October
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Among the divers religious families, none is held in higher esteem by the Church than the Carthusian; the prescriptions of the corpus juris determine that a person may pass from any other Order into this, without deterioration.[1] And yet it is of all the least given to active works. Is not this a new, and not the least convincing, proof that outward zeal, how praiseworthy soever, is not the only, or the principal thing in God’s sight? The Church, in her fidelity, values all things according to the preferences of her divine Spouse. Now, our Lord esteems His elect not so much by the activity of their works, as by the hidden perfection of their lives; that perfection which is measured by the intensity of the divine life, and of which it is said: ‘Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.’[2] Again it is said of this divine life: 'You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.'[3] The Church, then, considering the solitude and silence of the Carthusian, his abstinence even unto death, his freedom to attend to God through complete disengagement from the senses and from the world—sees therein the guarantee of a perfection which may indeed be met with elsewhere, but here appears to be far more secure.[4] Hence, though the field of labour is ever widening, though the necessity of warfare and struggle grows ever more urgent, she does not hesitate to shield with the protection of her her laws, and to encourage with the greatest favours, all who are called by grace to the life of the desert. The reason is not far to seek. In an age, when every effort to arrest the world in its Headlong downward career seems vain, has not man greater need than ever to fall back upon God? The enemy is aware of it; and therefore the first law he imposes upon his votaries is, to forbid all access to the way of the counsels, and to stifle all life of adoration, expiation, and prayer. For he well knows that, though a nation may appear to be on the verge of its doom, there is yet hope for it as long as the best of its sons are prostrate before the Majesty of God.
Look at the history of the west in the eleventh century. If there ever was a time when it seemed urgent that the cloister, far from increasing the number of its inmates, should send them forth to the last man, for the active service of the Church; it was surely the epoch when the flesh, victorious over the spirit, posted up its triumphs even in the sanctuary; when, for each other’s sake, Cæsar and satan held the pastors of the people in bondage. Nevertheless, at that very time, not only Cluny became the stronghold of Christianity, but Camaldoli, Vallombrosa, the charterhouse, and finally Citeaux, were founded and grew’ strong; so great was the demand even in the monastic life itself, for still closer retreat, by souls athirst for immolation and penance. And yet, so far from complaining of being abandoned, the world reckoned among its most glorious deliverers Romuald, John Gualbert, Bruno, and Robert of Molesmes. Moreover the century was great in the faith, and in that energy of faith which knew how to apply fire and steel to the festering wounds of humanity; great in the uprightness wherewith it recognized the necessity of expiation for such crying evils. Society, represented by its choicest members before the feet of God, received new life from Him.
This feast, then, is the world’s homage to one of its greatest benefactors. The legend of the breviary is short; but the reader may learn more about our saint by having recourse to his works; his letters, breathing the fragrance of solitude, and written in the beautiful style known to the monks of that heroic age, and his commentaries on St. Paul and on the psalms, which are clear and concise, revealing at once his science and his love of Jesus and of the Church.
According to the custom of the time, the breve depositionis announcing his death was sent round from church to church, and returned covered with testimonies of universal veneration. Nevertheless his disciples were more intent on imitating his holiness, than on having it recognized by the apostolic See. Four centuries after his death, Leo X without any process, on the simple evidence of the cause, authorized the Carthusians to pay public honour to their father. A hundred years later, in 1622, Gregory XV extended his feast to the entire world.
The following is the legend given in the holy liturgy.
Bruno Carthusianæ religionis institutor, Coloniæ Agrippinæ natus est. Ab ipsis incunabulis specimen futuræ sanctitatis præferens, morum gravitate puerilia illius ætatis, divina favente gratia, declinans adeo excelluit, ut jam inde monachorum pater vitæque anachoreticæ futurus instanrator agnosceretur. A parentibus genere ac virtute clans Lutetiam Parisiorum missus, tantum ibi in philosophiæ ac theologiæ stadiis profecit, at doctoris ac magistri munus in utraque facultate sit adeptus: nec multo post, ob egregias ipsius virtutes, ecclesiæ Rhemensis canonicatu potitus.
Elapsis aliquot annis, cum sex aliis familiaribus mundo renuntians, sanctum Hugonem episcopum Gratianopolitanum adiit. Qui causa eorum adventus cognita, eosdemque intelligens esse, quos eadem nocte veluti septem stellas ad suos pedes corruentes in somnis viderat, montes sue diœcesis asperrimos quos Carthusianos appellant, illis concessit. Illuc Bruno cum sociis, ipso Hugone comitante, secedens, cum per aliquot annos eremiticam vitam egisset, ab Urbano Secundo, qui ejusdem Brunonis discipulus fuerat, Romam accersitur. Ejus consilio ac doctrina Pontifex, in tot illis Ecclesie calamitatibus, per aliquot annos usus est, donee Bruno, recusato Rhegiensi archiepiscopatu, discedendi facultatem obtinuit.
Igitur solitudinis amore eremum quamdam apud Squillacum in Calabriæ finibus petiit. Quo in loco, cum ipsum orantem Rogerius comes Calabriæ inter venandum, latrantibus ad illius speluncam canibus, reperisset, sanctitate viri permotus, illum ac socios fovere ac colere impense cœpit. Nec liberalitas sine præmio fuit. Cum enim idem Rogerius Capuam obsideret, eumque Sergius quidam excubiarum magister prodere statuisset, Bruno adhuc in dicta eremo vivens, in somnis illi omnia aperiens, ab imminenti periculo comitem liberavit. Tandem virtutibus ac meritis plenus, nec sanctitate mirius quam doctrinæ fama clarus, obdormivit in Domino, sepultusque est in monasterio sancti Stephani, ab ipso Rogerio constructo, ubi hactenus honorifice colitur.
Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order, was born at Cologne, and from his very cradle gave great promise of future sanctity. Favoured by divine grace, the gravity of his character made him shun all childishness; so that, even at that age, one might have foreseen in him the future father of monks and restorer of the anachoretical life. His parents, who were distinguished for virtue and nobility, sent him to Paris, where he made great progress in philosophy and theology, and took the degrees of doctor and master in both faculties. Soon after this, he was, for his remarkable virtue, appointed to a canonry in the church of Rheims.
After some years, Bruno, with six of his friends, renounced the world, and betook himself to Hugh, bishop of Grenoble. On learning the cause of their coming, the bishop understood that they had been signified by the seven stars he had seen falling at his feet in his dream of the previous night. He therefore made over to them some wild mountains called the Chartreuse, belonging to his diocese, and himself conducted them thither. After having there led an eremitical life for several years; Bruno was summoned to Rome by Urban II who had been his disciple. In the great trials through which the Church was then passing, the Pontiff gladly availed himself of the saint’s prudence and knowledge for some years, until Bruno, refusing the archbishopric of Reggio,obtained leave to retire.
Attracted by the love of solitude he went to a desert place near Squillace in Calabria. Count Roger of Calabria was one day hunting, when his dogs began to bark round the saint’s cave. The Count entered and found Bruno at his prayers, and was so struck by his holiness, that thenceforward he greatly honoured him and his companions and supplied their wants. His generosity met with its reward. A little later, when this same Count Roger was besieging Capua, and Sergius, an officer of his guard, had determined to betray him, Bruno, who was still living in his desert, appeared to the Count in sleep, revealed the whole treason to him, and thus saved him from imminent peril. At length, full of virtues and merits, and as renowned for holiness as for learning, Bruno fell asleep in our Lord, and was buried in the monastery of St. Stephen built by Count Roger, where he is greatly honoured to this day.
Bless, O Bruno, the grateful joy of God’s children. With their whole hearts they acquiesce in the judgment of their mother the Church, when, among the beautiful, rich fruit-trees in our Lord’s garden, she hides not her predilection for those whose silent shade attracts the preference of her divine Spouse. ‘Show me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Thy companions.’[5] Thus speaks the bride in the sacred Canticle. And hearing the divine answer extolling the better part, thou minglest thy voice with the song of our Lord and the Church, saying: ‘O solitude and silence of the desert; hidden joy; good things unknown to the multitude, but known to the valiant! There are the young shoots of virtue carefully cultivated: there labour and rest are one and the same, and are nourished with fruits of paradise. There the eye acquires that look, which wounds the Bridegroom’s heart,[6] and that purity, which beholds God.[7] There is Rachel in all her beauty, more loved by Jacob than Lia, although less fruitful; and her sons, Joseph and Benjamin, are their father’s favourites.’[8]
Thy sons cherish, in their hereditary peace, this privilege of the perfect even in these days of feverish excitement. Simple as themselves is the history of their Order; full of the supernatural, yet seeming to eschew the marvellous aud the miraculous; while the heroism of all is so great, that very few stand out from the rest as remarkable for sanctity. Preserve this thine own spirit in thy children, O Bruno; and make us profit by their example. For their life silently preaches to the world the apostle’s doctrine: ‘Concerning spiritual things, ... I show unto you yet a more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, ... if I should have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, . . . and if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall he destroyed. Do not become children in sense; but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect.’[9]
[1] Cap. Viam ambitiosæ, i. tit. viii. Extrav. com. lib. iii.
[2] St. Matt. v. 48.
[3] Col. iii. 3.
[4] Suarez. De Religione. Tract. ix. lib. ii. cap. iv. 6.
[5] Cant. i. 6.
[6] Cant. iv. 9.
[7] St. Matt. v. 8.
[8] Bruno, Epist. ad Radulphum.
[9] 1 Cor. xii. xiii. xiv.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
On the same day, in the Roman martyrology, the commemoration of our Lady of Victory, established under the circumstances mentioned on the first Sunday of this month. Although the Virgin of virgins gave to the youthful martyr Justina a share in the triumph of Lepanto, nevertheless the chief honour of the day redounds to Mary herself. It behoves us, then, to renew our homage to the Queen of the holy rosary, on the exact anniversary of her deliverance of Christendom under that title. Let us do so by offering her the three hymns of her Office, which recall the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the rosary, and which are epitomized in that of second Vespers given on the feast.[2]
Hymn of First Vespers
Cœlestis aulæ nuntius,
Arcana pandens Numinis,
Plenam salutat gratia
Dei Parentem Virginem.
Virgo propinquam sanguine
Matrem Joannis visitat,
Qui clausus alvo gestiens
Adesse Christum nuntiat.
Verbum, quod ante sæcula
E mente Patris prodiit,
E Matris alvo Virginis
Mortalia infans nascitur.
Tempio puellus sistitur,
Legique paret Legifer,
Hic se Redemptor paupere
Pretio redemptus immolat.
Quem jam dolebat perditum,
Mox læta Mater invenit
Ignota doctis mentibus
Edisserentem Filium.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
The messenger of the heavenly court,
disclosing the hidden myateries of the Divinity,
hails as full of grace
the Virgin about to become Mother of God.
The Virgin visits her relative,
the mother of John, who,
though yet a captive in the womb,
leaps with joy announcing the presence of Christ.
The Word that before all ages
had proceeded from the Father’s Intellect,
is born a mortal Babe
of a Virgin Mother.
The little One is presented in the temple,
the Legislator obeys the Law,
the Redeemer offers himself in sacrifice,
and is redeemed at a pauper’s price.
And now the joyful Mother finds her Son,
whom she had mourned as lost;
finds him expounding to learned minds
things unknown to them.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
Hymn of Matins
In monte Olivis consito
Redemptor orans, procidit,
Mœret, pavescit, deficit,
Sudore manans sanguinis.
A proditore traditus
Raptatur in pœnas Deus,
Durisque vinctus nexibus
Flagris cruentis cæditur.
Intexta acutis sentibus,
Corona contumeliæ,
Squallenti amictum purpura,
Regem coronat gloriæ.
Molis crucem ter arduæ,
Sudans, anhelans, concidens,
Ad montis usque verticem
Gustare vi compellitur.
Confixus atro stipite
Inter scelestos innocens,
Orando pro tortoribus,
Exsanguis efflat spiritum.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
On the mount with olives planted,
prostrate the Redeemer prays;
he grieves, he fears, he well-nigh faints,
pouring forth a sweat of blood.
God, delivered up by a traitor,
is dragged away to punishment;
bound with tight bonds,
he bleeds beneath the cruel scourges.
A crown of ignominy,
woven of sharp thorns,
adorns the King of glory
clothed with purple tatters.
Labouring, breathless,
thrice falling beneath the heavy cross,
he is compelled by force
to bear it to the mountain-top.
Nailed to the awful gibbet,
the Innocent hangs between two criminals;
till, praying for his torturers,
he yields up his Spirit with the last drop of his Blood.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
Hymn of Lauds
Jam morte victor obruta
Ab inferis Christus redit,
Fractisque culpæ vinculis,
Cœli recludit limina.
Visus satis mortalibus
Ascendit ad cœlestia,
Dextræque Patris assidet
Consors paternæ gloriæ.
Quem jam suis promiserat,
Sanctum daturus Spiritum,
Linguis amoris igneis
Mœstis alumnis impluit.
Soluta carnis pondere
Ad astra Virgo tollitur,
Excepta cœli jubilo,
Et angelorum canticis.
Bis sena cingunt sidera
Almæ parentis verticem:
Throno propinqua Filii
Cunctis creatis imperat.
Jesu tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
Death overthrown,
Christ rises victorious from limbo,
and breaking the bonds of sin,
throws open heaven’s gate.
Having appeared long enough to men,
he ascends to the heavenly dwellings,
and is enthroned at his Father’s right hand,
a partner in his glory.
The holy Spirit,
whom he had promised to give them,
he sends down upon his sorrowing disciples
in fiery tongues of love.
With her body set free from earthly weight,
the Virgin is raised above the stars;
she is welcomed with heaven’s jubilant delight,
and with the songs of angels.
Twelve stars now crown
the lovely Mother’s brow;
and from her throne beside her Son,
she reigns over all creation.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
[1] De Rossi. Inscript. Christ. ii. 108.
[2] The four hymns arc of the eighteenth century. Though now slightly modified, the three here given were composed by Thomas Ricchini, Master of the sacred Palace, and that of second Vespers by the Dominican Eustace Sirena.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
‘Memor ero tui, Justina virgo. I will ever bear thee in mind, O virgin Justina.’ This inscription Venice engraved on the coin of its republic, after the victory of Lepanto. On that day of triumph, the martyr, who had won her palm on October 7 fifteen centuries before, had united the power of her prayers with the strength of St. Mark’s lion; and the dukedom proclaimed Justina its second patron. But Lepanto is not her only claim upon the world’s gratitude. In her native city, the sons of St Benedict had gathered round the tomb where lay her precious relics. The great movement initiated by the Venetian, Luigi Barbo (1408), began at St. Justina’s monastery in Padua: the Order was rescued from the disastrous consequences of having secular abbots in commendam; and thus Monte Cassino itself was restored to some part of its ancient splendour.
Honour, then, to this day of salvation! And glory to her, through whose intercession the heavens have rained down their dew of consolation upon the earth!
Prayer
Deus, qui nos annua beatæ Justinæ virginis et martyris tuæsolemnitate lætificas: da, ut quam veneramur officio, etiam piæconversationis sequamur exemplo. Per Dominum.
O God, who givest us joy by the annual solemnity of blessed Justina thy virgin and martyr; grant that we may follow the example of her pious life, whom we venerate by this Office. Through our Lord.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
It is customary with men of the world to balance their accounts at the end of the year, and ascertain their profits. The Church is now preparing to do the same. We shall soon see her solemnly numbering her elect, taking an inventory of her holy relics, visiting the tombs of those who sleep in the Lord, and counting the sanctuaries, both new and old, that have been consecrated to her divine Spouse. But to-day’s reckoning is a more solemn one, the profits more considerable: she opens her balance-sheet with the gain accruing to our Lady from the mysteries which compose the cycle. Christmas, the cross, the triumph of Jesus, these produce the holiness of us all; but before and above all, the holiness of Mary. The diadem which the Church thus offers first to the august Sovereign of the world, is rightly composed of the triple crown of these sanctifying mysteries, the causes of her joy, of her sorrow, and of her glory. The joyful mysteries recall the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, Mary’s Purification, and the Finding of our Lord in the temple. The sorrowful mysteries bring before us the Agony of our blessed Lord, His being scourged, and crowned with thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the Crucifixion. While, in the glorious mysteries, we contemplate the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour, Pentecost, and the Assumption and Coronation of the Mother of God. Such is Mary’s rosary; a new and fruitful vine, which began to blossom at Gabriel’s salutation, and whose fragrant garlands form a link between earth and heaven.
In its present form, the rosary was made known to the world by St. Dominic at the time of the struggles with the Albigensians, that social war of such ill-omen for the Church. The rosary was then of more avail than armed forces against the power of satan; it is now the Church’s last resource. It would seem that, the ancient forms of social prayer being no longer relished by the people, the holy Spirit has willed by this easy and ready summary of the liturgy to maintain, in the isolated devotion of these unhappy times, the essential of that life of prayer, faith, and Christian virtue, which the public celebration of the Divine Office formerly kept up among the nations. Before the thirteenth century, popular piety was already familiar with what was called the psalter of the laity, that is, the angelical salutation repeated one hundred and fifty times; it was the distribution of these Hail Marys into decades, each devoted to the consideration of a particular mystery, that constituted the rosary. Such was the divine expedient, simple as the eternal Wisdom that conceived it, and far-reaching in its effects; for while it led wandering man to the Queen of Mercy, it obviated ignorance which is the food of heresy, and taught him to find once more ‘the paths consecrated by the Blood of the Man-God, and by the tears of His Mother.’[1]
Thus speaks the great Pontiff who, in the universal sorrow of these days, has again pointed out the means of salvation more than once experienced by our fathers. Leo XIII, in his encyclicals, has consecrated the present month to this devotion so dear to heaven; he has honoured our Lady in her litanies with a new title, Queen of the most holy rosary;[2]and he has given the final development to the solemnity of this day, by raising it to the rank of a second class feast, and by enriching it with a proper Office explaining its permanent object.[3] Besides all this, the feast is a memorial of glorious victories, which do honour to the Christian name.
Soliman II, the greatest of the Sultans, taking advantage of the confusion caused in the west by Luther, had filled the sixteenth century with terror by his exploits. He left to his son, Selim II, the prospect of being able at length to carry out the ambition of his race: to subjugate Rome and Vienna, the Pope and the emperor, to the power of the crescent. The Turkish fleet had already mastered the greater part of the Mediterranean, and was threatening Italy, when, on October 7, 1571, it came into action, in the Gulf of Lepanto, with the pontifical galleys supported by the fleets of Spain and Venice. It was Sunday; throughout the world the confraternities of the rosary were engaged in their work of intercession. Supernaturally enlightened, St. Pius V watched from the Vatican the battle undertaken by the leader he had chosen, Don John of Austria, against the three hundred vessels of Islam. The illustrious Pontiff, whose life’s work was now completed, did not survive to celebrate the anniversary of the triumph; but he perpetuated the memory of it by an annual commemoration of our Lady of Victory. His successor, Gregory XIII, altered this title to our Lady of the rosary, and appointed the first Sunday of October for the new feast, authorizing its celebration in those churches which possessed an altar under that invocation.
A century and a half later, this limited concession was made general. As Innocent XI, in memory of the deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski, had extended the feast of the most holy name of Mary to the whole Church; so, in 1716, Clement XI inscribed the feast of the rosary on the universal calendar, in gratitude for the victory gained by Prince Eugene at Peterwardein, on August 5, under the auspices of our Lady of the snow. This victory was followed by the raising of the siege of Corfu, and completed a year later by the taking of Belgrade.
MASS
The joys experienced on the other feasts of the Mother of God, are all gathered up and resumed in this one, for us, for the angels, and for our Lady herself. Like the angels, then, let us offer, together with Mary, the homage of our just delight to the Son of God, her Son, her King and ours.
Introit
Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore beatæ Mariæ Virginis: de cujus solemnitate gaudent angeli, et collaudant Filium Dei.
Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Gaudeamus.
Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, on whose solemnity the angels rejoice, and give praise to the Son of God.
Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. ℣. Glory, &c. Let us all.
The mysteries of the Son and of the Mother are our instruction and our hope. The Church prays in the Collect that they may also be our rule of life and our pledge of eternal happiness.
Collect
Deus, cujus Unigenitus per vitam, mortem, et resurrectionem suam nobis salutis æternæ præmia comparavit: concede quæsumus; ut hæc mysteria sanctissimo beatæ Mariæ Virginis rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur. Per eundem Dominum.
O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, procured for us the rewards of eternal salvation; grant, we beseech thee, that commemorating these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and possess what they promise. Through the same Lord &c.
Then is made a commemoration of the occurring Sunday.
Epistle
Lectio libri Sapientiæ.
Prov. cap. viii.
Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum antequam quidquam faceret a principio. Ab æterno ordinata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret, Nondum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Beati qui cnstodiunt vias meas. Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes, et nolite abjicere eam. Beatus homo qui audit me, et qui vigilat ad fores meas quotidie, et observat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino.
Lesson from the Book of Wisdom.
Prov. ch. viii.
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth mo, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.
Our Lady’s mysteries are before all time in God’s sight, like those of her divine Son; like these they will endure for all eternity; like them they rule the ages, which circle round the Word and Mary, preparing for both in the days of figures, perpetuating their presence by the incessant glorification of the most holy Trinity, in whose name all Christians are baptized. Now the rosary honours all this series of mysteries; to-day’s feast is a glance back upon the cycle as it draws to its close. From these mysteries, from this view of them, we must draw the conclusion formulated by our Lady herself in this passage from Proverbs, which the Church applies to her: ‘Now therefore, my children, consider my ways; imitate me, that you may find happiness.’ Blessed is he that watcheth at her gate! Let us pray to her, rosary in hand, considering her at the same time, meditating on her life and her greatness, and watching, were it but for a quarter of an hour, at the entrance to the palace of this incomparable Queen. The more faithful we are, the more assured will be our salvation and our progress in true life.
In the Gradual, let us congratulate the Queen of the holy rosary on her perfect life, all truth, and justice, and meekness, which won her the love of the supreme King. In the Alleluia verse, let us proclaim the nobility of her race, unequalled in the whole world.
Gradual
Propter veritatem et mansuetudinem, et justitiam, et deducet te mirabiliter dextera tua.
℣. Audi filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam: quia concupivit Rex speciem tuam.
Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. Solemnitas gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ ex semine Abrahæ, ortæ de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David. Alleluia.
Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall lead thee marvellously.
℣. Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear, for the king hath greatly desired thy beauty.
Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. It is a festival of the glorious Virgin Mary of the seed of Abraham; sprung from the tribe of Juda, from David’s renowned lineage. Alleluia.
The Gospel is the same as on the feast of the most holy name of Mary (page 176). ‘At that time, the angel Gabriel was sent from God, into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said to her: Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women? Blessed art thou among women, repeated Elizabeth a few days later, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. These two salutations, with the name of Mary added to the angel’s greeting and the name of Jesus to Elizabeth’s, constituted the Ave Maria in the time of St. Dominic, the promulgator of the rosary. The prayer, 'Holy Mary Mother of God’ which now so beautifully completes the formula of praise, received the sanction of the Church in the sixteenth century. No better Gospel could, then, have been chosen for to-day, for it gives the original text of the rosary, and describes the first of its mysteries.
All grace, all light, all life, are to be found in our Lady; by her holy rosary she, as we sing in the Offertory, has multiplied flowers and fruits in the garden of the Church. Every offering acceptable to God, comes from Mary, with and by Jesus.
Offertory
In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis; in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis: ego quasi rosa piantata super rivos aquarum fructificavi.
In me is all grace of the way and of truth: in me is all hope of life and of virtue: I have flowered forth like a rose planted by the brooks of water,
As the Secret tells us, the rosary, piously meditated, prepares us for the Sacrifice of the altar, that supereminent and august memorial of the mysteries which it imprints in the heart and mind of the Christian.
Secret
Fac nos, quæsumus Domine, his muneribus offerendis convenienter aptari: et per sanctissimi rosarii mysteria sic vitam, passionem, et glori am Unigeniti tui recolere, ut ejus digni promissionibus efficiamur. Qui tecum.
Do thou, we beseech thee, O Lord, render us fit suitably to offer up these gifts: and by means of the mysteries of the most holy rosary, so to call back to mind the life, the Passion, and the glory of thine only-begotten Son, as to be made worthy of his promises: Who with thee liveth and reigneth &c.
Then a commemoration of the Sunday.
The Preface as on September 8, substituting ‘in solemnitate, on the solemnity,’ for ‘in Nativitate, on the Nativity,’ of the blessed Virgin Mary.
After the sacred banquet, our soul must not remain barren. The fragrance of virtue’s flowers must embalm all that surrounds us, and prove to the Spouse that His visit has not been made in vain.
Communion
Florete flores quasi lilium, et date odorem, et frondete in gratiam, collaudate canticum, et benedicite Dominum in operibus suis.
Flower ye forth like the lily, and yield ye a sweet smell, and bring forth leaves in grace: sound forth a canticle of praise, and bless ye the Lord in his works.
In the Postcommunion, the Church prays that our Lady may, by her intercession, second the effects of this Sacrifice, and-of the mysteries in which she played so great a part.
Postcommunion
Sanctissimæ Genitricis tuæ, cujus rosarium celebramus, quæsumus Domine, precibus adjuvemur: ut et mysteriorum, quæ colimus, virtus percipiatur, et sacramentorum, quæ sumpsimus, obtineatur effectus. Qui vivis.
We beseech thee, O Lord, to help us through the prayers of thy most holy Mother, the feast of whose rosary we are celebrating: that we may both experience the virtue of the mysteries on which we meditate, and also obtain the effect of the Sacrament which we have received. Who livest and reignest &c.
Then is added the Postcommunion of the Sunday, and the Gospel of the same is read at the end of the Mass.
VESPERS
A few days ago, the Church borrowed from the Servites of Mary her Office of the Seven Dolours; to-day she seeks her responsories, hymns, and antiphons from the noble family which claims the rosary as its birthright. The Christian world owes a new debt of gratitude to the sons of St. Dominic for enriching it with these beautiful liturgical formulæ. But as the Use of the Friars Preachers gives but one antiphon for the psalms in the Vespers of the saints, the following antiphons have been added for the Roman rite. The hymn, which so gracefully and yet concisely resumes the triple series of the mysteries, is the fourth of the entire Office: the first celebrates, at first Vespers, the joyful mysteries; the second, at Matins, the sorrowful; the third, at Lauds, the glorious. 'From these mysteries let us gather roses, and weave garlands for the Mother of fair love.’
1. Ant. Quæ est ista, speciosa sicut columba, quasi rosa piantata super rivos aquarum?
1. Ant. Who is this, beautiful as a dove, like a rose planted by the brooks of water?
Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.
2. Ant. Virgo potens, sicut turris David; mille clypei pendent ex ea, omnis armatura fortium.
2. Ant. It is the mighty Virgin, like the tower of David; a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men.
Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.
3. Ant. Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus.
3. Ant. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.
Ps.Lætatus sum, page 152.
4. Ant. Benedixit te Dominus in virtute tua, quia per te ad nihilum redegit inimicos nostros.
4. Ant. The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought.
Ps. Nisi Dominus, page 153.
5. Ant. Viderunt eam filiæ Sion vernantem in floribus rosarum, et beatissimam prædicaverunt.
5. Ant. The daughters of Sion saw her adorned with the flowers of roses, and declared her most blessed.
Ps. Lauda Jerusalem, page 154.
Capitultum
Eccli. xxiv. xxxix.
In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis, in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis: ego quasi rosa piantata super rivos aquarum fructificavi.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue; I have flowered forth like a rose planted by the brooks of water.
Hymn
Te gestientem gaudiis,
Te sauciam doloribus,
Te jugi amictam gloria,
O Virgo Mater pangimus.
Ave redundans gaudio
Dum concipis, dum visitas,
Et edis, offers, invenis,
Mater beata, Filium.
Ave dolens, et intimo
In corde agonem, verbera,
Spinas, crucemque Filii
Perpessa, princeps martyrum.
Ave, in triumphis Filii,
In ignibus Paracliti,
In regni honore et lumine,
Regina fulgens gloria.
Venite gentes, carpite
Ex his rosas mysteriis,
Et pulchri amoris inclytæ
Matri coronas nectite.
Jesu tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
Thee exulting with joy,
thee wounded with the sword of sorrow,
thee girt with everlasting glory,
we sing, O Virgin Mother.
Hail, overflowing with gladness,
when thou conceivest; when thou visitest thy cousin;
when thou bringest forth thy Son, offerest him to God,
findest him in the temple, O happy Mother!
Hail, in thy bitter sorrow, when thou didst suffer
in thy inmost heart the agony, the scourging,
the thorns, and the cross of thy Son,
O first of martyrs!
Hail, O Queen refulgent with glory
in the triumphs of thy Son,
in the fires of the Paraclete,
in the honour and splendour of thy queenliness.
Come, O ye nations,
gather roses from these mysteries,
and wreathe therewith garlands
for the Mother of fair love.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
℣. Regina sacratissimi rosarii, ora pro nobis.
℟. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
℣. Queen of the most holy rosary, pray for us,
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Antiphon Of The Magnificat
Beata Mater et intacta Virgo, gloriosa Regina mundi, sentiant omnes tuum juvamen quicumque celebrant tuam sanctissimi rosarii solemnitatem.
Blessed Mother and unspotted Virgin, glorious Queen of the world, may all experience thine aid, who celebrate thy solemnity of the most holy rosary.
The Prayer as on page 299.
Then is made a commemoration of the Sunday.
[1] Leon, xiii, Epist eneyel. Magnæ Dei Matris, de Rosario Mariali. Sept. 8, 1892.
[2] Litteræ Salutaris Dec. 24, 1883.
[3] Decret. Sept. 11, 1887, Aug. 5, 1888.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Mark, successor to Sylvester the Pontiff of peace, has been honoured on this day from time immemorial. According to the testimony of St. Damasus, his virtues no less than his name recalled St. Mark the Evangelist.[1] He occupied the supreme See only eight months, but in that short time, he followed up the recent triumph of the Church by wise organizations. He built two new sanctuaries in Rome. He gave the pallium, of which this is the first mention in history, to the bishop of Ostia, to enhance his high privilege of being the appointed consecrator of the Roman Pontiffs.
This pontificate witnessed the awful death of Arius. Constantine had been deceived into ordering the reinstatement of this wicked man, who taught that the Word Incarnate was a mere creature. The heresiarch, followed by his partisans, was proceeding in triumph through the streets of Constantinople, intending to force open the doors of the basilica, where the faithful, with their bishop St. Alexander, were beseeching God, with fasting and tears, to avert the profanation. Suddenly, seized with an ignominious trembling, Arius was obliged to retire to a secret place, where his flatterers soon afterwards found him stretched upon the floor with his bowels cast out. He had merited the death of a Judas, for having delivered up the Son of God to the disputes of the people, to the mockeries of the proud, to the contradictions of the pretorium.
Prayer
Exaudi, Domine, preces nostras, et interveniente beato Marco, confessore tuo atque pontifice, indulgentiam nobis tribue placatus et pacem. Per Dominum.
Hear, O Lord, our prayers; and appeased by the intercession of blessed Mark, thy confessor and bishop, grant us pardon and peace. Through our Lord.