the influence of monks upon civilization in the light of the author of
this essay. We cannot forego the gratification of quoting a passage
written many years ago by one, a speaker in this tenth annual meeting
too, in which he gives a different estimate of the church and the monks
in the precise period of which Mr. Alger has attempted to draw a rough
sketch, it is true, but still his intention must have been to give a
correct picture.
“Truly,” says the Rev. William Ellery Channing, “the church has
been a quickening centre of modern civilization, a fountain of
law and art, of manners and policy. It would not be easy to
estimate how much of our actual freedom and humanity, of our
cultivation and prosperity, we owe to her foresight and just
acknowledgment of rights and duties. It is easy to ascribe to
the cunning and love of power of priests the wonderful
sovereignty which this spiritual dictator has exerted; but it is
proof of surprising superficiality that these critics do not
recognize that only sincere enthusiasm and truth, however
adulterated by errors, can give such a hold upon human will. The
Christian Church has been unquestionably the most dignified
institution which the earth has seen.... Beautiful have been its
abbeys in lonely solitudes, clearing the forests, smoothing the
mountains, nurseries of agricultural skill amidst the desolating
wars of barbarous ages, sanctuaries for the suffering. Beautiful
its learned cloisters, with students’ lamps shining late in the
dark night as a beacon to wandering pilgrims, to merchants with
loaded trains, to homeless exiles—their silent bands of
high-browed, pallid scholars watching the form of Science in the
tomb of Ignorance, where she lay entranced. Beautiful its
peaceful armies of charity, subduing evil with works of love in
the crowded alleys and dens of cities, amid the pestilences of
disease and the fouler pestilence of crime, and carrying the
sign of sacrifice through nations more barren of virtues than
the deserts which have bordered them.”
VI.—THE FREE-RELIGIONISTS AND THE MYSTICS.
Mr. Alger must have seen that his canvas up to this moment was
overcharged with sombre colors, and to give it a _vraisemblance_ he put
in the following words:
“There has been another marked class of persons, in the extreme
opposite sphere of life to those just described—a class
nourished in the inmost bosom of the church itself—whose very
important influence has acted in harmony with that of science,
which seems so wholly contrary to it—acted to melt away
dogmatism, free men from hatred and force and fraud, and join
them in a heavenly enthusiasm of accord. I allude to the
mystics, who cultivated the sinless peace and raptures of the
inner life of devotion, absorption in divine contemplation,
ecstatic union with God. Boundless is the charm exerted,
incalculable the good done, in impregnating the finest strata of
humanity with paradisal germs by _Victor_, Bonaventura, Suso,
Tauler, Teresa, Behmen, Fénelon, Guyon, John of the Cross, and
the rest of these breathing minds, hearts of seraphic passion,
souls of immortal flame. This class of believers, devoted to the
nurture of exalted virtue and piety, were the choicest
depositaries of the grace of religion.”
The general reader would suppose that this “marked class of persons, in
the extreme opposite sphere of life to those just described,” were not,
of course, “monks.” But such is the fact, with the exception of two he
mentions. Let us examine this list. Here is the first mystic, Victor.
Victor! Who is he? Whom does the essayist mean? There was St. Victor of
Marseilles, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian, July 21, A.D. 303.
He surely does not mean this Victor? Then there was the celebrated Abbey
of St. Victor, near Paris, named after St. Victor of Marseilles, founded
in the first year of the twelfth century; he cannot mean that? There is
no telling, though. Then there was Hugh, born in Flanders, and Richard,
a Scotchman, the latter a disciple of the former, both inmates of the
monastery of St. Victor, both illustrious by their writings on mystical
theology, and saintly men. Perhaps he means one of these, or both?
Perhaps that is not his meaning. If it be, then his sentence should have
run thus: Hugh of St. Victor, or Richard of St. Victor. Let us proceed;
both of these were “monks.” St. Bonaventure, disciple of St. Francis,
was a “monk.” John Tauler, a disciple of St. Dominic, another monk. St.
Teresa, a nun, a “cloistered” nun, consequently as bad, at least, as a
“monk.” Behmen? Behmen? _Jacob Boehme_. Oh! yes; a German, a
shoemaker—not to his discredit—a Protestant, and mystical writer. O
blessed saints in Paradise! do not, we beg, lay it to our charge of
making you “acquainted with so strange a bed-fellow!” Then comes Fénelon
the saintly archbishop, the friend, be it known, of monks and nuns. Now
Mme. Guyon; it is singular that there is always a strange hankering
among a class of Protestants after Catholic writers of suspected
orthodoxy. St. John of the Cross is next, and the last, though not
least, the Aquinas of mystical theology, a Carmelite, a “monk.” Now let
us count up. But we have forgotten our beloved Swabian, Henry Suso, the
Minnesinger of divine love; and he too was a Dominican, a “monk.” In
sum—excluding, of course, the Protestant; for of him it cannot be said
that he was “nourished in the inmost bosom of the church”—we have six
“monks,” if you include both Hugh and Richard of St. Victor in the
number, and one “cloistered” nun, all, without exception, “celibates,”
of the eight examples selected by our author as “devoted to the nurture
of exalted virtue and piety,” and “the choicest depositaries of the
graces of religion!” Six out of eight—not a bad showing for monks and
nuns “as the choicest depositaries of the graces of religion,” where a
learned author has his pick, running over many centuries.
VII.—THE FREE-RELIGIONISTS AND CHRISTIANITY, OR THE FINAL ISSUE.
It is time to draw these remarks to a close, and that, too, without even
casting a glance at the speeches that followed the essay which has been
under review.
We did not offer, as our readers will have remarked, a refutation of the
misconceptions, misinterpretations, and errors which have been pointed
out in the essay of Mr. Alger. We intentionally abstained from doing so
until its author brings forth his authorities and proves his assertions,
in obedience to a commonly-received maxim rightly followed in
discussion, which says, _Quod gratis affirmatur, gratis negatur_.
Besides, the Catholic Church is in possession, and therefore the burden
of proof rests not on her defenders, but on the part of her assailants.
Our refutations will come soon enough when we have learned that there is
something to refute. But, that our purpose might not be ambiguous, we
have italicized, in most instances, the words which contain the special
errors to which we wished to call attention.
The opponents of the church have not changed their mode of attack, but
only their weapons. They no longer charge her with atheism, as the early
pagans did, or of worshipping the head of an ass, or drinking the blood
of an infant, but absurdities and idle tales of the “dark ages” are
trumped up and laid at her door.
Just now, as if by a general conspiracy, an attempt is made to place the
church in a false position, as hostile to reason, science, education,
civilization, liberty, and the state. These are the popular charges of
the day, and these show at least that the “gall” of her enemies is
active and “coins slanders as a mint.” Counterfeits, however, may pass
current for a limited period, but in the long run they are detected and
bring upon their authors’ heads grief and shame. Only truth and justice
are enduring and immortal.
The true position of the Catholic Church is now, as it ever has been,
not against but for reason and God, science and revelation, for
education and Christianity, for civilization and progress, for liberty
and law, for the state and the church; as against atheism, naturalism,
infidelity, barbarism, license, and anarchy.
Let us have in this free country, where all religions to an uncommon
degree are placed on an equal footing, a fair and honest discussion,
avoiding unsupported assertions, refuted charges, and all bigotry.
Whichever religion is worsted in such an encounter by fair and honest
blows, why, let it die. If the free-religionists can clear the whole
field from Christianity, as they appear to think, and invent instead a
better religion, as some fancy, let them do so and come on with their
new religion. Give it a fair chance, and, if their new religion proves
to be a better one, let it have a joyful greeting.
Until then the Catholic Church is in possession of the field, and in the
congress of intelligent men holds its high place; for all
thoroughly-instructed minds see clearly the impossibility of
entertaining honorable ideas of God without being Christians, and of
being Christians and not becoming Catholics. The real issue, if the
free-religionists can be induced to look at it, is between Catholicity
and nihilism.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMOKE-BOUND.
O cool east wind! so moist of breath,
With strength blow from the sea,
Loosen the smoky chains that curb
Our proud hills’ sovereignty;
Wake in the silent mountain glens,
Where streams grow dumb with drought,
The clamor of your lowland home—
The sea-waves’ battle-shout.
Sweep onward with your pennon clouds,
Marshal your spears of rain,
Sound in the pines your bugle-call—
Set free our hills again!
Hide them for days, if so you will,
In cloudy depths of storm;
Wrestle, as human soul should win
Its strong, immortal form.
We shall not grieve in such dark veil
To lose our valley’s crown,
That gaineth so from your pure breath
But mightier renown.
Our hearts shall greet the slanting rain,
Like blessèd water flung;
Your voice shall the _Asperges_ sing
The cross-boughed firs among.
Like sin unshriven these earth-fires
Hold heart and mountain fast,
Each day a stronger link is forged,
A drearier light is cast.
All day the smoky shadow flings
Its dream of heaven’s blue,
Its mockery of summer’s smile,
Its vision all untrue,—
Winning, at eve, the sun to spin
Dull shadow into gold—
Bright meshes of enchanter’s web
O’er hill and valley rolled;
Hiding our far-off sunset peaks
That longest keep day’s light—
The temple’s porch called Beautiful,
Steps to a holier height.
Broad steps whose strength our valley lacks
To lift our thoughts on high.
Blow, eastern wind! give our dim eyes
Our peaks that mount the sky.
O moist of breath! with cloudy lips,
Quench these dread earthly fires
That turn our mountain altars all
To beauty’s funeral pyres.
Upon this stifling chain drop dew,
Its glamour exorcise,
That, pure as pardoned soul, our hills
In Heaven-sent strength may rise.
Give us anew their morning grace,
Their midday depths of blue;
Open the sunset gates where light
Of Paradise shines through.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST. JAMES OF COMPOSTELLA.
Although most have heard the name of Santiago in Galicia, yet it is now
a place that is scarcely known. In the days of our infancy there were
still such beings heard of as the pilgrims of Compostella, but the
silence of the present day is well-nigh oblivion: and of this famous
sanctuary, which still exists, there only remains an almost forgotten
and far-distant renown. France has unlearnt the very roads which led to
the apostle’s tomb; and the Spaniards themselves, who will speak to you
freely of _Nuestra Señora del Pilar_, scarcely guess that the Madonna of
Saragossa placed her origin under the patronage of St. James, whose
shrine all Christendom in former days bestirred itself to go and visit.
The apostle venerated at Compostella is St. James the Great, whose
vocation to the apostolate is related in the fourth chapter of St.
Matthew, immediately after that of Peter and Andrew, and where we are
told that at the call of Jesus the brothers forthwith “left the ship and
their father and followed him.” According to the most probable opinion,
Zebedee and his family dwelt at the little town of Saffa, now called by
the Arabs Deir, about three miles distant from Nazareth. Andrichomius,
in his _Theatrum Terræ Sanctæ_, mentions a church there, which some
years later no longer existed. Their prompt obedience indicates the
generous character which rendered the brothers particularly dear to
their divine Master, and caused them to be, with St. Peter, the chosen
witnesses of scenes and miracles at which the other disciples were not
present. The last mention made of St. James in the Gospel is in the
narrative of the miraculous draught of fishes after the Resurrection.
The next is in the Acts of the Apostles, which briefly recounts his
martyrdom: “Herod ... killed James, the brother of John, with the
sword.”
This took place in the year 42. Of the nine years which intervened
between the Ascension of our Lord and this event the Holy Scriptures say
nothing, and tradition is our only source of information. According to
this, St. James departed early from Jerusalem, and, directing his course
towards the western countries of Europe, arrived in Spain, where he
preached the Gospel and appointed some of the first bishops. Here also,
according to an ancient and constant tradition, he caused to be built at
Saragossa a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, known as “Our Lady
of the Pillar,” and, on the termination of his sojourn in the west,
returned to Jerusalem, where, a few days after his arrival, about the
time of the Jewish Passover, Herod caused him to be seized and
slain.[35]
It is certain that the apostles delayed not in obeying the divine
command to “go and teach the nations”; neither can one explain in any
other manner how the light emanating from Syria so rapidly illumined (as
even the infidel critic, Renan, confesses) the three great peninsulas of
Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, and soon afterwards the whole coast of
the Mediterranean, so that in a short space of time the Christian world
was co-extensive with the Roman—_Orbis Romanus, orbis Christianus_. St.
Jerome and Theodoret both affirm that Spain was evangelized by some of
the apostles. The Gothic liturgy, which is considerably anterior to the
Mozarabic, and which dates from the fifth century, is the most ancient
interpreter of this tradition. “The illustrious Sons of Thunder,” it
says, “have both obtained that which their mother requested for them.
John rules Asia, and, on the left, his brother possesses Spain.” The
great doctor St. Isidore, who lived in the first half of the seventh
century, writes: “James the son of Zebedee ... preached the Gospel to
the peoples of Spain and the countries of the west.” The Bollandists
furnish a number of additional witnesses.[36] The breviary of St. Pius
V. and the enactments of Urban VIII. corroborate their testimony, the
Roman Breviary saying also that St. Braulio not only compared St.
Isidore to St. Gregory the Great, but declared that he had been given by
Heaven to Spain as her teacher in the place of St. James.[37]
Whatever opinion may be adopted with regard to the mission of St. James,
it does not affect the facts relating to the translation of his body to
the Iberian peninsula. The following account of this event is given in
the curious _History of Compostella_, written previous to the twelfth
century by two canons of that church, and confirmed by a letter of Leo
III. which is quoted in the Breviary of Evreux. The facts as there given
appear to be free from the legendary embellishments, more or less
probable, with which, in certain other manuscripts, they have been
adorned.
At the time when the apostle was put to death at Jerusalem the
persecution was so bitter, and the hatred against the Christians so
extreme, that the Jews would not suffer his body to be buried, but cast
it ignominiously outside the walls of the city, that it might be
devoured by dogs and birds of prey. The disciples of the saint watched
for the moment when they might carry away his remains, and, having
secured them, they could not venture to re-enter Jerusalem with their
precious burden, but turned their steps toward the sea, and, on arriving
at Joppa, found a ship on the point of sailing for Spain. They embarked,
and in due time reached the northwest coast of that country, and landed
at the port of Iria, whence they proceeded some distance inland, and
buried the body of the apostle at a place called _Liberum Donum_,
afterwards Compostella. His sepulchre was made in a marble grotto which
already existed, and which in all probability had been formerly
dedicated to Bacchus, as its name seemed to indicate. Thus the spot
received the highest Christian consecration, and the people of Galicia,
among whom were numerous converts, held in great veneration the tomb of
their apostle. The pagan persecution became, however, so violent in this
province that Christianity entirely disappeared from it, and was not
planted there again until after the first victory of the Goths.
The invasion of these barbarians, instead of being a misfortune, was of
the greatest benefit to the country, and resulted in prosperity which
continued through several centuries. The favor shown to Arianism by some
of the earlier kings for a time imperilled the truth, but it was not
long before Spain saw the faith of her first apostle flourishing in all
its purity; and her sons would doubtless have flocked to the tomb of him
who was declared in the Gothic liturgy to be the patron of Spain, if the
same thing had not happened with regard to the tomb of the second martyr
of our Lord as had before happened to that of the first. When the faith
had disappeared from Galicia the place of the apostle’s tomb was
forgotten; it is, moreover, possible that the last Christians had buried
the grotto which contained it, that it might be hidden from pagan
profanation. The spot was overgrown with underwood and brambles. Tall
forest trees rose around it, and there was no trace left of anything
which could indicate the sanctity of the spot. Thus, in the early and
bright days of the faith in Spain, the night of oblivion rested on the
remains of her great patron; but when evil times came upon the land
God’s hour was come for pointing out the tomb of his apostle. The Gothic
kings were about to disappear, and their sceptres to be wielded by the
followers of Mahomet.
Invited to fight against King Roderic, by a competitor to the throne of
the country to which he thus proved himself so great a traitor, the
Arabs thronged into Spain, which in less than ten years they entirely
conquered. Their domination was not always violent and persecuting; a
certain toleration was at times accorded to the Christians; but, thanks
to the proud courage of Pelayo and a handful of brave men who would not
despair of their country, and who could not be driven from the mountains
of the Asturias, war had set her foot on the soil of Spain, to quit it
no more until the utter expulsion of the Moors had been effected.
Galicia, with Leon and the Asturias, had the honor of being the centre
of the national resistance, and consequently suffered from frequent and
sanguinary devastation while the long struggle lasted.
It was in these troubled times that the apostle’s tomb was brought to
light.
Already several kings had established themselves in the northern and
western parts of Spain. Miron, King of the Suevi, had regulated the
limits of each diocese; Alfonso the Chaste was then king of Leon and
Galicia; and Theodomir, a holy and faithful prelate, was Bishop of Iria.
Certain trustworthy persons one day came to inform Theodomir that every
night lights of great brilliancy were seen shining above a wood on the
summit of a hill at a little distance from the town, and that all the
neighborhood was illuminated by them. The bishop, fearing lest there
might be some deception or illusion, resolved to see for himself, and
repaired to the place indicated. The prodigy was evident to all, the
lights throwing a marvellous splendor; and as this continued night after
night, the bishop caused the trees to be cut down on that spot and the
brushwood cleared away, after which an excavation was commenced on the
top of the hill. The workers had not dug far before they came to a
marble grotto, within which was found the apostle’s tomb.
Theodomir lost no time in repairing to the court of Alfonso to announce
the discovery, which caused great joy to the pious monarch, who saw in
it a sign of God’s protection and a presage of the triumph of the
Christian arms. He hastened to the spot and assured himself by personal
observation of the reality of the facts related to him by the bishop.
Mariana, the Spanish historian, says: “After having examined all that
has been written by learned authors for and against the matter, I am
convinced that there are not in all Europe any relics more certain and
authentic than those of St. James at Compostella.”
The first care of King Alfonso was to raise a sanctuary on the spot
where the tomb had just been miraculously discovered. Built in haste,
and at a time when, owing to the unsettled state of the kingdom, the
royal resources were very limited, the edifice was of a very humble
character as regarded both size and materials: “Petra et luto opus
parvum” is the description given of it in the Act of Erection of the
second church, built later by Alfonso III. The king was nevertheless
able to endow it with a certain revenue, and to secure a permanent
provision to its ministers. The archives of Compostella long preserved a
privilege granted by Alfonso the Chaste, in virtue of which all the
lands with their villages, for three miles round, were made over to the
church.
Spain was speedily made aware of the discovery; the neighboring nations,
and in particular the Gauls, heard of it also, and the faithful from
both countries flocked in great numbers to the tomb, drawn by the fame
of the miracles which immediately began to be wrought there, and of
which Valafrid Strabo, who died in the year 849, makes mention: _Plurima
hic præsul patravit signa stupenda_.
The relations of Gaul with Christian Spain were at that time very
frequent. The infidels were the common enemy. Charles Martel had driven
them from Gaul, but the struggle that still went on south of the Gallic
frontiers had an intense interest for all Christendom. Charlemagne was
allied in friendship with Alfonso the Chaste, though it is doubtful
whether he ever made the pilgrimage of Compostella, as some have said.
It is, however, certain that he joined his entreaties to those of the
king of Leon to obtain from Pope Leo III. the transfer of the bishopric
of Iria to Compostella. This was the name already borne by the town
which had rapidly risen round the apostle’s tomb, and which was given in
remembrance of the starlike lights which had revealed its
locality—_Campus Stellæ_.
The pope granted the request of the two monarchs. Compostella replaced
the bishopric of Iria and remained suffragan to the archbishop of Braga
until the town of St. James should be raised to the metropolitan
dignity. King Alfonso, who had no children, offered to bequeath his
throne to Charlemagne, on condition that that monarch would drive the
Moors out of Spain. Charlemagne accepted the terms and crossed the
Pyrenees; but the Spanish princes, disapproving of Alfonso’s proposal,
leagued together against the emperor, and some of them, later on, allied
themselves with the Moorish king of Saragossa, and destroyed at
Roncesvaux the rearguard of Charlemagne’s army, in which perished
Roland, the hero _par excellence_ of the lays and chronicles of the
time.