Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Double of the First-Class
with a Common Octave.
White Vestments.
Illustration from the Web-Site of
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On this Feast, the most ancient (6th-Century) and solemn of the Cycle of Mary, the Church invites all her children in the Catholic world to unite their joy (Introit) and their gratitude (Preface) with those of the Angels, who praise the Son of God because of that day His Mother, bodily and spiritually, entered Heaven (Alleluia).
Admitted to the enjoyment of the delights of eternal contemplation, She chose at the feet of the Master the better part, which shall not be taken away from Her (Gospel, Communion).
The Gospel of the Vigil was, indeed, formerly read after today's Gospel, in order to show that the Mother of Christ is happy among all others, because, better than all others, "She listened to the Word of God". This word, the Word, the Divine Wisdom which, under the Old Law, dwelt among the people of Israel (Epistle), dwelt in Mary, under the New Law.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Illustration from the
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The Word became Incarnate in the womb of The Virgin, and now, amid the splendour of the Heavenly Sion, He fills Her with the delights of the Beatific Vision.
The Church on Earth, like Martha, has to care for the necessities of this present life, but she also, like her, invokes the help of Mary (Collect, Secret, Postcommunion).
A Procession has always been a part of the Feast of the Assumption. At Jerusalem, it was formed by the numerous Pilgrims who came to Pray at the tomb of the Blessed Virgin and who, thus, contributed to the institution of this Solemnity.
The Clergy of Constantinople also held a Procession on the Feast of the Rest, or Assumption, of Mary. At Rome, from the 7th-Century to the 16th-Century, the Papal Cortege, in which the representatives of the Senate and people took part, went on this day from the Church of Saint John Lateran to that of Saint Mary Major. This ceremony was called the Litany.
[On this occasion, they used to recite over the people, assembled for the Procession, the Collect for Assumption Day, which is first in the Sacramentary and mentions this Mystery, whilst our Collect of the Mass on 15 August was only the Second Collect and has no direct relation to the Feast.
This is the First Collect: "It is our duty to honour the Solemnity of this day, O Lord; the Holy Mother of God did, indeed, suffer temporal death, although the bonds of this death could not hold back Her, whose flesh formed the Body of Thy Son, Our Lord who liveth and reigneth . . ."]
The Introit for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino . . . (Let us all rejoice in the Lord, . . .) is that of the Feast of Saint Agatha (5 February).
From the 11th-Century, this Introit was also used in seven other Masses which are in the Missal, among which are 15 August (today's Feast) and 1 November (Feast of All Saints).
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