“4th. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; in which after her
death, twelve years after the Resurrection, she is assumed into
heaven by her Divine Son accompanied by the holy angels.
“5th. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin; in which, amid the great
jubilee and exultation of the whole court of heaven, and to the
particular glory of all the saints, she is crowned by her Son with
the brightest diadem of glory.”—P. 16.
Extracts from a tract, entitled, “_Our Parish Churches as they were and
as they are_. 1. _Old stones tell tales_.”
“I declare, it seems to me that the very idea of worship has almost
died out in England. Do you think that if people really felt they
were speaking to Almighty God, they would sit at their ease, or look
over a book, and never do more? Church of Englandism has such a
_comfortable_ look about it; it is the religion of people well to do
in the world, and have too much business to transact to turn their
minds thoroughly to anything else. It is a _one day a week_
religion. Every thing about it is so formal, so decent, so sober, so
proper and respectable. It would look so odd to seem in earnest; to
be on your knees in prayer before so many well-dressed people, as
though you had a soul to be saved. Church of Englandism is such a
human thing; it smacks so much of the world and of ‘good society.’
It makes a poor man feel awkward, just as he does when he finds
himself in a gentleman’s drawing-room.”—P. 10.
“The Church of England would never have built such churches, though
it is very proud of them now it has got them, and lately has taken to
making a few others in imitation of the old ones. People never seem
to think of this. They are always bragging about their fine old
parish churches, and their venerable cathedrals, and all the while
they were built by the Papists, as they call them; and if it had not
been for the Papists they would never have had them to brag of. The
sparrow stole into the martin’s nest, and said, See what a nice warm
house I have got. He couldn’t say he had _made_ it, but he was quite
as cocky as if he had.”—P. 11.
“‘And what is this?’ said I again; and I pointed at a curious sort of
niche with a hole at the bottom of it. ‘That,’ said he, ‘is a
_piscina_; it was for pouring the water away after the priest had
washed his hands.’ ‘Why should he wash his hands,’ said I, ‘more
than our ministers?’ ‘Because,’ said Peter, ‘he had to touch the
body of the Lord, and to lift Him up, as when He was raised on the
cross. And your ministers have no need to wash theirs, because they
have not got the body of our Lord there at all.’”—p. 14.
“‘What was the use of saying mass for him,’ said I, ‘when he was dead
and buried?’ Peter smiled, and answered, ‘It is said in the
Scriptures, that it is a good and wholesome thought to pray for the
dead, and it certainly must be so.’”—P. 15.
Extracts from a tract, entitled, “_The Church of our Fathers_.”
“St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, to whom our Lord himself gave
the name of Peter, which signifies a rock, and told him at the same
time that on that rock He would build His Church, and that the gates
of hell should not prevail against it,—this same Peter went to Rome
and became its Bishop; and from that time the Church of Rome, as
being the See of St. Peter, has ever been looked upon by the faithful
as the mother and mistress of all churches, and each of his
successors in turn as the visible head of the Church on earth.”—P. 5.
“It is generally believed that Caractacus settled in Rome with his
family; that his daughter was called Claudia, and that she married a
noble Roman called Pudens, who, together with herself, afterwards
became Christian; that they had a daughter who was afterwards
celebrated as a saint under the name of St. Pudentiana; and that this
Pudens and Claudia, whom St. Paul mentions in his Epistle to Timothy
(2 Tim. iv. 21), were no other than these. It is said also that this
noble British household gave shelter and hospitality to St. Peter,
while he lived as Bishop in Rome; a retired room in the house being
set apart as his chapel. A church was afterwards built on the site
of this house, which having been since twice rebuilt, is still known
by the name of St. Pudentiana; and it is this church which, from its
connexion with the history of our country, has been assigned to
Cardinal Wiseman as the church from which he takes his title.”—P. 7.
“Several miracles attended the death of this our first martyr
(Alban). When on his way to death, he came to a river which divided
the town from the hill where he was to suffer; the people thronged
the bridge over it in such multitudes that he feared he should not be
able to pass all that day, and longing for his crown, raised his eyes
to heaven and prayed. And God straightway divided the waters as for
His people of old, so that he walked through dryshod.”—P. 9.
“The next thing that we hear of the Church in Britain is, that two
bishops from Gaul, Germanus and Lupus, were sent over here to preach
to the people, many of whom had been perverted by false teachers; but
all gladly listened to the preaching of these holy bishops, and
returned to the way of truth. They were the more easily persuaded,
because the preaching of these men was also accompanied by the
working of miracles. After a public conference, in which the
heretics had been completely put to silence by the eloquence of the
bishops, an officer in the Roman army stepped forward with his little
daughter who was blind, and begged that they would bestow such relief
upon her as they were able. The bishops desired him to try first the
powers of those false teachers who had been just now disputing
against them. But these declined the trial, and united with the
officer in begging her cure at the hands of Germanus and Lupus. Upon
this Germanus offered up a short prayer, and invoking the Holy
Trinity, pulled from his bosom a little box of relics which he always
carried about him. This he applied to the girl’s eyes, and her sight
was immediately restored.”—Pp. 9, 10.
Extracts from a tract, entitled, “_How Antichrist keeps Christmas_; or,
_A Peep at Christmas in a Catholic country_.”
“It is true, indeed, that Christmas is a festival of such universal
gladness, as to thaw for a moment even the icy heart of
Protestantism; sending a ray of joyousness down into the cold depths
of the population of this country, where all is so smooth and smiling
on the surface, all so chill and joyless underneath. At Christmas I
really believe a thrill of gladness darts through the heart of the
great majority of the people. Churches and chapels are made gay with
shining leaves and scarlet berries; carols are sung in the streets;
the words, ‘A merry Christmas to you!’ pass from mouth to mouth; and
beef and pudding, the outward form which joy is wont to put on in
this cold, hungry climate, smoke on many a board to which, alas! for
every other day in the year they are utter strangers. Nay, it is to
be hoped that even in union workhouses there is an intermission of
gruel for Christmas day.”—Pp. 4, 5.
“Abundant food is a necessity of our climate, and a condition of our
physical well-being to a degree that the people of the South cannot
understand. We are told of our Saxon forefathers, whom I have before
mentioned, that their frames, though so tall and well-formed, were
neither so patient of labour nor of hunger as might be expected from
their apparent strength. Alas! for the necessity which grinds down
our poor to the endurance of both to such a hurtful degree. But to
return to Christmas. The difference between Catholic and Protestant
Christmas is this, that both love Christmas, but Catholics love it
far more distinctly and consciously for Christ’s sake. The very name
of the festival is theirs, Christ’s Mass; to Protestants one part of
the word has confessedly lost its meaning, and the other is a dim
vision. Look at the professedly religious part of the observance of
this feast, and see what it amounts to. In the churches of the
English establishment, except the holly boughs, what is there to tell
of the Lord’s birth? Of course the lesson from Scripture recounting
that event is read; so also are certain Psalms which prophetically
relate to it; and a sermon on the Nativity is (sometimes) preached.
But otherwise the ordinary routine of the service goes on the same as
usual. ‘Dearly beloved brethren,’ holds on the even tenour of its
way, with dulness scarcely mitigated; and there is really nothing
either peculiarly to draw out the devotion of those assisting at it
towards their infant Lord, nor, which is more to our present purpose,
any special outpouring of such devotion on the part of the Church
herself.”—P. 6.