For Anybody Who Is Even Thinking About Drinking And Driving Over Christmas: Please Read This Article. AND DON'T.

All Illustrations: KENT AND FIRE RESCUE SERVICE

Chloe’s Road To Recovery

After A Head-On, Drink-Driver, Crash.

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,

KENT FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

Kent Fire And Rescue Service.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Broken legs, a shattered elbow, multiple breaks to the pelvis, a broken sternum, arm, jaw, cheek bone and eye socket, and internal damage to the spleen, kidneys and heart.

Despite these horrific injuries sustained from a Head-On Crash, caused by a Drink Driver, Chloe Dean from Ashford, Kent, does not let what was an almost life ending experience define her.

She’s learning to live again, to walk, and be able to play

with her young children – striving to be the person she was before the accident.

And while others would feel anger, her wishes for the man

who is now serving time for causing her ordeal, are that of learning, rehabilitation and positivity.

The remarkable 29-year-old mother of three continues

to rebuild her life 18-months on, and is now sharing her story

in the hope of preventing further accidents caused by Drink Drivers - providing a wake-up call to anyone who’s considering Drinking and Driving this Christmas.

The Great O Antiphons. 21 December.

English: “Madonna And Child With Two Angels”.

Deutsch: Madonna und zwei Engel.

Italiano: Madonna con due angeli.

Artist: Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510).

Date: 1468 - 1469.

Current location: Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project:

10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.

DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202.

Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1]

(Wikimedia Commons)

“O Oriens”.

The Great O Antiphon for 21 December.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

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

21 December: Psalm cvi. 10

O Oriens,

splendor lucis æternæ,

et sol justitiæ;

veni et illumina sedentes in tenebris,

et umbra mortis.

O Dawn of The East,

brightness of The Light Eternal,

and Sun of Justice;

come and enlighten them that sit in darkness,

and in the shadow of death.

Versicle. Rorate.

“Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . .”

“Ye Heavens, drop down from above,

and let the clouds rain down The Just One”.

“Rorate Caeli”.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Saturday In Ember Week Of Advent.

Illustration: MATER DEI LATIN MASS PARISH

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

Saturday in Ember Week Of Advent.

Station at Saint Peter’s.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

Saturday is the most solemn of the Ember Days, because that was the day on which The Church Ordained her Priests in the great Basilica of Saint Peter. This Ordination in the tenth month of the Roman year (called, for that reason, December) was the only one formerly known in Rome. Hence, it was an important date.

Everything in The Mass, moreover, bears the character of a very ancient Liturgy. It calls to mind, with its numerous Lessons, intermingled with Responses and Prayers, the earliest form of the introductory part of The Mass.

The Soul that is penetrated with it finds itself filled with a Holy Impatience, and, with The Church, it aspires to the New Birth of The Only Begotten Son of God, Who comes to deliver us from the yoke of sin (Second Collect).

“While, with confidence, she awaits The Lord Jesus, Who shall deliver us from our enemies, destroying Anti-Christ with the brightness of His Coming” (Epistle).

The Gospel brings before us the image of Saint John the Baptist, The Precursor, who prepares our Souls each year for The Coming of The Saviour. The same Gospel is again found in The Mass of the following day, because, formerly, the Ordination, taking place in the evening, lasted well into the night, thus encroaching on the Sunday, provided it with its Liturgy.

Mass: Veni, et osténde.

After the Kyrie eleison, the Bishop confers the Tonsure.

After the First Lesson, the Bishop Ordains the Door-Keepers.

After the Second Lesson, the Bishop Ordains the Readers.

After the Third Lesson, the Bishop Ordains the Exorcists.

After the Fourth Lesson, the Bishop Ordains the Acolytes.

After the Fifth Lesson, the Bishop Ordains the Sub-Deacons.

After the Epistle, the Bishop Ordains the Deacons.

After the Tract, the Bishop Ordains the Priests.

The Four Seasons of the Year begin with the Liturgical periods known as Ember Weeks. They are known since the 5th-Century A.D., but they were fixed to their present dates by Pope Saint Gregory VII in the 12th-Century.

The Ember Days are Three Fast Days, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, intended to Consecrate to God the various Seasons in Nature, and to prepare those who are about to be Ordained.

The Gospel recalls Gabriel’s mission to Mary to inform her that she was about to become The Mother of God.

No human voice, but an Angel’s, must make known the Mystery of such message. Today, for the first time, are heard the words: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.” They are heard and believed. “Behold,” says Mary, “the handmaid of The Lord, be it done to me according to thy word” (Third Lesson). During seven Centuries, now, Isaias had foretold this Virgin Motherhood (Epistle, Communion).

Circa 1950: The Vicar and Sunday School Children 

go out into the fields to Bless the crops. The little boy is carrying a symbolic Tree of Plenty.

Picture Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Illustration: ABOUT RELIGION

Rogation Days.

Rogation Days, like their distant cousins, the Ember Days, are days set aside to observe a change in the Seasons. Rogation Days are tied to the Spring planting. There are Four Rogation Days: The Major Rogation, which falls on 25 April, and Three Minor Rogations, which are Celebrated on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, immediately before Ascension Thursday.

For An Abundant Harvest.

As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, Rogation Days are “Days of Prayer, and formerly, also of Fasting, instituted by The Church to appease God’s anger at man’s transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest.”

Illustration: ABOUT RELIGION

Origin Of The Word.

Rogation is simply an English form of the Latin “Rogatio”, which comes from the verb “Rogare”, which means “to ask.” The primary purpose of the Rogation Days is to ask God to Bless the fields and the Parish (the geographic area) that they fall in.

The Major Rogation likely replaced the Roman feast of “Robigalia”, on which (the Catholic Encyclopædia notes) “the heathens held processions and supplications to their gods.”

While the Romans directed their prayers for good weather and an abundant harvest to a variety of gods, the Christians made the Tradition their own, by replacing Roman polytheism with monotheism, and directing their Prayers to God.

By the time of Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540 A.D. - 604 A.D.), the Christianised Rogation Days were already considered an ancient custom.

The Litany, Procession, And Mass.

The Rogation Days were marked by the recitation of the Litany of The Saints, which would normally begin in, or at, a Church. After Saint Mary was invoked, the Congregation would proceed to walk the boundaries of the Parish, while reciting the rest of the Litany (and repeating it as necessary or supplementing it with some of the Penitential or Gradual Psalms).

Thus, the entire Parish would be Blessed, and the boundaries of the Parish would be marked. The procession would end with a Rogation Mass, in which all in the Parish were expected to take part.

Sunday School Children Celebrate Rogation Day in 1953. A photo at Market Lavington Museum, Wiltshire, England.

Illustration: MARKET LAVINGTON MUSEUM

Optional Today.

Like the Ember Days, Rogation Days were removed from the Liturgical Calendar when it was revised in 1969, coinciding with the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI (the Novus Ordo).

Parishes can still Celebrate them, though very few in The United States do; but, in portions of Europe, The Major Rogation is still Celebrated with a Procession. As the Western World has become more industrialised, Rogation Days and Ember Days, focused as they are on agriculture and the changes of the Seasons, have seemed less “relevant.”

Still, they are good ways to keep us in touch with nature and to remind us that The Church’s Liturgical Calendar is tied to the changing Seasons.

Celebrating The Rogation Days.

If your Parish does not celebrate the Rogation Days, there’s nothing to stop you from Celebrating them yourself. You can mark the Days by reciting the Litany of The Saints. And, while many modern Parishes, especially in The United States, have boundaries that are too extensive to walk, you could learn where those boundaries are and walk a portion of them, getting to know your surroundings, and maybe your neighbours, in the process.

Finish it all off by attending daily Mass and Praying for good weather and a fruitful harvest.

Saint Michael’s Church, Bunwell, Norfolk, England, has always been the centre of Village Life. In this picture, taken on Rogation Sunday, April 1967, the Rector, Rev. Samuel Collins, followed by the Choir, Parishioners, and The New Buckenham Silver Band, walk The Parish and Bless the stream.

Illustration: BUNWELL HERITAGE GROUP

References in the Liturgy, connecting The Annunciation with Advent, date back to very early times. Many Churches observed this Feast on 18 December, in preference to 25 March, the latter date often falling in Lent.

Furthermore, this First Joyful Mystery of The Blessed Virgin is in keeping with the spirit of joy, which is so characteristic of the second half of the Season of Advent, when The Lord, Who is nigh, is so eagerly awaited (Second Gradual). Who, having appeared in the humility of His First Coming to save us (Collect), will come again like a King, full of glory (First Gradual), to take vengeance on His enemies and to deliver us forever (Offertory).

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

In the Liturgical Calendar of the Western Christian Churches, Ember Days are four separate Sets of Three Days within the same Week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the Year, that are set aside for Fasting and Prayer.

These Days set apart for Special Prayer and Fasting were considered especially suitable for the Ordination of Clergy. The Ember Days are known in Latin as the “Quattuor Anni Tempora” (the “Four Seasons of The Year”), or, formerly, as the “Jejunia Quattuor Temporum” (“Fasts of The Four Seasons”).

The Four Quarterly Periods, during which the Ember Days fall, are called the Embertides.

Divine Solemn High Mass For Ember Friday In Advent. Violet Vestments. Saint-Eugène, Paris. Friday, 20 December 2024.

The Sanctuary, 

Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile, Paris.

Photos by Gonzague Bridault.

Illustration: SCHOOL OF SAINT CÉCILE

Divine Solemn High Mass 

For Ember Friday In Advent.

Saint-Eugène, Paris.

Friday, 20 December 2024.

Violet Vestments.

Available on YouTube

HERE

1900 hrs (Paris Time).

1800 hrs (London Time).

1300 hrs (New York Time).

1200 hrs (Chicago Time).

1000 hrs (San Francisco Time).

The Gospel of this Mass relates how Mary visited her 

cousin, Elizabeth. And how Saint John the Baptist 

leapt in Elizabeth’s womb on hearing Mary.

Download the Mass Booklet

HERE

Monastère Saint-Benoit, France. Fund-Raiser Donation Page.

The Sanctuary,

Monastère Saint-Benoit, France.

Monastery Fund-Raiser Donation Page:

JUST GIVING

Illustration: MONASTERE SAINT BENOIT

Masses In Kent: Tenterden; Ramsgate; Chislehurst. And Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Illustration by

Margaret Tarrant.

FLICKR

Zephyrinus is delighted to publicise Masses, which are Celebrated in Kent on a regular Weekly basis on Sundays and on Feast Days and Holy Days of Obligation.

Also, in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. The First Sunday of the Month.

Besides Glorifying God, you will see

the wonderful Kent and Essex countrysides

changing throughout the Seasons,

which, in itself, Glorifies God.

                  

TENTERDEN, KENT.

CHURCH OF SAINT ANDREW.

SAINT ANDREW’S

CATHOLIC CHURCH,

TENTERDEN.

Masses are Celebrated

at the

Church of Saint Andrew,

47, Ashford Road,

Tenterden, Kent TN30 6LL,

at 1200 hrs,

EVERY SUNDAY

and on Feast Days and Holy Days of Obligation.

RAMSGATE, KENT.

SAINT AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH.

Zephyrinus is grateful to Tony V at PRAY TELL UNCHAINED

for providing information on Masses in Ramsgate, Kent.

The Ramsgate Web-Site is

THE CATHOLIC PARISH OF RAMSGATE AND MINSTER

Mass at Saint Augustine’s, Ramsgate, Kent.

Image: SAINT AUGUSTINE'S, RAMSGATE, KENT

Saint Augustine’s Shrine,

Ramsgate, Kent.

Image: AUGUSTINE'S SHRINE.

Times of Masses.

RAMSGATE, KENT.

Saint Augustine’s Church,

Saint Augustine’s Road,

Ramsgate,

Kent CT11 9PA.

Telephone: 01843 592 071.

1200 hrs every Sunday

and 0930 hrs on Fridays.

RAMSGATE, KENT.

SAINT ETHELBERT

AND SAINT GERTRUDE CHURCH.

Saint Ethelbert and Saint Gertrude Church,

Ramsgate, Kent.

Illustration:

CATHOLIC PARISH OF RAMSGATE AND MINSTER

Saint Ethelbert and Saint Gertrude Church,

72, Hereson Road,

Ramsgate,

Kent CT11 7DS.

Mass at

0930 hrs every Wednesday.

CHISLEHURST,

KENT.

SAINT MARY’S CHURCH.

Saint Mary’s Church,

Chislehurst, Kent.

Illustration: ARCHDIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK

CHISLEHURST, KENT.

Saint Mary’s Church

28 Crown Lane,

Chislehurst,

Kent BR7 5PL.

E-Mail: chislehurst@rcaos.org.uk

Telephone: 020 8467 3215.

Mass at

1100 hrs every Sunday

and

1930 hrs every Friday.

LEIGH-ON-SEA,

ESSEX.

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES

AND SAINT JOSEPH.

Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph Church,

Image: OUR LADY OF LOURDES

LEIGH-ON-SEA, ESSEX.

Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph Church,

161, Leigh Road,

Leigh-on-Sea,

Essex SS9 1J.

Telephone: 01702 478078.

E-Mail: leighonsea@dioceseofbrentwood.org

Web-Site: OUR LADY OF LOURDES

Mass at

1600 hrs on The First Sunday of every Month.

Followed by Solemn Vespers

and Benediction.

“The Mass Of The Foundation Of The Trinitarian Order”.

Artist: Juan Carreño de Miranda.

Illustration: LOUVRE

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

CENACLE CATHOLIC BOOKS

Available (in U.S.A.) from

ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

Available (in Ireland) from

SILVERSTREAM PRIORY

Attribution of Floral Background:

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