St. Coleta
Bollandus relates of St. Coleta, that one day, when she was hearing the Mass of her confessor, she suddenly exclaimed at the elevation: “My God! O
Jesus! O ye Angels and Saints O ye men and sinners, behold the great marvels! “After the Mass, her confessor asked her why she had wept so bitterly and uttered such pitiable cries: “Had your Reverence,” she said, “heard and seen the things which I heard and saw, perhaps you would have wept, and exclaimed more than I have done.” “What was it that you saw?” asked her confessor further. “Although that which I heard and saw,” she replied,” is so sublime and so divine that no man can ever find words to express it in a becoming manner, yet I will endeavor to describe it to your Reverence as well as my feeble language will permit. When your Reverence was raising the Sacred
Host, I saw our Lord Jesus Christ as if hanging on the cross, shedding His Blood, and praying to His heavenly Father in most lamentable accents: “Behold, O My Father, in what condition I was once hanging on the cross and suffering for the redemption of the world. Behold My wounds, My sufferings, My death: I have suffered all this in order that poor sinners might not be lost. But now Thou wilt send them to hell for their sins. What good, then, will result from my sufferings and cruel death! Those damned souls, when in hell, instead of thanking Me for my Passion, will only curse Me for it ; but should they be saved, they would bless Me for all eternity. I beseech Thee, My Father, to spare poor sinners and to forgive them for My sake and, for the sake of My Passion, preserve them from being damned forever.”
ST. JOHN A. FECUNDO
It is related in the life of St. John a Facundo, O. S. A.,that he was unusually long in saying his Mass. For this reason no one liked to serve it. His Prior told him that he must not be longer in saying his Mass than were the other priests. He tried to obey, but finding obedience in this point so extremely difficult, he begged his Prior to permit him to say his Mass in the same manner as formerly. After hearing his reasons, the Prior most willingly granted this permission. With John’s leave, he told these reasons to the brothers of the convent. They were the following: ” Believe me,” he said, ” that Father John’s Mass lasts so long because God bestows on him the privilege of seeing the mysteries of the Holy Sacrifice, which are so sublime
that no human mind can understand them. Of these mysteries he told me things so sublime that I was overwhelmed with holy awe, and almost beside myself.
Believe me, Jesus Christ shows Himself to this Father in a most wonderful manner, converses with Him most sweetly, and sends forth upon him from His wounds heavenly light and splendor so refreshing for both body and soul that he might live without any other nourishment. Father John also sees the body of Jesus Christ in its heavenly glory and beauty shining like a most brilliant sun. Now, considering how great and how unspeakably sublime the graces and favors are which men derive from saying Mass, or from hearing
it, I have firmly resolved never to omit saying or hearing Mass, and will exhort others to do the same.”
ST. DOMINIC
St. Dominic was once saying Mass in London, England, in the presence of the King and Queen and three hundred other persons. As he was making the
memento for the living, he suddenly became enraptured, remaining motionless for the space of a whole hour. All present were greatly astonished, and did not know what to think or to make of it. The king ordered the Server to pull the priest’s robe that he might go on with his Mass. But on attempting to do so, the Server became so terribly frightened that he was unable to comply with the king’s order. After an hour’s time, St. Dominic was able to continue the Mass, when, behold! at the elevation of the Sacred Host, the king and
all who were present saw, instead of the Host in the hands of the priest, the holy Infant Jesus, at the sight of which all experienced great interior joy. At the same time they beheld the Mother of God in great brilliancy and splendor, and surrounded by twelve bright stars. She took the hand of her Divine Infant to bless with it all those who were present at the Mass.
At this blessing many experienced an ineffable joy, and shed tears of tenderness. At the elevation of the chalice every one saw a cross uprising from it, with Jesus Christ hanging upon it in a most pitiable condition, and shedding all His Blood. The Blessed Virgin was also seen sprinkling, as it were, the sacred blood over the people, upon which everyone received a clear
knowledge of his sins, and a deep sorrow for the same, so much so that everyone who saw them could not help weeping with them.
Mass being ended, St. Dominic ascended the pulpit, and addressed the people as follows: ” Sing ye to the Lord a new Canticle, because he hath done wonderful things.” “You have all seen with your own eyes, and experienced in your own hearts, the wonderful things which Jesus Christ has done in the Most Blessed Sacrament. You have seen with your eyes, and it has been given to you to understand how Jesus Christ the Savior of the world and the son of Mary, has been pleased to be born anew, and to be again crucified for you. In this divine and tremendous mystery of Holy Mass, you have witnessed only things most holy, most sublime, most consoling, and most touching. It is not only one or a few of you who have seen these wonderful things, but the entire three hundred here assembled have witnessed them. Now, if there be but one little spark of divine love in your hearts, sentiments of gratitude and hymns of praise in honor of the Divine goodness and Majesty ought to flow incessantly from your lips.”
ST. ISIDORE
ST. ISIDORE was hired by a wealthy farmer to cultivate his farm. He would, however, never commence to work in the morning before he had heard Mass. He was accused, by some of his fellow-laborers to his master, of staying
too long in the church, and of being always too late at work. His m master, to convince himself of the truth of the accusation, went out early in the morning to see whether Isidore came in due time to the farm, but how great was his astonishment when he beheld two Angels, dressed in white, ploughing with two yoke of oxen, and St. Isidore in their midst. From this time forward
Isidore was held in great veneration by the wealthy farmer, and by all who heard of the fact.
ST. ANTHONY
St. Anthony, Archbishop of Florence, relates that two young men went hunting on a holy-day of obligation. Only one of them took care to hear Mass
previously. Not long after they had started, a frightful thunder-storm came on, and a flash of lightning instantly killed the one who had not heard Mass. The other young man was panic-stricken at this, especially as he heard, at the same time, a voice saying: “Strike him too.” A little after, he felt encouraged by another voice, which said: “I cannot strike him, because he heard Mass this morning.”