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 DIVINITY SCHOOL 
 LIBRARY 
 
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Guide to ee eee 
 ! 
 Mount St. Sepulchre 
 
 Cogether with a 
 
 Tew Facts about 
 
 the Order of St. Francis 
 and its Work in the 
 
 >| Holy Land and in 
 America « « 
 
 CY 
 
 Washington, D. 2. 
 
St. Francis, 
 — 
 
 wa? always consider anything that tends fo 
 sustain and heighten the glory of St. Fran- 
 eis, as a happy event, Pope Leo XTII. 
 
 TA* shone in the temple of God, as then orn 
 ing starin the midst ofa cloud. 
 Gregory IX. 
 
 TH® was not so much a man praying; he was 
 prayer itself, Thomas of Celano. 
 
 UCH a life would be much better sung in 
 heaven. Dante. 
 
 HE spirit of St. Francis" the spirit which 
 teaches Christian heartsto love and to imi- 
 tate inthe midst ofa wealth and pleasure-seek- 
 ing age, Him who, ‘‘being rich, became poor 
 for your sakes, that through His poverty you 
 might become rich.’’ Cardinal Vaughan. 
 
 yee ses Europe has no idea of all it owes 
 to St, Francis. Frederic Morino. 
 
 WEET St. Francis of Assisi, 
 Would that he were here again. 
 Tennysou. 
 
 RANCiIS OF ASSISI was the purest-hearted, 
 
 the mostlovable, the most adorable, human 
 
 being whom Christian history of 18 centuries 
 has revealed to us. Dr. Shaw of Phila, 
 
St. Francis, from Statue at Assist, 
 3 
 
Dear Visttor + 
 
 This little book will accompany you back into the 
 world, and will remind you of the solitude of Mt. St. 
 Sepulchre. May it often recall to your mind the 
 cherished shrines of our holy religion : Nazareth, 
 Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, where God has manifested 
 Lis exceeding great love toward men. 
 
 Our prayers will ascend to the throne of the Most 
 Ligh for those who have stood in this temple, and in 
 return we beg you to remember tn your charity the 
 needs of this House of God, and also the goed work 
 whichis carried on here for the Holy Land, and the 
 education of missionaries who are destined to live and 
 work in the country which was once the home of Jesus, 
 Our Saviour, 
 
 THE FATHERS OF THE VIOE SEA, 
 
 Mount St. Sepulchre, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
Tntroduction. 
 
 \ or a hill beyond the litile 
 village of Brookland, 
 j near the Catholic University 
 f at Washington, D. C., rise 
 the Chapel and College of 
 the Holy Land. The beauti- 
 ful locaticn is specially 
 / adapted to its purpose by 
 reason of its complete seclu- 
 i sion, yet ready acccssibility 
 | fromthe city. Following the 
 example of the great Saints 
 of the Seraphic Order, the 
 Friars have selected a hill as 
 the site of their new College and have named 
 it Mount St. Sepulchre. f 
 
 A tew years ago no visitor would have thought 
 it worth while to wend his steps to this se- 
 cluded spot, which was then occupied by an 
 old time mansion of the McCeeney estate. In 
 the first half of the century, according to local 
 5 
 
tradition, the place was well cultivated and 
 prosperous. Statesmen, dignified and pompous 
 gentlemen of those days were often guests here 
 and enjoyed the old time hospitality of the 
 generous owner. But after it had passed ont of 
 his hands, year after year of neglect and care- 
 lessness had wrought its work, and the old - 
 place was dreary enough to the eye. The 
 beautiful trees had fallen a prey to the axe of 
 the vandal, the well-cultivated orchard had dis- 
 appeared and the fields had returned almost to. 
 their primitive state, abounding in briars and 
 shrubbery run wild. 
 
 Such was its sad aspect when one day a 
 stranger visited it. Impressed as he was with 
 its neglected looks, he could not fail to see the 
 rich possibilities that lay before him. The 
 varied nature of the grounds, the grove on one 
 hand and the slope on the other side, the fertile 
 bottom land ; all this framed by a view of un- 
 surpassed beauty so aroused his admiration that 
 with the Psalmist he exclaimed: ‘‘ This is my 
 rest forever and ever; here I will dwell for I 
 have chosen it.”” (Ps.737, 74.) 
 
 No place was more adapted to raise the mind 
 to God and more fit for a monastery than this 
 ileal spot, where from the hearts and lips of its 
 dwellers a continual incense of prayer could 
 rise, 
 
 6 
 
Retracing his steps the stranger left the lonely 
 hill. But this was not all. Months later the 
 people of Washington were surprised by the 
 news of the sale of the McCeeney estate, and 
 rumor had it that it was to become the home of 
 a religious community. 
 
 Meanwhile the Holy Father had sanctioned 
 the transfer of the Commissariat of the Holy 
 Land and the foundation of a College for that 
 Mission, His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons had 
 graciously received the Franciscan Fathers into 
 his diocese, and the Catholic University kindly 
 extended a welcome to a new adjunct in that 
 institution. 
 
 Then it was definitely made known that the 
 Franciscan Fathers had acquired tke lovely spot 
 on the mount, and a few brothers were sent 
 from the Commissariat of the Holy Land in 
 New York to make such improvements as the 
 future needs of the institution would warrant. 
 
 Like the pioneers of old, they had to suffer 
 hardships not a few. Alone they were and 
 strangers, poorly furnished with the barest ne- 
 cessities of life, yet they turned eagerly to their 
 task. They divided their time between earnest 
 prayer and hard work. Early in the morning 
 they would trudge through the snow in the face 
 of icy blasts that they might assist at or serve 
 - the first Mass in the little village church, 
 
 7 
 
*YIANYD BY} [0 MILA AOLAaIUT 
 
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Under their steadfast toil the desolate aspect 
 of the grounds soon passed away, and in its 
 place a garden, then the vineyard and an 
 - orchard appeared. Briars gave way to the on- 
 slaught of the plow, and tilled fields sprang up 
 inthe wilderness. A view from the hill in the 
 spring of 1899 showed a panorama of carefully 
 arranged fields, well cared for and cultivated 
 and framed by paths and by-ways lined with 
 young trees. 
 
 Ground was early broken for the new build- 
 ing which to-day crowns the mount. The out- 
 lines of the foundation showed a plan of quite 
 unusual shape, so that the numerous visitors 
 were puzzled to the uttermost as to the meaning 
 of this novel structure. But time passed on, 
 the builders labored, and slowly but solemnly 
 rose the walls of the COLLEGE AND CHAPEL OF 
 THE HOLy LAND. 
 
 The scope of the buildings, as the visitor of 
 to-day views them, is two-fold. The College is 
 a Monastery and a missionary institution, which 
 has for its object the harboring and educating 
 within its walls such generous hearts as feel 
 themselves prompted to serve the Holy Land in 
 the Order of St. Francis. 
 
 For this reason the College is built on the old 
 monastic plan. Itis a large, rectangular build- 
 ing, with a courtyard in the middle, which is 
 
 9 
 
laid out asa garden, as in the old monasteries 
 with walks, flowerbeds and shrubberies. The 
 center is occupied by a cistern of great dimen- 
 sions, in which the rain water from the roof is 
 collected and stored up against summer 
 droughts. The old oaken bucket reminds us of 
 other days and serves, when it falls back into 
 the cistern with a splash, to move and beat up 
 the water every time itis used. This keeps it 
 wholesome and fresh and provides the needful 
 supply of oxygen, which the modern pump 
 fails to do, being, like many other innovations, 
 lacking in tke useful and healthful purposes 
 found in the institutions of days gone by. 
 
 The inner courtyard is surrounded on the 
 first floor by the traditional cloister, a broad 
 open gallery, which serves the : 
 Friars for their walks on rainy 
 days, when it is impossible to 
 take the required exercise in 
 the open air. This cloister 
 can be closed in winter by 
 glass partitions, should neces- 
 sity require it. The cloister 
 presents a Yy 
 charming pic- 4 
 ture and is 
 always a fea- 
 ture of the 
 
 Well in the Cloister. 
 
 10 
 
old monasteries. The restrictions of the Ser- 
 aphic Rule and the lack of funds have made 
 us desist from executing it in tnat artistic style 
 found in the old abbeys, where beautiful 
 carved columns and intricate screen work added 
 to the pleasing aspect. Thespirit of St. Fran- 
 cis demands strict simplicity and the endeavor 
 has been to follow this to the letter. 
 
 The cloister has a counterpart in the base- 
 ment of the building, with the difference only 
 that it is enclosed and lighted by windows. In 
 the basement are workshops, storerooms for 
 the agricultural products of the grounds, and 
 the kitchen, pantry aud cellar. 
 
 On the first floor, off the cloister, are the 
 offices of the Commissariat of the Holy Land to 
 the south, the college rooms and study halls to 
 the north and the refectories and recreation 
 rooms to the east. 
 
SN ee a 
 
 N 
 
 The Holy Sepulchre. 8. Main entranceto Church. 
 Stairways to Mt. Calvary. 9. Chapel of St. Antony. 
 Sacristy. 10. Altar of the Sacred Heart 
 Chapel of Penance. over Grotte of Nazareth. 
 oat of the Cenacle. 11. Chapel of St. Francis. 
 Altar of the Holy Ghost, 12. Center of Church, show- 
 
 over Grotto of Bethlehem. ing position of Martyr's 
 Chapel of Portiuncula, Crypt, 
 12 
 
Che Architecture of the Chapel and 
 Monastery. 
 
 “ How lovely are Thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts.” 
 Ps. LXXXTITI/., 1. 
 
 NE of the characteristics of the building 
 that rises on Mount St. Sepulchre, is 
 the architecture taken from that style which, 
 being inspired by the ancient monuments, has 
 become in Italy the accepted type of religious 
 architecture. For the part of the building 
 which is destined to be the home of the relig- 
 ious and the students of the new college, arch- 
 itecture has produced a special construction 
 which we may call monastic and which was 
 used greatly in the Middle Ages. This has for 
 its object reconcentration and isolation, so that 
 through its material aid, the mind may instinc- 
 tively be brought to give itself to study, medi- 
 tation and prayer. 
 
 That style of monastery which obtains its 
 highest effect from the great simplicity of its 
 proportions and the majestic sweep of its 
 outlines is especially conspicuous in the iuner 
 court, which forms the characteristic part of 
 the whoie building. AM the ancient monastic 
 buildings, beginning with the Benedictine Mon- 
 asteries, were built in this style. They de- 
 veloped themselves around a cloister, which not 
 only facilitated communication between the 
 
 3 
 
A Glimpse of the Ciotster 
 14 
 
various parts of the building, but also afforded 
 to the monks a place of recreation when they 
 * abandoned fora short time the solitary cell. 
 
 O: the west side the Monastery is connected 
 wit! the Church. The latter is separated from 
 the cloister by a large corrider to which secu- 
 lars are admitted, and which serves as a pas- 
 sage between the Commissariat and the College 
 and the various appurtenances of the Church 
 and Monastery, 
 
 The architecture of the Church is based on 
 the general outlines of the Byzantinestyle, with 
 a slight transition to the Italian renaissance in 
 its details, so that the artistic effects of the 
 great Hagia Sofia and the beautiful Certosa of 
 Pavia have been adapted to Franciscan sim- 
 plicity. The church is in the shape ofa five- 
 fold cross, which was the coat of arms of the 
 Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, adopted by God- 
 frey of Bouillon, the large cross forming the 
 iain body of the Church and the smail crosses 
 being represented by the chapels. The same 
 emblem is reproduced in the pavement of the 
 Church in Venitian mosaic, so that the whole 
 structure, resting-on that emblem, declares at 
 once the scope and plan of the institution itself. 
 This cross, which appears again and again in 
 Mt. St. Sepulchre, is symbolic of the Five 
 Wounds of our Lord, and is shown beautifully 
 
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onthe candelabra before the Holy Sepulchre. 
 It greets the pilgrim’as he draws near the church 
 and is never absent from his sight, reminding 
 him continually of the Mission of the Holy 
 - Land. 
 
 The central aisle of the large cross has at 
 the entrance of the Churcha portico which sup- 
 portsa gallery. At the other end is the sanc- 
 tuary, the point of attraction for which the 
 whole structure has been arranged. The two 
 extremities of the transepts of the Church are 
 closed off by two elegint apses, to which light 
 enters through a series of smallarches. The 
 general decoration is principally formed by the 
 eight entrances into the chapels, in which the 
 decoration of the main crossis repeated This 
 triple arch serves also as a base for the upper 
 arches, which increase the light in the two first 
 chapels and form windows in the two choirs 
 above the rear chapels. These arches again 
 support the upper windows, so that the whole 
 arrangement of rows of columns and arches of 
 various sizes forms an elegant ornamentation of 
 the Church. 
 
 The ceiling is partly vaulted and partly flat 
 and is ornamented with panels and rosettes of 
 various designs. It has been already mentioned 
 that the sanctuary forms the main: point of 
 attraction of the Church. Indeed, there is to be 
 
 17 
 
‘WSOYUD AO 2y, {0 Av] Y 2y} pADvmo] Juryoos ‘yIANYD ay) fo AotAaqur 
 
found the Holy Sepulchre, precisely as it exists 
 in Jerusalem, with all its decorations. Two 
 marble stairways one on either side of it lead to 
 Mount Calvary, which forms the high altar of 
 the Church. On the level of Calvary, ou both 
 sides of it, arethe entrances to the two choirs 
 which are destined for the psalmody of the 
 Divine Office. 
 
 In the apses in both extremities of the tran- 
 septs are entrances to the underground chap- 
 els, the one tothe right being a reproduction 
 of the Grotto of Nazareth, and the one to the 
 left, of the Grotto of Bethlehem. These two 
 grottos are connected with each other by an 
 underground passage in the shape of the Cata- 
 combs of Rome, which has in its centre a crypt 
 in imitation of the ancient sepulchral chambers 
 where an altar was erected over the tomb of 
 some eminent martyr. 
 
 From this crypt another underground corridor 
 leads to the subterranean Chapel of the Poor 
 Souls, which is intended for funeral services, 
 and whence two stairways lead back into the 
 Church near the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 19 
 
Plan of the Holy Sepulchre 
 
 z. Chapel of the Angel. 2. Stone of the Angel. 
 3, The Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 Je 
 20 
 
Entrance to the Tomb of Our Lord. 
 
 Che Holy 
 Sepulchre. 
 
 “ Andtf Christ be nol 
 risen again, then ts our 
 preaching vain and 
 your faith 7s also vain. 
 
 “ But now Christ ts 
 risen from the dead, the 
 Jirst-frutts of them that 
 sleep. 
 
 “ Thanks be to God, 
 who hath given us the 
 victory through our 
 
 ‘Lord Jesus Christ.” 
 
 We GOI aly ifs 205 57. 
 
 21 
 
NSTINCTIVELY, as one enters the church, 
 the eye seeks the hight altar, where stands 
 
 an exact reproduction of the Holy Sepulchre. Be- 
 fore it burn two 
 handsome candela- 
 bra in the shape of 
 the fivefold Cross 
 of the Holy Land, 
 the gift of Benziger 
 Brothers. As the 
 pious pilgrim, who 
 has overcome the 
 many difficulties of 
 the journey, beholds this 
 shrine so dear to the heart of 
 every Catholic, so is the pil- 
 grim to Mt. St. Sepulchre 
 brought face to face, as 
 though in a vision, or a mir- 
 age, or through some manner 
 by which time and space are 
 annihilated, with the place 
 where the Lord was laid. A 
 minute ago we stood at the 
 doorway and gazed at the 
 purple hills, the distant val- 
 leys and far-reaching fields 
 of America. A step, and the 
 New World is behind us and 
 
 22 
 
 One of the Candelabra. 
 
Bas-Relie; over door of Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 forgotten—for surely this place, whose very air 
 breathesa holy calm and peace can have nothing 
 in common with the busy-realms of commerce 
 and the noisy marts of trade we lately came 
 from. } 
 
 Good friend and fellow-pilgrim, will you not 
 kneel beside me here for the benefit of prayer 
 and make this pilgrimage in the same spirit 
 that you would were you of a truth in the Holy 
 City? The quaint carvings that have met the 
 
 23 
 
eyes of so many generations of faithful Chris- 
 tians are here before us, reproduced by the skil- 
 ful hand of the artist. The bas-relief, in the 
 Greek style, shows the Saviour standing trium- 
 phantly on the open tomb, while on one side 
 the drowsy guards look up to him in wild as- 
 tonishment, and on the other the angel an- 
 nounces the great tid'ngs to the holy women. 
 Adoring angels add to the scene, in which the 
 sun and moon and stars appear as silent wit- 
 nesses to the great event. Between the panels 
 to the rightand left isa low door that leads to 
 
 oops ~ 2 the outer room of the 
 ’. Tomb. Inthe middle of 
 ’ this, supported by a low 
 pedestal, there is a stone 
 culled the Stone of the 
 Angel, the original of 
 which, tradition avers, is 
 = a fragmert of the very 
 stone on which the Mes- 
 senger of Heaven rested 
 when he told the glad 
 tidings on that glorious 
 Easter morning nineteen 
 hundred years ago. The 
 (| copy contains a stone 
 from Jerusalem, which, 
 so to say, stands guard 
 Stone of the Angel. 74 
 
 é 
 f 
 fs - si Sa SIO ste REE 
 
The Holy Sepulchre, 
 
 25 
 
at the Tomb of the Saviour in America. 
 
 And now, through another door, lower even 
 than the first, and we have reached the place 
 where the body of our dear Lord was laid. From 
 the ceiling depend memorial lamps and above 
 the place where the Saviour of Men reposed, 
 there is a bas-relief representing the Resur- 
 rection, a copy of Raphael, executed by Mr. 
 James F. Earley of Washington, D. C., who 
 made the other relief work in the church. Itis 
 a replica of the silver panel that Cardinal An- 
 tonelli donated to the Holy Sepulchre. Here 
 the Tomb from which the Saviour rises, contains 
 the tabernacle, which is the Tomb of the Eu- 
 charistic Godin the Church. Otherwise the 
 room is bare and devoid of ornament. But here 
 one does not seek beauty; the beauty of the 
 spot is the beauty of holiness, the beauty that 
 enriches the bare cell of saint and hermit be- 
 yond allthe splendors of palaces of kings and 
 emperors. Before this low shelf, sheltered by 
 precious marble, let us pray and meditate on 
 the lessons that the time and place bring to our 
 hearts. 
 
 In order to protect the place where the Sacred 
 Body reposed from the touch of profane hands 
 aslab of the most perfect marble was placed 
 over it. Knowing well the greed of the Turks 
 who would gladly seize a stone of so much value, 
 
 5 26 
 
Bas-Relief within the Holy Sepulchre. 
 27 
 
cunning workmen cut a crevicein the slab, imi- 
 tating toa nicety a crack, such as would have 
 resulted had the marble been broken across. 
 The artifice serv.d its purpose well, and, al- 
 though the crack does not extend all the way 
 through the marble, it remains in the Hely 
 Sepulchre in Jerusalem to-day, where the pil- 
 grim may view it, even as we now see it repro- 
 duced before us. ‘‘ And His Sepulchre shall be 
 glorious.”” (/sa. 77, 70.) 
 
 And this is, indeed, holy ground. For here 
 come the Fathers of the convent to say Holy 
 Mass, and offer up the Divine Sacrifice. Ard 
 as the years come and go, countless pilgrims 
 will kneel here to offer up their devotions, in- 
 spired to more fervid faith by these striking re- 
 minders of the awful Price of our Redemption. 
 It overpowers, it thrills, it fills the heart so full 
 of the divine love that prayer rises to the lips 
 like water from a fountain overflowing. 
 
 A few steps, and again we are in the light 
 that dazzles our eyes with its brightness. Surely 
 we must have been of a truth traveling in Jeru- 
 salem only a minute agone, for that seems the 
 reality and this the unreal. 
 
 ey 
 
Plan of the Grotto of Nazareth, 
 
 1. Stairway leading to upper church. 
 a Chapel of the Angel on site of the Holy House of Loretto. 
 
 . Altar of St. Gabriel. 6. Altar of the Annunciation. 
 %. Altars of Sts. Joachim and 7. Broken Column. 
 Anne. 3: Chapel of St. Joseph. 
 
 5+ Grottoofthe Annunciation, 9. Entrance to Catacombs, 
 
Mount Zalvary. 
 “Rearing his owa cross, he went forth to that placé 
 whicnis called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha, where 
 they crucified him.” John xix. 17, 18. 
 
 BOVE the Holy Sepulchreis MountCalvary , 
 
 the altar being a replica of the one in Jeru- 
 salem. Two steep stairways, one on either side 
 of the Sepulchre, lead up to it. Behind the altar 
 is an impressive group of the Crucifixion, repre- 
 senting our Lord on the Cross, surrounded by 
 figures representing the Blessed Virgin and St. 
 John, the beloved disciple. It isa gift of the 
 Lenne family of Cologne, who wished to erect 
 this monument in America as a perpetual mem- 
 ory of their faith. 
 
 To this group belongs the statue of St. Mary 
 Magdalen to the left. Here is the pattern of 
 the penitent sinner, who after her fall, looks to 
 the Cross for mercy and consolation. Ever after 
 her conversion this pen- 
 itent one earnestly fol- 
 
 lowed theSaviour, where- 
 © for she was favored with 
 His apparition early on 
 Easter morn, when He 
 spoke to her the mem- 
 orable words ; ‘‘ Do not 
 touch me, for I am not 
 yet ascended to my 
 
 30 
 
 One 0; the 
 Memorial Lamps. 
 
Father. But go to my brethren, and say to 
 them: I ascend to my Father and to your 
 Father, to my God, and your God.’ (John, 
 He EZ.) 
 
 To the right a beautiful Pzeta denotes the 
 place where, after the descent from the Cross, 
 the lifeless body of the Saviour rested in the 
 arms of His sorrowful Mother. It is a gift of 
 Mrs. Helen Dannemiller-Neuhausel, a member 
 of the first American Catholic pilgrimage, in 
 memory of her visit to the Holy Shrines. 
 
 Here the Church places the doleful words of 
 Jeremiah on the lips of the Mother of Dolors: 
 “O all ye that pass by this way attend and see 
 if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.’’ 
 (Lament of Jeremiah, i, 72.) 
 
 The platform of Calvary corresponds in 
 height withthe elevation of that holy place in 
 Jerusalem from the 
 level of the basilica. 
 The vault covering 
 the sanctuary has 
 been omitted in 
 order to obtain 
 light from above, 
 where instead a 
 stained glass win- 
 dow will represent 
 the Eternal Father 
 looking down 
 
in sorrow on His Divine Son, who offered 
 Himself for the sins of the world. 
 
 At either side of Calvary doors lead into the 
 choirs, closed to visitors, where the religions 
 gather to recite the Divine Office, which is 
 psalmodized or chanted, according to the 
 solemnity of the occasion. The solemn per - 
 formance of the Divine Office is one of the fore- 
 most of monastical institutions, the praise of 
 God being regarded among the chief occupa- 
 tious of the religious. 
 
 The altar is of the usual Greek style, and 
 covers the place where the Cross was planted. 
 Pilgrims from all the world have bathed with 
 their tears this holy spot in Jerusalem, which 
 was saturated with the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 To the right is a rent in the rock, which re- 
 minds of the words of Holy Scripture : ‘‘ And 
 behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two 
 from the top even to the bottom, and the earth 
 as and the rocks were rent.’’ (Wath. 27, 
 52 
 
 32 
 
— 
 
 Che Grotto of Nazareth. 
 
 “ And He went down with them and cameto Nazareth 
 and was subject to them.” Luke I1., 5. 
 
 From Jerusalem to Nazareth—not, indeed, by 
 the tiring journey over the barren hills and 
 dales of Palestine but by a few steps across the 
 Church to the apse at the epistle side of the 
 Chapel. Here a broad stairway leads down to 
 the Grotto. 
 
 Descending the stairway we notice on both 
 sides of the wall a horizontal bar surmounted by 
 acircle. They denote the limits of the founda- 
 tion of the Holy House, which was transported 
 by the hands of angels first to Tersate in Dal- 
 matia in the year I291, and then a few years 
 afterwards to Recanati and Loretto, where it 
 has remained ever since. 
 
 The foundations were found in 1620, when 
 the Fathers made excavations at Nazareth for 
 the purpose of building a new church over the 
 Shrine. Measurements show that the dimen- 
 sions of the foundations tally exactly with the 
 walls of the Holy House at Loretto. 
 
 According to tradition the house wherein the 
 Holy Family lived consisted of one single room 
 and it was built against a natural cave, 
 with which it was connected by an opening. 
 This is quite a usual arrangement in the houses 
 
 33 
 
Altar of the Annunciation, 
 34 
 
of Nazareth. Tradition also relates that the 
 Blessed Virgin was engaged in prayer in the 
 Grotto when the angel appeared to her from 
 the opening of the room. 
 
 A charm of poetry surrounds the name of 
 Nazareth. The message of the angel, the mys- 
 tery of the Incarnation, the boyhood and youth 
 of Jesus, the hidden life of the Holy Family, 
 the workshop of St. Joseph, all these subjects 
 come to one’s mind, when the little town in 
 Galilee is mentioned. From there the Ave Maria 
 resounded over the entire world, and re-echoes 
 daily from the lips of millions of devout Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 With these sentiments we now approach the 
 Grotto that brings to our minds the place where 
 the Word was made flesh. 
 
 In the open space first entered, which is 
 known as the Chapel of the Angel, there are 
 two altars, the one to the left hand being dedi- 
 cated to the Archangel Gabriel and the other to 
 St. Joachim and St. Anne. 
 
 Descending two steps we are before the altar 
 of the Annunciation, which in Nazareth marks 
 the very spot where the Archangel declared un- 
 to Mary that she would become the Mother of 
 the Saviour. Underneath and in front of the 
 altar the.Cross of the Holy Land is set and at 
 the bottom of the altar, just below the mensa, a 
 
 35 : 
 
stonefrom Nazareth indicates the place of the 
 Annunciation. The altar piece, representing 
 the mystery of this holy place, is a copy of 
 Luca Della Robbia’s work, by Mr. James F. 
 Earley. 
 
 At the left of this altar is seen the reproduc- 
 tion of a curious feature of the original chapel, 
 a fragment of a granite column depending from 
 the roof, a shaft of the ancient church. After 
 
 36 
 
the fire of 1638 the Mogr-- 
 bins (Africans) in search of 
 hidden treasure, cut the col- 
 umn in two, leaving the up- 
 per part suspended from the 
 ceiling. A portion of an- 
 other shaft has been placed 
 under this to prevent any- 
 one passing under it. 
 
 At the epistle side of the 
 Altar of the Annunciation a 
 doorway opens into a chapel 
 which containsan altar dedi- 
 cated to St. Joseph fleeing 
 into Egypt. A part of this 
 
 = Grotto was repaired hy 
 
 oF =~ mason work, as shown by the 
 se ST reproduction we see before 
 i 
 A fragmentofagranite US. 
 
 column. At Nazareth a passageway 
 leads from the Grotto into an interior cave called 
 the Kitchen of the Blessed Virgin. .The en- 
 
 trance has only been indicated here. 
 
 So careful has the reproduction of this Holy 
 Shrine been made, that one even sees before 
 him the facsimile of the bench on which the 
 Turkish sentinels sit while mounting guard in 
 the Grotto at Nazareth. 
 
 From the Chapel of the Angel a door on the 
 
 a> 
 o/ 
 
right-hand side leads into a passage, dark nar- 
 row and winding and decorated with recesses, 
 such as are found in the Catacombs in Rome. 
 This brings us to 
 
 FID 
 
 38 
 
Symbolical Fresco. 
 
 The Martyr’s Crypt. 
 
 “T saw under the altar the souls of them that were 
 - slain for the Word of God.” Apoc. v1., 9. 
 
 This is a subterranean Chapel,circular in form, 
 and a perfect reproduction of one of the many 
 Chapels to be found in those labyrinthine 
 hiding places of the early Christians. The 
 body of St. Benignus, brought from the 
 Roman catacombs, finds here a resting place 
 under the altar. It was transferred from 
 the cathedral at Narni to Mount St. Sepulchre, 
 where it will receive the veneration of the 
 faithful, who, descending underground, will 
 remember amid how many persecutions and 
 
 39 
 
Flan of the Martyr's Crypt. 
 
 1. Altar of St. Benignus. 
 2. Entrance to the Catacombs, 
 
 4° 
 
hardships the first Christians professed their 
 faith. 
 
 The crypt is directly under the centre of th: 
 dome of the Church. 
 
 The decorations are in the ancient style of the 
 Catacomb decorations by Mr. Chas. C. Svend- 
 sen, a well-known artist of Cincinnati, who 
 some years ago visited Rome and the Holy 
 Land. ‘The decoration in the niche represents 
 the Saviour raising H's hanlin blessing. The 
 figure to the right is 
 St. Stephen, the first 
 martyr of Jerusalem. 
 The one tothe left St. 
 Benignus. The picture 
 of the Saviour is sur- 
 rounded by a series of 
 symbolical figures. 
 
 The symbolism of 
 the early Cbristian 
 Catacomb _ pictures 
 had a deep religious 
 meaning, and the 
 symbolsintroduced in 
 this fresco, copied 
 from the originals in 
 the catacombs of 
 Rome, are examples 
 of the more important 
 
ones. Beginning with the left lower corner 
 they are: 
 
 1. The Peacock or Phoenix, the emblem of 
 the resurrection of the body. 
 
 2. Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
 end. 
 
 3. The Anchor, the symbol of hope, and the 
 Fish and Rings, symbols of the sacrament of 
 marriage. 
 
 4. The Church emblematized as a tree bear- 
 ing fruit, and shelter- 
 ing a lamb. 
 
 5. The White Dove, 
 symbol of innocence. 
 
 6. The central de- 
 sign, symbol of the 
 Christian triumph over 
 sin and temptation. 
 
 7. The Dove bearing 
 the olive branch, 
 symbol of peace. 
 
 8. The Banner of 
 Christ conquering evil; 
 the reptile and the 
 inscription, ‘‘ In this 
 sign thou shalt con- 
 quer.” 
 
 g. The Hand, hold- 
 ing tablet on which 
 
appears this inscription: ‘‘ You will live,” a 
 symbol of steadfast faith. 
 
 Io. The Fish, symbol of baptism. 
 
 11. The Holy Trinity. 
 
 12. The Lamb, symbol of Christ standing 
 above the four fountains, the four Gospels from 
 whence flow the waters of salvation: ‘‘The 
 water that I will give him shall become in him 
 a fountain of water springing up into life 
 everlasting.” (S#. John tv: r4.) 
 
 From this crypt a short passageway leads to 
 another chapel lighted by a glass flooring in the 
 Church above. This large and roomy enctosure is 
 
 43 
 
KRONA 
 
 Plan of the Purgatory Chapel. 
 Chapel dedicated to the Holy Souls. 
 . Altar of the Holy Souls, 
 . Stairway leading to upper church. 
 . Lntrance to Catacombs. 
 44 
 
the Purgatory Chapel 
 DEDICATED TO 
 The Poor Souls. 
 
 Here will repose the bodies of those who die 
 in the convent, before they are taken away for 
 
 burial. 
 
 Here also will be offered the Sacrifice of the 
 
 Mass for the deceas- 
 ed benefactors of 
 the Monastery. An 
 altar of black mar- 
 ble will be placed 
 in this Chapel and 
 an appropriate re- 
 lief imported from 
 France will bring 
 before the mind of 
 the pious visitor the 
 sufferings of those 
 who are detained in 
 the ante-room of 
 heaven until they 
 have atoned as 
 though by fire for 
 the lesser faults 
 and shortcomings 
 that keep them 
 
 from appearing be- 
 
 fore the Throne of 
 God. Itis asthongh 
 
 45 
 
 View through the Catacombs. 
 
we hear their pitiful supplication: ‘‘ Have 
 pity on me, have pity on me, at least you 
 my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath 
 touched me.” (Job 79-21.) 
 
 This Purgatorial Chapel isin a special way 
 calculated to make us think of death, the inex- 
 orable enemy of mankind, who was brought in- 
 to the world by sin ; but also the great liberator 
 from all the woes and troubles of the earthly 
 life. Death is a terror to all, he spares no class 
 of society, no age, no sex, no calling in life, no 
 spiritual nor temporal authority. Suddenly 
 and without warning death comes to men with- 
 out regard to circumstances ; the individual that 
 is summoned must obey the fatal call and begin 
 his march to the grave. 
 
 But death, so formidable to the worldling, 
 who has set his heart on the treasures and 
 pleasures of this life, becomes a warm friend 
 and a welcome liberator to him who considers 
 this visitor in his real quality as a messenger of 
 God. Death leads on to resurrection. From 
 this vale of tears death transports us into the 
 realms of eternal bliss. 
 
 Can there be any more welcome friend than 
 the one who delivers us from bondage and 
 suffering ? Would the sick man not look np 
 with gratitude to the physician, who in one 
 
 46 
 
se 
 ) 
 
 In the midst of life we are in death. 47 
 
moment could cure him of his ailments and re- 
 instate him in perfect health ? 
 
 Death therefore is our greatest friend, if we 
 treat him as such and try to become familiar 
 with him. We mustlook upon him no longer 
 as the executioner from the garden of Paradise, 
 but as the friendly messenger of God, who is 
 sent to invite us to the heavenly banquet. All 
 that is necessary is that we always be prepared 
 to meet him. We must learn to look forward 
 to his coming with a sort of yearning ; we must 
 study him and his ways, the possible time and 
 place of his arrival and the way of receiving 
 him. 
 
 This is a very serious affair which most men 
 never study. They learn all the sciences of this 
 world, they are great in life, but very few learn 
 how to die well. This science, which is only 
 taught in the school of Christ Crucified, is one 
 of the chief objects of religious life, and it is 
 therefore well befitting that the Monastery pos- 
 sess here, so to say, a class room and lecture 
 hall of its own, where by object lessons the re- 
 ligious, and others who wish it may be initiated 
 into the principles of a happy death, where 
 illustrative scenes represent to our mind, not 
 only the terrifying features, but also the con- 
 soling and even the gladdening character of 
 
 48 
 
STE he 
 PG 
 
 49 
 
this despised and misunderstood angel of the 
 Most High. 
 
 They show how disobedience has called 
 death into the world, ‘‘ Wherefore as by one 
 man sin entered into this world and by sin, 
 death, and so death passed upon all men in 
 whom all have sinned.” (Rom. v.12). How 
 only the sinner needs fear him. ‘‘The death 
 of the wicked is very evil and they that hate the 
 just shall be guilty.”’ (Ps. 33-22). How even 
 the Son of God has bowed to him, but through 
 his glorious resurrection has rendered him 
 harmless. ‘‘O Death, where is thy victory, O 
 Death, where is thy sting?’ (/. Cor. xv. 55), 
 and how thus death has become a source of con- 
 solation to the just. ‘‘Blessed are the dead, 
 who die in the Lord.’ (Afoc, xiv. 13). 
 
 This study of death is of great advantage to 
 every Christian, and therefore we sce that the 
 Saints have used to advantage the two great 
 books of death: The Crucifix and tke Skull. 
 At the end of life, when death sweeps away 
 crowns and ermine, treasures, palaces, the rich 
 garments and the tatters of the poor, into one 
 grave, those who have studied the science of 
 dying will be the wisest in the end. ‘‘ We fools 
 esteemed their life madness, and their end 
 without honor.” (Wis. v. 12.) 
 
 Just as the astronomer gazes through his tele- ' 
 
 5° , 
 
scope into the starry world above and discovers 
 wonders invisible to the naked eye, sothe saints 
 bent on unraveling the mysteries of eternity 
 discover through the dark tunnel of death those 
 beautiful shores of which the Apostle says: 
 “But asit is written: that eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the 
 heart of man, what things God hath prepared 
 for them that love Him.’? (om. v. 12.) 
 
 Returning to the Martyr’s Crypt, we take the 
 catacomb passage to the right and follow it 
 until we reach ; 
 
 Requtescat tn Pace. 
 51 
 
ST SIS 
 
 Plan of the Grotto of Bethlehem. 
 
 Grotto of the Nativity. 6. Stairway to the 
 
 Altar of the Nativity. church. 
 
 Place of the Manger. 7. Entrance to the 
 Altar of the Magi. combs, 
 
 Bench of the Turkish 
 
 Soldier. 
 
 52 
 
 upper 
 
 Cata- 
 
The Grotto of Bethlehem. 
 
 “Joseph went up from Galilee out of the city of Naz- 
 areth into Judea to the city uf David which ts called Beth- 
 lehem, because he was of the house and family of David.” 
 Luke ll., 4,5- 
 
 ERE we see before us in a semicircular 
 niche between two stairways, the sacred 
 Shrine, with a silver star set in the marble of its 
 flooring, precisely like the one that in Bethle- 
 hem marks the holy spot where our Lord was 
 born. Around the silver star is this inscription 
 in Latin: ‘‘ Hicde Virgine Maria Jesus Chris- 
 tus natus est.’ ‘‘ Here Jesus Christ was born 
 of the Virgin Mary.’ Above it burn votive 
 lamps day and night, the offerings of pious 
 benefactors. A large marble slab forms the 
 altar table, and in the niche we see a relief fig- 
 ure of the Infant. Jesus. 
 
 The scene of this august event is here just 
 as the traveler of to-day beholds it, with even 
 the stone bench whereon Turkish sentinels sit 
 is reproduced, as is the casein the Grotto of 
 Nazareth, though of sentinel there is here no 
 need, andthe altars we now kneel before are 
 not in the hands of the infidel. 
 
 Turning to one side we come to a cavern hol- 
 lowed in the rock, which is reached by descend- 
 ingastep. This is the Place of the Manger, 
 where the Infant Jesus was laid, wrapped in 
 
 33 
 
The place of Manger. 
 
swaddling clothes, by 
 His Holy Mother. It 
 is but a little niche, 
 hewn in rock, for the 
 purpose of feeding the 
 cattle, for here a & 
 wooden manger was 
 built. “And she 
 brought forth her first 
 born son, and wrapped 
 him in _ swaddling 
 clothes, and laid him 
 in a manger; because 
 there was no room for 
 them in the inn.”’ (Sz. 
 Luke, t1., 7-) 
 
 Here it was that the shepherds hastened to 
 pay their homage to the Divine Child. We do 
 so likewise by venerating here a beautiful figure 
 of the Infant Jesus, which was blessed in the 
 original place of the manger at Bethlehem. 
 Here, too, it was that the wise men of the East, 
 Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, bowed low in 
 adoration. The place where they knelt is marked 
 by an altar, known asthe Altar of the Wise Men. 
 Beyond these three shrines and their decora- 
 tions there is nothing more in the Grotto, which 
 is empty and bare. Thetwo stairways leading 
 from the crypt to the Church above will re. 
 
 55 
 
mind all those who have been in Bethlehem of 
 the Latin and Greek stairways in the Church 
 of the Nativity, which they here reproduce. 
 
 On returning to the upper church by the stair- 
 way, we arrive in the transept, which at both 
 ends is rounded off into apses. Opposite, just 
 over the Grotto of Nazareth, is 
 
 56 
 
The Altar of the Nativity. 
 57 
 
Che Altar of the Sacred Heart. 
 
 “ Behold the Heart which has loved men so much.’ 
 Words of our Lord. 
 
 The devotion to the 
 Sacred Heart is as old as 
 the Church. After the 
 death of the Saviour a sol- 
 dier pierced this Sacred 
 Heart with a lance and 
 blood and water flowed 
 from it, wherefore the 
 Church adopted the cus- 
 tom of mixing a few drops 
 of water with the wine prepared at Mass for 
 consecration. 
 
 But the first manifestation of the Sacred 
 Heart took place in the-Cenacle, when our I,ord 
 invited Thomas, the incredulous disciple, to 
 place his fingers into the wound of His side. 
 
 An altar was erected to this mystery in the 
 Church of the Cenacle on Mount Zion, which is 
 now, unfortunately, in the hands of the Turks, 
 We commemorate on this altar of our Chapel 
 the mysterious manifestation of the love of the 
 Sacred Heart toward human mankind, and we 
 propose to offer special prayers and holy sacri- 
 fices here for the numberless thousands of souls 
 
 who have fallen from the faith of Christ and 
 58 
 
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 ry 
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who, as at the time of our Lord, live in the 
 darkness and shadow of death. 
 
 Our Holy Father has ordered that all the 
 parishes of the world be consecrated to the Sa- 
 cred Heart. This devotion has always beena 
 chief feature in the Seraphic Order. In the year 
 1874 the entire Franciscan Order was solemnly 
 consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The 
 manifestations of the Sacred Heartof Jesus tothe 
 children of St. Francis reach back to the very 
 beginning of the Order. One day, as St. An- 
 tony of Padua was at prayer in the solitude of 
 Mount St. Paul, Mary Immaculate appeared to 
 him and, showing a crowned heart on which 
 was imprinted the image of Jesus Crucified, 
 girt with the Cord of St. Francis, said: ‘‘ Look 
 up, Antony, and behold the armsthat I have 
 carried in my heart ever since my Divine Son 
 suffered on the Cross for the salvation of the 
 world. Whoever adores my Son under this 
 representation shall be preserved from all mis- 
 fortune, spiritual and bodily.” 
 
 Another time the Sacred Heart appeared to 
 the Blessed John of Alverna. Our Lord was 
 seen by him walking before his little hermitage, 
 and from his Sacred Heart the Blessed John 
 saw rays of light darting that illuminated all 
 the forest. He kissed the hands of Jesus lov- 
 
 ingly and the Sacred Heart gave out an odor so 
 60 
 
sweet and so penetrat- 
 ing that for many 
 years afterwards the 
 wood and the place 
 where: our Lord ; 
 walked remained ~ 
 richly perfumed. In 
 testimony of this 
 prodigy, the pilgrim 
 of to-day can see the 
 pathway of the Sacred 
 Heart, for though all 
 the mountain round about is covered witha 
 rich verdure, the path is bare and naked, as 
 though ihe flames leaping from the Divine 
 Heart had burned all about it. 
 ' And last of all, the grand manifestation of 
 the Sacred Heart to the Blessed Margaret Mary 
 Alacoque is not without a special intervention 
 of the Seraphic Order. All the world knows 
 “that our Lord gave to His blessed servant, as a 
 special protector, our Seraphic Father, St. 
 Francis of Assisi, and history tells us that at the 
 moment when the Blessed Margaret ‘‘ went to 
 reveal to the world the pierced heart of Jesus 
 Christ,” God sent a disciple of the Stigmatized 
 of Alverna, who should direct her, admit her at 
 once toa daily communion, and remove the 
 obstacles which her brothers sought to place in 
 the way of her entering the religious life. 
 61 
 
St. Antony of Padua deserves no less than St. 
 Francis of Assis to be called ‘‘the favorite of 
 the Sacred Heart.’’ Three centuries after his 
 death the Ven. Jane Mary of the Cross describes 
 a vision she had on the feast of St. Antony, in 
 which our Lord opened the wound in His 
 Heart, and this Heart, all radiant with light, 
 attracted and seemed in some sort to absorb 
 the soul of St. Antony as the light of the sun 
 absorbs all other light. ‘In the Heart of Jesus 
 the soul of the Saint appeared to me like a 
 precious gem of radiating brilliaucy, which 
 filled all the cavity. * * * Then Jesus took 
 this lustrous gem in His Heart and presented 
 it to His Heavenly Father, who caused it to be 
 admired by the angels and saints.” 
 
 In the transept directly opposite the altar of 
 the Sacred Heart is 
 
Che Altar of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 “The holy men o7 God spoke inspired by the Holy 
 Ghost.” 2 Peter, 1, 21. 
 
 The day on which 
 the Holy Ghost de- 
 scended upon the 
 Apostles has ever 
 been looked on as the 
 birthday of the 
 Church. This mem- 
 orable event took 
 place in the Cenacle 
 on Mount Sion, and 
 is commemorated by 
 the feast of Pentecost. 
 
 The Holy Ghost inspired the Apostles with 
 that spirit of faith and fortitude that made 
 them to think nothing of persecution and tor- 
 mentsand even of death. Thesame Holy Ghost 
 instructed them with the gift of languages, so 
 that they were able to talk to men of all nations. 
 
 Our College being a missionary institution, it 
 must draw from the fountain of that Spirit 
 which filled the world. Our missionaries, like 
 so many Apostles, must go out and carry the 
 fire of the love of God into the bosoms of the 
 infidels ; they must speak to them in foreign 
 languages ; they must work for the reunion of 
 
 63 
 
The Church as seen from the Allar of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 64 
 
our dissenting and separated brethren to the one 
 fold in Christ. 
 
 This reunion has been the great object of our 
 Holy Father, Leo XIII., and here at this altar 
 the future missionaries will kneel to pray that 
 the Spirit of God may again unite all Christians 
 in the same faith. 
 
 From the altar of the Holy Ghost we enter to 
 the right into the 
 
Ecce Fanem angelorum, 
 
 66 
 
The Chapel of the Cenacle. 
 
 “ Thou hast prepared a table before me against them 
 that afflict me.” Ps. xxIt.: 5. 
 
 It is only meet that a chapel especially dedi- 
 cated to the institution the great mystery 
 of love find its place in our own national 
 Shrine of the Holy Land, for it will remind the 
 Christian pilgrim of that ancient Cenacle in Pal- 
 estine, where the Saviour of the world, on the 
 eve of His passion, gave Himself wholly to His 
 disciples, saying, ‘‘ Take ye and eat; this is my 
 body.’ Matt. xxvi.: 26. 
 
 The Seraph of Assisi had always the greatest 
 love and devotion to this adorable Sacrament, 
 for he saw in it the infinite legacy of the dying 
 Son of God, He whose delight it is to be with 
 the children of men. He made a point of receiving 
 his Lord often in Holy Communion, that he might 
 partake more fully of His grace and become more 
 united with Him, that he might dwell in Christ 
 and Christ in him. (/ohu vi.: 56.) Everything 
 connected with the Blessed Eucharist was an 
 object of solicitude to St. Francis. He revered 
 more than an angel from heaven the lowliest 
 priest on earth, whose office it is to distribute 
 the Bread of Life to men. 
 
 Such was St. Francis’ devotion to Jesus in — 
 this Sacrament, that for it he even forgot his 
 
 67 
 
St. Faschal, U.L.M. Patron of the Eucharistic League, 
 68 
 
beloved poverty, and gave or- 
 ders that his brethren should 
 procure precious ciboria for the 
 churches where they found that 
 the Sacred Host was not repos- 
 ing in a vessel worthy of Him. 
 His great zeal for the Divine 
 Prisoner of the Tabernacle knew 
 no bounds; he even ‘‘in all rey- 
 erence and kissing their feet’’ 
 prepared a letter to be sent to 
 all the clergy of the Catholic 
 Church, exhorting them to the 
 greatest diligence and care in all 
 that pertained to the vessels 
 and linens of the Altar of the 
 Blessed Sacrament. In this 
 restoration of the eucharistic 
 devotion, the Friars have ever 
 taken a part worthy of their 
 Seraphic Father, asmay beseen 
 from the numerous devotions 
 introduced by them into the 
 ritual of the Church. His Holi- 
 
 Memorial Lamp. 
 
 ness, Leo XIII., has publicly recognized this 
 fact by assigning a humble Franciscan lay 
 brother, St. Paschal Baylon, as the patron 
 of all eucharistic congresses and works of every 
 kindin honor of the Blessed Sacrament through- 
 
 69 
 
out the whole world. St. Paschal died in Spain 
 on Whitsunday, May 17, 1592. Even after 
 death he retained his extraordinary devotion to 
 the Holy Eucharist, for when lying lifeless on 
 his bier he twice opened his eyes during the 
 elevation of the funeral Mass. A statue of this 
 glorious servant of God will be placed in the 
 Chapel of the Cenacle. Adjoining it is the 
 Chapel of Penance, destined for Confessions. 
 
’ 
 
 Che Chapel of Penance. 
 
 OMPASSION is the characteristic of a tender 
 and loving heart, and, therefore, we find 
 near the altar of every Catholic church the con- 
 fessional which is the tribunal, not of punish- 
 ment, but of forgiveness. 
 
 If in the Holy Eucharist Jesus has erected a 
 throne of His undying love towards us, the 
 Sacrament of Penance is the throne of His lov- 
 ing mercy, where He extends His pardon to the 
 weeping Peter and to the penitent Magdalene. 
 Penance is the great sacrament of the compas- 
 sion of Jesus, of self-knowledge, of perfect — 
 contrition, of reparation and perseverance. We 
 were ‘‘sold gratis’’—that is, betrayed and lost 
 by sin, and we are redeemed ‘‘ without money ’”’ 
 —that is, as we had not wherewith to pay, He 
 let us go and forgave usthe debt—yet indeed, 
 not until He had paid it Himself. 
 
 Cardinal Newman, writing of the love of our 
 Lord in this Sacrament, observes’ thus 
 beautifully : 
 
 “« The presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist 
 is real and substantial, proper and personal, in 
 all the fulness of His Godhead and manhood. 
 His presence in the Sacrament of Penance is by 
 representation and grace. In this then there is 
 no comparison possible. In the Holy Eucharist 
 
 7X 
 
Christ the Consoler, 
 
 N 
 bh 
 
Jesus manifests Himself in His royalty, power 
 and glory. In the Sacrament of Penance, in 
 His tenderness asa Physician and His compas- 
 sion as the Good Shepherd. In the former He 
 attracts and transforms us chiefly by His divine 
 attributes ; in the latter, by His human experi- 
 ence, sympathy and pity. 
 
 “Tn the Holy Eucharist, Jesus draws us up- 
 wards to Himself ; in the Sacrament of Penance, 
 He stoops down to listen to us and to open to us 
 His Sacred Heart in the midst of our sins and 
 in the hour of our greatest miseries. The Holy 
 Eucharist is Jesus reigning amongst the just; 
 the Sacrament of Penance is Jesus seeking 
 among sinners for those that are lost; the former 
 is the Sacrament of Saints, the latter, of the 
 sinful ; and therefore to such as we are it comes 
 down with a singular nearness, an intimate 
 contact with our needs and an articulate and 
 human voice of help and solace. 
 
 ‘« Therefore the Sacrament of Penance is loved 
 by Catholics and hated by the world. Like the 
 pillar which of old guided the people of God, 
 to us it is all light ; to the world it is all dark- 
 ness, There are two things of which the world 
 would fain rid itself—of the Day of Judgment 
 and the Sacrament of Penance; of the former 
 because it is searcuing and inevitable; of the 
 latter, because it is the anticipation and witness 
 
 73 
 
of judgment tocome. For this cause there is 
 no evil that the world will not say of the Con- 
 fessional. It would dethrone the Eternal Judge, 
 if it could, therefore it spurns at the judge who 
 sits in the tribunal of penance, because he is 
 within reach of its head. And not only the 
 world without the Church, but the world within 
 its unity, the impure, the false, the proud, the 
 lukewarm, the worldly Catholic, and in a word, 
 all who are impenitent, both fear and shrink 
 from the shadow of the Great White Throne 
 which falls on them from the Sacrament of 
 Penance.”’ 
 
 Retracing our steps to the altar of the Holy 
 Ghost, we enter the 
 
 QZ) 
 Cae 
 
Chapel of Portiuncula 
 
 DEDICATED TO 
 Our Lady of Angels. 
 
 It is named in honor of the little church St. 
 Francis loved so well, which was the scene of 
 many of the wonderful happenings of his holy 
 life,and where the indulgence of the Portiuncula 
 was established. It is related of St. Francis that, 
 being sore tempted, he stripped from him his 
 garments and entered a thicket that grew near- 
 
 St. Francis Plucking Roses. 
 75 
 
by the church, wherein were a multitude of 
 briars. And into these he cast himself anon, so 
 that they tore his flesh most grievously, and the 
 blood covered his body ; yet he said, ‘‘ Better is 
 it for me that I suffer with my Lord than that I 
 should give ear unto the false words of my 
 enemy.’’ And when he had spoken and was sad 
 beset with many wounds, behold, there came in- 
 to that place a great light as it were the sun at 
 mid-day, and upon the bushes that bore the 
 thorns, he saw roses blossoming. All about 
 him were bright forms, and he knew them for 
 angels and rejoiced, giving thanks. Then said 
 they, ‘‘Francis, hasten thou to go into the 
 church, where await thee our Lord Jesus and 
 His Blessed Mother.’”’ And he was clothed ina 
 garment of purest white, and of the roses he 
 gathered twelve of each color that blossomed ; 
 and itseemed to him he was treading on silk 
 draperies when he walked to the church. 
 
 . When he had entered the church it was so as 
 the angels had said ; for when he placed his 
 roses on the altar he was aware of our Lord and 
 His Blessed Mother, and a great company of 
 angels; whereat he was astonished and fell 
 upon his face. Then said our Lord: ‘‘ Francis, 
 why hast thou not made unto my mother those 
 presents that would become thee to give?’’ By 
 this Francis knew that our Lord meant souls, 
 
 76 
 
to be saved through an indulgence to be gained 
 in this church, so he spoke: ‘‘ Most Holy Father 
 and Lord of Heaven and earth, vouchsafe in Thy 
 great mercy to fix the day on which I may offer 
 up to Thy Mother these gifts, and may she, that 
 is the advocate of the human race, intercede for 
 me, ” - 
 
 Granting of the Portiuncula Indulgence, 
 77 
 
Then it was that our Lord declared that 
 whoso should visit the chapel with a contrite 
 heart, between the First Vespers on August I, 
 and the Vespers on the day following, having 
 confessed the sins he could call to mind, should 
 obtain remission of all his sins committed 
 from the hourof his baptism -until his enter- 
 ing into the Church. 
 
 Now after much difficulty, St. Francis ob- 
 tained the consent of the Holy Father to the 
 publishing of this Indulgence. And many 
 souls were saved thereby. 
 
 The Indulgence of the Portiuncula can now 
 be gained from 2 o’clock in the afternoon on 
 the first of August until sunset on the second 
 of August by a visit to any Franciscan church, 
 the usual condition having been complied with. 
 In places where there is no Franciscan church, 
 Tertiaries of St. Francis may gain the same 
 Indulgence by visiting the parish church. A 
 prayer must be said for the intention of our 
 Holy Father the Pope. The Indulgence can 
 be obtained as often as the church is visited, 
 but only one is applicable to oneself. The In- 
 dulgence is, however, applicable to the souls in 
 Purgatory. Confession and Holy Communion 
 may be made in any church 
 
 78 
 
Che Chapel of St. 
 Fintony. 
 
 “ Beloved of God and men 
 whose memory 1s in bene- 
 diction.’ Eccli, xlv., 1. 
 : Immediately oppo- 
 St. Antony Preaching. sie he Chapel Bpe@ns 
 
 Lady of Angels, is the 
 Chapel dedicated to St. Antony. 
 
 He is the eldest son, as it were, of St. 
 Francis, who inherited the spirit of his Seraphic 
 Father in its entire fullness. The beloved child 
 of Providence, St. Antony is one of the most 
 wonderful figures in the Church’s history. After 
 
 79 
 
St. Antony. 
 80 
 
a hidden life of several years, he suddenly burst 
 into prominence by his inspired eloquence, his 
 wonderful knowledge of Scripture, his truly 
 Seraphic spirit, his amiability and the prodigious 
 power he possessed of working miracles. Na- 
 ture had no bounds for the works which he 
 wrought for the glory of God. The great wave 
 of devotion which has swept over the Church 
 in more recent years, is ample testimony to his 
 heaven-given powers. 
 
 There was a touch of prophecy in the words 
 which our Holy Father spoke to an ecclesiastic 
 of Padua : ‘‘My son, itis not enough to love 
 St. Antony, but you must make him loved, for 
 St. Antony is the Saint, not of Padua only, 
 but of the whole world.” 
 
 About his name many devotions have sprung 
 up like sweet flowers from a fruitful soil, whose 
 odor pervades all nations. Among these is the 
 Pious Union of St. Antony, which has for its 
 object the thanking of God for the miraculous 
 power granted to St. Antony, the imploring of 
 his powerful intercession, the propagation of 
 his devotion and the assistance of the poor. 
 The obligations of the Union are to say daily, 
 three times, ‘‘ Glory be to the Father, etc. ;’’ to 
 recite daily the Miraculous Responsory to St. 
 Antony, or, if this be not known, once the 
 Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory; to give an 
 
 81 
 
The Chapel 07 St. Antony. 
 
 alms to the poor when- 
 ever a favor has been 
 obtained through St. 
 Antony, and to receive 
 the Sacraments on the 
 Feast of St. Antony, 
 June 13, or within the 
 Otave. There are many 
 spiritual advantages 
 connected with mem- 
 bership in the Union 
 which, by a decree of 
 August 31, 1897, had 
 its National Centre for 
 the United States es- 
 tablished at the Com- 
 missariat of the Holy 
 Land, Mount St. Sep- 
 ulchre, Washington, 
 DAC 
 
 The growth of this 
 widespread devotion 
 to St. Antony has also 
 taken the form of a 
 new _ charity —St. 
 Antony’s Bread. Those 
 who desire to partici- 
 pate in this charity 
 write their requests on 
 
 82 
 
a piece of paper, adding a promise that if by 
 the expiration of a given time St. Antony 
 should secure its fulfilment, a certain sum of 
 money will be given, to be used in buying bread 
 for the poor. Among these may be numbered 
 the poor students, who, like St. Antony, aspire 
 to the priesthood. Requests so written may be 
 sent to St. Antony's department (Mt. St. 
 Sepulchre, Washington, D. C.). They will there 
 be deposited at the Statue of St. Antony, to 
 whom special prayers are said weekly for the 
 benefactors of the students and their intentions. 
 Toa pious woman who sought his aid in an im- 
 portant matter, St. Antony manifested himself 
 and thus instructed her: ‘‘ Visit my picture in 
 the Church of St. Francis for nine consecutive 
 Tuesdays and your request shall be granted.’’ 
 She did so, and the desired favor was obtained. 
 From this circumstance has grown another de- 
 votion to the Saint. But the faith of the people 
 has extended the nine Tuesdays to thirteen, in 
 memory of his death on the thirteenth day of 
 June. The Church has sanctioned this pious 
 practice and enriched it with indulgences. 
 The Miraculous Responsory of St. Antony is 
 a most efficient supplication. This hymn has 
 been chanted for years at the tomb of the Saint 
 in Padua, and is often recited by the Fathers 
 at the request of pilgrims for a particular 
 83 
 
intention. An indulgence of 199 
 days for each recital of the Re- 
 sponsory has been granted by the 
 Church, witha plenary indulgence 
 once amonth. Itis well to recite 
 it in every need, especially if any- 
 ’ thing be lost or stolen. In honor of 
 the thirteen ‘miracles contained in 
 the Responsory there is the Chap- 
 let of St. Antony, consisting of 
 thirteen Our Fathers, Hail Marys 
 and Glorias, and the Responsory. 
 St Antony’s Militia is a branch 
 } of the Pious Union for young 
 } menand boys. Its members are 
 called on to become apwstles of 
 Christ among their fellows, to 
 fight the demon of impurity, to 
 foster a tender devotion to the 
 Blessed Virgin, and to form a 
 league of prayer among them- 
 selves. The same indulgences gained by 
 members of the Pious Union apply to the - 
 Militia. 
 
 It has long been a practice to consecrate 
 children to the Saint and Christian mothers are 
 urged to placed their dear little ones under his 
 protection. These children wear the Cord of 
 St. Antony and their mothers recite the prayers 
 84 
 
of the Pious Union for 
 them, giving alms to the 
 poor in their behalf. 
 Many in devotion to 
 St. Antony wear a scapu- 
 lar of gray wool which bears the image of the 
 Saint with the Infant Jesus in his arms, and 
 surrounded by the blessing of St. Antony. The 
 reverse bears a picture of the reliquary contain- 
 ing the Sacred Tongue, with the words ad- 
 dressed to it by St. Bonaventure when the 
 _ relics of the Wonder-worker were translated. 
 The solicitude of St. Antony even reaches 
 down to the depths of Purgatory. He fre- 
 85 
 
quently offered the Holy Sacrifice of Mass for 
 the dead. Hence it has become customary 
 when any one desires his special intercession 
 to have a holy Mass said in his honor for the 
 benefit of his deceased clients in order to 
 prompt his tender soul to mercy in our behalf. 
 
 Those who desire more detailed information 
 regarding the devotions to St. Antony may ob- 
 tain it by writing to St. Antony’s Department, 
 Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Leaving the Chapel of St. Antony we pass to 
 the remaining chapel, 
 
 846 
 
Che Chapel of St. Francis. 
 ‘‘And He gave him commandments and a law of life 
 and instruction.’ LEccli. xtv. 6- 
 From the streets of lone Assisi 
 Rang a voice of piercing might, 
 Through the olive groves and myrtles 
 In the sunshine and the light ; 
 Through the world that lay in darkness 
 Rang the sweet and thrilling cry 
 When St. Francis called the nations 
 To the Wisdom from on high. 
 
 In the beautiful valley of Umbria stands 
 Assisi, which has become famous in the world 
 through the man who, from his loviug spirit, 
 has been called Sweet Saint Francis. Being 
 the son of a rich merchant, he was eminent for 
 his wealth, but more so by his constant and 
 unflinching virtue. It was this, indeed, that 
 won for him the title of the ‘‘ flower of the 
 young men of Assisi.’’ 
 
 A sudden flash of grace, which came to him 
 through a sickness in which he lay near to 
 death, turned his thoughts from the smiling 
 beauties of the world to the deeper facts of 
 eternity. Overcome by a hitherto unknown 
 longing for a better world, the image of the 
 Saviour became more real to his eyes, and he 
 loved Him with an ever-deepening and more 
 
 intense adoration. 
 87 c 
 
St. Francts, true Follower of Christ. 
 
And so it was on the day when he heard the 
 words of Christ: ‘‘Go carry neither scrip nor 
 purse nor shoes,’’ and ‘‘If thou wilt be perfect, 
 go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and 
 thou wilt have treasure in heaven, and come 
 follow me.’’ Stripping himself of his rich 
 apparel, he garbed himself in the clothes of a 
 poor man and became a beggar in the midst of 
 luxury. Neither scorn nor ridicule, imprison- 
 ment or blows had power to turn him from the 
 path he had chosen or make him forsake the 
 spouse of his breast, holy poverty. Disowned 
 and disinherited by his father, he bore all for 
 the sake of his Master, in whose steps he 
 endeavored to follow. 
 
 Disciples were not slow in flocking to his 
 side, and in 1209, with the approbation of the 
 Holy See, he founded the Order of Friars 
 Minor. Three years later the Second Order 
 had its beginning, when a pious virgin of Assisi, 
 whose name was Clara, bade farewell to the 
 world and donned the coarse garb of penitence. 
 
 There were matty who would also have 
 wished to join this fast-growing army of saints, 
 but worldly duties and responsibilities would 
 not allow them. To this end the Third Order 
 sprang up. Like wildfire almost it spread 
 throughout Christendom. Noblemen and kings 
 
 added to their honors and regal robes the robe 
 89 ry 
 
St. Francis Calling the Knight Tancred to the Order. 
 go 
 
of the Poor Man of Assisi. How beautiful was 
 that reply of a Cardinal to one who was aston- 
 ished that a prince of the Church should.add 
 the livery of St. Francis to his purple: 
 
 “The habit of St. Francis is itself a purple 
 which adds to the dignity of kings and Car- 
 dinals. Indeed, it is a purple dyed in the blood 
 of Christ and in the blood coming from the 
 sacred stigmata of His holy servant. I have 
 added purple to purple—the purple of the 
 Heavenly King to that of the Cardinalate. It 
 is a double honor which I have not merited.’’ 
 
 It was after his return from Palestine that the 
 crowning glory of his lite was conferred on St. 
 Francis. At midnight on Mt. Alverna he 
 chanted Matins with the brethren as usual. 
 Then he went out among the trees where there 
 was a large crucifix. Kneeling before it he be- 
 gan to meditate deeply onthe passion of our 
 Lord, for it was the eve of the Feast of the 
 Exaltation of the Cross. He prayed his Saviour 
 if it were possible that he might participate in 
 some degree in His sufferings, when the heavens 
 were opened before him and from on high there 
 appeared a Seraph more beautiful than day, 
 glowing with splendor. Two of its wings covered 
 the head and two the body, while two more sup- 
 ported it in the act of flying. The Seraph ap- 
 peared crucified and the marks of the wounds 
 
 gi 
 
The Vision of the Seraph, 
 92 
 
were seen by St. Francis, The Seraph was our 
 Saviour, and he talked with St. Francis. And 
 as they spoke, the heart of St. Francis became 
 transformed and the marks of the wounds ap- 
 peared on his chaste flesh. In his hands appeared 
 nails which seemed to have grown from his flesh, 
 and his breast appeared as if pierced with a 
 lance, and blood from the wound stained his 
 habit. 
 
 This stigmatization is the seal, as it were, of 
 God’s acceptance of the work of his earthly 
 life. The Church has established the truth of 
 this great mystery and has formally instituted a 
 feast to commemorate it. It is celebrated by the 
 whole Church, on September 17, the date chosen 
 for the dedication of Mount St. Sepulchre. 
 
 93 
 
St. Francis Recetving the Rule from Our Lord. 
 94 
 
Che Order of Friars Minor and its 
 Mission in the @hurch. 
 
 FTER the death of €t. Francis his children 
 spread themselves throughout the whole 
 world, adhering faithfully to bis spirit which 
 had inspired them and continuing their heaven- 
 sent mission with unremitting zeal. This new 
 soldiery which God had given to the Church 
 was destined to revive the spirit of Jesus Christ 
 among the Christian nations; and for the ac- 
 complishment of this divine mission our Lord 
 Himself dictated to St. Francis the Seraphic 
 Rule, which is the quintessence of the Holy 
 Gospel and the mode of life of the Apostles. 
 The Order of St. Francis has carried on at all 
 times the work of preaching in Catholic lands, 
 and the work of missions among the heathen. 
 Volumes might be written on the labors, suf- 
 ferings and triumphs of the Franciscan mis- 
 sionaries ; no Order in the Church has surpassed 
 them in zeal for the propagation of the gospel. 
 St. Francis himself visited the Holy Land, pre- 
 sented himself before the Sultan of Egypt 
 (1220) and endeavored to convert him, and sent 
 five Friars to Morocco, who were all martyred. 
 Franciscans preached in Tartary about the 
 middle of the thirteenth century, and in China 
 and Armenia before the end ofit. By a bull of 
 95 
 
6B Ul = 
 icine ee 
 
 2 
 | 
 
 The Tree of the Order. 
 96 
 
Clement VI. (1340) the guardianship of the 
 Holy Places at Jerusalem was committed to the 
 Order, and they still retain it. Franciscans 
 were established in Bosnia in 1340, in Bulgaria 
 about 1366, and in Georgia (Caucasia), 1370. 
 We find them taking a large share in the con- 
 version of the natives of the Canary Islands in 
 and after 1423; they entered Abyssinia in 1480, 
 and about 1490 established a mission on the 
 Congo which bore great fruit. The Order was 
 instrumeital in the discovery of America. Fr. 
 John Perez de Marchena, guardian of a con- 
 vent near Seville, himself a learned cosmog- 
 rapher, entered warmly into the designs of 
 Columbus, and used his influence with Isabella 
 the Catholic, whose confessor he had been, to 
 persuade her to fit out the memorable expedi- 
 tion of 1492. In the following year Fr. John 
 himself went to America and opened the first 
 Christian Church in the New World, at a small 
 settlement in theisland of Hayti. Not to speak 
 of the Franciscan missions in India, Brazil and 
 Peru—it was the Friars Minor who were wel- 
 comed to Mexico by Cortez in 1523, and who, 
 under their holy leader, Martin de Valenza, 
 planted Christianity firmly in that empire, 
 whence they went forth to preach the gospel in 
 New Mexico (1580), in Arizona, in Texas (1600), 
 and, lastly, in California (1769). 
 oF 
 
S 
 
 SS 
 
 St. Francts and St. Bernardine, devout clients «f the 
 
 rgin. 
 
 Blessed Vii 
 
 98 
 
There is no savage nation which the Fran- 
 ciscan missionaries have not sought to evangel- 
 ize; no land so distant or shore so unknown 
 that they have not watered it with the sweat of 
 their brows and often with their very life’s 
 blood. And even in this, our day, their apos- 
 tolic zeal has not abated, for their missions con- 
 tinue in all parts of the globe. The disciples of 
 St. Francis are found in Asia, under the burn- 
 ing sun of Africa, in the vast regions of North 
 and South America, and among the savage 
 tribes of the South Sea Islands. 
 
 The Order of St. Francis has never separated 
 learning from the apostolate. Preaching was, 
 itis true, the last principle of the Order which 
 suggested itself to St. Francis, but he gave to 
 their preaching a solid foundation in sacred 
 knowledge. The Friar Minor should draw the 
 inspiration of his eloquence from the pure 
 sources of theology. It was the Order of Friars 
 Minor that, having consoled and rejoiced the 
 Church by the indefatigable zeal of its apostles, 
 illumined it by the wisdom of its doctors. And 
 it is not one of the least of the glories of the 
 Order that its most illustrious men have re- 
 garded their lives and their works as belonging 
 to Mary Immaculate, their august patron. 
 They made use of their learning and their bril- 
 liancy to defend that which was called the 
 
 g9 
 
‘‘Franciscan opinion ’’—that is, the Immacu- 
 late Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 
 But the Order of St. Francis does not esteem 
 learning unless it is coupled with the practise 
 of the highest Seraphic virtues. The present 
 number of Saints and Blessed belonging to the 
 three Orders of St. Francis is 260. In addition 
 to these servants of God who haye been raised 
 tothe honors of the altar, there are also some 
 7,000 martyrs or confessors to whom the title of 
 Blessed is given in the martyrology of the Ser- 
 aphic Order, as well as a large number of others 
 who enjoy a wide public cult. 
 
 During the past two centuries the children of 
 St. Francis have not ceased to add to the hosts 
 of heaven, after they had enriched the earth 
 by the sweet perfume of their virtue. Accord- 
 ing toa public accounting, made at the General 
 Chapter held in Rome in 1856, the number of 
 religious Friars Minor who died in the odor of 
 sanctity since 1768, less than a century, was 
 more than four hundred. 
 
 In addition to these there is a number of 
 others still who have died in the fame of heroic 
 sanctity. ‘The causes of beatification of no less 
 than sixty-eight of these have already been in- 
 troduced, and hence they are entitied to be 
 called Venerable. Of these sixty-eight servants 
 of God thirty-one lived during the present cen- 
 
 100 
 
tury. Pre-eminent among them is Fr. Joseph 
 Areso, O.F.M., who re-established the Ser- 
 aphic Order in France, and who died in 1878. 
 No less renowned for sanctity during the same 
 period were Fathers Lawrence Izaquirre, John 
 of Obieta, John Baptist of Beauvais, Alphonsus 
 of Montbrison and Brother Stanislaus of Serate, 
 all belonging to the French Franciscan Prov- 
 ince. More recently, however, Father Arsen- 
 jus of Servieres, O.F.M.. Provincial of the 
 same Province, seems to have eclipsed all these 
 in point of heroic holiness. He died in the 
 fame of sanctity in Paris on Easter Sunday, 1898. 
 
 In the month preceding the death of Fr. Ar- 
 senius there died in Corsica another humble 
 Franciscan, Fr. Peter Lopez, O.F.M. He ex- 
 pired at the convent of Marcasso on March 25, 
 1898. It was necessary on account of the 
 crowds to leave Fr. Peter’s body exposed for 
 several days, and it was noticed that it remained 
 supple and flexible as in life, the face was radi- 
 ant as though reflecting the happiness of para- 
 dise—a fact which astonished aud overawed all 
 that approached it. Finally, in the presence of 
 a large concourse, the remains were laid in a 
 special vault under the Conventual Church at 
 Marcasso, beside those of the Ven. Bernardine 
 of Calenzana, O.F.M., who will shortly be - 
 raised to the honors of the altar. 
 
 Ior 
 
Saints of the Seraphic Order. 
 102 
 
Another Italian Franciscan, Fr. Ludovico da 
 Casoria, O.F.M., who died in 1885, attained . 
 such an eminent degree of holiness that the con- 
 sideration of his virtues has already been taken 
 up by the Holy See. 
 
 Another biography of the same type is Lady 
 Lovat’s ‘Life of Sr. Mary Clare Vaughan,” 
 who died in the odor of sanctity while a novice 
 in the Franciscan Order. The biography of 
 Sister Clare, who was a sister of the present 
 Cardinal Vaughan, is truly Franciscan ; it reads 
 like another chapter in the “‘ Little Flowers of 
 St. Francis.” 
 
 Measures are being taken to introduce the 
 cause of beatification of Fr. Bula, O.F.M, a 
 missionary in Chili, who died in 1896, in the 
 odor of sanctity. 
 
 The introduction of the cause of Fr. Bonaven- 
 tura Sortillo, O.F.M., Bishop of Zacatecas, in 
 Mexico, who died in July, 1899,is being spoken of, 
 
 We fain would add to these few too brief ex- 
 amples of sanctity gathered at random from the 
 Seraphic garden a long listof other Franciscans 
 of the three Orders who have attained public 
 eminence for sanctity in our own time, but lack 
 of spaceforbids. Enough has, however, been 
 said todemonstrate that heroic sanctity is not 
 impossible in this hurrying, pressing latter day 
 ofours. Nor has it been in the peaceful at- 
 
 103 
 
104 
 
 The Martyrs of Damascus. 
 
mosphere of the cloister alone that the children 
 of St. Francis have triumphed over the world. 
 In infidel countries they have been repeating the 
 victories of their glorious predecessors, the Ser- 
 aphic martyrs of Morocco, Japan and Gorcum. 
 The cause of beatification of the Ven. Emmanuel 
 Ruiz, O.F.M., and his seven companions, all 
 Franciscans, martyred at Damascus in Syria in 
 1860, has already been introduced. Even more 
 recently, Bro. Liberatus, O.F.M., sealed his 
 faith with his blood in the Grotto of the Nativ- 
 ity at Bethlehem in 1893; Father Salvator, 
 O.F.M., was cruelly put to death for his faith 
 by the Mussulmans in Armenia in November, 
 1895, and Father Victorin, O.F.M., was mar- 
 tyred in China last December in a manner cal- 
 culated to recall the worst torments inflicted on 
 the Christians during the fiercest of the early 
 persecutions. 
 
 Surely an Order which can produce in this 
 godless age such heroes as these is in no danger 
 of becoming decadent. Rather, it is destined, 
 as Pope Leo has repeatedly insisted, to renew 
 the lights of faith and love in these dark and 
 distracted days. Thank God! the Seraphic 
 Order which has in the past given to the world 
 so many children who are now crowned with 
 glory still continues to produce saints, and will 
 do so until the end. 
 
 105 
 
St. Francis Founds the Third Order, 
 
 106 
 
The Third Order of St. Francis. 
 
 T was after he had founded his first two 
 Orders that St. Francis, in 1221 established 
 the Third Order. There were many in those 
 days who were aroused by the spirit of regenera- 
 tion which the preaching of the Saint and his 
 followers had aroused. Filled with sorrow and 
 remorse for their sins and moved by a deep de- 
 sire to spend the remainder of their lives in 
 penitential exercises and works of charity they 
 would fain have withdrawn from the world. 
 But for many the cloister was not possible. 
 Ties of many kinds bound them to a life in 
 the world—ties which they could not in con- 
 science loose, for some were married and others 
 had aged or infirm parents or relatives de- 
 pendent upon them. 
 
 Seeing their great devotion and unwilling 
 that they should be deprived of the spiritual 
 advantages accruing to those who embraced 
 the religious life, St. Francis found for these a 
 middle course, a path to salvation that should 
 lie midway between the world and the cloister, 
 partaking of the nature of each. In fact, those 
 who take upon themselves the obligations and 
 habit of the Third Order, men and women are 
 in the true sense of the word religious who pass 
 
 unnoticed in the garments of everyday life and 
 107 
 
whose cloisters are bounded only by the limits 
 of the world itself. 
 
 The chief obligation imposed by the Rule on - 
 members of the Third Order is to live a life 
 which shall be in all ways truly Christian. Itis 
 not severe, its requirements do not bind under 
 pain of sin, and is therefore open to all. Those 
 inthe Order are expected to be more sedate, 
 spend more timein prayer, hear Mass more 
 frequently, fast more strictly, and to shun the 
 pleasures of this world more persistently. Here 
 are the principal obligations : 
 
 Every Day.—Assist at Holy Mass, if possible, 
 recite twelve Paters and Aves, say grace before 
 and after meals and examine your conscience. 
 
 very Month.—Receive the Sacraments and 2s- 
 sistat the meetings. A/ways be temperate in 
 eating and drinking, avoid display in dress and 
 ornaments, frivolous stage plays, dances and 
 all revelry, bad books and newspapers, unnec- 
 essiry oaths, immodest words and vulgar jokes. 
 Make your will in due time, pray for the dead, 
 and wear the cord and scapular. Fast on 
 October 3d, and December 7th. 
 
 It will thus be seen that it is an approved 
 Order, infinitely more than a common confra- 
 ternity, and has been recommended and eulo- 
 gized by more than thirty Popes, and two 
 
 Ecumenical Councils. 
 108 
 
Devotions Founded by the 
 Franciscans, 
 
 Many of the greatest and most popular devo- 
 tions in the Church owe their origin to the Sons 
 of St. Francis. The origin of the beautiful 
 devotion of the crib is thus described: 
 
 “Tate in the Au- 
 tumn of the year 
 1223, being at 
 Rome, St. Francis 
 sought and _ ob- 
 tained from the 
 Pontiff Honorius 
 III. permission to 
 
 Origin of the Cri. 
 Iog 
 
honor the Feast of the Nativity in a novel way. 
 He then journeyed to Greccio, a little spot in the 
 Appenines,there to celebrate his ideal Christmas. 
 On the mountain side near Greccio a large stable 
 was roughly built ; carved wooden images of the 
 Divine Child, the Virgin Mother, and St. 
 Joseph were placed in it; the floor was covered 
 with straw, and an altar was erected. Toward 
 midnight soiae shepherds arrived, leading an 
 ox and an ass, which they tied up under this 
 rude shelter. The place was thronged with the 
 friars from the neighboring convent, and the 
 country people from the hamlets around, who 
 had brought torches, which illuminated the 
 mountain side; they brought with them also 
 musical instruments, and the wild, sweet Christ- 
 mas carols resounded through the dark forests, 
 and awakened the echoes of the rocks.”’ 
 
 The Forty Hours’ Devotion, concerning 
 which Cardinal Wiseman says, ‘‘In no other 
 time or place is the sublimity of our religion so 
 touchingly felt,’’ is another legacy from the 
 Franciscans. It was instituted in 1537, by 
 the Ven. Joseph A. Ferno, a friar of Milan, and 
 the rules for its observance were drawn up some 
 years later by St. Charles Borromeo, himself a 
 Franciscan of the Third Order. 
 
 So again the Franciscans were the first to 
 
 introduce into their churches throughout 
 IIo 
 
Europe the devotion known as 
 the Way of the Cross, or the 
 fourteen stations. Clement III. ‘ 
 extended this devotion to the y = 
 universal Church ; reserving to LB. 
 the Order of St. Francis, or oi Pa Y 
 whomsoever the General of it Lay iy 
 should delegate, the right to —- “% 
 bless and erect the stations. 
 
 For the Angelus, which has 
 been aptly called the very poetry 
 of prayer, we are indebted to 
 St. Bonaventure, who, in 1262, 
 being then General of the Fran- 
 ciscans, commanded the friars 
 at the general chapter of his 
 order at Pisa to recite, at the 
 sound of the evening bell, three 
 Aves in honor of the mystery of 
 theIncarnation. Thesamewas if 
 ordered for morning and noon, 
 This was the origin of the An- 
 gelus. 
 
 But the crowning grace of de- 
 votions which we owe to the 
 Order of St. Francis is the di- 
 vinely given indulgence of the 
 Portiuncula already mentioned, 
 
 concerning which the great 
 1Ir 
 
 ee 
 
 The Angelus. 
 
Jesuit theologian, Bourdaloue, says: ‘'I assert 
 that of all indulgences that of the Portiuncula is 
 the most authentic and valid in the Church, be- 
 cause it is an indulgence directly granted hy 
 Jesus Christ Himself. All other indulgences 
 whatever have been derived from Sovereign 
 Pontiffs, this one alone was given directly by 
 God Himself to the lovely and lowly St. 
 Francis.” 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten in this connection 
 that the sublime and pathetic ‘‘ Dies Ire,’’ 
 which forms part of the Requiem for the dead, 
 was composed by a Franciscan, Father Thomas 
 de Celano, and that the ‘‘ Stabat Mater,’’ which 
 is the most beautiful of all hymns in honor of 
 our Lady, is also the production of a Francis- 
 can, the Italian poet Jacapone da Todi. 
 
 Ir2 
 
——$_—" re EE = 
 
 a Pam] 
 
 Tniluence of the Order of St. Francis 
 on the Ghurch and on Society. 
 
 “ Tsalute thee, O wisdom, who art the.queen. May Gud 
 
 preserve thee with thy sister, pure and holy simplicity..— 
 Words of St. Francts. 
 
 Indeed, few Catholics know how much they 
 owe to St. Francis and the Franciscans. 
 
 How many areignorant of the fact that Roger 
 Bacon, ‘‘the giant of science’’—he who fore- 
 told the extensive use of steam and electricity, 
 lived and died asa humble priest of the Friars 
 Minor? How few outside the small circle of 
 eminent scientists are aware that it was a son of 
 St. Francis, Bishop Mullock, O.F.M., of New 
 
 Il3 
 
‘ayvynavuumy cADpy JO Salmaus, 24] Aan0 SYFUNIATL SNJOIS sung 
 
 114 
 
Foundland, who first conceived the idea of lay- 
 ing the ocean cable, and showed it to be practi- 
 cable? In these boastful days of military power 
 and skill, howfew know that it wasa peaceful 
 friar, Berthold Schwarz, whoin hishumblecell 
 invented gunpowder? When we hear of the 
 great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 
 and the Sorbonne of Paris, we should not for- 
 get, as Gladstone remarked, that their golden 
 age was when the lowly Friars sat in the 
 ‘*cathedra’’—when Duns Scotus, Alexander of 
 Hales, Adam de Marisco, Peckham and Ockham 
 taught the world. 
 
 Truly can it be said that the spirit of St. 
 Francis has ruled the world. His spirit has 
 pervaded the whole Church in all his spiritual 
 children. They have founded all of the most 
 notable of the Church’s Orders, to say nothing 
 of the three great branches of the Franciscan 
 Order, the Friars Minor, the Minor Conventu- 
 als and the Minor Capuchins, and all the in- 
 numerable Sisterhoods of the Third Order of St. 
 Francis. .Among the many founders of other 
 religious Orders who have themselves been 
 members of the Third Order of St. Francis may 
 be mentioned: 
 
 St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, and his 
 two great followers, St. Francis Xavier, Apostle 
 of the Indies, and St. Francis Borgia. 
 
 115 
 
St. Cajetan, founder of the Theatines. 
 
 St. Charles Borromeo, founder of the Oblates. 
 
 St. Vincent de Paul, founder of the Lazarists 
 and of the Sisters of Charity. 
 
 St. Philip Neri, founder of the Oratorians. 
 
 St. Camillus of Lellis, founder of the Ser- 
 vants of the Sick. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de 
 Chantal, founders of the Sisters of the Visita- 
 tion. 
 
 St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passion- 
 ists. 
 
 St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Re- 
 demptorists. 
 
 St. Angela, founder of the Ursulines. 
 
 Blessed John Baptist de la Salle, founder of 
 the Christian Brothers. 
 
 Father Olier, founder of the Sulpitians. 
 
 Dom Bosco, founder of the Salesian Fathers 
 and Sisters. 
 
 Do not all these and other Orders of the 
 Church, founded by Tertiaries, draw inspiration 
 and strength from St. Francis, and is he not 
 also their spiritual father, being the spiritual 
 father of their founders? Are not their glories, 
 their colleges, academies, hospitals, orphan- 
 ages, missions and other works, the glory of 
 the humble St. Francis? 
 
 Pius IX. loved to call himself a son of St. 
 116 
 
St. Francis brings a New World to the Order, 
 
 117 
 
 - 
 
Francis. In 1867, when he was in the greatest 
 anguish, he said one day, having given his last 
 money toward some charitable work: ‘‘ Poor 
 Pius IX. has nothing left, but he complains 
 not; for he has not forgotten that he isa Ter- 
 tiary of St. Francis.’’ 
 
 Leo XIII. also belongs to the Franciscan fam- 
 ily, and strained all his efforts to restore society 
 to the following of Christ through the Third Or- 
 der of St. Francis. A great majority of the 
 College of Cardinals have always been members 
 of the Third Order, and many of the Arch- 
 bishops and Bishops of the United States like- 
 wise wear the humble livery of the Poor Man of 
 Assisi. 
 
 To the Third Order also belonged the great 
 poets Dante, Tasso and Petrarch; Christopher 
 Columbus was a follower of St. Francis, as 
 were Palestrina and Gounod, princes of 
 musical art; Galvani, the discoverer of galvan- 
 ism, Volta and Galileo, the scientists, and the 
 painters and sculptors, Cimabue, Giotto, Mich- 
 elangelo, Raphael, Murillo, and Leonardo da 
 Vinci, Raymond Lullus, the Spanish philos- 
 opher, Sir Thomas More, the great Chancellor 
 of England, Mgr. De Segur, Vasco di Gama, the 
 navigator, Lope de Vega and Calderon, the au- 
 thors, Garcia Moreno, the martyr-president of 
 
 118 
 
Ecuador, and Frederic Ozanam, the founder of 
 the St. Vincent de Paul Society. 
 
 These are only a few of the many, and yet 
 what an illustrious array do they present—men 
 of science, of art and literature, and greater 
 than all, men of piety, compared with whom 
 all the leaders of modern letters and science 
 appear as pigmies. 
 
 It would be difficult to enumerate the num- 
 ber of crowned heads who have worn the habit 
 of St. Francis from Queen Catherine of Aragon 
 down to Dom Pedro, the late Emperor of Brazil. 
 Pre-eminent among royal Tertiaries are St 
 Louis, King of France, St Elizabeth, Queen of 
 Hungary, St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, and 
 St. Ferdinand, King of Spain. 
 
 Among other children of St. Francis whose 
 canonization will take place before long, are 
 Joan of Arc and the Curé of Ars, both members 
 of the Third Order, 
 
The Discovery of America. 
 120 
 
Che Order of St. Francis in America. 
 
 The Franciscans were not only the first mis- 
 sionaries in those portions of North America and 
 other islands settled by the Spaniards, but alsoin 
 the Northern regions along the Atlantic coast 
 discovered by Cabot, under the auspices of Eng- 
 land. Years before the pilgrims anchored 
 within Cape Cod, the intrepid Franciscan, Le 
 Caron, had penetrated the land of the Mohawk 
 and evangelized the Hurons, The first ex- 
 ploration of the Great Lakes was made by 
 the Stanley of North America, the Fran- 
 ciscan Father Hennepin, who named Niag- 
 ara Falls in honor of St. Antony, a name 
 once borne also by the majestic Hudson river. 
 The glorious history of the Franciscan missions 
 in California, founded by the Ven. Junipero 
 Serra, O.F.M., is well known. The Franciscan 
 John of Torres was with De Soto when he 
 discovered the Mississippi. The founder of 
 the Texas missions, Father Antony Margil, 
 O.F.M., was the first person from the United 
 States whose process of canonization was intro- 
 duced. In Mexico also as in China, and else- 
 where, the Franciscans were the first mission- 
 aries. 
 
 In Maryland the Franciscans appeared in the 
 
 ° seventeenth century, and their labors in Florida 
 I2t 
 
and the South are too well known to require 
 further comment. The old church at St. 
 Augustin was erected by children of St. Francis, 
 and the first Bishop nominated to a See in the 
 United States, Father Garcia de Padilla,O.F.M., 
 was a Franciscan. Father Perez, who ac- 
 companied Columbus, and whoseimage appears 
 in bronze at the doors of the capitol in Wash- 
 ington, was celebrant of the first Mass offered 
 up under western skies. 
 
 122 
 
SS 
 
 — 
 
 — SS z —e 
 =SK (ee 
 SS—ws : Hi 4 aS 
 
 | 
 ——— 
 
 St. Francis and the 
 Boly Land. 
 
 As regards the Holy 
 Land, the presence of the 
 Friars Minor in Palestine 
 dates back to 1220, in 
 which year their glorious 
 founder, Saint Francis of 
 Assisi, himself visited the 
 Holy Shrines, and pre- 
 senting himself before 
 the Sultan, endeavored to 
 convert him. St.Francis 
 left some of his disciples 
 behind him in Palestine, 
 who became the suc- 
 cessors of the Crusaders, 
 and there established a 
 province which is still 
 called the Custody of the 
 Holy Land, In 1230 the 
 
 123 
 
St. Francts before the Sultan 
 
 124 
 
guardianship of the Holy Places was officially 
 committed to the care of the Seraphic Order 
 by the Holy See, and the Franciscans have 
 ever since retained it. During the intervening 
 six and a half centuries upwards of seventy-five 
 hundred of the Friars have fallen a prey to 
 Mohammedan persecution, to pestilence, and to 
 shipwreck, but their ranks have always been 
 filled by new volunteers coming from every 
 country and province of the Order. 
 
 Among the innumerable martyrs of the Holy 
 Land we mention those of Damascus and the 
 Blessed Nicholas of Sebenico, who suffered mar- 
 tyrdom in Jerusalem and was recently beatified 
 by Leo XIII. The persecutions of the Turks have 
 ranged from massacres to petty annoyances. The 
 fathers in Jerusalem were formerly forbidden to 
 build or repair their churches without a written 
 permit from the Cadi, which always involved a 
 heavy expense. Work was therefore done sur- 
 reptitiously or at night, the débris being stored 
 in empty rooms or carried out by the friars in 
 their sleeves. Whenever an opportunity offered 
 itself, the Turks compelled the friars to pay 
 them. Did drought prevail, or too much rain 
 fall, or locusts destroy the harvest, pestilence 
 break out or the Pasha’s child take sick—all 
 these things were at once charged to the friars, 
 who must pay whatever price the Turks de- 
 
 125 
 
 e 
 
manded. Presents had to be sent tothe Cadi or 
 the Mufti, if these officers chose to take another 
 wife. Yearly the Pasha of Damascus would visit 
 Jerusalem and his visit filled all with fear, for 
 they knew what it meant. He at once would 
 send for the Superior, stating that he needed 
 money, and asking for so many thousand dollars. 
 In vain would the Superior protest that he had 
 none. ‘‘I will lend it you,’’ the Pasha would 
 say, handing over a 
 purse and at once tak- 
 ingit back. So the fri- 
 ars not only had to pay 
 the sum required, but 
 interest on the loan as 
 well. 
 
 The Custody or Prov- 
 ince of the Holy Land, 
 which comprises all 
 the convents and sta- 
 tions of the Order in 
 Palestine, Syria, Asia 
 Minor, Egypt and the 
 Isle of Cyyrus, at pres- 
 ent comprises some 
 450 religious of the 
 Order of Friars Minor, 
 who have jurisdiction 
 over 63,000 sou's, 
 
 126 
 
St. Francts in the Holy Land. 
 127 
 
 9 
 
speaking eleven different languages. The 
 Friars maintain 55 sanctuaries, 9 convents, 42 
 residences, 28 parishes, 18 mission churches, 34 
 chapels, t Seraphic college, 6 study-houses, 5 
 dispensaries. two orphan asylums, sheltering 
 350 orphans, and I printing office. They also 
 conduct I commercial college, Io trade schools 
 and 52 elementary schools, which are attended 
 by 4,000 pupils. Indeed, the Friars have es- 
 tablished schools wherever it has been possible 
 to do so among the benighted natives, so that 
 to-dav hardly an Arab can be found living within 
 their jurisdiction who is not fairly well educated. 
 
 The Franciscans, moreover,maintain 415 houses, 
 
 where poor families are lodged gratuitously, 
 
 besides which they give support to 12,000 poor. 
 
 In addition to these institutions, they have 9 
 hospices for pilgrims, at which a cordial hospi- 
 tality has always been extended to visitors, re- 
 
 gardless of creed or nationality, “The Friars 
 have exercised this charity ever since their es- 
 tablishment in Palestine, and have thus been a 
 guide and protection to countless pilgrims, who 
 have flocked there for centuries. Even to-day 
 there are many places such as Nazareth, Mt. 
 Thabor and Tiberias, where the hospice of the 
 Franciscans is the only refuge at which a tray- 
 eler may findrest after along journey on horse 
 
 back. The records of these hospices show hoy. 
 
 128 
 
highly the visitors have appreciated the hospi- 
 tality of the Friars, who do everything in their 
 power to make visitors feel at home without 
 asking any compensation. According to the 
 latest available reports, 9,149 pilgrims received 
 hospitality from the Friars in one year, cover- 
 ing 24,354 days’ board and lodging. 
 
The Commissariat of the Holy Land. 
 
 The Custody or Province of the Holy Land is 
 represented abroad by thirty-seven Commis- 
 sariats, the object of which is to promote inter- 
 est in the Holy Places in Palestine, in the 
 countries in which they are established ; to col- 
 lect alms for the preservation and rescue of 
 these shrines, and to furnish letters of introduc- 
 tion to pilgrims journeying to the Iloly Land. 
 Of these Commissariats, twenty-three are in 
 Europe, ten in South America, and one each in 
 Australia, Mexico, Canada, and the United 
 States. The latter was located at No. 143 West 95th 
 St., New York City, until September 1, 1899, 
 when it was removed to Mount St. Sepulchre, 
 Washington, D.C. Up to the establishment of 
 this Commissariat, the needs of the Holy Land 
 were but little known among the Catholics 
 of this country. Few of our people, if any, 
 understood the great mission of the Church, 
 to preserve the Holy Shrines of our relig- 
 ion, and to keep alive the faith in those 
 places, which were hallowed by the life and 
 death of the Redeemer of mankind. This 
 knowledge was brought before them through 
 the establishment, by the Commissariat, of 
 
Che Good Work of the Holy Land. 
 
 ““Tf I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my eee hand be 
 Sorgotten.” Ps, cxx x1. 6. 
 
 For seven centuries the sons of St. Francis 
 have kept faithful guard at the Holy Places of 
 Palestine. No work has been too great for them 
 to undertake, no persecution too severe; pains 
 and torments and even death have been suffered, 
 and it is to their suffering and bravery that 
 these shrines are to-day in the possession of the 
 Catholic Church. To-day the pious pilgrim 
 may kneel before them in veneration, assist at 
 the Holy Sacrifice and receive the Sacraments ; 
 and it is to their labors that he owes this pre- 
 
 cious privilege. 
 131 
 
Yet there is much still to be done. The 
 Shrines must be cared for, pilgrims entertained 
 and fed, and the great work of the Mission of 
 the Holy Land prosecuted. All this requires the 
 expenditure of vast sums of money, in order 
 that the work may not be neglected and the 
 Sanctuaries fall into the hands of the Schismatics 
 and the Turks. Surely the land where our dear 
 Lord lived and taught and where He gave up 
 His life for our salvation ought to be so dear to 
 us that we would willingly do anything in our 
 power to supply its needs. Inthe days of old 
 the Crusaders went forth gladly to the succor of 
 the Holy Land, giving goods and gold, and, 
 more than all, life itself on the field of battle. 
 But now the day of the sword has gone by and 
 the era of peaceful methods has come in its 
 stead. Yet the work of this Mission is no less 
 important than it was in the days of Godfrey de 
 Bouillon and his brave followers, who flocked 
 under the standard of the Cross. The need for 
 Crusaders is as great now as ever; will not 
 sotaething of olden fire that burned in their 
 breasts be enkindled in the hearts of Catholics 
 to-day and inspire them to bend their efforts 
 toward the rescue of the land whence came our 
 salvation? This work, one of the dearest to 
 our Holy Mother the Church, has been especially 
 commended, for upon it depends the continu- 
 
 132 
 
ance of our Lord’s own mission, the preaching of 
 the Gospel in the very place where He taught 
 the eternal truths. It is one of the most precious 
 inheritances of our Faith, the possession of so 
 niany of the spots sanctified by the presence of 
 Jesus Christ in the course of His earthly life- 
 time. 
 
 Through the Catholics of America, who put 
 forth their strength and give their assistance to 
 these objects which are so important and so 
 deserving, our great Republicitself becomes ina 
 sense a partaker in the new Crusade. It is not 
 a great sacrifice that one is called to perform ; 
 there is no armor to be buckled on; no weary 
 marches through desert lands; no mighty foe 
 to be met in the onset of the conflict. Instead, 
 there is only a small contribution to be made—a 
 mite that would easily be spent for some insig- 
 nificant trifle or other, whereas applied in so 
 worthy a cause it becomes a veritable treasure 
 laid up in heaven—arich endowment of spiritual 
 gracesand benefits. There is no one who should 
 neglect the work begun by the Lord, for if their 
 support is wanting those who are in the field 
 cannot continue their labors. They stand ready 
 and willing to do anything required of them— 
 even martyrdom itself—and those who remain 
 here at home should not hesitate to make some 
 little sacrifice for so great a cause. 
 
 133 
 
~\ WY, 
 
 Se ey 
 
 |) Key ‘i (i 
 il } \" 
 
 The Wounds of our Lord. 
 
 134 
 
This good work is approved of by the Holy See, 
 and not yet sufficiently known in the United 
 States. It carries on the work of rescuing and 
 preserving the Holy Shrines, not, indeed, by 
 force of arms, as of old, but by prayer and volun- 
 tary offerings. This Crusade is an association, 
 the members of which contribute an annual of- 
 fering towards the rescue and preservation of the 
 Holy Shrines. Each member receives at his 
 enrolment a copy of the Crusader’s Almanac 
 for the current year, a certificate of admission 
 and the Crusader’s Medal, consisting of the 
 fivefold cross, the emblem of the Holy Land 
 and of the five holy wounds of our Lord. 
 
 The Crusaders have a share in about 25,000 
 Holy Masses offered annually, for the benefac- 
 tors of the Holy Land, by the Franciscan 
 Fathers at the Holy Shrines. By a brief of 
 Pope Pius VI., dated July 13, 1778, they par- 
 take of all good works, prayers, fastings, pen- 
 ances, mortifications and pilgrimages, per- 
 formed in the Holy Land by the Franciscan 
 Fathers, the pilgrims and the faithful. They 
 share in the innumerable indulgences attached 
 
 to the Holy Shrines, all of which are applicable 
 to the souls of the taithful departed. 
 
Kow Brother Giles Made a Pilgrimage 
 to the Holy Land. 
 
 Brother Giles went to visit the Holy Sepulchre 
 of Christ, by leave of St. Francis, and came 
 to the port of Brindisi, and there he tarried 
 many days by reason of there being no ship 
 ready. And Brother Giles, desiring to live by 
 the labor of bis hands, begged for a pitcher, 
 and filling it with water went crying through 
 the city: ‘‘Who lacks water?” And by his 
 labcr he earned bread and such things as be 
 needful for the life of the body, both for him- 
 self and for his companion ; and then he went 
 over sea and visited the Holy Sepulchre of 
 Christ and the other holy places, wi:h great 
 devotion. And coming back again he made 
 baskets of rushes and sold them, not for money, 
 but for bread for himself and his companion, 
 and for the self-same wage he carried the dead 
 forthe burying, and when this failed him he 
 returned to the table of Jesus Christ, begging 
 alms from door to door. And so with much 
 toil and poverty he returned to St. Mary of the 
 Angels. 
 
 From the ‘‘ Little Flowers of St. Francis.” 
 
 136 
 
The College of the Holy Land. 
 
 As the number of pilgrims and visitors to the 
 Holy Land fromthe United States is increas- 
 ing every year, the advantage of having Anieri- 
 can Fathers there who could speak English is 
 obvious. Apart from this the demand for more 
 missionaries in the Holy Land is very urgent. 
 For example, petitions have been coming in to 
 the Fathers from various sections of Armenia 
 ever since the late massacre, emanating mainly 
 from non-Catholics, asking that Franciscan 
 missionaries he sent to minister among them. 
 Unfortunately, however, the Friars are unable 
 to respond to these calls as fully as they would 
 wish to do, owing to the scarcity of mission- 
 
 137 
 
aries, of whom they have only been able to 
 send a small number to this vast and unfortu- 
 nate country, where it may truly be said ‘‘that 
 the harvest, indeed, is great, but the laborers 
 are few.’? Hence the need of more mis ion- 
 aries and, consequently, of such Colleges as 
 that which has just been established at Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 The new institution has obtained the hearty 
 indorsement of His Eminence Cardinal Gib- 
 bons, and a warm recommendation from His 
 Excellency, the Apostolic Delegate, Mgr. Se- 
 bastian Martinelli, as will be seen from the 
 following letters to the Commissary of the 
 Holy Land: 
 
 Letter from Bis Eminence, Gardinal 
 Gibbons. 
 
 Baltimore, February 24, 1898. 
 Rev. Dear Father - 
 
 I have been very much gratified by the 
 projected establishment near the Catholic 
 University of Washington of a College under 
 the care and auspices of the venerable Fran 
 ciscan Fathers. I hope that God will bless 
 your pious undertaking, and I commend 
 your good work to the benevolence and pat- 
 
 vonage of your friends and patrons, and of 
 138 ‘ 
 
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 5 
 8 
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 33 
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 S 
 
all who specially cherish the virtues of the 
 ‘good St. Francis, whose life and example you 
 are all striving to imitate. 
 Faithfully yours tn Christ, 
 JAMES, CARD. GIBBONS. 
 
 Letter from Bis Excellency, the 
 Apostolic Delegate. 
 
 Washington, D. C., March 2, 1898. 
 Rev. Father; 
 
 I have learned with pleasure that you are 
 going to build tn Washington a monastery 
 for the education of the young men of 
 your illustrious order, and especially for 
 those who will be the future missionaries of 
 the Holy Land. 
 
 Ll hope that God will help and Sige your 
 good enterprise. 
 
 With estcem, I have the pleasure of remain- 
 ng 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 SEBASTIAN, 
 Abp. of Ephesus, Ap. D. 
 
 The object, then, of the new College will be 
 the education of such young men as may desire 
 140 
 
to enter the Order of St. Francis with a view to 
 laboring as missionaries in the Holy Land. 
 Here they will, after completing their novitiate, 
 be enabled as clerics, to pursue their higher 
 studies in the Catholic University, with which 
 the College of the Holy Land has been affili- 
 at ed. 
 
 The course at the College of the Holy Land 
 will include special instruction in the Oriental 
 languages and in the study of Holy Scripture 
 and Biblical Archeology. After their ordination 
 the young Fathers will be sent to Palestine to 
 help their brethren there in the great work 
 which the Church has entrusted to them for the 
 last seven centuries: (1) the continuation of 
 the mission of Christ, viz. : the promotion of 
 our Holy Faith in the Holy Land by means of 
 missions, schools and works of charity ; (2) the 
 preservation of the Sacred Shrines, hallowed by 
 the life and death of our Saviour and His 
 Blessed Mother ; (3) the civilization and educa- 
 tion of the natives to a Christian and social 
 life ; (4) the protection and accommodation of 
 pilgrims, 
 
 141 
 
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 f 0, g = Wa, 
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 81 be 
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 142 
 
Laborers for the Harvest. 
 
 ‘ Heream TI, for Thou didst call me. Speak, Lord, for 
 Thy servant heareth.” 2 Kings, tit. 
 
 It cannot but appeal to generous hearts to 
 follow the footsteps of our Lord on the very 
 spots hallowed by His earthly career. To live 
 in the Holy Land, to work as a missionary at 
 the places where our Lord taught and preached 
 Himself, to stand guard at the Tomb of Christ, 
 and to defend the rights of the Church at the 
 Holy Shrines, and to serve the pious pilgrims, 
 is certainly a noble vocation, and must be one 
 of the greatest ambitions of a young man who 
 aspires to religious life. The consideration of 
 all these great privileges has prompted thou- 
 sands of generous hearts, in the cozrse of the 
 centuries, to abandon their homes, and to devote 
 themselves to the mission of the Holy Land. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that those 
 who wish to enter the Order of St. Francis, and 
 especially those wishing to join the College cf 
 the Holy Land, must be ready for a life of mor- 
 tification, and must be willing to suffer in their 
 missionary career all kinds of hardships, perse- 
 cutions, and even death, if necessary, as their 
 predecessors during many centuries have suf- 
 fered before them. Life in the Holy Land 
 differs in very many respects from that in 
 
 143 
 
cL Co RAT 
 
 St. Francis in Glory, 
 
 144 
 
America, but the pious missionary, animated by 
 the noble sentiments of religion and the sanc- 
 tity of his calling, will not seek the comforts of 
 life where his Saviour endured the most atro- 
 cious sufferings, but his whole endeavor will be 
 to promote his own perfection. 
 
 Such boys and students who feel within 
 themselves a vocation to follow this mode of 
 life will be received in this college and pre- 
 pared for their work in the Mission of the Holy 
 Land as religious in the Order of St. Francis. 
 They must have a good educational foundation, 
 be of a docile disposition, bright, in good 
 health, and not too far advanced inage. The 
 consent of their parents and of their pastor or 
 confessor is necessarily required. The college 
 has been placed under the special patronage of 
 St. Antony, a descendant of Godfrey of Bouil- 
 lon, the first King of Jerusalem, and of St. 
 Louis, the Crusader King of France. 
 
 The College will also receive postulants, who 
 feel a vocation forreligious life and wish to enter 
 the Order as lay brothers. 
 
 The Mission of the Holy Land is in need, not 
 only of priests, but also of men of various 
 trades, such as cooks, bakers, tailors, shoe- 
 make:s, carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, 
 plumbers, painters, printers, machinists, drug- 
 gists, etc. Therefore mechanics and artists of all 
 
 145 
 
sortscan make themselves very useful. But every 
 one must be willing to perform any menial work, 
 even the humblest, at a command of his supe- 
 rior, who will not fail to assign to him what is in 
 accordance with his special qualities and abili- 
 ties, so that in most cases the brothers will 
 have ample opportunity of continuing in the 
 various crafts which they have learned in the 
 world by working at their trades in the mis- 
 sions and in the various trade-schools estab- 
 lished therein. 
 
 Youth in our days is more or less penetrated 
 by the ambition to excel in this world, to be 
 lhonored and esteemed, and this false ambition 
 is the reason why a great many young men as- 
 pire to the priesthood, for which they are fitted 
 neither by sufficient knowledge nor by their in- 
 tellectual qualities. They do not consider that 
 the first and last aim 
 of a religious must 
 be to serve God and 
 to work the salvation 
 of his own soul, and 
 that this can be done 
 with greater ease in 
 the humble position 
 of aley brother. St. 
 Francis deemed him- 
 In Study. self unworthy of the 
 
sacerdotal dignity, and a great number of his 
 saintly followers in the Seraphic Order, though 
 men of learning in some instances, have at- 
 tained the summit of perfection by devoting 
 themselvesto humble duties. To become a lay 
 brother the applicant needs neither learning nor 
 riches, but only an earnest determination to 
 follow Christ by leading a life of prayer, humil- 
 ity and obedience. He enjoys all the privileges 
 and benefits of religious life without having the 
 responsibilities connected with the priesthood. 
 
 147 
 
Monastic Life. 
 
 “Tf thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give 
 to the poor. . . and come foliow me.” Matth. xtx., 21. 
 
 Monastic life is founded deeply in the gospel 
 and is its most beautiful flower. It has the 
 positive and unequivocal sanction of Christ for 
 those aspiring ‘‘to be perfect” and ‘‘ able tore- 
 ceive it.’’ Nay, our Lord Himself, the pattern of 
 perfection, was, so to say, the first Christian 
 
 148 
 
monk, and St. John Chrysostom calls monastic 
 life ‘‘The Divine Philosophy introduced by 
 Christ.’ 
 
 Even in the Old Testament we find the Naza- 
 rites who consecrated themselves to God by 
 vows. Josephus speaks of the Essenes whose life 
 was almost similar to that of the Benedictines. 
 
 From the beginning of Christianity, many 
 renounced the pleasures of the world to follow 
 the Saviour more closely. The deserts became 
 populated with hermits, who later on consoli- 
 dated into communities. Thus were founded 
 the Orders of St. Antony of Egypt and of St. 
 Basil. 
 
 With the develop- 
 ment of Christianity 
 the monastic spirit 
 seized also the West. 
 St. Benedict, the 
 great Patriarch of 
 western monastic- 
 ism, erected his mon- 
 asteries up n the dé- 
 bris of the Roman 
 Empire. Lord Ma- 
 caulay, when speak- 
 ing of the beneficial 
 influence of the mon- 
 astic institution,says: 
 
 Spiritual Rea ding, 
 149 
 
‘‘Had not such retreats been scattered here 
 and there among the huts of a miserable peas- 
 antry and the castles of a ferocious aristocracy, 
 European society would have consisted merely 
 of beasts of burden and beasts of prey.’’ 
 
 The monasteries were beacons of light amidst 
 the darkness and the tempest of the great mi- 
 gration of nations toward a new Christian civili- 
 zation. 
 
 There, adds Mrs. Jameson, the author of 
 ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders,’’ learning 
 trimmed her lamps, there contemplation plumed 
 her wings, there the traditions of art, preserved 
 from age to age by louely, studious: men, kept 
 alive, in form and color, the idea of a beauty 
 beyond that of earth, of a might beyond that 
 of the spear and the shield, of a divine sym- 
 pathy with suffering humanity. 
 
 Apace with Christian civilization new Orders 
 sprang up in the Church of Gol, each adapted 
 to some special want iu the Church. Among 
 the illustrious founders none is more known 
 nor more sympathetic than Sweet St. Francis, 
 the Poor Man of Assisi. His rule, drawn in great 
 outlines, is the strictest enforcement of the 
 evangelical virtues and its chief feature is sim- 
 plicity and poverty. Even our separated breth- 
 ren cannot deny him their admiration and have 
 sung his praises. He introduced a new system 
 
 151 
 
into monastic life which 
 was democratic in opposi- 
 tion to the hitherto pre- 
 vailing monarchical princi- 
 ples. While the monks of 
 old followed a more con- 
 templative life and had 
 large possessions, he pre- 
 scribed by divine revelation 
 that his followers should 
 live on charity and follow 
 an active career for the 
 spiritual regeneration of 
 the masses. 
 
 He called them Friars, 
 which means brothers, and 
 the people regarded them 
 as such. 
 
 They soon numbered 
 thousands and Cardinal 
 Vaughan has admirably 
 pictured their activity in 
 the following 
 beautiful words: 
 “We find the 
 sam2 Friars who 
 nursed the lep- 
 ers, who preach- 
 ed from the vill- ~% 
 age-crosses, w110 
 
 cheered the lab- JA oo : 
 
 152 
 
 Recreation, 
 
orers in the harvest fields, or the traveler by the 
 wayside, who helped the sick, the sorrowful and 
 the sinful in the slums of our medizval cities, 
 who amused and instructed the multitudes by 
 their miracle plays, are the same brotherhood 
 who filled with distinction the professorial chairs 
 at Oxford, and so took the lead in the very van 
 of theological learning asto make our En; lish 
 Universities the envy of Europe.” } 
 
 The work of the monks and friars was a noble 
 one, and monasticism still exercises a singular 
 fascination upon the minds of our days. Dr. 
 Johnson, that stanchest of Protestants, tells us 
 that ‘‘he never thought of a monastery but in 
 imagination he kissed its stones, or of a hermit, 
 but in imagination he kissed his feet.”” While 
 on the other hand we find Voltaire declaring 
 that could the great void of his yearning, 
 Christless heart have been filled with the love 
 flowing from the atonement of the God-man, ke 
 would have had no alternative than that of 
 being a monk. 
 
 The monastery is to the outer world a sort of 
 mysterious institution. It is in fact a common- 
 wealth, founded on the principles of the early 
 Christians. There no one possesses anything of 
 hisown. There the day is divided up between 
 prayerand work. There the practice of the 
 evangelical precepts and counsels is strictly 
 
 153 
 
enforced. Every action hasa higher motive; 
 the peace of the soul is not disturbed by human 
 cares; the observance of silence renders the 
 union of the soul with God easier, and work and 
 study more efficacious. Common practices of 
 mortification lessen the hardships of a peniten- 
 tial life, and incite to a holy emulation. 
 
 How happy is such a life, and how little can 
 the 4/asé worldling appreciate its sweetness ; 
 but, asin the days of the debauched Roman 
 enipire, so in our days of refined pleasures, the 
 yearning fora more austere life fills many a 
 noble soul, and God leads her into the desert 
 that he may speak to her. 
 
 Our Holy Father Leo XIII. has encouraged 
 this desire when he solemnly defined the su- 
 preme excellence of the older religious orders 
 in his Apostolic Letter, dated January 22, 1899. 
 
” 
 
 Little brothers and sisters- 
 
 “a 
 
 St. Francis and his 
 
 155 
 
Alverna Chapel. 
 
 “ Bless the Lord, all ye birds of 
 the air.” Dan. tit. 80, 
 
 After God men; after men 
 j nature. St. Francis linked 
 | these terms together in his 
 4 mind and in his affection, as 
 they are linked in reality and in life. 
 As a child his face used to light up at the 
 156 
 
sight of flowers, he delighted to inhale their 
 perfume. Asa young man, he was most sensi- 
 tive to the beauty of this world. A fine view, 
 luxuriant vegetation, the play of light and shade, 
 the increasing movement and flow of water, 
 all such things he appreciated and loved. 
 After his conversion and in later years he did 
 not change in this respect. Nature was to him 
 always a friend ; she gave him wings for his 
 piety. 
 
 To commemorate the love of our Holy Father 
 for nature, we have erected a little chapel to his 
 honor ina grove atashort distance from the 
 Monastery. The lonely spot is surrounded by 
 pine and cedar trees where the birds love to 
 nestle and where the nightingale sings its even- 
 ing song. The seclusion of this retreat re- 
 minds us of Mount Alverna where St. Francis 
 delighted to dwell in his beloved solitude. The 
 little chapel is intended for the use of the Friars 
 only and has been erected with theaid of the 
 young men’s Tertiary Fraternity of New York. 
 It contains a beautiful statue of St. Francis, rep- 
 resenting him rapt in meditation and sur- 
 rounded by his ‘‘ little brothers and sisters,”’ the 
 birds, as he loved to call them. 
 
 We refer here to one of the beautiful inci- 
 dents which, though full of simplicity, gave to 
 his life the charm of poetry: St. Francis was 
 
 157 
 
staying on Mount Alverna. He had passed 
 through the sufferings and the ecstacy of the 
 Stigmata. He was spiritually in a supernatural 
 state, but his mind was marvellously open toall 
 things, and he was highly sensible to the beauty 
 of the world. In the evening the songster ot 
 the woods began one of its finest melodies on a 
 tree hard by. Francis listened, and was filled 
 
 St. Francts in the Woods. 
 158 
 
 with emotion. 
 Brother Leo 
 was beside him. 
 “Answer _it,’’ 
 said Francis to 
 him. Brother 
 Leo excused 
 himself, on ac- 
 count of his bad 
 voice. Francis 
 took the part, 
 and answered 
 the nightingale. 
 
 ; ;, The Saint and 
 the bird sang 
 
 alternately. 
 Part of the night 
 was spentin this 
 contest. He 
 made the bird 
 come on his 
 hand, caressed 
 
it gently, congratulated it on having gained 
 the victory, and said to Brother Leo: ‘‘ Let us 
 give our brother, the nightingale, something 
 to eat; he deserves it more than I do.” The 
 bird ate some crumbs from the hand of the Ser- 
 aphic Father, and flew away with his blessing. 
 
 St. Bonaventure says, that going back to the 
 first origin of things, St. Francis considered all 
 creatures as having come from the paternal 
 bosom of God. For this reason he invited them 
 all to glorify their Maker, and composed that 
 beautiful hymn of creation, which the moderns 
 sometimes call the ‘‘Canticle of the Sun,” 
 although he himself called it the ‘‘Song of the 
 Creatures.” ‘‘In it we feel,’’ says M. Ozanam, 
 “the breath of that Umbrian terrestial para- 
 dise, where the sky is so brilliant, and the 
 earth so laden with flowers !”’ 
 
 Our little Alverna chapel will be the sanc- 
 tuary of this ‘‘ Alleluia of Assisi,’’ which we 
 subjoin here for the edification of our readers. 
 
 159 
 
St. Francis and the Angel, 
 
 160 
 
Zanticle of the Sun. 
 
 I. Most high, omnipotent and good Lord, 
 Thine are praise, glory, honor, and every bene- 
 diction. To Thee alone they are due, and no 
 man is worthy to name Thee. 
 
 2. Praised be God, my Lord, with all Thy 
 creatures, especially our noble brother, the sun, 
 who makes the day, and illuminates us with his 
 light. Heis beautiful and radiant with great 
 splendor. He bears Thy sign, O Lord. 
 
 3. Praised be my Lord for our sister, the 
 moon, and for the stars. Thou hast made them 
 clear and beautiful in heaven. 
 
 4. Praised be my Lord for our brother, the 
 wind, and for the air, for cloudy and for serene, 
 and for all weather by which Thou givest suste- 
 nance to Thy creatures. 
 
 5. Praised be my Lord for our sister, the water, 
 who is so useful, humble, chaste and precious. 
 
 6. Praised be my Lord for our brother, the 
 fire, by whom Thou dost illuminate the night, 
 and he is beautiful, joyous, very vigorous and . 
 strong. 
 
 7. Praised be my Lord for our mother, the 
 earth, who nourishes and governs us, and pro- 
 duces diverse fruits and colored flowers and 
 herhs. 
 
 8. Praised be my Lord for those who pardon 
 
 161 
 
for Thy love and bear tribul 
 ties. Blessed are those who 
 for they shall be crowned b 
 High. ‘ 
 9g. Praised be my Lord for o 
 
 canescape. Woe tothose w 
 sin ; blessed are those who are f¢ 
 to Thy Holy Will, for the secon¢ 
 hurt them. 4 
 Io. Praise, bless and thank 
 Him with great humility. 
 
Che Librarian’s Request. 
 
 “Oh, how I love those monks of old, 
 The books they read and the beads they told.” 
 
 HE modern world, pro- 
 fuse in denouncing 
 the Middle Ages as dark, 
 forgets that it is indebted 
 to the monasteries for 
 their treasures of science 
 and of ancient literature. 
 Whatever precious manu- 
 scripts the great libraries 
 possess to-day were ob- 
 tained from the suppres- 
 sion of the olden monas- 
 teries, where they had been gathered together 
 by the untiring monks. 
 
 As a good library is the student’s armory, we 
 have set aside a spacious room in our college for 
 this purp-se, and have also begun a small 
 museum for instruction and recreation. In order 
 to add to their usefulness we respectfully solicit 
 donations of books for the library, and curios, 
 engravings, coins, stamps and other suitable 
 articles for the museum. All such gifts will be 
 gratefully acknowledged, and information as to 
 
 our needs will be gladly furnished. 
 < 163 
 
All contributions and communications relat- 
 ing to the library and musenm should be ad- 
 dressed to 
 
 THE LIBRARIAN, 
 Mount St. Sepulchre, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 164 
 
Benefactors of the Chapel and 
 Zoliege. 
 
 ‘ He that hath mercy on the poor lendeth to the Lordand 
 Hewilirepay him.” Prov. xi%., 17. 
 
 Trusting mainly in Divine Providence, that 
 never abandons anyone who places his whole 
 confidence in God, we have undertaken the erec- 
 tion of the New College of the Holy Land and 
 the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre without 
 means, and re- 
 lying entirely 
 on the charity 
 of our fellow 
 men. 
 
 Alms were the 
 only resource of 
 St. Francis, and 
 he resorted to 
 them. When 
 people collected 
 around him in 
 the public 
 places, he ex- 
 plained to them 
 that he had un- 
 dertaken to re- 
 construct the 
 Church of St. 
 Damian, and for 
 
 St. Francis’ Stone. 
 
St. Francts Rebuilds the Church of Si. Damian. 
 
 166 
 
that purpose he required stones, which he begged 
 from the generosity of his fellow towusmen- 
 “* He who gives me one,” he said, ‘' will have 
 one recompense, he who gives metwo will have 
 two recompenses, he who gives me three will 
 have three,’’ and these promises still hold good 
 toward those who aid the sons of St. Francis 
 in erecting churches and other buildings for 
 their Order. 
 
 In imitation of our Holy Father and with his 
 words, we are not ashamed to stand in the pub- 
 lic thoroughfares of this great and glorious 
 country addressing our fellow citizens with his 
 words. 
 
 God has blessed many with abundant means, 
 Let them bless God and praise His goodness by 
 devoting a part of their surplus to His greater 
 glory. All contributions, even the smallest sum, 
 will be received gratefully, as much assistance 
 will be needed before the new College can be 
 carried to completion with success. Charity is 
 ingenious and will inspire our friends how best 
 to assist us. 
 
 Some benefactors may wish to make a Chapel 
 or somie of the Grottos their owh, where the name 
 of theirfamily will be handed down to poster- 
 ity, and where the pious visitor will pray for 
 their souls. Others may wish to be remem- 
 bered by erecting an altar or statue to their 
 
 167 
 
memory, or by donating a window, or by having 
 a burning lamp to represent them in one of the 
 shrines. Others may wish to provide for the 
 education of a student, that they may thus par- 
 ticipatein the fruits of his missionary labors. 
 Others again, may wish to furmish the Chapel 
 with necessary vestments and altar linen, and 
 the College with household furniture, cloth- 
 ing, bedding, etc. Others finally, whom God 
 has not blessed so abundantly with worldly 
 means, can at least place a stone in the building 
 to their memory, and can further the good work 
 among their friends and acquaintances by call- 
 ing their attention to the needs of the new Col- 
 lege, and by gathering stones for the same. 
 Every donation will be appreciated, and the 
 grottos and chapels, altars and statues and win- 
 dows and lamps, will bear a commemorative 
 inscription of those who gave them. Besides a 
 record will be kept in the archives of the mon- 
 astery of all our benefactors who contributed to 
 this perennial monument of God’s own land in 
 America. 
 
 In return for their kindness we offer to our 
 generous benefactors, in proportion to their do- 
 nation, a little souvenir from the Holy Land 
 together with the lasting gratitude and a me- 
 mento of prayers by the community. 
 
 168 
 
fhe Hngel of Charity. 
 
 Passing unseen among the hearts of men, the 
 Angel of Charity is a sower of seeds of heavenly 
 birth, whose harvest is rich in the fruit of good 
 deeds and sweet with the odor of Christian vir- 
 tue, drawing mankind to the love of God. 
 
 We have entreated this heavenly messenger 
 not to forget our institution, and we confidently 
 hope that many a generous heart will hearken 
 to her appeal in behalf of our new Chapel and 
 College. From the poor we ask a prayer, from 
 those who possess the goods of this world a 
 share according to their means and good will. 
 Our friends may know charitable persons will- 
 ing to contribute some article toward furnishing 
 our chapel or monastery. For this reason we 
 give a list of objects needed and their approxi- 
 mate cost. 
 $1.00— $5.00—Altar linen, altar bells, cruets, 
 
 missal stand, etc. 
 $5.0o—A surplice, an alb, a prie-dien. 
 $10.00—A small memorial lamp, a pair of 
 
 candlesticks, a stole. 
 $15-00—A missal. 
 $20.00—A iarge memorial lamp. 
 $25.ca—a plain chasuble. 
 : 169 
 
$50.00—A chalice or ciboriun 
 broidered chasuble, one of t! 
 the Cross. 
 
 $75.00—A silver chalice, 
 candelabra. | 
 
 $1c0.00o—A statue, a memori 
 remonstrance. 
 
 $200.00—A set of vestments. 
 $250.00—A relief-picture for 
 
 the Holy Land. 
 $5,000.00—A chapel or grotto. 
 
 170 
 
Che Dedication of the Chapel. 
 
 The Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis, Sep- 
 tember 17, 1899, saw the dedication of the 
 Chapel and Monastery. Clear and calm the 
 dawning woke into a most beautiful day, whose 
 very air seemed to breathe the spirit of the occa- 
 sion, rest and holy quiet. Thesolemn exercises 
 of the dedication began at 10 o’clock, when the 
 procession formed and passed around the Church 
 and through the cloister of the Monastery, which 
 was blessed by Cardinal Gibbons, attended by 
 Bishop Blenk, of Porto Rico, and Mgr. Stephan, 
 head of the Indian Missions, and Mgr. Sbarretti, 
 and a throng of visiting priests, secular and 
 regular. Through the Monastery and to the 
 deer of the Church the procession passed, sol- 
 emnly dedicating the walls erected to the ser— 
 vice of the Most High. As the priests passed 
 up the aisle of the Chapel the Litany of the 
 Saints was intoned. 
 
 At the beginning of the Solemn Pontifical 
 Mass the large Church was thronged, and great 
 crowds gathered about the doorways. Mgr. Mar- 
 tinelli, the Apostolic Delegate, was the celebrant 
 and occupied a throne, draped with white and 
 yellow, the Papal colors, on the Epistle side of 
 the church. Opposite sat His Eniinence, Cardi- 
 nal Gibbons, on a throne of scarlet. The other 
 
 officers of the Mass were the Rey. Dr. Garrigan, 
 i7T 
 
of the Catholic University, assistant priest, the 
 Rev. John Bandinelli, C. P., of Baltimore, dea- 
 con of the Mass, the Rev.Chrysostom Theobald, 
 O.F.M., of Cincinnati, sub-deacon, the Rev. 
 J. P. Moran and the Rey. John J. Whitney, S.J., 
 president of Georgetown University, deacons of 
 honor, and the Rev. G. A. Dougherty, of St. 
 Augustine's Church, master of ceremonies. A 
 choir of sixty male voices sang the deep, soul- 
 reaching tones of Gounod’s Second Mass. The 
 Rev. L. F. Kearney, O.P., delivered a sermon 
 of remarkable eloquence, carrying out the tra- 
 dition by which the Doniinican Fathers have 
 been often represented at Franciscan celebra- 
 tions, in token of the friendship and sympathy 
 between the founders of the two Orders, 
 
 A host of Knights of Columbus, who had 
 taken charge of the occasion, were prese=. at 
 services. They included more than one thou- 
 sand from Washington, several hundred from 
 Philadelphia, a great number from Baltimore, 
 and groups to the number of 300 were from 
 New York, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Wil- 
 mington, Del., Altoona, Pa., Syracuse, N. Y. 
 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Chester, Pa., Atlantic 
 City and Richmond. After the Mass, Bishop 
 Blenk blessed the little chapel of Mt. Alverna 
 in the woods. In the afternoon, after the 
 Solemn Vespers, the Knights, amid the cheers 
 
 172 
 
of a multitude, raised two flagsin front of the 
 Church, the National banner and the emblem 
 of the Holy Land, thus in asense pledging the 
 United States to the work of redeeming the 
 Sacred Places. Many speeches were made 
 dwelling on the work of the Friars Minor in 
 America, and prophesying glorious achieve- 
 ments for the future. Throughout the day, until 
 dusk, crowds continued to pour into the Church 
 so that it is thought at least Io,o00 entered the 
 doors sometime in the course of the period the 
 Church was open to the public. 
 
 And then the joyous ceremonies, the pomp 
 and splendor of the day completed, the crimson 
 rays of the setting sun gilded tower and cross, 
 roof and dome, and the peaceful quiet of the 
 twilight gave way to the more peaceful quiet of 
 the moonlit night. The stillness lay upon the 
 land asa benediction. It was as ifthe blessing 
 of St. Francis himself had been fulfilled: 
 
 “* May He turn His countenance towards thee 
 and give thee peace.”’ 
 
 173 
 
Che Holy City, 
 
 A pilgrim to Saint Sepulchre, : 
 I had a vision fair, 
 
 I stood in old Jerusalem, 
 
 . Beside the temple there ; 
 
 I heard the children singing, 
 
 And ever as they sang, 
 || Methought the voice of angels 
 
 From heaven in answer rang. || 
 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 Lift up your gates and sing 
 Hosanna in the highest, 
 Hosanna to your king. 
 
 And then methought the vision changed, 
 The streets no longer rang, 
 Hush'd were the glad Hosannas 
 The little children sang ; 
 174 
 
The sun grew dark with mystery, 
 The morn was cold and chill, 
 l|As the shadow of a cross arose 
 Upon a lonely hill. || 
 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 Hark ! how the angels sing 
 Hosanna in the Highest, 
 Hosanna to your King. 
 
 And once again the scene was chang’d, 
 New earth there seemed to be! 
 
 I saw the holy city 
 Beside the tideless sea ; 
 
 The Light of God was on its streets, 
 The gates were open wide ; 
 
 And all who would might enter, 
 And no one was denied. 
 
 No need of moon or stars by night, 
 Nor sun to shine by day ; 
 
 Jit was the new Jerusalem, 
 
 That would not pass away. || 
 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 Sing, for the night is o’er. 
 
 || Hosanna in the Highest ! 
 Hosanna for evermore ! || 
 
 ddapied from the Words of F. E. Weatherly. 
 
H Word of Thanks, 
 
 We cannot close these pages without giving 
 some expression of thanks to our innu- 
 merable benefactors whohave contributed “A 
 Stone,’’ large or small, toward the Chapel and 
 College. God has counted them and recorded 
 their names. We take special pride in the fact 
 that the poor have helped us so generously. 
 St. Francis, the ‘* Poor Saint,’”’ has always had, 
 and ever will have, the affection of those he 
 loved so well. 
 
 We likewise express our gratitude to those 
 kind-hearted benefactors who have donated 
 memorial altars, statues, windows, candelabra. 
 chalices, vestments, altar linens for the Chapel 
 and furniture for the College. Our daily prayers 
 shall rise to heaven in their behalf. 
 
 It isto those who make pious works their 
 highest ambition that we must still appeal, for 
 there are many things yet to be done. We 
 would call upon those who form the only no- 
 bility our Republic recognizes—the nobility of 
 generous Christians—to add another jewel to 
 the diadem of our Lord and cover, with their 
 temporal gocds, His nakedness. As Mt. St. 
 Sepulchre stands in the nation’s capital, we 
 should make it a monument to our holy religion 
 such as will call forth both the devotion of the 
 
 faithful and the admiration of all. 
 176 
 
VO Eye tie tows cS YR) ILS C= Ss 
 SoH t=, Se ‘4 
 Ese es 4 DS Ed Te Se ww sec 
 
 {2 
 
 Ss 
 Ree ons 
 ®) Benedicar nbioatucute p 
 ws 
 "| diatte-ofté dar faciem a 
 Se fu ribimilerea¥ tut. 
 
 poo uer tat ulti (utarte 
 “H%d¢4 tibi pace 
 
 % Si eon 
 ey Dal bene # Be 4 
 y fleo te dicat ie: 
 
 , py. 
 ir oe 
 
 yom oS ois ES) Bick 
 
 Blessing of St. Francis. 
 (Fac-simile of his autograph.) 
 
 The inscription, translated, reads; ‘‘ The 
 Lord bless thee and keep thee. May He show 
 fis face to thee and have pity on thee. May He 
 turn Fis countenance towards thee and give thee 
 peace. The Lord bless thee.” 
 
 177 
 
A 6 
 
Demco 38-297 
 
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