In 1865 he printed "The Dream of Gerontius."
In 1879 created Cardinal Deacon of the Holy Roman Church by Leo XIII.
On Monday, August 11, 1890, died at the Oratory, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS
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GERONTIUS[11]
Jesu, Maria--I am near to death,[12] And Thou art calling me; I know it now-- Not by the token of this faltering breath, This chill at heart, this dampness on my brow, (Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!)-- 'Tis this new feeling, never felt before, (Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!) That I am going, that I am no more. 'Tis this strange innermost abandonment, (Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,) 10 This emptying out of each constituent And natural force, by which I come to be. Pray for me, O my friends; a visitant Is knocking his dire summons at my door, The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt, Has never, never come to me before; 'Tis death,--O loving friends, your prayers!--'tis he!... As though my very being had given way, As though I was no more a substance now, And could fall back on nought to be my stay, 20 (Help, loving Lord! Thou my sole Refuge, Thou,) And turn no whither, but must needs decay And drop from out the universal frame Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss, That utter nothingness, of which I came: This is it that has come to pass in me; O horror! this it is, my dearest, this; So pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to pray.
ASSISTANTS
Kyrie eleïson, Christe eleïson, Kyrie eleïson.[13] Holy Mary, pray for him. 30 All holy Angels, pray for him. Choirs of the righteous, pray for him. Holy Abraham, pray for him. St. John Baptist, St. Joseph, pray for him. St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. John, All Apostles, all Evangelists, pray for him. All holy Disciples of the Lord, pray for him. All holy Innocents, pray for him. All holy Martyrs, all holy Confessors, All holy Hermits, all holy Virgins, 40 All ye Saints of God, pray for him.
GERONTIUS
Rouse thee, my fainting soul, and play the man;[14] And through such waning span Of life and thought as still has to be trod, Prepare to meet thy God. And while the storm of that bewilderment Is for a season spent, And, ere afresh the ruin on thee fall, Use well the interval.
ASSISTANTS
Be merciful, be gracious; spare him, Lord.[15] 50 Be merciful, be gracious; Lord, deliver him. From the sins that are past; From Thy frown and Thine ire; From the perils of dying; From any complying With sin, or denying His God, or relying On self, at the last; From the nethermost fire From all that is evil; 60 From power of the devil; Thy servant deliver, For once and for ever.
By Thy birth, and by Thy Cross, Rescue him from endless loss; By Thy death and burial, Save him from a final fall; By Thy rising from the tomb, By Thy mounting up above, By the Spirit's gracious love, 70 Save him in the day of doom.
GERONTIUS
Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,[16] De profundis oro te, Miserere, Judex meus, Parce mihi, Domine.[17] Firmly I believe and truly God is Three, and God is One; And I next acknowledge duly Manhood taken by the Son. And I trust and hope most fully 80 In that Manhood crucified; And each thought and deed unruly Do to death, as He has died. Simply to His grace and wholly Light and life and strength belong, And I love, supremely, solely, Him the holy, Him the strong. Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, De profundis oro te, Miserere, Judex meus, 90 Parce mihi, Domine. And I hold in veneration, For the love of Him alone, Holy Church, as His creation, And her teachings, as His own. And I take with joy whatever Now besets me, pain or fear, And with a strong will I sever All the ties which bind me here. Adoration aye be given 100 With and through the angelic host, To the God of earth and heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, De profundis oro te, Miserere, Judex meus, Mortis in discrimine.[18]
I can no more; for now it comes again, That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain, That masterful negation and collapse 110
Of all that makes me man; as though I bent Over the dizzy brink Of some sheer infinite descent; Or worse, as though Down, down for ever I was falling through The solid framework of created things, And needs must sink and sink Into the vast abyss. And, crueller still, A fierce and restless fright begins to fill The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse, 120 Some bodily form of ill Floats on the wind, with many a loathsome curse Tainting the hallowed air, and laughs, and flaps Its hideous wings, And makes me wild with horror and dismay. O Jesu, help! pray for me, Mary, pray! Some angel, Jesu! such as came to Thee In Thine own agony.... Mary, pray for me. Joseph, pray for me. Mary, pray for me. 130
ASSISTANTS
Rescue him, O Lord, in this his evil hour,[19] As of old so many by Thy gracious power:--(Amen.) Enoch and Elias from the common doom; (Amen.) Noe from the waters in a saving home; (Amen.) Abraham from th' abounding guilt of Heathenesse; (Amen.) Job from all his multiform and fell distress; (Amen.) Isaac, when his father's knife was raised to slay; (Amen.) Lot from burning Sodom on its judgment-day; (Amen.) Moses from the land of bondage and despair; (Amen.) Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; (Amen.) 140 And the Children Three amid the furnace-flame; (Amen.) Chaste Susanna from the slander and the shame; (Amen.) David from Golia and the wrath of Saul; (Amen.) And the two Apostles from their prison-thrall; (Amen.) Thecla from her torments; (Amen.) --so, to show Thy power, Rescue this Thy servant in his evil hour.
GERONTIUS
Novissima hora est;[20] and I fain would sleep, The pain has wearied me.... Into Thy hands, O Lord, into Thy hands....
THE PRIEST
Proficiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo![21] 150 Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul! Go from this world! Go, in the name of God, The omnipotent Father, who created thee! Go, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Son of the living God, who bled for thee! Go, in the Name of the Holy Spirit, who Hath been poured out on thee! Go, in the name Of Angels and Archangels; in the name Of Thrones and Dominations; in the name Of Princedoms and of Powers; and in the name 160 Of Cherubim and Seraphim, go forth! Go, in the name of Patriarchs and Prophets; And of Apostles and Evangelists, Of Martyrs and Confessors; in the name Of holy Monks and Hermits; in the name Of holy Virgins; and all Saints of God, Both men and women, go! Go on thy course; And may thy place to-day be found in peace, And may thy dwelling be the Holy Mount Of Sion:--in the Name of Christ, our Lord. 170
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