Twenty-fourth and ultimate Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday 21 November 2010

DOMINICA VIGESIMA QUARTA
ET ULTIMA POST PENTECOSTEN
24th Sunday after Pentecost
5th Sunday of November
2nd Class, Green



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 14 November 2010

DOMINICA VI QUAE SUPERFUIT POST EPIPH.
Resumed 6th Sunday after Epiphany
4th Sunday of November
2nd Class, Green



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

Tuesday 9 November 2010

IN DEDICATIONE ARCHBASILICÆ
SSMI. SALVATORIS
Dedication of the Archbasilica of Our Holy Saviour
2nd Class, White


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)

Note: 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)

Fifth Sunday Resumed after Epiphany

Sunday 7 November 2010

DOMINICA V QUAE SUPERFUIT POST EPIPH.
Resumed 5th Sunday after Epiphany
3rd Sunday of November
2nd Class, Green

Oremus

Familiam tuam, quaesumus Domine, continua pietate custodi: ut quae in sola spe gratiae caelestis innititur, tua semper protectione muniatur.

Let us pray

O Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy family continually in godliness, that they who do lean only upon the hope of thine heavenly grace, may evermore be defended by thy mighty power.

Links:
(image: HRH Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex attends the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph on November 8, 2009)

All Souls: Praying for Souls in Purgatory

Tuesday 2 November 2010

IN COMMEMORATIONE OMNIUM FIDELIUM DEFUNCTORUM
Commemoration of All Souls
1st Class, Black



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)