Let us quote here, says Collin de Plancy, a good English religious whose journey has been related by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, and by Denis the Carthusian. This traveller speaks in the first person:
"I had St. Nicholas for a guide," he says; "he led me by a level road to a vast horrible s.p.a.ce, peopled with the dead, who were tormented in a thousand frightful ways. I was told that these people were not d.a.m.ned, that their torment would in time come to an end, and that it was Purgatory I saw. I did not expect to find it so severe. All these unfortunates wept hot tears and groaned aloud. Since I have seen all these things I know well that if I had any relative in Purgatory, I would suffer a thousand deaths to take him out of it.
"A little farther on, I perceived a valley, through which flowed a fearful river of fire, which rose in waves to an enormous height. On the banks of that river it was so icy cold that no one can have any idea of it. St. Nicholas conducted me thither, and made me observe the sufferers who were there, telling me that this again was Purgatory."
"DREAM OF GERONTIUS."
CARDINAL NEWMAN.
ANGEL. Thy judgment now is near, for we are come Into the veiled presence of our G.o.d.
SOUL. I hear the voices that I left on earth.
ANGEL. It is the voice of friends around thy bed, Who say the "Subvenite" with the priest.
Hither the echoes come; before the Throne Stands the great Angel of the Agony, The same who strengthened Him, what time He knelt Lone in that garden shade, bedewed with blood.
That Angel best can plead with Him for all Tormented souls, the dying and the dead.
ANGEL OF THE AGONY. Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee; Jesu! by that cold dismay which sicken"d Thee; Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrill"d in Thee; Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee; Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee; Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee; Jesu! by that sanct.i.ty which reign"d in Thee; Jesu! by that G.o.dhead which was one with Thee; Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee; Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee; Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee, To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.
SOUL. I go before my Judge. Ah! ...
ANGEL. ... Praise to His Name! The eager spirit has darted from my hold, And, with the intemperate energy of love, Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel; But, ere it reach them, the keen sanct.i.ty, Which, with its effluence, like a glory, clothes And circles round the Crucified, has seized, And scorch"d, and shrivell"d it; and now it lies Pa.s.sive and still before the awful Throne.
O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe, Consumed, yet quicken"d, by the glance of G.o.d.
SOUL. Take me away, and in the lowest deep There let me be, And there in hope the lone night-watches keep, Told out for me.
There, motionless and happy in my pain, Lone, not forlorn,--There will I sing my sad, perpetual strain, Until the morn.
There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast, Which ne"er can cease To throb, and pine, and languish, till possess"d Of its Sole Peace.
There will I sing my absent Lord and Love:--Take me away, That sooner I may rise, and go above, And see Him in the truth--of everlasting day.
ANGEL. Now let the golden prison ope its gates, Making sweet music, as each fold revolves Upon its ready hinge.
And ye, great powers, Angels of Purgatory, receive from me My charge, a precious soul, until the day, When from all bond and forfeiture released, I shall reclaim it for the courts of light.
SOULS IN PURGATORY
1. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge: in every generation;
2. Before the hills were born, and the world was: from age to age, Thou art G.o.d.
3. Bring us not, Lord, very low: for Thou hast said, Come back again, ye sons of Adam!
4. A thousand years before Thine eyes are but as yesterday: and as a watch of the night which is come and gone.
5. The gra.s.s springs up in the morning: at evening-tide it shrivels up and dies.
6. So we fall in Thine anger: and in Thy wrath are we troubled.
7. Thou hast set our sins in Thy sight: and our round of days in the light of Thy countenance.
8. Come back, O Lord! how long: and be entreated for Thy servants.
9. In Thy morning we shall be filled with Thy mercy: we shall rejoice and be in pleasure all our days.
10. We shall be glad according to the days of our humiliation: and the years in which we have seen evil.
11. Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and upon Thy work: and direct their children.
12. And let the beauty of the "Lord our G.o.d be upon us: and the work of our hands, establish Thou it.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
ANGEL. Softly and gently, dearly-ransom"d soul, In my most loving arms I now enfold thee, And, o"er the penal waters, as they roll, I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.
And carefully I dip thee in the lake, And thou, without a sob, or a resistance, Dost through the flood thy rapid pa.s.sage take, Sinking deep, deeper, into the dim distance.
Angels, to whom the willing task is given, Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou liest; And Ma.s.ses on the earth, and prayers in heaven, Shall aid thee at the throne of the Most High.
Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear, Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; Swiftly shall pa.s.s thy night of trial here, And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.
ST. GREGORY RELEASES THE SOUL OF THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
MRS. JAMESON.
In a little picture in the Bologna Academy he is seen praying before a tomb, on which is inscribed "TRAJANO IMPERADOR;" beneath are two angels, raising the soul of Trafan out of flames. Such is the usual treatment of this curious and poetical legend, which is thus related in the "Legenda Aurea": "It happened on a time, as Trajan was hastening to battle at the head of his legions, that a poor widow flung herself in his path, and cried aloud for justice, and the emperor stayed to listen to her; and she demanded vengeance for the innocent blood of her son, killed by the son of the emperor. Trajan promised to do her justice when he returned from his expedition. "But, sire", answered the widow, "should you be killed in battle, who will then do me justice?" "My successor," replied Trajan. And she said, "What will it signify to you, great emperor, that any other than yourself should do me justice? Is it not better that you should do this good action yourself than leave another to do it?" And Trajan alighted, and having examined into the affair, he gave up his own son to her in place of him she had lost, and bestowed on her likewise a rich dowry. Now, it came to pa.s.s that as Gregory was one day meditating in his daily walk, this action of the Emperor Trajan came into his mind, and he wept bitterly to think that a man so just should be condemned to eternal punishment. And entering a church, he prayed most fervently that the soul of the good emperor might be released from torment. And a voice said to him, "I have granted thy prayer, and I have spared the soul of Trajan for thy sake; but because thou hast supplicated for one whom the justice of G.o.d had already condemned, thou shalt choose one of two things: either thou shalt endure for two days the fires of Purgatory, or thou shalt be sick and infirm for the remainder of thy life." Gregory chose the latter, which sufficiently accounts for the grievous pains and infirmities to which this great and good man was subjected, even to the day of his death."
This story of Trajan was extremely popular in the Middle Ages; it is ill.u.s.trative of the character of Gregory.... Dante twice alludes to it.
He describes it as being one of the subjects sculptured on the walls of Purgatory, and takes occasion to relate the whole story.
"There was storied on the rock Th"exalted glory of the Roman Prince, Whose mighty worth moved Gregory to earn This mighty conquest--Trajan the Emperor. A widow at his bridle stood attired In tears and mourning.
Round about them troop"d Full throng of knights: and overhead in gold The eagles floated, struggling with the wind The wretch appear"d amid all these to say: "Grant vengeance, sire! for woe, beshrew this heart, My son is murder"d!" He, replying, seem"d: "Wait now till I return."
And she, as one Made hasty by her grief: "O, sire, if thou Dost not return?"--"Where I am, who then is, May right thee."--"What to thee is others" good, If thou neglect thine own?"--"Now comfort thee," At length he answers: "It beseemeth well My duty be perform"d, ere I move hence. So justice wills and pity bids me stay.""--_Purg. Canto X_.
It was through the efficacy of St. Gregory"s intercession that Dante afterwards finds Trajan in Paradise, seated between King David and King Hezekiah.--_Purg. Canto XX_.
ST. GREGORY AND THE MONK
There was a monk who, in defiance of his vow of poverty, secreted in his cell three pieces of gold. Gregory, on learning this, excommunicated him, and shortly afterwards the monk died. When Gregory heard that the monk had perished in his sin, without receiving absolution, he was filled with grief and horror, and he wrote upon a parchment a prayer and a form of absolution, and gave it to one of his deacons, desiring him to go to the grave of the deceased and read it there: on the following night the monk appeared in a vision, and revealed to him his release from torment.
This story is represented in the beautiful bas-relief in white marble in front of the altar of his chapel; it is the last compartment on the right.
In chapels dedicated to the Service of the Dead, St. Gregory is often represented in the att.i.tude of supplication, while on one side, or in the background, angels are raising the tormented souls out of the flames.--_Sacred and Legendary Art, Vol. I._
THE LEGEND OF GEOFFROID D"IDEN.