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Tangipahoa Parish Louisiana USA |
"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:
"Furthermore, all those who are buried in our cemeteries, a privilege formerly greatly valued, benefit by our prayers and particularly by that De profundis which, in obedience to the Constitutions, is recited on the way through the cloister of the dead".
At Pretiosa today, the Anniversary is announced as follows:
The Anniversary of all those buried in our Cemeteries. Also, the Obit of the Venerable Brother John de Feynier, forty-second Master of the Order.
Psalm 129 is prayed, as it always is on the day of an Anniversary. Afterwards, the Prayer for the deceased Master of the Order, and the Prayer for an Anniversary, are prayed under one conclusion:
O God, you made your servant John to be honored with the priestly dignity among apostolic priests; grant, we beseech you, that he may be joined in fellowship with them forever.
O God, Lord of mercies, give to the souls of your servants, whose anniversary we keep, the home of refreshment, the blessedness of peace and the brightness of light. Through Christ our Lord.℟. Amen. May they rest in peace. ℟. Amen
In addition, the Office of the Dead is prayed today, or at least during this week.