Better Late Than Never - A Joint Contribution

How to hold a Septuagesima Eve or Farewell Alleluia Party

Septuagesima Eve is the lychgate of Lent – that way station marking entry into the churchyard, ere on Ash Wednesday we pass through the very portal of the church into Quadragesima Abbey, as it were, where for forty days and nights we will redouble our penances and in monkish wise undertake ascetic exercises, cloistering our souls from the busy world till the happy day of Resurrection.

Now a lychgate, as all men know, is a gate overshadowed by a roof, symbolic of Him Who is the Gate of the sheepfold, Himself overshadowed by the Holy Ghost, whereto a body brought for burial is carried, and the first part of the funeral conducted, before it is brought into the church. Hence, when as at first Vespers of Septuagesima the Alleluia is laid aside, in a manner its death is to be represented – just as the corpse, in shroud y-wrapt, ought be plonked down in the lychgate.

Moreover, a wake ought be held, for to mourn dead Alleluia (dear maiden), and, to prevent enormities, Alleluia ought be buried straightway. For this reason, on Septuagestima Eve, Alleluia is buried after Vespers; and, both before and after these affecting services, cocktails in the liturgical colours ought be served nearby.

Before the obsequies, as suitably accoutred guests arrive for this devotional pastime, the gracious host ought present each one with a green cocktail to fittingly conclude Epiphany-tide. It is not permitted to colour the drink with green food colouring – note in particular that green-tinted Guinness is an abomination, and one reserved in any case for St Patrick’s Day. Instead, cunning combinations of sundry decoctions, liqueurs and elixirs are to be employed. This verdant beverage, and all subsequent top-ups, should be consumed before the commencement of First Vespers of Septuagesima.

One should wait until all guests arrive before starting Vespers; it is most disruptive to have people scrabbling for chairs and music, and attempting to join in psalms half-way through. Note that, if the land be laid under interdict, the doors must be closed, and the Office recited on a low note; which will somewhat dampen the spirit of the occasion.

For Vespers, a mediæval chapel (Gothic or Romanesque) is required (every home should have one), or at least a large space, fittingly tricked out, with two rows of chairs facing each other. Do not use narrow hallways: otherwise there can be the risk of accidental concussion at every Gloria Patri. While purists may gasp in horror, it is suggested that the two choirs be mixed (with men and women on each side), lest the volume be too unequal.

It is preferable, whether there be a permanent or temporary chapel, to celebrate Vespers before a dressed and decorated altar (eastward facing) upon which the requisite number of lit candles burn. The Alleluia should be hung on the altar front for all to observe clearly. If no medieval tapestry is available, a large piece of cardboard, made to resemble parchment, with the Alleluia y-writ thereon in clearly visible lettering (employing a flowing font with serifs) will suffice, and may be attached to the altar with concealed tape if no hooks are provided.

Benedicamus Domino with doubled Alleluia having been sung, and Vespers concluded with the Fidelium animæ (or, if a bishop be present, after he has imparted his blessing – if several prelates be present, the highest-ranking blesses unless suspended a divinis), immediately two or four of the youngest present (juniores priores) approach the altar, make due reverence, detach the Alleluia in comely fashion, and gently lay it flat, text facing up, on the waiting bier, which has been prepared earlier.

Carrying their cargo with deserved decorum, these bearers then lead a funereal procession out from the chapel, through the house, and around the garden to the grave prepared (which must have been suitably decorated with purple flowers, and supplied with a handy pile of stones nearby). Meanwhile all sing the hymn Alleluia dulce carmen, preferably in polyphony, repeating its verses as necessary until Alleluia be buried into the grave. 

Having assembled at the graveside, the officiant first rolls up the Alleluia if necessary, then with sober deportment deposits it into a coffin or other apt receptacle. After sealing this, he lowers it into the grave. All present then process past this resting place of dead Alleluia, each one laying a stone on top as they pass, thus building a cairn while still singing. All depart the grave in solemn silence after a most liturgical pause.

Following the obsequies, as expeditiously as possible, the host and his attendants (as it were the celebrant and his ministers) should make and distribute purple cocktails to the guests. On no account are any left-over green cocktails to be consumed, under pain of serious sin and excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. Nonetheless, exceptions to this rule are allowed for those who are allergic to the purple cocktail; or those who are only permitted one alcoholic beverage and who arrived too late to finish their drink before Vespers; or those holding a Papal indult or immemorial privilege: no others.

During the mixing these purple cocktails, it is fitting for guests to retire and shed their green garments in favour of purple ones, if possible. Men of limited imagination may choose simply to change their neck tie. Since the liturgical portion of the evening has been completed (as Compline will be recited in private), guests may innocently disport themselves henceforth as befits any polite social gathering, taking care to remember that utterance of the ‘A’ word is strictly forbidden.

It is appropriate to serve dinner now. Please note that serving only purple food would be considered excessive, not to mention nauseating. A reasonable use of vegetables in such shades would be appropriate, however.

Almost Finished

While in Rome on pilgrimage, four of us, during our visit to Santa Maria Maggiore, decided to go to confession. A little later, we compared penances, feeling a rather hard done by… a young lady had been told to say her Rosary every day for a week for a certain intention; one of our priests had been told to offer up his Breviary every day for a week for a similar cause; and Mike and I, upon learning that each of us had been told to offer up the Rosary for such and such an intention (I got "sincerity"), daily – for a month – felt uniquely put-upon.

I recall that, according to that devout book, The Secret of the Rosary, St Dominic assigned just such a lengthy penance to a pious Roman matron, who was in the habit of doing the rounds of the Seven Churches every day. Like her, I own to feeling more than a little discomfited!

Doubtless the … son of St Dominic in question (for the confessors at St Mary Major are Blackfriars) had been a-reading some such "manual of penance". I am now nearly finished fulfilling this penance – at least I have thereby got back to saying the Rosary. Perhaps that was the desired result.

Moral of the story: when on pilgrimage with no less than three priests, don't think to shop elsewhere. Or at the least, avoid the confessionals of Friars Preachers like the plague.

Latin Mass This Sunday: at St Canice, at 10:30am

I've just had it confirmed: our first "extra" Traditional Latin Mass for the Hobart Latin Mass Community will be sung this Sunday, the 16th of February, at the usual location – St Canice Church, Sandy Bay – but an hour earlier than usual, at 10:30 am.

We are grateful to Fr Marshall for flying in from Melbourne to offer Mass for us; he will be visiting for several days, and once details of when and where he will say Mass each day are available, I will assist in publicising them.

Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican

As I had to attend a meeting in Hobart at lunchtime, I decided to drive down earlier, and attend the 10 am Divine Liturgy at the Ukrainian Catholic Chapel of the Transfiguration, where friends of mine customarily worship on Sundays. 

I haven't attended a Ukrainian Liturgy in Hobart since the construction and consecration of the chapel in August 2010; it was good to join the small but devoted congregation to sing the praises of the Trinity, and receive the Sacred Mysteries.

It proved a little hard to find the chapel – it is located within the Ukrainian Club, tucked anonymously among the commercial buildings and fast food restaurants of Moonah; luckily, as I knocked at the locked front door (not knowing of the open door leading in from the back car park), their priest, Fr Tony Warwarek, heard me and let me in.

As I drove down, I recalled that it was "Octogesima", the Sunday before Septuagesima – and, as Eastern and Western Easter coincide this year, that applied to the Byzantine Rite also: and in that Rite, as I realised when the Liturgy began, that means it is the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican.

This Sunday, which is of the 8th Tone, first signals the approach of Great Lent: the Gospel pericope's call to true compunction and humble self-awareness rather than delusive pride and contempt toward others accords with this; and of course this week in the Eastern Church calendar is wholly fast-free, the last before Easter Week.

In the Byzantine Rite, next Sunday (equivalent to Septuagesima) is that of the Prodigal Son; the Sunday after that is Meatfare Sunday, equivalent to Western Carnevale, being the last day for eating flesh meat till Easter, with the week after that being Cheesefare Week, culminating in Cheesefare Sunday, last chance for dairy products and eggs till after the fast; for Great Lent begins on Monday 3rd March (Monday after Quinquagesima), rather than on the Western Ash Wednesday, 5th March 2014.

Having, especially in Melbourne, attended the Divine Liturgy off and on, I feel familiar with this form of the Eucharistic Sacrifice; I just have to remember not to sing "Gospodi" as with the Russians, but "Hospodi" with the Ukrainians. Most of the service was in English, except for the continual "Hospodi pomilui", other suchlike responses, and certain important chants, such as the Trisagion (which I managed to sing: "Svyaty Bozhe, Svyaty Kripky, Svyaty Bezsmertny, pomilui nas"), the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer.

Having received Our Saviour's Body and Blood, I recalled the advice of a prayerbook: "And after the divine Communion of the life-giving and mystic Gifts, at once give praise and great thanksgiving, and fervently and heartily sing to God: Glory to Thee, O God; Glory to Thee, O God; Glory to Thee, O God."

The noble and immemorial worship of the Byzantine Rite lifts up the heart and mind and soul to God. Would that I could attend it more often!

2000 Years’ Indulgence

Dix claimed in his magnum opus (I have the 1946 second impression of the second edition: see page 622) to know of no mediæval prayers for Mass in Missals that did other than commemorate the Passion, by referring also to the Lord’s resurrection and ascension.

But what of a common prayer in layfolk’s Primers – I first found it in a facsimile edition of the Great Hours of Anne of Brittany, which I bought for €60 at the monastery of St Scholastica at Subiaco in Italy a few weeks ago – a prayer adorned with a probably apocryphal, but to late mediæval pray-ers most attractive, promise of 2000 years’ indulgence (granted apparently by Pope Boniface VIII at the request of his sworm enemy King Philip IV of France! hence my suspicion)?

The prayer in question, Domine Jesu Christe, qui hanc sacratissimam carnem, which is to be said between the Elevation and the third Agnus Dei, is profoundly anamnetic: as Jungmann explained it, “remembering [Christ’s Passion, Resurrection, Ascension], we offer” – and this prayer, to be recited, in God’s own Latin of course, by lay attendees at Mass, precisely does this.

(For those wishing to behold it as Anne of Brittany did, here and here are links to those beautiful pages.)

The prayer exists in slightly variant forms – a little googling reveals ten different recensions – so in the interest of devotion, I having no skill in text criticism, nor access to a critical edition such as Wilmart’s Auteurs spirituels et textes dévots du moyen âge latin, I have decided to conflate the texts into what I prefer:

Domine Jesu Christe, qui hanc sacratissimam Carnem tuam et hunc pretiosissimum Sanguinem tuum de gloriosissimæ Virginis Mariæ utero assumpsisti, et eumdem pretiosissimum Sanguinem tuum de sacratissimo latere tuo in ara Crucis pro salute nostra effudisti, et in hac gloriosa Carne a mortuis resurrexisti, et ad cælos ascendisti cum eodem sacratissimo Corpore tuo, et iterum venturus es judicare vivos et mortuos in eadem Carne: libera nos per hoc sacratissimum Corpus et Sanguinem tuum, quod modo in altari per manus sacerdotis tractatur, ab omnibus peccatis et immunditiis mentis et corporis, et ab universis malis et periculis, præteritis, præsentibus, et futuris. Qui vivis et regnas Deus in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

(Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst assume this Thy most sacred Flesh and this Thy most precious Blood from the womb of the most glorious Virgin Mary, and didst shed the same Thy most precious Blood from Thy most sacred side on the altar of the Cross for our salvation, and in this glorious Flesh didst arise from the dead, and didst ascend into heaven with the same Thy most sacred Body, and shalt come again to judge the living and the dead in the same Flesh: deliver us by this Thy most sacred Body and Blood, which in a manner on the altar is handled by the hands of the priest, from all sins and uncleannesses of mind and body, and from all evils and perils, past, present, and to come. Who livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.)

It is a very full-blooded profession of faith in the truth that the Flesh and Blood of Christ are offered up on the altar and handled by the priest, the very same He took from His Mother, the same Blood which He shed on the Cross, the same Body in which He ascended to heaven, the same Flesh in which He shall come again to judge the quick and dead.

I do think, however, that the petition of the prayer for deliverance from all sins and uncleannesses, from all evils and perils, is a little anticlimatic, given the robust restatement of belief in the saving works of Christ that precedes it. (The petition is of course derived from the opening phrases of the Libera nos, the embolism or prayer that follows the Pater noster.)

That said, do think about using it – I have, since I found it.

(What a pity that all promises of more than a thousand years' pardon, if any were ever validly granted, were abrogated over a century ago; and – sigh – as the former method of measurement of the amount of temporal punishment remitted, by reference to so many days, Lents, or years of canonical penance, was abolished by Paul VI, all that remains to enrich this devout prayer is the general grant in the modern Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, by which the Church from the treasury of merit of Christ and the Saints doubles whatever remission of temporal punishment due to sin is gained by the praying of the prayer.)

Return at Last

I'm home again at last! More to come soon.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

I apologize for the break in transmission, but the pilgrimage has been so busy that I have had no time wherein to blog.

Most days, we have had a Missa cantata - sometimes two, as when we had the first at St Joseph's Church, Nazareth, and the second at the crypt altar of the beautiful Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, surely a great privilege - and we have visited many of the holy places, with many more to come.

For example, today we visited Bethlehem, and, after first praying in the Milk Grotto, were able, after much lengthy queuing, to kiss the spot where Our Lord was born, in the grotto under the Church of the Nativity, which is the oldest surviving church in the Holy Land, built at the command of St Helena, Empress. We had our Masses in the Shepherds' Fields.

Tomorrow, we arise very early and proceed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Low Mass at Calvary first, then Missa cantata in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel; afterward, for such as want it, there will be English Mass in the Crusader Chapel (I plan to go along to hear the sermon).

Oh, and before I forget, do not ever bother to stay at the David Dead Sea Resort and Spa - the service or lack thereof was awful, the people in the main unfriendly or untrained. That said, the various day spa treatments were quite nice! It certainly wasn't what I was expecting, but then again neither was a bus trip through the West Bank... I'm glad to have an Australian passport.

Off to Western Australia, the Holy Land, and Italy...

Very early on Friday morning I will fly off to Perth via Melbourne. I'll have the weekend in Western Australia – my first return visit since I moved back to Tasmania for work in 2009 – and then, together with a large group of fellow pilgrims, I will fly via Dubai to Amman, and travel from there into the Holy Land. After two weeks or so, we will fly on to Rome via Istanbul, and, after a week or so in Italy, at last return home (I will get back in the evening of the 1st of February). Of your charity, please pray that the trip proves safe and spiritually rewarding; I will remember all friends and readers in prayer at the holy places.

I may or may not have the chance to blog about all this, but hope to do so.

Childermas

Until the last preconciliar reforms, Mass of the Holy Innocents – Childermas – was said (except if it fell on a Sunday, or was kept as a double of the first class) without Gloria in excelsis, without Alleluia and without Ite missa est: for all these joyful cries were seen as inappropriate to so sad a day. For the same reason, not the red of martyrs but the violet or purple of penance and sadness was worn, with the same exceptions.

Unsurprisingly, this day Fr Paul preached on the evils of abortion and the pro-life cause; Mass was offered up for the protection of human life from conception to natural death. As ever, the culture of life is face to face with the culture of death, as the West embraces societal suicide.

How many little children suffer at the hands of Herods today! And in Belgium we have the gruesome spectacle of euthanasia for children – you'd think the Belgians would have remembered the Nazi regime and all its evil deeds, and not emulated them in pervertedly imagining that there can be "life unworthy of life". How long, O Lord! Such crimes can only cry to heaven for vengeance.

At the end of Mass at Carmel we sang the piteously plaintive Coventry carol: 

Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Lullay, thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay. 

O sisters too, how may we do,

For to preserve this day

This poor youngling for whom we do sing

Bye, bye, lully, lullay. 

Herod, the king, in his raging,

Charged he hath this day

His men of might, in his owne sight,

All young children to slay. 

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!

And ever mourn and sigh,

For thy parting neither say nor sing,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay. 

Sequence for the Feast of St John Evangelist

A blessed feast to all priests – for this day, being dedicate to St John Evangelist, adopted son of Mary the Virgin, and of all the Apostles the virgin priest, is a feast called in better days "the feast of priests".

Unfortunately, I managed to sleep in, and missed attending Mass… so I'll have to unite myself spiritually to the Sacrifice, and pay my respects to the clergy from afar.

In a very nice book I found secondhand (Jeffrey F. Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology), I discovered a Dominican Sequence for the feast of St John the Evangelist; it appears in the Gradual of St Katharinensthal (dated about 1312).

This Sequence seems to have been given quite some attention – googling turned up several learned articles and even a book referring to it. Herewith, the Sequence, in charming mediæval style:

Verbum dei, deo natum, / quod nec factum nec creatum, / venit de celestibus

Hoc vidit, hoc attrectavit, / hoc de celo reseravit, / Johannes hominibus

Inter illos primitivos / veros veri fonti rivos / Johannes exilivit;

Toti mundo propinare / nectar illud salutare / quod de throno prodiit.

Celum transit veri rotam / solis ibi vidit totam / mentis figens aciem

Speculator spiritalis / quasi seraphim sub alis / dei videns faciem

Audiit in gyro sedis / quid psallant cum cytharedis / quater seni proceres

De sigillo trinitatis / nostre nummo civitatis / inpressit caracteres.

Celi cui sacrarium / suum Christus lylium / 

filio tonitrui / sub amoris mutui / pace commendavit.

Iste custos virginis / archanum originis /

divine mysterium / scribens evangelium / mundo demonstravit

Haurit virus hic letale / ubi corpus virginale / virtus servat fidei

Pena stupet quod in pena / sit Johannes sine pena / bullientis olei.

Hinc naturis imperat / ut et saxa transferat / indecus gemmarum

Quo iubente riguit / aurum fulvum induit / virgula silvarum.

Hic infernum reserat / morti iubet referat /quos venenum stravit.

Obstruit quod ebyon / cherintus et marcion / perfide latravit.

Volat avis sine meta /quod nec vates nec propheta / evolavit altius

Tam implenda quam impleta, / numquam vidit tot secreta / purus homo purius

Sponsus rubra veste tectus, / visus sed non intellectus / referre mysterium

Aquilam ezechielis / sponse misit que de celis / redit ad palacium.

Dic dilecte de dilecto, / qualis sit ex dilecto, / sponsus sponse nuntia.

Dic quis cibus angelorum / que sint festa supernorum / ut sponse presentia.

Veri panem intellectus, / cenam Christi supra pectus / sumptam nobis resera;

Ut cantemus de patrono, / coram agno coram throno, / laudes super ethera. 

Amen.

The Word of God, born of God, that was neither made nor created, came from the heavens

This he saw, this he touched, this he, John, unlocked from heaven for mankind.

Among those first true rivulets of the true source, John sprung forth;

To supply the whole world that saving nectar which flowed from the throne.

He transcended heaven, there he saw the wheel of the sun entirely transfixing his piercing mind

A spiritual speculator, like the seraphim seeing the face of God beneath their wings

He hears in their dwelling place what the four times six elders were singing with the harpists

From the seal of the Trinity on the coin of our condition he imprinted the characters.

To whom the shrine of heaven, his lily, Christ, the sun of thunder entrusted in peace.

He, the protector of the Virgin, showed the world the arcane mystery of the divine origins, writing his Gospel 

He drank the deadly poison by which his virginal body maintained the power of faith

Punishment is perplexed, that in punishment John is without pain in the bubbling oil

He commanded the laws of nature, that stones be transformed into beautiful gems.

By which command he stiffened and covered with tawny gold the litle branches of the forest.

He entered hell and commanded death that he give back those he had punished with poison.

He denied what Ebion, Cerinthus and Marcion barked perfidiously.

He flies like a bird without limit, in that neither seer nor prophet ever flew higher

As much what would be fulfilled as what has been, never were so many secrets seen so purely by a pure man

The bridegroom, adorned with a red garment, seen, but not comprehended, has to represent the mystery

He sent the bride the eagle of Ezechiel, which from the heavens returns to its palace.

Speak, O loved one, of the beloved, what his nature is and how he proceeds from the beloved, this the bridegroom announces to the bride.

Tell us about the food of angels, about the feasts of those above, in the presence of the bride.

The bread of true understanding, the feast of Christ, on his breast consumed: reveal yourself to us:

So that we may sing of our patron, before the Lamb, before the throne, praises above the air. 

Amen.

The Gap

The Protomartyr in his own person and passion illustrates the gap between proclamation of the saving kerygma and the response of faith in its hearers. Those of the Sanhedrin of old stopped their ears and rushed upon St Stephen, stoning him to death rather than allowing their stony hearts to be converted by the word of salvation so irrefutably preached to them by him; but by an illumination (vouchsafed, we may understand, at the First Martyr's prayers), nay, by the voice of the Word Himself, Saul was later converted on the road to Damascus, closing the gap in his life, faith at last being enkindled where murderous hate had reigned.

All down through history, the response of men has ever been the same: lest they hear, and repent, and be converted, and saved, so perverse is fallen nature, instead outrages have been inflicted by sinners upon God's saints. But every Diocletian has been defeated; and as the Apostate unwillingly confessed, "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean". Fr Paul remarked on all this at Mass this morning – I blend what I remember of his words with ideas of mine own engendered thereby.

He further observed that, when Christ shall come as Judge, to him every knee must bend – either in worship, or in servitude (for even the devils fear and tremble, yet for them there is no salvation). God's Kingdom will come, whether we will or nill; let the Holy Spirit descend and purify us, that we may be worthy of that Kingdom, and not cast out into the infernal darkness, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

God grant that Holy Church never cease to proclaim His Gospel, and may her members pray for the fruitful reception of that Good News by all, that (by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) more and more may know and believe, love and obey Jesus Christ, that willingly with the saints they may adore the Lord – lest they instead hate and resist, chafing against the bit and in danger of condemnation.

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas

"You have begun your Christmas in the best way possible," said Fr Allan at the end of the Vigil Mass, "by welcoming Christ into your hearts at Mass in Holy Communion." Amen to that.

It was a charming Mass, complete with the dear children presenting a nativity play (the actual Gospel was read as normal, separately; and such a play seems innocent enough, an adjunct to the sermon I suppose): the choir turned out to consist of Mary and I, with Janet as organist, so we did our best with Christmas favourites. One amusing problem occurred at the Offertory: Janet transposed "Hark the herald angels sing" not down one note, but up! So the top notes proved quite painful for this bass-baritone...

After the final hymn, we sang "Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas", the last from a cycle of Australian Christmas carols by John Wheeler. Some of the parishioners, being Polish, were heading off straightaway after the Mass (which ended just after 7 pm) since they have their Christmas meal and present-giving party on this, the Eve.

Our family Christmas Eve tradition is to eat fish (cooked in cream, with almonds and breadcrumbs and lots of salt and pepper); so we kept the ancient fast. To partake, we met at my sister's home after Mass.

All this is but the start to Christmas 2013: I have to be at Church of Apostles at 10:45 pm, since I am singing in the choir there as well. Carols begin at 11:15 pm, and Midnight Mass follows. Then I will get up Christmas morning and go to Carmel for their 8:30 Mass, since my old friend Fr Paul, O.P., is visiting. 

Later in the day to-morrow, my aunt and uncle will join us, and it will be present time, followed by a gargantuan Christmas dinner… with luck, I can nap in the afternoon, before waking up for the Queen's Christmas message in the evening.

I do like another Australian Christmas carol: "The north wind is tossing the leaves":

Here in Tasmania it isn't normally scorching hot at yuletide, but on the Mainland it can be – in Perth it usually is, if I remember aright – so this carol strikes the right note for an antipodean Christmas.

Every blessing to all readers at this holy season: may the Christ Child enter into your heart and abide there evermore, joining earth to heaven, restoring all things in Himself.

******

P.S. Please don't forget the poor and suffering this Christmas, those near at hand and those far away: think of the people of Syria, of South Sudan, of the Philippines...