Saint Mark the Evangelist

Feast Day: April 25th

Saint Mark

Evangelist

 

Profile

It is assumed in this article that the individual referred to in Acts as John Mark (xii, 12, 25; xv, 37), John (xiii, 5, 13), Mark (xv, 39), is identical with the Mark mentioned by St. Paul (Col., iv, 10; II Tim., iv, 11; Philem., 24) and by St. Peter (I Peter, v, 13). Their identity is not questioned by any ancient writer of note, while it is strongly suggested, on the one hand by the fact that Mark of the Pauline Epistles was the cousin (ho anepsios) of Barnabas (Col., iv, 10), to whom Mark of Acts seems to have been bound by some special tie (Acts, xv, 37, 39); on the other by the probability that the Mark, whom St. Peter calls his son (I Peter, v, 13), is no other than the son of Mary, the Apostle's old friend in Jerusalem (Acts, xxi, 12). To the Jewish name John was added the Roman pronomen Marcus, and by the latter he was commonly known to the readers of Acts (xv, 37, ton kaloumenon Markon) and of the Epistles. Mark's mother was a prominent member of the infant Church at Jerusalem; it was to her house that Peter turned on his release from prison; the house was approached by a porch (pulon), there was a slave girl (paidiske), probably the portress, to open the door, and the house was a meeting-place for the brethren, "many" of whom were praying there the night St. Peter arrived from prison (Acts, xii, 12-13).

    When, on the occasion of the famine of A.D. 45-46, Barnabas and Saul had completed their ministration in Jerusalem, they took Mark with them on their return to Antioch (Acts, xii, 25). Not long after, when they started on St. Paul's first Apostolic journey, they had Mark with them as some sort of assistant (hupereten, Acts, xiii, 5); but the vagueness and variety of meaning of the Greek term makes it uncertain in what precise capacity he acted. Neither selected by the Holy Spirit, nor delegated by the Church of Antioch, as were Barnabas and Saul (Acts, xiii, 2-4), he was probably taken by the Apostles as one who could be of general help. The context of Acts, xiii, 5, suggests that he helped even in preaching the Word. When Paul and Barnabas resolved to push on from Perga into central Asia Minor, Mark, departed from them, if indeed he had not already done so at Paphos, and returned to Jerusalem (Acts, xiii, 13). What his reasons were for turning back, we cannot say with certainty; Acts, xv, 38, seems to suggest that he feared the toil. At any rate, the incident was not forgotten by St. Paul, who refused on account of it to take Mark with him on the second Apostolic journey. This refusal led to the separation of Paul and Barnabas, and the latter, taking Mark with him, sailed to Cyprus (Acts, xv, 37-40). At this point (A.D. 49-50) we lose sight of Mark in Acts, and we meet him no more in the New Testament, till he appears some ten years afterwards as the fellow-worker of St. Paul, and in the company of St. Peter, at Rome.

    St. Paul, writing to the Colossians during his first Roman imprisonment (A.D. 59-61), says: "Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, touching whom you have received commandments; if he come unto you, receive him" (Col., iv, 10). At the time this was written, Mark was evidently in Rome, but had some intention of visiting Asia Minor. About the same time St. Paul sends greetings to Philemon from Mark, whom he names among his fellow-workers (sunergoi, Philem., 24). The Evangelist's intention of visiting Asia Minor was probably carried out, for St. Paul, writing shortly before his death to Timothy at Ephesus, bids him pick up Mark and bring him with him to Rome, adding "for he is profitable to me for the ministry" (II Tim., iv, 11). If Mark came to Rome at this time, he was probably there when St. Paul was martyred. Turning to I Peter, v, 13, we read: "The Church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you, and (so doth) Mark my son" (Markos, o huios aou). This letter was addressed to various Churches of Asia Minor (I Peter, i, 1), and we may conclude that Mark was known to them. Hence, though he had refused to penetrate into Asia Minor with Paul and Barnabas, St. Paul makes it probable, and St. Peter certain, that he went afterwards, and the fact that St. Peter sends Mark's greeting to a number of Churches implies that he must have been widely known there. In calling Mark his "son", Peter may possibly imply that he had baptized him, though in that case teknon might be expected rather than huios (cf. I Cor., iv, 17; I Tim., i, 2, 18; II Tim., i, 2; ii, 1; Tit., i, 4; Philem., 10). The term need not be taken to imply more than affectionate regard for a younger man, who had long ago sat at Peter's feet in Jerusalem, and whose mother had been the Apostle's friend (Acts, xii, 12). As to the Babylon from which Peter writers, and in which Mark is present with him, there can be no reasonable doubt that it is Rome. The view of St. Jerome: "St. Peter also mentions this Mark in his First Epistle, while referring figuratively to Rome under the title of Babylon" (De vir. Illustr., viii), is supported by all the early Father who refer to the subject. It may be said to have been questioned for the first time by Erasmus, whom a number of Protestant writers then followed, that they might the more readily deny the Roman connection of St. Peter. Thus, we find Mark in Rome with St. Peter at a time when he was widely known to the Churches of Asia Minor. If we suppose him, as we may, to have gone to Asia Minor after the date of the Epistle to the Colossians, remained there for some time, and returned to Rome before I Peter was written, the Petrine and Pauline references to the Evangelist are quite intelligible and consistent.

    When we turn to tradition, Papias (Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", III, xxxix) asserts not later than A.D. 130, on the authority of an "elder", that Mark had been the interpreter (hermeneutes) of Peter, and wrote down accurately, though not in order, the teaching of Peter. A widespread, if somewhat late, tradition represents St. Mark as the founder of the Church of Alexandria. Though strangely enough Clement and Origen make no reference to the saint's connection with their city, it is attested by Eusebius (op. cit., II, xvi, xxiv), by St. Jerome ("De Vir. Illust.", viii), by the Apostolic Constitutions (VII, xlvi), by Epiphanius ("Hær;.", li, 6) and by many later authorities. The "Martyrologium Romanum" (25 April) records: "At Alexandria the anniversary of Blessed Mark the Evangelist . . . at Alexandria of St. Anianus Bishop, the disciple of Blessed Mark and his successor in the episcopate, who fell asleep in the Lord." The date at which Mark came to Alexandria is uncertain. The Chronicle of Eusebius assigns it to the first years of Claudius (A.D. 41-4), and later on states that St. Mark's first successor, Anianus, succeeded to the See of Alexandria in the eighth year of Nero (61-2). This would make Mark Bishop of Alexandria for a period of about twenty years. This is not impossible, if we might suppose in accordance with some early evidence that St. Peter came to Rome in A.D. 42, Mark perhaps accompanying him. But Acts raise considerable difficulties. On the assumption that the founder of the Church of Alexandria was identical with the companion of Paul and Barnabas, we find him at Jerusalem and Antioch about A.D. 46 (Acts xii, 25), in Salamis about 47 (Acts, xiii, 5), at Antioch again about 49 or 50 (Acts, xv, 37-9), and when he quitted Antioch, on the separation of Paul and Barnabas, it was not to Alexandria but to Cyprus that he turned (Acts, xv, 39). There is nothing indeed to prove absolutely that all this is inconsistent with his being Bishop of Alexandria at the time, but seeing that the chronology of the Apostolic age is admittedly uncertain, and that we have no earlier authority than Eusebius for the date of the foundation of the Alexandrian Church, we may perhaps conclude with more probability that it was founded somewhat later. There is abundance of time between A.D. 50 and 60, a period during which the New Testament is silent in regard to St. Mark, for his activity in Egypt.

    In the preface to his Gospel in manuscripts of the Vulgate, Mark is represented as having been a Jewish priest: "Mark the Evangelist, who exercised the priestly office in Israel, a Levite by race". Early authorities, however, are silent upon the point, and it is perhaps only an inference from his relation to Barnabas the Levite (Acts, iv, 36). Papias (in Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", III, xxxix) says, on the authority of "the elder", that Mark neither heard the Lord nor followed Him (oute gar ekouse tou kurion oute parekoluthesen auto), and the same statement is made in the Dialogue of Adamantius (fourth century, Leipzig, 1901, p. 8), by Eusebius ("Demonst. Evang.", III, v), by St. Jerome ("In Matth."), by St. Augustine ("De Consens. Evang."), and is suggested by the Muratorian Fragment. Later tradition, however, makes Mark one of the seventy-two disciples, and St. Epiphanius ("Hær", li, 6) says he was one of those who withdrew from Christ (John, vi, 67). The later tradition can have no weight against the earlier evidence, but the statement that Mark neither heard the Lord nor followed Him need not be pressed too strictly, nor force us to believe that he never saw Christ. Many indeed are of opinion that the young man who fled naked from Gethsemane (Mark, xiv, 51) was Mark himself. Early in the third century Hippolytus ("Philosophumena", VII, xxx) refers to Mark as ho kolobodaktulos, i.e. "stump-fingered" or "mutilated in the finger(s)", and later authorities allude to the same defect. Various explanations of the epithet have been suggested: that Mark, after he embraced Christianity, cut off his thumb to unfit himself for the Jewish priesthood; that his fingers were naturally stumpy; that some defect in his toes is alluded to; that the epithet is to be regarded as metaphorical, and means "deserted" (cf. Acts, xiii, 13).

    The date of Mark's death is uncertain. St. Jerome ("De Vir. Illustr.", viii) assigns it to the eighth year of Nero (62-63) (Mortuus est octavo Neronis anno et sepultus Alexandriæ), but this is probably only an inference from the statement of Eusebius ("Hist. eccl.", II, xxiv), that in that year Anianus succeeded St. Mark in the See of Alexandria. Certainly, if St. Mark was alive when II Timothy was written (II Tim., iv, 11), he cannot have died in 61-62. Nor does Eusebius say he did; the historian may merely mean that St. Mark then resigned his see, and left Alexandria to join Peter and Paul at Rome. As to the manner of his death, the "Acts" of Mark give the saint the glory of martyrdom, and say that he died while being dragged through the streets of Alexandria; so too the Paschal Chronicle. But we have no evidence earlier than the fourth century that the saint was martyred. This earlier silence, however, is not at all decisive against the truth of the later traditions. For the saint's alleged connection with Aquileia, see "Acta SS.", XI, pp. 346-7, and for the removal of his body from Alexandria to Venice and his cultus there, ibid., pp. 352-8. In Christian literature and art St. Mark is symbolically represented by a lion. The Latin and Greek Churches celebrate his feast on 25 April, but the Greek Church keeps also the feast of John Mark on 27 September.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910, Remy Lafort, Censor
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York


St. Mark, Evangelist
by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger
 
Two Saints by the name of Mark, are mentioned in Holy Writ. The first is Mark the Evangelist, whose festival we celebrate today. The other is Mark, surnamed John, who assisted St. Paul and St. Barnabas in the promulgation of the Gospel. He of whom we speak here was by birth a Jew, of the tribe of Levi. Some say that he was one of the seventy disciples of Christ, but others, more authentic, say that he was converted on the day of Pentecost by the sermon of St. Peter, and was also baptized by this Apostle. Hence the latter, in his Epistle, calls him his son, because he was through him spiritually born again in holy baptism. For the same reason, St. Paul calls Onesimus his son, and wrote to the Corinthians that he had regenerated them through the Gospel.

After St. Mark had been baptized he manifested such zeal in his new faith, that St. Peter chose him as his travelling companion and interpreter. At Rome, whither he went with the apostle, he had the joy to see the effect of the preaching of the latter in the daily increasing number of the converted. When St. Peter was obliged to leave Rome for a time, he gave the newly converted Christians into the charge of Mark. As these most earnestly requested him to give them in writing all that they had heard, from him and St. Peter, of the Saviour's teaching and miracles, so that they might remember it better and conduct themselves more according to His divine precepts, St. Mark wrote the Gospel which is still extant in the Church of Christ. St. Peter read it after his return and approving of it, sanctioned the reading of it in the assemblies of the faithful. St. Peter afterwards sent his companion into Egypt and other surrounding countries to preach the Gospel, which was done by the Saint with truly apostolic zeal. He went to each city and village, and was so successful in his teaching that not only thousands of idols were thrown from their altars, and numberless heathens adopted the true faith, but the newly converted also endeavored to lead most holy lives. This was the cause that Egypt, until then so addicted to idolatry, became the home of so many hermits and fervent servants of the Almighty. The newly converted were not content with merely discharging the duties which the Gospel enjoined, but observed most scrupulously all counsels given to them by the Evangelists. They divided their property among the poor; possessed nothing as their own; and were extremely temperate, as, after the example of their holy teacher, they abstained from meat and wine, and fasted almost daily. Numberless were those who preserved perpetual virginity. Christians as zealous as these filled the whole land, especially Alexandria, where Mark governed the Church which he had founded, for nineteen years. He had there encountered the most embittered heathens, who could not even endure to hear a Christian spoken of. And yet, notwithstanding this, Mark had increased the number of the faithful to such an extent, by his preaching, his holy life and by the many miracles he had performed on people, by the sign of the Cross, or by calling on the most holy name of Jesus, that the house in which the converts had always assembled to hear the words of Christ, could no longer contain them all, and several additional houses had to be selected.

The idolatrous priests, enraged at this wonderful progress of Christianity instigated the heathens against St. Mark, and endeavored to make away with him. The holy man, fearing that a general persecution of the faithful might ensue, which might lead many, for fear of death, to desert their faith, consecrated Anianus, who had been one of the early converts in Alexandria, and whom the Saint had well instructed in the faith, as bishop, and secretly left the city, to be absent for some time. After two years, which time he employed in visiting other churches, founded by him, he came back to Alexandria. Soon after his return, which could not be kept a secret long, the heathens held a celebration in honor of the idol Serapis, on which occasion many sacrifices were made to this false god. The idolatrous priests, whose rage against St. Mark his absence had not cooled, cried loudly that above all they should search for the Galilean--thus they designated the Saint--and as the most bitter enemy of their gods, sacrifice him to Serapis. The people following these madmen, sought for St. Mark, and found him before the altar offering to God the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass. Binding a cord around his body, they threw him upon the ground, and thus dragged him out of the church and through the streets with such violence, that the whole way was stained, with his blood, and his body cruelly mangled.

At sunset, they threw him into a dark, damp dungeon. During the night, an angel appeared to him, who said: "Mark, servant of the Most High; thy name stands written in the book of life. Thy memory shall never die, and the archangels will receive thy soul into everlasting peace." Scarcely had this comforting vision departed, when Christ, our Savior, appeared to him in the same form in which he had lived when on earth, saying to him these divine words: "Mark! peace be with thee!" The joy of the Saint at this vision was inexpressible. He passed the whole night in prayers and praises to God. The following day at early dawn, the barbarous heathens again dragged him through the streets as they had done the day previous, until his soul went to God. During his martyrdom, he ceased not to praise the Almighty, to preach Christ, and to assure all that he considered it great happiness to die for the faith of the Savior. His last words were those spoken by the Lord upon the Holy Cross: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." The heathens would have burned the Saint's remains, but a sudden hailstorm drove them away, and this gave an opportunity to the Christians to take possession of them and bury them in a cave hewed out of a rock. After many years they were transported to Venice, where at this day they are preserved and held in high honor.

Practical Considerations

St. Mark, an Evangelist of Jesus Christ, abstained from meat and wine and fasted almost daily, besides leading the newly converted Christians to the same self-abnegation by his precept. Did St. Mark possess the divine spirit of the Savior and His Gospel? Who can doubt it? Hence the spirit of Jesus Christ, the spirit of the Gospel, is a spirit of mortification; one that incites to self-immolation. Which spirit rules you when you not only detest self-mortification, but permit to your body all that it desires, though this is evidently against the laws of God and the Church. Why do you take such tender care of it and indulge it in all its caprices? Why will you not mortify it in anything? The spirit of the Savior has not thus taught you; and neither; His spirit nor that of the Church? has hitherto been your guide. Lend him at least your ear, in future and do not permit to your body any sinful pleasures. Deprive it rather, sometimes, even of some of those which are admissible. Punish it, after the example of the Saint, with voluntary penance. "We ought to treat our body," says St. Bernard; "like one who is sick. We refuse the sick many things which they desire, and which in themselves are not hurtful. In like manner we require of them much that they dislike." After this fashion treat your body. If you act differently, allowing it all it desires only to satisfy it; the words of St. Paul to the Roman will become true in your case: "For, if you live according to the flesh, you shall die" (Rom. viii.), namely, an unhappy, eternal death.

It was revealed to St. Mark, that his name was written in the book of life. Is your name also inscribed therein? I am not able to answer this question; but I am able to give you the hope that your name will be found there if you act according to the will of the Lord as laid down in His Gospel. In it Christ has shown the path which leads to Heaven. If you follow it you walk towards eternal happiness. He has clearly indicated what is needful to gain salvation, and if you fulfil his commandments, your name will surely be written in the book of life. Instead, therefore, of empty, impure, heretical books, take the Gospel of Christ: in your hand, read it carefully, examine yourself and then consider how you must regulate your life in accordance with it. For, it is not enough to coniess ones self a Christian and to read the Gospel, but one must also live in accordance with its teachings. "Repent, and believe the Gospel:" said Christ in his first sermon to the people (Mark i.). But whoever truly believes the Gospel, not only believes what it contains, but follows its commandments. "How can a man say that he believes in Christ, when he obeys not His commandments," says St. Cyprian. And I say; how can a man say that he believes the Gospel, if he follows not its precepts, and does not regulate his life in accordance with them? There is no hope for him to believe that his name is recorded in the book of life, if he follows not the teachings of the Gospel. "But all do not obey the Gospel," writes St. Paul (Romans x.). And this is the reason why the names of so many are not inscribed in the book of life. " My sheep hear my voice," says Christ (St. John x.). The sheep that will one day be placed at the right hand of the Lord are the elect. They hear the voice of Christ and obey the calling. That voice sounds in the Gospel. Christ, the Lord, speaks through its words. Whoever wishes to be numbered with the elect must obey the Gospel. "My sheep hear my voice." Do you hear it?


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Prayer to St. Mark as your Patron Saint

Saint Mark, whom I have chosen as my special patron, pray for me that I, too, may one day glorify the Blessed Trinity in heaven. Obtain for me your lively faith, that I may consider all persons, things, and events in the light of almighty God. Pray, that I may be generous in making sacrifices of temporal things to promote my eternal interests, as you so wisely did.

Set me on fire with a love for Jesus, that I may thirst for His sacraments and burn with zeal for the spread of His kingdom. By your powerful intercession, help me in the performance of my duties to God, myself and all the world.

Win for me the virtue of purity and a great confidence in the Blessed Virgin. Protect me this day, and every day of my life. Keep me from mortal sin. Obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Amen


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Hymn to St. Mark the Evalgelist

Already throughout the whole earth there brightly gleams the Light, which shines from the Fathers Throne: the Light which is the fount and source and splendour of the golden light: the Light that never fails, beautifies heaven, and expels darkness from the world.

Blessed Mark, the Evangelical teacher, received into his heart a lovely ray of this sparkling sacred Light. He became as a Lamp reflecting that great Light, and putting to flight the gloom of this world by his brilliant flame.

He was one of the seven fair pillars, and one of the seven golden candlesticks, whose brightness shines as a star throughout the universe. He was one of the foundations that support the lofty structure of the Church.

He was one of the favored living creatures seen of old by the holy Prophet Ezechiel, and by John, the Disciple that leaned on Jesus' breast. Mark was prefigured under the type of a Lion, whose wild roar is heard in the Wilderness.

He was sent by blessed Peter to Aquileia, that city of ancient fame. There he sowed the seed of the divine Word, and, with joy, garnered into heaven a hundredfold of fruit.

There he speedily raised a Christian Church. He gave it solidity of unshaken faith by building it on that faultless Rock, against which the billows, and storms, and floods, vent their rage in vain.

The soldier of Christ returned, wearing a wreath of fair lilies, with palm and laurel and roses: and thus crowned, he joyfully entered Rome, led thither by Christ.

This done, he sets out for Alexandria, and, filled with the Holy Ghost, traverses the ever fertile land of Egypt, preaching that the Only Begotten Son of the Father Almighty had come into the world for the world's salvation.

A cruel mob, enraged against the soldier of Christ, prepared various torments for him: he was bound with chains, pierced with arrows, and, after his holy flesh was torn by scourges, he was thrust into a dismal dungeon.

Mark was the first that taught Alexandria to know the true God. He there built a Church, which he dedicated to Christ, consecrated by the shedding of his own blood, and fortified by the solidity of holy faith.

Glory, praise and empire be to the Father! To thee, O Jesus, Who reignest in heaven above, and to the Holy Ghost, be honour and power! To the undivided Trinity be adoration paid for endless ages! Amen.


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St. Mark, Evangelist
(by Fr. Prosper Gueranger 1870)

The Cycle of holy mother Church brings before us today, the Lion, who, together with the Man, the Ox and the Eagle, stands before the Throne of God (Ezechiel, i. 10). It was on this day, that Mark ascended from earth to heaven, radiant with his triple aureola of Evangelist, Apostle, and Martyr.

As the preaching made to Israel had its four great representatives, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, and Daniel; so, likewise, would God have the New Covenant to be embodied in the four Gospels, which were to make known to the world the Life and teachings of his divine Son. The Holy Fathers tell us, that the Gospels are like the four streams which watered the Garden of pleasure (4 Gen. ii. 10), and that this Garden was a figure of the future Church. The first of the Evangelists, the first to register the actions and words of our Redeemer, is Matthew, whose star will rise in September; the second is Mark, whose brightness gladdens us today; the third is Luke, whose rays will shine upon us in October; the fourth is John, whom we have already seen in Bethlehem, at the Crib of our Emmanuel.

Mark was the beloved disciple of Peter; he was the brilliant satellite of the Sun of the Church. He wrote his Gospel at Rome, under the eyes of the Prince of the Apostles. The Church was already in possession of the history given by Matthew; but the Faithful of Rome wished their own Apostle to narrate what he had witnessed. Peter refused to write it himself, but he bade his disciple take up his pen, and the Holy Ghost guided the hand of the new Evangelist. Mark follows the account given by Matthew; he abridges it, and yet he occasionally adds a word, or an incident, which plainly prove to us that Peter, who had seen and heard all, was his living and venerated authority. One would have almost expected, that the new Evangelist would pass over in silence the history of his master's fall, or, at least, have said as little as possible about it; but no, the Gospel written by Mark is more detailed on Peter's denial than is that of Matthew; and as we read it, we cannot help feeling, that the tears, elicited by Jesus' look, when in the house of Caiphas, were flowing down the Apostle's cheeks, as he described the sad event. Mark's work being finished, Peter examined it and gave it his sanction; the several Churches joyfully received this second account of the mysteries of the world's redemption, and the name of Mark was made known throughout the whole earth.

Matthew begins his Gospel with the human genealogy of the Son of God, and has thus realised the prophetic type of the Man; Mark fulfils that of the Lion, for he commences with the preaching of John the Baptist, whose office as precursor of the Messias, had been foretold by Isaias, where he spoke of the Voice of one crying in the wilderness, as the Lion that makes the desert echo with his roar.

Mark having written his Gospel, was next to labour as an Apostle. Peter sent him, first, to Aquileia, where he founded an important Church: but this was not enough for an Evangelist. When the time designed by God came, and Egypt, the source of countless errors, was to receive the truth, and the haughty and noisy Alexandria was to be raised to the dignity of the second Church of Christendom, the second See of Peter, Mark was sent by his master to effect this great work. By his preaching, the word of salvation took root, grew up, and produced fruit in that most infidel of nations; and the authority of Peter was thus marked, though in different degrees, in the three great Cities of the Empire: Rome, Alexandria and Antioch.

St. Mark may be called the first founder of the Monastic life, by his instituting, in Alexandria itself, what were called the Therapeutes. To him, also, may be justly attributed, the origin of that celebrated Christian school, of Alexandria, which was so flourishing, even in the 2nd Century.

But glorious as were these works of Peter's disciple, the Evangelist and Apostle Mark was also to receive the dignity of Martyr. The success of his preaching excited against him the fury of the idolaters. They were keeping a feast in honor of Serapis; and this gave them an opportunity which they were not likely to lose. They seized Mark, treated him most cruelly, and cast him into prison. It was there that our Risen Lord appeared to him, during the night, and addressed him in these words, which afterwards formed the Arms of the Republic of Venice : "Peace be to thee, Mark, my Evangelist!" To which the disciple answered : "Lord" for such were his feelings of delight and gratitude, that he could say but that one word, as it was with Magdalene, when she saw Jesus on the morning of the Resurrection. On the following day, Mark was put to death by the pagans. He had fulfilled his mission on earth, and heaven opened to receive the Lion, who was to occupy near the throne of the Ancient of days the place allotted to him, as shown to the Prophet of Patmos, in his sublime vision (Apoc. iv.).

In the 9th Century, the West was enriched with the Relics of St. Mark. They were taken to Venice; and, under the protection of the sacred Lion, there began for that City a long period of glory. Faith in so great a Patron achieved wonders; and from the midst of islets and lagoons there sprang into existence a City of beauty and power. Byzantine Art raised up the imposing and gorgeous Church, which was the palladium of the Queen of the Seas; and the new Republic stamped its coinage with the Lion of St. Mark. Happy would it have been for Venice, had she persevered in her loyalty to Rome, and in the ancient severity of her morals!

Saint Mark's Procession

This day is honored in the Liturgy by what is called Saint Mark's Procession. The term, however, is not a correct one, inasmuch as a Procession was a privilege peculiar to the 25th of April previously to the institution of our Evangelist's feast, which, even so late as the 6th Century, had no fixed day in the Roman Church. The real name of this Procession is, The Greater Litanies. The word Litany means Supplication, and is applied to the religious rite of singing certain chants whilst proceeding from place to place, and this in order to propitiate heaven. The two Greek words Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy on us) were also called Litany, as likewise were the invocations which were afterwards added to that cry for Mercy, and which now form a Liturgical prayer used by the Church on certain solemn occasions.

The Greater Litanies, (or Processions,) are so called to distinguish them from the Minor Litanies, that is, Processions of less importance as far as the solemnity and concourse of the Faithful were concerned. We gather from an expression of St. Gregory the Great, that it was an ancient custom in the Roman Church to celebrate, once each year, a Greater Litany, at which all the Clergy and people assisted. This holy Pontiff chose the 25th of April as the fixed day for this Procession, and appointed the Basilica of St. Peter as the Station.

Several writers on the Liturgy have erroneously confounded this institution with the Processions prescribed by St. Gregory for times of public calamity. It existed long before his time, and all that he had to do with it was the fixing it to the 25th of April. It is quite independent of the Feast of St. Mark, which was instituted at a much later period. If the 25th of April occur during Easter Week, the Procession takes place on that day, (unless it be Easter Sunday,) but the Feast of the Evangelist is not kept till after the Octave.

The question naturally presents itself, why did St. Gregory choose the 25th of April for a Procession and Station, in which everything reminds us of compunction and penance, and which would seem so out of keeping with the joyous Season of Easter? The first to give a satisfactory answer to this difficulty, was Canon Moretti, a learned Liturgiologist of last century. In a dissertation of great erudition, he proves that in the 5th, and probably even in the 4th, century, the 25th of April was observed at Rome as a day of great solemnity. The Faithful went, on that day, to the Basilica of St. Peter, in order to celebrate the anniversary of the first entrance of the Prince of the Apostles into Rome, upon which he thus conferred the inalienable privilege of being the Capital of Christendom. It is from that day that we count the twenty-five years, two months and some days that St. Peter reigned as Bishop of Rome. The Sacramentary of St. Leo gives us the Mass of this Solemnity, which afterwards ceased to be kept. St. Gregory, to whom we are mainly indebted for the arrangement of the Roman Liturgy, was anxious to perpetuate the memory of a day, which gave to Rome her grandest glory. He, therefore, ordained that the Church of St. Peter should be the Station of the Great Litany, which was always to be celebrated on that auspicious day. The 25th of April comes so frequently during the Octave of Easter, that it could not be kept as a Feast, properly so called, in honour of St. Peter's entrance into Rome; St. Gregory, therefore, adopted the only means left of commemorating the great event.

But there was a striking contrast resulting from this institution, of which the holy Pontiff was fully aware, but which he could not avoid : it was the contrast between the joys of Paschal Time, and the penitential sentiments wherewith the Faithful should assist at the Procession and Station of the Great Litany. Laden as we are with the manifold graces of this holy Season, and elated with our Paschal joys, we must sober our gladness by reflecting on the motives which led the Church to cast this hour of shadow over our Easter sunshine. After all, we are sinners, with much to be sorry for, and much to fear; we have to avert those scourges which are due to the crimes of mankind; we have, by humbling ourselves and invoking the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints, to obtain the health of our bodies, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth; we have to offer atonement to Divine justice for our own and the world's pride, sinful indulgences, and insubordination. Let us enter into ourselves, and humbly confess that our own share in exciting God's indignation is great; and our poor prayers, united with those of our holy Mother the Church, will obtain mercy for the guilty, and for ourselves who are of the number.

A day, then, like this, of reparation to God's offended Majesty, would naturally suggest the necessity of joining some exterior penance to the interior dispositions of contrition which filled the hearts of Christians. Abstinence from flesh meat has always been observed, on this day, at Rome; and when the Roman Liturgy was established in France, by Pepin and Charlemagne, the Great Litany of the 25th of April was, of course, celebrated, and the Abstinence kept, by the Faithful of that country. A Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 836, enjoined the additional obligation of resting from servile work on this day: the same enactment is found in the Capitularia of Charles the Bald. As regards Fasting, properly so called, being contrary to the spirit of Paschal Time, it would seem never to have been observed on this day, at least not generally. Amalarius, who lived in the 9th Century, asserts that it was not then practised even in Rome.

During the Procession, the Litany of the Saints is sung, followed by several Versicles and Prayers. The Mass of the Station is celebrated in the Lenten Rite, that is, without the Gloria in excelsis, and in purple Vestments. We have inserted the Litany of the Saints in the following volume, for the Rogation Days.

We take this opportunity of protesting against the negligence of Christians on this subject. Even persons who have the reputation of being spiritual, think nothing of being absent from the Litanies said on St. Mark's and the Rogation Days. One would have thought, that when the Holy See took from these Days the obligation of Abstinence, the Faithful would be so much the more earnest to join in the duty still left, the duty of Prayer. The people's presence at the Litanies is taken for granted : and it is simply absurd, that a religious rite of public reparation should be one from which almost all should keep away. We suppose that these Christians will acknowledge the importance of the petitions made in the Litanies; but God is not obliged to hear them in favour of such as ought to make them and yet do not. This is one of the many instances which might be brought forward of the strange delusions into which private and isolated devotion are apt to degenerate. When St. Charles Borromeo first took possession of his See of Milan, he found this negligence among his people, and that they left the Clergy to go through the Litanies of the 25th of April by themselves. He assisted at them himself, and walked bare-footed in the Procession. The people soon followed the sainted Pastor's example.

Let us return to the holy Evangelist, and listen to the Churches of the East and West speaking his praise. We will begin with a Hymn composed, in the 9th Century, by St. Paulinus, one of St. Mark's successors as Bishop of Aquileia.




 

Prayer:


 

Thou, O Mark, art the mystic Lion, which, with the Man, the Ox and the Eagle, art yoked to the chariot whereon the King of kings pursues His triumphant course through the earth. Ezechiel, the Prophet of the Ancient Testament, and John, the Prophet of the New Law, saw thee standing nigh the Throne of Jehovah. How magnificent is thy glory! Thou art the historian of the Word made Flesh, and thou publishest to all generations His claims to the love and adoration of mankind. The Church reveres thy writings, and bids us receive them as inspired by the Holy Ghost.

It was thou that, on the glad Day of Easter, announcedst to us the Resurrection of our Lord: pray for us, O holy Evangelist, that this divine Mystery may work its effects within us; and that our hearts, like thine own, may be firm in their love of our Risen Jesus, that so we may faithfully follow Him in that New Life, which He gave us by His Resurrection. Ask him to give us His Peace, as He did to His Apostles when He showed Himself to them in the Cenacle, and as He did to thyself when He appeared to thee in thy prison.

Thou wast the beloved disciple of Peter; Rome was honoured by thy presence: pray for the successor of Peter, thy master; pray for the Church of Rome, against which the wildest storm is now venting its fury. Pray to the Lion of the Tribe of Juda: He seems to sleep; and yet we know that He has but to show Himself, and the victory is gained.

Apostle of Egypt! what has become of thy flourishing Church of Alexandria, Peter's second See, the hallowed scene of thy Martyrdom? Its very ruins have perished. The scorching blast of heresy made Egypt a waste, and God, in his anger, let loose upon her the torrent of Mahometanism. Twelve centuries have passed since then, and she is still a slave to error and tyranny: is it to be thus with her till the coming of the Judge? May we not hope that the great movement now preparing may be the dawn of her conversion? Pray, we beseech thee, for the countries thou didst so zealously evangelize, but whose deserts are now the image of her loss of Faith.

And can Venice be forgotten by thee, O thou her dearest Patron? Her glory is fallen, it may be for ever; but her people still call themselves thine, as did the Venetians of old. Let her not swerve from the Faith; bless her with prosperity; obtain for her that she may be purified by her trials, and return to the God Who has chastised her in his justice. A nation that is loyal to the Church must prosper: let, then, Venice return to her former fidelity to Rome, and reject the evil counsels that are now proposed to her; and who knows but that the Sovereign Ruler of the world, being appeased by thy powerful intercession, may make thy Venice what she was before she rebelled against the Holy See, and tarnished the glories she won at Lepanto!

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