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

17 February, 2026

The Feast Of The Sacred Column Of Flagellation. Shrove Tuesday. Sacræ Columnæ Flagelationis D.N.J.C.


Text and Illustration: 


This Feast does not appear to have been Celebrated in England, so is not in the Catholic Directory 1913

It is also not in this edition of the Missale Romanum, but it should be found in the Missae pro ALIQUIBUS LOCIS section of the Roman Missal. 

We have found this Mass in a Hand Missal and have produced a UVOC style Propers Latin-English Propers Sheet, available at SOCIETY OF ST. BEDE - LITURGICAL RESOURCES

“Africa”.


“Africa”.
Angel City Chorale.
Available on YouTube

“Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”. The Welsh National Anthem. Sung In English And Welsh.



“Land Of My Fathers”.
Sung by: Paul Robeson.
Available on YouTube


“Mae hen wlad fy nhadau”.
Welsh National Anthem.
Cor y’Steddfod, Maldwyn, 2015.
Conducted and arranged by Jeffrey Howard.
Chamber Orchestra of Wales (Griff Harries).
Available on YouTube

A Little Levity To Lighten Your Day !!!

 

 

“By My Holy Face, You Will Work Wonders”. The Feast Of The Holy Face Of Jesus Christ. Red Or White Vestments.





For information:

If the Celebrant’s intention of the Mass is to reflect and honour Our Lord’s Passion, then Red Vestments are used.

If the Celebrant’s intention of the Mass is to reflect and honour the Divinity, Beauty, and Glory, of Christ’s countenance, then White Vestments are used.


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

Votive Feast Of The Holy Face Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Deformed In The Passion.

This Feast is not found in the “Missæ Pro Aliquibus Locis” of most editions of The Roman Missal. 

The devotion to The Holy Face has its origins in the 12th-Century, with the Relic of The Veil of Veronica kept at Saint Peter’s Basilica. The different Masses of The Holy Face, used today and throughout history,  honour this Relic which is guarded in the Vatican Basilica.





The following Text is taken from
NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

Altar Missals usually feature a Section, towards the back of the Missal, called “Missæ Pro Aliquibus Locis (“Masses For Certain Places”). Like “Votive Masses”, these, too, may be chosen by the Celebrant under certain conditions.

My 1947 Benziger Altar Missal, with a Commendatory Letter
signed by Cardinal Spellman, has quite a substantive
Missæ Pro Aliquibus Locis” Section (Pages 131- 196).

It includes such worthy Feasts as:

“The Translation Of
The Holy House Of The Blessed Virgin Mary”.
10 December.


“The Translation Of
The Holy House Of The Blessed Virgin Mary”.
10 December.
Taken from the Missale Romanum,
Vindobonæ (Vienna, Austria).
1861.
Illustration: ZEPHYRINUS


“The Expectation Of Our Lady”.
18 December.


“The Expectation Of Our Lady”.
18 December.
Taken from the Missale Romanum,
Tornacensis (Tournai, Belgium).
1886.
Illustration: ZEPHYRINUS


“The Espousal Of The Blessed Virgin And Saint Joseph”.
23 January.


“The Espousal Of The Blessed Virgin And Saint Joseph”.
23 January.
Taken from the Missale Romanum,
Tornacensis (Tournai, Belgium).
1886.
Illustration: ZEPHYRINUS


“The Flight Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Into Egypt”.
17 February.


“The Flight Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Into Egypt”.
17 February.
Contained within the
Missæ Propriæ Diœcesium Angliæ
cum Missis novis ex Decretis S. Rituum Congregationis
diebus 14 August 1883 et 20 November 1884 concessis.
In Diœcesi Salfordiensi
(In The Diocese of Salford, Manchester, England).
Taken from the Missale Romanum,
Vindobonæ (Vienna, Austria)
1861.
Illustration: ZEPHYRINUS


“The Prayer Of Our Lord Jesus Christ”
Tuesday after Septuagesima.


“The Prayer Of Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Tuesday after Septuagesima.
Taken from the Missale Romanum,
Tornacensis (Tournai, Belgium).
1886.
Illustration: ZEPHYRINUS


All of these Feasts (above) share in common the trait that they are not normally prescribed, but allowed to be used when there is no other impediment. Therefore, they must be chosen; they are, in that sense, options.


The Mass for “The Feast of The Holy Face of Jesus Christ” appears in a Missal from Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, dating from the 1500s. There is also a Votive Mass of “The Holy Face in The Holy Land”, which formed the Sixth Mass of the “Via Crucis.” [Editor: “Way of The Cross”.]

In 1889, Pope Leo XIII approved The Confraternity Of The Holy Face

Then, in 1910, Pope Saint Pius X, through an S.R.C. [Editor: “Sacra Rituum Congregatio” “Sacred Congregation of Rites”] Decree, approved a “Mass for The Holy Face”, using The Mass “Humiliavit” (used as a Votive Mass of The Passion for Fridays and Tuesday within Sexagesima) along with three specially composed Prayers for the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion.

As Fr. Stefano Pedica, O.S.B., writes: “The Mass of The Holy Face of Jesus” was permitted by Pope Saint Pius X, who desired that it might be the same “Mass of The Passion”, namely the “Missa Humiliavit”, with three “appropriate Prayers” (Collect, Secret, Postcommunion) shedding light upon, and determining, the Liturgical and Theological sense of what is proper and due to The Most Sacred Face of The Redeemer.


There appears clearly in the Prayers the meaning that the Holy See desires about the devotion to The Holy Face. 

Saint Veronica is not mentioned in them, as in the ancient Prayers, nor is there mention of anything which could in the slightest way give cause to critics to oppose that which Holy Mother Church proposes to the Faithful, in “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi.”

The wording taken from the Old Testament and the New Testament, confers a dogmatic, rather than historic, value to the cult of The Holy Face. 

The Votive Mass of “The Most Holy Face of Jesus” has been requested by very many Religious Communities (particularly the Benedictine - Silvestrines) and in various Dioceses throughout the World; showing that the devotion to The Holy Face is always growing and more deeply felt in the Souls of the Faithful.”

This Feast, of The Holy Face of Jesus Christ, being one of Reparation, also pairs well with the age-old custom of having The Forty Hours devotion in Reparation for Carnival, which ends Shrove Tuesday.


Sister Mary of Saint Peter (1816-1848).

Sister Mary of Saint Peter was born in Rennes, France, 4 October 1816. She was rather sickly as a child and not at all pious. In fact, she describes herself as stubborn and easily roused to anger. 

After making her First Confession at the age of six, she began to seriously work on overcoming herself and, about this time, her parents instilled into her a devotion to The Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

After making her First Communion at the age of ten, she progressed rapidly in virtue to the amazement of all those who knew her. She received many Graces in Prayer and began to understand that Our Lord was calling her to Consecrate herself to Him in Religion. 

With the direction of a wise and holy Confessor, who tried her in virtue for five years, and prepared her for the Religious Life, she finally entered the Carmelite Monastery in Tours, France.

As a Novice, she continued receiving extraordinary favours in Prayer. She submitted all of these interior communications of Our Lord to her Superiors, and waited upon their consent, before she could offer herself completely to Our Lord, as He had been asking.


Once permission was obtained, Our Lord began revealing to her this great project of establishing the Work of Reparation. 

There had been a Confraternity established only eighteen days prior to that of which Our Lord was revealing to Sister Mary of Saint Peter, which had been put under the patronage of Saint Louis, King of France. 

Our Lord told Sister Mary, however, that the devotion that He was entrusting to her was to have as its aim, not only Reparation for Blasphemy, but also Reparation for the profanation of the Holy Day of The Lord, both enormous sins, arousing the Anger of God.

“My name is everywhere Blasphemed !!!” 

He then made me see that this frightful sin wounds His Divine Heart more grievously than all other sins, showing me how, by Blasphemy, the sinner curses Him to His Face, attacks Him publicly, nullifies His Redemption, and pronounces his own judgment and condemnation.

Our Lord then made me visualise the act of Blasphemy as a poisoned arrow continually wounding His Divine Heart. 

After that, He revealed to me that He wanted to give me a “Golden Arrow” which would have the power of wounding Him delightfully, and which would also heal those other wounds inflicted by the malice of sinners.” (26 August 1843).



“I give you My Name to be your light in the darkness and your strength in battle. Satan will do all in his power to crush this Work at its roots. 

“But, I assure you, that the Holy Name of God will triumph, and it will be the Holy Angels who will gain the victory in the conflict.” (Our Lord to Sister Mary of Saint Peter, 18 November 1843).

“Oh, to whom shall I address Myself, if not to a Carmelite, whose very Vocation obliges her unceasingly to Glorify My Name ?”

“ While this was taking place, I felt my Soul entirely lost in God, and, simultaneously, I was overcome by awe as Our Lord made me realise the meaning of the words spoken to Abraham, that, if there could be found at least ten Just Souls, God would spare the guilty Cities for the sake of these ten Just Souls. 

“It also seemed to me that, for the sake of those who would practice Reparation for the sins committed against the Majesty of God, His Justice would be appeased and He would grant Mercy to the guilty.

“Drawing me strongly to the contemplation of His Adorable Face, Our Divine Saviour made me see, through a ray of light issuing from His August Countenance, that The Holy Face, which He presented to mankind for their Adoration, was indeed the mirror of those unutterable Divine Perfections comprised and contained in The Most Holy Name of God.


“I saw that, by thus Honouring and Venerating this Sacred Countenance covered anew with outrages, we could atone for Blasphemers who attack the Divinity of which this Holy Face is the figure, the mirror and the expression.

“[Our Lord] told me that He was seeking, in our Convent, Souls who would heal the wounds inflicted on His Face, by pouring over them the wine of compassion and the oil of love, which is Reparation.

“Then Our Lord promised that, if the Community embraced this Exercise of Reparation, He would give it a Kiss of Love which would be the Pledge of the Eternal Kiss.

“Yes, it is through this August Sacrament that Jesus, Our Saviour, desires to impart to Souls the rare virtue emanating from His Most Holy Face, for, indeed, there, in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, His Adorable Face is more dazzling than the Sun. He then once more promised me to imprint His Divine Likeness upon the Souls of those who honour the Features of His Face.”


16 February, 2026

The Installation In Westminster Cathedral Of The Twelfth Archbishop Of Westminster, The Most Reverend Richard Moth.



The Installation In Westminster Cathedral Of The Twelfth Archbishop Of Westminster, The Most Reverend Richard Moth.
Available On YouTube

“Miserere Mei, Deus”. Composer: Allegri. Sung By: The Tallis Scholars. Director of Music: Peter Phillips.


“Miserere Mei, Deus”.
Composer: Allegri.
Sung By: The Tallis Scholars.
Director of Music: Peter Phillips.
Available on YouTube

Pope Alexander II (1010 - 1073). (Part Four). Authorised The 1066 Norman Invasion Of England.



Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

However, it was a shortage of supplies, sickness, and bribery on the part of the Normans that brought Godfrey to negotiate with Jordan and finally to return North. 

A new treaty between the Papacy and the Normans was negotiated, and at the Synod held at Melfi by Pope Alexander on 1 August 1067, Prince Richard returned to his allegiance and was confirmed as Duke of Apulia and Calabria.[23]


In April 1063, Pope Alexander held a Synod at the Lateran Basilica in Rome, attended by more than a hundred Bishops. During the Synod, he excommunicated Honorius II (the Anti-Pope) (Bishop Cadalo).

The Pope and Bishops also decreed:

That no mercy was to be shown to Simoniacs by preserving their dignity;

That those who had been Ordained by Simoniacs were to be retained in their Orders;


In the case of a knowing Consecration of a Simoniac, both Simoniac and Consecrator were to be deprived of their Offices;

That a Priest who has a wife or mistress should not say Mass;

That no Cleric should receive a Church from a Layman, whether “gratis” or “for pay”;

That no Priest should hold two Churches;

That no-one should be made a Monk on the understanding that he would become Abbot;


That a Layman who becomes a Cleric should change his costume.[24]

In a Letter of 15 May 1063, Pope Alexander ordered the Archbishops of Reims, Sens, Tours, Bourges, and Bordeaux, to obey his Legate, Cardinal Peter Damiani, Bishop of Ostia, “who is our own eye and the immovable Foundation of the Apostolic See.”[25]

He also forbade Gervase, Archbishop of Reims, from Consecrating Jocelyn as Bishop of Soissons, on the grounds that he was a Simoniac.[26]


On 6 May 1065, Pope Alexander held a Council in Rome, attended by at least eight Cardinals and forty-three Bishops. It is known that the privileges of the Monastery of Saint Denis in Paris were confirmed, and it was granted the privilege of being exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Paris.[27]

In 1067, Pope Alexander made a tour of the Southern Cities of The Papal States and of the Kingdom of Naples, holding a Synod in Melfi, in October, and then later in the year at Siponto.[28]

PART FIVE FOLLOWS.

The Twenty-Six Mediæval Cathedrals Of England (Part Eighteen).



Canterbury Cathedral. The Poor Man’s Bible Stained-Glass Window. Made of salvaged pieces from (probably) three Windows, showing Old and New Testament stories.
Source: T. Taylor. Photo 2005.
This File: 25 January 2013.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Chester Cathedral.

Built between 1093 and 1537, Chester Cathedral includes a set of Mediæval Choir Stalls dating from 1380, with exquisite figurative carving. An unusual feature is the very large South Transept. The Early-English Lady Chapel is a harmonious composition in Lancet Gothic. It retains substantial Monastic buildings, including a large Refectory.[4][10]

Chichester Cathedral.

Built between 1088 and the Early-15th-Century, the unusual features of Chichester Cathedral are a Transitional Retro-Choir, a pair of Early-Norman relief carvings and its freestanding Belfry of the 15th-Century. The Spire, rebuilt after its collapse in 1860, can be seen from the English Channel.[4][10]

Durham Cathedral.

Built between 1093 and 1490, Durham Cathedral, with the exception of the upper parts of its Towers, the Eastern extension known as the Chapel of Nine Altars, and the large Great West Window of 1341, is entirely Norman and is regarded by Alec Clifton-Taylor as “the incomparable masterpiece of Romanesque architecture”. 


The beauty of Chester Cathedral.
Available on YouTube


The interior is “overwhelmingly impressive”.[4] The Western Lady Chapel, known as the Galilee Chapel, is a unique Norman building different in style to the Cathedral itself. 

The view of the Cathedral from the South-West is particularly famous because of its “incomparable setting” on a steep promontory above The River Wear.[10] The Venerable C. J. Stranks wrote: “It stands today vast and impressive in its massive strength, and yet so well proportioned that there is nothing about it which seems ponderous.”[13]

Ely Cathedral.

With the present building dating between 1090 and 1536, 
Ely Cathedral has a significant Norman Nave and Decorated Gothic Choir, but its most important features are its unique Western Tower of 1174 and Central Octagon of 1322, which Clifton-Taylor describes as “one of the wonders of English Cathedral architecture”.[4] 


Durham Cathedral’s Norman Nave
and Early-Ribbed and Pointed Vault.
Photo: 10 August 2020.
Source: Own work.
Author: Amourgirl1
(Wikimedia Commons)


Exeter Cathedral’s Vaulted Ceiling. the longest 
uninterrupted Mediæval Vaulted Ceiling in the World.
Photo: 20 February 2016.
Source: Own work.
Author: Edward Swift
(Wikimedia Commons)


It also has a unique, large, free-standing Lady Chapel, with a wide Vault and intricately-carved Stone Arcades around the Sedilia.[4][10]

Exeter Cathedral.

Dating from 1112 to 1519, Exeter Cathedral is the major example of a Cathedral built mainly in the Later-Decorated Gothic style of the 14th-Century. It has an impressive Vault, the longest Mediæval Vault in the World, which runs between two Norman Towers placed, uniquely among Cathedrals, over the Transepts.[c] Exeter has many sculptural details, including the figures of its Great West front.[4][10]

Gloucester Cathedral.

Dating from 1098 to 1493, Gloucester Cathedral has a Norman Nave with massive Masonry Piers, and a fine 15th-Century Perpendicular Tower, but its main feature is the Eastern End, reconstructed in the 14th-Century as an early example of Perpendicular Gothic and with the largest Mediæval Window in the World, the area of a tennis court. The Cloisters have the earliest example of Fan-Vaulting.[4][10]

PART NINETEEN FOLLOWS.

“Te Lucis Ante Terminum”. The Roman Breviary Hymn Sung At Compline. Plus, The “Te Deum”. The 5th-Century A.D. Monastic Chant (Solemn).



The Hymn, “Te Lucis Ante Terminum”, written out in a Spanish Manuscript (circa 1625). The wording “ . . . pro tua clementia . . .” (instead of “. . . solita clementia , , , ”) reflects the classicising revisions of Pope Urban VIII. The original Latin version has been restored in the Post-Vatican II Texts. 
No known copyright restrictions. Please credit UBC Library 
as the image source. For more information, see 
Photo: 15 April 2008.
Source: University of British Columbia Library
- Rare Books and Special Collections.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/
ubclibrary_digicentre/14953086188/
Author: UBC Library Digitization Centre.
(Wikimedia Commons)


This next Text is taken from
At Compline, on the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, “Te Lucis” is sung with the Melody and Doxology of The Incarnation.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

“Te Lucis Ante Terminum” (English: “To Thee Before The Close Of Day”) is an old Latin Hymn in Long Metre. It is the Hymn at Compline in the Roman Breviary.

The authorship of Ambrose of Milan, for which Pimont contends, is not admitted by the Benedictine editors or by Luigi Biraghi


The Hymn is found in a Hymnary in Irish script (described by Clemens Blume in his Cursus, etc.) of the 8th-Century A.D., or Early-9th Century A.D.; but the Classical Prosody of its two Stanzas (Solita in the third line of the original Text is the only exception) suggests a much earlier origin.

In this Hymnary, it is assigned, together with the Hymn “Christe Qui Splendor Et Dies” (also known as “Christe Qui Lux Es Et Dies”), to Compline.

An earlier arrangement (as shown by the Rule of Cæsarius of Arles, circa 502 A.D.), coupled with the “Christe Qui Lux” the Hymn “Christe Precamur Adnue”, and assigned both to the “Twelfth Hour” of the Day for alternate recitation throughout the Year. The introduction of the “Te Lucis” suggests a later origin.


“Te Lucis Ante Terminum”.
Composed by:Thomas Tallis.
The Hymn at Compline.
Sung by: The Gesualdo Six,
at Ely Cathedral.
Available on YouTube


The two Hymns “Te Lucis” and “Christe Qui Lux” did not maintain everywhere the same relative position; the latter was used in Winter, the former in Summer and on Festivals; while many Cathedrals and Monasteries replaced the “Te Lucis” by the “Christe Qui Lux” from the First Sunday of Lent to Passion Sunday or Holy Thursday, a custom followed by the Dominicans.

The old Breviary of the Carthusians used the “Christe Qui Lux” throughout the Year. The Roman Breviary assigns the “Te Lucis” daily throughout the Year, except from Holy Thursday to the Friday after Easter, inclusively. 

Merati, in his Notes on Galvanus’s Thesaurus, says that it has always held, without variation, this place in the Roman Church. As it is sung daily, The Vatican Antiphonary gives it many Plainsong Settings for the varieties of Season and Rite.

The Text given below is the original version of the Hymn. It was altered by Pope Urban VIII (1623 – 1644). The 1974 Breviary of Pope Paul VI restores the earlier form of the first and last verse, but replaces the second verse with two additional verses. 


Pope Urban’s version is still used by some, especially since the Motu Proprio “Summorum Pontificum” authorised continued use of the Roman Breviary in its 1962 form.

Most Monasteries adopted Pope Paul’s form in the 1970s, meaning the original version is seldom sung in Monasteries. 

The following translation by J. M. Neale (1818 – 1866) is of the original Latin Text, rather than of Pope Urban VIII’s revised version.


“Te Lucis Ante Terminum”
(Ferial Tone).
Sung by: VOCES8.
Composer by: Thomas Tallis.
Available on YouTube


ORIGINAL LATIN TEXT.

Te lucis ante términum,
rerum Creátor, póscimus,
ut sólita cleméntia
sis præsul ad custódiam.

Procul recédant sómnia
et nóctium phantásmata;
hostémque nostrum cómprime,
ne polluántur córpora.

Præsta, Pater omnípotens,
per Iesum Christum Dóminum,
qui tecum in perpétuum
regnat cum Sancto Spíritu.

Amen.


REVISED LATIN TEXT
OF POPE URBAN VIII.

Te lucis ante términum,
rerum Creátor, póscimus,
ut pro tua cleméntia
sis præsul et custódia.

Procul recédant sómnia
et nóctium phantásmata;
hostémque nostrum cómprime,
ne polluántur córpora.

Præsta, Pater piíssime,
Patríque compar Unice,
cum Spíritu Paráclito
regnans per omne sǽculum.

Amen.


ENGLISH TRANSLATION (NEALE).

To Thee before the close of Day,
Creator of the World, we Pray
That, with Thy wonted favour, Thou
Wouldst be our guard and keeper now.

From all ill dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the Night;
Withhold from us our ghostly foe,
That spot of sin we may not know.

Oh, Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son,
Who, with The Holy Ghost and Thee,
Doth live and reign eternally.

Amen.


The Text of “Te Lucis Ante Terminum” has frequently been set to music. The earliest is the Plainsong version found in the Liber Usualis (used as the opening of Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River); another, from the Sarum Use, is much used in England.

Thomas Tallis composed a memorable Setting of the Text, among many others. Henry Balfour Gardiner composed the Anthem “Evening Hymn” on both the Latin Text and an English translation, for mixed Choir and Organ.



The “Te Deum”.

Another beautiful Latin Gregorian Chant is the “Te Deum”.

The “Te Deum” (from its incipit, “Te Deum Laudamus”, “Thee, O God, We Praise”), is a Latin Christian Hymn composed in the 4th-Century A.D.

It is one of the core Hymns of the Ambrosian Hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Church with the Milanese Rite in the 6th-Century A.D. to the 8th -Century A.D., and is sometimes known as “The Ambrosian Hymn”, even though authorship by Saint Ambrose is unlikely.

The term “Te Deum” can also refer to a short Religious Service, held to Bless an event or give thanks, which is based upon the Hymn.


“Te Deum”.
5th-Century A.D. Monastic Chant (Solemn).
Sung by: The Monks of Clervaux Abbey, Luxembourg.
Available on YouTube

Aelred Of Rievaulx. (Part Twelve).



Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire.
Date: 2011.
This File is licensed under the
Attribution: WyrdLight.com
Author: Antony McCallum
(Wikimedia Commons)



Dr. Marsha Dutton.
“The Historical Works Of Saint Aelred Of Rievaulx”.
“Part Four: The Life Of Edward. King And Confessor”.
Available on YouTube
HERE

PART THIRTEEN FOLLOWS.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...