ity, to our blessed Lord, would they not form an act of faith in
Him as our Saviour and our God?

"Around the altar of Jesus,
Let us, his children, press;
To that Saviour so endeared
Let us address the sweetest prayers. {354}
Let a lively and holy mirth
Animate us in this holy day:
There exists no sadness
For a heart full of his love.
Let the holy name of Jesus
Be for us a name of salvation!
Let our softened soul
Ever pay to HIM a sweet tribute of love.
O holy Jesus! O our Saviour!
Watch over us from the height of heaven;
And when from this sojourning of misery,
We present our prayers to Thee;
O sweet, O divine Redeemer,
Lend an ear to our sighs; and after this life,
Make Thou us to taste of immortal pleasures."

* * * * *

SECTION III.--BONAVENTURA.

I will now briefly call your attention to the devotional works of the
celebrated Bonaventura. He is no ordinary man; and the circumstances
under which his works were commended to the world are indeed remarkable.
I know not how a Church can give the impress of its own name and
approval in a more full or unequivocal manner to the works of any human
being, than the Church of Rome has stamped her authority on the works of
this her saint.

In the "Acta Sanctorum", [Antwerp, 1723, July 14, p. 811-823.] it is
stated, that this celebrated man was born in 1221, and died in 1274. He
passed through all degrees of ecclesiastical dignities, {355} short only
of the pontifical throne itself. He was of the order of St. Francis, and
refused the archbishopric of York, when it was offered to him by Pope
Clement the Fourth, in 1265; whose successor, Gregory the Tenth,
elevated him to the dignity of cardinal bishop. His biographer expresses
his astonishment, that such a man's memory should have been so long
buried with his body; but adds, that the tardiness of his honours was
compensated by their splendour.

More than two centuries after his death, his claims to canonization were
urged upon Sixtus the Fourth; and that Pope raised him to the dignity of
saint; the diploma of his canonization bearing date 18 kalends of May,
1482, the eleventh year of that pope's reign.

Before a saint is canonized by the Pope, it is usually required, that
miracles wrought by him, or upon him, or at his tomb, be proved to the
satisfaction of the Roman court[130]. We need not dwell on the nature of
an inquiry into a matter-o