The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-06-24
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ing her as a suitable helpmate and
by sanctioning that mysterious law
according to which young man
leaves father and mother, home and
friends, and prefers the society of q
comparative stranger to even that of
his parents.
AS our aim in subsequent instrue-
.tions will be to give correct views
on the sublimity and sanctity of Chris
tian marriage, we ask our readers as
a preparation to consider certain cir
.cumstances connected with the first
marriage of Adam and Eve before
matrimony was raised to the dignity
of sacrament. The more we ex-
anime, study and analyZe all these
circumstances the more will our souls
be filled with awe, reverence and
pity it is that so large a part of the
Christian world should ignore the
simple, beautiful inspired words of
our first father on beholding, fresh
from the hands of God, his bride, our
first mother, Eve. Glorious it is that
our spiritual mother, the holy Roman
Catholic Church, has ever. at all costs,
with all her divine inflexible authority,
upheld, maintained and anforced the
full meaning, consequences and logi-
cal corollaries of these inspired,
prophetic words. We know not how
better to describe that scene and its
circumstances than by quoting on the
subject the words of the Rev. James
Donahoe, d. d. of Brooklyn, n. Y:
What were the qualities of the con
tracing parties? One of the parties
was made lord and king of creation
q companion of the angels, digni-
tary holding the place of God on earth
All created nature was bound to obey
him. In dignity, wisdom, nobility
power, wealth, glory, he surpasses the
greatest monarch of the world. He
is to the father of the human race.
"The other contracting party has
corresponding qualities. Her very
name is a name of honor. Eve, the
mother of the living Her wedding
gown is the robe of innocence. Her
nuptial crown is original justice
Other gifts accompanying this justice
take the place of bridal ornaments
All her beauty is from within. Nor is
| the devoid of external beauty. In
nature, stature, wisdom, justice ant
supernatural gifts she is like man
The marriage takes place in the Gar
den of Paradise, a garden planted BY
| the hanl of God. This marriage is
arranged and brought about by Goo
Himself. God is present at the nuptia
union. He blesses it. He bestow:
upon it fruitfulness: Increase anC
multiply, and fill the land
Angels, too, are present, and they
are joyful witnesses, for they know
that this union is destined to repair
the ruins, to fill the void in The
heavenly Jerusalem caused by the
pride of LuGifer. The growing glory
however, of this conjugal union is its
mystic Specification. 1t symbolic!
the union of Jesus Christ with the
Church of the incarnation. The So1
abandoning His heavenly Father t.
be united with His spouse, the Church
taken like another Eve from His side
while he hung upon the cross, is ad
mirably prefigured in the nuptials o
our first parents. This beautiful
symbolism is eloquently portrayed b!
ha iYooT11 FOL I h0f
God for it's author, and was from thu
beginning a certain foreshadowing o
the mystery of the incarnation of the
Son of God. 1t has ever been invested
with sacred and religious character
which cannot be regarded as accident
al, but rather as something intrinsical
ly belonging to it, and not as received
from man, but imprinted by nature
We most earnestly and ardently
wish our young Catholic people wher
considering marriage to place before
their mental vision this described sub
lime scene-a scene and fact in it.
reality more than realized at every
true Catholic marriage, when cele
brated before Gods altar and blessed
by the consecrated hands of Gods
anointed priest. What a woeful, SAT
contrast it must make, what tears, i
angels would weep, would they no
shed on beholding a Catholic you'll
or maiden refusing, often spurning
this blessing, and standing up il
brazen holiness before a squire" o.
minister of false religion to have
this divine rite abused and shorn o
it's most valued blessings. The
absence of such blessings account!
for the frequent sad endings and con
sequences of such marriages.
TIE MARKS OF THE cAuRGA