set such an individual attracted the attention of all Judea by the prodigies which preceded and accompanied his birth.

(a) "There was in the days of Herod (14), the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zachary of the course of Abia (15), and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth. They were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord, without blame. They had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. It came to pass that while Zachary executed the priestly office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer incense, going into the temple of the Lord (16); and all the multitude of the people was praying without at the hour of incense (17). In the mean while there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zachary seeing him, was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: Fear not, Zachary; for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son,

(a) St. Luke, i. 5–25.

(14) We find three Herods mentioned in the New Testament. This Herod, an Idumean by birth, and surnamed Herod the Great, was the first of his family who reigned in Judea. His jurisdiction extended over the whole country, and it was he who ordered the massacre of the innocents. The second was Antipas, son of the former Herod: he was Tetrarch of Galilee, and, having contracted an incestuous marriage with Herodias, murdered Saint John the Baptist. This was the man who sent Jesus Christ to Pilate, and had him robed in derision with a white garment. A third Herod, surnamed Agrippa, is spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles. He was the son of Aristobulus, who, together with his brother Alexander, was put to death by Herod the Great, their father. Mariamne was their mother. It was he who caused Saint James to be beheaded; who cast Saint Peter into prison; who was at length stricken by an angel, and died, gnawed by worms, because he had not referred the glory to God when a fawning multitude cried out: "His voice is the voice of God, not of man." He was the father of that Agrippa before whom Saint Paul pleaded his own cause.

(15) David had divided all the sacerdotal order into families or societies, each of which was distinguished by the surname of its chief or head. They performed service by turns, and the peculiar functions of each priest were assigned to him by lot.

(16) In the part of the temple where the altar of incense was erected; this was separated by a veil from the more inward recess, called the Holy of Holies, into which the high priest alone was admissible, and that but once a year.

(17) In the vestibule, or lobby, where the people staid praying. Priests alone were allowed to enter that part where the altar of incense was.

and thou shalt call his name John (18). Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth; For he shall be great before the Lord. He shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb (19). He shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God (20): And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, that he may turn the hearts of the fathers to the children (21), and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare for the Lord a perfect people.

"Zachary said to the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.

"The angel answering said to him: I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I am sent to speak to thee, and to bring thee these

(18) The words thy prayer is heard being followed immediately by the prediction, thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, would at first sight lead us to infer that the object of Zachary's prayer was to have a son; yet had he made this his petition, he would scarcely have been incredulous to the voice of an angel promising fulfilment, unless we assume that he made a request which he thought that he never could obtain, which, indeed, would be a very unreasonable request. It is highly probable that he prayed for the coming of the liberator of Israel, sole object of the vows and prayers of the just of the old law. The birth of a son was evidence to Zachary that his prayer was favorably heard; therefore the discourse of the angel bears the following explanation: your prayer to accelerate the coming of the Messiah is heard, and the proof I give you is, that you yourself shall have a son, and that son shall be his precursor.

(19) Saint Augustine says that Saint John had not been sanctified, that is, purified from original sin from his mother's womb, but merely that he had been thenceforth destined to the office of precursor much in the same sense as Saint Paul said of himself, that God had separated him, that is, chosen him for the apostleship, from his mother's womb. The words now before us, he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb, would seem to refute this sentiment, the plenitude of the Holy Ghost being incompatible with the state of sin.

(20) Never, perhaps, at any former period were the Jews more scrupulously attached to the adoration of one God the Creator, than at the period of the coming of Christ; so that the Lord their God, to whom Saint John converted many of the children of Israel, can be no other than Jesus Christ. Besides, it is added that he shall go before him (the Lord their God), that is to say, be his precursor. Now, of whom was Saint John precursor, if not of Jesus Christ? Wherefore Jesus Christ is not different from the Lord God, and this is an unanswerable proof of his divinity.

(21) The patriarchs who shall rejoice to behold their posterity imitating their faith and piety. Other interpreters construe the passage thus: to give to the children the hearts of their fathers, that is, upright and virtuous hearts, like those of their fathers. Both meanings are good-the first is most generally followed.

good tidings;" and, as a token both to punish and to cure your incredulity, "behold thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak until the day wherein these things shall come to pass; because thou hast not believed my (22) words which shall be fulfilled in their time.

"The people were waiting for Zachary, and they wondered that he staid so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them; and they understood that he had seen a vision, for he made signs to them, and remained dumb. After the days of his office were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months (23). Thus," said she, concealing her secret joy within herself, "Thus hath the Lord dealt with me, in the days wherein he hath had regard to take away my reproach among men."

CHAPTER II.

ANNUNCIATION.-VISITATION.-BIRTH OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST.-CANTICLE OF

ZACHARY.

THE time was fulfilled, and all was prepared for the incarnation. of the word, when, "in the sixth month" after the conception of the divine Precursor, (a) "the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a

(a) St. Luke, i. 26–80.

(22) Zachary, it seems, was merely in doubt; yet to doubt is not to believe, and the word of the angel is exact. However, call it doubt or incredulity, it was reprehensible, and was justly punished: some say he sinned mortally, but such is not the general opinion; surprise and want of thought give a complexion to his incredulity similar to the fault of Moses, which did not deprive him of grace, though it entailed exclusion from the land of promise.

(23) Elizabeth was unwilling to expose to public derision the first signs of a pregnancy which might at least seem equivocal in a woman so far advanced in years. She felt no uneasiness at being seen when her pregnancy became a fact so incontestible as to challenge surprise and admiration. This is the most likely reason that can be assigned for her conduct under these circumstances.

city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused (1) to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. The angel being come in, said unto her, Hail full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women. When she had heard, she was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. Fear not, Mary, the angel said to her; for thou hast found grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb; and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Most High; the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David (2) his father; he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end (3).

1

(1) There are several reasons assigned why God wished that the Virgin who was to be the mother of God, should be espoused. The following may be considered as the principal reason: mankind could not recognize the virginity of Mary until they had first recognized Christ to be the Messiah. It would have been monstrous indecency that until then he might pass for illegitimate, and his mother for an indifferent character.

The Latin word desponsata of the Vulgate, which the Douay version as well as our author translates by the word espoused, avait pour époux, may signify affianced as well as espoused. Our author states that this induced many holy doctors to say that Joseph and Mary were merely affianced, but that the great majority hold that they were really espoused; and for a very good reason. To ward off all suspicion injurious to the mother and son by the veil of a marriage, it was imperative that Joseph and Mary should be publiely recognized as espoused, at least nine months before the birth of Christ.

(2) The throne of which that of David was merely the figure. Yet this may be called the Throne of David, and we may add, as did the angel, that Jesus Christ shall reign in the House of David, which was originally formed from the children of David, who recognized the Redeemer, and ranged themselves under his laws. Those who rejected him no longer constituted the true Israel, being no longer a part of the people of God. They lopped themselves off from the parent stem, the Gentiles took their place, and formed, with the posterity of Jacob, one undivided people, of whom Jacob is the common stem to which all the branches are united, whether they spring from or are engrafted on it. Such is the comparison of Saint Paul, which likens the people of God to an immense trunk that has always subsisted, and during the lapse of centuries has but lost some branches to acquire others.

(3) The kingdom of Christ on earth, which is the visible church, shall not end like all the monarchies which have successively appeared on earth; but it shall last as long as the world. The universal dominion which Jesus Christ exercises over all nature, he of whom it is written that every knee shall bend, in heaven, on earth, and in hell—this empire, I say, shall last as long as God himself. In both these senses the angel saith here, of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Mary said to the angel, How shall this be done (4), because I know not man (5)? The angel answering, said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore (6) also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth -month with her that is called barren; because no word shall be impossible with God. Mary then said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. Then the angel departed from her," and Mary found she was pregnant of the man God, whom the Holy Ghost formed in her sacred womb directly when she gave her consent to this great mystery.

Having had intelligence from the angel of the event which had occurred to Elizabeth, and docile to the inspiration which taught her the duties she had to perform, "Mary rising up, went into the

(4) Mary was not in any doubt, but she wished to be enlightened as to the manner in which the words of the angel were to be accomplished. The sequel explains the reason. (5) This would not be a proper saying had not Mary made a vow, or at least an unchangeable resolution to remain always a virgin. She was too judicious not to perceive that it might be answered to her: That which has not been may be, and then you shall conceive a son. Wherefore when she said, I know not man, we must construe: I know not and I never shall know man. No other meaning can be reasonably assigned to her reply. We thus see the reason why the Fathers availed themselves of it against those heretics who dared to assert that after the birth of Jesus Christ, Mary had known Joseph, and had children by him. What great motive or powerful interest could induce her to change a resolution which she alleged as a hindrance to the choice which God had made of her to be the mother of the Messiah?

(6) It did not necessarily follow from the fact of a virgin conceiving by virtue of the Holy Ghost, that the son she should bear must be truly God. Adam was not God, although he was the immediate production of Almighty power. Hence, to understand this and therefore, that is, to know the connection between this proposition the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, &c., and this other, the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, observe that two things were foretold: one, that a virgin should conceive without losing her virginity; the other, that the son she should bring forth was to be truly God. We must presume that Mary, enlightened as she was, had not been ignorant of the prophecies: but supposing she were ignorant, this and therefore may still be explained. The discourse of the angel signifies, You are the Virgin of whom it is foretold that she shall conceive without the agency of man; and therefore, the child which shall be born of you is he of whom it is foretold that he shall be verily God. Wherefore the Divinity of Christ is not a necessary sequel of his birth by a virgin, though it is an infallible sequel, inasmuch as all that God foretold must happen.