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

Saturday 14 February 2015

Saint Valentine. Priest And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 14 February.


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

Saint Valentine.
Priest and Martyr.
Feast Day 14 February.

Simple.

Red Vestments.



Saint Valentine.
Image: STYLIPICS.COM


Saint Valentine was a Holy Priest of Rome, who was Martyred under the Emperor Aurelian in 270 A.D.

He co-operated in The Saviour's Redemption "by bearing The Cross after Him" (Gospel). "Having made the sacrifice of his life for Him, he finds it again" (Ibid.), for, "victorious in his terrible fight" (Epistle), God "crowns him in Heaven with glory and honour" (Offertory).

Sharing in a spirit of penitence the Redeeming Sufferings of The Saviour, let us ask Him, "through the intercession of Saint Valentine, to be delivered from al the ills that threaten us" (Collect).

Mass: In virtúte.



Saint Valentine receives a Rosary from The Virgin Mary,
Date: 1600s.
Source: http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/David-III-Teniers/
St-Valentine-Kneeling-In-Supplication.html
(Wikimedia Commons)


The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Saint Valentine (Latin: Valentinius) is a widely-recognised 3rd-Century Roman Saint, Commemorated on 14 February and associated, since The High Middle Ages, with a tradition of courtly love.

All that is reliably known of the Saint is his name, and that he was Martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia, Rome, close to the Milvian Bridge, to the North of Rome, on 14 February. It is uncertain whether Saint Valentine is to be identified as one Saint or the conflation of two Saints of the same name. Several different Martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.





Saint Valentine Baptising Saint Lucilla.
Artist: Jacopo Bassano.
Date: 1500s.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Because so little is known of him, in 1969 The Roman Catholic Church removed his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his Liturgical Celebration to Local Calendars. The Roman Catholic Church continues to recognise him as a Saint, listing him as such in the 14 February entry in The Roman Martyrology, and authorising Liturgical Veneration of him on 14 February in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory Celebration.




English: Altar of Saint Valentine,
Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church,
Dublin, Ireland.
Polski: Ołtarz z relikwiami św. Walentego w Kościele Karmelitów przy
Whitefriar Street w Dublinie.
Photo: 27 August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: blackfish.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Use of the pre-1970 Liturgical Calendar is also authorised under the conditions indicated in the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum" of 2007. Saint Valentine's Church in Rome, built in 1960 for the needs of The Olympic Village, continues as a modern, well-visited Parish Church.

Saint Valentine's Day, the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an official Feast Day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Valentine, the Presbyter of Rome, is celebrated on 6 July, and Hieromartyr Valentine (Bishop of Interamna, Terni in Italy) is celebrated on 30 July. Notwithstanding, because of the relative obscurity of these two Saints in the East, Members of The Greek Orthodox Church named Valentinos (male) or Valentina (female) may observe their "Name Day" on the Western Ecclesiastical Calendar date of 14 February.

Friday 13 February 2015

Pelican In Piety. 19th-Century Cope Hood. Embroidered By The Dominican Sisters, Stone, Staffordshire, England.



This Embroidered depiction of the 'Pelican in Piety' is a symbol of The Eucharist, in which The Son of God tenderly feeds us with His Own Body and Blood, to give us a share in His Divine Life.

The Feast of Corpus Christi, in England & Wales, Celebrates this Great Sacrament of The Eucharist, a sign of Christ's Passion for humankind.

This Cope Hood was Embroidered, in the 1860s, by The Dominican Sisters in Stone, Staffordshire.

Image: LAWRENCE OP

Thursday 12 February 2015

The Seven Holy Founders Of The Servite Order. Confessors. Feast Day 12 February.


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

The Seven Holy Founders of The Servite Order.
Confessors.
Feast Day 12 February.

Double.

White Vestments.




Chicago, Illinois, 
United States of America.

A Servite Church.
Date: 2 February 2008 / edited April 2008.
Author: Original by User:JeremyA , edited version by User:Capital photographer.
Permission: From Source: "Permission is granted for re-use under the terms of The Creative Commons licence specified below. The required attribution is: © 2008, Jeremy Atherton.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
(Wikipedia)





Cupola in The Servite Mother Church,
Florence, Italy.
Photo: 10 June 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: sailko.
(Wikimedia Commons)





The Servite Order.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Today, The Liturgy honours seven noble Florentines, who, "in 1223, enriched The Church with a new Religious Family" (Collect). They received, by a providential circumstance, from the mouth of little children (Introit) the name of "Servants of Mary".

Illustrious by their birth, these Founders became still more so by the salutary influence of their Order (Communion) in France, Germany, and Poland. "Their Race endures for ever and their glory shall never be dimmed" (Epistle), for they survive in their Disciples.




English: Servite Church, Innsbruck, Austria.
Deutsch: Servitenkirche, Innsbruck, Österreich.
Photo: 11 July 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Andrew Bossi.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Leaving everything, they retire to Monte Senario, near Florence, Italy, atone by their austerities for the sins of guilty men [Hymn at Matins] and, clothed in mourning Habit, shown to them by The Virgin, they constantly meditate on The Passion of Jesus and The Dolours of Mary at the foot of The Cross (Collect, Postcommunion).

"Burning with love for The Sorrowful Mother of Jesus" (Secret), "let us join in the tears" (Collect) of The Saints whom we honour, today, in order that "deserving to enjoy the Fruits of Christ's Redemption" (Postcommunion), "we may also have a share in their joys" (Collect).

Mass: Justi decantavérunt.




Alexis Falconieri (+ 1310), one of The Seven Founders of The Servite Order.
Date: 2 October 2008.
Author: D0bermalek.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Servite Order is one of the five original Catholic Mendicant Orders. Its objects are the Sanctification of its Members, Preaching the Gospel, and the propagation of Devotion to The Mother of God, with special reference to her Sorrows.


The Members of The Order use O.S.M. (for Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis) as their Post-Nominal Letters. The male Members are known as Servite Friars, or, Servants of Mary.

The Order of Servants of Mary (The Servites) is a Religious Family that embraces a Membership of Friars (Priests and Brothers), Contemplative Nuns, a Congregation of Active Sisters and Lay Groups.





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Tuesday 10 February 2015

Ave Regina Caelorum. The Marian Anthem From Compline, On The Feast Of The Purification Of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Until Wednesday Of Holy Week, Inclusive.



English: The Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.
Possibly the most famous rendition of the subject in Western art, Titian's Assunta (1516–1518).
Deutsch: Maria Himmelfahrt, Hochaltar für St. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venedig.
Français: L'Assomption de la Vierge.
Artist: Titian (1490–1576).
Date: 1516-1518.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002.
ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
(Wikimedia Commons)




"Ave Regina Caelorum".
[Hail, Queen of Heaven]
Setting: Lassus.
Singers: Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars.
Available on YouTube at



The following Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Ave Regina Caelorum is one of four Marian Antiphons, with following Versicles and Prayers, traditionally said or sung after each of the Canonical Hours of The Liturgy of The Hours. The Prayer is used especially after Compline, the final Canonical Hour of Prayer before going to sleep.

The Ave Regina Caelorum is said from Compline, on The Feast of The Presentation, on 2 February, until Wednesday of Holy Week, inclusive. The origins of the Prayer are unknown, but it can be found in a 12th-Century Manuscript.

The Prayer is associated with Indulgences and is listed as "Ave Regina Coelorum" in The Raccolta Book of Indulgenced Prayers.




St Andrew Daily Missal (Traditional Mass)

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Monday 9 February 2015

"Parce Mihi Domine". "Spare Me, O Lord". Hauntingly Beautiful. Spanish Composer: Cristóbal De Morales (1500-1553).


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


File:Cristóbal de Morales.jpg

Cristobal de Morales by Angelo Rossi (dates unknown). 
The print is from the original  Andrea Adami 's Osservazioni per il ben regolare choir Cappella dei della Pontifical cantori. Catalogue 'nomi, Cognomi, and homeland i cantori Pontifici (Rome, 1711).
Date: 18th-Century.
Source: Dejiny hudby II. Renesance, p. 231.
Author: Angelo Rossi.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Cristobal de Morales (1500 - 1553) was a  Spanish  composer of the  Renaissance . I is Generally Considered to be the Most Influential Spanish composer before  Victoria .

He was born in  Seville , Spain, and, after an exceptional early education there, Which included a Rigorous training in the classics, as well as musical study With some of the foremost composers, I have held posts at  Ávila  and  Plasencia .


Parce mihi Domine.
Cristobal de Morales (1500-1553).
Available on YouTube at
http://youtu.be/Uk1YMS2M0L4 .



Parce mihi Domine
(Job  7:16 -21)

Latin

Parce mihi Domine, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
Quid est homo, quia magnificent eum?
Aut quid apponis erga cor tuum eum?
Cum diluculo visits, et subito probas illum.
I usquequo non michi parcis, nec dimittas me, ut glutiam salivam meam?
Peccavi. Faciam Quid tibi, or custos hominum?
Quare posuisti contrarium me tibi, et factus sum michimet ipsi gravis?
Cur non tollis peccatum meum, et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam?
Ecce nunc in pulvere dormio; et si me quesieris mane, non subsistam.


Inglés

Spare me, O Lord, for my days are nothing.
What is man, That thou dost make so much of him, and That
September dost thou thy mind upon him,
dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?
If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? 
Why Have I Become a burden to thee?
Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?
For now I Shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I Shall Not be.


Spanish

Forgive me Lord, for my days are a breath.
What is man that you give so much importance,
so you put your attention on it,
for inspections every morning and you constantly put to the test?
How long you'll keep watching me and give me no respite to swallow?
What made you hurt my sin, keeper of men?
Why have you made me your target arrows? 
Why should I be a burden to you?
Why not forget my sin and you overlook my fault?
Look how soon will lie on the ground and not find me, even me look.




THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL





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Sunday 8 February 2015

The Times They Are A'Changing.



Snowdrops have started to appear in Kent.
Winter progresses and Spring is not far away.
The Times They Are A'Changing.
Photo: 4 February 2015.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zephyrinus.



"The Times They Are A'Changing"
by
Bob Dylan
(1964).
Available on YouTube at



The first Daffodil shows its sleepy head on 4 February.
Winter progresses and Spring is not far away.
The Times They Are A'Changing.
Photo: 4 February 2015.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zephyrinus.



"The Liturgical Year"
by
Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
The Liturgical Year progresses as well.


As Christmastide has just given way
to Septuagesima and Sexagesima,
Quinquagesima beckons, next Sunday,
followed by Ash Wednesday.
Lent progresses nearer and nearer.
The Liturgical Year progresses.

Now is a wonderful time to
reflect, take stock, contemplate, and prepare for Lent.

The Liturgical Times They Are A'Changing.




St Andrew Daily Missal (Traditional Mass)

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Sexagesima. Sunday, 8 February 2015.


Italic Text and Illustrations, unless stated otherwise, are taken from
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
and are reproduced there with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS


Sexagesima Sunday.
Station at Saint Paul-without-the-Walls.

Semi-Double.
Privilege of the Second Class.

Violet Vestments.


The Seed is the Word of God.


As on Septuagesima Sunday, and on those which follow until Passion Sunday, the Church teaches us "to celebrate the Paschal Sacrament" by "the Scriptures of both Testaments" (Prayer of Holy Saturday after the Seventh Prophecy).

Through the whole of this week, the Divine Office is full of the thought of Noah. God, seeing man's wickedness was great upon the Earth, said: "I will destroy man, whom I have created"; and He told Noah: "I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt enter into the Ark."

For forty days and forty nights rain fell on the Earth, while the Ark floated on the waters which rose above the mountain tops and covered them; and in this whirlpool all men were carried away "like stubble" (Gradual); only Noah and his companions in the Ark remaining alive.

Then, God remembered them, and, at length, the rain ceased. After some time, Noah opened the window of the Ark and set free a dove, which returned with a fresh olive leaf, and Noah understood that the waters no longer covered the Earth.



Exsurge, quare obdormis, Domine ?

The Introit for Sexagesima Sunday.
Available on YouTube at


And God told him: "Go out of the Ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and the wives of thy sons, with thee" (Communion). And the rainbow appeared as a sign of reconciliation between God and men.

That Noah's story is related to the Paschal Mystery is shown by the fact that the Church reads it on Holy Saturday [Second Prophecy); and this is how she, herself, applies it, in the Liturgy, to Our Lord and His Church. "The just wrath of the Creator drowned the guilty world in the vengeful waters of the Flood, only Noah being saved in the Ark.

But then the admirable power of love laved (washed) the world in blood" [Hymns for the Feast of the Precious Blood]. It was the wood of the Ark, which saved the human race, and it is that of the Cross, which, in its turn, saves the world.

"Thou, alone," says the Church, speaking of the Cross, "hast been found worthy to be, for this shipwrecked world, the Ark which brings safely into port" [Hymn at Lauds in Passiontide]. "The open door in the side of the Ark, by which those enter who are to escape from the Flood, and who represent the Church, are, as is explained in the Liturgy, a type of the Mystery of Redemption; for, on the Cross, Our Lord had His Sacred Side open and, from this gate of life, went forth the Sacraments, giving true life to Souls. Indeed, the Blood and Water, which flow from thence, are symbols of the Eucharist and of Holy Baptism" [Lessons from Saint Chrysostom and Saint Augustine, Matins of the Feast of The Precious Blood].



Sexagesima Sunday.

Sacred Heart Church,
United States of America.
Available on YouTube at



"O God, Who by water didst wash away the crimes of the guilty world, and by the overflowing of the deluge didst give a figure of regeneration, that one and the same element might, in a Mystery, be the end of vice and the origin of virtue: Look, O Lord, on the face of Thy Church and multiply in her Thy regenerations, opening the fonts of Baptism all over the world for the renovation of the Gentiles" [Blessing of the Baptismal Font on Holy Saturday].

"In the days of Noah," says Saint Peter, "eight Souls were saved by water, whereunto Baptism, being of the like form, now saveth you also."


On Maundy Thursday, when the Bishop Blesses the Holy Oil from the olive tree, which is to be used for the Sacraments, he says: "When of old, the crimes of the world were atoned for by the waters of the Flood, a dove, foreshadowing the gift to come, announced by an olive branch, the return of peace to the Earth.


And this indeed is made clear by its effects in latter times: When the waters of Baptism, having washed away all guilt of sin, the unction of the oil makes us joyous and serene." The Blood of Christ is the blood of the New Covenant, which Almighty God has made with man, through His Son. "Thou," cries the Church, "Who, by an olive branch, didst command the dove to proclaim peace to the world."



Commovisti, Domine, terram . . .

The Tract for Sexagesima Sunday.
Gregorian Chant notation from the Liber Usualis (1961).
Latin lyrics sung by the Benedictine Nuns
of Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation,
Le Barroux, France.
Available on YouTube at


Peace is often mentioned in the Mass, which is the memorial of the Passion: "Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum." And we shall find the Collect for Easter Friday, speaking of the Paschal Sacrament, as the Seal of Reconciliation between God and man.

Above all, however, in his divinely-appointed mission as father of all succeeding generations, Noah is a figure of Christ [Sixth Lesson of Septuagesima Sunday]; he was truly the second father of the human race and he remains the type of life continually renewed. We are told in the Liturgy that the olive branch, by means of its foliage, is a symbol of the prosperous fertility bestowed by Almighty God upon Noah when he came forth from the Ark, and the Ark, itself, is called by Saint Ambrose, in today's Office, the "seminarium," or nursery, that is, the place containing the seed of life which is to fill the world.




Now, Christ, much more than Noah, was the second Adam, peopling the world with a race of believing Souls, faithful to God. On Holy Saturday, in the Prayer following the Second Prophecy, which is concerned with Noah, the Church humbly asks Almighty God to "peacefully effect," by His eternal decree, "the work of human salvation," and to "let the whole world experience and see that, what was fallen, is raised up; what was old, is made new," and that "all things are re-established, through Him from Whom they received their first being, Our Lord Jesus Christ".

It was through the Word that God made the world in the beginning (Last Gospel), and it is by the preaching of His Gospel that Our Lord came to bring men to a new birth. "Being born again," says Saint Peter, "not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God, Who liveth and reigneth for ever . . . And this is the Word, which, by the Gospel, hath been preached unto you".




Benediction after Mass.
Sexagesima Sunday,

Edinburgh, Scotland.
Available on YouTube at



From this, we can see why today's Gospel is taken from the Parable of the Sower, for "the seed is the word of God". If, in Noah's days, men perished, Saint Paul tells us, it was because of their unbelief, while, at the same time, it was by Faith that Noah "framed the Ark . . . by the which he condemned the world, and was instituted heir of the justice which is by Faith".

In the same way, those who believe in Our Lord's words will be saved.


According to Saint Augustine's exposition, "as there were three floors in the Ark, so there are three different spiritual harvests". In today's Epistle, Saint Paul recounts all that he did and suffered in the course of preaching the Faith to the Gentiles and, indeed, he, the Apostle to the Gentiles, was the outstanding preacher of the world.






He is the "Minister of Christ", that is, the one whom God had chosen to unfold to all nations the good news of the Incarnate Word. "Who will grant me", cries Saint John Chrysostom, "to walk around Saint Paul's body, to embrace his tomb, to behold the dust of that body which filled up what was lacking in Christ's sufferings, which bore the marks of his wounds, which everywhere spread abroad, like good seed, the preaching of the Gospel ? [In the Office for the Octave of Saint Peter and Saint Paul].

The Roman Church has fulfilled this desire, in the case of her own children, by making a Station on this day to the Basilica of Saint Paul-without-the-Walls. "Through the Church's Neophytes", we read in the Liturgy, "the Earth is renewed, and thus renewed, she brings forth fruit as it were from the dead ! [Easter Monday at Matins].

Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.




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