The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-05-03

Pacha; and for more than an hour the little
group stood or knelt on the steps leading to
the side-chapel Of the Blessed Virgin. AT
last the doors are thrown open, and the
little procession, passing by the Stone of
Uaction, and up the steps leading to the
Chapel Of Calvary, came to the spot where,
stripped Of His garments, our Divine Lord
was nailed to His Cross. Tho exact place
is pointed out, and is on the right of that
terrible hole where the Cross was sunk
when lifted up, whereby He that hung
thereon "might draw all men unto Him
self" Here, also, during that exquisite time
of torture, His Blessed Mother stood; and
the voices of the kneelers are chOked with
emotion as the words " SaHctG Mater, istMtl
dgas," ETC., echoed through the sacred build
ing. To the left now they turn, to the very
spot where the tremendous sacrifice was
cOnsulnmarcd, and where the riven rock
still remains as standing witness of that
awful mystery. |Tnence, passing again down
the. steps, 1T WAS wild IL sense vi r1ilef from
pain and tension too great to be borne that
the pilgrims came to the beautiful low shrine
where, the anguish and torture of the three
hours agony being over, the earthly remains
of our dear Lord We're laid. Crossing the
outer chapel, where still remains the stone
on which the angel sat when he appeared to
the women after the Resurrection, and bow
ing under the long, low arch which leads to
the inner shrine, they knelt one by one in
chre seems to speak once more OF hope and
joy, and to re-eeho the words, 60 He is not
here: He is risen. Behold the place where
the Lord lay"
The Via Crusis is over. 1t is seven
o'clock, and the impressive and beautiful
office Of the day has begun. The Chapel of
Calvary is crowded, almost to sufocatiOn,
with kneeling figures in deep mourning.
Everything is hung with black. The Les
sons and the Passion are over, and the ven
cradle patriarch, rising, begins to uncover
Ecce, EgA&aa CEAcis! Then commences that
portion OF the Office which none can ever
forget who has witnessed it ut RoMe how
much less at Jerusalem, in the very spot
which witnessed the actual thrOee and death
agony OF the 4an-GOd, and the woes of His
Mother! One by one the worshipers rise
and PROSTATE themselves in alteration three
times, kissing the feet Of their Lord, while
the vail of the Reproaches rises and falls,
and reverberates through the sacred shrine.
The Cruz fdelis and Pdnge lingua are taken
emory over, the candles on the altar are
lighted, illuminating the many upturned
and weeping faces, and the priests. go in
procession to the chapel below, to bring
back the Blessed Sacrament, which has been
deposited in the Holy Sepulchre the proceed
Regis is sung by the whole congregation.
Our English traveller, absorbed in the emo
tions of the place, and of the hour, had re-
manned mOtionless after the alteration, until
the beginning OF Vespers, when she turned
to look at her companion, whose fragile and
attenuated form still kneft beside her,
while her face seemed lighted up with an
unearthly glow, redeeming features which
had no great natural beauty, and making
one think of the old German pictures OF
saints. And now the anthem Contamination
est is over, and the Miserere is taken up by
lights are extinguished and the altar is
stripped as before, and all is desolate. 1t is
impossible to exaggerate the effect of this
office on this spot, or the sense of utter des
olation which falls upon the soul when all
is over. 1t is an approach to Mary's sorrow,
and a shadow OF it but to one who has not
felt it, it can not be explained. We have
read of the CrucitiXion all our lives, and
have tried in our various degrees to realize
it; but here we see it, as it were, with our
bodily eyes, which help out our weak faith,
and our devotion to the dolors of our Mother
heightens and deepens our devotion to the
Passion of her Son.
1t was with IL feeling of utter faintness
and exhaustion that the two ladies whose
steps we have followed turned at last out of
the sacred building, and bent their steps
homeward. 1t was only ten o'clock in the
morning, but many days seemed to have
been crowded into the preceding seven
hours.
They re-enter the church, Tin the after
noon) and passing by the shrine of the Holy
Sepulchre, take their place in the Chapel of
the Flagellation. Every Friday and Sunday
procession is formed in that chapel, the
pilgrims bearing lighted tapers, stamped
with the pictures of the Crucitixon and
Resurrection, and singing Il professional
hymn, peculiar to the Holy Land, visit each
altar erected in commemoration of the Pas
sion, reciting the Gospel and prayers appli-
cable to. each station. y portion of the
column of FlagellaJon is exposed III the
first chapel on the left Of the altar, where
the office begins and SO they move OH to
the dungeon, and to the place where they
parted His vestments, down to the subter-
ranean chapel or crypt, where the rugged
rocks remain as when first eXcavatcd, and