August 30: St. Rose of Lima, V, O.P., III Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of St. Rose of Lima.  The feast is III Class, so the Ordinary office is prayed according to the rubrics.  This is another one of those III Class feasts which retained many of the propers from the days when the feast was totum duplex or duplex.  At Lauds, the Psalms of Sunday are prayed.  

From the Martyrology:

At Lima in Peru, St. Rose, virgin, of the Third Order of our holy Father St. Dominic. The Roman Pontiff Clement IX called her "the first flower from the Western World." At the age of five she took the vow of virginity; later she was received by Christ in a miraculous way as His spouse. She added the most severe penances to a life of purest innocence and her fame spread because of her many miracles. She died on August 24.

Travelers' Prayers from the Dominican Breviary

Recently, my children went with their mother to a family resort for a few days of vacation.  This is the first trip they have been on in years, and I was concerned for their safety.  Before I dropped them off with her, the kids and I prayed a few of the antiphons from the Travelers' Prayers in the Appendix of the Dominican Breviary.

There is nothing unique to the Dominicans about the concept of these prayers.  A similar version can be found in the monastic breviary.  However, our version is tailored to our Order by including some of the wonderful antiphons, versicles/responses, and Collect prayers that invoke St. Dominic, the saints of our Order, and our Lady as our patroness.   You can download the English translation here.

August 28: St. Augustine, B., C., D., II Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of St. Augustine, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor, and Father of the Church.  Since today is also the VX Sunday after Pentecost which holds the rank of II Class, and since his feast in the Dominican Rite calendar is also II Class, we pray the Sunday office and make a commemoration of his feast at Lauds and Vespers.    Also, at Pretiosa, the obit is read of Albert de Chiavari of Genoa, 10th Master General of the Order. 

The Order’s has always given high honor to the Doctor of Grace, in part because our founder St. Dominic adopted the Rule of St. Augustine as the Rule for his Order in 1216. 

August 17: St. Hyacinth, C., O.P., III Class

Today, in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of St. Hyacinth.  The feast is III Class so the Ordinary office is prayed according to the rubrics.  Like many III Class feasts of Dominican saints on the calendar, the office for St. Hyacinth contains a full set of propers, as if the office were II Class.  So there are antiphons and responsories at all of the hours, and the Sunday Psalms are prayed at Lauds, rather than the Psalms of the ferial office.

The feast was announced yesterday, at the reading of the Martyrology:

At Cracow in Poland, St. Hyacinth, confessor, of the Order of Preachers. Having received the religious habit from the hands of our Father St. Dominic, he excelled in learning and in a life of admirable innocence. He was celebrated for the glory of his miracles, especially for walking dryshod across wide rivers. Thought deserving of sweet converse with the holy Mother of God, distinguished for his spotless life, and filled with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, he died at an advanced age. He was called to his eternal reward on the very feastday of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was canonized by Pope Clement VIII.

August 15: Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I Class

Last year, while reading "Christ the Savior" by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. on the Assumption of the B.V.M., I came across the following passage:

Therefore the Blessed Virgin Mary, as Mother of the Savior and the new Eve, is also most closely associated with Christ's perfect victory over death, so that "she could not be held down or detained by the bonds of death, " as the liturgy says[19]; otherwise she would have been vanquished by death and would not have been the vanquisher, and her parallelism with Christ's resurrection and ascension, before the general resurrection of the dead, would be destroyed.  Moreover, the exceptional benediction, "blessed art thou among women," excludes the malediction "into dust thou shalt return." (emphasis mine)

Dominican Tertiary Indulgence Alert - Feast of the Assumption of the B.V.M.

Dominican Tertiaries 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 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on  Monday, August 15th.

In your charity, please consider offering the indulgence for a deceased fellow Tertiary, or perhaps a deceased friar or nun/brother who is suffering in Purgatory.

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

LOST FEAST: August 11: The Octave of our Holy Father St. Dominic

Prior to the revision of the Breviary and liturgical calendar instituted by Pope St. John XXIII, the Octave of Our Holy Father St. Dominic would be celebrated today, August 11.  This would be the final act in our long celebration of the feast of St. Dominic.  A fitting tribute to the saintly founder of the Order of Preachers, if I do say so myself.  When you add up all of the preparation (the 15 Tuesdays, the Novena, the feast itself, the commemoration in the octave, and finally, the octave day itself) it is a sure and salutary means of developing a loving devotion to our holy father through our liturgical celebrations.

In the pre-1962 Breviarium S.O.P.'s, the feast had the rank of "solemne", which would be considered at least a 2nd Class Feast in the ranking system that was adopted with the 1962 breviary.  For Lauds, Vespers, and the little hours, the office of the feast was prayed.  At Lauds, a commemoration was made of St. Tiburtius.  At Matins the office was that of three (3) lessons.  For the first nocturn, the responsories are proper, and the lessons from the previous Sunday are used.  At the second nocturn, the lessons and the responsories are proper; the lessons being taken from the life of St. Dominic by Theodoric.  The third nocturn is like the first, with the responsories being proper, but the Gospel and homily on the Gospel are taken from the previous Sunday.

At Pretiosa, on August 10, the octave was announced thus "The Octave day of our holy Father Dominic. A solemn octave."

I am going to depart from my 1962/1967 calendar today, since it is a ferial day, and pray the office of his feast again, as a way of closing out this wonderful liturgical celebration of St. Dominic.

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 ferial office 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.

LOST TRADITIONS: August 5 - 11: Octave of Our Holy Father St. Dominic

Prior to the revision of the Breviary instituted by Pope St. John XXIII, the Octave of Our Holy Father St. Dominic would be celebrated from August 5 till August 11.   This is one of the many octaves of the Dominican saints that were casualties of the revision of Dominican calendar in 1961.  Not all of the Dominican saints had "solemn" octaves after their feast day, but the major ones like St. Dominic, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Peter Martyr did.

Once again, I will restate my bewilderment at the Order giving up some of these wonderful feast days on their calendar, when the calendar was updated in 1961.  Even if they wanted to reduce the sanctorale a bit, to make room for new saints and the ferial office, they could still mark the octave of our Holy Father's feast day with a commemoration at Lauds and Vespers.

On August 5, at Pretiosa, we read in the Martyrology for August 6 the commemoration of his death on the actual day that he passed to his eternal reward:

At Bologna, the birthday of St. Dominic, confessor and founder of the Order of Friars Preachers. He was a man of great renown for holiness and learning. Until death he preserved without stain his virginity, and by the singular grace of his merits raised three dead men to life. By his preaching he curbed heresies, and established many persons in a religious and godly manner of life. He died on this day, but his festival, by an ordinance of Pope Paul IV, is celebrated on August 4.

At the very least, the extension of Our Holy Father's solemn feast day is a wonderful way in which to deepen our devotion to him.  Every day during the octave, a commemoration was made at Lauds and Vespers using the proper versicle/responsory, Benedictus/Magnificat antiphons from the Dominican Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the collect from the feast. 

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.)

August 3: The Vigil of the Feast of St. Dominic

After weeks of preparation, including the 15 Tuesday's devotion to St. Dominic, and the Novena to our Holy Father, the vigil of his feast day has finally arrived!  Traditionally, this was also a day of fasting and abstinence for Tertiaries of our Order.  At Pretiosa today, we announce the feast to be celebrated tomorrow:

At Bologna, our most holy Father St. Dominic, confessor and founder of the Order of Friars Preachers. He was most illustrious, being distinguished by nobility of birth, sanctity and learning. Until death he preserved without stain his virginity and by the singular grace of his merits he raised three persons from the dead. By his preaching he curbed heresies and established many persons in a religious and godly manner of life. On August 6, his soul soared to heaven, there to receive a reward commensurate with his extraordinary works. His feast, however, is celebrated on this day, by an ordinance of Pope Paul IV. A totum duplex feast of the first class with a solemn octave.

That last sentence is a holdover from the pre-1961 calendar, when a solemn octave was celebrated for 8 days after his feast day. On August 5, I will be posting on the manner of celebrating the octave of his feast according to the 1909 Breviarium juxta ritum sacri ordinis praedicatorum.

The office begins at 1st Vespers with the super psalm antiphon....Gaude (O happy parent, Spain,...), followed by the special arrangement of Psalms that are used in the Dominican Office for 1st Class feasts (Psalms 112, 116, 145, 146, & 147, a.k.a, the "laudate Psalms).

According to Fr. Bonniwell, the Ordinanrium from Humbert's codex, which is the prototype of the Dominican liturgical books, has for 1st Vespers of the feast of St. Dominic, the following entry:

"For [first] vespers: superpsalm ana. Gaude. Capitulum: Quasi stella. Response: Granum. Hymn: Gaude mater. Versicle: Ora pro nobis. Magnificat ana.: Transit. Prayer: Deus qui Ecclesiam."

This is identical to the propers that are found in the 1962 Breviarium, with the sole exception of the responsory (which is O spem miram in the 1962). This uniformity continues throughout the office, with only minor changes between the original editions of the Breviarium and the 1962. Bonniwell gives a comparison, "from 1st Vespers to 2nd Vespers" , of Humbert's codex and the 1909 Breviarium of Bl. Hyacinth Cormier, and concludes that with few exceptions, the offices are remarkably similar. (pp. 42-43, History of the Dominican Liturgy).

This is typical for many of the feasts of the Dominican saints and blesseds, and for the temporale as well. I find it to be a tremendous source of spiritual solidarity, that the responsory's, antiphons, hymns, versicles, etc., that I pray on this (and most other) feasts in my Dominican Breviary, are the very ones that thousands upon thousands of Dominican Friars, Brothers, Nuns, and tertiaries have also prayed for hundreds of years.

Pray for us, Holy Father Dominic.  That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Dominican Tertiary Indulgence Alert! - Feast of St. Dominic

Dominican Tertiaries 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 Our Holy Father St. Dominic on August 4th (if you are attending a Dominican Rite Mass) or August 8 (if you are attending a Mass in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite).

In your charity, please consider offering the indulgence for a deceased fellow Tertiary, or perhaps a deceased friar or nun/brother who is suffering in Purgatory.

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