ipsa Beatissima Virgo prædicavit Ægyptiis veri Dei fidem, et Filii Dei in carne humana adventum=.” Ulterius in Christi nativitate multa fuere prodigia non solum in Judæa, sed in Ægypto, ubi corruerunt idola, ac oracula conticuere; Romæ, ubi fons olei scaturiit; visus globus aurei coloris de cœlo in terram descendere; apparuere tres soles; ac contra naturam circulus variegatus ad modum iridis solis discum circumscripsit; in Græcia, ubi oraculum Delphicum obmutuit, et interrogatus Apollo ab Augusto ipsi sacrificante in proprio palatio, ubi eidem aram extruxerat, de causa silentii sui, respondit, ut referunt Nicephorus, l. 1 c. 17., Suidas, verbo =Augustus=, et Cedrenus, =Compend. Histor.=: =Me puer Hebræus, Divos Deus ipse gubernans, Cedere sede jubet, tristemque redire sub orcum; Aris ergo dehinc tacitis abscedito nostris.= Et multa alia acciderunt prodigia, quibus prænunciabatur Gentilibus Filii Dei adventus, quæ ex variis Aucthoribus recitat Baronius, =Apparat. Annal. Eccles.= nº 24. et seq., et Cornelius in =Aggæ.= c. 2. v. 8. 98. And thus it came to pass that even among the Gentiles there were some who prophesied the advent of Christ and the other dogmas of the Christian faith, to wit _Balaam_, _Mercurius Trismegistus_, _Hydaspes_, and the _Sibyls_ mentioned by Lactantius, book 1, ch. 6, as written by Baronius, _Apparat. Annal., nº 18_. That the Messiah was expected by the Gentiles is shown by many passages of Isaiah, and plainly testified by the prophecy of Jacob, the Patriarch, thus worded, Genesis, ch. 49, v. 10: “_The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh (he who is to be sent) come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be._”--Likewise in the prophecy of Haggai, ch. 2, v. 8: “_I will shake all Nations, and the desire of all Nations shall come_”; which passage is thus commented by Cornelius a Lapide: “_The Gentiles before the advent of Christ, who believed in God and observed the law of nature, expected and desired Christ equally with the Jews._” Christ himself disclosed and manifested himself to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; for, at the same time as the Angel apprized the shepherds of his nativity, by means of the miraculous star he called the Magi to worship him, who, being Gentiles, were the first among the Nations, as the shepherds among the Jews, to acknowledge and worship Christ (_Vide_ St Fulgentius, _Sermon 6, upon Epiphany_). In like manner, the advent of Christ was made known by preaching (I am not speaking of the Apostles) to the Gentiles before it was to the Jews. As is written by the Venerable Mother, Sister Maria of Agreda, in her _Life of Jesus-Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary_: “_When the Blessed Virgin Mary, fleeing with St Joseph, from the persecution of Herod, carried the Infant Jesus into Egypt, she tarried there seven years; and, during that time, the Blessed Virgin herself preached to