All Irish Saints

Ireland is indeed the Isle of Saints, blessed down the ages until our own days to have held fast in face of all trials to the Holy Catholic Faith brought her by her Apostle, St Patrick, and to have brought forth for the Lord so fertile a harvest of holy men and women, not just for herself alone but for the further propagation of the Faith once delivered to the saints throughout all corners of the wide world.

Pray that the blandishments of worldly prosperity, satanic crafty insinuations of religious doubts, and the the corrosive blast of scandal not tear her away from the Pearl of great price that not fire nor dungeon nor the sword could wrest from her steadfast grasp!

I salute in particular two dear Irish sisters of St Joseph, very old now if not already gone to God, Srs Bridget and Kieran, whom I rank among their righteous countrymen.  God bless and keep you and unite you with Him for ever, for all your works go before you as testament to your boundless love for Him for Whom you gave and sacrificed so much!

Here in Australia, whose Catholic history is largely that of the Irishmen who came willingly or unwillingly to these shores, the N.S.W. dioceses of Bathurst, Lismore and Maitland kept this feast according to their pre-Conciliar calendars; and, taking up again the option of saying one of the Masses pro aliquibus locis on a feria, Fr Rowe will offer up Mass of this feast to-morrow at the Pro.

The Mass: Sapientiam sanctorum narrent populi, "Let the people tell the wisdom of the saints, and the Church announce their praise" (Ecclus xliv, 15 & 14b) for Introit (from the second Mass of many Martyrs); Laudemus viros gloriosos, that glorious encomium "Let us now praise famous men" (Ecclus xliv, 1-15) as the Lesson appointed for the Epistle; Gloriosus Deus in sanctis suis, taking up the triumphal hymn of Moses after the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, Pharaoh's army being drowned in the Red Sea (Exod. xv, 11 & 6) for Gradual (from the first Mass of many Martyrs); Corpora sanctorum in pace sepulta sunt, our reminder that the relics of the saints abide in peace, awaiting resurrection, while their good names go before them (Ecclus xliv, 14) for Alleluia verse (from the same Mass); again Descendens Jesus de monte,  the account of Our Lord's healing all and His proclamation of the brief fourfold beatitudes - for the poor, the hungry, the sad, the hated - (St Luke xvi, 17-23), the pericope for the second Common Mass of many Martyrs, being the Gospel; Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis (Ps 67:36) for Offertory (from the first Mass of many Martyrs); and Justorum animæ in manu Dei sunt (Wis. iii, 1f) for Communion.

The Collect:

Gratiam tuam, Domine, multiplica super nos, solemnitatem celebrantes omnium insulæ nostræ sanctorum: ut quorum esse cives gratulamur in terris: cum his mancipatum habere mereamur in cœlis. Per...

(Thy grace, Lord, multiply upon us, the solemnity celebrating of all our isle's saints: that while to be countrymen of them we delight on earth, with them we may deserve to have freedom in heaven.  Through...)

Here is a link to the official Litany of All Saints of Ireland.