Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE SAINTS. 355
to her seven joys was particularly English. It was
most dear to St. Thomas of Canterbury,
"and this
of itself was a recommendation. Another privilege,
which arose in our country, was the scapular. It
was at Newenham, Cambridge, that St. Simon
Stock had the vision in which he received her little
habit from our Lady (1251). He gave it to Edward
I., that typical Englishman.
From hyperdoulia we are naturally led to doulia,
for besides being the dowry of Mary, England had
been the isle of saints. During the period we are
now reviewing, " St. John the Baptist occupied very
much the place in which St. Joseph stands to-day,
and it would not be easy to find in England churches
dedicated to St. Joseph before the great apostasy. r 1
The English of Catholic times were specially devout
to their own saints, or to those who had worked for
their country, and perhaps less so in proportion to
the holy in other lands; but the material difficulty
of travelling partly accounts for this. The ideal of
holiness was before them, however little it may have
been in their lives. That ideal, when resting on
God and His saints, will keep the spiritual judgment
of men in purity and truth, so that they shall not
be deceived by the counterfeit, nor take Judas for
St. Peter.
''The biers of the martyrs are nothing else than
secure harbours, the sources of spiritual streams, inexhaustible
treasures of wealth which are never
11 believe there i^ one in the diocese of Birmingham.