53. For this cause, then, that we might
learn these divers virtues, “a Son was given us, Whose beginning
was upon His shoulder.” Isa. ix. 6. St. Ambrose’ version is
“Filius datus est nobis, cujus principium super humeros
ejus.” That
“beginning” is the Lord’s Cross—the beginning
of strong courage, wherewith a way has been opened for the holy martyrs
to enter the sufferings of the Holy War.