The Catholic World, Vol. 08, October, 1868, to March, 1869.Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 08, October, 1868, to March, 1869.
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
"Not far from their venerated remains are those of St.
Honestus, St. Papoul, St. William, Duke of Aquitaine, St.
Edmund, King of England, St. Gilles, St. Gilbert, St. Thomas of
Aquin, St. Vincent of Paul, St. Raymond, Pope St. Pius V., St.
Susanna, St. Julietta, St. Margaret, St. Catharine, St. Lucia,
and of St. Agatha."
{105}
Grow not weary, kind reader, over this long list of names, for
each one has its history, which is interwoven with that of Holy
Church. Let us rather linger with love and faith over each name,
whether humble or mighty on earth--now potent in heaven! Let us
murmur them in reverence, for some of them are inscribed on the
foundations of the New Jerusalem--and all gleam like precious
stones on its walls--all these did wear on earth "the jewelled
state of suffering," but they are now triumphant in heaven, and
their memory has long been glorious on earth.
One feels deeply awed in descending among these shrines
containing the bodies of the saints--_temples of the Holy
Ghost_. Virtue hath not yet gone out from them, as is
testified by the wonders still wrought at their tombs.
Many of the present shrines are antique, some costly, and all
interesting, but they have lost their ancient splendor. Their
magnificence before the Revolution may be imagined from existing
descriptions. These tell us of, among others, the silver shrine
of St. Edmund, an _ex-voto_ from the city of Toulouse, in
1684, in gratitude for deliverance from the plague, adorned with
statues of solid silver. When the saint was transferred to this
_châsse_, it was exposed to the veneration of the people for
eight days, and all the parishes of the environs came to honor
them. Some days there were fifty processions, which gives an idea
of the lively faith and piety of that age. The octave was
terminated by a general procession in the city, in which were
borne forty four shrines, the most of them silver, and adorned
with gold and precious stones.
And when, in 1385, the relics of St. James the major were
transferred to a new shrine, the Duc de Berry, brother of Charles
VI., gave for it a silver bust of the saint, a gold chain to
which was attached a sapphire of great value, surrounded by
rubies and pearls, with other jewels which adorned the bust till
the time of the Revolution.
Like Madame de Staël, "I love this prodigality of terrestrial
gifts to another world--offerings from time to eternity!
Sufficient for the morrow are the cares required by human
economy. Oh! how much I love what would be useless waste, were
life nothing better than a career of toil for despicable gain!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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