The Traditional Catholic Liturgy
Adapted from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB.
Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle – June 11
The promulgation of the New Covenant invited all nations to sit down at the marriage feast in the Kingdom of God; since that day,
the sanctifying Spirit is ever producing saints in every age, and at moments which correspond most mysteriously to the deep and hidden designs of
eternal Wisdom over the particular history of a people. Nor must we be astonished at this; for Christian nations having their appointed part in the
advancing of the kingly sway of the Man-God, this vocation imposes duties upon them, and gives them rights superior to nature's law; the supernatural order
invests them with its inherent greatness; and the Holy Ghost, by means of his elect, fosters not only their birth but likewise their development.
This wondrous working of divine Providence, as presented on history's page, is indeed admirable; where the hidden influence of sanctity,
in even the frail and lowly, is ever being divinely used to overrule the powerful action of the mighty, who seem, in men's eyes, to be leading everything their own way.
Among the saints strikingly appointed as channels of grace to nations, none are so particularly entitled to universal remembrance and gratitude as the Apostles,
for they are the foundation stones of the edifice of Christian society (Eph. 2: 20), whereof the Gospel is both the strength and the primary law.
The Church is ever watchful to prevent Her sons falling into a dangerous forgetfulness of this; hence no liturgical Season is without its memory of one or
other of these glorious witnesses to Christ. But from the day that the world was delivered over to become the conquest of their zeal,
the mysteries of man's salvation being all consummated, their names are more closely pressed together on the sacred records;
each month of the cycle now borrows its characteristic coloring from the brilliant triumph of some one of these.
The month of June, all aflame with the fires of Pentecost, sees the Holy Ghost setting upon its predestined foundations the first layer of stones in the Church's construction;
for to this month belongs the honor of proclaiming the memorable names of Peter and Paul, wherein are summed up all the services and trophies of the whole apostolic college.
St. Peter declared that the Gentiles were admitted to the grace of the Gospel; St. Paul was named their apostle. But still, before rendering the homage so justly due to these
two leaders of the Christian people, it is fitting that nations should throng, in grateful veneration, around the guide given to St. Paul himself in the opening days of
his apostolate – that is, around St. Barnabas, whose name is interpreted the Son of Consolation (Acts 4: 36), and by whom the convert of Damascus was presented
to the terrified Church, lately so sorely tried by the violence of Saul the persecutor. June 29 will derive its chief radiance from the simultaneous confession of the
two Princes of the Apostles, united in death, as they had been in life (Antiph. Octav. Ap. ad Bened.) Be then honor due, first of all, to him who first knit
together this fruitful union, by leading to the head of the infant Church the future Doctor of the Gentiles (Acts 9: 27). St. Barnabas presents himself before
us as a herald; the Feast which the Church is celebrating in his honor is a prelude to the gladness which awaits us at the end of this month – so rich in light and
in fruits of holiness. (Though they were not of the original Twelve, nor did they fulfill that number as St. Matthias did, Saints Paul and Barnabas are given
the title of Apostles, because they were commissioned by the Twelve to be Apostles to the Gentiles.)
Let us read his history, drawn mainly from the Acts of the Apostles. Notwithstanding its brevity, there are, on the pages of the Sacred Liturgy,
few more glorious than this:
St. Barnabas, also called Joseph, a Levite, was born in Cyprus, and was the one designated by the Apostles, together with St. Paul, to preach the Gospel of Christ to
the Gentiles. He having land, sold it and brought the money to the Apostles. Being sent to Antioch to preach there, he met with a great number of people already
converted to the Faith of Christ the Lord, which filled him with much joy, and he multiplied his exhortations, that they might persevere in the Faith of Christ.
His word had great success, for he was looked upon by all as a good man and one filled with the Holy Ghost.
Traveling thence to Tarsus, there to seek St. Paul, he came with him as far as Antioch. They here passed one year with the faithful who formed the
Church of this city, laboring to instruct them in the Christian life and in faith; and here also it was that the worshipers of Jesus Christ were first called Christians.
The disciples of Sts. Paul and Barnabas aided with alms the Christians that were in Judea, and sent these subsidies by the hands of Sts. Paul and Barnabas.
Having performed this work of charity, joining unto them John surnamed Mark, they returned to Antioch.
Whilst Sts. Paul and Barnabas were serving the Lord in the Church of Antioch, fasting and praying with the other prophets and doctors,
the Holy Ghost spoke and said: Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them. Then with fasting and prayer, they imposed
hands upon them and let them depart. They went to Seleucia, and thence to Cyprus; besides this, they passed through many towns and countries,
preaching the Gospel everywhere, with much fruit amongst all who heard them. After this St. Barnabas separated himself from St. Paul, and together with John surnamed Mark,
returned to Cyprus. Here about the seventh year of the reign of Nero, on the third of the Ides of June (June 11), he joined the martyr's crown to the dignity of an Apostle.
In the reign of the Emperor Zeno, his body was discovered on the island of Cyprus: on his breast lay a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, written by the hand of St. Barnabas himself.
(Image right – miracles of St. Barnabas; image left – liberation of Ss. Paul and Barnabas from prison.)
To thee, O St. Barnabas, we offer the gratitude of the nations. Thou didst watch, O faithful Levite, beside the figurative sanctuary of the days of expectation,
observing the coming of the Lord God (Lev. 8: 35), until at last the true ark, the Incarnate Word, having appeared in Sion, thou didst at once take thy place at His side,
to defend and serve Him, the ark of holiness, that had come to rally all nations, to give them the true Manna, to establish amongst all a New Covenant;
this was to require from the sons of the Old Testament the sacrifice of the privileges that had been theirs since the first prevarication of the Gentiles.
Though a member of the favored tribe of Levi, thou wast prompt to abandon its sacred titles, which thou didst recognize to have been but limited and now to be set aside;
yea, outstepping mere precept, thou didst not hesitate to renounce all thy family possessions and give them up, together with thyself, to the Church yet in Her infancy
and scorned by the Synagogue. Therefore the Holy Ghost would not be outdone in generosity; to thee he reserved the signal privilege of presenting to the Gentiles their Apostle.
Saul was thy friend; blinded by the prejudices of his sect, he scorned to follow thine example; and the faithful trembled at his very name, seeing in him their most
relentless persecutor. But silently thine intercession arose from the earth, and blending with that of St. Stephen, pleaded a strong prayer for the murderer.
The hour of grace had sounded; and thou wast the first in Jerusalem to hear of the victory; on the strength of thy testimony alone, the terrified assembly of believers
opened their doors to the recent convert, St. Paul.
Thus appearing before the Church as guarantee for the future Doctor of the Gentiles, to thee belonged the honor of leading him forth to the scene of his labors.
Thine it was not to be numbered among the twelve by Our Lord, yet thine authority was of a kind that almost equaled theirs. After the baptism of Cornelius,
thou was delegated by the Apostles to Antioch, to direct the evangelization of the Gentiles. There St. Paul, thy new laborer, was joined to thee; and then did the word of salvation,
falling from thy lips, begin to produce conversions so numerous, that the faithful were then for the first time called Christians, to distinguish them at once from both pagans and Jews.
The emancipation of the nations was thus accomplished, and St. Paul, in the eyes of all, as also according to the language of the Holy Ghost Himself, was still but thy disciple
and thy client (Acts 11: 30; 12: 25; 13:1). For which reason the divine Spirit was pleased that thou shouldst share in common with him that solemn ordination whereby
he was constituted Apostle of the Gentiles. But very soon after this, the greater good of souls required that thy journeys and labors, hitherto inseparable from his,
should be divided. Thine apostolate was then directed more specially to the island of Cyprus, so abused in pagan times by the demon of voluptuousness:
there hadst thou first seen the light, and now thou didst gladly devote thy sweat and even thy blood to diffusing throughout thy native isle the purifying light of the Son of God.
But the fires of Pentecost burning in thy breast urged thee ever forward and onward to more distant missions. Of thee it was written as of St. Paul:
I have set thee to be the light of the Gentiles: that thou mayst be for salvation unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 13: 47). Thus Italy also heard thy sweet voice,
redolent of the joy and consolation of the Paraclete; she beheld thy noble countenance, the serene majesty whereof had made the pagans of another land mistake thee for one of their
gods veiled under human features (Ibid. 14: 11). Bergamo, Brescia, and other places, especially Milan, claim thee as their father. Look down then, O Barnabas,
from thine exalted throne and ever protect the Faith thou didst deposit in these places. Extend thy solicitude to all nations, O father of the Gentiles,
for all without distinction were confided to thee by the Holy Ghost.
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