Let me say in conclusion that this giving of honour to our Lord, and to all His saints as united to Him, and the celebration of their days according to the Church's year, and the asking of the help of their intercession in all the needs of our lives, is not simply a thing to be tolerated in those who are inclined to it, is not simply a privilege which we are entitled to if we care for it, but is a duty which all Christians ought to fulfil because otherwise they are failing to make real to them a very important article of the Christian Creed. The Communion of Saints, like all other articles of the Creed, needs to be put into active use, and will be when we believe it as distinguished from assent to it. When we believe that all who live unto God in the Body of His dear Son are inspired with active love one toward another, we shall ourselves feel the impulse of that love, and be compelled both to seek an outlet for it toward all other members of the Body, and also will equally feel compelled to seek our own share in the action of that love by asking for the prayers of the saints for ourselves and for all in whom we are interested. Then will we find in the "worship of the saints" one great means whereby we can worship the God of the saints by the devout recognition of the greatness of His work in them, May God be praised and glorified in all His saints. O Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son, Lowly, and higher than all creatures raised, Term by eternal council fixed upon, Thou art she who didst ennoble man, That even He who had created him To be Himself His creature disdained not. Within thy womb rekindled was the love, By virtue of whose heat this flower thus Is blossoming in the eternal peace. Here thou art unto us a noon-day torch Of charity, and among mortal men Below, thou art a living fount of hope. Lady, thou art so great and so prevailest, That who seeks grace without recourse to thee, Would have his wish fly upward without wings. Thy loving-kindness succors not alone Him who is seeking it, but many times Freely anticipates the very prayer. In thee is mercy, pity is in thee, In thee magnificence, whatever good Is in created being joins in thee. Dante, Par. XXXIII, 1-21. (Trans. H. Johnson.) PART TWO CHAPTER I MARY OF NAZARETH Mary, of whom was born Jesus. S. Matt. I. 16. My Maker and Redeemer, Christ the Lord, O Immaculate, coming forth from thy womb, having taken my nature upon him, hath delivered Adam from the primal curse; wherefore, to thee, Immaculate, the Mother of God and Virgin in very sooth, we cry aloud unceasingly the Ave of the Angel, "Hail, O Lady, protection and shelter and salvation of our souls!" BYZANTINE.