voice and hearing, he was not able to answer them by word of mouth, "and he asked for a writing-table and wrote, saying: His name is John." Eighth Lesson. "HE asked for a writing-table and wrote, saying: His name is John"-he giveth not this name to his son, but maketh known that it is already his. "And his mouth was opened immediately"-unbelief had shut it, faith opened it. If then, we likewise would speak, let us believe; let our tongues, which unbelief hath tied, be opened to speak wisdom. IF Ninth Lesson. we be fain to speak, let us engrave deep things upon our memories; let us engrave the fact that Christ is at hand, "not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." (2 Cor. iii. 3.) He that spake of John prophesied of Christ. Let us so speak of John, as to speak of Christ, that our mouth also may be opened, as was the mouth of the great Priest Zacharias which, like the mouth of a dumb beast constrained by the bit, was forced by a wavering faith to make voiceless signs. At Lauds a Commemoration is made of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Antiphon and Verse and Answer from the General Commemorations. Prayer from June 29. JULY 2. Visitation of the Blessed Double of the Second Class. All from the Common Office for Feasts of the Blessed Virgin, (p. 894,) except the following. FIRST VESPERS. Antiphons and Prayer from Lauds. Verse. Blessed art thou among women. Answer. And blessed is the Fruit of thy womb. Antiphon at the Song of the Blessed Virgin. O Mary! blessed art thou that didst believe! for there shall be a performance of those things which were told thee from the Lord. Alleluia. A Commemoration is made of the Birth of St. John-and no other. MATTINS. Invitatory. Let us keep holiday for the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. Let us worship Christ, her Son, and her Lord and our's. FIRST NOCTURN. First Lesson. The Lesson is taken from the Song of Songs.1 (ii. 1.) [THE Bride.] I am a rose of the plain and a lily of the valleys. [The Bridegroom.] As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. [The Bride.] As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under the shadow of him who is my delight, I sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me into the wine-cellars, he established his love upon me. Revive me with flowers, stay me up with apples, for I am swooning with love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me [The Bridegroom.] I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the hinds, and the roe-bucks of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake my love till she please! First Responsory. Rise up, make haste, my love! my fair one! and come away! For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. Verse. Mary entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. 1 This Song of Songs is a Dramatic Pastoral, composed of the dialogue of two lovers. In the text, though not in the original, their speeches are separated, as the English language has not the same power of distinguishing Gender as the Hebrew or even the Latin. Answer. The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. Second Lesson. [THE Bride.] The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh!leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills! My beloved is like a gazelle or a young roe-buck! Behold, he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, peeping through the lattice. Behold, my beloved is calling unto me [The Bridegroom.] Rise up, make haste, my love! my dove! my beautiful one! and come away! For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone -the flowers appear on the earth-the time of grafting is come-the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our landthe fig-tree putteth forth her green figs -the vines with the tender grape give a good smell! [THE Bridegroom.] Arise, my love! my fair one! and come away! O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the hole in the wall! let me see thy countenance! let me hear thy voice in mine ears!-for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. [The Bride.] My beloved is mine, and I am his, that feedeth among the lilies, until the day break, and the shadows flee away. Turn, my beloved! be like a gazelle, or a young roe-buck upon the mountains of Bether! Third Responsory. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost; and she spake out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb! And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Verse. For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Answer. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Verse. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Answer. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? SECOND NOCTURN. Fourth Lesson. The Lesson is taken from the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople.] (In Metaphrast, July.) As S soon as our Redeemer was come among us, He went with haste, while as yet He was in His mother's womb, to visit His friend John. And John, in the one womb, becoming eenscious of the Presence of JESUS in the other womb, dashed himself impatiently against the narrow walls of his natural prison, as though crying out: "I see the very Lord who hath given nature her bounds, and I wait not for the due season of my birth. There is no need for me to linger here till nine months are ended, for He That is Eternal is with me-I will break out of my dark cellI will proclaim my full knowledge of many wonders. I am the sign. I will show that the Christ is here. I am the trumpet-let me peal forth the news that the Son of God is come in the flesh. Let me give my trumpet-note, let me bless my father's tongue, and make it to speak again. Let me give my trumpet-note, let me quicken my mother's womb." his course, his going-forth is from the end of the heavens. Answer. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young roe-buck! Fifth Lesson. THOU seest, O beloved, how new and how strange a mystery is here! John is not born, but by leaping he speaketh; he is yet unseen, and he giveth warning; he is not yet able to cry, but by his acts he is heard; he draweth not yet the breath of life, but he preacheth God; he seeth not yet the light, but he maketh known the Sun; he is not come out of the womb, but he hasteth to play the Fore-runner; in the Presence of the Lord he cannot restrain himself; he rebelleth against the bounds set by nature, and struggleth to break out of the prison of the belly; his longing is to herald the coming Saviour. He saith, as it were: "Behold, the Deliverer cometh-and am I to remain still bound to abide here? The Word cometh, that He may set right all things and am I still to tarry in prison? I will go forth. I will run before Him, and cry aloud to all men, 'Behold the Lamb of God! Which taketh away the sin of the world!" Fifth Responsory. Rejoice with me, rejoice with me, all ye that love the Lord, for, while I was yet a little one, I pleased the Most High, and I have brought forth from my bowels God and man. Verse. All generations shall call me blessed, for God hath regarded the low estate of His hand-maiden. Answer. And I have brought forth from my bowels God and man. Sixth Lesson. BUT do thou tell us, O John, how it came to pass that while thou wast still in the darkness of thy mother's womb, thou didst see and hear? How didst thou behold the things of God? How didst thou leap and bound for joy? "Great," saith John, "is the mystery of that which taketh place here, far from the understanding of men are these doings. It is meet that I should do a new thing in nature for the sake of Sixth Responsory. Blessed art thou that hast believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told thee from the Lord. And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. Verse. 'Come, hear, and I will declare Verse. Glory be to the Father, and to THIRD NOCTURN. The Lesson is taken from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (i. 39.) AND Mary arose in those days and went into the hill-country with haste, into a city of Judah. And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And so on. Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop [of Milan.] (Bk. ii. Comm. on Luke i.) We must here consider that the greater cometh unto the lesser, Mary unto Eliza. beth, Christ unto John. And again afterwards, to hallow the baptism of John, the Lord came unto him to be baptized. It was soon that the blessings of the coming of Mary and of the Presence of God were made manifest. Have regard here to the distinction made, and to the special weight of every word. Elizabeth 1 Ps. lxv. 16. was the first to hear the voice of Mary's salutation, but John was the first to receive grace. She heard naturally, but he leaped mystically. She hailed the coming of Mary, he that of the Lord. Mary and Elizabeth spake words full of grace, but JESUS and John worked, and commenced their mystery of godliness from their mothers' beginnings, and so by twin miracles the mothers prophesied from the spirit of their unborn offspring. The babe leaped, and the mother was filled with the Holy Ghost. The mother was not filled before the son, but when the son was filled with the Holy Ghost, he filled his mother also. Verse. And His mercy is on them that fear Him, from generation to generation. Answer. For the Lord, That is mighty, hath done to me great things, and holy is His Name. Eighth Lesson. "AND whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" That is to say, How cometh it to pass that so great a good should befall me, as that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? I feel the miracle, I acknowledge the mystery; the Mother of my Lord, pregnant with the Word, is full of God." (56.) And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house." It is meet to record how Mary showed this kindness, and abode this mystic number of months.1 She tarried long, not only for friendship's sake, but also for the good of the Great Prophet. For if the first coming of Mary so blessed him, that even as a babe in the womb he leapt for joy, and his mother was filled with the Holy Ghost, what blessedness must we not deem to have flowed upon him from so long neighbourhood of Mary? Thus was the Prophet anointed, and trained by exercise like a strong wrestler, in his mother's womb, for his sinews were being braced for a hard battle. Eighth Responsory. O Holy Virgin Mary, happy indeed art thou, and right worthy of all praise, for out of thee rose the Sun of righteousness, even Christ our God. Verse. Pray for the people, plead for the clergy, make intercession for all women vowed to God; may all that make remembrance of thine holy Visitation feel the might of thine assist ance. Answer. For out of thee rose the Sun of righteousness. Verse. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Answer. Even Christ our God. Ninth Lesson. (For the Holy Martyrs AT T what time Peter and Paul were kept in the Mamertine Prison, at the foot of the Tarpeian Rock, two of the gaolers, named Processus and Martinian, along with other forty, were moved by the preaching and miracles of the Apostles to believe in Christ, and were baptized in a spring which suddenly brake forth out of the rock. These men let the Apostles depart if they willed it. But Paulinus, Præfect of the soldiers, when he heard what was come to pass, strove to turn away Processus and Martinian from their purpose. And when he found that he but wasted time, he ordered their faces to be bruised and their teeth to be broken, with stones. Moreover, when he had had them led to the image of Jupiter, and they still boldly answered that they would not worship the gods, he caused them to be tormented on the rack, and white-hot plates of metal to be put to their flesh, and that they should be beaten with sticks. Whileas they were suffering all these things they were heard to say only this one word"Blessed be the Name of the Lord." They were afterwards cast into prison, and in a little while they were taken outside the city, and slain with the axe, upon the Aurelian Way. The Lady Lucina buried their bodies upon her own farm, upon the 2nd day of July, 1 If a Ninth Lesson of the Feast be required the Eighth is broken here. but they were afterwards brought into the City, and are buried in the Church of the Prince of the Apostles. The Hymn, "We praise Thee, O God, &c.," is said. LAUDS. and First Antiphon. Mary arose went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah. Second Antiphon. Mary entered * into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. Third Antiphon. When Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Ghost. Alleluia. Fourth Antiphon. Blessed art thou among women, * and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb. Fifth Antiphon. As soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Alleluia. Verse. Blessed art thou among wo Prayer. GOD, Who dost encompass and shield us with the glorious witnessing of Thine holy Martyrs Processus and Martinian, grant unto us the grace to improve by their ensample, and the happiness to rejoice because of their intercession. 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. At Prime, Terce, Sext, and None, the Antiphons are the First, Second, Third, and Fifth, from Lauds, respectively. SECOND VESPERS. The same as the First, except the following. Antiphon at the Song of the Blessed Virgin. All generations shall call me blessed, for God hath regarded the lowliness of His hand-maiden. Alleluia. A Commemoration is made of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Antiphon and Verse and Answer from the Common Commemoration, (p. 151.) Prayer as on June 29. On the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th of July, being the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th days of the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the Office is that Common to all the Apostles, except the following. 1. The Lessons of the First Nocturn are from Scripture according to the Season. 2. The Lessons of the Second and Third Nocturns as immediately hereafter given. 3. The Antiphons at the Songs of Zacharias and of the Blessed Virgin, and the Verses and Answers at Lauds and Vespers are from the Common Commemorations, (pp. 92 and 151.) 4. The Prayer is from June 29, except from the evening of the 5th till the end, when it also is from the Common Commemoration. On the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the Antiphons are not doubled. |