The kingdom which the Apostles have mission to establish on Earth is a reign of peace. Such was the promise plighted by Heaven to Earth on that glorious night on which was given to us the Emmanuel: and on that other night which witnessed our Lord’s last farewell at the Supper, did not the Man-God base the New Testament on the double legacy which He bequeathed to His Church, of His Sacred Body and Blood, and of this Peace erstwhile announced by Bethlehem’s Angels? (John 14:27) Yes, a peace unknown till then here below, a peace all His own because, as He said, It proceeds from Him, but still is not He Himself, Gift substantial and Divine, which is no other than the Holy Ghost in Person!
Like sacred leaven, this peace has been spread among us during these Pentecostal days. Men and nations alike have felt the secret influence. Man at strife with Heaven and divided against himself, was indeed justly punished for his insubordination to God by the ascendency of the senses in his revolted flesh. But lo, he now sees harmony once again established in his whole being, and his appeased God treating as a son the obstinate rebel of former days. The sons of the Most High are to form a new people stretching their confines to Earth’s furthest bounds. Seated in the beauty of peace, to use the prophet’s expression, (Isaias 32:18), this blessed race will see all nations flocking to its midst, and will draw down, here below, the good will of Heaven, so exquisitely imaged in it.
Whereas formerly nations were constantly at strife, and wreaking vengeance in many a bloody combat that knew no end but in the extermination of the vanquished, once baptized, they recognize each other as sisters, according to the filiation of the Father who is in heaven. Faithful subjects of the one Pacific King, they yield themselves up to the Holy Ghost that he may soften their manners; and if, perforce, war, the result of sin, must needs sometimes come, woefully reminding man of the consequences of the fall, this inevitable scourge will, at least henceforth have some law besides that of might. The right of nations, the right of every Christian who rejects all that savors of pagan antiquity, the faith of treaties, the arbitration of the Vicar of Christ, supreme controller of the consciences of kings, these and only these, can eliminate occasions of bloody discord. Thus there were to be ages in which the “peace of God,” or the “truce of God,” or a thousand such loving artifices of the common mother, would prevail to restrict the number of years and of days, wherein the sword might be allowed to remain unsheathed against human life; were these limits out-stepped the transgressor’s blade would be snapped in twain by the power of the spiritual sword, more dreaded, in those days, than warrior’s steel. Such the potency of the Gospel’s might, that even in these present days of universal decadence, respect for a disarmed foe imposes itself as law on the hottest adversary, so that after a battle, victors and vanquished meeting like brothers, lavish the same cares both corporal and spiritual, on the wounded of either camp;: such the persistent energy of the supernatural leaven which has been working progressive transformation in mankind for eighteen hundred years, and is even still acting upon those who would fain deny its power!
He whom we are honoring today is one of the most glorious instruments of this marvelous conduct of divine Providence. Heaven-born peace mingles her placid ray with the brilliant aureola that wreathes his brow. A noble son of Catholic Spain, he knew how to prepare the future glory of his country, as well as any mailed hero that laid Moor prostrate in the dust. Just as the eight hundred years’ crusade that drove the crescent from Iberian soil, was closing, and the several kingdoms of this magnanimous land were blending together under one scepter, this lowly hermit of Saint Augustine was laying within hearts the foundation of that powerful unity which would inaugurate the glories of Spain’s sixteenth century. When he first appeared, rivalries engendered too easily by a false point of honor, in a nation armed to the teeth, sullied the fair land of Spain with the blood of her sons, slain by Christian hands. As he now stands before us receiving the Church’s homage, we behold discord at his feet, overthrown and vanquished by his defenseless hand.
Let us read this precious life as related in the Liturgy.
John was born at Sahagún in Spain, of a noble race; his parents after long childlessness, obtained him from God by prayers and good works. From his earliest years he gave clear signs of his after holiness of life: for he was used to climb up upon a high place, to preach to the other little boys, and to exhort them to be good and to be attentive to the public service of God, and he made it his work, to reconcile their quarrels. In his native place, he was given in charge to the monks of the Order of Saint Benedict of San Facundo to be taught the first elements of learning. While he was thus busied, his father obtained for him the benefice of the Parish, but no inducements could persuade him to keep this preferment. He became one of the household of the Bishop of Burgos, and that Prelate seeing his uprightness, took him into his counsels, ordained him Priest, and made him a Canon, heaping many kindnesses upon him. However, that he might serve God the more quietly, he left the Bishop’s palace, resigned all his Church income, and betook him to a certain chapel where he celebrated the Holy Mass every day, and oftentimes preached concerning the things of God, with great profit to all that heard him.
He went later on, to Salamanca to study, and there being taken in to the celebrated college of Saint Bartholomew, performed his priestly office in such sort, that he was at once constant to study, the present object of his desire, and yet assiduous to the duty of preaching. Here he had a severe illness, and vowed to embrace a sterner way of living, in fulfillment of which vow, having given to a half-naked beggar the better of the only two garments he possessed, he withdrew to a monastery of Saint Augustine then flourishing in full observance of severe discipline. Being admitted therein, he surpassed the most advanced, in obedience, in lowliness of mind, in vigils, and in prayer. The care of the refectory being confided to him, one barrel of wine, handled by him, abundantly sufficed the whole community for an entire year. After his year of noviceship, he undertook once more, by obedience, the duty of preaching. At that time owing to bloody feuds, all things human and divine at Salamanca, were in such utter confusion that murders were committed almost every hour, and the streets and squares, yea, even the very churches flowed with the blood of all classes especially of the nobility.
It was John who, by public preaching and private conversations, softened the hearts of the citizens, so that the town was restored to peace. One of the nobles, whom he had grievously offended by rebuking him for his cruelty towards his vassals, sent two knights to murder him on the road. They had already come nigh to him, when God struck them with such terror, that they were rendered immovable, and their horses likewise; until at length prostrating themselves before the feet of the saint, they implored his forgiveness for their crime. The said lord, likewise smitten with a sudden dread, despaired of his salvation, till he had sent for John, who, finding him repentant of his deed, restored him to health. Some factious men also, who assailed him with clubs, found their arms stiffen, nor would their strength return till they had asked his pardon for their wickedness. While celebrating Mass, he was wont to behold the Lord Jesus Christ then present, and to quaff, from the Fountain-Head of the Divinity, heavenly mysteries. Oftentimes also he could see into the secrets of men’s hearts, and foretell things to come, that were quite unlooked for. He raised from the dead his brother’s daughter, a child seven years old. He foretold the day of his death; and having prepared himself, by receiving most devoutly the Sacraments of the Church, he passed away. He was glorified by miracles both before and after his death. These being duly proved, Alexander VIII numbered him among the saints.
O Blessed Saint, well have you earned the privilege of appearing in the heavens of holy Church during these weeks that are radiant with Pentecostal Light. Long ago did Isaias portray the loveliness of Earth on the morrow of the coming down of the Paraclete. Thus did he describe the sight that met his prophetic glance: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring good tidings, and that preach peace: of them that preach salvation that say to Sion: Thy God shall reign!” (Isaias 52:7) What the Prophet thus admired was the sight of the Apostles taking possession of the world in God’s name, but in what did your own mission differ from theirs thus enthusiastically pictured by the inspired pencil? The same Holy Ghost animated your ways and theirs. The same Pacific King beheld His scepter by your hand, made yet more steadfast in its sway over a noble nation of His vast empire. Peace, the one object of all your labors here below, is now your eternal recompense in Heaven where you reign with Him. You now experience the truth of your Master’s word when He said of such as resemble you by working to establish peace, at least within the territory of their own hearts: Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God! (Matthew 5:9). Yes, rest then, dear Saint, in your Father’s inheritance, into which you have entered. Rest in the beatific repose of the Holy Trinity that inundates your soul, and may we here, afar off in this chilly Earth below, feel something of that genial peacefulness.
Vouchsafe to lavish on your own land of Spain the same succor which in your lifetime was so precious unto her. No longer does she hold that pre-eminence in Christendom which became hers just after your glorious death. Would that you could now persuade her that never can her greatness he recovered by lending an ear to the deceptive whisperings of false liberty. But that which could in bygone days render her so strong and powerful, can do so again, if she draw down on her the benedictions of Him by whom alone kings reign. (Proverbs 8:6) Devotedness to Christ that was her glory, devotedness to truth that was her treasure! Revealed Truth is alone that by which men enter into true liberty: Truth will make you free. (John 8:32) Truth alone is able to bind in unity indissoluble the many minds and wills that make up a nation: powerful is that bond, for it secures strength to a country beyond her frontiers, and peace to her within. Apostle of peace, remind your own people, and teach the same to all, that absolute fidelity to the Church’s doctrines is the sole ground on which Christians may seek and find concord.
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This text is taken from The Liturgical Year, authored by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
Dom Gueranger
†The Ecu-Men† 