Callista : a Tale of the Third Century by John Henry Newman
CHAPTER XXXVI.
LUX PERPETUA SANCTIS TUIS, DOMINE.
The bier and its bearers, and its protectors, have reached the cave insafety, and pace down the gallery, preceded by its Christian hosts, withlighted tapers, singing psalms. They place the sacred body before thealtar, and the mass begins. St. Cyprian celebrates, and after the Gospel,he adds a few words of his own.
He said that they were engaged in praising, blessing, and exalting theadorable Grace of God, which had snatched so marvellously a brand out ofthe furnace. Benedicamus Patrem et Filium cum Sancto Spiritu. Benedictus,et laudabilis, et gloriosus, et superexaltatus in saecula. Every day doingmarvels and exceeding all that seemed possible in power and love, by newand still newer manifestations. A Greek had come to Africa to embellishthe shrines of heathenism, to minister to the usurpation of the evil one,and to strengthen the old ties which connected genius with sin; and shehad suddenly found salvation. But yesterday a poor child of earth, andto-day an inhabitant of the heavens. But yesterday without God and withouthope; and to-day a martyr with a green palm and golden vestment,worshipping before the Throne. But yesterday the slave of Satan, andspending herself on the vanities of time; and to-day drinking of thenever-cloying torrents of bliss everlasting. But yesterday one of anumber, a grain of a vast heap, destined indiscriminately for the flame;to-day one of the elect souls, written from eternity in the book of life,and predestined to glory. But yesterday, hungry and thirsty, and restlessfor some object worthy an immortal spirit; to-day enjoying the ineffableecstasy of the Marriage Feast and the espousals of Emmanuel. But yesterdaytossed about on a sea of opinion; and to-day entranced in the vision ofinfallible truth and immutable sanctity. And yet what was she but only oneinstance out of ten thousand, of the Almighty and All-manifold Grace ofthe Redeemer? And who was there of all of them, there assembled, from themost heroic down to the humblest beginner, from the authoritative preacherdown to the slave or peasant, but was equally, though in his own way, amiracle of mercy, and a vessel, once of wrath, if now of glory? Only mighthe and all who heard him persevere as they had begun, so that if (as wasso probable) their trial was to be like hers, its issue might be like hersalso.
St. Cyprian ceased; and, while the deacon opened the _sindon_ for theoffertory, the faithful took up alternately the verses of a hymn, which wehere insert in a most unworthy translation:--
"The number of Thine own complete, Sum up and make an end; Sift clean the chaff, and house the wheat,-- And then, O Lord, descend.
"Descend, and solve by that descent, This mystery of life; Where good and ill, together blent, Wage an undying strife.
"For rivers twain are gushing still, And pour a mingled flood; Good in the very depths of ill-- Ill in the heart of good.
"The last are first, the first are last, As angel eyes behold; These from the sheepcote sternly cast, Those welcomed to the fold.
"No Christian home, no pastor's eye, No preacher's vocal zeal, Moved Thy dear martyr to defy The prison and the wheel.
"Forth from the heathen ranks she stepped The forfeit throne to claim Of Christian souls who had not kept Their birthright and their name.
"Grace formed her out of sinful dust; She knelt a soul defiled; She rose in all the faith and trust And sweetness of a child.
"And in the freshness of that love She preached by word and deed, The mysteries of the world above-- Her new-found glorious creed.
"And running, in a little hour, Of life the course complete, She reached the throne of endless power, And sits at Jesus' feet.
"Her spirit there, her body here, Make one the earth and sky; We use her name, we touch her bier, We know her God is nigh."
The last sentiment of the yet unfinished hymn was receiving an answerwhile they sang it. Juba had been brought into the chapel in the hands ofhis brother and the exorcists. Since he had been under their care, he hadbeen, on the whole, calm and manageable, with intervals of wild tempestand mad terror. He spoke, at times, of an awful incubus weighing on hischest, which he could not throw off, and said he hoped that they would notthink all the blasphemies he uttered were his own. On this occasion, hestruggled most violently, and shook with distress; and, as they broughthim towards the sacred relics, a thick, cold dew stood upon his brow, andhis features shrank and collapsed. He held back, and exerted himself withall his might to escape, foaming at the mouth, and from time to timeuttering loud shrieks and horrible words, which disturbed, though theycould not interrupt, the hymn. His bearers persevered; they brought himclose to Callista, and made him touch her feet with his hands. Immediatelyhe screamed fearfully, and was sent up into the air with such force thathe seemed discharged from some engine of war: then he fell back upon theearth apparently lifeless.
The long prayer was ended; the _Sursum corda_ was uttered. Juba raisedhimself from the ground. When the words of consecration had been said, headored with the faithful. After the mass, his attendants came to him; hewas quite changed; he was quiet, harmless, and silent: the evil spirit hadgone out; but he was an idiot.
This wonderful deliverance was but the beginning of the miracles whichfollowed the martyrdom of St. Callista. It may be said to have been theresurrection of the Church at Sicca. In not many months Decius was killed,and the persecution ceased there. Castus was appointed bishop, and numbersbegan to pour into the fold. The lapsed asked for peace, or at least suchblessings as they could have. Heathens sought to be received. When askedfor their reason, they could only say that Callista's history and deathhad affected them with constraining force, and that they could not helpfollowing her steps. Increasing in boldness, as well as numbers, theChristians cowed both magistrates and mob. The spirit of the populace hadbeen already broken; and the continual change of masters, and measureswith them, in the imperial government, inflicted a chronic timidity on themagistracy. A handsome church was soon built, to which Callista's body wasbrought, and which remained till the time of the Diocletian persecution.
Juba attached himself to this church; and, though he could not be taughteven to sweep the sacred pavement, still he never was troublesome ormischievous. He continued in this state for about ten years. At the end ofthat time, one morning, after mass, which he always attended in the churchporch, he suddenly went to the bishop, and asked for baptism. He said thatCallista had appeared to him, and had restored to him his mind. Onconversing with him, the holy Castus found that his recovery was beyondall doubt: and not knowing how long his lucid state would last, he had nohesitation, with such instruction as the time admitted, in administeringthe sacred rite, as Juba wished. After receiving it, he proceeded to thetomb, within which lay St. Callista, and remained on his knees before hisbenefactress till nightfall. Not even then was he disposed to rise; and sohe was left there for the night. Next morning he was found still in theattitude of prayer, but lifeless. He had been taken away in his baptismalrobe.
As to Agellius, if he be the bishop of that name who suffered at Sicca inhis old age, in the persecution of Diocletian, we are possessed in thiscircumstance of a most interesting fact to terminate his history withal.What makes this more likely is, that this bishop is recorded to haveremoved the body of St. Callista from its original position, and placed itunder the high altar, at which he said mass daily. After his ownmartyrdom, St. Agellius was placed under the high altar also.
THE END.
THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED
FOOTNOTES
_ 1 Vide_ Oxford transl. of St. Cyprian.
2 Here is an anachronism, as regards Arnobius and Lactantius of some twenty or thirty years.
3 Bacon.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
The author's footnotes have been moved to the end of the volume.
The following typographical errors were corrected:
&n
Variations in spelling (like "jailer" and "jailor", "Asper" and "Aspar","Phenician" and "Phoenician", "Thibursicumber" and "Thibursicumbur") andhyphenation (e.g. "farm-house" and "farmhouse", "goodwill" and"good-will") were not changed.