Ire parat, baptismi gratiam Assecutus. Hic Martinus, dum offert hostiam, Intus ardet per Dei gratiam: Supersedens apparet etiam Globus ignis. Hic Martinus, qui cœlum reserat, Mari præest et terris imperat, Morbos sanat et monstra superat, Vir insignis. Hic Martinus nec mori timuit, Nec vivendi laborem res- Hic Martinus, qui nulli nocuit, Hic Martinus, qui cunctis profuit, Hic Martinus, qui trinæ placuit Majestati. Hic Martinus, qui fana destruit, Qui gentiles ad fidem im- Hic Martinus, qui tribus mortuis Meritis dat vitam præcipuis: Nunc momentis Deum continuis Contemplatur. O Martine, pastor egregie, O cœlestis consors militiæ, Nos a lupi defendas rabie Sævientis, for now he has obtained the grace of baptism. This is Martin, who, while he offers the holy Victim, is all on fire within, through the grace of God, and lo! a fiery globe appears resting above his head. This is Martin, who opens heaven, gives orders to the sea, commands the earth, heals diseases, and vanquishes monsters: incomparable man! This is Martin, who neither feared to die, nor refused to live and labour, thus abandoning himself entirely to the will of God. This is Martin, who never injured any; this is Martin, who was good and kind to all; this is Martin, who was wellpleasing to the majestic Trinity. This is Martin, who destroys the pagan temples, who initiates the nations to the faith, and what he teaches them does first himself. This is Martin, who by his singular merits raises three dead men to life; he now beholds God for ever without intermission. O Martin, illustrious pastor, O soldier in the heavenly ranks, defend us from the fury of the ravening wolf, O Martine, fac nunc quod gesseras, Deo preces pro nobis offe ras, Esto memor, quam num- O Martin, act once more as thou didst of old; offer to God thy prayers for us; be mindful of thine own nation and forsake it never. Amen. O holy Martin, have compassion on our depth of misery! A winter more severe than that which caused thee to divide thy cloak now rages over the world; many perish in the icy night brought on by the extinction of faith and the cooling of charity. Come to the aid of those unfortunates, whose torpor prevents them from asking assistance. Wait not for them to pray; but forestall them for the love of Christ in whose name the poor man of Amiens implored thee, whereas they scarcely know how to utter it. And yet their nakedness is worse than the beggar's, stripped as they are of the garment of grace, which their fathers received from thee and handed down to posterity. How lamentable, above all, has become the destitution of France, which thou didst once enrich with the blessings of heaven, and where thy benefits have been requited with such injuries! Deign to consider, however, that our days have seen the beginning of reparation, close by thy holy tomb restored to our filial veneration. Look upon the piety of those grand Christians, whose hearts were able, like the generosity of the multitude, to rise to the height of the greatest projects; see the pilgrims, however reduced their numbers, now taking once more the road to Tours, traversed so often by people and kings in better days of our history. Has that history of the brightest days of the Church, of the reign of Christ as King, come to an end, O Martin? Let the enemy imagine he has already sealed our tomb. But the story of thy miracles tells us that thou canst raise up even the dead. Was not the catechumen of Ligugé snatched from the land of the living, when thou didst call him back to life and Baptism? Supposing that, like him, we were already among those whom the Lord remembereth no more, the man or the country that has Martin for protector and father need never yield to despair. If thou deign to bear us in mind, the Angels will come and say again to the supreme Judge: "This is the man, this is the nation for whom Martin "prays;" and they will be commanded to draw us out of the dark regions where dwell the people without glory, and to restore us to Martin, and to our noble destinies.1 Thy zeal, however, for the advancement of God's kingdom knew no limits. Inspire, then, strengthen and multiply the apostles all over the world, who, like thee, are driving out the remnants of infidelity. Restore Christian Europe, which still honours thy name, to the unity so unhappily dissolved by chism and heresy. In spite of the many efforts to the contrary, maintain thy noble fatherland in its post of honour, and in its traditions of brave fidelity. May thy devout clients in all lauds experience that thy right arm still suffices to protect those who implore thee. In heaven to-day, as the Church sings, the Angels are full of joy, the Saints proclaim thy glory, the Virgins surround thee saying: "Remain with us "for ever. "2 Is not this the continuation of what thy life was here on earth, when thou and the virgins vied with each other in showing mutual veneration; when Mary their Queen, accompanied by Thecla and 2 Ant. ad Magnificat, in I Vesp. 1 SULPIT. SEVER. Vita, vii. Agnes, loved to spend long hours with thee in thy cell at Marmoutier, which thus became, says thy historian, like the dwellings of the Angels ? Imitating their brothers and sisters in heaven, virgins and monks, clergy and pontiffs turn to thee, never fearing that their numbers will cause any one of them to receive less; knowing that thy life is a light sufficient to enlighten all; and that one glance from Martin will secure to them the blessings of the Lord. The soldier Mennas was a native of Egypt, and after his martyrdom became the protector of Alexandria. It is not a rare thing to find, even at this date, phials formerly brought by pilgrims to be filled with oil from the lamp burning before his tomb. Let us say with the Church: PRAYER. Præsta quæsumus omnipotens Deus: ut qui beati Mennæ Martyris tui natalitia colimus, intercessione ejus in tui nominis amore roboremur. Per Dominum. Grant we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who celebrate the festival of blessed Mennas thy martyr, may by his intercession be strengthened in the love of thy name. Through our Lord. 1 SULPIT. SEVER. Dialog. I. NOVEMBER 12. SAINT MARTIN I. POPE AND MARTYR. WHILE the concourse of pilgrims to the sepulchre of the Bishop of Tours induced his third successor Perpetuus, to raise over his precious remains the basilica, in which so many prodigies were to be wrought all through the middle ages, Rome herself was dedicating to St. Martin one of her noblest churches, uniting with him as joint titular her own illustrious Pontiff and Confessor Sylvester. Adorned with this twofold glory, St. Martin-on-the-hill worthily inaugurated in the eternal City the cultus of Confessors side by side with that of the Martyrs. But another honour awaited the venerable sanctuary. Beside the wonder-working apostle and the pontiff of peace, both vanquishers of idolatory, who had escaped the sword only through the conversion of the persecutors, the last of the martyr-popes, also Martin by name, came to seek a resting-place, long after the pagan persecutions had ceased. "Martin I.," says Baronius, "fared better than any of his predecessors since "the time of Constantine. Found worthy to suffer "more than all of them for the Name of Jesus |