NOVEMBER 18.

DEDICATION OF THE BASILICAS OF

SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES.

QUOD DUCE TE MUNDUS SURREXIT IN ASTRA TRIUM

PHANS, HANC CONSTANTINUS VICTOR TIBI CONDIDIT AULAM. Because the world under thy conduct has risen triumphant to the very heavens, Constantine the conqueror has built this temple in thy honour. This inscription stood in letters of gold over the triumphal arch in the ancient Vatican Basilica. Never did the Roman genius frame a more magnificent utterance in so few words; never did the greatness of Simon BarJona appear to such advantage on the seven hills. In 1506 the great arch, that had looked down upon twelve centuries of prostrate pilgrims, fell from old age, and the beautiful inscription perished. But Michael Angelo's lofty dome points out to the city and the world the spot where sleeps the Galilæan fisherman, the successor of the Cæsars, the Vicar of Christ, the ruler of the destinies of Rome.

The second glory of the eternal City is the tomb of St. Paul on the Ostian Way. Unlike that of St. Peter, which lies deep down in the Vatican crypt, this tomb is raised to the level of the floor by

1 DE ROSSI, Inscript. christ. T. II. 345.

massive masonry, on which rests the great sarcophagus. This circumstance was ascertained in 1841, when the papal altar was reconstructed. It was evidently to obviate the consequences of inundations from the Tiber, that the sarcophagus had thus been raised above the place where Lucina had first laid it.' The pilgrim certainly finds nothing to blame in this arrangement, when, on looking through the small opening in the centre of the altar, his respectful glance falls upon the marble of the tomb, and he reads these imposing words traced in large characters of Constantine's period: PAULO APOSTOLO ET MarTYRI. To Paul Apostle and Martyr.2

Thus Christian Rome is protected on the North and South by these two citadels. Let us enter into the sentiments of our fathers, when they said of this privileged city: "Peter the door-keeper, sets his holy dwelling at the entrance: who can deny that "this city is like heaven? At the other extremity, "Paul from his temple guards the walls; Rome lies "between the two: here then God dwelleth.”3

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The present feast therefore deserves to be more than a local solemnity; its extension to the universal Church is a subject for the world's gratitude. Thanks to this feast, we can all make together in spirit to-day the pilgrimage ad limina Apostolorum,* which our ancestors performed with such fatigue and danger, yet never thought they purchased too dearly its holy joys and blessings. Heavenly

2 DOM. GUERANGER,

1 See the Legend of St. Cornelius, Sept. 16th. Saint Cécile et la Société romaine aux deux premiers siècles, ch vi. 3 Janitor ante fores fixit sacraria Petrus : Quis neget has arces instar esse poli? Parte alia Pauli circumdant atria muros :

Hos inter Roma est: hic sedet ergo Deus.

Inscription on the gate of Rome which was called in the 6th century the gate of St. Peter. (DE ROSSI, Inscript. ii. 99.)

4 To the threshold of the Apostles, i. e. of their basilicas, where pilgrims used to prostrate before entering.

"mountains, glittering heights of the new Sion! "There are the gates of our true country, the two lights of the immense world. There Paul's voice "is heard like thunder; there Peter withholds or "hurls the bolt. The former opens the hearts of "men, the latter opens heaven. Peter is the foun"dation-stone, Paul the architect of the temple "where stands the altar by which God is propitiated. "Both together form a single fountain, which pours "out its healing and refreshing waters."1

In the following Lessons the Roman Church gives us her traditions concerning the two basilicas whose dedication feast we are celebrating.

Ex locis sacris quæ olim apud Christianos venerationem habuerunt, illa celeberrima et frequentissima fuerunt, in quibus condita sanctorum corpora, vel aliquod Martyrum vestigium aut monumentum esset. In quorum numero sanctorum locorum, in primis semper fuit insignis ea Vaticani pars, quam sancti Petri Confessionem appellabant. Nam eo Christiani ex omnibus orbis terræ partibus, tamquam ad fidei petram et Ecclesiæ fundamentum convenientes, locum Principis Apostolorum sepulchro consecratum, summa religione ac pietate venerabantur.

Illuc Constantinus Magnus imperator octavo die post susceptum baptismum venit, depositoque diademate, et humi jacens, vim

1 VENANT. FORTUNAT.

Among the holy places venerated of old by the Christians, those were the most honoured and most frequented in which the bodies of the Saints were preserved, or some relic or memorial of the Martyrs. Chief among these holy places has ever been that part of the Vatican hill which was called the Confession of St. Peter. Christians from all parts of the world flocked thither, as to the rock of the faith and the foundation of the Church, and honoured with the greatest reverence and piety the spot hallowed by the sepulchre of the prince of the Apostles.

Hither on the octave day of his baptism, came the emperor Constantine the Great; and taking off his diadem, he prostrated on the ground with

Miscellania, iii. 7.

In honour of the holy Apostles we gladly borrow from the libraries of our Anglican brethren the following Sequence, sung four centuries ago by the venerable church of York.

SEQUENCE.