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 800th Anniversary to the Order of Preachers!

I truly enjoy this feast.  And this year, it falls on the 800th anniversary of the official founding of the Order in 1216.  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 Feast 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. 2017 DOMINICAN RITE CALENDAR

Just in time for Christmas!  I barely made it this year, but once again I am pleased to announce the completion of my 2017 Dominican Rite Calendar, for praying the 1962 Dominican Breviary.  The Calendar is now available from Fr. Augustine Thompson's "Dominican Liturgy Publications" at Lulu.

Once again, the calendar includes notations for 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 the Dominican Order...Again.

The feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, is one of my favorite non-Dominican feasts in the liturgical calendar.  It holds the liturgical rank of III Class, as in the Roman Rite, but unlike the latter rite the Dominican Breviary contains a near-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.).

And for the third year in a row, I have stumbled across a connection between St. Nicholas and our holy Order.  Two years ago I did a post about how the feast of St. Nicholas was elevated to a totum duplex (1st Class) feast.  Then, last year, I did a post on how the famous mystical experience which ended St. Thomas Aquinas' prolific theological writing occurred on the feast of St. Nicholas, right after the Angelic Doctor finished offering the Mass of this saint.  A few weeks ago, while flipping through Pere Jacquin' "The Friar Preacher - Yesterday and Today" (Washbourne, 1915), I came across the account of St. Dominic's death.  Apparently, when our Holy Father became too ill to walk, he was carried by the brethren by stretcher to the Church of St. Nicholas in Bologna.  And there, surrounded by his fellow friars, he passed to his eternal reward.

So there you go, yet one more connection between the Order of Preachers and this wonderful saint.

As always, I remind anyone who reads this blog to check out the website of a wonderful organization called The St. Nicholas Center, who contacted me last year to ask if they could include my post from last year on St. Nicholas and the Dominicans on their website.  I was happy to oblige.  This organization seeks to promote and educate the world on this wonderful saint, who is the inspiration for Santa Claus.

Prayer

O God, you adorned the blessed bishop Nicholas with countless miracles; grant, we beseech you, that through his merits and prayers, we may be delivered from the flames of hell.  Through our Lord...

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 obit of Thomas Turco of Cremona, 56th Master General of the Order is read.