The fourth Sunday after Pascha is of semidouble rite. The Gospel pericopes are from the sixteenth chapter of St. John where the LORD talks of His ascending to Heaven the coming of the Paraclete. The Epistle at Mass and the first nocturn lessons, this year, are from the Epistle of St. James containing the beautiful passage "Omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a Patre luminum, apud quem non est transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio." Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Vespers yesterday afternoon were second Vespers of the feast of SS Philip and James. Commemorations were sung of the Sunday and of St. Athanasius. At Compline the Dominical preces were omitted.
At Mattins the invitatory and hymn are sung as previous Sundays of Paschaltide. In the first nocturn the lessons are from the Epistle of St. James appointed for Monday. As yesterday was the feast of SS Philip and James, when the Incipit of the Epistle of St. James was read, those appointed for Monday are read today with the responsories of the Sunday. In the second nocturn the lessons are taken from the Treatise of St. Cyprian on the boon of patience. In the third nocturn the homily is from St. Augustine. At Lauds the Sunday psalms are sung under a single antiphon, Alleluia. A commemoration of St. Athanasius is sung.
At the Hours the hymns have the Paschaltide Doxology, the psalms are sung under an antiphon consisting of a triple Alleluia. At Prime the Dominical psalms are sung (Pss. 117, 118i & 118ii), the Dominical preces are omitted due to the occurring double feast.
Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of St. Athanasius, the third collect is omitted. The Credo is sung, the preface is of Paschaltide.
Vespers are first Vespers of the following feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross. The antiphons O magnum pietatis opus etc are sung with the psalms of Apostles in Paschaltide. The Office hymn is the wonderful Vexilla Regis prodeunt with the Paschal verse O Crux ave spes unica, Paschale quae fers gaudium, Piis adauge gratiam, Resique dele crimina. Commemorations are sung of the Sunday and of St. Athanasius. At Compline the Dominical preces are omitted.
In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Mattins is cut down to one nocturn. The lessons of the Sunday are read as SS Philip and James have been moved to May 11th because of Joe the Worker Day. At Lauds no commemoration is made. The hymns at the Little Hours do not have the Paschaltide Doxology. At Mass there is one collect only. Vespers are of the Sunday, as the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross has been abolished too.
Art: Jerome Nadal
In fairness, the 1962 typical edition of the Missal retains this feast, and the May 6 and May 8 feasts of John and the Archangel Michael, but only in the Appendix as options on the given days. The 1962 Breviary omits them entirely, of course.
ReplyDelete-Dr. Lee Fratantuono
They (the feasts of the Invention of the Holy Cross, St. John before the Latin Gate and the Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel) are not 'options' but feasts pro aliquibus locis in the pernicious 1962 MR. In some dioceses there were indults to celebrate them but it would be misleading to suggest they were 'optional' for the Universal Church and highly unlikely that any diocese had an indult to celebrate all of them.
ReplyDeleteBut the rubrics permit the festal Mass of a saint or mystery named in the Martyrology for that day (at least on IV Class ferias), and all three were retained in the 1962 Martyrology (well, the 1960 variations)...
ReplyDeleteNone,
ReplyDeleteIt is rather scraping the proverbial barrel to maintain an argument of continuity. The feasts are suppressed as such and have no Office and no place in the Universal Calendar.
Looking at the variations in the Martyrology as published in Ephemerides Liturgicae 74 pp.363-365 the Elogia for the Invention of the Holy Cross, St. John before the Latin Gate and the Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel do indeed remain but are moved to the last place.
The option of having such a festive Mass on a IV class ferial day (c.f. RG 302) means the Creed is omitted (RG 476,d). Where a Church is celebrating the Office and has a Conventual Mass this festive Mass is not permitted (RG 304).
It will certainly be a glorious day for the Church and Tradition when the 1962 Missal is re-abrogated and, to coin a phrase, 'normal service is restored'.