Friday, March 13, 2015
The Five Holy Wounds (Friday after the Third Sunday in Lent)


Regarding this Feast in some places, which is taken from the Missae pro Aliquibus Locis of the Roman Missal, the Catholic Encyclopedia explains:

"The earliest evidence of a feast in honour of the Wounds of Christ comes from the monastery of Fritzlar, Thuringia, where in the fourteenth century a feast was kept on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi. The Office was rhythmical (Dreves, "Anal. hymnica", XXIV, 20; Grotefend, "Zeitrechnung", II, 1, 115).  In the fifteenth century it had spread to different countries, to Salisbury (England), Huesca and Jaca (Spain), Vienna, and Tours, and was included in the Breviaries of the Carmelites, Franciscans, Dominicans, and other orders (Dreves, op. cit., XXIV, XL, XLII). 

"The Feast of the Five Wounds, celebrated since the Middle Ages at Evora and elsewhere in Portugal on 6 February (at Lisbon on the Friday after Ash-Wednesday) is of historical interest. It commemorates the founding of the Portuguese kingdom in 1139, when, before the battle on the plains of Ourique, Christ appeared to Alfonso Henriquez, promising victory over the Moors and commanding him to insert into the coat of arms of the new kingdom the emblem of the Five Wounds ("Propr. Portugalliae" in Weiss, "Weltgeschichte", III, 251). This feast is celebrated today in all Portuguese-speaking countries. 

"The Proprium of Venice of 1766, which contains perhaps the earliest series of movable feasts in honour of Christ's Passion, has the Feast of the Five Wounds on the second Sunday in March; it was granted in 1809 to Leghorn for the Friday after Ash-Wednesday, on which day it is still kept in many dioceses of Tuscany, and elsewhere (Mexico).

"Since 1831, when the feasts in honour of the Passion were adopted at Rome by the Passionists and the city, this feast was assigned to the Friday after the third Sunday in Lent. The Office is one of those bequeathed to us by the Middle Ages. As this feast is not celebrated in the entire Church the Office and Mass are placed in the appendix of the Breviary and the Missal."

Today is also an ideal day to pray the Indulged Prayer to the Cross for Fridays in Lent.

The Five Holy Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Friday after the Third Sunday of Lent

Introit: Philippians ii: 8-9
Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself unto death, even unto death upon the Cross: Therefore God has also exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above all names. [Ps. lxxxviii: 2] I will sing the mercies of the Lord for all eternity: for generation after generation His truth will be in my mouth. Glory be.... Our Lord Jesus Christ....

Collect
O God, who through the passion of Your only begotten Son, and the pouring out of His blood through the five Wounds, hast restored to human nature what was lost through sin: grant, we beseech Thee, that we who venerate the same Wounds and precious blood on earth may gain their fruit in heaven. Through the same....

A Reading From The Prophet Zacharia
xii: 10-11; xiii: 6-7
Thus saith the Lord: And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones: saith the Lord almighty.

Gradual: Ps. lxviii: 21-22
Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none; for comforters, and I found none. Rather they put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Tract: Isaias: liii: 4-5
Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him, as it were, a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we were healed.
 Gospel: John xix: 28-35
+
 The continuation of the holy Gospel according to John:
Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: "I thirst." Now there was a vessel set there, full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar and hyssop, put it to his mouth. Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: "It is consummated." And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost. Then the Jews (because it was the parasceve), that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day (for that was a great sabbath day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken: and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came: and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side: and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it hath given testimony: and his testimony is true.

Credo

Offertory
Evil men rose up against Me: without mercy they sought to kill Me: they did not hesitate to spit in My face: with their lances they wounded Me, and they have struck all My bones.

Secret
May Thy majesty, we beseech Thee, O Lord, accept these gifts: in which we offer the Wounds of Thine Only-begotten, the price of our liberty. Through the same....

Preface of the Holy Cross
It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should in all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. Who didst set the salvation of mankind upon the tree of the Cross, so that whence came death, thence also life might rise again, and that he who overcame by the tree might also be overcome on the tree; through Christ our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the dominations adore, the powers are in awe, the virtues of highest heaven and the blessed seraphim unite in blissful exultation. With them we praise Thee; grant that our voices too may blend, saying in adoring praise:

Communion:
They looked upon Him whom they had transfixed, even as the earth was shaken to its foundations.

Postcommunion:
Refreshed by these life-giving nourishments, we beseech Thee, O Lord, God: that the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ which we honor today; may impress themselves upon our hearts, so that dying to sin we will have life. Through the same....
 

2 comment(s):

del_button December 5, 2021 at 8:55 AM
Unknown said...

The 5 wounds of Jesus and all of his wounds are our lifeline,honor these wounds for eternal life.

del_button March 13, 2023 at 3:41 PM
Disqus said...

Another treasure of my Catholic faith I've discovered. So much has been taken away from us, and we are rediscovering it. For a long time I have been devoted to the Five Holy Wounds. I didn't know it had a feast day.

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