Saint Mary's beacon., 1903-12-24

Prom tie Me.e York Tribune.

remember in particular a mid.
night Mass / attended one Christ.
mas Eve in the church of an old
Breton village, where we were
spending the holidays. The sacred
and storm-beaten edifice, when we
entered it shortly before midnight,
was filed tooverfiowing with kneel-
ing and picturesquely arrayed peas
ants. On the right side of the altar
bower had been made of fragrant
pine and fir branches, with great
punches of crimson -berried holly
and waxy mistletoe glistening among
the verdue. Under this canopy
there sas on q low stool a young girl
of great beauty. with her long black
hair falling in silky masses on her
loose white garments. In her arms
she held an infant Beside her stood
a young man, wearing a GOLDEN
broidered robe and leaning on a
heavy staff, while an OK, q donkey
and four sheep were quietly MUNICH
ing corn from couple of hangers
The celebration of the Mass began.
A small chorister chanted the "Paer
Hatas est nobis" (For to us q Child
is born.) The deep bass voice OF
another grown-up chorister, hidden
somewhere in the fir-branch bower
above described, gave the response
of "UG e. (Where {? A tenor chor.
ister concealed near the sheep add
ed the word "BethIeheSa," and then
a baritone voice brayed "Eamus. -
Oet us go thither.) Thereupon the
priest, his acolytes, and the entire
congregation formed into process.
sion and marched 20 the fir-tree bow
er where the representation of the
Nativity had been arranged. The
priest, having sprinkled both the
mother and child as well as the ami
mails with holy water, we all follow
ed the kindly old rector to the chief
entrance of the church. The scene
there was one which / shall never
forget. All the cattle and fiocks of
the village had been driven into the
old churchyard, and stood there
crowded together in the silvery light
of full moon, around the open por-
tai. Standing on the topmost step
Of the portico, with his acolytes and
surpiiced choristers around him the
venerable, white-haired priest, who
had had charge of the parish for
close upon forty years, exclaimed ::
God, in His mercy, my dear child
ren, has sent me on this radiant
night of the Nativity to bless your
cattle and your fiocks, because it is
only right that the animals which
constitute your greatest help and
source of prosperity should partici-
pate in the JOY which fills all our
hearts. Now lead your focks past
me-"
The shepherds and e-herders
then began TO drive the animals past
us, while the priest, dipping the
sprinkler into the silver ever of
holy water, showered the latter pom
the oxen and sheep; and amid the
clang of the bells around their necks
their lowing and their ba ing as
well as the words and cries of their
drivers, ever and anon were heard
the solemn words of the priest
Benedicdt Uos omRipotens Deus, Pater
ct Frlius ct ISpiritus .SdnctuS, the Choir
listers bringing the blessing to a
close with a resounding Amen. AS
| watched the animals vanishing one
after the other into the night, il
seemed to me as if l were carried
back to the primitive times OF the
early Christians, and as if our mat
ter-of-fact prosaical and Waterfalls
tic twentieth century was not a real
ity, but only a nightmare.
1