sepulchre, and in it deposited her remains. They paid her public, honours, and celebrated the anniversary day of her martyrdom with great solemnity (she suffered about the year 307). The painter expressed the whole history of her martyrdom, in the most lively colours, on canvas; and the picture was exhibited to public view, near her tomb. You there saw the judge, on an elevated seat, casting a ferocious look on the Virgin, and a number of guards and soldiers surrounding her. There was the Virgin dressed in her black garment, but shewing a joyful countenance. Her look was a mixture of modesty and firmness; she stood undaunted. I admired the expression of her soul, more than the exquisite colours of the picture. The executioners are seen coming to their work of cruelty; whilst one soldier pulls her head back, another, with a mallet, bruises her mouth; so that her tender face, her hair and her clothes, were covered with blood. You would say you saw the blood actually flowing from her lips, and would be moved to tears, at the sight of the picture. You then saw, in another part, the chaste Virgin alone, seated, raising both her hands to heaven, and invoking her God, her Helper in her combat. Whilst she is in prayer, that sign, which Christians are accustomed to adore and to represent in colours, (signum illud, quod Christiani adorare, ac appingere solemne habent), appears over her head; the symbol, I think, of her ardent desire of suffering. You then see fire set to the pile, which soon › rises to a scorching blaze. You see the Virgin placed in the midst of the flame; her hands are raised towards heaven, the cheerfulness of her countenance bespeaks the exultation of her soul, going to the joys of eternal life."-St. Asterius in St. Euphemiam Martyrem, page 207, in Auctario, Bib. Pat. a Patre Combefis; fol. Paris, an. 1648.

St. Nilus, who died in 468, gives the following instructions corcerning the figures and representations that should be exhibited in a Christian Church. ، In the chancel of the most sacred temple, towards the East, let there be one, and only one cross. For by one saving cross, all mankind was delivered from slavery; and from one cross, hope beamed on sinners in every nation of the earth. Let the sacred temple be filled with pictures, well executed by the most celebrated artists, representing the most remarkable events of the Old and New Testament; that the unlettered, and those who are inca pable of reading the divine Scriptures, may, by the sight of the picture, be instructed in the virtuous deeds of those, who have served the true God, according to his own will and command; and may be excited to imitate the glorious and meritorious lives of those, who have sacrificed earth to heaven, and the enjoyment of visible and

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perishable things, to the spiritual and pure delights of an eternal kingdom."-St. Nilus, lib. 4, Epist. 61, ad Olympiadorum Eparchum.

NOTE [H], page 99.

ON THE ANCIENT CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM.

Exsufflations and Exorcisms.-St. Augustin, who died in the year 430, writes: "As you know, children are exsufflated, and exorcised; in order that the hostile power of the devil may be expelled from them; that power, which deceived man, that it might get possession of men." Serm. 1, de Symb. Catech. c. i, p. 2.

St. Optatus (about the year 384) says, "though the infant be born of Christian parents, he is in the power of the unclean spirit, who must be expelled before the sacred laver of baptism. This is done by the Exorcism, by which the unclean spirit is dislodged, and is driven to desert places the empty house, in the breast of the believer, becomes a clean house: God enters and dwells there, according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 3, 16). You are the temple of God, and God dwells in you. St. Optatus, lib. 4, adv. Parm. paulo post med.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (year 387), in his 9th Procatechesis, attributes great virtue to the exorcisms, for purifying the soul. He says, "that the invocation of the Holy Ghost gives a virtue to the water, and power to sanctify."

Pope Celestin, who died an. 432, in his Epistle to the Bishops of Gaul, tom. 10, among the works of St. Augustin, in Appendice, cap. 12, writes thus: "Let us attentively consider what is uniformly done, all over the world, by the Holy Church, in regard to those who are to be baptized. Whether those, who come to receive the sacrament of regeneration, be infants or adults, they are not brought to the font of life, before the unclean spirit is driven from them, by exorcisms and exsufflations; that then it may truly appear, how (John, xii, 31) the prince of this world is cast out."

St. Augustin:-" He is a real Pelagian, who does not believe original sin. Long before the pestilential doctrine of the Manichæans was broached, the church of God had observed the practice of exorcising and exsufflating infants before their baptism. That by these mysterious ceremonies it might be shewn, that they are not to be transferred to the kingdom of Christ, till after they have been freed from the power of darkness." Lib. 2, de Nupt. et concup. c. 29, n. 50.

"

Sign of the Cross and Salt. St. Augustin, speaking of his own baptism, says, "I was then signed with the sign of the cross, and

seasoned with his salt, soon after my birth." Confess, lib. 1, cap. 2, n. 17.

St. Isidore of Seville (about the year 636), writes, "they are first exorcised, then they receive the salt, and are anointed..... Since infants cannot make the renunciation of Satan by themselves, it is performed by the hearts and mouths of their sponsors. The ceremony of giving salt to the Catechumens was instituted by our forefathers, that by the taste of the salt, they may be understood to be seasoned with heavenly wisdom," &c. Lib. 2, Offic. Eccles. c. 20.

The touching of the ears and nostrils. St. Ambrose (before the year 397) says, "what did we perform on Saturday? The opening.. when the priest touched your ears and nostrils," &c. Lib. 1, de Sacram., c. i, n. 2, and n. 3.

The profession of faith. St. Augustin thus speaks to the Catechumens, whom he was preparing for baptism: "receive, my children, the rule of faith, which is called the symbol. When you have received it, write it in your hearts, and repeat it daily. No one commits the symbol to writing: but all learn it by heart.".... Sum. 1, de Symb. ad Catech. cap. i.

St. Basil (before the year 379), lib. de Spir. Sancto: "They professed that they believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, when renouncing the devil and his angels, they pronounced this language of salvation." Cap. 11.-" We consecrate the water of baptism, and the oil of unction, then him, who is baptised. What Scripture is there to prove this? Have we any other proof than that which is derived from tradition secretly transmitted to us? What part of Scripture teaches us this unction of oil?" &c. Cap. 27.

The Renunciation of Satan. Tertullian mentions this solemn rite, as practised in his time: "a little before we enter the water, being in the church, under the hand of the bishop, we protest that we renounce the devil, his pomps, and his angels." Tert. lib. de Corona mil. cap. 3.

St. Chrysostom, in his 21st Homily to the people of Antioch, strongly urges the observance of this baptismal renunciation of Satan. "Be mindful," said he, "of the answer you gave, when you were initiated in the sacred mysteries. I renounce thee, Satan, and thy pomps, and thy service.' That madness for ornaments of dress and jewels, is a pomp of Satan. The gold you possess was not given you to form chains for your body, but to afford you means of releasing and feeding the poor. Say, therefore, continually, I renounce thee, Satan.' Nothing will give you greater security than this protestation, if you verify it by your actions. I intreat you, you who are preparing for baptism, to enter into the full meaning and force

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Pope Innocent I. (before the year 417), in his Epistle to Decentius, cap. 3, tom. 2, Concil, Lab., writes thus, concerning this unction. "It is lawful for Priests, whether they administer baptism in the absence or in the presence of the Bishop, to anoint the person baptised with chrism, which shall have been consecrated by the Bishop. But they must not sign him on the forehead with the holy

oil: this is to be performed only by Bishops, when they give the Holy Ghost.

St. Ambrose, Lib. de Myster. cap. 6, n. 29, admonishes the person who has been baptised, of the unction he immediately received. "After this, you went up to the Priest. Consider what followed. Was it not that of which David spoke, when he said (Ps. 132, v. 2), Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. This is the ointment of which Solomon said (Cant. i, v. 2), Thy name is as oil poured out,” n. 30. "Understand, why this was done. This unction flows upon you, that (1st Pet. ii, 19) you may become a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood. For we are all anointed by the spiritual grace, to be a kingdom and Priests to God."

The white Garment. St. Ambrose refers to this ceremony, when he says, "After this, you received a white garment, to remind you, that you had put off the habit of sin, and put on the pure robe of innocence." Lib. de Myster., cap. vii, n. 34.

St. Augustin says, "The souls of those infants, whom you see clothed in white, are purified from sin. The whiteness of this garment is an emblem of the purity of their souls." St. Aug. Serm. 223, alias de divers, 81. n. 1.

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St. Victor, Bishop of Vita, in the province of Byzacena, in his history of the Vandalic persecution, written in 487, relates a striking instance of the impression, which the ceremony of clothing the baptised person with the white garment, was calculated to make on the minds of the faithful. Elpidophorus, an apostate from the Catholic faith, was appointed judge at Carthage, and he condemned the most zealous of the Catholic confessors to be tortured. Muritta, the Deacon, who had assisted, when Elpidophorus was baptised in the bosom of the Catholic Church, being brought before him, took with him the chrismale, or white garment, with which, at the time he received Elpidophorus coming out of the font, he had clothed him, as an emblem of that innocence, which he engaged himself to preserve always unspotted. And producing it before the whole assembly, he said, "this robe will accuse you, when the Judge shall appear in Majesty at the last day. It will bear testimony against you to your condemnation. Hæc sunt linteamina quæ te accusabunt, cum Majestas venerit judicantis." Victor. Vit. 1. 5, c. 78.

The authorities, cited above, attest what ceremonies were performed, in the primitive ages of Christianity, by the Eastern and Western Churches, in the solemn administration of baptism. They also explain the purpose and meaning of these ceremonies, and shew that whilst they excited respect for the sacred rite, they conveyed so many instructions to the Catechumens and faithful, con

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