St Andrew, Apostle

Monday 30 November 2009

S. ANDREÆ, APOSTOLI
St Andrew, Apostle
2nd Class, Red


Oremus.

Majestátem tuam, Dómine, supplíciter exorámus : ut, sicut Ecclésiæ tuæ beátus Andréas Apóstolus éxstitit prædicátor et rector ; ita apud te sit pro nobis perpétuus intercéssor. Per Dóminum.


Let us pray.

We supplicate thy Majesty, O Lord, that as the blessed Apostle Andrew was in this world a preacher and ruler of thy Church, so he may be our constant intercessor before thee. Through.

(image: St Andrew embraces the Saltire)

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Please note: on Monday 30th November there will be Solemn Latin Vespers and Benediction at 6.4pm in St Mary's RC Cathedral, Edinurgh (Scotland) to celebrate this feast.

All are welcome to join the Schola for this opportunity to pray with the ancient music of the Church.

This is the eleventh of monthly sung Vespers sung by the new Edinburgh Schola. Please see edinburghschola.blogspot.com for updates and further information.

(image: St Andrew Altar, St Mary's RC Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland)

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Links:

First Sunday of Advent

Sunday 29 November 2009

DOMINICA I ADVENTUS
First Sunday of Advent

1st Class, Violet

Oremus.

Excita, quæsumus, Dómine, poténtiam tuam, et veni : ut ab imminéntibus peccatórum nostrórum perículis, te mereámur protegénte éripi, te liberánte salvári : Qui vivis.

Let us pray.

Stir up thy power, O Lord, we beseech thee, and come: that by Thy protection we may deserve to be rescued from the threatening dangers of our sins and saved by Thy deliverance.

Who livest and reignest.

~~*~~

This First Sunday of Advent or the Fourth before Christmas, is the first day of the Liturgical year. The Mass prepares us this day for the double coming (advéntus) of mercy and justice. That is what St. Paul tells us, in the Epistle, to cast off sin in order that, being ready for the coming of Christ as our Saviour, we may also be ready for His coming as our Judge, of which we learn in the Gospel. Let us prepare ourselves, by pious aspirations and by the reformation of our life, for this twofold coming. Jesus our Lord will reward those who yearn for Him and await Him: "Those who trust in Him shall not be confounded."

Here is a recording of the Introit for the first Sunday in Advent - Ad te Levavi - from the Tiltenberg Seminary in Holland:


Links:

(image: Orbis Catholicvs)

notes: Season of Advent

Notes for the Liturgy during the Season of Advent

1. On Sundays of Advent, the Gloria is omitted. On ferias when the Mass of the preceding Sunday is said, the Alleluia and its verse are omitted. The faithful should kneel for the Collects and Postcommunion prayers on the ferias of Advent (not, however, on Sundays, feasts days, nor on the Vigil of Christmas).

2. Commemorations of the feria in Advent are privileged and must be made on feasts of Saints at every Mass as well as Lauds and Vespers.

3. On Sundays and ferias of Advent (except the Third Sunday), the altar may not be ornamented with flowers, and the organ is only used to sustain the choir, and only then if necessary.

4. On the Third Sunday of Advent ("Gaudete Sunday"), rose vestments are preferred but violet vestments may be worn. Organ and flowers are permitted.

5. In place of the Preface of the Blessed Trinity on Sunday and the Common Preface on weekdays, the Preface for Advent may be used.

6. From December 17th to December 23rd, inclusive, the Antiphon for the Magnificat at Vespers is one of the "O" Antiphons [see following posts].

7. From Saturday November 28th to February 1st inclusive, the final Antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Compline is Alma Redemptoris Mater.

(excerpted/adapted from the 2009 Liturgical Ordo, Priestly Fraternity of St Peter)

New Liturgical Year


A new liturgical year is almost upon us. This coming Sunday is Advent Sunday.

This year we will, again, focus on 1st and 2nd Class feasts, drawing on material compiled last year. Whether this blog is able to continue after November 2010, the net result of a further series of posts will result in all 1st and 2nd class Feasts being covered, including those inhibited by Sundays (and vice-à-versa) last year.

However, this year rubrical directions will focus on the Breviary - the prayer of the Church - and in particular commemorations, and which Office to say when. Points to note will be indicated in brackets.

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A reminder:
One of the authors of this blog intends to retire from blogging by Spring 2010. If you have time to help out with this blog, and see it continue, please leave a comment, or email markadm at catholic dot org.

Twenty-fourth and ultimate Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday 22 November 2009

DOMINICA VIGESIMA QUARTA
ET ULTIMA POST PENTECOSTEN
Twenty-fourth and ultimate Sunday after Pentecost
2nd Class, Green
Gloria; Credo; Preface of the Holy Trinity


Oremus.

Excita, quæsumus, Dómine, tuórum fidélium voluntátes : ut divíni óperis fructum propénsius exsequéntes ; pietátis tuæ remédia majóra percípiant. Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.

Arouse, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful, that, by more earnestly following after the fruit of the divine work, they may the more abundantly partake of thy mercies. Through.

(image: breviary.net)

Sixth Sunday Resumed after Epiphany

Sunday 15 November 2009

DOMINICA VI QUAE SUPERFUIT POST EPIPH.
Sixth Sunday Resumed after Epiphany
2nd Class, Green
Gloria; Credo; Preface of the Holy Trinity


Orémus.

Præsta, quæsumus, omnípotens Deus : ut semper rationabília meditántes ; quæ tibi sunt plácita, et dictis exsequámur, et factis. Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that, ever fixing our thoughts on reasonable things, we may both in word and in deed do that which is pleasing unto thee. Through.

Links:
(image: breviary.net)

Dedication of the Archbasilica of Our Saviour

Monday 9 November, 2009

IN DEDICATIONE ARCHBASILICÆ
SSMI. SALVATORIS
Dedication of the Archbasilica of Our Saviour*
2nd Class, White
Gloria; Credo; Common Preface


The Rites whereof the Church of Rome maketh use for the hallowing of Churches and Altars were first instituted by the blessed Pope Sylvester I. From the very time of the Apostles there had been places set apart for God, where assemblies took place upon the first day of every week, and where the Christians were used to pray, to hear the word of God, and to receive the Eucharist, which places were by some called Oratories and by others Churches. But these places were not dedicated with so solemn a form nor did they set up therein an Altar for a pillar, and pour chrism thereon, for a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself our Altar, our Victim and our Priest.

But when the Emperor Constantine had by the Sacrament of Baptism received health both of body and soul, then first in a law by him published was it allowed to the Christians throughout the whole world to build Churches, to the which holy building he exhorted them by his example as well as by his decree. He dedicated his own Lateran Palace a Church to the Saviour, and built hard by it a Cathedral in the name of St. John the Baptist, upon the place where he had been baptized by holy Sylvester, and cleansed from his leprosy. This Cathedral was hallowed by the said Pope upon the 9th day of November. It is this consecration, the memory of which is still celebrated upon this day, the first whereon the public consecration of a Church ever took place in Rome, and the image of the Saviour was seen by the Roman people painted upon a wall.

The Blessed Sylvester afterwards decreed, when he was consecrating the Altar of the Prince of the Apostles, that altars were thenceforward to be made of stone only, but notwithstanding this the Lateran Basilica hath the altar made of wood. This is not surprising. From St. Peter to Sylvester the Popes had not been able, by reason of persecutions, to abide fixedly in one place, and they celebrated the Holy Liturgy in cellars, in burying-places, in the houses of godly persons, or wherever need drave them, upon a wooden altar made like an empty box. When peace was given to the Church, holy Sylvester took this box, and to do honour to the Prince of the Apostles, who is said to have offered sacrifice thereon, and to the other Popes who thereon had been used to execute the mystery even unto that time, set it in the first Church, even the Lateran, and ordained that no one but the Bishop of Rome should celebrate the Liturgy thereon for all time coming. The original Lateran Basilica, cast down and destroyed by fires, pillage, and earthquakes, and renewed by the constant care of the Popes, was at last rebuilt afresh, and solemnly consecrated by Pope Benedict XIII, a Friar Preacher, upon the 28th day of April, in the year 1726, the memory of which Festival he ordained to be kept upon this day. In the year 1884 Leo XIII took in hand a work which had received the sanction of his predecessor Pius IX. The great sanctuary, the walls of which were giving way with age, was lengthened and widened, a task of immense labour. The ancient mosaic had been renewed previously in several places ; it was not restored according to the original design, and transferred to the new apse, the embellishment of which was carried out with great magnificence. The transept was redecorated, and its ceiling and woodwork repaired. A sacristy, a residence for the canons, and a portico connecting with the Baptistery of Constantine, were added to the existing buildings.

-- from the Roman Breviary (1911)

Link:

* - the Archbasilica of Our Saviour is most commonly referred to as "St John Lateran" and is the Holy Father's official ecclesiastical seat as Bishop of Rome.

(image: Wikipedia)

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday 8 November 2009

DOMINICA XXIII POST PENTECOSTEN
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

2nd Class, Green
Gloria; Credo; Preface of the Holy Trinity


Oremus.

Absólve, quæsumus, Dómine, tuórum delícta populórum : ut a peccatórum néxibus, quæ pro nostra fragilitáte contráximus, tua benignitáte líberémur. Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.

O Lord, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences : that, through thy bountiful goodness, we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed. Through.

~~*~~

In Britain today is Remembrance Sunday. One Requiem Mass may be celebrated for those who died in the two World Wars. This should be Mass on the anniversary.

Links:
(image: HM The Queen leads the Royal Family at the Annual Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall London (2008); Royal Air Force)

Blog Help Wanted

One of the authors of this blog intends to retire from blogging by Spring 2010. If you have time to help out with this blog, and see it continue, please leave a comment, or email markadm at catholic dot org.

All comments are moderated, hence private comments can be left which will remain unpublished.

All Souls: Praying for Souls in Purgatory

Monday 2 November 2009

IN COMMEMORATIONE OMNIUM FIDELIUM DEFUNCTORUM
Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed
also called "All Souls"
1st Class, Black
Plenary Indulgence;
No Gloria; Sequence; No Credo; Preface of the Dead



Oremus.

Fidélium, Deus, ómnium cónditor et redémptor, animábus famulórum famularúmque tuárum remissiónem cunctórum tríbue peccatórum : ut indulgéntiam, quam semper optavérunt, piis supplicatiónibus consequántur : Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum.

R. Amen.

Let us pray.

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all them that believe : grant unto the souls of thy servants and handmaidens the remission of all their sins ; that as they have ever desired thy merciful pardon, so by the supplications of their brethren they may receive the same. Who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

R. Amen.

This day all priests may celebrate three Masses. If a priest says only one Mass, it is to be the first of those given in the missal for this day. If he sings one Mass, it is to be the first and in this case he may say one or both of the other Masses before it.

Praying for the Souls in Purgatory

On this day the Church commemorates the departed faithful. Last year the Holy Father highlighted the importance of Christians living "our relationship with the dead in the truth of faith, and looking to death and the afterlife in the light of Revelation".

"Today too it is necessary to spread the message of the reality of death and eternal life - a reality particularly subject to superstition and syncretism - so that Christian truth does not risk being confused with mythologies of various kinds", he said.

After recalling the words of St. Augustine to the effect that "everyone seeks 'blessed life' and happiness", Benedict XVI affirmed that "we don't know what this is or what it is like, but we feel ourselves attracted to it. It is a universal hope, shared by people of all times and places. he expression 'eternal life' is an attempt to give a name to this unquenchable hope: not an endless succession, but an immersion in the ocean of infinite love, where time, before and after, exist no more. Fullness of life and of joy is what we hope and expect from being with Christ.

"Today we renew our hope in eternal life, a hope truly founded in the death and resurrection of Christ", the Pope added. "Christian hope is never something merely individual, it is always a hope for others. Our lives are deeply linked to one another, and the good and bad each of us does always touches other people".

The Holy Father concluded: "The prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that continues purifying itself after death. This is why today the Church invites us to pray for our deceased loved ones and to spend time at their tombs in cemeteries".

Links:
(image: Ebomania)

First Thursday of the Month: Plenary Indulgence Available

For the faithful, a plenary indulgence can be obtained on the opening and closing days of the Year for Priests, on the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean-Marie Vianney, on the first Thursday of the month, or on any other day established by the ordinaries of particular places for the good of the faithful.

To obtain the indulgence the faithful must attend Mass in an oratory or Church and offer prayers to "Jesus Christ, supreme and eternal Priest, for the priests of the Church, or perform any good work to sanctify and mould them to his heart."

The conditions for the faithful for earning a plenary indulgence are to have gone to confession and prayed for the intentions of the Pope.

(source: Zenit/A Catholic Life)