_______

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

IN THE

Prothonotary Apostolic

State of the Question —  The Present World does not make the Sign of Cross, or makes it seldom, or makes it badly —  The Primitive Christians made it, they made it frequently, they made it well — We are right, and they were wrong, or we are wrong, and they were right; which is true? 01

Examination of the Question —  Prepossessions in favor of the early Christians — First prepossession, their lights —  Second, their sanctity — Third, the practice of true Christians in every age — Were the Fathers of the Church great geniuses? 03

Continuation of the third prepossession: The Doctors of the East and West —  Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne, St. Louis, Bayard, Don John of Austria, Sobieski —  Fourth prepossession, the conduct of the Church —  Fifth prepossession, those who do not make the Sign of the Cross —  Summary 06

Answer to one objection: the times are changed —  Reasons in favor of the primitive Christians, drawn from the very nature of the Sign of the Cross — The Sign of the Cross is five things —  A divine sign which ennobles man —  Proofs that the Sign of the Cross is divine  10

The Sign of the Cross ennobles us — It is the exclusive sign of the elite of humanity — It is the escutcheon of Catholicity — What a Catholic is — By ennobling us, the Sign of the Cross teaches us the respect due to ourselves — Importance of this lesson — Disgrace of those who do not make this sign — Picture of the contempt they have for themselves 13

Continuation of the preceding letter — The Sign of the Cross is a book which instructs us — Creation, Redemption, Glorification: three words which contain all the science of God, of man, and of the world — The Sign of the Cross says these three words with authority, with clearness, with sublimity — It says them to every one, everywhere, and always 16

The place which the Sign of Cross holds in the world — What the human race was before it knew how to make the Sign of the Cross — What becomes of the world when it ceases to make it — Another point of view — The Sign of the Cross is a treasure that enriches us 18

The Sign of the Cross known and practiced since the beginning of the world — Contradictions only apparent — Seven ways of making the Sign of the Cross — Testimonies of the Fathers — David, Solomon, and all the Jewish nation made the Sign of the Cross, and knew its value — Proofs 22

The Sign of the Cross among Pagans — New details of an exterior form of the Sign of the Cross among the first Christians — The Martyrs in the Amphitheatre — Etymology of the word  "adore" — The Pagans adored by making the Sign of the Cross — How they made it — First manner 26

Second and third way in which the Pagans made the Sign of the Cross — Testimonies — The Pietas Publica — The Pagans acknowledged a mysterious power in the Sign of the Cross — Whence came that belief — Great mystery of the moral world — Importance of the Sign of the Cross in the sight of God  The Sign of the Cross in the physical world — Words of the Fathers and of Plato — Inconsistency of the ancient and modern Pagans — Reason of the especial hatred of the demon for the Sign of the Cross 29

The Sign of the Cross is a treasure that enriches us, because it is a prayer: proofs — A powerful prayer: proofs — A universal prayer: proofs — It supplies all our wants — For his soul man needs lights — The Sign of the Cross obtains them: proofs C Examples of the Martyrs....35

Perpetual necessity of the Sign of the Cross to obtain strength — Its recommendation and practice by the chiefs of the spiritual combat — The Sign of the Cross in temptations — The Sign of the Cross at death — Examples of the martyrs — Examples of true Christians dying a natural death — The dying caused the Sign of the Cross to be made on them by their brethren 41

Effects of the Sign of the Cross in the temporal order C It cures all diseases, and removes whatever can harm us C It gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, the use of their limbs to the lame and paralyzed; cures other maladies, and restores life to the dead 46

The Sign of the Cross a preservative against all that could injure life or health — It appeases tempests — Extinguishes fire — Protects us against accidents — Opposes a barrier to floods — Causes the waters to return to their bounds — Keeps ferocious beasts at a distance — Preserves from poison, from thunderbolts — Makes creatures the instruments of prodigies 52

Answer to a question — The Sign of the Cross is a weapon which repulses the enemy — Life is a warfare — Against whom? — Necessity of a weapon within the reach of every one — What is that weapon? — Proofs that the Sign of the Cross is the special weapon, the most forcible weapon against the evil spirits 58

The Sign of the Cross breaks idols and expels the demons from them: examples — It expels them from the possessed: examples — Recent anecdote — Other proofs: exorcisms — It renders vain the direct attacks of the demons: examples — Their indirect attacks: proofs — All creatures subject to the demons serve as their instruments to harm us — The Sign of the Cross delivers them, and prevents their being injurious to our body, or soul — Profound Philosophy of the early Christians — The use they made of the Sign of the Cross — Tableau by St. Chrysostom 64

Summary — Nature of the Sign of the Cross — How it is valued at the present day — What the contempt and forgetfulness of the Sign of the Cross announce — Spectacle of the present world — Satan returns — To remain faithful to the Sign of the Cross — Principally before and after meals — Reason, honor, and liberty command it — Is reason for or against those who make the Sign of the Cross over food? — Examples and arguments 69

Honor commands us to pray before and after meals — Prayer over food is as ancient as the world, as wide-spread as the human race — Proofs: Benedicite and Grace of every people — Not to say them is to liken ourselves to beings which do not belong to the human species — The blessing at table is a law of humanity 73

Reasons for the blessing of the table — It is an act of freedom — Three tyrants; the world, the flesh, the Devil — Triple victory of the Sign of the Cross and prayer over food — Victory over the world: proofs — Over the flesh: proofs — Over the demon: proofs — Remarkable testimony of Porphyrius — Facts cited by St. Gregory — Conclusion 78

The Sign of the Cross is a guide that conducts us — Necessity of a guide — State of man here below — The Sign of the Cross conducts man to his end by remembrance, and by imitation — Remembrance which it recalls — General remembrance — Particular remembrance — Particular imitation 82

General imitation — Imitation of the sanctity of God — What sanctity is — The Sign of the Cross, the sanctifier of man and of creatures — Imitation of the charity of God — What charity is in God — What it should be in us — In teaching it to us, the Sign of the Cross is an eloquent and sure guide — Incontestable proofs 86

Sentence of the judgment between us and the first Christians — First obligation, to make the Sign of the Cross boldly, to make it often, and to make it well — Reasons for making it boldly — Disgrace and danger of not making it — State of the physical and moral health of the world at the present day 89

Reasons of the power and exalted mission of the Sign of the Cross — Fundamental dogma — What happens in the political order a figure of what takes place in the moral order — The Reformation, first daughter of Paganism, throws down all the crosses — The French Revolution, second daughter of Paganism, imitates her sister — Second obligation, to make the Sign of the Cross frequently — Reasons drawn from our present state — Third obligation, to make it well, condition — The Sign of the Cross, eternal sign of victory — Constantine — Praises of the Sign of the Cross 93

O Blessed Father St. Joseph; Guardian of the Incarnate Word, Spouse of the Immaculate Mother of God, and Patron of the Universal Church; with sentiments of the deepest love and gratitude, I dedicate to thee this work, destined, I hope, to enkindle, in many hearts, devotion to the Cross of Jesus, the shadow of which brooded so heavily, yet withal so gloriously, over thy life in Bethlehem, Egypt, and Nazareth.

By the memory of the agony thou didst undergo during the three days loss, I beseech thee to take pity on those myriads of souls who have willfully lost their God, have separated themselves from Him and His Church, and rush blindly to destruction, ignorant or unmindful of their loss.

If, then, there appears now, without any premeditated design on the part of the author, a work designed to make the Christians of our day retake the victorious weapon of their ancestors; if, notwithstanding so many adverse circumstances, this work spreads so rapidly; if it wins, even in Rome itself, the most august and precious of all suffrages; if, in fine, after eighteen centuries, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Chief of the eternal combat, by a solemn act, urges the Catholic world to have recourse incessantly to this sign, so victorious over paganism: — is it not reasonable to conclude that we find ourselves, in many respects, in a position analogous to that of the primitive Christians?

If they were confronted with Satan, the king and god of that age; if they lived in the midst of a world that was not Christian, that wished not to become such, that wished no one to be such, that persecuted those who continued to be such; — are not we confronted with Satan, who, unchained on the Earth, is inciting nations to rebel against Jesus Christ, and making them cry out incessantly: "We will not have Him reign any longer over us" ? And amidst what do the Christians of our day live? Are they not surrounded by a world that is ceasing to be Christian; that does not wish to return to Christianity, that does not wish others to belong to it, that persecutes in every possible way those who persist in doing so?

Overjoyed at seeing an indulgence attached to the Sign of the Cross, the venerable Dean of the Catholic Chair writes:

Let us pass to other testimonies, and come to those which have emanated from Rome. The Commission charged with the care of the regionary schools has thought it necessary to address the following circular to those who direct them:

Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Index, to Mgr. Gaume, Prothonotary Apostolic.

Your affectionate Servant, L. CARDINAL ALTIERI.

FOR ETERNAL REMEMBRANCE.

Being fully certain that the salutary mystery of the redemption and the divine virtue are contained in the Sign of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful of the primitive Church made the most frequent use of this sign, as we learn from the most ancient and notable monuments. It was even by this sign that they began all their actions.

A At all our steps, all our motions, our incomings and outgoings, lighting the lamps, sitting down to table, taking a seat; whatever we do, or whithersoever we go, we mark our foreheads with the Sign of the Cross, says Tertullian.

ARCHBP. PRINZIVALLI, Substit.

of The Sign of the Cross by Mgr. Jean-Joseph Gaume

To follow are the 23 Letters from Msgr J J Gaume to Frederic [the young German student in Paris], back in the 19th century. While each Letter was for the edification and spiritual benefit of Frederic, these Letters provide that same edification and spiritual benefit for all Catholics of all ages.

Feel free to disseminate this book now in its unbound format in which photocoping is convenient. It may also be possible to obtain this paper in electronic format from origins@ev1.net or by going to the web site http://users2.ev1.net/~origins

MY DEAR FREDERIC:

 As for me, I hear you say, my dear Frederic, A the question is decided. Never will I believe that God has given truth and good sense to His enemies, and at the same time condemned his best friends to error and superstition.

Let us first do justice to the great object of modern contemners of the adorable Sign.  Other times, other manners, say they.  What was useful, nay, even necessary in the first ages of the Church, is not so now. Times are changed; we must live according to the manners of the day.

St Paul answers them: Jesus Christ yesterday, and today and the same forever.

Tertullian adds: The Incarnate Word calls Himself Truth, and not custom. Truth, then changes not. What the apostles, the Christians of the primitive Church, and the true Christians of every age have held to be useful, and to a certain extent, even necessary, has not now ceased to be so. I dare even affirm it to be more necessary now than ever.

This is on account of the many points of resemblance which exist between the situation of the primitive Christians, and that of the Christians of the nineteenth century.

What was the situation of our forefathers of the primitive Church? They were in the midst of a world which was not Christian, which did not wish to become so, and which persecuted those who persisted in being so.

And are not we in the midst of a world that is losing Christianity, that does not wish to return to it, and that persecutes, sometimes by violence, those who persist in professing it?

If, in a like situation, the first Christians, formed in the school of the apostles, regarded as necessary the frequent use of the Sign of the Cross, why should we abandon it? Are we stronger or more skilful? Are our dangers less great, our enemies less numerous or perfidious? To propose such questions is to decide them. Let us proceed.

Until now, my dear Frederic, I have established only the exterior circumstances of the cause: it is necessary now to examine it in its depth, by adducing reasons drawn from the very nature of the Sign of the Cross.

For you, for me, for all sensible men, they may be summed up as follows: C We are children of the dust, the Sign of the Cross is a divine Sign, which ennobles us; we are ignorant, it is a book which instructs us; poor, it is a treasure which enriches us; soldiers, it is a weapon which puts the enemy to flight; travelers on the way to Heaven, it is a guide that conducts us.

Assume the insignia of a judge, ascend your tribunal, and hear the cause.

We are children of the dust; the Sign of the Cross is a divine sign, which ennobles us.

Tell me who is that being that comes into the world weeping; who crawls like the worm, who, like the smallest animal is subject to every infirmity, and for even a longer time than it, is incapable of supplying his own wants?

Let the man who is called prince, king, or emperor; the woman who is called countess, duchess, or empress, be not too proud.

One glance backward will tell them who that being is: it is man; a worm of the Earth in the cradle, the food of worms in the tomb.^.

That being so low, so useless, and during the first stages of his existence, so ignominiously confounded with the weakest and vilest of animals, is, moreover, but too much inclined by his instincts to resemble them. Nevertheless, that being is the image of God, the king of creation; he must not degrade himself. God touches him on the forehead, and imprints a Divine Sign which ennobles him. Nobility imposes obligations. Respected by others, he will respect himself.

This patent of nobility, this divine mark, is the Sign of the Cross. It is divine, since it comes from Heaven, since the owner alone has the right to stamp his property with his image. It comes from Heaven, since Earth avows that it did not invent it. Go through every country and every age, nowhere will you find the man that invented it, the saint that taught it, the council that imposed it. "Tradition teaches it," says Tertullian, "custom confirms it, faith practices it." 

In Tertullian you hear the latter part of the second century of the Church. Saint Justin speaks for the first, and teaches not only the existence of the Sign of the Cross, but the manner in which it was made. Behold us in those primitive times, days of eternal memory, called even by heretics the "Golden Age" of Christianity, on account of the purity of its doctrine, and the sanctity of its morals. Here, then, we find the Sign of the Cross in full practice, in the East and the West.

Let us go back a few steps and we shall clasp hands with St. John, the last survivor of the apostles. See the venerable old man, making the Sign of the Cross over the poisoned cup, and drinking the deadly liquor with impunity.

A few steps farther, and we meet his illustrious colleagues, Peter and Paul. Like John, the beloved disciple of the divine Master, Peter and Paul, the princes of the apostles, make religiously the Sign of the Cross, and teach it from the East to the West, in Jerusalem, Antioch, Athens, and Rome, to Greeks and barbarians. Let us listen to an unexceptionable witness of tradition. A Paul,@ says Saint Augustine, A carries everywhere the royal standard of the Cross. He fishes for men, and Peter marks the nations with the Sign of the Cross.@ 

They make it not only over men, but also over inanimate creatures, and cause others to do the same. "Every creature of God is good," writes the great Apostle, "and nothing to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 

Such is the rule. What is the sense? In the study of law, if we meet with an obscure passage, what do we do? To elucidate it, we consult the interpreter best authorized and nearest to the legislator; his word is law.

Listen to the best authorized interpreter of St. Paul, the great Chrysostom. "Paul," says he, "here establishes two things; the first, that no creature is unclean; the second, that supposing it to be so, the means of cleansing it is at hand. Make the Sign of the Cross over it, render thanks and glory to God, and at the same instant, all uncleanness shall disappear."  Behold apostolic teaching!

The princes of the apostles made the Sign of the Cross not only over inanimate creatures, and the multitudes who received the faith from them, but on themselves also. This sign, then, existed before them. Paul the persecutor is thrown down on the road to Damascus. He must become the apostle of the God whom he pursues. What will be the first act of that victorious God? To mark the vanquished with the Sign of the Cross. "Go," says He to Ananias, " go, and mark him with my sign." 

Who then is the author and institutor of the Sign of the Cross? To find him we must go beyond all ages, all visible creatures, all angelic hierarchies; we must rise to the Eternal Word, the Truth in person.

Listen again to a witness who was so situated as to know it perfectly, a witness so irreproachable that he has sealed his testimony with his blood. I mean Saint Cyprian, the immortal Bishop of Carthage. "O Lord, Holy Priest," exclaims he, "thou hast bequeathed to us three imperishable things: the chalice of thy blood, the Sign of the Cross, and the example of thy sufferings." 

Saint Augustine adds: "It is thou that hast willed this Sign should be imprinted on our foreheads."  ⁰

It would be easy to cite twenty other witnesses, but as I am writing letters and not books, I will stop. The Sign of the Cross is a Divine Sign: this is the first fact established in the discussion. There is another, of which I shall speak tomorrow.

________________

MY DEAR FREDERIC:

I have added, my dear Frederic, that the Sign of the Cross is a Sign which ennobles. It ennobles us because it is divine. All that is divine is ennobling. This reason alone might dispense with every other, nevertheless, I add that it ennobles us, because it is the exclusive Sign of the élite of humanity. Have your companions ever reflected on this?

All who do not make the Sign of the Cross, and much more, all who are so unfortunate as to blush at it, remain confounded with Pagans, Mahometans, Jews, Heretics, bad Catholics and beasts, that is to say, with the very dregs of creation. What do you think of this? Have we not reason to be proud of that which distinguishes us from those who do not bear it?

A child is proud of belonging to a family venerable for its antiquity, illustrious for its services, respected for its virtue, powerful by its riches. Again, how jealous he is of his escutcheon! He carves it in stone, marble, silver, gold, agate or ruby; he engraves it on his dwelling, sculptures it on his furniture, enchases it on his plate, and marks it on his linen; he bears it on his seal, would wish to carry it on his forehead. It is painted on the panels of his carriage, and even the harness of his horses is decorated with it. Leaving vanity aside, he is right. His conduct proclaims the eminently social law of solidarity. The glory of their forefathers is the glory of the children; it is the family patrimony.

Being a Catholic, the Sign of the Cross is my escutcheon. It proclaims to me and to every one, the nobility of my race, its antiquity, its services, its glories and its virtues. And I not be proud of it? I should then deny the illustrious blood that courses through my veins! Unworthy to bear a great name, I should basely repudiate the law of solidarity, throw my coat-of-arms into the mire, and cast to the winds the rich inheritance of my ancestors.

Men are proud of belonging to an aristocratic nation; The Spaniard is proud of being Spanish; the Englishman, of being English; the Frenchman of being French, and so with other great nations.

Tell me, my friend, which is the grandest, the most aristocratic nation on the globe?

It is a nation more ancient, and which, in itself alone, has a greater number of citizens than all those I have named; a nation which, by its light, shines in the world like the sun in the firmament; a nation essentially expansive, which, at the price of its blood, has drawn the human race out of barbarism and, at the same price, prevents it from falling back into it again, as is proved by history and the map of the world; a nation among whose children alone are found all that man has known as great by genius, virtue, science and courage; whole legions of doctors, virgins, martyrs, orators, poets, philosophers and artists; the great legislators, good kings, and illustrious warriors in every part of the world; a nation so much the more aristocratic, that to her all others owe their superiority. No matter what may be said or done, history points this out as the great Catholic nation. I belong to it. The Sign of the Cross is its escutcheon, and shall I be ashamed of it?

God Himself has deigned to show, by striking miracles, how honored in His sight are the person and the member that make the Sign of the Cross.

Saint Editha, daughter of Edgar, King of England, from her very infancy, bore the Sign of the Cross in her heart. This little princess, one of the most beautiful flowers of virginity that have adorned the former Isle of Saints, did nothing without first making this salutary sign on her forehead and breast.

Having caused a church to be built in honor of St. Dionysius, she begged St. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, to come to dedicate it. He did so willingly, and in several interviews which he had with the Saint, he was struck at seeing her make so frequently the Sign of the Cross on her forehead with the thumb, according to the custom of the early Christians.

This devotion pleased him so much that he begged God to bless that thumb, and even to preserve it from the corruption of the grave. His prayer was granted.

The Saint died soon after, at the age of twenty-three years, and, appearing to the holy bishop, said:

Those members were her eyes, feet and hands, which, in effect, were found to be decayed, except the thumb, with which she had so often made the Sign of the Cross.^.

As regards the point of honor, were our ancestors wrong in making such frequent use of the Sign of the Cross? Are we right in not making it?

Alas! Far different from ours was the pride of their nobility, the feeling of their dignity! By dwelling so much on the obligations of that dignity, I do not wonder at their having established a society, which, for the heroism of its virtues, is without parallel in the annals of the world: you will now begin to understand it.

The first sentiment with which the Sign of the Cross inspires us is respect for ourselves, because it ennobles us. Respect for ourselves! Dear friend, what a great thing I have said. I look around me, I see an age, a world, a rising generation which talks incessantly of the dignity of man, of emancipation, of liberty. These words, either void of meaning, or filled with an evil one, render the age, the world, the generation, ungovernable. Impatient of the yoke of all authority, divine, social, civil, or parental, they continually cry out to all they meet: A Respect me!@

Very good; but if you wish to be respected, begin by respecting yourself. The respect of others for us is proportioned to that which we have for ourselves. Cruelty, hypocrisy, debauchery, vice gilded, gloved, painted, plumed, spurred and crowned, may inspire fear, but can never win respect. Now, then, the man of the day, whether he be old or young, who does not make the Sign of the Cross, does he respect himself? Let us make a trial by autopsy.

The noblest part of man is the soul; the noblest faculty of his soul is the intelligence. Precious vessel, formed by the hand of God Himself to receive truth, and nothing but the truth! All that is not truth defiles and profanes it. Does the man of our day respect it? Is it truth that he deposits therein? He has nothing but disgust for the pure sources whence it flows. Divine oracles, sermons, books of asceticism, or Christian philosophy, fill him with loathing.

If you descend into that baptized intelligence, you will think yourself to be in a storehouse of odds and ends. There you find jumbled together, pell-mell, ignorance, idle tales, frivolity, prejudices, lies, errors, doubts, objections, denial, impieties, silliness and trifles. A sad spectacle, which reminds me of an ostrich that died lately in Lyons. You know that in the autopsy, one of the stomachs of the stupid animal was found to be a regular storehouse of old iron, ends of ropes, and pieces of wood.

Such is the intellectual nourishment of the man who does not make the Sign of the Cross. Behold how he respects it!

And his heart? Excuse me, my dear Frederic, from revealing to you its ignominy. Its emotions, instead of being directed upward, tend downward. Instead of soaring like the eagle, it crawls like the worm; instead of feeding like the bee on the perfumed juice of flowers, like the stercorary fly it rests only on filth. There is no violation of the immaculate law from which it recoils, no pollution which it avoids; and, as you know that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, the throat is, like the vent-hole of a sepulcher, full of corruption.^.

And his body? Young man, who think it beneath you to make the Sign of the Cross, you believe yourself very clever; you are to be pitied. You think yourself independent; you are a slave. You refuse to honor yourself by doing what the élite of mankind do; by a just judgment, you shall dishonor yourself by the most shameful acts of the dregs of humanity.

Your hand will not trace the Divine Sign on your forehead, but it will touch what it should never touch.

You will not defend your eyes, lips, or breast with this protecting Sign; your eyes shall be sullied by looking at what they should never see; your lips, talkative yet dumb, loquaces multi, as says a great genius,^, shall say nothing that they should, and everything they should not; your breast, a profane altar, shall burn with a fire the very name of which is a disgrace. This is private history. You cannot deny it; you cannot efface it. Written here with ink, it may be read on every part of your being, written with the blood of sin, in sanguine peccati.

And his life? The man who does not make, or who has ceased to make, the Sign of the Cross loses all esteem of his life. He despises it, he squanders it, for he never takes it in earnest. To turn night into day, and day into night; to work little, sleep much, fare sumptuously; to refuse nothing to his appetites; to spend time without any regard to eternity, that is to say, in weaving cobwebs, catching flies, and building card-castles; in a word, using his life as if he were the proprietor of it: this is not taking life in earnest. To take life in earnest is to use it according to the will of Him who gave it to us, and who will demand a rigorous account of it, not as a whole, but in detail; not by the year, but by the moment.

When the despiser of the Divine Sign, which would ennoble his life by inspiring him with respect for his soul and body, is wearied with the ways of trifling and iniquity, what does he do? Alas! He but too often throws down life as an insupportable burden. Regarding himself as a beast, for which there is neither fear nor hope beyond the grave, he kills himself. Here, my good Frederic, how can I express to you my sorrow? That which the apostle, ravished with admiration, said of the marvels of Heaven, C that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, C we must now say with fear, shame, and trembling. No; at no epoch, in no climate, among no nation, not even pagans or cannibals, has man ever seen or heard, or his mind conceived, what we see, hear, and touch with our hands. What is it? Suicide. Suicide on a scale without example in history. In France alone, one hundred thousand within the last thirty years! One hundred thousand! And they continue still to increase!

Now, I am almost certain, without having the proof, that of those hundred thousand persons who died in despair, more than ninety-nine thousand had lost the custom of making the Sign of the Cross frequently, seriously, and religiously. Hold this for the thirteenth article of your Creed. More to-morrow.

________________

MY DEAR FREDERIC:

A Divine Sign, the distinctive mark of the élite of humanity, the escutcheon of the Catholic; such, my dear Frederic, is the Sign of the Cross, considered in its first point of view. If it be true that rank imposes obligation, I know of no means more simple, easy, and efficacious to inspire men with sentiments of dignity and respect for themselves, than the Sign of the Cross made frequently, seriously, and religiously. This is one of the reasons of its being.

"This sign," says a Father of the Church, "is a powerful protection. It is gratuitous, because of the poor; easy, because of the weak. A benefit from God, the standard of the faithful, the terror of demons; far from causing you to despise it, its being a free gift should even increase your gratitude."  I add, that its eloquence is equal to its power.

What does it say to man? We shall see. We are ignorant; the Sign of the Cross is a book which instructs us. Creation, Redemption, Glorification; all science, theological, philosophical, social, political, historical, divine and human, is comprised in these three words. The science of the past, present and future, is here, and here only. These three words are the lights of the world, the bases of intelligence; suppose, for a moment, that the world forgets them, or loses their sense, what does it become? An agglomeration of atoms, moving in empty space, without direction or aim. It becomes blind without guide or staff; an inexplicable mystery to itself; unhappy, without consolation; a galley-slave without hope: — behold man, behold society!

These three words, Creation, Redemption, Glorification, are, then, more necessary to the human race than the bread which nourishes it, or the air that it breathes. They are necessary to every one, at every hour and always. They alone direct a life and every life, an action and every action, a word and every word, a thought and every thought, a joy and every joy, a sadness and every sadness, a sentiment and every sentiment. This supposed, reason says that God owed it to Himself to establish a means, universal, easy, and permanent, by which to give to all that fundamental knowledge; to give it not once, and for a time only, but to renew it unceasingly, as He renews, at every instant, the air which we breathe.

To what doctor shall be given the charge of this indispensable teaching? To St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, or any other great genius of the East or the West? No, those doctors die, and we must have one that is immortal. Those doctors dwell in a certain place, and we must have one that lives everywhere. They speak a language that cannot be understood by all; we must have one who speaks intelligibly to every one, to the savage inhabitants of Oceanica, as well as to the civilized inhabitants of the old world. Who, then, shall be our teacher? You know it; it is the Sign of the Cross. It, and it only, fulfils all the requisite conditions. It never dies; it dwells everywhere; its language is universal. In an instant it can give its lesson; in an instant every one can understand it.

In proof of what I assert, allow me, dear friend, to discover a mystery to you. The Incarnate Word, whom Isaias with reason calls the Teacher of mankind, had resolved to die for us. Many kinds of death were presented to Him; stoning, decapitation, poison, being thrown from a high place, fire, water, and what not? Amongst all these, why did He choose the Cross? A learned theologian answered this question many centuries ago. "One of the reasons why Infinite Wisdom has chosen the Cross is because a slight motion of the hand is sufficient to trace upon us the instrument of the divine torture: bright and powerful Sign, which teaches us all that we have to know, and serves as a buckler against our enemies."

With authority — divine in its origin, it is the organ of God Himself. With sublimity and clearness — this you shall see presently. When you place your hand on your forehead while saying, "In the name," using only the singular number, the Sign of the Cross teaches you the indivisible unity of the Divine Essence. By this word alone, be you a child or servant-maid, you know more than all the philosophers of paganism. What progress in a single, momentary act! In saying, of the Father, what a new and immense ray of light in your intellect! The Sign of the Cross has told you that there is a Being, the Father of all fathers, the Eternal Principle of being, from whom proceed all creatures, celestial and terrestrial, visible and invisible.^. At this new word are dissipated the thick mists which, during twenty centuries, concealed from the eyes of the pagan world the origin of all things.

You continue to say — and of the Son. The adorable sign also continues its teaching. It tells you that the Father of all fathers has a Son like Himself. While making you carry your hand to your breast, when you pronounce His name, it teaches you that this Eternal Son of God became in