Saint John The Baptist Church, Lustleigh, Devon.
All Illustrations: DEVON CHURCH LAND
02 December, 2025
A Christmas Version Of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. Sung By: “Cloverton”.
Christmas Version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.
The Band singing it is “Cloverton”.
Available on YouTube
“O, Virgin Pure”. Greek Orthodox Chant. “Agni Parthene”. “Αγνή Παρθένε”.
“The Virgin of the Lilies (La Vierge au lys)”.
Artist:
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).
Date: 1899.
Source: PaintingHere.com
Author:
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).
Greek Orthodox Chant.
“Agni Parthene”.
“Αγνή Παρθένε”.
Available on YouTube
and
(See the reference to Greek Orthodox Hymn, below).
“Agni Parthene”, rendered “O, Virgin Pure”, is a Greek Marian Hymn composed by Saint Nectarios of Aegina in the Late-19th-Century, first published in Print in his “Theotokarion”.
In Orthodox Churches, it is considered “Para-Liturgical”, and, therefore, only to be used outside of Liturgical Services. Though it is often performed by some Choirs as a Recessional, after the conclusion of The Divine Liturgy during the Veneration of The Cross and receiving of Anti-Doron.
Goretti Fine Art.
“Madonna and Child”.
Illustration: GORETTI FINE ART
“Shower of Roses”.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
Illustration: GORETTI FINE ART
Saint Bibiana. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 2 December. Red Vestments.
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Bibiana.
Virgin And Martyr.
Feast Day 2 December.
Semi-Double.
Red Vestments.
Saint Bibiana,
by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Church of Santa Bibiana, Rome.
Photo: 30 August 2013.
Source: WikiPaintings
Author: WikiPaintings
(Wikimedia Commons)
A wise and prudent Virgin (Gradual), she was less afraid of the loss of all her goods and of her sufferings of imprisonment, than of the loss of that Hidden Treasure or that Pearl of Great Price, of which the Gospel speaks.
When delivered to the caresses and flattery off her jailer, Rufinus, who strove to pervert her, she called upon The Lord, Who saved her from destruction (Epistle).
Rufinus then had recourse to violence, but with no greater success. Seeing which, the enraged Governor of Rome ordered that Bibiana should be tied to a Column, and beaten to death with thongs loaded with lead (363 A.D.) The Basilica of Saint Mary Major was built over her tomb.
Mass: Me exspectavérunt, of The Common of Virgins.
Church of Saint Bibiana, Rome.
Illustration: WINE TRIPPING
01 December, 2025
First Sunday Of Advent. Yesterday.
Illustration, Text, and Web-Site at
We start with a Trope that leads into the Introit text.
A Trope is an added section of text related to
the chants of that day or Season and was added to
both the Ordinary and Proper texts of The Mass.
More on the Tropes for the Graduale or Missale
can be found in the Analecta Hymnica Vol. 49.
and the Cantus database.
This Trope, above, is from the 11th-12th Century and was sung in some form before the Introit of the First Sunday of Advent.
It replaced an earlier Trope for this Introit,
honouring Saint Gregory, which had been composed by
Pope Hadrian I (772 A.D. – 795 A.D.), which was placed
at the top of the Sacramentary given by Pope Hadrian to Charlemagne, the existence of which was attested to
by Agobard of Lyons (☩ 840 A.D.).
Sanctíssimus namque Gregórius cum preces effúnderet ad Dóminum ut músicum donum ei désuper in carmínibus dedísset, tunc descéndit Spíritus Sanctus super eum, in spécie colúmbæ, et illustrávit cor ejus, et sic demum exórtus est cánere, ita dicéndo : Ad te levavi . . .
(& we continue the Introit)
When the most holy Gregory poured out Prayers to the Lord that He might surrender to him from above a musical gift in song, then the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and enlightened his heart to such a degree that at last he began to sing saying thus:
“Ad te levavi . . .”
(& we continue the Introit)
(tr. Katherine Bergeron)
The First Sunday Of Advent.
Abbot Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.
1805-1875.
Printmaker: Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard (1834–1887).
Published 1878, or earlier.
Date: 7 May 2007 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.
Author: The original uploader was
(Wikimedia Commons)
Text is from “The Liturgical Year”.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 1.
Advent.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 1.
Advent.
This Sunday, the first of The Ecclesiastical Year, is called, in the chronicles and charts of The Middle Ages, “Ad te levavi” Sunday, from the first words of the Introit; or, “Aspiciens a longe”, from the first words of one of the Responsories of Matins.
The Station is at Saint Mary Major.
[Editor: The Stations marked in The Roman Missal for certain days in the year, were formerly Processions, in which the whole Clergy and people went to some given Church, and there Celebrated The Office and The Mass.
[This usage, which dates from the earliest period of The Roman Church, and of which Saint Gregory the Great was but the restorer, still exists, at least in a measure; for the Stations are still observed, though with less solemnity and concourse of people, on all the days specified in The Missal].
It is under the auspices of Mary — in the splendid Basilica which possesses The Crib of Bethlehem, and is therefore called, in ancient documents, “Saint Mary’s ad Præsepe” — that The Roman Church recommences, each year, The Sacred Cycle.
It would have been impossible to select a place more suitable than this for saluting the approach of The Divine Birth, which is to gladden Heaven and Earth, and manifest the sublime portent of a Virgin Mother.
Let us go in spirit to this august temple, and unite in the Prayers which are there being offered up: They are now the very ones we also use, and which we will now explain.
In The Night Office, The Church commences the reading of The Book of Isaias, who, of all the Prophets, has the most distinctly and explicitly foretold mention of The Messias; and she continues this same Book [Editor: Of Isaias] until Christmas Day, inclusive.
Let us strive to enter into the teaching of the holy Prophet, and let the eye of our Faith affectionately recognise the promised Saviour in the descriptions, sometimes consoling and sometimes terrifying, under which Isaias depicts Him.
Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus.
Come, let us adore The King, Our Lord, Who is to come.There follows the reading of The Book of the Prophet Isaias.
The words of the holy Prophet, or, rather, of God, Who speaks to us by the Prophet, should make a deep impression on The Children of The Church, at this opening of the holy period of Advent.
Who could hear without trembling this voice of Our Lord, Who is despised and unknown even at the very time when He is coming to visit His people ?
Lest men should be terrified at the splendour of His majesty, He divested Himself of it; and far from acknowledging the Divine Power of Him Who thus humbled Himself out of love to them, these men have refused even to know Him; and the Crib where He lay after His birth, had, at first, but two dumb animals to honour or notice it.
The whole World is in expectation of its Redeemer; come, dear Jesus, show Thyself to it by granting it salvation.
The Church, Thy bride, is now commencing another year, and her first word is to Thee, a word which she speaks in the anxious solicitude of a mother for the safety of her children; she cries out to Thee, saying: “Come !” No, we will go no farther in our journey through the desert of this life without Thee, O Jesus !
Time is passing quickly away from us; our day is perhaps far spent, and the shades of our life’s night are fast coming on; arise, O Divine Sun of Justice. Come ! Guide our steps and save us from eternal death.
The Foundling Museum. Would You Like To Help Children ?
Illustration: THE VICTORIANIST
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.
The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a Children’s Home in London, England, Founded in 1739 by the philanthropic Sea Captain, Thomas Coram.
It was established for the “education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children.”[1]
The word “Hospital” was used in a more general sense than it is in the 21st-Century, simply indicating the institution’s “Hospitality” to those less fortunate.
Nevertheless, one of the top priorities of the committee at the Foundling Hospital was children’s health, as they combatted smallpox, fevers, consumption, dysentery and even infections from everyday activities like teething that drove up mortality rates and risked epidemics.[2]
With their energies focused on maintaining a disinfected environment, providing simple clothing and fare, the committee paid less attention to, and spent less on, developing children’s education.
As a result, financial problems would hound the institution for years to come, despite the growing “fashionableness” of Charities like the Hospital.[3]
Engraving of The Foundling Hospital,
Holborn, London, circa 1750.
This File comes from Wellcome Images,
a Web-Site operated by Wellcome Trust,
a global Charitable Foundation
based in The United Kingdom.
Refer to Wellcome blog post (archive).
Source/Photographer: WELLCOME IMAGES
This File is licensed under
4.0 International Licence.
(Wikimedia Commons)
“Applicants For Admission To A Casual Ward”.
Artist: Luke Fildes.
Date: 1874.
Illustration from THE VICTORIANIST
The Foundling Museum Web-Site can be found
FIND OUT MORE.
Where artists and children have
inspired each other since 1740.
The Foundling Museum,
40 Brunswick Square,
London WC1N 1AZ.
T: +44 (0)20 7841 3600.
Cor Jesu Sacratissimum. Sacred Heart Of Jesus.
English:
True Bodily and Spiritual Enlightenment
of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Picture, dated to 1630, in the Church of
Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais, Paris.
Français:
Photographie d’un des panneaux de la chapelle dorée
de l’église Saint Gervais-Saint Protais à Paris,
représentant le coeur rayonnant de Jésus Christ, 1630.
Photo: 16 September 2017.
Source: Own work.
Author: Châtillon
(Wikimedia Commons)
Cor Iesu Sacratissimum adveniat regnum tuum.
Available on YouTube
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.
The Sacred Heart, also known as The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Latin: Sacratissimum Cor Iesu), is one of the most-widely-practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein The Heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of “God’s boundless and passionate love for mankind”.[1]
The devotion is especially concerned with what The Catholic Church deems to be the long-suffering love and compassion of The Heart of Christ towards humanity.
Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in The Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic Mysticism, particularly with Saint Gertrude the Great.[4]
Catholic Holy Card depicting The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Date: Circa 1880.
Auguste Martin Collection,
University of Dayton Libraries.
Source: Own work.
Author: Turgis
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Edmund Campion. Martyr. One Of The Forty Martyrs Of England And Wales. Red Vestments. Feast Day 1 December.
4.png)
English: Portrait of Edmund Campion
(labelled Thomas Campion in error).
Español: Retrato de Edmund Campion.
Date: 17th-Century.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
unless stated otherwise.
Edmund Campion, SJ (25 January 1540 – 1 December 1581) was an English Jesuit Priest and Martyr.
While conducting an underground ministry in officially-Anglican England, Campion was arrested by Priest Hunters.
Coat-of-Arms of Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England.
The actual ropes used in Saint Edmund Campion’s execution are now kept in glass display tubes at Stonyhurst College[25].
Source:
(Wikimedia Commons)
Campion was Beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and Canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
His Feast Day is Celebrated on 1 December, the day of his Martyrdom.
The actual ropes used in his execution are now kept in glass display tubes at Stonyhurst College[25] in Lancashire; each year, they are placed on the Altar of Saint Peter’s Church, at Stonyhurst College, for Mass to Celebrate Campion’s Feast Day — which is always a holiday for the school.
The First Day Of December.
Salisbury Cathedral.
Illustration: PINTEREST
The following Text is from “The Liturgical Year”,
by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 1.
Advent.
by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 1.
Advent.
The Church of Rome does not keep this day as a Feast Day of any Saint; she simply recites the Office of the Feria, unless it happens that the First Sunday of Advent falls on this first day of the month, in which case the Office of that Sunday is Celebrated.
But, should this first day of December be a simple Feria of Advent, we shall do well to begin at once our considerations upon the preparations which were made for the merciful coming of The Saviour of the World.
Four thousand years of expectation preceded that coming, and they are expressed by the four weeks of Advent, which we must spend before we come to the glorious festivity of Our Lord’s Nativity.
Durham Cathedral.
Illustration: PINTEREST
Let us reflect upon the holy impatience of the Saints of the Old Testament, and how they handed down, from age to age, the grand hope, which was to be but hope to them, since they were not to see it realised. Let us follow, in thought, the long succession of the witnesses of the promise: Adam, and the first Patriarchs, who lived before the Deluge; then, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve Patriarchs of the Hebrew People; then Moses, Samuel, David, and Solomon; then, the Prophets and the Machabees; and, at last, John the Baptist and his disciples.
Saint Fin Barre Cathedral,
Cork, Ireland.
Illustration: REDDIT
These are the holy ancestors of whom the Book of Ecclesiasticus speaks, where it says: “Let us praise men of renown, and our Fathers in their generation”; and of whom the Apostle thus speaks to the Hebrews: “All these being approved by the testimony of Faith, received not the Promise; God providing some better thing for us, that they should not be perfected without us”: Their Faith was tried and approved, and yet they received not the object of the Promises made to them. It is for us that God had reserved the stupendous gift, and, therefore, He did not permit them to attain the object of their desires.
Let us honour them for their Faith; let us honour them as our veritable Fathers, since it is in reward of their Faith, that Our Lord remembered and fulfilled His Merciful Promise; let us honour them, too, as the ancestors of The Messias in the flesh.
Lincoln Cathedral.
Illustration: PINTEREST
We may imagine each of them saying, as he lay on his dying bed, this Solemn Prayer to Him, Who, alone, could conquer death: “I will look for Thy Salvation, Oh, Lord !” It was the exclamation of Jacob, at his last hour, when he was pronouncing his prophetic blessings on his children: “And then,” says the Scripture, “he drew up his feet upon his bed, and died, and he was gathered unto his people.”
Thus, did all these holy men, on quitting this life, go to await, far from the abode of Eternal Light, Him, Who was to come in due time and re-open the Gate of Heaven. Let us contemplate them in this place of expectation, and give our grateful thanks to God, Who has brought us to His Admirable Light, without requiring us to pass through a Limbo of Darkness.
Chichester Cathedral.
Illustration: WEST SUSSEX
It is our duty to Pray ardently for the coming of the Deliverer, Who will break down, by His Cross, the Gates of the Prison, and will fill it with the Brightness of His Glory. During this Holy Season, The Church is continually borrowing the fervent expressions of these Fathers of the Christian People, making them her own Prayer for The Messias to come.
Greek Orthodox Chant.
“Agni Parthene”.
“Αγνή Παρθένε”.
Available on YouTube
(See the reference to Greek Orthodox Hymn, below).
“Agni Parthene”, rendered “O, Virgin Pure”, is a Greek Marian Hymn composed by Saint Nectarios of Aegina in the Late-19th-Century, first published in Print in his “Theotokarion”.
In Orthodox Churches, it is considered “Para-Liturgical”, and, therefore, only to be used outside of Liturgical Services. Though it is often performed by some Choirs as a Recessional, after the conclusion of The Divine Liturgy during the Veneration of The Cross and receiving of Anti-Doron.
Performed by: Petros Gaitanos/ Πέτρος Γαϊτάνος.
Ely Cathedral.
Illustration: KATEY JANE PHOTOGRAPHY
Let us turn to those great Saints, and beg of them to Pray, that our work of preparation for Jesus’ coming to our hearts may be Blessed by God.
We will make use, for this end, of the beautiful Hymn (“Avorum hodie, fideles”) wherein the Greek Church celebrates the memory of all the Saints of the Old Testament, on the Sunday immediately preceding the Feast of Christmas.
Lichfield Cathedral.
Illustration: FRIENDS OF THE HOLY LAND
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
