foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

Second Lesson.

AND the twelve gates were twelve

pearls; every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

Third Lesson.

ND the nations shall walk in the

light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

SECOND NOCTURN.

Fourth Lesson.

AMONG the hallowed places which

have from of old time been held in honour among Christians, the most famous and sought after were those where the bodies of the Saints were buried, or where there was some trace or token of the Martyrs. Among these spots so hallowed hath been ever among the most noteworthy that place on the Vatican Hill which is called the Confession of St. Peter. Thither Christians do come

from all parts of the earth as unto the rock of faith and the foundation-stone of the Church, and surround with godly reverence and love the spot hallowed by the grave of the Prince of the Apostles.

Fifth Lesson.

THITHER came the Emperor Constantine the Great upon the eighth day after his Baptism, and, taking off his crown, cast himself down upon the ground, and wept abundantly. Then presently he took a spade and pick-axe, and began to break up the earth, whereof he carried away twelve baskets-full in honour of the twelve Apostles, and built a Church upon that spot, appointed for the Cathedral Church of the Prince of the Apostles. This Church was hallowed by holy Pope Silvester upon the 18th day of November, in like manner as he had hallowed the Church of the Lateran upon the 9th day of the same month. In this Church did the Pope set up an altar of stone, and pour ointment thereon, and ordain that from thenceforth no altars should be set up, save of stone. This Church fell in course of time to ruins, and having been rebuilt from the foundations, enlarged and garnished, by the zeal of many Popes, was solemnly consecrated anew by Urban VIII., upon the same day, in the year 1628.

THE

Sixth Lesson.

same Emperor Constantine likewise built a very stately Church upon the road to Ostia, in honour of the holy Apostle Paul, which Church also was hallowed by the blessed Silvester. These Churches the Emperor enriched by grants of much land, and adorned with exceedingly rich gifts. Such was the religious ardour of this Emperor that he pulled down the temples of the idols, and built many Churches over all lands, and especially in Rome, among which are those of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem" in the Sessorian field, that of St. Lawrence-without-the-Walls in the Veranian field, that of SS. Peter and Marcellinus on the Lavican Way, and very many more.

2 Petra-the usual play on "Kephas."

The last is omitted, or joined with the
Eighth, to leave room for

Ninth Lesson. (For the Holy
Martyr Pope Pontian.)

PONTIAN

was a Roman, who ruled the Church in the reign of the Emperor Alexander. This Emperor

banished him into the Island of Sardinia, along with the Priest Hippolytus, on account of their profession of the Christian faith. There he endured many hardships because of his belief in Christ, and departed this life upon the 19th day of November, [in the year of our Lord 235.] His body was brought to Rome by Pope Fabian and his clergy, and buried in the cœmetery of Kallistus, upon the Appian Way. He sat in the seat of Peter four years, four months, and twenty-five days. He held two Ordinations in the month of December, wherein he made six Priests, five Deacons, and six Bishops for divers places.

At Lauds a Commemoration is made of the holy Martyr.

Vespers are of the following, from the Chapter inclusive.

NOVEMBER 20.

St. Felix de Valois, Confessor.

Double.

All from the Common Office for a Confessor not a Bishop, (p. 855,) except the following.

FIRST VESPERS.

These, as regards St. Felix, begin with the Chapter.

The first verse of the Hymn is altered.

Prayer throughout the Office.

GOD, Who by a sign from heaven didst call Thy blessed Confessor Felix out of the desert to become a redeemer of bondsmen, grant, we beseech Thee, unto his prayers, that Thy grace may deliver us from the bondage of sin, and bring us home unto our very fatherland, which is in heaven. Through our Lord JESUS Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

A Commemoration is made of St. Elizabeth. Prayer as in her Office.

MATTINS.

The first verse of the Hymn is altered.

FIRST NOCTURN.

Lessons from Scripture according to the Season.

HE

SECOND NOCTURN.

Fourth Lesson.

EW de Valois, who afterwards took the name of Felix, was born [in the year 1127] of the same family of the de Valois which in after times became Kingly. From his earliest childhood he gave tokens, especially by his pity toward the poor, of the holiness of his coming life. When he was still a little lad he distributed money to the poor with his own hand, with the seriousness of an old man. When he was a little bigger he used to send them dishes from the table, and took especial delight in treating poor children with the most toothsome of the sweetmeats. As a boy he took clothes off his own back more than once, to cover the naked. He begged and obtained from his uncle Theobald, Earl of Champagne and Blois, the life of a felon condemned to death, foretelling to him that this blackguard cut-throat would yet become a man of most holy life-which did indeed come to pass as he had said.

Fifth Lesson.

THIRD NOCTURN.

cial Rule of life from the Pope. Pope Innocent III. while he was solemnly celebrating the Liturgy [on the 28th day of January, 1198,] received in a vision the revelation of the Order and Institute for the redemption of bondsmen, and he forthwith clad Felix and John in white garments marked with a cross of red and blue, made after the likeness of the raiment wherein the Angel had appeared. This Pope also willed that the new Order should bear, as well as the habit of three colours, the name of the Most Holy Trinity.

Sixth Lesson.

WHEN they had received the confir

mation of their rule from Pope Innocent, John and Felix enlarged the first house of their Order, which they had built a little while before at Cerfroi, in the diocese of Meaux, in France. There Felix wonderfully devoted himself to the promotion of Regular Observance and of the Institute for the re

demption of bondsmen, and thence he busily spread the same by sending forth his disciples into other provinces. Here it was that he received an extraordinary favour from the blessed Maiden-Mother. On the night of the Nativity of the Mother of God, the brethren lay all asleep, and by the Providence of God woke not to say Mattins. But Felix was watching, as his custom was, and came betimes into the Choir. There he found the Blessed Virgin in the midst of the Choir, clad in raiment marked with the Cross of his Order, the Cross of red and blue; and with her a company of the heavenly host in like garments. And Felix was mingled among them. And the Mother of God began to sing, and they all sang with her and praised God; and Felix sang with them; and so they finished the Office. So now that he seemed to have been already called away from glorifying God on earth, to glorify Him in heaven, an Angel told Felix that the hour of his death was at hand. When therefore he had exhorted his children to be tender to the poor and to slaves, he gave up his soul to God [upon the 4th day of November] in the year of Christ 1212, in the time of the same Pope Innocent III., being four-scoreand-five years old, and full of good works.

Lessons from Luke xii. 32, with the Homily of the Venerable Bede, (p. 866.)

Vespers are of the following.

NOVEMBER 21.

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Greater Double.

All from the Common Office for Feasts of the Blessed Virgin, (p. 894,) except the following.

FIRST VESPERS.

Antiphon at the Song of the Blessed Virgin. O Blessed Mary, Mother of God, Virgin for ever, temple of the Lord, sanctuary of the Holy Ghost, thou, without any ensample before thee, didst make thyself well-pleasing in the sight of our Lord JESUS Christ. Alleluia.

Prayer throughout the Office.

GOD, Who wast pleased that the

blessed Mary always a Virgin, being herself the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost, should, as on this day, be presented in Thine earthly Temple, grant, we beseech Thee, that by her prayers we may worthily be presented in the heavenly Temple of Thy glory. Through our Lord JESUS Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

A Commemoration is made of St. Felix. Prayer from his Office.

MATTINS.

FIRST NOCTURN.

Lessons from Prov. viii. 12, as in the Common.

SECOND NOCTURN. Fourth Lesson.

The Lesson is taken from the Book "upon the Orthodox Faith," written

by St. John of Damascus. (Bk. iv. chap. 15.)

JOACHIM took to wife that most

eminent and praiseworthy woman, Anne. And even as the antient Hannah, being stricken with barrenness, by prayer and promise became the mother of Samuel, so likewise this woman also through prayer and promise received from God the Mother of God, that in fruitfulness she might not be behind any of the famous matrons. And thus "grace"

(for such is the signification of the name of Anne) is mother of the "Lady" (for such is the signification of the name of Mary.) And indeed she became the Lady of every creature, since she hath been mother of the Creator. She first saw the light in Joachim's house, hard by the Pool of Bethesda, at Jerusalem, and was carried to the Temple. There planted in the Lord, the dew of His Spirit made her to flourish in the courts of her God, and like a green olive she became a tree, so that all the doves of grace came and lodged in her branches. And so she raised her mind utterly above the lust of life and the lust of the flesh, and kept her soul virgin in her virgin body, as became her that was to receive God into her womb.

Fifth Lesson.

The Lesson is taken from the Book "Upon Virgins," written by St. Ambrose, Bishop [of Milan.] (ii.)

SUCH was Mary that her single life

offereth an ensample to all. If then the doer displease us not, let us applaud the deed; if any other woman seek like reward, let her follow after like works. In the one Virgin how many glorious examples do shine forth. Her's was the hidden treasure of modesty, her's the high standard of faith, her's the self-sacrifice of earnestness, her's to be the pattern of maidenhood at home, of kinswomanhood in ministry, of motherhood in the Temple. O to how many virgins hath she been helpful, how many hath she taken in her arms and presented unto the Lord, saying: Here is one who, [like me,] hath kept stainlessly clean the weddingchamber, the marriage-bed of my Son!

Sixth Lesson.

WHY should I go on to speak of the

scantiness of her eating, or of the multiplicity of her work? how her labour seemed above human capacity, and her refreshment insufficient for human strength, her toil never missing a moment, her fasting taking two days together. And when she was fain to eat, she took not dainties, but whatsoever food came first to hand that would keep body and soul together. She would not sleep till need was, and even then, while her body rested, her soul watched, for she often talked in her sleep, either repeating things that she had read, or going on with what she was doing before sleep interrupted her, or rehearsing things executed, or talking of things projected.

THIRD NOCTURN.

Lessons from Luke xi. 27, with the Homily of the Venerable Bede, (p. 899.)

In the Verse of the Seventh Responsory is said, "Keeping this Feast of thine holy Presentation."

SECOND VESPERS.

Prayer from Lauds.

NOVEMBER 22.

Double.

MATTINS.

FIRST NOCTURN.