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ave not ated, ts of said
nd to
it not f her t and w that y such orm of whom eontorbe the iii, 29).
à easily ple: by , is prohuman e weakhan the rtinently example . * Have nity and nes forth rtue" (De
he imita-
d Mother, by preferwere, the ean faith, ghbor. Ot
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these virtues the life of Mary bears in all its phases the brilliant character ; but they attained their highest lendor at the time when she stood by her dying Son. Jesus is nailed to the cross. and the maledietion is hurled against Him that * He made Himself the Son of God P=Cioho €x, 6) But she unceasingly recognized and adored the divinity in Him. She bore His dead body to the tomb, but never tor à moment doubted that He would rise again. "Then the love of Ged with which she burned made her a partaker in the sufferings of Christ and the associate 1n His passion : with him, moreover, as if forgetful of her own sorrow, she prayed for the pardon of the executioners, although they in their hate eried out: ” His blood be upon us and upon our children " (Matth. xxvii, 25.)
But lest it be thought that We have lost sight of Our subject, which is the Immaculate Conception, what great and etfeetual succor will be found in it for the preservation and right development of those same virtues? What truly is the point of departure of the sowing of the great and
degree of s]
enemies of relegion for the serious errors by which the faith of so many is shaken ?
They begin by denying that man has fallen by sin and
been cast down from his former position. Henee they
regard as mere fables original sin and the evils that Humanity vitiated in its source vitiated in its turn the whole race of man ; and thus was evil introduced amongst men and the necessity for a Redeemer involved, All this rejected, it is easy to understand that no place 18 left for Christ, for the Chureh, for grace or for anything that is above and beyond nature ; in one word, the whole edifice of faith is shaken from top to bottom. But let people believe and confess that the Virgin Mary has been from the first moment of her conception preserved from all stain and it is straightway necessary that they should admit both original sin and the rehabilitation of the human race by Jesus Christ, the Gospel and the Church and the law of suffering. By virtue of this Rationalism and
were its consequence,
ra " ü a ‘ E] E E.
imp MONT ib TAM
‘gga ur
Materialism is torn up by the roots and destroyed, and there remains to Christian wisdom the glory of having to guard and protect the truth. It is, moreover, à vice o the enemies of the faith of our time especial- | proclaim the necessity of repudiating all respeet and obedience for the authority of the Chureh, and even of any human power, in the ‘dea that it will thus be more easy to make an end of faith. Here we have the origin of Anarchism, than whieh nothing is more pernicious and pestilent to the order of things whether natural or supernatural. Now this plague, which is equally fatal to society at large and to Christianity, finds its ruin in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by the obligation whieh it imposes of recognizing in the Chureh a power before which not only has the will to bow, but the intelligence to subject itself. It is from a subjection of the reason of this sort that Christian people sing thus the praise of the Mother of God: «hou art all fair, O Mary. and the stain of original sin is not in thee" (Mass of Immae. nonin is justified what the
Concep. ). And thus once g Chureh attributes to this august Virgin that she has
exterminated all heresies in the world.
And if, as the Apostle declares, faith is nothing else 198 to be hoped for” ( Hebr.
xi, 1), every one will easily allow that our faith is confirmed and our hope aroused and strengthened by the Iminieulate Conception of the Virgin. The Virgin was kept the more free from all stain of original sin beeause Mother of Christ ; and she was the e of everlasting happiness
eommon t ly that they repudiate ant
than the substance of thin
«he was to be the Mother of Christ that the hop ht he born again in our souls.
Leaving aside charity towards God, who can contemplate the Immaeulate Virgin without feeling moved to fulfill that precept which Christ ealied peculiarly His own, namely, that of loving one another as He loved us ? “A great sign,” thus the Apostle St. John deseribes a vision divinely sent him, ‘ appears in the heavens. “A woman elothed with the sun, and with the moon under
mic
and ing vice jalof rity | the id of than ) the Now large f the h dt efore rence on of se of id the nmae.
t the
e has
ig else | Hebr.
is con- )y the in was joeause vas the ppiness
an conmoved rly His ved us ?
yibes a
ong, "A
n under
her feet and a erown of twelve stars upon her head" (Apoc. xii 1) Every one knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary, the stainless one who brought forth our Head. The Apostle continues : “And, being with child, she eried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered” (Apoc. xii, 2). John therefore saw the Most Hoy. Mother of God already in eternal happiness yet travailing in a. mysterious ehildbirth. What birth was it ? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness. And the birth pains show the love and desire with which the Virgin from heaven above watches over us, and strives with unwearying prayer to bring about the fulfillment of the number of the elect.
This same charity we desire that all should earnestly endeavor to attain, taking special occasion from the extraordinary feasts in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Oh, how bitterly and fiercely is Jesus Christ now being persecuted, and the most holy religion which He founded ! And how grave is the peril that threatens many of being drawn away by the errors that are afoot on all sides, to the abandonment of the faith! ‘Then let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (I Cor. x., 12). And let all, with humble prayer and entreaty, implore of God, through the intercession of Mary, that those who have abandoned the truth may repent. We know, indeed, from experience that such prayer, born of charity and relying on the Virgin, has never been vain. True, even in the future the strife against the Church will never cease, “ for there must also be heresies, that they also who are reproved may be made manifest among you” (I Cor. xi, 19). But neither will the Virgin ever cease to succor us in our trials however grave they be, and to carry on the fight fought by her since her conception, so that every day we may repeat : “To-day the head of the serpent of old was erushed by her" (Office Inmac, Con, Il] Vespers, Magnif.).
Schnee t ciue iio | UMS ege nene Dam
(DEDERE vios
oW amie: MUNI SUP ae Iq MS ne SEE
And that heavenly graces may help Us more abundantly than usual during this year in which We pay her fuller honor, to attain the imitation of the Virgin, and that thus We may more easily secure Our objeet of restoring all things in Christ, We have determined, after the example of Our Predecessors at the beginning of ther pontificates, to grant to the Catholie world an extraordinary indulgence in the form of a jubilee.
Wherefore, confiding in the merey of Almighty God and in the authority of the Blessed Apost'es Peter and Paul, by virtue of that power of binding and loosing which, unworthy though We are, the Lord has given Us, We do eoncede and impart the most plenary indulgence of all their sins to the faithful, all and several of both sexes, dwelling in this Our beloved city, or coming into it, who from the first Sunday in Lent, that is, from the 21st of February to the second day of June, the solemnity of the Most Sacred Body of Christ, inclusively, shall three times visit one of the four Patriarchal basilicas, and there for some time pray God for the liberty and exaltation of the Catholic Church and this Apostolic See, for the extirpation of heresies and the conversion of all who are in error, for the concord of Christian Princes and the peace and unity of all the faithful, and according to Our intention ; and who, within the said period, shall fast onee, using only meagre fare, excepting the days not included in the Lenten Indult : and, after conf» sing their sins, shall receive
the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist ; and to all others, wherever they be, dwelling outside this city, who, within the time above mentioned or during à space of three months, even not continuous, to be definitely appointed hy the ordinaries according to the convenience of the faithful, but before the eighth day of December, shall three times visit the eathedral church, if there be one, or, if not, the parish church ; or, in the absence of this, the principal church ; and shall devoutly fulfill the other works above-mentioned. And We do at the same time permit that this indulgenee, which is to be
wens gOS he
ary gev- 7, or that une, inriarthe this | the | of the who, mea nten 'elve ) all city, space itely niencem there sence 'ulfill t the to be
— "leise "ed sa
ae
Mecca SEERA
