Sacramentals are rites which have some outward resemblance to the sacraments instituted by Christ, but which are not of divine institution. The name is applied both to the blessing or consecration given by the Church, and to the objects blessed or consecrated.229
Our Lord gave the apostles power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of diseases (Matt. 10:1). The Church makes use of this power; by means of her ministers she blesses or consecrates certain objects, praying that God would render these objects efficacious in banishing evil spirits and healing sicknesses. That is to say, the priest implores the blessing of God the Father, for the averting of evils both corporal and spiritual. At the same time he makes use of visible signs, such as the sign of the cross, the holy water, the sacred oils, etc. A light is kindled, to signify the Saviour, the Light of the world. Incense if often used, to indicate that the sacramentals must be employed with pious dispositions. Sacramentals are called by this name because of their resemblance to a sacrament. In both there is a sign and form of words which possess a supernatural power and represent the invisible grace. But the sacraments have incomparably more power than the sacramentals; the latter are not necessary to salvation, whereas tie former are. Sacramentals are means of grace of the second class.
The blessing consists in this, that the minister of the Church invokes the divine benediction upon certain persons or things.230
The divine blessing is quite distinct from divine grace. The latter has the effect of beautifying the soul, the former averts earthly ills and promotes temporal welfare. Thus objects are only blessed for the sake of the persons who use them, or on whose behalf they are used.
The following are the benedictions which are customarily conferred on persons: The blessing at the conclusion of the Mass, the blessing given to communicants, the nuptial benediction, the benediction after childbirth, the last blessing, and the blessing of the remains of the departed.
It is usual for women after childbirth to go to the church to implore the blessing of God upon their child, and receive the benediction of the priest. This custom was observed in the Old Testament; every mother had to present herself in the Temple with her infant forty days after its birth if it was a boy, and eighty if it was a girl. The Mother of God herself conformed to this rule.
Exorcism belongs also to the blessings conferred on persons. It consists in commanding the devil to depart, in the name of Christ, from possessed persons or things.231
The evil effects of original sin rest upon every creature (Rom. 8:20), and upon the whole of inanimate nature (Gen. 3:17). It is this that renders the blessings of the Church and her exorcisms necessary. The power granted by Our Lord to His apostles to cast out unclean spirits is employed in the exorcism at baptism and when holy water is blessed. Cases of possession or obsession rarely occur in the present day; the exorcism can only be performed by a bishop, or by a priest with his permission. Only one who is himself animated by a firm faith and whose life is pure, can exorcise, and even then the exorcism will be of no avail if the person exorcised perseveres in his evil dispositions, or if God wills that His elect should be delivered into the power of the devil for their sanctification. For the sacramentals do not remove afflictions which are for the spiritual welfare of the individual.
1. Consecration by the Church consists in this: That the ecclesiastic empowered for this purpose sets apart some person or some object, and dedicates him or it to the exclusive service of God.232
The persons whom it is customary to consecrate in a solemn manner are: The Pope, kings and emperors, abbots, monks, and nuns.
The consecration of priests, be it remembered, is a sacrament.
The things which it is customary to bless are: Holy water, the water to be used in Baptism (this is blessed on Holy Saturday and on the eve of Pentecost); candles (on the Purification, and the Paschal candle at Easter); ashes (on Ash Wednesday); palms (on Palm Sunday); the holy oils (on Maundy Thursday in the cathedrals), besides crosses, images, rosaries, medals, banners; places also are blessed, such as churches, chapels, altars, cemeteries.
The Church blesses everything which appertains to divine service.
2. Our Lord sanctioned the use of sacramentals, but the rites themselves are an institution of the Church.233
Our Lord while on earth blessed the loaves and fishes (Matt. 14:19); He blessed the young children who were brought to Him (Mark 10. 16); He gave His blessing to His apostles before His ascension (Luke 24:50). We read moreover that God blessed our first parents (Gen. 1:28); that Noah blessed his two sons (Gen. 9:26); Isaac blessed Jacob (Gen. 27:27); Jacob when dying blessed his twelve sons (Gen. 49. 28); and Moses the tribes of Israel (Deut. 33.). Aaron and the priests that succeeded him gave their benediction every morning and evening to the people in the outer court of the Temple; stretching forth their hands over them, they blessed them, invoking the name of the Lord three times over the children of Israel (Numb. 6:23).
The ceremony of blessing or consecrating is generally performed by the priests.
Several acts of consecration appertain to the episcopal office, and may only be performed by a priest with the authorization of the bishop, as for instance, the dedication of churches and altars, the blessing of bells, chalices, etc. The laity can bless, but not in the name of the Church; parents frequently bless their children, and the more pious they are, the more effect has their blessing.
3. The use of blessed or consecrated objects is profitable; for if used with pious dispositions, they increase our fear and love of God, remit venial sins, and preserve us from many temptations and from bodily harm; excepting such temptations and ills of the body as are for our spiritual welfare.234
The sacramentals remit venial sin, and deliver us from some of the evil consequences of sin. They help us in the hour of temptation; St. Teresa cannot say enough concerning the power of holy water to drive away the devil. They are also of use in bodily ills and infirmities; the apostles anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them (Mark 6:13). They are thus a remedy and a shield. Is it superstition on the part of the soldier who carries with him a blessed crucifix when he goes to battle, hoping that by God’s mercy it may be his protection? By no means. Nor is the sick man to blame if he sprinkles himself frequently with holy water, thinking thus to accelerate his recovery. But we must beware of trusting too much to the efficacy of sacramentals; or imputing to them more power than the prayer of the Church imparts to them; they are not like the sacraments. The sacraments confer upon those who receive them the grace of the Holy Spirit; the sacramentals only purify the soul, and render it more fit for the reception of sanctifying grace. The sacramentals derive all their power from the prayers of the Church; it is in the name of the Church that the priest blesses them. The petitions of the Church have immense power, for they are united to the prayer of Our Lord and to the supplications of the saints.
The effect of the sacramentals depends upon the worthiness and the pious dispositions of the individual who uses them. Those who live in mortal sin will derive no more benefit from wearing some blessed object, or from the use of holy water, than the Jews did from bringing the Ark of the Covenant on to the field of battle, when they had incurred God’s wrath by their sins (1 Sam. 4). Nor will they profit one who places no confidence in them, any more than prayer profits the man who does not ask in faith, nothing wavering (Jas. 1:6). Our Lord abstained from working many miracles in some places, because of the unbelief of the inhabitants (Matt. 13:18). Remember what He said to the woman who touched Him: “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mark 5:34). We find that devout Christians always reverence sacramentals and use them diligently. They wear blessed objects on their person, they frequently take holy water, they like to say their prayers in consecrated places, knowing that prayer offered in a church is more efficacious than what is offered elsewhere. In times of temptation or of sickness above all, we should have recourse to the assistance afforded by sacramentals.
1. Prayer is the elevation of the heart to God.235
When we are engaged in conversation with any one, we forget everything else. This is what we should do when we talk with God, that is, when we pray. In prayer, we must direct all the powers of the soul to God; the understanding, for we must think of Him; the memory, for we must forget the things of earth; the affections, for we must delight in Him. The mere thought of God is no prayer; the devils think of God, but they do not pray to Him. Let Our Lord’s ascension be to us a symbol of prayer; so are the clouds of incense that float upwards on the air; the lark that soars aloft as she warbles her song. It is recorded of some saints that the elevation of their souls in prayer was made manifest by external signs; they were raised from the ground, they were surrounded by a supernatural radiance. St. John Chrysostom says that to be permitted to talk with his Creator and hold familiar intercourse with Him, is the greatest honor and privilege mortal man can enjoy. Who can fail to admire and wonder at the gracious condescension of the Most High, that He not only permits, but commands us to converse with Him?
When we pray it is customary to employ external signs of devotion, such as kneeling down, folding the hands, striking the breast, etc.236
By kneeling down we acknowledge our own littleness in God’s sight; by folding our hands, we signify that we are helpless, bound by the chains of sin; by striking the breast, that we are deserving of stripes. Sometimes we prostrate ourselves upon the ground, to testify our sense of our nothingness before God; this Judith did, before she went into the enemy’s camp (Judith x. 1). Our Lord did the same on Mount Olivet (Matt. 26:39). So does the priest at the foot of the altar on Good Friday. When prayer is very fervent and importunate, the hands are lifted up and the arms outstretched; thus Moses prayed during the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites (Exod. 17:12), and Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (2 Chron. 5:12). The priest often does the same during the celebration of holy Mass. The Jews of old turned their faces towards the Temple at the time of prayer; we may do likewise. David worshipped towards the holy Temple (Ps. 5:8), and so did Daniel (Dan. 6:10). God needs not these outward signs, for He reads the heart of man; but we thereby excite ourselves to greater activity and more humility in prayer. These postures are not a necessary adjunct to prayer; they may be dispensed with on account of weariness, sickness, or in the presence of others. One may even pray while walking abroad, as pilgrims do, or if we happen to hear the Angelus rung while we are in the streets of a town.
2. We may pray either in spirit only, or with the lips as well.237
One may raise one’s heart in prayer to God without those who are around us perceiving it; this is mental prayer. Vocal prayer is both useful and necessary. Man consists of soul and body, and with both he must yield homage to God (Hos. 14:3). It is, moreover, natural to express in words the thoughts of the heart (Matt. 12:34). In the absence of vocal prayer the Christian religion would lack its mainstay. Vocal prayer quickens the attention of the mind, and inflames the devotion of the suppliant himself as well as of others. Vocal or common prayer is more efficacious with God; Our Lord says: “Whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done unto them by My Father Who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:19).
Prayer with the lips only, and not with the spirit, is worthless.238
Our Lord complains of the Pharisees: “This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8). St. Augustine says many call upon God with the voice of the body, not with the voice of the soul. All attitudes and gestures too, which are merely formal have no value. God is a spirit, and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
We can also pray with the voice of song.239
Hymns and spiritual canticles are an excellent form of prayer, which the Apostle admonishes the Colossians to practice. It is a powerful factor in raising the heart to God. St. Ambrose and Pope Gregory the Great did much to promote the custom of singing in churches.
In our prayers we may either make use of the authorized forms of prayer, or address God in the words our own heart will suggest.240
It is well to recite the usual well-known prayers, such as the Our Father and Hail Mary, but not to keep slavishly to the use of forms. We should speak to God from time to time in our own words; He loves to hear us address Him with filial confidence. The three children in the furnace of Babylon cried to Him in their own language. There is no need to employ well-turned phrases; how much better to speak to God simply and straightforwardly. The plainest language is the language of the heart, and it is not the words which God regards, but the desires of the heart. Nor need one make long prayers (Matt. 6:7). Our petitions are not valued on account of their length, but of their fervor. How richly was the brief supplication of the good thief rewarded!
We may either pray alone, or in union with others.241
Our Lord exhorts us to pray to Our Father in secret (Matt. 6:5), and also to offer our petitions in common with others.
3. Our prayers have a threefold object: That of praise, of supplication, and of thanksgiving.242
We ought to praise God on account of His infinite perfections. The Church gives praise to Him unceasingly; the Gloria and the Sanctus in the Mass, the Te Deum which is sung on great festivals, the Gloria Patri which we repeat so often, are all ascriptions of praise. The thrice holy of the seraphim (Is. 6:3), the song the angels sung at Our Lord’s birth (Luke 2:14), are hymns of praise. We read in Revelation that the principal occupation of the happy denizens of heaven is to give honor and glory to the Lord their God (Rev. 4.), and by praising Him we may while still on earth join in their ceaseless song. The Magnificat uttered by the Blessed Virgin is a canticle of praise. It is God’s will that we should implore of Him all that we need. God gives nothing to those who ask nothing of Him (Jas. 1:5). “He who asks not,” says St. Teresa, “receives not.” Nay more, God desires that our petitions should be fervent and importunate; that we should not merely ask, but compel Him to hear us. The Lacedemonians used to place the bread for their children on a high beam, and force them to fetch it down for themselves; thus God would have us earn what we beseech of Him. He is not, it is true, ignorant of our needs (Matt. 6:32), and He could supply them without our telling Him of them; but He will have us ask for what we want, that we may not accept His gifts as a matter of course, but may recognize our dependence upon Him, and learn to be humble and thankful. The prayer of Our Lord in the garden and on the cross was a prayer of supplication; as was that of the apostles on the sea of Galilee, that of the Christians for St. Peter when he was in prison. Prayer for the forgiveness of sin is a penitential prayer; witness the Miserere (Ps. 50[51]). Furthermore it is God’s will that we thank Him for the benefits we receive from His hand (1 Thess. 5:18). Remember what Our Lord said to the leper who was healed (Luke 17.). Gratitude is the surest means of obtaining fresh favors from God. The holocaust Noah offered was a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Gen. 8:20). God withdraws many blessings from man because he takes no heed of them and neglects to render thanks to the Giver; He also sends calamities as a chastisement upon the unthankful.
2. THE UTILITY AND NECESSITY OF PRAYER
1. By means of prayer we can obtain all things from God; but He does not always grant our petitions immediately.243
We have Our Lord’s promise: Ask and it shall be given you (Matt. 7:7), and again: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matt. 21:22). St. John Chrysostom declares that by prayer man becomes almost omnipotent St. Augustine terms prayer the key that unlocks the treasury of the divine riches. As a man can get almost anything from his fellowmen for gold, so he can obtain almost anything from God by means of prayer. Let him therefore who is in affliction call upon God for succor. If he fail to do this, let him blame his own indolence and folly, not complain of his misery. Who would have patience with a beggar, half-starved with cold and hunger, if he would not apply for aid to a rich man who had promised to help him? The apostles prayed when the storm arose on the lake, and it was calmed. God does not always grant our petitions at once. One must knock long and loudly at the gate of this sovereign Lord, before it is opened to us. Monica prayed for her son’s conversion for eighteen years. God keeps us waiting for an answer to our prayer, both to try us, whether we are really in earnest, and also to make us value His gifts more when we do obtain them. He who is truly in earnest perseveres with more insistence than ever, the longer the answer to his prayer is delayed. So the blind man by the wayside on the road to Jericho cried out much more when Our Lord appeared to pay no heed to his cry: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Luke 18:39). “Thou dost delay, O Lord,” says St. Augustine, “to give us what we ask, that we may learn how to pray.” Sometimes God does not grant us what we implore, because He knows it would be prejudicial, not beneficial to us.
Our prayers obtain a speedier answer if they are accompanied by fasting, almsdeeds, a promise, or if we invoke the intercession of the saints on our behalf; a petition is sooner granted if it is proffered by several persons at the same time; also if the suppliant is of the number of the just.244
Fasting and almsdeeds are said to be the wings of prayer. Remember the prayer of the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10). That prayer receives a speedier answer in which several persons join. Our Lord promises: “If two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father Who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:19). “When the Christians assemble together in large numbers to pray,” says Tertullian, “they are like a great army, which compels almighty God to grant their petition.” Wood burns more fiercely if several logs are piled together, for one kindles the other. In the time of the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, a Christian legion was surrounded by the enemy, and the supply of water cut off. In dire distress the Christian soldiers prayed fervently for rain; and before many hours had passed, a storm came up, and there was a heavy downpour. The united prayer of the Church for St. Peter was the cause of his deliverance from prison. How great is the power of united prayer! This is why processions are held in times of calamity. The prayer of the just, moreover, obtains a speedier answer. The continual prayer of a just man availeth much (Jas. 5:16). The prayer of the prophet Elijah for rain was quickly granted (1 Kings 17).
Oftentimes God turns a deaf ear to our petition and the reason is generally because He will not give us what would be harmful for us; or because we do not deserve that our prayer should be granted.245
God acts like a wise physician who for the good of his patient will not allow him to have what would be injurious to him. If God sees that we shall employ His gifts amiss. He of His mercy withholds them from us (St. Augustine). St. Monica earnestly implored almighty God to prevent her son from going to Italy. Her prayer was not granted, because God designed that the preaching of St. Ambrose should be the means of Augustine’s conversion. St. Augustine himself at a later period exclaims: “Thou didst then deny my mother’s request, O Lord, in order to grant that which had long been her continual prayer.” God often does not grant our entreaty because we do not deserve that grace. Those who pray without devotion and without faith (Jas. 1:7), or who are in mortal sin, and will not renounce their evil ways, are unworthy of being heard (John 9:31). Many persons do not obtain what they ask, because they do not persevere in prayer, their whole heart is not in their petition. Yet no prayer is offered in vain; if God does not give what is asked, He bestows on the suppliant something else, something better; like a parent who gives his child a rosy apple instead of the knife he is clamoring for. Even the sinner does not pray in vain, for by his prayers he earns the graces necessary for his conversion. When you pray, and your petition is not granted, do not ascribe this to unwillingness on God’s part, but to the imperfection of your prayer, or to the poor use you would perhaps make of the grace if it were bestowed on you. Act thus, and if you have prayed aright, God will give you some other gift far more worth having than that which you asked for. God is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand (Eph. 3:20).
2. By means of prayer sinners become just, and the just are enabled to continue in a state of grace.246
By prayer sinners obtain forgiveness. The penitent thief said only these few words: “Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42), and immediately Our Lord pardoned him. The publican in the Temple did but strike his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner,” and he went down to his house justified (Luke 18:13). As soon as David heard Nathan’s rebuke, he exclaimed: “I have sinned against the Lord,” and the prophet immediately assured him that the Lord had taken away his sin (2 Sam. 12:13). “When a man begins to pray,” says St. Augustine, “he ceases to sin; when he ceases to pray, he begins to sin.” Mortal sin is incompatible with the habit of prayer. Prayer transforms the character; by it the blind become enlightened, the weak become strong, sinners become saints.
By prayer sinners become just, because it earns for them the graces of contrition and amendment.
By prayer we draw down upon us the Holy Spirit, we obtain actual grace. As the nearer the earth approaches the sun, the greater the light and heat she derives from it, so the nearer we draw to Christ, the Sun of justice, the more our soul will be enlightened and strengthened. We have said that the soul is enlightened by prayer; she learns to estimate more justly the majesty and goodness of God, to perceive more clearly the final end of man, the will of God, the worthlessness of earthly things and her own poverty. In the case of some saints this inward illumination manifested itself externally. The countenance of Moses shone, after he had been conversing with God on the Mount. Our Lord, while He prayed, was transfigured (Luke 9:29). Many saints are known to have been surrounded with an aureola of glory while at prayer. By prayer we gain strength and power to endure the ills of life. Prayer is like a celestial dew; as the earth is refreshed at night by the dew from heaven, so the soul is revived and fortified by prayer. Thus we should have recourse to prayer when our work is ended and before we commence anything of importance. Our Lord when on earth often spent the night in prayer, and before His Passion He prayed long and earnestly. The man who is given to prayer will never be a coward.
Prayer enables the just to continue in a state of grace, because it is a safeguard against temptation and sin.247
Prayer is an antidote to the poison of temptation. The assaults of the devil darken the understanding and weaken the will; prayer does the very opposite; it enlightens the understanding and strengthens the will. It acts upon temptation as water does on fire; it is a shield which the fiery darts of the evil one cannot pierce; it is an anchor to the tempest-tossed vessel. It banishes sadness; the Holy Spirit is a comforter, He imparts joy to the heart. Our Lord promises to refresh all who labor and are burdened, if they come to Him (Matt. 11:28). St. James says: “Is any among you sad? let him pray” (Jas. 5:13). During prayer, sometimes, a foretaste is given us of the joys of heaven. Prayer affords to the troubled heart such solace as a child may find, who pours out his sorrows on the breast of a compassionate father. “O taste and see,” says the Psalmist, “that the Lord is sweet” (Ps. 33[34]:8). One day spent in prayer is better than years devoted to the pleasures and distractions of the world. By prayer the just man acquires many virtues. Pray aright, and you will live aright. Between those who are much together a certain resemblance may be perceived; thus if we are much with God, we shall become like to Him. Prayer is to the soul what the sunshine is to a plant; it makes it grow and bear fruit abundantly.
3. By prayer we obtain the remission of the temporal penalty due to sin, and merit an eternal recompense.248
When prayer ascends to heaven, the mercy of God descends; it prevents the outburst of the divine wrath (St. Augustine). By every prayer we repeat some indulgence is gained, even though one is not definitely attached to it by the Holy See. Our Lord says: “When thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret; and thy Father, Who seeth in secret, will repay thee” (Matt. 6:6). Prayer is a work which cannot be accomplished without toil and conflict, for the spirits of evil employ all their wiles to distract those who pray, by suggesting irrelevant thoughts to their mind. Hence those who preserve their recollection in spite of the assaults of the devil, and the hindrances he casts in their way, expiate many sins and merit a reward.
4. He who never prays cannot save his soul; for without prayer he will fall into grievous sins.249
A servant who never saluted or spoke to his master would not long be retained in his service. Were one to look into hell, we should see that the majority of souls have been lost through neglect of prayer. “If Our Lord,” says St. Ambrose, “spent whole nights in prayer, what ought not we poor mortals to do to save our souls?” He who does not pray is powerless to resist in the hour of temptation; he may be compared to a warrior without weapons, a bird without wings, a ship without sails or rudder; he is a reed, driven to and fro by every blast of wind. St. John Chrysostom says one who does not pray has no life in him, he has ceased to breathe. As corn must be stored in barns, not left lying on the damp ground, or it will grow moldy and decay, so the heart of man must not continually rest upon earthly things; it must be lifted up to God, or it will lose its purity. Hence Our Lord bids us watch and pray (Matt. 26:41). All nations of the world worship some deity or other; the obligation to pray is imprinted upon the human heart.
By praying we learn to pray. In this the proverb holds good: Practice makes perfect. Pray often, and you will find delight in prayer; pray seldom, and it will appear to you irksome and wearisome. God does not regard the length of our supplications but their fervor.
If prayer is to be of utility to us, we must pray:
1. In the name of Jesus; that is, we must ask what is in accordance with Our Lord’s desires.250
Our Lord desires whatever promotes the glory of God and the salvation of souls. If we pray for what is opposed to our spiritual welfare, we do not pray in the name of Christ; e.g., if we pray for earthly riches or honors, for the acquisition of superfluities. But we pray in the name of Christ, that is, in union with His intention, in His spirit, if we ask for such things as the means of earning our daily bread, for succor in the time of tribulation, for the conversion of a sinner. The Church prays in the name of Christ, for all her petitions conclude with the words: “Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.” “If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:23). Such is Our Lord’s promise. What monarch could refuse the petition of one who said he was authorized to present it by the king’s own royal son?
2. We must pray with devotion; that is, we must fix our thoughts on God when we pray.251
In our prayers we hold intercourse with God. When we hold intercourse with our fellow-mortals, we give them our whole attention; how much more when we converse with God, should we fix our mind on Him alone! Some people honor God with their lips, while their heart is far from Him (Matt. 15:8). Their thoughts wander, they think of their earthly employments, they do not heed what they say. Prayers that are so tepid and distracted avail nothing with God. Who, when pleading before an earthly judge, would turn to those about him and begin to talk to them? He would be put out of court for his disrespectful behavior. How can we expect God to heed our prayers if we do not heed them ourselves? He who prays without devotion and yet looks for an answer to his prayer, is like a man who sows bad grain, and anticipates a crop of first-rate wheat. It is not, however, necessary to have sensible devotion, to experience extraordinary consolation and delight in prayer. That is a supernatural gift, bestowed by God generally as a recompense; it does not add to the value of our prayers. Nor are they necessarily the worse, if we feel distaste and aridity. St. Teresa says that prayer under such circumstances may even be more meritorious because it is painful to nature. That prayer which costs us an effort, which we have to compel ourselves to offer, is perhaps the most acceptable in God’s sight. Do not therefore give up prayer on account of aridity and the disinclination for it. The evil enemy seeks by this means to withdraw us from prayer, and God permits this trial to come upon us, in order that we may feel our own weakness and humble ourselves on account of it. And if during the whole time of prayer we do nothing else but resist temptations and distractions, let us not think we have prayed badly; God looks to our good will, in that He takes pleasure.
In order to pray devoutly we must prepare ourselves beforehand, and during the time of prayer we must guard our senses and see that we do not assume an irreverent posture.
“Before prayer prepare thy soul, be not as a man that tempteth God” (Sir. 18:23). The harper tunes his harp before beginning to play, lest there should be any discord in the melody. How carefully those who are admitted to an audience of some earthly monarch perform their toilet! Before commencing our prayer, we should place ourselves in the presence of God, endeavoring to realize that we stand in His sight, and then banish from our thoughts all worldly cares and interests. Let us imitate the patriarch Abraham, who when about to offer up his son Isaac on Mount Moria, left his servants, his ass, and all that was not wanted for the sacrifice, at the foot of the mountain, saying: “When we have worshipped, we will return unto you.” As Our Lord drove those that sold out of the Temple, so we must banish all worldly affairs from our heart, when it is made a temple of prayer. Yet the distractions that are involuntary are not sinful, only they must be repulsed and withstood. At prayer we must close the door, that is keep custody of the eyes, and withdraw into the secret chamber of the soul. The use of a prayer-book often keeps the eyes from wandering. As a rule one prays with more recollection before the statue of a saint, or in a holy place, where all around breathes an atmosphere of devotion. Our attitude during prayer should not be lacking in reverence; as far as possible we should remain upon our knees as an aid to devotion.
3. We must pray with perseverance, that is, we ought not to desist from prayer, if our petition is not immediately granted.252
We should take example from children, who will not leave off clamoring until they get what they want. We mortals are apt to grow angry if a suppliant is too persistent, but it is not so with God; He is pleased when we “batter the gates of heaven with storms of prayer.” Remember the parable of the importunate friend, who continued knocking (Luke 11:5). God sometimes puts the endurance of the suppliant to a severe test, as was the case with the woman of Canaan (Matt. 15.). The Jews in Bethulia prayed all night, desiring help of the God of Israel, when Holofernes besieged their city, but the more they prayed, the more desperate the situation appeared. Yet they held out, and God sent them a deliverer in Judith. We have already said that for eighteen long years St. Monica ceased not to pray for her son’s conversion, and how richly her constancy was rewarded! For God loves to come to our aid when our need is greatest. Let us not then be discouraged, as some are, and cease to pray if our prayers are not answered; the wise course would be to pray more earnestly the longer God delays granting our petition. For the longer He keeps us waiting, the more will His succor surpass our expectations. He is able to do abundantly more than we desire or understand (Eph. 3:20). “We have to wait a whole year,” says St. Francis de Sales, “before the seed we sow in the ground bears fruit; and are we more impatient in regard to the fruit of our prayers?”
The man whose heart is not clean has not power to raise his soul to God, for when he begins to pray, thoughts and images of sin crowd in upon his mind, and hold it captive upon earth. He who prays with an impure heart is like a man who enters the presence of royalty with mud-stained garments, to implore a favor. It is only just that he who will not conform to the divine precepts should be excluded from a share in the divine benefactions. Listen to the commands of God, if you would have Him listen to your supplications. But as soon as the sinner is sincerely contrite, he may hope to obtain a hearing; God will receive his petitions as graciously as if he had never offended Him. In this He is unlike men, who are prone to cast former offences in the teeth of those who ask a favor of them. God looks at the present intention, not at the past actions of a man. Remember how the prayer of the penitent publican in the Temple was accepted (Luke 18:13).
5. We must pray with humility; that is, we must acknowledge our own weakness and unworthiness.253
The prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds (Sir. 35:21). How lowly is the obeisance of one who approaches one of the magnates of the earth to present a petition! Prayer is in itself an act of humility, for by it we testify a sense of our dependence upon the Lord of heaven and of earth; we take the position of beggars, knocking at the door of the great Father of mankind.
6. We must pray with confidence, that is, with a firm conviction that of His infinite mercy God will grant what we ask, provided it will tend to His glory and to the true welfare of our souls.254
The prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds of what the prayer of faith ought to be (1 Kings 18.). Our Lord says: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matt. 21:22). Confidence hath a great reward (Heb. 10. 35). Let not him that wavereth think that he shall receive anything of the Lord (Jas. 1:1).
7. We must pray with resignation to the will of God; that is, we must leave the granting of our petition entirely to God’s good pleasure.255
“Not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42), was Our Lord’s prayer on the Mount of Olives. God knows best what is for our good; we ought no more to dictate to Him than a sick man, who knows nothing of the healing art, ought to tell the physician what drugs he is to give him. A certain mother once was importunate in prayer for the recovery of her sick child. The priest told her she would do better to ask that God’s will might be done. “No,” she exclaimed indignantly, “God must grant me my desire.” The child was restored to health, took to evil ways, and at last came to the gallows. Happy would it have been for that man had he died in his childhood! How much wiser it is to leave all in the hands of God, for He knows the future.
1. As a matter of fact we ought to pray continually, for Our Lord requires of us “always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).256
The Apostle bids us: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). We may approach God at any moment; there is no sentry before His door to turn us back; we have but to call upon Him by His name of Father, and His ear is open to us at once. “He who seeks God,” says St. Alphonsus, “will find Him at all times and in every place.” If our heart is continually raised to Him in prayer, we shall be like the angels who continually behold His countenance. If we are unceasing in prayer, we shall obtain our requests from God without difficulty, and we shall be preserved from many temptations. Our Lord says: “Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation,” (Matt. 26:41). The habit of constant prayer may be compared to a rampart against the malign foe; to a breastplate from which his arrows rebound; to a harbor, in which the rough waves cannot reach us. We are liable at any moment to the assaults of the devil, wherefore let us ever be ready, armed with prayer, as those who are exposed to the danger of fire always have water at hand in case a conflagration should break out. By continuing in prayer, we shall have a surer hope of maintaining ourselves in the grace of God until our life’s end.
It is, however, by no means required of us, nay, it would be impossible for us to remain constantly upon our knees; what we are to do is to pray while we work.
Martha’s vocation, that of active work for one’s neighbor, ought to be united to Mary’s vocation, that of contemplation and prayer. St. Bernard says Martha’s employment was good, Mary’s was better, but a combination of the two is best of all. Christ, Who is in all things our Model, united a life of activity to a life of prayer. While we are in this world, work must oft-times be our prayer; hereafter, when there is no more occasion for work, the contemplation of the divine majesty will be our only occupation. He who gives up work for the sake of prayer, deserves not, according to the dictum of the Apostle, to have bread to eat (2 Thess. 3:10).
While engaged in our work we can utter ejaculatory prayers, and we ought on commencing our work to direct our intention so as to do all to the glory of God.
St. Teresa had in her cell a picture of Our Lord at Jacob’s well; when her eyes fell upon it she said: “Lord, give me that living water.” St. Ignatius frequently exclaimed: “All for the greater glory of God.” Let us accustom ourselves to say from time to time: “Lord, remember me in Thy kingdom.” He who raises his heart to God ever and anon by ejaculatory prayers, will keep calm and recollected amid the turmoil and distractions of life, for ejaculations are no weak weapons of defense; their brevity, too, enables them to be said with greater fervor than longer prayers. St. Francis de Sales recommends the frequent and fervent repetition of the same ejaculation. Our Lord on the Mount of Olives prayed using the same words. St. Francis of Assisi spent the whole night repeating the words: “My God and my all.” St. Paul bids us: “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. x. 31). It is well to direct one’s intention in the morning, and renew it before every undertaking of any importance.
We should do well to employ our leisure time in prayer.
Blessed Clement Hofbauer answered a man who complained that his time hung heavy on his hands, with the words: “Well, then, you can pray.” The saints spent as much time as they could in prayer; it is recorded of St. James that through being constantly on his knees, callosities formed on them. The Christian need not pray in a manner to be observed by others, but he can always pray in spirit, whatever his occupations may be. The saints used to make use of visible things to raise their thoughts to what is unseen; natural objects suggested to them thoughts of the supernatural. St. Gregory Nazianzen, seeing the shells washed up on the seashore and the immovable rocks that resisted the shock of the waves, compared the former to men who had no mastery over themselves, and the latter to those whom no temptation could seduce. The sight of a lamb led St. Francis of Assisi to speak of the meekness of the Redeemer; to other saints the sight of a flower, a picture, a church, was enough to inspire holy thoughts and practical reflections. This is no wonder, for all visible objects should recall to our mind the omnipotence and bounty of the Creator, and invite us to pay Him homage. Our life ought to be one uninterrupted prayer; for our mind ought to be detached from earthly things, and our conversation in heaven.
2. We ought to pray more especially every morning and evening, before and after meals, and when we hear the Angelus.257
a. In the morning we ought to give thanks to God for having preserved us during the night, and beseech Him to protect us during the day from misfortune and from sin, and to give us what is needful for our bodily sustenance.
The morning prayer should be said kneeling, and before we take our breakfast. The birds set us an example in this respect; they warble their morning song before they seek to satisfy their hunger. “We ought to prevent the sun to bless Thee, and adore Thee at the dawning of the light” (Wisd. 16:28). A particular blessing rests upon our morning prayer. As the Israelites could only gather the manna before the sun was up, so we cannot expect God’s blessing on the day if we do not consecrate its earliest hours to Him by prayer. As a well-spent youth influences a man’s whole life, so the manner in which the day is begun influences all its later hours. In the morning God is more easily found: “They that in the morning early watch for Me shall find Me” (Prov. 8:17). The early Christians used to meet together at daybreak for divine worship. He who on rising neglects to pray, and gives his attention at once to temporal concerns, cannot expect God’s blessing on his day’s work. If the foundation of a house is unsound, the superstructure will soon fall in.
b. At night we ought to give thanks to God for the benefits we have received during the day, and beseech Him to pardon the sins we have committed in its course, and to protect us during the coming night.258
At our night prayers we ought to make an examination of conscience. Every merchant at the close of the day reckons up his gain or loss, although only temporal profits are in question; how much more ought the Christian to make a careful scrutiny of the transactions which affect his spiritual interests. Priests and religious have to recite the breviary at seven different times in the day. David says: “Seven times a day have I given praise to Thee” (Ps. 118[119]:164). The early Christians used to pray at midnight (Acts 16:26), and at the hours of the Passion: When Our Lord was condemned (nine o’clock), crucified (noon), when He died (three o’clock), and when He was laid in the grave (sunset). These are the fixed hours for reciting the divine office, but priests are not obliged to adhere to them strictly.
c. Before and after meals we ought to give thanks to God for our nourishment, and implore His grace to avoid such sins as are committed at table.259
“When thou shalt have eaten and art full, take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord” (Deut. 6:12, 13). Daniel when in the lion’s den thanked God for the dinner that He sent to him (Dan. 14:37). Those who do not give thanks before and after their meals are like the beasts of the field. King Alfonso of Aragon, observing that his courtiers did not give thanks either before or after their repasts, gave them a practical lesson in this respect. He invited a beggar to his royal table, forbidding him most strictly either to make an obeisance on entering the dining hall, or to express his gratitude to the king when departing. The man obeyed his orders, and went away without a word or sign. The courtiers were highly incensed; but the king checked their wrath, saying: “Is not this exactly how you act towards your heavenly King? You neither ask a blessing nor return thanks; has He not as much reason to be indignant with you as you have with this ignorant mendicant?” The courtiers acknowledged the justice of the rebuke and never after omitted to say grace before and after meals. The sins committed at table usually are sins of intemperance, anger (if all is not to our liking), and detraction. And when the appetite is satisfied, there comes the temptation to sloth and self-indulgence.
d. We ought also to pray when the Angelus rings, calling upon us three times a day, morning, noon, and evening, to say the Angelic Salutation; and if we are near a church, when we hear the bell for the consecration, or for benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
3. Furthermore we ought to pray in the hour of affliction, distress, or temptation, when entering upon an important undertaking, and when we feel an inspiration and desire to pray.260
We ought to pray in times of distress, for God enjoins this upon us: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me” (Ps. 49[50]:15). How did the apostles act when the storm arose on the lake? Too often in their troubles men seek after human aid. In temptation we ought also to have recourse to prayer. “Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). St. Francis de Sales says that when we are assailed by temptation we should do as little children do if they are frightened by the approach of some animal; they run to their father or mother. On commencing any important undertaking we ought to pray. Tobias exhorts his son: “Desire of God to direct thy ways” (Tob. 4:20). Our Lord passed the whole night in prayer to God before He chose the twelve apostles (Luke 6:12); He prayed before the raising of Lazarus (John 11:41), and before He went to His Passion (Luke 22:41). The apostles prayed before they chose Matthias by lot (Acts 1:23). St. Peter prayed before he recalled Tabitha to life (Acts 9:40). St. Jerome admonishes us to arm ourselves by prayer at our outgoing, and on our incoming to let prayer be our first action. We should also make use of those moments when we feel moved to pray. The mariner hastens to put to sea when he finds the wind is favorable; so we, when we perceive the impulse of the Holy Spirit, must follow His gracious inspirations. Unhappily those moments are too often allowed to slip by, or distraction is sought in worldly amusements. Of this the entertainments held after weddings, and on great festivals of the Church, the feasts the poor make after funerals, etc., afford abundant evidence. How much those who thus act will have one day to answer for! Such solemn times should be times of greater devotion.
1. We can and ought to pray in every place, because God is everywhere present.261
Our Lord Himself prayed, not only in the Temple at Jerusalem, and in the synagogues, but also in the desert, on the mountains, in the cenacle, in the Garden of Olives, on the cross. Jacob prayed in the open country, Jonah in the belly of the whale, Job on the dunghill, Daniel in the lion’s den, Manasses in prison. Paul and Silas lying bound in a dungeon, prayed and praised God, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. We can only speak with God when He is present, and He is present everywhere (Acts 17:24). Remember Our Lord’s words to the woman of Samaria (John 4:23). God does not regard the place in which we pray, but the dispositions with which we pray.
2. The house of God is the place specially set apart for prayer.262
The house of God is the house of prayer (Matt. 21:13). Some say there is no need to go to church, because the whole earth is the temple of God. This is false; God enjoins upon us by the mouth of the Church to go to His house on Sundays and festivals. Our Lord Himself set us an example in this respect, for He was often to be found in the Temple at Jerusalem. Petitions offered in a church have greater efficacy, because the place is consecrated, and we can also pray with more devotion, because our surroundings are an aid to recollection, and we can put aside our daily cares. Besides, the prayers we offer in church are heard more quickly because Our Lord is present there under the eucharistic veils; He has promised that: “Where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them,” and He will help us to pray aright. However it must not be thought that true piety consists in spending long hours in the church.
3. A solitary place is also suitable for prayer.263
Our Lord was accustomed to withdraw into solitude for prayer. He prayed in the desert (Luke 5:16), on mountains, in the Garden of Olives (Luke 22:39). He bids us retire into our chamber and shut the door (Matt. 6:6), for in solitude one is less likely to be distracted, and one can pray more fervently.
1. We ought to implore of God many things and great things; benefits not appertaining to time so much as to eternity.264
Supposing a king said to you: “Ask what you will;” would you not ask a great favor of him? Well, it is nothing more than what God says to you. We ought to ask great things of God, because we have to do with One Who is infinitely rich and powerful. Let us not be contented with what we have already received, but ever beg for more. God is more ready to give than we to receive. Let us not ask so much for temporal and transitory benefits, but rather for those that are eternal. No one would presume to ask of an emperor what was useless and worthless; much less should we venture to implore the Lord of heaven and earth for the things of time and sense. It is the act of a fool to treasure up worthless shells and cast away precious pearls; to choose glittering tinsel rather than pure gold. Let us therefore pray for the joys of heaven and for whatsoever will help us to attain them.
2. We ought more especially to beseech almighty God to grant us such things as are conducive to His glory, and to our salvation, and in no wise to ask for what will only serve to gratify our earthly desires.265
To those who pray Our Lord says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 5:33). Hence we may conclude that if we ask for the good things of eternity, those of time will also be bestowed on us. King Solomon prayed for wisdom to govern his people aright; God gave him a wise and understanding heart and in addition earthly riches and glory in abundance (1 Kings 3). It is not right to ask of God what is only calculated to gratify our earthly concupiscences; such prayers are not granted (Jas. 4:3). “There are many,” says St. Augustine, “who, in what they ask, do not seek God’s glory, but their own sensual pleasures; they would degrade God to be their servant, the servant of their covetousness, their pride, their avarice, their luxury.” King Jeroboam’s hand was withered, because he stretched it out against the man of God. He prayed that his hand might be restored, not that his sin might be forgiven (1 Kings 13:6). Many people do likewise; in their prayers they think only of the needs of the body, not those of the soul. Let us never pray that our will, but that God’s will be done; let us not wish for the accomplishment of those desires which arise from our fallen nature, but of those with which the Holy Spirit inspires our soul.
1. Meditation, i.e., contemplative prayer, consists in dwelling upon the truths of religion, in order to awaken within our minds good resolutions.266
Costly spices give out their aroma most freely when they are bruised in a mortar; so the truths of religion have most influence upon the soul that ponders on them. One who meditates upon holy things is like a man striking fire with flint and steel; he strikes the stony heart with the keen edge of the understanding until sparks fly out, that is, good resolutions are elicited from the will. Meditation is only difficult until the Holy Spirit makes His gracious action felt. Like a vessel that must be propelled by toilsome rowing until a favorable wind springs up and inflates her sails, then the oar is no longer needed, for she runs swiftly before the breeze—so in meditation the powers of the mind must be exercised laboriously, until the Holy Spirit breathes upon the soul, guiding it and elevating it. If we strive to elicit a succession of beautiful thoughts and elaborate meanings, this is not prayer, but study. When once we have struck fire, let us toil no more, but forthwith kindle the torch.
2. Meditation is a most excellent method of prayer, but it must not be pursued to the exclusion of vocal prayer.267
By mental prayer we imitate on earth the occupation of the angels who constantly contemplate the face of God, and meditate on His perfections. The saints have bequeathed to us many books of meditations; if we read these attentively it is equivalent to prayer. Mental prayer must alternate with vocal prayer; these two methods of prayer are the two feet that carry us forward on the way to heaven. Meditation is a necessary preliminary to prayer; without it prayer will be imperfect, the needful devotion will be lacking.
3. By means of meditation we obtain actual graces, and advance rapidly on the path of perfection.268
We obtain many actual graces in meditation; for as we receive light and warmth when we stand by a fire, so by meditation upon the truths of religion the mind is enlightened to see the worthlessness of earthly things, the end of man, the rigor of the divine judgments, and the heart is inflamed with the love of justice. It is a furnace wherein the fire of divine charity is kindled, a door whereby divine grace enters into the heart of man. A soul that practices meditation is like a cultivated field which produces abundant fruit, a well-watered garden in which flowers bloom luxuriantly. He who neglects to ponder upon the truths of religion knows nothing of their force; his spiritual sight is dimmed, he is engrossed with the things of earth. With desolation is all the land made desolate, because there is none that considereth in his heart (Jer. 12:11). The subjects chosen for meditation ought to be those which have most power to attract and influence us, and to these we should frequently recur. Thus bees alight upon the flowers which contain the sweet juice whence they make their honey. Meditation is a means of attaining perfection. St. Ambrose says daily meditation is the antidote for tepidity. It was the foundation of the conversion of St. Ignatius and other saints. St. Teresa declares that mental prayer and mortal sin are incompatible; they exclude one another; one or the other must of necessity be given up.
The Our Father is also known as the Lord’s Prayer, because it was taught us by Christ Our Lord Himself.
1. The Our Father takes precedence of all other prayers; it is especially distinguished by its power, its simplicity and its comprehensiveness.269
There is no more holy and excellent prayer than the Our Father. It has greater cogency than any other prayer, because in it we do not merely pray in the name of Jesus, but in His own words. Of this prayer more than of any other Our Lord’s promise holds good: “If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you” (John 16:23). It is the simplest of all prayers; its words are few, but it is rich in meaning. It is so simple that a child’s lips may utter it devoutly; yet the theologian seeks in vain to sound its depths; it is suited to every class and condition of men. In the Lord’s Prayer we ask for all things that are needful for our soul and our body; it comprises all for which we ought to pray; nothing that can be found in the most excellent of prayers is lacking in it. It is an epitome of the holy Gospel Not only does it teach us the things for which we ought to ask, but the right order in which to ask for them.
The Our Father consists of an address, seven petitions, and the word Amen.270
2. The address places the soul in the right disposition for prayer; it awakens within us confidence in God and raises our thoughts to Him.271
The word “Father” awakens confidence in God, the words “Who art in heaven” raise our thoughts to Him. Thus at the very commencement of this prayer we make acts of faith, hope, and charity.
We call God Father, because He created us to His image (Gen. 1:27), because the Son of God became our Brother by His Incarnation (Eph. 1:5), and because at baptism the Holy Spirit took up His abode within us, and made us the children of God (Rom. 8:15).
In approaching the great ones of the earth, we are doubtful by what title we ought to address them; it is not so with God. We address Him as Father, and this familiar title pleases Him better than any other. No mortal would have dared to call the almighty Ruler of the universe by the name of Father, had not His only-begotten Son given us permission to do so. God would not have us address Him as our Creator, Lord, or King, because these titles convey an idea of severity, and inspire fear. He would have us call Him Father, because this is a title which bespeaks affection, and love is a far more exalted feeling than fear.
We call God Our Father because we, as brethren, ought to pray for one another.
In the Lord’s prayer the individual prays for all, and all for the individual, hence it is the common prayer of all Christians. Our own needs compel us to pray for ourselves; fraternal charity urges us to pray for others. Our Lord Himself says: “All you are brethren” (Matt. 23:8), and calls the apostles His brethren (Matt. 28:10). The apostles spoke of the faithful as their brethren (Rom. 1:13; 12:1). Those may rightly be called brethren, who have but one Father in heaven.
We say: “Who art in heaven,” because although God is present everywhere, heaven is His throne, and there only is He beheld face to face (1 Cor. 13:12).
3. In the first petition we pray that God may be glorified.272
The meaning of the first petition is this: Grant, O God, that we may acknowledge and revere Thy majesty more and more.
To give glory to God is the end of creation, and consequently it is the highest aim of every creature.
4. In the next three petitions we ask for these blessings: Eternal salvation, grace to fulfil the divine will, and the possession of those things which are indispensable to the maintenance of our earthly existence.273
The meaning of the second petition is this: Give unto us eternal life after death.
The meaning of the third petition is this: Give us grace to fulfil Thy will as perfectly on earth as the angels do in heaven.
The meaning of the fourth petition is this: Bestow upon us all that is necessary for the maintenance of life, such as food, clothes, money, health.
5. In the next three petitions we pray that three evils may be averted from us: The evil of sin, the evil of temptation, and those evils which are prejudicial to life.274
The meaning of the fifth petition is this: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
The meaning of the sixth petition is this: Deliver us from those temptations to which we should succumb.
The meaning of the seventh petition is this: Avert from us all things which are injurious to life, such as famine, pestilence, war, etc.
The evils mentioned in the last three petitions are exactly opposed to the blessings enumerated above.
Eternal happiness is opposed to sin, which makes us eternally wretched.
The grace of God is opposed to temptation; for grace enlightens the understanding and fortifies the will, whereas temptation darkens the understanding and weakens the will.
The things which are necessary for the maintenance of our life are opposed to those which are injurious to it.
The seven petitions may therefore be divided into three divisions, of which the first has reference to God, the two others to ourselves.
6. The word Amen is the answer of God to the suppliant; in this place it is equivalent to the words: Be assured that thy prayer is heard.275
In other prayers the meaning of the word Amen is “So be it,” or: We entreat most earnestly that our prayer may be granted.
As in the Lord’s Prayer the word Amen is to be considered as God’s answer, whenever it occurs in the Mass the priest says it, speaking in God’s name; but at the conclusion of the other prayers and collects of the Church, the server says Amen. Our Lord often employed the word Amen, principally as an asseveration.
The Our Father has from time immemorial been in use in the Church, both in holy Mass and almost all other public acts of worship.
The principal prayers to the Mother of God which are in common use are (1), The Ave Maria or the Angelical Salutation; (2), The Angelus; (3), The Rosary; (4), The Litany of Loretto and the Salve Regina.
Catholics almost invariably add the Ave Maria to the Pater Noster.276
It has always been customary among Christians to imitate the example of the archangel Gabriel, and salute our blessed Lady in his words. The devotion to Mary was not introduced by the decree of a council, nor at the behest of any Pope; at all times the faithful have been wont to pay their devout homage to the Queen of heaven. She herself foresaw that this would be so; that all generations would call her blessed (Luke 1:48).
The Ave Maria is also called the Angelical Salutation, because it commences with the words of the archangel.
1. The Ave Maria consists of three parts: The salutation of the archangel Gabriel, the greeting of Elizabeth, and the words of the Church.277
The salutation of the archangel runs thus: “Hail, full of grace the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28). The greeting of Elizabeth is this: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (1:42). The remaining words were added by the Church. The first and second parts are an ascription of praise, the third part is a supplication. The first and second parts were recited by the faithful in the earliest ages of Christianity in their present form, while the concluding words were varied. St. Athanasius used to add: “Pray for us, Patron and Lady, Queen and Mother of God.” From the time of Luther it was customary to end with the words: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.” The final clause now in use dates from the reign of Pope St. Pius V., who directed it to be printed in all the authorized prayer-books. After the heretic Nestorius denied the right of the Blessed Virgin to the title of Mother of God, the Ave Maria was more frequently on the lips of Christians than it was in earlier times. And when, in the thirteenth century, other sects arose who refused to give the saints the veneration due to them, the devotion to Our Lady assumed a more and more prominent place, and from that time forth the Ave Maria became an invariable adjunct to the Pater Noster in all the public services of the Church.
2. The Ave Maria is a most potent prayer, and one which is full of meaning.
The Ave Maria is especially efficacious in time of temptation; many saints recommend the faithful to recite it, when evil thoughts assail them.
By the words: “Hail Mary” we testify our reverence for the Mother of God.
It is the part of the inferior to salute the superior. Mary is the Mother of the King of kings, she is the Queen of angels and saints, and yet our Mother also. The highest veneration of angels and men is due to her, and therefore we ought reverently to salute her. The words Ave Maria indicate that Mary is a second, a happier Eve; she is the Mother of mankind. Ave is a play on the name Eva, the order of the letters being reversed. Thus the words of the archangel seem to signify: “Eve was full of sin, thou art full of grace; the devil was with Eve, God is with thee; Eve was cursed among women, thou art blessed among women; Eve gave birth to the accursed Cain, whereas the fruit of thy womb is the blessed Jesus.”
The words: “full of grace” have this signification: “Thou hast received the graces of the Holy Spirit in a higher degree than all the saints together.”
As the moon gives more light than all the hosts of stars, so the Mother of God possesses the supernatural light of the Holy Spirit to a greater extent than all the saints. The full plenitude of grace was poured out on her, whereas it was bestowed but partially on all the other saints. So richly was Mary endowed with grace that she approaches more nearly than any other being to the Author of all grace. God might have created a greater heaven, a greater earth, but a greater Mother than Mary He could not create. The name Mary means sea; she is indeed an ocean of grace. The angel said to her: “Thou hast found grace with God.” Only that which was lost can be found: Mary had not lost grace, therefore she found what man had lost. Let those then who have by their sins lost the grace of God, hasten to Mary, that they may recover it at her hands.
The words: “The Lord is with thee,” have this signification: “Thou art united, body and soul with God in the closest union.”
In the Temple at Jerusalem, which was outwardly of a dazzling whiteness, and inwardly overlaid with gold, God was continually present in a luminous cloud. The Temple was a type of the Mother of God, for in her the incarnate God dwelt, making her the temple of the Deity. In celebrating Holy Mass the priest turns seven times to the people with the words: Dominus vobiscum; thus wishing them the closest union with the Godhead, through the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. Of old such forms of greeting were customary; Saul made use of similar words when dismissing David before his contest with Goliath (1 Sam. 17:37); David when dying, addressed Solomon in the same manner (1 Chron. 22:11); and Tobias did the same when his son was starting on his journey (Tob. 5:21).
The words: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus,” have this signification: “Thou art the most blessed among women because thy child Jesus was supremely blessed.”278
As a tree is considered good if it bears good fruit, so Mary is lauded for the sake of her Son. She is the tree of life in paradise, and Christ is the fruit of that tree. All the angels of God adore the Child that was born of her (Heb. 1:6). Mothers who have had good children have always been called blessed; witness the woman, who after listening to Our Lord’s discourse, lifted up her voice to extol His Mother (Luke 11:27). It is not because Mary was blessed that her Child was blessed, but the contrary. He, the Author and Source of all grace, filled her with benediction. Christ is not said to be blessed among men, as Mary is among women, because He is the Creator of all men, and cannot be placed in comparison with His creatures. When Judith appeared before King Ozias after slaying Holofernes, he declared her to be blessed above all women on the earth (Judith 13:23). How much more does Mary merit this praise, since she co-operated in the redemption of the whole human race! Both the archangel and St. Elizabeth addressed the same words to her to indicate that she was to receive homage alike from angels and men.
At the close of the Ave Maria we entreat the Mother of God to pray for us in the hour of death, for then above all other times we have most need of assistance.279
At the hour of death, in addition to physical suffering, we shall perhaps have to sustain violent assaults of temptation. “How vehemently,” exclaims St. Bonaventure, “does the devil attack man in his last hour, and for this reason, because so short a time is left for him to accomplish his work.” The uncertainty of our salvation also causes us terrible anxiety at the hour of death. In all these tribulations Mary is our surest helper, for she is “the Health of the sick, the Comforter of the afflicted, the Refuge of sinners.” When she appears beside the dying, all evil enemies take to flight. Many a one who was devout to the Mother of God, owed it to her that he was reconciled with God on his death-bed, that he had the last sacraments, or received other supernatural aid. She even appeared in person to several saints. “Mary,” says St. Jerome, “assists her faithful servants in death; she goes to meet them on their way to heaven, she prevails upon the Judge of all men to give them a merciful sentence.”
We speak of ourselves as sinners, to render the Mother of God more inclined to listen to us.
Mary is most ready to interest herself on behalf of sinners; she knows what it cost her divine Son to redeem mankind and restore to our fallen race the graces we had lost. It would seem as if Mary did not estimate at its true value the sacrifice of Christ, if she had no great love for sinners. There is no sinner fallen so low that the Mother of God would not willingly befriend him were he to invoke her aid with a real intention to amend. God has committed judgment to His Son, grace and mercy to His Mother’s hands.
If the Mohammedan three times a day turns his face towards Mecca, and calls upon God and His prophet Mohammed, how much more ought the Christian frequently to look up to heaven during the day, and invoke the divine Redeemer and His blessed Mother.
The words are as follows: (1), The angel of the Lord (the archangel Gabriel) announced unto Mary (the birth of the Saviour), and she conceived of the Holy Spirit (through the operation of the Holy Spirit she became the Mother of Christ); (2), Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word (by these words Mary drew down from above the Son of God); (3), And the Word (the Son of God) was made flesh, and dwelt among us (for thirty-three years He lived on earth).
The custom of ringing the Angelus bell three times a day dates from the period of the crusades (1095).
At first the bell was only rung twice a day, half an hour before sunrise and half an hour after sunset, to call upon the faithful to pray God for the successor of the crusaders’ arms. The midday bell was added about three centuries and a half later. At first the prayer said consisted only of a Pater Noster, afterwards the Ave Maria was added. The manner of ringing three separate times at the interval of about a minute, an Ave Maria being said each time, was introduced later by order of the Holy See, the object of the prayer being to entreat the Mother of God to exterminate the heresies that had arisen. The Angelus as it is now said is of more recent date.
In some places after the evening Angelus the bell sounds again to admonish the faithful to pray for the souls in purgatory.
Pope Clement XII granted an indulgence of one hundred days to all who, hearing the bell, should recite kneeling one Our Father and Hail Mary, with the versicle: “Eternal rest give to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”
The suppliant who prays fervently is wont to repeat over and over again words which come from the depth of the heart. Our Lord did this on Mount Olivet; David in Psalm 135[136], exclaims no less than twenty-seven times “His mercy endureth forever,” and St. Francis of Assisi spent whole nights repeating: “My God and my all.” The devout servants of Mary used to address her frequently in the words of the archangel, adding one Ave Maria to another, as one places roses in a wreath.
1. The Rosary is a prayer in which the Our Father, followed by ten Hail Marys, is repeated five or fifteen times, accompanied by meditation on the life, the Passion, and the exaltation of the Redeemer.280
We begin the Rosary with the Creed and three Hail Marys, for the increase within us of the three theological virtues. While reciting the Rosary everyone must hold his own rosary in his hand, and touch the beads as he says the prayers; but if several persons join in saying it, it is only necessary for one to hold the rosary, in order thereby to regulate the number of the prayers. The Rosary is divided into the joyful, the sorrowful and the glorious mysteries; in the first we honor God the Father Who sent us the Saviour; in the second, God the Son Who redeemed us; in the third God the Holy Spirit, Who sanctifies us.
2. The Rosary owes its origin to St. Dominic.
The hermits of the first centuries, who could not read the psalter, used to recite one Our Father and one Hail Mary in the place of every psalm; and in order to note the number they had said, they made use of small stones, or of seeds strung on a cord. St. Dominic was the first who made the custom general of substituting one hundred and fifty Hail Marys for the one hundred and fifty psalms; hence the rosary used to be called the Psalter of Mary. When, about the year 1200, the heresies of the Albigenses wrought great mischief in the south of France and the north of Italy, St. Dominic was commissioned by the Pope to preach in refutation of their erroneous tenets. His efforts availed little, and he besought the aid of the Mother of God. She appeared to him, and bade him make use of the rosary as a weapon against her enemies. He accordingly introduced it everywhere, and before long it had effected the conversion of more than a hundred thousand heretics. The use of the Rosary soon spread throughout Christendom, and it became a most popular devotion. It is a method of prayer at once simple and sublime; the prayers are so easy that a child can repeat them, and the mysteries are so profound that they supply a subject for meditation to the most learned theologians. It is a prayer of contemplation as well as a prayer of supplication, for it places before the mind the principal truths of the faith. The Rosary is a compendium of the Gospels; a complete and practical manual of instruction wherein the chief points of Christian doctrine are presented under the guise of prayer. By meditation on the events of Our Lord’s life faith and charity are increased; from the example of our divine Redeemer we learn to be humble, gentle, obedient; we are incited to imitate the virtues which the mysteries teach, to strive after what they promise us. Moreover the union of vocal and mental prayer makes the Rosary easy, pleasant, and profitable. As a method of prayer it is unrivalled; the longer and more devoutly it is practiced, the more one appreciates its excellence and becomes convinced of its supernatural origin.
The Rosary is the prayer of the humble, for in it well-known truths are simply stated and constantly repeated. The proud despise it, but God, Who looks down on the low things (Ps. 112[113]:6), approves it. It is an imitation of the angel’s song: we read in Holy Scripture that the angelic choirs cry to one another: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; all the earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6:3). And when we recite the Rosary, we praise the Mother of God in a similar manner. It is beyond a doubt that this form of prayer is most acceptable to the Mother of God, for when she appeared at Lourdes she had a rosary in her hand. Pope Pius IX unhesitatingly asserts that it is her gift to men, and she loves no other prayer as well.
The Rosary is a very treasury of graces. Many sinners owe their conversion to it. It possesses marvelous power to banish sin and restore the transgressor to a state of grace. By it the just grow in virtue. All the saints who have lived subsequently to the institution of the Rosary have been assiduous in its use, and this may have contributed largely to their sanctification. Several holy bishops and servants of God are known to have pledged themselves by vow to recite it daily; St. Charles Borromeo, despite the numerous and pressing duties of his position, recited it every day with the seminarists and the members of his household. Blessed Clement Hofbauer was accustomed to say the Rosary while passing through the streets of Vienna, and rarely did he recite it in vain for the conversion of a sinner. It is recorded of several distinguished officers and victorious commanders that they never engaged in battle without first saying the Rosary, and to this they attributed their military successes. The Rosary has been called “the thermometer of Christianity,” for the reason that where it is diligently recited faith is ardent, and good works are manifest; and where it is neglected religion is at a low ebb. In seasons of general calamity, miraculous aid has been granted to Christendom by means of the Rosary; this was especially the case in wars with the Turks, the victory of Lepanto (1571), the deliverance of Vienna (1683), the victory of Belgrade were all owing to the power of the Rosary. It was said that the beads of the chaplet did more execution than the bullets of the soldiers. It was in thanksgiving for these victories that the Holy See instituted the feast of the Holy Rosary on the first Sunday in October. Pope Sixtus IV declared that many dangers which threatened the world are averted, and the wrath of God is appeased by the prayers of the Rosary. Our Holy Father Leo XIII says that, as in St. Dominic’s time the Rosary proved a sure remedy for the evils of the age, so it may now effect much towards the amelioration of the ills that afflict society. Everyone who recites the Rosary must feel its supernatural power; there is no prayer which affords more consolation in affliction, more tranquility to the troubled breast. It soothes in sorrow, it imparts the peace spoken of in the Gospel. Another proof of its excellence is the hatred and contempt wherewith unbelievers regard it. The devil in cites them to decry what is a fruitful source of grace to the Christian, and by which souls are wrested from his grasp. The Rosary has been richly indulgenced by the Holy See, and the recital of it strongly urged upon the faithful. An indulgence of a hundred days may be gained for every Pater and Ave, if five consecutive decades be said, on a properly indulgenced rosary.281 Our Holy Father Leo XIII has decreed that every day during the month of October, the Rosary, together with the litany of Loretto, be said in church either during the parish Mass, or in the afternoon, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed. For every time of assisting at this devotion seven years and seven quarantines are granted. Pope Pius IX bequeathed, as a legacy to the faithful, this admonition: “Let the Rosary, this simple, beautiful method of prayer, enriched with many indulgences, be habitually recited of an evening in every household. These are my last words to you; the memorial I leave behind me.” Again he said: “In the whole of the Vatican there is no greater treasure than the Rosary.”
THE LITANY OF LORETTO
AND THE SALVE REGINA
The litany of Loretto takes its origin and its name from the place of pilgrimage in Italy, Loretto, where the holy house of Nazareth now stands. In this litany first of all God is called upon for mercy, as in the Kyrie eleison of the Mass. This is followed by the invocation of the most Holy Trinity. Then the Blessed Mother of God is invoked, and her intercession is besought. These invocations may be divided into six groups: (1), The first three invocations express her special prerogatives: her sanctity, her divine maternity, her immaculate virginity; (2), Then her perfections as a Mother are enumerated: Mother of Christ; (3), She is next extolled in virtue of her virginity: Virgin most prudent, etc.; (4), Her glories are then depicted under a number of figures and types: Mirror of justice, etc.; (5), Mary is next shown in her relation to the Church Militant: Health of the sick, etc.; (6), And finally in her relation to the Church triumphant: Queen of angels, etc. At the conclusion of the litany, confiding in the mediation of our Advocate, we appeal to her divine Son, beseeching Him to spare, to hear, to have mercy upon us. Several of the invocations have been added by the Holy See in the course of centuries; for instance, “Help of Christians” after the victory over the Turks; “Queen conceived without original sin,” after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception; and recently, “Queen of the most holy Rosary,” on the introduction of the custom of reciting the Rosary in public during the month of October. An indulgence of three hundred days may be gained for each recital of this litany. The Salve Regina or “Hail, holy Queen,” as it is also called, was composed in 1009 by Blessed Herman, and in 1146 the illustrious St. Bernard added to it the sweet words: “O clement, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary.”
THE PRINCIPAL DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES
1. There are ordinary and extraordinary practices of devotion.
The former take place at regular, appointed times; the latter only on special occasions.
On Sundays and festivals, in all parish churches, one Mass or several Masses, according to the size of the parish and the number of priests, are said one after another, at one of which a short sermon is generally preached. In the afternoon or evening, either the Rosary and a litany are said (the Litany of the Saints, the Litany of the Holy Name, the Litany of Loretto and the Litany of the Sacred Heart are approved by the Holy See for the public services of the Church, no other being allowed without the permission of the bishop); or Vespers are sung, with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. On week-days in almost every parish church a parochial Mass is said daily with afternoon or evening services, consisting generally of the Rosary or some other devotion, and Benediction, on one or more days in the week.
3. Processions, pilgrimages, the Way of the Cross, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and Missions, belong to the extraordinary practices of devotion.282
Christian burial services come under the class of processions, and the Way of the Cross is in fact nothing more or less than visiting the scenes of Our Lord’s Passion at Jerusalem, without leaving our own country.
Processions were customary under the Old Dispensation. We read of the Ark of the Covenant being carried round about the city of Jericho (Joshua 4); of the ark being brought in solemn procession to Mount Sion by King David (2 Sam. 6), and thence transferred to the Temple built by Solomon (1 Kings 8.); Our Lord also made a solemn entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matt. 21).
The ceremonial observed in our Christian processions is intended to portray the truth that we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one to come (Heb. 13:14).283
The procession issues (proceeds, hence the name procession) from the church and returns thither, to show that we must enter the Church on earth if we would reach the Church in heaven. The cross is carried first, because in this life we can never be wholly free from crosses and sufferings, if we follow the maxims of Our Lord. The banners are to remind us that we are warriors, because here below we have constantly to contend against the malignant foe and our own evil proclivities. Those who walk in the procession go two and two, to signify the twofold precept of charity, especially that of charity to our neighbor. The children take the lead, because their greater innocence renders them more pleasing to God; the adults follow, first the men, with the priest in their midst, and finally the women. Processions, if possible, are held in the open air. The prayers recited vary according to the object of the procession; on Rogation days the Litany of the Saints is sung. By rights the men ought to walk bareheaded, but not so the clergy and persons in official dress; this is to show the respect due to authorities both ecclesiastical and civil. In the procession of Corpus Christi all heads are uncovered, by reason of the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
2. The Church holds processions either for the purpose of setting before us more forcibly certain events in the life of Christ, certain doctrines of the faith, or in order to obtain speedy help from God; on these occasions an opportunity is afforded us of testifying in a public manner our faith and our loyalty to the Church.284
The object the Church proposes in setting before us more vividly certain events in Our Lord’s life, or certain doctrines of the faith, is to confirm our beliefs. Processions are a means of obtaining more speedy assistance from on high, because God inclines His ear more readily to petitions offered in common; and experience proves that processions are most efficacious modes of supplication. The processions on Candlemas Day and on Palm Sunday are in remembrance of events in Our Lord’s life; those on Holy Saturday and on the feast of Corpus Christi are illustrative of doctrines of the faith; the processions of St. Mark and of the Rogation days are for the purpose of entreating the divine help.
3. The following processions form part of the ritual of the Church everywhere:
The procession on the feast of the Purification.
At this lighted tapers are carried round the church, because on that day the aged Simeon declared the Child Jesus to be “a light to the revelation of the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32).
The wax tapers are emblematic of Christ, the Light of the world. The wax betokens His manhood, the flame His Godhead; as the light shines forth from the taper, so the divinity of Christ shines forth from His sacred humanity by His teaching and His miracles; and as the taper is consumed, while illuminating all around, so the human nature of Our Lord was sacrificed for the sake of enlightening mankind. Christ is in very truth the Light of the world, since by His teaching He dispels the darkness of ignorance and error.
The procession on Palm Sunday.285
When blessed palms are carried round the church, in memory of the day of Our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
The palm branches borne by the Jews were symbols of victory—the victory that Christ was to gain by His death over the devil, the prince of this world. Our procession is significant of the Christian’s triumphal entry into heaven. The priest knocks three times at the door of the church with the processional cross, then it is opened, to show that only through trials and tribulation can we enter the gate of heaven, and be admitted to the realms of bliss.
The procession on Holy Saturday.
When the Blessed Sacrament is solemnly taken from the place where it was deposited, and borne by the priest, attended by the clergy, back to the high altar.
This procession is significant of our future resurrection. The ceremony ought by rights to take place at daybreak on Easter Day, but as few could then be present, it is anticipated on the eve of the feast.
The procession on the feast of Corpus Christi.286
When the Blessed Sacrament is carried to one or more altars of repose, to testify publicly our faith in the presence of Our Lord in the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar.
The festival of Corpus Christi (the body of Christ) is on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, consequently in the second week after Pentecost, because soon after the descent of the Holy Spirit the apostles began to dispense holy communion to the faithful. This festival was instituted some six centuries ago. It was first celebrated in Belgium, by order of the Bishop of Liège, in consequence of a revelation made to a nun, Blessed Juliana (1250), and shortly after Pope Urban IV decreed that it should be kept throughout the whole Church. In this procession the sacred Host is carried in a monstrance beneath a canopy, flowers are strewn on the way, and censers swung; the altars of repose are beautifully decorated with lights and flowers in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. In some places four altars are erected, and a pause is made at each, and one of the accounts of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament given by the four Evangelists is read. The four altars signify the four quarters of the world. After the reading of the Gospel, a prayer is added for protection against lightning and tempest, and for a good harvest. This solemn ceremony, which is generally terminated by the Te Deum in the church, cannot fail to impress every beholder, and lead the non-Catholic to inquire what it is towards which such profound reverence and veneration is displayed.
The procession on St. Mark’s Day.
When, in Catholic countries, the priest goes out to bless the fields, and prays God to grant the fruits of the earth in due season.
St. Mark is commemorated on the twenty-fifth of April. The procession on this day owes its origin to Pope St. Gregory the Great about the year 600. At the time when the plague raged in Rome, St. Gregory ordered the procession to be held for the purpose of imploring the mercy of God; and immediately after the pestilence was stayed.
The procession on the three Rogation days.
The object of which is to ask of God the blessing of an abundant harvest.
The Rogation days are the three days preceding the ascension of Our Lord. The processions were first introduced by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne in France, about the year 470, at a season when a failure of crops and the damage occasioned by earthquakes had brought about great scarcity and destitution.
In addition to the processions above named, there are local processions held yearly in honor of the patron saint of the place, or to some shrine in the vicinity. Sometimes processions are ordered by the Pope or the bishop of the diocese, as for instance, on occasion of a jubilee, or in seasons of great calamity.
When the bishop visits a church, the clergy go in procession to meet and receive him; processions are also formed at funerals. Prayer is the soul of processions; he who does not go to join in the supplication had better remain at home.
1. Christian burial is a solemn service accompanied by special ceremonies, in which the remains of a departed Catholic are carried in procession to the place of interment.287
As is usual in every procession, the cross is carried first, to denote that our prayers are offered in the name of the crucified Redeemer. The bells are tolled, psalms and funeral hymns are sung.
2. The special ceremonies customary at Christian obsequies are all significant of our prayer that God may have mercy on the soul of the deceased.288
The lighted tapers express the desire that the departed may be admitted into the realms of perpetual light; the holy water sprinkled on the coffin expresses the desire that his soul may be cleansed from sin; the incense that is burned expresses the desire that our prayers on his behalf may ascend to the throne of the Most High, even as the clouds of smoke roll upward. A requiem Mass is generally celebrated at funerals, and sometimes an oration is delivered, to invite the mourners to pray for the departed. If the body is not present, a catafalque occupies the place of the coffin. The ceremonies observed at the obsequies of a child under seven years of age are such as express joy and gladness; white vestments are worn by the priest. The wreaths placed on the coffin are supposed to represent the victor’s crown gained by the departed. The present custom of loading the coffin and covering the grave with costly floral decorations of every size and shape is greatly to be deprecated; it is a waste of money that had far better be given to the poor, or expended on Masses for the repose of the departed. St. Augustine expressly says that unnecessary display should be avoided at funerals. The soul of the departed can surely reap no benefit from what is reprehensible.
3. Christian obsequies are conducted with so much solemnity, because it is well pleasing to God that we should show reverence to the mortal remains of those who have departed this life in the grace of God.289
It is becoming to treat the human body with respect after death, for during our lifetime our bodies are sacred, as being the abode and instrument of the soul which is made to God’s image. They are also the temple of the Holy Spirit, and to be held in honor for God’s sake. Moreover the burial of the dead is a work of mercy which is not without its reward. Remember how Tobias acted. In the early days of Christianity persons of the highest position, even Popes, did not consider it demeaning themselves to carry the remains of the martyrs in their arms to the graves, and bury them with their own hands. In the days of persecution the place of burial was in the Catacombs, where the holy sacrifice was offered. Hence it came to pass that in later times the dead were buried in the crypts of churches, or in the ground surrounding the church, which is called the churchyard. This custom is now abolished, on sanitary grounds, cemeteries being situated on the outskirts of towns for the most part. An exaggerated idea as to the unhealthiness of intramural sepulture has contributed to the introduction of the unnatural and pagan custom of cremation. No danger to the living may be apprehended from the proximity of a burial-ground, provided the graves are of a proper depth, for earth is known to be the best possible disinfectant.
4. Cremation is condemned by the Church as being an abominable abuse.290
Originally the custom of interring the dead in the ground was common to all nations, for the most ancient human remains that have been discovered bear no signs of having been subjected to fire. Vaults containing skeletons have also been met with, closed by a slab of stone. We know that the Jews buried their dead; Holy Scripture constantly speaks of the burial of kings and prophets. That his corpse should be left unburied was a chastisement threatened to the transgressor (Deut. 28:26). Only during a time of pestilence were the Jews allowed to burn individual corpses (Amos 6:10). The Romans in earlier times buried their dead. Cicero tells us that their graves were considered as sacred, and the profanation of a tomb was severely punished, even by the loss of a hand. Bodies were often deposited in sarcophagi, where they were reduced to dust. Pliny records that the Romans only burned their dead when they feared they might be outraged by the enemy. In later times when manners became corrupt, cremation was practiced among them. The custom of embalming the dead prevailed among the Egyptians. It is a noteworthy fact that all barbarous nations, who in an uncivilized state burned their dead, substituted the grave for the funeral pyre as soon as civilization shed its light in their land. Christianity did, in fact, abolish cremation. But in these days, when Christian faith is on the decrease, cremation is once more becoming the fashion. St. Augustine denounces the practice as horrible and barbarous. It offends our Christian instincts. For we are taught to regard death as a sleep; the dead sleep in Christ (1 Cor. 15:18), for they will rise again; they are laid to rest in peace, and the idea of the repose they enjoy is connected with the churchyard, not with the crematorium. When we commit our dead to the kindly earth, we tacitly express our belief that our body is like a seed, which is cast into the ground, to germinate and spring up. “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:42). As Christians we have a higher esteem for the soul, which partakes of the divine nature, and consequently for the body, which is the servant and tool of the soul. No true Christian can fail to shrink from the horrors of cremation; only those who are lost to all sense of the dignity of human nature, to all belief in the truths of religion, can desire it for themselves. Let us remember that Christ, our great Exemplar, was laid in the tomb and rose again. For pagans such considerations naturally have no weight; they disliked the sight of the sepulchral monument, the mound raised over the dead, because it reminded them of death, which would put an end to their earthly enjoyments. For the same reason unbelievers in our own day advocate cremation. Burial suggests to them too strongly the immortality of the soul, whereas cremation appears to promise the annihilation that they desire as their portion after death. Yet let no one imagine that the Christian dreads the destruction of the body by fire as an impediment to its future resurrection, for God can effect the reintegration of the body after it has been dissolved into gaseous elements. In the interests of justice destruction of the body by fire is highly reprehensible, since, if a body is buried, it can be afterwards exhumed if this is necessary for the detection of a crime, such as murder. By this means many a murderer has been brought to justice; after cremation this is impossible. Those therefore who speak in favor of cremation befriend criminals, inasmuch as they aid in the removal of all traces of their crime.
5. Christian burial is denied to the unbaptized, to non-Catholics, and to Catholics who are known to have died in mortal sin.291
Catholics to whom Christian burial is denied are: Suicides (unless they are insane at the time of death and therefore irresponsible); duellists, and any persons who obstinately refuse to receive the last sacraments, or who have not for years past fulfilled the Easter precept. In the two last cases the matter is generally laid before the bishop. The denial of Christian burial to bad Catholics is not intended as a sentence of damnation, but merely as the public expression of abhorrence of their sin, and for the purpose of deterring others from falling into the same sin. An association would be little thought of if one of its members followed to the grave a fellow-member who had been a disgrace to that society; so it would be derogatory to the Church and her ministers if she were to celebrate the obsequies of an unfaithful Catholic. The Church also refuses ecclesiastical burial to non-Catholics, because she holds to the principle expressed by Pope Innocent III in the words: “It is impossible for us to hold communion after their death with those who have not been in communion with us during their life. To do so would give rise to the idea that all religions were alike. It would destroy the prestige of the Church, and injure the souls of men. The maxim of the Church is that the ground she has consecrated is the last resting-place of her children, and none but members of her family have a right to be interred therein.” Yet she permits non-Catholic relatives to be laid in a family vault. For suicides a portion of the cemetery which has not been consecrated is set apart.
1. Pilgrimages are journeys made to sacred places, to petition God for miraculous assistance.292
The Jews were accustomed to make pilgrimages; on the three principal solemnities of the year, the Paschal feast, the feast of Weeks, and the feast of Tabernacles, all the men had to go up to the Temple at Jerusalem. Thus we read that Our Lord, when twelve years old, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Luke 2:41).293
The principal places of pilgrimage in the Holy Land are: The scene of the crucifixion and the holy sepulcher on Calvary at Jerusalem; the place where Christ was born in Bethlehem, and the place of the annunciation at Nazareth.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is situated on Mount Calvary; it consists of three separate churches, called respectively the Church of the Crucifixion, the Church of the Ascension, and that of the Invention of the True Cross; all are under one roof. The early Christians journeyed thither in great numbers; in order to deter them from doing this, the Emperor Hadrian erected a heathen temple in the holy places, about one hundred years after Our Lord’s death. About the year 325 the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, discovered the cross of Christ; this gave a fresh impetus to the pilgrimages. The Emperor Charlemagne erected a hospice close to the Holy Sepulcher for the accommodation of pilgrims to Jerusalem. In the ninth century the Saracens conquered the Holy Land; the crusades undertaken to recover it from them were nothing less than heroic pilgrimages. In the fifteenth century pilgrimages to the Holy Land again became frequent, but in Luther’s time the number of those whose piety prompted them to undertake what was then a long and toilsome journey greatly diminished.
The principal places of pilgrimage in honor of the holy apostles are: The tomb of the princes of the apostles in Rome, and the tomb of St. James at Compostella.
The remains of St. Peter rest in the Church of St. Peter in Rome, the largest church in Christendom, of world-wide renown; it was a hundred and ten years in building, and was finished in 1626. The remains of St. Paul are laid in the church dedicated to him outside the walls of the city.
Some of the principal places of pilgrimage sacred to the Mother of God are: Lourdes in France, Loretto in Italy, Maria-Zell in Hungary, Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Altötting in Bavaria, Kevelaer in the Rhineland.
Lourdes is situated in the south of France on the slope of the Pyrenees. It was there that, in 1858, the Mother of God appeared in a grotto to a little peasant girl named Bernadette, and intimated to her her desire that a church should be built on the spot, and that pilgrims should go thither in procession. Our Lady proclaimed herself to be the Immaculate Conception. From that time forward a spring has flowed out of the grotto, the water of which has been the means of healing thousands of sick persons. No less than one hundred and twenty thousand bottles of this water are annually sent out into all parts of the world; and the number of pilgrims who visit the shrine can only be counted by millions. They come from the remotest quarters of the world. Loretto in Ancona has, since 1295, possessed the holy house of Nazareth, where our blessed Lady lived. This lowly house was seen in the year 1252 by St. Louis in Nazareth; forty years later it suddenly appeared at Tersato in Dalmatia; thence it was miraculously transferred to Ancona, and finally found a permanent resting-place at Loretto. There is no doubt that it was carried to these various spots by the angels. An altar which was miraculously conveyed thither at the same time, is supposed to be that upon which St. Peter offered the holy sacrifice. The statue of Our Lady which stands on that altar, carved in cedar-wood, three feet in height, is said to be the work of St. Luke. A spacious church has been erected over the holy house; copies of the latter have been made, and are seen in several places. At Loretto Pope Pius in his youth was cured of apoplexy. The most eminent saints are known to have made pilgrimages thither; and the number of pilgrims who visit it yearly is computed at five hundred thousand. The place of pilgrimage known as Maria-Zell owes its origin to the Benedictine monks. About the commencement of the thirteenth century attention was attracted to it by the miracles wrought there. King Louis I of Hungary built a large church at Maria-Zell, in thanksgiving for the victory he gained over the Turks in 1363, with an army immensely inferior in numbers, which he attributed to the intercession of Our Lady. Einsiedeln was originally the humble dwelling of the hermit St. Meinrad, a priest and Benedictine, a scion of the house of Hohenzollern. In 861 he was slain in his forest solitude by robbers; later on a church was built on the site of his hermitage, in which an ancient and venerated image of Our Lady was preserved. While the bishop who came to consecrate the church was watching in the sacred edifice during the night preceding the appointed day, he beheld Our Lord Himself perform the ceremony, attended by saints and angels, amid the chanting of celestial choirs. In consequence of this vision, both he, and his successors in the see, with the Papal sanction, desisted from any attempt to consecrate the church. This circumstance, together with the canonization of Meinrad, whose remains were interred at Einsiedeln, and the numerous miracles which were wrought there, brought the spot into great repute as a pilgrimage. During the French revolution the church was burned down, the miraculous image alone escaping injury. The shrine at Altötting dates from a somewhat earlier period, the church having been built by St. Rupert, the Apostle of Bavaria, in 700. A Benedictine monastery was afterwards erected there. Thousands of pilgrims visits the shrine. That of Kevelaer on the Rhine was built in 1642 by a citizen of Geldern, who while at prayer heard a voice commanding him to raise a sanctuary in honor of Our Lady. The number of pilgrims, principally from the adjacent country, who annually visit Kevelaer is also very great.
When Dom Bosco was cruelly persecuted on account of his efforts to instruct the neglected youth of Turin, and he was at a loss what course to pursue, he made a pilgrimage, and obtained the aid he sought in an unexpected and marvelous manner. God hears our petitions more quickly in places of pilgrimage; they are the audience chamber of the King of kings; there graces are lavishly bestowed. Many sick persons make a vow to undertake a pilgrimage if they are restored to health; the number of ex votos on the walls of these sanctuaries afford evidence of the frequency with which suppliants obtain their cure.
4. A visit to some place of pilgrimage leads many to a complete amendment of life.
The pilgrim on his way to a shrine forgets his worldly cares, and is more diligent in prayer; when he arrives at his destination he makes his confession to a strange priest, and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, makes perhaps a better confession. Pilgrimages are works of penance; they are fatiguing and often expensive. They are also public professions of faith, for no one would undertake them without deep religious convictions. Thus many actual graces are obtained by the devout pilgrim. In former times they were frequently enjoined as penances; sometimes indeed they were abused, and made occasions of sinning more freely, hence the saying: “The more of a pilgrim, the less of a saint.” But what is in itself good must not be rejected because it is sometimes abused; who would condemn the use of wine, because occasionally a man gets drunk? St. Jerome says: “It is no great praise to have seen Jerusalem, but it is very great praise to have offered pious and devout prayers within its walls.”
It is said that the Way of the Cross owes its origin to the Mother of God.
Tradition says that the Blessed Mother of God was wont often to walk in the steps of her Son to Calvary, pausing at the spots marked by some special incident. The early Christians flocked in crowds to the holy places to follow the Via Crucis. But when, in the Middle Ages, the Holy Land fell into the hands of the infidels, and the devout pilgrim could only visit the scenes of Our Lord’s sufferings at the risk of his life, the stations were erected in churches, and enriched by the Popes with large indulgences. St. Francis of Assisi contributed greatly to spread this devotion.
1. The Way of the Cross is the name given to the fourteen stations which depict the way along which Our Redeemer passed, bearing His cross, from Pilate’s palace to Mount Calvary.294
The fourteen stations consist of fourteen wooden crosses, to which pictures and inscriptions are generally added. They are erected in churches, sometimes in the open air, on the slope of a hill; occasionally in cemeteries.
It is not necessary to go from station to station in the church if one stands up and kneels down as every station is being made. It is enough to meditate on the Passion in general, without making a special meditation at each station. An Our Father, Hail Mary, and an act of contrition are generally recited at every one.
Daily meditation on the Passion of Christ is more profitable than fasting every Friday in the year on bread and water, or taking the discipline to blood. A single tear shed in compassion for Our Lord’s sufferings is of greater value in God’s sight than a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We learn how acceptable meditation on His Passion is to Our Lord, from the revelations of St. Bridget. Our Lord once appeared to her, with blood streaming from all His wounds. She asked what had reduced Him to this pitiable condition? He answered: “It is the doing of those who never consider the great love I manifested towards them by all I suffered upon the cross.” It was as a continual memorial of His Passion that Our Lord instituted the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The same indulgences are granted for making the Way of the Cross as for visiting the corresponding places in the Holy Land. What the indulgences are we do not know precisely; let us be content to know that they are great and numerous; they can however only be gained once in the day. The wooden crosses must be blessed by a Franciscan, or some priest who has the requisite powers, and the stations must be visited without any break. The Way of the Cross is a means of obtaining the grace of contrition. As the Israelites who were bitten by the fiery serpents were healed by looking upon the brazen serpent, so sinners are healed of the deadly wound of sin by frequent meditation on the Passion of Christ. The Way of the Cross is also an incentive to the practice of virtue. The saints often tell us that meditation on Our Lord’s Passion imparts strength to suffer not merely with patience, but with joy. Our arrogance, our avarice, our anger will be cured by the humility, the poverty, the patience of the Son of God. If, O man, you would progress from virtue to virtue, contemplate with all possible devotion the sufferings of your Lord, for this is most conducive to sanctity.
The hindrances must be of a sufficient nature, such as long distance from a church, sickness, etc. The cross for performing the stations at home must be of strong material, with the figure of the Saviour attached to it, and must have been duly blessed for the purpose. The indulgences are not gained if the crucifix is not the property of the individual using it; but if several persons perform the devotion together, it is enough for one to hold in his hand the cross. For the sick it suffices to take the cross in the hand and make an act of contrition. The Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father are recited fourteen times for the fourteen stations, five times in honor of the five wounds of Our Lord and once for the Holy Father. If the cross has boon blessed by a Redemptionist the prayers need only be repeated fourteen times.
EXPOSITION OF THE MOST
HOLY SACRAMENT
1. The solemn exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament consists in placing the sacred Host in a monstrance, unveiled, at some height above the altar for the adoration of the faithful.295
In the early ages of Christianity the Blessed Sacrament was concealed as much as possible from sight, lest the unbaptized might conceive contempt for the Christian mysteries. Public exposition was not introduced until after the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi. The number of lighted tapers must not be less than twelve. The mere opening of the tabernacle is not a solemn exposition; every parish priest may do that on his own authority.
The home missions are quite distinct from foreign missions; they are held for the most part, by Religious, the Jesuit, Redemptorist, or Lazarist Fathers, who are specially trained for the work, since the constitutions of their Order specify giving missions as part of the duties of their calling. These missions effect an immense amount of good. Being something out of the common, they make more impression on the parishioners, and the sermons coming close upon one another, exercise a potent and gentle influence on the heart, as a soft spring rain does upon the dry soil. The Holy Spirit speaking through the mouth of His servants imparts to their words an unction calculated to soften the hardest heart. Many persons also make their confession more freely to a priest who is a complete stranger to them. Missions are generally seasons of grace to a parish; how many feuds are ended, disputes settled, bad habits eradicated; how often is restitution made of property wrongfully acquired, how many souls are won for God, sinners converted and just persons incited to progress in virtue!
2. Retreats have much the same effect as missions.
Retreats, or the spiritual exercises, consist of a series of discourses and religious services held in convents or any other place, for a certain class of persons, whether priests, teachers, or men and women living in the world. The retreat ends with the reception of the sacraments. The exercises, which require the retreatant to labor with greater fervor at the work of his salvation, conduce signally to quicken faith and inspire morals. A clock, although it is wound up daily, after a time needs to be cleaned and repaired; it is the same with the soul, it must ever and anon be stimulated to increased exertion by the spiritual exercises. The saints were wont to withdraw into solitude for a time; Our Lord Himself spent forty days in the desert. The Holy See has frequently urged upon the faithful to make diligent use of the spiritual exercises.
CATHOLIC CONGRESSES AND PASSION PLAYS
Catholic congresses and Passion plays contribute largely in the present day to the revival of faith in Christendom.
These congresses are either general or provincial, according as the Catholics of a whole kingdom or only of a single State take part in them.
Ever since the year 1848 the Catholics of Germany have held annual congresses in one or other of the chief towns of the land. In other countries their example has been followed; general congresses are now a common occur-rence both on the continent of Europe and also in England and the United States of America. Provincial meetings of a local interest are also frequently held in various places.
The object of Catholic congresses is not in any wise to control or take part in the government of the Church, but only to support those whose office it is to govern her.
The bishops alone possess authority to rule the Church of God. Hence those who proposed and arranged these assemblies of Catholics, remembering the saying of St. Ignatius of Antioch: “Let nothing be done without the bishop,” took no steps without previously obtaining the sanction and blessing of the Holy Father and of the bishops on their scheme. Nor have these congresses ever interfered with the direction of ecclesiastical matters; they have merely been instrumental in carrying out Christian principles; their members are a militia under episcopal command. Consequently the bishops have always highly approved of congresses and attended them in person.
These public meetings of Catholics are of great utility to the Church; they have been instrumental in founding sodalities adapted to meet the needs of the day, in promoting unity and concord among Catholics, in inspiring them with courage and confirming their convictions, in increasing the prestige of the Church, and gaining for her greater liberty of action.
Everyone who has been present at a Catholic congress will have perceived what enthusiasm is evoked by the forcible addresses of the different speakers, how faith is kindled inwardly and manifested outwardly. And from the remarks of the anti-Catholic press, it may be seen how these congresses win respect even from the enemies of the Church by their vigorous protests and energetic action. The work of these congresses has been said to be to pull down the edifice of modern paganism stone by stone, and raise in its place a noble basilica.
In the Middle Ages, before the invention of printing had placed Holy Scripture within the reach of the people, it was customary to present to their view the chief events of Our Lord’s life in theatric representations. For instance, St. Francis of Assisi obtained the Papal permission to construct a stable of brushwood and moss in the midst of a pine-wood. In it he placed a real manger in which was laid an image of the divine Infant, while figures representing Mary and Joseph stood beside it. A real ox and an ass were tied up to a stall outside the stable; inside an altar was erected, at which at midnight the Christmas Mass was solemnly celebrated, St. Francis serving as deacon, to the great edification of the crowds who flocked from all parts round to witness the unwonted spectacle. From that time forth the custom of making a crib in churches began to prevail. In the Middle Ages, pains were taken to make representations of this description as picturesque and true to nature as possible; scenes from the life of Our Lord or other scriptural personages were represented on the stage in tableaux. The subject of these religious dramas or miracle-plays as they were called, was generally adapted to the season of the ecclesiastical year in which they were performed. At first they were enacted in the church, the actors speaking in Latin; later on they were given in the open air, and the vernacular was used. In the fourteenth century these sacred dramas were customary in almost every village in France and Germany, but owing to abuses having arisen, they were strictly prohibited by the Holy See. In 1633 they were however revived at Oberammergau, in Bavaria, in consequence of a vow made by the inhabitants to perform a Passion play every ten years if they were delivered from a pestilence which was ravaging the village. This Passion play, as well as two others in the Tyrol, has acquired a world-wide renown. It is performed with wonderful skill by the peasants, and in a spirit of heartfelt piety and recollection. Experience proves that far from being, as some allege, a profanation of holy things, the representation of the solemn scenes of Our Lord’s sacred Passion has the effect of impressing and touching the spectators, inspiring feelings of devotion, and elevating the heart so that the actors are forgotten in the entrancing interest of the scenes enacted. Besides, the gracious answer to the petition of the people of Oberammergau ought to silence the objector, for that cannot he reprehensible of which God manifests His approval in so signal a manner.
The Church makes use of religious associations as a further means of promoting the salvation of souls.
In the present day, when the enemies of the Church are so numerically strong, it behooves her loyal children to form, as it were, into ranks, and with united forces to withstand the foe. Only in this wise can victory be ensured. “Few men,” says Mirabeau, “acting conjointly, can make a hundred thousand isolated individuals tremble.” This language may appear somewhat exaggerated, but there is much truth in it. Union is strength. We cannot raise a weight with a single thread; but a twisted cord is not easily broken.
Religious associations have much the same aim as secular associations; the object of the latter is to promote their own earthly advantage or the public weal; that of the former to promote in the first place their own spiritual interests or those of their fellow-men, and for the most part, as a secondary consideration, the temporal welfare of their neighbor.
Confraternities are, as a rule, exclusively for purposes of devotion; charitable societies are for the relief of the spiritual and temporal needs of others.
Thus the members of confraternities make their own spiritual advancement their primary aim, while charitable societies seek the good of their neighbor. Religious societies have nothing to do with politics; but friendly intercourse and innocent amusements are encouraged as a means of promoting the main object of the association, and preventing the members from taking part in undesirable dissipation.
In all that concerns religion, the Church has exclusive right over confraternities and sodalities. Only the bishop, or the general of an Order has power to erect them; and their rules must be submitted to him for approval, unless they have been already approved by the Holy See. To the bishop it belongs to direct the devotional exercises of the confraternity, to prohibit anything peculiar or extraordinary. It is for him to prescribe the manner in which funds are to be raised, and how they are to be expended when collected. He can attend their meetings or send someone to represent him; he can also appoint the parish priest to be director of the confraternity. It is also necessary to obtain ecclesiastical sanction for the forming of charitable societies.
Our Holy Father, Leo XIII, in his encyclicals of 1884 and 1891, expressed high approval of religious associations, especially of the Society of St. Vincent of Paul, and the guilds of artisans and workingmen. Pope Pius IX says they are an army set in battle array, to combat the adversaries of the faith, not with the clash of arms, but with the silent weapons of prayer. Confraternities may be compared to Noah’s ark, because persons living in the world seek in them a refuge from the rising tide of crime and corruption. The members of these confraternities, as a rule, lead a more devout and well-ordered life than the rest of the world. They are not as apt to neglect prayer, because their rule prescribes certain prayers to be recited daily; they approach the sacraments more frequently, because days are marked for them on which a plenary indulgence may be gained; they learn obedience because they submit to the decisions of their director. They spend more time in religious exercises than in running after excitement and worldly amusements, and the observance of the regulations cultivates in them a salutary habit of self-restraint. They tend to keep up a high standard of faith and morals in the parish to which they belong, and by their good example lead others to frequent the sacraments. They assist in the diffusion of good and useful books; they all contribute their mite for ecclesiastical purposes; for the most part, they discharge the obligations of their calling with conscientious regularity, and the parish priest often finds them a great help in the duties of this office. And if some members give scandal, the rules of the confraternity are not to blame, but the neglect of them; and it must be remembered that cockle always grows among the wheat. Charitable societies are also most useful. Through combined action with those who are likeminded with themselves, the members are encouraged to profess their faith openly and carry into practice the maxims of the Gospel, and be ready to take part in all good works. It is remarked that in parishes where there are no confraternities or sodalities, religion is generally at a low ebb.
5. There is this advantage in such associations, that the rules enjoining the performance of certain good works are not binding under pain of sin.
St. Francis de Sales was a member of several confraternities; he gave as a reason for this that one might gain much from them, and lose nothing. However, if the rules are not observed, the indulgences and graces are lost; this is often the case if one joins too many confraternities. Let no one think it is a mark of predestination to be inscribed in the books of a number of societies, for by a holy life alone can we hope for heaven.
6. Third Orders are, however, in every way more important than ordinary religious associations.
The Third Order is not to be classed with confraternities, as it is affiliated to one of the great monastic Orders. “The religious state,” says St. Alphonsus, “is preferable to all the dignities and riches of the world.”
THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS
After St. Francis of Assisi had already founded the Orders of the Friars Minor and of the Poor Clares, he was requested by a wealthy Italian merchant to furnish him with a rule, by following which he would be enabled to lead a holy life, although his calling obliged him to hold constant intercourse with men of the world. The saint gave him a rule, which was soon adopted by other persons. Thus the Third Order of St. Francis originated about the year 1220. Its members lived in the world and wore a gray habit fastened round the waist by a cord. This Third Order was, with some alterations, confirmed by the Holy See, and spread rapidly throughout Christendom. It is intended for those who live in the world and are not of the world.
Tertiaries, i.e., members of the Third Order, wear a small scapular under their upper garment, as a part of the religious dress, and a cord as a girdle, a token of penance. These things are given to the postulant when he is clothed; no one is admitted before the completion of the fourteenth year of his age; he must also be of good morals and a peaceful disposition. After a year of probation, he is professed; that is he takes a solemn promise to keep the law of God and the rule of the Order with all fidelity. The director of the Third Order is a Franciscan monk, appointed to the office by the general of the Franciscan Order. This post, which gives power to receive new members, to give dispensations, to examine aspirants, to exercise supervision over the professed, may also be filled by a secular priest, appointed by the provincial. In every parish there is a Zelator, whose duty it is to see that the members live conformably to the spirit of the rule.
The obligations of the rule are very light. They were considerably mitigated in 1883 by Pope Leo XIII and adapted to the requirements of the times. The rule enjoins upon the tertiaries: “To obey God’s commandments and the precepts of the Church; to avoid faction and quarrelling, to observe moderation in food, drink and clothing; to avoid luxury, to refrain as far as they can from the dangerous seductions of dances and the theatre.” They are also required to fast on the eve of the feast of St. Francis and of the Immaculate Conception, to approach the sacraments every month, to recite twelve Paters, Aves and Glorias daily, to hear Mass, if possible, every day, to attend the monthly meetings, to assist those of their fellow-members who are sick or destitute, and to pray for deceased members. Anyone who is unable to perform one or more of these obligations can be dispensed. Special privileges are conceded to priests.
They can gain a plenary indulgence, on the ordinary conditions, once a month on any day they may choose, on the day of the monthly meeting, besides some other days, and in the hour of death. Once a month, by reciting six Pater Nosters, Ave Marias and Glorias, they may obtain the indulgences of the holy places in Rome, Jerusalem, Compostella and the Portiuncula. These, and many other rich indulgences attached to various prayers and good works, are all applicable to the souls in Purgatory.296 Every Mass said for a departed member has the indulgence of a privileged altar. The Third Order enjoys the benefit of the intercession of many eminent saints belonging to the Order, especially that of their holy father, St. Francis; the members are all assisted by the prayers of the numerous saints of the Franciscan Order and of the Poor Clares before the throne of God.
5. The Third Order has counted among its members many distinguished personages and eminent saints.
It would be impossible to enumerate in these pages the crowned heads, the saints and servants of God whose names are familiar to all Christians, who have been enrolled in the Third Order of St. Francis. Our Holy Father Leo XIII is, and his predecessor in the Chair of Peter was, a tertiary of this Order. “If this Order were once more to flourish among us as it did in days of yore,” are the words of our Holy Father, “the lawless greed for temporal things would be weakened, men would obey their lawful rulers, they would learn to conquer their natural propensities to evil, they would outrage no one’s rights, and the relations between rich and poor would be satisfactorily arranged.” By means of the Third Order of St. Francis the kingdom of God would triumph upon earth, and the kingdom of Satan be overthrown.
THE MORE WIDESPREAD CONFRATERNITIES
No confraternity can be established in a parish without the permission of the bishop; affiliation to an archconfraternity is also necessary.
The members of this confraternity are required to recite one Our Father and Hail Mary daily with the invocation: “St. Francis Xavier, pray for us!” and to pay a small weekly or monthly sum. Among the indulgences granted to the members of this confraternity, the principal is a plenary indulgence on any two days in the month which they may choose, and one in the hour of death. This work was founded in 1822 in Lyons, where it still has its centre. The contributions amount to nearly two million dollars annually, half of which sum is collected in France, chiefly from the working classes. In the course of forty years no less than one hundred and fifty episcopal sees have been erected in different parts of the world and millions of heathen have been converted to the faith of Christ. Some say: “There are plenty of poor at home.” Let these remember that there is no work so meritorious as one which contributes to the salvation of souls, or one to which such abundant blessings are promised.
The members of this association are required to recite a Hail Mary daily, with the prayer: “O Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us and for the unhappy heathen children.” No one is admitted into this association who is not under twenty-one years of age. Oftentimes a mother will enroll her child in this con-fraternity, and herself perform the obligations attached to it; thus by helping to rescue an unknown child from eternal destruction, she obtains a special blessing for her own offspring. This association was originally founded in China, where sickly children or those of whom their parents would fain be rid, are ruthlessly exposed and left to perish.
The members of this association are required to recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary and the Creed daily for the intentions of the Holy Father, and to contribute not less than twenty-five cents yearly to the Peter’s Pence. This confraternity is under the protection of the archangel St. Michael. A plenary indulgence is granted to the members in the hour of death.
4. The object of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament is the adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
In the present day the Confraternity of the Perpetual Adoration is being widely propagated. Each member pledges himself to spend an hour every month in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The members watch in turn, generally on Sundays or holydays. The chief indulgences are a plenary indulgence once a month, the day being optional; on the first Thursday in the month; on the feast of Corpus Christi or in the octave; on the five principal feasts of Our Lady, besides other festivals, and in the hour of death. It is meet that Our Lord, present under the eucharistic veils, should be perpetually adored. Just as there is no hour of the day or night in which in some place on earth the holy sacrifice is not offered, and as in heaven the hosts of angels and the company of the redeemed unceasingly sing the Tersanctus, so it is right that on earth the ascription of praise should incessantly resound: “O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.” In addition to the Confraternity of Perpetual Adoration there are besides in every town, tabernacle or altar societies, the object of which is to honor the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar by doing the sacristy work, and providing altar linen, vestments, etc., for poor churches. Each member of these societies pledges herself to spend an hour in church every month in watching before the Blessed Sacrament.
The members of this confraternity are required to recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Creed daily, with the prayer: “O sweetest Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love thee more and more;” they are moreover to approach the sacraments every month, if possible on the first Sunday or Friday of the month; to keep the feast of the Sacred Heart (on the Friday or Sunday after the octave of Corpus Christi) with all solemnity, and to pray for the members of the association both living and dead. Many rich indulgences are attached to this confraternity; among others, an indulgence of sixty days is granted for every good work performed during the day. In order to belong to this confraternity, it is not necessary that it should be erected in the place where one lives; anyone who is once enrolled can gain all the indulgences by complying with the obligations imposed on the members. When Our Lord appeared to Blessed Mary Alacoque,. He made known to her the great and abundant graces vouchsafed to all who honor His Sacred Heart with particular devotion.
6. The object of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary is to promote the devotion of the Rosary.
To form the “living rosary” fifteen individuals unite every month to apportion among themselves (generally by drawing lots) the fifteen decades of the Rosary; each one recites the decade which falls to his share daily throughout the month; thus between them they recite the whole Rosary every day. This confraternity is under the direction of the Dominicans. A plenary indulgence may be gained by the members on the third Sunday of every month, on Trinity Sunday, on the principal feasts of Our Lord and of His blessed Mother. The recitation of the Rosary is also indulgenced in a special manner. The Con-fraternity of the Holy Rosary was established in the lifetime of St. Dominic; the members are required to recite all the fifteen decades of the Rosary every week, but not all on one and the selfsame day. This confraternity is affiliated to the Dominican Order; its members share in the good works of the whole Order, and are placed under the special protection of Our Lady. A plenary indulgence is granted on the first Sunday of the month, on all feasts of Our Lady, on the three great festivals of the Church, and in the hour of death.297
This confraternity was founded in 1250 by St. Simon Stock, then general of the Carmelite Order. The Mother of God appeared to him and gave him a scapular, with the promise that everyone who wore it, and lived piously, should escape eternal death, should experience her protection in seasons of danger, and should be speedily released from purgatory. An aspirant will be admitted into the confraternity by a priest who has the necessary faculties from the provincial of the Carmelites; his name will be entered in the register of the confraternity and the scapular hung round his neck. This scapular consists of two small pieces of brown cloth, fastened together by braid, so that one piece hangs on the breast, the other on the back; this must be worn night and day. Members of the Third Order of Mount Carmel are obliged to recite the little office of Our Lady (which may, if necessary, be commuted to a certain number of Paters and Aves), to fast on every Friday throughout the year, besides other specified days; to make a daily meditation of at least half an hour, and observe certain other rules. Plenary indulgences may be gained by members of the confraternity on all the festivals of Our Lady, and on days when the principal saints of the Order are commemorated, on the usual conditions, with a visit, if possible, to a church or chapel of the Order. There are four other scapulars: that of the Holy Trinity, of the seven dolors, of the Immaculate Conception, and of the Passion. The five are often worn all together. For each of these certain prayers are prescribed to be repeated daily. Our blessed Lady acts towards her children as Rebecca did to her favorite son Jacob; she arrayed him in the garments of his brother Esau, in order that he might obtain the blessing of his father; so Mary clothes us with the scapular, the livery of her divine Son, to render us acceptable in the sight of our heavenly Father and obtain for us His benediction.
The members of this confraternity are bound to have a Mass said once every year for the intention of their fellow-members, that the one who is the next to die may have a happy death, and those who are already gone before may experience a mitigation of the pains of purgatory. They are also exhorted to approach the sacraments frequently, to entertain a special devotion to the Immaculate Conception, to St. Joseph, the patron of a good death, and often to make acts of the theological virtues and of contrition. This confraternity is very richly indulgenced. For every visit to a sick person, twenty years; for every meditation of half-an-hour’s length, sixty years; for every visit to a church, seven years, etc. All these indulgences are applicable to the souls in purgatory.
9. The object of the Confraternity of the Holy Spirit is to beseech the Holy Spirit to multiply the number of priests, and enlighten them with His divine light.
The members of this confraternity are required to repeat daily seven Glorias and one Ave for this intention, also to make a novena before Pentecost and receive the sacraments frequently. Among other indulgences they may gain one hundred days for every good work they perform, a plenary indulgence at Pentecost and on the Annunciation (or in the octaves of these feasts) and in the hour of death.
This is a league of prayers in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Apostleship of Prayer is not a confraternity or sodality, but a pious organization, whose object is to give an apostolic character and power to all our prayers, work, and sufferings. This object it attains by the union of its members with the unceasing pleading of the Sacred Heart in the sacrifice of the Mass: and this union is effected by the morning offering, which constitutes the First Degree of the Apostleship of Prayer and the only essential duty of its members. The morning offering is thus worded: “O Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer Thee the prayers, work, and sufferings of this day in union with the intentions of Thy Divine Heart in the holy Mass.”
Two things are necessary for membership:
(1), Registration of one’s name by a local director in an affiliated centre; (2), A certificate of admission. Centres are affiliated by diplomas from the director general (a father of the Society of Jesus, residing at Toulouse, France) and transmitted to them by the diocesan directors, whom, with the license and in accordance with the nomination of the Ordinary, he has appointed for that purpose. The second degree consists in the daily recital of one Our Father and ten Hail Marys for the monthly intention approved by the Holy Father; and the third degree in offering a communion of atonement to the Sacred Heart, once a week, or at least once a month on a day or days fixed by arrangement with a promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer. The organ of the association is called “The Messenger of the Sacred Heart,” published by the authorized editors in various countries under the direction of the director general. There are thirty-seven distinct editions of the Messenger. The members of the Apostleship of Prayer in the whole world number some twenty to thirty millions.
Charitable societies are the best embodiments of God’s second precept of charity
The work of the active members of this society is to visit the poor in their own dwellings, to assist them with money and the necessaries of life, and to make use of every means to ameliorate their moral and spiritual condition. They also collect voluntary donations and subscriptions from those who are interested in the work. Conferences of the members are held every week, as a rule, for consultation respecting the most necessitous cases and the most necessary works of mercy. For visiting the poor, for every alms distributed to them, as well as for everything that is done in their service, a large indulgence is granted.298 This society was started in Paris in 1830 by eight students, after imploring the help and guidance of St. Vincent of Paul, whose remains rest in the Church of St. Lazare. It has spread with astonishing rapidity throughout all the countries of Europe, and it is impossible to estimate the amount of good effected by its means.
3. The Society of St. Raphael, instituted for the purpose of affording counsel and protection to German subjects emigrating to America.
It is not intended to encourage and promote emigration; on the contrary, many persons are deterred from it, and the intending emigrant is warned of the dangers awaiting him in a strange land. He is exhorted to go to his religious duties before starting on the voyage, and on his arrival in the United States he is provided with suitable shelter, and often employment is found for him.
4. The Catholic Society for Friendless Youths.
This proposes as its object to lead young workingmen to follow a religious and upright life, to encourage a spirit of industry and brotherly kindness among them. A priest presides over this society; the youths are assembled of an evening for innocent entertainment, reading, and religious instruction. They are assisted in sickness or poverty, and every endeavor is made to render them useful members of society.
This association, as well as the one spoken of above, was originated in Germany by Adolf Kolping, the so-called “apostle of the working-classes,” who began life as a shoemaker’s apprentice, and through diligent study and pious perseverance, fitted himself for the office of the priesthood. A great number of friendly societies and charitable works for the improvement of the laboring classes, and for the promotion of kindly feeling between employers and employed, owe their establishment to him.
Various societies suited to the needs of the people.
It would be difficult to enumerate the various associations, suited to the exigencies of the day in different countries, and corresponding to the special needs of the different classes of men and women, which the charity of Catholics has instituted. The Catholic Truth Society has for its object to supply instructive and useful literature at a low price; its work is rapidly extending, and is productive of most satisfactory results. “In the present day,” as one of our bishops remarks, “the need is strongly felt for combination and centralization in all great undertakings in the field of politics, commerce and finance. Let us then, who are Catholics, unite to form a healthy body, powerful to promote and maintain the spirit of Christianity in our families. The striving after union, now so strongly marked in every department of social life, surely ought to play a no less prominent part in our religious life.”
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1 CCC 2099.
2 CCC 608, 613, 1350.
3 CCC 614–617, 1992.
4 CCC 1366–1367, 1476.
5 CCC 601–603.
6 CCC 604.
7 CCC 1127–1131, 1667–1670.
8 CCC 1374–1377.
9 CCC 1085, 1323, 1364, 1367.
10 CCC 1337–1338, 1341–1344, 1548.
11 CCC 1093–1096, 1333–1334, 1363, 1544, 2572.
12 CCC 1345–1347.
13 CCC 1330–1332.
14 The true derivation of the word missa is wrapped in obscurity. The derivations given in the text are conjectural.
15 CCC 1323–1327.
16 CCC 1348, 1374–1376, 1548.
17 CCC 1088, 1128, 1348, 1545, 1548.
18 CCC 1365.
19 CCC 133, 1350–1351.
20 CCC 1353, 1375–1377.
21 It is important to clarify Father Spirago’s imagery. We must recall that God the Son became man at the Incarnation and did not lay aside His humanity after ascending to heaven. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father as the God-Man. To be theologically precise we should say that, at the moment of consecration, the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus—the elements of His humanity—which are united to His divinity.
22 CCC 1355, 1382.
23 CCC 1345–1356.
24 CCC 1104–1105, 1323, 1367.
25 CCC 1366–1370.
26 CCC 1366, 1393.
27 CCC 1368, 1370, 2031, 2738, 2741.
28 CCC 1385, 1457.
29 CCC 1369–1372.
30 CCC 1356–1368.
31 CCC 2177.
32 CCC 1032, 1371.
33 CCC 1368.
34 CCC 1324–1327, 1366, 1476.
35 CCC 1140.
36 CCC 1387, 2043.
37 CCC 1103, 1362.
38 CCC 1156–1158.
39 CCC 1348.
40 CCC 1368–1369.
41 CCC 1389, 2042, 2180–2181.
42 CCC 2180, 2183.
43 CCC 2179.
44 CCC 1389, 2837.
45 Bishops have subsequently given permission for Mass to be celebrated at a variety of times on Sunday as well as on the evening of the preceding day.
46 Due to the current shortage of priests and the pastoral needs of their flocks, bishops have had to routinely dispense priests from this rule.
47 CCC 1179.
48 CCC 1180–1182.
49 CCC 1161–1162, 1182–1186, 2502–2503.
50 CCC 1672.
51 CCC 1156–1158.
52 CCC 112, 133, 1346–1347, 1349, 2587, 2835, 2563–2564.
53 CCC 94–95, 1100–1101, 1154–1155.
54 CCC 144, 148, 1269.
55 CCC 131–141.
56 CCC 1152.
57 CCC 1114–1115, 1131.
58 CCC 1145–1152.
59 CCC 1113, 1117, 1210.
60 CCC 1210.
61 CCC 1121, 1272, 1304, 1582.
62 CCC 1127.
63 CCC 1098, 1385, 1430, 2120.
64 CCC 1246, 1306–1307, 1385, 1415, 1514–1515, 1577–1578.
65 CCC 1782, 2106–2108.
66 CCC 1128, 1256, 1584, 1752.
67 CCC 1124–1125, 1205.
68 CCC 1218–1222.
69 CCC 1262–1270, 1275–1280.
70 CCC 1223–1225.
71 CCC 1262–1263, 1265.
72 CCC 1262–1274.
73 CCC 1257. Since the date of Fr. Spirago’s writing, the Church, recalling Jesus’s tenderness towards children and God’s great mercy, has expressed its hope that unbaptized children may also share in the salvation won by Christ (CCC 1261).
74 CCC 1250–1252.
75 CCC 1256.
76 CCC 1258–1260.
77 CCC 1229–1233, 1248–1249.
78 CCC 167, 189,
79 CCC 1239.
80 CCC 2156, 2165.
81 CCC 1255.
82 CCC 1234–1245.
83 CCC 1212, 1233, 1290–1292.
84 CCC 1286–1288.
85 CCC 1293–1305.
86 CCC 1289, 1293–1294.
87 CCC 1302–1303.
88 CCC 1290–1291, 1307–1308; this is the practice in the Latin Rite. Catholics in the Eastern Rites continue to celebrate, and validly so, Confirmation immediately after Baptism, even in the case of infants (CCC 1244, 1290, 1292).
89 CCC 1129.
90 CCC 1310.
91 CCC 1309.
92 In the Eastern Rites, since Confirmation is administered immediately after Baptism, the priest is the ordinary celebrant of the sacrament (CCC 1312). In the Latin Rite, Confirmation is celebrated by the bishop, although he may confer this faculty upon one of his priests (CCC 1313). If a Christian is in danger of death, any priest can administer Confirmation to him (CCC 1314).
93 CCC 1311.
94 CCC 1323, 1330, 1357.
95 CCC 1330, 1378–1380.
96 CCC 1336, 1381.
97 CCC 1373–1378.
98 CCC 1377.
99 CCC 1378–1380.
100 CCC 1378, 1418.
101 CCC 1355, 1382.
102 Receiving Communion under both kinds is the usual form in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church. It has also become increasingly common for bishops of the Latin Rite to give permission for Communion under both kinds within their dioceses (CCC 1390).
103 CCC 1384, 1391–1392.
104 CCC 1389, 2042.
105 CCC 1389, 2837.
106 CCC 1400.
107 CCC 1392.
108 CCC 1384, 1391–1392.
109 CCC 1394–1395.
110 CCC 1393.
111 CCC 1394.
112 CCC 1000, 1326, 1331, 1402–1405.
113 CCC 1387, 2043.
114 CCC 1385, 1457.
115 CCC 1385, 2120.
116 CCC 1389.
117 CCC 901, 1386–1387.
118 CCC 1387, 2043. In 1996, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued guidance on the reception of Holy Communion in which it was stipulated that the faithful should fast for an hour before receiving the Lord.
119 CCC 1360–1361, 1368–1370.
120 CCC 1428–1439, 1486.
121 CCC 984, 1446, 1485, 1856.
122 CCC 1441–1445.
123 CCC 1446, 1455, 1484, 1856.
124 CCC 982.
125 CCC 1464–1466.
126 CCC 1470.
127 CCC 1450, 1456, 1864.
128 CCC 1462, 1495.
129 CCC 1463; when someone is in danger of death, however, any priest can absolve such sins as well as excommunications.
130 CCC 1460, 1465.
131 CCC 1466. See also CCC 983.
132 CCC 1467.
133 CCC 1472–1473, 1496.
134 CCC 1472–1473. See also CCC 1030–1031.
135 CCC 1452–1453.
136 CCC 1458.
137 CCC 1468–1469, 2305.
138 CCC 1469.
139 CCC 1458.
140 CCC 1454, 1493.
141 CCC 1454, 1858.
142 CCC 1493, 1456.
143 CCC 1862–1863.
144 CCC 1854–1862.
145 CCC 1436.
146 CCC 1451–1454, 1490.
147 CCC 1472, 1492.
148 CCC 1470.
149 CCC 1453.
150 CCC 1451; but as stated above, even imperfect contrition (attrition) is adequate since it is brought to perfection in absolution.
151 CCC 1490.
152 CCC 1424, 1493.
153 CCC 1460, 1494.
154 CCC 1434, 1459–1460.
155 CCC 1459, 1473, 2412, 2487.
156 CCC 1460.
157 CCC 618.
158 CCC 1473.
159 The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) does not address such a “general confession.” Rather, it uses the term “general confession” in reference to communal celebrations of Penance in cases of grave necessity, with a general confession and general absolution, such as when there is imminent danger of death but not enough priests present to hear individual confessions (CCC 1483).
160 CCC 979–982, 1446–1449.
161 CCC 1446, 1856.
162 CCC 1446–1447.
163 CCC 1440–1442.
164 CCC 1468–1469.
165 CCC 1455.
166 CCC 1033, 1861, 1865, 1876.
167 CCC 1435–1437, 1863.
168 CCC 1489, 1821, 2016, 2849, 2854, 2863.
169 CCC 1393, 1435–1439, 1473.
170 CCC 1031, 1472.
171 CCC 981–983, 1471.
172 CCC 1474–1477.
173 CCC 1471, 1478–1479.
174 CCC 1471.
175 Indulgentiarum doctrina (1967), the apostolic constitution of Pope St. Paul VI, reorganized the discipline of indulgences. Norm 4 of the constitution eliminated any determination of days or years and established that all such indulgences would henceforth be designated as “partial” indulgences. (See also CCC 1471.) Indulgences are administered through the Apostolic Penitentiary. For the most current information on the indulgences offered by the Church, the reader is directed to its Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: Norma et Concessiones, or Handbook on Indulgences.
176 Pope St. Paul VI’s apostolic constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina (1967) eliminated any determination of days or years and established that all such indulgences would henceforth be designated as “partial” indulgences. (See also CCC 1471.)
177 CCC 1032, 1479.
178 CCC 1478.
179 CCC 1520.
180 CCC 1510–1511.
181 CCC 1511, 1517–1519, 1531.
182 CCC 1520.
183 CCC 1532.
184 CCC 1541. Pope St. Paul VI’s apostolic constitution Sacram unctionem infirmorum (1972) stressed that this sacrament is not “for those only who are at the point of death.” Rather, “as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.”
185 Canon 1004 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states simply that the sacrament is for any “of the faithful who, having reached the use of reason, begins to be in danger due to sickness.” Further, Canon 1005 stipulates that the sacrament “is to be administered in a case of doubt whether the sick person has attained the use of reason, is dangerously ill, or is dead,” https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#TITLE_V.
186 CCC 1515.
187 CCC 1517–1519.
188 Canon 960 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, while stating that individual and integral confession and absolution constitute “the only ordinary means” by which a Catholic guilty of grave sin is reconciled with God and the Church, that in cases of “physical or moral impossibility” this requirement can be excused and reconciliation obtained “by other means.” In such cases, when sickness or injury preclude making a confession, Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick) is understood to reconcile the recipient with God and the Church; https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann959-997_en.html#TITLE_IV.
189 CCC 2299.
190 CCC 1573–1576, 1597, 1600.
191 CCC 1545, 1548, 1552.
192 CCC 1536, 1590.
193 CCC 1549–1550, 1589, See also CCC 1128.
194 CCC 1578, 1589.
195 CCC 1564, 1567, 1583–1584. 1595.
196 Canon 1031 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states that candidates for ordination should have “completed their twenty-fifth year of age,” with the caveat that exceptions can be made.
197 The Church recognizes only three degrees in the sacrament of Holy Orders: bishop, priest, and deacon. Since Pope St. Paul VI’s motu proprio Ministeria quaedam (1972), the “minor orders” of acolyte, exorcist, lector, and porter have been designated not as orders but “ministries”—clearly distinguishing them from Holy Orders.
198 CCC 1554–1571, 1593.
199 CCC 1601–1605, 1614.
200 CCC 1603, 2331.
201 CCC 1609–1615.
202 CCC 1601, 1610, 1639–1642.
203 CCC 1616.
204 CCC 1630–1631. See CCC 1650 and 2384–2386, regarding Catholics who obtain civil divorce and contract a new civil union without obtaining a decree of nullity.
205 The 1983 Code of Canon Law does not prescribe this sanction.
206 What was true formerly of places only where the decree Tametsi of the Council of Trent was in vigor is now the law everywhere in virtue of the Decree Ne Temere of August 2, 1907, and in effect since Easter, 1908, ordering that a Catholic cannot marry validly either a Catholic or a non-Catholic except in the presence of the Bishop or the parish priest of the place or a priest duly authorized by them (wherever possible) and at least two witnesses. (The 1983 Code of Canon Law allows the faithful to petition the local ordinary for a dispensation from the requirement of “canonical form.”)
207 CCC 1601, 1610–1611, 1614, 1645.
208 CCC 1615, 1638–1640, 1644–1649.
209 CCC 1650.
210 CCC 1649, 2383.
211 CCC 1608, 1641, 1661, 2225.
212 CCC 1625–1630, 1635. Specific impediments to marriage are discussed in Canons 1088–1107 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. To ascertain the ongoing applicability of the impediments discussed in this section of Fr. Spirago’s text, the reader should approach their pastor or another knowledgeable in current canon law.
213 Current canon law stipulates that males be at least sixteen years of age and females fourteen.
214 CCC 1621–1624.
215 Canon 1067 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states that norms regarding the examination of spouses and the publication of banns are to be established by the conferences of bishops. We thus see different practices throughout the Latin Church.
216 CCC 1622.
217 CCC 1631–1632, 1663. A Catholic, however, can petition for a dispensation from “canonical form.”
218 CCC 1621, 1623–1624.
219 CCC 1648, 2365.
220 CCC 1652–1657, 2221–2223.
221 CCC 2228–2229.
222 CCC 1250–1252, 1666, 2221, 2229.
223 1653, 2225–2233.
224 The Catechism no longer speaks of “disapproval” of such marriages, but notes how “the difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated … the spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of Christian disunity in their own home” (CCC 1634).
225 CCC 1635–1636.
226 CCC 1636; the current Code of Canon Law allows Catholics to request a dispensation from “canonical form.”
227 CCC 1620, 2349.
228 CCC 1618–1619.
229 CCC 1667–1673.
230 CCC 1669, 1671–1672.
231 CCC 1673.
232 CCC 1672. See also CCC 903, 923, 925.
233 CCC 1667, 1671, 1677.
234 CCC 1670.
235 CCC 2559–2561, 2590.
236 CCC 1147–1152, 1378, 1807, 2702–2703.
237 CCC 2700–2724.
238 CCC 2100, 2703.
239 CCC 1156, 1158, 2641. See also CCC 1088 and 2642.
240 CCC 2699.
241 CCC 2685, 2689.
242 CCC 2098, 2603–2604, 2626–2643, 2645–2649.
243 CCC 2592, 2728, 2741–2745.
244 CCC 2683–2684, 2692.
245 CCC 2734–2737.
246 CCC 2744–2745.
247 CCC 2612, 2846–2849. See also CCC 162.
248 CCC 1434, 1460, 2839–2841.
249 CCC 2744.
250 CCC 435, 2614, 2664, 2750, 2815, 2827.
251 CCC 2729–2731. See also CCC 2711.
252 CCC 2592, 2613, 2728, 2741–2745.
253 CCC 2559, 2613.
254 CCC 2827–2837.
255 CCC 2822–2827.
256 CCC 2697–2698.
257 CCC 2698, 2720.
258 CCC 2631, 2838.
259 CCC 2834.
260 CCC 2600–2601.
261 CCC 2743.
262 CCC 1181, 1185, 2691.
263 CCC 2602.
264 CCC 2608–2609, 2618–2821.
265 CCC 2634–2636.
266 CCC 2705–2708, 2723.
267 CCC 2704.
268 Meditation disposes one to receive the gift of “contemplative” prayer (CCC 2709–2719, 2724).
269 CCC 2761–2776.
270 CCC 2803–2806.
271 CCC 2779–2802.
272 CCC 2807–2815, 2857–2858.
273 CCC 2816–2837, 2859–2861.
274 CCC 2838–2854, 2862–2864.
275 CCC 2856, 2865.
276 CCC 2673.
277 CCC 2676–2677.
278 CCC 435, 2676.
279 CCC 1014, 2677.
280 CCC 971, 2678, 2708. Pope St. John Paul II, in his 2002 apostolic letter, Rosarium Virgins Mariae, invited the faithful to also pray five Luminous Mysteries, increasing the full number of Rosary mysteries from fifteen to twenty.
281 Indulgentiarum doctrina (1967), the apostolic constitution of Pope St. Paul VI, reorganized the discipline of indulgences. Norm 4 of the constitution eliminated any determination of days or years and established that all such indulgences would henceforth be designated as “partial” indulgences. (See also CCC 1471.) Indulgences are administered through the Apostolic Penitentiary. For the most current information on the indulgences offered by the Church, the reader is directed to its Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: Norma et Concessiones, or Handbook on Indulgences.
282 CCC 1674.
283 CCC 933.
284 CCC 1674.
285 CCC 560.
286 CCC 1378.
287 CCC 1684–1690.
288 CCC 1689.
289 CCC 2300.
290 Church discipline, as stated in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, does allow cremation, so long as it is not done “for reasons contrary to Christian faith,” reasons such as those identified by Fr. Spirago. CCC 2301 states that cremation is allowed so long as it is not “a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.”
291 There have been significant changes to this discipline of the Church. The local ordinary can grant permission for ecclesiastical funerals to non-baptized children of the faithful and to non-Catholics. Ecclesiastical funerals are denied to “notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics” and “other manifest sinners,” with the faithful encouraged to consult the local ordinary regarding any questions. Please see the pertinent section of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1166-1190_en.html#CHAPTER_II.
292 CCC 1198.
293 CCC 593.
294 CCC 2669.
295 CCC 1378.
296 For the most current information on the indulgences offered by the Church, the reader is directed to the Apostolic Penitentiary’s Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: Norma et Concessiones, or Handbook on Indulgences.
297 For the most current information on the indulgences offered by the Church, the reader is directed to the Apostolic Penitentiary’s Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: Norma et Concessiones, or Handbook on Indulgences.
298 For the most current information on the indulgences offered by the Church, the reader is directed to the Apostolic Penitentiary’s Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: Norma et Concessiones, or Handbook on Indulgences.