Tomorrow is the commemoration of the early martyrs SS Tiburtius and Susanna, but at the Pro. we will instead be using, as a Votive, one of the Masses pro aliquibus locis, in honour of St Philomena, Virgin and Martyr.
While her cult has undergone vicissitudes over the past decades, she is still licitly invoked by her devout clients, and, just like last year (when I was also in attendance) there will be not only Mass (at 6.30pm) but a Holy Hour and Benediction (beforehand, starting at 5.30pm).
The Mass of St Philomena (BTW, this link has some textual corruptions: the Epistle is from Ecclesiasticus li, 1-8. 12, and the Gradual from Ps 44:8), which we will be celebrating tomorrow (with commemoration of SS Tiburtius and Susanna), is taken wholly from the Common of Virgins - the first Mass, Loquebar, for one both Virgin and Martyr.
While her cult has undergone vicissitudes over the past decades, she is still licitly invoked by her devout clients, and, just like last year (when I was also in attendance) there will be not only Mass (at 6.30pm) but a Holy Hour and Benediction (beforehand, starting at 5.30pm).
The Mass of St Philomena (BTW, this link has some textual corruptions: the Epistle is from Ecclesiasticus li, 1-8. 12, and the Gradual from Ps 44:8), which we will be celebrating tomorrow (with commemoration of SS Tiburtius and Susanna), is taken wholly from the Common of Virgins - the first Mass, Loquebar, for one both Virgin and Martyr.
Not that I'm one to discourage devotion to St. Philomena, but I'm interested how this fits in with the rubrics.
ReplyDeleteSt. Philomena is not found in the pro aliquibus locis section of the 1962 missal, and by decree of the S.C.R. is removed from all particular calendars as well. I don't think the martyrology contains her name. The way I understood it was that the 1962 rubrics allowed Votives of any saints inscribed in the martyrology as opposed to the broader allowance of the NO which allows "any given Saint". So while St. Philomena could be observed in the NO with a Votive Mass, she could not in the Traditional Mass?
From my reading of the GIRM, while a votive Mass can be said of any saint or blessed (presumably in the area or religious family where local public devotion is allowed, e.g. Turin and Dominicans for Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was a Dominican Tertiary), all such persons must be in the (finally published) current Martyrology - so the rule is in fact the same.
ReplyDeleteAll I can tell you is that St Philomena has, so far as I know, always been celebrated at the Pro. I would have to consult Fr as to why. FWIW, local devotion to her has continued down the decades = the Cathedral (until it was closed for renovation a bit over a year ago) had a large statue of her, and the Pro. has a small one.
As you know, some admixture of older, pre-'62 forms persists at nearly all EF Masses: for instance, by custom we always say the third Confiteor. The PCED, I recall, has tolerated this, just as it has the admixture of some '65 practices at the French monasteries. Of course, these are on a slightly different level...