The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-12
(Cohtinued from Page IL
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.


contracting aught of the hideous
leprOsy or the mortal ailment that had
come upon them. This was the thought
that gave joy to the heart of God
during those long ages when the
world sank lower and lower in the
abyss of frightful corruption. When
the crimes of earth piled up even to
the heavens, God contemplated Mary
advancing from afar, beautiful as the
dawn, pure and radiant as the sun
after the horrors of dark and stormy
night; He contemplated her across the
devastating torrents that submerged
the world, He beheld her in that ark of
salvation which f1oated so peacefully
over the raging waters of the deluge;
for Mary, the new ark of the covenant,
was to escape the yawning CULTS of
iniquity where all others had suffered
shipwreck; He beheld her in the white
dove that brought back to Noah the
olive branch as sign of hope and
salvation, for Mary also, the mes
senger of mercy, was to announce the
peace of heaven with earth; He beheld
her in the sweet radiance of the rain
bow, His sign of alliance with the
sons of men, for Mary, too, the sign of
happy omen, comes to announce to
the world the calm that follows the
tempest. And then the countenance of
God, beaming with tranquility once
again, let fall upon the earth ray of
His eternal serenity, and the sword
fell from His relenting hand, and
malediction ceased to descend upon
the earth, and the thunders ceased to
rumble in the skies.
The mysterious and prophetic Ian
guage which symbolized the Virgin
full of grace, and whose first echoes
go back to the very cradle of the
world, became more and more precise
as the time drew nearer when heaven
was to give that Virgin to an aston
ished and enraptured earth. From age
to age a thousand voices arose sing
ing the glory and the celestial beauty
of her in whom all the nations of the
earth were to be blessed; and God
Himself, smitten with the ravishing
charms of the immaculate Virgin,
and urged her to come and receive the
jewels of that spotless crown which
He destined for her brow. Veni, for
mosa mea, coronaberis. Yes, thou art
all beautiful, and mine eye, which
finds defects even in the angels them
selves, finds no spot in thee. Tota
pulchra es, ct macula non est in tie.
AS the lily lifts it's snowy head
amongst the thorns, so, o my beloved,
dost thou appear to Me amongst all
the daughters Of earth. Sicut lilium
inter spinas, sic, AMIGA mea, inter
filias. All the rest are born daugh-
tiers of darkness and of wrath, and
thou, o Mary, thou art daughter of
light and of love; thou hast surpassed
them all, and they have called thee
blessed. Tu supergressa es uni
versus. o thou, thou art no more the
desolate garden where crawls the
hideous reptile, thou art no more the
muddy brook which the Internal
serpent infected with his poison; but
thou, whom l love as a spouse and
sister, thou art that enclosed garden
into which the hand and the foot of
the stranger shall never penetrate to
fitch it's delicious fruits. Thou art that
fountain on which the seal has been
placed, and none may disturb the
limpid clearness of it's waters. Hortus
conclusus, soror mea, sponsa, hortus
conclusus, fons signatus. Thou art
that closed door that shall never open
before the foot of man. The Lord God
of Israel alone shall enter by it, the
Prince of heaven alone shall fix there
His seat and His abode. Haec porta
clausa crit, vir non intrabit par cam,
Princeps ipse sedebit in ca.
Tradition of the Ages.
H-Thus, then, the oracles of old
show her all beautiful and spotless,
that blessed Virgin who has to repair
the wounds and the iniquities of the
world. And IL you search the tradi-
ton of the ages of Catholicity, you will
find that they have but one voice to
tell of her ineffable privilege, and to
sing the glory of the august Mother
of God. From the first ages of Chris
tianity, this has been the opinion of
the greatest intellects of the Church,
and it. would be entirely unfair for
false dialectic to take advantage of
the silence of the first centuries. This
trivial and entirely negative objection
falls to the ground, it seems to me,
before this single observation, that in
the ages of faith and piety, the belief
that Mary was forever exempt from
every stain, either of original sin, or
of actual sin, was SO universally re-
ceived and infused into all hearts, that
there was no need to teach it explicit
ly, or to defend it from attack, since
at that time no one ever thought of
denying or even questioning it. AS to
the following ages, the voices and the
testimonies are not lacking in favor
of the cause we here argue for the
glory of Mary. We have the voice of
the sovereign pontiffs who, from the
tenth century, established the festival
and the Office of the Immaculate Con-
ception, welcomed at once, and
solemnized with piety throughout the
whole Western Empire. We have the
voice of the Councils, several of which,
before the Council of Trent, had al