It seems fitting that the Octave of the Princes of the Apostles should not end without the appearance on the sacred cycle of some, at least, of those brilliant satellites that borrow light from them, and continue their work throughout the course of ages. Twin stars this day arise on the heavens of holy Church, illumining by the radiant beams of their apostolate immense tracts of country. Seeing that they start from Byzantium; one is at first led to suppose that their evolution is going to be performed independently of the laws which Rome has the right to dictate for the movements of the heavens, whereof it is said, that they shall declare the glory of God and the works of his hand. But the auspicious influence of Saint Clement I, through his sacred relics, diverts their course, as we shall see, towards the mistress of the world; and presently they can be descried gravitating with matchless splendour in Peter's orbit, manifesting once more to the whole earth, that all true light, in the order of salvation, radiates solely from the Vicar of the Man-God. Then once again is realised that word of the Psalmist, that there are no speeches nor languages where the voices of the messengers of light are not heard.

To the sudden and splendid outburst of the good tidings that marked the first centuries of our era, had succeeded the labours of the second apostolate to which the Holy Ghost entrusted the gathering in of those new nations called by Divine Wisdom to replace the ancient world. Already, under that mysterious influence of the Eternal City, whereby she assimilated to herself even her very conquerors, another Latin race had been formed out of those barbarians whose invasion seemed, like a deluge, to have submerged the whole empire. Scarce was this marvellous transformation effected by the baptism of the Franks, the conversion from Arianism of the Goths and of their variously named brethren in arms, than the Anglo-Saxons, the Germans, and lastly the Scandinavians, conducted respectively by an Augustine, a Boniface, or an Anscharius, all three monks, came in turn to knock for admission at the gates of Holy Church. At the creative voice of these new apostles, Europe appeared, issuing from the waters of the sacred font.

Meanwhile, the constant movement of the great migration of nations had, by degrees, brought as far as the banks of the Danube a people whose name began, in the ninth century, to attract universal attention. Betwixt East and West, the Slaves, profiting on the one side of the weakness of Charlemagne's descendants, and of the revolutions of the Byzantine court on the other, were aiming at erecting their various tribes into principalities, independent alike of both empires. This was now the hour chosen by Providence to win over to Christianity and to civilisation a race hitherto without a history. The Spirit of Pentecost rested on the head of the two holy Brethren whom we are to-day celebrating. Prepared by the Monastic life for every devotedness and every suffering, they brought to this people struggling to issue from the shades of ignorance the first elements of letters, and tidings of the noble destiny to which God, our Saviour, invites men and nations. Thus was the Slavonic race fitted to complete the great European family, and God ceded thereto a larger territory than he had bestowed upon any other in this Europe of ours, so evidently the object of eternal predilection.

Happy this nation had she but continued ever attached to Rome, that had lent her such valuable assistance in the midst of the early struggles disputing her existence! Nothing, indeed, so strongly seconded her aspirations for independence as the favour of having a peculiar language in the sacred rites, a favour obtained from her, from the See of Peter, by her two Apostles. The outcries uttered, at that very time, by those who would fain hold her fast bound under their own laws, showed clearly enough, even then, the political bearing of a concession as unparalleled as it was decisive, in sealing the existence, in those regions, of a new people distinct at once both from Germans and Greeks. The future was to prove this, better still. If, now-a-days, from the Balkan to the Ural mountains; from the Greek coasts to the frozen shores of the Northern Ocean, the Slavonic race spreads itself out, ever strong, ever indomitable to the influence of invasion, maintaining in the midst of the empires that by force of arms have at last prevailed over it, a dualism which the conquering nation must be resigned to endure, through the course of centuries, as a living menace within her, a very thorn in her side, such a phenomenon, unparalleled, to a like degree elsewhere, is but the product of the powerful demarcation effected a thousand years ago, betwixt this race and the rest of the world, by the introduction of its national language into the Liturgy. Having, by this use, become sacred the primitive Slavonio tongue has undergone none of those variations incident to the idiom of every other nation; whilst, at the same time, giving birth indeed to the various dialects of the different peoples issuing from the common stock, it has itself remained the same, following the most insignificant of Solavonio tribes through every phase of their history, and continuing, in the case of the greater number of them, to group them, (apart from all other nationalities) at the foot of their own altars. Beautiful indeed such unity as this, a very glory for holy Church, had but the desire, the hope of the two Saints who based it on the immutable rock, been able to keep it ever fixed thereon! But woful and terrible would such an arm become in the service of tyranny, if ever Satan should make it fall by schism, into the hands of one of hell's accursed agents!

But such considerations as these are leading us too far. It is time for us to turn to the ample narrative of the two illustrious Brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, given us by the Church, for this day.

We presume to join our humble prayer with this august homage: we would fain, together with the Supreme Pontiff, sing your praises, and recommend to you that vast portion of Christ's inheritance, wherein, watered by your toilsome sweat, flowers of holiness replaced the thorns. Prepared in solitude for every work good and serviceable to the Lord, you feared not to be the first to set foot in these unknown regions, the terror of the ancient world, these lands of the North, wherein the prophets had pointed out Satan's throne, the inexhaustible source of evils ravaging the universe! The call of the Holy Ghost made you to become apostles, and the Twelve having received orders to teach all nations, you in your turn went, with all the simplicity of obedience, to those that had not yet been evangelised. This obedience, of yours, Rome would test,--such was her duty,--and she found it to be without alloy. Satan too found it so, to his utter defeat; for Scripture says: "The obedient man shall speak of victory." Scripture likewise reveals to us another source of strength, and it was yours: "A brother helped by his brother, is like a strong city; and their judgments are like the bars of cities." Driven away by one stronger than he, the strong-armed one beheld, with bitter rage, that dominion now passed on to Christ, which he thought to possess in peace, and his last spoils, the people of the North, to become, like those of the South, an ornament to the Bride.

O Methodius, O Cyril, in the holy hymns which the Sovereign Pontiff has dedicated to you, there is the ring of an alarm-cry: "Preserve unto God the Slavonic people! Needful indeed it is, that ye protect your former gifts." Lift up your eyes and see, may we truly say with the Prophet, you that come from the North; where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful cattle? What! have ye taught them against you and instructed them against your own head? Ah! the depths of Satan! but too well has he known how to repair his defeat; for your very benefits and Peter's condescension have alike become a weapon of death for those people to whom you devoted your life! . . . . Be pleased then to console those exiled for the Faith, and give them heart; sustain the martyrs, preserve the remnant of a nation of heroes. On the other hand, deter the rest from the fatal illusion that would entice them to be beforehand in running into tyranny's way!

O Apostles of the Slaves, and citizens likewise of that Rome where your sacred relics lie close to those of St. Clement, assist the efforts of the Supreme Pontiff, who is seeking how he may replace on the foundation whereon you built it, that edifice which was your glory!




ON THE HAPPINESS OF SERVING GOD
by Richard Challoner, 1807

Consider first, those words of the prophet, Isaias iii.10, 'Say to the just man, it is well,' and reflect on the many advantages which this short word well comprises, and ensures to the just both for time and eternity. Honours, riches, and pleasures, are the things on which the world sets the greatest value; but they are not to be found where the world seeks them, but only in the service of God. It is indeed a greater honour to be a servant of God, than to be the emperor of all the earth. What then must it be to be His friend and favourite, to be His spouse, to be His child, to be His temple? Can any worldly honours be compared with these? O how glorious a dignity it is to be heir apparent to a heavenly and eternal kingdom! O how happy, in the mean time, during our mortal pilgrimage, to walk and converse with God; to be as familiar as one pleases with this great King; to have an admittance into His closet whenever we will; to have an assurance from Him of a favourable audience, and of obtaining all our requests. how truly honourable is it to have one's name enrolled in the book of Life; one's character established, not in the mean village of this world, (which nevertheless cannot help admiring and esteeming true virtue,) but in the great city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. O my soul, let such honours as these be the only objects of thy ambition.

Consider 2ndly, how rich the just man is; not always indeed in those worldly possessions, which every accident may take away, and which can never satisfy the heart; but in treasures infinitely more valuable, of virtue, grace, and merit, which all the money in the world is not sufficient to purchase, and which make the soul rich for eternity. But the servants of God have still a greater treasure than this, viz., God Himself; whom the whole world cannot take from them, as long as they take care not to drive Him away by wilful sin. 'He is their protector; and their reward exceeding great.' Gen xv. He is always with them; He is a tender father to them; the eye of His special providence is ever upon them; His Angels encamp about them, to defend them and deliver them from evil. In a word, God is all things to them that fear and love Him; so that even as to the goods of the world He never forsakes those that do not first forsake Him. O my soul, see thou seek no other treasure but Him; He will make thee rich indeed: fear no loss but the losing of Him. If thou hast Him nothing can make thee miserable; but without Him nothing can make thee happy.

Consider 3rdly, the solid pleasures that attend a virtuous life; such as the satisfaction, peace, and joy of a good conscience; the sense that holy souls have of God's goodness and love for them; the experience they have of His sweetness, in their recollection and prayer; the consolations of the Holy Ghost, and the ravishing delights they often find in God, as a certain foretaste of the joys of heaven; the comfortable prospect of a happy eternity, after their short mortal pilgrimage; and above all, their love of God, and a blessed conformity to His will in all things, which sweeten even the greatest crosses. Such pleasures as these are far beyond all that worldlings can pretend to--pleasures pure and spiritual, which have supported, and even given an inexpressible joy to the martyrs, under the worst of their torments; which, for other saints, have sweetened all their labours and penitential austerities; and made them think whole nights too short, when spent with God in prayer. O! how great then is that error, how pernicious is that deceit, by which Satan persuades the children of this world, that there are no pleasures in a virtuous life; whereas indeed there is no true pleasure anywhere else.

Conclude, since the whole happiness, in time as well as eternity, depends entirely upon loving and serving God, to set out from this hour in quest of this happiness, by entering upon the beautiful path of virtue, which alone can bring thee to it.

Behold a great priest, who in his days pleased God, and was found just.

There was not found the like to him, who kept the law of the Most High.

Therefore by an oath the Lord made him to increase among His people.

O ye priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: O ye servants of the Lord, sing ye a hymn unto God, alleluia.

Good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of Thy Lord.