S. Martini Papæ et MartyrisSt. Martin I, Pope and Martyr

Lesson I

Lesson from the book of Daniel

Dan 5:1-6

Baltasar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his nobles: and every one drank according to his age. And being now drunk he commanded that they should bring the vessels of gold and silver which Nabuchodonosor his father had brought away out of the temple, that was in Jerusalem, that the king and his nobles, and his wives and his concubines, might drink in them. Then were the golden and silver vessels brought, which he had brought away out of the temple that was in Jerusalem: and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised their gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, and of wood, and of stone. In the same hour there appeared fingers, as it were of the hand of a man, writing over against the candlestick upon the surface of the wall of the king's palace: and the king beheld the joints of the hand that wrote. Then was the king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him.

Lesson II

Dan 5:13-17

Then Daniel was brought in before the king. And the king spoke, and said to him: Art thou Daniel of the children of the captivity of Juda, whom my father the king brought out of Judea? I have heard of thee, that thou hast the spirit of the gods, and excellent knowledge, and understanding, and wisdom are found in thee. And now the wise men the magicians have come in before me, to read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof: and they could not declare to me the meaning of this writing. But I have heard of thee, that thou canst interpret obscure things, and resolve difficult things: now if thou art able to read the writing, and to shew me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and shalt have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third prince in my kingdom. To which Daniel made answer, and said before the king: thy rewards be to thyself, and the gifts of thy house give to another: but the writing I will read to thee, O king, and shew thee the interpretation thereof.

Lesson III

Dan 5:25-31

And this is the writing that is written: MANE, THECEL, PHARES. And this is the interpretation of the word. MANE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it. THECEL: thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting. PHARES: thy kingdom is divided, and is given to the Medes and Persians. Then by the king's command Daniel was clothed with purple, and a chain of gold was put about his neck: and it was proclaimed of him that he had power as the third man in the kingdom. The same night Baltasar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede succeeded to the kingdom, being threescore and two years old.

Lesson IV

Martin was born at Todi in Tuscany. At the beginning of his Popedom, (in the year 649,) he was careful to send an embassage with letters to Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, to call upon him to return to the truth of the Catholic faith from the blasphemous heresy (of the Monothelites.) But Paul, being backed up by the heretic Emperor Constans, had become so rabid, that he sent away the messengers of the Apostolic See into diverse places in the islands. This crime moved the Pope to gather together at Rome a council of one - hundred - and five Bishops, by whom Paul was condemned.

Lesson V

Thereupon Constans sent Olympius into Italy as Exarch, straitly commanding him either to slay Pope Martin, or else to bring him into his Imperial presence. Olympius therefore came to Rome and bade a lictor to kill the Pope while as he was celebrating the Liturgy solemnly in the Cathedral Church of St Mary-at-the-Manger. But when the lictor went thither, he was struck with blindness.

Lesson VI

From that time forth many evils befell the Emperor Constans; but he repented not. He sent the Exarch Theodore Calliopas to Rome, with command to lay hands on the Pope. By him Martin was treacherously taken (on the 17th day of June, 653,) and (forthwith carried to the island of Naxos. On the 17th of September in 654 he was) brought to Constantinople, (where he was kept in prison) till he was sent to the Crimea (on the 15th of May, 655.) There his sufferings for the Catholic faith utterly broke him down, and he left this life for a better, upon the 12th day of November, (in the same year 655.) He was famous for miracles. His body was afterwards brought back to Rome and buried in the Church dedicated under the names of St. Silvester and St. Martin (of Tours.) He ruled the Church for six years, one month, and twenty-six days. He held two ordinations in the month of December, wherein he made eleven Priests, five Deacons, and thirtythree Bishops for diverse places.

Lesson VII

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 16:13-19

At that time: Jesus came into the coasts of Cassarea Philippi, and He asked His disciples, saying: Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Leo (the Great)

2nd on the anniversary of his own election.

When the Lord, as we read in the Evangelist, asked His disciples: Who did men, amid their diverse speculations, believe that He, the Son of Man, was; blessed Peter answered and said: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him: Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father, Which is in: and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Thus therefore standeth the ordinance of the Truth, and blessed Peter, abiding still that firm rock which God hath made him, hath never lost that right to rule in the Church which God hath given unto him.

Lesson VIII

In the universal Church it is Peter that doth still say every day, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and every tongue which confesseth that Jesus is Lord is taught that confession by the teaching of Peter. This is the faith that overcometh the devil and looseth the bands of his prisoners. This is the faith which maketh men free of the world and bringeth them to heaven, and the gates of hell are impotent to prevail against it. With such ramparts of salvation hath God fortified this rock, that the contagion of heresy will never be able to infect it, nor idolatry and unbelief to overcome it. This teaching it is, my dearly beloved brethren, which maketh the keeping of this Feast to-day to be our reasonable service, even the teaching which maketh you to know and honour in myself, lowly though I be, that Peter who is still entrusted with the care of all other shepherds and of all the flocks to them committed, and whose authority I have, albeit unworthy to be his heir.

Lesson IX

When therefore, we address our exhortations to your godly ears,

1 Believe ye that ye are hearing him speak whose office we are discharging. Yea, it is with his love for you that we warn you, and we preach unto you no other thing than that which he taught, entreating you that ye would gird up the loins of your mind and lead pure and sober lives in the fear of God. 2 My disciples dearly beloved, ye are to me, as the disciples of the Apostle Paul were to him, ~(Phil. iv. 1,) a crown and a joy, if your faith, which, in the first times of the Gospel, was spoken of throughout the whole world, (Rom. i. 8,) abide still lovely and holy. For, albeit it behoveth the whole Church which is spread throughout all the world, to be strong in righteousness, you it chiefly becometh above all other peoples to excel in worth and godliness, whose house is built upon the very crown of the Rock of the Apostle, and whom not only hath our Lord Jesus Christ, as He hath redeemed all men, but whom also His blessed Apostle Peter hath made the foremost object of his teaching.

Te Deum