The Victim, by I. A. M...

Holy Communion, Words and Music by B. A.

A May Song, by Rev H. K. W., S J,.

Dearest Memory, Sweetest Hope.

Mary, Our Mother, Hymn with Music.

Sedes Sapientiæ, Sonnet, by J. F. X. O'C.

Good Night, My Jesus, by M. EH..

O Cor Amoris, Music by Rev. J. B. Lessmann, S.

A Visit, by Rev John Joseph Mallon.

Sweet Heart of Jesus, Hymn with Music

The Tribute, by H. M..

65

79

97

104

127

129

151

159

161

171

191

193

223

225

The Queen of Marty rs, by J. J. B.

238

321

353

O Cor Amoris, No. 2, by Rev. J B. Lessmann, S J.

255

The Assumption, Sonnet, by John J. Branin.

257

Thy Kingdom Come, by J. J. B..

289

Suscipe, Prayer of St. Ignatius, Hymn with Music, by Rev. J. B. Lessmann, S. J.

319

THE PILGRIM

OF

OUR LADY OF MARTYRS (LITTLE MESSENGER OF THE SACRED HEART).

O Queen of Martyrs, lead us on.
We falter, it is true;

Yet we will follow in thy steps,
If thou our strength renew.
Hope swift revives, because we see
The Lord is with thee.

A

OUR LADY OF THE CATACOMBS.

T a period when devotion to the Blessed Virgin is so widespread as it is to-day it is interesting to go back to the primitive ages of Christianity and consider how it manifested itself at a time when the Church was in its first fervor, and was, so to speak, fresh from the hand of its divine Founder.

There are some who may well be surprised to hear of evidences of devotion to Mary in the days of the early saints and martyrs, holding, as they do, that the Catholic cultus of the Blessed Virgin is one of the abuses which it was the mission of Protestantism to eradicate. It is one of the commonplaces of anti-Catholic polemics that devotion to the Blessed Virgin dates from the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431), and was unknown in the Church before that period. It was in this council that Nestorius was condemned for maintaining that Mary was not the Mother of God, but only the mother of the man Jesus, who was not united to the Second Person of the Trinity till after he was born of the Virgin Mary. Strange that it has never occurred to our modern Nestorians that the outburst of indignation which greeted the doctrine of the heresiarch was a proof that devotion to Mary as Mother of God was not a thing of sudden growth, but had taken deep root in the Church long before its solemn vindication at Ephesus.

Fortunately, however, all reasoning on the subject is cut short by the direct testimony of monuments that have survived the revolutions of time, and present to the modern world a faithful picture of the devotional life of our ancestors in the Faith.

Those who have read Cardinal Wiseman's Fabiola-and who has not read it?-are familiar with the Roman catacombs, those underground cemeteries into which the early Christians

were obliged to retire before the face of persecution. For whole generations the catacombs were almost the only places in which the Christians were free to offer the Holy Sacrifice and chant the praises of Christ and His Saints. The catacombs were, in fact, the churches of that period. Hence it was that the Christians, in their veneration for these temples of the true God, in which the Lamb without stain was offered a daily Sacrifice, adorned these sacred places with the productions of the chisel and the brush. The ancient precept, Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven image, was no longer in force when the danger of idolatry was forever removed; and hence the tombs and chapels and corridors of these subterranean retreats were pictured with representations of the Christian mysteries and of events in the Old Testament that prefigured events in the New.

A time came at length when the Christians could with safety emerge from their hiding-places. The catacombs ceased to be

used, except for their original purpose. By degrees they passed out of notice, or came under the destructive hand of the barbarian. Those that escaped his ravages remained in oblivion for long ages and till such time as the revelation of the treasures they contained might best serve the cause of truth.

Conspicuous among the art remains of the catacombs are the numerous representations of our Blessed Lady. These occur so frequently that they may be counted by the score. They are found principally under three forms of art: frescoes, sculptures on sarcophagi or stone coffins, and glass vessels. The Blessed Virgin is sometimes represented alone; sometimes she is found in the company of Prophets or Apostles; and again we find her in scenes connected with the life and mission of her Divine Son.