October 5: Bl. Raymond of Capua, C., O.P., III Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of Blessed Raymond of Capua, confessor of the Order of Preachers.  The feast is III Class, so the ordinary office is prayed according to the rubrics.

From “Short Lives of the Dominican Saints” (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1901):

Blessed Raymond was born at Capua about A.D. 1330, of the noble family of Delle Vigne.  Sent to study at the University of Bologna, he was miraculously called by Saint Dominic himself to take the habit of his Order, and soon became conspicuous amongst his Brethren for his learning, as well as for his humility, modesty, and exact observance of he Rule.  The extreme delicacy of his health, however, which continued to be a constant source of suffering during his whole life, prevented him from keeping the prescribed fasts, and at length he was obliged to yield to the unanimous advice of both his physicians and spiritual directors, and relinquish the attempt.  Nevertheless, Our Lady, to whom he ever bore the most tender devotion, obtained from him the grace of being able to fast on bread and water on the eves of her feasts.

While still comparatively young, he was entrusted with the spiritual direction of some monasteries of religious women, and in particular with that of Saint Agnes of Monte Pulciano.  During his residence there he wrote the Life of that Saint.  In the year 1367 he became Prior of the great Convent of the Minerva in Rome, and in 1374 was sent as Lector to the Convent of Saint Dominic at Siena, where he first became acquainted with her, whom, in spite of her youth, he soon learnt to call his Mother, and with whose name his own will ever be indissoluble linked.  As Saint Catherine of Siena was assisting at Fr. Raymond's Mass on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, she heard a voice, saying:  "This is My beloved servant; this is he to whom I will give thee," and she understood that he was the Confessor whom our Blessed Lady had promised her several years previously, and who ws to give her more help than any she had yet consulted.  From that day she placed the direction of her conscience in his hands.

The plague was at this time raging at Siena, and Blessed Raymond devoted himself day and night to the service of the plague-stricken.  He caught the infection, but was miraculously cured by this saintly penitent.  The extraordinary graces granted to Saint Catherine at first caused considerable anxiety to her Confessor, who feared that she might be deluded by the devil.  He therefore sought to put her to the proof by some infallible test, and desired her to obtain for him such perfect contrition for his sins as he had never before experienced.  His petition was granted in a remarkable manner; and on another occasion his doubts were assuaged by seeing he face of his holy penitent suddenly transformed in that of our Lord.  He was present when the Saint received the stigmata at Pisa, accompanied her in her visit to the Pontifical Court at Avignon, and was one of the Confessors who went about with her on her missions of peace and reconciliation, and who were often employed from dawn till nightfall in hearing the confessions of those whom her burning words had moved to repentance.

In conjunction with Saint Catherine, Blessed Raymond took an active part in procuring the return of Gregory XI to Rome, whither he was soon called upon to follow him.  Whilst there, he was again elected Prior of the Minerva.  In the year 1378 the Pope died, and shortly after the election of his successor began that miserable Schism of the West, which was to be for full forty years the bane and scandal of Christendom.  The lawfully elected Pontiff, Urban VI, sent Blessed Raymond to France, in the hope of detaching King Charles V from the cause of the Schism.  Prevented from entering that country by the machinations of Queen Joanna of Naples, he began, in conformity with further instructions received from the Pope, to preach the crusade against the schismatics at Genoa; and it was there, on April 29, A.D. 1380, that he received a miraculous intimation of the death of his seraphic penitent, Saint Catherine, who expired in Rome on that day.

A few weeks later, at the General Chapter at Bologna, Blessed Raymond was elected General of that portion of the Order which was under the obedience of the lawful Pontiff.  Never was General called upon to take up the burden of superiority in darker days.  The great Schism had divided the Order as well as the Church, and the Friars of Spain, France, Scotland, and the two Sicilies, with their General, Elias of Toulouse, were, like the faithful in those countries, under the obedience of the Antipope.  In addition to this, the terrible pestilence called the Black Death, which desolated Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century, had caused a great and universal relaxation of discipline, and the remainder of Blessed Raymond's life was devoted to the hard task of reform.  Assisted by the devoted disciples of Saint Catherine of Siena, Father Thomas Caffarini and Father Bartholomew Dominici, and a number of other saintly Friars, some of whom, like the Blessed John Dominici, have been raised to teh altars of the Church, he succeeded in founding a large number of Convents of strict observance, and earned for himself the title of "Second Founder" of the Order, which he governed with the utmost prudence, tact, and charity, for nineteen years.  Besides the arduous labors imposed on him by his office, he was constantly employed by the Popes in important and difficult negotiations.  He also found time to write the Life of his seraphic penitent, Saint Catherine of Siena.  His devotion to Our Lady showed itself by ordaining the more frequent use of the verse Maria Mater gratiae in the Divine Office.

Altar with remains of Bl. Raymond of Capua in the Church of St. Dominic in Naples.

Worn out by his labors for the Church and the Order, Blessed Raymond made a holy and happy end at Nuremberg, in Bavaria, on the 5th of October, A.D. 1399.  His holy remains were subsequently removed to the Church of Saint Dominic at Naples.  Held in the utmost veneration from the time of his death, he was beatified by Leo XIII, A.D. 1899.

Prayer

O God, you willed that the blessed Raymond your confessor, should be a distinguished master of evangelical perfection and faithful upholder of apostolic authority; mercifully grant that, living after his example on earth, we may deserve to be crowned with him in heaven.  Through our Lord...

August 8: Blessed Jane of Aza, Mother of Our Holy Father St. Dominic, Commemoration

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we make a commemoration of Blessed Jane of Aza, mother of Our Holy Father St. Dominic. In the old calendar, her office was tucked into the octave of our holy founder, which I thought was a very fitting way to honor her.  The Saturday Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is prayed, and the commemoration is made at Lauds and Vespers since it is a privileged commemoration.  In addition, a second commemoration is made of SS. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Martyrs. At Pretiosa, the obit of Hugh de Vaucemain of France, sixteenth Master General of the Order of Preachers is read.

From the Martyrology of yesterday:

At Peñafiel in Spain, Blessed Joan de Aza, mother of the most Blessed Patriarch Dominic. Admirable for her virtue and beloved of God for her piety, she died at Calaruega in the love of the Lord. A duplex feast.

The holy martyrs Cyriacus, deacon, Largus, and Smaragdus, with twenty others, who suffered on March 16. Their bodies were buried on the Via Salaria by a priest named John, and on this day Pope St. Marcellus removed them to the garden of Lucina, on the Via Ostiensis. Afterward, they were brought into the city, and buried in the deaconry of St. Mary's in Via Latina. A memory.

August 4: Our Holy Father St. Dominic, C., O.P., I Class

 O happy parent, Spain, rejoice in giving to the world the joy of new offspring!  But, rejoice still more, Bologna, because you are favored with the glory of so great a father.  O universal Mother Church, sing in praise as you celebrate the festival of this new source of fame!  (Super psalmos antiphon to the Laudate psalms at First Vespers.)

Thus begins the Office for the Feast of Our Holy Father St. Dominic, which we celebrate on August 4 in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar.  In the Dominican Rite, this feast is a I Class feast, and is prayed according to the rubrics for the Festive Office.  Since today is a Sunday, a commemoration of the XI Sunday after Pentecost is made.

Five years ago year, on August 6, we marked the 800th anniversary of Our Holy Father's passing, from this life into eternal glory.  May his prayers continue to sustain our Order, even during these most difficult of times.

July 22: St. Mary Magdalen, Protectress of the Order, III Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, Protectress of the Order. Though her feast is III Class in the calendar, her office has a near-complete set of propers as though the feast was actually a II Class feast. The Benedictus antiphon is particularly beautiful:

O lamp of the world and gleaming pearl, who by announcing Christ’s resurrection merited to become the Apostle of the Apostles, Mary Magdalen, be ever our loving advocate with God who has chosen you.

The Gospel reading is Luke 7:36-50 (which is also used on the Thursday in Passion Week), which recounts her washing of the feet of Our Lord when he dined at the house of Simon the Pharisee. The homily is St. Gregory the Great's Homily 25 (from his Homilies on the Gospel), which is a beautiful meditation on Divine Mercy.

July 7: Blessed Benedict XI, Pope, Confessor, O.P., Commemoration

 Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the commemoration of Blessed Benedict XI, one of the four Dominican Popes. From “Short Lives of the Dominican Saints” (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1901).

Nicholas Boccasino, who assumed the name of Benedict XI, when raised to the Pontifical dignity, was born of poor parents at Treviso in Italy, A.D. 1240. He received his early education form an uncle, who held the office of parish priest, and at the age of fourteen was admitted into the Dominican Order at Venice. The next fourteen years of his life were devoted to prayer and study, after which he was employed in teaching sacred science to his Brethren. He never allowed his lessons to interfere with his exercises of piety or to prevent him from teaching the Word of God; and he also found time to write some learned commentaries on various parts of Scripture, and other valuable works.

July 6: Anniversary Of Those Buried In Our Cemeteries

On this day, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, the anniversary of those buried in the cemeteries of the Order are remembered.

"Dear Brother and Sister Tertiaries, you have come into an Order which is devoted to the dead.  You will eventually profit by it, and in the meantime the Rule requires you to do your part to maintain this devotion".

Thus Fr. F.D. Joret, O.P., begins his Chapter entitled "Prayer For Our Dead", in his wonderful book "Dominican Life" (The Newman Bookshop, 1947).  He then proceeds to describe each of the four Anniversaries during which the Order prays for her dead.  Of today's Anniversary, he says:

June 28: Vigil of Sts. Peter & Paul - Domine Quo Vadis?

A few years ago, I read the "The Interior Castle" by St. Teresa of Avila.  For anyone who has not read it, I highly recommend it.  It is a beautiful work, in which she gives us the benefit of her deep and penetrating knowledge into the life of prayer, and demonstrates her extraordinary insight into human frailty and the stumbling blocks which hinder us on our path toward spiritual perfection.

In the last chapter (7th Mansion, Ch. 4), as she is recapping the book, and speaking of the trials and sufferings of those to whom Our Lord grants intense spiritual visions and aspirations, she mentions the famous "Quo vadis" legend regarding St. Peter.  The translator of the edition that I was reading (E. Allison Peers, Sheed & Ward, 1946) puts a footnote there, and states:

"In the old Carmelite breviary, which St. Teresa would have used, the Antiphon of the Magnificat at 1st Vespers on June 29 runs "The Blessed Apostle Peter saw Christ coming to meet him.  Adoring Him, he said: 'Lord, whither goest Thou?' ' I am going to Rome to be crucified afresh.'"  The story has it that St. Peter returned to Rome and was crucified.

Since the Carmelite and Dominican liturgical books sprang from the same medieval use that was widely diffused throughout France in the 13th Century, I decided to look up June 29 in my Dominican Breviary (1967) to see if that antiphon had survived through the centuries.  And sure enough, it did.  (See here...bottom left side of p. 574.)

Than antiphon at 1st Vespers for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul is:

Beátus Petrus Apóstolus vidit sibi Christum occúrrere, et adórans eum ait:  Dómine, quo vadis?  Vénio Romam íterum crucifígi.

The blessed apostle Peter saw Christ coming towards him, and adoring him, said, “Lord, where are you going?” “I go to Rome to be crucified again.”

This antiphon is not in the 1962 Monastic or Roman breviaries.  Whether or not the legend is true, it has been borne through the ages in the Dominican breviary and is, in my opinion, a wonderful subject for meditation.  This is particularly true in these dark days when living a faithful Catholic life can at best be full of obstacles and, at worst, lead to outright persecution by the State or groups who align themselves with the eternal Enemy of the Church.