Mr Lazlo Kiss, Requiescat in Pace

Mr Lazslo Kiss, the webmaster of the excellent Divinumofficium website, died unexpectedly on 11th July.

Further details are available on the Rorate Coeli blog.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.

His site is valuable for providing the texts for the daily office and for the mass, both in Latin and English (and Hungarian), and in several different versions. I've personally used it as an easy and accessible way of saying the Breviary in the two versions I use most commonly i.e. the immediately pre-1911 and immediately post-1911 forms. By providing 6 different versions of the office, from Monastic pre-Tridentine through to 1960 newcalendar, it was possible to see clearly the evolution of the office over that period.

It would appear from the Rorate Coeli blog that a new home has been found for the website.

May Mr Kiss rest in peace, and may his work on earth continue.

DF

Commemorations at Vespers

Commemorations of the Blessed Virgin, of St Joseph, of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and for Peace. 

I've commented before that I am keen on extra commemorations during Holy Mass or during the Divine Office. These could be of secondary saints, or an octave, for example. This evening - 28th July - was First Vespers of St Martha, with a commemoration of SS Nazarius and Celsus, and a separate commemoration of SS. Felix, Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrice.

The format of a commemoration is easy. The Magnificat antiphon, versicle and response, and collect, of the office that would have been said had those saints been commemorated. See below for some examples.

However, there was a further delight today. Since the office of St Martha is a semi-double in rank, there are also a number of standard commemorations - or suffragia - which are recited at certain times of the year, typically for ferial offices or those of feasts of rank less than double. (See the rubrics for full details, if you need them).

According to the St Pius X version of the breviary, which was in force from 1911 up to 1955 - and is still commonly used today by many right-minded traditionalists - there is one commemoration: of All Saints.

According to the Tridentine breviary, which was in force up to 1911 - and which is the subject of renewed interest among traditionalists - there are four separate commemorations: of the Blessed Virgin, of St Joseph, of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and for Peace.

Here are these four commemorations in translation. For the original Latin you might look at the excellent divinumofficium website, which allows comparisons of the different versions of the breviary from pre-Tridentine Monastic through to 1960. I have pinched the translations from the same source.

Ex-Anglicans, or those who have been illicitly visiting the rites of our separated brethren, will recognize the prayer for peace, which was retained by Cranmer in his bastardized office of Evensong.

Incidentally, if you follow the revised rubrics post 1955, your life is a lot easier but less enriched. You simply have vespers of the double feast of SS. Nazarius, Celsus, Victor, and Innocent. No commemorations of other saints, no commemoration of Our Lady, St Joseph, SS Peter and Paul. And no prayers for Peace required.

Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ant. O Holy Mary, be thou an help to the helpless, a strength to the fearful, a comfort to the sorrowful; pray for the people, plead for the clergy, make intercession for all women vowed to God may all that keep thine holy remembrance, feel the might of thine assistance.

V. Pray for us, holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord God, unto all thy servants, that they may continually enjoy soundness both of mind and of body, and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, always a Virgin, may be delivered from present sadness, and enter into the joy of thine eternal gladness.

Commemoration of St. Joseph


Ant. Behold a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over His household.

V. Glory and riches shall be in his house.
R. And his righteousness endureth for ever.

Let us pray.
O God, who, in thine unspeakable foreknowledge, didst choose thy blessed servant Joseph to be the husband of thine own most holy Mother; mercifully grant that now that he is in heaven with thee, we who on earth do reverence him for our defender, may worthily be holpen by the succour of his prayers to thee on our behalf.

Commemoration of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul


Ant. Peter the Apostle, and Paul the Teacher of the Gentiles, have taught us thy law, O Lord.

V. Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
R. They shall be mindful of thy Name, O Lord.

Let us pray.
O God, whose right hand caught the Blessed Peter when he walked upon the water, and began to sink, and thrice delivered his fellow-Apostle Paul from the deep of the sea, when he suffered shipwreck graciously hear us, and grant, for the sake of them both, that we also may attain everlasting glory.

For Peace.


Ant. Give peace in our time, O Lord, for there is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou O Lord.

V. Peace be within thy walls.
R. And prosperity within thy palaces.

Let us Pray.
O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; so that, with our hearts set to obey thy commandments, and freed from the fear of the enemy, we may pass our lives in peace under thy protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ etc.

Prayer for Priests

PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep Thy priests within the shelter of Thy Sacred Heart, where none may touch them.

Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch Thy Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips, daily purpled with Thy Precious Blood.

Keep pure and unearthly their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of Thy priesthood.

Let Thy holy love surround them, and shield them from the world’s contagion.

Bless their labours with abundant fruit,

and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation here on earth,

and in heaven, their everlasting crown.
Mary, Mother of Priests, pray for priests and vocations to the priesthood.

St. Therese of Lisieux
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The devil hates priests. He works day and night to draw them into sin and error. He slanders the name of good priests. He tries to prevent the ordination of good men to the priesthood. He tries to drive them to despair or presumption. He delights when they can be ensnared in his devices, when he can parade them as a scandal before the world. His real enemy is the Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ Our Lord. May Our Lord defend His priests; may Mary, the mother of priests, keep them from harm. May the glories of the priesthood be exalted before the world, and be a terror to the enemies of the Church. Amen.

Lots of Commemorations

I always appreciate commemorations at Lauds and Vespers, and yesterday (Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension) was a fine specimen. Three commemorations, according to the very fine Ordo from the St Laurence Press: St Norbert, St Boniface, and the Octave of the Ascension.

Commemorations can arise when one feast is displaced by another - for example, yesterday St Boniface was displaced by the Sunday. They can arise when 1st vespers of one saint is recited, but the saint of the day just finishing is commemorated. And during an octave, the octave can also be commemorated. The week after Christmas can get exciting, since several octaves overlap (depending on which rubrics you're using). It all gets complicated, which is why we need fine people like the St Laurence press to keep us on the straight and narrow.

All of this is, of course, simplified in the various Novi Ordines, where virtually nothing is commemorated, and there are virtually no octaves. Dull.

The way a commemoration takes place is that, after the main collect for the day, the Antiphon for the Magnificat (or Benedictus, at Lauds) is recited, together with the versicle and response, and then the collect of the feast being commemorated.

Commemorations for the Sunday in the Octave of the Ascension, AD MMXI

For St Norbert

O holy Priest and Bishop, thou worker of so many mighty works, and good shepherd to Christ's flock, pray for us unto the Lord our God.

V. The Lord loved him, and adorned him.
R. He clothed him with a robe of glory.
 
Let us pray.

O God, who didst appoint Saint Norbert, thy Confessor and Bishop, to be an excellent preacher of thy holy word, and through him hast enriched thy Church with a new offspring : grant, we beseech thee; that, by the intercession of his merits, we may of thee be enabled to perform those things which he taught both in word and in deed. Through etc.
 
For St Boniface
 
If any man shall come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
V. The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree.
R. And shall spread abroad like a cedar in Libanus.

Let us pray.
O God, who by the labours of blessed Boniface, thy Martyr and Bishop, didst vouchsafe to call many nations to the knowledge of thy Name: mercifully grant that we, who as on this day do keep his feast, may by his advocacy find favour in thy sight.

For the Octave of the Ascension

Father, I have manifested thy Name unto the men whom thou hast given me: and now I pray for them, not for the world, because I come to thee, alleluia.

V. God is gone up with a merry noise, alleluia.
R. And the Lord with the sound of the trumpet, alleluia.

Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that like as we do believe thine only-begotten Son our Saviour to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell. Who liveth etc.

Meditations for the Octave of Corpus Christi by St Alphonsus Liguori, Day 4

MEDITATIONS FOR THE OCTAVE OF CORPUS CHRISTI
by St Alphonsus Liguori

MEDITATION IV.

ON THE GREAT LOVE WHICH JESUS CHRIST HAS SHOWN US IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

"Jesus, knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (St. John xiii. 1). Jesus knowing that the hour of His death was come, desired to leave us, before He died, the greatest pledge of His affection that He could give us; and this was the gift of the Most Holy Sacrament: "He loved them to the end;" which St. Chrysostom explains, 'He loved them with extreme love' He loved men with the greatest love with which He could love them, by giving them His whole Self. But at what time did Jesus institute this great Sacrament, in which He has left us Himself ? On the night preceding His death: "The same night in which He was betrayed" (writes the Apostle), "He took bread; and giving thanks, broke and said, Take ye and eat; this is My Body" (1 Cor. xi. 23, 24). At the very time that men were preparing to put Him to death, He gave them this last proof of His love. The marks of affection which we receive from our friends at the time of their death, remain more deeply impressed on our hearts; for this reason did Jesus bestow on us this gift of the Blessed Sacrament just before His death. With reason, then, did St. Thomas call this gift 'a sacrament and pledge of love;' and St. Bernard, ' the love of loves;' because in this Sacrament Jesus Christ united and accomplished all the other acts of love which He had shown us. Hence St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi called the day on which Jesus instituted this Sacrament, 'the day of love.'

AFFECTIONS AND PRAYERS.

O infinite love of Jesus, worthy of being loved with a like infinite love! Thou, my Lord, dost love men so much; how is it, then, that men love Thee so little in return? What more couldst Thou do to make Thyself loved by them? O my Jesus, Thou art so amiable and so loving; make Thyself, I pray Thee, known; make Thyself loved. When shall I love Thee as Thou hast loved me? Oh, discover to me more .and more the greatness of Thy mercy, in order that I may burn ever more and more with Thy love, and always seek to please Thee. O beloved One of my soul, would that I had always loved Thee! Alas, there was a time when I not only did not love Thee, but despised Thy grace and Thy love! I am consoled by the sorrow which I feel for it, and I hope for pardon through Thy promise to forgive him that repents of his sins. To Thee, O my Saviour, do I turn all my affections; help me, through the merits of Thy Passion, to love Thee with my whole strength. Oh, that I could die for Thee, as Thou didst die for me! O Mary, my Mother, do thou obtain for me the grace from henceforth to love God alone.

Octave Day of the Solemnity of St Joseph

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Confessor, and Patron of the Universal Church

Adjutor, et protector noster est Dominus: in eo laetabitur cor nostrum, et in nomine sancto ejus speravimus, alleluja, alleluja. Qui regis Israel, intende: qui deducis, velut ovem, Joseph.
The Lord is our helper and protector : in Him our Heart shall rejoice, and in His holy name we have trusted, alleluia, alleluia. * Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.
(Psalm 32:20-21 and Psalm 79: 2 from the Introit of Mass)

Deus, Qui ineffabili providentia beatum Joseph sanctissimae Genitricis Tuae Sponsum eligere dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus: ut quem protectorem veneramur in terris, intercessorem habere mereamur in caelis.Let us pray. O God, Who in Thine unspeakable providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph for Thy most holy Mother's Spouse : grant, we beseech beseech Thee, O Lord, that we who revere him as our protector upon earth, may become worthy to have him for our intercessor in Heaven.

The continuation of the holy Gospel according to Luke.
At that time: It came to pass when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, Heaven was opened: and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape as a dove upon Him: and a voice came from Heaven: "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased." And Jesus Himself was beginning about the age of thirty years: being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph.
(St Luke 3:21-23)

Prayer for the Royal Wedding

Prayer for the Royal Wedding.

Heavenly Father,

we ask your blessing

upon his Royal Highness, Prince William and Catherine

as they pledge their love for each other in marriage.

May your love unite them through their lives.

Grant them the strength to serve you,

our country and the Commonwealth

with integrity and faithfulness.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.