The Most Holy Rosary Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 7 October.

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

The Most Holy Rosary of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
   Feast Day 7 October.

Double of The Second-Class.

White Vestments.

The Mysteries of The Holy Rosary: Joyful; Sorrowful; Glorious.

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Artist: René de Cramer.

"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".

Used with Permission.

It was the custom in The Middle Ages, as formerly among the Romans, for noble personages to wear Crowns of Flowers, called "Chaplets". These Crowns were offered to persons of distinction, as a Feudal Due.

The Blessed Virgin, as Queen of Heaven, and of Souls, has a right to the same homage. Therefore, The Church asks us to recognise the Title of Mary as Queen of The Holy Rosary, and she exhorts us to to offer to her, as Daughter of The Father, Mother of The Son, and Spouse of The Holy Ghost, a Triple Chaplet, or Three Crowns of Roses, of which she shows us all the beauties in today's Office, and to which she has given the name of "Rosary".

The Collect reminds us that the recitation of The Rosary is a mental Prayer, in which we meditate on The Mysteries of The Life, Death, and Resurrection, of Jesus; with these, Mary was intimately associated.

The Gospel, which gives us the chief part of the Angelic Salutation, shows us that The Rosary is a vocal Prayer. The Pater, Credo, and Gloria, which are recited with the Ave Marias, are also found in The Mass or in The Divine Office.

The Rosary, as a private Devotion, consists therefore of elements taken from The Liturgical Cycle, and The Feast of The Rosary forms part of The Cycle.

This Prayer has, in the course of the Centuries, obtained many Graces for Christendom. The Feast of Our Lady of The Rosary was instituted to Commemorate the Victory of Lepanto (Sunday, 7 October 1571), when, thanks to the recitation of The Rosary, the forces of Islam, which threatened to invade Europe, were broken. Pope Gregory XIII, in 1573, prescribed this Feast, replacing very significantly The Feast of Our Lady of Victory, for certain Churches; it was extended to the Catholic World by Pope Clement XI, in thanksgiving for another triumph over the same foes in Hungary in 1716, under the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI.

The Feast of The Most Holy Rosary is a summary of The Liturgical Year, as we meditate on The Mysteries, and also of The Breviary, as we recite one hundred and fifty Ave Marias, corresponding to one hundred and fifty Psalms, ending with Gloria Patri.

It shows, in an admirable Triptych, the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious events in the lives of Jesus and Mary, which are recalled in succession in The Catholic Calendar.

In The Christmas Cycle, the Soul, plunged in an atmosphere of Joy, meditates on The Five Joyful Mysteries, on Wednesdays and Fridays of Ember Week in Winter, on Christmas Day, on 2 February (The Purification of The Blessed Virgin Mary) and on The Sunday in The Octave of The Epiphany.

Again, she Contemplates, during The Season of The Passion, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries, on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Lastly, she sympathises, amid the Joys of The Paschal Season and Pentecost, with The Five Glorious Mysteries at The Feasts of Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and The Assumption of The Virgin. There is a Plenary Indulgence, similar to that of the Portiuncula, to be gained on The Day of this Feast by all The Faithful, who visit a Church where the Arch-Confraternity of The Rosary is established.

Pope Leo XIII, moved by the sorrowful trials under which The Church groans, raised the Feast to one of The Second Class with a new Mass and Office.

Mass: Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino.
Commemoration: At Low Mass of Saint Mark and Saints Sergius and Companions.
Preface: The Blessed Virgin Mary: Et te in Festivitate.

Signature of Pope Leo XIII,

who raised The Feast of The Most Holy Rosary Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

to one of The Second Class with a new Mass and Office.

This File: 15 February 2007.

User: Julo

(Wikimedia Commons)

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

CENACLE CATHOLIC BOOKS

Available (in U.S.A.) from

ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

Saint Bruno. Confessor. Feast Day 6 October.

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

Saint Bruno.
   Confessor.
   Feast Day 6 October.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Bruno.

Artist: Girolamo Marchesi.

Date: Circa 1525.

Current location: Walters Art Museum, 

Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.

Credit line: Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902.

Source: Walters Art Museum.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The life of Saint Bruno.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Saint Bruno was born at Cologne, Germany, in the 11th-Century. With six of his friends, he retired to one of the desert heights of Dauphiny, France, called "Chartreuse", which had been conceded to them by the Bishop of Grenoble (Gospel).

There, he Founded the first Monastery of The Order of Carthusians, which is held in so high esteem by The Church that, by the prescriptions of Canon Law, The Religious of any other Order may enter it so as to lead a more perfect life. [The Order of Carthusians has given to The Church several Saints, two Cardinals, seventy Archbishops and Bishops, and several famous writers, one of the most distinguished being Dionysius The Carthusian.]

Saint Bruno died, pressing The Crucifix to his lips, on 6 October 1101.

Mass: Os justi.

English: Saint Bruno refuses the Archbishopric of Reggio di Calabria.

Español: San Bruno renuncia ante el papa Urbano II al arzobispado de Reggio Calabria.

Date: 4 November 2011.

Current location: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.

Source: http://www.gabitos.com/museodelpradomadrid/template.php?nm=1329244185

Author: Vicente Carducho (1576-1638).

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Bruno of Cologne (1030 – 1101) was the Founder of The Carthusian Order and personally Founded The Order's first two Communities. He was a celebrated Teacher at Reims, and a close advisor of his former pupil, Pope Urban II.

On the verge of being made Bishop, Bruno instead followed a Vow he had made to renounce Secular Concerns and withdrew, along with two of his friends, Raoul and Fulcius, also Canons of Reims.

Bruno's first thought on leaving Reims seems to have been to place himself and his companions under the direction of an eminent Solitary, Saint Robert, who had recently (1075) settled at Sèche-Fontaine, near Molesme, in the Diocese of Langres, France, together with a band of other Hermits, who were later on (in 1098) to form The Cistercian Order.

But he soon found that this was not his Vocation. After a short stay, he went with six of his companions to Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble. The Bishop, according to the pious legend, had recently had a vision of these men, under a Chaplet of Seven Stars, and he installed them in 1084 in a mountainous and uninhabited spot in The Lower Alps of The Dauphiné, France, in a place named Chartreuse, not far from Grenoble. With Saint Bruno, were Landuin, Stephen of Bourg, and Stephen of Die, Canons of Saint Rufus, and Hugh the Chaplain, and two Laymen, Andrew and Guerin, who afterwards became the first Lay Brothers.

They built a an Oratory, with small individual Cells, at a distance from each other, where they lived isolated and in poverty, entirely occupied in Prayer and Study; for these men had a reputation for Learning, and were frequently honoured by the visits of Saint Hugh, who became like one of themselves.

Autumn Has Arrive In England.

English: Maple tree with red leaves in the morning mist. Western Estonia.

Eesti: Udusse mattuv harilik vaher, punaste sügislehtedega. Läänemaa.

Русский: Клен с красными листьями в утреннем тумане. Западная Эстония.

Photo: 3 October 2016.

Source: Own work.

Author: Aleksander Kaasik.

(Wikimedia Commons)

"Autumn".

Composer: Vivaldi.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness !

Close bosom-friend of the maturing Sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and Bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store ?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

"Autumn Gold".

Artist: John Atkinson Grimshaw.

Illustration: JOHN ATKINSON GRIMSHAW

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drowsed with the fume of Poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Aye, where are they ?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, —

While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then, in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or, sinking as the light wind, lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The Redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering Swallows twitter in the skies.

"To Autumn".

John Keats.

1795-1821.

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

From: BARTLEBY.COM (GREAT BOOKS ONLINE)

English: Wildpark, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Deutsch: Wildpark, Dülmen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland.

Photo: 19 October 2014.

Source: This file was derived from: Dülmen, Wildpark -- 2014 -- 3808.jpg

Attribution: Dietmar Rabich (edited by Sting) / Wikimedia Commons/

“Dülmen, Wildpark -- 2014 -- 3808 color balanced” / CC BY-SA 4.0

Author: Dietmar Rabich (edited by Sting)

(Wikimedia Commons)

Autumn has now arrived in England.

Illustration; PINTEREST

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Autumn, also known as "The Fall" in American and Canadian English, is one of the four Temperate Seasons.

Autumn marks the transition from Summer to Winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere), when the duration of daylight becomes noticeably shorter and the temperature cools down considerably. One of its main features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees.

When Modernism Infiltrates Insidiously: Bring Back The Sacred; And Pray The Holy Rosary.

Illustration: IGNATIUS HIS CONCLAVE

The Descent Of The Modernists.

Illustration: RORATE CAELI

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise.

The Sedia Gestatoria (Chair for Carrying) was a Ceremonial Throne on which Popes were carried on shoulders until 1978, and later replaced with the Popemobile.

It consists of a richly-adorned, silk-covered armchair, fastened on a Suppedaneum, on each side of which are two gilded rings; through these rings pass the long rods with which twelve footmen (Palafrenieri), in red uniforms, carry the Throne on their shoulders. On prior occasions, as in the case of Pope Stephen III, Popes were carried on the shoulders of men.

The Sedia Gestatoria is an elaborate variation on the Sedan Chair. Two large fans (Flabella), made of white Ostrich feathers —a relic of the ancient Liturgical use of the Flabellum, mentioned in the Constitutiones Apostolicae— were carried at either side of the Sedia Gestatoria.

Pope Pius XII is carried through Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, on the Sedia Gestatoria.

Date: Unknown.

This File: 26 February 2008.

User: Melesse

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The Sedia Gestatoria of Pope Pius VII (1800-1823).

Exhibition of various Thrones in Galerie des Glaces of Château de Versailles, France.

Français: La Sedia Gestatoria (Chaise à porteurs) du Pape Pie VII (1800-1823).

Bois sculpté et doré, velours de soie cramoisi sur âme de bois, passementerie

en fils d'or, bronze doré. Exposition "le Trône en Majesté", Château de Versailles.

Italiano: La sedia gestatoria di Papa Pio VII.

Photo: 20 March 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jebulon.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Illustration: NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

Illustration: NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

Zephyrinus heartily commends the following Article to all Readers.

The Article, dated 8 February 2013, from RORATE CAELI, can be read in full HERE

Obedience And The Power Of The Modernists: Understanding The Resurgence Of Modernism In The Past 50 years.

by Fr. Giovanni Cavalcoli, O.P.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise.

Pope Saint Pius X's Papacy featured vigorous condemnation of what he termed 'Modernists' and 'Relativists'.

Pope Leo XIII had sought to revive the inheritance of Thomas Aquinas, 'the marriage of Reason and Revelation', as a response to Secular 'Enlightenment'.

Under the Pontificate of Pope Saint Pius X, Neo-Thomism became the blueprint for an approach to Theology. Pius X's Papacy featured vigorous condemnation of what he termed 'Modernists' and 'Relativists', whom he regarded as dangers to The Catholic Faith (see, for example, his Oath Against Modernism).

This is perhaps the most controversial aspect of his Papacy. He also encouraged the formation and efforts of Sodalitium Pianum (or League of Pius V), an Anti-Modernist network of informants, which was seen negatively by many people due to its accusations of Heresy against people on the flimsiest evidence.

This campaign against Modernism was run by Umberto Benigni in The Department of Extraordinary Affairs in The Secretariat of State, distributing Anti-Modernist propaganda and gathering information on "culprits". Benigni had his own secret code—Pope Pius X was known as "Mama".

English: Pope Saint Pius X. Official portrait taken shortly after his Enthronement in August 1903

Deutsch: Papst Pius X. Offizielles Porträt, aufgenommen kurz nach Inthronisation (August 1903).

Español: El papa Pío X. Retrato oficial, hecho pocos días

después 

de su entronización como papa el 9 de agosto de 1903.

Français: Le pape Pie X. Portrait officiel du 14 août 1903, après son inthronisation.

Photo: 14 August 1903.

Source: Web.

Author: Giuseppe Felici (1839-1923).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Saint Pius X's attitude toward The Modernists was uncompromising. Speaking of those who counselled compassion to the "culprits", he said: "They want them to be treated with oil, soap and caresses. But they should be beaten with fists. In a duel, you don't count or measure the blows, you strike as you can."

The Modernist Movement was linked especially with certain Catholic French scholars, such as Louis Duchesne, who questioned the belief that God acts in a direct way in the affairs of Humanity, and Alfred Loisy, who denied that some parts of Scripture were literally, rather than perhaps metaphorically, true.

Signature of Pope Saint Pius X.

Date: 1906.

Source: Heritage Auctions

Author: Pope Pius X.

Created in Vector format by Scewing

(Wikimedia Commons)

In contradiction to Thomas Aquinas, they argued that there was an unbridgeable gap between natural and supernatural knowledge. Its unwanted effects, from the Traditional viewpoint, were Relativism and Scepticism. Modernism and Relativism, in terms of their presence in The Church, were Theological trends that tried to assimilate modern philosophers, like Kant, as well as Rationalism into Catholic Theology.

Modernists argued that beliefs of The Church have evolved throughout its history and continue to evolve. Anti-Modernists viewed these notions as contrary to the Dogmas and Traditions of The Catholic Church.

"Habemus Papam".

Cardinal Luigi Macchi announces the Election of Cardinal Sarto as the new Pope.

As Proto-Deacon since 1899, Cardinal Macchi announced the Election of Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto at the end of the Conclave of 1903 and Crowned him on 9 August 1903.

Four years later, Cardinal Macchi died after an illness at the age of seventy-five.

Photo: 9 August 1903.

Source: Originally from hu.wikipedia; description page is/was here.

Author: Unknown, original uploader was User:Czinitz at hu.wikipedia.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In a Decree, entitled Lamentabili Sane Exitu ("A Lamentable Departure Indeed"), issued 3 July 1907, Pope Saint Pius X formally condemned sixty-five Modernist or Relativist Propositions concerning The Nature of The Church, Revelation, Biblical Exegesis, The Sacraments, and The Divinity of Christ.

This was followed by the Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis ("Feeding The Lord's Flock"), which characterised Modernism as the "Synthesis of all Heresies." Following these, Pope Pius X ordered that all Clerics take The Sacrorum Antistitum, an Oath against Modernism. Pope Pius X's aggressive stance against Modernism caused some disruption within The Church. Although only about forty Clerics refused to take the Oath, Catholic scholarship with Modernistic tendencies was substantially discouraged. Theologians who wished to pursue lines of inquiry in line with Secularism, Modernism, or Relativism, had to stop, or face conflict with the Papacy, and possibly even Excommunication.

Saint Placid And His Companions. Martyrs. Feast Day 5 October.

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

Saint Placid And His Companions.
   Martyrs.
   Feast Day 5 October.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

English: Church of Saint Placid, France.

Français: Église Saint-Plaçide sous le soleil.

Photo: 26 May 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Léo Camus.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Holiness of Saint Benedict in his grotto at Subiaco soon drew around him many Disciples, among whom the two greatest were Saint Maurus, Apostle of The Benedictine Order in France, and Saint Placid. Both were committed to the care of The Holy Patriarch, the former at twelve years of age and the latter when a child of four years old, by their parents, who belonged to the most illustrious Patrician Families of Rome; under the guidance of such a Master, they made rapid progress in Holiness.

Saint Benedict had a special predilection for young Placid, and, just as The Saviour chose certain of his Disciples to be witness of His Miracles, so he liked to be accompanied by the pious child when God gave him Miracles to work.

English: Church of Saint Placid, Catania, Italy.

Italiano: Catania - Chiesa di San Placido.

Photo: 27 September 2014.

Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/115564911

Author: giggel

(Wikimedia Commons)

One one occasion, while drawing water from The Lake of Subiaco, Placid fell in, and the waves carried him far from the shore. The Man of God sent Saint Maurus, who, walking miraculously on the water, saved him.

Placid and Maurus followed Saint Benedict to Monte Cassino.

Today's Office and Mass Celebrated the memory of several Christians who were put to death in Sicily about 541 A.D., by Saracenic Pirates. According to a pious Tradition, these Martyrs were Saint Placid, his sister, and the Monks which Saint Benedict had sent to Sicily with him.

Mass: Salus autem.
Collects: From The Mass: Sapiéntam.

Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica Of The Nativity Of Saint Mary, Milan, Italy. Basilica Cattedrale Metropolitana Di Santa Maria Nascente, Milano.

English: Milan Cathedral.

Italiano: Milano - Duomo.

Photo: February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: MarkusMark.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise.

Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano; Lombard: Domm de Milan) is The Cathedral Church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to Saint Mary of The Nativity (Santa Maria Nascente), it is The Seat of The Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Angelo Scola. The Gothic Cathedral took nearly six Centuries to complete. It is the second-largest Church in Italy, after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the third-largest in the World.

Milan Cathedral, Italy.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Milan's layout, with streets either radiating from The Duomo or encircling it, reveals that The Duomo occupies what was the most central site in Roman Mediolanum, that of the public Basilica facing The Forum.

The first Cathedral, the "new Basilica" (Basilica Nova), Dedicated to Saint Thecla, was completed by 355 A.D. It seems to share, on a slightly smaller scale, the Plan of the contemporaneous Church recently re-discovered beneath Tower Hill in London. An adjoining Basilica was erected in 836 A,D. The old Octagonal Baptistery, the Battistero Paleocristiano, dates to 335 A.D., and still can be visited under The Milan Cathedral. When a fire damaged the Cathedral and Basilica in 1075, they were rebuilt as The Duomo.

Saint Ambrose barring Emperor Theodosius I from Milan Cathedral.

Artist: Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641).

Date: 1619.

Current location: National Gallery, London.

Source/Photographer: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/

anthony-van-dyck -st-ambrose-barring-theodosius-from-milan-cathedral

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of The Nativity of Saint Mary, Milan, Italy.

Italiano: Interno del Duomo di Milano.

Photo: 1 January 2000.

Source: Own work.

Author: Paolo da Reggio.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Milan Cathedral, Italy,

(Duomo di Milano).

Visit To The Rooftop.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Milan Cathedral, Italy.

Photo: 31 December 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mikko Virtaperk.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: Stained-Glass Window, Milan Cathedral, Italy.

Italiano: Giovanni Battista Bertini (1799-1849) e Giuseppe Bertini (1825-1898),

vetrata (1833-62) dell'abside del Duomo di Milano.

Photo: 14 July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: G.dallorto.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Stained-Glass Window, 

Milan Cathedral, Italy.

Photo: 18 September 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Max_Ryazanov.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Francis Of Assisi. Confessor. Feast Day, Today, 4 October.

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

Saint Francis Of Assisi.
   Confessor.
   Feast Day 4 October.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

"Saint Francis in Meditation".

Artist: Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664).

Date: 1635-1639.

Current location: National Gallery, London, England.

Source/Photographer: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

paintings/francisco-de-zurbaran-saint-francis-in-meditation/27646

(Wikimedia Commons)

Born at Assisi, in Umbria, Italy, Saint Francis was raised up by God to work at the same time as Saint Dominic for the moral regeneration of the World at a most troublous period.

[Francis, says Dante, was a true Seraph by the love which devoured his Soul; Dominic, by his enlightened knowledge, ranks with The Cherubim. The former lived 1182-1225, the latter 1170-1221. It is related that Saint Louis, King of France, used to say that, if he could divide himself, he would give half of himself to Saint Dominic and half to Saint Francis].

He had been Christened "John", but was called "Francis", by his father, to celebrate his return from a successful business journey in France.

"The more the sublime enthusiast," says Montalembert, "hid himself and depreciated himself to make himself worthy by humility and men's contempt to be the vessel of Divine Love, the more, by a wonderful effort of of Grace, men rushed to follow him."

Saint Francis of Assisi.

Illustration: PINTEREST

Francis soon had disciples (Communion) who reduced themselves to the same poverty as himself and shared his ardour for the conversion of the people. "My Brothers," he would say, "let us Preach Penance, by example, rather than by word."

He gave them a Rule, which was approved by Pope Innocent III in 1210. In the following year, he obtained from The Benedictines the little Church of Our Lady of The Angels, called "Portiuncula", which was the cradle of his Order [The property of The Benedictines of Mount Subasio was thus called because it was made up of small portions of land. After having restored The Church of Our Lady of The Angels, Saint Francis obtained from the Pope the grant of a Plenary Indulgence for all The Faithful who visited it on 2 August, the Anniversary of its Consecration. For the last few years, all Parish Churches enjoy the same privilege (Note: This Text was written in 1945)].

The new Religious Family, with which he enriched The Church (Collect), multiplied so rapidly that, at The General Chapter held at Assisi about ten years after its birth, there were five thousand Brothers.

Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Aleppo, Syria.

Photo: 8 January 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Preacher lad.

(Wikimedia Commons)

[In 1264, The Franciscans possessed already 8,000 Houses. The Friars-Minor have given to The Church twenty-nine Saints, sixty Blesseds, five Popes, and many Cardinals, Bishops, and Learned Men, such as Saint Bonaventure, Alexander of Hales, Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus. The Capuchins six Saints and eleven Blesseds. The Conventuals one Saint and one Blessed. In 1936, The Friars-Minor numbered about 24,500 Members, The Capuchins 13,500, and The Conventuals 3,000, not to mention the 83,000 Regular Tertiaries and the 1,904,000 Secular Tertiaries.]

Wishing to consider themselves the least among Religious, Saint Francis gave them the name of Friars-Minor, and he himself remained a Deacon all his life. After this first Order, he Founded another Order, "The Order of Poor Clares", thus called after Saint Clare, the illustrious Virgin of Assisi (Feast Day 12 August).

Lastly, in 1221, he Founded a third Order, called "The Order of Penance", on which the Popes, and especially Pope Leo XIII, who considered it an honour to belong to it, lavished the greatest encouragement and the richest favours.

Saint Francis sent his disciples to France, Germany, Spain, Africa; he himself wanted to go to Palestine and Morocco, but Divine Providence stopped him on the way. The Divine Love which burned in him caused him to be surnamed "Seraphic".

On 4 October 1226, he gave up his Soul to God while finishing the last Verse of Psalm 141: "Bring my Soul out of prison, O Lord, that I may praise Thy Name."

Mass: Mihi autem.

"O, Magnum Mysterium". "O, Great Mystery".

English: Gregorian Chant Responsary: "O, Magnum Mysterium".

Deutsch: Gregorianisches Responsorium O Magnum Mysterium.

Date: Mediaeval.

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

"O, Magnum Mysterium".

Composed by: Morten Lauridsen.

Sung by: Westminster Cathedral Choir.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

"O, Magnum Mysterium" is a Responsorial Chant from The Matins of Christmas.

Latin.

O, Magnum Mysterium,

et admirabile sacramentum,

ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,

iacentem in praesepio !

Beata Virgo, cujus viscera

meruerunt portare

Dominum Iesum Christum.

Alleluia !

English.

O, Great Mystery,

and wonderful Sacrament,

that animals should see The New-Born Lord,

lying in a Manger !

Blessed is The Virgin whose womb

was worthy to bear

The Lord, Jesus Christ.

Alleluia !

"The Nativity".

Artist: Hans Baldung.

Date: 1520.

Current location: Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.

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

(Wikimedia Commons)

The image of the Oxen and Donkey, next to The Crib, is found in Isaiah (Isa. 1.3) and is Traditionally related to The Nativity scene at The Birth of Jesus, in Luke 2.

Luke (Lk 2.7) does not mention animals, but a Manger. In the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, both animals are specifically named. The image continued to spread from the 13th-Century onwards, when it was included in The Golden Legend. It became the most popular symbol for The Mystery of The Self-Abasement of God in His Incarnation. (Phil 2,6–7).

The second part of The Responsory relates to the words with which Elizabeth welcomes Mary, Mother of Jesus, on her Visitation (Lk 1.42–43).