it perishes, the moment the father is in his grave, his last will only avails as far as regards the transmission of property; neither his debts, nor his sins, nor his vows are thought of, and, as Don Antonio de Guevara says, in his figurative style, no one ever afterwards sees so much as a candle lighted at his tomb.* Peter III., eldest son of James the Conqueror, who had resigned the crown to him, refused to assume the title of King of Arragon after conquering the Moors, until he had rendered the last duties to his father. To see proof of solicitude for the soul's rest, we have only to observe any of the countless monuments and foundations of ancient times. How many crosses do we find upon this road set up through this motive! How many religious works springing from it attested! Here is a charter of the date of 1114, from the Archives of Mount Cassino: "I, Grimoald, Count of the Palace, as it is right and proper for me to do, with my good will, for the love of Almighty God, who is the lover and rewarder of all good works, and for the redemption of my soul, and of those of my father and mother, give and offer to this monastery such things." In the monastery of Montserrat were many inscriptions attesting the ardour and perseverance of filial love, in the foundation of masses to be said for ever; with a Libera, a De profundis, and a Da quæsumus Domine, in the first instance, for the repose of the souls of fathers and mothers; and then, as in all such cases, if unrequired by them, for the augmentation of the general treasury of the Church. It would be endless to cite instances which abound in every direction. Remarkable, however, amongst other examples, is the ancient legend, which related that when Louis-le-Debonnaire, thirty years after his death, sought relief from purgatorial flames, he appeared in a vision demanding prayer, not to the Emperor Charles, whom he had in his life so cherished, to the prejudice of his son Louis, not to men of sacred orders, nor to his nephews of France or Italy, but to that very son Louis who had opposed and resisted him, and whom he had so disliked; and who, notwithstanding, according to the paternal prayer thus awfully conveyed to him, sent letters to every religious house of the empire beseeching their suffrages for his father's soul. Nor can all parents be disposed to overlook the prospect which Catholicity presents to them of being honoured by their children, who are faithful to its spirit, even in regard to their tombs. This, indeed, is only another of those primeval sentiments which the Catholic Church sanctified and nourished, having found it already existing in the breasts or traditions of men; * L'Horloge des Princes, liv. iii. + Gattola, Hist. Cassinensis, vi. 257. K as when they of the farthest solitudes of Asia replied to Darius invading them, that they had neither cities nor cultivated farms to defend, but that when he came to the monuments of their parents he would learn how they could_fight.* To exemplify the Catholic practice in former times, it may suffice to cite the instance of Gunther, Count of Schwartzburg, in union with his brothers, making a donation to the monastery of Uma, in order to maintain perpetual lights there burning in memory of his father and mother, whose bodies were there interred. The spirit of such a usage was not intended by religion to pass with any age; but history proclaims that with the removal of the Catholic religion, the sentiment itself, of respect for the graves and sepulchres of parents, universally departed so that here again is another consideration that opens a path which may invite them to recognise the benefits resulting from the true Church. Wherever its influence existed, they might reckon also with confidence on their memory, as well as their graves, being safe and sacred, as far as depended on the affectionate solicitude of their children. "We were glad," says King Ferdinand, writing to Marinæus Siculus, "to hear that you had completed your history of the serene King John, our father, for we desire nothing with greater ardour, after the honour of God our Redeemer, than to cherish the memory of our parents." In fine, the love of parents for their children opens the widest passage of all, to invite them to seek in the communion and consoling promises of the Church, that security which nothing in the world else can yield. Not to speak of that prudent forethought for their children after they shall have themselves left the world, which would prompt the desire of leaving after them a friend like Nestor, who respects the son of his old friend, saying, as long as I live the son of Ulysses shall not be left so:§ or, one like Menelaus, who evinces such joy on receiving into his house the son of a man that had been dear to him,|| and their consequent love for that religion, which is now, in the apparently exhausted state of nature, the only source of such enduring friendship, the very idea of the paternus amicus having perished without it, the many perils of life surrounding their children each instant, while under their own eyes, ought strongly to move them in the same direction. St. Augustin writing to Proba, from a consideration of these perils, desires her to pray as being in constant danger of suffering loss. "Licet habeas filios et nepotes, numerosamque familiam, sicut desolata ora: incerta sunt enim omnia temporalia, * Val. Max. lib. v. †Thuringia Sacra, 565. § Od. iii. 352. etiam usque in finem vitæ hujus in nostram consolationem mansura. * "Such is the weakenesse of all mortall hope, Instead of comfort which we should embrace." This parental love, therefore, keeps the mind from evil swelling, and tempers its joy with that salutary solicitude, which Bishop Fisher ascribed to Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII., saying, “She never yet was in that prosperity, but the greater it was, the more always she dreaded the adversity. For when the king, her son, was crowned, in all that great triumph and glory, she wept marvellously; and, likewise, at the great triumph of the marriage of Prince Arthur, and at the last coronation, wherein she had felt great joy, she let not to say, that some adversity would follow; so that either she was in sorrow by reason of the present adversities, or else when she was in prosperity, she was in dread of the adversity for to come." In such a state of mind so essentially parental, there can be no great resistance to the attractions of that Church which removes disquietude, moderates anxiety, and imparts, by anticipation, the rest which will be for ever. The danger, the anxiety were felt by the ancients, who would shrink in terror from repeating the impious boast of Niobe, "Sum felix, quis enim neget hoc? felixque manebo." And an instance is supplied by Virgil, where Æneas describes his parental terror on his flight. We fly "Et me, quem dudum non ulla injecta movebant And it may have been, in part, from the same sentiment that children were invested by the superstition of the ancients generally with a kind of sacred character, of which we see an instance, when Themistocles presents himself at the hearth of Admetus, holding the king's son, a child, in his arms; which was a mode of supplication deemed most sacred. In allusion to these terrors of the brave, Plutarch says, "In order not to fear the blows of fortune, we should have recourse neither to poverty, nor to indifference, nor to celibacy, but to reason." The songster of Sicily suggests an observation more in unison with the true belief, which may convert parental affection into * Epist. cxxi. +Ovid. Met. vi. 193. ii. 725. piety, by a kind of natural process; for he remarks, that “to the children of the pious good things happen.” Εὐσεβέων παίδεσσι τὰ λώϊα, δυσσεβέων δ ̓ οὔ.* From which conviction, the love of his little Iulus trotting by his side, following, non passibus æquis, may serve as a guide to lead the father on the way to the Church; since, where there is a fear of offending God, that way is open. Deeper still, however, is grounded the security Catholicism yields, teaching us to trust in the Almighty Providence which guards all members of his Church, or to look forward to a future union that will be unimbittered by any accidents, and eternal in its duration. How would not this remedy for paternal grief have attracted Camillus when he mourned for his son, being so overwhelmed that he shut himself up in his house, and refused to appear in public, though summoned by the state? How would it have moved Cicero when, writing to his wife and children, he inscribed those bitter words, "I cannot write without tears-vos enim video esse miserrimas, quas ego beatissimas semper esse volui!"+ Most happy, most blessed, the Catholic parent knows might be his children, whatever calamities were overtaking them in the present life, since a joyful and divine issue was awaiting them in the next; where, he is assured by St. Bonaventura, the same order of charity will be perpetuated as on earth: quia cum gloria perficiat naturam, quidquid non est imperfectionis in natura manebit in gloria. Therefore, the father will again find his daughter, and the mother see her son; and even, meanwhile, as a recent poet sings of one who has lost a sweet precious little daughter, Catholicism inspires the thought of a recent poet, when he exclaims "What, if henceforth by Heaven's decree, She leave thee not alone, But in her turn prove guide to thee In ways to angels known." § So is he, who believes the school, drawn on to follow the high path which St. Augustin points to, and to confound his love of God, and of the Church, with his love for his children. "If these things," says the great doctor, "give pleasure to your soul, let them be loved in God, because they are of themselves mutable, and in Him they can be consolidated and fixed; otherwise they would evanesce and perish. In Him, therefore, let them be loved, and take with you to Him as much as * Theocrit. † Ep. xiv. 2. S. Bonav. Compend. Theolog. Veritatis, lib. v. c. 30. § Lyra Inn. you can, and say, "Let us love Him; He made these things, and He is not far absent; for He did not make them and depart, but they are from Him and in Him. Lo, He is where truth is He is in your heart. Return then to your heart, and adhere to Him who made you. Stand with Him, and you will stand; rest in Him, and you will be at rest."* But now leaving parents, we shall find upon this road of the family, that to draw and invite men to the Catholic Church, and to open avenues to it displaying all the sweets and power of its attraction, the filial was quite as effective as the parental bond, which is the point that may now arrest our view. If youth were to consider the source from which it can draw true felicity, what path would be more inviting than that which promises to lead it to the sweet state of being loved by affectionate parents, and of being sure to receive from them the best inheritance-a solid and religious education? This is the path of the Catholic Church, which brings to perfection every natural flower, and adds the far more precious fruit of heavenly clime. The poet of old, indeed, seems satisfied in this respect with what bare nature yields; for he makes Hercules reply: "All men are alike lovers of their children :" πάντα τ ̓ ἀνθρώπων ἴσα. φιλοῦσι παῖδας οἵ τ ̓ ἀμείνονες βροτῶν But words need not be multiplied to show the want of reality in such pretensions, which prove powerless when confronted with the trials of life. The Church alone has the secret of supplying the good that is desired here. The Church not alone accepts and ratifies the judgment of the same poet, that "the wise man should love first his children, then his parents and his country;" but it provides for his being able to evince the preference by rejecting the impious legislation that would make the state usurp his rights; for it inspires him with the right intention and the courageous will, if ever he should be placed in so horrible an extremity, to prefer his duty as a parent to his obligation as a subject; replying to the ministers of power in the noble words of Creon: "Never will I deliver up my son to be a victim to the state :" ὥστε σφαγέντα παῖδα προσθεῖναι πόλει. In Sparta, where weak children were thrown into a gulf of Mount Taygetus as being useless to society, it was not lawful for a father to educate his child; and many leaders of public *S. August. Confess. c. 12. Eurip. Suppl. 506. + Herc. Furens, 633. |