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 one of those III Class feasts in which the Proper of the Saints contains the entire office.  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.

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.  A III feast in the Roman Rite, the feast is II Class in the Dominican calendar with its own propers, so the semi-festive office is prayed, according to the rubrics.  This is due to the Order’s association with the Doctor of Grace via the Rule of St. Augustine, which our Holy Father adopted as the Rule for his Order in 1216.  Also, at Pretiosa, the obit is read of Albert de Chiavari of Genoa, 10th Master General of the Order.  

Collect Prayer for the Feast of the Assumption

Recently, 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)

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: Vigil of Our Holy Father St. Dominic

Technically, there is no day on the Dominican liturgical calendar for the vigil of our Holy Founder's feast day, but I thought it a good day to make some observations concerning the office for his feast.
It is my hope that this blog will continue to inspire Dominicans, of all three orders, to rediscover their magnificent and unique liturgical patrimony, that was so abruptly and imprudently abandoned in the turbulent 1960's.

Dominican Rite Missa Cantata, Columbus, OH - August 3

For anyone who is living in the Columbus, OH area, please note that the Dominican friars of St. Patrick Church will be offering a missa cantata in the Dominican Rite in observance of the Solemnity of Our Holy Father Dominic.

The missa cantata will be celebrated on Sunday, August 3, 2014, at 3:00 P.M. in St. Patrick Church, 280 N. Grant Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43215. The mass does satisfy the Sunday obligation.

Dominican Tertiary Indulgence Alert!

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), as well as on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15.

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