All Saints' Day

Moreover, the Church was moved to this institution for several very important reasons. One of the principal ones was to honor, through this feast, the Saints who do not have their own particular solemnity during the course of the year, either because their holiness or even their names are not known to us, or because, although they are in our martyrologies and their names are recited every year on the days of their triumph, their infinite number prevents us from rendering them a distinct and separate cult. Certainly, it was not just to leave without honor these admirable heroes of Christianity, who faithfully served God during their mortal life and continually employ their prayers in heaven to obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins, and all-powerful graces to arrive at the happiness of which they are already possessors. A common feast was therefore needed that would include them all and that would be like a general homage from the entire Church militant toward the entire Church triumphant.

A second reason for this institution was to reunite all the faithful in the religious cult that is due to these friends of God, for it is certain that, except for a small number whose feast is celebrated with more solemnity, the others are almost only honored by ecclesiastics; the rest of the Christians do not know them at all, or if they know them by name, their domestic affairs do not allow them to render to them, on the days when their memory is kept, the veneration that is due to their merits. It was therefore very just to institute a feast among the first and most solemn of the year where all the faithful, freed from the occupation of their affairs and attending only to divine worship, would all employ themselves with one heart and one voice to honor this army of the blessed whom God Himself takes pleasure in honoring.

A third reason, reported in the Roman *Ordo*, was to provide an opportunity, both for ecclesiastics and for the laity, to make amends, through extraordinary fervor and piety, for the negligence they might have committed in the celebration of particular feasts. Indeed, it is a deplorable thing to see the cowardice and lack of devotion with which most of the feasts of the Saints are celebrated, and even that of the Apostles and the most illustrious among the martyrs. One can say on these days what the prophet Jeremiah said of the time of the captivity of the Jews: *Vae Sion lugent, eo quod non est qui veniat ad solemnitatem*; "the ways of Sion mourn, because no one comes to the solemnity." They are made into days of recreation and debauchery; few Christians gather there to hear the word of God, to approach the sacraments, and to sing the divine offices. One is content to hear a low mass, often without attention and without reverence, and the honor of the Saints is entirely neglected there. The Church does what it can to stop this disorder, by pointing out to its children the need they have to secure these powerful advocates and mediators in heaven; but, as these exhortations do not always have the success and the fruit that it proposes, it has wisely instituted this feast, so that the faithful, exciting themselves to devotion by the sight of such a great solemnity, might in some way make up for the lack of particular feasts.

A fourth motive, which it had in this establishment, was to interest all the Saints at the same time in its defense, in its protection, and to oblige them to join their intercessions to procure for it extraordinary favors. This is what it testifies to itself in the collect of this day, where it asks God for the abundance of His propitiation through the great number of intercessors that it employs before His divine Majesty to bend Him and render Him propitious. Finally, the principal view of this charitable Mother of Christians was that there should be a day in the year destined to propose to them the inestimable happiness of the Saints, the glory to which they have been raised, the riches with which they overflow, and the delights with which they are holily intoxicated, so that, being animated by the greatness of this reward, they might work more courageously at virtue, which is the only means of rendering themselves worthy of it. These reasons must entirely persuade not only of the justice, but also of the necessity of this establishment.

To speak now of the excellence of these blessed creatures who compose the heavenly Jerusalem, we note that there are mainly three things that elevate a person and make them commendable: their birth, their virtues, and their employments; their birth, if it is illustrious; their virtues, if they are eminent; their employments, if they are brilliant and glorious. Now, these three things are found with a marvelous advantage in these inhabitants of paradise. Their birth is illustrious, since they are all born of God, they all bear the august quality of his children and subsequently that of brothers of Jesus Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit. You must observe that they bear this quality in a much more noble manner than we do on earth; for the grace that makes them children of God is a dominant grace that fills all their faculties without leaving in them any of the weaknesses of human generation; an invariable grace that they can never lose and that will never be taken from them; a consummate grace that makes them actually heirs of their Father and puts them in possession of his kingdom. Their virtues are supereminent, since, except for those that suppose some defect and are therefore incompatible with the happiness and holiness of their state, they possess them all in a very heroic degree; we mean those that concern themselves and those that relate to other creatures. And who could represent the fullness of their wisdom, the ardor of their love, the extent of their gratitude, the fervor of their zeal, the depth of their humility, the excellence of their purity, the calm and peace of their heart, the perfection of their justice, the greatness of their mercy, and the spirit of union and concord that reigns among them? As for their employments, there is nothing so brilliant and so glorious. Saint Augustine reduces them to three, which are undoubtedly the princip al ones: to se Saint Augustin Cited for his definition of fraternal charity. e God, to love God, to praise God; to see God intuitively and as he is himself; to love God fully and with all the strength and all the powers of the soul; to praise God indefatigably and in the manner in which he is worthy of being praised. This is what the Saints do in heaven and what they will do in eternity. This is their employment and their function, which is also the occupation of God before all ages and throughout the duration of his being.

Moreover, what language could express the charms and sweetness of their beatitude? The King-Prophet speaks of it only with astonishment: *Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuæ, Domine, quem abscondisti timentibus te!* "O Lord, O my God, how abundant and excessive are the delights that you have reserved for those who fear you!" Saint Paul, after the prophet Isaiah, assures us that these goods are so eminent that the eye has never seen anything, the ear has never heard anything, and the heart of man has never conceived anything comparable to them. And Saint Augustine says in the same sense that this splendor, this beauty, and this brilliance that are prepared for us, and which the Saints already enjoy, are above all the discourses and all the thoughts of men. From which it must be inferred that they surpass all the glory of Solomon, all the magnificence of the Caesars, all the riches of kings, all the pomp of triumphs, all the pleasures of the senses, and all the rarities of this universe. Saint Catherine of Siena, having seen a glimpse and a sample of it in one of her transports, could not help, when she had returned to herself, from exclaiming: "I have seen wonders, I have seen wonders."

And as her confessor urged her to explain what she had seen, she answered him much like what we read in the same Saint Augustine, in the treatise *De Trinitate* on Saint John: *Desiderari potest, concupisci potest, suspirari in illud potest; digne cogitari et verbis explicari non potest*: "One can love this beatitude, one can desire it with ardor, one can sigh after it; but it is impossible to form thoughts or make discourses about it that correspond to its excellence." Saint Teresa, having also discovered some rays of it in a rapture, wrote the following in the book of her life: "The things I saw were so great and so admirable that the least would suffice to transport a soul and imprint upon it an extreme contempt for everything that is seen here below. There is no imagination or mind that can figure them. Their sight caused me such exquisite pleasure and perfumed my senses with such a suave contentment that I have no words to represent them. And Our Lord, showing me this, said to me: *Look, my daughter, at what those who offend me lose, and do not fail to warn them of it*. There remained from this such a disgust for the goods and satisfactions of this world that everything appeared to me as nothing but smoke, falsehood, and vanity." If a single ray, a weak and imperfect image of the beatitude that God showed in passing to these holy souls led them to speak in this way, what is, I pray you, this happiness in itself, and what glory do the Saints possess, no longer in the darkness of this fragile life, but in the splendors of a life that will never end!

The Angelic Doctor makes no difficulty in calling it in some way infinite, just as the hypostatic union and the dignity of Mother of God, because although the beatific vision and love are finite and limite d acts, they neverth Le docteur angélique Saint cited as an example of resistance to temptation. eless immediately unite the soul to an infinite good and make it enter into the participation of his happiness and his joy, which are infinite. Saint Augustine, whom we have already cited, was in such admiration of it that he left us this sentiment, so noble and so pious, in the book *De libero arbitrio* on Free Will, that even if one were to enjoy it for only one hour, one should purchase that hour by the deprivation of the riches and delights of a million years. And we ourselves will easily enter into the thought of these divine men if we consider, on one hand, the greatness of the power, the goodness, and the magnificence of God; on the other, the extent of the merits of Jesus Christ; and finally, what the predestined have done and suffered to arrive at this reward. But, as these three points would lead us too far, we leave them to the meditation of the readers to mark in more detail in what this beatitude consists.

The scholar Boethius, and after him Saint Thomas and all of theology, define it: Status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus: "A state perfected by the gathering of all goods, which contains every good of which an intelligent being is capable, and which, in this sacred concert, has no defect or imperfection." This leads us to distinguish three things: the first is the exemption from all kinds of evils; the second is the possession and enjoyment of the fullness of all goods; the third is the consistency and immutability of both.

Regarding the first, we shall value it all the more as we feel more keenly the weight of the miseries by which we are surrounded. We have a beautiful description of this in chapter xxiv of the book of Meditationes, attributed to Saint Augustine: "H saint Augustin Cited for his definition of fraternal charity. ow weary I am," he says, "O Lord, of this life and this pilgrimage! This life is a miserable life, a perishable life, an uncertain life, a laborious life, a life full of sins, a life that should rather be called death than life, since there is not a single moment of it in which we are not dying by a continual inclination toward death. And how could we call a state life where humors suffocate us, infirmities consume us, internal fire dries us out, the air infects us, food corrupts us, fasts weaken us, amusements slacken us, retreat afflicts us, business worries us, idleness dulls us, riches swell us, poverty consterns us, youth elevates us, and old age strikes us down." We are subject in this life to hunger and thirst, to heat and cold, to pain and sickness; a thousand annoying accidents, a thousand sorrows and worries, a thousand setbacks and persecutions perpetually disturb our rest; we are hardly a moment without some suffering: death finally is inevitable, and what good people find infinitely more terrible than death, temptations press upon us and drag us into sin, and sin, if it is not wiped away by our tears, precipitates us into a second death, which is eternal death. This is what has led so many Saints to lament the day of their birth and has made them sigh for the end of this exile, where they saw only traps, snares, and shipwrecks.

But none of these evils is found in the dwelling of the blessed. They no longer have hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness. They are no longer exposed to the insults and malice of the air. Never will their body, after the resurrection, feel pain or sickness; never will their soul have the slightest touch of sorrow or sadness. There is no one in their dwelling who wants or can harm them; demons are banished from it, the impious have no access to it; they hear only praises, applause, and blessings; death can in no way approach it; they do not fear it, because they have perfectly conquered it and have become immortal. Finally, what constitutes their greatest joy is that they have their will so strongly and so inviolably attached to that of God, that they are incapable of separating themselves from it and committing any fault. O inestimable happiness! O marvelous felicity! Rejoice, poor and beggars, for if you serve God faithfully, your poverty will be changed into an infinite abundance. Rejoice, captives and prisoners, for if you observe exactly the law of your sovereign Master, your captivity will be changed into a perfect freedom. Rejoice, sick, afflicted, persecuted, for finally these evils will pass and you are promised a life exempt from all misery. Rejoice, you who are in contempt and opprobrium, you who are here below the offscouring of the world, for there will come a time, or rather an eternal moment, when you will be filled with honor. Rejoice, finally, you who weep and groan, for all your tears will be wiped away, and you will weep no more, because you will have no further cause to weep.

If the beatitude of the Saints is an exemption and a liberation from all kinds of evils, it is also a blessed concert of all imaginable goods. We ordinarily distinguish three kinds of goods: external goods, goods of the body, and goods of the soul; external goods, such as esteem, honor, riches, charming company, pleasant dwellings, precious clothing and furnishings; goods of the body, such as health, gracefulness, the vivacity of the organs, and the satisfactions of the senses; goods of the soul, such as knowledge, virtues, holiness, and the possession of the sovereign good. Now, none of these goods is lacking in beatitude; for to begin with the goods of the soul, we have already said that the Saints possess grace and all the virtues in a supereminent degree, and that they are invariably established in this possession. They also possess all knowledge, and he who knew nothing on earth, upon entering heaven, becomes infinitely more learned than Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and than Ambrose, Augustine, and Chrysostom were here below; but what constitutes the perfection and consummation of beatitude is that they see God in Himself, He who is the first and sovereign truth, and who encompasses all truth. They see Him, not obscurely and through images, representations, and figures, as one may see Him on earth in very high contemplation; but intuitively and as He is, and as He Himself sees and knows them: admirable expressions which are all drawn from Saint Paul and Saint John. When we see a person, we see only their face, and of their face itself we see only the surface and the exterior; but we do not see the interior perfection of their eyes, their brain, their nerves, their muscles, their arteries, and their veins, nor the marvelous economy of all these parts so industriously adjusted for their offices and movements. Furthermore, we do not see their soul, their understanding, their memory, their will, their knowledge, their virtues, nor their skills, which are the most beautiful ornaments within them.

But the Saints, in seeing God, penetrate into the entire depth of His being, so that there is nothing of Him that is hidden from them. They see His divine essence and all His perfections, both absolute and relative; they see the infinity of His nature, the immensity of His greatness, the eternity of His duration, the weight of His majesty, the firmness of His throne, the amplitude of His power, the lights of His wisdom, the secrets of His judgments, the sweetness of His goodness, the tenderness of His mercy, the severity of His justice, the charms of His beauty, and the immortal splendor of His glory. They see the ineffable mystery of the Trinity of His persons in the unity of His substance; the unbegottenness of the Father, the generation of the Son, and the procession of the Holy Spirit. They see how, by the inclination of His goodness, He resolved to communicate Himself outwardly by producing creatures and imprinting upon them the characters of His excellences: how He invented and traced them by His wisdom with such marvelous order and symmetry; and how, by the strength of His all-powerful arm, He drew them from the abyss of nothingness to bring them to light and make them work for His greater glory.

Furthermore, they see in Him all the other mysteries of the faith, such as that of the Incarnation, with the entire sequence of the poor and humiliated life of the God-Man; that of the Eucharist, and the admirable state of the body of Jesus Christ in this sacrament; that of the Passion, and the entirely wise and holy reasons that God had for choosing this means for our redemption; that of the Resurrection, and the inestimable glory with which Our Lord was filled in that blessed moment. Finally, everything that belongs to the general economy of the redemption and salvation of the human race.

They see, we say, all these mysteries without obscurity and without any doubt, but with all the assurance and clarity with which a thing can be known; and they see them, not through multiplied and redoubled knowledge, but by a single, very pure and very simple act, which, by penetrating the divine essence, reads therein distinctly these designs and works of His adorable Providence. There would be great secrets to discover regarding this vision and the light of glory which is its principle; but, leaving to the theologians the care of explaining them, we content ourselves with adding that it does not occur like our other knowledge through species impressas or expressas, which are spiritual images of objects, but through the intimate and immediate union of the divine essence with the understanding of the blessed. Indeed, only God can represent Himself as He is in Himself, and any created image, being entirely removed from His perfection, could not represent Him in all the fullness of His being; therefore, since by this vision the Blessed know and see Him as He is and such as He is, it is impossible that they see Him through created species and images, and it must necessarily be admitted that they see Him through the intelligible union of His own substance with their understanding. This is what makes them perfectly like Him, according to this word of Saint John: *Similes ei erimus quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est;* "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is"; for, by means of this mystery, they not only have a participation in the divinity, but they are intelligibly clothed with the divinity itself, and, without ceasing to be what they are, they happily become the One whom they see; and having all but one same form, they are made intelligibly one single God.

We have not spoken of the knowledge they have of all natural things: of the architecture and the just proportions of the universe, of the properties and industries of each of its species, and of those beautiful secrets that occupy the mind and wear out the intelligence of our scholars. They see all this openly; but, as Saint Augustine says, what makes them blessed is not seeing the creatures, but seeing that immense, infinite, eternal, and immortal Being who created them and who contains an infinity of others in the treasures of His power. But who could express the joy and contentment they receive from this vision? If we have so much pleasure in seeing those magnificent palaces and those precious cabinets that kings have made to charm their boredom, and if the discovery of a truth of nature that a philosopher has sought with much study causes him so much satisfaction, what pleasure and what delight will it be to see face to face this inestimable Beauty, this sovereign Truth, this infinitely perfect Being, who is Himself all truth: what do I say, to see Him? but, in seeing Him, to possess Him, to be united to Him, and to remain inseparably attached to Him.

From this knowledge, there is born in the soul of the Blessed an excellent love, which completes their holy transformation in God. The knowledge that we have of God on earth does not always produce His love, because it is imperfect and does not penetrate into the essence of His goodness; but that of the Blessed necessarily embraces their essence, and it kindles therein a fire of delight that will never be extinguished; because it makes them see openly the One who has nothing but what is good and sovereignly lovable. It is not a free love, but a necessary one. It is not a changing love, nor one that can suffer alteration, but a constant love that will never cease; it is not a restless or impetuous love, but a tranquil love, which carries with it the consummation of peace. And what are the delights, what is the sweetness of this love? It is the taste of the most charming and the most agreeable of all objects; it is the enjoyment of sweetness itself and of the infinite principle of all sweetness; it is the eternal and immutable embrace of the sovereign Good; it is rest in the final end; in a word, it is what the Gospel calls entering into the joy of the Lord, because in effect all the joy of God comes from the knowledge and the love He has of His goodness and His adorable perfections.

This is something of the goods of the soul that compose, from now on, the beatitude of the Saints. As for the goods of the body, they will only have them after their resurrection; but how admirably they will be rewarded for this slight delay! They will have a tranquil and imperturbable life, and a beauty above all beauties. All their senses and all their organs will be perfect and will enjoy all the delights of which these bodily faculties are capable. Their sight will be gladdened by the gaze of the holy humanity of the Son of God, of the glory of the Blessed Virgin, of that of all the Saints, and of a thousand other charming objects found in paradise. Their hearing will be recreated by a melody and a concert that is always new, formed by this army of the Blessed, which will resound eternally in heaven. Their sense of smell will be embalmed with the scent of the resurrected bodies, more exquisite and more ravishing than all perfumes. Their taste will feel all kinds of flavors through a delicious impression that will be eternally attached to their palate. Their touch, without handling anything, will receive in all their members an unspeakable voluptuousness through a sweet temperament of the primary qualities that will be pleasantly spread therein. Moreover, the bodies of the Blessed will be clothed with four excellent dowries that will make them masterpieces of the power and wisdom of God: clarity, which will make them more luminous and more radiant than the sun; agility, by means of which, being unburdened of their natural heaviness, and lighter than birds and arrows, they will transport themselves, in the blink of an eye, from heaven to earth, and from one end of the world to the other; subtlety, which, without taking away their condition of corporeal and material substance, nor the solidity that is proper to them, will so free them from the earthly and coarse affections of matter that they will be as if spiritual; finally, incorruptibility and immortality, which will protect them from all the alterations to which sublunary bodies are subject. Furthermore, all this bodily glory will be born from that of the soul, just as that of the soul is born from the intimate union it has with God; and thus this word of the apostle Saint Paul will be verified: *Erit Deus omnia in omnibus*: "God will be all things in all." We leave it to the reader to meditate more deeply on the happiness of this state, and the felicity of a Saint who has a soul and a body filled and flooded with so many goods. We must still say something about the external goods.

What is, first of all, the beauty of the place where they will spend their blessed eternity? Certainly, the most magnificent palaces and the most superb chambers of the princes of this world are only like holes in the earth or swallows' nests in comparison to this house that God has prepared for them. Saint John gives us a description of it in the Apocalypse and tells us that its walls are of jasper, that its twelve gates are as many fine pearls, that it is founded on twelve precious stones, and that its streets are paved with fine gold, as shining as crystal. This is only a sketch of its magnificence and a weak representation of what it actually is; but we must infer from this that all the beauties and riches of this world put together are infinitely below the charms of such a ravishing abode. Its grandeur surpasses the extent of all the rest of the universe; its clarity eclipses that of the sun and all the stars; its matter is entirely celestial and is much nobler than that of mixtures and elements; its structure is a masterpiece of the hand of God, where symmetry and all proportions are admirably kept.

What is also the sweetness of the company with which the Blessed will live eternally? It is composed only of friends, of the just, of saints, of children of God, of victors and conquerors. It is a sacred republic from which all the wicked are banished, and where only good people and persons confirmed in grace are seen. Do you want to know who are the members of this republic, the citizens of this city, the inhabitants of this house? They are the angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominations, thrones, cherubim, seraphim, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, holy widows, penitents, and children who died in the grace of baptism; all without sin, without stain, and without any defilement; all adorned with the highest virtues and incomparable holiness; all more shining than the sun, more beautiful than the moon, and more charming than anything that can strike our senses; all united by the indissoluble bond of perfect charity. What a pleasure to be always with persons of such great merit, to speak to them, to enjoy their conversation, and to receive from them at every moment testimonies of friendship and cordiality! What satisfaction to see the Queen of Angels, to approach her throne, to hear her words full of sweetness, to have the freedom to converse with her, and to be continually honored by her gaze! What delights to contemplate Jesus Christ in his glory, to have access before his majesty, and to be seen favorably by him! In truth, even if one had to endure all the tortures of the Martyrs and all the pains of purgatory for this, we should believe that we would be given such great happiness for nothing.

We will not speak of the other external goods that also enter into the composition of this beatitude. The King-Prophet, reflecting on the honors with which they are filled, says that they are without measure, and even seems to find excess in them: *Nimis honorati sunt amici tui, Deus*; "Lord my God, your friends are too honored." It is enough to say that they are kings, that they all reign with God, and that they are heirs of his crown and his goods, to be convinced that their riches are immense and infinite. Heaven and earth are theirs, and, after the judgment, all this lower world will be covered with splendors only to increase the price of their inheritance. They have no other clothing now than the light of glory, which is a participation in that with which God himself is clothed, according to the words of the same David: *Amicti lumine sicut vestimenta*. But when they have bodies, they will also have sensible clothing. And what clothing, I pray you? Everything that art and nature can form of agreeable on earth with gold, silk, purple, the finest pearls, and the most precious stones is nothing in comparison to these garments. They will be garments of glory, where the diversity and the admirable relationship of colors, joined to the radiance that will come from their bodies, will make the sweetest and most charming object that can strike the sight.

It is true that not all Saints are equally happy and that, just as one star differs from another star in magnitude, brightness, and beauty, so there are more glorious Saints and less glorious Saints; but, in this infinite diversity which makes the pleasant concert of the heavenly Jerusalem, they all enjoy more or less this felicity that we have just described. Each has everything he desires, and none has what can cause him pain. They all have this general and perfect exemption from all kinds of evils, and they all possess the fullness of all goods. They all see God face to face; they all love Him with a beatific love; they are all immersed in the joys and delights of the divinity. Finally, as heaven belongs to all, so they all share in the inestimable riches with which it is filled.

It remains for us to say what, nevertheless, we have already repeated several times: that this beatitude will never have an end; it will last as long as the power of God, as long as the wisdom of God, as long as the goodness of God, as long as the being of God, that is to say, eternally. Centuries and millions of centuries will pass, but as for it, it will not pass. What is admirable is that it is and will always be new, without ever causing any disgust or any boredom. Can one have faith and be persuaded of these great truths, and not make extraordinary efforts to arrive at such happiness? What do we not do to obtain a position, to amass a little wealth, to preserve a moment of health and life, and to maintain ourselves in honor? And yet, all these advantages are nothing in comparison to this eternity of seeing and possessing God. Let us not spare our efforts, then, to make ourselves worthy of it. Let us faithfully observe the commandments of our sovereign Master; let us suffer with patience and joy the pains and afflictions of this life; let us flee sin more than hell itself, and let nothing be capable of ever tearing from our will a single consent contrary to our duty. If we are so unfortunate as to fall into crime, let us not remain there for a single hour; let us emerge from it as soon as possible through contrition of heart and the movements of a sincere penance. Let us earn such a precious reward through our good works. Let us not believe that God asks too much of us when He asks us to keep His whole law exactly; let us persuade ourselves, on the contrary, that what He asks of us is infinitely below what He promises us. Finally, let us not lose such a great good, which, once lost, can never be recovered.

We have in the example of the Saints the sure paths to reach this blessed end where they have arrived; one can see them throughout the course of this work. Some have won a crown of lilies through virginity, others a crown of roses through martyrdom. Some have bought heaven through the abundance of their alms, others have won it through the labors of a painful life applied to the conversion and sanctification of souls. Some have entered it through the merit of their innocence, others have reconquered it through the rigors of a severe penance. Some have had it only as the inheritance of their father, others have had it as the reward of their master. But none of the persons endowed with reason has arrived there except through humility, gentleness, patience, chastity, sobriety, the love of God, and charity toward one's neighbor. The eight beatitudes that the Church proposes to us today in the Gospel of the Mass mark out for us admirably well the paths they have followed. The kingdom o f heaven is the huit béatitudes Teachings from the Gospel outlining the path to holiness. irs, because they were poor in spirit. They have entered into the possession of the land of the living, because they were meek. They have obtained true consolation, because they spent their lives in tears. They have been satisfied, because they hungered and thirsted for justice. Mercy has been shown to them, because they themselves were merciful toward others. They have the happiness of seeing God, because they maintained themselves in purity of heart. They are called the children of the Most High and they participate in His inheritance, because they were peacemakers. Finally, the empire of heaven belongs to them, because they suffered persecution for justice. Let us go and do the same, and the same reward will infallibly be given to us.

So as not to lose such a great treasure, let us today have recourse to these admirable citizens of paradise. They are powerful, they are good, they know our weakness, they know themselves, by their own experience, the difficulties that must be overcome to walk in their footsteps; they do not fail to listen to our prayers and to carry them before the throne of the majesty of God. And how could all this army of Saints, all these choirs of angels and blessed men, not be heard? They will be, without a doubt, and Our Lord will not be able to reject their inquiry. But let us not be content to pray to them once or twice; let us be holily importunate with them, let us press them and do them violence, so that we may one day be associated with their number and that we may have a share in this praise that we dedicate today to their immortal glory.

Theologians treat the subject of the glory of the Saints in the first part, concerning the invisibility and incomprehensibility of the Good; in the second, by speaking of the end and beatitude, and in the third, by speaking of the four last things. We have sermons on this in Saint Bernard, and excellent discourses in the spiritual works of Louis of Granada, to which the reader may have recourse.

We have preserved the discourse of Father Giry.