The Mass: Our Splendid Privilege compiled by Alice Dease

JANUARY 1 "The Mass is the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, which are really present under the appearances of bread and wine, and are offered to God by the priest for the living and the dead."— (The Catechism.) ''' 2 "The Holy Mass is the . . . soul of all devotion."— (St. Francis de Sales.) 3 "Three hundred thousand Masses are said every twenty-four hours, and we can join our intention in them all."— (Fr. Collier, C.SS.R.) 4 "I could attend Mass for ever, and not be tired . . . it is not the invocation, merely, but . . . the evocation of the Eternal. He becomes present on the altar in flesh and blood, before Whom angels and devils alike, tremble – (Cardinal Newman.) 5 "It is through the Mass . . . that Christ dispenses His richest favours."— (Fr. Forster, SJ.) 6 Even God Himself could not bring about a holier or a greater act than the Mass." – (St. Alphonsus Ligouri.) 7 "The salvation of the whole world is bound up with this Mystery.''— (St. Odo of Cluny.) 8 "The world owes its preservation to the Mass." – (Timothy of Jerusalem.) 9 "The Mass is a memorial of God's goodness to us and a summing up of all His benefits." – (St. Bonaventure.) 10 "Each Mass has for the welfare and salvation of men the same efficacy as the Sacrifice of the Cross."— (St. Thomas.) 11 "Spiritual gifts will be rich bestowed upon those who assist at Mass with proper dispositions."— (St. Cyril.) 12 (At Mass) . . . those in mortal sin, which they cannot bring themselves to give up, may get the strong grace they require to break their chains . . ." – (Mother Loyola.) 13 "God does not hear sinners," said the blind man in the Gospel; but he was wrong. He hears them willingly, hears them always, and, above all, hears them at Mass." – (Mother Loyola.) 14 "So many people do not trouble to hear Mass on Sundays, when they could easily do so. If you hear a second Mass on a Sunday, after your own Mass of obligation in reparation for those who are so negligent, do so." (de Segur) 15 "It is a lonesome day, when you don't get to Mass in the morning." – (A Dublin Shop-girl.) 16 "Daily Mass is not of obligation; but those who appreciate its value as a help to living a holy life, consider it a duty to attend when possible. Unfortunately, the number who avail themselves of this privilege is far too small."— (Fr. Degen.) 17 "Jesus attaches such a price to His Passion that He has willed the remembrance of it to be recalled to us daily . . . that is the Sacrifice of the Mass."— (Abbot Marmion, O.S.B.) 18 "The liturgy moves with salutary effect both soul and body . . . through the variety and beauty of the Sacred rites." — (Pope Pius XI.) 19 "Mass is like a grain of mustard seed whence has sprung the whole Catholic liturgy." – (Dom Cabrol.) 20 "Mighty is the prayer that is prayed at Mass."— (Quoted by M. Mary Loyola.) 21 "The sacrifice of the Mass is the same everywhere . . . in a stately minster, or in a humble shrine. In a garret or on the hillside."— (A Book of the Mass.) 22 "The Mass is the source and fount of much of our Catholic literature, the heart of our Liturgy, and the centre of our Christian life."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 23 "What can God refuse us when He sees us daily at the foot of the altar where His Divine Son is offering Himself on our behalf?"— (Mother Loyola.) 24 "The Mass is by far the most sacred and holy act of a priest's life.‖ – (Mother Eaton.) 25 "During Mass beg of God to give priests to His Church . . . be more urgent in this petition than in all others, for it is the most important."— (Msgr. Gibergues.) 26 "One priest more means hundreds, perhaps thousands of additional Masses." (Madame Goupil.) 27 "At the elevation of the Sacred Host, always pray for Priests."— (An Old Irish Custom.) 28 "Of all honours that have ever been rendered to God by the homage of the Angels, and by the virtues, austerities, martyrdoms and other holy deeds of man, none could procure so much glory to Him as one single Mass."— (St. Alphonsus.) 29 "At Mass Jesus is our very own. He is given to us, and becomes our possession."— (Mgr. Giberrgues.) 30 "Mass is for them (the Catholic laity) it is theirs, and consequently, something into which they should intelligently enter." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 31 "Our liturgy is not a dead thing . . . from a historical, instructional or mystical point of view is the source of many rich treasures.‖— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) FEBRUARY 1 "One Mass heard during life will be more beneficial to a soul than many heard for it after death." – (Anon. from St. Saviour's Bulletin.) 2 "In the Mass Christ takes up our poor ineffective acts and lifts them up to heaven. He catches them up in the very whirlwind and mounting eddies of His own infinitely strong and perfect acts, and so carries them to the throne of His Father."— (Bishop Hedley.) 3 ―No one, whatever be his state before God, can assist devoutly at Mass without obtaining the grace he needs."— (Mother Loyola.) 4 "The Mass is not for (one country) only, but for the world. Not for this century or generation, but for all generations." — (Fr. J. Rickaby, S.J.) 5 "The Mass renders to God the greatest honour that can be given to Him, it procures the most powerful help for the souls in Purgatory . . . it appeases the anger of God against sinners, and obtains for us the Divine grace in the fullest abundance."— (St. Alphonsus.) 6 "At the hour of death, the Masses we have heard will be our greatest consolation."— (Anon. from St. Saviour's Bulletin.) 7 "It is, indeed, through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ that the sacrifice of the Mass is offered."— (Farnborough Monks in "The Liturgy.") 8 "At Mass there is offered to the Eternal Farther the very person of Jesus Christ, God and Man. Consequently, the Divine Majesty receives an infinitely greater honour than if all mankind and all angels made the sacrifice of their lives." (St. Alphonsus) 9 Our Lord revealed to St. Mechtildis: "I am present in the Mass with such happiness that I patiently tolerate the presence of sinners, and pardon their iniquities with joy." 10 "Christ was and is both Priest and Victim: He is the Priest according to the Spirit, the Victim according to the flesh. He is both the Sacrificer and the thing sacrificed."— (St. Chrysostom.) 11 "If we understood the Mass, if only we . . . had sufficient faith to penetrate Its unspeakable mysteries, what an attraction the Holy Sacrifice would have for us, and how eagerly should we desire to assist at it." – (Mgr. Gibergues ) 12 "At Mass the sinner reconciles himself with God, the just becomes more just, faults are wiped away, vices destroyed, virtues increased, merits multiplied."— (St. Laurence Justinian) 13 "A missal, which is the official score of the Mass rite, will have the beneficial effect of keeping our minds better occupied during Mass and of our taking a far more active part in what is going on at the altar."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 14 "At the ̳Memento for the Dead,‘ when Our Lord is really present on the altar we plead with Him for those who can no longer plead for themselves."— (Mother Loyola.) 15 "The object of the Holy Mass is to glorify God as our Supreme Master and greatest Benefactor."— (Gihr.) 16 "However we assist at Mass, it is well to unite with the priest at least at the Offertory, Consecration and priest's Communion." – (Mother Loyola.) 17 "To decorate the altars, especially on great feasts, with flowers, is an ancient, venerable, devout and praiseworthy custom, and is approved by the Church."— (Gihr.) 18 If solemn ceremonies were not used in the celebration of the Mass, Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ upon our altars, would not be fitly expressed."— (Fr. Faa di Bruno) 19 "Hundreds of sinners will be saved through the prayers that are offered for them in the Mass."— (St. Laurence Justinian.) 20 "We can offer Our Lord to His heavenly Father in the Mass as the Treasure belonging to us, and we shall be generously rewarded for this."— (St. Mechtildis.) 21 "You offer up this sacrifice of propitiation not only for your own sins, but also for those of the whole Christian world, especially for great sinner's."— (Fr. Porter.) 22 We are told, in the life of the holy Superioress of the Rosminian Sisters of Providence (Mother Agnes Amherst), that when there was a question, during her last illness, of choosing between hearing Mass and receiving Holy Communion, "she would decide to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, notwithstanding her longing desire to be united to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament." 23 "The Mass ought to be the true devotion of the Faithful, it is their obligation, their Sacrifice . . . in a certain sense they lose their individuality for the time being, and are more than ever members of the Catholic Universal Church.‖— (Dom Cabrol.) 24 "Mass is an epitome of the life of Christ on earth." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 25 "Mass is the greatest event in the history of mankind.‖ – (Fr. Plus, S.J.) 26 "The Christian religion has its roots in the Mass.‖ – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 27 "The earnest priest sighs for the moment of the Holy Sacrifice."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 28 The four ends for which Mass is offered – "Adore till the Gospel, "Give thanks till the bell, "Till Communion ask pardon "Then all your wants tell."— (Old Rhyme.) 29 "God . . . receives from the infinite merits of the Mass infinite adoration, infinite thanksgiving, infinite atonement, and infinite petition."— (Father Laurence, O.D.C.) MARCH 1 "How many Catholics seem to act as if they were sorry to have to go to Mass at all, even once a week." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 2 "If Christians knew how to make use of the Mass, what wonders in the spiritual order would come to pass."— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 3 "On Calvary the object of the Sacrifice was to pay the price of the redemption of fallen. man, whilst the purpose of the Sacrifice of the Mass is to apply to each of us individually the treasures of Grace merited and amassed by Christ on the Cross." – (Fr. Laurence, O.D.C.) 4 "The Sacrifice of the, Mass is the best means of quickly liberating the Holy Souls from Purgatory." – (St. Thomas.) 5 "At Mass, Heaven seems less distant . . . our attention is more concentrated, and there is a warmth of devotion that nothing else can arouse."— (Fr. Fraser, S.J.) 6 "The Mass is advantageous to all, to mankind, to God to the world, to Purgatory, to Heaven." – (Mgr. Gibergues.) 7 "By and in the Mass, the Church is best enabled to honour the Saints on earth, her heroes and heroines—the highest of all achievements possible to man." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 8 "The Mass is the greatest joy of the Mother of our Saviour when celebrated or heard in her honour."— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 9 "During the Elevation let us with the greatest possible attention unite our adoration with the countless angels who crowd around the altar."— (Fr. Laurence, O.D.C.) 10 "Do not merely pray at Mass. Pray the Mass."— (Pope Pius X.) 11"High Mass is the ideal of the Liturgy, and might be called its culminating point."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 12 "Alas our praise of God is often very imperfect and worthless. We should, therefore, unite it with the infinitely perfect praise and adoration which our Head and Mediator, Jesus Christ, presents to His Heavenly Father (in the Mass)." (Gihr.) 13 "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so over-coming, as the Mass . . . it is not a mere form of words, it is a great action, the greatest action that can be, on earth."— (Cardinal Newman.) 14 "Mass is something eminently worth hearing, for its own sake." – (Fr. Rickaby, S.J.) 15 "The average Catholic is too often ignorant of the Church's liturgy, enshrining as it does such a wealth of Catholic doctrine. To one who lives with the Sacred Liturgy, it tells a thousand things, that the stranger does not learn."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 16 "Mass is a mystery, something we shall never quite grasp in this world. You must think, to understand the Mass.''—(Fr. Rickaby, S.J.) 17 "The Mass is by far the best and most profitable of all devotions."— (The Catechism.) 18 "The dignity, and value, the power and efficiency of the Mass, demonstrates that in it is the inexhaustible ocean of the Divine Mercies."— (Gihr.) 19 "Our Martyrs died for the Mass, saying It, hearing It, having It said by stealth in their houses"—(Fr. Rickaby, S.J.} 20 "Everything in the life of the good Christian centres round the Mass."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 21 "The Mass and the Last Supper both point to Calvary. The Last Supper looking forward: the Mass looking back; but Calvary is the centre for both of them." – (Fr. Rickaby, S.J.) 22 ―Had we been present on Calvary, God, we feel, would have granted us any reasonable request. With the like faith, we shall be equally heard at Mass."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 23 ―It is through the salutary influence of the Mass that (the priest) prepares himself to become a fit instrument in the Master's hands to kindle and spread the fire of God's live in our hearts."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 24 "How many Christians assist at Mass without understanding or appreciating its value."— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 25 "There is nothing more august, more wonderful in the Church than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.‖ — (Fr, Forster. S.J.) 26 "In the Mass God is marvellously near, for it is the moment of His nearest approach."— (Dr. Hedley.) 27 "The Real Presence is the foundation of the Sacrifice of the Mass.‖ – (Fr. Rickaby, S.J.) 28 "The daily offering of the Mass would give us . . . a good start to begin our round of duties." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 29 "If there is anything in human life absolutely divine, anything that the citizens of Heaven themselves might envy us, that certainly is the Sacrifice of the Mass."— (Pope Urban VIII.) 30 "The important thing in Mass is not what is said, save for the words of Consecration, but what is done by the efficacy of these words."— (Fr. Rickaby, S.J.) 31 "It is through the Mass that we are able to supply what is wanting to us."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) APRIL 1 "During Mass . . . let us ask for all that we desire, and all will be granted to us, according to our faith and fervour."— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 2 "Let us endeavour to acknowledge and appreciate the blessings that are ours through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 3 "By praying for the dying during Mass we shall fulfill one of the greatest desires of Jesus Christ.'"— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 4 "In an especial way, it is through the Mass that we ask as Our Lord recommends us, in His name, for what we need for soul and body, and we are encouraged to hope to have our petitions granted." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 5 ―Mass is Christ's dower to the Church . . . it is the soul and life of the entire worship of the Church." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 6 "At the Elevation of the Sacred Host I feel the Precious Blood flowing as a stream upon my heart, and cleansing the wounds of my soul."— (Madame d'Arras.) 7 "Mass is a continual thanksgiving." – (Mgr. Gibergues.) 8 "Let not Our Saviour, Who is our prisoner during Mass, depart from us until He has promised us Heaven."— (St. Bonaventure.) 9 "He who devoutly hears Mass will receive great vigour to enable him not to fall into mortal sin, and his venial sins will be remitted."— (St. Augustine.) 10 "During Mass the Prayer of Jesus is made for us, and it is for us to profit by it."— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 11 "This may be the last time I shall ever offer up the Holy Mass. I will perform this duty with all possible devotion." – (Fr. Porter.) 12 "By assisting at Mass we become more and more like to Christ, more and more united to Him."— (Mgr. Gibergues.) 13 "The Mass is not only the Sacrifice of the Christian worship, it is also the greatest sign of the unity of the Church and its guarantee."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 14 "To miss Mass is to miss the most divine Thing on earth."— (Pope Urban III.) 15 "There is nothing of so much worth as the Mass. Our Lord desired to be remembered, it was for this that He bade His priests to offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass continually." (Fr. Dignam, S.J.) 16 "There is in the Mass the same efficacy, the same atoning power as if Christ were crucified again."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 17 "Assist at Mass with fear and trembling, with purity of heart and with spiritual gladness and heavenly joy."— (St. Ambrose.) 18 "The ritual, acts and ceremonies at the altar (during Mass) are but tokens and signs of what is hidden there."— (Fr. W. Roche, S.J.) 19 "It (the Mass) is nothing less than the immolation, day by day, of that life-giving Victim by which we are reconciled to God "—(Dr. Hedley.) 20 "The Mass is a liturgy, that is, a sacred and public function, shared by the priest and the people."— (Fr. McGlade, S.J.) 21 "It is certainly in and by and through the Mass that we most of all petition the Father in the name of Jesus. For in it our prayers or rather – and this is all important – the prayers of the Church are evoked in His name."— (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 22 "No one with willful sin in his heart . . . can he fit to take part with Him in His most holy act, which we call the Mass." – (Fr. Roche, S.J.) 23 "The Mass, which was instituted by Christ at His Last Supper, is celebrated by nearly every priest (all over the world) every day of his life." – (Fr. Quinlan, S.J.) 24 "The right way to be present at Mass is not merely as a spectator . . . you are literally to assist at It." – (Fr. Roche, S.J.) 25 "How elevated in tone, how full of unction are the prayers at Mass." – (Fr. Forster, S.J.) 26 "Be sure to make the mast of every Mass you hear, and then I not only hope, but I know, the kingdom of God is at hand for you . . . and will remain with you, sanctifying the days and the hours as they pass, until the last hour strikes, and the real day begins to dawn."— (Dr. Hedley.) 27 "In coming to Mass, we are really ̳offerers of the Holy Sacrifice, not merely onlookers.' "—(Fr. Forster, S.J.) 28 "The separation of Communion from the Sacrifice of the Mass is still more flagrant (than Communion after Mass) when it is received before Mass begins . . . what is it but expecting to receive God's Gift, before we have given ours to Him.‖— (Fr. T. W. Busch.) 29 "At Mass Jesus delivers Himself to you to do with Him as you will. ̳By Whom and with Whom and in Whom‘, these are the words of the priest. Make them your own."— (Fr. Dignam, S.J.) 30 "Consecration of the Bread alone would be the Eucharist . . . but not the Mass. The Mass requires the mystical slaying of the Victim, and this is done by the separate consecration of the chalice . . . which represents the death of the Victim." – (Fr. M. Scott, S.J.) MAY 1 After the crucifixion the Mass is "the greatest event in the history of humanity." – (Georges Goyau.) 2 "There is not a single priestly vestment nor a ceremony of the Mass which does not point to some circumstance of the Passion."— (Fr. Porter.) 3 "The Mass gives praise, adoration, and thanks to God. It obtains pardon of our (venial) sins, and favours and graces, because in it we have a Victim Who is infinite, Jesus Christ.‖ – (Fr. Ronan.) 4 "The Mass was instituted before the Crucifixion . . . in the first Mass the living Christ offered Himself to His Heavenly Father. In every Mass it is the glorious living Christ Who, by the priest, offers Himself to His Heavenly Father." – (Fr. M. Scott, S.J.) 5 "The Sacrifice of the Mass is a clean oblation offered by a special priesthood, in every place in the world where a priest is to be found. It is being offered all through the day and night in some part of the world."— (Fr. Ronan) 6 "Jesus gives Himself to us daily to reward us for the little we do for Him . . . He gives Himself to us as our reward whenever we offer up the Mass. —(Fr. Porter) 7 "The Mass offers to God what Christ offered on Calvary." – (Fr. M. Scott, S.J.) 8 "If we fully realised what the Mass is, we should die."— (The Cure d'Ars.) 9 "The Mass is the united prayer of the Church, and the laity in it, share in a general way in the priesthood of Christ."— (Rev. W. Busch.) 10 ". . . to assist at Mass is the holiest act of warship in which a Christian can participate." – (Fr. M. Scott, S.J.) 11 "It is important to study the Mass, to recognize its place and the sequence of its parts . . . it matters much that we 'pray the Mass'." – (Fr. W. Busch.) 12 "By attendance at Mass we, with the priest, offer to God this supreme gift, the most acceptable thing that can ascend from earth to Heaven." – (Fr. M. Scott.) 13 "There is something I have only felt at Mass and that is a sense of final calm, of absolute content . . . as if one had come into a wide, calm, shining harbour after a long and stormy voyage."— (Maurice Baring.) 14 "As He (Almighty God) looked down on the silence and the darkness of Calvary and saw the act accomplished by which the world was redeemed, so . . . (in the Mass) He saw the same mystery accomplished."— (R. H. Benson.) 15 "The Holy Ghost overshadows the priest and operates that same, in the elements which He effected in the womb of the Virgin Mary." – (St. John Damascene.) 16 "In the Mass what we owed, He has paid, what we sinned, He has atoned for and abundantly satisfied Divine Justice, giving us the boundless treasure of His merits and infinite price of His blood.''— (Paradisus Animae.) 17 "The priest, at the Consecration, repeats the words and acts of Our Lord at the Last Supper . . . it (the Consecration) is the very soul of the Mass."— (Fr. Roche, S.J.) 18 "On the Cross the Divinity of Christ was hidden; but His humanity remained. In the Mass all are hidden, both Divinity and humanity."— (Fr. Quinlan.) 19 "Those who neglect to offer up the Mass in word and thought, lose much that they might gain. The due blessing of Mass does not consist merely in being present at It, but in uniting oneself in spirit to the priest, to Jesus Christ Himself "—(St. Francis of Sales.) 20 "When you hear Mass the Sacrifice is your own, a gift from God the Father, as well as God the Son "—(Fr. Sanchez.) 21 "We do not know how much is forgiven by each Mass; but it is probable that the better our dispositions, the more is forgiven us."— (Dr. Hedley.) 22 "The anger of God may be appeased by the acceptable service thou dost render Him when thou hearest Mass."— (St. Thomas Aquinas.) 23 "The Mass was instituted to be the Church's great Public rite of worship."— (Dr. Hedley.) 24 "Our Mass is the same as theirs (the Christians of the third century) as regards its rites and formulas, except for a few details."— (Dom Cabral.) 25 "The Consecration is the very heart of the Mass, the act of sacrifice itself." – (Fr. McGlade, S.J.) 26 "It is the Mass that matters. It is the Mass that makes the difference, so hard to define, so subtle is it, yet so perceptible, between a Catholic country and a Protestant one." – (Augustine Birrell.) 27 "As the Catholic Church is spread all over the world, the Sacrifice of the Mass is always being offered somewhere day and night, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Malachy (i. 11)" – (Fr. Pritchard.) 28 "The Missal is our ̳book of common prayer‘: it is The Mass book par excellence. You will never tire of it, so varied are its prayers. You will never regret the outlay in getting one (a Missal); for it makes the Mass yours as nothing else can." – (Fr. McGlade, S.J.) 29 "If you start with a good sign of the Cross, God will help you to hear Mass well. Mass is the biggest, the most important thing you do, the thing most pleasing to God that you can do." – (Fr. Drinkwater.) 30 "It is Mass and the Blessed Sacrament which make our religion a real, a personal, a living religion."—(Cardinal Gasquet.) 31 "There is a symbolism, a definite meaning to every ceremony in the Mass."— (Rev. J. O'Brien, Ph.D) JUNE 1 "Is it stop away from Mass whilst I have the legs under me to struggle to the chapel of a morning! Why, Sunday Mass is our obligation; but daily Mass is our splendid Privilege." – (An old Dublin Woman.) 2 "There is not time at Mass for wandering thoughts."— (Fr. Drinkwater.) 3 "There is nothing of so much worth as Holy Mass. Souls who are greedy of Holy Mass, who think themselves richer for every Mass they hear, whose hearts long for the time of Mass to begin, these are the souls who pass through life, made strong by God."— (Fr. Dignam, S.J.) 4 "The ends for which the Mass is said are to give God honour and glory, to thank Him for His benefits, and to obtain remission of our sins, and all other blessings, through Jesus Christ."— (The Catechism.) 5 "In the Eastern Churches, the ordinary word for Mass is Liturgy." – (Dr. Sheehan.) 6 "No work can be performed by the Faithful so holy, so Divine, as this tremendous Mystery (of the Mass)."— (The Council of Trent.) 7 "To assist at Mass well and profitably two things are necessary – first, modesty of person; second – devotion of heart." – (Pope Pius X.) 8 "This is an age of athletes, yet how many are not able to kneel down at the proper time: that is when the Sanctus bell rings? They remain sitting until they hear the warning bell, at the Elevation itself‖ — (Rev. A. Hickie.) 9 "The words of the Mass, themselves, tell you that you are not present as though you were merely praying to God, but that you are actually joining with the priest, and with Christ Himself, in offering Sacrifice."— (Dr. Sheehan.) 10 "Even if Mass can be omitted without sin, its constant omission has very serious effects on an individual. Through living constantly without aid (of the Mass) people become careless and indifferent, and in this way their Faith grows cold, and they may finally give up the practice of their religion."— (Fr. Lattey, S.J.) 11 "The Mass is the very life of the Church, the secret of her holiness, of her vitality."— (Dr. Sheehan.) 12 "The Mass is the mainspring of devotion, the soul of piety, the fire of charity."— (St. Francis of Sales.) 13 "No wonder that the spirit of darkness should halve inspired heretics with hatred for the Mass, for they knew when they strike the Mass they strike at the heart of the Church.‖ – (Dr. Sheehan.) 14 "In the Mass the Christian family finds its unity, its mutual love and forbearance. Missionaries draw from the Mass their hope and their courage. Hardworking priests their comfort, and all pastors of souls the fruit and fullness of their ministry."— (Dr. Hedley.) 15 "Mass is not just a number of prayers accidentally surrounding a Communion."—(Fr. Martindale, S.J.) 16 "The form . . . of celebrating Mass is what we understand by the Liturgy (which literally means 'public service') in general it denotes all the externals of Mass, i.e., all that we see during its celebration."—(Dr. Sheehan.) 17 "Holy Mass far surpasses in dignity all other . . . rites of the Church . . . it is an inexhaustible ocean of Divine bounty for the living and the dead." – (Bishop Fornerus.) 18 "The great source of holiness is the Mass . . . the Apostles drew from it their heroic resolution, the martyrs their strength . . . the virgins their purity and self-denial, every confessor of Christ his contempt of the world."—(Dr. Hedley.) 19 "The Mass, as instituted by Christ, consists of the Consecration, and the Communion . . . the Church has added many beautiful prayers and impressive ceremonies, and has surrounded the Sacred Mysteries with great solemnities." – (Dr.Hedley.) 20 "The first object of the Mass is the acknowledgment of the Supreme dominion of God . . . the second object is thanksgiving." – (Dr. Hedley.) 21 "Communion is so integral in the full notion of Sacrifice that I ought to be careful to make a Spiritual Communion at every Mass I go to" – (Fr. Martindale.) 22 "I do not say that Mass directly forgives sin, like the Sacrament of Penance does, but it moves God to give the grace of repentance . . . the Maas infallibly has this effect." – (Dr. Hedley.) 23 "What a treasure-house of spirituality we have in the Mass, if only we could appreciate it and use it profitably."— (Fr. Laurence, O.D.C.) 24 "Jesus Christ, in the Mass, takes up the human creature, Who assists at it, and holds his poor heart within the burning circle of His own Heart, so that the adoration . . . of both, go up to the Father together." – (Dr. Hedley.) 25 "There is never a moment of the day or night in which Mass is not being actually offered up in one or other part of the world." – (Fr. McDonnell, S.J.) 26 "The benefits derived from the Mass are called its fruits and are fourfold . . . The first go to the entire Church, the second to those present, the third to those for whom the priest offers the Mass; the fourth to the priest himself." – (Dr. Sheehan.) 27 "'In the life of Jesus Christ there was one moment beyond all others, He called it His ̳hour‘. It was the hour in which He gave His life for us on the Cross. In the Mass we are with Him at that supreme moment . . . hence, it is that assisting at Mass is superior to all religious exercises, to all private prayers and penances." – (Dr. Sheehan) 28 "High Mass is not a padded out version of Low Mass, but Low Mass is an abbreviated High Mass."—(Fr. Martindale, S.J.) 29 "Those who neglect to offer up the Mass in word and thought lose much that they might gain."—(Fr. McGlade, S.J.) 30 "It is only by being united to the Victim that we perfectly participate in the Sacrifice."—(Abbot Marmion, O.S.B.) JULY 1 "The Liturgical revival will come through the use of the Missal."— (Fr. Martindale, S.J.) 2 "By this inestimable gift (of the Mass) the Divine indignation and anger are fully appeased." – (Albertus Magnus.) 3 "It is good to know the Missal and to know about the Missal, and above all to share in the mind of the Missal'. For then you know that the 'mind of the Church, which made the Missal, is also yours." – (Fr. Martindale, S.J.) 4 "Spiritual gifts are freely given to those who assist at Mass reverently." – (St. Cyril.) 5 "I can assist at many Masses at the same time when they are being celebrated at different altars and share in their fruits, provided I am physically present and have the intention‖. – (Fr. Lawrence, O.D.C.) 6 ―Think of the acts of Jesus on the Cross by which the God of Sovereign Majesty is supremely worshipped, the Just God is perfectly appeased, the bounteous God abundantly thanked, the Mighty God efficaciously entreated for help." – (Dr. Sheehan.) 7 The priest calls Christ into being by his consecrated lips." —(St. Jerome.) 8 "Without it (the Mass) we can never thank God rightly for his benefits." – (Fr. Segneri, S.J.) 9 "The souls in Purgatory are helped principally by the Mass."— (The Council of Trent.) 10 "The best preparation we can make for a happy death is to assist at Mass daily, above all if we add daily, or very frequent Communion." – (Fr. McDonnell, S.J.) 11 "As often as thou sayest or hearest Mass, it ought to seem as great, as new, as delightful as if Christ . . . hanging on the Cross was suffering and dying for the salvation of man." – (Thomas a Kempis.) 12 "When Christ is immolated on the altar He Speaks to His Father, He shows Him the marks of His wounds . . . that by His intercession we may be saved from everlasting torment." – (St. Lawrence Justinian.) 13 "The Mass is the very soul of all Catholic worship and devotion. Nothing is more important to you, if you would be a devout Catholic, than to understand what the Mass is, and how you ought to assist at it." – (Bishop Bagshawe.) 14 "The Mass is the holiest, the most Divine work that the Catholic has to do."—(Dr. Medley.) 15 "'Christ was and is both priest and victim. He is priest according to the Spirit and Victim according to the flesh. He is both the Sacrificer and the Thing sacrificed." – (St. John Chrysostom.) 16 "The best method is to follow the prayers in Your prayer book. You may find the Missal the best prayer book . . . no prayers are to be compared to those which the Church has placed on the lips of the priest.'"— (Fr. McDonnell, S.J.) 17 "The Holy Mass is as full of Mysteries as the ocean is full of drops, as the sky is full of stars, as the court of Heaven is full of angels." – (St. Bonaventure.) 18 ―What a consoling thought, that the frequent and devout attendance at Mass will preserve our souls from everlasting death." – (Fr. McDonnell, S.J.) 19 "In Holy Maas we receive treasures so wonderful and so real, gifts so divine and so costly, benefits so many, concerning this temporal life, hope so certain for the life to come, that, without Faith, it would be impossible to believe these assertions to be true." – (Sanchez.) 20 "In the Mass we are made to participate in the fruits of Christ's death, just as though He were expiring before our eyes." – (Cardinal Hosius.) 21 "Although we cannot see with the eyes of the flesh, the day will come when the ways of Providence will be made manifest to us, it will then be seen how many were indebted to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for their salvation."— (Pagani.) 22 "By His death and Passion, Christ collected the riches which is the Treasury, The Mass is the key which unlocks it." – (Fr Segneri, S.J. ) 23 "The first idea of prayer is to go up to the mountain of God to adore and hold Communion with Him, and this is specially the idea of the Holy Mass." – (Bishop Bagshawe.) 24 "The angels, in profound astonishment, are unable to witness the prodigies wrought in a single Mass, without shrinking from the spectacle. Here they behold nothing terrestrial, nothing human, nothing finite. All is celestial, all Divine, all infinite." – (Pagani.) 25 "We do not go to Mass to join in the words which the priest is saying; but to take part in the action which he is doing. The essence of hearing Mass is to join, devoutly, with the priest in his intention of offering Sacrifice . . ."— (Bishop Bagshawe.) 26 "The Mass then may be called the Sun of the Church, dissipating the clouds of darkness, the rainbow of peace, in dictating that the anger of God is cooled and His vengeance disarmed, the golden key that unlocks the treasury of Heavenly blessings, the channel through which the waters of Divine mercy are conveyed to our souls."— (Pagani.) 27 "Our Divine Saviour, by means of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass applies to us the merits of His Passion. It is therefore an efficacious means of procuring Heavenly blessings. Moreover, temporal goods are not denied, when conducive to the salvation of our souls."—(Pagani.) 28 "Some imagine they can have no share in the August Sacrifice, because they cannot be present at It . . . Thus, they lose altogether the blessing they might gain in time of sickness by union of intention with the Divine Victim."— (The Abbe Perreyve.) 29 "Assistance at Mass is of great advantage; it unites us with the great Sacrifice of Calvary, reminds us of the great love of Jesus, and gives us new vigour for the sacrifices inseparable from a virtuous life."— (Fr. Pesch, S.J.) 30 "The symbolism of every movement of the priest during Mass and of the vestments all help to raise the soul to God and impress it with the marvellous mysteries of the Faith." — (Madame d'Arras.) 31 "The Mass is the very centre and core of the Christian religion, the mainspring of the Christian life."— (Cardinal Vaughan.) AUGUST 1 "The Mass dispenses the grace once merited (by Our Lord) on the Cross.''— (Cardinal Vaughan.) 2 "He who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils, and from many dangers."— (St. Gregory) 3 "Within the Mass is that same ocean of grace and merit out of which the angels and the elect of God have drawn the whole store of their sanctity and glory."— (Cardinal Vaughan.) 4 "Mass is a sacrifice whereby the priest not only commemorates, but veritably continues, the sacrifice of the Cross, and applies the merits of the One Eternal Victim to the wants of individual souls, and the universal Church." – (Abbe Perreyve.) 5 "The Mass as a propitiating Sacrifice is more effective than the most severe penances in cancelling the debt of punishment due to sin."—(Cardinal Vaughan.) 6 "Every effort made, every step taken, every inconvenience and pain endured, every taste mortified in order to hear Mass is faithfully recorded in the Book of Life." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 7 "Do you know that the most obscure priest who celebrates Mass at the altar of a remote village church enriches the treasure of the Universal Church and adds, so to speak, to the glories of Heaven."—(Abbe Perreyve.) 8 "The Mass was an eternal Fact in the mind of Almighty God . . . It needed nothing that man could add to Its essential perfection. It was aloof, austere, silent, dignified, yet delicately tender, and infinite loving."—(E. C. Alder in Via Romana.) 9 "That wrapt, chastened and prayerful look that one has seen on the faces of the Irish peasantry, communing with God as they await Holy Mass."—(Amo Nesciri.) 10 "Don't go to Mass without a Prayer Book, or at least a Rosary, unless you wish distraction and not devotion to fill your mind." – (Dr. Conaty.) 11 "The martyrs under Henry VIII died for the Holy See. Later it was for the Mass that they suffered. Would that their intercession obtain for use some realization of the value of the Sacrifice of the Mass."—(Dr. Amigo.) 12 "Do we really prize the privilege of Daily Maas and Holy Communion? Do we mind, when some obstacles get in our way?" – (Dr. Pearson.) 13 "Don't get into the habit of being late for Mass. A minute's preparation before Mass may be the means of opening your soul to many graces." – (Dr. Conaty.) 14 "It (the Mass) proclaims the Majesty of God, the necessity of Sacrifice, the perfect Victim, the only Hope of Sinners." —(E. C. Alder.) 15 "The Mass is the most powerful means which God has given us to render Him honour, to thank Him for His blessings, to obtain the favours that we want."—(Fr. Degen.) 16 "At the hour of death, the Masses that we have heard will be our greatest consolations."—(Flowers of Nazareth.) 17 "The best way to hear Mass is the liturgical way, that is, to follow the priest step by step, and prayer for prayer." – (Fr. Degen.) 18 "When you are present at Mass make it your own. The Mass is so solemn, so serious, and its varied parts follow each other so closely, so quickly, that the worshipper cannot afford to miss any of them, to be absent-minded or distracted."—(Anon. in A Wreath of Violets.) 19 "Try to find the places in the Missal before you come to Mass." – (Fr. Degen.) 20 "They (the Collects) are, indeed, sonnets of prayer and true poems of devotion (and they come from our Missal)." – (Fr. Degen.) 21 "Attend carefully to the services of the Church with thy heart and thy voice, especially when the moment of Con- secration comes during Mass."—(St. Louis of France, to his Son.) 22 "The never-ceasing Mass, the myriads of Communions every morning, and it is always morning somewhere on this beautiful world of ours—all this goes on for ever, from the rising to the setting of the sun. Blot all this out, and how dark and dull, and lonely the earth would be."—(Anon. in The Dowry of Mary.) 23 "It may strike you that the prayers (of the Missal) are comparatively cold. Liturgical language is simple, dignified, restrained, like Our Lord's own prayer, the Our Father, and is thus suited to the needs of every type of world-wide humanity."—(Fr. Degen.) 24 "A priest clad in his sacred vestments is Christ's vice-regent, to pray to God for himself, and for all the people, in a suppliant and humble manner." – (Imitation of Christ, iv. 5.) 25 "The worthiest thing, most of goodness In all this world, it is the Mass, If a thousand clerks did nought else (According as St. Jerome tells) But told the profit of Mass hearing And the virtues of Mass singing, Yet, should they never tell the fifth apart." – (Lay Folks' Mass Book.) 26 "Those best understand and love the Holy Mass who are accustomed to take every joy and care and project to the altar."—(Mother Loyola.) 27 "The Mass is a real, true and propitiatory sacrifice, so teaches the Council of Trent . . . and thus has the Church taught ever since Apostolic days." – (Dr. Arenzden.) 28 "The whole portion of the Mass, which is called the Canon, is thirteen or fourteen hundred years old, and Pope Vigilius testified that it had been received from Apostolic traditions. No additions have been made to it, since the days of Pope Gregory the Great."— (Mother Phillippa.) 29 "Our Faith, our ceremonies, our lives are grouped round this supreme act of worship."—(Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 30 "The Mass is not the repetition, but the continuation, of Calvary." – (Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 31 'The Mass is the very centre and core of the Christian Religion, the mainspring of the spiritual life." – (Cardinal Vaughan.} SEPTEMBER 1 "To encourage my own devotion to this tremendous mystery, let me consider what the Mass must have meant to the mother of God.."—(Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 2 "In the Holy Mass we have the best opportunity for receiving an answer to our prayers."— (Dom Whitman, O.S.B.) 3 No greater service can be rendered to souls than to persuade them frequently and devoutly to draw health and hap- piness from the great Fountain which irrigates the whole Church." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 4 "Our forefathers, in the days of persecution, risked all for the Mass."—(Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 5 "In It (the Mass) we have a Victim that is infinite . . . a Victim that is holy, a Victim that is worthy to appear before the Throne of God."—(Fr. Ronan.) 6 "To value aright my privilege of the Mass, I must follow intelligently the whole ceremony, from the Confiteor to the Last Gospel." – (Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 7 "It is more advantageous to your friends to offer your Mass than your Communion for them. The latter is instituted for the nourishment of the communicant. The former for the welfare, spiritual and temporal of all for whom it is offered." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 8 "Think how the Mass is, in a real sense, the centre of Catholicity. All the Faith is gathered round it, so that from the mere wording of the Mass the rest of the Creed could be almost wholly deduced." – (Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 9 "The Mass is the 'Hidden Treasure,' hidden to all but the eyes of Faith." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 10 "The Sacraments are arranged round this wonderful Sacrifice as the setting round the gem." – (Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 11 "The Mass and the Incarnation, of Which the former is a repetition, are the most wonderful facts of the world's history." —(Dr. Gilmartin.) 12 "The Mass carries a man over his difficulties as a ship over a stormy sea."— (Cardinal Vaughan.) 13 "Enter into the Mass and you enter into the Divine spirit of Sacrifice . . . Contact with the Mass makes sacrifice ̳sweet‘ and the cross ̳light‘." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 14 "By the daily sacrifice of the Mass the Church, which is the body of Christ, learns to offer herself, through Him, Who is her head."—(St. Augustine.) 15 "Form as many intentions as you will, you cannot exhaust or even diminish a treasury of Infinite merits."— (Cardinal Vaughan.) 16 "I would like people at Mass, even on the most ordinary Sunday, to be filled with the happy conviction that something good and great is about to happen, both here on this altar, in the world, and in their own lives." – (Fr. Martindale, S.J.) 17 "The Collect in the Mass of the day should always be carefully studied, for it expresses the leading idea of the feast and contains excellent doctrine in a short, but perfect form.‖ – (Monks of Farnborough in The Liturgy.) 18 "The Post Communion is a prayer of the same structure and rhythm as the Collect and Secret. It varies with them."—(Monks of Farnborough.) 19 "The Pater Noster is the perfect prayer. It was taught by Christ Himself to His Apostles and by them to the whole world. It was for this reason that Pope Gregory the Great wished to join it to the Canon of the Mass."—(The Monks of Farnborough.) 20 "It is, indeed, through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, that this Sacrifice is offered."—(The Monks of Farnborough.) 21 "It is the Mass that makes the priest possible, the confessional that makes him necessary." – (Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 22 "For it (the Mass) are our churches built. It is the centre of their construction . . . without it the most splendid places of worship seem empty, and with it, however poorly or badly they may appear, they are made alive."—(Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P.) 23 ―If some Irish homes are little sanctuaries, is it not due to daily Mass, to frequent Communion, or to the Rosary recited nightly in the family circle?"—(Fr. McDonnell, S.J.) 24 "'St. Joseph is patron of priests, for his arms and his heart were once the consecrated altar where Jesus the Victim of our salvation lay." – (Fr. Chandlery, S.J.) 25 "At Mass the priest turns repeatedly to the congregation . . . because priests and people should offer the Holy Sacrifice together."—(Bishop von Kettler.) 26 "In the Mass Christ places Himself in our hands and commands us to offer Him to the Heavenly Father." – (Dr. Arenzden.) 27 "Oh, what a consolation for us that we have it in our power so frequently to offer up a sacrifice which has the power to blot out our sins."—(Fr. Porter.) 28 "Can we believe the Mass to be, in very truth the renewal of Calvary, and find it in our hearts to be absent?"— (Mother Loyola.) 29 "The Sacrifice of the Cross is continued in the Mass, not as if it were insufficient in itself, but that we may be present at it and unite ourselves with Jesus who offers it."—(Fr. Pesch, S.J.) 30 "Holy Mass is a brief epitome of our Lord's life."—(Bishop Fornerus.) OCTOBER 1 "The Mass is the sovereign act of homage which man pays to the Creator. It is THE Sacrifice, the only one, which, really without any exaggeration, is worthy of God." – (Dr. Gilmartin.) 2 ―One prayer offered at Mass is worth many prayers offered at other times."—(Sister Marie Marthe Chambon.) 3 "Grant me the grace to offer up Mass today, and in future with greater fervour that I may atone for my past negli- gence.‖ – (Fr. Porter) 4 "The altar of Sacrifice will always be the great school of Sacrifice."—(Pere Plus, S.J.) 5 "When we offer Jesus Christ to God (as in the Mass) we learn to offer ourselves together with Him to the Divine Majesty in Him and by Him as living victims."—(Bossuet ) 6 "In every Mass Jesus is the shield between Heaven and earth; between God's justice and our sins."—(Pere Plus, S.J.) 7 "The most fruitful time to offer the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, for sinners, is during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."—(Sister M. Chambon.) 8 "All who hear Mass properly receive treasure of grace beyond our powers of reckoning, and out of all proportion to their dispositions."—(Mother M. Loyola.) 9 "During Mass the Sacred Wounds of Jesus are opened and the Precious Blood flows freely on all present."—(Sister M. M. Chambon.) 10 "The Prayers of the Missal, both before and after the consecration are as so many jewels surrounding the Pearl of Great Price."—(Fr. Lawrence, O.D.C.) 11 "I offer up . . . this Sacrifice of Propitiation for those in particular who have in any way injured me, grieved me, or abused me, or have done me any damage or displeasure"—(Imitation of Christ.) 12 "As members of Him, Christ would have us take an active part in the one great Sacrifice of Himself by which He redeemed us."—(Fr. de la Taille.) 13 "Every sacrifice that our coming to Him (at Mass) costs us, He knows and values and will reward."—(Mother Loyola.) 14 "The Missal contains no dry dogmatic teaching, monotonous and dull, but words, chants and ceremonies combined." – (Fr. Farrell, C.S.Sp.) 15 "How few hear Mass with all the profit to themselves and souls which could he gained if people would realize that the Mass is the renewal of Our Lord's Passion."—(Sister M. M. Chambon.) 16 "The Roman Missal derives its descent from . . . St. Gregory's Mass book, which Pope Hadrian sent to Charlemagne . . . between the years A.D. 784 and 791."—(Fr. Lucas, S.J.) 17 "If the Faithful, at Mass, would only put themselves in spirit beneath the Cross with Our Lady and St. John, and there offer the sufferings of Jesus, and His Precious Bleed for the conversion of sinners they could open Heaven to many souls."—(Sister M. M. Chambon.) 18 "How is it that in our churches, whether it be during Holy Mars or at any other service, there are so many indifferent, distracted souls? . . . they believe that Jesus is present, but their faith is tepid and superficial." – (Mgr. de Segur.) 19 "Great is this mystery, and great the dignity of priests, to whom that is given which is not granted to angels."— (Imitation of Christ, iv. 5.) 20 "When impossible to be bodily present at Mass, assist in spirit. This you can do at all hours of the day and night." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 21 "The Mass is not a mere prayer in which the faithful join, it is the official, public sacrifice of the Catholic Church offered in the name of the whole Church for the living and the dead, no matter to what country they belong."—(Fr. Ronan.) 22 "The use of the Latin language tends to establish unity of worship and to foster a greater reverence for the words and the phraseology of the Mass"—(Fr. Ronan.) 23 "Everything in the Mass concentrates on the Blessed Trinity and the Divine Victim."—(Cardinal Vaughan.) 24 "All the crosses made (in the Mass) before the Consecration signify blessing. All after, signify the Cross on which the Victim died." – (Cardinal Vaughan.) 25 "How few Catholics realize that they are co-operators in the daily mystery of the altar, as it is celebrated in every land at every hour." – (Fr. D'Arcy, S.J.) 26 "It seems to me that at Holy Mass we are, as it were, almighty, not through any merit of our own, but on account of the greatness of our offering." – (Theresa Higginson.) 27 "The Mass is the strongest bond of charity between the pastors and the faithful."—(Fr. Forster, S.J.) 28 "It is most true that he who attends Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both foreseen and unforeseen."—(St. Gregory.) 29 "During Mass the angels assist the priest, all the orders of celestial spirits raise their voices, and the vicinity of the altar is occupied by choirs of angels who do homage to Him Who is being immolated."—(St. John Chrysostom.) 30 "The Mass is the treasury of the Church. There God is most lavish of His richest graces, there Jesus Christ, through His minister, distributes the immensity of His wealth."—(Fr. Millet, S.J.) 31 "The altar is another Calvary, where Jesus immolates Himself each day for love of us."—(Fr. Lasance.) NOVEMBER 1 "In the Mass God is honoured, as He deserves, because He is honoured by Jesus."—(St. Leonard of Port Maurice.) 2 "Jesus Christ is Priest, Offerer, and Offering (in the Mass)."—(St. Augustine.) 3 "The Mass is that clean oblation, that cannot be spoiled by any unworthiness or sinfulness on the part of the offerer." —(The Council of Trent.) 4 "Christ Himself is Victim Sacrifice, Priest, Altar, God, Man, King, Pontiff, Lamb, all in all for us."—(St. Epiphanius.) 5 "The Mass is a remembrance of the Passion of Christ, a solemn adoration of the Divine Majesty, a most acceptable thanksgiving to God, a powerful means of obtaining forgiveness for our sins.‖ – (Fr. Lasance.) 6 "In the Mass are contained all the fruits, all the graces, yea all the immense treasures which the Son of God poured out so abundantly upon the Church, His Spouse, in the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross."—(St. Thomas.) 7 "The Mass is, indeed, an epitome of Divine Wisdom and of Divine love—a wondrous institution which could only emanate from the Wisdom, power and love of God."—(Fr. McDonnell, S.J.) 8 "To say Mass worthily would require three eternities, the first to prepare oneself, the second to celebrate, the third to give thanks for so great a favour."—(St. John Eudes.) 9 "The same love which fastened Jesus by nails to the Cross binds Him still, for our sakes, to the altar." – (Fr. Lasance.) 10 "Without doubt the Lord grants all the favours which are asked of Him in the Mass, provided they be those fitting for us."—(St. Jerome.) 11 "The active participation in the Holy Mysteries and in the public and solemn prayers of the Church is the first and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit." – (Pope Pius X.) 12 "From the rising of the sun to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered in my name a clean oblation."—(Mal. i. ii.) 13 "That grand act is so quiet, so brief, so frequent."—(Bishop Hedley.) 14 "The priest says Oremus "Let us pray," not Oro "I pray," because all the assistants (at Mass) ought to pray with him, and he prays in the name of them all." – (St. Alphonsus.) 15 "There is no creature, not even an angel, worthy to offer to God the adorable sacrifice of the Mass, yet, notwithstanding, I counsel you to offer it often, with fear and respect."—(His Abbot to St. Peter Celestine.) 16 "The angels are present at the Sacrifice of the Mass. They compass the altar in honour of Him Who is offered upon it, where the King is, there also is His Court." – (St. John Chrysostom.) 17 "The Mass is the one essential act of public worship of the Church."—(B. F. C. Costelloe.) 18 ". . . a message from Heaven . . . at Mass I think the message is there . . . if we are in a state to receive it."—(M. Baring) 19 "Those who neglect Mass on Sundays, let their children play . . . instead of sending them to church. draw down upon themselves the terrible anger of God."—(Mother Loyola.) 20 "The Mass is, in the strictest sense, Divine Worship. Catholics offer it to God alone, praying Mary and the saints to join, as fellow worshippers."—(Fr. F. E. Pritchard.) 21 "The Commandment of the Church is that we hear Mass, not a part of Mass . . . it is a venial sin to be absent or late through our own fault during a less important part of Mass.‖ – (Mother Loyola.) 22 ". . . the wide and fundamental distinction between the Mass, and every other form of public worship, I have called it The realisation of the Presence of God."—(F. B. Costelloe.) 23 "By every Mass the Church is extended, protected, and prospered, and her children are helped in ways we shall never know in this life." – (Mother Loyola.) 24 "As the Mass is offered for all who are present, so the best kind of devotion is attentively to apply ourselves to all that the priest says and does."—(St. Alphonsus Rodriguez.) 25 "There its no time fitter to converse with God than that of the Divine Sacrifice so that we ought carefully to manage so precious an occasion, and try to profit of it, by daily offering this sacrifice, with the priest." – (St. John Chrysostom.) 26 "It is a most profitable and pious devotion, whilst the priest really communicates under the two species, we should communicate spiritually."—(St. Alphonsus Rodriguez.) 27 "Who can doubt but that when the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered, the Heavens open at the voice of the priest, and that an infinity of blessed, spirits, like good courtiers who everywhere follow their Prince, descend with Jesus Christ."—(St. Gregory.) 28 "The property of this Sacrifice is to appease God, as it is this the Apostle expresses by these words: ̳He offered Himself to God for us, to be a Victim of an agreeable odour.'" – (St. Paul Eph. v. 2.) 29 "He that says Mass does nothing else but represent the person of Jesus Christ. It is in His name and as His minister that he offers this Sacrifice."—(St. Alphonsus Rodriguez.) 30 "The more we consider it, the more we shall realize that we could share in no higher work than in the forming of good priests."—(St. Vincent de Paul.) DECEMBER 1 "Mass is not a mere form of words. It is a great action, the greatest that can be, on earth."—(Cardinal Newman.) 2 "It (the Mass) is a mystery that can only be called tremendous." – (Dr. Hedley.) 3 "There is no obligation to go to daily Mass. True, but . . . what is fitting?" – (Mother Loyola.) 4 "All who can do so should learn to use and love the Roman Missal.‖ —(Fr. Lucas, S.J.) 5 "The order of the Mass is so well arranged that most of the prominent events of Our Saviour's life . . . are contained or recalled in the prayers or typified in the ceremonies prescribed in the Mass."—(Pope Innocent III.) 6 ―All the merits of creatures are but of finite worth, but the value of one Mass is infinite." – (Mother Loyola.) 7 ―If the Mass is to be for us what it ought to be, it is very important that we have a clear understanding of it, as a whole, in its unity of structure and of purpose."—(Rev. W. Busch.) 8 ―The best prayers are those of the Liturgy which God Himself has taught us, those alone which are expressed in language worthy of Him."—(Huysmans.) 9 "The Gospel is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Before reading it the priest makes the sign of the cross on the open book, because it is Jesus crucified whom he preaches." – (St. Alphonsus. ) 10 "Throughout the Mass we read of sacrifice to God – the highest and greatest sacrifice ever offered to Him—the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ."—(Bagshawe.) 11 "Take some trouble to hear Mass well, and always think of those words: ̳Before prayer, prepare thy soul and be not as a man that tempteth God."—(Bagshawe.) 12 "The Mass is the daily direct and immediate interposition of God on earth, to work a wonder of beneficence which can only be paralleled by His Incarnation."—(Bishop Hedley.) 13 "When you see a priest offering Mass, do not consider that it is only the priest; but look more attentively, and see the stretched-out hands of God."—(St. John Chrysostom.) 14 "Not less doth God seem to do, when He deigneth to descend daily from Heaven upon the altar, than He did when He assumed human nature and became incarnate."—(St. Bonaventure.) 15 "Who can doubt at the moment of immolation, when the priest utters the word, the heavens open, and that the choirs of Angels are present at that solemn act of Jesus Christ—that Heaven and earth intermingle and the highest is joined with the lowly."—(St. Gregory.) 16 "So great a gift could not be found in heaven itself as God offered to God, for such is the oblation we offer in the Sacrifice of the Mass."—(Fr. Nicholas Molloy, O.S.A.) 17 "There (at Mass) is the whole Catholic Church communicating to her priests the mission she has received from her Divine Spouse, to continue the Sacrifice, and there acts and speaks through its ambassadors." – (Abbe Perreyve.) 18 "The Eucharistic renewing of Christ's death is the result of that infinite fullness of redemption that is in Christ's mortal life." – (Abbot Vonier.) 19 "Because Christ merited infinitely . . . we have the Real Presence, we have the daily sacrifice of the Christian altar." — (Ibid.) 20 "All souls who are united to the Church by the bond of charity join, even without knowing it, in the oblation offered on every altar throughout the world, and partake of its merits." – (Abbe Perreyve.) 21 "Holy Angel at my side, go to church for me; Kneel for me at Holy Mass, where I wish to be. Pray the Sacrifice Divine may our sins efface; Bring me Jesus' blessing down, Pledge of every grace." — (D.H.B.) 22 "He would have us become co-offerers with Himself . . . in order that the world may have the honour of working out its own redemption by paying the more than sufficient price put at its disposal by Christ, our Redeemer." – (Fr. De Taille.) 23 "Thou, O Lord, though Thou hast ascended to glory, hast renewed and perpetuated Thy sacrifice to the end of all things."— (Newman.) 24 "Yes, my Lord; though Thou hast left the world, Thou art daily offered up in the Mass, and though Thou canst not suffer pain and death, Thou dost still subject Thyself to indignity and restraint to carry out to the full Thy mercies towards us."— (Ibid.) 25 "This is not due to man's merits, that a man should consecrate and handle the Sacrament of Christ, and receive for food the bread of angels."— (Imitation of Christ.) 26 "Priests alone, rightly ordained in the Church, have the power of celebrating Mass and consecrating the Body of Christ."— (Ibid.) 27 "When a priest celebrateth, he honoureth God, he rejoiceth the angels, he edifieth the Church, he helpeth the living, he obtaineth rest for the departed, and maketh himself partaker of all that is good." – (Ibid.) 28 "There is no oblation more worthy, nor satisfaction greater for the washing away of sins, than to offer thyself purely and entirely to God, together with the Oblation of the Body of Christ in the Mass and in the Communion."— (Ibid.) 29 ―As I willingly offered Myself to God the Father for thy sins . . . even so oughtest thou to offer thyself daily to Me in the Mass."— (Ibid.) 30 "Receive me with this sacred Oblation of Thy Precious Body, which I offer to Thee this day . . . that it may be for my salvation and that of all Thy People."— (Ibid.) 31 "When the last Mass shall have been said, the Sacrifice of supplication and reparation shall cease, but the worship of adoration and thanksgiving shall continue through eternity for those who have been associated with the Cross and with the altar of Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ." – (Fr. Farrell, C.S.Sp.) ********

THE ADVENTUROUS NUN By MICHAEL RICHARDSON

Not many of us in our youth, have played cat and mouse with an unjust police force. Few of us have hidden priests who are hunted because of their unswerving fidelity to their Religion. Not many teenagers have taught Christian Doctrine at a time when this was forbidden by law, but, to these charges, Anne-Marie could plead guilty. Who was Anne-Marie?
Blessed Anne-Marie, born on 10 November, 1779, at Jallanges, was the fifth of ten children. Her father, Balthasar, was a well-to-do farmer; her mother, Claudine, a very holy woman. As a teenager, vivacious Anne-Marie, or Nanette as she was called, loved dress and dancing and young men's company. There was a touch of daredevil in her, which readily came to the surface, especially during the Revolution, when she frequently risked life and limb. She was devoted to St. Bernard and St. Martin. She arranged an oratory in her home and a small chapel dedicated to St. Anne in her garden. More important, she founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, was beatified by the Church, and in the words of Pope Pius XI, was “the first woman missionary”.

Vigilant Nanette

Our story opens during the French Revolution in Chamblanc, where her family lived. Nanette used to teach Catechism because the nuns were either in exile or in hiding. On one occasion her father, disapproving of his daughter's daring enterprise, sneaked up on the unsuspecting class to demonstrate how easily she might be caught, but his daughter had devised a method of vigilance. Suddenly she was teaching Arithmetic. Angry at being outwitted, he forbade her to carry on this practice in the barn. She never disobeyed the order. Instead, the orchard, the garden, the fields and the road became the classroom, and her prayers became more devout. The fury of the Revolution grew, and Fr. Ballanche, a hunted priest, found refuge in the Javouhey home. Seventeen-year-old Nanette passed those spy-filled days accompanying her father, who talked business while she moved among the people, arranging rendezvous in old barns, where they might hear night-time sermons, confess their sins, and attend a dawn Mass. Since she was a great organizer, she used to send her brother, Etienne, and Jean Petitjean, the young man who hoped to marry her, on mysterious trips in the Javouhey cart. Under piles of potatoes and hay, Fr. Ballanche used to lie, while souls, hungry for spiritual guidance, awaited him in some lonely place. She taught the younger Javouhey children to spy, just as today the Communists train children to spy on their parents and friends. The difference was that the Javouhey children spied to preserve life, and if any faithful priests were in the area, Nanette was bound to know.

A Dash of Danger

One night, the scream of “Open the door in the name of the Republic!” horrified the Javouhey household. There was no time to bundle Fr. Ballanche into the attic. Nanette took the initiative: “Into the cupboard quickly.” The fugitive slipped in, swinging the door behind him, but the latch did not catch. Meanwhile Nanette opened the front door, and four men entered, demanding the priest. Confidently, the deputy announced that he would have to arrest Balthasar, who, shocked at his sudden helplessness, heard his daughter chuckle at the whole idea. Her father could not produce a priest out of thin air. So she invited them to search the house — which was exactly what they intended. As the search was beginning, the unlatched door creaked open. Of all people, it was the deputy who caught it, and he was about to peer into the cupboard, when Nanette suggested that her father ought to bring out the wine: “Later we can help them search for the priest.” One wonders what old Balthasar was thinking as his daughter asked him to share his wine with the men who had come to arrest him. He must have been paralysed at the sight of her taking the deputy's coat and putting it in the cupboard. This time she shut the door firmly. At long last, the deputy was satisfied by the Javouhey's behaviour. They were too calm to be hiding a priest. A search would be useless. So, to end the momentous occasion, brother Pierre returned the deputy's coat, but left the cupboard door wide open. We are told that the deputy stared at the cupboard. So did the Javouheys. He left with his escort and without his prisoner. Today, priests are still being hunted. There are more than one thousand million people crushed, captured behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains. Pray for them and the Church of Silence; for those in concentration camps and prisons; for the unknown nuns, brothers and priests who labour to the end. It is we who are the silent church.

Spouse of Christ

One day, shortly after the priest-hunt, the daring girl revealed her true colours. “Father, I want to be a nun,” she admitted to Fr. Ballanche. The priest encouraged her, but wondered what the future held for a nun at a time when all the convents were closed. Her father, of course, had other plans for his Nanette and told her so. That any girl should become a nun was one question but that this girl should be his daughter was quite another. Yet, to his rebuff Nanette had an answer. She began a barrage of letters to her father. “My dear father, not all your refusals discourage me. I think you would tear my heart out, to make me stop wanting to lead the religious life,” and again “I have promised God to devote myself altogether to the service of the sick and the education of little girls.” So finally, very early in the morning of 11th November, 1798, a small group of people gathered secretly in an upstairs room. They knew that the girl, dressed as a bride, had just completed a private retreat, and now they witnessed her taking of vows. Her three sisters envied her, promising that they too, would be as “happy as you are now”.

The Test

Nanette was happy, but the events of the next few years were unexciting to relate and cruel to bear. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte directed a coup d'etat, and the religious crept out of exile. After another struggle with her father, Nanette entered the Convent of the Daughters of Charity, but there she went badly. Her mission to God was clear, but the kind of mission was not. She preferred to be apart from the other members; she lost her appetite. She could neither sleep, nor read. She lost weight, she was losing her vocation, but on she prayed. One night while kneeling in distress at her bedside, she asked: “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me do? Make Thy will known to me.” She promised obedience to God, even if it meant having to live her whole life in the dark coalhole, which was near her room and terrified her. A voice answered her pleading: “You will accomplish great things for me.” A few nights later, disturbed from sleep, she was horrified to see her room crowded with coloured children of races she did not know, and in the middle stood a nun in a strange habit. “These are the children God has given you. He wishes you to form a new Congregation to care for them. I am Teresa (of Avila). I will be your protectress,” spoke the strange nun. This vision occurred in 1800. We twentieth century folk must see visions too. There were once 3,000 street urchins who roamed the alleyways, living on theft and vice. Mario Borelli had a vision. He became Don Mario who lived with them and won their hearts so as to win their souls. Visions are not always so clear as Anne-Marie reported: “I seemed to see—was it a dream? Was it just my imagination? I don't know—a multitude of children; poor, sick, weeping, commending themselves to me and reaching out their arms to me. What especially struck me was a multitude of blacks, men, women and children, calling me "Dear Mother", and they were so unhappy that they left for ever afterwards the most vivid impression on me.”

Failure

Next time Balthasar visited the convent, he found his 20 year old daughter dressed to return home. The villagers had been right after all. Balthasar thought that now his daughter would listen to him, but he was disappointed. Instead, she opened schools and orphanages, and although funds were always insufficient to supply enough food and furniture, Nanette managed to keep these places open, at least for a time. Of course, enduring poverty was far from pleasant for Nanette. At one school she had to sleep on the floor and the conditions were so bad, that horrified curates returned prospective pupils to their homes. And each project that she started failed, and each failure depressed her. The life to which God was calling her would brook no depression, so she entered the Trappistine Convent called “The Monastery of the Holy Will of God”. This title was to become the motto of her own Congregation, one day. Already she had experience in the direct apostolate with the Daughters of Charity, and by the end of the Trappistine novitiate, she had the solid spiritual formation, necessary for her own peculiar vocation. So she left the Trappistines.

The day of her own Congregation was at hand.

Strengthened by the Trappistine training, Nanette took on more and more work in schools and orphanages. Her sisters joined her and with financial help from their father, they began to succeed. Soon, other devoted women helped them and they became known as the Sisters of St. Joseph. So, on 12th May, 1807, nine young ladies, including Balthasar's four daughters took vows. Nanette retained her baptismal names, Anne-Marie, while her sisters became Marie-Therese, Marie-Joseph, and Rosalie. They chose their motto: “The holy will of God.” The Mother Foundress was 28 years old, and the world awaited her works.

I Have Come to Serve

Restoration of souls, and sometimes of buildings, became the job of Mother Superior as the Congregation grew. After renovating the disused diocesan seminary in Chalon, the nuns lived there for almost three years, when Spanish prisoners of war were sent there. The nuns cared for what became a prison-hospital, where all types of infectious diseases spread. Reverend Mother herself caught typhus but she recovered. Finally, there was no room for the nuns. They migrated to Rue des Rats and then later (1812) to the historically famous monastery at Cluny, where in 910, Berno founded the original Benedictine Abbey. This Convent at Cluny became the Mother House of the Sisters of St. Joseph until 1849. Hence their title “of Cluny” was complete. About this time, a minor eruption occurred when Anne- Marie's nuns used the Lancastrian system of education, in which older pupils acted as monitors and taught groups of 10 what the teacher had taught them. Here was an excellent way to educate large numbers of poor children, for whom the number of books and teachers was inadequate. The system was criticized, however, because it was foreign (English) and was supposed to lead to indifferentism. Despite the adverse criticism of the nuns, the administrator of the Paris diocese; confident in the Congregation's ability, had a Governmental school placed in their care. So successful was the system in the school that Anne-Marie and her Congregation received unexpected acclaim, and she became an authority overnight. Anne-Marie also took on many diverse tasks. She opened up workshops and a small hostel for people of modest fortune, a home for war widows and a girls' orphanage. Even the foundation of a preparatory seminary is attributed to her.

Senegal

Meanwhile, the Congregation was spreading outwards. France looked to its colonies and the Congregation looked to the colonists. So Senegal (West Africa) a very primitive and unpleasant place, was the first mission to be chosen. Its two settlements, Goree Island and St. Louis were surrounded by silent bush, where unpredictable natives wandered. So poorly equipped was the hospital, that there were no blankets, beds, eating utensils or mosquito nets. No one even prepared meals. It was simply a place where wretched Africans went to die. In the end, Sister Rosalie had to abandon her plans for schools, and concentrate all her efforts on improving the hospital. Indeed, the Colony was in such a deplorable state, that Anne-Marie could not resist the temptation. “The climate of Senegal is very unhealthy, I must go there myself.” she said. Ship smells and sailors' shouts farewelled her at the port. She heard the harsh rasp of block and tackle and she saw men hurrying to their different tasks, before the ship set sail. Men barked orders. Men struggled under the weight of heavy stores. Men swung from ropes and climbed ladders, while the officers surveyed the whole scene. Sailors talked, argued and swore as passengers streamed aboard. Anne-Marie's blue habit was part of that colourful chaos, in which nameless people pushed and shoved their way to some unknown destiny. On board, she felt the ships floor beneath her feet rise and fall on the gentle swell. There was not long to go.

Anne-Marie Sought Souls

Then came the time which thrills sailors and landsmen alike, for who could not love the sight of billowing canvas, caught by a sea breeze, or the rolling of a ship as it lunges and slumps across ocean waves? That day, men and women, with their hearts set on the future, cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Some sought fame. Some sought fortune. Anne-Marie sought souls. At Senegal, some months later, Anne-Marie was overjoyed at meeting her sister Rosalie again, and she admitted that she had often cried since her departure from France, but she had also laughed, though not so much. “I have taken a certain amount on myself; our good Master has added a little of his own—but things have settled down.” Typical of Anne-Marie, she moved up the Senegal River through 50 miles of jungle to Dagana, a trading-centre, where few whites had been ,and founded a Mission Centre there. She had great hopes in native missionaries and yearned for a native clergy, but the poor example of the whites contradicted her holy life. After treating her for a tropical disease, one doctor wrote: “I have seen her at work; she is a saint. I am too old to see her in the calendar; but you will.” At the request of the British Governor, she visited Gambia, a British Colony which was used mainly as a dumping ground for hundreds of slaves taken from Moorish vessels. Anne-Marie refused to proceed until their degrading situation was improved. Finally, she left one Sister at Gambia in charge of these improvements, while at the insistence of the British Governor, she moved on to Sierra Leone, together with a girl, Florence, whom Sister Rosalie had freed from slavery.

Freetown

Freetown was no haven, with only one doctor (who was often called away from the town) and a very filthy dilapidated hospital. Untrained as she was, Anne-Marie spent those days caring for wounds, setting broken bones and dispensing medicines. The nights went in weaving mats for beds and improvising rags for blankets. Corruption had spread its evil tentacles here too, since the British had first dumped 400 slaves from Moorish vessels and imported 30 prostitutes from London to increase the population. The mulatto elite took control, and slavery broke out, among those who had once been slaves. Work was despised. Theft became a way of life. Despite this, the Mother Superior could only say: “Oh, how can I thank God for having brought me here! I feel so happy in being able to do so much good, and soothe so much suffering. If I had only six Sisters with me, what an amount of good could be accomplished!” About the slaves she wrote: “If only I had enough money to buy them all and set them free. I will never rest until this slave traffic is ended and they have all gained their freedom.”

Yellow Fever

Three months slipped by, when a sudden wave of yellow fever swept through the Colony, changing the hospital into a morgue. The Governor conscripted workers to cart away the dead. The doctor arrived to help her, and despite the grave risk of contagion, she fought the battle against disease for two months, until it struck her down. Then, somehow, through the constant care of Florence, that native girl, and against the doctor's predictions, the nun recovered. By then, the battle against yellow fever had ended. One month later, still so weak from the fever that she had to be carried on board, she retracted her steps and found, to her horror, that she had left a trail of desolation in her path. The nun who had remained at Gambia was dead, while the Mother Superior of Gorge Island had proved incapable. One nun had rejected her vows and deserted; a second had died unattended. With the urgent message for more nuns and better training sent ahead of her, she returned after two years in Africa to more strife in France. The Congregation needed her steadying influence.

The Nuns’ Mutiny

Back in France, Anne-Marie found herself with a mutiny on her hands. The trouble had sprung up in the French Colony of Bourbon, where an unfortunate nun had taken upon herself the position of superior. Because sailing-ships took five months to reach the island, the nun had ample opportunity to convince nuns, priests and officials of her position as superior, before the newly appointed nun arrived. The usurper was so stoutly defended, that after a year's fruitless waiting, the real superior returned to France. At last, fully aware of the situation at the Colony, Anne-Marie sent her own sister Rosalie to take control. Sister Rosalie herself met with great opposition, including an attempt to disband the Congregation. Ironically, the usurper, who intercepted the mail addressed to Rosalie, as she had done with Rosalie's predecessor, received the beautiful letter from Anne-Marie: “Do not let yourself be taken in by sadness; you will be capable of nothing when you are downhearted. God will judge; we must work.” But neither the opening of another's mail, nor the influence of governor or priest could hold back the wrath of the mother-country. After some time, Rosalie's position was confirmed through both government and ecclesiastical channels. The storm clouds had blown over.

Holy Hurry

Expansion was the theme of the day and the Cluny nuns spread from Africa, westwards over into the Carribean and South America, and to the East, heroic work was being done at Pondicherry, in India. Almost simultaneously, the Church approved of the Congregation's new rules as the Congregation's members swelled to 500 scattered throughout 18 houses in France and the Colonies. In France, a new mission was taking shape — nursing the mentally sick. The asylum of St. Yon at Rouen, was to become the shelter of 1,350 patients, nursed by 170 Sisters. At Alencon, 80 lunatics, of whom 15 were extremely violent, together with 50 other misfits who were indiscriminately caged with the lunatics, moved Anne-Marie to action. Overcoming her repulsion at their screams, their nakedness and their unpredictable behaviour, she, with 17 nuns and her brother, pacified a jungle of savage human beings. The “Angels in blue” had won another victory. About this time, despite her own depressing work, Anne-Marie wrote to her niece, Sister Clothilde, who was trying to patch up anothers failure: “Come, my dear; pluck up heart; shake off your enemy indolence which tells you fairy- tales; don't listen to the pride which lurks beneath the (humble) violet; pride that is so afraid of failure, that people may laugh at it. Pay no attention to “What will people say?”

The Colonial Nun

One of the French Colonies, Guiana was too hot, too wet, too rugged, too disease-ridden for anything else but a penal institute on Devil's Island. It was occupied by officials, merchants, speculators, paroled or escaped convicts and the usual group of nonentities who drift towards places where the conscientious arm of justice only reaches with difficulty. Colonizing had not been successful in this area. In 1823, the Government had set up a colony of 164 trades-men and farmers along the banks of the Mana River, some 80 miles from the capital, Cayenne. Five years later, the number had dwindled to one family, reduced to the poorest conditions. Realizing its inability to cope with colonization, the French Government turned to Anne-Marie. The result was that 86 laymen and 36 nuns sailed on two ships for Cayenne. Anne-Marie was to direct the Colony as the Government desired, but she intended far more. She knew of the Indian tribes in the area, the hundreds of slaves imported from Africa, and the wretched lepers nearby. She had hopes of bringing teen-age orphans, the sad remains of the Napoleonic wars, from France, so that they could settle down to a new life, once the Colony was on its feet. This extraordinary nun, however, did not live in a whirl of dreams. “I am taking you to Purgatory,” she warned her helpers. Once at New Angouleme (Anne-Marie's new Colony) the farmers and tradesmen all obeyed the nun and lived a community life, rising for 4 o'clock Mass and stopping work at 10 o'clock because of the oppressive heat; the Angelus and dinner were at noon. Schooling was for European children, and for Indians and Africans if they so desired. Particular times were set aside for community and individual works. For Sisters, Colonists and natives the time-table was the same. All worked for the betterment of the Colony and all were responsible to one person—a 50 year old woman, a nun, and, many believe, a Saint. The Colony advanced so well, that Anne-Marie was able to leave, for a short time, to inspect two other Mission Stations on the Carribean (Guadeloupe and Martinque) but when she returned, she found that 10 settlers had left. Brother Pierre had inclined to be dictatorial. Also, the old antipathy which dogs human nature, arose in the baby Colony. The whites objected to their children being taught in the school beside black children. Anne-Marie was firm: “I am here, remember, more as a missionary of God, than a missionary of France. The African children remained.

The Lepers

We - frequently read of lepers in the Bible, but the biblical terror has been so often repeated that it has become rather remote from our own lives. Damien, the leper-priest, described leprosy more vividly: “Discoloured patches appear on the skin, especially on the cheeks, and the parts affected lose their feeling. After a time, this discoloration covers the entire body; then, ulcers begin to open, chiefly at the extremities. The flesh is eaten away, and gives out a fetid odour; even the breath of the leper becomes so foul, that the air around is poisoned with it. . . . Sometimes, I feel no repugnance, when I hear the confessions of those near their end, whose wounds are full of maggots.” Yet, even Damien admitted: “The smell of their filth, mixed with the exhalation of their sores, was simply disgusting, unbearable to the newcomer. Many times, in their huts, I have been obliged to run outside to breathe fresh air.” In our own times, one of Anne-Marie's followers describes a frightening scene, soon after she arrived to work among the lepers at Ducos, New Caledonia: “The cook himself, is a patient and has not enough of his fingers left to stir his miserable pots. His face is completely destroyed and he has no lips. He cannot prevent his saliva from falling into the dishes. Because of his leprosy, he cannot feel the heat and so there are many burns on his poor feet and arms.”

Deplorable Condition

It was for people like these, with grotesque and vile-smelling bodies, that Anne-Marie brought her nuns across the seas. The lepers' condition was particularly deplorable as when she arrived, very few had managed to build grass huts, and so the strong, salty winds bit into their sores. Food was scarce and fresh water rare. It is little wonder that suicide was their only escape from a wretched, lawless life, where all kinds of immorality were practised. One can imagine Anne-Marie's joy when she was able to liberate the hundred lepers from their desolate prison. It was a goal which had taken three years to achieve — three years of brick-marking, of floating the bricks by raft down the Mana and back up the Acarouany to the proposed site; of mending clothes; of donating great stores of food supplies to tide the lepers over the unsettled period, before their own vegetable gardens could produce. Certainly, the colonists made great sacrifices for the lepers, thanks to the encouraging and ever-sacrificing Anne-Marie.

In Troubles and Distress

At the main Colony, success was not conspicuous. Letters from those settlers who had deserted began arriving, and within a year, only two families remained. So in 1833, Anne-Marie left the New Angouleme Colony and its failure. “From the looks of things, you would not think that I had done anything at all.” Five years' work seemed lost. If she left failure at the Colony, she turned towards trouble in France. The Bishop of the diocese where the Congregation was founded had taken it upon himself to become its Superior-General, and he was perfectly satisfied to use any means he could, to gain his end. Apparently, French bishops, at that time, believed that a bishop had such a right, when the Mother House of a Congregation was in his own diocese. Who was the Bishop of Autun? To the faithful he must have been a sad sight. Born a marquis, commissioned in the French army at 20, he became a priest after two years' study, and four years after his seminary training, became Bishop of Autun. He had important friends, and the Church was to suffer as a consequence. Indeed, the struggle was to rage for 18 years between the bishop and the foundress. The story of this trouble makes sad reading and becomes far too involved for such a short biography. Suffice to say, Anne-Marie suffered much during this period at the hands of this man. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still persecuting the prophets!

A Second Try

At last the conscience of the world was feeling chafed. In 1831 a Bill freeing slaves was passed. Immediate liberation was impossible, as this would place a financial strain on the Colony's budgets, so a seven-year probation period was decided upon, during which the slaves were to prove themselves suitable members of society or be returned to slavery. Back in French Guiana, 500 slaves walked off the plantations and headed to Cayenne where they were put on the Government pay-roll and sub-leased back to their old plantations. They needed to learn how to use freedom. In 1835 the Government sought what they had been looking for, Anne-Marie—a person who could teach the slaves. Very soon they agreed that a colony should be set up, not on the New Angouleme site, but on the Mana plateau, which was cooler, less muggy, and closer to the leprosarium on the Acarouany. As there were only three years left before the probation expired, the Government suggested that two more years should be added. Everything was supplied—even priests and a doctor. Anne-Marie had complete charge; such was the confidence Government officials had in the 56 year old Cluny foundress. As King Louis Philippe exclaimed: “Madame Javouhey is a great man.” En route for Mana, she inspected the religious houses at Senegal, and remembering that most of the 500 probationers were men, she gathered 60 African women and brought them to Cayenne—a matter which our own Australian Government neglected when they began extensive migration for young European males. Naturally, the French Governor was aghast. Five hundred unruly problems were enough, without increasing their numbers. Even the captain distrusted the slaves and was afraid to take them on his ship. Yet by the end of 1836, 520 Africans were safely installed in the Colony.

Mana

Life at Mana was much the same as it had been at New Angouleme. A town took shape, complete with houses in well-planned streets, a chapel, a clinic, a convent for the nuns, and a dormitory for the unmarried women. Naturally, the social life had its rules and regulations, as any hostel must. Settling the town was not Anne-Marie's only task. Large areas of land had to be cleared and divided into suitable blocks for the slaves soon to be freed. They dug irrigation channels and planted bananas and manioc (plant with a tuberous root, similar to a parsnip), so that when the farms were finally occupied they would already be producing crops and would have a four months' rice supply. The Colony added to the competition of the plantation owners, while slaves, still to be freed, fled to its protection. On one occasion, while Anne-Marie was visiting the leprosarium, the owner seized his slaves, seeking refuge at the Colony, and burnt one of them alive. When Anne-Marie returned to the Colony, there was no vessel to take her to Cayenne, so she completed a forced jungle march of 50 miles, by a route now known as the Javouhey road. Yet all was in vain. As the Governor pointed out, how does a court proceed when a black man is on trial before a white judge, white jury and white witnesses? Such jungle justice is not strange to our civilized times either. In 1964, some men were tried for the lynch-murder of three civil rights workers in America. On examining the bodies of the victims, a pathologist stated: “I have never seen bones so severely shattered, except in tremendously high-speed accidents, such as aeroplane crashes.” Negro leaders doubted if any of the accused would be convicted for this atrocity, because of the all-white jury. They were right. The murderers were acquitted and became heroes. More and more twentieth-century Anne-Marie Javouheys must step forward.

Disaster Averted

If civil rights defenders are called “nigger-lovers” today, they were called negrophiles in her day. Anne-Marie was accused of being one such person, and for a variety reasons, plantation owners, bishops and priests united in an attempt to remove her, yet, strangely enough, each attempt was blocked by the arrival of some Government personage. Although still unaware of the unison and collaboration of her enemies, she was moved by the Holy Spirit to make a drastic change. She ordered Sister Rosalie to return from Senegal to France as Superior-General. This unorthodox move actually saved the Congregation from disaster. The scandalous behaviour of her enemies makes poor reading in this story of love, so I have avoided it. Nevertheless, the following will serve to demonstrate the hatred her enemies bore her. One night, before leaving the leprosarium, a native warned her that one of the rowers of the boat in which she would return, was paid by the colonists to upset it and thus drown her. Despite the warning, the lone white woman sat for four hours, head bowed in prayer, as always on this trip, and nothing extraordinary happened that time when they rowed from the leprosarium to Mana. The would-be murderer had faltered because of her fearlessness.

Slave of the Slaves

Then came the joyful day, 21st May, 1838, when, after Mass, 185 slaves were emancipated. As one of them admitted: “We are free now, but we will never be free from the debt we owe you. We can only repay you with this promise: you will never be ashamed of us.” We are told that on receiving their charters of freedom, the freed men immediately handed them to Anne-Marie, the one person they could trust, but to their simple minds, the proof of their freedom was not the parchment, but the right to wear boots. The comical expressions accompanying the effort to fit into the boots which Reverend Mother had provided, added to the joy of the occasion. “If you could only see this population, whose aspect was so formidable and uninviting just two years ago,” she wrote to Rosalie. “It is today so changed, so edifying and, for the most part, so virtuous that I cannot but see how truly it is the work of God.” In 1841, Mana was truly prospering. Four hundred slaves had been emancipated. Anne-Marie's irrigation channels had saved and produced the only bumper crops in Guiana during a severe drought, and, surprisingly enough, a convict at Devil's Island whom she had met on her trip to the lepers, had now been liberated, and was supervising the rum distillery. The Mana community paid for a long shed, in which were four big vats, and a little railway joining the distillery with the canefields. About 200 other liberated slaves moved into Mana, which without a single policeman, was quiet and law-abiding. Everyone was literate, and children received full education. It was to the nun who organized this idyllic settlement, that Bishop Guillier, aided in his beliefs by the sickening behaviour of his fellow colonists and the unreliable reports of Anne-Marie's chaplains and the grasping Bishop of Autun, announced that this “white Queen” and servant of the devil must put aside her religious habit or suffer excommunication. No Communion! No Confession! Anne-Marie was excommunicated. In Disgrace For two years Anne-Marie, who had crossed the world and suffered so many times for God, remained in disgrace, a scandal to all. We are told that this holy nun used to take long walks in the scrub, long lonely walks, while she conversed with the Master. “When I think of what has happened to me here, and I realize the weaknesses behind it all, I have to laugh—and sometimes I have to cry,” she admitted. We are told that natives unexpectedly disturbed her in tears, yet a peaceful serenity remained with her always. She was no doleful creature; she had a smile for everyone. Under it all, the devil had managed to bring her very low. He never broke her. “I am always happy, even amid worries and contradictions. Sad I may be at times, but my heart is always buoyant. May my example be a guide to you always. Bear all for the love of God and thus you will find consolation and peace of soul.” The years were fleeing into the past. The Government would not finance another such colony nor more schools for the black children, and so Anne-Marie's stay at Mana ended. It was a sad farewell; a ship in the river surrounded by an ocean of bobbing canoes, in which the people, she had raised from slaves to free men, saluted her. They followed her ship down to the river-mouth. They could never forget her.

Now and At the Hour

Over 60 years old, she returned to France, where a bishop, appalled at her excommunication, freed her from the punishment, and the whole world recognized her greatness. The Queen visited her twice. Bishops, priests and laymen honoured her, and her Congregation grew and spread. She had over one thousand followers, but a few powerful enemies. The Bishop of Autun (France) still combining with Bishop Guillier (Guiana), realizing that his chances of controlling the Congregation were dwindling, set about to destroy it. One of his priests warned the 80 postulants and novices at Cluny that it was sinful to obey the orders of any of the Superiors—namely those who were loyal to Anne- Marie. All but seven of these young nuns stood by their Foundress. Next, the Bishop of Autun secretly scattered reports to all the bishops in whose dioceses the Congregation had houses. Bishop Guillier's unfounded charges against Anne-Marie were of course included; only after a long time was Anne-Marie informed of the plot to defame her, and then she refuted the charges. The bishop continued his manoeuvres. The Revolution of 1848 clutched France in another death-grasp, but Anne-Marie moved safely through the fighting. She organized the Sisters into a kind of ambulance-brigade which cared for the wounded. Two of the Cluny houses were offered for the children of the fathers who had fallen in the riots. The atrocities eventually ceased, but in their wake came a plague of cholera, and the old nun, almost 70, replaced nursing Sisters who had themselves been infected. At length the plague ended. “O my God, I thank you for the sorrows and crosses you have sent me. How good You are.”

The Ageing Heroine

During these last few years, when she was almost always sick, the elderly heroine drove herself harder and harder. There was still so much to be done: “If I don't work, what would I do with myself?” ” People came: to her for advice; she was so united to God, that to speak with Anne-Marie was like speaking to God. “Let us love truth, straightforwardness. The truth may hurt sometimes, but never does harm.” Often during the bitter winter months of 1850-51, Mother General was heard to say: “My task is finished; the work I was called to do is done.” Yet, it was done. She had planned to go to Rome to finalize matters for her Congregation, but as she grew feeble, she realized: “I have another journey before me, which I must make alone.” So it was that on 15th July, 1851, the Mother General of 1,200 followers and Foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, Anne-Marie Javouhey died. She was 71 years old. It is easy to write of the glorious days which followed—the miracles performed through her intercession, the papal declaration of 1908 acclaiming Anne-Marie Venerable, the formal day of Beatification, 15th October, 1950, but the fame and glories of “the woman God loved” seem far away and unrelated to us who have the battle to fight, promises to keep, souls to save and God to be glorified. It is unnecessary to enumerate her virtues. Possibly her total forgiveness of the bishop, who for 18 years, worked to topple her labours, speaks for itself. Only half-an-hour before her death, she said to Sister Rosalie: “We ought to think of His Lordship as one of our benefactors. God made use of him to try us, when, as a rule, we were hearing round us nothing but praise.” In the month between his death and hers, she prayed for the repose of the soul of “that good bishop”. Such was her complete forgiveness.

The Modern Anne-Marie

If Anne-Marie was a light in yesterday's darkness, where are today's lights? Just look at the present darkness. War is just round the corner, and the last one involved mass slaughters of soldiers and civilians. At the same time millions of Jews were butchered, simply because they were Jews. If the world suffered through Nazism then, we have Communism now; Communism, which cages men by a Berlin Wall, nests of concentration camps, a vigilant spy system and armed guards. Communists infiltrate into religion and set man against man and religion against religion. Ironically, the thoughtful who point out the trickery of this ideology are despised and known as fanatics, as fools and as dramatists. And Catholic Italy, France and South America are falling prey to this sinister disease. Have we no fear for the world in which nearly half the people are starving? We build more siloes to house unmarketed food and some greedy business men would prefer to dump produce into the sea rather than risk a drop in the market-price—or feed the starving. Have you no fear for the world? Racially speaking, atheism is victorious. The down-trodden Negro in America and England, or the abandoned Chinese in Hong Kong bears witness to this. And all about us, people on the street, in the paper, over the wireless and on the screen flaunt a way of life which is both seductive and degrading, while we sit back, supposedly innocent, self- satisfied, and I fear, tainted. These are challenging times! We, Catholics, are the light of the world, where is our light? People are spiritually dead, we give them no truth. People are starving, we give them no food. People are ignorant, we give them no knowledge. People are hated, we give them no love.

What is Your Vision

What is your vision, kind reader? Is it to be an Anne-Marie Javouhey in your own right? A light in the darkness? In Australia we need more Anne-Maries to staff the family cottages for orphans, the hospitals where our sick lie, and the schools where our children await the truth. The various Catholic Action Groups all grind to a halt, if certain people with the mind of Anne-Marie Javouhey do not come forth. And what of your family, young mother and wife; what of your fellow-students, Catholic pupil; what of your fiance, young lady; what of that afternoon-tea circle, old lady; what of the people about you, Catholic of the 1960's, if you don't spark off their imaginations, so that they seek good? Spur yourself to live for others and whip others into action for the world. What challenging times! Spur yourself to live for others and whip others into action for the world in which 66 per cent of the people are the under-privileged non-christians. Perhaps you have a vision of coloured people as Anne-Marie once did? Then go to them. You can you know as a Lay Missionary! Whatever your skill, can you give a few years of your life? Spread the Good News of Christ everywhere. It is too good, too full of hope and certainty to be left unknown. Spread this Message as Anne-Marie did among the Africans. Become another Anne-Marie with the nurses, teachers, carpenters, plumbers, farmers, mechanics, pilots, doctors, dentists, orderlies and builders who are, even now, blasting their way to future glory. In her time, Anne-Marie accomplished her mission, but the times have rolled on. Now the coloured people look to us. What challenging times! If only we realized that while we ponder about our lives, the destiny of souls is hanging in the balance; the whole of Eternity is poised; the lives of people yet unheard of are waiting, and the children yet unborn are depending on us while we hesitate on the brink. Why suffer an inferiority complex when the world is waiting for us, needing us? The gates have swung open; the green light is flashing; time for action has come.

Is It You?

I am also writing to someone else. Is it to you, young woman, between the age of 16 and 30? An ardent love, an overwhelming desire to be a religious is not a requisite for a religious. Simply a desire, the will to do something worthwhile with your life, to accomplish something which will leave an unforgettable mark on the world, or a desire to bring God, goodness and happiness to an unhappy world is all that is needed. Feelings do not count. Your act of the will does. Simply say: “Yes, Lord.” “Yes,” to the various works of Anne-Marie Javouhey which have spread into our times. Her followers battle for Christ in classrooms and mission villages; in hospital wards and leprosaria; in orphanages and mental homes and in caring for retired ladies. These “angels in blue habits”, these Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, go wherever they are needed and they are needed everywhere. With 118 convents in Europe, 26 in Asia, 92 in Africa, 63 in America and 16 in Oceania, the spirit of Blessed Anne-Marie has reached Australian shores, where there are only three houses. Two of these are convents with a seminary. “Go and Make Ready For Us, He Said, To Eat” —Luke 22:8 The Sister's life in a seminary is to co-operate closely in the training of tomorrow's priests. Perhaps her life may not have the attractions of other vocations, but it has what all other's lack: an intimate connection with the priesthood. It is nothing less than carrying out what Mary, our Mother, did for the first Priest. For the Sister cooks, sews, nurses, sets the students' tables and prays for the priests of the twentieth-century, as truly as Mary did for Christ, in the first century. Mary was never in the public eye, but she was always nearby, when she was needed. So too, the Sister's most important work is not what men may see or weigh or measure, but her Masses, prayers and sacrifices she offers for the future priests. Then, when Ordination day comes, she shares in a mother's joy, for she has somehow replaced the seminarian's natural mother, and she has shared in Mary's spiritual motherhood. The Sister knows that these young men, whom she has helped, even by her own shining example, are, at Ordination, priests forever, and they will always remember her in every Mass for the rest of their days. The seminary Sister also knows that today's chores are not only caring for the future Christs out in the dining- room, but, united with the sufferings of the crucified Saviour, are giving strength to Mother Rose who labours in an Indian hospital despite 180 m.p.h. winds and floods; courage to Sister Othilde, who, for 30 years, has heroically nursed the lepers of New Caledonia; consolation to the young Vietnamese soldier who lies mortally wounded in a rice-field; faith to the doubting convert; hope to the weary negro; love to the parent and child; patience to the priest and perseverance to the seminarian. Be sure that wherever good is done on earth, where an unbelieving soul humbly submits, where a loving parent joyfully accepts his own child's handicap, where a sick person rolls in agony but trusts in the Holy Will of God, where you, reader, have success when you did not expect it, be sure that this grace, from God, was not inspired by your own good works, but by the offered seconds, minutes, hours and days of nuns like those in a seminary. Truly their convent is a powerhouse — no wonder, within the seminary, it is a peace within a peace. No wonder the gaiety of these nuns exposes the falsehoods of the grim, morose caricatures of convent life, which ignorant men love to portray in films and books. There is accomplishment in the nun's day and she knows it. Perhaps you, young lady, are destined to be another Mary, a Sister Marie-Therese or Assumpta, or even a Mother Camillus or a Mother Joseph. If so, I congratulate you on your destiny. And I suggest that all people, who live unspectacular lives, can accomplish extraordinary wonders if they, like the Sisters, offer the grace of every trivial act for some lofty motive. Passing through the doorway, racing for the train and glancing at a watch are all actions which can be coated with graces. So perform them with a will. One day you will be surprised when you are rewarded for the good that you have done. Lucky you! Certainly very many people, religious and lay folk, are fighting a good fight, as all Catholics must. We are all conscripted to rout Satan on the dusty basketball court, in the sunlit church, before the inky typewriter, in the smoking compartment, down the lonely alleyway, within the convent walls. All of us are comrades in the war of all wars. We should do well, then, if we were to remember the words of General Javouhey, as she was once called in a riot-torn Paris street: “Come, my dear. Pluck up heart. Shake off your enemy indolence which tells you fairy-tales. Don't listen to the pride which lurks beneath the (humble) violet; pride is so afraid of failure and the people may laugh at it. Pay no attention to “What will people say?” and: “Never, never lose heart. Remember that Heaven is the prize and eternity is unending.” Nihil Obstat: BERNARD O'CONNOR, Diocesan Censor. Imprimatur: JUSTIN D. SIMONDS, Archbishop of Melbourne. 30-9-65 ********