Before the gates of the Father

Vol 8 Issue 19 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
May 9, 2015 ~ St Gregory Nazianzen, opn!

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (15)
2. Fifth Sunday after Easter
3. St. Antoninus
4. Marriage and Parenthood (19)
5, Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

Ascension Thursday the Church celebrates Christ entering into Heaven. With Heaven open, the work of accomplishing the means of salvation by Christ is completed: Man is reconciled to the Father, Man obtains the resurrection of his body, and man can now enter heaven to dwell in the presence of the Beatific Vision for all eternity. As the Apostles and disciples looked to the heavens the day our Blessed Lord ascended so, too, those Catholics on earth will look to heaven when Christ returns to close the work of salvation by coming to judge the living and the dead. The Catholic always has his or her eyes directed toward heaven knowing this is the end for which one was created. While waiting, the Catholic is gathered in the Church (the Cenacle) as the Holy Ghost is sent to transform him or her through grace.

On Mother’s Day we honor our mothers who have accepted their responsibility to dedicate and sacrifice their lives for us. It is so tragic to see so many young girls and women allowing themselves to become tools of the devil for the destruction of humanity. In the ancient world women were forced and could be excused because it was not a life they chose. Today we see our young girls and women embrace and demand degradation and a life of servitude, running away from the responsibility of giving humanity a future by dedicating themselves to the rearing and training of the children. These women will not be blessed but will face the consequences of their destructive behavior along with those promoting the designs of the evil one to bring about the separation of souls from God. The women who reject falling into snares of Satan by choosing to imitate Mary, not Eve, will be blessed and these women we cannot but honor and respect.

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Restoration of Grace

Waiting for the Redeemer

The Old Testament period is simply mankind waiting for the coming of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Jesus is Hebrew for Yahweh is salvation. Christ is Greek for Messias, which is Hebrew for anointed. The Old Testament shows God saving those who serve Him and punishing those who continue, like Adam had, to choose to serve the serpent. Job portrays it like a contest between God and Satan for the souls of men when he was inspired to write a scene of a conversation between God and Satan:

Now on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them.

And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou?

And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it.

And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?

And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain? Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth? But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face.

Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

(Job 1:6-12; cf. 3 Kg. 22:19f)

God blesses those who follow Him, but God also permits Satan, the Adversaryor Accuser, (cf. Zach. 3:1; 1 Peter 5:8; Apoc. 12:10)  to try them—it is the servants of God that Satan tempts and God allows to be tried, for there is no need for the devil to win over those who already serve him, for they are already given to the power of the wicked one (cf. Ps. 16:13; Matt. 13:19, 38, etc.) Yet, God does not, in the words of Saint Paul, suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor. 10:13).

Sacred Scripture may be considered as the epic of the age-long paradoxical warfare of God’s love against the powers of hatred and evil. Under another aspect it records the deliberate, unhurrying, but insistent chase whereby the Hound of Heaven pursues with His mercy the human soul or mankind, whilst the latter throughout the course of history seeks along every avenue in the universe of nature surcease from that inward urge which impels it continually towards its true rest and satisfaction, the supernatural life for which it was originally created. Hence the Bible is incidentally also a record of the religious vagaries of mankind, showing forth the influence of divers thought-movements that have from time to time drawn mankind to one side or the other out of the exact orbit of true religion,—which is naught else but the cumulus of men’s proper relationships to God. (Simon, 189-90)

In this sense, there is the presentation of Cain and Abel—not just remembered in the oft repeated words: Am I my brother’s keeper (Gen 4:9)—but the relation each has with God:

Abel. . . offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it. (Gen. 4-7)

Saint Ambrose, in his work Cain and Abel, devotes himself to comparing thetwo classes of peoples (lib. I, c. 2), observing Cain, born first, represents the Old Testament and those who seek the things of the earth, and are unmindful of serving God first; Abel represents the New Testament and those zealous for spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Cor. 14.1) and therefore put God first. Therefore Paul references Cain and Abel in 1 Corinthians (15:46) in these words: Yet that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; afterwards that which is spiritual. God did not accept the earthly sacrifices offered in the Old Testament unless they were united with the Divine Sacrifice of the Lamb of God. This sets Abel as looking toward the Promise (Christ as Saviour) and having faith in the Promise being fulfilled as God is faithful: by whom you are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. 1:9; cf. also Deut. 32:4)

As Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth, (Gen. 4:16) Henoch walked with God (ibid. 5:22). Here, again is seen not only the choice to acknowledge God and to await the Promise.  I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Verily, to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God. (Micheas 6:8) There is also walking with God, that is keeping His Law: And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul (Deut. 10:12). Those who do not are separated from God (cf. 4 Kings 10:31: But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin; in opposition to 3 Kings 8:61: Let our hearts also be perfect with the Lord our God, that we may walk in his statutes, and keep his commandments, as at this day.) Henoch fulfils the Law of God and awaits the Promise:  And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him. (Gen. 5:23) One cannot forget that here is not a question of following the Mosaic Law, but that Law which Paul speaks of: Who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts between themselves accusing, or also defending one another (Rom. 2:15). The Promise is seen in Henoch through the words: God took him, for this expressed God taking that person to Himself as He would Christ at His Ascension, where He was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God.

As the descendants of Adam and Eve fell into wickedness through especially sins of the flesh: For. . . the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, . . . and . . . all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times. . . . (Gen. 6:4, 5) But Noe found grace before the Lord. . . . Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walked with God.(ibid. 8, 9). Noe was saved with his wife and three sons and their wives in the ark, a type of the  Church, outside which all others perished. There was the awaiting of the Promise which Peter speaks of in his Epistle (1 Peter 3:18ff). And, even though Peter speaks of the eight saved by water, referencing Baptism, he also addresses the questions raised by the faithful, for apparently even in his day there were: (1) the Jews who saw salvation through circumcision (Abraham), and therefore the just before circumcision were capable of salvation; (2) those who questioned the mercy of God when God punished the world through the flood, that even the just who perished in the flood because they simply did not believe Noe were saved; (3) and the various myths circulated among the pagans of a hero (e.g., Hercules) going to the underworld to save those there had arisen only because Christ would go to Sheol, the underworld or Limbo, to announce Salvation had been accomplished by His death and bring the news that they would now be going to heaven with His coming Ascension (cf. Kuss, 135f.)

Because Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit, In which also coming he preached to those spirits that were in prison: Which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.

Whereunto baptism being of the like form, now saveth you also: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Who is on the right hand of God, swallowing down death, that we might be made heirs of life everlasting: being gone into heaven, the angels and powers and virtues being made subject to him. (1 Peter 3:18)

In the Scriptural passage of Abraham, the Promise is given definite form in as much as Abraham is told it will be his offspring: And immediately the word of the Lord came to him (Abram), saying: . . . he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir. . . . Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. (Gen. 15:4, 6) Later God gives the sign that the Promise will be fulfilled on His part: And God said to him: I AM, and my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. (ibid. 17:4) God then has Abraham implement a visible sign—a proof or testament (covenant)—that he and his offspring will accept the Promise by being faithful to Him. The covenant was all males were to be circumcised, and all male children born would be circumcised on the eighth day after birth:

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God. Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which you shall observe, between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male kind of you shall be circumcised. . . . that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you. An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock: And my covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant. The male, whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant. (Gen. 17: 8-14)

There is no definitive Church teaching in regards to the effects of circumcision. It seems to have been an outward sign of the faith in the Promise by the Hebrews, Israelites, and finally within the Jewish people that, observed, made the adult or child righteous (justified) in the sight of God. This willing observance through faith of the believer also gave justification also to the females. When it was not possible to circumcise, it appears that faith in the hope of redemption still gave justification to the believers and their off-spring. Pope St. Gregory the Great said the following in his sermon to the People in the Basilica of the Blessed Laurence on Septuagesima Sunday (Hom. xix in Evan.):

The kingdom of heaven is like to a man, a householder, who hires labourers to cultivate his vineyard. Who more truly resembles the householder than Our Creator, Who rules the world He has made, and governs His elect in this world, as a master cares for the subjects of his household? He too possesses a vineyard, namely, the Universal Church, which, from the time of just Abel until the last of the elect that shall be born at the end of the world, has brought forth as many saints, as it has sent forth shoots.

This Householder therefore, in the morning early, at the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh, hires labourers to till His Vineyard; because from the beginning of this world until the end He ceases not to gather together preachers to instruct the multitude of the faithful. For the morning of the world was from Adam to Noah: the third hour from Noah to Abraham: the sixth from Abraham to Moses: the ninth from Moses till the Coming of the Lord: the eleventh from the Lord’s Coming till the end of the world. In which last hour the holy Apostles were sent as preachers, who, though they came late, yet received the full wage.

At no time therefore has the Lord failed to send workers to cultivate His Vineyard, which is to say, they instruct His people; as from the beginning by means of the Patriarchs, then the Doctors of the Law and the Prophets, and lastly by means of the Apostles, He has attended to the care of His Vineyard, when as it were by His labourers He has formed worthy dispositions in His people. The workers of the early morning, and of the third hour, the sixth, and the ninth, signify the ancient Jewish people, who, in their elect have from the beginning of the world endeavoured to serve God in true belief, and have not as it were ceased to labour in the cultivation of the Vineyard. But at the eleventh hour the Gentiles were called, and it is to them it was said; Why stand you here all the day idle?

(To be continued)

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Fifth Week after Easter

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

Before the gates of the Father

1. Today we live with our Lord and Savior. The thought that concerns Him most today is the realization: “I come to Thee,” to the Father. The Son knocks at the door of the Father and begs admission for Himself and for His disciples.
2. “Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. . . . I have glorified Thee on earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; and now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had before the world was” (Gospel). Christ asks His Father to let His human nature share in that glory which He possessed as the Son of God from all eternity. How completely He has humbled Himself! Although He was God, at the moment of His incarnation He took on our lowly human nature and “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. . . . He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7 f.). By a life of poverty, humility, and suffering. and by complete subjection to the will of the Father, He has fulfilled the task which was given to Him. Now He returns to the Father, and we share His feelings and His joy. We join in His prayer to the Father: “Father, . . . glorify Thy Son” as He has glorified Thee. Give also to His humanity the glory that is justly His. Exalt Him above the world and above the highest heavens. Take Him to Thyself and set His throne at the right hand of Thy majesty. Let the scepter of His power extend to the ends of the earth. Let Him rule in the human nature He has assumed as King and Master, and let every knee bow to Him, “of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2: 10). Let His name and His gospel be made known to all mankind. Let all men be incorporated in Him, that they may feel the power of His salvation and may be saved through Him. Prepare for Him a spouse pure and spotless, a holy and blessed Church. Make that Church holy, universal, mighty, and invincible. Give Him power over souls, over hearts, over peoples, and over all ages. Let all offer sacrifice to Him, and may He extend His sway over all men. May He save all men and give them life, that they may possess it in its fullness.

“I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. Thine they were, and to Me thou gavest them, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things which Thou hast given Me are from Thee; because the words which Thou gavest Me, I have given to them; and they have received them, and they have known in very deed that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me; because they are Thine and all My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine” (Gospel). We belong to Him as the members of the body belong to the head. He cannot go to His Father without us. He desires that we, His brothers, share in His eternal inheritance. “I pray for them. . . . whom Thou hast given Me.” He prays for us because we have been united to Him through our baptism, through our daily Holy Communion. How shall we measure this ineffable love of the Savior? How intense is His desire that the gates of heaven be opened to all men, and that in the mansion of His heavenly Father a place be prepared for us! O Lord I believe in You, and I trust and confide entirely in You.

3. “Declare it with the voice of joy and let it be heard, alleluia; declare it even to the ends of the earth: The Lord hath delivered His people, alleluia, alleluia” (Introit). We have been delivered. He will take us with Him to His Father. “Shout with joy to God, all the earth, sing ye a psalm to His name; give glory to His praise. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost” (Introit). The Lord has delivered His people. He goes now to prepare a place for them in heaven, and very soon we shall join Him there. “It is truly meet and just, right and profitable to salvation, to extol Thee indeed at all times, O Lord, but especially with the highest praise to magnify Thee at this time, when Christ our Pasch was sacrificed. For He is the true lamb who hath taken away the sins of the world. Who by dying hath overcome our death, and by rising again hath restored our life” (Preface for Easter). We have been delivered.

“Sing ye to the Lord, alleluia; sing unto the Lord and bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day, alleluia, alleluia” (Communion). Praise Him from day to day for the work of salvation which He has accomplished for us, and which He will one day bestow on us at our entrance into heaven.

PRAYER

O God, from whom all good things proceed, grant to Thy suppliants that by Thy inspiration we may think what is right and with Thy guidance carry out the same. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION

The Glorified Christ

1. On this day Christ’s triumph is complete. The victory which He gained by His resurrection from the dead is today made perfect. The Lord, together with the human nature He assumed, has ascended to the Father. He now shares in the dominion of heaven and earth; He now rules all hearts and all souls.
2. Forty days have elapsed since Easter. During this period it was the intention of divine Providence that our faith in the resurrection of Christ should be confirmed and strengthened. The disciples had been bewildered by the fact that their Master had died on the cross. He had breathed forth His spirit, and His body had been buried. All this had weakened their faith and aroused doubts in the minds of the dejected disciples. During the forty days that followed, the apostles and disciples acquired such a firm and steadfast faith that they were not saddened by our Lord’s ascension, but were rather filled with joy.

And indeed the Ascension was a cause for joy. Human nature had been exalted above the highest heavens and placed above the angels and archangels. It had been allowed to approach the very throne of God. The apostles knew now that they would be allowed to share in the glory of Him whose nature they shared.

Since the ascension of Christ is our exaltation, and whither the glory of the head has gone first, there the hope of the body is also called, let us rejoice with gladness and delight in giving thanks. For today not only have we been confirmed as the possessors of paradise, but in Christ we have even penetrated the heights of heaven, having gained far more through the ineffable grace of Christ than we had lost through the malice of the devil. For those whom the virulent enemy cast down from the happiness of their first state, these the Son of God has placed as one body with Himself at the right hand of the Father, who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Ghost for all eternity. Amen. [1 St. Leo the Great; lesson at Matins.]

3. Christ, our head, “hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6). We are “heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8: 17), called to share the inheritance of Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ, members of member” (I Cor. 12:27), “For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the Church” (Eph. 5:29). Now the members and the body share in that which belongs to the head. Thus we possess even today the riches and glory and exaltation of the ascension in Christ our head.

Christ’s victory and triumph are not His personal victory and triumph, but belong to the whole Christ, to the entire Church. When He died on the cross He embodied the whole of mankind, and the whole of mankind shared in His death. As the second Adam, He includes the whole of mankind also in His resurrection and ascension. He won the victory and has triumphed, not only for Himself, but for us also, for the whole Church. Our head has been taken up into heaven, where He reserves a place also for us. That place already belongs to us and is secured for us by Christ. That does not mean that God will one day take us to Himself in heaven, but rather that God has already brought us to heaven in Christ.

“And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be. And whither I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:3 f.).

How could we do anything else but rejoice, at least to the extent of our belief? Our joy as Christians on this occasion will be in direct proportion to our faith.

What must we do that we may be certain to share in the ascension later on? We need do only one thing, remain united to Christ. How can we remain united to Him? By becoming members of His body, His Church, and by living in harmony with its teachings.

PRAYER

Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who believe Thy only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, has this day ascended into heaven, may ourselves also dwell in spirit on heavenly things. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION

Perfect happiness

1. Today we ascend the Mount of Olives (the stational church of St. Peter) with Peter and the other apostles to witness Christ’s ascension. “And it came to pass, whilst He blessed them, He departed from them and was carried up into heaven. And they adoring went back into Jerusalem with great joy. And they were always in the Temple praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:51-53).
2. Today we rejoice with Christ, who, after His many trials and hardships on earth, can now take His repose. Today He “sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high” (Heb. 1: 3) and takes possession of the glory, dignity, and power that belong to Him properly as the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God and the “Lord of glory” (I Cor. 2 :8). Today the man Jesus takes possession of His royal power and assumes jurisdiction over all the goods and riches of God; today He begins to exercise His supreme authority over all creatures, both living and dead. Today He is crowned King of kings. Today He receives authority to judge the living and the dead. Today He is made a “quickening spirit” (I Cor. 15:45). Henceforth Jesus does not belong to one nation, as He did heretofore. He now belongs to all nations and to the Church in all her parts and members. He embraces all men, filling them with His life and His spirit. Today He transfers the capital of His world-wide empire, the Church, from earth to heaven; He begins to give His “gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8). Do we not have good reason for rejoicing with Him today? Should we not congratulate Him on His ascension? Should we not submit to Him and choose Him for our King again? Should we not place all our trust and hope and love in Him?

We rejoice also in our own good fortune. Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father, but He has not deserted us; He thinks of us with love. He has gone, but He has gone “into heaven itself, that He may appear now in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24); He lives there always “to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25). He knows our nothingness, and He is solicitous for us. He does not allow us to wander from His eyes even for a moment. He makes our business His business, our needs His needs, and He is our surety before the Father. “But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just” (I John 2: 1). He is our high priest, sacrificing Himself always for us. He offers His body, the blood which He poured out on the cross, His most Sacred Heart, His adoration and veneration of the Father. He offers His love in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, substituting for us and supplying for what is lacking in our service. He is our head, and He draws His members after Himself by the power of His example, by His inspirations, by His exhortations to good, by His grace, and by His surpassing goodness. All this He does, that where the head is, the members may also be. He goes “to prepare a place” for us (John 14:3). The place He prepares for us is with the Father in His eternal home in heaven. He sends us the Holy Ghost, the Consoler, from on high, that He may fill us with grace, strengthen us, sanctify us, and prepare us for our return to the Father. Do we not, then, have good reason for rejoicing today?

3. Now we approach the altar for the celebration of Mass. While we are thus assembled the risen Christ appears in our midst. We are like the apostles gathered around Peter. The Lord comes to strengthen our faith. He says to us, as He said to them, “Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Gospel). He gives us strength to resist all that might endanger our salvation, and He draws us after Him into heaven. “Sing ye to the Lord, who mounteth above the heaven of heavens to the east, alleluia” (Communion).

By means of Holy Communion, Christ the head unites all the members of His mystical body to Himself and draws them after Him. The reception of Holy Communion is our assurance and, as it were, the first stage of our eventual resurrection, ascension, and glorification. Alleluia.

PRAYER

Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who believe Thy only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, has this day ascended into heaven, may ourselves also dwell in spirit on heavenly things. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

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10 : ST ANTONINUS, ARCHBISHOP OF FLORENCE (A.D. 1459)

OF all the prelates who through many centuries have ruled the diocese of Florence, no one has gained so great and lasting a hold upon the loving veneration of the Florentines as St Antoninus. His father, a citizen of good family, who was notary to the republic, was called Nicholas Pierozzi, and he himself received in baptism the name of Antony. The diminutive Antonino, which clung to him all his life, was given him in childhood because of his small stature and gentle disposition. A serious boy, much addicted to prayer, he loved to listen to the sermons of Bd John Dominici, then prior of Santa Maria Novella, and when he was fifteen he asked the friar to admit him to the Dominican Order. The saintly John, judging him too weakly for the life, tried to put him off by bidding him study for a time and learn the Decretum Gratiam ; but when, within a year, the lad returned, having committed the whole of the treatise to memory, he was received without further hesitation. He was the first postulant to take the habit in the new priory at Fiesole, which Bd John Dominici had built. For the novitiate Antonino was sent to Cortona, where he had as novice master Bd Laurence of Ripafratta and as companions Bd Peter Capucci and the future great artist Fra Angelico da Fiesole. Antoninus early gave evidence of exceptional gifts as a scholar and as a leader. He was chosen when very young to govern the great convent of the Minerva in Rome; and afterwards he was successively prior at Naples, Gaeta, Cortona, Siena, Fiesole and Florence. As superior of the reformed Tuscan and Neapolitan congregations, and also as prior provincial of the whole Roman province, he zealously enforced the measures initiated by Bd John Dominici with a view to restoring the primitive rule. At Florence in 1436 he founded the famous convent of San Marco in buildings taken over from the Silvestrines, but practically rebuilt by him after designs by Michelozzi and decorated with the frescoes of Fra Angelico.

The adjacent late thirteenth-century church was rebuilt with great magnificence by Cosima de’ Medici to serve the new Dominican house. In addition to his official duties, St Antoninus preached often and wrote works which made him famous among his contemporaries. He was consulted from Rome and from all quarters, especially in intricate cases of canon law. Pope Eugenius IV summoned him to attend the general Council of Florence, and he assisted at all its sessions. He was occupied with reforming houses in the province of Naples when he learnt to his dismay that the pope had nominated him to be archbishop of Florence. In vain did he plead incapacity, ill-health and advancing years; Eugenius was inflexible and left him no freedom of choice. He was consecrated in March 1446 amid the rejoicings of the citizens.

In his new capacity St Antoninus continued to practise all the observances of his rule, as far as his duties would permit. The most rigid simplicity reigned where he resided: his household consisted of six persons only; he had no plate /263/ or horses; even the one mule which served the needs of the whole establishment was often sold to assist the poor, but as often bought back by some well-to-do citizen and restored to its charitable owner. He gave audience daily to all comers, whilst declaring himself especially the protector of the poor, at whose disposal he kept his purse and granaries. When these were exhausted he gave away his furniture and his clothes. To assist the needy who were ashamed to beg, he had established a sort of “S.V.P.”, under the patronage of St Martin, which has been the means of supporting thousands of families in reduced circumstances.

Although naturally gentle, the saint was firm and courageous when circumstances demanded it. He put down gambling in his diocese, was the determined foe of both usury and magic, and reformed abuses of all kinds. In addition to preaching nearly every Sunday and festival, he visited his whole diocese once a year, always on foot. His reputation for wisdom and integrity was such that he was unceasingly consulted by those in authority, laymen as well as ecclesiastics; and his decisions were so judicious that they won for him the title of “the Counsellor”. When Pope Eugenius IV was dying he summoned Antoninus to Rome, received from him the last sacraments and died in his arms. Nicholas V sought his advice on matters of church and state, forbade any appeal to be made to Rome from the archbishop’s judgements, and declared that Antonino in his lifetime was as worthy of canonization as the dead Bernardino (da Siena), whom he was about to raise to the altars. Pius II nominated him to a commission charged with reforming the Roman court. In no less esteem was he held by the Florentine government, who charged him with important embassies on behalf of the republic and would have sent him as their representative to the emperor if illness had not prevented him from leaving Florence.

During a severe epidemic of plague which lasted over a year, the saintly archbishop laboured untiringly to assist the sufferers, inspiring by his example the clergy to do the same. Very many of the friars of Santa Maria Novella, Fiesole and San Marco were carried off, and as usual famine followed upon the heels of the epidemic. The saint stripped himself of almost everything and obtained substantial relief for the victims from Pope Nicholas V, who never refused him any request. For two or three years from 1453 Florence was shaken by frequent earthquakes and a violent storm wrought havoc in one quarter of the city. St Antoninus maintained the most distressed of the victims, rebuilt their houses and gave them a fresh start. He also cured a number of sick persons, for all knew that he possessed the gift of miracles. Cosima de’ Medici publicly asserted that the preservation of the republic from the dangers which threatened it was largely due to the merits and prayers of the holy archbishop. St Antoninus was canonized in 1523.

MARRIAGE AND PARENTHOOD

The Catholic Ideal

By the Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard

(1911)

CHAPTER IX

THE BLESSINGS OF MANY CHILDREN

Thirdly, a large family is a means of strengthen- /112/ ing both the temporal and the eternal interests of the family. Even from a worldly point of view a father is working against his own interests in setting limits to his family from motives of economical selfishness. His view must be a broad one, however. The law of nature pervades the organization of society, even as it does the organization of the physical universe, and none the less does it there reflect the mind of God. It is, therefore, both the law of nature and the law of God that children should support their parents in sickness and old age. When, however, there is only one child or two, and these have wives and families of their own to support, there is little opportunity of supporting aged parents. But where the burden is divided, among say seven or eight families, then the aged couple have some hope of ending their days in reasonable and frugal comfort.

Again, we must remember that in most countries the provision of free education is such as to leave no room whatever for the excuse of economy. If the father has the pretension to go further, and to leave his two children enough inheritance to save them from the necessity of working for a living, then he is doing an injustice both to his children and to society. Drones are a nuisance in /113/ every line. In all stages of society the work of bringing up a family of children is a burden both to the father and to the mother. It is a burden, however, which is followed by a handsome reward if only it is generously accepted.

The children, too, must profit by their larger number. The world is so wide, trades and professions are so manifold, as to leave practically little difference in the difficulty of finding situations for eight and that of finding situations for two. Nay, if we look around we shall find that it is the only boy rather who fails to make a good beginning, and the only girl rather who fails to secure a husband or a vocation. Owing to the absence of fraternal influence and education, they have not got the grit in them to make them attractive to others. Then again, later in life, the many are a help to each other in time of difficulty. They do not all meet with adversity at the same time. If one is low down in business or low down in health, his brothers and sisters are there to help him, each knowing that he or she may likewise depend on the others whenever the hour of distress shall overtake them.

This mutual support extends also to the sphere of faith and morality. How often has not a father been kept to his religion, and a mother been /114/ saved from temptation, by the thought of the children! It is curious how parents who have given up the practice of religion themselves, have often insisted on their children being taught religion and brought up in a good moral atmosphere, and eventually through the children have been brought back again to God. Holy marriage is a Sacrament and as such is a means of grace. It is an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and no one can tell the multitudinous ways and times and places in which the Holy Spirit uses this instrument.

The family being the foundation of the State, its life must produce an effect on the life of the State. If fruitfulness in child-bearing is a blessing to the family, it is likewise a blessing to the State. A man has reached a high state of natural virtue if he can be so unselfish as to take the interests of the State as a motive for his own right conduct. Human nature being what it is, such a motive can hardly be expected to work as the predominant one. It can, however, act, and act effectively, as a supplementary one. It is a motive, too, which goes a long way in the formation of public opinion which reacts on private opinion.

When the abuses of family life were first propagated, they were propagated ostensibly with a view to promoting the nation’s welfare. The /115/ country was said to be overpopulated; and these abuses were introduced to reduce the population. The nations, however, which have allowed themselves to submit to these abuses have found out to their heavy cost the great mistake which they have made. Statesmen, with no pretensions to high morals or a godly life, have discovered that this abuse is a canker eating away the vitals of the nation.

France stands out pre-eminently as the worst sinner of all. This last year her death rate exceeded her birth rate. Germany is wide awake to the evil, and a movement has been set on foot to counteract the growing practice. Otherwise prepared for emergencies in the case of war, this would be her weakest point. England has to lament her decadence due to practices introduced from France. And in America the sermon preached by President Roosevelt on the burden and duties of the married state, tells of the prevalence of the evil, and emphasizes the fad that the evil is a curse to any nation. It weakens its power of production; it weakens its power of defense; it weakens its power of intelligence and morality; it weakens the very life blood of the limited offspring which actually is born, for such offspring must come from a principle which /116/ is already marked by weakness, softness, and decadence.

The Christian family, however, was not made for the State as for its final destiny. It was made for the glory of God. Fruitfulness in child-bearing tells eventually for the greater glory of God. The mutual happiness of the persons of the blessed Trinity is all sufficient for the intrinsic glory of God. God, however, has chosen to surround Himself with an extrinsic glory. He has created creatures to give Him honor and praise. And the greatest honor and praise of this kind which can be given Him is that of man. It adds nothing to God’s internal happiness, but is rather the expression and diffusion of God’s love and goodness outside Himself.

God, therefore, having provided this great happiness for His creatures, He wishes as many as possible to avail themselves of it. In this way He obtains His greatest external glory. The greater the number of souls that are added to the number of the elect, so much the richer is the music of nature’s hymn of praise. That this is the mind of the Church may be seen from the enormous care which she takes for the happiness of infants. Her priests are bound to undergo the gravest inconveniences, in order that they may apply the bap- /117/ tismal water to any child in urgent need of it. Why is this? It is because Christ has died for and purchased these children. It is because God has chosen for Himself a number of elect souls, a great number which we cannot count, but which we must do our best to make up, presuming or rather knowing that to do so will require all our spiritual efforts.

To hinder the course of nature, therefore, is to interfere with God’s plans. It is to pull down His work in the Church militant, and to lessen His glory in the Church triumphant. A diminution of the number in the children of the Church is a diminution of the Church’s collective faith, and love, and holiness. It is a diminution, too, which reacts on the parents; for since they have wilfully lessened the number of subjects of faith and love and holiness, they have wilfully lessened their own faith and love and holiness. They have lessened the chances of their own salvation. But letting nature have its way, they contribute to their own eternal welfare, they contribute to the collective eternal welfare of the race, they contribute to the greater glory of God.

Some apology is needed for even venturing to speak of the abuse of matrimony, and the apology which is offered is the only permissible one, /118/namely, absolute necessity. The evil is widespread and is still growing. If it is to be counteracted, it must be counteracted, both by the private good living of individuals and by the formation of a good public opinion. Non-Catholics now speak openly and without any sense of shame of their small families and of their intention of having only small families. Advertisements of the most pernicious nature are flaunted openly in the newspapers. Books are published, the aim of which is to propagate and to make the evil as easily accessible as possible.

Seeing then the high ideal of matrimony which the Catholic Church sets before the world, she must of necessity look with special horror on an abuse which does away with the primary end for which matrimony was instituted. Therefore it is that her preachers have to speak out when they would fain keep silence. And, therefore, it is that every Catholic should set his face against all approval or toleration of the abuse.

A few practical suggestions then are offered which may serve to indicate the attitude which Catholics ought to assume when questions concerning this matter arise. The first is to keep clearly before one’s mind the fact that the law of nature, the law of God, and the law of the Church /119/ all condemn any wilful interference with the due course of nature. A second is to protest vigorously against any opinions approving of such when proposed in conversation. A third is to boycott all newspapers, books, and business houses, which make a trade in providing the means for the pernicious practice. A fourth is to take a holy pride in a large family of well-brought-up Catholic children. Natural motives as well as supernatural motives may be used for this end. Natural as well as supernatural motives have been proposed in this consideration. But natural motives alone will not suffice. A premium provided by the State for every seventh child will not hinder the decrease of population. Christian principles must be made the foundation of society life; that is, the family life must be governed by Catholic faith and Catholic morality. And if natural motives are offered and used, it is only that they may be added to the strictly supernatural ones and that they may be directed to a supernatural end, and thus become themselves supernaturalized.

(To be continued) 

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Father Courtney Edward will be in Eureka, Nevada, on May 19. He will be in the Czech Republic (Touzim) from May 28-June 8.

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