Friday, December 30, 2011
Age of Martyrs Continues: Anno Domini 2011


Taken from Catholic World News
December 30, 2011

Twenty-six pastoral workers--including 18 priests, 4 sisters, and 4 laity--were killed in 2011, according to the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Seven were killed in Colombia, five in Mexico, three in India, two in Burundi, and one each in Brazil, Paraguay, Nicaragua, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Tunisia, Kenya, the Philippines, and Spain.

The Fides news agency commented:

"The true imitation of Christ is love," said the Holy Father on December 26. And this was certainly the rule of life for Sister Angelina, who was killed in South Sudan by militants of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) while she was bringing medical aid to refugees; and also for Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro, of the Scalabrinian Lay Movement of Nuevo Laredo (Mexico), who worked for a newspaper and was committed to assisting migrants, she was kidnapped and murdered by drug dealers; even for Father Fausto Tentorio, Italian missionary of PIME, priest in Mindanao (Southern Philippines), who devoted his life to the service of literacy and development of indigenous people; or even for the layman Rabindra Parichha, killed in Orissa in eastern India: former itinerant catechist was very involved in the legal field and a promoter of human rights.

Fides’ list does not only include missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral care workers who died violent deaths. We do not propose to use the term "martyrs," since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death.

Additional sources for this story: THE NAMES OF PASTORAL WORKERS, BISHOPS, PRIESTS, MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND LAY CATHOLICS, KILLED IN THE YEAR 2011 (Fides) http://www.fides.org/eng/documents/missionaries_killed_2011.doc
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3 Year Anniversary of Grandfather's Death

Today marks the three-year anniversary of the death of my grandfather, John J.  Your prayers this day for the repose of his soul are most appreciated.  I will be reciting the Office for the Dead this day at Lauds and at Vespers.



Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Validity of SSPX Confessions & Marriages in light of Canon Law


Drawing upon the first two paragraph's of Father Paul L. Kramer's "The Suicide of Altering the Faith in the Liturgy," Chapter II, Part II.  The book is a work of outstanding scholarship and many of the following sentences and throughout the book are footnoted extensively.  This book is highly recommended.
The faithful have the right to receive sacraments that are certainly valid.  The Canon Law Society Commentary elaborates, "This right is rooted in baptism; it is not a privilege granted by Church authorities but a claim rooted in the action of Christ."  The Church may not impose new rites on the faithful, because Catholics have the "right to worship God according to the prescriptions of their own right."  This right establishes on the part of the faithful an inviolable moral faculty according to which they can and must demand to be provided the goods and services of the Church according to their own custom and rite.

Since the Divine Law establishes the right and duty which constitutes an inviolable claim on the part of the faithful to receive the sacraments according to their own custom and rite, that claim may not be legitimately denied.  It is in virtue of this inviolable claim, and that if the faithful are unlawfully denied their traditional rites, then, in accord with the principle of equity, they may not be punished for availing themselves of services of priests and bishops whose adherence to Tradition has earned for them the withdrawal or deprivation of their priestly faculties.  Such withdrawal of faculties is unlawful, while the penal deprivation of faculties under such circumstances is certainly invalid, since such priests are guilty of nothing other than exercising  their divinely commissioned ministry.

Continued...

Image Source: SSPX.ORG
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Nativitate Domini (Christmas)


The following Mass Propers are from the First Mass at Midnight.  For all priests saying more than three Masses on Christmas, since priests are permitted to say three Masses on this day, they should be familiar with the rules for celebrating Mass more than once the same day. See The Celebration of Mass - A Study of the Rubrics of the Roman Missal by Rev. O'Connell pages 371 - 373 for more information specific to Christmas. Also, while the time in which Mass may traditionally be said is specified in the 1917 Code of Canon Law as no earlier than one hour before dawn, Canon 821 §2 provides the specific exception for the time of midnight Mass.

Epistle (Titus 2: 11-15) - Dearly beloved, The grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men, instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak and exhort: in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Secret - May our offering on this day's feast be acceptable to Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee: that by Thy bounteous grace, though this sacred intercourse, we may be found like unto Him, in whom our nature is united to Thee. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth...

Special Form of Communicantes - Communicating, and keeping this most holy night, in which the spotless virginity of blessed Mary brought forth a Savior to this world; and also reverencing the memory first of the same glorious Mary, ever Virgin, Mother of the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ: as also . . .

Post Communion - Grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we, who rejoice in celebrating by these Mysteries, the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, may by worthy lives, deserve to attain unto fellowship with Him. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity . . .

For the full Mass propers for Christmas Day for all three Masses, please click here.
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SSPX Appoints Fr. Petrucci as New Superior of Italian District


Father Pierpaolo Maria Petrucci has been named by the General House as the new Superior of the Italian District of the Society of St. Pius X. Father Petrucci was born in 1962 on the Adriatic coast in Rimni.

In 1981 he graduated from High School and enter the Priestly Seminary of Econe. Six years later he was ordained a a Catholic priest by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. At first he was active for five years as an educator at the Boys Gymnasium "Etoile du Matin" in Bitche (Lothringen). Then he was a Director of Spiritual Excercises in Italy from 1993 as pastor in various priories in France (Priory "St. Regis" in Unieux near Lyon, then Prior of St Louis in Nantes in der Vendée). In 2005 he was the Prior of the Priory of Nantes, the largest operation in the Society after Paris, and Dean of the Society for northwest France. In 2008 he returned back to Italy and took over the priory of "Our Dear Lady of Loretto" in Rimni at the request of the District Superior. 


Source: Eponymous Flower
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Feast of the Synaxis


On the second day of the Nativity, the Christian Church gives glory and thanksgiving to the Most-holy Theotokos, who gave birth to our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. This feast is called 'the Synaxis' because on this day all of the faithful gather to glorify her, the Most-holy Theotokos, and to solemnly and universally celebrate a feast in her honor.

In 431, after the Council of Ephesus, the Byzantine Church established a special feast of the Maternity of Mary on Dec. 26.


KONTAKION (TONE 6)

He who before the birth of the Morning Star was born of the Father, without a mother, became incarnate on earth of you, O mother of God, without a father. Wherefore a star annouces to wise men that you have given birth without human seed, and the angels and shepherds glorify you, O Woman full of grace!
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Blessing of Children (Rituale Romanum)


P: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

All: Who made heaven and earth.

P: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

Let us pray.


We implore you, almighty God, to bless + these children, and we ask that you keep them in your love. Strengthen their hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, sanctify their lives, foster their innocence. Keep their minds intent on good, help them to prosper, give them peace, health, and charity. By your might and protection shield them always from every temptation of men or demons. And in your mercy may they finally attain the happiness and rest of Paradise; through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

Let us pray.


Lord Jesus Christ, who embraced the little children when they came or were brought to you (here the priest extends his hands over them), and laying your hands on them blessed them and said: "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these; and their angels ever see the face of my Father;" we beg you to look with favor on the devotion of these boys and girls here present, and let your blessing come on them in fullest measure. Let them ever advance in your grace and goodness, the better to know you, love you, fear you, and serve you, and happily reach their blessed destiny. We ask this of you, Savior of the world, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

All: Amen.


May the blessing of almighty God, Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit, come upon you, keep and direct you, and remain with you forever.

All: Amen.


They are sprinkled with holy water.


Images: From the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Shrine in Chicago, Illinois from the Blessing of Children according to the Rituale Romanum in Latin (1962) following the 10 AM Solemn High Mass of Christmas Day.  The children and then the remaining faithful then came forward to venerate a relic of the Crib of Bethlehem (pictured in the third image in the reliquary).
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
The Vigil of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

Office of Prime on the Vigil of the Nativity presided by His Eminence, Cardinal Burke, at our Seminary in Gricigliano. Taken in 2019. 

Privileged Vigil (1955 Calendar): December 24

Christmas Eve Is A Distinct Liturgical Day Separate From Christmas.

This is the final day of Advent.  This is a day of fasting and abstinence. It is also the day when Italian generally have as their meatless meal the "Feast of Seven Fishes."

The following is quoted from Dom Gueranger:

“At length,” says St. Peter Damian in his sermon for this holy eve, “we have come from the stormy sea into the tranquil port; hitherto it was the promise, now it is the prize; hitherto labor, now rest; hitherto despair, now hope; hitherto the way, now our home. The heralds of the divine promise came to us; but they gave us nothing but rich promises. Hence our psalmist himself grew wearied and slept, and, with a seemingly reproachful tone, thus sings his lamentation to God: ‘But thou hast rejected and despised us; Thou hast deferred the coming of Thy Christ’ (Ps. 138).

At another time he assumes a tone of command and thus prays: ‘O Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, show Thyself!” (Ps. 129) Seated on Thy high throne, with myriads of adoring angels around Thee, look down upon the children of men, who are victims of that sin, which was committed indeed by Adam, but permitted by Thy justice. Remember what my substance is (Ps. 138); Thou didst make it to the likeness of Thine own; for though every living man is vanity, yet inasmuch as he is made to Thy image, he is not a passing vanity (Ps. 38). Rend Thy heavens and come down, and turn the eyes of Thy mercy upon us Thy miserable supplicants, and forget us not unto the end!

This holy eve is, indeed, a day of grace and hope, and we ought to spend it in spiritual joy. The Church, contrary to Her general practice, prescribes that if Christmas Eve fall on a Sunday, the Office and the Mass of the Vigil should take precedence over the Office and Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent. How solemn, then, in the eyes of the Church, are these few hours, which separate us from the great Feast! On all other Feasts, no matter how great they may be, the solemnity begins no earlier then First Vespers, and until then the Church restrains Her joy, and celebrates the Divine Office and Mass of most vigils according to the Lenten rite. Christmas, on the contrary, seems to begin with the Vigil; and one would suppose that this morning’s Lauds were the opening of the Feast; for the solemn intonation of this portion of the Office is that of a Double, and the antiphons are sung before and after each psalm or canticle. The violet vestments are used at the Mass, but the rubrics are less somber than on the Advent ferias.

Let us enter into the spirit of the Church, and prepare ourselves, in all the joy of our hearts, to meet the Savior Who is coming to us. Let us observe with strictness the fast which is prescribed; it will enable our bodies to aid the promptness of our spirit. Let us delight in the thought that, before we again lie down to rest, we shall have seen Him born, in the solemn midnight, Who comes to give light to every creature. For surely it is the duty of every faithful child of the Catholic Church to celebrate with Her this happy night, when, in spite of all the coldness of devotion, the whole universe keeps up its watch for the arrival of its Savior. It is one of the last vestiges of the piety of ancient days, and God forbid it should ever be effaced!

Let us, in a spirit of prayer, look at the principal portions of the Office of this beautiful Vigil. First then, the Church makes a mysterious announcement to Her children. It serves as the Invitatory of Matins, and as the Introit and Gradual of the Mass. They are the words which Moses addressed to the people of God when he told them of the heavenly manna, which they would receive on the morrow. We too are expecting our Manna, our Jesus, the Bread of Life, Who is to be born in Bethlehem, which translated means the "House of Bread":

This day you shall know that the Lord will come, and in the morning you shall see His glory.

The Responsories are full of sublimity and sweetness. Nothing can be more affecting than their lyric melody, sung to us by our Mother the Church, on the very night which precedes the night of Jesus’ Birth:

R. Sanctify yourselves this day, and be ready: for on the morrow you shall see * the Majesty of God amongst you. V. This day you shall know that the Lord will come, and in the morning you shall see * the Majesty of God amongst you.

R. Be constant; you shall see the help of the Lord upon you: fear not, Judea and Jerusalem: * Tomorrow you shall go forth, and the Lord shall be with you: V. Sanctify yourselves, children of Israel, and be ready. * Tomorrow you shall go forth, and the Lord shall be with you.

R. Sanctify yourselves, children of Israel, saith the Lord: for on the morrow, the Lord shall come down: * And He shall take from you all that is languid. V. Tomorrow the iniquity of the earth shall be cancelled, and over us shall reign the Savior of the world. * And He shall take from you all that is languid.

  
Monks in solemn prostration at the announcement of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

At the Office of Prime, in cathedral chapters and monasteries, the announcement of tomorrow’s Feast is made with unusual solemnity. The lector, who frequently is one of the dignitaries of the choir, sings with a magnificent chant the following lesson from the Martyrology. All the assistants remain standing during it, until the lector comes to the word Bethlehem, at which all genuflect, and continue with bended knee until all the glad tidings are told:

The Eighth of the Calends of January. The year from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created Heaven and earth, five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine: from the deluge, the year two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven: from the birth of Abraham, the year two thousand and fifteen: from Moses and the going out of the people of Israel from Egypt, the year one thousand five hundred and ten: from David’s being anointed king, the year one thousand and thirty-two: in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel: in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad: from the building of the city of Rome, the year seven hundred and fifty-two: in the forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus: the whole world being in peace: in the sixth age of the world: Jesus Christ, the eternal God, and Son of the eternal Father, wishing to consecrate this world by His most merciful coming, being conceived of the Holy Ghost, and nine months since His conception having passed, in Bethelehem of Juda, is born of the Virgin Mary, being made Man: The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to the Flesh!

Thus have passed before us, in succession, all the generations of the world. (It should be noted that on this one day alone, and on this single occasion, does the Church adopt the Septuagint chronology, according to which the Birth of our Savior took place five thousand years after the Creation; whereas the Vulgate version, and the Hebrew text, place only four thousand years between the two events. This shows us the liberty which the Church allows us on this question.) Each generation is asked if it may have seen Him Whom we are expecting, and each is silent; until the Name of Mary is pronounced, and then is proclaimed the Nativity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made Man. St. Bernard, speaking of this announcement, says: “The voice of joy has gone forth in our land, the voice of rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles of the just. There has been heard a good word, a word that gives consolation, a word that is full of gladsomeness, a word worthy of all acceptance. Resound with praise, ye mountains, and all ye trees of the forests clap your hands before the face of the Lord, for He is coming. Hearken, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth! Be astounded and give praise, O all ye creatures! But thou, O man, more than all they! Jesus Christ the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Juda! O brief word of the Word abridged (Rom. 9: 28), and yet how full of heavenly beauty! The heart, charmed with the honeyed sweetness of the expression, would fain diffuse it and spread it out into more words; but no, it must be given just as it is, or you spoil it: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Juda!” (Second Sermon for Christmas Eve)
 
The Gospel of today’s Mass is the passage which relates the trouble of St. Joseph and the visit he received from the Angel. This incident, which forms one of the preludes to the Birth of our Savior, could not be omitted from the Liturgy for Advent; and so far, there was no suitable occasion for its insertion. The Vigil of Christmas was the right day for the Gospel, for another reason: the Angel, in speaking to St. Joseph, tells him that the Name to be given to the Child of Mary is Jesus, which signifies that He will save His people from their sins.
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Christmas Eve: Fasting and Abstinence

It has been a long-standing custom up until Vatican II to observe fasting & abstinence from meat on Christmas Eve.  It is a custom I still observe and encourage you to do so as well.  The feasts and celebration of the Lord's Nativity should wait until the Nativity begins.

This day is known as the Feast of Seven Fishes for many Italians who will customarily have a dinner of seven fishes in honor of the seven Sacraments and seven days of Creation.


The 1917 Code stated for all Latin Rite Catholics in Canon 1252:
§ 1. The law of abstinence alone is to be observed on all Fridays.
§ 2. The law of abstinence and fast together is to be observed on Ash Wednesday, the Fridays and Saturdays of Lent, the Ember days [all day], and on the Vigils of Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints, and the Nativity.
§ 3. The law of fast alone is to be observed on the other days of Lent.
§ 4. On Sundays and days of obligation the law ceases except on a feast of obligation during Lent; and the vigils are not anticipated; likewise the law ceases on Holy Saturday at noon.
This Tradition of Fasting is still observed in the Byzantine Tradition.  I quote:
The Christmas Fast, in preparation for the feast of the Nativity on December 25, is one of the minor fasts of the Church. This fast of forty days was introduced in the 12th century. Counting back 40 days from the feast of the Nativity, the fast begins on the evening of November 14 - the feast of the holy apostle Phillip. As a result, it is traditionally called Phillip's Fast or the Phillipian Fast (in Slavonic, Filipovka).

This fast is not penitential, but is rather a fast of preparation, like the pre-Communion fast. By abstaining from certain foods, we are opening up a "space" in our lives through asceticism and obedience, into which God may enter.

One final day of strict fasting awaits us. Normally, this would be the Vigil (in Greek, Paramony) of the Nativity, December 24. But Saturday and Sunday are never days of strict fasting in the Byzantine Rite (with the single exception of Great and Holy Saturday). So when December 24 falls on one of these two days, the day of strict fast is anticipated on Friday. 
On this day, a special service called the Royal Hours is celebrated. This service consists of the daytime services of the First Hour, Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour, and Typika, celebrated with special psalms and readings for the Nativity. (This service is called royal because, at one time, the Emperor himself always attended the service.) Each part of the service has an Old Testament prophecy, an Epistle reading, and a reading from the Holy Gospel.

The Vigil of the Nativity

Finally, we have come to the very eve of the Nativity - the Paramony or Vigil of Christmas (December 24). If it is a weekday, it is a day of strict fasting, with the Royal Hours celebrated during the day, and Vespers and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil in the evening. 

If December 24 is a Saturday or Sunday, the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated in the morning, and we sing the troparion of the Vigil:
At that time, Mary registered in Bethlehem with the elder Joseph, who was of the house of David. She had conceived without seed and was with child; and her time to give birth had come. They found no room in the inn, but the cave became a pleasant palace for the Queen. Christ is born to raise up the likeness that had fallen.
The fast is not quite over; if there is a meal or Holy Supper in the evening of December 24, after Vespers, it is a meatless one. But we have arrived at the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Source: Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburg
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O Antiphon: December 23



The O Antiphons are a series of antiphons to the Magnificant, which are prayed as part of Vespers (evening prayer) from December 17th - 23th inclusive. Each of the titles of the O Antiphons addresses Jesus with a special title given to the Messiah and refers to a prophecy from the Prophet Isaiah. It is unknown when the O Antiphons started, however, there is mention of them as far back as the 400's AD. They are often called the Great Antiphons too.

If one were to start with the last title and takes the first letter of each one—Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia—the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, "Tomorrow, I will come". Thus, the "O Antiphons" not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.
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