Vigil of All Saints

Today is the Vigil of All Saints. It is of simple rite and the liturgical colour is violet.

At Mattins the invitatory, hymn, antiphons and psalms are those of Saturday but the lessons, Desccendens Jesus, are taken from the Common of Several Martyrs. At Lauds the second scheme of psalmody is sung (the original ferial arrangement before 1911) and the ferial preces are sung kneeling.

At Prime, Terce, Sext and None the short set of ferial preces are also sung.

Mass is sung after None. Following the normal rules four candlesticks are on the altar, the chant is ferial and one cantor leads the choir. There is no Gloria. The second collect is of the Holy Ghost, Deus,qui corda, the third collect either for the Church or the pope. As it is a 'kneeling day' thechoir kneels for the prayers and from the Sanctus until Pax Domini. As the Gloria is not sung the dismissal is Benedicamus Domino.

Vespers are first Vespers of All Saints. The antiphons are proper and the psalms from the Common of Apostles. The Office hymn, Placare, Christe, servulis is sung to an equisite melody. A commemoration of the Sunday is sung.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the Vigil of All Saints has been abolished. Today is kept as a fourth class Office of the BVM on Saturday. Occuring scripture is, of course, a week different to that in the old rite. Vespers are the same.

SS Simon and Jude Apostles

The feast of SS Simon and Jude is a double feast of the second class. The feast of these two apostles is kept on the anniversary of the transfer of their relics to Old St. Peter's in Rome in the seventh century. St. Simon is traditionally believed to have been martyred by a curved sword and St. Jude, also known as Thaddaeus, was martryed by a club. The two probably met, preaching the Gospel, in Mesopotamia.

At Mattins the antiphons and psalms are taken from the Common of Apostles. The lessons in the first nocturn are from St. Jude's Epistle. In the second nocturn the fourth lesson is an historical one and the fifth and sixth from a sermon of St. Gregory. In the third nocturn the homily on St. John's Gospel is from the writings of St. Augustine.

At Lauds the Dominical psalms are sung under the antiphons from the Common. Prime is festal with psalm 53 and the lectio brevis Ibant Apostoli. Festal psalmody is used at the Little Hours.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria and Creed are sung and the preface is that of the Apostles. Following the rubrics in the Gradual, and custom, four cantors should lead the choir. Liturgically erudite men such as the late Fr. Clement Russell and Fr. Quentin Montgommery-Wright would have their cantors in red copes on such a day. Vespers and Compline conclude the feast.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the feast is second class and one of the few days to retains three nocturns. At the Little Hours the ferial antiphons and psalter are used.

Vigil of SS Simon and Jude

Today is the Vigil for tomorrow's feast of SS Simon and Jude. The rite is simple and the liturgical colour violet.

Mattins has three, proper, lessons. The second scheme of Lauds is used, the penitential form beginning with the psalm Miserere (actually the pre-1911 ferial Lauds). The ferial preces are sung, kneeling at Lauds and all the Hours. At Lauds the Suffrage of the Saints is sung.

Following the rules for Vigils four candles are placed on the altar and one cantor leads the choir. Mass is sung after None. The deacon and sub-deacon wear dalmatic and tunicle, not folded chasubles. The chant for the Mass is ferial, the second collect is Concede nos, and the third for the Church or pope. Being a 'kneeling day' all in choir kneel for the orations and from the Sanctus to the response after Pax Domini. As there is no Gloria , following the usual rule, Benedicamus Domino is the dismissal.

Vespers are first Vespers of the Holy Apostles SS Simon and Jude. The liturgical colour is red and the rite double.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' there is no Vigil just a IV class 'green' ferial day with the Mass of the previous Sunday without Gloria but with Ite missa est. Mattins and the Hours are completely different. In the 1962 books this is the fifth week of October whilst in the old rite it is the fourth. There are of course no ferial preces. SS Simon and Jude don't even get a first Vespers so Vespers and Compline are ferial.

Ordo Recitandi 2010

Ordo Recitandi 2010 is now ready for despatch.

Customers who ordered a copy last year will be receiving a reminder either via email or by paper copy in the next few days. Postage costs for letters are now very high with the reminder notice requiring a 56p stamp to Europe and 62p to the United States. So, please, if you have email indicate so on the order form to help save these costs.

To place your order please use the Order Form and either post or email back to us. Details of postage costs can be found on the form. If you require more than five copies please contact us for postage prices.

Thank you for your valued and esteemed custom and support.

Saint Luke the Evangelist

Today is the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. The feast is a double of the second class and its liturgical colour red. The twentieth Sunday after Pentecost is commemorated at both Vespers, Lauds and Mass. St. Luke was probably born in Antioch and in St. Paul's writings is described as a physician. He was a companion of St. Paul and the author of a Gospel that addressed itself to the non-Jewish world. His feast became a double of the second class with Pius V's codification of the liturgical books.

The feast began with the celebration of first Vespers yesterday. The antiphons and psalms sung were those from the Common of Apostles. Commemorations were sung of the preceding Office of St. Margaret Mary and of the Sunday (the third of October).

At Mattins the invitatory, antiphons and pslams are taken from the Common of Apostles but the lessons in the first nocturn are proper for Evangelists from the writings of the prophet Ezechiel. In the second nocturn the lessons are proper to the feast of St. Luke and from St. Jerome on Ecclesial Writers. In the third nocturn the lessons are from the Common of Evangelists with a homily by St. Gregory. The Gospel fragment is from the tenth chapter of St. Luke. The ninth lesson is of the occuring Sunday with the Gospel fragment from St. John and a further homily by St. Gregory. Only the first Sunday lesson from its third nocturn needs to be read but the better practice is to combine all three as one ninth lesson.

At Lauds a commemoration of the Sunday is sung. At Prime the Office is festal (Pss. 53, 118i, 118ii) and the short lesson Ibant Apostoli.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Sunday and a third collect sung, Deus, qui nos homines..., for the propogation of the faith. This third collect is sung as the penultimate Sunday of October is Mission Sunday. At the request of the Superior Council of the Pontifical Work for the Propogation of the Faith the Sacred Congregation of Rites directed in 1926 that the prayer, from the Votive Mass Pro Propagatione Fidei, should be added to all Masses today as an oratio imperata pro re gravi (a prayer ordered by the Ordinary or other competent authority for a grave need). The Creed is sung, the preface is that of the Apostles and the last Gospel is that of the commemorated Sunday Erat quidam regulus.

Vespers are of the feast, again the antiphons and psalms are from the Common of Apostles. A commemomoration of the Sunday is sung.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the 'green' Sunday is celebrated. The third Sunday of October and its week are omitted and the fourth Sunday of October celebrated. Mattins is cut down to one nocturn of three lessons. St. Luke gets a commemoration at Lauds and Low Mass only. The prayer for the propogation of the faith is added to the collect of the Sunday under one conclusion. Vespers are of the Sunday without any commemorations.

Genesis of the Ordo

Despite Royal Mail's industrial action, official or otherwise, a most anxiously awaited envelope arrived this morning.

Thanks to the generosity of the affable, erudite, delightful and distinguished Fr. Peter Morgan I now have the historically precious copies of the Ordo from 1973 - 1975. I suspect that no other copy of the 1973 edition, that was published in three parts, exists so I am very grateful indeed to Fr. Morgan for giving me his own copies.

I will be writing about the history of the Ordo in due course. The first edition of the revived traditional Ordo was published at the instigation of Fr. Morgan for 1973 and compiled by John Tyson. The Ordo was customised for use by both the SSPX, containing specific entries 'Pro Inst. S. Pii X' ,and for the English clergy with entries 'In Anglia'. In those halcyon days the liturgical books of 1962 were a horror of the past and Traditionalists were enthusiastically trying to restore the old liturgy and meeting with some considerable success. In England over twenty diocesan priests rallied around Fr. Morgan's vibrant leadership and a network of Mass centres was established that largely remain today. For anyone interested in this period in England a hisory has been written by Ronald Warwick, 'The Living Flame', 1997 (ISBN 0 9530714 0 5), although it is sad to see how support fragmented after the takeover of the Saint Pius V Association and the infamous 1983 betrayal of the Traditional liturgy by the SSPX.

What, sadly, few people today appreciate is that it was the Traditional liturgy, not 1962, being celebrated in those days. Organisations like the Latin Mass Society also celebrated the old liturgy and ignored the 1971 'Heenan' indult's "permission" to use the 1967 rite with its Chairman, the kindly Geoffrey Houghton-Brown, stating in a letter to 'The Tablet' in 1971 that the Traditional Roman liturgy had not been 'officially' celebrated since the changes of Pius XII.

More on the history of the Ordo later. Meanwhile Ordo 2010 has been printed and is at the cutting stage and its marketing and posting must take priority.

Maternity of the BVM

The feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was instituted in 1932 by Pius XI. The feast is a double of the second class and so is celebrated today, in white vestments, with a commemoration of the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The feast was instituted in honour of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus where Mary was defined as Mother of God. The Gospel is St. Luke's account of finding the young Christ in the Temple debating with the doctors of the law.

At Vespers yesterday the antiphons were proper to the feast and the psalms of the BVM were sung. A commemoration was sung of the Sunday. Hymns of Iambic metre, used at the Lesser Hours, have the Doxology Jesu, tibi sit gloria etc.

At Mattins the antiphons and psalms are from the Common of the BVM. The lessons in the first nocturn are from the Book of Ecclesiasticus. In the second nocturn the fourth and fifth lessons are from St. Leo and the sixth from the writings of Pius XI. In the third nocturn the lessons are from a homily by St. Bernard, the ninth lesson is of the commemorated Sunday.

At Lauds the antiphons from Vespers are sung. A commemoration of the Sunday is made.
At Prime the verse in the short responsory is Qui natus es and the short lesson In plateis. The antiphons used at Lauds are used for the Hours and Prime has the psalmody used on feasts (Ps.53, 118i, 118ii).

Mass is sung after Terce with the Asperges preceding as usual for Sundays. The Gloria is sung, the Sunday is commemorated. The Creed is sung, the preface that of the Blessed Virgin and the last Gospel is of the Sunday rather than In principio.

Vespers are of the feast with a commemoration of the Sunday.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Vespers on Saturday were of the Sunday without any commemoration of the feast. Mattins is cut down to one nocturn of three lessons. The feast is commemorated at Lauds and Low Mass. The Marian Doxology is not sung, Prime's psalms are as on Sundays, there is no Qui natus es. Vespers are of the Sunday without any commemoration of the feast.

The icon is taken from an interesting site of the Orthodox Church in China and is known as the Albazinian Wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God.

Presentation on the 1911 - 13 Reform

This morning I delivered a short presentation giving an overview of the changes to the Roman Liturgy during the period 1911 - 13 as part of a study day under the auspices of the Society of St. Catharine of Siena and the Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen.

A pdf of the presentation may be found by following this link.

The file is over 5MB so may take a little while to download.

I very much enjoyed giving the presentation, I trust those present found it of interest.

XVIII Sunday after Pentecost

Today is the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the first Sunday of October. It is also known as Rosary Sunday as before the 1911-13 reform the first Sunday of October was the feast of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Gospel at Mattins and Mass is from St. Matthew and the account of the LORD healing the man with palsy.

At Vespers yesterday commemorations were sung of the preceding Office of St. Therese of Lisieux and of St. Francis of Assisi whose feast is commemorated on the Sunday. As these are both double Offices the preces at Compline were omitted.

At Mattins in the first nocturn the lessons are the Incipit, the beginning, of the First Book of Machabees. In the second nocturn the lessons are from the Book of Offices of St. Ambrose and, in the third nocturn, the homily on the Gospel by St. Peter Chrysologus.

At Lauds a commemoration of St. Francis is sung. At Prime both the Athanasian Creed and the preces are omitted because of the occurring double feast.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung and the second collect is of St. Francis. The Creed is sung and preface is that of the Trinity.

All Masses, except the Conventual Mass, may be of the Most Holy Rosary with a commemoration of the Sunday and last Gospel of the Sunday. Theses Masses are of course celebrated in white vestments.

Vespers are of the Sunday with commemorations of the following Office of SS Placid and Companions and St. Francis. Again the preces are omitted at Compline due to the commemorated double feast at Vespers.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' there are no commemorations at either Vespers. Mattins is cut down to one nocturn of three lessons, the former second nocturn material disappearing completely. There are no commemorations at Lauds and St. Francis is not commemorated at Mass.