priests, and Chad whom we commemorate was Bishop of Lichfield. They were all educated at the monastery of Lindisfarne, under S. Aidan. In 666 Chad was chosen Archbishop of York; but there was some dispute about the legality of his consecration, and he at once resigned. He was then presented to Lichfield, where he finished his course in usefulness and piety. His character was singularly holy and humble. He is a great favourite in the counties of Staffordshire and Shropshire, thirty-one churches being dedicated to him, and also his own beautiful cathedral of Lichfield, whose three tapering spires are called from their elegance, the "three ladies of the vale." No lily blooms for us this month; but on the 7th the fair young wife and mother, Vivia Perpetua, takes its place. She was a Carthaginian, of noble birth, and suffered martyrdom under Severus in 203. On owning herself to be a Christian she was cast into prison with five others. Among the means of persuading her to renounce her faith, her babe, an infant of a few months, was taken from her by order of her own father; but all was in vain, and with her companions she was thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, to afford pastime to grave senators and high-born ladies! Her courage never forsook her; it is even said she arranged her disordered dress, and bound up her loosened tresses, lest she should look forlorn in her hour of trial. Strange to say, she has never been represented in sacred art; but is it not a superb subject for a Christian painter ? On the 12th a very illustrious name comes before us, and one peculiarly dear to Englishmen, S. Gregory the Great, one of the four doctors of the Latin Church, and the last Pope that has been canonised. He was born in Rome in 540; his parents were of high rank, and he himself once held the office of prefect. It was about this time probably that our fair young ancestors attracted his attention in the slave-market, and caused him to wish that they might become angels as well as Angles. He set out for Britain, but was recalled in three days' time by the Roman citizens, who found they could not spare him. In 596 they elected him their bishop. By him the title since held by the Popes, of "Servant of the Servants of GOD," was first adopted. In the midst of his honours he did not forget us, but in 596 despatched S. Augustine and his companions to our shores, in ships freighted with salvation. He set in order the services of the Church, and arranged the chants that bear his name. But it is not likely that he composed them, as they are said to have come to us chiefly from the Jewish Church. If this be so what an argument in favour of their use, when we think that with them the magnificent Temple must have rung, that in all probability some of them were composed for his own hymns by the sweet Psalmist of Israel; nay, that they must have been the very same our SAVIOUR heard, perchance joined in, when He went to the synagogue, as His custom was." S. Gregory had to contend with pain and sickness all his life; he died in 604 at Rome. 66 He is portrayed as tall and noble-looking, with dark hair and beard, and a countenance peculiarly expressive of sweetness. His left hand holds a book (the usual emblem of learning,) and his right is uplifted in benediction. The Holy Dove rests on his shoulder. March 18. The story of S. Edward, king and martyr, belongs rather to English than ecclesiastical history. One day when out hunting he stopped to rest at Corfe Castle in Dorsetshire, the residence of his stepmother, Queen Elfreda, who offered him the stirrup-cup, and while he drank it caused him to be stabbed in the back; she then had him ignominiously buried at Wareham; but his body was afterwards translated to Salisbury, an event we commemorate on the 20th of June. Elfreda's motive for this foul murder was to secure the crown to her own son. S. Edward is represented as a beautiful youth, in the insignia of royalty, with the cup and dagger in his hands, and the falcon at his feet. And now for our last saint, Benedict, the great founder of the celebrated Benedictine Order of Monks. He was born at Norsia, in Umbria, 480; educated at Rome till his sixteenth year, when disgusted by the wickedness of the capital he retired to a hermitage. He was followed by his aged nurse, Cyrilla, who ministered to him. But the saint did not consider his penance com plete while she cared for him, so he fled from her to a desert cave forty miles from Rome; a monk, named Romano, was the only person who knew of his retreat. At length it was discovered, and attracted by his great holiness the monks of Vicovarro prevailed on him to become their Superior. His rules were so strict that they grew discontented, and at last tried to poison him in a cup of wine; but when, according to his custom, he made the sign of the Cross over it, the vessel fell from his hand, and was shivered in pieces. Deeply grieved the saint returned to his cave, but soon after hearing that Apollo was still worshipped in a temple on Mount Cassino, he destroyed it and its god, and built on the site the celebrated monastery that still stands there, and placed in it monks bound by his rule. When he found his end approaching he caused his grave to be dug, and stood by till it was completed; then he laid himself at the foot of the altar, and in that holy spot sank into the " sleep that knows no waking," (in this world at least,) on the eve of Palm Sunday. His sister, S. Scholastica, founded the Order of the Benedictine Nuns. S. Benedict appears in the robe of his order, with a mitre and staff as abbot, and near him a broken cup, a rod for sprinkling holy water, common to all saints who have resisted the Evil One: a thornbush, because he once overcame a fierce temptation Satan assailed him with in his solitude, by tearing and piercing his flesh with thorns: a loaf and a raven, because Florentius, an enemy of his, tried to poison him with a loaf; but the saint discovered the iniquity, and gave it to a tame raven he had, to carry away out of reach. Florentius was soon afterwards crushed by the walls of his house falling on These are but a few of the numerous legends told of S. Benedict the Blessed. him. This year March 25th is Palm Sunday, the first day of "Holy Week" in England, "Suffering Week" in Hungary, "Week of the Cross" in Wales, and more beautiful title yet, "Still Week" in Germany. Palm Sunday has many other titles, most of them expressive of the branches strewn in the way our SAVIOUR rode when “He set His face to go to Jerusalem,"-Olive, Branch, Bloom, And Flower, Yew, Willow Sunday; Fig Sunday, because of the barren fig-tree that was then cursed. The early Christians kept this week as a very strict fast, eating only once a day, and then nothing but salt, bread, and water. And indeed it is a most solemn, most awful time, as day by day in the Gospels and Lessons we follow the footsteps of the Cross-bearing SAVIOUR, or in the Epistles read the prophecies of His sufferings; and only they who do so earnestly can fully participate in the holy joy of Easter. It was on the Wednesday of this week that the Jewish Council determined to crucify our LORD, and that He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. for that reason Wednesdays have always been kept by the Church as fasts, though not so strictly as Fridays. "Maundy Thursday" seems to take its name from the first words of the first Antiphon, "Mandatum novum," &c., "A new command I give unto you, that ye love one another."1 In Mediæval Latin it was called "The Birthday of the Chalice," as the Holy Eucharist was on this day instituted. The altar used to be stripped, and in the Romish Church the "Blessed Sacrament" is still laid with flowers, lights, and incense in a large recess at the side, called the sepulchre; which, or its remains, may be seen in many of our larger churches. In imitation of our SAVIOUR'S humiliation it was on this day formerly the custom for kings and queens, and even the pope himself, to wash the feet of poor beggars and pilgrims. James II. was the last of our sovereigns who performed this ceremony. It was however done by the Archbishops of York till 1731. In our own time Her Majesty's High Almoner distributes money to certain old pensioners, the number of whom corresponds to the Queen's age. And now comes the most fearful, and yet most blessed day that ever dawned upon our earth,-Good Friday. The universal love and charity inculcated in the Collects answers well to the wide spreading arms of the cross. The second Lesson and Gospel are aptly chosen from S. John's writings, who was the only Evangelist present at the crucifixion. Good Friday, or "Friday of the Lesson of the Cross," has hope amid its gloom,—our SAVIOUR is 1 Dr. Hook is my authority. not yet hidden out of our sight as on the next day, Easter Eve, or Burial Saturday, and we know that He shall rise again. The Collect for that day directs us to the holy Sacrament of Baptism, whereby we share His grave, and also His resurrection. In ancient times Christians spent this night in their churches, watching for the first streak of dawn, and so in spirit let us, and not only watch but pray, and then we shall find, as our great Christian poet sings, "The darkest hour That ever dawn'd on sinful earth Shall touch our hearts with softer power For comfort, than an Angel's mirth, That to the Cross the mourner's eye will turn Sooner than where the stars of Christmas burn." A. MARCH 1. S. David, Abp. C., 544.-2. S. Chad, B. C., 673.— 7. S. Perpetua, M., 203.-12. S. Gregory, B. C. D., 604.-18. S. Edward, K. M., 978.-21. S. Benedict, Ab., 543.-25. Annunciation of B. V. M., and Palm Sunday.-30. Good Friday. LAY HELPERS IN THE CHURCH. THAT more than three orders of ministers have existed in all ages in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, needs no proof; or if proof is required, it can be found in most works on ecclesiastical history, or in a more condensed form in the pamphlets mentioned below. In our own Branch of the Church, it is probable that the reformers found the minor orders existing only in name, and fulfilling no useful functions; therefore ignoring them altogether, they contented themselves with modelling the third holy order on the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Since that time the churchwarden, the sexton, and the verger have done the duties of the subdeacon, and other of the ordines minores; who were, to speak 1 "The Increase of the Ministry." By Archdeacon Hale. |