Corpus Christi

The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord:
and thou givest them meat in due season.

Today on this great Feast, we are launching a new project:

The Christ, The Son of God

This is a life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ based on the original French text by the Abbé Constant Fouard.

Fouard (1837-1903) was a remarkable scholar known for his mastery of Greek, Latin and Hebrew. He was, moreover, personally familiar with the geography of the Holy Land. He was a man of deep faith and it was only fitting that his work should receive recognition at the highest levels. In 1881, for example, Pope Leo XIII conferred his Apostolic Benediction on Fouard and the Theologian's congratulations. Fouard himself was to write: (as quoted in Cardinal Manning's Introduction to the 1905 edition):

"This Life of Jesus is an act of faith."

I have used the English translation by George FX Griffith (1890). Fouard used Bossuet's French text for Scriptural excerpts and Griffith translated these excerpts into English rather than incorporating an official English version of the Sacred text.

I have added notes and a number of illustrations to the work. For those able to read French, you will find Fouard's original text here:

La Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Book First: The Childhood of Jesus

Chapter One: Judea in the time of Jesus

The Machabees and Herod

Judea in the time of the Christ was despoiled of all her splendour. The Machabees,[1] Pontiffs and Kings of Israel during one century, had in that time seen their glories vanish, together with their virtues.  The power, so nobly exercised by Judas and his brothers, degenerated into despotism under their successors; their religious zeal became ambition; and the concord which had existed among the sons of Matthathias gave place to such profound divisions that, sixty-six years before the Christian era, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, two brothers sprung from this illustrious stock, were compelled to invoke the arbitration of Pompey [106-48 BC] to adjust their feuds and dissensions.  The Roman general, already master of Syria, solemnly adjudged their differences at Damascus, and pronounced in favour of Hyrcanus.  Resorting to arms, Aristobulus hazarded a desperate defence from the Mountain of the Temple; but in vain, the defeat was inevitable.  Hyrcanus remained sovereign of Judea, but under the authority of the governors of Syria and with a simple title of Ethnarch.  Jerusalem for the first time saw the eagles within her walls.  Pompey crossed the threshold of the Holy of Holies, and gazed in astonishment upon that Sanctuary, devoid of idol or image.  The sovereignty of Juda had run its course; the servitude of Israel was begun.

Very soon Hyrcanus lost even the shadow of command which had been spared him.  Caesar,[100-44 BC] the conqueror of Pompey, united Palestine to the kingdom of Edom, and he gave the government of these countries to an Idumean of noble race, Antipater.  Phasaël and Herod, two sons of this prince, lent him their aid in the administration of affairs, one assuming the government of Galilee, the other that of Judea; but their united efforts were ineffectual for the maintaining of a peace of any long duration.  A descendant of the Machabees, Aristobulus, the brother of Hyrcanus, made his escape from Rome, where he was held as a captive, and essayed to regain the throne of his fathers, aided by his sons, Alexander and Antigonus.  The arms of the last-named prince alone achieved any success; he made Phasaël a prisoner, and constrained him to take his own life.  Herod, more fortunate than his brother, eluded their conqueror, hurried to Rome, and was declared by the senate King of Judea.  After three years of conflict, the victorious Latin legions re-established his rule in Jerusalem.  This was in the year 37 before Jesus Christ.

The patronage of Rome, which never belied its promises, Herod's own native genius for ruling, his union with Mariamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus, there former ethnarch, all seemed to insure him a tranquil reign.  Yet the Idumean found in his nationality, his unhoped-for successes, his own restless and suspicious nature, too many sources of disquiet to permit of any peaceable enjoyment of his power.  He could take no repose while the remnant of the Machabean line remained alive.  Two princes of that family, as well as his father-in-law, Hyrcanus himself, broken down by years and misfortunes, were the first victims of Herod’s distrust; then came the turn of Mariamne, the only one of his wives whom he had really loved; and finally, neither the two children he had had by her, nor Antipater (son of Doris and his first-born), was spared the penalty of such suspicions.  Only the death of the tyrant could set a limit to these cruelties.

In vain did Herod beautify Judea with splendid monuments, in order to divert attention from the bloody tragedies which encrimsoned his marble palaces.  To the Jews, his vast amphitheatres were the scenes of spectacles as detestable as they were abhorred.  The Baths and the Porticoes introduced novel customs; and the Roman eagle which spread its wings within the Temple profaned its sanctity.  During thirty-four years the prince wearied himself in fruitless endeavours to make the people forget his origin and their servitude.  Everything did but remind this nation, shuddering under his yoke, that the sceptre had indeed passed from the sons of Jacob to those of Esau.

[1]  From the Hebrew word for "hammer," because they were said to strike hammer blows against their enemies. Jews refer to the Maccabees, but the family is more commonly known as the Hasmoneans.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam