Our Lady Of The Seven Sorrows.

Friday in Passion Week.

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

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), 

and

The Sorrowful Mother, or Mother of Sorrows, (Latin: Mater Dolorosa, at times just Dolorosa),

and

Our Lady of The Seven Sorrows, or Our Lady of The Seven Dolours,

are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to, in relation to sorrows in her life. 

As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

Español: Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, 1816.
Fernando Estévez de Salas. 

Parroquia de San Juan Bautista,
Villa de La Orotava.

English: Our Lady of Sorrows.

Photo: April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: JosuHdez.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Francaise: La descente de Croix,
les larmes de Marie (Detail).

Current location: Unterlinden Museum,
Colmar, France.

Source/Photographer: Own work, Alsace, Haut-Rhin, Colmar,
Musée d'UnterLinden : la descente de Croix,
les larmes de Marie., vincent desjardins, 2008-12-27 10:33.

Archetypal Gothic Lady of Sorrows
from a Triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece,
Alsace, France, circa 1455.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. There are devotional Prayers, which consist of meditations on her Seven Sorrows. Examples include the Servite Rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Also, there is a corresponding devotion to the Seven Joys of Mary. The term "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary" refers to the combined devotion of both the Immaculate Heart and the Seven Sorrows of Mary as first used by the Franciscan Tertiary, Berthe Petit.

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art. It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each of the Seven Sorrows, which are:

The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34-35) or the Circumcision of Christ;
The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13);
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43-45);
Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary.;
Jesus Dies on the Cross. (John 19:25);
Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in Her Arms. (Matthew 27:57-59);
The Body of Jesus Is Placed in the Tomb. (John 19:40-42).

These Seven Sorrows should not be confused with the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

English: Mater Dolorosa with open hands, 1555,

Prado museum (Madrid, Spain).

Español: Tiziano, Dolorosa con las manos abiertas, 1555,
óleo sobre mármol,

museo del Prado (Madrid, España).

Madonna in Sorrow, by Titian, 1555.

Source: http://www.museodelprado.es/imagen/
alta_resolucion/P00444.jpg

Author: Titian (1490–1576).

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a Provincial Synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the iconoclast, Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the Third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris Beatae Mariae Virginis. Before the 16th-Century, the Feast was celebrated only in parts of Northern Europe.

Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (also known as the "Servite Friars", or the "Order of the Servants of Mary"). Five years later, they took up the "Sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross", as the principal devotion of their Order.

Over the centuries, several devotions, and even Orders, arose around meditation on Mary's Sorrows. The Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Lady's Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite Order. Most devotional Scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of black woollen cloth.

English: Our Lady Umyagchenie zlih serdets
(Softening the evil hearts).
Russia.

Русский: Икона "Умягчение злых сердец".

Date: Mid-19th-Century.

Source: http://days.pravoslavie.ru

Author: Anonymous.

(Wikimedia Commons)

On 2 February, the same day as the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics commemorate a wonder-working icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) known as "the Softening of Evil Hearts" or "Simeon's Prophecy."

It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment that Simeon the Righteous says: "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own Soul also...." (Luke 2:35) She stands with her hands upraised in prayer, and seven swords pierce her heart, indicative of the Seven Sorrows. This is one of the few Orthodox icons of the Theotokos which do not depict the Infant Jesus. The refrain, "Rejoice, much-sorrowing Mother of God, turn our sorrows into joy and soften the hearts of evil men!" is also used.

"Dolorosa".

Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

Description: Dolorosa,
Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla.

Date: circa 1665.

Source/Photographer: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/
cultura/museos/MBASE/index.jsp?redirect=
S2_3_1_1.jsp&idpieza=24&pagina=3

(Wikimedia Commons)

The first Altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the Monastery of Schönau. Especially in Mediterranean countries, Parishioners traditionally carry statues of Our Lady of Sorrows in Processions on the days leading to Good Friday.

No Feast in her honour was included in Pope Saint Pius V's 1570 Tridentine Calendar. Vatican approval for the celebration of a Feast, in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows, was first granted to the Servite Order in 1667.

English: Our Lady of Sorrows,
El Viso del Alcor,
Seville, Spain.

Español: Nuestra Señora de los Dolores.
Capilla del Sagrario de la Iglesia Parroquial
de Santa María del Alcor. El Viso del Alcor (Sevilla).
Procesiona bajo palio en la tarde noche del Viernes Santo.

Photo: December 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ajjb

(Wikimedia Commons)

By inserting the Feast into the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the Third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the Feast to 15 September, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date.

Another Feast, originating in the 17th-Century, was extended to the whole of the Latin Church in 1727. It was originally celebrated on Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday. In 1954, it still held the rank of Major-Double (slightly lower than the rank of the 15 September Feast) in the General Roman Calendar.

The 15 September Feast is known as the "Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows" (Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis). The Sequence, known as Stabat Mater, may be sung at Mass on that day.

The Madonna in Sorrow.

Source: http://www.bridgemanartondemand.
com/art/104827/The_Madonna_in_Sorrow.

Author: Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609–1685).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Our Lady of Sorrows, depicted as "Mater Dolorosa" (Mother of Sorrows) has been the subject of some key works of Roman Catholic Marian art. Mater Dolorosa is one of the three common artistic representations of a sorrowful Virgin Mary, the other two being Stabat Mater ("The Mother Stood") and Pietà.

In this iconography, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows is, at times, simply represented in a sad and anguished mode by herself, her expression being that of tears and sadness. In other representations, the Virgin Mary is depicted with seven swords in her heart, a reference to the prophecy of Simeon, at the Presentation.

Our Lady of Sorrows is the Patron Saint of:
Slovakia;
the Congregation of Holy Cross;
the village of Mola di Bari and the Molise region of Italy;
the State of Mississippi, USA;
Dolores, in the Philippines;
Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Mater Dolorosa (Berlin-Lankwitz).

The Seven Sorrows Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Friday In Passion Week.

Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Friday in Passion Week.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

Nederlands: Linkerluik van een diptiek Onze-Lieve-Vrouw
der Zeven Weeën door Adriaen Isenbrant (circa 1490-1551); KMSKB, Brussel.

English: The Blessed Virgin Mary surrounded by The Seven Sorrows.

Photo: June 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Georges Jansoone (JoJan) - 
artwork by Adriaen Isenbrant.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Christmas Cycle celebrated the part taken by the Blessed Virgin in the Mystery of the Incarnation, glorifying both the Divinity of Jesus and the Divine Maternity of Mary.

The Easter Cycle tells us how the Mother of the Saviour co-operated in the Mystery of the Redemption. It shows her in this Season of the Passion at the foot of the Cross, where Christ is dying (Introit, Sequence, Gospel). “An ineffable union is established between the oblation of the Incarnate Word and that of Mary; the Divine Blood and the tears of the Mother flow together and are mixed for the redemption of the human race.” [The quoted text is taken from “The Liturgical Year” by Dom Guéranger: Friday in Passion Week.]

“The prophecy of Simeon is fulfilled: A sword of grief pierces the most gentle Soul of the glorious Virgin Mary (Collect), who, by her unequalled love, becomes the Queen of Martyrs” (Communion). [The quoted text is taken from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: Sixth Lesson at Matins.]

As Judith had delivered Israel by killing Holofernes (Epistle), the Virgin is our deliverer with Jesus. Wherefore, the Gospel shows us, at the foot of the Tree of Passion, in a scene which recalls the Tree of Prevarication, the Maternity of Mary with regard to the Church personified by Saint John.

“Let us venerate the Transfixion of the glorious Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross, in order to gather the happy fruit of the Passion of her Son” (Collect).

Stabat Mater. Pergolesi. Kathleen Ferrier (1946). Prepare For Good Friday.

Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,

unless otherwise stated.

English: The Crucifixion.

Church of Jesus,

Genoa, Italy.

Svenska: "Korsfästelsen".

Chiesa del Gesù. Genua.

Artist: Simon Vouet (1590–1649).

Date: 1622.

Source: Originally from sv.wikipedia;

description page is/was here.

Author: Simon Vouet.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Stabat Mater Dolorosa, often referred to as Stabat Mater, is a 13th-Century Catholic Hymn to Mary, variously attributed to the Franciscan, Jacopone da Todi, and to Pope Innocent III. It is about the Sorrows of Mary.

The title of the sorrowful Hymn is an Incipit of the first line, Stabat mater dolorosa ("The sorrowful Mother stood"). The Dolorosa Hymn, one of the most powerful and immediate of extant Mediaeval poems, meditates on the suffering of Mary, Jesus Christ's Mother, during his Crucifixion.

It is sung at the Liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Dolorosa has been set to music by many composers, with the most famous settings being those by Palestrina, Pergolesi, Alessandro Scarlatti and Domenico Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Haydn, Rossini, Poulenc, and Dvořák.

The Dolorosa was well-known by the end of the 14th-Century and Georgius Stella wrote of its use in 1388, while other historians note its use later in the same Century. In Provence, about 1399, it was used during the Nine Days Processions.

As a Liturgical Sequence, the Dolorosa was suppressed, along with hundreds of other Sequences, by the Council of Trent, but restored to the Missal by Pope Benedict XIII, in 1727, for the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Stabat Mater.

Pergolesi.

Kathleen Ferrier (1946).

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/lQlDaHLP15U.

Nineteen Babies Saved From Abortion. Join The Good Counsel Network.

The following information was received from THE GOOD COUNSEL NETWORK

19 BABIES SAVED FROM ABORTION.

40-DAYS-FOR-LIFE CLOSING CELEBRATION,

Sunday, 13 April 2014, 1900 hrs (7 p.m).

Dear Friend,

40-Days-For-Life, at Ealing, West London, finishes at midnight this Sunday. Many people have prayed and fasted, sacrificed hours to witness to life at the vigil and demonstrated God’s love to the local community. As a result, at least 19 mothers and babies have been saved from abortion.

·        Please join us in between now and midnight on Sunday – there are still many hours, day and night, that need to be covered by prayer volunteers.

·        Please pray the Holy Michael the Archangel prayer, one Our Father and three Hail Marys each day, that Ealing abortion ‘clinic’ will be closed down

·        Please join us for our CLOSING CELEBRATION at Ealing Abbey Parish Hall, 2, Marchwood Crescent, London W5 2DY, 7pm on Sunday 13^th April, featuring a talk by Lila Rose – international pro-life figurehead and founder of Live Action.

·        Please join us for an hour of closing prayer lead by Fr Simon Heans (who has done night shifts at the vigil himself) 11pm – midnight on Sunday 13^th April outside marie stopes Ealing, 87 Mattock Lane, W5 5BJ.

For more information please see http://40daysforlife.com/london-ealing.html , email gcnvigil@yahoo.co.uk or call Good Counsel on 02077231740. We look forward to seeing you there!

Lenten Station At The Churches Of Saint Apollinaris And At Saint Mary-The-New. Thursday In Passion Week.

Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.

English: The Church of Saint Apollinaris,
Rome, Italy.

Italiano: Roma Chiesa di S Apollinare.

Photo: November 2012.

User: MGA73bot2.

Source: Own work.

Author: Gobbler

(Wikimedia Commons)

The old Lenten Station is at the Church built towards 780 A.D., by Pope Adrian I, on the ruins of an ancient temple, in honour of the holy Martyr, Apollinaris, the disciple of Saint Peter and Archbishop of Ravenna. A second Lenten Station was added in 1934.

The second Lenten Station, added by Pope Pius XI in 1934, is at Saint Mary-the-New (Santa Maria Nuova), also known as Santa Francesca Romana. Santa Francesca Romana is situated next to the Roman Forum.

English: Church of  Saint Mary-the-New
(Santa Francesca Romana), 

near the Forum Romanum, Rome.

Italiano: Chiesa di Santa Francesca Romana
nei pressi del Foro Romano, Roma.

Photo: February 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Marcok - it.wikipedia.org.

(Wikimedia Commons)

By Apostolic Letters, dated 5 March 1934, and published on 15 October 1935, the Churches of Santa Agatha and Saint Mary-the-New (Santa Maria Nuova) (also called Santa Francesca Romana) were raised to the title of Stational Churches.

The same Ceremonies are performed and the same Indulgences may be gained there, respectively, as Santa Pudentiana, on the Third Tuesday in Lent, and Sant'Apollinare, on Passion Thursday. These two new Stational Churches (Santa Agatha and Saint Mary-the-New (Santa Maria Nuova)) (also called Santa Francesca Romana) are not on the published Map of Stational Churches in The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

English: The View from the Palatine Hill, in the direction of Forum Romanum, showing the Basilica of Saint Mary-the-New (Santa Francesca Romana), the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum, Rome.

Česky: Pohled z vrchu Palatin směrem na Forum Romanum, baziliku Svaté Františky Římské, Titův Vítězný oblouk a Koloseum, Řím, Itálie.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Karelj.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the Mass of the Day, Daniel recalls the humiliation of the people of Israel who were delivered to their enemies “on account of their sins” (Introit and Epistle). The Church also mourns over the bad Christians and the heathen, slaves of Satan and of their passions.

With Azarias, she asks the Lord “that all those who ill-treat His servants may be confounded, for it is with a contrite and humble heart that they return to God” (Epistle). She hopes that, faithful to His ancient and solemn oath, He will multiply His people like the stars in the firmament and the sand on the shore (Epistle). She already sees with joy the Paschal night, when, in the Baptismal Font, numerous children are going to be born to her. She excites the penitents to true repentance and hope by relating the conversion of Magdalen the sinner, who throws herself at the feet of Jesus, shedding tears of repentance, whilst the Jews, represented by Simon the Pharisee, remain unmoved.

English: Interior of Saint Apollinaris's Church,
Rome, Italy.

Italiano: Roma, Sant'Apollinare, interno.

Photo: February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Gospel relates to the second year of the public ministry of Jesus, who was received in Naim in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Several Fathers of the Latin Church think that the poor sinner was Mary of Magdala, called, for that reason, Magdalen, who was identified as the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

Forming part of the people of God through Baptism, we should humbly, like Magdalen, weep for our sins and generously expiate them. Let us therefore purify our bodies and Souls by mortification and Penance, for it is “by abstinence that we must heal our wounds made by intemperance” (Collect).

English: Pope Gregory XIII.
Portrait by Lavinia Fontana (1552 - 1614).

Español: Gregorio XIII.

Pope Gregory XIII (1572 - 1585) granted Sant'Apollinare to the Jesuits in 1574.

He is best known for commissioning, and being the namesake for, the Gregorian calendar,
which remains the internationally-accepted civil calendar to this date.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Sant'Apollinare alle Terme is a Titular Church in Rome, dedicated to Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna, the first Bishop of Ravenna. It is the Station Church for the Thursday in Passion Week in Lent.

The Church was founded in the Early-Middle Ages, probably in the 7th-Century. It is first mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis under Pope Hadrian I, using spolia from the ruins of an Imperial Building. The first Priests, who served the Church, were probably Eastern Basilian Monks, who had fled from persecution during the iconoclast period.

The Church is listed, in the Catalogue of Turin, as a Papal Chapel, with eight Clerics. In 1574, it was granted to the Jesuits by Pope Gregory XIII, and it was used as the Church of the next-door Collegium Germanicum in the Palazzo di Sant'Apollinare (now owned by the Roman Seminary), which was later united with the Hungarian College to form the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum. This remained a Jesuit institution until the Suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, when this Church passed to the Lazarists.

Pope Pius XI (1922 - 1939), 

who, in 1934, raised Santa Francesca Romana
to the Title of Lenten Stational Church

Photo: 1930.

Source: Pope Pius XI.

Author: Politisch Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin, 1932.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: Altar in Santa Francesca Romana. 

This Church was previously known as Santa Maria Nova
(Saint Mary-the-New).

Italiano: Altare della chiesa di Santa Francesca Romana
conosciuta anche come Santa Maria Nova.

Photo: March 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Goldmund100.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the late 17th-Century, the Church of Saint Apollinaris was in a poor state of repair. Its rebuilding was considered over a long period, but wasn't carried out, probably due to lack of funds. Despite this, in 1702, a Chapel was redecorated and dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier, and a statue of the Saint commissioned from Pierre Le Gros, who carved the marble with extraordinary virtuosity (the statue was preserved when the Church was eventually rebuilt, some 40 years later, and is still in situ).

In 1742, Pope Benedict XIV commissioned Ferdinando Fuga to rebuild Saint Apollinaris's. Fuga added a new façade in the Late-16th-Century-style, with Baroque elements. It has two Storeys, with Ionic Columns in the lower and Corinthian ones in the upper. The lower level has a central doorway,  flanked by windows. Above the door, is a triangular Tympanum. On the upper level, is a large central window with a Balcony, and two smaller windows to the sides. The façade is crowned by a double Tympanum. Fuga also reconstructed the Dome. The Church was re-dedicated in 1748.

Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, writer and archaeologist, who died in 1795, was buried in the Chapel of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In 1990, the Church was granted to Opus Dei, and is now part of their Pontifical Institute of Saint Apollinaris. In the same year, the notorious gangster Enrico De Pedis, boss of the so-called Banda della Magliana, was buried in the Church's Crypt, by authorisation of Cardinal Ugo Poletti. The unusual interment has been linked to the case of Emanuela Orlandi's kidnapping and the tomb was opened for investigation in 2012.

Pope Benedict XIV.

Artist: Pierre Subleyras (1699 - 1749).

Current location: Palace of Versailles, Paris.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Benedict XIV (1740 - 1758). He commissioned Ferdinando Fuga to rebuild the Church of Saint Apollinaris in 1742. When elected Pope in 1740, the Conclave that Elected him had lasted for six months, He is reported to have said to the Cardinals: "If you wish to elect a Saint, choose Gotti; a Statesman, Aldrovandi; an honest man, me".

The Church has a single Nave. Along the side are Pilasters with Corinthian Capitals holding the Arches to the Side Chapels. In the Barrel-Vaulted Ceiling, is a fresco of The Glory of Saint Apollinaris, by Stefano Pozzi.

The High Altar was made on the orders of Pope Benedict XIV, with stucco decorations by Bernardino Ludovisi and an Early-17th-Century Altarpiece depicting Saint Apollinaris' Consecration as Bishop of Ravenna. The Crypt contains Relics.

The elliptical Chapel of Graces, which is outside the Church proper, is accessed through a doorway on the left. It contains a 1494 fresco of The Virgin, Queen of Apostles, which survived the Sack of Rome, because the Priests covered it with lime. It was then rediscovered in 1645 when two boys and a soldier took refuge in the Church during an earthquake. A marble frame with golden stucco cherubs was added by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt.

The Seven Penitential Psalms. Part Four.

Roman Text is taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.
Volume 4. Septuagesima.

Bold Italic Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

English: Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Deutsch: Hl. Augustinus in betrachtendem Gebet.

Four of the Penitential Psalms
were well known to Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Artist: Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510).

Date: Circa 1480.

Current location: Florence, Italy.

Notes: Deutsch: Auftraggeber: wahrscheinlich aus der Familie der Vespucci (Wappen).

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.
DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1].

(Wikimedia Commons)

MISERERE MEI DEUS

Psalm 50.

Psalm 50.
Miserere Mei Deus.

Available on YouTube at
http://youtu.be/YDOENZediM8.

The Penitential Psalms, or Psalms of Confession, so named in Cassiodorus's commentary of the 6th-Century A.D., are Psalms 6, 32, 38, 50, 102, 130, and 143 (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142 in the Septuagint numbering).

Note: The Septuagint numbering system has been used throughout this Series of Articles.

Psalm 6.      Domine ne in furore tuo (Pro octava).
Psalm 31.    Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates.
Psalm 37.    Domine ne in furore tuo (In rememorationem de sabbato).
Psalm 50.    Miserere mei Deus.
Psalm 101.  Domine exaudi orationem meam et clamor meus ad te veniat.
Psalm 129.  De profundis clamavi.
Psalm 142.  Domine exaudi orationem meam auribus percipe obsecrationem meam.

A Setting by Lassus of Psalm 129,
"De profundis clamavi ad te Domine", 

("Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord").

Psalm 129 is one of the Seven Penitential Psalms.

Available on YouTube on
http://youtu.be/luLLO3c3LlE.

THE SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS.

Part Four.

The grief and Prayer of David, when the Prophet, Nathan, was sent, by God, to reproach him for the twofold crime he had committed by his sin with Bethsabee, are the subject of this Psalm.

Psalm 50. Miserere mei Deus.

Miserere mei Deus:
* Secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum:
* Dele iniquitatem meam.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea:
* Et a peccato meo munda me.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco:
* Et peccatum meum contra me est semper.



Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci:
* Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis et vincas cum judicaris.

Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum:
* Et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.

Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti:
* Incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi.

Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor:
* Lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.



Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam:
* Et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.

Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis:
* Et omnes iniquitates meas dele.

Cor mundum crea in me Deus:
* Et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis.

Ne projicias me a facie tua:
* Et Spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.



Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui:
* Et spiritu principali confirma me.

Docebo iniquos vias tuas:
* Et impii ad te convertentur.

Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae:
* Et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam.

Domine, labia mea aperies:
* Et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.



Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique:
* Holocaustis non delectaberis.

Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus:
* Cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.

Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion:
* Ut aedificentur muri Jerusalem.

Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta:
* tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.

Have mercy on me, O God:
According to Thy great mercy.

And according to the multitude
of Thy tender mercies:
Blot out my iniquity.

Wash me yet more from my iniquity:
And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my iniquity:
And my sin is always before me.



To Thee only have I sinned
and have done evil before Thee:
That Thou mayst be justified in Thy words,
and mayst overcome when Thou are judged.

For behold ! I was conceived in iniquities:
And in sins did my mother conceive me.

For behold ! Thou hast loved truth:
The uncertain and hidden things of Thy wisdom
Thou hast made manifest to me.

Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop,
and I shall be cleansed:
Thou shalt wash me,
and I shall be made
whiter than snow.

To my hearing Thou shalt give joy and gladness:
And the bones that have been humbled, shall rejoice.

Turn away Thy face from my sins:
And blot out all my iniquities.

Create a clean heart in me, O God:
And renew a right spirit within my bowels.

Cast me not away from Thy face:
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.



Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation:
And strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

I will teach the unjust Thy ways:
And the wicked shall be converted to Thee.

Deliver me from blood, O God,
Thou God of my salvation !:
And my tongue shall extol Thy justice.

O Lord, Thou wilt open my lips:
And my mouth shall declare Thy praise.



For if Thou hadst desired sacrifice,
I would indeed have given it:
With burnt offerings Thou wilt not be delighted.

A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit:
A contrite and humbled heart, O God,
Thou wilt not despise.

Deal favourably, O Lord, in Thy good-will, with Sion:
That the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

Then shalt Thou accept the sacrifice of justice,
oblations, and whole-burnt offerings:
Then shall they lay calves upon Thine altar.

The Seven Penitential Psalms are expressive of sorrow for sin. Four were known as 'Penitential Psalms' by Saint Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th-Century. Psalm 50 (Miserere) was recited at the close of daily Morning Service in the Primitive Church.

Translations of the Penitential Psalms were undertaken by some of the greatest poets in Renaissance England, including Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Sir Philip Sidney. Before the Suppression of the Minor Orders and Tonsure, in 1972, by Pope Paul VI, the Seven Penitential Psalms were assigned to new Clerics after having been Tonsured.

Orlande de Lassus'

"Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales".

This is a Setting of Psalm 6, "Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me",

("O Lord, do not reprove me in Thy wrath, nor in Thy anger chastise me").

Psalm 6 is the first of the Seven Penitential Psalms.

Available on YouTube on

http://youtu.be/-0cILFy2sW4.

Perhaps the most famous musical setting of all the Seven Penitential Psalms is by Orlande de Lassus, with his Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales of 1584. There are also fine settings by Andrea Gabrieli and by Giovanni Croce. The Croce pieces are unique in being settings of Italian sonnet-form translations of the Psalms by Francesco Bembo. These were widely distributed. They were translated into English and published in London as Musica Sacra and were even translated (back) into Latin and published in Nürnberg as Septem Psalmi poenitentiales.

William Byrd set all Seven Psalms in English versions for three voices in his Songs of Sundrie Natures (1589). Settings of individual Penitential Psalms have been written by many composers. Well-known settings of the Miserere (Psalm 50) include those by Gregorio Allegri and Josquin des Prez. Settings of the De profundis (Psalm 129) include two in the Renaissance era by Josquin.


PART FIVE FOLLOWS.

Lenten Station At The Church Of Saint Marcellus. Wednesday In Passion Week.

Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.

English: The Church of San Marcello al Corso,
Rome, Italy.
Façade by Carlo Fontana.

Italiano: San Marcello al Corso è una chiesa di Roma.

Photo: November 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: sv:User:Torvindus.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church of Saint Marcellus, where today’s Lenten Station is held, was one of the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome in the 5th-Century. Originally the house of the holy matron, Lucina, where she received Saint Marcellus, it was transformed by her into a Sanctuary and dedicated to this holy Pope, whose body rests under the High Altar.

The Mass of today shows us the obstinacy of the Jews in rejecting Jesus, as they had already rejected His Father. The Divine Law given by Him whom the Epistle calls six times “the Lord”, “whose word is stable” declared formally “that one may not shed his neighbour’s blood, nor hate his father in his heart”.

The members of the Sanhedrin, on the contrary, hated Christ and sought to stone Him (Gospel). Unfaithful to God, “who orders His laws to be kept” (Epistle), they blamed Jesus “whom the Father has sent” and who is the Son of God. “The Father and I are one. The miracles that I have worked come from my Father.” “Rejecting the legitimate pastor of their Souls, they are no longer His sheep,” and will be replaced by the Gentiles, who, baptised or reconciled to God at the Easter Festival, are “the sheep who hear His voice and to whom He gives eternal life” (Gospel).

The High Altar,
Basilica of San Marcello al Corso,
Rome, Italy.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Let us be faithful to Jesus and pray God “to sanctify our Fast and illumine our hearts” (Collect), in order that, delivered from the abyss into which our sins had made us fall (Gradual), we “may wash our hands among the innocent and proclaim the wondrous works of God” (Communion).

Three Feasts called the Jews to Jerusalem:

In the Spring, it was the Feast of the Passover, instituted to commemorate the departure from Egypt;

In the Autumn, it was the Feast of Tabernacles, in commemoration of the sojourn of the Jews in tents in the desert;

In the Winter (middle of December), it was the Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Temple, which the Machabees had purified after their victory. It was on the occasion of this last Feast, that Jesus, in the third year of His ministry, spoke the words in today’s Gospel. He was then under Solomon’s Porch, which faces the ravine of Cedron.

The Apse,
Church of Saint Marcellus,
Rome, Italy.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153.

(Wikimedia Commons)

San Marcello al Corso is a Church in Rome, dedicated to Pope Marcellus I. It is located in via del Corso, the ancient via Lata, connecting Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo. It stands diagonally from the Church of Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata (see yesterday's Post).

While the tradition holds that the Church was built over the prison of Pope Marcellus I (who died in 309 A.D.), it is known that the "Titulus Marcelli" was already present in 418 A.D., when Pope Boniface I was elected here.

Pope Adrian I, in the 8th-Century, built a Church in the same place, which is currently under the modern Church.

The corpse of Cola di Rienzo (an Italian Mediaeval politician), was held in the Church for three days after his execution in 1354. In 1519, a fire destroyed the Church. The money collected for its rebuilding was used to bribe the landsknechts, who were pillaging the city during the Sack of Rome (1527). The original plan to rebuild the Church was designed by Jacopo Sansovino, who fled the city during the Sack and never returned to finish it. The work was continued by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who rebuilt the Church, but a Tiber flood damaged it again in 1530. It was only in 1592 that the Church was completed, and, later, Carlo Fontana built the facade.

The Sacristy Ceiling fresco:
"Gloria di San Marcello",
by Giovanni Battista Ciocchi.

Church of San Marcello al Corso,
Roma, Italia.

Photo: November 2005.

Source: Flickr

Author: antmoose

Reviewer: Mac9.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Under the High Altar, decorated with 12th-Century opus sectile, are the Relics of several Saints, which include those of Pope Marcellus, as well as Digna and Emerita. The last Chapel on the left is dedicated to Saint Philip Benizi. The Late-Baroque decoration contains sculptures by Francesco Cavallini and Reliefs by Ercole Ferrata and Antonio Raggi. The first Chapel on the left has the double tomb of Cardinal Giovanni Michiel and his grandson, Antonio Orso, sculpted by Jacopo Sansovino.

Behind the facade, is a Crucifixion (1613) by Giovanni Battista Ricci. Along the first Chapel is an Annunciation by Lazzaro Baldi; in the second Chapel, a Martyrdom of Saints Digna and Emerita (1727) by Pietro Barbieri; in the third Chapel, a Madonna with Child, a fresco of the Late-14th-Century, episodes of the Life of the Virgin by Francesco Salviati, fresco and paintings by Giovan Battista Ricci; in the fourth Chapel, a Creation of Eve and the Evangelists, Mark and John, frescoes by Perin del Vaga, Matthew and Luke, begun by Perin del Vaga and finished by Daniele da Volterra.

"St. Philip Benizi refuses the Papal Tiara"
by Antonio Raggi (1686).

The Church of Saint Marcellus,
Rome, Italy.

Photo: October 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: User:Torvindus.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Inside, is a Ciborium (1691) designed by Carlo Bizzaccheri; in the fifth Chapel, is a monument to Cardinal Fabrizio Paolucci (1726) by Pietro Bracci and a monument to Cardinal Camillo Paolucci by Tommaso Righi (1776) and wall paintings by Aureliano Milani. On the left Nave, in the fifth Chapel, is a San Filippo Benizi (1725) by Pier Leone Ghezzi; in the fourth Chapel, the Conversion of Saint Paul (1560) by Federico Zuccari and his brother, Taddeo, and, on the sides, a History of Saint Paul.

The inside of the Chapel has Busts of Muzio, Roberto, Lelio Frangipane by Alessandro Algardi (1630-1640). In the third Chapel, on the left, is a "Doloroso" by Pietro Paolo Naldini, Sacrifice of Isaac and discovery of Moses by Domenico Corvi; in the first Chapel, a Madonna and seven Saints by Agostino Masucci.

The Church is administered and owned by the Servite Order since 1369.