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St Peter, Martyr

Today's Holy Mass from Sancta Maria Church, Wil, St Gallen, Switzerland. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.

The Life of St Peter Martyr

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

HERE FOLLOWETH THE LIFE OF ST. PETER OF MILAN

St Peter the new martyr, of the Order of the Friars Preachers, was born in the city of Verona in Lombardy. His father and mother were of the sect of the Arians.1 Then he descended of these people like as the rose that cometh of the thorn, and as the light that cometh of the smoke.

HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

At the age of seven years, when he learned at the school his credo, one, his eme, which was a heretic, demanded of him his lesson, and the child said to him: Credo, till to creatorem cœli et terræ [(God), the creator of Heaven and Earth]. His uncle said to him that he should no more say so, for God hath not made temporal things. The child affirmed that he ought to say none otherwise, but so as he had learned, and that other began to show him by authority his purpose. But the child, which was full of the Holy Ghost, answered so well and wisely that his uncle departed all confused, and all achauffed said to the father that he should take away his son from school, for he doubted when he shall be great that he should turn against their law and faith, and that he should confound them.

And so it happed, and so he prophesied like as Caiaphas did, but God, against whom none may do, would not suffer it for the great profit that he attended of him. Then after, when he came to more age, he saw that it was no sure thing to dwell with the scorpions. He had in despite father and mother and left the world whiles he was a clear and a pure virgin.

He entered into the order of the friars preachers there, whereas he lived much holily the space of thirty years or thereabout, full of all virtues and especial in defending the faith, for love of which he burnt. He did much abstinence for to bring his flesh low. He fasted, he entended to wake by night in studying and in prayer when he should have slept and rested, and by day he entended to the profit of the souls, in preaching, in confessing, and in counselling, in disputing against the heretics and Arians. And in that he had a special grace of Jesu Christ, for he was right sore founded in humilty.

He was marvellously piteous and debonair, full of compassion, of great patience, of great charity, and of steadfastness. So ripe and so well ordained in fair manner that every man might behold as in a mirror, in his continence and in his conversation. He was wise and discreet, and so emprinted in his heart that all his words were firm and stable. Then he prayed many times to our Lord that he would not let him die but by sufferance of martyrdom for him and for his faith. And thus as he prayed God accomplished in the end.

MIRACLES HE PERFORMED

The Cooling Cloud

He did many miracles in his life, for in the city of Milan, on a time when he examined a bishop of the Arians that the Christian men had taken, and many bishops, religious, and great plenty of other people of the city were there assembled, and was then right hot, this Arian said to St. Peter tofore them all: O thou Peter perverse, if thou art so holy as this people holdeth thee for, wherefore sufferest thou this foolish people to die for heat, and prayest not God that he would shadow them.

Then St. Peter answered and said: If thou wilt promise that thou shalt hold the very faith and thou wilt leave thine heresy, I shall pray therefor to our Lord. Then all they that were on the party of the Arians cried that he should promise him, for they supposed that he should not get it specially, because the air was so clear and no cloud was seen, and the Christian men doubted that their faith might thereby come to confusion. But the bishop, the heretic, would not bind him thereto. St. Peter had good faith and trust in God, and made his prayer openly that he would convey over them a cloud, and he made the sign of the cross, and anon the cloud came and overspread them like a pavilion that there were assembled, and abode as long as the sermon endured, and it stretched no further but there.

The Lame Man

There was a lame man which had been so lame five years and might not go, but was drawn in a wheelbarrow, and brought to St. Peter at Milan, and as St. Peter had blessed him with the sign of the cross, anon he was whole and arose.

The Miraculous Cope

Yet other miracles God showed for him by his life. It happed that the son of a gentleman had such a horrible disease in his throat that he might neither speak ne draw his breath, but St. Peter made on him the sign of the cross, and laid his cope on the place where the sore was, and anon he was all whole.

The same gentleman had afterwards a grievous malady and supposed to have died, and made bring to him the said cope, which with great devotion laid it on his breast, and anon he cast out a worm with two heads which was rough, and after he was brought in good health and anon all whole.

The Dumb Man

It happed that a young man was dumb and might not speak a word, wherefore he came to St. Peter, and he put his finger in his mouth and his speech came to him again.

PETER IS APPOINTED INQUISITOR IN LOMBARDY

Now it happed that time that an heresy began much in Lombardy, and that there were much people that were fallen in this error, and the pope sent divers inquisitors thither of the Order of the Friars Preachers, and because that at Milan there were many in number of great power and engine, he sent thither St. Peter as a man wise, constant, and religious, which doubted nothing. And by his virtue he reproved them, and by his wit he understood their malice, and when he had enterprised the office of Inquisition, then began he, as a lion, to seek the heretics over all, and left them not in peace, but in all places, times, and all the manners that he might, he overcame and confounded them.

HIS MARTYRDOM

He is Assassinated by Heretics

When the heretics saw that they might not withstand the Holy Ghost that spake in him, they began to treat how they might bring him to death. Then it happed on a time, as he went from Cumea to Milan for to seek the heretics, he said openly in a predication that the money was delivered for to slay him. And when he approached nigh the city a man of the heretics, which was hired thereto, ran upon him and smote him with his falchion on the head, and gave and made to him many cruel wounds, and he that murmured not ne grudged not, suffered patiently the cruelty of the tyrants, and abandoned or gave himself over to suffer the martyrdom, and said his credo, and in manus tuas commending his spirit unto the hands of our Lord.

And so the tyrant left him in the place for dead, and thus told the tyrant that slew him, and friar Dominic which was his fellow was slain with him.

And after, when the tyrant saw that he removed yet his lips, the cursed and cruel tyrant came again and smote him with his knife to the heart, and anon his spirit mounted in to heaven. Then was it well known that he was a very prophet, for the prophecy of his death that he had pronounced was accomplished.

After, he had the crown of virginity, for as his confessors witness that in all his life he had never done deadly sin. After, he had the crown of a doctor, because he had been a good fast firm preacher and doctor of holy church. After, he had the crown of martyrdom, as it appeared when he was slain.

The renown thereof came into the city of Milan, and the friars, the clergy, and the people, came with procession with so great company of people, that the press was so great that they might not enter into the town, and therefore they left the body in the abbey of St. Simplician, and there it abode all that night, and so he said the day tofore to his fellow.

How His Passion Resembles the Lord’s

The passion of St. Peter ensued much like the passion of our Lord in many manners, for like as our Lord suffered for the truth of the faith that he preached, so St. Peter suffered for the truth of the faith that he defended; and like as Christ suffered of the Jews, so St. Peter suffered of the people of his own country, and of the heretics; Christ suffered in the time of Easter, so did St. Peter. Jesu Christ was sold for thirty pence, and St. Peter was sold for forty pounds. Jesu Christ showed his death to his disciples, and St. Peter showed it in plain predication. Jesu Christ said at his death: Lord God, into thy hands I commend my spirit; right so St. Peter did the same.

MIRACLES OF ST. PETER MARTYR

The Nun Cured of the Gout

There was a nun of Almaine, of the abbey of Oetenbach, which had a grievous gout in her knee, which had holden her a year long and more, and there was no master ne physician that might make her whole. She had great devotion to St. Peter, but she might not go thither because of her obedience, and because her malady was so grievous. Then demanded she how many days' journey was from thence to Milan, and she found that there were fourteen journeys. Then purposed she to make these journeys by her heart and good thoughts, and she said for every journey one hundred paternosters. And always as she went forth by her mind in her journeys, she felt herself more eased, and when she came to the last journey in her mind she found herself all guerished. Then she said that day all the Psalter, and after returned all the journeys like as she had gone by her thoughts in her heart, and after that day she felt never the gout.

The Man Who Voided Blood Continually

There was a man that had a villainous malady beneath, in such wise that he voided blood six days continually; he cried to St. Peter devoutly, and as he had ended his prayer he felt himself all whole; and after he fell asleep, and he saw in his sleep a friar preacher which had a face great and brown, and him seemed that he had been fellow to St. Peter, and verily he was of the same form. This friar gave to him a box of ointment and said to him: Have good hope in St. Peter which late hath shed his blood for the faith, for he hath healed thee of the blood that ran from thee.

And when he awoke he purposed to visit the sepulchre of St. Peter.

The Candles That Would Not Go Out

There was a countess of the castle Massino, which had special devotion to St. Peter and fasted alway his vigil; now it happed that she offered a candle to the altar of St. Peter, and anon the priest for his covetise quenched the candle, but anon after the candle was light again by himself, and he quenched it again once or twice, and always as soon as he was gone, it lighted anon again; then he left that and put out another candle which a knight had offered in the honour of St. Peter, which knight fasted also his even, and the priest assayed two times if he might put it out, but he might not. Then said the knight unto the priest: What, devil, seest thou not well the miracle, that St. Peter will not that they be quenched?

Then was the priest abashed and all the clerks that were there with him, in so much that they fled out of the church and told the miracle overall.

The Exorcism

There was a man called Roba which had lost at play his gown and all the money that he had. When he came into his house and saw himself in so great poverty, he called the devils and gave himself to them; then came to him three devils which cast down Roba upon the soler and after took him by the neck, and it seemed that they would have estrangled him, in such wise that he unnethe might speak.

When they that were in the house beneath heard him cry, they went to him, but the devils said to them that they should return, and they had supposed that Roba had said so, and returned, and after anon he began to cry again; then apperceived they well that they were the devils, and fetched the priest, which conjured in the name of St. Peter, the devils, that they should go their way. Then two of them went away and the third abode, and his friends brought him on the morn to the church of the friars.

Then there came a friar named Guillaume of Vercelli, and this friar Guillaume demanded what was his name, and the fiend answered, “I am called Balcefas.” Then the friar commanded that he should go out, and anon the fiend called him by his name as he had known him, and said: Guillaume, Guillaume, I shall not go out for thee, for he is ours and hath given himself to us. Then he conjured him in the name of St. Peter the martyr, and then anon he went his way and the man was all whole, and took penance for his trespass, and was after a good man.

The Speechless Heretic

St. Peter whiles he lived, it happed that he disputed with a heretic, but this heretic was sharp, aigre, and so full of words that St. Peter might have of him none audience. When he saw that, he departed from the disputation and went and prayed our Lord that he would give to him place and time to sustain the faith, and that the other might be still and speak not; and when he came again he found this heretic in such case that he might not speak. Then the other heretics fled all confused, and the good Christian men thanked our Lord.

The Nun’s Vision of the Assumption

The day that St. Peter was martyred, a nun that was of the city of Florence saw in a vision our Lady that styed up to heaven, and with her two persons, one on the right side and that other on the left, in the habit of friars, which were by her, and when she demanded who it was, a voice said to her that it was the soul of St. Peter, and was found certainly that same day he suffered death, and therefore this nun, which was grievously sick, prayed to St. Peter for to recover her health, and he gat it for her entirely.

The Scholar with the Broken Leg

There was a scholar that went from Maloigne unto Montpellier, and in leaping he was broken that he might not go. Then he remembered of a woman that was healed of a cancer by a little of the earth of the sepulchre of St. Peter, and anon he had trust in God, and cried to St. Peter in such manner as she had done, and anon he was whole.

The Man with Swollen Legs

In the city of Compostella there was a man that had great legs swollen like a barrel, and his womb like a woman with child, and his face foul and horrible, so that he seemed a monster to look on. And it happed that he went with a staff begging his bread, and in a place where he demanded on a time alms of a good woman, she saw him so swollen that she said that it were better for him to have a pit to be buried in than any other thing, for he was no better than dead, yet nevertheless, said she, I counsel thee that thou go into the church of the friars preachers, and pray St. Peter that he make thee whole, and have in him very faith and I hope he shall make thee all whole.

This sick man went in the morn to the church, but he found it shut and closed. Then he slept at the door, and he saw in his sleep that a man in the habit of a friar brought him into the church, and covered him with his cope, and when he awoke he found himself in the church and was perfectly whole, whereof much people marvelled because they had seen so short time tofore, him like as he should have died forthwith.

There be many more miracles which were over great a labour to write all, for they would occupy a great book.

1 "Arians" were a heterodox sect from long before Peter's time. His problem was with the "Cathars," who promoted the kind of dualistic beliefs here expressed by his uncle.

Appeal for a Worldwide Crusade of Prayers for the Upcoming Conclave

As laity, our only input into the Conclave is prayer, so Bishop Schneider is calling for a Worldwide Crusade of Prayer for a Catholic Pope.

From One Peter Five

By His Lordship Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mary Most Holy in Astana

May the Lord in His infinite mercy look upon the prayers, tears and sacrifices of all true Catholics who love our Mother Church, who in these days humbly and confidently implore the infinite Mercy of God to grant us a new Pope, who burning with the zeal for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls, will “strengthen the brethren in faith” (Luke 22:32), being uncompromisingly faithful to his name and duty as Successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ on earth.

May through a new Pope, burning with the zeal for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls, the Lord defend the flock of Christ from the intruding wolves of unbelieving and worldly churchmen who unabashedly are burning incense before the idols of the ideologies of the age, spiritually poisoning thereby the life of the Church, which resembles to a storm-lashed ship, in which “the bilgewater of the vices increased, and the rotten planks already sound of shipwreck,” as Pope St. Gregory the Great upon assuming the Papal office described the state of the Roman Church in his time.

May through a new Pope, burning with the zeal for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls, the Lord come to the assistance of the Apostolic See, which in our day is spiritually laying in chains, resembling to the material chains in which the Apostle Peter were put at the beginning of the life of the Church, freeing the Apostolic See from the chains of the alignment with the materialistic, morally depraved and anti-Christian globalist agenda of this world.

May the Lord grant us a new Pope, who burning with the zeal for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls, will be ready to defend the integrity of the Catholic Faith, of the Catholic Liturgy and of the Church discipline, if necessary, at the cost of the supreme witness of his life out of love for Jesus Christ and the immortal souls.

May all true sons and daughters of the Church implore the grace of the election of a new Pope, who will be fully Catholic, fully Apostolic and fully Roman. This they can do through prayers, especially with Holy Hours of Eucharistic Adoration, the Holy Rosary, priests and bishops through offering the sacrifice of the Mass in this intention, and also through personal sacrifices, which can consist in patiently bearing one’s life’s crosses, corporal and spiritual pains, corporal mortifications, fasting and especially acts of supernatural love for God and the neighbor.

We believe that the Lord will come to the assistance of His Church, which in our day resembles a ship in the night “in the midst of the sea, laboring in rowing, for the wind is against her.” May the Lord come again “about the fourth watch of the night, walking upon the sea, and saying: Have a good heart, it is I, fear not.” (Mk. 6:47-50)

April 26, 2025
+ Athanasius Schneider

St Peter the Martyr ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

Tuesday of the Second Week After Easter ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

St Peter the Martyr

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:

The hero deputed this day, by the Church, to greet our Risen Lord, was so valiant in the Good Fight, that Martyrdom is part of his name. He is known as Peter the Martyr; so that we cannot speak of him, without raising the echo of victory. He was put to death by heretics, and is the grand tribute paid to our Redeemer, by the 13th Century. Never was there a triumph hailed with greater enthusiasm than this. The Martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury excited the admiration of the Faithful of the preceding Century, for nothing was so dear to our Forefathers as the Liberty of the Church; the Martyrdom of St. Peter was celebrated with a like intensity of praise and joy. Let us hearken to the fervid eloquence of the great Pontiff, Innocent IV, who thus begins the Bull of the Martyr’s Canonization: “The truth of the Christian Faith, manifested, as it has been, by great and frequent miracles, is now beautified by the new merit of a new Saint. Lo! a combatant of these our own times comes, bringing us new and great and triumphant signs. The voice of his blood shed (for Christ) is heard, and the fame of his Martyrdom is trumpeted, throughout the world. The land is not silent that sweateth with his blood; the country that produced so noble a warrior resounds with his praise; yea, the very sword that did the deed of parricide proclaims his glory. … Mother Church has great reason to rejoice, and abundant matter for gladness; she has cause to sing a new canticle to the Lord, and a hymn of fervent praise to her God; … the Christian people has cause to give forth devout songs to its Creator. A sweet fruit, gathered in the garden of Faith, has been set upon the table of the Eternal King: a grape-bunch, taken from the vineyard of the Church, has filled the royal cup with new wine. … The flourishing Order of Preachers has produced a red rose, whose sweetness is most grateful to the King; and from the Church here on earth, there has been taken a stone, which, after being cut and polished, has deserved a place of honor in the temple of heaven.” (The Apostolic Constitution Magnis et crebris, of the 9th of the Kalends of April, 1253.)

Such was the language wherewith the supreme Pontiff spoke of the new Martyr, and the people responded by celebrating his Feast with extraordinary devotion. It was kept as were the ancient Festivals, that is, all servile work was forbidden upon it. The Churches served by the Fathers of the Dominican Order were crowded on his Feast; and the Faithful took little branches with them, that they might be blessed, in memory of the Triumph of Peter the Martyr. This custom is still observed; and the branches blessed by the Dominicans, on this day, are venerated as being a protection to the houses where they are kept.

How are we to account for all this fervent devotion of the people towards St. Peter? It was because he died in defense of the faith; and nothing was so dear to the Christians of those days as faith. Peter had received the charge to take up all the heretics, who, at that time, were causing great disturbance and scandal in the country round about Milan. They were called Cathari, but, in reality, were Manicheans; their teachings were detestable, and their loves of the most immoral kind. Peter fulfilled his duty with a firmness and equity which soon secured him the hatred of the heretics; and when he fell a victim to his holy courage, a cry of admiration and gratitude was heard throughout Christendom. Nothing could be more devoid of truth than the accusations brought by the enemies of the Church and their indiscreet abettors, against the measures formerly decreed by the public law of Catholic nations, in order to foil the efforts made by evil-minded men to injure the true Faith. In those times, no tribunal was so popular as that whose office it was to protect the Faith, and to put down all them that attacked it. It was to the Order of St. Dominic that this office was mainly entrusted; and well may they be proud of the honor of having so long held one so beneficial to the salvation of mankind. How many of its members have met with a glorious death in the exercise of their stern duty! St. Peter is the first of the Martyrs given by the Order for this holy cause: his name, however, heads a long list of others who were his Brethren in Religion, his successors in the defense of the Faith, and his followers to martyrdom. The coercive measures that were once and successfully used to defend the Faithful from heretical teachers, have long since ceased to be used: but for us Catholics, our judgment of them must surely be that of the Church. She bids us today honor as a Martyr one of her Saints who was put to death while resisting the wolves that threatened the sheep of Christ’s fold; she we not be guilty of disrespect to our Mother if we dared to condemn what she so highly approves? Far, then, be from us that cowardly truckling to the spirit of the age, which would make us ashamed of the courageous efforts made by our forefathers for the preservation of the Faith! Far from us that childish readiness to believe the calumnies of Protestants against an Institution which they naturally detest! Far from us that deplorable confusion of ideas which puts truth and error on an equality and, from the fact that error can have no rights, concludes that truth can claim none!

The following is the account given us by the Church of the virtues and heroism of St. Peter the Martyr.

Peter was born at Verona, of parents who were infected with the heresy of the Manichees; but he himself, almost from his very infancy, fought against heresies. When he was seven years old, he was one day asked by an uncle, who was a heretic, what they taught him at the school to which he went. He answered, that they taught him the Symbol of the Christian Faith. His father and uncle did all they could, both by promises and threats, to shake the firmness of his faith: but all to no purpose. When old enough, he went to Bologna, in order to prosecute his studies. Whilst there, he was called by the Holy Ghost to a life of perfection, and obeyed the call by entering into the Order of St. Dominic.

Great were his virtues as a religious man. So careful was he to keep both body and soul from whatsoever could sully their purity, that his conscience never accused him of committing a mortal sin. He mortified his body by fasting and watching and applied his mind to the contemplation of heavenly things. He labored incessantly for the salvation of souls and was gifted with a special grace for refuting heretics. He was so earnest when preaching, that people used to go in crowds to hear him, and numerous were the conversions that ensued.

The ardor of his faith was such, that he wished he might die for it, and earnestly did he beg that favor from God. This death, which he foretold a short time before in one of his sermons, was inflicted on him by the heretics. Whilst returning from Como to Milan, in the discharge of the duties of the holy Inquisition, he was attacked by a wicked assassin, who struck him twice on the head with a sword. The Symbol of faith, which he had confessed with manly courage when but a child, he now began to recite with his dying lips; and having received another wound in his side, he went to receive a Martyr’s palm in heaven, in the year of our Lord 1252. Numerous miracles attested his sanctity, and his name was enrolled the following year by Innocent IV, in the list of the martyrs.

The following Antiphons and Responsory are taken from the Dominican Breviary:

ANT. There rises a light from smoke, and a rose from the midst of briars: Peter, the Doctor and Martyr, is born of infidel parents.

ANT. A soldier once in the ranks of the Order of Preachers, he now is joined to the troop of the heavenly army.

ANT. His mind angelic, his tongue fruitful, his life apostolic, his death most precious.

℟. Whilst in search of Samson’s foxes, he is slain by the wicked: the lictor strikes the holy head, the blood of the just man is shed: * Thus he holds the palm of triumph, whilst dying for the faith.

℣. The brave soldier is unconquered: at the hour of death, he courageously confesses the faith, for which he suffers. Thus he holds the palm of triumph, whilst dying for the faith.

The victory was thine, O Peter! and thy zeal for the defense of holy Faith was rewarded. Thou ardently desiredst to shed thy blood for the holiest of causes, and, by such a sacrifice, to confirm the Faithful of Christ in their religion. Our Lord satisfied thy desire; he would even have thy martyrdom be in the festive Season of the Resurrection of our Divine Lamb, that his glory might add luster to the beauty of thy holocaust. When the death blow fell upon thy venerable head, and thy generous blood was flowing from the wounds, thou didst write on the ground the first words of the Creed, for whose holy truth thou wast giving thy life.

Protector of the Christian people! what other motive hadst thou, in all thy labors, but charity? What else but a desire to defend the weak from danger, induced thee not only to preach against error, but to drive its teachers from the flock? How many simple souls, who were receiving divine truth from the teaching of the Church, have been deceived by the lying sophistry of heretical doctrine, and have lost the Faith? Surely, the Church would do her utmost to ward off such dangers from her children: she would do all she could to defend them from enemies, who were bent on destroying the glorious inheritance, which had been handed down to them by millions of Martyrs? She knew the strange tendency that often exists in the heart of fallen man to love error; whereas Truth, though of itself unchanging, is not sure of its remaining firmly in the mind, unless it be defended by learning or by faith. As to learning, there are but few who possess it; and as to faith, error is ever conspiring against, and, of course, with the appearance of truth. In the Christian Ages, it would have been deemed not only criminal, but absurd, to grant to error the liberty which is due only to truth; and that they were in authority considered it a duty to keep the weak from danger by removing them all occasions of a fall—just as the father of a family keeps his children from coming in contact with wicked companions, who could easily impose on their inexperience, and lead them to evil under the name of good.

Obtain for us, O holy Martyr, a keen appreciation of the precious gift of Faith—that element which keeps us in the way of salvation. May we zealously do everything that lies in our power to preserve it, both in ourselves and in them that are under our care. The love of this holy Faith has grown cold in so many hearts; and frequent intercourse with heretics or free-thinkers has made them think and speak of matters of Faith in a very loose way. Pray for them, O Peter, that they may recover that fearless love of the Truths of Religion which should be one of the chief traits of the Christian character. If they be living in a country where the modern system is introduced of treating all Religions alike, that is, of giving equal rights to error and to truth—let them be all the more courageous in professing the truth, and detesting the errors opposed to the truth. Pray for us, O holy Martyr, that there may be enkindled within us an ardent love of that Faith without which it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) Pray that we may become all earnestness in this duty, which is of vital importance to salvation—that thus our Faith may daily gain strength within us, till at length we shall merit to see in heaven what we have believed unhesitatingly on earth.

Tuesday of the Second Week After Easter

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:

℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia.

℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia.

What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? (Zechariah 13:6) — Such was the exclamation of the Prophet Zacharias, who lived five hundred years before the Birth of our Emmanuel: and we are almost forced to use it, now that we behold the Wounds that shine so brightly in the glorified Body of our Risen Lord. His hands and feet bear the mark of the Nails, and his side that of the Spear; the Wounds are as visible and as deep as when he was first taken down from the Cross. Put in thy finger hither, said Jesus, holding out his wounded hands to Thomas; put thy hand into my Side! (John 20:27)

We assisted at this wonderful interview on Sunday last; — the incredulity of the Disciple was made an occasion for the most incontestable proof of the Resurrection: but it also taught us that when our Lord arose from the Tomb, he retained in his glorified Flesh the stigmata of his Passion. Consequently, he will retain them forever, inasmuch as no change have further place in his Person. What he was the moment after his Resurrection, that will he be for all eternity. But we are not to suppose that these sacred stigmata, which tell of his humiliation on Calvary, are in the slightest degree a lessening of his glory. He retains them because he wishes to do so; and he wishes it because these Wounds, far from attesting defeat or weakness, proclaim his irresistible power and triumph. He has conquered Death; the Wounds received in the combat are the record of his victory. He will enter heaven on the day of his Ascension, and the rays of light which beam from his Wounds will dazzle the eyes of even the Angels. In like manner, as the Holy Fathers tell us, (St Augustine De Civitate Dei, Lib. xxii, Cap. xxix., St Ambrose In Lucam, Lib. x) his Martyrs, who have imitated him in vanquishing Death, will also shine with special brightness in those parts of their bodies where they were tortured.

And is not our Risen Jesus to exercise, from his throne in heaven, that sublime Mediatorship for which he assumed our Human Nature? is he not to be ever disarming the anger of his Father justly irritated by our sins? is he not to make perpetual intercession for us, and obtain for mankind the graces necessary for salvation? Divine Justice must be satisfied; and what would become of poor sinners, were it not that the Man-God, by showing the precious Wounds on his Body, stays the thunderbolts of heaven, and makes mercy preponderate over judgment? (James 2:13) O sacred Wounds! the handiwork of our sins, and now our protection! we shed bitter tears when we first beheld you on Calvary; but we now adore you as the five glories of our Emmanuel! Hail most precious Wounds! our hope and our defense!

And yet, the day will come when these sacred Stigmata, which are now the object of the Angels’ admiration, will be again shown to mankind, and many will look upon them with fear; for, as the Prophet says: They shall look upon Him, whom they have pierced. (Zacharias 12:12) These men, who, during life, heeded neither the Sufferings of the Passion, nor the Joys of the Resurrection, but rather despised and insulted them, will have treasured up for themselves the most terrible vengeance—for could it be that a God could be crucified, and rise again, and both to no purpose? We can understand how sinners will say, on that last day: Fall upon us, ye mountains! and ye hills, cover us! (Luke 23:30) — “hide us from the sight of these Wounds, which now dart upon us the lightnings of angry justice!”

O sacred Wounds of our Risen Jesus! be a source of mercy and joy, on that dread day, to all them that spent the Easters of their earthly pilgrimage in rising to a holy life! Happy the Disciples, who were privileged to gaze upon you during these forty days! and happy we, if we venerate and love you! — Let us here borrow the devout words of St. Bernard: (In Cantica, Serm. lxi) “Where can I that am weak find security and rest, but in the Wounds of Jesus? The greater is his power to save, the surer am I in my dwelling there. The world howls at me, the body weighs me down, the devil sets snares to take me; but I fall not, for I am on the firm Rock. I have sinned a grievous sin; my conscience will throw me into trouble, but not into despair, for I will remember the Wounds of my Lord. yes, he was wounded for our iniquities! (Isaiah 53:5) What I have not of mine own, I take to myself from the Heart of my Jesus, for it is overflowing with mercy. Neither are there wanting outlets, through which it may flow—they have pierced his Hands and Feet, (Psalms 21:17) and, with a spear, they have opened his Side, enabling me, through these chinks, to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone, (Deuteronomy 32:13) that is, to taste and see how sweet is the Lord. (Psalms 33:9) He thought thoughts of peace, (Jeremiah 29:11) and I knew it not, for who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? (Romans 11:34) But the Nail that wounded, is the key that opened to me to see the design of the Lord. I looked through the aperture, and what saw I? The Nail and Wound both told me that truly God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. (2 Corinthians 5:19) The Iron pierced his soul, (Psalms 104:18) and reached even to his Heart; so that henceforth he cannot but know how to compassionate with me in my infirmities. The secret of his Heart is revealed by the Wounds of his Body; the great mystery of mercy is revealed—the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us. (Luke 1:78) What, O Lord, could more clearly show me, than do thy Wounds, that thou art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy?” (Psalms 85:5)

Let us express our Paschal joy, today, in the words of a charming Sequence of the eleventh century. We have taken it from a Missal of the Abbey of Murbach.

SEQUENCE

Let the Church of Christ sing a canticle to her Beloved, who, out of love for her, left as he is, clad himself with our Nature, and cast off the Synagogue.

The Sacraments of thy Church, O Christ, flowed from thy sacred Side. She safely through this world’s sea, on the wood of thy Cross.

Out of tender love for this thy Spouse, thou wast shut up in Gaza; but thou didst break its gates: and, to deliver her from her enemies, thou confrontedst the tyrant Goliath, and with a single stone didst lay him low.

Behold, O Christ, the whole Church, under the shade of the pleasant Vine, enjoys peace, and safely lives in the garden. By thy Resurrection, O Lord, King of kings, thou openest the long-closed garden of thy flowery Paradise.