GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 13, 27 March 1902, Page 7

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

March 30, Sunday. — Easter Sunday. „ 31, Monday. — Easter Monday. April 1, Tuesday. — St. Francis of Paula, Confessor. , 2, Wednesday. — Feria. „ 3, Thursday.— Feria. „ i, Friday.— St. Vincent Ferrer, Confessor. „ 7, Saturday.— St. Sixtus 1., Pope and Confessor.

EASTEE. The name of Paschal time (says the ' Messenger of the Sacred Heart') is given to the period of weeks which extends from Easter to the Saturday after Pentecost. This ia the most sacred portion of the year, which is easily understood when we consider the greatness of the festival of Easter, to which Christian antiquity has given the name of the Feast of Feasts, of the solemnity of solemnities. It is at Easter that the human race has risen after its fall, and entered into the possession of all they had lost by the sin of Adam. The period of 50 days which separates the festival ol Easter from that of Penteco&t has constantly been the object of special respect in the Church. Tho first week, consecrated to the mystery of the Resurrection, was celebrated with great pomp, and the others had also their devotion. The joy of which the 'Alleluia 'is the expression belongs specially to this part of the year, for the entire Paschal time is like one great feast day. All that preceded it was only a preparation. The pious waiting during Advent, the sweet devotions of Christmas, the grave and severe thoughts of Septuagesima, the compunction and penitence of Lent, the sad spectacle of the Pas* sion — all this series of sentiments and marvels only tended to lead us to the sublime end at which we have now arrived. The Holy Fathers tell us that the 50 days of the Paschal time are the image of the eternal paradise. They are consecrated to joy; all sadness is banished, and the Church scarcely says one word or chants one song without mingling in it ' Alleluia,' this celestial cry which unceasingly re-echoes throughout the heavenly Jerusalem. During some weeks we have been separated from the hymns of admiration and joy, we had to die with Christ, our Victim; but* now we are risen from the tomb, and are resolved, with God's grace, not to die any more this death which kills the soul, and which made our Redeemer expire on the cross, and so the 'Alleluia' is for us. The practice befitting this holy time is the Christian joy that it must produce in the souls risen with Christ. This joy is a foretaste of the eternal happiness, and the JChristian must henceforth maintain it in himself, ever seeking more ardently the life which ia in our Divine Chief. ST. FRANCIS OF PAULA. St. Francis of Paula was the founder of the Order of MinimHermits about the year 1 136. The rule of this Order surpasses in austerity even that of the Minorites, or Franciscans ; to the usual three monastic vows St. Francis added a fourth, perpetual Lent and abstinpnee not only from meat but also from eggs and milk. In 1173 Pope Sixtus IV. gave his sanction to the new congregation, and nami d Krai cis its first Superior General. In 1495 Pope Alexander VI. formally coufirmed the community as a mendicant Order under the title of ' Miniui-llermit«,' giving it all the privileges post-essed by the Mendicant Friars. Notwithstanding its extreme severity the Order spread rapidly throughout Italy, France, and Spain j within a few years it numbered LlO convents for men, and 1 1 for women. St. Francis, who died in 1507, was canonised in 1519 by Leo X.