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

Text and Illustrations 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.

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.

Blessed 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.

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Our Lady Of The Rosary. Feast Day 7 October.

Taken from HOLY CARD HEAVEN

Mary, Mother of Grace and of Mercy,

help me against the efforts of my enemies.

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)

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.

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The Holy Guardian Angels. Feast Day 2 October (Part Five).

Italic Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless otherwise stated.

Non-Italic Text is taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.

(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)

Time After Pentecost, Book V, Fourth Edition, Volume 14. from

ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

The Holy Guardian Angels.
Feast Day 2 October.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

The Guardian Angel.

Artist: Pietro da Cortona (1596 - 1669).

Current location: Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica,
Rome, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art:

(Wikimedia Commons)

Let us unite with the Church, and offer to Our Guardian Angels this following Hymn, taken from the Vespers of 2 October:

Custodes hominum psallimus angelos,

Naturae fragili quos Pater addidit

Coelestis comites, insidiantibus

Ne succumberet hostibus.

We celebrate The Angels, guardians of men,

whom our Heavenly Father has given us as Companions,

lest our weak nature should be overcome

by the snares of our enemies.

Nam quod corruerit proditor angelus,

Concessis merito pulsus honoribus,

Ardens invidia pellere nititur

Quos coelo Deus advocat.

For, because the traitorous Angel fell,

and was justly cast down from the honours he enjoyed,

burning with envy, he now endeavours to expel those

whom God calls to Heaven.

Huc custos igitur pervigil advola,

Avertens patria de tibi credita

Tam morbos animi, quam requiescere

Quidquid non sinit incolas.

Fly hither, then, O ever-watchful guardian;

ward off from the land committed to thy care,

as well diseases of the Soul,

as all that threatens to disturb the peace of the inhabitants.

Sanctae sit Triadi laus pia jugiter,

Cujus perpetuo numine machina

Triplex haec regitur, cujus in omnia

Regnat gloria saecula.

Amen.

May loving praise be ever to The Holy Three,

by Whose Eternal Power is ruled this triple world,

Heaven and Earth and the Abyss;

and Whose Glory is Supreme throughout all ages.

Amen.

The following Italic paragraphs are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Dream of Gerontius

The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra (Op. 38) in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's Soul from his deathbed to his judgement before God and settling into Purgatory.

Newman's poem tells the story of a soul's journey through death, and provides a meditation on the unseen world of Roman Catholic theology. Gerontius (a name derived from the Greek word "geron", "old man") is a devout Everyman. Elgar's setting uses most of the text of the first part of the poem, which takes place on Earth, but omits many of the more meditative sections of the much longer, otherworldly second part, tightening the narrative flow.

English composer, Edward Elgar.

Source: http://www.geocities.com/hansenk69/elgar3.jpg (broken link).

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the first part, we hear Gerontius, as a dying man of Faith, by turns, fearful and hopeful, but always confident. A group of friends (also called "assistants" in the Text) join him in Prayer and Meditation. He passes in peace, and a Priest, with the assistants, sends him on his way with a valediction. 

In the second part, Gerontius, now referred to as "The Soul", awakes in a place apparently without space or time, and becomes aware of the presence of his Guardian Angel, who expresses joy at the culmination of her task (Newman conceived the Angel as male, but Elgar gives the part to a female singer). After a long dialogue, they journey towards the Judgement Throne.

They safely pass a group of demons, and encounter Choirs of Angels, Eternally Praising God for

His Grace and Forgiveness. The Angel of the Agony pleads with Jesus to spare the Souls of the Faithful. Finally, Gerontius glimpses God and is Judged in a single moment. The Guardian Angel lowers Gerontius into the soothing Lake of Purgatory, with a final Benediction, and the promise of a re-awakening to Glory.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS.

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Pray For Priests.

Text is taken from CATHOLIC ANSWERS

From: In Sinu Jesu, the Journal of a Priest.

Originally seen at VULTUS CHRISTI

Reparation Is the Exercise of Love

Be for Me another John,

a friend for My Heart,

a consoler in My loneliness,

an advocate on behalf of poor sinners

and, especially on behalf of fallen Priests,

and of those who have lost hope in My infinite mercy.

Be a companion for Me in the Sacrament of My Love,

the Sacrament of My Divine Companionship for every human wayfarer

in this valley of tears.

I remain unknown.

I am left alone.

Even those who claim to profess

the mystery of My Real Presence

in the Sacrament of the Altar

forsake Me.

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

I am treated with a terrible indifference,

with coldness,

and with a lack of respect

that causes the Angels to weep

because they cannot offer me reparation

for the coldness and indifference of human hearts.

Only men can make reparation for men.

What is lacking is the loving response of a human heart

to My Eucharistic Heart,

pierced, alive, and beating in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Only a human heart can make reparation for a human heart.

Alter Christus.

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

For this reason the Angels are sorrowful.

The adoration and the praise they offer Me is Angelic.

It is the expression of the perfections I have placed

in their Angelic nature.

Without ever dying, they immolate themselves before Me,

in the Tabernacles where I dwell on Earth,

by lowering themselves in the most humble Adoration

and by placing all their Angelic perfections

--their beauty, their strength, their intelligence--

beneath My feet.

The Angels are like living flames

who burn in My Eucharistic presence

without ever being consumed.

Saint Joseph with Jesus.

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

For all of this, My Angels cannot replace

a single human heart in My presence.

What I look for from men,

what I wait for, above all, from My Priests,

my Angels cannot give Me.

And so I turned to Saint John to comfort Me;

to love when the love of others grew cold;

to hope in Me when the trust of others was shaken;

to remain faithful to Me when the faith of others was put to the test.

The Sorrowful Heart of Mary.
Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

John was, among the Apostles, My loving friend,

My Adorer, the one who understood the mystery of reparation to My Heart.

John made reparation for Peter's denial of Me,

not by standing in judgment over Peter,

whom he honoured and loved as a father,

but by weeping with Peter,

and by offering himself in reparation for Peter's fall.

The Charge to Saint Peter from Jesus Christ.

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

Again, it was John who offered Me faithful love

in exchange for Judas' faithless betrayal.

He made reparation to My Heart that suffered so grievously

when Judas walked out of the Cenacle into the night.

In that moment, John gave Me all the love of his heart,

begging Me to accept it

in reparation for Judas' cold and calculated plot against Me.

The Flagellation of Christ.

Artist: William Bouguereau.

1880.

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

Be another Saint John for My Heart.

Offer Me reparation by offering Me yourself

in the place of those who flee from before My Eucharistic Face;

in the place of those who cannot bear to remain

in My presence, close to My Heart;

in the place of those Priests of Mine

who have time for all else save for Me.

Christ Blessing The Children.

Artist: Nicholaes Maes (1634-1693).

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

Give Me your companionship,

give Me your confidence,

give Me your grateful affection.

Let nothing keep you from carrying out this design of Mine.

One who makes reparation for My Priests

will discover on The Last Day

that his own sins, though they be many,

will be covered over by a single act of reparation,

for reparation is the exercise of love,

and love covers a multitude of sins.

The Betrayal of Christ.

Artist: Francisco Zarillo (1707-1783).

Illustration: CATHOLIC TRADITION

Love Me, and you will fulfill all that I am asking of you.

Love Me, and I will fulfill all that you ask of Me. . . .

I desire a company of Johannine Souls, Priest Adorers and Reparators,

and upon them I will pour out Rivers of Grace

for the renewal of My Priesthood

and the joy of My Spouse, The Church.

Deutsch: Kreuztragung Christi.

English: Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary.

Français: Le Portement de Croix.

Artist: Raphael (1483–1520).

Date: Circa 1516.

Current location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Source/Photographer: http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/

on-line-gallery/zoom/1/obra/christ-falls-on-the-way-to-calvary/oimg/0/

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Holy Guardian Angels. Feast Day 2 October (Part Four).

Italic Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Non-Italic Text is taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Time After Pentecost, Book V, Fourth Edition, Volume 14. from
ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

The Holy Guardian Angels.
Feast Day 2 October.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

"The Guardian Angel Home",
a Catholic Home for Orphans,
in Kumamoto, Japan. 

Private Louis Miller, Sister Saint Paul and the Children,
dressed in their best clothes.

Date: 25 October 1945.

Source: National Archives ARC#532567 Record Group:127.

Author: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In conclusion, let us listen to the Abbot of Clairvaux [Saint Bernard of Clairvaux], who here gives free rein to his eloquence: 'In every place, show respect to thy Angel. Let gratitude for his benefits incite thee to honour his greatness. Love this, thy future co-heir, the guardian appointed for thee by The Father during thy childhood.

For, though we are sons of God, we are as yet but children, and long and dangerous is our journey. But God hath given His Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk; and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. [Ps. xc. 11 - 13.]

English: Guardian Angel, German postcard 1900.

Deutsch: Schutzengel, deutsche Postkarte um 1900.

Polski: Anioł Stróż, niemiecka pocztówka ok. 1900.

Author: Unknown. Similar to works by Fridolin Leiber.

(Wikimedia Commons)

"Angel" means "Messenger" in Greek.

Yes; where the road is smooth enough for a child, they will content themselves with guiding thee, and sustaining thy footsteps, as one does for children. But, if trials threaten to surpass thy strength, they will bear thee up in thy hands.

Oh, those hands of Angels ! Thanks to them, what fearful straits we have passed through, as it were, without thinking, and with no other impression left upon us, than that of a nightmare suddenly dispelled ! ' [Bern. in Psalm. xc. Sermon xii.]

Image: PICTURING ANGELS

Artist: Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier

(1847 - 1914).

And, in his Commentary on The Canticle of Canticles, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux thus describes the triumph of the Angel: 'One of the companions of the Spouse, sent from Heaven to the chosen Soul, as mediator, on witnessing the Mystery accomplished, how he exults, and says: "I give Thee thanks, O God of Majesty, for having granted the desire of her heart ! "

Now, it was he that, as a persevering friend, had not ceased, on the way, to murmur into the Soul's ear: "Delight in the Lord, and He will give thee the requests of thy heart;" and again: "Expect the Lord, and keep His way"; and then: "If He make any delay, wait for Him, for He will surely come and will not tarry."

Meanwhile, he represented to Our Lord the Soul's desire, saying: "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so this Soul panteth after Thee, O God; have pity on her, hear her cries, and visit her in her desolation."

And now the Faithful Para-Nymph, the Confidante of ineffable secrets, is not jealous. He goes from the Spouse to the Bride, offering desires, bringing back gifts; he incites the one, he appeased the other. Sometimes, even in this world, he brings them into each other's presence, either by raising up the Bride in ecstasy, or by bringing down the Bridegroom; for he is one of the household, and well-known in the Palace; and he fears no rebuff, for every day he beholds the Face of The Father.' [Bernard. in Cant. Sermon xxxi.]


PART FIVE FOLLOWS

The Holy Guardian Angels. Feast Day 2 October (Part Three).

Italic Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Non-Italic Text is taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Time After Pentecost, Book V, Fourth Edition, Volume 14. from
ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

The Holy Guardian Angels.
Feast Day 2 October.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

A Guardian Angel fighting for a Soul.

Artist: Alexey Tyranov (1801–1859).

Date: 19th-Century.

Source: http://www.artsait.ru/art/t/tiranov/art1.php

Author: Alexey Vasilievich Tyranov (1801 - 1859).

(Wikimedia Commons)

But God, magnificent as He is towards the whole human race, honours in a special manner the Princes of His people, those who are most favoured by His grace, or who rule the Earth in His name; the Saints testify that a super-eminent perfection, or a higher mission in Church or State, ensures to the individual the assistance of a superior Spirit, without the Angel, that was first deputed, being necessarily removed from his charge.

Moreover, with regard to the work of Salvation, The Guardian Angel has no fear of being left alone at his Post; at his request, and at God's Command, the troops of his Blessed Companions, who fill Heaven and Earth, are ever ready to lend him their aid.

18th-Century rendition of a Guardian Angel.

This File: 28 March 2007.

User: Carolus.

(Wikimedia Commons)

These noble Spirits, acting under the Eye of God, Whose love they desire to second, by all possible means, have secret alliances between them, which sometimes induce between their clients, even on Earth, unions, the Mystery whereof will be revealed in the Light of Eternity.

'How profound a Mystery,' says Origen, 'is the apportioning of Souls to the Angels destined for their Guardians ! It is a Divine Secret, part of the Universal economy centred in the Man-God. Nor is it without Ineffable Order that the ministries of Earth, the many departments of nature, are allotted to the Heavenly Virtues; fountains and rivers, winds and forests, plants, living creatures of land and sea, whose various functions harmonise together, by the Angels directing them all, to a common end.' [Origen. in Josue, Hom. xxiii.]

English: Guardian Angel, (1615),
Wilanów Palace,Warsaw, Poland.

Polski: Anioł Stróż.

Artist: Domenichino (1581 – 1641).

Deutsch: Eigentlich: Domenico Zampieri.

Français: Domenico Zampieri, dit « le dominiquin »

Source/Photographer: www.wilanow-palac.pl

(Wikimedia Commons)

Again, on these words of Jeremias: "How long shall the land mourn ?" [Jerem. xii. 4.] Origen, supported by the  authority of his translator, Saint Jerome, continues: [Origen. in Jerem. Hom. x. juxta Hieron. viii.] 'It is through each one of us that the Earth rejoices or mourns; and not only the Earth, but water, fire, air, all the elements; by which name we must here understand not insensible matter, but the Angels who are set over all things on Earth. There is an Angel of the land, who, with his companions, mourns over our crimes. There is an Angel of the waters, to whom are applied the words of the Psalm: The waters saw Thee, and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled; great was the noise of the waters; the clouds sent out a sound, for Thy arrows pass.' [Ps. lxxvi. 17, 18.]

How grand is nature viewed in this light ! It is thus the ancients, more truthful as well as more poetical, than our generation, always considered the Universe. Their error lay in adoring these mysterious powers, to the detriment of the only God, under Whom they stoop, that bear up the world. [Job.ix. 13.]

"The Guardian Angel Home",
a Catholic Home for Orphans,
in Kumamoto, Japan. 

Private Louis Miller, Sister Saint Paul and the Children,
dressed in their best clothes.

Date: 25 October 1945.

Source: National Archives ARC#532567 Record Group:127.

Author: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps.

(Wikimedia Commons)

'Air and Earth and Ocean, everything is full of Angels,' says Saint Ambrose. [Ambr. in Psalm. cxviii, Sermon i. 9, 11, 12.] 'Eliseus, besieged by a whole army, felt no fear; for he beheld invisible cohorts assisting him. May the Prophet open thine eyes also; may the enemy, be he legion, not terrify thee; thou thinkest thyself hemmed in, and thou art free; there are more with us than with them.' [iv. Kings vi. 16.]

But let us return to our own specially-deputed Angel, and meditate on this other testimony: 'The noble guardian of each one of us sleeps not, nor can he be deceived. Close thy door, and make the darkness of the night; but, remember, thou art never alone; he has no need of daylight in order to see thy actions.' And who is it that speaks thus ? Not a Father of the Church, but a pagan, the slave-philosopher, Epictetus. [Ap. Arrian. Diss. 1. 14.]

PART FOUR FOLLOWS