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

Thursday, 11 March 2021

Silverstream Priory, County Meath, Ireland, Now Has The Following In Stock: The Saint Andrew Daily Missal; The Liturgical Year (Author: Dom Guéranger); The Divine Office.



Silverstream Priory, County Meath, Ireland,
Now Has The Following In Stock:

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal;

The Liturgical Year
(Author: Dom Guéranger);

The Divine Office.

All Available From
The Priory Shop At



The Institute Of Christ The King Sovereign Priest To Take Over The Holy Angels Church, Torquay, Devon. Traditional Latin Masses And Traditional Devotions And The Divine Office To Be Offered.



This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY RC DIOCESE OF MIDDLESBROUGH


The Bishop of Plymouth, Mark O'Toole, has announced that The Institute of Christ The King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) is to take over a Church in Torquay, Devon.

It is The Church of The Holy Angels, a relatively modest-sized Church, that was built in the 1930s and located in a residential area of Chelston. The existing Parish Priest will be retiring shortly and the Parish will be merged with the much larger Church of The Assumption, which is located in another part of Torquay. 

Although there will continue to be some provision for Novus Ordo Masses at The Holy Angels Church, The Institute of Christ The King Sovereign Priest will offer daily Traditional Latin Masses, as well as The Divine Office and other Traditional Devotions.

Unlike the large Churches of the ICKSP in Preston and New Brighton, in the Dioceses of Lancaster and Shrewsbury, The Holy Angels Church was built to a modest budget and is not a great piece of Architecture. Neither is it a conspicuous building, being in a side street in a residential area. Nevertheless, the Interior is quite attractive, with a Romanesque Sanctuary Arch flanked by two smaller Arches. These are supported on round Classical Columns.

The Web-Site of The Holy Angels Church can be found HERE

Thursday Of The Third Week In Lent. Lenten Station At The Basilica Of The Holy Martyrs Cosmas And Damian.

 


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

Thursday of The Third Week in Lent.

Station at The Holy Martyrs, Cosmas and Damian.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.



The High Altar and Apse
Photo: June 2002.
Source: flickr.com
Author: iessi
(Wikimedia Commons)



This Thursday takes the name of "Mid-Lent Thursday", because it is the twentieth day in the middle of The Holy Forty Days. The Church brings to the following Sunday the sentiments of joy [on Lætare Sunday, Rose Vestments can be worn instead of the Violet Vestments] which she wishes to fill our hearts. The Feast of Easter approaches, and we must courageously continue The Lenten Fast, already half completed.

It is in a Church, made of two Pagan Temples (of The Holy City and of Romulus), where rest the bodies of The Holy Martyrs, Cosmas and Damian, who were put to death during The Diocletian Persecution, that this Station is made.

The sick came in crowds to visit the tomb of these two brothers, doctors by profession, imploring them to restore their health. It was thus fitting to say this Gospel, relating to the cure of the mother-in-law of Simon Peter and of the sick of Capharnaum. It is also a Mass of Dedication, as the words of the Epistle show: Templum Domini est.

The Jews, who possessed the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem, began to believe that respect for The House of God sufficed to Sanctify them, and they considered themselves dispensed from observing The Spirit of The Law. Wherefore, The Church warns us that our Lent should not only consist of Prayers and Fasts, but should be accompanied by Exercises of Charity and Justice towards our neighbour.


Theodoric The Great,
King of The Ostrogoths.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)


We must imitate the example of Jesus, and during the whole of Lent follow Him, with The Holy Liturgy, in His Ministry of Redemption, Preaching The Kingdom of God, healing the sick, and casting out devils (Gospel). Let us love to listen to The Word of God: It will cure our Souls and banish from them the devil, who seeks to reign therein.

The Catechumens, who were preparing for Baptism, listened especially at this Season of the Year to The Word of God. They also received The Imposition of Hands, so as to be delivered from evil spirits and to obtain the cure of their Souls.

Through the Intercession of The Holy Doctors, Cosmas and Damian, in whose Church today's Solemnities are Celebrated, let us ask The Divine Physician that the severe Abstinence of The Lenten Fast may cool the fever of our passions and assure our Salvation (Collect, Epistle, Postcommunion).

Mass: Salus pópuli.
Preface: Of Lent.



Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Rome.
Photo: September 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Riccardov
(Wikimedia Commons)



The following Text is from Wikipedia -the free encyclopædia.

The Basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a Church in Rome, located in The Roman Forum. It is one of the ancient Churches called Tituli, of which Cardinals are Patrons as Deacons. The Cardinal Deacon of the Titulus Ss. Cosmae et Damiani is Giovanni Cheli. The Basilica, devoted to the two Greek brothers, doctors, Martyrs and Saints, Cosmas and Damian, is located in The Forum of Vespasian, also known as The Forum of Peace.

The Temple of Romulus was dedicated by Emperor Maxentius to his son, Valerius Romulus, who died in 309 A.D., and was rendered divine honours. It is possible that the temple was, in origin, the temple of "Iovis Stator" or the one dedicated to Penates, and that Maxentius restored it before the re-Dedication.


Pope Felix IV presents Saints Cosmas and Damian
with the Basilica that he re-Dedicated to them.
Painting from SS Cosma e Damiano. Early-1600s, Tuscan School.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The ancient Roman fabric was Christianised and Dedicated to Sancti Cosma et Damiano in 527 A.D., when Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, and his daughter, Amalasuntha, donated The Library of The Forum of Peace (Bibliotheca Pacis), and a portion of the Temple of Romulus, to Pope Felix IV (526 A.D. - 530 A.D.).

The Pope united the two buildings to create a Basilica devoted to two Greek brothers and Saints, Cosmas and Damian, in contrast with the ancient pagan cult of the two brothers, Castor and Pollux, who had been worshipped in the nearby Temple of Castor and Pollux.


Not really a Temple,
but a Vestibule opening into a Hall of Vespasian's Forum of Peace,
which now houses the Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano.
Photo: May 2005.
Source: Flickr
Reviewer: KenWalker
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Apse was decorated with a Roman-Byzantine mosaic, representing a parousia, The Second Coming of Christ at the End of Time. The bodies of Saints Mark and Marcellian were Translated, perhaps in the 9th-Century A.D., to this Church, where they were re-discovered in 1583 during the Reign of Pope Gregory XIII.

In 1632, Pope Urban VIII ordered the Restoration of the Basilica. The works, projected by Orazio Torriani and directed by Luigi Arrigucci, raised the floor level seven metres, bringing it equal with the Campo Vaccino, thus avoiding the infiltration of water. Also, a Cloister was added. The old Floor of the Basilica is still visible in the lower Church, which is actually the lower part of the first Church.

In 1947, the Restorations of The Imperial Forums gave a new structure to the Church. The old entrance, through the Temple of Romulus, was closed, and the temple restored to its original forms; with the Pantheon, the Temple of Romulus is the best preserved pagan temple in Rome. A new entrance was opened on the opposite side (on Via dei Fori Imperiali), whose Arch gives access to the Cloister, and through this to the side of the Basilica.


Pope Urban VIII (1623 - 1644)
ordered the Restoration of the Basilica in 1632.
Artist: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680).
Date: 1632.
Current location: Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art
(Wikimedia Commons)


Next to the new entrance to the complex, there are rooms with the original Marble Paving of The Forum of Peace, and the wall, where the 150 Marble Slabs of the Forma Urbis Romae were hung. Through the Cloister, the entrance to the Church opens on the side of the single Nave. The Plan of the Basilica followed the norms of the Counter-Reformation: a single Nave, with three Chapels per side, and the big Apse, which now looks quite over-sized because of the reduction in height of the 17th-Century Restoration, framed by the Triumphal Arch, also mutilated by that Restoration.

The mosaics are masterpieces of 6th and 7th-Century A.D. art. In the middle is Christ, with Saint Peter presenting Saint Cosmas and Saint Theodorus (Right), and Saint Paul presenting Saint Damian and Pope Felix IV; the latter holds a model of the Church.

The importance of this Basilica, for the history of medicine, is not only related to the fact that the two brothers were physicians, and soon became Patrons of physicians, surgeons, pharmacists and veterinarians, but also to the Tradition, according to which, Claudius Galen himself lectured in the Library of the Temple of Peace (“Bibliotheca Pacis”). Furthermore, for Centuries, in this “medical area” Roman physicians had their meetings.

Wednesday, 10 March 2021

“The Fields Of Athenry”. Sung by: Glenn & Ronan.



“The Fields Of Athenry”.
Sung by: Glenn & Ronan.
Available on YouTube at

The Forty Holy Martyrs Of Sebaste, Armenia. Feast Day, Today, 10 March.


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

The Forty Holy Martyrs.
   Feast Day 10 March.

Semi-Double.

Red Vestments.


English: The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
Ivory Relief Panel. Constantinople. 10th-Century Museum für Byzantinische Kunst
(Inv. no. 574; acquired in 1828; Bartoldi collection), Bode-Museum, Berlin.
Deutsch: Die vierzig Märtyrer von Sebaste;
Elfenbein-Relieftafel; Konstantinopel, 10. Jh. n. Chr. Museum für Byzantinische Kunst (Inv. 574; erworben 1828; Sammlung Bartoldi), Bode-Museum, Berlin.
Date: 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Photo: AndreasPraefcke
(Wikimedia Commons)

Under the Emperor Licinius, in 320 A.D., Forty Soldiers of the Garrison of Sebaste, in Armenia, bore glorious testimony to Christ (Epistle). For refusing to sacrifice to idols, they were, out of hatred for the name of Jesus (Gospel), "thrown into prison and tortured in many ways" (Epistle).

At last, they were stripped of their clothes and exposed on a frozen pond. They asked God that "the forty, who entered the lists, might be forty to win the Crown, forty being the number Consecrated by the Fasts of Jesus, Moses, and Elias".

One of them, whose courage failed, threw himself into a bath of tepid water, prepared near by, and perished in it. But their guard, touched by Grace from above, took his place, and there were Forty Martyrs.


English: Forty Martyrs Church Forty Martyrs Church in
Veliko TarnovoBulgaria, a Bulgarian national cultural monument.
Български: Църквата bg:Свети Четиридесет мъченици (Велико Търново), български национален паметник на културата.
Date: 7 June 2007 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from bg.wikipedia
Author: Original uploader was Svik at bg.wikipedia
Attribution: Attribution: Svilen Enev
(Wikimedia Commons)

When they had expired, their bodies were carried away on chariots, to be burned, all except the youngest, who was still alive and whom they hoped to pervert to the worship of the gods. But his mother, who, above all, was his mother in Christ (Communion) took him in her arms, followed the convoy, and, when her son had breathed his last, she laid him with those who were more than ever his brothers in Jesus (Gospel, Communion).

They were thus united in death as in life, and their Souls entered Heaven together."How pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity ! " (Gradual). The Communion, which alludes to this Charity, is the same as that of The Seven Holy Martyrs And Their Mother, on 10 July.

Let us imitate the fortitude of these Forty Martyrs in the confession of their Faith and not grow slack during the Forty Days of Lent.

Mass: Clamavérunt justi.
Commemoration: Of The Feria.
Last Gospel: Of The Feria.

Wednesday Of The Third Week In Lent. The Lenten Station Is At The Basilica Of Saint Sixtus.




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

Wednesday of The Third Week in Lent.

Station at Saint Sixtus's.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.



English: Basilica of Saint Sixtus, Rome.
Italiano: San Sisto (Santi Nereo e Achilleo) (Terme di Caracalla).
Photo: June 2006.
Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Candidates from among the heathen, after a period of waiting, became Catechumens at The Station this day. Their Sponsors presented them by testifying to their purity of intention and conduct. Their names were written on Tablets of Ivory covered in Leather, which were read at The Commemoration of The Living.

After The Collect, and before The Lessons, they proceeded to The Rites of Exsufflation, of The Sign of The Cross, of The Imposition of Hands, and of that of The Salt, which are still to be found in the first part of The Ceremonies of Baptism.

The Station is at Saint Sixtus's, on The Appian Way, a Parish Church of Rome in the 5th-Century A.D. It was of this Holy Pontiff, and, according to several authors, in this very place, that Saint Laurence begged to be permitted to accompany him as his Minister in the sacrifice of himself which he was about to make. Saint Sixtus is buried in this Church.

God, on Sinai, had commanded men, the Epistle and Gospel tell us, to honour their parents and to love their neighbours. The Pharisees added to these Commandments human traditions, which consisted of formalities wholly external, to which they attached more importance than they did to the Law of Moses.


The Basilica of Saint Sixtus, Rome.
Photo: November 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: LPLT
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Church, therefore, seeks to put us on our guard against the observance of exterior practices of Worship or Fasts, which are not united to Acts of Charity. For, in order to obtain the approval of Heaven, our Penance must come from a heart overflowing with Love of God and our neighbour, for it is from the heart that the holiness and malice of man proceeds.

To bodily mortifications, let us take great care to add the practice of Virtues: Sincerity; Justice; Patience; Charity; or, as The Collect expresses it, let us impose upon ourselves Fasting of Soul and body.

Mass: Ego autem.
Preface: Of Lent.



The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Insufflation and Exsufflation.

In Religious and magical practice, Insufflation and Exsufflation are ritual acts of blowing, breathing, hissing, or puffing, that signify, variously, expulsion or renunciation of evil or of the Devil (the Evil One), or infilling or Blessing with good (especially, in Religious use, with The Spirit or Grace of God).


Pope Leo III (795 A.D. - 816 A.D.) rebuilt the old "Titulus" in 814 A.D.
Mosaics in the Hall (Triclinium) of Pope Leo III
of The Lateran Palace (798 A.D. - 799 A.D.).
(Wikimedia Commons)



In historical Christian practice, such blowing appears most prominently in The Liturgy, and is connected almost exclusively with Baptism and other Ceremonies of Christian Initiation, achieving its greatest popularity during periods in which such Ceremonies were given a prophylactic or Exorcistic significance, and were viewed as essential to the defeat of the Devil or to the removal of the taint of Original Sin.

Ritual blowing occurs in The Liturgies of Catechumenate and Baptism from a very Early Period and survives into the modern Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Maronite, and Coptic Rites.

Catholic Liturgy, post-Vatican II (the so-called Novus Ordo 1969), has largely done away with Insufflation, except in a Special Rite for the Consecration of Chrism on Maundy Thursday. Protestant liturgies typically abandoned it very early on. Muslims include the practice to a certain degree, following the Biblical Rites to a lesser extent. The Tridentine Catholic Liturgy retained both an Insufflation of The Baptismal Water and (like the present-day Orthodox and Maronite Rites) an Exsufflation of The Candidate for Baptism, right up to the 1960s.

THE INSUFFLATION. He breathes thrice upon the waters in the form of a Cross, saying: "Do You with Your mouth Bless these pure waters: that besides their natural virtue of cleansing the body, they may also be effectual for purifying the Soul".

THE EXSUFFLATION. The Priest breathes three times on The Child in the form of a Cross, saying: "Go out of him . . . you unclean spirit and give place to The Holy Spirit, The Paraclete".


Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484).
Date: Circa 1473.
Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
Source/Photographer: cartelen.louvre.fr
[Pope Sixtus IV restored the Basilica in 1475].
(Wikimedia Commons)



Santi Nereo e Achilleo is a 4th-Century A.D. Basilica Church in Rome, located in via delle Termi di Caracalla, in the rione Celio, facing the main entrance to The Baths of Caracalla. The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Ss. Nerei et Achillei is Theodore Edgar McCarrick.

A 337 A.D., epitaph inscription in the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura celebrates the Late Cinnamius Opas, Lector of a Church known as Titulus Fasciolae; the name has traditionally been explained as the place where St. Peter lost the foot bandage (fasciola) that wrapped the wounds caused by his chains, on his way to escape the Mamertine Prison.

In The Acts of The Synod of Pope Symmachus, 499 A.D., the Titulus Fasciolae is recorded as served by five Priests. This same building is recorded as Titulus Sanctorum Nerei et Achillei in 595 A.D; therefore, the Dedications to Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, two Soldiers and Martyrs of the 4th-Century A.D., must date to the 6th-Century A.D.


Basilica of Saint Sixtus (San Sisto)
(Santi Nereo e Achilleo), Rome.
Photo: June 2006.
Source: DSCN0317
Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de
(Wikimedia Commons)



In 814 A.D., Pope Leo III rebuilt the old Titulus. In the 13th-Century, the Relics of the two Martyrs (Santi Nereo e Achilleo) were Transferred from The Catacomb of Domitilla to the Sant'Adriano, whence they were Transferred to this Church by Cardinal Baronius.

The Church degraded with time, and, in 1320, according to the Catalogue of Turin, it was a Presbyterial Title with no Priest serving. So, Pope Sixtus IV Restored the Church on occasion of The Jubilee of 1475, while The Jubilee of 1600 was the occasion for the last major Restoration, funded by the scholarly antiquarian, Cardinal Cesare Baronio, who commissioned the frescoes.


Saint Domitilla, with Saints Nereus and Achilleus.
Date: 1598 -1599.
Current location: Chiesa dei Santi Nereo e Achilleo, Rome.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Behind its unassuming facade, the Church is built according to the typical Basilica Plan, with a single Nave and two Side Aisles. The original Columns were replaced in the 15th-Century by Octagonal Pillars, and the Nave is characterised by the large fresco decorations commissioned by Cardinal Baronio.

The Cardinal, in his iconographic scheme timed for the 1600 Jubilee, emphasised the role of The Roman Martyrs during the Early Centuries of Christianity. The execution of the frescoes was entrusted to a minor painter, generally thought to be Niccolò Circignani, called "Pomarancio". There are a lot of gruesome details and blood all over the walls, but the pastel colours soften somewhat a fearsome effect of the pictures.


The Ciborium and High Altar,
Basilica of Saint Sixtus (San Sisto) (Santi Nereo e Achilleo), Rome.
Photo: June 2006.
Source: DSCN0316
Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Mediæval Ambo is set on a large, porphyry Urn taken from the nearby Baths of Caracalla. The low Screen, separating The Choir, is faced with 13th-Century Cosmatesque-Style inlays. A White Marble Candelabra was brought here from San Paolo fuori-le-Mura. The Ciborium, dating from the 16th-Century, is raised on African Marble Columns.

The Spandrels of the Arch, at the end of the Nave, retain some of the former mosaics of the time of Pope Leo III, with a central Transfiguration in a Mandorla. The High Altar, made of three Cosmatesque panels, houses the Relics of Nereus, Achilleus, and Saint Flavia Domitilla; all three of whom were brought here from the Catacomb of Domitilla. Next to The Altar, there are two pagan stones, depicting two winged spirits, taken from a nearby temple.


In the Apse, behind The Altar, is the Episcopal Throne, assembled under the direction of the Antiquary, Cardinal Baronius, re-using Lions in the Cosmatesque Style, that is associated with The Vassalletto School, which support the arm-rests; on the back-rest, is inscribed the opening and closing words of the twenty-eighth Homily of Saint Gregory The Great, inscribed under the mistaken Tradition that he preached them here, in front of the Relics of Saints Nereus and Achilleus on their Feast Day.

When Cardinal Baronio ordered the inscription, he did not know that the Relics were originally buried in the underground Basilica of the Catacomb of Domitilla, so thought that this was the place where Saint Gregory Preached.

The Arch of the Apse has mosaics of the 9th-Century A.D., with The Annunciation, The Transfiguration, and The Theotokos (Mother of God).

Tuesday, 9 March 2021

“Domine Salvam Fac Reginam Nostram Elizabeth”. “Et Exaudi Nos In Die Qua Invocaverimus Te”.



Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Saint John Paul II.
Illustration: FR TIMOTHY FINIGAN


“Domine Salvam Fac”.
Traditionally sung in England after Sunday High Mass
for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Available on YouTube at

PRAYER FOR THE QUEEN.

Chanted in England after High Mass on Sunday. 

V. Domine, salvam fac reginam nostram Elisabeth. 

R. Et exaudi nos in die, qua invocaverimus te. 

V. Domine, exáudi orationem meam. 

R. Et clamor meus ad te véniat. 

V. Dominus vobiscum. 

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

Quaesumus, omnipotens Deus,
ut famula tua Elisabeth, regina nostra,
qui tua miseratione suscepit regni gubernacula,
virtutum etiam omnium percipiat incrementa;
quibus decenter ornata, et vitiorum monstra
devitare, (In time of War: hostes superare)
et ad te qui via, veritas, et vita es, cum principe
consorte et prole regia, gratiosa valeat pervenire.

Per Christum Dominum nostrum.
Amen.

Saint Frances Of Rome. Widow. Whose Feast Day Is, Today, 9 March.


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

Saint Frances Of Rome.
   Widow.
   Feast Day 9 March.

Double.

White Vestments.


Saint Frances of Rome giving alms.
Artist: Giovanni Battista Gaulli (1639–1709).
Date: 1675.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Frances, a noble Roman lady, showed forth the strength of virtues mentioned in the Epistle. She was betrothed at the age of eleven to Lorenzo de Ponziani, and was, for forty years, the type of a perfect Christian spouse.

Avoiding festivities, wearing the simplest apparel, devoting to Prayer and to the care of The Poor all her spare time after she had accomplished her domestic duties, she Founded, at Rome, The House of The Oblates of The Congregation of Mount Olivet, under The Rule of Saint Benedict (1433).

After the death of her husband, she retired there in order to purchase, at the price of all her possessions, “The Precious Pearl of Eternal Life” (Gospel). Having, thus, become “The Spouse of Christ” (Tract), she acquired, by the continual contemplation of The Passion of Jesus, the Divine Energy which enabled her to obtain a perfect mastery over her senses.

To sustain her in her terrible encounters with The Spirit of Evil, God favoured her with the visible presence of her Guardian Angel, with whom she conversed familiarly (Collect). She died in 1440.

Her body is kept in Rome in the Church of Santa Maria Nuova, near The Forum, also called after her name, and, of which, Pope Pius XI made a Lenten Stational Church in 1934 (Thursday in Passion Week in Lent).

At this Holy Season  of Penance, let us, like Saint Frances, imitate the life, full of sacrifice, of The Saviour.

Mass: Cognóvi.
Commemoration: In Lent. Of The Feria.
Last Gospel: In Lent. Of The Feria.
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