XVI Sunday after Pentecost

The sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost is of semi-double rite and its liturgical colour, from Mattins, is green. This year it the second Sunday of September and the Sunday within the - near invisible - Octave of the Nativity of the BVM. The Gospel pericopes from St. Luke tell of the LORD healing the man with dropsy on the Sabbath.

Vespers yesterday afternoon were second Vespers of the feast the Nativity of the BVM. The antiphons Nativitas gloriosae etc were sung, doubled, with the psalms from the Common of the BVM 109, 112, 121, 126 & 147. The Office hymn was Ave, maris stella. The antiphon on the Magnificat and collect were proper to the feast. After the collect of the feast a commemoration of the Sunday was sung, the antiphon on the Magnificat being In omnibus his for the Saturday before the second Sunday of September. The Suffrage was omitted. At Compline the Sunday psalms were sung and Te lucis was sung to the melody of the Incarnation with the Doxology Jesu tibi sit gloria etc. The Dominical preces were omitted.

At Mattins the invitatory is Dominum qui fecit nos and the Office hymn isNocte surgentes. In the first nocturn the lessons continue to be read from Job. In the second nocturn the lessons are from St. Gregory's Book on Morals. In the third nocturn the lessons are from St. Ambrose, a homily on St. Lukes's Gospel. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the Office hymn is Ecce jam noctis. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration of St. Gorgonius is sung followed by the Suffrage of the Saints.

At Prime (Pss. 117, 118i & 118ii) both Quicumque and the Dominical preces are sung.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of St. Gorgonius, the third collect is A cunctis. The Creed is sung and the preface is of the Holy Trinity.

One Mass, but not the Conventual Mass, may be celebrated of the Holy Name of Mary as this feast was, prior to the reform of 1911-13, celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the BVM. The Mass Vultum tuum is sung in white vestments. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Sunday, the third collect of St. Gorgonius. The Creed is sung, the preface is of the BVM and the last Gospel is of the Sunday.

At Vespers the antiphons and psalms of Sunday are sung. The Office hymn is Lucis creator. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration is sung of the following feast of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. The Suffrage is omitted as are the Dominical preces at Compline.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' at Compline on Saturday Te lucis was sung with the ordinary Doxology. Mattins is cut down to a single nocturn of three lessons. At Lauds there are no commemorations nor Suffrage. At Prime both Quicumque and the Dominical preces are omitted. At Mass there is but a single collect. At Vespers there are no commemorations.

Art: Jerome Nadal.