Pope Saint Alexander I governed The Church under The Emperor Hadrian. He prescribed water to be mixed with the wine at Mass, on account of The Blood and Water that flowed from The Side of Jesus.
His name is inscribed in The Canon of The Mass (Second List). He was Martyred at the same time as the Priests Eventius and Theodulus, in 117 A.D., and their bodies rest in Rome, in the Church of Saint Sabina, where The Lenten Station is held on Ash Wednesday.
Saint Juvenal, Bishop of Narni, fell asleep on this day, in The Peace of The Risen Christ, towards 377 A.D.
“I am very saddened to report (via the Facebook page of the Oxford Oratory) that the great Fr. John Hunwicke died on Tuesday, 20 April 2024, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
“As many readers know, he was a Priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; his blog, Fr Hunwicke’s Mutual Enrichment, has long been an incomparably valuable repository of wisdom, wit, and erudition, and we have very often highlighted his articles here on NLM over the years.
“Many of his Posts have been devoted to the defence of the authentic Liturgical Tradition of The Roman Rite, and the exposure of the scholarly impostures that underpinned its would-be replacement”.
Deus, qui inter apostolicos sacerdotes famulum tuum Joannem sacerdotali fecisti dignitate vigere: praesta quaesumus: ut eorum quoque perpetuo aggregetur consortio.
Per Christum, Dominum nostrum.
Amen.
God, Who, among the apostolic Priests, made Thy servant John to flourish with Priestly dignity; grant, we beseech Thee: that he may also be joined unto their perpetual society.
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.
This Feast is called, in Greek, “ψωσις τοῦ Τιμίου καὶ Ζωοποιοῦ Σταυροῦ” (Raising Aloft of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross), and, in Latin, Exaltatio Sanctæ Crucis. In English, it is called The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the official translation of the Roman Missal, while the 1973 translation called it The Triumph of the Cross.
In some parts of the Anglican Communion, the Feast is called Holy Cross Day, a name also used by Lutherans. The Celebration is also sometimes called Feast of the Glorious Cross.
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.
One of the masterpieces of the “Barochetto Romano”,
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless stated otherwise.
The Finding Of The Holy Cross. 3 May.
Double of The Second-Class.
Red Vestments.
After the victory gained by Emperor Constantine, by virtue of the Cross which appeared to him in the sky, and whose sign he reproduced in the “Labarum”, Saint Helena, his mother, went to Jerusalem to try and find the true Cross.
At the beginning of the 2nd-Century A.D., Emperor Hadrian had covered Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre under a terrace of 300 feet in length, on which had been erected a statue of Jupiter and a temple of Venus.
The Empress razed them to the ground, and, in digging up the soil, they discovered the nails (Alleluia) and the glorious trophy to which we owe “Life, Salvation, and Resurrection” (Introit).
The miraculous cure of a woman authenticated The Sacred Tree (Collect).
Saint Helena divided into three the precious wood, which had been “worthy to bear the King of Heaven” (Alleluia).
One part was deposited in Rome, in the Church which on this account was called Holy Cross in Jerusalem. The second part in Constantinople and the third part in Jerusalem.
This last Relic, having been carried off by the Persians, and recovered by the Byzantine Emperor, Heraclius, was solemnly brought back to Jerusalem, by Heraclius, on 3 May 628 A.D.
Covered with Gold and Precious Stones, Emperor Heraclius suddenly felt himself held back by an invincible power.
At this sight, Zacharias, Bishop of Jerusalem, told him to imitate the poverty and humility of Jesus bearing His Cross.
Heraclius, thereupon, covered his shoulders with a common cloak, and, without further hindrance, went his way. (Breviary, 14 September.)
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Nos autem. Commemoration: At Low Mass, only. Of Saint Alexander and Companions. Creed: Is said. Preface: Of The Cross.
Labarum of Constantine I
(Vexilloid of the Roman Empire).
The Vexillum was a Standard, composed of a square piece of cloth fastened to a cross bar at the top of a spear, sometimes with a fringe all round, and sometimes fringed only below, or without a fringe, but draped at the sides,
When placed over the General’s tent, it was a sign
for marching, or for battle.
The Labarum of the Emperors was similar in form, and frequently bore upon it a representation of the Emperor.
The following Text is from “The Liturgical Year”. By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B. Volume Eight. Paschal Time. Book Two.
It was most just that our Divine King should show Himself to us with the Sceptre of His power, to the end that nothing might be wanting to the majesty of His empire. This Sceptre is The Cross; and Paschal Time was to be the Season for its being offered to Him in glad homage.
A few weeks back, and The Cross was shown to us as the instrument of our Emmanuel's humiliation and as the bed of suffering, whereon He died; but, has He not since then conquered Death ? And what is His Cross, now, but a trophy of His victory ?
Let it, then, be brought forth to our gaze and let every knee bend before this Sacred Wood, whereby our Jesus won the honour and praise we now give Him !
On the day of His birth at Bethlehem, we sang these words of the Prophet Isaias: “A Child is born unto us, and a Son is given to us, and His government is upon His shoulder”. [Is. ix 6. - Introit of The Third Mass for Christmas Day.]
We have seen Him carrying this Cross upon His shoulder; as Isaac carried the wood for his own immolation; but, now, it is no longer a heavy burthen.
It is shining with a brightness that ravishes the eyes of the Angels; and, after having received the Veneration of Man as long as the World lasts, it will suddenly appear in the clouds of Heaven, near the Judge of the living and the dead - a consolation to them that have loved it, but a reproach to such as have treated it with contempt or forgetfulness.
This past week [Editor: This Article is dated 7 November 2025] the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a new Doctrinal Note called “Mater Populi Fidelis”, which denied Our Blessed Mother her titles of “Co-Redemptrix“ and “Mediatrix Of All Graces”.
The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer do not accept this new teaching.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of Saints, Popes, and Theologians, who taught, at least implicitly, the Doctrine of Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix.
The title itself is more modern, as “Mater Populi Fidelis” points out: “The title “Co-Redemptrix” first appeared in the 15th-Century as a correction to the invocation “Redemptrix” . . . which had been attributed to Mary since the 10th-Century.”
However, the principles on which this title is based are not modern, especially that Our Lady is the New Eve:
St. Justin St. Irenaeus Tertullian St. Cyprian Origen St. Cyril of Jerusalem St. Ephrem St. Epiphanius St. Basil St. Ambrose
St. Jerome St. John Chrysostom St. Augustine St. Proclus St. John Damascene St. Germanus of Constantinople St. Anselm St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Albert the Great, O.P. Hugh of Saint-Cher, O.P.
St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. St. Bonaventure, O.F.M. Richard of Saint-Laurence St. Alphonsus Liguori, C.SS.R. Francisco Suárez, S.J. St. Lawrence of Brindisi, O.F.M. Cap. St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J. Ferdinand Chirinos de Salazar, S.J. Angelo Vulpes, O.F.M. Conv. Placido Mirto Frangipane, C.R.
Roderick de Portillo, O.F.M. George de Rhodes, S.J. St. John Eudes, C.J.M. St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, S.M.M. Fr Frederick William Faber, C.O. St. Pius X Bl. Pius IX Pope Leo XIII Pope Benedict XV Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XII St. Pio of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap. Benoît-Henri Merkelbach, O.P.
The building has more than 300 rooms, with 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of floorspace,[3] including 124,600 square feet (11,580 m2) of living area, and was – until it ceased to be privately owned – often listed as the largest private residence in the United Kingdom.[4][5][6]
It is surrounded by a 180-acre (73 ha) park, and an estate of 15,000 acres (6,100 ha).
Text is from “The Liturgical Year”. By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B. Volume 8. Paschal-Time. Book II.
The Court of Our Divine King, during this grandest of Seasons, is brilliant beyond measure; and, today, it is gladdened by the arrival of one of the most glorious champions that ever fought for His Holy Cause.
Among the guardians of the Word of Truth, confided by Jesus to the Earth, is there one more faithful than Athanasius ?
Does not his very name remind us of dauntless courage in the defence of the Sacred deposit, of heroic firmness and patience in suffering, of learning, of talent, of eloquence — in a word, of everything that goes to form a Saint, a Bishop, and a Doctor of The Church ?
Athanasius lived for The Son of God; the cause of The Son of God was that of Athanasius: He who Blessed Athanasius, Blessed the Eternal Word; and he who insulted Athanasius insulted the Eternal Word.
Never did our Holy Faith go through a greater ordeal than in the sad times immediately following the Peace of The Church, when the Barque of Peter had to pass through the most furious storm that Hell has, so far, let loose against her.
Satan had vainly sought to drown the Christian race in a sea of blood; the sword of persecution had grown blunt in the hands of Diocletian and Galerius; and The Cross appeared in the heavens, proclaiming the triumph of Christianity.
Scarcely had The Church become aware of her victory, when she felt herself shaken to her very foundation. Hell sent upon the Earth a heresy which threatened to blight the fruit of three hundred years of Martyrdom.
Arius began his impious doctrine, that he who had hitherto been adored as The Son of God was only a creature, though the most perfect of all creatures.
Immense was the number, even of the Clergy, that fell into this new error; the Emperors became its abettors; and had not God Himself interposed, men would soon have set up the cry throughout the World that the only result of the victory gained by the Christian Religion was to change the object of idolatry, and put a new idol, called Jesus, in place of the old ones.
But He, Who had promised that the gates of Hell should never prevail against His Church, faithfully fulfilled His promise.
The primitive Faith triumphed; the Council of Nicæa proclaimed the Son to be consubstantial with The Father; but The Church stood in need of a man in whom the cause of the consubstantial Word should be, so to speak, incarnated — a man with learning enough to foil the artifices of heresy, and with courage enought to bear every persecution without flinching.
This man was Athanasius: And everyone that adores and loves The Son of God, should love and honour Athanasius.
Five times banished from his See of Alexandria by the Arians, who even sought to put him to death, he fled for protection to the West, which justly appreciated the glorious Confessor of Jesus’ Divinity.
In return for the hospitality accorded him by Rome, Athanasius gave her of his treasures. Being the admirer and friend of the great Saint Antony of Egypt, he was a fervent admirer of the Monastic life, which, by the Grace of The Holy Ghost, had flourished so wonderfully in the deserts of his vast Patriarchate.
He brought the precious seed to Rome, and the first Monks seen there were the ones introduced by Athanasius.
The heavenly plant became naturalised in its new soil; and though its growth was slow at first, it afterwards produced fruit more abundantly than it had ever done in the East.
Athanasius, who has written so admirably upon that fundamental Dogma of our Faith — the Divinity of Christ — has also left us most eloquent treatises on the Mystery of the Pasch: They are to be found in the “Festal” Letters which he addressed each year to the Churches of his Patriarchate of Alexandria.
The collection of these Letters, which were once thought to have been irretrievably lost, was found, a few years back [Editor: Abbot Guéranger was writing circa 1875], in the Monastery of Saint Mary of Scete, in Egypt.
The first, for the year 329 A.D., begins with these words, which beautifully express the sentiments we should feel at the approach of Easter: “Come, my beloved brethren, celebrate the Feast; the Season of the year invites you to do so. The Sun of Justice, by pouring out His Divine Rays upon you, tells you that the time of the Solemnity is come.
“At such tidings, let us keep a glad Feast; let not the joy slip from us with the fleeting days, without our having tasted of its sweetness”.
During almost every year of his banishment, Athanasius continued to address a Paschal Letter to his people. The one in which he announces the Easter of 338 A.D., and which he wrote at Treves, begins thus: “Though separated from you, my brethren, I cannot break through the custom which I have always observed, and which I received from the Tradition of the Fathers.
“I will not be silent; I will not omit announcing to you the time of the Holy annual Feast, and the day on which you must keep the Solemnity. I am, as you have doubtless been told, a prey to many tribulations I am weighed down by heavy trials; I am watched by the enemies of truth, who scrutinise everything I write, in order to rake up accusations against me and thereby add to my sufferings; yet notwithstanding, I feel that the Lord strengthens and consoles me in my afflictions.
“Therefore, do I venture to address to you the annual celebration; and from the midst of my troubles, and despite the snares that beset me, I send you, from the furthermost part of the Earth, the tidings of the Pasch, which is our salvation.
“Commending my fate into God’s hands, I will celebrate this Feast with you; distance of place separates us, but I am not absent from you. The Lord Who gives us these Feasts, Who is Himself our Feast, Who bestows upon us the gift of His Spirit — He unites us spiritually to one another, by the bond of concord and peace”.
How grand is this Pasch, celebrated by Athanasius, an exile on the Rhine, in union with his people who keep their Easter on the banks of the Nile !!!
It shows us the power of the Liturgy to unite men and make them, at one and the same time, and despite the distance of Countries, enjoy the same Holy emotions and feel the same aspirations to virtue.
Greeks or Barbarians, we have all the same mother-country, The Church; but that which, after Faith, unites us all into one family, is The Church’s Liturgy.
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
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