Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Friday 31 October 2014

First Vespers For The Feast Of All Saints.


Text and Illustrations taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.


The Church Triumphant.
The Church Militant.
The Church Suffering.

(Illustration taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
who reproduce Text and Illustrations from St. Andrew's Daily Missal, 1952 Edition,
with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press)



First Vespers
for the Feast of All Saints.
Available on YouTube at


[Editor: The following paragraph is taken from "The Liturgical Year", by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.]

FIRST VESPERS FOR THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS.

The bells ring out as joyously as on the brightest days. They announce the great Solemnity of the closing Cycle: the Feast which shows us time stamped with the impress of eternity, and God taking possession of the declining year and gathering in its harvest. At the sound of their triumphant and harmonious peals, the Church, prostrate and Fasting since morning, raises her brow to the light. Guided by Saint John, she penetrates the secrets of Heaven; and the words of The Beloved Disciple, uttered by her lips, assume a tone of incomparable enthusiasm. This Feast is truly The Triumph of her motherhood; for the great crowd of the Blessed, before the Throne of The Lamb, are the sons and daughters she alone has given to The Lord.


Psalm CIX: Dixit Dominus.

This is one of the Messianic Psalms. The Messias sits at the Right Hand of The Father. He is The Son of God, The Priest of The Most High, The King Triumphant.


Psalm CX: Confitebor Tibi.

The Prophet sings the wonders worked by God for His people during the exit from Egypt and at Mount Sinai. This is a figure of what God does for The Church.


Psalm CXI: Beatus Vir.

The Just Man is happy because he follows the Commandments of God; great will be his reward in Heaven.


Psalm CXII: Laudate Pueri.

This Psalm is the beginning of the Hallel, which the Jews sang especially at Easter, while eating the Paschal Lamb.


Psalm CXVI: Laudate Dominum.

The Power of God has been made manifest: Ours the duty of praising it.






Vespers.
All-Night Vigil.
By 
Serge Rachmaninoff.
Available on YouTube at

The All-Night Vigil (Russian: Всенощное бдение, Vsenoshchnoe bdenie), Opus 37, is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written and premiered in 1915. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night Vigil Ceremony.
It has been praised as Rachmaninoff's finest achievement and "the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church". It was one of Rachmaninoff's two favorite compositions along with The Bells, and the composer requested that one of its movements (the fifth) be sung at his funeral. The title of the work is often translated as simply Vespers, which is both literally and conceptually incorrect as applied to the entire work: only the first six of its fifteen movements set texts from the Russian Orthodox Canonical Hour of Vespers.





Chapter: Apocalypse vii. 2-3.

Behold, I, John, saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of The Living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels to whom it was given to hurt the Earth and the sea, saying: Hurt not the Earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.


Hymn (Eighth Tone).

Rabanus Maurus, Abbot of Fulda and Archbishop of Mayence, is supposed to be the author of the following Hymn. The perfidious nation, whose expulsion from Christian lands is prayed for, was, in the 9th-Century, the race of infidel Normans, who filled the empire with slaughter and ruin under Charlemagne's weak successors. The striking conversion of these savage destroyers was the answer of the Saints. May they ever hear the Church's Prayers in a like manner, enlighten those who persecute her without knowing her, and make of them her firmest supporters. [Editor: This paragraph is taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.]

Placare Christe servulis, 
Quibus Patris clementiam, 
Tuae ad tribunal gratiae, 
Patrona Virgo postulat . . .

O Christ, Thy guilty people spare,
Lo, bending at Thy gracious throne,
Thy Virgin Mother pours her Prayer,
Imploring pardon for her own . . .





The Magnificat
at
Solemn Tridentine Vespers.
CIEL Conference,
Merton College,
Oxford,
England.
October 2006.
Available on YouTube at


Antiphon at The Magnificat.

All the Choirs of Angels, all the Ranks of the Saints, receive, in the Magnificat Antiphon, the homage of the Church's Prayer; and all will join in praising The Queen of Heaven and Earth, by singing her own glorious Canticle. [Editor: This paragraph is taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.]

Angeli, Archangeli, Throni et Dominationes,
Principatus et Potestates, Virtutes caelorum,
Cherubim atque Seraphim, Patriarchae et Prophetae,
sancti legis Doctores, Apostoli, omnes Christi Martyres,
sancti Confessores, Virgines Domini, Anachoritae
Sanctique omnes, intercedite pro nobis.


Canticle of The Blessed Virgin Mary: Luke i. 46-53.

Mary's answer to her cousin, Elizabeth, who hails her as The Mother of God, Blessed among women.
The Church sings The Canticle of Mary, The Magnificat, in which are celebrated the Divine Maternity and all its consequent Blessings. This exquisite Canticle is an essential part of The Office of Vespers. It is the Evening incense, just as the Canticle "Benedictus", at Lauds, is that of the Morning incense. [Editor: This paragraph is taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.]


Magnificat: Anima mea Dominum.

Et exultavit spiritus meus:
In Deo salutari meo . . .
My Soul doth magnify The Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour . . .






The Prayer.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui nos omnium sanctorum tuorum
merita sub una tribuisti celebritate venerari . . .

O almighty, everlasting God,
who hast granted us to venerate
in one Solemnity the merits of all Thy Saints . . .


BENEDICTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

In his Motu Proprio, of 1903, Pope Saint Pius X insists on "the importance of the Solemn Chanting of Vespers, to which may be added, with advantage, a suitable Sermon and Benediction of The Blessed Sacrament." Compline, chanted in the evening, may also be followed by Benediction, this latter Devotion is thus brought into association with the Official Worship of The Church.

The Vigil Of All Saints. 31 October.


Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

The Vigil of All Saints.
31 October.

Simple.

Violet Vestments.



Iona Abbey,
Scotland.
Image: SHUTTERSTOCK


The most illustrious Martyrs had at Rome, from  the 4th-Century, their Basilicas, where was celebrated each year the anniversary of their death, or, rather, their birth in Heaven.

At that time, a number of Masses were prescribed without any fixed day in honour of those who had no public recognition. When, later, the names of Saints, who were not Martyrs, were introduced into the Ecclesiastical Calendar, a more universal character was given to such Masses.

It is thus that, in the 8th-Century, the Gregorian Sacramentary indicates among the Common Masses without a date: The Mass in Honour of All Saints.

Fixed in the following Century on 1 November, it became the Mass of All Saints' Day, for which we are this day prepared by a Vigil.

This explains why the Mass of the Vigil, as well as that of the Feast, contains extracts from the Masses of the Common of Martyrs.



The Church Triumphant.
The Church Militant.
The Church Suffering.


Illustration taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

who reproduce Text and Illustrations from 

St. Andrew's Daily Missal, 1952 Edition,
with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press



The following Text is taken from THE SAINT LAWRENCE PRESS LTD

Vigil of All Saints

The Vigil of All Saints is of simple rite and its liturgical colour is violet. As with all simple rite Vigils the Office runs from Mattins to None.

At Mattins the invitatory, hymn, antiphons, psalms, versicle and response are from the Psalter for Friday. The lessons, proper to the Vigil, in the nocturn are a homily of St. Ambrose from the Common of Several Martyrs. The responsories are from the Friday of the fifth week of October. The Te Deum is not sung. The second scheme of Lauds for Friday is sung with psalms 50, 142, 84, Domine, audivi auditionem tuam, and 147. The Office hymn is Aeterna caeli gloria. After the antiphon on the Benedictus has been repeated the ferialpreces are sung, with the choir kneeling. After the collect of the Vigil the Suffrage of the Saints is omitted (c.f. pre-1911-13 praxis when the Suffrages were sung).

At Prime the psalm displaced from Lauds by the Miserere is added to the psalmody of the day: Pss. 21i, 21ii, 21iii & 98. Both the Dominical and ferial preces are sung, with the choir kneeling. At the other Hours the short series of ferial preces are sung, again with the choir kneeling, before the collect of the Vigil.

Mass is sung after None. Following the normal rules for Vigils, four candles are placed on the altar, in contrast with two on ordinary ferial days. The deacon and sub-deacon wear violet dalmatic and tunicle, not folded chasubles. The ferial tone is used for the orations and for the preface and Pater noster. There is no Gloria. The second collect is of the Holy Ghost, Deus,qui corda, the third collect Ecclesiae. As it is a 'kneeling day', the choir kneels for the prayers and from the Sanctus until Pax Domini. As the Gloria is not sung, the dismissal is Benedicamus Domino.

Vespers are first Vespers of the feast of All Saints with a corresponding colour change to festive white. The Office is proper and the antiphons Vidi turbam magnam etc are sung, doubled, with Pss. 109, 110, 111, 112 and 116. The Office hymn is Placare, Christe, servulis. At Compline the Dominical psalms are sung.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the Vigil of All Saints has been abolished. Today is kept as a IV class ferial 'green' day. Mass is of Pentecost XX, there is a single collect. Although the Gloria is not sung, Ite missa est is the dismissal.


Allegri's "Miserere". Performed By Peter Phillips And The Tallis Scholars.



Iona Abbey,
Scotland.
Image: SHUTTERSTOCK



Allegri's "Miserere",
by
The Tallis Scholars.
Available on YouTube at



The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Image: SHUTTERSTOCK

Thursday 30 October 2014

Basilica Of The Benedictine Abbey Of Santa Maria De Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain.



English: Interior of the Basilica of the Benedictine Abbey of
Santa Maria de Montserrat, Spain (founded in 1025).
Santa Maria de Montserrat is located on the mountain of Montserrat,
in Monistrol de Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain.
The current Basilica is from the 16th-Century.
The rest of the Abbey buildings are from the 18th-Century.
Català: Monestir de Santa Maria de Montserrat, situada a la muntanya homònima,
al municipi de Monistrol de Montserrsat (Bages)
Photo: Toni Genes / SHUTTERSTOCK



Feast Day of Santa Maria de Montserrat.



English: Monastery Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain.
Deutsch: Kloster Montserrat in Katalonien (Spanien):
Ansicht von Südosten.
Photo: 21 July 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Misburg3014.
(Wikimedia Commons)



English: The Cloisters of the Monastery of Santa Maria of Montserrat, Spain.
Català: Monestir de Santa Maria de Montserrat (Monistrol de Montserrat).
Photo: 12 May 2013.
Source: Flickr: Claustre gòtic, segle XV, Monestir de Montserrat.
(Wikimedia Commons)



English: Choir of the l'Escolania de Montserrat
in the Basilica of the Abbey of Montserrat,
Catalonia, Spain.
Français: Choeur de l'Escolania de Montserrat
dans la basilique de l'abbaye de Montserrat,
Catalogne, Espagne.
Photo: 21 September 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Bernard Gagnon.
(Wikimedia Commons)




Wednesday 29 October 2014

Cantores Missae.



Cantores Missae.


Professional Vocal Consort
providing music for
Events, Services and Concerts


If you would like to book Cantores Missae
for a service or an event,
purchase one of our CD’s,
or have any enquiry,
please contact
Charles Finch
on any of the means below:


Landline: +44 (0) 20 8648 8852

Mobile: +44 (0) 7886 176227


Cantores Missae is a consort group of singers comprising some of the UK's leading soloists. The members sing regularly in major concert halls and houses around the world, and with the world's leading ensembles, including The Monteverdi Choir, The Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, The Gabrieli Consort, The Royal Opera House, Westminster Cathedral Choir, The Choir of St. Bride's Fleet St, and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The experience and skill of the members ofCantores Missae enable them to perform as an organic and totally integrated ensemble. 

Cantores Missae has become known particularly for its performances of music for th
Old Catholic Mass, the Tridentine Rite, but they also sing in Anglican and other Protestant
churches. Their repertoire ranges from Gregorian chant to motets and hymns from the
19th and 20th Centuries, but their reputation has been built on performances of the
music of the Golden Age of Polyphony, the 16th Century, including composers
such as William Byrd, Palestrina Victoria, Guerrero, Lobo and Esquivel. 

Their new CD, “Praise to the holiest” comprises much loved Gregorian Chant, hymns and motets from the 16th to 20th Centuries, including works by Croce, Elgar, Mozart, Attwood and Bruckner. It is an eloquent and persuasive document of the group’s great versatility, encompassing as it does so many differing musical styles with equal sensitivity and conviction. 

The group employs only one voice to a part, allowing the individual musical line and
texture of the music to be heard with the utmost clarity. This has become a
hallmark of Cantores Missae and has led to their continued success.

Now recognised as one of the leading ensembles of its kind,Cantores Missae provides music of the highest level of performance excellence for Weddings, Funerals Masses, Requiems, Vespers and other services, both as a full polyphonic ensemble and also, when required, with just the lower voices singing Gregorian Chant. With the release of 'Praise to the Holiest', Cantores Missae is extending its activities to giving concerts both in this country and abroad.


To book Cantores Missae please go to the Contact page.


NEWS

Cantores Missae recently released their new CD
of Motets Hymns and Chant, featuring pieces sung at
the recent Papal visit to the UK.

Click the Cantores Missae logo
(below) to listen and purchase.



Read the latest review by


Tuesday 28 October 2014

A Little Levity To Get You Through The Day.




Illustration: THE DIVAS OF THE DIRT


Gravesham Borough Council, Kent, England,
are advertising for a Grave Digger.

The advert points out that the successful applicant
will ideally have had 
"experience of Grave Digging".

Presumably, not as a hobby !!!

Monday 27 October 2014

Saint Evaristus. Pope And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 26 October.


This Feast has been Translated to 27 October, due to Sunday, 26 October, being the First-Class Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ The King, which always falls on the last Sunday of October.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Evaristus.
Pope and Martyr.
Feast Day 26 October.

Simple.

Red Vestments.


Image of Pope Evaristus in the Roman Basilica of Saint Paul-without-the-Walls.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Evaristus, a Greek by birth, was unanimously elected Pope when the Holy See became vacant at the death of Pope Anacletus I (also known as Cletus I).

It was Pope Evaristus who divided Rome into Titles, or Parishes, appointing to each a Priest. He prescribed that seven Deacons should surround the Bishop when he Preached, for the greater honour of the Word of God and of the Episcopal dignity.

Saint Evaristus was condemned to death under Emperor Trajan, 109 A.D.

Mass: Statuit, for a Martyr Bishop.





English: Pope Evaristus statue in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.
Nederlands: Paus Evaristus I.
Muurschildering uit de Sixtijnse kapel, Rome.
Date: 25 April 2004.
Source: Uploaded to Dutch Wikipedia by nl:Gebruiker:Robbot.
(Wikimedia Commons)



St Andrew Daily Missal (Traditional Mass)

Available (in U.K.) from

Available (in U.S.A.) from


Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.




English: Einsiedeln Abbey Church,

Switzerland.

Switzerland.
Photo: 29 November 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Roland zh.
(Wikimedia Commons)




English: Interior of Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland.

Français: Vue Intérieure.

Photo: 8 August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Caro.ray.
(Wikimedia Commons


Einsiedeln Abbey is a Benedictine Monastery, in the town of Einsiedeln, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. The Abbey is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, the Title being derived from the circumstances of its Foundation, for the first inhabitant of the region was Saint Meinrad, a Hermit. It is a Territorial Abbey, and, therefore, not part of a Diocese, which is subject to a Bishop. It has been a major resting point, on the Way of Saint James, for Centuries.

Saint Meinrad was educated at the Abbey School, on Reichenau Island, in Lake Constance, Switzerland, under his kinsmen, Abbot Hatto and Abbot Erlebald, where he became a Monk and was ordained a Priest. After some years at Reichenau, and at a dependent Priory, on Lake Zurich, he embraced an eremitical life and established his Hermitage on the slopes of Etzel Mountain. He died on 21 January 861 A.D., at the hands of two robbers who thought that the Hermit had some precious treasures, but, during the next eighty years, the place was never without one or more Hermits emulating Meinrad's example. One of them, named Eberhard, previously Provost of Strasbourg, erected, in 934 A.D., a Monastery and Church there, of which he became the first Abbot.



English: Nave of the Abbatial Cathedral Saint Mauritius, Einsiedeln,

Canton of Schwyz, Central Switzerland.

Deutsch: Langhaus der Abteikathedrale Sankt Mauritius, Einsiedeln,
Kanton Schwyz, Zentral-Schweiz.
Photo: 29 January 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zairon.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Church was miraculously Consecrated, so the legend runs, in 948 A.D., by Christ Himself, assisted by The Four Evangelists, Saint Peter, and Saint Gregory the Great. This event was investigated and confirmed by Pope Leo VIII and subsequently ratified by many of his successors, the last ratification being by Pope Pius VI, in 1793, who confirmed the acts of all his predecessors.



English: Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland.


Einsiedeln, Switzerland.
Photo: 26 January 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Roland zh.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In 965 A.D., Abbot Gregory, the third Abbot of Einsiedeln, was made a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Otto I, and his successors continued to enjoy the same dignity up to the cessation of the Empire at the beginning of the 19th-Century. In 1274, the Abbey, with its dependencies, was created an Independent Principality by Rudolf I of Germany, over which the Abbot exercised Temporal as well as Spiritual jurisdiction. It continued as an Independent Principality until 1798, the year of the French invasion. The Abbey is now what is termed an Abbey Nullius, the Abbot having quasi-episcopal authority over the territory where the Monastery is built.

For the learning and piety of its Monks, Einsiedeln Abbey has been famous for a thousand years, and many Saints and scholars have lived within its walls. The study of Letters, Printing, and Music have greatly flourished there, and the Abbey has contributed largely to the glory of the Benedictine Order. It is true that discipline declined somewhat in the 15th-Century and the Rule became relaxed, but Ludovicus II, a Monk of St. Gall, who was Abbot of Einsiedeln 1526-1544, succeeded in restoring the stricter observance.



English: Choir of the Abbatial Cathedral St. Mauritius, Einsiedeln,

Canton of Schwyz, Central Switzerland.

Deutsch: Chor der Abteikathedrale St. Mauritius, Einsiedeln,
Kanton Schwyz, Zentral-Schweiz.
Photo: 29 January 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zairon.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In the 16th-Century, the religious disturbances, caused by the spread of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, were a source of trouble for some time. Zwingli, himself, was at Einsiedeln Abbey for a while, and used the opportunity for protesting against the famous Pilgrimages, but the storm passed over and the Abbey was left in peace. Abbot Augustine I (1600–1629) was the leader of the movement, which resulted in the erection of the Swiss Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, in 1602, and he also did much for the establishment of stricter observance in the Abbey and for the promotion of a high standard of scholarship and learning amongst his Monks.



Einsiedeln Abbey,

Switzerland.

Photo: 27 July 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Markus Bernet.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Pilgrimages, which have never ceased since the days of Saint Meinrad, have tended to make Einsiedeln Abbey the rival even of Rome, The Holy House of Loreto and Santiago de Compostela, serving as a major stopping point on the Way of St. James leading there. Pilgrimages constitute one of the features for which the Abbey is chiefly celebrated. The Pilgrims number around one million, from all parts of Catholic Europe or even further. The statue of Our Lady, from the 15th-Century, enthroned in the little Chapel erected by Eberhard, is the object of their devotion. This Chapel stands within the great Abbey Church, in much the same way as The Holy House at Loreto, encased in marble and elaborately decorated.

14 September and 13 October are the chief Pilgrimage days, the former being the anniversary of the miraculous Consecration of Eberhard's Basilica, and the latter that of the Translation of Saint Meinrad's Relics from Reichenau Island to Einsiedeln Abbey, in 1039. The millennium of Saint Meinrad was kept there with great splendour in 1861, as well as that of the Benedictine Monastery, in 1934.

The great Church has been many times rebuilt, the last time by Abbot Maurus between 1704 and 1719. The last big renovation ended after more than twenty years in 1997. The Library contains nearly 250,000 volumes and many priceless Manuscripts. The work of the Monks is divided chiefly between Prayer, work and study. At Pilgrimage times, the number of Confessions heard is very large.



St Meinrad Arch-Abbey,

Indiana,

United States of America.
Photo: 23 June 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Chris Light.
Attribution: Chris Light at en.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons)


Saint Meinrad Arch-Abbey in Spencer County, Indiana, USA, was founded by Monks from Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland on 21 March 1854, and is home to approximately ninety-eight Monks. It is one of only two Arch-Abbeys in the United States and one of only nine in the world.

The Benedictine Community, at Saint Meinrad Arch-Abbey, consists of men who dedicate their lives to Prayer and work. They gather in Community five times a day — for Morning Prayer, Mass, Noon Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline — to Pray for the Church and the world. Guests often join the Monks in Prayer in the Arch-abbey Church.

Gregorian Chant is sung in the Canonical Hours of The Monastic Office, primarily in Antiphons, used to sing the Psalms, in the Great Responsories of Matins, and the Short Responsories of the Lesser Hours and Compline. The Psalm Antiphons of The Office tend to be short and simple, especially compared to the complex Great Responsories. In addition, the Monks spend private time reading spiritual and religious material. They live under the Rule of Saint Benedict, the 6th-Century instructions for Community Living, written by Saint Benedict.



This is a representation of the Coat-of-Arms of

Saint Meinrad Arch-Abbey in Saint Meinrad,

Indiana, United States of America.
Blazon: Azure, a Ship with one Sail, Argent, the Mast terminating in a Cross, the Sail charged with the Greek letters Chi Rho, Sable, resting on a Sea Barry Wavy of six, Argent and Azure; on a Chief, Or, two Eagles (Ravens ?) rising to Dexter, Sable. [1].
Date: 6 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Alekjds.
(Wikimedia Commons)



In 2013, the Community numbered 60 Monks. Attached to the Abbey are a Seminary and a College for about 360 Pupils, who are partially taught by the Monks, who also provide Spiritual Direction for six Convents of Religious Sisters.

In 1854, when the Monastery was again facing suppression, a colony was sent to the United States, from Einsiedeln, to minister to the local German-speaking population and to develop a place of refuge, if needed. Daughter Houses began to be Founded, the first being Saint Meinrad, Indiana, and, in 1881, these were formed into the Swiss-American Congregation, which, in 2013, comprised fourteen Monasteries from Canada, in the North, down to Guatemala, ten of which were directly founded from Einsiedeln. In the Fall of 1887, Einsiedeln Abbey sent eight Novices, and one Professed Monk, to Subiaco, Arkansas. The Reverend Father Gall D'Aujourd'hui, O.S.B., is considered to be the co-founder of Subiaco Abbey and Academy.



English: The Nave,

Einsiedeln Abbey,

Switzerland.
Photo: 26 January 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Roland zh.
(Wikimedia Commons)


One of Einsiedeln Abbey's Apostolates is a School (Gymnasium), for the seventh- to twelfth-grades, which has existed in its present form since 1848. It is the continuation of a tradition of education that dates to the Early-Middle-Ages. Its distinguished Alumni include: Gall Morel; Franz Fassbind; Philipp Etter; Hans Hürlimann, and his son, Thomas Hürlimann; Bruno Frick; and Anatole Taubman.

Located in separate Cantons, Einsiedeln Abbey and Fahr Abbey, a Community of Benedictine Nuns, form a Double Monastery, both under the authority of the Abbot of Einsiedeln.

Einsiedeln Abbey's Library contains the Versus de scachis, the earliest mention of Chess in Western Literature.



Einsiedeln Abbey,

Switzerland.

Photo: 27 May 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Roland zh.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Sunday 26 October 2014

Feast Of Our Lord Jesus Christ The King. Feast Day The Last Sunday Of October.


Text and Illustrations from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Feast Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ The King.
The Last Sunday of October.

Double of the First-Class.

White Vestments.


English: Christ the King, a detail from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck.
Deutsch: Genter Altar, Altar des Mystischen Lammes, obere mittlere
Haupttafel, Szene: Thronender Gottvater.
Artist: Hubert van Eyck (1366–1426).
Date: Before 1426.
Current location: Saint Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium.
Notes: Auftraggeber: Joducus und Isabelle Vyd, urspr. für die Johannes dem Täufer gewidmete Seitenkapelle in St.-Bavo in Gent, Wandelaltar, in Zusammenarbeit mit Jan van Eyck entstanden.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
(Wikimedia Commons)





Insignia of the Vendean Insurgents (Royalist Insurgents), during the War in Vendée, 1793, who fought against Suppression of The Church in the French Revolution. Note the French words
" Dieu Le Roi ", beneath the Heart-and-Cross, meaning " God The King ".
(Wikimedia Commons)


In his Encyclical of 11 December 1925, His Holiness Pope Pius XI denounced the great modern Heresy of Laicism. This Heresy refuses to recognise the Rights of God and His Christ, over persons and peoples, and organises the lives of individuals, families, and of Society itself, as though God did not exist.

This Laicism ruins Society, because, in place of the love of God and one's neighbour, it substitutes pride and egoism. It begets jealousy between individuals, hatred between classes and rivalry between nations.

The world denies Christ, because it ignores His Royal prerogatives. The world must be instructed on this subject. Now, "a yearly Feast can attain this end, more effectively than the weightiest documents issued by Ecclesiastical authority".



The Feast of Christ The King.
Available on YouTube
at


The Holy Father has instituted this new Feast to be a public, social, and official declaration of the Royal Rights of Jesus, as God the Creator, as The Word Incarnate, and as Redeemer.

This Feast makes these Rights to be known and recognised, in a way most suitable to Man and to Society by the Sublimest Acts of Religion - particularly by Holy Mass.



The Magnificat
for First Vespers
of The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ The King.
The Tallis Scholars: Magnificat for Four Voices.
(Thomas Tallis, 1505 - 1585).
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In fact, the end of the Holy Sacrifice is the acknowledgement of God's complete Dominion over us, and our complete dependence on Him.

And this Act is accomplished, not only on Calvary, but also through the Royal Priesthood of Jesus, which never ceases in His Kingdom, which is Heaven. The great reality of Christianity is not a corpse hanging from a Cross, but the Risen Christ Reigning in all the Glory of His Triumph in the midst of His Elect, who are His Conquest (Epistle).




And that is why the Mass begins with the finest vision of the Apocalypse, where the Lamb of God is acclaimed by Angels and Saints (Introit).

The Holy Father has expressed his wish that this Feast should be celebrated towards the end of The Liturgical Year, on the Last Sunday of October, as the Consummation of all the Mysteries by which Jesus has established His Royal Powers and nearly on the Eve of All Saints, where He already realises them in part, in being "the King of Kings and the Crown of All Saints " (Invitatory at Matins); until He shall be the Crown of all those on Earth whom He saves, especially by The Mass.




It is, indeed, principally by The Eucharist, which is both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament, that Christ, now in Glory, assures the results of the Victorious Sacrifice of Calvary, by taking possession of Souls through the application of the Merits of His Passion (Secret) and thereby unites them as Members to their Head.

The end of the Eucharist, says the Catechism of the Council of Trent, is "to form one sole Mystic Body of all The Faithful" and so to draw them in the cult, which Christ, King-Adorer, as Priest and Victim, rendered in a bloody manner on The Cross and now renders, in an un-bloody manner, on the Stone Altar of our Churches and on the Golden Altar in Heaven, to Christ, King-Adored, as Son of God, and to His Father, to Whom He offers these Souls (Preface).

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