SSPX Priest: Archbishop Lefebvre’s 1974 Declaration Still Applies to the Crisis in the Church Today

"Yesterday, the Society of St. Pius X published a message on the 50th anniversary of a declaration issued by the group’s founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre."

From LifeSiteNews

By Maike Hickson, PhD

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, Father Christian Bouchacourt of the SSPX gives a detailed account of what led up to Archbishop Lefebvre's famous 1974 declaration, and how the message still applies today.

Yesterday, the Society of St. Pius X published a message on the 50th anniversary of a declaration issued by the group’s founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. With it, the Society reaffirmed its original charism which is to preserve Tradition, especially the traditional priesthood and the traditional Latin liturgy and sacraments. LifeSiteNews reached out to the headquarters of the SSPX in Switzerland, asking them some questions regarding the history of the 1974 declaration. Father Christian Bouchacourt, who serves as the 2nd General Assistant of Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani, and who was a co-signer of the new statement, kindly sent us answers (see full interview below).

Giving background to the 1974 declaration, Father Bouchacourt writes that the apostolic visitors who came to inspect Archbishop Lefebvre’s seminary in that year had scandalized the archbishop with their support of the married priesthood as being “inescapable” and their denial of “immutable truth,” including truths about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Realizing that there was no longer much to expect for the time being,” Bouchacourt explains that Lefebvre, “in a fit of indignation,” as the archbishop would put it, “wrote in one go, without erasures, a summary of his position, which he read to the community on December 2.”

The seminary had been originally established with the approval of the local bishop of Fribourg. But then, according to Bouchacourt, the tensions had grown “due to Archbishop Lefebvre’s unshakable position on the question of the Mass. The bishop rejected the Novus Ordo, Paul VI’s liturgical reform, which he often referred to as ‘poisoned.’”

We remind our readers here that two cardinals, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani and Cardinal Antonio Bacci, wrote in 1969 a letter to Pope Paul VI and sent him a thorough critique of the Novus Ordo Mass. Ottaviani was the prefect emeritus of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, today’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). In this letter, they write that “the Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent.” They go on to warn Paul VI of these liturgical changes: “The innovations in the Novus Ordo and the fact that all that is of perennial value finds only a minor place, if it subsists at all, could well turn into a certainty the suspicion, already prevalent, alas, in many circles, that truths which have always been believed by the Christian people, can be changed or ignored without infidelity to that sacred deposit of doctrine to which the Catholic faith is bound for ever.”

To return to Archbishop Lefebvre. Next to the reforms of the liturgy, the Second Vatican Council and its novel teachings were of grave concern to him. In the interview with LifeSite, Father Bouchacourt explains that, though Lefebvre “never said that there was a ‘formal heresy’ in the texts of the Council,” he saw that “some of them were seriously flawed and led to heresy, favouring it.” Archbishop Lefebvre wrote at the time that “we feel that our faith is endangered by the post-conciliar reforms and orientations” and thus saw the “duty to disobey and keep Tradition.” Furthermore, the French prelate saw that one was suddenly presented with “two religions,” and thus it “is impossible not to make a choice.” And he concluded: “The Holy Father cannot ask us to abandon our faith.”

Father Bouchacourt, in his reply to LifeSite, pointed to the “immense responsibility” of Pope Paul VI for the changes of the liturgy in the Novus Ordo Mass. “An avalanche of decrees modified the traditional liturgy: between 1965 and 1969, Latin was replaced, altars were turned upside down, concelebrations were introduced, three Eucharistic canons were composed, communion in the hand became more widespread, and prayers at the foot of the altar, Leonine prayers, the Offertory and the Last Gospel were abolished.” The priest adds that Paul VI closely followed the work of the liturgical reform commission and himself banned the missal of Pius V, the traditional Latin liturgy. “The ‘Paul VI Mass’ is indeed his own,” he concludes. Mirroring  the position of the General Superior of the SSPX, Father Davide Pagliarani, who on November 1 gave an interview to Angelus Press in which he explained the struggle that Archbishop Lefebvre led for the sake of the Church. Pagliarani stated:

Pope Paul VI himself already spoke about the self-destruction of the Church. This is unfortunately caused by the encouragement given by the highest authorities of the Church to the modern errors which, during the Second Vatican Council and in the reforms that resulted from it, have deeply penetrated the whole Church and have led countless multitudes of the faithful to abandon their faith. So that, instead of preserving the deposit of faith for the salvation of souls and the common good of the whole Church, the pope placed his authority at the service of the destruction of the Church. To his everlasting credit, Archbishop Lefebvre rejected this self-destruction and courageously preserved the Tradition of the Church by rejecting the destructive novelties and by continuing to offer to souls the supernatural goods of doctrine, the Mass, and the sacraments. Now this was precisely the reason why the ecclesiastical authorities chose to sanction him, to suppress his work, and thus to deprive him of canonical recognition.

Please see below for the full interview with Father Christian Bouchacourt

1) What was the immediate cause for Archbishop Lefebvre to make his 1974 statement?

On November 11, 1974, Archbishop Lefebvre announced the arrival of two apostolic visitors. Sent by Pope Paul VI, they were mandated by three Roman congregations to inspect the seminary. They were Monsignor Albert Descamps, secretary of the Biblical Commission, and Monsignor Guillaume Onclin, assistant secretary of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law.

The visitors spent three days at Ecône interviewing teachers and seminarians. They made aberrant and scandalous theological statements. They found the ordination of married men inescapable. They admitted no immutable truth, and even cast doubt on the physical reality of Christ’s resurrection. They finally withdrew, but without presenting any protocol or report of their visit to the Society superior.

Realizing that there was no longer much to expect for the time being, “in a fit of indignation,” as he [Lefebvre] would put it, he wrote in one go, without erasures, a summary of his position, which he read to the community on December 2.

2) In 1970, he founded a new seminary in Econe, Switzerland, with the local bishop’s approval and support. Four years later came this visitation and statement. What happened between 1970 and 1974?

From 1973 onwards, the situation became tense due to Archbishop Lefebvre’s unshakeable position on the question of the Mass. The bishop rejected the Novus Ordo, Paul VI’s liturgical reform, which he often referred to as “poisoned.”

The attacks came first from France, where the bishops were furious about the “wild seminary” that would soon provide a traditional clergy called upon to exercise an apostolate on French territory. While they were agitating backstage, the situation was also tense in Switzerland. The new Bishop of Fribourg, Monsignor Pierre Mamie, was now opposed to the Society. Bishop Nestor Adam of Sion, discouraged by the crisis in the Church, no longer supported the foundation and distanced himself from it, even though he had accepted the opening of Ecône in his diocese. It was in these circumstances that the visit described in question 1) was announced to Archbishop Lefebvre.

3) How would you sum up the situation in the Church under Pope Paul VI at that time and Archbishop Lefebvre’s response to it?

The immense enthusiasm aroused by the Council and the conciliar reforms soon died down, to be replaced by a most bitter assessment. Paul VI lamented the self-demolition of the Church (Discourse of December 7, 1968, DC n°1531 (1969), p 12) and the fumes of Satan (June 29, 1972).

Pope Paul VI’s immense responsibility in bringing about liturgical reform must also be mentioned. An avalanche of decrees modified the traditional liturgy: between 1965 and 1969, Latin was replaced, altars were turned upside down, concelebrations were introduced, three Eucharistic canons were composed, communion in the hand became more widespread, and prayers at the foot of the altar, Leonine prayers, the Offertory and the Last Gospel were abolished.

Paul VI followed the work of the Consilium closely, giving his opinions, annotating drafts and expressing his preferences. He willingly promulgated all liturgical decrees, and on May 24, 1976, at the height of the “battle of the Mass” (Jean Madiran), the Pope banned the missal of St. Pius V in favor of the new liturgy. The “Paul VI Mass” is indeed his own.

4) You quote in your statement of November 21 Archbishop Lefebvre’s words about the Vatican II reform which derives “from Liberalism and Modernism,” and which “is entirely corrupted; it derives from heresy and results in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical.”

Could you say that there is one essential heresy that can be found in the Second Vatican Council that is at the root of all the disorder that came from it? Or are there several?

Archbishop Lefebvre never said that there was a “formal heresy” in the texts of the Council, but that some of them were seriously flawed and led to heresy, favoring it, including the post-conciliar reforms: “It is because we feel that our faith is endangered by the post-conciliar reforms and orientations, that we have the duty to disobey and keep Tradition.”

Lefebvre added: “Two religions are confronting each other; we find ourselves in a dramatic situation, it’s impossible not to make a choice, but that choice is not between obedience and disobedience. What we are offered, what we are expressly invited to do, what we are persecuted for, is to choose a semblance of obedience. The Holy Father cannot ask us to abandon our faith.”

And further on: “It is clear that in cases such as religious freedom, Eucharistic hospitality authorized by the new canon law, or collegiality conceived as the affirmation of two supreme powers in the Church, it is the duty of every Catholic cleric and faithful to resist and refuse obedience.” (Letter to Perplexed Catholics, Ch XVIII)

Among the errors regularly denounced by the founder of the Society of St. Pius X should be added ecumenism and liturgical reform.

5) Even though the visitation of the seminary in Écône at the time was positive, Archbishop Lefebvre’s seminary was shut down not even a year later in 1975. How would you describe the significance of the 1974 statement of His Grace in the context of the increasing conflict with Rome at the time?

Archbishop Lefebvre himself gave this meaning: “It was never my intention to break in any way with the unity of the Catholic Church and its legitimate head, Pope Paul VI. (…) However, to deny the modernist and liberal influence exerted in the Church, especially since the Second Vatican Council, in reforms which claim to be inspired by the Council, would be tantamount to denying the evidence which is becoming more pressing and painful every day in the hearts of the faithful.” (May 18, 1975)

Archbishop Lefebvre had already made another comment on December 2, 1974, in a conference addressed to seminarians at Écône, shortly after the event. He explained that he was thus taking “a position of principle,” and insisted that his declaration was that of the Society “from the beginning” and therefore did not need “to be conditioned by events.”

6) Since you mention the Second Vatican Council and the Synod on Synodality in your text, what do these two events have in common, how would you explain your thesis that Synodality is a continuation of the Council’s reforms?

Here’s what the Synod’s Final Document on Synodality says: “In the context of the conciliar ecclesiology of the People of God, the concept of communion expresses the profound substance of the mystery and mission of the Church, which finds its source and its culmination in the celebration of the Eucharist, that is, the union with God the Trinity and the unity between human persons which is realized in Christ through the Holy Spirit. In this context, synodality indicates the specific way of living and working of the Church, the People of God, which manifests and concretely realizes its being of communion by ‘walking together,’ gathering in assembly and in the active participation of all its members in its evangelizing mission (CTI, n. 6)” (no. 31).

The document of the International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, (2018), abundantly quoted in the Final Document, and its doctrinal reference, says in ch. II, with the subtitle: 3. Synodality, expression of the ecclesiology of communion: “The dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium offers the essential principles for an adequate understanding of synodality in the perspective of the ecclesiology of communion.(n° 54) ”

The link between the texts of Vatican II and synodality is thus expressed and underlined by the documents of the Holy See itself.

Fr. Christian Bouchacourt. 

Germany’s Coalition Parties Stick With Unpopular Leaders Ahead of Snap Election

Good! They seem bound and determined to lose the elections by as large a margin as possible. Talk about NOT dropping the pilot from the Ship of State! 

From The European Conservative

By Zoltán Kottász

Defence secretary Boris Pistorius will not challenge Olaf Scholz for the social democrats’ candidacy for chancellor.

With snap elections fast approaching, the parties that make up the German coalition government have decided not to ditch their current leaders, despite them having led one of the most unpopular governments in recent German history.

The Green party recently announced that vice chancellor and economy minister Robert Habeck will be their lead candidate in the elections, while the Social Democrats’ (SPD) nominee for chancellor will be the current chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

His nomination, though not yet formally announced, was practically confirmed after defence minister Boris Pistorius on Thursday, November 21st, ruled himself out of the running.

“I have just informed our party and parliamentary group leaders that I will not be standing as a candidate for the office of federal chancellor,” Pistorius said in a video posted to SPD social media channels on Thursday evening.

The defence minister was considered a possible replacement for Scholz as the SPD’s lead candidate. Pistorius is among the most popular politicians in the country.

He quickly shot to fame after being named as defence minister in January 2023, earning the respect of both the cabinet and the troops. “His hands-on, unpretentious manner and his straight talking has gone down well with the soldiers,” writes Deutsche Welle.

Pistorius played a significant part in making major arms purchases, such as urgently needed air defence systems, helicopters, tanks, and warships.

According to a poll by ZDF, if Scholz were to run against the opposition centre-right CDU’s lead candidate, Friedrich Merz, 39% of voters would want Scholz as their next chancellor, and 44% would choose Merz. In a duel between Merz and Pistorius, the latter would win easily with 59% support of the electorate, compared to 28% for Merz.

The popularity of the government as a whole has steeply declined in the three years that the coalition—consisting of SPD, the Greens, and the liberal FDP—has ruled Germany.

The cabinet has been unable to handle the cost-of-living crisis and the migration crisis. It has also angered citizens, particularly farmers, with tax hikes to accommodate a radical climate policy. The frustration of the liberal free-market FDP led to the collapse of the government, paving the way for early elections, which are to be held on February 23rd.

According to the latest polls, the SPD is set to receive 16% of the votes, a steep drop of ten points compared to the elections in 2021. The Greens will suffer a 4-point drop, and dip to 11%, while the FDP party will be lucky to enter parliament at all, as it is currently below the 5% threshold.

Meanwhile, the CDU/CSU alliance is on course for victory with 32% of the votes, and the anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is polling at 19% which would give them the runners-up spot.

The decision to retain both Scholz and Habeck as lead candidates is therefore baffling.

“In Olaf Scholz, we have an outstanding federal chancellor. He has led a coalition of three parties through perhaps the biggest crisis in recent decades,” Boris Pistorius said on Thursday, failing to mention that the chancellor had not solved this crisis. In fact, the war in Ukraine is escalating rapidly as Western missiles recently struck Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened the West with retaliation.

Vespers of the Feast of St. Cecilia, Virgin & Martyr

From the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem. You may follow the Office at Divinum Officium.

Stations of the Cross According to St Francis of Assisi

From the Apostolic Penitentiary:

A plenary indulgence is granted to those who piously make the Way of the Cross. The gaining of the indulgence is regulated by the following rules:

1. Must be done before stations of the cross legitimately erected.

2. 14 stations are required. Although it is customary for the icons to represent pictures or images, 14 simple crosses will suffice.

3. The common practice consists of fourteen pious readings to which some vocal prayers are added.. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.

4. A movement from one station to the next is required. But if the stations are made publicly and it is not possible for everyone taking part to go from station to station, it suffices if at least the one conducting the exercise goes from station to station, the others remaining in their places.

5. Those who are "impeded" can gain the same indulgence if they spend at least one half and hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Holy Rosary

Friday, the Sorrowful Mysteries, in Latin with Cardinal Burke.

Why The Holy Roman Empire Was The WEIRDEST Country Ever

Most of this is bollocks, but still worth watching.

The Holy Roman Empire is not only an ironic concept, it's also weirdly complicated. Learn how many titles the rulers needed to see how cool they were trying to be or why the Emperor's rule was only semi-optional.

Nemesius, Aquinas, and Man as the Border of Creation

With Raymund Syner, OP.

Aquinas maintains that human nature occupies a liminal space. He affirms that man is a horizon of creation that stands on the border between reality's immaterial and material domains. While this image is found in the Liber de Causis, it is central theme in Nemesius's On the Nature of Man. This paper will observe the latter work as a possible source for Aquinas's notion of man as a "border". In the first part, I will briefly introduce Nemesius and his sui generis synthesis of Christian and Platonic anthrolopogy. Second, I will juxtapose his language with that of certain passages of Aquinas, seeking to identify any connection between the too. In the final part, I will note how Aquinas modifies the "border" language. In particular, I will show that Aquinas leaves behind some of the original Platonic connotations of the image and grounds it in an Aristotelian scale of cognition. For Aquinas, the border between domains is not "Soul" in general nor even the human species in general. Rather, every individual human being, as his cognitive activity reveals, straddles the material and immaterial domains.

St Cecilia’s Feast Also Honours Two Brothers Who Were Martyred

Today is St Cecilia's Feast Day, but her husband, Valerian, and his brother, Tiburtius, are also honoured today, but they are only mentioned in the Martyrology, not the Office or the Mass.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

St. Cecilia's husband and his brother were also martyred shortly after their conversion to the Christian faith.

While St. Cecilia is the primary saint honored on November 22, she is not the only martyr included on this feast day.

The Roman Martyrology mentions the martyrdom of her husband and his brother.

At Rome, St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, who brought to the faith of Christ to her spouse, Valerian, and his brother Tiburtius, and encouraged them to martyrdom. 

Many Eastern Christians mention their names as well, celebrating the "Virgin Martyr Cecilia and the Holy Martyrs Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus at Rome" on November 22.

According to the various legends surrounding St. Cecilia, she was pressured by her parents into marrying Valerian, who was initially a pagan.

Conversion to Christianity

However, on their wedding night he sought to become a Christian, as the Catholic Encyclopedia explains:

When, after the celebration of the marriage, the couple had retired to the wedding-chamber, Cecilia told Valerianus that she was betrothed to an angel who jealously guarded her body; therefore Valerianus must take care not to violate her virginity. Valerianus wished to see the angel, whereupon Cecilia sent him to the third milestone on the Via Appia where he should meet Bishop (Pope) Urbanus. Valerianus obeyed, was baptized by the pope, and returned a Christian to Cecilia. An angel then appeared to the two and crowned them with roses and lilies.

Valerian's brother, Tiburtius, was impressed by his brother's actions and similarly was baptized. Then, "as zealous children of the Faith both brothers distributed rich alms and buried the bodies of the confessors who had died for Christ."

This caught the attention of the Roman prefect, who then sentenced them to death for their pratice of the faith.

Interestingly, Maximus, the Roman officer tasked with this duty also converted to the faith

When celebrating St. Cecilia's feast, it is appropriate to recall the heroic example of these brothers, who were inspired by St. Cecilia and similarly gave their lives to Christ.

Francis Releases Bizarre Error-Laced Letter That Could Undermine Priests

We Were Warned: Fulton Sheen's Prediction Of The World Of Antichrist

The Life of St Cecilia

From The Golden Legend of Blessed Jacobus Voragine, translated by William Caxton in 1483.

St. Cecilia, the holy virgin, was come of the noble lineage of the Romans, and from the time that she lay in her cradle she was fostered and nourished in the faith of Christ, and always bare in her breast the gospel hid, and never ceased day ne night from holy prayers, but recommended to God always her virginity.

ST. CECILIA'S WEDDING NIGHT

And when this blessed virgin should be espoused to a young man named Valerian, and the day of the wedding was come, she was clad in royal clothes of gold, but under she ware the hair. And she hearing the organs making melody, she sang in her heart, only to God, saying: O Lord, I beseech thee that mine heart and body may be undefouled so that I be not confounded. And every second and third day she fasted, commending herself unto our Lord whom she dreaded.

The night came that she should go to bed with her husband as the custom is, and when they were both in their chamber alone, she said to him in this manner: O, my best beloved and sweet husband, I have a counsel to tell thee, if so be that thou wilt keep it secret and swear that ye shall bewray it to no man.

To whom Valerian said that he would gladly promise and swear never to bewray it, and then she said to him: I have an angel that loveth me, which ever keepeth my body whether I sleep or wake, and if he may find that ye touch my body by villainy, or foul and polluted love, certainly he shall anon slay you, and so should ye lose the flower of your youth. And if so be that thou love me in holy love and cleanness, he shall love thee as he loveth me and shall show to thee his grace.

Then Valerian, corrected by the will of God, having dread, said to her: If thou wilt that I believe that thou sayest to me, show to me that angel that thou speakest of, and if I find veritable that he be the angel of God, I shall do that thou sayest, and if so be that thou love another man than me, I shall slay both him and thee with my sword.

Cecilia answered to him: If thou wilt believe and baptize thee, thou shalt well now see him. Go then forth to Via Appia, which is three miles out of this town, and there thou shalt find Pope Urban with poor folks, and tell him these words that I have said, and when he hath purged you from sin by baptism, then when ye come again ye shall see the angel.

THE CONVERSION OF CECILIA'S HUSBAND VALERIAN

And forth went Valerian and found this holy man Urban louting among the burials; to whom he reported the words that Cecilia had said, and St. Urban for joy gan hold up his hands and let the tears fall out of his eyes, and said: O Almighty God Jesu Christ, sower of chaste counsel and keeper of us all, receive the fruit of the seed that thou hast sown in Cecilia, for, like a busy bee she serveth thee; for the spouse whom she hath taken which was like a wood lion, she hath sent hither like as a meek lamb.

And with that word appeared suddenly an old man clad in white clothes, holding a book written with letters of gold, whom Valerian seeing, for fear fell down to the ground as he had been dead. Whom the old man raised and took up, and read in this wise. One God, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, above all, and in us all, everywhere.

And when this old man had read this, he said: Believest thou this or doubtest thou it? Say yea or nay.

Then Valerian cried saying: There is nothing truer under heaven.

Then vanished this old man away. Then Valerian received baptism of St. Urban and returned home to St. Cecilia, whom he found within her chamber speaking with an angel. And this angel had two crowns of roses and lilies which he held in his hands, of which he gave one to Cecilia, and that other to Valerian, saying: Keep ye these crowns with an undefouled and clean body, for I have brought them to you from Paradise, and they shall never fade, ne wither, ne lose their savour, ne they may not be seen but of them to whom chastity pleaseth. And thou Valerian because thou hast used profitable counsel, demand what thou wilt.

THE CONVERSION OF VALERIAN'S BROTHER TYBURTIUS

To whom Valerian said: There is nothing in this world to me liefer than my brother, whom I would fain that he might know this very truth with me.

To whom the angel said: Thy petition pleaseth our Lord, and ye both shall come to him by the palm of martyrdom.

And anon Tyburtius, his brother, came and entered into this chamber, and anon he felt the sweet odour of the roses and lilies, and marvelled from whence it came. Then Valerian said: We have crowns which thine eyes may not see, and like as by my prayers thou hast felt the odour of them, so if thou wilt believe thou shalt see the crowns of roses and lilies that we have.

Then Cecilia and Valerian began to preach to Tyburtius of the joy of heaven and of the foul creance of paynims, the abuse of idols, and of the pains of hell which the damned suffer, and also they preached to him of the incarnation of our Lord, and of his passion, and did so much that Tyburtius was converted and baptized of St. Urban. And from then forthon he had so much grace of God that every day he saw angels, and all that ever he required of our Lord he obtained.

VALERIAN AND TYBERTIUS ARE MARTYRED

After, Almachius, provost of Rome, which put to death many Christian men, heard say that Tyburtius and Valerian buried Christian men that were martyred, and gave all their goods to poor people. He called them tofore him, and after long disputation he commanded that they should go to the statue or image of Jupiter for to do sacrifice, or else they should be beheaded.

And as they were led, they so preached the faith of our Lord to one called Maximus that they converted him to the Christian faith, and they promised to him that if he had very repentance, and firm creance that he should see the glory of heaven which their souls should receive at the hour of their passions, and that he himself should have the same if he would believe. Then Maximus gat leave of the tormentors for to have them home to his house, and the said Maximus, with all his household and all the tormentors, were turned to the faith.

Then came St. Cecilia thither with priests, and baptized them, and afterwards, when the morning came, St. Cecilia said to them: Now, ye knights of Christ, cast away from you the works of darkness and clothe you with the arms of light.

And then they were led four miles out of the town, and brought tofore the image of Jupiter, but in no wise they would do sacrifice ne incense to the idol, but humbly with great devotion kneeled down and there were beheaded, and St. Cecilia took their bodies and buried them. Then Maximus, that saw this thing, said that he saw in the hour of their passion angels clear shining and their souls ascend into heaven, which the angels bare up, wherefore many were converted to the Christian faith.

And when Almachius heard that Maximus was christened, he did do beat him with plummets of lead so long till he gave up his spirit and died, whose body St. Cecilia buried by Valerian and Tyburtius.

THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. CECILIA

And after, Almachius commanded that Cecilia should be brought into his presence for to do sacrifice to Jupiter, and she so preached to them that came for her that she converted them to the faith, which wept sore that so fair a maid and so noble should be put to death. Then she said to them: O ye good young men, it is nothing to lose the youth, but to change it, that is, to give clay, and take therefor gold, to give a foul habitation, and to take a precious, to give a little corner, and to take a right great place. God rewardeth for one simple, a hundredfold. Believe ye this that I have said?

And they said: We believe Christ to be very God which hath such a servant.

Then St. Urban was called, and four hundred and more were baptized.

Then Almachius, calling tofore him St. Cecilia, said to her: Of what condition art thou?

And she said that she was of a noble kindred. To whom Almachius said: I demand thee of what religion art thou?

Then Cecilia said: Then begannest thou thy demand foolishly, that wouldst have two answers in one demand.

To whom Almachius said: From whence cometh thy rude answer?

And she said: Of good conscience and faith not feigned.

To whom Almachius said: Knowest thou not of what power I am?

And she said: Thy power is little to dread, for it is like a bladder full of wind, which with the pricking of a needle is anon gone away and come to nought.

To whom Almachius said: In wrong begannest thou, and in wrong thou perseverest; knowest thou not how our princes have given me power to give life and to slay?

And she said: Now shall I prove thee a liar against the very truth. Thou mayst well take the life from them that live, but to them that be dead, thou mayst give no life, therefore thou art a minister not of life, but of death.

To whom Almachius said: Now lay apart thy madness and do sacrifice to the gods.

To whom Cecilia said: I wot never where thou hast lost thy sight, for them that thou sayest be gods we see them stones, put thine hand, and by touching thou shalt learn that which thou mayst not see with thine eyes.

Then Almachius was wroth, and commanded her to be led into her house, and there to be burnt in a burning bain, which her seemed a place cold and well attempered. Then Almachius, hearing that, commanded that she should be beheaded in the same bath. Then the tormentor smote at her three strokes, and could not smite off her head, and the fourth stroke he might not by the law smite, and so left her there lying half alive and half dead, and she lived three days after in that manner, and gave all that she had to poor people, and continually preached the faith all that while; and all them that she converted she sent to Urban for to be baptized, and said: I have asked respite three days, that I might commend to you these souls, and that ye should hallow of mine house a church.

And then at the end of three days she slept in our Lord, and St. Urban with his deacons buried her body among the bishops, and hallowed her house into a church, in which unto this day is said the service unto our Lord. She suffered her passion about the year of our Lord two hundred and twenty three, in the time of Alexander the emperor, and it is read in another place that she suffered in the time of Marcus Aurelius, which reigned about the year of our Lord one hundred and seventy. Then let us devoutly pray unto our Lord that by the merits of this holy virgin and martyr, St. Cecilia, we may come to his everlasting bliss in heaven. Amen.