Our Lady Of Guadalupe. Feast Day 12 December (Or 16 November).

Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe 

on the Mantle (Tilma) of Saint Juan Diego.

Photo: 6 September 2021.

Source: Own work.

Author: Manuel Delgado Ortiz.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

(Supplement For The Dioceses Of The United States Of America).

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

   12 December (or 16 November).

   White Vestments.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Central America, a few miles North of the City of Mexico, is one of the most celebrated places of Pilgrimage in The New World.

Here, on 9 December 1531, the Holy Mother of God appeared to an Indian convert, and left with him a picture of herself impressed upon his mantle.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patronal Festivity of Mexico, and is likewise kept with Solemnity in the South and West of The United States.

In California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, etc, it is a Double of The First Class. In the Dioceses of the Province of New Orleans, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is Anticipated to 16 November.

Introit: Salve, Sancta Parens.

Commemoration: Of the Advent Feria, Secret, Postcommunion.

Epistle:“Ego quasi vitis”, as on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Gospel: “Exsúrgens Maria”, as on the Feast of the Visitation.

Creed: Is said or sung.

Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary; “Et te in Festivitáte.

The original Tilma of Juan Diego, which hangs above 

The High Altar of Guadalupe Basilica. The suspended Crown atop the image dates back to its Canonical Coronation on 

12 October 1895. The image is protected by bulletproof glass and low-oxygen atmosphere.

Photo: 16 March 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jan Zatko.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as The Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, Mother of Jesus, associated with a series of four Marian apparitions to a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego and one to his uncle, Juan Bernardino, which are believed to have occurred in December 1531, when the Mexican territories were part of the Spanish Empire.

A venerated image on a Cloak (Tilmahtli) associated with the apparition is enshrined in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. 

Pope Leo XIII granted the image a decree of Canonical Coronation on 8 February 1887, and it was Pontifically Crowned on 12 October 1895. The Basilica is the most-visited Catholic Shrine in the World, and the World’s third most-visited Sacred Site.[2][3]

“Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam” (A.M.D.G.). “To The Greater Glory Of God”. Beautiful Vestments From Gammarelli Of Rome.

A recently-commissioned Green Vestment Set

from Gammarelli of Rome.

Photo: OC-Travel.

Illustration: LITURGICAL ARTS JOURNAL

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,

LITURGICAL ARTS JOURNAL

By: John Paul Sonnen

Recently, while attending an FSSP Confirmation, I was impressed to see this new Green Set of Roman Vestments at The Church of Saint Anthony, in Calgary, Canada.

In an age when many Ecclesiastical Vestments have ceased to reflect the Intense Mystery, August Splendour, and Important Quality, of “Other Worldliness” in The Church's Liturgy, it is a breath of fresh air to see this and other such interesting new Vestment Projects that are springing up here and there.

This specific project was initiated by the much-loved Pastor, Fr. Antony Sumich, FSSP, when he was posted to Saint Anthony’s “Latin Mass” Community.

Illustration: GAMMARELLI

Fundraising was arranged by devoted Parishioners, spearheaded by Sir Henry Kutarna, a “Knight Of The Most Noble Equestrian Order Of The Holy Sepulchre Of Jerusalem”. The aim was to provide the highest quality new, complete, matching Sets of Vestments, in all The Liturgical Colours.

Donors gave for whole Sets, or parts of Sets. The Pope’s own Tailor, “Gammarelli”, was Commissioned and the Custom Vestments were designed and made at the storied Gammarelli Studio, in Rome.

Gammarelli also provided the impressive Baroque Coat-of-Arms, stitched by way of a computerised sewing machine, a service they also provide. Further, embroidered inscriptions were included in the Inner Lining of the Vestments, discreetly displaying the names of the Donors as a simple reminder for the Vesting Priest to offer a brief “Memento” Prayer for them.

The Gammarelli Motto is an important one: “Nobilitas in Traditione”.

I encourage Readers to take a look at Signor Gammarelli’s NEW WEB-SITE that was recently launched and to consider a similar project for your Parish Church.

Saint Anthony Parishioners believe these Vestments will last 150 years.

The Gammarelli Web-Site can be found HERE

Zephyrinus Sends A Christmas Card To All Readers.

Zephyrinus Wishes

A Very Happy, Holy,

and Peaceful, Christmas

to all Readers.

Illustration: © ZEPHYRINUS

Saint Damasus I. Pope. Confessor. Feast Day, Today, 11 December. And Fourth Day Within The Octave Of The Immaculate Conception.

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

Saint Damasus I.
   Pope and Confessor.
   Feast Day 11 December.

Semi-Double.

White Vestments.

English: 19th-Century imagined portrait of 

Pope Saint Damasus I. (Papacy 366 A.D.-384 A.D.).

Português: Lithography of Pope Saint Damasus I

(Lisboa, 1840).

Source: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal: http://purl.pt/6209/1/

Institution: National Library of Portugal.

Author: Pedro Augusto Guglielmi.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Saint Damasus I, of Spanish extraction, succeeded Pope Liberius in the See of Saint Peter in 366 A.D. He thus shared the dignity of the one whom the Epistle calls “the Holy Pontiff, innocent without stain, higher than the heavens”.

He governed The Church seventeen years and showed himself the faithful and prudent servant mentioned in the Gospel, to whom “The Lord entrusts His family to be nourished by him in due Season.”

The Era of Persecution being over, that of heresy began with the 4th-Century A.D. Wherefore, Pope Saint Damasus I confirmed the Second Ecumenical Council, which, at Constantinople, had condemned Arianism and Macedonianism (381 A.D.). Saint Jerome, by Pope Saint Damasus I’s command, translated The New Testament into Latin (from Greek).

This holy Pope increased the beauty of worship by his rules for the singing of Psalms, and by decreeing that the Gloria Patri should be said at the end of Psalms, thus Baptising them, so to speak, in The Trinity. He adorned the Catacombs with artistic inscriptions, and died in 384 A.D.

Mass: Sacerdótes tui.

Commemoration: Of the Octave of The Immaculate Conception.

Commemoration: Of the Feria.

The Creed is Said or Sung: On account of the Octave of The Immaculate Conception.

Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

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

Available (in Ireland) from

SILVERSTREAM PRIORY

Saint Melchiades. Pope. Martyr. Whose Feast Day Is, Today, 10 December.

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

Saint Melchiades.
   Pope and Martyr.
   Feast Day 10 December.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

Pope Saint Melchiades was Pope from 311 A.D. - 314 A.D. The alternate spelling of his name, Miltiades, is used on this illustration. This illustration is from The Lives And Times Of The Popes by Chevalier Artaud de Montor, New York: 

The Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911. 

It was originally published in 1842.

Date: 6 June 2013.

Source: http://archive.org/details/

livesofpopes01artauoft

Author: Artaud de Montor (1772–1849).

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: Emblem of The Papacy.

Triple Tiara and Keys.

Deutsch: Emblem des Pontifikats.

Français: emblème pontifical.

Italiano: emblema del Papato.

Português: Emblema papal.

Date: 19 January 2007.

Source: various elements taken from:

File:Coat of arms Holy See.svg

Image:Emblem of the Papacy.svg

Image:Escudo Benatae.svg

Author: Cronholm144 created this image using a file by

User:Hautala - File:Emblem of Vatican City State.svg

(Wikimedia Commons)

“At Rome, the death of Saint Melchiades, Pope, who, after undergoing great sufferings in the Persecution of Maximian, saw Peace restored to The Church and died peacefully in 314 A.D.” (Roman Martyrology).

Mass: Státuit.

“The Mass Of The Foundation Of The Trinitarian Order”.
Artist: Juan Carreño de Miranda.
Illustration: LOUVRE

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

Available (in Ireland) from

SILVERSTREAM PRIORY

Attribution of Floral Background:

Designed by macrovector / Freepik

A Little Levity To Lighten Your Day . . .

Basilica Of Santa Croce, Italy.

Basilica Of Santa Croce,

Lecce, Italy.

Illustration: TWITTER/TUDOR ARCHITECTURE

English: The High Altar,

Basilica Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.

Español: Basílica de la Santa Cruz, Florencia, Italia.

Photo: 18 September 2022.

Source: Own work.

Attribution:

Diego Delso, delso.photo.

Licence: CC-BY-SA.

Author: Diego Delso.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Web-Site of Basilica Santa Croce can be seen

HERE

It Is Never A Very Good Idea To Oversleep In The Morning !!! Somebody Will Not Be Happy. There Will Be Repercussions.

Photo: MULIER FORTIS - TWITTER

The Third Day Within The Octave Of The Immaculate Conception. 10 December.

The Immaculate Conception.

Artist: Anonymous.

Date: 17th-Century.

Current location: Museo Carmen Thyssen, Malaga, Spain.

Source: http://www.carmenthyssenmalaga.org/

Author: Anonymous.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Third Day Within The Octave Of The Immaculate Conception.
   10 December.

Semi-Double.

White Vestments.

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

The Church prolongs within eight days the Feast of Mary’s Victory over the devil and repeats The Mass Celebrated on the Feast, itself.

The most important Feasts of The Virgin are The Assumption and The Immaculate Conception, both of The First Class and both with an Octave.

That is why each day the Creed is Said or Sung, that Profession of Faith fixed at the Council of Constantinople, which was only Chanted when the attendance in Church was very large.

Let us prepare for the Birth of Christ, in our hearts, by adorning them with a little of His Mother’s Purity.

Mass: As on the Feast of The Immaculate Conception.
Commemoration: Of the Feria.
Commemoration: Of Saint Melchiades, from Mass: Státuit.
Creed: Is Said or Sung.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

“The Sunshine Of Your Smile”. “Nearer My God To Thee”. Sung By: John McCormack.

“The Sunshine Of Your Smile”.

Sung By: John McCormack.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Nearer My God To Thee”.

Sung By: John McCormack.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Blasts From The Past.

“Together In Electric Dreams”.

Sung by: Philip Oakey.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Wind Beneath My Wings”.

Sung by: Bette Midler.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Eternal Flame”.

Sung by: The Bangles.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“The Way We Were”.

Sung by: Barbra Streisand.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”.

Sung by: Rod Stewart.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“The Prayer”.

Sung by: Andrea Bocelli and Céline Dion.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Zephyrinus’s New Fridge Has Arrived !!! Those Stick-In-The-Mud Traditionalists, Perkins (Chauffeur) And Jeeves (Butler), Are Threatening To Leave.

Illustration: PINTEREST

A Liturgical Note On The Season Of Advent.

Christmas Services at Gloucester Cathedral.

Available at

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

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

In the 5th-Century A.D., the opening date of The Ecclesiastical Year was The Feast of The Annunciation which, originally kept in March, was later transferred to December.

“Following what is the practice elsewhere,”, says The Council of Toledo in 665 A.D., “The Annunciation will be kept throughout Spain on 18 December, since, at present, it often falls in Lent or at Easter.”

In the 10th-Century A.D., The Ecclesiastical Year began on The First Sunday of Advent, some weeks before Christmas.

As early as 380 A.D., a Council of Saragossa decreed an eight days' Preparation for Christmas.

At The Council of Tours (563 A.D.), Advent is referred to as: “A Liturgical Period having its own Proper Rites and Forms”.

In The Nestorian Liturgy (6th Century A.D.), Advent lasted for four Sundays, called “Sundays of The Annunciation”, and, in The Ambrosian Liturgy and The Mozarabic Liturgy, six Sundays were reckoned.

In The Roman Liturgy, we find that, at first, Advent lasted five weeks [The Collect and Gospel of The Last Sunday After Pentecost (at a certain time the first of The Five Advent Sundays) have kept much of the character of this Season].

At present, The Roman Liturgy includes four Sundays: The First Sunday of Advent is always the Sunday next to Saint Andrew's Feast Day, which is kept on 30 November.

The joy of beholding the speedy coming of Christ is one of the dominant notes of Advent; restrained, at first, but quickly taking free course and rising to the fervour of The Christmas Spirit. At the same time, the thought of The Purification of Souls, closely connected with that of the return of Christ, occurs at this time, on every page of The Breviary and The Missal.

Hymns, choice of Psalms, the Preaching of The Prophets and of The Forerunner of Christ, The Collects of The Four Sundays, the oft-repeated Versicle: “Rectas fácite sémitas ejus,” [“Make straight His paths”]; all these speak of the necessity of preparing our Souls for the approach of Our Redeemer in His twofold coming.

“Do Penance,” said Our Lord, “for The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” [Antiphon, Ben., Monday, Fourth Week in Advent].

In The Middle Ages, a Fast was prescribed during Advent, known as “The Christmas Lent”, when it was even the custom to veil images, as at Passiontide. In our times, Purple Vestments are still used, as in Lent, and the “Benedicamus Domino” replaces the “Ite Missa Est”.

During Advent, the Antiphon “Alma Redemptoris Mater” is sung with its accompanying Versicle “Angelus Domini”, while The Second Prayer is The Collect of The Mass “De Beata”, chosen on account of the part played by Our Lady in The Mystery of The Incarnation with which, for the time being, The Church is concerned.

For the present, we hear no more the “Gloria in Excelsis”, for that is The Angels' song of The Nativity, and this new Ecclesiastical Year, just beginning, it is at Christmas that it must be heard for the first time.

The Second Day Within The Octave Of The Immaculate Conception. 9 December.

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

The Second Day Within The Octave Of The Immaculate Conception.
   9 December.

Semi-Double.

White Vestments.

The Immaculate Conception.

Artist: Anonymous.

Date: 17th-Century.

Current location: Museo Carmen Thyssen, Malaga, Spain.

Source: http://www.carmenthyssenmalaga.org/

Author: Anonymous.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church prolongs within eight days The Feast of Mary's Victory over the devil and repeats The Mass Celebrated yesterday.

The most important Feasts of The Virgin are The Assumption and The Immaculate Conception, both of The First Class and both with an Octave.

That is why each day The Creed is Said or Sung, that Profession of Faith fixed at The Council of Constantinople, which was only Chanted when the attendance in Church was very large.

Let us prepare for The Birth of Christ, in our hearts, by adorning them with a little of His Mother's Purity.

Mass: As on The Feast of The Immaculate Conception.

Second Collect: Of The Feria.

Third Collect: Of The Holy Ghost.

Creed: Is Said or Sung.

Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

“Tota Pulchra Es, Maria, Et Macula Originalis Non Est In Te”. “Thou Art All Fair, O, Mary, There Is No Spot Of Original Sin In Thee”. “Fröhliche Unbefleckte Empfängnis”. A Happy Feast Day Of The Immaculate Conception To All Readers.

Miniature (Illuminated Manuscript) from

Liber choralis parvus continens missas vesperas

et alia officia par S. Leonardi confes.

Date: 6 January 2015.

Source: Liber choralis parvus continens missas

vesperas et alia officia par S. Leonardi confes.

Author: Unknown.

This File: 16 July 2016.

User: Fulvio314

(Wikimedia Commons)

“Tota Pulchra Es, Maria”. 

(Corsican arrangement).

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Tota Pulchra Es, Maria”.

Composed by: Bruckner.

Sung by: Lincoln Cathedral Choir.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Text is taken from, and can be read in full at, VULTUS CHRISTI

unless stated otherwise.

The Immaculate Conception.

Year after year, I open my Antiphonal, to prepare The Office of The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary, and I am stunned by the beauty of the Antiphons that The Church places in our mouths to sing of this Mystery. These Antiphons diffuse a certain Luminous Whiteness, a fragrance of Divine Purity, a Penetrating Grace.

All Lovely.

The Divine Office gives me the very words that The Holy Ghost would have us pronounce, and the very melody that best carries them. I have only to take a breath, and sing what The Church wants me to sing. Her words, not mine: Words crafted by The Church under the overshadowing of The Holy Ghost; words for all of Eve’s hapless children who know not how to Pray as they ought.

“Tota Pulchra Es, Maria”.

Antiphon for 

The Feast Day of The Immaculate Conception.

Gregorian Chant.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Tota Pulchra Es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te”. “Thou art all fair, O, Mary, there is no spot of original sin in thee” (Ct 4, 7). Tota Pulchra: All fair, all lovely, all beautiful or, to use the words of the Angel Gabriel: “Gratia Plena”, “Full of Grace”.

In Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot,” one of his characters comments on the portrait of a woman, named Nastassya Filippovna, saying: “One could turn the World upside down with beauty like that.”

The beauty of The Immaculate Conception does not turn the World upside down; it is more radical than that. It is the beginning of a new World. It is the beauty of a new genesis, of Paradise re-invented in a little girl, conceived, as Bernanos put it, “younger than sin.”

The Heartbeat Of Hope.

Immaculate Beauty crushes the head of the ancient serpent. Read Genesis 3: 9-15, 20. The Human Race receives in the person of The Immaculate Conception a new “Mother Of All The Living.” The Heartbeat Of Hope begins its rhythm in the womb of Saint Anne. Nothing will ever again be the same.

The second Antiphon describes Mary as she appeared to Bernadette in 1858, in the grotto overlooking The Gave River: “Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol”. “Thy raiment is White as Snow, and thy countenance as The Sun” (Ct 1:3, 4).

It was 155 years ago that the young woman, robed in White, with her countenance indescribably radiant, said to Bernadette: “I am The Immaculate Conception.” The Virgin revealed to Bernadette the Mystery of her identity, hidden in God from before The Creation of The World, and unspoiled in time, untouched by the ravages of sin.

This Antiphon is a key to understanding what The Apostle wrote to The Ephesians 1:4: He (The Father) chose us in Him (Christ Jesus) that we should be holy and unspotted (that is, immaculate) in His sight in Charity, (that is, in The Holy Ghost, The Living Flame of Love).

“Alleluia: Tota Pulchra Es, Maria”.

Feast Day of The Immaculate Conception.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Look at Mary, and discover what The Father wants for you in Christ. Look at Mary, and marvel at what The Father will do for you, by The Blood of Christ, in The Power of The Holy Ghost. If you would advance steadily — however slowly, and notwithstanding the occasional fall — toward holiness, keep your eyes fixed on Mary.

Jubilancy In The 8th Mode.

The third Antiphon begins, not as most 8th Mode pieces do, on Fa, or Sol, or La, or Re, but, rather, in the heights of The Church’s jubilancy, on Do. The Church not only gives us words in her Liturgy; she interprets them for us. She communicates their mystic secrets by means of the melodies with which she clothes them. “Tu gloria, Jerusalem, tu lætitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri”. “Thou art the exaltation of Jerusalem, thou art the great glory of Israel, thou art the great rejoicing of our Nation.”

This Antiphon is The Church’s response to The Introit of The Mass of The Immaculate Conception in which Mary sings her joy: “I will greatly rejoice in The Lord, and my Soul shall be joyful in my God” (Is 61:10).

The Church, having listened to Mary, sing her joy, holds that joy in her heart, and, then, turning to Mary, honours her with a triple Title:

— Exaltation of Jerusalem: High point of The Church, the pinnacle of the new creation;
— Glory of Israel: Everything, and everyone in salvation, history, looks to The Immaculate Conception and, in her, is gloriously lifted up;
— Great rejoicing of our Nation: Where Mary is present, there will always be joy. Where Mary is absent, there cannot but be sadness and gloom.

We Will Run After Thee.

The fourth Antiphon catches hold of my heart and does not let it ago. It is a Prayer of Petition, a pleading addressed to Mary. It is the expression of the Soul’s deepest longings, the perfect complement to The Gospel of the Annuciation (Lk 1:26-2 :38). “Trahe nos, Virgo immaculate, post te curremus, in odorem unguentorum tuorum”. “Draw us, Maiden undefiled, we will run after thee in the odour of thy perfumes.”

True devotion to The Blessed Virgin Mary is not static and sedentary. It is dynamic. It obliges us to get up and run. What is more elusive than the scent of a sweet fragrance borne on the wind ? It is the fragrance of Mary, sweet beyond all imagining; pure, and purifying; irresistible, drawing Souls after her, even Souls once sunk in the putrefaction and stench of habitual sin.

Mary is, for all of us sinners, the way upward and forward; the way out of sin, and into holiness; the way into a whole new order of things in which an Angel says: “No word (no thing) shall be impossible with God” (Lk 1:37), and in which each of us is called to say: “Behold the handmaid of The Lord; be it done to me according to thy word (Lk 1:38).

“Tota Pulchra Es, Maria”.

Corsican Sacred Chant.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Consecration To The Immaculata.

How can we go about appropriating for ourselves The Graces of The Feast of The Immaculate Conception ? The Saints teach us the inestimable value of making an Act of Consecration to The Immaculata, to Mary, The “Tota Pulchra”, and of renewing it, frequently.

It is a way of saying: “Everything that I see in thy eyes, O, Mary, everything that thy Immaculate Heart desires for me, I too desire, and so that the will of The Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit may be realised in me, I hand myself over to thee. I give thee my past, my present, and my future, holding nothing back, reserving no times, or places, or things for myself.

All is thine.”

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

“Tota Pulchra Es” is an ancient Catholic Prayer, written in the 4th-Century A.D. It is one of the five Antiphons for the Psalms of Second Vespers for the Feast of The Immaculate Conception.

The Title means: “You are completely beautiful” (referring to The Virgin Mary). It speaks of her Immaculate Conception. It takes some Text from the Book Of Judith, and other Text from Song of Songs, specifically 4:7.

Composers to set the Prayer to music, include: Robert Schumann; Anton Bruckner, Pablo Casals; Maurice Duruflé; Guillaume du Fay; Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki; Heinrich Isaac; James MacMillan; Ola Gjeilo.

Some Magnificent Cathedrals In France.

Some magnificent Cathedrals in France.

Available on YouTube

HERE