Liturgical

Here is another interesting discovery from the endless treasure trove of one of my favorite websites, that of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. This sacramentary was made for the Benedictine abbey of Saint Winnoc, in a town called Bergues in the northernmost part of the modern state of France (less than six miles south of Dunkirk, where the famous evacuation took place in 1940.) It dates to Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

In 386 A.D., St Ambrose had uncovered the relics of two Milanese martyrs, the brothers Protasius and Gervasius, having been shown the place of their long-forgotten burial in a dream. Nothing is known for certain of these saints, not even the era of their martyrdom, but devotion to them was once very widespread; they are even named in the Roman version of the Litany of the Saints, last among the Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

The following texts are take from William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officium, book 6, chapter 104, in my own translation. On the feast of the Lord’s Ascension, which is celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter, since Christ on the fortieth day after the Resurrection ascended into heaven, a solemn procession is held; for the Lord commanded that His disciples go before him to the Mount of Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

Julian of Norwich was a medieval anchoress who wrote two extraordinary books about sixteen visions of Christ granted to her when she was thirty years old, in 1373. Though she was never beatified or even widely venerated, she is informally honored on May 13th, the approximate date when she was healed from the grave illness that prompted her mystical experiences. It is characteristic of Julian’s Robert Keimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02834375772428838593noreply@blogger.com0

A splendid announcement to make in Our Lady's Month of May, and on this day dedicated to the Fatima apparitions!Roman-Seraphic Books has created a new edition of the Traditional Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in accordance with the rubrics of the St. Pius X 1910 reform. This edition seeks not only to preserve but to rejuvenate a venerable form of prayer that has been the Marian Prayer Peter Kwasniewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02068005370670549612noreply@blogger.com0

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: When the Paraclete has come, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me. And you also will bear witness, because you are with Me from the beginning. These things I have spoken to you that you may not be scandalized. They will expel you from the synagogues; but the hour is Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

Here is another big win for the YouTube suggestion algorithm, a very interesting lecture which explains the round of daily services at Sarum Cathedral, ca. 1500. It was given three years ago by Dr William Renwick, a professor in the department of music at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, hosted by the Royal School of Church Music. In addition to a very thorough explanation of the daily Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

Finally we come to the last part of this year’s Holy Week and Easter photopost series! Once again, we are very grateful to all the contributors, and wish it were possible to include all of the beautiful photos that were sent in. There will be a second part, before we move on to Pentecost, so have your cameras ready - Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Nuestra Señora del Pilar – Guadalajara, Mexico (FSSPGregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

Lost in Translation #86In the days that remain of Paschaltide, we turn to the Vidi Aquam, which is used from Easter to Pentecost at the Asperges rite instead of the antiphon Asperges Me and the verse, Psalm 50,3.The AntiphonThe antiphon for the season is:Vidi aquam egredientem de templo a látere dextro, allelúja: et omnes ad quos pervénit aqua ista salvi facti sunt, et dicent: allelúja, Michael P. Foleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02649905848645336033noreply@blogger.com0

The Roman Breviary of St Pius V derives from the medieval use of the Papal Curia, which was traditionally very conservative in most regards, and especially so in its repertoire of hymns. Many feasts, including some of the greatest solemnities (e.g. Christmas and Epiphany), have only two proper hymns, one of which is sung at both Vespers and Matins, and the other at Lauds; the same is true of Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

The Christian liturgical tradition envisions the Ascension of Our Lord as a climactic event in which the risen Christ, magnificent with His glorified Body, makes a triumphant return to the heavenly kingdom. In the Roman rite, the hymn, antiphons, and responsories of Matins would have ensured that these themes and images were prominent from the earliest hours of the great feast day: “Alleluia. Robert Keimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02834375772428838593noreply@blogger.com0

In addition to the universal feasts of the Mother of God, from the Immaculate Conception to the Assumption, the Church also keeps local feasts connected with major centers of Marian devotion such as Loreto in Italy, Walsingham in England, Guadalupe in Mexico etc. A similar custom holds in regard to the Archangel Michael, and in one sense, may be called a universal custom of the Western Church. Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

For our final Good Friday photopost, I saved these particularly interesting sets of images. From the FSSP apostolate in Guadalajara, Mexico, we have a live representation of the Via Crucis, and a nighttime procession with a statue of the dead Christ and the Mother of Sorrow. From the cathedral of São João del Rei in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, we have a deposition and burial ceremony (withGregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

Today is the second day of the penitential observance known as the Lesser Rogations or Minor Litanies. On Saturday, there will occur the feast of St Mamertus, bishop of Vienne in France, who first instituted them around the year 470 A.D. His successor but one, St Avitus, has left us a sermon on the Rogations, in which he describes the reason why they were instituted, in the wake of a series of Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

A new edition, revised, expanded and published by Os Justi Press What makes literature or art Christian? Some would say just the content, that is, what is said; others would say both the content and the form, because the way in which certain truths are conveyed can communicate them more fully. It’s not just what you say that’s important, but also how you say it. If this is the case, the style David Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07041908477492455609noreply@blogger.com0

Near the start of this month of Our Lady, I am very pleased to be able to share with NLM readers several photos of the new wall paintings in the church of the Monastery of San Benedetto in Norcia, Italy. As will be quickly apparent, these are only the start (but what an auspicious start!) of an ambitious iconographic program that will eventually encompass the walls on both sides of the sanctuary,Peter Kwasniewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02068005370670549612noreply@blogger.com0

The narratives, teachings, and poetry of Holy Scripture are occasionally enriched with a technique known as the envelope structure (often called inclusio in Biblical studies). The “envelope” is created by a phrase that is repeated at the beginning and end of a literary unit, as in the following example from Psalm 103, which opens and closes with the speaker exhorting himself to praise God:O my Robert Keimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02834375772428838593noreply@blogger.com0

We are very glad to welcome a new contributor to our writing staff, Mr Robert W. Keim, a secular brother of the London Oratory of St Philip Neri, a linguist, and a literary scholar specializing in the poetic and dramatic literature of the English Renaissance. A longtime student of the arts and spirituality of sacred liturgy, Robert teaches university courses in rhetoric, recently completed a new Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

The Italian city of Naples keeps three feasts in honor of its Patron St Januarius, the relics of whose blood famously liquify on all three occasions. His principal feast, the anniversary of his martyrdom, is on September 19, but today, the first Saturday before the first Sunday of May, there is a commemoration of the translation of his relics (one of several) from Pozzuoli, about 9 miles to the Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0

In the mid-15th century, the Italian painter Piero della Francesca (1416-92) did a remarkable series of frescoes in the choir of the Basilica of St Francis in Arezzo, known as The History of the True Cross. Although a few sections of the paintings are completely lost, most of it is in very good condition; the entire cycle was beautifully restored in the 1990s. Arezzo is a lovely city, but it Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0