The affirmation of The Divinity of Jesus, founded on the wisdom of His Words and the Miracles of His Life, is the object aimed at in The Season after Epiphany, which ends tomorrow. Saint Ignatius of Antioch (not to be confused with Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556. Feast Day 31 July)), illustrious for his teaching, corroborates these different testimonies by his Martyrdom, one of the most glorious in history.
This Third Successor of Saint Peter at Antioch (Gradual) was condemned to the wild beasts during the Persecution of Emperor Trajan and sent in chains to Rome. The Introit and Epistle sum up the sentiments of his heart. "Let fire, Cross, beasts, and all the torments of the devil come upon me, so long as I enjoy Jesus Christ."
"The grain of wheat must die in order to bring forth much fruit" (Gospel). And Saint Ignatius, on hearing the roaring of the Lions, exclaimed "I am the wheat of Jesus Christ: May I be ground by the fangs of wild beasts and become a bread agreeable to my Lord Jesus Christ" (Communion).
He was Martyred at Rome between 110 A.D., and 118 A.D. His name is mentioned in The Canon of The Mass (Second List).
Let us, like this Saint, die to the World, and to ourselves, as a testimony that it is Jesus Who lives in us (Alleluia).
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal. Sexagesima Sunday. Station at Saint Paul-without-the-Walls. Semi-Double. Privileged Sunday of The Second-Class. Violet Vestments.
As on last 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 that 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.
English: Holy Mass, in The Extraordinary Form of The Roman Rite, Missa Cantata
for The Sunday of Sexagesima, from the Canisiuskirche, Saarlouis, Germany.
Celebrant: Fr. André Hahn, FSSP.
Deutsch: Heilige Messe in der außerordentlichen Form des römischen Ritus, Missa Cantata
auf Sonntag von Sexagesima, aus dem Canisiuskirche, Saarlouis, Deutschland.
Mit P. André Hahn, FSSP.
Français: Messe, dans la forme extraordinaire du rite romain, Missa Cantata le dimanche de Sexagesima, de l'Canisius Kirche, Saarlouis, en Allemagne.
Présidée par le P. André Hahn, FSSP.
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. And God said to 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 his story is related to The Paschal Mystery, is shown by the fact that The Church reads it on Holy Saturday [Editor: The 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 lavéd the World in blood" [Hymn 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 ship-wrecked 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 opened 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].
"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." 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 men.
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 Divine Office, the "Seminarium," or "Nursery", that it, 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."
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" [See the explanation before the Gospel of today's Mass]. 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.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless otherwise stated. Saint Francis de Sales. Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of The Church. Feast Day 29 January. Double. White Vestments.
Gemälde im Heimsuchungskloster Oberonning, Bayern;
selbst fotografiert, gemeinfrei
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Word Made Flesh makes known to us, by His Teaching, The Mysteries of His Divine Wisdom, and, by His Miracles, His Eternal Love. Saint Francis of Sales, a Doctor of The Church, had a share in the knowledge of The Incarnate Word (Gradual), and, like Him, by his gentle Charity (Collect) worked wonders of conversion.
Sent to "Preach The Word of God to the Calvinists of Chablais, he brought back sixty thousand to The Catholic Faith" (Breviary). Having become The Father of The Church at Geneva and Founder of The Order of The Visitation, he shed over this double family (Communion) the rays of his Apostolic zeal and of his gentle holiness.
"May your light shine before men, so that, seeing your works, they may glorify your Father, Who is in Heaven" (Gospel). It is especially God's Goodness which this Saint revealed. "If we must fall into some excess," Saint Francis of Sales would say, "let it be on the side of gentleness".
"I wish to love him so much, this dear neighbour, I wish to love him so much ! It has pleased God so to make my heart ! Oh !, when shall we be impregnated with gentleness and in Charity towards our neighbour ?"
Saint Francis of Sales died at Lyons in 1622.
Let us remember this Saint's two sayings: "You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar." "What is good, makes no noise. Noise does no good."
in Washington, D.C., and granted her Papal Degrees in Theology.
Source: 1880 book on Pope Leo XIII.
Author: Karl Benzinger
(Wikimedia Commons)
The 20th-Century.
In 1890, Pope Leo XIII had established a Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (Feast Day 11 February); Pope Saint Pius X, in 1907, extended it to The Universal Church.
Pope Saint Pius X raised The Feast of The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady (Feast Day 15 September) to the Rank of Double of The Second-Class, and, in 1911-1912, transformed The Church's Calendar in such a way as to give The Christological Cycle preponderance over The Sanctoral Cycle, and thereby restore all things in Christ.
Pope Benedict XV extended The Feast of Saint Ephrem (Feast Day 18 June) to The Whole Church, at the same time giving him the Title of Doctor of The Church; he also ordered the use of the new Preface of Saint Joseph and the new Preface of The Dead. The same Pope extended to The Universal Church The Feasts of The Holy Family (Sunday within The Octave of The Epiphany), of Saint Gabriel (Feast Day 24 March), of Saint Raphael (Feast Day 24 October), and, where desired, those of The Blessed Virgin Mary Mediatrix of All Graces (Feast Day 31 May), and of The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus (Thursday within The Octave of The Sacred Heart).
English: Portrait of Pope Benedict XV.
Pope Benedict XV extended The Feast of Saint Ephrem (Feast Day 18 June) to The Whole Church,
at the same time giving him the Title of Doctor of The Church; he also ordered the use
of the new Preface of Saint Joseph and the new Preface of The Dead.
Français: Photo de Benoit XV prise vers 1915.
Date: Circa 1915.
Source: This image is available from The United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division under the digital IDcph.3b03428
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Pope Pius XI instituted The Feasts of Christ The King (last Sunday of October), and of The Maternity of Our Lady (Feast Day 11 October). He also drew up a new Office and Mass for The Feast of The Sacred Heart, which he enriched with a Privileged Octave (1929).
LITURGICAL NOTE.
In the first half of The Ecclesiastical Year (Advent to Pentecost), The Church reviews the entire life of Jesus; in the second half of The Ecclesiastical Year (Trinity Sunday to Advent), she retraces that of The Church reproducing in The Saints the Virtues of The Master.
The Sundays which follow Pentecost were formerly grouped around some of the more important Saints. These were the weeks after after The Feast of Saint Peter or The Apostles, the weeks after Saint Laurence, the weeks of The Seventh Month, September, and the weeks after Saint Michael the Archangel. Since they emphasise the work of The Holy Ghost in Souls, these Sundays received later the ancient and more logical Title of The Sundays after Pentecost [Editor: Since Vatican II, these are now called "Sundays in Ordinary Time". Great, eh ? Really Divine, that is.], and became thus linked up with The Paschal Cycle.
The 20th-Century.
In this second part of The Year, although The Liturgy of the period has not undergone a chronological arrangement, such as existed in the first part, we have its faithful echo, for we are led to search Our Lord's teachings in a new way, permitting ourselves to be guided according to the needs of our intelligence and heart. Besides, there were read at this time Saint Paul's Epistles in their correct order, as well as the Gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, and Saint Luke, and of this order some traces are still to be found.
We find, too, that for most of this period, The Psalms, especially The Alleluias, Offertories, and Communions, are taken in an ascending order till The Seventeenth Sunday
But why, in these Chapters of the Gospels, and in The Psalms, has one passage or Verse been chosen instead of another ? Just as in the case of The Sundays of The Septuagesima Season, and of Lent, the historical books, read in The Breviary, decide the choice for Masses from The First to The Eleventh Sunday Sunday after Pentecost.
From The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, onwards, the parallel between The Missal and The Breviary is less evident. However, to remain faithful to the method employed for the first eleven Sundays after Pentecost, we may try to find a connection between the two. This does not mean that the resemblances pointed out were intended by The Church when she produced The Missal. It is in accordance with her mind, however, that the one book should be studied in connection with the other, since, day-by-day, she places both in our hands; an interpretation which has the advantage of causing us to review Bible history every year.
Thus, at one and the same time, The Missal teaches the whole of Sacred History, and that of Our Lord and His Church, and, consequently, all Catholic Dogma and Christian morals as seen in daily practice.
Since all the Sundays of this period are connected with The Feast of Pentecost, we may look for yet another logical arrangement in addition to that of the one mentioned, making this period fit in with the general plan of The Cycle.
The 20th-Century.
The Holy Ghost, as we have seen, repeats to The Church the various teachings of Our Lord.
The first of all Dogmas is that of The Holy Trinity, of which The Holy Spirit specially reminds The Church, since it is by Baptising them in The Name of The Father and of The Son and of The Holy Ghost, that she must fulfil her mission of teaching all Nations. Therefore, The First Sunday after Pentecost coincides with The Feast of The Holy Trinity.
The second Dogma is The Incarnation, of which the Presence of Our Lord in The Holy Eucharist will remind us for all time. And the next Feasts are those of Corpus Christi and of The Sacred Heart.
The third Dogma is that of The Church, whose Soul is The Holy Ghost. The following Sundays we find reference to Him, and to the Grace which He produces in Souls, that He may make them Spouses of Christ. In this way, our attention is unceasingly drawn to that august Divine Person Who continues and carries to its appointed end, that work of Redemption which is Celebrated from Advent to Pentecost.
English: Papal Nuncio Pacelli (later Pope Venerable Pius XII) , in July 1924,
at the 900th Anniversary of the City of Bamberg, Germany.
Deutsch: Zur 900 Jahr-Feier der Stadt Bamberg in Bayern fand anläßlich derselben
eine große Prozession unter anwesenheit Ex-Kronprinzen Ruprechts von Bayern,
Ex König Ferdinand von Bulgarien, Nuntius Pacelli, sämtlicher Erzbischöfe Deutschland und anderen Hoher Kirchlicher Würdentrager statt. Der Vertreter des Papstes in Deutschland
Thanks to the Light shed by Him, we shall observe more carefully the inspired words and pages that have been chosen for The Lessons and Chants of The Mass. Each appears as an instrument of The Divine Working of The Holy Ghost in the Souls of men.
Let us preserve this insight given us by Faith, which throws Light especially on The Masses for The Time after Pentecost. Without giving the formulas of The Mass a precise unity of resemblance, it suffices to make them bear the most precious fruits of Salvation in the Soul, who surrenders herself to the creative work of The Holy Ghost, The Sanctifier.
Since the whole series of Sundays has been arranged to represent all The Centuries traversed by The Church, we can discover in them allusion to the different ages of The World. Thus it is, that the last Sundays speak clearly of the return of the Jews and of the great trials which will be a feature of the end of time.
The 20th-Century.
Since the time after Pentecost is specially Consecrated to The Church, between the different Sundays which are intended to preserve for The Christological Cycle all the pre-eminence which belongs to it, come the great Feasts on which are honoured The Saints formed by The Spirit of God. In this way, they become a living commentary on The Master's Teaching, which helps us to practice during the week what The Holy Ghost teaches on The Sunday.
In this Time after Pentecost, The Sanctoral Cycle is seen in its fullness, while it shows at its true value The Temporal Cycle upon which it depends. For here we see The Feast of The Nativity of Our Lady, upon Earth (Feast Day 8 September), and in Heaven (Feast Day 15 August); The Feast of Saint Michael The Archangel (Feast Day 29 September) and The Feast of The Holy Guardian Angels (Feast Day 2 October); the two-fold Birth of Saint John the Baptist, here below (Feast Day 24 June), and in Heaven on The Day of his Martyrdom (Feast Day 29 August); The Feast of The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Feast Days 29 June and 30 June); The Feast of All Saints, The Commemoration of The Faithful Departed, and The Anniversaries of The Dedication of The Principal Churches, types of that company of Redeemed Souls which shall one day form The Heavenly Jerusalem.
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli.
Pope Saint John XXIII.
Roncalli was elected Pope on 28 October 1958, at age seventy-six, after eleven ballots. His selection was unexpected, and Roncalli himself had come to Rome with a return train ticket to Venice. He was the first Pope to take the Pontifical Name of "John", upon Election, in more than 500 years, and his choice settled the complicated question of official numbering attached to this Papal Name, due to the Anti-Pope of this name. Pope John XXIII surprised those, who expected him to be a Caretaker Pope, by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
By way of expressing this hope, the Priest wears Green Vestments on these Sundays. Green, the sign of life in nature, was formerly assigned to The Angels, who were represented with aureoles or garments of this hue. It expresses The Life of Grace in the Soul, and the Ancients often painted Our Lady and The Saints with Green Robes, while Funeral Monuments bore the sign of a Green Branch, signifying the immortality of the Souls and The Resurrection.
Easter is a movable Feast. When it is early, The Sundays which precede it (Septuagesima to Palm Sunday) encroach on The Sundays after Epiphany, which can be reduced to two Sundays. On the other hand, since The Sundays after Pentecost, also controlled by Easter, are proportionately advanced, there is produced between The Twenty-Third Sunday and The Twenty-Fourth Sunday, which is always the last Sunday after Pentecost, a gap which is filled up by The Sundays after Epiphany (The Sixth, Fifth, Fourth, and Third Sundays), which have not already been kept. In this way, there can be from Twenty-Three Sundays after Pentecost to Twenty-Eight Sundays after Pentecost.
Portrait of Pope Saint Pius X.
Coloured from File:Pope St. Pius X.jpg
Pope Saint Pius X (Italian: Pio X) born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, (2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914), was Pope from 4 August 1903 to his death in 1914. He was Canonised in 1954. Pius X is known
for vigorously opposing Modernist interpretations of Catholic Doctrine, promoting
Traditional Devotional practices and Orthodox Theology. His most important reform was
