Time After Pentecost (Part One). Historical Note.

All Illustrations: Zephyrinus,

unless stated otherwise.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

From the day of Pentecost, when her birth took place, The Church, down the ages, has reproduced the whole life of Christ Whose Mystical Body she is.

Our Lord, in His earliest infancy, was the object of persecution and had to flee into Egypt during the massacre of The Holy Innocents, and, in the same way, The Church, in the first years of her life, underwent the most violent persecutions, being often obliged to hide in the Catacombs or in the desert.

Again, as a growing boy, Jesus lived in retirement at Nazareth, where He passed the greater part of His life in recollection and Prayer. Similarly, The Church, from the time of Constantine, enjoyed an era of peace.

On all sides rose Cathedrals and Abbeys, resounding with the praises of God. Bishops, Abbots, Priests, and Religious, checked the assault of Heresy by dilegent study and untiring zeal.

Once more, Christ, The Divine Missionary, sent by The Father to the far off regions of this Earth, began His public ministry when He was thirty years old.

The Church, from the 16th-Century, has had to resist the attack of the neo-paganism, by spreading the Gospel in the newly-discovered parts of the globe, while she gives birth unceasingly, to new forces and boundless legions of apostles and missionaries, who proclaim The Good News throughout the World.

English: Saint Lawrence Chapel, Choir Stalls, 

Basilica of Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls, Rome.

Français : Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Vatican,

située à Rome, Latium, Italie. Chapelle de Saint-Laurent.

Photo: 18 September 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

Finally, as Our Lord finished His life by the sacrifice of The Calvary, soon to be followed by the triumph of His resurrection, so The Church, at the end of time, will seem to be conquered like her Divine Head upon The Cross, while yet it is she to whom the victory will belong.

“The Body of Christ, which is The Church”, says Saint Augustine, “like the human body, was at first young, but, at the end of the World, will have an appearance of decline”. [Editor: Explanations of Psalm xxvi.]

The Feasts of The Saints are expecially numerous in The Time After Pentecost, which is the longest of The Church’s seasons [Editor: It may extend from 10 May to 3 December], and which is also, in a special sense, The Cycle of The Saints.

Mention will be made here of The Feasts of all The Saints in the Calendar. Those marked with an asterisk are in The First List in The Canon of The Mass and those with two asterisks are in The Second List.

After calling to our minds **Saint John the Baptist, whose birth and martyrdom are commemorated on 24 June and 29 August, respectively, and **Saint Stephen, The First Martyr, 26 December; The Holy Innocents, 28 December, The Church, by keeping The Feasts of The Apostles, makes The Apostolic Age live again, year by year:

*Saint Peter, 29 June.

*Saint Paul, 29 June and 30 June.

*Saint Andrew, 30 November.

*Saint James the Great, 25 July.

*Saint John the Evangelist, 27 December.

*Saint Thomas, 21 December.

*Saint James the Less, 1 May.

*Saint Philip, 1 May.

*Saint Bartholomew, 24 August.

*Saint Matthew, 21 September.

*Saint Simon, 28 October.

*Saint Thaddeus (or Saint Jude), 28 October.

Next, The Feasts of those Saints whom The Holy Ghost, Himself, chose by lot, one to fill the place of Judas and the other to share in Saint Paul’s work:

**Saint Matthias, 24 February.

**Saint Barnabas, 11 June.

Part Two Follows.