St Lawrence

Tuesday 10 August 2010

S. LAURENTII, Martyris
St Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr
2nd Class, Red

Oremus.

Da nobis, quæsumus, omnípotens Deus, vitiórum nostrórum flammas exstínguere : qui beáto Lauréntio tribuísti tormentórum suórum incéndia superáre. Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.

O Almighty God, who didst give unto blessed Lawrence power to be more than conqueror in his fiery torment : grant unto us, we beseech thee, the power to quench the flames of our sinful lusts. Through.

Link:

• Clerical Reform: Feast of St Lawrence

(image: Martyrdom of St Lawrence)

Fifth Day in the Christmas Octave

Tuesday 29 December 2010

DE V DIE INFRA OCTAVAM NATIVITATIS
5th Day in the Octave of Christmas
2nd Class, White

Oremus:

Deus, pro cujus Ecclésia gloriósus Póntifex Thomas gládiis impiórum occúbuit: præsta, quæsumus; ut omnes, qui ejus implótant auxílium, petitiónis suæ salutárem consequántur efféctum. Per Dóminum...

Let us Pray:

O God, for the sake of whose Church the glorious bishop Thomas fell by the sword of ungodly men: grant, we beseech Thee, that all who implore his aid, may obtain the good fruit of their petition.
Through our Lord...

~~*~~



~~*~~

From the Baronius Missal:

Saint Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is the Martyr of the liberties of the Church in the XIIth Century. Henry II, King of England, wished him to sanction customs contrary to the liberties of the Church. St Thomas knew that to make this divine society subservient to the secular power, would be to violate her very constitution, and therefore as Bishop he would willingly suffer death in defence of the Church of Christ. He was slain in his Cathedral by the King's soldiers on December 29th, 1170.

Links:

• Remembering the Martyr, St Thomas Becket (new!)
  
• Sub tuum: St Thomas Becket: Cistercian and Martyr (new!)
• The Anglo-Catholic: St Thomas à Becket (new!)

(image: earliest known portrayal of Thomas Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral, courtesy of Wikipedia)

Holy Innocents

Monday 28 December 2009

SS. INNOCENTIA MARTYRUM
Holy Innocents
2nd Class, Red


Oremus.

Deus, cujus hodiérna die præcónium Innocéntes Mártyres non loquéndo, sed moriéndo conféssi sunt : ómnia in nobis vitiórum mala mortífica ; ut fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra lóquitur, étiam móribus vita fateátur. Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.

O God, whose praise the martyred Innocents did this day proclaim, not be speaking but by dying, do to death in us all the malice of sinfulness, that our lives may also proclaim thy faith, which our tongues profess. Through.

~~*~~

Holy Innocents, from the Baronius Missal:

It is because Herod believed the words of the Magi and of the high Priests whom he consulted that he sees a rival in the Infant of Bethlehem and with jealousy pursues the Child, born King of the Jews. It is this God-King that the Innocents by dying confess; their passion is the exaltation of Christ.

And a Blogger notes:

Guéranger comments (Vol. 2, Bk. 1, pg. 280) that the Holy Innocents received a Baptism of Blood. This is certainly possible. However, they were all Jewish males, and the common opinion among the Fathers and Doctors of the Church was that circumcision obtained the forgiveness of original sin before the preaching of Christ. (See St. Thomas's article on the effect of circumcision.) If that is correct, then the Holy Innocents were already cleansed from original sin, and would certainly have obtained salvation no matter how they died.

While Tradition does say that the Innocents received a Baptism of Blood, the circumstance of their death did not obtain salvation for them, but added a certain splendor to their heavenly crowns because they were made like Christ (the intended victim) in their deaths.

(image: The Holy Innocents, by Giotto di Bondone)

St Stephen, Protomartyr

Saturday 26 December 2009

SANCTI STEPHANI, Protomartyris
St Stephen, Deacon & Protomartyr
2nd Class, Red
(2nd Vespers of St. Stephen,
w. commem. of 1st Vespers of Sunday in the Octave)

Oremus.
Concéde, quæsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut nos Unigéniti tui nova per carnem Natívitas líberet; quos sub peccáti jugo vetústa sérvitus tenet. Per eúmdem Dóminum.

Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that the new birth, in the flesh, of thine only-begotten Son, may deliver us whom slavery from of old doth keep under the yoke of sin. Through the same.

~~*~~

From matins, the Office of Readings for today⁽¹⁾, the feast of St Stephen, the first martyr:

From the Acts of the Apostles:

The members of the Council...became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory, and Jesus standing at the right side of God. "Look!" he said. "I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!"

...Then they all rushed together at him at once, threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in charge of a young man named Saul. They kept on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!" He said this and died. And Saul approved of his murder.

From a sermon by St Fulgentius of Ruspe:

Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal king; today we celebrate the triumphant death of a soldier.

...The love then that brought Christ down from heaven to earth, lifted Stephen from earth to heaven. The love that showed itself first in the kind, shone forth next in the soldier. And Stephen, so as to deserve to win the crown -- which is what his name means -- had love as his weapon and by it was everywhere victorious. Through love of God he did not yield to the raging of the Jews, and through love of his neighbour he prayed for those who were stoning him...

Trusting in the strength of love he overcame the cruel raging of Saul, and so won for himself as a companion in heaven, the man who had been his persecutor on earth. ...And now Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he enjoys the brightness of Christ; he exults with Stephen, he reigns with Stephen.

What a really true life must there be now, brethren, where Paul is not put to confusion although he killed Stephen, but where, instead, Stephen rejoices in the fellowship of Paul; for in both of them love itself rejoices. In Stephen, love overcame the ferocity of the Jews, in Paul it covered a multitude of sins, and in both of them love deserved to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Love, therefore, is the origin and source of all good things; it is a most excellent defence, the road that leaves to heaven. Whoever walks in love can neither stray nor be afraid. Love guides, love protects, love leads to the end.

⁽¹⁾ - Divine Office, vol. I, pp. 46* - 50*.

~~*~~

Link:

• Vultus Christi: "Wreathe the Door of Thy Heart"

St Lawrence

Monday 10 August 2009

S. LAURENTII, Martyris
St Lawrence, Martyr
2nd Class, Red
Gloria; no Credo; Common Preface

Oremus.

Da nobis, quæsumus, omnípotens Deus, vitiórum nostrórum flammas exstínguere : qui beáto Lauréntio tribuísti tormentórum suórum incéndia superáre. Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.

O Almighty God, who didst give unto blessed Lawrence power to be more than conqueror in his fiery torment : grant unto us, we beseech thee, the power to quench the flames of our sinful lusts. Through.

Link:

• Clerical Reform: Feast of St Lawrence

(image: Martyrdom of St Lawrence)

January 5th: Dom Gueranger on the Octave of St. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr

"It is but fitting that the Country, which was beautified with the blood of the illustrious Martyr, should honour his memory with especial fervour, and keep up his Feast during the joyful Octaves of Stephen, of John, the Beloved Disciple, and the Innocents of Bethlehem."

Conclusion of a Prose, taken from the ancient Missals of Liege:

"O thou gem of the Priesthood! O glorious Pontiff Thomas! thy prayers are ne'er refused - oh! calm the rebellion of our flesh.

That being rooted in Christ, the true Vine, we may receive the solid rewards of eternal life. Amen.

".....the Episcopal Hierarchy has reappeared in this beautiful Isle of ours, where thou wast once the Primate, vested with the sacred Pallium. Oh! protect the Bishops who are now so zealously governing the vineyard over which thou didst once preside, and for which thou didst shed thy blood. Ask our Lord to increase the number of his Priests; for the harvest is great, and the labourers are few. May they be endued, by the Master of the Vineyard, with the spirit of patience and courage; may they be powerful in word and work, and may their name, as thine is, be held in blessing by future generations!"

Fifth Day in the Christmas Octave

Monday 29 December 2008

DE V DIE INFRA OCTAVAM NATIVITATIS
Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity
2nd Class, White
Gloria; Credo; Preface of the Nativity
Proper Communic diem sacratissimum

Collect of the Sunday; with Commem. of S Thomas^(?) B M at Low Masses:

Oremus: Deus, pro cujus Ecclésia gloriósus Póntifex Thomas gládiis impiórum occúbuit: præsta, quæsumus; ut omnes, qui ejus implótant auxílium, petitiónis suæ salutárem consequántur efféctum.
Per Dóminum...

Let us Pray: O God, for the sake of whose Church the glorious bishop Thomas fell by the sword of ungodly men: grant, we beseech Thee, that all who implore his aid, may obtain the good fruit of their petition.
Through our Lord...

~~*~~

From the Baronius Missal:

Saint Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is the Martyr of the liberties of the Church in the XIIth Century. Henry II, King of England, wished him to sanction customs contrary to the liberties of the Church. St Thomas knew that to make this divine society subservient to the secular power, would be to violate her very constitution, and therefore as Bishop he would willingly suffer death in defence of the Church of Christ. He was slain in his Cathedral by the King's soldiers on December 29th, 1170.

(image: earliest known portrayal of Thomas Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral, courtesy of Wikipedia)