XXI Sunday after Pentecost

The twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost is of semi-double rite and its liturgical colour is green. This year it is the fourth Sunday of October and Mission Sunday. At the request of the Superior Council of the Pontifical Work for the Propagation 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. The Gospel pericopes from St. Matthew contain the parable of the unjust and ungrateful servant who, forgiven his debts by the King, demands what is owed to him from others and shews complete ingratitude.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons and psalms of Saturday were sung. The Office hymn was Jam sol recedit igneus. The antiphon on the Magnificat was Exaudiat Dominus for the Saturday before the fourth Sunday of October. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints was sung. At Compline the Dominical preces were sung.

At Mattins the invitatory is Adoremus Dominum and the Office hymn isPrimo die. In the first nocturn the lessons are the Incipit of the Second Book of the Machabees. In the second nocturn the lessons are from a tract of St. Chrysostom on the forty-third psalm. In the third nocturn the homily is from St. Jerome on the eighteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the Office hymn is Aeterne rerum Conditor. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints is sung.

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 A cunctis, the third collect is chosen by the Dean or Rector, the fourth collect is Deus, qui nos homines - for the propagation of the faith. This is taken from the Votive Mass Pro Propagatione Fidei The Creed is sung as is the preface of the Blessed Trinity.

Vespers are of the Sunday (Pss. 109, 110, 111, 112 & 113). The Office hymn is Lucis creator. After the collect of the the Suffrage of the Saints is sung as are the Dominical preces at Compline.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the Suffrage of the Saints and the Dominical preces have been abolished. Mattins is cut down to a single nocturn of three lessons. At Prime Quicumque is said only once during the year. At Mass the prayer Deus, qui omnes homines is added to the collect of the Sunday under one conclusion. The other collects are omitted.

Art: Jerome Nadal