SS Felix & Aduactus, Priests & Martyrs: Missa “Sapiéntiam Sanctórum“ ST. FELIX was a holy priest in Rome, no less happy in his life and virtue than in his name. Being apprehended in the beginning of Dioclesian’s persecution, he was put to cruel torments, which he suffered with admirable constancy, and was at length condemned to…
Month: August 2012
Today’s Saints: The Decollation of St John the Baptist
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST was called by God to be the forerunner of his Divine Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve the extraordinary graces which he had received, he was directed by the Holy Ghost to lead an austere and contemplative life in the wilderness, in the continual exercises of…
Carissimi: Today’s Mass; The Beheading of St John the Baptist
The Beheading of St John the Baptist: Missa “Loquébar“ Besides the chief feast of St. John the Baptist, that of his nativity, the Church commemorates on the twenty-ninth of August, his glorious death and birth into Heaven. Ever since the Fourth Century in Africa, in the East, in Syria, and in many places all over the…
Today’s Saints: St Hermes, Bishop & Martyr
Martyr, Bishop of Salano (Spalato) in Dalmatia. Very little is known about him; in Romans 16:14, St. Paul says: “Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren that are with them.” This last name is supposed by many to refer to the subject of his article, who is also said to have succeeded Titus…
Carissimi: Today’s Mass; St Augustine of Hippo
St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo & Doctor of the Church; Com. of St Hermes: Missa “In medio Ecclesiae“ It was the combined efforts of two saints who had the greatest effects on the life of one of the great Doctors of the Church Saint Augustine of Hippo. Augustine’s mother Saint Monica played a major behind the…
Today’s Saints: St Augustine, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor of the Church
The great St. Augustine’s life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the “Confessions”, which relate the touching story of his soul, the “Retractations,” which give the history of his mind, and the “Life of Augustine,” written…
Carissimi: Sunday’s Mass; Feria II of Sunday XIII Post Pentecost
Feria II of Sunday XIII Post Pentecost: Missa “Réspice, Dómine” The liturgy for the Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost shows us that by faith we put all our hope in Jesus, for He is our Refuge and we ask for the virtue of charity, which renders us lovers of the divine law and practitioners of it. Let…
Carissimi: Feria
Today in the liturgical kalendar is a “feria” (Latin for “free day”). A day on which the people, especially the slaves, were not obliged to work, and on which there were no court sessions. In ancient Roman times the feriae publicae, legal holidays, were either stativae, recurring regularly (e.g. the Saturnalia), conceptivae, i.e. movable, or imperativae,…
Carissimi: Sunday’s Mass; Sunday XIII Post Pentecost
Sunday XIII Post Pentecost: Missa “Réspice, Dómine” The liturgy for the Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost shows us that by faith we put all our hope in Jesus, for He is our Refuge and we ask for the virtue of charity, which renders us lovers of the divine law and practitioners of it. Let us pray for…
Carissimi: Today’s Mass; Our Lady on Saturday
Our Lady on Saturday: Missa “Salve, sancta parens” The Mass of the Blessed Virgin shows us Mary as Mother of our Savior. She was predestined from all eternity for the role of co-redemptrix (Epistle), for as Eve was the intermediary chosen by the angel of darkness to bring about the fall of Adam, so also Mary…
Carissimi: Our Lady on Saturday
The Latin Church has a tradition of honoring the Virgin Mary on Saturdays, chiefly by offering special votive Masses for Our Lady on this day of the week. The roots of this practice are said to lie in the belief that Mary was the first person to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection; some readers…
Carissimi: Today’s Mass; St Bartholomew, Apostle
St Bartholomew, Apostle: Missa “Mihi autem nimis“ The name “Bartholomew” appears in the New Testament only on lists of the names of the twelve apostles. This list normally is given as six pairs, and the third pair in each of the Synoptics is “Philip and Bartholomew” (Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:14; but Acts 1:15). John…
