honour of the Passion of Jesus Christ who is the Holy of Holies and whose Merits are Infinite Whereby the Prophesie of King David is verified for speaking in the person of Christ he saith That the Cords and Bands of his Death and Passion are finally to become glorious Psal 15. Cords are fallen to me in godly places Sith so many Kings and Queens Princes and Princesses Lords and Ladies do wear these little Cords in memory of the Band wherewith Christ was bound in the time his Passion So then the Cord being worn in remembrance of the Passion which is the cause of our Redemption Graces Merits and Spiritual Good let us see here How we ought to have the Passion of our Saviour alwayes in our memory THE Seraphical Father St. Francis a little after his conversion weeping and lamenting very bitterly said to a Gentleman that desired to know the reason thereof Jesus Christ is crucified for us and no man thinketh of it no man is mindful of it Non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum No man setteth Christ Jesus in his Passion before their eyes Dion Carth. maketh the like complaint saying Our Lord hath ministred unto us copious matter of consideration of his love yet alas it doth not touch our hearts so that it seemes that we are more senseless than insensible creatures and more obdurate than hard stones For when he suffered death on the Cross the Earth did quake Darkness ascended Rocks were rent Monuments opened and the Dead arose as it were suffering with him and detesting the cruel injuries done unto him But we alas do little compassionate him O great perversity He hath suffered grievous things for us and scarce any affection of compassion toucheth our hearts If we were his members and he our head we could not but grieve at his paines If there were any bowels of pitty in us and we should see a brute beast to suffer such things we should naturally be moved to condole him And it doth not move us when we see our Lord and Master of his exceeding charity to suffer so grievous paines for us Quid commisisti saith St. Augustine ut sie judicareris O blessed Saviour what crime hast thou committed to be thus judged What sin hast thou perpetrated What offence hast thou given What is the cause of thy death What is the occasion of thy slaughter O! saith he the wicked sinneth and the just is punished the guilty offendeth and the innocent is chastised the impious committeth the offence and the godly is condemned what the wicked deserveth the good suffereth what the servant oweth the master payeth what man meriteth God endureth O amiable death O desirable passion O admirable profundity The least that we can do is to have a continual memory of so great a benefit of so great charity and as the same holy Father saith Sit nobis toto fixus in corde qui pro nobis fuit totus fixus in cruce Let him be wholly fixed and placed in our hearts who was wholly fixed and fastened on the Cross for us and the Spouse in the Canticles saith Chap. 8. Put me as a seal upon thy heart as a seal upon thy arm Let thy heart be alwayes occupied in the cogitation and memory of my Passion and let thy strength vertue and force be sustained by the vertue of my sufferings I do alwayes conserve the wounds of my body that thou mightest keep the memory of my Passion alwayes in thy mind and soul the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Wiseman doth also invite us thereto Eccl. 29. Forget not the kindness of a surety for he hath given his life for thee Let us as St. Bernardine saith by mental consideration gather together in a bundle all his derisions flagellations thorns nails dolours pains exprobrations mockings buffets blowes spittings confusions and such like to contemplate devoutly behold mentally and tast sweetly that we may say with the Spouse in the Canticles Chap. 1. A bundle of myrrh my beloved in his Passion is to me he shall abide between my breasts that is between our understanding contemplating his passion and our will or affection tasting it How pleasing this bundle was to the holy Father St. Francis is manifest in that having had an apparition of our Saviour Crucified his Soul was so penetrated by the force thereof that thenceforth whensoever it came to his mind he could scarce containe himself from tears and sighs And S. Bonaventure saith of him that Christ crucified did continually abide between the breasts of his mind as a bundle of myrrh into whom by the fire of excessive love he desired to be transformed And in another place he saith That by a sevenfold apparition of our Saviour on the Cross he was wholly transformed into the Image of Christ crucified by extatical love and in the 13. Chapter of his life he in a manner assigneth the reason of that miracle which Cardinal Bellarmine calleth the greatest and most singular miracle of all others and as it were a wonder of wonders of his sacred stigmats to have been the continual meditation of Christs Passion Conformably thereunto St. Bernardine saith He was transformed with so great love and fervent ardour into Jesus Christ crucified that by a miracle never heard of in any ages the benignity of our Saviour hath impressed in his flesh the similitude of his most holy Passion ordaining him his Standard-bearer in a new rememoration of his Crucifying And therefore Saint Antonine the glory of St. Dominicks Order and Arch-bishop of Florence said That because the memory of Christs Passion seemed to be extinguished in the minds of men through coldness and tepidity therefore our Lord would exsuscitate and renew the memory thereof by the manifest impression of his wounds or stigmats in the body of Saint Francis whereby the Clemency of Almighty God condescending to his lovers beyond all estimation hath given him the banner of the Crosse to be carried in his body that he who was prevented by a wonderful love of the Cross might also become marvellous by the wonderful honour of the Cross How profitable a thing is it to have always the Passion of our Saviour in our Minds THe Devout servant of Christ Saint Francis col 23. of his works saith I desire you that you have always before your eyes our Lords Passion which will roborate you and animate you to suffer more valiantly for him And the Prince of the Apostles offereth us no other coat of fence no other Armour against all incursions and wounds but this saying 1 Pet. 4. Christ having suffered in the flesh be you also armed with the same cogitations As if he should say Christ hath suffered so great things for you excogitate and consider what ye ought to do and suffer for him rather for your selves to flie vice and follow vertue which he hath commended unto us by his Passion Saint Paul teacheth us the same saying Think diligently seriously consider and ponder him
this Mystery how the Angel Gabriel saluted our Blessed Lady with the title of Full of Grace and declared unto her the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Then say Our Father once Hail Mary ten times OVr Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Hail Mary full of Grace our Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death Amen The Prayer O Holy Mary Queen of Virgins by the most high Mystery of the Incarnation of thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ by which our salvation was so happily begun obtain for us by thy Intercession light to know this so great benefit which he hath bestowed upon us vouchsafing in it to make him our Brother and thee his own most beloved Mother our Mother also Amen The second Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this mystery how the blessed Virgin Mary understanding from the Angel that her Cousin St. Elizabeth had conceived went with hast into the Mountains of Judaea to visit her and remained with her three moneths The Prayer O Holy Virgin most spotless mirror of Humility by that exceeding Charity which moved thee to visit thy holy Cousin St. Elizabeth obtain for us by thy Intercession that our hearts may be so visited by thy most Holy Son that free from all sin we may praise him and give him thanks for ever Amen The third Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how the B. Virgin Mary when the time of her delivery was come brought forth our Redeemer Christ Jesus at midnight and laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the Inns of Bethlem The Prayer O Most pure Mother of God by thy Virginal and most joyful delivery by which thou gavest unto the world thy only Son our Saviour we beseech thee obtain for us by thy Intercession grace to lead so pure and holy a life in this world that we may worthily sing without ceasing both day and night the mercies of thy Son and his benefits to us by thee Amen The fourth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how the most B. Virgin Mary on the day of her Purification presented the child Jesus in the Temple where Holy Simeon giving thanks to God with great devotion received him into his armes The Prayer O Holy Virgin most admirable Mistris and pattern of obedience who didst present in the Temple the Lord of the Temple obtain for us by thy Intercession Grace of thy beloved Son that with Holy Simeon and devout Anna we may praise and glorifie him for ever Amen The fifth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how the blessed Virgin Mary having lost without any fault of hers her Beloved Son in Jerusalem she sought him for the space of three dayes and at length found him the third day in the Temple in the midst of the Doctors disputing with them being of the age of twelve years The Prayer MOst blessed Virgin more then Martyr in thy suffering and yet the comfort of such as are afflicted by that unspeakable joy wherewith thy soul was ravished in finding thy beloved Son in the Temple in the midst of the Doctors disputing with them obtain him for us so to seek him and so to find him in the Holy Catholick Church that we may never be separated from him Amen Salve Regina HAil Holy Queen Mother of Mercy our life our sweetness and our hope To thee do we cry poor banished sons of Eve To thee do we send our sighs mourning and weeping in this valley of tears turn then Most gracious Advocate thy eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile ended shew unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus O most Clement most Pious and most sweet Virgin Mary Vers. Pray for us holy Mother of God Resp That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ Let us pray HEar O merciful God the Prayer of thy servants that we who are met together in the society of the B. Virgin Mother of God by her intercession may by thee be delivered from the dangers that continually hang over us Amen The dolorous or sorrowful Mysteries for Tuesdayes and Frydayes through the year and Sundayes in Lent The first Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus was so afflicted for us in the Garden of Gethsemany that his Body was bathed in a bloody sweat which ran trickling down in great drops unto the ground Our Father Hail Mary as before The Prayer MOst holy Virgin more then Martyr by that ardent Prayer which thy beloved Son poured forth unto his Father in the Garden vouchsafe so to intercede for us that our passions reduced to the obedience of Reason we may alwayes and in all things conform and subject our selves to the Will of God Amen The second Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus Christ was most cruelly scourged in Pilate's house the number of the stripes they gave him being above five thousand As was revealed to St. Brigit The Prayer O Mother of God ever flowing fountain of patience by those stripes thy only and most Beloved Son vouchsafed to suffer for us obtain of him for us grace that we may know how to mortifie our rebellious sences and cut off all occasions of sinning with that sword of grief and compassion which pierced thy most tender soul Amen The third Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mysterie how those cruel Ministers of Satan platted a Crown of sharp thorns and most cruelly planted it on the most Sacred Head of our Lord Jesus Christ The Prayer O Mother of our Eternal Prince and King of Glory by those sharp thorns wherewith his most holy head was pierced we beseech thee that by thy Intercession we may be delivered here from all motions of Pride and in the day of Judgement from that confusion which our sins deserve Amen The fourth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus Christ being sentenced to die bore with great patience the Cross which was laid upon upon him for his greater torment and ignominy The Prayer O Holy Virgin Example of patience by the most painful carrying of the Cross in which thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ bore the heavy weight of our sins obtain for us of him by thy intercession courage and strength to follow his steps and bear our Cross after him unto the end of our life Amen The fifth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how
our Lord Jesus Christ being come to Mount Calvary was stripped off his Cloths and his hands and feet most cruelly nailed to the Cross in the presence of his most afflicted Mother The Prayer O Holy Mary Mother of God as the body of thy beloved Son was for us extended on the Cross so may our desires be daily more and more stretched out in his Service and our hearts wounded with compassion of his most bitter passion And thou O most B. Virgin vouchsafe to negotiate for and with us the work of our salvation by thy powerful Intercession Amen Hail holy Queen c. with the vers and prayer as above The Glorious Mysteries for Wednesdays and Saturdays through the year and Sundays after Faster until Advent LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus Christ triumphing gloriously over death rose again the third day Immortal and Impassible Our Father Hail Mary as before The Prayer O Glorious Virgin Mary by that unspeakable joy thou receivedst in the Resurrection of thy only Son we beseech thee obtain of him for us that our hearts may never go away after the false joyes of this world but may be ever and wholly employed in the pursuit of the only true and solid joyes of heaven Amen The second Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mysterie how our Lord Jesus Christ forty dayes after his Resurrection ascended into heaven attended by Angels in the sight of his most Holy Mother his Holy Apostles and Disciples to the great admiration of them all The Prayer O Mother of God comfort the afflicted as thy beloved Son when he ascended into heaven lifted up his hands and blessed his Apostles so vouchsafe most holy Mother to lift up thy pure hands to him for us that we may enjoy the benefit of his Blessing and thine here on earth and hereafter in heaven Amen The third Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus Christ being seated on the right hand of God sent as he had promised the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles who after he was ascended returning to Jerusalem continued in prayer and supplication with the B. Virgin Mary expecting the performance of his promise The Prayer O Sacred Virgin Tabernacle of the Holy Ghost we beseech thee obtain by thy intercession that this most sweet Comforter whom thy beloved Son sent down upon his Apostles filling them thereby with spiritual joy may teach us in this world the true way of Salvation and make us walk in the pathes of vertue and good works Amen The fourth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mysterie how the glorious Virgin twelve years after the resurrection of her Son passed out of this world unto him and was by him assumed into Heaven accompanied by the Holy Angels The Prayer O Most Prudent Virgin who entring the Heavenly Palace didst fill the Holy Angels with joy and men with hope vouchsafe to intercede for us in the hour of our death that free from the illusions and temptations of the devil we may joyfully and securely pass out of this temporal state to enjoy the happiness of Eternal Life Amen The fifth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mysterie how the glorious Virgin Mary who was with great Jubilee and exultation of the whole Court of Heaven and particular glory of all the Saints crowned by her Son with the brightest Diadem of Glory The Prayer O Glorious Queen of all the heavenly Citizens we beseech thee accept this Rosary which as a Crown of Roses we offer at thy feet and grant most glorious Lady that by thy Intercession our souls may be inflamed with so ardent a desire of seeing Thee so gloriously crowned that it may never dye in us until it shall be changed into the happy fruition of thy blessed sight Amen Advertisement concerning the Arch-Confraternity of Saint Francis Honour is to be given to those to whom it is due Therefore let the Reader be pleased to understand that this Treatise is collected out of the great Manuel of Father Angelus Francis Professor of Divinity of the Seraphical Order of St. Francis my dear and most honoured Friend THE ARCH-CONFRATERNITY Of the Seraphical Father St. FRANCIS Called The Cord of the Passion The Original of this Arch-Confraternity AS in all things our holy Father St. Francis hath born the figure and sign of Christ crucified thereby to reduce unto his memory the Passion of our Saviour Even so he hath done it in his exterior habit as may be seen in the 3. Chap. of his Life written by St. Bonavent where it is related that he having heard the words of our Saviour Mat. 10 to his Apostles going to preach Do not possess gold or silver nor money in your purses nor a scrip for the way neither two coats neither shooes c. he cryed out with great joy This is that I desire this I covet earnestly from the bowels of my heart And thereupon presently cast off his shooes from his feet laid away his staff cast away his purse and detesting money was content with one thin coat or tunick made in the form of a Cross which he girded with a Cord. Then St. Dominick Founder of the holy Order of Preachers who was a great friend and very familiar with St. Francis one day after much spiritual discourse concerning their holy Orders he demanded of him the girdle which he did wear which after many humble denial he obtained and ever after did wear with great reverence under his habit by whose example each one did prosecute it with great devotion And truly such was the Vertue and Holiness of the Partriark St. Francis that all the people did flock to him of all qualities sex conditions ages men and women Clergy and Layetie married and single noble and poor Citizens and Pesants they did forsake the Towns Husbands left their Wives the Wives their Husbands and houses were depopulated through devotion they did bear to the Saint each one striving to get something that the holy man had touched One would say that these assemblies were like to that of the Christians in the Acts of the Apostles Ch. 19. who brought from St. Pauls body napkins or handkerchiefs laid upon the sick and the diseases departed from them and the wicked spirits went out The words in the Latin Text are sudaria semicinctia which as the Reverend Father Cornelius a lapide saith in his learned Commentaries on this place may very well signifie small or sirait girdles or half girdles which he proves out of Isidore lib. 19. whereby we may gather that it is no new thing to take the girdles of Saints and holy men out of devotion neither is it done without profit both spiritual and temporal as is to be seen in the life of our holy Father Saint Francis where amongst other Miracles Saint Bonaventure recounts one of a certain man religious and searing God who having a Cord wherewith the Saint
which sustained such contradiction such and so great opprobries mockings contumelies blows stripes torments and death of sinners and for sinners who did not only contradict him in words but with deeds and stripes That you be not wearied or loose your force fainting in your minds Heb. 12. Let us therefore arm our selves with the memory of this sacred Passion because nothing is troublesome nothing seemeth hard nothing is accounted adverse to him that remembreth how and what Christ suffered for him There is no shield more efficacious to resist temptations of the Devil the Flesh and the World than the cogitation of Christ crucified And therefore holy Saint Bernard said well That such is the vertue and force of the Cross of Christ that if it be conserved faithfully in memory no disordinate desires no carnal delight no desire of sin can prevail but forthwith at the remembrance thereof all the squadrons of sin will vanish And in another place he saith There is nothing so efficacious to heal the wounds of our conscience and to purge our souls as the frequent meditation of the wounds of Christ St. Augustin knew it by experience saying of himself In omnibus non inveni tam efficax remedium quam vulnera Christi Manual c. 32. I have not found in all things so efficacious a remedy as Christs Wounds And in another place he saith Nihil tam salutiferum nobis est quam quotidie cogitare quanta pro nobis pertulit Deus There is nothing that conduceth more to our salvation than daily to think what great things Christ hath suffered for us Because the Sufferings or Passion of our Saviour well considered doth reform all inordinate affections extinguish all flames of vice and conserve the fire of Devotion in our breasts Nothing more forceable to obtain Mercy than the memory of that which is the Abysse of Mercy so that Albertus Magnus had good reason to say That there was nothing more satisfactory for our sins and to avoid Purgatory than it Yea our Saviour revealed to St. Gertrude that next to the Masse and Communion there was nothing more Meritorious than this exercise And S. Catherine of Bolognia saith That by it we may gain victory in every Combat and without it we shall easily be vanquished it is the cure of all wounds most comfortable refuge in all adversity it is food that sustaineth and fortifieth the weak spirits it is most sweet Manna a ladder that elevateth our hearts to heaven the harbour of our souls a fountain never dry a most plentiful sea and most secure passage Saint Lydwine having been sick for the space of eight and thirty years had no other consolation than the meditation of Christs Passion for it giveth great force against all afflictions and maketh us to fight for as to incite the Elephants to the battail men shew them blood even so by the representation and memory of the blood of Christ shed for us on the Cross we take courage to fight against the world to vanquish our appetites and desires to forsake all vain honours riches and pleasures this is the armour that Saint Paul St. Augustine St. Francis and many other Saints have used against all temptations this is a present remedy for all tribulations and afflictions It is impossible to relate the great good that our souls may reap by this exercise for as St. Bonaventure saith we cannot offer to God a more acceptable sacrifice for the dead nor bring greater joy to the Angels nor give a more excellent sign of recognisance to the holy Trinity than to employ our selves ordinarily in it And in another place he saith That he that doth exercise himself attentively and devoutly in it findeth there abundantly all things that are profitable and necessary for him and needeth not to seek any thing out of Jesus crucified and amongst all other exercises of a spiritual life none more profitable none that carrieth the soul to a higher degree of perfection than the meditation of the life and death of our Redeemer which Christ himself hath revealed to a holy Hermite who earnestly desired Almighty God to shew him what service would be most grateful to his Divine Majesty at length he saw one naked shaking with cold bearing a great Cross of whom he asked what he was who replied I am Jesus Christ thou hast often demanded to know what service is most pleasing unto me assure thy self that to help me to bear my Crosse Wounds and Passion in thy heart is most pleasing and grateful unto me The several Hours of the Passion of our Saviour Whereby the Soul may be alwayes mindful of her Redemption AT 6. a clock in the Evening Our most humble Redeemer Jesus Christ true God and Man on his knees did wash the Feet of his Disciples And shall not I cast away all pride and imitate the humility of my God willingly exercising all offices how base and humble soever for the profit of my neighbour At 7. Our most charitable Redeemer Jesus Christ by an ineffable love towards men gave them his body and his blood for the nurture of their souls ordaining the blessed Sacrament of the Altar What love shall I render to my Saviour for so great love what desire what reverence what affection ought I to have towards this venerable Sacrament At 8. Our most amiable Redeemer Jesus Christ gave his last adieu to his faithful recommending unto them mutual Charity demanding it of God his Father O my Soul by charity to one another we are known whether we be true children of God At 9. Our most pious Redeemer Jesus Christ coming to the Garden of Olivet surprised with a natural sadness of death had recourse to prayer three times and resigned his will to God his Father and did cast a bloody sweat from all his body let us presently run to God by prayer when we are in any affliction or danger let us never stay in the creatures but cast our selves into the hands of our Creator At 10. Our most couragious Redeemer Jesus Christ goeth to meet his enemies voluntarily offering himself to death and refuseth not to kiss the Traytor Judas And shall I O my God dare to betray thee by my sinne for some base creature or vain pleasure it were better for me to embrace all the torments of this life yea to die and so to suffer with my Saviour At 11. Our most milde Redeemer Jesus Christ did suffer himself to be taken by the wicked and to be bound with rough Cords and to be treated as a malefactor and thief and I who by my sins am the cause of all this will not suffer any thing from my neighbor without seeking revenge At 12. Our most sweet Redeemer Jesus Christ Lamb of God is outragiously treated before Annas the high Priest and he who is innocency it self is falsly accused before him yet I who am repleat with imperfections and offences towards God and my neighbour cannot endure that any should accuse me or