The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-05-02

Ladye." We have seen, not once, but
over and over again, how famous was
this devotion from the early days OF
Faith up to the time of the Great
Apostasy, and even after; for the
stained glass windows in which il
was frequently represented were not
all demolished till later period. AS
matter of fact, one of the great win
dows in Canterbury Cathedral, where
in our Lady's Joys were depicted, to
gether with the "blissful martyr" St
Thomas, and the patron saints of Eng
land, was not destroyed before the
Commonwealth.
1t is, again, most curious and inter
esting to find that the Joys of "Sainte
Marie, hayden, and Mere" formed
the subject for painted cloths, prob
ably" antiquarians tell us, intended
for the decoration of walls Thus
by his will, dated August 4, 1853, John
Tidman, chaplain, bequeaths to Alice
the wife of William Philip, "a cloth
painted with the history of the Five
Joys of Our Blessed Ladye"; and to
Isabella, daughter of Jane Byddus, "a
cloth painted with large image OF
the Blessed Virgin Marye."
A favourite manual of devotion
amongst English Catholics in mediae.
val times was that containing the
prayers and meditations of st. An
selm. st. Thomas of Canterbury ha.
bitually used these prayers; for his
chronicler tells US that when Mass
is being sung through down to the
Gospel, he readeth the prayers which
his predecessor, Archbishop Anselm,
of blessed memory, had composed
Amongst them were several addressed
to our Lady.
The Irish, it need scarcely be said,
were noted for their hymns and
prayers to our Lady. One of the for
mer, consisting of twenty-four stan
zas, is entitled, "The Protecting Cor
selet of Marye." 1t is generally at
tributed to the eleventh century. One
stanza runs:
1 offer myself under thy protection,
o loving Mother of the only Son,
And under thy protecting shield
place my body,
My heart, my will, and my under
standing.
When Alexander Stavenby, Bishop
of Coventry, drew UP his constitu-
tions in A. d. 1887, he desired "all
CIor;o+;ooe IN cow doiIyy covon Do+orc
seven Ave Marias, and two Credos; -
and he, moreover, instructed his cler-
gy not to promulgate or teach new
form of prayer, but to exhort the
people to be faithful in their daily
use of what they already knew. Per-
haps it would not be disadvantageous
if the laity, in this hurrying twenti-
eth century, were to take to heart the
good prelate's advice, and, instead OF
burdening themselves with a multi
plicity of all sorts and conditions of
vocal prayers-prayers which it is
next to impossible to say with con-
slant attention and devotion-they
would revert to the old-fashioned pi-
ETY., which disdained not it's pair of
beads" it's devout nightly reading of
the Passion of Christ, it's Psalters, it's
frequent attendance at the Divine Of
fees of the Church, and, above all, at
Holy Mass. We could not do better
than cultivate the spirit and follow
the example of our Catholic fore
fathers; and when our efforts seem
useless and our petitions unavailing,
let us turn, as they did, with undated
confidence, to the Holy Mother of
God, remembering that:
The rose when shaken fragrance
sheds around,
The bell when struck pours forth
melodious sound;
The heart of Mary, moved by earnest
prayer,
Will scatter grace and sweetness ev'
eryWhere.