XXVI Sunday after Pentecost

The twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost is of semi-double rite and its liturgical colour, until Vespers this year, is green. This year it is also the fourth Sunday of November. Texts for the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany are combined with those from the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel pericopes from St. Matthew are of the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven.

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 Qui caelorum for the Saturday before the fourth Sunday of November. After the collect of the Sunday, Praesta quaesumus (from the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany), commemorations were sung of the preceding Office of St. Gertrude and of St.Gregory Thaumaturgus. The Suffrage of the Saints was omitted as were the Dominical preces at Compline.

At Mattins the invitatory is Adoremus Dominum etc and the Office hymn is Primo die. In the first nocturn the lessons are the Incipit of the Book of the Prophet Osee. In the second nocturn the lessons are from St. Augustine's City of God. In the third nocturn (from the propers for the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany) the homily is from St. Jerome on St. Matthew's Gospel. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the Office hymn is Aeterne rerum Conditor. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration is sung of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus followed by the Suffrage of the Saints.

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

Mass is sung after Terce. The introit Dicit Dominus, gradual, Alleluia verse, offertory and communion texts are those of the twenty-third Sunday. The rest of the texts are those appointed for the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, the third collect is A cunctis. The Creed and the preface of the Blessed Trinity are sung.

After None there is a colour change to white and first Vespers of the Dedication of the Basilicas of SS Peter and Paul are sung. The antiphons Domum tuam Dominus etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 and 147. The Office hymn is Caelestis urbs Jerusalem beata. After the collect of the feast commemorations are sung of the Sunday and of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. The Suffrage is omitted as are the Dominical preces at Compline.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' there are no commemorations at Vespers. Mattins is cut down to a single nocturn of three lessons. At Lauds there are no commemorations and no Suffrage. Quicumque is only sung on Trinity Sunday and the preces are always omitted. At Mass there is but a single collect. At Vespers, of the Sunday, there are no commemorations.

Art: Missale Romanum,1572