Benedictus.

Illustration: BENEDICTUS

Benedictus Trust, a UK educational charity, is running a two-week residential Summer School in central London in August 2015, entitled “Foundational Aspects of European Culture” which covers philosophy, theology, history, history of art, Latin, literature and geometry. The course is open to 18-25 year olds. Students are taught through classroom-based discussion seminars and visit seminars to some of London’s top cultural sites conducted by expert professors. Students will also experience theatrical and musical performances that link to the subjects that they have been studying. The course introduces students to the thought and culture of Europe from the ancient world to the modern day with a strong focus on the importance of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Illustration: BENEDICTUS

The Summer School runs from 2nd - 14th August and costs £1,400 for accommodation, tuition and entrance fees.

Spoken and written English to a high standard is required to join this course.

In September 2014,

the Board of Trustees announced that 

HMEH Fra' Matthew Festing,

the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta,

had agreed to be the first Patron of Benedictus Trust.

Illustration: BENEDICTUS

英國「本篤基金」Benedictus Trust是一所慈善教育機構，將於2015年8月在倫敦市，假耶穌會海斯羅珀學院 Heythrop College舉辦「歐洲文化基礎」暑期住院課程，為期兩周，涵蓋哲學、神學、歷史、藝術史、拉丁文、文學及幾何，招收18-25歲學生，由專家教授指導課堂研討及導覽倫敦文化勝地，並讓學員經驗與學科相關之劇藝音樂項目。本課程旨在引導學生認識歐洲古今思想文化，集中了解天主教學術傳統之重要地位。

報讀者英語聽寫需達熟練程度。

暑期課程：8月2日至8月14日
費用，包括住宿，學費及報名費共：£1400 （臺仟肆伯圓英鎊）詳情及報名細節：www.benedictus.org.uk　
及請參閱附件單張

Email: info@benedictus.org.uk

Telephone: +44 0207 976 6072.

Write to us at 84 Cambridge Street, London, SW1V 4QQ,
United Kingdom. 

The Great O Antiphons. 18 December.

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

English: Christ is born.

Deutsch: Christi Geburt.

Artist: Lorenzo Lotto (1480–1556).

Date: 1523.

Current location: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. 

ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1]

(Wikimedia Commons)

O Adonai.

The Great O Antiphon

for 18 December.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/dn1cloz0ssQ.

18 December: Exodus iii. 2, xx. 1.

O Adonai,

et dux domus Israel,

qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,

et ei in Sina legem dedisti:

veni ad redimentum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai,

and Leader of the House of Israel,

who didst appear to Moses in the flame of 

      the burning bush,

and didst give unto him the Law on Sinai:

come and with an outstretched arm redeem us.

V. Rorate.

"Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . ."
"Ye heavens, drop down from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."

Ember Wednesday In Advent.

This excellent summation, of Ember Wednesday in Advent,

can be found at THE SAINT LAWRENCE PRESS LTD

Illustration: LUZAR VESTMENTS

Ember Wednesday in Advent

Today is Ember Wednesday in Advent and the first of three Ember Days observed this week. The day is of simple rite and its liturgical colour is violet.

The Office of the Ember Day begins with Mattins. The invitatory is Prope est and the Office hymn Verbum supernum. In the nocturn the antiphons Speciosus forma etc, from the Psalter for Wednesday, are sung with psalms 44i, 44ii, 45, 44, 481, 48ii, 49i, 49ii & 49iii. Psalm 49 is divided into three rather than two divisi as the second scheme of Lauds will be sung later. The lessons are a homily from St. Ambrose on St. Luke's Gospel. Following the third lesson a third responsory, Modo veniet Dominator Dominus, is sung. At Lauds the second schema is sung and so the antiphons appointed for the Wednesday before the Vigil of the Nativity, Prophetae praedicaverunt etc, are sung with psalms 50, 64, 100, Exsultavit cor meum & 145. The Office hymn is En clara vox. After the antiphon on the Benedictus, Missus est Gabriel, has been sung in full after the Canticle the choir kneels for the singing of the ferial preces. The same set of antiphons are sung with the Little Hours in the usual order. At Prime Pss. 25, 51, 52 & 96 the chapter is the ferial Pacem et veritatem etc. At the Hours, the ferial preces are sung, the choir kneeling.

Mass is sung after None. The texts are proper, the introit being Rorate, caeli etc. After the Kyrie, there immediately follows the dialogue Oremus sung by the celebrant, Flectamus genua sung by the deacon and Levate sung by the sub-deacon followed by the, Praesta, quaesumus, is sung followed by an additional OT lesson and gradual. After this the celebrant sings Dominus vobiscum and the collect Festina, quaesumus. The second collect is Deus, qui de beatae and the third collect Ecclesiae. The dismissal is Benedicamus Domino sung by the deacon facing the altar. The ministers, of course, wear violet folded chasubles. With the celebration of the Eucharist, the Office of the Ember Day ends.

Vespers is of the Advent ferial day. The Office hymn is Creator alme siderum. The antiphon on the Magnificat is proper to the seventeenth day, O Sapientia, and is sung in full both before and after the Canticle with the choir standing. The choir kneels for the ferialpreces and the collect of the previous Sunday is sung. At Compline the Domincal preces are sung, kneeling.

Cardinal Burke Receives Petition From 30,000 Supporters. Says: "We Must Go Forward, Defending The Truth Of Our Faith, Especially With Regard To Marriage And The Family".

This item is taken from LIFESITENEWS

where the Article can be read in its entirety.

On Thursday, 11 December 2014, LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief, John-Henry Westen, had the privilege of meeting with Cardinal Raymond Burke in Wisconsin, where he presented the Cardinal with a beautifully-bound book, with the signatures of nearly 30,000 people who wished to thank him for his Vatican Service, and who pledged to Pray for him.

Illustration: LIFESITENEWS

LifeSiteNews presented Cardinal Raymond Burke with a handsomely-bound book, signed by over 29,000 people who had expressed their thanks for the Cardinal’s Vatican Service, and pledged to Pray for him and to follow his example.

The Cardinal expressed his “deepest gratitude” for the show of “support and, most of all, for your Prayers.”

An Online Petition of Support for Cardinal Burke, one of the most unequivocal Pro-Life and Pro-Family voices in The Catholic Church, was launched in November by LifeSiteNews after the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had removed him from his position as the Prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura. Burke was demoted to the position of Patron of The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a largely ceremonial role.

“We must all now, going forward, remain united in Our Lord Jesus, defending The Truth of our Faith, especially with regard to Marriage and The Family,” said Cardinal Burke, after being presented the Pledges by LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief, John-Henry Westen. The exchange took place at The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States of America.

“We can be confident, even though things can seem rather dark to us, that if we co-operate with God’s Grace, and are true defenders of The Faith, and promoters of The Truth about Marriage and The Family, that Our Lord will not be lacking in His Grace for us.”

“Of course, the victory is always His, in the end. Let’s remain steadfast, and not give way to discouragement,” the Cardinal said.

The Great O Antiphons. 17 December.

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

English: Madonna and Child.

Deutsch: Sixtinische Madonna, Szene: Maria mit Christuskind, 

Hl. Papst Sixtus II. und Hl. Barbara.
Artist: Raphael (1483 - 1520).

Current location: Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Germany.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. 

ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1]

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Boundless desire for the coming of Christ, which is a feature of the whole of Advent, is expressed in the Liturgy with an impatience which grows greater, the closer we come to Christmas and, so to speak, to the world's end.

"The Lord comes from far" (First Vespers, First Sunday of Advent).
"The Lord will come" (Introit, Second Sunday of Advent).
"The Lord is nigh" (Introit. Third Sunday in Advent).

This gradation will be emphasised throughout the whole Season, ever more and more.

Thus, on 17 December, begin the Greater Antiphons, which, from their initial letters, are called the "O Antiphons", and which form an impassioned appeal to the Messias, whose prerogatives and glorious titles they make known to us.

Dom Guéranger [Editor: He who was the author of "The Liturgical Year"] affirms that those Antiphons contain the "whole marrow" of the Advent Liturgy.

On account of their number, Honorius of Autun connects them with The Seven Gifts of The Holy Ghost, with which Our Lord was filled.

O Sapientia.
The Great O Antiphon
for 17 December.
Available on YouTube at
http://youtu.be/8ngcQDQfhlA.

17 December: Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 5; Wisdom viii. 1

O Sapientia, 
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom,
who camest out of the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from end to end and ordering all things
      mightily and sweetly:
come and teach us the way of prudence.

V. Rorate.

"Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . ."
"Ye heavens, drop down from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."

Temptation.

English: Temptation.

Polski: Pokusa.

Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).

Date: 1880.

This File: 9 December 2013.

User: Electron.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Hymns For Advent.

This Article is taken from CATHOLICISM PURE AND SIMPLE

Mary, Did You Know ?

Mary, Did You Know ?

By Pentatonix.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/ifCWN5pJGIE.

Veni Veni Emmanuel.

Veni Veni Emmanuel.

By L'Accorche-Choeur,

Ensemble Vocal Fribourg.

Veni Veni Emmanuel is a synthesis of the "Great O Antiphons" that are used at Vespers

during the Octave before Christmas (17 December - 23 December). These Antiphons

are of ancient origin and date back to at least the 9th-Century.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/xRi1GDoaQu4.

The Angel Gabriel.

The Angel Gabriel.

(Old Basque Carol)

- Traditional.

Sung by

The Sixteen.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/L-Rv-J46gvM.