Notes on the rubrics for Lent, Part I - Ash Wednesday to Passion Sunday

During Lent the liturgy becomes much more elaborate, and the Office reflects that. 

In particular, there are specific readings set for each day of the week at (EF) Mass.  So at Matins the readings are general patristic commentaries on the Gospel for the day, and the canticle antiphons also generally pick up the key messages from the Gospel.

Lent in the Benedictine Office actually encompasses a number of quite diverse sets of rubrics:

• Ash Wednesday to first Vespers of the First Sunday of Lent, when the Office basically stays as if it were still Septuagesimatide;
• First Sunday of Lent up until first Vespers of First Passion Sunday - the rubrics of Lent;
• Passiontide (First Passion Sunday to Palm Sunday); and
• Holy Week (up until the Easter Vigil). 

Note that psalms used do not change - they are the same throughout the year, except on major feasts at Lauds and Vespers and a few other very limited exceptions such as the Sacred Triduum.  It is, however, particularly appropriate to use the ferial canticle at Lauds during the penitential season.

The notes here cover the first two of these parts of Lent.

Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent

This period was something of a later add-on to Lent to make up the correct number of days (given that Sundays are not counted for fasting and other purposes, although in reality we still don't quite make it to forty days, due to the several first class feasts that normally intervene).  The liturgy does intensify, with canticle antiphons for both Lauds and Vespers, but the rest of the Office at Lauds to Vespers remains that of  'throughout the year'.

First Sunday to (First) Passion Sunday

The Ordinary of the ferial Office in Lent is set out in the Farnborough edition of the Monastic Diurnal at MD 190*ff.

For those saying Matins (not in the Diurnal):

• the invitatory antiphon on weekdays is the same as throughout the year;
• the hymn is for the season of Lent and is the same each day (Ex more);
• the readings during the week are usually patristic, relating to the Gospel of the Mass set for that day;
• the chapter verse for Nocturn II is for the season (Is 1:16-18).

At Lauds and Vespers:

• chapters, hymns, etc of the season replace those in the psalter section;
• the canticle antiphons are proper for each day.

Each day there are two sets of collects: the first for use from Matins to None; the second for Vespers.

It is also important to be aware that when a feast displaces the Lent texts, a commemoration of the day is made at both Lauds and Vespers using the respective collects, canticle antiphon and versicle that occurs before the relevant canticle at that hour.

March 7: St Thomas Aquinas, Memorial

Few saints have had as much ongoing influence as St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).  The Angelic Doctor remains a model on how to approach theology, as well as a major source for it, while his purity of life presents a model for us all.

For all of his learning, all the importance of the Summa and other of his works, for me, it is prayers and hymns he composed that are the most important legacy of the saint, such as this wonderful prayer:   "Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you".

Pope Benedict XVI actually devoted three General Audiences to him in 2010, all of which are well worth reading:

• the first provides a sketch of his life;
• the second part introduces us to the great saints' theological and philosophical approach;
• the third part provides an overview and some key extracts from St Thomas' Summa Theologica.

 Here is an extract from the first of these talks:

"...today I wish to speak of the one whom the Church calls the Doctor communis namely, St Thomas Aquinas. in his Encyclical Fides et Ratio my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, recalled that "the Church has been justified in consistently proposing St Thomas as a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology" (n. 43). It is not surprising that, after St Augustine, among the ecclesiastical writers mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church St Thomas is cited more than any other, at least 61 times! He was also called the Doctor Angelicus, perhaps because of his virtues and, in particular, the sublimity of his thought and the purity of his life.

Thomas was born between 1224 and 1225 in the castle that his wealthy noble family owned at Roccasecca near Aquino, not far from the famous Abbey of Montecassino where his parents sent him to receive the first elements of his education. A few years later he moved to Naples, the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily, where Frederick II had founded a prestigious university. Here the thinking of the Greek philosopher Aristotle was taught without the limitations imposed elsewhere. The young Thomas was introduced to it and immediately perceived its great value. However, it was above all in those years that he spent in Naples that his Dominican vocation was born. Thomas was in fact attracted by the ideal of the Order recently founded by St Dominic. However, when he was clothed in the Dominican habit his family opposed this decision and he was obliged to leave the convent and spend some time at home.

In 1245, by which time he had come of age, he was able to continue on the path of his response to God's call. He was sent to Paris to study theology under the guidance of another Saint, Albert the Great, of whom I spoke not long ago. A true and deep friendship developed between Albert and Thomas. They learned to esteem and love each other to the point that Albert even wanted his disciple to follow him to Cologne, where he had been sent by the Superiors of the Order to found a theological studium. Thomas then once again came into contact with all Aristotle's works and his Arab commentators that Albert described and explained.

In this period the culture of the Latin world was profoundly stimulated by the encounter with Aristotle's works that had long remained unknown. They were writings on the nature of knowledge, on the natural sciences, on metaphysics, on the soul and on ethics and were full of information and intuitions that appeared valid and convincing. All this formed an overall vision of the world that had been developed without and before Christ, and with pure reason, and seemed to impose itself on reason as "the" vision itself; accordingly seeing and knowing this philosophy had an incredible fascination for the young. Many accepted enthusiastically, indeed with a-critical enthusiasm, this enormous baggage of ancient knowledge that seemed to be able to renew culture advantageously and to open totally new horizons. Others, however, feared that Aristotle's pagan thought might be in opposition to the Christian faith and refused to study it. Two cultures converged: the pre-Christian culture of Aristotle with its radical rationality and the classical Christian culture. Certain circles, moreover, were led to reject Aristotle by the presentation of this philosopher which had been made by the Arab commentators. Avicenna and Averroës. Indeed, it was they who had transmitted the Aristotelian philosophy to the Latin world. For example, these commentators had taught that human beings have no personal intelligence but that there is a single universal intelligence, a spiritual substance common to all, that works in all as "one": hence, a depersonalization of man. Another disputable point passed on by the Arab commentators was that the world was eternal like God. This understandably unleashed never-ending disputes in the university and clerical worlds. Aristotelian philosophy was continuing to spread even among the populace.

Thomas Aquinas, at the school of Albert the Great, did something of fundamental importance for the history of philosophy and theology, I would say for the history of culture: he made a thorough study of Aristotle and his interpreters, obtaining for himself new Latin translations of the original Greek texts. Consequently he no longer relied solely on the Arab commentators but was able to read the original texts for himself. He commented on most of the Aristotelian opus, distinguishing between what was valid and was dubious or to be completely rejected, showing its consonance with the events of the Christian Revelation and drawing abundantly and perceptively from Aristotle's thought in the explanation of the theological texts he was uniting. In short, Thomas Aquinas showed that a natural harmony exists between Christian faith and reason. And this was the great achievement of Thomas who, at that time of clashes between two cultures that time when it seemed that faith would have to give in to reason showed that they go hand in hand, that insofar as reason appeared incompatible with faith it was not reason, and so what appeared to be faith was not faith, since it was in opposition to true rationality; thus he created a new synthesis which formed the culture of the centuries to come..."

March 6: Felicity and Perpetua, martyrs, memorial

The martyrology entry for today's saints reads:

"SS Perpetua and Felicity, who on the day following this, received from  the Lord the glorious crown of martyrdom."

Tomorrow's entry adds:

"At Carthage, the birthday of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs.  St. Augustine relates that Felicity being with child, her execution was deferred , according to the law, until after her delivery.  He states that while she was in labour, she mourned, and when cast to the beasts, she rejoiced.  With them suffered Satyrus, Saturninus, Revocatus, and Secundulus, the last of whom died in prison; the others were delivered to the beasts, all during the reign of Severus.  The feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicity was celebrated yesterday."

St Perpetua (born in 181) was a 22-year old married noble, and a nursing mother. She was martyred along with St Felicity, an expectant mother and her slave, at Carthage in the Roman province of Africa, and five other catechumens.

They are particularly fascinating saints because of the survival of St Perpetua's autobiographical account of the persecutions she and her fellow Christians suffered in the year 203.  The book was widely read amongst the early Christians and deserves to be better known today.  Here are the opening paragraphs of the work:

"The young catechumens, Revocatus and his fellow-servant Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, were apprehended. And among them also was Vivia Perpetua, respectably born, liberally educated, a married matron, having a father and mother and two brothers, one of whom, like herself, was a catechumen, and a son an infant at the breast. She herself was about twenty-two years of age. From this point onward she shall herself narrate the whole course of her martyrdom, as she left it described by her own hand and with her own mind.

"While" says she, "we were still with the persecutors, and my father, for the sake of his affection for me, was persisting in seeking to turn me away, and to cast me down from the faith — 'Father,' said I, 'do you see, let us say, this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?' And he said, 'I see it to be so.' And I replied to him, 'Can it be called by any other name than what it is?' And he said, 'No.' 'Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.' Then my father, provoked at this saying, threw himself upon me, as if he would tear my eyes out. But he only distressed me, and went away overcome by the devil's arguments. Then, in a few days after I had been without my father, I gave thanks to the Lord; and his absence became a source of consolation to me. In that same interval of a few days we were baptized, and to me the Spirit prescribed that in the water baptism nothing else was to be sought for bodily endurance. After a few days we are taken into the dungeon, and I was very much afraid, because I had never felt such darkness. O terrible day! O the fierce heat of the shock of the soldiery, because of the crowds! I was very unusually distressed by my anxiety for my infant. There were present there Tertius and Pomponius, the blessed deacons who ministered to us, and had arranged by means of a gratuity that we might be refreshed by being sent out for a few hours into a pleasanter part of the prison. Then going out of the dungeon, all attended to their own wants. I suckled my child, which was now enfeebled with hunger. In my anxiety for it, I addressed my mother and comforted my brother, and commended to their care my son. I was languishing because I had seen them languishing on my account. Such solicitude I suffered for many days, and I obtained for my infant to remain in the dungeon with me; and forthwith I grew strong and was relieved from distress and anxiety about my infant; and the dungeon became to me as it were a palace, so that I preferred being there to being elsewhere.

"Then my brother said to me, 'My dear sister, you are already in a position of great dignity, and are such that you may ask for a vision, and that it may be made known to you whether this is to result in a passion or an escape.' And I, who knew that I was privileged to converse with the Lord, whose kindnesses I had found to be so great, boldly promised him, and said, 'Tomorrow I will tell you.' And I asked, and this was what was shown me. I saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven, and very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one; and on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron weapon. There were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers; so that if any one went up carelessly, or not looking upwards, he would be torn to pieces and his flesh would cleave to the iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who ascended, and frightened them from the ascent. And Saturus went up first, who had subsequently delivered himself up freely on our account, not having been present at the time that we were taken prisoners. And he attained the top of the ladder, and turned towards me, and said to me, Perpetua, I am waiting for you; but be careful that the dragon do not bite you.' And I said, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.' And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up his head; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his head. And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of garden, and in the midst of the garden a white-haired man sitting in the dress of a shepherd, of a large stature, milking sheep; and standing around were many thousand white-robed ones. And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and said to me, 'Thou are welcome, daughter.' And he called me, and from the cheese as he was milking he gave me as it were a little cake, and I received it with folded hands; and I ate it, and all who stood around said Amen. And at the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediately related this to my brother, and we understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in this world."

Lent in the Rule of St Benedict III - Fasting and abstinence

According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, all the days of Lent (ie excluding Sundays and solemnities) are, like all Fridays throughout the year, days of penance.  Traditionally, this meant that they were all days of fasting and partial or full (on Fridays) abstinence.  These days fasting and abstinence are only required on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and some other penance can be substituted on other days.

Still, fasting is the traditional discipline, so we should perhaps give it serious consideration in considering our options.  Thus, it may be helpful to look at what St Benedict envisaged his monks would do during Lent.

Food in the Rule during the year

St Benedict's monks lived a fairly tough regime by modern standards (though not by contemporary ones) when it came to food.

For much of the year, they ate only one meal a day, and although wine, fish and fowl were allowed, red meat wasn't.

Still, it wasn't as tough as it might have been - St Benedict specifies providing a choices of dishes so that everyone could eat something they like for example.

And on 'monastic fast days' what changes is the time that the meal was served (so on Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to mid-afternoon after None), not the amount served.  Fasting in the Rule is about refraining from food for a longer period of time, not changing what is eaten or how much is eaten.

 St Benedict also made it clear that there should be some flexibility, for example when more was warranted because of the demands of heavy labour.

It is important to note though, that in the Rule he distinguishes (albeit in passing, in reference to guests) between the monastic fasts, and those imposed by the Church for all.  The Rule covers off the monastic fasts, but doesn't deal with the generally applying rules at all, it just assumes that they apply.

Meals during Lent in the Rule

So the Rule makes only two provisions for fasting during Lent:

• the one meal served is to be taken in the evening (Chapter 41); and
• abstinence in food and drink is mentioned as one of the possible things that the monk could offer (with the abbot's approval) over above their usual ascetic practices (Chapter 49).

Presumably, though the monastery did also follow the much stricter contemporary rules about what could be eaten during Lent - which would have excluded eggs, dairy products and so forth.

Fasting rules over time

Over the history of the Church, few disciplines have changed as much as those relating to fasting!

Although its value as an ascetic practice has always been emphasized, what is actually required of both monks and laity has changed substantially, with numerous concessions to weakness granted at various times. 

Fasting for example, is now generally defined as a reduction in the amount eaten, rather than a delayed meal as in the Rule.  In the 1917 Code of Canon Law, while the Fridays of Lent required fasting and abstinence, the other days were of fasting and partial abstinence (ie one meat meal permitted).  And today of course, fasting and abstinence are only required on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with all other Fridays (as always) days of abstinence.

So what can/should we do?

Whatever we give up has to be doable - which means a step up from whatever it is we normally do, but not an altogether radical change in our regime. 

The 1917 regime is probably within most families' reach.

Or one could adapt some of St Benedict's provisions.

St Benedict for example shifts the one meal a day from after None of the 'monastic Lent' that applies from November until Lent proper, to the evening.  So perhaps we could consider shifting our usual lunchtime to a few hours later where that is feasible, or something similar for the evening meal depending on when we normally eat it.

We could certainly consider cutting out meat (with appropriate care, particularly for women, to making sure we get enough iron etc) and alcohol.

And we could cut out food between meals, deserts and other treats...

Lent in the Rule of St Benedict II - Refrain from sin and apply ourselves to prayer

So to continue this little mini-series on Lent in the Rule of St Benedict, a look at Chapter 49 in the Rule, which is entitled the 'Of Observance of Lent'.

The chapter recaps the idea of extra reading (covered in the previous part of this series), and mentions abstaining from food and drink, which I'll come back to in the third part of this series.  But its main focus is on prayer and other forms of offering we can make during this period.

Chapter 49: Of the Observance of Lent

Here is the relevant text of the Rule (trans J McCann):

"The life of a monk ought at all times to be lenten in its character; but since few have the strength for that, we therefore urge that in these days of Lent the brethren should lead lives of great purity, and should also in this sacred season expiate the negligences of other times.

This will be worthily done if we refrain from all sin and apply ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart, and to abstinence.

In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond the wonted measure of our service, such as private prayers and abstinence in food and drink. Let each one, over and above the measure prescribed for him, offer God something of his own free will in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

That is to say, let him stint himself of food, drink, sleep, talk, and jesting, and look forward with the joy of spiritual longing to the holy feast of Easter.

Let each one, however, tell his abbot what he is offering, and let it be done with his consent and blessing; because what is done without the permission of the spiritual father shall be ascribed to presumption and vainglory and not reckoned meritorious. Everything, therefore, is to be done with the approval of the abbot."

Approval of a spiritual director or confessor?

The Rule mentions that whatever should be done, should be done with the approval of the abbot.  That is consistent with the whole Benedictine concept that for the monk, obedience is the higher virtue.

So ideally lay people too, should consult their spiritual director.

That isn't always possible though, and perhaps isn't necessary if what is chosen is something moderate and appropriate to one's state of life.  Stinting one's self of sleep, for example, might be possible and even desirable if you are in a monastery - but rather less so if you are a truck driver!  But many of us could for example decide to get up half an hour earlier and, say pray the penitential psalms, even if we then go to bed earlier to compensate.

Stirring up that compunction of heart

There are of course any number of things you could do by way of a suitable offering here, such as giving up or cutting back on tv or other leisure activities.  But I think St Benedict's injunction to focus on compunction of heart, or contrition, is well worth keeping in mind, and a very good positive way of achieving that is to pray the penitential psalms.

So, just in case anyone is interesting in praying the penitential psalms during Lent (you could for example just do one a day...), I plan to offer a series on them here, focusing on one a week...

Lent in the Rule of St Benedict, Part I - Sacred Reading

Lent is rapidly approaching, so I thought I'd post the relevant sections of the Rule to aid preparation for it! The Benedictine Rule has three main sections dealing with the Lenten discipline:

• Chapter 48, which prescribes extra time for lectio divina, involving reading an assigned book through from beginning to end;
• Chapter 49, which sets out some guidelines for ascetic practices during Lent; and
• Chapter 41 on the Lenten fast.

So today, the section on the book.

Lectio Divina for Lent

Chapter 48 says:

"In the days of Lent let them apply themselves to their reading from the morning until the end of the third hour, and from then until the end of the tenth hour let them per­form the work that is assigned to them. In these days of Lent let them each receive a book from the library, which they shall read through consecutively; let these books be given out at the beginning of Lent." (trans J McCann)

Thus, St Benedict adds around an extra hour to the amount of time devoted to sacred reading each day, and also asks that a book be read from cover to cover over the six week period, rather than just dipped in and out of.

Note that the book was assigned to the monk, not chosen by the individual

Adapting to our own regime

The idea of forgoing some of our normal leisure time and using it for holy reading is obviously a good spiritual practice that all of us can probably find time for - even if we have to choose a relatively short book to make it work

So ideally our Lenten book should be assigned to us by our spiritual director.  That is not always possible though, but one can pray over the possible choices for guidance....

February 25: St Walburga OSB (in some places)

Today is the anniversary of the death of St Walburga or Walpurga (710 - c777).  The anniversary of her canonisation, 1 May is also celebrated in some places as Walpurgis Night.

She is remembered as one of a group of great English missionary monks and nuns responsible for the evangelization of  Germany, as well as the first known female author of England and Germany.

The daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons, and of Winna, sister of St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany, and had two brothers, St. Willibald and St. Winibald. St. Richard, when starting with his two sons on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, entrusted Walburga, then eleven years old, to the abbess of Wimborne. In the claustral school and as a member of the community, she spent twenty-six years preparing for the great work she was to accomplish in Germany. The monastery was famous for holiness and austere discipline. There was a high standard at Wimborne, and the child was trained in solid learning, and in accomplishments suitable to her rank.

Thanks to this education she was later able to write St. Winibald's Life and an account in Latin of St. Willibald's travels in Palestine. She is thus looked upon by many as the first female author of England and Germany.

St Walburga went to Germany as a result of an appeal for help on the part of St Boniface. After living some time under the rule of St. Lioba at Bischofsheim, she was appointed abbess of Heidenheim, and was thus placed near her favourite brother, St. Winibald, who governed an abbey there. After his death she ruled over the monks' monastery as well as her own. Her virtue, sweetness, and prudence, added to the gifts of grace and nature with which she was endowed, as well as the many miracles she wrought, endeared her to all.

Her relics were translated to Eichstadt in 870, and it was then that the body was first discovered to be immersed in a precious oil or dew, which has continued to flow from the sacred remains.

February 24: St Matthias, Apostle, Class II

St Matthias was, of course, the apostle selected to replace Judas.

Matthias was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus, and had been with Him from His baptism by John to the Ascension (Acts 1:21-22).  Acts 1:15-26 relates that in the days following the Ascension, Peter proposed to the assembled brethren, who numbered one hundred and twenty, that they choose one to fill the place of the traitor Judas. Two disciples, Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias were selected, and lots were drawn, with the result in favour of Matthias, who thus became associated with the eleven Apostles.

Little more is known about him, and there are contradictory traditions concerning his subsequent ministry.

According to Nicephorus, Matthias first preached the Gospel in Judaea, then in Aethiopia (made out to be a synonym for the region of Colchis, now in modern-day Georgia) and was crucified in Colchis. A marker placed in the ruins of the Roman fortress at Gonio (Apsaros) in the modern Georgian region of Adjara claims that Matthias is buried at that site.

The Synopsis of Dorotheus offers another tradition: “Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians and meat-eaters in the interior of Ethiopia, where the sea harbor of Hyssus is, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there, near the Temple of the Sun."

An extant Coptic Acts of Andrew and Matthias, places his activity similarly in "the city of the cannibals" in Aethiopia.

Yet another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the Jews, and then beheaded.

And according to Hippolytus of Rome, Matthias died of old age in Jerusalem.

February 23: St Peter Damian OSB, memorial

Pope Benedict XVI gave a General Audience on this important Benedictine saint in 2009:

"...Today I would like to reflect on one of the most significant figures of the 11th century, St Peter Damian, a monk, a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the Church, committed personally to the task of reform, initiated by the Popes of the time. He was born in Ravenna in 1007, into a noble family but in straitened circumstances. He was left an orphan and his childhood was not exempt from hardships and suffering, although his sister Roselinda tried to be a mother to him and his elder brother, Damian, adopted him as his son. For this very reason he was to be called Piero di Damiano, Pier Damiani [Peter of Damian, Peter Damian]. He was educated first at Faenza and then at Parma where, already at the age of 25, we find him involved in teaching. As well as a good grounding in the field of law, he acquired a refined expertise in the art of writing the ars scribendi and, thanks to his knowledge of the great Latin classics, became "one of the most accomplished Latinists of his time, one of the greatest writers of medieval Latin" (J. Leclercq, Pierre Damien, ermite et homme d'Église, Rome, 1960, p. 172).

He distinguished himself in the widest range of literary forms: from letters to sermons, from hagiographies to prayers, from poems to epigrams. His sensitivity to beauty led him to poetic contemplation of the world. Peter Damian conceived of the universe as a never-ending "parable" and a sequence of symbols on which to base the interpretation of inner life and divine and supra-natural reality. In this perspective, in about the year 1034, contemplation of the absolute of God impelled him gradually to detach himself from the world and from its transient realties and to withdraw to the Monastery of Fonte Avellana. It had been founded only a few decades earlier but was already celebrated for its austerity. For the monks' edification he wrote the Life of the Founder, St Romuald of Ravenna, and at the same time strove to deepen their spirituality, expounding on his ideal of eremitic monasticism.

One detail should be immediately emphasized: the Hermitage at Fonte Avellana was dedicated to the Holy Cross and the Cross was the Christian mystery that was to fascinate Peter Damian more than all the others. "Those who do not love the Cross of Christ do not love Christ", he said (Sermo XVIII, 11, p. 117); and he described himself as "Petrus crucis Christi servorum famulus Peter, servant of the servants of the Cross of Christ" (Ep, 9, 1). Peter Damian addressed the most beautiful prayers to the Cross in which he reveals a vision of this mystery which has cosmic dimensions for it embraces the entire history of salvation: "O Blessed Cross", he exclaimed, "You are venerated, preached and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs, the predictions of the Prophets, the senate that judges the Apostles, the victorious army of Martyrs and the throngs of all the Saints" (Sermo XLVII, 14, p. 304). Dear Brothers and Sisters, may the example of St Peter Damian spur us too always to look to the Cross as to the supreme act God's love for humankind of God, who has given us salvation.

This great monk compiled a Rule for eremitical life in which he heavily stressed the "rigour of the hermit": in the silence of the cloister the monk is called to spend a life of prayer, by day and by night, with prolonged and strict fasting; he must put into practice generous brotherly charity in ever prompt and willing obedience to the prior. In study and in the daily meditation of Sacred Scripture, Peter Damian discovered the mystical meaning of the word of God, finding in it nourishment for his spiritual life. In this regard he described the hermit's cell as the "parlour in which God converses with men". For him, living as a hermit was the peak of Christian existence, "the loftiest of the states of life" because the monk, now free from the bonds of worldly life and of his own self, receives "a dowry from the Holy Spirit and his happy soul is united with its heavenly Spouse" (Ep 18, 17; cf. Ep 28, 43 ff.). This is important for us today too, even though we are not monks: to know how to make silence within us to listen to God's voice, to seek, as it were, a "parlour" in which God speaks with us: learning the word of God in prayer and in meditation is the path to life.

St Peter Damian, who was essentially a man of prayer, meditation and contemplation, was also a fine theologian: his reflection on various doctrinal themes led him to important conclusions for life. Thus, for example, he expresses with clarity and liveliness the Trinitarian doctrine, already using, under the guidance of biblical and patristic texts, the three fundamental terms which were subsequently to become crucial also for the philosophy of the West: processio, relatio and persona (cf. Opusc. XXXVIII: PL CXLV, 633-642; and Opusc. II and III: ibid., 41 ff. and 58 ff). However, because theological analysis of the mystery led him to contemplate the intimate life of God and the dialogue of ineffable love between the three divine Persons, he drew ascetic conclusions from them for community life and even for relations between Latin and Greek Christians, divided on this topic. His meditation on the figure of Christ is significantly reflected in practical life, since the whole of Scripture is centred on him. The "Jews", St Peter Damian notes, "through the pages of Sacred Scripture, bore Christ on their shoulders as it were" (Sermo XLVI, 15). Therefore Christ, he adds, must be the centre of the monk's life: "May Christ be heard in our language, may Christ be seen in our life, may he be perceived in our hearts" (Sermo VIII, 5). Intimate union with Christ engages not only monks but all the baptized. Here we find a strong appeal for us too not to let ourselves be totally absorbed by the activities, problems and preoccupations of every day, forgetting that Jesus must truly be the centre of our life.

Communion with Christ creates among Christians a unity of love. In Letter 28, which is a brilliant ecclesiological treatise, Peter Damian develops a profound theology of the Church as communion. "Christ's Church", he writes, is united by the bond of charity to the point that just as she has many members so is she, mystically, entirely contained in a single member; in such a way that the whole universal Church is rightly called the one Bride of Christ in the singular, and each chosen soul, through the sacramental mystery, is considered fully Church". This is important: not only that the whole universal Church should be united, but that the Church should be present in her totality in each one of us. Thus the service of the individual becomes "an expression of universality" (Ep 28, 9-23). However, the ideal image of "Holy Church" illustrated by Peter Damian does not correspond as he knew well to the reality of his time. For this reason he did not fear to denounce the state of corruption that existed in the monasteries and among the clergy, because, above all, of the practice of the conferral by the lay authorities of ecclesiastical offices; various Bishops and Abbots were behaving as the rulers of their subjects rather than as pastors of souls. Their moral life frequently left much to be desired. For this reason, in 1057 Peter Damian left his monastery with great reluctance and sorrow and accepted, if unwillingly, his appointment as Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. So it was that he entered fully into collaboration with the Popes in the difficult task of Church reform. He saw that to make his own contribution of helping in the work of the Church's renewal contemplation did not suffice. He thus relinquished the beauty of the hermitage and courageously undertook numerous journeys and missions.

Because of his love for monastic life, 10 years later, in 1067, he obtained permission to return to Fonte Avellana and resigned from the Diocese of Ostia. However, the tranquillity he had longed for did not last long: two years later, he was sent to Frankfurt in an endeavour to prevent the divorce of Henry iv from his wife Bertha. And again, two years later, in 1071, he went to Monte Cassino for the consecration of the abbey church and at the beginning of 1072, to Ravenna, to re-establish peace with the local Archbishop who had supported the antipope bringing interdiction upon the city.

On the journey home to his hermitage, an unexpected illness obliged him to stop at the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria Vecchia Fuori Porta in Faenza, where he died in the night between 22 and 23 February 1072.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is a great grace that the Lord should have raised up in the life of the Church a figure as exuberant, rich and complex as St Peter Damian. Moreover, it is rare to find theological works and spirituality as keen and vibrant as those of the Hermitage at Fonte Avellana. St Peter Damian was a monk through and through, with forms of austerity which to us today might even seem excessive. Yet, in that way he made monastic life an eloquent testimony of God's primacy and an appeal to all to walk towards holiness, free from any compromise with evil. He spent himself, with lucid consistency and great severity, for the reform of the Church of his time. He gave all his spiritual and physical energies to Christ and to the Church, but always remained, as he liked to describe himself, Petrus ultimus monachorum servus, Peter, the lowliest servant of the monks."

February 23: St Peter Damian OSB, bishop and doctor of the Church, memorial

St Peter Damian (c1007-1072) initially made a career as a secular academic in canon law and theology, but in 1035 he decided to became a monk, and disdaining the Cluniac monasteries as too luxurious, entered a hermitage associated with the Camaldolese reform. 

As a monk he proved a zealous seeker after austerities, wrecking his own health in the process, and introducing new asceticisms into monastic life, particularly the use of the discipline.

He became vigorously engaged in the Church reform movement of the time, denouncing simony and the failure of priests to maintain celibacy in many places.  He was appointed a Cardinal by Benedictine Pope Stephen IX, and served under several of his successors. 

Many of his shorter works were open letters - he wrote to all of the Popes of his day, as well as cardinals, bishops, abbots, and lay people.

Fr Rengers', in his book on doctors of the Church comments that: "He is not so much the philosopher explaining principles at length, but rather the crusader giving practical advice. Today many of St. Peter's "little works" would well be called pamphlets."

Had he lived today, he would surely be a blogger!

February 22: St Peter's Chair, Class III

In the re-1962 calendar there were actually two different feasts of St Peter's chair.  The first related to his pontificate in Rome, and today's feast related to his tenure at Antioch where he spent seven years.  In the 1962 calendar they have been combined, an unfortunate downplaying of the links between East and West in my opinion, not to mention depriving of us a chance to celebrate again the greatest of the Apostles and reinforce the importance of his successors!

But in any case, we can certainly celebrate him today.

Here is an extract from St Augustine for the older version of the feast on St Peter's tenure at Antioch:

"Today's solemn feast received from our forefathers the name of Saint Peter's Chair at Antioch, because of a tradition that on this day Peter, first of the Apostles, took possession of his episcopal Chair. Fitly, therefore, do the churches observe the day of his enthronement, the right to which the Apostles received for the sake of salvation, (which comes to us in the churches,) when the Lord said: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. It was the Lord himself who called Peter the foundation of the Church, and therefore it is right that the Church should reverence this foundation whereon her mighty structure rises. Justly is it written in the Psalm which we so often chant : Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders. Blessed be God, who hath commanded that the holy Apostle Peter be exalted in the congregation! Worthy to be honoured by the Church is that foundation from which her goodly towers rise, pointing to heaven! In the honour which is this day paid to the inauguration of the first Bishop's throne, an honour is paid to the office of all Bishops. The Churches testify one to another, that, the greater the Church's dignity, the greater the reverence due to her priests."

February 19 after the hour of None: The season of Septuagesima

We come now to one of those times of the year that has been unfortunately suppressed in the new calendar.

The nature of Septuagesimatide

In the traditional calendar, instead of going cold turkey into Lent, we have a three week pre-Lent period of preparation. 

Of course in the Benedictine calendar, pre-Lent started traditionally at least back in November if one follows the Rules fasting regime!  For this reason presumably, Benedictines did not adopt Septuagesima until quite late, in the twelfth century According to Dom Gueranger, by Papal order.

The most immediate change to the liturgy is the 'burying' of the Alleluia, the subject of assorted rituals from different regions, and its replacement in the opening prayers to each hour by 'Laus tibi, Domine, Rex aeterne gloriae'.

But there is also an intensification of the Office, with increased use of specific antiphons and other texts with a focus on helping us remember why we need to do penance.

I Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday

The Magnificat antiphon for Vespers today refers to the Fall, reflecting the fact that at Matins from Sunday the Scripture readings are from the Book of Genesis. 

February 14: St Valentine, Memorial

The feast of St. Valentine (d c269) was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs. The Saint Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connection with February 14 is described either as a Roman priest, a bishop, or a martyr from Africa. 

Most of the legends that associate the saint with romantic love seem to have been fourteenth century inventions associated with Chaucer.

February 7: St Romuald OSB, Class III

St Romuald (c 951-1027) is one of those figures who illustrates the importance of "second founders", who add a distinctive charism of their own to combine with St Benedict's wisdom,  in the Benedictine tradition. 

A nobleman, he fled the world in horror after seeing his father kill someone in a duel.  After some time in a monastery he left to become a hermit.  After a checkered career including a failed attempt to reform an existing monastery, he formed a new Camaldolese Order that integrated the Benedictine Cluniac school, the stricter Irish ascetic tradition and Iberian monasticism.  His spirituality is much more eremitic in flavour than that prescribed by the Benedictine Rule, and favours a greater focus on meditation and prayer as well as asceticism.

St Romuald's short Rule for monks says:

"Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.

If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind.

And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.

Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.

Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him."

Today the Camaldolese have two distinct branches: one has its headquarters at Camaldoli and maintains a mix of monasteries and hermitages among the communities of men. The other, the Congregation of Monte Corona, was established by the Renaissance reformer, Saint Paolo Giustiniani lives solely in hermitages, usually with a very small number of monks comprising the community.

Happy feastday to all Camaldolese oblates!

February 5: St Agatha, Class III

St Agatha is one of the seven female saints named in the canon of the mass. 

She had vowed herself to virginity but was persecuted by the pagan official in charge of her city, Catania in Sicily.  Told to sacrifice to the gods or suffer, she stood firm, whereupon she was subjected to a series of tortures, including having her breasts cut off. 

Forbidden medical treatment, in the middle of the night an old man approached her, and revealed himself to be the apostle Peter.  He healed her, but this only spurred on her tormentor to greater indignities, ordering her to be burnt naked over hot coals. 

The Benedictus antiphon for her feast refers to the eruption of the volcano above Catania on the day of her death: crowds of pagans snatched up the pall that covered the saint’s tomb, and hung it up in the path of the advancing fire and lava; miraculously, the steam of lava ceased its advance.

February 3: St Blaise, Memorial

St Blaise was a bishop and physician who was martyred in 316.  He is one of the fourteen holy helpers.

He is most famous for his association with the blessing of throats, done on this day as a sacramental. 

His legend states that as he was being led away after he was arrested during one of the persecutions of Christians, a mother set her only son, choking to death of a fish-bone, at his feet, and the child was cured straight away. Regardless, the governor, unable to make Blaise renounce his faith, beat him with a stick, ripped his flesh with iron combs, and beheaded him.

February 2: Candlemas, aka Purification of Our Lady, Class II

Candlemas, aka The Purification of Our Lady, aka the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, is celebrated 40 days after Christmas, the traditional date for the ceremonies of purification after childbirth in Jewish law that were translated over into Catholic tradition as the rites for the churching of women.

In Jewish tradition women were ritually impure after childbirth; in Catholic tradition the ceremony is a thanksgiving for survival of childbirth, and a blessing for the future. In both cases it was no doubt a practical measure in part, to allow the mother to recover before having to resume her normal duties including attending worship! These days of course the idea is considered ideologically unsound, so the feast has been renamed the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple (which was certainly part of the traditional ceremonies, albeit the part supplanted by infant baptism).

The popular name for the feast comes from the ceremony held on the day whereby the candles to be used for the year ahead are blessed.

The Gospel for the day, Luke 2, describes the events, and gives us the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon's canticle used at Compline in the Roman Rite.

February 1: St Ignatius of Antioch, Class III

St Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 35 or 50-107) was the third Bishop of Antioch from 70 to 107, when he was martyred in Rome.  A student of St John the Evangelist, his letters written on the way to his martyrdom in Rome have survived, giving important witness to the beliefs and practices of the early Church.

Pope Benedict XVI gave a General Audience on the saint in 2007:

"At that time, Rome, Alexandria and Antioch were the three great metropolises of the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicea mentioned three "primacies": Rome, but also Alexandria and Antioch participated in a certain sense in a "primacy".

St Ignatius was Bishop of Antioch, which today is located in Turkey. Here in Antioch, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles, a flourishing Christian community developed. Its first Bishop was the Apostle Peter - or so tradition claims - and it was there that the disciples were "for the first time called Christians" (Acts 11: 26). Eusebius of Caesarea, a fourth-century historian, dedicated an entire chapter of his Church History to the life and literary works of Ignatius (cf. 3: 36).

Eusebius writes: "The Report says that he [Ignatius] was sent from Syria to Rome, and became food for wild beasts on account of his testimony to Christ. And as he made the journey through Asia under the strictest military surveillance" (he called the guards "ten leopards" in his Letter to the Romans, 5: 1), "he fortified the parishes in the various cities where he stopped by homilies and exhortations, and warned them above all to be especially on their guard against the heresies that were then beginning to prevail, and exhorted them to hold fast to the tradition of the Apostles".

The first place Ignatius stopped on the way to his martyrdom was the city of Smyrna, where St Polycarp, a disciple of St John, was Bishop. Here, Ignatius wrote four letters, respectively to the Churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralli and Rome. "Having left Smyrna", Eusebius continues, Ignatius reached Troas and "wrote again": two letters to the Churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna, and one to Bishop Polycarp.

Thus, Eusebius completes the list of his letters, which have come down to us from the Church of the first century as a precious treasure. In reading these texts one feels the freshness of the faith of the generation which had still known the Apostles. In these letters, the ardent love of a saint can also be felt.

Lastly, the martyr travelled from Troas to Rome, where he was thrown to fierce wild animals in the Flavian Amphitheatre.

No Church Father has expressed the longing for union with Christ and for life in him with the intensity of Ignatius. We therefore read the Gospel passage on the vine, which according to John's Gospel is Jesus. In fact, two spiritual "currents" converge in Ignatius, that of Paul, straining with all his might for union with Christ, and that of John, concentrated on life in him. In turn, these two currents translate into the imitation of Christ, whom Ignatius several times proclaimed as "my" or "our God".

Thus, Ignatius implores the Christians of Rome not to prevent his martyrdom since he is impatient "to attain to Jesus Christ". And he explains, "It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth.... Him I seek, who died for us: him I desire, who rose again for our sake.... Permit me to be an imitator of the Passion of my God!" (Romans, 5-6).

One can perceive in these words on fire with love, the pronounced Christological "realism" typical of the Church of Antioch, more focused than ever on the Incarnation of the Son of God and on his true and concrete humanity: "Jesus Christ", St Ignatius wrote to the Smyrnaeans, "was truly of the seed of David", "he was truly born of a virgin", "and was truly nailed [to the Cross] for us" (1: 1).

Ignatius' irresistible longing for union with Christ was the foundation of a real "mysticism of unity". He describes himself: "I therefore did what befitted me as a man devoted to unity" (Philadelphians, 8: 1).

For Ignatius unity was first and foremost a prerogative of God, who, since he exists as Three Persons, is One in absolute unity. Ignatius often used to repeat that God is unity and that in God alone is unity found in its pure and original state. Unity to be brought about on this earth by Christians is no more than an imitation as close as possible to the divine archetype.

Thus, Ignatius reached the point of being able to work out a vision of the Church strongly reminiscent of certain expressions in Clement of Rome's Letter to the Corinthians.

For example, he wrote to the Christians of Ephesus: "It is fitting that you should concur with the will of your Bishop, which you also do. For your justly renowned presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the Bishop as the strings are to the harp. Therefore, in your concord and harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung. And man by man, you become a choir, that being harmonious in love and taking up the song of God in unison you may with one voice sing to the Father..." (4: 1-2).

And after recommending to the Smyrnaeans: "Let no man do anything connected with Church without the Bishop", he confides to Polycarp: "I offer my life for those who are submissive to the Bishop, to the presbyters, and to the deacons, and may I along with them obtain my portion in God! Labour together with one another; strive in company together; run together; suffer together; sleep together; and awake together as the stewards and associates and servants of God. Please him under whom you fight, and from whom you receive your wages. Let none of you be found a deserter. Let your Baptism endure as your arms; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as a complete panoply" (Polycarp, 6: 1-2).

Overall, it is possible to grasp in the Letters of Ignatius a sort of constant and fruitful dialectic between two characteristic aspects of Christian life: on the one hand, the hierarchical structure of the Ecclesial Community, and on the other, the fundamental unity that binds all the faithful in Christ.

Consequently, their roles cannot be opposed to one another. On the contrary, the insistence on communion among believers and of believers with their Pastors was constantly reformulated in eloquent images and analogies: the harp, strings, intonation, the concert, the symphony. The special responsibility of Bishops, priests and deacons in building the community is clear.

This applies first of all to their invitation to love and unity. "Be one", Ignatius wrote to the Magnesians, echoing the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper: "one supplication, one mind, one hope in love.... Therefore, all run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ who came forth from one Father, and is with and has gone to one" (7: 1-2).

Ignatius was the first person in Christian literature to attribute to the Church the adjective "catholic" or "universal": "Wherever Jesus Christ is", he said, "there is the Catholic Church" (Smyrnaeans, 8: 2). And precisely in the service of unity to the Catholic Church, the Christian community of Rome exercised a sort of primacy of love: "The Church which presides in the place of the region of the Romans, and which is worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness... and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father..." (Romans, Prologue).

As can be seen, Ignatius is truly the "Doctor of Unity": unity of God and unity of Christ (despite the various heresies gaining ground which separated the human and the divine in Christ), unity of the Church, unity of the faithful in "faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred" (Smyrnaeans, 6: 1).

Ultimately, Ignatius' realism invites the faithful of yesterday and today, invites us all, to make a gradual synthesis between configuration to Christ (union with him, life in him) and dedication to his Church (unity with the Bishop, generous service to the community and to the world).

To summarize, it is necessary to achieve a synthesis between communion of the Church within herself and mission, the proclamation of the Gospel to others, until the other speaks through one dimension and believers increasingly "have obtained the inseparable Spirit, who is Jesus Christ" (Magnesians, 15).

Imploring from the Lord this "grace of unity" and in the conviction that the whole Church presides in charity (cf. Romans, Prologue), I address to you yourselves the same hope with which Ignatius ended his Letter to the Trallians: "Love one another with an undivided heart. Let my spirit be sanctified by yours, not only now, but also when I shall attain to God.... In [Jesus Christ] may you be found unblemished" (13).

And let us pray that the Lord will help us to attain this unity and to be found at last unstained, because it is love that purifies souls."

January 19: SS Marius, Martha, Audifax and Abachum, Memorial

Butler's Lives of the Saints gives this account of today's saints:

"Maris, a nobleman of Persia, with his wife Martha, and two sons, Audifax and Abachum, being converted to the faith, distributed his fortune among the poor, as the primitive Christians did at Jerusalem, and came to Rome to visit the tombs of the apostles. The emperor Aurelian then persecuted the church, and by his order a great number of Christians were shut up in the amphitheater, and shot to death with arrows, and their bodies burnt. Our saints gathered and buried their ashes with respect; for which they were apprehended, and after many torments under the governor Marcianus, Maris and his two sons were beheaded; and Martha drowned, thirteen miles from Rome, at a place now called Santa Ninfa. Their relics were found at Rome in 1590. They are mentioned with distinction in all the western Martyrologies from the sacramentary of Saint Gregory. Their relics are kept principally at Rome; part in the church of Saint Adrian, part in that of Saint Charles, and in that of Saint John of Calybite. Eginhart, son-in-law and secretary of Charlemagne, deposited a portion of these relics, which had been sent him from Rome, in the abbey of Selghenstadt, of which he was the founder, in the diocese of Mentz.

The martyrs and confessors triumphed over the devil by prayer; by this, poor and weak as they were, they were rendered invincible, by engaging Omnipotence itself to be their comfort, strength, and protection. If the art of praying well be the art of living well, according to the received maxim of the fathers and masters of a spiritual life, nothing is certainly of greater importance, than for us to learn this heavenly art of conversing with God in the manner we ought. We admire the wonderful effects which this exercise produced in the saints, who by it were disengaged from earthly ties and made spiritual and heavenly, perfect angels on earth; but we experience nothing of this in ourselves. Prayer was in them the channel of all graces, the means of attaining all virtues, and all the treasures of heaven. In us it is fruitless: the reason is plain; for the promises of Christ cannot fail we ask, and receive not, because we ask amiss."

January 16: Pope St Marcellus I, Memorial

Pope St Marcellus I was pope from May 308 to 309.  He seems to have been an active administrator, doing much to reorganize the Church after the devastation caused by the persecutions of Diocletian. 

He sparked the enmity, though, of those who had lapsed during this period by his demands that they do penance. 

Both this and the vigour of his efforts to re-establish the Church seem to have contributed to his banishment by the Emperor Maxentius.  He died not long thereafter.

January 15: The Office of Our Lady on Saturday after Christmas

Though Christmastide is now technically over, as Dom Gueranger points out in his Liturgical Year, the older tradition is that the season conceived more broadly extends for the forty days Our Lady spent in contemplation after the birth of Our Lord, until her re-entry to the Temple at the Feast of the Purification on February 2. 

This is reflected liturgically in Marian antiphon and prayers at Compline and in the Office of Our Lady on Saturday where the psalm antiphons of the Nativity continue to be used until February 2.

Here is a setting of the Lauds antiphon (albeit with a few extra alleluias):

January 14: St Felix of Nola, Memorial

According to the Wikipedia:

"Felix was the elder son of Hermias, a Syrian soldier who had retired to Nola, Italy. After his father's death, Felix sold off most of his property and possessions, gave the proceeds to the poor, and pursued a clerical vocation. Felix was ordained by, and worked with, Saint Maximus of Nola.

When Maximus fled to the mountains to escape the persecution of Decius, Felix was arrested and beaten for his faith instead. He escaped prison, according to legend being freed by an angel, so he could help his sick bishop, Maximus. Felix found Maximus alone, ill, and helpless, and hid him from soldiers in a vacant building. When the two were safely inside, a spider quickly spun a web over the door, fooling the imperial forces into thinking it was long abandoned, and they left without finding the Christians. A subsequent attempt to arrest Felix followed, which he avoided by hiding in a ruined building where a spider's web spun across the entrance convinced the soldiers the building was abandoned. The two managed to hide from authorities until the persecution ended with the death of Emperor Decius in 251.

After Maximus's death, the people wanted Felix to be the next bishop of Nola, but he declined, favoring Quintus, a "senior" priest who had seven days more experience than Felix. Felix himself continued as a priest. He also continued to farm his remaining land, and gave most of the proceeds to people even poorer than himself.

Legend assigns to Felix a martyr's death either in the year 255 under Emperor Valerian (253-260) or, in another version, in the general persecution instigated by the Emperor Decius (249-251)."

January 13: Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord

The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord marks the last day of the extended Christmas season, and symbolically marks the end of the hidden years of Our Lord's life, and the beginning of his public ministry.

The feast is very recent indeed in origin: originally this was the Octave Day of the Epiphany, which encompasses the visit of the Magi, the wedding feast at Cena, and the Baptism of Our Lord. But when Pope Pius XII abolished the Octave of the Epiphany, he instituted this feast in its place.

Jan 9: Holy Family or Sunday after Epiphany?

This Sunday presents something of a liturgical oddity in the Benedictine calendar, in that the Sunday ends up being much less elaborate liturgically than it was before 1955, or is still in the 1962 Roman EF calendar. 

Once upon a time it would have been part of the Octave of Epiphany, and used the antiphons from that feast. 

In the Roman Extraordinary Form, this Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family, a feast whose Gospel reading (the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple) provides something of a bridge between the Nativity and the Baptism of Our Lord (January 13).  

In the novus ordo, the feast was celebrated on the Sunday immediately after Christmas (where it really makes no sense chronologically at all!). 

But in the Benedictine calendar, the feast isn't celebrated at all - nor is this a '1962ism'.  In fact the Feast of the Holy Family is quite recent in origin, instituted only in 1893, and doesn't seem to have entered the monastic calendar at all as far as I can discover.  Instead, until 1955 at least, this was the Sunday within the Octave, and so the antiphons and so forth of Epiphany were used, in conjunction with - the same Gospel  as the Feast of the Holy Family!

But with the abolition of the Octave, the Sunday is of lower rank, and thus the standard antiphons of Sundays are used. 

Unless of course, you are associated with one of those monasteries that do actually celebrate the feast of the Holy Family (the feast has Canadian origins I believe), or are using the EF calendar...

January 7: Yes, it is still Christmastide (and Epiphanytide)...

Visiting the supermarket today I found that Hot Cross buns have appeared already!  Yet in fact, we are still in the last part of the Christmas season, Epiphanytide (so do keep saying Merry Christmas to people!). 

The traditional liturgy however keeps us firmly focused on Our Lord's birth, in this period particularly as a light to the whole world, represented by the worship of the Wise Men.  Fortunatley, the canticle antiphons from the old 'Octave' of Epiphany have been preserved (at least when not displaced by other feasts or the Saturday of Our Lady). 

Here's today's Magnificat antiphon:
Videntes stellam Magi, gavisi sunt gaudio magno: et intrantes domum, obtulerunt Domino aurum, thus et myrrham.

Seeing the star, the Magi rejoiced with great joy. And entering into the house, they offered the Lord gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And here's a rather attractive setting of it by Poulenc.

January 5: Once was...Vigil of Epiphany

The Vigil of the Epiphany was abolished in 1955, but restored in 2002 in the Novus Ordo Calendar (at least where it is not celebrated on the Sunday only!).  It is unusual in that it was not a day of fasting, in keeping with the season.

There is an excellent article on the vigil and its celebration over at New Liturgical Movement.

Here is a musical offering for the Vigil by Palestrina.



The words are:

Surge, illuminare, Jerusalem,
quia venit lumen tuum,
et gloria Domini super te orta est.
Quia ecce tenebrae operient terram
et caligo populos.
Super te autem orietur Dominus
et gloria eius in te videbitur.

Arise, shine, Jerusalem;
for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.

January 3: Once was...Octave day of St John the Evangelist

Sigmund Gleismüller (1449-1511) 

In the pre-1960 calendar, today was the Octave Day of St John the Evangelist.

The three feasts of the Christmas Octave had only 'simple' octaves, which meant that they were only marked on the Octave Day itself.  At Matins in the 1953 rubrics, the Octave Day used the invitatory and hymn of the feast, but the psalms of the day, and had only two Nocturns, with the third reading and responsory of the feast.

The 1962 reinvention of the three days then, simply substituted an extra Scriptural reading for the patristic reading of the feast, which was as follows:

Reading 3: Ex Tractatu sancti Augustíni Epíscopi in Joánnem - In quátuor Evangéliis, vel pótius quátuor libris uníus Evangélii, sanctus Joánnes Apóstolus non immérito secúndum intelligéntiam spiritálem áquilæ comparátus, áltius multóque sublímius áliis tribus eréxit prædicatiónem suam: et in ejus erectióne étiam corda nostra érigi vóluit. Nam céteri tres Evangelístæ tamquam cum hómine Dómino in terra ámbulant, et de divinitáte ejus pauca dixérunt: istum autem quasi pigúerit in terra ambuláre, sicut ipso exórdio sui sermónis intónuit, eréxit se non solum super terram, et super omnem ámbitum áëris et cæli, sed super omnem étiam exércitum Angelórum, omnémque constitutiónem invisibílium Potestátum: et pervénit ad eum, per quem facta sunt ómnia, dicéndo: In princípio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum.

A lesson is from a treatise of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo - Of the Four Evangelists, or, rather, the Four Writers of the one Evangel, the holy Apostle John has not unworthily been compared by spiritual writers to an eagle, because of the lofty and glorious flight of his teaching, soaring above the other three; a flight that raises not himself alone, but also the hearts of all, whosoever will hear him. The other three writers walk with the Lord upon earth, as with a man, and enlarge little upon His Godhead; but John, as though it had wearied him to walk upon earth, in the very first words of his writing, rises not above the earth only, or above the firmament, and the heavens, but above every angel, and above every power of things unseen, and flies directly to him by whom all things were made, saying In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

R. Valde / honorándus est beátus Ioánnes, † qui supra pectus Dómini in cena recúbuit: * Cui Christus in cruce Matrem vírginem vírgini commendávit. V. Virgo est eléctus a Dómino, atque inter céteros magis diléctus. R. Cui Christus in cruce Matrem vírginem vírgini commendávit. V. Gloria... R. Cui Christi...

R. Very worshipful is blessed John, which leaned on the Lord's Breast at supper. * To Him did Christ upon the Cross commit His mother, maiden to maiden. V. The Lord chose him for his clean maidenhood, and loved him more than all the rest. R. To him did Christ upon the Cross commit His mother, maiden to maiden.

Sequence for the feast

The following sequence was written in St John's honour by a fourteenth century Swiss Dominican novice nun, Kathrin Brümsin. 

The sister was struggling to learn Latin and the liturgy, and prayed to the saint, who taught her the twenty four verses in a dream-vision.  Here are a few of the opening verses, with the translation by Dom Laurence Shepherd from Gueranger's The Liturgical year:

Verbum Dei, Deo natum,

Quod nec factum nec creatum
Venit de caelestibus,
Hoc vidit, hoc attrectavit,
Hoc de caelo reseravit
Iohannes hominibus.

The Word of God, who was born of God
and was not made nor created,
and who came down from heaven
was seen and handled and revealed to men
by John the Evangelist.

Inter illos primitivos
Veros veri fontis rivos
Iohannes exsiliit
Toti mundo propinare
Nectar illud salutare
Quod de throno prodiit.

John sprang up
amidst those true rivulets,
which from the commencement
flowed from the True Fountain;
he has made the whole world drink
of that life-giving nectar that flows
from the throne of God.

Caelum transit, veri rotam
Solis videt ibi totam
Mentis figens aciem;
Speculator spiritalis
Quasi Seraphim sub alis
Dei videt faciem.

He soared above the heavens,
And gazed
with the fixedness of his soul’s eye
on the brightness of the true Sun
this spiritual contemplator saw,
as it were from under the wings of the Seraphim,
the face of God.

Jan 2: Once was...Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

Although the 1962 Roman EF calendar does contain it, the 1962 Benedictine calendar does not celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, traditionally set for January 2 or the nearest Sunday.  

The feast has actually been assigned to a number of different dates over time, reaching the position of the first Sunday of the year (except when it coincides with the other major feasts of that period) on January 2 only in 1913.

In some respects that date in itself is an oddity, in that it regularly coincided with the much more ancient Octave Day of St Stephen.

In the Benedictine Office

The feast is omitted altogether in the 1960 Benedictine calendar, which instead constructed a completely new Office of the Second Sunday after the Nativity.

It has, however, been restored in many of the traditional Benedictine monasteries, and the texts for it can be found in the Antiphonale monasticum and the Le Barroux Nocturnale.

One can only speculate on the reasons for the omission of the feast, but for what it is worth, here are a couple of possibilities.

Duplicate feasts?

First, the decision perhaps reflects the drive to eliminate perceived 'duplicate feasts': the feast of the Circumcision, after all, also includes the naming of Jesus, and uses exactly the same Gospel. 

Certainly the absence of the feast in the Novus Ordo calendar is based on the claim that "the imposition of the name of Jesus is already commemorated in the office of the Octave of Christmas" (Paul VI, Mysterii Paschalis, 1969).

The Feast was, however, restored to the General Roman Calendar in 2002 as on optional memorial on January 3, so this may be one of those oddities of the 1962/3 period that would ordinarily have been eventually remedied officially.

Non-Benedictine origins and associations?

Another possibility though, is that the feast was perceived as non-Benedictine in origin and association.

It was, after all, originally a feast associated with the Franciscans in the sixteenth century, and only gradually spread to the wider church, entering the General Calendar in 1721.

It is also though, the titular feast of the Jesuits (celebrated on January 3).

Readings for the feast

Here are the second Nocturn readings for the feast from a Sermon of St Bernard:

"It is not idly that the Holy Ghost likens the Name of the Bridegroom to oil, when He makes the Bride say to the Bridegroom: your Name is as oil poured forth. Oil indeed gives light, meat, and unction. It feeds fire, it nourishes the flesh, it soothes pain; it is light, food, and healing. Behold, Thus also is the Name of the Bridegroom. To preach it, is to give light; to think of it, is to feed the soul; to call on it, is to win grace and unction. Let us take it point by point. What, do you think, has made the light of faith so suddenly and so brightly to shine in the whole world but the preaching of the Name of Jesus? Is it not in the light of this Name that God hath called us into His marvellous light, even that light by which we being enlightened, and in His light seeing light, Paul says truly of us You were sometimes darkness, but now - are you light in the Lord.

This is the Name which the Apostle was commanded to bear before Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, the Name which he bore as a light to enlighten his people, crying everywhere The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light, let us walk honestly as in the day. lie pointed out to all that candle set upon a candlestick, preaching in every place Jesus and Him crucified.

 How did that Name shine forth and dazzle every eye that beheld it, when it came like lightning out of the mouth of Peter to give bodily strength to the feet of the lame man, and to clear the sight of many a blind soul? Cast he not fire when he said In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

The Name of Jesus is not a Name of light only, but it is meat also. Dost thou ever call it to mind, and remain unstrengthened? Is there anything like it to enrich the soul of him that thinks of it? What is there like it to restore the fagged senses, to fortify strength, to give birth to good lives and pure affections? The soul is fed on husks if that whereon it feeds lack seasoning with this salt. If you write, you have no meaning for me if I read not of Jesus there. If you preach, or dispute, you have no meaning for me if I hear not of Jesus there. The mention of Jesus is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, and gladness in the heart. It is our healing too. Is any sorrowful among us? Let the thought of Jesus come into his heart, and spring to his mouth. Behold, when the day of that Name begins to break, every cloud will flee away, and there will be a great calm. Does any fall into sin? Does any draw nigh to an hopeless death? And if he but call on the life - giving Name of Jesus, will he not draw the breath of a new life again?"