Credo in Spiritum Sanctum

I believe in the Holy Ghost – He is the uncreated, perfect, animating, vivifying, enlivening Lord, Who moved upon the waters at Creation, Who is sent forth and makes and creates, Who is the spirit and ‘soul’ of the Holy Catholic Church; He is the Communion between the Father and the Son, proceeding from Them Both as from a single principle, worshipped and glorified together with Them in the Unity of the Trinity; He Who is true God with Them, equal in glory and majesty, eternal, infinite, almighty; He spoke in many and divers ways of old through the prophets, in the Law, in the Gospels and through the preaching and teaching of the Apostles and their rightful successors in the Church; He is the communion, the true bond of fellowship, between all the Saints, those elected and made holy by His divine indwelling grace, first imparted at Holy Baptism (the water thereof made holy by the secret admixture of His grace, as once He sanctified Jordan); He is invoked to illapse upon Holy Church's offerings, sanctifying and blessing them, transsubstantiating the elements into the Holy Gifts (for what is wonderfully accomplished by the words of the Second Person is at one and the same time accomplished by the blessing of the First and the epicletic overshadowing of the Third, since all works external to the Trinity are the common work of all Three), just as He by His overshadowing joined once for all Body and Blood to the Eternal Word, the very sacramental Gifts that are now in this time of grace given to make holy those who receive them, that they may become what they are (the second marvellous conversion, the sacred commerce of the sacrament), imparting the Fire of the Spirit to those christified by the Body and the Blood; He is Himself the Forgiveness of Sins (as one of the Whitsuntide Collects prays); He guarantees (as was shewn to the prophet Ezechiel) the resurrection of the flesh, and thus He imparts to this mortal flesh immortal vigour, that it may endure unto life eternal, world without end. Amen.

(From a synthesis of the Apostles’, Athanasian and Nicene Creeds, with respect also to the Armenian version of the Nicene: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles, and lived in the saints.”)

Pentecost Sunday is the anniversary of my baptism, confirmation and first Communion, now just over a quarter century ago – how strange that sounds... I suppose that Sunday Mass in my parish was at nine o'clock in the morning, the same time as it still is (though this year I have instead been to the vigil Mass at six in the evening, where I assisted with the singing of the Ordinary, appropriate hymns and the Latin Sequence): how appropriate, just as on that Whitsun morn 1,980 years ago St Peter's preaching drew the first harvest of souls to the waters of rebirth.

God the Holy Ghost, save and sanctify me a most unworthy sinner.

The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints

Having sung through "The Church's One Foundation", I was minded to look to Thomas Ken's devotional expansion and meditation upon the Apostles' Creed, seeing what insights he had into belief in "The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints".  

Indeed, what that saintly Anglican wrote is quite acceptable and praiseworthy insofar as it goes; a Catholic would wish only to name his own diocese or perhaps rite as the "particular church" to which he belongs; by church "of England" a Catholic would intend to name, not "Rowan's C. of E. so frayed / That withers like a flower decayed", but the local church in communion with Christ's Vicar.  

And that, of course, is the chief ecclesiological omission – reference, not just to pastors having the keys of governance, but to Peter's successor, the chief shepherd of Our Lord's earthly flock.  As far as Ken goes in his mention of saints, he is correct, but we would want to specify that we not only praise them and study their good examples, who pray for us, but add that we indeed rightly pray them to intercede for us.  We would also wish to pray for our dear dead.

Thus far myself; now, the pious words of Thomas Ken, in meditation upon the 9th article of the Apostles' Creed:

The Holy Catholic Church.

I believe, O blessed and adorable Mediator, that the church is a society of persons, founded by thy love to sinners, (Matt. xvi. 18; Eph. v. 25.) united into one body, of which thou art the head, (Col. i. 18.) initiated by baptism, (Matt, xxviii. 19.) nourished by the eucharist, (Matt. xxvi. 26.) governed by pastors commissioned by thee, and endowed with the power of the keys, (Matt, xviii. 18; John xx. 22, 23.) professing the doctrine taught by thee, (Acts ii. 41, 42.) and delivered to the saints, (Jude iii.) and devoted to praise and to love thee.

I believe, O holy Jesus, that thy church is holy like thee, its author; holy by the original design of its institution, (2 Tim. i. 9.) holy by baptismal dedication, holy in all its administrations which tend to produce holiness; (2 Tim. ii. 19.) and though there will be always a mixture of good and bad in it in this world, (Matt. xiii. 24.) yet it has always many real saints in it; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, Lord, this church to be catholic, or universal, made up of the collection of all particular churches; I believe it to be catholic in respect of time, comprehending all ages to the world’s end, to which it is to endure; (Matt. xvi. 18; xxviii. 20.) catholic in respect of all places, out of which believers are to be gathered; (Matt, xxviii. 19.) catholic in respect of all saving faith, of which this creed contains the substance, which shall in it always be taught; (John xvi. 13.) catholic in respect of all graces, which shall in it be practised; and catholic in respect of that catholic war it is to wage against all its ghostly enemies, for which it is called militant: O preserve me always a true member of thy catholic church, that I may always inseparably adhere to thee, that I may always devoutly praise and love thee.

Glory be to thee, O Lord my God, who hast made me a member of the particular church of England [sic], whose faith, and government, and worship are holy, and catholic, and apostolic, and free from the extremes of irreverence or superstition, and which I firmly believe to be a sound part of thy church universal, and which teaches me charity to those who dissent from me; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

O my God, give me grace to continue stedfast in her bosom, to improve all those helps to true piety, all those means of grace, all those incentives of thy love, thou hast mercifully indulged me in her communion, that I may with primitive affections and fervour praise and love thee.

The Communion of Saints.

I believe, O King of Saints, that among the saints on earth, whether real, or in outward profession only, there ought to be a mutual catholic participation of all good things, (1 John i. 7.) which is the immediate effect of catholic love. Thou, O God of Love, restore it to thy church.

I believe, O thou God of Love, that all the saints on earth by profession ought to communicate one with another in evangelical worship, and the same holy sacraments in the same divine and apostolical faith, (Acts ii. 42, 46.) in all offices of corporal (Gal. vi. 10.) and spiritual charity, (Romans xii. 9, &c. 1 Thess. v. 14; Heb. x. 25.) in reciprocal delight in each other’s salvation, and in tender sympathy as members of one and the same body, (1 Cor. xii. 13, 26.) O God of Peace, restore in thy good time this catholic communion, that with one heart and one mouth we may all praise and love thee.

O my God, amidst the deplorable divisions of thy church, O let me never widen its breaches, but give me catholic charity to all that are baptized in thy name, and catholic communion with all Christians in desire. O deliver me from the sins and errors, from the schisms and heresies of the age. O give me grace to pray daily for the peace of thy church, (Psalm cxxii. 6.) and earnestly to seek it, and to excite all I can to praise and to love thee.

I believe, O most holy Jesus, that thy saints here below have communion with thy saints above, (Heb. xii. 22.) that they pray for us in heaven, while we celebrate their memories, congratulate their bliss, give thee thanks for their labours of love, and imitate their example; for which all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O gracious Redeemer, that thy saints here on earth have communion with the holy angels above; that they are ministering spirits (Heb. i. 14.) sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation, and watch over us, (Psalm xxxiv. 7.) and we give thanks to thee for their protection, and emulate their incessant praises and ready obedience; for which all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O my Lord and my God, that the saints in this life have communion with the three persons of the most adorable Trinity, (1 John i. 3; Phil. ii. 1.) in the same most benign influences of love, in which all three conspire; for which all love, all glory be to thee, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, world without end.

Glory be to thee, O goodness infinitely diffusive, for all the graces and blessings in which the saints communicate, for breathing thy love into thy mystical body, as the very soul that informs it, that all that believe in thee may love one another, and all join in loving thee.

St Peter of Verona, M.O.P.

In the modern rite, which I must needs attend if I am to hear Mass, St Catherine of SIena is celebrated (in the old, her feast day is tomorrow). Yesterday's feast of St Peter Chanel pushed aside not only St Paul of the Cross (EF only) but St Louis Mary de Monfort (in both forms of the Roman Rite). Too many saints to fit in!

In the old rite, and especially in the Dominican Rite, today is the feast of St Peter Martyr, a Dominican slain by heretics outside Milan on Easter Saturday, 6th April 1252, and canonized within a year, the fastest of all modern canonizations; his murderer repented, and became a Dominican lay brother - which must have occasioned some unusual reflections each year as the feast approached! - and himself died in the odour of sanctity, being ever since venerated in some places as Blessed Carino.

For various reasons I consider St Peter a patron saint of mine: he was an intrepid preacher of the Faith, even unto death. In his earliest youth he, the child of Manichaean parents, rebuked their faithlessness by his refusal to disavow the Apostles' Creed, which he had learnt at school; and, as he lay dying, his skull split open by the nefarious blow from a billhook, he wrote one last time Credo in his own blood.

St Vincent Ferrer, his later confrere, also an indefatigable herald of the Gospel, tells us to treasure and pray often the Apostles' Creed with great devotion and full attention, giving heartfelt assent to its saving truths; but we must beware, lest our wicked lives give the lie to our pious utterances, for "The diamond is easily lost in the dunghill, and the precious pearl of faith is in great danger of being lost in a conscience defiled with the filth of sin." As my old P.P. (now Bishop of Lismore) said, the root of most all heresies is moral turpitude.

The Missale Romanum includes proper orations only, but the Dominican Missal has this proper, borrowing some parts from various commons:

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Mass of St Peter of Verona, Dominican Priest and Martyr (T.P.)

Introit (Ps. 63:3,2)

Protexisti me, Deus, a conventu malignantium, alleluja: a multitudine operantium iniquitatem, alleluja, alleluja. Ps. Exaudi Deus orationem meam cum deprecor:a timore inimici eripe animam meam. Gloria Patri.

Collect

Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut beati Petri martyris tui fidem congrua devotione sectemur, qui pro ejusdem fidei dilatatione, martyrii palmam meruit obtinere. Per…

Epistle (II Timothy ii, 4-10)

Carissime: Nemo militans Deo implicat se negotiis sæcularibus; ut ei placeat, cui se probavit. Nam et qui certat in agone, non coronatur nisi legitime certaverit. Laborantem agricolam oportet primum de fructibus percipere. Intellige quæ dico: Dabit enim tibi Dominus in omnibus intellectum. Memor esto Dominum Jesum Christum resurrexisse a mortuis ex semine David, secundum Evangelium meum, in quo laboro usque ad vincula, quasi male operans: sed verbum Dei non est alligatum. Ideo omnia sustineo propter electos, ut et ipsi salutem consequantur, quæ est in Christo Jesu, cum gloria cælesti.

Paschal Alleluia (before Ascensiontide)

Alleluja, alleluja. V/. Felix ex fructu triplici, quem sub patre mirifico ex virtute multiplici legit sancto Dominico. Alleluja. V/. Surrexit pastor bonus, qui posuit animam suam pro ovibus suis, et pro suo grege mori dignatus est. Alleluja.

Gospel (St Luke ix, 23-26)

In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus discipulis suis: Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam quotidie, et sequatur me. Qui enim voluerit animam suam salvam facere, perdet illam: nam qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, salvam faciet illam. Quid enim proficit homo, si lucretur universum mundum, se autem ipsum perdat, et detrimentum sui faciat? Nam qui me erubuerit, et meos sermones, hunc Filius hominis erubescet cum venerit in majestate sua, et Patris, et sanctorum angelorum.

Offertory (Ps 20:4,5)

Posuisti, Domine, in capite ejus coronam de lapide pretioso: vitam petiit a te, et tribuisti ei. Alleluja.

Secret

Preces, quas tibi, Domine, offerimus, intercedente beato Petro martyre tuo, clementer intende; et pugiles fidei sub tua protectione custodi. Per…

Communion (St John xv, 5)

Ego sum vitis vera, et vos palmites: qui manet in me, et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum. Alleluja.

Postcommunion

Fideles tuos, Domine, custodiant sacramenta, quæ sumpsimus; et intercedente beato Petro martyre tuo, contra omnes adversos tueantur incursus. Per…

Renewal of Baptismal Promises

It is highly fitting today, the eve of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and Octave Day of the Epiphany, one of the ancient customary times for baptism to be conferred, to renew one's baptismal promises.  As St Ambrose relates, the catechumen – prior to his descent into the saving waters and laver of regeneration – first, facing West, renounces the devil, his works and pomps, and spits in his face (the sputatio); then, turning to the East, he confesses Christ as his King evermore.

O Christ Jesus, I acknowledge Thee King of the universe.  Everything that was made has been created for Thee.  Exercise upon me all Thy rights.  I renew my baptismal promises, renouncing Satan with all his works and pomps; and I promise to lead a good christian life.  I pledge myself most particularly to do what I can that the rights of God and of Thy Church prevail and triumph.  Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer Thee my poor actions to secure that all hearts confess Thy Sacred Kingship, and, that thus, the reign of Thy peace may be established throughout the entire universe.  Amen.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  He descended into hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.  Amen.

A friend of mine, Br Vincent Magat, O.P., will make his solemn vows tomorrow: I salute him and pray God will bless his wholehearted offering of himself.