Saint Veronica Giuliani Mysterious vision of a chalice, which prepared her to reproduce in her own person the Passion of our Redeemer WE were able in the last book to catch no more than slight glimpses of the great sanctity of this glorious and heroic soul, for we were only considering the secular portion of her life, and the first fifteen years which she spent in religion, and merely glanced at the latter portion of her mortal career in our mention of the various offices which she successively fulfilled for the community. We now proceed to the last thirty-five years which she passed on earth: which indeed present to our contemplation a new kind of life, which the apostle might have termed the life of Veronica hidden in Christ, or the life of Christ in Veronica : for we shall see that she gloried in nothing save the cross of Christ, and that with Him she was fastened to that cross in the truest and most real manner that is attainable by a human being, whereby she was fashioned after the likeness of Christ, and as it were, transformed into Christ. In describing this new life, we shall have to describe a long series of supernatural gifts of the most extraordinary nature; and if the narration of these should awaken in the mind of the reader any suspicion of exaggerations or fanciful delusions, we would entreat him to weigh well the wonderful effects of heroic virtue, which in her case produced visions and marvellous gifts, such as could not have originated in any other than a divine and supernatural source. Down to the year 1693, which was the thirty-third of Veronicas age, the events of her life progressed in the manner already described in our first book. It was now the Will of Almighty God to draw her into a more intimate union with Himself, and to raise her to a more sublime degree of sanctity. He accordingly began to bestow on her the rarest graces, in order to mould her into a closer likeness of His only-begotten Son, Who is the Model of all the predestinate, and especially of the saints. At the time to which we have just referred, Veronica was favoured with a vision, wherein she beheld a mysterious chalice, which she recognised as a presage of the divine Passion that was to be re-enacted, so to speak, in her own person. This vision was repeated several times in successive years, with various modifications. At one time this chalice was presented to her view on a bright cloud, surrounded with splendour, at another time unaccompanied by any ornament; sometimes the liquid it contained seemed to be bubbling up within it; at other times it would boil over to a considerable extent, and occasionally it would fall drop by drop. The spirit of our Saint was always ready to drain the chalice to the dregs, but her lower nature shrunk with horror at the sight, as did our divine Redeemer in the garden of Gethsemane. Accordingly she set herself to subdue the resistance of the flesh by means of severe penance, as we shall presently explain. At length her nature ceased to feel repugnance, but she wrote as follows :- I do not trust it, for I know that it is not as yet dead. I have always found my soul ready, and even anxiously desirous, to share in that bitter draught, in order to accomplish the Will of God. Sometimes, she continues, I felt such longings that I exclaimed, Oh when will the hour come, my God, in which Thou wilt grant me to drink of Thy chalice? I resign myself entirely to Thy Will, but Thou alone seest my thirst. Sitio-I thirst-not for consolation, but for sufferings and afflictions. I seemed incapable of enduring further delay. One night when I was rapt in prayer, our Lord appeared to me with the chalice in His hand, and said to me, This is for thee, and I give it thee in order that thou mayest taste of it as much as I have, but not now. Prepare thyself, for in due season thou shalt partake of it. Immediately after these words He vanished, leaving the chalice so vividly imprinted on my mind that from that hour to this it has never left me. It was on this occasion that our Lord signified to her the dreadful sufferings which she would have to undergo in mind and body, not only from the insults and temptations which demoniacal malice had in store for her, but likewise from the false accusations, attacks, and contempt of her fellow-creatures, and lastly, from God Himself in the extreme desolation and dryness of spirit which was appointed her. To all this the generous virgin offered herself a willing sacrifice. Our most Blessed Lady, the Queen of Dolours, together with other saints, assisted in inspiring her with courage to accept her cup of bitterness. During the night of the solemn feast of her Assumption, the Holy Virgin and her divine Son appeared to Veronica. Our Saviour, Who was seated on a majestic throne, in His radiant glory, presented to His Mother a chalice full to overflowing. Mary received it, and, turning to our Saint, said, My daughter, I make thee this present in the Name of my Son! At the same time the two sainted virgins, Catherine of Siena and Rose of Lima, who attended in the train of the Queen of Heaven, made signs to Veronica to accept it. Afterwards, on the night of the 28th of August, the feast of S. Augustine, she again beheld Jesus Christ on His throne of glory; and that holy Doctor of the Church, who was there with many other blessed spirits attending our Lord, turned to Veronica, with a chalice in his hand. This, he said, is indeed a precious gift, for it is presented to thee by God Himself. At that moment the contents of the chalice began to boil over on every side, and being received by angels into vessels of gold, were presented at the throne of our Lord. Then Veronica asked for an explanation of the vision, and was informed that the rich liquid signified the sufferings to be endured by her for the love of God, and that the golden vessels were meant to denote the precious nature of those sufferings. But the following vision, which shall be related in her own words, was more touching and efficacious than those we have already mentioned :- Finding myself overwhelmed with anguish, she says, so that I felt hardly able to stand, I went to the church, and prostrating myself before the Most Holy, I offered myself once more unreservedly to Him. Suddenly I felt somewhat recollected, that is, rapt out of myself, and our Lord presented Himself to me. I cannot explain how this came to pass. I only know that He said to me, Take courage, and fear not; I am here to assist thee; behold Me. With these words He caused me to see the condition of His Sacred Humanity during the scourging at the pillar. He stood before me all streaming with blood and covered with wounds. The chalice was in His Hand, and He said, Look at me, My beloved; behold these Wounds, which are, as it were, so many voices inviting thee to drink of this bitter chalice; I give it to thee, and wish thee to partake of it. Having said this, He disappeared, leaving me the chalice. Now let us observe the result of all this. I felt, she continues, refreshed in spirit, and even recruited in body. I found myself in possession of interior peace, and ardently desirous of accomplishing the Will of God, and of pleasing Him in all things. We shall now describe one by one the bitter sufferings which corresponded with what was shown her in these visions. In the first place, her human nature recoiled from this chalice, which was constantly before the eyes of her mind; she was daily attacked by violent fever, which kept her at first for about eight days from eating or drinking anything. Sometimes the contents of that mysterious chalice seemed to be poured over her, and then she felt herself consumed with so fiery a heat that the more she drank the more raging did her thirst become. At other times she beheld the same liquid dropping on her food, to which it imparted a most bitter taste, whereby her palate was poisoned for a long time. Then again this draught of sorrow would fall in drops, which were presently changed into so many swords, spears, and arrows, which seemed to wound her body, and transfix her heart. But still more painful were the remedies to which she was called to submit. Her health and strength having suffered the most serious injury in consequence of the trials we have already described, the superior wished to put her into the hands of physicians. She promptly obeyed, not being willing to say anything about the supernatural cause of her maladies. Three different kinds of medicine were administered to her, but they all occasioned her the most dreadful torment, and she had no sooner swallowed one than she was forced to reject it. She writes as follows :- Every day that these three remedies were tried, seem ed likely to be the last of my life ... so great was the violence which I had to use towards myself in order to take them, that I felt ready to burst asunder. And yet she never manifested the least repugnance; on the contrary, she went on repeating to our Lord from her heart the words: Sitio, I thirst, I thirst: and her desire was gratified, for her medical attendant happening to enter the room just as she had been forcibly compelled to reject one of these doses, he wished her to take another immediately, which she accordingly did, and it produced the same effect as the preceding one. The demons meanwhile took care to fulfil the part which Veronica had been warned in the vision to expect. One night they placed her in a bath of icy coldness, and kept her there for two hours. When it was over she was senseless and motionless. The infirmarians having found her in this state, endeavoured during no less than four hours to restore her by means of fire and heated clothes, as well as by restoratives, but this only added to her sufferings. At other times the devils would attack her innocence, by assuming the forms of young men, or would attempt to terrify her by appearing as terrific spectres, or would suggest the most wicked misrepresentations of the religious state, which they portrayed as a sort of hell, accusing the sacred habit she wore as the cause of her eternal condemnation. They went so far as to bind her with chains; they struck her frequently, and expressed their desire to drag her away with them, calling out with infernal merriment, Thou art ours, thou art ours ! Though so grievously afflicted, this generous soul was invincible; she even invited them to torment her further, and to try her to the very utmost permitted them by God. Come then, she said, behold, I am ready to suffer all; and if you are endeavouring to rival each other in inflicting torments upon me, here I am prepared to contend with you. See how you can torture me, and see how I can bear it. Come then; the more you harass me, the better shall I be pleased. Blessed, blessed be the cross ! Blessed be suffering! And then, with more fury than ever, her foes rushed upon her like so many rabid dogs, while she contentedly drank her chalice of bitterness. But her most severe trial and most bitter chalice was what came to her from God Himself. For the purpose of proving the fortitude and fidelity of her soul, He was pleased to withdraw Himself from her, at least in appearance, for in reality He was nearer to her than ever with His grace, and the eye of His mercy was no less constantly upon her, regarding her with increased satisfaction. She expresses herself on this subject to the following effect: All my other trials were nothing, compared with that which I suffered interiorly-forsaken, abandoned, and environed with thick darkness; placed moreover at so great a distance from God, that I felt incapable of breathing forth a single aspiration to the Lord. Oh, what intolerable anguish is this to a soul, to find herself deprived of every support, and banished from her highest good ! She sighs, but is not heard; she calls to her Heavenly Spouse, but He comes not; she seeks Him, but He flies from her; she prays to Him, but He will not hear her. . . . Thus was my spirit troubled; it seems to me that the agony of death cannot be worse than what I then endured. Let us here remark the proofs which Almighty God gave of His especial presence : The only refreshment I had, she continues, was to behold the chalice drawing constantly nearer to me. ... I seemed to be filled with abhorrence for everything that the tempter set before me; I despised his artifices, and repeatedly taxed him with his falsehoods ; I declared to him that I was misled by none of them; I professed myself content in accomplishing the Will of God, Who is my absolute Master. . . . Blessed be God ! Everything seems little that is endured for His love. Blessed be the simple cross. Blessed be pure suffering ! Behold, I am ready to bear all, in order to please my dear Lord, and to promote the fulfilment of His divine Will.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:42:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015