Saint Patrick -- The Glorious Apostle Of Ireland

It has been said that St. Patrick (c. 389-c. 461) performed a thousand miracles. And why not? Many more (40,000) were prudently attributed to St. Vincent Ferrer, the Dominican missionary and "Angel of Judgment." 

Moreover, the author knows of no saint for whom there are claimed so many resurrection miracles during one apostolic lifetime as for St. Patrick; there were as many as 39 of these wonders.  Thirty-three are mentioned in one specific report:

"For the blind and the lame, the deaf and the dumb, the palsied, the lunatic, the leprous, the epileptic, all who labored under any disease, did he in the Name of the Holy Trinity restore unto the power of their limbs and unto entire health; and in these good deeds was he daily practiced.  Thirty and three dead men, some of whom had been many years buried, did this great reviver raise from the dead, as above we have more fully recorded."

The above is quoted from The Life and Acts of St. Patrick, translated from the original Latin of Jocelin, Cistercian monk of Furnes of the 12th century, by Edmund L. Swift, Esq., Dublin, 1809.  

A writer that far back probably had sources not available 800 years or more later.  Paul Gallico (in The Steadfast Man) wrote the following concerning the value of tradition:  "Tradition is sometimes more to be trusted than written records, and particularly in a country such as Ireland, where in the early days there was no written record and history was handed down by the poets in the form of sagas, and memory was cultivated far beyond what it is today.  In pre-Christian Ireland every educated man's head was the storehouse for the archives of the nation."

St. Patrick was a great missionary bishop who converted a whole land from paganism, overturning the religion of the druids.  He consecrated 350 bishops, erected 700 churches, and ordained 5,000 priests.  In less than 30 years the greater part of Ireland was Catholic; St. Patrick so consolidated it in the Christian faith that during the Protestant Revolt Ireland was almost unique in its preservation of the Faith.  Even today, people speak of "the faith of the Irish." 

It is hard, indeed impossible, to comprehend such a vast and enduring transformation without the visible support of God through great works and wonders.  But that is what Christ promised to His Apostles, and it has been historically demonstrated in the well-attested lives of His great missionary saints.

St. Patrick himself has personally attested to some of these signs and wonders: "And let those who will, laugh and scorn–I shall not be silent; nor shall I hide the signs and wonders which the Lord has shown me many years before they came to pass, as He knows everything even before the times of the world."  This seems to apply in particular to his prophetic dream-visions.

In his Letters (as in his Confessions and his Letter to Coroticus), Patrick wrote such things as:  "I was not worthy...  that He should bestow on me so great grace toward that nation."  And:  "I baptized in the Lord so many thousands of persons."  And:  "that many people through me should be regenerated to God."  Patrick also wrote: "that I might imitate, in some degree, those whom the Lord long ago foretold would herald His Gospel, for a witness to all nations before the end of the world."  St. Patrick indicated that the Holy Spirit was within him, and he compared himself with St. Paul in a reference to the "unspeakable groanings" of the Holy Spirit.

Further, the ancient author quotes from a reputed "epistle" (letter) of St. Patrick to a friend in a country beyond the sea:

"The Lord hath given to me, though humble, the power of working miracles among a barbarous people, such as are not recorded to have been worked by the great Apostles; inasmuch as, in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I have raised from the dead bodies that have been buried many years; but I beseech you, let no one believe that for these or the like works I am to be at all equaled with the Apostles, or with any perfect man, since I am humble, and a sinner, and worthy only to be despised."

Perhaps because of rumors and his fame St. Patrick was trying to put things in proper perspective.  The word "humble," in his usage, probably meant "lowly" or "insignificant."  

The author of the ancient manuscript observes that he admired the greatness of Patrick's humility more than his raising of the dead.  Patrick himself knew well that his abundance of charismatic gifts (given by God for the glory of God and the benefit of others), far from making him holy, could be a great liability.

Despite his limited number of references to his own greatness, and despite their modesty, it is obvious to anyone familiar with great missionary saints that the spiritual greatness indicated above and displayed in Patrick's life would also call for the marvelous gifts often accompanying such apostles – the most common of which is the working of numerous miracles, including the raising of the dead.

Anyone could gather from his writings, and also from the results of his apostolate of 20-30 years, that St. Patrick was a resolute, steadfast "iron man"; he was a bishop who established monastic discipline in a pagan land, who apparently baptized hundreds of thousands, who converted princes and turned pagan princesses into virgin nuns, who converted the worshipers of idols and the sun and impure things, and who organized and built many churches, leaving behind priests to care for souls.  These were the tremendous and enduring accomplishments in one apostle's missionary lifetime.

St. Patrick's was an achievement unique in history.  Thus it would seem to be a moral certainty that St. Patrick raised the dead on several occasions.  This chapter has been cut down from an originally much longer manuscript-chapter on his reported raisings of the dead, because of the lack of historical records on these matters.  Herein are presented only the best substantiated cases.

Since St. Patrick is claimed to have worked 33 resurrection miracles, it seems a moral certitude that he truly must have worked at least a good number of such wonders, even if the count of 33 may not be exactly accurate.  (Some details may be confused, and thus two slightly different accounts could actually refer to the same event.) It is only fair to report at least several of these.

One day St. Patrick came to a place called Fearta.  On the side of the hill two women were buried.

Patrick ordered the earth removed; in the Name of Christ, he raised them up.  The two proclaimed that their idols were vain and that Christ was the true God.  Along with the women, many bystanders were baptized.  As the ancient writer observes, Patrick not only revived these two from a double death (both temporal and eternal death), but by this miracle he gave spiritual resurrection to many other souls.

When Patrick came to Dublina he prophesied how great that small village would someday become.  He also caused a fountain to spring up there.  It happened that in the region nearby, the young son of the king lay dead in his chamber.  The sorrow over his death was compounded when it was learned that his sister, who had gone to bathe in the neighboring river, had drowned in midstream.  Her body was finally found resting on the riverbed, and was laid out beside that of her brother.  Tombs were prepared for both according to pagan custom.

At this sorrowful time the rumor spread that Patrick of Ardmachia (Armagh), who in the Name of the Unknown God had raised many that were dead, had arrived in the village.  The king, Alphimus, promised that he, his nobles, and the whole "city" would be baptized into the new faith if his two children were restored.  Patrick, seeing the opportunity for a great gain of souls, raised them both to life.

By the physical resurrection of the prince and princess, the spiritual resurrection of the whole area from the darkness of paganism and idolatry was accomplished.  And the temporary resurrection of bodies (that is, until they died again) gave a promise of eternal life in Heaven and of the resurrection of the body on Judgment Day.

After the raising of this royal brother and sister, churches were built and tributes appointed to Patrick as their patron, that is, as the first Archbishop (or Bishop) of Ardmachia.  It is reputedly from the revived Princess Dublina that the present great city of Dublin got its name.

In the country of Neyll, a King Echu allowed St. Patrick to receive his beloved daughter Cynnia as a nun, though he bewailed the fact that his royal line would thereby end without issue.  The king exacted a promise from Patrick not to insist that he be baptized, yet to promise him the heavenly kingdom.  Patrick agreed, and left the matter in the hands of God.

Sometime later King Echu lay dying.  He sent a messenger to St. Patrick to tell him he desired Baptism and the heavenly kingdom.  To those around him the King gave an order that he not be buried until Patrick came.  Patrick, then in the monastery of Saballum, two days' journey away, knew of the situation through the Holy Spirit before the messenger even arrived.  He left to go to the King, but arrived to find Echu dead.

St. Patrick revived the King, instructed him, and baptized him.  He asked Echu to relate what he had seen of the joys of the just and the pains of the wicked, so that his account could be used for the proving of Patrick's preaching.  Echu told of many other-world wonders and of how, in the heavenly country, he had seen the place that Patrick promised him.  But the King could not enter in because he was unbaptized.

Then St. Patrick asked Echu if he would rather live longer in this world, or go to the place prepared for him in the heavenly kingdom.  The King answered that all the world had was emptiest smoke compared to the celestial joys.  Then having received the Eucharist, he fell asleep in the Lord.

There was a prince in Humestia who was baptized.  Later he expressed unbelief about the doctrine of the Resurrection.  After St. Patrick quoted various texts from the Scriptures, the prince said that if Patrick would raise his grandfather, by then buried many days, he would believe in that Resurrection which Patrick preached.

Patrick signed the tomb of the grandfather with his staff, had it opened, and prayed.  A man of very great height, but not as big as a "giant" who had recently been raised from a huge tomb by Patrick, came forth from the tomb.  He described the torments that went on in Hell, and was baptized.  He received the Eucharist, and retired again to his former sepulcher and "slept in the Lord."  After witnessing this miracle none doubted the truth of the Resurrection.

On another occasion a band of men who hated St. Patrick falsely accused him and his companions of stealing, and sentenced them to death.  Patrick raised a man from a nearby tomb and commanded him to witness to the truth of the case, which the resurrected man did.  He protested the innocence of Patrick and his companions and the deceit of the evil ones.  In the presence of all, the resurrected man also showed where the alleged stolen goods–some flax–were hidden.  Many of those who had conspired for the death of St. Patrick now became his converts.

It is interesting to note that each of the miracles related here was aimed at establishing truth, besides doing good to various individuals.  Here is a final example.

An evil man named Machaldus, and his companions, who placed on their heads certain diabolical signs called "Deberth," signifying their devotion to Satan, plotted to mock St. Patrick.  They covered one of their group, Garbanus, with a cloak as if he were dead.  Garbanus, though in perfect health, was placed on a couch as if laid out in preparation for burial.  The men then sent for Patrick, asking him to raise the covered Garbanus from the dead.  This was a fatal mistake.

St. Patrick told them it was with deceit, but not with falsehood , that they had declared their companion dead.  Disregarding their entreaties, Patrick went on his way, praying for the soul of the derider.

Then, uncovering their friend, the plotters found Garbanus not feigning death, but actually dead! Contrite of heart, they pursued St. Patrick; they obtained pardon and were baptized.  At their entreaty, St. Patrick also revived the dead Garbanus.

The same once-evil Machaldus became a great penitent, a bishop eminent in holiness and miracles, and became known as "St. Machaldus." 

Patrick also once raised to life a dead horse belonging to the charioteer of Darius.  He also restored to the charioteer the health he had lost after accusing Patrick of killing the horse.

One wonders why men question and marvel so at the "miracles of the saints" as if these were really their own miracles? If one thinks of these wonders as being primarily the miracles of God, which they are, why marvel? They are not "miracles" for God; for Him they are quite "ordinary" actions.

In the appendices at the end of Jocelin's Life of St. Patrick , in the Selections from the Elucidations of David Rothe, sometime bishop of Ossory, that bishop quotes another learned bishop: 

"Credulity may enter even the most virtuous mind; but when eminent men decline from this readiness of belief they fall into the opposite error, and become incredulous, while there is little fault in credulity, but much incredulity." 

The Blessed Mother At The Foot Of The Cross -- An Excellent Aspect Of Her Spirituality During The Lenten Season

Now there were standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw His Mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said to His Mother, "Woman, behold Thy son." Then He said to the disciple, "Behold thy Mother." And from that hour the disciple took Her into his home. (John 19: 25-7)

We come now to the closing scene of our Redeemer's mortal life, when His Blessed Mother again appears and stands out as a prominent figure on one of the last pages of Gospel history. We had almost seemed to lose sight of Her since the return from Egypt, and the retirement into the hidden life at Nazareth; certainly since the beginning of the public ministry at the marriage feast at Cana; and therefore, Her reappearance here, at the close of it, is so much the more remarkable, especially as She does not remain upon the scene and accompany Our Lord during the forty days of His sojourn upon earth after His Resurrection; but on the contrary, does not even find a place in the record either of that mystery, or of the Ascension. 

The pious imagination of the faithful may picture to itself what it pleases as to Mary's part in those glorious mysteries; but the Gospel only sets Her before us in the sorrowful mystery of the Crucifixion, just where we should, perhaps, have least looked for Her. Nevertheless, there She stands at the foot of the Cross; and as we cannot think of the Child laid in the hard bed of the crib at Bethlehem without His Mother watching over Him, so neither will the Gospel let us picture to ourselves the Man of Sorrows stretched on His last and more cruel bed of the Cross, on Calvary, without His Mother also.

And observe, it is only at the Crucifixion itself that She appears, not in any earlier stages of the Passion. She is not of the number of those women who followed Jesus along the way of sorrows, "bewailing and lamenting Him," and St. Leo points out to us the reason for Her absence. Those women, good and pious as they were, were only moved (he says) by human sympathy, at seeing a just man suffering unjustly; they wept as for a weak and helpless man, led forth to a cruel and ignominious death. But Mary must not be confused with these. She knew the dignity of the Sufferer, the causes and the fruits of the suffering; and She stood there as representing—almost as being in Herself at that moment—"the Church of the living God, the pillar of truth"; not attracted by any merely natural sympathy, or giving way to merely natural feelings. 

On the contrary, there is an entire absence of every sign of natural weakness and woe; no fainting or sobbing, no outcry, no wild gesture of uncontrollable grief; She stands motionless as a statue, not surely a statue of indifference, nor yet of stupor and amazement, but simply a statue of tranquility: a witness of all that happens, a fellow-victim in some sort with the Sufferer, Herself ready to do and suffer God's holy will in all things, even at this most trying moment in Her life. "She stood by the Cross of Her Son." Amid that troubled scene of pain and sorrow, blood and tears; amid the blasphemies of the executioners, the insults of the people, the consternation of the disciples, the cries and lamentations of the pious women, the last words and the loud cry of the Divine Victim Himself, the commotion and darkness of entire nature, Mary, the Virgin Mother Mary, with a strength beyond Her sex, beyond that of ordinary humanity, stood calm and silent. "I read that She stood," says St. Ambrose, "I do not read that She wept." And surely we cannot wonder that the Church should have always recognized in this most touching and amazing incident, a deep mystery, and a fruitful source of consolation and grace.

You may say, indeed, that the Evangelist gives no indications of this mystery in his mode of relating the circumstance; that he simply records what happened as a matter of history, without manifesting any sentiment about it at all. And this is true. But the same remark might be made on every part of the Gospel narrative. Everything in it is simple, but everything is also profound; and these two characters are united and yet distinct, even as the two Natures in Him of Whom the Gospel speaks, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who was at the same time perfect Man and perfect God, but yet one Person. Even so, the Gospels are to be received as narratives in all the simplicity of their historical meaning, and to be studied as mysteries in all the depth of their doctrinal signification; and yet they are but one and the same Scripture. 

This reflection must needs force itself, more or less, on every thoughtful student of the inspired narrative. None but the most careless and indifferent reader could rest content with what lies upon the surface in this passage of the Gospels. For, at first sight, the brief simplicity of St. John's words is so absolute that you would think he had failed to recognize any hidden food, either of doctrine or devotion, in what he said; as though it were possible that the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had leaned on Jesus' breast, and heard and felt the beatings of the Sacred Heart as He instituted the Sacrament of His love, should have been present when His Master was dying a death of agony and shame, and should have received from His dying lips the solemn trust of caring for His widowed and desolate Mother, and yet have felt no emotion at the tender confidence implied in so touching a gift. 

He expresses none in his words, but this is because he writes, not as a man, but as one inspired by the Holy Ghost; the Divine inspiration supersedes and conceals all human feeling; he records the facts which it concerned the Church to know; the full import of those facts the Church would hereafter learn through the same Holy Ghost, Who would be sent to teach Her all truth.

 But again it is objected that the whole incident was simply natural, the dutiful act of a dying Son, affectionately careful to provide a home and a protector for a Mother who was presently to be left in singular desolation. But surely it is scarcely possible that any man can acquiesce in this interpretation who holds a right faith in the doctrine of the Incarnation; who really believes that Jesus Christ was God, and that He was at this moment accomplishing the one great end of His mission upon earth, paying the price of the world's redemption. 

The Evangelist who alone has recorded the incident of which we are speaking, goes on immediately to add that Jesus, "knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst'," after which, having said, "It is consummated," He "bowed His head and gave up the ghost." You see the Divine Wisdom, which "reacheth from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly," was most careful in appointing every circumstance of this august ceremonial, if I may so speak—this "High Mass of the world's Redemption," as it has been called, "offered by Jesus to the Eternal Father, while countless angels are the audience and spectators." At such a moment there was no room for anything merely temporary, personal or private; all was public, universal, and of perpetual application, "for us men and for all salvation."

We know indeed that in that same hour Jesus prayed for His murderers and promised Paradise to the penitent thief; but though that prayer and that promise were made for certain definite individuals and couched in private and particular terms, yet they had also another and a larger sense, in which they are not even yet exhausted. He prayed not for those only who were then and there putting Him to death, but also for all sinners to the end of the world, who, as St. Paul tells us, are continually repeating as it were that crime, "crucifying to themselves again the Son of God;" and that most gracious promise to the thief is a pledge and assurance of the forgiveness of all true penitents even to the end of time. Just so, these few words spoken to His Blessed Mother and to St. John were of no merely temporary and present signification, but established the relation of Mother and Son between the Blessed Virgin and the faithful in all ages.

The Blessed Virgin stood at the foot of the Cross, not merely or principally because of the natural love which She bore to the Fruit of Her womb Who hung thereon; for nature would rather have taught Her, for His sake at least, if not for Her own, to be absent from so terrible a spectacle, since, so far from being able to relieve His sufferings, She could only add to them the further pain of witnessing Her own. But She was there for this very end, that She might receive this legacy from Her dying Son—us to be Her children. And St. John too stood at the foot of the Cross and received this last token of his Savior's love, not on his own account merely, and as something personal to himself as one of the sons of Zebedee, but rather as he was a type of all good Christians, the representative of the whole body of faithful disciples. 

And Our Lord spoke, not as the Son of Mary or the Master of John, but as the Redeemer of mankind; and therefore it was that He addressed the Blessed Virgin not by the endearing term of Mother, expressing that natural relationship towards Her which was then so deeply involved and so cruelly tried, but by the mere cold and distant name of Woman: "Woman behold Thy son." "Not as though He ignored or refused the duties of filial piety," says St. Ambrose, "but to show that everything in Him, even the most innocent and holy affections, was altogether subject to the one end for which He came into the world, to do the will of His Heavenly Father and to redeem lost humanity."

Again, this word Woman, thus solemnly uttered at the close of Our Lord's ministry, naturally carries us back to that other occasion when it was first spoken at its commencement: we are transported in memory and imagination from Calvary to Cana. Then Jesus said His hour was not yet come; and during the course of His ministry, the Evangelists remind us of this mysterious hour, St. John telling us on more than one occasion (7: 30 and 8: 20), that the Jews "wanted to seize Jesus, but no one laid hands on Him because His hour was not yet come." 

But by-and-by, "before the feast of the Passover," we read that Jesus knew "that His hour had come, to pass out of this world to the Father" (13: 1). He begins also to speak of His death, and He says distinctly, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." He prays also, "Father, save Me from this hour! No, this is why I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name!" (12: 23-27) And after the agony in the garden, He tells His disciples, "Behold, the hour is at hand" (Matt. 26: 45).

In this hour then, now that it is come, He once more addresses the "Woman" whom so long ago He had seemed to disown and to separate Himself from, because the hour was not yet come. Jesus now recognizes Mary, speaks to Her, thereby assigning Her place in the new and spiritual kingdom which He was establishing. 

She was to be the Mother of its members: She was already the Mother of its Head—Himself, and could not, of course, ever cease to be so; but henceforth She was to be our Mother also, because we were now His brethren. "To as many as received Him He gave the power of becoming sons of God; to those who believe in His Name" (John 1: 12). St. John was the type of all these; and he became both the son of God and the son of Mary. As Jesus, by the mystery of the Incarnation, was given to God and to Mary as the Son of Man, so by the mystery of the Crucifixion we also are made at one and the same moment children of God and of Mary.

 By the one mystery the Son of God was made Man; in the other, the children of men are made the sons of God; and in both Mary has Her place. In the one, She is declared by the salutation of an Angel to be the Mother of God; in the other, by the express appointment of God, She is made to be the Mother of men.

And yet once more; this title of Woman thus publicly proclaimed at the beginning of the new creation seems to take us back to the beginning of the old creation, when God said to the serpent, "I will put enmities between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and Her Seed; She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for Her heel." For that prophecy was now being fulfilled: the serpent was at this very time pouring forth the utmost venom of his malice upon the heel of the Woman's Seed, the only part in which He was vulnerable, His human nature which He had received from Mary; and at the same time, that Seed of the Woman, or the Woman by Her Seed, was crushing the serpent's head. He was "blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us; and He was taking the same out of the way, fastening it to the Cross, and despoiling the principalities and powers" (Col. 2: 14-15). 

And in the same hour, Mary also was fulfilling in a signal manner, in Her own person, a part at least of the sentence originally pronounced against the woman: "I will multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children." For this scene of Mount Calvary was at once to make Her childless and to give Her multitudes of children; and certainly no one will dispute the fitness of that language of the prophet which the Church uses to express the dolors of Mary at that moment: "O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to My sorrow... To whom shall I compare Thee, or to what shall I liken Thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?" (Lament. 1: 12; 2: 13) And as Jesus by the sacrifice He was then offering of Himself was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaias (53: 10): "If He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed," so Mary, by uniting in the same sacrifice, became a partaker in the same blessing, and She who had brought forth Her "first-born" without pain in Bethlehem, now became the Mother of "a long-lived seed" amid all the pangs of a most cruel martyrdom on Calvary.

If St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4: 15), could justly claim the title of a parent in their regard, because he had preached the Gospel to them, and converted them from Heathenism, saying, "In Christ Jesus, through the Gospel, did I beget you," how much more justly may not She claim to be our Mother, from whom we have received not the mere oral preaching of the Gospel, but the Author of the Gospel Himself. If the manifold labors of the Apostolate give a right to the name and authority of a Father, and may even be justly compared to the pains of maternity: "My dear children, with whom I am in labor again, until Christ is formed in you" (Gal. 4: 19), certainly the Dolors or the Compassion (as it is sometimes called) of Our Lady on Mount Calvary, give more than a sufficient right to the name and affections of Mother. 

 She had borne us, as it were, in the womb of Her affections from the moment of the Annunciation, when She knew that the Holy One which would be born of Her was to save His people from their sins, and knew also the cost at which He must do it. 

When She made an offering of Him in the Temple, and the aged Simeon told Her of the sword that should pierce Her soul, She received Him back from the hands of the priest, not to bring Him up as Her own Son and for Herself, but even as Jochabed received back her infant child Moses from the hands of Pharaoh's daughter, as a child whom she was to nurse for a while, but when he should be grown up, must deliver again that he might "go forth to his brethren and redeem them from their affliction." And now that the time is fully come, She stands on Mount Calvary, not as a mere spectator, but as a partaker and a co-operator in a great supernatural mystery. She stands there, to consummate that offering of Herself and of Her Son which had first been made thirty-four years before, in those words which She addressed to the Angel, "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord; be it done to Me according to thy word;" an offering which had been renewed again and again ever since, but was now to be ratified for the last time and forever.

But Oh!, who shall say what the ratification cost Her! Two opposing interests divided Her Maternal Heart; two contrary affections contended within Her, like the two twins struggling in the womb of Rebecca—the Son of God and the sons of men; and it was impossible that either should be satisfied except by the sacrifice of the other. 

The sons of men were not to be saved but by the death of the Son of God; if the bitter chalice of suffering and of death was to pass away and He drink it not, they would still remain in bondage: which should prevail? Well might She at such a moment repeat the lamentation of Rebecca: "If it were to be so with me, what need was there to conceive?” To what end did I conceive the Son of God, if He was to be thus cruelly sacrificed in My sight? Wherefore was I saluted as "blessed amongst women," if I was to be made the most desolate of mothers? Such at least would certainly have been the voice of nature; but not such was the voice of Mary. 

She knew that "the elder must serve the younger;" that He was come among us "as One Who serveth;" She had brought Him forth, not that He might live, but that He might die, to the end that we should live. She was not the Mother of a Man-God Who afterwards became a Victim for the sins of the world, but She was the Mother of One conceived and born only to be a Victim; She had been made the Mother of God that She might also become the Mother of men.

There hung Her first-born, the Son of God, expiring on the Cross; but from His own dying lips She receives the other, "the disciple whom He loved"—"Woman, behold Thy son." And in him She receives all those other disciples whom Jesus loved; those whom He so loved that He laid down His life for their sakes. She understands and accepts the exchange; She undertakes, and ever after fulfills, the office assigned to Her. For when God bestows a title, or calls by a special name, His works accompany His words, or rather His words are themselves works. They are not like the words of men, a mere breath of the mouth dividing the air, striking the ears of those who hear, and then passing away and becoming as though they had never been; they are works, as I have said—they do what they say. 

As at the first, "He spoke and they were made, He commanded and they were created," so has it continued ever since. God called Abram Abraham, or the father of many nations, and He made him such. He changed the name of Simon to Peter, or Rock, and He made him the rock whereon He built His Church. And so here also, when He called Mary our Mother, He made Her such. He filled Her Heart with a Mother's love and care for us; He endowed Her with a Mother's power and Mother's privileges in our regard. 

And since His words once spoken do not pass away, but abide forever, She still remains, and will remain to the day of judgment, and even in the day of judgment itself, our most tender and loving Mother. Yes, Mary is the Mother of Jesus, and She is also our Mother; Mother of Him in Heaven, of us on earth. What then may we not hope for? For what can She not do with Him? What will She not do for us? He Who gave the command, "Honor thy father and mother," cannot be indifferent to a Mother’s prayers. She who received this last dying injunction from Her Son to "behold Her children," will not neglect Her children’s wants.

Eucharistic Stations Of The Cross -- An Excellent Companion For Lent

First Station - Jesus Is Condemned To Death

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.

Jesus is condemned by his own people by the very ones he showered with his favors. He is condemned as a fomenter of rebellion, he who is goodness itself; as a blasphemer, he who is holiness itself: as one seeking power, he who made himself the least of all. He is condemned to die on the Cross, like the lowest of slaves.

Jesus lovingly accepts this sentence of death: He came down to this earth in order to suffer and die and to teach us to do the same.

In his Holy Eucharist Jesus is again condemned to death: primarily in his graces, which are rejected; in his love, which is slighted; in his sacramental state, by the unbeliever who denies him, by horrible sacrilege. By unworthy Communion, the bad Christian sells Jesus Christ to the devil, delivers him up to his own passions, casts him at the feet of Satan, king of his heart, and crucifies him in his sinful body.

Jesus is more cruelly treated by bad Christians than by the Jews. In Jerusalem he was condemned only once but in the Blessed Sacrament he is condemned every day and in thousands of places, and by an appalling number of unjust judges.

And yet Jesus allows himself to be insulted, despised, condemned: he still continues his sacramental life in order to show us that his love for us is without condition or reserve, that it is greater than our ingratitude.

O Jesus forgive, I beseech you, all sacrileges! Should I ever have committed any, I want to pass my life making reparation for them and loving and honoring you for those who despise you. Grant me the grace to die with you!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord, R Have mercy on us.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Holy Mother, pierce me through. In my heart each wound renew Of my Savior crucified.

Second Station - Jesus Is Made To Bear His Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

In Jerusalem the Jews lay a shameful and heavy Cross upon Jesus. It was the instrument used at that time for the punishment of the basest of men. Jesus joyfully takes upon himself this overburdening Cross; he receives it eagerly, kisses it lovingly, and bears it with meekness.

In this way he wishes to make it sweet to us, lighten it for us, and consecrate it in his Blood.

In the divine Sacrament of the altar, bad Christians lay a much heavier Cross upon Jesus, one much more shameful for his Heart. This Cross is their acts of irreverence in the holy place, their distracted thoughts, their coldness of heart in his presence, their lukewarm devotion. What a humiliating Cross it is for Jesus, to have children so lacking in respect, disciples so worthless!

Jesus also bears my crosses in his Sacrament. He places them on his Heart to sanctify them; he covers them with his love, with his kisses, in order to make them attractive to me, but he wants me to carry them for him, to offer them to him; he is even willing to listen to the outpourings of my grief, to let me weep over my crosses and ask help and consolation of him.

Oh, how light is the cross that comes by way of the Holy Eucharist! How beautiful and radiant it comes forth from the Heart of Jesus! How good it is to receive it from his hands and to kiss it after him! To the Eucharist then I will run for refuge in my troubles; to him will I go for comfort and strength; to him will I go to learn to suffer and to love!

Forgive, O Lord, all who treat you irreverently in your Sacrament of love! Forgive my moments of indifference, of forgetfulness in your presence! I wish to love you; I do love you with all my heart!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Third Station - Jesus Falls The First Time

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

Jesus has lost so much blood during the three hours of his agony and beneath the blows of the scourge, he is so weakened by the cruel night passed under the guard of his enemies, that after walking a short distance he falls beneath the weight of his Cross.

How many times Jesus Eucharistic falls in particles of the Sacred Species without anyone being aware of it!

But what makes him fall from grief is the sight of a soul sullied by mortal sin!

Ah, how much more painfully Jesus falls in a young heart that receives him unworthily on the day of its First Holy Communion! He falls on that icy heart which the fire of his love cannot melt; on that proud and dissembling spirit without being able to touch it; in that body which is but a tomb full of rottenness.

Alas, ought we to treat Jesus like that the first time he so lovingly visits us? O God! So young and already so guilty! To begin so soon to be a Judas! How painful to the Heart of Jesus must be the sin of this sacrilegious First Communion!

O Jesus! I thank you for the love, which you showed me in my First Communion: never shall I forget it! I am yours, wholly yours, for you are wholly mine: do with me, as you will.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Fourth Station - Jesus Meets His Holy Mother

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

Mary accompanies Jesus to Calvary. She endures a real martyrdom in her soul on the way; but when one loves, one desires to suffer with the beloved.

Today, on his way of suffering, Jesus Eucharistic often meets with the children of his love the spouses of his Heart, the ministers of his grace among his enemies. But far from consoling him as Mary did, they join with his tormentors in humiliating, blaspheming, and denying him.

How many are the apostates and renegades who forsake the service and love of the Holy Eucharist as soon as that service calls for a sacrifice or for an act of practical faith!

O Jesus, my good Savior, with Mary my Mother, I will follow you amid humiliations, insults, and injuries, and make amends to you with my love!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Fifth Station - The Cyrenian Helps Jesus To Carry His Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

Jesus was giving way more and more beneath his burden. The Jews, wishing to have him die on the Cross in order to complete his humiliation, urged Simon of Cyrene to help him bear the Cross. The latter refused and had to be forced to take upon himself an instrument of death so ignominious in his eyes. He yielded and merited that Jesus should touch his heart and convert him.

Jesus calls people to him in his Sacrament, and almost no one responds to his invitations; he invites them to his Eucharistic Banquet, and they have a thousand pretexts for refusing to come to it. The faithless and ungrateful soul refuses the grace of Jesus Christ, the most excellent gift of his love. He has his hands full of graces but nobody wants them; people are afraid of his love!

Instead of the honors due to him, Jesus receives most of the time only disrespect. People are embarrassed at meeting him in the streets; they turn quickly away as soon as thy see him; they have not the courage to give him the outward evidences of their faith.

O divine Savior, can this be so? Alas! It is only too true, and I feel the reproaches of my own conscience. Yes, often, bent upon an earthly pleasure, I have refused to hear your call; often, in order not to be obliged to amend my ways, I have rejected the invitation of your table with which you in your love have honored me.

I regret it from the depths of my heart; I know that it is better to let everything else go than by my own fault to miss a single Communion, the greatest and the sweetest of your graces. Forget the past, dear Savior, and accept my resolutions for the future and by your strength help me to keep them!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Sixth Station - A Holy Woman Wipes The Face Of Jesus

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

The face of the Savior no longer looks human; the executioners have covered it with mud, spittle, and blood! He, the splendor of God, is unrecognizable, and his divine Face is covered with defilements. Holy Veronica braves the soldiers. Beneath the pollution she has recognized her Savior and her God, and moved with pity, she wipes that august countenance. Jesus rewards her by imprinting his features upon the cloth.

O divine Jesus, your adorable Sacrament is greatly outraged, insulted, and profaned, and where are the compassionate souls who will make up for these abominations? Ah, it is saddening and appalling that so many sacrileges should be committed so lightly against the sublime Sacrament. It would seem that Jesus Christ is nothing more among us than an unregarded or even contemptible stranger!

It is true that he veils his face beneath the appearances of very weak and lowly species: that is in order that our love may discover in them his divine features. O Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, Son of the living God and I adore your holy Face, full of glory and majesty, beneath the Eucharistic veil! Lord, I beseech you to imprint your features in my heart, that wherever I go, I may carry Jesus with me, Jesus Eucharistic!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Seventh Station - Jesus Falls The Second Time

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

In spite of Simon's help, Jesus succumbs a second time to his weakness, and it is a cause of new sufferings for him. His hands and knees are wounded by his falls on this laborious way, and the ill treatment inflicted by his executioners increases with their rage.

Oh, how ineffectual is human aid without the help of Jesus Christ! And how many falls are in store for him that relies on others!

How often the God of the Eucharist falls nowadays by Communion in lukewarm and cowardly hearts that receive him without reverence, and let him go without an act of love and gratitude! Thus Jesus' stay within us is fruitless because of our coldness.

Who would dare to receive one of the great of the earth with as little attention as the King of Heaven is every day received?

Divine Savior, I apologize to you for all my Communions that have been lukewarm and without devotion. How many times I already have received you in my heart. I thank you for them and I mean to be faithful to you in the future; only give me your love, that is enough!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Eighth Station - Jesus Consoles The Holy Women Who Weep For Him

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

It was the Savior's mission in the days of his mortal life to comfort the afflicted and the persecuted. He desires to be faithful to it at the very time of his greatest sufferings. Thus he forgets himself and dries the tears of the holy women who weep over his sorrows and his passion. What goodness!

Very few people come to visit and to adore Our Lord in his Sacrament of divine love. And even fewer people remember to offer him reparation for their own sins and for those of all mankind. He is with us day and night, alone. Oh, if his eyes could weep, what tears they would shed for the ingratitude and neglect of his own! If his Heart could still suffer, what torments he would feel at seeing himself forsaken in this way, even by his friends!

Yet, for all that, as soon as we come to him, he receives us with kindness, listens to our complaints, to the often very long and selfish tale of our woes, and he forgets himself to comfort us and strengthen us. O divine Savior, why do I so often depend on human consolation instead of coming to you? I feel that this wounds your Heart, which is jealous of my own. In your Holy Eucharist be my only consolation, my one confidant! One word, one look of your loving kindness will suffice for me. Let me love you with all my heart, and then do with me as you will!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Ninth Station - Jesus Falls The Third Time

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

How greatly Jesus suffered in this third fall! He lies overcome by the weight of his Cross, and his executioners with all their cruelty can hardly raise him up again.

Jesus chooses to fall a third time before being lifted up on his Cross, as though to give evidence of his regret at being unable to carry it over the whole world.

Jesus will come to me a last time in Viaticum before I also leave this land of exile. Lord, grant me this grace, the most precious of all and the completion of all the graces of my life!

But, oh, let me receive you worthily in that last Communion so full of love!

How terrible is it when one dying receives Holy Communion for the last time in the state of mortal sin! In this way he adds the crime of sacrilege to all his past sins, who receives unworthily him who is going to judge him and thus profanes the Viaticum of his salvation!

In what a grievous state Jesus must find himself in a heart that detests him, in a spirit that disdains him, in a sinful body that is given over to the devil!

But what will be the judgment passed on these unhappy souls? One trembles at the thought. Forgive them, O Lord forgive them! We beg of you for all the dying: grant that they may die in your arms after they have received you worthily in Viaticum!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Tenth Station - Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

How much he must suffer in this cruel and pitiless stripping off of his garments! They tear off his clothing that has stuck to his wounds, they reopen them, they tear his flesh.

How much he must suffer in his modesty, treated as one would blush to treat a low wretch and a slave, who dies at least in the shroud that is to cover him in the grave!

Jesus is, as it were, stripped of his garments also in his sacramental state. Not satisfied to see him stripped, through his love for us, of his glory and his divinity, of the beauty of his humanity, his enemies rob him of the honor of divine worship, pillage his churches, profane his sacred vessels and his tabernacles, and cast him on the ground.

He, the King and Savior of men, is delivered up to their sacrilegious will as on the day of his Crucifixion. By allowing himself to be stripped thus in the Holy
Eucharist.

Jesus wishes to lead us to the state of voluntary poverty, wherein we may be clothed with his life and his virtues. O Jesus Eucharistic, be my only possession!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Eleventh Station - Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

What agony Jesus endures when he is nailed to the Cross! Without a miracle of his power, he could not have suffered it and lived.

But the wood to which Jesus is nailed on Calvary is without fault or defilement, whereas in an unworthy Communion, the sinner crucifies Jesus in his guilty body. It is as though one were to attach a living body to a corpse that is in a state of corruption.

On Calvary, he is crucified by his declared enemies; here, by his children, who crucify him in hypocritical devotion.

On Calvary, he is crucified but once; here every day and by how many Christians!

O divine Savior, forgive me for having failed to mortify my senses; most cruelly do you atone for my fault!

You desire, by your Holy Eucharist, to crucify my nature, to immolate the old man without cease and to unite me to your own crucified and resurrected life. Grant, O Lord, that I may give myself to you without reserve or condition!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Twelfth Station - Jesus Dies On The Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

Jesus dies in order to redeem us. His last mercy is the forgiveness he grants to his executioners; his last gift of love is his Holy Mother; his last desire is the thirst for suffering; his last act is the abandonment of his soul and his life into the hands of his Father.

In the Holy Eucharist, Jesus continues to love with the love he showed to me at his death. Every morning he is immolated in the Holy Sacrifice and loses his sacramental existence in them that receive him: in the heart of the sinner. He dies for that soul's condemnation.

From his Host he offers me the graces for my redemption, the price of my salvation. But in order that I may share therein, he wishes me to die with him and for him.

Grant me that grace, O my God, the grace of dying to sin and to self and of living only to love you in your Holy Eucharist!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Thirteenth Station - Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross And Placed In The Arms Of His Mother

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

Jesus is taken down from the Cross and confided to his Mother, who clasps him to her heart and offers him to God as Victim for our salvation.

Now it is for us to offer Jesus as Victim on the altar and in our hearts for ourselves and for others. He belongs to us. God the Father gives him to us; he gives himself to us, so that we may offer him for our salvation.

How unfortunate it is that this infinite price lies unused in our hands because of our indifference!
Let us offer him in union with Mary and pray this good Mother to offer him with us.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Fourteenth Station - Jesus Is Laid In The Sepulchre

V. We adore you, O Christ, etc.

Jesus chooses to undergo the humiliation of the tomb, and he is given over to the custody of his enemies; he is still their prisoner.

But it is in the Holy Eucharist that Jesus is, as it were, entombed; he remains there not just for three days, but for all time, and we are the ones he asks to guard him. He is our prisoner of love.

The corporal covers him like a shroud; the lamp burns before his altar as before the place of the dead; around him reigns the silence of death.

When Jesus comes into our heart in Holy Communion, he is as if entombed within us. Let us make ready for him a sepulchre that is worthy of him, one that is new and white, unoccupied by earthly affections; let us anoint him with the perfume of our virtues.

Let us come to do him homage for those who do not come; let us adore him in his tabernacle, forgotten by those who call themselves his friends; let us beg of him the grace of recollection and of death to the world, that we may lead a hidden life in the Holy Eucharist!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Saint Casmir Of Poland -- A Champion Of Catholic Orthodoxy

It is from a court that we are taught today the most heroic virtues. St. Casimir is a prince; he is surrounded by all the allurements of youth and luxury; and yet he passes through the snares of the world with as much safety and prudence, as though he were an angel in human form. His example shows us what we may do. The world has not smiled on us as it did on St. Casimir; but how much we have loved it! If we have gone so far as to make it our idol, we must now break what we have adored, and give our service to the sovereign Lord, Who alone has a right to it. When we read the lives of the Saints, and find that persons who were in the ordinary walks of life practiced extraordinary virtues, we are inclined to think that they were not exposed to great temptations, or that the misfortunes they met with in the world made them give themselves up unreservedly to God's service.

 Such interpretations of the actions of the Saints are shallow and false, for they ignore this great fact—that there is no condition or state, however humble, in which man has not to combat the evil inclinations of his heart, and that corrupt nature alone is strong enough to lead him to sin.

But in such a Saint as Casimir, we have no difficulty in recognizing that all his Christian energy was from God, and not from any natural source; and we rightly conclude that we, who have the same good God, may well hope that this season of spiritual regeneration will change and better us.

St. Casimir preferred death to sin. But is not every Christian bound to be thus minded every hour of the day? And yet, such is the infatuation produced by the pleasures or advantages of this present life, that we every day see men plunging themselves into sin, which is the death of the soul; and this, not for the sake of saving the life of the body, but for a vile and transient gratification, which is oftentimes contrary to their temporal interests. What stronger proof could there be than this, of the sad effects produced in us by original sin? The examples of the Saints are given us as a light to lead us in the right path—let us follow it, and we shall be saved. Besides, we have a powerful aid in their merits and intercession; let us take courage at the thought that these friends of God have a most affectionate compassion for us, their brethren, who are surrounded by so many and so great dangers.

The Church, in Her Liturgy, thus describes to us the virtues of our young prince:

St. Casimir was the son of Casimir, King of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria. He was put, when quite young, under the care of the best masters, who trained him to piety and learning. He brought his body into subjection by wearing a hair-shirt, and by frequent fasting. He could not endure the soft bed which is given to kings, but lay on the hard floor, and during the night, he used to privately leave his room and go to the church, where, prostrate before the door, he besought God to have mercy on him. The Passion of Christ was his favorite subject of meditation; and when he assisted at Mass, his mind was so fixed on God, that he seemed to be in one long ecstasy.

Great was his zeal for the propagation of the Catholic Faith, and the suppression of the Russian schism. He persuaded the King, his father, to pass a law forbidding the schismatics to build new churches, or to repair those which had fallen to ruin. Such was his charity for the poor and all sufferers, that he went under the name of the father and defender of the poor. During his last illness, he nobly evinced his love of purity, which virtue he had maintained unsullied during his whole life. He was suffering a cruel malady; but he courageously preferred to die, rather than permit the loss of his chastity, when his physicians advised him that he could if he would only marry.

Being made perfect in a short time, and rich in virtue and merit, after having foretold the day of his death, he breathed forth his soul into the hands of his God, in the twenty-fifth year of his age, surrounded by priests and religious. His body was taken to Vilna, and was honored by many miracles. A young girl was raised to life at his shrine; the blind recovered their sight, the lame the use of their limbs, and the sick their health. He appeared to a small army of Lithuanians, who were unexpectedly attacked by a large force, and gave them victory over the enemy. Pope Leo X was induced by all these miracles to enroll him among the Saints.

In honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Casimir frequently recited the long Latin hymn Omni die dic Mariae (Every day say to Mary), a copy of which was by his desire buried with him. This hymn, part of which is familiar to us through the English version, "Daily, daily sing to Mary," is not uncommonly called the Hymn of St. Casimir, but it was most likely composed by St. Bernard.

The nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with their king, Matthias Corvinus, in 1471 begged the King of Poland to allow them to place his son Casimir on the throne. 

The Saint, at that time not fifteen years old, was very unwilling to consent, but in obedience to his father he went to the frontier at the head of an army. There, hearing that Matthias had himself assembled a large body of troops, and finding that his own soldiers were deserting in large numbers because they could not get their pay, he decided upon the advice of his officers to return home. The knowledge that Pope Sixtus IV had sent an embassy to his father to deter him from the expedition made the young prince carry out his resolution with the firmer conviction that he was acting rightly. 

King Casimir, however, was greatly incensed at the failure of his ambitious projects and would not permit his son to return to Cracow, but relegated him to the castle of Dobzki. 

The young man obeyed and remained in confinement there for three months. Convinced of the injustice of the war upon which he had so nearly embarked, and determined to have no further part in these internecine conflicts which only facilitated the further progress into Europe of the Turks, St. Casimir could never again be persuaded to take up arms though urged to do so by his father and invited once more by the disaffected Hungarian magnates. He returned to his studies and his prayers, though for a time he was viceroy in Poland during an absence of his father. An attempt was made to induce him to marry a daughter of the Emperor Frederick III, but he refused to relax the celibacy he had imposed on himself.

Enjoy thy well-earned rest in Heaven, O St. Casimir! Neither the world with all its riches, nor the court with all its pleasures, could distract thy heart from the eternal joys it alone coveted and loved. Thy life was short, but full of merit. The remembrance of Heaven made thee forget the earth. God yielded to thee the impatience of thy desire to be with Him, and took thee speedily from among men. Thy life, though most innocent, was one of penance, for knowing the evil tendencies of corrupt nature, thou didst have a dread of a life of comfort. When shall we be made to understand that penance is a debt we owe to God, a debt of expiation for the sins we have committed against Him? 

Thou didst prefer death to sin; obtain for us a fear of sin, that greatest of all the evils that can befall us, because it is an evil which strikes at God Himself. Pray for us during this holy season, which is intended as a preparation for penance; impress our minds with the truths now put before us during this Liturgical Season. The Christian world is honoring thee today; repay its homage by thy blessing. Poland, thy fatherland, once the bulwark of the Church, which kept back the invasion of schism, heresy and infidelity, is now in great need of thy prayers.

The Eucharist Should Be The Focus Of The Lenten Season

This Lent must be a "Lent of the Eucharist" in our devotional lives.

During the Lenten season we ought to participate in the weekly parish devotion of the Stations of the Cross.

This can be achieved in various ways. For one thing, for those who have access to a perpetual adoration chapel, but have not committed to a regular time of adoration, now should be the time to do so. Such a Lenten commitment would not only strengthen the spiritual life in the short-term, but would also continue beyond Lent for the perpetual uplifting of the soul well into the future.

Those without access to eucharistic adoration might perhaps commit to regular visitation to their parish church for personal prayer before the tabernacle of our Lord.

During the Lenten season we ought to participate in the weekly parish devotion of the Stations of the Cross. We ought to offer a personal prayer of thanksgiving, as we consider that the very same Lord Jesus whose suffering and death are commemorated in this devotion is present to us in the Eucharist.

As we attend the Mass and hear the priest say, “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” we must know that we are looking upon the very same Christ who walked that Way of the Cross so long ago. He who suffered so much for us, who died and rose again, is truly and physically with us still in this marvelous and most mystical sacrament.

We are reminded that we cannot look upon the events of our salvation as ancient history. Nor do we have to look into the history books even to find the Lord Jesus. To look upon the Eucharist is truly to look upon the Lord of Lent and Easter.

May this Lent be transformed by our knowledge that to find the Lord Jesus, we need only to find the Holy Eucharist. “I will not leave you abandoned,” the Lord promised us. That promise has been fulfilled.

Shrove Tuesday and The Blessed Sacrament

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of what traditionally was called "Shrovetide," the week preceding the beginning of Lent. The word itself, Shrovetide, is the English equivalent for "Carnival," which is derived from the Latin words carnem levare, meaning "to take away the flesh." (Note that in Germany, this period is called "Fasching," and in parts of the United States, particularly Louisiana, "Mardi Gras.")

While this was seen as the last chance for merriment, and, unfortunately in some places, has resulted in excessive pleasure, Shrovetide was the time to cast off things of the flesh and to prepare spiritually for Lent.

Actually, the English term provides the best meaning for this period. "To shrive" meant to hear confessions. In the Anglo-Saxon "Ecclesiastical Institutes," recorded by Theodulphus and translated by Abbot Aelfric about AD 1000, Shrovetide was described as follows: "In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do in the way of penance."

To highlight the point and motivate the people, special plays or masques were performed which portrayed the passion of our Lord or final judgment. Clearly, this Shrovetide preparation for Lent included the confessing of sin and the reception of absolution; as such, Lent then would become a time for penance and renewal of faith.

While this week of Shrovetide condoned the partaking of pleasures from which a person would abstain during Lent, Shrove Tuesday had a special significance in England. Pancakes were prepared and enjoyed, because in so doing a family depleted their eggs, milk, butter, and fat which were part of the Lenten fast.

At this time, some areas of the Church abstained from all forms of meat and animal products, while others made exceptions for food like fish. For example, Pope St. Gregory (d. 604), writing to St. Augustine of Canterbury, issued the following rule: "We abstain from flesh, meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese, and eggs."

These were the fasting rules governing the Church in England; hence, the eating of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.

Keep in mind, for this same reason, Easter was celebrated with decorated eggs and fresh breads.

Another interesting note surrounding the Easter egg, just as an aside, is that it symbolized the resurrection: just as a little chick pecks its way out from the egg shell to emerge to new life, so Christ emerged from the tomb to new and everlasting life.

One last point: When the "carnival" or "mardi gras" became for some people a debauched party, the Church tried to restore the penitential nature of this time. In 1748, Pope Benedict XIV instituted the "Forty Hours of Carnival," whereby prayers were offered and the Blessed Sacrament was exposed in churches during the three days preceding Ash Wednesday. In a letter entitled, "Super Bacchanalibus," he granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who adored the exposed Blessed Sacrament by offering prayers and making atonement for sins.

As we prepare to begin Lent, perhaps after a hearty dinner of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, may we take time for extra prayer, particularly the Stations of the Cross, and various penances to overcome our weaknesses and to atone for our sins.

First Church Dedicated To The Divine Mercy To Be Built in 82 Years in Vietnam

Catholics from a Vietnamese diocese with a lack of priests and churches expect to deepen their faith by building their subparish's first church.

On April 30 2019, Father Peter Phung Van Ton, vicar general of Hung Hoa Diocese, presided at a special Mass starting the construction of a church at Dong Lac subparish in Yen Bai city.

The ceremony was joined by 22 priests and attended by 1,000 Catholics. Representatives of local authorities offered flowers and congratulations to the subparish. Father Ton, who used to provide pastoral care to the subparish, said the construction of the church “is a special grace of Divine Mercy given to the area where local Catholics have had enormous difficulty in doing faith practices.” Joseph Nguyen Van Dac, a former lay leader, told ucanews.com: “Today we are very happy that our dream church comes true.” Dac, 81, said that when the subparish was established in 1937 it had only six families comprising 20 Catholics who moved to the area to escape severe famine in Nam Dinh, Phu Tho and Thai Binh provinces.

They had to attend Masses at other places until 1985 when they erected a wood-and-leaf chapel. He said for decades they had no money to repair the dilapidated chapel, while a few people remained faithful because two other local churches were ruined during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Many people moved to other places to avoid the fighting. Dac, whose family was among the first Catholics who moved to the area, said that since 2000, when roads were built to connect the city with Hanoi and other places, people have had good businesses and improved their material life. People have also moved to the area.

The subparish now serves 230 Catholics. Dac said the new Gothic-styled church dedicated to Divine Mercy has an area of over 300 square meters based on a 3,000-square-meter hill offered by his parents. He said the cross-shaped church would cost an estimated 4 billion dong (US$173,000).

Local Catholics have donated 1 billion dong and will continue raising funds for the rest. Many Catholics hope the new church, due to be completed in 2022, will be a Divine Mercy center for Catholics in the province and nearby areas to worship Divine Mercy because there is no such center in the area.

Joseph Nguyen Van Uoc said many people including his family have to travel to a Divine Mercy pilgrim center in Ho Chi Minh City. The father of 10 said many people could not afford to visit the center. Each trip costs 3-5 million dong. Uoc, who runs a butcher’s shop, said he will encourage some of his children who have abandoned Catholicism to go to church again.

After the Mass, attendants were given pictures of Divine Mercy and copies of Divine Mercy prayers. Peter Nguyen Ngoc Bang, head of the subparish council, said Dong Lac subparish is one of nine subparishes belonging to Yen Bai parish. Three priests serve the parish and two other parishes with 3,900 Catholics. Hung Hoa Diocese has 240,000 Catholics in 115 parishes and 600 subparishes and mission stations served by 146 priests. Half of subparishes and mission stations have chapels in bad conditions or have no churches.

Credits : UCA News