Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and Poetical Part 46

From out the Church the mult.i.tudes depart, In separate groups unto th' abode they go Of tranquil death, their tears still silent flow.

The standard of the Cross is borne apart, Sublime our songs for death their sacred theme, Now mixed with noise that heralds storms they seem; Now lower above our heads the dark'ning clouds, Our faces mournful, our funereal hymn Both air and landscape in our grief enshrouds.

Towards death's tranquil haven, on we fare, The cypress, ivy, and the yew trees haunt The spot where thorns seem growing everywhere.

Spa.r.s.e lindens rise up grimly here and there, The winds rush whistling through their branches gaunt.

Hard by a stream, my mind found there exprest In waves and tombs a twofold lesson drest, Eternal movement and eternal rest.

Ah, with what holy joy these peasants fain Would honor parent dust; they seek with pride The stone or turf, concealing those allied To them by love, they find them here again.

Alas, with us we may not seek the boon Of gazing on the ashes of our dead.

Our dead are banish'd, on their rights we tread, Their bones unhonored at hap-hazard strewn.

E'en now 'gainst us cry out their _Manes_ pale, Those nations and those times dire woes entail, 'Mongst whom in hearts grown weak by slow degree, The _cultus_ of the dead has ceased.

Here, here, at least have they from wrong been free, Their heritage of peace preserving best.

No sumptuous marbles burden names here writ, A shepherd, farmer, peasant, as is fit, Beneath these stones in tranquil slumber see; Perchance a Turenne, a Corneille they hide, Who lived obscure, e'en to himself unknown.

But if from men he'd risen separate, Sublime in camps, the theatre, the state, His name by idol-loving worlds outcried, Would that have made his slumber here more sweet?

[Footnote 1: La Harpe said that these last twenty lines were the most beautiful verses in the French tongue. They necessarily lose considerably in the translation.]

REQUIEM aeTERNAM.

T. D. MCGEE.

[This beautiful requiem, written March 6th, 1868 (St. Victor's Day), on the death of an intimate friend, acquires a new pathos and a new solemnity, from the fact that its gifted author met his death at the hands of an a.s.sa.s.sin but one month later, on the 7th of April of the same year. Like Mozart, he wrote his own requiem]

Saint Victor's Day, a day of woe, The bier that bore our dead went slow And silent gliding o'er the snow-- _Miserere Domine!_

With Villa Maria's faithful dead, Among the just we make his bed, The cross, he loved, to s.h.i.+eld his head-- _Miserere Domine!_

The skies may lower, wild storms may rave Above our comrade's mountain grave, That cross is mighty still to save-- _Miserere Domine!_

Deaf to the calls of love and care, He bears no more his mortal share, Nought can avail him now but prayer-- _Miserere Domine!_

To such a heart who could refuse Just payment of all burial dues, Of Holy Church the rite and use?

_Miserere Domine!_

Right solemnly the Ma.s.s was said, While burn'd the tapers round the dead, And manly tears like rain were shed-- _Miserere Domine!_

No more St. Patrick's aisles prolong The burden of his funeral song, His noiseless night must now be long-- _Miserere Domine!_

Up from the depths we heard arise A prayer of pity to the skies, To Him who dooms or justifies-- _Miserere Domine!_

Down from the skies we heard descend The promises the Psalmist penned, The benedictions without end-- _Miserere Domine!_

Mighty our Holy Church's will To s.h.i.+eld her parting souls from ill, Jealous of Death, she guards them still-- _Miserere Domine!_ The dearest friend will turn away, And leave the clay to keep the clay, Ever and ever she will stay-- _Miserere Domine!_

When for us sinners at our need, That mother's voice is raised to plead, The frontier hosts of heaven 'take heed-- _Miserere Domine!_

Mother of Love! Mother of fear, And holy Hope, and Wisdom dear, Behold we bring thy suppliant here-- _Miserere Domine!_

His glowing heart is still for aye, That held fast by thy clemency, Oh! look on him with loving eye-- _Miserere Domine!_

His Faith was as the tested gold, His Hope a.s.sured, not over-bold, His Charities past count, untold-- _Miserere Domine!_

Well may they grieve who laid him there, Where shall they find his equal--where?

Nought can avail him now but prayer-- _Miserere Domine!_

Friend of my soul, farewell to thee!

Thy truth, thy trust, thy chivalry; As thine? so may my last end be!

_Miserere Domine!_

APPENDIX

a.s.sOCIATION OF Ma.s.sES AND STATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR THE BELIEF OF THE HOLY SOULS.

It would be a great defect in a book such as this to omit all mention of an a.s.sociation which exists in Montreal, Canada, for the special relief of the Souls in Purgatory. It is certain that there are Purgatorian societies, established in many other cities, both of Europe and America. But this Canadian one seems unique, in so far, that it has a triple aim: first, that of relieving the holy souls; second, that of the conversion of infidels; third, that of contributing to the support of the Mendicant Order of St. Francis. The money received is sent direct to these missionaries, by whom the Ma.s.ses are said.

Touching stories are told of the joy of these devoted apostles on receipt of such alms, which aid them so much in the various good works in which they are engaged.

The society has, as it were, two branches. In the first the a.s.sociates merely bind themselves to make the Way of the Cross once a week, on a day fixed, with the primary object of relieving the holy souls, and particularly those most pleasing to G.o.d; and the secondary one of converting the infidels. At the end of this exercise, they make use of the following invocation: "Holy Souls in Purgatory, rest in peace, and pray for us."

The other branch has for its object the procuring of Ma.s.ses for the deliverance of the suffering souls. Each a.s.sociate must pay to the treasurer twenty-five cents a month, or three dollars a year; for which Ma.s.ses will be said according to the intention of the subscriber, having always in view those souls which are most pleasing to G.o.d.

One may become a life member, on payment of twenty-five dollars.

Foundations of Ma.s.ses can also be made in connection with the a.s.sociation. They are similar to those which came into existence at the time of the Crusades and at many other epochs in Christian history.

Such foundations are sometimes made in wills. They are, of course, not within the reach of every one. It is necessary to pay five hundred dollars into the hands of the Society. Every necessary security for its proper use is given, and the donor is ent.i.tled in perpetuity to a certain yearly rental to be expended in Ma.s.ses for his soul. The sum may be paid in instalments, or several persons may club together in making the foundation. It is a sublime thought that the Holy Sacrifice will thus continue to be said for us, long after our memory has pa.s.sed away from earth. But as the three dollars a year which const.i.tutes one a member of the a.s.sociation is much more within the reach of most of us, it may be well to lay more stress upon the advantages which we shall thereby gain for ourselves and our deceased friends. It ent.i.tles us after death to a special Ma.s.s and a Way of the Cross every year from each a.s.sociate. The number of a.s.sociates is very great; besides a share in all the Ma.s.ses and Stations, we have also a share in the good works of the missionaries of St. Francis, and can gain Indulgences which have been granted to the members. These Indulgences, plenary and partial, are attached to all the princ.i.p.al, and to some of the minor feasts of the year.

In connection with the work, an almanac both in French and English is published every year at Montreal, and sold for the moderate sum of five cents. In this pamphlet a full account is given of the a.s.sociation, and there is besides a great deal of useful and interesting reading, such as anecdotes relating to the dead, the opinions of various spiritual authors on Purgatory, and letters from foreign countries, or from various individuals concerning, the society and its progress. [1]

[Footnote 1: To become an a.s.sociate one must address himself to the chaplain, Rev. F. Reid, 401 St. Denis Street, or to the treasurer, Louis Ricard, Esq., 166 St. Denis St, Montreal, Canada.]

EXTRACTS FROM "THE CATHOLIC REVIEW." [1]

[Footnote 1: November, 1885.]

"The Month of the Holy Souls" is at hand. In Catholic lands November is specially devoted by the faithful to increased suffrages for the repose of the holy and patient dead. Many reports reach us from experienced priests showing that the practice of requesting Requiem Ma.s.ses for the dead is not increasing. Priests have what is, in some respects, a natural objection to urge upon their people perseverance in this old Catholic practice of piety and grat.i.tude. It is one which can be easily understood. Yet, largely owing to this nice delicacy, they are, after their own deaths, forgotten by many bound to them through spiritual grat.i.tude. One of the most experienced priests in New York tells us that for five priests that have died in his house he has not known ten Ma.s.ses to be said at the request of the laity. How does friends.h.i.+p serve others less public and less popular? It gives a big funeral, a long procession of useless carriages, but no alms to the poor, and no Ma.s.ses for the dead.

What a pity it is that in drawing so much that is Catholic and beautiful from Ireland, we did not adopt its truly Christian devotion for the forgotten and neglected dead, which makes every priest recite the _De Profundis_ and prayers for the faithful departed, before he leaves the altar. We noticed some time ago that the Holy See sanctioned a Spanish practice of permitting to each priest three Ma.s.ses on All Souls' Day as on Christmas Day. No doubt, were it properly pet.i.tioned, it would likewise extend to all the churches drawing their faith from St. Patrick's preaching, that privilege, as well as the beautiful custom that now has the force of law in Ireland, and that recalls so much of her devotion to the dead and of her suffering for the Catholic faith. That _De Profundis is one of the chapters of "fossil history," which in all future periods will recall the generous endowments that Ireland once provided for her dead, and the ruthless confiscations by which they were robbed.

Not a Catholic American paper that we have received this November has failed to argue ably, generously, and most Christianly, for suffrages for those who have gone before and are antic.i.p.ating the advent of final peace.

The letters which come to a Catholic newspaper office are a very sure barometer of the waves of thought in the Catholic atmosphere of the country. From those that we have received we can affirm that no devotion would be much more popular with the people than that which was p.r.o.nounced in the days of the Maccabees "a holy and wholesome thought."

Every day now there is an agreeable record in the daily papers of New York of Requiem services held in the various churches for the repose of the soul of the late Cardinal. Church after church seems to surpa.s.s its predecessors in the grateful devotion of the people, who show that they remember their prelate. In St. Gabriel's the Cardinal's private secretary, Mgr. Farley, had the satisfaction of witnessing an exceptionally large gathering to honor his ill.u.s.trious chief. The Paulist Fathers had a Requiem service that was worthy of their Church and their affection for the dead, to whom they were bound by so many ties.

Rome, if the city of the soul, is also pre-eminently the city of the dead. So many great and ill.u.s.trious deaths are reported to it daily from the ends of the earth that to it death and greatness are familiar and almost unnoticeable facts. It is, therefore, not undeserving of remark to find the newspapers of the Eternal City marking their notices of the pa.s.sing of our Cardinal with unusual signs of mourning. Their comments on the great loss of the American Church are toned by the _gravis m?ror_ with which the Holy Father received by Atlantic Cable the sad news.