Roman Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations and Captions taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
English: Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860.
Deutsch: Holzschnitt aus "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860.
Français: Gravure en bois pour «Die Bibel in Bildern», 1860.
Date: 1851-1860.
Source: Die Bibel in Bildern.
Author: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794–1872).
Permission: Reproduction of a painting that is in the public domain because of its age.
This File: 13 December 2008.
User: McLeod.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Feast of the Ascension was formerly not distinguished from Pentecost, because Paschaltide was regarded as a single Feast Day, beginning at Easter and ending with the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles.
Before long, the Ascension was kept on the fortieth day after the Resurrection, having its own Vigil and Octave. It is now a Holy Day of Obligation (this Edition of The Saint Andrew Daily Missal is dated 1945) [the Holy Day of Obligation was removed by the Bishops of England and Wales, when they transferred the Feast Day to the following Sunday].
While they looked on, He was raised up.
Illustration and Caption available at the web-site of
Una Voce of Orange County,
980 Dorothea Rd., La Habra Hts. CA 90631,
California, United States of America.
Phone: (562) 691-5246. E-mail: president@uvoc.org
Website: www. uvoc.org
and taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition,
and reproduced with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press
Una Voce of Orange County,
980 Dorothea Rd., La Habra Hts. CA 90631,
California, United States of America.
Phone: (562) 691-5246. E-mail: president@uvoc.org
Website: www. uvoc.org
and taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition,
and reproduced with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press
The symbolic ceremony, peculiar to this Feast, is the final extinction of the Paschal Candle, whose light, during these Holy Forty Days, has represented the presence of Our Lord in the midst of His disciples. It is extinguished after the reading of the Ascension Gospel, which speaks to us of Our Blessed Lord's departure into Heaven.
The White Vestments and the Alleluia, "that drop of the supreme rejoicing," says Rupert [Benedictine Monk, originally from Liege, Belgium, Abbot of Deutz Monastery, near Cologne, Germany, died in 1135], "which thrills through Jerusalem, above," betrays the joy felt by the Church at the memory of Our Lord's triumph , at the thought of the happiness of the Angels and the Just Men of the Old Law, who share it, and of the expectation of the Holy Ghost, who will make her to join in it, herself.
The spirit of this Feast is emphasised in the Collect, which shows us that having, with the Liturgical Cycle, followed Our Lord through the whole course of His life, we must lift our gaze towards Heaven, and dwell there by Faith and Hope, for it is the true fatherland of God's children.
