Prayers to Plague Saints

Over the past several weeks or more I had thought to post these prayers to Saint Sebastian, Saint Roch and Saint Rosalia against contagious disease, but my procrastination has led me to leave off disseminating such petitions to these famous plague saints almost too late:

1. Ad Sanctum Sebastianum Martyrem.

Aña. O beate Sebastiane, Martyr Dei, intercede pro nobis ad Dominum Jesum Christum, ut a peste seu a morbo epidemiæ tuis meritis et precibus liberemur. 

V. Ora pro nobis, beate Sebastiane.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. 

Oremus. 

Oratio.Da nobis, quæsumus, Domine, « omnia tela nequissimi ignea exstinguere » (Eph. 6, 16b), qui inclyto Martyri, Ecclesiæ defensori, et pestilitatis propulsori Sebastiano tribuisti sagittarum suarum tormenta superare. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. 

2. Ad Sanctum Rochum Confessorem. 

Aña. Ave, Roche sanctissime,
Nobili natus sanguine,
Crucis signatus schemate
Sinistro tuo latere.
Roche, peregre profectus,
Pestiferæ mortis ictus
Curavisti mirifice,
Tangendo salutiferæ.
Vale, Roche angelice,
Vocis citatus flamine,
Obtinuisti deifice
A cunctis pestem pellere. 

V. Ora pro nobis, beate Roche.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. 

Oremus.

Oratio.Deus, qui beato Rocho per Angelum tuum tabulam eidem afferentem promisisti; ut qui ipsum invocaverit, a nullo pestis cruciatu læderetur: præsta, quæsumus, ut qui ejus memoriam agimus, ipsius meritis et precibus a mortifera peste corporis et animæ liberemur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. 

3. Ad Sanctam Rosaliam Virginem. 

Hymnus (abbrev.) Ave, rosa sine spina,
Contra pestem medicina,
Rosalia, dux inclyta,
Recens a mundo cognita.
Post tot sæcla revelata,
In Patronam orbi data
Contra pestem nobis fave,
Dum tibi sonamus Ave.
Laus, honor sit Majestati,
Uni, trinæ Deitati,
Rosaliam exaltanti,
Pestem per eam sedanti. 

V. Ascendat odor rosæ hujus in conspectu Domini.
R. Et placetur ira Altissimi. 

Oremus. 

Oratio.Deus, qui corpus famulæ tuæ Rosaliæ Virginis post tot sæcula inter montes inventum, contra sævientem pestilentiam sacrum amuletum fidelibus tuis esse voluisti: præsta supplicibus tuis, ut, qui ejus commemoratione lætamur, ejus quoque intervenientibus meritis, a præsentibus periculis, et a malo pestilentiæ liberemur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

 ******

1. To St Sebastian. 

Antiphon. O blessed Sebastian, Martyr of God, intercede for us with the Lord Jesus Christ, that from plague or from epidemic disease we may be delivered by thy merits and prayers. 

V. Pray for us, blessed Sebastian.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. 

Let us pray.

Collect.Grant unto us, we beg, Lord, “to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Eph. 6:16b), who didst grant unto Sebastian, the famous Martyr, the defender of the Church, and the repeller of plague, to overcome the torments of his arrows. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen. 

2.  To St Roch. 

Antiphon. Hail, most holy Roch,
Born of noble blood,
Marked with the form of the Cross
On thy left side.
O Roch, rendered a pilgrim,
Struck by pestilential death,
Thou didst miraculously cure
With healing touch.
Hail, angelic Roch,
Summoned by the blast of the voice,
Thou didst obtain, O god-like one,
To drive plague from all.  

V. Pray for us, blessed Roch.
R. That we may be made worthy of the  promises of Christ. 

Let us pray. 

Collect.O God, who didst promise blessed Roch, by thine Angel delivering a tablet to the same, that those who call upon him should suffer no torment of plague: grant, we beg, that those who make remembrance of him may be freed, by his merits and prayers, from deadly plague of mind and body. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen. 

3. To St Rosalia.

Hymn. Hail, rose without a thorn,
Medicine against pestilence,
Rosalia, famous leader,
Recently made known to the world.
Revealed after so many centuries,
Given to the world as a Patroness,
Support us against the pestilence,
While to thee we cry out Hail.
Praise, and honour be
To the One Majesty, the Trinal Deity,
Exalting Rosalia,
Stopping the plague through her. 

V. The fragrance of this rose ascended in the sight of the Lord.
R. And appeased the wrath of the Most High. 

Let us pray. 

Collect.O God, who didst will the body of thy servant Rosalia the Virgin, found after many centuries amongst the mountains, to be a sacred amulet for thy faithful against the raging pestilence: grant unto thy supplicants, that we, who rejoice in her commemoration, and by her intervening merits, may be delivered from present perils, and from the evil of pestilence. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

Rosary Prayers

After introductory versicles, begin the Rosary with the "Hail, Holy Queen", its usual versicle and the collect "O God, Whose Only-begotten Son" – this was the somewhat startling advice I found in several late nineteenth century books, said to follow the official method laid down for use amongst Dominicans.

These days, of course, one expects to say such prayers at the end of the decades (Dominicans still maintain the introductory versicles, instead of the newfangled Creed, Lord's Prayer and three Hail Mary's); then, instead, they were said beforehand, and afterward – where now they are recited – instead came first the Litany of Loreto, and then the Sub tuum and an anthem to St Dominic, with appropriate versicles and collects.

The collect connected to the Sub tuum in this arrangement seemed familiar, as I have seen it referred to as St Pius V's prayer for use at the conclusion of the Rosary – the more familiar "O God, Whose Only-begotten Son" having been introduced by his successor, Gregory XIII, when he approved a proper Mass and Office for the feast of the Rosary. But the prayer appointed by St Pius V is itself a modification of the Dominican collect for Marian feasts – unsurprising, as Pius was a Friar Preacher:

Supplicationem servorum tuorum, Deus miserator, exaudi, ut, qui in societate sacratissimi Rosarii Dei Genitricis et Virginis congregamur, ejus intercessionibus, a te de instantibus periculis eruamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen. 

(Hear, O merciful God, the prayer of thy servants: that we, who meet together in the Society of the most holy Rosary of the Virgin Mother of God, may, through her intercession, be delivered by thee from present dangers. Through the same Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.)

Having come across this old form, I now preface the Rosary with the Sub tuum, versicle Post partum and collect Supplicationem servorum quorum, plus – from what I've learnt from our local Monday night Rosary group – the Memorare, before I make the usual start by signing myself with sign of the Cross, saying the Creed, and so forth. 

Spanish sources gave a variant to the Dominican or rather "Pian" collect for the Sub tuum (which they paired with the collect of the Angelus for good measure), which I prefer, as it is not so much that we meet together in a society of the Rosary as instead meet to recite it – hence its use in the version given below (Dominicans omit "gloriosa et" in the Sub tuum, by the way):

Aña. Sub tuum presidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix: nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. 

V/. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti. R/. Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis.

Oremus.

Supplicationem servorum tuorum, Deus miserator, exaudi: ut, qui ad recitandum sanctissimum Rosarium Dei Genetricis et Virginis Mariæ congregamur, ejus intercessionibus a te de instantibus periculis eruamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen. 

Ant. We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God: despise not our petitions in our necessities, but ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

V/. After childbirth, O Virgin, thou didst remain undefiled. R/. Mother of God, intercede for us.

Let us pray.

Hear, O merciful God, the prayer of thy servants: that we, who meet together to recite the most holy Rosary of Mary, Mother of God and Virgin, may, through her intercession, be delivered by thee from present dangers. Through the same Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.

Evolution of a Collect

On Thursday, I head off to join the Christus Rex Pilgrimage; Thursday, "Birthday of the Chalice", is the Day of the Institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood – and reminds us that Christ is Priest as well as King: the One Eternal High Priest, and the King of the Universe.

While it was Pius XI who had a Votive Mass of Christ the Priest drawn up and inserted into the Roman Missal in 1935, and in many places (mainly Hispanophone) a Feast of Christ the Priest on the Thursday after Pentecost has been inserted into the modern Roman Calendar, with a revised proper most recently confirmed under Benedict XVI in 2012, this celebration of the Priesthood of Christ has a prehistory – for it is found as far back as 1686 in France, and featured prominently in the many different Neo-Gallican Breviaries and Missals.

The French Feast of the Priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ was, of course, not assigned to the Thursday after Pentecost, because in those happier days that was part of the Octave of Pentecost (though the Mass of Whit Thursday largely repeated that of Whitsunday, unlike the other days in the Octave): instead, it was assigned to the Octave Day of Corpus Christi, quite sensibly.  (In a few French dioceses, however, Christ the Priest was celebrated on the 2nd or 3rd Sunday of October – in one case, that of the diocese of Tréguier in Brittany, with an Octave.)

The Collect of the modern Feast of Christ the Priest (not that of the Votive in the Roman Missal, which is disfigured with a different and rather generic petition) is almost identical to the Collect of the 1935 Votive, but for the addition of three words (Spiritu Sancto largiente) and the omission of eumdem in the conclusion.

However, this Collect has its own prehistory: for it can be found in various stages of development in old French Breviaries – rather as fossils may tell a tale (please, no digs at evolutionary theories, that's so Protestant) – and it also illustrates the Neo-Gallican tendency to produce orations out of snippets of Holy Scripture (in this case, mainly from Hebrews, though the modern festal collect quotes instead from 1 Cor. iv, 1-2: "ministros Christi, et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei... ut fidelis quis inveniatur"). 

Here are a succession of collects demonstrating their development, with new phrases in each stage underlined; I supply a painfully literal translation of my own poor devising for each prayer:

Form 2D (2012 Feast (OF))

Collect [=EF, with one addition, and deletion of eumdem]

Deus, qui ad majestatis tuæ gloriam et generis humani salutem, Unigenitum tuum Summum atque Æternum constituisti Sacerdotem, præsta, ut, Spiritu Sancto largiente, quos ministros et mysteriorum surorum dispensatores elegit, in accepto ministerio adimplendo fideles inveniantur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum.

(O God, Who to the glory of Thy Majesty and for the salvation of the human race didst constitute Thine Only-Begotten supreme and eternal Priest: grant, by the bountiful Holy Spirit, that those whom He hath chosen as ministers and stewards of His mysteries be found faithful in fulfilling the ministry they have received. Through...)

Form 2C (1962 = 1935 Votive (EF))

Collect

Deus, qui ad majestatis tuæ gloriam et generis humani salutem, Unigenitum tuum summum atque æternum constituisti Sacerdotem: præsta; ut quos ministros et mysteriorum suorum dispensatores elegit in accepto ministerio adimplendo fideles inveniantur. Per eumdem...

(O God, Who to the glory of Thy Majesty and for the salvation of the human race didst constitute Thine Only-Begotten supreme and eternal Priest: grant; that those whom He hath chosen as ministers and stewards of His mysteries be found faithful in fulfilling the ministry they have received. Through the same...)

Form 2B (1770 Prop. Trecorensis)

Collect

Deus, qui ad majestatis tuæ gloriam et generis humani salutem unigenitum tuum summum constituisti sacerdotem: præsta ut quos mysteriorum suorum elegit cooperatores et dispensatores, ministerium quod acceperunt fideliter impleant. Per eumdem.

(O God, Who to the glory of Thy Majesty and for the salvation of the human race didst constitute Thine Only-Begotten the high Priest: grant; that those whom He hath chosen as co-workers and stewards of His mysteries, faithfully fulfil the ministry which they have received. Through the same...)

Form 2A (1784 Brev. Aniciense, but presumably earlier, as 2B derives from it)

Collect

Deus, qui ad majestatis tuæ gloriam, et generis humani salutem, Unigenitum tuum summum constituisti Sacerdotem: eique ad sacrificandum tibi hostiam mundam Sacerdotes ministros sociasti: præsta, ut omnes qui vocatione tam sancta dignati sunt, altari tuo devote ministrent, et seipsos hostiam vivam et sanctam offerre mereantur; Per eumdem.

(O God, Who to the glory of Thy Majesty and for the salvation of the human race didst constitute Thine Only-Begotten the high Priest: and didst associate with Him ministers, Priests to sacrifice unto Thee a pure victim; grant; that all who are worthy of such a holy calling, devoutly minister at Thine altar, and deserve to offer themselves as a living and holy victim. Through the same...)

Form 2 (1740 Diurnale Sagiense) [last phrase only derived from Form 1]

Collect

Deus, qui Unigenitum tuum dedisti summum Sacerdotem, eique ad sacrificandum tibi hostiam mundam sacerdotes ministros sociasti: quæsumus, ut omnes qui vocatione tam sancta dignati sunt, altari tuo devote ministrent, et seipsos hostiam vivam et sanctam offerre mereantur. Per eumdem.

(O God, Who didst constitute Thine Only-Begotten the high Priest: and didst associate with Him ministers, Priests to sacrifice unto Thee a pure victim; we beseech, that all who are worthy of such a holy calling, devoutly minister at Thine altar, and deserve to offer themselves as a living and holy victim. Through the same...)

Form 1 (1686 Cluniac Breviary)

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui “autorem [sic; lege auctorem] salutis” (Heb 2:10) Pontificem nostrum, “per passionem consummari” (Heb 2:10) voluisti; “conscientiam nostram” (Heb 9:14), quæsumus, “per” ejus “sanguinem” (Heb 9:13), “ab operibus mortuis” “emunda”, ut tibi “Deo viventi” digne “servire” (Heb 9:14), ac “nosmetipsos hostiam vivam ac sanctam” (cf. Rom 12:1) offerre mereamur; Per eumdem.

(Almighty everlasting God, Who didst will to perfect the author of salvation, our High Priest, by suffering: cleanse our conscience, we beseech, by his blood, from dead works, that we may deserve worthily to serve Thee, the living God, and to offer ourselves as a living and holy victim. Through the same...)

******

For comparison, here is the Collect for the 5th Sunday of Lent from the abortive 1689 Proposed BCP, shewing how liturgical developments on both sides of the Channel were so strangely moving in parallel:

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast sent thy Son Christ to be a high priest of good things to come (cf. Heb. 9:11), and by his own blood to enter once into the holy place, having obtained an eternal redemption for us (cf. Heb. 9:12); Mercifully look upon thy people; that by the same blood of our Saviour, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto thee, our consciences may be purged from dead works, to serve thee the living God (cf. Heb. 9:14), that we may receive the promise of eternal inheritance (cf. Heb. 9:15); through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Favourite Collects

St Alphonsus said somewhere that each of the votive orations in the Roman Missal was worth fifty Rosaries – meaning no doubt that their sublime concision and spiritual orientation made them models of what prayer ought be.

One aspect of the recent retranslation of the Mass into English was to provide memorable and worthy versions of the original Latin collects and so forth. For example, the prayer customarily said at the conclusion of the Angelus – Gratiam tuam quæsumus – is well-known in English in its older, pre-OF form – "Pour forth, we beseech thee" – while its old ICEL paraphrase was banal (I forebear to try readers' patience with a repetition of that which is best forgotten); the new translation (surprise, surprise) is a very slight modification of the traditional form (simply substituting "you" for "thee", "your" for "thy", and supplying the ending "Who lives and reigns..." in place of the old "Through the same...").

I personally prefer to say certain collects in Latin as part of my prayers, at morning and evening, before and after Mass, and at sundry times:

• Actiones nostras quæsumus
• Aufer a nobis
• Deus qui corda
• Deus cui omne cor
• Deus qui nobis
• Respice Domine super
• Agimus tibi gratias
• Visita quæsumus Domine
• Domine Deus omnipotens qui ad principium
• Corpus tuum Domine
• Perceptio Corporis (et Sanguinis) tui
• Domine Jesu Christe, Fili Dei vivi
• Concede quæsumus omnipotens Deus
• Concede nos famulos tuos
• Exaudi nos quæsumus

The list goes on... gentle reader, what collects have you committed to heart as part of your fund of prayers?

I will insert in the margin of this blog the collect for the election of a new Pope!

St Michael, Come to Our Aid

I must recall to pray St Michael more often, that that blessed Archangel intervene for the people of God, as once the prophet Daniel saw him do, and may thrust down to Hell Satan and all evil spirits.

Here are some collects from his Vespers according to the Ambrosian Rite; I haven't quite finished translating the last one:

Oratio I

Da nobis, omnipotens Deus, beati Michaelis Archangeli honore ad summa proficere: ut cujus in terris gloriam prædicamus, ejus quoque precibus adjuvemur in cœlis. Per…

Give to us, almighty God, to profit to the utmost by honouring blessed Michael the Archangel: that as we tell of his glory on earth, we may be helped by his prayers in heaven. Through…

Oratio II = Roman

Oratio III

Adesto plebi tuæ, misericors Deus: et ut gratiæ tuæ potiora beneficia percipiat, beati Michaelis Archangeli fac supplicem deprecationibus sublevari. Per…

Be present to thy people, merciful God: and that they may perceive greater benefits by thy grace, make them, prostrate in prayer, to be lifted up by the prayers of blessed Michael the Archangel. Through…

Oratio IV (cf. Roman Postcommunion)*

Beati Archangeli tui Michaelis interventione suffulti, supplices te, Domine, deprecamur: ut, quos honore prosequimur, contingamus et mente. Per…

Supported by the intervention of thy blessed Archangel Michael, bowing low, Lord, we pray thee: that, those we accompany with honour, we may lay hold of with our mind. Through...

* There seems something strange here: the Roman recension reads intercessione not interventione, a merely verbal difference, but also reads not quos honore but quod ore – and the meaning seems quite cryptic in both cases.  Help!

And furthermore: glancing at Dominican Vespers of St Michael, what did I see but that the Magnificat antiphon was all but identical to the Ambrosian Collect IV above (excluding the Per Dominum &c. of course), excluding only the words Beati and tui and supplices, and adding an alleluja.  Hmm, all very interesting...

Collects for the Feast of Our Lady's Nativity

The Sacramentary of Hadrian gives two Collects for Our Lady's Birthday; one without title, the other marked "Ad Missas" – for Mass.  The first is Supplicationem servorum tuorum, which the Dominicans and mediæval English Uses used; the second is Famulis tuis quæsumus, later used in the Roman Missal (still maintained to-day, with but a slight alteration) also by the extinct English order of the Gilbertines.

Supplicationem servorum tuorum, Deus, miserator exaudi: ut, qui in Nativitate Dei Genetricis et Virginis congregamur, ejus intercessionibus [SH included: complacatus] a te de instantibus periculis eruamur.  Per eumdem...

Famulis tuis, *quæsumus* [SH omitted], Domine, cælestis gratiæ munus inpertire: ut, quibus beatæ Virginis partus exstitit salutis exordium, Nativitatis ejus †votiva solemnitas† [modern: festivitas], pacis tribuat incrementum.  Per...

For what it's worth, I prefer the first Collect – which, it could be argued, is part of that elusive Patrimony that incoming Anglicans like to go on about!  Curiously enough, things Dominican are often quite closely related to things Sarum...

The Neo-Gallican Paris Missal of 1738 instead was given a new Collect, redolent of Scripture, in the manner then fashionable:

Deus, qui secundum propositum voluntatis tuae [Eph 1:5], mundum tibi reconciliare voluisti [II Cor 5:19]: praesta quaesumus, ut qui Nativitatem Virginis Mariae, de qua natus est nobis Christus Salvator [Mt 1:16; Lk 2:11], cum gaudio celebramus; ipsam quam Filius operatus est, salutem Matris intercessione consequamur.  Per eumdem...

Our Lady of the Snows

It is said that of old time Our Lady appeared in a dream to John, a devout Roman patrician, and to his wife, as also to Liberius, the reigning Pope, asking that a church in her honour be erected on the Esquiline Hill, the Lord confirming this triple vision by a signal miracle, the fall of snow to mark out the site, and that in the middle of a hot Roman August: and this building thus donated and constructed, in due course consecrated under her title of Mother of God by Pope Sixtus III, betokening the triumph over heresy won at Ephesus, is the far-famed Church of St Mary Major, Santa Maria Maggiore, so-named because the first and greatest of all churches in Rome and the West dedicated to the Most Holy Virgin; and it is also called ad Nives, of the Snows, in memory of its miraculous origins; and furthermore ad Præsepe, for, as befits the greatest shrine of the Lord's Mother, it holds the unique relic of the Crib in which rested the Divine Infant upon His Birth in Bethlehem of Judæa, before Whose Presence Our Lady's Heart thrilled with joy, St Joseph worshipped in amaze, the Shepherds came all inspired by angelic instruction, while the Magi, seeing the Child with Mary His Mother, falling down adored Him.

Truly, blessed is she who believed, for all the things told her by the Lord came to pass; and all generations, as she prophesied by the Holy Ghost, indeed have, do and shall call her blessed. Pray for us, Holy Mother of God!

The Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite gives for to-day's feast the common Marian collect Concede nos famulos (used at Vespers in the Little Office), while the Ordinary Form appoints Famulorum tuorum quæsumus (until 1950, the collect for the Vigil of the Assumption, still used at None in the Little Office); the Dominican Rite, however, used the following:

Supplicationem servorum tuorum, Deus miserator, exaudi, ut qui in solemnitate Dei Genitricis et Virginis congregamur, ejus intercessionibus a te de instantibus periculis eruamur. Per eumdem...

(Mercifully hear, O God, the prayers of Thy servants, that we who are gathered together on the solemnity of the Virgin Mother of God, may through her intercession be delivered by Thee from the dangers that threaten us. Through the same...)

I look forward to visiting this church during my upcoming Roman holiday.

Other saints of the day include St Nonna, wife of St Gregory the Elder and mother of SS Gregory the Great, Cæsarius and Gorgonia - a holy family almost to rival that of St Gregory the Great, his father St Gordianus, his mother St Silvia, and his aunts SS Trasilla and Emiliana (the relics of the last three of these I will venerate when at the Cælian in just over a month's time).

Collects of Our Lady's Hours

My researches into the Little Office continue unabated, just as I have devoted this week to praying it:

• At Lauds - Deus, qui de beatæ (Advent Collect of Our Lady, derived from the Liturgy of the Annunciation);
• At Prime - Deus, qui virginalem (the pre-1950 Collect of the Vigil of the Assumption);
• At Terce - Deus, qui salutis (Christmastide Collect of Our Lady, derived from the Liturgy of the 1st of January, the Octave of Christmas);
• At Sext - Concede misericors Deus (Collect used with the Marian anthem Ave Regina cælorum);
• At None - Famulorum tuorum quæsumus (the pre-1950 Assumption Collect);
• At Vespers - Concede nos famulos (Collect from the Common of Our Lady);

I still have not, however, established the origin of the Compline Collect Beatæ et gloriosæ...

St Gregory the Great

The Holy Father has written to the bishops of the world, lamenting how his attempt to stretch forth the right hand of fellowship to the SSPX - that they may be drawn back into Catholic unity - by lifting the sentence of excommunication against their four bishops was received by the secular world, and the Catholic world, with anger, on the surface because of the unwitting appearance that Williamson's bizarre and distasteful revisionist views were being given tacit approval (a mistaken view that some seemed to rejoice to find and condemn, as if all the SSPX and even a certain German prelate were heinous Nazis), but underneath because, in the Pope's own view, many even within the Church to-day wish to have a group (the SSPX, for instance) to demonize and hate with full licence, and when anyone, even the Supreme Pontiff, acts to try and assist them (and who nonetheless still recognizes their own stiffnecked attitude, a spirit still needing to be tempered in forthcoming discussions) out of pastoral solicitude in the service of Christian unity, then that person - Benedict XVI, no less - is himself viciously pilloried without charity or mercy, and that by those who would puff themselves up as enlightened, progressive, and somehow caring.  He quotes Galatians v, 13-15, giving emphasis to the last verse:

For you have been called to liberty, brethren; only do not use liberty as an occasion for sensuality, but by charity serve one another.  For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt live thy neighbour as thyself.  But if you bite and devour one another, take heed or you will be consumed by one another.

Let us set before our eyes the example of Pope St Gregory the Great, and his sterling example of shepherding the flock of Christ; let us join with him in the prayer of all the saints, living and dead, that the Lord may sustain his clergy and people alike, deliver them from the hating and hateful evil that afflicts all our hearts, and unite us with Himself in one: for in no other manner can we come nigh unto God and be the all-unworthy recipients of His free gift of salvation.

For this end, to-day's Lenten ferial collect for Thursday in the second week, and the collect for the feast of St Gregory, are both apposite:

Praesta nobis, quæsumus, Domine, auxilium gratiæ tuæ: ut jejuniis et orationibus convenienter intenti, liberemur ab hostibus mentis et corporis.  Per...

(Grant unto us, we beg, Lord, the help of Thy grace: that intent upon fitting fasts and orisons, we may be freed from the enemies of mind and body.  Through...)

Deus, qui animae famuli tui Gregorii aeternae beatitudinis praemia contulisti: concede propitius; ut qui peccatorum nostrorum pondere premimur, ejus apud te precibus sublevemur. Per...

(God, Who didst bestow upon the soul of Thy servant Gregory the rewards of eternal beatitude: propitiously concede, that we who are weighed down by the burthen of our sins, by his prayers unto Thee may be lifted up.  Through...)

In particular, I think that I need also to follow this good example by praying that the rebels in South Brisbane be afforded help in being reintegrated into the Church, lest their souls perish; it is all too easy to indulge in shameful schadenfreude.

Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent; the Forty Martyrs

To-day's ferial collect (for Tuesday in the second week of Lent) is more than usually difficult:

Perfice, quæsumus, Domine, benignus in nobis observantiæ sanctæ subsidium: ut, quæ te auctore facienda cognovimus, te operante impleamus.  Per...

I would render this as follows, trying to be painfully literal:

Perfect, we beseech, Lord, the benign help of holy observance in us: that, what we know (Thee being the Author) ought to be done, may we fulfil, Thee working.  Through...

(An interesting verb, perficere - from per and facere; the latter root meaning "to make", the former, in this case, "thoroughly" or "very": hence the full verb meaning "to complete, to finish", or quite literally, playing on the word and its derived noun, "to make perfect".)

But what is this "holy observance" that for us ought be made perfect as a goodly support?  Obviously, Lent, or more correctly adhering to its hallowed and sanctifying rituals and rules, we pray is to be for us a wholesome underpinning for our wellbeing, that God may perfect His work in us: and hence the second half of the prayer - what we know is of God, what we know by His Revelation ought be done, we also know we can only fulfill in full measure by His grace, His activity in us: and this can only be achieved by the saving work in us of our One Saviour and Mediator Christ.  We ought therefore look to Him Who is the Author and Finisher of Faith, Who sets the example of virtue and right action, and Who gives the grace that we may run the great race, finish the course, keep the Faith, and win the immarcescible crown.

******

To-day is also the commemoration of the Forty Holy Martyrs (Ἃγιοι Τεσσεράκοντα), who according to tradition were Christian Roman legionaries who, rather than renounce the True Faith, perished by cold and exposure on a frozen lake near Sebaste in Armenia - and when one of their number apostatised at the last and gave up both his place and (we fear) his access to salvation, the constancy of the remaining Christians so moved the hearts of one of their pagan fellow soldiers that - spurred on to superhuman self-sacrifice by a secret inflow of the Spirit's grace - this erstwhile pagan and true hero thereupon declared himself resolved to live and die as a sudden Christian with the brave martyrs expiring on the ice, and went to join them in death and glory, saved by God from the false empire of darkness at the last gasp, rather like the Good Thief.  

(In the icon, the apostate soldier flees into the black door of a building - having abandoned the Faith, for a short temporal reward he has spurned the endless delights of heaven, and instead shall merit hell: he has escaped out of the frying pan, into the fire! - while, moved by mysterious illumination and inspiration, a bystander divests himself of his apparel to go out onto the icy lake, there to freeze to death and so mount to celestial glory.)

The fact that one of the Forty Martyrs was thus unbaptized illustrates the comforting doctrine that God is not Himself bound by His sacraments, and may by extraordinary means effect the salvation of chosen souls.  This is not to downplay the extreme importance of baptism - one may not without sinful presumption depend upon what is a most unusual and special grant of grace outside of the norm which all are called to participate in through actual sacramental baptism - but rather it must be interpreted as an instance of "baptism by desire" and moreover "baptism by blood", whereby, respectively, a catechumen dying short of baptism has nonetheless an explicit desire (votum) therefor which it pleases the Lord to fulfil extrasacramentally, and likewise a believer as yet unbaptized, when put to death in hatred of the Faith, is as it were bathed in the sacred laver of his own lifeblood, and by his special likeness to Christ in His Passion is extrasacramentally united to Him by a gratuitous gift of grace.

Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, qui gloriosos Martyres fortes in sua confessione cognovimus, pios apud te in nostra intercessione sentiamus.  Per...

(Grant, we beg, almighty God, that we who acclaim the glorious Martyrs strong in their confession, may feel and know in what is ours their pious intercession with Thee.  Through...)

We should recall the constancy of these Forty Martyrs throughout these Forty Days, that we may imitate those who endured their sufferings (or rather were miraculously moved to join themselves thereto) and not with the reprobate fall away, that Lent and the Christian life be for us an unfulfilled promise we reject, rather than a saving gift from the Lord.

As we know the saints do ever intercede for us, may we have the grace to recognize in our souls, in our bodies, in our lives and in our labours what great blessings God is pleased to grant us at their plea.

Here are their Kontakion and Troparion (sung in the Byzantine Rite yesterday, on the 9th):

O holy and triumphant Forty Martyrs, you renounced every honour of military life in order to follow the Lord of Heaven.  O blessed ones, you suffered in fire and water, wherefore you received from heaven as your reward the crowns of glory and immortality.

By reason of the sufferings the saints endured out of love for You, we implore You, O Lord and Lover of Mankind, to deliver us from all our pain.

Collects

Yesterday's Collect for the 6th after Epiphany (used for the 27th after Pentecost) was noteworthy for reminding us that what is rational, according to right reason, is also what is pleasing to the Logos, as the Pope said at Regensburg:

Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut semper rationabilia meditantes, quæ tibi sunt placita, et dictis exsequamur, et factis.  Per...

(Grant, we beseech, almighty God, that ever meditating upon what is true, what is pleasing to Thee, we may perform, both in what is said and done.  Through...)

The day also marked the feast of another favourite saint of mine, St Gertrude:

Deus, qui in corde beatæ Gertrudis Virginis jucundam tibi mansionem præparasti: ipsius meritis et intercessione; cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge, et ejusdem tribue gaudere consortio.  Per...

St Luke

Yesterday I wasn't feeling the best, but doubtless St Luke's intercession availed me, and certainly played its part in getting me to confession, which is always a great grace. So, what of St Luke? Here's a quick summary:

The name Luke, Lucas (Λουκας) means ‘light-giving’ or ‘luminous’.

According to unanimous tradition from St Irenaeus onward, Luke is the author of the Gospel that bears his name, and of the Acts of the Apostles.

He was present in Rome during Paul’s first imprisonment (Acts xxvii,1-xxviii,16) and only he remained with Paul during his second imprisonment (II Tim iv,11).

Going on Paul’s allusion in II Cor viii,16-19; xii,18 it is traditionally held that Luke is the ‘brother’ mentioned here; some even think (rather too literally!) that therefore he was the brother of Titus.

He was a Gentile by birth, being numbered with Epaphras and Demas as distinguished from those of the circumcision, as in Colossians (iv,10-11) Paul first denotes Aristarchus, Mark the cousin of Barnabas, and Jesus surnamed Justus as being the only men of the circumcision among his fellow workers, and then mentions Epaphras, Luke and Demas (Col iv,12-14).

Tradition makes him a proselyte – according to Tertullian he was one of Paul’s converts – and native of Antioch, according to Eusebius of Caesarea and St Jerome (this latter may be due to confusion with Lucius (Λουκιος) of Acts xiii, 1; but Luke (Λουκας) is instead a contraction of the name Lucanus, as Silas of Silvanus). Perhaps he was from Philippi.

By tradition from St Irenaeus, Luke’s Gospel conveys the substance of Paul’s preaching. The closest parallel is that between the institution narratives of St Luke xxii,19-20 and I Cor. xi,23-25.

Luke has the best Greek of any New Testament writer. Presumably he was a man of some means and had had a good education.

Tradition holds that he lived to be 84, and never married. By later tradition he was a painter as well as a physician, and produced portraits of Our Lord, Our Lady, and the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. A rather unlikely tradition held that he was one of the seventy-two disciples, but this seems contradicted by the assertion that he was a convert of St Paul.

In the Traditional Martyrology, this is his praise:

In Bithynia natális beáti Lucæ Evangelístæ, qui, multa passus pro Christi nómine, obiit Spíritu Sancto plenus. Ipsíus autem ossa póstea Constantinópolim transláta sunt, et inde Patávium deláta.

In Bithynia, the birthday of St. Luke the Evangelist. He died, filled with the Holy Ghost, after having suffered much for the Name of Christ. His relics were translated to Constantinople, and thence taken to Pavia.

Strangely, and for reasons I have been unable to uncover, his collect speaks of him always bearing about in his body the mortification of the Cross (cf. esp. II Cor iv,10; St Luke ix,23 & parallels; Gal v,24; vi,17):

Interveniat pro nobis, quæsumus, Domine, sanctus tuus Lucas Evangelista: qui crucis mortificationem jugiter in suo corpore pro tui nominis honore portavit. Per.

May Thy Holy Evangelist Luke intervene for us, we beseech, Lord: who ever bore in his body the mortification of the Cross for the glory of Thy Name. Through...

Our dreadful friends the Anglicans have the following rather nice prayer for St Luke's feast in their 1662 BCP:

Almighty God, who calledst ‘Luke the Physician’ [Col 4:14], ‘whose praise is in the Gospel’ [St Jerome, Comm. in Matt., quoting 2 Cor 8:18], to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul; May it please thee, that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed; through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Furthermore, in the BCP, with its 1871 lectionary (it is important to note that Newman, while yet C. of E., used the earlier lectionary, to which match his famous sermons), the following is the appointed first lesson at Evensong, and I think it most appropriate:

Ecclesiasticus xxxviii,1-15 (Douay Rheims)

38:1 Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him. 2 For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king. 3 The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. 4 The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. 5 Was not bitter water made sweet with wood? 6 The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the most High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honoured in his wonders. 7 By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end. 8 For the peace of God is over all the face of the earth. 9 My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee. 10 Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence. 11 Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician. 12 For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary. 13 For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands: 14 And they shall beseech the Lord, that he would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their conversation. 15 He that sinneth in the sight of his Maker, shall fall into the hands of the physician.

A Tiring Week

St Joseph of Cupertino on Thursday, and SS Januarius and Companions yesterday, have gone by without much comment: I've been rather busy and tired, and put off by irritations at work.

God, Who didst dispose Thy Onlybegotten Son exalted above earth to draw all (to Himself): mercifully permit, that, by the merits and example of Thy seraphic Confessor Joseph, lifted above all earthly desires, we may deserve to draw nigh unto Him: Who with Thee liveth...

I do hope that the blood of St Januarius kept as relics once more liquefied in its phials...

On a positive note, now we're into Spring it's the season for strawberries, and the first peaches too: so God is good.  Even better, I have a holiday coming up, and a Retreat...

Today's Saints, the Martyrs Eustace and Companions, intercede for us!

God, Who dost permit us to worship the birthdays of Thy holy Martyrs Eustace and his Companions, grant unto us to rejoice in eternal beatitude in their fellowship.  Through...

Stigmata of St Francis - II

"...  The... marvellous but thoroughly witnessed facts [concerning the stigmata of St Francis], which were already spoken of in Papal documents with especial praise and joy, were made, by the pleasure of Pope Benedict XI, the subject of a yearly memorial, which was afterwards extended by Paul V to the whole Church, in the hope of fanning in the hearts of the faithful the love of Christ Crucified."  (Lesson vi of Matins of this feast, prior to the '62 Breviary)

Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis.  R/.  Deo gratias.

Antiphon, Versicle, and Collects in Honour of the Stigmata of St Francis

Aña. Absorbeat, quæso, Domine, mentem meam vis ignita et melliflua amoris tui, ut amore amoris tui mundo moriar, qui amore amoris mei dignatus es in cruce mori.

V/. Signasti, Domine, servum tuum Franciscum.

R/. Signis redemptionis nostræ.

Oremus.

Domine Jesu Christe, qui frigescente mundo ad inflammandum corda nostra tui amoris igne, in carne beatissimi Patris nostri Francisci Passionis tuæ sacra Stigmata renovasti: concede propitius, ut ejus meritis et precibus crucem jugiter feramus, et dignos fructus pænitentiæ faciamus. Qui vivis et regnas in sæculum sæculorum.  R/.  Amen. 

Deus, qui beati Patris nostri Francisci corpus Passionis Filii tui signaculis decorasti, et animam in cælis mirabiliter sublimasti: concede propitius, ut qui ejusdem commemorationem celebramus, carnem nostram cum vitiis crucifigere, et ad cælestem patriam pervenire valeamus. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.  R/.  Amen.

Deus, qui mira crucis mysteria in beato Patre nostro Francisco Confessore tuo multiformiter demonstrasti: da nobis, quæsumus, devotionis suæ semper exempla sectari, et assidua ejusdem crucis meditatione muniri. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.  R/.  Amen.

Ant. I beseech you, O Lord, may the burning and mellifluous power of your love absorb my mind, that I may die to the world for the love of your love, who deigned to die on the cross for love of my love. (attr. St Francis of Assisi)

V/.  You have marked, O Lord, your servant Francis.

R/.  With the marks of our redemption.

Let us pray.

O God, who adorned the body of our blessed Father Francis with the signs of the Passion of your Son, and wondrously exalted his soul into heaven: graciously grant, that we who celebrate the commemoration of the same, may crucify our flesh with its vices, and have the strength to attain to the heavenly fatherland. Through the same Christ our Lord.   R/.  Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, when the world was growing cold, in order to inflame our hearts with the fire of your love, renewed the sacred marks of your passion in the flesh of our most blessed Father Francis; mercifully grant that by his merits and prayers we may always bear our cross, and bring forth worthy fruits of penance. Who live and reign world without end.   R/.  Amen.

O God, who in divers ways shewed in our Father blessed Francis, your Confessor, the wonderful mysteries of the Cross, grant, we beseech you, that we may ever follow the example of his devotion, and be strengthened by constant meditation on that same Cross. Through Christ our Lord.   R/.   Amen.

Collects and Texts in Honour of the Holy Name of Mary

From the Ambrosian, Traditional and Modern Roman, and Dominican liturgical books come these nine Collects in Honour of the Holy Name of Mary:

Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut fideles tui, qui sub sanctissimæ Virginis Mariæ Nomine et protectione lætantur, ejus pia intercessione a cunctis malis liberentur in terris, et ad gaudia æterna pervenire mereantur in cœlis. Per... [Trad. Rom. & Amb. (Or. I ad Vesp. & ad Laudes; Or. ad Tertiam)]

Precibus et mentis beatæ Mariæ semper virginis, cujus Nomini hodiernas persolvimus laudes, eripe nos, quæsumus, Domine, a præsentibus ærumnis: ut exterioribus curis soluti, debitum nomini tuo impendere possimus obsequium. Per... [Trad. Amb. (Or. II ad Vesp. & ad Laudes; Or. ad Sextam)]

Præsta, omnipotens et misericors Deus: ut qui venerabile Deiparæ Virginis Mariæ Nomen colimus, illud etiam in hora mortis invocare valeamus. Per... [Trad. Amb. (Or. III ad Vesp.)]

Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ Nomen venerantibus da nobis, quæsumus, Domine: ut ejus quoque virtutes imitantes, nostra in cœlis nomina scripta esse gaudeamus. Per... [Trad. Amb. (Or. IV ad Vesp.; Or. ad Nonam)]

Deus, qui gloriosam Matrem tuam nominari Mariam voluisti: concede, quæsumus, ut, qui dulce Mariæ nomen implorant, perpetuum sentiant suæ benedictionis auxilium. Qui vivis...  [Trad. O.P.]

Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut cunctis gloriosum beatae Mariae Virginis nomen celebrantibus misericordiae tuae beneficia ipsa procuret. Per... [MR 2002, Collecta]

Benedictionis tuae, Domine, intercedente Dei Genetrice Maria, gratiam consequamur ut, cuius venerandum nomen celebramus, eius in omnibus necessitatibus auxilium percipiamus. Per... [MR 2002, Postcommunio]

Deus, qui beátam Vírginem Maríam, grátia tua plenam, inter mulíeres elegísti, ut Fílii tui, Redemptóris nostri, fíeret Mater; concéde nobis, qui sanctum nomen eius venerámur, praeséntis témporis perícula declináre, et vitam cum ipsa cónsequi aetérnam. Per... [MR 2002 Missa Votiva, Collecta]

Deus, cuius Fílius in ara crucis exspírans beatíssimam Vírginem Maríam Matrem vóluit esse nostram, quam suam elégerat, concéde propítius, ut, qui sub eius praesídium secúre confúgimus, matérno invocáto nómine confortémur. Per... [MR 2002 Missa Votiva, alia Collecta]

The Traditional Ambrosian Mass for the Feast of Mary's Holy Name featured a first lesson from Judith (xiii, 22-26), an excellent choice of text:

And they all adored the Lord, and said to her: The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought.  

And Ozias the prince of the people of Israel, said to her: Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. 

Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. 

Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God. 

And all the people said: So be it, so be it.

Interestingly, the Entrance Antiphon for both the optional memorial and the Votive Mass of Our Lady's Name in the modern Roman Missal of 2002 is derived from Judith xii, 23 & 25, and - but for the insertion of Virgo Maria in place of filia - is exactly the same text as that of the Ambrosian Epistolella at Sext for the same feast:

Benedícta es tu, Virgo María, a Dómino Deo excélso prae ómnibus muliéribus super terram; quia nomen tuum ita magnificávit, ut non recédat laus tua de ore hóminum.

Furthermore, the Transitorium for the old Ambrosian Mass was taken from II Paralipomenon xxvi, 8b:

Divulgatum est nomen ejus... propter crebras victorias.

(Her name was spread abroad... on account of her frequent victories.)

Indeed!

St Irenæus

One of my favourite saints had his annual feast day yesterday, according to the 1962 Missal and Breviary: having had his feast on the 28th of June for long years, sharing it with the Vigil of the Apostles, St Irenæus was moved to the 3rd of July, only to be returned to the 28th in the Novus Ordo! So I kept his feast with the Office from my Breviary.

His name Εἰρηναίος means "peaceful", and by a delightful play on words the Church down the ages has sought to emphasise in her prayers how he, by his combatting of Gnostic error and defence of Gospel truth, brought peace to the Church. The orations of the Traditional Rite, taking up phrases from the Mass for Peace, ask for peace as the fruit of deliverance from foes. Interestingly, the OF Missal has derived its Collect alone from the EF, while it has taken up its "prayer over the gifts [lege "oblations"]" and "prayer after communion" from the Neo-Gallican 1738 Paris Missal, as follows:

MISSALE ROMANUM 1962

Deus, qui beato Irenaeo Martyri tuo atque Pontifici tribuisti, ut et veritate doctrinae expugnaret haereses, et pacem Ecclesiae feliciter confirmaret: da, quaesumus, plebi tuae in sancta religione constantiam; et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus.


Deus, qui credentes in te populos nullis sinis concuti terroribus: dignare preces et hostias dicatae tibi plebis suscipere; ut pax a tua pietate concessa, christianorum fines ab omni hoste faciat esse securos.


Deus, auctor pacis et amator, quem nosse, vivere, cui servire, regnare est: protege ab omnibus impugnationibus supplices tuos; ut, qui in defensione tua confidimus, beati Irenaei Martyris tui atque Pontificis intercessione, nullius hostilitatis arma timeamus.

MISSALE PARISIENSE 1738

Deus, invisibilis fortitudo certantium, adesto, quaesumus, nobis supplicantibus: ut qui hodierna die sanctorum Martyrum tuorum Irenaei et sociorum gloriosum triumphum recolimus, eorum meritis et precibus, contra spiritualia nequitiae muniamur.

Per hanc, quam offerimus hostiam in beati Irenaei et Sociorum Martyrum Solemnitate, da nobis, Domine, veritatem et pacem diligere; ut et inviolatam teneamus Ecclesiae fidem; et indivisam servemus unitatem.

Per haec sacra mysteria, quaesumus Domine, da nobis fidei miseratus augmentum; ut quae sanctos Martyres tuos Irenaeum et socios usque ad sanguinem retenta glorificat, nos etiam iustificet veraciter hanc sequentes.

MISSALE ROMANUM 2004

Deus, qui beato Irenaeo episcopo tribuisti, ut veritatem doctrinae pacemque Ecclesiae feliciter confirmaret, concede, quaesumus, eius intercessione, ut nos, fide et caritate renovati, ad unitatem concordiamque fovendam semper simus intenti.



Gloriam tibi, Domine, conferat sacrificium, quod in natali beati Irenaei tibi laetanter offerimus, et praebeat nobis diligere veritatem, ut et inviolatam Ecclesiae fidem teneamus, et stabilem unitatem.



Per haec sacra mysteria, quaesumus, Domine, da nobis fidei miseratus augmentum, ut, quae beatum Irenaeum episcopum usque ad mortem retenta glorificat, nos etiam iustificet veraciter hanc sequentes.

Ferial Mass, Deo Gratias

Having some devotion to the Good Shepherd, it was a great honour indeed to serve Fr Holmes' Low Mass at the Pro., at 6:30pm on this Monday, a feria, which therefore repeated the texts of the Sunday Mass. Furthermore, it was quite something to kneel close to the altar and attend to this Camillan priest as he said the Mass he was ordained for, his every gesture and word gently expressive of his attention and devotion. Fr Rowe is away on a priests' retreat this week, but I think I had my own moment of retreat and meditation in observing a priest in prayer, at God's altar. Ad multos annos, Pater!

I was struck once more by the orations of this Mass, which - along with the chants and readings - I had read over before hand, the better to serve without the distraction and encumbrance of a hand missal:

Deus, qui in Filii tui humilitate jacentem mundum erexisti: fidelibus tuis perpetuam concede lætitiam; ut, quos perpetuæ mortis eripuisti casibus, gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis. Per eumdem...

(O God, Who didst raise up the fallen world by the humility of Thy Son, grant unto Thy faithful perpetual gladness, that those whom Thou hast delivered from the perils of endless death, Thou mayest make to enjoy eternal joys. Through the same...)

Benedictionem nobis, Domine, conferat salutarem sacra semper oblatio: ut, quod agit mysterio, virtute perficiat. Per...

(May the sacred oblation ever confer upon us, Lord, a blessing that worketh unto salvation: that, what it celebrates in mystery, it may perfect in power. Thro'...)

Præsta nobis, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut vivificationis tuæ gratiam consequentes, in tuo semper munere gloriemur. Per...

(Grant unto us, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that receiving the grace of Thy enlivening and quickening, we may ever glory in Thy gift. Thro'...)

These three prayers of the sacred liturgy together present and compose a nice little catechesis: the world that fell through its mad irrational pride has been restored by the wise humility of the Incarnate God, delivering us from the threat of eternal death, that we may rejoice here and hereafter for ever - if God works in us both to will and to do. The sacrifice, the offering that is made holy (sacrum facere > sacrificium), we pray will accomplish in us the salvation that God offers us as His blessing, for this offering truly has the power to effect this, since what it represents in mystery, in sacramental form, is the very humbling unto death on the Cross of the Logos-made-flesh, which alone can save us from eternal death and give us endless delight. And so may we ever glory in the Holy Gifts to us of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Holies for His Saints (Sancta sanctis!), the sanctorum communio (the communion of holy things) for the sanctorum communio (the fellowship of holy persons), for these impart to us God's freely-given gift of a grace that gives us true supernatural life, a gift and a grace entirely beyond the natural order.

Furthermore, today in the new rite (I mean, O.F.) is the memorial of St John Baptist de la Salle, patron saint of teachers and schools.

And I cannot forbear to post the orations of the Mass of St Camillus de Lellis (18th July), in honour of the Founder of Fr Holme's congregation, since I used them as part of my thanksgiving after Mass; for a different perspective on them, I attach the translations provided in the 1796 "A Companion to the Altar, or Compact Pocket Missal" that I have in my possession:

Deus, qui sanctum Camillum, ad animarum in extremo agone luctantium subsidium, singulari caritatis prærogativa decorasti: ejus, quæsumus, meritis spiritum nobis tuae dilectionis infunde; ut in hora exitus nostri hostem vincere, et ad cælestem mereamur coronam pervenire. Per...

(O God, who didſt gloriouſly animate bleſſed Camillus with a ſingular charity in aſſiſting ſouls in their laſt agony: pour forth, we beſeech thee, into us, by his interceſſion, the ſpirit of thy love, that we may overcome the enemy at the hour of death, and arrive at a crown in heaven. Thro.')

Hostia immaculata, qua illud Domini nostri Jesu Christi immensæ caritatis opus renovamus, sit, Deus Pater omnipotens, sancto Camillo intercedente, contra omnes corporis et animæ infirmitates salutare remedium, et in extremo agone solatium et tutela. Per eumdem...

(Let the ſpotleſs victim, by the offering of which we renew the work our redemption, (the effect of the immenſe charity of Jeſus Chriſt) become for us, by the interceſſion of bleſſed Camillus, a ſalutary remedy againſt all our weakneſs of body and ſoul, and a comfort and defence in our laſt agony. Thro.')

Per hæc cælestia alimenta, quæ sancti Camilli Confessoris tui solemnia [commemoratione] celebrantes, pia devotione suscepimus: da, quæsumus, Domine; ut in hora mortis nostræ sacramentis refecti, et culpis omnibus expiati, in sinum misericordiae tuæ læti suscipi mereamur. Qui vivis et regnas...

(Grant, we beſeech thee, O Lord, by theſe heavenly myſteries, which we have received with piety and devotion on this feſtival [commemoration] of bleſſed Camillus, that we may be refreſhed with the ſame at the hour of death, and, being delivered from all ſin, be joyfully received into the boſom of thy mercy. Thro.' [sic;lege Who liveſt.])

St Vincent Ferrer

Being exhausted from a long week at work, I rather unwisely slept in and missed morning Mass on Saturday; I find days without the consolation and comfort of the Sacrifice and Sacrament tend not to be very good ones. Especially I was sad to miss the feast of St Vincent Ferrer; I would have liked to attend Mass and receive Communion not least in order to pray for one of the Australian Dominicans I know, Br Vincent Magat OP, who made his solemn profession usque ad mortem on the 13th of January this year, very appropriately on the liturgical commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord.

St Vincent was the wonder of his age, darkened as it was by the terrible Western Schism; horror of horrors, Christians were anguished, not knowing which of the rival claimants was the true Pope. Vincent was a marvel indeed: he took to his itinerant preaching career relatively late in life (a comparison - it would be like a middle-aged curial official became a travelling revivalist and faith healer); on one famous occasion he turned on the false Pope at Avignon, whom previously he had supported - doing this in the middle of a sermon before the pretend Pontiff and his assembled cardinals! - and exhorted him to lay aside the triple crown; his preaching was understood by hearers in their own tongue (he himself preached in his native Catalan) and at a remove of up to a mile from him; he converted tens of thousands of Jews and Saracens (no mean feat in any age); his miracles were innumerable; and most staggeringly, he preached of the imminent Judgement of God, warning that the world would soon end, and stating openly that he was the angel - the messenger - of the judgement spoken of in the Apocalypse of St John (xiv, 6-7). An absurd claim? When proclaiming this in Seville in the square before the cathedral, he commanded a corpse being carried by for burial to rise and testify to his status as herald of the Judgement - and it rose and did so.

Why then did the world not end in the fourteenth century? Presumably, as in the case of the ancient prophets, he spoke of what God would do contingent upon men not repenting; enough obviously did for the fearsome Day of Wrath to be postponed...

Each day on the road, St Vincent arose at 2am, sang the entire Divine Office with his followers (they were numerous, both clerics and laymen), concluding with Solemn High Mass at dawn (the followers brought along all needful items, including a portative organ). Then he set off, preaching as he went; arriving at a town or gathering of people, he would be carried aloft on his helpers' shoulders, dressed rather melodramatically in not only his Dominican habit, but sporting angel's wings and a trumpet, signifying his office as messenger of the Day of Doom. Before him, hosts of penitents marched, taking the scourge and astonishing the onlookers. After concluding the daylight hours in such a fashion, he consecrated the early evening to study of the Scriptures and the Summa Theologiæ of Aquinas, to prepare his next day's sermon(s); then he read over the rubrics of the Mass lest he commit a fault in its celebration, and so retired to a scanty quota of sleep, no doubt after much wrestling with God in holy meditation.

The traditional Roman Mass provides only a proper Collect:

Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam, beati Vincentii Confessoris tui meritis et prædicatione illustrare dignatus es: concede nobis famulis tuis; ut et ipsius instruamur exemplis, et ab omnibus ejus patrocinio liberemur adversis. Per...

(O God, Who didst deign to enlighten Thy Church by the merits and preaching of blessed Vincent Thy Confessor: Grant unto us Thy servants, that we be both instructed by his ensample, and delivered from all adversities by his patronage. Thro'...)

The modern Divine Office (and therefore the modern Roman Missal) has this Collect instead, finely alluding to the enduring mission of St Vincent - to prepare all hearts for the impending Judgement - and using a figure of rhetoric far more often found in the old liturgy: 'by reason of such-and-such on earth, may we obtain such-and-such in heaven':

Deus, qui beatum Vincentium presbyterum ministrum prædicationis evangelicæ suscitasti, præsta, quæsumus, ut, quem venturum judicem nuntiavit in terris, beati videamus regnantem in cælis. Qui tecum vivit...

(O God, Who didst raise up the priest blessed Vincent as a minister of evangelical preaching, grant, we beseech Thee, that Whom he announced on earth as the Judge about to come, we, [made] blessed, may see reigning in heaven. Who with Thee liveth...)

This collect derives from the Dominican Rite. As I bought some years back a first edition copy of the 1959 St Dominic's Missal (from St Peter's Bookroom, an Anglican bookshop in Melbourne that often has good secondhand stock), I am able to append the full O.P. Mass of this feast. I rather hope that another good Australian Dominican, Fr Christopher Dowd, O.P., who very often receives stipends to offer up the Dominican Rite Mass, was able to celebrate this feast 'properly', as it were:

Mass of St Vincent Ferrer

Introit (Ecclus xv, 5-6: from the Common of Doctors)

In medio Ecclesiæ...

(NB In the Dominican Rite, the verse of the Introit for this and other feasts is not taken from the Psalms, but from in this case Ecclesiasticus: Jucunditatem et exsultationem thesaurizavit super eum.)

Collect

Deus, qui gentium multitudinem, mira beati Vincentii confessoris tui prædicatione, ad agnitionem tui nominis venire tribuisti, præsta, quæsumus, ut, quem venturum judicem nuntiavit in terris, præmiatorem habere mereamur in cælis: Dominum nostrum...

(O God, Who didst grant the multitudes of the nations to come to the knowledge of Thy Name by the preaching of blessed Vincent Thy Confessor, grant, we beseech Thee, that Whom he announced on earth as the Judge about to come, we may merit to have as our Rewarder in heaven: Our Lord...)

Epistle (Apoc. xiv, 6-7: St Vincent's self-identification)

In diebus illis: Vidi alterum angelum volantem per medium cæli, habentem Evangelium æternum, ut evangelizaret sedentibus super terram, et super omnem gentem, et tribum, et linguam, et populum: dicens magna voce: Timete Dominum, et date illi honorem; quia venit hora judicii ejus: et adorate eum, qui fecit cælum, et terram, mare, et fontes aquarum.

Paschal Alleluia

Alleluja, alleluja. V/. Gloriose Pater Vincenti, clara proles Dominici Ordinis, preces funde Summo Judici pro cunctis tibi devotis populis.

(NB In this Rite, the second Alleluia verse refers either to Christ's Resurrection or His Ascension - in this case, quoting either St Luke xxiv, 46, or Ps 46:6.)

(T.P.) Alleluia. V/. Oportebat pati Christum, et resurgere a mortuis, et ita intrare in gloriam Dei. Alleluja.
(T. Ascen.) Alleluja. V/. Ascendit Deus in jubilatione: et Dominus in voce tubæ. Alleluja.

Gospel (St Matthew v, 13-19: from the Common of Doctors)

In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus discipulis suis: Vos estis sal terræ...hic magnus vocabitur in regno cælorum.

Offertory (Ps 20:3-4, from the second Common Mass of Conf's-non-Pont's)

Desiderium animæ... T.P. Alleluja.

Secret

Munera, Domine, nostræ devotionis offerimus: quæ ut tibi grata sint, et nobis salutaria redduntur, beatus Vincentius confessor tuus, qui donis tuis hic exstitit gloriosus, apud clementiam tuam pius pro nobis intercessor exsistat. Per...

Communion (Apoc. ii, 7: a pun!)

Vincenti dabo edere de ligno vitæ, quod est in paradiso Dei mei. T.P. Alleluja.

Postcommunion

Divinis, Domine, muneribus satiati, quæsumus, ut beati Vincentii confessoris tui meritis gloriosis, salutaris victimæ desideratum sentiamus effectum. Per...

Easter Joy

Today, after Confession, and praying Prime and some of Terce, I served the 12:10pm Mass for Fr Terence; strangely, only about four communicants presented themselves at the rails, but all was explained when I heard that the other two priests had said their Masses at 11am and 11:30 respectively! To prepare the better for his own Mass, Fr Terence had served the previous one. After the Sacrifice, I said the remainder of Terce, and Sext, as my thanksgiving. After lunch with our priests and some others, I finally got to None while in my car in the carwash...

Some Easter treasures from our Holy Mother the Church:

(1) the Paschal Vesper hymn (from Low Sunday onwards) Ad regias Agni dapes -

- which, in its modern recension in the Divine Office is the Ad cenam Agni providi, but, as used by the Dominicans and Benedictines is this Ad cenam Agni providi following, which has about half its verses (marked with the asterisk *) different to that in the modern books, let alone to the version in the Roman Breviary since Urban VIII:

Ad cenam Agni providi
* Et stolis albis candidi,
Post transitum Maris Rubri
Christo canamus principi.

Cujus corpus sanctissimum,
In ara crucis torridum:
*Cruore ejus roseo
*Gustando vivimus Deo.

Protecti Paschæ vespere
A devastante Angelo,
*Erepti de durissimo
*Pharaonis imperio.

Jam Pascha nostrum Christus est,
*Qui immolatus Agnus est:
Sinceritatis azyma
*Caro ejus oblatus est.

*O vere digna hostia,
Per quam fracta sunt tartara,
*Redempta plebs captivata,
*Reddita vitæ præmia!

Consurgit Christus tumulo,
Victor redit de barathro,
Tyrannum trudens vinculo,
*Et reserans paradisum.

*Quæsumus, Auctor omnium,
*In hoc paschali gaudio
*Ab omni mortis impetu
*Tuum defende populum.

*Gloria tibi, Domine,
*Qui surrexisti a mortuis,
*Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula. Amen.

(At the Lamb's high feast we sing
Praise to our victorious King,
Who hath washed us in the tide
Flowing from His pierced side.

(Praise we Him whose love divine
Gives the guests His Blood for wine,
Gives His Body for the feast,
Love the victim, love the priest.

(Where the Paschal blood poured,
Death's dark Angel sheathes his sword;
Israel's hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe.

(Christ, the Lamb whose Blood was shed,
Paschal victim, Paschal bread;
With sincerity and love
Eat we manna from above.

(Mighty Victim from the sky,
Powers of hell beneath Thee lie;
Death is conquered in the fight;
Thou hast brought us life and light.

(Now Thy banner Thou dost wave;
Vanquished Satan and the grave;
Angels join His praise to tell—
See o'erthrown the prince of hell.

(Paschal triumph, Paschal joy,
Only sin can this destroy;
From the death of sin set free,
Souls re-born, dear Lord, in Thee.

(Hymns of glory, songs of praise,
Father, unto Thee we raise;
Risen Lord, all praise to Thee,
Ever with the Spirit be.)

That great Pope, St Pius V, died while reciting the second-last verse: "We beseech Thee, O Author of all, in this [time of] Easter joy, from all motions of death to defend Thy people". I like to use this, and the fifth verse (but in the modern version - "O true, worthy Victim, by Whom Hell was smashed, a captive people redeemed, the prize of life returned!"), as my adoration at the Elevations in Paschaltide:

O vera, digna hostia,
Per quam franguntur tartara,
Captiva plebs redimitur,
Redduntur vitæ præmia!

Quæsumus, Auctor omnium,
In hoc paschali gaudio
Ab omni mortis impetu
Tuum defende populum.

(2) The passage from Colossians iii, 1-4, used as the Epistle at the Mass of the Easter Vigil, the first half of which, down to terram (vv. 1-2) is used at Prime daily:

Fratres:
Si consurrexistis cum Christo: quæ sursum sunt quærite, ubi Christus est in dextera Dei sedens:
quæ sursum sunt sapite, non quæ super terram.
Mortui enim estis, et vita vestra est abscondita cum Christo in Deo.
Cum Christus apparuerit, vita vestra: tunc et vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria.

Brethren:
If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God:
Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory.

(3) The collects for Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday:

Deus, qui solemnitate paschali, mundo remedia contulisti: populum tuum, quæsumus, cælesti dono prosequere; ut et perfectam libertatem consequi mereamur, et ad vitam proficiat sempiternam. Per...

(O God, who in the Paschal solemnity hast given a remedy to the world: we beseech Thee, further Thy people by heavenly gift, that they may both deserve to obtain perfect freedom, and profit unto life everlasting. Through...)

- This remedy, this celestial gift, is saving baptism, bestowed at the solemn Paschal vigil, by which alone, set free from sin's slavery, we may be set free in Christ (woe if we fall away! cf. Gal. iv, 31 - v, 1) and attain in Him eternal life -

Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam novo semper fœtu multiplicas: concede famulis tuis: ut sacramentum vivendo teneant, quod fide perceperunt. Per...

(O God, who dost ever multiply Thy Church with new offspring: grant unto Thy servants, that they may keep hold of for living the sacrament, which by faith they received. Through...)

- The Sacraments, including Baptism, are sacraments of faith, for without faith they profit us not; and likewise, if the sacraments not be relied on and kept hold of that we may live by their grace, they are likewise profitless and serve only to merit us punishments for our falling away and abandonment of them, as we run heedlessly from life into death.

(4) The marvellous Easter Preface:

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, te quidem, Domine, omni tempore, sed in hoc potissimum die (vel in hoc potissimum) gloriosus prædicare, cum Pascha nostra immolatus est Christus. Ipse enim verus est agnus, qui abstulit peccata mundi; qui mortem nostram moriendo destruxit, et vitam resurgendo reparavit. Et ideo cum angelis et archangelis, cum thronis et dominationibus, cumque omni militia cælestis exercitus, hymnum gloriæ tuæ canimus, sine fine dicentes: Sanctus...

(It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, to praise Thee, O Lord, at all times, but more especially on this day [or at this time] when Christ out Pasch was sacrificed [cf. I Cor. v, 7]. For he is the true lamb that hath taken away the sins of the world [cf. St John i, 29]; who by dying destroyed our death, and by rising again hath restored our life. And therefore with angels and archangels, with thrones and dominations, and with all the heavenly host, we sing a hymn to Thy glory, saying without ceasing: Holy...)