The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 50.

ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED FROM THIS DEVOTION

Through the thorny crown of Jesus' head To glory's diadem we are led.—St. Jerome

There is a considerable number of Catholics who refuse to practice devotional exercises, unless they are enticed by a list of indulgences. Indulgences are without doubt desirable spiritual advantages, which we should all be eager to obtain whenever we can. But we should not mistake the means for the end of a Christian devotion. Many Catholics speak and act in relation to indulgences as if these were the principal end of their practices of devotion. But we should in our pious exercises consider the honor and glory of God of higher importance than our own personal advantage. We should not behave like hired servants, who refuse to work for a master except wages are bargained for beforehand. We should not act as selfish little children, who neglect a task imposed on them by their parents or teachers, except some sweetmeats or a premium is promised them. Obedience to paternal authority, and the gratification which good and docile children will give to their parents and teachers by their virtuous conduct, should be their sweetest and most precious inducement in the accomplishment of their duties and the manifestation of their filial affection. Those children who study to please their parents through disinterested motives of filial love, surely deserve greater praise and a richer reward than those who act only through selfish interest and personal gratification.

The same principle is sound in relation to our devotional practices towards God. Let us by all means try to gain as many indulgences as we can. But we should not make them the inseparable condition and much less, the principal object of all our devotional exercises. Let us be more generous and noble in the service of God. Love should be our noblest motive, and His divine honor and glory our highest ambition. With St. Ignatius Loyola, let us often say, and always act, For the greater glory of God. "If when you perform any good work agreeable to God," St. John Chrysostom says, you expect any other reward, you show that you do not understand how good it is to please him. Did you comprehend the sublimity and excellence of this privilege, you could never reckon any other reward equal in value to that of pleasing the infinite Majesty of God. (De comp. Cordis ad Stellam, lib. 2.) The sweetest happiness and highest reward of the angels and saints in heaven is their perfect knowledge that they are pleasing, praising and glorifying God. These maxims are not less true because they are sublime and little appreciated in practice. Let us remember that true devotion must have God, and not man, for its principal object and final end. For true devotion, according to the angelic doctor, St. Thomas of Aquin, is an habitual disposition of the will that makes us prompt and cheerful in everything that tends to the service, honor and glory of God. We should never suspect that God will ever allow Himself to be outdone in loving generosity. The less we seek ourselves in the service of God, the more abundant reward we shall receive from Him, "who is our reward exceeding great."

1. This should in a more special manner be our rule in all our devotional exercises relative to the sacred Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Divine Victim of charity did not seek himself in the sufferings and humiliations of his bitter Passion, but, on the contrary, he completely sacrificed everything to the honor and glory of his heavenly Father, and for the redemption, salvation and glorification of our soul. "Because with the Lord, there is mercy, and with him plentiful redemption." (Ps. 129:7) The promotion, then, of the honor and glory of God will be the first and best fruit of our devotion to the Crown of Thorns.

2. The second and next to it will be an increase of loving compassion for our dear Savior crowned with thorns and saturated with opprobrium for our sake.

3. The third will be an increase of true Christian respect and genuine obedience to all our legitimate superiors but more especially to the Supreme Pontiff, the infallible, Vicar of Jesus Christ, the visible head of the Church upon earth, the first and highest ecclesiastical authority, the unerring teacher of mankind, so impiously misrepresented, so maliciously persecuted and oppressed in these evil days of arrogant infidelity. We may be confident that our devotion will shorten the time of trial, and rapidly accelerate the epoch of universal triumph for the Holy See and for the whole Catholic Church.

4. When harassed with internal anguish of spirit, occasioned by scruples of conscience, by temptations, and especially when oppressed by calumny, when embittered by reproaches, by insults, by treachery, by injustice, by persecutions, we will find comfort and courage to bear these trials with Christian resignation and merit, by devoutly reflecting on the example of our Divine Lord and Sovereign King crowned with sharp thorns, and subjected by cruel and impious men to the most painful sufferings, and to the most degrading humiliations. He was our Master, we are his servants. The beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns will by happy experience be found highly conducive to the attainment of this important object in a time of trial.

5. Persons afflicted with headaches, so numerous in these days, will through this salutary devotion, obtain physical relief, or at least moral and spiritual comfort in their painful sufferings, through a special compassion and help of our Lord, who knows how to compassionate our infirmities. Strengthened by his Divine grace, encouraged by his example, they will bravely endure these painful trials with greater merit, and thus obtain an increase of joy and glory for all eternity in heaven. We trust that it will not be considered out of place to state, as a fact connected with this subject, that some experience of these sufferings and trials have contributed much to the idea and execution of this humble work in memory of the Crown of Thorns.

6. Because, as we learn from the Gospel, Pagan soldiers were, under the instigation of the evil spirit, the barbarous authors and the cruel instruments of those atrocious sufferings and profound humiliations of our Divine Lord, the Sovereign King of the Universe; so it is to be hoped that all true Christian soldiers, more especially those who may and will be in the glorious service of the Pope and of the Church, will be induced to adopt this holy devotion with the pious intention and noble resolve of offering to our Blessed Lord some atonement for the outrages heaped upon him by Pagan military men at his painful and humiliating crowning with thorns.

7. Finally, let us hope with St. Jerome that through our fidelity in practising and promoting the devotion of the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns, we may deserve to obtain the glorious crown of eternal life.

By reciting the beads and wearing the badge of the Crown of Thorns we will, in these dangerous times of fierce conflict of Pagan might against Christian right, and of infidel error against Catholic truths, be daily reminded, that "Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God." (Acts 14:21)

But by our fidelity and fervor in this holy devotion we hope to obtain the gift of final perseverance in the faith, love and service of our Sovereign King, fighting manfully even unto death for his honor and glory, and thus deserve the promised crown of eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven.

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life." (Apoc. 2:10)

"Studeamus nunc ut membrorum vita capitis sit corona." (St. Augustin),

FINIS CORONAT OPUS

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 49.

THE BADGE OF THE CROWN OF THORNS

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. (Apoc.2:10)

The Crown of Thorns having been for our dear Lord the most painful, the most humiliating, and the most protracted torture of his bitter Passion, it seems very just and proper for us Christians to use some devout emblem, calculated to remind us and others of these dreadful sufferings and profound humiliations, endured for our sake by our Divine Savior. The beads of the Crown of Thorns are not a badge, but a form of prayer. They bear, indeed, a more immediate and a clearer relation to the Crown of Thorns than other .similar forms of prayer, as the common Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Bridgitine beads, the beads of the five wounds, or those of the seven dolors of our Blessed Lady. But these beads will at most be recited once a day, and then they are laid aside during the remainder of the time, without, perhaps, bestowing upon them or their special object, another thought. It seems, therefore, very desirable that some other emblem of devotion more adapted in its form and use for recalling more frequently to our mind the sufferings and humiliations undergone by our Divine Lord and Sovereign King at his crowning with thorns, might be adopted by Catholics. Now, the badge of the Crown of Thorns appears, in our humble opinion, to answer in a peculiar manner this desirable end. Moreover, as our head is the ever active forge of so many vain, proud and sinful thoughts, which so largely contributed to the plaiting of the Crown of Thorns for our dear Lord; it seems but just and proper that it should co-operate in the promotion of his honor and glory. Again, because many worldly persons manifest such extravagant and ridiculous vanity in adorning their heads: so we confidently trust that many pious Catholic ladies will be induced to use this badge of the Crown of Thorns as a protestation against this vicious extravagance, and as an expiation for the offenses offered to our Savior crowned, not with flowers, but with thorns, not with gold and precious stones, but with wounds and blood. Their piety and devotion will surely please our blessed Lord, who will reward them with the unfading crown of everlasting glory. To them we address in a special manner the words of the Canticle: Go forth, ye daughters ofSion; and see King Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him. (Cantic. 3:2)

1. This badge is intended to be worn in memory and honor of the painful Crown of Thorns of our Divine Lord and Savior, the King of Sorrows.

2. It will be white in color, as an emblem of the purity of our intention in this devotion and in all our moral actions, and of the purity of our heart in all our affections.

3. This badge will be marked with seventy-two red spots to express the seventy-two wounds very probably inflicted upon the adorable head of our Divine Lord, crowned with thorns. It may be pierced in seventy-two places, and underlined with red tape or ribbon. The red tape or ribbon, appearing through the holes of the white badge, will represent the punctures caused by the thorns in the head of our Savior.

4. On the front of the badge a small cross will be either stamped, or formed by two small pieces of red ribbon. Polished brass, silver or gold in the form of a cross may be used.

5. This crown is intended to be worn on the head either by itself, or it may be attached inside or outside any head-dress, convenient and proper for any class or sex of Catholic persons, according to the duly approved and legitimate customs of society in any country.

6. Like the beads, we Catholics intend to use this crown badge as a perpetual pledge of our sincere and hearty homage, love, devotion and obedience to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, crowned with thorns for our sake and instruction. As the ancient monarchs wore a small white bandage round their head, as a symbol of their dignity, authority and power; so we intend with this crown badge to acknowledge and proclaim that Jesus our Lord is the Sovereign King of the Universe, the sole Redeemer of mankind, and the only Savior and Master of our soul.

7. Next to Jesus Christ, we profess our first and supreme spiritual allegiance to the Pope, his Vicar upon earth, the visible head of the Church, the first and highest ecclesiastical authority, and the infallible teacher of mankind.

8. We intend using the beads and wearing the badge of the Crown of Thorns as a sacred pledge of our sincere respect for all legitimate authority, spiritual or temporal, ecclesiastical or civil. On our side both the beads and the crown badge will be a practical protestation, and a pious defensive weapon against the modern spirit of libertinism, insubordination and revolt, aiming at the utter subversion of all natural and positive, human and divine law, authority and order. May our devotion to the Crown of Thorns of our Divine King prove an effective remedy for these serious evils, threatening the very existence of human society.

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 47.

PRACTICAL DEVOTIONS IN HONOUR OF THE CROWN OF THORNS

GENERAL EXHORTATION

1. Go forth, Ye daughters of Sion, and see King Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him. (Cantic. 3:2)

With these words our holy Mother the Church exhorts all Christian souls to contemplate the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, her Spouse, crowned with thorns. There are strong and pressing motives for this invitation. Jesus crowned with thorns is a singular spectacle in the history of human sorrow and suffering. The malice of the human heart has invented, and the cruelty of the human hand has inflicted all manner of tortures on guilty or persecuted victims. But the horrible martyrdom of the Crown of Thorns was exclusively reserved for the Divine Victim of Calvary. If the novelty of an event is sufficient to excite the curiosity of mankind, surely the unexampled torture inflicted upon our dear Lord, should draw the attention of Christians to this new development of human malice and cruelty. From the two great doctors of the Church, St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom, we have learned that the horrible invention of the Crown of Thorns, must be attributed to the infernal malice of the devil, who wished to torment and to humbleour Divine Lord beyond the experience of any other human sufferer. "It was the devil that had taken an entire possession of all those impious executioners," St. John Chrysostom says. "The devil," St. Athanasius adds, "the devil excited and impelled those cruel soldiers to torment and deride our blessed Lord." (Serm. de Pass. Domini.)

We are confirmed in this well-founded opinion when we reflect that those Pagan soldiers, in violation of military discipline, trampling under foot every law of order, justice and humanity, acted this bloody tragedy without the knowledge, and contrary to the intention of Pilate, the Roman Governor and their superior officer. "Milites, pecunia corrupti, hoc ad gratiam Judaeorum faciebant," John Chrysostom says. Two conclusions follow from this fact. We learn, first, that the torment of the Crown of Thorns must have been extremely painful and humiliating to our Divine Lord, having been inflicted upon him by those barbarous men, possessed and instigated by the malice of the devil. All tortures inflicted through malicious hatred and against law, order and justice, are always more cruel, more painful and more humiliating for an innocent victim, than chastisements deserved by crime and decreed by legitimate authority. But in this great and profound mystery of the crowning with thorns of our Lord Jesus Christ, all on the side of men, all is disorder, all is malice and extreme cruelty. The second conclusion to which we would come is that devout Christians should practice some special devotion adapted and intended to make the best reparation in our limited power to our Divine Lord for this new and horrible outrage. He will surely be pleased with our humble efforts and pious intention.

2. This is our earnest desire in proposing the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns to the attention of devout Catholics. We venture to make the proposal, after having asked the advice of competent persons, who have approved it and have encouraged us in our understanding. Convinced of ultimate success, because we know in whom we believe, and for whom we work; yet we are not without some apprehension that our humble efforts may evoke some opposition. We expect that one of the principal objections will be directed against the novelty of this devotion. This objection may proceed from two very different kinds of persons. The first will be found intelligent and conservative. The second may be denominated timid and selfish. This latter class of easy-going persons does not like to be annoyed with many, much less with new practices of devotion, which require a little time to learn them and cost some slight inconvenience in actual execution. They are fully satisfied with those few prayers which they learned in their childhood without much labor, and which they ocasionally recite without any effort, and, for this reason, very likely without much advantage to their souls. They imagine that, like themselves, the Church of Christ is getting old now, and does not like to be bothered with new practices of devotion. Persons in this state of mind will scarcely have patience to await calmly, and listen to arguments: hence, we will not attempt to disturb their equanimity, but we will, with hope of better success, address our humble remarks to the first class of more intelligent and generous souls.

Every intelligent Catholic is habitually disposed to use prudence and reflection when any new practice of devotion is proposed for his acceptance. Before approving, sanctioning and practising it, he will carefully examine its origin and nature, its object and authority. Being satisfied that the origin of a new form of practical devotion is derived from a sacred source, that it is good and useful in its nature, that its object is holy and desirable, and, finally, that it is recommended by the sanction of legitimate ecclesiastical authority, surely he will not oppose it, but he will rather uphold and encourage its practical development. It will not require, dear reader, any deep or extensive study to find out that devotion to the Crown of Thorns possesses all these qualifications.

3. Its origin is derived from a well-known fact of sacred history, related in the Gospel, by the three holy Evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. John, whose testimony is true. The form of a devotion intended and adapted to recall to the mind of Christians, the physical sufferings and moral ignominies and humiliations endured by the Incarnate Son of God, with the pious intention of compassionating him in the horrible torture suffered for our sake, on account of our sins, should certainly be considered both good and desirable. Good! ... Oh, is it not good, dear reader, to contemplate Jesus, our Lord, crowned with thorns, seated upon a cold stone, made to hold in his hand, quivering with pain, the reed of derision as his royal scepter, covered with the. scarlet cloak of ignominy, whilst Pagan soldiers, encouraged by the approving shouts of an insolent rabble, strike with heavy sticks his thorn-crowned head, spit upon his sacred face, and impiously bend their knee to salute him in mockery, King of the Jews? ... Is it not good and desirable for Christian souls to consider often the patience, the meekness, the humility and charity of the King of Sorrows in his keenest anguish and deepest public humiliations? ... St. Bernard, by happy experience, found this meditation very good and profitable. He tells us that from his first entrance into the cloister, which he considers the beginning of his conversion, he formed for his daily meditation a crown of all the sufferings and sorrows of his crucified Lord and Savior, and pressed it closely to his loving heart.
"During my life," he says, "I shall never cease proclaiming the torrent of delights which this salutary devotion brought to my soul. During all eternity I will hold in grateful remembrance the abundance of Divine mercies wherewith my spirit has been refreshed. This holy crown is very dear to my heart. No one can ever take it from me. I press it closely to my bosom. To meditate upon it often is the secret of my wisdom, the fullness of my knowledge, the perfection of my sanctification, the guarantee of my salvation, the treasure of all my merits. This meditation supports me in my trials and sufferings, keeps me humble in prosperity, and like two thorny hedges at the right and left side of the road, it makes me walk safely midway, where prudence leads and true wisdom follows, keeping away from me the snares of presumption and the pit-falls of despair. Do you likewise, dearly beloved, plait for your devotion this precious Crown of Thorns. Clasp it to your breast, press it deeply to the very core of your heart, meditate frequently upon it. It will become your surest protection in life, your consolation in death, and the crown of glory in a blissful eternity." (St. Bernard, Serm. 24 in Cantic.)

This devotion of the Crown of Thorns should, therefore, be considered good and desirable in its nature, as it is holy and profitable in its object. The principal object of the devotion of the Crown of Thorns is the promotion of the honor and glory of our Divine Lord by means of the frequent remembrance of and pious meditation on the sufferings and humiliations endured by him at his crowning of thorns. Every Christian will readily acknowledge that this is a holy exercise. St. Bernard believed it to be both holy and sanctifying, he considered it desirable, because he warmly exhorts us to practice it continually with fervor and fidelity. By happy experience, this eminent saint found this pious exercise highly conducive to his spiritual progress in the way of Christian and religious perfection. He assures us that God rewarded his devotion with an abundance of heavenly lights and graces. From this fact, we are given to understand that God was pleased with the devout practice of this holy doctor of the Church, and that in his Divine goodness he sanctioned it with his heavenly gifts.

Fully persuaded of these advantages, St. Bernard blames the careless apathy and want of devotion of some effeminate Christians, who neglect this holy exercise. "Egredimini filiae Sion. Come forth, daughters of Sion," he says. "We call you daughters of Sion, ye worldly Christians, because in your conduct, you show yourselves weak and delicate. You are daughters, and not sons, because you do not manifest any strength of devotion, any manly courage, in your Christian life. Rise from your carnal indolence to the intelligence of spiritual truths, from the slavery of sensual concupiscence to the liberty of the children of God. Come out bravely from your earthly notions, from your worldly maxims, and from the selfish and vain pretexts of old customs. Come and see your Heavenly King crowned by his stepmother, the Synagogue, with a crown of thorns. (St. Bernard, Serm. 2 in Epiph. Domini.)

"Let sinners," this holy doctor says in another sermon, "Let sinners look at their Savior crowned with thorns on account of their sins, and be moved to compunction and sorrow. If they obstinately refuse during life, to see him crowned with thorns in pain and ignominy, they will be obliged to behold him as their Judge in a crown of justice, when he will condemn them as reprobates to everlasting punishment. But all pious souls that have often meditated on his painful and ignominious Crown of Thorns, will behold him in his crown of glory, and receiving from his divine hand the diadem of the heavenly kingdom, they will be made eternally happy in his blessed company. (Serm. 50, de Diversis.) Surely, all this makes the devotion of the Crown of Thorns very desirable.

4. The celebrated stigmatization of the seraphic patriarch, St. Francis of Assissi, may be adduced as a satisfactory proof that a special devotion in memory of the Crown of Thorns will be agreeable to our Lord and profitable to our soul. The Church has instituted a special feast on the 17th of September, with its proper Office and Mass, in order that every year the remembrance of this extraordinary prodigy of the Passion, may be renewed among the faithful, and the mystery expressed by the stigmatization may be more profitably meditated upon, to inflame our hearts with love for our suffering Savior. In the prayer of the Office and Mass of that day the following words are used, which express the principal object of the Feast: "Lord Jesus Christ, when this world is become cold in thy love, thou hast renewed the sacred stigmata of thy Passion in the body of blessed Francis, in order to inflame our hearts with the fire of thy charity."

To keep this sacred fire of Divine love ever burning in the hearts of Christians, the striking prodigy of stigmatization has been continued without interruption in the persons of some privileged members of the Church, from the time of St. Francis to the present day. We have seen that more than one hundred and fifty saints or servants of God have since received the complete or partial stigmatization of the Passion. Not merely with words of mouth, but with gaping wounds and flowing blood, the great mystery of Calvary is proclaimed by a chain of prodigies to a cold, thoughtless and selfish world, and is perpetuated in the Church of the living God, to inflame the hearts of Christians with the fire of Jesus' love.

It is a fact deserving our most serious attention that the prodigies of stigmatization have been almost invariably connected with the miraculous impression of the Crown of Thorns. This remarkable event is contemporaneous with the stigmatization of St. Francis. Blessed Emilia or Emily Bicchieri, of the Third Order of St. Dominic, born in Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy, May 3rd, 1238, is the first person known to have suffered the supernatural impression of the Crown of Thorns. She died in her native city on the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, May 3rd, 1278. St. Francis of Assissi died October 4th, 1226. From that period the miracle of the Crown of Thorns has been visibly perpetuated in the Catholic Church without interruption to the present day. Palma Maria of Oria, in the kingdom of Naples, and Louise Lateau in Belgium are the most celebrated instances of our time.

We humbly believe that God has some special object in keeping the Crown of Thorns, miraculously bleeding in the Church during more than six hundred years. We believe that He desires to excite in the faithful a special devotion to this profound, moving and instructive mystery of His Son's Passion. As the stigmatization of St. Francis, continued ever since in so many saints and servants of God, was, according to the infallible judgment of the Church, intended to promote devotion to the Passion of our Lord in a general way; so we venture to say that a similar chain of prodigies relative to the Crown of Thorns, seems to indicate that our Lord desires to excite in the minds and hearts of the faithful a special devotion towards this sacred and sublime mystery of the Passion.

5. We sincerely and heartily rejoice at the rapidly increasing devotion among the faithful towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We believe that this Divine Heart is the invincible bulwark of the Church against the desperate assaults of her numerous and powerful enemies conspiring together to effect her utter destruction. The Sacred Heart will soon be our salvation.

From what we read, however, in the edifying life of Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun of the Visitation, who received from the blessed hands of our Lord the Crown of Thorns, we venture to say that the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns will form the complement of this sublime and practical devotion. The following are the words of this great and glorious saint. "The Divine Heart was represented to me on a throne of fire and flames, radiant on all sides, and more brilliant than the sun, and transparent as crystal.. .The wound which our Lord received upon the Cross was visible. There was a Crown of Thorns around the Divine Heart, and a cross above it." (Life of Blessed Margaret Mary) The emblem of the Sacred Heart of our Lord, by the command of the Church, is always represented in paintings and devout pictures, with his Crown of Thorns. These thorns must then be very dear to our Blessed Savior; for he wishes to have them entwined round his sacred and glorified heart. May we not, then, reasonably and devoutly hope that the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns are some of the many precious fruits of this holy devotion, very agreeable to our Blessed Lord? If the devout lovers of the Sacred Heart think so, we feel sure that they will pray and interest themselves for its adoption and propagation among the faithful.

We see another hopeful sign in favor of this devotion of the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns in the famous prodigy of Anna Maria Taigi's mystical sun surrounded and crowned with thorns, which she continually contemplated during forty-seven years, and which was mentioned in the first part of this book. As the devotion to the Sacred Heart of our Divine Lord is evidently intended to cure the corruption of the human heart in these degenerate times; so we humbly hope that the devotion to the Crown of Thorns will help to correct the perverse thoughts, erroneous judgments and extravagant opinions of this proud world. The Sacred Heart of Jesus will purify and sanctify our hearts, and devotion to the Crown of Thorns will rectify our reason, sanctify our minds, and thus thoroughly perfect human nature.

6. In the history of mankind we find no epoch where these two vital remedies were more needed than at the present time. Our limits forbid a long discussion upon this important subject. A little knowledge and experience of human society is sufficient to demonstrate that the human heart in the generality of men, is deeply corrupted by its attachment to material objects and by sensual indulgence. The more material and self-indulgent man becomes, the less he loves God. Moreover, because the law of God is diametrically opposed to the self-indulgence and materialism of man, who has been created for higher and nobler ends, hence arises the modern rebellion against the Divine law, and an actual hatred in the hearts of the most vicious men against the Divine Legislator. Such is the present terrible condition of human society. The Sacred Heart of Jesus only can apply an effective remedy for this frightful disorder.

But another evil is prevalent in human society. This is what St. John calls "the pride of life." It is the pride of the mind, the pride of intellect in a superlative degree. It is the preference given by self-conceited men to human reason, to secular knowledge and to natural science, above divine revelation, against the essential dogmas of religion and in a spiteful opposition to the infallible judgment of the Church, and of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Pope of Rome. This is the present disorder of modern human intelligence, which strives to restore the Pagan worship of Minerva and of the more modern goddess of reason of Voltairean fashion. Among the common classes of the people, this spirit of pride is evident in the self-conceit, in the aspiration for independence from all authority, human or divine, in the contempt for superiors, in the disregard of law and duty boldly manifested by many in their socialistic, or, rather, anti-social tendency.

Outside of the Catholic Church the people, or at least their secular leaders, have impiously constituted themselves the makers and unmakers of their ministers of religion, the supreme judges of the doctrines and of the mode of worship of their peculiar sect. This baneful and destructive maxim of human pride, called private judgment, a crime in religious matters, worse in many respects than original sin, was proclaimed by the first leaders of the so-called Protestant Reformation; it has now reached its full development to the lowest degree of practical infidelity. The spirit of pride and rebellion of the fallen angels has, to a great extent, usurped the dominion of the world. It is only the Sacred Heart of Jesus, crowned with thorns, that can succeed in healing this deep and wide wound of the human heart, and in curing the towering pride of the human intellect through his meekness and humility. Learn from me, Jesus crowned with thorns says, learn from me to be meek and humble of heart. Oh! what lessons of humility, what examples of meekness and obedience, what respect for authority, shall we learn from the Incarnate Son of God, if we meditate often on the profound mystery of the Crown of Thorns. The Sacred Heart and the Crown of Thorns are destined to cure and save humanity in this last age of the world.

7. Finally, we feel fully convinced that a sincere and practical devotion to the Crown of Thorns among the faithful is conformable to the spirit and intention of our holy Mother the Church, the loving Spouse of the Lamb. This holy Church, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and prompted by her own devotion, has instituted a special Office and Mass in commemoration and honor of the Crown of Thorns of her Divine Spouse. The Catholic clergy, and all ecclesiastical and religious persons bound to the choir, are strictly commanded to recite this office, and the priests, to say this Mass, every year, on the first Friday in Lent. The same Mass may, through a special devotion, be repeated on different suitable occasions. Through the good example and zeal of the clergy, the Church surely desires to propagate this salutary devotion among the faithful. The special honor and veneration paid by the Church to the genuine Crown Of Thorns of our Savior or to any portion of it as a sacred relic, manifests to us, what is her spirit and intention in relation to this sacred and memorable instrument of our Lord's Passion. Here we may justly call to our mind the decree of Pope Innocent VI about the lance and nails of our Lord, which, we have mentioned in the introduction of this work. The spirit and mind of the Church can likewise be understood by the fact of her canonization or beatification of those privileged persons who have been miraculously impressed with the Crown of Thorns. All these considerations leave no doubt in our mind that it is the desire of our holy Mother the Church to promote among the faithful, by every legitimate means, a salutary devotion to all the instruments of our Lord's Passion, and especially to his Crown of Thorns, which caused him such long and intense sufferings, and so many deep humiliations.
We should, moreover, observe that the miraculous impression of the Crown of Thorns upon the head of God's holy servants has in no previous century of Christianity been perhaps so frequent, certainly never so extraordinary and so remarkable, as in this present nineteenth century. As far as we know, no less than fifteen privileged persons have received already this miraculous impression. We cannot foretell how many more will be decorated with this glorious badge of the Passion during the twenty-three years that still remain of this memorable age. For the present time it will be sufficient to mention the illustrious names of Palma Maria of Oria, in the kingdom of Naples, and of Louise Lateau in Belgium, to show that the circumstances attending their miraculous coronation have never been so remarkable and so glorious for Jesus Christ and for his holy Church.

Therefore, when overwhelmed with bodily afflictions and mental anxieties, on account of our temporal affairs or spiritual concerns; when, like holy King David, our soul refuses the consolations of creatures, let us then at least look up to the Divine King of Sorrows, crowned with thorns, and saturated with opprobriums. When our poor head is tortured with pain, which our irritated brain, the source and center of the nervous system, diffuses through every limb and part of our prostrated body, some pious reflections upon, or at least a devout look at our Divine Head and Master, crowned with sharp thorns, will be found very good, very comfortable, and highly profitable to our souls. Members of a Divine Head crowned with thorns, we will learn from his example to bear our physical sufferings and humiliations with patience, meekness, and humility.

For this end we have written this work. We are not aware of the existence of any similar book, or of any formal devotion in memory and honor of the Crown of Thorns of our dear Savior. With entire and absolute dependence on the judgment of the Church, we humbly offer to the public this small volume, and venture to propose to the acceptance of our fellow-Catholics, in these days of trial, the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns. Competent ecclesiastical authority will, in its wisdom and prudence, have to decide whether the book and the proposed devotion are suitable and proper for the end for which they are intended. If they are approved, as we trust, we will rejoice for the honor and glory that will be given by many devout souls to our Blessed Lord, and for the spiritual and temporal blessings which this salutary devotion will bring upon mankind. But, if our incapacity and unworthiness render useless our humble efforts, we will remain satisfied with our good intention and expect for it our reward from our Lord, for whose honor and glory we have attempted this work. We will also pray and hope that some more worthy and more able person may be induced to accomplish in a more satisfactory manner what we have attempted to indicate, and have ventured to begin. We close this chapter with a pious hymn by the Rev. Father Caswall, translated from the Office of the Crown of Thorns, "Exite, Sion Filiae." Then, in the following chapters we will venture to propose our idea of the devotion of the beads and badge of the Crown of Thorns in memory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Daughters of Sion! royal maids!,
Come forth to see the Crown
Which Sion's self, with cruel hands, Hath woven for her Son.
See! how amid his gory locks, The jagged thorns appear.
See ! how his pallid countenance, Foretells that death is near.
Oh! savage was the earth that bore
Those thorns so sharp and long,
Savage the hand that gathered them To work this deadly wrong.
But now that Christ's redeeming blood Hath tinged them with its dye,
Fairer than roses they appear, Or palms of Victory.
Jesus, the thorns which pierce thy brow Sprang from the seed of sin.
Pluck ours, we pray thee, from our hearts And plant thine own therein.
Praise, honor to the Father be
And sole-begotten Son; Praise to the Spirit Paraclete
Whilst endless ages run. AMEN.

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 42.

THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE OF OUR INFANT SAVIOUR AT BARI, KINGDOM OF NAPLES, ITALY Part 5

PIOUS IMPRESSIONS AND SYMBOLIC FIGURES FROM THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE

These extraordinary impressions and mysterious figures bear upon them the seal of a supernatural power, whether we consider the manner in which this was done, or the symbols which they express.

As soon as the Rev. Laurence Lapedota perceived the prodigious sweat exuding in considerable quantity from the sacred image, he had the pious thought, or the inspiration, of covering it with clean linen, which would naturally absorb it, and thus preserve, this heavenly liquor. It will be remembered that the miraculous sweat occurred first on Monday in Passion Week, 1866, 19th of March, feast of St. Joseph, the adopted father of the Incarnate Word. On the following Good Friday, the same pious priest observed that the linen was marked with stains of blood, which was flowing from the sacred figure of the Bambino, and a cross had been formed in the center of the cloth as if it were erected on a little mound.

About the end of August of the same year, in changing the pieces of linen saturated with the prodigious sweat, the same reverend gentleman felt a strong desire to see impressed on the new, fresh linen the likeness of our Infant Savior. On the first of the following month of September, 1866, in removing the cloth from the sacred figure, the truly pious priest found, to his great delight, that his devout wishes had been fully gratified. From that memorable day to the present time literally innumerable have been the miraculous impressions made upon a variety of things of a pious nature, placed in the venerated cradle of the sacred image. All the emblems of our Lord's Passion have been produced many a time in various ways. The monogram of the sacred name of Jesus, the figure of his most holy heart, the monogram of Mary, the figure of her immaculate heart, the figure of the dove, emblematic of the Holy Ghost, the image of St. Joseph, and of other holy objects, have since that day been miraculously produced in such abundance, says Very Rev. Father Bruni, that it would fill a large volume, were any attempt to be made to describe them. These miraculous impressions have frequently been found conformable to the secret desires of devout visitors.

The Archdeacon Petruzzi has, however, been even more favored by the Santo Bambino (Holy Babe). This eminent ecclesiastic sent a small figure of the Divine Infant, reclining in a small cradle, adorned with artificial flowers, and covered with a glass shade, to protect it from dust. In conformity with his request, it was placed within the larger cradle of the miraculous image, covered likewise with a proportionate shade glass. Now, it is an undeniable fact, known to the whole metropolitan city of Bari, that this smaller image of our Infant Savior did receive on that occasion the impressions of the five wounds in the hands, feet and side. Moreover, it has, like the larger and more famous image, been occasionally seen to exude a miraculous sweat. These facts are taken from the report of the ecclesiastical commission presided over by Very Rev. Father Bruni. His Grace Mgr. Pedicini, Archbishop of Bari, naturally very cautious and prudent in everything, but more especially in these extraordinary events, being determined to ascertain in person the truth of these prodigious reports, on the 23d of March, 1867, hence more than one year after they began, sent a piece of linen, enclosed in a double envelope, and secured with several wax seals, bearing the Archiepiscopal arms. In obedience to Mgr. Pedicini's orders, this double envelope was placed in the cradle close to the miraculous image of our Infant Savior. It was soon after observed that this wax figure had miraculously moved over, and reclined upon the Archbishop's envelope. On the following day, a priest, charged with this duty, took the double envelope from the cradle, and found it moistened outside with a bloody sweat. In presenting it to the Archbishop, this illustrious prelate perceived immediately a very agreeable perfume exuding from it. Having carefully examined the seals on the outward envelope, and having found them intact, he opened it. He did the same with the smaller inward envelope. This also being carefully opened, an incomprehensible phenomenon presented itself to the Archbishop and to other ecclesiastics present. His Grace observed that this envelope, being moistened in some parts, was perfectly dry in others. Moreover, where the envelope was wet outside, it was dry in the corresponding portion inside; and where outside it was perfectly dry, it was moistened inside.

In extracting the small piece of linen from the interior envelope, Mgr. Pedicini found it soaked with a miraculous sweat; and,.although this wet cloth touched inside the whole paper envelope, yet this, as we have already said, was moistened only in some parts, and perfectly dry in others. Behold, here, already a chain of prodigies! ...

Miraculously impressed on this white linen was found a mysterious pine-tree, round which were entwined two ugly serpents, irritated against each other, one of which had the head of a horrid dragon. Both were transpierced with a sword. We will now give the very plausible and probable explanation of these symbols:

1. This mysterious pine-tree is evidently the figure of ecclesiastical authority. The essential authority, established, protected and defended by the power and wisdom of God, and perpetually guaranteed to His Church by the infallible promises of Jesus Christ, her founder and Divine Head, cannot be upset, and much less destroyed by the power of darkness, for the gates of hell shall never prevail against it. This magnificent tree, deeply rooted in the mind and heart of the most enlightened and most noble portion of mankind, strong in divine power, erect in justice, elevated in truth, and ever green with unflagging vigor of life, is the Church of Jesus Christ. Even in her greatest and most severe trials, this glorious Church is always as strong, firm, sound, green and full of energy, as the stoutest pine or cedar on Mount Lebanon during the fiercest storm. Nay, more, the Church is purified and strengthened by the persecutions of her enemies.

2. The serpents graphically represent the pride and hatred of Lucifer, and spirit of impiety and insubordination of the modern, anti-Christian revolution, coiled round the tree of the Church, eager to pull her down to the ground, or to squeeze out her very life. But, finding their united Satanic efforts and impious stratagems absolutely impotent and vain, in their bitter disappointment, they turn their maddening rage and fury against each other. We should, moreover, reflect that modern revolution or apostasy, like all other rebellions, being the offspring of proud minds and of corrupted hearts, bears necessarily within its bosom the germs of discord and dissolution. This fact is daily becoming more and more apparent in the divisions and subdivisions of political parties, and still more so in the endless splits of heretical and Masonic sects, which, like envenomed broods of scorpions, tear each other to pieces, and must consequently soon disappear from the face of the earth. The sooner they return to the pit whence they issued forth, the better for the general happiness of mankind ...

So far, however, we are obliged to acknowledge the existence in Europe of two leading parties, namely, Moderates and the Radicals, the Monarchists and the Republicans; in short, the Girondists and Jacobins of the French bloody revolution and impious apostasy of 1790. This is more particularly the fact in the present civil condition of unhappy Italy. The Ministerial and the Opposition parties in the Italian Parliament are in reality nothing else but the slow resuscitation of the defunct Girondist and Jacobin parties of horrible memory... Now, how could this wretched state of society have been more graphically and more prophetically expressed than by the terrible figures of the two horrid serpents entwined around the large, strong, and ever green tree of the Catholic Church? ...

A mysterious sword transfixes both serpents, and holds them together in writhing pain of agonizing fury. This deadly weapon represents the ever-effective and victorious two-edged sword of St. Peter. In this striking emblem we behold the marvelous effect of the definition of the dogma of the Papal Infallibility by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. The masterly blow has been well directed; it has been truly unerring in its aim, and shall prove decisively crushing in its inevitable consequences against the proud head of the infernal dragon, and against the impious spirit of modern revolution. The two wounded serpents, unable to injure the huge, sound tree of the Church, shall, in their rage of despair, bite and tear each other to pieces. During their fierce and bloody combat, and their violent contortions, they will cause sad havoc among the nations of the earth.But enough of this; we will return to our main subject of the miraculous and symbolic impressions.

The Reverend President of the seminary, Father Bruni, relates that on a certain occasion a pious ecclesiastic was allowed to place near the miraculous image a corporal-, which is a square piece of white linen, used by Catholic priests at the altar. Upon this cloth a cross was found engraven with blood, and over this cross was a crown of bloody thorns. At the foot of the cross, our Lady of Dolors is represented standing in an attitude of profound sorrow. At each side of the cross there are two hearts, one of which is surmounted by a small cross, the other is pierced with a sword. Above these appear the sun and moon. In different directions stains of fresh and vermilion blood can be seen. All this is very wonderful and significant. We should not forget to remark that the mystic Crown of Thorns is ever united to the cross of our redemption and salvation. Blessed Crown of Thorns, through which we obtain the diadem of eternal glory! .. .Our hope of salvation is strengthened when we behold at the foot of our Savior's cross his most holy Mother, shedding tears of love for him, and of maternal compassion for us; and with a heroic spirit of self-immolation offering to the Eternal Father her Divine Son's sufferings, and her agonizing sorrow, to obtain mercy and pardon for a sinful world ... The union, however, of the two most holy and most loving hearts that have ever animated, and warmed two human breasts is the surest and sweetest guarantee of our final victory. In this miraculous picture the adorable heart of Jesus and the immaculate heart of his Virgin Mother are united together in the same object of merciful charity. They are near the cross, and painted with miraculous blood. This blood seems clearly intended to announce the necessity of future victims of faith and love before the Church enjoys the full triumph of the Cross. The martyrdom of many of her children will be the Red Sea of her deliverance from her persecutors. These two hearts are the furnaces of Divine love, the source of merciful compassion for sinners, the centers of the sweetest and most exalted devotion. They are an expressive invitation to all the faithful to retire within them as the most secure and safest harbors during the fearful storm of the present anti-Christian revolution.

The sun and moon-are miraculously painted in the picture in characters of blood. We could interpret this prodigy as a mystic realization of our Savior's prophecy, that the sun will be changed into blood. But we prefer to interpret the symbol as indicating that the Sun of Eternal Justice is there to warm the heart and illumine the mind of the faithful; and the moon, the mild figure of Mary, is there shining for the guide and help of poor sinners encompassed by the dismal darkness and gloom of error and vice. The mysterious and significant stains of fresh, living and vermilion blood, so-miraculously sprinkled in different parts of that white linen cloth, seem to foretell and announce that the blood of many innocent victims will soon be required by Divine justice to atone for the crimes of mankind, and to adorn the white tunic for the glorious day of her universal triumph. Let us, then, in union with the august Virgin, Mother of our crucified Savior, at the foot of this cross, send forth our fervent supplications to the throne of grace and mercy in the firm hope that brighter days and more happy years will speedily shine over the face of the earth.

We close this long, but, we trust, interesting chapter with another remarkable prodigy, related by the Rev. J. M. Curicque, mentioned more than once in the foregoing pages. "An engraving," he says, "has been shown to us by a pious gentleman with whom we are well acquainted. It was sent to him from Ban by a Sister of Charity, after having been placed in contact with the miraculous image of our Infant Savior. This pretty large steel engraving represents our Lord upon the cross, with St. Mary Magdalene weeping, in a kneeling position at the foot of the cross. Through its contact with the miraculous waxen image of our Infant Savior the following prodigious effects were produced on the engraving:

First. The head of our crucified Lord has been marked with traces of

blood diverging into four rays.

Second. Blood is likewise seen on the hands, feet and side of our Lord.

Third. The cross from top to bottom is literally covered with blood.

Fourth. But, what is more wonderful, is the fact that the prodigious blood

stopped flowing immediately above the arm of the kneeling

Magdalene, wherewith she embraces the cross, and over which

her head sorrowfully reclines. Not a drop of blood is seen upon

the loving penitent, but it appears again under her arm, running

down to the ground, all the way over the cross.

Fifth. The alabaster vessel engraved near the cross is entirely covered

with this prodigious blood. 

Sixth. The side of our crucified Lord is deeply marked with a large bloody 

semicircle, one side of which branches out in three mysterious red points or rays. 

Seventh. The sun, the moon, and more than a hundred starry points 

round about the crucifixion are formed with this miraculous blood. 

Eighth. The inscription of the picture engraved at its bottom has the

monogram of Jesus marked with blood. 

Ninth. And lastly, the central letter is surmounted by a cross of blood. 

The pious writer concludes by saying: "We have been deeply struck and moved to contemplate this engraving, which receives from these miraculous bloody impressions a supernatural mark of originality. This prodigious event is evidently intended to recall to our ungrateful minds the sacred blood of our Divine Savior, who cries out to us from the cross: 'Ah! why do you abandon me, ye wretched sinners! Why will you remain obstinate in your determination of asking from impious and crafty impostors that water of life which can come to you only from me, your Lord and God, bleeding for your sake upon this cross.' Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this: and ye gates thereof, be very desolate ...For my people have done two evils. For they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug to themselves cisterns; broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jerem 2:12) In your utter disappointment, learn, my people, a salutary lesson; and return at last to my open arms, and to my wounded and bleeding heart, All ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you; and you under the shadow of my cross shall find rest to your souls." (Mt. 11:29)

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 41.

THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE OF OUR INFANT SAVIOUR AT BARI, KINGDOM OF NAPLES, ITALY Part 4

MIRACULOUS MOVEMENTS OF THE HOLY IMAGE

The image of our Infant Savior at Bari has evidently been chosen by God as an instrument of the most wonderful prodigies on record. It may be considered a concentration of supernatural phenomena intended by Divine Providence to confound the impiety of the wicked men, and to enlighten the faith and strengthen the hope of the faithful. Let us, for our edification, consider its prodigious movements.

The Rev. Father Bruni, in his official report to the Archbishop, Mgr. Pedicini, mentions the following miraculous motions:

1. The eyes of the waxen image have often been observed by many persons to move in different directions, and with various expressions in the looks, quite in the same way as if it were a living and-intelligent child.

2. The face of the figure, artistically fine, often assumes various physiognomic expressions. Sometimes it appears full of life, and beaming with an heavenly smile; at other times it becomes painfully sad and suffused with a deadly pallor. These miraculous physiognomic motions have been very frequent.

3. In the year 1866, July 25th, towards evening, this wonder-working figure was by several devout persons found holding in its right hand a mysterious oriflamme, or small golden flag, and a cross in its left hand. Neither of them had or could have been placed there, as they were found in the waxen hand of the little image. To effect this, it would have been necessary to open the small wax fingers to receive, then to close them again in such way as to make them grasp and hold in a natural manner, both the small golden flag and the cross. But this could not have been done without breaking both hands. Moreover, all persons allowed to have access to the sacred figure were by their known characters above the shadow of suspicion, and nobody could have attributed to them the horrible crime of such deceitful and sacrilegious profanation. The reality of this prodigy has never been doubted by well-informed persons in the metropolitan city of Bari.

4. On the 20th day of March, 1866, the Rev. Canon Maggi and the Very Rev. F. Bruni, and several other trusty persons, had left the holy waxen figure in its usual position in the cradle, under its ordinary glass shade. Two days after, it was found in a transversed position, which could only have been effected through a miracle, because the glass shade, by order of ecclesiastical authority, had been sealed or otherwise closed in such a way that no person could touch or move the prodigious image. Rev. Michael Farchi was the first in remarking this new prodigy, which he pointed out to other persons present. Upon the same occasion a profuse sweat was seen flowing from the same miraculous image.

5. On the 25th of July, of the same year, the Holy Infant was found standing at the end of the cradle, and was seen by many devout visitors often changing its position. It was upon this remarkable occasion that the oriflamme and cross were found in its hands. This wonderful prodigy continued, from the 25th of July to the 6th day of December, 1866, nearly four months and a half, during which time it was witnessed by a multitude of persons of every class and condition.

In order to certify the reality of the prodigy, the wax figure of the Holy Infant, then reclining in the cradle, was carefully examined by a committee of competent ecclesiastic and other proper persons, designated by the learned and pious Archbishop, Mgr. Pedicini. This examination was made on the 12th day of April, 1867. It was then observed that the wax figure of our Infant Savior, at its original moulding or formation by the artist, had its left foot more drawn up than the right one, and the artistic position of this latter was such that when the commissioners attempted to place the wax figure in an upright and standing position it was observed that the forepart only of the right foot could touch the table or the bottom of the cradle, whilst the left foot could not reach it at all. It was therefore demonstrated and concluded that, according to the natural laws of gravitation, it was physically impossible for the waxen image to remain standing without any support whatever, as it had done during the long space of four months and twelve days, in the latter part of the previous year. The reality of the miracle was unanimously admitted. If modern skeptics refuse to believe, and censure our Christian credulity, we say to them, with St. Paul, "Carnal man cannot understand spiritual things," and, much less, the nature of supernatural events.

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 40.

THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE OF OUR INFANT SAVIOUR AT BARI, KINGDOM OF NAPLES, ITALY Part 3

ORDINARY SWEAT OF THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE

As soon as this prodigious sweat became frequent, and copious in quantity, pieces of clean linen were carefully placed over the sacred image of our Lord, and with the necessary permission of ecclesiastical authority were removed when observed to have become saturated with this prodigious liquor. This having been wrung into a small vessel, it was put aside into a closet, and almost forgotten. But after some time the Rev. Laurence Lapedota, having had occasion to look for it, remarked that it had somewhat increased in quantity. This prodigious multiplication becoming daily more evident, the pious priest, through his private devotion, poured out a portion of this liquor into another vial; it continued, however, to increase. On several occasions the first vessel was entirely emptied, but in a short time was found replenished to the brim, occasionally overflowing into a saucer or salver, placed under it for this purpose. Still more surprising is the fact that some empty vials, having been left for future use near this vessel, were found filled with the same miraculous liquor. This experiment was purposely repeated several times, and always with the same result.
The ordinary color of this prodigious liquor is similar to that of dry straw, but occasionally it becomes light and clear, and at other times more heavy and sub-obscure. Ordinarily, in tasting it, the liquor has no particular savor, but sometimes it tastes like cinnamon. At the bottom of this glass bottle a sediment can be perceived, exhibiting the appearance of bloody traces deeply marked.

The following remarkable circumstances are connected with this miraculous sweat.

1. It is incorruptible. Vials full or partially filled with this sweat, since the year 1866 have been preserved, but not the least deterioration can be detected.
2. This prodigious liquor changes color when given to different persons. With some it is limpid and clear, like crystal; with others it becomes turbid, and even blackish. This last gloomy color generally forebodes imminent misfortunes and serious evils.
3. A peculiar odor usually remains in the vial or vessel wherein this miraculous liquor is collected. With some persons, however, the fragrance is more persistent, whilst with others it is more intermittent. Sometimes this odor becomes disagreeable to some persons, and at the same time it is very pleasant to others. Without pretending to penetrate the hidden secrets of the human health, we may suppose that the state of conscience of individuals contributes much to these different sensations.
4. The miraculous liquor having been given in small doses to drink to sick persons, has often produced more or less instantaneous cures, or it has certainly been the beginning of physical amelioration. There is no doubt that all those persons who have used this liquor with sentiments of a lively faith, and in good moral dispositions, have always been benefited thereby in body and soul.
5. This miraculous perfume, the nature of which cannot be described by human experience, not only exudes from the sacred waxen image of our Infant Savior, but also, from its little cradle, from the linen, and other objects placed in contact with it. On the following occasion this heavenly perfume was particularly remarkable:
6. In the month of November, 1866, Father Bruni, in company with several other persons, having had occasion to remove the glass shade covering the sacred image, all were suddenly refreshed with a most agreeable perfume of roses, as if they had been in a flower garden, surrounded with roseplants in full bloom.
7. In April, 1867, one of the Sisters of Charity at Bari, having by permission placed an artificial lily on the sacred image for a short time, in taking it back she perceived that it had received miraculous impressions, and exhaled an extraordinary fragrance. Without mentioning these facts, the good sister forwarded this lily, enclosed in a letter, to a pious friend in France, who, in acknowledging its safe receipt, expressed great admiration at its indescribable perfume.

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 38.

THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE OF OUR INFANT SAVIOR AT BARI, KINGDOM OF NAPLES, ITALY Part 1

"May the glory of Christ, who is the image of God shine unto all men." (2 Cor. 4:4)

This nineteenth century, being destined by God to form an epoch in the Catholic Church, is pre-eminently the age of prodigies. In the foregoing pages we have already noticed many of them and more will be found in what follows. Were we not circumscribed within the hallowed circle of the Crown of Thorns, we could fill an entire volume with prodigious events of different kinds, that have illustrated the Christian chronicles of the present century. The learned, judicious and devout author of the Voix Prophetiques (Prophetical Voices) Rev. I. M Curicque, in two large volumes of above 1,500 pages 12mo. has collected, especially in the first volume, a great number of them, which we trust will soon appear in an English dress. For our present object, in connection with the Crown of Thorns, we compile the following facts from the 1st volume, chapter V.

1. Many weak Christians are not only surprised, but also somewhat scandalized, in beholding the present degraded condition of Italy, from a civil and religious point of view. Might seems to have prevailed against right. Cunning, duplicity, and hypocrisy persecute and oppress truth, candor, and honesty. Impiety, vice, corruption and sacrilege boldly stalk in the usurped states of the Church, domineer in the capital of the Christian world, and like the monstrous beast prefigured in the thirteenth chapter of the Apocalypse, partaking of the nature of the leopard, of the bear, lion and dragon, blaspheming against Jesus Christ, and holding his Vicar a prisoner in the Vatican. But to the eyes of enlightened faith these are some of the scandals that the impiety and malice of wicked men have rendered inevitable in these evil days. Woe, however, to them by whom such scandals come. Christian faith should enable us to see and to feel that the revolution, or, apostasy as it is better termed in the Apocalypse is dominant all over the face of the earth. Hence, why should we be surprised, and much less, why should anyone be scandalized in seeing it rear its impious and defiant head in Italy, the only country that after receiving the light and life of Faith from the apostles of our Lord, all the might of Pagan persecution, heretical perfidy and human impiety, could never succeed in extinguishing it from the mind and heart of that Catholic people? If old paganism warred against Palestine, the land of promise, and the chosen country for God's true worshippers; what wonder is it that revived paganism, in these latter days, aims its most deadly blows against Italy, the Palestine of Christianity, and especially against Papal Rome, the center and fountain-head of Catholicity, the divinely chosen seat of the infallible head of Christ's Holy Church? The Papacy is the only irremoveable rock and insurmountable barrier, that checks the ever surging billows of Satan's fury and of human impiety. Rendered proud and bold, by their success in almost every part of the world, these emissaries of Satan are becoming mad at the resistance offered to their impious designs and desperate efforts, by the venerable octogenerian sitting calmly and hopefully in St. Peter's chair in the Vatican, who by his powerful words and inspired messages of wisdom and warning, makes the revolution tremble, like Attila in its apparently victorious career against the seat of his universal government. The Pope fully and firmly relies upon the infallible promise of Him whom he represents upon earth. For he said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Mt. 16:18) Let us be calm and hopeful, in fervent prayer, and we shall soon see the present Crown of Thorns transformed into a brilliant crown of universal glory and triumph for the whole Catholic Church. We have a guarantee for our hope, in the manifold, frequent and extraordinary prodigies, manifested in different parts of the world, but especially in Christian France and Papal Italy.
The general ignorance of the Italian language, and the comparatively few Americans who travel in Italy, and who feel any interest in visiting the more secluded portions of that classical land, the affected ignorance and studied silence of the secular and Protestant press in relation to Catholic events, and last, but not least, the habitual caution, and almost extreme reserve of Italian writers, in giving publicity to the prodigies so frequently
occurring in that country of faith, deprive the Christian reader of many most interesting and edifying facts, and cause some weak-minded Catholics to suppose that God has almost forsaken that privileged people. We are desirous of supplying this omission, as far as circumstances will permit, and correcting, if possible, the mistake. Let us then proceed to examine another extraordinary event connected with a chain of prodigies intertwined with the mystic Crown of Thorns.

From time immemorial, but more especially since the twelfth century, stimulated by the devotion and zeal of the seraphic Patriarch, St. Francis of Assisi, and by his fervent religious of both sexes, veneration for our Infant Savior has ever been a peculiar feature in the devotions of Italian Catholics. It is now nearly a century since a most beautiful figure of the Divine Infant, made of the purest virgin wax, has been religiously preserved in some pious families in the archiepiscopal city of Bari as an object of domestic devotion. It is intended to represent our Infant Savior in the cradle. About twenty years ago, this beautiful figure fell by inheritance into the Providential possession of two very pious middle-aged sisters, surnamed Parlavecchia. They are now far advanced in years, the elder being nearly seventy years old, the other only a few years less. The Christian name of this latter is Maria Gaetana. During many years, both have been most exemplary members of the Third Order of St. Francis, which is very numerous in Italy, and especially in the kingdom of Naples. These pious maidens lead a secluded life at home. They have been remarkable for their strict exactness in the observance of their simple and holy rule of life, and are justly regarded as models of general edification in their native city, on account of their exemplary conduct, their fervor, persevering prudent zeal and active charity. They are respected by all as faithful living copies of the two privileged sisters, Mary and Martha, mentioned in the Gospel. The elder sister represents the activity of Martha, whilst the younger, Maria Gaetana, has chosen with Mary the better part, of sweet contemplation. Being satisfied with the bare necessaries of life, they live upon a small income derived from a moderate house rent. They scarcely ever consent to receive any visitor, except a saintly and venerable old priest, a near relative, the Rev. Laurence Lapedota, and some other ecclesiastic and devout lay person, when no other conversation is permitted, except upon pious and edifying subjects. In short, their conversation, as St. Paul says, is in heaven. This will be better understood when we state that Maria Gaetana is so favored by our Lord as to have been for many years impressed with the miraculous stigmata of the five wounds, in her hands, feet and side. These facts are well known in the city of Bari.

The devotion of these saintly sisters towards our Infant Savior is universally admired. By ecclesiastical authority, they have been allowed to transform a large room in the upper story of their house, contiguous to their humble cell, into a chapel, with a beautiful altar, on which the cherished object of their devotion is preserved. In fervent acts of devotion, prayer and meditation they spend some hours of the day, and many more during the night, imploring the mercy of God, for the conversion of sinners, the perseverance of the just, and for the speedy triumph of our holy religion. Pious Catholics have free access to this domestic chapel for motives of devotion. But they find it very difficult to enter into conversation with the two sisters, or to be admitted into their private rooms. God has rewarded their faith and devotion with a number of extraordinary prodigies, through the sacred image of their cherished Santo Bambino. These may be classified in the following five categories:

1. Since the 19th day of March, feast of St. Joseph, 1866, being Monday in Passion Week, and a short time after the exile of the learned Archbishop of Bari, Monsignor Pedicini, by the so-called Italian, but in reality Freemason and anti-Christian Government, the sacred wax image of our Infant Savior, reclining in a beautiful cradle, was observed to exude a miraculous sweat in such abundance that being carefully collected in clean linen cloths and pressed into a vessel, several small glass bottles have been filled with it, and are religiously preserved. This prodigious sweat has been the means of many other miracles, one of which is its frequent multiplication.

2. The sacred figure often times sweats blood. This miraculous blood— fresh, lively and rosy—exudes in such abundance, sometimes from one side, then from another, varying with the different feasts in the year, that being carefully collected in clean linen placed under and over the sacred image, several vials have been filled with it, and are devoutly treasured up as precious relics, by means of which numerous prodigies have been and are wrought at the present time.

3. A sweet and most agreeable odor exhales from the little cradle wherein the sacred image is kept, that can be perceived at some considerable distance from it, and is observed, not only through the sense of smell, but it wonderfully affects the souls of the faithful, inspiring heavenly sentiments of piety and devotion in all those who visit this privileged chapel with true Christian dispositions of mind and heart.

4. Though the sacred wax figure is, by order of ecclesiastical authority, kept under a glass shade, fixed with seals, so that it cannot be reached by human hands, or by any other instrumentality, yet it has been occasionally observed moving from one position to another, from right to left, from left to right, sitting up or standing upon its feet, exactly like a living child, two or three years old.

5. Lastly, what is still more wonderful, and more deserving our consideration, are the bloody impressions produced over or communicated in an instant, to the linen, to engravings, or pictures and other objects placed, with due permission, over or in contact with the sacred image of the Divine Infant, il Santo Bambino, of Bari. As a general rule, these miraculous impressions exhibit symbols expressive of mysterious and prophetic signification, as we shall have soon to remark. We proceed now to explain more fully, and in greater detail, these five prodigious events. The following facts are faithfully translated from the official account given of these prodigies by the very Rev. Father Bruni, a member of the congregation of the mission of St. Vincent de Paul, more generally known as the Lazzarist Fathers, from the original title of their mother house in Paris where their general superior resides. Very Rev. Father Bruni, when commissioned by the Archbishop of Bari, Mgr. Pedicini, to investigate and report these facts, was superior or president of the ecclesiastical seminary in that city. But since, like other religious in Italy, he has been banished from the seminary and from his religious establishment by the impious and persecuting government of Victor Emmanuel.
These facts were first published in France in Le Rosier de Marie, "the Rosary of Mary," an excellent weekly periodical, very ably edited by the French Dominican Fathers. The account may be read in the number of Saturday, 19th of August, 1871, page 647.

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 37.

THE WONDERS OF THE CROWN OF THORNS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

45. Maria Rosa Adriani
If God is admirable in His saints, His mercy is not less wonderful in behalf of sinners. The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. (Ps. 144:9)

Sanctity is the work of God: and saints are made and intended by God for the welfare of sinners. Saints are the ripe fruits and the perfection of the Incarnation, which was principally intended for the redemption and salvation of sinful man. In the Venerable Elizabeth Canori Mora we have just admired a heroic victim voluntarily sacrificed for the welfare of poor sinners. In Maria Rosa Adriani we have another holy victim of self-immolation in behalf of a sinful world. Maria Rosa was born, lived and died at Francavilla, head city of the Province of Lecce, Kingdom of Naples. Like a bright morning star she appeared in the horizon of life, early in January, 1786. She was only five years of age, when the brightness of her precious virtue began to shine upon earth. She was violently attacked by the painful and loathsome disease, small-pox. This little and innocent sufferer, beholding her small body covered with putrid sores, prevented by divine grace, began to meditate in the best way she could, on the sufferings of our crucified Lord. On that occasion she felt a strong inspiration and an ardent desire to become like unto him, and to bear in her body the wounds of his sacred passion. The fervent prayer of this innocent child was promptly heard by her heavenly Father. From that moment she felt intense pain in her little hands, feet and side. Her heart was inflamed with a deep and tender compassion for the sorrows of our blessed Lady at the foot of the cross.

As soon as she recovered from this serious illness, little Maria Rosa manifested a strong love for retirement, solitude, prayer, mortification and penance. Some years after she wished to consecrate herself entirely and forever to God in the religious state of life, in the Franciscan Convent of St. Clare in her native city. But her urgent request was sternly refused by her parents. In obedience to them whom she ever venerated as the representatives of God, this good child remained at home keeping herself in deep recollection of spirit, secretly practicing severe penances and almost continual prayer. Her greatest delight was to remain for hours before the most Holy Sacrament in the Church.

When twenty-two years, with her parents' permission, she became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, in the Church of the Conventual Friars at Francavilla, 19th April, 1808. This new favor increased the fervor of the youthful servant of God. Her supernatural sufferings became more intense and the stigmata began to appear exteriorly, on the principal feasts of our divine Lord, and of his most holy Mother. By degrees the impression of the wounds appeared more visibly marked and the pain was intensified. At last,during the Octave of Corpus Christi, June, 1820, the stigmata were completely formed in her hands, feet and side. This alarmed the humility of Maria, who fervently entreated her divine Spouse to keep them concealed from human sight. Her request, however, was not granted and the stigmata remained visible until her death.

When our Lord finds correspondence with His extraordinary favors, he rapidly multiplies and increases them, in his privileged servants. This he certainly did with Maria Rosa. On the 8th day of June the same month, being Friday and the Feast of the Sacred Heart, she was, late in the evening, raised to a sublime degree of contemplation, when she was favored with a vision. Our Blessed Lord appeared to his servant accompanied by his most holy Mother, took her heart from her bosom, and entrusted it to the special care and guardianship of our blessed Lady, the Virgin of Virgins. He then exhorted Maria Rosa to prepare herself to endure for his sake, and without consolation, one of the most painful martyrdoms. On the following morning, she went to see her spiritual director, and with her habitual simplicity and candor, related to him the heavenly communications with which she had been favored by our Blessed Lord and his most holy Mother. With heroic courage she added, that she was fully disposed, and firmly resolved to endure for God's sake, and with the assistance of his divine grace, any and every affliction, privation and suffering, that his divine Majesty would be pleased to send her. These noble and generous dispositions of his penitent were encouraged by the pious and enlightened Franciscan Father, the spiritual director of Maria Rosa. Fully expecting that her patience and fortitude were to be severely tested, he placed her under obedience, to give her greater confidence, and more to augment the merit of her sufferings. Her confessor then commanded her to offer herself to God, as a willing victim for the sins of men, in imitation of her crucified Spouse. She promptly and gladly complied with the order of her spiritual director. The voluntary victim was immediately placed by God on the altar of mystic sacrifice. On the following night our Lord appeared to her, nailed to the cross: and darting forth from his wounds five most resplendent rays, like beams of burning fire, he transpierced with them the hands, feet and side of his seraphic servant. The extreme pain which Maria Rosa suffered from this divine operation, made her swoon and fall on the floor of her room as if dead. On the following morning, being unable to move, she sent to her spiritual director, who examined her hands and feet, and found them traspierced from side to side and bleeding profusely. The heroic sufferer told him that the wound in her side caused her intense pain, extending to her shoulder. This generous victim of charity and patience, could truly say with St. Paul: "I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body." (Galat. 6:17)

Beside these five visible and permanent wounds, people could see blood flowing from the interior angle of her eyes, but more abundantly from the right side. This was a consequence and effect of the Crown of Thorns, which Maria Rosa continually suffered internally, and the punctures of which were often visible on her head and brow. She explained this mysterious phenomenon to her director, by stating that the blood flowing from her eyes, was caused by a long thorn which seemed to her to pierce through her whole head its points penetrating to the eye. She added that this long thorn was pressed into her head, when forced to lean against the wood of the cross invisibly placed by our Lord upon her shoulders, by which she was almost crushed down to the earth with an immense weight. After enduring for some days this terrible martyrdom, with heroic courage and fortitude, our Lord enriched the soul of his noble servant, with the abundance of his heavenly gifts and graces. These in return inflamed her heart with an insatiable thirst for more sufferings.

To this end, this truly admirable heroine made use of numerous instruments of penance, which have been preserved at Oria as precious relics, the mere sight and even mention of which, cause a pious horror. She often scourged her innocent body to blood with a discipline made of strong wire, the numerous thongs at the extremity of which were armed with sharp steel points that cut and tore her flesh. A tin cross nearly a foot long, with arms in proportion, is also shown, the whole length and breadth of which is armed with small tacks about half an inch long. Maria Rosa, as a lover of the cross and victim of charity, when still very young, so closely tied upon her chest this terrible instrument of penance, that it sunk in her flesh, and became in the course of years incarnated with it. She bravely wore it almost all the time of her life. More frightful even were five large needles, a foot long, with which she occasionally transfixed her body through from side to side. All these terrible instruments of penance are religiously preserved in the Monastery of the Franciscan Fathers in the city of Oria.

This admirable servant of God had a profound veneration for, and sincere devotion to the seraphic Mother of Carmel, St. Teresa, whose virtues she earnestly strove to imitate. The saint in return obtained for her many favors from God. On the 15th of October, Feast of St. Teresa, 1824, Maria Rosa was ravished in a deep ecstasy. A seraph appeared to her, holding a burning dart of divine love, with which he pierced her heart. This divine operation was renewed every year on the same day, during the last twenty-three years of her life.

On the 10th of September, 1848, being the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity, and the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, our holy heroine felt, in fact knew by special revelation that her mortal course was drawing to an end. All her life had been a fervent and faithful preparation for death. She received with extraordinary devotion and joy, all the sacraments and spiritual helps, that our holy Mother the Church lavishes upon her dying children. Maria Rosa, having been during her whole life, upon the cross, she wished in imitation of her crucified spouse, to die a victim of obedience. She had previously agreed with her confessor that, in her last agony, she was to give him a sign to obtain his command, in virtue of holy obedience for her soul, to depart from this earth and proceed immediately to the eternal embrace of Jesus, her heavenly Spouse. He promised to do so on condition that, if admitted without delay to the beatific vision, she would, if permitted by God, cause the bells of the Monastery Church to ring miraculously a joyful chime. The long wished-for moment arrived. The dying servant of God raised her last supplicating look to her confessor praying at her side. He immediately imparted to her his last blessing, and gave to her the desired command of holy obedience. Maria Rosa about noon September 10th, 1848, with an angelic smile upon her virginal lips, calmly closed the eyes of her body to the earth, to open those of her innocent and pure soul in the light of the beatific vision of God in heaven. A most joyful chime was heard over all the city of Francavilla from all the bells of the city churches. At her death Maria Rosa Adriani was 72 years, 7 months, and 20 days old. This brief but edifying sketch has been written by the spiritual director of this holy servant of God, who assisted at her death, and who is actually engaged in writing more fully her life. The following is his declaration.

Declaration Oria, Apirl 17th, 1872.
I declare that the Church has not yet given any decision on the subject of the deceased. God will in due time make her worth known by means of stupendous prodigies. I do hereby protest that all I have said about Maria Rosa Adriani has no other authority than that of a purely human historical record, and completely submit it to the decrees of Pope UrbanVII and of all the other Supreme Pontiffs. Father Master Francis Delia Pace, Minor Conventual Director (See Les Stigmatisees, Louise Lateau, 1. Vol. Appendice)

46. Venerable Anna Maria Taigi
Though we are not aware that this venerable servant of God suffered in a visible manner the impression of the Crown of Thorns, yet we believe that she deserves to be enumerated in this catalogue. Our object is to promote devotion to the Crown of Thorns of Our dear Savior. Now, as we have mentioned before, this holy woman had continually for forty-seven years this holy crown before her eyes. We humbly believe that, one at least of the objects of this wonderful manifestation was to promote a special devotion towards the crown of our Lord. The vision of the mysterious sun, fit emblem of the Eternal Sun of justice, who assumed human flesh, and came upon earth to enlighten those who sit in darkness, deserves some notice in this place. As we said above, Anna Maria was favored by God during forty-
seven years with a clear and uninterrupted view of a most brilliant sun. Around it shot forth rays from the center and a very closely set crown of thorns intertwined, encircling the superior disk of the sun, stood upon the points of the upper rays. Two of the thorns, lengthened on either side beyond the others, descended below the disk where, crossing one another, they formed with their points a figure like a cross. This we deem sufficient for this place. We may observe that this description admirably tallies with what we have just read about the long thorns in the head of Maria Rosa Adriani. A few details about Anna Maria Taigi will be agreeable.

She was born May 29th, 1769, at Sienna, in Tuscany. At six years of age she with her parents went to reside in Rome. In due time she was married to Dominico Taigi, or rather Taegi, a virtuous young man, but of uncouth and abrupt manners, which contributed much to her sanctification. She was the mother of seven children. Some died very young. The rest she brought up with the greatest care and diligence in the practice of their religious duties. One of her daughters is still living. Anna Maria was a perfect model of a pious Christian wife and mother. She was never idle, yet always praying. She led a life of continual self-denial, mortification and penance, yet she never neglected any domestic duty. She was full of active charity for the poor and indigent; and inflamed with an ardent zeal for the conversion of sinners, and salvation of souls. For the suffering souls in purgatory, she had the most lively compassion; and her devotion to the passion of our Lord, and the dolors of his most holy Mother, was boundless.

Through the supernatural light of his mysterious sun, this wonderful servant of God was enabled to see everything past, present and future. Nothing was hidden from her knowledge, which had relation to the Church, or the Pope. She knew in an instant, by a simple glance at the sun, the secret designs of governments, all the plots of secret societies, the intentions of individuals, their state of conscience, the doom of souls after their death. She possessed in a very eminent degree the spirit of prophecy, and foretold many important events to take place to the end of time, which, according to her knowledge, is fast approaching. Through her spiritual director she often warned the Pope and his ministers of the dangerous machinations of earthly princes, secret societies, treacherous officials, and malevolent individuals of any kind. She prayed and practiced severe penance for the conversion of the enemies of the Church, of sinners and of infidels, and succeeded in converting many. The conversion to Catholicity of the Emperor of Russia, Alexander I, his death on the 1 st December, 1825, and the salvation of his soul, were revealed to her on the same day; and she announced these events to the Russian ambassador in Rome at that time. Anna Maria Taigi died in Rome in great odor of sanctity, June 9th, 1837. The process of her beatification is progressing rapidly. She has been declared venerable by Pope Pins IX. (See her very interesting life by Edward H. Thompson, published London, 1873)

47. Sister Bertine Bouguillon
Bertine was born at St. Omer, France, 1800. When very young she became a religious in St. Louis' Hospital in her native city. At 22 years of age Sister Bertine was stigmatized in her hands, feet and side, and received the Crown of Thorns. These suffering and miraculous representations were manifested every Friday, and on the principal feasts during the year so long as she lived.

By order of the Bishop of Arras, Mgr. De la Tour d'Auvergne, theologians and medical men were commissioned to examine into the extraordinary phenomena manifested in the person of Sister Bertine, and after a most searching and minute inquiry they came to the unanimous conclusion that they had a supernatural origin; in short, that they were from God. The Bishop confirmed their decision by an official arid definite sentence. Sister Bertine died January 25th, 1850. (Voix Prophetiques by L'Abbe Curicque. 1. Vol. Paris, 1872.)

48. Maria Domenica Lazzari
This suffering child of the cross, was born March 16th 1815, at Capriani, Italian Tyrol. Maria Domenica was stigmatized in her hands, feet and side, January 1 st, 1834, and three weeks later she received the impression of the Crown of Thorns. Every Friday, until the year 1847, this victim of the passion suffered intensely; all her wounds and the Crown of Thorns bleeding profusely. She died on Easter Sunday, 1848. See Les Stigmatizisees du Tyrol, by Leon Bori, Paris 1840. Also, Louise Lateau. The Ecstatic of Bois du Haine, Belgium, by Shepard, London, 1872.

49. Crescenzia Nierklutsch
Crescenzia was born June 15th, 1816, at Cana, a Tyrolese village. She lived for some time at Tschermes, and more lately at Meran, where she received the stigmata of the five wounds, and the impression of the Crown of Thorns. In the year 1844 she was living in Meran, and is supposed to be still alive at the present time. Rev. Antonio Riccardi mentions her in his book with the other two Tyrolese stigmatized. Domenica Lazzari, and Maria de Moerl, the famous ecstatic. See likewise, the bleeding wounds of Christ reproduced on the persons of three Christian virgins actually living in Tyrol, by Veyland, Metz. 1844.

50. Dorothea Visser.
Dorothea was born at Gendringen, Holland, in the year 1820. When she was a very young child, a little boy miraculously appeared to her, informing the pious girl that some extraordinary things should happen to her. About the 23rd year of her life, Dorothea received the impression of the Crown of Thorns, and soon after she was stigmatized in her hands, feet and side, but in a new and singular manner. The five wounds of her stigmata were cruciform. The medical doctor Te Welscher published in 1844, at Borken a work about this servant of God with the title: "The Stigmatized of Gendrigen." Mr. Riko of Haye, who communicated this information to Dr. A. Imbert Gourbeyere, thinks that Dorothea Visser is still living in Holland.