The Precious Blood - VI Sunday after Pentecost

The feast of the Most Precious Blood is a Double of the First Class its liturgical colour is red. The feast had entered the general Calendar in 1849 as a Double of the Second Class to be observed on the first Sunday of July. During the 1911-13 reform the feast was permanently moved to the Kalends of July. From 1935 the feast was observed as a Double of the First Class. The Office is proper. The sixth Sunday after Pentecost is commemorated in the Office and at Mass.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons Quis est iste etc were sung, doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 and 116. The Office hymn was Festivis resonent compita vocibus. After the collect of the feast a commemoration was sung of the sixth Sunday after Pentecost. At Compline the Dominical preces were omitted.

At Mattins the invitatory is Christum Dei Filium qui suo nos redemit sanguine, Venite adoremus. The Office hymn is Ira justa Conditoris. In the first nocturn the antiphons Postquam consummati sunt etc are sung with psalms 2, 3 & 15. The lessons are from St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. In the second nocturn the antiphons Pilatus etc are sung with psalms 22, 29 & 63 and the lessons are from a homily to neophytes of St. Chrysostom. When the feast was raised to to a DICl the text of the fifth and sixth lesson underwent some revision). In the third nocturn the antiphons Exivit ergo Jesus are sung with psalms 73, 87 & 93. The homily on St. John's Gospel is from St. Augustine's 120th tract on John. The text of the eighth and ninth lessons may be read as one as the eighth lesson of the day or the ninth lesson of the feast may be omitted. The ninth lesson today is the homily of the Sunday from St. Ambrose on St. Mark's Gospel. The three lessons of the homily may be read as one or just the first lesson read as the ninth lesson of the day. The Te Deum is sung.

At Lauds the antiphons Hi sunt etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 99, 92, 62, Benedicite and 148. The Office hymn is Salvete, Christi vulnera. After the collect of the feast commemorations are sung of the Sunday and of the Octave Day of St. John the Baptist.

At Prime the antiphon Hi sunt is sung with psalms 53, 118i & 118ii. In the short responsory the versicle is Qui tuo nos sanguine redemisti. The Dominical preces are omitted and the lectio brevis is Accipiens Moyses. At the other Hours the antiphons of Lauds are used in the usual order.

At Mass (Redemisti nos) the Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Sunday, (in private Masses the third collect is of the Octave Day of St. John the Baptist), and the Creed is sung. The preface is of the Cross and the last Gospel is of the Sunday.

At second Vespers the antiphons Quis est iste etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 & 147. After the collect of the feast commemorations are sung of the following feast of the Visitation of the BVM and of the Sunday. At Compline Te lucis is sung with the melody and Doxology of the Incarnation (Jesu, tibi...Qui natus etc). The Dominical preces are omitted.

In the liturgical books of 1962 there is no commemoration of the Sunday at Vespers. At Mattins there is no ninth lesson of the Sunday. At Lauds there is neither commemoration of the Sunday nor of the Octave of St. John the Baptist, the Octave having been abolished. At Prime the lectio brevis is of the season, Dominus autem. At Mass there is only one collect and no commemorations. The last Gospel is In principo. At Vespers there are no commemorations.