John Bosco, born in the poor town of Castelnuovo d'Asti, and having lost his father at the age of two, was raised by his mother in a most saintly manner, and from his earliest years gave evidence of an extraordinary future.  Docile and pious, he had a remarkable influence over those of his own age, whose fights he soon began to settle, and whose indecent words and improper jokes he stopped.  Then he busied himself with drawing them to him by good stories, by including prayers in their games, by repeating in an attractive way the complete sermons he had heard in church, and with persuading them to receive the sacraments of Penance and of the Holy Eucharist without delay and frequently.  His unassuming manner, his affability, and his innocence drew everyone to him.  Although pressed with difficulties at home, and forced to work hard in his youth, he ardently desired with trust in God to become a priest.

His wish was fulfilled, and he went first to Chieri, and then to Turin, where under the direction of Blessed Joseph Cafasso, he made rapid progress in the science of the Saints and in the learning of moral theology.  There moved by divine grace and personal liking he began to take an interest in the youths, whom he taught the rudiments of the Christian religion.  Their number increased day by day, and notwithstanding great and persistent difficulties, under divine inspiration he made a foundation for them in that section of the city called the Valdocco, on which he began to spend all his energy.  Shortly after, with the help of the Blessed Virgin, who in a vision to him when a boy had revealed his future, John founded the Society of the Salesians, whose principal purpose was to be the saving of youthful souls for Christ.  In like manner he founded a new family of nuns, who were called the daughters of St. Mary Auxiliatrix, and who would do for poor girls what the Salesians were doing for boys.  To these he finally attached the Third Order of Salesian Cooperators, who by their piety and zeal were to assist in the educational work of the Salesians.  And so in a short time he made great contributions both to the Church and to the State.

Filled with zeal for souls, he spared himself no labour and no expense to build recreational centres for the young, orphanages, schools for working children, schools and homes for the training of the young, and churches far and wide throughout the world.  At the same time he did not stop spreading the Faith throughout the Subalpine country by word and by example, and throughout the whole of Italy, by writing and editing good books and by distributing the same, and in the foreign missions to which he sent numerous preachers.  A simple and upright man, bent on every good work, he shone with all manner of virtue, which was fostered by his intense and ardent charity.  With his mind always on God, and showered with heavenly gifts, this holy man of God was not disturbed by threats, nor tired by work, nor overwhelmed by care, nor upset by adversity.  He recommended three works of piety to his followers: to receive as frequently as possible the sacraments of Penance and of Holy Eucharist, to cultivate a devotion to St. Mary Auxiliatrix, and to be the most loyal children of the Sovereign Pontiff.  It should also be mentioned that John Bosco in very difficult circumstances went to the Pope more than once to console him in the evils coming from laws at that time passed against the Church.  With a life of such accomplishments he died on the 31st day of January, 1888.  Illustrious for his many miracles, the Supreme Pontiff, Pius XI, beatified him in 1929.  Five years later, in the nineteenth centenary of the anniversary of our redemption, he was canonized among a vast gathering come to the Eternal City from every part of the world.

Martina was a maiden of a most illustrious Roman family, daughter of a Consul.  She lost her parents while still very young, and, being inflamed with Christian zeal, she distributed her wealth, whereof she had abundance, with great profusion among the poor.  Under the Emperor Alexander, she was commanded to sacrifice to the imaginary gods, and refused with much boldness to commit this great wickedness.  Upon this she was again and again scourged, and mangled with iron prongs and hooks, and pieces of broken pottery.  Her limbs were cut piece by piece with sharp swords, and boiling tallow poured upon the living trunk.  Lastly she was sent to be eaten publicly by the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, but by the will of God they would not touch her, and she was then thrown upon a burning pile, but still remained alive.

Some of her tormentors were so moved by the spectacle, that they repented, and, by the grace of God confessing the faith of Christ, through which she remained constant, were themselves tortured and beheaded.  Martina herself lay praying, with a brightness on her face, while a matter like milk oozed from her body along with the blood, emitting a soft, sweet smell.  She was as it were unconscious of an earthquake and most violent thunderstorm which arose and was raging, and while the lightning struck temples, and melted statues, she seemed in spirit rather to be seated above on a queenly throne, praising God in heaven among the Blessed.

The judge being infuriated at what had taken place, and chiefly at her unbending firmness, ordered the head of the martyr to be cut off.  At the moment this was done, a peal which shook the city was heard, like a voice calling her home, and so great was the consternation, that it was made the means of conversion to many idolaters.  The holy body of Martina wherein she had suffered in the Pontificate of Urban I, was discovered in the time of Urban VIII, in the very old Church called after her, situated at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, near the Mamertine Prison, along with the bodies of the holy martyrs Concordius, Epiphanius, and others.  The Church was then altered and restored and handsomely decorated, and then the body was replaced in it, amid public rejoicings, with a solemn ceremony and procession.

By St Alphonsus

Temptations are the most grievous trials that can happen to a soul that loves Jesus Christ, she accepts with resignation every other evil, as calculated only to bind her in closer union with God; but temptations to commit sin would drive her, to a separation from Jesus Christ; and on this account they are more intolerable to her than all other afflictions.

We must know, however, that although no temptation to evil can ever come from God, but only from the devil or our own corrupt inclinations: for God is not a tempter of evils, he tempteth no man nevertheless, God does at times permit his most cherished souls to be the most grievously tempted.

In the first place, in order that from temptations the soul may better learn her own weakness, and the need she has of the divine assistance not to fall. Whilst a soul is favored with heavenly consolations, she feels as if she were able to vanquish every assault of the enemy, and to achieve every undertaking for the glory of God. But when she is strongly tempted, and is almost reeling on the edge of the precipice, and just ready to fall, then she becomes better acquainted with her own misery and with her inability to resist, if God did not come to her rescue. So it fared with St. Paul, who tells us that God had suffered him to be troubled with a temptation to sensual pleasure, in order to keep him humble after the revelations with which God had favored him: And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me.

Besides, God permits temptations with a view to detach us more thoroughly from this life ; and to kindle in us the desire to go and behold him in heaven. Hence pious souls, finding themselves attacked day and night by so many enemies, come at length to feel a loathing for life, and exclaim: Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged ! And they sigh for the moment when they can say: The snare is broken and we are delivered. The soul would willingly wing her flight to God; but as long as she lives upon this earth she is bound by a snare which detains her here below, where she is continually assailed with temptations; this snare is only broken by death: so that the souls that love God sigh for death which will deliver them from all danger of losing him.

Almighty God, moreover, allows us to be tempted, to make us richer in merits; as it was said to Tobias: And because thou wast acceptable to God it was, necessary that temptations should prove thee? Thus a soul need not imagine herself out of God's favor because she is tempted, but should make it rather a motive of hope that God loves her. It is a delusion of the devil to lead some pusillanimous persons to suppose that temptations are sins that contaminate the soul. It is not bad thoughts that make us lose God, but the consenting to them; let the suggestions of the devil be ever so violent, let those filthy imaginations which overload our minds be ever so lively, they cannot cast the least stain on our souls, provided only we yield no consent to them; on the contrary, they make the soul purer, stronger, and dearer to Almighty God. St. Bernard says, that every time we overcome a temptation we win a fresh crown in heaven: “As often as we conquer, so often are we crowned.” An angel once appeared to a Cistercian monk, and put a crown into his hands, with orders that he should carry it to one of his fellow-religious, as a reward for the temptation that he had lately overcome.

Nor must we be disturbed if evil thoughts do not forthwith disappear from our minds, but continue obstinately to persecute us; it is enough if we detest them, and do our best to banish them. God is faithful, says the Apostle; he will not allow us to be tempted above our strength: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it? Thus a person, so far from losing anything by temptations, derives great profit from them. On this account God frequently allows the souls dearest to him to undergo the severest temptations, that they may turn them into a source of greater merit on earth, and of greater glory in heaven. Stagnant water soon grows putrid; a soul left at ease, without any struggle or temptation stands in, great danger of perishing from some self-conceit of her own merit; she perhaps imagines herself to have already attained to perfection and therefore has little fear; and consequently takes little pains to recommend herself to God and to secure her salvation; but when, on the contrary, she is agitated by temptations, and sees herself in danger of rushing headlong into sin, then she has recourse to God; she goes to the divine Mother; she renews her resolution rather to die than to sin; she humbles herself, and casts herself into the arms of the divine mercy: in this manner, as experience shows us, the soul acquires fresh strength and closer union with God.

This must not, however, lead us to seek after temptations; on the contrary we must pray to God to deliver us from temptations and from those more especially by which God foresees we should be overcome; and this is precisely the object of that petition of the Our Father: Lead us not into temptation; but when, by God s permission, we are beset with temptations, we must then, without either being alarmed or discouraged by those foul thoughts, rely wholly on Jesus Christ, and beseech him to help us; and he, on his part, will not fail to give us the strength to resist. St. Augustine says: “Throw thyself on him, and fear not; he will not withdraw to let thee fall.”

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Francis was born of godly and noble parents, in the town of Sales, from which his family take their name of de Sales.  In his childish years his staid and godly demeanour gave promise of his future sanctity.  He received a liberal education as he grew up, and afterwards studied Philosophy and Theology at Paris.  In order to the complete furnishing of his mind, he took the degree of Doctor of Laws, both Civil and Ecclesiastical, at Padua, with much distinction.  He had already bound himself with a vow of perpetual virginity at Paris, and he renewed the same in the Holy House of Loreto.  From this path of virtue, neither the temptations of the devil nor the allurements of the world ever induced him to swerve.

He refused to be made Counsellor of the Parliament of Chambery, for which his family had obtained for him patents from the Duke of Savoy, and determined to become a clergyman.  He was appointed to the Provostship of the Church of Geneva, and, being shortly afterwards ordained Priest, discharged so admirably the duties of his position, that he was sent by Granier, his Bishop, to preach the Word of God in Chablais, and other places in the outskirts of the diocese, where the inhabitants had embraced the heresy of Calvin.  He joyfully undertook this mission, in which he suffered much, being often hunted by the Protestants to murder him, and assailed by many calumnies and plots.  Amid all these dangers and struggles his constancy remained invincible, and under the blessing and care of God he is said to have recalled seventy-two thousand of these heretics to the Faith of Christ's Universal Church, among whom were many distinguished by rank and learning.

After the death of Bishop Granier, who had procured his appointment as Coadjutor, he was consecrated Bishop.  In that office he was truly a burning and a shining light, shewing all around a bright example of godliness, zeal for the discipline of the Church, ardent love of peace, tenderness to the poor, and, indeed, of all graces.  For the greater ornament of God's worship he established a new Order of Nuns, which is named from the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin.  These nuns follow the Rule of St. Augustine, but Francis added thereto several additional constitutions distinguished by wisdom, prudence, and tenderness.  He enlightened the Church by writings full of heavenly teaching, and pointing out a safe and simple road to Christian perfection.  In the 55th year of his age, while on his way from France to Annecy, after saying Mass at Lyons on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, he was seized with a fatal illness, and on the next day passed from earth to heaven, in the year of our Lord 1622.  His body was carried to Annecy and honourably buried in the Church of the nuns of the Visitation, where it soon began to be distinguished for miracles.  The truth of these having been proved, the Supreme Pontiff, Alexander VII, enrolled his name among those of the Saints, and appointed for his Feastday the 29th of January.  And the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IX, on the advice of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church.

  Let me tell you a Tradcat Tail (Tale)*

Once upon a time, there was a man named Bernardus, who was espoused to a beautiful wife. She was spotless and pure and wore a gleaming white garment without stain or wrinkle having remained so her whole life. This beautiful wife had been chosen for Bernardus by his father, a wise and prudent man named Marcelus.

Bernard lives a simple life with a modest house, surrounded by rolling green hills grazed upon by a few cows. Sometimes Bernardus would long for a life of greatness, doing great things in the service of God. His father knowing this, warned him many times to beware the grandeur of Roma and its flesh pots. The Romans had indeed strayed from the true love of beauty, that shines forth so clear in Bernard's spouse Ecclesia.

One day, sadly, the father of Bernardus, Marcelus, passed away, having given all he had received. A while before his passing Marcelus himself had paid a visit himself to the Romans. Before his departure he spoke of the visit.

“This visit shall be dangerous and probable useless, but it has to be done.” he said.

Back then young Bernardus had wished also to come along.

“May I come? May I see if they are wise like you father? he requested

“How will you learn that, my son?” his father asked.

“The men of Rome can look like me, if it suits their purpose with you. Are you not yet wise enough to detect all their counterfeits?”he continued.

What is the danger? Bernardus asked. “Will the Romans shoot at us, pour fire out their windows; or can Roma put a spell on us at a distance?” he enquired.

“The last is most likely if you approach their doors with a light heart, beware their voice!” the father warned and continued.

“For they speak low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. If you listen to their words unwarily, you will hardly remember the words themselves, for little power will remain in you. Mostly you will only remember it was a delight to hear the voice speaking and the words will seem familiar, wise and reasonable. They will make you think yourself wise. When other people speak it will seem harsh and uncouth by contrast. If others contradict the voice, anger may be kindled in your heart, if, you be under the spell. For the many that it shall conquer, the spell will endure, even when they are far away. No one remain can unmoved; no one can reject its pleas and commands without great effort of mind and will, so long as its Master has control of it.” he concluded

The men in Roma had long since turned from the True path. Their knowledge of good and evil had been corrupted. Since the passing of Marcelus loneliness had weighed heavy on the shoulders of Bernardus. His father, with his charismatic spirit was no longer there to lighten the load. The allure of Roma became so strong that he ventured to seek dialogue with them. So Bernardus departed leaving his spouse to speak with the man in white, Papa, the head of the Romans, that he may be accepted as their friend.

The town of the Romans was indeed beautiful, the buildings grand, marble halls and golden ornaments. The garden of the Roma was indeed alluring, Bernardus saw that the trees were good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold.1

“Would you like to eat of the fruit of the tree that is fair to the eyes?” asked Luciano one of the Romans.

“I have heard about the fruit of these tree,” Bernardus replied, “how fair they are, but my father always commanded me to never touch it, for by doing so I would be unfaithful to my spouse.” he replied

“No! No!,” repied Luciano, “that was then, nowadays it is ok, times have changed, this is the 21st century” Luciano explained

“So I will not die the death?” he asked.

“Indeed no, the light of science has proved they are safe to eat now, and in doing so you be truly wise in the knowledge of all things, and be great and noble as the men of old.” Luciano proclaimed.

Luciano lead Bernardus to Papa so that they may engage in dialogue. Bernardus greeted Papa as Papa the white. Papa seemed annoyed. I am Papa the wise, Papa, bearer of the Fisherman's ring and Papa of many colors.

Bernardus looked and saw that his robes though they appeared white, were not so, but were woven of many colors, so that as he moved it changed hue so the eye was bewildered.

“Why do you not wear white as before, I liked white better?” asked Bernardus.

“White!” he exclaimed. “It serves as a beginning.”

“For now, I can still be Papa the white to you, but remember white can be broken and contain all colors,” he explained. “Our spouses also wear many colors, though your Ecclesia still is old fashioned, I hear and insists on white alone, that is nice, but the older days are gone, the Middle days are passing and the Younger days are beginning.”

Bernardus remembered his father explaining that the wives of the Romans wore many colors and how this was not pleasing to God.

“We have had made it lawful to have a spouse of many colors, do you approve?” Papa ventured to ask.

“If thou has made it lawful, who am to say it is illegitimate.” he answered. “Though I prefer rather that my spouse be in white, than appear multicoloured.”

Let us come to an arrangement then,” Papa said. “If you agree that we can lawfully have a multicolored spouse, then you may keep yours the way she is, for old times sake.”

Bernardus returned back to his modest home to ponder these things a while. He still loved his Ecclesia, but the fruits trees of Roma, so fair to the eyes, were tugging at his heart. He decided one April morn after talking with some friends, that he would commit his whole household to an arrangement with the men of Roma. He sent a letter to say that was lawful to break with the things of the past and become multicolored in ones outward appearance, by using the light from the past. He would bind all his household to accept these new customs of Roma as good and lawful.

Sadly there seems to be no 'happily ever after' to this Tale. Tradcat thinks it may indeed turn out to be more of a Greek Tragedy.

Veni Domine

1. Gen. 3. v6
*All characters in this tale are just fictitious and they do not reflect to any persons alive or dead or to any political or religious persons.

According to tradition, Saint Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility born c. 291 and raised in a Christian family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve or thirteen during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, on 21 January 304.

Agnes, whose name means “chaste” in Greek, was a beautiful young girl of wealthy family and therefore had many suitors of high rank. Tradition holds that the young men, slighted by Agnes' resolute devotion to religious purity, submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity.

The Prefect Sempronius condemned her to be dragged naked through the streets to a brothel.  As she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body. It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. The son of the prefect is struck dead, but revived after Agnes prayed for him, causing her release. There is then a trial from which Sempronius excuses himself, and another figure presides, sentencing her to death. When led out to die she was tied to a stake, but the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her, whereupon the officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her, or, in some other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is also said that the blood of Agnes poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked up the blood with cloths.

Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome. A few days after Agnes' death, her foster-sister, Saint Emerentiana, was found praying by her tomb; she claimed to be the daughter of Agnes' wet nurse, and was stoned to death after refusing to leave the place and reprimanding the pagans for killing her foster sister. Emerentiana was also later canonized. One night when the parents of the blessed Agnes were watching at her grave, she appeared to them in company with a band of virgins, and said to them: Father and Mother, weep not for me as though I am dead; for now these virgins and I live together in him whose love was my whole life upon earth.  Some years afterwards, Constance, the daughter of the Emperor Constantine, being sick of an incurable ulcer, betook herself to the said grave, although she was not yet a Christian, and as she lay by it and slept, she seemed to hear the voice of Agnes, saying to her: Constance, be of good courage: believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and he will make thee whole.  The Princess, being healed, was baptized, along with many others of the Emperor's family and household, and afterwards built over the grave of the blessed Agnes a Church named in her honour.

Peter Nolasco was born of noble parents at Recaudun, near Carcassonne, in France, and is chiefly distinguished for his remarkable love towards his neighbour.  It was considered a foreshadowing of this virtue, that when he was a little child in his cradle, a swarm of bees lighted upon him, and formed a honeycomb on his right hand.  He lost his parents while still young, and in consequence of his horror of the Albigensian heresy, with which  France was then plagued, he sold his estates there and withdrew into Spain.  Here he first discharged a vow which he had taken long before, at the shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Montserrat, and afterwards went to Barcelona.  Here he was so affected by the miserable state of the Christians who were in slavery to the Moors, that he expended his whole fortune in ransoming as many of them as possible, and used to say that he wished he could be sold himself to ransom more, or could himself change places with them.

It came to pass that God shewed how agreeable to him was the charitable zeal of Peter.  One night when he was praying, and his mind was much exercised on the means of succouring the enslaved Christians, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him in a vision, and gave him to understand that it would be most pleasing to her Son and herself, if he would found in her honour an order of religious men, whose chief duty it should be to effect the redemption of Christian bondsmen out of the hand of the infidels.  In conformity to this revelation, which had likewise on the same night been made to St. Raymund Pennaforte, and King James I of Aragon, he founded the Religious Order of the Blessed Mary of Ransom for the Redemption of Captives.  The members add a fourth vow to the three essential ones of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, namely, that they will be ready if need be to remain as hostages in the hand of the infidels for the liberation of others.

After he took the vow of virginity he remained with his purity quite unsullied all his life, and was at the same time a bright pattern of long-suffering, lowliness, temperance, and other virtues.  God was pleased to adorn him with the gift of Prophecy, whereby he foretold things to come.  Among others, he prophesied to King James that he would take the city of Valencia from the Moors, which he afterwards did.  He was refreshed by frequent apparitions of his Guardian Angel, and of the Virgin Mother of God.  He had lived to a great age when being quite worn out, and falling into a grievous sickness, he perceived that his end was at hand.  He then received the holy Sacraments, and gathering his brethren around him, exhorted them for the last time to shew pity to slaves.  After this he began to repeat with great emotion the 110th Psalm: I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; and when he had uttered the words: The Lord sent redemption unto his people; he resigned his soul to God.  This happened at midnight between the 23rd and 24th of December, in the year 1256.  Alexander VII extended his feast to the universal Church.

John of Antioch, who, on account of the golden stream of his eloquence, is called by the Greeks Chrysostomos, or, The golden-mouthed, was a lawyer and man of the world of much eminence, before he turned his great intellect and wonderful industry to the study of things sacred.  He took orders, and was ordained a priest of the Church of Antioch, and after the death of Nectarius, was forced by the Emperor Arcadius to accept, though sorely against his own will, the Archbishoprick of Constantinople.  Having received the burden of a shepherd's office, in the year 398, he set himself zealously to do his duty, struggling against the degradation of public morality and the loose lives of the nobility, and thereby drew upon himself the ill-will of many enemies, especially the Empress Eudoxia, whom he had rebuked on account of the money of the widow Callitropa, and the land of another widow.

Some bishops being assembled in a Council at Chalcedon, which Council the Saint held to be neither lawful, nor public, although he was commanded to go there, he refused.  Whereupon Eudoxia, striving earnestly against him, caused him to be sent into exile.  Soon after, however, the people of the city rose, and demanded his recall, and he was then brought back again amid great public rejoicings.  Nevertheless he ceased not to war against vice, and absolutely forbade the celebration of public games round the silver statue of Eudoxia in the square outside the Church of the Eternal Wisdom.  Upon this, a party of bishops, who were enemies to him, banded together, and obtained that he should be banished again, which was done accordingly, amid the lamentations of widows and the poor, who felt as if they were being deprived of a common father.  During this exile, it almost passeth belief how much Chrysostom suffered, and how many souls he turned to the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

At this time a Council was assembled at Rome, wherein Chrysostom's restoration to his See was decreed by Pope Innocent I, but meanwhile, he was suffering great hardships and cruelties on his journey at the hands of the soldiers who had him in charge.  As he passed through Armenia he prayed in the Church of the holy martyr Basiliscus, and the same night that blessed conqueror appeared to him in a vision and said: Brother John, tomorrow thou shalt be with me.  On the next day, therefore, he received the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and, arming himself with the sign of the Cross, resigned his soul to God, it being the 14th of September.  As soon as he was dead a furious hailstorm took place at Constantinople, and after four days the Empress died.  The Emperor Theodosius, the son of Arcadius, brought the body of John Chrysostom to Constantinople with great state, and numerously attended, and on the 27th of January, laid it with magnificent honours in the grave, beside which he prayed for the forgiveness of his own father and mother.  The holy body was afterwards taken to Rome, and is now buried in the Vatican Basilica.  The number, devoutness, and brilliance of St. John Chrysostom's sermons and other writings, his acuteness in exposition, and the close aptness of his explanations of Holy Scripture, have been and are the object of universal wonder and admiration, and often seem not unworthy to have been dictated to him by the Apostle Paul, for whom he entertained a wonderful devotion.  This most outstanding Doctor of the Church universal was proclaimed and appointed the heavenly patron of sacred orators by the Supreme Pontiff, Pius X.

At that time: When Jesus came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him:  And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him.

Sermon by St. Jerome the Priest

When the Lord was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him, albeit they had not followed him when he went up the heights.  And first there came to him a leper.  This poor creature's disease had prevented him from hearing the Saviour's long Sermon on the Mount.  And it is to be noted that this is the first specific mention of a miracle of healing.  The second was the Centurion's servant; the third was Peter's wife's mother, who was sick of a fever at Capernaum; the fourth were they who were brought unto Christ as being troubled with evil spirits, from whom he by his word cast out the evil spirits, at the same time that he healed all that were sick.

And behold, there came a leper, that is, he came in hopes of being healed, for it was fitting that, after the preaching and teaching of our Lord, an occasion should present itself for a sign, wherein the power of a miracle might confirm the truth of the teaching which had just before been given.  So the leper came, and worshipped him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.  He prayed the Lord to have the will; therefore he doubted not that he had the power.  And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying: I will; be thou clean.  And as soon as the Lord put forth his hand the leprosy departed.  Let us remark how lowly and unboastful is the Lord's language.  The leper said: If thou wilt: and the Lord made answer: I will.  The leper said: Thou canst make me clean: and the Lord made answer: Be thou clean.  Most Latin readers, misled by the identity of form in that language between two different uses of the verb, do read Christ's answer as if it were: I will to make thee clean.  This is wrong.  The sentences are separate.  First cometh the expression of volition: I will: then the command: Be thou clean.

And Jesus saith unto him: See thou tell no man.  What need was there to tell what his body shewed?  But go thy way, saith the Lord, shew thyself to the priest.  There were divers reasons why Christ should send him to the priest.  First, for humility's sake, that he might shew reverence to God's priest.  Then there was a command in the Law that they who were cleansed of leprosy should make an offering to the priest.  Again, there were further reasons: that, why the priests saw the leper cleansed, they might either believe in the Saviour, or refuse to believe; if they believed, that they might be saved, and, if they believed not, that they might have no excuse.  Lastly, the Lord wished to give no ground for the accusation that was so often brought against him, that he was unobservant of the Law.

By St Alphonsus

Mass is rightly divided into six parts.

• The first part is the preparation for the sacrifice and this is made at the foot of the altar.
• The second part extends from the Introit to the Credo, inclusively and was formerly called the Mass of the Catechumens, who had to leave the church after the Credo.
• The third part contains the Offertory and the Preface.
• The fourth part comprises the Canon with the Pater Noster; for the Canon in olden times finished with the Pater Noster, as a learned author concludes from a passage in the writings of St. Gregory the Great.
• The fifth part begins with the prayer Libera  nos, quaesumus, Domine (Deliver us, O Lord, we beseech Thee), which is a preparation for Communion, and includes Communion.
• The sixth and last part comprises under the form of thanksgiving the rest of the Mass.

The First Part

In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen
(“In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen).

In order to sacrifice a victim one must have the power over its life and death; but as God only has the power over the life of his incarnate Son, who is the victim of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest needs divine authority in order to be able to offer Jesus Christ to his heavenly Father. Yet as he is invested with the  authority that belongs to the priesthood, he says, in union with Jesus Christ, who is the principal one that offers that sacrifice, In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; thus declaring that he offers the sacrifice by the authority of the three Persons.

The priest afterwards recites the antiphon Introibo ad altare Dei (“I will go the the altar of God”), and the psalm Judica me Deus (“Judge me O God”). He implores help against the enemies of God they  who are laying snares for him. Then expressing the pain that he feels of seeing himself, as it were, rejected by the Lord, he begs him to assist him with his light, and to console him with the graces that he promised by leading him into his tabernacle. Finally, he reproaches himself for indulging in fear, for why should he be troubled when he has with him his God in whom he should confide?

Innocent III. attests that the recitation before Mass of the psalm Judica me was the custom of his time, that is, in the twelfth century; and Cardinal Lambertini, afterwards Benedict XIV.,assures us that it was recited before the eighth century. The psalm is concluded with the Gloria Patri. It was Pope St. Damasus who ordained that each psalm should be concluded in this manner. It is, however, believed that the Gloria Patri was introduced by the Council of Nice or, as we are told by Baronius and St. Basil, even by the Apostles, the Council of Nice having added only these words, Sicut erat, etc.

Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini ('Our help is in the name of the the Lord'). Frightened by grandeur of the act he is about to perform, and by the thought of his unworthiness, the priest asks God's help in the name of Jesus Christ; and acknowledging himself guilty, he accuses himself of his sins, not only before God, but before the Blessed Virgin and all the saints, who on the last day, with Jesus Christ, will pronounce judgment upon sinners.

Deus, tu conversus, vivificabis nos ('Thou, O Lord,' says the priest, 'wilt turn and bring us to life'). The sinner remains in death so long as God in his goodness does not come to restore to him the life of grace. Then he implores anew the divine mercy: Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam ('Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy') ; and supplicates the Lord to hear him: Domine, exaudi orationem meam ('O Lord, hear my prayer').

Before leaving the people to go up to the altar, the priest says to them, Dominus vobiscum ('The Lord be with you'). By these words he wishes and asks that Jesus Christ may grant to the people as well as to himself the effects of the prayers that he has said; and the server expresses to him the same wish when answering for all the people: Et cum spiritu tuo ('And with Thy spirit'). These reciprocal wishes indicate the union of faith in Jesus Christ that exists between the priest and the people.

Aufer a nobis, etc. ('Take away from us our iniquities, etc.'). In going up the steps of the altar, the priest begs the Lord to deliver him from all iniquities, in order that he may approach the Holy of Holies with a pure heart; that is to say, in order that he may worthily offer up the great sacrifice.

Oramus te, Domine, per merita Sanctorum tuorum, etc. ('We beseech Thee, O Lord, by the merits of Thy saints, etc.'). Having reached the altar, he kisses it, to unite himself to Jesus Christ, represented by the altar; and, through the merits of the holy martyrs whose relics are therein enclosed, he conjures Our Lord to deign to pardon him all his sins.

From the first ages the Church was accustomed to offer up the Eucharistic sacrifice on the tombs of the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for God, and who for this reason have always been particularly honored in the Church. During the first period of the Church there were no other festivals than those of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, those of the Blessed Virgin, and the anniversaries of the martyrs. However, it is not to the saints, but only to God that altars are erected, “and,” as St. Augustine says, “we have not erected an altar to the martyr, Stephen, but with the relics of the martyr Stephen we have erected an altar to God.”1

1 “Nos, in isto loco, non aram fecimus Stephano, sed de reliquiis Stephani aram Deo” Serm. 318, E. B.

Second Part