tion to be burned; he refused; a new rebellion created by the Pharisees broke out; 3,000 corpses strewed the porticoes of the Temple, and Archelaus showed himself as unmerciful as his father: now, we can understand why St. Joseph was afraid to place himself under his government. The sons of Herod, however, wished to obtain the approval of Augustus; Archelaus and Antipas therefore went to Rome in order to have his title of king confirmed; Antipas, relying on a former Will, went with the secret hope of supplanting his brother. Philip, who at first remained in Jerusalem, soon followed his brothers with Salome, thus all Herod's family assembled themselves at Rome in order to receive the final decision of Augustus.

Before proclaiming it, the Emperor sent Sabinus to Jerusalem to take immediate possession of the large sums that the old Herod had allowed him. Sabinus soon found himself besieged in his Palace of Jerusalem, by a multitude who were up in arms against his exactions. He only escaped by the help of the governor of Syria-Varus, who later on was to experience in Germany a shameful disaster. The Jews then asked to submit their troubles to the Emperor, and a deputation of fifty amongst them repaired to Rome, begging Augustus to annex Judea to the province of Syria, and to deliver their country from the dominion of the Herods. Augustus remained faithful to the memory of Herod he gave Judea, Samaria, and Idumea to Archelaus, but with the simple title of Ethnarch; Antipas received the Tetrarchate of Galilee and Perea; Philip that of Batania, Trachonitis and Auronites; Salome kept the towns that her brother had bequeathed to her, but the cities of Gadara, Judea, and Joppa, which commanded the Egyptian route, were united to the Province of Syria. There now remained two other claimants of the old Herod family; Agrippa, of whom

we shall speak later, and Herod Philip, son of the second Mariamne, daughter of the High Priest Simon, who had no part in the paternal heritage; this Herod Philip had married Herodias, daughter of Aristobulus, grand-daughter of the old Herod and the first Mariamne (the Asmonean). Herod Antipas remained tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, during the whole life of our Lord; it was he who ordered the death of St. John the Baptist, and who was at Jerusalem at the time of the Passion. Being a friend of Tiberius, he built the city called. Tiberias, on the borders of the Lake of Genezareth, in honour of the Emperor. Philip, the other tetrarch, died without children (A.D. 16), and Tiberius annexed his States to Syria.

THE PROCURATORS OF JUDEA (6-57).

Archelaus walked in the footsteps of his father; he named and arbitrarily deposed the High Priests, he openly broke the laws of Moses, and only replied by cruelties to the murmurs of his people. Being accused before Augustus, he was deposed without ceremony (A.D. 6) and exiled to Vienne in Gaul, where he died four years afterwards. His goods were confiscated, his palace sold, and his states united to those of Syria; a procurator, a dependent of the governor of Syria, was charged with the chief administration of the country; the Jews continued all the same to govern themselves, according to their laws under the authority of their High Priests, but the right of enforcing sentence of death was reserved to the procurators. It was thus that Quirinius resumed the census of the people, which had been begun a little before the birth of our Saviour. From that time the dominion of Rome was accepted, although it was not yet officially and definitively established. There had been some protestations; the Pharisee Doctor, Sadoc and Judas the Gaulonite tried to instigate

the people to raise the cry of "Jehovah is our only King," but they only succeeded in introducing brigandage into the different cantons of Judea, and in forming a new sect, that of the Zealots, which added to the divisions of the Jews. When peace was re-established, the office of High Priest passed into the hands of the Pontiff-Annas-the father-in-law of Caiphas.

THE HOLY INFANCY.

Jesus, after his return from Egypt, dwelt at Nazareth. The Evangelists tell us that he was "subject to Mary and Joseph, and that as he advanced in age, he advanced also in wisdom and in grace before God and before men." At the age of twelve years he accompanied Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem to keep the Pasch there; but when his parents were returning on their road to Nazareth, he remained behind, unknown to them; at length becoming aware of his absence, much alarmed they retraced their steps to Jerusalem, where having sought him for three days, at length they found him in the Temple, listening to the doctors and questioning them. From this time to the age of thirty years, when he began his preaching, the holy Scripture merely records that he lived with his parents, passing for the son of a carpenter, and living by the work of his own hands in profound obscurity.

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.*

Jesus Christ prepared himself for his preaching by humility, retirement, and penance. Although being himself the essence of purity, he had no need of being purified by the waters of Baptism, nevertheless he wished to receive it at the hands of John the Baptist. This holy precursor after having lived an angelic life in the desert, preached penance on the banks of the Jordan,

Baptist signifies one that baptizes.

and baptised all those who came to him, to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. Our Saviour presented himself amongst the crowd to be baptised, "but John the Baptist recognised him. God himself took care to manifest him; for he caused the Holy Spirit to descend upon him under the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus Christ after having received baptism from John, retired into the desert where he fasted forty days.

THE FIRST DISCIPLES.

Christ was tempted by the devil, but he repelled his attacks by the words of Scripture; doubtless, in order to teach us that it is chiefly with these weapons that we must fight the Evil One. He began after this to preach, and made a great number of disciples, confirming his doctrines by miracles. The first of these disciples were the two brothers, Peter and Andrew. Then the other brothers, James and John, all four fishermen on the lake of Genezareth, their only worldly possessions were their boats and their nets. At the first invitation of our Divine Lord they did not hesitate to leave their boats, nets, father and mother, to follow him (A.D. 26.)

FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS CHRIST.

The first miracle of Jesus Christ was the changing of water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana. The Holy Virgin having told him that the wine was running short, he caused six large vessels to be filled with water which he immediately changed into a delicious wine. Jesus Christ in performing his first miracle at the prayer of his mother, wished to show us that she would be the channel of graces; that the most sure means of obtaining them from him is to have recourse to this powerful mediatrix.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

Jesus Christ chose twelve from the large number of his disciples to whom he gave the name of apostles, which means one sent, because, that after his resurrection, he was going to send them to preach his name and his Gospels to all the world. The twelve apostles were: Simon Peter, chief of the Apostolic College, and Andrew, his brother; James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, Simon and Jude, James, son of Alpheus; and Judas Iscariot. This last one having betrayed Jesus Christ, and having killed himself in despair, Mathias was put in his place after the Ascension of our Lord. Having chosen them he took them to a mountain where he gave them an admirable discourse which contained an abridgement of the whole Evangelical doctrine. We shall here only give from it the eight Beatitudes

1. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

2. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land."

3. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

4. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill."

5. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

6. "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

7. "Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

8. "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."