St. Alphonsus Liguori, the son of noble Neapolitan parents, was born A.D. 1696, and commenced his career, after receiving the usual polite education of his day, in the profession of the law as a public pleader. Here his talents and knowledge appeared to be opening the way to so brilliant a future, that his father, intoxicated with the prospect, was beginning to look out for the most distinguished match that he could find for his son, when all his worldly dreams were suddenly dispelled by Alphonsus' invincible determination to abandon the career of law, and to study for holy orders. Alphonsus was ordained priest in 1725; and in the year 1732 the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was begun at La Scala, for the purpose of preaching missions in the districts where the country people had fallen into a sad state of ignorance and vice, chiefly through the neglect and apathy of the parochial clergy. But we had best hear St. Alphonsus Liguori's own words, extracted from a circular which he addressed to the fathers of his congregation in the year 1774, when he spoke at an advanced age, after long and mature experience:

"When we go to give a mission in any place, the greater part of the inhabitants are, alas, out of the grace of God, and have forfeited His love; but hardly have five or six days passed, when many, as though roused from a heavy sleep, begin to understand and to take interest in the instructions and the sermons, and, beholding the mercy of God offered to them, weep over their sins, and conceive the desire of being united with God. Then, seeing the means of forgiveness open to them, they detest the life they before loved; a new light shines before them; they feel the sweets of a peace long unknown. Then they think of confessing their sins, thereby to root out of their souls those passions which kept them away from God. Where a Mass that lasted but a quarter of an hour seemed too long, a Rosary of five decades too tedious, half an hour's sermon unbearable, a second and third Mass are heard with pleasure; and it is a subject of regret that the sermon should last but an hour and a half, or even two hours.'

St. Alphonsus was withdrawn for a time from his congregation, at the positive command of the Pope Clement XIII., to become Bishop of St. Agatha of the Goths. Pius VI. however, at his earnest entreaty, allowed him to resign his see, and to return to his congregation. He died placidly at Noceria, surrounded by his brethren, on the 2d of August 1789, in the ninetieth year of his age. The bull of his canonisation by Gregory XVI. is dated Trinity Sunday 1839. St. Alphonsus lives both in a numerous collection of popular works of devotion and piety, and also in a numerous body of members of his congregation, who perpetuate his work, and whose houses are now spread through the chief countries of Europe and in the United States.

The Congregation of the Passionists, or the discalced Clerks of the Cross and the Passion of our Lord, was founded by the Blessed Paul of the Cross, for a purpose very much akin, as we have said above, to that of the Congregation of St. Liguori, viz. to resist the general apostasy and

corruption of life and morals, as missionary preachers, although perhaps somewhat more directly as preachers of penance. Its founder was born, in the year 1694, at Ovada, in the diocese of Acqui, in the present kingdom of Sardinia. When he was a young man of twenty-six years of age, the Bishop of Alexandria invested him with a black habit, in memory of the Death and Passion of our Lord, and permitted him to occupy a hermitage near a village church, and to preach penance in the neighbourhood, under the name of Paul of the Cross. This was the beginning of the Congregation of the Passionists. In 1725, the year of the jubilee, Paul received permission from Pope Benedict XIII. to gather together a congregation, and in 1727 he was ordained priest. In the year 1741 Benedict XIV. approved of the congregation, which has since that time spread itself over the world as a preacher of penance and reformation of manners. Its beatified founder passed to a better life in the year 1775; and the congregation now has its head-quarters in Rome, in the Church of the Holy Martyrs SS. John and Paul, on the Cœlian Hill.

§ 83. An example of a missionary martyrdom in the nineteenth century, in the old Annamite empire in Asia, A.D. Nov. 30, 1835.

We left St. Francis Xavier surprised by death in the island of Sancian, as he was meditating crossing over to the Chinese coast, to commence there a new missionary career in China similar to that which he had already accomplished in both Hindustan and Japan. After the death of St. Francis Xavier, the fathers of the society succeeded in establishing themselves in Canton in the year 1584; and Father Matthew Ricci, by the charm of his superior learning and scientific acquirements, gained admission into Pekin, the capital of the empire. This had the effect of procuring permission for the fathers to spread themselves gradually over the chief towns of the empire; and the consequence was the continued spread of the Catholic Faith among the Chinese, which by degrees attracted other missionary orders in the wake of the Jesuit Fathers. In the eighteenth century, however, the imperial government began to take alarm, and a very general and bloody persecution ensued, in which great numbers edified the Church by their glorious and courageous martyrdoms.

The jealousy of the Chinese court spread to the neighbouring Annamite empire, of which Tonquin and Cochin China are the chief adjacent provinces. The example we are about to relate of the martyrdom of the missionary Martin Marchand, on November 30, 1835, will quite sufficiently serve the purpose of our history; inasmuch as, excepting the single circumstance that the Annamite language is not the same as the Chinese, the two empires of China and Annam appear to be twin sisters in respect of their common political hatred of the Catholic religion, the jealousy of their mandarins, the nature and refinement of the instruments of torture they employ, and the aversion and animosity of a large portion of the heathen population against the Christian name.

Martin Marchand was born in the village of Passavant, near Vesoul,

in the diocese of Besançon, and was sent to the mission in Cochin China in the year 1827. When the persecution broke out, thinking that it would not be of long duration, M. Marchand remained in the country, concealing himself in various ways, as best he could; sometimes in the houses of the Christians, and at others in the woods and caves. While thus continuing his missionary labours, he fell into the hands of a body of rebels who had raised an insurrection against the emperor, MinhMênh; and these men, calculating that by his means the Christians could be brought over to join their side, carried him off prisoner. When the rebels were driven to shut themselves up in the fortified town of GiaDinh, M. Marchand was carried along with them, and for some years had perfect liberty given to him to keep his chapel open for the use of the Christians in the town. In the month of September 1835, however, the royal army carried the town by assault, and M. Marchand fell into the hands of the king's troops, who, glad of the opportunity for magnifying their victory, classed him with the rebel leaders, and having secured him by the cang, sent him off with them in a cage to Huè, the

M. MARCHAND IS SECURED BY THE CANG, TO BE SENT TO HUÈ.

capital city of the empire, and the residence of Minh-Mênh. When they arrived at Huè, M. Marchand was brought to the mandarin's court to

be examined. He was interrogated as to his participation in the revolt, and asserted that he had refused in the most positive manner to sign any letters inciting the Christians to join the insurgents. Notwithstanding all his protestations of innocence, he was tortured by fixing red-hot iron pincers in the soft and fleshy parts of his body the whole night of the 17th October, to try to force him into an avowal of his guilt. At length, after various delays and questionings, it was decided that all the prisoners should be put to death; and the day chosen for the execution was the 30th of November, St. Andrew's-day. The proceedings of this day commenced by their being taken into the presence of Minh-Mênh, before whom they were all forced to prostrate themselves to the ground. After Minh-Mênh had cast a look at them, he let a small flag drop, which served the executioners as a signal to proceed with their work. The five sufferers were now secured with cords to a species of wooden litter, and borne on men's shoulders to the court-house. Here M. Marchand was set down, and the red-hot pincers were a second time applied to his flesh, which extorted from him a cry of extreme pain. Why does the Christian religion,' now asked the mandarin, 'tear out the eyes of the dying?' M. Marchand, recovering himself, answered, 'It is not true; it does no such thing.' Again, for the second and the third time, the red-hot pincers were applied, and the last question the mandarin asked was, 'What sort of conjuror's bread is it that you give to those who have confessed, that they stick so determinedly to your religion? The missionary with his last remaining strength answered, 'The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Such, at least, the catechist who was present understood to have been the nature of his answers. When all was ready, the cavalcade set out to Teu Deuque, a Christian village, close to which the execution was to take place; and when they had arrived on the spot, the whole five were taken from the litters and tied to five upright stakes. Suddenly the drums beat, and large pieces of flesh from the breast of each criminal were seen lying on the ground. The executioners come to the martyr's legs, from which again large pieces are cut. His head is seen to droop; and now, mandarins, you are at liberty to do what more you please: the soul of the martyr is beyond your reach; he has received a crown which you cannot take away from him.

The head of M. Marchand, after having been sent into different parts of the empire, to be exposed to the view of the populace, was afterwards pounded in a mortar, and the fragments cast into the sea.

§ 84. Pope Pius IX. and the war of the nineteenth century against the Catholic Faith. The Ecumenical Council of the Vatican.

'John Maria Mastai Ferretti,' the reigning Sovereign Pontiff, was born of the noble family of the Mastai Ferretti, on the 13th of May 1792, at Sinigaglia, in the ancient Duchy of Urbino, one of the Legations of the Papal States. His father, Jerome Mastai Ferretti, held a public office (gonfaloniere) in Sinigaglia; and his uncle, Andreas Mastai, was Bishop

of Pesaro, and had been shut up by Napoleon a prisoner in the fortress of Mantua, on account of his stanch fidelity to the cause of Pius VII. When he was quite a boy, his mother used to make him add a ‘Pater' and 'Ave' to the rest of his night prayers for the deliverance of Pius VI., at that period the prisoner of the French Republic, at the same time telling him to pray for the French people. The little boy, not quite knowing what to make of this latter injunction, said, 'But, mother, are not the French very naughty people, since they keep the Pope in prison? Why do you make me pray for them? The countess answered, 'That is so much the more reason why they should be prayed for; and besides, they are not the persons to blame if the Pope is a prisoner; it is the naughty work of their government.' 'Then must we pray for their government? asked the little boy. 'Certainly. Do you not know that our Lord prayed for those who crucified Him?'

The young John Ferretti's choice when he had attained his nineteenth year wavered for a time between the military and the ecclesiastical state; but having returned home from a pilgrimage to Loretto cured of a serious complaint, he determined to pursue his studies for the Church. On being ordained priest, he became chaplain to a boys' orphanage which had been founded by a poor mason, devoting his private fortune to its support. After this he was appointed to go with Mgr. Muzi, who was sent as legate to Chili; on which mission he was absent two years, visiting various parts of South America.

On his return to Rome, John Ferretti was made president of the board of directors of the Institution of San Michele, and prelate and canon of S. Maria in Viâ Latâ. On the 21st of May, the archbishopric of Spoleto fell vacant, and Leo XII. nominated Mgr. John Ferretti to it. On the 27th of December 1832, Pope Gregory XVI. transferred him to the more important see of Imola; and on 14th of December 1840, he was made Cardinal by the title of SS. Peter and Marcellinus.

Gregory XVI. died on the 1st of June 1846, when, as if expecting troubled times, the College of Cardinals assembled in conclave the 14th of the same month, and elected Cardinal Ferretti Pope on the morning of Tuesday the 16th. It so happened that it was no other than the Cardinal thus elected Pope who was making the scrutiny of the votes; and terrified at discovering the burden about to be imposed upon him, he faltered for a moment, and cried, 'My brothers, have pity on me, have pity on me! I am not worthy.' However, when the time came for the Cardinal Subdean to put the question, 'Dost thou accept the election which has been made of thee to the office of Sovereign Pontiff? Cardinal Ferretti replied, that he was ready to conform to the will of God, and Iwould take the name of Pius IX.

The reign of Pius IX. has been full of the gravest events both in the supreme government of the whole Church, and in the administration of the small civil principality, the possession of which secures to the Head of the Church the liberty and independence which the Pope himself declares