Free Republic

N.B. My last post mistakenly re-used the Jérôme Nadal engraving for the previous day. The website has the correct image, “Feria IIII Post Dominica,” &c. Violet Simple THE STATION for today is in the celebrated Basilica St. Mary’s across the Tiber. It was consecrated in the 3rd century under the pontificate of St. Callixtus, and was the first Church built in Rome in honor of our Blessed Lady. COLLECT Præsta nobis, quæsumus, Domine, auxilium gratiæ tuæ, ut jejuniis et orationibus convenienter intenti, liberemur ab hostibus mentis et corporis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Grant us, we beseech thee, O...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Basilica of Saint Cecily. This Church, one of the most venerable in Rome, was the house of the illustrious Virgin and Martyr whose name it bears. The body of St. Cecily is under the high altar together with those of Saints Valerian, Tiburtius, Maximus, and of the holy Popes Urban and Lucius, all Martyrs. COLLECT Populum tuum, quæsumus, Domine, propitius respice: et quos ab escis carnalibus præcipis abstinere, a noxiis quoque vitiis cessare concede. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Mercifully regard thy people, O Lord, we beseech thee; and grant that those...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of St. Balbina. This holy virgin of Rome was the daughter of the Tribune Quirinus, and suffered martyrdom during the pontificate of Alexander the First, in the second century. She consecrated her virginity to God, and led a life rich in good works. COLLECT Perfice, quæsumus, Domine, benignus in nobis observantiæ sanctæ subsidium: ut quæ, te auctore, facienda cognovimus, te operante impleamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Grant us, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy assistance, whereby we may go through the observance of this holy fast, that what we have...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr. In this, more than in any other Church of the City of Rome, there has been preserved the ancient arrangement of the early Christian Basilicas. Under its altar there reposes the body of its holy Patron, together with the Relics of St. Ignatius of Antioch, and of the Consul St. Flavius Clemens. COLLECT Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut familia tua quæ se, affligendo carnem, ab alimentis abstinet, sectando justitiam, a culpa jejunet. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Basilica of Saint Peter, on the Vatican, where the people were wont to assemble, towards evening, that they might be present at the Ordination of the Priests and Sacred Ministers. This day was called Twelve-Lesson-Saturday, because formerly, twelve passages from the Holy Scriptures used to be read, as upon Holy Saturday. The Mass, during which the Ordinations were given, was celebrated during the night; so that by the time it was over, the Sunday had begun. Later on, the Ordination Mass was said early on the Saturday, as we now have it;...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles; it is one of the grandest of the Churches of Rome, and is enriched by the Bodies of the two Apostles, St. Philip and St. James the Less. COLLECT Esto, Domine, propitius plebi tuæ: et quam tibi facis esse devotam, benigno refove miseratus auxilio. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen. Be propitious, O Lord, to thy people and mercifully strengthen those by thy aid whom thou fillest with devotion to thee. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. EPISTLE LECTIO EZECHIELIS PROPHETÆ. LESSON from EZECHIEL the PROPHET. Cap....

Violet Simple TODAY’S STATION is in the Church of St. Laurence, in Paneperna, one of those which the piety of the Faithful of Rome has built in honor of this the most celebrated of the Martyrs of the Holy City. COLLECT Devotionem populi tui, quæsumus, Domine, benignus intende, ut uqui per abstinentiam macerantur in corpore, per fructum boni operis reficiantur in mente. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. We beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to regard the devotion of thy people; that mortifying their bodies by fasting, their minds may be refreshed by good works. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen....

Violet Simple THE FAST OF TODAY is prescribed by a double law: it is Lent, and it is Ember Wednesday. It is the same with the Friday and Saturday of this week. There are two principal objects for the Ember days of this period of the year: the first is to offer up to God the Season of Spring, and by fasting and prayer, to draw down his blessing upon it; the second is to ask him to enrich with his choicest graces the Priests and Sacred Ministers who are to receive their Ordination on Saturday. Let us, therefore,...

Violet Simple AT ROME, the Station is in the Church of St. Anastasia, where, formerly, the Mass of the Aurora, on Christmas Day, used to be celebrated. It is under the protection of this holy Martyr, who suffered death for Christ on the day of his Birth, that we offer our prayers today to the Father of Mercy. COLLECT Respice, Domine, familiam tuam, et præsta, ut apud te mens nostra tuo desiderio fulgeat, quæ se carnis maceratione castigat. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen. Look down, O Lord, on thy children, and grant that, while we chastise ourselves by...

EACH FERIA OF LENT has a proper Mass; whereas, in Advent, the Mass of the preceding Sunday is repeated during the week. This richness of the Lenten Liturgy is a powerful means for our entering into the Church’s spirit, since she hereby brings before us, under so many forms, the sentiments suited to this holy time. From these Ferial Masses we intend giving for the respective days the Collect (which is always the principal prayer), the Epistle, the Gospel, and the Prayer which is said “over the people” at the end of the Mass. All this will provide us...

THE FUNDAMENTAL RULE of Christian life is, as almost every page of the Gospel tells us, that we should live out of the world, separate ourselves from the world, hate the world. The world is that ungodly land which Abraham, our sublime model, is commanded by God to quit. It is that Babylon of our exile and captivity, where we are beset with dangers. The beloved disciple cries out to us: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.” Our...

THE LIFE OF A FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN, like that of a patriarch Abraham, is neither more nor less than a courageous journeying onwards to the place destined for him by his Creator. He must put aside everything that could impede his progress, nor must he look back. This is, undoubtedly, hard doctrine; but if we reflect for a moment on the dangers which surround fallen man during his earthly pilgrimage, and on what our own sad experience has taught us, we shall not think it hard or strange that our Savior has made the renouncing and denying of ourselves an...

ON THE SATURDAY of the preceding week, which was devoted to the consideration of the fall of our first parents both in its own malice and in its sad consequences upon us, we turned our thoughts towards our blessed Lady, who, though a daughter of Eve, was by the special mercy of God preserved from the stain of original sin. Let us end this week with a like act of veneration and love towards this Immaculate Queen of heaven. We, even the most saintly among us, have not only been stained with original sin, we have the actual sins...

GOD CHASTISES THE WORLD by the deluge; but He is faithful to the promise made to our first parents, that the head of the serpent should be crushed. The human race has to be preserved, therefore, until the time shall come for the fulfillment of this promise. The Ark gives shelter to the just Noah and to his family. The angry waters reach even to the tops of the highest mountains; but the frail yet safe vessel rides peacefully on the waves. When the day fixed by God shall come, they that dwell in this Ark shall once more...

GOD PROMISED NOAH that He would never more punish the earth with a deluge. But in His justice, He has many times visited the sins of men with a scourge which, in more senses than one, bears a resemblance to a deluge: the invasion of enemies. We meet with these invasions in every age; and each time we see the hand of God. We can trace the crimes that each of them was sent to punish, and in each we find a manifest proof of the infinite justice wherewith God governs the world. It is not requisite that we...

O GOD OF INFINITE JUSTICE! we have sinned; we have abused the life Thou hast given us: and when we read, in Thy Scriptures, how Thine anger chastised the sinners of former days, we are forced to acknowledge that we have deserved to be treated in like manner. We have the happiness to be Christians and children of Thy Church; the light of faith and the power of Thy grace have brought us once more into Thy friendship, but how can we forget that we were once Thy enemies? And are we so deeply rooted in virtue that we...

WHEN WE REFLECT upon the terrible events which happened in the first age of the world, we are lost in astonishment at the wickedness of man, and at the effrontery wherewith he sins against his God. How was it that the dread words of God, which were spoken against our first parents in Eden, could be so soon forgotten? How could the children of Adam see their father suffering and doing such endless penance, without humbling themselves in imitating this model of repentance? How was it that the promise of a Mediator, who was to reopen the gate of...

ALL FLESH HAD corrupted its way upon the earth. The terrible lesson, then, which men had received by being driven out of paradise in the person of our first parents, had been without effect. Neither the certainty of death, when they would have to stand before the divine Judge, nor the humiliations which attend man's first coming into this world, nor the pains and fatigues and trials which beset the whole path of life, had subdued men's hearts or brought them into submission to that sovereign Master whose hand lay thus heavy upon them. They had the divine promise...

THE SENTENCE pronounced by the Almighty upon our first parents was to fall upon their children to the end of time. We have been considering, during this week of Septuagesima, the penalties of the great sin; but the severest and most humiliating of them all remains to be told. It is the transmission to the whole human race of original sin. It is true that the merits of the promised Redeemer will be applied to each individual man, in the manner established by God at various periods of time; still, this spiritual regeneration, while cleansing us from the leprosy...

THE CURSE, which is henceforth to lie so heavily on every human being, has been expressed in the sentence pronounced against Eve; the curse, to which the earth itself is to be subjected, is Adam’s sentence. “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work (that is, on account of what thou hast done).” Adam had excused his sin. God does not admit his excuse; yet He mercifully makes allowance for him, seeing that he sinned...