Illustration: CATHOLICISM PURE AND SIMPLE
This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
4 February 2017 was The First Saturday of February 2017. It seemed a good time to remind ourselves of this Article about The Devotion of The First Five Saturdays and Communions of Reparation Against Offences And Blasphemies to The Immaculate Heart of Mary:
“I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the Graces necessary for Salvation, all those who, on The First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall Confess, receive Holy Communion, recite Five Decades of The Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while Meditating on The Mysteries of The Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
It may come as some surprise that this Devotion of The First Five Saturdays, requested by Heaven, through Sister Lucia of Fatima, in 1925 at her Convent in Pontevedra, Spain, was not new; in fact, it is an ancient custom in The Church.
It fits precisely into the long Tradition of Catholic piety that, having devoted Fridays to the remembrance of The Passion of Jesus Christ and to honouring His Sacred Heart, found it very natural to devote Saturdays to His Most Holy Mother.
It is sometimes asked why Our Lady asked for Communions of Reparation on Five First Saturdays, instead of some other number.
“I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the Graces necessary for Salvation, all those who, on The First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall Confess, receive Holy Communion, recite Five Decades of The Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while Meditating on The Mysteries of The Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
It may come as some surprise that this Devotion of The First Five Saturdays, requested by Heaven, through Sister Lucia of Fatima, in 1925 at her Convent in Pontevedra, Spain, was not new; in fact, it is an ancient custom in The Church.
It fits precisely into the long Tradition of Catholic piety that, having devoted Fridays to the remembrance of The Passion of Jesus Christ and to honouring His Sacred Heart, found it very natural to devote Saturdays to His Most Holy Mother.
On 29 May 1930, Our Blessed Lord explained to Sister Lucia, in another apparition to her, that it was because of five kinds of offences and blasphemies against The Immaculate Heart of Mary, namely:
Blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception;
Against her Perpetual Virginity;
Against The Divine and Spiritual Maternity of Mary;
Blasphemies involving the rejection and dishonouring of her images;
And the neglect of implanting, in the hearts of children, a knowledge and love of this Immaculate Mother.
“My Soul waits for The Lord more than watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:6).
It is also an age-old Tradition that Jesus appeared to Mary on the Saturday, the day after His death, whilst the World lay in hushed waiting for The Resurrection.
It is also an age-old Tradition that Jesus appeared to Mary on the Saturday, the day after His death, whilst the World lay in hushed waiting for The Resurrection.
The great Theologians of the 12th- and 13th-Centuries, Saints Bernard, Thomas, and Bonaventure, explained The Dedication of Saturdays to Mary by pointing to the time of Christ’s Rest in The Grave. Everyone else had abandoned Christ; only Mary continued to believe, demonstrating her deep Faith by never doubting for a moment her Son’s Promise of Resurrection. This was her day !
THE FIVE MASSES IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY,
ACCORDING TO THE SEASON.
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
The use of Consecrating the Saturday to Our Lady developed, not only in private, but also in Liturgical Devotion, during the 8th-Century A.D. to the 12th-Century. The reason for this choice, however, remains unknown.
There are Five Masses in Honour of Our Lady, according to The Season.
They are said as The Mass of The Day on Saturdays when there are no Feasts or Greater Ferias, and can also be said as Votive Masses on other occasions.
Mass: Roráte, Caeli.
Second Collect of The Feria of Advent.
Third Collect of The Holy Ghost.
Preface of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Et te in Veneratione.
The Gospel pictures her beside The Child in The Manger, and The Church declares her "Blessed, because she has borne in her womb The Son of The Eternal Father" (Communion), and truly worthy of all praise, because of her was born Christ Our Lord (Offertory).
The Collect and the Alleluia, in setting forth the Virginity of Mary, make manifest to us, as in all the Liturgy of Christmas, that Jesus has God for Father and that The Virgin, therefore, is, herself, The Mother of God.
Mass: Vultum Tuum.
Second Collect of The Holy Ghost.
Third Collect against The Persecutors of The Church or For The Pope.
Preface of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Et te in Veneratione.
She was pre-destined from All Eternity for the role of Co-Redemptress (Epistle), for, as Eve was the intermediary chosen by The Angel of Darkness to bring about The Fall of Adam, so, also, is Mary the intermediary to whom The Angel Gabriel (Tract) delivered The Message of Salvation from Heaven. She is also Blessed since she heard The Word of God and obeyed it (Gospel).
Mass: Salve, Sancta Parens.
Second Collect of The Holy Ghost.
Third Collect against The Persecutors of The Church or For The Pope.
Preface of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Et te in Festivitáte.
Mary is also The Queen of The Church Founded by The Risen Christ. "Her power is established in Jerusalem and her abode is in the fulness of The Saints" (Epistle).
At The Foot of The Cross, Jesus said to Saint John, who personified all Christians: "Behold thy Mother" (Gospel), and Mary "always and everywhere protects our Souls through her patronage (Postcommunion).
Mass: Salve, Sancta Parens.
Second Collect of The Holy Ghost.
Third Collect against The Persecutors of The Church or For The Pope.
Preface of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Et te in Veneratione.
Mass: Salve, Sancta Parens.
Second Collect of The Holy Ghost.
Third Collect against The Persecutors of The Church or For The Pope.
Preface of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Et te in Festivitáte.
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