Fisk: Interim Proper of the Mass of Our Lady of the Southern Cross

Upon requesting it, I have been kindly emailed the interim texts for the proper Mass of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, at present celebrated in the Diocese of Toowoomba in Queensland.  I anticipate there is nothing wrong with posting these here on my blog for the purpose of analysing and critiquing them...  Please be aware that I offer these thoughts without wishing to be uncharitable, but rather that my fisking may be constructive.

To be honest, I was looking forward to finding some nice devout prayers to say to Our Blessed Lady under this title, but have been disappointed.

1.  So, first, the opening prayer, which I prefer (following the newest Latin editions of the Missal as well as the older) to name the collect:

Blessed Virgin Mary of the Southern Cross

Interim Texts*

Opening Prayer

God of all peoples,

you inspire us by the courage of our pioneers

and enrich us by the ancient wisdom

of the Indigenous people who first inhabited this land.

Through the intercession of Mary of the Southern Cross

may the people of this Diocese

and all who live within our shores

be gathered together to form one people

working together for your kingdom, in harmony and peace.

We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ...

I must admit that I find this a very contrived, politically correct, awkward prayer.  No doubt God is indeed the God of all peoples (Deus gentium omnium), but the Roman Rite typically uses an address along the lines of "Almighty God", "Lord God", or somesuch: this business of using an adjectival genitive - "God of loving-kindness", "God of our sisters and brothers" - is sadly typical of many would-be contemporary euchologists; one suspects it is really about avoiding what amusingly enough ICEL invented: the constant use of "God our Father" and other "patriarchal" references to the First Person of the Trinity, which are actually quite rare in the Latin orations.  So much for the invocation!

Next, telling the Lord (as if He weren't aware, if it is in fact the case) that "you inspire us" by courageous pioneers and indigenous wisdom is in fact rather trite, and simply increases the feelgood aura of niceness that cloys this collect.  Do we really need to point out in prayer that the indigenous were the first inhabitants of Austalia?  After all, isn't that what the very word "indigenous" means?  So we do away with a relative clause for God (and use "you" rather than "who"), but next insert one to labour the point about our dear aboriginal friends...

Let us be honest, who exactly are really, actually enriched by indigenous wisdom?  Can this honestly be said to be true for the good Christians of Toowoomba?  The truth in rural Australia is often far otherwise.  And frankly what has this to do with a prayer honouring Our Lady of the Southern Cross?  No doubt all indigenous wisdom is inspired by the Lord to both benefit its possessors and act as a præparatio Evangelica, but it seems overdone and self-conscious to drone on about it, bespeaking a certain fashionable middleclass guilt.

And, harking back to the blessed early settlers and their courage, again, are they (rather than, say, the All-Holy Mother of God, all brave martyrs and the saints triumphant who have fought the good fight) really to be lauded and praised, as so amazingly significant Christian heroes for the Catholics of Toowoomba - in a collect for a Marian feast?

We finally arrive at a mention of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, and her intercession.  Now, the central problem is this: the title "of the Southern Cross" is pregnant with meaning, but the prayer expounds none of it.  Surely the title has at least a threefold signification, bringing to mine her dauntless stance at the foot of the Cross on Calvary, her coredemptive office there, standing as a sign to all Christians to take up their cross, have their share in Christ's sufferings, and fill up what is lacking therein for the sake of His Body, the Church (cf. Col. i, 24), and furthermore alluding to her patronage over Australia, the land of the Southern Cross, which for countless ages before Christ and the consequent advent of His Gospel here had hung as a mysterious sign of the coming redemption in the skies of the Great South Land?  But this collect is dumb as regards all this and whatever else it may signify, sadly.

What are we to pray for, through Holy Mary's intercession?  That all in the Diocese, and all in our nation girt by sea, shall work for the coming of the kingdom in justice and peace.  

O social justice!   What crimes have been committed in your name!  

Being gathered together to build a socialist utopia is Marxism, not Christianity: of course, this prayer doesn't pray for that, it is of course a worthy aim to advance God's kingdom on earth (as by extending the social reign of Christ the King, converting Australia and making it a confessional state by concordat with the Holy See - but I suspect this idea is not quite what the liturgical author intended).  However, in practice such a nothing statement is interpreted in relentlessly secular terms, reducing the Gospel to helping the poor (most laudable) but leaving the universal call to holiness aside (which is Americanism). Having been through Catholic schooling, I have long past had a gutful of social justice pestering, and like Goering it makes me wish to reach for a revolver.

Being "gathered together" reminds me of that dreadful modern misguided notion of patronizingly didacticizing the opening rites of Mass, into a meet-and-greet à la kindergarten show and tell.  And "working together" is such a jejune phrase in its current setting.

In short, I find the prayer sums up the worst of modern Catholic obsessions with secondary matters, to the exclusion of unpacking the tremendous symbolism of the title "of the Southern Cross" as applied to the Blessed Virgin: it is not a product of organic development from the traditional models of collect-writing in the one Roman Rite.

2.  Next, to the oratio super oblata:

Prayer over the Gifts

God of all the ages

receive the fruits of the earth that we bring as gift to you,

who first gifted us with this rich and diverse land,

so that, gathered from every people and nation,

we who receive them may become one body

alive in the one spirit, through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Here we are in the midst of the mindset that can seem to imply, as Bishop Elliott satirically opined, that the Eucharist is a cereal offering.  

The people will already most likely have heard the modern preparation of the gifts prayers recited ("Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.  Through your goodness we have this... to offer...  which earth has given... work of human hands..."), so why labour the point that bread and wine are now prepared upon the altar?  They are indeed the fruits of the earth, and thus ultimately come from God - "Thine own of thine own do we offer unto Thee".  

However, the purpose of what was for long ages called the secret prayer is not to point out the obvious, but to look forward to the consecration of these oblations (the Latin is things brought and offered, oblata; "gifts" is too banal in English) and to pray for the effects of the sacrifice to be effected in the consecration of the sacrament.  This offertory prayer doesn't know what it's for.  Indeed, without making explicit that the offerings will be changed into holy mysteries, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it seems peculiar to pray that these fruits of the earth may mystically incorporate and spiritualize us.

Another annoyance reappears: again that potty adjectival genitive rears its head: perhaps "God of the new world order" would be the phrase with which to parody it.  Of course the Lord is ruler of all the ages; of course this land Australia is rich and diverse (as the national anthem insists), and its peoples have come across the seas to live herein, a sign in the natural order of our supernatural ingathering into the Ecclesia Christi, that we be one Body and one Spirit in Christ: but is this prayer for Australia Day?  No, it is for the feast (to be imprecise) of Our Lady of the Southern Cross; so surely she deserves a mention, as after all it was by her agency that Our Lord took flesh and dwelt amongst us, that we should, by His Sacrifice and Presence offered us in the Sacrament, become partakers of His Divinity.

3.  The Preface to be used is that of "The Blessed Virgin at prayer with the Apostles" from the Sacramentary of Masses for the BVM, which has Vatican approval, so I shall omit commentary upon it.  I think, however, that a great opportunity to write some sublime liturgical poetry was missed here; or, why was not the Preface for "The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross" used?

4.  Now for the postcommunion:

Prayer after Communion

God of our joy,

through the communion we receive

unite us under the care of Mary of the Southern Cross,

as one people in Jesus Christ

who dwells with you forever and ever.

This prayer after receiving Holy Communion is I think quite decent: it is a happy turn of phrase to pray that we be united "under the care of Mary of the Southern Cross" - though I think it would sound less jarring if she were given a title such as Holy Mary or such (else it sound a bit too much as if it were referring to Blessed Mary (MacKillop) of the Cross, Australia's one and only beata) - and most certainly we would hope and pray that our reception of the Sacrament would make us to be one people in Christ.  

However, the issues plaguing these prayers (and their author?) glare forth in the first and last lines.  As I said above, the adjectival genitive when used of the Deity can sound absolutely ridiculous: "God of our joy" indeed!  (At least we are not subjected to "Joyful God" or "God of our happiness and laughter".)  And the theological, or rather ideological mindset that shrinks from Christ "living and reigning" with the Father is manifested by the strange use of "dwells" (the Johannine notion of abiding, no doubt), which is foreign to the Roman tradition: the short ending is by definition qui (tecum) vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculorum.

5.  At least the solemn blessing supplied (vide infra), which I suspect but cannot at this moment prove to come from that collection of Marian Masses (because of the un-Australian spelling of "Savior", if for no other reason), is perfectly orthodox and quite good:

Blessing

May you be filled with the grace of God the Father,

whose Word was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin

to become the Savior of the human race. R/. Amen.

May your hearts rejoice at the salvation won by Christ,

Son of God, and Son of Mary, as he hung upon the cross. R/. Amen.

May the light and grace of the Holy Spirit

that filled Mary of Nazareth remain with you,

that you may await the Coming of Christ

vigilant in prayer and with songs of praise on your lips. R/. Amen.

May almighty God bless you,

the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit. R/. Amen.

So much for the euchological texts of this local Mass.

6.  The readings are taken from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary: they are Apocalypse 11:19 and 12:1-6,10 (in Eastertide: signum magnum apparuit in cælo, alluding to Our Lady and her connexion to the Southern Cross in the starry sky) or Isaiah 9:1-6, which can be construed as having an apposite application, although probably 7:10-14 would have been better; Galatians 4:4-7; and St John 19:25-27 (so at last the Cross, the Virgin's steadfast stance thereat, and Our Lord's gift of His Mother to us get a mention).  The responsorial psalm to be used was not mentioned in the email I received, but is probably the one paired with whichever of the first readings gets used.  

Update: having been able to check a lectionary (tho' annoyingly the page numbers didn't match, and the original references I was given gave only page numbers), and now having had further correspondence to clarify these details, it appears the responsorial psalm used is Ps 44:11-12,14-17 (R/. v. 11).  As for the Gospel Acclamation or Alleluia verse paired with the Gospel reading, it is "Blessed is Mary who stood by the cross of her son, believing that the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled."  (Cf. Jn 19:25; Lk 1:45.)

* The proper is an interim text approved for use by Bishop William Morris for use in the Diocese of Toowoomba.

Ut Unum Sint

My friend David Schütz (please visit and profit from his inestimable blog) often speaks of the Una Sancta - that is, the One Holy Catholic Church that we confess in the Apostles' Creed: 

Credo in Spiritum sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem peccatorum... 

What does this imply?  That we believe in the equal Deity of the Holy Ghost, Who is the Soul of the Church, Who makes holy the saints, Who effects the consecration of the Holy Mysteries, Who is Himself the Remission of sins.  That we acknowledge the ekklesia, literally the calling together, the convocation, of all those translated by God out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of Christ (cf. Col. i, 13) -  which is at once the fellowship (koinonia) of the saints, that we may share their lot in light (cf. Col. i, 12), those made and called to be holy in this new kingdom of Christ, and - since the Eucharist makes the Church - the sharing of holy things, above all of the Holy Gifts of the Divine Eucharist, which sanctify and purify and deify us, remitting sins by burning them away in the fire of love, and obtaining of God all graces by their mystical oblation in the Sacrifice of the Mass, since these Holies we partake of are Christ and His Redemption wrought for us made present - redemption, the forgiveness of sins (cf. Col. i, 14); and to which access - to the Church, to the communion of Saints, to Holy Communion - may alone be gained by baptism, the remission of sins, and which can be regained if by our sins our share in holiness is lost through the sacrament of penance, the 'second baptism', the remission of sins.

Why this sudden thought?

Because to-day (now almost past; after spiritually a rather bad day in which I'd started Matins in the morning, split it up due to its length, and only finished it with Te Deum after 4pm, I've just finished the Office, by reading Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline all at once) is the feast of two very pillars of the One Holy Church: the blessed Apostles Simon and Jude - and because of the Anglican collect therefor, which is a very decent prayer.  I happen to know that this feast and this collect are respectively the feast-day and the official prayer of the Prayer Book Society of Australia, and I take this opportunity to pray for our separated brethren, "that they may all be one" (St John xvii, 21f) with us, in Holy Church united, that the world may know Jesus Christ and God His Father and their love (their Love, the Holy Ghost, the uncreated Gift that divinizes) for all to be gathered into one (cf. St John xvii, 23):

O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone (cf. Eph. ii, 20); Grant us so to be joined together (cf. Eph. ii, 21) in unity of spirit (cf. I Peter iii, 8; Eph. iv, 3) by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple (cf. Eph. ii, 21) acceptable unto thee (cf. I Peter ii, 5); through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Onward Christian Soldiers

Since I will be returning to live and work in Tasmania at the end of this year, I feel I must play my part in gaining a weekly Sunday Latin Mass there in Hobart, where for well over a decade there has been Mass - nearly always a Missa cantata, sung by the schola I used to belong to - in the Extraordinary Form on the 1st Sunday of each month, firstly under Fr Jarrett (now Bishop of Lismore, N.S.W.) at his parish church of Sacred Heart, New Town, and latterly at St Canice, Lower Sandy Bay, with the generous assistance of Fr Gerald Quinn, C.P.  So far as I understand, there is certainly a "stable group" of at least 80 to 100 people who attend it; the Archdiocese has manpower problems, so to speak, with a lack of priests, but with the expanding FSSP apostolate in Australia one would think that the last State capital to be without a weekly Tridentine Mass could soon be delivered from that status.

"Work as if all depends on oneself, pray as if all depends on God" (St Ignatius Loyola): to this end, here is the prayer I have penned to St Patrick, Patron of the Archdiocese of Hobart, and to St Canice, whose church it is where the Mass is now held; the prayers may be said in their entirety, or the central prayer to God through the intercession of St Patrick (in larger type) may be used alone for more brevity:

Perpetual Prayer 

to St Patrick, Patron of the Archdiocese of Hobart, 

& St Canice

(for Obtaining Mass in the Extraordinary Form every Sunday)

Great Apostle of Ireland, Holy Pontiff, glorious Confessor, man of God, choice vessel of the Holy Ghost, blessed Patrick, thou venerable ambassador of God and indefatigable preacher of His Word: who by a prodigy of the Most High didst convert the Irish heathen from the darkness of paganism to the light of the Gospel, so confirming their hearts in holiness that down all the ages thy disciples have ever remained steadfast children of Rome, loyal to Christ's Church and His Vicar on earth despite every trial: be thou attentive to our humble prayer; win for us, most beloved Saint and Patron of our Isle also, a like grace to that of thy children of old; and as thou didst bring unto Ireland the True Faith, obtain for us of the Most Holy Trinity never to depart from it; and as thou didst by Divine power drive forth from Ireland all manner of venomous serpents, so now manifest unto us the Divine mercy, that our hearts may be turned to the Lord and delivered from all vice and corruption. By thine uncountable suffrages and merits, gain for us patience, resignation, charitable zeal, dauntless courage in adversity, and all virtues needful that we may save our souls; by thy potent intercession, beg the Lord to send us that which we implore, if it be for His honour and our salvation, and in the manner that He shall most benignly decide.

V/. Pray for us, blessed Patrick.

R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Through the prayers of St Patrick, Thy Bishop and Confessor, we entreat Thy Divine Majesty, that Thou mayest permit us to worship and adore Thee according to the Traditional Latin Rite of the Holy Roman Church, on all Sundays and Holy Days:

May this clean oblation be acceptable unto Thee, O Lord of hosts, which, through the labours of blessed Patrick, from the rising to the setting of the sun, shall be offered unto Thy great Name among the nations, as Thou hast willed. Through Christ our Lord. R/. Amen. 

[Secret of the Mass of St Patrick*]

We thy poor clients turn likewise in trust and hope toward thee, good St Canice, thou man of virtue, eloquence and learning, wise in the ways of God, zealous preacher, holy priest, dauntless missionary, gracefilled abbot, devoted to the Gospel in word and deed, one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland: intercede for us, be our mediator with Christ, pray that our cause may be just and acceptable unto the Lord, that He may deign to give us our heart's desire – to worship and adore Him according to the liturgy of our fathers.

V/. Pray for us, blessed Canice.

R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

God Almighty, Whose service is the highest and fullest joy: grant, we beseech Thee, that following the example of blessed Canice, and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ as obedient sons, we may freely and lovingly serve Thee in holiness and righteousness. Through the same Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.  

[Collect of St Canice†]

******

* Acceptabilis tibi sit, Domine exercituum, hæc oblatio munda; quam per beati Patricii labores, ab ortu solis usque ad occasum, magno nomini tuo in gentibus offerri voluisti. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

† Deus omnipotens, cujus servitus summa et plena felicitas: præsta, quæsumus; ut beati Canici imitatione, subjecti invicem in timore Christi quasi filii obedientiæ, libera tibi caritate in sanctitate et justitia serviamus. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

Ecce Vir Oriens nomen ejus

"Behold a Man, the Orient is His Name..." (3rd antiphon at Vespers of Christ the King).

In the Coptic Liturgy, directly before the Sursum corda dialogue that leads into the Preface, or rather into the whole Eucharistic Prayer or ‘Anaphora’, the deacon (or, in his absence, the server) exclaims: “Stand up with fear and trembling! Look toward the east and say: ‘Mercy, peace, and sacrifice of praise!’”. This is expressed in Greek as Εἰς νατολὰς βλέψατε, and in Latin as Aspicite ad orientem – a phrase founded upon Baruch 4:36 and 5:5. 

The Coptic admonition states explicitly what all liturgies assume: that worship is directed toward the (liturgical) east. For the east, synonymous with the dawn and with the sun, is a symbol of Christ, who is the Orient, toward Whom all should turn: the true East (cf. Zech 6:12, LXX & Vulg.), the dawn from on high (Lk 1:78), the sun of justice (Mal 4:2a (or 3:20a)), the true light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5), Who has risen and Who shall never set, Who has ascended above the heaven of heavens to the east, and ought be hymned as God in that direction (Ps 67(68):33, Vulg.), Who shall come again in glory as lightning flashing from the east to the west (Mt 24:27), as was prophesied by Ezekiel (43:2).

Augustine says (De Verbis Domini, Sermone 100,2): “The East,” that is Christ, “calleth thee, and thou turnest to the West,” namely mortal and fallible man. 

(St Thomas Aquinas, S.T.,IIaIIæ,189,10, resp.)

[what a woe for the Church, then, to have fallen from her age-old orientation!]

You entered, then, [into the baptistery] in order to encounter your adversary [the devil], whom you were determined to renounce to his face [facing west]; then you turned to the east, for he who renounces the devil turns to Christ, and looks him straight in the face. 

(St Ambrose, On the Mysteries, 7)

The catechumen, standing with his face to the West, which symbolized the abode of darkness, and stretching out his hand, or sometimes spitting out in defiance and abhorrence of the devil [the so-called sputatio], was wont to make this abjuration. It was also customary after this for the candidate for baptism to make an explicit promise of obedience to Christ. This was called by the Greeks syntassesthai Christo, the giving of oneself over to the control of Christ. St. Justin Martyr testifies that baptism was only administered by those who, together with their profession of faith, made a promise or vow that they would live in conformity with the Christian code. Hence the generally employed formula: syntassomai soi, Christe, "I surrender myself to thee, O Christ, to be ruled by thy precepts". This [syntaxis] took place directly over the apotaxis or renunciation of the devil, and was variously described by the Latins as promissum, pactum, and votum. During this declaration of attachment to Jesus Christ the person to be baptized turned towards the East as towards the region of light. 

(Delany, Joseph F. “Baptismal Vows,” Catholic Encylopedia, vol. II, 1907)

The Christian churches are turned toward the East, in order that our gaze may be directed toward the paradise, our ancient fatherland, from which we have been chased away. And we pray Our Lord to re-entrust us to this place from which we were chased away. 

(Pseudo-Athanasius)

It is from the East that comes salvation; from there comes that man called Orient, mediator between God and men. 

(Origen, Homil. IX in Lev. n. 10)

[The rising sun is an image of the Risen Christ] for that sun which seems to be dying in the West, we see it resurrect with such glory in the East. 

(Honorius of Autun)

The Lord himself says to us: ‘In the same way lightning leaves from the East to the West, so will it be for the coming of the Lord’; and it is for the very fact that we await his coming that we pray in the direction of the East. 

(St John Damascene)

There is a certain fittingness in adoring towards the east. First, because the Divine majesty is indicated in the movement of the heavens which is from the east. Secondly, because Paradise was situated in the east according to the Septuagint version of Genesis 2:8, and so we signify our desire to return to Paradise. Thirdly, on account of Christ Who is “the light of the world” (Jn 8:12; 9:5), and is called “the Orient” (Zech 6:12), “Who mounteth above the heaven of heavens to the east” (Ps 67(68):33), and is expected to come from the east, according to Matthew 24:27, “As lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”  

(St Thomas Aquinas, S.T.,IIaIIæ,84,3, resp. ad obj. 3)

This worshipping, or adoration in Churches was not so indefinite, but that it was instantly limited to be towards the East, or the place of the Altar, insomuch that amongst the first blossomes of Heresyes, that of the Osseni [Elchasaites] as reckoned by Epiphanius, of whom Alxai [Elchasai] the false Jew was a Coryphæus, prohibit enim (saith the father) orare ad orientes, asserens non oportere sic intendere, saying we ought not addresse our devotions, or adorations that way. That was his hæresy; for that thither our adorations are to be directed is an Apostolicall tradition, if we will believe as authentick records, as any we have extant. Justin Martyr in Resp. ad Qu: 118 ad Orthodoxos, having sayd that the Church hath received order for the place, and manner of prayer from the Apostles (as S. Clement sayd we had from Christ) addes, ideo Christianos omnes precum tempore spectare ad Orientem: quia ortus tamquam mundi pars honoratior, adorationi Dei destinatus est. Marke that; the East is the determin’d place for adoration: and this by the practise of all Christians, and this taught from the Apostles. The certainty of this derivation from the Apostles is further to be seen in Origen Homil. 5. in Numer: in Tertullian cap. 16 Apologet: S. Gregory Nyssen in lib. de Oratione: Athanasius Quæst:14. de plurimus et necessariis quæst: and divers others.

The reasons of this determination of Christian worship are diversly given by the Fathers according to their various Conceptions, all thereof, or the most were postnate to the thing, and are to be seene in S. German’s Theorica rerum Ecclesiast: and Damascen: lib. 4. orthod: fid: cap. 13. where he sayes this addresse of our adoration is studiose observanda, Christum scil: cum in cruce penderet ad occasum prospexisse, eumque nomine ita adoramus, ut eum obtueamur. The true reason I know not, I meane that which was truly introductive of the practise, for postnate there are enough, but this I know, that our adoration thitherward, and the placing of the Altar there were coætaneous for ought appears, and if I may have leave to conjecture, I think that this was the truer reason of the addresse of our worship, even because the Altar was Positum in Oriente; my reason is this;

1. Because I find in antiquity προσκυνειν προς άνατολας [‘to worship toward the east’], and έμπροσθεν του θυσιαστηριου [‘in front of the altar’] used promiscuously, and, 2ndly, because I find in antiquity the prærogative of holinesse not given to the orientall part of heaven, but to the site of the Altar in the Church I doe: which two things put together methinks say, that therefore the adoration was alwayes that way, because the Altar or Holy Table (for the difference is but nominall) being alwayes like the tree of Paradise planted in the East, and being more Holy than the other parts of the Church, I meane by a relative holinesse, did best determine our worship, as having God there the most presentiall. And if I be not mistaken, Walafridus Strabus shall confirme it; for when he had reckoned three Altars, one at Jerusalem, one in the Pantheon at Rome, the other in S. Peters that were not set in the East as examples of singular exception from the Common rule addes, Usus tamen frequentior et rationi vicinior habet in Orientem Orantes converti. Though these Altars were not in the East, yet the most common use is for worshippers to turne to the East when they pray. As if their addresse to the East was onely because of the Altar’s being there placed.  

(an extract from: Jeremy Taylor, On the Reverence due to the Altar.)

Christus Rex at Kelmscott

Owing to my forgetting about daylight saving, I slept in (not realizing that there was to be a sung Mass to-day) and ended up missing even the late Mass at the Pro., so I hied myself out to Kelmscott instead, for the 2pm Low Mass there.  

Now, this was providential, because it gave me the chance to see Fr Michael Slattery, a very holy Scottish priest, celebrate Low Mass for the first time on Sunday.  (He's one of a number of priests that have been learning to celebrate the Traditional Mass lately.)  His Latin is very good, he's just about got the rubrics down pat - as seems often to happen with priests new to the old Mass, he forgot the Dominus vobiscum at the Offertory - and furthermore his sermon was very moving, shewing something of his evident piety and love of God.

He told of how as a wee lad he'd been given a commemorative cup at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, of how he'd learnt at school that the British Empire, The Queen's protection, and the benefits of civilization had been extended throughout the world by many brave adventurers, and of how he had an old UK passport in which all are requested to give him due assistance without let or hindrance, as he is a subject of Her Majesty - all this told with a twinkle in his eye! - and he contrasted these truths, perhaps more questioned now than of old, with the enduring truths of our Faith: that we have a King Whose kingdom is far more than any earthly empire, Whose kingdom has been extended throughout the world by apostles, saints and brave missionaries (such as St Paul, St Francis Xavier, and Bl Mary Mackillop, his fellow Australian Scotswoman), Whose true and loyal subjects we are called to be.  

He also mentioned something of himself, who had spent some time with the Servites, been a teacher, come to Australia, and become a priest of the Diocese of Bunbury in process of time - and now has come to Perth to work for Archbishop Hickey at the new Lumen Christi centre, essaying to reach out to spread the light of the Gospel to the unchurched and unbelieving masses: the 25% of Australians who have no belief in God.  

He spoke of St Thérèse and her Little Way, of how we are called to live out love; and this he linked to the gift of God for, as he said with a smile, The Queen has never visited him, nor the Governor-General, nor the Prime Minister - but Our Lord comes to us in the Mass, that greatest of joys to all the saints and the source of their courage, to more and more win us to Himself, freeing us from the darkness of sin and ignorance and bringing us into His kingdom of light, to strengthen our faith, buoy up our hope, and fan our love into a flame, that we may ask what we should do for Him, and set out bravely to do it.

Devotion to St Anne

While it may be the feast of Christus Rex, I have been also devoting some attention to preparing suitable collections of hymns and prayers for use once the Perth Latin Mass community moves into its new home at St Anne's, Belmont.

This exercised my thoughts some weeks back when I was on retreat at Toodyay, and took the opportunity to go on some long walks each afternoon round that township. I came up with a list of the principal points concerning the holy life of St Anne, and considered them by meditating upon them as we do the mysteries of the rosary.

Here, then, is one result so far of all this:

The Rosary of St Anne

No apology need be given for proposing to good Christian people a new devotion, if it be agreeable to true faith and piety, arising from the traditions handed down to us from the earliest ages as a new shoot from the one vine. If we are to take good St Anne as our patroness and behave as her humble clients, it is needful to place ourselves in her service, and to imitate her as our model of holiness, and not in words only but in deeds. For this reason, to dwell upon the chief facts of her life and to propose to ourselves her virtues is most requisite.

It is a settled principle of Catholic doctrine that God our Lord delighteth to vouchsafe unto His servants what graces they need for their state in life. Now, after the most prodigious graces that her daughter Mary received, that that spotless Virgin be a fit Mother to her Divine Son, it is evident that St Anne must likewise have been gifted with altogether singular graces, that she might fitly raise up a daughter not merely saintly but immaculate, holier than all other creatures in heaven and on earth, as Blessed Pope Pius IX declared. Having noted that St Anne thereby obtained graces particular to herself above even all other saints, it is obvious that her merits, patronage, and glorious suffrages are of the greatest benefit to us sinners, seeing as she has deservedly won a most exalted place in heaven and is most specially the object of the Divine predilection.

What, then, are the noteworthy points about St Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary? The question itself supplies the answer. She was elected from all eternity to be the mother of the Mother of God, to conceive her immaculately in her womb, to bring her forth to the world and to dedicate her entirely to God, and thus was assigned a fittingly righteous spouse in her dear husband St Joachim (it may be piously believed that the Lord tried and tested them by giving them no child for a long time, until their prayers and resignation to the Divine Will proved them worthy, and worthy of so unique a daughter); furthermore, it is part of the tradition of Holy Church that SS Joachim and Anne presented their daughter Holy Mary to God in the Temple at Jerusalem (as appears most reasonable considering her immaculate sacred state), and that in process of time St Anne (and of course her husband also) came to the end of life, and died, or rather fell asleep in the Lord, her soul coming to its eternal rest and reward in heaven – else we should not name her a saint at all! Our reason, in the light of what Revelation teaches us of her daughter, very easily deduces all these mysterious truths concerning St Anne.

The liturgies of the Church supply us with ample meditations on these mysteries, as we may term them, of St Anne. It must first be understood that devotion to St Anne comes to the West from the East – that the Greek or Byzantine Rite has enriched our Latin or Roman Rite with the great themes of piety concerning her. Consider that the feast of St Anne herself (26th July) is named in the East (where it is kept a day earlier) as the feast specifically of her Dormition, or death. Again, the feast of the Birthday of Our Lady (8th September) is regarded in the East more from the perspective of St Anne's delivery of her precious child the All-Holy Mary. Indeed, the Byzantine Rite sets aside the next day, the 9th of September, as the synaxis – the meeting, or more strongly put, the marriage – of SS Joachim and Anne; whereas the Western, Roman Rite celebrates St Joachim, the husband of St Anne, on the 16th of August, the day succeeding the Assumption of Our Lady: the former emphasises their holy union, the latter, the truth that St Anne had a noble and worthy spouse, himself specially graced to be a good father to the Virgin of Virgins. The 21st of November is the date common to both East and West for solemnly commemorating the Presentation of Our Lady, but again the Greek liturgy gives more emphasis to the role of her parents, SS Joachim and Anne, in that glorious occasion. Finally, what Rome denotes the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Byzantine liturgy further names the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God by St Anne as the mystery celebrated on the 8th of December (or 9th, in some rites).

Hence, divinely enlightened reason and the traditional worship of the universal Church together present us with five special considerations concerning St Anne, whom the author of the Cœleste palmetum ages past declared to be Most Worthy Spouse of Joachim, Most Illustrious Mother of the Mother of God, and Most Happy Grandmother of Jesus Christ. (It is piously held that St Anne was privileged to hold in her arms her Divine Grandchild, ere she came to rest in peace.) These mysteries let us now recapitulate:

1. St Anne, specially graced by God, marries St Joachim – what excellent dignity of holy wedlock happily achieved: what virtues proper to this state of life;

2. St Anne conceives Our Lady without stain of sin - in answer to prayer and in accord with God's saving plan: faith, trust, perseverance, resignation;

3. St Anne brings forth Our Lady to the world – what happiness, joy and gladness: what love and dedication to all duties of nurture and care;

4. St Anne and St Joachim present Our Lady to God in the Temple – freely disposing what is most precious in the service of the Lord;

5. St Anne reposes in death, and comes to live forever with God in Heaven – a truly happy death: the priceless, unmeritable grace of final perseverance.

It only remains for us to meditate upon these mysteries in the manner familiar to us from praying the Holy Rosary. If our custom is to begin the Rosary with the Creed and so forth, so likewise it is highly appropriate to do so when saying this Rosary of St Anne. It will be most pleasing to God our Father that we do so, and for us therefore to recite the Lord's Prayer at the start of each decade, finishing it likewise with the Glory be in worship of the Trinity; and St Anne will be delighted that we invoke her dearest daughter with each Hail Mary, and that we name in that salutation the most blessed fruit of her womb, Our Lord Jesus Christ (and also pray Him in the Fatima prayer as we normally do at the end of each decade).

To conclude the Rosary of St Anne, after the Hail Holy Queen, it would only remain to turn to St Anne, saying Pray for us, blessed Anne, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, and concluding with her Collect:

O God, Who didst deign to confer on blessed Anne the grace that she be made worthy to be the mother of her who brought forth Thine only-begotten Son: mercifully grant that we who celebrate her memory, may be aided by her patronage with Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Note that this Rosary of St Anne is to be distinguished from her Chaplet, which apparently dates from 1875...)

Just Passed the Ten Thousand Mark

It's foolish of me, but I would like to note that this odd blog has just passed 10,000 visits - having achieved a reasonable rate of increased attention since I marked 1,000 visits after the first 3 months! 

I hope that what I write is in some way helpful, and that those visiting would spare a prayer for me.

Remember that I appreciate any comments you may wish to make!

Of your charity, please say a Hail Mary.

1st Vespers of Christus Rex

On my way home, I had the sudden inspiration to stop off at the church at Highgate, which has a proper and fitting perpetual adoration chapel: and there, before Our Lord in His Sacrament, I said 1st Vespers of Christ the King.

Christus vincit!  Christus regnat!  Christus imperat!

There are many versions of the Laudes Regiæ (e.g. EWTN's); here is another - while it prays for the Pope and Ordinary, in the main it is a joyful act of worship of Christ as our King:

Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.

Exaudi, Christe,
Domino nostro N. a Deo decreto summo Pontifici et universali Papæ: vita.
Exaudi, Christe,
Episcopo N. et omni clero sibi commisso: pax, vita et salus æterna.

Christe, Fili Dei vivi, Tu illum adiuva
Jesu, Fili David, Tu illum adiuva
Salvator mundi, tu illum adjuva.
Redemptor mundi, tu illum adjuva.
Sancte N., tu illum adjuva.
Sancte N., tu illum adjuva.
Sancte N., tu illum adjuva.
[…]

Rex regum, Christus vincit.
Rex noster, Christus vincit.
Pax nostra, Christus vincit.
Salus nostra, Christus vincit.
Spes nostra, Christus vincit.
Gloria nostra, Christus vincit.
Misericordia nostra, Christus vincit.
Auxilium nostrum, Christus vincit.
Fortitudo nostra, Christus vincit.
Liberatio et redemptio nostra, Christus vincit.
Victoria nostra, Christus vincit.
Arma nostra invictissima, Christus vincit.
Murus noster inexpugnabilis, Christus vincit.
Lux, via, et vita nostra, Christus vincit.

Ipsi soli imperium, gloria et potestas per immortalia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Ipsi soli virtus, fortitudo et victoria per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Ipsi soli honor, laus et jubilatio per infinita saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Christe, audi nos! Christe, audi nos! Christe, audi nos!

Kyrie eleison! Christe eleison! Kyrie eleison!

Feliciter! Feliciter! Feliciter!

Tempora bona habeas. Tempora bona habeas. Tempora bona habeas.

Te pastorem Deus elegit.
In ista sede Deus conservet.
Annos vitæ Deus multiplicet. Amen.
Hunc diem Multos annos.

Multos annos. Amen.

Here is something I had long forgotten I had:

NOTES for CHRISTUS REX

The 23rd November in some places (USA, Mexico, Society of Jesus, etc.) is the feast of Bl Miguel Pro, Jesuit martyr (†1927), who was executed by firing squad during the Mexican Persecution, whose last words were ¡Viva Cristo Rey! 

A few years ago, while I was doing the Thirty Days' Retreat, for Mass on this day an old eccentric Jesuit came to the altar in gold vestments, and announced that “It’s the feast of Bl Miguel Pro, priest and martyr, and I’m celebrating a Votive Mass of Christ the King!”

The Mexican Catholics’ rallying cry while under persecution was significantly enough ¡Viva Cristo Rey! - they knew that the Kingdom of Christ was stronger than the kingdom of Satan.

This is what this feast is about: “Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Remember always: God's Kingdom will come, whether we want it to or not: so it behooves us to bend our stubborn hearts to agree with this ineluctable truth!  

Christ is a king: He is King, Priest, and God - cf. Ps 109.  In iconography He is the Παντοκρατορ, the Ruler of everything. In Latin art one sees the Majestas Domini, the Majesty of the Lord.

This, then, is the Feast of Christ the King, our King, or as I prefer to call it, Christus Rex.  I love this feast and have so much to say about it – my heart swells! 

This feast “crowns the year” (cf Pss), as it comes toward the end of the liturgical year and sums it up.

The Church sings at Vespers of the 23rd of December:

O Emmanuel, Rex & Legifer noster, Expectatio Gentium & Salvator earum, veni ad salvandum nos, Domine Deus noster.

(Christ, you are God with us, our King, our Lawgiver, the Hope of all nations and their Saviour, come to save us, Lord our God.)

The Old Testament and even the customs of all nations were a preparation for the Gospel: it is noteworthy that one image of kingship was that of the Shepherd.  Consider the following: Ps 2; Ps 44 – royal epithalamium (wedding song) foreshadowing the Incarnation; Ps 71 – the reign of the everlasting King; Pss 95ff – the Royal Psalms; Ps 109 – the Christ (Messiah) is king and priest; Ps 144.

Consider the whole year of salvation as reminding us that Christ is King:

• Advent – the coming of our king.
  
• Christmas – our King is born for us: Nobis natus, nobis datus. 
  
• Epiphany – Christ is revealed as king: “and falling down they adored Him”. We come seeking Him Who is born king of the Jews. The Magi return by a different way… They learn Who is king. Already Herod misunderstands, and his kingdom is drenched in innocent blood. Always this happens!  (Contrast Christ as a good king with Herod, that false usurper and evil tyrant.)
  
• Palm Sunday: Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit, Rex Christe, Redemptor.
  
• But then… Vexilla Regis prodeunt. Crucify him! We have no king but Cæsar! 
  
• Before Pilate (Jn 18:33-37; cf. Omnis potestas a Deo sunt (Rom)), Our Lord solemnly confesses: I Am a king...
  
• He reigns on His Cross: Dicite in nationibus quia Dns regnavit a ligno. – Regnavit a ligno Deus! (cf Ps 95)
• His triumphant Resurrection & Ascension.
  
• His session ad dexteram Patris – "He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet".
  
• Rev 1:5-8 He is King of kings, he made us kings & priests, all shall see him, Alpha et Omega, upon His triumphant Return, the Return “in dread majesty to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire” (Fr Oppenheimer’s sermon from 1994/5).
•  His sovereignty eternal, all shall bow to him (Dan 7:13-14; cf. Irish hymn Sancti venite).  "And of his kingdom there shall be no end." - "If thou should hear that Christ’s kingdom hath an end, then hate this heresy" (St Cyril of Jerusalem).

Until His Return, He reigns in the Church, in men’s hearts, even in society.  A church is aptly named a Basilica – the king’s house.  The Church is as much a visible society as the Republic of Venice or the Kingdom of France (Bellarmine).

This feast was instituted by Pius XI (Quas primas) to combat laicism, the privatization and consequent melting away of religion.  Religion is a duty of justice, for the State as well as the individual.  While Constantine, however imperfectly, brought in the Christian state, lasting down through the Middle Ages, owing to the rise of secularism the attempt has been made to have Christ banished, as it were, from the public sphere.   

We must fight for the social reign of Christ the King, that even now, as sings the Preface of the Mass, we may have some foretaste of His definitive reign, “a kingdom of justice, love and peace”.

We must fight for the truth: there is a duty of legislating in accord with Christian norms and natural law. (Cf. Vatican directives for Catholic politicians: no private morality vs public expediency.)  Both the Australian and Irish Constitutions invoke God explicitly.  Still even nowadays, there are chaplains for Parliament, and prayers there, and Red Masses for lawyers and judges.

Examples of politicians bad and good:

• Cardinal Wolsey – If I had served my God as well as I served my king, I would not die like this.
  
• St Thomas More – I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.

Ask God that we may be better subjects of his, and truly let Christ reign in us (for he must reign first in us – take the beam out of our own eye first!), and work to extend his kingdom in the world, for thus we will fulfil our baptismal vows, rejecting the world, the flesh and the devil, and bringing Christ into everything.

"Open wide the doors to Christ!"  (JPII)  There can be no contradiction between freedom and Christ’s Rulership, Headship, Kingship – Mary realized this, as is evident by the optative case of her Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum – O that it be done to me according to thy will!  Her Fiat was renewed daily, even at the foot of the Cross – so should our own.  Recall always with regard to Christ our King that Cui servire regnare est – to serve Whom is to reign; or (Cranmer!) Whose service is perfect freedom.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Pray the Act of Dedication to Christ the King.

SS Chrysanthus & Daria

It's always good to go to Confession - there is a wise and kind old Vietnamese priest who hears confessions on Saturday afternoons over at Good Shepherd, Lockridge, and he it was who heard mine to-day: he reminded me that confession is eminently pleasing to Jesus Christ, for it increases in us humility.  I remember now that humility is very necessary, for the doorway into Heaven is very low, and only the lowly shall enter there...

While saying my prayers after Confession, I took the chance to invoke the holy martyrs commemorated this day - SS Chrysanthus and Daria, a noble married couple who bore witness to the Faith with constancy even unto death, and so won the immarcescible crown.  Their martyrdom took place on the Salarian Way; during the Roman Persecutions, an assembly of Christians gathered for Mass there at their tombs was surprised and buried alive, adding yet more souls to the glorious company of martyrs; in later ages the relics of Chrysanthus and Daria were translated to Prüm in the modern-day Rhineland-Palatinate.   According to legend, Chrysanthus, having become a Christian, was pressured by his pagan father to marry a Vestal Virgin, Daria - he did, but with the unexpected result that she too was converted and lived with Chrysanthus as brother and sister.   

The Byzantine Rite also celebrates this saintly pair, but on the 19th of March; here are their Troparion and Kontakion, which echo the traditional account of their lives and death:

Let us honor the like-minded pair of Martyrs, 

Chrysanthus scion of purity, and supremely modest Daria. 

United in holiness of faith, they shone forth as communicants of God the Word. 

They fought lawfully for Him and now save those who sing: 

Glory to Him Who has strengthened you; glory to Him Who has crowned you; 

glory to Him Who through you works healings for all.

O Chrysanthus, in the sweet fragrance of holiness 

thou didst draw Daria to saving knowledge. 

Together in contest you routed the serpent, the author of all evil,

 and were worthily taken up to the heavenly realms.

Travel Plans - Adelaide Ordination

While I must still arrange to send my car back East on the train (having decided against driving it over), I have just, after some contretemps and mistakes, booked to fly to Adelaide on the 19th of December, thus leaving the West behind, and on to Launceston on the 22nd, where I shall be based for 2009 and who knows how long.

Breaking my trip with this long weekend in South Australia will permit me to attend the priestly ordination of Rev Br Mannes Tellis, O.P., at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral at 6pm on Saturday the 20th (the old Ember Saturday of Advent, the traditional date for ordinations), and then to come to his first Masses (one OF, the other EF) on Sunday the 21st, the 4th Sunday of Advent.

Mannes told me that while he was a child, his grandmother would look after him and his brother during their school holidays, and that, as she was very devout, she would take them every day to St Francis Xavier's Cathedral for three Masses (and Benediction); they would play around outside the Cathedral, and be ushered in as each service commenced - so it must be with special emotion that he contemplates his ordination there in just under two months' time.

Of your charity, please pray for him, that he may be a holy and zealous priest, a worthy son of St Dominic.

Prayer to St Raphael

From the Cœleste palmetum (1756 edition), which is an excellent devotional, BTW:

Oratio ad S. Raphaëlem.

O Cœlestis Medice, & Comes Fidelissime, S. Raphaël, qui Tobiæ seniori visum restituisti, juniorem per omnes suscepti itineris vias deduxisti, & incolumem conservasti! Esto corporis & animæ meæ Medicus: pelle ignorantiæ tenebras, mihique in periculosa hujus vitæ peregrinatione constanter assiste, donec ad cœlestem patriam perducas, ubi tecum beatus divinam faciem æternum contempler. Amen.

(O Heavenly Physician, and Companion most Faithful, Holy Raphael, who restored to the elder Tobias his sight, led the younger through all the ways of his journey, and kept him safe!  Be the Doctor of my soul and body: cast out the darkness of ignorance, and constantly assist me in the perilous pilgrimage of this life, until thou bring me to the heavenly fatherland, where with thee I, blessed, may contemplate the Divine Countenance evermore.  Amen.)

Eucharistic Holy Hour

Fr Rowe being away on the Christus Rex pilgrimage (along with one of my housemates, Michael, who sounded pretty exhausted when I talked to him on his mobile - they've walked 35 km today!), another priest, who's recently learnt to say the Latin Mass, filled in for him this evening.  He certainly says Mass most carefully and with attention, but took an hour to say Low Mass, without homily: heaven knows how long Mass on Sunday will be...

In any case, this devout Mass gave me plenty of time to focus on each and every prayer; and I had enough time between the Offertory and the ecphonesis of the Secret to read Vespers as well.  

I was glad when I realized, looking at the Ordo, that to-day is the feast of St Raphael Archangel; it reminds me of my happy study of angelology under the tutelage of Fr Robbie, some years back (see my essay), which included his running commentary on the book of Tobit.  I also recall reading this glorious Office for the first time last year (whose antiphons, lessons &c. are mainly drawn from Tobit, of course).

The texts of the Mass are in large part (Introit, Offertory, Secret, Communion) drawn from that of Michaelmas; proper to this feast are the Collect, all the rest of the Mass of the Catechumens (Lesson, Gradual, Alleluia, Gospel), and also the Postcommunion.  

Australia Incognita has already pointed out how the Church identifies the unnamed angel of the Probatic pool with St Raphael, by reading the Gospel pericope of the former (St John v, 1-4) after the Lesson from Tobit (xii, 7-15) revealing the name of the latter.  The Gradual unusually but very finely pairs a verse from Tobit (viii, 3) with one from the Psalms (146:5), to insist on the point that it was by the might of the Lord, Whose instrument he is, that Raphael bound the devil besetting Sara, Tobias' wife.  In its praise of the Lord, the Gradual's verse ties in neatly with both the ensuing Alleluia verse (Ps 137:1-2, In conspectu Angelorum psallam tibi...) and the verses of Tobit xii (6 and 16ff) immediately before and after the pericope read in place of the Epistle, which are St Raphael's exhortations to shew gratitude for deliverance from perils by offering praise and thanksgiving to God, telling forth His wondrous works.

Moreover, the Lesson is full of wholesome instruction, such as on the power of almsgiving, "which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting".  It also reminds us of the sobering truths that sinners "are enemies to their own soul" and that if the Lord love us, He will test us by permitting trials and temptings to befall us, to see if we are gold or mere dross.

(Incidentally, the Summa Triviæ cites Tobit xii, 7 in its argument that the coronation rite is the "eighth sacrament", kept good and hidden: Sacramentum regis abscondere bonum est, It is good to hide the sacrament of a king!  But I digress...)

The Collect and Postcommunion alike implore God to grant us St Raphael as our guide and guard, who stands before Him to offer up our prayers for the Divine blessing (Tob. xii, 12; cf. Apoc. viii, 3-4):

Deus, qui beatum Raphaelem Archangelum Tobiæ famulo tuo comitem dedisti in via: concede nobis famulis tuis; ut ejusdem semper protegamur custodia, et muniamur auxilio.  Per...

(God, Who didst give unto Thy servant Tobias blessed Raphael Archangel as companion on the way, grant unto us Thy servants, that we may ever be protected by the care and strengthened by the assistance of the same.  Thro'...)

Dirigere dignare, Domine Deus, in adjutorium nostrum sanctum Raphaelem Archangelum: et, quem tuae majestati semper assistere credimus, tibi nostras exiguas preces benedicendas assignet.  Per...

(Deign to direct, Lord God, to our aid holy Raphael Archangel: and may he consign unto Thee our humble prayers deserving blessing, whom we believe to ever assist Thy Majesty.  Thro'...)

Carthusian Hymn to St Anne

It's amazing what's online - a 1717 Carthusian Breviary for example (courtesy of Google Books).  As I am scouting out hymns with which to honour St Anne, for use when the Latin Mass community here in Perth finally moves into its new church whose patron she is, I was pleased to locate in the aforementioned Breviary this Latin hymn to St Anne, which is providentially, and very conveniently, in the same metre as the well-known Ave maris stella:

Lucis hujus festa

Colat plebs honésta,

Deum cælo dignis

Confrequéntans Hymnis.

Mater matris Christi

Ex hoc mundo tristi

Migrans fide bona,

Sumpsit vitæ dona.

Ex hac carnis planta

Surgit Virgo sancta:

Ex hoc fluit fonte

Lapis cæsus monte.

Cælo jam subláta

Múlier beata,

Suo nos precátu

Purget a reátu.

Trino laus et uni

Sit Deo commúni,

In quo vivit Anna

Simul cum María. Amen.

Here also is my translation into verse, just whipped up earlier - excuse any infelicities; yes, I deliberately wrote it in an older style, since that's how we like it at the Pro.:

Anne's feast shineth brightly:

May good folk devoutly

Worship God arightly,

In hymns heaven-worthy.

Christ's Grandmother passing

From this world of weeping

By her firm believing

Gained life everlasting.  

From this heel firm plantèd

Rose the Virgin saintèd:

Flowed from out this fountain

Th' Stone hewn from the mountain.

Now to Heav'n upraisèd

Is that Woman blessèd;

By her prayer acceptèd

Be we from sin purgèd.

To the Thrine and Only

God be praise communely

In Whom liveth Anna

Always with Maria. Amen.

The line Ex hac carnis planta is more literally rendered as "From this sole of flesh", but that sounds bizarre in English, so I indulged in a bit of wordplay instead; the stanza from which this comes is of course alluding to Genesis iii,15 and Daniel ii, 34f, considering these texts as prophecies of the coming of Christ, God-made-man, from the line descended from Eve down through St Anne and finally the Blessed Virgin.