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PREFACE.

nostrum. Qui eminentiam potestatis acceptæ tradidit Ecclesiæ, quam pro honore percepto et Reginam constituit, et Sponsam. Cujus sublimitati universa subjecit; ad cujus judicium consentire jussit e cœlo. Hæc est mater omnium viventium, filiorum numero facta sublimior: quæ per Spiritum Sanctum quotidie Deo filios procreat; cujus palmitibus mundus omnis impletus est: quæ propagines suas ligno bajulante suspensas erigit ad regna cœÎorum. Hæc est civitas illa, sublimis jugo montis erecta, perspicua cunctis, et omnibus clara; cujus conditor, et inhabitator est idem Dominus noster Jesus Christus Filius tuus. Quem una tecum omnipotens Pater.

Per Christum Dominum It is just to return thanks to thee, O eternal God, through Christ our Lord. Who delivered to the Church the eminent power he had received from thee, and, on account of that honour, constituted her Queen and Bride. To her sovereignty he subjected all things, and ordered her judgment to be ratified in heaven. She is the mother of all the living, and her glory is enhanced by the number of her children for daily by the Holy Spirit she brings forth sons to God. The whole world is filled with her branches: and suspending her shoots on the tree that supports her, she raises them up to the kingdom of heaven. She is the city built on the summit of the lofty mountain, visible to all, well-known to all; whose builder and indweller is the same Jesus Christ our Lord thy Son, whom together with thee, O almighty Father, the Angels praise.

PRAYER.

Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam, Unigeniti tui Sponsam vocare dignatus es, ut, quæ habet gratiam per fidei devotionem, haberet etiam ex nomine pietatem: da, ut omnis hæc plebs, nomini tuo serviens, hujus vocabuli consortio digna esse mereatur. Per eumdem Do

O God, who hast deigned to call the Church the Bride of thine only-begotten Son; that as she has found favour by the devotion of her faith, so she might also obtain love by reason of her very name: grant that all this people subject to thy Name, may be found worthy to share with

minum.

her so glorious an appellation. Through the same Lord.

1

I have loved O Lord the beauty of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth. May this word remain with us as a lingering fragrance of the great solemnity. Thy house, O God, is our Church, unspeakably beautiful with the splendour of the divine mysteries. Compared with her, what was the tabernacle that sheltered the Ark of the Covenant of Sinai ? And yet the thought of it filled the heart of David in the desert, and made him faint like the stag panting after the fountains of water. Let us learn from our fathers, who lived in the ages of expectation, how to love the courts of the Lord.

Christian the exile which afflicted David, can never be your fate; for in Baptism you became the sanctuary of God. Let this Dedication day remind you of the consecration which took you from yourself to make you the temple of the Holy Ghost; to give you to Christ, together with whom your life is henceforth hidden in the sweet and fruitful secrecy of the Father's Face. Learn to render to the Blessed Trinity in your soul a homage worthy of his presence.

Lastly, baptized and consecrated soul, remember that you are not alone at the banquet of God's love; that divine charity, which unites you to Christ the Spouse, must link you to his members, and fit you, a living stone, to the other stones; preparing you here below for your future place in the structure of the heavenly sanctuary. Learn to adapt yourself to the living Church; to vibrate in unison with the great Bride; practising for eternity, where your one happy occupation will be to glorify with her, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and

ever.

1 Ps. XXV. 8.

NOVEMBER 9.

DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF
SAINT SAVIOUR.

In the fourth century of our era, the cessation of persecution seemed to give the world a foretaste of its future entrance into eternal peace. "Glory to "the Almighty! Glory to the Redeemer of our "souls!" wrote Eusebius at the opening of the tenth and last book of his History. Himself a witness of the triumph, he describes the admirable spectacle everywhere displayed by the dedication of the new sanctuaries. In city after city the Bishops assembled, and crowds flocked together. From nation to nation, the good-will of mutual charity, of common faith, and of recollected joy, so harmonized all hearts, that the unity of Christ's body was clearly manifested in these multitudes animated by the same inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It was the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies: the living city of the living God, where all, whatever their age or sex, praise together the Author of all good things. How solemn were then the rites of the Church! The complete perfection therein displayed by the Pontiffs, the enthusiasm of the psalmody, the inspired read

ings, the celebration of the ineffable Mysteries, formed a divine pageantry.1

Constantine had placed the imperial treasure at the disposal of the Bishops; and he himself stimulated their zeal for what he called in his edicts the work of the churches.2 Rome, the place of his victory by the Cross, the capital of the now Christian world, was the first to benefit by the prince's munificence. In a series of dedications, to the glory of the holy Apostles and Martyrs, Sylvester, the Pontiff of peace, took possession of the eternal city in the name of the true God.

To-day is the birthday of the mother and mistress of churches, called "of our Saviour, Aula Dei (God's palace), the golden Basilica;" it is a new Sinai,3 whence the apostolic oracles and so many Councils have made known to the world the law of salvation. No wonder this feast is celebrated by the whole world.

Although the Popes for centuries have ceased to dwell in the Lateran palace, the Basilica still holds the first rank. It is as true now, as it was in the time of St. Peter Damian, to say that "as our Saviour "is the Head of the elect, so the church which bears "his name is the head of all churches; those of St. "Peter and St. Paul, on its right and left, are the "two arms with which this sovereign and universal "church embraces the whole earth, saving all those "who desire salvation, cherishing and protecting "them in its maternal bosom."4 And St. Peter Damian applied conjointly to our Saviour and his Basilica the words of the prophet Zacharias: Behold a Man, the Orient is his name: and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord. 2 Ibid. De vita Constantini, Inscriptio vetus olim in apside majori. PETR. DAM. Epist. Lib. ii. 1.

1 EUSEB. Hist. eccl. x. 1-4.

ii, 45, 46.

3

Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne.1

It is still at the Lateran Basilica that the Roman Pontiffs take official possession of their See. There each year, in the name of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, the episcopal functions are performed, viz: the blessing of the Holy Oils on Maundy Thursday, and on Holy Saturday the blessing of the Font, solemn Baptism and Confirmation, and the general Ordination. Could the great poet of the age of triumph, Prudentius, return to life in these our days, he might still say: "The Roman people hasten in "eager crowds to the Lateran, whence they return "marked with the sacred sign, with the royal chrism. "And are we yet to doubt that Rome is consecrated "to thee, O Christ!"2

Let us now read the liturgical history of this day.

Ritus quos in consecrandis ecclesiis et altaribus Romana servat Ecclesia, beatus Silvester Papa primus instituit. Nam etsi jam ab Apostolorum tempore loca fuerunt Deo dicata, quæ ab quibusdam Oratoria, ab aliis Ecclesiæ dicebantur, ubi collectæ fiebant per unam sabbati, et christianus populus orare, Dei verbum audire, et Eucharistiam sumere solitus erat: non tamen illa adeo solemni ritu consecrabantur, nec in eis adhuc in titulum erectum erat altare, quod chrismate delibutum, Domini nostri

The rites observed by the Roman Church in consecrating churches and altars were instituted by the blessed Pope Sylvester. For although from apostolic times churches were dedicated to God, and called by some oratories, by others churches; and in them the Christian people assembled on the first day of the week, and were wont there to pray, to hear the word of God, and to receive the Holy Eucharist; yet hitherto they were never so solemnly consecrated, nor was an altar erected in them, anointed with chrism, to represent and signify our Lord

Zach. vi. 12, 13. 2 PRUDENT. Lib. i. contra Symmachum.

586-588.

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