The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-12


dreds and hundreds Of these thin monks before
the gate. demanding sdmittanoe y Let them
all in We've wine enough to last Till the mil
lenniuml So in they came, orowding the re-
fectory. The hall was crammed; the vestibule,
the steps of the pulpit, where the reader edited
the brethren while they dined; the pulpit
itself, and many stood on the book-board half
poised in the air. Then there arose q distant
sound as of cracking, cracking, cracking;
deadly odor as Of flesh burning, mingled with
sulphurous steam. The living monks were
filled with CONSERVATION. Their knees smote
together, and their tongue clave to the roof OF
their mouth, for they felt that they were in
the presence of the dead. Then uprose the
first ghost that had appeared, and said,
Brethren, was once the abbot of this ancient
and venerable house. l ate, drank, caroused,
never worshipped. In my heart l neither
feared God nor regarded man; and now am
tormented in the flames. These were my com
panions; they led a similar life OF gluttony
and lust, and they are, in like manner, tor
mented. But we must glorify the Lord even
in the fire So sing, brethren, Gloria Patrid,
t FiiiO, et iSpiritu Sancto.' The spectres hissed
ont an awful Gregorian tone, concluding with
Amen. A loud clap Of thunder accom- panied
The strain, and when it was finished the strange
guests had disappeared-the refectory con
aimed only the living monks. They repented;
hey did works meet for repentance. They
sold their cellar of wine, and rebuilt their
church with great magnifcence. They founded
an hospital. They fed the poor. They nursed
the plague-stricten in the year of the great
pestilence. They died in the odor of sanctty,
and let us hope that they will find mercy in
that day"
A BRIEF DISCOURSE.
A French Capuchin, on the festival of St.
James, had to pronounce panegyric on that
saint. AS he was rather late, the attendant
priests, who feared that he would make long
sermon, and so weary the congregation, en-
treated him to abridge it, The monk mounted
the pulpit, and addressing the people, said:-
"My brethren, twelve months ago preached
an eulogy on the eminent apostle whose festi-
val you this day celebrate. AS doubt not
but that you were all very attentive to me,
and as l have not learned that he has done
anything new since, l have nothing to add to
what | said at that time" He then pro-
nounced the blessing, and descended from the
pulpit.
FAvHBR ANDRES HUMoR.
A popular but somewhat grotesque French
preacher of the seventeenth century, being of
small stature, was called by his bishop le petit
JdllOt, word signifying equally a lantern and
a JackdndpeS. Having to preach before the
prelate, Andre determined to notice this; so he
took for his text, aye are the light Of the
world" Then addressing the bishop, he said,
"VouS 6teS, Monseignem, le grand fallot de
P6gIiSe, ct nous sOmmeS que les pet,ts tallOts."
In one of his sermons he compared the four
doctors Of the Latin Church to the four kings
of cards. "St. Augustine" said he, sis the
king of hearts, for his great charity; st. Am
brose is the king OF clubs (tret7e) by the flow
ers of his eloquence; ST. Gregory is the king
of diamonds tor his strict regularity; and st.
Jerome is the king of spades (p,que) for his
piquant STYLE"
The Duke of Orleans once dared Father
A.,l. IL
about him. This, however, our good father
did very adroitly. He addressed him thus
"Foin de vouS, monseigneur, foin de moi, toin de
tOuS les auditeurS." He saved himself by taking
for his text the 7th verse of the 10th chapter
of Isaiah, where it is said all the people are
grass-tOin in French sgnifying hay, and being
also an interjection-Jtie upon!
FATHER sERAPHIN.
Father Seraphin was strongly commended
by La Bruyere as a preacher thoroughly
worthy of participating in the uninterrupted
apostolical succession. The first time that the
Father preached before King Louis XIV, he
said to the monarch, "Sire, am not ignorant
of the custom, according to the prescription
Of which ought to pay you compliment in
my discourse. This hope your Majesty will
be gracously pleased to dispense WITH for l
have been searching for a compliment in the
Scriptures and unhappily l have not been
apl6 10 uuu one.
FATHER MAILLARD.
OF Maillard, a priest of the same epoch we
are told that in one edition of his sermons the
words "Hem, hem, - are written in the margin,
to mark the places where, according to the
custom of those days, the preacher was at
liberty to stop and cough.
"Being once requested to announce oollec-
tion in behalf of young lady to enable her to
take the veil, he said, before the commence
ment of his sermon, My beloved brethren, l
woman who has not enough to enable her TO
make a vow of poverty
"Preachipg during the whole Of Lent in
town where he was not once invited to par
take of morsel of dinner, he said, in his
farewell sermon, Il have preached against
every vice, except that of too much attach
ment to the pleasures of the table. This vice
is by no means prevalent in a single person
whom address, and therefore need not de-
nounce it, '"
RoURDALoUE VS.. FATHER Il.
Father H told French writer one day
that when Bourdaloue preached at Rouen
every artisan shat up his shop, the merchants
quilted the exchange, the lawyers their courts,
and the physicians their PATIENTS and
gathered round this celebrated preacher.
"When preached there" says Father H,
'the year following, | restored everything to
! its proper order. Neither the merchant
Quilted his business nor the lawyer his court, 1"
etc.
JOHN LAssEYIUs,
the chaplain to the Danish court, who died at
| Copenhagen in 1892, having for long time
perceived, to his vexation, that during his
sermon the greatest part of his congregation