Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (1945 Edition),
unless otherwise stated.
The Circumcision of Our Lord and Octave of The Nativity.
Feast Day 1 January.
Stational Church at Saint Mary's-beyond-the-Tiber.
Indulgence of 30 years and 30 Quarantines.
Double of the Second-Class.
Privileged Octave Day.
White Vestments.
Illustration from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
(from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition), who reproduce it
with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS
In the Liturgy of today, three Feasts are really included.
The first Feast, that which was known in the ancient Sacramentaries as "On the Octave-Day of Our Lord". So the Mass is largely borrowed from those of Christmas.
By the second Feast, we are reminded that it is to Mary, after Almighty God, that we owe Our Lord Himself. For this reason, formerly a second Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, in honour of the Mother of God. Some traces of this Mass remain in the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion, which are the same as in the Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Psalms at Vespers are also the same as on the Feasts of Our Lady.
The third Feast is the Circumcision, which has been kept since the 6th-Century A.D. Moses commanded that all the young Israelites should undergo this rite on the eighth day after birth (Gospel). It is a type of Baptism, by which a man is spiritually circumcised.
"See," says Saint Ambrose, "how the whole sequence of the Old Law foreshadowed that which was to come; for circumcision signifies the blotting out of sins. He who is spiritually circumcised, by the rooting up of his vices, is judged worthy of the Lord's favour.
"While speaking of the first drops of His Sacred Blood that Our Redeemer shed for the cleansing of our Souls, the Church emphasises the thought of the cutting out of all that is evil in us". "Jesus Christ . . . gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse us" (Epistle). "O Lord . . . cleanse us by these Heavenly Mysteries" (Secret). "May this communion, O Lord, purify us from sin" (Postcommunion).
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
The first Feast, that which was known in the ancient Sacramentaries as "On the Octave-Day of Our Lord". So the Mass is largely borrowed from those of Christmas.
By the second Feast, we are reminded that it is to Mary, after Almighty God, that we owe Our Lord Himself. For this reason, formerly a second Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, in honour of the Mother of God. Some traces of this Mass remain in the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion, which are the same as in the Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Psalms at Vespers are also the same as on the Feasts of Our Lady.
Picture source unknown.
The third Feast is the Circumcision, which has been kept since the 6th-Century A.D. Moses commanded that all the young Israelites should undergo this rite on the eighth day after birth (Gospel). It is a type of Baptism, by which a man is spiritually circumcised.
"See," says Saint Ambrose, "how the whole sequence of the Old Law foreshadowed that which was to come; for circumcision signifies the blotting out of sins. He who is spiritually circumcised, by the rooting up of his vices, is judged worthy of the Lord's favour.
"While speaking of the first drops of His Sacred Blood that Our Redeemer shed for the cleansing of our Souls, the Church emphasises the thought of the cutting out of all that is evil in us". "Jesus Christ . . . gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse us" (Epistle). "O Lord . . . cleanse us by these Heavenly Mysteries" (Secret). "May this communion, O Lord, purify us from sin" (Postcommunion).
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
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