The world, the flesh, and the devils wage their several warfares; at the onslaught of so many terrors, the heart's tranquillity is disturbed. All this brood detests our feast-days, and with united force, endeavours to drive peace from the earth. Here all is confusion; hope, fear, sadness, joy are commingled in heaven, scarce half an hour is silence kept. Oh! how happy is that city, where there is unceasing festivity! and how joyful is that assembly where care is utterly unknown! No sickness there, nor old age; no deceit, nor terror of foes; but all one voice of joyful souls, and all one burning love of hearts. There the angelic citizens in their triple hierarchy rejoice to be subject to a Monarch who is both One and Three. They admire, and faint not in contemplating, the God upon whom they gaze; they enjoy him, and are not satiated, for the enjoyment brings new thirst. There are our fathers, ranked according to their merit; all darkness is now dispelled, and in God's light they see light. These Saints, whose solemnity is celebrated to-day, behold with unveiled face the king in his glory. There is the Queen of vir NOVEMBER 7. SEVENTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ALL SAINTS. "A great mystery" says St. John Chrysostom, "is "accomplished in our dead. A mystery of praise "and of joy, when, summoned by the King of kings, "the soul goes to meet her Lord, accompanied by "Angels sent from heaven for the purpose! And "thou-dost thou lament? When the bridegroom, "to whom thou hast given thy daughter, carries her "to a far country, thou dost not complain, provided "he makes her happy; although her absence is a grief to thee, the sadness is tempered. And now, "because it is not a man, a fellow-slave, but the Lord "himself that claims one of thy family, is thy grief "to be without measure? I do not forbid thee to "shed a tear; weep, but be not disconsolate even as "others who have no hope. And be ready also to re"turn thanks, as is meet; honouring thereby thy dead, as well as glorifying God, and thus giving "them magnificent obsequies." 3 66 With such sentiments were our fathers inspired, in those farewells of the primitive liturgy, which contrasted so strangely with the sad pomp of pagans, and which made the funeral train resemble a bridal procession. First, loving hands respectfully washed 1 CHRYS. in Acta Ap. Homilia xxi. 3, 4. 2 I. Thess. iv. 12. CHRYS. Homilia de Dormientibus, V. de Lazaro, 2. the body, which had been sanctified by the waters of Baptism and the holy oil, and so often honoured by the visit of our Lord in his blessed Sacrament. It was then clothed in the robes of honour in which it had served its divine Spouse; and, like him in the tomb, it was surrounded with fragrant spices. Often the sacred Host itself was laid upon the breast after the holy sacrifice of thanksgiving and propitiation. Thus, during an admirable succession of prayers and triumphant chants, amid clouds of incense and numberless torches, the body was carried to the place of rest, where Christian burial was to associate it to the last mystery of our Saviour's mortal career. There, as over the garden of Golgotha on the great Saturday, the naked Cross, despoiled of its divine Burden, looked down upon the graves, where the Man-God in his mystic members still awaited the hour of resurrection. At Rome, and indeed in all the Latin Churches, in the middle ages, there were sung, during the procession to the tomb and the burial, seven celebrated Antiphons, whose touching inspiration, perpetuated in the In Paradisum and the Subvenite, is in complete harmony with the sentiments, we have just alluded to. The first, Aperite mihi portas justitiæ, formed the refrain to Psalm 117, Confitemini Domino, and enhanoed its accents of victory. It is from this Psalm that the Church borrows the Verse she so unceasingly repeats on the Solemnity of solemnities: Hæc dies quam fecit Dominus, exsultemus et lætemur in ea. This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us be glad and rejoice therein. But we cannot do better than give the entire series of Antiphons, indicating the Psalms which they accompanied. The last Psalm and the Canticle Benedictus are still used; as also the Responsory Subvenite and the Antiphon In Paradisum, which according to the present Ritual are sung, the former on entering the Church, the latter on leaving it. 1. ANT. Aperite mihi portas justitiæ, ingressus in eas confitebor Domino. Ps. 117. Confitemini 2. ANT. Ingrediar in locum tabernaculi admirabilis, usque ad domum Dei. 1. ANT. Open to me the gates of justice: I will go in to them, and give praise to the Lord. Domino quoniam bonus. 2. ANT. I shall go into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. Ps. 41. Quemadmodum desiderat cervus. 3. ANT. Hæc requies mea in sæculum sæculi, hic habitabo quoniam elegi eam. 3. ANT. This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it. Ps. 131. Memento Domine David. 4. ANT. De terra plasmasti me Domine, et carne induisti me: Redemptor meus, resuscita me in novissimo die. 4. ANT. Thou hast formed me, O Lord, of the earth, and with flesh thou hast clothed me: O my Redeemer, raise me up on the last day. Ps. 138. Domine probasti me. 5. ANT. Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, Domine, quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens. 5. ANT. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord: for in thy sight no man living shall be justified. Ps. 142. Domine exaudi orationem meam. 6. ANT. Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum. Ps. 148. Laudate 7. ANT. Ego sum resurrectio et vita: qui credit in 6. ANT. Let every spirit praise the Lord. Dominum de cœlis. 7. ANT. I am the resurrection, and life: he that believes |