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 46.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Blessed Mary of the Angels

We close this catalogue with the following names of servants of God who might have been added to the list of those who have been stigmatized.

1. Blessed Mary of the Angels, born at Turin, Piedmont, Italy, January 7th, 1661. She was a Carmelite nun, and suffered the sensible dolors of the Passion of our Lord. She died December 16th, 1717, and was beatified by Pope Pius IX, 1865.

2. Maty de Aiofrin, or Aiostrin. She lived at Toledo, in Spain, and was stigmatized in the side. She is mentioned by Rayssius, Raynaud and Alva, who refer to Vallega, Florilegium Sanctorum, torn. 3.

3. The virgin Eustochia. She was a Franciscan nun. After her death the holy names of Jesus and Mary were found impressed on the region of her heart. She is mentioned by Raynaud, who refers to Alano Copo. She may be the servant of God whose life has been written by Michael Pio. A similar name is mentioned by Bagatta and by Scardeone.

4. Sister Nympha, a nun of the Order of St. Francis de Paola, mentioned by Rayssius and Alva, who refer to the general history of the same order, published in Paris by Dony de Attichy, 1624.

The five following living servants of God have also been stigmatized or crowned with thorns:

1. Madame Moillis, living at Dragiugnan, France.

2. Sister Francis Xavier de Requisita, Aveyron, France.

3. Pasqualina, mentioned by Palma Maria d'Oria, living in Jerusalem, Palestine.

4. Sister Mary of the Cross, better known as Melanie de la Salette, is reported to have been stigmatized and to have received the Crown of Thorns.

5. From two sources of high and reliable authority, both eye-witnesses, the compiler of this has learned that a religious of the Precious Blood in Canada has been stigmatized, and impressed with the Crown of Thorns. This is Mother Catharine, and the founder of this new religious institute in Upper Canada.

We venture to say that this list, notwithstanding its imperfections, is the most complete that has ever appeared in any book. It may be considered an abridgment of the history of those saints and servants of God that have received the miraculous impression of the Crown of Thorns. A real history of these extraordinary facts is rather difficult, and would require the combined talents and efforts of an able physician and a learned and pious mystic theologian. A more perfect study of the chronicles of sanctity would certainly enlarge the catalogue of holy persons who have supernaturally shared in the sufferings of our Lord's Passion. Moreover, we are not always permitted to penetrate, within the sacred retreats of Christian humility, wherein those favorite servants of God like to remain concealed in obscurity. Many of them have succeeded in concealing themselves from human observation. In the Theological Dictionary of Gosschler, one of the editors justly observes that the miracle of the stigmatization is perhaps more frequently produced during our present time than it appears to have been in past centuries. There are few epochs, he says, wherein there have been in different parts of Germany so many cases of stigmata as there are at the present moment. The more commonly known are Catharine Emmerich, Maria de Moerl, etc. But, to the knowledge of the writer of this article, there are many others who have succeeded better than these in concealing their supernatural gifts from public notice, and remain unknown in holy and salutary obscurity. The same remark is true in relation to other servants of God in Italy, France, Spain, and in other countries. Sanctity is inseparable from humility, which lives and thrives in voluntary obscurity and quiet seclusion.

From St. Francis of Assissi, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, to the present day, there has been an uninterrupted living chain of saints and servants of God, stigmatized or crowned with thorns. This consoling and edifying fact can be mathematically demonstrated. Since that memorable epoch there has not been a day wherein the glorious family of living persons mystically crucified have ceased to represent in the Catholic Church the sublime mystery of Calvary.

From the general catalogue of the stigmatized we learn that twenty were men and one hundred and thirty-six women. The vast majority of these privileged persons were members of different religious orders or congregations.

1. The illustrious Order of St. Dominic marches at the head of this glorious procession, with the standard of the Cross. No less than sixty children of this great Patriarch have been decorated with the sacred stigmata of our crucified Lord, sixteen of whom endured only the internal sufferings of the Passion.

2. The seraphic Order of St. Francis comes next, with the holy founder at its head. Including St. Francis of Assissi, forty-three members of the various Franciscan families have been stigmatized, fourteen of whom suffered only the internal dolors of the Passion.

3. Carmelites have seven.

4. The same number is found among the Augustinians.

5. The Cistercians have five stigmatized.

6. Nuns of the Visitation have three.

7. The Theatines, or Nuns of St. Cajetan, two.

8. The Hospitaliers Sisters have two.

9. The Benedictines, one.

10. The Servites, one.

11. The Premonstratense, one.

12. The Beguine Sister in Belgium, one.

13. The Canadian Gray Sisters, one.

14. Sisters of the Precious Blood, one.

The rest, in a very small proportion, were secular persons, living in the world.
Twelve of these stigmatized servants of God had lived in the married state, one only, of whom was a man, namely, Blessed Roberto Malatesta. Two of these received the stigmata while living with their husbands. They were Blessed Mary of the Incarnation (Madame Alcario) and Johanna of. Jesus and Mary, the latter in Spain, the former in France. As far as we know, all these privileged saints and servants of God belong to the following nationalities:

1. Italy, the center of Christianity, is at the head of the list. This country has been wonderfully blessed by God. She is justly recognized as the land of miracles. Out of one hundred and fifty-six stigmatized or otherwise supernaturally impressed with the marks of our Savior's Passion, Italy alone numbers at least seventy, nearly the half of the whole list. She is still more favored with the Crown of Thorns. Among the fifty-three, known to have received the miraculous impression of the mystic crown, thirty-three are Italian saints or eminent servants of God. We should, moreover, observe that they are, as Dr. A. Imbert Gourbeyere says, the most illustrious in the entire catalogue of stigmatization.

2. Catholic Spain comes next to Italy, with fifteen stigmatized and four crowned with thorns.

3. France has eleven stigmatized and four crowned with thorns.

4. Different parts of Germany have eleven stigmatized and three crowned with thorns.

5. Belgium counts five stigmatized and two crowned with thorns.

6. Portugal has five stigmatized and one crowned with thorns.

7. Tyrol, three stigmatized and one crowned with thorns.

8. Holland, two stigmatized.

9. Switzerland, two stigmatized and one crowned with thorns.

10. Hungary, two stigmatized.

11. Canada, two stigmatized and crowned with thorns.

12. Scotland, one stigmatized.

This was Father John Gray, a Franciscan Friar, who suffered martyrdom for his faith, at Bruxelles, from the hands of the Calvinists, January 5th, 1579. He is mentioned by Father Thomas Burchier, an English Franciscan, in his "Ecclesiastical History of the Martyrdom of the Franciscan Friars who suffered in England, Ireland, and Belgium, from the year 1536 to 1582."

Among the cities more particularly illustrated by these privileged saints and servants of God are: Naples, which counts eight of them; Florence, four; Foligno, Mantua and Sienna, in Italy, three each; Valencia, in Spain, four; Paris, in France, two.

More than forty of these have been raised by the Holy See to the honors of the altar, which means that they have been canonized, or at least beatified. They have all died in the odor of sanctity, and the cause of the beatification of many of them has been introduced in Rome.
Three members of this glorious family of saints, all three Italians, who have been decorated with the true cross of honor of our Divine King, crowned with thorns and crucified, have been canonized or beatified in the present century. They are St. Veronica Juliani, 1839, by Pope Gregory XVI; St. Mary Francis of the Five Wounds, 1867; and Blessed Charles of Sezia, 1873, by Pope Pius IX.

As the Passion of our Lord began with the fall of man from original justice, so the Crown of Thorns commenced to be plaited for him from the moment that the offended Majesty of God said to Adam: Cursed is the earth in thy work ... Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to thee. In the company of Moses we have contemplated this Crown on Mount Horeb at the light of the burning bush, and we venerated it with him in the Tabernacle round the Ark of the Covenant. In the figure of the Azazel we saw our Savior meekly receiving upon his adorable head the curse due to our sins, and beheld him sacrificed on Mount Moriah, to save all the elect, in the person of Isaac, the obedient son of Abraham. Following the path indicated by these and other figures of the Old Testament, we arrived at Bethlehem, and, with St. Bernard we meditated on the crown of poverty and misery placed by his Virgin Mother on the head of our Infant Savior. We have accompanied him to the hall of Pilate, and witnessed in the cruelty of his stepmother, the Synagogue, the full realization of all the prophetic figures of the Crown of Thorns. We contemplated the sufferings and humiliations of the King of Sorrows, and accompanied him to his final victory and triumph. We admired the devotion of the holy Empress Helena, and with profound gratitude received from her hands the precious relic of the Crown of Thorns.

During the last seven centuries, including our own, we have seen this sacred Crown miraculously bleeding in the Church of the living God, and adorning the heads of more than fifty successive privileged servants of Jesus Christ. Several of these heroic persons are suffering and are adorned with it whilst we write and read these wonderful facts.

PRAYER

Crown of our Savior, we venerate thee. Oh! why shall we not adore thee, after having been sanctified by the sufferings and by the sacred blood of the Divine Victim of our redemption? Crown of Jesus, thou art very dear to his sacred heart. We see thee entwined round it, the cherished object of his divine predilection. Thou and the Cross are most dear to him. Intimately convinced of this truth, spurred on by thy gentle pricks, encouraged by thy fervent lover, St. Bernard, I have gathered this small bunch of flowers in thy praise and in thy honor. I humbly lay it in the bosom of the afflicted and sorrowful Mother of my crucified Savior, at the foot of the Cross. She knows my wants, my wishes, my object. I sincerely desire to see her Divine Son, the King of Sorrows, glorified in thee, with thee, and through thee. Crown of Thorns, obtain for me and for all the pious readers of this little work, the grace to bear the trials and humiliations of this life in imitation of our Divine Savior crowned with thorns; that we may deserve to receive from his glorified hands the crown of eternal bliss and glory. Amen.

"Spinea Corona Capitis Jesu, Diadema regni adepti sumus." Fiat.

The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist Father part 44.

Louise Lateau, Belgium
Behold another admirable servant of Jesus crucified, living at the present time in Belgium. Louise is the youngest of three daughters of very poor and humble, but pious Catholic parents. She was born January 30th, 1850, in the small village of Bois d'Haine, diocese of Tournay, in Belgium. Her father died soon after her birth, and her mother a few months ago. She lives with her two sisters, Rosina and Adeline. Louise is a child of Providence. In her earliest infancy she was three or four times miraculously preserved from imminent danger of death. In the year 1866, when sixteen years of age, she already showed herself a heroine of charity, in attending her afflicted neighbors, stricken down with the terrible plague of cholera, and abandoned by their nearest relations, giving burial with her own hands to those who succumbed to the disease, carrying the corpses upon her weak shoulders to the public cemetery. In the same year she became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis. During the month of April, 1868, Louise had a very severe attack of illness, when her death was every moment expected, but, according to her prediction, she recovered suddenly early in the morning, and was able to go to the parish church to receive Holy Communion. She was incipiently stigmatized on the 24th of the same month, after an apparition from our Infant Savior. The stigmata became complete in a few months. On the 20th of September of the same year, being the third Sunday of the month and Feast of the Seven Dolors of our Blessed Lady, Louise received the Crown of Thorns. From the beginning of her stigmatization, and of the impression of the Crown of Thorns, Louise suffers a repetition of these stigmatic pains every Friday during the year, the wounds bleeding profusely. After the long agony mentioned below, our Lord appeared to his brave servant, impressed upon her shoulders the wound caused to him by the weight of the cross, enriched her soul with new lights and gifts, among which is the gift of prophecy. Hence Palma Maria's predictions begin to be verified. During her ecstasies on Friday she accompanies in spirit our Lord through the different stages of his Passion. In the ecstatic state Louise is perfectly insensible to any sound, and does not feel in the least any wound inflicted upon her body. When placed by visitors in her hands she can immediately distinguish any devotional article, as, for instance, relics of saints, crosses, medals, rosaries, which have been duly blessed and indulgenced, from those that have not. She also recognizes instantly the hands of priests, whilst she takes no notice of those of any lay person. The loudest noise does not affect her, but she can hear the least whisper of any pious prayer. Her confessors or ecclesiastical superiors can recall her instantly from her most profound ecstasy, but she does not hear the loudest call of any other person, not even her mother or sisters. Louise is often visited in spirit during her ecstatic sufferings by Palma Maria d'Oria, who prophesies that she will work great miracles, when Belgium shall be in serious political convulsions and dangers. Hence we may hope that her precious life will be preserved by God for some years to come. Different accounts having appeared in the English and American Catholic periodicals, we refer our readers to them, and to Les Stigmatizees, first volume, for further information upon this subject. The following extract will be found interesting:

THE AGONY OF LOUISE LATEAU
"We are enabled," says the Journal de Bruxelles, to publish some correct information concerning the stigmatized girl of Bois d'Haine. We have it from an eye-witness who within the last few days visited the humble abode of Louise, and who has given us the result of his observations as follows:

"On the afternoon of the 3rd of February, 1876, I knocked at the door of the cabin which now, more than ever, appeared to me like the sanctuary of some reparatory suffering.
Everything within was peaceful. A look of pain overspread the faces of Rosina and of her sister Adeline, who, for the last month, have been the victims of poignant sorrow, caused by their sympathy for the excessive sufferings of Louise. The subject of our conversation was suggested by these very sufferings. We spoke, but in a low tone, of all that had taken place in this abode for the last month; "Louise is so gentle and so resigned in her sufferings," Rosina said to me.

"I now went into the room where this holy girl has been agonizing for more than a month. Louise was stretched upon a bed that was remarkably clean; her face, a little pale at this moment, stood out from the white pillow like a virginal apparition. Though bearing traces of pain, it still retained its wonted sweetness and resignation. Her eyes, which were almost closed, opened only at intervals, when answering such questions as were put to her. There was no atmosphere of sickness in the little room; the air was as pure as in other parts of the House. Louise does not, as far as I could see, even during her most violent crises, have the slightest perspiration, nor that clamminess of the skin incident to prolonged sickness. Although confined to her bed for a month, in the same position, she does not feel any pain nor stiffness in that portion of her body stretched upon her poor straw mattress.

"The Doctor, who at this moment came in to see her, confirmed my observations; he found her pulse weak, quick, but regular. "There is no symptom of sickness in Louise," said he, "medicine fails to find a remedy applicable under circumstances like these."

"Louise constantly displays all the dolors of the Passion of the Savior of the world, from the agony in the Garden of Olives, to the crucifixion on the summit of Mt. Calvary. Her sufferings are only interrupted every morning during the presence of the Blessed Eucharist.
"On the following day, at 6:15 A.M., I accompanied the priest who had been authorized to give Communion to Louise.

"On our arrival in the room the stigmatized one appeared to be the victim of the most intense sufferings; these gradually subsided. Although the presence of the Blessed Sacrament had diminished the intensity of her pain, her difficult breathing could be distinctly noticed.
"Louise received her Communion with pious eagerness, and without opening her eyes, she consumed the Sacred Host.

"Immediately, and without a shadow of transition, it worked in her a complete transformation. Her suffering disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. The pale countenance of Louise brightened up with celestial rays and seemed overspread by a divine beauty. Everything was calm and motionless in that virginal body, which had become the tabernacle of the living God in the Eucharist. Not a wrinkle on her transfigured countenance, nor upon her lips closed in ecstasy. Even her chest was motionless; it seemed as if her heart had ceased to beat and that life was suspending its laws, through respect for the real presence of Jesus Christ.

"The eye could see in Louise at this moment only the mysterious quiet of death, but under this deceptive exterior one felt that a fullness of supernatural life was coursing, and that from the heart, as from a spring, it flowed into every part of this sainted girl's body. "How beautiful!" repeatedly exclaimed Rev. Father C, who, with tears in his eyes, was contemplating with me this magnificent spectacle. And indeed, I do not think it possible, on earth, to witness a more wonderful scene.

"We fell upon our knees to adore Jesus Christ, whose presence was so visibly made manifest to us, and we recited the prayer, "O good and most sweet Jesus." During the recitation of this prayer Louise opened her lips as if joining in with us; this was the only motion we could detect in her for more than ten minutes during which we were at her side."

ANOTHER ACCOUNT, DATED MAY
There I was, when meeting a dear bosom friend of my sacerdotal youth, resolved at once to go to Bois d'Haine and see Louise. We started from Paris on the eve of Ascension Day, and arrived at Manage the same day, towards 3 o'clock P. M. There we inquired for the road leading to Bois d'Haine, which is about one mile and a half from Manage. After a walk of about three-quarters of a mile, on a good pleasant road, planted all along with fine trees, and undulating through fine harvests, we arrived at a small cottage, lying close to the main road, and we were told by a passer-by that it was Louise Lateau's dwelling. Who can imagine our emotions and joy at the mere sight of that dear little house in which we were to witness such great wonders! Not daring then to call in before being introduced, we contented ourselves with happily looking at the form and appearance of that fortunate dwelling. It is a brick house, having about twenty-four feet front, and eighteen feet depth, and ten of height. Its walls are very slightly painted a yellowish stone color, and the roof is covered with red shining tiles. There are in front, two windows, protected by an iron railing, and also by green shutters, which were then open. At an equal interval between is the door, also painted green. Exactly above the door is an enclosed opening, to go to the garret. This little cottage is divided into five little rooms; and it is only a few years since, that the two back rooms were added to the building for, previously, the house was scarcely ten feet deep. After we had gazed with some love on that humble, but neat cottage the scene of so many wonders from Almighty God, we pursued our course towards the church of the village, not without emotion, and as
if we had already been struck by something supernatural. Soon we arrived at Bois d'Haine, and after a visit to Our Lord to ask success for the object which had brought us there, we called at the parsonage, and introduced ourselves to the Reverend Pastor of the place.

Monsieur le Cure is a fine looking gentleman, of about fifty years of age, and bears on his face much sympathy and kindness, though he is very sober in words. Father Niels is his name. We could not resist his pressing invitation, and thus made ourselves at home at the parsonage. As I stayed four days at Bois d'Haine, I had fully the time of witnessing and investigating many things concerning Louise. O! happy moments, which I shall never forget!

LOUISE LATEAU IN THE MORNING AT THE TIME OF COMMUNION
Up to last January, Louise could attend to her daily work, and thus could go to church every morning, to receive Holy Communion. The only day of the week she was unable to do so was Friday. But on the three first days of January she was excruciated with such sufferings that it was thought that her last moments had arrived. In fact she was anointed on the 2nd of January, and her saintly soul was thought to have fled away from her virginal crucified body. Many times during those three days did her weeping sisters call her, but it was in vain; she had all the symptoms of death. But as soon as Father Niels called her: "Louise!" immediately, as by enchantment, she seemed to awaken from an ecstasy. She would soon fall again into the same forlorn position, and would be called back again by the priest's voice and, command. It was a kind of ecstasy different from her other ecstasies. Nobody can imagine what she suffered during those three days, either in her body or in her soul. Besides the excruciating sufferings of the stigmata, she felt then all the dolors of the agony of our Savior in the Garden of Olives, and had also what Father Seraphine, who is one of the examiners appointed by the Bishop of Tournay, calls "the deadly sufferings," that is to say, she felt all the sufferings which are previous to death, and had all the symptoms of a last agony. This explains why, at that time, several papers published Louise's death. Nevertheless, those intense sufferings abated afterwards, though on Good Friday it was also thought that she would die. But if Louise's sufferings abated, she has been unable to do any work ever since; and she is almost always confined to her bed, except a few hours of the day, during which her sisters help her to sit on a poor old family chair. Being thus unable to go to church, she receives every morning Holy Communion in her room. I have twice had the inestimable privilege of personally bringing to her our Lord, and once of being present at that great moment. The spectacle is always exactly the same, every morning, either before or after Communion. The only detail which is special to Friday is the bleeding of the stigmata. So, to have it complete, I will describe the scene of Friday. It is generally at six o'clock that the Holy Communion is carried to Louise. It is a walk of three-quarters of a mile. Oftentimes high personages, in order to have a chance of penetrating into Louise's room, are happy to carry the bell or the flambeau, or to escort the Blessed Sacrament: and there would be large crowds following the priest, if they could be admitted, which is not possible, as the room is exceedingly small. As soon as the priest arrives at the house, it is assured that the sufferings of the angelic maiden begin to abate in order to cease entirely when the Host is put on her tongue. Louise's room is quite small, and is perhaps not more than nine feet square. She lies on a small iron bedstead, and rests on her back. Her eyes are shut, and remain so during the whole ceremony. Her face at that hour is generally pale, but her cheeks are full. She seems to be the victim of very acute sufferings, causing on her face continual oscillations or vibrations. Her lips are half open, and she seems to be out of breath. Is that suffering caused by her mystical sufferings, or by her unspeakable eagerness to receive her Divine Spouse? It may be caused by both. As usual the Confiteor is recited; then the priest recites the Misereatur and Indulgentiam, she extends her tongue, which she advances far down on her lips, and as soon as the Host is laid on it, she quickly draws it back. I have been struck with the rapidity every time. Then her lips close up; you do not perceive any longer any oscillation or vibration on her face. She becomes as motionless as a marble figure. The colors of lily, which before were visible on her face, are united to rosy hues. Her eyes remain always perfectly shut. You cannot perceive any breathing, and you have to look very closely to notice a slight, slow heaving of her chest. A few seconds after Communion, I noticed once on her closed lips the last vibration of a murmured prayer. Her whole countenance seems to breathe her soul, and seems to be transfigured. I have never seen so beautiful a face. All of us were so struck with respect and wonder, that we remained many minutes on our knees uniting our weak adorations to the burning adorations of that loving, enraptured maiden. Her ecstasy is so perfect that her body is completely insensible to any piercing, however painful it might be.

Physicians, appointed to verify this fact, have repeatedly pierced her with sharp instruments in the most sensitive parts; but there was not the least contraction or oscillation in her body. During her daily morning ecstasy, Louise does not see any vision; but her soul is united to our Lord by the most intimate fusion; and she is enraptured with so many delights, that it is a beginning of the heavenly bliss, and she is rather in heaven than on earth. On her forehead there was only one large drop of blood, ready to flow. I must notice, that since last January her forehead has bled perfectly only three or four times. But previously, every Friday there was around her head, a crown of blood, two fingers wide. The blood begins generally to ooze from her stigmata at midnight, and sometimes at the time of Communion it was very difficult to lay the Host on her tongue, as the blood was trickling from all directions of the head, and there was danger that the Host might be sullied with blood before being received. The blood ran down in such abundance, that it flowed around her neck like a crimson collar. After a few minutes of silent prayer, we all rose up to leave that fortunate room. Towards the direction of her hands, the napkin which was put around her neck as a communion-cloth, was stained with fresh blood. Having previously asked from Monsieur Le Curd the permission of examining Louise's hands, I drew close to her and took off the napkin; I found some folded linen lying on her hands in order that the blood should not go over her dress and her little couch. These linens were entirely sullied and damp with blood. I also took them off, and, O my God! what a spectacle! It seemed that Louise was bathing in her blood: so great was the abundance of blood, either fresh or coagulated on her hands. Her fingers were connected together, and the palms of her hands rested flat on her chest. A beautiful crimson blood was oozing from her stigmata or piercings of both hands. These piercings are exactly in the middle of the hands, between the third and fourth fingers. After we had all contemplated with an unspeakable emotion that touching scene, I replaced the napkin, in order that Louise's sisters should not be aware of our curiosity; and, not without some regret we went out, after having addressed afew words of encouragement to Rosine and Adeline, sisters of Louise. This ecstasy of the morning lasts about half an hour. Then, suddenly Louise comes back to herself, and for several minutes does not feel the least pains of her previous sufferings. She recites then the prayer, "En ego, O bone Jesu, etc." Then her pains come back by degrees. During the forenoon, except on Friday, her sisters help her to rise, and to sit on a chair at the foot of her bedstead, and close to the wall. Thus she remains also a part of the afternoon, and sometimes the whole night.

THEODORE
A gentleman of the Germania, describing a visit he paid, on Good Friday, to Bois d'Haine, writes the following, concerning Louise Lateau:

"I have often seen the stigmatized lose a great deal of blood, but never as I did to-day. The blood, which literally gushed out of her hands, was absorbed by a quantity of large white pieces of cloth that were lying on her bed. The blood-stains showing themselves on her cap and the garment thrown over her shoulders, indicated that the head also and the right shoulder were bleeding much. Her eyes were not quite closed, and seemed to be fixed on the wall. From her continual sighs, the violent shaking of her hands, and the exclamation, 'Mon Dieu,' which escaped her from time to time, it was evident that the sufferer had to bear immense pain. In the afternoon, towards two o'clock, I went in again, soon after the ecstatic state had set in. I found myself in the company of the Belgian Minister of Justice, a doctor of Brussels, the director of the Seminary for Foreign Missions in Paris, a professor of Tourcoing, in France, and several French and Belgian noblemen. A German who was dressed in every respect like alayman brought his hand close to Louise. Immediately a bright smile became visible on her face. "What's that?" whispered several. 'Monsieur est pretre,' said the cure. 'Ah, voila!' The same priest gave the doctor a picture which was not blessed. It was held up to her, but she did not smile. Then the priest took it back, blessed it, and returned it to the doctor, who held it near Louise. Her face was at once lighted up with a strikingly bright smile, which lasted as long as the picture remained near her. With regard to visitors, the writer says that very few laymen are admitted, and that ladies are not allowed to enter the house at all. Only last week the Grand Duchess of Toscana and the Duchess of Aremberg, who begged hard to see Louise Lateau, had to return home, without having their wish gratified. On the other hand, Count Perponcher, German Ambassador in Bruxelles, got permission to visit her. It is now thought that she is really approaching her death."