Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 9, 2020 14:09:19 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2020 14:09:19 GMT

September 9 – Second Day within the Octave of the Nativity ~ Dom Prosper Gueranger

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Let Us make man to Our image and likeness. “And God made man; He modelled him,” says Tertullian, “to the image of God, i.e. of Christ. Wonderful deed, to fashion this slime of the earth! God seems to be absorbed in it; He makes it the work of His hand and of His heart; counsel, wisdom, providence, and above all love, trace the lines. As He forms each lineament of this clay, He has in mind Christ who is to become man. This slime of the earth, stamped with the image of the Christ to come, is not only God’s work, it is also His pledge.”

These words were spoken concerning our first parent, Adam; but how much more truly do they apply to the Mother of the Man-God, during these days when He who is to be born of her watches over her growth! As God, He now places in her provisionally what He wills to take from her hereafter. For, as Man, He will receive from her, together with His sacred Body, everything that children naturally inherit from their parents: such dispositions and qualities as arise from the physical complexion; features, ways, habits acquired by imitation or by early education. Such is the ineffable condescension of Him who, knowing all things by infused science, condescends to pass like us through the apprenticeship of life. Jesus is to have no earthly father; He will therefore receive more from His Mother than could any other son. In return, no creature could be so like to Jesus in the order of grace, as she whom He thus deigns to resemble in the order of nature; and our heavenly Father loves every creature in proportion to the degree of that creature’s conformity to the image of His divine Son. How exceedingly, then, O Mary, art thou loved! Already in thy sweet features we discern the nobility of the King’s daughter, whose glory is from within, hidden beneath the golden fringes and variety of ornaments that deck her; for the manifold gifts of the holy Spirit enhance the grace and beauty that crown thee in thy very cradle. Together with Andrew of Crete, speaking on this day, we thus salute thee: “Hail, mediatrix of the law of grace; seal of the ancient and of the new Alliance; luminous fulfilment of all prophecy; summary of revealed truth; living, immaculate book of God the Word, wherein, without writing or characters, the Word God its Author may be daily read! Hail, first-fruits of our regeneration; term of the divine promises and predictions; sanctuary promised by God to His own glory; liberatrix foretold to the nations!”

The Greeks make today a special commemoration of our Lady’s holy parents. Already yesterday the Menæa repeated in a thousand ways the gratitude all creatures owe to them. We select the following passages from among many.

Mensis Septembris, Die viii

Exsultet cœlum, lætetur terra: quippe Dei cœlum, sponsa Dei, partu in terra edita est. Sterilis infantem Mariam ex repromissione lactat, qaudetque pro partu Joachim: Mihi, in quiens, virga nata est, ex qua germinavit flos Christus ex radice David.

Let heaven exult and earth rejoice, for God’s own heaven, his bride, is this day born on earth. According to promise, the barren mother suckles her infant Mary; Joachim rejoices in his daughter, saying, Mine is the branch whereon is to blossom Christ the flower, of the root of David.

Exaudisti, Domine, preces meas, Anna dicat, mihi hodie fructum eam præbens, quæ ex cunctis generationibus atque feminis præfinita est intemerata Mater tua.

Now may Anne say: Thou hast heard, O Lord, my prayer, giving me this day as fruit, the Virgin chosen among all women and of all generations to be thy spotless Mother.

Eva hodie damnatione absoluta est, Adam item absolutus ab intiqua maledictione, clamans in tua nativitate, immaculata: In te sumus a morte redempti.

Eve’s sentence is cancelled today; and Adam, released from the ancient curse, cries out at thy birth, O immaculate one: In thee we are redeemed from death.

Audio David tibi concinentem: Adducentur virgines post te, adducentur in templum Regis; ipseque, conserta cum eo voce, Regis filiam celebro canticis.

I hear David singing to thee: Virgins shall be brought after thee, they shall be brought into the temple of the King. And I, uniting my voice with his, celebrate thee in my songs, O daughter of the King!

Steriles, animæ infecundæ, adeste festinanter; nam Anna multa nunc prole gaudet. Matres, choros ducite cum Mater Dei.

Come, hasten, all ye barren and fruitless souls; for Anne is now the joyful mother of many children. And ye mothers lead the choirs with the Mother of God.

Res stupenda: fons vitæ de sterili nascitur. Gaude, Joachim: non enim tui similis inter patres, per quem data est nobis virgo Deum suscipiens, tabernaculum divinitatis, mons sanctus.

O prodigy! the fount of life springs from one that was sterile. Rejoice, O Joachim, for among all fathers there is none like unto thee, by whom was given to us the Virgin Mother of God, the tabernacle of the Divinity, the holy mountain.

Exsultate, populi: lucis thalamus e ventre prodiit; porta orientalis, hodie genita, ingressum magni præstolatur sacerdotis, ad salutem animarum nostrarum.

Exult, O ye people: the nuptial chamber of the light has come forth from her mother’s womb; today is born the eastern gate which will soon give entrance to the great High Priest, for the salvation of our souls.

Last Edit: Sept 9, 2020 14:11:10 GMT by Admin

"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Archbp. Lefebvre 1980

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 11, 2020 12:40:19 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2020 12:40:19 GMT

September 10 – St Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor

Third Day in the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Today the Infant Mary smiles upon the lily offered her in the cradle by the representative of a great Order. The Hermits of St. Augustine were being grouped and organized by the Vicar of Christ when Nicholas was admitted into their family, of which he was soon to become the thaumaturgus. When he died, in 1305, the Roman Pontiffs were beginning their exile at Avignon; and his canonization, deferred for nearly a century and a half through the troubles of the period, marked the close of the lamentable dissensions which followed that exile.

Peace so long lost; peace, of which even the wisest despaired—such was the ardent prayer, the solemn adjuration of Eugenius IV when, towards the close of his laborious pontificate, he committed the cause of the Church to the humble servant of God placed by him upon her Altars. According to the testimony of Sixtus V, the obtaining of this peace was the greatest of Nicholas’ miracles; a miracle which moved the latter Pontiff to order the celebration of the Saint’s feast as a double, at a time when the days of that rank were much rarer on the Calendar than now.

Let us read the Legend, which is as simple as the Saint’s life itself.

Nicholas, called of Tolentino as he lived a long time in that city, was born at the town of St. Angelo in the Marches of Ancona. His pious parents, desirous of having children, went to Bari in fulfilment of a vow. There they were assured by St. Nicholas that they should have a son; whom they therefore called by that Saint’s name. From his infancy he was admirable for his virtues, especially for his abstinence; for, when only seven years old he began, in imitation of St. Nicholas, to fast several days a week; which custom he afterwards kept up, contenting himself with bread and water.

While still young he was enrolled in the ranks of the clergy and made a canon; but one day, hearing a sermon on contempt of the world preached by one of the Hermits of St. Augustine, he was so struck by it that he immediately joined that Order. As a Religious he led a perfect life; subduing his body by rough garments, disciplines, and iron chains; abstaining from meat and almost every kind of nourishment; and showing a bright example to others by his charity, humility, patience and other virtues.

Very great was his love of prayer, in which he never relaxed, although Satan troubled him in various ways and at times scourged him severely. For six months before his death he heard every night the songs of the Angels: a foretaste of heavenly delights which caused him frequently to repeat that saying of the Apostle: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. He foretold to his brethren the day of his death, which was the 4th of the Ides of September. Both before and after death he was famous for miracles; which having been duly proved, he was enrolled among the Saints by Pope Eugenius IV.

Good and faithful servant, thou hast entered into the joy of thy Lord. He has broken thy bonds; and from heaven, where thou art now reigning, thou repeatest to us those words which determined the sanctity of thy life on earth: Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. For the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof. How much a man thus forgetful of earth can do for his fellow men is evinced by the gift thou didst receive of solacing all the miseries around thee and succoring the souls in Purgatory. Then successor of St. Peter was not deceived when, in ranking thee among the Saints, he counted on thy power in heaven to bring back society from its long-continued state of disturbance to the paths of peace. May that word of the beloved disciple, which thou hast just echoed to us, sink into our souls as a seed of salvation, and there yield the fruits that it produced in thee: detachment from all temporal things and a longing for eternal realities; that humble simplicity of the soul’s eye which makes life a peaceful journey towards God; and lastly, that purity which made thee the friend of Angels and the favorite of Mary.

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 11, 2020 12:49:33 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2020 12:49:33 GMT

September 11 – Fourth Day within the Octave of the Nativity; Comm. of Ss. Protus & Hyacinth, Martyrs

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

“Dimitte me, jam enim ascendit aurora; let me go for it is break of day;” such were the words which put an end to the struggle between the Angel and the Patriarch on the banks of the torrent. Blessed dawn, which triumphed over God himself! How long had been that night, during which the human race had been struggling by its supplications and tears! Ever since the fall, the Angel of justice had been guarding the entrance to the true land of promise; at every turn he was to be found, resisting in his inexorable vengeance poor, wandering, outcast man. How is it, then, that the inflexible has now yielded? That spiritual being, so superior to our weak, halting nature, why is he the first to speak of closing the struggle, and to own himself vanquished? It is because, as with God so with the Angel, light is strength. Now our earth, hitherto buried in deepest night, has suddenly reflected back to heaven brighter splendors than ever—Cherubim shed down upon the Dominations and Virtues and Powers and Principalities, beside whom, a while ago, man was so very little. It is because at length in the glimmering dawn, which already subdues him, the Angel of justice foresees the sun himself, the Sun of Justice, who, rising from the bosom of the human race, is to make himself answerable for it. Man is no longer a pariah compared with the Angel; he is Israel, the strong against God. To come to terms with him is no longer derogatory to the angelic dignity; to yield to him is no humiliation: the day is breaking.

Blessed be thou, whose radiant innocence thus raises up to the throne of God our proscribed race. With the Angels for allies instead of adversaries, we are henceforth one great army, of which thou art the Queen.

Our Lady shares her honors today with two brothers, whose martyrdom under Valerian raised them from servile condition to the highest rank of heaven’s nobility. Their bodies were first laid in the cemetery of St. Hermes; but Protus had already been honored within the walls of the Eternal City for more than a thousand years when, in 1845, the discovery of Hyacinth’s bones in his primitive tomb opened a new era in the history of the Catacombs and of Christian archæology.

Prayer

Beatorum Martyrum tuorum Proti et Hyacinthi nos, Domine, foveat pretiosa confessio, et pia jugiter intercessio tueatur. Per Dominum.

May the precious confession of thy blessed Martyrs Protus and Hyacinth animate us, O Lord, and may their pious intercession ever defend us. Through our Lord.

The Abbey of St. Gall in the tenth century furnishes us with the following ancient Sequence in honor of Mary’s birth.

Let us hail with song the festivity of this solemn day

Which ushered into the world, the noble, queenly pearl, Mary,

The illustrious Mother of God, born of a royal stock.

In ancient times it was foretold that this little branch should spring from the rod of Jesse,

And that the Flower proceeding from its root should put an end to the darksome crimes of earth.

The prophetic tongues of her remote ancestors testified in heaven’s name to her future coming, and propitious oracles sang her praises of old.

Alone of all women she was to remain ever a virgin, whilst bringing forth a Son spiritually conceived, who was to heal the world.

She is honored with a noble name, being sprung of the illustrious race of David.

She is descended from Solomon, but she far surpasses him in wisdom.

Born of the glorious lineage of kings,

She is herself the most pure Mother of the Eternal King,

Who was before all times and ages;

Who had united Angels and men in tranquil peace.

Then let us all implore him to come to our assistance;

Through whom such terrible discord was destroyed and gave place to peace.

May his Mother obtain this for us, whom our joyous songs proclaim holy. And may she render her Son for ever propitious to us;

So that he may grant us full remission of our sins, And give us in his mercy to be adorned with the eternal crown.

O thou who now art heaven’s Queen, touched by the prayers of thy servants, receive their petitions with a kindly ear,

And assiduously shield us with thy protection, until thou bringest us too into the heavenly kingdom.

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 12, 2020 12:33:36 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2020 12:33:36 GMT

September 12 – Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

“Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” Such is thy growth, O Mary! Not the holiest life, were it even of patriarchal duration, will ever attain the degree of progress made under the influence of divine power by the soul of the most pure Virgin, in these few days elapsed since her coming on earth. First, there is the progress of her intellect: not subject to the obscurity which envelopes the minds of all men at their entrance into the world, it is a faithful mirror, into which the Word of God pours floods of that light which is also life. Then the progress of love in that heart of the Virgin and the Mother, wherein the holy Spirit already delights to awake such ineffable harmonies, and to dig still deeper depths. Lastly, the progress of that victorious power, which made satan tremble at the moment of the Immaculate Conception, and which has constituted Mary the incomparable Queen of the hosts of the Lord.

Two glorious triumphs, two victories won under the protection of our Lady, have rendered this present day illustrious in the annals of the Church and of history.

Manicheism, revived under a variety of names, had established itself in the south of France, whence it hoped to spread its reign of shameless excess. But Dominic appeared with Mary’s rosary for the defense of the people. On September 12, 1213, Simon de Montfort and the crusaders of the faith, one against forty, crushed the Albigensian army at Muret. This was in the pontificate of Innocent III.

Nearly five centuries later, the Turks, who had more than once caused the west to tremble, again poured down upon Christendom. Vienna, worn out and dismantled, abandoned by its emperor, was surrounded by 300,000 infidels. But another great Pope, Innocent XI, again confided to Mary the defense of the baptized nations. Sobieski, mounting his charger on the feast of our Lady’s Assumption, hastened from Poland by forced marches. On the Sunday within the octave of the Nativity, September 12, 1683, Vienna was delivered; and then began for the Osmanlis that series of defeats which ended in the treaties of Carlowitz and Passarowitz, and the dismemberment of the Ottoman empire. The feast of the most holy name of Mary inscribed on the calendar of the universal Church, was the homage of the world’s gratitude to Mary, our Lady and Queen.

As a supplement to the ancient sequence given yesterday, we choose for today a hymn of the same period, to celebrate the blessed birth which brought peace and honor to the world.

Sequence

O holy Lady of the world, illustrious Queen of heaven! O Mary, star of the sea, Virgin Mother after God’s own heart!

Come forth, thou maiden sweet; grow verdant, thou tender little branch; for thou wilt bear the noble flower, Christ, both God and man.

Lo! we are celebrating the annual solemnity of thy birth, the day whereon, sprung from a most choice root, thou didst begin to shine upon our earth.

We who are earth-born, yet now are citizens of heaven too, have been through thee, in wondrous wise, set at peace by an honorable treaty.

Glory then and victory be ever to the Trinity, in undivided Unity, through everlasting ages. Amen.

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 13, 2020 10:15:51 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2020 10:15:51 GMT

September 13 – Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

How beautiful are thy first steps, O prince’s daughter! Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in thee the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army. Blessed child, continue to grow in grace; may thy course be prosperous; may thy royalty be strengthened and established. But the Church will not wait till thou be grown up, to sing to thee her beautiful antiphon: Rejoice O Virgin Mary; thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world.

Heresy, Satan’s denial of what God affirms by his Christ, this is the great struggle, or rather the only one, which sums up history. God having created the world for the sole purpose of uniting it to himself by his Word made Flesh; the enemy of God and of the world, in order to break the bond of this mysterious love, attacks by turns the Divinity and the Humanity of Christ the Mediator. But all his lies are in vain: Jesus is man, for he is born of a Mother, like every one of us; he is God, for he alone is born of a Virgin. The Man-God, who, according to Simeon’s prophecy, is a sign of contradiction to the sons of perdition, has himself a sign, for unprejudiced eyes, via: a Virgin-Mother: The Lord himself, said the Prophet, shall give you a sign. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel: god with us.

In the second of the celebrated conferences held with Manes in 277 by the holy bishop Archelaus, the heresiarch having denied that Christ was born of Mary, Archelaus replied: “If such be the case, if he was not born, then obviously he did not suffer, for to suffer is impossible to one not born. If he did not suffer, no mention can be made of the Cross; do away with the Cross, and Jesus cannot have risen from the dead. But if Jesus be not risen, no one else can rise again; and if there is no resurrection, there can be no judgment. In that case there is no use in keeping the commandments of God: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Such is the corollary to thy argument. Confess, on the other hand, that our Lord was born of Mary, and thence will follow the passion, the resurrection, and the judgment; then the whole of Scripture is saved. No, this is no vain question; for, as the whole Law and the Prophets are contained in the two precepts of charity, so all our hope depends on the motherhood of the Blessed Virgin.”

The Church of Milan, which celebrates the most holy Name of Mary on the 11th of September, sings on that day the following beautiful Preface, so perfectly in harmony with the sentiments inspired by this bright Octave.

Preface

Vere qia dignum tibi gratias agere, æterne Deus. Qui beatissimam Mariam virginem Unigeniti tui genitricem esse voluisti: quoniam nec alia Deum mater decebat, quam virgo; nec virginem alius filius, quam Deus. Sicut autem divinæ Mejestati tuæ in nomine Jesu omne genu flectitur cœlestium, terrestrium et infernorum; sic audito Mariæ nomine, inclinantes se cœli, terra procumbens, trepidantes inferi tuam in Virgine Matre adorandam omnipotentiam confitentur. Et ideo cum Angelis.

It is truly meet to give thee thanks, O eternal God. Who didst will that the most blessed Virgin Mary should be the Mother of thy only begotten Son: for it was not fitting that God’s Mother should be other than a Virgin, nor that a virgin’s Son should be other than God. As, at the Name of Jesus, every knee in heaven, on earth, and in hell, bends before thy divine Majesty: so, on hearing the Name of Mary, the heavens bow down, earth prostrates, hell trembles, confessing thine adorable omnipotence in the Virgin-Mother. And therefore with the Angels.

On the day of the Nativity itself, the Preface in the Ambrosian rite is as follows:

Preface

Vere quia dignum tibi gratias agere, æterne Deus. Recensemus enim præclarissimæ Nativitatis diem, quo gloriosissima Dei Genitrix, intemerata Virgo Maria, stella corusca et admirabilis, mundo effulsit. Quæ nobis perennis vitæ januam, quam Eva in paradiso clauserat, reseravit: nosque de tenebris ad lucis antiquæ gaudia revocavit. Per eumdem.

It is truly meet to give thee thanks, O eternal God. For we are celebrating the day of a most illustrious birth, when the most glorious Mother of God, the spotless Virgin Mary, the bright and wonderful star, shone upon the world. It is she who has opened to us again the gate of everlasting life, which Eve had closed in Paradise: and has brought us back from darkness to the joys of the ancient light. Through the same Jesus Christ.

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 14, 2020 12:15:07 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 14, 2020 12:15:07 GMT

September 14 – The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

“Through thee the precious Cross is honored and worshiped throughout the world.” Thus did St. Cyril of Alexandria apostrophize our Lady on the morrow of that great day, which saw her divine maternity vindicated at Ephesus. Eternal Wisdom has willed that the Octave of Mary’s birth should be honored by the celebration of this Feast of the triumph of the holy Cross. The Cross indeed is the standard of God’s armies, whereof Mary is the Queen; it is by the Cross that she crushes the serpent’s head, and wins so many victories over error, and over the enemies of the Christian name.

By this sign thou shalt conquer. Satan had been suffered to try his strength against the Church by persecution and tortures; but his time was drawing to an end. By the edict of Sardica, which emancipated the Christians, Galerius, when about to die, acknowledged the powerlessness of hell. Now was the time for Christ to take the offensive, and for his Cross to prevail. Towards the close of the year 311, a Roman army lay at the foot of the Alps, preparing to pass from Gaul into Italy. Constantine, its commander, thought only of revenging himself for an injury received from Maxentius, his political rival; but his soldiers, as unsuspecting as their chief, already belonged henceforward to the Lord of hosts. The Son of the Most High, having become, as Son of Mary, king of this world, was about to reveal himself to his first lieutenant, and at the time to discover to his first army the standard that was to go before it. Above the legions, in a cloudless sky, the Cross, proscribed for three long centuries, suddenly shone forth; all eyes beheld it, making the Western sun, as it were, its footstool, and surrounded with these words in characters of fire: In hoc vince: by this be thou conqueror! A few months later, the 27th of October 312, all the idols of Rome stood aghast to behold, approaching along the Flaminian Way, beyond the Bridge Milvius, the Labarum with its sacred monogram, now become the standard of the imperial armies. On the morrow was fought the decisive battle, which opened the gates of the Eternal City to Christ, the only God, the everlasting King.

“Hail, O Cross, formidable to all enemies, bulwark of the Church, strength of princes; hail in thy triumph! The sacred Wood still lay hidden in the earth, yet it appeared in the heavens announcing victory; and an emperor, become Christian, raised it up from the bowels of the earth.” Thus sang the Greek Church yesterday, in preparation for the joys of today; for the East, which has not our peculiar Feast of the 3rd of May, celebrates on this one solemnity both the overthrow of idolatry by the sign of salvation revealed to Constantine and his army, and the discovery of the holy Cross a few years later in the cistern of Golgotha.

But another celebration, the memory of which is fixed by the Menology on the 13th of September, was added in the year 335 to the happy recollections of this day; namely, the dedication of the basilicas raised by Constantine on Mount Calvary and over the holy Sepulcher, after the precious discoveries made by his mother St. Helena. In the very same century that witnessed all these events, a pious pilgrim, thought to be St. Silvia, sister of Rufinus the minister of Theodosius and Arcadius, attested that the anniversary of this dedication was celebrated with the same solemnity as Easter and the Epiphany. There was an immense concourse of Bishops, clerics, monks, and seculars of both sexes, from every province; and the reason, she says, is that the Cross was found on this day; which motive had led to the choice of the same day for the primitive consecration, so that the two joys might be united in one.

Through not being aware of the nearness of the dedication of the Anastasia, or Church of the Resurrection, to the feast of the holy Cross, many have misunderstood the discourse pronounced on this feast by Sophronius, the holy patriarch of Jerusalem. “It is the feast of the Cross; who would not exult? It is the triumph of the Resurrection; who would not be full of joy? Formerly, the Cross led to the Resurrection; now it is the Resurrection that introduces us to the Cross. Resurrection and Cross: trophies of our salvation!” And the Pontiff then developed the instructions resulting from this connection.

It appears to have been about the same time that the West also began to unite in a certain manner these two great mysteries; leaving to the 14th of September the other memories of the Holy Cross, the Latin Church into Paschal Time a special feast of the finding of the Wood of Redemption. In compensation, the present solemnity acquired a new luster to its character of triumph by the contemporaneous events which, as we shall see, form the principal subject of the historical Legend in the Roman Liturgy.

A century earlier, St. Benedict had appointed this day for the commencement of the period of penance known as the monastic Lent, which continues till the opening of Lent proper, when the whole Christian army joins the ranks of the Cloister in the campaign of fasting and abstinence. “The Cross,” says St. Sophronius, “is brought before our minds; who will not crucify himself? The true worshipper of the sacred Wood is he who carries out his worship in his deeds.”

The following is the Legend we have already alluded to.

Chosroas Persarum rex, extremis Phocæ imperii temporibus, Ægypto et Africa occuptata, ac Jerosolyma capta, multisque ibi cæsis Christianorum millibus, Christi Domini Crucem, quam Helena in monte Calvariæ collocarat, in Persidem abstulit. Itaque Heraclius, qui Phocæ successerat, multis belli incommodis et calamitatibus affectus, pacem petebat, quam a Chosroa victoriis insolente ne iniquis quidem conditionibus impetrare poterat. Quare in summo discrimine se assiduis jejuniis et orationibus exercens, opem a Deo vehementer implorabat: cujus monitu exercitu comparato, signa cum hoste contulit, ac tres duces Chosroæ cum tribus exercitibus superavit.

About the end of the reign of the Emperor Phocas, Chosroes king of the Persians invaded Egypt and Africa. He then took possession of Jerusalem; and after massacring there many thousand Christians, he carried away into Persia the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, which Helena had placed upon Mount Calvary. Phocas was succeeded in the empire by Heraclius; who, after enduring many losses and misfortunes in the course of the war, sued for peace, but was unable to obtain it even upon disadvantageous terms, so elated was Chosroes by his victories. In this perilous situation he applied himself to prayer and fasting, and earnestly implored God’s assistance. Then, admonished from heaven, he raised an army, marched against the enemy, and defeated three of Chosroes’ generals with their armies.

Quibus cladibus fractus Chosroas, in fuga, qua trajicere Tigrim parabat, Medarsen filium socium regni designat. Sed eam contumeliam cum Siroes Chosroæ major natu filius ferret atrociter, patri simul et fratri necem machinatur: quam paulo post utrique ex fuga retracto attulit, regnumque ab Heraclio impetravit, quibusdam acceptis conditionibus, quarum ex prima fuit, ut Crucem Christi Domini restitueret. Ergo Crux, quatuordecim annis postquam venerat in potestatem Persarum recepta est: quam rediens Jerosolymam Heraclius solemni celebratate suis humeris retulit in eum montem, quo eam Salvator tulerat.

Subdued by these disasters Chosroes took to flight; and, when about to cross the river Tigris, named his son Medarses his associate in the kingdom. But his eldest son Sidroes, bitterly resenting this insult, plotted the murder of his father and brother. He soon afterwards overtook them in flight, and put them both to death. Sidroes then had himself recognized as king by Heraclius, on certain conditions, the first of which was to restore the Cross of our Lord. Thus, fourteen years after it had fallen into the hands of the Persians, the Cross was recovered; and on his return to Jerusalem, Heraclius, with great pomp, bore it back on his own shoulders to the mountain whither our Savior had carried it.

Quod factum illustri miraculo commendatum est. Nam Heraclius, ut erat auro et gemmis ornatus, insistere coactus est in porta, quæ ad Calvariæ montem ducebat. Quo enim magis progredi conabatur, eo magis retineri videbatur. Cumque ea re et ipse Heraclius, et reliqui omnes obstupescerent: Zacharias Jerosolymorum antistes, Vide, inquit, imperator, ne isto triumphali ornatu, in Cruce ferenda parum Jesu Christi paupertatem et humilitatem imitere. Tum Heraclius abjecto amplissimo vestitu, detractisque calceis, ac plebeio amictu indutus, reliquum viæ facile confecit, et in eodem Calvariæ loco Crucem statuit, under fuerat a Persis asportata. Itaque Exaltationis sanctæ Crucis somenitas, quæ hac die quotannis celebrabatur, illustrior haberi cœpit ob ejus rei memoriam, quod ibidem fuerit reposita ab Heraclio, ubi Salvatori primum fuerat constituta.

This event was signalized by a remarkable miracle. Heraclius, attired as he was in robes adorned with gold and precious stones, was forced to stand still at the gate which led to Mount Calvary. The more he endeavored to advance, the more he seemed fixed to the spot. Heraclius himself and all the people were astounded; but Zacharias, the bishop of Jerusalem said: Consider, O emperor, how little thou imitatest the poverty and humility of Jesus Christ, by carrying the Cross clad in triumphal robes. Heraclius thereupon laid aside his magnificent apparel, and barefoot, clothed in mean attire he easily completed the rest of the way, and replaced the Cross in the same place on Mount Calvary, whence it had been carried off by the Persians. From this event, the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross, which was celebrated yearly on this day, gained fresh luster, in memory of the Cross being replaced by Heraclius on the spot where it had first been set up for our Savior.

The victory thus chronicled in the sacred books of the Church was not, O Cross, thy last triumph; nor were the Persians thy latest enemies. At the very time of the defeat of these fire-worshippers, the prince of darkness was raising up a new standard, the Crescent. By the permission of God, whose ensign thou art, and who, having come on earth to struggle like us, flees not before any foe, Islam also was about to try its strength against thee: a two-fold power, the sword and the seduction of the passions. But here again, alike in the secret combats between the soul and Satan, as in the great battles recorded in history, the final success was due to the weakness the folly of Calvary.

Thou, O Cross, wert the rallying-standard of all Europe in those sacred expeditions which borrowed from thee their beautiful title of Crusades, and which exalted the Christian name in the East. While on the one hand thou wert thus warding off degradation and ruin, on the other thou wert preparing the conquest of new continents; so that it is by thee that our West remains at the head of nations. Through thee, the warriors in those glorious campaigns are inscribed on the first pages of the golden book of nobility. And now the new orders of chivalry, which claim to hold among their ranks the élite of the human race, look upon thee as the highest mark of merit and honor. It is the continuation of today’s mystery, the exaltation, even in our times of decadence, of the holy Cross, which in past ages was the standard of the legions, and glittered on the diadems of emperors and kings.

It is true, men have appeared in France who have made it their aim to overthrow the sacred sign, wheresoever our fathers had honored it. This invasion of the servants of Pilate into the country of the Crusaders was inexplicable, until it was discovered that they were in Jewish pay. These, as St. Leo says of the Jews in today’s Office, see in the instrument of salvation nothing but their own crime; and their guilty conscience makes them hire to pull down the holy Cross, the very men whom they formerly paid to set it up. The coalition of such enemies is but one more homage to thee! O adorable Cross, our glory and our love here on earth, save us on the day when thou shalt appear in the heavens, when the Son of Man, seated in his majesty, is to judge the world!

Last Edit: Sept 14, 2020 12:15:56 GMT by Admin

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Dom Guéranger: Days in the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM Sept 15, 2020 14:36:57 GMT

Post by Admin on Sept 15, 2020 14:36:57 GMT

September 15 – Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Octave of the Nativity

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

“Praise and glory be to thee, O holy Trinity, who hast brought us all to this day’s solemnity. Praise be to thee also, O holy Mother of God, scepter of the orthodox faith: through thee the Cross triumphs, and man is called back to heaven; through thee the idols are overthrown, and the nations are brought to repentance.” Such words as these, which the Church borrows from her doctors to close the bright Octave, were doubtless sung in prophecy by the angels around the new-born babe Mary. And such, in the light of the ages since elapsed, must needs be our answer to the question so often repeated at the cradle side: What shall this child be?

The doctrine lately laid down to magisterially by the infallible successor of St. Peter, is this: Since the days of her mortal life, when Mary was, even in this world, truly the Mother of the Church, the Queen of the Apostles and their Mistress with regard to the divine oracles; but especially since she has received in heaven an almost infinite power for dispensing the fruits of redemption: the mighty helper of the Christian people, the restorer of the world, has not ceased to prove herself the impregnable rampart of the Church, the solid foundation of the faith, the fountain springing from God, whence the rivers of divine Wisdom pour out their pure waters, sweeping away heresy from all places.

May so glorious a past give us confidence for the future. “It is by Mary,” says the Blessed Grignon de Montfort, “ that the salvation of the world has begun, and it is by Mary that is must be consummated. Being the way by which Jesus Christ came to us the first time, she will also be the way by which he will come the second time, though not in the same manner. Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might, and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church; in might, against the enemies of God, idolaters, schismatics, Mahometans, Jews, and souls hardened in impiety, who shall rise in terrible revolt against God to seduce all those who shall be contrary to them, and make them fall by promises and threats; and finally, she must shine forth in grace, in order to animate and sustain the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who shall do battle for his interests. Mary must be terrible as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times. It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God, pronounced in the terrestrial Paradise against the serpent: I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed.

“God has never made or formed but one enmity; but it is an irreconcilable one: it is between Mary, his worthy Mother, and the devil; between the children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and instruments of Lucifer. Satan fears Mary not only more than all Angels and men, but in some sense more than God himself. It is not that the anger, the hatred, and the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the blessed Virgin, for the perfections of Mary are limited; but it is because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power. The devils fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the Saints, and one of her menaces against them more than all other torments.”

A holy priest named Nicomedes is honored today. The Virgin Martyr St. Felicula, whose body he had buried, obtained for him in return the palm of martyrdom. Let us, together with the Church, implore his protection.

Prayer

Adesto, Domine, populo tuo: ut beati Nicomedis Martyris tui merita præclara suscipiens, ad impetrandam misericordiam tuam semper ejus patrociniis adjuvetur. Per Dominum.

Attend to thy people, O Lord, that having recourse to the splendid merits of blessed Nicomedes, thy martyr, they may ever be assisted by his patronage for obtaining thy mercy. Through, &c.

Let us sing to Mary on her birthday feast this graceful Sequence of the fourteenth century.

Sequence

Nativitas Mariæ Virginis
Quæ nos lavit a labe criminis
Celebratur hodie,
Dies est lætitiæ:
De radice Jesse propaginis
Hanc eduxit Sol veri luminis
Manu Sapientiæ,

Templum suæ gratiæ.

The Nativity of the Virgin Mary, who cleansed us from the stain of our crimes, is celebrated today: it is a day of joy! This is the branch produced from the root of Jesse by the Sun of true light; she is the handiwork of Wisdom, the temple of divine grace.

Stella nova noviter oritur
Cujus ortu mors nostra moritur,
Evæ lapsus jam restituitur
In Maria:
Ut aurora surgens progreditur,
Sicut luna pulchra describitur,
Super cunctas ut sol eligitur

Virgo pia.

A new star newly rises, at whose rising our death dies; the fall of Eve is now repaired in Mary. The gentle Virgin comes forth as the rising aurora; appearing beautiful as the moon, chosen above all maidens as the sun outshines the stars.

Virgo mater et virgo unica,
Virga fumi sed aromatica,
In te cœli mundique fabrica gloriatur:
Te signarunt ora prophetica,
Tibi canit Salomon cantica

Canticorum, te vox angelica protestatur.

Virgin-Mother and Virgin without peer, pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, both heaven and earth are justly proud of thee. Thee did the ancient seers prophesy; to thee sang Solomon his Son of songs; the Angel’s voice thy greatness did proclaim.

Verbum Patris processu temporis,
Intra tui secretum corporis,
In te totum et totum deforis simul fuit:
Fructua virens arboris,
Christus, gigas immensi roboris,

Nos a nexu funesti pignoris eripuit.

In course of time, the Heavenly Father’s Word in thy chaste body took up his abode, at once wholly within, wholly without. Christ, the fair fruit of an unwatered tree, the giant of immeasurable strength, has freed us from the bond of the fatal pledge.

Condoluit humano generi
Virginalis filius uteri,
Accingantur senes et pueri
Ad laudem Virginis:
Qui poterat de nobis conqueri
Pro peccato parentum veteri,
Mediator voluit fieri

Dei et hominis.

The Son of a Virgin Mother has taken pity on the human race: then let old men and children be prompt to praise the Virgin. He who might well have spoken against us, for that ancient sin of our first parents, chose to become the mediator between God and man.

O Maria, dulce commercium
Intra tuum celasti gremium,
Quo salutis reis remedium indulgetur:
O vera spes et verum gaudium,
Fac post vitæ præsentis stadium,
Ut optatum in cœlis bravium
Nobis detur.

Amen.

How sweet, O Mary, was the secret commerce carried on within thy bosom, whereby the remedy of salvation was mercifully given to the guilty! O our true joy and most assured hope, grant that, after the course of this present life, we may obtain in heaven the reward we so desire. Amen.

O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow! Is this, then, the first cry of that sweet babe whose coming brought such pure joy to our earth? Is the standard of suffering to be so soon unfurled over the cradle of such lovely innocence? Yet the heart of mother Church has not deceived her; this feast, coming at such a time, is ever the answer to that question of the expectant human race: What shall this child be?

The Savior to come is not only the reason of Mary’s existence, he is also her exemplar in all things. It is as his Mother that the Blessed Virgin came, and therefore as the Mother of sorrows; for the God, whose future birth was the very cause of her own birth, is to be in this world a Man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity. To whom shall I compare thee? sings the prophet of lamentations: O Virgin … great as the sea is thy destruction. On the mountain of the Sacrifice, as mother she gave her Son, as Bride she offered herself together with him; by her sufferings both as Bride and as Mother, she was the co-redemptress of the human race. This teaching and these recollections were deeply engraved on our hearts on that other feast of our Lady’s dolors which immediately preceded Holy Week.

Christ dieth now no more: and Our Lady’s sufferings are over. Nevertheless the Passion of Christ is continued in his elect, in his Church, against which hell vents the rage it cannot exercise against himself. To this Passion of Christ’s mystical Body of which she is also a Mother, Mary still contributes her compassion; how often have her venerated images attested the fact, by miraculously shedding tears! This explains the Church’s departure from liturgical custom by celebrating two feasts, in different seasons, under one title.

On perusing the register of the apostolic decrees concerning sacred rites, the reader is astonished to find a long and unusual interruption lasting from March 20th 1809 to September 17th 1814, at which latter date is entered the decree instituting on this present Sunday a second Commemoration of Our Lady’s Dolors. 1809-1814, five sorrowful years, during which the government of Christendom was suspended; years of blood which beheld the Man-God agonizing once more in the person of his captive Vicar. But the Mother of Sorrows was still standing beneath the Cross, offering to God the Church’s sufferings; and when the trial was over, Pius VII, knowing well whence the mercy had come, dedicated this day to Mary as a fresh memorial of the day of Calvary.

Even in the seventeenth century, the Servites had the privilege of possessing this second feast, which they celebrated as a double of the 2nd Class, with a Vigil and an Octave. It is from them that the Church has borrowed the Office and Mass. This honor and privilege was due to the Order established by Our Lady to honor her sufferings and to spread devotion to them. Philip Benizi, heir to the seven holy Founders, propagated the flame kindled by them on the heights of Monte Senario; thanks to the zeal of his sons and successors, the devotion to the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, once their family property, now the treasure of the whole world.

The prophecy of the aged Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the divine Child in Jerusalem, the carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the taking down from the Cross, and the burial of Jesus: these are the seven mysteries into which are grouped the well-nigh infinite sufferings which made Our Lady the Queen of martyrs, the first and loveliest rose in the garden of the Spouse. Let us take to heart the recommendation of the Book of Tobias, which the Church reads during this week in the Office of the Time: Thou shalt honor thy mother: for thou must be mindful what and how great perils she suffered in giving thee birth.

MASS

The daily Sacrifice, though surrounded with all the pomps of the Liturgy, is substantially the same as that of Calvary. But the only assistants at the foot of the Cross were, as our Introit points out, one single man, and a few women weeping around the Mother of sorrows. The Gospel will repeat this Introit, and even its verse which, contrary to custom, is not taken from the Psalms.

Introit

Stabant juxta Crucem Jesu Mater ejus, et soror Matris ejus Maria Cleophæ, et Salome, et Maria Magdalene.

There stood by the Cross of Jesus his Mother, and his Mother’s sister Mary of Cleophas, and Salome, and Mary Magdalene.

℣. Mulier, ecce filius tuus, dixit Jesus: ad discipulum autem: Ecce mater tua. Gloria Patri. Stabant.

℣. Woman, behold thy son, said Jesus; to the disciple however, Behold thy mother. Glory be. There stood.

The honoring of our Lady’s Dolors does not distract our thoughts from the one Victim of salvation. On the contrary, its immediate result, as the Collect shows, is to cause the Passion of our Savior to bear fruit in our souls.

Collect

Deus, in cujus passione, secundum Simeonis prophetiam, dulcissimam animam gloriosæ Virginis et Matris Mariæ doloris gladius pertransivit: concede propitius; ut qui dolores ejus venerando recolimus, passionis tuæ effectum felicem consequamur. Qui vivis.

O God, in whose Passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of sorrow pierced the most sweet soul of the glorious Mary, Mother and Virgin: grant in thy mercy, that we who call to mind her sorrows with veneration, may obtain the happy effect of thy Passion. Who livest, &c.

Then is added the Collect of the occurring Sunday.

Epistle

Lesson from the Book of Judith. Ch. xiii.

The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.

Oh, the greatness of our Judith among all creatures! “God,” says the pious and profound Father Faber, “vouchsafed to select the very things about him which are most incommunicable, and in a most mysteriously real way communicate them to her. See how he had already mixed her up with the eternal designs of creation, making her almost a partial cause and partial model of it. Our Lady’s cooperation in the redemption of the world gives us a fresh view of her magnificence. Neither the Immaculate Conception nor the Assumption will give us a higher idea of Mary’s exaltation than the title of co-redemptress. Her dolors were not necessary for the resurrection of the world, but in the counsels of God they were inseparable from it. They belong to the integrity of the divine plan. Are not Mary’s mysteries Jesus’ mysteries, and his mysteries hers? The truth appears to be that all the mysteries of Jesus and Mary were in God’s designs as one mystery. Jesus himself was Mary’s sorrow, seven times repeated, aggravated sevenfold. During the hours of the Passion, the offering of Jesus and the offering of Mary were tied in one. They kept pace together; they were made of the same materials; they were perfumed with kindred fragrance; they were lighted with the same fire; they were offered with kindred dispositions. The two things were one simultaneous oblation, interwoven each moment through the thickly crowded mysteries of that dread time unto the Eternal, out of two sinless Hearts, that were the Hearts of Son and Mother, for the sins of a guilty world which fell on them contrary to their merits, but according to their own free will.”

Let us mingle our tears with Mary’s, in union with the sufferings of the great Victim. In proportionas we do this during life we shall rejoice in heaven with the Son and the Mother; if our Lady is now, as we sing in the Alleluia-Verse, Queen of heaven and mistress of the world, is there one among all the elect who can recall sufferings comparable to hers?

After the Gradual follows the Stabat Mater, the touching Complaint attributed to the Franciscan, Blessed Jacopone de Todi.

Gradual

Dolorosa, et lacrymabilis es Virgo Maria, stans juxta Crucem Domini Jesu Filii tui Redemptoris.

Thou art sorrowful and worthy of tears, O Virgin Mary, standing near the Cross of the Lord Jesus, thy Son, our Redeemer.

℣. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capitat orbis, hoc crucis fert supplicium, auctor vitæ factus homo. Alleluia, alleluia.

℣. O Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world doth not contain, beareth this punishment of the Cross, he the author of life being made man.

Alleluia, alleluia.

℣. Stabat sancta Maria, cœli Regina, et mundi Domina, juxta crucem Domini nostri Jesu Christi dolorosa.

℣. Holy Mary, the Queen of heaven, and mistress of the world, stood by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, full of sadness.

Sequence

Stabat Mater dolorosa
iuxta Crucem lacrimosa,

dum pendebat Filius.

At the Cross her station keeping,

stood the mournful Mother weeping,

close to Jesus to the last.

Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem

pertransivit gladius.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

all His bitter anguish bearing,

now at length the sword has passed.

O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta,

mater Unigeniti!

O how sad and sore distressed

was that Mother, highly blest,

of the sole-begotten One.

Quæ mærebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat

nati poenas inclyti.

Christ above in torment hangs,

she beneath beholds the pangs

of her dying glorious Son.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret

in tanto supplicio?

Is there one who would not weep,

whelmed in miseries so deep,

Christ’s dear Mother to behold?

Quis non posset contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari

dolentem cum Filio?

Can the human heart refrain

from partaking in her pain,

in that Mother’s pain untold?

Pro peccatis suæ gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,

et flagellis subditum.

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,

she beheld her tender Child

All with scourges rent:

Vidit suum dulcem Natum
moriendo desolatum,

dum emisit spiritum.

For the sins of His own nation,

saw Him hang in desolation,

Till His spirit forth He sent.

Eia, Mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris

fac, ut tecum lugeam.

O thou Mother! fount of love!

Touch my spirit from above,

make my heart with thine accord:

Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum

ut sibi complaceam.

Make me feel as thou hast felt;

make my soul to glow and melt

with the love of Christ my Lord.

Sancta Mater, istud agas,
crucifixi fige plagas

cordi meo valide.

Holy Mother! pierce me through,

in my heart each wound renew

of my Savior crucified:

Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,

poenas mecum divide.

Let me share with thee His pain,

who for all my sins was slain,

who for me in torments died.

Fac me tecum pie flere,
crucifixo condolere,

donec ego vixero.

Let me mingle tears with thee,

mourning Him who mourned for me,

all the days that I may live:

Iuxta Crucem tecum stare,
et me tibi sociare

in planctu desidero.

By the Cross with thee to stay,

there with thee to weep and pray,

is all I ask of thee to give.

Virgo virginum præclara,
mihi iam non sis amara,

fac me tecum plangere.

Virgin of all virgins blest!,

Listen to my fond request:

let me share thy grief divine;

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
passionis fac consortem,

et plagas recolere.

Let me, to my latest breath,

in my body bear the death

of that dying Son of thine.

Fac me plagis vulnerari,
fac me Cruce inebriari,

et cruore Filii.

Wounded with His every wound,

steep my soul till it hath swooned,

in His very Blood away;

Flammis ne urar succensus,
per te, Virgo, sim defensus

in die iudicii.

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,

lest in flames I burn and die,

in His awful Judgment Day.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
da per Matrem me venire

ad palmam victoriæ.

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,

by Thy Mother my defense,

by Thy Cross my victory;

Quando corpus morietur,
fac, ut animæ donetur

paradisi gloria. Amen.

While my body here decays,

may my soul Thy goodness praise,

safe in paradise with Thee. Amen.

Gospel

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. John. Ch. xix.

At that time, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.

Woman, behold thy son.—My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Such are the words of Jesus on the Cross in our Gospel. Has he, then, no longer a Father in heaven, a Mother on earth? Oh! mystery of justice, and still more of love! God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son for it, so far as to lay upon him, instead of upon sinful men, the curse our sins deserved, and our Lady too, in her sublime union with the Father, did not spare, but offered in like manner for us all, this same Son of her virginity. If on this head we belong to the Eternal Father, we belong henceforth to Mary also; each has bought us at a great price: the exchange of any only Son for sons of adoption.

It is at the foot of the Cross that our Lady truly became the Queen of mercy. At the foot of the Altar, where the renewal of the great Sacrifice is preparing, let us commend ourselves to her omnipotent influence over the Heart of her divine Son.

Offertory

Recordare, Virgo Mater Dei, dum steteris in conspectu Domini, ut loquaris pro nobis bona, et ut avertat indignationem suam a nobis.

Be mindful, O Virgin Mother of God, when thou standest in the sight of the Lord, to speak good things for us, that he may turn away his anger from us.

How many holy souls, in the course of ages, have come to keep faithful company with the Mother of sorrows! Their intercession united with Mary’s is a strength to the Church; and we hope to obtain thereby the effect of the merits of our Savior’s death.

Secret

Offerimus tibi preces et hostias, Domine Jesu Christe, humiliter supplicantes: ut, qui Transfixionem dulcissimi spiritus beatæ Mariæ Matris tuæ precibus recensemus; suo, suorumque sub Cruce sanctorum consortium, multiplicato piisimo interventu, meritis mortis tuæ, meritum cum beatis habeamus. Qui vivis.

We offer to thee prayers and sacrifices, O Lord Jesus Christ, humbly beseeching, that we who pray in remembrance of the transfixion of the most sweet soul of blessed Mary thy Mother, by the multiplied and pious intercession of her and her holy companions under the cross, may have a reward with the blessed, by the merits of thy death. Who livest.
A commemoration is then made of the Sunday.

The Preface is the same as on the 8th of September, except that for in Nativitate, on the Navitity is substituted in Transfixione, on the Transfixion of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin.

So great, it has been said (Bernardin of Siena, Pro festivit. V.M. Sermo xiii. De exaltatione B.V. in gloria, art ii. c. 2), was Mary’s grief on Calvary, that had it been divided among all creatures capable of suffering, it would have caused them all to die instantly. It was our Lady’s wonderful peace, maintained by perfect acquiescence and the total abandoment of her whole being to God, that alone was able to sustain in her the life which the Holy Ghost was preserving for the Church’s sake. May our participation in the sacred mysteries give us that peace of God which passeth all understanding and which keepeth minds and hearts in Christ Jesus!

Communion

Felices sensus beatæ Mariæ Virginis, qui sine morte meruerunt martyrii palmam sub Cruce Domini.

Happy senses of the blessed Virgin Mary, which without dying deserved the palm of martyrdom beneath the cross of our Lord.

As the Postcommunion points out, the loving memory of our Mother’s sorrows will powerfully assist us to find all good things in the holy Sacrifice of the Altar.

Postcommunion

Sacrificia, quæ sumpsimus, Domine Jesu Christe, Transfixionem Matris tuæ et Virginis devote celebrantes, nobis impetrent apud clementiam tuam omnis boni salutaris effectum. Qui vivis.

O Lord Jesus Christ, may the sacrifices of which we have parteken, in the devout celebration of the transfixion of thy Virgin Mother, obtain for us of thy clemency the effect of every salutary good. Who livest, &c.

The Postcommunion of the occurring Sunday is added, and the Gospel of the same is read at the end of the Mass instead of the usual passage from St. John.

Last Edit: Sept 15, 2020 14:53:34 GMT by Admin