Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Friday 26 July 2013

Pope Saint Pius X. Pope Of The Blessed Sacrament. (Part Five).


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.




Deutsch: Papst Pius X. (eigentlich Giuseppe Sarto,
* 2. Juni 1835 in Riese (Provinz Treviso);
† 20. August 1914 in Rom) war als Nachfolger Leo XIII.
Papst von 1903 bis 1914.
English: Pope Saint Pius X, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto,
(2 June 1835 - 20 August 1914)
was Pope from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII.
Français: Pape Pie X, né Giuseppe Sarto à Riese (Italie)
le 2 juin 1835 - mort à Rome, au Vatican le 20 août 1914),
succéda le 4 août 1903 à Léon XIII, et fut suivi par le Pape Benoît XV.
Italiano: Papa Pio X, al secolo Giuseppe Sarto
(Riese, 2 giugno 1835 - Roma, Vaticano, 20 agosto 1914),
succedette il 4 agosto 1903 a Leone XIII.
Português do Brasil: Papa São Pio X.
Photo: 22 October 2011.
Source: Vaticano.
Author: Não sei.
This image (or other media file)
is in the public domain
because its Copyright has expired.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Pope Pius X reversed the accommodating approach of Pope Leo XIII towards secular governments, appointing Rafael Merry del Val as Cardinal Secretary of State (Rafael Merry del Val would later have his own cause opened for Canonisation in 1953, but still has not been beatified). When the French President, Émile Loubet, visited the Italian Monarch, Victor Emmanuel III (1900–46), Pope Pius X, still refusing to accept the annexation of the Papal Territories by Italy, reproached the French President for this visit and refused to meet him. This led to a diplomatic break with France and, in 1905, France issued a Law of Separation, which separated Church and State, and which the Pope denounced. The effect of this separation was the Church’s loss of its government funding in France. Two French Bishops were removed by the Vatican for recognising the Third Republic. Eventually, France expelled the Jesuits and broke off diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

The Pope adopted a similar position toward secular governments in other parts of the world: In Portugal, Ireland, Poland, Ethiopia, and a number of other States with large Catholic populations. His actions and statements against international relations with Italy angered the secular powers of these countries, as well as a few others, like England and Russia. In Ulster, Protestants were increasingly worried that a proposed Home Rule Ireland, run by Catholics inspired by Pius X, would result in Rome Rule.


File:Rafael Merry del Val.jpg


English: His Eminence, the Most Reverend Lord Rafael María José, 
Cardinal Merry del Val y de Zulueta.
Appointed by Pope Pius X as Cardinal Secretary of State.
Français: Son Excellence Monseigneur Merry Del Val.
Photo: 1897.
Source: This image is available from Library and Archives Canada 
under the reproduction reference number PA-028855 
and under the MIKAN ID number 3357232.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In 1908, the Papal Decree, Ne Temere, came into effect, which complicated mixed marriages. Marriages not performed by a Roman Catholic Priest were declared legal but Sacramentally invalid, worrying some Protestants that the Church would counsel separation for couples married in a Protestant Church or by civil service. 

Priests were given discretion to refuse to perform mixed marriages or lay conditions upon them, commonly including a requirement that the children be raised Roman Catholic. The Decree proved particularly divisive in Ireland, which has a large Protestant minority, contributing indirectly to the subsequent political conflict there and requiring debates in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

As secular authority challenged that of the Papacy, Pope Pius X became more aggressive. He suspended the Opera dei Congressi, which co-ordinated the work of Catholic Associations in Italy, as well as condemning Le Sillon, a French Social Movement, that tried to reconcile the Church with liberal political views. He also opposed trades unions that were not exclusively Catholic.

Pope Pius X partially lifted Decrees prohibiting Italian Catholics from voting; however, he never recognised the Italian Government.


File:Nicholas II, Tsar.jpg


Issued a Decree promising religious freedom for the Catholic Church.
This File: 29 May 2013.
Source: File:Nicholas II in Spala.jpg
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Initially, Pope Pius X maintained his prisoner in the Vatican stance, but, with the rise of Socialism, he began to allow the Non Expedit to be relaxed. In 1905, in his Encyclical, Il Fermo Proposito, he allowed Catholics to vote, when they were "help[ing] the maintenance of Social order" by voting for Deputies who were not Socialist.

Under Pope Pius X, the traditionally difficult situation of Polish Catholics in Russia did not improve. Although Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issued a Decree, 22 February 1903, promising religious freedom for the Catholic Church, and, in 1905, promulgated a Constitution, which included religious freedom, the Russian Orthodox Church felt threatened and insisted on stiff interpretations. Papal Decrees were not permitted and contacts with the Vatican remained outlawed.

In 1908, Pope Pius X lifted the United States out of its Missionary status, in recognition of the growth of the American Church. Fifteen new Dioceses were created in the U.S. during his Pontificate, and he named two American Cardinals. He was very popular among American Catholics, partly due to his poor background, which made him be seen as an ordinary person who was on the Papal Throne.


File:T Roosevelt.jpg


Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States.
Was refused an Audience by Pope Pius X.
Date: Copyright 1915.
Source: This image is available from the United States 
Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs 
division under the digital ID cph.3f06209.
Author: Pach Brothers (photography studio).
(Wikimedia Commons)


In 1910, the Pope refused an Audience with former Vice-President, Charles W. Fairbanks, who had addressed the Methodist Association in Rome, as well as with former President, Theodore Roosevelt, who intended to address the same Association.

On 8 July 1914, Pope Pius X approved the request of Cardinal James Gibbons to invoke the Patronage of the Immaculate Conception for the construction site of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

Other than the stories of Miracles performed through the Pope's intercession after his death, there are also stories of Miracles performed by the Pope during his lifetime. On one occasion, during a Papal Audience, Pope Pius X was holding a paralyzed child, who wriggled free from his arms and then ran around the room. On another occasion, a couple (who had made Confession to him while he was Bishop of Mantua), with a two-year-old child with meningitis, wrote to the Pope and the Pope then wrote back to them to hope and Pray. Two days later, the child was cured.

Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini (later Archbishop of Palermo) had visited the Pope, after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and the Pope had told him to go back to the Seminary and that he would be fine. Ruffini gave this story to the investigators of the Pontiff's cause for canonisation.


PART SIX FOLLOWS.


Thursday 25 July 2013

Domine Jesu Christe. Offertorium. Missa Pro Defunctis. Requiem Mass. The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz Abbey, Austria.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


File:Heiligenkreuz06.jpg


Trinity Column and Church at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, 
near Baden bei Wien, Austria.
Photo: 21 June 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Georges Jansoone.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Heiligenkreuz Abbey (Stift Heiligenkreuz, Closter Heiligen Kreuz or Santa Crux) is a Cistercian Monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the Southern part of the Vienna Woods, 13 km North-West of Baden, in Lower Austria. It is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian Monastery in the world.




Image: Google Images.




Domine Jesu Christe.
The Offertory.
Requiem Mass.
The Cistercian Monks 
of Stift, Heiligenkreuz,
Austria.
Available on YouTube at


Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriæ,
libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
de pœnis inferni et de profundo lacu.
Libera eas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum;
sed signifer sanctus Michael
repræsentet eas in lucem sanctam,
quam olim Abrahæ promisisti et semini eius.


Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory,
free the Souls of all the Faithful departed
from infernal punishment and the deep pit.
Free them from the mouth of the lion;
do not let Tartarus swallow them,
nor let them fall into darkness;
but may the standard-bearer Saint Michael,
lead them into the Holy Light,
which you once promised to Abraham and his seed.


Wednesday 24 July 2013

Vimy Ridge. Beaumont-Hamel. Delville Wood. Neuve-Chapelle. Villers-Bretonneux. Pozières. Messines Ridge. The Somme. Do Not Forget Them.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

It is 97 years ago, this month, that the Battle of the Somme began. This Article is dedicated to every soldier who took part in the Battle of The Somme. Please say a Prayer for them all. 
May they Rest in Peace.

Do Not Forget Them.




Illustration: Labour Uncut at


List of Commonwealth War Graves Commission World War I Memorials to the Missing in Belgium and France.

Some Memorials were organised by nation, rather than by battlefield. United Kingdom and South African forces are named on the Memorials designated for the areas where they fell. The South African national Memorial, at Delville Wood, has no names inscribed on it, as the names are listed on the battlefield Memorials, instead. 

The other Commonwealth nations have national Memorials, dedicated to their missing, who fell on the Western Front: The Neuve-Chapelle Memorial to the forces of India; the Vimy Memorial to the forces of Canada and the Beaumont-Hamel Memorial to the forces of Newfoundland; the Villers–Bretonneux Memorial to the forces of Australia; and the Messines Ridge Memorial to the forces of New Zealand (the latter is one of seven Memorials on the Western Front dedicated to New Zealanders).


File:Beaumont hamel newfoundland memorial.jpg


Royal Newfoundland Regiment Memorial in Beaumont-Hamel. 
The Caribou Memorial is overlooking the ground across which 
the Royal Newfoundland Regiment advanced on 1 July 1916.
Photo: 25 April 2004.
Originally uploaded to EN Wikipedia as 
by en:User:Jcmurphy 30 April 2005.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Battle of the Somme was the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's first-ever major engagement, and, during an assault that lasted approximately 30 minutes, the Regiment was all but wiped out. 
800 men lined up to go "Over The Top". 
Thirty minutes later, sixty-seven remained alive. 

Purchased in 1921 by the people of Newfoundland, the Memorial site is the largest Battalion Memorial on the Western Front, and the largest area of the Somme battlefield that has been preserved. Along with preserved trench lines, there are a number of Memorials and cemeteries contained within the site.


File:Newfoundland soldiers 1916.jpg


Royal Newfoundland Regiment soldiers in St. John's Road support trench, 1 July, 1916.
This picture was taken before the start of the attack, 1 July, 1916.
Courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador 
(PANL NA-3105), St. John's, Newfoundland 




A Video, in memory of all those who gave their lives 
during the First World War.
This Video features real footage from The Somme.
Available on YouTube at


The missing war dead of Ireland, at the time of the War still part of the United Kingdom, are numbered among the UK forces (as were English, Scottish and Welsh troops) and listed with them on the Memorials. The main Memorials to the Irish War Dead, both in Belgium, are the Ulster Tower and the Island of Ireland Peace Park, unveiled in 1921, and 1998, respectively.


File:Ghosts of Vimy Ridge.jpeg


"Ghosts of Vimy Ridge" depicts ghosts of the Canadian Corps 
on Vimy Ridge, surrounding the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
Date: 1931.
Source: Canadian House of Commons Collection, (AN: O-4714) [1].
(Wikimedia Commons)




Video of a visit to The Somme
to erect a Memorial to the three fallen 
Leyton Orient (Clapton Orient) footballers.
Video includes visits to Beaumont-Hamel, Vimy Ridge, 
Delville Wood, Thiepval Memorial and Flers.
Available on YouTube at


The Battle of Pozières was a two-week struggle for the French village of Pozières and the ridge on which it stands, during the middle stages of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Though British Divisions were involved in most phases of the fighting, Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle.

The fighting ended with the Allied forces in possession of the plateau, North and East of the village, and in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear. However, the cost had been enormous, and in the words of Australian official historian, Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."


File:Road to Pozieres August 1916 (AWM EZ0084).jpg


View of the Somme battlefield: The road to Pozières, 1 August 1916.
The view is North, towards the village of Contalmaison, which is being shelled by the Germans.
Australian troops, from the I Anzac Corps, passed along this route to the fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm between July and September 1916.
Date: 1 August 1916.
Credit: British Official Photographer.
This image is available from the Collection Database 
of the Australian War Memorial under the ID Number: EZ0084.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:Villers-Bretonneux mémorial australien (tour et croix) 1.jpg


English: The Australian Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, France.
Français: Villers-Bretonneux (Somme, France). 
La croix du cimetière militaire et la tour du Mémorial National Australien.
Photo: April 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Markus3 (Marc ROUSSEL).
(Wikimedia Commons)




The De Profundis.
Psalm 129.
By Orlando de Lassus.
Taken from the 
Prayers for the Dead.
Available on YouTube at


De Profundis

Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord !
      Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive
      To the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark iniquities,
      Lord, who shall endureth ?
For with the Lord there is merciful forgiveness,
      And by reason of Thy law I have waited upon Thee, O Lord.
My Soul doth rely on His word:
      My Soul doth hope in the Lord.
From the Morning Watch, even unto night,
      Let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy,
      And with Him plentiful redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel,
      From all his iniquities.

V. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.


De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine:
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes:
In vocem deprecationis meae.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine:
Domine, quis sustinebit ?
Quia apud te propitiatio est:
Et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus:
Speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem:
Speret Israel in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia:
Et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel,
Ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.

V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis.


De Profundis
("Out of the depths").

The first words of Psalm 129. The author of this Psalm is unknown; it was composed probably during the Babylonian Exile, or perhaps for the Day of Penance prescribed by Esdras (Ezra 9:5-10).

The hard school of suffering, during the Exile, had brought the people to the confession of their guilt, and had kindled in their hearts Faith and Hope of the Redeemer and confidence in the Mercy of God.

The De Profundis is one of the fifteen Gradual Psalms, which were sung by the Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, and which are still contained in the Roman Breviary. It is also one of the Seven Penitential Psalms, which, in the East and the West, were already used as such by the Early Christians.

In the Divine Office, the De Profundis is sung every Wednesday at Vespers, and also at Second Vespers of Christmas; the words "Apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud eum redemptio" reminding us of the mercy of the Father, Who sent His Son for the redemption of mankind.

It is also used in the Ferial Prayers of Lauds and in the Office of the Dead at Vespers.

The Church recites this Psalm principally in her Prayers for the Dead: It is the Psalm of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, the words of the Psalmist applying well to the longing and sighing of the Souls exiled from Heaven.

It is recited at funerals by the Priest, before the corpse is taken out of the house to the Church.




Hymn To The Fallen.
Available on YouTube at






Litaniae Sanctorum. Litany Of The Saints.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.




Saint Anthony of Padua
with the Infant Jesus.
Illustration from 

Picayune, Mississippi, United States of America, at



The Litany of the Saints (Latin: Litaniae Sanctorum) is a formal Prayer of the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, some Anglican Churches, and Western Rite Orthodox communities. It is a Prayer to the Triune God, which also includes invocations for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and all the Martyrs and Saints, upon whom Christianity was founded, and those recognised as Saints through the subsequent history of the Church.

Following the invocation of the Saints, the Litany concludes with a series of Supplications to God to hear the Prayers of the worshippers. It is most prominently sung during the Easter Vigil, during the Forty Hours' Devotion (Quarant’Ore) and in the Liturgy for conferring Holy Orders.




Illustration from the Web-Site of




Litaniae Sanctorum
(Litany of the Saints).
Available on YouTube at


Tuesday 23 July 2013

Reform Of The Roman Breviary, Pope Saint Pius X, With The Apostolic Constitution "Divino Afflatu" Of 1 November 1911.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.



Picture of Pope Saint Pius X on page of 
Catholic Missions for Germany and Austria-Hungary, 
in Freiburg in Breisgau.
Date: October 1903.
Source: File scanned from Zeitung Die katholischen Missionen, Illustrierte Monatsschrift.
Author: Einige Priester der Gesellschaft Jesu, Freiburg in Breisgau.
Permission: Common domain because it is more than 100 years old.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Reform of the Roman Breviary, by Pope Pius X, was promulgated by that Pope with the Apostolic Constitution "Divino Afflatu" of 1 November 1911.

An Apostolic Constitution (Latin Constitutio Apostolica) is the highest level of Decree issued by the Pope. The use of the term Constitution comes from Latin Constitutio, which referred to any important law issued by the Roman Emperor, and is retained in Church documents because of the inheritance that the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church received from Roman Law.

By their nature, Apostolic Constitutions are addressed to the public. Generic constitutions use the title Apostolic Constitution, and treat on solemn matters of the Church, such as the promulgation of laws or definitive teachings. The forms Dogmatic Constitution and Pastoral Constitution are titles sometimes used to be more descriptive as to the document's purpose.

Apostolic Constitutions are issued as Papal Bulls, due to their solemn, public form. The next highest category, after an Apostolic Constitution, is an Encyclical Letter.


File:Francesco di Antonio del Chierico - Leaf from Breviary - Walters W334152V - Open Reverse.jpg

Leaf from a Breviary.
Artist: Francesco di Antonio del Chierico (1433–1484),
Italian Manuscript Illuminator.
Date: Third -Quarter 15th-Century (Renaissance).
Current location: Walters Art Museum
Baltimore, United States of America.
Source/Photographer: Walters Art Museum.
Permission: The permission to use this work has been archived in the Wikimedia OTRS system. It is available as ticket #2012021710000834 for users with an OTRS account. If you wish to reuse this work elsewhere, please read the instructions at COM:REUSE. If you are a Commons user and wish to confirm the permission, please leave a note at the OTRS noticeboard.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Roman Breviary is the title of the book obligatorily used for celebrating the Roman Rite Divine Office from the revision of Pope Pius V (Apostolic Constitution Quod a nobis, 9 July 1568) to that by Pope Paul VI (Apostolic Constitution Canticum laudis, 1 November 1970).

A minor matter was the printing, in a separate section, called the "Ordinary", of those parts of the Psalter that were to be recited frequently, perhaps several times in the same day, such as the Invitatory, Hymns for the Seasons, Blessings, Absolutions, Chapters, Suffrages, the Lord's Prayer, Benedictus, Magnificat, Te Deum etc.

Much more radical was a completely new arrangement of the Psalms, distributing them or, when too long, dividing them, so as to have approximately the same number of Verses in each day's Office. The length of the Offices of the Breviary were reduced (for example, Matins went from eighteen Psalms recited on Sundays and twelve on Ferial Days, to nine Psalms or parts of Psalms, never more, with the result of reaching a fairly equal number of Verses for each day - between 360 and 497 - whereas the former Office of Saturday contained 792, and that of Sunday, 721).

This change, made with a view to restoring the original use of the Liturgy, which provided for the Chant or recitation of the entire Psalter each week, and the accompanying changes in the rubrics concerning the precedence between Saints' Days and the Sunday and Ferial Offices, was meant to remedy the situation whereby the multiplication of Saints' Days had made celebration of Sundays and Ferias, and consequently of certain Psalms, very rare.

With the reform, the Psalter was once again recited integrally each week without suppressing the Feasts of Saints; the proper Liturgy of Sundays and weekdays was restored; the readings of Holy Scripture, "Proper" to the Seasons of the year, were Privileged.


File:Benedictus XV.jpg


English: Pope Benedict XV.
Français: Photo de Benoît XV prise vers 1915.
Date: Circa 1915.
Source: Library of Congress.
Author: Unknown. See Source for details.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Benedict XV modified the "Typical Edition" of the Roman Missal (Missale Romanum), in 1920, to accommodate the changes made by Pope Saint Pius X.


Each day, therefore, had its own Psalms, as arranged in the new Psalter, except certain Feast Days, about 125 in number, viz., all those of Christ and their Octaves, the Sundays within the Octaves of the Nativity, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Vigil of the Epiphany, and the day after the Octave of the Ascension, when the Office is of these days; the Vigil of the Nativity from Lauds to None and the Vigil of Pentecost; all the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin, of the Angels, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Joseph, and the Apostles, as well as Doubles of the First-Class and Second-Class and their entire Octaves. 

The Office for the last three days of Holy Week remained unchanged, except that the Psalms for Lauds were from the corresponding days of the week in the Psalter, and, for Compline, those of Sunday. For all other Feasts and for Ferias in Eastertide, the Psalms were those of the new Psalter, while the rest of the Office was from the "Proper" or "Common". 

When a Feast has special Antiphons for any of the Major Hours, it retained them with its own Psalms. Except for certain Feasts, the Lessons of the First Nocturn were to be the current Lessons from Scripture, though the Responsories were to be taken from the "Common" or "Proper". Any Feast that had its own Proper Lessons retained them; for Feasts with their own Responsories, those with the Common Lessons were to be read.

Pope Pius X ordered that these changes, proposed by a Committee of Liturgists appointed by him, and adopted by the Congregation of Rites, be put into effect, at latest, on 1 January 1913.


File:Bartolomeo Passarotti - Portrait of Pope Pius V - Walters 37453.jpg


Pope Saint Pius V.
Artist: Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529–1592).
Date: Circa 1566 (Renaissance).
Current location: Walters Art Museum
Baltimore, United States of America.
Source/Photographer: Walters Art Museum.
Permission: The permission to use this work has been archived in the Wikimedia OTRS system. It is available as ticket #2012021710000834 for users with an OTRS account. If you wish to reuse this work elsewhere, please read the instructions at COM:REUSE. If you are a Commons user and wish to confirm the permission, please leave a note at the OTRS noticeboard.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The aging, enthroned Pope turns toward the viewer, while making the sign of Blessing with his right hand. Pope Saint Pius V (1566-1572) belonged to the Ghislieri family, and on the top of the back of the throne is his family's Coat of Arms, crowned by the Papal Tiara and the Keys of Saint Peter, a symbol of the Papacy's descent from Christ's Apostle. 

Through the Apostolic Constitution, Divino afflatu, by which Pope Pius X promulgated his Revision of the Roman Breviary, he abolished the Psalter established by his predecessor, Pope Pius V.


By the motu proprio "Ab hinc duos annos" of 23 October 1913, Pope Pius X added to his Reform of 1 November 1911: No Feast was to be fixed to a Sunday, except the Holy Name of Jesus and the Blessed Trinity - later, the Feasts of the Holy Family and of Christ the King would be added. The Octaves were equally Simplified.

These changes made it necessary to modify the Roman Missal, also. This was effected in the 1920 "Typical Edition" of the Missal, promulgated by Pope Pius X's successor, Pope Benedict XV.

Through the Apostolic Constitution, Divino afflatu, by which Pope Pius X promulgated his Revision of the Roman Breviary, he abolished the Psalter established by his predecessor, Pope Pius V, and forbade its use, declaring that those who were obliged to recite the Divine Office, every day, failed to fulfil this grave duty unless they used the new arrangement.

The wording of his Apostolic Constitution echoed closely that of his predecessor's Quod a nobis, promulgating the Tridentine Roman Breviary, and also the same predecessor's Quo Primum, promulgating the Tridentine Roman Missal. It included the paragraph: "This we publish, declare, sanction, decreeing that these our letters always are and shall be valid and effective, notwithstanding Apostolic Constitutions and ordinances, general and special, and everything else whatsoever to the contrary. Wherefore, let nobody infringe or temerariously oppose this page of our abolition, revocation, permission, ordinance, precept, statue, indult, mandate and will. But if anybody shall presume to attempt this let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of his Apostles the Blessed Peter and Paul.

Quod a nobis concluded with: Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam Nostrae ablationis, abolitionis, permissionis, praecepti, statuti, indulti, mandati, decreti, relaxationis, cohortationis, prohibitionis, innodationis, et voluntatis infringere, vel ei ausu temerario contraire. Si qui autem hoc attentare praesumpserit, indignationem omnipotentis Dei, ac beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum eius se noverit incursurum.



Psalm 150.
Another point, controversial at the time of Pope Pius X's Breviary reforms, 
was the suppression of the immemorial and universally held usage 
of reciting Psalms 148, 149, and 150 at the end of Lauds, daily.
Available on YouTube at

An Article, published in the September 2003 issue of "The Angelus", associated with the Society of Saint Pius X, remarks: "The distribution of the Psalms in Saint Pius X's Breviary was entirely new. It only partially took into account the ancient tradition of the Church, for example, abandoning the number of twelve Psalms at Matins, a number consecrated by a tradition going back to the Desert Fathers and expressly codified in the Rule of Saint Benedict. Another point, controversial at the time, was the suppression of the immemorial and universally held usage of reciting Psalms 148, 149, and 150 at the end of Lauds, daily. This amounts to saying that the Breviary of Pius X did not have so much in common with that of his predecessor and that Clerics were significantly unsettled in their habits ! "

To correspond to the new Psalms, the Antiphonary of the Traditional Roman Office was also almost completely overhauled, as well. Pre-1911, there were 141 unique Antiphons in the Psalter. Post-1911, there were 220. Only sixty-two Antiphons were recognisably the same, and several of these added words or removed them. Many of the overlapping ones were those for the special Seasons (Advent, Lent, Passiontide), not for the per annum (Ordinary Time) Ferias. Thus, seventy-nine Antiphons of the Pre-1911 Breviary were removed, and 158 unique to the Post-1911 Breviary introduced.

Monday 22 July 2013

Saint Mary Magdalen. Apostle To The Apostles. Magnificat Antiphon; Inclita Sancte Marie Magdalene (Sarum Plainchant).


Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal is obtainable from:
Carmel Books, Blackford House, Andover Road, Highclere, 
Newbury, Berkshire, England RG20 9PF. Tel: (01635 255340).
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com 


Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

22 July.
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalen.
Penitent.

Double.
White Vestments.

Zephyrinus wishes a Happy Patronal Feast Day to Fr. Ray Blake and his Parishioners at St. Mary Magdalen, Brighton, Sussex. 

Why not visit his Blog, FR. RAY BLAKE'S BLOG, at http://marymagdalen.blogspot.co.uk/ and wish Fr. Blake and his Parishioners a Happy Patronal Feast Day.


File:Wüger Kreuzigung.jpg


English: Mary Magdalene, kneeling, distraught, 
within Stabat Mater sceneby Gabriel Wuger, 1868.
Deutsch: Entstanden 1868 in Rom für Kardinal von Mecheln, 
von Abt Maurus Wolter für Beuron erworben, 
dort bis in die 1960er Jahre in der Klosterkirche, jetzt im Konvent.
Artist: Gabriel Wüger (1829–1892).
Date: 1868.
(Wikimedia Commons)


When He gave the Holy Ghost to the Apostles, Jesus had told them to remit sins, as He had done, and, today, the Liturgy recalls the ever-memorable example of the Saviour's mercy towards repentant sinners.

Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, was of Madala, in Galilee, whence her name of Madalen. She was a sinner.

Touched by Grace, she threw herself at the feet of the Saviour. Simon the Pharisee, scandalised, would have repelled her, like the haughty men mentioned  by the Prophet, Isaias, who says: "Away from me, approach me not, for I am pure [Eighth Lesson at Matins]."




Magnificat Antiphon; 
Inclita Sancte Marie Magdalene 
(Sarum Plainchant).
The Choir Of Magdalen College, 
Oxford.
Available on YouTube at


Jesus, on the contrary, "defends her against the calumnies of the proud" (Communion). Admiring the work of Divine Grace in this Soul "henceforth attentive to His commandments, whilst sinful men would still have her fall into sin" (Introit), He mercifully "accepts the offer of her service" (Secret), and secures to her for ever a place of honour in His Royal Court (Offertory).

Repentance has transformed her love. "Because she had loved much, many sins are forgiven her" (Gospel). Indeed, it was at her Prayer that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (Collect). And when, after the Crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present in greatest sorrow and weariness, she seeks, like the spouse in the Canticle (Epistle), where they have laid her Divine Lord; Christ calls her by name and commands her to announce His Resurrection to the Disciples. Wherefore, the Creed is recited on this day as in the Masses of the Apostles.

Following the example of Magdalen, which, according to the Fathers, represents the service of the Church towards Jesus, let us, in a spirit of love and repentance, pour out the treasure of our praises to Jesus, present in the Holy Eucharist (Secret); let us surround Him on the Altar, in a spirit of Faith, which does not fear the Pharisaic scandal, with all the splendour which becomes the House of God.


Zephyrinus warmly commends the following Article, on the Feast Day of Saint Mary Magdalen, Apostle To The Apostles, to all Readers. 


It can be found at CRISIS MAGAZINE at 

St. Mary Magdalene

by Ben Akers

“How beautiful […] are the feet of him who brings the gospel.” 

Isaiah 52:7



Messe De Nostre Dame. Guillaume De Machaut (1300 - 1377). Cistercian Abbey of Le Thoronet, Var, France.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Note: Messe De Nostre Dame is correct. 14th-Century French said "Nostre Dame",
unlike modern-day French, which says "Notre Dame".


File:Cloître de l'abbaye cistercienne du Thoronet (Var).jpg


English: Cloister of the Cistercian Abbey of Le Thoronet, Var, France.
Français: Cloître de l'abbaye du Thoronet, Var, France.
Photo: 14 June 2005.
Author: Alain Bourque (http://www.flickr.com/people/zboula/).
(Wikimedia Commons)

Le Thoronet Abbey (French: L'abbaye du Thoronet) is a former Cistercian Abbey, built in the Late-12th-Century and Early-13th-Century, now restored as a museum. It is sited between the towns of Draguignan and Brignoles in the Var Départment of Provence, in South-East France. It is one of the three Cistercian Abbeys in Provence, along with the Sénanque Abbey and Silvacane Abbey, that, together, are known as "the Three Sisters of Provence."

Le Thoronet Abbey is one of the best examples of the spirit of the Cistercian Order. Even the acoustics of the Church imposed a certain discipline upon the Monks. Because of the stone walls, which created a long echo, the Monks were forced to sing slowly and perfectly together. The Abbey is fundamentally connected to its site, and is an exceptional example of spirituality and philosophy transformed into architecture. It is distinguished, like other Cistercian Abbeys, by its purity, harmony, and lack of decoration or ornament.


File:Guillaume de Machaut-Oeuvres.jpg


A page from a manuscript of the poet and composer, Guillaume de Machaut
showing the three-part Rondeau Dame, mon cuer en vous remaint 
Picture from library of Congress web page [1].
Original manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fons français, 1586.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Guillaume de Machaut (sometimes spelled Machault) (circa 1300 – April, 1377) was a Mediaeval French poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers on whom significant biographical information is available. According to Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, Machaut was "the last great poet who was also a composer". Well into the 15th-Century, Machaut's poetry was greatly admired and imitated by other poets, including Geoffrey Chaucer.

Machaut composed in a wide range of styles and forms. He is a part of the musical movement known as the ars nova. Machaut helped develop the motet and secular song forms (particularly the lai and the formes fixesrondeau, virelai and ballade). Machaut wrote the Messe de Nostre Dame, the earliest known complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass attributable to a single composer.




Messe de Nostre Dame.
Guillaume de Machaut
(1300 - 1377).
Performed at the Cistercian Abbey
of Le Thoronet (Var, France)
Available on YouTube at


Guillaume de Machaut was born circa 1300 and educated in the region around Rheims. Though his surname most likely derives from the nearby town of Machault, 30 km East of Rheims in the Ardennes region, most scholars believe his birthplace was, in fact, Rheims.


File:Thoronet Cloister and Tower.JPG


Cloister and Tower of Le Thoronet Abbey, 
Provence, France.
Photo: December 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: SiefkinDR.
(Wikimedia Commons)


He was employed as secretary to John I, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, from 1323 to 1346 and also became a Canon (1337). He often accompanied King John on his various trips, many of them military expeditions around Europe (including Prague). He was named the Canon of Verdun in 1330, Arras in 1332, and Rheims in 1337. By 1340, Machaut was living in Rheims, having relinquished his other Canonic posts at the request of Pope Benedict XII.


File:Le Thoronet cloître 56.JPG


English: Cloisters of Le Thoronet Abbey, Var, France.
Deutsch: Ehemaliges Zisterzienserkloster Le Thoronet im Département Var 
in der französischen Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Kreuzgang.
Photo: 19 September 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: GFreihalter.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In 1346, King John was killed fighting at the Battle of Crécy, and Machaut, who was famous and much in demand, entered the service of various other aristocrats and rulers, including King John's daughter Bonne (who died of the Black Death in 1349), her sons Jean de Berry and Charles (later Charles V, Duke of Normandy), and others, such as Charles II of Navarre.


File:Abbaye du Thoronet.jpg


The Chapter House, Le Thoronet Abbey, Var, France, 
where the Monks met daily.
This building is classé au titre des Monuments Historiques. It is indexed 
in the Base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage 
maintained by the French Ministry of Culture
under the reference PA00081747.
Photo: 31 July 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Katty Castellat.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Machaut survived the Black Death that devastated Europe and spent his later years living in Rheims composing and supervising the creation of his complete-works manuscripts. His poem Le voir dit (probably 1361–1365) purports to recount a late love affair with a 19-year-old girl, Péronne d'Armentières, although the accuracy of the work as autobiography is contested. When he died in 1377, other composers such as François Andrieu wrote elegies lamenting his death.


File:Machaut 1.jpg


Machaut (at right) receiving Nature and three of her children. 
From an illuminated Parisian manuscript of the 1350s.
Guillaume de Machaut as shown in a French miniature of the 14th-Century, 
"An allegorical scene in which Nature offers Machaut 
three of her children - Sense, Rhetoric, and Music."
image itself from http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/machaut_pic.html [does not work]
(Wikimedia Commons)


O Sacrum Convivium. Olivier Messiaen.


Text and Illustration from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


File:Olivier Messiaen 1946.jpg


Photo: 1946.
Permission: Fair use.
Author: Unknown.


Olivier Messiaen, 10 December, 1908 – 27 April, 1992, was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th-Century. His music is rhythmically complex (he was interested in rhythms from ancient Greek and from Hindu sources); harmonically and melodically, it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations. Messiaen also drew on his deeply-held Roman Catholicism.

He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, such as Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. He said he perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords, particularly those built from his modes (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia); combinations of these colours, he said, were important in his compositional process. For a short period, Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many exotic musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works). He was one of the first composers to use an electronic keyboard — in this case, the ondes Martenot— in an orchestral work.

Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice EmmanuelCharles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris in 1931, a post held until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. On the Fall of France, in 1940, Messiaen was made a prisoner of war, during which time he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four available instruments — piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards.




O Sacrum Convivium
by Olivier Messiaen.
Available on YouTube at


He was appointed professor of harmony, soon after his release in 1941, and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Pierre BoulezKarlheinz Stockhausen and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.

He found birdsong fascinating, believed birds to be the greatest musicians, and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated bird songs worldwide and incorporated birdsong transcriptions in to most of his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.


Sunday 21 July 2013

Mulier Fortis Is Posting On Cricket. Again.


File:Pollock to Hussey.jpg


Michael Hussey takes on a delivery from Shaun Pollock 
on the second day of the Australia v South Africa
Boxing Day Test Match in Melbourne. (26 December 2005).
This image was originally posted to Flickr by ~Prescott at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ppym1/87330394/
Author: Prescott.
(Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia)


Now that the English Summer has finally arrived, and all the rain has gone, MULIER FORTIS is again Posting on the Cricket scene, currently England versus Australia (The Ashes Series).

Why not pop over and catch up on the situation concerning the state of play ?

For those Readers of MULIER FORTIS who are somewhat confused about The Laws Of Cricket (NEVER The Rules Of Cricket), Zephyrinus, herewith, gives an overview, which may prove helpful.


THE "INS AND OUTS" OF CRICKET.

You have two sides,
One out in the field,
And one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in,
Goes out,
And when he's out,
He comes in,
And the next man goes in,
Until he's out.

When they are all out,
The side that's out,
Comes in,
And the side that's been in,
Goes out,
And tries to get out,
Those coming in.

Sometimes,
You get men still in,
And not out.

When both sides have been in and out,
Including the Not Outs,
The winner is declared . . .

If there is one.

Howzat !!!

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