erect splendid churches and dedicate magnificent altars to the honour of the Immaculate Conception? Do we not visit them frequently, celebrating there the appointed Mass and reciting the prescribed Office? Do we not follow the custom prevalent in many great Universities—as those of Paris, Cologne, Mayence, Vienna, Valentia, Salamanca, Alcala, Louvain, Barcelona, Evora, Coimbra, and others which I will not name here, to the number of thirty-eight, all of which refuse to confer a doctor's degree upon any one who will not previously pledge himself to further the cause of the Immaculate Conception, as long as the question may remain open to discussion? Do we not unite our entreaties to those of the many illustrious cities and famous capitals, which, in the name of the people, have petitioned the Holy Father to hasten on the final decision? Do we not construct Oratories, found Congregations, establish Confraternities under the title of the Immaculate Conception, as so many other people have already done, that from the Confraternity established in Rome alone, seven hundred different offshoots may be reckoned? Do we not strive to introduce our friends into these Oratories, and multiply the number of those who frequent them? And even in time of war, do not our troops bear the name of the Immaculate Conception ? Is not this name given to the gates of our cities, to the bulwarks of our fortresses, to the quarters of our guards, to the vessels of our navy, to the ports of our coast, as is the custom prevalent in many kingdoms of the Indies; not to speak of Austria, Poland, Naples, Sardinia, Sicily, Portugal, and Spain, who have all publicly taken the Blessed Virgin for their Patroness, under the title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Con

ception? In a word, do we not manifest as plainly as we can, by hearty demonstrations of approval and applause, how much we have this matter at heart?

Now tell me, can any fail to see that a cause upheld by so vast a number of advocates must have far more probabilities in its favour than could belong to one destitute of them? Shall we not strive, then, at least, to do something where there is so much that may be done, from the performance of which no one can interfere to prevent us? If you are academicians, let this mystery often be represented in your works; choose for the subject of your compositions the Immaculate Virgin, crushing the Serpent under her foot and inflicting on him a mortal wound, rather than a Pagan Venus treading on the thorns in order to turn them into roses. Strive, all of you, to elucidate this mystery; if you are preachers, you may do it with your eloquence; if men of learning, with your arguments; if writers, with your pens; if painters, with your pencils; if sculptors, with your chisels. At least, let there be no one amongst you who has not some image of Mary Immaculate in his house, so that all who enter there may see at once which side of this question is adhered to by him who lives there. If you possess influence, if you possess authority over others, consider diligently how you can best employ these gifts to the honour of this same mystery. And can you believe that, if you do all this, the Blessed Virgin will not espouse your cause with the same ardour with which you have taken up hers? I can only repeat to you the definite promise she gives us by the mouth of the Ecclesiasticus: "They that explain me shall have life everlasting." (Eccles. xxiv. 31.) Now what are we, my brethren, to take as the meaning

of the word explain? To explain is to throw light on that which is dark, to discover that which is hidden, to make certain that which is doubtful. There is but one alone of all the mysteries respecting Our Lady which still affords us an occasion of rendering her this homage. We need no longer explain her nativity, since it is de fide that it is holy; nor her childbearing, since it is de fide that it was virginal; we need no longer discuss the purity of her life or the glory of her death, for these also are enjoined on our belief. What is there, then, with regard to Mary, which yet remains for the unerring torch of the Church to enlighten, except her Immaculate Conception? It is right therefore that to him who labours in this cause, everlasting life should be promised in an especial manner; a life on which he shall enter through the portal of a good, a tranquil, a happy death; a death such as we all hope for, and which I entreat our Blessed Lady to grant in the most abundant measure to all those who have a devotion to her Immaculate Conception.

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

THE HIGHEST IN THE EYES OF GOD: THE LOWEST IN HER OWN EYES.

"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord."

LUKE i. 38.

It is related of the famous sculptor Phidias that he had on one occasion carved a statue equally remarkable for its great beauty and for its vast size, the proportions of which were so colossal that although the figure was not erect but in a sitting posture, its head reached to the ceiling of the studio in which it had been made. On this work being for the first time exposed to view, many persons, as is usual under snch circumstances, came together to inspect it. Expressions of admiration were not wanting; one beholder praised the majesty of the countenance, one the life-like ease of the attitude, one the anatomy of the muscles, one the elegance of the drapery, another the proportion of the limbs, a thing all the more worthy of praise when on so large a scale. At length a certain person who thought himself more knowing than the rest, remarked that Phidias had made a great mistake in his art, because if it should occur to the statue to rise and stand upright, it must either break its head or shatter the ceiling. Phidias

overheard the objection of this presumptuous individual and replied with good-humoured irony: "You need not fear that catastrophe, my friend, for I have provided against it; the statue, let me inform you, is made of so weighty a material that however it might wish to arise it would never be able to do so." This answer provoked a smile from the bystanders, and obtained for the artist an easy triumph over the objector, who was silenced and put to shame. It appears to me that these words, uttered in joke about a statue, may be applied in all gravity to the Blessed Virgin. Among the bold mortals who have presumed to pass censure upon the infinite works of God, there have not been wanting those who assert that He has gone too far in raising a woman to such pre-eminent dignity, in conferring upon her such privileges, such rare gifts, such titles, such dominion as we believe to be the portion of Mary. And for this reason, viz., that had Mary chosen to magnify herself, she could with the greatest facility have passed herself off as a goddess, for Dionysius himself almost fell into the error of worshipping her. But those who speak so foolishly prove they know nothing respecting the structure of so rare a piece of workmanship; for the great Artificer Himself, who gave to the Virgin a dignity so sublime, so surpassingly great, made her also to be firmly rooted and established in humility, so that whatever lofty and unwonted honours might be paid her, she could never leave the position in which she had been placed. And what day could possibly present an occasion more calculated to inspire her with pride than that on which she saw herself unanimously chosen to be the Daughter of the Eternal Father, the Mother of the Only Begotten Son, the