Dei via est íntegra
Our Lady of the Rosary, 144 North Federal Highway (US#1),
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441 954+428-2428
Authentic
Catholic Mass, Doctrine, and Moral Teaching -- Don't do without them --
Don't accept one without the others!
|
FEASTS OF OCTOBER
Our Lady of the Rosary Found in many modern breviaries and missals on October 7th Lesson i: From the book of Ecclesiasticus: xxiv: 11-16 Among all these I sought a resting place; and I shall
abide in the inheritance of the Lord. Then the Creator of all gave me His
command, and He who formed me rested in my tent, saying, "In Jacob make thy
dwelling, in Israel thine inheritance, and put down thy roots among my chosen
people." Before all ages, in the beginning, He created me, and through all
ages I shall not cease to be. In the holy dwelling place I ministered before
Him, and in Sion I fixed my abode. Thus in the chosen city He has given me rest,
in Jerusalem is my domain. I have struck root among the glorious people, in the
portion of the Lord, His heritage, and my abode is in the full assembly of the
saints.
Lesson ii: Ibid. 17-22
Like a cedar on Lebanon I am raised aloft, like a cypress
on Mount Sion, like a palm tree in En-gaddi, like a rosebush in Jericho, like a
fair olive tree in the field, like a plane tree growing beside the water. In the
streets I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and fragrant balm; I yielded a sweet
odor like the best myrrh. And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum,
and onycha, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut; and my odor is as the
purest balm. I spread out my branches like a terebinth, and my branches are of
honor and grace.
Lesson iii: ibid. 24-31
I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of
knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in
me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come to me, all you that yearn for me, and
be filled with my fruits; you will remember me as sweeter than honey, better to
have than honey and the honeycomb. As age follows age, the memory of me will
endure. He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for
more; he who obeys me will not be put to shame, he who serves me will never
fail; he who makes me known will have life everlasting.
Lesson iv
When the wicked heresy of the Albigensians was growing in
the district of Toulouse, and striking deeper roots day by day, St. Dominic, who
had just laid the foundations of the Order of Preachers, threw himself
wholeheartedly into the task of destroying the heresy. That he might be the
better able to overcome it, he implored with earnest prayers the aid of the
Blessed Virgin, whose dignity these errors shamelessly attacked, and to whom it
is given to destroy all heresies throughout the world. As everyone knows, she
instructed Dominic to preach the Rosary to the people as a unique safeguard
against heresy and vice, and he carried out this commission with a wonderful
ardor of soul, and with great success. The Rosary is a form of prayer in which
we recite fifteen decades of the Angelic Salutation, with the Lord's Prayer
between decades. During each decade we recall in devote meditation one of the
mysteries of our redemption. From that time, then, St. Dominic began to
promulgate and promote in a wonderful way this pious method of praying. His role
in the propagation of the Rosary has been mentioned in the writings of many of
the popes.
Lesson v
From this salutary practice countless fruits have flowed
to Christendom. Among these, we should especially mention the victory over the
powerful tyranny of the Turks, won at the battle of Lepanto by Pope
St. Pius V, and the Christian princes he had aroused. For, as this
victory was won on the very day on which the sodality of the most holy Rosary
throughout the world had been offering their accustomed supplications, and
carrying out the prescribed prayers, it was rightly attributed to these prayers.
Gregory XIII testified to this fact when he decreed that for such a unique
benefit thanks should always be offered everywhere throughout the world to the
Blessed Virgin under the title of the Rosary, and, in all churches where there
is an altar consecrated under this title, the Divine Office should always be
celebrated with the rite of a greater double. Other popes have granted almost
innumerable indulgences to the recitation of the Rosary, and to Rosary
societies.
Lesson vi
Clement xi, noting the circumstances of the equally famous
victory of Charles VI, the emperor elect, over the innumerable forces of the
Turks in Hungary in the year 1716, held that this victory was to be attributed
to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This victory occurred on the
feast of the Dedication of Our Lady of the Snow; and, at almost the time of the
battle, the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary was offering a public and
solemn supplication in the city of Rome, with a great crowd of people pouring
out fervent prayers to God with great devotion for the overthrow of the Turks,
and humbly imploring the powerful aid of the Mother of God to help the
Christians. Looking also with the eyes of faith at the raising of the Turks
siege of the island of Corcyra shortly afterwards, he held that this victory too
must be ascribed to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin. To keep alive,
therefore, the memory of these great benefits, and to assure a perpetual
thanksgiving for them, Clement extended the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, still
with the rite of a greater double, to the universal Church. Benedict XIII
decreed that all these things be written into the Roman Breviary. In a most
difficult period for the Church, when the raging flood of evils seemed
overwhelming, Leo XIII in repeated encyclicals strongly urged all the
faithful throughout the world to recite the Rosary; especially during the month
of October. He raised the rank of the feast, and added to the Litany of Loretto
the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary." He also granted a
special Office, to be recited by the universal Church on this feast. We should
continue, therefore, to honor the Most Holy Mother of God by this devotion which
is so pleasing to her; so that she, who has so often answered Christ's faithful
when they prayed the Rosary and brought their earthly enemies to defeat and
destruction, may in the same way give us victory over the powers of hell.
Lesson vii At that time the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a Virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the Angel, having entered, said, unto her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself, what manner of salutation this should be. And the Angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and thou shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of David His father: and He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?" And the angel answering, said to her: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hast conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren, because no word shall be impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to thy word." A homily of St. Bernard, Abbot To commend His grace to us, and to destroy human wisdom,
God was pleased to take flesh of a woman who was a virgin, and so to restore by
like, to cure a contrary by a contrary, to draw out the poisonous thorn, and
most effectively to blot out the decree of sin. Eve was a thorn; Mary is a rose.
Eve was a thorn in her wounding; Mary a rose in the sweetening of the affections
of all. Eve was a thorn fastening death upon all; Mary is a rose giving the
heritage of salvation back to all. Mary was a white rose by reason of her
virginity, a red rose by reason of her charity; white in her body, red in her
soul; white in cultivating virtue, red in treading down vice; white in purifying
affection, red in mortifying the flesh; white in loving God, red in having
compassion on her neighbor.
Lesson viii The Word was made flesh, and now dwells among us. He
dwells in our memory; He dwells in our thoughts; He comes down, even, into our
imagination. How, you ask? In a marvellous way, lying in the manger, sitting on
the Virgin's lap, preaching on the mount, praying through the night, hanging on
the Cross, growing pale in death, free among the dead, and ruling in the world
of the dead, and then rising on the third day, and showing the Apostles the
place of the nails, the signs of victory, and, finally, ascending in their
presence to the secret places of heaven. Is there any of these things, the
thought of which dose not nourish truth, piety, and sanctity?
Lesson viii
When I think of any of these, I think of God; and in all
of them, He is my God. I call it wisdom to meditate on these things., and I
think it is prudent to bring up the memory of their sweetness; for from such
sources the priestly staff brought forth abundance, which Mary pours out on us
more richly, drawing from on high. For she is clearly above the highest things,
and above the Angels, she who received the Word from the very heart of the
Father.
Te Deum laudámus
Antiphon (Ben.) Collect:
Saint Remigius, Bishop Remigius, also called Remedius, was born at Laon, of noble parents by name ’milius and Saint Celinia. They were far advanced in age and renowned among their own people for their virtue when the birth of this child was foretold to them by a blind hermit named Montanus; who afterwards recovered his sight by applying to his eyes some of the milk wherewith the infant Remigius was nourished. The future apostle of the Franks devoted his youth to prayer and study in retirement; but the more he shrank from the company of men, the more his fame spread throughout the province. On the death of Bennadius, archbishop of Rheims, Remigius, who though but twenty-two years of age had the mature character of an old man, was unanimously elected, or rather, forcibly installed as archbishop. He endeavored to escape the burden of the episcopate but was obliged by the command of God to submit. Having been counseled by the bishops of the province, he governed his church with the wisdom of an experienced veteran. He was eloquent, learned in the Scriptures; and a pattern to his people, fulfilling in deed what he taught by word. He carefully and laboriously instructed his flock in the mysteries of faith, and established discipline among his clergy. Then he undertook to spread the kingdom of Christ in Belgium; and having converted the people to the Faith, he founded several new bishoprics and appointed their pastors: at Terouanne, St. Antimund or Aumont; at Arras, St. Vedast; and at Laon, St. Genebald. The wonderful works of Remigius, being divulged far and wide, filled with astonishment the minds of Clovis and his still pagan Frankish tribesmen. When Clovis, who had already conquered the Gauls, triumphed over the Alemanni also at the battle of Tolbiac by invoking the name of Christ, he sent for Remigius, and listened willingly to his explanation of the Christian doctrine. Remigius urged this chieftain to embrace the Faith, but he replied that he feared the opposition of his people. When this was reported to his Franks, they cried out with one voice, "We renounce mortal gods, O pious king, and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remigius preaches." Then the bishop imposed a fast upon them according to the custom of the Church, and having in the presence of queen Saint Clotilde, completed the king's religious instruction, he baptized him on the day of our Lord's Nativity, addressing him in these words, "Bow down thy head in meekness, O Sicambrian; adore what thou hast hitherto burnt, burn what thou hast adored." He anointed him with Holy Chrism in the Sign of the Cross. More than three thousand of the army were baptized, as also Albofleda, Clovis' sister, who died soon after; upon which occasion Remigius wrote to console the king. His other sister, Lanthilda, was reclaimed from the Arian heresy [most of the barbarian tribes were Arian], anointed with Chrism, and reconciled to the Church. Remigius was exceedingly liberal to the poor and merciful towards sinners. "God has not placed us here," he would say, "to exercise wrath, but to take care of men." During a council, he once by divine power struck an Arian bishop with dumbness, until he begged forgiveness by signs, at which time Remigius restored his speech with the words: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, if thou holdest the right belief concerning him, speak, and confess the faith of the Catholic Church." The bishop recovered his voice, protested that he believed, and would die in that Faith. Towards the end of his life Remigius lost his sight, but recovered it shortly before his death. Knowing the date of his departure, he celebrated Mass and fortified his flock with the sacred Body of Christ. Then he bade his clergy and people farewell, giving to each one the kiss of our Lord's peace; and full of days and good works he departed this life on the Ides of January, in the year of our Lord five hundred and thirty-three, being ninety-six years old. He was buried in the oratory of Saint Christopher; and as in life, so also in his death, he was famous for miracles.
Saints Placid and Companions, Martyrs
October 5th Placid, a Roman by birth and son of Tertullus, belonged to the noble family of the Anicii. Offered to God while still a child, he was entrusted to Saint Benedict, and made such progress in sanctity and in the monastic life, as to become one of his principle disciples. He was present when the holy father obtained from God by prayer a fountain of water in the solitude of Subiaco. While still a boy, being sent one day to draw water, he fell into the lake, but was miraculously saved by the monk Maurus, who at the command of the holy father ran dry-shod over the water. Later on he accompanied Saint Benedict to Monte Cassino. At the age of twenty-one he was sent into Sicily, to defend, against certain covetous persons, the goods and lands which his father had given to Monte Cassino. On the way he performed so many great miracles, that he arrived at Messina with a reputation for sanctity. He built a monastery on his paternal estate, not far from the harbor, and gathered together thirty monks; being thus the first to introduce the monastic life into the island. Nothing could be more placid or more humble than his behavior; while he surpassed everyone in prudence, gravity, kindness, and unruffled tranquility of mind. He often spent whole nights in contemplation of heavenly things, only sitting down when overpowered by the necessity of sleep. He was most zealous in observing silence; and when it was necessary to speak, the subjects of his conversation were the contempt of the world and the imitation of Christ. His fasts were most severe, and he abstained year round from flesh and every kind of milk-meat. In Lent he took only bread and water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays; the rest of the week he passed without any food. He never drank wine and always wore a hairshirt. So numerous and remarkable were the miracles he worked, that the sick came to him in crowds to be cured, not only from the neighborhood, but also from Eutruria and Africa. But Placid, in his great humility, worked all his miracles in the name of Saint Benedict, attributing them to his merits. His holy example and the wonders he wrought caused the Christian faith to spread rapidly. In the fifth year after his arrival in Sicily, the Saracens made a sudden incursion, and seized upon Placid and his thirty monks while they were singing the night Office in the church. At the same time were taken Eutychius and Victorinus, Placid's brothers, and his sister the virgin Flavia, who had all come from Rome to visit him; and also Donatus, Faustus, and the deacon Firmatus. Donatus was beheaded on the spot. The rest were taken before Manchua, the chief of the pirates; and as they firmly refused to adore his idols, they were beaten with rods and cast, bound hand and foot, into prison without food. Every day they were beaten afresh, but God supported them. After many days they were again led before the tyrant; and as they still stood firm in the faith, they were again repeatedly beaten, then stript of their clothes, and hung, head downwards, over thick smoke to suffocate. They were left for dead, but the next day were found alive, and miraculously healed of their wounds. The tyrant then addressed himself to the virgin Flavia apart from the others. But finding he could gain nothing by threats or promises, he ordered her to be stript, and hung by the feet from a high beam, insulting her meanwhile upon her nakedness. But the virgin answered: Man and woman have the same author and Creator, God; hence neither my sex, nor my nakedness which I endure for love of Him will be any disadvantage to me in His eyes, who for my sake chose not only to be stript, but also to be nailed to a cross. Manchua, enraged at this reply ordered her to be beaten and tortured with the smoke, and then handed her over to be dishonored. At the virgin's prayer, God struck all those who attempted to approach her, with sudden stiffness and pain in all their limbs. The tyrant next attacked Placid, the virgin's brother, who tried to convince him of the vanity of his idols; Manchua thereupon commanded his mouth and teeth to be broken with stones, and his tongue to be cut out by the root; but the martyr spoke as clearly and as easily as before. The barbarian grew more furious at this miracle, and commanded that Placid with his sister and brethren should be crushed under an enormous weight of anchors and millstones; but even this torture was powerless to hurt them. Finally, thirty-six of Placid's family, with their leader, and several others, were beheaded on the shore near Messina, and gained the palm of martyrdom on the third of the Nones of October, in the year of salvation five hundred thirty-nine. Gordian, a monk of that monastery who escaped by flight, found all their bodies entire after several days, and buried them with tears. Not long afterwards the barbarians, in punishment of their crime, were swallowed up by the avenging waves of the sea.
Saint Mark I, Pope and Confessor Mark, successor to Sylvester the Pontiff of peace has been honored on this day from time immemorial. According to the testimony of Saint Damasus, his virtues no less than his name recalled Saint Mark the Evangelist. He occupied the supreme See only eight months, but in that short time he followed up the recent triumph of the Church by wise organization. He built two new sanctuaries in Rome; and gave the pallium, of which this is the first mention in history, to the bishop of Ostia, to enhance his high privilege of being appointed consecrator of the Roman Pontiffs.
Saint Wilfrid of York, Bishop Wilfrid was born in 634, perhaps in Ripon, the son of a Northumbrian theign. His mother died while he was a child, and poor family life made him enter the service of King Oswy. At court he was befriended by Queen Eanfleda, who sent him to Lindisfarne to learn the practices of the Church. Dissatisfied with the Celtic discipline of that house he travelled to Canterbury where he studied the Roman customs and Psalter under Saint Honorius. In 654 he departed with Saint Benet Biscop for Rome, where he studied under Archdeacon Boniface, the secretary to Pope Saint Martin. Moving on to Lyons, he received the Roman style tonsure from Saint Annemund. On returning to England he was placed, by King Alcfrid of Deira, in charge of a newly founded monastery at Ripon. Wilfrid introduced the Benedictine rule, was made abbot, and ordained priest by Saint Agilbert of the West Saxons. The disparate Celtic and Roman customs observed in England resulted in a dispute over the observance of Easter. (King Oswy and Queen Eanfleda sometimes observed Lent and Easter at different times in the same court.) Kings Owsy and Alcfrid convoked a synod at Whitby in 663 or 664, at which the Roman custom prevailed, at least for the southern portion of the country. King Alcfrid appointed Wilfrid bishop in Northumbria and sent him to receive consecration from Saint Agilbert in France, but he delayed in returning. In the meantime, King Oswy appointed Saint Chad to the see of York, so on his return, Wilfrid retired to the abbey at Ripon until 669, when Saint Theodore of Canterbury installed him at York. Political problems with Oswy's successor, King Egfrid, drove Wifrid into exile in Mercia, where he preached and converted many. In 686 he was back at Ripon, but found himself banished to Mercia again in 691. After several appeals to Rome he was able to take up residence in Ripon again around 705. He died in 709 while visiting the monasteries he founded.
Most Holy Purity of the BVM Lesson ii Lesson iii
Saint Hilarion, Abbot Hilarion was born of infidel parents at Abatha in Palestine, and was sent to study at Alexandria, where he became famous for his talents and the purity of his morals. He embraced the Christian religion and made wonderful progress in faith and charity. He was constantly in the church, devoted himself to prayer and fasting, and was full of contempt for the enticements of pleasure and earthly desires. The fame of Saint Anthony had then spread all over Egypt. Hilarion, desirous of seeing him, betook himself to the wilderness and stayed two months with him, learning his manner of life. He then returned home; but on the death of his parents he bestowed his goods upon the poor, and though only in his fifteenth year, returned to the desert. He built himself a little cell, scarcely large enough to hold him, and there he slept on the ground. He never changed or washed the sack-cloth he wore, saying it was superfluous to look for cleanliness in a hairshirt. He devoted himself to reading and study of the holy
Scripture. His food consisted of a few figs and the juice of herbs, which he
never took before sunset. His mortification and humility were wonderful; and by
means of these and other virtues he overcame many terrible temptations of the
evil one, and cast innumerable devils out of the possessed in many parts of the
world. He had built many monasteries and was renowned for miracles, when he fell
asleep in the eightieth year of his age. In his last agony he exclaimed,
"Go forth, my soul, why dost thou fear? Go forth, why dost thou hesitate?
Thou hast served Christ for nearly seventy years, and dost thou fear death. And
with these words he expired.
Lesson iii Saint Hilarion was one of the first confessors, if not the very first, to be honored in the east with public veneration like the martyrs. In the west, the white robed army led by Ursula adds to the glory of the holy monk who has the first honors of this day. On October 21, 451, Cologne was made equal to the most illustrious cities as many thousands of people were martyred by the Huns. It is said that foremost among these martyrs were a noble British virgin and her attendants. Fleeing marriage to the son of a pagan king, Ursula and her maids sailed in eleven ships that were driven by the wind to Cologne where they bravely endured martyrdom. In more recent times, Saint Angela Merici confided her nuns to the patronage of Saint Ursula.
Saint Mellar, Bishop Mellar (or Melanius in the Roman Martyrology) appears in ancient lists as the first bishop of Rouen, and lived, perhaps, in the earlier part of the fourth century. He may have been a pagan Briton, converted at Rome, and sent by Pope Saint Stephen I to preach the Gospel to the Gauls. At the village near Cardiff, called in Welsh, Llanlleurog, the church is dedicated in his honor, and the place is now known as Saint Mellons.
Saints Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria were husband and wife, noble by birth, and still more by their faith, which Daria received together with Baptism through her husband's persuasion. At Rome they converted an immense multitude to Christ, Daria instructing the women and Chrysanthus the men. On this account, the prefect Celerinus arrested them, and handed them over to the tribune Claudius, who ordered his soldiers to bind Chrysanthus and put him to the torture. But all his bonds were loosed, and the fetters which were put upon him were broken. They then wrapped him in the skin of an ox and exposed him
to the burning sun; and next cast him, chained hand and foot, into a very dark
dungeon; but his chains were broken and the prison filled with a brilliant
light. Daria was dragged to a place of infamy; but at her prayer God defended
her from insult by sending a lion to protect her. Finally, they were both led to
the sand pits on the Salarian Way, where they were thrown into a pit and covered
with a heap of stones; and thus they together won the crown of martyrdom.
Lesson iii
Saint Evaristus, Pope & Martyr Evaristus was born in Greece, of a Jewish father, and was
sovereign Pontiff during the reign of Trajan. He divided the titles of the
churches in Rome among the priests, and ordered that the seven deacons should
attend the bishop when preaching. He also decreed that, according to the
tradition of the apostles, matrimony should be publicly celebrated by a priest.
He governed the Church nine years and three months. He held ordinations four
times in the month of December, and ordained seventeen priests, two deacons, and
fifteen bishops. He was crowned with martyrdom and buried near the tomb of the
prince of the apostles on the seventh of the Kalends of November.
Saint Frumentius, Bishop Around 330 a philosopher from Tyre named Meropius undertook a voyage to Arabia, accompanied by two young men, Frumentius and Aedesius, to whom he had been appointed tutor. While docked at Ethiopia on the return voyage, a fight broke out in which everyone on the boat was put to the sword; all except the two young men who were studying under a tree nearby. They were discovered after tempers had cooled, and brought to the king who made Aedesius his cup bearer and Frumentius his secretary. With the king's death they were given their liberty, but stayed on to assist the queen-regent at her request. When the prince assumed government in his own name, Frumentius retired to Alexandria, seeking a priest to return with him to establish a mission in Ethiopia. The saintly Athanasius consecrated Frumentius himself bishop of the Ethiopians, beginning the association of the churches of Alexandria and Ethiopia which continues today. Frumentius returned sometime during the 340s and made many converts, including the king and his brother who are venerated as saints in the Ethiopic calendar. Frumentius' association with Athanasius drew suspicion from the Arian Emperor Constantius, but the Ethiopian royal family protected him and he died in peace, the venerated "Abuna," or "Father," of the Ethiopian church.
Saint Narcissus, Bishop Narcissus was already old when placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem. The historian Eusebius says that he was well remembered for his miracles. On one Easter eve, the deacons had not provided oil for the lamps of the church. Narcissus ordered that water be brought, prayed over it, and bade the deacons pour it into the lamps. It was immediately converted into oil. He was accused of some crime, unspecified by Eusebius and apparently unlikely, which caused him to go into hiding. The neighboring bishops appointed several administrators to replace him, but at length he returned, to the great joy of his people. His extreme age caused him to name Saint Alexander as his coadjutor. Narcissus died peacefully in 215, well over a hundred years old.
Saint Marcellus, Martyr Marcellus was a Roman centurion who resigned from his legion after becoming a Christian and becoming convinced that service in the emperor's forces was incompatible with his new calling: "I serve Jesus Christ, the eternal King. I will no longer serve your emperors, and I scorn to worship your gods of wood and stone, which are deaf and dumb idols." He cast off his military belt and vine-switch, the symbols of his office. For this he was cast into prison and ultimately put to the sword in 298 by the deputy pr‘torian prefect, Aurelius Agricolan. While being led to his execution he turned to Aurelius, saying, "May God be good to you, Agricolan."
Vigil of All Saints Collect: O Lord, our God, multiply Thy grace upon us, and grant us in our holy profession to follow the joy of those whose glorious solemnity we anticipate. Through our Lord....
|
|
|