Saturday After Ash Wednesday. The Lenten Station Was At The Church Of Saint Tryphon (Now At The Church Of Saint Augustine).

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

Saturday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at Saint Tryphon's
   (now at Saint Augustine's).

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

English: The Church of Saint Augustine, Rome.

Italiano: San'Agostino, Rome.

Photo: October 2005.

Source: Own Work.

Author: Lalupa.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station at Rome was, previously, at The Church of Saint Tryphon, who died a Martyr in The East. This Church having been destroyed, The Station was removed, under Pope Clement VIII, to a neighbouring Church, that of Saint Augustine. [Editor: The Church Commemorates The Feast Day of Saint Tryphon on 10 November.]

The High Altar, 

Sant'Agostino, Rome.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saturday is the day of rest, which symbolises The Eternal Sabbath (Epistle of The Mass of The Day). To reach it, we must, during Lent, struggle by "Solemn Fast" (Collect of The Mass) and by Works of Charity (Epistle) against our passions, of which the rough sea and the contrary winds, spoken of in the Gospel, are a figure.

In this hard struggle, Jesus will come to our aid (Postcommunion), as He did to The Apostles and "heal our bodies and our Souls by Fasting." (Collect), as He healed all the sick in the country of Genesareth.

Mass: Audívit Dóminus.
Preface: For Lent.

The Altar and Tomb of Saint Monica of Hippo,

at Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio Church, Rome.

Photo: March 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bocachete

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Sant'Agostino is a Church in Rome, Italy, not far from Piazza Navona. It is one of the first Roman Churches built during The Renaissance. The construction was funded by Guillaume d'Estouteville, Archbishop of Rouen and Papal Chancellor. The façade was built in 1483 by Giacomo di Pietrasanta, using Travertine taken from The Colosseum. It is a fine, plain work of The Early-Renaissance Style.

The most famous work of art, presently in the Church, is The Madonna di Loreto, an important Baroque painting by Caravaggio. The Church also contains a Guercino canvas of Saints Augustine, John the Evangelist and Jerome; a fresco of The Prophet Isaiah by Raphael; and the statues of The Virgin and Child, by Andrea Sansovino and of The Madonna del Parto (Our Lady of Childbirth) by his pupil, Jacopo Sansovino. The latter sculpture is reputed by Tradition to work miracles and was, according to a legend, based on an ancient statue of Agrippina holding Nero in her arms.

In 1616, the 17th-Century Baroque artist, Giovanni Lanfranco, decorated The Buongiovanni Chapel (in the Left Transept) with three canvasses and a ceiling fresco of The Assumption. The Church also houses Melchiorre Caffà's sculpture "Saint Thomas of Villanova Distributing Alms", completed by his mentor, Ercole Ferrata. Pietro Bracci designed and sculpted the polychromatic tomb of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1741).

English: "Madonna di Loreto", 

by Caravaggio.

Deutsch: Altargemälde der Cavaletti-Kapelle in Sant' Agostino in Rom,

Szene: Madonna der Pilger.

Artist: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

Date: 1603 - 1605.

Current location: Church of San'Agostino, Rome.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.

DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. 

Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1]

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church contains the tomb of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, and that of Fiammetta, lover of Cesare Borgia and a famous courtesan.

Sant'Agostino was once noted for the presence of a number of courtesans and prostitutes in its Congregation.

The Titulus S. Augustini is held by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard since 2006. Furthermore, it is The Station Church of The First Saturday in Lent.

Friday After Ash Wednesday. The Lenten Station Is At The Church Of The Holy Martyrs, John And Paul.

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

Friday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at The Basilica of The Holy Martyrs John and Paul.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

English: Basilica of The Holy Martyrs, John and Paul, on Mount Coelius, Rome.

Français: Vue d'ensemble de la Basilique Santi Giovanni e Paolo de Rome sur le Celio.

Photo: May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: LPLT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station at Rome was on Mount Coelius, in the Residence that the Christian Senator, Pammachius, in the 5th-Century A.D., transformed into a Parish Church, which bears the Title of Saints John and Paul (Feast Day 26 June). Six frescoes of that period represent the captivity and death of these two Romans, “who, in the same Faith and the same Martyrdom, were truly united as brethren”.

English: Church of The Holy Martyrs, John and Paul, Rome, Italy.

Italiano: SS. Giovanni e Paolo - Roma, Italia.

Photo: July 2006.

Source: Flickr

Author: Patrick Denker

Reviewer: Mac9

(Wikimedia Commons)

Near this Church, is a Hospice for Pilgrims (Xenodochium Valerii). Pammachius, in other directions, spent his whole fortune upon The Poor. The Gospel of this Mass and the Postcommunion also speak of Charity.

The Epistle and the Gospel declare that the external works of Penance, such as Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving, which should be practised during Lent, have no value in the sight of God unless they are accompanied by the spirit of internal sacrifice. This spirit shows itself in works of mercy, done out of consideration for our neighbour, without distinction of friend or enemy and with the sole intention of pleasing God. Let us ask for the spirit of sacrifice and mercy.

Mass: Audivit Dominus.

Thursday After Ash Wednesday. Lenten Station At San Giorgio-in-Velabro.

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

Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at Saint George's (San Giorgio-in-Velabro).

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

San Giorgio-in-Velabro is a Minor Basilica Church 

in Rome, Italy, Dedicated to Saint George.

Photo: April 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: User: Zello

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Station is, since the time of Pope Gregory II (7th-Century A.D.), at Saint George's-in-Velabro. This Church is in the district called The Velabrum, or Velum aureum, on account of a Relic kept in a Golden Veil. Saint George's is one of the twenty-five Parishes of Rome in the 5th-Century A.D., where, under The High Altar, is kept the Head of this Christian warrior, a victim of The Persecution of The Emperor Diocletian, and called by the Greeks "The Great Martyr".

The Liturgy of today inculcates in us the spirit of Prayer, which forms part of The Forty Days' Penance. It was by Prayer that Ezechias obtained a prolongation of his life (Epistle of today) and the Centurion the healing of his servant (Gospel), and it is by Prayer that we shall obtain from God the strength to mortify ourselves, in order that we may gain the pardon of our sins, and, with it, the healing of our Souls and Life Eternal.

Interior of San Giorgio-in-Velabro.

Photo: August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Luc.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Gospel, in former times, reminded the Catechumens that, through Baptism, they were about to enter The Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember that, if sin offends God and draws upon us the scourge of His Righteous Anger, Penance, on the contrary, appeases Him and procures for us the effects of His Mercy (Collects).

Mass: Dum clamárem.
Preface: For Lent.

Interior of San Giorgio-in-Velabro.

Photo: March 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: sailko.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

San Giorgio-in-Velabro is a Minor Basilica Church in Rome, Italy, devoted to Saint George.

The Church is located in the ancient Roman Velabrum, near the Arch of Janus, in the rione of Ripa. Sited near the River Tiber, it is within a complex of Republican-era pagan temples associated with the port of Rome. The ancient Arcus Argentariorum is attached to the side of the Church's façade.

San Giorgio-in-Velabro is The Station Church for The First Thursday in Lent.

The first religious building attested, in the place of the current Basilica, is a Diaconia, funded by Pope Gregory the Great.

The High Altar at San Giorgio-in-Velabro.

Photo: March 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: sailko.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The current Basilica was built during the 7th-Century A.D., possibly by Pope Leo II, who Dedicated it to Saint Sebastian. A 482 word-inscription in the catacombs of Saint Callixtus probably refers to a Church in the same zone. Its plan is irregular, indeed slightly trapezoidal, as a result of the frequent additions to the building. The Interior Columns are almost randomly arranged, having been taken from sundry Roman temples.

The Basilica was inside the Greek Quarter of Rome, where Greek-speaking merchants, civil and military officers, and Monks, of The Byzantine Empire lived — the nearby Santa Maria-in-Cosmedin, for example, was known as Schola Graeca at the time. Pope Zachary (741 A.D. - 752 A.D.), who was of Greek origin, moved the Relic of Saint George to this Basilica from Cappadocia, so that this Saint had a Basilica Dedicated in The West, well before the spreading of his Devotion associated with the return of The Crusaders from The East.

After a restoration by Pope Gregory IV (9th-Century A.D.), the Basilica received the addition of the Portico and of the Bell-Tower in the first half of the 13th-Century. The Apsis was decorated with frescoes by Pietro Cavallini in the 13th-Century.

San Giorgio al Velabro e Arco di Giano.

Photo: April 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Between 1923 and 1926, the Superintendent of Monuments of Rome, Antonio Muñoz, completed a more radical restoration programme, with the aim of restoring the building's "Mediaeval character" and freeing it from later additions. This was done by returning the floor to its original level (and so exposing the Column bases), reopening the ancient windows that gave light to the Central Nave, restoring the Apsis, and generally removing numerous accretions from the other most recent restorations. During this process, fragments (now displayed on the Basilica's Internal walls) were found, indicating a schola cantorum on the site, attributed to the period of Pope Gregory IV.

The building, as we see it today, is largely a product of the 1920s restoration. However, five years' further restoration followed the explosion of a car bomb, parked close to the Basilica's facade, at midnight on 27 July 1993. That explosion caused no fatalities but left the 12th-Century Portico almost totally collapsed and blew a large opening into the wall of the main Basilica, as well as doing serious damage to the residence of The Generalate of The Crosiers (Canons Regular of The Order of The Holy Cross), next door. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage researched and catalogued what was damaged or destroyed, placing the fragments in 1050 crates, with dates and locational references, before restoring the building with them, although some details, particularly in the Portico, were deliberately left un-restored as a memorial to the bombing.

Gianfranco Ravasi is, since November 2010, Cardinal-Deacon of the Church. Among the previous Titulars are: Oddone Colonna, who later became Pope Martin V; Raffaele Riario; Giacomo Stefaneschi; and John Henry Newman. Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler was Titular of San Giorgio, as a Cardinal Priest, until his death in 2007.

Ash Wednesday. Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Santa Sabina.

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Artist: Rene de Cramer.

"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".

Used with Permission.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Ash Wednesday.

Station at Saint Sabina.

Indulgence of 15 years and 15 Quarantines.

Privileged Feria.

Violet Vestments.

English: Santa Sabina, Rome.

Česky: Interiér baziliky Santa Sabina, Řím.

Photo: February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Rumburak

(Wikimedia Commons)

Today's Station at Rome is at Saint Sabina, on The Aventine, in a Sanctuary built on the former site of the Holy Martyr's house. Having been converted by her maid-servant, she was beheaded for The Faith and secretly buried. It is to this Church that, in former times, the Pope used to go barefoot "to begin, with Holy Fasts, the exercises of Christian warfare, that as we do battle with The Spirits of Evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial" [The Prayer at The Blessing of The Ashes]. In the 5th-Century A.D., this Church was one of the twenty-five Parishes of Rome.

Following the example of The Ninivites, who did Penance in sackcloth and ashes, The Church today, to humble our pride and remind us of the sentence of death, which, as a consequence of our sins we are bound to undergo, sprinkles ashes on our heads with the words: "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return". [Ashes are a symbol of Penance and, having become a Sacramental by The Church's Blessing, help to develop within us the spirit of humility and sacrifice.] We come from dust and unto dust we shall return ! Here, indeed, is a thought that should humble our pride.

In this custom, we have the remains of an ancient ceremony referred to in The Roman Pontifical. Those Christians who were guilty of grave faults had to undergo public Penance. Accordingly, on Ash Wednesday, the Bishop used to Bless the sackcloth, which was to be worn by the penitents during The Holy Forty Days, and place upon their heads ashes made from palms used the previous year in The Palm Sunday Procession. Then, while The Faithful were singing The Seven Penitential Psalms, "the penitents were expelled from The Holy Place on account of their sins, just as Adam was driven out of Paradise because of his disobedience". [Roman Pontifical.] They were not allowed to put off their penitential garb or to re-enter the Church before Holy Thursday, after they had gained their reconciliation by toil and Penance, and by Sacramental Confession and Absolution.

English: Interior of Santa Sabina, Aventine, Rome.

Français: Interieur de l'église de Santa Sabina, Aventin, Rome.

Photo: 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ursus

(Wikimedia Commons)

At The Council of Beneventum (1091), Pope Urban VI commanded that the ashes should be received by all The Faithful, indiscriminately. Let us receive them in a spirit of humility and Penance, that, by this powerful Sacramental, we may obtain from Almighty God the Blessings which The Church implores in the act of Blessing them.

For, truly, "God overlooks the sins of men for the sake of repentance" (Introit). He is "rich in mercy" to those who are "converted to Him with all their heart in Fasting and in weeping and in mourning" (Epistle). We must not, indeed, like the Pharisees, rend our garments as a sign of grief, but, rather, our hearts" (ibid.), for it is not men who are to testify to our Fasting, but Our Father, Who sees our innermost Souls and will repay us (Gospel), as Our Lord, Himself, tells us in The Sermon on The Mount. [According to Tradition, this Mount is Kurn Hattin.] Let us, then, draw from The Eucharist the help which we need (Postcommunion), so that, celebrating today the institution of this Sacred Fast (Secret), we may "perform it with a devotion which nothing can disturb" (Collect).

THE BLESSING OF THE ASHES.

Before Mass, Ashes are Blessed. These Ashes are made from the Palms which were Blessed in the previous year's Palm Sunday Procession. The formula used in the Blessing dates from about the 8th-Century A.D.

After The Office of None, the Priest, Vested in Alb and Violet Stole, with or without a Violet Cope, with Deacon and Sub-Deacon in Vestments of the same colour, goes up to The Altar and The Choir begins singing.

After the appropriate Prayers have been said by the Priest, he sprinkles Holy Water on The Ashes and then Incenses them, three times. The Faithful then receive The Ashes on their foreheads.

Mass then commences.

Mass: Miseréris omnium.

Collect: Praesta Domine.

Other Collects: Until Passion Sunday: A cunctis and Omnipotens.

Preface: For Lent.

The Dismissal: Benedicamus Domino, as at any Mass without The Gloria.

Lent Is Here. Let Us Make It A Meaningful Time This Year. Pray And Go To Confession. Pray And Go . . .

Illustration and Text: RORATE CAELI

Lent starts tomorrow. We're running out of time to prepare.

In the past, you could find a Traditional Lenten Mission at many Parishes. Now, unless you are near a Traditional Parish, they are nearly extinct -- or worthless.

Fortunately, we are not meant to live in the past, we are meant to live in the now. And, now, we have the Internet. And there is an abundance of good on the Internet, along with the bad.

As we do every year, we bring to your attention this wonderful, Traditional, Five-Part Lenten Mission by the holy and learned Fr. Isaac Mary Relyea. While it is not short, it does go by very quickly, and is easy to follow and understand. It's clear, concise and bold.

As the season nears, you would do well to listen to this, to Pray on it and to use it to prepare for a fruitful Lent -- and be ready for it to change you for the better.

Click on each of the five themes of the Mission: 

Prelude to the Mission * 

On Death * 

On Judgment * 

On Hell * 

On Heaven * 

(download all MP3 files in one here)

"I Vow To Thee, My Country".

Illustration: FLICKR

"I Vow To Thee, My Country ".

Poem: "I Vow To Thee My Country", by Sir Cecil Spring Rice.

Music: "Jupiter", by Gustav Theodore Holst.

Event: Festival of Remembrance, Royal Albert Hall.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

" What Have I Done To Thee ? "

"Caligaverunt oculi mei".

Tenebrae Responsories,

by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).

Sung by The Sixteen.

Director: Harry Christophers.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo:

quia elongatus est a me, qui consolabatur me:

Videte, omnes populi, si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.

O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite,

et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Improperia are a series of Antiphons and Responses, expressing the remonstrance of Jesus Christ with His people. Also known as The Reproaches, they are sung in The Catholic Liturgy as part of the observance of The Passion, usually on the afternoon of Good Friday.

In The Byzantine Rite, they are found in various Hymns of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The Improperia appear in The Pontificale of Prudentius (846 A.D. - 861 A.D.) and gradually came into use throughout Europe in the 11th- and 12th-Centuries, finally being incorporated into The Roman Ordo in the 14th-Century.

My people, what have I done to Thee ?

How have I offended you ?

Answer Me !

I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom,

but you led your Saviour to The Cross.

Holy is God !

Holy is God !

Holy and strong !

Holy and strong !

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.

The following Article, in February 2016, was taken from,
and can be read in full at, VULTUS CHRISTI

Illustration: VULTUS CHRISTI

Illustration: PINTEREST

Answer Thou Me.

The Feast of Reparation for offenses committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love was instituted in the 17th-Century, when, particularly in a France ravaged by The Thirty Years War
(1618—1648), Churches were Desecrated and burned, The Most Blessed Sacrament was thrown to the ground, trampled, and even fed to animals. Bands of mercenary soldiers descended from the Protestant Countries of Northern Europe to pillage and destroy everything that represented The Catholic Faith. Two things, in particular, became the object of their fanatical wrath: Images of The Blessed Virgin Mary and The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar.

At the same time, in certain ostensibly Catholic circles, there was a surge of interest in Black Magic and in engagement with The Powers of Darkness. Not infrequently, Sacred Hosts were stolen from Churches, or taken away surreptitiously after a Sacrilegious Communion. Too many Priests were seen to offer Holy Mass hurriedly and with scant reverence. Tabernacles were neglected. Churches were forsaken. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:16), the Thrice-Holy God, before Whom The Angels veil their faces and Adore, hidden beneath the fragile appearance of The Sacred Host, remained silent in a state of utter abjection, abandoned to the coldness, indifference, and carelessness of men.

“O, My people,

what have I done to thee,

or, in what have I molested thee ?

Answer thou Me” (Micheas 6:3).

Sorrowing Love.

A multitude of Souls, grieved by the offences committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love, sought to make up for the Honour, Reverence, Adoration, Gratitude, and Love, that others refused Him. Believing Hearts were pierced through with a Sorrowing Love. The Holy Ghost inspired a vast Movement of Compunction and Reparation that came, over time, to find expression in The Sacred Liturgy, itself.

A special Mass and Office were composed, by which The Church approved this Movement of Compunction and Reparation. Mother Mectilde de Bar entered wholeheartedly into this Movement and, in some way, made its essential thrust so much her own that it came to be identified with The Benedictine Monasteries of Perpetual Adoration that she generated.

The True Body And Blood of Jesus Christ.

One might think that all of this belongs to the past, that things have changed since the dark and turbulent days of 17th-Century France, but this, alas, is not so. Remember recent events in Pamplona and in Fontainebleau. The Desecration of Churches and Sacrilegious Offenses against The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar proliferate.

The distribution of Holy Communion IN THE HAND [Editor: Emphasis is mine], notably, has led to every manner of irreverence. Sacred Hosts have been found on the floor of Churches, stuck into the pages of books, and lying on pews. The disappearance of The Communion Rail; the widespread practice of Priest and people facing each other during The Holy Sacrifice; the indiscriminate use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in ordinary circumstances — all of these things have contributed to a massive loss of Faith in The Real Presence of Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament and in Holy Mass as The Perfect Sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner.

Many of those who present themselves for Holy Communion have no notion of what The Church believes and teaches; that this is no mere bread of Holy Remembrance, but is The True Body and Blood [Editor: And Soul and Divinity] of Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim: The Very Body and Blood formed by The Holy Ghost in The Womb of The Virgin Mary, nailed to The Wood of The Cross, Gloriously Risen from The Tomb, Ascended into The Heavenly Sanctuary, and Coming in Majesty at The End of Time to Judge The Living and The Dead.

This Article can be read in full at VULTUS CHRISTI

"I Am The Immaculate Conception (Que Soy Era Immaculada Concepciou)". The Apparition Of The Blessed Virgin Mary At Lourdes, France, 11 February - 16 July 1858, To Saint Bernadette.

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

The Apparition of The Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes.
   Feast Day 11 February.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

English: Basilica of The Immaculate Conception, Lourdes, France.

Deutsch: Frankreich: Lourdes, Basilika der unbefleckten Empfängnis,

Rosenkranzbasilika und Krypta in Lourdes.

Photo: 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Milorad Pavlek.

(Wikimedia Commons)

From 11 February 1858 to 16 July 1858, The Blessed Virgin Mary came down from Heaven eighteen times (Introit), and showed herself to Saint Bernadette Soubirous (Collect), in the cave of the rock at Massabielle (Gradual).

On 25 March 1858, she said to the little shepherdess of fourteen years of age: "I am The Immaculate Conception". Today's Feast, therefore, recalls Mary's triumph over the serpent (Tract), which The Septuagesimal Liturgy has in mind.

Stained-Glass Window, 

from Bonneval Church, France,

showing the Vision of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.

Photo: 17 July 2009.

Source: Own work, adapted from 

Bonneval Eglise Notre-Dame vitrail 3.JPG.

Author: Xandar.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Like the woman seen by Saint John, "clothed in the Sun, with the Moon under her feet and a Crown of twelve Stars over her head" (Epistle), The Virgin of Lourdes "is clothed in a Robe and Veil, as White as Snow, she wears a Blue Girdle and on her bare feet rests a Golden Rose," all symbolic of her Virginal Love.

She exhorts to Penance the unfortunate Children of Eve, who have not been, like herself, preserved from sin. On The Day of The Annunciation, she declared her name to us, to manifest that it is on account of The Incarnation (Collect) that God has vouchsafed to her "not to be tainted with The Original Stain" (Tract).

Remembering that Mary is "The Ark of The New Covenant" (Epistle), let us go with confidence to her, who, "Full of Grace" (Offertory), "visits our Earth to multiply in us the gifts of her riches" (Communion).

Mass: Vidi civitátem.
Commemoration and Last Gospel of The Feria. In Lent:
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary: Et te in Conceptione Immaculáta.