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angel himself, who said, "See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; worship God;" the Apostle either meant to give divine worship or he did not, but only such inferior worship as had been given by holy men of old to some of the heavenly host, as, for instance, by Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, and others. If he intended to pay divine worship, it can only have been because the angel appeared in such surpassing glory that the Apostle mistook him for our Lord; and this is how St. Augustin understood the passage, a thousand years before Protestantism had arisen to call in question the Catholic practice of invoking the angels and at any rate, to pay divine honour to a created being is what no Catholic defends or practises; so that if this interpretation of the passage be correct, it in nowise contradicts the Catholic doctrine, or condemns any Catholic practice. If, on the other hand, St. John only intended to pay that inferior degree of worship which Joshua (for instance) paid to "the captain of the host of the Lord'' when he appeared to him by Jericho, and which was not then refused, then the act was not in itself unlawful, but must have been refused for some other reason; and St. Gregory considers that this reason was the high dignity of St. John as an apostle and prophet and confessor of Christ, for the angel expressly calls himself his " 'fellow-servant, and of the number of his brethren that have the testimony of Jesus:" and at any rate it is for Protestants to shew wherefore that which happened to St. John is to be taken as so conclusive an argument against the practice of any devotion in honour of these heavenly spirits, and that which was done by Abraham, Jacob, and Joshua, to be taken as absolutely no argument at all in favour of such devotion. Certainly this is an inconsistency which no candid inquirer into the meaning of God's Word can fail to recognise; and it is one which demonstrates the Protestant reasoning upon the passage in question to be at least inconclusive, which is all that at present concerns us.

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The Litany of the Blessed Virgin.

THE Litany of the Blessed Virgin is a form of prayer familiar and very dear to all Catholics, and one that seems always to recur with fresh and unexhausted beauty every time that it is used. Next to the Our Father and the Hail Mary, there is no form of prayer more common or more universally diffused over the wide empire of the Catholic Church. It may be found translated, from its Latin original, into every language spoken by the disciples of the Cross; it is sung by harmonious choirs in cities and places of great resort; it is recited at the foot of the simple altar in the village church by the rural population of ten thousand hamlets scattered over the Christian world.

Catholic families recite it when they meet together for morning or for evening prayers in their domestic oratories and there are probably few, who practise their religion at all, who do not use it at least once every day in the course of their own private devotions. In a word, it is a form of prayer which is often on the lips of all devout Catholics, because it is so dear to their hearts.

In the great Church of our Blessed Lady at Loretto in Italy-that church which encloses within itself the very chamber where the angel first saluted her as full of grace, and where the Word was made flesh-this Litany is sung every Saturday throughout the year, as well as on all her principal festivals and many other special occasions, with more than usual ceremony, such as the use of incense, and other tokens of reverence; and for this reason it is often called the Litany of Loretto.

The word Litany originally signified any prayer or supplication; but it has come, by use, to be exclusively applied to that particular form of it which consists in alternate invo

cation and response carried on by the priest and the people. The most perfect example of this form of prayer is that known as the Litany of the Saints, or the greater Litanies, as they are called; and these are publicly recited by the Church on certain solemn days, as, for instance, Holy Saturday and the Feast of St. Mark, and in the ministration of holy orders, and on other occasions, or they may be used privately at any time, according to the devotion of individuals. An examination of this beautiful Litany will shew the alternate method of prayer which gives it its peculiar character, and which is so admirably devised for the purpose of increasing the fervour both of the pastor and of his flock, so that they may send up their petitions in one strong, earnest, united cry to the throne of the Lord of Hosts.

There are many other Litanies used extensively in private in various parts of the Church; as, for instance, that of the Holy Name of Jesus; of the Sacred Heart; of the Blessed Sacrament; of St. Joseph, and others. But of those which are properly called public Litanies, there are only two; those of the Saints and of the Blessed Virgin, or of Loretto; and it is the object of these pages to explain the meaning of this latter Litany, which is in such constant use amongst us, and so often made a subject of reproach against us.

First, then, I would observe that there is good reason for believing that this Litany may be traced back, at least in its rudiments, to the first ages of the Church: it is certainly very ancient, and has been used by all Catholics for a great number of centuries. It is called the Litany of our Blessed Lady, (1) because the prayers and invocations of which it is composed are offered to Almighty God through the powerful intercession of the Virgin Mother of His Divine Son; and (2) because they are so arranged as to do her honour by means of the various mystical figures which are applied to her, and the lofty names and titles of dignity by which she is invoked.

It is begun and concluded by a short verse or antiphon, expressive of the meaning and intention of the act which is about to follow: "We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever-glorious and Blessed