December 25: The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I Class

℣. Puer natus est nobis.	℣. To us a child is born.
℟. Et filius datus est nobis.	℣. To us a son is given.

(Versicle before Lauds)

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  The feast is 1^st Class, with a 2^nd Class octave.  The Festive Office is prayed. with everything being taken from the Proper of the Season for this day.

December 24: Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I Class

℣. Tomorrow the transgression of the earth will be blotted out.  ℟. And the Savior of the world will reign over us.  (Versicle before Lauds for the Vigil of the Nativity).

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  The feast is 1st Class so the Festive Office is prayed.  At Pretiosa, we read the Martyrology for December 25:

December 22: The Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Comm.

Happy Anniversary to the Order of Preachers!

I truly enjoy this feast.  As a member of the Order, it brings me great joy to know that I am part of a family that will celebrate its 800th anniversary next year, and which has been endowed by almighty God with so many holy men and women.  It is also a great joy to me that there is a specific date which serves as the birthday, so to speak, for the Order.  The ferial Office for Advent is prayed, and a commemoration of the feast is made at Lauds only.

Dominican Tertiary Indulgence Alert

Dominican Tertiaries (Lay Dominicans) are reminded that a plenary indulgence may be acquired, provided the usual conditions (confession, Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff) are properly fulfilled, who make or renew, at least privately, the promise to faithfully observe the statutes of the Third Order (Lay Fraternity of St. Dominic) on the upcoming Feasts of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25.

What a wonderful Christmas gift for the soul of a loved one in Purgatory, or perhaps for a deceased Dominican!

The complete list of days when the plenary indulgence may be obtained, can be found here, at the Australian Province Website.

BREVIARIUM S.O.P. 2016 DOMINICAN RITE CALENDAR

Just in time for Christmas!  I am pleased to announce the completion of my 2016 Dominican Rite Calendar, for praying the 1962 Dominican Breviary.  The Calendar is now available from Fr. Augustine Thompson's "Dominican Liturgy Publications" at Lulu.

New additions this year are the traditional prayers for a General Chapter, since the Order will be conducting a Chapter in Bologna in 2016.  The calendar includes the dates that the prayers are to be said, as well as notations that indicate the 15 Tuesdays devotion to Our Holy Father St. Dominic.

The calendar is based on the Dominican Rite Liturgical Calendar that Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P. prepares every year.  The format is similar to that of the Ordo published by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.  The calendar contains the entire liturgical year, according to the 1962 Breviarii Iuxta Ritum Ordinis Preædicatorum, updated with the most recent canonizations of Dominican saints.

December 6: St. Nicholas and St. Thomas Aquinas

This year, the feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, falls on a Sunday, so we do not celebrate it.  However, I wanted to do another post on it because it is one of my favorite feasts in the Dominican Rite calendar.  It holds the liturgical rank of III Class, as in the Roman Rite, but unlike the latter rite the Dominican Breviary contains a complete set of propers, as if the feast were II Class (you can download the text of the propers here, taken from the 1967 English Translation of the Breviarium S.OP.).

For the second year in a row, I have stumbled across a connection between St. Nicholas and our holy Order.  Many of you may be aware of the mysterious silence that overtook St. Thomas, near the end of his life.  In his small book entitled "The Silence of St. Thomas", the great German philosopher and Thomist, Josef Pieper, drawing on accounts of his canonization, gives the following brief account of this event:

December 1: Blessed John of Vercelli, C., O.P., Commemoration

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we make a commemoration of Blessed John of Vercelli, 6^th Master General of the Order.  The Advent ferial office is prayed, according to the rubrics, and the commemoration of Blessed John is made at Lauds and Vespers, since his is a privileged commemoration.  In addition, a second commemoration is made of SS. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Martyrs.  At Pretiosa, the obits of Thomas Turco of Cremona, 56th Master General of the Order and Alexander Vincent Jandel of Nancy in France, 73rd Master General of the Order are read.