succour they could stand in need of, and many hospitals were raised for their reception and entertainment at his expence. It was his earnest desire to see all Christians. seriously engaged in the noble contest, which of them should best fulfil his obligations in their full extent, which are all reduced to those which tie him to his Creator; for on a man's concern for them depends his regard for all others. Religion alone can make mankind good and happy; and those who act under its influence, are steady in the disinterested pursuit of every virtie, and in the discharge of every duty even toward the world, their families, and themselves. To sum up the whole character of this good prelate in two words, Ado knew all the obligations of his post, and discharged them with the utmost exactness and fidelity. He distinguished himself in many councils abroad, and held himself several councils at Vienne to maintain the purity of faith and manners; though only a fragment of that which he celebrated in 870 is extant. When king Lothaire sought pretexts to divorce his queen Thietberge, our holy prelate obliged him to desist from that unjust project; and he had a great share in many public transactions, in which the interest of religion was concerned. For pope Nicholas I., king Charles the Bald, and Lewis of Germany, had the greatest regard for him, on account of his prudence and sanctity, and paid a great deference to his advice. In the hurry of employments his mind was as recollected as if his whole business lay within the compass of his own private concerns. The multiplicity of affairs never made him the less constant in prayer, or less rigorous in his mortifications. To read the lives of the saints, and to consider their edifying actions, in order to imbibe their spirit, and quicken his own soul in the practice of piety, was an exercise in which he always found singular comfort and delight, and a great help to devotion. And, like the industrious bee, which sucks honey from every flower, he endeavoured to learn from the life of every saint some new practice of virtue, and to treasure up in his mind some new maxim of an interior life. From thus employing his thoughts on the saints, studying to copy their virtues, and affec he hap tionately and devoutly honouring them in God, pily passed to their glorious society, eternally to enjoy God with them, on the 6th of December 875, having been bishop fifteen years, three months. He is honoured in the church of Vienne, and named in the Roman martyrology on this day. This mortal life is a pilgrimage, full of labours, hardships, and perils, through an inhospitable desert, amidst numberless by-paths, and abounding with howling wild beasts. And the greatest danger frequently is the multitude of those who go astray before us. We follow their steps without giving ourselves leisure to think, and are thus led into some or other of these devious broad roads, which unawares draw all that are engaged in them headlong down the dreadful precipice into eternal flames. Amidst these, one only narrow path, which seems beset with briers and thorns, and is trodden by a small number of courageous souls, leads to happiness; and amongst those who enter upon it, many in every part fall out of it into some or other of the devious tracts and windings which terminate in destruction. Amidst these alarming dangers we have a sure guide: the light of divine revelation safely points out to us the straight way, and Christ bids us follow him, walk by his spirit, carefully tread in his steps, and keep always close to his direction. If ever we forsake his divine guidance, we lose and bewilder ourselves. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Many saints have followed this rule, and escaped all dangers, who seem to cry out to us: "This is the right way: walk you in it." we have a greater comfort, encouragement, or assistance, than to have them always before our eyes? The example of a God made man for us, is the greatest model; which we are bound continually to study in his divine life and precepts. Those who, in all stations in the world, have copied his holy maxims and conduct, sweetly invite us to this imitation of our divine original: every one of them cries out to us with St Paul (1): Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ. Their example, if always placed before our eyes, will (1) 1 Cor. xi, 1. Can withhold us from being hurried away by the torrent of the world, and its pernicious maxims: and the remembrance of their heroic conflicts, and the sight of the crowns they now enjoy, will be our comfort and support. What can give us greater joy in this valley of tears, than to think often on the bliss which these glorious conquerors already possess, and on the means by which they attained to it! We ourselves press close after them, and even now are not far from the same glory; for we live on the borders of it. The longest life is very short and every moment in it may, by the least unexpected incident, ingulph us suddenly in the abyss of eternity, and remove us into the society of these glorious saints. Can we desire this bliss, and not love, honour, and always bear them in mind? ON THE SAME DAY. St ALICE, OF ADELAIDE, Empress. The second kingdom of Burgundy, called also of Arles, was erected by Charles the Bald, emperor and king of France, who, in 8-9, bestowed Burgundy, Provence, Bresse, and Dau phine, with this title on his brother-in-law Bose, descended by the mother from Lewis Debonnair (a). Rudolph or Ralph II. king of Burgundy, was father to St Alice, whom he left at his death in 937, only six years old. At sixteen she was married to Lothaire, king of Italy, by whom she had a daughter named Emma, who was afterward married to Lothaire, king of France. The death of our saint's husband, which happened about the year 949, left her a young widow; and the afflictions with which she was visited, contributed perfectly to disengage her heart from the world, and make her devote herself to the practice of piety, which had been from her infancy the ruling inclination of her heart. Berengarius III. margrave of Yvrea, possessed himself of all (a) After the death of king Ralph III. the Emperor Conrad II, nnexed all Burgandy to the empire. But several provincial gover nors made themselves masters in their districts; namely, the counts of Savoy, Burgundy and Provence; the Dauphin of Viennois, and the lord of Bresse; the first confederation of the Switzers and Gri sons is said to have been then formed. Lombardy, and succeeded in the title of king of Italy. This prince, who had always been the declared enemy of his predecessor's family, cast Alice into prison at Pavia, where she suffered the greatest hardships and indignities. She at length found means to make her escape, and fled towards Germany; but was met by the em peror Otho I. who at the solicitation of pope Agapetus II. was marching at the head of an army of 50.000 men to do her justice. He made himself master of Pavia and other places, and married Alice, (b) but restored the kingdom to Berengarius, upon condition he should hold it of the empire. Berengarius soon forgot his engagements: whereupon Otho, at the earnest request of pope John XII. sent his son Luitolph against him; and Luitolph, after gaining many victories, dying, the emperor went in person into Italy, made Bereng rius prisoner, and banished him into Germany, where he died at Bamberg. After this victory Otho was crowned emperor at Rome by the pope in 953. The good empress was not puffed up with prosperity, and made use both of her riches and power only to do good to all men, especially to protect, comfort and relieve all that were in distress. Otho I. surnamed the Great, died in 973, having reigned as king of Germany thirty-six years, as emperor almost eleven. Alice educated her son Otho II. with great care, and his reign was happy so long as he governed by her directions. (c) (b) Otho I. son of Henry or the Fowler, succeeded his father in 935: had by Editha, his first wife, a son named Luitolph and by St Alice, his second wife, Otho II. his successor. (c) St Alice long made use of ADELBERT, first archbishop of Magdeburg, for her spiritual director and councellor. He is by many historians ranked among the saints, and Alice and her husband had so great a share in his apostolic missions, that a short account of his life serves to illustrate their actions. Henry the Fowler, king of Germany, having re established the abbey of St Maximin at Triers, that house became a nursery of great prelates and saints. Among these one of the most eminent was Adelbert, In his youth, dreading that learning which only swells the heart, he always began and ended his studies by prayer, and interrupted them by long devout meditations, and by continual sighs to God. At the same time he laboured to purify his understanding, and disengage his affections from earthly But not standing upon his guard against flatterers, he suffered his heart to be debauched by evil counsellors. After the death of his first wife, who was daughter to earthly things, by sincere humility, and the mortification of his will and senses. Thus he became remarkably distinguished among his brethren for that sincere piety which edifies, and he appeared excellently fitted to communicate to others that spirit with which he was replenished, when he was called out of his retirement to preach the pure maxims of the gospel to others. The Rugi or Rani, about the year 960, by deputies entreated the emperor Otho I. to procure them a bishop who might instruct them in the christian faith. This fierce nation inhabited part of Pomerania between the rivers Oder and Wipper, (where the city Rugenwald in Brandenburg still bears the name) and the isle of Rugen in the Baltic. Helmoldus, in his accurate chronicle of the Slavi, (1. 1. c. 2.) informs us that they were a savage people, and the only tribe of the Slavi or Slavonians which had a king; that they had also a high priest, whose sway was very great in the neighbouring countries: they pretended to a familiar intercourse with the gods, or rather with the devils, in a famous temple in the Isle of Rugen, in which the people lodged their treasures, and to which the neighbouring nations sent frequently rich presents. Neither St Anscharius nor St Rembertus had preached to this barbarous nation. But certain monks of New-Corbie, in the reign of Lewis le Debonnaire, undertook a mission among them, and with the hazard of their lives converted many to the christian faith in the various provinces of the Slavi, and the whole island of Rugen, in which they built an oratory in honour of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and in memory of St Vitus the patron of New-Corbie. This island had been the seat of error, and the metropolis of idolatry in that part of the world; and the savage inhabitants soon after their conversion apostatised again from the faith; and added to former superstitions a new monstrous extravagance, by honouring St Vitus as the chief of all their gods, erecting to him a stately temple and an idol with sacrifices, glorying only in his name, and suffering no merchant to come among them, nor any one to buy or sell anything, who did not first give some offering for the sacrifices or temple of their god, whom corruptly for St Vite, they called Swantewith. "Thus whom we confess a martyr and servant of Christ they adore as god," says Helmodus, (l. 1. c. 6.) "a creature for the Creator: nor is there any nation under the sun that so much abhors Christians, especially Christian priests." Out of hy. pocrisy, as appeared by the event, they petitioned for preachers. Otho I. emperor of Germany, received their messengers with joy, and chose first Libutius, a monk of St Alban's at Mentz, for their bishop; but he dying before he set out, Adelbert was pitched upon, and ordained bishop of the Rugi. Otho munificently furnished him with all things necessary, and the new bishop entered the country with a select number of fellow preachers. But the hearts of the peo ple |