The greatest of all mystics, however, was the before-mentioned Filippo Neri, a saint of the Catholic Church, whose simple candor and truly Christian humility have procured for him the esteem and the admiration of men of all creeds and all ages. Even as a mere child he was already renowned for his extraordinary gifts as well as for his fervent piety; while still a layman he had numerous visions and trances, and when in his thirtieth year he had prayed for days and nights in the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, his heart became suddenly so enlarged that some of the intercostal muscles gave way, and a great swelling appeared on the outside, which remained there throughout life, although without causing him any pain. His inner fervor was so great as to keep his blood and his whole system continually at fever heat, and although he lived exclusively upon bread, herbs, and olives, he never wore warm clothes, even in the severest winters, always slept with open doors and windows, and preferred walking about with his breast uncovered. During the last ten years of his life his body was no longer able to sustain his ecstatic soul; whenever he attempted to read mass or to preach, his feelings became so excited that his voice failed him, and he fell into a trance of several hours' duration. It was in this condition that he was frequently lifted up, together with the chair on which he sat, to a height of several feet from the ground. What renders these magic phenomena peculiarly interesting, is the fact that Filippo Neri not only attached no special value to them, but actually did his best to conceal them from the eyes of the world. As soon as they began to show themselves, he ceased reading mass in the presence of others, and only allowed his attendant to re-enter his cell when the latter had convinced himself, by peeping through a narrow opening in the door, that the trance was over. When others praised his piety and marveled at these wonders, he invariably smiled and said: "Don't you know that I am nothing but a fool and a dreamer?"
He added that he would infinitely rather do works which should prove his faith than be the recipient of miraculous favors. But his prestige was so great that whenever he was prevailed upon or thought it his duty to exert his influence, it was paramount, and secured to him a powerful control in historical events. Thus it was when Pope Gregory XIV. had excommunicated King Henry IV., and his successor, Clement VIII., continued the fearful punishment in spite of all the entreaties of king and courtiers. Filippo Neri, foreseeing the dangers which were likely to arise from such measures for the Church, and deeply concerned for the welfare of the French people, retired to prayer, inviting the pope's confessor to join him in his devotions. These had been continued for three days without intermission, when at last the saint fell into a trance, and upon re-awaking from it, told his companion: "To-day the pope will send for you to confess him. You will tell him, when his confession is made: 'Father Filippo has directed me to refuse Your Holiness absolution, and ever to confess you again till you have relieved the King of France from excommunication.'" Clement, deeply moved by this message, summoned immediately the council of cardinals, and Henry IV. was once more received into the bosom of the Church. In spite of this great influence, Neri sternly refused all honors and dignities, even the purple, which was offered to him three times, and died in 1595, eighty years old, on the day and at the hour which he had long since foretold. That his visions were accompanied by actual stigmatization has already been mentioned.
Our own continent has had but one great mystic, Rosa of Lima, who is hence known as primus Americæ meridionalis flos. She had inherited her peculiar organization from her mother, who had frequently seen visions, and when the child was three years old, changed her name from Isabel to Rosa, because she had seen a rose suspended over the face of her daughter. Much admired on account of her great beauty and rare sweetness, the young girl refused all offers, and preferred, in spite of the remonstrances of friends and of brutal ill-treatment on the part of her brothers, to enter a convent. On her way there, however, she felt her steps suddenly arrested by superior force, and saw in this supernatural interruption a hint that she should leave the world even more completely than she could have done as a nun of the Order of St. Dominick. She built herself, therefore, a little cell in her father's garden, and here led a life of ecstatic asceticism, during which she often remained for days and weeks without food, and became strangely intimate with birds and insects. Whenever she took the eucharist, she felt marvelous happiness and fell into trances; in the intervals, however, she suffered intensely from that depression and utter despair which in such cases are apt to result from powerful reaction. She died quite young, exhausted by her ascetic life and continued excitement, and has ever since been revered as the patron saint of Peru.
THE END.
Prof. Schele de Vere's Works.
WONDERS OF THE DEEP.
By M. Schele de Vere, Professor of the University of Virginia. Third edition, 12mo, cloth, $1.50. Illustrated, cloth, gilt, $2.
CHIEF CONTENTS.
Pearls. Corals. Facts and Fables. Mercury. Oysters. Lighthouses. Odd Fish. Knight in Armor. A Pinch of Salt. A Grain of Sand. The Earth in Trouble.
"One of the freshest, most scientific, and at the same time most popular and delightful books of the kind we have ever read."—St. John's Telegraph.
"These essays make a valuable addition to the standard literature of the time. The author, who is one of the profoundest scientists of the age and one of the most brilliant essayists of the country has brought from the depths of the ocean vast stores of hidden knowledge.... The charm of the book is the skillful and yet natural way in which plain facts have been put. We were attracted toward them by their freshness, and soon we are following on with intense interest and enthusiasm. The chapters on "Pearls," "Corals," "Mercury," and "A Pinch of Salt," and, in fact, nearly all the others are absorbingly interesting."—Newark, N. J., Register.