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Vol. XIL—No. 8.
TIE CATHOLIC} HERALD
viva ** 18 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
vas lo M. FITHIAN,
No.\61 North Second Street, Philadelphia.
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oven Portrys
From ‘the Catholic’ Telegraph:
LINES ON ST: FRANCIS ‘XAVIER.
- How fair thy spirit, Xavier—and how bright !
Thy robe translucent with celestial light ;
‘With radiant gems thy coronet is set-—
ut while on earth, no sufferance, toil, or let
“Could curb thy purpose—quench thy holy zeal—
‘To sympathise with all the wretched feel. .
: True, thy commission came from heaven—divine!
Fixcursive—ranged through every isle and clime—~
“To every grade of crime, pollution, shae—
The balm applied—engtaved the Saviour’s name.
‘he globe his home—the cross his staffand rod--
- With this he triumphed—thatsecurely trod—
.O’er Europe’s realms—and Asia’s ardent clime,
, Through cities—forests—mountain tops sublime.
No barrier was the ocean’s rage to him,
‘The lion's copses, or volcano’s brim 3
‘The vulture’s nest was as the turtle’s bower;
‘The boa’s foldings—as the myrtle flower 5
‘Emblem of characters where idols stand—
On Ceylon’s spicy isle—on Ganges strand.
¥* In Spain—bright land of beauty and Romance,
«Where orange groves and tuneful birds ewsance
. The spirit with their odours and their strains,
‘And opal rivers flow through storied plains
*Xavier was born—sprung from a knightly races
“And reared to blazon high his ‘*pridé of place.”
Tle left his vine-clad hills aiid roseate sky,’
Delicious vales—of bards and chivalry. ©” .
. was he thea ?—a student,’ haughty—vain.
His heart was bound with sin’s destructive cham.
“Paris, gay mart of pleasure, wit and taste,
To which he hied—but not his days to waste—
“Albeit a keen observer might descry,” .
"His idiosyneracy inhis blue eye; * |
+And in the palace of the king—that he,
Could reap delight and shine with courtesy.
But hither sought he, grandeur of the soul!
The glory of philo his goal !—
To’ celebrate her rites—his peerless aim—
“Unfold her charms—illustrate thas his name. ~
What was he then ?~a scholar. ripe—whose lore
“Drawn from Athena’s and Italia’s store ;
And eke the polished learning of his age—
-The poet's lays—and wisdom of the sage,
.Adomed his lectures—and his eloquence—
-Allured, delighted, the savans of France. .
Flushed with applause—and arrogant of praise,
He might have passed in vanity his days 3
*Caughtin the whirl pool—filled with precious spo'
~The wreck of thousands * in this mortal coil ;”.
Ignatius saw him—pondered—looked again—
Discovered traits—not found in common men.
By soft persuasion, deeds benign, and care—
“Though rudely shunned—to him did oft repair,
“Till he imbued him with his bosom’s love,
And like to him became—as dove to
“Oh! whata blissful change came o’er him then—
“When he emerged as from the felon’s den;
And view'd the chains and ‘darkness of his mind,
By light Divine, like clouds left far behind,
Oh! what a change within his heart he felt——
“When he confessed, and prayed, and meekly knelt;
And sin like tempest—terrors rolled afar,
Before the love of Christ—* The Morning Star.””
Oh! what a change came o’er his future years,
-When he subdued by penitence and tears—
All roots of bitterness—-and in his breast, ©
,Love—universal love—was his behest.
Not only luxury—he cast aside,
And the habiliments which foster pride ;
‘But hia the roughest garb—the coarsest fare—
+Even then abject penury more spare,
His midnight vigils—and the torturing scourge—
His rigorous fasts, and all the rites that purge
‘Lhe soul from every stain—he did endure,
‘kat on his path to heaven—he might be pure.
In gay saloons where fashion holds its sway—
In dissipation's haunts by night and day—
1p pictured domes where youth and pleasure meet
Inclassic halls where scholars Kindly greet—
In temples vast where clouds of incense rise—
Xavier appeared in this meek homble guise ;
‘The same as when he visited the poor,
‘And alms administered from door to door.
The friendless orphan—and the widow's lot,
The stranger homeless—and the peasant's cot,
‘Where sickness, sorrow, pain, or woe he found——
His miss ion was—to him was holy ground.
Behold him praying in the dungeon, where
‘The bloody culprit wails in wild despair;
r in the prison where sad debtors live,
Because the rich will not the poor forgive.
Here may you meet him jn the noisome jail,
Whose savage inmates cause the heart to quail.
Thither! behold him where the maniac’s yell,
And clanking chains grate gloomy in his cell.
In hospitals, midst fierce diseases rife,
And eke infection’s taint which venoms life.
Such victims nursed he with assiduous care
And waited on them in their last despair. ‘
The cleansing aid by Lazarus received
By the same loathsome means he once relieved. ; .
Ah! who his self abandonment can paint,
By sickness wasted—and with anguish faint,
When on the deck he laid his throbbing head,
And to another gave his food and bed;
Relinquished each kind gift with cheerfulness;
That he to others with the same might bless.
‘Thus did he, when the pestilential breath,
Raged in the ship, and many slept in death;
Beneath a burning sun—each comfort yield—
Becalmed on ocean's breast—the vessel reeled.
Arrived in India, view him laboriag there,
Against dark superstition’s cruel snare ;
For he had “filled his mind” and nerved his arm,
To combat idols—undismayed and calm,
Sweet was his temper—mollified by grace, ’ >
Religion’s tranquil beams illumed his face.
His manners simple, unobtrusive, mild,
Free from all guile—on all complacent smiled.
With those he sought to’ win he gently strove,
With all the soft appliances of love. vee
ove was his instrument in every plan,
To rescue from his rain sinful man: 3
Té break his chains and set the prisoner free, '-
From dark idolatry and bend the knee, :
To Christ and his commands—whose blood alone,
Can for man’s lapse in every clime atone. ‘
But 1 forbear, th’ essay to farther trace,
His pious pilgrimage, from place to place,
From realm to realm, from isle to isle to spread
Knowledge of Christ to all in darkness bred;
Until his journey finished—work well done—
rave hie found beneath a withering sun.
On Asia’s strand—alone—without complaint—.
martyr died—as he had lived a saint.
Methinks } hear him with expiring breath. 3)
Chant—his soliloquy—to welcome death—
“A robe of azure pinions dazzling white,
Long golden hair and zone with sapphires bright,
Adorn fair death thy peerless beauty’s mould,
Which Grecian sculpture never could unfold;
“Nor can ideal beauty—in the mind—
All lovely in each grace, a model find,
when the soul just leaving its cold clay—
Death smiles ineffable and points the way.
“The glorious chariot hastens down the sky,
Guarded by Cherubim that hither fly—
In all the splendor of supernal light—
Such the bright convoy that attracts my sight.’”
‘efore I close my desultory lay,
Could ‘dainty Ariel”—one brief visit pay—
And weave a wreath of Amaranthine lays . -
For Perkins brow—and such delighttal praise,
As erst his Maker—with his Muse of fire,”
By this etherial spirit could inspire.
But vain my wish. His lecture on Xavier—
Like the “sweet south” came o’er my ravished ear,
For which attractive candor he portrayed,
Each wondrous feature with its Tight and shade;
And so adjusted each fine linament,
that all its colors were in beauty blent:
And the expression life like, pure, serene—
The saint he lived in duty and in mien.
. A Prorestanr.
ndon ‘Tabet.
HOW TO SET OUR [LOUSE IN ORDER.
«In England at the preseut: time, the con-
dition of the Catholic Church reminds us
forcibly of what St. Paul said to the Corinth-
ians (1 Cor. i. 26—29) with: the view of
teaching them humility, See your vocation,
brethren; that: there are not many wise
according to the flesh, not many: mighty, not
many.noble: But the foolish things of the
world hath God chosen, that He may con-
found the wise, * * * and the base things of
the world, and the. things that are contemp-
tible hath God chosen and things that are not,
that He might bring to naught things that are.”
We think it will bea “great day for Eng-
land,” when we come to have these proposi-
tions fixed deeply in our minds, laid to heart,
and strenuous efforts made by us to act as’ if
they were true. Depend upon it, they are as
true now, and for us, as they’ were at the
first. moment they were written, and for the
ersons to whom they were written. Now
as then, here as there, there are * not many
wise, not many. mighty, not many noble ;”
aud if God has chosen us “to bring to nought”
the things that ** are,” assuredly He has not
chosen for this purpose either wisdom, or
strength, or reputation, or any considerable
human instrumentality of any Kind.
Bot though this be true, we are not ver
apt to believe it, On the contrary we are, un-
‘
Philadelphia; Thursday, February 22, 1844.
consciously, under a not very unnatural "delu
'| plished the victory which hé then predicted.
‘| Powers and dominions and ‘principalities be-
sion in thisrespect. Subsequent to the times in
which the Apostle wrote, the Church accom:
came its subjects and its vassals. “The great
intellects of the world became ranged in its
lefence, and trained to’fight its battles ;.and
all the glory and majésty of the world came
to bow down in awful reverence before it.
T
times, we look, upon as our especial trea-
sure and inheritance.’ We take credit
their virtaes, for their wisdom, for
nobleness, for their might. We are apt
to fancy that because we bear theirname, we
therefore are as they ,‘ that we are a slice cut
out of the old Catholic ages; and that because
we have among us many of the uld denomina-
tions, Churches, Aliars, Priests, Aisles, Naves,
Guilds, Monks, Jesuits, Missions, Schools,
and large lay congregations composed of every
class of society, that the same spirit breathes
w in allof us which ence made the Church
illustrious. . We look back upon the past, and
we see so much accomplished, under names
that now remain to us, that we are apt to fancy
the achievements and the names are insepara-
ble, and that all will go right with us so Jong
as we maintain the Shadow of that which was
once a Substance.’ . But the trath is, that ‘we
have ‘gone back’ to’ the days of the Apos-
tle’ in the respects above mentioned. | We are
not now what we orice* were ;'and it will be
well for us, when we can gain courage to come
down from the stilts on which pride has set
us, to understand the plain, homely, hum-
bling verity of the apostle, that we are ** not
many wise, or noble, or mighty.” °' *
‘LS Whole Number 580
. - the , we
true, inyplre any considerable reproach. .A8
to genius and talent—these things are gifis of
God, forthe use of which indeed we are re-
sponsiblé, but for the absence of which no
one will calf us to an account; ands to learn- |
ing and aequirements—why, as our opporta-
nities have not been so very great, let us hope
that we shall not therefore, have to undergo
the condemgation of him who was -
trusted with the oné talent, and digged and hid
itin the earth.) °
But there ig one matter in which, if we are *
behind the age—nay, if we are not very much
in advance of the age—we have to undergo a
very fearful , responsibility, ‘There is one
matter on; which the entire victory depends,
and in which every advantage is on our side ;
inasmuch 4s for this warfare there are thrust
into our hands alone, weapons of ethereal tem- -
per, which, if we wake up aad brandish them
with resolution and constancy, must ensure us
the victory. | We mean of course, that if oa
the intellectual side we are—as were the firet
Christians—grievously deficient, so much the
more does it become imperative upon us to be
faithful on the, moral and spiritual side; on
which every advantage of the graces of God
and the helps of the Sacraments is at our ab>
solute command, to be had only for the hon-
est asking, and to be continued to us only for
the honest osipg of them. - We have every,
opportunity of being far better and wiser (in
spiritual wisdom) than the sects aboutus; and
if we render God propitious to us by becom-
ing better and wiser, and endeavour to illumi-
nate the world by setting our light in a candle-.
stick, instead of; hiding it under ,a. bushel—
that, is, if we take care to make our works
known—nat, inj eed, by ostentation, but by;
openly. and puldicly performing our daty in
“No of a truth, the ‘shadows of great
nathes will do nothing for us now.. We
~] ve, notin. aaworld of Shadows, but of very
hard and very stera realities. We have a‘great
battle to fight against powerful enemies, and
we cannot fight it with emptybravadoes, boast
ful yecollections, vain trampetingys of a past
glory,'or pasteboard weapons in the hands of
figures made up of an artificial stuffing.” We
have a long and weary pilgrimage before us ;
aut {0 avcomplish it, the hanusomest cork
legs that art can make for ws will not avail us
so.much as the most ungainly ‘pair of flesh
blood and bone supporters that ever Nature
throst beneath a human animal. “We must
come down out of the clouds of vapour in
which we dream golden dreams and utter pre-
posterous threats, and place ourselves upon the
solid earth; take to ourselves substantial and
effective weapons, and deal wholly and plain-
ly with realities. “For the cause we have to
defend is reality, and so are the enemies to
whom we are opposed. Stained glass, and
carved ‘altar screens, and fretted masonry,
and gorgeous functions, and all the treasures
of ecclesiastical bijouterie can at bottom avail
usnothing. These things are good to gild a
victory and ennoble atriumph, but they are
not of much service during the horror of the
conflict. * oo
Not many wise’ men according to the
flesh’? it is well that we should lay itto heart,
It is well we should understand that we are
not to conquer by force of intellect, nor to
wage war with mere human talent’ and ac-
quirements, If it were so, our defeat would
be inevitable, What intellect,’ what talent,
what acquirements. have we, indeed, with
which to carry“on the war? “If our havings in
thése particulars‘ are very narrowly scanned,
it will be found, we are afraid, that our pro-
portion is not very overwhelming, Not that
we are absolutely unfurnished in these par-
ticulars ; but taking us man for man, and
class for clags, and “comparing us with our
neighbours, we have no doubt whatever that
on our side there is a‘ very real inferiority.
We will not go into particulars, becanse w
could not do so without saying something that
might be, or appear invidious. But in general,
ahd taking'to our humble selves a full share
of whatever reproach may be involved in the
admission, we believe it to bea truth, that in
all points of human learning, wisdom, talent
and genius, we are considerably below ‘the
average of the time. Ifthe victory is to be-
lgng to those who can best cope with the
age in these respects, it will not rest with us,
We are behind the age, and not before in,
We have much to learn, and in these particu-
lars no great deal to teach.
o
the face of day, regardiesa of all.unpleasant_
consequencec to (urselveé, we thea may have.
some hopes Of siecess. i
But whatis the fact now? Is it not la-
mentable to witness, as every one must wite
ness, how couipletely, on the score of .moral-
ity, we are ewallowed up in, the popular
Protestantism pf the day? What light do we
set up ona candlestick to enlighten the dark
world around us 2° What publie profession,
or practice of higher morality, proceeds from,
us more than froin decent people of any other
religion? What more defined principles of
uly—what more noble and resolute exam
do we propound than they ? What higher love
of justice? . What more fervent charity? We_
areata logs to find these things—or, perhaps,
we have taken the new principles of science.
for our guide, and scouting from us the old
“allopathic” system of encountering vice by
tue, and weakness by strength; we have.
taken up with the * homeopathic’ system of
resisting the tendencies to ‘evil by doses. of
the same, reduced to an infinitesimal liule-,
ness, Even this we might fain wish were
Ik would not be -so much to be
lamented if we; employed’only infinitesimal
doses of evil against evil by which. we are
surrounded, It; would indeed, be well for us”
if our doses of evil were so small, - |,
Alas! in every’ direction the popular no-
tions of the day have engulphed us. We float
about ‘ia an atmosphere of Protestantism.
Thanks to the Reformation, we have been
cut off from the old traditional morslity of
Europe; and while keeping the more essen-
tial dogmas of the Church, oppression and a
not unculpable timidity have woro down. all
those sharper'and more distinct edges of the
Christian system, which would serve. to dis-
tinguish us from our neighbours. : We - have
been like stones shaken up in asack, to wear
them all down tq. the unmeaning . roundness
of marbles. Everything repulsive to heresy
bas been rasped off us.
tures of truth have been hacked and mangled
to produce an upiformity, till the likeness is
now hardly recognisable, Everything that
could * give scandal to Protestants”—ihat is
—everything that could bring sharply and
strongly under the notice of Protestants the
scandal of their own errors, and the abomi-
nations of their practice—have been kept out
of sight until even Catholics have forgotten
them. When a Digby exhumes for us the
Practical maxims of bygone days, we stare at
them with wonder, as if a mummy had been
dugup., We Igok on them as things foreign
principles they dressed their conduct. . Well,
who would have thought it, when everyibing
< Nor, taking everything into account, do we
see that the statements we have just made, if
is so different amongst us
And it seems, moreover, asif there was
tous. It was go they lived. It was on these’.
<3;
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