Great reading for the suffering!

This is a small section from a book I would like to promote, a book that made a vast impact on the spiritual life of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. The book is called "The end of the present world and the mysteries of the life to come" and was written in 1881 by Charles Marie Antoine Arminjon and translated from French into English in 2010 by tradibooks.

MYSTERY OF SUFFERING, part III, page 248: 

Let us, then, rejoice in our tribulations, 
and let us measure our future greatness 
by our present affliction and by the severity of our trial. 

In order to mitigate our ills and lessen our trials in this vale of sorrow and misery, the merciful Saviour desired to give us a sure pledge of His tenderness, and to offer us a guarantee of the heavenly bliss which He is preparing for us. This guarantee, this real testimony of the Beatific Vision, which made the souls of the saints sigh with joy, is not the brilliant successes of this world, or temporal glory or happiness, but trials and sufferings.
           The saints did not aspire to any other goods, and wanted no other wages for their labours. If they met one of their friends they would say: "Come, brother; our dwelling-place is in the hollow of  rocks, where we sleep on wet ground and where there is no bed, we feed on wild herbs, and for our refreshment we have but the water of the springs; around our dwellings we hear the roars of wild beasts, which are however, less fearsome than inhuman tyrants and barbarians, whose hatred and implacable ferocity pursue us unremittingly; but come without fear, there are indiscribable joys and consolations, for there is indescribable suffering."
           At first sight, language of this kind does violence to reason, and throws all our human judgements into confusion.
           Yet the saints, living on these lofty heights of faith, saw the events of the present world and the destinies of mankind from a different vantage and perspective. They judged the things of time by their relationship with those of eternity and they understood the profound meaning of one of the most sublime sayings of Scripture: Trial worketh hope. (Romans 5:3,4) Without trial there is no hope..

For further reading
these pages (248-257) can be read online in a preview if you click here.
(If you only get the first page in the preview, you can google the first line: "IN order to mitigate our ills and lessen our trials in this vale of sorrows", then click on the first top-link https://books.google.se/books?isbn=2952916217 and press "x" on the clear search to get all the pages.)

Because page 254 is missing in the preview, I have transcribed it for you below:
This pain, by crushing us in its grip, wrenches us away from love from present things; it is the sword which cuts through the clouds, and half-opens other prospects for us, by raising us up to higher hopes. In the fire of tribulation, all the wealth and all the goods for which we yearned so ardently appear as they really are, and become in our eyes mere smoke and empty shadows. Human life seems to us nothing more than a "moment" in the words of St. Paul. But that moment is a fruitful bud: watered by our tears, it will unfold into an immeasurable weight of glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
        Oh, let us, in short, cease to accuse the Creator of harshness and injustice. If God puts us to the test and removes what we hold dear, if He makes the bitter dregs of dissappointments and every heart-rending pain cascade down upon us, it is by no means in order to rob us, eo quo nolumus expoliari, the Apostle emphasizes, but in order the sooner and the more strikingly to reclothe us in immortality, as in an outer garment: sed supervestiri. (2 Corinthians 5:2)
          Let us take the case of a great artist who wants to make a statue. Beneath his hand he has a piece of coarse, shapeless marble; he takes up his chisel, strikes vigorously and mercilessly and chips away the fragments of stone until the idea which inspires him is reflected in the lines of the statue and pours out that grace and majesty which will be the admiration of the world.
          God does the same: holding in His paternal hand the chisel of mortification, He cuts into the quick of our affections. He lets Himself be moved neither by our groans nor by our cries. Mercilessly, He sunders those links, those friends, the health or reputation, which were as living parts of ourselves. In the fire of pain, He absorbs the attachments, the secret and invisible links which draw us into love of perishable , earthly things. He melts them down, violently eliminating all that remains in us of dross, human alloy and sensual affections, in order that our souls, thus spiritualized, may become like a well-prepared canvas, on which the rays of divine goodness will one day succeed in leaving their imprint; ut absorbeatur quod mortale est a vita - that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 

How to convert a pagan

As you may have noticed, paganism is on the rise in many places of the world, and the Nordic region is no exception. Channels like RedIceRadio are trying to discredit Christianity by using un-cronological wikipedia- and google searches to claim that paganism came before monotheism, when our Faith clearly teaches us that paganism is a degeneration that took place after the world separated from their Creator. When Christianity came to Scandinavia, it was only reclaiming what had always belonged to the One True Universal God. Modern paganism is still not like the religious believes of ancient times. One point I have to make, is that there are no ancient sources for Nordic pagan cults. The best information we can find is from the 10th Century, with claims of oral tradition from the 8th Century. The most detailed information we have of Nordic paganism is from Christian sources. A second point, is that modern pagans are not very religious. They believe that their pagan believes are merely an expression of the folk souls, what the people of the area have in common, which naturally evolves into customs and practices. But they don't really believe that Odin is a real god in the true sense of the word. So if they "sacrifice" beverages on old grave sites, it's just for cultural purposes. As a religious Catholic, on the other hand, I do believe that many of these pagan gods existed and communicated with people. They are real demons, and they still exist. I find this letter, written to Saint Boniface in the 8th Century A.D. very helpful, when communicating with pagans, and wanted to share it with anyone interested:

    

Bishop Daniel of Winchester advises Boniface on the method of conversion (723-724)

To the venerable and beloved prelate Boniface, Daniel, servant of the people of God.

I rejoice, beloved brother and fellow priest, that you are deserving of the highest prize of virtue. You have approached the hitherto stony and barren hearts of the pagans, trusting in the plentitude of your faith, and have labored untiringly with the plowshare of Gospel preaching, striving by your daily toil to change them into fertile fields. To you may well be applied the Gospel saying: ”The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” etc. Yet a part of the second prize shall be given, not unfittingly, to those who support so pious and useful a work with what help they can give and supplement the poverty of those laborers with means sufficient to carry on zealously the work of preaching which has already been begun and to raise up new sons to Christ.

And so I have with affectionate good will taken pains to suggest to Your Prudence a few things that may show you how, according to my ideas, you may most readily overcome the resistance of those uncivilized people. Do not begin by arguing with them about the origin of their gods, false as those are, but let them affirm that some of them were begotten by others through the intercourse of male with female, so that you may at least prove that gods and goddesses born after the manner of men are men and not gods and, since they did not exist before, must have had a beginning.

Then, when they have been compelled to learn that their gods had a beginning since some where begotten by others, they must be asked in the same way whether they believe that the world had a beginning or was always in existence without beginning. If it had a beginning, who created it? Certainly they can find no place where begotten gods could dwell before the universe was made. I mean by ”universe” not merely this visible earth and sky, but the whole vast extent of space, and this the heathen too can imagine in their thoughts. But if they argue that the world always existed without beginning, you should strive to refute this and to convince them by many documents and arguments. Ask your opponents who governed the world before the gods were born, who was the ruler? How could they bring under their dominion or subject to their law a universe that had always existed before them? And whence, or from whom or when, was the first god or goddess set up or begotten? Now, do they imagine that gods and goddesses still go on begetting others? Or, if they are no longer begetting, when or why did they cease from intercourse and births? And if they are still producing offspring, then the number of gods must already be infinite. Among so many and different gods, mortal men cannot know which is the most powerful, and one should be extremely careful not to offend that most powerful one.

Do they think the gods are to be worshiped for the sake of temporal and immediate good or for future eternal blessedness? If for temporal things, let them tell in what respect the heathen are better off than Christians. What gain do the heathen suppose accrues to their gods from their sacrifices, since the gods already possess everything? Or why do the gods leave it in the power of their subjects to say what kind of tribute shall be paid? If they are lacking in such things, why do they not themselves choose more valuable ones? If they have plenty, then there is no need to suppose that the gods can be pleased with such offerings of victims.

These and many similar things which it would take long to enumerate you ought to put before them, not offensively or so as to anger them, but calmly and with great moderation. At intervals you should compare their superstitions with our Christian doctrines, touching upon them from the flank, as it were, so that the pagans, thrown into confusion rather than angered, may be ashamed of their absurd ideas and may understand that their infamous ceremonies and fables are well known to us.

This point is also to be made: if the gods are all-powerful, beneficent, and just, they not only reward their worshipers but punish those who reject them. If, then, they do this in temporal matters, how is it that they spare us Christians who are turning almost the whole earth away from their worship and overthrowing their idols? And while these, that is, the Christians, possess lands rich in oil and wine and abounding in other resources, they have left to those, that is, the pagans, lands stiff with cold, where their gods, driven out of the world, are falsely supposed to rule. They are also frequently to be reminded of the supremacy of the Christian world, in comparison with which they themselves, very few in number, are still involved in their ancient errors.

If they boast that the rule of the gods over those peoples has been, as it were, lawful from the beginning, show them that the whole world was once given over to idol-worship, until by the grace of Christ and through the knowledge of one God, its Almighty Founder and Ruler, it was enlightened, brought to life, and reconciled to God. For what is the daily baptism of the children of believing Christians but purification of each one from the uncleanness and guilt in which the whole world was once involved?

I have been glad to call these matters to your attention, my brother, out of my affection for you, though I suffer from bodily infirmities so that I may well say with the Psalmist: ”I know, O Lord, that Thy judgements are right and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.” Wherefore I earnestly pray Your Reverence and all those who serve Christ in spirit to make supplication for me that the Lord who gave me to drink of the wine of remorse, may be swift in mercy, that He who was just in condemnation may graciously pardon, and by His mercy enable me to sing in gratitude the words of the Prophet: ”In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.”

I pray for your welfare in Christ, my very dear colleague, and beg you to bear me in mind.

A holy Norwegian priest!

I recently discovered a Norwegian Catholic priest who lived a very saintly life and died in Belgium in 1907. He was a convert from the Lutheran heresy, and one of his prayers for the conversion of the Scandinavian peoples, were actually given an indulgence of 300 days by Pope Leo XIII. The priest's name was Karl-Halfdan Schilling, and I have a link here to read his life-story.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35533494/A-Priest-from-Norway-Fr-Karl-M-Schilling-by-Sigrid-Undset

And this is Father Schillings' prayer for Scandinavia, with an indulgence attached to it of 300 days, decreed by Pope Leo XIII:

"Good Jesus, I humbly fall at Your feet and pray You by Your Holy Wounds and by the Precious Blood which You have shed for the whole world, to look in mercy on the Scandinavian peoples. Led astray hundreds of years ago, they are now separated from Your Church and denied the inestimable benefit of the Sacrament of Your Body and Blood, and also the many other means of grace which You have instituted for the consolation of the faithful in life and in death. Remember, O Saviour of the world, that for these souls also You have shed Your Precious Blood and have endured untold sufferings. Good Shepherd, lead these Your sheep back to the wholesome pastures of Your Church, so that they may be one flock together with us under Your Vicar here on earth - the Bishop of Rome, who in the person of the Holy Apostle Peter was commissioned by You to care both for the lambs and for the sheep. Hear, o merciful Jesus, these our petitions, which we make to You with full trust in the love of Your Sacred Heart towards us, and to Your Holy Name be glory, honor and praise for all eternity."

PRAYER:

 O merciful and eternal God, Who on calling to the True Faith Your Venerable Karl M. Schilling, have made him a model of Christian virtues and an apostle of good, we supplicate You to deign to glorify him on earth by granting us the grace... which we ardently implore, through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The best time to be alive!

Of course all generations face challenges, and to be Catholic in a time when many, most of the time, don't even have a Mass to go to, is certainly a great punishment for our sins. A generation who has not been found worthy to celebrate the great Sacrifice, to go to Confession on a regular basis, to have the last Sacrament in time of death.. I keep reminding myself that God put me on earth during this time, at this place on earth because it is the very best time for me to live, serve and be saved from the fires of hell. Why this is the best time for me, I do not know, but it is the same for every soul. You have been given times and borders for a reason. God knows why, and that is all that is important. And so I need to remind myself that this is my God-given time. Thank you God! Help me to use it well, to be the best that I can be through Your Grace and to never give up, compromise or despair. Remember, when God called Joshua He commanded him to "be strong and of good courage, to not be afraid nor dismayed!" I decided that the following words deserved a blogpost on their own: From the publishers introduction to the book "The Catholic Controversy", by St. Francis de Sales..

Salesian tradition tells us that when St. Francis de Sales as a young priest arrived at Chablais, France in 1594, only 27 persons out of 72 000 were still Catholic (The rest were Calvinist), but after 4 years of his efforts, the figure was exactly reversed, there remaining only 27 Calvinists: 72 000 souls had returned to the True Faith. It is one of the most remarkable conversion stories in all Catholic history. People were afraid to listen to him preach, and so he dedicated himself to writing pamphlets to slide under the doors. He kept in mind a warning of Vincent of Lerins:

"Teach, however, what thou hast learnt; that whilst thou sayest things in a new way thou say not new things."

St. Francis begins his argument with an examination of mission from God, showing that the Catholic Church possesses this mission and the Protestant sects do not. He also delineates eight Rules of Faith- Holy Scripture, the Apostolic Traditions, the authority of the Church, the authority of Councils, the authority of the ancient Fathers of the Church, the authority of the Pope, miracles, and the harmony between faith and reason- showing how all point to the Catholic Faith as the divinely given religion. He states: "Ultimately, however, the sole and true Rule of right-believing is the Word of God preached by the Church of God." But why, he asks, should anyone bow to the supposed authority of a Luther or a Calvin?
         Our admiration of St. Francis´ technique must not blind us to the fact that his weapons were first of all spiritual. He had planned to take Geneva by love- "Love will shake the walls of Geneva." "Ardent prayer must break down the walls of Geneva and brotherly love charge them.." "But the way to this is the propitiation of Almighty God by our penances." A huge mural in the Visitation Monastery of Thonon in the Chablais gives us another clue to the Saint's success: It pictures him and his cousin Louis invoking the Guardian Angel of the diocese as they approached the region for the first time. And it will be recalled that in his youth St. Francis had promised Our Lady to pray the Rosary daily.
         There were also miracles. A baby, the child of a Protestant mother, had died without baptism. St. Francis had gone to speak to the mother about Catholic doctrine, and prayed that the child would be restored to life long enough to receive Baptism. His prayer was granted and the whole family became Catholic.

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee.

Blessed art Thou among women

and Blessed is the Fruit of thy womb Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen

             

St. Ignatius of Antioch sends a letter to the Virgin Mary!

The Golden Legend

The Life of Saint Ignatius.

Here followeth the Life of Saint Ignatius bishop, and first the interpretation of his name: Ignatius is said as one suffering fire and burning, for he was embraced and all esprised of the divine and burning love of God.

Of Saint Ignatius, who suffered martyrdom between the year 110 and 118 A.D. under the rule of Trajan.

Saint Ignatius was disciple of Saint John Evangelist, and was bishop of Antioch. And after that, as some say, he sent a letter unto our Lady or an epistle in this wise: "Unto Mary the Virgin, that bare Jesu Christ in her body, I, humble Ignatius, her servant, send greeting, I, that am yet a novice in the faith and disciple to Jesu Christ and to John thy dear friend, desire to have of thee some comfort and consolation of some good enseignment and teaching. For of Jesus thy Son I have heard say many marvels, of which I am enjoyed to hear only of thee, which hast been always in his company. Thou knowest well the secret desires of him, thou hast been plainly informed, and they that be yet young in the faith with me trust much to be endoctrined of thee, and informed in their creance and belief: Lady, God salute thee."

And to this letter answered the glorious Virgin Mary in this manner: "Ignatius, good disciple of Jesus and his special friend, the humble handmaid of Jesu Christ sendeth to thee greeting. I do thee to wit that all that John hath said to thee of Jesu Christ and all that thou hast learned of him is true doctrine and thing certain. Go alway in good creance, and believe and keep firmly the promise of thy christian faith, and do thy works according to the same. I shall come with Saint John for to visit thee and other christian men with thee. Hold thee always well in the faith and in good works, and let no persecution ne adversity that thou shalt suffer move thee from thy faith ne from thy creance, but have solace and affiance in Jesu Christ thy Saviour." This was the answer of his letter.

Saint Ignatius was a man right well learned, and the third bishop after Saint Peter, the apostle of the church of Antioch, and much desired to be a martyr for the faith of Jesu Christ. It happed that Trajan, which was emperor of Rome, passed by Antioch, to whom Ignatius showed to him and blamed of this, that he persecuted christian men, wherefor the emperor did him to be taken and put in irons, and in that wise by ten knights to be led to Rome. There he was presented tofore the emperor and all the senators of Rome, and was constrained by promises, by menaces, and by torments, many and great an horrible, for to adore the idols. Saint Ignatius showed to them clearly that their gods had been thieves, ribalds, and men of abominable and evil life, and that they were damned in hell, and that they had been in great error in this, that of so cursed men they made their gods and worshipped devils, and had forsaken God which had made and created all the world, and his blessed Son which in human nature had redeemed and saved the world.

Finally, after this, that he had been tormented by fire, and by beating and prison, the emperor did send for the Romans in a place and there did do set Saint Ignatius, and did do bring thither two lions for to devour him. But he had never dread for death ne for other torments, of which he had suffered many, but was always comforted for to die for the love of Jesu Christ. And he said at the last: I am wheat of Jesu Christ, which ought to be grounden between the teeth of these beasts, by which I may be pure bread for to be presented to my Lord; and anon the lions came and strangled him without tearing of his flesh, or anything hurting it, wherefor Trajan had great marvel and departed from the place. It is read that Saint Ignatius in all his torments and all the pains of martyrdom that he suffered, that his tongue never ceased to name the name of Jesus, and when they that tormented him demanded him wherefore he named this name so oft, he answered: Know ye for certain that I have in my heart this name written, and therefore I may not leave to name this name oft. And because hereof, when he was dead, they that heard these words opened his body and drew out his heart and cut it open, and they found within the name of Jesus written with fair letters of gold, for which miracle many received the faith of Jesu Christ.

Of this saint saith Saint Bernard upon the psalm, Qui habitat: "Saint Ignatius, martyr of God glorious, is of great merit, which was minister to the disciple that Jesus so much loved, and in his epistles, the which he sent to the glorious Virgin Mary, he saluted her as mother that had borne Jesu Christ and she resaluted him again, in sign that he was a person of great honour, of great dignity, and of great authority. The body of whom was honorably buried of christian men, to the worship of Jesu Christ which is blessed in secula seculorum. Amen."

Saint Lucy! The Golden Legend, 1260

In Norway, and in the other Nordic countries, a strange custom has developed during the centuries, where the feast of St. Lucy has been-and still is being celebrated on the day of her martyrdom, the 13th of December. This Catholic Saint from Sicily was martyred only 20 years old, in the city of Syracuse in the year og Our Lord 303. She died for her faith, more specificly for her vow of virginity and for refusing to give sacrifice to the idols. She was canonized by the Church shortly after her martyrdom, and her name is still mentioned daily during the Catholic Mass Liturgy.

              So why would protestants celebrate the memory of a Catholic Saint? They do not care about canonizations, nor do they care about celebacy. The answer is that they are not really celebrating this great virgin Saint in a true Christian way. Like all others who have lost their bonds with Apostolic Tradition, they are mixing up elements of truth with fables and superstition. December 13th is the longest and darkest night of the year, and the Nordic population has observed Catholic sailors and others celebrating their Masses with parades of candles, to celebrate a woman whoes name means "light". This has merely appealed to them as something nice in the fear and darkness og the night, and so they have adopted a similar custom. Norwegians would other wise live in fear this night, since an old superstitious belief taught them that if they were not ready with their Christmas-preparations before the 13th, or if their children had been notty, a terrible demonic woman-being from the underworld named "Lussi" would come up to the surface to punish the people in their homes. Norwegians would therefore paint crosses on their door and stay inside in fear and terror of this devilish demon. The night would be called "lussi long-night", and the saffran rolls that are being handed out to people during processions of singing with candles in your hand or on your head, probably to resemble the generosity of Saint Lucy, is still named "Lussekatter" or "Lussi-cats", and points more to the direction of the underworld demon than of the true and generous Saint lucy.  
                Even young boys, named "star-boys" take part in these processions, dressed up in white with pointy hats on their heads, something that probably comes from old Napolitan sailor-songs of a young boy who witnessed the martyrdom of St. Lucy. The custom stands strongest in Sweden, where the feast of Lucia/Lucy is still celebrated by most people, and young women are competing in the newspapers over who will win the peoples vote and become Lucy of the year, a sort of social ambassador who can sing, and travels the country to do public appearances... while feasts like "The Ascention of Our Lord" has been completely removed from the Calender..


Here followeth the Life of the Blessed Virgin Lucy.

 Lucy is said of light, and light is beauty in beholding, after that Saint Ambrose saith: The nature of light is such, she is gracious in beholding, she spreadeth over all without Iying down, she passeth in going right without crooking by right long line; and it is without dilation of tarrying, and therefore it is showed the blessed Lucy hath beauty of virginity without any corruption; essence of charity without disordinate love; rightful going and devotion to God, without squaring out of the way; right long line by continual work without negligence of slothful tarrying. In Lucy is said, the way of light.

Saint Lucy, the holy virgin, was born in Sicily, and extract and engendered of a noble lineage, in the city of Syracuse. When she heard of the good fame and renown of Saint Agatha or Agaas, which was published and spread all about, anon she went to her sepulchre with her mother which was named Euthicia, which had a malady, named the bloody flux, by the space of four years, the which no master in physic ne surgery could heal. And when they were at a mass, one read a gospel which made mention of a woman which was healed of the bloody flux by touching of the hem of the coat of Jesu Christ. When Saint Lucy heard this, anon she said to her mother: Mother, if ye believe that this which is read be true, and also that Saint Agatha hath now presently with her Jesu Christ, and also that for his name she suffered martyrdom, and if ye, with this belief, touch her sepulchre, without doubt ye shall be anon guerished and healed. Upon this they, after the mass, when the people were departed, they twain fell down on their knees on the sepulchre of Saint Agatha in prayers, and weeping began to pray for her help and aid. Saint Lucy in making her prayers for her mother fell asleep, and she saw in her sleep Saint Agatha among the angels, nobly adorned and arrayed with precious stones, which said thus to her: Lucy, my sweet sister, devout virgin to God, wherefore prayest thou to me for thy mother, for such thing as thou mayest thyself right soon give to her? For I tell the for truth, that for thy faith, and thy good, thy mother is safe and whole. With these words Saint Lucy awoke all afraid, and said to her mother: Mother, ye be guerished and all whole; I pray you for her sake by whose prayers ye be healed, that ye never make mention to me for to take an husband ne spouse, but all that good that ye would give me with a man, I pray you that ye will give it to me for to do alms withal that I may come to my saviour Jesu Christ. Her mother answered to her: Fair daughter, thy patrimony, which I have received this nine years, sith thy father died, I have nothing aminished, but I have multiplied and increased it; but abide till I am departed out of this world, and then forthon do as it shall please thee. Saint Lucy said: Sweet mother, hear my counsel: he is not beloved of God, that for his love giveth that which he may not use himself, but if thou wilt find God debonair to thee, give for him that which thou mayest dispend, for after thy death thou mayest in no wise use thy goods. That which thou givest when thou shalt die, thou givest it because thou mayest not bear it with thee. Give then for God's sake whiles thou livest: and as to such good as thou oughtest to give to me with an husband or spouse, begin to give all that to your people for the love of Jesu Christ.
              Hereof spake alway Lucy to her mother, and every day they gave alms of their goods. And when they had almost sold their patrimony and their jewels, tidings came to the knowledge of her spouse that should ha     ve wedded her, and that she was promised to, the which he demanded hereof the truth of the nurse of Saint Lucy, and wherefore they sold thus their patrimony. She answered cautelously, and said that they did it because that Saint Lucy, which should have been his wife, had found one which had a more fairer and nobler heritage than his was, the which they would buy tofore ere they should assemble by marriage. The fool believed it, for he understood carnally this that the nurse had said to him spiritually, and helped them to sell their heritage.

               But when he understood that she gave all for God's love, and that he felt himself deceived, anon he complained on Lucy, and made her to come tofore a judge named Paschasius, which was a miscreant and heathen man. And it was because she was christian, and that she did against the law of the Emperor, Paschasius blamed her, and admonested her to worship and do sacrifice to the idols. She said: Sacrifice which pleaseth God is to visit the widows and orphans, and to help them in their need: I have not ceased these three years past to make to God such sacrifice, and forasmuch as I have no more of which I may make yet such sacrifice, I offer to him myself, let him do with his offering as it pleaseth him. Paschasius said: Thou mightest say these words unto christian people, semblable to thee, but to me which keep the commandments of the emperors, thou sayest them in vain. Saint Lucy said: If thou wilt keep the law of thy lords, I shall keep the law of God; thou doubtest to anger them, and I shall keep me that I anger not my God; thou wilt please them, and I covet only to please our Lord Jesu Christ. Paschasius said: Thou hast dispended thy patrimony with the ribalds, and therefore thou speakest as a ribald. She said. I have set my patrimony in a sure place; unto the corruption of my heart ne body, I never agreed ne suffered it. Paschasius said: Who be they that corrupt the heart and the body? She said: Ye be that corrupt the hearts, of whom the apostle said: The evil words corrupt the good manners. Ye counsel the souls to forsake their creator and to ensue the devil in making sacrifice to the idols; the corrupters of the body be they that love the short delectations corporal, and despite delights spiritual that endure for ever. Paschasius said: These words that thou sayest shall finish when thou shalt come to thy pains. She said: The words of God may not end ne finish. Paschasius said: How then! art thou God? She said: I am the handmaid of God, and for so much as I say, they be the words of God, for he saith: Ye be not they that speak tofore the princes and judges, but the Holy Ghost speaketh in you. Paschasius said: And therefore the Holy Ghost is in thee? She said: The apostle saith that they be the temple of God that live chastely, and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in them. Paschasius said: I shall do bring thee to the bordel, where thou shalt lose thy chastity, and then the Holy Ghost shall depart from thee. She said: The body may take no corruption but if the heart and will give thereto assenting: for if thou madest me to do sacrifice by my hands, by force, to the idols, against my will, God shall take it only but as a derision, for he judgeth only of the will and consenting. And therefore, if thou make my body to be defouled without mine assent, and against my will, my chastity shall increase double to the merit of the crown of glory. What thing that thou dost to the body, which is in thy power, that beareth no prejudice to the handmaid of Jesu Christ.
                   Then commanded Paschasius that the ribalds of the town should come, to whom he delivered Saint Lucy, saying: Call other to you for to defoul her, and labour her so much till she be dead. Anon the ribalds would have drawn her from thence where she was, and have brought her to the bordel, but the Holy Ghost made her so pesant and heavy that in no wise might they move her from the place. Wherefore many of the servants of the judge put hand to, for to draw with the other, and she abode still. Then they bound cords to her hands and feet, and all drew, but she abode alway still as a mountain, without moving. Whereof Paschasius was all anguishous and angry, and did do call his enchanters, which might never move her for all enchantery. Then Paschasius did do yoke for her oxen many, for to draw her, and yet they might not move her from the place. Then Paschasius demanded her for what reason might it be that a frail maid might not be drawn ne moved by a thousand men. She said: It is the work of God, and if thou settest thereto yet ten thousand they should not move me. Of these words the judge was sore tormented And Saint Lucy said to him: Wherefore tormentest thou thyself thus? If thou hast proved and assayed that I am the temple of God, believe it. If thou hast not assayed, learn to assay. And hereof was the judge more tormented, for he saw that she made but her mockery with him. Wherefore he did do make about Saint Lucy a right great fire, and made to be cast on her pitch, resin, and boiling oil, and she abode all still tofore the fire, and said: I have prayed to Jesu Christ that this fire have no domination in me to the end that the christian men that believe in God make of thee their derision. And I have prayed for respite of my martyrdom for to take away from the christian men the fear and dread to die for the faith of Jesu Christ, and to take away from the miscreants the avaunting of my martyrdom. The friends of the judge saw that he was confused by the words of Saint Lucy, and of the drawing much greatly tormented, and therefore they roof a sword through her throat, and yet for all that she died not anon, but spake to the people, saying: I announce and show to you that holy church shall have peace, for Diocletian the emperor, which was enemy to holy church is this day put out of his seignory, and Maximian, his fellow, is this day dead. And in likewise as Saint Agatha is patroness and keeper of Catania, in the same wise shall I be committed to be patroness of Syracuse, this city.
                 And as she spake thus to the people, the sergeants and ministers of Rome came for to take Paschasius and bring him to Rome, because he was accused tofore the senators of Rome of that he had robbed the province; wherefore he received his sentence of the senate, and had his head smitten off. Saint Lucy never removed from the place where she was hurt with the sword, ne died not till the priest came and brought the blessed body of our Lord Jesu Christ. And as soon as she had received the blessed sacrament she rendered and gave up her soul to God, thanking and praising him of all his goodness. In that same place is a church edified in the name of her, whereas many benefits have been given to the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed world without end. Amen.

St Denis, golden legends 1275

The Golden Legend

The Life of Saint Denis

Saint Denis Areopagite was converted to the faith of Jesu Christ of Saint Paul the apostle. And he was called Areopagite of the street that he dwelled in. And in that street called Areopage was the temple of Mars, for they of Athens named every street of the gods that they worshipped in the same, and that street that they worshipped in the god Mars, they called Areopage, for Areo is to say Mars, and pagus is a street, and where they worshipped Pan, they named Panopage, and so of all other streets. Areopage was the most excellent street, because that the noble men haunted it, and therein were the scholars of the arts liberal, and Denis dwelled in that street, which was a right great philosopher. And forasmuch as the plant of wisdom of the deity was in him he was called Theosophus, that is to say, knowing God. And one Apollophanes was his fellow in philosophy. There were also Epicureans, which said that all felicity of man was in only delight of the body. And Stoics, which held opinion that it was in the only virtue of courage. And then on the day of the passion of our Lord when darkness was upon the universal world, the philosophers that were at Athens could not find in causes natural the cause of that darkness. And it was no natural eclipse, for the moon was then from the sun, and was fifteen days old, and so was in a perfect distance from the sun, and nevertheless an eclipse taketh not away the light in the universal parts of the world, and it may not endure three hours long. And it appeareth that this eclipse took away all the light, by that which Saint Luke saith that, our Lord suffered in all his members; and because that the eclipse was in Heliopolis, in Egypt, and Rome and in Greece. And Orosius saith that it was in Greece, and in the end of Asia the less, and saith that when our Lord was nailed to the cross there was a right great trembling and earthquave through the world. The rocks were cut asunder, and the mountains cloven, right great floods fell in many parts, more than they were wont to do, and that day, from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour, the sun lost his sight throughout all the lands of the universal world. And in that night there was no star seen in all Egypt, and this remembereth Denis to Apollophanes, saying in his epistle: The world was dark commonly of obscurity of darkness, and after the only diameter returned purged, and when he had found that the sun might not suffer such heaviness, and that we may not have knowledge in our courage, ne understand yet the mystery of this thing by our conning and wisdom. And, O Apollophanes, mirror of doctrine, what shall I say of these secrets and hid things? I attribute and put them to thee as to a mouth divine, and not as to understanding ne speech human. To whom he said: O good Denis, these be the mutations of divine things, and in the end it is signified all along, the day and the year of the annunciation that Paul our Doctor said to our deaf ears, and by the signs that all men cried, which I remembered, I have found the very truth and am delivered from the leash of falseness. These be the words of Denis that he wrote in his epistle to Polycarp, and to Apollophanes, saying: We were, we twain, at Heliopolis, and we saw the moon of heaven go disordinately, and the time was not convenable. And yet again from the ninth hour unto evensong time, at the diameter of the sun established above all natural ordinance, that eclipse we saw begin in the east and coming unto the term of the sun. After that returning again, and not purged of that default, but was made contrary after the diameter. Then Denis and Apollophanes went to Heliopolis in Egypt by desire to learn astronomy. And after, Denis returned again. That the said eclipse took away the light from the universal parts of the world, it appeareth that Eusebius witnesseth in his chronicles, which saith that he hath read in the dictes of the Ethnicians that there was in Bithynia, which is a province of Asia the less, a great earth shaking, and also the greatest darkness that might be, and also saith that in Nicene, which is a city of Bithynia, that the earth trembling threw down houses. And it is read in Scholastica Historia that the philosophers were brought to this, that they said that: The God of nature suffered death, or else the ordinance of nature in this world was dissolved, or that the elements lived, or the God of nature suffered, and the elements had pity on him. And it is said in another place, that Denis saith: This night signified that the new very light of the world should come. And they of Athens made unto this God an altar, and set this title thereupon: This is the altar of the God unknown. And on every altar of their gods the title was set above in showing to whom that altar was dedicated, and when the Athenians would make their sacrifice unto this unknown God, the philosophers said: This God hath no need of none of our gods, but let us kneel down tofore him and pray unto him devoutly, for he requireth not the oblations of beasts but the devotions of our courages. And after, when the blessed Saint Paul came to Athens, the Epicurean philosophers and Stoics disputed with him. Some of them said: What will this sower of words say? And others said that he seemed a shower of new gods that be devils. And then they brought him into the street of the philosophers, for to examine their new doctrine, and they said to him: Bringest thou any new tidings? We would know what thou hast brought to us. For the Athenians entended to none other thing but to hear some new things. And then when Saint Paul had beholden all their altars he saw among them the altar of God unknown, and Paul said: Whom honour ye that ye know not, him show I to you to be very God that made heaven and earth. And after, he said to Denis, whom he saw best learned in divine things: Denis, what is he, that unknown God? And Denis said: He is verily a God which among gods is not showed, but to us he is unknown, and to come into the world and to reign without end. And Paul said: Is he a man only, or spirit? And Denis said: He is God and man but he is unknown, because his conversation is in heaven. Then said Saint Paul: This is he that I preach, which descended from heaven, and took our nature human, and suffered death and arose again the third day.

And as Saint Denis disputed yet with Saint Paul, there passed by adventure by that way a blind man tofore them, and anon Denis said to Paul: If thou say to this blind man in the name of thy God: See, and then he seeth, I shall anon believe in him, but thou shalt use no words of enchantment, for thou mayst haply know some words that have such might and virtue. And Saint Paul said: I shall write tofore the form of the words, which be these: In the name of Jesu Christ, born of the virgin, crucified and dead, which arose again and ascended into heaven, and from thence shall come for to judge the world: See. And because that all suspicion be taken away, Paul said to Denis that he himself should pronounce the words. And when Denis had said those words in the same manner to the blind man, anon the blind man recovered his sight. And then Denis was baptized and Damaris his wife and all his meiny, and was a true christian man and was instructed and taught by Saint Paul three years, and was ordained bishop of Athens, and there was in predication, and converted that city, and great part of the region, to christian faith. And it is said that Saint Paul showed to him that he saw when he was ravished into the third heaven, like as Saint Denis saith and showeth in divers places, whereof he speaketh so clearly of the hierarchies of angels, and of the orders and of the dispositions and offices of them, so that it is not supposed that he learned of any other, but only of him that was ravished into the third heaven, and had seen all things. He flourished by the spirit of prophecy like as it appeareth in an epistle that he sent to John the Evangelist, in the isle of Patmos, to which he was sent in exile, whereas he prophesied that he should come again, saying thus: Enjoy thou verily beloved, very wonderful and to be desired, right well beloved, thou shalt be let out from the keeping tbat thou hast in Patmos, and shalt return unto the land of Asia, and thou shalt make there the following of thy good God,and the good works of him, and shalt deliver them to them that shall come after thee. And, as it is seen and showed in the book of the names divine, he was at the dying of the blessed Virgin Mary. And when he heard that Peter and Paul were imprisoned at Rome under Nero, he ordained a bishop under him, and came for to visit them. And when they were martyred and passed to God, and Clement was set in the see of Rome, after a certain time he was sent of the said Clement into France, and he had in his company Rusticus and Eleutherius, and then he came with them to Paris and converted there much people to the faith, and did do make many churches, and set in them clerks of divers orders. And then he shone by so great heavenly grace that, when the bishops of the idols moved by strife the people against him, and the people came for to destroy him, anon as they had seen him they left all their cruelty, and kneeled down at his feet, where they had so great dread that they fled away from him for fear.

But the devil which had envy, and saw every day his power minished and destroyed, and that the church increased and had victory of him, moved Domitian the emperor in so great cruelty that he made a commandment that whosomever might find any christian man, that he should constrain them to do sacrifice or torment them by divers torments. And then he sent the provost Fescennius of Rome to Paris against the christian men. And found there the blessed Denis preaching, and made him cruelly to be beaten, bespit and despised, and fast to be bounden with Rusticus and Eleutherius, and to be brought tofore him: And when he saw that the saints were constant and firm in the acknowledging of our Lord, he was much heavy and sorrowful. Then came thither a noble matron, which said that her husband was foully deceived of these enchanters, and then anon the husband was sent for, and he abiding in the confession of our Lord, was anon put to death. And the saints were beaten cruelly of twelve knights, and were straightly bounden with chains of iron, and put in prison. The day following, Denis was laid upon a gridiron, and stretched all naked upon the coals of fire, and there he sang to our Lord saying: Lord thy word is vehemently fiery, and thy servant is embraced in the love thereof. And after that he was put among cruel beasts, which were excited by great hunger and famine by long fasting, and as soon as they came running upon him he made the sign of the cross against them, and anon they were made most meek and tame. And after that he was cast into a furnace of fire, and the fire anon quenched, and he had neither pain ne harm. And after that he was put on the cross, and thereon he was long tormented, and after, he was taken down and put into a dark prison with his fellows and many other christian men. And as he sang there the mass and communed the people, our Lord appeared to him with great light, and delivered to him bread, saying: Take this, my dear friend, for thy reward is most great with me. After this they were presented to the judge and were put again to new torments, and then he did do smite off the heads of the three fellows, that is to say, Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius, in confessing the name of the holy Trinity. And this was done by the temple of Mercury, and they were beheaded with three axes. And anon the body of Saint Denis raised himself up, and bare his head between his arms, as the angel led him two leagues from the place, which is said the hill of the martyrs, unto the place where he now resteth, by his election, and by the purveyance of God. And there was heard so great and sweet a melody of angels that many of them that heard it believed in our Lord. And Laertia, wife of the foresaid provost Lubrius, said that she was christian, and anon she was beheaded of the wicked felons, and was baptized in her blood, and so died.

And Virbius his son, which was a knight at Rome under three emperors, came afterward to Paris and was baptized, and put himself in the number of the religious. And the wicked paynims doubted that the good christian men would bury the body of Rusticus and Eleutherius, and commanded that they should be cast into the river Seine. And a noble woman bade them to dine that bare them, and whilst they dined, this lady took away the bodies and buried them secretly in a field of hers, and after, when the persecution was ceased, she took them thence, and laid them honourably with the body of Saint Denis. And they suffered death about the year of our Lord four score and sixteen, under Domitian. The years of the age of Saint Denis four score and ten.

On a time when Regulus the holy bishop sang mass at Arles, and rehearsed the names of the apostles in the canon, he added and joined thereto the blessed martyrs Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius, which so said, many supposed that they yet lived, and marvelled why he so rehearsed their names in the canon. And they so wondering, there appeared upon the cross of the altar three doves sitting, which had the names of the saints marked and written on their breasts with blood, which diligently beholding, they understood well that the saints were departed out of this world. And Hincmar, bishop of Rheims, saith in an epistle which he sent to Charles that, this Denis that was sent into France was Denis Areopagite as afore is said, and the same saith Johannes Scotus in an epistle to Charles, lest by the reason of the counting of the time should be said against, as some would object. About the year of our Lord eight hundred and thirty-two, in the time of Louis, king of France, the messengers of Michael, emperor of Constantinople, among other things, brought to Louis, son of Charles le Grand, the books of Saint Denis of the hierarchy of the angels, translated out of Greek into Latin, and were received with great joy, and that same night were nineteen sick men healed in his church.

About the year of our Lord six hundred and forty-three, like as it is contained in a chronicle, Dagobert, king of France, which reigned long tofore Pepin, began to have from his childhood great reverence to Saint Denis, for when he doubted in that time the ire of his father Clothair, he fled anon to the church of Saint Denis. And when this holy king was dead, it was showed in a vision unto a holy man that, the soul of him was ravished to judgment, and that many saints accused him that he had despoiled their churches. And as the wicked angels would have had him to the pains, the blessed Denis came thither, and by him he was delivered at his coming, and escaped from the pains, and peradventure the soul returned to the body and did penance. King Clovis discovered the body of Saint Denis not duly, and brake the bone of his arm and ravished it away covetously, and anon he became out of his mind. Then let us worship Almighty God in his saints, that we, by their merits, may amend ourselves in this wretched life, that we may after this life come into his sempiternal bliss in heaven. Amen.