the fold.
In the mission of southwestern Tche-li, also, as in other fields,
the harvest is abundant.
Nine new stations have been opened
;
1,673 Catechumens, who remained faithful during the persecu-
tion, have been baptized, and
nearly 6,006 more have been en-
rolled for instruction.
About 4,000 children are in the
schools
that it has been possible to re-open.
Three boarding-schools and
a preparatory seminary have been
established, and two school
novitiates
for the
instruction
of women have been begun with
37«
MISSION NOTES.
-eighty students.
Nine churches have been
rebuilt
; 45 chapels
and 12 oratories rebuilt or repaired, with schools and a residence
for the missionary.
Four hundred mission-stations are still with-
out permanent constructions.
Two priests have died attending
those stricken with cholera
; a native priest has followed them,
worn out by
his
labors
;
and,
finally,
Father
Lomuller
was
killed by the Boxers at the end of last April.
IRISH MISSIONARY NEWS.
Cardinal
Moran, Archbishop of
Sydney, N.
S. W.,
at the
recent laying of the corner-stone of a Convent of Mercy Chapel,
in Callan, Ire., spoke thus of the world-wide mission
field of the
Irish nuns and priests
:
'
' When we speak of our Irish nuns it must be borne in mind
that their apostolate is not restricted within the four seas of our
island.
They are to be found in flourishing communities in the
United States and Canada and Australia, and wherever the Irish
emigrant has found a home.
But, further, they
will be met in
all the approved congregations
in France
; they minister to the
sick and teach schools in Rome itself.
Irish convents of devoted
nuns will be found in Rio Janeiro and
Gibraltar, in Lisbon and
Seville.
Among the martyred Sisters of Charity in Tientsin, in
China, was Sister O'Sullivan, from the County
of Cork, a nun
whom I may claim as of my own kith and kin.
" An Irish Bishop on pilgrimage to Jerusalem a few years ago
visited the hospital in
Jerusalem maintained
at
the expense of
the Sultan.
He found three Irish Sisters
in
charge.
He went
on to Damascus.
The schools there were under the care of the
French Sisters of Charity.
He asked was
there any
English-
speaking Sister among them.
He found an
Irish
Sister from
the County of Wicklow, who for so many years had been teach-
ing in Arabic that she had almost forgotten the English language.
•
* When I was returning some time ago from Australia I met
in Colombo six Irish Sisters, who were teaching in the Singalese
schools, and whom as children
I had confirmed when Bishop of
Ossory.
This singular missionary fruitfulness of Irish piety will,
perhaps, be best illustrated by two facts.
I visited
the Sodality
of our Blessed Lady Harold's Cross on their Feast Day last June.
During the years that that sodality has been
established it has
given 800 missionary nuns to the most destitute and most remote
mission fields.
You have
the privilege
in Callan
of having a
±953?
Digitized by Google
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
379
missionary convent of your own, and unpretentious and unosten-
tatious as is your St. Brigid's College, it has sent forth more than
200 who are now laboring
with
devoted
zeal, not
only in the
less arduous fields of our Australian Diocese, but in South Africa,
in Java, in desolate Demerara and in distant China.'
The Divine seed, writes a missionary, the Abb6 Bret, growing
in blood and
tears, has produced a splendid harvest
; flowers of
martyrs have blossomed, and will soon decorate our
altars.
In
ten years, from 1877 to 1887, the number of adults baptized did
not exceed 3,265; but
last year alone
there were
5,203.
In
twenty-five years
the Christian population has increased from
11,000 to 50,000
; and the number of missionaries, from two to-
forty, without counting eleven native priests.
Everybody remembers how the great persecution of 1866 mowed
down thickly the ranks of priests and
people.
The old regent
endeavored, and apparently with success, to drown Catholicity in
the blood of its believers.
But scarcely nine years had passed,
when French missionaries, eluding the guards along the coast,
revisited this land of martyrs.
Persecution followed them
; but
they were
fearless
as
indefatigable
:
and
soon,
through
the
influence of the French
officials, they were enabled
to cultivate
the ungrateful soil in peace.
Our readers will be delighted to learn that the articles for the
process of the beatification of Father Jogues, Rene
Goupil and
I,alande have reached this country and are now in the hands of
the Vicar Postulator of his cause.
The Jesuits of the Canadian Mission have purchased the site
of the martyrdom of Fathers Br6beuf and Lalemant.
The memo-
rial church erected to the memory of these missionaries at Pene-
tanguishene is to be dedicated December
1 1
.
COREA.
ANNALS OF THE SHRINE.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SHRINE.
Anonymous
M. A. C, Philadelphia, Pa
M. M., Quebec, Canada
.
$4.00
3.00
FOR THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF YOUTH.
TO DIRECTORS OF COLLEGES AND ACADEMIES.
The special department of "Colleges and Academies
list for parents and guardians.
Advertisements for this de;
nt on application.
S7 sad s§ West 16th Street,
at any tune and alphabetically placed,
prompt a year's trial of its columns,
is intended as a ready refe
_.
his department will be ret
The best interests of yonr institutions sfcooM
Address,
APO8TLB8HIP OF PRATER,
New York City, H. 1\
ALABAMA.
Spring Hill Csllsgs,
Nba* Mobile, Ala.
Bearding College conducted by the Jesuit Fathers.
Pre-
pnratory, Commercial aad Classical cur—. French, Ger-
man, and Spaaish
taught
without extra
charge.
New
and well equipped gymnasium, running track, etc.
Climate
ulinmfllj healthy.
For particulars, apply to the
Rev. W. J. Tyrbbll, S.J., President.
CALIFORNIA.
Csllsgs sff Nstrs Dims,
San Francisco, Cal.
Select boarding and day school conducted by the Sisters
of Notre Dame (Namur).
Offers every advantage
for
education and health.
Accessible by three lines of cars.
For Catalogue send to
SlSTBK. SUPXBtfOX..
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
ftssrgstswn Aoadsmy sf ths Visitation,
(Founded in 1799.)
Wbst Washihgtok, D. C.
Ossrgstown University,
Washington, D. C.
Under the cave of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus.
COLLEGE DEPARTMENT.
Georgetown College, Founded 1780*
For Boarders and Day Scholars.
Preparatory,
Collegiate and Graduate
courses.
Unri-
valled situation on Georgetown
Heights, overlooking the
Potomac River, Arlington, Va., and the dues of George-
town and Washington.
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, Founded 1851.
A large and eminent Medical Faculty. Building enlarged
and provided with splendid facilities
in
Chemical,
Physi-
ological. Bacteriological and Anatomical laboratories, etc.
Qeetgetewn University H^pital in full operation.
LAW DEPARTMENT, Founded 1870.
Unparalleled
opportunities
for the study
of American
Jurisprudence.
A
faculty
comprising much
of
the
best
legal talent of the United States.
Students have the advan-
tage of the U. S. Supreme Court, and the enure judicial
system of the District of Columbia.
They also have access
to the great law library of the Capitol.
Rev. Jbromb Daughbrtv, S.J.,
INDIANA.
St. Mary's Aoadamio Institute
St. Mary of the Woods.
Every facility is
afforded
for
acquiring a thorough English and Classical Education, also
for acquiring the highest
proficiency in
vocal and instru-
mental music, painting in oil, water
colors,
etc.
Special
attention is given to forming the morals and manners of the
pupils. The grounds surrounding the institute, being exten-
sive and beautiful, afford all that can be desired for out-door
For further information, address
-
~. w
»- TM
raM.MM
KANSAS.
St. Mary's Csllsgs,
St. Maby's, Kansas.
Boarding College under the Jesuit Fathers.
Two sossaei
of study, Classical and Commercial.
For catalogue send to
Rav. Jambs McCabb, S.J., Praidmi.
MARYLAND.
Mt. ds Salsa, Asadsmy sf ths Vlsltatfsa.
Catomsvilla, Mb,
Offers every advantage for Education aad Health.
As-
hy electric read between Baltimore andCaesns-
MASSACHUSETTS.
Nstrs Dams Asadsmy,
A
select
Boarding School, conducted by the Slaters el
Notre Dame (Namur).
Forty-sixth
year re-opened Sep-
tember 10, xooo.
Preparatory and advanced courses in Ait,
Languages (Classical aad Modern) and Music
Lacunar
beautiful.
Steam heat.
Address
SuPBBiOBBSS, Noma Damb Acadbmt,
Roxburv, Mass.
S893 Washington Street, Roxbury, Moss.
Hsly Crsss Csllsgs,
WoRcmrraB, Mass.
Conducted by the Jesuit Fathers.
Collegiate and Pre-
paratory Departments.
Extensive grounds and exceed*
(ugly healthy location.
New buildings, large gynumsium.
indoor running
track, hot and cold baths, modern cea-
veniencies.
Easily reached
from New York State and
Pennsylvania.
Board, tuition, washing and mending, use
of gymnasium, library and reading-room, physical instruc-
tion, aad medical attendance, t»57 "> »
Send for
Rav. Josbfh F. Hansbxman, S.J., President.
MISSOURI.
Ths Areadla Collsgs,
An Academy of the Ursuline Sisters for Young
leasees,
Arcadia Valley, Iron County, Mo.
This is one of the
finest educational esUbttahmeuss is
the West, having a
full faculty of experienced
teuesort.
The location is singularly healthy, being surreeusejod en all
sides by immense deposits of iron and situated
seversJ
hundred feet above St. Louis.
The air
is pore and Invig-
orating.
Terms for board and tukion very reaoeembU.
.
1..
Moram StJ
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FEB 7 -
1941