FIFTY-NINTH SERMON
ON THE COUNTLESS HOLY MARTYRS OF TREVES.
Subject.
1. The inhabitants of Treves are the children of saints; what an honor for the city! 2. The inhabitants of Treves are the children of saints; what a shame for the city if its people should deviate from the constancy and virtue of their holy ancestors! - Preached on the feast of the Martyrs of Treves.
Text.
"We are the children of saints." (Tob 2:18)
Introduction
The question was asked, in olden times, among the Macedonians, whether it was a greater glory for King Alexander to have been born of Philip, or for Philip to have Alexander for his son. My dear brethren, I may ask a similar question to-day, namely: Is it a greater glory for the city of Treves to have been the mother of so many countless martyrs whose feast we celebrate to-day, or a greater glory for the Christians who are now in Treves to have had so many holy ancestors? Be the answer what it may, both honors undoubtedly belong to this city, because she has brought into the world and reared so many holy children who shed their blood for Christ, and because she so nourishes so many who are the descendants of these holy ancestors; both these circumstances redound to her undying honor. Christian inhabitants of this city, as I am about to address you now, I shall confine myself to the latter, namely:
Plan of Discourse.
" We are the children of saints;" the people of Treves are the children of saints; what an honor for the city! The first part. " We are the children of saints; " the people of Treves are the children of saints; what a disgrace for the city if its inhabitants should deviate from the constancy and virtue of their holy ancestors! The second part. The first will be to the greater glory of the martyrs of Treves; the second will serve for the edification and profit of the present inhabitants of that city.
Do you, holy martyrs, and thou especially, Queen of martyrs, virginal mother Mary, and you, holy angels, who fought on the side of the martyrs, obtain that profit for us by your prayers!
So close is the union and bond of nature between parents and children children, ancestors and their posterity, that the latter inherit from the former their honor or shame, their glory or disgrace rather than their wealth or poverty. Such is the express testimony of the Holy Ghost: " The glory of children are their fathers. On the other hand, " a father without honor is the disgrace of the son." Hence it is that we look on children as good or bad, according to the nature of their parents. Saul, when enraged with Jonathan, gave him a sharp reproof, and put him to great shame, by calling him, in his anger, " thou son of a woman that is a ravisher of a man. But Gabelus, when he embraced the younger Tobias, said in joyful accents: "The God of Israel bless thee, because thou art the son of a very good and just man, and that feareth God and doth almsdeeds." In the same manner, as St. Paulinus remarks, when the evangelists wish to praise any one in a special manner they first of all speak of his honorable descent. Thus St. Luke praises the parents of St. John the Baptist before commencing to describe his wonderful life: " They were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame." What else does the Evangelist mean by this,, asks St. Ambrose,, unless " to let us see that St. John is ennobled by his parents "? So that St. John is praised on account of the piety and goodness of his parents. The wise Solomon, in order to give authority to his books, begins by saying whose son he was: "The parables of Solomon, the son of David;" so he begins the Proverbs. " The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David; " so he begins the Book of Ecclesiastes. When Our Lord said to the Pharisees that He was not of this world,, they at once referred to their ancient descent from Abraham: "We are the seed of Abraham;" " Abraham is our father." Where else in our own days does the nobility and respectability of families come from but from their ancestors, who in former times showed great bravery in war, or skill in managing state affairs, or performed other praiseworthy exploits that made their names illustrious before the world, so that they were elevated above others by princes, kings, and emperors? On their account their descendants are held in honor above the common people. So true is it that "the glory of children are their fathers."
If that is the case, my dear brethren, oh, what glory for this city, and what honor and dignity have fallen to the lot of her children! I will not now refer to the antiquity, excellence, magnanimity, power, and reputation of your heroic forefathers, by whom this city was founded, increased, and continued to our own times. In these matters there is no nation in Europe that excels Treves; so that in ancient times the blind heathens traced her origin to Jupiter and Vesta, whom they looked on as their father and mother. I leave to the heathens their foolish non sense, and I leave to the world also the vainglory it seeks from others. For true glory and nobility consist in virtue alone and in Christian fortitude. "We are the children of saints." If any one can with truth make that boast, you are the fortunate ones, inhabitants of Treves! You are children of the saints, children of the martyrs, children of the blood-relations of Christ, as St. Vincent Ferrer calls the martyrs. You are children of the angels,, according to the words of St. Chrysostom: "The martyrs and the angels are distinguished only in name; " you are children of those who, according to the testimony of St. Basil, " are the general protectors of the human race, most powerful ambassadors with God, the stars of the world, the flowers of the Church." You are children of those who, according to St. Cyprian, will be, with Christ, judges of the living and the dead; whose honor and glory excels that of the other saints in heaven; who by their bravery overcame torments and tyrants, and boldly confessed their God under pains and torture, sealing with their blood the truth of their faith. Such are your ancestors, children of Treves!
Pay attention and see how bravely they fought for the honor of God. That day had come which brought joy to heaven, glory to the city of Treves, and which will be held to the end of the world as a solemn feast that day when the bloodthirsty judge Riccius Varus began to rage against the Christian faith, that day on which, for the first time, the chief man and burgomaster of this city, St. Palmatius, along with other Catholic councillors and princes of the state, as they are called in the Annals, publicly confessed their faith in presence of all, and offered to give their life's blood for it, and thus, like true shepherds, opened by their blood the gates of heaven to the sheep entrusted to their care; for on the following day the whole flock they left behind, without distinction of state, sex, or age, were driven together, and hewed and smitten down. Oh, what a cruel, and, at the same time, what a glorious spectacle it must have been to behold those gray-haired old men, venerable matrons, tender virgins, young boys, mothers with their children, running with joyful cries out of their houses, vying with each other in offering themselves to the points of the swords and spears, contending with pious zeal who should be the first to hasten to the slaughter, as if it were a wedding-feast, and suffering death with every sign of joy and exultation! What a sight, worthy of the admiration of heaven, to see the streets covered with dead bodies, the ground reddened with blood, the Moselle choked with corpses, so that its waters were hardly cold any longer, but rather running with warm blood, and bearing the holy crimson tide from Treves throughout the world, thus testifying to the neighboring lands the faith of Christ! This I say with St. Gregory: " Look at the whole world, brethren; it is full of martyrs." I change those words, and say: " Look at the whole city; it is full of martyrs; " there are so many of them that the counting of them must be left to the Almighty alone. Therefore this feast- day has been instituted to honor the innumerable martyrs of Treves. So many were there that if one were to ask for relics from me I might well say what a Pope once said to a stranger who asked for relics; he took a handful of dust from the ground, and gave it to him with the words: There you have them; for you must know that the dust of the earth here is mingled with the blood of martyrs. The same might be said of the city of Treves; all the places round may be looked on as shrines, because they are inundated with the blood of martyrs.
Behold, I must again say to you, children of Treves, what great ancestors you have, how noble your descent! They are saints crowned in heaven, whom men now honor above all the kings and emperors of the world. You are children of the saints; oh, what a great honor and glory! O holy ancestors, now citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, what thanks do not your children and descendants owe you, since you have prepared for them such a glorious road to heaven! In what honor should we not hold you and your relics that we have amongst us, which have brought us such a great name and renown! What devotion arid love must we not have for you, whose blood has been the seed from which sprang so many Christians! With what confidence can we not appeal to you in all our needs, since it is by your help and intercession the inhabitants of our city have preserved their faith in the midst of the heresies that have overrun Germany! What do we not owe you, in a word, since it is from you we have the happiness of being able to boast that we are children of saints! I go on to the
Second Part.
"We are the children of saints." A glorious title! But I fear that it is one that brings to some more shame than honor, When the philosopher Seneca was on his deathbed, and was asked what lesson he wished to leave behind him for his disciples, he made an effort to recall for a moment his soul, which was on the point of taking wing, opened his glassy eyes, and with broken voice said these few but impressive words: "I leave you the image of my life." As if to say: You have hitherto had before your eyes the life of your teacher; this life of mine, which, as you have seen, I have used for the practice of virtue, I now bequeath you as one that you have to learn from arid to imitate. " I leave you the image of my life." Children of Treves, what legacy have your holy ancestors left you? It seems to me that I hear them, with blood-streaming eyes and mutilated bodies, crying out to all their descendants: " We leave you the image of our lives," of our holiness, of our virtues, of our constancy in the faith even to death; this is our last will, this your inheritance. And the same words are uttered now by their sacred relics that repose here: We leave you the image of our lives. Consider the example of your holy ancestors; with what zeal they fought for the honor of God and for their faith; how important they judged their eternal salvation, so that to ensure it they gave up for God's sake property, blood, and life; this glorious example we leave you for imitation.
Now if we show no traces of this inheritance, what will it profit us to have saints for our fathers? Is it any honor to me to have a king for my father if I live as a peasant? Is it any renown to me that my ancestors were celebrated for skill, piety, and holiness if I am an ill-reared, undutiful, wicked, and ignorant son? "Let no one," says Simon de Cassia, "trust in the justice of his ancestors, if he himself is ruled by wickedness." " What better were the sons of Samuel," asks Mendoza, " for having a holy father, since they did not inherit his virtues?" What better was the shameless Cham for having Noe as his father? What better the wicked Ismael for having been born from Abraham; the wrathful Esau for having been born from Isaac; the rebellious Absalom for having been born from David; the impious Manasses for having been born from Ezechias; the reckless Joachim for having been born from Josias? They were all bad children who were born of holy fathers. And that was all the more to their shame, since by their wicked lives they dishonored their descent. "Although you may have an illustrious father," says St. John Chrysostom, " do not think that enough for your salvation, honor, or glory, unless you resemble him in your way of life." " If you be the children of Abraham," said Christ to the Pharisees, "do the works of Abraham. " Imitate that great man; show, not by words, but by deeds, that you are descended from such a noble father. The life of Abraham was holy and innocent; if you are the children of Abraham your lives must resemble his. " But now you seek to kill Me, a man who have spoken the truth to you, which I have heard of God; this Abraham did not." So that you are wicked children of a good father. This, as Barradius remarks, concerns us all; and therefore I say to you: If you are the children of saints, do the works of saints. If you wish to inherit renown and fame from your ancestors you must walk in their footsteps, and by your lives and actions show that you are not degenerate children.
Our ancestors are saints of God; what a shame if their children should be wicked! Our ancestors were martyrs of Christ; what a shame if their children should be martyrs of the world, the flesh and the devil! Our ancestors did not allow a cruel death to make them deviate from the path of rectitude, from the love of God; what a shame for their children if human respect and the fear of a slight loss, not to speak of the fear of death, should make them renounce God by sin! Our ancestors, to gain heaven, to save their souls, sacrificed life, and goods, and all they possessed; what a shame for their children, if, for the sake of a wretched piece of money, a breath of honor, a momentary, brutish lust, the love of a vain creature, they should sell their souls to the devil! Our ancestors defended the faith with their lives; what a shame for their children, in whose veins still flows the blood of those holy forefathers, if they, Catholic in name, dishonor that faith by leading wicked lives! Our ancestors ran joyfully to throw themselves on the points of spears and swords, and met torments and death with exultation; what a shame for their children to give way to murmurs and complaints in the slight crosses and daily trials ordained for them by God! Our ancestors kept God before their eyes as their sole end and reward; what a shame for their children to allow their hearts to be fixed on earth and worldly goods! What a shame for an undutiful child to dishonor by impurity and disgraceful conduct those places that were sprinkled and watered by the blood of such holy ancestors!
" In the land of the saints he hath done wicked things," the Prophet Isaias with astonishment, as if he were speaking of a terrible thing. In the land, in the city, in the dwelling-place of the saints he has done evil; what a shame! There he has not hesitated to practise wickedness, to lead a godless life. If this were done by any here, would not the holy remains of the martyrs turn in their graves in this consecrated earth? " Son of man," said God to the Prophet Ezechiel, " show to the house of Israel the temple; " show it to that thankless people, who do not deserve to be called Mine; " and let them be ashamed of their iniquities . . . and be ashamed of all that they have done." And why were they to be ashamed and blush at the sight of the temple? Because there they could see the heroic exploits of their glorious forefathers depicted exploits which they were far from imitating. children of Treves, if any of you and I trust such is not the case lead bad lives, then look on this temple, in which some of your holy forefathers repose, and be ashamed of your vices and the wickedness of your lives. What confusion will be the lot of those degenerate children when, on the last day, their ancestors will come out of this temple and stand before them! " Behold, the Lord cometh with thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to reprove all the ungodly for all the works of their ungodliness, whereby they have done ungodly."
I conclude with the words of St. Chrysologus: Beloved hearers (I should say holy hearers, because you are children of the saints), we are the children of saints. Children must follow their parents. Come, then: " Let us act up to our dignity; let us live for heaven; let us be like our forefathers." Let us imitate the virtues of our forefathers, their zeal for the honor of God, their constancy in the faith, their unwearied fervor in good, their earnest devotion and love of Our Lord! " Speak not so," said Tobias to his friends, who ridiculed him for his devotion, fear of God, and works of mercy, "for we are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to them that never change their faith from Him." This should form the daily lesson taught by parents to their children, by masters to their servants and subjects, and by every one to himself in all temptations, occasions, and dangers of sin. Speak not so; give up that habit of cursing, swearing, quarrelling, abusing, detracting, lying; for we are children of the saints; our forefathers spoke in a far different manner. Think not so; renounce those bad thoughts, imaginations, and desires that you have been wont to indulge in deliberately; for we are the children of saints, whose hearts were always directed to God and heaven! Do not so; let there be in your works no trace of injustice, pride, impurity, vindictiveness, enmity, drunkenness; in a word, let nothing appear in them that savors of sin; for we are the children of saints, whose whole lives were virtuous and holy. Look at the relics of your forefathers that are placed on the altars for public veneration; do not disgrace them by depriving them of the joy they who now rejoice in heaven should have in you on earth. Their lives should be the model of yours, and yours an exact copy of theirs; their relics and images that are everywhere held up before your eyes and minds should be to you as the statues of their forefathers were to the Lacedemonians of old statues which they caused to be erected in the senate-house as an encouragement and exhortation to their children, with these remarkable words as an inscription: " If you, Lacedemonians, behave like these, you will be honored like them." But I say: dear inhabitants of Treves, children of the saints, if you live as they did, and follow the example of holiness they gave you, you will be holy like them, and like them will have a crown and reward and glory in heaven.
Yes, O holy ancestors, such shall be our unanimous resolution; never for anything whatsoever shall we act so as to dishonor our noble and holy race which descends from you. Your virtue and constancy, your love of God, your sanctity in life and death we shall always keep before our eyes, that, encouraged by your example, we may fight to the death against the perverse inclinations of corrupt nature, against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and remain steadfast in the love of God till the end. Thus,, as worthy children of such holy progenitors, we shall merit to be protected by you in all dangers, and, after having been your imitators here on earth, to be one day with you. where you are now, and to rejoice with you in heaven. Amen.